Past Lives, Current Conflictions

Chapter 5: Cleansing Afternoon

They walked the entire way to their fort which was in a thick forest behind their house. It had been really awkward at first, hell, it was still awkward. Anyone would feel like this, right? Especially someone who hadn’t spent more than five minutes in the same room as his estranged older brother for the better part of his teenage life and was currently walking alongside the high school grad to an old place they had once considered a second home.

This place, surrounded by trees of every size, nestled in the center of their large property, and lying alongside a small lake, was where they once spent every waking moment together. This was where their father had built them a little shack. Where they made their childhood memories. This place was everything to them, or at least, it had been. And in an odd sort of way, Inuyasha thought it still did.

This was where their fort was. Where their childhood began, and ended.

“Hell, it’s still standing,” Inuyasha mumbled absently.

“It appears someone’s been doing work on it,” Sesshomaru observed, walking around the small fort. Easily one of them could fit in it still, but two? Doubtful.

“Yeah, it does. Maybe it was Dad?” Inuyasha said, circling the fort as well. “Heh, I remember when we were kids... Mom made us those ridiculous outfits.”

“They were old fashioned, weren’t they? I believe yours was red and mine white with flower prints,” Sesshomaru commented, eyes taking in the small clearing, remembering how it had been much larger when he was smaller.

“Uh, actually, Mom made mine purple and yours blue...” Inuyasha said, embarrassingly. Sesshomaru raised a brow in question. He got his answer as Inuyasha tugged out two old outfits that had been sewn together to make a blanket from the inside of his jacket, sheepishly presenting them to his older brother’s eyes.

“You still carry that ratty, old thing with you?”

“Shut up! It was the last thing Mom gave me before she passed away!” Inuyasha defended his toddler blanket.

“Ah,” was all Sesshomaru said, taking the old blankie away from Inuyasha and examining it critically.

“What?” Inuyasha asked somewhat defensively, seeing the inquiry in Sesshomaru’s eyes.

“Odd. I distinctly remember that yours was a gaudy red getup and mine was white with sakura prints...”

“That’s what old age does to you...” Inuyasha sighed, teasing his brother.

“Shut up,” Sesshomaru growled, throwing the old rag back in Inuyasha’s face.

The half demon laughed as Sesshomaru stalked around the fort some more, fakely examining everything about it.

Inuyasha looked up at the swaying branches that still seemed so high in the sky. Maybe if he put his arms above his head toward the sky like he used to when he was a little boy he’d be able to imagine flying again... Maybe he could fly past the darkening sky and through the accumulating clouds that seemed intent on blocking out the sun.

“We used to come here everyday...” Inuyasha said, blinking when a drop of wetness hit one of his cheeks.

It began sprinkling innocently at first, gaining momentum as all storms tend to do, shrouding the area in a light mist, the floor beneath them turning from friendly treading ground into sucking mud pits of doom.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru caught each other’s eyes. The idea they shared was clear. Now it was only a matter of who got there first.

In the blink of an eye both turned and ran for the dry shelter of their old fort. However, the fort could only hold one of their grown frames...

They got to the entrance at the same time but Sesshomaru managed to nudge into the half-demon enough to sneak inside first. Inuyasha, not one to give up easily, especially to his brother, tried pushing his way in. Though it was not meant to be as Sesshomaru caught Inuyasha’s nose between two curled fingers, pushed him to a stagger and then easily flicked his nose, which, with Sesshomaru’s inhuman strength, sent the poor hanyou backwards a few feet, falling into the mud, his ass being sucked into the earth.

Angered, Inuyasha looked up, getting ready to growl out profanities at his brother’s audacity. However when he saw the playful expression on Sesshomaru’s face all anger was forgotten. He hadn’t seen that look in so many years... it was heartwarming to see it now. And then a wicked idea crossed his mind.

He wanted to play in the rain and mud, did he? Well, Inuyasha wasn’t about to disappoint his older brother.

