Disclaimer: I do not own any characters belonging to Inu-Yasha
Chapter Six: Why Can't We Be Friends?
"Kagome!" Inu-Yasha hollered as he leapt out of his chair and rushed to her side, vaguely aware of the cuts his own body was sustaining.
Inu-Yasha swiftly took hold of her body before it could hit the ground. Taking extra caution with making sure that her head didn't take on any more injury than what she had. His first priority was to attempt to stop the bleeding. Without a second thought he ripped the sleeve off one of Sesshoumaru's most expensive suits and deftly wrapped it around her neck; making sure it was secure and placed some pressure on the wound and yet not too tight to cut off circulation. His eyes did a quick sweep over her body to note any other injuries, yet knowing he wouldn't find any others.
'What an ugly ass outfit!' He noted mentally, looking disgustedly at the drab suit. 'Heh . . . though not a bad figure . . . though her boobs are kinda small.' He let out a small laugh before his eyes finally landed on her face. 'Wow, the wench actually looks peaceful, and like always, she's more pleasant when she isn't talking.'
". . ." Inu-Yasha's eyes lost their gentle glow as the thought of who this woman really was took hold of him. "What the hell am I blabbering about . . . why am I even being nice to you, you – you – you stupid bitch!"
"Uh . . . not nice . . ." A soft voice whispered.
Inu-Yasha's ears twitched at the sound, glancing around to find the source.
"Who the . . ." Again a soft humming sound echoed throughout the room. "Oh . . . it's you . . ." He commented, his attention going back to the woman in his arms. "I hope you know that you stink."
"You're . . . really . . . not nice . . . at . . . all to an injured . . . person," Kagome groaned out slowly, her eyes continually opening and closing; trying to adjust to the dim lighting of the room.
"How . . . how long have you've been awake!" He hollered in an accusing tone. Though after that he realized he didn't really have anything to worry about seeing as he didn't say anything aloud. However, her injury was a whole other topic of worry; seeing as to if she died . . . the implications that came with it would be horrible.
"Long enough to listen to all of your insults," she grumbled, attempting to get up; only to end up failing miserably. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Making sure you don't injure yourself any more than necessary," Inu-Yasha growled, putting plenty enough pressure on her so as not to hurt her but give her the message that she wasn't getting up.
"Why should I trust you? You already scratched up my back," she shot at him, glaring for an added effect.
"I did not! Why would you say that?" Inu-Yasha was horrified by the idea . . . no the mere suggestion that she thought he hurt her physically was just awful. "I'll let you know that my mother raised a gentleman and I've never hit a woman before in my life."
"Yeah . . . yeah right," she gave a un-lady like snort as he finished his little tirade. "Then tell it to the cuts on my back . . . because I can definitely feel them!"
"Fine! I'm gonna look and find some proof that not only are you a wench, but a lying one at that! If I don't find any so help me God . . ." he muttered.
With that said he gently pulled Kagome into a light hug while taking a glance over her shoulder.
'She accuses me of such a heinous thing and look . . . I still treat her like a princess so that she doesn't feel much pain.' He rolled his eyes in disgust at the thought, inhaling deeply to help calm his temper.
"Hold the phone . . ."Inu-Yasha's nose reeled at the horrendous smell that invaded it.
'Why . . . does her back smell like it's drenched in blood? That shallow one on her neck couldn't have done this much damage . . . could it?'
Before Inu-Yasha's brain had the time to process the idea, he entered no man's land, smirking a little at Kagome's gasp of surprise.
"Wha-what do you think you're doing?!" She shrieked, smacking his shoulders while at the same time trying to pull away from him.
"Stop it . . ." Inu-Yasha hissed while pulling her closer. "And stop yelling, you're hurting my ears."
"Well, if I'm yelling it's only because you deserve it!" Kagome hollered, wanting very much to inflict as much pain as possible to him. "You disgusting pervert! Get you hand out from under my shirt!"
"God dammit! What part of you're hurting my ears don't you understand!" Inu-Yasha roared, pulling away from her to look at her face.
"Hm . . . I would like to mention that your hand is still inside of my shirt!"
"I would like to mention that your back is covered in small cuts you klutz!" Inu-Yasha roared finally deciding to give into his instincts and yell right back at her; he also started to wave the aforementioned hand in front of her face for an added show of his statement. The sight of the blood-covered hand caused the color to leave Kagome's face. "And stop yelling, dammit! I swear . . ." He cursed, rubbing his offended ears with his clean hand.
