InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Beyond Friendship: Be Who You Are ❯ Pretending ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 8 – Pretending

I don’t wanna be lonely no more

I don’t wanna have to pay for this

I don’t wanna know the lover at my door

Is just another heartache on my lips

…

And I don’t wanna be angry no more

Coz you know I could never stand for this

So when you tell me that you love me, know for sure

I don’t wanna be lonely anymore.

-Rob Thomas; “Lonely No More”

 

It turned out, Sesshoumaru was right; Inuyasha didn’t get into any trouble for bunking school for the day.

During the first class of the day, Inuyasha had waited with bated breath when the teacher took the roll call. He’d been frantically trying to think up a good excuse for why he was absent that day, and had so far come up with nothing.  “I slept over at my boyfriend’s house, got drunk and had a hangover from hell” did not really sound right and was sure to get him expelled. “I was sick” was also out because hanyou didn’t just get sick and if they didn’t they didn’t recover in a couple of days.

“Inuyasha.”

The hanyou tensed and looked up reluctantly when his name was called out. The brown haired, bespectacled professor was looking at him sternly.

“You missed a day of school.”

This was it; he would be lucky to get away with only a firing from the teacher. Inuyasha ran a hand through his hair, looking sheepish. “Yeah, that I-“

“He was with me.”

Everyone, including the teacher and Inuyasha, turned towards the source of the cool, deep voice. The teacher frowned at Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha slumped low in his chair. He glared darkly at the demon Lord out of the corner of his eyes. Would it hurt his boyfriend to use a more polite tone with their teacher.

His head snapped back to the front when the teacher continued taking the roll, without saying anything to either of them. He looked carefully from the teacher to the demon prince. Apart from occasional glances in Inuyasha’s direction, the teacher gave no indication of just have overlooked an incident of bunking.

Inuyasha was simultaneously relieved and pissed. It was good he hadn’t gotten into any trouble but it sucked that Sesshoumaru could get away with anything.

The others in the class, however, weren’t quite so forgiving. Inuyasha could feel the stares of the majority of students boring into the back of his head; some were speculative, some were envious and some were downright hostile. But Inuyasha’s attention was on Sango, Miroku and his other friends. All of them were staring at him in shock. The expressions on Sango and Miroku’s faces were a mixture of disbelief, worry and repulsion.

Inuyasha stared into the book on his desk and for the first time, wished that the recess bell would just not ring for the day.

___________________________________________________________________________

“Hey guys.”

Inuyasha met his friends in the cafeteria as usual. He’d dithered with his bag as long as possible, making sure the others had gone out before him. Inuyasha contemplated not going to the lunch room at all that day but concluded that it was a stupid way to avoid what he was dreading since he had to face them sometime.

So he made his way to their usual table and dropped his bag in the empty chair they’d kept for him.

“Hi Inuyasha,” Kagome finally responded, a forced smile on her face. “How was your weekend?”

Inuyasha looked suspiciously at the others, then turned his eyes back to Kagome. “Good…it was good.”

“What did you do?” Miroku asked in a casual, light tone that fooled no one. “Anything special…?”

Inuyasha shrugged. He could lie but it was better to just get it over with. “I…had a sort of sleepover at Sesshoumaru’s.”

Silence.

Inuyasha sighed irritably.

“Look, if you’ve got something to say, then just say it.”

His irritation spiked when everyone exchanged, what they believed were subtle glances.

“Uh…” Miroku scratched his head rather awkwardly, again looking at Sango.

Inuyasha stared at him impatiently.

“You’ve got to stop going around with him,” Sango finally said. Kagome and Kikyou’s eyes widened at her boldness.

“What?” Inuyasha demanded angrily. He knew they were pissed at him but to say something like this…

“We feel that you…it is not good for you to be in Sesshoumaru’s company,” Miroku said, slightly more gently.

Inuyasha took an involuntary step back from them. “Not good for me?” he repeated quietly.

Miroku and Sango exchanged looks. “Inuyasha,” Sango began, eyes filled with concern. “There is…there is a lot more to Sesshoumaru than you know,” she said.

