The Brother

Author’s Notes: I decided to change the pairings in this fic for a few reasons:

1. The few fics with Souta are, regrettably, mostly badly written and have him paired with
Inuyasha. Since I’m not the best fanfic writer in the world, I’ll at least try to add a creative twist
to the cliche.

2. While writing the second chapter, I couldn’t help but feel a chemistry between my version of
Inuyasha and Miroku. Sometimes characters choose their own path.

3. I thought the plot through a little more and the changes will make it more interesting all
around if I can manage to pull it off.

I apologize for the sudden change, but I haven’t gotten many reviews, so I have to assume
there aren’t too many people who will be heartbroken over it. ^^’ Good thing I worked this
out now and not after I’d gotten farther in.

----

Kagome was truly happy in this moment.

Sure, she hadn’t told anyone about the man, Kelly Anders, from America who had swept her off her
feet, but she was twenty-four years old! She had battled demons and used spiritual powers when she
was fifteen, what was so strange and out of line about disappearing for a while with the man of her
dreams? It wasn’t as if she had any responsibilities left back home. Not anymore.

There was no hitch in her thoughts as Kagome glanced at her soon-to-be husband. She knew what
she wanted and it was this man; this foreignly beautiful, but human, man. Strange, but still normal
for an American. This was what she needed, she knew it, and that was why she was able to whisper
under her breath, with no hesitation, the word that would break her last tie to the past.

“.... Release...”

Kelly cocked a brow and leaned in sideways. “What, Dear?”

“Oh, nothing.” Kagome smiled and turned his head back to the priest with the tip of a manicured
finger on his chin. “Just excited is all...”

----

CRACK! The beast’s horned head flew back as its trunk-like legs stumbled. Miroku continued to
charge, a large branch clutched between his fingers.

Inuyasha pounced on the swarm of smaller, but feistier, demons tearing up the camp, all the food he
and Miroku gathered earlier dumped and trampled. “Get out of there, ya runts!”

“AH! In-Inuyasha!” Miroku yelped as a meaty green hand seized his leg, the demon’s fingers
closing from ankle to knee. He had about three seconds to consider that maybe he shouldn’t have
told Inuyasha to leave this one to him- and then the branch went flying as the demon swung Miroku
around in a full circle, leaving him with the nauseous thought that he was about to go flying too- a
lot farther and higher- once his leg got released.

And fly he did.

Inuyasha cursed, leaping up with a last angry swipe at the swarm. The monk was damn lucky that
the demon decided to angle the throw straight up, or he would’ve been a monk pancake against the
first tree he hit. As it was, Inuyasha managed to catch the flailing human before Miroku got much
more than a few good striped bruises and slashes from slapping branches and leaves.

“Stay here, dammit!” Inuyasha hissed, dropping the monk into a tree he knew would catch him,
before dodging back into the fight.

The horned demon was still roaring with triumphant huffs when the a pale foot connected with its
chin, sending the demon rolling head over feet into a face plant against a tree’s roots. That hurt.
Tears in its tiny squinted eyes, the big demon climbed to its feet, stared at Inuyasha’s angry stance
for one long second, and ran. The ground shook with its escape and the smaller demons scattered
fearfully.

“HEY! Get back here!”

“Inuyasha, wait- wait!” Miroku struggled with his tangled robes up in the tree, just barely glimpsing
Inuyasha taking off after the horned demon. Without him. The hanyou left him up a tree, again.
“Inuyashaaaaaaa!”

For such a big thing, the demon ran fast.

Inuyasha sprinted into the clearing after it, grinning at his luck and extending his fangs. Nowhere to
go now, dumbass. He pounced, barreling over the demon, sending them both rolling across the well
in the center of the clearing with a rumbling CRUNCH of stone.

They came to rest at the edge of the rubble with the horned demon’s head hanging over the side of
the hole in the ground, Inuyasha crouched on its wide chest.

Blood spurted and the horned head fell into the dark abyss with the final rip of sharp claws.

