Past Lives, Current Conflictions

Chapter 6: The Ponderings of an Old Dog and the Surprise!

InuTaishou stepped up to the front door, digging through his coat pocket for his house keys.

He grumbled up a storm, hating the fact that he’d always walk home from work for lunch and not just drive. Then again, the only time he ever had time to exercise was on his walk from and to work in the afternoons. But... damn, it was hot out for heaven’s sake! Hmm. Maybe he could get Sesshomaru to drop him off at work later, seeing as how he didn’t seem all that chipper at the idea of being around Inuyasha this morning...

Come to think of it, InuTaishou thought, finding his keys and then inserting the right one into the lock, maybe I could use a shower before I go back to work... Upon the click of the lock popping open the youkai looked up at the door and only then noticed the green stickies plastered to his usually immaculate red door.

InuTaishou squinted his eyes, trying to make sense of the barrage of festively colored papers (yes, plural; one sticky note obviously was not being enough seeing as how there were about seven lined up haphazardly across his door). Slowly yet surely the scribbles took form in the demon’s mind as he started sounding out each syllable. “He’s... not... home. Go... a... way...” the old dog paused in thought, scratching the side of his face. “Ah. Sesshomaru,” he finally concluded, stepping in.

His eldest son always had had the poorest handwriting of the Takahashi men, InuTaishou sighed, as he walked into his home. He paused when he first started walking past the kitchen... only to find... dirty plates!

His eye twitched in instant agitation.

InuTaishou chanted to himself, a vein, or four, popping up just over his right, convulsing brow. They’re still young, not to mention they both have Inuyasha’s heat to deal with... I will not mangle them and use their hides as front door stepping rugs...

If it was one thing the boys had learned not to do, aside from a ten page list of everything else, it was to NOT leave dirty anything anywhere in the house. Ever.

Oooh, he could feel it bubbling in the back of his throat, a rumbling demand for his sons to come and face their executioner... even if it was in the grounding sense.

“INUYASHA!!! SESSHOMARU!!! I’M HOME!!!” he yelled, fairly sure both boys would feel their fur standing on end for a moment, obviously realizing that they hadn’t done their chores and then high-tailing it downstairs on the pronto!

But nooo. Instead InuTaishou heard a CRASH! and a CRACK! sounding from upstairs... probably coming from the show-!

Oh, Lord.

And then frantic footfalls reverberating through the second floor hallways, oddly enough sounding like it was heading straight to Sesshomaru’s room from the bathing room. And then InuTaishou heard a door slam shut and a lock, nope, there was a chair also shoved up against the door from the inside, being locked and then absolute silence...

He stood perfectly still for a few more minutes, listening carefully for any telltale signs of possible life upstairs. Maybe they had killed each other? No. Sesshomaru knew that he’d hang him by his toes if he hurt his younger sibling in any way, shape or form, save for the occasional brotherly scuffle most males were apt in having during their young years.

Hmm, well he knew where Sesshomaru was, more than likely pacing about in his room in a huff, or beating the hell out of some poor, innocent bystander, usually in the form of his younger brother or an old pillow that he hugged when he was asleep (a habit that if anyone ever mentioned aloud, even to those few that knew, would suffer a very painful... something. No one knew what they’d suffer, only that they really didn’t want to know).

But InuTaishou knew that Inuyasha wasn’t in there; no way in Hades would Sesshomaru ever let his little brother into his private sanctuary, which basically consisted of the entire West wing of the house. That side of the house was precious to him since it had been where Sesshomaru’s mother had painted in the Blue room, played the piano in the Music room or weaved out on the terrace that overlooked their large expanse of backyard.

Yes, the West wing was precious to Sesshomaru because of his mother. Too bad the old bitch had high-tailed it out of there as fast as she could once Sesshomaru turned one year old. And with InuTaishou’s last boss, no less. He still had the feeling that there was some ounce of hope left in his eldest son at the possible (not really) prospect of his estranged mother to return home to them.

InuTaishou was glad though that when he had met and dated Inuyasha’s mother, that Sesshomaru, who was only about one and a half at the time, wasn’t completely averse to having a strange, darker haired female hug him until he cried out with giggles, cooing at him until his small, cherubic baby cheeks rosed over in a very becoming blush. And his little boy grew even fonder of Izayoi over the next year or so, in which the happily engaged couple found that she was pregnant with InuTaishou’s second child, and her first.

