The It Couple
Chapter Thirty-Four
"Hello?" Kagome's voice was suddenly not working so well.
"Can I see you? Please?"
Kagome swallowed. "I don't know if that's such a good idea," she said, trying to keep her voice steady, "We're supposed to stay away from each other regardless."
"You're at Miroku's place, right? I'll come over there. Please, Kagome."
She closed her eyes for a moment, then glanced at Miroku, who was sprawled out on his couch eating pizza like he didn't have a care in the world.
"I-"
"Please, just wait there for me, okay? I have to tell you something and I can't do it over the phone. It doesn't feel right. I'll be there in twenty minutes. I promise."
"Okay," she said, tears brimming in her eyes, smiling despite herself, "I'll wait. See you soon."
She hung up the phone, tossing it back to Miroku, who caught it deftly without even looking up.
"Well," Miroku said, "Guess I'd better get dressed since we're having company over." He shot her a very significant smirk.
Kagome let out a breath and with it a rush of laughter. "Shut up," she said, running a hand through her wildly styled hair.
"Sango, honey."
Sango looked up, her face in her hands. It was her mom, looking just as exhausted, holding out a styrofoam cup full of cheap hospital coffee. Sango took it gratefully, blowing on it once before taking a sip. It was still a bit too hot, but Sango figured she could use the shock to her system anyway. She'd been up all night and she still had so much to do for work.
Her mother sat next to her, eyes trained on the hospital bed in front of them. "I think the worst has passed, honey. Why don't you go on home? If he wakes up later, I'll let you know."
Sango just took another sip of the middling coffee and said nothing, refusing to budge.
What if he wakes up just as I'm leaving and I'm not here?
As if sensing her daughter's hesitation, her mother looped a thin arm around Sango's shoulders. "The doctors have done all they can for now, sweetheart. You really should rest. After all, don't you have a big awards ceremony in a few days? Gotta get your beauty sleep so you look pretty while you practically run a studio."
Sango allowed herself to chuckle weakly. "Mom, I'm just the lead press agent. I have nothing to do with any of the actual running of the studio."
"Well, whatever," her mom squeezed her shoulder, "I'm still just so proud of you I could burst. You've always been so strong. I just knew someday you'd get to the top."
Sango blushed a little and leaned her head on her mom's shoulder. "Honestly, I think I've gone a little too far lately. I've just been so obsessed with getting you out of this-"
"Sango, stop it," her mom admonished, "If you're exhausting yourself for my sake, don't. We'll be okay." She smiled, but it was a weak one, and the lines around her mother's eyes were so very visible at the moment.
"If you'd just let me move you into my apartment-"
"And leave the home my father built? The home where you were raised? Not on your life. It'll work out eventually. Stop taking so much of this onto yourself, sweetheart."
Like I ever had a choice. If I don't protect you, who will?
"If he comes by again," Sango ground out, reaching into her purse for her checkbook and scribbling out a dollar amount, "Give him this. Tell him to leave you alone from now on. And don't give him an inch, Mom. You know how he is."
"Sango, no," her mom read the contents of the check and then stared at her, eyes wide, "This is too much. You can't be making that much-"
"I have the money," Sango said, "I just negotiated some bigtime contracts at work. I get a decent percentage. Please just take it."
As if the check were made of pure gold, her mom gently placed it in her pocket.
"I think I will go home now," Sango said, keeping her voice light and airy as if she hadn't just emptied her bank account with one check, "Gotta get rested and go make the big bucks, right?"
Her mother said nothing, just looked at her with tears forming in the corners of her careworn eyes.
"I'll see you later." Sango stood up, looped her purse around her shoulder, and kissed the top of her mom's head. Then she turned to the small boy in the hospital bed, laying there comatose, his head shaved and his eyes ringed with dark purple. She bent over him and kissed him gently on the cheek.
"See you soon, Kohaku. And you better be awake next time I visit, or you're not getting that Lego set I promised you for your birthday."
She turned and quickly left the room, blinking back tears and wiping them away fiercely.
Inuyasha had never been so unsure of what to wear before. He stood in his rather spacious closet, freshly showered and in a towel, debating between the casual tee shirt and jeans and the nice daytime suit. Would the suit be too much? Like he was trying too hard?
