The silver figure sighed as he looked about the disorganized chaos of the cave.
Stuff had been strewed about everywhere.
There were abandoned dishware set aside at the oddest places, cloths had been dropped haphazardly around the "sleeping quarters" and there was that odd little puzzle known as a rubric cube half finished on the futon.
Scowling, he starting grabbing random items and managing to collect an arm full of bits and pieces he set out to find the culprits.
The little girl was actually very well organized, well as organized as a small child could be, but him! He scowled as he thought about his reluctant cave mate.
'One would think someone his age would have better housekeeping skills…' he thought in annoyance while he grabbed a random undershirt and frowned at the scent that radiated from the material.
Mentally making a note about laundry, he soon found one of the ne'er-do-wells and glared at the little girl.
Chastising her firmly and obtaining a regretful apology he handed her the few items she had disregarded and reminded her to start cleaning up after herself before moving on to find the mastermind behind the mess.
It took some time before he came upon the second silver creature that lived in the cave and with a dark look he threw the heap of cloths in the youkai's face.
Sesshoumaru glared as the offensive ball of fabric firmly slammed into his nose before sliding down to land in a silvery puddle at his feet.
"Do I look like one of your stupid servants?" Inuyasha demanded as he waved the foul smelling shirt about in the air. "What the hell do you think you're doing leaving all this crap around?"
Sesshoumaru stared at the hyperventilating hanyou and deftly removed the obi that hung randomly on his shoulder. "What are you ranting about now?" he sneered.
Inuyasha just about decked him. "YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHAT I'M 'RANTING ABOUT' YOU PAMPERED BASTARD!" The shirt soon followed the fate of the others as it too smacked against Sesshoumaru's smirking visage following Inuyasha's tirade. "THIS MESS!" and he waved his hand in the general direction of the main cave. "This irritating clutter that just seems to trail after you everywhere! And will you stop racking out the rushes! It's going to get even harder to replace them when the snow comes!"
Sesshoumaru scowled. "Why can't you just get mats?"
"The rushes work just fine!" Inuyasha hissed. "Always have, always will. I'm sorry if this cave is not to your liking, but if you hate it so YOU CAN VERY WELL MOVE OUT!"
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow and leaned against one of the small crates of food where he had been napping/meditating when Inuyasha had stormed the back tunnel. "And leave you all by your lonesome?" he asked sarcastically.
"I would take ANYONE'S company over you!" Inuyasha snapped. "I can take care of myself! I've been doing it for centuries."
Sesshoumaru looked at the hanyou from toes to ear tips, never missing the scattering of twigs and leaves in the silver locks. "Yes, I can see how well you took care of yourself."
Inuyasha bristled. "I'm still alive, ain't I?"
"Hmm," Sesshoumaru hummed as he dropped the dirty shirt onto of the small pile. "That remains to be seen."
Inuyasha blushed under Sesshoumaru's unwavering gaze. He should have know that having Sesshoumaru there on a daily bases would be trouble.
It had almost been as if the cave had shrunk five times it's size since his elder brother had moved in and to say that it had been nerve wracking would have been a gross understatement.
The feeling of those piercing golden eyes on him almost every second of the day had nearly destroyed his nerves and Inuyasha had never been more grateful that Sesshoumaru had allowed the little girl to remain instead of sending her off with the toad imp.
Gathering food had never been quite such a chore either since the taller figure moved in.
For some strange reason, Sesshoumaru rarely-if ever- left the cave. Another strike against him in Inuyasha's opinion that proved just how lofty his royal highness could get. Sesshoumaru had been a royal pain in the ass since he had arrived.
However there was one question he needed answered. "Why are you so insistent about all this?" he asked. "Why did you move in? Why are you so stubborn about this whole…" he waved his hand's in a vague gesture, "this whole protecting me when I'm human, after years of completely denying my very existence? I've been wondering about it since you brought up this whole 'truce' thing after that rainy night!"
Inuyasha turned to look Sesshoumaru, one of his greatest enemy's in the eye as he asked, "What exactly do you want with me?"
