InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When Life Throws You Lemons ❯ Smooth Operator ( Chapter 6 )

 

Smooth Operator

 

Chapter 6

 

 

She honestly thought that she was going to be sick. She closed her eyes and prayed that this night was soon going to come to an end, an end that didn't involve being peeled off the pavement.

 

Inuyasha had caught up with her in no time and before she could begin arguing with him again he scooped her up in his arms, launched himself off the ground and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

 

She felt an unwelcome plummeting sensation, and without really meaning to she tightened her grip around Inuyasha's neck and buried her face in his shirt, he in turn tightened his hold on her as he landed on the pavement in front of his apartment building. Taking a quick glance around to make sure there were no suspicious looking people hanging around before he let go of her he was a little surprised when she didn't loosed her grip right away.

 

“Kagome, we're here. You can let go now.” She shook her head further in to his shirt.

 

He smiled a little bashfully, normally he wouldn't have done something as risky as taking to the skies when he was “under the influence” but he just wanted to get her off the streets before something else happened. He slowly loosened his hold on her legs and let them slide to the ground while he supported the rest of her weight, his arms still wrapped around her shoulders.

 

'It might be a good idea for us to let go of her right now before something happens...'

 

'Yeah, like I kiss her...' He felt slightly dizzy at the thought, and actually lost his balance when she viciously shoved him back, barely making it to the small strip of grass to the right of the apartment building before she dropped down and began throwing up.

 

“What the HELL!” Inuyasha bellowed from his position on the pavement.

 

'She's puking again'

 

'I can fucking see that!'

 

'Good thing you didn't try to kiss her 'cuz that would have just been nasty...'

 

He had nothing to argue about there so he just sat still for a few more seconds waiting for his own bout of nausea to pass.

 

'Damn that Miroku! The bastard probably had this all planned out.' He smiled inwardly as he recalled the slap he got from Kagome.

 

'Pervert got what he deserved,' he looked around again to see if said pervert had caught up to them yet. 'Good, I hope he gets arrested for drunk and disorderly, he'd probably get slapped with indecent exposure too.'

He finally pushed himself up and made his way over to see how Kagome was faring. By the sounds of it she was done throwing up, hopefully for good, and was sitting back on her heels by the time he reached her, and glaring at him by the time he held out his hand to help her up.

 

“I can get up by myself, and i can walk by myself in case you haven't noticed!”

 

“I was doing you a favor wench, the least you could do is say thanks!”

 

“Thanks! THANKS! For acting like a drunken fool or for scaring me senseless and making me hurl peanut butter!”

 

Kagome was seething at this point, not even caring that she had just thrown up and continued to yell in the idiotic hanyous face despite her rancid breath.

 

“I was protecting you, you stupid bitch, an - “ he cut himself off quickly and went to grab the front doors without looking back or waiting for her.

 

She was stunned by his confession. She hadn't actually considered his actions to be anything other then a nuisance, and for him to admit such a thing, even if it was unintentional, it touched her in such an unexpected way that she felt a little breathless.

 

Maybe it was the reminder of another place and time when another made the same promise.

 

He thought she had been fully asleep, but she was still teetering on the brink, feeling warm and safe and loved. He had whispered it into her hair, making her smile slightly into her pillow before she drifted off into a dreamland full of hope and beauty.

 

Coming back to herself, she wiped at the corner of her eye where a tear had slipped out and began thinking of an apology for Inuyasha.

 

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'Why the hell do you have to go saying shit like that! I had everything under control and you had to just throw that out there, now she's going to have something else to rag on me about!'

 

'Well, you know you don't really open up to people, so I just wait for the right moment and, BAM! You say something you really mean to say without really meaning to say it. It lets people know you are capable of intelligent, and somewhat deep thought...' his inner voice paused. 'Also lets 'em know that your emotional range goes beyond disgruntled.'

 

The voice had the gall to laugh.

 

“I must be really fucking drunk,” Inuyasha decided as he stepped out of the elevator. Not only was he having conversations with himself, he was saying and thinking things that would best be left un... everything.

