Daughters
Chapter Four: Insensitive
A light rain fell over Tokyo, pattering on the windowsill and drizzling over the rooftops like a relentless drumming. Inuyasha sat with his head resting in the palm of his hand as he sat at the kitchen table.
The weekend had come and Inuyasha was more than happy for the day off. The baby-sitting agency he'd called had called back earlier that day to tell him that the baby-sitter he'd requested would arrive that day for the interview. Inuyasha wasn't sure what to make of this. He wasn't even sure what the babysitter would be like. For his sake he prayed it was someone who didn't mind babysitting a girl that could go from completely silent to a talking machine in the course of one band-aid.
Inuyasha sighed.
"When is the baby-sitter going to come?" Rin asked as she poked her head out from underneath the blanket she'd huddled herself under. She was sitting on the couch, watching as Inuyasha worked on his homework across the room at the kitchen table.
Inuyasha glanced at her, then at his watch. "Not sure. She should be here soon."
As if beckoned by those words, the doorbell rang. Inuyasha and Rin both perked up. Inuyasha made to stand up but Rin beat him to it, skipping down the hallway and grabbing the door handle faster than the teenager could set his pencil down.
Standing behind Rin, Inuyasha watched as the youngster opened the door and stared up at the teenaged girl on the other side of the door. Inuyasha nearly fell over when he saw Kagome Higurashi standing in his doorway, looking uncomfortable. He should have known something like this would happen.
The girl shifted from foot to foot, her blue eyes hazed over as she stood awkwardly outside.
Their eyes instantly looked and they both looked terror-stricken.
"Hi!" Rin bubbled out. After finally breaking down and speaking to Inuyasha, the girl had become much more talkative. Inuyasha could almost forget the times when Rin didn't say a word. Now he had trouble shutting her up.
"Hi," Kagome said with a smile, flashing her white teeth cheekily. "Who are you?"
"I'm Rin!" the little girl said happily. The lady was nice to her. "Rin is Rin!"
"Well, hi, Rin," Kagome said as she squatted down to Rin's eye level. "My name's Kagome. It's nice to meet you."
Rin smiled widely and turned her attention back to Inuyasha, who was still staring rather blatantly at Kagome. The said girl rose from her position on the ground and gave Inuyasha an indecipherable look.
"No," Inuyasha said instantly, jolting into action. "There's no way I'm hiring you."
Kagome's eyes wavered, the blue depths gazing at him stonily. "I'm the only baby-sitter at the agency that's available for hire that doesn't do full-time nanny work." She glanced down at the dirt underneath her nails and balled her fists. She pursed her lips and looked at Inuyasha. "I can leave, but you'll have to contact another agency to find a part-time baby-sitter for your… cousin."
"Come on in!" Rin chirped happily and pulled Kagome inside before Inuyasha could protest, completely ignoring the conversation between the two teenagers. Inuyasha stood helplessly in the foyer as Rin dragged Kagome inside. He growled and snapped the door shut before following after them.
"Rin—" Inuyasha began, ready to kick Kagome out.
"I like her!" Rin declared when she caught sight of Inuyasha entering the kitchen. Kagome sat at the kitchen table, looking rather amused with the situation.
Inuyasha's brows furrowed. "You don't even know her."
Kagome barely managed to suppress a giggle at Inuyasha's incredulous look. Rin took no mind of the obvious logic of the man taking care of her and continued talking with Kagome. Inuyasha frowned and sat down across from Kagome and next to Rin.
Rin smiled hugely at Inuyasha. "I do like her!"
Kagome beamed happily as she patted Rin's head. Kagome didn't have a younger sister of her own and always found small girls attracted to her whenever she babysat them. It was nice to be able to play and talk with them, seeing as how Kagome was denied a sister of her own. Rin was absolutely adorable, and, like all the girls her age before her, had taken a shine to her.
Inuyasha, muttering profanities to himself, tried to urge Kagome to leave his house and convince Rin that there was someone better coming. Hearing none of it, Rin distracted herself by talking volubly to Kagome, seeming to gain an endless air supply from no where.
