"Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am."
The two brothers quickly nodded their heads with attention, ignoring the hint of flour dust from Sesshomaru. The florescent light glared off the kitchen surfaces and the four dog demons standing in them. The two boys stood straight, but with their heads bowed seriously, even with InuYasha in only his boxers and Sesshomaru covered with white powder. Somehow they could not find the comedy of the situation. The stern woman's golden eyes narrowed first at InuYasha, then Sesshomaru, sighing as she shook her head back and forth.
"I'm especially disappointed in you, Sesshomaru. I would expect this sort of thing from InuYasha, but you?"
"My hair, mother. It's still green."
She carefully lifted a few dusty white strands with green undertones with her claws while her son stared dully. "And it won't wash out?"
"Not in the slightest."
The woman lightly furrowed her delicate eyebrows and frowned.
"Just what did you use on your brother, InuYasha?"
"Chlorine."
There were a few moments of silence. Sesshomaru creaked his head toward him, and leered.
"Naraku could not possibly be suicidal enough to give you that."
"Nah, I did that myself." Lightly he scratched his chin. "Just took some from the shed out back."
Everyone blinked and stared at the tall muscular man barking out his laughter. He strolled over and clapped his shoulder jovially with a resounding smack.
"That's my boy. I knew a hint of that good ol' brother blood lingered in you somewhere. I remember back in the good days when my own brothers and I got into war-"
"Dear, I don't think we should encourage him on this." The slight leer she gave made everyone agree silently. "I'd rather not have either of them end up like your brothers."
"Well, what about me? I turned out fine, right?"
The flat look was enough to silence him. The smaller brother looked about nervously, and slipped his shoulder from under his father's hand before taking a few steps back.
"Well, I'm really sorry about what I've done, and have thoroughly learned my lesson, and now I'm gonna go to sleep-"
"Hold it."
InuYasha stopped, gulped and turned around to face the stern look of his mother.
"Just know that you're not off the hook yet, mister. I'll think of something in the morning. The party will go on as planned, but know that you both are still in a lot of trouble."
"Yes ma'am."
"And Sesshomaru… I'll try to find a treatment for you."
A flash of a grimace appeared at the thought of whatever chemical smells he'd have to put up with, but he resigned himself to his fate and his perfect face smoothed out once more.
InuYasha grumbled before trudging back through the living room to reach the hallway for the haven that was his room, then remembered that he needed new sheets thanks to Sesshomaru's stunt and stopped by the linen closet first.
"I'm going to go take a shower." Sesshomaru informed before turning on his heel.
His mother sighed. "You can use my shower, just to be safe."
"Thank you," he said, and all but ran into the master bedroom at the end of the living room, but not before grabbing something on the floor against the wall.
Both parents jumped simultaneously at the shriek that came from the hallway and zoomed to the linen closet where InuYasha stood, shivering and gasping.
"Water!" The boy pointed to the tall plastic cup rolling slightly on the white painted wood shelf. "He put ice water in the linen closet!"
The parents looked to their now dripping half-naked son before looking to each other. The woman rubbed her temple again as her husband raised an eyebrow.
"I don't want to hear it. I've had enough for one night."
InuYasha scowled and grabbed an extra sheet and padding roughly before marching back to his room. 'She wouldn't have let me get away with it. Stupid teacher/parent pet.'
Sesshomaru said nothing as he took an extra towel from under the master bathroom's sink and merely blinked when his brother's scream echoed through the house. He placed the new bag in the cupboard under the sink, where it would be out of sight in case either of his parents came in while he was in the shower. True, he was regretful of his past behavior, but that did not necessarily mean it would prevent any future mishaps, now would it?
-
Naraku looked up from his waiting spot on the TV room couch as Kagura entered through the door.
"Well?" he asked impatiently.
"I delivered the package, but I can't say how angry he is at you. He seemed a little… preoccupied."
Naraku said nothing as his sister flicked her wrist to toss a small silver camera to him. He caught it in one hand, and looked at the picture she already put on the screen. His crimson eyes stared for a minute as he tried to process what he was seeing, while Kagura went into her room to get changed and ready for bed. The young spider demon took a moment to examine the finely painted masterpiece on the white of his supposed 'best friends' chest, threw his head back, and laughed.
"InuYasha, I never thought you had it in you, but I must hand it to you: you are a genius."
Naraku's observation was severely tested the next morning. InuYasha yawned awake, sat up, and stretched. He looked around the dark room in confusion.
'What am I doing up so early? I should be exhausted.'
The bleary-eyed demon scratched under his ear, and shoved off the temporary blankets. 'Man, I need a clock in here.'
He yawned again as he climbed out of bed and headed for his darkened window to open the blinds and let in some light once the sun actually rose. 'Wonder how much longer 'til sunrise. Then I can call Jinenji and ask him if he's done with Detergent yet. Jerk stole it before-'
He froze as he was suddenly face to face with a snarling, red-eyed demon.
