InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 5: Phantasm ❯ Green Eyed Monster ( Chapter 13 )

~~Chapter 13~~

~Green-Eyed Monster~

 

Bas glanced up over the top of his menu as Sydnie tapped her claws on the Formica tabletop. “Let me guess . . . the colors of the place offend you?” he asked quizzically, lifting an eyebrow as he dropped the laminated menu onto the table with a dull thump.

 

“Maybe,” she said mulishly, idly turning her hand in front of her face as she inspected her claws.

 

He stifled a sigh. “Let's see . . . the first place smelled bad—”

 

“It did.”

 

“The second place was too loud—”

 

“It was.”

 

“The last place felt dirty—”

 

“Did you touch the table, pretty boy?”

 

“It's got to be the colors here.”

 

“That's as good a reason as any,” she agreed, grabbing her purse and slipping out of the booth.

 

“Sydnie.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I'm hungry.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I want to eat.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I don't care where.”

 

“Then let's go. The sooner we leave; the sooner you can eat.”

 

He heaved a sigh and stood up, deciding that the battle was not worth the war. “Come on.”

 

She followed him out of the restaurant and rubbed her arms when they stepped outside. It wasn't cold, but it was cooler than she was probably accustomed to. She'd refused to wear one of his sweatshirts, though, and at the moment, he was hard pressed not to point that out to her.

 

He scanned the street with a scowl on his face and shook his head as he shot her a quick glance. “You know, Sydnie, I don't think there's much left in the way of restaurants,” he complained.

 

She wrinkled her nose and pointed down the street at a small neon sign that glowed in the semi-darkness. “We haven't tried that place,” she told him.

 

Staring at the blinking pink light of the tired neon sign, he stifled a sigh and nodded. “All right,” he agreed slowly since he hadn't really wanted to try the dingy-looking diner. If she had complaints about the other places, did he really believe that she wouldn't have a list of them about that one? He grabbed her hand and tugged. “Come on.”

 

She followed him without complaint, and she didn't try to pull her hand away from him, either.

 

Pausing with his hand on the metal handle on the plate glass door, Bas stared at Sydnie. “I'm really hungry, cat,” he warned.

 

“Sucks to be hanyou?” she teased, arching a delicate eyebrow.

 

“I don't eat just because I'm hanyou,” he grumbled, jerking the door open and waiting for Sydnie to step inside. “I like food.”

 

“How does that work?” she asked, caught off on a tangent at the mention of his being hanyou.

 

“What do you mean, how does that work?” he countered as Sydnie slipped into a booth in the corner furthest away from the door.

 

She shrugged and crossed her arms on the table top, leaning forward as she shot him a toothy grin. “I mean, you don't look hanyou. Do you become human once a month?”

 

He grabbed a menu from behind the napkin holder and snorted. “Pfft! No.”

 

“Hanyous do, don't they?”

 

“I said I'm technically a hanyou.”

 

“Technically?”

 

“Yes, technically.”

 

“Okay . . .”

 

He sighed, dropping the menu onto the table and slumping back as he carefully studied her expression. She looked vaguely amused and even a little confused. He grinned slightly. “Basically, I can't take an energy form, and I can't transform into a dog, either. Other than that . . .”

 

“So you never become human?”

 

“I used to,” he allowed. “That stopped when I was thirteen.”

 

“Puberty?” she asked, both eyebrows disappearing under her auburn hair.

 

His face reddened, and he smiled nervously. “I guess so.”

 

“That seems odd.”

 

He shrugged. “My uncle thinks it is because pups have more of their mother's blood than their father's, and apparently that changes when one reaches puberty, as you so blithely put it. That's the theory, anyway.”

 

“Your uncle?”

 

“Uncle . . . brother-in-law . . . depends on who you ask . . .”

 

“How so?”

 

He grimaced, having not intended to talk about his strange familial ties. “Ehh . . . Dad was married long before Mom, and he had a daughter—my half-sister. Anyway, my sister married my mother's brother—my uncle—and completely screwed up my family tree.”

