They hadn't had school that day, something about an in-service for the teachers, so Inuyasha puttered about his room most of the time making small noises and being utterly flighty. Sesshoumaru was almost forced to put a set of headphones on, but thought better of it. If he did, he wouldn't be able to hear Inuyasha in one of his other moods.

So he struggled through the noises of Kaede cooking in the kitchen and Inuyasha being fidgety while he tried to study.

Eventually Inuyasha settled down at his computer, cranked up some music, and started to sing along. He didn't have an awful voice, but it wasn't polished either.

Sesshoumaru gave up on his book and just sat back in his chair, balancing it on two legs. He had just started to doze off when Inuyasha let out a screech and his older brother promptly lost his balance and both he and his chair fell to the floor.

He scrambled to his feet just as Inuyasha slid down the hallway. They both looked at each other, blinking.

"Are you okay?" Inuyasha asked.

Sesshoumaru glanced at the fallen chair and absently brushed his left arm, which he had fallen on. "What did you make that noise for?"

"I was singing?"

Sesshoumaru watched him for a few seconds, judging whether or not he was being truthful. When he saw his little brother was being serious, he snorted loudly.

"What?" Inuyasha asked, defensive now.

"Sounded like a squealing pig," Sesshoumaru murmured. "I thought Kaede was slaughtering one for our dinner."

Inuyasha snarled. "She's cooking beef, not pork."

"So the animal can distinguish the scents of different meat, eh?"

The black-haired boy threw himself forwards. Sesshoumaru side-stepped him. Inuyasha slid on the soft rugs, crouched on all fours, then sprang again. The elder pushed his left palm out and caught the younger on the chest, knocking the wind out of him, and he fell to the carpet again. Sesshoumaru pinned him to the ground by sitting on him, his legs pressing Inuyasha's arms to his sides. His own pale hand curled around his brother's neck.

Despite the threat, Inuyasha didn't seem to be perturbed. In fact, his annoyed face melted away to be quite blank, like his brother's.

"Hey, Sess?" he asked, and Sesshoumaru felt the vibrations of the throat through his palm.

Inuyasha made as if to say something else, but then stopped.

"Is it what you were talking about with your girl earlier?" Sesshoumaru let his hand fall to his side, but he still straddled him.

"Can I... I mean... She... asked if I could stay at her house for the night. With Sango and Miroku, of course." This last part he said in a whoosh because Sesshoumaru had opened his mouth to speak.

The older brother paused. He was contemplating. He had not forgotten the conversation they had had earlier that morning.

Finally, after a minute or so, he said...

"No."

Inuyasha sucked in a harsh breath.

"My answer is no because I do not know your friends. I do not know her family. I do not know her neighborhood. You understand, don't you?"

Inuyasha bit his bottom lip, hard. He was trying not to explode.

"However..." Sesshoumaru started, scratching the back of his neck absently, his gaze to one side. "They can come over here and stay the night. Whenever they want."

Inuyasha blinked. "You..." He swallowed. "...do you mean that?"

"Don't make me take it back."

"No! Please. I just... I mean, you study so hard, or try to, and I'm always interrupting, so I figured... But you don't mind if they stay? They can be pretty loud and..." He was babbling, but he couldn't stop. An emotion bubbled up in his chest that he hadn't felt very many times in his life.

It was an ecstatic happiness.

Sesshoumaru had just been blind-sided by another polite word from his brother's mouth and hadn't really heard much of what came after it. It was "I'm sorry" a week ago, and now, today, "Please". Something niggled in his own breast, but unlike Inuyasha, he had never felt it before. He brushed it aside as he stood up, relinquishing his hold.

"You can all sleep in the living room," he said as an after-thought. Might as well make use of that room, anyway.

Inuyasha got up and sped to his room to his cell phone and Sesshoumaru went downstairs. He sighed as he went into the kitchen and Kaede heard it.

"Gave him some freedom, did you?"

Sesshoumaru had almost forgotten she was there, even with the scent of her cooking pervading the house. He met her eyes and then looked away.

"It'll be worth it. You'll see," she said, then went back to stirring the large pot on the stove.

I just hope I don't regret it.