There was a moment, in the cell...where Inuyasha felt as though he was not going to be rescued this time. The seconds quickly turned into minutes...which turned into hours. His claw drew circles around the cold, damp brick wall of his cell, as his cellmate muttered to himself. He trusted that Sesshomaru was on his way, perhaps he just got caught up with Rin. There was no way Sesshomaru would let his baby brother rot in a cell.
Right?
It's not like Inuyasha intended to fight Naraku in the middle of the charity dinner. He couldn't possibly be made out to be the bad guy in this situation. He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, great, he thought, everyone's mad at you. Your publicist is gonna leave, your fake girlfriend is gonna leave…all over some bullshit fight you didn't even start. Inuyasha shook his head, and let it rest against the wall. To make matters worse, he was stuck in a cell with some nutcase that talked to himself. He estimated that he had been in the cell for approximately five or six hours, as the guards had switched. He got up, and approached the bars that kept him in the cell. He wrapped his hands around them, and pressed his face to them and turned his face slightly to look down the hall. He could see the silhouette of one of the guards down the hall. "Yo!" Inuyasha yelled, "Hey! You! Yeah you dumb ass!" Inuyasha yelled at the guard. He could faintly see the guard shake his head, before making his way slowly to Inuyasha's cell.
"Ooo" The man in the cell with Inuyasha vocalized, causing Inuyasha to turn his head in his direction. "you got mike to pay attention to you!" Inuyasha snorted at him. Mike? How often is this guy in here?!
"Huh? You know his name?" Inuyasha asked incredulously, "how often are you here dude?"
"Oh just every week," the man said chuckling. "Your ears are rather pretty… I want them." The man licked his lips, causing into to furrow his eyebrows and press his body up against the bars of the cell. "oh how rude of me, I didn't even introduce myself. The name is Jankotsu."
"Uh-huh…" Inuyasha replied, wary of the strange man, who oddly resembled his sparring partner. He turned back toward the bars, and yelled out for the guard once again.
"What do you want?" The guard snapped at Inuyasha once he reached his cell, causing Inuyasha to growl lowly at him. At this point, he would have much preferred to be in the same cell as that weird short guy from a few weeks ago. "Well?"
"Look, I just want to know if my lawyer has come by with bail yet? My arraignment was like three hours ago." Inuyasha said quickly, glancing behind him. "He's fucking weird, I don't think I can stay in here with that nutcase any longer."
"Hey!" Jankotsu said, pouting at Inuyasha, "that hurt my feelings."
The officer glanced up from his nails at Inuyasha and scoffed at him. "Oh, another trust fund baby who broke the law and can't handle it? What a surprise." Inuyasha tightened his grip on the bars as he stared at the guard.
Trust fund baby? Really?
"Look, you should get a new lawyer." The officer said, turning his back on Inuyasha. "Your current one hasn't come quick enough."
"Why I oughta…" Inuyasha grumbled, reaching his arm through the gap between two bars, his claws barely brushing against the officer's back. At the same time, another guard walked up toward Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha Takahashi? Your bail has been posted, you're free to go." Inuyasha smirked at the guard that has turned his back to Inuyasha, whose face paled with realization. Inuyasha smirked at him as he turned, and moved his hair to the side, so the officer taking him away could handcuff him easily. He looked back toward Janktosu who twirled a strand of his ebony hair between his fingers before wiggling his fingers at Inuyasha.
"Bye Inuyasha, I hope I see you again soon!" He said, giggling as Inuyasha was led away. Inuyasha felt chills run down his spine, but he ignored it as he was led down the hall, for what seemed to be the billionth time in his life. Inuyasha rubbed his wrists as his phone, keys and wallet were handed back to him by the officer behind the plexiglass at the entrance. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his brother leaning against the edge of the wall, his legs and arms crossed. He looked exhausted, his appearance was telling of a particularly exhausting night. He was still in his suit that he wore to the charity event, but his sleeves were rolled up and his tie hung loosely, and undone. His usual clear complexion had dark circles under his eyes from lack of rest. Sheesh, Inuyasha thought as he made his way over to his brother, I really did a number on him this time didn't I?
"Hey," Inuyasha said awkwardly, as he approached his older brother. "Thanks..for today."
"Mhm." Sesshomaru responded dryly, Inuyasha flinched slightly at the iciness that radiated off of his brother; more so than usual.
