Thank you to those who reviewed!

Guilty Hero

Chapter 16:  Make It Right

By the time Inu-Yasha emerged from the bathroom, freshly cleaned and dressed, Kagome was in her usual position at the kitchen table, mug of tea in hand and newspaper open in front of her.  He couldn’t help but give a soft sigh at the sense of normalcy flooding his senses; things had felt so wrong when he had gained consciousness earlier that he now was quite relieved so see such a common scene before him.

Kagome, glancing up when he entered the room, smiled at him and stood, pulling another chair out from the table.  “Here, why don’t you sit down.  I’ll get you some coffee.”

Quickly putting his usual scowl on, for he didn’t want her to know how close to content he was, he growled, “I can get my own coffee; I may be hungover but I’m not an invalid.”

Holding her hands up in surrender, she returned to her seat while he went over to the counter where the coffee maker sat.  He noticed that not only had she set out an empty mug for him, but she also had prepared her baking soda/water mixture right beside it.  Without saying a word, he snatched up the glass and drained it, then grimaced at the taste; it may work wonders, but the flavor left something to be desired.  Then he poured himself a steaming mug of coffee and went over to join her at the table.

“Feeling better?” she asked as he sat down across from her.

“Hmph.  Hardly.  This’s one hell of a hangover.”  He took a sip of coffee, then pulled it away and stared at the cup appreciatively.

Smiling, she informed him, “I made it extra-strong.  I thought you might need a little help waking up.”

With a short nod, he set the mug down on the table and stared at her, his expression quite serious.

A little confused by the change, she asked slowly, “What…?  Is it too strong?  I thought you preferred—“

“We need to talk,” he growled, his tone clipped and abrupt.

Kagome couldn’t help but gape at him.   That was twice today where words had come out of his mouth that she would never have expected.  A bit anxious at what topic of conversation he wanted to bring up, she slowly closed the newspaper and folded her hands on top of it, giving him her full attention.  “Okay,” she said calmly.  “What do you need to talk about?”

Glaring sternly at her, he said gruffly, “Something’s still botherin’ you.  And unless you’re still upset about this afternoon, then I bet it’s about your performance review.  So spill.”

“I-I…”  She felt very flustered at his blunt way of speaking.  She hadn’t intended on telling him about it; she was afraid for Sango and Miroku’s safety, for she had witnessed his terrible temper firsthand, and didn’t want to intentionally bring harm on them.  But the fact that he even noticed that she was still a little upset about the previous day…  A flush stained her cheeks.  She felt that, since he at least cared enough to ask about it, she should tell him.

“Look…” she began quietly.  “If I tell you, you have to promise me that you won’t hurt Sango or Miroku; they only did what needed to be done.  All right?  Do you promise?”

His glare deepened.  “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.  Now what happened?”

“Inu-Yasha.”  The severity of her tone caused his scowl to ease a bit.  “You will not hurt them.  They are your friends, and also your superiors.  You could be in a lot of trouble, so please, try and keep your temper.”

“Hmph.”  He leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee.  “I’ve never hurt ‘em.  Just… roughed ‘em up a bit.  They deserved it, of course.”

“That’s not what Miroku said.”

Rubbing his forehead in irritation, he grunted, “I’ve never hurt ‘em that I remember.  I guess, just because I don’t remember it doesn’t mean they don’t…”  Abruptly, he shook his head and gave her a fierce stare.  “Now quit trying to change the subject and just tell me what happened during that damned review!  Do you really want to test my patience right now?”

Sighing, for she realized that the almost sweet demon from earlier was long gone, she held up her hands in defeat.  “All right, all right.  I’ll tell you what happened.”  With a deep breath, she began her explanation.

“Well, they first asked be about my dedication and how well we got along, and I did well enough on those.  Then they asked about the changes I made to your diet, which Miroku was quite impressed by.  And then they asked about…”  She trailed off.  She hated to make Inu-Yasha feel guilty.  She knew he was well aware that her review was hinged on his progress.

“My drinking,” he finished for her, a slight frown marring his features.  “I’d imagine you didn’t do so well…”

“Please, Inu-Yasha, don’t worry about it.  No, I didn’t do well, but I think Sango was hoping I’d have you completely sober and in fighting shape by tomorrow night; it was completely unreasonable of her to expect that, but even Miroku seemed to be having a tough time getting through to her.  I tried explaining my plan—“

“Which is?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Irrelevant.”  She still didn’t want him to know.   “Anyway, I tried explaining my plan, but she would have none of it.  She insisted on giving you a quick fix, and then you’d be ready to save the city.  It made no difference what I said…  However, she did keep pushing and pushing, until finally I could stand it no more.”

“What do you mean by ‘pushing’?” Inu-Yasha interrupted, a slight growl in his voice.

