Hey! What's with the growling?

another Inuyasha fanfiction

by

mkh2

Yes, I'm late. So sue me. (No, please don't, not really. It was a joke, honest.)

Disclaimer: After having quite a number on my room, lifting up the bed, sorting through my stuff, and giving a general late winter "spring-cleaning", I have come to the conclusion that no, I have not simply "misplaced" the rights to Inuyasha and thus it actually does belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Oh, schnapps.

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Hey! – Chapter 9

Day 5 – Kagome's resolve: "I want Inuyasha back to normal!"

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She tilted her head to the right.

He tilted his head in the same direction.

She sighed. He sighed.

They both tilted their heads in the opposite direction.

Kagome finally snapped. "Would you two please stop doing that?"

Mikki blinked up at Kagome owlishly from behind her glasses. "Stop doing what?"

"That– that– that– that head tilt-y thingy! The both of you, doing the same thing, it's – it's driving me nuts," Kagome whined, slumping back into the couch.

"Fine, fine," Mikki sat up and stretched (Inuyasha did his own version of a stretch, his backside arched into the air while stretching his arms out across the ground, rubbing his face into the tatami) and went to sit by Kagome.

"You know, I still don't see why you won't just hit him over the head once real good and get it over with. I mean, after all, a hard thwack to the noggin is what caused this mess, right? And also, well, I know you won't be bringing him around to any doctor's – who knows what they'd do to him. Patient confidentiality my foot – when there is all the bogus controversy about patenting pieces of people, wanting to slice them up, poke and prod and possibly kill, all in the name of science? Then later try and clone pieces of him, I bet that's what would happen," Mikki made a face.

"Sounds like you've been watching a lot of sci-fi lately…" Kagome stared at Mikki.

"Nah, actually, you get this stuff all the time in newspapers and online news briefs… Mad science happens all the time these days, ya know?" Mikki reached over to pat Inuyasha on the head, the latter of which was currently engaged in a friendly game of tug of war with Ryu and a pair of Ji-chan's old socks. "And wouldn't you just hate to see something happen to those cute puppy ears of his?"

Kagome giggled nervously. "I think I need a drink…"

"Yeah? Get me one too, okay?" Mikki went back to surveying Inuyasha's behavior while Kagome stood up to go to the kitchen.

---

Inuyasha was licking his paw, intent on grooming his face and ears. Ryu stared up at him.

"Is your head still hurting?" Ryu asked.

"No. Hey, wanna chase Buyo?" Inuyasha's ears perked up and he sniffed at the air as he tried to locate the fat cat.

"Not really," Ryu frowned. "Look, I've been having fun and all, but shouldn't you try and get better now? I mean, you haven't done that funny human speech in days now, right?"

"Human speech?" Inuyasha looked around at Ryu again. "Are you harping on about that again? I told you, I don't know how to do human speech. I've never done human speech in my life, not that I can remember much before my head got hurt."

"I'm telling you, you could. Don't you remember, back when we were fighting?"

"Why would I fight with you – you're a pack member, right?" Inuyasha raised his right leg up to scratch at his ear. "This is ridiculous; if you can't say anything that makes any sense, then don't say anything at all. I'm gonna grab a snack." Inuyasha got to his feet and stretched before walking over to the kitchen.

Ryu sighed; he had been having fun and all, but he was starting to get worried – he had never known a human (or at least someone who looked like a human) to go without using human speech for so long. In fact, he's never met a human who could speak like a dog and act exactly like one, especially for that long, either.

"Hey, wait up. I think I'll have a snack too," Ryu called, standing and trotting after Inuyasha. It was his responsibility to look after Inuyasha; after all, he was older.

---

Kagome was pouring out the soda into the glasses, a couple of ice cubes in each since she forgot to chill the drinks first when a soft snuffling noise on her leg startled her. "Ah?" she gasped, moving back in surprise.

"Calm down, Kagome; it's just Inuyasha. I think he wants a snack," Mikki and Ryu had apparently followed Inuyasha's trek into the kitchen, Ryu moving to beg for snacks by Inuyasha and Mikki leaning against the door. Inuyasha turned large soulful puppy eyes up at first Kagome and then turned his head to look over at Mikki, so positively angelic that Kagome could've sworn a halo of light was around him (but that probably was due to the fluorescent lighting in the ceiling lamps.)

