Author's notes: Ah… Sorry that it took so long, I've been busy. This chapter is going to fill in some of the blanks that will be left from both the last chapter of this one, and the sudden skip in some of the events in ORALL. (It doesn't skip that far ahead, it just goes to the next day in the latter, so don't worry.) This chapter is going to be fairly long, covering the drive, the move in, in-between goings on from the sister's absence in certain parts of the chapter (in the companion fic, ORALL), and what goes on afterwards, from Inu-kun's and his bro's perspectives… I guess. Also, subplots. Subplots are wonderful.
HEDGEHOGMADHATTER: Thank you, I appreciate it. By the way, I like your titles. Hope you stick around for a while, be well!
Still not a whole lot of explaining to do here, so… on with the chapter!
The truck was old, and worn out, and it hit the road flaws hard, jerking its passengers and their belongings around endlessly. The A/C and heater was broken, and with the harsh, cold wind seeping through cracks in the windows and door spaces, it whipped at their skin mercilessly. To top it all off, it was silent; save for the incessant buzz of the radio.
Inuyasha gripped his jacket around himself tighter; cursing both it's stuck-zipper, and his icy brother, for keeping it quiet. The window was smudged and cracked horribly, so he couldn't entertain himself with the surroundings (which wouldn't have provided much entertainment as it was) with out providing himself with a headache. Damn it…
Already in a foul mood, every single little detail was an immense annoyance, like the clacking of the keys against the ignition, the driver's endless smacking of his (now over-sized) piece of gum, the radio spitting out inaudible racket, or the little fly away hairs that got themselves into his face (courtesy of the wind). Shoving his cap as close to his head as possible, he attempted in vain to shut out at least some of the noise. He was surprised to note that his brother hadn't ripped the radio out of its socket or clawed out the driver, but then, Sesshoumaru was stone-hard tight-ass; a block of ice that took an enormous amount of pressure to even crack. So maybe he wasn't so surprised at him after all.
He narrowed his eyes, struggling with himself not to bash something in. He clenched his teeth and ground them together, narrowing his eyes at the two in front.
Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, when, as if on cue, they hit another pothole. The truck sputtered for a moment, shaking and jittering everything and everyone inside of it. The unmistakable stench of gasoline and burnt metal filled the vehicle, and a light, green-yellow smoke arose from beneath the hood.
Inuyasha watched in near disbelief as he felt the quake and irregular motion of the truck as it leaned to one side, and gradually, with what little power it had left, pulled over to the side of the highway. Oh hell no.
The driver looked out the rear-view mirror, checking for problems out back or on-coming cars, and pushed open the door, climbed out of the moving truck and hurried himself to the hood. Pulling his gloves on quickly, he carefully lifted it up and raised the holder. Smoke and steam billowed out, hot and carrying a horrendous smell. "Shit…" He waved his hand around in front of his face, and spit out the wad of gum he'd been chewing for the past half-hour.
It took the roadside assistance crew around twenty or so minutes to get out to them, since it was mid-morning and the traffic wasn't bad, but it honestly felt like an eternity. When they finally arrived, the dog-eared youth was on the brink of insanity. They could not do much for the U-haul except give the battery a jolt and tow the trailer end to their destination, to lighten the load.
The tow truck drove on ahead with the trailer, leaving the other three to get there on their own time. The ignition fought back for a minute or two, but eventually agreed with the command and started again.
And so Inuyasha was once again left off with what he had been with for the past hour or so, minus the gum smacking and the boxes banging around behind him, so he was grateful for that at least. Until the driver pulled out another stick of gum. And promptly spit it out the window because it had been contaminated with the thick taste of the gasoline fumes.
At noon, when they arrived to the immediate neighborhood in which they were to move into, Inuyasha glanced amusedly at Sesshoumaru's exasperated expression, which was followed by him rubbing his temples a bit and closing his eyes. It was quiet, but he heard a sigh escape him, and a low growl. Smirking, he took it up as one of those perfect chances to irritate his older brother straight to hell.
"Homey, in' nit? Just look at all the bright experiences out there, waiting to be taken! See, I can go right down there and buy some crack for a couple dollars, while back at the old dump, coke only costs fifty cents; bargain! And hey, I bet one of those girls'll go out with you if you pay them enough…" He pointed out the window to the corner, highlighting two or three prostitutes smoking by a well-dressed young man.