Well, you were the one who fucked up, weren't you?
He sighed, grabbing the jeans and tee shirt. Kagome wouldn't care what he was wearing. She cared what he had to say.
What was he going to say? He hadn't thought that far ahead. He just knew that a few more hours without word from her and he would have sunk even deeper into that bender. He knew she was pissed at him for defending Kikyou, and he still didn't quite know what to say to that. He understood that she was upset, that she saw it as a betrayal, but wouldn't things be better in the long run if they all just got along?
Once his clothes were on, he grabbed his phone from the charger and shoved it into his back pocket. Just as he did so, it rang.
"Hello?" He answered without even looking to see who it was. "Kagome?"
"Wrong sister, honey."
"Kikyou," he said, sitting sheepishly on his bed and running a hand through his damp hair, "I'm kind of on my way out the door right now-"
"How's my sister?" Her voice was tinged with genuine concern.
"Fine, I think," Inuyasha said.
"What do you mean, 'you think?' Isn't she with you right now?"
"No," he said with more impatience than he probably should have, "She's staying...uh...she's staying with friends right now."
"Not with you?"
"No."
There was a pronounced pause. "...Is everything alright with you two?"
What a perfectly awkward question to ask.
"It's fine," Inuyasha said, "Everything is fine."
"Oh, good," she said, "Kagome seemed so angry the other day, even though I was trying to just talk to her. I want to mend whatever it is I've done, but getting her to open up is so hard."
"Yeah." Inuyasha could offer no better reply than the one he gave.
"Were you just leaving to meet her?"
"I was, yeah."
"Oh god." She sounded almost scandalized. "I'm so sorry. I'll leave you alone."
"Are you okay?" he asked before his brain caught up to his mouth.
Another pause. "Yeah…" she said before trailing off, but there was a broken tone to her voice that he knew he couldn't have mistaken.
He sighed. "Kikyou, listen-"
"No, no, please stop. Go take her to dinner, okay? And buy her dark purple orchids. They're her favorite."
"Huh," he said, "How do you know that?"
"She's my sister. Trust me, I know. Now go make her happy!" There was another small crack in her voice, but she didn't seem to acknowledge it.
"Well...thanks?" Inuyasha wasn't bothered to examine this much harder, but he knew if he did he'd come back up more confused and torn than when he'd started on this whole misadventure.
"Tell her I miss her, okay? Nothing more than that. If she knew I'd been talking to you, oh god…" She trailed off, and by the tone of her voice he could just picture her turning red with embarrassment. Kikyou Higurashi, embarrassed. It was a chilly day in hell.
"Alright," he said, balancing the phone on his shoulder as he pulled on his socks, "I'll tell her. And thanks for the tip."
"Anytime," she said, "I'll see you at the LA Film Critics Awards, okay? By the way, I'm wearing gold. Just so you know."
He chuckled. "Gold is fine. I'll make sure to match. Gotta get the good pictures, right?"
She laughed on the other end. "See you in a few days."
He hung up the phone and resumed putting on his shoes. Then he put in a call to the nearest flower shop and asked for purple orchids.
"Want some leftovers?" Miroku opened the fridge, motioning to the stacks of leftover pizza boxes.
Kagome checked her reflection in the hallway mirror, trying not to fuss over herself more than usual but failing. "I'm good, thanks."
"You look fine," Miroku said pointedly, grabbing himself another slice. "Good enough for Inuyasha, I'm sure."
"Are you ever going to stop teasing me about this?" she giggled.
"Nope." He took a monstrous bite and leaned against his kitchen counter.
Kagome rolled her eyes and fluffed up her already intensely-curled, voluminous hair once more. She walked into the kitchen and posted up next to him, arms folded around her shoulders.
There was a few moments of silence.
"He'll be here, right?" Kagome said, hanging her hair in front of her face to hide the blush, "He promised."
"He'll be here," Miroku said through a mouthful of pizza, dribbling sauce down his chin, "Trust me."
Kagome looked at him and laughed. "And I thought I was bad," she said, grabbing a paper towel and stuffing it down the front of his button-up shirt.
"It's good!" he protested.
The phone on the wall rang out, and Miroku picked it up before Kagome could spring to grab it. "Yeah?" he said, wiping the corners of his mouth on the paper towel.