Sighing, Kagome replied, “She kept insisting for me to just take away your drink and have you sober up that way.  Which I found very rude and uncaring towards you;  I told her the consequences of doing that, but she still seemed oblivious.  She even yelled at me about it.  It seems there was a reason behind her actions, though; apparently there’s some new demon attack happening that they want you for.  But I told her I would not budge in my position, and she wasn’t happy about that.”

Looking slightly disgusted at the prospect of fighting a demon at the moment, he finally asked, “And where was Miroku during all this?”

“Trying to calm her down.”

Inu-Yasha’s eyes narrowed into a glare at the last statement.  He knew how Sango’s temper got carried away, much like his own, but he certainly didn’t like the thought of her going off on Kagome.  He had been the brunt of her attacks several times, and knew it was an unpleasant experience.

“Anyway, I finally was able to say something that got through to Sango, and she quieted down.  I realized that she was just frightened and stressed over this new attack or whatever, and was banking everything on you and taking it out on me.  I couldn’t stay angry at her for that.”

Keeping quiet, Inu-Yasha squirmed in his seat, guilt creeping up on him once again.  How many more times would he have to feel this today?  He’d only been conscious for a couple hours!  Finally, he grunted, “Is that all that happened?”  It seemed odd to him that Kagome would still be upset over just that.  Of course it was a poor review, but he didn’t think it was enough to bother her this long.

“Well…”  Her tone caused him to glance up, studying her closely.  She was staring down into her lap, her hands fidgeting on top of the newspaper.  “Right after that was when Rin came in and told Sango and Miroku to turn the news on.  They saw the whole rally…”  She swallowed hard; having Miroku, the calm and collected one of the pair, yell at her was still a very vivid memory.

“Miroku was the most angry.  He yelled at me for taking you there, and about the damage that had been done because of it.  He said that the candidate was someone they knew nothing about, that the mayor was going to get them in a lot of trouble, that I had created hours of work and phone calls for them to undo the damage…”  She noticed Inu-Yasha’s hand was resting in a tight fist next to his coffee mug and he was staring hard at the floor.

 “Then Sango yelled at me about taking you out in the middle of the day.  She even said a couple of things that… Well, really hurt my feelings, to be honest.”  Sango’s comment about her not really trying to be Inu-Yasha’s friend had hurt her the most; she had doing her best for weeks to bridge the wide gap between her and the half-demon, and it hurt to be questioned in such a way.

“After that, I was told to leave, and I would get my review later.  So I left.”  She sighed deeply.  “That’s that.”  Slowly glancing up to see the demon’s reaction, she waited patiently for him to say something, but nothing came.  He took a long sip of coffee, then stood and calmly left the room.

She sat at the table, quite confused by his reaction.  Was he not upset?  She almost felt insulted by it.  After a couple minutes, though, he came back into the kitchen, this time wearing his dirty sneakers and a baseball cap and a new pair of sunglasses.  As he drained the rest of his coffee, Kagome realized what he was about to do.

“Inu-Yasha, you aren’t going to the Order, are you?  Do not hurt Sango and Miroku, please!  They are just in a bad position right now, and they’re worried about the city’s safety!  You can’t blame them for that!”

He gave her an odd look over the top of his sunglasses.  “Who said anything about that?  I’m out of cigarettes; I’m just going to the convenience store.”

She stared at him, trying to tell if he was lying.  “Really?”

“Really.”

Finally, she said, “Are you sure you should be going out now?  I thought your hangover was pretty bad.  You might make yourself even more sick.”

A snarl tugged at his lips.  “Dammit, I have gone for hours without a smoke.  And since you refuse to buy them for me, I have to get them for myself, and I am not waiting any longer.  Don’t ask me to do that.”

She couldn’t help but smile a little, despite her skepticism; this conversation reminded her of the one they had back when he was at the hospital.  “All right,” she said in defeat, unfolding the newspaper once again.  “Just don’t stay out too long—you need to be resting right now.  The sights and sounds of the city aren’t going to help at all.”

Growling, he set his empty mug on the table and stalked out of the kitchen.  “I’m all too aware of that…” he muttered under his breath.

“Inu-Yasha?”

Pausing with one hand on the doorknob, he turned around and stomped back to the kitchen.  “What?” he snapped, a fierce scowl in place.

Kagome smiled shyly at him, unafraid of his temper.  “Thank you.”

His cheeks stained red, he fumbled for a moment before mumbling, “Whatever…”, and then he quickly left the apartment before any other awkward situations arose.

This time, since Kagome wasn’t with him, he opted for leaping over the railing and falling down to the ground floor in an effort to save time.  He did fully intend on going to the convenience store, for the penetrating weakness of nicotine withdrawal was building in his limbs and demanding his attention.  However, he had a mission to take care of at the Order before his own needs were sated, and if he wasn’t to arouse Kagome’s suspicion, it needed to be done in a timely manner.

