Chapter 23: Can't Keep My Hands to Myself
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha!
"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own while I run up to the gas station really quick?" Sango asked for the third time as she opened the front door to leave. Inuyasha and Miroku were at a meeting with Leo and Guiseppi, Inuyasha wanted to inform them that Sal was no longer a threat to any of them and to figure out a new boss for that part of the city. A few days has passed since the ambush incident and Kagome still felt bad that Miroku had to wait for medical treatment just because she was too scared to stay by herself. So, she made a vow that she'd try her utmost hardest to get over her fear of being left alone. She felt Sango making a fast trip to the gas station that was five minutes away would be the perfect way for her to start working on her independence again.
"I'll be fine, Sango, I promise. And plus, you're only going to be away for fifteen or twenty minutes, I'll be okay in that short time." Kagome smiled at Sango. "I really need to work on my independence again, it's not fair that you all have to make changes in what you usually do just because of me."
"You know we don't mind that." Sango reassured soothingly.
"I know, but I can't stay afraid forever." Kagome insisted with a shrug.
"Well, okay, I'll be back as quick as I can." Sango promised as she stepped further through the door. "Call me if anything happens." She called over shoulder as she started down the porch steps.
"Okay!" Kagome said as she closed the door before walking back to the couch to sit down. "Okay," she whispered to herself as she reached for the TV remote before turning the TV on, "I can do this." She told herself as she settled on a funny movie. She didn't think horror or sad movies would be a wise idea right now considering this was her first time left alone. Before pressing play, she got up to go get some chips and dip from the kitchen before coming back and sitting back down and pressing play.
Twenty minutes later, Sango walked back into the house to find Kagome laughing at something on the TV while popping a chip in her mouth. "I'm back." Sango announced with a smile as she closed the door.
"Oh, my goodness!" Kagome exclaimed with a wide smile as she looked towards Sango. "I did it!"
"You did," Sango agreed with a smile, "and I'm so proud of you."
Later that night, Inuyasha and Kagome were cuddled up on one couch watching a movie while Sango recleaned Miroku's gunshot wound before rebandaging it on the other couch.
"All done." Sango murmured as she started to put the supplies away for later use.
"Thanks." Miroku smiled at Sango as he stood up and looked at Kagome. "Stand up, Kagome, let me check your stitches - they might be able to come out today." He spoke as he gestured for her to stand up. It was always Miroku's job to either give stitches or take them out, he was the best at it, he had gone to medical school right after he'd graduated high school, however, shit happened that changed his course of life, and he met and joined Inuyasha and never looked back at his previous life direction. Inuyasha and Sango, and now Kagome, all trusted the man with their lives - if he said he'd be able to handle it and fix up a wound, they listened. If he said that they needed to go to the hospital because their wounds were out of his hands, they listened.
Sango was the next that was skilled in the arts of stitches and bullet removals, thanks to Miroku teaching her, however, that was all that she knew how to do. Miroku knew a lot more but when he got hurt and couldn't reach the wound well enough to stitch it up, Sango did it.
Inuyasha didn't know jack shit about any of that, he was too busy with other shit to learn how to do all that, so he just left it to them.
Kagome nodded as she maneuvered her way off the couch to stand in front of Miroku like he asked her too, and lifted her shirt just enough for him to have full access to the stitches that were there.
Miroku took off the bandages that were covering Kagome's wound before thoroughly looking it over to make sure it was completely healed. "Does it still hurt?" He asked as he poked around the area.
"It's a little sore but not unbearable." Kagome answered with a small wince when he poked a tender spot as she watched him do his examination.
"I think it looks healed enough to take your stitches out." Miroku decided as he held his hand out for the first aid kit. Once Sango handed it to him, he got the tools that he needed and went to work on taking the stitches out. Kagome's stomach muscles jumped and twitched at the sensation that the first few stitches being taken out caused, though she quickly got used to the weird feeling and was able to stay still for the rest of the removal process.
"Done." Miroku muttered as he reexamined the now stitch less scar on Kagome's tummy before nodding. "Now, let me see your wrists." He ordered gently and took on hand into his when Kagome held it out to him. Once the stitches in both wrists were out, Miroku nodded at his work before moving to sit back on the couch next to Sango and wrapping his arms around her to pull her closer to him.
Kagome moved to lower her shirt back down, however, before she could, Inuyasha stopped her by grabbing her hips before turning her around and pulling her closer to him so he could do his own inspection of the little line scar. He ran his fingers on the scar before placing his hand back on her hip and pulling her even closer so he could place a kiss on the scar then pulled her down to straddle his lap.