 

Sydnie looked like she was trying not to laugh. “That's a little messed up.”

 

“A little?” he echoed with an incredulous snort. “My first grade teacher called my parents. She thought I was being lazy on the assignment to make a family tree when the branches crossed over.”

 

“She called your parents?”

 

He sighed. “Dad made Mom explain it. He said it was entirely her fault for having an ass-monkey for a brother.”

 

Sydnie's lip twitched. “An . . . ass . . . monkey . . .?”

 

Bas scowled thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever heard Dad call my uncle by name. It's always `the ass-monkey' or `Dr. Fill-in-the-blank' . . .”

 

She shook her head. Bas chuckled. “Dad never uses the same adjective twice when describing my sister's mate.”

 

“Oh, my . . .”

 

“What can I get y'all?”

 

Bas blinked and glanced up at the waitress as she snapped her Winterfresh gum and tapped the chewed end of an ink pen against the small order pad. Reeking of way too much musky perfume and the unpleasant odor of Aqua Net hairspray, she patted the back of her very bouffant brassy blonde hair and shot him an obnoxiously orangey-red, very toothy smile.

 

“Oh, uh . . . do you have any specials?”

 

“SOS, hun.”

 

Bas shook his head. “SOS?”

 

The toothy grin reappeared as she patted his shoulder in an entirely matronly way. “Shit on a Shingle, sugar. Sounds terrible, but it's the best in the south.”

 

He scowled at the description of the food under discussion, casting Sydnie a surreptitious glance and not surprised to find her with her arms crossed over her chest and a rather irritated look pinching her features. “I don't think—”

 

Sydnie scooted out of the booth and strode toward the door. Bas grimaced, digging a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and shoving it at the waitress for her trouble before hurrying after the perplexing feline. “Sydnie!” he called as he darted out of the diner.

 

She didn't stop walking, and she didn't look back. Bas heaved a frustrated sigh and sprinted down the sidewalk to intercept her. “Will you wait?” he bellowed, catching her arm and swinging her around to face him. “What now?”

 

The look she cast him said that she thought he ought to know exactly what was bothering her. Bas rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up at his sides as he shook his head and snorted. “Spit it out, cat! I don't feel like chasing you down tonight.”

 

Sydnie tapped her foot, jaw settling into a stubborn line as her eyes narrowed, and she glowered at the building off to the left. “She offended me,” she growled.

 

Bas blinked in surprise, caught off guard by Sydnie's haughty claim. “Who did?”

 

Sydnie wrinkled her nose. “That . . . that . . . that . . . floozy!” she fumed, waving her hand in the direction of the diner they'd just left. “Who do you think?”

 

“Floozy?” he echoed, shaking his head as he tried to comprehend just what Sydnie was so up in arms over. “Wha—?”

 

“She was all over you, if you didn't notice,” Sydnie spat, poking a finger into Bas' chest to emphasize her words. “All over you like—like—like . . .” She shook her head. “Like a fungus!”

 

“Fungus?”

 

“Yes, a fungus,” she went on, prowling back and forth as she crossed her arms over her chest then jerked her arms apart to plant her hands on her hips. “A mushroom or an algae . . . or whatever kind of fungus . . . toe jam . . . crotch rot . . . You know, you'd probably catch something from her, if you're not careful. Ever think of that, pretty boy?”

 

“But I didn't—”

 

“Oh, but you would have!” she spat, rounding on him and glaring up at him. “She was just nasty, puppy—nasty! How could you?”

 

“How could I what?” he sputtered, cheeks pinking as a moment of hurt flashed over her features.

 

“You let her touch you!”

 

“I didn't!” he protested, holding his hands up in a gesture of complete surrender.

 

“And the others? I suppose everyone's just all `touchy-feely' in the south?”

 

“Others?” he muttered then shook his head since he wasn't sure just what she was thinking. Bas caught her by the shoulders and grimaced. “Apparently, because I didn't—”

 

“Oh, right!”

 

“Sydnie!”