The driver snickered, and Inuyasha found himself with a bruise on his head a moment later.
They pulled into the apartment complex, at last, and wasted no time in locating the U-haul trailer with their belongings. They drove up to the main gate, which was in terrible condition, and picked up their key and pass card.
Sesshoumaru read off the flat and apartment letter. "2-5, G."
Inuyasha sounded off in the backseat again. "G for 'Ghetto?'"
"Do I need to hit you again?"
"Nah, I'm good."
Shaking his head good-naturedly, the driver once again climbed out of the truck and went to unlock the U-haul trailer. Pleased that nothing appeared to have been stolen, he went about piling boxes and light furniture out of it.
After his brother filed out of the front seat as well, Inuyasha combated with the back door (apparently, in intense heat or cold weather, it just about fuses itself to the truck.) until he gave up and kicked it out of place.
"Hey, kid, watch it!"
"Yeah, yeah… 'S not like it's not gonna last much longer anyway…" He thrust it back in its proper position with his hands, pressing hard against the frosted metal. "Keh, see? All better."
Cracking his knuckles, he picked up a fair sized box, making sure that the driver got the one that was crudely shaped and rushed-looking, a.k.a. the one he had battled with earlier that morning, before hopping into the U-haul from hell. Sucker…
Upon walking up the stairs to the upper flat, he gazed over the top of the box at a neighboring window to see a pair of red, bloodshot eyes glaring intensely at him through the tattered, filthy blinds. Oookaaaay…So much for the welcome committee. Instincts telling him not to draw any more unwanted attention than he honestly wanted at that point, he averted his eyes to the apartment next to him, which looked as though it housed a sane enough person inside of it; seeing as the welcome mat actually read off: 'welcome.'
He set the box down and unlocked the door that was marked with a paint-chipped 'G,' on opening it he was greeted with a cold, musty air that somehow seemed almost comforting. He picked the box up, noted the scribble on it that indicated it was meant for the living room, and set it down in what… appeared to be a room that had been lived in. Feeling tired and lazy, he decided to call it quits for a while and set himself about 'exploring' the apartment.
Every room had what seemed to be a very unhealthy amount of dust piled up on the walls and windows, the like. The view out the back porch was decent, it overlooked the city nicely, and it was distant enough to where the night-lights probably wouldn't keep him awake at in-human hours of the night, no matter how much of a night owl he was.
There were two bedrooms, and he was NOT going to take the one that smelled like it had some kind of mildew growing on the walls; let that be the 'ice-prince's' problem for now.
The cold air blowing through was beginning to get to him, and he had no doubt that with the sound and weight of the footsteps coming upstairs from outside, he was going to need a damn good explanation for not helping carrying up the furniture. Finding the control panel, he pretended to take a long time finding the right switches to activate the central heating unit, pressing it only when he felt the chilling eyes of his brother burning a hole through the back of his head. "There it is."
He felt a light whack at top of his skull, and turned the thermostat up to a number that looked like it could be seventy-five then walked back out the door to help with the rest of the load.
It was a long, uphill battle getting the major furniture up the stairs, through the doorway, and into their proper places. All the while, Inuyasha felt the same, disturbing red eyes blazing at him and the other two, sending chills up his spine. The air it gave off was so incredibly unnerving that he eventually convinced the driver and his brother to take a break inside the apartment for a while, hoping that whoever that it was would have gone away by the time they got back outside, but it was to no avail.
They started back out roughly about four-o-clock, and when Inuyasha was carrying up another box, he (literally) bumped into a young woman whom was walking out her front door.
"Oh, excuse me, I should have been watching my step."
Taking a light notice that she was the one inhabiting the 'normal' looking apartment beside him, he decided that it might be a good thing to make nice with her here and now. "It's no big deal. What's your name?"
"Shogami, Kikyou."
He grinned a little, and shrugged off his own.
Pulling her long black hair over her shoulder, she gripped her tote bag around her arm and made a slight gesture with a pale, but gentle hand. "It's been nice meeting you, Inuyasha, but I'm afraid that I must go; I'll speak to you later."
"Sure."
She walked off down the stairs, high heels clinking on the stone and metal rims of the steps until they gradually faded into nothing.