In the next second, Inuyasha dug his fingers into the soft, squishy ground to the side of him and flung a mud ball directly into Sesshomaru’s face.

The hanyou started wailing with laughter at the way Sesshomaru looked. A big glob of mud covering everything on his face except for his mouth. The lips in question were in a thin line, the only telltale sign of Sesshomaru’s high annoyance. The next moment, it was smeared away as best as it could be and suddenly Inuyasha had the air knocked out of him as he felt the weight of another tackle him further into the ground.

Oh God, he was going to be kneaded into the ground like he was a part of it!

A skirmish followed as the two brothers wrestled the other into the mud as much as they could, all the while laughing or growling in amused annoyance. However, it came to the point in the storm, and their fight, that the rain began pouring down even harder.
Again, after a while of scuffling, Sesshomaru trying to keep Inuyasha squished in place below him and Inuyasha trying to get the suctioning ground to release him, both paused in all movement, surveying the area around them as splotches of water smacked their sensitive skin. A slight turn of heads to look back at the other and their cheeks and lips lightly brushed. Neither moved for a moment, their eyes simply widening and their breath mingling. The next second they pulled away by only an inch, only then realizing their current positions.

Sesshomaru was straddling the prone, dirty hanyou stuck in the mud as eyes continued staring into the familiar colors of kin.

Inuyasha did the only thing he could to get rid of the weird weight that seemed to be tugging at various body parts that really should be hibernating in weather like this.

“You’re filthy wet,” came his lame attempt at a cover up. He figured the response he’d get to that would be a growl or a smack to the head. Unfortunately, neither came.

Inuyasha’s breath hitched when he saw Sesshomaru’s mouth melt into a smirk.

“Mmm, well, little brother, I believe you have an idea of what’s going to happen next,” Sesshomaru said, still only an inch away from his brother’s face.

Inuyasha blushed, a thousand thoughts racing through his thick head at what could possibly “happen next.” All of them completely off. All of them heating his face to ridiculous shades of red.

As Inuyasha did a mental freak out dance, he didn’t realize that he had completely missed the first part of what Sesshomaru had breathed out.

“-and the loser has to wear the caked-on mud all day.”

“Wait, wha-?”

And in a flash Sesshomaru was gone, leaving Inuyasha’s head spinning.

“Okay, he just said, ‘and the loser has to wear the caked-on mud all day.’ Wait. That means it’s a race! Winner, loser... DAMN IT!” the hanyou screamed out at no one. Finding strength that he had previously not had, he vaulted himself out of the ground and to his feet. “That’s not fair, Sesshomaru! You got a head start!!” Inuyasha yelled.

“I figured you weren’t listening, half-breed.”

“!!” Inuyasha’s head swiveled to stare in front of him. “What the hell are you still doing here! Don’t you wanna win?”

“One, you weren’t paying attention, what with your open ogling of my person, and two, it wouldn’t be a fair race if I left ahead with that knowledge.”

“Yeah, well you coulda just kept it to yourself,” Inuyasha grumbled.

“It’s called honor, idiot, something I don’t expect you to know anything about,” Sesshomaru retorted nastily.

“I’ve got honor!” Inuyasha retaliated.

“Mm,” was the only reply. “So let me reiterate for you. First one to-!”

Inuyasha shot past Sesshomaru, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

“INUYASHA!!” came the furious yell from behind.

“Hahaha! Maybe I’m not all that honorable after all!”

And with that Inuyasha took to the trees like the barbarian he knew his brother thought him to be. He could see Sesshomaru zip past him on the ground but knew that if he calculated his movements right, he’d be there before his brother, and not a moment too soon.

After all, the bet his brother was talking about entailed a shower for the winner and a long day of caked-on mud for the loser!

