Ini-Herit

“Ini-Herit”

By: God of Insanity

Warning(s): None, except maybe HUMOR.


Chapter 10: "Introductions"


“Well…I see you’ve been a busy boy, brother.” Najja remarked with jest as he regarded him from his place on the black leather couch in the living room. His chin rested in the palm of his hand while he watched Naraku distractedly pace back and forth.

The kumo abruptly stopped pacing and blatantly stared at his smiling brother.

“Is there something you wanted?” Naraku asked between clenched teeth, obviously displeased by his sibling’s untimely visit.

“What? I can’t just swing by to see my lovely brother, hm?”

Naraku replied in a deadpan voice, “No. You always come around for a reason, and it is never that one. Quit playing your childish gay games and tell me what it is that you want.”

Najja tapped his fingers against his cheek and his sandy eyes stared upwards at the ceiling as if concentrated on thought. With a false wistful sigh, he redirected his gaze towards his beautiful brother and smiled again. “I’m afraid that you’re wrong, this time. I know you utterly despise being wrong, but ha ha…just accept it. It must suck being a stubborn, sore loser jack ass! Especially since you look like one…”

“I’m going to kick your Egyptian ass, Najja!” Naraku growled and immediately lunged at him.

With the elegant grace of a pharaoh (and laughter not unlike a hyena), Najja leaped swiftly from the couch and flipped expertly in the air. He landed on his feet nimbly like Batman would.

Naraku instantly ran after him and it was actually quite comical to see the adult brothers running around the couch and other furniture as if they were children trapped in adult bodies. Najja’s giddy laughter rang throughout the house and so did Naraku’s enraged snarls.

“What in the thirteen bloody hells is going on in here?” A quiet, yet obviously male voice asked from the doorway of the hallway.

Najja stopped running when he heard the voice and he grunted when his brother unceremoniously crashed into him. They both toppled over the other, falling gracelessly to the ground in a wretched heap of asinine demons.

“Oooh, Naraku, is that your elbow or are you just happy to be on top of me?” Najja jeered and before the kumo could respond, Najja shoved his disoriented brother off of him. “You know, Spiderman, you are a bit heavy. I pity anyone who has to lay under you…”

Naraku failed to notice the young man who watched them with a raised eyebrow. He hadn’t even heard him, but he heard his brother and with a growl, he jumped at his brother.

Like sissy little girls, they both slapped at each other’s hands.

It was such a silly sight to see both men, nearly seven feet in height, fighting like little girls.

Despite being ignored, the juvenile sight somehow warmed something deep inside of Sesshoumaru. And at the same time, a pang of pain throbbed inside.

It reminded him of something he would probably never have.

“InuYasha…” The inu murmured to himself and it was barely audible, but only one of the brother’s managed to catch it.

Najja suddenly stopped and was awarded a sharp slap to his face.

Naraku fell onto his own back and gripped his sides as he hooted with triumph. He stopped laughing when a familiar figure loomed over him. He smelled a distinct honey-vanilla scent and opened his eyes to see Sesshoumaru staring down at him. “Oh, hello precious…”

With a vengeful grin, Najja saw his opportunity for revenge. He smoothly stood up and regarded the inu with a friendly gaze. He held out one of his tanned hands as if in a gesture to shake hands. “And who might you be, Mr. Mystery? My brother never introduces me to any of his friends. Of course…I always assumed he had none.”

Being the polite being that he was, Sesshoumaru stepped over Naraku’s body as if it were a fallen log to meet the other man. He stood about two feet away from the other demon and observed him with golden guarded eyes. “I am Sesshoumaru. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance...”

“Ah, Sesshoumaru. A lovely name, even if the meaning of it doesn’t seem to quite suit you. Of course, I could be wrong…”

As soon as the younger man offered his hand, Najja lightly took the boy’s hand and he leaned over to briefly kiss it as any gentlemen would do to a lady. As he kissed the inu’s hand, his exotic eyes locked with Sesshoumaru’s.

Normally, the dog demon would have been sorely insulted by such a gesture, but instead, he felt flattered. And he felt inexplicitly ensnared by those eyes that reminded him of the smooth sand of an Egyptian desert.

