InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When Life Throws You Lemons ❯ Misconceptions ( Chapter 4 )

 

Misconceptions

Chapter 4

 

Grabbing the toilet seat as another wave of nausea hit, she groaned before the viscous cycle of vomiting began all over again. She had been hugging the toilet like a long lost friend for the last 10 minutes while the completely unexpected case of the `oh-my-god-I'm-gonna hurls' ran it's course.

Kagome was not impressed.

She hadn't been sick in years and this time around she didn't even feel in the slightest bit funny before hand. One minute she was hungrily eying the cup of Ramen Inuyasha was woofing down, and then the next she had to make a mad dash to the bathroom before the toast and eggs she had already eaten ended up on the floor.

`I hate throwing up…' she thought bitterly as she felt her forehead to see if she was warm.

`Nope, just a little clammy, maybe the eggs were bad? But they didn't taste bad, or smell, or look bad...'

`It's probably all the Ramen you've been gorging on, and this is you're body saying, “I don't think so.”'

“Kagome? Are you ok?” Shippo slowly opened the bathroom door to take a quick peek in on her. She definitely didn't sound ok, but after he caught a lovely glimpse of her up chucking, he quickly shut the door turning an interesting shade of green.

“Is she ok, brat?” Inuyasha sniggered at the look on Shippo's face.

“Why don't you go in there and see for yourself, jerk.” Kagome decided to make an interesting noise and all that was left of the poor kitsun was a blur.

“Wimp,” Inuyasha muttered right before he reopened the bathroom door. Luckily for him Kagome wasn't throwing up at that exact moment in time so he strode over and stood by the toilet with his arms crossed, scrunching his nose up at the smell.

“You sick?”

She flushed the toilet and shot him a long-suffering glare.

“How did you guess? Was it the mad dash to the bathroom or me tossing my cookies?” she stayed seated but whipped her sweaty bangs out for her eyes and the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I don't think I have ever, in my life been more glad that I cleaned a bathroom,” she stated, her hand moving to clutch her stomach.

“Yeah, and whys that?”

“I think I would be throwing up ten times more if this toilet were as disgusting as it was yesterday. Is it a problem that all guys have or is it just you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he was beginning to lose the minuscule ounce of pity he had for the girl gripping the can.

“Aim.”

“Aim?

“Yes, aim.”

“Why you - of course I know how to aim, wench! Lets not forget that there is also an eight year old living here too! Aim my ass… and here I came in to see if you needed a fucking hand, and you accuse me of not knowing how to hold my - forget it!” Inuyasha started to stomp out when Kagome swung back around to face her new found `friend', Monsieur Toilette.

He snorted, grabbed a wash cloth, put it under some cold water and tossed it to her when she pulled her head out of the bowl.

“Clean yourself up, you look like crap.”

She gave him the customary glare but smiled a little when she thought he couldn't see.

`You saw it yourself, she was in dire need of that cloth.' Inuyasha grumbled trying to save himself from whatever the inner voice had to say.

No such luck.

`Sure, sure, whatever you say…'

He ignored that last inner comment and went looking for the kit. They were going shopping of all God for saken things. His shift at the construction site didn't start until later, and he figured that the girl should have some new clothes, since the only ones she had were dirty, and frankly, beginning to smell. He had been preparing himself all morning for the outing.

`No, that doesn't make you look fat.'

`No, you do not have big thighs.'

`No, we are not going to Fifth Avenue,'

`No, you cannot borrow my credit card,'

`Put on some more clothes, you look like a hooker,'

`We are leaving now, and that's final!'

`Do I look like a fucking doll to you?'

Things had started to get a little out of hand so he figured a nice cup of Ramen was all he needed to calm his nerves, that was when the girl decided to start puking her guts out.

He sighed and found Shippo starring intently into the sink.

“What the hell are you doin' ” he asked loudly, making the boy jump.

“Don't you know it's not nice to sneak up behind people?” he grumbled.

“Yeah, but I don't consider you a person, more like a pain in my - “

“Eh - Ehem?”

“Keh! Whatever wench. If you're finished puking come on, we haven't got all day, I need to be at work at 3, so lets haul ass.”

“Is it imperative that you stick a swear word in everything that comes out of your mouth?”

“I don't think you're in any position to be insulting me since I am the one taking you to buy some new fucking clothes.” He smirked when she bit her tongue on whatever it was she was going to say. That lasted all of 3 seconds.

“You don't need to do this for me, I do have my own clothes you know.”

“Yeah I know, I can still smell them from here,” he jerked his head back in the direction of the apartment.

They had just reached the elevator and already he knew that it was going to be a long day.

“I wash my clothes!” she blurted indignantly.