 

Maybe it was because he was drunk and she was in his arms, or the fact that she did bare a striking resemblance to Kikyo...

 

'Not to mention 'the fact' that you haven't been laid for a lot longer than I care to think about.'

 

And with that lovely thought bouncing around in his skull like a ping-pong ball gone wild, he tried to get in his apartment door, which wouldn't open. Too frustrated to just dig out his keys and unlock the thing, he rammed his shoulder into it, sending it swinging into the wall. The door jam splintered and the door nob left a nice sized hole in the wall behind it but Inuyasha could care less at this point. He just wanted to take a nice cold shower and go the hell to bed where he would hopefully fall into a deep dreamless sleep, and not have to think about women and how unpredictable they were.

 

He kicked off his work boots, shrugged off his flannel shirt, leaving it where it fell and was in the process of taking off his shirt when he heard a soft gasp. Kagome was staring at the busted up door, her fingers touching her lips in silent shock. Inuyasha hadn't noticed the dent he left in the door itself, and smiled smugly at the damage.

 

Kagome noticed him standing there and her eyes widened slightly. Standing almost casually, pulling his white t-shirt the rest of the way off his arms, grinning, with that pleased look lighting his eyes... she was beginning to figure out what that something else, was.

 

He was stunning, his muscles moving with an almost lazy grace, the light from the hallway deepening the cut of muscles, making them stand out. The slight smile left his face and he turned to her full on, looking at her warily, maybe mentally preparing himself for another row. Lowering her eyes, she stepped over the thresh hold and flicked on the light Inuyasha hadn't bothered with, swallowing hard passed her suddenly dry throat.

 

“Inuyasha, I want to apologize for the way I acted back there. You were right, I guess I wasn't really using my better judgment and I do appreciate you looking out for me. It's more then some people would do. Thank you.”

 

She had closed the distance between them while she talked, and peeked up from her hands to gage his reaction. It was his turn to look stunned and she couldn't stop herself from leaning forward and brushing a chaste kiss across his cheek before quickly pulling back and turning to go to her bedroom.

 

“Kagome - “

 

The words were stuck in his throat, though what he was going to say after he got passed her name he wasn't sure. He didn't even know if his conscience would be able to help him out.

 

Just as his baser instincts were about to make the decision for him, the front door opened to reveal a red faced Miroku clutching the brown paper bag they had apparently forgotten.

 

“Was I lucky that one of your kind neighbors was just on their way out when I arrived,” he grinned unrepentantly. “Though I don't think she quite appreciated my show of gratitude.”

 

Inuyasha sighed impatiently at the grinning idiot, and was about to tell the unholy man to shut up and take a hike when Miroku shoved the bag at him and he caught a whiff of plastic that he new all to well.

 

His stomach let out an embarrassingly loud gurgle.

 

Snatching the bag from his “friend”, he went to the kitchen filled up the kettle and began the simple process of making what he used to call Ninja food as a child.

 

“Perhaps Kagome would like to join us, seeing as it was she who went through the trouble to get it for you,” he added casually enough.

 

This was true, and he began to feel a tinge of guilt at how harshly he had come down on her.

 

'She just went out to buy me some more Ramen? Shit...'

 

Now he was beginning to feel really guilty about the whole situation.

 

'Dammit! Why the hell did she have to do that!? Now I look like a complete bastard!'

 

Glaring at Miroku's seemingly innocent comment he jammed his hands in his pockets and made his way to the spare room that was no longer spare. He knocked on the door lightly, praying that the kit hadn't woken up from all the racket he had made breaking in.

 

'Feeling awfully courteous aren't you? Why should you care if you woke up the little brat?'

 

He decided to ignore that comment not only because his... whatever it was... was clearly unable to stick to one emotional track but because Kagome had just opened the door in her pajamas, which were nothing more then a pair of his boxers and an one of Shippo's over sized t-shirts. Needless to say “over sized” was apparently not the correct term for what she was sporting. He flushed and looked to the side.