Somehow, this man reminded him of Rin in some ways. Both had straight black hair and a carefree, easy-going spirit. They were obviously what were termed as extroverts.

Najja released the slighter demon’s hand and smiled gently. “I am Najja, Naraku’s half-brother. The pleasure is all mine…”

Naraku stood with arms crossed and watched closely at the interaction between his intern and sibling. He wasn’t about to interrupt since something told him not to. As much as he loved his brother, he was bothered by his proximity to his new…beau.

Sesshoumaru hoped he wasn’t blushing. Even though he usually discarded first impressions and didn’t like anyone until he got to know them better, this man was the exception. It was like meeting Rin and not instantly liking her. It was impossible and not even the coldest, most unfeeling person could dislike such a child.

“Where are you from? You have an accent, but I can’t pinpoint it exactly.” Sesshoumaru wondered and usually he was someone that either didn’t care or just wasn’t rude enough to pry into other people.

“People always ask me that, but I do not mind. To answer your question, I am half-Egyptian and half kumo youkai. You see, I didn’t know my brother personally until we were both nearly adolescents. To make a long story short, my father was an Egyptian man and I lived with him until my mother, who was Naraku’s mother also, took custody of me.

My accent stuck with me and it helped because Mother would let me visit my Father in Egypt during certain periods of time. Naraku always missed me when I was gone. Isn’t that right, you baka?” Najja explained and turned towards his brother and even though his smile was smug, there was unmistakable affection in his sand-colored eyes. He obviously loved his brother.

Naraku grumbled something incoherent and glared at his brother. His pose was less stiff now and his visage softened a bit.

Sesshoumaru had never, ever been out of Japan before, so that the idea of another distant country fascinated him. “Who is older?”

“Well…to be honest, we’re only minutes apart. Technically, we’re twins even though we have different fathers…” Najja replied thoughtfully and honestly while staring up at the ceiling.

“How is that possible?” The inu youkai asked with intrigued disbelief.

“It is not an uncommon occurrence, Sesshoumaru. For humans, it is impossible, but for demons, it does happen. Of course, a demon has to be promiscuous to be capable of bearing twins that bear different sires.” Naraku joined in, his tone almost emotionless. There was a bit of a grudge in his voice, but it wasn’t aimed at his brother or at the inu.

“Ah, must you call our mother a whore? Sure, you didn’t exactly say it, but you implied it with the last thing you said. When are you going to get over it?” Najja inquired even though there was a sympathetic look in his expressive eyes.

Naraku turned away, hiding his face from both demons. “When she takes back what she did.”

“You know she cannot.” Najja stated softly, a tinge of grief in his voice.

“Then may the bitch rot in hell one of these days.” Naraku spat bitterly and stalked out of the room without another word to them.

Sesshoumaru was very confused, but he chose to remain silent. It was not his place to ask them to expand more on the topic. Obviously, there had been some kind of falling out, or even something traumatic that had happened between Naraku and his mother. To still be hurting from it after hundreds of years, the inu imagined that it had been something really bad. Something unforgiveable.

Najja sighed; this time his wistful sigh was genuine. He looked at the inu and smiled softly. “Don’t worry about him, mystery. He’ll be all right. He just needs some time alone.”

“He’s more of a mystery than I am.”

The Egyptian demon shook his head, “I disagree. I know him; therefore, he isn’t a mystery to me at all. You are the mystery here.”

The shorter man decided not to comment on that, for it did make sense in some weird way.

After a few minutes of silence, Najja broke it by saying, “I think he will tell you about it someday.”

“Tell me about what?” Sesshoumaru echoed; he had a good idea what Najja meant, but he still wanted the older demon to clarify.

“About why he hates Her. He has good reason to, of course, but I know without a single doubt that hate and anger doesn’t help anyone heal from the pain. It only worsens it and it becomes a bitter poison that devours the soul. “

“But why would he tell me something that personal?”

Najja smiled at him, a smile that could warm the hardest and iciest of hearts. He caressed the side of the inu’s soft face and replied quietly, “Because you are the Distant One.”


TBC…


A/N: Next one will be longer.