Inuyasha stared at her disbelievingly. “You- I don’t believe you guys. You didn’t even ask me what happened!”

Kikyou raised an eyebrow.  “You spent the weekend with Sesshoumaru. We don’t need to ask what happened.”

Inuyasha snapped.

“Not everyone’s like you,” he told Kikyou shortly.

Kikyou scowled, clenching her hands into fists. “What the hell are you trying to say, Inuyasha?”

“Inuyasha, that’s not what we meant,” Kagome put in hurriedly. “Kikyou meant that we know Sesshoumaru’s reputation so-“

“You don’t know shit!” Inuyasha cut in furiously.  “Sesshoumaru never laid a hand on me. He was a perfect gentleman.”

Sango and Miroku looked worried. “He- he didn’t…didn’t do anything? Are you sure?”

Something niggled Inuyasha at the back of his mind. It was true that he didn’t remember what happened that night but hell, he would have if it was anything serious. He knew from experience that if Sesshoumaru had done any crazy shit to him the night before, his ass would have definitely felt the effects in the morning.

“Yes, I’m sure!” he lied.

“Inuyasha,” Miroku said gently stepping forward. “You’re not from around here so you don’t know stuff about him that we do. Haven’t you noticed how everyone around here is afraid of him?”

Well, he had noticed but-

“That’s just coz you guys are a bunch of scaredy cats! Sesshoumaru’s polite with everyone and he doesn’t throw his weight about even though he’s a prince…”

He shot a venomous glance at Hiten. Sango and Miroku followed his eyes. Sango sighed exasperatedly.

“If you’re thinking about Hiten, he’s just a thug. Sesshoumaru would never behave uncouthly in public but…”

She paused, searching for the right words that he wouldn’t take offence to.

“All we’re saying is, the Taisho family did not get where it is by playing nice,” Miroku said, “Apart from being insanely strong, he’s…he’s  evil...”

Inuyasha’s eyebrows shot up. “Evil?” he asked incredulously, lips twisting in a bitter smile. “What’re you, 10?”

Miroku looked helpless and Sango’s face hardened.

“That’s nothing to laugh at!” Sango said sharply, staring into Inuyasha’s eyes. “Inuyasha, I come from a family of demon slayers so I’m not afraid of them but there are some things it’s better to stay away from. And now that you have gone and got yourself entwined in all this, it’s best if you get away…while you can…”

Inuyasha held her cold gaze. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Evil…” he repeated softly, letting the hand that was clutching the back of his chair fall limply to his side. How ironic that they were trying to teach him about evil?

Inuyasha lowered his head, bangs falling over his eyes. “You- you people with your neat little lives, trying to be good and running away from anything that you can’t understand, you don’t know jackshit about evil!”

Inuyasha was aware that he was probably saying too much, they were staring at him strangely but right then, he didn’t care. “I know you guys think I’m some naïve idiot but trust me…that guy is not bad, far from it.”

And in that moment, Inuyasha realized he could no longer stand to be around them, not when they would try so hard to poison his ears against his boyfriend. He’d hoped that even though they didn’t like Sesshoumaru, for his sake, at least they wouldn’t say anything on the matter, but it seemed they were hell bent on ensuring he made the ‘right’ choice.

The right choice for him was Sesshoumaru; that didn’t necessarily mean it was good for him but it was the right choice because he’d fallen so hard for the guy that he didn’t have any choice in the matter any longer.

His head snapped up to glare at them and everyone drew back at the wild look in his eyes. “Even if you’re right…even if it is true that he’s bad then maybe…maybe I don’t want to get away!”

The hanyou whirled and walked away quickly. Grabbing a plate, he went over to the food counter and took something, then walked to a far corner of the lunch room and sat down on an empty table by himself.

It would be much better to be alone than to hear any more of their holier-than-thou crap.

“Oi Inuyasha!”

Inuyasha looked up in surprise. It was the guy with the ponytail from Sesshoumaru’s group of friends – Kouga - Kouga was waving at him grinning.

“Come join us!” he called out.

Inuyasha hesitated. Sesshoumaru himself was nowhere in sight. It might get weird, hanging out with those people. Hadn’t Sango and the others said they were arrogant?

