InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sleep Paralysis ❯ When Tables Have Turned ( Chapter 43 )

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

A/n: I've been having the sweet tooth from hell! Oh noz! :o! The world is bent on making me fat RIGHT before the baby comes *cries*. Oh well. *dances to Danzig*

Zetsuii: Ahhh, the weekend was suckage until four o'clock Sunday. After that, twas wonderful :). Bad, bad hormones...

Naiya Toshi: Ah, ah, I do get writers block. But usually I watch a little Inu, or read the manga, or read other fanfictions... it seems when I don't concentrate my head clears up. And usually, I have an idea of what I want to write... just I seem t have a hard time going about it. Ho hum. And even if your mind is a blank slate, if you feel that urge to write, just sit down and let those fingers do the talking. That's usually what happens to me. I only go word by word, and I usually have no idea what's happening in the chapter, and my mind always seems to pull it together somehow :). It's a gift. And thank you for your good wishes for me :>.

Kawaichan: Spanish teacher? Oh really? Can you do me a favor and write reviews in Spanish? I'm trying to teach myself because my hubby is spanish and his grandparents' english is not so awesome. As far as grammar, my dad is an english professor in a college, so he would drill me and drill me on correct typing skills and such since I was young. Ouii...

TriNeyce: I know! Where did all these blasted kids come from? They feel like the Scooby Gang XD. And Kagome definitely learned her lesson.

KariAngel100: Tis no problems. You were so polite, and not rude, I had to be nice and understanding. Besides, I did notice the nice little compliment posted at the end :3. I knew you meant it nicely.

Im Inuyashas Dirty Little Secret: The WHOLE thing O_o? Lol! I've read it all maybe... o-o... 5 times. But gosh, I gotta reread it again, so I don't loose track of where I'm going :x. Ah, the dangers of writing so many fics at once!

Ohmigosh, 43 chapters and still not done? This is taking forever, ain't it?

Lol, anyone complaining?

Luna-




Upon entering his abode, Sesshomaru mind quickly computed one of two observations.

One, his meticulously cared for house was in dissaray. Not to say, messy, in particular... simply, out-of-order.

A situation his rather compulsive tendacies happened to lean towards rather strongly.

Two, was that there was a pair of teenagers rather intimately entangled upon one another on his couch.

Now, as he usually may, he would have turned around and walked back out the door to the hospital. Yet, he realized with a rather self-suffering sigh, he would have encountered this same scenario.

Not only thus, he would have had to withstand bitching from a half-drugged otouto with demands on to why he hadn't been given his promised Wacdonalds feast as of yet.

Luckily, the houshi had apparently forgotten, so whimisically wrapped around a certain taijiya so he may not hear bitching on his end at the very least. And yet, they were ever so peacefully asleep.

He could take the opportunity, then, to get some measure of peace.

At the hospital, he had excused himself to the house, though he mentally noted the waste of taxi money as well as the gasoline in his car-which by no means was cheap- may not have been completely rational but entirely necessary under certain terms of sanity, after he had thoroughly bantered with Inuyasha upon returning from his coffee excursion.

Which, as it happened, had also been a means of escape from the same situation that was occuring on his couch.

As luck would have it, his house was big, and there were many avalible ways to not have to suffer the mushiness of others.

...there was plenty of rooms in which one may distract oneself.

He opted for his study.

In there, his business phone laid ever-so-innocently on his desk, lit up with what apparently was messages from the main office. Staring at the offending object, he toyed with the possibility of bypassing it altogether, but then there was also the inevitable case it might be an emergency.

He opened his phone reluctantly, and listened half-attentively to his voicemails.

"Taisho-san, it's Tomaru. Listen, a problem with the deal came up, and we need you to come in as early as possible tomorrow morn--"

Delete.

"Taisho-san, this is Hitomi. I wanted to let you know your important business lunch with Shiro Corp. has been rescheduled to today due to circumstances regarding--"

Delete.

"Sessho, it's your boss! Where the hell are you, you fuck up? Pick up the damn phone, I've called you four times in the past two hours--"

Indignant snort.

Delete, delete, delete.

Bitch, bitch, bitch.

Whine.

...apparently, the world could not turn without him, as was the fate of the ever-important Sesshomaru.

