a/n: Anything in italicized black text should be considered as a flashback action, image, or dialogue.
By the way, this brilliant title is the work of Tony, who wanted credit for his thoughtfulness. Arigatou gozaimasu!
Verbal Impressionism ---
II. The Upstairs Perspective
Although the front door was a perfectly acceptable, normal, and commonly used method of entering a modern day home, Kagome felt that tracking demon entrails and bodily fluids all over the carpet might not have been the smartest thing to do. Especially not when she had a hanyou that thought her bedroom window was the only practical manner of entry into her home. And he owed it to her anyway.
"Use the window," she ground out in the most angry voice she could muster.
Inuyasha's ears peeled back and laid flat against his head. She had been angry with him the entire way back to the village, the whole way refusing to speak to him. She had treated him as nothing more than a pack animal, riding his back all the way to Kaede's hut where she had promptly walked into the forest, destination being the Well.
"Inuyasha, the jewel shard is that way!"
Following her had been a mistake, but he wasn't the smartest of creatures. And like the dog he was, he needed the security that all was well between he and his pseudo-mistress.
"What's wrong with you?" Inuyasha said haughtily as he took the girl into his arms in the courtyard of the Shrine.
"Nothing at all," she spat. "There's nothing wrong with me."
"Then why are you acting like this?"
Kagome stepped out of his reach and in through the window. Careful not to touch anything with her soiled clothes, she stepped out of her shoes and laid her backpack on the ground. Inuyasha followed her inside and sat down on the bed. Kagome's right eye twitched heavily as the equally dirty hanyou ruined her clean sheets.
The Inutachi ran through the thicket and into the clearing where a beastly youkai was waiting for them. It reared up on its hind legs (which were really not much more than tentacle-like appendages) and gave an ear-shattering roar.
"Why do you always have to be in charge?" she shouted, trying not to let her anger break off from the matter at hand. "Why is everything always about you?"
"What are you-"
"Useless Kagome can't fight, useless Kagome can't protect herself. All she can do is find jewel shards. If Kikyou were around-"
"Don't bring her into this," Inuyasha said angrily , standing up in a dominant position that suggested obedience and authority.
"Why can't you trust me to do things myself? Why do you always have to play the hero?"
"Well if you weren't always getting yourself in trouble-"
"Inuyasha no BAKA!"
Kagome took a step closer to the hanyou and put a pointing, angry finger in his face. She was shaking in near rage.
"How dare you," she spat venomously. "If the only thing I'm good at is getting myself in trouble then maybe I'll stay home so I won't be such a problem for you!"
"That's not what I meant, you stupid wench!"
Kagome closed her mouth and stood up a little straighter. Her hands clenched in tight fists at her sides. It was the classic pre-subjugation pose, the one that spoke volumes without really saying anything at all.
Inuyasha realized his mistake, rearing back and cowering in mock-fear a split second before the word was yelled.
"SIT!"
It wasn't often that the hanyou had the chance to study Kagome's bedroom floor. As he laid with his face buried in he stiff, bristly carpet, he thought idly that the ground outside was much, much more forgiving.
"Damn these beads…"
"Kagome! Get out of the way and I'll blast this thing!" The hanyou stood with his sword at the ready and a look of anticipation that was set hard on his face.
"You jerk! Inuyasha, you're so insensitive to everyone around you. You don't even pay attention to the things you say, even though you know they'll get you in trouble. If you think that I subdue you because I enjoy it then you're wrong!"
She sighed heavily, tired of all the fighting and negative emotions.
"I need a bath."
Footsteps stomped their way to the door carrying their owner into the hallway. The clicking of the door signaled what Kagome assumed to be the end of the conversation. To Inuyasha, it only served to further enrage him.
He listened from the spot one the floor as the water in the washroom began to run. He could almost hear the sound of her clothes as they rustled to the floor.
"Kaze no Kizu!"
It wasn't long before the spell around his neck wore off and he was free to continue their 'discussion'. Jumping to his feet, he made his way to the bedroom door.
"I'll be the one that decides when this is over," he growled as he walked the short way to the bathroom. "No way we're through talking yet."
Banging his fist loudly against the wood, he yelled, "Open the door."
"I'm taking a bath," she snapped, sinking deeper into the rising water.
"Don't make me come in there."
"Don't make me say it," she warned.
"Why can't we talk about this?"
The turning of knobs and the silence that followed indicated that Kagome had turned off the tap.
"There's nothing to talk about, Inuyasha. It's obvious that you don't need my help anymore."
"That's not true," he countered. "I can't see the jewel shards."
"Oh gross!" Kagome screeched, shaking as much of the youkai gunk off of her hands and arms as she could. If only Inuyasha knew how to keep his super-attacks to himself when it was clear that there were less disgusting ways to rid the world of pests…
"I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find them all eventually," she said irritably. "It might take you a hundred years, but I'm sure you've got the time."
Inuyasha sank to the floor in defeat. He didn't want to break the door down anymore than he wanted Kagome angry with him. It was true that he was treating her as a tool to complete the jewel, but he was never that great at expressing his feelings enough to tell her how he truly felt. And how he truly felt was much different than how he treated her especially on days like the one they had just had.
"Kagome," he sighed. "This is stupid."
"You're stupid," she mumbled, knowing full well that he could hear everything she was doing and saying.