- - -

It was a close call, that was for sure. While Sesshomaru had used the winding dirt path on the floor of the forest, Inuyasha had taken to the tree limbs of the canopy. He knew their pattern like the back of his hand, instinct leading him to jump here, land there and push off from right there. This route was definitely more preferable to the one his older brother was taking, especially since it was a clear, straight shot to the bathroom from the branches, into his room, and then straight into the bathroom for him; Sesshomaru would have to go through the first floor, climb up the stairs and then turn down the long hallway. So in the hanyou’s mind there was no way the bastard would make it in time to be called a winner and get a shower.

However, the moment Inuyasha crossed his room, opened the door to the hallway and was about to walk across to the bathroom, he caught sight of his brother coming up the stairs. Both froze, their minds thinking the same thing. And then they vaulted towards the bathroom door, slamming into the other’s body and trying to squeeze into the large washroom.

The struggle resulted in both falling into the large tiled room, stumbling over each other’s feet. Both boys stood straight, glaring other down.

“I was here first, asshole, leave!”

“Had you not gotten in my way I would have been the first one here,” Sesshomaru challenged, taking a step forward.

“Yeah, well you know what? Fuck you! I’m dirty and I won, so I get the shower, ya big jerk!” Inuyasha stated, toeing his shoes off, socks following shortly thereafter with a bit of difficulty. “Don’t trip over your feet on your way out,” the hanyou said cheekily.

Sesshomaru’s eyes narrowed as Inuyasha began to undress, assuming he had won. Growling out a few choice profanities, that probably did nothing to intimidate his little brother, especially since the supposed threats of disembowelment came from a mud monster such as himself, Sesshomaru came to a quick and definite decision.

Instantly, feet kicked off sandals, hands pulled a shirt overhead and a gasp sounded from Inuyasha.

“What the hell are you doing?! I won!” Inuyasha shrieked, walking forward to push Sesshomaru out of the bathroom.

However, his jeans being unzipped and pooling around his ankles as he moved forward caused him to trip over his own feet. Preparing for a hard and painful ground kissing, Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for what was sure to knock out a few teeth...

And his face collided with a warm, fairly chiseled chest.

Inuyasha kept his eyes closed, almost not wanting to believe that he didn’t hit the hard, unforgiving tile of their bathroom floor and instead slammed into his brother’s well defined, and very naked, chest.

With the initial impact, one of the hanyou’s hands automatically came up to support his landing... and caressed a nearly hairless torso, save for a small... happy trail of soft looking white hairs that disappeared into Sesshomaru’s jeans... Oh damn, he had opened his eyes and was checking his brother out!

At this realization, gold eyes widened and looked up at the one who had saved him from an experience that would have otherwise been fairly painful. Only then did Inuyasha fully realize the situation at hand.

Sesshomaru’s hands had a firm hold of Inuyasha’s biceps, while Inuyasha had one hand splayed across his older brother’s torso with the other grabbing a narrow hip. He was almost too afraid to look at the more than likely angry face of his sibling, but chanced it regardless. And what he found was not what he expected.

There, only scant inches away from his own face was Sesshomaru’s soft gaze. It wasn’t locked on his eyes directly, but rather skirted about over Inuyasha’s facial features.

“Se-ssho-maru?” Inuyasha stuttered, not knowing what else to say.

“The shower is big enough to hold five grown men and has three facets... we can share and get all this grime off our bodies before Father returns,” Sesshomaru murmured, slowly helping stabilize Inuyasha onto his own two feet again and taking a step back to continue undressing.

Inuyasha merely nodded dumbly, unconsciously kicking his jeans off and putting his hands on the rim of his boxers. He shied away from actually pulling them off for a moment but quickly rationalized that if Sesshomaru could do it he could... to...

The hanyou’s gaze was stuck on the sight before him. A completely naked Sesshomaru... throwing his pants off to the side of the bathroom... away from his body...

