A Distant Promise – Drabble #12
"What about Kagome?"
Grimacing, Inuyasha replied gruffly, "Yea, what about her?" He tried to ignore the concern pouring off the fox-demon in waves.
When he had abruptly left the onsen, Shippo had followed him back to his quarters. The kitsune was remarkably persistent in getting information out of people, Inuyasha had discovered. It wasn't that he felt reluctant to talk with Shippo – hell, they had been good friends in the past… but that was the problem, he supposed. The 'past' was dead and gone. He was moving forward.
Inuyasha was willing enough to let his old acquaintance know about his job, living conditions, life in the future era, his wish on the Shikon no Tama, everything. But his relationship with Kagome was the one thing that the fox-demon seemed determined to ask about, and this one issue Inuyasha really did not want to discuss.
"Oh, I don't know," the kitsune pried lightheartedly, trying to inject humor into a dying conversation. "I suppose I assumed you two would get married and have half-a-million babies."
"Keh!" scoffed Inuyasha, "Modern girls wait a long time before getting married, or haven't you heard?"
"Hn." Shippo nodded, glad to see his friend was willing to talk about the subject, at least to a certain extent.
But that soft sound of agreement, with just a touch of derisive sarcasm infused into it, drove Inuyasha up the wall. "Would you stop doing that?" he glared. "You sound like him. What the hell were you doing with my half-brother anyway? I thought you had better taste."
Now, it was Shippo's turn to equivocate, avoiding the question. And so it went, back and forth, as the pair caught-up on centuries of gossip and news, each of them answering the other without ever explaining the most essential pieces of the puzzle that made up their life. By the end, Shippo had angered Inuyasha enough that the human wanted to bop the kitsune on the head, and Inuyasha had frustrated Shippo so much that the kitsune fondly recalled the days when he had chewed on his guardian's ears. Both of them enjoyed the meeting.
When they returned to the front desk, Sesshoumaru was sitting in the lobby, indifferently perusing a newspaper. Smartly dressed in modern clothing, he looked like the most incongruous item in the room, since the hotel lobby was adorned with antiques and traditional Japanese decor. A tinkle of distant conversation infiltrated the room, but it only made the silence between brothers seem more intense, as the elder sibling rose to face his past.
Even a blind man could have seen the tension crackling in the air around them. The former Lord of the West still carried himself like royalty, although a slight stiffness of the spine betrayed his unease. Inuyasha lounged against the front desk, pretending not to care. Shippo rolled his eyes, biting back his annoyance with both parties.
Finally, clearing his throat, the taiyoukai announced that it was good to see his half-brother again. It sounded like an awkward truth instead of a polite lie, and the younger man relented slightly, nodding his head in greeting. Because his elder brother had always started their fights, Inuyasha felt determined to wait for an apology or some gesture of good faith on Sesshoumaru's part. He would be charitable enough to allow his half-brother a second chance, but only if the idiot played nice.
The minor concession that Inuyasha hoped for never came. This was Sesshoumaru, after all. The uncomfortable atmosphere continued to expand, devoid of artful dialogue or social niceties. "So, you work at this… inn," the dog-demon stated flatly, unsure how to proceed and unwilling to show his doubts.
Thinking he detected criticism in the words, Inuyasha frowned. "Yea," he snapped. "Does that matter to you?"
"I was unaware," the taiyoukai replied simply.
"Never wanted to be 'aware' of my life before," goaded Inuyasha, pushing for the modicum of repentance that he longed to see in his half-brother's eyes. "Why start now? Didn't know I had to make regular reports."
Unfortunately, this particular dog-demon was not one to be coerced – especially when he could not guess the other person's objectives. "Of course not," Sesshoumaru responded rigidly, folding his newspaper neatly beneath one arm. "And your priestess?" he inquired politely.
"Why the f-- does everyone keep asking me about Kagome?!" cursed Inuyasha, stepping backward. And with that, the reconciliation was over, its ashes lazily drifting across the tatami mats in the lobby. Shippo shot his old friend a concerned glance as the boy stalked away, but he followed his employer away from the resort.
