A/N: I don't know if I truly mentioned this before, but this is AU. That means no reincarnations or past life memories. And so, Rin's reaction in this chapter is mostly based on a child's instincts. Just wanted to make that clear.
Disclaimer: All disclaimers refer to previous chapter.
Chapter Two: Home Sweet…Home?
Friday: December 19
Never in his life had he ever been so happy to see an exit sign. Sesshoumaru lifted his head hesitantly as he unfolded from his protective position. The weather had let up some during their trip, but that didn't help the fact that Inu-Yasha had had to drive through downtown Minneapolis. Or the fact that he had this very unnerving habit of breaking at the last second.
Sesshoumaru had used many taxis in his day. And usually their eccentric and unsettling driving had no effect on him. But Inu-Yasha…Perhaps he was being a bit biased in his opinion. He wasn't that awful. But it was hard to associate the annoying little boy who had insisted on hiding snow in his bed every Christmas with a teenager who was driving.
"Only a few more minutes until we're home," Inutaisho noted from the front, twisting his head around to look at the passengers in the back. "Asako will be happy to see you again, Sesshoumaru."
Sesshoumaru tried not to scowl at his stepmother's name. Of course the little woman would be happy to see him. She was happy to see anyone. He could just see her now…walking out of the kitchen wearing an apron and wiping her floured hands on a towel. Then she would smile and say, with her ever cheerful voice, "It's so nice to see you again, Sesshoumaru." Just like the perfect mother.
The one he never had.
Sesshoumaru forcefully turned his mind from that train of thought before staring out the window at the passing scenery. He laid his head against the back of the seat, listening to the beeps and clicks from Souta's game and the quiet conversation up front. A perfect family scene. For them.
Ah…once he got home and went through the torturous greetings, he could escape it all. Go lock himself up in his room for the rest of the night. He'd eaten before he'd left; he could make it until tomorrow.
It was a very faint relief, but a relief nonetheless.
Soon the view outside the window started to include tiny clumps of trees. They were nearing the end of this damnable ride. The Hakamatsu stead was located in the suburbs in the more upper-class developments. It wasn't the house that Sesshoumaru had grown up in—that had been an apartment downtown. Inutaisho had moved out of the city not long after marrying Asako.
Now, instead of a classy apartment it was a two-story house of immense proportions in everything: square feet, number of rooms, and even the grounds it was situated on. Some called it a mansion, but Inutaisho always humbly referred to it as a "big house." In actuality, Sesshoumaru had to say that it was exactly what he said. Nothing more than a big house. Not only was it not that much larger than other more modern homes, it was also because mansions brought to mind clean, awe-inspiring designer homes. Which the Hakamatsu house was not.
Houses started to pop up in place of the trees, followed shortly after by restaurants, stores, and a few gas stations. After barely squeezing through a yellow light—for which, thankfully, Inutaisho finally scolded Inu-Yasha—they went through the main intersection and turned onto the final stretch. A few good-sized houses flashed by, then a few development signs. It was into one of these that they turned—Sesshoumaru never bothered reading which one.
The house was at the very end of the development, it's driveway coming right off the last road. The building itself sat somewhat to the side, allowing for the drive to meander up to the three-car garage on the side. The grounds spread out beyond the home, stretching almost an acre back. There was a small shack towards the back surrounded by a fence. Actually, it was more the size of a small house. This was were Inutaisho kept his dogs—a favorite type of pet since his youth.
Sesshoumaru gazed up at the broad cream and brick façade of the house. He could remember when it was brand new and how Inutaisho had spent over an hour on the day they'd moved in taking pictures of the building and grounds, smiling like a fool the whole while. Inu-Yasha had just come home from the hospital a few days prior and Sesshoumaru remembered being forced to hold the already squirming infant to pose for countless photographs. Which had been extremely irritating.
Inu-Yasha pulled into the driveway and practically ran down the poor garage door, which he barely gave any time to rise. Sesshoumaru involuntarily winced as the hood nearly scrapped the bottom of the door. Next to him, Souta finally shut off his game and climbed out without looking back once, squeezing between the SUV and the black sports car towards the back of the garage.
"Mom! We're back!" He called, running over to throw open the door connecting the garage and the house.
Sesshoumaru drew in a long and somewhat shaky breath as Inu-Yasha and Inutaisho got out of the vehicle. It was only reluctantly that he followed them, meandering around to the trunk and snatching his duffel bag before Inu-Yasha could get to it. It was only after a brief staring-match that he was able to persuade Inu-Yasha to take the suitcase.