Sinking deeply into his leather chair, he leaned his face heavily into his palm, closing his eyes against the wave of fatigue that suddenly gripped him in an iron grasp. And while he was not one to slumber often, he found himself ever so tired from the night's events.

It could possibly have done with the fact he sent back a powerful demon to some plane that was not his own.

But that was only an educated guess.

Taking a deep breath slowly in, Sesshomaru never even remembered succumbing to the sleep his body so craved for...




Kagome turned wide eyes towards the TV that was currently whispering to them, a headline that passed having caught her eye. It was so random, if she had even blinked, not paid attention at all she would have missed it. But as fate would so have it, she had not.

"Wait, Inuyasha, hold on..."

Inuyasha grumbled at the loss of her warmth as she scrambled from the cot they were currently sharing, and she went to turn up the volume manually.

"You know, Kagome, the beautiful thing about these beds are they have their own remote..."

"Shush!" she all but snipped at him as if he were a caterwaulting five year old, and he grew glum.

"I was just saying..."

"Hush, please!"

He fell silent, and instead caved in to listening to whatever crap the news was spewing today.

What they spoke of caught him off guard, and he was completely unprepared for what the heavy make-up wearing woman had to say...

"...the eighteen year old identified as Kuroi Onigumo was found brutally murdered today in the Tenshi Park that was designed as a playground for children just this past year. He was found early this morning, around five thirty, with no clues as to what may have happened. As cause of death has not been determined, there is little chance on finding suspects. We will have more updates later today. This is Tenzawa Yuri, reporting live..."

Inuyasha shut the the television off.

And even as he did, Kagome stared up at the screen still, her body seeming to be frozen in place.

She was tense, apparently fragile... and he almost was afraid if he were to speak, she might break into a thousand pieces as if she were made of china...

But the insistent tugging at his heart, the concern that welled inside him for her did not permit him to remain a quiet bystander to her apparent agony...

"...Kags..." he said it softly, so as not to surprise her... yet she jumped as if ready to fly from her skin. She looked paranoid even, as if he had hollared at her.

Unseeing, dialated eyes landed upon him, looking frightened. She held her chest, breathing shallowly, and she seemed intimidated for a moment...

But slowly, slowly... the tension that laid in her muscles slowly melted away as her eyes focused upon him, recognition followed by relief flooding her face.

"...Inuyasha..." she breathed, so quietly, as if she were not expecting him to be there.

He gestured for her, his eyebrows coming together worry, pleading with his eyes for her to come to him.

She listened to his unspoken command, floating to him as if unreal, and crawling back into the bed next to him. She curled, silently, against his side and clung to him in desperation.

Inuyasha, found, that there were no words to speak to this.

What could it possibly mean that Naraku's human form had died?

In what way were they connected?

If he had merely possessed someone... was it...

...was it possible, perhaps, they had in fact killed a human?

When Sesshomaru sent Naraku back to the hellhole from whence he came, Inuyasha did not recall a body.

It probably would have been an obvious thing, laying there. Really, who could ignore a bloody, mangled corpse laying at their feet?

And there was absolutely no way, Inuyasha knew, that he would be forgetting anything about that night anytime soon.

Especially when it was still so fresh.

...he still hadn't slept.

And he knew... he was in for years of haunting nightmares, of how easily it all could have gone wrong.

In some part of his mind, he was still falling, still spiraling downwards with the thought of how he nearly lost Kagome.

...the scared girl who laid as still as death in his arms, as if moving might make all her worst fears come true.

And in all reality, Inuyasha nearly felt the same way.

He acutally would have, if not for the fact he held on to her so securely.

...and if not she been so warm and so very alive in his arms at the moment.

"Kagome."

She gave him a small, indistinct sound to let him know she was listening.

"...I'll never let him have you, I promise."

He felt her shift in the slightest against his body, burrowing into his side as deep as she may, as if she were attempting to hide.

"...and we'll get the jewel back, I swear it. You won't have to be alone."

For a while thereafter, he figured she would not answer him.

Indeed, she hadn't immediately...

But, after a whispering silence, she finally managed to say something of relevance, though he felt she may have forced the words...

...if only, for him to know the depth of her appreciation...