Kagome didn't even know the little girl, but could tell that she was constantly raising hell for her classmate. Throughout the entire ordeal, Inuyasha couldn't get one word in without a protest from Rin, nor could he get her to shut up for one second, as he was opt to complain about.
Rin swept Kagome around and pointing out everything about Inuyasha's apartment. Grasping Kagome's hand, the said girl was forced to hunch over when darting after Rin.
"This is my room!" she said happily, pointing the plain and untidy room that Rin slept in. Inuyasha hadn't even tried to make Rin feel at home and the way Kagome glanced at him the boy knew that she disapproved.
"Here's the bathroom!" Rin threw the door to the bathroom open, showing the room and all its porcelain glory to Kagome.
"I see," Kagome said, humoring the little girl.
"And here's his room!" Rin said proudly, opening the door to Inuyasha's bedroom.
"Hey!" Inuyasha exclaimed and made to slam the door to his room shut. Both Kagome and Rin blocked his way, however, standing in his doorway.
If Rin's room was untidy than Inuyasha's room had been hit by a tornado. His school uniforms were draped over his furniture, his street clothes were piled on the floor, his underwear sat in a bundled heap on top of his dresser, his bed was unmade, and the chair to his desk was tipped over.
"God damn it," Inuyasha cursed and shoved Kagome out of the way so that he could slam the door shut. "Rin!" he barked. "Don't go into my room without permission!"
"I wasn't in your room!" Rin protested, looking crushed. She'd been standing in the doorway and with a beautifully maneuvered retreat she'd avoided getting hit by the door.
Inuyasha's nose wrinkled. Rin looked like she was about to cry. He couldn't handle it if she cried. He growled harshly and waved his hand. "Just don't go into my room."
Kagome's amused look annoyed him immensely and he shooed the two girls away from his room with a wave of his hand while the other covered his impossibly red face. He should have known that Kagome would be the one to show up. Of course that's the way it happened. Because the universe hated him.
"This isn't going to work," he said firmly, grasping Kagome's shoulder. The said girl turned around, her eyebrows arching. He quickly removed his hand. "I don't want you watching Rin."
"And why not?" Kagome questioned, crossing her arms.
"Yeah? Why not?" Rin asked, looking like a kicked puppy and crossing her arms in the same fashion Kagome had. Inuyasha disdainfully turned his head away so that he wouldn't have to look into Rin's doleful eyes.
"Because," he said, with less firmness this time and far less conviction. He stared harshly at the wall to his left, as if it was the thing he was lecturing "I don't want her in my house."
"That's up to your parents to decide," Kagome said with a nod of her head.
Inuyasha slowly turned his head and stared at her a long moment, his lips curling back into a snarl. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
"My parents are dead," he said flatly, betraying no emotion, adding an emphasis on the word 'dead' just to see Kagome's reaction. He was pleased to see Kagome's look of horror and the tiny gasp she released. Rin stared at him in shock, almost as if she hadn't realized he didn't have parents, either. "So I'm in charge here."
"Oh… I…" Kagome looked flustered.
"If you're going to apologize," Inuyasha interrupted before Kagome could speak articulately. "Don't bother. They died a long time ago."
"Oh…" Kagome deflated, looking uncomfortable. Inuyasha felt a grim satisfaction with her nervous state.
"Anyways," Inuyasha continued, "This isn't going to work. I'm not going to hire you."
Rin stared up at him, looking like a child who'd just witnessed the death of a puppy. Inuyasha turned his face away, refusing to look at Rin's tearful expression. He would not fold under the intense look of some little brat that was barely related to him. Rin continued to pout.
Kagome frowned, looking desperate. "Please," she murmured, glancing to her left. "I need this job. My rates are much lower than anyone else you'll find in the city… I won't be expensive like the others you'd have to hire to watch her."
"What about that grocery job?" Inuyasha asked, remembering their first initial meeting with some distaste. "Don't you work there?"
Kagome frowned. "My father made me quit that job. I put in my two-week notice a couple days ago."
Silence passed between them and Inuyasha sensed a small amount of remorse in her voice as Kagome spoke about her father. She blinked slowly, staring off vacantly towards the back wall of his apartment. She shook her head and cleared her throat.
She turned her attention back towards Inuyasha. "You'll never see me anyways. I'll be watching Rin and you'll be gone."
