InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 4: Justification ❯ Gin's Birthday ( Chapter 36 )

"Happy birthday, Gin," Kagome said as she set a strawberry cream cake on the coffee table in front of her daughter.

Gin smiled, scrunching up her shoulders as she waited for Ryomaru to light the stick candles.

"Yeah, just don't smash your paws in it like you did when you were a pup," InuYasha grumbled, pulling Kagome into his lap where he sat on the floor beside the glass doors that opened into InuYasha's Forest.

Gin giggled as a hint of pink washed into her cheeks, and she ducked her head.  "I was little then," she pointed out.

"You're still little, baby girl," Ryomaru snorted.

"I think she just wanted all the cake for herself," Toga remarked, arms around Sierra as he bent down to rest his chin on her shoulder.

"I can't help it," Gin countered.  "Mama's cakes are the best."

"The best?" Cain asked, catching Gin's gaze.  He lifted his eyebrows in silent question.  Gin giggled again and ducked her head a little lower.

"I have it on good authority that your cakes are quite good, Gin," Sesshoumaru remarked.

Gin shot her uncle a quick glance but quickly looked away again.  He looked innocent enough.  Then again, Sesshoumaru could probably play poker with the devil—and win.

"Do you remember the time Gin snuck into Ryomaru and Kichiro's cake?" Kagome asked with a little giggle.

InuYasha snorted despite the tolerant smile on his face.  "Like I'd forget that."

"Keh!  She ate the whole damn thing," Ryomaru grouched.

"Oh?" Nezumi queried.

"Yep," he began.  "She knew Mother had made a cake and snuck into the kitchen, hopped onto the counter, and ate nearly all of it by the time oyaji found her.

Kagome laughed.  "I only left her alone for a minute."

"I ain't never seen anyone eat so much cake in their lives," InuYasha mused.

Gin blushed.  "Like I said, Mama makes good cakes."

"Hmm, wasn't that around the time when we had such trouble getting Gin to leave her clothes on?" Kagome asked, sitting up and turning to stare at her mate.

InuYasha thought that over.  "Oh . . . Yeah, I think it was.  Couldn't get her to leave her clothes on for nothing, especially right after her bath."

"Ma-ma!" Gin choked out.

Kagome laughed, ignoring her daughter's acute embarrassment as she shook her head and giggled.  "She took off once, and you had to track her down."

InuYasha sniggered.  "That's right . . ."

"Where did you find her that time?" Kagura asked.

"Standing under Goshinboku at the shrine."

Sierra giggled.  "Naked under the God Tree, huh?"

Gin groaned.  She didn't dare look at Cain, but she had a feeling that he was trying not to laugh.

"Wouldn't have been so bad, but Gin's obaa-chan was giving a tour at the time . . ." InuYasha added for good measure.  "They seemed a little surprised to see her standing there . . . The look on your mother's face was worth it, though.  The jiijii chased me around with a broom, like I'd sent Gin there like that on purpose.  Called it the curse of the hanyou . . ."

"I'll bet," Kagome agreed.  "Maybe we should just leash this one," she suggested, patting her still-flat tummy.

"Let that be a lesson to you, Toga . . . Hanyou love to be naked.  Good luck with that," Ryomaru commented, jerking his head at Toga's daughters.

Toga snorted.  "Keh!  This Toga's daughters will remain fully clothed."

"All right," Gin cut in with a shake of her very red-cheeked head.  "As much fun as it is to play 'Let's Humiliate the Birthday Girl', it's time to move on."

Kagura chuckled, ignoring Gin's plea to change the subject.  "Oh, do you remember the recital, Kagome?"

Kagome groaned then laughed.

"Ah, the recital," Nezumi said slowly, tapping her chin with her index finger.  "I remember hearing that one . . . sort of . . ."

InuYasha made a face.  "She kept lifting up her dress."

Kagome rolled her eyes as Gin scrunched a little lower in her seat.  "She was nervous!" Kagome pointed out.

"And she did it over and over and over and—"

"And she was four," Kagome interrupted.

"She was flashing everyone, wench!"

"Well, you made it worse, you know," she remarked, poking an accusing finger in InuYasha's chest.

"Oyaji marched up to the stage and demanded that she put her skirt down," Ryomaru told Nezumi, who at least tried not to laugh.  Slapping her hand over her mouth, she turned red and coughed suddenly.  Gin stifled a groan.

"She put her skirt down, didn't she?" InuYasha grumbled.

"And she never did go back to her dance lessons," Kagome said with a shake of her head.

"With as much trouble as she had keeping her clothes where they belonged, is there any question why I never let her go on dates?" InuYasha growled.

