InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 3: Forever ❯ Kichiro ( Chapter 14 )

~~Chapter 14~~

~Kichiro~

 

Rapping on the door with the back of his knuckles, Kichiro tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for someone to answer the door.

 

Nezumi rattled the lock and pulled open the door without unhooking the safety chain to peek through the crack. “Kich? Just a minute.”

 

Kichiro brushed aside the disconcerting feelings brought on by Nezumi closing the door in his face and waited patiently while she unfastened the chain. A metallic scrape on the heavy door, and seconds later, it opened again. This time Nezumi stepped back and gestured for Kichiro to enter. “What brings you by?” she asked as she closed the door behind him. He ducked as her hand shot toward his head, blinked in surprise as her nimble fingers latched onto his ear. “I figured,” she mumbled as she let her hand fall away. “Identical twins---identical ears.”

 

Ignoring Nezumi's appraisal, Kichiro flicked his ears and snorted. “Ryo here?”

 

Nezumi headed toward the refrigerator and retrieved two bottles of water. “Catch,” she said seconds before she let the bottle fly. Kichiro caught it and broke the seal around the cap. “You should break the ears out more often,” she commented as she leaned against the counter and opened her bottle. “Bet the girls would love `em.”

 

Kichiro rolled his eyes and hunched over the bar. “Well, aside from the old man having a fit over it, I don't think I need to resort to the ears to get a date, do you?”

 

Nezumi shrugged and took her time as she methodically screwed the lid back onto her bottle. “No, I don't guess you do. Anyway, Ryo's not here. He said he was going to see you.”

 

“Huh . . . must have just missed him.”

 

She shrugged again and set the bottle on the counter as she smoothed her oversized flannel shirt. “Really? He left hours ago.”

 

Kichiro could discern the mild doubt in her tone. Nezumi never had been one to lay all her cards on the table. `Damn, Ryo . . . Where are you?'

 

A sudden vibration against his chest startled him out of his musings. Kichiro dug in the inside pocket of his coat to retrieve his cell phone. Turning it on and holding it up where his human disguise ear should have been, he caught Nezumi's odd look but ignored it to answer the call. “Hello?”

 

“Hey, Kich, I meant to get a hold of you earlier.”

 

Kichiro frowned as he tapped his claw against the counter, wondering how he was going to ask Ryomaru where he was without letting Nezumi know who was on the phone. “Yeah?”

 

“Look, I just finished up a job for Uncle Sesshoumaru, but I couldn't tell Nez, so I told her I was going to see you, so if she calls---”

 

“You don't say. I can take care of that, if you want, but right now, I'm at Ryo's.”

 

“Fuck, Kich! You're kidding!”

 

“Nope.”

 

Ryomaru sighed. “Damn, can you cover for me? I have to swing past the mansion before I come home.”

 

“I can try. Not guaranteeing anything. You know how it is.”

 

“She's giving you `the look', ain't she?”

 

“Damn straight.”

 

“Look, just . . . don't tell her. You know how much she hates blood, and . . . I haven't told her about my job yet.”

 

Kichiro winced as Nezumi's gaze narrowed even more suspiciously. “Can't say I think that was wise.”

 

“There ain't been a good time yet,” Ryo grumbled defensively.

 

“Have any trouble?”

 

Ryomaru snorted as though he thought Kichiro's question was insane. “It was a cakewalk. Damn pathetic moth youkai. I didn't even get a scratch.”

 

“Yeah, you'd better pick up some pie on your way home.”

 

“Pie?”

 

“You know, the humble variety.”

 

“Funny, Kich.”

 

Kichiro couldn't help but get one last barb in before he hung up. “Love you, too, Mama.”

 

“Oi!”

 

Snapping the phone closed, Kichiro dropped it back into his coat pocket before meeting Nezumi's level gaze.

 

“Your mother?” she asked, her tone indicating that she believed otherwise.

 

Kichiro nodded and plastered on his most convincing smile. “Sure was. Wanted to know what I wanted for dessert.”

 

“You didn't ask her.”

 

“Didn't ask her what?”

 

“If she'd seen Ryo. Isn't she home?”

 

“Uh . . . no . . . she's . . . at the store. With Gin.”

 

“With Gin?”

 

“Yes. With Gin.”

 

Nezumi nodded slowly and reached beside her to grab her water bottle. “So . . . Gin didn't go to Souta's for the week?”

 

“Uncle Souta's . . . Yeah . . . she did.”

 

Nezumi shook her head. “Doesn't Souta live in Kyoto?”

 

Kichiro winced inwardly. “Uh, yeah . . .”