 

“Miroku - the guy from before - stopped by with the bag of stuff you bought. Uh, do you want any?”

 

He missed her cheeks heat up with color as she stared at him with her mouth open.

 

Did she want any? Of course she wanted some! Why on earth would he even ask such a silly question? She was about to ask him what he planned on doing with the rest of the tampons when she belatedly realized he was taking about the instant noodles, and took his blush to mean that he had indeed seen what else was in the bag and was trying not to mention it.

 

Little did she know...

 

“Um, sure, why not. I am a little hungry.” She stepped out of the bedroom, Inuyasha moved out of the way for her to go ahead.

 

'You're not gonna let her walk around in front of Miroku - drunk Miroku - wearing that, are you?'

 

'HELL NO!'

 

He grabbed up his flannel shirt from the floor and hurried over to intercept her before she reached the kitchen.

 

“Here,” he shoved the shirt into her hands. “Put this on, it's kinda cold.” He hoped he didn't sound as dumb as he thought he did.

 

Kagome made a point of looking at his bare chest, raising her eyebrows in question. He was tempted to say something rude but the slight quirk of her lips made him change his mind.

 

“Feh! I'm hanyou, the cold doesn't bother me like you weak humans.”

 

Her smile broadened.

 

“Weak are we? I think my friend Sango would disagree with you. She's been trained in many different forms of martial arts, and was considered to be one of the most advanced students in all of her classes.”

 

“Martial arts eh?” Miroku looked her up and down. “Are you schooled in these techniques as well as your fascinating sounding friend, Sango?”

 

Kagome laughed out right, seeming to have forgotten all about the butt groping she had received earlier.

 

“Me? Oh no, I think the general populace is much safer without me trying to break pieces of wood with my hand. Besides,” she glanced over at Inuyasha. “ I have a big, tough hanyou protecting me. All those weak,” Inuyasha snorted when he saw where she was going with the comment. “Pathetic,” he nodded in agreement, “humans wouldn't dare lay a finger on me now.” She laughed at the pleased look he had of her assessment of humans.

 

Both of them missed the way Miroku's eyes narrowed as he digested this bit of commentary.

 

'He's protecting her?' Why did that thought make him feel a little uneasy? There was something in that statement that meant something, but he was at a loss for -

 

'He's protecting her! For a demon,'

 

'Or someone of demon lineage,' his inner voice interjected.

 

'the promise of protection, from certain breeds, carry a significantly different meaning for them. And with Inuyasha being half dog, which is thought to be one of the most loyal demon clans... hmmm...'

 

He had to wonder if Inuyasha himself understood the gravity behind the words. Besides the dusting of pink across his cheeks (which was occurring quite frequently this most auspicious of nights) he gave no other outward sign of such an acknowledgment.

 

' I believe I will have to have a chat with him later,' he thought, coming out of his reflections to silently observe the two tease back and forth.

 

'But first I need to find a way to give these to Miss Kagome without her “hanyou protector” seeing.'

 

He just didn't want to embarrass said hanyou anymore then necessary, seeing as the pair appeared to have gotten over their misunderstanding from before.

 

'Very forgiving this Kagome is... Maybe this isn't just a coincidence, maybe this is just what the Doctor ordered...'

 

He smiled and stood up, handing Inuyasha his cup of Ramen in an attempt to distract him.

 

“Kagome, why don't you show me the rest of the apartment? Seeing as this is the first time I've had the pleasure of visiting Inuyasha's humble abode.”

 

He flashed his most winning smile. Kagome smiled back, showing off a small dimple she had on her left cheek.

 

Seeing her this close and in the light he could fully understand at least one of the reasons why Inuyasha would choose to protect her.

 

'She is damn sexy.'

 

If he didn't think it would piss Inuyasha off he would use this time to hit on her, but under the circumstances, he thought he could keep a leash on it... for the time being.

 

“Sure, if you'll follow me?” she lead him through the kitchen into the hall.

 

“Down this way is the washroom,” opening the door, flicking on the light, she waved her hand in an all encompassing gesture. “Very spacious”, she added with a wink.

