InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When Life Throws You Lemons ❯ Jiminie Crickets ( Chapter 2 )

Here's the full summary; I was just so psyched when I posted the first chapter that I forgot to add it… and put up a disclaimer…the list keeps going…

 

When Life Throws You Lemons (AU)

 

The once happy go lucky Kagome Higurashi is finding out, after a bad break up, that making it on your own is not as easy as she had originally hoped. Then, one rainy day in the streets of NYC, all of her `luck' changes when a can of beans throws her in to the arms of her `hero'. Unsure of who is really saving whom, things take a very unexpected turn that ends up changing the lives of all involved.

Tee-hee! So exciting!

 

 

Jiminy Crickets

 

Chapter 2

 

 

“Inuyasha! What took you so long you baka! I'm starving here! Jeez, I didn't think that it would take you 500 years just to get…” the little berating voice trailed off as the unfamiliar scent of an unfamiliar human reached his pert little nose. Not just a human: a female human, which wouldn't have been so strange if his “captor” actually associated with the female of any species.

 

Pushing the stool he was sitting on away from the bar style counter, the boy scampered off in the direction of the new smell. The scene he was met with stopped him in his tracks.

 

There was Inuyasha, drenched, with a look that rivaled the one he had given the-would-be pickpocket the first time he ever lay eyes on him. Add to that the equally drenched girl (who looked to be unconscious) he was carrying, and the fact that he was trying to blow his drooping bangs out of his eyes - which where crossed -while he glared for all he was worth at the offending pieces… You got yourself one damn funny scene, but before the boy could comment, Inuyasha turned his glower on him.

 

“Not a fucking word,” he snarled, then added, “go make yourself useful for once and grab me some towels.”

 

Not really inclined to piss off the already pissed off hanyou anymore he hurried off to do his bidding but not without some indignant muttering.

 

Kicking off his work boots he carried the still unconscious girl over into the living room, resisting the urge to just dump her on the sofa. Instead he stood there tapping his foot at the length of time it was taking the kit to grab a few stinking towels, while he scanned the room for an extra blanket or something. Failing to find anything of use he yelled to the boy.

 

“What the hell is taking you so long, Shippo?”

 

Just as he finished the sentence the boy stumbled around the corner, dropping the stack of towels he was carrying.

 

“Look what you made me do, baka!” he started grabbing them up once again. “I don't know how clean some of these are, but I brought the ones that didn't smell too bad.” He stated scrunching his nose up and thrusting the towels at him. “Since all of them were thrown in a basket unfolded, I didn't know which ones were clean and which ones still had your cooties all over them.”

 

He made an offering motion with his hands meaning for Inuyasha to take the load.

 

“My hands are a little full if you haven't noticed. Now stop complaining and help me out here.”

 

Only slightly miffed at the jab made towards the cleanliness of the towels he didn't miss the opportunity to kick the runt in the head using the girls sneaker clad feet as his weapon of choice when he walked by.

 

“Jerk,” was what he got in return; he grinned.

 

Turning his attention back to the still unconscious girl in his arms he told Shippo to lay one off the towels down on the sofa before he lay the girl down. Then he ordered him to put one over the throw pillow, which earned him an incredulous stare.

 

“Don't you remember when I brought you here! You almost cost me my hair because you had such a bad case of lice! I ain't taking no chances.”

 

`That killed whatever the brat had to say.' Inuyasha snickered inwardly.

 

Shippo did as he was told with a slight frown and a slight pinking of the cheeks.

 

“So, what happened to her? Did you scare her senseless with your ugly mug or did you find her that way?” he quipped.

 

“I'll give you an ugly mug if you don't shut the hell up, Shippo.” He growled as he swiped at him and missed, while his own cheeks heated up a little at the realization that it was entirely possible that that had been the case.

 

“I found her like this,” he grumbled.

 

“Where?”

 

“On the sidewalk.”

 

“She was just lying on the sidewalk and you decided to be a `Good Samaritan' and just pick her up and bring her back to your place? Yeah right. You walk by passed out people all the time Inuyasha, I've seen you do it.”

 

“Well I did, so drop it all ready.”

 

“Whatever,” he would find out what really happened soon enough, after the girl woke up.

 

`I am so looking forward to that,' he smirked. Inuyasha was too busy looking uncomfortable, and awkwardly trying to dab at the wet girl in the most un-invasive way possible to notice it.

 

“Take off her shoes and socks, then wrap her feet up,” he paused. “Then you can take off her jacket thing, and get a blanket to cover her.”

