A/N: Ok, so I have other stories I'd promised to update. But I can't really bring myself to do so, and in the meantime the lack of writing fanfics has begun to fester and burn, so I've started this new project to help keep that burning to a minimum, still satisfy fans, while not setting too many constraints and goals for myself.
This will be a collection of maybe related, maybe not, drabbles. Enjoy.
Title: Do not Litter
Summary: Kagome writes to her diary of a possible answer to why Sesshoumaru is always spotless. Rin brings her concern for Jakken-sama's affinity to fall asleep at random to Sesshoumaru-sama's attention.
Sesshoumaru paused, staring down his nose at the tiny thing in his path. He had never seen anything like it; its looks and some colors were foreign to his knowledge, and even more so was the pungent smell of a bitter, acrid burning. The thing was misshapen, but the demon lord could tell it had more to do with the fact that some other youkai had found the object first - there were a number of teeth marks embedded in it, even a little fang, he found when he squinted a bit at a white spot.
He took a quick, delicate whiff, mindful of the thing's overpowering stench, to determine if it would be harmful to the little girl soon to approach behind him.
"Sesshoumaru-sama? Is something wrong?" Rin hopped off the two-headed dragon and peered out from behind Sesshoumaru's legs, searching the road ahead. When she didn't see anything, she looked up. Noticing the direction of his stare, she looked back down.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, what is that?" she asked, pointing a little finger at the thing in their path.
Sesshoumaru did not reply immediately. He took another little whiff, this time at their surroundings, before he seemed to sigh in distaste.
"Rin," he said.
"Hai! Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Take it and mount the dragon. We are going to see my idiot half-brother."
"Hai! Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Sesshoumaru breeched the tree line and approached his half-brother's group. They were tense, ready to battle, but battling was not on Sesshoumaru's mind this meeting. Well, perhaps a bit of battering on his little half-brother. But that was second to his purpose.
He continued to approach the group, sending InuYasha flying into a tree on the way, since the pup had tried to charge him. He stopped when he was standing a few feet away from the miko. She stood defiantly but confusedly in her spot, protectively in front of the kitsune. The others of the group watched wearily, staying their hands as they did not sense the usual animosity.
Then Sesshoumaru tossed the thing that had been in his path earlier in the day, at the miko, who gasped in surprise and fumbled to catch it.
"Egads! My mp3-player! You found it!" At the miko's exclamation everyone but Sesshoumaru stared at her in surprise. They started (again without Sesshoumaru) with her next exclamation, louder this time: "Egads! What happened to it? Did you chew my player? Mama's going to kill me!"
"This Sesshoumaru dislikes litter on his lands." Sesshoumaru's first words had everyone's attention, Kagome's face flushing when she heard the reprimand that reminded her so much of signs she saw in her time. Then Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at her, "Do not litter again," and left.
The InuYasha crew stared after him.
"Jakken-sama?"
"What, you insolent, annoying, broken chatterbox?!"
"Why did Sesshoumaru-sama come all this way to give back Kagome-nee-sama's … em-pi-huri-purei-a?"
"Didn't you hear what the great Sesshoumaru-sama said to that idiot hanyou's woman!? Sesshoumaru-sama despises litter! Sesshoumaru-sama loves cleanliness! Since Sesshoumaru-sama was very young, Sesshoumaru-sama has always-" thwak
"Jakken-sama? Jakken-sama? Sesshoumaru-sama, Jakken-sama has fallen asleep in the middle of a sentence again. Why does Jakken-sama do that?"
"Leave him, Rin. He is tiresome."
"Does Sesshoumaru-sama mean that Jakken-sama is tired?"
Sesshoumaru turned back to the trail and walked on.
Nightfall found Kagome writing tearfully into her diary:
Dear Diary,
Today we had an unexpected gift from an unexpected visit from an unexpectedly civil Sesshoumaru, which resulted in learning two unexpected things.
Earlier in the day I'd somehow dropped the player Mama had gotten me, and Sesshoumaru, of all people, came all the way from wherever he was to return it.
The first thing I suppose I haven't learned; I suppose it's still just a theory: Sesshoumaru seems to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder for cleanliness; why else would he come all this way just to tell me about "littering" and why else is he always so clean, and why else does he always dislike Jakken? Well, but I suppose there is a problem with reasoning in Rin.
The other thing I learned is that the image of Sesshoumaru using my poor mp3-player (bless it's electronic innards) as a chew-toy is one that is quite lethal to one's mental health, as well as to the comfort of one's jaw, cheeks and stomach.
Goodnight, Diary.
Kagome.