"Wash, wash, wash your hands!
Wash them nice and cleeeean
Wash them on top,
Wash them on bottom and fingers in betweeeen!" Rikyu's drunken voice boomed at two o'clock that morning.
"Inutashio can't you do something with him?" Izayoi pleaded sleepily pulling her pillow over her head trying to drown out Rikyu's voice.
"What do you want me to do?" Inutashio asked sitting up in his bed, which was situated just below Izayoi's.
"I dunno, make him stop singing! And steal that damn spare key from him. I told Azumi yesterday that it was a bad idea to give him one."
"Would throwing him outside suffice?"
"Would you really do that for me?" Izayoi asked happily.
"Of course I would." He replied getting out of bed and walking towards the door to deal with the intoxicated fool.
"Oh thank you! You're too nice." Izayoi said jumping out of bed and throwing her arms around Inutashio. "You might get a reward when you get back." She whispered into his ear enticingly.
Inutashio blushed and opened Izayoi's bedroom door. Mrs. Takouyoi, Setsuki and Azumi where waiting outside in the hallway. Azumi looked very uncomfortable and embarrassed and Izayoi's mother and Setsuki just looked tired.
"Thank you very much Inutashio. We're sorry to keep bothering you like this but—
"It's not hassle Mrs. Takouyoi, besides he was disturbing my sleep as well." Inutashio said making his way down the stairs.
"Yeah! Go Inutashio! Go kick his butt!" Setsuki said getting excited.
"Now, now young man no need for you to get all riled up. It's off to bed now." His mother cut in shooing him off to his room.
"Aww mom! I wanted to watch Inutashio fight!" He whined.
"Wash, wash, wash your hands
Wash them nice and cleeeean
Wash them on top,
Wash them on bottom and fingers in betweeeeen." Rikyu's voice continued. Until a 'thunk' followed by a volley of swear words momentarily interrupted his warble.
"Washing Hands Song
Tops and Bottoms, tops and bottoms,
In between, in betweeeeen!
All around your hands, all around your hands—Oh hey there Inutashio!" Rikyu slurred wobbling towards Inutashio. "You remember that song? We used to sing it -'hic!'- when we were kids."
"This is the second night in a row you want to cut out the drinking for a while?" Inutashio asked calmly.
"Whaa? Never! This is my teenage years! Parrrttty!" Rikyu shouted pumping his fist wildly in the air.
"I think your teenage years ended when you stopped a teenage. Which was about two years ago." Inutashio said steeping towards Rikyu.
"Oh yeah? And what about you Tashio? You're like twenty or whatever. Have a kid and who knows what else. At least I don't have any of that shit." Rikyu mumbled.
"My kid is not shit." Inutashio growled grabbing Rikyu by the collar.
"Pssh, you don't scare me. We both know you can't plant a single finger on me."
"That doesn't mean I can't place my fist in your mouth." Inutashio snapped.
Rikyu rolled his eyes and swatted Inutashio's hand away. "You can't beat me. I'll always win. Don't you remember? I know I do. I wonder what Izayoi would think of you once she sees that you're not the knight in shining armor you've lead her to believe you are." Rikyu said lowering his voice. "If you don't end this little charade with her soon, I might just have to inform her of your past activities."
'That bastard.' Inutashio thought. "Goodnight Rikyu." Inutashio said taking the key to the Takouyoi's house out of Rikyu's greasy palm and then leading him to the front door where he threw it open and tossed Rikyu outside.
When Mrs. Takouyoi heard that the situation had been dealt with her and Azumi both retreated back to their rooms for a the few remaining hours of sleep they had left before morning.
Inutashio climbed the stairs to see Izayoi sitting half asleep on the stairs. "Hi." She said sleepily stifling a yawn. "Can we go to bed now?"
"Yes." Inutashio replied leaning down and picking Izayoi up in his arms. Izayoi, who this time expressed no protest snuggled deep into his chest as he carried her back to her room.
"Izayoi time to get up." A deep voice whispered in her ear early Friday morning. "Izayoi." The voice whispered again. Izayoi shifted in her sleep. The persons breath was really tickling her ear. "Izayoi, come on you need to get up." Izayoi giggled lightly. "Koinu." She whispered.
"Yes." Inutashio replied his face millimeters from hers.
"It's Friday today isn't it?" She asked opening her eyes to be greeted by Inutashio's beautiful golden ones.
