The Characters of Inuyasha (manga and anime) belong to Takahashi Rumiko

Grandfather’s Last Request – Part Three

The ringing of the telephone echoed painfully in his ears as he was rudely brought out from his pleasant dream to the darkness of his bedroom. Groaning, he tried to cover his ears with the blanket, refusing to be woken up by one of the most useless things his wife insisted they buy as a necessity.

“Wake up... the phone...” his wife nudged him drowsily.

“No, I don’t want to...” He sighed in relief when the ringing finally stopped, only to have it start all over again, somehow sounding much louder than before.

“It must be important if they’re ringing twice... Do you want me to get it?”

“No... No, I’ll get it.” Forcing himself out of bed, his feet dragged along the floor, finding his way to the accursed piece of plastic called the telephone. He picked it up, opened his mouth to speak, but the person on the other end was quicker.

“Hello?” the cheery voice chirped. “Are you awake?”

“No.” he said tersely, the feeling of wanting to strangle the person who owned such a perky voice growing with each second that passed.

“Good.” The other man replied, unfazed by his friend’s poorly suppressed anger. “Want to hear what happened today? It is truly an earth-shattering story.”

“I doubt that.”

“It involves your brother.”

The man’s eyes snapped opened, now wide awake, the mentioning of his brother pulling his senses into full alertness. “What do you mean?” he asked slowly, staring into the mouthpiece as if daring the thing to answer.

“Your brother... has decided to play matchmaker.”

The deathly silence that followed after the man had finished his story was not unexpected; however, he would safely say that the evening would certainly turn out to be one very interesting date.

Sesshoumaru laid comfortably on his enormous bed, his eyes closed, blocking out all the images of reality, and focussing on the past from long ago, particularly one incident which had haunted him for as long as he could remember.

Memories trickled in, one by one, until he opened his eyes and found himself as a much younger youkai, dressed in elaborate armour and majestic moko-moko, his long, silvery hair flowing easily with the cool breeze of the evening. He had walked to the forest, a place where his younger brother had spent most of his life, with one objective on his mind. Being a creature blessed with a long life, he had been through much, and seen things and remembered events of the country’s history which no man or youkai would have cared to remember. Sesshoumaru was a proud Tai-youkai, who did not concern himself with anybody lower than his class, which included almost about everybody in the whole of the country, and he certainly did not concern himself with the bastard known as his ill-bred, half-brother, Inuyasha.

Since the day he was born, his life had taken for the worst, and he blamed it all on the hanyou. There was not a day that went by without his planning of revenge on him, to make his life as unbearable as possible, for taking away everything that was important to the youkai, and to show him just how worthless he was to the world. Yet, when Inuyasha decided to retaliate, it became a never-ending war between the two, each refusing to give in to the other.

He breathed in, and caught a scent which was the most familiar to him.

Blood...?

And there he found him, huddled against the old well, covered in blood, his and of his slain enemies, hardly moving.

The Tai-youkai never knew why Inuyasha had an unhealthy obsession with the dried up well, but all his thoughts vanished when he saw the person’s eyes open, showing the dim gold, looking passively back at him.

“Sesshoumaru...?” Inuyasha asked wearily. “Go away. Can’t you see I’m dying?”

“Yes. Your stench told me as much.” He saw his younger brother smile wryly, a smile which always managed to annoy him. “How could you have let something like this...?”

“She went away. I made her go away. I told her, she would have had a better life back there, where she lived... family, friends... and nice things that I could never provide for her. I told her... that she... she would find someone... someone better than me...”

“Then you are as foolish as you are weak.”

“Well... what did you expect? I’m only a hanyou...”

It was the last thing he heard his brother say, before he closed his eyes for the last time. Haunting words, said by the one whom he did not want to hear from. The final acceptance of his weakness only made the older brother grip harder at his shoulders, trying to force him to awaken, but to no avail. Finally, solemnly, he gingerly picked the hanyou up, his nerves shaken by the irony of it all. That Inuyasha had died, just as their father had died, all because they had been in love with their mortal women.

He stole a look at his brother, seeing that his face looked much younger than he remembered, like a child, his only brother, lost to him now.

“I’m sorry.”

“Really?” the irritated voice of his brother caused Sesshoumaru to look down at him in shock. “If you are really sorry, then you should pick up the fucking phone. It’s killing my ears.”