 

Miroku had to agree, it was also very clean, not that he thought Inuyasha was a slob, but not many men's bathrooms looked this neat. It definitely had a womans touch.

 

Kagome preceded to point out the storage closet opposite the bathroom, then led the way back up the hall. Bending down she picked up Inuyasha's discarded articles of clothing, which she shoved into his hands in passing. Continuing on without missing a beat they moved into the living room, which in Miroku's opinion could a few more furnishings.

 

Aside from the necessities such as a sofa, love seat, chair, and TV, there was nothing on the walls, no embellishments of any kind.

 

'Oh, I missed the book case...' he thought, which looked sorely out of place sporting only a few books on each shelf.

 

“And over here is Inuyasha's bedroom...”

 

At the mention of his bedroom, Inuyasha hurried by them carrying his discarded clothes, and quickly opened and closed the door before they could get a glimpse inside.

 

“I don't even know what his bedroom looks like,” Kagome grinned back at him, rolling her eyes. “That was one of the rules he mentioned when I first came here; under no circumstance am I to enter his room of slumber.”

 

She laughed softly at the memory, then turned to show Miroku to the room she shared with Shippo when he grabbed her arm. She turned around surprised, but he quickly let go putting his hands up in a non threatening gesture.

 

“Sorry, I just wanted to give you these without Inuyasha seeing” he whispered, pulling the box of tampons from his coat pocket.

Kagome just stood there staring at the box Miroku was holding out for her to take.

 

'Oh Kami...' She was mortified.

 

It would have been bad enough if Inuyasha had found them, which he apparently hadn't, but to have a stranger who had gotten a little too familiar with her rear whip them out like that was a little more then she could handle at the moment.

 

“Um, Miss Kagome?”

 

Miroku was more then eager to be rid of the box, and she was just standing there.

 

“Higurashi, Kagome,” she said absently not taking her eyes off his hand. Then, with a start, she snatched them up and was about to run to her room when Inuyasha stepped out of his. She stopped mid turn and quickly hid the tampons behind her back.

“What's going on...?” he quarried, looking from one to the other. He could feel Kagome's unease rolling of her in waves.

 

“What the hell did you do, Miroku!” he demanded, storming over to him; sporting a very discouraging look.

 

“Inuyasha calm down,” Miroku tried, raising his hands again. “It's not what you think. I was just -”

 

“Just trying to feel her ass again, weren't you! No one likes to have their ass groped by fucking perverts. Maybe you need some help getting that through your fat fucking head!”

 

Inuyasha's lip curled in a completely feral demonstration while he drew his fist back.

“WAIT! Inuyasha, please! It was nothing like that! He was just giving... me... some...thing...” she trailed off when he turned his attention to her, that vicious look freezing her to the spot.

 

“And exactly what was he giving you?”

 

She swallowed her pride in-lieu of having Inuyasha beat the snot out of Miroku, and brought her hand out from behind her back. She hoped that her face wasn't as red as she thought.

 

'I can feel the flames starting to come out of my ears,' she thought miserably, as Inuyasha started towards her. He looked at her proffered hand then at her. He looked as though he was confused about something.

 

'He has to know about women and their time of the month...?'

 

He stepped in closer.

 

“Inuyasha, what are you doing?” He had taken both of her wrists in his hands, completely ignoring the box, and held them away from her. He took a step closer and leaned in.

 

Kagome didn't know what to do. Just what was he going to do to her?

 

'And why do I have the feeling that I would let him?'

 

Thankfully he had put on another shirt, which smelled lightly of detergent. She could also smell him this close: his hair, the slight smell of sweat and the lingering traces of alcohol... The combination was heady, making her a little light headed.

 

Then he did something that she really wasn't expecting... He sniffed her, breathing in deep and slowly letting it out. Still looking confused he sniffed again, moving his head slightly, thoroughly reminding her of a dog.

 

She was to stunned to do anything more then watch him smell her.

 

“You don't need those,” he said more to himself, “I'd be able to tell.” He sniffed at her again, unable to reconcile that his senses were that off.

