Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do not profit from this story.


Happiness

The Tale of an Unstoppable Force and an Immoveable Object


Chapter Eleven: Brotherly Love


So you must be thinking to yourself: this must be the end.

The handsome hero gets the girl and they live happily ever after. The end.

Well no, you idiot.

That's not what happens. Thanks for putting the goddamn thought in my head though!

You see, everything was going really great. The park was a success and the small, classy restaurant I took her to had good service and incredible food. I gave her my jacket when she was cold. I complimented her. I switched our desserts when she didn't like the whipped cream topping on hers and I liked virtually anything that was edible so really, it was no hindrance to me.

All in all, it was perfect.

So of-fucking-course something has to explode.

It was literally the perfect moment. We were standing at her doorway after I was dropping her off and obviously I was playing it up a bit. I knew her number one rule, the one that stated "never kiss on the first date". To be honest, I really wasn't trying to get a kiss. Kagome was just...amusing and slightly intoxicating with her smiles and head tilts and goddamn laugh. But even I knew when enough was enough, so I gave her my most dashing smirk and reached out to grasp her hand lightly.

"Night," I murmured, squeezing her hand before letting go. I knew it was a sap move, especially when I was supposed to have more testosterone than the average man, but I couldn't help it. What else was I going to do? Just saying goodnight and doing nothing would send the wrong message, right? It would send the I'm not interested vibe. Which is bad. Really bad.

Since my vibe is practically please jump me right now I'm that interested.

So.

Sappy it was.

Kagome smiled and I couldn't help but look at her lips, seeing them taunting me like the son of bitches they were. Ah. I couldn't look at them anymore or I was going to do something really horrible like kiss her.

Not that that would be horrible, per se, but she would think it was.

Actually, women think I'm an amazing kisser so she wouldn't think the kiss was horrible but the concept of me kissing her was. Not that she didn't want me to kiss her. I don't think.

I had to turn away. I let her hand go before hopping down the steps towards my car. This woman was as intoxicating as she was infuriating. I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight, especially if I didn't do something about the fucking hard on I was getting.

Shit. When did I turn into a fifteen year-old kid again with fresh hormones and great wet dreams?

No. Stop thinking about it. La la la la la. Don't imagine Kagome naked–

Goddammit. Son of a bitch.

"Inuyasha," Kagome said softly, making me halt just a foot away from my car.

Oh Kagome, please don't do this now. Not when I'm in desperate need of a cold shower or some one-on-one time with, well, you know. "Yeah?" I called back, wincing at the tightness of my voice. This was really not heading anywhere good.

And then Kagome's hands were on my shoulders, gently turning me around. Shit. Shit. Shit. If she was going to hug me I swear I'm going to snap from unresolved sexual teasing. Because that's what this is: a whole shitload of teasing.

"Um," Kagome murmured, looking in my eyes for a moment before going on her tiptoes and pulling me closer.

YES! YES! HAHA BITCHES! Is she actually going to kiss me? Her lips were just centimetres away from mine and I could feel a short puff of air before–

"Kagome! Yay you're home!"

And then it was like she was never there.

God-fucking-dammit!

"Hey Shippo," Kagome said softly, smiling down at the boy as he wrapped his arms around her. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Sota promised that I could wait up for you as long as I went to bed right after," Shippo explained, grinning up at her with a toothy grin.

I watched the exchange warily. This was obviously the youngest one – the foster kid – with his big green eyes and a mop of hair that was as orange as orange could be. Wow. Ginger. Suddenly the kid looked at me, his eyes glaring up into my own. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was secretly challenging me to a staring contest.

"And who are you?" Shippo asked, looking clearly unhappy. "Are you Kagome's boyfriend?"

"Uh–"

"Are you smart?"

"I–"

"Rich?"

"Ye–"

"Criminal?"

"Uh–"

"Cheating bastard?"

"Shippo!" Kagome exclaimed, turning the boy around by his shoulders. "Watch your language! Apologize to Inuyasha."

The kid huffed, crossing his arms before glaring at me once more. "I'm sorry for calling you a bad name."

I'm pretty sure he wasn't sorry at all.