 

“Shouldn't we take all of her clothes off and then wrap her up in a blanket? She's just going to get the blanket wet if we do it that way. Plus, I'm too small to hold her up and take off her jacket at the same time, you do it, you're stronger.”

 

“Flattery ain't gettin' you no where kid,” he stated, although he did push him aside and began tugging the zipper downward with a gulp, and the brightening of his cheeks.

 

A few seconds later - with the zipper almost at the bottom - his cheek acquired a noticeably darker shade in the shape of a handprint.

 

Too stunned to move he continued to kneel there and stare.

 

`What the hell? She's not even awake?' he thought incredulously.

 

Shippo tittered in the background and the girl groaned, bring her stinging palm to her forehead.

 

“Ow,” she muttered, her eyelids fluttering as she tried to open them to inspect the wounded appendage.

 

“Ow? You're saying `Ow'? I'm the one who got slapped in the face!” the voice beside her shouted.

 

Startled, scared, and disoriented she gasped, threw her hands over her head and rolled away from the noise… or that was her intention. What she really ended up doing was smacking the dumbfounded hanyou a second time - this time in the nose -then managed to push herself off the sofa and land on top of the noise maker. Who was currently wheezing an interesting array of swear words while he pushed her off of him.

 

Her breath caught for the second time that day as she was forced to stare into a pair of blazing molten eyes and at a face framed by the silvery trademark hair of the Inutaishos.

 

Eyes growing incredibly wide as confusion and fear ran ramped through her mind.

 

Confused as to where she was and why she was staring into a face that could easily be that of her ex-boyfriend, and deathly afraid that she finally went over the edge and was actually seeing things. Not to mention the fierce glower the impostor was shooting her would definitely be found under “if looks could kill.”

 

Now, breathing hard, she scrambled away as fast as she could until the sofa hindered her progress. Drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them painfully tight, she ducked her head so only her wild eyes peeked up from under the fringe of wet bangs.

 

“Who are you?” she whispered shakily, panic evident in her voice.

 

Inuyasha, along with Shippo, were both speechless, faces mirroring one another.

 

“Inuyasha…what did you do to her?” Shippo breathed before he snapped his round eyes back to the hanyou in question.

 

“It was your ugly mug wasn't it! She didn't freak out til' she got a good look at you!” he accused as he started his way over to the cowering girl.

 

“Don't worry Miss, Mutt-Face won't hurt you, right Mutt-Face?” the kit emphasized with a meaningful glare.

 

“Keh!” was all he got as Inuyasha finally found his mobility and got up. Crossing his arms over his chest he walked around the sofa then leaned on it with his back turned to the two other occupants, frown in place.

 

Shippo shot him another glare before he returned his focus on the frightened girl.

 

“It's ok,” he approached her slowly. “I'm Shippo, and that is Inuyasha,” he gestured to himself then to the sulking form behind the coach. “He's really grumpy,” he confided behind his hand, although it was loud enough to be heard.

 

“So…what's your name?”

 

It took her a few seconds to find her voice.

 

“I'm Higurashi, Kagome. Pleased to meet you,” she stated automatically, sticking her hand out in formal greeting. Still pretty dazed she didn't think about how strange the ingrained action seemed under the circumstances.

 

Shippo paused for a fraction of a second before a bright smile took over, and he took her hand in his smaller one.

 

“Nice to meet you too, Kagome!” The statement and enthusiastic handshake was enough to break through some of the crazy fog that decided to replace her brain.

 

“At least someone has manners around here,” he said, grinning when he heard Inuyasha's growl while his ear gave a twitch.

 

“So why did you faint? Do you remember? Inuyasha didn't hurt you did he?”

 

“Feh! Like I'd hurt a weak little human wench like her, and why don't you can it with all your little comments twerp, before I really give you something to comment on,” he threatened with a glower from the corner of his eye.

 

“That's no way to talk to a child.” Kagome reprimanded, breaking the glaring match the two were currently taking part in. Both a little shocked to hear her speak immediately turned their stares back to her.

 

“I'll talk to the runt however I want, and where do you get off telling me what I can and can't do? I'm the one who saved your ass from being trampled to death when you fainted dead away in the middle of that sea of jerks; you should at least be grateful for that. And I even brought you back here to make sure you were all right, and what thanks do I get for that? You slap me, almost break my nose and ribs, and then you stare at me like I have five heads.” He stopped his tirade when a thought hit him.

 

“You got something against hanyous?”

 

The look in his eyes was as cold and calculating as his tone.