"Well, she did say she was probably going to die a virgin," Sierra quipped.

Gin groaned louder, her face painfully flushed as she pressed her hands to her cheeks and tried her best to sink through the chair and through the floor, straight into hell, where she was sure she'd be far more comfortable.

"Damn straight," InuYasha agreed.

"That's not . . . too bad . . ." Cain remarked in a far too-casual tone.  "Did she do anything else, like suck her thumb?"

Gin sucked in a harsh breath at his seemingly-innocent question.

"No, she never did that," Kagome answered, seeing nothing amiss in his query.

The telephone rang, and Gin answered it, grateful for any distraction that it would provide.  "Hello?"

"Happy birthday, Gin-chan."

"Nii-chan!" she exclaimed.  "Thank you!"

"I figured you'd be there."

Gin pushed the button for the speaker phone.  "Yeah . . ."

"Have cake yet?"

"Nope," Ryomaru remarked.  "We were telling our favorite Gin stories.  You got one?"

"Gin stories?"  Kichiro chuckled.  "Oi, oyaji . . . I ever tell you about her and that little friend of hers?"

"Nii-chan . . ." Gin choked out.  'Oh, no . . . he wouldn't . . .'

But he would.

"We were all sent to look for Gin because it was past dinner time, and she wasn't home," he explained to Nezumi.  "Ryo went into the forest, the old man headed the opposite way, Mother started making phone calls, and I went to baa-chan's . . . She always had cookies, so I figured either I'd find Gin or I'd get cookies."

Nezumi rolled her eyes.  "Figures."

"Did you find her?" Cain asked.  Gin had almost forgotten that he was there—almost.

"This is a silly story, nii-chan," Gin insisted, unable to keep her face from reddening even more.

Kichiro's chuckle turned almost sinister.  "Yeah, I did . . . She was behind the well house with that neighbor pup.  Seems they were playing . . ."

"Playing?" Toga asked, since he'd not heard this particular story.

Gin wondered if it would be possible to kill her brother over the phone.  "Nii-chan . . ."

"Sure.  I think the game's called, 'Show Me Yours, and I'll Show You Mine' . . ."

InuYasha growled and cracked his knuckles.  "I remember that pup," he remarked since this was the first he'd heard of it, too.  "I remember what he smelled like . . ."

"Papa!" Gin nearly whimpered, plotting a thousand bloody and painful demises for her deranged sibling.

"Aw, she was, what?  Five?" Ryomaru said in an effort to appease their father.

"I handled it.  He never came around to play with her again, did he?" Kichiro pointed out.

"Nii-chan—purple—painted hair!" Gin choked out.

That ended Kichiro's amusement.  Toga coughed.  "Ah, yes . . . the paint . . ."

"Now, now," Sierra said, patting her mate's arm.  "Kichiro looks really nice in . . . nail polish."

"Nail . . . what?" InuYasha growled, eyes flashing wide then narrowing as he glanced around the room.

"How did you—? I mean, I never—" Kichiro began.

"Bellaniece sent me pictures," Gin piped up, more than happy to pass on the embarrassed ridicule to someone else.

"She . . . what?"

Nezumi laughed.  "Nothing to be ashamed of, Kich . . . it was a really nice shade . . . I'd never wear it, myself, but, well . . . It looked . . . great . . . on you."

"Balls, Kich, I thought you said you wasn't gay," Ryomaru grumbled.

"I'm not—damn it.  I take it you shared whatever pictures you got your paws on, baby girl?"

Gin giggled, her flush subsiding with the passing of her position on the hot seat.  "I only sent them to Nezumi-chan, and Zelig-sensei, of course."

"I showed them to Ryomaru," Nezumi admitted.

"I thought Toga'd get a kick out of them," Ryomaru put in.

Toga chuckled.  "You ought to know by now, I tell Sierra everything . . . and I thought that the tai-youkai should be informed of your activities in the States."

"Well, hell . . ." Kichiro grumbled.

"It would have matched your ceremonial clothes nicely," Kagura added.

"This Sesshoumaru knew that a baka like InuYasha should not have spawned . . ."

"What pictures?" InuYasha demanded.

"I want to see them," Kagome chimed in.

"Oh, well, I've still got them on my cell," Shippou added helpfully, leaning forward to dig his cell phone out of his back pocket.

"That's okay, dear," Rin commented, holding up her cell phone.  "I have them on mine, too."  Seconds later, Rin handed the phone to Coral, who giggled and showed Cassidy before running over to hand the phone to Kagome.

"What a . . . lovely shade . . ." Kagome choked out.