"Is that your dog?" Shippo asked, his green eyes looking past me to my car where Bang patiently waited.

Nodding, I patted my leg and Bang obediently made his way over, keeping his dark eyes on the kid. "This is my dog Bang. Bang, this is Shippo," I introduced. "You can pet him if you want now."

The orange-haired child frowned at me, taking a step closer. "You talk to him like he's human. I watch the Dog Whisperer and he says that you shouldn't do that."

Was I actually being scolded by a twelve year-old?

"Bang is different," Kagome answered, smiling at me brilliantly before reaching out and petting Bang herself. "He's an amazing dog."

"Then why does he have such a stupid name?"

As you can imagine, Bang was not pleased. I watched in horror as his lip curled and a deep growl rumbled through his chest. He barked, and dear lord, when Bang was angry, he was scary as shit. Could you imagine a dog the size of a horse chasing after you to bite your ass off? Yeah. Fucking terrifying.

"AH! Kagome he's going to bite me!" Shippo cried out, backing up further and pressing against Kagome's side.

"Shippo," she groaned. "Stop being so rude. You insulted him so of course he's going to get mad at you. You know what? Just go to bed right now. It's one in the morning and you shouldn't be up. You're cranky."

Shippo pouted, looking up at Kagome with big watery eyes. "But I just wanted to say hi."

I can't believe this. He's playing her. The kid is bringing out these huge, innocent eyes and his nose is all scrunched up in a sniffle that has to be fake. Damn. The little guy is good. I think I might just like him.

Kagome smiled softly before bending over and kissing the top of Shippo's forehead. "Go to bed, I'll be in soon."

Shippo sighed. "Fine but I'm telling Sota that you're home. I think he's still in his room listening to his music again."

"Nope," a male voice said, forcing my eyes to turn in the direction of the now open doorway. "I'm right here."

Ah. So this was Sota. Well isn't this just lovely? It's like an entire fucking reunion.

"You must be Inuyasha," Sota said, glaring at me with familiar brown eyes. He really did look a lot like his older sister, only in male form with much shorter hair. "I'm Kagome's not-so-little brother."

Well, as awesome of a start this is, I'm just going to bring it out there that I am taller than the seventeen year-old. Maybe by an inch or two. I could definitely still take him if it came down to it. "You already know my name," I pointed out, smirking at him. "And I can tell."

"Sota," Kagome groaned, and I could see just how mortified she was. Her face was flushing a dark red, her cheeks heating up and travelling down her neck. Kagome's hands were partially covering her face, as if closing her eyes could rid her of the situation in front of her. "Please just go away, the both of you. I need sixty more seconds."

That's it? Well, I see that the make out session in my car is definitely out of the question. I'm pretty sure Bang wouldn't be pleased with that idea anyways. He's still mad at me for leaving him in the car while we ate at the restaurant.

Sota smiled wickedly before disappearing back into the house, Shippo following right behind him. Instantly Kagome turned to me, big brown eyes wide with worry. "You weren't supposed to meet them. They were supposed to be good little brothers and stay in bed." She said the statement like they could hear her, which I found quite amusing given how flushed she was. "I'm sorry."

Rolling my eyes, although inwardly I was a little confused, I scoffed. "I haven't run yet, have I?"

"No," Kagome whispered, smile gentle. The brown in her eyes flickered, the mood changing to something that was bitter and sad and I could've smacked myself for forgetting that that's how all of the other guys left: running. "It's what, Sunday?"

I hummed for a moment. "Technically it's Monday."

Kagome nodded, the wheels in her head turning and for a moment I swore I could hear what she was thinking. "Maybe I can see you Thursday then? I have a ton of work to get done in the next week but I'll call you?"

Smirking, I flicked the bangs out of her eyes. "Yeah, you can call whenever."

"Good," Kagome replied quietly, looking at the ground. Slowly she peered at me through her thick eyelashes, as if stealing a glance. "Um, goodnight then."

"Good–"

"KAGOME!" Sota's shout filled the quiet street and both of us turned our heads around sharply to see what the problem was. My stupid hair flew into my face and whipped me in the eye. Ow. Ow.

Son of a bitch that hurt!

What now?

