InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Say Thank You ❯ Say Thank You ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: This is meant to be a sort of prologue to an IY fic I've got in the works. I should be posting it shortly, in tandem with Cursed, once College loosens its grip on me a little. Until then, enjoy this little taste of things to come.

 

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Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or anything in any way, shape or form related to it, and I make no profit off this—that privilege belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Kazuma and Megumi, however, are mine. : ).

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

 

 

Say Thank You

 

 

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

'Cause I just want to be something,

I just wanna be someone,

Someone who stands out in the crowd;

Mother would be proud—

Something to someone.

 

“Something to Someone”/ Lit

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

 

“I am not getting to this function late, Half-Breed,” Sesshoumaru said impatiently, raising his voice.

 

“Chill out, fucker,” Inuyasha irritably returned from his room. “Geez, you'd think it was your graduation from all the bitchin' you've been doin'.”

Sesshoumaru ground his back teeth together and prayed for patience; he'd dragged the half-demon's ass out of bed early enough to prevent their getting to the idiot's college graduation late—or so he'd thought. Apparently, he should have dragged the boy out of bed around three in the morning to ensure he was ready on time.

 

“Get your ass out here now, Inuyasha,” Sesshoumaru snapped.

 

 

“In a minute!” the half-demon snapped back. “Fucking hells—go have a beer or whack off or something.”

 

 

So Sesshoumaru strode into his brother's bedroom, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and frog-marched him out of the room, Inuyasha yelling bloody murder the whole time and Sesshoumaru threatening to turn him mute forever.

 

Which, as far as routine went, was pretty typical for the brothers Takata.

 

 

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They made it to the graduation on time, much to Sesshoumaru's surprise, and he found and joined his uncle, Kazuma, in the stands.

 

“I thought you two weren't going to make it,” Kazuma said with a wry grin.

 

“We nearly didn't,” Sesshoumaru muttered, folding himself into a seat next to his mother's brother. “That idiot has no concept of time.”

Kazuma smiled wider and chuckled.

 

“He's still young,” he returned. “He'll get it soon.”

 

“Not soon enough,” Sesshoumaru said with bad temper. He looked over at his uncle. “Did you bring the camera?”

 

In answer, Kazuma reached down and picked up a black vinyl bag.

 

“Fully charged and ready for Inuyasha's march.”

 

“Hm.”

 

Kazuma sat back and the two watched people frantically look for seats and other people they'd invited.

 

“Are Inuyasha's friends coming?”

 

“Miroku said he'd be bringing Higurashi and the other two,” Sesshoumaru replied, idly cracking his knuckles. “I assume they should be here shortly, unless he's making a nuisance of himself.”

Kazuma smiled slyly.

 

“Have you congratulated the boy today? It's a big day for him.”

 

“I was entirely sure he'd never get this far,” Sesshoumaru said matter-of-factly.

 

“Good to know you were so optimistic,” Kazuma dryly returned, and Sesshoumaru shrugged.

 

“He never wanted to do his assignments. I had to put him in a headlock to get him to sit down and do his math homework—never mind getting him to do composition work. It's a miracle he's graduating, as lazy as he was.”

 

“Sister would be proud of him,” Kazuma said quietly after a moment.

 

“She would,” Sesshoumaru agreed, voice emotionless, a few seconds later.

 

 

Miroku, Kagome, Sango and Koharu arrived just before the graduating students marched out, and they and Kazuma—like everyone else sitting in the stands watching—searched frantically for Inuyasha's pale head in the sea of black gowns; it was a lot harder than they'd been expecting.

 

Sesshoumaru found his brother before the others did, but he stayed quiet and let them find him on their own. He saw the half-demon looking over his shoulder, at the huge auditorium crowd, no doubt searching for the people who had said they'd be coming. He knew exactly when Inuyasha found his cheering section: the half-demon and full demon's eyes met, and the young man smirked. Sesshoumaru smirked back.

 

Idiot.