Then his friends’ recent words came to his mind and his lips thinned. Hell, if the Miroku-tachi didn’t like them then he was definitely going to hang out with them. Besides, people were staring. He would look stupid if he refused, in favour of sitting alone like a loser.

“Uh- yeah, thanks,” he mumbled, then got up and headed over to Sesshoumaru’s table with his untouched plate of food in his hand.

When he reached them, Kouga moved over and made place for Inuyasha next to him.

“I’m Kouga,” he introduced after Inuyasha had sat down. “This is Jaken and that’s Kagura.”

Inuyasha moved his eyes to the other two. Up close, Jaken looked more froglike than ever. And he did not seem happy to have Inuyasha here, if his glares were anything to go by.

Kagura was a beautiful girl but currently, her face looked as unfriendly as Jaken’s. Inuyasha wondered if he’d made a mistake coming here after all.

“Hey,” Inuyasha said a bit awkwardly to everyone. “I’m Inuyasha, but I guess you already knew that.”

“Of course we know,” Kouga laughed. “You’re with Sesshoumaru, after all.”

Inuyasha looked at his face carefully. Kouga didn’t seem at all averse to the idea.

“Sesshoumaru’ll be here soon,” Kouga continued. “He had to take care of some work.”

Inuyasha nodded, putting a spoonful of food in his mouth, just to have something to do with his hands.

“I haven’t seen you around the school before,” Kagura spoke for the first time. “Are you new here?”

Inuyasha glanced up at her. She wore a sexy, stylish outfit that complemented her ruby red eyes. Inuyasha couldn’t see any other obvious demonic markings on her. He wondered what kind of demon she was.

“Yeah, I just transferred here a while ago,” he responded. “But I haven’t seen you around either, in the time that I was here.”

Kagura smiled, but somehow, it made her face harder. “I was away on business,” she told him and Inuyasha assumed she was another one of the influential students at the school whom the principal cut a lot of slack.

“I heard you spent the weekend with Sesshoumaru-sama,” said Jaken. Inuyasha turned to him in surprise at the resentful, bitter tone of his voice. “What were you doing at his house, hanyou?”

Inuyasha’s brow drew down in a thunderous frown. “What did you say, you little-“

Jaken smiled slyly. “What did you do to get his attention, boy? I –“

“Jaken.”

Inuyasha turned towards the deep, cool voice of the demon prince. Jaken, to his amusement, jumped out of his seat as if it had burned him and bowed low to Sesshoumaru.

“M-my Lord,” he stuttered.

“If you ever speak to Inuyasha in that manner again, the consequences will be dire.”

Jaken flinched as if expecting a blow.

“You will show him the same respect that you do me and Kouga,” Sesshoumaru continued, cold golden eyes piercing the smaller man’s.

Jaken bowed resentfully. Sesshoumaru sat down in Jaken’s chair at the table and Jaken glared venomously at Inuyasha, then went off to find another chair.

“Inuyasha was eating alone so I invited him over,” Kouga told Sesshoumaru and from the look they exchanged, Sesshoumaru understood the underlying meaning that Inuyasha was no longer hanging out with his friends.

Sesshoumaru glanced at the hanyou next to him but said nothing. He hadn’t said anything to Inuyasha about the day in the forest, but after that, he’d begun to observe him more closely. His suspicions were only confirmed. There was something…off about the way Inuyasha behaved around him after that night. The normally grumpy hanyou was now being…polite?  Not quite, but he was being nicer. This wasn’t the Inuyasha he had known. This new Inuyasha seemed to be on edge, as if afraid of falling into something he wouldn’t know how to get out of.

They had not spoken about that night when Inuyasha had got drunk. If Inuyasha remembered anything more, he did not say. Maybe it was because he trusted him so much or maybe because it was because he didn’t want to unearth any skeletons in the closet. Whatever it was, Sesshoumaru found the behaviour odd. After revealing so much about oneself, a person made an attempt to learn at least something more about the other. Yet Inuyasha made no attempt to ask him any personal questions at all.

