Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Author's Note:This is in response to the quote challenge. So, if the qotes continue this will be a one-shot series. Happy reading. [Thank you Diane for the correction. I've never been great at spelling, and with me being a biology major, a pharm tech, and a Nursing Tutor some words are more familiar and look right -aka bowel for bowl lol- even though they aren't. :) ]
Toilet Bowl
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"Love is when you take away the feeling, the passion, the romance, and you find out you still care for that person.”
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Oh for the love of God! Again?
With a jerk of her head she glared out of the bathroom in a haze of exhaustion and disbelief.
How could a man that oiled his leather shoes every night, a man who measured his tie with a protractor, a man who oriented himself with details to the point of insanity, do this?
Was it some sort of trade off?
Yea, here’s a man that can remember every holiday, always pick an appropriate gift, and run an empire, but watch out because he won’t remember to put the toilet seat back down.
Slowly, she inched from the bowl, the cold of the air conditioner inciting goose bumps and shivers.
It wasn’t a bad trade honestly, but it also didn’t feel great to stumble into the bathroom at night and find yourself going for an unexpected dip.
Standing completely, she took stock.
Oh good gracious, it was on her hands, running down her legs, and soaked into her night shirt. Ugh.
With a spin, she flipped the lid down and sat again- the urge to pee once more overriding all other pressing issues.
Besides, there was no point in cleaning up right now. After peeing she would take a quick rinse off in the shower, change her clothes, and then head back to bed. That was the best POA.
But seriously, what was this?
Slouching forwards, Kagome clasped her hands and glanced once more into her dark bedroom.
He really was an extremely detail oriented person. It was almost a disorder with how anal he was about things.
Estimation wise, this was probably only the twentieth time in their entire five year marriage he’d done this. One of the times being last night, and now this evening.
She glanced around the bathroom once, her mind still chewing over the conundrum of the toilet seat, and then she saw it. The tooth paste was still open, and his tooth brush was without its plastic cover.
No.
The man she knew would have a fit seeing this. He’d once had to scrub up after their four year old played in an entire tube of toothpaste, and since then he’d made it a ritual to check it after every use. (He also refused to use the hardened piece that formed after leaving the cap off.) And his tooth brush? After he’d watched a documentary on how fecal particles could reach all items in the bathroom, suddenly plastic coverings for their toothbrushes had appeared and become routinely used.
No her man wouldn’t do this unless something was really wrong with him.
Standing quickly, Kagome turned the shower on, closed the toothpaste, and covered his toothbrush. Then moved back to the shower, where she hastily undressed, rinsed, dried, and redressed.
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Tip toeing softly, Kagome reached his side of the bed and sat, studying him.
From the untrained eye, he appeared perfectly fine, not a hair out of place. His respirations were even and deep. There wasn’t any mouth breathing from what she could tell. And he generally looked at ease. But because she had been married to this man for five years, she knew. His color was ashen, his cheeks were flushed, and though his respirations were deep and even, he was breathing faster than he normally did. Leaning into his face, she pressed a kiss to his forehead.
Yep, fever.
A hand touched her waist as she moved to stand, and curious, she glanced down only to watch as her sleep bemused husband raised his head, jerked her horizontal, and tucked her tight into his side beneath the blankets.
“What were you doing out of the bed?” He croaked, his voice still heavily veiled in sleep.
“Oh, you know, falling into toilets.”
“Did you? I heard you scream. Find anything interesting? Narnia, gold, a glorious excrement?”
“No. Just an open toilet seat, cold water, an opened toothpaste container, and an uncovered toothbrush.”
“The horror. Maybe that’ll teach you to look before you leap.” He suggested, pushing his too warm face into her neck. “Did you close the toothpaste and cover the toothbrush, or should I get up and do it?”
“I already took care of it. What kind of wife would I be if I didn’t?”
His breath puffed against her neck, as his chest shook in laughter, humor evident in every word. “An awful one. What monster could leave toothpaste open? It gives me nightmares just thinking about such a revolting thing.”
“As it should. We swore to never revive the toothpaste-apocalypse.”
A soothing silence settled about them for a moment, before his respirations deepened again, and his face nuzzled her neck once more. “You feel good. I was kind of chilled without you.”
“And you feel sick. I think you’re running fever.”
“Hmm…”
“Hmm?”
“…..Hmm.”
“Hey..- “ Kagome turned her body, settling his face against her chest, while pulling him closer, coiling her arms around him protectively. “-Seriously, I’m positive you’re sick. Your nurse wife is of the impression you require a fever reducer, and a doctor’s visit. With how careless you’ve been lately, this might be the flu.”
“…..hmm.”
She glanced down at the top of his silver head, stroking his hair, and rubbing his ears soothingly. “Hey-“ She stopped mid-stroke “-are you listening?”
Suddenly, muscular arms squeezed her breathless, the hug of death. “Yes-“, he mumbled, “I hear you. Sleep-time now.”
With a groan she flopped back onto the pillows, removing her arms and squirming away. “Not sleep time, sesshomaru, medicine time. Then sleep time.”
“No. Sleep time now, medicine later.” He grumbled, reaching for her.
Her cerulean eyes cut to his cracked amber, “You need ibuprofen. Let me take care of you.”
“And if I don’t?”
Her gaze narrowed, “Then I’ll strap you to this bed with restraints and forcefully care for you. You forget, I’m a mom and a nurse. I’ve had to handle combative patients before.”
He glanced at her for a moment, eyebrows creased in concentration, as if he were thinking about it.
He was probably remembering the time that she had wrestled their four year old to the ground and forced him to take his “icky” cough medicine. That had been some struggle. Even sick, her son was wormy. If he didn’t want something, he could achieve great feats of strength to get away from it –Something she was sure he inherited from his father.
Her eyes stayed narrowed on the man in front of her willing him to submit, when finally he spoke. “Hmm. It appears you have a point.” With a sigh, he released her and cocooned himself in the blankets as she shifted away. “Hurry back wife. I require your body heat.”
“And you will have it. As soon as I get the medicine.”
Perched on the bedside, she let her hand drifted back to his face, soothingly rubbing his temples, then his ear, and finally his neck. “Next time you feel bad, don’t make me find out by falling into the toilet. Tell me please.” She glanced down at the man who relaxed under her fingertips. “That way I can be looking out for the toilet. And also because I care about you. Your health is just as important as my own. What would I do if you got the flu, and it progressed to something awful, and then you died?Huh?”
Sesshomaru lifted his head from the pillows for a moment, stone faced, “You would live a life of riches, as I have a very nice life insurance policy.”
Her lips tightened, and with a playful smack she scolded him. “Im serious.”
“As am I wife, my life insurance policy is quite nice. Moreover this is only a cold. I am positive. No one dies of a cold.”
“Sesshomaru.” She growled.
“…..I will inform you next time.”
“That’s all I’m asking.”
Triumphantly, she swept her hand through his hair once more, then quietly marched to the kitchen. And even though it was 1 am by the time she returned, and she needed to be up at 4:30 am, she eased herself to his side of the bed with a thermometer, ibuprofen, and a warm cup of tea, to care for him.