Of Alphas And Adamant
Inuyasha lay on the big bed in the master bedroom. He was curled up under the covers although he did not feel particularly cold, and was hugging Sesshomaru's pillow to his chest, burying his nose in its feather-filled depths to get as much of the taiyoukai's scent as he could.
Sesshomaru had been gone for
days. He had
never disappeared like this before in modern times. This was a first, and very unsettling for the half-demon who was accustomed to being the one to take off without telling anyone where he was going. Now that he was on the receiving end, it didn't feel good.
It would be no use trying to sniff him out – their pack all used spells whenever they were outside their homes to avoid being accosted by demons of other packs. Not that any demons wanted to draw unnecessary attention to themselves these days by starting superhuman fights in the streets; rather, they concealed their scents and auras as a means of protecting their privacy.
So there would be no easy way for him to track Sesshomaru.
Ringing up their friends and family wouldn't do much good either. It would only announce to everyone that they had had yet another spat. And Inuyasha had not even known that this latest spat was any different from all their other quarrels and fights over the centuries. He'd thought everything would be normal again by the next morning.
But then he had never crushed Sesshomaru's dick through his sheer butt-power before. So maybe this wasn't like other fights.
Maybe he had crossed a line and broken pack rules.
Maybe Sesshomaru wasn't coming back.
Inuyasha thought of himself as independent. He rather liked being left alone sometimes. And the gods knew how many years he had spent out in the world on his own. But things had changed. He had first grown close to Kikyo, then met Kagome, acquired so many other close friends, and after that had come to a whole new understanding with Sesshomaru.
Damn it, but he had gotten used to being part of a pack, and all his solo excursions to wherever he felt like going were possible only because he had the anchor of his mate and his family and their circle to give him all the security he needed.
He was a half-dog-demon, after all, and dogs were pack creatures, needing their friends and their alphas near them.
However, he had almost castrated his alpha, and Sesshomaru had been gone since Monday. It was already the Monday after, and there was no sign of him. The taiyoukai may have done plenty of wandering back in the feudal era, but in this era, he had unfailingly come home after work, and was dependable enough never to vanish without prior warning. He had not darkened their door in eight days. Something was terribly wrong.
Inuyasha sat up in bed, looked around the bedroom, which felt utterly empty, and did something he had not done in decades.
He started sniffling.
***
Sesshomaru paused before he unlocked the door with the house keys he had finally been trained to carry, and stepped into the penthouse. There was no telling what kind of mood Inuyasha was in, and if he ought to tiptoe around him for the next few months, or risk having his privates sliced off via some ghastly manoeuvre like the Adamant Barrage. Marvellous. Amputation with bling.
The hanyou probably wasn't even in. He must have taken himself off somewhere, sulking as usual, refusing to return until he was good and ready... ah, no, he wasn't, as Sesshomaru's nose told him once he sniffed the air of the apartment. He was certainly in – but what was that scent?
Tears. His half-brother and mate was crying.
Instantly alert to the possibility that Inuyasha was hurt or in trouble, Sesshomaru sped through the apartment and quietly opened the door of the master bedroom, only to see him sitting up in the middle of their bed, the duvet cover pooled around him, his triangular ears drooping, and his huge golden eyes overflowing with glistening tears.
He looked beautiful, tragic, goofy and utterly adorable all at the same time.
Until he launched himself at Sesshomaru with a wail and knocked him backwards onto the floor.
***
"I thought you weren't coming back, you inconsiderate bastard!" Inuyasha snapped, sniffling and wiping away his snot and tears with the back of his hand while sitting on top of Sesshomaru.
"If you are planning to wipe your hand clean on my clothing or my fur, I must request that you refrain from doing so," the taiyoukai said dryly from under him.
"Why didn't you say how long you would be gone?" the hanyou demanded.
"I didn't think you would want to hear from me. Besides, you never tell me how long
you will be gone whenever you run away from home."