Inutaisho was just walking up the steps to the mud room door when a petite figure came bursting out, apron, flour, and all. The dignified businessman did a rather impressive imitation of a flabbergasted ballet dancer as he tried to keep his balance. "Asako!"
The dark-haired woman stopped halfway towards the SUV and turned to face him, giving him a sheepish grin. "Sorry, dear. But you know me." She turned around and smiled cheerfully at Sesshoumaru, who tried not to grit his teeth. "Hello, dear! It is so nice to see you again!"
"Asako," he responded politely, fingers digging into the already abused leather handle of his briefcase. He didn't miss his father's frown.
The little woman came over to him, standing at the very least a foot shorter than he did. She looked up at him with twinkling brown eyes as she reached forward and tapped the lapels of his black overcoat with her index finger to empathize her next words. "Now, Sesshoumaru, you know that you can call me Mom like everyone else."
The young man tried his hardest not to take a step backwards, away from her. But I don't want to… Don't you get it? He grumbled silently.
Outwardly, he nodded. "Thank you."
The woman looked up at him, seeming to be expecting something, but he remained obstinately silent. After a moment of awkward silence Asako laughed, a bubbly happy sound only associated with mothers. Yet anyone could tell that she was a bit unnerved. "Well, what are we doing standing out here in this dirty old garage? Let's go inside! I'm sure that you want to put those bags down and take off those boots," she blurted out, walking around her taller stepson and literally pushing him forward.
Sesshoumaru stumbled forward a step, a look of pure shock on his face. He heard Inu-Yasha snicker behind him. Almost immediately after, a small hand circled his arm and started pulling him along. "Come, come, I have some nice warm cocoa ready for all of you."
Thoroughly trapped now, Sesshoumaru resigned himself to his fate and allowed his stepmother to lead him into the house. They went past Inutaisho, who gave his son a disappointed look that plainly said that they would be talking later.
The two stepped into the house, leaving Inutaisho and Inu-Yasha behind in the garage to a murmured conversation. The smell of baking cookies filled the air instantly, along with the blaring sound of an annoying commercial from the family room.
"My," Asako said as she let Sesshoumaru stop to remove his boots and coat. "Look how dignified and handsome you look all done up, Sesshoumaru! So much like your father." She beamed up at him, a cherubic face framed by short hair. "Or maybe even surpassing him; I cannot really tell since I am a rather biased judge."
The young man looked up from untying his boot at that remark, just in time to see Asako giving him a rather sad, pitying look. He glared at her darkly, before starting to work on his laces again, pulling on them with a furious vengeance. "Thank you," he grunted curtly, just as Inutaisho and Inu-Yasha came in.
"Sess—" Inutaisho began, but Sesshoumaru ripped his shoe off and planted it firmly next to his other, dearly wising to just throw it at someone. He did not need that woman's pity! And he did not need his father trying to force him to be a family—it wouldn't happen. Sickly sweet mothers were for someone else, not him.
"Excuse me," he stated, coldly, retrieving his coat from the small bench behind him and sliding it onto one of the empty coat pegs lining the long wall. "I'm going to go unpack now."
"Sesshoumaru." Inutaisho said sternly, almost dangerously.
The young man stopped, standing stiff with his back to them all. "Yes, sir?" He heard his father's intake of a breath and could feel Inu-Yasha hidden laughter. Squaring his shoulders, Sesshoumaru waited for the same old melodramatic speech… that never came. Instead, Asako scooted around the piles of shoes in the small hall and took his arm again. "Come, let's go. I'm sure you're tired."
Sesshoumaru took the moment to look down at the diminutive woman, watching her send a quick yet pointed look over her shoulder at her husband.
He still didn't like her.
Asako dragged him into the next room, which was the kitchen. What would have been a colossal cold granite area was actually quite bright and cheerful with Asako's added touches—such as the flower vases and hand-painted door designs. There were a few brightly-colored throw rugs on the tan wood floor and the countertops had recently been changed to green instead of the austere gray that had been installed. Off to the right he could see a corner of the "morning room"—an octagonal room made of nearly all windows that was rather popular now…
Seeming to realize what he was looking at, Asako turned to him with a smile. "Your father finally allowed me to have the kitchen redone. He really should have consulted me first before choosing the colors. He never really was an artistic man." She laughed, finally releasing his arm. "And we also had the morning room added as well. A nice cheery place to sit with the family, especially on sunny days."
