These characters do not belong to me.

Choosing a Partner

Chapter 15

By Kenzie Kennedy

Inuyasha fled to his room his precious package in his arms. He took out the boxes and read the instructions the man had given him. He spent hours making sure they were set up right on the floor.

He spent so long on the trains and their track that he didn’t notice the knock at the door until it became more persistent. "Yeah?" he asked, not looking up.

The door opened and he heard a gasp. "You did this all by yourself?" Kagome asked in wonder.

"Yeah, I did. What? You thought I couldn’t?" he said rudely.

"Don’t be so rude. I didn’t say anything like that." Kagome told him.

"I can be as rude as I want to be. You were thinking it. Stupid slave Inuyasha, can’t do anything but follow orders," he said sarcastically.

Kagome shook her head and stared at him with hurt in her eyes. "No, I wasn’t. I came to tell you dinner was ready."

"I ain’t going," Inuyasha retorted. "I’m not hungry."

Kagome shrugged. "All right. I’ll tell Mom." Kagome walked the few steps out of the room and closed the door behind her. She blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. When she was under control, she walked calmly to the kitchen and told her mother that Inuyasha wasn’t hungry.

***

Kagome’s mother cleaned up the dishes from dinner while Sango, Miroku, Kagome, Kohaku, and Sota sat down to watch a movie. It wasn’t a movie she was particularly interested in so she was doing clean up duty. The movie was an action movie that the two boys had put in the player saying that Miroku had never seen one. The two girls weren’t really happy about it, but there were good points in the movie so they put up with it.

Rimiko stared down at the dishes. Inuyasha hadn’t showed up for dinner. Miroku was adjusting well to married life. He had been slapped a few times by Sango for him trying to feel her up, but that was normal for him. He was acting like a family raised male already. She shrugged. Some slaves were like that. Some took to being free like a duck discovers water.

She sighed. From what Kagome had told her, Inuyasha wasn’t. He was rude, inconsiderate, and hurting her daughter’s feelings. Rimiko smiled. Maybe he’ll grow out of it. It’s only been a few hours.

She nodded to herself. It’s normal that he would try a few things first. Seeing how far he can push Kagome and all of us. I hope he doesn’t decide to go on a spending spree. She amended her thought, an expensive spending spree. Kagome had said something about trains.

With the dishes done and drying in the rack, Rimiko went next to the laundry room to take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer. In every household, there are daily chores that must be done and Rimiko attacked them. The dishes were done, the laundry was drying, there was other cleaning in the kitchen, the table had to be wiped down, etc.

***

Rimiko yawned. The chores had all been caught up. Her body was politely requesting a bath otherwise it was going to rebel against her and collapse. Kagome had gone to bed yawning half an hour ago. Sango had left a half hour before her to go rack up higher solitaire scores. Kohaku and Sota had finished the movie and gone to take their showers and go to bed. Miroku had watched Sango leave and immediately followed. Kagome had been the last because she had found an interesting program to watch.

Her eyes glanced upward. There was one member of the family that wasn’t taken care of yet. She thought longingly of bed, but climbed the stairs instead. She went to Inuyasha’s door and opened it just a crack.

Rimiko’s ears heard the klickety-klack of little wheels going around on tracks and smiled. She glanced down and caught a brief glimpse of the train. If it was still running, Inuyasha was probably up.

She opened the door and smiled at the boy who looked up at her. "It’s a nice train," she said carefully. "Did it take long to put up?"

"Not long," Inuyasha said grudgingly.

"You didn’t come to dinner," Rimiko said gently. Inuyasha looked away from her. "I was just about to go to bed and I wanted to know if you wanted me to make you a sandwich. You must be hungry."

Inuyasha glanced back at her. "Maybe."

Rimiko smiled. "I’ve got some roast beef in the refrigerator. What do you want on it?"

Inuyasha looked puzzled. "What is there?"

"Ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, barbecue sauce, honey mustard, and soy sauce," Rimiko listed. "I like mine with either ketchup or barbecue sauce."

"Whatever you want to make," Inuyasha said grumpily.

Rimiko smiled again and retreated to make a sandwich. When she came back, she handed it to him and sat down on his bed. "You were rude to Kagome. You hurt her feelings," she said.

"So?" Inuyasha said around a mouthful of sandwich.

Rimiko’s eyes narrowed. "We’re not being rude to you so why are you acting this way?"

"What do you care?" Inuyasha growled.

Rimiko snorted. "When you married Kagome you became my son-in-law. I’ve raised one boy and I started raising another when my friend died. Now I’ve got another two, you and Miroku. If they acted like you did, I’d give them a good talking to and they wouldn’t do it again." She sighed and looked down. "I don’t think the same is going to happen to you." She looked back up at Inuyasha. "We’re not going to hurt you. I’m not going to kick you out of the house. I’m going to continue treating you just the same as when you were a slave. As part of the family."

Rimiko looked down at his train set. "You know, they have little trees and houses to go with those. You could create a whole town. We have a basement that you could probably set it up in if you cleaned up a bit."

She got up and went to the door. "Enjoy your sandwich. If you get hungry later, raid the refrigerator, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha continued to stare at the door after she left. That’s it, he thought. Deliver a sandwich, tell me that I’m not going to be hurt or kicked out, I can have a place in the basement for a more elaborate set up for my train, and if I’m hungry go get more food? I skipped dinner! I was deliberately rude to Kagome!

His eyes skipped to the wall as if he could see through them to Kagome’s room. She didn’t ask. With his ears perked, he could tell that Kagome was asleep. The noise from his train was nothing compared to the gentle snoring coming from Kagome.

She didn’t ask. Inuyasha swiveled his ears around to catch any stray noises and then concentrated on his train going around and around. Why didn’t she ask? Wasn’t that what she had wanted?

Why hadn’t she asked for him to sleep with her?

Why else had she married him? Inuyasha snorted. If she really expected him to fall for that ‘love me, be my friend’ business, she was in for a rude awakening. What human woman or any woman for that matter want him like that? He could see sex. From hearing the other slaves he knew it would hurt.

But if she wanted him for that, why didn’t she ask? He could say no, but if he refused she’d probably take away this nice bed and the food and the train. Why had she bought him things if she wasn’t going to take them away eventually? That was why he had played with his train as much as possible. Inuyasha knew she would take it away no matter what she promised.

He sighed and picked himself up off the floor. Inuyasha sneaked down the hall for a shower and then into bed. No one saw him and from the sounds in the house everyone was asleep. He went to sleep and slept restlessly until the morning.