Suddenly Sota was there, grinning like an idiot and holding out a phone for Kagome. "Mom wants to talk to you."

Fuck me. I did not sign up for this. Meeting her brothers? A bit strange but no big deal. I'd have to meet them eventually. Talking to her parents at one in the morning after I just finished taking their daughter out? Not cool. Not good.

Kagome hastily grabbed the phone, covering the speaker. "Sota, I'm going to kill you in your sleep tonight! You'll be DEAD BY TOMORROW or so help me god."

Hmm. I wonder if she got her anger from Sango while living with her in the dorms. Hmm. They are eerily similar in that regard.

This should be turning me off.

Hmm. Nope. I still want to fuck her.

"Mom, what are you doing up this late?" Kagome sighed into the phone, eyes closed in mortification. She hadn't once looked at me since Sota came out with the phone. "Yes, I was out– No, Mom, you can't talk– Because it's been one date! Why do you–? No. I'm not going to ask– Do you want me to die alone?"

So far, I have gathered that this conversation is not going well.

"Fine, I will. Goodnight Mom. Love you too." Kagome's eyes instantly shot to Sota, who was standing there with the same stupid smile on his face. "You," she spat, throwing the phone with deadly aim at his head. The kid was lucky he caught it. "Go to bed now."

"Yeah, okay sis," Sota replied, faking a yawn. "Goodnight Inuyasha. I'll see you around."

Dear god I hope not.

It was definitely a little more awkward when she turned around, only because the worry on her face was transformed to utter horror. I almost felt bad for her.

"So," Kagome started, looking everywhere but at my face. "That doesn't usually happen."

Of course not, only I'm that lucky. "No? I guess that makes me special."

Rolling her eyes, the corners of Kagome's lips tilted into a small smile. "You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"Well, I know I'm attractive. We can just add 'unbelievable' to the long list."

"And modest."

I nodded, amused. "That too."

Finally Kagome snorted, pushing me slightly away. "Go home and I'll call you soon, alright?"

"As you wish," I replied, smirking. "Come on Bang. I'll feed you that massive steak I promised."

I could be wrong – but I never am, I just say it because that's how the sentence goes – but I swore I heard Kagome laughing at her door. While she didn't mention anything about what her mother said, the look of horror was enough. I was just pleased that I took that look away.

So what if she was laughing at me momentarily?

Women love me.

Pretty soon, Kagome will too.


The drive back didn't take so long but Bang was giving me dirty looks the entire way there. I could tell what he was thinking: getting laid definitely didn't make up for the torture I put him through.

"That's bullshit Bang," I responded, glancing at him briefly before turning back to the road. "You weren't even tied up in the car and the roof was down. You were free to roam around if you wanted to."

Bang merely turned his head away, sticking it out the side so that the wind had better action across his face. Soon the tongue came lolling out and I knew that his past grievances were long forgotten.

When I parked my car underground, we took the short elevator ride to the top. Bang was sitting patiently, his head resting against my side as I patted his head. For a giant horse, he was quite affectionate – and I mean that in the manliest way possible. It wasn't until we were out of the elevator that I realized something was wrong.

Bang instantly tensed, his ears pressing against his skull as he darted forward towards the door to our apartment. He was growling deeply, body like an arrow pointed towards the entrance. This left me with two options: let Bang in to eat the idiotic intruder that's trying to rob me or let Bang in to scare the shit out of Miroku or Sango, who entered with their copy of the key and are currently residing in my home for no reason whatsoever.

I opened the door and laughed as Miroku's high-pitched squeak filled the air. So it was that perverted bastard that was wreaking havoc in my place. "Miroku, you better not have any hook–"

It was apparent the moment I fully stepped in that Bang was looking everywhere, growling in every direction. I walked forward, petting him momentarily before catching sight of my financial planner in my kitchen with...Sango?

"Why the fuck are you two here? Don't you have other places to be other than my home?" I whined, already tired of their presence. Why did I give them a key to my house? WHY?

"I was dropping off your dry cleaning," Sango responded, wiping down the counter with a cloth. Right then I saw the full-range of the kitchen and immediately noticed that it was sparkling. "And then I saw what a pig pen this place was and I had to clean it."