"I . . . I . . ." Kagome stared, feeling startled by the news.
Here was the loud, tough, hot-tempered half-demon that blew into her life with a bang, being nothing but a pain since day one and yet . . .and yet he sat before her like a prince charming taking care of her. Her hand touched the cloth wrapped around her neck . . . the one ripped off a nice suit, she noted, glancing at the one arm with missing cloth over it. He was checking her to make sure she's happy and not hurting . . . and she purposefully caused him pain with her yelling. Boy did she feel rightfully horrible at the moment, wishing the earth would suck her in during her time of disgrace.
"Inu-Yasha . . . I'm . . . I'm sorry," Kagome whispered, bowing her head in shame.
"As you should be," he snorted, glancing at her briefly before looking up at the ceiling. "All I was doing was trying to help."
"I . . . I . . . I know," she let out softly, tears starting to well in her eyes. "It's just that . . . this whole week has been so stressful . . . I mean if I'd just had the sense to talk to you and tell you the truth, then we wouldn't have to be here . . . I never meant for this to happen! But like always I screwed up! I'm such a screw-up . . . I can never get anything right, haven't for Hiten and now I mess up this whole situation!" She sobbed, her tears long since started to run down her face.
"Wha - . . . Are you crying?" Inu-Yasha reeled back in disbelief. "Why . . . Why are you crying?!" He shouted; his voice tinged with the emotions of confusion and to his surprise some anger.
Kagome very well detected the anger and it made her more upset.
"Well, why are you mad?!" Kagome yelled back, feeling some righteous anger herself. "Here I am," she started, cutting off whatever words Inu-Yasha had to say, "trying to apologize and you're mad that I'm crying! You're so insensitive! All men are so . . . I can't believe this! I'm crying because I'm upset!"
'Okay. . .' Inu-Yasha drawled out in his mind. He knew better than to say it out loud because he knew the repercussions very well from dealing with his wife all the time. 'Talk about emotional. I just . . . man, is it my fault that I can't stand to see women cry . . . heck, even little girls and wenches!'
"– I was just firing her . . . and you take it the wrong way. Well, it's not like I helped any with lashing out at you . . ."
"Wait, what?" Inu-Yasha stopped her, holding his hand in front of her face for emphasis.
He knew that admitting he wasn't paying attention would just cause some more anger from her . . . but it sounded like he really missed something important.
"What . . . did you just say?" Inu-Yasha let out a little apprehensively.
As expected, Kagome bristled with just anger, glaring at him until he felt the need to sink into the ground to escape it. She crossed her arms before giving him a pointed look and speaking.
"Why should I repeat it?" She shot viciously at him.
"Why do you have to act so stuck up?" Inu-Yasha shot back.
He knew this would just rile her up some more, but he couldn't help being a competitive person and when challenged he accepts. It's not his fault really that Kagome always wanted a challenge. It was really the quality he hated about her . . . and yet also found really attractive.
'Gah! I need to leave that train of thought right now! Jumping off!' Inu-Yasha commanded himself, though had no way of controlling the fact that his heart did a little skip for joy when Kagome bared her teeth at him and a little growl started at the back of her throat.
"Stuck up, am I?" She hissed, clenching her hand in rage, not going unnoticed by Inu-Yasha. "How am I stuck up when it's you that has his head so far up in the clouds that he can't hear me apologize!"
"Now see here!" Inu-Yasha roared back, gladly taking up the role of a jerk; it's what he's best at after all. "I'll have you know that it's you who got us into this mess in the first place!"
Inu-Yasha knew it was a low blow to bring out that card, yet . . . he couldn't help but do it. It's not like Kagome was playing fair while they were in the courtroom. All the talk of him not being able to control himself. Psh, for all he know Kagome just thought that about all men because she's never been laid.
'Now there's an intriguing thought.' He threw Kagome a sly, knowing look.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Kagome questioned right back, a glare starting to form once again.
"No . . . nothing at all . . . I'm just wondering . . . why we're even here," Inu-Yasha mused, telling at least half the truth.
Kagome gave him a blank stare while on the inside she was fuming.
'I already told him why! Maybe he just gets sick pleasure out of having me embarrass myself!'
"Kagome? Are you there?" She faintly heard as she saw him wave a hand in front of her face. "Hello?"
'Well . . . here are my options. I can either kill him, or I can explain again.' She reasoned as she watched Inu-Yasha beginning to concern himself with her well-being.
"I told . . . you it's my fault . . ."she whispered.