Sesshoumaru nodded absently, yet before he could reply—as if he wanted to—a voice suddenly rent through the air. "MAMA!"
They both looked up to see Souta run into the room, waving his arms widely. Sesshoumaru only glanced at him for a second before turning his gaze to the adjacent family room. He vaguely heard him talking about "Jii-san" being locked in the bathroom again. His attention was far too occupied at the moment.
He almost dropped his luggage in his shock. For there, across the room just a few feet away from him, was a room full of…children. Tiny little people who could be barely over eight years old. There were…in the house. The house he was going to be staying in…
He watched the bunch of seven or eight youngsters as some lounged all over the plush blue carpeting coloring or watching the 51-inch plasma screen TV mounted over the fireplace. Two others ran in circles around the coffee table and were just starting to scream at the top of their lungs for some asinine reason that he really didn't want to know about. One was also lying flipped over the couch, her long hair touching the floor as she stared up at the ceiling.
It was a human zoo. There was no other word for it.
Hopefully this wasn't another one of his father's pet collections….
Directly in the midst of the makeshift playground was a young woman with dark hair that Sesshoumaru recognized immediately. She was busy playing with—or rather keeping occupied—a small redhead who seemed content to throw pieces of crayon at the others.
Sesshoumaru sighed to himself. It would make sense that Kagome would be there. His stepsister always did like children…
Leaving Asako to take care of whatever Souta wanted, Sesshoumaru made his way towards the family room. Normally in this type of situation he would take the side hallway in front of the dinning room to get to the stairs, but that escape route was blocked by his stepfamily. It seemed that he was destined to get near those little monsters…
Kagome always seemed to have some sort of radar to detect family approach, because as soon as he came with a few steps of the carpet her head came up. She smiled instantly. "Hello, Sess."
"—shoumaru," he amended.
The petite teenager made a face at him, before reaching over to take a crayon from the redheaded boy, who stuck his tongue out at her. "Don't be so mean—your name is sooo long! It's as bad as Yasha's…"
"Since when have I cared about that?"
Kagome looked highly amused. "Since never," she replied, reaching around to hand another crayon to one of the children lying sprawled beside her. She watched the little girl doodle a lopsided Christmas tree for a minute before glancing back up. "I bet your wondering what's going on…" she began, almost warily.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at her tone. "It seems that we've had an infestation of sorts," he commented dryly.
The girl chuckled quietly at the comment as she stood, dusting off her jeans. "Not exactly." She glanced down at the redheaded boy who was coloring furiously. "You see, I started working at the orphanage for school and—"
"She convinced Dad to let her bring some of the brats over for Christmas," Inu-Yasha spoke up behind them. Both turned in time to see him hop over the back of the couch, sliding down to see next to the upside down girl, who shrieked at him. He ignored her completely.
Sesshoumaru was positive that he twitched. What the hell was that? He vaguely heard Kagome explain about working with these kids during her community service hours and thinking that they deserved a "family Christmas". And how fun it would be to have children in the house.
All he could see was a troop of diminutive nefarious demons intent on destroying his fragile grip on sanity. Or at least doing it sooner than he'd expected this week.
Children did not go very well with him at all…
"How…many are there?" he asked, coming as close to hesitant as he'd allow himself.
Kagome beamed happily. It scared him. Completely. "Why don't you come meet them? I'm sure they'll be happy to see you! They're all so friendly!"
Sesshoumaru looked over the children skeptically, watching as a black-haired boy reached over and yanked a girl's hair. Oh yes, terribly friendly…
"I think it best that you keep your children to yourself."
Kagome shook her heads resolutely. "I don't think so. You're going to see them all sometime anyhow. They're staying here until after Christmas."
What sort of fiendish torture is this? Sesshoumaru asked himself wearily, just as the television volume skyrocketed. He winced at the sound, nearly imbedding his fingers in his briefcase.
"Shippou!" Kagome whirled around and scolded the redheaded boy, who had wandered over to the TV in the span of two seconds. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and brought out the remote. She used it to turn it down.
Kagome waved the remote before her as she explained, "I keep this handy at all times. Really uncomfortable, but necessary." She gestured him forward as she shoved it back in her pocket. "Come on, I'll introduce them all."
Very reluctant to step into the chaos, Sesshoumaru followed her anyhow. There was no way to avoid it. He suddenly heard his father's murmured voice behind him, followed by Asako's, and he glanced over his shoulder. They were both over near the entrance to the morning room, talking quietly. He caught Asako glancing over in their direction. He gave them a dark glare before turning around.
