InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Fruition ❯ General ( Chapter 42 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Ben scowled at the foot of the bed where he'd been summarily ordered to be for the last week and a half since he'd been released from the hospital.  For the briefest of moments, he considered getting up, at least to stretch his legs.  His chest wounds were all closed for the most part within a couple days, and the doctor had allowed him to go home with the instruction that he get plenty of rest for the next week or two.  Unfortunately for him, Charity had heard that order and had taken it upon herself to make sure that he did exactly that—much to his everlasting chagrin.

'At least she seems to be over that bout of self-loathing, don't you think?  So, she's redirected her attention onto you and your well-being.  That's okay, right?'

Ben snorted.  'Nope, not really,' he retorted dryly.  'Can't she focus on the girls or—or—or—?'

'It's because she loves you, and she wants you to be healthy again, and she's worried about your old ticker, and—'

'I get your point.  Shut up, will you?  Or wait, don't!  You can talk to her, right?  Tell her that I’m fine and that walking down to my office isn't going to hurt me, after all.'

'You're on your own, Ben.  It's also not going to hurt you to take it easy for another . . . week?  Week and a half?'

'. . . Fuck off.'

His youkai-voice laughed.  Ben made a face and tossed the blankets aside as he sat up slowly and started to shift his legs off of the side of the bed.

"Ben Philips, you'd better not be thinking about getting out of that bed!" Charity's voice echoed over the house intercom system.

Heaving a sigh as he dropped back against the mountain of pillows she's fluffed up, just for him, he made a face as he yanked the blankets back into place again.  "Wouldn't dream of it," he muttered, beyond irritated that she'd actually thought that he'd completely disregard her order—even though that was exactly what he was doing.

"I'll be up in a few minutes with your pain killer," she said.

He sighed again since it didn't matter how often he told her that he really didn't need those little white pills, either.  He felt pretty good, all things considered.  Okay, so his chest still ached a little, and if he moved the wrong way, he'd often suffer a sharp twinge here and there, but as long as he was mindful of it, it wasn't an issue.

'She's worse than a general,' he thought with an inward snort.  'I mean, seriously . . . I'm the head general, and I'm not as bad as she is . . .'

'Get over it, Ben.  She's fine, and you realize, right, that this is just the beginning.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'It means that, as your mate, you might as well get used to it.  Women always have the upper hand, and you might as well learn that now.'

'And just how does that work?' Ben scoffed.

'Because they have boobs, Ben, and because we like to see those boobs as often as possible.  Simple as that.'

He rolled his eyes and reached for the television remote.  All right, so his youkai-voice had a point.  It figured.

"Okay," Charity said, oblivious to Ben's thoughts as she breezed into the room with a tray of bland and dull food and his morning pill.  She set the tray on the nightstand before carefully helping him sit up, which earned her a very dry look that she completely missed since she was busy, re-fluffing the pillows and meticulously arranging them behind him again.  Then she reached for the tray, carefully balancing it on her lap.  "Take your pill, then I'll help you with your pudding."

"Pudding?" he echoed, making a face at the gloppy, yellowish stuff in the bowl.  "I don't like pudding."

"Oh, would you rather have more Jell-o?"

He snorted, pointedly ignoring the pill as he crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to look like a five-year-old.  "I want eggs and bacon and sausage, Charity," he pointed out calmly—maybe a little too calmly.  "I'm never going to recover if you don't give me real food."

She wrinkled her nose and picked up the pill to hold against his bottom lip.  "You've also been through a major trauma," she pointed out gently, "so your body's still healing.  The last thing you need is a bunch of harder-to-process stuff."

"Says who?" he demanded, careful to avoid actually opening his mouth far enough for her to slip the pill through.

"Kichiro-oji-chan," she replied smoothly.  "Now, open up and take your pill."

He grunted, but stubbornly refused to cooperate.

"Kichiro-oji-chan can go to—"

"Morning, Ben.  Charity said your injury looks a little inflamed, so I figured I'd take a look at it while I'm in town," Kichiro-oji-chan said as he swaggered into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Ben blurted, cursing his rotten luck that seemed to have everyone who could possibly bedevil him a little more, wandering into and out of his home.  In the course of a couple weeks, he'd lost complete control, hadn't he?

"Belle-chan wanted to do some shopping before we fly home," the hanyou doctor said as he stepped around the bed.  Charity stood up and handed the pill to her uncle.  "It's for pain," she explained.  "Can you get him to take it?"

Kichiro stared at the pill and shrugged.  "Well, he may not need it.  It's really up to him, Charity."

She wrinkled her nose and set the tray on his nightstand instead.  "I'm going to go say hi to Belle-oba-chan while you check him over."

"Coffee," Ben called after her as she headed out of the room.

"You have some herbal tea, there on your tray," she called back.

Ben heaved a sigh and scowled at Kichiro as he pulled up his shirt and waited.

Kichiro frowned thoughtfully as he gently prodded at the wound after removing the dressing that Charity had taped over his chest.  He didn't comment when Ben flinched as he pushed a little too hard on a particularly tender spot.  After what seemed like hours but was probably only seconds, he replaced the covering and gestured for Ben to sit up a little more so he could check the healing exit wounds on his back.