The youkai’s eyes snapped opened, with the dream still vivid in his mind, much like the phone, which was incessantly ringing its high pitched melody. Seeing the little screen flash, he stared blearily at it, and chose to ignore it when he saw the ID number. He sighed when the ringing stopped, lying back on the bed to get some much needed sleep in preparation for the morning. Though peace and quiet were luxuries which no one seemed willing to give to him, because by the time he had closed his eyes, the phone started to ring again, along with his mobile phone that not only rung its annoying tune but also vibrated noisily on the bedside table.

With a frustrated roll of his eyes, he lightly picked up the receiver, and immediately knew from the angry tones of his voice that came out from the mouthpiece, that some human idiot did not know how to keep his secret plan, secret, and now he had to deal with this person.

“Well, good morning to you too, Inuyasha.”

“Who the fuck gave you permission to meddle with my love life?!”

Sesshoumaru smiled, taking a deliberate pause before answering. “Why, I gave myself permission, otouto. And as your older brother, I have every right to meddle in your love life.” He paused again, enjoying the muffled, livid, grumblings of his little brother. If there was one thing that amused him – although a childish amusement he knew – it was how easily he could irritate the hanyou. It was like he had issued him a challenge, and like the stubborn person Inuyasha was, he had accepted without question.

“If you’re looking for a fight...”

“Perhaps...” but the phone had cut off before he could finish his response.

A few hours later in the Higurashi household, Inuyasha woke up to find he had spent another night sleeping in Kagome’s bed, and that his arms were wrapped around the young miko, as if this was the most natural thing to do between a loving couple. He gasped when the realisation hit upon him, and yet, he didn’t want to let her go as he thought she would awaken if he tried to move, but more importantly, he didn’t want to lose Kagome’s warmth from him.

Poor Kagome... Timidly, he ran his fingertips across her fringe and down her cheek, the only thing he felt he could do without her knowing.

Even though Inuyasha knew he had the old man’s blessing... well, more like the dying wish of Kagome’s grandfather, that didn’t mean he felt any less nervous around her. There was something about her that made him feel so awkward, so confused about his own actions and words. He had a hard enough time expressing his thoughts, yet whenever the woman would look at him with those blue-grey eyes of hers; he could never seem to say the right things in her presence. It was different when they were fighting with some youkai, or even Naraku. In those sorts of situations he generally knew what he was doing. However, on any other normal day, when they were alone, one look, one accidental touch of their hands, made him lose all of his concentration, and he would end up not knowing what do next. Worst of all, everyone, including his brother, had decided to play the matchmaker, and truthfully it was beginning to scare him. To him, it all seemed like a game, a notion which he did not like at all.

The thought passed when he heard something tap at the window. His canine ears flicked at the sound, then flicked again when he heard the same sound hitting the window. Frowning and reluctantly getting out of the bed, he softly padded to the window, sliding it open to see what was making the noise.

“Hey, down here!”

Inuyasha peered down, and saw a man, standing tall and confident. A man who strangely looked like... Shaking his head and then rubbing his eyes, he stared out the window.

“Good morning, Inuyasha! I’m here to pick you up.”

The hanyou continued to stare at the smiling young man with bright blue eyes and short dark hair tied neatly at the base of his neck, before closing the window and shutting the curtains to block out the sight before him.

“I did not see that.”

“See what?” Kagome asked sleepily. “I heard someone talking...is it a trespasser?”

“I-It’s nothing, Kagome. I’ll go out and fix it.” Glad that the miko was too drowsy to notice that anything was wrong, Inuyasha quickly dashed out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door of the house to see if he had been dreaming, without even noticing that three pairs of eyes had been watching him hurriedly exit through the door.

“There you are. For a minute there, I was beginning to get worried.”

“M... M... Miroku?” he said suspiciously. “H-how did you get here?”

“By car, of course,” the man answered, his eyes twinkling with humour.

“You’re lying, bonzu. There’s no way you could have gone through the well and ended up here.”

“The well, what well? Oh right.” ‘Miroku’ chuckled. “You have it all wrong. I am Miroku, but not the one you are thinking of. It’s a long story. Let’s go, I have the car waiting, and ah, my baby gets impatient if we keep her waiting.”