 

“Then how is she at the store with Kagome?”

 

“You didn't let me finish,” Kichiro blurted quickly. “I meant, she's at the store with Gin's shopping list.”

 

“You've always been a piss-poor liar, Kich. That was Ryo, wasn't it?”

 

Kichiro nodded slowly, knowing Nezumi far too well to think that he would be able to lie to her. He wasn't sure why he'd even bothered to try. “Look, Nez. Ryo . . . He had to do something for our uncle; that's all.”

 

Nezumi thumped the bottle down and tugged her ponytail over her shoulder. “Why didn't he tell me that?” she asked as she toyed with the ends of her hair.

 

Kichiro didn't even try to answer. “Can't say I envy you two. I used to think Ryo was the most stubborn person on earth. Then he introduced me to you. I'm surprised you've put up with him this long.”

 

Nezumi shrugged. “He has his moments.”

 

“'Course he does. If he didn't, you'd have kicked his sorry ass a long time ago.”

 

“Why'd you come by, Kich?”

 

“I came to see Ryo.”

 

Cocking her head to the side, she regarded him speculatively. “Cut the crap. I'm not buying.”

 

Kichiro relented with a sheepish grin. “Nez . . . can I ask you something?”

 

She cracked a little smile. “Has it ever kept you from asking when I've said no?”

 

He shrugged. “Not really.”

 

“You can ask,” she replied absently. “I may not answer, though.”

 

“Fair enough,” he agreed. “So . . . when did you fall in love with that baka twin of mine?”

 

Her cheeks reddened almost instantly. “Dunno what you're talking about.”

 

“Come off it, Nez. I know you. Maybe not as well as Ryo does, but still . . . You wouldn't have just decided on a whim to have sex with him.”

 

“Maybe I did,” she countered. “Maybe there wasn't really a reason. Did there have to be?”

 

“Didn't have to be, but I know there was.”

 

Nezumi sighed and shook her head as she reluctantly raised her eyes to meet his. “Kich . . . you swear to me you don't tell Ryo. Not a thing. Not ever.”

 

Kichiro nodded slowly. “Nez, remember when we were younger and I caught you staring at him?”

 

Nezumi winced but nodded. “You promised you wouldn't tell him about that.”

 

Kichiro shrugged. “I did promise. I never told him, but I think maybe you should.”

 

“It's not that easy. I'm not blind, and I'm not stupid. I've seen the girls you and Ryo have dated. I've heard more stuff than I ever wanted to know. I don't even know why I listened. Maybe I . . . I just couldn't tell him that I didn't want to hear it.”

 

And what was there to say to that? Nezumi couldn't tell Ryomaru to shove it because she didn't have it in her, at least, not when it came to him. Did Ryomaru ever realize how much his bragging hurt her? Did he even care?

 

Wincing as Kichiro thought of all the trouble he'd gotten into, he knew that Ryomaru was always in just a little more. Staring at Nezumi as she shuffled her feet and scowled at the floor, he wished that there were something he could do for her, for Ryomaru---for both of them. “You know, Nez, despite all his faults, Ryo's never lied to you.”

 

Blue eyes as dark as sapphires rose to lock with his gaze. She was solemn, uncertain, and Kichiro had never seen her look more vulnerable. “Yeah.”

 

With a sigh, Kichiro straightened up and ambled around the bar, stopping before Nezumi. Lifting her chin with one hand and smoothing back an errant lock of glossy black hair with the other, he smiled at her. “Nez, if anyone can pull Ryo's head out of his ass, I think you can.”

 

She stared at him a moment then finally laughed. “That is just not a good mental image, Kich.”

 

“Maybe not,” he agreed. “Doesn't mean it isn't true. Listen, the only reason Mother didn't flip out about the entire thing is because of you. You know that, right? The old man, too.”

 

“You're all assuming I'm buying this whole `mate' thing.”

 

“You think all of us are lying to you?”

 

“Well, that's what I was hoping, yes.”

 

Kichiro laughed and drew Nezumi into a tight hug. “You're good for the baka, whether you or he believes it.”

 

She sighed and hugged him back as the soft click of the door drew Kichiro's attention.

 

“What the fuck are you doing?”

 

Kichiro stepped away from Nezumi as Ryomaru dropped his leather jacket on a chair and stalked toward the two of them, cracking his knuckles as he advanced on his brother. “Something wrong, Ryo?”

 

“Did you wait till I left so you could come over here and move in on her?” Ryomaru growled as Kichiro crossed his arms over his chest.

 

“Get a grip, Ryo. I was just hugging her. She's my friend, too, remember?”