InuYasha Takahashi was born on a sunny June 13th day, in the late afternoon. He was probably the most curious thing InuTaishou had ever seen, what with his little puppy dog ears clinging relentlessly to his little, sparse of hair head. Like when he first held Sesshomaru, his heart seemed to swell with ridiculous amounts of pride and he couldn’t keep a lazy, contented smile from stretching across his face. Even after his fingers were nearly torn off during Izayoi’s labor, at which point she had cursed him out with a number of creative expletives that he had never even heard of before, let alone would ever have expected spewing from his sweet, shy wife’s mouth, all the while crushing his hand in a death grip he thought no human would be capable of... under other circumstances. Yes, females were a thing to fear. Especially when in labor. To this day, InuTaishou could still hear her screeching threats of “This is all your fault!”, “You just had to CENSORCENSORCENSOR!!”, and of course, his favorite, “When this is over I’ll rip your CENSORCENSOR and then you can have the next one and see how much you like it!!!”

InuTaishou sighed, rerunning those fond memories in his head. Lord, how he missed his late wife, God rest her soul.

It had been hard to say goodbye to her. Not only for him, but for the children she had raised with him as well; even though one was her biological son, the other an adopted one, she loved them both equally and treated them the same. Her death had been very hard for the boys, especially Inuyasha for obvious reasons, who, at the time, had only been 10 years old. Sesshomaru... Sesshomaru was another case entirely.

The entire tragic event had scarred his eldest son because it was the second mother he had lost in his short, thirteen years of life, though this one even more so because of all the years he had known her as his ‘mother.’ Back then the boys hadn’t been able to completely comprehend what it was that had exactly taken their mother away from them. Now though... now they understood all too well.

InuTaishou frowned, feeling that unbearable feeling of absolute solitude wash over him, pulling at his heart and tearing at the sides of his eyes. Damn it, but it had been almost eight years ago and he still couldn’t think of that one moment in time without almost completely losing it. Having lost her... and how they had lost her... InuTaishou knew he had effectively lost a part of himself.

The old dog sat down at the kitchen table, allowing his head to fall in his hands as he tried to gather his wits about him, not to mention calming his frazzled nerves as he heard footsteps make their way out of their room and down the hallway to the stairs.

Taking a deep breath, InuTaishou raised his head, cleared his thoughts and put on a bright smile as his eldest son rounded the corner of the staircase and stopped dead in his tracks, more than likely suspicious at the creepy smile his father was giving him.

Here goes nothing, InuTaishou thought. Izayoi, help me stay strong for the boys and their uncertain future... I hope my meddling won’t scar them further after the loss of you.

- - -

He walked down the stairs calmly, calculating every single step he took. Had he not he wasn’t sure he would have come out of his room, let alone would have been walking steadily down the stairs to the one that had interrupted a rather... interesting endeavor at brotherly bonding. His insides felt like they might come out at any moment... why the hell was he so nervous, let alone... scared?

And then he looked up from counting his steps to his father’s brightly smiling face and came to a dead halt, instantly on guard.
“Afternoon, Sesshomaru!” the older man greeted in a sing-song voice, waving his hand in the air.

Sesshomaru sighed. Really, his father was physically exhausting sometimes...

“Good afternoon, Father,” came a curt nod from the younger demon, immediately taking a seat on the other side of the table.

“Where’s your brother?” InuTaishou asked curiously.

Sesshomaru’s face tightened even more and a soft blush dusted across his face as he grumbled, “In the shower.”

“Again? Man, that heat must really be getting to him. Poor boy.”

“He’s not the only one it’s getting to...” Sesshomaru mumbled under his breath.

“What was that?” InuTaishou asked, ears twitching a bit at what he thought he might have heard... Surely, Sesshomaru hadn’t said... what he thought he had said... had he?

“Nothing,” the moody twenty-one year old grumbled again, slouching in his chair and frowning at some really interesting spot on the floor.

InuTaishou blinked a few times, staring at his son, while cocking his head to the side in thought. Only then did he realize that maybe... his earlier thoughts of his sons intentionally neglecting the dishes and hiding from his wrath had been incorrect...

“You look like you’re fresh out of the shower, too. Did you follow your old man’s suggestion and help your brother out?” InuTaishou prodded innocently.

Sesshomaru, whose eyes had slightly widened, turned his eyes to his father’s, about ready to growl out that, no, he didn’t get a chance to help his brother out since someone decided to interrupt what had probably been the biggest moment of his sexual career-! No! He meant that he wouldn’t be doing that because it was obviously completely and morally wrong to do in the first place, when a voice interrupted his mind’s rant.

“Help me with what?” came the gruff voice of Inuyasha as he noisily came down the stairs, rubbing a towel in his hair.

An awkward silence came over the room like suffocating miasma as the three males looked from one to the other suspiciously; Sesshomaru growled, InuTaishou smiled and waved a ‘good afternoon, Inuyasha’ to his youngest son, all the while Inuyasha just stared back utterly confused.