“Your bay-bee...? What?” Dumbfounded, the hanyou allowed the man to grab his wrist and drag him down the stairs of the shrine to the silver car parked beside the curb. Eyeing the dark haired man who stood in front of him, he realised how uncanny the similarities were between this Miroku, and the pervert from five hundred years back. He then blinked, contemplating the possibility of his personality being the same as well, and couldn’t help being spooked by such an idea. It couldn’t be... It’s not possible...

“I didn’t mean to be so rude and not introduce myself before. It’s just Sesshoumaru thought it would have been a better idea for us not to meet. Anyway,” he continued, with a dismissive wave of his hand, “how could I not meet you, when you have already met my baby.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“My baby, the car you see before you. Isn’t she beautiful? I mean look at her, sleek, firm body, silvery smooth skin, and the nicest rear that could ever exist on a car. Touch it, Inuyasha; see how firm the bottom is?”

Indeed, Inuyasha did touch the car’s rear, as the man didn’t give him much of a choice when he took his hand and made it run along the edges of the vehicle in a loving, caressing manner, which made the hanyou feel suddenly very dirty inside.

“Are you all right? You’re all pale.”

“You see, this was why I did not allow you to meet him.” Sesshoumaru said, his presence materialising from out of nowhere. “Do not listen to him, otouto. Once he starts talking about his car, he never stops. So let us leave it at that, right now. We have a big day ahead of us, and I do not want my brother to be traumatised by your ‘stories’, Miroku.” And so the conversation was left hanging in the air, with Miroku silently starting the car and Sesshoumaru sitting next to Inuyasha with an expression that the hanyou could only describe as sour – an expression he never knew his brother could convey.

Meanwhile, in a house on the outer skirts of Tokyo, surrounded by a dense forest, the occupants of the house were in the daily routine of eating a pleasant breakfast in the company of each other.

The woman looked at her husband, who was drumming his fingers on the wooden table, with a scowl on his face.

“I take it that the phone call from your brother didn’t go so well.”

The man stopped halfway from eating his pickled radish. “How did you know?”

“You always have that look every time you talk to him. What did he say to you this time?”

“Keh,” he replied, looking outside at the small garden, refusing to notice the concerned eyes of his wife.

“Inuyasha...” she whispered while drawing her toes along his leg. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”

“Bad?” he retorted. “Of all his schemes, this is... the worst. Can you believe it? For some reason, he wants to play matchmaker.”

“Why does he want to do that?”

“I don’t know. He’s organised the whole dinner, and everything.”

“Wow.” She smiled, chewing thoughtfully at her rice. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to stop him.” The hanyou stood up determinedly, straightening out his shirt, and was about to leave through the door, when he was stopped by his wife.

“You can’t.” She said, holding a finger to his lips before he could answer. “Not without me.”

He grinned, kissing her hand. “It wouldn’t be a dinner without you, Kagome.”

“Where are we going?” Inuyasha asked, looking around in the interior of the car, the sense of uncomfortableness clear on his mind, yet not really knowing the reason. Beside from the fact that he was sitting inside the car, a car which Inuyasha suspected Miroku treated all too similarly like a woman.

“Sesshoumaru, I think we should call this off.” Miroku commented, eyeing the hanyou from the rear-view mirror. “Ever since I said hello to him, well, look at him, all pale and sweaty.”

Indeed the older brother did look at the younger, and was not too surprised when he saw him nervously looking around, quite different from his reaction yesterday when they rode in Miroku’s car. Not too surprised, because he too had the same reaction, except he was unprepared when he heard the real name of the car, and saw it emblazoned on its license plates.

Sesshoumaru also remembered having many a sleepless night after the unfortunate experience.

“He will be fine, once you stop talking, Miroku.” He icily breathed out, before turning his attention back to his brother. “Now then, firstly, you are going to get some new clothes and a pair of dress shoes.”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing now?” Inuyasha asked, looking down at his kimono.

“Look around you, Inuyasha. Do you see anyone wearing the same type of clothes that you are wearing? If you want to impress Kagome on your little date, then you will also have to play the part.”

The hanyou frowned, and his face remained in the same position, even as he stood in front of the three panel mirror, his reflections staring back at him while the tailor fitted him with a suit of black soft material.

“Whatever is the matter now?” Sesshoumaru asked from behind him.

“What’re you really up to? Why do you want to get us together? I thought you hated anything that involved humans.”

