InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Present Perfect ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

 

 

Chapter 16:

 

 

Sesshomaru avoided Inuyasha's school friends as much as possible. He preferred to stay at the hotel, making phone calls and finalizing details on the house. He still felt uneasy that so many humans out of his direct control knew about him.

 

Jen wasn't having any of that. She pestered Kagome and Inuyasha until, growling in frustration, Inuyasha gave her the name of Sesshomaru's hotel. He was smart enough not to give her Sesshomaru's cell number—he didn't want to die just yet.

 

Which was how Sesshomaru found himself in the audience of Jen's play, against his better judgement, surrounded by Inuyasha and all of his little human friends. Noriko shrank back against Peter, which made Sesshomaru smile. Inuyasha noticed, and giving his brother an exasperated `tch,' he insinuated himself and Kagome between the two.

 

Now Inuyasha sat directly beside Sesshomaru. He leaned over and warned his brother, “Cover your ears. It gets louder.”

 

It did. First there was a hush, and the room turned dark. Sesshomaru tensed. Suddenly lights flared, and a blast of music knocked him back against his seat. The show, another musical, dazzled and deafened Sesshomaru for over an hour. Sesshomaru glanced more than once at the bandana securely fastened over Inuyasha's sensitive ears. Finally Inuyasha pulled out a second bandana from his pocket and handed it to Sesshomaru. He turned it over in his hands a few times, then shrugged slightly and tied it back over his hair and the ears hidden beneath. It helped—a little. He sighed and looked at his watch.

 

Jen dragged them all to the after-party, which was at a local pizza restaurant. Sesshomaru was surprised to see Fenn there. What was a youkai doing at a school event for humans?

 

Jen rushed up to Fenn, threw her arms around him and kissed him. Inuyasha watched Sesshomaru's reaction and was not disappointed. Sesshomaru's brow furrowed and his lips thinned into a straight line. He clearly did not approve. He didn't get a chance to voice his opinion, however, as Jen spotted him and squealed in pleasure.

 

“Sesshomaru! How did you like the show?” She abandoned Fenn, who grinned like he knew what was coming, and threw her arms around Sesshomaru instead, treating him to a big hug, followed by a kiss on the cheek. Sesshomaru stiffened, and got characteristically quiet, which was a sure sign of trouble to come.

 

“Uh, Jen, you might want to tone it down a bit,” advised Kagome. “Sesshomaru isn't very touchy-feely.”

 

Jen laughed. “Oh, I know, I'm just so happy he came. Now I have my two favorite youkai elves—three, including Inuyasha, to celebrate the last performance of my show with me!”

 

Sesshomaru's eyes snapped wide open, before narrowing to slits. “Girl,” he growled in warning. Inuyasha moved quickly to stand in front of Jen and noticed that Fenn did the same on her other side.

 

“It's Ok,” she assured them. “Nobody but us knows what `youkai' are.” She pushed her way through Fenn and Inuyasha and linked her arms with Sesshomaru. In the roomful of humans, he didn't know what to do without making it worse, so he let her lead him around from table to table, introducing him to forgettable human after forgettable human. It was the longest night of his long life.

 

At their own table, Inuyasha and the others laughed easily with each other. Sesshomaru was sure they were laughing at him.

 

At some point in the evening, Jen forgot about Sesshomaru for a minute when a new group of admirers came into the restaurant. Sesshomaru used the opportunity to make his escape. His eyes were watering from the smell of pizza and so many humans in close proximity.

 

Inuyasha and Fenn both joined him outside. They stood in a small grove of trees off to the edge of the parking area and breathed in the relatively clean night air. Relief was plain on all their faces. In the faint moonlight they stood, three statues with glowing eyes, and watched the distant movement of traffic. The restaurant door opened on the far side of the parking lot, spilling out a group of laughing humans along with a rush of noise and the smell of pizza, among other things. Three sets of eyes swiveled to track them.

 

The group made their way to a parked car, pushing and shoving playfully. They walked right by the three youkai and never even noticed them, although the youkai made no attempt to hide. Humans.

 

“Inuyasha?” Kagome came out of the restaurant and immediately headed for the grove of trees. “What are you three doing out here?” She realized the answer as soon as she asked the question. “Had enough? Me, too. Let's go home.” Kagome smiled at Fenn. “Would you like to stop over our place? I'm sure I can find something you can eat.”