". . . What? . . ." Inu-Yasha completely stopped all his shenanigans to look at her in surprise.
"I said . . . it's my fault we're here. I mean, I do have a temper, I know it," she concealed. "The day you saw that lawyer . . . I was actually firing her"
". . . What? Why?" Inu-Yasha was thoroughly confused and was feeling guilty. Once again he misread a situation and bad things came out of it.
"Because . . . because you're my friend," she replied, a small smile started to form.
"No, not that. Why did you –"
"Heheh! Sorry!" A child-like voice filled the air.
Both Inu-Yasha and Kagome looked towards the door to find the source. Standing in the doorway was Judge Yura, scratching her head and giving them a childish smile.
"I accidentally put you in the room of illusions. It was actually used for torture and made people believe they were getting cut up and going to die or some other form of pain like burning . . . did I miss something?" Yura blinked innocently, staring directly at the clasped hands between the two.
"No!" They shouted, backing away from each other and waving their hands in a warding off motion.
"Oh . . . okay!" Yura smiled brightly. "Although, I know I told you that I wanted you two to get along, my uncle kindly reminded me that I can't keep you here all day. Well, I can really, but I'm having dinner with my mother tonight, so I can't . . . Yet again," and she continued to ramble on, ". . . but yeah, we should really finish up what we can today, so follow me," she commanded as she walked away.
Kagome stared after Yura with a strange look for quite a while before noticing the hand in front of her. She looked up to see Inu-Yasha giving her a light smile.
"Look . . . it's not like I forgive you or anything . . . but . . . you're my friend too, I guess, so I can work on the whole forgiving thing," he let out awkwardly, doing a wonderful job of avoiding her eyes.
Kagome smiled brightly, gladly taking the offered hand.
"Thanks."
X.X
'This is taking too long. I promised Rin I'd be home in time for dinner.' Sesshoumaru thought, staring blandly at the scene before him. 'First we get nowhere, with an appearance from Yura's mother. Then, Yura herself sends the two biggest child-adults to who knows where. She comes back by herself and starts watching TV, then she comes back with them and now this! A real trial procession. I specifically requested for her so that we'd win.' That annoying reminder caused Sesshoumaru to stop his thought process, wanting very much to kill the pair of Yura and Inu-Yasha right now.
'Speaking of him.' Sesshoumaru threw a side-ways glance towards the younger demon. 'What's with his behavior after returning from who knows where he went. 'Don't hurt Kagome' he goes and tells Myouga. Heh, this morning he was ready to crush the human woman, and now he's threatening Myouga if he hurts her. I wonder what happened. . .'
With that he turned his attention back to the things happening in front of him.
"So . . . what do you do again?" Myouga paced the courtroom as he looked at Kagome, sitting in the stand, expectantly.
" . . . I own a bookstore," Kagome replied nervously, wondering why the little flea man was asking such easy questions like what's her name and such.
"Uh-Huh, I see," Myouga commented, rubbing his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Now, would you say you're a part-time owner or full-time owner?"
". . . Well . . . a full-time one . . . I guess," Kagome replied, getting the feeling she should be apprehensive of the little man.
"You guess? Really, you don't sound confident in that. Maybe it's because you don't actually have a job," Myouga slyly threw out.
"I never said that! Of course I have a job! You can ask Inu-Yasha, he's worked for me."
"Your Honor, I'd like for you to ignore that comment. Relevance of my client and her are not to be thought of together. I just want to know why she was so hesitant on her answer."
"Yeah . . . Okay," Yura said, waving her hand in a nonchalant manner. "I still don't understand why the two of you insisted on this real court style . . . whatever . . . but yes, please Ms. Higurashi, why did you sound so unsure?"
"I've . . .I've never been asked that, okay . . .though, I've never heard of an owner only being partly interested or half committed to their business, so I guess . . . no I'm sure, it's a part-time . . . I mean full-time job," Kagome began to ramble, growing extremely flustered.
'Interesting . . .' Sesshoumaru noted the clenching of his brother's fist. 'Let's take this even farther.' He slightly parted his lips and let out a long, non-existent whistle. In fact, it was a special, family call between the head and high ranks under the head, such as the family lawyer. Only Myouga, at the moment, understood what Sesshoumaru wanted, let alone heard the whistle.
"So, Ms. Higurashi, you having a full time job means that you can't spend much time with your son, which means you can't take care of him properly, right?" Myouga let out directly, getting the message from Sesshoumaru; knowing exactly what had to be done.
