InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages ❯ A Little Time Alone ( Chapter 26 )

I am SO sorry that it has taken so long to get this chapter out. But there were certain circumstances in my life the last several months that really killed almost any desire to write, though I did manage to get a few stand-alone stories and drabbles written during that time. But writing anything else seemed downright impossible, and as a lot of people probably know since I'm plenty of others have had it happen to them, that can be really, really frustrating and annoying for someone who really loves to write.

But now, though I feel like writing again, I can't make any promises about how fast I'll manage to update because I got a steady, full time job. You know, one of those things that actually pays you money for your time unlike fan fiction, LOL...but hey, fan fiction is far more entertaining any day so you can be sure I'll keep writing! I'll just be a lot slower than when I'm not working.

Anyway, before we get started, I'll just note here that it's more serious than my average chapter...which explains why it took me forever and a day. No complaints though, the humor will make its comeback! After all, look at who's writing this story. I can barely be serious for five seconds in a row. But I try hard!

.

.

Disclaimer: My therapist told me that pretending the Inuyasha characters really exist isn't healthy, but they also said that pretending to own them is even more unhealthy...why? Because people laugh at a person who talks to imaginary people, but they sue people who imagine they own them.

.

.

.

Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages

Chapter Twenty-Six

.

.

Rin.

 

It wouldn't be long before he would see her again.

 

A strange feeling swept through Sesshoumaru at the thought of finally returning home and seeing the little human girl along with his brother. He wouldn't exactly call the feeling 'happy', but perhaps 'content' would be a good way to describe it. It was a feeling that wasn't good, bad, or any other kind of extreme. It was just there, reminding him that whatever would happen would happen, and that nothing else he could do beyond what he had planned would change anything.

 

It was obvious by the vaguely pained look on his face as he gazed out the plane window that it wasn't a feeling Sesshoumaru was familiar with. He was used to having power and extreme control over everything in his life. Things had almost always been the same for him in the fact that roadblocks and obstacles were practically nonexistent when there was something he wanted to accomplish.

 

But not this time.

 

Strangely, though, that fact didn't bother him nearly as much as he thought it should. Perhaps because everything was still going as he'd originally planned it, outside of returning a bit early because of incompetent employees. But in the long run, even that unforeseen circumstance wouldn't matter much. After all, knowing Rin, even with the shorter time frame with which to get to know her 'Uncle', Sesshoumaru was sure that she must have had more than enough time to work her magic on his stubborn brother (though unknowingly on her part) and soften Inuyasha up a bit for the talk that was to come.

 

And then, finally, he could hopefully make things right. If not for himself, then for their father...and for Rin...

 

Sesshoumaru suddenly had the urge to sigh. That little girl would surely be the death of him, making him so soft.

.

.

~*~*~*~*~*~

.

.

"I don't even know why father keeps you around. You are worthless; a half-breed. Not at all fit for the family name."

 

"Shut up!" a seven-year-old Inuyasha bristled, baring his tiny fangs at his older half-brother from across the room. No matter how much he told himself that Sesshoumaru was just a jerk and that his opinion didn't mean anything, it still hurt. And that, of course, he hid with his customary anger that had already become a habit so early in life. "That's not true, 'cause Dad said so!"

 

"Is that so?" Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, seemingly not bothered by the fact that his own father argued against him. Nothing ever seemed to change Sesshoumaru's opinion of his younger brother. It was an opinion that had been instilled in him at a very young age by his own mother, who had unknowingly created what would be the bain of Inuyasha's existence years before he was even born. After all, how was she to have known that after her death, Sesshoumaru would acquire a hanyou sibling? "Just because he said it doesn't mean it is true, or that he really meant it."

 

"He did too mean it!" No matter how futile it was, Inuyasha continued to stubbornly try to defend himself. "He said that just 'cause you're a full youkai doesn't mean you're better'n me!"

 

"Better THAN me, Inuyasha. Say it properly." Their father's stern voice carried into the room and caused the younger of the two brothers to flatten his ears. "And Sesshoumaru, we need to have another talk. NOW."

 

Without waiting to see if he was being obeyed, their father vanished from the doorway just as quickly as he had appeared, leaving the summoned son to follow him as expected. Which, of course, he did. Not even Sesshoumaru dared to ignore something when his father made a demand. The man always got the respect he commanded, and with good reason.

 

Before he left, though, he had to leave one parting jab at his little half-brother.

 

"See what I told you?" Sesshoumaru spoke in a lower voice to prevent their father's exceptional hearing from picking up anything more. "You can't even speak properly, which shows that you don't belong in this family at all."

 

When he was alone, Inuyasha allowed a few tears to fall, though he angrily wiped them away. He hated crying. It was weak for a man to cry. "Stupid Sesshoumaru. He don't know nothin'! I can speak better if I wanna - I mean, if I want to."

 

Light laughter floated into the room, and despite the situation (after all, he didn't like to be laughed at) the sound was comforting more than anything else. Inuyasha knew his mother would never laugh at him with the intention of being cruel.