 

 

It was a large class Inuyasha was a part of, and it took two hours before the half-demon's row finally stood up; by then, Sesshoumaru noticed with no small amount of amusement, Inuyasha was wearing his cranky expression, which was second in ferocity only to his own.

 

Kazuma started video taping then, and when Inuyasha's name was called out, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Koharu, and Kazuma put the rest of the audience to shame in cheering the half-demon. Sesshoumaru didn't participate, that wasn't his way. But he smiled faintly when Inuyasha all but snatched his diploma from the dean's hands and strutted off the stage.

 

He almost swore he could hear the boy's “Keh!” from up there.

 

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

 

“Hey Dickhead, buy another round,” Inuyasha ordered.

 

“Buy it yourself,” Sesshoumaru idly returned, sitting back in his seat. “You've got the money now—you aren't paying for your books and tuition anymore.”

 

“Aw fuck you, I just graduated.”

 

“Life's a bitch, get used to it.”

 

 

The party had retired to a restaurant to celebrate, and the booze was flowing like no one had to get up early tomorrow. They were being rowdy and loud, but for once, he didn't care. Let the moron and his friends have their fun—they'd pay for it tomorrow with very impressive hangovers.

 

Kazuma had joined them, and Sesshoumaru was a little surprised his uncle was indulging so. Then again, he'd been right. Today was a pretty special day—it almost hadn't happened, after all.

 

“Hey, Inuyasha,” Kagome said, cheeks pink from beer and laughing. “You haven't made a speech.”

 

“Yeah, make one!” Koharu giggled.

 

“Speech!” Sango and Miroku demanded in drunken unison.

 

“Forget it!” the half-demon said, flushing in embarrassment.

 

“Come on!” Kagome cajoled. “Speech speech speech!”

 

“Speech speech speech!” Koharu, Sango and Miroku chanted.

Kazuma chuckled and swigged more beer; Sesshoumaru smirked and made himself more comfortable in his chair.

 

“Go ahead Half-Breed,” he said sardonically. “Show them what you know.”

 

Inuyasha sent his brother a dark look, then abruptly stood up, grabbing his beer as he went. He sent Sesshoumaru a malicious smile.

 

“Fine Dickhead,” he said. “Shaddup!” he roared at his friends, and they obeyed with drunken laughter. Once they had calmed down sufficiently, Inuyasha cleared his throat, raised his glass and said,

 

“Since the day I came to live with him, Dickhead's been the most obnoxious asshole on the planet. He always calls me a half-breed and says I won't amount to anything; he picks a fight just to beat the shit out of me; he makes me pay half the rent and utilities on the place, like I'm a fucking renter instead of his own blood, and when I finally saved up enough money to buy my bike, he wouldn't co-sign on it until I turned twenty, because he's an evil fucking bastard who likes to shit on me whenever he can.”

 

The mood at the table had gotten serious and a little tense. Everyone was watching Sesshoumaru, who hadn't moved or changed expression since Inuyasha had started, when his face had become an emotionless mask. He was watching his brother, eyes cool, betraying nothing. Which worried the people seated with the two brothers.

 

“Inuyasha,” Kagome murmured, tugging on the half-demon's sleeve, wide, wary eyes on Sesshoumaru. “Come on, that's enough.”

 

“I ain't done yet,” Inuyasha said, glaring at Sesshoumaru.

 

“Inuyasha,” Kazuma said, putting just enough menace into his voice to let the young man know he meant business.

 

“Hey, this is a public place, you can't start a fight here,” Miroku protested.

 

“I ain't done yet!” Inuyasha snapped. “You wanted a speech, you're gettin' it! Now shut the fuck up and listen!”

 

His attention went back to his brother, and they stared at each other in tense silence.

 

“You never,” Inuyasha said quietly, “said you were proud of me, or you were happy to have me around. Mostly, you act like I'm a pain in your ass. You treat me like shit pretty much everyday, and you never compliment any of the work I do for you, even when I work my ass off, and you know it. You're a fuckin' pain in my ass, you've been a pain in my ass since the first day.

