Television, Cars, and Coffee: Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or anything else I may mention that has a copyright
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They had finished breakfast without any damage, for which Kagome was eternally grateful. It had been an awkward morning for Kagome, trying to keep the two brothers from fighting. So far, there hadn't been any major problems. Inuyasha had finished his ramen, and left the group to go into the livingroom, leaving his bowl behind on the table. Kagome watched him leave and then turned her gaze to the abandoned bowl. She sighed before getting up to put it into the sink. She noticed that there was a lot building up in there; she would have to run the dishwasher soon. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen on the way back to her seat, Kagome decided that she had better make a grocery list.
"Hmm" she thought, "What do we need?" She tapped the pen on the table a couple times as a subconscious action before getting up to dig through the fridge to see what they were missing.
"Hey Sesshomaru-sama" she called over her shoulder, "Could you write down all the stuff I call out? That way, we can get to the store quicker"
"Yes" he answered, picking up the odd writing implement. He then looked up at the miko, waiting for her to say something.
"Butter" she said. He wrote it down.
"Milk" she called, and again, he wrote it down.
"Eggs, ketchup, pickles" She stood up and closed the door before making her way to the pantry.
"Pepsi" Sesshomaru said. She looked up at him. "Oh yes, of course. I completely forgot. Thank you! You can write that down too" He raised an eyebrow an her show of thanks. You didn't see that from a human everyday.
"Ok, let's see here" the miko continued, " Chips, pretzels, crackers, cookies, ramen, more ramen, even more ramen, no, you don't have to write that down three times, flour, sugar, macaroni and cheese, canned veggies, and uh, anything I may find out there" Sesshomaru finished up the list, and set down the pen. Kagome straightened up and turned to Rin.
"You, young lady, are due for another pill"
Rin nodded and grabbed the bottle off of the counter while Kagome got her a glass of water. Rin swallowed the medicine before sitting back down.
"Do you guys want to get showers again before we go out? I know Inuyasha won't get one"
"Yes" replied Sesshomaru, standing up. Rin followed and the three of them entered the livingroom to find Jaken and Inuyasha absorbed in the Springer show.
"What did I say about Springer?" Kagome asked warningly.
"Nothing actually" replied Jaken as a girl on the show yanked her shirt off, "It was Sesshoma--" the toad was cut off as Sesshomaru kicked him across the room.
"You will not watch this 'Springer' " the taiyoukai warned. Sesshomaru looked at Rin, and discovered that she hadn't been paying attention to the screen at all, which was a good thing in his book. All he needed was for this time to corrupt Rin's mind.
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha remarked snidely, "You can't fight me, remember?"
"Inuyasha" Kagome coldly said, "Just because Sesshomaru can't hurt you doesn't mean you have the right to taunt him about it. If I remember correctly, you can't do a thing to him either!"
That shut Inuyasha up. He grabbed the remote and changed the channel to something more appropriate. "Now, Sesshomaru, Rin and I are all going to take showers before we go to the store ok? So, don't kill the livingroom while we're upstairs. Jaken" Kagome said, effectively catching the toad's attention, "watch Inuyasha, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid"
"Hey! Why are you leaving the toad in charge!" Inuyasha demanded.
"Because I know you Inuyasha. You're bound to break something or other. But it's not entirely your fault!" Kagome assured, seeing that the hanyou was growling a bit, "You're just naturally, er, curious. Plus, I've left Jaken here by himself twice, and nothing bad has happened, so I know he can be trusted with the house, capiche?"
"Feh" Inuyasha huffed, crossing his arms, and leaning his back against the couch. Jaken nodded. "This Jaken will keep the stupid Inuyasha in his place!" That earned the poor youkai a trip into the wall, courtesy of the hanyou in red. Kagome sighed, and turned to lead the other two up the stairs. Once they reached the top, they headed towards Kagome's room.
"Who's going to go first?" she asked.
"You can, Kagome-chan" Rin answered. Kagome nodded and grabbed some clothes before entering the bathroom and closing the door. The sound of running water soon followed.
Rin suddenly jumped up. "Rin will be right back, ok Sesshomaru-sama?" After receiving an affermative from her lord, the little girl exited the bedroom and raced downstairs, only to come back up a minute later, the book of fairytales she had been given by Kagome in hand.
"Sesshomaru-sama! Please read Rin a story!" the girl asked, holding the book above her head for Sesshomaru to see. He looked down at her blankly.
"Please!" she pleaded with puppydog eyes.
Sighing internally, the taiyoukai gently took the book from his ward's hands and sat himself on the edge of the cot, Rin climbing up right beside him excitedly. He looked at her once more before opening the book to it's title page.
"A Book Of Fairytales" he read aloud. 'How original' he thought. He turned the page to reveal the list of contents. Sesshomaru scanned down the page, reading all of the different titles.
"Which one do you want to hear, Rin?" he asked. She randomly pointed at a title, and he turned to the page instructed before beginning to read.
"The Ugly Duckling" he read, "One Sunny day, when the wildflowers were nodding in the heat, a mother duck sat on her nest. She had found a shady spot in some weeds at the edge of the pond. It seemed to the duck that she had been sitting on her eggs for a very long time. Then, one morning, she heard a tiny sound from one of the eggs" Sesshomaru paused there to let Rin soak in the story thus far before staring at the next words blankly. He was not going to enjoy this. "Peep, peep" he said flatly, causing Rin to giggle a bit. He continued, "A little duckling scuttled" he paused again. 'I don't think I've ever used the word 'scuttled' in my life, nor most likely will I have the need to use it again' he thought, perplexed.
"Sesshomaru-sama! What happened to the ducky?" Rin urged. Sesshomaru sighed yet again before reading on.
