Chapter six
The next few days were about the same thing, Kagome would wake Inuyasha up with her coughing and he'd make her tea. With all his caring for her, and she being sick, it was no wonder the kitchen table was weighted down with bills.
Kagome had been fired from her skating rink job, which was too bad, since it had been her favorite job of all of them. The day she found out she had stayed in the bedroom screaming until the old lady climbed the fire escape and threatened to report them for disturbing the peace.
The snow had been falling steadily for the past two days, and the two had been stuck in their apartment, due to the fact the roads were not being cleared properly.
And that was the reason why Inuyasha and Kagome were stuck in their apartment playing checkers. They were supposed to be doing bills, but unfortunately, they had no motivation.
Inuyasha paused as he lifted his black checker and jumped it over three of Kagome's red pieces. He grinned in victory and did a little dance, failing to notice Kagome flick one of his pieces down his shirt.
Kagome yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes. Inuyasha paused in his dance to stare at the board for a long time. He blinked and then shrugged it off as paranoia; he didn't have any fewer pieces then two minutes ago.
"I'm thirsty," Kagome said suddenly.
Inuyasha glanced at her and sighed, "Sorry, Love, we're out of tea."
Kagome pouted and then smiled, "I have an idea!"
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as Kagome sprung to her feet and hobbled over to the kitchen.
"Oh I almost forgot," Kagome called from the kitchenette, "Sango and Miroku are stopping by and they're bringing dinner."
"Joy, free food," Inuyasha said as he leaned back onto the ground and stared at the ceiling, "The pervert and his girlfriend are good for something after all."
"Inuyasha!"
"I said nothing!" Inuyasha said smirking and stroked Kagome-neko's head. "You love me don't you, sweetie?"
The kitten purred and nuzzled Inuyasha's hand.
"Oh course you do!"
Kagome came back into the room smiling widely and handed Inuyasha a mug, "Its hot chocolate!"
Inuyasha stared at the liquid within the cup... "Kagome, this is pink."
"So?" Kagome said and took a huge gulp, "It's good."
Inuyasha reluctantly took a sip and his eyes widened, "This isn't hot chocolate!"
"Well, we were out of chocolate syrup so I used the next best thing, strawberry syrup," Kagome said happily. She had been extremely moody lately going from sad and depressed to extremely happy.
"Then it isn't hot chocolate...its hot strawberry," Inuyasha concluded and took another sip, "Hey, it is good!"
"Told you!" Kagome said and drank the rest of her hot strawberry, while flicking one of Inuyasha's pieces off the board without him noticing.
Few hours later, Inuyasha and Kagome were in another heated round of checkers when Inuyasha was just about to win. The wind was blowing snow blindly outside and the sky was dark, due to day lights savings time.
Inuyasha smirked in victory when everything went dark.
"I'm blind!" Inuyasha screamed automatically.
Kagome jumped in surprise and tried to comfort Inuyasha.
"Kagome, it's too late for me," Inuyasha whimpered, "I'll never see your beautiful face again, I'll never play DDR again, I'll never see our children because I'm blind!"
"Inuyasha, get a hold of yourself, you're not blind," Kagome said calmly and searched for a flash light, "The lights just went out."
Inuyasha blinked as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, "Kagome! It's a miracle, I can see again!" So relieved that he wasn't blind he scooped up Kagome and kissed her fully on the lips.
"Oh get a grip," Kagome said breathlessly as Inuyasha pulled away, "It's only a small power outage, and it should come back on in a few minutes."
"If it's only a power outage, then how come the neighbors' lights are on?" Inuyasha asked sheepishly.
Kagome gasped loudly and ran from the room. She reappeared with a flash light and began to throw random bills across the kitchen table. Inuyasha watched, confused.
Kagome gasped again loudly as her hand rested on a slip of paper, "Oh no!"
"What? What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked as he tripped his way over to her and hit his head on the wall in the process.
"I forgot to mail our bills! Damn it, here's our electric bill, our heating bill, our water bill, our telephone bill, god damn it! Everything's here, we missed our deadline!" Kagome declared, fighting back tears, "The world hates me, Inuyasha."
"Well...if it's any constellation, I don't hate you," Inuyasha said moving over and holding her in her arms. She sniffled and leaned her head against his shoulder, "Don't get upset over this Kagome, its ok, we'll be fine. Shh, we'll get this figured out and we'll have light in no time."
Kagome sighed and nodded against his shoulder. Inuyasha could always make her feel better, no matter what.
