InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages ❯ Caught Red-Handed ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Miroku all belong to Rumiko Takahashi, but I'm sure that like any good mother, the day will come when she will want to throw her fully grown children out of the house and dedicate her time to having a proper mid-life crisis. Until then, I will just have to be patient…

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Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages

Chapter Twenty-One

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Early morning sunlight filtered through the dusty blinds that covered the lone bedroom window, signaling the coming of morning. Yet all was still silent save the sounds of light breathing coming from the occupants of the large bed. It was one of those quiet mornings where one just wanted to stay in bed and sleep, while all the worries of the day passed them by.

That is, it was one of those mornings until the first loud whisper broke the peaceful silence.

"How wonderful! I told you things would work out between them."

"Would you shut up or at least lower your voice? You're going to wake them up!"

"Forgive me. In my joy I got a bit carried away."

"Humph..."

"Not much of a morning person, are you, my love?"

"I told you before, don't call me that!"

The two unidentified voices continued their pointless conversation for a few more moments, but became suddenly quiet when one of the figures in the bed began to stir from the noise. The first sign of movement had been the flick of a furry white ear.

'Ugghhh. What the hell woke me up?' Inuyasha's fuzzy brain tried to register the room around him, but he just couldn't seem to get a grasp on consciousness. He was much too comfortable at the moment and didn't want to do anything but go back to sleep, surrounded by Kagome's comforting warmth and scent.

"Is Uncle Inu or Aunt Kagome awake yet?"

Inuyasha gave in to the urge to growl lightly, never opening his eyes or giving any other indication that he was awake. 'So THAT'S what woke me up! I shoulda known.' He tried to ignore the source of his irritation in hopes of going back to sleep again, when something a bit disturbing suddenly occurred to him.

'Who the heck is she talking to, anyway!?'

Partially sitting up as fast as he could without disturbing the girl wrapped in his arms, he wildly glanced around the room until his eyes landed on the door at the foot of the bed. Or at least where a door SHOULD have been.

"Good morning, Inuyasha! I see you slept well." Miroku smiled widely, leaning on the open doorframe. "Or in any case, as well as a man could sleep with a beautiful woman in bed with him."

Inuyasha stared dumbly.

In the next moment the lecherous man was smacked upside the head by his companion, who was blushing furiously at being caught spying on her friends. Her other hand was busy covering Rin's eyes. "I am so sorry, Inuyasha! We didn't mean to interrupt you and Kagome, I swear!"

"Whaddya mean, 'interrupt'?" Inuyasha blushed as well and glanced down at Kagome, who was, thankfully, still sleeping peacefully in his arms despite all the noise. He quickly let go of her and jumped out of bed, knowing how the whole situation must look. "We weren't doing anything to 'interrupt', you perverts!"

Miroku cleared his throat and replied in a very condescending tone of voice. "Of course you weren't. Your hand was only up her shirt because it was warmer there, I'm sure."

When Inuyasha gave the other man a glare full of disbelief, Miroku pointed silently in amusement towards Kagome who was sleeping innocently, unaware that her shirt had ridden up so high from Inuyasha's hand being there that everyone in the room could see her bra.

The pink bow with the frilly white lace was a very cute touch.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha was quick to turn and dive for the bed, tugging Kagome's shirt down before giving his friend a threatening glance. He also made sure he was standing in between Miroku and the bed. "Stop staring at her chest, pervert!"

"It's not my fault that I could see it." Miroku responded mildly.

"But that doesn't mean that you should stare at it!"

Sango watched the two argue back and forth with each other, contemplating which one she should hit first since she only had one hand free. Miroku certainly deserved it for staring, but Inuyasha DID have his hand there earlier, which was technically worse…oh, decisions, decisions…

She finally gave up trying to decide and freed up her other hand by uncovering Rin's eyes since there wasn't anything left to see, anyway. Rin just giggled, thinking the whole thing was a big game or something.

Kagome woke up just in time to hear the sound of two loud slaps.

"Oi, what the hell did I do to deserve that?!?"

Kagome blinked owlishly and watched as Inuyasha rubbed the side of his face, giving Sango a dark look. Miroku didn't seem fazed in the least, probably because he was already covered in bruises from the night before. One more wouldn't really make that much of a difference.

'This is some strange dream I must be having…' Kagome thought, her brain still fuzzy from sleep as she stared at the group. Everyone had yet to notice that she was awake.

