Television, Cars, and Coffee: Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, sadly

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Thankfully, this time, the trip on the bus went pretty smoothly. No annoying teenage girls, no Hojo, no nothing. It was wonderful, in Kagome's opinion. She smiled as the group excited the bus with the groceries in hand, glad for the little break in the chaos.

They returned to the house, and Kagome opened the front door. Kagome slipped off her shoes, and headed towards the livingroom to give Jaken his chocolate.

"Jaken! I have your-"

Jaken jumped and looked up at the miko; he hadn't even heard them return. Kagome meanwhile, was busy staring at the television screen, then at Jaken, then at the television screen again.

"I uh, I -" Jaken stammered as Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and Rin entered the room to see what happened.

"Rin, cover your eyes"

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama"

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Sesshomaru sat on the couch with Rin right beside him. She had dozed off, and was using his side as a pillow. It was just him and Rin in the room. Inuyasha, Sesshomaru could sense, was up in the god tree, and the miko was in the kitchen, bustling around. Jaken, on the other hand, was unconscious in the well house.

Sesshomaru mentally sighed as he took another drink of his Pepsi and recalled earlier events. He had been an unusually good mood, considering he had been forced to be in the company of his blasted half-brother for a good length of time. He had gotten his Pepsi, Rin seemed to be content, and no pathetic humans had attempted to challenge him for a while. Yes, one could say Sesshomaru was pleased with the day's turn outs, not that he would ever admit it. Then, his good mood had been shattered within two seconds when he had stepped into the miko's livingroom.

Jaken had once again been watching more.. explict..material on the picture box, television, if he remembered correctly. He cursed himself for not predicting this. It had happened multiple times already, and yet, the taiyoukai had still given Jaken the benefit of the doubt.

One more 'mistake' like this one, Sesshomaru vowed, and Jaken would find himself back in the feudal era before he even knew what hit him. And Sesshomaru would definitely hit him.

Rin turned over, causing Sesshomaru to abondon his thoughts, and look down at the small form of his sleeping ward. She had been out for about an hour. He supposed the trip to the market had worn her out, and adding on the fact that she's sick probably didn't help things. Kagome had informed him earlier that once Rin had twenty four hours worth of medicine in her, she would be no longer contagious. It had been almost that long since her first pill yesterday, so with no doubt, she would be running around like her old self again in no time.

Kagome came in the livingroom to see Sesshomaru sitting stoically on the couch. But, she noticed, his cold look was somewhat ruined by the little girl snoring away while she leaned on him. Smiling to herself, Kagome set down the pill and glass of water on the table in front of the Taiyoukai.

"Can you have her take this when she wakes up?"

At his nod, she gave him a small smile before retreating to the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in a little bit" she called over her shoulder, "we're having cheeseburgers"

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Dinner had been...interesting, in Kagome's opinion. First, once the burgers were done, she had to hunt down Inuyasha, who she found snoring, yes snoring, in the god tree. Sesshomaru had woken up Rin, told her to take her pill, and informed her it was time to eat while Kagome, having successfully awoken Inuyasha, had ventured down to the wellhouse to get Jaken. He was still out of it, so she decided to leave him. If he woke up later, she thought, she would make something for him.

Kagome returned to the kitchen, and had everyone sit at the table, but of course, this was made difficult by the fact that Inuyasha refused point blank to sit anywhere near Sesshomaru. So, after a few a few choice words and a 'sit' threat, Inuyasha sat on one end of the table while Sesshomaru sat on the other. Rin and Kagome sat in the middle. The miko placed the plate of hamburgers in the middle of the table so everyone could help themselves before taking a few and setting them on her plate.

Everyone else just stared at the hamburgers like they would jump up and tap dance at any moment. Kagome, seeing their looks, sighed.

"Hamburgers" she said, pointing at them, "Food, eat" Sesshomaru looked at her and raised at eyebrow at her lack of sentence structure. She gave him a flat look that he returned tenfold.

Rin, deciding to try one of the weird circle foods, grabbed one, and bit into the edge. She smiled and looked at Sesshomaru expectantly. He caught her gaze, which was so hopeful. She didn't have to even say the phrase 'Sesshomaru-sama, please try one' because her look burned the sentence into his mind by itself. Dropping her gaze, Sesshomaru grabbed a hamburger and sampled it, all the time, being observed by Kagome and Inuyasha. He decided that they weren't half bad, but would be better with..

Sesshomaru abruptly stood up, and opened the fridge. Thirty seconds later, he was settled back in his chair, a glass of pop in front of him.

All that remained was Inuyasha. The three turned there gazing upon them, waiting.

"What?" he asked. They were silent.

"Will you quit lookin' at me like that already!" he said, crossing his arms.

"Inuyasha" Kagome spoke, "eat"

Inuyasha just turned his nose up. "You know I'd rather have ram-" he stopped, catching the glare Kagome was giving him.

"Inuyasha, I just went through all the trouble cooking this meal, at least you could try some of it! I even made fries!" Kagome's anger disapated immediately.

"The fries!" she yelled, rushing over to the oven, and whipping it open. She pulled on her oven mits and retreived the tray of fries out of the heat. Relieved that they weren't burnt, she dumped them onto a plate, salted them and brought them to the table. Kagome then went to the fridge and got out all the condements, having forgotten to do so beforehand.