“Well, how about I make lunch?” InuTaishou offered.

“NO!” came the immediate reply as the Father of Toast is a Healthy Every Meal Food tried to stand up and make his way to the toaster.

“I’ll do it,” Inuyasha said, throwing his towel off to the side, where it landed on a plant. InuTaishou frowned. What was wrong with kids these days and just throwing things off to the side where they didn’t belong?

As Inuyasha picked through the refrigerator for whatever meat and condiments he could find to make sandwiches, his father spoke up, twiddling his thumbs together on the table as he did.

“I’ve got a surprise for you guys,” were the uttered words of doom.

Both Sesshomaru and Inuyasha went rigid with suspicion.

I knew there was something up the second I came into the kitchen! Sesshomaru thought, hoping beyond hope that it wasn’t anything remotely close to publicly announcing anything about his father and his agreement that he help his little brother out this week.

Oh God, please let the phone ring! Or make my pants catch on fire! Anything! I highly doubt I really want to hear this! Inuyasha groaned inside his head, eyes glued to his father’s twiddling thumbs and cheery face.

InuTaishou looked up then, blinked and then began laughing.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru just looked at each other, silently conveying their confusion with the current situation.

“Oh, boys, really. Your expressions of mistrust hurt me, right here,” InuTaishou said, resting his right hand over his heart, all the while chuckling. “It’s not as bad as you think. In fact, I’m sure you’ll love it! I’ve gone ahead and volunteered us to help out at the International Cultural Festival this week!”

Sesshomaru and Inuyasha groaned audibly the next second, only to start off with excuses like, “I have summer classes that need to be attended,” and the more creative, “I’ll be on the moon... with Steve...(1)”

“Oh don’t be so down about it! We only have to work one day and then you’ll be school free!” InuTaishou said merrily. “But each group of volunteers has to concentrate on a certain area as well as a certain culture, and I’ve already chosen a country and an era for us!” More groaning ensued. “Not only that but I stopped by the school this afternoon and picked up about six different costumes we can wear while participating!” The sound of a dying cat could not compare to the pathetic whimpers and painful moans that emitted from the younger males.

“But dad!” Inuyasha began.

“Father, this really is coming out of nowhere, you can’t expect us to just drop our previous engagements to-” Sesshomaru started.

“Ah. Ah. I’m the father, and you still live in my household, Sesshomaru. You too, Inuyasha, so I don’t want to hear any part of that ‘I’m old enough to do what I want,’ spiel. Got that?” The boys nodded sullenly in affirmation feeling like they were 5 year olds all over again. “Good. Now, I’ve put the costumes in the den, so you can check those out and pick out your favorite one to wear tomorrow for the festival!” InuTaishou said as he stood up. “Hm. What else? Oh. Here’re the details of our jobs and what our culture and time period is,” the older male said as he unfolded a piece of paper and handed it to Sesshomaru to look over. “Anyway, I don’t have time for lunch today, so I’ll see you guys later tonight!”

And with that InuTaishou high-tailed it out of the kitchen. But not before he yelled a “AND DON’T FORGET TO CLEAN THE DISHES!!” as he slammed the front door shut.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen both brothers gave sighs of relief that their father was gone until dinner time... though they regained some sense as they caught the other’s eyes and quickly looked away, busying themselves with other things; Inuyasha continued on making four sandwiches, two for him and two for the confusing bastard behind him, while Sesshomaru read over the paper his father had given him.

“Hmm,” Sesshomaru mumbled.

“What?” Inuyasha asked, not bothering to turn around or look at his brother.

“It appears... our country of focus is Japan. And our era,” Sesshomaru paused, not sure he could read the scrawled handwriting.

“Well?” Inuyasha pushed.

Sesshomaru growled out a warning as he threw the paper on the table in a huff.

Inuyasha turned, only to see his brother defeated by elegant handwriting. He snorted. Stupid asshole couldn’t read the neat handwriting cause he was too used to his own crappy scribbles.

The hanyou sighed, cleaning his hands and picking the paper up and reading it for himself.

“Well, this should make you happy,” came Inuyasha’s dry voice.

Sesshomaru looked at him questionably.

“You like boring shit like this; it’s right up your alley.”

The youkai shot his younger brother an annoyed look. “Well?” he pressed, mocking his brother’s earlier inquiry.

“As you said, our country of focus is Japan, while our period of concentration is the Feudal Era.”


~ * ~


Author's Note: *teehee* Ah, so the marker in this story, (1), is actually a line (or something remotely close to it anyway) that belongs to the awesome Eddie Izzard.