Chapter 4

"So this Joji guy, who is he really?"

Kagome 'tsked' in the way that she does when she about to really get down on her facts, " You see, that's just the thing because one really knows, you know? He never holds any book signing or meets and basically, never leaves wherever it is he live, which no one know either. On the back of the book, where it usually has an authors bio and says where they live and stuff, all it says is 'Joji likes to spend him time writing his books, and being alone.' or something along those lines."

"Yeah, it's a huge mystery in the fan-base," Sango contributed. "He has a pretty big one, by the way, he written a lot of books. He really does like to spend most of his time writing, I guess. People are so starved for information that last year they made up this whole rumor about him, and it got into the press even.

"Really?" If anyone was the new-guru around Tokyo, it was probably Inuyasha. He was an aspiring journalist, and that meant he had to be 'in-the-know', so it was more than a shock to him to find out there was a scandal that he missed out on.

"Yeah, it started out small on the internet, but the story got passed around and the newpaper found out about it and tried to pass it as true." She messed around in her mashed potatoes- if you could call them that- looking uncomfortable. "It was a pretty bad rumor, actually. It involved all this childhood abuse and stuff, and it just made me feel really sick, especially when I thought it was true. It still makes me really sad, to be honest."

"Well, what was it?"

"The rumor was that his mom was crazy, basically," Sango said, looking completely comfortable with the topic, as opposed to Kagome who had the emotional backbone of a kicked puppy. "They sad that when he was young, his mom would alternate between loving him and protecting, being the standard mom, but then she would throw him down flights of stairs and try to drown him in the bathtub when she was bathing him. She would say stuff that ranged from 'You're my baby, I love you' to 'You aren't my child, die!'" She growled, holding her spoon in a menacing manner, imitating Joji''s rumor-mother.

"But that's just the rumor. His editor discredited the entire thing, and made the newspaper company admit they'd gotten the story online, without any evidence. And that was that." She took a bit of her broccoli, made a face, and then spat it out. He noticed Kagome giggle and pull out a napkin to wipe away the food caught in Sango's lips, and he noticed how Sango smiled back. He himself smiled at them, and shook his head.

"So, Inuyasha," Kagome addressed, "How's life at home? You don't talk much about it anymore, is your mom okay?"

Hearing about him, his stomach dropped as he remembered the doctor's visit to his house that morning. "Yeah, she's okay..."

"Inuyasha, we know that face, what's wrong?" Sango asked, concern lacing her voice, which always pressured Inuyasha to tell the truth. Sango wasn't one to get worried for many people, and since Inuyasha was one of the lucky few who got that privilege, he felt obligated to follow through. It was the least he could do, he felt.

Sighing and pushing back his inner instinct to hide all his problems, he said, "My mom's sick. She has cancer."

Once again, there was an awkward tension between him and Sesshomaru as they drived toward his old home. It was like whenever he was around him- BOOM, awkward silence, awkward tension, awkward everything. It was stifling and it was uncomfortable, and frankly Inuyasha wished it would fucking stop. But what could you do when you sat next to someone so... handsome, and so mysteriously silent, and just all around alluring? Inuyasha felt inadequate, and that led him to feel like he needed to impress, and that led to the awkward that was all around him.

Feeling like he should say something, but having no idea what to say was one of the most frustrating things to experience, in his opinion.

"Were is it?" Sesshomaru's deep voice knocked Inuyasha out of his internal musing, and forced him to focus more on the destination than the tension between them- which he was more than thankful for.

"You just keep straight until you hit Hiroshi St., then make a left and it should be about half a mile down," He offered, slowly feeling the rise on anxiety in his chest. He remembered these streets and he was getting a strong sense of nostalgia, but it wasn't the good kind. He was starting to remember all those closed of years he's been through with his mother slowly wasting away, and the days she finally passed.

Those weren't memories he was keen on revisiting.

But soon enough, or too soon in his opinion, he saw his old home loom into view, and he told Sesshomaru stop while barely thinking about it. It looked completely different, but also exactly the same. It was the same old house, with the same old garden out front that seemed to last forever, with the same old stone walk way. It was still three stories and as strong looking as ever, but the peach paint on the outside was beyond cracked, and the garden had long sense died, and the ground was covered in snow and dead leaves.

