InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 3: Forever ❯ Nezumi's Surprise ( Chapter 8 )

~~Chapter 8~~

~Nezumi's Surprise~

 

Nezumi buttoned up the oversized flannel shirt and dragged on a pair of sweatpants before draping a towel over her head and rubbing with one hand as she opened the bathroom door with the other. She expected to see Ryomaru sitting on the sofa with a pouting expression plastered on his face. He wasn't there. The balcony door was closed, and she peeked outside, but he wasn't there, either. Though she was pretty sure he wouldn't be in her room, she checked anyway. Padding back into the living room, Nezumi sat down and frowned at the television as she idly dried her hair.

 

`Maybe he did what you told him to do.'

 

Nezumi considered that for about ten seconds then snorted. The odds of Ryomaru getting any sort of body piercing was, in her opinion, slim to none. That's why she'd chosen it, right? Because then she wouldn't have to worry that he would do it, and she wouldn't have to convince herself that he really was trying to be sincere.

 

The door opened, and Ryomaru strode in. Nezumi did a double take when she realized that he had worn his jacket but hadn't bothered putting his shirt back on. Then again, he'd showered the room with the buttons, so it was a fair guess that he couldn't wear it, even if he'd wanted to. She made a face as he pulled his key out of the doorknob and stuffed it into his jeans pocket. She hadn't thought twice about giving Ryomaru her spare key when she'd first gotten the apartment. Now she was starting to wish she hadn't . . .

 

“Where'd you go?” she asked, inflicting as much boredom into her tone as she could manage.

 

His snort was louder and drier than normal as he took off his jacket and slung it over the back of a chair. “Where to you think?” he countered. “I did what you told me to do.”

 

That got her attention. Letting go of the hair towel as her head swiveled to stare at him in shock, her eyes widened as her mouth fell open, and she couldn't help but gape at the tiny silver stud that glinted in the soft light. `Oh . . . kami . . . He really, really did it! Right through his . . . nipple?'

 

“Are you nuts?” she hissed as she tried to look away but couldn't. She stared at him as her shock grew deeper and deeper with every passing second. “You weren't supposed to do it!”

 

“You're the one that said---”

 

“I know what I said!” she snapped, cheeks growing uncomfortably warm at the reminder. “But you weren't supposed to take me seriously!”

 

“Feh! Next time, tell me then! This fucking hurt, you know!”

 

She winced and shied away, waving her hands in front of her face. “Kami, Ryo! Take it out!”

 

His cheeks colored indignantly as his golden eyes narrowed. “I don't think I will,” he informed her with the light of sudden inspiration in his expression. Grasping the tiny barbell-shaped stud, he wiggled it back and forth, chuckling rather nastily when Nezumi shuddered and made a face, squeezing her eyes closed. “What's the matter, Nez? Don't like my new accessory?”

 

“I can't believe you did that,” she mumbled.

 

Ryomaru flopped down beside her. “Will you listen to me now?”

 

She spared him a dark look, and for a moment, she wished she could believe him. The trouble was that she knew him far too well for that; knew his stories and his lines. She knew him better than she knew herself, and because of that . . .

 

Too many memories assailed her; beat down on her with a brilliance that she couldn't relinquish to nostalgia. How many times had Ryomaru woke her up in the middle of the night, eyes glowing in that almost inebriated sort of luminance as he told her about his latest escapade? She told herself that she was his friend---that she was being his friend as she had pretended time and again that his tales didn't affect her, that she didn't care. Was the ultimate lie the one she let him believe? That she didn't mind hearing his sordid tales, his adventures into things that she didn't really understand, or was it the lies she plied on herself, making excuses time and again, assuring herself that she really, honestly didn't care?

 

And now he wanted her to believe? Believe what? He didn't love her---at least, not like that. Maybe he did, as a friend. She had given up the girlish crush, the unrequited longing of a young girl who would have followed Ryomaru anywhere, given anything just to be his friend because, in the end, wasn't that better than not being near him at all?

 

“You're my friend, right?”