"out from under her feathers. All at once, there were little sounds from more of the eggs. Before long, twelve fluffy little ducklings--"
"Like your tail Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin interrupted, looking up at him curiously. He looked down at her with a strange expression. Really, this girl came up with the strangest things.
"No Rin, not like my tail" he said.
"Oh" she replied, "Rin would think it would be funny if Sesshomaru-sama's tail was made of baby ducks!" she laughed to herself.
"Indeed" he replied before continuing.
"Before long, twelve fluffy little ducklings were cuddled up to their mother. 'It's lovely to see you my dears' she quacked. 'The wait has been so long' But one of the eggs - the largest of all - had not yet hatched"
Sesshomaru stared coldly at the book. It was making him say things that were completely out of character. But one look at Rin's face, that was so absorbed in the story, wouldn't let him stop reading. So, he continued reading the story he was sure was making him stupider by the second.
" 'How annoying' said the mother duck, and she settled down to wait a little longer. Sure enough, a day or two later, there was a tap-tapping from the egg" Sesshomaru mentally growled. Yet more of those words that would make one think he was a push-over if he was caught saying them in public. Is this what humans thought to be entertaining? For it was surely overrated.
"First, a little beak appeared. Then a little head peeked out. At last, a funny little bird stood in the nest. Well! The mother duck could hardly bear to look at the youngster. He really was the ugliest bird she had ever seen. He didn't look like a duckling at all. 'I'll push him into the water' said the mother duck. 'If he cannot swim, I'll know he is a turkey or some other kind of bird" Sesshomaru felt minor annoyance at this. What mother would do that to her offspring? At that moment, Kagome re-entered the bedroom dressed in capris and a T-shirt, her hair still wrapped up in a towel.
"Next" she called, going over to her hairbrush which was resting on the nightstand.
"Rin. Go" Sesshomaru said, and the girl scampered off towards the bathroom after receiving clothes from Kagome. The said miko strolled over to the taiyoukai, brush in hand, and looked at the book in his hand.
"The Ugly Duckling, huh?" she asked, a slight grin on her face. He looked up at her with a mild glare.
"One of your favorites?" she asked, the grin slowly growing. He blinked, but said nothing. Kagome shrugged, giving up on the dog demon. If she was going to bother someone, she supposed she had better choose a candidate who would actually react to her teasing. Kagome went over to her mirror to finish brushing out her hair. A shout from downstairs temporarily stalled her progress. She ran out to the top of the stairs when she heard a familiar squawk following the yell.
"Sit!" she yelled before returning to her previous activities.
Rin returned from her shower dressed in a blue sundress.
"Sesshomaru-sama's turn!" she announced, bouncing onto her cot. Kagome handed him a set of clothes and he disappeared into the bathroom.
"Rin" Kagome said, "Do you want me to do your hair for you?"
"Yes please!"
Kagome climbed onto the cot and situated herself behind the girl and brushed out her hair before pulling it into a ponytail. She then pulled her own hair up. Rin watched as Kagome stood up and went over to a little box on her dresser and opened it up and pulled out some money before closing it up again and locking it.
"That's my birthday money" Kagome explained to Rin, who nodded.
Sesshomaru opened the bathroom door and came into Kagome's room, his hair and tail soaked once again. Rin dried his hair and brushed it while Sesshomaru worked on his tail before casually throwing it over his white T-shirt clad shoulder. He retreived his swords, which were against the bathroom wall, and was about to equip them before deciding not to. This didn't seem like a world he would need anything more then his poison claws and whip for. His swords weren't necessary.
"Ready to go?" Kagome asked.
"Yes" Sesshomaru answered, turning to head out the door and down the stairs. The three reached the bottom and Inuyasha was against one wall, arms crossed and an irritated look on his face, while Jaken was on the couch, watching some comic on television.
"What's wrong Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, "What was with all that commotion I heard earlier?"
Instead of answering, Inuyasha blushed slightly, much to Kagome's surprise, and turned away from her.
"Inuyasha was going through the channels" Jaken explained, "and he found one that when some girl took her shirt off, it wasn't blocked at all. He stopped changing the channel there. This Jaken didn't think that Sesshomaru-sama or you would be very pleased to see that so I took the remote and changed the channel. Inuyasha yelled and hit me. He's been sulking in the corner ever since you sat him" Jaken finished, earning a death glare from the hanyou. Kagome looked at Inuyasha and sighed.
"Inuyasha, you're as bad as Miroku!" Kagome said. "What channel would show that anyway?"
"I think it was HBO" Jaken said.
"Well" Inuyasha said, trying to change the subject. Sesshomaru smirking at him with an eyebrow raised from behind Kagome's back wasn't helping much, "are you ready to go the the store yet?"
"Yeah, but you have to change first"
"No way"
"Inuyasha!"
"No!"
"Fine! At lease wear a hat to cover your ears, ok?"
"Feh"
Kagome sighed for what seemed like the hundreth time that day. They made their way towards the door and put on their shoes.
"Since you're staying here, is there anything special you want Jaken?" Kagome called back to the livingroom. Jaken came waddling out to her.
"This Jaken would like some more chocolate"
Kagome blinked, "Oh, so you liked that stuff huh? Well, I'll buy an extra big bag for you in exchange for holding down the fort while I'm gone, ok?"
"Ok, thank you Kagome" Jaken replied before returning to the livingroom. Kagome watched him go in wonder.
'He used my name' she thought. She dismissed it, and handed Inuyasha his hat. Once she was sure it was placed securly on his head, the group headed out the door.
'Hey, it looks like we'll have to take the bus again' Kagome thought.
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A/N: Yes, I know I promised the grocery store, but I wanted to get at least something posted. If I don't put the grocery store in the next chapter, may everyone come whack me in the kneecaps with a waffle iron. You can hold me to that too!
As always, please review!