 

“But you pick me up off the floor and make me get up and keep going. You knock the shit outta me when I wanna give up, and call me a fuckin' moron and get me so pissed off I keep goin' just to prove you wrong later, you self-righteous bastard. I wouldn't even be here in this restaurant tonight if you hadn't a slapped me upside the head every night for two years and told me to stop bein' a dumb fuck, I was stupid but I wasn't that stupid. You cut my pay when I said I was gonna quit college. Said I should get used to bein' paid shit if I wasn't gonna use my head.

 

“You're a ball-bustin' tight-ass, and all you know how to do is make life miserable for everyone. But you made me stand up and you taught me how to tell the world to fuck off. So…thanks, Dickhead, for bein' a tight-ass an' a prick an' asshole.”

 

There was silence around the table when Inuyasha had finished, all eyes on Sesshoumaru, waiting for his reaction.

 

 

For his part, Sesshoumaru had not been expecting this. When the boy had started, his voice angry and bitter, he'd thought he was going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to knock him on his ass, since the dog demon didn't believe in beating the crap out of a drunk man, and he was convinced the boy was trashed. Or he'd finally lost his mind.

 

He felt a twinge on his conscience when Inuyasha said, voice still angry but hurt and frustrated now, that Sesshoumaru had never said he was proud of him.

 

Mama would have told him everyday, he couldn't help but think. But I'm not Mama, he'd thought after a moment, to try and justify the lapse, but it hadn't helped or made him feel less guilty.

 

And then…and then the boy's tune had changed. He was still angry—a little, anyway—but he sounded grudgingly grateful. Sesshoumaru had cringed a little inside when Inuyasha had listed a few of his “tough love” policies—there was something about having them named out loud like that that made them seem more abusive—but he hadn't missed the boy's vaguely thankful tone. It had cost his little brother a lot to say all that to his face; Sesshoumaru knew he wouldn't have had the balls to do that, to willingly open himself up to a relative who sometimes seemed more enemy than ally.

 

Which was why he was touched that the boy had. Then again, perhaps he was feeling a little drunk himself.

 

 

“All that money you spent,” Sesshoumaru finally said, eyes locked on his brother's, his voice quiet, “and you still don't know how to give a proper speech.”

 

“Fuck you,” Inuyasha immediately returned, bristling.

 

“Careful, or I'll leave you with the bill,” the dog demon dryly replied, and the mood around the table lightened considerably.

 

The owner of the restaurant finally asked them to leave, as they were being disruptive, and Sesshoumaru paid for the food and the booze, and decided that Inuyasha was going to be paying him back for the dent this little outing had put in his bank account. Possibly for the next couple of months, but he'd let the half-demon know about that later, when the boy was sober. Then he smiled faintly when he remembered the boy had called him a ball-busting tight-ass—this was proof that that was true.

 

They all split up outside the restaurant: Kazuma decided to drive Kagome, Sango, Koharu, and Miroku to their respective homes in Miroku's car, since the indigo-eyed man was stumbling drunk. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha watched them go as they stood next to Inuyasha's motorcycle, the Red Tessaiga, and when the car was out of sight, Inuyasha looked at his brother.

 

“Hey Dickhead,” he said, his words a little slurred.

 

“Hm.”

 

“Can we go visit Megumi?”

 

Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrow, eyeing his little brother incredulously.

 

“Now?”

 

“Yeah now,” the half-demon snapped, annoyed.

 

 

He almost said no. But then he decided what the hell.

 

“Fine—I'm driving.”

 

“Aw! You drove to graduation and here!”

 

“I'm not getting into a wreck because you couldn't see straight.”

 

“I'm better off than Pervert,” Inuyasha replied petulantly.

 

“And I'm better off than both of you, now shut up and get on the bitch seat.” He paused to send his brother a withering glare. “And if you puke on me, no power on Earth or in the heavens will save you. Understood?”

