A/N: Chapter for you guys! This is courtesy of Bella!
Disclaimer: Neither I or Bella own Inuyasha. It's what we got to deal with.
Chapter 4: The enemy's façade
We were entering into our third week of the semester this upcoming week and strangely, not much had happened. Takeshi had been on his best behavior other than the occasional lustful glance in my direction, I still didn't trust him though, and had been set on edge ever since I got the note from him. I went to buy a pocketknife and even a new bottle of mace but now, it was beginning to seem as if maybe I were a bit paranoid. Inuyasha never said anything about it but I could tell that it annoyed him. Whenever I tried to bring the subject up he would get tight lipped, or his face would change to an expression that meant his didn't want to talk about it before he would change the subject by pointing something out. I really didn't talk to Inuyasha about the possible troubles that could form with Takeshi anymore but I thought about it all the time. It was always lurking in the back of my mind, stealing my thoughts like a thief. I tried not to think about this and sat on the bed with my journal and sketchbook. I needed to start a rough draft of an article for journalism and have two sketches by Thursday. For art I could draw whatever I wanted just as long as I drew it just as it was; for the journal I had an idea of what I wanted to do. It was only Sunday but I wanted to get a head start on my work because Sango and I were supposed to be meeting up all this week to see if we could dish out more information on Takeshi and I knew that it would take up quite some time, so I started on my article which was going to be about the panda cow.
One hour and a trillion pages later I still had nothing. Every time I began to write the paper just didn't seem right. The words didn't add up or the paragraphs didn't flow. The paper was starting to sound amateur and clichéd. Not only that but the topic wasn't anything I was interested in and you could tell when you read the paper. This wouldn't catch anyone's attention. Hell, I wrote the thing and even I lost focus when I read it. I refused to turn in anything that wouldn't catch the reader's eyes; it just wouldn't do. I let out a frustrated cry and threw my journal atop the nightstand with my sketchbook.
"You should take a break; you've been working too hard." Inuyasha said into my ear while squeezing my shoulders. He began to massage my back and I let out a little moan. I could feel him working the knots out and boy did it feel good. "Let's go take a swim." Inuyasha said and motioned to the window that revealed the dark summer night.
"I don't have a swimming suit," I said feeling confused for a second. "And it's like nine at night."
"I know." Inuyasha whispered huskily. He gave me a flirty grin and kissed my shoulder. I laughed and shook my head as I understood. How could I have missed the innuendo in that?
"As much as I want to, I really need to finish up at least one of these assignments. Sorry hon." Inuyasha shrugged nonchalantly and walked over to his side of the bed and changed into his pajamas.
"I should probably be getting to bed anyhow." He punched his pillows a few times before laying down; he looked up at me for a moment. "Are you sure you don't want to join me?" he asked with a hopeful look in his eyes. I could tell that he didn't want to be alone right now. I actually felt the same way. I really wanted nothing more than to curl up against his side or to snuggle into his chest, but I had to get something done tonight. I glanced longingly at him for a moment before telling him that I would have to pass. He didn't reply. I knew he understood but that didn't stop me from feeling like the world's worst wife ever.
Inuyasha was asleep in a few minutes. I know that I've watched him sleep a million times but I never got over the initial shock of how beautiful he looked; I know he would object to my saying so, but I really meant it. His face went completely slack and he seemed totally at ease, there were no worry lines on his face. His pale skin was flawless and he looked as if he could've been chiseled out of marble. I unthinkingly reached out to push a few stray strands from his face and began to stroke his hair. He shifted towards me in the slightest bit and a contented sigh escaped his lips. I smiled softly as an idea dawned on me. Trying not to disturb Inuyasha, I reached over him and grabbed my sketch book.
I looked up from the finished sketch to find Inuyasha's golden eyes fixated on me.
"You done?" He asked sleepily, his eyes still half lidded.
"For now," I said nodding. Inuyasha opened his arms and motioned for me to come to him. I all too willingly crawled across the bed and onto his chest. I nestled my head into the space between his neck and shoulder and Inuyasha wrapped his arms around me.