Grinding his teeth together silently, he pushed past Kagome and forced his cultivated—as his boss put it— "I'm-really-not-happy-to-see-you-but-I-have-to-fake-it" smile on. Or, he liked to say, his "I'm-hating-every-minute-off-this-shit" grimace. Whichever way one wanted to put it—it was false.
"And…?" he asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow elegantly. It was getting easier to play his assistant role as time went on, it seemed…
Kagome gave him an odd look before pointing to the redhead again. "You've…met Shippou." At the mention of his name the boy turned around. "He's seven years old and I've been working with him at the orphanage." She faced the boy. "Shippou, this is my brother Sesshoumaru. Say hi!" And she waved.
Green eyes looked up at him challengingly, ignoring Kagome. "You as mean as Inu-Yasha?" he asked, cantankerously.
Sesshoumaru was afraid that he might lose his eyebrow in his hairline by the end of the evening if this kept up... "It depends highly upon what mood I am in," he answered seriously. He maintained a straight face as he added: "Usually I'm much worse."
The boy blinked up at him, apparently taken aback by the blandness of that statement. Sesshoumaru kept eye contact with the brat, daring him to misbehave.
The image was ruined when Kagome smacked him on the arm. "Don't scare the kids, Sess! For Pete's sake!"
"Sesshoumaru," he growled, turning a dark glower on her. "And I'd prefer it if you would stop undermining me like th—"
Kagome smacked him again. He glared again. "Stop being so mean!"
He opened his mouth to retort when a highly disturbing sound met his ears. Looking down his nose at the child at his feet, he saw the boy was laughing, his eyes squeezed shut. "Just like with Inu-Yasha!" he gasped between giggles, holding his stomach. "Kagome's the best!"
The junior executive's shoulder's tensed angrily, yet his attention was no longer on the child. "If you have a self-satisfied smirk on your face, I suggest you remove it promptly, Inu-Yasha," he stated coldly. He heard Inu-Yasha shift uncomfortably behind him and knew he had been right.
"Thank you, Shippou," Kagome said, calmly. She turned back to Sesshoumaru. "Let's meet everyone else, shall we?"
It took at least ten minutes to get through all of the brats. There were eight of them, three boys and five girls. They were anywhere between the ages of six and nine. And he didn't remember any of their names. He didn't really care. He just wanted to get this over with.
Letting one of the boys they'd just talked to run back to whatever game he was playing, Kagome pointed across the room towards the corner. Sesshoumaru looked over to where she indicated and saw a form seated there. She was a tiny little thing, rail-thin with long scraggly hair. Her attention was focussed solely on her drawing, seemingly oblivious to all else. Sesshoumaru watched her work indifferently, ready for one more pointless introduction.
Yet Kagome did not approach her. Instead, she looked back up at Sesshoumaru. "That's Rin. She's a bit…different than the others…"
"How so?" he asked offhandedly, not really caring at all.
"Well she's…she's mute."
That got his attention. "Mute?"
The young woman nodded, her hair flopping into her eyes. "Yeah. No one really knows why…she's just never talked."
Sesshoumaru frowned slightly turning back to watch the girl working feverishly on some unknown project. The girl didn't even look up when Kagome dragged him over. Why was a girl such as she here? Sitting in a corner all alone…
"Rin?" Kagome called out, softly. The change in her normal handling of the children made Sesshoumaru glance over at her sharply. Kagome held up a hand in his direction, asking for silence. "Rin, I'd like you to meet someone."
The girl's dark head lifted and large brown eyes blinked up at them owlishly. The child glanced over Kagome once before trailing over to him. And there they stopped. Sesshoumaru felt a bit unnerved when her eyes grew a few inches. She dropped the red crayon that she'd been holding and just stared.
And stared.
And stared.
He shifted uncomfortably under the girl's gaze. He'd been under scrutiny before—many times actually—and only his father could make him this uneasy.
And yet here was this girl…
He couldn't really read what her eyes were saying. They were bright and alive, yet also dark and deep. A place to hide. A place for dark memories to reside forever.
Yet…why was she staring at him so?
Kagome didn't seem to notice the girl's odd staring. Or maybe this was how she greeted everyone? Either way, the teenager continued, slowly. "Rin, this is Sesshoumaru. He's my older brother."
Stepbrother…he reminded her silently, finally looking away from the dark-eyed child to glance askance at Kagome.
