InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ You Are Not Alone ❯ The Ring Is...Where? ( Chapter 23 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Sesshomaru has lost the engagement ring he bought for Kagura! Will it ever be found? Read and find out, so you won't have to listen to me!

"You moron!" Inuyasha yelled. "How could you lose a frikkin' engagement ring?"

"Inuyasha!" his father glared at him.

"You know I'm right, Dad."

"I don't know what happened," Sesshomaru said, sitting down with a sad, lazy look in his eye. "I left it right where I knew I'd find it, and when I came back from the bathroom, it was gone."

"You'd rather pee than think about your own fiance!?" Inuyasha yelled.

"Inuyasha!" their father glared at him again.

"Okay, okay," Inuyasha stopped. "Where did you last leave it?" he asked his brother.

"On my dresser."

"You're sure?"

"Yes..." and with that last statement, Sesshomaru walked out of the kitchen and into the backyard, sitting on the porch with that same empty look in his eyes. InuTaisho sighed disappointedly. Inuyasha scoffed, shaking his head.

"Listen Inuyasha," his father told him, starting to look around for his car keys. "I have work today, so I need you to take Shippo to school and help your brother find his ring. Lord knows how long Sesshomaru has been putting this off. Can you do that for me, son?"

Inuyasha half-expected this request of his father, but still couldn't help the tick that formed in his eye in annoyance. "Yes sir."

InuTaishou patted his son's head. "Good boy, I'll see you tonight." And as he found his keys in the kitchen drawer, he grabbed his jacket and walked out the door. Inuyasha sighed deeply, and soon an idea came to mind. Maybe Kagome could help him find it? He hoped she was already awake. He was sure she wouldn't mind........ Ah, he didn't care about the damn ring, he just didn't want to have to walk Shippo all the way to kindergarten by himself. A boy can only take so much Shippo.

And with that, he picked up the phone and called Kagome.

Kagome had woken up early that morning, much to Inuyasha's relief, and enthusiastically agreed to help him. Inuyasha was walking along the sidewalk with Kagome and Shippo, wearing a red vest with a long-sleeved black shirt underneath, blue jeans and white sneakers. Kagome wore a light purple sweater, a matching skirt that went down below her knees, and brown boots. As always, her Shikon necklace hung around her neck. Shippo, wearing a green jacket and blue shorts, hummed happily holding Kagome's hand as they proceeded through the neighborhood to Kitsunenote Kindergarten.

"I can't believe your brother lost the ring," Kagome commented.

"I can," Inuyasha grumbled. "That guy can never seem to keep up to date with anything."

"Really?"

"Well, no. But he's still a damned bastard for losing track of it."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome glared at him, quickly covering Shippo's ears, unnoticed by the little boy. "Don't use that language in front of Shippo!"

"Feh, relax, Kagome. Look at him," he said, pointing down at the happy child. "I'm sure he didn't even notice."

She gave him another glare, which started to make him a little nervous, but quickly morphed into a smile as she gazed down at the small boy. "I'm glad to see you so happy, Shippo. Are you excited about something?"

"Yep!" he said mirthfully.

"What?"

"Well..." a tint of pink blossomed on his cheeks. "There's this girl in my class..."

"Oi vey..." Inuyasha snorted in disgust. Kagome ignored him.

"Really? Is she cute?"

"Kinda..." he blushed darker. "Her name is Shiori."

"That's a nice name." Kagome noted. Shippo nodded. "Yup! And I'm gonna give her a present!"

"Really? What is it?" Kagome asked, curious.

"Well, it's this neat shiny-looking--"

"Hey, wouldya look at that," Inuyasha interrupted, noticing the small building in front of them. "There's the kindergarten. Better get goin', squirt."

Kagome smirked. "Hmph."

After dropping Shippo off, Inuyasha invited Kagome over to his house (well more like commanded, but in a good way) to help him look for his brother's ring. They searched in all the possible places that Sesshomaru might have left it, until there was only one place left: his room, which was probably supposed to be the first place they should have checked.

"Why do you think it's only in his room?"