Kagome knew that he blamed himself for what happened, she wished that he wouldn't but nothing she said would ever take his guilt away. Just like nothing he could say would take hers away. She sighed a sad sigh at the thought as she wrapped her arms around his neck as she looked deep into his eyes, trying to convey to him that what happened was nowhere near his fault. He must've got her silent message because his eyes softened as he tried to convey the message back to her as his lips curled into a small smile. His hand came up to cup her cheek as his thumb swept across her cheek bone. After a few seconds of his thumb running back and forth across her cheek, his hand moved to slip underneath her hair so he could cup the back of her neck, giving it a slight squeeze before pulling her in for a deep loving kiss that stole her breath away.
Several seconds passed before Inuyasha pulled away to lean his forehead against hers as he gave another squeeze to the back of her neck as Kagome started to run her fingers through his hair.
"Love you, baby girl." Inuyasha rumbled with all of his emotions in his voice as he wrapped his free arm around her waist and pulled her even closer to him.
"Love you, too." Kagome whispered with a smile before placing a small kiss to the tip of his nose.
"Do we have anything to do today?" Miroku grunted as he flipped through the TV channels, not paying any mind to the couple on the couch wrapped up in their own moment. He knew that with Kagome's restriction that it was getting harder for them to behave themselves, even with people in the same room. He could hardly blame them, though, he knew that if Sango had the same restrictions, he'd be doing the same things Inuyasha was doing and he also knew that Sango would be blind of the world around her, only seeing him just like Kagome only saw Inuyasha right now. It really didn't bother him, and he knew it didn't bother Sango either, so he just let them be and not point anything out to embarrass them.
"We have to meet a couple dealers of ours to give them more supplies to sell. We then have to pay Mr. Haiku a visit to see if he's got our payment and it's about time that we had another meeting with Mr. Watannabe and Koga." Inuyasha answered as he continued to hold Kagome as close as possible, it was getting incredibly hard to behave and keep his hands to himself, though, it hardly seemed like she minded in the least. Inuyasha noticed that Kagome took every opportunity that she could to at least have one hand on him whenever she could, she couldn't keep her hands to herself any less than he could.
"When are we meeting the dealers and Mr. Haiku?" Miroku asked as he finally found something acceptable to watch on TV before placing the remote back on the coffee table and pulling Sango closer to him. He laid his head on her shoulder as he tightened his hold around her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his short black hair.
"The dealers we are meeting after lunch today." Inuyasha answered as he moved his hand down Kagome's spine making her shiver under his sinful touch as he grasped her hips with his hands and brushed his nose along her jawline making her breath hitch in her throat and causing him to smirk. "Mr. Haiku probably after that, it'll be a surprise visit, so he doesn't have time to try to pull something stupid over on us." Causing another shiver to run down Kagome's spine as his breath hit her skin, his grip on her hips grew tighter in response to her shiver.
"Tease." Kagome whispered as she fisted her hands in the back of his shirt trying to ground herself as much as possible.
"You think so?" Inuyasha muttered as he dragged his claws back up her back causing her to gasp as yet another shiver to run up her spine as he fisted his hand in her hair before pulling her head back and placing a searing hot kiss to her lips. He knew he wasn't playing fair, but at this point he couldn't help it. However, no matter how hard it was to keep his hands to himself and even though they both stole sinful touches between one another, he'd die before he'd ever hurt her. So, no matter how hard it was, he would wait to take their touches to the next level until she was cleared by the doctor. For right now, he was good with their touches, and he knew she was too. With that thought in mind, he pulled away with a sigh as he placed his forehead on her shoulder.
Kagome leaned her face against the back of his head as they both tried to breathe and calm down. She reached up to grasp his shoulders in hopes of grounding herself. "Sha." She whimpered as her grip on his shoulders tightened, she wanted to cry at the unfairness of this situation.
Kagome's whimper almost broke Inuyasha's resolve, and he had to force his body to stay put where he was at and not pick her up to take her to their room and have his way with her. He leaned up off her shoulder so he could look into her eyes, his gaze softened as he saw the deep longing as well as the never-ending love that he saw that swirled in her irises. "Just two more weeks, Love." He whispered as he ran the pads of his fingers across her cheekbone.
Kagome sighed as she grabbed Inuyasha's hand keeping it there as she leaned her head into his touch. She had an appointment with the surgeon that did her surgery to see how well she was healing, she'd find out in two weeks if she was fully recovered or not, she hoped so because this was torture.
"What do you want for lunch?" Sango asked as she untangled herself from Miroku before standing up with a stretch.
"Miso soup sounds good to me." Miroku answered as he looked towards Inuyasha and Kagome. "What do you guys think?"