"So sleepy." Inuyasha drawled out. I sympathetically patted his chest.
"It's late. Go back to sleep," I said softly. Inuyasha shook his head and tightened his grip on me. "I'll stay, I promise." I pulled the cover up around us and listened to Inuyasha's breathing as he fell back asleep.
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I jolted awake from a sound later that night; Inuyasha was propped up on his elbows, his body rigid beneath mine. His eyes were alert. "Did you hear that crash?" I asked, my voice trembling more than I thought it would.
"Yes," He nodded. "Let me go see what it was." He said putting me aside. It was quiet for a few minutes, and then there was a strangely familiar smell that I couldn't place. I tentatively got out of bed and made my way down the hall. The further down the hall I went, the stronger the smell got and then I began to see smoke. I started to freak out. Where was Inuyasha? I tried to fan the smoke from my face but it kept getting thicker and thicker until all I could see was the swirling tendrils of smoke.
"Yash?" I choked out in between coughs. I didn't get an answer. Where was he? Our house really wasn't that big. I felt a hand on my shoulder and began to scream but my scream was cut off by a rag that was slapped over my face that was wet with something. I started to panic and was about to kick whoever it was behind me when I heard Inuyasha's voice. "Keep this to your face." He said grabbing my by the arm and towing me outside. "Don't come back in, don't! No matter what, stay out here." He warned me before heading back the way he had came. I didn't know what he was doing but I was sure that he needed to come out too; he had been around the smoke longer than I had and I was already starting to get a headache. I stood outside and hoped it wouldn't take too long.
I sat in the cold plastic chair with my head in my hands. I ran my fingers through the hair pulling at it from the ends. A little after Inuyasha had come out of the house he started coughing really badly and couldn't catch his breath .
"Inuyasha!" I panicked. He sounded pretty bad.
"It's," he said between coughs, "Nothing,"
I shook my head and quickly pulled him to my car. I had grabbed my keys just in case as I had left the house. Thank goodness I had left them hanging next to the door. He kept coughing all the way to the emergency room. During the whole ride, I was scared that he would stop breathing and something even worse would happen. As they wheeled him away, I had to close my eyes and forget the horrible image of Inuyasha, deathly pale and not moving.
And so I waited.
I only knew that he had inhaled a lot of smoke, but I didn't know how badly and I didn't know if he was doing better or not because I hadn't been told anything yet. I was starting to feel sick because I was tired and hungry and I just wished that someone would come tell me how Inuyasha was doing before I pulled out what hair I had left.
Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore the doctor appeared, his lips in a grim line. I immediately stood up to face him. "How is he?" I asked. The doctor took of his glasses and looked at me with a serious look. "We've ran a few tests and everything seems to be okay; he just has a mild case of smoke inhalation. It's nothing too bad. We're giving him pure 100 percent oxygen right now to bring his oxygen levels back up. I just wanted to tell you, he's going to be alright but there are a few things that I should warn you about. First, he's going to have sensitivity in his chest area, he's been coughing for quite some time and he's been coughing pretty hard so the muscles are sore. Secondly, he's going to have some shortness of breath. It's going to take a while for this to go away so please don't let him overexert himself. I'm going to go ahead and release him but I think he should spend the day resting. I've prescribed some inhalers for him to help him breathe. One he has to take every so often, the other is specifically for when he feels as if he really can't breathe."
"Okay," I said, nodding enthusiastically. "Anything to help Inuyasha."
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"Inuyasha, you can't go to school!" I shouted at him, hands in the air. Inuyasha didn't look at me as he commenced with drying himself off after a quick shower.
"I'm fine." He said, his voice sounding as if he had just eaten sandpaper. He was so not fine.
He started to get dressed and was headed for the door when I grabbed his arm. "Please, just one day, Inuyasha." I pleaded. "Do it for me; it'd make me feel better." He looked at me for a long moment but shook his head. "I can only miss class twice. If I'm going to miss I want to miss when I actually need to. I feel fine Kagome." Inuyasha stopped to take a breath, I could tell that he hoped I wouldn't notice, but I did.
