InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ His Brother's Girl ❯ Why? Why? Why? ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3 : Why? Why? Why?

"And when will that be?" the little girl squeaked impatiently.

"Well how should I know? What do I look like, a lightning beast?"

"Don't know…what's a lightning beast? Are they scary? They must be scary, lightning's scary."

"Keh, not that scary! I've killed a few!" Inuyasha boasted, puffing out his chest a bit.

"Oh…" Rin sighed disappointedly. "Then they can't be that scary…"

"Oi!" Inuyasha snapped. "What the hell is your problem with me? Don't forget who I am, kid! If I get hungry enough, I eat little brats like you!"

Inuyasha glanced over at the girl from the corner of his eye, a little anxious that his harsh words would open up the floodgates again. Then again, he was half hoping that they would, because when you got right down to it, she was supposed to be frightened of him, damn it! But partly to his relief, and partly to his chagrin, instead of biting down on her lip and trembling in terror, his own "Keh!" was tossed back at him as she rolled her eyes up to meet the cave ceiling.

"No one who sings as badly as you do could ever eat anybody."

Inuyasha stared at her, slack jawed and bug eyed as he opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to think up a suitable retort. Finally, beyond all frustration, he managed to bark out,

"T-that doesn't make any sense! What does being able to sing have to do with it?!"

"Well, if you could open your mouth wider, then you could sing better. But since you can't even open your mouth wide enough to sing properly, then it's doubtful that you could eat somebody as big as Rin-chan." she explained matter-of-factly.

"Yeah?" he growled, raising an eyebrow. "Well what if I tore you limb from limb first, and then ate up all the pieces? Huh? Answer that!"

"You wouldn't do that." she said calmly.

"How the hell do you know?! I've ripped plenty of people apart with my bare hands, little girl, what makes you think you're safe?"

"Because you promised that you wouldn't touch Rin-chan again, remember? It would be kind of hard to tear someone into bite-sized pieces without touching them! Anybody can see that!"

"Well I'm a youkai," Inuyasha shot back at her triumphantly. "and youkai have been known to lie!"

"You're a youkai?" Rin asked skeptically. "Jaken-sama said that you were a bastard hanyou."

"…"

"What is a hanyou?"

"They're monsters! I'm a monster, and you should be afraid of me! Why aren't you afraid of me?!" he demanded.

"Rin-chan could never be afraid of someone with kitten ears, Inuyasha no baka. Why do you have kitten ears? Was your mama a kitty? I saw this pretty kitty once, she had two tails and I wanted to keep her, but she kept trying to eat Jaken-sama."

"I don't have kitten ears!" Inuyasha roared at the girl.

"Yes you do! Haven't you ever looked at your own reflection when you take a bath? They're right on top of your head, silly." Rin said plainly, reaching up to touch the triangular ear that sat temptingly closest to her. Inuyasha leaned away from her grasping fingers and shot her one of his best scowls.

"No! I mean, yeah, I know they're up there, they're my ears! But they're not kitten ears! I'm an Inuyoukai, just like Sesshoumaru. It's in my name, for crying out loud! Now who's the baka?"

"You're not like Sesshoumaru-sama." Rin said, eyeing him levelly. "He's pretty, and he doesn't have pointy ears on the top of his head. So why do you have those pointy ears, if your mama wasn't a kitty?"

"What difference does it make?" he huffed. "Leave it be, they're just my stupid ears."

"Betcha don't even know…" she grumbled under her breath.

"It's because I'm a hanyou, ok?! Half youkai. That makes me different."

"Oh. What's the other half?"

"Ningen! What else did you think it would it be? Tanuki?"

The girl was silent for a few seconds, considering this, then she shrugged and piped up again, "Still don't get it… Can Rin-chan touch them?"

"No."

Rin turned away, biting her lip in disappointment. Then, a few minutes later, she turned to look up at him again. Her eyes were sparkling hopefully and she looked as if she'd come up with a most brilliant idea.

"Inuyasha no baka, if you let Rin-chan touch them, then you can touch her ears in return!"

"Keh! Why the hell would I want to touch your stupid ears?"

"They aren't stupid, they're beautiful!" the girl cried indignantly. Arms folded in the sleeves of his haori, the hanyou glanced over at the ningen girl, giving her a quick once-over.

"Tsch. They look like boring old ears to me…"

"Well, they're not kitty ears…" she admitted. "…but please? Please let Rin-chan touch yours! They look so soft…"

"What is it with you stupid girls and my ears?!" he groused, tossing his head in irritation. "Get a cat!"

"Well there was that fire kitty, but like Rin-chan said, she kept trying to eat-"

"Gods, enough already! Just be quiet for a few minutes… Do you think you could manage that?!"

"Why is your face all red, Inuyasha no baka? Are you hot? It's not hot in here… Actually, Rin-chan is getting cold." As if to illustrate this fact, Rin hugged her own small body with her tiny arms and made a show of shivering miserably.

"Oh for the love of…" Inuyasha sighed to himself, working at the ties of his haori. "It's always something with you, isn't it? Well, here." he said, surrendering his coat. Rin favored it with a distrustful look that spoke volumes, namely that she'd rather put on a coat of seaweed than anything that had been touching his body.

"What? Take it." he grumbled, thrusting the jacket at her impatiently.

"It's all wet." Rin whined, pushing it back at him.

"Only on the outside. The inside's dry and warm. Now take it and shut up."

"No." she protested, putting her hands out in front of her, palms out in refusal of the jacket. "it probably smells bad."

Inuyasha frowned. In a flash, he had pulled back the arm holding the haori to his chest, hiding it away from the little girl, almost protectively.

"I don't smell bad." he said softly. "If anyone smells bad, it's you, because you reek of him. Mangy brat… Guess that's what I get for trying to be nice, huh?"

Rin was teetering somewhere on the edge of anger and guilt, a very uncomfortable place for anyone, but especially confusing and difficult for someone as young and inexperienced as she was. She stared timidly at the grown boy sitting about a foot away from her who was now refusing to look in her direction. He was shivering almost imperceptibly, now that he was dressed only in his light-weight, white kimono, but rather than put his coat back on, he fisted it into a relatively small bundle and held it tightly against his chest, as if refusing to wear it himself. She wanted to ignore him like he was ignoring her, especially after that last remark about her being a mangy brat, but she could tell that she had upset him in some way and now she was unsure about whether or not he was going to take care of her as he had promised to, in not so many words.

"…anno…Inuyasha no ba-, ah, that is, Inuyasha-san?"

When she received no answer, she tried again, this time, playing up to what she hoped was his protective nature.

"Inuyasha-san, Rin-chan is still cold and hungry."

"Yeah?" he said finally, breaking the heavy stillness with his coarse voice. "That's tough, kid. Good luck with that." Not to be outdone, the girl's next attempt was a shot at his pride.

"Sesshoumaru-sama always keeps Rin-chan warm, and her belly stays full, too!"

"Oh yeah. I bet he's great…" the hanyou said indifferently. Rin bit down on her lip again and furrowed her eyebrows, slightly troubled. That hadn't worked, either. Time for a last resort; death threats.

"Hai. You know, Sesshoumaru-sama would be very angry if Rin-chan starved…or froze to death."

"I see…" the stubborn hanyou said quietly, and for a moment, Rin thought that she finally had him beat, but then he simply replied, "It's a good thing I don't really give a shit, ne?"

"You are nothing like Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin accused angrily, turning her back on the hanyou to pout.

"Good thing." he sighed again. 'Or else you'd be dead by now, kid.'