Inuyasha was about to snap out that he could never allow her ugly face in his apartment when he felt a tug on his pant leg. Glimpsing down, he saw the poignant puppy-dog eyes of Rin. Her bottom lip quivered and she looked as if she'd break down in tears at any moment.
He snarled. "Fine, whatever."
"Yay!" Rin chirped.
Inuyasha frowned and his lavender eyes flickered over to Kagome's light frame. She was smiling gently, obviously finding his behavior amusing when it came to the little girl. Inuyasha almost blushed at that thought, but suppressed the urge as best he could. He'd shown a weakness in front of Kagome. Great.
With a tiny scoff he turned his head away, looking outside the window. "Don't give me that look," he told Kagome, "I didn't do it for you."
"I know," she said softly, her voice like a feather. "Who is it for, then?"
He didn't like the mocking tone in her question. Inuyasha squashed his desire to snap back at her. He breathed in deeply, watching as his chest puffed out, before releasing it slowly.
"For me," he said finally. Realizing that that sounded like he wanted her in his house, he reiterated, "Because the little brat would have given me hell if I didn't hire you. And I don't feel like listening to a bunch of whining any time soon."
"Whatever you say," Kagome spoke, her voice lifting as it filtered past his ears. He felt his nose crumple at her condescending voice. But he didn't peruse it.
"I'm back," Inuyasha called out as he slammed the door shut with a small kick of his foot. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. He didn't like his job. No, no he didn't.
"Welcome back!" he heard Rin chirp from the other room where she was undoubtedly plotting his demise with Kagome, the babysitter. Sighing, Inuyasha slipped off his shoes and left the foyer, climbing up the two steps that led to the rest of his apartment.
Sure enough, when he entered his living room, Rin and Kagome were sitting on the ground, crayons and papers littering the room creating a large wastebasket. Inuyasha felt a frown quirk his lips as he gazed around the messy room.
"Well," she said while dusting her skirt of nonexistent dirt. "I should be going then."
"Aww," Rin spoke with a crushed look in her eyes. Inuyasha felt his frown deepen.
"Don't worry, Rin-Chan," Kagome said with a bright smile towards the younger girl. "You'll see me again soon."
She turned towards Inuyasha, who rested his back against the wall, his hands stuffed into his pockets. For some strange reason, Inuyasha's hunched and slouching from provided her some comfort. Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, she lifted her hand and gave a tiny wave.
"I'll see you tomorrow at school, Shinkanshi-kun," she said warmly before turning on her heel and leaving Inuyasha's apartment. She heard Inuyasha's tiny grunt in response as she closed the door behind her.
She walked away from the apartment that housed her new job and felt a smile tugging her lips. Sure, Inuyasha was brash and tedious, but at least she didn't have to see him all the time. Rin, on the other hand, was possibly the sweetest little girl she'd ever met.
The walk to her house wasn't long, but the rain drizzling from the sky delayed her on her trek home. Once she finally entered her home she shook the droplets of water off her jacket and hung it up on the hook.
"Remember to wipe off your shoes before taking them off," a feminine voice called from the room beyond. Kagome paused in her attempts to remove her shoes. She sighed, feeling a small amount of anger bubble in her chest.
"Yes, Abi," she called; biting back her retort as she obediently wiped her shoes off before slipping them off. In her opinion, it didn't matter. But her father's fiancée, on the other hand…
She entered her father's small apartment and saw Abi sitting at the table, her belly plump with child. She turned towards Kagome and offered the girl a tiny, polite smile.
"Ah, Kagome. You're back. How was your study party?" Abi questioned lightly, her long brown hair flipping animatedly around her face whenever her head moved.
Kagome frowned. "I was at my job."
Abi laughed. "Ah, yes. Your babysitting job. I'd forgotten."
"Of course you did," Kagome muttered quietly as she stalked past her almost-stepmother.
"What was that?" Abi called after her, a note of defensiveness in her tone.
"Nothing," Kagome responded lightly, slapping on a large, fake smile. "Where's my dad?"
"Working in his office," Abi returned lightly. "Don't bother him," she said quickly. "He's busy."
