Once more, I disclaim.


Tokyo Nights

If there was anything that he'd learned, it was that there was always something else to learn. He'd slayed countless demons over the years, with nothing more than a mere flick of his wrist. He'd silenced thousands with a single look. He'd ruled over lands with calm, assured leadership. He'd even managed to live for nearly eleven centuries. He was strong. He was fearless.

Or so he kept telling himself. As he sat on the finely made couch in his living room and glared at the clock he counted the ways he'd get yelled at for leaving and hunting them down. He knew that Kagome would yell at him, as would his daughter, but as the clock ticked closer and closer to 2 in the morning he was seriously thinking that the risk would be worth it.

"I know you're not thinking of leaving." He cursed his luck as Kagome entered the living room, taking a seat beside him and giving him the 'serious' stare she practiced frequently on him, their children, and his unlucky half-brother, before snuggling into his side. He managed to compose himself long enough to settle her more comfortably aganist him.

"They were supposed to be home two hours ago, dear." He replied, as though she couldn't read time or count. She made a non-committal sort of noise in the back of her throat.

"They're young and in love." She replied simply. He shot a rather incredulous look at the top of his mate's head but chose wisely to not reply. The next few moments passed in silence, with him fuming and still glaring at the clock on the wall and her beginning to snooze gently on his shoulder. Fifteen minutes to two, it was the sound of her snort-snore that finally cracked him. Her head jerked as she did it, not hard enough to push her off of his shoulder or wake her, but enough that it brought the smallest of smiles to his face. He pressed a gentle kiss to her head and woke her as gently as he could.

"Let me take you to bed." He whispered, and he wasn't oblivious to the love in the tone. He hadn't always had a soft spot for her, but she'd wormed her way into his heart and he'd been in her debt ever since. "It's late, and you shouldn't be sitting up with me." Kagome stretched and gave him another of her non-committal hums and was about to give him a more substantial sort of reply when the door that he'd previously been glaring at - between glares at the clock - slammed open and his obviously unimpressed daughter was frog-marched into the living room by his half-brother. He hid his relief beneath a mask he'd practiced for nearly a thousand years.

"Inuyasha." He gave his half-brother a nod and a look that spoke volumes and turned his golden stare to his daughter. He watched with slight awe as her face morphed into a near mirror image of his mate's when she wanted something. "You're not getting out of it this time, Mai. You know that your curfew was midnight." His daughter crossed her arms and pouted for a moment, as if she was trying to decide what to say, but her mother sealed the deal.

"Do you know what time it is? Do you know how long your father has been sitting here?" As Kagome frog-marched their daughter back to her room, yelling about grounded this and do-you-know-what-you've-put-us-through that, Sesshomaru walked across the room to catch Inuyasha before he disappeared into his part of the house.

"Inuyasha, thank you for finding her. Kagome was reluctant to let me do it." Inuyasha gave Sesshomaru a small smirk that told him there was more than just the fact that Mai had broken curfew again.

"Well, I guess you could say that she lost track of time." As Inuyasha began to walk away, Sesshomaru caught him by the elbow.

"What do you mean by that, brother?" Sesshomaru resisted the urge to beat his half-brother halfway to his deathbed, but only because he knew that his mate wouldn't like that or that they'd have to hire cleaners to get the blood out of the white carpet.

"Well, it is pretty hard to see a watch when you're attached at the lip to someone." Inuyasha smoothly and wisely moved out of his half-brother's reach and was down the hall before Sesshomaru could really react. Sesshomaru stood shock-still for a split second before turning on his heel - his silvery-white hair flowing out behind him - and yelling loud enough to wake the rest of the residents of the house.

"Mai Taisho you are never leaving this house again!"


A/N: And so Inuyasha and Co. make their first appearance! Well, sort of. I just love the image of Sesshomaru as a father. Especially the father of a girl. A teenage girl. Who is exactly like her mother. Tickles me pink, actually. ^_^