“Well, the two different sets you have are beginning to acquire that `lived in' smell, so stick a fucking sock in it and let me get you some new clothes before you stink me out of my apartment!”

“Inuyasha, you're so insensitive…” Shippo drawled from beside Kagome.

“Feh!” he shot the girl a cursory glance and had to hold in the chuckle that threatened to erupt. She was red faced, pouting, had her arms crossed, the whole sha-bang. She was now moving away from him with Shippo shuffling along with her. It was pretty funny but at this particular point in time, he wisely kept his mouth shut, which was a miracle in itself. He had insulted her enough for this morning, and besides, they still had the rest of the afternoon.

By the time they were out of the elevator and shoving their way through the bustling crowd of pedestrians, Kagome had decided that Inuyasha was maybe a little bit right. And it was very kind of him to offer to buy her some new clothes, even though he managed to insult her with basically everything that passed through his lips. Besides she was starting to feel much better. The strange bought of nausea had passed, she was even beginning to feel a little hungry, and of course she was going shopping.

Oh how she loved to shop.

Of course she knew that there were limits. In the brief two months on her own she learned to manage her money the hard way. She was by no means frivolous with what little she had, but going from being able to have anything and everything she could have wanted to having next to zilch in comparison… she had to make some hard choices. Clothes were one of them, she had picked up a few of the more important articles of clothing such as undergarments from a department store, but the extra pair of pants and the few shirts came from a second hand store, “Big Eddies Once Around” to be exact. She really didn't want to go back in there. It was incredibly depressing, and made her realize that there were still people out there who were ten times worse off then she. She had witnessed a teenage girl steal a shirt from a bin that read `Shirts $1.00'. Kagome rubbed her arms, trying to force the goose bumps away. That could have been her…

“Earth to Kagome! Come in Kagome!” Shippo tugged on her sleeve. “Inuyasha just asked if you wanted to go in here,” he pointed to the extremely girlie looking store. She giggled a little, shaking off the remaining thoughts.

“You guys sure you want to be seen in “Jillies Little Jems”?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“Look, I ain't askin' again,” he threatened.

“Fine, fine. This looks like a great place to start!” She grabbed hold of the two boys' hands and dragged them in.

“Wow…everything is so sparkly,” Shippo commented.

“You can say that again, kid.”

“Everything is so - “

“It's a friggin' figure of speech. Knock it off,” he hissed, swiping at the beaming child.

“This is gorgeous!” Kagome exclaimed as she carefully took the dress off the rack inspected it, then held it up against her, shooting the squabbling boys a huge grin. It definitely was a beautiful dress: partially silk, the deep burgundy seemed to shimmer with every movement. The low neckline hung loosely with the gathered material, and glittered with bits of sequence. One thing she liked most about the dress was the sleeves; though they were slit down the middle, exposing her upper arm, they would cover just enough, and the gauzy material added that extra bit of femininity. And then, of course, there was the back. Although it came together at the top around the shoulders, the dress was back less.

It would have been absolutely stunning, and she knew a certain someone would have had to agree with her if she were to show up wearing it…

`Come on now Kagome, you know that's not an option anymore,' the voice that plagued her mind whispered, trying to soothe her, using the same tone of voice her mother would have used.

Inuyasha had to agree that it was indeed a beautiful dress, and he had no doubt in his mind that it would look phenomenal on her, but when the hell would she ever wear such a dress? He highly doubted it would be something she would strut around in while she was scrubbing the toilet.

He had to be the responsible one here, she had told him that she had come from a very wealthy family, and he didn't doubt that she was used to getting every article of clothing she laid eyes on. He also had to think about the price. Not that he had to worry too much, he had enough, but the girl needed to learn how to manage money so when she finally landed a job she would know what to do with it and not end up out on her ass again.

He was just about to make the comment when she smiled down at herself as she watched it sway with her hips. She sighed and put it back on the rack and headed back over towards them, the smile on her lips somewhat sad.

“I don't think this place has what I'm looking for,” she said as she reached over to grab Shippo's tiny hand, which was currently getting tangled up in a beaded top. “Let's go to a different one.”

“You didn't even try it on,” Inuyasha stated while he brushed passed her to check the price. It was reasonable enough.

“Honestly Inuyasha, don't you think that if I were to wear that to a job interview they would think I'm a bit crazy?”

“Depends on what kinda interview it is,” he didn't realize he'd said that one out loud.

“Inuyasha…” she hissed, colour blossoming over her cheeks.

“Right, let's get outta here then.” He passed her and headed out of the store.

Kagome - still struggling with the blush - was pulled along by Shippo who insisted that they needed to hurry because Inuyasha wouldn't wait up for them.

