InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reversal ❯ Dates of doom and other surprises ( Chapter 5 )

Reversal

 

Chapter Five: Dates of doom and other surprises

 

A/N: XsesshomaruX, am so glad I made you laugh! Your review made me sing a happy tune, and I will update often as long as my muse doesn't go off whoring and boozing again…the bastard!

 

They stared at each other, both red faced and angry for the better part of a minute. Kagome finally figured out which parts to cover and Sesshomaru wondered where her family kept the cutlery.

 

Sesshomaru licked his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, pointedly ignoring the feel of his pert breasts against his arms. Though he wondered if being mildly attracted to the body he was in was a form of narcissism or masochism. He shook his head hard enough to rattle his teeth, hoping that would somehow dislodge his wicked thoughts.

 

“You will explain what showering is to me. You will do it now,” he kept his voice steady, cool, and calm.

 

Kagome blinked at him, both hands still covering something he had seen so many times he almost laughed at her attempt at modesty.

 

“I…oh…well, showering is a way to get clean. Like a bath, only the water pours out of that,” she released herself to point at a strange metal object that was in a recess in the tiled wall.

 

“Are you suggesting that this Sesshomaru's body is dirty?”

 

Her cheeks were bright red and she shifted on her feet. “No! It's just that showers relax me. It has been a stressful day, Sesshomaru.”

 

He nodded. She was right about that. “And what, pray tell, is the `gun show'?”

 

The woman hanged her head. “I don't think I can explain it adequately, Sesshomaru. I'm sorry. I was just…um…well…you have nice arms. That was a way of saying you have nice arms.”

 

Sesshomaru smirked. “Of course I do, however, no one said you could ogle them.”

 

Gaze snapping to his, her lips drew back from her teeth.

 

“I was not ogling! I was just trying to see where else you might have had stripes!”

 

He watched in horrified bemusement as her hands flew to her mouth, then back to her crotch, then back to her mouth again.

 

“Woman, you need not cover yourself. I assure you, I'm quite familiar with my own body.”

 

She laughed and plucked a long strip of cloth from a metal hanger on the wall and wrapped it around her waist.

 

“Okay. How bout you take your clothes off then?”

 

Sesshomaru did not care for the direction this conversation was headed. He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

 

She shrugged. “To prove a point. You said it yourself. Besides, you stink and need a bath. Go ahead. We'll just take a shower together, conserve water. No need to be modest, right?”

 

The wench was toying with him. It was a contest of wills, and he would not be beaten. In one forceful movement, he jerked the woman's bizarre kimono top over his head and threw it to the floor. His breasts were covered by some strange thing made of lace and wire. He poked it. Pulled on it, but could not seem to get it off.

 

“No, no, no. Here,” the woman said, her hands going between his breasts. With a little click, the lacy thing fell away.

 

He stared. The woman rapped him over the head with her knuckles. “No ogling!”

 

The thrice-damned bitch was chuckling, but then her laughter died and she made a funny, strangled sound in the back of her throat.

 

“Oh…oh, this is too weird. I think I'm going to throw up. Look, screw the shower. You need to sleep, and I need to do some more research.”

 

“Screw the shower? How much more perverse can you be, wench?”

 

She stamped her foot. “That's not what I meant! Just go to bed, Sesshomaru.”

 

The door creaked and the bitch's mother poked her head in. Kagome shrieked, tripped over her own feet and fell into the shower. Her mother went pale, then flushed, mumbled something about Kagome needing a `great deal of therapy', and slammed the door.

 

 

#

 

It was three in the morning and Kagome was not the least bit tired. Man, she thought, if I had Sesshomaru's stamina, I bet I wouldn't fall behind in school!

 

Then she resolved to never use the words Sesshomaru and stamina in the same sentence again.

 

Google had not turned up one result that was usable, well not so far. She had three links left, and none of them looked promising. Oh, she had clicked them all, even the ones that she was fairly certain contained nothing but depraved smut. She did not want to miss anything.

 

She was half tempted not to click the link for “Bare Assests Inc.”. It screamed dirty, bad things. But, it was now the last link left. Kagome clicked.

 

It was for a strip club in Chicago, a city in America. She was pleasantly surprised to note that the website was tastefully done…for a strip club. She frowned at the page. She had taken English in school some years ago, but she did not remember much. She wished her curiosity would leave her alone, but she had to know what the site said.