"Yes it is."
Izayoi beamed and sat up in bed. "I get to meet him today!" She exclaimed happily.
"Meet who?" Inutashio said teasingly.
"Your son! Your super mega kawaii son!" Izayoi suddenly gasped. "I have to get showered and brush my teeth and make sure my hair is okay. Oh Inutashio do you think he'll like me?" Izayoi asked.
"I can't find any reason why he won't. But give him time. He's very distant and unsure of others."
"Okay I will." Izayoi replied running out of the room to the bathroom.
'I can't believe how nervous I am! I really hope he likes me!' Izayoi thought stepping into the shower.
An hour later Izayoi and Inutashio were walking out to Mrs. Takouyoi's car which had graciously been lent to them as long as they both promised to:
1)Drive carefully, seatbelts on.
2)Agreed to be home in time for dinner.
3)And Izayoi had to tell her mother every last detail about what Sesshoumaru looked like.
The ride in the car felt awkward and uncomfortable. For the most part Izayoi hadn't breathed two words to him in the half and hour they'd already spent in the car together.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Inutashio asked looking over at Izayoi who was wringing her fingers nervously together.
"Sure, of course I do…Unless you don't want me to meet him." Izayoi replied tentatively. 'I'm such an idiot! I pressured him into meeting his son.'
"No, like I said before it's no big deal." 'She's defiantly having second thoughts.'
More silence followed until Izayoi couldn't handle it anymore, "Okay on the count of three why don't we both say what we're really feeling. Alright?"
"Umm…"
"You aren't going to chicken out on me, are you? Just tell me what you're thinking.
One…
Two…
Three- I think that I forced you to bring me with you!"
"I don't think you really want to go."
'Oh he really did say what he was thinking.'
'Wow she really said it.'
"You forced me?"
"Why wouldn't I want to go?"
"I—
"You know what? Never mind. I really want to go. Let's just let go of doubt, okay?" Izayoi said reassuring. Inutashio cupped the side of her face gently while managing to keep his eyes on the road and one hand on the steering wheel.
"Where'd you learn to drive?" Izayoi asked randomly as she watching Inutashio weave out of the way of inexperienced drivers.
"My dad taught me." 'About a week after he bailed me out of jail.' "…Izayoi there's something very important I have to tell you." Taking his hand from her face and putting it back on the steering wheel.
"Yes. What is it?" She asked giving him a warm smile.
"There's…something, else that I haven' told you." Inutashio started slowly. "You already know about one of the most important things in my life, my son Sesshoumaru, but…there's something else you don't know about me. Something that might ruin your entire perception of me." He said quietly. Inutashio averted his eyes to the road so he didn't have to see her face when he told her. "When I younger, I wasn't the person I am now, I was a lot meaner and more violent and I was completely out of control. I used to think that because I was strong I had to prove it to everyone. Well one day…I-I got into a fight with some other kids who where tired of hearing me boast. There where about five or six guys and I-I…I put them all in the hospital Izayoi. My father had to drag me off of them otherwise I would've killed them, all because they challenged me! I-I was so stupid back then! Rikyu knows all about my past too. My stupid fights made everyone around me suffer and they still are suffering because of how much of a fool I was. My dad can't even look me in the eye anymore he's completely disowned me as his son! All I wanted to do was make him proud of me and I—" Inutashio stopped mid-sentence when Izayoi put her hand at the side of his face.
"I'm certain your father doesn't disown you, he just needs to remember that you still are a great son. He needs to see that you've grown up and that you're taking responsibility for your actions back then. When he gets back you should talk with him, I'm sure he wants to talk to you." Izayoi said softly. "But for today you need to pay attention to your son."
The rest of the ride there was spent in blissful silence. Inutashio still couldn't comprehend how Izayoi was so understanding and Izayoi couldn't understand how Inutashio could be so hard on himself. Everyone makes mistakes so he was no different. Izayoi could feel her heart start to race as they drove closer to houses and family living areas opposed to the long stretch of highway they she had gotten used to. Inutashio stopped the car in front of a fairly well established apartment building.
"Are you ready?" Inutashio asked unbuckling his seatbelt.
"Yup." Izayoi replied taking a breath. 'More ready that I'll ever be.'
'She looks really nervous. Like her life sentence is about to be made.' Inutashio thought while getting out of the car. "You don't have to do this you know. We can come back another time."
