Summary:Little Sesshoumaru has to babysit an even little-er Inuyasha. What could possibly go wrong with that brilliant plan?
Warnings: Some kind of modern-ancient mix AU where it's pre-feudal times but they have shampoo and cell phones. So, err… yeah.
Story: Babysitting With Sesshoumaru
"But I don't want to babysit that little monster!"
Tsukiko sighed at her son's petulant rant and gave a sideways reassuring look to Izayoi who was gazing at her beseechingly.
"Sesshoumaru," Tsukiko tried again. "We have talked about this. I would never put this on you if we had any other choice, but your father is away, the nanny is off for the holidays, and we can't just leave him with the servants. You can sacrifice one evening to look after your little brother!"
"Why can't you do it?" the young demon Lord grouched, throwing his mother a dirty look, but knowing better than to run his mouth at the polite, sweet young lady who was the mother of the little runt who was ruining his life.
"Because Izayoi and I are exhausted and if we're stuck in here one more night with you two brats, we're going to snap," Tsukiko answered through gritted teeth, glaring down at her son.
Sesshoumaru looked up at Izayoi who was giving him an apologetic look, and then looked back at his mother.
"You'll be back soon?" he mumbled.
"We're just going out for dinner and we'll be back before midnight," Tsukiko answered quickly, subtly shoving Izayoi towards the door.
"Thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru, we really appreciate this," Izayoi called as she was practically pushed out the door.
"You're welcome," Sesshoumaru muttered, turning away from the door. Then he took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he knew was going to be a harrowing evening.
"Nii-san!"
Sesshoumaru closed his eyes at the squeaky little voice coming from somewhere on level with his knees.
"What?" he grumbled, turning around.
Two large dirty gold eyes blinked up at him innocently. "Where's mama?"
Sesshoumaru sighed inwardly at the half-demon's broken dialect. "Your mother is out with my mother and they have left you in my care for the evening."
"Why?" Inuyasha asked, tilting his head to one side lightly in a way that reminded the elder brother of a puppy.
"Because they were sick of you," Sesshoumaru told him, reaching forward to push a strand of white hair out of the way that was threatening to poke the little one in the eye.
"That means just Sessh and me?" Inuyasha asked, happily oblivious to the insult.
Sesshoumaru sighed. "Unfortunately, yes."
Inuyasha grinned toothily. "Yaayy!"
A few minutes later –
"INUYASHA IF THAT IS MY NOTEBOOK YOU'RE SCRIBBLING ON, YOU'RE GOING TO BE SORRY!"
Little Inuyasha looked up at his apoplectic brother and held up the book. "Look, you an' me, Sessh."
The prince of the Western lands gritted his teeth at the stick figures that could barely be called people beside what were painstakingly taken notes written over hours. And his tutor did not accept excuses like 'my brother is an idiot'.
"I left you alone for 2 minutes!" Sesshoumaru said, "How the fuck did you manage to get into my bag?"
The little devil grinned up at him. "Sessh said a bad word!"
Sesshoumaru passed a tired hand over his eyes.
An hour later –
"Why in god's name do you have flour in your hair?"
Inuyasha stuck his tongue out and licked at the powdery substance on his lips, then grimaced when it didn't taste like he had expected it to. "Inuyasha thoughts -"
He stuttered to a stop at the stern glare his brother was giving him. Pretty much everybody let him get away with speaking the way he wanted because he was cute, except his brother who he knew disapproved of him not speaking correctly. He took a deep breath and started again.
"I thought if I puts more white in my hair, it would be all glowy like Sessh's," Inuyasha explained.
Sesshoumaru stared at him.
"You thought if you put flour in your hair - nevermind, just go get cleaned up before our mothers get here," he gestured for a servant to pick up the flour-covered nightmare.
"NOOOOOO," Inuyasha screamed as soon as the servant stooped down and reached her arms out to him.
She looked back at the young lord questioningly.
"What?" Sesshoumaru demanded.