 

He looked confused, like he wanted to tell her what she wanted to hear. She shook her head quickly, her eyes telling him that she wasn't interested in hearing any of his stories, didn't want him to try to bullshit her. “Yeah,” he answered, his voice quiet, almost reverent.

 

“Then give me some credit, will you? I've heard all of this from you but before I was beside you, listening to you say all of this to one of your girlfriends, and I . . . I was just there. Maybe I didn't say anything, but . . . But I don't really have the stomach to hear you say it to me now.”

 

She stumbled to her feet and shuffled off to her room, leaving Ryomaru alone with his thoughts as she closed the door.

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

`Nice, baka . . . you've really, really fucked up.'

 

Ryomaru winced as he turned and flopped back on the sofa, glowering up at the ceiling as if he were looking for answers that didn't exist.

 

On the one hand, she was his best friend, which meant that she knew him better than anyone. That was a good thing, right? It meant that she knew his moods, knew his strengths. On the other hand, it was also a horrible thing, too. She knew his weaknesses, too, knew the worst things about him, and wasn't that what the real trouble was?

 

He knew her scent, had learned it early on. Over the years, it hadn't changed much. A mixture of earth and air with an underlying sweetness that he had never been able to define, how could he not have realized how comforting and yet completely unsettling her scent was?

 

`I don't really have the stomach to hear you say it to me now . . .'

 

He snorted as he sat up and turned off the lamp. The glow from the television was the only light in the room, and Ryomaru blinked as he lay back and stared at the ceiling once more. `Feh! What the hell does that mean? All I said was that I was sorry, and she . . . I still don't see why she's so pissed off, anyway! I didn't do anything! The only thing I did was what she told me to do!' He idly pushed the earring stud back and forth, absently noting that it really didn't hurt anymore, probably because he was hanyou and healed faster. `For all that, you'd think the least she could have done was kiss me. I mean, hell, I don't go out and maim myself for just anyone! Feh!'

 

And that thought was enough to bring Ryomaru to his feet. Stomping around the apartment, he couldn't stop the low, irritated growl that slipped from him as he flexed his claws, gritted his teeth. `Damn it! She's just Nezumi, right? I don't want to kiss her! It's not like I have to kiss her!'

 

`You do because she's your mate. You want to kiss her because you know you can, baka. Admit it. You want a repeat of the other night because you want to remember having sex with Nezumi.'

 

His face twisted into a pout. `Feh! The hell I do! That's what started all this trouble, to start with! I'm not that stupid!'

 

`. . . She is your mate . . .'

 

Grimacing, Ryomaru shook his head, refuting his inner voice's statement. `Yeah? She also has a mean right hook, and I'd rather not find out if she hits harder now than she did when we were pups.'

 

With a sigh, he stomped through the apartment, blinking in surprise when he found himself standing outside Nezumi's door. `I am not going in there!' he fumed. `She already said she doesn't want to talk about it, and . . . and the hell she don't!' Slamming his fist against the closed door, Ryomaru heard her sharp gasp, could make out the rustle of her blankets. “Oi, Nez! I'm coming in!”

 

He was so convinced that the door would be locked that when it opened with a click as he turned the handle, he couldn't help but blink in surprise. Recovering from his shock quickly enough, he slipped into the room as Nezumi sat up with a sigh.

 

“What do you want?” she asked in a defeated tone of voice.

 

“You can't just ignore everything, and you know it,” he pointed out in a way too reasonable tone.

 

She sighed. “There's a difference between avoiding things and not wanting to talk about it right now.”

 

“Well, I want to talk about it now,” he grumbled as he sat on the edge of the bed, one knee bent as he turned to face her. “Can I ask you something?”

 

“Do I have a choice?”

 

He shrugged. “Not really, but I can't make you answer, either.”

 

She rolled her eyes. In the darkness, he thought he could make out the slight twist of her lips. A smile? “Fine,” she agreed.

 

He cleared his throat as he asked himself why it mattered, why he wanted to know. “Why, uh . . . why did you let me?”