The youkai smiled, a subtly wicked smile, which made Inuyasha’s temper flare up considerably.

“Do you find it strange that I, Sesshoumaru, would want to help you?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, well...” and he left his words to hang while he grinned, unknowingly sending chills down the tailor’s spine.

Kagome sighed in relief as the bell rang for the end of the school day. She was thankful that it was a Saturday, because her mind had been too occupied since the morning to think about a full day of school. It had started late last night, when Inuyasha asked if she would go out to dinner with him. Initially, and quite naturally, she had said yes, but as the hours drifted blissfully by, Kagome soon realised that it was Inuyasha, who had asked her to go out to dinner with him. She was far from having second thoughts; it was something only her fantasies were able to accomplish. But to hear him say those words, words which she never would have imagined would come out of his mouth, the surprise left her with little sleep.

I must have been dreaming. Yes, that’s it... dreaming...

She heard voices calling out her name, and turned to see her friends, who were excitedly asking her what she was going to do for the rest of the weekend. To which Kagome immediately blushed in response, remembering what she had been dreading for most of the morning.

Sly looks filled the girls’ faces as they huddled around their friend, already guessing what her plans were going to be for the afternoon.

“Wha-wha-what are you guys looking at?” Kagome asked.

“Don’t deny it, Kagome-chan. That look on your face tells us that you’re going out on a date.”

“A d-date... me? He just asked me out to dinner, that’s all.” She covered her mouth to stop herself from talking.

“I knew it! Who is it?”

“It must be that foreigner boyfriend.”

“Oh how sweet!”

Kagome laughed nervously as her friends hooked their arms around hers, and with big grins on their faces, began talking about helping her out with the makeup and hair. Not that she was being ungrateful to her friends; it was a long time since she had a chance to have a normal day to do what teenagers normally did. It wouldn’t have been right for her to ruin it for them.

She smiled.

They squealed, and Kagome knew then, that she was in trouble.

Inuyasha pressed his face against the glass, eyeing the sparkling pieces of jewellery displayed on top of boxes covered in some deep red fabric. He blinked at the brightness, and at the many zeros on the tiny labels attached to the said jewellery. Moving his head slightly, he watched his older brother talking to a person standing behind the counter.

“What’s he doing now?” the hanyou asked, seeing that the conversation between Sesshoumaru and the owner of the shop was becoming increasingly heated, on Sesshoumaru’s part. The other man just kept shaking his head, pure fear controlling his actions.

“Oh, your brother thought it would be nice if you gave Kagome-san something special. You know, for your little date.” Miroku replied. “Women like that sort of thing.”

“Oh...” Inuyasha’s face fell, while his ears drooped slightly. “They like that sort of thing.”

“Ha, ha, that’s not to say all women like expensive things.” He replied quickly, trying to recover from the brief awkward moment. The phone in his jacket began to ring, so after excusing himself, he deftly slipped his mobile phone out, and flipped the cover open to answer it.

“What’s he doing now?” said the voice on the other end.

“You know, old boy, your younger self just asked the exact same thing. And keep your voice down, he might hear you.”

“Don’t ‘old boy’, me, Miroku. Are you at the jewellery shop?”

“Yes, and Sesshoumaru doesn’t look too happy. What did you do?” Before he could answer, Sesshoumaru had stalked out from the store, snatched the phone from Miroku’s hand and said,

“He bought everything in the store. Especially the piece I had been reserving for six months. The same piece I had specifically made for this occasion: handcrafted, gold, diamonds, ¥4,000,000. Do you know anyone who would be foolish enough to do such a thing, to this Sesshoumaru?”

“No idea,” the voice then cut off, much to the youkai’s dissatisfaction.

All Inuyasha could do was to look at them, deciding whoever had just spoken from the strange little rectangle called a mobile phone, had just pissed Sesshoumaru off. Something he thought was not possible. It was amusing though, as it was evident by his growing urge to snicker out loud. But one look from his brother stopped him.

“Look, why don’t we break for lunch, Sesshoumaru? I’m sure there are plenty of jewellery stores around to your liking.” Miroku said.

“That is hardly the point, Miroku. I am just trying to help my poor little brother, and I do not need him to ruin my fun.” He strode off down the street, his powerful yet graceful strides making a few passers-by step back in fright.