Inuyasha panted, more from exhilaration than any sort of exhaustion, and stood up slowly. He ran a
bloody finger under his nose, enjoying the fresh stench of blood a little more than he would have if
Miroku were within sight range, then kicked the rest of the demon’s corpse over into the demolished
well.

Souta grumbled as he dragged boxes of Kogome’s belongings across the yard to the little well house.
The couple steps up creaked and, as he pulled the door open, a waft of hot, putrid air and dust
bellowed out from the building they hadn’t used for almost nine years. Souta gagged and stumbled
back down the steps, almost dropping the heavy box in his arms he’d just lifted from the pile made
in the grass.

Sick! It smelled like something had died in there! Souta eyed the door through watery eyes, wiping
his glasses on the front of his shirt. He had no intention of setting foot in there until it had aired out a
bit- then it would be up to him to find out whether something actually had died in the small
building. Hopefully not their missing cat...

The smell was still horrible when he finally inched his way in, the back of a hand over his mouth.
With the small windows and the door shut all summer, entering the building was like stepping into
an oven, and whatever the stench was coming from had been baking for a few hours at the least.

Souta climbed down to poke around the well, his shoes leaving dusty footprints with each step. It
was weird, but as he leaned over the side of the well and peered down, he had the strongest feeling of
deja vu.

“Bu~yo....?” He called down uncertainly, nose wrinkled. The smell was definitely coming from
down there and he was praying he wouldn’t have to climb down and find the old cat at the bottom.
They’d had the fat beast as long as he could remember and even though it was as unfriendly as ever
in its old age, he would hate to think the poor thing had been stuck in a hot well all summer to die.
“Buyo!”

Nothing. No answering croak of a meow, just the slow swirl of thick dust and the pool of black that
was the bottom of the dry well.

Souta played with the thought of having his grandpa go down to look instead, but it was a silly idea.
The old man couldn’t even get up in the mornings to run the shop he loved; his own grandson wasn’t
going to send those creaking limbs climbing down a well. The geezer would probably break his back
trying.

With a hefty sigh that had him coughing up a cloud, Souta ran out across the yard and into the house
through the kitchen door. He waved briefly to his mother as she turned from the stove, and took the
stairs two at a time as he continued on to his room at a trot. A flashlight was still on the table next to
the pink-themed bed, right where he’d left it after his late night magazine reading, and he snatched it
up. It was a bit small, but would hopefully have enough light to it to do a quick scan of the well.

The necklace was sitting in the bed’s pillow, also where he’d left it. No matter how long he looked,
Souta just couldn’t place where he knew it from- it was frustrating. And distractingly glowing in the
strip of sunlight from the window.

Souta picked it up as well, rolling the shiny jewel in his palm for a thoughtless moment. He
shrugged and lifted the beads, dropping them around his neck and tucking the necklace under his
shirt. Who knew- maybe it would bring some luck and he would find a raccoon or some other non-family-related creature in the well.

The flashlight was next to useless when he tried shining it down from above. The well was too deep
and the shadows too dark to be pierced by such a flimsy contraption.

Souta was left wondering when and why a ladder had been added as he climbed down into the
stifling-hot, murky depths. He actually heaved a few times, thankfully dry, as he took the last
lowering steps to the bottom- the smell was just that bad. Something squished under his sneaker as
he dropped a foot to the ground and he cringed, turning the flashlight downward to see what it was
he’d stepped in.

Then he screamed.

The grinning skull of something large and distinctly NOT CAT stared up at Souta, his foot buried in
what looked like a pile of... rotted, melted flesh of a green color. Really thick, old pea soup that
smelled like an outhouse dead ten times over.

Between the hasty retrieval of his sneaker from the clinging, sticky mess, and climbing back up the
ladder, Souta shined the flashlight over the rest of the well. More pea soup, more bones; some older
and less fleshy than others; and nothing recognizable as something that should exist in his happy
little world. He squeaked through his nose and slipped.

It was just one more shock as he instinctively landed on his feet- and the ground fell out from under
him.