InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Phony Digits ❯ She Wears the Pants ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: InuYasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I have nothing.

Chapter Four: She Wears the Pants

InuYasha lifted his phone from the cup holder of his car as he neared Kikyo's high-rise apartment complex. He dialed her number, hoping and praying she'd be ready to go, so he wouldn't have to find a parking spot.

"Hey." she answered. "I'm going to need a few more minutes. You can come up and watch T.V. or something while you wait."

InuYasha sighed. "Okay, how long do you think you'll be? It might take me longer to find a place to park than it does for you to finish."

"I'm not sure, just look in the garage behind the building, there's usually something there."

There was never anything there. Especially not on a Saturday. She would know this if she ever actually drove...or owned a car...

"Okay fine. I'll see you in a bit." InuYasha said before disconnecting. He wasn't about to actually drive into that godforsaken parking structure. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would not find an open space in there, and it would take him ten minutes just to get back out of the damn thing. He decided to circle the surrounding blocks instead and try his luck at finding a spot on the street. After several minutes of searching, he finally found an opening only four blocks from the building. A small victory, he concluded.

He briskly made his way, down the street and into the building, through the lobby and up the elevators to Kikyo's nineteenth floor apartment. When he lifted his fist to knock, the door swung open and there stood Kikyo, fully dressed and ready to go.

He clenched his jaw, his arm remaining suspended in air.

The urge to roll his eyes was strong, but he somehow managed to fight it.

"Ready to go?" she asked, pointedly ignoring his obvious exasperation as she reached out with both hands to straighten his tie.

"I was ready fifteen minutes ago." he huffed, swatting her hands away.

"Now, now. Don't be testy, InuYasha. A lady doesn't just roll out of bed looking like this you know." she grinned.

"Yes, I know." he said in a defeated tone as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. He took her hand and led her out the door to the elevators.

She did look good. She always looked good. The only problem was, InuYasha wasn't quite sure if her looks made up for the fact that she was boring, and annoying, and controlling and… InuYasha shook his head. She's a good person, and she means well...and I love her…

Back when they first met he had fallen for her hard and fast. She was a spunky, ambitious intern, fresh out of grad school, with hardly a penny to her name. People gravitated toward her and she quickly made her own way in the world; scaling the corporate ladder like it was child's play. A lot of things had changed along the way, though. Namely her attitude.

She had achieved what most people would refer to as 'overnight success', and with it had come an overnight change in her character. InuYasha actually found it somewhat surprising that she had chosen to stay with him this long. She drew a lot of attention from men who were much more suited to her current lifestyle than he, but she had remained faithful and seemingly devoted to him. Maybe it was the whole 'he was with me before I had money, so I know I can trust him' bit. He wasn't really sure, and he wasn't overly concerned about it. Kikyo wasn't the romantic type, and neither was he. It was really more of an arrangement than a relationship, and that was okay with him. She didn't pressure him for any major long-term commitment. They had fallen into a routine that he could set his watch to. She stayed swamped with work during the week. They rarely talked unless it was a matter of urgency or importance. They went out on Saturday evenings, and since Kikyo and Miroku could not be civil towards one another, he would stay the night at her apartment. Usually they would have sex, but sometimes they wouldn't. They would have breakfast together on sunday morning, then go their separate ways for another week. That had been the routine for the last couple of years, give or take a few odd social events here and there to which he would accompany her.

"Did you find a spot in the garage?" Kikyo asked as they reached the doors.

"No, I had to park down the street. I'll run and get the car and pick you up here." he said.

"Okay, but don't actually run." she said. 'I'd rather be late than have you all sweaty when we get there."

"We can't be too late or they'll give our reservation away." InuYasha mumbled as he set about walking briskly to the car. When he rounded the corner he removed his wool overcoat and tore off in a dead run. Arriving at the car in a matter of seconds. He stood there a moment, cooling off. Which wasn't too difficult in the sub-freezing temperatures.

He slipped into his car and cranked up the heat as he pulled out into the street, hoping to get the temperature up to her standards. When he arrived in front of Kikyo's building he was relieved to see her trotting out towards the car in her ridiculously high heels. At this rate he had half expected to see her gone, on a run back up to retrieve her phone, or her lipstick, or some other forgotten item. It wouldn't be the first time.

He reached across and opened the passenger door for her from the inside and she slid into the seat, wasting no time voicing her complaint about the temperature of the car.

"Well, if you'd have been ready when I first showed up the car would've been nice and warm." he argued as he eased out into traffic.

"Are you not over that yet?" she said, turning to look at him. "And you ran, didn't you?"

"No." he said frowning.

"Yes, you did. You're all shiny."

He sighed. "I ran so we wouldn't lose our reservation. I didn't think you'd appreciate being turned down and having to go back to my place and eat instant ramen for dinner."