"How much do I-"
"Don't." Sesshomaru held up a had to his brother, the sound of his voice was irritating to Sesshomaru at the moment. "I don't have the time, energy, or patience to deal with whatever the fuck you were going to say just now." Sesshomaru growled at Inuyasha, as Inuyasha glared at him. He sighed, running a hand through his long, pin straight hair. "Come on, I'm taking you home and then I'm going home to my wife."
"Did you like…not sleep last night?" Inuyasha asked as he walked out of the correctional facility, and toward Sesshomaru's range rover. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes as he unlocked his car.
"No, I had to find a way to let my bank agree to let me do a check for 20,000 dollars Inuyasha. Would you be able to sleep?" Sesshomaru shot back and Inuyasha got ready to reply when Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Don't…don't answer that."
Inuyasha chuckled to himself before he got in the car with Sesshomaru, and took his phone out of his pocket and turned it on, as it had been turned off for the time he was in the jail cell. It was once again very early morning when Inuyasha found himself on the way home, this time with his older brother. His phone dinged as he received a message from Kagome, sent to him a little over three hours ago.
Hey, the message started, I just thought that I would check in on you…make sure you're okay. You didn't seem too beat up when they took you away…so that's good, I guess. I was really worried about you for a second. I was actually kind of scared, everything escalated so quickly, and there were so many people. Anyways, I'm sure Sesshomaru will take you out of wherever you are pretty quickly, haha. See you tomorrow…maybe?
"That's weird." Inuyasha grumbled to himself as he shrugged off the message that Kagome sent him, and rested his head against the window as Sesshomaru drove him to his apartment building.
"Inuyasha…I hope you realize that this may cost you partnerships…the relationship with the charity…and a lot more right?" Sesshomaru says, as they were caught in the city traffic. Inuyasha's ears flickered at the sound of Sesshomaru's voice. He furrowed his eyebrows at his brother. "You might lose money," Sesshomaru said slowly, keeping his eyes on the road, "A lot…of it." He warned, glancing over at Inuyasha.
Inuyasha was quiet for a second, before he spoke, " are you fucking kidding me?! It's not even my fucking fault!" Inuyasha exclaimed, rubbing his temple, Sesshomaru sighed from beside him. "Whats the fucking point of faking being in love with this bitch if it's not going to do anything to my fucking image?" He inquired, rolling his eyes.
"Calm down." Sesshomaru snapped at Inuyasha, "Miroku has been on the phone with all your endorsements all night. Your big deals are still secured because we contacted them first. Your Nike, Apple, and Gatorade deals are still a go. But the charity is leaning toward cutting ties, and so is the ASPCA of New York." He announced, prompting a groan out of his younger brother. "Kagome is important, it shows some type of stability in your life. Before her, you had no stability in your life." Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Who the fuck said he needed stability in his life now?
You know when he really needed stability? When he was fifteen and skipping school to go sell drugs with his friends because Sesshomaru was too "busy" to properly feed Inuyasha or care for him.
But that was a conversation for another day.
"Right," Inuyasha said in a mocking tone. "I need stability in my life. Pfft." He put air quotations around the word stability. "You wanna know something? I'm so fucking tired of being treated like a kid by you and Miroku."
"Because you fucking are one." Sesshomaru retorted, as he parked in front of Inuyasha's apartment building. "Quit giving us reasons to treat you like a kid, and we will."
"i'm twenty-three fucking years old, Sesshomaru." Inuyasha growled lowly as he attempted to leave the car, Sesshomaru pulled him back in by the arm and locked the doors.
"Age does not equal maturity, Inuyasha." Sesshomaru warned. "You are twenty-three, but you attitude is that of a spoiled fourteen year old, and this is just the start of a very, very long life, you know that."
For a moment, Sesshomaru's words settled into Inuyasha's simple minded brain. It was indeed going to be a very, very long life. He looked down at his feet for a second, and then raised his golden eyes to look at his brother's cold, tired eyes. "Your career can either be long like your life is going to be, or simply a blip in it. Your actions are what tell me how serious you are about making money this way, little brother."
Inuyasha scoffed as he ripped his arm out of Sesshomaru's grasp. "I don't need to be lectured by someone not even double my age about life, If I wanted to be lectured about life I'd give old Kaede a call." He spat at his brother as he left. With that, he slammed Sesshomaru's door shut, and made his way to the glass doors of his apartment building. He entered a code on the side of the building and unlocked the doors, and let himself in. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw that Sesshomaru had already started driving away.
