Modernization
It has occurred to him that the modern world is no place for a demon. Not a full demon, not even a lowly half-breed like him.
The wolves have got the right of it, he thinks. Hide in the mountains -- come down when you have to, and only if it helps ensure the survival of your race. Koga and Ayame are the smart ones -- they hide. They survive.
Oh, he has survived as well, and adapted to the city -- but it's not the same. There are no trees, except the parks, and how horrified he had been when Kagome told him of such things!
Really, Inuyasha, it's not that bad! Geez, you act like it's the end of the world, or something!
Except his world ended when she went back to her own time and never came back, and this modernization crap is just emphasizing how out of place he is, how out of place they all are. Even Shippo hates the modern world, and he's the youngest one of them.
Well, the youngest of the ones that count, in his opinion.
He lives in an apartment, pretends to be human, wears a cap at all times -- and spends as much time as he can out in the bloody country, or in the mountains with the wolves, beating on Koga, or hiding at Sesshomaru's palatial home, where the gardens grow wild and there are others like him and he can kick Jaken around if he needs to feel better.
Sesshomaru. Now there's something to contemplate, as he often thinks. Sesshomaru, he believes, has changed greatly since the Feudal Era, and he would be surprised -- truly surprised -- by how different his brother is, because he thinks that the core of him, the demon buried underneath that soft human-looking exterior, is still the same cold, arrogant, heartless bastard it always was.
Mostly, he's right. But there have been changes, great changes, since the death of Rin, bloody and horrible, the little girl his brother had saved and raised and loved as a daughter, the little girl who had grown up and gotten married and had children of her own before her bloody, violent, unnecessary death.
But when he finds himself thinking of Sesshomaru, he turns his mind to other things, because he does not understand his older brother, and he knows he never will. Sesshomaru has children of his own now, but his little brother knows that Rin will always be there, in the great demon lord's mind, and that, he thinks, is the way it should be. And, although his nephews may be the bane of his existence, he is glad they're there, because they take Sesshomaru's mind off the past, and off the time when the past was all he had. A brooding brother is an annoying brother.
And after this he turns his mind away, and tries to think of something else, but the first thing that comes to his mind is, as always, Kagome. Always Kagome.
He misses her, and his heart aches with it, and he is a fool to live in the city, to live in Tokyo, and to purposely -- if subconciously -- take an apartment that's so close to the Higurashi Shrine.
At these times -- usually when he walks right by the shrine, even though it's blocks out of his way -- he'll think what the hell's wrong with you, anyway? What are you doing, idiot? You think after the way you acted she's gonna be all happy to see you? Not a chance!
He has the exact date -- he thinks -- she'll return full-time to the present pinpointed in his mind, and that week -- OK, month -- all right, the whole damn year -- he avoids the shrine. In fact, he deliberately leaves the country, dragging Shippo and his nephews half-way around the world to go demon-hunting.
Sesshomaru may like his kids, but he can't pretend he ain't glad they're gone! And, since Sesshomaru's wife is expecting another child by the time they return, he wasn't the only one.
Even when he tells himself that he knows she won't be happy to see him, that he's being an ass, the instant they return to Tokyo he's standing across the street from the Shrine, just staring.
She comes down the stairs, her hair boucing down her back, and that skirt really is indecent. She pauses at the bottom of the stairs, and frowns, her eyes searching the crowd, before they land on him.
He freezes. He sees her eyes go wide, and he sees her lips form one word...Inuyasha.
At that, he's able to force his frozen legs to move, to turn and hurry down the sidewalk, hunching his shoulders and cursing himself for not tying back that distinctive silver hair. He has to get away, he needs to get away before she can catch up with him. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her bolt across the street, impervious to traffic.
Stupid girl, he thinks, but just before he reaches the corner, two words reach his ears.
SIT, BOY!!
And Inuyasha was introduced to the pavement in a whole new way.
When he pulls his face out of the crater, he says the first thing that pops into his head, turning to look at her with furious eyes.
Dammit, wench, what was that for?
End
A/N -- They're so damn cute, aren't they?