“What?” Sesshomaru asked, leveling his brother with a questioning gaze as he opened the glass door of the shower, leaned in and turned on one of the three faucets. He personally preferred a very hot shower. He wasn’t too sure what Inuyasha preferred, though.

“Er... you... you didn’t wear... anything under... your pants...” Inuyasha stated, as if his brother had no idea himself. For some reason something in Inuyasha jumped awake and promptly expressed how hot that was.

Sesshomaru snorted, a complete look of ‘duh’ written all over his face as he turned the second shower head on. “So?”

“Uhh... I... well, never mind,” Inuyasha mumbled, face turning red, while eyes averted to his fumbling hands. Hands which were still holding onto the rim of his boxers with a vice-like grip.

Sesshomaru’s own gaze swept over the hanyou’s body, unconsciously licking his lips as his vision landed on the narrow hips of his little brother. His eyes then traveled down to the milky thighs... so strong looking... a fleeting thought raced past his conscious... how good would it feel to have those legs wrapped around him while he...!

Inuyasha could feel his brother’s gaze on him and thought the elder expected an answer out of him.

“I just... err, the girls must... think that’s... uh... I mean, no wonder you’re so popular... I don’t know if I could ever... uh...”

Well that certainly stopped any fantasies Sesshomaru might have been having...

“Inuyasha,” Sesshomaru started carefully. “I do not go around telling people that I’m not wearing any underwear in normal conversation.” His little brother was acting awfully odd... Maybe... it was the heat? Or maybe he’d knocked a few brain cells loose when he had tackled him into the muddy ground earlier...

“Uh... yeah... right, I knew that,” the hanyou answered quickly.

Sesshomaru mentally smacked himself, causing his eyes to roll. Then again, maybe Inuyasha was just having another stupid moment like he usually did.

Sesshomaru shook his head, not ready to deal with this so early in the morning. Alright, so it was a little past noon, and to him, that was too early. If he had his way, life wouldn’t start until 2:00pm.

Yes, getting up at two in the afternoon would be the good life, Sesshomaru thought as he stepped into the steaming shower. He allowed a small groan of appreciation to rumble from the back of his throat at how nice it felt as the mud slid off from his hair and face.

Meanwhile Inuyasha relieved himself of his boxers, toeing them toward the dirty hamper as his eyes flicked toward the misted over glass that surrounded the shower, clearly identifying the outline of his brother’s impressive physique. He wanted to look like that, have that body and be as adored as the elder man.

Inuyasha’s golden eyes traveled from the top of Sesshomaru’s head, wishing he had soft hair like his brother’s short tresses and down to strong, broad shoulders. He tried gulping back saliva he didn’t possess when his eyes reached a narrow pair of hips, not missing one expanse of skin that rounded out further down.

Rivulets of water curved elegantly across the tight globes of Sesshomaru’s ass, stemming down onto chorded thighs and strong looking calves. Indeed his brother was a heavenly creature and he’d do whatever it took to...!!

Inuyasha snapped himself out of his trance.

What the hell?

Err. He had been thinking about... what? Inuyasha’s eyes darted from side to side, hoping beyond hope he could find something within his head that didn’t consist of the very naked Sesshomaru standing inside the very see-throughable shower... that they were about to share.

Sesshomaru’s earlier words suddenly rang in the hanyou’s ears. I do not go around telling people that I’m not wearing any underwear in normal conversation.

Inuyasha thought that over for a bit only to realize how weird it would be if Sesshomaru did tell people he wasn’t wearing any underwear in normal conversation. And for some reason that didn’t sit too well with him.

Frowning at the odd feeling popping up briefly, he shook his head as he found himself entering the shower.

Upon the click that sounded at Inuyasha’s initial enter, Sesshomaru’s head turned only slightly, somewhat shocked, and yet relieved, that the hanyou had actually joined him, accepting his earlier comment as obvious invitation.

