Disclaimer: NO I do not own Inuyasha. That awesome privilege belongs to Romiko Takahashi. Thank you!

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Chapter 16: Daddy Dearest

Inuyasha didn't know exactly how long he stood outside, waiting for that one judge to some out but when he finally did it didn't matter.

Inutaisho was the kind of man who got respect without trying for it. He had the presence of power around him. Like most dog demons, he kept his hair long, though unlike Inuyasha's braid, his was just a ponytail. As a full demon, his hair was even more dazzling, right after a shower, when water still sparkled in it, one could even see their reflection in it. His eyes were brighter that Inuyasha's and when they looked at you your back straightened without you thinking about it. As the leader of Tokyo's Inupack, the power he wore like a cloak was almost expected though not to that degree.

And Inuyasha didn't realize until he saw him, his nose buried in a file while simutaniously avoiding the others who were doing the same, how much he really missed his father. There was a slight pain in his chest he had never been aware of before but had always been there when he thought of his father.

Despite their arguments and the bad way things had ended, he liked his father. He was a good man and Inuyasha had a lot of respect for him and his power. They had had lots of fun together, especially when he had been young and innocent. Inutaisho had always been there for him, up until that last fight when Inuyiasha had pushed him a little too far.

Inutaisho had run clear across the city with Inuyasha in his arms, sobbing, when he had broken his arm in a fight when he had been 5. He had actually had the dreaded Talk with Inuyasha instead of letting others do it for him and had even taught him how to put on a condom, though neither of them mentioned that conversation by mutual consent. He had been there whenever Inuyasha needed to talk or needed something, up until his first real crime he had defended his son with all his might.

Inuyasha had known for a while now that it was his own fault his father had disowned him.

A part of him screamed to run away, to forget it, to ask someone, anyone, else for help but Inuyasha knew better. His father was probably the only one who could help.

He took a deep breath and straightened off the wall and walked down the stairs of the coutrhouse after his father.

He knew immediately when his father recognized his scent.

Inutaisho's back straightened and he stopped dead on the steps.

Inuyasha stopped a few steps behind him, looking down at the back of his head.

"You're not supposed to be here." Inutaisho said his face still in the file though he wasn't reading it anymore.

"I need your help." Inuyasha said immediatly.

The file, if it was possible, slammed shut as Inutaisho's muscles tensed. "You're still supposed to be in Hinazuka. Why are you here?"

Inuyasha had hoped he wouldn't have asked this question so soon. He took a deep breath and decided saying it would be like ripping off a bandage. Less painful if you said it fast. "I escaped."

"You what?" Inutaisho turned, his eyes ablaze but Inuyasha was looking to the side.

Inutaisho may have disowned him from his family but he had not banished him from the pack and he was still Inuyasha's alpha. He didn't want to look in his father's eyes and feel the uncontrollable need to bend to his will and anger. Kagome and the others needed him and he had to resist his natural instincts.

"Inuyasha, I am a judge! You cannot see me when you've escaped from jail! I have to turn you in, I have to tell the police I've seen you!" Inutaisho very nearly growled.

"I'm not going to stay out forever." Inuyasha said immediatly surprised his own anger wasn't rising. Normally when his father yelled at him he wanted to yell back. "I'm going to go back but I need your help first."

"Nowyou need my help? It's too late for that Inuyasha. Go back to Hinazuka before they notice you're gone." Inutaisho's voice was deadly calm.

"I can't. Not yet. Will you please listen?"

"'Please'? Did you just say 'please'?" Inutaisho said in disbelief.

"Please." Inuyasha repeated. "You have no idea what Hinazuka' like, dad. It is literally Hell."

Inutaisho sighed. "You should have thought of that before you decided to blow up a building."

"I didn't blow it up, I set it on fire." Inuyasha said.

"Either way. I told you that you were on your own."

"I can't do this myself, dad." Inuyasha protested finally looking his father in the eye. "I'm not coming to you as a son, I'm coming to a judge as a citizen."

"A felon." Inutaisho corrected. "You never wrote your mother."

Inuyasha was thrown off by the abrupt change in subject but he gathered his thoughts quickly. "What would I have said. 'Dear mom: Hope you're okay, my life sucks.' That sounds very comforting. Besides, they read our letters."

"All prisons read the inmates letters." Inutaisho said unimpressed.

"To make sure they aren't planning an escape." Inuyasha said. "Hell does it so no one outside known what ges on inside."

"What? You're punished?" Inutaisho laughed humorlessly. "How sad."

"We're tortured." Inuyasha said digging the pictures out of his back pocket. "Look."

Inutaisho didn't even look down at the photos. "I told you, I'm not helping you anymore. You got yourself into this mess and you can get yourself out."

"I'm not doing this for me!" Inuyasha cried. "I'm doing this for Kagome."

"Who?" Inutaisho said puzzled. "So you want your girlfriend out? Too bad. She's just as much a criminal as you are if she's in Hinazuka."

"Kagome didn't do anything wrong." Inuyasha said desperate for his father to look at the pictures. "She's innocent, she was framed!"

"Like I haven't heard that one before." Inutaisho didn't roll his eyes but he might as well have.

His father turned and continued walking away, the file in his hand crinkled from being crushed in his mighty fist.

"Please!" Inuyasha called after him. "Just look at her file, dad."

Inutaisho turned around only once and said, "Do me a favor and don't go home. You're mother is already upset enough without hearing you broke out."

"Do me a favor and look at her file." Inuyasha said even as his father turned back around. "Kagome Higurashi! She only had one count of smoking pot and she didn't even do it!" Inutaisho kept walking. "Dad, if you ever loved me at all please do this for me! I don't care if I get out but Kagome doesn't need to be there!"

He kept walking.