"Cause that's where he always is, other than school and the bathroom, and there's no way in hell I'll search those places." he grumbled. Kagome giggled as they opened the door to Sesshomaru's room.

It was large, but rather...empty. Except for the king-sized bed, dresser and desk with a laptop, books and writing utensils, it was pretty barren. On his desk were photos of their family, and a few pictures of his fiance, Kagura.

"Uh..."

'Uh' is right," Inuyasha noted. "A room always describes you. And well, as you can see," he sighed. "There isn't much to describe."

"I guess...this shouldn't be too hard." Kagome said.

And with that, they began to search. Kagome was amazed. She had remembered Inuyasha describing his brother as a 'neat freak,' but that seemed an understatement at this point. There was no sign of dust, speck or disarray anywhere. His books were aligned alphabetically on his desk, and his bed was so well made it was as if he had never slept in it. Also, the clothes in his dresser were all perfectly folded, not a single wrinkle in any of them. When they searched the laundry room, the basket that had Sesshomaru's name on it was full of his dirty clothes: also folded! Kagome considered herself an orderly person, but her ways paled almost embarrasingly compared to this. The room had barely anything in it, and everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. How could anyone lose anything in a place like this?

"It's...not here, Inuyasha." Kagome sighed disappointedly.

"I guess not. Dammit..."

She looked over his room again sadly, and her attention had suddenly drawn to the pictures on his desk. Walking over, she picked up the one of Sesshomaru's love, Kagura.

"You know, she's really beautiful," Kagome noted as she looked at her in the picture. She was standing in an outside background, leaning against a tall oak tree. She was wearing a baby blue sleeveless top and blue capri pants that hugged her legs beautifully. Her hair, up in a long ponytail, rippled through the breeze like liquid, glossy darkness. A gentle smile lit up her face, making her expressant red eyes stand out. "And she must be really nice, too."

"Yeah," Inuyasha responded, coming up behind her to look at the photo with her. "She's an amazing woman. That ass Sesshomaru is pretty lucky to have dug up someone like her."

"You know, you really don't seem to give your brother enough credit. I've talked to him many times, and he seems like an okay guy to me."

"Keh. Well, you don't know him like I do. He may seem like a goodie goodie during the day, but by night," he made a mock scary face. "He turns into the devil!"

"Do you mean before or after he bugs you to do your history homework?" she inquired, eyeing him sarcastically.

"Both." he answered simply. "Doesn't matter though, he's always bugging me."

"Hmm," she looked at the picture with a more thoughtful expression. "Sesshomaru must really love her."

"Feh, you have no idea," Inuyasha gave an exasperated sigh. "Whenever he comes home or during breakfast, lunch or dinner, he's always talking about how she's doing, what they'd be planning to do soon, how pretty she is, when she's coming to visit, how pretty she is, how many times he'd see her at school, what kind of books she'd be reading...did I mention he can never stop talking about how pretty she is?"

"Yes, and apparently, neither can you." Kagome said.

"Well, you get me. She's his life. I can't even believe he still hasn't brought up the question yet; he's been putting it off for years! I swear, to him, if she were some kind of wine, you could never catch Sesshomaru sober."

"That's love for you," Kagome grinned. Inuyasha made a disgusted snort.

Just then, the house phone rang. Dashing downstairs, Inuyasha came to the wall in the kitchen and answered the phone, Kagome following close behind him.

"Hamagichi." he listened for a few minutes. Kagome was curious as to why his face seemed to morph from boredom to surprise to anger all from a few words over the phone.

He slammed it back on the base, looking pissed. He then grabbed Kagome's wrist, pulling her towards the front door.

"I swear, I'm gonna squash that puny runt," she heard him mumble angrily as he got the door open. "Making me search everywhere for nothing..."

"What's the matter?"

"That was a call from Kitsunenote Kindergarten," he replied as they proceeded down the driveway and came to the sidewalk. "It was Shippo's teacher. Apparently, he was trying to give that girl he was talking about a really flashy looking ring. When his teacher asked him where he got it, he only said, 'I found it.' "

"So you mean..." Kagome's eyes glowed in disbelief.