"No, no it's okay I want to do it now." She said giving a weak smile. "Let's go." She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Inutashio nodded and linked his fingers through hers.
Inutashio and Izayoi walked up the first two flights of stairs together then Inutashio paused and stopped right outside the door of apartment B3. He smiled at Izayoi before knocking on the door.
An elderly woman with short gray hair and a button down purple blouse answered the door with a stiff smile. "Hello Inutashio, as always it's lovely to see you, and who's this that you've brought along with you?" (1)
"Hello my name is Izayoi I am Inutashio's…well I'm his…uh…"
"Izayoi is my kanjo." Inutashio cut in.
"Oh, well that's nice." She turned back and called into the hallway, "Sesshoumaru your father's here to see you!"
Seconds later an enthusiastic little four-year-old came running through the halls, "Dad!" He yelled as threw himself into his father's open arms. Sesshoumaru's guardian walked away and Sesshoumaru mumbled into his father's shirt, "Dad can't I please come live with you I hate it here."
Inutashio sighed, "You know that I want you to live with me as soon as I graduate I promise you that I'll buy a house and there's no question that you'll be living with me."
"Can't I come home with you now?"
"I'm sorry Sesshoumaru but your grand dad's away, but I have a proposition for you." Inutashio whispered leaning down closely to his sons ear. "When I graduate, would you like to come and live with me?"
Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in excitement, "Really dad, could I?"
"Of course! Would you want to?"
"You bet!" He cried out happily.
Inutashio smiled and then turned his son towards Izayoi. "Sesshoumaru I'd like you to meet someone very important, this is Izayoi she's my very good friend. Izayoi this is my son Sesshoumaru."
Izayoi and Sesshoumaru bowed respectfully at each other before Sesshoumaru asked bluntly, "Do you love her?"
Inutashio's eyes widened slightly before replying honestly to his son, "Yes I do."
Sesshoumaru turned to Izayoi and asked her, "Do you love him?"
Izayoi nodded, and Sesshoumaru bolted from the front door to his room.
Inutashio frowned and looked back at Izayoi. "Come in, I'll be just one moment."
Izayoi nodded and stepped inside the apartment while Inutashio rushed after his son.
"What did you do now?" Sesshoumaru's guardian hissed as Inutashio hurried into Sesshoumaru's room.
Inutashio closed Sesshoumaru's bedroom door behind him and walked towards his son who sat on his bed, his white hair flowing around his shoulders. Sesshoumaru said not daring to look his father in the eye. "She's going to replace me isn't she?"
The big long authors note:
1)Okay I must explain something, you may notice that I didn't have Sesshoumaru's mother's mother introduce herself. I have my reasons first, if I had her tell her name than for some odd reason or another I'd feel obligated to tell the name of Sesshoumaru's mother. I don't know her name and I'd hate to name her something that would displease my readers smile And secondly you also may have noticed she a little unfriendly and hostile towards Izayoi, that's because she's just generally an cold and distant person, which is why she is spouseless.
2)ERM- nooo! You asked the one question I was hoping no one would ask! But first, Ja means see you, in japanese. Now onto your question! I probably should've explained this in the fic but to error is human! Now this is strictly in the fic, it is what my sleep deprived mind made up when I got the idea for the story. Inutashio's family's bloodline is that of a demon, Sesshoumaru's mother's family's bloodline was also that of a demon, so in a sense Izayoi and Inutashio live in an age where demons and humans live together. Full-blooded demons are very rare and most of them are gentle, except for Rikyu. (Yes Rikyu is a full blooded demon, I based his character of Ryukotsei (sp?) But in this fic it's very common for demons and humans to get together in fact most of the children are half-demons but because in THIS fic demon heritage doesn't matter they are all fairly excepted by their peers (which would kinda screw up the whole 'Inuyasha wasn't excepted by neither demons of humans.') I hope this answered your question if not e-mail me again and I shall explain more 'kay thanks for your review
3)Okay so I didn't exactly make Sesshoumaru have this big cold mean exterior but he is FOUR hee hee
4)Kanjo-girlfriend
And to all my other reviews who've been patient with me I LOVE YOU! Thank you so much for not sending me hate mail sobs I'm such a loser I haven't updated in so long and this chapters so short! I don't know why but the summer makes my brain stop working. Three or four chapters and I'm pretty sure the fic will be finished. Thanks once again to you all I heart you! - JA!