While Kagome speculated about what kind of food she'd eaten the night before to cause her to have such insane dreams, Miroku was intervening between Sango and Inuyasha before a fight could start between the two. "Please calm down, both of you! Fighting like this isn't proper in front of a child, you know." He gave Rin a pointed glance.

Like an angry child trying to pass the blame, Inuyasha pointed to Sango. "But she started it!"

"ME?!?"

Miroku placed a calming hand on Sango's shoulder. "Please, don't mind her, Inuyasha. Sango is - in a bit of a bad mood this morning." He smiled happily, obviously knowing why she was in a bad mood.

"Keh! Let me guess, she's upset because you showed up and terrorized her all night." Inuyasha snorted.

Miroku shook his head, his mood not brought down in the least by Inuyasha's accusations. "No, that isn't the reason she is in a bad mood-"

"Only part of the reason." Sango interjected, turning her glare on Miroku.

He ignored it and continued on as if she hadn't said a word. "The real reason is because while we were *cough* talking last night, we decided to place a small bet. I, of course, won." He turned to place his arm around Sango's shoulders with a smug expression on his face, and much to Inuyasha and Kagome's shock, she let him. The only move she made was to cross her arms with a "Humph".

When Inuyasha finally recovered from the odd sight in front of him, everything that was said began to sink in and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "And just WHAT was this little bet about, anyway?"

"Why, how far you and the lovely Kagome-sama would go last night, of course." Miroku calmly answered while Sango nearly choked from embarrassment. "She didn't think either of you would be brave enough to make it to first base or even go near each other, but I did." A lecherous grin appeared. "Though, neither of us suspected that you would actually get a home run."

The room was quickly filled with Inuyasha's spluttered denials, while Kagome looked on with confusion and the dawning realization that the scene is front of her was not a dream. But even though she was slightly more awake than she had been before, she still couldn't seem to grasp what the conversation was about. Why in the world would Miroku be talking about baseball of all things?

It was about that time that Miroku finally noticed they were being stared at with no small amount of confusion. "Ah, finally awake, are we? It's understandable, since I'm sure that you would be tired after a night like last night."

"Huh?" Kagome frowned, not understanding what he meant.

Miroku decided to be helpful and clarify, which was probably not a good idea with the way Inuyasha was growling and flexing his clawed hands. "You and Inuyasha must have gotten to know each other very well last night, with the way you two were cuddling with his hand under your shir-"

"Shut up!" Sango panicked and clamped a hand over Miroku's mouth, glancing at Inuyasha who was about to lunge, and then to Rin who was still standing next to her and listening intently. "Just shut up, okay?" A moment later she shrieked and quickly moved her hand from his mouth, wiping it on his shirt in disgust. It wasn't hard to figure out what Miroku had done to cause such a reaction.

"Anyway!" Miroku gaily continued on as if no one had tried to stop him. "Since both of you were looking so cozy when we walked in this morning, I won the bet, and so therefore my dear Sango must go out on a date with me. A date of my choosing."

"Please don't rub it in!" Sango moaned.

Kagome shook her head, still trying (hopelessly) to keep up with the conversation. "His hand was where? Cozy?" She ignored Miroku's announcement about the consequences of the bet and muttered under her breath about the stuff that sounded important, trying to make some sense of it. Inuyasha could hear her and started blushing again, knowing he probably had some explaining to do.

Realizing that both Kagome and Inuyasha weren't paying any attention to them at the moment, and that it was a perfect opportunity to escape before Inuyasha could kill Miroku (why she actually wanted to keep him alive, she wasn't sure), Sango quickly grabbed Rin's hand and started to lead her out of the room. "Come on, why don't we go get some breakfast? Uncle Miroku's treat!"

"Wonderful idea!" Miroku followed them. "Then we can discuss the details of the date…"

The bedroom door closed behind them with a soft click and left the room eerily silent.

They both stayed quiet until they heard the front door close as well, confirming that everyone else was gone from the apartment. When Kagome was satisfied that they wouldn't get interrupted, she spoke.

"WHAT was that all about?"

Inuyasha just shrugged and looked at the floor, at a loss as to what to say.

"And what was this about your hand?"

Inuyasha looked up so fast Kagome was worried for a moment that he might have hurt his neck. He held his hands out, looking defensive. "It wasn't as bad as they thought it looked!"

That did NOT sound good to Kagome's ears.