Once at the bottom, he slammed the double doors open and ran outside, fully prepared to make a mad dash to the Order’s HQ.  What he wasn’t fully prepared for was the bright sunlight burning his bloodshot eyes even behind the sunglasses and the sounds of a bustling city attacking his overly-sensitive ears.  Nearly doubling over as his hangover raged at him for exposing himself to such awful sensations, he was forced to huddle against the side of the building until his wits came back.

“Damn it…” he muttered once he could turn around and face the road.  “I need to get this over with…”  Though his limbs trembled as his stomach started to complain for the second time that day, he made his way to the rooftops of the city, bounding about as fast as his body would allow.  While he did make it to the headquarters without further incident, the moment he landed on the sidewalk in front of the building, a rather large semi on the road in front blew its horn at a taxi that had gotten in its way, and Inu-Yasha couldn’t take it.

He ran over to the corner of the building and lost the coffee he had drunk; there was little else in his stomach to come up, but it was certainly trying to rid itself of everything it could.  Panting and wiping his sweaty bangs off his forehead, he spat on the ground, then tried to stand up straight. 

“This better be worth all the trouble I’m goin’ through…” he growled under his breath, and then he staggered inside.

“Inu-Yasha?” Rin asked in surprise when he lurched past reception.  “What are you doing here?  You—oh, you don’t look so good.”

“Thanks,” he grunted sarcastically.  “Now shut up.”  Proceeding to ignore her, for her shrill voice was grating on his ear drums, he plodded over to the elevators and punched the button for the top floor.  As the doors slid shut and the elevator shuddered into movement, he shut his eyes and tried to disregard the terrible pounding in his head as he thought back to his conversation with Kagome. 

He knew she sugarcoated it; there was no doubt that Sango and Miroku, Sango in particular, had said things that cut into Kagome, much as she tried to hide it.  Despite how ill he felt that afternoon, it did not escape his notice the tiny sighs she gave every so often, and the slightly worried look that took over her expression whenever she thought he wasn’t watching.  He held his tongue on it, for he had already made himself out to be an emotional fool twice that day, but it was time to do something about it.

When the elevator slid open and deposited him on the top floor, he had a perfect glare set on his face.  Without further ado, he slammed open the door to Sango and Miroku’s office, tossed his hat and sunglasses on the couch against the wall, then strode over to stand in front of Miroku’s desk.

“Inu-Yasha?” the man asked, both he and Sango looking quite surprised as they glanced up from the account they had been working on together.  “What—“

His query was cut off when Inu-Yasha’s hands shot out and grabbed them by their shirt collars, dragging them forward with surprising strength.  Baring his fangs at them, he growled, “They better be damn good…”

“W-what better be good?” Sango stuttered, caught off-guard by his surprise appearance and sudden attack.

“Your excuses for putting that girl through the ringer,” he snarled back, his expression all the more terrifying with his red-tinged eyes and his trembling limbs; they mistook his nicotine fit as a fit of anger.  “She’s done nothin’ but be good to me, and you just gave her hell for it.  Normally I don’t give a damn how busy you are, and I couldn’t care less about how stressed you are over this new demon, but when you take it out on Kagome—that’s when I get mad.  Now show it to me.”

The only reply he got was confused stares.   His voice rumbling in his throat, he snapped,  “Her review!  Show it to me!!”

“We haven’t written it yet!” Miroku said loudly, trying unsuccessfully to pry Inu-Yasha’s fist off.

“Well, that’s good news for you…  I think you know where I stand on things.  If I don’t see Kagome smile from ear to ear when she reads it, there will be hell to pay.  Understand?”

Receiving two very fervent nods in reply, he roughly let go of their shirt collars.  As he retrieved his hat and shades, he turned around to give them a sharp glare.  “One more thing—I was never here.”  And then he left the room as suddenly as he arrived.

Punching a button on the elevator, he let out a soft moan as the doors slid shut and carried him down; that little outburst, though it did effectively scare Sango and Miroku senseless, had done nothing to help his hangover, and now the movement of the elevator was making his queasiness worse.  However, he couldn’t help but allow himself a small, victorious grin before clapping a hand over his mouth; with any luck, Kagome wouldn’t have to worry about this review, or any future ones from his little performance.

When he was dumped on the first floor in front of reception, he staggered off, then promptly retched in a nearby potted plant, giving the secretary a lovely show.  Once he finished, he turned around and saw her staring blankly at him, a green tinge to her features.