 

Fenn grinned. “Are you offering?”

 

Inuyasha growled.

 

“I was kidding,” laughed Fenn. “Besides, I'd better go back inside and round up Jen, otherwise she'll be here all night.” He waved as he drifted back towards the noisy restaurant.

 

Sesshomaru, having nothing better to do, followed Inuyasha and Kagome home.

 

 

Kagome enlisted Sesshomaru's help in choosing the furnishings for the new house. Inuyasha's eyes glazed over whenever she mentioned shopping, and he even used school as an excuse not to go.

 

“I have a test,” he told her. Kagome raised her eyebrows. How the tables had turned.

 

“So,” she replied slowly, “You won't complain if you don't like something I pick out?”

 

“Nah, you go ahead.”

 

Kagome smiled sweetly and flipped open her cell phone. “Sesshomaru?” she spoke into it. Inuyasha's jaw dropped open.

 

 

Kagome's little shopping expeditions rescued Sesshomaru from his self-imposed imprisonment at the hotel. She was sure he was hiding out there to avoid Jen and all her friends, although he would never admit to such a thing.

 

She bought a low, king-sized bed with a modern look for the master bedroom. It was delivered with several other pieces of furniture a few days later.

 

They went to a lawyer's office the same day and signed several pieces of paper making both Kagome and Inuyasha the official owners of the now-finished house. Each of them received a set of keys, so they no longer needed to go in and out through the unlocked bedroom window. Not that Inuyasha wouldn't continue to do so anyway.

 

Inuyasha sniffed as he walked in, wrinkling his nose at the chemical smell of the new furniture, some of it still swathed in plastic.

 

“Don't worry. We'll open some windows and air the place out,” Kagome told him. She walked with him from room to room, pointing out her purchases and explaining as she did so what had prompted her to purchase each piece. Inuyasha didn't care, really. Furniture was furniture.

 

When they got to their bedroom, Inuyasha stopped abruptly on the threshold. “What's that?”

 

“It's our new bed. Don't you like it? It's nice and big!” Kagome plopped down on the edge of the bed. “Come try it out. It has one of those memory foam mattresses that molds itself to your body.”

 

Sesshomaru, standing in the doorway behind Inuyasha, wrinkled his nose too.

 

“It stinks,” said Inuyasha.

 

“The smell will go away in time. Remember, you said the same thing about our old bed.”

 

“I don't want it,” decided Inuyasha. “I want our old bed.”

 

“But . . . .”

 

“This one doesn't smell like us. I want the other one,” he stated flatly.

 

Eventually Kagome gave in. She would have the nice new bed installed in one of the guest rooms and would bring the bed from their apartment here instead. “So, does everything else meet with your approval?” she asked him a little sarcastically. He could have told her how he felt about a new bed before she went out and bought one.

 

“Yeah, it's fine,” Inuyasha replied distractedly. He really did like the furnishings, and the way Kagome had arranged the inside of the house. It was a nice place to raise a family.

 

“Good. I'm going back into town with Sesshomaru to see if we can rent a van to move our other bed up here. Unless you want to spend the night back at the apartment.”

 

“What? No. You go ahead. I'll wait for you here.”

 

“Fine.” Kagome let the front door bang shut on her way out. Inuyasha looked at Sesshomaru, who gave him a little shrug as he opened the front door again. Apparently he was driving Kagome back to the apartment.

 

 

Inuyasha waited until the rental car was out of sight before he called softly for his youkai. They popped in through the barrier now that Sesshomaru was gone and hurried to Inuyasha's side. Valynne smiled shyly.

 

“Want to see the inside?” he asked them. At their excited nods, he pushed open the door so that they could scoot inside the house. He put his arm out when Valynne passed by. “I want to talk to you.”

 

The youkai, some little, some bigger, most animal-based and growing more and more substantial every day, flitted through the rooms of Inuyasha's house, sniffing and touching and generally familiarizing themselves with the layout. Inuyasha walked behind with Valynne, the most human-seeming of these new youkai. He showed her how to use the faucets in the kitchen sink, how to turn on the stove, and what the bathrooms were for. He knew they were isolated up here on the mountaintop, and he wanted her to become used to these human gadgets in case of an emergency. That way, Kagome wouldn't ever be alone even when he couldn't be around. He explained this to Valynne, who nodded gravely.

