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Inuyasha observed the inu hanyou beside him standing in the executive office. He only had finished his report to the President (casually and informally, of course) and it was now the next officer’s turn.
This young officer, Kazunori-san, a half demon as well, with a teen appearance, had that kind of air in him. Inuyasha was aware, based on their previous mission, that this young dog was good at his task, extremely detailed and precise. Only, Inuyasha didn’t like how this other hanyou knew he had those qualities. Kazunori had an admirable confidence, to the extent of arrogance.
His nose wrinkled. Inuyasha decided he didn’t like this young dog.
Kazunori finished his report with a polite bow to the President. Then, he turned to Inuyasha, his equal golden eyes inviting his older colleague to leave the space with him as their business had concluded.
Inuyasha scoffed, waving a dismissive hand at the officer, as if he was his direct junior, “I will stay here. You go.”
Kazunori raised an eyebrow. Then, understanding what Inuyasha meant with his haughty stare, he merely sighed, resigned. He turned to leave the room.
Inuyasha remarked as soon as the door closed, talking to the person behind the wide table, “I don’t like him.”
“Is that so?” The President's voice, as usual, was cold and flat, his eyes focused on the papers before him.
Inuyasha continued his loud musings, “I don’t like the way he stares, so cold and judgemental, like he’s scrutinizing my whole being. Also, he walks like he owns this place —” he stopped upon a eureka, turning to his brother “— LIKE YOU!” He pointed expressively.
Sesshomaru stopped proofreading the document before him, somehow irritated at how loud Inuyasha was becoming.
“He’s just like you!” Inuyasha repeated, ignoring how Sesshomaru turned to face him at last with a minute sign of annoyance on his flat face. The hanyou squared his own in comic frustration, “God, I can’t even deal with a single you, and now, I have two!”
“Can you shut up?” Sesshomaru finally spoke, his deep voice echoing in the room.
“THIS IS TRAGIC!” Inuyasha continued dramatically, pacing back and forth.
Sesshomaru growled, “He technically owns this place. He is my son.”
The latter declaration made Inuyasha stop. He froze, “Son?”
“I will not repeat myself.”
Inuyasha repeated himself instead, “SON?!”
“You do not know?” Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow, “How stupid are you to not recognize your own clan’s yoki in his blood?”
Inuyasha blinked at that. Indeed, Kazunori emitted almost the same yoki. ‘Almost’ because he had a strange mix in his aura that Inuyasha could not clearly determine. But this, he had to point out, “He’s a hanyou!”
At this point, Sesshomaru was already questioning his brother's reasoning, “Are you not?”
Inuyasha blurted back, “You hate humans!”
Sesshomaru’s flat expression turned impossibly flatter. He was now certain that this half-brother of his had no common sense. Instead of responding to the statement, Sesshomaru returned to his paper works that contained human-youkai matters in the organization he had been running for centuries.
Still, Inuyasha insisted on the topic, “Wait, if he’s a hanyou, then his mother is a human. Who’s the mother?”
Sesshomaru hissed as he circled another flawed wording on the bill, “None of your business.”
“Do I know her?” Inuyasha pushed further, leaning closer to the table and to the daiyoukai as well.
Sesshomaru continued on working, keeping his silence, and ignoring his brother.
Somehow, Inuyasha translated his silence as ‘yes’. He concluded, “So, I know her. I have met her.” The hanyou pondered further, crossing his arms. He tried to recollect every human woman they had both encountered. From there, he picked his guesses. He started with one, “Wait, I remember, there was a little girl —”
Sesshomaru immediately cut him, “Shut it.”
So, the girl was not the mother. Inuyasha tried again, “Sango?” Sesshomaru only hissed. Not the demon slayer, as well. And so, he went to his third, horrified at his own guess, “Kaede?!”
Sesshomaru growled this time, turning to his brother with a death glare, “Do you want to die?”
“But —”
Sesshomaru commanded, “Leave.”
But, Inuyasha’s curiosity had already been piqued. There was no way he would turn back now. He demanded, slapping the table for drama’s sake, “Tell me, Sesshomaru!”
His older brother rebutted with a way stronger slap as he stood up from his seat in a phenomenal speed, “DO NOT MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF!” The poor furniture shook to near irreparable damage, as well as the floor.
The half-siblings battled with glares and flaring auras until a knock on the closed door interrupted them. Jaken’s head appeared from the edge, “L-Lord Sesshomaru? There’s a message sent to you of great import. It is from Madam.”
As if poured by cold water, Sesshomaru’s yoki quenched into immediate normalcy. Inuyasha blinked at his brother’s sudden withdrawal.