Well, if Inuyasha wanted to know him only superficially, that was fine with him. Centuries of keeping up appearances had made him very good at keeping his secrets. In most of the relationships he’d had over the years, the demon Lord had revealed barely anything about himself. Most of the time, his partners were fine with this because they knew it came with the job of being a prince. When they’d parted, it had been without heartache, at least on Sesshoumaru’s side. People came and went; it didn’t do any good to hope something would last ‘forever’ because as nice as it was to say it, in reality, forever was a really long time. Most people got boring after a few decades.

So, when faced with the decision to continue pretending with Inuyasha, it wasn’t difficult. As prince of the Western Lands, he was expected to be able to keep up the mask of being kind, polite and of impeccable manners.  What was unexpected, however, was the pain that he’d felt for that one moment when he’d realized this and that pain made him angry. A mere hanyou should not have the ability to hurt him after just a few days; it wounded his pride.

So he responded in the only way he knew; by withdrawing. When before, he’d been in the process of warming up to the hanyou, now he became colder. There were very few people he let close to him - Kouga and Kagura were some of them – along with a select few others. And he’d thought Inuyasha would be one too but perhaps he’d misjudged him. If the hanyou didn’t realize how hard earned his trust and interest was, then it his loss. Playing around was one thing but Sesshoumaru had no interest in taking the trouble to be faithful and committed to a shallow person. If Inuyasha wanted only his mask, then that was all he would get.

“Sesshoumaru?”

The demon Lord snapped out of his daze on hearing his name called out by the hanyou.

“You little brat!”

Everyone’s attention at the table turned to Jaken who had spoken the words almost in a hiss, hands shaking with anger. His bulbous eyes seemed about to pop out of his head.

“How dare you address the prince without a title?”” he demanded, raising a hand to strike him. “He is-“

“Jaken.”

He stopped mid rant, turning towards the demon Lord. His heart stuttered when he saw the slight smile on his face. “M-my Lord?”

“What did I say?”

Jaken whimpered. “I- I’m sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama! It’s just that he…he is-“

Sesshoumaru’s face was hard. Superficial or not, Jaken would learn not to be rude to anyone he’d claimed.

“What did I say.”

Jaken bowed his head dejectedly. “To – to be respectful towards him.”

Sesshoumaru glanced towards Inuyasha. Normally, he had more entertaining methods of disciplining the toad but not in front of the hanyou.

 “Apologize.”

The toad’s mouth fell open. Apologize? That was it? Whenever Sesshoumaru smiled at him, it at least involved a few broken bones and severe humiliation. But he saw the demon Lord look discreetly at Inuyasha and then meet his eyes. Jaken swallowed nervously, rightly taking it to mean that he was being spared because the hanyou was around but he would pay later.

A whimper escaped him and he bowed obsequiously.

“I beg your pardon, Sesshoumaru-sama…”

“Apologize to him.”

Jaken’s eyes widened at the command, raising his eyes to look pleadingly at the man he’d chosen as his master.

“But I-“

Sesshoumaru’s stare intensified and Jaken understood that he’d just lost a few years off his life. “I am sorry, Inuyasha,” he chanted dutifully, staring down at the ground.

His eyes widened when he felt Sesshoumaru’s hand close around his wrist. He stared at stripped hand and then at the demon Lord.

“If you ever think to strike him…” the pressure on his wrist tightened and Jaken shivered. 

“U-understood, my Lord.”

Sesshoumaru released him and turned back to see Inuyasha staring at the exchange, mouth hanging open. He caught the hanyou’s eyes and his smile widened fractionally. Inuyasha shook his head, bemused, and went back to eating.

___________________________________________________________________________

As the days passed, sitting with Sesshoumaru’s group slowly became routine.

Only once, Kagome came to call him but he turned her away. He’d had enough of pretending. He didn’t need friends who tolerated his every action like it was a mistake. And whatever he had heard about Sesshoumaru, he just knew he wasn’t like that. The Sesshoumaru he knew wasn’t violent or anywhere close to evil and everyone who said otherwise didn’t know what they were talking about. Because evil was Naraku, evil was what Naraku had done to him and if Sesshoumaru was anything like that, then he would have known. There was just no way he would remain in the dark like that for so long.