"I think he can push aside two minutes to say hi to his daughter, thank you," Kagome said with false cheeriness as she stalked down the short hallway towards her father's study. She knocked softly against the wood, rapping her knuckles against the blanched door.
"Come in," she heard the silky voice of her father through the wall separating them. She opened it quickly and bounded in, throwing her arms around her father's neck.
"Hello, Dad!" Kagome said happily.
"Kagome," her father greeted. "Hello. I'm a bit busy right now. Hold on just a second." Her father typed something quickly on his computer before minimizing the document and turning in his swivel chair. He smiled brightly up at Kagome and stood, hugging her. "Welcome back."
"What's for dinner?" Kagome questioned, pulling away from her father and brushing her black bangs away from her eyes.
"Ah, you should ask Abi," her father said cheerfully and watched the strained look pass over her daughter's face. "Kagome…"
Kagome cut her father off with a quick shake of her head. "No, no. It's fine."
Her father's lips quirked downwards as Kagome quickly retreated from the room. Even though Kagome never mentioned it, her father knew that Kagome harbored a bitter distaste for her future stepmother.
But Kagome didn't like to mention it. And probably never would. She didn't want to make him unhappy.
Mr. Higurashi sighed and tapped his pencil against the desk quietly, his eyes returning to his computer screen.
"Rin, are you lonely?"
Inuyasha wasn't sure what it was that possessed him to ask such a question. It just passed his lips before he could stop it or wonder why he would ask such a question.
He didn't dare look down at Rin, even when he felt her long brown locks brush against his arm as she tilted her head up to look at him. Inuyasha pursed his lips and trained his lavender eyes forward, never daring to tilt his gaze downwards.
Rin shifted the tiny knapsack on her back and watched her caretaker stalking high above her. She quickly shook her head.
"No," she said, "I'm not."
Inuyasha felt his precarious worries rush away and he released a tiny woebegone sigh. What was he doing asking a little girl such a question? She was too young to truly understand the pain of loss, right? She was only four, for crying out loud.
"Never mind," he said finally, his brief inquiry lost on the wind. The hot Tokyo sun beat down on their back as they both trudged towards Rin's kindergarten. The early morning sunshine brushed over the concrete surfaces of the giant city and Inuyasha felt almost out of place in the colossal concrete giant.
A bird chirped overhead and Inuyasha silently cursed the source of irritation. It seemed that Rin and massive headaches went hand and hand in his life. Inuyasha had learned to accept the grim realization that his world was flipped upside down and each minute thing a constant source of impatience and frustration. He just wanted the stupid bird to shut up.
"Good morning, Rin-Chan, just in the knick of time!" Rin's teacher said happily, waving to the young four-year-old. Rin brightened considerably and skipped the short distance between Inuyasha and the teacher before giving her teacher a bright wave. With that, the little girl darted inside, weaving between her classmates.
"Rin has a lunch?" the woman said at once, her dark eyes locking on Inuyasha.
Inuyasha scoffed and rolled his eyes, feeling a wave of defensiveness swallow him whole. "Of course the girl has a damned lunch."
"Good," the older woman said with a tiny smile. "Just checking."
Inuyasha felt an underlying sense of competition in her voice—as if she were daring him to bring Rin to school without lunch. Inuyasha felt his lips purse and he scoffed again, his nose tilting upwards towards the sky.
"It's not like I intend to starve her," Inuyasha said with a disgusted curl of his lip. "It's not like I know how this damned school works."
"You're in luck," she said, a smile on her lips. "We'll be having parent-teacher conferences soon. Then you'll know all about the school. We'll send a letter home with Rin when the time nears, of course."
Inuyasha snorted and glanced at his watch. His frown deepened as he realized that, even running, he would be late for class.
"Well, bye," he said without glancing at the woman as he turned on his heel and darted down the street, racing towards his own education—albeit grimly.
"You're late," the teacher said coolly as Inuyasha slid the door open. He panted slightly, trying to catch his breath before his nose wrinkled slightly at the grim warning in his teacher's voice. The class watched from their desks, staring in wonderment at the boy who'd entered the classroom rather loudly. "Detention."
"You've got to be kidding," Inuyasha said snidely and ran his hand over his face. "I'm supposed to pick her up after class."