 

“Oh, for the love of---Knock it off, Ryo! What's gotten into you?”

 

He shook off her hands when she tried to grab his arm. “Damn it, Nez! I know what he's like! I ought to! He's my fucking twin!”

 

Kichiro narrowed his eyes and slowly stepped forward. “And just what the hell do you mean by that?” he asked tightly.

 

“I mean if I ain't good enough for her, then you sure as hell aren't either!”

 

Ryomaru lunged at him. Kichiro sprang out of the way, bearing his fangs as Ryomaru whipped around, drawing back his claws.

 

“No!” Nezumi screamed, planting herself between the two. “Ryomaru! Stop it!”

 

“Get outta the way!” Ryomaru bellowed as she stubbornly planted her hands in the center of his chest.

 

“I won't! Stop it! You're not fighting your brother! He didn't do anything, baka!”

 

Ryomaru glowered at Nezumi but finally grimaced and leaned back, looking anything but pleased. “Don't touch her again, Kich.”

 

Kichiro shook his head, marveling at his brother's idiotic display of jealousy and wondering if it had gone unnoticed by the girl in question. “Sorry, Ryo. I've hugged her before, and you've either not noticed or . . . maybe something's changed?”

 

Nezumi sighed as she peeked over her shoulder at Kichiro. “I think you'd better go, Kich. Thanks.”

 

Kichiro nodded slowly. “Later,” he agreed as he finally turned his back on Ryomaru and headed for the door. He didn't smile until he had pulled the door closed. In the drafty hallway, he chuckled softly. `Interesting . . . So . . . Ryo does care . . . Good. Very good.'

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

“You'd better have a damn good reason for being a complete idiot,” Nezumi warned as the door closed behind Kichiro.

 

“Fucking hell, Nez! I come home and find my damn brother wrapped around you like a kami-forsaken blanket, and I'm acting like a complete idiot? Have you lost your mind?”

 

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” she shot back as she whipped around and stomped into the living room.

 

“Oi! You can't walk away when I'm talking to you!” Ryomaru growled as he ran after her. “We ain't finished yet!”

 

“You're right,” she countered as she wheeled around to face him, “we're not. Just where did you go for your uncle? What do you do for him, huh?”

 

Ryomaru stepped back in retreat. “Kich told you, did he? Damn him, I'll---”

 

“You'll answer my question, if you know what's good for you.”

 

He sighed. “It ain't important,” he grumbled.

 

“And if I said it was important to me?”

 

“I work in . . . human-youkai relations,” he finally said. “Let's just leave it at that.”

 

Narrowing her gaze on him, she shook her head slowly. `He's lying. Well, maybe not lying . . . but he isn't telling me the whole truth, either.' He turned his face to the side, and she was positive he was hiding something. “If you won't tell me what you really do for a living, how can you even ask me to believe you about everything else?”

 

She didn't wait for his answer as she pulled her arm free and headed back to her bedroom and closed the door.

 

Pushing open her closet, Nezumi stood on tiptoe to reach the small wooden box on the top shelf and carried it over to the bed, tucking her foot under her before she sank down.

 

The box had been her mother's. It was the only thing Nezumi had left from her. Her mother's father had made the box years ago, and now it held the things that Nezumi held dear. Pulling out the snapshots of her mother, Nezumi purposefully set them aside without looking at them. They always made her sad.

 

Carefully lifting her mother's locket from the bottom of the box, Nezumi ran her fingers over the engraved oval as she broke into a forlorn smile. `Mom . . . would you have liked Ryo?' She let out a terse laugh, little more than an exhalation, as she laid the locket on the bed. `Sure, she would have. Everyone likes Ryo.'

 

Biting her lower lip, Nezumi pulled the last item from the box. It was half a ticket---a stub, really. It was what was left of the admission ticket to the dance that she'd attended so that Ryomaru wouldn't have to go alone. `You're so stupid, Nez. Just . . . stupid.'

 

Blinking back the sudden sting of tears, Nezumi stood up and shuffled over to her bureau. Carefully opening the Chilton's manual, she pulled the now-flattened flower from between the pages and closed the book. A surge of anger slammed through her, bitter irritation at a situation that she couldn't control. Dropping the flower into the trashcan beside the bureau, Nezumi closed her eyes and drew a deep breath.

 

It might have worked if she hadn't glanced down as she started to turn away. She might have left the flower in the trash if she hadn't been struck at the loneliness, the absolute realization that something so rare, so lovely as one of the season's last flowers didn't really belong there. Lips trembling, Nezumi knelt down, painstakingly lifted the flower from the trashcan, held it as though it were made of something rare and precious as she returned to the bed and laid the pressed flower in the box.