Inuyasha found himself growing weary of people trying to control all aspects of his life. What he does, what he wears, what he says, shit even who he dates. Every move in his life was calculated. Everything decision he "took" was never really his. He sighed as he got into the elevator, and he slumped against the wall on the way up to his apartment. He felt himself dose off as the exhaustion of the nights events hit him like a pile of bricks. He began to feel the pain on the sides of his head and his ribs. He gently clutched them as he made his way toward his bed, kicking off his shoes as he threw himself into it. He immediately burrowed his head into the warmth and comfort of his duvet, as his body and mind gave into sleep.
What awoke him, was the gentle vibration of his phone in his pocket. Inuyasha groaned as he flipped his body over, and answered the phone call. "Hello?' He greeted, rubbing the grogginess out of his eyes.
"Inuyasha do you have any idea what time it is?!" Myouga yelled angrily over the phone, causing Inuyasha to sit up in his bed. Shit, he thought, I completely forgot about my training today. "If you aren't in this fucking gym in 10 minutes you can consider yourself in the market for a new trainer do you understand?" Myouga said angrily, as he quickly walked to the back of the gym where his office was located. "I can only put up with so much of your fucking bullshit Inuyasha. It's time for you to start being fucking responsible."
There it was again, this talk of Inuyasha being responsible, taking accountability for his actions. He was responsible! He went grocery shopping every week, paid his mortgage on time, made sure his credit cards were up to date, made sure all of his financials were taken care of. "I'm your only fucking client, old man." Inuyasha grumbled back. "I'll get there when I fucking get there! Understood?"
"Inuyasha. You have been late to every. Single. Training. Session. In the past 3 years! You've been late since we used to workout in the backyard of my house in Osaka. I did not leave behind my comfortable, pensioned life in Japan for you to just shit all over everything. Get your ass here. NOW!" Myouga hung up the phone, leaving Inuyasha slightly stunned.
"Sheesh, someone's in a bad mood." Inuyasha grumbled under his breath as he made his way toward the bathroom. He examined his face in the mirror, before picking up his toothbrush and brushing his teeth. He glances in the direction of his shower, and shrugs his shoulders, figuring there was no need to shower if he would just sweat. His sides still felt a little sore, but he ignored it and walked over to his closet and changed out of the suit he fell asleep in and into comfortable workout clothes. He pulled his long silver hair into a bun as he shuffled over to the kitchen, and making himself a protein shake. For a moment, he turned toward the living room and contemplated turning on the TV for background noise, but ultimately decided against it. If there was anything he had had enough of lately, it was the media's portrayal of himself. There wasn't a day that went by where he wasn't discussed in some way on television and he was growing sick of it. Shaking his protein shake, he picked up his car keys from the counter, and entered the elevator. He pressed the button which would take down to the basement where his car was parked. He started to think about what he would need to work on this training session. He felt as though his grappling and wrestling was up to his standards. Perhaps he could work on actual combat? Fuck, Inuyasha thought, I usually have a plan.
He chuckled to himself at the thought. It was odd how little control he actually had over himself. Yet here he was worrying about a workout because he didn't have anything planned; as if he would stick to that plan anyways. The familiar sound of the elevator doors opening knocked him out of his trance, and he huffed as he left the elevator, spotting his red car just a little ways up the incline. He jogged over and got in, mentally preparing himself for whatever attention will be waiting for him outside his apartment building.
He would be the first to admit that the actions he took at the charity event may not have been the best ones to take, given his reputation, but they were necessary.
A necessary evil, dare he say.
His phone rang from beside him, and Miroku's name flashed across the screen of his car's radio. Sighing, he answered the phone. "Hi." He answered dryly, as he waited for the garage door to open for him to exit.
"Inuyasha…hi." Miroku greeted lowly, causing Inuyasha to furrow his eyebrows and glance down briefly at the screen. What the fuck is up with this dude today? "Do you happen to have a minute? Are you free?"
"Uhm, for what? To meet in person? I mean I'm on my way to Myouga's gym right now." Inuyasha answered slowly, wary of his friend. It wasn't like Miroku to take on such a serious tone when addressing Inuyasha, despite being his manager and publicist, he was his friend before it all. But today, Inuyasha could tell that Miroku was addressing Inuyasha as his publicist.
"Oh really? Isn't it kind of late?" Miroku asked, slightly taken aback as it was well past the timeframe Inuyasha usually works out in, it was nearly 3 pm.
