InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Torrent ❯ Quiet ( Chapter 20 )

~~Chapter 20~~

~Quiet~

 

InuYasha stared at Kagome as she nursed the child in her arms. Something bothered her. He could feel it. He could almost smell it. In the seven weeks since he'd brought her back, he was starting to wonder if maybe he should have just stayed there with her instead. Why did she have such sadness, as though there was something that she was afraid to tell him?

 

She got up to put Tajiko in her bed for a nap. InuYasha stepped over to take the baby to her room. Kagome sank back down with a sigh. He only wished he could help her more, so she wouldn't be quite so tired.

 

He put her down in the quiet room, in no hurry as he stared at her. So tiny, so helpless, so precious to him that he couldn't think of words, he adored everything about her. She sighed softly. The sound brought a smile to his lips. `Tajiko is my heart,' he thought absently, `and Kagome . . . She's my soul.'

 

“Did my old man ever feel like this about me?”

 

“I know your mother had to have.”

 

InuYasha started. He hadn't realized that he had spoken aloud, and he hadn't heard Kagome follow him. Leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, she tried to smile at him. He held out his hand. She came to him and met his gaze for a moment before turning to stare down at the sleeping infant. “She's really something, isn't she?” he asked, draping an arm over Kagome's shoulders.

 

“She looks like you.”

 

“Keh! I'm not pretty! She definitely looks like you.”

 

Kagome flushed at his back-handed compliment and turned her head to look up at him. “When she turned human, she looked so much like you . . . it almost hurt to look at her.”

 

“Why?”

 

She shrugged, arms dropping away, shoulders slumping as she turned and left him in the room. InuYasha spared a second to kiss his sleeping daughter before giving chase. “Tell me what you meant, wench!”

 

Kneeling by the fire carefully stirring whatever it was she was cooking, Kagome studiously avoided his gaze. She sighed softly shook her head as she covered the pot again and set the utensils aside. “Because . . . I still missed you, even though . . . Well, I did; that's all.”

 

He sank down before her as she stared at her hands folded in her lap. “We've been over this, haven't we?”

 

He hadn't meant for his tone to be quite so sharp when he'd said that. As it was, her shoulders slumped just a little more and her chin dropped lower. “InuYasha?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

“What?”

 

He heard her swallow, heard her sigh. “When you've seen Kikyou . . . Have you and she . . .?” she trailed off. His gaze narrowed, suspicion dawning on him as she twisted her fingers around and around nervously.

 

He leaned forward, catching her wrist and dragging her toward him. “Have me and Kikyou what?”

 

Stubbornly refusing to look at him, he could smell the tears that gathered in her eyes as she stared at the flames under the simmering pot. “When you meet with her,” she whispered. “Have you ever---”

 

“What the fuck?” he growled, wrenching Kagome's arm slightly, trying to make her look at him. “What the hell are you asking?”

 

She jerked away, her hand rubbing the wrist she'd freed from him. She lifted her chin, stabbing him with a piercing glare as she hissed, “I'm asking if you've ever been with her!”

 

His mouth fell open in shock as he stared at her, trying to decide if she was being serious or not. She looked like she was. “No!” he bellowed, unable to control his anger. “What the----who----Where the fuck did that come from?”

 

Kagome recoiled, scooting away from him as he slammed his fist into the floor. “It doesn't matter,” she answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

 

He shot across the floor, grabbing her by the shoulders. She flinched. “It does matter! What are you thinking? You're my mate, not Kikyou!” He drew a deep breath, trying to control his emotions before he scared her more. “Kagome . . . don't you know? You're the only one I've ever wanted to have as my mate . . . the only one.”

 

“Because of your youkai?”

 

“My what?”

 

“Your youkai . . . Sesshoumaru said---”

 

“Is that what this is all about? Something that bastard of a brother of mine said? Kagome . . . no!” Drawing her into his arms, against his chest, InuYasha sighed. “What else did he say to you?”

 

Her breathing was ragged, tight. She buried her face in his haori, shaking her head as he smelled her tears again. “Nothing,” she replied. He flinched. He could tell she was lying. “Hold me?”

 

He did.

 

 

-8888888888888888888888888888888888-

 

 

“How does this work again?”

 

Kagome glanced up from the baby book she was filling in to stare at InuYasha as he turned the camcorder over in his hands, studying the device from all angles. Like an enthralled child, he pushed the buttons and seemed quite happy when the device's door opened, revealing the video tape inside. He closed the door and did it a few more times. Kagome couldn't hide her smile. Suddenly, InuYasha frowned as he stared at the lens, and his gaze shifted to lock with hers as his eyes ignited in suspicion. “And you're positive this won't hurt Tajiko?”

 

“You don't honestly think I'd do anything that would endanger her, do you?” she asked, her amusement at his behavior fading with his question.

 

“Keh!” he replied. “Not on purpose. Has anyone ever been hurt using one of these things?”

 

Kagome made a face. “No . . . not unless you count the bakas that do stupid things on purpose.”

 

Apparently satisfied with her answer, InuYasha set the camcorder down on the table and leaned his chin on Kagome's knee. “How about you put that up and pay some attention to me?”