 

“No, it's just you…I thought - well - I am grateful but you shouldn't talk that way to children…or to anyone for that matter…”

 

Anger was beginning to take over as she just realised all the nasty things he had said to her in the span of 5 minutes.

 

“And just where do you get off call me `weak' and `wench' and accuse me of being racist?”

 

“You fainted - in case you don't remember,” he stated smugly.

 

“It's not my fault you…Argh! I didn't plan that, and it wasn't my fault you scared me and made me slap you.

 

“What we're you hovering over me for anyway?” she asked suspiciously when his face scrunched up in an embarrassed scowl.

 

Taking a moment to think over the possibilities she finally took notice of the fact that she was still wet and her “jacket” was open exposing certain assets that did not take to the cold very well.

 

Epping, she quickly threw her arms across her chest, face-turning beat red while she turned a vicious look on her “hero.”

 

“PERVERT!” echoed in the now silent apartment, that is, until Inuyasha started up his indignant spluttering.

 

“Wha…I-I-I- that wasn't…I- it's not what you think! You were wet! I mean…we needed to get your clothes off - wait!” he started back peddling as Kagome stormed after him. “We needed to get you dry! You could have caught a cold!

 

"I DIDN'T PEEK!” he shouted, waving his hands wildly when she had him cornered.

 

As his words sank in she reigned in the urge to slap him silly.

 

“So… you were just worried… about my health?” she raised her eyebrow suspiciously.

 

Inuyasha gathered as much of his dignity as he could straightening his back, squaring his shoulders; held his chin high to the side, crossed his arms, closed his eyes, lips turned down in a scowl… He snorted indelicately.

 

The only thing that betrayed his façade, and gave away the truth, was the light pink that dusted his cheeks.

 

She figured he was telling the truth. He did bring her here after she fainted, and she didn't think that he had any “ulterior” motive seeing as there was a kid here with him.

 

She sighed, and rubbed her hand over her eyes.

 

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “This is more then most people would do for a complete stranger. And I'm sorry I hit you, I was just startled. Sorry.”

 

Inuyasha's blush deepened, and he cracked open one of his eyes to regard her.

 

Feeling a curious pricking behind her eyes, she belatedly realised that she was on the brink of crying. Too much had happened in such a short period of time, and the fact that this `Inuyasha,' resembled her ex so closely didn't help her any.

 

'Oh God, don't cry! You've already freaked out on these poor people, they don't need to see you cry like a baby!'

She cleared her throat loudly trying to get pasted the lump that was forming there.

 

“Um, could I use your bathroom?” she asked tentatively.

 

“Down the hall to the right. The second door,” he instructed her, a guarded look on his face.

 

“Thanks.”

 

As soon as she was out of ear shot Inuyasha deflated. That wasn't how that was supposed to have happened.

 

She was supposed to wake up, he was supposed to get some answers, and she was supposed to leave…unless she wanted to stick around for a while…

 

'Nope, we're not going there today.' That train of thought wasn't going to get him anywhere.

 

It hadn't escaped his notice that this `Kagome,' closely resembled a significant other from the past - the significant other from the past. He sighed then looked at Shippo, who was standing on the sofa arms draped over the back with an amused smirk lighting up his green eyes.

 

“That was pretty entertaining Inuyasha, you really know how to deal with girls. Maybe you should pickup unconscious girls more often,” he stated tittering and then paused.

 

“You know she's crying in there right?”

 

The question was full of curiosity, and as much as Inuyasha wanted to bop him on the head for being a smart-ass, he winced at the reminder.

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

`God I hate it when girls cry. What the hell am I supposed to do, she's in the bathroom because she obviously wants to be left alone.'

 

`But should you leave her alone? She could be suicidal for all you know.'

 

`I can really pick em,' he thought miserably, already making his way toward the bathroom trying to quell the nervous feelings that were making him fidgety.

 

Tentatively knocking on the door he cleared his throat to let her know he was there.

 

“Um…are you - are you almost finished up in there?” he heard her muffled sniffle, trying to be as discreet as she could.

 

“Yeah,” she tried to clear the tears from her voice. “Yeah, I'll be out in a minute.”

 

Furiously wiping the remaining tears from her face she waited until his footsteps became distant to blow her nose.

 

Looking at her `drowned rat' like appearance, her now red nose and red eyes just made it all the more convincing. Huffing, she turned the taps and waited for the water to warm up before she let it fill up her improvised cup, and splashed it over her face in hopes that it would magically get rid of the redness.

 

Glancing up again she quickly decided that the mirror was not her friend, and moved her eyes about the small bathroom in search of a face towel; no such luck.