"Yeah…Sesshomaru didn't take me out until like 4 am, and then he started lecturing me about being responsible and all this other shit and I didn't wanna deal with it so I went to bed. Myouga woke me up." Inuyasha responded, rather irritated.
Miroku could sense that Inuyasha wasn't in the mood to be lectured, or confronted but he had grown rather accustomed to his attitude, and knew that it was never a good time to confront and lecture Inuyasha; but it had to be done. "Oh, well that's funny because that's actually why I'm calling." Miroku said matter-a-factly, as he leaned back in his office chair, turning to face the Hudson River. He heard Inuyasha chuckle darkly on the other end. "It's about Kagome."
"Oh great." Inuyasha muttered, rolling his eyes. "What is it this time? Am I not affectionate enough. Is she mad that I'm mean to her?" Inuyasha questioned, faking a pout and laughing darkly afterwords. "Give me a damn break dude, I could win the damn olympics and you guys would all still find some shit to yell at me about. You know —I said this to Sesshomaru—, I'm getting really really tired of not living my life the way I fucking want to I just wish you would all—"
"Inuyasha did you kiss Kagome Higurashi a few weeks ago?"
"Uh, what?" Inuyasha responded, stunned that Miroku would know. How did he know? "No, Miroku. I didn't kiss Kagome."
"Really? Because Ms. Higurashi said differently.." Miroku spat back, arching an eyebrow. "Now I'll ask you again… did you kiss Kagome?"
"So what if I did? What's the issue?" Inuyasha retorted, as he took a hand off his steering well to rub his temples. "It was one kiss. That's it. It's not going to happen again, Miroku." Inuyasha added, exasperated. He heard Miroku grunt on the other end, and he raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You cannot catch feelings Inuyasha. I'm serious." Miroku said, as he twirled a pencil between his fingers. "Catching feelings complicates everything, it makes everything one hundred times more difficult. This is easier if no strings are attached, understood? Kagome was a friend of mine before she took part in all of this, and I would honestly enjoy it if we remained friends afterwords."
"You're just saying that because you like her tall friend with the fat ass." Inuyasha said frankly, shrugging his shoulders. "You've been trying to smash since they first opened that shop."
"That does play a part yes, which by the way reminds me. Sango and I are officially 'talking' whatever that means. But that means we can now go on dates, so I think it would be nice if the four of us went out to eat tonight? Have dinner? A double date." Miroku suggested slyly. Although Inuyasha couldn't see him, he could all but imagine the smirk that was on that lecher's face.
"I can stop by the shop after my workout before they close and ask them." Inuyasha said, as he pulled into a parking spot right in front of Myouga's gym. "I have to go now though, I'm at the gym. Catch you later bro." Inuyasha said, as he gathered his things from the car.
"Okay but pleaserememberwhatItoldyouaboutnot-" Miroku tried to fit in everything he had to say, but Inuyasha, in true Takahashi spirit hung up before the call was really over. Sighing, Miroku turned around in his chair and threw the pencil onto his desk. "Oh, Inuyasha…" Miroku sighed, putting his head in his hands. "You dog."
Before Inuyasha could even get into the gym, he picked up on a strange, yet familiar scent, and it puzzled him. "That's odd…" his voice trailed off, as he whispered to himself, and opened the door. He gave a fist bump to another fighter that was training, and spotted Bankotsu in the mock octagon cage. "Hey!" Inuyasha called, making his way to the cage, "where's Myouga? And what's that weird scent?" He asked, causing Bankotsu to shrug his shoulders.
"No idea." He responded, and pointed to the back of the gym. "He's in the office with someone, though." Nodding his head, Inuyasha made his way to the back of the gym, weaving his way through the punching bags, the closer he got to the back of the gym, the stronger the scent got.
And it was driving him mad.
"Myouga.." Inuyasha said, as he rapped his knuckles against the wooden door, his ears flickered at the sound of feminine giggles. A woman? "Uh…are you busy or something?" Inuyasha asked, rather awkwardly. I can think of so many other places I would rather have female company, Inuyasha thought as he waited for a response from Myouga on the other side of the door, like…my bedroom, the backseat of my car…an airplane bathroom…a hotel room…the shower. You know where I wouldn't have sex? The gym! That's just gross. Yuck.
"You can come Inuyasha! It's okay!" Myouga called, and Inuyasha jumped away from the door slightly.