There was a moment of silence. Kagome felt her stomach seize up in anticipation. Miroku said "Okay, send him up," and replaced the phone on the receiver.
"He's here."
Kagome let out a great whoosh of breath and tried to make herself look casual, but it was too much to bear when there was a knock soon after at the apartment door. She practically raced to open it, ignoring Miroku's snort of laughter.
And there Inuyasha stood, wearing a leather jacket, tee shirt and jeans, holding a small sprig of purple orchids limply at his side. His eyes immediately met hers, and she felt herself gulp.
"Hi," he said softly.
"Hi," she replied, even softer.
"Hi, Inuyasha," Miroku gave a half-assed wave as he disappeared down the hallway, pizza in hand.
Inuyasha looked at her with slight confusion, and she shook her head as if to say "Don't worry about it."
"Your hair," he said, looking her over, "It's - different."
"Yeah," she said, hating how shy she suddenly sounded with a man who had seen every inch of her at one point, "Yura's people did it. For the interview." She suddenly remembered what she had said about Kouga and fought to keep her facial expression from turning to one of utter mortification.
"I like it." His golden eyes bored into hers, and for just a second she forgot that she was even angry at him at this point.
He suddenly seemed to remember himself, and held up the small bouquet of orchids. "For you," he said, as if that needed saying, "As apologies for being...well, insensitive."
Kagome took them, delighted. "These are my favorite!"
He didn't say anything, just smiled slightly at the pleased look on her face.
"I got these once from my mom," she said softly, cradling the flowers close to her face and inhaling the sweet scent, "When I won the photography contest for the local paper. Before we moved to Hollywood. Lucky guess for you, huh?"
"Not really," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "Kikyou told me they were your favorite."
A pause. "...She did?" Kagome would have been less shocked if he'd admitted to something more...sordid.
"She did."
Kagome furrowed her brow, looking at the flowers, then back at him.
"She told me to go see you and fix all this."
Kikyou's giving you dating advice when it comes to me? What the hell does she know? So you're telling Kikyou all of our dirty laundry? Since when are you two bosom buddies? She felt a little spiteful spark welling inside of her and pushed it back down. Down, girl. He's obviously trying to fix things. Let him try, at least. Keep that temper in check.
"Come on in," she said, stepping back to let him inside.
"I'd rather not," he said, "Not when Miroku's leaning against the wall listening to everything we're saying."
"I am not!" Miroku said from behind the wall, and there was a scuffling sound.
Kagome rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Come on," Inuyasha said, holding out a hand, "I'm taking you to dinner."
"What?" Kagome said, eyes widening, "You can't! What if we're spotted?"
"Ah," he said, pulling a baseball cap out of his inner jacket pocket and putting it on his head, "I've already thought of that. We just have to drive far enough."
Kagome fought the thump of her heart and just let herself smile hesitantly. "Okay," she finally said, turning to gently place the orchids on the coffee table, then taking his hand slowly.
The door shut.
"Are you gone?" Miroku said, wiping the last of the pizza sauce off of his face from his perch against the hallway wall.
No answer.
"So I changed for no reason," he muttered to himself, walking back into the kitchen for another slice. Best to just spend this day eating and smoking. That sounded like a plan to him.
The wall phone rang again.
"What now," Miroku griped, grabbing it, "Yes?"
"A 'Sango Ryoshi' to see you, Mr. Houshi. Should I let her up?"
Fuck yes.
"Sure," he said, clearing his throat, "Send her up."
Special thanks to my darling boyfriend and his experience with crazy, manipulative ex-girlfriends for this chapter. Love you, Bubz.
Also, those of you who said you hated Sango in this fic, I hope this chapter gives you an idea of where I'm going with this whole thing. Love you guys! Ooooh, where are Inuyasha and Kagome going? What will the Sango and Miroku reunion be like? And just what the hell is going on with Kikyou anyway?
I know I said this chapter would be the LA Film Critics Awards, but I lied. Okay, I had a few margaritas and decided I needed a little more interpersonal resolution beforehand. I got this. I swear. Love you guys! Hope you had a great Super Bowl Sunday (I know I did even though I hate all forms of what I call sportsball). Review please if you have the time! - meggz0rz