Written at the same time as Chapter 6, so same playlist.


Taking Care

Inuyasha: July 12th

Jakotsu really wants a closed audition, so Inuyasha knuckles and gives in to his flamboyant friend's wishes. Besides, Jak swears up and down that this chick can dance fine in front of people, he just doesn't want Inuyasha pretending there's somebody better in the run-of-the-mill crowd.

Whatever, he gives the girl a call.

He's then told to watch his pro-nouns, 'cause the dancer is the same age as the owner.

It's a Tuesday when he schedules to have her come in and dance. At one-o-two in the afternoon the doors rattle and Inuyasha has to yell for someone to unlock the fucking front- wait, whaddya mean he has the keys? Screw off, Bankotsu!

"Hey, sorry I'm late. Kagura Kaze." Inuyasha Taishou, he doesn't add the first part- why flaunt it? She's not late but yuck, she's kinda sweaty when he opens the tinted glass doors and lets her in. Did she run here? "I walked, it's a bit far." Seriously? She walked in summer? Why not just take a car?

She seems to resent this but he doesn't back off; yeah, it was a stupid question. Moving on... He lets her pop into the washroom to splash some water on her face before they begin, the girl taking her back-pack with her and holding the black sack like it's carrying a pile of gold. Eh, whatever.

She comes back out with her black hair twisted and tied up on top of her head, shedding the white shirt that looks like the sort of thing mall employees wear and exposing the red yoga top underneath. Under her pants she has on some black shorts that come down till just above the knee.

She's lean, almost skinny in the arms and through the waist. At least her legs are good, but Jakotsu keeps swearing back and forth that she's strong from where he's seated on the glass bar. The girl gives him a wink and a little smile, but Inuyasha's not worried about her passing out on stage. She's too skinny for the foreign crowd, but should fit in fine with the locals. Be nice if she'd had a bit more weight on her, but whatever.

"Jak says you already have a routine to show me?" Inuyasha pulls up a chrome chair from one side of the room and sets it on the dance-floor, gesturing for the girl to get up on stage next to the DJ booth. Bankotsu was in anyways putting together a new house mix, so he's still in his electronic cage to receive the CD the girl pulls out of her bag.

"Jakotsu, bro! I've been looking for this!" The DJ sounds mad as he pulls down his large head-set and pops the disc into one of the half-dozen mouths punctuating the magic black boxes he works behind. His banryu work-station is a monster of turn-tables and switch boards, so many buttons and dials and lights going off at a time that it's pretty much the Tetseiga's audio brain. When guest DJs come in they always have to bring their own equipment: banryu's too mish-mashed for anyone else to just jump on and work with.

But Ban's not mad, he just cues up a track and starts pumping it through the building's speakers, working his fingers over the dials and free-styling a few seconds of thrumming audio. He's just happy to have his mix back- and now that he thinks about it, Inuyasha hasn't heard that Bone-Eater's track in a few weeks. Mystery solved. And Ban's got the woman's attention too.

"Track four?" Bankotsu just nods to her and flips a few more switches, cuing up the song as he puts his headset back on over one ear and adjusts for feed-back in the empty building. Inuyasha catches his friend's eye and gets a nod camouflaged as a slow head-bob, the DJ getting into his job as the dancer settles into hers. Yeah, Inuyasha knows this routine.

Not well, but he knows it.

It starts off simply enough, the familiar foot-work timed properly on the half-beats in the jumping song. But she's not just doing foot-work, her arms are in on it and her shoulders dip and sway at just the right time. It creates that powerful club-effect where the upper part of her body looks like it's stuck a half-second behind her legs and feet. It's hard to see the effect right now, but throw in some ghost-lighting, smoke and booze and you've got a captivating sight. Her face is also involved, focused but easy-going, making the steps look easy. But it is easy.

Mid-step, Ban jumps the tempo on her and the girl misses her next point. But it's just the one before she picks up the next and starts dropping twists and pulls like rain. The first time the DJ breaks the rhythm with his fingers on the turn-table it trips her up again, but she gets it. They can see her start listening to the music instead of just counting in her head and focusing on her steps; she hears the next one coming and- was that Jak's trick-step?

The more the DJ plays with her, the more the girl starts embellishing her routine. Inuyasha feels a sympathy cramp build in his leg when Ban decides to be a jerk and drops the song's speed to half. The change catches her in an uncomfortable pose with her back and shoulders twisted, one leg carrying all her weight in a slow, down-ward twist. Ow. She wants this, and she's probably good enough to get it too.