"Are you sure?" Inuyasha said, narrowing his golden eyes at the door.
"Yes!" Myouga said, slightly annoyed, "Open the door!"
Shrugging his shoulders, Inuyasha opened the door. "Hey, Miroku called me and I got stuck in traffic, and honestly I was thinking and I feel like I need to work more on my—"
"Hello Inuyasha." The familiar feminine voice said, causing Inuyasha to look up from the floor. His eyes widened and he felt his breath hitch in his throat, he felt as if his throat was beginning to close. "You look well." The woman spoke again. Her voice musical, although it had grown slightly deeper with age.
"Mother?" Inuyasha breathed, once the shock of having her standing before him wore off slightly. "What-what are you doing here? How did you get here? Why are you here?" He stepped forward, taking one of his mother's delicate hands in his own, and pulling her gently toward him, giving her a hug. "I still don't understand."
"It's alright dear." Izayoi said as she ran her hand through her son's hair, resting the back of her hand on his cheek. "I missed you my darling." She said, smiling at him.
Myouga cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of both Inuyasha and his mother. "Well…Inuyasha your mother has an announcement to make." Myouga said shyly, crossing his arms as he looked over to Izayoi who lowered her head.
"Inuyasha," She said, taking his hands in her own, "honey…I would like to apologize…"
"Apologize?" Inuyasha inquired, looking puzzled at his mother. "For?"
"I was absent for most of your life…as a child I never paid you much mind…as a teenager, I abandoned you, your brother and your father. I made every bad decision possible when it came to being mother, if you can even consider me a mother at all." Izayoi said, smiling weakly at her son. Her sweet, sweet, little boy…who was now a man. In seeing him, standing before her, his golden eyes glimmering with concern, she felt age hit her like a ton of bricks. She realized exactly how much of her son's life she missed. She searched Inuyasha's eyes for a minute, before she continued.
"I know I am not perfect, as a person…as a mother. But I want you to know that I love you, and that I am here for you…now. I have always loved you, despite my actions constantly showing you that I didn't. For the years that was separated from you, there wasn't a moment that passed by that I didn't think about you…I wish I had remained in touch with you during that time more." She could see the wheels turning in Inuyasha's head as she spoke, his eyes squinting ever so slightly. Nonetheless, she continued. "I followed your career closely, you blew up rather quickly, my son. But I expected nothing less of you. I'm proud of you, the man you are becoming, the legacy you've begun to create for yourself. And, I apologize. I hope you will accept it." Izayoi said, bowing her head slightly at her son.
Ah, Inuyasha thought to himself, shaking his head. He exhaled deeply, and sighed as he took a seat. His mother, in true Izayoi fashion, appeared in his life when things were looking up for him, trying to apologize and claiming to be a 'changed woman'. This, he thought, as he glanced up at his mother, and then looked over to Myouga, is a test of maturity if I've ever seen one. "Answer me this, mother." Inuyasha started, cracking his knuckles. "Why did you bail on me every time the going got rough? Now you think you can come back into my life when I'm making millions? Living the dream." Inuyasha said, his words laced with anger, and disbelief. He gave his mother a dark smile, chuckling, as he threw his head back, staring at the ceiling. "Go the fuck back to Japan mother. I don't want you here. I don't need you here."
He was lying.
What man wouldn't need his mother?
"You've done enough damage to my life. You've manipulated me, abused me, neglected me. Left me at the hands of Sesshomaru and my dad, of all people. And where the fuck were you huh? Korea? Living your best fucking life and then showing up for a few days once every few years? Fuck right off." Inuyasha said, chuckling, as he got up, opening the door. He locked eyes with his mother, seeing the hurt in her face; but he ws immune to her attempts of manipulation now. "You want a seat at the table? Earn it." Inuyasha said, motioning for her to leave.
"But how!" Izayoi said, grabbing Inuyasha by the wrist. Inuyasha ripped his wrist out of his mother's grasp. "I've tried before…"
"I believe that's for you to figure out, Izayoi," Myouga said, as he took a seat at his desk.
"Son.." Izayoi pleaded, her voice breaking. Inuyasha's gaze faltered for a moment, as he reverted back to a little five year old boy…begging his mother for attention. "Find it in your heart to forgive me… please."
"I'll find it in my heart…" Inuyasha started, shaking out of his thoughts, he adverted his gaze to the floor, "I'll find it in my heart to forgive you when you find it in your heart to be a mother."
"And we both know that will never happen."