 

She bookmarked the site and resolved to find someone who could translate it for her and who would not humiliate her once they saw what the website was for.

 

Her head was spinning. How can I even go outside looking like this? Sesshomaru, she admitted grudgingly to herself, was hot…for a demon, but if she went traipsing about modern day Tokyo, people would think she was a freak.

 

Leaning back in the computer chair, she sighed. Her gaze rested on her little desk calendar.

 

“Oh no…” she whispered.

 

In two days she had a math exam. An important one. She remembered the words of her professor well. `Miss this exam, Hirugashi, fail the course. Fail the course…no graduation.”

 

And it just got worse. There was another date, circled, right after the date of the exam. A very special day that happened once a month. She usually went home that week because Inuyasha seemed…unusually unsettled by her monthly visitor, and well, who wants to go gallivanting around feudal Japan whilst on the rag?

 

“Sesshomaru…” she breathed. He was not going to like that at all. The thought of Sesshomaru with PMS, cramps, and bloating was bad. The thought of explaining tampons to Sesshomaru was so horrific, she considered letting him have Toukijin so that he really could go ahead and kill them both.

 

For a sadistic moment, she considered not telling him. Let the jerk find out the hard way, she thought with a twisted, little smirk. Men! They should all have to go through this, maybe then they'd be more understanding!

 

She giggled. Yes, that was a good idea. She half wished that it had been her and Inuyasha that had switched bodies. He was always giving her a hard time about her period.

 

Kagome looked at Sesshomaru as he slept on her bed. His brow was furrowed, one hand curled under his chin. The skin under his eye twitched every so often. She sighed.

 

No, she could not be that mean. In fact, she resolved, I'm going to be super nice to him. I'll buy him some chocolate and Midol…maybe even rent a chick flick or two. I know! Chocolate ice cream. That cures everything!

 

She jotted down the items to smooth Sesshomaru's transition to womanhood on a small scrap of paper and hoped her mom was not too pissed to pick those things up for her.

 

Kagome nodded, pleased with herself. After all, maybe the demon lord would not be so inclined for revenge if she was nice to him. She imagined how mad he would be if she said nothing, or worse, teased him unmercifully. He would get his body back and cut her into a million, tiny pieces…then he would probably make Inuyasha eat said pieces. She shivered. Nice. She was going to be nice from now on.

 

“Now,” she said. “What to do about that stupid exam?”

Obviously, Sesshomaru was going to have go and take it.

 

#

 

He decided that he was having a really, wonderful dream.

 

Sesshomaru had not really done more than lightly nap in about fifty years. He was a powerful taiyoukai! Sleep was for lesser beings. So, to that affect, he had not dreamed in about that long either.

 

The dream started out as most dreams do, hazy and nonsensical. Then he found himself alone with a beautiful woman. That was always a good sign.

 

Peeking up at him through sooty eyelashes, she smiled and opened her kimono just enough that he could see the swell of her creamy breasts. She bade him to touch them. He did. It was nice.

 

Then, much to his dismay, she growled at him and began beating him over the head while screaming, “Pervert!” over and over again.

 

Sesshomaru was awake. Kagome was rapping him over the head with one hand, gripping his wrist with the other, teeth bared, eyes bleeding to red.

 

“What are you doing?” He asked, feeling crankier than when he had gone to sleep.

 

“I'd ask you the same thing, pervert!”

 

“This Sesshomaru is not a-“

 

She gave him a light slap, silencing him. “Yes you are! You were groping yourself! Those, are mine!” she pointed to his breasts, and much to his humiliation, he found that he was indeed, groping them with one hand.

 

He glared at the offending appendage as if his look alone could make it disappear.

 

The wench rubbed her face and sighed. “Look, I'm sorry I hit you. Must be all this testosterone. Makes me feel all aggressive. Anyway,” she rambled on, leaving Sesshomaru to wonder what in the hell testosterone was.

 

She sat on the edge of the bed, face serious. Sesshomaru braced himself.

 

“Sesshomaru…there are some things you need to know. You are not going to like this.” She paused, he assumed, for dramatic effect. “Know anything about a woman's monthly…er…cycle?”