The next few stores passed without much incident, and she finally decided on a jean skirt, a few plain t-shirts, and a white and black blouse. Things were going relatively well. The fighting was minimal, she didn't spend hours looking at the clothes, and not once did she ask him if she looked fat in any of her selections. He was also very impressed with how thrifty she was being, definitely not what he was expecting, they even stopped into a shoe store and they all walked away with something new. They ended up at a mall where they figured taking a break would be a really good idea since Shippo had started whining about being hungry.

“Here, eat this and quit belly-aching will ya, you're giving me a head ache.” Inuyasha shoved the ice cream at the kit who snatched it up eagerly.

“Watch the fingers,” he scolded, though there was no anger behind the words, he was actually in a pretty good mood all things considering. He allowed the corners of his mouth to quirk as he watched the boy shove half the thing in his mouth, then he turned around and handed Kagome the ice cream he had bought for her. She was looking at the kit with a slight smile of her own while her eyes almost shone with an emotion he didn't really have to guess at. Hadn't he seen something very similar on his mother's own face when she used to looked at him? Strangely enough this thought of his mother didn't make him feel as sad as he would have expected.

“Here, take it before it starts melting,” he said waving it in front of her. She took it and smiled up at him following him with her eyes as he sat down on the opposite side of the food court table.

“What?” he asked a little nervous, that smile was still on her face.

“Thank you Inuyasha, for everything. And I don't just mean today, for letting me stay with you and Shippo and for letting me eat you almost out of house and home,” she blushed and looked away.

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably.

“No big deal,” he hoped it sounded casual enough.

“Not to you maybe, but to me it's a huge deal, now take my thanks and stop debating it.” She looked like she was about to do something, thought better of it and then said, “you're ice cream is dripping.”

At the same moment he felt something cold start to trickle down over his knuckle. He tore his eyes away from the girl and dropped them down to the offending ice cream scowled, and then licked it off.

Kagome giggled and began to lick at her own ice cream.

`You have got to keep those kind of urges under wraps there Kags, maybe it would have been ok before but that was then and this is now. Besides, that's no way to behave towards someone you hardly know.' The voice that plagued her mind reprimanded.

`Why do you think I stopped? It's just hard sometimes, he looks so much like…well, he's familiar and I get caught up and forget that I've only known Inuyasha for a few days. Give me a break will you.'

She scanned the area around the food court trying to get her mind off of him and spied a store that she was in dire need of visiting.

`Hidden Treasures,' was a lingerie store, which appeared to be having a sale.

`Yes! Oh what I wouldn't do for a new bra and panties...' she casually glanced down at her chest and gave a resigned sigh.

`You could at least call them underwear, you sound like a child. Not that, that surprises me,' it added.

So, she was about to lean over and lick up the drip she had spied making it's way down Inuyasha's cone. Big deal, she stopped herself in time to avoid that embarrassing situation, and so she decided to ignore the comment and began debating over if she should just ask Inuyasha out right to go or if sneaking off would be the way.

`Earth to Kagome, he's got the money sharp stuff, so you have no choice.'

Kagome mulled over this, and as embarrassing as it was going to be she had no choice but to ask him to come in with her, unless… `Unless he has some extra money on him…' she thought excitedly. In what she hoped was a casual tone, she asked him.

“Hey Inuyasha,” he looked up at her. “I saw a store on the way up here and was wondering if maybe you wouldn't mind lending me some of the money you have set aside so I can go take a look and not have to run back to get you. So I don't interrupt your guys' lunch.” She added.

“We're just eating ice cream, Kagome,” Shippo said, toting a perplexed look on his little face.

Inuyasha's eyebrows rose up.

“What's all this about?”

“Nothing, I just didn't want to drag you guys into another boring girlie store, that's all. Plus you need to go to work soon and you've been on your feet all day, I figured you might want to be off them for a little while longer.” She tried desperately, praying to anyone that she didn't sound as desperate as she thought she did.

“How do I know you won't just take off with my money, assuming I give it to you.”

That earned him a very interesting look.

“You seriously think I would take your money and run?” the hurt on her face was rather shocking, and Inuyasha's eyes grew round when he noticed that there were tears gathering in them.

“Wha? Wait a sec. What are you - are you crying?” he stuttered dumbfounded.

“You don't trust me at all do you?” her voice now beginning to sound choked up.

“I barely even know you, how the hell can I trust you after you being in my apartment for all of 5 days?”

“Well I - I…” `

`Why are you getting so worked up over such a stupid thing anyway?'

`Well, I mean why doesn't he? I haven't stolen anything, I've promised to pay him back for all of his kindness.'

“Shit,” Inuyasha hissed as he tried frantically to yank some napkins from the dispenser.

`Where the hell does this girl come up with all this bull shit?'

“Here,” he shoved them into her hand. “Look, damn it, don't cry ok. You can have the money if you just stop with all this crying.”