 

"Darling, don't listen to your brother." His mother admonished as she entered the room. "You don't have to be like anyone but yourself. Though, it wouldn't hurt you to pay closer attention to your lessons." She added as an afterthought.

 

"Keh! I do too pay attention..." He blushed and crossed his arms over his chest in a pose that he would later become infamous for.

 

Laughing again, his mother wrapped her arms around him in an affectionate hug, causing him to blush in embarrassment though he didn't pull away. He really felt he was getting too old for such stuff, but as long as no one else was around to see, he figured it wouldn't hurt too much to humor his mother a little bit. Well, just as long as she didn't try to kiss him or anything like that.

 

Which she did.

 

"EWWWW!" He jumped back and swiped a disgusted hand over his face, trying to remove the imagined 'cooties', only causing his mother to try and repeat the offense while laughing.

 

His mother...even if no one else did, she still loved him...

~~~~

"Dammit, what are you thinking?!?!" An older, though still in his teens, Inuyasha shouted.

 

Across from him, his mother cringed but patiently tried to reason with her son.

 

"Inuyasha, please don't be upset about this. I know it's a shock, but we really had no intention of upsetting you..."

 

"I don't care what you 'didn't mean to do'! All I care about is what you DID do!"

 

He paced in front of her where she was seated on a small sofa in their living room. Somewhere deep down his conscience was telling him that he shouldn't be yelling at his mother. That he was blowing everything out of proportion and that he should listen to her and calm down. After all, she was looking drawn and pale, and the added stress of his anger was probably something she really didn't need at the moment.

 

But...he couldn't seem to help himself. That small, reasonable voice in the back of his mind was being drowned out by everything else. The hurt. The anger. The betrayal that the one person who he'd always thought would be there for him no matter what could do such a thing.

 

"Calm down, Inuyasha." His mother pleaded with him. "If you would just listen to me, I-"

 

He stopped pacing and turned towards her, his eyes burning with a shield of anger, the one he always pulled out whenever he needed to cover up any other emotions that he didn't want to feel or show. "Calm down?!?! Why the hell should I calm down after you going and doing something like this?!?!"

 

She cringed again, unused to his anger being directed towards her. "Inuyasha, you know that I love you and that I would do anything to make you happy, but there isn't anything I can do about this. Please understand, and try to be at least a little happy for me." Her eyes pleaded with him.

 

But her pleas went unanswered. Instead, it was as if shutters had been pulled over his eyes when his mother had told him that there wasn't any way that she could change what had been done. Perhaps he was just realizing that for himself.

 

"Maybe I should just leave. You obviously don't need me anymore, anyway." His voice was tightly controlled.

 

"Inuyasha, don't-"

 

"So, you want to leave, do you?" A new voice suddenly entered the conversation as its owner appeared in the doorway of the room. "How do you plan to support yourself?"

 

Inuyasha and his mother both turned towards his father.

 

"I dunno, but I'll think of something." He responded sullenly. His father had hit on something even Inuyasha himself hadn't thought of before making his impetuous decision, and the fact annoyed him to no end.

 

The room was quiet for a moment as both of the original occupants waited to see what would be said next. The older man seemed to be thinking about something...

 

At last, he seemed to come to a decision. "If you want, you can have a job with one of the family-owned businesses. At least until you find something else you would rather do. But I warn you that it won't be anything much. With your lack of experience and having nothing more than a basic education, the best job you can get will just barely be able to support you. Are you sure this is what you want?"

 

Inuyasha nor his mother had been expecting that answer, and while on'es eyes brightened up, if only slightly, the other let out a horrified gasp. "No! What are you thinking? He only just turned eighteen! What about college?!? What about-"

 

With one look, Inuyasha's father silenced her, telling her that they would discuss things later. Then he turned back to his youngest son. "So, do you accept my offer or not? Think fast, because I'm not in the mood to be patient." He knew his son's tendency to make hasty decisions, and he wasn't disappointed by the answer he received.

 

"Fine, I'll take it."

 

His father nodded briefly. "Come with me then and we'll talk about details."

 

With one last reassuring look at his wife, Inuyasha's father exited the room with his son in tow, Inuyasha never bothering to look back at his mother...

.

.

He awoke with a jolt, sweat beading on his forehead and hands still shaking from the memory of the emotions that had been all too real to him again.

 

"Dammit, what is with these dreams lately?" Inuyasha muttered, swiping at his forehead with the back of his hand. The action was reminiscent of the movement his younger self had made in his dream just a short time before.

 

"Uncle Inu?" A small voice whispered off to his right side. Turning, he noticed Rin sitting on the couch, still in the clothes she'd been wearing earlier that day and looking rumpled, as if she too had fallen asleep on the couch. He must have accidentally awakened her...

 

Hey, wait...wasn't it her bedtime yet? Come to think of it, why wasn't she already in bed?

 

Trying to focus his sleep-muddled brain long enough to check the clock on the wall, he managed to confirm that it was almost midnight and that he and Rin must have fallen asleep while waiting for...waiting for what?

 

"Where's Aunt Kagome?" Rin suddenly questioned him.

 