The classmates close enough to hear Inuyasha glanced at one another in puzzlement—as far as they knew, Inuyasha was a solitary and cranky grump. Never once did he strike the student body as someone who would care if they were late to picking someone up. Who this mysterious girl was, however, continued to elude his classmates, even after he'd sat down.
But the mystery was soon forgotten since Inuyasha was neither a rather popular topic to discuss nor was the obscure girl important to their gossip mill.
Inuyasha slumped in his chair, no longer listening to his teacher speak to the class about the lesson. His eyes drifted out the window. So, he had detention again. Hopefully Rin would be smart enough to stick around at the school and not try and walk home by herself.
He glanced at Kagome and wondered briefly if he should ask her to go pick her up, but quickly dismissed the idea. Firstly, Kagome didn't know where the kindergarten was and secondly, he didn't wish to ask help from the stupid girl he was forced to spend his school day with.
Kagome must have felt his gaze because she turned her head towards him, giving him a skeptical look. With a gentle snort, Inuyasha turned his nose upwards and focused his attentions back to the window on his left, watching the birds fly limply through the air, as if suspended by invisible strings. What he'd do to be those birds…
How'd he get into this situation in the first place? It was all Rin's fault.
He silently cursed the little girl.
Rin watched as the second hand clicked around the clock face, moving slowly towards the number twelve, passing it, and continuing its monotonously circular journey. Children all around her bustled about, aching to return home and into their parents' arms. The said adults waited outside of the building and happily greeted their skipping children.
Rin watched them and sat down on the steps to the building, watching down the road for some sign of Inuyasha. She knew that he wouldn't have forgotten. She lifted her head towards the sky and blinked slowly. He was just a little late.
"It's such a shame," she heard a voice behind her, but didn't turn around to see who it was speaking.
"What is?" Rin recognized her teacher's voice.
"Rin," the second voice said. Rin perked up quietly, but didn't dare turn around to see if the two teachers were looking at her. She balled her hands into fists in her lap and stared down the street, silently willing her cousin to come and pick her up.
"What's wrong with Rin-Chan?" her teacher's voice came out in a hushed whisper that Rin barely heard over the hustle and bustle of the children and parents around her. She squeezed the fabric of her skirt.
"Nothing's wrong with her, I daresay," the other woman rebutted. "It's just that… such a sweet little girl to lose both her parents… and at such a young age. I'd be shocked if she even remembered what her father looked like. And sooner or later she'll forget her mother's face, too."
Rin blinked slowly, trying to comprehend what the two women were saying. Her mother. Brown eyes stared at the ground dully, trying to force the dawning emotions back into her.
"Yes," her teacher agreed. "She truly doesn't deserve the hardships she faces. And her cousin isn't a help for her mental state, either. Doesn't he realize that Rin is at a fragile and impressionable age right now? If he wants to see a small child wither up and die from the mental anguish, he should continue what he's doing."
"Truly," the second agreed. "He has no compassion for the child's loss."
"Rin," a sweet voice whispered in Rin's memories. The world seemed to ripple away as she saw the smiling face of her mother. "Rin-Chan, until Mommy comes home, be a good girl."
"Mama," Rin whispered quietly to her shaking legs as she kept her head bowed.
Her mother faded slightly in her mind, grasping her paled hands against her quivering chest. "Be good for Mama. I'll be back, soon. Mama's just a little sick."
"Mama," Rin murmured a bit louder, standing up.
"Just be good for Grandpa. He'll take care of you while I'm away to see the doctors," Mari smiled sweetly at her daughter. "Don't cry, Rin-Chan. Mama loves you. I'll be home soon."
A tear dropped to the ground.
"That's strange," Rin's teacher spoke as she glanced outside.
"What is?" her assistant questioned.
"Shinkanshi-san must have come to pick up Rin-Chan already. I could have sworn that she was there a couple moments ago."
"Well, he isn't one to like interaction of any kind," her assistant supplied, watching the parents filter out with their children. "At least he wasn't too late today."
"Yes."
A couple miles away, Inuyasha sat at his desk, counting the minutes until he could leave his classroom and go pick up Rin, all the while praying that she would still be there when he got there.