 

“Just drive Dickhead,” Inuyasha muttered, voice surly, as he grabbed his helmet and stuck it on his head.

 

Sesshoumaru sighed wearily, then reached out, grabbed the helmet and tugged it so it was on right, then got onto the bike, shaking his head.

 

 

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“Graveyards ain't creepy at night,” Inuyasha said an hour later, now more or less sober. “I don't get why humans think that.”

 

“Being near the dead makes them uncomfortable, I suppose,” Sesshoumaru returned.

 

“The zombie thing, right?”

 

“Among other things.”

 

 

They were standing in front of Megumi's headstone, both looking down at it. Inuyasha was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, his usual stance, though it looked weird since he was wearing a suit; Sesshoumaru's hands were in the pockets of his slacks, his tie loosened and the first button on his shirt unbuttoned. Both brothers had tied their long hair back.

 

“Hey,” Inuyasha said after a long silence.

 

“Hm.”

 

“You think…she woulda been proud of me?”

 

A long pause. Then:

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good,” Inuyasha said quietly. Another long pause. “Did you think I was gonna start shit at the restaurant? When I started talkin', I mean?”

 

“Yes,” Sesshoumaru returned with the faintest trace of amusement. “I was pretty sure I was going to have to disembowel you in front of all those people.”

They both knew he was kidding—at least, about the “disemboweling-Inuyasha-in-front-of-a-restaurant-full-of-people” ; part; the actual disemboweling part he was totally serious about.

 

“You got a dark, twisted way a lookin' at shit, Dickhead.”

 

“It works,” Sesshoumaru replied with a shrug.

 

“I was gonna start shit,” Inuyasha admitted after another long silence. “I really wanted to, an' I've been waitin'…fuckin', for years, to say all that shit to you. But then…I started thinkin'…how all the shit you put me through…it sucked, but if you hadn't been such a bastard, I probably wouldn't a graduated. From high school, or college.” Inuyasha shuffled his feet. “I meant it, what I said. You know…the thankin' you an' stuff.”

 

“I know,” Sesshoumaru returned.

 

“Just makin' sure.” the half-demon was quick to explain, and Sesshoumaru smiled faintly.

 

They did not communicate in any normal way, according to the rest of the world. Names like “Dickhead” and “Half-Breed” were derogatory and offensive for everyone else; for the brothers Takata, it was simply another way of establishing a familial bond. And Inuyasha's “speech” tonight was the closest they'd ever come to normal communication as determined by the rest of the world, which probably meant they were deeply dysfunctional, Sesshoumaru decided.

 

But it worked. He still was not entirely happy to have a younger sibling, but he was starting to see what his mother had tried to explain to him years back, when Inuyasha had first come to live with them.

 

It was true: he'd never told the boy he was proud of him. And a part of Sesshoumaru was. A lot of full demons wouldn't have been able to deal with the shit Sesshoumaru threw at Inuyasha on a daily basis. And here a half-demon had not only handled it well, he was pretty normal, all things considered. A little screwy, because Sesshoumaru was a mind fuck, but normal all the same. He wouldn't have believed it possible five years ago.

 

 

“I wish…she coulda been there,” Inuyasha murmured, crouching down to brush imagined dirt off Megumi's tombstone.

 

Sesshoumaru reached down and laid a heavy hand on his brother's head, the way he had after Megumi's funeral seven years ago, when it had just been the two of them and Inuyasha had been sitting on the ground, hunched over and trying not to break down and cry and failing so miserably.

 

“She would've enjoyed it,” Sesshoumaru said. “She was always very proud of you.”

 

Inuyasha snorted in amusement.

 

“Keh, and I wasn't even her kid. She musta thought you hung the moon.”

 

“I do, and don't ever forget that,” Sesshoumaru returned dryly.

 

“Fuckin' Dickhead,” the half-demon muttered. “Hey…Megumi. I graduated tonight. Thought you might like to know. I wish you coulda been there. You probably woulda liked it, I think. Anyway, so now I got a degree, and your son'll finally get off my back, maybe.”