"...thank you, Inuyasha..."




Sesshomaru felt, as he woke, strangely out of place.

Wasn't there somewhere he had to be?

He sat up rigidly, shaking his wrist to right the watch there as easily as he could, and allowed his hazy eyes to focus on the hands that seemed so blurry.

10:30.

"Oh, shit!" he cursed suddenly, as was not his habit to be so uncouth, but he had fallen asleep for nearly three hours.

He had places to go, things to do, people to see, bitching to hear.

He had no time to rest.

...he had determined years ago he could sleep when he was dead.

Standing, he righted his wrinkled clothes that suddenly felt very dirty and stiff against his skin and he felt his nose wrinkle in the slightest.

Perhaps, it might have been better if he took a shower first.

Changed his clothes.

Had his umpteenth cup of coffee.

Stepping out of his office, he was running through the list of things he had to accomplish that day in order for everything to run smoothly... and it when he read it mentally, it was almost daunting.

Almost.

...nothing was impossible for him.

Call Tomaru, call Hitomi, check on Sango and Miroku and find a way for them to transport themselves so I can have my own car.

Taxis were too cramped.

Check on Inuyasha and Kagome, get Kagome home safely, make sure she is with Sango, run to the office, check in with the boss, have the business lunch.

Which, as always, would consist of food only rabbits could live on.

Really, one could not consider that a proper lunch.

...when did t-bones, or some other large pieces of red meat go out of style?

Sesshomaru felt his stomach rumble at the thought.

Perhaps he was hungry...

Eat. Sustain the human body. Digest. Create protein. Create energy with said protein. Move around a whole lot, burn the calories, become hungry once again, create waste accompanied by possible indigestion, and then repeat.

Yes...

...he was hungry.

He was rambling in his mind again, as he had a tenacity to do when he was.

Upon breathing through his nose, a tantalizing smell wafted into his brain and lodged itself firmly there. And then, refused to be ignored. In response, it seemed that the smell had made a phone call to his stomach, and his stomach pinched in urgency for him to locate the smell and promptly devour.

About facing, Sesshomaru made a beeline towards his kitchen, where he found a comically clad Miroku cooking what appeared to be breakfast. He was wearing a pink apron, the one he knew Inuyasha got him as a gag gift when Inuyasha had been 13, and upon it were the hand painted letters that read 'destruction man pwns the housewife'.

It was in reference to his name, and a play on it. Now, it was slightly funny- especially to see Miroku wearing it- but then it had been a source of major annoyance.

For a good long while, any occasion that called for the giving of gifts and Inuyasha giving those gifts prompted something pink and girly for Sesshomaru.

'You're just that pretty, Aniki!'

His words rang through his head, and unfortunately enough, the boy had been too young to kill at the time. Izayoi would always protect the boy, saying he was merely going through a 'phase', and his father would say Sesshomaru would have to set the example of proper behavior, being the eldest.

But, he always suspected that his Chichiue was just defending a source of hilarity at his son's expense.

Sighing dismally, and trying to forget just how pretty he was, he stared at Miroku's back for quite some time.

He worked there as if he belonged there, flipping eggs in the pan with chef-like accuracy, making sure nothing was burning and everything remained hot while he plated them quickly...

And as Sesshomaru did a mental tally of dishware in his head, he realized there were three.

Three. Three plates.

Blinking, he turned to the table.

Three. Three places.

Somewhere in the back of his starved-ridden mind tickled the inclinations of puppets and children's television shows.

He brushed off the suggestion his mind supplemented.

He, Taisho Sesshomaru, would never aliken himself to such things.

...starved or not.

Sniffing, he noted with a small amount of self-appraisal that he had far more dignity than that.

...yes.

Things settled, he returned to the dubious task before him.

Food.

"Oh, Sesshomaru, you're awake now?" there was a hint of mirth in the feminine voice that addressed him, tearing his attention from the ever-so-dire situation at hand.

He turned glazed eyes ever so slowly to Sango, who was wearing some of Kagome's old clothes. As the girl was of a slightly bigger build, they didn't seem to fit quite right he noticed, tight in all the wrong- or right, depending on the gender of who appraised her garments- places.