Sneaking up behind him, Sesshomaru almost gave Inuyasha a heart attack, suddenly saying, "I had no idea you lived an upper-class life."

"Oh, yeah." He grabbed at his chest, trying to still his over-working heart. "My mom wasn't rich herself- as a matter-of-fact, she never worked a day in her life- but my dad left behind a pretty steep bank account in her name."

"I see."

"Yeah..." He stood there and stared, more than a little scared, but bit back his fear, and said, "Well, lets go."

When he opened the door, he was honestly surprised by the level of dust and cobwebs coating everything. He should have guessed it wouldn't look pretty, judging from the outside but it still shocked him. He spun around as Sesshomaru walked in through the door, and he felt a little bit like crying.

This was his home, for some many years and now it was just a decrepit pile of wood that had once been valuable, but in less than three years was turned into something that looked like it'd traveled from last century. A wave of guilt hit him, and a tear escaped his eye and silently rolled down his cheek as he thought about what his mother would think if she could see how he'd let the place get to. But he had no choice, he couldn't stand the pain of being there anymore, not without her.

He felt something soft touch his cheek, and looked up to see that Sesshomaru had noticed him crying and wiped his cheek with his handkerchief. His expression remained emotionless, as it always had, but what he really felt shone in his eye's. It wasn't pity, which Inuyasha hated, and it wasn't concern. It was soft, and understanding and welcoming. And for a reason Inuyasha really couldn't understand, he dropped his head onto the older's shoulder, and Sesshomaru responded with an embracing hug, that was both tight and gentle, and entirely warm.

He was thankful that Sesshomaru couldn't see his face at this angle, although he didn't know how he'd respond with eye sized wet spots on his wool coat. Hopefully he wouldn't say anything, Inuyasha thought, pulling away from the comforting embrace of the other. He inhaled deeply, calming himself, and said, "I'm... I'm gonna look for that box." getting a nod in reply, he turned to climb the stairway leading his mother's old room.

Standing behind the door, he almost wished he had asked Sesshomaru to come up here with him. But on the other hand, he wasn't confident if he was going to cry again, and he wasn't confident that it was going to be containable. So kicking his pain to the back of his mind, he turned the door knob and opened the it, peeking in to the dark room.

The curtains were pulled shut, and he could barely make out the outline of the bed or anything else. Stepping inside carefully, so as not to step on anything, he made his way over to windows at the back. His foot hit something hard, tripping him and sent his crashing against the wall.

"Are you okay?" he heard Sesshomaru shout from down stairs.

"I'm fine!" he shouted back. "I just tripped over something, that's all."

Lucky for him, the wall he fell against had the windows and quickly, he pulled them back, showering the room with the late morning light of winter. The walls were the same as he remembered them, peach and dark brown stripes, and all the furniture was in the same place coated with a thin layer of dust. The bed still had the impression of his mother on it, when she was in her final days and couldn't move from it. He avoided looking at it.

The only thing different was the floor. Knocked over was his mothers old rocking-chair, broken into pieces. Kneeling down, he picked up a piece that he was sure used to be the curve that made the rocking possible, confused.

"This must be what I tripped over." But why did he trip over it? He wasn't supposed to trip on it- it wasn't supposed to be broken. This place was still his in name, and he hadn't hired anyone to come and clean or to check up on it. Sure, some kids could've broken in and messed with the place, but if that was the case why was everything the same except for the chair?

Standing, he looked around the rest of the room, making note that practically everything else was exactly how it had been left. Everything except for-

Crap, the box.

Stepping quickly over the broken wood, his heart dropped when he realized the box, the box that had all his dad's stuff, the box that was supposed to have been on the night stand next to the bed, was gone.

"No, no no no..." He muttered as he looked underneath and around the nightstand for the box, and even took a look underneath the bed but came up with nothing. He only left behind to show that it was there was the small rectangle of surface that was untouched by dust, signifying that it was taken not too long ago.

Feeling the onslaught of a panic attack, he started gasping and sat on the bed. Taking deep breaths to calm himself down, he tried to think rationally and logically. So, the box was gone. There goes his chance of finding out his dad's name, he guessed.