There was a growl and Inuyasha's breath was knocked out of him as he was suddenly slammed against the wall. He gapped for any bit of air as he clawed at the wrist that Sesshoumaru pressed against his throat.
"Do not even think of questioning me, hanyou." Sesshoumaru leaned forward, his nose inches away from Inuyasha's own. "You want to know what I want with you?"
Any thought about regaining his breath left him as Inuyasha's eyes widened in shock and they stared into the narrowed ones of Sesshoumaru. He could feel the youkai's hot breath brush gently against his cheek.
That feeling was back. That stupid little feeling that came up from his toes and slammed into his gut as Sesshoumaru leaned those last few inches to whisper in a triangle ear…
"That is for me to know…"
Inuyasha felt all the tension just drain out of his body as he stared at Sesshoumaru's smirking face in complete disbelief. Narrowing his eyes, he struggled for a while until Sesshoumaru finally dropped him, his point made and the hanyou took deep lungful of air rubbing his sore neck in an attempt to sooth his injured throat.
He turned hate filled eyes upward and glared at the regal figure that towered above him
Sesshoumaru watched as Inuyasha chest heaved with the force of his gasps for breath and the smooth curve of the hanyou's shoulders shook with the exertion. For some damn reason the youkai couldn't turn his eyes away.
"Are you finished with your questions?" he asked casually as he once more leaned against the crates.
Inuyasha huffed and blew his bangs out of his eyes. "Not really, but for the moment it's all I can think of," he growled as he turned to leave the small storage tunnel where Sesshoumaru had been meditating… or rather hiding. "If you're going to kill me then do it," he called over his shoulder, "as it stands- I have better things to do."
If this was how it was going to be on day five, Inuyasha shuddered to think how the rest of the winter season was going to go.
He had to get Sesshoumaru out of his hair and more importantly, out of the cave!
Inuyasha had demanded multiple times for an explanation of Sesshoumaru's sudden announcement that he would be moving in and as yet Sesshoumaru had refused to divulge any information on the subject.
'Irritating prick!' Inuyasha thought angrily. 'What in the world was he talking about his "instincts"? He probably made that up, the jerk.'
Inuyasha growled as he entered the main cavern his eyes immediately going to the small corner where Kuufuku was gnawing on yet another piece of elaborate silk. A small smile came to his lips before he wandered over and gently tried to pull the obi from the rat.
"Come on. You already have three whole outfits and I have to do wash soon," Inuyasha huffed as he gave a short tug.
Kuufuku actually let out a small rat growl and pulled back at the cloth. Sighing, Inuyasha pulled back and soon there was a comical little fight of tug-of-war over the obi. "Will you let go already?" he whispered. "His royal highness…" and he rolled his eyes at this, "is already in a cranky mood…"
"Youkai are never 'cranky'," the smooth voice came flowed over him. "We are 'avid'."
Letting out an exasperated breath, Inuyasha finally managed to claim the obi as the rat scuttled into his own hole. Without turning around, he started gathering different articles of clothing and set them into a pile in one corner before starting to collect dishes and setting them in on the table.
Glancing around he then begin to collect the small toys and other knick-knacks and set them on top of the futon next to the colorful cube.
Never once looking at the taller man.
He did not speak a single word.
He could practically feel the anger radiating off the youkai.
Inuyasha couldn't help but smirk as he moved about cleaning the cave as best he could while living with two slobs. Hell, they couldn't even keep their garbage in sensible clutter.
There was a soft rustle as Sesshoumaru made his way into the cave and Inuyasha immediately tensed, his ears swiveling automatically to follow the soft sound of the youkai's footsteps.
Forcing himself to relax, he continued to separate the different messes and pointedly ignored his brother.
So when there was a soft thud, Inuyasha turned in surprise to see Sesshoumaru dropping the armful of cloths onto the small pile.
Inuyasha watched as Sesshoumaru jerked up his nose, turned, and marched back into the tunnel.
The hanyou stared at the retreating form in shock. Sesshoumaru hadn't said anything back. That was not what he had been expecting. A huff, a sneer, and insulting word or two to be sure… but for Sesshoumaru to say nothing and to just calmly leave. 'Perhaps I was too hard on him,' he wondered briefly before quickly quashing any such notion.
