Hey everyone. Sorry that, once again, I'm not responding all reviews, (due to lack of time, sigh,) but a common question that everyone had is how is Iy's dad back. That is something that will be explained later on, and as to why most of the characters were in a hotel last chapter, why Sesshomaru is helping out: that will be explained as well.
My grades are just pfft right now, and my parents are disconnecting the internet, so this means I'll only be able to update seldom, if at all, so I'm REALLY sorry about that, but I'm doing the best that I can.
Anyways…
I hope you enjoy the next chappie!
Ch. 5
Sesshomaru sighed. He was beginning to hate this…
He tapped his fingers impatiently in the arm of his chair, his claws poking tiny holes into the fabric in his frustration. Curse that father of his…
He didn't have any idea of how his half-blood brother had done it, but Inuyasha had resurrected their father, now the owner of a vast and expansive hotel chain, the "Tense-less Canine."
His own father had no tact…probably where his little brother had gotten it from…
He shrugged mentally. Kouga had some important part to play that his father wanted him to fulfill…after all, he had no full-blooded son to wield Tenseiga anymore. A thought came to his mind: did someone have to be full blooded demon to be able to wield Tenseiga? An interesting thought…Inuyasha had never tried to use it, and no one had tried since…
A yawn behind him distracted his attention from his late-night daydreams. "Are you still up?"
"Yes, Kagura, I am."
"Aw, poor baby." Kagura, dressed in a dark purple night gown, positioned herself behind the big chair (also a deep maroon purple) and began to massage his back.
"Tough day?" She asked, resting her chin on his head.
"You have NO idea…" he said in his usual monotone.
"I've heard that Kouga's back. Is that true? It's been a while since I've seen that scrawny wolf…"
"Indeed. He's a real pain."
"Oh come now, you can't really expect him to learn THAT quickly…" She said, stopping her massage for a brief moment to ponder. "After all, it took the 'great Sesshomaru' three years to learn how to drive a car so that he didn't crash into things…"
Despite himself, a small smile crept up to his lips. "Yes, the 'great Sesshomaru…'"
Kagura chuckled. "Your father put you up to this, didn't he?"
"Yes, he did. I don't know why he puts so much trouble into it…"
"We can't turn our backs on any demon, Sesh, you know that," the wind sorceress stated matter-of-factly.
The demon lord smiled at the use of his nickname. "I sometimes think that my father has too much of a soft spot for pathetic creatures…"
He felt the pressure from her hands ease slightly, probably from a shrug. "Yes, I suppose. But then again, if he didn't, you never would have existed."
"Or my half…well, brother."
His mate let out a huff of a chuckle. "You can't insult him by being a half any more, can you? Hahaha."
"Humph. The only thing that I owe to him was using the Tetsaiga and killing Naraku so that you could be free."
He felt her shrug again. "Funny how everything works out…"
She let out a small shriek as she was pulled off balance over the top of the chair and landed perfectly in his lap bridal style. "Indeed."
Kagura laughed at his little eyebrow wiggle, and hugged him. "Just put up with Kouga for a little while longer. Before you know it, he'll be able to handle things in this time on his own."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"What's this thing?" Rough and calloused hands held up a strange instrument, almost like a set of pliers, but not quite so, up to the light so their owner's eyes could look upon it better. On the side there was a really weird "grip," shaped like a long rectangle. On the other, there were two wheels, one a small and smooth disk, the other having rough edges that seemed to be designed for gripping.
"That's a can opener, Kouga."
"What's it used for?"
"Opening cans. Like this one." Sesshomaru turned towards a pantry and pulled out a container of canned peaches. He shouldn't have brought this primitive beast to his home…well, hotel suit at any rate, but it was still a place to call his own. But anything that was in this room Kouga wanted to touch and explore, or else just throw out the window because it didn't interest him. This was beginning to be too much…
Kouga looked at the bizarre instrument, then at the claws on his left hand. "Wouldn't using claws be easier? I'm just sayin…"
"It could be, but this is a human dominated world, Kouga. If you make yourself too obvious as to what you are, then people will hunt you and kill you." Sesshomaru flinched inwardly at his own worlds. How far indeed the mighty "demons" of the past had fallen….
"Puh, as if petty humans could kill me."
"They would have if I hadn't intervened."
Kouga's eyes widened for a moment, as if in shock. Then the lids hung lazily like they usually did. "Meaning…?"
Sesshomaru sighed, his right hand coming up to his forehead. "You're going to have to hide this part of who you are, at least for the moment."
"Hide who I am? There is no WAY I'm doing that…"
Sesshomaru pondered a moment. "It would be a disguise against Ayame…"
That did it.
"What am I gonna wear? That stuff you made me put on earlier?"
"Yes, and it might help if you wore something else besides that furry patch of undergarments…"
Kouga blinked. "Why?"
"Because I can smell from HERE that it is in need of washing."
"Washing? Washing clothes?" The wolf demon blinked again.
Sesshomaru's eyes widened. "You've….never washed your furs before?"
"Nope. Never had to."
"I can see why you'd be a hit with the ladies…" Sesshomaru said sarcastically, though quietly enough that the wolf demon wouldn't notice.
"You are in need of more help than I can give you, Kouga."
"'More help than you can give me'? What's that supposed to mean? I don't NEED any help…"
"Regardless, you are still stubborn, and you are now in a different world than what you are used to. If you do not learn about it, you will end up making mistakes that my brother did."
"I'm nothing like that half-mutt Inuyasha…"
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Watch your tongue, wolf."