But, there were other ways, right? People who were adopted found their real parents all the time, with little to no beginning clues. But, then again, it took most of them years to find their parents and he really didn't have years, so...

Okay, he was panicking again. What he needed to do, was to number one: calm the fuck down, and number two: get Sesshomaru and get out. He definitely had his fill of his old place for one day (more like, for the whole month), and just wanted to leave and maybe convince Sesshomaru to make him some hot cocoa, his he had any. He didn't want to think about the missing box, or the fact that he might not be able to find out about his dad after all, he just wanted to sleep for the rest of eternity, if he could.

Standing up and making his way down the stairs, feeling tired and extremely depressed, he called out, "Sesshomaru, I'm done, I-" He stopped short when he heard Sesshomaru's voice, sounding like he was talking with someone. Not being able to stave of his curiosity, he creeped slowly to were Sesshomaru's voice came from.

Stopping behind the kitchen door, he peeked inside to see Sesshomaru leaning against the counter, holding a phone close to his ear.

"Naraku, I'm not throwing him out, okay? That's not up for negotiation."

Naraku? That super scary guy with the red eye's who yelled at him just that morning? It sounded like they were talking about him too, because who else would he be throwing out, right? So, he figure, that automatically made him part of the conversation, and made eavesdropping okay.

Besides, he might hear something that would lighten his mood.

He heard a muted voice on the other line, which with his hearing he could tell wasn't pleased, but he couldn't tell what he was saying.

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Sesshomaru responded to whatever Naraku said with, "I don't see why you think it's such a problem. It's not like he's going to trash the place, and ruin all the hard work you always put into cleaning it."

More voice came from the other side, and Inuyasha noticed Sesshomaru's shoulders slightly tense before saying, "He's not going to find out."

Stepping back in surprise, Inuyasha stared out at the back of Sesshomaru's coat. He wasn't going to 'find out'? Find out what? That worried Inuyasha more than he's like to admit.

"I'll make sure I'm careful around him, okay?" After a moment of silence, the voice on the other end spoke, to which Sesshomaru responded, "I promise. Good-bye."

Waiting a couple seconds after he had hung up the phone and slunched against the counter and brought a hand to his face, Inuyasha walked through the door, actually making Sesshomaru jump. Trust, it was pretty funny. Unfortunately though, Inuyasha found it a little hard to laugh at.

"Did you find the box?"

"No, I- I didn't. I guess its not here." This time, Sesshomaru did look concerned.

"You don't look well," gently wrapping his arm around his waist, he led him to the front door and out. "You need to rest."

Inuyasha, instead of instantly questioning Sesshomaru on his phone call with Naraku like he normally would have, Fatigue pushed him to lean against Sesshomaru as he lead him to his car. After all of the emotional confusion, he didn't want to do anything to exacerbate it.

When Sesshomaru's arm left him after helping him in the car, Inuyasha kind of hated himself for missing it.

Literally the only thing he wanted he wanted to do when Sesshomaru and him arrived back at the apartment was collapse on his bed and knock out. But there was something he needed to do first, before he went to bed. He had promised, and he was actually late on keeping it.

"Hey, Sesshomaru," He started, before Sesshomaru had the chance to retire to his room. "Do you have a computer I can use, by any chance?" He really hated that he kept asking for favors, but like an idiot he didn't bring his laptop with him. Next time he left somewhere, he needed to remember to bring at least a change of clothes.

It didn't seem like Sesshomaru minded though, he nodded and said, "Hold on."

He left and walked upstairs, leaving Inuyasha waiting no more than a couple minutes for him to come back down with a large, beautiful laptop.

"Geez, this laptop is gorgeous," He appraised, holding it delicately and admiring the design. Opening it up, the keys light up blue and everything was high-tech looking. He didn't know a lot about computers, but he could tell this one was a really good one. "What brand is this?"

"Alienware, I think. Naraku bought it for me last month." He didn't seem to care much about brand it was, which figured. Sesshomaru may have a lot of money, but he was the type of guy who didn't care about what brand he got, only as long as he got it.

"Oh..." he commented, but Sesshomaru ignored it. He was busy putting things together to make something to eat, it looked like. Silently, Inuyasha stole away to his room.