A cold breeze swept into the large glass shower, sending thrills and shivers up Sesshomaru’s spine. Golden eyes flicked over his shoulder, catching sight of the prone figure that was standing there entranced, taking in the sight before him.

Such a pale complexion... Sesshomaru’s skin was milky to Inuyasha’s more toned color. Such long, chorded limbs... the hanyou absently thought as he was startled out of his appraisal by a snapping growl.

“Close the door, idiot!”

Instantly Inuyasha snapped the glass door shut on command, wincing when he caught skin in the lock. He yipped in pain, pulling himself forward and under a shower head to soothe the ache away.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes at his brother’s expense, trying to keep his curiosity from following the stiff walking hanyou as he made his way to the further water spout, leaving one between them like a deep ravine of impending doom.

Alright, this, Sesshomaru had to admit, was rather awkward. Here he was showering with Inuyasha, his rival since he was fourteen, the hanyou eleven. They had barely been civil to the other in over seven years. What the hell was he supposed to do? Offer to wash the half-breed’s back?!

Sesshomaru paused in thought. Oh, God help him, he was actually considering it!

Horrified and anxious golden eyes widened as Sesshomaru started to panic, the fingers of his left arm moving up to rub behind his ear.

“What the hell are you so nervous about?” came Inuyasha’s gruff voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” came the youkai’s snappy answer, still rubbing the soft spot behind his ear.

“The hell you don’t. You only ever scratch behind your ear like that when you’re nervous about something. Don’t think I don’t know about that weird comforting habit you have,” the hanyou sniffed in return, grabbing for a bar of soap and loofa and smooshing them together in a lame attempt at hiding the fact that his eyes would flit over every so often at his brother’s fleshy silhouette.

Sesshomaru gave him an incredulous look, his silence and stare physically wording his inner thoughts.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he ducked his head under the lukewarm spray, one hand rubbing the washcloth against his chest, the other making sure his short tresses were thoroughly soaked. “I’m your brother, stupid, of course I know your freaky little habits and rituals.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about me, half-breed,” the youkai shot, and, had he been any less of a demon, he’d have been blushing at this point. Because really, he knew exactly what Inuyasha was talking about. Not to mention the fact that he really shouldn’t have said that to his brother just now... he knew Inuyasha could never back down from a challenge, especially a verbal one.

He sighed, knowing the impending doom that was sure to follow him around for the rest of the day as he squeezed some shampoo into his claws and scrubbed it in his hair.

“Oh really?” came the hanyou’s ‘That’s it, I’m taking you on,’ voice. Sesshomaru could have face vaulted at his own stupidity. “You get up at 6:30 in the morning, trudge all the way down here to have your shower, which, may I say, usually lasts longer than mine do, and that’s saying something... I probably don’t need to go into detail of what you do in the bathroom for that entire hour, besides take all the hot water.”

“No, you don’t,” Sesshomaru said between clenched fangs. Damn, it was freaky how his little brother knew so much. “And I don’t take hour long showers... at least not in the morning.”

Inuyasha snorted. “Fine, then we’ll move on to what you do after your ‘morning ritual.’”

Oh God, he could definitely feel a headache coming on; Sesshomaru rubbed behind his ear with a bit more ferocity than usual.

“When you’re done showering you head back to your room, but not before stopping by my room, opening the door and just standing there for like five minutes doing who knows what-”

“I do not!” Sesshomaru sputtered, trying to see past his soaked bangs. Oh great, now he had reduced himself to sounding like his brother when caught in the dirty act, so to speak.

“You do, too! You’ve done that ever since your sixteenth birthday, you pervert!”

“Feh, that’s only because Father wants me to wake you up since it usually takes about a half-hour until you do finally get your lazy ass out of bed,” Sesshomaru answered, running conditioner through his shoulder-length locks and then washing it out.