"They look good," Kichiro finally said as Ben flopped back against the pillows once more.  "I imagine they'll be sore for a while longer, but overall, I'd say you're good to go, as long as you take it easy."

"Tell that to the little general," Ben grumbled, reaching for the mug of tea that he really didn't want.

Kichiro chuckled.  "She's just concerned, of course, but yeah, I'll talk to her."

Ben sighed.  "I'm not used to all this lying around," he muttered, as though he felt like he needed to explain himself to the doctor.

Kichiro shrugged as he eyed the food, too.  "I'll, uh, talk to her about that, too," he said, flicking a claw at the tray.  "That just looks . . . disgusting."

"It is," Ben grumbled, making a face at the despised tea—and the pudding.

"I take it you don't really need these anymore, either," Kichiro went on, holding out the pill in the palm of his hand.

"I haven't needed those for days," he replied.

Kichiro nodded.  "Well, I'd say you should be able to resume your regular activities within reason.  I mean, it's not like you're going to go out and get into another fight or anything, are you?"

Shoving the blankets aside, Ben slowly got to his feet and snorted.  "Wasn't planning on it, no . . ."

Kichiro chuckled and strode into the bathroom to flush the pill down the toilet.  "Don't worry, Ben.  You get used to it."

Sparing Kichiro a questioning glance as he tugged his trousers on and worked the fastenings, he shook his head.  "Get used to what?"

"You'll get used to being babied, even if you don't want any such thing," he went on to explain.  "Besides, it has fringe benefits, so there's that, too."

Ben made a face as he pulled on a white cotton dress shirt.  "I know, and I appreciate her efforts.  I'm just tired of being in that bed and doing nothing all day."

Shouldering himself away from the bathroom doorway, Kichiro chuckled again as he started for the hall.  "I'll talk to her, Ben."

Letting out a deep breath as he watched the hanyou's retreat, Ben wondered how much resistance he'd face if he ventured down to the kitchen to find something more substantial than pudding . . .


Charity knocked lightly against the archway that led to Ben's office.  He glanced up shot her an almost wary kind of look as he sat back in the thickly cushioned chair.

"The architect sent over the blueprints for approval," she said, stepping over to the desk to hand him the large cardboard tube.  "He said to look them over and see if we agree with everything and to let him know because he'd like to break ground after the first."

"All right," he said, cutting through the tape to pop off the plastic lid.  "Come look these over with me."

"I can look at them when you're finished," she said, biting her lip as she stepped back away from the desk.

He frowned as he glanced up at her, only to sigh as he pulled off his glasses and set them on the blueprints that he hadn't quite gotten out of the tube yet.  "Charity, is this about me being out of bed?" he asked.

She shook her head and made a face, her hands twisting together in a decidedly nervous fashion.  "No," she said.  "I . . . I wasn't trying to be a pain," she admitted quietly.  "I just . . . Just wanted to make sure you healed properly . . ."

"You did," he insisted, rising from the chair and stepping around the desk.  He went to reach for her, but she stepped back again.  Staring at her for a long moment, he seemed to be trying to figure something out, and finally, he nodded vaguely, as though something made perfect sense to him as he leaned back against the desk and stuffed his hands into his pockets.  "All right," he relented with a deep breath.  "I'll go back to bed if that's what you want, but I'm taking some of this stuff with me," he said, jerking his head to indicate the accumulated files littering his desk.

She grimaced, scowling at the floor as she wrapped her arms around herself.  "That's . . . It's not that," she said, wishing for the world that she could put her thoughts into words.  Maybe it was simply the awful sense that, if she could just nurse him back to health, then that ugly feeling that she just wasn't the person that he thought she was might go away—the horrifying thought that he was going to wake up and realize that she . . .

"Then suppose you tell me what's bothering you?"

Forcing a bright smile, she quickly shook her head.  "It's nothing," she assured him.  "I-I don't want to bother you . . . I'm going to take the girls shopping.  They need a few things, and—"

He caught her wrist when she spun around to flee, tugging her gently back to him as he wrapped his arms around her and sighed.  "Talk to me, Cherry.  You were upset—rightfully so—when I kept things from you, right?  So don't do that to me.  Tell me what's bothering you?"

She shook her head stubbornly, pushed against him until he relented and let go.  "We won't be gone that long," she said with another smile.  "We can . . . can talk later, all right?"

"All right," he agreed slowly.  "Be careful."

She nodded as she hurried out of his office, rounding the corner before her smile faded, disappeared.  She rubbed her forehead, pausing in the foyer before opening the closet and retrieving the stroller and the girls' winter coats.

What Ben had said . . . But it was different, wasn't it?  This wasn't some kind of threat or anything like that.  This was her feelings—things that she had just come to realize recently—and those things?

There really wasn't a thing she could say to make those demons disappear . . .


Ben set the cell phone on the nightstand and reached for the remote to watch the nightly news.  He'd just gotten off the phone with Kyouhei, who had called to give him an update.  There wasn't any new information, but he'd said that they were expecting a special envoy from some youkai rumored to be in tight with Ian MacDonnough, so he'd call again after that.