The two stood in the darkness, embracing each other, forgetting about everything else and ignored the thundering snow outside or the fact that Sango and Miroku hadn't showed up.
Kagome sat in the darkness that was their living room with a blanket wrapped around her, Inuyasha was in the kitchen looking for something that didn't have to be cooked in a microwave. So far he was having no luck.
A soft knocking on the window made Kagome look up. But when she did, she saw no one there. Shivering, she drew the blanket close to her. Knocking was heard again.
She shot her head up and stared at the window, afraid of what she's say. She only saw a flash of a white coat of some sort.
Someone was out there.
Kagome knew she should open the window to see who it was, but she was frightened, who was out there? Was someone looking in on her? She was scared and closed her eyes while hiding under the blanket.
The knocking wouldn't stop.
She shut her eyes tighter and clutched her side to curl herself up in a ball.
She felt nails scraping the glass trying to get in, and she screamed, "Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha came running in automatically, holding a lamp as a weapon, the scream from Kagome had sounded desperate like someone was hurting her. The scraping reached his ears and he watched a flash of white outside the window that was not snow.
Gripping the lamp like a lifeline, he inched towards Kagome and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. She flinched and then relaxed after discovering who it was. She eased herself out of the blanket and launched herself into Inuyasha's waiting arms.
She shivered from fear and shook violently from the experience. Someone had been outside, scraping and knocking on her window. But who?
"Shh, Kagome, its ok," Inuyasha hugged her tight, his eyes trained on the window, "I'll protect you."
Kagome shook again and nodded her head, grasping Inuyasha like a life support, "W-who was that?"
Inuyasha shook his head and untangled himself from Kagome. Walking cautiously to the window, he locked it and closed the curtain. He noticed the scrap mark. Whoever was trying to get in had either sharp nails or a weapon. He'd have to be more careful, until then, he would comfort his wife- to-be.
He stared at the window a moment longer, trying to determine if the person was coming back. He clutched the lamp tighter and inched towards the window.
"Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered, scared.
Inuyasha paused and glanced at her before peeking through the curtain. Nothing was out there. Whoever was there was gone now.
He retreated back to the couch and cradled Kagome in his arms, "It's gone now, it's ok."
Kagome nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Suddenly, there was a knocking at the door and both jumped. Kagome cried out and hid behind the couch as Inuyasha sprung to his feet, clutching the lamp tighter. Holding his hand out behind him, he signaled for Kagome to stay away from the window but behind him.
He glided to the door and clutched the knob, his other hand poised to bash a head in.
He flung the door open with a yelp and raised the lamp.
"Wait!" Inuyasha stopped in mid-swing and blinked in surprise as Rin held her hands over her head. She was wearing a heavy blue winter jacket and a yellow scarf. Her head sported a light blue hat with white flowers on it.
"Rin?" Inuyasha asked in surprise. Kagome peeked over his shoulder and visibly relaxed, "What are you doing here?"
Rin, after getting over the shock that her paranoid brother-in-law almost bashed her face in with a light, readjusted her hat and stood up to her full height (though much shorter than both Inuyasha and Kagome).
"The snow blew me off course and I can't get home."
"What are you doing out here anyways?" Inuyasha asked, blinking, Rin didn't work or anything she had no reason to be out so late.
"I was searching for Sango and Miroku," Rin said.
Kagome was on Rin in a second, "Where's Sango-Chan, Rin-Chan?"
"You mean you didn't get a phone call from them?" Rin asked amazed.
Inuyasha and Kagome gave each other a look before giving Rin a death glare. "We forgot to pay our bills," Kagome explained.
Rin's eyes widened, "Then you didn't hear?"
"What do you mean, what did the pervert do this time?" Inuyasha asked, confused.
"We got a call on our message machine, it was from Sango and Miroku," Rin said, stepping inside, "they said that they were going to do what they always wanted to do."
"What's that?"
Rin took a deep breath and looked from Inuyasha to Kagome with a sly look, "Elope."
Kagome nearly fainted from surprise and Inuyasha blinked in surprise. "W-what?"
"They apparently eloped this morning," Rin stated.
Kagome gasped, "But...they had all those plans to marry in the spring! Inuyasha was going to be the man of honor and I was going to be the bride's maid! Why didn't they just wait?"
Kagome pouted, she'd always loved weddings, now she'd have to wait for her own wedding. And heaven knows that wasn't going to happen soon.
Inuyasha cracked his knuckles and stood up before marching out the door and slamming it behind him.
"Where's he going?" Rin asked.