The dark haired man just smiled, grabbing Inuyasha by the arm, and pulled him along so that they could catch up with Sesshoumaru. They found him a short time after, standing outside a modern looking, yet classy cafe.

“The usual table, sir?” the waiter asked, ushering the three men inside to a table that was covered with a crisp white tablecloth, and surrounded by seats of green velvet.

Inuyasha quietly sat on the surprisingly comfortable seat, looking around his surroundings with a mixture of awe and uncertainty. It was a surreal feeling, sitting with his brother, and an odd man who insisted he be called Miroku, in a place that was very different from Kagome’s house or her school. He could tell by its settings and atmosphere that this was a fancy place – just to eat – yet there was something else on his mind which demanded an answer, as he pointedly looked at the blue eyed man sitting next to him.

“Now out with it. Are you the Miroku from my time, or did some shit happen to make you appear here?”

“Language, please, Inuyasha.” Sesshoumaru hushed, seeing the waiter giving strange looks in his direction.

“Oh yes. I said I would explain, didn’t I? It’s not that big a deal. You know that in some families, it is tradition for every first-born son to be named after the father. My father was named Miroku, and so was my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, and so on. And to think, this tradition came out from a joke my ancestor from your time, said to you.”

“What joke?” Inuyasha asked, slowly.

“The story has been passed down that every first-born male is to be named Miroku, in honour of his friendship with you. Since he could not live a long life like you could, he felt this was the best thing he could do, so that you would not feel so lonesome.”

The hanyou fell speechless at his words. This person had to be lying, or at least fucking around with his mind with heart-felt words. It didn’t help that his face was almost identical to the houshi from the other side of the well. Shit... Perhaps he was putting too much thought into it, as his head was starting to hurt. So he decided to play along, and hoped that sooner or later he would wake up and find out that he had been asleep after all.

“Th-thanks, M-Miroku. I don’t know what to say.”

The young man smiled. “Don’t think anything about it. Guys like us have to stick together. We’re different from normal society.”

Both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru looked at Miroku with strange expressions on their faces, with one thought on their mind: Only you would think like that, Miroku...

“So, otouto,” Sesshoumaru began. “Have you given any thought about how you are going to propose to her? I have provided a venue for you, a nice little restaurant, clothes, and other accessories. So how are you going to ask her?”

Inuyasha visibly gulped. He had been so overwhelmed, being whisked here and there, that he had not given much thought on the actual proposal.

“Typical.” He stated, earning a glare from his younger brother.

“Well, I did plan to write it out,” from his sleeve, he produced a small, folded piece of paper, which Miroku promptly snatched away.

“But...,” he blinked. “You only have her name on it. Oh, never mind, I can write the rest for you. I’m very good at poetry.” He began to write excitedly, deftly avoiding Inuyasha’s attempts to snatch the paper away from him. “There, all done,” and he quickly slipped it into his sleeve before the hanyou could react. “Say that, and she’ll be in your arms tonight, in more ways than one.”

Lunch went by without much commotion, beside the fact the waiter had asked about Inuyasha’s choice of clothes and the ears on top of his head, to which his brother replied by saying that it was part of his costume, and that he wore them to keep in character while performing at the Sunset Shrine.

“Oh, I see. And might I add that it suits you, sir, especially the ears, very life-like.”

“What did he mean by that?” For some reason, he had a feeling that this man knew him. How was it possible, he had no idea, unless... “Does he know me?” His answer was blank looks from both Miroku and Sesshoumaru, and a suspicious silence, before an annoying ringing sound interrupted his concentration.

“It’s for you.” Miroku handed Sesshoumaru the phone, and without another word, the silver-haired man stood up and walked out of the cafe, his voice low while he spoke into the phone. He then sighed, shaking his head. “That brother of yours, he’s really enthusiastic about this proposal thing. I wonder why. Something must have happened to make him act like that.”

Inuyasha didn’t reply, wondering the same thing. Was it regret for something? Somehow he doubted his bastard brother would have such feelings, or at least to that extreme. After all, he was a bastard.

Wasn’t he?

Much to her dismay, Kagome’s friends had followed her home, and were now in her bedroom, with Eri combing her hair and Yuka admiring the soft pink and burgundy dress, while Ayumi sat quietly listening to the other three talking eagerly about Kagome’s upcoming date. Well, at least Eri and Yuka were.