 

She sighed again. “I didn't let you,” she told him. “I didn't know you'd be insane enough to actually pierce yourself.”

 

“Not that,” he clarified. “The night we . . . Why? Why did you let me do it?”

Her expression darkened as she straightened her covers. “I don't know. Why can't you remember it?”

 

He winced as his ears flattened against his skull, and he glowered at the floor. “Ouch, Nez,” he complained. “I wish I did.”

 

A sudden warmth gently tugged on one of his ears, pulled it away from his head and rubbed. Unable to believe what he knew was happening, he slowly shifted his gaze to meet Nezumi's. She wasn't looking at him, but she had leaned toward him, was rubbing his ear, her eyes fixed on the appendage, and she seemed almost dazed. “N-Nezumi?”

 

“They're so soft,” she murmured.

 

Mother used to play with his ears when he was younger. He supposed she'd stopped as he had grown older. He wasn't used to anyone messing with them, but he also couldn't say that he didn't like it, either. There was something reassuring in Nezumi's touch, something comforting and yet wholly unsettling at the same time. An odd sense of vulnerability gripped him, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant, either. Maybe . . .

 

Maybe it was Nezumi, and maybe just for her, it was okay.

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

The most hellacious thumping rattled Ryomaru out of a dead sleep. With a mumbled string of curses, he rolled off the sofa and stumbled over to the door, rubbing his knuckles up and down in the shallow vale on his chest since the mix of claws and scratching bare skin had never really been an option. Yawning wide as he swung open the door, Ryomaru didn't see his father standing in on the threshold. Then again, he didn't have to. He could smell him.

 

“'Ornin', old man,” he greeted as he blinked away the yawn-inspired moisture.

 

InuYasha glared at his son as though he was sure that Ryomaru had lost his mind. “What the fuck is that?” he growled without preamble as he pushed past Ryomaru into the apartment.

 

Ryomaru pushed his bent arms behind him to crack his back. “What the what is what?” he asked, his mind still bleary from sleep.

 

“Don't give me that, Ryo,” InuYasha countered, expression darkening fast. “What the hell is that?”

 

Ryomaru frowned as InuYasha pointed at his chest. Dropping his gaze to see just what InuYasha was talking about, the younger hanyou made a face, realizing too late that he really should have thought to grab a shirt before letting his father inside. “Wha . . . ? Oh, this?” he asked, stalling for time as he racked his brain for an explanation that wasn't going to sound weak, pathetic, or stupid. Grasping the barbell stud and pushing it back and forth through the minute hole in his nipple, he stared thoughtfully at the accessory. “Nez thought I should get it done,” he answered, wincing inwardly at the lame sound of that excuse.

 

“Nez . . . ? Oh, for the love of kami!” InuYasha bellowed as he threw his hands up at his sides. “Are you bent? Do you have any idea just what your mother will think of that?”

 

Ryomaru made a face. “Fairly decent, yes,” he agreed as he grabbed a black button-down shirt from the small bag he'd brought over and tugged it on. “Why else would I have gotten it where she wouldn't see it?”

 

InuYasha's mouth dropped open at his son's strange sense of reason. “Oh, you really are stupid. I'm gonna have to ask your mother. I'm pretty sure they didn't drop you on your head right after you were born, but . . .”

 

Ryo didn't button the shirt as he toyed with the barbell stud a little more. “It wasn't stupid, exactly,” Ryomaru argued.

 

“Will you fucking stop playing with that damn thing?” InuYasha growled, waving a hand at the offending jewelry.

 

“Playing with what?”

 

Ryomaru stifled a groan, and InuYasha broke into a smug grin as Kagome hurried into the apartment with a brown paper shopping bag. She set the bag on the table before turning to hug her son but stopped short as she caught the flash of the silver stud before Ryomaru had a chance to button the shirt. Her hands shot up to press over her heart as her mouth dropped open. “What did you do?” she demanded as she reached out to flip back his shirt.

 

“It's nothing,” he grumbled as he tried to tug his shirt out of his mother's grasp.