"No, of course I take good care of Hiro. I'm only at work while he's at daycare."
"Daycare! So you leave him with strangers half the day? Really, demons would never trust another with their own, how you humans can do it is beyond me. So, you'd rather work instead of being a full-time mom?"
"No, I'd love to be a full-time mom, but we need money –"
"So you only care about money? Well then, is your bookstore getting a lot?"
" . . . Well no . . . not particularly . . ."
"So then . . . you spend half the day at your store which earns next to nothing, am I correct?" Myouga raised his eyebrows in interest.
" . . . Well . . ." Kagome started to reply, but fell short of saying what she wanted to.
"Well what, Ms. Higurashi?" Everyone waited expectantly to hear her reply.
"Answer the question please!" Yura demanded.
"Yes . . ." She whispered, bowing her head in shame.
"So . . . then are you really a good mother?"
'Again . . . interesting.' Sesshoumaru now noted Inu-Yasha's clenched jaw. 'Another notch and I will be fairly amused today.'
"So . . ." Myouga started, but paused as he received new instructions from Sesshoumaru.
'Oh, milord . . . that is so harsh. I can already feel Lord Inu-Yasha wanting to kill me for your last round of questions. These are suicide . . . yes of course.' Myouga cowardly thought, as he received the added threat from Sesshoumaru.
"So Hiro isn't really your child, right?"
". . . That's correct, I adopted him. But I love him as if he were –" Kagome was cut off by another one of Myouga's questions.
"In fact, he's truly Inu-Yasha's, right?"
"That's also correct . . ."
"So . . . is it also true of me to say that you adopted Hiro all on your own?" Myouga knew this wasn't true, but, it was all apart of Sesshoumaru's plan.
". . . No," Kagome answered in a strained tone, looking at nobody.
"Really?" Myouga feigned surprise, looking at Kagome as if she grew another head. ". . . Then, who did you adopt Hiro with?"
"With . . . with my husband, Hiten Thunder," Kagome let out dejectedly.
"A husband . . . really . . . this Hiten Thunder . . . he sounds familiar . . . isn't he of the Thunder clan? Your husband was a demon?"
"Yes . . ."
"Really . . . don't demons prefer to have their own children and not other people's? Especially another demon's child?"
"Look . . . it was my fault!" Kagome screamed, looking up for the first time, tears streaming down her face.
'Damn. I didn't want to appear weak . . . how . . . how'd he find all of this out though? My darkest secrets come to light . . .'
She stared down at her folded hands again, the tears starting to well in her eyes.
"Care to elaborate," Myouga requested, thoroughly ticking Kagome off.
"Objection!" Mrs. Kimiachi shouted, her voice breaking through the quiet, tense air.
'Finally you do something, you good for nothing lawyer!' Kagome thought, sending praise to God for giving Miss Kimiachi her brain back. 'Now I don't have to answer that blasted question!'
"Overruled, Miss Kimiachi. I want to hear this. It'll help establish whether she's a suitable mother or not. Answer the question, please, Ms Higurashi," Yura requested, giving Kagome a kind smile.
". . . I forget the . . . question . . ." Kagome mumbled hopefully, greatly wishing that either Myouga dropped dead or a big meteor smashed into the building. She wanted anything to happen to avoid answering the question.
"Then let me remind you," Myouga cheered, acting like a child, a child that stole the cookie from the cookie jar and was blaming someone else. "What exactly did you mean by saying that it was your fault?"
"I meant . . ." Kagome started, taking a deep, calming breath of air, "that it was my fault we had to adopt. It's because . . . because I couldn't get pregnant."
"Really," Myouga sneered, smiling widely at the admission.
"Yes, really!" Kagome screamed, raising out of the seat and slamming her hands on the beam in front of her. "You happy! I told you now! It was all my fault that we adopted Hiro because I couldn't have kids! Are you satisfied?" Kagome shouted.
'Well . . . that disproves the virgin theory.' Inu-Yasha mused, in a state of shock at the outburst. It was quite a predicament. Inu-Yasha was so zoned out that the only reason he heard the next question was because Sesshoumaru kicked him out of his reverie.
"So . . . you're saying Hiro was a mistake or faulty now Ms. Higurashi?" Myouga asked, advancing towards her. "Do you really believe that? Even so, if you believe –"
"Please . . . stop . . ." Kagome sobbed, covering her ears defensively and cowering in her seat. "Just . . . stop . . ."
"Do you even love him?" Myouga kept at it, ignoring her feeble attempts to halt his questioning. "If you don't love him, then you should return him to someone who does –"
"Enough!"
