This chapter is dedicated to wolfygirl13 for supplying me with such great ideas.

Chapter 2:

Battle of the Pranks!

The afternoon sun filtered in through the sliding glass door in the kitchen, adding a lot of natural white light to the room. It shone on the dark wood of the rectangle table in the center of he larger space, with no center piece, and four simple matching chairs pushed in. The pearl linoleum floors were clean and waxed, and the white cupboards that divided the dining table from the actual kitchen appliances were dusted. Sesshomaru sat down at the wooden table in the middle of half the kitchen, on the other side of the marble counter set on top of the cupboards. He stared sightlessly at the table over the folded hands his chin rested on. He was as still as statue, showing that he was thinking intently on something. His mother stood on the other side of the divider, working busily at wiping down the countertop with a rag and plain soap and water. She did not feel like working with the toxic fumes of the actual cleaner. The stainless steel refrigerator and stovetop directly behind her were already cleaned and polished.

"Sesshomaru," she started, grateful that he turned his attention to her, "Don't you think you should include Inu Yasha in your birthday plans?"

Her son let out a puff of air in a snort and returned his attention to the lists.

"He's never been interested before, why should now be any different?"

She shrugged to him. "True, the boy doesn't seem to show any interest. You never know things might be different." She took a quick moment to look to him curiously. "I mean, you two used to be closer."

A strange smile tugged on the corners of his lips. One would even think they had not seen it in the first place.

"Yeah, when we were five." He said.

His mother turned her head back to look out of the kitchen into the living for a few minutes, but then turned her attention back to the counter. She quickly finished up her dusting, put away her cleaning supplies under the porcelain sink, and picked up the piece of paper with a blue heading on it.

"I'm going to the store to get the groceries." She informed. "I'll be back soon."

She walked through the kitchen toward the door to the garage. She passed by him and kissed the top of his head while picking up her purse and keys on the way.

"Be good! No friends!" she called, and without waiting for a reply, closed the door behind her.

Sesshomaru paused for a second to consider his options. His mother probably would not be back for a good few hours. (She always took forever when it came to groceries, though he could never figure out why.) His father had left a bit ago to take his car to a shop because it seemed to be having a few problems, so talking with him was not an option… not that he would really try to anyway. Inu Yasha was still in his room, probably brooding over his stupid Game Guy still, so talking with him was not possible. It was not like they talked much to begin with. It was one of the times he wished it were not actually summer. School meant work, work meant distraction with something to do. He did not feel like rereading his book collection for the millionth time.

Finally realizing he should be doing what any normal future teenager would do, the young demon shoved his chair back, and slid it back in. He strolled easily across the cool floor, his bare feet hardly making a sound. He passed the doorway next to the refrigerator that opened up to the living/TV room. He walked across the plush tan carpet to the gray fabric couch covered by a decorative green blanket. He picked up one of the many remotes from the glass-surfaced coffee table, and moved one of the plaid patterned pillows to the side. He plopped down to watch the T.V resting on the small glass cabinet with a DVD player, stereo and such things…then promptly jumped from the couch screaming bloody murder. He whipped around and threw half the blanket off, revealing shiny metal jacks; their pointed and rounded ends sticking up and gleaming dangerously in the room's light. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. So, that's what he had been up too…

Sesshomaru calmly knelt down and picked up the jacks. Let him have his little fun, there was no way he'd give in to such immature behavior.

He was going back to his room to properly dispose of the jacks when Inu Yasha came out from his own room at the end of the hall. Sesshomaru looked calmly at the boy emerging from the white door while he seemed to fidget under his stare. Inu Yasha would not make eye contact with him, and he could not seem to hold still. Great, now what was he up to?

"Look Sesshomaru, I'm sorry I did that." He said quietly.

…Wait, what?

"I was just so mad, and I felt I had to take it out on someone." The other continued. "I shouldn't have accused you like that."

Sesshomaru blinked a few moments at the boy, lost in confusion. Well this was certainly unexpected. He glanced at the metal points of doom he still held in his hands. Inu Yasha flushed slightly and took three steps over to him.

