CHAPTER TWO: Enter, Inari the Wolf-Boy
"How come your dad hates me so much, Nori?"
Noriko looked up from the herbs she was gathering. They were sitting by a small waterfall not too far from the village. Inari was sitting on a large rock at the water's edge. There were many useful herbs that grew there, so Noriko decided to bring some back for her mother to use. She smiled at Inari's question.
"He doesn't hate you. He's just being overprotective. It all has to do with your dad trying to steal Mom away from him."
"Yeah, I know that. But I'm not like my dad. He's too full of himself sometimes... All he does is talk about how great a demon he is and how he deserved your mom more than your dad does and stuff like that..." Then with a smirk he added, "It really annoys Mom."
Noriko giggled and stared at the young wolf prince as he watched the fish swimming at his feet. Inari was 14. He wore almost the same outfit as Koga except both of his wrist bands were short instead of having different lengths. His black hair was pulled back into a pony tail, but wasn't nearly as long as his father's, and more bangs hung in front of the bandana he wore. He had his mother's kind heart, and his father's steel-blue eyes. Noriko could stare at him for hours.
Inari turned to see he was being watched and smirked. "You're doing it again."
The flustered half demon came out of her trance like state. "W-what?"
"You were staring at me again... Am I really that good-looking?" His smile widened.
Noriko walked over and sat next to him, slightly leaning against his shoulder. His tail waved in the breeze.
"I guess so..." She smiled up at him and his heart melted on the spot. He closed his eyes, put an arm around her and held her close. Or at least, he thought he held her close...
"Gee, Inari. I didn't think I was your type."
The wolf prince opened his eyes to see Shirrow smirking back at him. His eyes widened as he quickly ripped his arm from around the older boy, and struggled to stand as quickly as possible. He slipped on the wet, rocky surface and fell into the waist-deep water. He resurfaced and shook water from his eyes to see Shirrow laughing from his perch on the rock. InuYasha was chuckling off to the side with a giggling Kotaro and a furious Noriko.
A low growl escaped Inari's throat. How dare they embarrass me like that! And in front of Nori, too!
He was about to tell them exactly what he thought of them, but Noriko beat him to it.
"I can't believe you guys! How could you do something so insensitive?"
Kotaro hid behind his father's legs.
"Aw, c'mon, Nori..." Shirrow said as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. ((A/N: ooh! we have a multitasker!)) "We were just having fun..."
"Yeah? Well, it might've been fun for you, but what about Inari?" She pointed at the soaked wolf who had gotten out of the water and was standing as far from Shirrow as he could without leaving Noriko. "Apologize to him!"
"Keh..." He closed his eyes and turned away stubbornly.
"NOW, Shirrow! I mean it!"
Shirrow jumped up and glared at his sister. "Why should I? He'll dry off!"
"You shouldn't have done anything to him in the first place!"
"A little water ain't gonna kill him!"
InuYasha stood between his oldest son and daughter. "Quit fightin', alright? You're both being stupid!" They ignored him.
"I still want you to apologize!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Make me!"
"ENOUGH!"
The arguing siblings finally noticed their father. By which I mean their thoroughly frustrated father that really just wanted to give Inari a hard time before going home to eat... Not give Inari a hard time and have it result in everyone yelling so loud that his ears rang.
"I don't wanna have to listen to this the whole way home, so either you two quit arguing and make up, or neither of you get dinner."
The two of them stared at each other for a moment before simultaneously turning away and crossing their arms. Shirrow spoke first.
"Keh... That's not gonna make me apologize! I'll just get my own food at the village!"
"Well I'm not apologizing either! I'll just stay at Grandma's, she'll give me something to eat, AND a place to sleep so that I don't have to see any STUPID brothers!"
InuYasha frowned slightly. This isn't going as planned... They were supposed to back down! He sighed and looked at his oldest son. "Well, then since you wanna get your own food, then you can just camp out then, too. I don't want to see either of you at home until you make peace with each other."
He took Kotaro's hand in his and started to head home. His ears perked up and he listened. Inari was talking now...
"Hey, Nori, listen... If you want you can come stay at the den with me, Mom, and Dad... I'm sure they wouldn't mind--"
"She said she would stay with her grandmother, wolf-boy! Or are you deaf?"
