InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What Matters the Most ❯ Smile Like You Mean It ( Chapter 26 )

A\N: This chapter doesn’t have really an actual point behind it, it’s just sort of amusing and gives you a bit of a WAFF toward the end I think. Yeesh. Anyway, I’ve got a whole bunch of other ideas for future chapters (plus some not FF related work I need to do) that I have to get organized, so let’s make this as quick as possible.

-AnimeRainChildOfLove - Lol, I’m glad you like his portrayal so much. I’m never entirely sure how to go about his character, but that’s fine cause it all seems to work out in the end. He’s probably gonna end up being a bit excluded for a while though, I think, because, no offence to him of course, but, at the moment, he really doesn’t have much to do with anything. Well, okay, maybe he does, but there are other characters that have more to do with it, so I’m gonna focus on them more. ^_^ -- Oh, and thanks so much for the help with the names! It actually is a big deal, though I think I might have put it in a bit soon, since it’ll probably be a good while yet until I get around to the actually birth. Anyway, it still is really important to know that people are helping! ^_^

-Crazy-Inuyasha-Girl - Lol, this soon enough for you, or should I have gone faster?   ~*~   Smile like you mean it

Inuyasha slept surprisingly soundly considering what his mind was now aware had happened.

After allowing Sesshomaru to carry him to the futon without much fuss-- simply enjoying the contact and closeness it allowed him with him with his chosen-- and lying there with his brother curled protectively around him (though the elder youkai was asleep much sooner than him) Inuyasha had begun to realise something: He didn’t feel effected by the rape, which he supposed was an effect of everyone else seeming to know a whole lot more about it than him, but that didn‘t matter... it was like the whole thing hadn‘t happened at all.

Well, maybe that was a stretch.

His body ached, and he knew that his mind and soul had to have been effected because when Sesshomaru had told him it had happened he had felt... empty.

And when he had remembered what had happened-- remembered Naraku’s words-- that emptiness only intensified a hundredfold... in fact, he had heard that, at least with humans, sometimes they never recovered from the emptiness, it just swelled and... consumed them.

But then again, he wasn’t completely human, and he had something (besides demon blood) that they didn’t have. He had Sesshomaru. He had his mate, and that was all he really needed to fill that void that had tried to take over him. It wasn’t gone, he knew, he could still feel it’s presence, but it wasn’t empty either, and if it attempted to grow... it was just filled with more of his brother.

He knew that he would be emotionally unstable for a while-- it was something he could feel in his very bones-- and that, if he met Naraku again, he would likely be afraid, perhaps even loose himself in the void, but as long as Sesshomaru was there to pull him out again then that didn’t matter. He could depend on his brother to be there when he was weak now. He could depend on him to be his light in the dark, to protect him from danger, and to continue to fill this void inside of him and never let it consume him. And he... he would do whatever was necessary up to and including sacrificing his own freedom and\or life to return to favour.

This was strangely surprising to think as Inuyasha had never felt such a desire before-- except, maybe, for his mother, but that was, in some strange way, entirely different and unrelated to this. Sesshomaru was, after all, his brother, and more than capable of taking care of himself. Besides, he wasn’t completely broken from the incident-- he had survived attacks that, while perhaps not as bad or cruel as that one, continued equal malice and hurt behind them.

‘Feh, stupid baka. He of all people should know I don’t go down that easily.’ He thought, then paused to rethink it.

What if he hadn’t had a mate when Naraku had done it? What if Sesshomaru had still hated him? How would his brother have reacted? What would he have done? How would he himself have reacted when he woke up with no one and nothing to bring him back from the fog of despair his mind had set up to block out his memories?

Sure, he had his father and mother, but what were they compared to the closeness and bond he felt with his mate?

Inuyasha squirmed in Sesshomaru’s tight grip (which held more than a little possessiveness even in sleep) until he was turned to face him, taking in the completely at ease expression on his brother’s face.

Tentatively he reached a hand up, stroking the unusually textured birthmarks which seemed to be both smoother and rougher than the surrounding flesh-- like soft sand almost, but somehow smoother than even that. Not to mention their strange ability to seemingly subtly change colour.

‘If it weren’t for him I wouldn’t have made it through this. But maybe if it weren’t for him it wouldn’t have happened at all...’

He paused his hands gentle exploration and glared. ‘Don’t be stupid!’ He chastised himself. ‘Even if that is true, it did happen. And you’re not going to change the damn future by re-examining the past!’ He mentally fumed at himself. As if sensing his inner turmoil, Sesshomaru’s grip tightened slightly, and Inuyasha froze, his eyes focusing on Sesshomaru’s face, his expression softening slightly. ‘And we both know that, even if we knew what Naraku was planning to do to me... even then, we would do it all over again if we had the choice.’