"Sounds good to me too." Kagome replied not looking away from Inuyasha as she moved his bangs off his face.
"Me too." Inuyasha agreed as he ran his claws across Kagome's neck causing her to shiver for what felt like the hundredth time which once again caused Inuyasha to smirk, he loved how responsive she was to his touch.
"Coming right up." Sango announced as she walked to the kitchen with Miroku following her to 'help' her.
Once everyone was done eating, Kagome insisted on doing the dishes. She headed to the kitchen with the dishes in hand and Inuyasha followed her. He watched as she set the dishes on the counter so she could reach and turn the water on. Inuyasha stopped her by grabbing her hand before she could reach the faucet handle, he pulled her into a tight hug as he dipped his head down and claimed her lips with his in a hard kiss that left her breathless once more.
"I've been thinking." Kagome spoke as they pulled away from the kiss and she turned back to the sink and turned the water on.
"About what?" Inuyasha asked as he leaned his hip against the counter and folded his arms across his chest.
"I think that we should have a funeral service for the baby soon, I think I need that closure." Kagome whispered as she watched the water fill up in the sink. She couldn't stop the tears that gathered in her eyes as she thought of what could've been but will never be.
Inuyasha noticed that she was about to cry, so he dropped his arms before gently grabbing her arm and pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her. "I think that would be a great idea for the both of us." He whispered as he rubbed her back soothingly. "You can start planning it and I'll help when I come back home." He went on as he pulled away before claiming her lips with his once again. "I love you, baby girl."
"I love you too." Kagome replied as she wiped her eyes.
"We'll be back." He said before turning around and leaving the kitchen on his way to the front door with Miroku following after him.
*X*
Pulling into the meeting place, Inuyasha and Miroku saw there were two cars in the parking lot. The men of said cars stepped out once they saw their boss pull up.
"Good afternoon, Boss." The men said at the same time as they stuck their hands out to shake their hands with Inuyasha then with Miroku.
"Afternoon gentlemen." Inuyasha replied as he shook hands with the men before accepting the money from them from the last supply sells, he counted the money before handing it to Miroku so he could place the money into a duffle bag that he held. He then made quick work to get them their new supplies.
"Uh, Boss?" One of the men mumbled after he put the new supplies in his car before standing straight and scratching the back of his head nervously.
On his way back to his car thinking that they were done here, Inuyasha stopped in his tracks as he looked over his shoulder at the man with an eyebrow raised in a what manner.
The man sighed as he dropped his hand and looked at Inuyasha with regret in his eyes. "We've been hearing talk between the dealers, I wanted to let you know that shits about to go down." He informed looking down at the ground while he shoved his hands in his pockets, he felt uncomfortable ratting people out, but he knew that his Boss needed to know what's been said.
"Oh yeah?" Inuyasha asked as he turned back around to fully face the men. "And what was it that's been said?"
The second man stepped further; he was a little more comfortable with saying what's been happening because he knew the right thing to do was to inform their Boss what others were saying about him. "They've been saying that there's a new person trying to take over everything you have, as in trying to take you down, and what they offer is cheaper products and more money in their pockets. They are planning on leaving you to join him."
This wasn't news to Inuyasha, he's already heard about it, however, what was new was the fact that Naraku was now taking his employees away. "Hmm, and were you guys offered to switch sides?" He asked, his voice dipping down into his icy tone.
"Yes, we were." The first guy admitted as he looked back up from the ground to look at Inuyasha.
"And?" Miroku asked as he arched an eyebrow.
"We both turned down the offer and hightailed it out of there, along with several other men." The second man said.
"How was it that you all were gathered in the same place at the same time?" Miroku asked with his own icy tone that was enough to make anyone shake, however, nowhere near as effective as Inuyasha's.
"Word spread around saying that there was a meeting that was being held by you and all the dealers that's under you were supposed to show." The first guy went on. "However, once we got there, it wasn't you - but some dude named Kio naming all the benefits that would befall us if we were to join their team."
Inuyasha nodded. "Thank you for the information and for staying loyal, do you know who stayed behind?" Inuyasha asked.
"No." They shook their heads.
"We got out of there as fast as we could before anything bad could happen to the ones who refused to switch sides."
Inuyasha nodded once again before shaking the men's hands again and getting back in his car with Miroku sliding in the passenger seat before taking off to their next destination.
Pulling up the driveway to Mr. Haiku's house a short time later before stopping the car, getting out and making their way up the porch stairs to knock on the door.
Mr. Haiku himself answered the door, however, when he saw who it was, he tried to shut the door out of fear but before he could, Inuyasha kicked the door with enough force to send Mr. Haiku flying off his feet.