Oh yeah. That.

 

Inuyasha grumbled something along the lines of "How the hell should I know?" but the question did shake him out of his stupor just a bit more.

 

As much as he'd held out the hope that she would come and help him as usual, he'd known from the start that she probably wouldn't. After all, the night before, instead of returning Rin to him herself, she'd sent Sango to do it instead. And Sango had stayed long enough to help out and get Rin ready for bed.

 

And all because he was an ass. A stupid, idiotic ass who was way too wrapped up in his own problems.

 

The thought made him want to bash his head into a wall. Repeatedly.

 

When Sango had brought Rin back to him the evening before, she had flat out told him that she was there at the request of Kagome, because the other girl didn't really want to see him at the moment. She was obviously still upset over earlier that day when he wouldn't talk to her, and instead had just walked out and left her with no real explanation.

 

At first he'd thought Sango had meant that Kagome was angry with him. After all, she really had every reason to be. But Sango surprised him when she clarified that Kagome wasn't really upset with him. Just hurt and convinced that he must need some time to himself, so that was why she'd decided to keep her distance for a while.

 

But when Kagome had requested that Sango put Rin to bed in her place, she failed to realize that Sango didn't have any intention of giving Inuyasha that supposedly much needed 'time to himself'. Not by a long shot...

 

He cringed when he recalled how blunt Sango had been with him. Not that he hadn't needed it, though.

 

"Personally, Inuyasha, I think you just need to get over whatever angsty past you've been burying yourself in lately," she poked him in the chest with a finger as she leaned in until her face was mere inches from his. "And if that means telling someone about it to get it off your chest, then tell Kagome! If anyone would be willing to listen to you, she would! I don't know why you insist on being such an idiot and keeping everything to yourself, but if you keep it up, you may find yourself out of options!"

 

Taking a step back in an attempt to regain some of his personal space, Inuyasha tripped over the edge of the sofa and fell on his butt, neatly trapping himself for Sango against the worn cushions.

 

 

"You're a blind idiot if you can't see how much Kagome obviously cares about you! As much as she likes Rin and children in general, do you REALLY think she's over here all the time just because of that? Of course not!"

 

 

She now towered over him menacingly, causing him to gulp nervously and clutch the couch cushions as if they were lifelines. Women could be scary...

 

 

"But as much as I really feel like beating some sense into you right now, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and let you live long enough to try to make things right with her." Feeling satisfied that she'd sufficiently scared the crap out of him, Sango backed up a step and her voice became dry and faintly amused. "After all, as much as you try to hide things, you're almost as much of an open book as she is when it comes to your feelings for each other, which gives me some hope that you won't totally screw things up in the end."

 

 

Inuyasha flinched. He'd always realized that about himself somewhere deep down, but it was still painful to hear someone else point it out to him and totally shatter his delusions of being a tough guy. What a blow to his ego.

 

 

Sango laughed at his pained expression. "Get over it already. Did you really think no one noticed?"

 

 

"Not really." He muttered, refusing to look at her.

 

 

And that was the end of their conversation. Well, less of a conversation and more of an 'I talk and you listen' sort of deal. But whatever it had been, it turned out to be just what Inuyasha had needed to really see things clearly for the first time. And to make him think seriously about someone other than himself and his own problems.

 

 

Inuyasha knew he had to do something to make things up to Kagome and to show her how much she meant to him. But what could he do?

 

 

The thought plagued him as he managed to get the once again nearly unconscious Rin tucked into bed, still in her rumpled shorts and t-shirt. Not that she seemed to notice or care, as tired as she was. She didn't even protest being left in the bedroom alone.

 

 

Shutting the door as quietly as he could behind him, Inuyasha sat back down on the couch. The whole time he was eying the cordless phone sitting on the table as if it might suddenly jump up and bite him.

 

 

Was it too late to call? Would it just make her upset with him, or would she mind after hearing what he had to say? But would she even listen long enough to hear what he wanted to tell her?

 

 

Gathering up every ounce of courage he possessed, Inuyasha reached for the phone and started to dial a number that he'd managed to memorize over the past few weeks. After all, it was a number that he'd dialed many times, normally in a panic over something silly (such as Rin having locked herself in the bathroom so she could 'clean' it for her Uncle) though there were times he practically had made up excuses just so he could talk to her.

 

 

Sango was right. He WAS really obvious, wasn't he?

 

 

Shaking his head, he tried to dispel his blush and forget his embarrassment as he listened to the ringing, and waited, hoping someone would actually pick up.

 

 

'Please, Kagome, pick up the phone...'

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

Whew, I can't believe how long that one chapter took me to write! It must be some kind of procrastinating record! But it just makes me that much happier that it actually got finished, and believe it or not, I think I really like how it turned out despite how difficult it was to write the more serious parts. I really wanted to bang my head on the wall at times, though...

 

Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!