InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Duty Of Blood ❯ A Not So Secret Visit... ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer - I own nothing but the charactors of the twins and Nari. Don't sue - you won't get much else but bills.

The Duty Of Blood - Chapter 10

By Caliko

Inu Taisho got up from his cushion in front of Sesshoumaru, waving him down when the younger Taiyoukai made to join him. "I'm going to check on Yasha." He said, weaving slightly from the strong Sake that the castle provided. "I was wondering if the Brat managed to relax enough to leave the plane."

"Heh, he's too excitable, Father. He won't see his mate until his resurrection."

Taisho smirked, but left anyway, shaking his head. He moved down the hallway with one hand against the wall, unsure of his footsteps while he was in this state. It was funny - he never managed to get drunk when he was alive, but when he began to exist here, his tolerance was suddenly non-existent.

Outside in the courtyard, it was a new moon. The only light that shone was from the white, crystalline ground. Yet, it was plenty of light for a human to see, and the Taiyoukai was certainly more than that.

Nearing the place where he left his son meditating, Inu Taisho dropped his smirk. He had agreed with his oldest on Yasha's chance of performing the technique. It seems as if both of them were wrong. Inu Yasha's body was there, slumped on the ground, with his spirit no where near. That was one step more than he had explained, unfortunately. The boy wouldn't be able to speak or touch the girl without a body, even in her dreams. Inu Yasha was supposed to take his body with him when he dream walked.

He groaned, already suspecting what his trouble magnate son was going to do. If he got anywhere near his old castle, where his oldest son's sleeping body lay, he was going to be pulled into it. Sesshoumaru would not be happy if the boy used it for anything more than talking!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One minute, Inu Yasha was floating on warm currents of his wife's unconsciousness. The next, he was pulled outside of her room and down the hall, only to slam into something else. He shook his head, then groaned when he realized that he had a headache. Slowly, he raised his hand to cup his pounding forehead, and realized that once again he had stripes.

::::What the fuck?:::: he mumbled, pushing himself up to a sitting position. Below him lay the softest cushions, confusing him even more. :::What did I hit? This is too soft. Maybe I'm sitting on it?:::

Standing, he looked down and blinked. It was a bed. :::How did I get here, and what did I hit?:::

There was nothing in the room to explain the hard impact he made when landing. Shaking his head, he winced as he remembered his headache. :::And since when did I get headaches? I'm not even physical in the plane!:::

Gingerly, Inu Yasha looked around, exploring his surroundings. Recognizing the clothes laid out for the next day, and the swords hung on the wall, his eyes bulged. Details slowly made their way to his eyes, and he realized that he knew this room. It was where Sesshoumaru used to lecture him on how he was too week to train with the other pups. Glancing down at his body, another suspicion held true. Somehow, he had possessed Sesshoumaru!

"Well, this makes it easy." he grinned, not about to ignore chance. "I can see how the girls and Shippo are doing, while I'm here."

Inu Yasha left the room nearly skipping. Following long dormant memories, he made his way to the nursery, scaring the shit out of Nari as she left the room.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" She whispered, taken aback. "Wait.." Nari breathed in deeply. "You're not Sess-chan!"

"My brother still lets you get away with calling him that, Old Hag?" Yasha grinned. "He must have a soft spot for you."

"Inu Yasha?" The old youkai blinked, then nodded. "It is your scent! What are you doing in that body? Have you killed your brother? Good Kami! You don't belong here! You're dead!" The old lady started beating him over the chest. "Begone, Spirit!" She screeched, "And give us back our Lord!"

Groaning, his nearly forgotten headache coming back, Inu Yasha grabbed the old lady's hands in his. "Relax, Nari! I'm just visiting! Sesshoumaru is with my Old Man right now! I only came to visit Kagome in her dreams, but somehow I ended up in his body! I figured I'd check on the kids while I had the chance, that's all! I'm not STAYING in that pansy's pants! Not if I can help it!"

"I'm so confused." Nari started mumbling under her breath, then shut up suddenly as if she realized something. "Lord Inu Yasha?"

Thinking that he was safe, Yasha released her hands. "Huh?"