"Probably to go give his best friend a piece of his mind," Kagome stated and watched the door. Something nagged at the back of her head, "Rin-Chan, did you go to our window?"
"Window?"
"With the fire escape?" Kagome asked, hoping for the answer she wanted.
"No, can't say that I did, I went right to your door, I didn't know you had a fire escape, Kagome," Rin said, not noticing Kagome shaking violently from fear.
Inuyasha bolted along the empty streets. He was beyond pissed off, he knew how much the wedding was important to Kagome...he didn't really care, he just had to yell at his best friend for not making a better effort to tell him.
He found himself standing outside the apartment. He needed a phone, he was the only one who knew Miroku's cell phone, if he had it with him...
He tried opening Miroku's apartment, but it was locked. He growled when an idea popped into his head. Turning he flung himself into his brother's apartment.
Sesshoumaru sat in a pair of sweat pants and a large t-shirt at the kitchen table when his little brother came flying through the door and landing in a heap half way into his living room.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow and placed a bookmark in the book he had been reading. "I won't bother asking what possessed you to do such a thing."
His brother grunted from his position on the ground and Sesshoumaru inwardly chuckled, but did not let it appear on his cool face. "May I ask why you are sprawled on the floor of my home?"
Another grunt.
"God damn it Inuyasha, what the fuck are you doing in my apartment," Sesshoumaru said crossly, not in the mood for company, especially uninvited company that fling themselves into your apartment while possibly breaking the door of his home.
"I need a phone!" Inuyasha declared as he sprung to his feet and dove over his couch to get to the cordless phone hanging on the opposite wall.
Sesshoumaru mentally sighed and grabbed his brother's collar, "And why in all the seven hells did you have to come my home in order to do so?"
"We forgot to pay our bills!" Inuyasha said furiously trying to get out of his brother's grip.
"And what could be so important that you'd run all the way to my home instead of a pay phone?"
Inuyasha stopped his struggling and appeared to be in deep thought. Sesshoumaru sighed and released his brother.
"Who do you need to call?"
A harsh look crossed his younger brother's features, "An eloping bastard!"
"I see you heard the news..." Sesshoumaru stated and sat back down, "You have five minutes, Go."
Inuyasha trotted to the phone and picked up, quickly dialing Miroku's number.
Meanwhile, in a hot spring retreat:
Miroku sat happily in a hot spring with his new wife, sporting a diamond ring, and a glass of wine. Life was good.
He had to admit, eloping had been the smartest thing in the world. It had been cheap, no reception, no whiny flower girls, no annoying best friend, no guests, no wedding cake…
Sango lightly dozed on the other side of the spring. They were currently on their honeymoon, well, temporary honeymoon, it wasn't too far away from Tokyo, only a little far south.
They had married some time around ten in the morning had spent the whole day driving to the spa and spending the huge gift certificate Sango had gotten at a charity drawing last year during one of her boycotts (before she met Miroku).
Miroku was about to doze off too when the familiar chime of the pink panther filled the room. Miroku sighed, he should have left his cell at home. Glancing at his wife, he reached over and grabbed the cell. There were few people who knew this number; it was his boss, his mom, his uncle, or Inuyasha.
Personally he hoped it would be his uncle, since he would congratulate Miroku and ask if he made her pregnant yet. (He was way ahead in that department.)
He flipped the phone open and placed it to his ear, "hello?"
He immediately flung the phone arms length away when Inuyasha's booming voice rose out, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me, you fucking bastard?"
In the background, Miroku heard another voice, "Inuyasha, try and restrain your self, Shippou's sleeping in the other room."
Miroku sighed, "Inuyasha, I tried but your phone line was dead."
"So? You could have stopped by instead of standing us up, god damn it Miroku I was going to have a free diner!" Miroku nearly fell over in shock. Inuyasha cared because of a dinner…?
"Glad to see you priorities are straight."
There was a pause at the other end, "I'm sorry Miroku, I just...wish you had told me, you know? You're my best friend, and well, when I heard it from Rin I thought that you didn't care to even tell me."
Miroku allowed himself to smile slightly, "And I'm sorry for not making an effort to tell you, my friend, you were the first on my list to tell. Sango was a little anxious."
"Inuyasha get off my phone."
"God damn it, Sess, I'm in the middle of a conversation here!"
"I said five minutes."
"Fuck you."
"Sorry, I'm straight…contrary to popular belief."
There was a very long, awkward silence then, "People think you're gay?"
Click.
Miroku chuckled as the dial tone met his ears and he tossed his phone aside. Time to sleep.