She returned to the table and set the stuff down. You use ketchup for the fries, and everything for the burgers, although you don't have to use everything if you don't want to" she explained before looking at Inuyasha again.

"Eat"

"No"

"Eat!"

"No!"

"Inuyasha.."

"Feh"

Kagome glared at the hanyou, and he ignored her. "If you don't at least try one, I'll make you regret it" Kagome said in a dangerously sweet voice. Inuyasha gulped and looked at her. She held his gaze, silently challenging him not to listen. Giving in, Inuyasha broke her gaze, and reluctantly grabbed a hamburger before trying it. He was surprised, they were good. He glanced at Kagome again to see her smiling. "Now the fries" she said, pointing to the yellowish stick-things at the end of the table.

Inuyasha reluctantly grabbed one, and found that he liked them too.

"Rin, did you take your pill?" Kagome asked.

"Yes. Sesshomaru-sama told me to"

"Ok, just making sure"

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked.

"Yes?" Sesshomaru answereed.

"Will Sesshomaru-sama try a fry?"

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Sesshomaru had taken over the job of giving Rin her medication at the appropriate times, as he had informed Kagome of this after she found him with the bottle in his hand. 'Well, that's one less thing I have to worry about' she thought to herself. She was in the shower, and hopefully, nothing too bad would happen while she was gone.

Inuyasha was once again up in the god tree, and Sesshomaru was seated on the couch. Rin ran up to him, her book of fairytales in hand. "Will Sesshomaru-sama read more about the ducks to Rin?" she asked.

Sesshomaru looked at her and mentally sighed. He grabbed the book from her hand, and she climbed up beside him on the couch. The Taiyoukai opened the book on his lap, and Rin leaned against his side to get a better view. 'Where did I leave off?' he thought to himself, 'Ah yes, right after the mother dumped her offspring in the river, the fool'.

Sesshomaru then began to read:

"As night fell, he came, tired and hungry, to a wild marsh, where little frogs jumped and croaked in the moonlight. In the morning, the wild ducks who lived there found a stranger among them"

"That was the duckie, right Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Yes Rin" Sesshomaru sighed. In all his hundreds of years, he never thought he'd be reading a fairytale to a little kid, but nevertheless, he continued.

" 'We've never seen a duck as ugly as you!' they laughed. 'But you can live here if you like, as long as you don't get in the way'. The little duckling was still lonely, but at least no one bullied him. Then one morning, as he swam by the bank, he suddenly saw a dog running through the reeds. All around the marsh, hunters and their dogs were gethering. The little duckling hid in the reeds all day, trembling with fright as shots whistled over his bowed head. That night, he once again fled as fast as he could from his unsafe home"

"What did it mean when the book said, 'shots fired' Sesshomaru-sama?"

Sesshomaru had to think about this, only coming up with one possible solution. "Guns, Rin, I believe"

'Hm' he thought, 'the humans only recently started using guns in the fuedal era. It looks as though they've improved their weaponry also' He continued.

"The weather was growing colder, and the wind was ruffling his feathers, when he came to a tumbledown cottage and crept inside to escape the coming storm. An old woman lived in the cottage with her cat and her hen. She let the duckling stay, but the cat and hen were not very friendly. 'Can you lay eggs?' they asked. 'Or purr, or catch mice?'.

'No' whispered the duckling. 'Then you're no use at all' said the cat and hen. At last, the duckling could bear the unkindness no longer. He wandered out into the world once more"

"Poor ducky! Sesshomaru-sama, don't you think he's a poor ducky?"

"Yes" Sesshomaru answered hesitantly, "a poor...ducky" Rin laughed suddenly.

"Why are you laughing?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Sesshomaru-sama said 'ducky' !" she responded, grinning. He gave her a flat look before refocusing his attention on the book.

"But gradually, the days became lighter. The grass began to grow, and spring flowers appeared. The bird found that his wings her stronger, and he could fly swiftly over the water. One afternoon, he caught sight of the beautiful white birds he loved so much far below. 'I must talk to them, just once' thought the young bird, 'even if they attack me because I am so ugly' ".

"As he landed, the swans rushed towards him, beating their wings. the bird bowed his head, waiting for their attack. As he did so, he saw his reflection. He wasn't an ugly duckling at all! Through thw winter months he had grown up... into a beautiful white swan! The other swans had come to welcome him.

No bird was ever so happy, as he swam with his new friends. Later, two children came to feed the swans. 'Oh look!' they cried, 'there's a new one! And he's the most beautiful swan of all!' ...the end" Sesshomaru finished, and Rin clapped.

"So the ducky was a baby swan?" Rin asked.

"Yes" Sesshomaru answered. He felt the end was rather rushed, but as long as Rin was happy, he didn't mind.

"Rin really liked that story Sesshomaru-sama. Can you read it to Rin again some time?"

He looked at her hesitantly, "We'll see"

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A/N: Well, here's anothe chapter - hope you all enjoy it! Thanks everyone who reviewed so far.. I've give you each a hug if I could! There are probably a few grammar mistakes, seeing as I don't have a beta, so try to forgive me if you find any.

Anyways, please review!