Then, the old harridan hit him again, her fists moving faster than he thought was possible for the old youkai. "What were you THINKING, leaving here all those years ago?" She screeched, pinching his cheek in her claws and dragging him down to her level. "Do you KNOW how worried we were? Hmmm?" She boxed his ear with her free hand. "Of course, you didn't care! You never liked us to look out for you, you ungrateful pup!"
"Ouch! Owowowowowow! OLD LADY, STOP IT!" Yasha pulled back, trying not to hurt her. "I'll be back in the flesh soon! You can yell at me all you want then, alright?" But she followed him as he made a mad dash for Kagome's scent. "KAGOME! SAVE ME!" He yelled, trying to place the door to her room between him and Nari. "Wake up, Wench! I'm about to be killed again, here!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome jerked awake as she heard Sesshoumaru shout her name in the hallway. Blinking, she watched as the door was jerked open and her brother-in-law jumped into the room. From the hallway, she heard Nari screeching about impertinent pups that cold-heartedly worried their elders, and watched as he almost managed to close the door to shut her out.

"Wake up, Wench! I'm about to be killed again, here!"

Wondering what was going on, she got up and pushed herself between Sesshoumaru and the doorway. "Nari, stop! I'll take care of this, alright?" She said, watching the old woman as she seemed to calm down. "I don't know what Sesshoumaru did, but I'll settle it. Now, go back to bed."

"But, My Lady! That's not my Sess-chan! That's the ungrateful whelp you mated!"

:::Did she loose her mind? Anyone with eyes could see that it's Sesshoumaru!:::: Out loud, she put her foot down. "Nari, be quiet, and go to bed before you wake up the entire castle! You can deal with your lord privately in the morning! It's not the time for this! You might wake up the children!"

"But.. My Lady! You don't understand!" The aged youkai whined. "I've been wanting to yell at that boy for sixty years!"

"Nari." Kagome's voice was firm. "Go to bed."

"But.. But.. "

"Now, Nari. I will not have you waking the children. I'm beginning to think that you are too old for your duties."

Growling, the old woman backed up, giving Inu Yasha the evil eye through the crack in the door. "I will settle this with you, Pup! As soon as your alive again, I'm going to beat you!"

Yasha gulped, knowing that she meant it. "Yeah, yeah, Baba. I know." He managed to say, wincing as Kagome slammed the door shut.

"Sesshoumaru, what is going on here?" His mate asked, not believing for a moment that he was anyone but the Taiyoukai.

"Wench, I'm not my brother! Damn bitch, can't you tell that it's me?"

"What I can tell is that you must be drunk or insane, coming into my room and pretending that you're Inu Yasha!"

"I'm not pretending nothing! I got sucked into his body when I came to talk to you! Damn, you haven't seen me in weeks, and this is the welcome I get! What's next, you announce your betrothal to Kouga?"

"Inu Yasha?" Eyes wide, she came forward, staring at his face. "You're really Inu Yasha?"

"Who else would come crashing into your room? Of course I'm Inu Yasha!" He rolled his eyes, then walked over to the bed, allowing his body to sink into the deep cushions. "My old man taught me how to contact you in your sleep, but when I got here, I was somehow pulled into Sesshoumaru's body. And don't ask, I have no idea how!"

A moment later, Kagome squealed and jumped onto his chest. "It's really you?" She asked, then laid quick, wet kisses all over his face.

Inu Yasha grinned, rolling over so that she was under him. "Miss me?"

"Hmmm…" She murmured, pulling his lips down to hers. "You don't know how much." Softly, she kissed him, nibbling at his lips when he came close enough.

He gently pulled away, then traced the curve of her cheek with his mouth. Then, he buried his face in her hair, breathing in her scent. "I missed you too, Kagome."

"How long do we have?" She asked, her eyes shining with tears.

"Not long. I don't know when Sesshoumaru will wake up. I don't know how I know it, but I do. When he wakes up, I'm gonna be bodiless again."

Kagome nodded. "Makes sense. It's his body, and you have no real ties to it. He, however, does."

"Hmm…" Inu Yasha kissed her again, then slid over so that he lay on his side next to her. "And we don't want that to happen if we're in the middle of anything, huh?"

The Miko's eyes crossed at the thought. "He'd kill us both." Yet, she couldn't help snickering as she thought of what his expression would be like. "That is, if he can manage to even face us afterward."

"Hey, I wanna see the kids before I go back." Inu Yasha reached for her face, pushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "I miss them as much as I miss you."

"Even Shippo?" She joked, knowing how the two got on each others nerves.