 

`Well luck hasn't been on your side for a few months now Kag, so I suggest you stop counting on it.'

 

`Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first hundred times you said it.'

 

She hated arguing with herself, especially when `herself' had already made its valid point many, many times before.

 

She settled for using her sleeve, which wasn't much of a help but I got rid of the drips. She was fussing with her hair when another knock sounded on the door.

 

“Miss Kagome? Did you faint again?”

 

She let out a little laugh at his question.

 

“No, I'm fine. I was just fixing my hair.”

 

`You really ought to have thought of a better excuse Kag. No one will buy that. Saying you were just smacking yourself around would have been more believable.'

 

`That's not a bad idea. Very tempting actually,' she thought sarcastically, and wondered if other people made threats toward their inner voices…'Probably not.'

Taking a deep breath she opened the door to find the small demon child sitting beside it.

 

“I just wanted to make sure you were ok,” he stated as a blush stole up his face.

 

She gave him a warm smile.

 

“So what type of demon are you Shippo?”

 

“I'm a fox youkai,” he stated proudly, puffing out his chest as they by passed the kitchen.

 

“More like an “pain in the ass” youkai,” Inuyasha mumbled from behind his glass. That earned him a glare times two.

 

“Do you want some water or something?” he asked grudgingly.

 

“Water please.”

 

She thanked him when he brought her a glass, then looked away as an awkward silence fell over them.

 

The initial shock his looks caused was starting to wear off but that didn't stop the knots in her belly from tightening every time she looked at him. The more she looked at him the more differences she could discern. `Inuyasha,' was shorter for one, and his facial features were much broader in comparison to the slighter, more aristocratic facial construction of his would-be twin.

 

`Broad and aristocratic' those were the two words that separated them. Inuyasha was shorter (although he was still taller than she was) and broader with an unidentifiable… something, about him, where as the original was taller with a more aristocratic make, a sophisticated (if not slightly pretentious) air.

 

`There was nothing aristocratic about what was underneath his sophisticated façade.'

Thrilled that to have something like that brought to her attention, she blushed furiously and looked away, taking a large gulp of the cool water preying that it would put out the mad fire that was burning over her body. To make matters worse though, the second mouthful decided it would be funny to go down the wrong tube causing her to choke.

 

The hanyou strode over to awkwardly pat her on the back sporting a slight blush of his own, which was nothing, compared to hers.

 

“Thanks,” she managed, now more embarrassed about making a scene then having `herself' entertain naked thoughts of a certain inu youkai.

 

“Take a breath before you take a drink next time,” he admonished gruffly as he looked away, the blush still evident.

 

“Hey, Miss Kagome? Did you pass out because you're sick or something?” she turned to him, greatful for the distraction.

 

“No, I'm not sick Shippo.”

 

“Are you sure? Your face is pretty red, maybe you got a fever or something.”

 

She stared at him wide eyed.

 

“Maybe you have some kind of unknown sickness that doesn't let you drink water, and that's why you fainted in the rain! And that's why you choked on it just now!” he exclaimed as his face contorted into an expression somewhere between horrified, and fascinated.

 

When the kit looked like he was just about to go into a “what if” fit, Inuyasha quickly bopped him on the head.

 

“Save it for someone who cares, twerp.” Inuyasha muttered.

 

Shippo's eyes got very big and very watery but Inuyasha could detect a certain evil spark hiding just behind the hurt gaze.

 

`He's not…he is! That little runt! After this girl gets outta here he's going to have more then a few bumps and watery eyes when I'm done with his sorry ass…'

 

Apparently his other half agreed with that.

 

The girl was glaring at him again before she bent down to console the kid, who had thrown in the wobbling lip for good measure.

 

“Don't cry Shippo, it's ok.

 

“You should know better then to hit innocent children! What kind of…of,” she paused in her tirade.

 

“What relation are you to him anyway?” Her curiosity always seemed to get the upper hand.

 

“Me? Related to that! Yeah right…” he trailed off with a snort.

 

“Where not family if that's what you're talking about,” Shippo interjected.

 

“Inuyasha took me in, kinda like you but I didn't faint because his face is so scary. I…um…he said that he would keep me here until he could find a place that will take me.” The look in his eyes was genuine this time, and even Inuyasha felt a twinge of guilt for being so hard on the kit.

He covered up his unease quickly though.

 

“Keh! What he meant to say was that I caught him trying to pick my pocket, and the only reason you're still here is because you wouldn't let go of my leg when I tried to take you to the police station.”

 

`That and the fact that he started crying about both his parents being dead.'