 

“Of course I do!” he snapped. Really, this woman had no idea who she was talking to!

 

“Well, you get to experience it first hand…any day now. Oh. One more question. Are you good at math?”

 

He blinked. “What does math have to do with a woman's moon blood, you idiot?”

 

She sighed. “Just answer the damn question.”

 

“I suppose my skills at ciphering are adequate.”

 

 

 

Kagome groaned. “Well, they're going to have to do. I have one college entrance exam left. Math. In two days. You have to take it.”

 

“No.”

 

“What?”

 

He knew the wench's hearing was fine. There was no need for repetition. She stared at him. He stared back.

 

She shoved a small box in his face. “Fine. Then you can deal with your period all by yourself.”

 

Sesshomaru took the box from her, opened it, and withdrew a small, white cylinder. “What is this?”

 

Kagome smiled, but it was not a friendly smile. “That, is a tampon. You'll need that in a couple days. Good luck figuring it out. I had to have my mother help me put my first one in.”

 

That got his attention. Again, he felt his pathetic human heart speed up. He knew Kagome could hear it, smell his anxiety. That just made him more anxious. “In? In where?”

 

“You,” she said as if that explained everything.

 

Sesshomaru decided that fate was cruel. He had always suspected that it was, but now he knew for sure. He swallowed audibly and wished his pride a nice journey. Apparently, he had no use for it anymore.

 

“When did you say this `exam' was?”

 

#

 

 

Sesshomaru blearily rubbed his eyes. He had been `studying' for the better part of five hours. With a disgusted huff, he shoved three text books to the floor, then kicked them.

 

He felt terrible. His abdomen hurt, his head hurt, his breasts…the same ones he simply refused to acknowledge any longer, hurt.

 

Kagome peeked her head around the corner, her mouth full of something. Sesshomaru's stomach rumbled painfully. He looked up at the woman in a near desperate state. He felt like weeping, or screaming…perhaps both.

 

“Hey…you all right?” she asked after swallowing her mouthful of food.

 

“No,” he replied glumly, turning away from her when he felt tears prick his eyes. “I'm not.”

 

Damned tears again! He was relieved however, that this body was nearing its moon cycle. That would certainly explain his state of near constant hysteria. Not that it made him feel any better about it.

 

“Forget the studying for a while. Come downstairs with me. I have ice cream!”

 

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. He did not trust the wench. He was not certain what `ice cream' was, but he wondered if it was some sort of code word for more emotional blackmail.

 

His stomach betrayed him and growled noisily. He grimaced.

 

“Aw! I'm sorry! I bet you're hungry! Look, mom picked up some ice cream and a movie.” She must have taken his blank expression as one of confusion, for she went on, “Ice cream is just frozen cow's milk with sugar in it. You'll love it, everyone does. And a movie is something you put into a another box, like the computer, only the pictures move and tell a story.”

 

“I have no desire to see those type of pictures move, wench.”

 

She had the audacity to laugh at him. “No, silly! You really think my mother would get a movie like that? No, this is just a nice, romantic, love story. One of my favorites!”

 

Reluctantly, he followed, but that was only because the idea of studying more actually hurt his brain.

 

#

 

“I don't understand this,” Sesshomaru said to her, cocking his head at the TV.

 

Kagome ground her teeth. He had not shut up once during the whole movie. Not one, damn time. Question after question, but she kept her cool and answered every one.

 

“What don't you understand, Sesshomaru? I think it is a pretty straightforward story, and I already told you I'd have to get you a book on how television sets work because I have no idea.” She wanted to add that Inuyasha had no problem understanding the simple plot, but she decided that was probably mean, and just sighed.

 

“The woman in the story is in love with a man who loves another woman. Yet, this dishonorable cur sees both women, yet she knows this, and continues to rut with him. Then, like a typically weak human, she laments her situation and cries all the time. Pathetic. Why does she not just find a more suitable male with which to rut?” His voice, surprisingly, was not tinged with malice or implied insult, Kagome could tell he was merely curious, but the question still bothered her.

 

Had she been in an introspective mood, she would have known a couple things. First, the reason the question bothered her. Second, the reason why she tended to watch this particular movie when she was home. But Kagome was not in the mood to examine her feelings. She got up from the floor and clicked off the television, ignoring Sesshomaru's questioning look.