His ears drooped at the hurtful remark, but he knew it was no less than he deserved. Things had just been so stressful ever since Naraku had disappeared. The morale of their group was low, and he was taking it out on Kagome. She already had enough guilt on her shoulders and didn't need the added weight of Naraku's disappearance.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she said remorsefully from behind the closed door.
In his mind he could picture her face looking as sad as he felt. Her voice only furthered the effect.
"Don't say that," he said. "This is my fault. I didn't mean to ignore you all day."
The hanyou could hear talking downstairs, but he was too focused on what was going on in front of him to care.
"Inuyasha…"
"It's Naraku," he confessed. "I'm just worried about what he's plotting."
"We'll be ready for whatever that is," she assured. "We always are."
He could hear the determination in her voice. Leave it up to Kagome to be optimistic about the situation, no matter how dire. Her attitude brought a glimmer of a smile to his face.
"I'm sorry," he said suddenly.
"Why?"
"I didn't mean to Kaze no Kizu that demon when it was flying over your head."
"You were just-"
"And I'm sorry that you got covered in demon guts."
"It really wasn't-"
"And I'm sorry that I ripped your 'tecks-book' in half last night," he offered with a reminiscent grin as he thought over the damnable shredded papers that had been carried away by the wind.
The door opened slowly and Kagome walked out, her sleeping clothes on and a towel wrapped around her head. Inuyasha had been so deep in the memory of tearing up her studies that he hadn't noticed the draining of the water or the snapping of elastic as she had gotten dressed.
A pleasant smile graced her face, and she reached down to grab his hand and pull him back down the hall. He went willingly without saying a word. As they walked in the bedroom, Inuyasha could hear Mama talking downstairs to the old man. Her voice was stern and his was quite indignant.
Shrugging it off, he shut the door and forgot that he had even heard them talking. Besides, there were more important things to deal with, like Kagome and their fight. They weren't yelling anymore, but things just didn't feel quite right yet.
"You ruined my sheets," she said calmly as she sat in front of the vanity, towel-drying her damp hair.
"Oh," he sighed, looking over at the dirty spot where he had sat down earlier. He went to the bed and bundled the thick, top blanket up and tossed it to the other side of the room. Kagome rolled her eyes, but kept her mouth shut. He thought he was doing right, and that was good enough for her.
She continued to dry and comb out her hair as the hanyou began to open the closet doors, clearly looking for a replacement blanket. There wasn't much more than clothing and shoes in her room, though.
"Mama has some extra blankets downstairs," she offered.
Inuyasha nodded his head and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind himself.
Kagome smiled at the image of the door in the mirror. Occasionally the hanyou knew when to tuck his proverbial tail between his legs. It was those times that made her remember why she put up with his antics after all of the troubles that they had endured together.
She laid the towel on the floor and walked over to the bed, lying down on the thin under-sheet. A deep, satisfied sigh escaped as she realized that it was going to be a rare night of jewel-free worries. But even with that prospect, the thought of the day's events lingered fresh in her mind.
"Inuyasha," she mumbled into her pillow. "Why are you so frustrating?"
The silence of the room was her reply, which was nothing less than what she expected. There was no logical reasoning for half of the things that drove her crazy about the hanyou. He was everything important to her, and everything that made her want to rip her hair out and scream to anyone that would or wouldn't listen.
Hitting the mattress with her tightly clenched fists seemed to let off some of the steam, but it only went so far to cleanse her overly irritated mind. She would still be upset about the demon incident and the disgusting after-effect. She would still be angry about the argument that carried on five hundred years into the future. She would still even be angry about the sheets that were balled up in the corner.
But would she still be angry with Inuyasha?
The door opened a tiny crack and alerted Kagome to Inuyasha's presence. She turned over on her back to look at him. He was peeking in her room with a tepid expression, holding up a blanket that Kagome wasn't familiar with, but she recognized her mother's handiwork right away.
"Are you going to stand in the hall or come in?" she asked.
Much to her surprise, Inuyasha had switched out of his robes in favor of more casual clothing. He seemed self conscience, but not uncomfortable, and she didn't dare point it out.
"Your mother said to take this back with us," he said, holding out the blanket.
She nodded and took the blanket from his hand. It was large enough for three people, obviously having taken her mother a very long time to make. She hadn't seen it the last time she had come home, and it made her wonder if she really had been gone for such a long time.
Spreading it over the bed, she curled up under it for warmth. It was getting late and she was tired. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself into at least the beginning stages of what she hoped to be a very long, refreshing sleep.
Inuyasha sat down on the floor and leaned his back against the bed. He clenched Tessaiga in his hand tightly, glad that at least some part of his usual outfit was with him instead of in the strange machine that washed clothes. Behind him he could hear Kagome's breathing even out into the slow breathing of a sleeping person.
After their stressful day, he supposed that he owed it to her to let her sleep away all of the bad memories. She could think of them again in the morning if she wanted. It was better for her to forget for at least a few hours.
Settling in for the night came easy, as he realized that he was much more tired than he had previously thought. Or had even thought at all. But by the time he realized this, he too had slipped his eyes shut and was oblivious to the rest of the world.
Somewhere downstairs a light was turned off and the hallways were shrouded in darkness.
--- --- --- END --- --- ---
a/n: Hope this met your expectations (good or bad). Check my author page for other Inuyasha-themed goodies. I got a ton of 'em.
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