"Even him." Inu Yasha stood up, pulling her to stand next to him. "When I get back for good, we'll leave the kids with Nari and have a whole week to ourselves."

Kagome 's chuckling stopped as she recognized the heated look in his eyes. Pushing closer to him, she reached up and touched his bottom lip with the pad of her thumb. "Promise?"

"Yeah. I wanna celebrate coming back to life with just you, me, and a futon in the middle of nowhere. "

She shivered as he nipped her finger, then yelped when she felt his hand squeeze her ass. "Pervert." Kagome laughed, pushing away from him to open the door.

"You love me, anyway."

Together, the walked down the hallway to the nursery, and quietly entered. In the first bedroom lay Shippo tangled up in his covers with his foot hanging off the cushions. He looked so sweet and innocent, one might forget how much he enjoyed torturing his adopted father.

Carefully, Inu Yasha untangled his covers and pulled them flat over his son. Then, bending over, he gently pushed his hair off of his forehead and kissed his brow. Straightening, he backed away, warning Kagome to never tell the Kitsune that he did that. "I'll deny it till I'm out of breath."

She only smiled and shook her head. She knew damn well that Shippo wouldn't believe it, anyway.

Next, they visited the twins room, repeating the process with both pups. "I swear they look smaller than before." Inu Yasha whispered. "Are you sure they're eating alright?"

"Tai has gained weight since you left. It's probably all muscle, considering that Sesshoumaru has her in the dojo every morning."

"The dojo?" He couldn't believe that this was the same brother who wouldn't let him near a sword. "Are we talking about the same Sesshoumaru?"

"Hmm… he's named her as his heir, Inu Yasha. Your brother insists that she needs to know how to defend herself. As a matter of fact, Tai told me just today that he wants Aika to take lessons, as well. Tai's teacher had informed him that Aika was learning from Tai, and doing better than her sister, soo… both girls are expected in the dojo for lessons every day."

Despite himself, he grumbled, complaining low about how he was never allowed to train. "What about Shippo?" He found himself asking as they stepped back into the hallway.

"He just got here today, but he'll probably be taught, as well. Sesshoumaru has publically claimed him as family, so it would be expected."

Inu Yasha was floored. Never would he expect his cold-hearted brother to act this way. Of course, the only side he had ever experienced from his brother was the strict parental figure. Sesshoumaru had never showed him any open affection.

"Why, Kagome?" He finally asked. "Why is he being so… nice?"

The Miko thought for a moment, then led him back to her room. Once they were behind a closed door, she sat with him on the bed, gathering her thoughts before saying anything. "I think that when you died, he saw something that he never looked for before. Inu Yasha, I can't claim to know how he thinks, but your death changed him. He was raised to believe that a hanyou was weaker than a full-blooded youkai. Everyone thought this, not just him. I think that after you ran away, he gave you up for dead. Then, when Kikyou pinned you to the tree, it sort of proved to him that you were weak. He continuosly fought you, probably trying to get you to give up and come back or kill you so that he wouldn't have to protect you anymore. But, you proved him wrong, then, Love. You managed to beat him."

"He was probably trying to kill me." Inu Yasha said, snorting.

"Hmmm…yeah. But then you went and died, killing Naruke to save everyone else. Sesshoumaru respected the fact that you sacrificed yourself."

"So now he feels that in return, he had to acknowledge our pups?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Inu Yasha snorted. "He has to find a mate and have his own family to worry about. When I get back, I don't want to stay here. I hated it here, Kagome!"

She snuggled up to him, laying her head on his shoulder. "It'll be nice to be in our own home again. I miss Kaede and my family. But, I think we should stay and visit for awhile, first. The kids deserve to know their grandfather, don't you think?"

"Oi.. You don't know what your asking for, wench! He's worse than I am!"

"Inu Yasha…."

"I mean it! He's a sadistic tyrant! He's evil, Kagome!"

She rolled her eyes, "What did he do?"

"He made me learn poetry, and drilled me on sword techniques everyday! Dammit, he would zap me with electricity stuff when I screwed up! He even made me practice how I was gonna tell you how I loved you!"

"Did you manage to improve your manners?" She was giggling against his chest.

"It's not funny! Dammit, he's mean! He even spanked me the first time I met him!"