"I wants Sessh to give me a bath," Inuyasha explained, spitting out flour that had fallen on his lips during his agitated rant.
"You- what?" the demon Lord asked uncomprehendingly.
"Inuyasha wants Sessh bathe him," Inuyasha tried to clarify.
"I am not giving you a bath," Sesshoumaru told him flatly, gesturing once again to the servant.
Inuyasha let out an ear-splitting bawl while squirming like a worm in the poor girl's arms.
"I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama," she said helplessly as Inuyasha screamed.
Sesshoumaru winced at the high-pitched wail and waved her away. The girl stepped back, relieved, and Sesshoumaru walked forward and poked Inuyasha's nose hard like a button. Inuyasha stopped howling immediately and looked up at him questioningly.
"Alright fine," Sesshoumaru conceded. "I'll give you a bath. Now don't cry."
Inuyasha blinked teary eyelashes that were now caked with flour up at his big brother.
"Wheee," Inuyasha squeaked as he was dunked, clothes and all, into the luke-warm water in the bathtub and then brought back up by the neck of his haori.
Sesshoumaru figured it was more efficient to wash the hanyou and his clothes together in one go.
"Do you at least know how to shampoo your hair?" he grumbled at the younger sibling.
Inuyasha shook his head happily.
Sesshoumaru sighed and squirted some shampoo in his hands and began to rub it into the little brother's flour-covered hair.
Inuyasha obligingly moved into his massaging hands as his older brother made sure not to get water in his puppy ears. Only his mama and nanny knew how to wash his head properly, and, it seemed, Sesshoumaru too.
"After this, you're going straight to bed," Sesshoumaru told him sternly.
"Ok," Inuyasha agreed quickly, knowing his brother's temper was already short.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sesshoumaru demanded, looking down at the newly cleaned hanyou in fresh, dry clothes. "Bed!"
"Umm," Inuyasha mumbled, looking down at his bare toes wiggling on his brother's plush carpet.
"Now what?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"M hungry," Inuyasha admitted quietly.
That was when Sesshoumaru remembered his mother had failed to provide him with any instructions as to what to feed the half-demon, and that he was, in fact, hungry too.
"Alright," he said. "Come on."
"Yasha don't eat raw meat," the younger sibling insisted, firmly shaking his head.
"Well, what the hell do you normally eat for dinner?" Sesshoumaru asked him.
Inuyasha grinned at him innocently. "Cookies!"
Sesshoumaru gave him a flat look. "Nice try."
When the chef hurried over to them, seeing the plate of food untouched by the younger brother, Sesshoumaru asked him to prepare some human food, to be on the safe side. The chef withdrew with a bow and a "Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Why they all call you Sessh – o – sama?" Inuyasha asked a little while later when he was half-way through his meal.
"-sama is a sign of respect," the elder brother told him, putting a morsel of meat in his mouth.
"Inu – I respects you too," Inuyasha declared, flourishing his chopsticks in his excitement and getting rice everywhere.
"Do you now," Sesshoumaru said evenly, reaching over to clean off his brother's chubby pink cheek with a napkin.
Inuyasha nodded enthusiastically.
Sesshoumaru paused mid bite and looked at his brother thoughtfully. "Maybe you should call me Onii-sama then," he suggested innocently.
Large gold eyes blinked at him. "But little brothers all calls their older brothers nii-san," Inuyasha pointed out.
"That is because most little brothers are ungrateful imbeciles without manners," Sesshoumaru told him.
Inuyasha's face split into a sunny grin. "Ok… o-nii-sama,"
"Go. To. Sleep."
"Yasha. Not. Sleepy!" Inuyasha threw back at him, equally determined.
"Aren't you tired after the long day you've had?" Sesshoumaru tried to coax him.
"No!" Inuyasha pouted stubbornly.
"I have to study and I can't do that if you're running around!"
"But Yasha bored!"
"I'm calling mother!" Sesshoumaru snapped, finally at the end of his patience.