Plopping down and fighting the urge to to throw the laptop to the side and pass out, he opened it up, turned it on, and logged onto his Gmail account. He sent an IM to his long time friend, Kagome. In no time at all, she responded.

"Its about time u got back to me! I waited all day for you to IM, what were you doing?!"

"It's a long story"

"Well, it just so happens that I have time. Spill"

"Well, it turned out I don't have an apartment anymore. They evicted me without me knowing"

"WTF? How can they do that? Is that even legal?"

"Yeah, I guess, but whatever u know? I managed to get a place to stay."

"Really, are you staying at the mansion?"

"Good god, no, I met someone I can stay with."

"Wait, met? You mean like on the streets? Inuyasha, that's dangerous!"

"You use a lot of question marks, you know that"

"That's beside the point! Inuyasha, you don't know this guy, he could be some murderer, or a rapist, or- or something, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Kagome, calm down, he's totally cool. He's been nice."

"Well, if you're sure... Btw, how's your search going."

Ugh, he should have known she would ask about the search. He really didn't want to talk about it, but with Kagome he never really had much of a choice.

"It's not really going so well."

"Really? what happened?"

"Idk, I had this idea to find out his name by finding that box my mom always had with her, that had all his stuff but it's not there anymore."

"Do you think you forgot you put it in storage or...?"

"No, I didn't touch anything when I moved out. Beside, there wasn't dust where I saw it last. Like someone took it recently."

"But who woulds have been to your house in the last three years? It wasn't me or Sango, I'll tell you that much"

"I know, I trust you. I just don't know who would even want that box, it's not like I knew a whole lot of people. But I can't bode on it, I need to figure out another way to get his name- without it I cant find out anything about him, let alone what happened between him and my mom."

"I know, I know... well, maybe you could come over and I can help? We could search him up online, you know, how about it?"

"You'll help me?"

"Yeah, what are friends for?"

"Gee, thanks Kagome, I'd really appreciate that."

"No problem : ). So, when are you gonna come over? Tonight would be best; Sango's not working and we'd both be pretty excited to see you."

Tonight? Could he do that? He could ask Sesshomaru if he wanted to drive him again, maybe. But on the other hand, did he really want Sesshomaru to go?

He hated inconveniencing him, but more than that, he was still pretty suspicious about his conversation on the phone with Naraku. Sure he didn't know that it was him they were talking about, but who else could it be? They were even talking about him immediately before he said the weird stuff about 'finding out', and there didn't seem like there was slot of segue from that topic to the next.

But, he not only wanted, but needed to go to Kagome's. For one thing, he hadn't seen either of the girls for three years and he found himself pretty excited to hang out with them again. And for the second thing, he needed to find out more about his dad and what better time than now? He wanted to get back home to Kouga as fast as he could after all.

That left him with only one choice. He was walking.

"Yeah, I can come tonight. Whats your address?"

It turns out Kagome and Sango didn't live that far away. After a solid two and a half blocks, he found himself out side their apartment door, waiting for them to let him in from the cold.

Kagome flung the door open not too long after he knocked, and he had to say she had really grown. In her height and her chest. And, as he saw glancing down, her hips. She was a true bombshell beauty, and he was sure that every guy who saw her on the streets prayed they had a chance with her. But, as anyone who knew her where to say, there wasn't a chance in hell.

"Inuyasha!," She squealed, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. She jumped forward and locked him in one of her famous bear hugs, and damn near chocked him to death with her breasts. He hugged back while simultaneously trying to gasp needed air back into his lungs.

"Kagome, let him go, he can't breathe!" He heard Sango say, and finally he could breathe when Sango pulled Kagome back away from him.

Sango for the most part, looked the same. She had been beautifully curvy in High school, and she was beautifully curvy now. The only change was now, her muscled where coiled twice as tight and he was able to look straight forward and meet her eye's.

"Damn, Sango, you look good." He commented, and Sango smiled and stood straighter, showing the body she was proud of. "You look like you could take me out with one hit."

"I hope so. I didn't train to become a cop for no reason." She turned and beckoned with her hand to come in, disappearing into the doorway with Kagome one her heels.