Some small part of him whispered to him that he had once thought the same of Naraku but he ignored it. Those two situations were not the same at all. They couldn’t be.

Kouga turned out to be a nice enough guy. It seemed he and the demon Lord had grown up together but whenever he always talked about their past, he always talked in riddles, leaving Inuyasha too exhausted to try and press him for more answers. 

Jaken, it turned out, was royalty himself; the son of a duke of a small far off town. His apparel should have been a dead giveaway; he wore good quality clothes, carried an expensive bag, and he wore a diamond earring in one pierced ear.

But his servile attitude was such that Inuyasha found it difficult to believe that he had been raised to lead, not follow. Kouga told him that instead of taking his place at the head of his people like he was expected to do, he had sworn to follow Sesshoumaru wherever he went. He had enough money and influence to get into the school and that was how he ended up here, so far away from his hometown.

It was amusing to Inuyasha how he followed Sesshoumaru’s every command, almost like a dog. Sesshoumaru had ordered him to be nice to Inuyasha and he did so with the utmost reluctance. There was something touching, although decidedly weird about the way he hung on to the demon Lord’s every word; he had a sneaking suspicion that the toad had a crush on Sesshoumaru. At first, he had found the almost Master-servant relationship between the two, wrong, and had felt sympathetic towards the short, stout boy. After all, it was quite unfair the way he worshipped the demon prince but was treated like dirt in return.

But he soon came to learn that with everyone except Sesshoumaru, the toad wasn’t a pleasant person at all. Kouga told him that he had committed his share of atrocities on his people till he was enamoured by the demon prince. Inuyasha had himself seen him be nasty towards many others and he knew he longed dearly to be the same with him but Sesshoumaru’s orders prevented him. As such, Inuyasha gradually began to stop feeling sorry for him.

School life, and along with it, Inuyasha’s meagre personal life, went on as usual.

The demon Lord took him on dates in expensive restaurants and classy places but since that day, he had not touched him. More than once, Inuyasha had caught Sesshoumaru staring at him with an indecipherable look in his eye, but one that made Inuyasha uncomfortable. If anything, he and Sesshoumaru seemed to be drifting apart, rather than closer.

Inuyasha felt it – in the way Sesshoumaru was aloof with him, the way he kept his distance. But the hanyou thought it was because of what he had said and thinking Sesshoumaru had every right to feel that way, said nothing more and tried to be as less of a bother as possible. Even though it meant supressing his normal, rather brash personality, Inuyasha gladly made the sacrifice because he remembered those few moments when he had thought he had lost Sesshoumaru forever and he never wanted to feel that again. So if giving the demon prince his space was what it took, then that was what he planned to do.

So, Sesshoumaru remained the same attentive, kind boyfriend he had always been to Inuyasha and Inuyasha remained just that little bit mellow with the demon Lord. Inuyasha’s secrets, instead of bringing them closer, seemed to have wedged them apart, and now, no matter what happened, a barrier remained between them.

Sesshoumaru never mentioned Naraku’s name again and much as Inuyasha itched to broach the topic, he decided to respect the demon Lord’s wishes and so said nothing. Sesshoumaru also said nothing personal about himself and Inuyasha knew better than to ask so they continued talking in pleasantries, both secretly wondering what exactly it was that had gone wrong.

Sango, Miroku and Kikyou pretty much avoided him, although he could feel Kagome’s concerned glances on him sometimes. His friendship with them seemed to have slowly died down after the fight. Inuyasha, who had never known or believed in friendship in the first place, took that in his stride as just a way of life. He was never naïve enough to believe that friendship could outlast fights.

He had one thing to hold on to now; the demon Lord who had claimed him that day in the forest, which seemed so long ago now. Much as Inuyasha yearned to touch him he knew he would have to give the other time.

But Inuyasha could not shake off the feeling that somewhere, something was going very wrong and if something wasn’t done soon, it would be too late.

___________________________________________________________________________

A few months later-

“Sesshoumaru-sama?”

On hearing the soft, tentative voice Inuyasha looked up from his plate.

“Rin,” Sesshoumaru greeted the furiously blushing girl, standing up from his chair.

