The Club

Christielea54

Chapter Seven

It had been a tense moment when the police had come. At first no one wanted to be the one to answer their questions, and after an awkward pause, they all began explaining at once. Eventually Inuyasha did all the talking. He kept it short and sweet. He didn't try to get the police to sympathize with the kid, he didn't get into any in-depth conversation about the nation's justice system, and most importantly, he didn't try to hit on the female officers.

"The nice police men are going to take you to a new home now Shippo," Kagome said gently. "Okay?"

Shippo nodded numbly, tearstained tracks still trailing down his cheeks.

"I'm sure you'll meet a lot of nice people your age at the orphanage."

Why wasn't he responding to her? Kagome could comfort a crying Shippo, but she was at a complete loss when it came to a lifeless Shippo. She wasn't quite sure what to say to him anymore. What could you say to a boy who'd just lost his whole world?

"We'll come visit you this weekend. Won't we Inuyasha?" She elbowed him in the ribs.

"Huh? Oh, sure thing kid."

"Kay," came the boy's weak response. The adrenaline had kicked off, and the reality of what had happened was finally starting to sink in.

It seemed strangely quiet after the police started to leave. Kagome followed them outside and waved goodbye.

Suddenly she realized what the wrecked pile of pink metal that she'd seen out of the corner of her eye was. Her bike! Her ruined, smashed bike. "Inuyasha!" she yelled.

He came running outside, hair still flying behind him. "What?" he asked breathlessly.

"My bike!" she wailed.

He gave her a dead-pan look. "Way to give someone a heart attack," he said dryly. "Jeez. A cold blooded murderer left this building not an hour ago and you're yelling about a bike!"

"Sorry… But the drunk did smash it up." She wouldn't use the word murderer. "How am I going to get home?" She started pacing around. The stress of the day was starting to catch up to her.

"Kagome!" he yelled to get her now frantic attention. "Jesus, calm down. I can drive you."

"You have a car?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope."

Her face fell. "Oh…"

He reached into his pocket. "But I've got Miroku's keys," he said, smirking in a way only he was capable of, while dangling them out in front of himself.

Kagome couldn't help but laugh.

Miroku was cleaning up the mess made by another of Inuyasha's fights when he heard a car start in the parking lot. That wasn't entirely fair though. This time Inuyasha had actually been trying to help someone instead of making his often hurt pride feel better.

Funny… That car sounded awfully familiar. With a frown starting to form on his face he reached down and felt his pocket.

No keys.

He ran to the window to see Inuyasha pull out of the parking lot in his car. "Damnit! That's the third time this week!" he yelled to no one in particular.

"Inuyasha," Kagome asked very tentatively. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

There was a long pause, and then slowly, he said, "Yeah, I think he will."

"How do you know?!" she demanded anxiously. "Some kids-"

"I know because the same thing happened to me!" he yelled sharply, effectively cutting her off.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "It's just, he wasn't even answering me, and, I hope he's all right."

Inuyasha didn't reply for so long that she'd forgot that she'd spoken. He started off slowly, for once in his life unsure of himself. "After it happens, when you realize that they're gone, forever, everything around you just kind of fades away. It's almost like you're, kind of…" he struggled to find the right wording. "Numb. That's it, numb."

He stared straight ahead at the road in front of them, not once looking at her, his knuckles going white on the steering wheel. Kagome realized that he hadn't talked spoken about this to anyone before. He was just starting to unravel his own feelings.

"He's being sent to an orphanage though. He won't feel, abandoned, there. He won't have to deal with, replacement parents. When I-" but he'd finally reached her house, and whatever spell had been making him talk so openly was broken. "I think he'll be fine," he finished somewhat lamely.

"I'm glad," she said with a small smile. But neither of them were sure if she meant glad for Shippo's well being, or glad for Inuyasha's. "Goodnight," she said softly.

"Night," he answered, golden eyes glowing in the dark.

"Remind me again why I'm doing this?"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled from the back seat. "We said we would! End of story! Besides, I'm worried about him."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Miroku said reassuringly from the seat.

"Thanks Miroku."

"Oh, sure," Inuyasha said while rolling his eyes. "She listens to you!"

"Inuyasha, your lack of charm is not my fault."

"Please. Spare me the dramatics."

"I, for one," Miroku continued, "find it a miracle that I'm actually the one driving my car."

That brought a smile to their faces.

"Keh! Fine," Inuyasha relented. "Here's some gas money." He rummaged through the pocket in his coat and placed a total of two dimes, a quarter, and five pennies in Miroku's hand.

"Thank you, oh, so much," Miroku said dryly, while pulling up to the orphanage.

Inuyasha just smirked.

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How was it? You're going to love the next few chapters. They're really cute.

And, of course, you meet Sango.

Please review!