A loud echo rang throughout the room. All eyes starting curiously at the source.
"I swear to God, stop. That's enough for today." The voice cut through all the tension of the day, amber eyes blazing with anger, piercing the tiny flea demon.
'As I thought . . . interesting.' Sesshoumaru stared at Inu-Yasha with mild amusement, finding his reaction to everything very interesting indeed.
"B-b-but," Myouga began to sputter. This was not his fault at all; it was all Sesshoumaru's request to do this. Yet, he, the loyal and faithful, Myouga was being blamed.
"Silence! You want to keep your head? Then I suggest you stop making Kagome cry," Inu-Yasha sneered, getting his point across that he wasn't suggesting anything, but demanding.
'Only I can rile the wench up . . . yeah, that's it. That's why I'm behaving this way.' Inu-Yasha reasoned, trying to ignore the twinge in his heart as he watched more tears roll down her face.
". . . But . . ."
"I agree . . . it's a nice place to end this. I think everyone needs a break," Yura cut in, giving Myouga a silencing look, a little disturbed at how far he took his questioning. "Besides . . . I need to get to my mother's house. So, court is in recess!" Yura hollered, before banging her gable to finalize it.
With that done, Yura ran out of the room quicker than a blink of the eye. Everyone else slowly followed suit.
'Some lawyer!' Inu-Yasha snorted in disgust as he watched Miss Kimiachi rush out of there like the best of them. His attention turned as he heard the choked sob behind him. '. . . Wench . . .' He took a weak step towards her, trying to find a way to console her.
"Inu-Yasha," a voice called out halting all movements.
"What do you want?" Inu-Yasha snapped, amber eyes glaring daggers at the older Hazuki.
"It's time to leave. Rin is expecting us home for dinner," Sesshoumaru informed, inwardly amused by his brother's antics.
'Truly, I did not fathom the idea that he would act so strongly for that woman.'
". . . I'm not going to go home for dinner,' Inu-Yasha said, after a few minutes passed.
"Really? What, pray tell, will you do then? Wander around?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Inu-Yasha roared, not liking at all the attitude he was getting from Sesshoumaru. For all he cared at the moment, his brother could jump off the nearest bridge and it wouldn't faze him.
". . ."Sesshoumaru stared blankly at him for a few seconds before turning around and walking off. "Very well." Then before Inu-Yasha knew it, Sesshoumaru was gone.
"Stupid brother," he muttered, before turning his attention back to Kagome. "What the . . ." The wench was gone.
X.X
'Man, am I pathetic or what?' Kagome thought to herself as she splashed more water onto her face. 'How could I just blab all that crap out?! Now everyone is going to make fun of me! Not to mention what horrible things Inu-Yasha will tease me about!' Kagome fumed, not at all pleased with the options presented to her. 'Oh well . . . I can't stay in this bathroom forever . . . besides Hiro is waiting for me.'
Kagome brightened a little, knowing that real soon she'd be snuggling her son in her arms. Ready to leave and rescue Hiro from Sango, she took one last look in the mirror. Though she did not look like a total wreck, she still held traces of her sob fest here and there.
"Can't bother with it now," she sighed with a shake of her head, exiting the bathroom.
"Ow!"
Kagome stopped all movements, startled by the outcry from the other side of the door. Cautiously, she pushed it open again and peered around to see Inu-Yasha flat on his butt and rubbing his nose.
"What the hell was that for wench?!" He hollered when he saw it was her that caused his injury.
"Sorry," Kagome let out meekly, fully exiting the bathroom and kneeling down to check on his injury.
"What's your problem?" He muttered, a glare accompanying the remark.
"Excuse you!" Kagome lost all feelings of compassion, being filled with the urge to clobber the jerk.
"You heard me," he hissed, ignoring Kagome and her reaction, "here I am coming to check to see if you're okay and you slam a door in my face."
"You always have to say such . . . what . . ." Kagome was speechless, surprised by his words. "Really . . . I didn't realize . . . really?"
"Yeah, that and I . . ." he hesitated a little with his next words but received renewed courage as he looked at her smiling face, "and I wanted to know if you'd have dinner with me."
A/N: There's that chapter! I really hope you enjoyed it and it entices you to want to read more! Thanks to those that read this and especially to those who reviewed!
Maia: Thanks for the encouragement!
young kagome
lilkags(sammi)
mimi
Hououza: Thanks for the continually encouragement! You're the best!
bubbles
horsegal628