“Sorry…” he mumbled, and then he stumbled out of the building.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The rest of the day had passed quite uneventfully at Inu-Yasha’s apartment, as per his request.  When he arrived back home with a case of cigarettes under his arm and much looking much sicker than when he had left, Kagome ordered him back to bed with little opposition.  He emerged from his bedroom once the sun had set, making the place darker and thus more bearable.  Now he was sipping a cup of coffee while stretched out on the couch, watching the late night news while Kagome worked on a yarn project in her usual armchair.

“What the hell is that?” he grunted, speaking for the first time in several hours.

“Hm?”  Kagome glanced up and saw him staring curiously at her work.  “Oh, this is a crochet block.  I’m going to make a bunch of these and sew them together to make an afghan.  It’s a pretty color, don’t you think?”  She held up the cranberry red yarn.

For a moment, he looked like he was about to agree with her, but she expected better; ever since he had awoken the second time, he had been very cranky and irritable.  “Hmph…  You look like an old lady, doing that,” he mumbled, shifting his gaze back to the television.

Shrugging, she went back to the square.  “I don’t care.  It’s very relaxing, and it’s good for soothing my nerves.  Besides, I need to work on it; it’s going to be a Christmas gift for a friend.  Christmas isn’t that far away, you know.”

Rolling his eyes, he kept quiet, and Kagome realized that she wouldn’t get any more of a conversation out of him.  They settled back into the quiet routine that had happened so many evenings prior, although this time she noticed that he was, for once, fully sober.  Even on days when his hangovers were bad, he still liked to have at least one glass of whiskey before bed, but tonight seemed to be different.  He hadn’t made a move towards the kitchen to fetch a bottle, nor had he mentioned anything to her except the request for coffee.  She couldn’t help but smile at the victory, tiny as it was. 

Inu-Yasha, on the other hand, was nowhere near as happy as she.  He desperately wanted a drink, but had set the goal for himself to wait until the next day; much as he hated to admit, the fact that he had frightened her the night before affected him quite a bit, and he was hesitant to drink again.  Adding on top of his want for whiskey was his impatience to see her review.  He had expected the two to show up at his apartment earlier that evening to deliver the review, but they had never arrived.  Perhaps he had frightened them a bit too much that afternoon…

A knock at the door sounded, breaking him from his thoughts.  Both turned around to look when Miroku hesitantly opened the door and stepped  inside, followed closely by Sango.  An awkward silence fell as they stood in the doorway, staring at the floor.

Finally, Sango spoke up.  “Look we… we were too harsh, yesterday,” she said lifting her head to look at Kagome, her voice full of remorse.  “Yes, we were stressed, but… we realized that we were wrong to treat you the way we did.  It was unprofessional and… well, as friends, it was a hell of a thing to do.  So we apologize, both as your bosses and as your friends.  Do you accept?”

Slowly, Kagome nodded, still surprised to see them at the apartment at all.

“Here.”  Miroku stepped forward and handed her a thick envelope.  “This is the entire contents of your review.  Read it closely.”  When she reached out and took hold of it, he paused, not letting go.  “Kagome.  We really are sorry.”  The look in his eyes was so full of earnest remorse that Kagome suddenly stood up and hugged him.

“…Thank you,” she said softly, and then pulled away, taking the envelope with her.

Flushing an embarrassed red, Miroku turned to join Sango back at the door, but paused when he caught Inu-Yasha glaring at him, clearly not as forgiving as his nurse.

“Look,” he began.  “I’m sorry about that phone call to the Tap yesterday.  Talk about unprofessional, right?”

Studying him closely, Inu-Yasha finally growled, “I don’t remember a damn thing about yesterday.  Whatever it was, forget it.”

Knowing that was as close to accepting an apology as Inu-Yasha was going to get, Miroku nodded.  “All right.  It’s forgotten.”

Still feeling uncomfortable around the two, Sango and Miroku left without saying goodbye, just giving slight waves.  It would be a couple days before the relationship was fully repaired, but it was a good start.

A few minutes after they left, Inu-Yasha finally allowed himself to look at Kagome, who was fervently reading the folded paper from the envelope.  “Well?” he asked expectantly.  “What’s it say?”

For a moment, he didn’t get a reply, but at last she returned the paper to the envelope and tucked it away before picking up her crochet square.  Though she didn’t look at him, he could clearly see the proud smile stretching across her face.

“I did well,” she said simply.  “They even gave me a small raise, isn’t that nice?”

“Mm.”  He knew there was more to it than that, but he didn’t really care.  As long as she was pleased; that had been his main goal.  With that mission accomplished, he set his coffee mug on the table and stood, stretching.  “Well, I’m going to bed.  Keep the TV down.”  And then he shuffled off.

Kagome however, stayed up much later, unable to sleep.  She couldn’t help but think about the statement written under ‘Supervisor’s Comments’ section of the review:

P.S.:  We are really, really, sorry.”

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Thanks for reading!  Please leave a review!