"Sango, put the washcloth down," I ordered, pointing at her. "My kitchen was just fine when I left."

When she made no move to stop cleaning, I sighed and dropped my keys on the counter, heading towards the fridge to pull out the cut up steak for Bang's dinner. And a beer for myself. God knows I need one.

"Thirteen inches!" Sango cried, picking up my keys with a dramatic noise and shaking them. "Do you see this?" Slowly, as if quick movement would stun my senses, she moved them over to the small wicker basket on the shelf above the counter and placed them inside. "You're so lazy you won't put the goddamn keys in their proper place thirteen inches away. How lazy are you really?"

"Extremely," another voice answered and I practically shot myself on the spot. Of course. Because it wouldn't be my life if my OCD assistant, my perverted financial planner and my bastard of a half-brother weren't here at almost two in the fucking morning.

Make that two beers.

"What do you want?" I wailed, groaning when Sesshomaru's face actually met my line of vision. This was just a really bad dream. This was the universe saying "HA! You can't have an amazing day without some sort of SHIT ON YOUR SHOE!"

"Do you know what today is?" Sesshomaru asked in that same, annoying monotone that was his (lack of) voice. "It's Sunday and Rin wanted to see you for dinner tonight."

Would it be wise to flip him off? I think so.

And flipping the bird...NOW.

"Mature," Sesshomaru retorted. "However, I know you were probably with that woman so we've rescheduled for Friday at six. Bring that woman with you."

"Woman?" Miroku asked, finally speaking up and grinning wickedly. "You dog you! Who's the chick?"

I ignored Miroku, not needing his crap right now. Looking at Sesshomaru I shook my head. "I am not subjecting Kagome to you or your whip-tastic wife."

"Kagome Higurashi?" Sango screamed, eyes wide.

No. No. This could not get any worse. "You didn't know? I told you about it earlier. Remember at the photo shoot?"

"You were out with KAGOME HIGURASHI?" Miroku yelled, flailing his arms around like that would give his exclamation more meaning. "Dude, I told you to back off that shit!"

"Why the fuck would you say that?" Sango demanded, glaring at Miroku.

"Because he thinks he loafs her! He told me when he was drunk!" Miroku snapped back, rubbing his face for a moment before focusing his attention back on me. "No, Inuyasha, you can't do it. Don't take the plunge."

"You love her?" Sango had been around long enough to understand Miroku's stupid-talk. She stared at me for a moment before bursting out in a fit of laughter, the washcloth falling to the floor. Instantly she stopped, putting the cloth back in its proper place before laughing at me again. "Wait, you took her out on a date? For real? I thought she was just trying to piss me off!"

"Why would it piss you off?" I asked, having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. There were too many people here and too many conversations.

"Because you bed women and then throw them out like trash you fucking moron!" Sango snapped. "Inuyasha, we need to talk."

"No!" I shouted, backing up and holding out my hands. "No we do not. I do not need this shit right now. Fuck, I just want to go to bed. Everyone get out."

"Gladly," Sesshomaru replied. "You and Kagome are expected at our house on Friday at six, got it?"

"I'll be there but I sure as hell am not bringing Kagome. Got it?" I mimicked, rolling my eyes. "Now out or I'll get Bang to eat you."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes heavenward before turning to leave out the front door.

The moment my half-brother was out of sight, I turned to the other two hell-spawns. "Get out."

"You can't date Kagome," Sango answered instead, glaring at me.

Miroku nodded. "I agree with Sango."

"You're just going to have sex with her and leave her," Sango continued on.

"As long as that's what you do, I really don't give a shit," Miroku added. "But that's it. Sex and then you go. Sex and then you go. Easy, right?"

"Both of you should go die somewhere. Please, just...roll into a ditch or something," I whined, pouring the kibble and steak into Bang's bowl. I took the beer off the counter, popped the top and left for my bedroom. "You two better be gone when I wake up in the morning."

"Wait!" Miroku called after me. "Did you get laid tonight at least? You took her out right?"

Sango freaked. "If you did, I will CASTRATE you! You HEAR ME? I will CASTRATE YOU."

Kill me.

Please.


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