"Oh, so you're defending him?" A stupid smirk came up to carve funny valleys out of his face. "That's really weird; I thought you two were enemies, or something. All that I ever heard was that you two wanted to kill each other…have I been gone that long? Has Sesshomaru gotten a soft spot for demons?" Kouga's smirk got even stupider with his thoughts of having struck of a soft spot within the demon lord, so his voice rang with the tone of a kid taunting someone.
Sesshomaru sighed. "Is your nose really THAT dull?"
Kouga stopped for a moment. "What do you mean by that?"
The dog demon turned out of the kitchen and into a den area, an old sword lying in the corner.
"Is that…"
Sesshomaru picked up the sword in his left hand, pulling out the sword with the other.
"…the mutt's sword?"
Kouga reached out to touch it, but was instantly seared with the sword's barrier. "Ow! What the hell was that?"
"That, Kouga, is what happens when a full blooded demon touches the Tetsaiga."
Kouga's mouth dropped. "You mean you…for THAT?"
"There are more benefits to being a hanyou than you think, Kouga. Sesshomaru sighed, relaxing his body. Then, in a twisting, though flat, swirl of light, it rose from his feet up over his jeans and t-shirt up to his head and then down his hair.
He was human.
His once brilliant golden eyes were now a dull grey, his hair had changed from its usual silver color to a dark brown. His claws were gone, leaving behind dull human nails, and the purple marks on his face were no more.
"It allows me to blend in much better with society. No point in making more trouble for yourself than need be, wouldn't you agree?"
Kouga snapped himself out of his stare. "Am I going to have to go hanyou, too? That just seems stupid to me, though…I mean, you're WEAKER, aren't you?"
"In some ways yes, but others no. It all depends on what your definition of power is."
The wolf demon scratched his head. "'Definition of power'?"
Sesshomaru allowed himself to roll his eyes. "Yes, and I believe that there isn't much more that I can do for you…that's why I've gotten help…"
"'Help'?"
"Ohhhhhh Kooooooooooougaaaaaaaa…." An all-to-familiar female voice called from down the hall.
"What happened to a 'disguise'?" Kouga said half in sarcasm and half in anxious fear.
"I don't think you'll be needing one. My sense of clothing style is something different than one that I'm guessing you'll be adopting. Ayame is a fashion designer, she can help you adapt visually better than I could."
"But that means…I'll be…wait, what's fashion?"
Sesshomaru smiled a sadistic smile. "You'll find out soon enough…"
Kouga's cries of "Oh come on," and "You can't do this to me!" and the like fell to deaf ears as the demon lord closed the door. A muffled crash of something in the room accompanied his exit. Probably a bedside table or something.
"That was really smooth, Sesh."
The inuyokai smiled, both at the comment and the exclamation of "ARGH" from inside the room. "Thank you, my mate. I learned from the best, wouldn't you agree. Especially how you tripped into my arms…" This earned him a shove, but nothing was on their faces but true and untainted joy.
Oh, what a joy it was to be a half demon!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"This stinks…"
"I know Batou."
"I mean…this is just not normal…no high jacking attempts, only a few robberies, the tachikomas are actually behaving, which is almost unheard of…"
"I know Batou."
"And just because of this Kouga character the chief wants us to be real careful and everything."
"I know Batou."
"I understand why he would do that, but the old ape sometimes just doesn't seem to understand that we're adults and need our own way of doing things from time to time…"
"I know Batou."
"Why can't he…"
"I KNOW, Batou…"
Silence ensued in the car for a few moments before Motoko blushed slightly at her outburst. "Sorry. I've been a little tense lately."
A small smirk came onto his face. "Heh, I noticed…" At her funny look, he replied, "Hey, don't worry about it. We've all been more than a little tense. It's because there hasn't been anything to DO. Even the training courses seem kinda exciting now compared to this..." he muttered.
Motoko smiled. "Yes, I suppose so. There have hardly even been any internet crimes lately. I think all of Tokyo's all shaken up because of that 'demon' that showed up."
Batou stared out the window for a moment, enjoying the view of the water as they passed over a bridge. "Why do you say that? They had a little scare, but he's gone now. Nothing to worry about, at least for now."
"Think about it from their perspective, though," the major replied as she changed lanes on the highway. "Right out of no where, some punk starts kicking police around like they were toys, and then he disappears."
"Yeah, we took him into our facility…that they don't know about…yeah, I see what you're saying."
"Exactly. He appears with no trace of his past or anything, and then disappears just as mysteriously. It would be enough to unsettle anyone, I think. That's probably why the chief is so upset."
"Plus the death of that one guy…I really feel sorry for his kids…have the teams been able to come up with what that weapon was, yet?"
Motoko shook her head, her short purple locks swaying in front of her eyes. "It just had some kind of acidic quality to it; acid burns right through things, human flesh is no different.
Batou shrugged. "Cyborg flesh, too."
Another moment of silence deafened the car's occupants.
"Or cyborg flesh…" Motoko said finally.
--Heya, guys. Are you doing anything?—
Batou's head rolled back on the seat at the voice in his head, that he assumed Motoko heard as well. –Oh come on, Ishkawa, what do you THINK we're doing? Saving a cat?—
--You always did seem like the sensitive type…--
Motoko sighed. –What is it?—
--I think I just got a lead to that Kouga guy. You won't believe where I found it, either.—
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
duh dun dun! Another cliff hanger, but I made this chapter a tad longer than I had originally planned (I was going to leave the conversation b/t Motoko and Batou out of it, but I thought that since I hadn't updated in a while, I would.)
School sucks, what else is new? I can only update on weekends now, since I failed a Spanish test and my internet is d/c during the week . so yeah, I'll update when I can, but for now, enjoy what I've written!
R&R if you want more chapters!
Dakyu