He grimaced, trying to find a good way to explain that wouldn't cause her to yell at him, or even worse, try to kill him. "When I woke up, those two idiots were in the room, whispering." Yes, that sounded like a good route to take. Make sure to emphasize Miroku and Sango's part in the whole thing. "They must have been let in by the runt or something."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Or else you left the door unlocked again."

"Maybe." He reluctantly admitted. "Anyway, I guess sometime during the night we must have moved or something, 'cause we were…uh, sleeping kinda close together. And my hand was-" He looked at the floor again, fidgeting nervously and avoiding her steadily widening eyes, "-well, let's just say it wasn't in the most innocent place it could have been."

"You pervert!" She shrieked.

"It's not like I was intentionally molesting you in your or sleep or anything!" He defended himself. "I was asleep too, ya know." He didn't bother to say the rest of what he was thinking out loud. 'I should be the one upset; I wasn't even awake to enjoy it!'

Kagome grudgingly admitted to herself that he was probably telling the truth, although why that didn't make her feel any better, she had no idea. At least from that point on she was able to fill in the blanks from what she'd heard. "So Miroku and Sango had a bet about that and Miroku won because of the…way we were sleeping?"

"Yeah."

She laughed nervously, embarrassed over everything that had occurred, though it was a bit belated. "I don't know why they would have made such a crazy bet. It's not as if anything is going on."

"Nothing!?!" Inuyasha glanced at her sharply, his expression going from sheepish to a mixture of anger and hurt in a split second. "Is THAT what you think?"

"Huh?" Kagome blinked, startled by his swift mood change. "Wha-"

Kagome abruptly stopped trying to speak because to continue with that she was going to say would have been pointless. Inuyasha had already turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him.

"Inuyasha!" Letting out an exasperated huff, the girl scrambled off the bed quickly as she could, not bothering to pick up the blankets when they fell onto the floor in a jumbled heap. She managed to make it to the door without tripping over anything in her haste, and opened it to find him fuming or sulking as he leaned against the living room wall, she wasn't quite sure which.

Closing the bedroom door behind her softly, Kagome reached out a hesitant hand to touch his stiff shoulder. "Inuyasha? What's wrong?"

He glared at her and jerked away. "Keh! Nothing!"

"Liar!" Kagome's patience was quickly evaporating.

"Who said I'm lying?" He crossed his arms in a sullen manner and looked away from her. "Like I said, 'nothing' is wrong, just like 'nothing' is going on between us! I guess that means the kiss didn't mean anything to you, did it? You never said anything about it, so I guess I should have known." The last part about the kiss was said in low grumble, but still loud enough to be heard.

Kagome opened her mouth to respond, but no sound escaped. 'Is THAT what he's so upset about? I only said that because I was so embarrassed, and I never mentioned the kiss because I thought HE was supposed to say something! He was the one that started it, after all!'

When Kagome stayed silent for several moments, Inuyasha spoke again. "Well? You don't have anything to say?" His ears were lying flat against his head, a sure sign that he was more hurt than angry.

Kagome finally found her voice, and it was full of exasperation and frustration. "Inuyasha, I never said anything about the kiss because I was waiting for you say something! So if it's anyone's fault that I thought nothing was going on, then it's yours!"

"Mine?!?" Both of them were nearly nose to nose now, and both were terribly angry. In a way it was a very illogical fight, starting because of her belief that nothing was going on. But once that reason was brought to light, it was almost as if it didn't really matter anymore. Both were just angry and looking for someone else to blame for it.

They continued to stare each other down, unsure of exactly what to say or even what they were supposed to be arguing about by this point, but neither wanting to back down.

The phone ringing finally interrupted the silent -and pointless- argument.

Kagome broke eye contact to look at the culprit that had caused the disturbance. "Are you going to answer it?"

"Humph. Why should I?"

The phone continued to ring insistently.

Kagome sighed. "Fine, I'LL answer it! Talking to someone else has got to be more fun than having a staring contest with you…" She then moved to grab it, but Inuyasha was one step ahead of her, snatching the receiver from its cradle.

"Yeah, whaddya want?" He barked impatiently, glaring at Kagome from the corner of his eyes for even daring to consider talking to someone else when she busy fighting with him. So maybe it was a pointless, stupid argument, but at least she was paying attention to him and not anyone else!

Also, he knew it would be better if Kagome didn't answer the phone, just in case it was Sesshoumaru.

And speak of the devil…

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Thanks for sticking with the story this far! I'm guessing less than ten chapters to go before the end. ^_^