Inari flinched from the enraged half demon's sudden outburst and backed away from Noriko slightly. He stammered out an 'I'll see you later, Nori.' before disappearing in a cloud of dust as he hightailed it back to the wolf den. InuYasha smirked and started walking off towards home again with Kotaro, leaving his son and daughter to either make peace, or go separate ways. It didn't take them long to decide as they 'hmphed' and parted angrily with Noriko heading towards the well and Shirrow heading towards the village.
"I'm back, Kagome! Where's dinner? I'm starved!"
Kagome walked into the hall to greet them. Kotaro ran up to give her a hug. InuYasha leaned over his son to give her a kiss. ((A/N: awww!))
"So where are Nori and Shirrow?" she asked as she turned to check on dinner. It was almost ready.
"Dad told them they couldn't come home until they made peace with each other."
She stopped in her tracks and turned to stare at him in disbelief. "InuYasha! How could you say that? Where are they going to stay? You know how stubborn they both are!"
He walked over and pulled her close. "C'mon, Kagome. They can take care of themselves..." She continued to glare. He sighed. "Nori's staying with your mom, and Shirrow will prob'ly go stay with Mushin. They'll be fine. Besides, it's prob'ly better that he stays with him in the village anyway. Miroku and Sango aren't gonna be around tonight so the village could use someone strong like Shirrow around just in case anything happens..."
Deciding that InuYasha was right about them being safe, Kagome let the subject change and began passing out food. "Where will they be off to tonight?"
"Mushin said something about them going to get a few things from a village south of here... I guess their spending the night since Mushin said he'd be watching Sakura." He shoveled food into his mouth. "He didin' say wha' tey needed to geh though."
"Probably just a few things for around their home. They didn't bring a lot from the house they had before. Most of it wouldn't have fit since the house in the village they have now is smaller."
Kotaro looked at his mother curiously. "But, Mom, don't they have the biggest house in the village? It's the only one with the sliding doors like they had in their old house..."
"Well, yes... But it's still smaller than their old one." She looked over at her one and only. "InuYasha, slow down. The food isn't going anywhere."
He either didn't hear or didn't care. "Won'er why tey don' aa more to the new hou'..." He swallowed. "I wouldn't mind helping them with the building part. I'll run the idea by Miroku when they get back tomorrow." He shoveled more food in.
Kagome shook head quietly and smiled. InuYasha really needed to work on table manners.
Meanwhile...
"Stupid Nori." Shirrow kicked up some dirt as he stomped through the village. "I was only giving wolf-boy a hard time so I could be around to look out for her..." He looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun. It was still early, but there was no doubt that his mother was already serving dinner.
Dad's prob'ly already having seconds... or even thirds or fourths by now... He sighed.
He looked down. A red ball rolled to a stop at his feet. He picked it up and it held his attention long enough for a second ball to fly through the air and connect with the back of his head.
"OW!"
He turned quickly to see a giggling Sakura on her brother's shoulders. Her high-pitched squeals of joy weren't what he needed right now, as it only frustrated him further, and his ears flattened against his head.
"We got you good, Shirrow!" squealed the delighted seven year-old.
"Keh..."
Mushin walked over to his lifelong buddy smiling. "Something wrong, pal? You look more melancholy than you usually do."
He looked away. "It's nothing. Nori's just being stupid."
"Lemme guess: wolf-boy?"
"Keh..."
"Look, I know you're just looking out for her, but Nori's a big girl. Whether she likes a guy or not is her decision, right?" Shirrow continued looking off in to the distance. "Besides, you should be nice to the guy. He might end up your brother-in-law one day." He smirked. That would get his attention.
And it did. Shirrow let out a growl as his ears perked up and his eyes narrowed. He turned on his friend, who was now backing away slowly with his little sister snickering from his back. "Come again?"
"What? Don't like the thought of the wolf being in your family?"
"Why wouldn't I hate the idea of that STUPID wolf in the family? His father's only tried to steal Mom away a thousand times!"
"Heh, well then you should be used to having wolves steal family members then!" Getting Shirrow angry is TOO easy! And now comes the chase... "See ya!" With that said, Mushin took off running with Sakura still giggling.
Meanwhile, Shirrow was seething. "Why that...!" He took off running after them. "Mushin, you're a dead man!"
And so they ran throughout the village weaving in and out of crowds. Nobody noticed the new arrivals.