The living room of the apartment was exactly what he expected it to be like. It was warm and welcoming, themed with shades of brown. There was candles on a nightstand in the corner, and a bookshelf a safe distance away from it that was packed with all the fantasy books Kagome liked to read. It was dim and already he felt like falling on the couch and never waking up, but he fought to stay awake.

He heard Kagome and Sango muttering in the kitchen, and following the noise he found them making several cups of tea. Kagome saw him and held up a fancy tea cup, asking, "Do you want any tea?"

"Oh, yeah sure." Normally, he didn't drink tea. But he happened to know that Kagome had a British fetish of sorts and only made her tea with black, with milk and sugar, and that type of tea he was fine with.

She made it just like how he liked it, something she remembered back when they hung out in High School, and set the cups on the table. She disappeared into the hallway, leaving Inuyasha and Sango alone in the kitchen.

"Want to sit?" Sango offered, sitting down herself. Inuyasha nodded and sat across from her.

"So, how's life in L.A.?"

"Well it's a lot like Tokyo, except the people are ruder and there a lot more crime, and it's hot year around but other than that it's like being back at home."

She laughed, and said, "I wish it was hot here, but the sky just has to freeze all the damn time. What about that guy you're staying with over here, the one Kagome told me about?"

"Oh, you mean Sesshomaru."

"Wait, Sesshomaru?" The look on her face told him she knew who Sesshomaru was. It also told him she wasn't expecting it to be him.

"Yeah, Sesshomaru, why?" Sango was a cop, and if she knew about him, it made Inuyasha rethink about Kagome's theory on him being a murderer.

"Oh, it's nothing bad really. It's just, hes kind of made a name for himself around this part of the city, which is impressive for someone who never leaves his place." She took a sip of her Tea, grimaced and set the cup down. Kagome probably put to much sugar in it. While Sango though along the lines of 'the blacker the better', Kagome believed in reducing the liquid to a sludge like form with sugar. "Anyway, the thing about Sesshomaru is no one know what he's about, which makes a lot of people curious. We've only ever seen him talk to, or invite over, one guy and that's it. No one knows where he comes from or what he does for a living."

"But, once every Saturday night, he goes the Nanako park and sits there, all night long. He just stares into the night and leaves right before it gets bright. I reckon it scares a lot of people, thinking maybe he's crazy and one days he's going to snap and take everyone out. But I say, 'eh, whatever'. If seen a lot of nutters and he looks sane enough; and as long as he isn't disturbing the peace, he can do whatever he wants in my opinion."

"Wow..." He said, not coming up with anything good to say to all that information. He just thought Sesshomaru was being courteous to him while he was staying with him, but apparently he was like that all the time.

He opened his mouth to say something more, but Kagome came through the hallway door, saying, "I got it!"

"You've got what?" they both asked at once.

"I've got your dad, right here on this web-page!" She plopped down into the seat next to Sango, looking very much pleased with herself.

"Really?" He asked, jumping up and walking behind her to get a better look at the screen. And as she said, there his family tree was, showing the marriage between Izayoi Hayashi and a man named Inu-Taisho Takahashi which resulted in a boy named Inuyasha Takahashi.

"Inu-Taisho," He read, sounding out the name on his own tongue. It was exotic, he'll give him that. Looking up his dad's tree line, he recognized a pattern of exotic old-school names, some he couldn't even pronounce. His eye caught something to the left of his dad's name, and staring confused, he asked, "Kagome does this mean- Is that another wife?"

"Yeah, but it looks like it was over a couple years before he married your mom. Speaking of which, you didn't tell me you had a brother."

Snapping his head to the side to stare at her, he asked, "A what?"

"A brother," She confirmed. But at his expression her face dropped, and she asked, "You... didn't know?"

Instead of answering, he looked back at the screen, looking for the offspring section of the tree Inu-Taisho and his ex-wife. His eye's locked onto it and there it was, a distinct box for a male boy, who would be his half-brother.

The box read, Name: Unknown.

A/N: I am running behind on my words. I slept all Monday and didn't get anything done, and then I didn't finish yesterday and I had extra, and ugh. But hey, at least chapter had a lot in it, right? I hope I did good, tell me though if I didn't! I actually really love constructive criticism.

Thaaaaank you to all of you who read, review and follow/favorite. You mean a lot to me, honestly : )

Word Count: 4600