 

“We'll see,” Sesshoumaru murmured, just to be obnoxious; Inuyasha ignored him.

 

“And, uh…I just…thanks for never making me feel like a charity case, okay? I know I already said that to you before you died and everything, but…you know…just thanks. And Sesshoumaru's not so bad, I guess. You didn't screw up and raise a total psycho, but he's really fucked up in the head. I think maybe he's been hit with shit one too many times, you know—it's fucked up his brains.”

 

“I can arrange for your brains to be just as fucked up,” Sesshoumaru said mildly, his grip on his brother's hair tightening.

 

“Hey, shut up, I'm talkin' t' Megumi,” Inuyasha ordered. There was a long pause, and then Inuyasha murmured, “I miss you. I love you. Bye.”

 

Sesshoumaru's brow creased and he swallowed with difficulty, his throat tight. This was the reason he avoided going to visit his mother's grave with Inuyasha unless he absolutely couldn't get out of it. His brother hadn't had as much time with Megumi as Sesshoumaru had, but it had been enough to become as fiercely devoted to her as Sesshoumaru was. Inuyasha's love for his guardian and adopted mother…more than anything, that was the reason Sesshoumaru had come to give a damn about the boy. Otherwise, he would have just raised him and kicked him out when he'd turned eighteen, like he'd originally planned to.

 

“Hello, Mama,” he said quietly, and felt Inuyasha look up at him. “I thought…you might like to know…I think I'm starting to figure out what you meant when you told me I was going to want to have a sibling one of these days. He's a pain in the ass most of the time, but every now and again…he…he makes up for it. Tonight he made up for it ten-fold. He'd probably have turned out better if you'd lived, but I can take him out without worrying that he'll embarrass me.”

 

“Fuck you,” Inuyasha muttered, and Sesshoumaru rapped the top of the half-demon's head—hard—with his knuckles.

 

“Quiet,” he ordered, voice holding no room for argument, then laid his hand back over his brother's head.

 

“That hurt you fucker!” Inuyasha hissed, and Sesshoumaru's grip tightened.

 

“I said quiet. Don't make me repeat myself a third time.”

 

Inuyasha grumbled something Sesshoumaru didn't quite catch—it sounded suspiciously like “Evil motherfucker” but he couldn't be entirely sure—but settled down and waited for his older brother to finish.

 

“He's not so bad to have around,” Sesshoumaru said finally. He grinned faintly. “Though I will not quite miss him when he finally leaves.” His grin faded, and he stared down at his mother's grave, remembering how hollow he'd felt right after she'd died…and how much better he'd felt to have Inuyasha with him.

 

“It was worth the hassle of keeping him,” Sesshoumaru said softly.

 

There was a long long beat of silence, and then Inuyasha leaned his head against Sesshoumaru's leg. The dog demon heard his brother's swallow.

 

“Bye Mama,” Sesshoumaru ended quietly; he hadn't ever felt the need to tell his mother he loved her—she'd known, and he knew she still knew.

 

They stayed like that—Sesshoumaru, standing before his mother's grave with his hand on his little brother's head, and Inuyasha, crouched down before his adopted mother's grave with his head leaned against his older brother's leg—for a very long time, quiet. And then Inuyasha murmured,

 

“Thanks Dickhead.”

 

Sesshoumaru patted his brother's head.

 

“I think we still have some ramen left at the apartment,” he said.

 

“I could go for some ramen,” Inuyasha replied, and Sesshoumaru smirked.

 

“Really,” he drawled sardonically, and Inuyasha sighed and punched him—for real, and as hard as he could—in the leg, a move that did not bring the dog demon down in the least.

 

“Asshole.”

 

“Idiot.”

 

“I graduated from college.”

 

“In the last percentile of your class.”

 

A pause.

 

“Fuck you, Dickhead.”

 

 

So it wasn't normal. But it worked.