His fingers resumed their movement only to pause a moment later when Sesshomaru’s face shifted slightly in sleep and Inuyasha smiled fondly.

After their few encounters with one another, he had quickly come to the conclusion that, like his dog-ears and mating mark, the colourful stripes and crescent moon were highly sensitive. Especially to their mate’s touch, and he used this to his advantage and in retaliation for every time Sesshomaru thought to exploit his ears.

Sesshomaru’s eyes fluttered open slowly, and he looked down with a hint of confusion at Inuyasha, wondering what had woken him from his sleep in the first place when he suddenly felt the gentle brushing of battle-calloused fingertips over his cheek.

A frown graced his face as he turned his eyes to his brother’s own, which were staring at him in a mix of peace and determination and Sesshomaru noticed that they had acquired a certain... deepness that was not present before.

They were not broken or sad or even angry, just... deeper, reflecting with a disconnected melancholy that also had not been their before, but that had also been present in Rin’s eyes. The sort of melancholy detachment that came when someone saw or witnessed some horror no one ever should, and survived to see the sun rise again-- survived and conquered it.

Yet Rin’s was definitely greater in visible strength, Inuyasha’s own being vague at best, and mostly Inuyasha just looked content, contemplative and ever so slightly confused, with a barely-there hint of the brokenness Sesshomaru had been expecting to see for so long now tainting his golden gaze. Other than that, everything seemed to be well with his mate.

That is, until the door opened a moment later.

The small creak of wood and the soft footsteps and even softer voice humming some nameless tune were enough to make Inuyasha suddenly rigid in his arms, his pupils dilating in fear, his breathing quickening to an erratic pace.

Sesshomaru looked at him, internally surprised, before turning his gaze to the intruder, who happened to be Yuko.

The servant seemed completely oblivious to Inuyasha’s trauma and Sesshomaru’s defensive and icy gaze as she carried a tray of something over to the table by the fire where the kettle of Takehiko’s tea still resided, pausing when she noticed Sesshomaru’s gaze.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, and she quickly bowed her head, unable to do more with the tray in her hands, though it didn’t seem to make much difference since Sesshomaru was uninterested in forms of respect at the moment (being more concerned with Inuyasha’s well-being) and she nearly dropped the food anyway in her haste.

‘Ohayou gozaimesu, Lord Sesshomaru. Forgive me for entering with any consent, but I thought you were asleep, and I had this food...’ Her eyes widened even further as she looked at him with horror. ‘Oh no, I didn’t wake you did I?’ She asked and Sesshomaru stared at her in slightly surprise. The girl was, if nothing else, certainly entertaining, and he could feel Inuyasha relax slightly in his grip, though the hanyou still remained warily tense.

‘If your knocking had not woken me, your humming certainly would have.’ Sesshomaru said, if for no other reason than to see what the girl would do next. He could actually feel faint traces of humour beginning to enter Inuyasha’s aura, though he doubted his brother was aware of them yet.

Yuko looked almost heartbroken at his words and Sesshomaru half expected to see tears in her eyes as she quickly said ‘Oh Gods, I’m so sorry my Lord, I just thought you would like the rest, and I didn’t even really realise that I was humming, though that is hardly an excuse-- I should have been more considerate, but I simply wasn’t thinking, though that’s not an excuse either and...’

She trailed off again as her eyes fell on Inuyasha who, clearly recognising the girl no longer to be a threat, was looking over his shoulder at her, half in curiosity, half as though he was in serious doubt of her sanity and their safety of being in the same room with the rambling servant, wondering what exactly it was with human girls and their seemingly never-ending ability‘s to talk so much, while Sesshomaru himself was fascinated by his brother‘s sudden and swift mood change. It was almost enough to make Sesshomaru smile. Almost.

‘He went from fear to curiosity in so short a time...’ He thought, staring silently down at his brother, his face expressionless yet again, but Inuyasha didn’t notice it.

He was busy staring at the gaping green-eyed girl in front of him, who seemed to realise that she was gaping a moment later and quickly dropped her gaze.

‘Ohayo gozaimesu, Lord Inuyasha.’ She said quietly, moving toward the table to finally complete the task she had come here for in the first place-- setting the tray down, her hair falling over her shoulder to reveal... vaguely pointed ears that any eye, demon or not, could have missed if they were not searching for it.

‘I hope you are feeling better-- you did not seem well the last time I was here.’ Inuyasha blinked. ‘The last time? When the hell was “the last time?”’ He wondered, but not for long, because a moment later the girl straightened then and turned to face them, her green eyes peering at him in a strangely earnest and genuinely concerned kind of way, which was odd because Inuyasha was certain he had never met the girl before.

‘Oh... yeah, I’m... fine.’ He said slowly, his uncertainty radiating in his voice, something Yuko seemed oblivious to.