 

His human night was still weeks away, so it couldn't be that, but there was something that he couldn't quite put a finger on, something in her scent that he hadn't really noticed before.

 

Of course he would be able to tell when her cycle was about to start, he was part dog after all. But if she was, it wasn't going to start anytime soon... and thats where he was stuck; she didn't exactly smell like she weeks away from it either. There was a subtle difference, it was deeper, somehow more fundamental...

 

And then it made sense.

 

He looked at her wide eyed, let go of her wrists and stepped back.

 

The look on his face at that very moment scared her more then when he was about to clobber Miroku. It was shock, it was awe, it was confusion, fear, sadness... She had never seen someone portray so many emotions at once and that seemed to scare her the most.

 

“Inuyasha? What is it? Inuyasha?”

 

He was just looking at her, and then in the blink of an eye all his emotions closed off and his face was blank, devoid of everything. And for heart stopping moment it was the twin of her first loves and she couldn't breath.

 

“Inuyasha, what the hell is going on?”

 

Miroku was worried, he'd never seen Inuyasha look so serious or confused, even when he was drunk. Not to mention the look on Kagome's face...

 

He moved quickly to her side and helped her sit down before she could fall over.

 

“Are you alright, Kagome?” he turned his worried gaze back to Inuyasha.

 

“Inuyasha, what is it? What did you smell?”

 

“Keh!” was all he could manage at the moment.

 

'What the FUCK am I supposed to do!?'

 

'You could just tell her.'

 

'Oh yeah, sure! “Well Kagome, you're not gonna need those for another nine months.” '

 

His inner voice didn't have a response.

 

'How the hell did I miss this? And where the hell is her fucking mate! Why the hell wouldn't she think that a mate would have been important information! WHAT THE FUCK!' His brain was reeling with questions and accusations, though they were mainly aimed towards himself.

 

'How do I tell her...?' Looking over at her, he was alarmed at how pale she was, how her eyes seem to take up half of her face.

 

He wasn't good at this kind of thing, never had been, and was probably a lot worse since he was still feeling the effects of his night out. But to see her like that and know that he was to blame... He couldn't stop himself from going to her.

 

Miroku watched him warily as Inuyasha made his way over to them, but Inuyasha's eyes were trained on Kagome who was, intern, staring at him.

 

He stopped, still staring, and opened his mouth.

 

“Kagome,” his voice was soft, which surprised Miroku. “There's something that you gotta know...” he trailed off becoming extremely nervous.

 

“You ah, you... don't need to get a job!”

 

'What the hell are you doin'! Just fucking tell her!'

 

Kagome looked thoroughly befuddled.

 

'I don't need to find a job?' Then the panic began to take over.

 

' Is he saying that there's something seriously wrong with me?!'

 

“Inuyasha,” making her voice as steady as possible, trying to mask her panic. “What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I get a job? Is there,” she swallowed. “Is there something wrong with me?”

 

“Well, I wouldn't say wrong...” he looked away, ashamed of his own cowardice.

 

“Well then what! You're really scaring me Inuyasha, please just tell me what you know.”

 

The hanyou looked like he wasn't going to comply.

 

Miroku, usually the epitome of calm was losing his patience very quickly.

 

“Inuyasha, you're scaring the poor girl. Spit it out already!”

 

He looked up, taken aback by Miroku's vehemence, feeling all the more guilty.

 

Balling up his fists, he forced his eyes up to meet Kagome's.

 

“You're pregnant.”

 

Silence

 

“...What did you say?”

 

“I said you're pregnant.”

 

“Pregnant? As in - “

 

“As in you're gonna be a mother.”

 

“...pregnant...?” her voice high, on the verge of squeaky

 

That explained a few things.

 

She looked down at her still flat stomach, thinking back to when she was first on her own. She had felt sick off and on when her home life was beginning to unravel, and when he left she just thought that she was upset from everything that had happened, worn out by the hours of crying, worrying about what would happen next. The random throwing up, the no-show period, the moodiness, the enlarged breasts...