 

Everything led back to Ryomaru. It always had. She just wished she could figure out where she stood in all of it. Somewhere between the things she'd said and the things she believed, the truth existed. Kichiro's words came back to her---the accuracy of it echoed through her mind. `You know, Nez, despite all his faults, Ryo's never lied to you.'

 

That was true, wasn't it? Even if the truth wasn't what she wanted to hear, Ryomaru had never lied to her. `Isn't keeping something from me the same thing as lying?'

 

She frowned. She used to think so. She used to think that everything was black and white. Maybe it was all a matter of perception. `The question isn't who is right and who's wrong. The question is whether or not you're willing to take a chance.'

 

`Take a chance? I can't . . . I can't chance that . . .'

 

`Can't? Or won't? If you can't believe in him, who can you believe?'

 

Nezumi choked back a sob. `It's too big a risk, and even if it weren't, he's my friend.'

 

And that was the bottom line, wasn't it? Having Ryomaru as a friend was far more important than not having him at all.

 

`Leave it alone, Nez. It's better this way. Hide your feelings in that little box with the flower and with the ticket. If you don't talk about it, it'll go away, just like your mother.'

 

Nezumi nodded as a single tear escaped, slipping down her cheek, leaving a silvery path on her pale skin. Before she changed her mind, she replaced the other keepsakes and closed the lid, dashing the back of her hand over her eyes as she hurried to put the box back into the closet again; out of sight, out of view . . . out of mind.

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

Ryomaru stuck his head in Nezumi's room and winced at the trace scent of salty tears that lingered. Nezumi stood by the window, staring off into the distance. Silhouetted in the fickle light of the setting sun, she didn't look at him when he cleared his throat. “You, uh, okay?”

 

Nezumi shrugged. “Sure.”

 

The resignation in her tone made him wince as he slowly stepped inside the room. “Shippou told me before that my old man used to screw things up with Mother all the time. Shippou said it was the `baka gene'. Apparently I've inherited this from him.”

 

“I already knew that,” she agreed mildly enough.

 

Drawing encouragement from her quiet demeanor, Ryomaru moved in closer. “You hungry? We could go out or I can get you something? Whatever you want.”

 

“You know what I want?” she asked suddenly. “What I really want?”

 

“What's that?”

 

She sighed. “I want to go back to the way things were. I want everything to be simple again.”

 

Ryomaru could feel her upset as acutely as he could feel his own emotions. It lingered around her like a thick blanket, like a hazy fog. It was one of the only times he couldn't think of a way to reach her, to comfort her. The need to shelter her precluded everything else, and he took the last step toward her, wrapped his arms around her. Pulling her back against his chest as he rested his chin on her shoulder, cheek nuzzling against hers, his ears flattened, and he smothered a whine that welled up, a melancholy sound that echoed his inner turmoil. “I know,” he murmured. “I'm . . . sorry.”

 

Her hands gripped his arms as the stiffness in her body dissolved. With a soft exhalation, she relaxed against him, let him hold her, let him soothe her, and let him pacify her, even if only for the moment.

 

“It . . . hurts,” she whispered as she closed her eyes.

 

He winced as he tightened his arms around her. “It doesn't have to, Nez. Just . . . can you trust me?”

 

She sighed again, leaned closer to him, turned her head to bury her face against his cheek. “I trust you, Ryo. I just can't . . . I don't trust me.”

 

 

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A/N:

I've removed all my stories from both Anime Spiral as well as Adult Fanfiction, and will only accept signed reviews from Fanfiction net. Why? Because I'm just really, really tired of the ignorance. People who bitch about a pairing I like (Yasha/Kagome) or whatever else they feel the need to vent in my direction. People forget that I'm human, too, that I do have feelings, and that sometimes their words can hurt me. The only compromise I could find was this one. I will continue to post my work on Media Miner. This site has been very good to me, both in user-friendly support and upload interface, as well as in the sensitivity overall in reviewers. Because of flames that have come from Fanfiction net readers, I will only accept signed reviews from that site. Guys, I posted ONE chapter of Desideratum, and I got hammered for writing another Yasha/Kagome fic. I removed it from all sites where it was uploaded, and honestly, once I finish Purity 3, I don't know if I will bother posting online again. Critique is one thing. Bashing me, flaming me, threatening me and my family? That's just plain shitty. I don't make anyone read my stories. If someone doesn't like it, use the `Back' button. That's why it's there. If this sounds crappy, I'm sorry. I've really, really just had enough.

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Final Thought fromKichiro:

Interesting … very interesting …

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Forever): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~