She rolled her eyes as she rummaged through her purse, pulling out a white cotton handkerchief. Without a word, she reached across the car and started to rub down his face with the cloth.

"Gah!" InuYasha pushed her hand away. "Stop it! You're gonna make me crash!"

"Well, you should have thought about that before you ran when I asked you not to." she replied while continuing to run the handkerchief roughly over his face and neck. "There." she said, straightening his collar.

The rest of the car ride was spent mostly in silence.

<<>>

"So, why are we eating here again?" InuYasha asked, looking around the fancy restaurant as they sat waiting for their food.

"I've just heard good things about this place." Kikyo said. "And...there are some things I've been wanting to talk to you about…"

InuYasha's back stiffened at the sudden seriousness of her tone. "Things? What kinda things?" he asked hesitantly.

"Well, as you know, InuYasha, I'm going to be turning twenty-nine this year…" she said.

"Yeah, so?" he returned. He did not like where this was going.

"Yeah, so" she mimicked. "I'm not exactly getting any younger. I'd like to get married and have children while I'm still able." she said casually.

"Isn't this…" InuYasha gulped. "Isn't this sort of sudden?" he said, his voice tinged with slight panic.

"Sudden? We've been together almost five years, InuYasha. How is that sudden?" she asked.

"Well, you've just never mentioned anything like this before."

"So you're telling me you haven't thought about it?" she questioned calmly as she unrolled her napkin and draped it across her lap.

InuYasha looked like a deer in the headlights. He honest-to-god had never thought about it before. Not with Kikyo, not with anyone. He had never even thought about it in general 'what if' terms. Now that he thought about it...he wasn't sure why he'd never thought about it… Was it because he had never met someone he would consider spending the rest of his life with? Or was he just not the 'husband' type? He didn't really know. All he knew was that he didn't want to marry Kikyo. Not right now...maybe not ever.

"Kikyo I...no…" he said shaking his head. "I haven't thought about it."

"Well, can you think about it?" she asked.

"Uhh...yeah. I can think about it." he said, mostly just to appease her for the time being.

The rest of their date was probably the most uncomfortable InuYasha could ever remember having, and that was saying something. Kikyo jabbered on about work or some stupid thing, never even seeming to notice that InuYasha had long since stopped listening. He was busy thinking about weddings and babies and spending the rest of his life chained to the woman sitting across from him. The words flowing incessantly from her mouth sounding like another language to him. What was he doing? Could he spend every meal like this? Could he spend every day like this?

"No." he unintentionally said aloud.

"What?" Kikyo asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

He looked up to meet her eyes. "No... I said no."

"No, what? I didn't even ask you anything." she said, taking a sip of her water, seemingly oblivious to his inner turmoil.

"No, I don't want to get married or have children." he said, shocked by the confidence in his voice.

"You don't want to get married or have children in general, you just don't want that with me?" she asked carefully.

He drew a breath to speak, then hesitated a moment before answering honestly. "I don't know…"

"I see…" she said coldly. She lifted the napkin from her lap and tossed it into her plate. "Well, I'm done wasting my time, then." she said as she stood and turned to leave.

"Kikyo, wait!" InuYasha said as he stood and grabbed her arm. A somewhat hopefully look flashed across her face as she turned. "At least let me drive you home." he said.

Her face fell and she jerked her arm from his grasp. "I'll take a cab." she said as she whirled around and stormed out; leaving InuYasha standing there, center of attention in the crowded restaurant.

<<>>

InuYasha lay in bed that night staring at the ceiling. His conflicting feelings of guilt and relief preventing him from falling asleep. He picked up his phone to look at the time and saw that he had received a text message.

'Do you forgive me yet?' It read. It was from the mystery woman who had been giving out his phone number.

'Outlook not so good.' he replied.

'So you're still magic 8 balling me?'

He smiled for the first time in hours.

'Signs point to yes.'

'Just say you forgive me and we can end this charade.'

'Don't count on it'

He wasn't sure he wanted this charade to end.

'Fine! You know what, I take it back! I'm not sorry! Suck a lemon!'

'Is that the best you got?' he asked.

'The zoo called. They are wondering who let you out of your cage.'

InuYasha rolled his eyes. How lame.

'I was looking for a battle of wits, but you appear to have come unarmed.' he responded, his smirking face illuminated by the bright display of the phone.

'The only way you could ever get laid is if you crawled up a chicken's ass and waited.'

He chuckled to himself.

'You're getting better.'

'Hey! You're not 8 balling me anymore. Does that mean you forgive me?'

He contemplated a moment before responding. He decided on another magic eight-ball response.

'Most likely.'

She responded with a lone smiley-face emoji.

'Goodnight fake number guy.'

'Goodnight crazy person.'

InuYasha relaxed into his bed, finally finding repose.