Ban stops yanking her chain after that, which is odd 'cause the DJ was starting to get into it with his eyes closed and fingers going, head tilted to the side like it always is when he's mixing on the fly. Now he just lets the song play normally with no more interruptions or changes- pulling his headset down to rest around his neck. Why's he keep looking at the door?

"'kay, that's good, cut it for now." Standing up, the owner grabs the small folder that was sitting on his chair under him. So what if he sat on it? S'fucking paper. "Ban! Shut it down!" The DJ jerks a little and then cues a fade-out for the track, popping out his missing disc and starting to play around with his dials and sliders again. But he glances up again at the doors, and Inuyasha ignores it as a tick. "Jak, go bug someone else." The bartender comes flouncing up and is turned away with a scathing word, the flamboyant man pouting before he offers a cute little wave to the girl now sitting on the edge of the stage, catching her breath.

"Well..?" She's probably going through every mistake in her head, good thing he can't think of too many himself.

"Hours here are pretty flexible, when are you free?"

"Pay here's over minimum?" Uh, yeah? "Any time then, just gimmie a couple hours notice."

"You need the money?" That probably explained Jak's emphasis on paying her at his old wage. She just shrugs though, doesn't start begging or looking nervous.

"Wouldn't be working if I didn't." Haha, very funny. The girl pulls a small towel and a bottle of water out of her bag, the air-conditioning is already drying the sweat on her face and shoulders, but she gulps the water and pats herself down. He opens the folder and starts jotting down some basic information on the first page- marking the boxes he needs her to fill out.

"You're expected to be here from nine till three am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, and long-weekend Thursdays and Mondays. Otherwise, you get Monday off and the rest of the week you come in from between ten and three during the day for practice and rehearsals." They only need dancers on the weekend, during the week the place has a strong enough reputation and restaurant component to easily turn a profit.

He looks up as he outlines her hours and sees a strange, but eerily familiar look in her red eyes. She's listening but not looking at him, her fingers twitching rapidly before she refocuses on what's in front of her. He can practically see the line between her eyes and the box with her hourly wage in it, and then her eyes go blank again and the twitching picks back up. She's doing math in her head? It's taking her a while to get to the total though.

"Rent... cable... passes..." Wait, she's not totalling her salary- she's budgeting.

"Are you like a number-wiz or something?" Haha- she lost her total! She gives him a harsh look, but it fades before he really recognizes it for what it is. She looks relieved, maybe a little over-whelmed.

"A wiz? Never, I had to get good." Really? Why? "Necessity." Well fuck him if-

"Do you really go through it all in your head first? No calculator?"

"Of course, little brother."

"How did you learn to do that?"

"Necessity."

Sesshoumaru could budget an entire year's worth of inventory in his head if you gave him some rough numbers and the time to chew through it. No paper, no finger-tricks, his mind was a steel-trap for costs and revenues.

"And this is Kagura Kaze, the young dancer I discovered, with no help, aid, or assistance!" Kagura's head is down as she fills in things like her address and emergency contact info, but she looks up right when Inuyasha turns to figure out who Jakotsu's fawning over.

His world slows down to a crawl and he doesn't hear Kagura's response to the introduction, the woman just hops off the stage and bows over her paper-work. Inuyasha is just staring and can't for the life of him figure out how to react. It explains why Bankotsu was so distracted and scuttled away back-stage after finishing with Kagura's audition, it answers the question of who Jakotsu found to bother after Inuyasha dismissed him.

His own green-gold eyes and silver hair match the off-yellow tint of Sesshoumaru's gaze, but his brother's eyes have a little bit of red around the rims, they look almost blood-shot. Inuyasha's pressed red jacket is casual and a little warm for summer, Sesshoumaru's black suit makes him look like an under-taker, his hands tucked into his pocket and holding his jacket in the crook of one arm. Why's he wearing a coat like that in this heat? It's the first time Inuyasha can remember his brother showing up somewhere without a tie or with a wilted collar; that's how he looks after about eighteen hours put in at the Tetseiga, not five minutes.

But it's been eight months since he last saw his brother, and Sesshoumaru doesn't even acknowledge Inuyasha's presence as he nods and says something to the new girl he just hired.