“Yet you usually wait until an hour later to actually come and wake me up. Except for today, which I don’t understand but won’t hesitate to let you know how totally unfair that was to wake me up so early. I’ll be dead by late this afternoon and it’ll be entirely your fault,” Inuyasha retorted indignantly, scrubbing furiously at his ears and hair, trying to get the clumps of mud out but to no avail.

Trying to wash away the rest of the conditioner, not to mention the bubbling just below the surface blush that was threatening to explode all over his face, Sesshomaru tried to ignore Inuyasha’s thorough dissection of his mornings, never once thinking of how the half-breed could know his itinerary that well when he was apparently “sleeping.” Nevermind the fact that Inuyasha knew his morning schedule... how much more did the hanyou know about his habits that even he wasn’t aware of? Though Sesshomaru wasn’t given much chance to do any real self-evaluation due to the pathetic whines that the half-breed was now emitting.

Sesshomaru looked over to his side and saw what the problem was. Apparently clumps of mud absolutely refused to be dislodged from the hanyou’s ears and short tresses.

Hmph, Sesshomaru mentally scoffed. He deserves as much for having the audacity to analyze me! What is he, a stalker?

Though, really, Sesshomaru wasn’t one to talk. He had, after all, done his own fair share of “stalking” over the years, and on a particular hanyou who shall remain nameless for the youkai’s own prideful sake.

The whines in the background continued to increase in volume, grating on Sesshomaru’s nerves as he tried to keep his eyes from glancing over every so often at the naked half-demon next to him.

Avert the eyes, avert the eyes, avert the eyes, he mentally chanted, trying to look at anything in the pretty much otherwise objectless shower. Sure, there were bottles of shampoo, body wash and conditioner, but really, those weren’t anything to look at... not like that wet, naked body beside him that was currently having a battle with itself.

Another whine ripped past the hanyou’s throat and broke all reserve for the youkai next to him.

“That’s it,” Sesshomaru growled to himself, turning toward Inuyasha and stalking forwards without warning.

The next moment and the whining Inuyasha was shoved forward, his hands coming up to brace himself against the white tile of the wall in front of him, and the pressure of another body behind him.

“W-What are you-?” the half-demon began.

“Just shut up and let me do this; you’re completely hopeless,” Sesshomaru grumbled from behind.

Inuyasha suddenly felt slender, yet deceivingly strong fingers weave into the rat’s nest his hair had become. At first the hanyou was confused as to what exactly his brother was doing, even a little flustered, but soon realized the elder one’s true intentions.

A splat could be heard below, and Inuyasha’s honey-gold eyes flicked downwards and saw that it was a small clump of mud. So Sesshomaru was only helping him get all the grime out of his hair... then why did the atmosphere around them make the muscles in his lower abdomen tighten, and his jaw clench? Why did he feel short of breath when Sesshomaru ran his fingers through his wispy strands? Or when he brushed against a sensitive triangle of ear? Why did it feel as if those fingers were deliberately taking their own sweet time to take every single tangle of mud out of his hair? Mercy have pity on his soul, why did it feel so good?

Inuyasha closed his eyes as Sesshomaru’s fingers worked the last bits of mud away from the base of his ears. Only when he felt those talented digits slip away did the hanyou blink, his senses desperately searching for the presence of the one that had been behind him.

A movement off to his right and near the ground caught his attention.

Holy shit.

Sesshomaru, who was still partially behind him, had bent over, making a grab for the shampoo at their feet while Inuyasha hadn’t been paying attention. The first thought that coursed through he hanyou’s mind was, Please don’t look, please don’t look, please don’t look!

However, as Sesshomaru took theatrically long to grasp the neck of the bottle, Inuyasha couldn’t help but whine, looking away up towards the ceiling, some part of him secretly thrilling with excitement at the possibility of his brother being face to face with his now semi-hard cock. He missed the elder’s dark golden eyes flicker towards the very part of him he wanted to be seen.

Sesshomaru could have choked. He seriously could have choked. Why had he looked over when he heard that whine? Why? Because of his stupidity he was now up close and personal with his brother’s admittedly very nice looking-!