The girl continued to gaze up at him before breaking out in a wide gap-tooth grin. Openly startled by the child's change in mood Sesshoumaru took a step back. Rin giggled.
Kagome glanced between the two, puzzled. "Well…it seems that she likes you, Sess."
"She does not do this with everyone?" he asked with puzzled frown.
Kagome shook her head. "Not right off the bat, no."
Rin interrupted the two with a small grunt and once she had their attention she reached up and pulled on her shoulder-length hair and pointed up at him. Then she smiled.
The junior executive was both curious and disconcerted by the girl's obvious…liking of his person. Very…well unheard of. Yet he was never one to just let a compliment like that slide. "Thank you…" he replied. It came out more hesitantly than he intended but the girl did not seem to mind.
In fact she smiled at him again…
Kagome turned her head towards him, looking somewhat bewildered "And I thought you said that you weren't good with kids?"
"I'm not," he responded flatly. But he didn't glare at her as he usually would.
Still feeling rather unnerved by the child who kept staring at him; Sesshoumaru focused his attention on his luggage. "Now that you're finished," he told Kagome sternly, trying not to catch sight off the deep eyes still glued on him as if he was some sort of savior. "I'm going to take these up to my room. Carrying this is rather tedious."
"Why didn't you just put it down?"
"And trust the children to stay out of them?" He glanced over his shoulder at Inu-Yasha, who was busy wrestling with one of the kids on the couch. "I cannot even trust my own brother."
With that he turned on his heel to leave. There was a soft outcry behind him and he stopped, turning back around. His lips parted in silent surprise. Rin had gotten to her feet and was looking up at him with crestfallen eyes, hugging her paper and crayons to her chest.
It took Sesshoumaru a minute to speak, completely taken aback by the soulful stare she was giving him. "I'm only going upstairs," he reassured her, feeling rather awkward having to explain such things to the girl. He even used his one arm to gesture limply towards the front foyer.
She didn't move, keeping her eyes locked on him.
Giving Kagome a look that clearly showed his confusion, Sesshoumaru graced the girl with one more glance before heading for the stairs again, only to hear little footsteps behind him. Stopping again, he whirled around. And there she was, hugging her art supplies and still staring at him. He opened his mouth to say something to her—anything—but Kagome beat him to it.
"Stay in the family room, Rin," she told the girl, coming over and ushering her back around the couch. Rin glanced back at him with sad eyes. Sesshoumaru turned away. It was only a little girl. She had no right to bother him so much.
Before he could make it to the dubious safety of the hallway Kagome spoke up again. "Same room as last year, Sess. Dad made us keep it as yours."
Sesshoumaru would have stopped at that if he hadn't been stopped enough at it was. He only turned his head a fraction, not daring to look full over his shoulder at her, and nodded succinctly.
So, it wasn't a "guestroom" anymore…it was "his". A strange thought, considering that this wasn't in any way "his" house—not even in his thoughts. It was "their" house, "father's" house. And besides, it was basically a guestroom. There was nothing personal in it whatsoever. It was just like any other hotel room he'd stayed in except for the fact that it had Asako touches.
Yet they'd made it his.
Not wanting to dwell on the intentions behind that action, he focused on picking up the suitcase that Inu-Yasha had left in the front hall and dragging it towards the stairs to the extreme left of the foyer. They were built in such a way that they were sandwiched between the wall of the family room and that of the front study. It had two layers and a landing, under which was the door to the basement. There was holly hung above the doorframes and dangling from the overhead balcony. White lights were taped up in the windows around the front door and could be seen glowing in the adjacent dining room.
Sesshoumaru paused, taking it in and visualizing the herd that was going to be piling in tomorrow.
He sighed.
----
::grumble, grumble:: I wanted to have most of this done before now. But then my History teacher throws a project at us. To write a story. Which needed to involve the factors that lead to the Civil War. Do you want to know how dry that was? And the damn thing took me a week!
Needless to say, this was not worked on very much. And therefore, it has fallen behind. I highly doubt that I'll get to the Christmas Day scene before Christmas. So it might have to come after the New Year. I'm going to a family reunion in Florida for said New Year, but I'm going to try to see if I can get my Aunt's Laptop and at least write this damn thing while I'm on my oh-so-fun vacation… Then I can just shove them all at you at once. Won't that be fun? ^__^
I'm off now to work on the next part. Wish me luck.
Oh, and thanks for the beta Kits-chan! ^__^