"Look at you! You can't even say a few sentences without being winded! You need to stay home Inuyasha." My eyes were starting to water; I just wanted him to be okay but he was fighting me and making things complicated. Couldn't he just give me the satisfaction of taking care of him for one day for my own reassurance? If he could just randomly throw me out of the house so I wouldn't get hurt then I should be able to do this something for him. Still, Inuyasha picked up his backpack.
I was at my wit's end. "Why are you so damn pigheaded?" I yelled. My face started to crumple and I turned away, refusing to cry in front of him. I started to take the sheets off of the bed so I could wash them; I needed something to do. Plus, I needed get rid of the smoky smell.
"Kagome," I continued with my task. If I spoke I was liable to cry. "Kagome, if it makes you feel better I'll only go to one class. You can pick me up after my business class and you can take care of me then. How's that sound?"
"Sounds okay." I mumbled, pausing in my task.
"Okay, I'm catching a ride with Miroku so I'll see you later. I'll be waiting outside the building for you."
I turned to him and nodded. "Ok."
I ditched class that day too, knowing that I just needed a little bit of solitude. I spent the next two hours that Inuyasha was gone trying to air out the house, there was still a smoky haze in the air but it wasn't all that bad and you couldn't really smell the smoke anymore. I hadn't been able to find what had caused the smoke and wasn't sure if there had been a fire or not but we had a broken window in our living room. I was in the corner of the room trying to clean all of the broken glass up when I noticed something.
It was a small envelope and a monkshood.
I sighed and turned away. I didn't want to read anymore of the notes. I didn't even want to touch this one. I cleaned up the rest of the glass and had washed or used air freshener on just about every cloth surface our house had and showered before I went back to the spot where I saw the note.
I didn't touch it though.
I drew a picture of the envelope and the flower in the smoky haze that remained before tucking the note into the back of my sketchbook and throwing away the flower. I held it daintily with two fingers before tossing it into the somewhat unused area of our backyard where I wouldn't have to see it. It didn't take me long to drive to the university, I parked in the student parking lot and began the walk over to where I knew Inuyasha would be waiting. Suddenly, someone grabbed me by the waist and I turned, finding myself looking into familiar violet eyes.
"Where are you going in such a rush?"
I shivered a bit, realizing it was Takeshi. I tried to pull away but he had a firm grasp on me. "You okay?" His eyes were concerned. What the hell was this? Why was he trying to play the nice guy all of a sudden?
My gut was yelling at me to get away. "I have to go." I said, but Takeshi still wouldn't let me go. He pulled my closer so that I was pressing into him.
"I'm worried about you Kagome, dear." His hand swept across my face in a gesture that I would've found comforting if it had been issued by anyone other than him. And did he just call me dear?
Oh, hell no.
"Let me go Takeshi!" I said, pushing away from him. "Now!" I added when he still refused to move. Takeshi reluctantly let me go and I rushed away from him.
Okay, that was weird, and disturbing. What the hell was his problem? It was like I had suddenly become his wife or something. And what about the girl he was sucking face with the last time? I had seen them a couple of times together, and each time I did they were abnormally close. They had to be a couple.
I didn't like any of this at all. I was still thinking about how uncomfortable it made me feel when I reached Inuyasha.
"You okay?" Inuyasha asked; the rasp in his voice was a bit softer but still evident. I decided not to tell him, because he'd be at Takeshi's throat in a heartbeat pounding his heart out and I'm pretty sure that goes under "exertion".
"Yeah." I tried to give a smile. "Just tired. You take your inhaler?" I asked apprehensively.
"Yup." Inuyasha gave me with a worn out grin.
"Let's go home and crash." I said wrapping my arms around him.
He laughed and gripped me tighter. As we made our way to the car, I remembered the note. I knew that even though I didn't want to open it, I would have to. I dreaded the idea.
Why couldn't my life just be normal?
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A/N: Hey! This was a great chapter, Bella! You guys, show your support by reviewing! This story is one of the rare stories I update frequently, and that's because Bella can keep up with the updates! Much love to all the readers and reviewers!
~Daichi