No! Sesshomaru thought frantically, standing erect. He furiously chastised himself as his back straightened, the back of the white headed, puppy eared hanyou coming into view.

Sesshomaru wasn’t the only one who had a nervous habit... Oh, no. Inuyasha, when jittery about something always worried his lower lip, his ears twitching this way and that.

Just like they were doing now.

Sesshomaru had no doubt that Inuyasha was nibbling on the bottom of his mouth... the appendage throbbing in retaliation to such uncalled-for treatment of it.

For some reason, the thought of actually seeing the half-demon chewing on his bottom lip, a blush more than likely staining his cheeks, was an incredible turn on. Sesshomaru couldn’t help himself as a strange sense of acceptance of his brother’s physical body washed over him in a warm rush. He didn’t even realize he was doing it until the sinful act was firmly put into motion by whatever the hell was possessing his hands. A gasp was the next thing the youkai heard, and only then did he realize what he was doing.

Sesshomaru’s gold eyes flicked down his arms, noticing how his fingers were firmly set on massaging shampoo into his brother’s hair, tweaking an ear every so often. Inuyasha, in turn, and completely against his will he might add, leaned back into the touch, hands still set against the tile wall in front and helping push his body backwards and into the heavenly caresses. However, as the hanyou moved back, the youkai moved, too.

Lord help him... If Inuyasha brushed their bodies together now... He wouldn’t be able to hide what his traitorous body was feeling. But it really wasn’t helping matters as the shampoo in the half-demon’s hair washed out, suds falling all over his body, and Sesshomaru’s fingers readily following after them.

Talented digits slipped down through short, wet locks, brushed against a quivering neck, and traced the arch of a brilliantly angled shoulder blade as the older demon’s lips parted, half in utter fascination and half in complete fear. What if... What if Inuyasha pulled away and rejected him? Fuck, what if he didn’t feel this ridiculously strong pull towards him, like he did to the hanyou?

Just... feel, came a sudden thought, deep inside the youkai’s chest. Sesshomaru’s eyes fell to half mast, his lungs pulling at the air from around him in thick breaths. Control was relinquished and giving in to his sense of touch was exactly what the demon did...

“Just... feel,” he repeated to himself, so lowly that not even the hanyou that was a mere, scant few inches in front of him could hear.

As Sesshomaru absently licked his lips, gold eyes flickered up and down the lithe, wet backside of his little brother, fingers trailing after the buds of water that beaded on the more chorded muscles of the hanyou.

One hand wandered around a narrow hip, while the other remained caressing up and down Inuyasha’s spine, enjoying the tremble that the half-demon let shiver throughout his body at the simple exploration. The demon’s tongue ran over his own fangs, gently biting down on the thick muscle to keep himself from moaning.

Inuyasha’s skin was taut over live, chorded flesh, the feeling of his skin combined with the warm suds of the shower and shampoo intensifying a strange feeling in Sesshomaru’s body. He felt like he had when Inuyasha and he had been wrestling earlier on the floor... this strange, pleasurable feeling... like when He took over...

“Ahh...!” a low moan emitted from the slightly shorter male in front of him. Only then did Sesshomaru realize that he had taken that extra step forward and aligned their bodies, his obvious erection leaning appreciatively against the hanyou’s ass, gently nudging on the crease of either globe.

Strong hips pushed against the shorter male again as Sesshomaru leaned forward, startling the hanyou even more when he was literally forced face first into the tile wall ahead of them.

“W-What are you doing?!” Inuyasha practically squeaked out, hands scrambling to find their purchase on the slippery white tile as he was embarrassingly reminded of both Sesshomaru’s and his erections.

Flushing all shades of red, the hanyou’s mind quickly went into overdrive, wondering if it was a bad thing to be ridiculously and painfully aroused in the shower with your own brother... while the other was just as hard as he was.