"Don't you just love that innocent face? It just says, 'I'll never do anything wrong as long as you're watching me.'" Mikki grinned. Kagome sweatdropped at that phrase. "Well, it's true!"

Kagome looked down at the two, er, dogs. "Do you think you could get them their snacks?"

"Sure," Mikki shrugged, loping over to the cabinet where they had stashed the dog food. She carefully took two fistfuls in her hands – divided proportionally for the two pups – and turned to look over her shoulder at them. Inuyasha and Ryu looked up at her hopefully, Ryu's tail wagging and Inuyasha squirming in his spot and shifting and raising his hands and feet as though not sure whether or not to approach Mikki or stay in his place.

Mikki turned suddenly and raised her fists to about chin level over her shoulders. "Woooo," she said, and the two dogs eagerly and nervously skittered backwards towards the family room. "Wooooo," she said again, taking a step to them and Inuyasha and Ryu bounded with excitement out of the kitchen. Mikki grinned back at Kagome.

"Pah! Just like my mom's dog," she grinned, and half skipped out to the family room to give them their treats.

---

"Kagome," Mikki asked, after taking a few sips of her Pepsi, "was Inuyasha able to communicate with Ryu before he took a knock to the head?"

"I think so – there were a few times I was pretty sure they were arguing about something," Kagome frowned slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I could've sworn I had seen those two having a conversation earlier, so I was just wondering." Mikki leaned back into the couch, tucking her feet up like Kagome. "So some of his behaviors he's exhibiting now he had been doing before the accident. Basically he's relying on instincts long-buried, right?"

Kagome frowned. "I wouldn't know, I haven't know Inuyasha all that long to be able to tell you what he was like as a kid."

"Had to have been rough for him," Mikki nodded. "I mean, the "Them and Us" mentality is still pretty pervasive these days – it must've been downright dreadful for him then – probably worse because he's a halfy, right?"

Kagome blinked. "Hadn't quite thought about that."

Mikki leaned forward slightly. "You never noticed how you guys aren't usually fully accepting of half-Japanese?"

Kagome shrugged, "I was brought up to be pretty accepting… And sheltered. I was pretty sheltered."

Mikki grinned. "You and me both – and since I'm a halfy, well, not Japanese or demon or anything, but I'm still a mutt, I can see how it can be problematic for him. Not one or the other. It's probably a ball for him right now; just two pups having fun."

Kagome stared at Mikki. "Yeah. Having fun."

---

Ryu, however, was not having fun. Inuyasha was currently engaged in tugging on his ears. Ryu was trying to take a nap. Having fun? No way.

"Stop– stop– stop that– Inu– Inuyasha– knock it off!" Ryu rolled over and kicked a leg out at Inuyasha, striking lightly him in the chin.

"Hey! I'm telling! I just wanted to play!" Inuyasha whined and darted over to the two girls on the couch.

"Not like they'll understand you anyway! You still can't speak human speech!" Ryu snapped.

---

"I'm not teaching him to beg, Kagome. That's a stupid trick. Dogs are born knowing how to beg anyway. You should've seen my mom's dog. She had this 'poor-starving-kicked-puppy-left-out-in-the-cold' routine down pat. She'd hunch in on herself and tremble slightly while looking up at you with her big brown eyes. Very cute. Amazing begging technique. Dogs don't need to learn another stupid version of begging," Mikki frowned. "Besides, it's impractical, and what if Inuyasha remembers what happens later? Nothin' doin'."

"I think it'd be cute," Kagome said.

"I told you – we should concentrate more on the most helpful things first – heel, stay, that sort of thing – while we try to figure out how to fix his head. I'm telling you, one good hard hit to the noggin would probably work."

"Your Gilligan's Island idea? It sounds fishy to me," Kagome sighed.

"Fishy, hee hee."

"Whiiiiiiiiiiine," came a mournful voice from near their feet. Kagome and Mikki looked up from the clicker-training book.

"What's wrong, dog?" Mikki asked.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome's brow furrowed. "Are you all right?"

Inuyasha huddled down to the ground, making himself small, and looked up mournfully at the two girls.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom? Are you hungry? Are you hurt? Do you have fleas?" Kagome rattled off.