Once again feeling that spidery presence of the watching 'window-eyes' (as he now dubbed them), he walked into his own apartment and laid the box down in 'his' room. Well, at least she seems normal. Not like that psycho-whatsit over there.
"Made a new friend?" Sesshoumaru's voice came from the doorway.
He shrugged again, something that had become somewhat habitual over the years, and stood back up, knowing all-too-well that his brother was implying to get back to work.
It was dark out, now, nearly nine-o-clock in the evening. Hot-dogs and room-temperature sodas had served for dinner, and the baseball capped boy was back at the U-haul trailer for what would be the last time during the move-in, and he couldn't be happier about that. Launching the last box up on his shoulder, he balanced it with one arm while using the other to shut the pull-down back to the trailer.
Walking back up, he sensed two forms rushing past him. Whipping his head around, he was confronted with the sight of two girls running up the steps to the flat he, that girl from earlier, and the window-watcher were stationed (along with some others whom he hadn't met yet).
One was taller, in her late teens or early twenties (from what he could tell), the other was very small, and so she was either a child or a midget. The porch lights were dim, and he was a little ways away, so he couldn't get all the details or aspects of either or them yet, but he was interested to find that they were going into the psycho's apartment.
Brushing off the notion of something ominous brewing, he continued to make his way towards his and his brother's 'home' as though nothing had happened.
When he got to the layer, he distinguished a fair amount of yelling, but was compelled to mind his own business and be pleased that he was no longer being watched by those creepy red orbs.
It was then that he heard a loud, definite smacking noise, followed by a thud. It was carried up by another slapping sound, a feminine voice, groaning in pain, and another sort of assaulting clamor, another, and yet more. Concerned, he started pounding on the door, "Hello? Is everyone alright in there?" When no one answered, he continued his knocking. "Hello?"
He proceeded to perform this tirade on the front door for at least a good fifteen minutes, and when he still got no answer, he went up to the window, and strained to see through smoke stains and the tattered blinds. He could make out a young, ebony haired girl, a year or two older than he, propped up against a wall, slouching, but she seemed to be well enough not to need severe medical attention. The younger one was unhealthily pale, with her knees curled up to her chin, bruises here or there, but not as bad off as the elder. He could see a tall, masculine form slinking around in the hallways, retreating off somewhere.
Seeing that the people inside were beyond his help and not very much in need of it at the time, and most certainly not wanting to re-possess that weirdo's attention, Inuyasha pulled away from the window, and went into his own apartment, but staying alert in case something else happened.
The driver was preparing to leave, searching about the house for the misplaced car keys. It took him long enough, and both of the brothers had become suspicious of him to merely be pretending to have lost them, so he could have just stayed the night. Whatever his motives or whether or not he had truthfully misplaced them, a clawed hand picked them up off of the kitchen counter and threw them at the man's head. Sesshoumaru had made his final point. And the driver would be wise not to gainsay it.
Since neither the driver nor his brother let on any sort of indication that they had heard any of the commotion next door, Inuyasha kept the information to himself, and figured that that type of thing was bound to be considered typical in that area, and let it settle itself for the time being.
After he had reconstructed his bed, the only thing on his mind was 'sleep.' I've been up since the ass crack of dawn. I went into that monster called a moving truck. I've loaded and unloaded the goddamn thing and carried shit loads upstairs. It's two a.m. in the morning. I. Am. Going. To. Sleep.
And that was that.
Author's notes: No, this is NOT a Kikyou and Inuyasha pairing. The only person he's being paired with in this story is Kagome. No, Kikyou does not get bashing. The only one that's getting any hate is ol' spider eyes: Naraku. Next chapter will take place a bit at Inu-kun's high school. No, this is NOT a high school fic. Only about 1/5 of the entire story takes place at a school, and sometimes, that's Kikyou's medical school.
The age for the current main characters in this story (so far, I'm definitely adding more people later).
Inuyasha: 15
Sesshoumaru: 19
Kagome: 15
Kikyou: 18
Naraku: Probably around 34.
Miroku: 18
Sango: 16
Kouga: 15
Kagura: 17
Kanna: 10
As I said, there will be more (many more) later on. Most of these ages go by what is said in the character book. Please review!
Be well.