InuYasha's ears and eyes twitched as he stared in horror at the device.  "Kami . . . I . . . Oh, balls!" he growled, snapping the phone closed and tossing it away as if it were the carrier of the Plague.

"InuYasha!  That's not a nice expression!" Kagome scolded, cheeks reddening.

"Yeah, well, I can't for the life of me figure out how he came out of mine, wench."

"Damn it," Kichiro cut in.  "I hate you all."

The line went dead.  Sierra and Nezumi were the first to break into giggles.  Ryomaru snorted loudly.  Toga sniggered while Shippou laughed outright.  Cain looked distinctly like he was choking.  Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes while Kagura covered her mouth.  Kagome heaved a sigh and closed her eyes.  InuYasha continued to glower at the gathering.  Coral asked what everyone was laughing at.  Cassidy climbed into Sesshoumaru's lap and whispered something in his ear that was lost in the chaotic din.  Gin could only be thankful that she was no longer the center of attention.

Kagome wandered back into the living room with a cream colored fine linen envelope in her hand.  She dropped it into Gin's lap in passing.  Gin glanced up at her mother and shook her head slightly.  "Here, Mama.  You dropped this."

Kagome laughed as she sank down in the chair beside her daughter.  "I didn't."

"But it's addressed to you."

"It is, but we're not using it.  I thought maybe you'd like to go."

Gin frowned and turned the envelope over in her hands.  "The Tokyo Fine Arts Commission?"

InuYasha rolled his eyes.  "Kami, not one of those again," he grumbled.  "I don't care what you say, wench, I'm not going."

Kagome wrinkled her nose.  "I know," she told him.  "That's why I gave the invitation to Gin.  That way the family's still represented."

Sesshoumaru nodded.  "Good . . . That means I don't have to go, either."

"Arts Commission?" Nezumi asked.

"Don't even think about it, Nez.  I'd be dead before you'd catch me there," Ryomaru growled.

"Toga and Sierra were going to go," Kagome explained, "but Sierra didn't feel like standing around for that long, not that I blame her."

"Oh, wow!" Gin exclaimed softly, staring at the embossed invitation.  "I can go?  Really?"

InuYasha snorted.  "Yeah, it ain't all it's cracked up to be.  Fucking stupid, if you ask me . . ."

"Who's exhibit?" Cain asked.

"L'amont Pierre," Gin read then gasped, waving the invitation around.  "Oh!  Really?  Oh, I love his work!  Really, really, Mama?  I can have this?"

Kagome laughed.  "Sure, you can.  It seemed like something you'd enjoy."  She cast Cain a speculative look.  "Maybe you can talk your teacher into going with you?"

Cain shrugged.  "Yeah, sure.  I know him.  He's a real . . . He's interesting."

InuYasha stomped over and snatched the invitation, scowling as he read it.  "Yeah, not for me," he decided, handing it back to his daughter.

Gin squealed happily and hopped to her feet to hug her father.  "This is so exciting!  I've never been to one of these before, and L'amont-san is so good!"

"Didn't you write him a few letters, Gin?" Kagome asked as Gin sat back down.

"Yeah, but I never mailed them," she admitted.  "Do you think I'll be able to talk to him?"

Kagome shrugged.  "The artist normally attends, so maybe you will.  You'll have to get a nice dress."

Gin shook her head.  "I've got something that'd be perfect, I think . . . I can't believe I'm going to meet the L'amont Pierre!"

"When's the exhibit?" Cain asked, raising his voice to be heard over Gin's squealing.

"Friday night," Kagome told him.  "Is something wrong, Zelig-san?"

Cain's irritated expression blanked, and he shook his head.  "Nope, not a thing, and just 'Cain' is fine."

"I can think of a few more names that would be just peachy," InuYasha grumbled.

"InuYasha!" Kagome gasped.

"What'd I say?" InuYasha demanded.

"I can't wait!" Gin gushed.  "A real art opening!"

InuYasha snorted.  "I'm warning you, baby girl, those things are pointless and stupid . . . right up your uncle's alley."

Sesshoumaru stood up, rolling his eyes before casting InuYasha a bored stare.  "Come, Kagura.  I've suffered in the presence of ignorance long enough for one day."

Gin stood up and quickly kissed her mother and father since Sesshoumaru had offered to drive Cain and her back to their apartment building.  "Bye, Mama; bye, Papa.  Thanks for dinner!"

"Happy birthday, Gin," Kagome called after them.

Gin smiled as she hurried toward the door behind her aunt and uncle.  Embarrassment aside, she had to admit that the surprise of the art opening made it all worthwhile.