“You don’t have to do this for me.” Kagome said, watching herself in the mirror as Eri combed through her dark locks. “He’s only taking me out to dinner.”

“You were always like this, Kagome-chan. Whenever Hojou-kun took you out to lunch, you never thought of it as anything special.”

“That’s because he’s just a friend. Can’t friends have lunch together?”

Eri looked at Yuka with an incredulous expression. “I don’t think you understand. Hojou-kun may be just a friend, but isn’t this different? You were asked by your foreigner boyfriend. You know the two-timing, dangerous gang member. The one you always kept complaining about, yet stuck through for him. His invitation must mean something. And that dress, it’s not the kind of dress someone gives to a ‘friend’.”

“Jii-chan gave it to me.”

“So?”

Kagome rolled her eyes, finding Eri’s logic a little hard to believe. Her grandfather’s gift had nothing to do with Inuyasha asking her out, nothing at all.

Are you sure, Kagome? Her mind reasoned with her. Think about it. Jii-chan giving you the dress, then Inuyasha asking you out, and the fact that no one told you where he left this morning, not even dog-boy, himself. It’s a bit suspicious, don’t you think?

“It has nothing to do with that.” She blurted out. “He just asked me out to dinner. Why do you keep making such a big deal about it? It’s not like he’s going to propose to me.” Then in a second, she gasped, blushing at her outburst of denial. Fortunately, her friends had taken in her words, proceeding to take their conversation to a different and more awkward topic.

“A real proposal,” Yuka gushed dreamily, “A promise of marriage.”

“You’re so lucky, Kagome-chan.” Ayumi said. “Not many guys these days would make that kind of commitment.”

“Not you too, Ayumi-chan. He’s not going to propose to me. We’re just going out to dinner.”

The three girls looked at each other then back at Kagome, the disbelief of their friend’s denial, or perhaps naivety, was so much like Kagome. However this was different, this was her boyfriend. The one whom she claimed was nothing but a trouble maker, a delinquent, who couldn’t get over his other girlfriend. The same one who picked her up after school, carried her home when she had been too exhausted to walk, and had generally been nice to them. So why was she being so difficult? It was obvious that he was a nice guy, very different from Kagome’s description.

Was it possible that she was really in love with the guy but was trying to refuse her own feelings for him?

The three girls nodded and put their hands on Kagome’s shoulders for support.

“Don’t worry, Kagome-chan.” Eri said.

“We believe in you, so do your best,” added Yuka.

Kagome sweat-dropped, wondering what had occurred to cause them to have such odd grins plastered all over their faces. What just happened...?

Inuyasha’s face pressed against the glass of a bakery, his eyes glazed in wonderment at all the different types of bread teasing him with their appearance and delicious smells. If there was one thing he liked about this era, besides being in Kagome’s room, was the apparent overabundance of foods waiting to be eaten. The thought of food made him hungry again, despite having lunch not too long ago. He couldn’t help himself; he had simply been walking behind Sesshoumaru, to yet another jewellery store, when his nose twitched at an aroma so enticing, so magnetic, that his whole body detoured towards the shop.

“And how do you see this date as being successful, Sesshoumaru?” Kouga said, pointing towards the hanyou. “Do you see how committed he is, that instead of looking at jewellery pieces to impress Kagome, he has gotten googly eye over bread and pastry. Look at him, selfish bastard. Only thinks about food—”

“Go buy him some, will you?” Sesshoumaru replied, giving him a look which told the ookami to stalk off to where Inuyasha was.

“Selfish bastard,” Kouga seethed. He glared at Inuyasha happily munching away at the bag full of bread rolls and pastries, the ones he bought with his own money. Goddamn puppy. His stomach rumbled in protest, and his mouth watered at the smell of freshly baked goods.

“You want one?” The hanyou asked between mouthfuls, offering him a pastry, which Kouga took, after some hesitation.

Sesshoumaru stepped out from the shop, his irritation twitching at his left eye. It was not possible; there were no suitable pieces he could purchase as a gift so that his brother could give to his intended. It was bad enough he had to spend quite a sum of money for a piece of shiny metal. However, it was the Inuyasha of the present who had suggested such a piece, and it was he who took the precious necklace, and practically the whole store, from his grasp. And now he was stuck not knowing what to buy. He could not understand his younger brother’s actions. Well, he could, but he decided at present it was not important. Not when the younger Inuyasha was offering a tempting bread roll.