"That's different. I'm supposed to be the petulant younger brother and you're supposed to be the sensible older one," Inuyasha sniffed.
"Is that so, now?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Indeed?"
"Yeah. So are you just back to collect your things, or are you back
back?"
"My home is with you. Of course I am back. I refuse to echo your ungrammatical word repetition."
"I'm really sorry I crushed your dick."
"Perhaps I shouldn't have knotted in you without your permission. Although I did not know at the time that I was actually capable of it."
"You didn't?"
"No."
"Oh."
"So..."
"So where did you go? Were you mad with me?"
"Haven't we fought often enough for me not to remain angry with you for long?"
"I suppose. So where
did you go?"
"I went to pay a visit to Hosenki's son."
"The jewel demon who told me he'd need about a hundred years to make another black pearl that could lead to Father's grave?"
"Yes, that one."
"What for?"
"That is none of your business," Sesshomaru stated, starting to sound slightly huffy. "I have returned, so be happy about not being mateless and packless, foolish inu."
The taiyoukai got to his feet, lifting Inuyasha up along with him, and was about to head for the bathroom when his half-brother said, thoughtfully: "Wait a sec. Hosenki Junior isn't just a master jeweller. I remember that he has some healing skills too... but if you needed healing, you could have just gone to your mother, right? Unless..."
"Unless
nothing," Sesshomaru said shortly, trying to turn away again only to be held back by Inuyasha.
"Oh, oh, oh – yup, I remember!" Inuyasha piped up excitedly. "His healing specialities involve reinforcement and reconstruction... say, you didn't go to him for some, um, reconstructive therapy, did you?"
Inuyasha glanced pointedly in the direction of Sesshomaru's crotch.
Glaring at him, the taiyoukai snipped: "If you had not reacted so violently to my knotting, the visit would not have been necessary."
"Oh. My. God. What kind of reconstruction did you need? Did I
really kill it?"
"No."
"What did you have him do? Dip it in diamond dust to harden it?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Uh-huh," Inuyasha said, nodding eagerly, ears still softly lowered in an unusually submissive manner. His puppyish nature seemed to have surfaced in a big way thanks to his relief that his mate and big brother had not abandoned him for real.
"Well, I'm not telling you," Sesshomaru stated, heading for the bathroom.
"Did he coat it in molten rubies?" Inuyasha asked, tagging along, never taking his eyes off Sesshomaru's face.
"What a preposterous idea."
"You studded it with sapphires, didn't you?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Then what?"
Sesshomaru turned slowly around in the doorway of the bathroom. "Perhaps..." he began. "Just perhaps, I had him implant a diamond rod into a certain part of my anatomy so that you wouldn't be able to
flatten it again..."
Inuyasha gulped.
"Or perhaps..." Sesshomaru continued. "I had him custom-make ruby studs the shade of your fire rat robe, just for you, to chain one stud through your member to one through your tongue so you'll think twice about sounding off and hurling a torrent of vulgarities at me every time we fight."
"Hey..." Inuyasha started, his ears pricking right up.
"Wouldn't you like that, little brother? Your pack instincts are declaring how much you need your alpha around, and you would do
anything to keep him here, am I right?" Sesshomaru asked, in a rather sinister fashion.
"Hey," Inuyasha stated more assertively, ears going right up and eyes looking distinctly less huge and puppyish. "Just because I was
worried about you going missing, it does not mean that I'm suddenly your wimpy puppy now, you creep."
"Worried? You were drowning in a pool of tears when I came home," Sesshomaru said.
"I was
concerned about you, you perverted bastard. Obviously I shouldn't have been!" the hanyou barked, whipping around and stalking halfway across the bedroom before Sesshomaru sprang over and caught him by his long mane of hair.
"What the hell?" Inuyasha yelled, wincing as he was pulled backwards. "Going into troglodyte mode now, are we? What are you going to do? Whack me over the head with your oversized diamond-studded club and drag me by the hair back to your dusty old cave?"