 

`Yeah there was that…Keh!' he snorted to himself. His thoughts just weren't going to let him have one day of peace where not everything he did or said brought back all the unhappy memories.

 

“Well that was decent of you…Inuyasha,” she said hesitantly, trying his name out.

 

`He can't be all that bad if he is taking care of a child that isn't even part of his family.'

 

`He still treats him like crap.'

 

`Maybe that's just his way of dealing with children…or everyone. He does seem to be pretty testy in general.'

 

`Still…'

 

`Oh, pipe down will you! You were never this cynical before…' she regretted the though as soon as it was put out there.

 

Not wanting to continue down that particular path, she cleared her throat and refocused…on the hanyou's face, which her eyes seemed to be trained on the whole time she was in thought.

 

He didn't look impressed.

 

“You look like you think I'm some kinda saint or some kinda loon, and I ain't either so quit staring,” he groused, his pout resurfacing.

 

“I'm sorry, I'm still kind of out of it,” just then an extremely large growl sounded, and it took all of them a second to figure out that it came from Kagome's stomach.

 

“Inuyasha,” Shippo complained. “You could have at least offered her some food,” he rolled his eyes.

 

Inuyasha spun around to Kagome who took a step back.

 

“You didn't steal my wallet did you!” he demanded while he began patting around her pockets.

 

She slapped his hands away.

 

“What do you think you're doing! You can keep your hands to yourself, thank you very much. And no, I didn't steal you wallet.” She ended with her arms crossed.

 

“Well I don't have it, and you were the last person who bumped into me!”

 

“You must have dropped it somewhere then because I don't have it!”

 

“Well that's just fucking great!”

 

Kagome slammed her hands over the kits' ears.

 

“There is a child present in case you haven't noticed!” she hissed.

 

“Keh! He's the least of our problems right now, wench,” he ignored her indignant stare.

 

“If you don't have my wallet and I don't have my wallet then someone else has my wallet by now, which means they have my money, my credit cards, my fucking…” his temper just kept slipping away.

 

`Not to mention that picture of you-know-who…isn't that the last one you have of her?'

 

`Nah, there's still the one I have under my pil… damn it!' How it was possible to one up yourself was beyond him.

 

`That's sick and sad, you know,' his so-called conscience declared.

 

`Shut the fuck will you!'

“Why don't you just call the banks and tell them that your wallet was stolen, have them cancel your cards, and then just reopen the accounts. It's not that difficult to do,” Kagome supplied easily.

 

All he could do was make unintelligible comments as he went to the phone.

 

“Inuyasha was on his way to get the groceries before he found you, so there's not much here other then his cupboards full of Ramen. That's pretty much all that he eats. I have to force him to go buy healthy food. Most of the time I go with him but I had to do some homework and he was late getting off work anyway, so…yeah.” He grinned

 

“So why did you faint? You can tell me now while he's not listening.” He jumped up onto his recently vacated seat, cocked his head to the side and put his hands up to his pointed ear.

 

Embarrassed enough over the fact that she actually fainted, she felt pretty silly telling this overly perceptive child her reason.

 

“Well,” she whispered. “I - um…he looks a lot like someone I know and I - it just startled me because I didn't know there was anyone else who looked like him…”

 

`Well that was another lame excuse Kag. You should write a book, I'm sure it would sell like hot cakes. Just think: Higurashi's Big Book of Lame Excuses, pretty catchy eh?'

 

`Haha, I almost forgot to laugh.'

 

`You could also do one on lame sayings. They'd both be major hits...'

 

Shippo was tittering madly.

 

“Shippo?”

 

“It was his - ” he gasped, then grabbed his sides.

 

“It was his ug-ugly mug!” he lost the war of keeping it in and burst out laughing and pointing.

 

Kagome wondered if her face was ever going to revert back to its original color after the near constant blaze she'd had since she woke up.

 

Inuyasha had the phone pulled away from his ear and was now simultaneously yelling at it and Shippo.

 

`This is going to be a long day…'

 

`You said it…'

 

Oh my god! I am having so much fun writing this story it's unbelievable!

 

WOO HOO!

Ehem…anyway…

I would like to state for the record that I don't own Inuyasha or any other characters affiliated with the manga/anime created by Rumiko Takahashi. I just kinda borrow them and put them in awkward situations for my own twisted amusement…tee-hee. And that goes for the first chapter and all the ones to come so please don't sue me! And don't hate me for the errors and whatnot, I tried.

 

So I guess that's it!

 

Until the next chapter

 

Bye, bye!