'That's bad . . . If the MacDonnough really is getting involved . . .'

Ben rolled his eyes.  'The MacDonnough?  As if he ever would do anything so obvious.  He's the type that manipulates others into doing his dirty work.'

Even so, the idea that Ian MacDonnough would toss his lot in with the rebel faction might not be surprising, but it was telling, overall.  He wasn't the type to act without a good amount of deliberation, and God only knew what he'd been told already . . .

And yet, Sesshoumaru had adopted more of a sit back and wait mentality that Ben really did have to question.  It was a delicate balance, and he understood that.  As Inu no Taisho, Sesshoumaru really couldn't just rashly act without considering the consequences of that, too, but just how much longer was he willing to sit on his hands and do nothing?  Toga, too, had opted to follow his father's lead on the matter, which meant that the death toll around Hidekea's stronghold was growing steadily, but the idea of giving in and sending Ryomaru was just not a wise one, either, given the circumstances.

But still, Ben had to wonder, just how long they could afford to look the other way, because if they weren't careful, then the faction would have to realize that Sesshoumaru had found out about their little plot, and then . . .

'Kyouhei . . .'

Ben nodded slowly.  If something weren't done soon, just how long would Kyouhei be able to remain under the radar, so to speak?

"In world news, a rash of murders in and around the cities of Kitakyushu and Fukuoka in southern Japan has authorities stumped.  The cities, located a mere seventy-one-point-two miles from one another, have become a hotspot of fear as police are encouraging people not to travel anywhere alone, and locals are fearing the rise of a serial killer . . ."

Ben shut off the television and set the remote aside before reaching over to carefully draw Charity into his arms.  She didn't stir, but she did huddle against him in her sleep, and he sighed as his inner turmoil slowly ebbed away.  There was just something about her, wasn't there?  Something that calmed him, soothed him . . .

'Maybe, but you know, right?  She completely avoided that conversation you wanted to have with her, even after they got home from shopping . . .'

'I know.'

It made no sense, though, did it?  He'd thought about it all day, but he really wasn't any closer to having an actual answer than he did earlier.  Something really was bothering her, but he had a feeling that she really didn't intend to tell him, either . . . But why?

'It'd be so much simpler if I could just read her mind,' Ben thought with a sigh, frowning as he gently smoothed her hair back off of her face.  He had no idea just how to get her to tell him, and yet, he had a feeling that it was something big, at least, in her mind . . .

His youkai-voice sighed, too.  'It's probably a bad idea, really . . .'

'What?'

'Let me try . . . She hasn't replied to me in awhile, though, so I'm not sure she will . . . She hasn't answered me since the night you were shot, so . . .'

Ben's frown deepened.  A sudden trill of fear raced through him, and he pulled Charity a little closer.  She hadn't rejected him, this he could tell, but . . .

'Charity?  You can hear me; I know you can . . .'

A very weary sigh, almost more of a breath than a sound, came to him.

'Talk to me, can't you?  Just what's going on?  Why won't you answer?'

'I shouldn't, you know,' said the voice, and to Ben, it sounded like Charity, and yet, it didn't at the same time.  'It's something she needs to work through, and she's trying . . .'

'Okay, but let us help . . . There's a distance there, and it's . . .'

The voice sighed again.  'She's just afraid, and it's true that Ben really did help her when he said that he loved her, but somewhere deep down, she's afraid that he . . . That he won't . . . That he'll realize that she's some kind of monster, and—'

'That's ridiculous!' his youkai scoffed.  'She's no more a monster than I am!'

'I know that, and you know that, but she . . . You don't understand, do you?  Charity . . . She's never, ever in her life felt so much anger, so much hatred as she did that night, and she . . . She wanted to kill them, you know?  I'm not just saying that as a figure of speech—she really, truly wanted them to die in that moment . . .'

'And that's why she's scared,' his youkai concluded.  'Because she's never had a reason to feel like she had to kill in order to live . . . and she . . .'

'Can't you understand?  She'll be okay eventually, but right now . . .'

'How can I help her?' Ben interrupted.  'How can I make her see that she's not a monster—not anything but a woman who wanted to protect her family?'

'Oh, Ben . . . I don't know.  I don't know if you told her if she'd believe you or not.  She . . . She wants to, just like she wanted to believe her father when he told her the same thing, but sometimes, your mind can do far worse things to you than any other being could ever do.  She just needs to be reminded.  She just needs to believe . . .'

Ben sighed.  'Well, I'm open to suggestions on that.'

Her youkai didn't respond right away, and for a moment, Ben almost thought that it wasn't going to.  Finally, though, she sighed for the third time.  'I don't really know, either, but I almost wonder . . . If you took her back—back to where it all began for her—maybe she'd really hear you . . . maybe.'

'Where it all began?  What do you . . .?' Trailing off as a slow sense of understanding dawned on him, Ben nodded.  'You mean . . . You think I should take her back to see the one who trained her.  That's what you're saying?'

'He could reach her, I think.  After all, it was his words that helped her that night . . .'

'Take her . . . back to where it all began for her . . . To . . . To InuYasha . . .'