“Why do you always have to be so difficult, Inuyasha?” he said, more to himself than to his brother. Chewing thoughtfully, he watched Inuyasha looking into the store window, his amber eyes scanning the contents displayed inside. Then the hanyou stopped, his gaze fixed on something, but all too soon, he looked away, embarrassed. Sesshoumaru stood behind him, trying to find what Inuyasha had been staring at.

A grin appeared on his face. You bastard...

“Do you like that pendant, Inuyasha?” Sesshoumaru asked carefully, already knowing the reply from the way Inuyasha’s face darkened with red while his mouth stuttered with nonsense. With what sound like a frustrated sigh, he slipped back into the shop, appearing again after a few minutes holding a blue velvet box.

“What’s this for?”

“It is so you can give it to Kagome, to show how much you appreciate her.”

He blinked, absentmindedly feeling the velvet with his thumb, opening the box to find a small heart-shaped, silver pendant and chain. Gently he closed the box, unknown emotions stirring at his heart.

“Th-thanks, but, this is too much. I can’t repay back all of this.”

“And... what makes you think that you have to repay me?” The youkai asked, his eyebrows lifting in genuine surprise.

“I- I don’t know. I just don’t like... owing people.”

“Again, you say such nonsense. I am only doing this for your own benefit, so you do not have to worry about repaying me.”

“But, still—”

“Not another word. It is getting late, and you have to get ready. This could very well be the most significant event to ever happen in your life. Do not waste it.”

“You look so beautiful, Kagome-chan.” Eri and Yuka sighed.

“Really?” the young woman looked at herself in the mirror, admiring the way the dress fit her body nicely. “You really think so?” Smiling, Kagome blushed at her reflection. I wonder if he’ll like it...

“If your boyfriend doesn’t think so, then he must be colour-blind.”

I don’t know, I never asked him. Fortunately, for her, she didn’t voice out that thought.

The door creaked open and her mother stepped into the room. Her eyes shone at the sight of her daughter, so grown up and beautiful, very different from the young girl who on that fateful day, disappeared into another world, the day which had changed her life. This was another one of those days, however, she felt more prepared for it. She had been for some time now, and now was the time to see if their plans would come into fruition.

“Mama, do I look alright?” Kagome asked.

“That’s not for me to decide, dear. Are you ready?”

“I-I think so. Yes. But, my heart, it’s beating so fast.”

Likewise, Inuyasha’s heart was beating in a similar fashion, his hands clenching and unclenching as he stared at the entrance to the hallway. Never in his life did he know such a feeling. He was never a very nervous person, yet this anticipation of seeing Kagome had somehow roused these feeling within him.

“This is stupid.” He hissed to his brother, straightening out the lapel on his jacket, while his ears twitched under the fabric of the black bandana. “I’ve known Kagome for a long time, so why am I so nervous, now?”

“It is called love.” Sesshoumaru replied, pushing him stumbling into the house, where the hanyou almost lost his footing if not for his quick reflexes.

Inuyasha glared at his brother, and his anger grew when the youkai only gave him a nonchalant response. Arsehole... Taking a deep breath, he took a few steps, and a few more, until he saw the faces of Kagome’s family, looking expectedly at him, smiling.

“W-what?” was all the hanyou could say. “Do I look alright?”

“That’s not for me to decide, Inuyasha-kun. Are you ready?”

Inuyasha made a sound, which sounded much like a soft whine.

And then it happened.

He wasn’t quite sure if he was seeing things, but on top of the stairs stood a woman wearing a pink and burgundy dress, with dark, wavy hair that fell past her shoulders and eyes of sparkling blue-grey. It seemed time had stopped as he gaped openly at her, not realising that Kagome’s mother had simply grinned, lifting his chin to close his open mouth. Still he stared in disbelief, even as the family admired how beautiful Kagome looked as she climbed down the stairs with grace and ease of a young woman going out on their first date.

“Have a good time you two,” said Souta, winking at Inuyasha.

“Oh, wait, Inuyasha.” Jii-chan tugged at his jacket sleeve, asking him to crouch down so that he could whisper into his ear. “Good luck, boy. And remember to propose to her. Make me proud, my son.”

Inuyasha blanched.

Stupid keeps taking away the speech marks...