Kagome gave up on holding her laughter in, ignoring his hurt expression as she rolled over onto her back. "He spanked you?" His nod just made her laugh harder. "Oh, I have to meet him! He sounds great!"

"If you think so, I'll let him get you next time he's in the mood! Dammit, woman! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Inu Yasha, stop!" She stopped laughing, but there was still a smile on her face. "I don't want to fight with you right now!"

"Alright, alright. I won't complain about him anymore. But, I won't stay longer than a week after I get resurrected!"

"Deal!" Kagome pounced him. "Now, lay down with me until you go. I've been having a hard time sleeping with you gone."

"Well, it won't be much longer. I figured out how to make a new body when I come through the sword, so Pop said we'll be coming back as soon as you learn the ceremony. Sesshoumaru will be bringing you the scrolls. That reminds me, make sure there is paper near by when he throws me out of his body. The scrolls won't last more than an hour or two, so you might have to help him copy them."

He settled back on the bed, watching as she got up to check her desk. Satisfied that there was plenty of empty scrolls, brushes, and ink, she set the supplies on the desk and came back to bed. "He's going to be upset when he wakes up to find himself here." She mentioned, snuggling against him.

"Well, my brother never could appreciate a beautiful woman." He grinned, covering her body with the quilt. "Just tell him that nothing happened, and that you won't tell a soul. He should be embarrassed enough to go along with it.!

"I love you Inu Yasha." She giggled, kissing his jaw.

"Love you, too, Wench." Kagome smiled, then slowly drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sesshoumaru blinked, realizing that he wasn't in his room when he woke up. There was a warm body pressed against him, with one leg trapped between his. The scent that reached his nose was familiar - it belonged to his human sister-in-law. Swallowing, he eased away from her, ignoring the hardness that came from being snuggled with a warm female, and rolled out of the bed. It was then that he remembered the scrolls.

Like his father warned him, they were there in his hand, glowing with spiritual residue. They would not last long on this plane. Indeed, they seemed to grow dim as he stared at them! He infused the delicate paper with his own power, relieved when they managed to brighten, then crossed to the desk where supplies where already laid out.

:::At least the idiot made sure I would have paper and ink.::: He thought, still grimacing with embarrassment. :::I don't even want to know what happened last night!::: Sesshoumaru shuddered as he imagined his worst nightmare. Then, not wanting to waste any more time, he sat at the desk and began to copy.

A half hour later, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was done just in time for the ghostly scrolls to fade into mist.

"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome called from the bed as she sat up. "Did you copy it in time?"

He blushed, unable to meet her gaze. "Yes. Father said they would last a few hours, but it only lasted long enough for me to copy it. Inu Yasha told you about them?"

"Yeah… he said to make sure you had paper and ink when you woke up." She looked closely at him, bemused at his blushing. "Is something the matter?"

"NO! Nothing that concerns you!" He blustered, standing up quickly. "I will just leave now to get clean." He stumbled to the door, obviously in a hurry to leave.

"Sesshoumaru - Inu Yasha and I only talked last night. You don't have to be embarrassed, since I didn't see anything I shouldn't have."

:::Damn the wench! She's smiling!::: "I am happy that you respected me enough not to take advantage of the situation." He replied, his eyes narrowed. Just to make sure that she wasn't lying, he took in the scent of the room, checking to make sure that his brother hadn't used his body to seduce his wife.

"Inu Yasha and I decided that it would be to weird." She reassured him, amused that he would be so shy.

Understanding, he nodded, a bit perturbed that she was being so… so.. Condescending. Deciding to get a little of his pride back, he smirked, deliberately speaking to embarrass her. "He was probably afraid that he wouldn't measure up." And with that, he left, leaving Kagome speechless.

:::Did he just make a joke?:::

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TBC

Ok , how was that? I know, it's mainly all fluff. Both Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru were more than a little OOC, as well. BUT.. It's my story, and I needed them to act this way, so there! (Sticking tounge out at sticklers :P )

Anyway, stay tuned. I won't mention Naraku/Naruke (depending on the spelling you prefer) again until later… I want Yasha-chan and his father breathing again before I make more trouble for the Inu Clan! LOL…

Hey - how do ya'll think Fluffy-sama is gonna react when he realizes that he lost his title? I mean, if Taisho-sama is alive, Fluffy-sama won't be the Lord of the West anymore…..

~Caliko