His mother and father, the only two remaining mature and sane demons of the household, jumped from their respective spots as the second bloodcurdling scream they heard in twenty four hours echoed through the house. The man reading his paper contently, the woman crossing off names on a list. The two looked at each other. The woman, pensive. The man, curious.
"Surely they couldn't have..."
One more second of eye contact made them assume otherwise. They zipped to the room at the end of the hall.
"InuYasha?"
She opened the door first, and stared at her son by his window holding the string, with the blinds closed. He stared at her uncertainly before looking around.
"I... just realized," he put his hands on his hips and looked around the room in disapproval. "What a mess! How could I have been living in this boar-sty all my life? It's shocking."
He clicked his tongue and immediately set about picking up different articles of clothing, putting them into two piles in the middle of the room.
"I guess I should thank Sesshomaru," he continued airily. "He gave me an excuse to vacuum. Oh honestly, there's my puzzle! I haven't seen this for years! Good ol' memory lane."
The lovely, elegant, pristine dog demoness gawked as she nodded slowly and closed the door again. Slowly she turned to the tall, powerful, majestic dog demon grinning like a child.
"Well, you've always wanted him to be neater."
She merely nodded again, slowly, as she turned and strolled down the hall, not entirely convinced of her troublesome son's sudden 'change,' though doubted her perfect son could possibly be at fault again.
Sesshomaru had been reading contently outside in a lawn chair by the shimmering blue pool. Laid back, legs crossed holding a book up by a single head as he enjoyed the sun, at the price of the noises and smells of the suburbs. Uninterestedly, the boy blinked at the scream of terror. He did try to listen intently for the reaction of his parents and InuYasha's argument, though his hearing was not that finely tuned. The words were lost, but he could tell from the tones of voices: InuYasha had not told. He acknowledged Sesshomaru's declaration.
As soon as his sensitive hearing told him they were thoroughly out of range, InuYasha stopped what he was doing, crossed his arms, and seethed, directing his anger at the draping picture of an evil demon once again hidden by his blinds.
'So that's how you wanna play, huh? Fine by me.' An ominous shadow darkened his eyes as his lips pulled to show a single canine. 'You may have won the final round, brother dearest, but you've just redeclared the war.'
The thin lips pulled suddenly into a smirk as the book clipped shut. An ominous shadow darkened his features as a single fang glinted in the sunlight. 'I welcome the challenge, brother dearest.'
And so begins round two. Now they must work around the parents. If you can't guess what Detergent refers to, shame on you.
Notice that I never mention what InuYasha had painted on Sesshomaru's chest? Unfortunately, it can't be revealed until the first day he returns to school.
Now, this and the rest of the chapter does sort of indicate that I'll be writing at this again. See, like I said before, the reason I stopped writing was because the story was getting too complicated in my mind.
Anyone else see how their Birthdays are on the same day, yet they're both turning thirteen? Now what does that usually imply for siblings? Yet why does InuYasha have 'birth defects' yet Sesshomaru came out perfectly fine? Or why I haven't mentioned any humans in a modern day setting? Well, there are answers to those questions, but writing them out could be easily turned into a long story piece. A far cry from the original silly prank adventure I started this off in.
You see my problem? This wouldn't be so bad, except I've been focusing on my master work, Create: To Form. That comes first. Now that's it posted, I feel somehow relaxed. Even if I will be constantly working myself over it.
Of course, I always felt bad about leaving this hanging, because I feel like I'm letting my fans down. Trust me, Sesshy Stalker from Hell, I know that pain.
So, I can continue, and go into a dramatic turn that reveals a serious scandal in the Dog Demon family, or try to end it on a sillier note that's all sweet and family loving, even if that's not very realistic.
Usually, I don't like asking for reviews, but I want opinions. There are two ways I can take this, but I want the readers to choose: Short and sweet? Or dramatic (with humor still, of course) and detailed? Warning though, I don't know how often I'll update anyway. By the way, I'm not asking for polls, because I want real reasons to choose one way or the other. Maybe most people will vote for Dramatic, but there will be one person that gives a really good argument for short and sweet, and will manage to convince me to do that instead. Besides, I need to know the real fans are voting, not just random people passing by.
There is also a small note I would like to make here, and it is that a while back, the scene on the rooftops, that idea was inspired by a friend of mine. She had a similar story, shocking enough. Well, I couldn't make it exactly like it, and I tweaked it around a smidge, but it was essentially inspired by her. That, and Anime-girl-cutie gave the idea for the flour. Well, she also suggested that the ice water fall on Sesshomaru first so the flour will stick and that they first think Sesshomaru as a ghost, but as you can see, I split that. It came out rather well, I think. Given Sesshomaru's past prank it makes sense for him to rig the linen closet, where InuYasha was guaranteed to be the next person opening it.
So this time, please review, so I know what you think. Updates won't be frequent though, just so you know. Like I said: First priority is Create.