Inuyasha vehemently disagreed with this decision and tried to snatch the phone out of his brother's hand. The demon Lord held him off easily with a palm on his forehead.
"Yes, mother, I have a problem," Sesshoumaru said calmly into the cell, mildly entertained by Inuyasha's fervent efforts.
"No, he's not injured," Sesshoumaru said exasperatedly, "Or dead," he confirmed at his mother's sharp inquiry.
"He just won't go to bed," Sesshoumaru explained.
Inuyasha stopped and looked up questioningly at his brother when said brother pressed the end button on the phone and then slowly turned around to look down at him contemplatively.
"What'd she say?" Inuyasha asked.
Sesshoumaru carefully put the phone away. "She said I should think of something."
Inuyasha tilted his head to the side.
"What'd Sessh think of?"
Sesshoumaru smiled slowly. "How would you like to play a game?"
It was half an hour to midnight when Lady Tsukiko and Lady Izayoi returned back home. It had been a good evening. God, it felt refreshing to be free of the two little imps that were their children. It had only been a week since the nanny left, but it had felt like an eternity.
"Sesshoumaru, we're home!" she called. "Is everything-"
She stopped short in the doorway, staring at the scene before her.
Her son was sitting in his usual armchair by the fire, with his feet propped up on the low, round table. Under his feet was Inuyasha, fast asleep on his stomach on a blanket on the table, one arm dangling off the side of the table and drool escaping the side of his mouth. One of his puppy ears was squished down against the blanket and the other one would twitch occasionally as he slept.
"You're back," Sesshoumaru said calmly, looking up from his book.
"Sesshoumaru?" Tsukiko said quietly.
"Yes?" her son asked expectantly.
Tsukiko gestured helplessly in front of her with her clutch. "…why is your brother asleep on the table?"
Sesshoumaru smiled at her innocently. "You did tell me to think of something."
Tsukiko took a deep breath. "Alright. Why do you have your feet on your brother?"
"Because," Sesshoumaru explained patiently, "If I take them off, he runs around like a demented monkey."
"If I don' let the feets fall off, I win," Inuyasha murmured helpfully in his sleep.
Tsukiko closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Izayoi stepped out from behind her and immediately raised a sleeved hand to her mouth to hide what Tsukiko suspected was a smile. She would never admit it to anybody, but sometimes the seemingly fragile, kind human lady kind of scared her.
Izayoi moved forward towards her son, and Sesshoumaru obligingly took his feet off the younger brother. Inuyasha began squirming uncomfortably until Izayoi reached down and picked him up in her arms. Inuyasha settled down with a sigh then, nestling against her warmth.
"Did you wash his hair?" he whispered in amazement to Sesshoumaru, feeling Inuyasha's damp head. The little hanyou didn't let anyone near his head with water. It had been a pain even to get him used to the nanny bathing him.
"Yes," Sesshoumaru replied.
"Why?" she asked.
"…it seemed like a good idea for him to have a bath before sleeping," Sesshoumaru answered solemnly.
Izayoi sensed something was being hedged around, but her child seemed healthy and happy and she'd got a night off, so she couldn't bring herself to care.
"Thank you," she told the little lord.
"You're welcome," Sesshoumaru replied sincerely. It hadn't been so bad after all. Maybe they could do it again.
"An – an then Sessh Onii-sama helped me take a bath and washed all the white stuff off my hairs!" Inuyasha declared to Lady Tsukiko, who had decided to take a full report of the night's events from the younger sibling who was less skilled at skirting around the truth.
"Honey, you don't have to call him Onii-sama," Tsukiko said. "He's your brother. You can call him, Nii-san."
"No!" Inuyasha asserted stubbornly.
"Why?" Tsukiko asked bemusedly.
"'Coz 'm not a ungrateful bicycle!" Inuyasha declared.
A/N: Early Christmas present for you guys ^.^
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Merry Christmas and happy holidays!