‘Oh, I’m so glad to hear that!’ She said, her face instantly brightening. ‘You looked so pale and sick last time, and Lord Sesshomaru seemed so concerned. Word in the kitchen was that you had been cut down in battle or poisoned, or maybe had even contracted a very fatal disease! I didn’t know what to believe! But everyone has been fairly worried about you, though no one was exactly sure what to be worried for, and Kagon has been prescribing all sorts of antidotes and healing things but no one was sure what to bring you-- he does tend to be a bit eccentric at times. I decided that I’d make a couple of different dishes and see which one you’d like best-- including one new one that I think you’ll enjoy called “Ramen”.’

She finished her rant, and Inuyasha stared at her with wide eyes while Sesshomaru gave a mental chuckle at the exchange. Inuyasha had said a total of four words, yet the conversation seemed to have gone on for nearly fifteen minutes!

No doubt Inuyasha had no idea what was going on or what this girl was talking about (and probably didn’t know how to respond to her either) and seemed to have given up on trying to figure it out, just staring at her with that same shocked expression while subtly edging closer to Sesshomaru.

Yuko gave a small smile, biting her lip with a canine that appeared to be slightly larger than a human’s-- another subtle detail to give away her blood status-- before, seemingly realising that she was causing the half-demon a good deal of inner confusion with all her rambling, saying ‘I should be glad when all these dratted guests leave...’ in a sudden random change of topic.

However, this did little for any of the demons (or half or whatever the hell else was present).

Sesshomaru’s eyes widened imperceptibly while Yuko’s became comically large and Inuyasha lost his eyebrows in his hair.

Sure, the brother’s had heard and used far worse language than that, but it was odd to hear from a servant-- especially in reference to someone (or many someones) who were considered her betters.

‘Gomen, my Lords, I should not have said that.’ She stuttered out, before quickly bowing and exiting the room, her face and ears effectively stained a bright red that would undoubtedly linger (or return) over the next couple of days.

Inuyasha stared after the girl for a moment in utter fascination before turning wide golden eyes upon Sesshomaru.

‘Who or what in all the seven hells was that?’ He asked, and the expression on his brother’s face combined with the tone of his voice and all the previous events of the day were enough to cause Sesshomaru to do something he hadn’t done in a very long time.

He laughed.

A small, quiet, but genuine chuckle that surprised Inuyasha to no end, and again caused his eyebrows to disappear into his bangs as he said ‘Oh Inuyasha.’ In a completely un-Sesshomaru-like manner and drew his mate against him again, and Inuyasha couldn’t help but smile at the subtle but infectious mirth slipping off of his brother.

‘I’m glad you’re back otouto.’ Sesshomaru murmured and Inuyasha stared up at him, his brow knitting together in confusion as his brother went on to say ‘I was so afraid I’d lost you.’ In a quiet confession, his eyes remaining fixed at some spot on the wall that, under further investigation, proved to be incredibly dull and entirely uninteresting, and Inuyasha blinked up at Sesshomaru before looking away.

‘No Sesshomaru.’ He said softly, his hand coming to curl up on Sesshomaru’s chest. ‘You’ll never loose me. I’ll always be with you. I promise.’

Sesshomaru cocked an eyebrow.

‘Are you certain you can keep such a promise?’ He asked in as close to teasing as you ever heard him come and Inuyasha tensed slightly.

‘Yeah.’ He said firmly. ‘If I really mean it.’

Sesshomaru contemplated this a moment in silence.

‘And do you?’ He asked, feeling the shift of Inuyasha’s muscles under his skin as he slowly pulled back to face him, eyes burning with a fire and determination that Sesshomaru had been so afraid he would have lost.

‘Yeah.’ He said quietly. ‘I do.’

And Sesshomaru smiled.

And this time Inuyasha was not so certain that that was a sign of the world coming to an end.

Though if it was, he would gladly embrace it.

Just so long as he was with Sesshomaru.

His brother.

His lover.

His mate.

End ~*~  

Glossary

Youkai - Demon

Feh - A general noise of dismissal

Baka - Idiot, moron, incompetent, stupid person, etc

Ohayo Gozaimesu - A rather formal version of “good morning”. Less formal would just be Ohayo

Hanyou - Half-demon

Kagon - I believe this means exaggeration. I don’t think it’s an actual Japanese name though.