Kagome peeked up through spiky eyelashes, face beet red.

`Well this is utterly embarrassing.'

`No kidding!'

Getting her ridiculous sniffling under control she dabbed at her eyes with the napkin.

“Look, I…” her attempted apology ended there when she caught the extremely annoyed look on the hanyous pouting face.

Whatever it was that had her so touchy that day was completely beyond her but that look was the equivalent of waving something red at a charging bull. Shoving out of the chair she stood up and began to give him her two cents worth.

“All I was trying to do was save you from having to be dragged into a - a - “ she pointed viciously at the lingerie store because for some reason the word just didn't want to come out. “That place! So I could get a new bra so I'm not popping out everywhere and some decent panties, but noooooo…”

The food court was silent and it appeared as though all eyes were on them.

`I don't…I said that - out loud?'

`I'm afraid so…'

Shippo face was about the same colour as his hair and was slouched so far down in his chair that he was almost sliding off. Inuyasha on the other hand had his jaw almost touching the floor and was toting a whole new shade of red.

Mortified, Kagome slowly sat back down and choked out a nervous little laugh, painstakingly avoiding any eye contact. After a minute of silence, the onlookers went back to what ever they were doing before the interesting little spectacle occurred. Kagome chanced a peek only to find Inuyasha opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.

“Um…Inu - ya - sha?” she tried tentatively.

“K-keh!” and with that he stood up and started on his daily storming off routine. Kagome quickly jumped up, grabbed Shippo by the hand and bounded after him.

“Inuyasha, will you wait a second?” he made no attempt to show that he had heard her.

“Inuyasha, I'm - “

“Here,” he whipped around and shoved a wad of bills in her hand. “I gotta get to work.”

Kagome just stood there watching him get swallowed up by the crowd for what seemed like an hour before Shippo broke the trance she seemed to have fallen in.

“Kagome, maybe you should put that money away before someone tries to take it?” she looked down at him a little bewildered. He was blushing.

“You're a pretty easy target.”

She looked at the money in her hand, “Oh, right,” and stuffed it in her pocket.

“Come on Shippo, why don't we head back and I'll make us some real lunch, ok!”

Although he could see through her beaming smile and overly bright tone, he smiled back, took her hand and let her take him back to the closest thing he could call home.

 

“Stupid wench…” Inuyasha muttered for at least the thousandth time that day as he made his way back to his apartment. He paused briefly in front of a lingerie shop, got mad all over again and started elbowing people out of his way, and didn't stop when he heard someone call his name.

`For the love of - damn it!' he just kept on trucking as he heard the degrading voice closing in.

“Inuyasha!” a hand gripped his shoulder, which he viciously shrugged off. His hostility went unnoticed by the unwanted company.

“You certainly are hard to get a hold of, you know that?” the newcomer huffed out. Inuyasha just kept on ignoring him.

“Listen, I was thinking that we should go down to the old pub and have a few drinks, just like old times. What do you say?”

“I say, get the fuck away from me Miroku, before I have to make you eat sidewalk.”

“Come now Inuyasha,” Miroku the epitome of calmness tried to placate the seething hanyou. “It was only a suggestion. Besides you look like you could use a few drinks and I know I could, so stop being a spoil-sport and come on.”

“Um, let me think about it… no!” he hurried on trying to get away from the nuisance that was some how his boss.

“You know Inuyasha, I have been trained in the art of Buddhism, and was considered to be an ample student and a fair listener,” he maintained to the back of Inuyasha's bobbing head, which stopped and was now coming back towards him.

“What don't you understand about “NO” and “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME”?”

“Ah, but you're back here now so lets not waste anymore time, eh?” it was Miroku's turn to turn and walk away. He had little to no doubt that the surly hanyou would soon follow him, then again, this particular hanyou was not one you could count on for consistency. He just prayed that Inuyasha would follow because drinking alone was never a good time, besides, he needed a place to stay since his now ex-girlfriend had kicked him out of their place… at least that was what he was going to tell Inuyasha. He could easily find another apartment, or stay in a hotel for that matter but he was very intrigued by this mystery girl Inuyasha mentioned, and wanted to meet her. And he was a free man now, who knew if one thing would lead to another?

Coming out of his musing he was mildly surprised to see Inuyasha, trudging along side him with a scowl that would put a child to shame.

`Now, if I can just get him to drink enough so that he requires my assistance home…' he stole a quick glance at the scowling hanyou taking a mental note on how strung up he seemed to be.

`This may be easier then I thought….'

 

Hehehehehehehhehehehe! Oh Miroku, what a clever fellow you are, you are. What a clever fellow you are.

Anyway….

Hopefully this'll make up for the ridiculously long time it took for me to update. Sorry `bout that.

Til next time!

Tsuki Miko