Sesshomaru inaudibly sighed, and repeated himself after all, “Leave.”
Unable to catch the strangeness of it all, Inuyasha resigned as well, “Pfft!” Then, he stormed out of the room, as he always did.
“Do you know that Kazunori is Sesshomaru’s son?!”
Satou, aka Miroku’s reincarnate, merely nodded while sipping his iced tea of special blend in their office’s grand cafeteria, “It is quite obvious, you see. The kid looks like Sesshomaru and acts like Sesshomaru. He is, beyond any doubt, the son.”
“What?!” Inuyasha, if anything, was flabbergasted.
Satou was surprised but quite amused, “Can you not tell?”
Inuyasha leaned back on his seat and pondered, “Now that it is right in front of me, I agree, he does look like Sesshomaru.” He exasperated after a pause, “Gah, he’s irritating like him too!”
“How come you failed to recognize your own nephew?”
“I guess, it is because he is a hanyou.”
“Woah,” Satou mockingly toasted to that with his glass.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, “I didn't mean anything bad about it. I just…” he trailed off, eyes gliding to the nearest glass curtain. It was raining outside. He mused aloud, “He always hated me for being a hanyou. Never expected he would have a son like one.”
“What is this?” Satou leaned forward, putting down his glass and switching to observe his colleague across the table, “Resentment?”
Inuyasha only frowned, “I hated him deeply because he hated me that much. Now, I don’t know what to feel.”
Satou waited a minute for Inuyasha to gather his thoughts. Then, he told him in a gentle tone, “Indeed, time changes people. After centuries, Sesshomaru appears to not hate humans anymore. I guess you can start not-hating him now.”
Inuyasha put on a melancholic expression. Still looking through the glass, he responded, “Hmm.”
It was still raining when he clocked out at six in the evening. Inuyasha’s thoughts were still occupied with his unexpected nephew as he walked down the alley towards his home.
Every pool of water on the asphalt, droplets of rain sliding on his transparent umbrella, the suit he was wearing, the briefcase he was carrying, and even his short tresses, were reminding him of the time he was in at the moment. For him, it had been ten years only since the Bone Eater’s well shut its doors and left him in Kagome’s era. However, for the people back home who lived through times, it had been five centuries already.
Maybe Satou was right. Time changes people, and five centuries would change anyone, even a daiyoukai like Sesshomaru. The unthinkable became possible now. His human-hating half brother had loved a human and now had a son as proof of it.
Inuyasha finally arrived at the doorsteps of his house. He took a deep breath and reset his expression. He didn't like to look so troubled before his wife and daughter, and made them worry. He was about to press the doorbell when the door burst open. He was greeted by none other than Kazunori.
“Inuyasha.”
Said uncle was surprised to the core, he almost jumped. Well, he actually jumped, “What the hell are you doing in my house?!”
Kazunori’s face was all flat when he answered, “Mom told me to be here, and so I am here.”
How was that an explanation? Inuyasha was totally confused, “Your mom?!”
Then, he heard Kagome's voice somewhere in their humble kitchen, “Is that you, Inuyasha?”
Since Inuyasha was still too shocked to utter a single word, Kazunori responded for him, and finally pulled him to the foyer, “Yes, it is him.”
“Hurry, then, dinner’s almost ready!”
Kazunori continued on pulling his arm towards the dining area. Inuyasha, on the other hand, let him be, still utterly confused and speechless. That, until he reached the very area and spotted a woman sitting at the end of the table.
Dark and long raven hair against pale skin. Inuyasha froze on the spot upon recognition, “KIKYOU?!”
The woman greeted him with a polite small smile, “Inuyasha.” She looked hauntingly the same as he remembered her.
“H-how?”
That was when Kagome entered the area with a bowl of their dinner. “Awesome, right?” She seemed so excited and happy, she was literally swaying while setting up the table. “We met at the shrine this morning. At first, I thought I was seeing a ghost, but then, she turned to me! She talked and, oh my God! I was like, that’s Kikyou!”
Said woman lightly chuckled at Kagome's enthusiasm. Kazunori excused himself and went to the kitchen to help set the table.
At this point, Inuyasha was able to utter a word at last, “H-How is this possible? How are you a-alive?” There were a lot of questions running through his mind, he managed only a few to spit out, “Didn’t you —”
“I did not die, no,” Kikyou calmly answered. “I asked for Kohaku’s life back then. The jewel answered, but it wanted my life in return. My service of protecting it, particularly.”
“You still have the jewel?”
“Yes, it is within me.”
“Within you?”