"Mr. Haiku," Inuyasha growled in his icy tone and he walked in the house as he fixed a cufflink on his suit jacket sleeve that had come loose, "where's my money?"
"Ph-Ph-Phantom, p-p-please," Mr. Haiku stuttered as he begged and scooted away from Inuyasha that was slowly walking his way, "th-there's been a p-problem with g-getting my m-money back!"
"We have a problem then, don't we?" Inuyasha asked in his frost-bitten voice as he stopped directly in front of Mr. Haiku and looked down at him with all the intimidation that his body held leaking out of his face.
"I-I just need a l-little more time, please Phantom!" Mr. Haiku begged some more.
"Your time is up." Inyasha's icy voice rent the room and hung around Mr. Haiku as his heart squeezed in fear. Inuyasha looked at Miroku, "what was it that he needed the loan for?" Of course, he already knew but he used this tactic to add to the pressure and fear of the person he targeted.
"He needed it for this house and that nice car that's parked outside." Miroku answered, using his cold voice as he looked at Mr. Haiku.
"Is that right, Mr. Haiku?" Inuyasha asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Y-yes, that's c-correct." Mr. Haiku answered as sweat poured down his face.
"Hmm," Inuyasha hummed as he popped his knuckles, "then I wonder, if I take the house and car from you and sell them then I'd get my money back, right?"
"Please, Phantom!" Mr. Haiku begged as he finally got on his feet.
"Give me the deeds." Inuyasha demanded.
"I'm begging you, please, I need the house and car!" Mr. Haiku pleaded as he put his hands together in front of him.
Inuyasha sighed as he took his gun out and pointed it at Mr. Haiku before cocking it. "You have but three options; option one: you give me the money you owe me. Option two: you give me the deeds to the house and the car and leave with your life. Option three: I take the deeds by force, and you lose your life. Which one will it be, Mr. Haiku?"
Inuyasha saw the defeat in Mr. Haiku's face as the man sighed. "I-I do have the money, follow me to my office and I'll give it to you." He mumbled as he started for his office with both Inuyasha and Miroku following behind.
Once in the office, Mr. Haiku went through his safe to get the correct amount of money for the payment.
"I'm going to need an extra twenty percent for the bullshit you tried to pull." Inuyasha demanded, with his gun still pointing at Mr. Haiku.
Mr. Haiku sighed but got the twenty percent before handing it to Inuyasha.
Inuyasha counted the money before handing it to Miroku so he could place it in the duffle bag that he carried with him. He then grabbed Mr. Haiku by the throat and lifted him up off the floor.
"W-what's the problem?" Mr. Haiku struggled to get out as he clawed Inuyasha's hand trying to get it off his neck.
"Did Naraku get you not to pay me?" Inuyasha asked with ice dripping from the words.
"I-I don't know a Naraku." Mr. Haiku struggled to get out as his face started to turn red.
"What about Kio?" Miroku asked. "Do you know him?"
"Y-yes, K-Kio was the one that came to m-me." Mr. Haiku gasped out as he continued to scratch at Inuyasha's hand.
Inyasha brought Mr. Haiku's face closer to his own before saying. "I'll tell you this one fucking time, if you hold your payment from me one more time, it'll be the last thing you do - understand?"
"Y-yes, I under-stand." Mr. Haiku spluttered as he gasped for breath.
Inuyasha scoffed as he dropped Mr. Haiku and watched as he crumpled to the floor in a coughing fit. He sneered at him before turning on his heel and walking out the room with Miroku following after him.
As they got in the car, Inuyasha took his cell phone out of his pocket before dialing a number and placing the call on speaker so he could drive while he talked.
"What's up Boss?" Shippo asked as he answered the call.
Inuyasha and Miroku could hear Shippo tap on buttons and knew without a doubt that the fifteen-year-old was in the middle of playing a video game when he called. "I need you to do something for me." He spoke and heard as Shippo pressed one more button, assumingly pressing pause on the video game, before he heard a clunk like Shippo put the controller down on a table.
"Tell me what it is, and it's done." Shippo agreed.
"You still have a list of all my employees, right?"
"Yup, sure do." Shippo answered and the two men in the car heard as Shippo started to go through his filing cabinet before he said, "I have it in my hand right now."
"Good." Inuyasha said as he turned down his street. "I need you to be on the lookout for every single one of them. If you hear any of them planning to double cross me then take them to our warehouse, report back to me when you have all of them."
"On it." Shippo agreed before hanging up as Inuyasha pulled into his driveway.
Hope you like this chapter! Until next time, bye!