Holy shit... fingers that were not Inuyasha’s own roamed his chest, torso, hips and back while a hot mouth merely hovered over his neck with erotic, threatening ease. Another push of the body from behind and he felt the physical evidence that he wasn’t he only one getting aroused by this shower.

“S-Sesshomaru... W-What are you doing?” then hanyou whispered harshly, unable to sound angry when he was so turned on. He dared not move his head, afraid that if he did turn it to try to look at his brother that their lips would brush... and really, he didn’t need to be in an even more awkward position than he already was in, right?

A nip was bestowed upon the juncture of the half-demon’s neck, chastising him silently as a nose skimmed up the column of flesh to a fuzzy ear, deeply and lowly whispering, “Washing you,” in response.

“Oh,” was the only thing Inuyasha could get out, a sigh escaping his more than pleased body as he allowed the heaviness of his mind to wrap around him like a warm blanket, leaning into the embrace his brother offered from behind... not to mention the nice massage he was receiving.

While Inuyasha was now calmly enjoying the erotic ministrations that felt so naughty yet so pleasant, Sesshomaru was having other problems, particularly with deciding what to do next...

God, he wanted to... he was just itching to let his hand slide down Inuyasha’s taut stomach, only to brush fingers through a patch of course white hairs... He wanted to trail his fingertips up the length of the hard erection he really shouldn’t be peering at from behind Inuyasha’s shoulder. He shouldn’t want to feel it pulsing, warm and thick in his hand as the half-demon’s very desire spilled between his claws. He shouldn’t want to spin the hanyou around, drop to his knees and clean him manually, only to lick and suck him back into hardness...

God, he really shouldn’t be letting his hand drop down to that very enticing sight below Inuyasha’s hips… between those powerful looking thighs...

Sesshomaru’s anticipation grew as his breathing and excitement increased, his claws softly brushing over fine white hairs that stemmed from below the half-demon’s naval to just above the demon’s ultimate goal... Licking his lips, the youkai bit his lip harshly to stop himself from moaning as his hand went to curl around that magnificent-

“INUYASHA!!! SESSHOMARU!!! I’M HOME!!!” came a sudden, muffled cry from downstairs, affectively driving the brother’s apart.

Sesshomaru slammed against the glass behind him, a crack from the impact sounding in the room, announcing to the two current inhabitants that something just snapped. Whether that something was the glass barrier or Sesshomaru’s tailbone, neither boy was sure, nor did they stay still long enough to find out as Sesshomaru pivoted to the left, opened the door and grabbed a few towels in his hands and high-tailed it out of there, his muddy garments left behind in his wake.

I guess his back isn’t broken, Inuyasha thought as he watched his brother escape from the bathroom, more than likely going to lock himself in his room for a few hours... He always had been the most dramatic of the Takahashi men...

Leaning against the tile behind him, Inuyasha allowed his body to slide to the ground, the water still warm and rushing throughout the large shower. He tried to even his breathing out but realized soon that he wouldn’t be able to leave the bathroom now until he had thoroughly taken care of his current... problem.

Licking his lips, the hanyou closed his eyes, sliding fingers up and down his stomach, occasionally tweaking at a nipple, before slowly caressing his way down to grasp his penis in a firm hold... He didn’t realize it but his hands mimicked the same trail Sesshomaru’s fingers had taken earlier...

He would never consciously admit to himself that while he was jacking off in the shower that afternoon, that the imaginary, faceless person that had always pleasured him in the past now had a face, a touch and a name to tag onto his deepest, darkest fantasies.

~ * ~


Author's Note: Anyone else think it's absolutely adorable that Sesshomaru's "comfort habit" is rubbing the soft spot behind his ear? XD (squeezes Sesshomaru) Oh, and I’d like everyone to know how hard it is for me to write smut scenes. I suck at it so I struggle, be kind! T_T lol.