“It latched onto my soul and brought my body back.” Her eyes glistened with the artificial light from the ceiling. She looked, as always, so ethereal, like a being out of the mortal world, and now, out of her time. “I have been protecting it for centuries now.”
“That’s how you are here today,” Kagome spoke this time. She stepped towards Kikyou. With a somber look, she told her, “You have not aged.”
“I have not?” Kikyou took this with a smile. “That’s funny, I feel ancient now.”
Inuyasha remembered Kikyou as a force to be reckoned with. She was always too strong, too good, and too pretty, which attracted a lot of interest, misfortunes and tragedies as well. Even way back when she had lived as a miko, and even more, when she had been unfairly resurrected. Death had latched itself onto her like a second skin. The air of sadness and misery was always thick around her. But, now, Inuyasha could no longer sense any trace of it. She was radiating with life.
His musings were cut short when Kazunori appeared again in the dining room with plates in his hands. Inuyasha finally asked, “Is Kazunori your son?”
Kikyou’s smile was kind and honest, “He is.”
Inuyasha could not believe where his reasoning and logic were leading him to, “So, that means —”
The doorbell rang once again. Kagome clapped in excitement, “Oh, he’s here!”
Inuyasha was shooting death glares at his brother sitting across the table. And so, Sesshomaru was shooting equally lethal ones back at him. They battled with their eyes and flaring auras in chilling silence. Only the happy noises of Kagome’s two year old daughter were filling up the room. Overall, the atmosphere at the dining table was rather awkward.
Having had enough of the excessive drama, Kagome coughed and started, turning to the other woman, “So, tell me, how did you end up with Sesshomaru? I am curious, I mean, we didn't really see you two interact. He was as quiet —” she threw an apologetic look at Sesshomaru and then glanced back at the immortal miko across from her, “— as you are.”
Hearing the question, Inuyasha dragged himself out of the staring contest he had created himself with his brother, and focused on hearing the answer.
Kikyou answered with her collected tone, “Back then,” she paused, carefully selecting a word for that time, “back when you were there, I remember, there were only a few instances the two of us crossed paths, and we rarely spoke to each other. We only interacted long at the dawn of the Peace War.”
Inuyasha leaned back, recalling the manual he had memorized for the entrance trials. He pointed out, “So, you are THE Miko!”
“Good,” Sesshomaru remarked out of the blue. “You’re doing your homeworks after all.”
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, “Hmp!”
“So,” Kagome started again, “you two have been married for about five centuries now?”
“Only a hundred years,” replied Kikyou.
“And, thirteen,” Sesshomaru added in airy confidence. He looked so proud. Inuyasha could imagine his brother flipping his long hair at that.
Kikyou outstanded her husband, “Fourteen this upcoming April.”
They were so sure of their years together. Kagome found it so adorable, she could not contain her giggles. Inuyasha almost choked at the strange domesticity of it all. Kazunori focused on feeding his cousin, unaffected by the storytelling.
“We went on separately after the Peace War,” continued Kikyou. “We became busy since then, him running the organization, and me building up the shrine. Occasionally, throughout the years, we would cross paths, given the nature of our duties. But, that was all, entirely business, and nothing more. Only a hundred years ago did he surprise me by showing up at the shrine.”
Kagome gasped, anticipating. Inuyasha was confused. Sesshomaru straightened up and gave his wife a serious look. He did not want her to continue. But, Kikyou seemed to be eager to tell the other woman.
The priestess went on, “It was midnight. Everyone was asleep, except me. I was outside and he suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs.”
Kagome giggled aloud. Kazunori covered his face with a hand this time, seemingly embarrassed. He had heard of this story many times, it appeared. Inuyasha could not believe what he was hearing. Sesshomaru was indifferent.
With a smile on her face, Kikyou gladly continued, “Flowers in his hands, he asked me to be together. I said yes.”
“AAAHHHH!!!” Kagome squealed at the top of her lungs, “THAT WAS SO ROMANTIC!” It was so loud, all the ears of the men at the dining table flinched. Two year old Yuri giggled seeing them all make a face at the same time. “Tell me more!”
Once again, Kikyou opened her mouth to continue. But, Inuyasha had enough pictures in his head already, he covered his sensitive ears. He did not want to imagine the shrine, the midnight moon above, his brother, all too serious and cold, with a blush on his face, flowers in his hands, and courting a powerful miko, of all people.
In irritation, Inuyasha sent a solid glare at the daiyoukai in front of him, which his brother willfully returned in less than a heartbeat.
“Let’s talk,” the hanyou demanded.
Sesshomaru merely raised an eyebrow at that.