Gomen - Sorry

Otouto - Little Brother. ~*~

AN: Okay, so I took out all the names without a meaning or sex (sorry but they won’t be added again) and the list doesn’t seem to have narrowed down that much. Anyway, maybe not next chapter, but in one of the future chapters I’m going to take off all the names that don’t have a vote for them (and please, don’t just go through an put a whole bunch of votes for names you suggested to keep them up there-- ya gotta work with me here people!) So far in the lead are Inuko, Tsukiko and Moriko, so we’ll see how long that goes for. ^_^

*Phew* -- This is turning into more work than I first expected. You know, I think the list of names is almost as long as the story itself! >_< I’m not entirely sure how or when that happened... Anyway, We’ve almost got it narrowed down, but people I really need help with more boys names. I’m getting votes for girl’s names left right and centre, but not that many for the boys, and those are the one’s that I’m looking for now. So please, offer your vote and help me get this all sorted and narrowed down!

(The Ones with stars next to them are Reviewers picks so far-- Number of * equals number of votes)

Inuko - (Has to be at the top ^_^) Means Dog-Child, and could be for a boy or a girl - ******

Tsukiko - Female - means Moon Child - ******

Moriko - Female - Forest child (Picked it out cause Inuyasha’s so fond of trees and all that ^_^) - *****

Hikaru - Light: this is a boys name (I believe) but I suppose it could be used for a girl as well - ***

Akiko - Autumn child - This one’s just female (for reasons I do not know). Picked these 2 out because I like autumn. ^_^. It’s a tie between it and spring for best season. - **

Akira - Male - Intelligencebrightness - **

Naomi - Female - Above all beauty (I always liked the name Naomi, so why not?) - **

Hotaru - Firefly - Female - ***

Kenaku - Swordsman, obviously a males **

Katana - Female - (Yep this is an actual name, not just a word) it means Sword andor Blade - **

Gina - Silvery (Think I picked this out because Inuyasha and Sesshomaru have silver hair ^_^) Female - **

Suzume - Sparrow - female (again, this one I just liked the sound of) - **

Aki - Autumn andor bright - It’s male and female - *

Yuki - male - snow or luck *

Nanashi - I don’t know how much I like this name-- it sounds evil It means “Without name“ - Boy or Girl

Gininu - Another one I’m unsure of, but, according to a friend of mine who hasn’t turned out to be entirely reliable in the past, it means silver dog. Actually, it’s a little strange if you try and pronounce it out loud. The “Gin” I’m pretty sure is the same as from

“Ginkotsu” which means silver bones andor silver skeleton. Something along those lines.

Amaya - Female - Night rain. A lot of people seem to use this name in their stories for some reason. It sounds kind of depressing if you know it’s meaning.

As well as ones given by the reviewers:

-Kyo - boy - large, approval, or ginger *

-Tomiko - girl - child of wealth

-Yoshi - boygirl - goodness, luck, free

-Shiro -boy - fourth son (but as a color, white)

-Yuri - BoyGirl - Lily

-Keitaro - Boy - blessed

-Shiori - BoyGirl - Poem/weave (I don’t think I’ll use this one seeing as how it already belongs to a character on Inuyasha)

-Yuiko - Girl - Bindgarmentchild

-Shinsei - Boy - DivinityPureDignity

-Kiyoko - means pure, girl -

-Takara - means treasure - either *

-Haruko - means spring - girl - *

-Ryuko - means dragon - girl

-Ryuji - see Ryuko - boy

-Izayoi - Female (Obviously) and didn’t we just have a big thing about her name a little while ago? Lol, I’m still unsure entirely what it means, but it’s something to do with the zodiac I think.

-Einujieru (boy)- Flourishing To Sew Time Graceful Flow
-Kurisu (boy)- Revered Air Reason
-Jizasu (boy)- Revered Time Sitting
-Jyaku (boy)- Air person
-Bureiku (boy)- Air Dancing Soul
-Buraian (boy)- Safe Thunder Dancer
-Raian (boy)- Safe Thunder
-Riku (boy)- Air Reason
-Aron (boy)- Wild Theory
-Arekusu (boy)- Revered Wild Air Spirit - *
-Jyurio (boy)- Confusious Reasoning King
-Biri (both)- Beautiful Reason
-Merisa (girl)- Eye Enticing Reason
-Sera (girl)- roughly Inclusive Avert
-Jyaeshika (girl)- Graceful Flower Scholar Person
-Eipuriru (girl)- Flourishing Flowing Wind Reason
-Jyunu (girl)- Confucious To Sew
-Jiru (girl)- Flowing Time
-Saimon (boy)- Will Enticing Question
-Shion (boy)- Graceful Scholar
-Kasurin (girl)- Revered Moral Flower
-Makusu (boy)- Revered True Air
-Kurisuten (girl)- Reason Heaven Revered Air

-Juri- Girl - acceptence

-Hiro- Boy - reactor

-Chiaki- Boy - definite

-Ruri- Girl - lapis lazuli - which means stone of azure,its this kind of rock,thats a pure blue color,that some culture worship it.

-Asato - Boy - shooting to death