Chapter 2: Death and Life
Inuyasha let his brother go when the back door began to open. The bartender came out with his hands on his hips. "InuMaru it's your mom, she wants to talk to you and to Ms. Higurashi." "Yes Uncle Kai." InuMaru said. "Can my "Friend" Inuyasha come too?" the younger of the two asked. "Sure of course, he came with Ms. H. He is her daughter Kagome's boyfriend." Uncle Kai said in his Brooklyn style accent. This made the older hanyou blush. InuMaru laughed his tears finally dry. "Come on you too." Uncle Kai said walking into the back door. "Come on bro, I want you to meet the woman that raised me." InuMaru said softly pulling his older twin by the hand. " 'Kay I'm coming." Inuyasha replied before being pulled into the building.
~In the Apartment above the bar~
InuMaru opened the door to his mom's bedroom and let his older brother in first. What Inuyasha noticed first was a woman with pale white skin and was on a breathing machine and to a heartbeat tracker and to an IV. "Hi, mom how are you today feeling better?" The younger hanyou asked as he came into the room."Maru, my baby come here." The woman said softly. InuMaru obeyed knelling beside the bed and let his foster mother take off the blue bandana freeing his ears. "My sweet boy, you already know that you are not my own baby, even though I loved you as my own." "Easy Naomi, rest." Ms. H said trying to make the ill woman rest. "No, He must know!" Naomi objected looking over at Inuyasha. "Young man will you go over to that trunk in the corner and pull out what is on top." Naomi asked the older hanyou. "Sure." Inuyasha said nodding before he walked over and did what she asked. He pulled a beautiful light blue kimono with a matching blue hamaka on a hanger. Inuyasha pulled the kimono top off the hanger and gave a head nod telling his younger brother to come over. InuMaru walked over to his older brother and let him slip the kimono on him.
Ms. H saw this and smiled. "They act like brothers." She whispered to Naomi forgetting about Inuyasha's keen hearing. "Yeah we do don't we?" InuMaru asked his older twin who was grinning. Inuyasha nodded then laughed. "Maru…" Naomi said gasping. He raced back to the bedside. "Yes mom?" He asked. "Maru, my little boy, I lied to you about your birth mother. When I last saw her she was walking away from the hospital holding your older twin in her arms. Her name was Izayoi, the wife of a dog demon lord from another time. This kimono was the one you were swaddled in." "Really… so Inuyasha is my twin brother?" InuMaru said softly. "Yes…" She answered. "Inuyasha?" Naomi asked the hanyou gaining his attention. "Ya what?" "Please do me a good turn, look after InuMaru after I am gone." She whispered. "I will, ma'am, you have my word." "Thank you…" She whispered before her head turned to its side and the heartbeat tracker let out a long beep telling the three people in the room that she was gone.
Inuyasha cared for InuMaru during the rough days ahead. Naomi, the woman that had raised InuMaru, was to be buried in a nearby cemetery so after the morgue was done with her body. Being the older of the two, Inuyasha welcomed InuMaru into the Higurashi shrine with the permission of Ms. H. She welcomed InuMaru in with open arms as did Souta and Grandpa, but Kagome was not happy about Inuyasha finding a brother. She quickly became jealous and mean towards the younger twin. (A/N: Sorry if I got carried away. It's just InuMaru has to be different from his older twin.) InuMaru was beautiful yet handsome all at the same time. He was know wearing the blue kimono more and more the days that followed Naomi's death. InuMaru had to transfer to the high school in Kagome's district. Some of InuMaru's old school friends also transferred to join him. His two best friends and only friends a set of twins named Amy and Andy had transferred at the wishes of their father because InuMaru was naturally a good boy so he kept the twins (mainly Andy) out of trouble. Back at his old school, he was apart of the archery club, so he tried out for it and became apart of the club at his new one. Soon InuMaru began to return to his former kind and pure self.
~After the Funeral~
Inuyasha stood dressed in Kagome's father's black tux and black tie with black shoes as the casket was lowered into the ground with his ears hidden with a red bandana. "Why black? Why does it have to be black?" The older Inu-hanyou thought as the wind blew though his sliver mane. InuMaru stood beside his sibling also dressed in black with his hair down and in a braid that went over his right shoulder, his ears hidden by a blue bandana. Inuyasha took his brother's hand in his own giving it a tight squeeze. Amy came over and gave InuMaru's other arm a hug while Andy placed a caring hand on his left shoulder. Inuyasha looked at his younger brother. He was sobbing the tears shimmering like jewels in the sunlight. "Goodbye, mom, goodbye." InuMaru whispered as his braided hair blew in the summer breeze. "Come on bro, lets take you home." Inuyasha said still holding his brother's hand. "May my friends come?" InuMaru asked, his eyes showing grief, pain, and heartbreak. "Of course, Maru, they love you like I do they are like family after all." Inuyasha said holding his other hand out to Amy, her green eyes also full of tears. "Thank you, Inu." InuMaru said holding Andy's hand. The four walked away from the grave with heavy yet healing hearts.