 

“Nothing?” Kagome echoed incredulously as she shook her head in complete befuddlement. “You pierced your---what were you thinking?”

 

“I'll tell you what he was thinking,” InuYasha cut in with a cocky smirk. “He was thinking he'd---”

 

“It's not important!” Ryomaru insisted as he hurried to cut off his overzealous father. “What's the fuss? It's only a little hole, anyway.”

 

“Only a little ho---? Ryomaru, it is through your . . . that!” Kagome screeched as she waved in the general vicinity of said piercing.

 

InuYasha held his stomach with one hand and covered his mouth with the other as his eyes lit with amusement that he wisely hid from both his mate as well as his son.

 

“Ryo, what's going on?” Nezumi muttered as she stumbled out of her bedroom and stopped short in the hallway, staring in surprise from Kagome to InuYasha. By the time her gaze met Ryomaru's, her eyes had darkened to nearly black, and he just knew that she was either going to die in the complete flames of embarrassment or she was about to lose her temper. Neither of those options boded well for him, and he opened his mouth to try to stop her before she took him down with her.

 

“Ah, look, Nez! Mother and the old man stopped by, and---”

 

“I'm not blind, baka,” she bit out as she pulled her robe closed a little more and crossed her arms self-consciously over her chest.

 

“So, is it true, Nezumi? Did you really tell my idiot son that you'd let him back into your bed if he maimed himself?” InuYasha asked pleasantly.

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome hissed as she rounded on her mate. InuYasha's eyes widened innocently as Ryomaru tried not to wince.

 

Nezumi forced out a sound not unlike a balloon rapidly losing air as she whirled around on her heel and ran back down the hallway. Ryomaru winced as her bedroom door slammed hard enough to rattle the walls before he slowly pivoted to stare at his father, who was slowly backing away from his mother.

 

“Thanks, old man,” Ryomaru growled then heaved a defeated sigh as he rubbed a frustrated hand over his face. “I wasn't having enough trouble on my own. Thanks for adding to it.”

 

“Ryomaru, what were you thinking?” Kagome asked without turning away from InuYasha. “Have you lost your mind?”

 

“You sure the doctor didn't drop him on his head?” InuYasha pressed, earning him another of Kagome's formidable glowers.

 

Kagome sighed and shook her head. “Bakas, the both of you. I'm going to go talk to Deirdre. You two . . .” She made a face. “Ryomaru, don't listen to a thing your father tells you, okay?”

 

“Oi!” InuYasha protested.

 

Kagome ignored him as she turned on her heel and hurried back toward Nezumi's bedroom.

 

Ryomaru peeked into the bag Kagome had left of the coffee table and dug out the plastic containers. “Mother is a saint,” he commented as he strode over to stick the prepared meals into the refrigerator.

 

“Feh! She knows that neither of you can cook.”

 

“Yeah. Of all the women in the world, I mate the one with no cooking skills at all.”

 

“Did Nezumi really ask you to do that?”

 

Ryomaru made a face. “Sort of. I guess she thought I wouldn't do it, though.”

 

“Feh! No one in his right mind would do it, you baka!”

 

He shifted from one foot to the other as he jerked the shirt he'd ruined last night off the back of the chair and tossed it in the trash can. “The guy that did it was pierced all over,” he muttered.

 

“Yeah. Didn't I just say `in his right mind'?”

 

Ryomaru grimaced. “Okay, old man. You made your point.”

 

InuYasha narrowed his gaze on his son and shook his head slowly. “I don't think I have,” he remarked tightly. “And for kami's sake, stop playing with it!”

 

Ryomaru jerked his hand away and shook his head. “It ain't that bad.”

 

InuYasha started to reply but stopped short when Kagome and Nezumi emerged from the bedroom. Kagome spared her son a disgusted glance before hurrying over to take InuYasha's hand. “Come on. These two need to talk.”

 

Ryomaru kissed his mother's cheek but remained silent as Kagome dragged InuYasha toward the door.

 

“What was that all about?” he asked as the door closed behind his parents.

 

Nezumi bit her lower lip and shrugged as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Just some things your mother said.”