"Let me take care of that." He offered as he took them away from his brother.

"Another way of taking out your frustration?" Sesshomaru asked warily.

"Y-Yeah…" he admitted as he took the last piece. "Wait right here."

He hurried back into his room, and came back out after a few minutes with a toothy grin that took up nearly half his face. Sesshomaru did not like that grin.

"Wait in your room while I go make it up to you!"

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow, just slightly. He was joking, right? No, he was up to something…

"And just how are you going to do that?"

"I'm gonna go make something for you in the kitchen. Don't come in 'til I tell you to!"

Before Sesshomaru could say anything, Inu Yasha ran down the hall to the kitchen. After a few seconds, Sesshomaru could hear the younger brother taking out things from the cupboards and placing them on the counter.

He was about to follow pursuit when he stopped himself. Inu Yasha did seem earnest… and maybe he should try to give his brother more credit. After all, he was turning thirteen soon, and demons were prone to change come with age. Perhaps this was InuYasha roving that he was growing up… granted cooking was not the way he had in mind, but still.

Sometime later, Inu Yasha opened the door to his older brother's room.

"I'm done, you can come out now." He said excitedly.

Staring at his brother for a few moments, Sesshomaru got up from his twin-sized bed, and put the small black book he was reading onto the bookshelf across the room from his bed. He followed his brother down the hall, turned right to go through the living room to the kitchen, walked past the ingredients still on the counter and sat down on the round wooden table.

Inu Yasha waited while standing up, until a 'ding!' came from the oven. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Perfect! Nice and hot!"

He put on a flowery oven mitt (Which was amusing for Sesshomaru, though he didn't let it show on his face.) opened the oven door and pulled out a round tray. Sesshomaru had to hand it to his brother. Whatever it was, smelled quite tasty. The essence of different meats, vegetables and cheese wafted its way over to him, and he found his mouth water. It took a second for him to suddenly realize how hungry he truly was.

Inu Yasha grabbed two plates from the cupboards, placed something onto them, and brought them to the table. Sesshomaru blinked at what was in front of him, then looked back up to Inu Yasha.

"You couldn't have made this yourself." He said blankly.

"Sure did!" Inu Yasha said proudly, not seeming to have completely heard Sesshomaru's indication. "I had to borrow one of mom's cook books but I made it!"

Sesshomaru looked back down, and had to say he was mildly impressed at the plump, thick slice of pizza in front of him.

"Well? Aren't you going to eat it? It's not poisoned." He joked.

Sesshomaru decided to listen to his brother, and picked up the slice gingerly with his claws. He stared at it for a second. He took a tentative sniff. He closed his eyes, as though bracing himself for a great impact, then took a hesitant bite. Inu Yasha waited anxiously for his brother's reaction. Sesshomaru swallowed, opened his eyes, and nodded at his brother.

"It's acceptable."

Inu Yasha smiled.

"Glad you liked it!" he said, and decided to start eating his own.

Sesshomaru closed his eyes and took a bigger bite. It was rather good. At least… it was… a faint taste of something else was present for a second, but it was gone in an instant, over taken by the other flavors of the pizza. He took another big bite, chewed… and promptly snapped his eyes open. Burned chocolate swirled in his mouth, accompanied by a strong taste of vinegar, and jalapenos. He hated jalapenos. He dropped the pizza, stood up, and ran out of the kitchen holding a hand up to his mouth to prevent the sickening combination of flavors from escaping.

Inu Yasha snickered at the retreating form of the other demon. He ate the rest of his safe slice happily, and took both plates into the kitchen. He took a knife, and cut away half the pizza, threw it away, and wrapped up the edible part to save into the fridge. That was actually some pretty good pizza.

My, my, that Inu Yasha is quite a chef. LOL.

Special thanks to wolfygirl13 for this chapter, my old penpal that I have lost contact with. I pray that you are well, wherever you are.

I'm still open to ideas people!