Sesshomaru turned Inuyasha around quickly before he went into full-blown fighting mode and kissed him hard on the mouth.
"That's better," said the taiyoukai, releasing his hair. "Now you're yourself again."
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha grumbled, although he was slightly mollified by the kiss.
"I hate to see you upset and sad – although your huge puppy eyes are most appealing, I hate to see your ears down. We're family, and the heads of our pack. I won't be walking out on you any time soon. Unless you make dick-crushing a part of our routine interaction, that is."
"I
could do it if that sort of thing turns you on," Inuyasha teased.
"So you
wish."
"Well, I
could."
"I won't
let you."
"So what
did Hosenki the Second do?" Inuyasha asked again, but in his usual cheeky manner this time. "Show me."
He groped for Sesshomaru's fly, but the taiyoukai slapped his hand away and headed again for the bathroom. "Hands off. You're not touching it for a while, you crazed dick destroyer."
"Lemme see."
"No."
"Come on – is it in bandages or what?"
"No. Stop trying to molest me."
"Oh that's really hilarious coming from you. Out with it. Unzip."
"No. Stop swiping at my crotch. If you damage it again I'm amputating yours and transplanting it onto myself."
"Sure you will. Like
you would want a dick that turns human once a month. Drop your trousers now."
"Having
you frantically try to get into
my pants is a highly unusual situation," Sesshomaru remarked.
"It wouldn't be so unusual if you didn't ask for it all the time."
"It is normal in healthy packs for the alpha to claim his mate regularly to cover his partner with his scent and reinforce bonding."
"Except that sometimes the 'bonding' becomes pretty literal, and I can't get unstuck," Inuyasha fired back.
"Let's come to an agreement. I will work on my sense of humour, you will work on your violent overreactions to everything I do, and we will both work on a more... shall we say... balanced bonding routine."
"Like that's gonna last. I'm sure we've tried these 'agreements' at least five times in the last five hundred years."
"If it lasts even a year I'll be grateful."
"Fine."
"Do you want to know what I went to see Hosenki for?"
"Like I haven't been asking since you walked in the door."
"I went to him to have him make this." Sesshomaru produced a ring of pure diamond from his pocket. It was not a ring of precious metal with a stone set in it; instead, the entire ring itself was formed from diamond, lightly faceted on its outer surface and perfectly smooth on its inner circumference, crafted in a manner that only the most skilled of jewel demons could pull off.
"That's... wow." Words failed the hanyou.
"My peace offering to you. Although seeing the waterfall of tears down your face earlier, I have a suspicion it wasn't needed."
"It was
not a waterfall," Inuyasha growled, lifting the ring from Sesshomaru's hand before he changed his mind about giving it to him.
"Do you like it?"
"Love it, you stupid dog."
"You obviously do, if you're verbally abusing me like that."
"So this is what you went to see him for? Not to put emerald piercings in your dick?"
"Of course not."
"Are you ever going to unzip your fly? We could have a bit of bonding fun right here and now..."
"Not now. It's still sore."
"Seriously? Ooh, this will be fun – I am
so getting it on with you and making you howl in pain."
"Hands off me."
"Uh-uh. Time to get hot, Sess!"
"No, Inuyasha, it's not ready for that."
"It's gonna be ready whether you're ready or not!" the hanyou grinned gleefully, pouncing on the taiyoukai.
"Get off me, Inuyasha!"
"Nope."
"INUYASHA!"
=================
17 Mar 2011 note: This story won the Inuyasha Fanguild award for "Best Comedy" for the fourth quarter of 2010. Many thanks to jdbbrz for nominating it, Snowfall for seconding, and ajj7sunhawk and other readers for voting. Thank you all for continuing to read this.
I've deliberately made this chapter both bittersweet and naughty, because I want to dedicate it to the memory of aleabeth, who regularly expressed her enjoyment of this series – complete with all its naughty and irreverent bits. Wherever you are in the universe, aleabeth, I hope this continues to bring some amusement to you.