Sesshomaru sniffed, a twinge of embarrassment surfacing in his mind at the thought of being caught in the act of taking a nap.

"I was meditating."

"You were snoring," came Miroku's voice from behind him, and Sesshomaru had every inclination of punching him at that moment if not for the fact he had made himself so very useful.

He figured he would settle on a later punishment, degree of which settled solely on how delicious breakfast was.

Satisfied, he said nothing futher.

Sango's lips twitched, belying her contentment in his ever-so-obvious discomfort.

"Either way, why don't you sit down? Breakfast is almost ready."

Sesshomaru accepted the offer, and decided to make use of combating the subject of him being the entertainment for the morning.

So, ever so slyly, he questioned Sango noncomittally, "Sango, why is Miroku cooking and not you?"

To his displeasure, she did not looked mortified by the fact, or belittled in any way. She simply straight up announced, "Because I suck at cooking, that's why. And unless you want food poisoning, I suggest you be happy he did all the cooking."

Miroku's shoulders slumped in apparent dismay, and Sesshomaru caught the slight grumble of, "She couldn't even make toast..."

A spoon came flying at the back of his head, and he yelped.

"I told you! But you didn't listen to me, did you?! It's not my fault the toaster caught on fire..."

Sesshomaru's attention perked up, and he sent a slight glare at the two.

"My toaster did what?"

Sango gulped audibly, and Miroku made a hasty recovery.

"It's fine! We were able to put it out! The toaster still works!"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in disbelief, just for good measure.

Miroku held up a plate stacked full with toast as testament to the truth-unburnt and lightly buttered.

"See?"

Satisfied, Sesshomaru relieved the two of the parental death-glare he had been sending them, and they both immediately looked relieved as his face melted into abstract boredom.

Though, his mind was dancing the salsa with his stomach in the ever-traditional happy food dance.

Surprisingly enough, breakfast was absolutely out of the world good.

It consisted of pickles, rice with eggs, miso soup, leftover fish Miroku had apparently scavanged and spruced up, accompanied by the life-neccesity of coffee.

"Ittadakimasu!" was the simultaneous offering as everyone present instantly began to dig in.

Apparently, Sesshomaru had not been the only one starving.

...and it seemed that battles with raging demons and crazy energy using would make a person extremely hungry.

Sesshomaru, in the middle of his bowl of rice turned his eyes absently to the clock hanging in the kitchen.

10:53.

"The news is almost on. Would you turn on the television, Sango?"

Being the closest one, she relented, but as he asked she had looked up while being very thoroughly involved with her miso with extremely pitiful eyes.

She had been enjoying the food too.

With a sigh, she backed out from the table and went over to the corner of the kitchen and clicked on the tiny television, then proceeded to race back to the table and promptly began scarfing again in the most unlady like manner.

He probably wouldn't have noticed if he were still eating in the same fashion. But as it was, he had not been, for his eyes glued to the TV in his ritual watching of the news before work.

"Now, Shizukawa-san, I wouldn't say that this had become a standard in the Tokyo region of Japan."

"Tanaka-san, I would have to disagree! This most recent murder is proof of that. Tokyo is falling from being as safe as it once was, despite the efforts of our most hard-working police force. Can we get an update on the Kuroi Onigumo case, Tanaka-san?"

"Certainly, Shizukawa-san."

The male anchor rustled through his papers, the search a short and brief one as he pulled it up in front of his face and read from it as if only reading a script.

"As we had stated earlier, Shizukawa-san, it appears the boy was seventeen years old at time of death. His body was found at five thirty this morning, and unnamed sources have let us know the apparent cause of death though no offical claim has been made. The boy was disemboweled, with multiple lacerations on the body as well as mutiple punctures with what seemed to have been made with a large, blunt object. This degree of brutality is unheard of in the suburban area in which the body was found. The residents are frightened, wondering if they have a serial killer on their hands."

"Tanaka-san, while there is no proof of such, this would be cause for reasonable concern as no suspects have yet to be found..."

Three faces stared, blankly at the television as the anchors bickered light-heartedly back and forth about the story.

And the world did not return to focus until a glass randomly dropped upon the floor, shattering.

Somewhere, distantly in Sesshomaru's thoughts... he absently wondered if it was an omen to the troubles ahead.