It had been a week since the event at the grocery store.
"Well, there, young man, how have you been lately?" asked a creaky voice once Sesshoumaru had opened the door.
Kaede had come to visit. She came every so often and cooked for the boys, straightened the house a little bit, and generally interrogated them about their lives.
"No one's died yet."
Kaede smiled, the kindness marred by an eyepatch over the left side of her face. Her iron-grey hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and hung to the base of her spine, which was hunched over with age. Sesshoumaru let her shuffle in and closed the door behind her. She toted a grocery bag under her arm.
"...and how have you been getting along?" Sesshoumaru asked as politely as he could, although his voice was a bit flat.
"Now, now, my boy, don't ask questions you don't care about the answer to."
So he let her go about her business in the kitchen and went upstairs. He passed by Inuyasha's room where he had music on and was talking on the phone.
"He's just going to say no," Inuyasha said to the cell, leaning back in his old computer chair. His bare feet were up on the desk in the spare space that wasn't occupied by computer monitor, tower, speakers, and keyboard. An Asian instrument played softly in the background. The glass from the broken window he had already cleaned up, but the piece of wood was still situated over the sill.
"I'm not going to ask him if he's going to say no!"
"Kagome, I know him, he's not going to say yes."
"Shut up!"
"...Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Well, I did, but-"
"Okay. I'm sorry for saying what I mean."
"Well, fine, I don't want to talk to you anymore either!"
Inuyasha shut the clam-type phone and threw it on a pile of clothes, huffing.
Feeling eyes on the back of his head, he swiveled around and growled. "What?"
"You're not very good at communicating what you feel," Sesshoumaru commented dryly.
"This coming from someone who doesn't feel anything!"
"I can just hide my heart better than you can. Perhaps you should learn."
"Why the hell should I have to? And when did you start having a heart?"
"You're going to drive her away."
Inuyasha dropped his gaze to his feet.
"She hasn't left me yet," he mumbled.
"So she's dating you for your narcissistic attitude and bad temper?"
"We're not dating!"
"...That's the first thing that came to mind after I said that?"
"Yeah, well, you're even more of a narcissist."
"Stop throwing my insults back at me. It's not very original."
"Shut the hell up and go away! I'm pissed at you."
"So it's me now and not her?"
"You keep me shut up in a cage, that's why!"
Sesshoumaru stood there, slightly taken aback. His eyes had widened just a tiny fraction, still too small to be noticeable by his younger brother.
"I keep you under my watch for your own good."
The black-haired boy stood up so quickly that his chair fell backwards onto the floor with a carpet-muffled thud.
"I'm not going to go back to Kikyo!" Inuyasha yelled.
Cobalt met pale blue, one set on fire, the other guarded by steel.
"I know you're not going to go back," Sesshoumaru said lowly.
Inuyasha's eyes widened as well, startled by how he felt his brother's words were true. That he trusted him enough that he wouldn't start the drugs up again. "Then why?"
"Your... episodes... hurt you, Inuyasha. And they have hurt others before. Are you placing your freedom as more valuable than your safety, or someone else's? Do you honestly think I want to keep you locked up here? Why would I even let you go to school?"
Inuyasha didn't know what to say to that.
"You're not a caged bird. You're in a nest so that your wings can heal enough for you to fly on your own."
The younger brother backed away until his spine hit the wall, and then he slid to the ground. He wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his head in them. When his frame started to shake slightly, Sesshoumaru left him to his privacy.
Dad, have I gone too far to protect him...?