"I bet he's just lonely. They're social animals, you know, and I think Ryu is asleep." Mikki sat up and looked towards the corner where Ryu's stuff was laid out. Ryu was curled into a small ball, eyes closed and ears down. Kagome peered over too.

"So, should we play with him?" Kagome asked.

"Well, one of us should keep him busy, and the other can go through this book and maybe research on head trauma and amnesia."

"I'll go play with Inuyasha!" Kagome loudly declared, startling Ryu awake which made him woof in annoyance before turning to go back to sleep.

Mikki sighed. "And you wonder why your English isn't up to par."

---

The vein in Kagome's forehead throbbed.

"You – why'd you come whining to us if you didn't want anything?" she grumbled at Inuyasha, who was curled up by the bushes resting in the sunlight in her backyard.

"Buyo's never this much trouble," she sighed.

Thinking back, she wondered if she ever had to teach Buyo anything. Come to think of it, she realized, they didn't even really have to train Buyo to use the litter box – if anything, Buyo seemed to demand a litter box immediately.

"Cats are easier – low maintenance," Kagome looked at Inuyasha. "Why couldn't you be more like a cat?" She giggled slightly. "Would I call you 'Nekoyasha' then?" She squeezed Ryu's chew toy, making it squeak loudly in protest and causing Inuyasha to raise his head to look at her in disgruntled protest. "Sorry, sorry."

Inuyasha seemed to huff slightly and put his head back down.

"Though you do seem to act like a cat sometimes. You clamor for attention and then when you get bored with us you promptly ignore us. Nekoyasha! Nekoyasha!" Kagome crowed. Inuyasha seemed to grumble slightly.

"Now, now, no point in name-calling, right dearie?" Kagome looked up startled. Mikki grinned down at her, holding a somewhat sleepy Ryu in her arms.

"Didn't hear you come out," Kagome mumbled, looking at Inuyasha who seemed to be snuffling at the dandelions near him despite being half-asleep. Mikki put Ryu on the ground.

"Kagome, I've been thinking," Mikki stated, a serious look on her face. "The most pressing issue really is to fix his head, right? Soon your family will be back, and they all have busy schedules, as do you, and you can't spend the rest of your days taking care of a puppified-hanyou now, can you?"

"Er, well, no but – what am I supposed to do?" Kagome burst out.

"Research. Lots of research," Mikki grimaced. "It might not seem all that interesting to you, but really, it's your responsibility, so you need to look into the matter more carefully."

Kagome eyed Mikki suspiciously. "Does this have anything to do with your finals coming up?"

Mikki grinned brightly. "Why no! Whatever made you think that? Hahaha!"

"Eh…" Kagome sighed.

Mikki smiled slightly at the younger girl. "At any rate, let's try and get this resolved by the end of the week – I mean, your friends will be missing you in the Sengoku Jidai, won't they?"

"Yeah," Kagome smiled slightly. "They're expecting us back soon."

"That settles it," Mikki had a determined look on her face. "Boot up the comp. We've got research to do."

"Right!" Kagome cheered. 'I want Inuyasha back to normal!' she thought. She glanced back at the slowly waking hanyou, Ryu snuffling at his ears. 'Don't worry Inuyasha – I won't let you down!'

-Owari-

I was going through some old reviews the other day (I was sick, so that seemed better than actually writing anything), when a comment made by StoicStella made me pause. I'm sure some people had wondered about this, and I had taken this into consideration when initially continuing the story, but there is a reason that Kagome didn't take him to any doctors. What doctor would be gullible enough to believe some made up reason for Inuyasha's ears? Yes, there are, in my opinion, youkai and hanyou type characters still living in the modern era, but Kagome has no knowledge of them and so she wouldn't know whom to trust. That said, she has to deal with this (mostly) on her own. Her friends can't be of any help (they were easily fooled by Inuyasha having a kerchief tied over his ears for cleaning) and her teachers would wonder why she didn't simply bring the boy to any of her "doctors", so the best she could do is muddle into it herself.

Ha ha, as it, I don't like going to the doctor's much myself (though I will make myself go if I'm sick.)

Worry not, for the resolution is looming just on the horizon.