 

“Listen, puppy, I don't care what you do when you're alone, but as long as you're with me, you can keep your wandering eyes to yourself because if one more woman so much as touches you, I swear to God, I'll—”

 

“You're jealous,” he cut in quietly, hands dropping away from her as comprehension slowly dawned.

 

Her face paled as her mouth fell open seconds before color blossomed in her cheeks. “That's—I—you—Don't be ridiculous, pretty boy.”

 

Bas couldn't help the smug little smirk that surfaced on his face as he leaned back and stared at Sydnie. “Ridiculous, am I?”

 

She made a face. “Yes.”

 

“You are jealous!”

 

“I am not!”

 

“Oh? Then what would you call it, kitty?”

 

She blushed a little darker at the perceived endearment. “I . . . I . . . Possessive!”

 

“I don't see a difference,” he scoffed.

 

Sydnie waved a hand to shut him up. “There's a huge difference, puppy—huge.”

 

“Do tell.”

 

“I will.”

 

“I'm listening.”

 

“You're talking.”

 

“And you're trying to think of a difference.”

 

She narrowed her eyes at him, and for a moment, he thought maybe she was considering sharpening her claws on him. The idea made him chuckle. `As if she could . . .'

 

“I'm possessive,” she began. “Jealousy would mean that I like you.”

 

“Which you don't.”

 

“Of course I don't!”

 

“Okay,” he agreed, schooling his features to hide his amusement as he waited for more of her explanation. “I don't like you, either.”

 

She snapped her mouth closed on whatever she had been about to say and cast him an almost hesitant glance. “You . . . don't?”

 

He snorted. “Hell, no. Why would I?”

 

“G-good! Because I don't like you, either!”

 

“Already established. Go on.”

 

“With what?”

 

He shrugged. “Your definition of the differences between `possessive' and `jealous'.”

 

“Oh, that.”

 

“Yes, that.”

 

“Fine.”

 

He rolled his hand to hurry her along.

 

“Since you just had to force me out of LA, then I've decided that I own you.”

 

“Really.”

 

“Don't interrupt.”

 

He nodded and tried to affect a bored stance, leaning back against a mailbox, crossing his ankles and blanking his features accordingly.

 

“And since I own you, then that would mean that I possess you, right?”

 

He snorted.

 

Sydnie wasn't finished. Rubbing her hands together as though she were just getting started, she paced a few steps and snapped her fingers. “And to possess something—in this case, you—would make me the possessor, and would, in fact, mean that I am not, as you say, jealous. It means—as I said—that I am possess-ive.”

 

“Interesting,” he allowed. “Does that mean I . . . own . . . you?”

 

She wrinkled her nose. “No.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because, puppy . . . you dragged me out of LA . . . kitty-napped me, you might say.”

 

He almost laughed at the chagrined expression on her face. Clearing his throat, he bit back the urge to chuckle. “Incidentals, Sydnie. You say possessive; I say jealous.”

 

“But I'm not!” she argued.

 

Bas chuckled and grabbed her hand, dragging her back down the street toward the car. “Okay, fine; you're possessive, not jealous, and I'm starving, not hungry.”

 

“Where are we going?” she demanded, tugging on her hand but not trying very hard in her attempt to get away from him.

 

“I saw a little grocery store near the hotel.”

 

“Grocery store?”

 

He sighed. “We're out of options since the hotel doesn't have room service—unless you want to go back to one of the restaurants?”

 

She uttered a little hissing growl.

 

Bas laughed, unsure why Sydnie's jealousy made him so unaccountably happy. “I didn't figure you'd want to.”

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~ *~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

== == == == == == == == == ==

Reviewers

==========

MMorg

camintmier —— Rawben —— futekioosha —— WhisperingWolf —— trujinx —— inuyashaloverr —— naiobi —— OROsan0677 —— GgBg —— katgirlofthenight —— Inuyoukaimama —— Simonkal of Inuy

==========

Final Thought fromBas:

She … owns… me …?

==========

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Phantasm): 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~