They stood before the small open garden in the middle of the residence, a distance of two meters in between. The rain was simply sprinkles in the late night.
“Hey, Sesshomaru,” Inuyasha started roughly. “Really? Kikyou?!”
Sesshomaru expressed immediate irritation. He warned with a growl, “Watch your tone.”
Somehow, Inuyasha understood what his brother was getting feral about, “I am not questioning Kikyou! I am questioning YOU! I don't trust you with her.”
Sesshomaru leaned back and narrowed his eyes, belittling the other's significance, “Bold of you to assume you have a say.”
Inuyasha gritted his teeth. His lips curled to spit insults, but then, he stopped midway. With a deep sigh, he resigned, stiff shoulders gradually softening in surrender. Sesshomaru was right. He had no rights to agree or protest when it came to the priestesses' life, none in the past nor in the present.
He turned to the opening behind them where he could see the dining area. Kagome and Kikyou were still happily conversing while Kazunori was playing with Yuri on the side. If asked if he had once imagined this kind of scenario to ever exist in both of their lives, he would answer no. He and Kikyou’s fates, when intertwined, always led to darkness and tragedies that imagining beautiful things in between felt forbidden.
“All I wish for her is to be happy,” Inuyasha declared softly in raw honesty. “Is she happy now?”
“That is for Kikyou to answer.”
“She seems happy though.”
There was gratitude addressed to Sesshomaru at the tip of Inuyasha’s tongue, but he held it back. He decided it was better left unsaid.
Inuyasha turned his head back to the garden and contemplated more. Sesshomaru, on the other hand, stood still on the side, waiting in apparent patience.
It was about a minute when Inuyasha spoke again, “It must be nothing to you because you lived through centuries. But for me, it is only a decade. This is quite overwhelming.”
Sesshomaru’s patience started to wear thin, “Go straight to the point.”
“For me, it feels like only yesterday you hated me so much for simply existing. In return, I hated you back tenfold. All my life, all that I ever associated you with were despise and disgust. Now, with all these shits going on, the organization, Kazunori, and Kikyou, what do you expect me to feel?”
Sesshomaru scoffed, “You are mistaken that I have expectations from you.”
“Bullshit!” Inuyasha hissed. He glared at the daiyoukai, with an apparent hurt in his eyes, “You took me in your company, and now, you are in my house, having dinner with my family. What are you playing at, you bastard? Do you think I will flip just because you stop?!”
Sesshomaru merely mocked his brother's emotional state, “You are upset because I am crushing your pitiful belief.”
With a grunt, Inuyasha crossed the two-meter gap and told Sesshomaru right in the face, “Isn’t that your belief too, that we will hate on each other forever?”
Sesshomaru found the confrontation rather disrespectful. He glowered, standing tall, towering over the hanyou, “Do not whine like a helpless child, Inuyasha! I, Sesshomaru, care less of what you feel. Hate if you so want to!”
Inuyasha was strangely collected when he responded, “And, if I decide not to now?”
Sesshomaru was suddenly silent. The concept of Inuyasha not hating him anymore seemed too foreign. Bizarre, even.
“Heh,” Inuyasha smirked as he withdrawn from their staring contest. His shoulders relaxed, gazing back to the garden once again. “I guess, neither of us is hating on each other as much as before. Time has led us to this.”
The silence after that was strangely calm. Inuyasha fixed his eyes on a particular vegetation in the rain in their humble courtyard, all while he felt his brother’s intense gaze at him in deep contemplation.
After a minute or so, Sesshomaru said in his usual cold tone, “Do as you please.” He then left and returned to the dining area.
The rain had completely stopped.
“Come visit us very often!” At the gate, Kagome was bidding goodbye, clasping Kazunori’s shoulders together.
The teen hanyou was unusually kind and cheery. He even promised with a warm smile, “I will visit often and play with Yuri.”
“Of course!” Kagome gave him a tight hug.
Behind Kagome was Inuyasha, quite incredulous at the scene. Why was Kazunori smiling?
After the hug, the young demon politely went out of the gate and walked towards the expensive car waiting outside the residence’s premises. He joined his mother by the open door, and there, bowed in courtesy, a thanks for the dinner they had shared. Afterwards, they entered the transport. Not long after, the car took the alley to the main road and disappeared at the corner.
“Pfft!” Inuyasha puffed an air. “That bastard didn’t even bid goodbye.”
Kagome laughed at that, “That’s cute. You miss him already.”
“WHAT?!”
“Come now. You’ll see him tomorrow anyway.”
She started walking back to the main door as her husband tailed after her, explaining with grand gestures why in no version of the universe would he miss a brother like Sesshomaru.