"Sesshoumaru-" He cuts off the girl and this gets him a sharp look from his elder brother, but then Sesshoumaru goes back to ignoring him and repeats whatever Kagura was replying too. "Hey, now that you're here, we need to talk. We-"

"There is no we, little brother." Sesshoumaru's not looking at him, he just draws his cold gaze up over the new dancers' head and looks at the skylights for a moment as he speaks. "I came at Jakotsu's behest, nothing more." Passive-aggressive bastard, and what was this about Jakotsu-? "Enjoy your time at the Tetseiga, Miss Kaze." And then he turns and starts to leave.

"Hey!" He's not listening. "Don't you walk away from me!" He's walking away from him. He's not walking quickly, not running or rushing off- he's Sesshoumaru, he doesn't rush, he doesn't even speed. "Sesshoumaru!" One brother leaves, the other follows. Screw the paperwork, let Jakotsu handle the girl!

They get outside into the muggy heat of summer, the blue sky is clear and the grey water of the Pacific is visible across the old industrial road on which the Tetseiga is built. The parking lot is large and undecorated, the squat, chrome-finished black exterior of the bar rising up behind them as Inuyasha follows his brother out to where a silver car is sitting. It's a French model, a Renault Ah-Un sports convertible. The engine's still hot from when it arrived: he can see the heat wafting through the air over the hood.

Sesshoumaru's hair is longer than Inuyasha's shoulder-length locks, tied back behind his brother's neck and going half-way down his back. For the first time since they were kids Inuyasha's tempted to grab and yank on that tail to get his half-brother's attention.

"What the hell's your problem! ?"

"You." A response! "You're my problem." It's just a stuffy, proud response, and the little brother is losing his temper as the older one starts feeling around in his pocket for his keys, still not looking at him. "This entire place is my problem."

"Then come back and fix it." Sesshoumaru doesn't answer, just jams the metal key into the door. Frustrated, Inuyasha lifts his foot and kicks the bumper of the damn car, satisfied when his toe leaves a dent and mad enough to meet the infuriated glare in his brother's off-yellow eyes. "Don't fucking play around! So what if Dad pulled some stunt and gave it to me, it's still your-"

"It is not mine!" He can't- remember the last time Sesshoumaru raised his voice. But now his brother is storming up to him and there's rage on his face and hate in his words. "He favoured you! Everyone knew he favoured you! Everyone's always known you were the golden child! Everyone knew this! I knew this! Don't act like you can pity me over something everyone already knew!"

Sesshouma-

"You think you can just throw away what he gave you because you were a child when he died? You think you can just pity me and continue a lie? I will not work for you, Inuyasha, I will not take charity from you! I will never accept the responsibilities you don't want to carry- never again! You'd trade this for a yen? You'd trade my life's work for one fucking yen!"

So he did check his messages- but he-

"Sesshoumaru!" Sesshoumaru doesn't swear. And this smell, it- he can only smell it because he's this close to his brother- Sesshoumaru's hand fisted in his collar and forcing him back against the side of the car. Under the cologne and a breath-mint- alcohol? Sesshoumaru doesn't swear- Sesshoumaru is never-!

"You're drunk-"

"Fuck you." All his brother's weight goes behind shoving Inuyasha away from the car, his hand scraping over the asphalt trying to keep his head from smacking the black ground as he falls. He hears the car start up and the door slam shut, the Ah-Un's wheels turning sharply before the engine roars to life and the vehicle shoots past him with enough space to tell him that no, his brother is not trying to run him over. Yet.

"Sesshoumaru!" But Inuyasha's mad now where he's sitting on the hot ground, and he's hurt and maybe even disgusted, and maybe even ashamed. There's heat running up and down his arms and over his back, a strangling tightness in his throat that's got him under the jaw and won't go away- like a dog attacking his jugular and refusing to let go. He gets up and finds a small piece of broken asphalt in his hand as Sesshoumaru pulls the car fast and hard around the turn to get out of the parking lot and onto the road. The car passes back in front of the younger brother as the elder gets set on his way back into the city.

Inuyasha lets the rock fly and hears the satisfying metal clang of it connecting with the side of his brother's expensive car. Sesshoumaru turns in the driver's seat and they share a split-second of raw anger, pure animosity sparking through the air. Neither of them notices the Ah-Un drift over the centre line, it's not a busy road.

But the large truck coming the other way sees it happen, and even with engine breaks and horns and little cars with European handling, Inuyasha has to watch his proud, snobbish, stuck-up older half-brother explode in a cloud of light and silver metal.


'cause y'know, it's just not Inuyasha until somebody gets hurt.