 

Ryomaru tried not to wince. He could just imagine what his mother had said to her. Considering how irritated she'd been over the piercing, he had a feeling that it wasn't anything he really wanted to hear. “Okay.”

 

Nezumi drew a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to look at him as she slowly shook her head. “I . . . I don't think you should stay here anymore . . . and your mother agrees.”

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~ *~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

I'm not a fan of body piercing. For some reason, with Ryomaru … It fits him … muahahahahahaha!

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Reviewers

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Marina (AScom):

Ryo can't turn human on the new moon cause that would mean he would have been concived on the new moon but if he was Inuyasha would have been human there for Ryo would be a full human. So it doesn't make sence but other than that I love you story cause I've read the previous puritys and chronicals, I love you work. Thank you

 

What? Ryo was conceived on the FULL moon. He was born NINE months later, also on the FullMoon, making his night of being human two weeks later … the New Moon….. Give me some credit. I'm not really stupid.

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My Own Self (FFnet):

Well done. I'm really liking this story. One quick question, why won't Nezumi tell Ryo that she likes him a lot. Wouldn't that just make things way less complicated. Well, maybe not, because you seem to love to tortur Ryo...and Toga :P Anyway, keep up the great work :D

 

She knows that he's not really thought of her in that sort of way. She's got fairly low self-esteem about her worth as a woman. I think it's pretty obvious why she can't tell him how she feels. I'd be afraid of rejection, myself. LoL.

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MMorg

Thefaerieofpurejoy ::: Akihana (because the topic of `rape' just sets me right off.) ::: kyonarai ::: Chokolatte ::: Zatanna ::: Ladyblade ::: Lena17 ::: tessiefanfic ::: serendith (Absolutely NEVER have you EVER offended me.) ::: foamyfan15010 ::: Cynbad146 ::: Kitcat99 ::: Washuu Hanyou ::: angelica incarnate ::: INU-KAGLOVER ::: adamile ::: Suze ::: Barachan22 (the Righteous sword came from Yasha's Fang) ::: notzathros ::: cj flutterbye ::: akdreamer

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FFnet

xSilverShadowsx ::: ILOVEINUS589 ::: Bella Lamounier ::: Drake Clawfang (It's just one sword like any other but the blades sandwich together thus giving it a double-sided ability to cut. The swords to split apart into two smaller swords.) ::: Toya's Gurl ::: BloodyKitsune ::: nel ::: Flames101 ::: Luke//Shaehl ::: PlaidDragon25 (I do read fanfiction, too. I get so happy when I find good ones! I wish there were more. And thank. I do care, by the way.) ::: SilverStarWing ::: DarkSerenity93 ::: Ryguy5387 ::: TheFanaticInTraining ::: Emi ::: ILOVEINUS589 ::: caliste07 ::: WiccanMethuselah ::: Kenshin's Gal ::: CarmMeldoll ::: Fairia13 (Yes, she is, and that's why I adore Nezumi!) ::: btrains126 (human years) ::: Pyth ::: kestral-tudorica ::: Kiwi345 ::: SkaQueen

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AFFnet--- AScom

catt ::: Mel ::: Shiga ::: Abby ::: Giovanna ::: Lisa ::: Meres ::: Thebigguy ::: Anna ::: OROsan7706 ::: inugrl15 ::: bradhadair (Shouldn't be a problem if you didn't read P2 … ) ::: fireflyskies ::: CJ Finnegan ::: Isis (Thank you. ::sniffle:: ) ::: SkatCat ::: littleolmee ::: Mel ::: Diane ::: Jaxomruth ::: wlfhund ::: Eve Nightingale ::: Breezy99 (Body piercing… heh) ::: adianna ::: Lokelani04 ::: deep serenity ::: faerie (thanks! Your words helped) ::: vgcouch (Yours did, too!) ::: jragoneyes (thank you!) ::: obsesed_wit_fluffy ::: Sess_2005 ::: fruitcake ::: Rachel

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Final Thought fromInuYasha:

What the hell did he do that for?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Forever): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~