"Shippo took the ring," Inuyasha finished for her. "He went into Sesshomaru's room and snatched it off of his dresser."

"Well, at least now we know where it is," she said, hating the fact that now sweet little Shippo had to be disciplined. "But Inuyasha, promise me you won't hurt Shippo for this." she pleaded.

He looked back at her with grim eyes. "I can't make that promise, Kagome."

They had brought Shippo home, as well as the engagement ring. It took all of Kagome's power to keep Inuyasha from strangling the little child, who was cowering behind her leg the whole trip home. She would have been scared too, considering that Inuyasha was actually starting to foam at the mouth.

"Now Shippo," Kagome told him firmly as they sat in the living room. "Do you realize now that what you did was very wrong?"

The little boy had that common sad 'I-was-a-bad-boy' look on his face as he dwindled his thumbs, looking at his feet. "Yes, Kaggie. I shouldnt have touched Sesshy's ring."

"And...?" she inquired.

"And I should never touch anything that's not mine without asking first."

"And...?" Inuyasha inquired, that annoyed tick still in his eye.

"And?" Shippo groaned. "What else is there?"

"We've been searching all afternoon for that ring, kid. I wasted a whole four hours of soccer to search for a stupid piece of jewelry that doesn't even have anything to do with me! And what's worse; I couldn't even eat my daily bowl of ramen with that thing to worry about! And you know what? If Kagome weren't here to stop me, I swear, I would do such horrible things to you, if I showed your remains to my dad or Sesshomaru along with a picture of you right now, they would never be able to identify you."

Shippo was whimpering now, tears of fright in his eyes. Kagome hoped that the boy wouldn't wet his pants.

"Now go up to your room before that happens, okay?" he forced out through a fake smile with gritted teeth. In no time later, the 4 year old sped up to his room, not even looking back.

"Wow," Kagome commented sarcastically. "You sure handled that well."

"Well, I have to admit that it was a little more forceful than what you told him." he replied, but he looked at her again, and he automatically wish he hadn't. She was getting mad again.

"Excuse me?"

"Aw crap."

"What do you mean more forceful?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, if you ask me, you were being too soft on the runt! I mean, Kagome! He took a $3500 diamond ring from my brother! Now I think you could've been a bit more firm than that."

"What, I should have spanked him for it?" she demanded, now fully angry. "He's just a little toddler, Inuyasha. He doesn't know! We can't just blame him for things he doesn't understand yet!"

"Maybe you can't! But we men don't just let kids like that go off without something to anticipate if he ever tried anything again!"

That was the absolutely wrong thing to say. And looking at her now fuming face, he knew that clearly. Holy crap, now he knew how it felt to be scared.

"There you go being completely sexist again!"

"How am I being sexist!?"

"Don't ask me! You know how!"

"I'm just saying!"

"Why can't you stop acting like such a chauvanist pig!"

"Why can't you start using words I actually understand!"

"Oh, you know what I mean!"

"No, I don't actually!"

They kept going back and forth for what seemed like an hour until the door opened, Sesshomaru stepping inside. He was surprised to see the two teens fighting in the middle of the living room, even though he opened the door loud enough that he was sure they would've been able to hear.

"Hey." he called. They didn't answer him; only kept bickering at each other. He called again; still no answer.

"QUIET!!!" he roared. The two abruptly stopped, looking over at him.

"Now," he started, fixing the collar of his shirt. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." They both answered, crossing their arms and turning away from each other, angry.

"Your ring's on the kitchen table," Inuyasha said with a huff. "Shippo took it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room, where I can actually have some peace." he exaggerated, glaring at Kagome.

"Well, I'm going home, to where I have a mom and brother who can actually understand me!" Kagome shot back, returning his glare.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"See ya!"

"Whatever!"

And with that, Inuyasha stomped up the stairs, and Kagome loudly shut the front door behind her. Sesshomaru only watched the entire scene in stunned, but slightly amused silence.

I honestly enjoyed writing this chapter. It really brought out one of the real parts of Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship. Thanks for reading, and please look forward to the next update of YANA.