 

“I expect all of you to watch over Kagome,” he told the gathered youkai. “But none of you are to enter this house except Valynne, or if Kagome or I specifically ask you to come inside. Valynne, you can come in if you feel there is a problem. Ask Kagome otherwise—talk to her. Be her friend. Get her to teach you stuff, she's good at that.”

 

Valynne heard the crunch of tires on gravel at the same time Inuyasha did. “Kagome is home,” she said simply, getting up to peer out of the full-length window. The sky was just beginning to darken, and the headlights lit up the outside. Inuyasha blinked. Kagome was driving!

 

He quickly jumped up and strode outside, his youkai, including Valynne, at his heels. He sighed with relief. At least Sesshomaru was in the passenger seat. For a moment he had been afraid Kagome was by herself. He didn't even know she could drive!

 

“Where's the bed?” he asked.

 

Kagome got out of the car and handed the keys back to Sesshomaru. “It's coming. We hired a delivery service to take all the furniture out of the apartment tomorrow morning. I brought our clothes and some personal stuff back in Sesshomaru's car.” She eyed Inuyasha challengingly. “So you can either sleep on the floor, or in the woods tonight. I'm sleeping in the new bed.” She began to remove a big box from the back seat.

 

We'll see about that, thought Inuyasha, although he didn't say anything right then. He was learning. He helped Kagome carry the rest of the boxes into the house. The youkai had scattered the minute Sesshomaru opened his car door.

 

“Stop scaring my youkai,” he said mildly to his brother.

 

Sesshomaru looked appraisingly at the darkening woods. Inuyasha's youkai were not affected by the barrier. It was a good thing the miko had opened the barrier to him as well, or there might have been trouble. “They shouldn't frighten so easily,” he replied just as mildly. Then he changed topics. “You will need a car. Your miko cannot leave this mountain without you unless she has a car. Tomorrow we will buy a car.”

 

“Sweet,” said Inuyasha in English, causing Sesshomaru to look at him sideways. “Good,” he clarified.

 

Sesshomaru drove off once the car was unloaded. Inuyasha had begun to worry that he planned on staying at the house all night. He watched the tail lights until he couldn't see them anymore, then he turned back to find Kagome and straighten out this bed matter.

 

She was putting things from the boxes into different places around the house. He approved. She was making this her home. That's what he wanted to do, too. He grabbed her around the waist and nuzzled her neck.

 

“I'm sorry,” he mumbled. “About the bed.” He nuzzled some more. “We don't need it tonight. There's a lot of rooms in this place that we need to get our scent all over, starting with this one.” He pulled her down onto the wood floor in front of the fireplace. “Then that one,” he pointed to the kitchen. “Then up there.” He grinned. “Then out on the deck.” He nuzzled her again, half expecting her to protest, but she melted against him and he knew everything was all right. “You got a problem with that?” he asked her, mock-angry. Kagome giggled.

 

In the morning, Kagome finished putting her personal items away while Inuyasha opened up each and every window in the house and stripped all the packing from the living room furniture. He had single-handedly moved the offensive bed out of their room and into another bedroom so that there would be room for his bed when it came.

 

Kagome shook out the miko clothes and then re-folded them. They took top place in her new set of bureau drawers, which sadly would no longer match the bed. After last night, she didn't really care about that anymore. Furniture wasn't the important thing. Inuyasha was. She took out the second item, the restraining beads. These would stay here when they went back to Japan. Inuyasha needed his full strength for what lay ahead. She held the third item in her hand. She hadn't really touched it for a few weeks now, and she wasn't sure if she should have made such a decision on her own, but what was done was done. Besides, so far nothing had happened, not for lack of trying. She put it on top of the beads and shut the drawer. They could stay until she got back, too. By then she'd know whether she still needed them or not. She shivered. Everything was coming to an end—the school year, this idyll.

 

Inuyasha walked in and sniffed. “What are you crying about? The bed is here,” he said in an attempt to get her out of her mood. “And we're getting a car today.”

 

Kagome smiled, and wiped away the few tears that had slipped out against her will. “I know. I love you, Inuyasha.”

 

“I know,” he answered, kissing her briefly. “Me, too.”