 

'I'm going to have a baby... I'm going to have his baby? Oh Kami, what am I going to tell him?'

 

“You're positive?” she asked, still looking at her stomach.

 

Inuyasha was getting a little annoyed at the lack of faith in his smelling abilities.

 

“I'm a big, giant plus sign, OK!” Kagome glanced up, her face writ with confusion, her eyes a deep pool of worry.

 

“I... I mean - that is... a big, giant plus sign?” his words actually penetrating her jumbled mind, and for some reason this struck her as hilariously funny.

 

“A giant plus sign!” she started to laugh.

 

Inuyasha and Miroku looked at each other nervously.

 

“Um, Kagome, are you gonna be ok?”

 

She laughed even harder.

 

“Why don't I get you a glass of water?” Miroku offered as he got up to head for the kitchen and away from the somewhat crazed laughing.

 

Inuyasha spluttered, being left alone with Kagome was something that he wasn't very comfortable with at the moment.

 

“Uh...” he restrained the urge to fidget. “Are you really ok?”

 

Looking up at her, he saw that tears were leaking out of the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard.

 

Maybe it was his genuine look of concern that helped get the hysteria under wraps. She quieted down to the occasional hiccup of laughter.

 

“I think I'm better now,” she said taking a deep breath.

 

Miroku handed her a glass of water; she took a sip.

 

“This must be very unexpected news, Miss Kagome. Is there anyone you would like us to call? Your family perhaps?”

 

“I, uh, I don't know if I want to tell them yet. I think I still need some time to get used to the idea myself.” She looked over at Inuyasha, who was moodily looking anywhere but at her.

 

“A baby,” she breathed, trying to imagine the look on his face when she told him.

 

'Is he going to have the same look Inuyasha had, awed and afraid? Or is he going to just slam the door in my face? What if he won't even let me explain it to him?' And then something occurred to her. Why hadn't he been able to tell that she was pregnant? He was a full fledged youkai, Inuyasha was hanyou, there was bound to be a slightly higher range of senses between the two. She had to know.

 

“Inuyasha, would a full youkai have been able to tell that I was pregnant sooner?”

 

He looked a little annoyed by the question.

 

“How the hell should I know? That wolf bastard didn't seem to pick up on it, but he probably wouldn't have been able to tell even if you were about to birth the damn pup he's so stupid.”

 

“But what about Shippo? Would he know, I mean I've been spending a lot of time with him since I got here and he hasn't said anything.” She was hard pressed not to go in and wake him up to ask.

 

“I dunno if he's old enough to even know the difference.”

 

“Apparently neither were you,” Miroku said, unable to stop himself.

 

“Shut the fuck up! I don't know a ton of pregnant women, so fucking sue me! And what does it matter if a youkai could tell sooner? I just told you, so now you know, and by the look of you you're not that far along so I say I caught it pretty early.”

 

“But it's been about two months since we were together last...”she trailed off looking startled by her own discovery.

 

“You two have been together for a while now? Inuyasha, I thought you just met her?” his eyebrows raised, a grin twitching his lips while Inuyasha stuttered over his words.

 

“So does this mean that I should be buying you a cigar?” he asked slyly.

 

“Does what! I'M NOT THE FUCKING FATHER YOU GODDAMN PERVERT!”

 

“Inuyasha, keep your voice down, Shippo is still sleeping.”

 

'Says the girl who just had a laughing fit,' she thought inwardly.

 

“Keep my voice down! That meddling prick just accused me of being the father, you should be screaming at him, more then at me!”

 

She supposed he did have a point, but -

 

“Well, you do kind of look like him,” she admitted in a small voice.

 

“What!”

 

Was the night ever going to end?

 

 

 

 

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Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen. The cat is out of the bag and a big fat lemon was just tossed. How do you like them apples?

 

I could uses a few more sayings but I think that'll do it for this authors note.

 

Anyway, hope you liked it because I worked long and frickin' hard on this bad boy.

 

Til next time!

 

Tsuki Miko