 

“I don't know Sesshomaru. Maybe she thinks she can't do any better. Maybe she feels inadequate in some way, and thinks if she can just prove herself to him, prove how loyal and how much she loves him, how she would do anything for him, that he'll love her back the same way she loves him. Maybe she's convinced herself that fate demands that they be together, even if things aren't quite working out. Maybe she is so afraid to ever trust anyone again, that she clings to something that will never be because it is easier than giving up.” Her voice was soft, and she turned away from him so he could not see the pain in her eyes that she was sure that was there.

 

“So, the woman does not know her value. Humph. If she does not know it, how can anyone else?”

 

Kagome shrugged. “But she doesn't have that much value, don't you see? She's just an ordinary girl. No one special.”

 

“I think, wench…that you are reading far too much into this…'movie'. Is this how humans spend their time? Using computers and televisions to watch other people live the lives they wish they could?” He had a bemused tone in his voice, that arrogant coldness that made her want to say something mean enough to break through his shell. To hurt him.

 

Maybe if he felt some rejection and good old fashioned unrequited love he wouldn't be such an asshole. She thought, keeping her gaze trained on the television's black screen. She could see his reflection behind her, still sitting on the floor, running a finger around the inside of the now empty bowl of ice cream.

 

He stuck said finger in his mouth. “Have you any more ice cream?”

 

She whirled on him, suddenly furious. “You want to know why you don't understand the movie, Sesshomaru?”

 

He did not answer.

 

“Well, I'll tell you. You don't understand it because no one loves you, and you don't love anyone. You've never been hurt, maybe if you had, maybe if you opened yourself up to actually experience something instead of looking down your haughty nose at it, you would understand.”

 

Sesshomaru got to his feet, face void of any tangible emotion. Kagome thought it was strange to see her face like that. “Do not presume to tell this Sesshomaru how I feel.”

 

Kagome faced him, smirking. “Oh? So you do feel, then?”

 

“This Sesshomaru feels many things, bitch. Disgust, aggravation, annoyance. If you are asking if I feel love…why would I? Look what love has done to you. you are weak because of it. I have no desire to ever experience anything that makes me behave without honor. Besides, wench, I know my value.”

 

Kagome felt something inside her break. Something she was certain was integral to who she was, just crumble and fall apart. Like paper being burned from the center, she turned in on herself.

 

 

#

 

With smug satisfaction, Sesshomaru watched as his words sunk into the wench's thick skull. Her face fell, eyes filling with tears. Perhaps now she would see the truth of his words, and wipe that decidedly sappy, wistful look off her face.

 

Tears rolled down her cheeks, one after the other. “You're right, Sesshomaru. Of course, you are. You're always right, aren't you? Tell me, does it feel good to be right? Because I can tell you, it feels pretty bad to be wrong.”

 

Sesshomaru wanted to tell her that of course, it felt good, but he was not a liar. It did not feel good all the time, it felt empty, and making the wench cry was just another hollow victory that meant nothing. How had he shown honor to the woman who had just tried to help him? Unselfishly, too. Don't forget that one. You jerk. My but his inner voice was being surly today.

 

He mulled over his options. Ignore her. Insult her further until she became so angry, she forgot how hurt she was, or…apologize. Sesshomaru winced.

 

Well, he told himself matter-of-factly, after this is all over, I can kill her and no one need ever know. Sesshomaru ignored the funny, little twinge of guilt he felt at even thinking about loosing her head from her shoulders and took a deep breath.

 

“Wench…I mean…Kagome. This Sesshomaru apologizes for being…rude. You will continue your research, and I will go back to `studying' for this exam.”

 

There, that was not so bad. It had not been as humiliating as he suspected it might be. He looked up at her face, expecting to see a bright smile.

 

He was…shocked.

 

The woman was scowling. “Take your crap apology and shove it. At this point, I don't care if you take the damn test for me. I don't want to owe you anything anyway. Hopefully, I can find a solution soon, we can go back to our normal selves, and I never have to lay eyes on you again!”

 

With that, she stormed out of the room, leaving a befuddled Sesshomaru.

 

“Hmm. Perhaps I should have insulted her,” he said to himself, wondering if this meant that he would have to now discover the mystery of the tampon on his own.