“I-I had to – um…”

Inuyasha, Kouga and Jaken watched as she kept her eyes resolutely on the floor and bit her lip.

“Yes?” Sesshoumaru prompted.

“I – “

“Rin-chan!”

Rin whirled around as another boy, maybe the same age as her, came running down the corridor, waving wildly.

“Kohaku-kun!” Rin greeted, smiling brightly and as always, Inuyasha marvelled at the change in her. It seemed as though with everyone except for Sesshoumaru, the girl was a bundle of energy, chattering non-stop, but when it came to the demon Lord, all she could do was blush and stammer.

“Rin-chan, I have to talk to you,” Kohaku stated firmly, eyes shining with determination though his face was flushed.

It seemed Rin had the same effect on Kohaku as Sesshoumaru had on Rin.

“But,” Rin hesitated, “I was just speaking to Sesshoumaru-sama…”

Kohaku glared at the amused looking demon Lord. The dark-haired boy seemed simultaneously annoyed and terrified, and impulsively grabbed Rin’s hand

“Please,” he said finally, turning his eyes back to Rin, who had not so much as batted an eye at his touch. “It’s important.”

Rin glanced at Sesshoumaru, blush returning to her cheeks. Wide brown eyes looked down embarrassedly. “I- Sesshoumaru-sama –“

“Its fine,” Sesshoumaru told her, piercing golden eyes staring Kohaku down just to see him sweat. “It seems the boy is impatient to speak to you.”

Kohaku flushed red at the remark and at being addressed as boy in front of Rin. “I’m not impatient-!” But as soon as his eyes met Sesshoumaru’s, he seemed to lose his nerve. His hand holding Rin’s tightened and he dragged her away.

“That girl needs therapy,” a cold, amused female voice announced and everyone turned around to greet the red-eyed demon, Kagura.

“Oh shut up,” Kouga mumbled through his sandwich, glancing up at her. “She’s not that bad and you know it.”

“Oh she’s not,” Kagura agreed, lifting Jaken out of his chair by the back of his shirt and depositing him on the floor. “She’s quite popular amongst the boys , from what I hear. I just think she can do better than Mr. Icicle here.”

Jaken’s protests and curses were ignored by all and he dejectedly went off to find another chair. The first few times, Inuyasha had found it comical and rather disconcerting to see the chubby boy manhandled so easily by the slim, delicate-looking female but he’d soon come to know she was also a strong demon on par with Kouga, if their arguments about a certain near-death fight were anything to go by. Kouga insisted he’d been tricked and Kagura said he was just a sore loser.

Regardless, Kagura came and went as she pleased, sometimes disappearing from the school for days on end and then suddenly showing up out of the blue. Apparently, she was the heiress of some big ‘business’ and got called away often, though Inuyasha was so far unable to determine what kind of a demon she was.

She had not been very friendly with him when he first joined them but they’d both slowly warmed up to each other. The hanyou found out that she was rude to everyone, including Sesshoumaru but her barbed words didn’t usually hold a sting. From their talk, Inuyasha gathered that like Sesshoumaru and Kouga, it seemed the ruby-eyed demon had broken quite a few hearts despite her rather haughty demeanor.

“Yeah, Sesshoumaru,” Kouga snickered, exchanging glances with Kagura. “If you keep scaring that Kohaku boy like that, you might just have to marry Rin yourself.”

Sesshoumaru smirked. “If he gives in so easily, he does not deserve her.”

Kagura tapped a painted, siren red nail on the table impatiently. “Easily?” she scoffed. “The poor kid looks like he’s gonna piss in his pants every time he looks at you.”

The demon Lord inclined his head. “It’s a pity Rin is oblivious.”

“Mmmhm,” Kouga agreed, “Kohaku came just in time. It looked like she was gonna ask you to the dance or something.”

With Christmas just around the corner, the school was busy making preparations for the annual school Christmas party. It was, apparently, a big deal, with everyone anxious to not be left without a date. It seemed students were allowed to bring outsiders as their date; Kagome was going with Hojo, the school poster boy for the ‘ideal student’, and Kikyou was bringing her boyfriend.

“Speaking of Christmas,” Sesshoumaru turned towards Inuyasha, putting his fork down. “I will not be going to the dance with you.”