 

Still a bit irritated by InuYasha's implication that she would do something that might endanger their daughter, Kagome pointedly shifted her legs away from him and kept working on the book.

 

“How long is your mother going to be gone?” he asked, giving up on getting Kagome to pay attention to him.

 

She sighed. “Till tomorrow sometime,” she replied. “You said it was okay. You gave permission before I did.”

 

He didn't miss the irritation in her tone. Her family had gone to see friends, and her mother had asked to take Tajiko with them. It was InuYasha who had approved the venture, much to Kagome's upset. Tajiko was the picture of health, and she was almost two months old now. Still, it was the first time that the baby was away from her, and Kagome didn't like it at all. Judging by the way InuYasha kept glancing at the telephone, he didn't like it, either.

 

“That thing will make a noise then, if there's trouble?” he asked grudgingly, pointing a clawed finger at the phone.

 

Kagome nodded. “Yeah, but---”

 

As though it knew that they were discussing it, said phone rang. InuYasha leaped to his feet, drawing Tetsusaiga and getting ready to slash. “No!” she hollered before he could inflict permanent damage. She nearly fell as she scrambled to grab the phone out from under the irate hanyou's nose. “Hello?”

 

“What's wrong with Tajiko?” InuYasha demanded. Kagome waved a hand at him to make him be quiet. “Kagome . . .”

 

Covering the receiver with one hand, she turned to InuYasha with a frown. “Shh! I can't hear!”

 

“Don't shush me, bitch! What's wrong with my pup?”

 

“Kagome? Is everything okay?”

 

“Hi, Mama, yeah, everything's fine. How's Tajiko?”

 

Mrs. Higurashi's next words were lost in InuYasha's tirade. “Is she hurt? Did something happen? Is Tajiko sick? What the hell is going on? Kagome!”

 

“Osuwari!” Kagome growled in frustration. InuYasha yelped as he hit the floor but at least it grew quiet so she could listen to her mother. “Is everything all right?”

 

“She's fine, Kagome. Taking a nap. I just thought you two would like to know she's safe.”

 

Kagome sighed but smiled. “Okay. Thanks, Mama. Be careful, and I'll see you tomorrow.”

 

She hung up the phone and turned back to face her very irritated mate. Up on his elbows, he was glaring at Kagome with the Evil-Look-of-Death. “Well?” he demanded in a snarl.

 

Kagome knelt down before him and pushed his hair out of his face. “Everything's fine,” she assured him. “I'm sorry I had to do that. I couldn't hear Mama.”

 

He pushed back from her, face buried in his arms. “It's completely wrong,” he remarked in a haughty tone, “to do this to your mate. You know that, right?”

 

“If you'd have been quiet, I wouldn't have done it,” she replied innocently.

 

“Keh!” he snorted, jerking away from her fingers. “I think you like saying that word, Kagome. That's a little twisted, wouldn't you say?”

 

She crawled forward on her hands and knees, reaching out to capture one of his ears. He started to pull away then stopped. “I don't enjoy doing any such thing,” she assured him. “If you'd have just listened and been quiet, I---”

 

“K-Kagome?”

 

She stopped and glanced down at him. “What?”

 

Then she realized. When she'd reached over him, she'd also presented him with a very good view of herself. The loose blouse she wore hung down, and with the v-neck, InuYasha was staring at her lace-covered breasts. She tried to sit back. He shifted his position and reached out to grab her. She skittered backward, catching herself on her hands and pushing with her feet. He advanced on her.

 

“Ever wonder what happens when I get sick of being at your mercy?” he asked, his tone lowering as he continued to crawl toward her. As if he wasn't fast enough on his own, she wasn't used to backpedaling like this, and she squealed as her hands missed. With a sharp exhalation, InuYasha landed on her.

 

“Oww,” she moaned after she finally got her breath back. “I think you broke something.”

 

Eyes alight with the burn of conquest, InuYasha grinned. “You'll live.”

 

“You're so thoughtless,” she shot back, her tone more bemused than she intended as he shifted on her, resting his weight against her in a very nice way. “Let me up. You're crushing me.”

 

“Wench. I'm not crushing anything.”

 

She pushed on his shoulders. He laughed at her inability to budge him. “This isn't comfortable.”

 

“Wanna bet?”

 

“InuYasha . . .”

 

“If you say `it', you'll be sorry.”

 

She made a face. “No, InuYasha. It's not that . . . I'm . . . well . . . leaking.”

 

“Huh?” Her eyes shifted downward. His gaze followed hers. Her blouse was dampening in wider circles around her nipples as her milk flowed. When his eyes met hers again, he looked alarmed, almost scared. He caught her hands and dragged her up. “I did break you!”

 

She laughed as she scampered to her feet to retrieve her breast pump. “No, I just need to pump.”

 

InuYasha sighed as obvious relief flooded through him. She grinned as she headed into the kitchen to use the breast pump.

 

Maybe having Tajiko with her mother for the night was a good thing, after all . . .

 

 

 

 

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A/N:

 

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