'Like hell I am,' he argued with himself as he furiously started grabbing all the clothing and shoving them in the wicker basket he had obtained. 'It was his choice to live out here in the wilderness as appose to his plushy castle. Why the hell should I feel sorry for the bastard?'
Quickly double checking that there was nothing left, Inuyasha strode out of the cave and into the bright afternoon sunshine.
"Konichiwa, Inuyasha-Sama!" Rin called from where she was playing with some pebbles making odd designs in the sand.
Inuyasha nodded at her as he made his way into the woods. Turning south, he made his way to the small pond that he had found on his now daily food gathering hunts. Slowly making his way down the embankment he neared the waters edge and unceremoniously dumped the clothing into the water.
Removing his outer robe, Inuyasha rolled up his sleeves and set to work doing laundry. It was a nice, mindless task…
…If only his brain would cooperate and stop thinking.
For some reason, his brother's attitude the past few days had been nothing short of irritating. He had been either ignoring his half brother completely or driving him to the point of insanity with his constant bickering.
'Honestly, it's not like I wanted him to live with me,' Inuyasha huffed as he methodically beat the clothing against a nearby bolder and scrubbed them together with the small amount of soap he had snitched from the human village.
'And I wish he would stop STARING at me!' he quickly finished rinsing the cloths and started to lay them out on the scattered rocks to dry. 'I mean it's not like I'm in my human form or anything.'
He leaned back against the grass and watched as the darkening clouds rolled by. "Rain soon…" he muttered as he watched the sky allowing his mind to simply slow down for the better part of an hour.
'It's not like he's never seen me before.' Inuyasha continued his mental evaluation as he took a lock of his hair and held it in front of his eyes, 'I'm nothing special. It's not as if I look completely different…'
A squirrel darted out of the trees and Inuyasha swiveled and ear to track its movements. 'Well, with a few minor differences,' he chuckled as he started to gather up the laundry and headed back to the cave.
Placing the clothing in the small trunk by the futons, Inuyasha handed Rin her own clean clothing to put away in her own small basket and started separating his own clothing from his brothers, frowning at the cloths as he immediately saw the difference between Sesshoumaru's finer material and his own dilapidated attire.
A pale arm entered his line of vision from behind as Sesshoumaru snatched up his robes from Inuyasha's sight.
"INUYASHA!" the enraged bellow soon came from behind him. "What did you do to my things?"
Inuyasha turned to see Sesshoumaru holing up his still damp robes (kimonos? Yukatas?) and rolled his eyes. "I washed them, obviously," Inuyasha announced as he continued putting away the last few articles of clothing.
There was a growl. "Washed them, where?" Sesshoumaru snarled out the question.
Inuyasha turned with a puzzled look at the fuss the youkai was making, all over some stupid clothes. "Does it matter where?" he asked tiredly. He still had dinner to make and there was the cleaning to finish.
"Just answer the question…" Sesshoumaru barked.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as he closed the lid of the trunk and set the basket aside. "There's a small pond not far from here," he announced. "Where did you think I was fetching the water from? Thin air?" He asked sarcastically.
"A pond?" Sesshoumaru gapped disbelieving. "You washed my silk clothes in cold water?" he screeched. "You didn't heat it or anything?" Rin giggled slightly but quickly clamped a hand over her mouth as she watched the two, demon brothers argue. "They're ruined!" Sesshoumaru continued as he slammed the clothing to the ground. "Completely destroyed!"
The hanyou sighed and looked at the raging demon. "You have to be exaggerating. They can't be completely un-useable."
Sesshoumaru bent down and with an exaggerated flick of the wrist held out one of the robes from shoulder height. Inuyasha suppressed a smirk as he saw the hem now a good half a foot shorter than it had been. Sesshoumaru scowled, "and what, may I ask, can I do with them?"
Inuyasha shrugged as he made his way towards the back of the cave to gather ingredients for dinner.
"Give them to the rat," he suggested as he slipped into the tunnel, leaving an enraged bellow and a grateful squeak behind him.