Inuyasha got a queasy feeling in his stomach. Normally, he wasn’t much for dancing but was Sesshoumaru saying he was going with someone else? Was that why he’d been so reserved lately?

“Uh…why?” he managed to ask with a steady voice, though he couldn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Because I will be out of town for Christmas.”

Inuyasha was ashamed of how relieved he was to hear that.

“Oh great,” he grinned looking up. “I won’t be here either; I’m going home. Where are you going?”

“To a small town, far from here, you wouldn’t have heard of it - Shinegawa. I have some business to attend to.”

“You’re kidding!” Inuyasha grinned. “That’s my hometown. That’s where I’m going.”

Kouga frowned at the way Sesshoumaru’s face became blank at that.

“Shinegawa is your hometown?” he asked quietly.

Inuyasha nodded hesitantly, unsure of what to make of the expression on his boyfriend’s face. “Yeah, why?”

Sesshoumaru shook his head, turning his eyes back on the plate and picking his fork up. “This is fortunate. Now we can travel together for a ways.”

Inuyasha nodded enthusiastically, biting into his sandwich. Maybe if they spent more time together, than whatever weird thing had come up between them would go away and things could return to normal.

“Yeah, that’d be great! How’re you going?”

He was not familiar with all the train routes; this was his first time going home from here, after all. But if Sesshoumaru travelled there often on business, maybe he knew a shorter way.

“I’m taking a flight till the nearest airport, then by road.”

Inuyasha’s face fell. “By air?”

Sesshoumaru nodded. “Would it be convenient for you to leave next Monday?”

Inuyasha shook his head a little awkwardly, wondering how to tell him he didn’t have the money to pay the plane fare. “There’s no way I’d be able to book a ticket by then,” he finally said, hoping he’d get the hint.

Sesshoumaru was looking at him weirdly. “Inuyasha, it’s a private jet.”

Inuyasha’s mouth fell open. “Y-you have a private jet?” he demanded.

Sesshoumaru nodded. “There is plenty of room, don’t worry.”

Inuyasha looked away. “But won’t your parents mind if I tag along?” he asked rather gruffly, hoping to wriggle his way out of it.

“My parents will meet me there. It is only both of us on the journey, apart from a few servants.”

Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe it’d be better if we just…I dunno, met there or something. You’ll probably have work to do…I don’t want to inconvenience you…”

He didn’t like it. Under different circumstances, he’d have been psyched to have the chance to get on board a private jet plane but Sesshoumaru was acting very strange. The two of thme had spent no real time together; the only time they did spend was in expensive places which made Inuyasha rather uncomfortable. Lately, it seemed their relationship had come down to Sesshoumaru spending a lot of money on him. He didn’t want the demon Lord to think he was after his money but whenever he had tried to protest, Sesshoumaru had brushed him off. He had let it go because he didn’t want to be pain but he felt a private jet was a bit too much.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally. “But I think you’d better go ahead. I- I won’t be able to leave so soon.”

He didn’t tell Sesshoumaru that he’d been planning to leave on Sunday itself. It wasn’t a big deal, really. And his mother would understand, given his predicament.

“Oh don’t be silly,” Kagura chimed in, slapping him on the back, almost planting his face in his plate. “You two will have plenty of fun on the ride. Sesshoumaru’s servants are very discreet-“

“Kagura!” Inuyasha yelled, face red and the female snickered, exchanging knowing glances with Kouga.

“What, are you saying you know better ways of travelling than on a top-class jet?” Kouga demanded, leaning towards him, eyes narrowed.

Inuyasha drew back. “Uhh…well know but-“

“Then it’s settled,” Kagura announced, “Sesshoumaru’s gonna get an early Christmas present-“

Inuyasha scowled as she waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Would you shut up-!”

Sesshoumaru quietly sipped his coffee as his friends took Inuyasha’s case.

Shinegawa…Inuyasha’s hometown was Shinegawa. He hadn’t really been looking forward to this trip but it might turn out to be interesting after all.

Besides, the façade of this relationship had gone on for long enough.  It was time to do something, one way or the other.