HICHB22

Noticing the Difference

Soon the class had its first long break; the boys were to spend two winter months back with their families. After a meal and welcome home from his father's family, it was time for Inuyasha to head for the farm and his mother. Sesshoumaru accompanied him to make sure he was delivered safely and also because he had missed his brother and was not happy that the pup was to spend the first couple of weeks only with his humans.

Sesshoumaru challenged his father on that, saying it was not good for the pup to have no interaction with the Palace but he was defeated and told that it was for the boy's own good. It was not as if he was not surrounded by youkai while he was at school, and he was still young enough to need his mother, as did all the other young youkai who had returned to their homes. Sesshoumaru had to then say goodbye and watch his little brother be swamped with welcomes from his own siblings; Inuyasha didn't even seem to notice when the older boy left.

Without looking back and with his head held high, the youkai left the small farm and village beyond before he would speed home. He had not reached the edge of the estate before a red and silver bullet leapt into his arms and clung round his neck, and he could feel a cool wet nose snuffling at his neck and a hitching voice accusing him of leaving without saying goodbye.

Immediately Sesshoumaru knew he was once more in his rightful place of supremacy in his brother's life, he could pat Inuyasha indulgently and say in a slightly condescending manner, that he thought he had said goodbye. Inuyasha had hugged him tightly and said that he would miss him; and his brother quickly returned the hug and affection, before sprinting away to the Palace.

Inuyasha had missed everyone so much; he hadn't fully appreciated how much, until a couple of days into the holiday when he knew he didn't have to go to school for a few more weeks. He had missed his mother's hugs and cuddles, her smiles and sparkling eyes and the sheer love he could feel radiate from her when he was near. Makoto too was pleased to see him and smiled indulgently at the way Inuyasha seemed to cling around his mother for the first week home.

The young boy revelled in the freedom of the farm again; he ran all over taking in the scents and colours, then reintroduced himself to the workers and the animals. He hunted down all his old haunts and barely shuddered at the spot in the barn where he had removed his fangs and claws. All the while he was tailed and chased by his adoring siblings.

That first week was bliss, the days were short and sometimes dark because of the weather, but that was never a deterrent for the boisterous hanyou. When the younger ones were indoors because it was cold or their bedtimes, Inuyasha was keeping warm in the animal barns. Yori joked that it was because Inuyasha was so like a puppy that he liked being with the animals and then Chouko called him Puppy Brother; the name stuck much to Inuyasha's dismay.

In the second week, Inuyasha wondered when the cousins were going to come to play; the winter was fun on the farm and they had all had good family times, the children outside while the adults did whatever they did. But he was told they were not coming this year and Makoto was not taking the family to see the cousins either, it was a shame but they could have a good time without each other. At the end of the two weeks, Inuyasha was collected to go back to the Palace for two weeks visit with the youkai family. After that he would live back on the farm and spend some of each day at the Palace like he did before living in the school.

When the pup arrived at the Palace he was greeted with a huge bear hug from his father; a petting and kiss from his aunt, ruffled hair and tweaked ears from Sesshoumaru and a big smile and ear pull from Michiko. Inuyasha was now eleven and his growth had slowed right down so he was not much bigger than his five year old sister who was tall for her age. It made it difficult to stop her from reaching his ears but when he succeeded, she pulled the 'huge doe-eyes flooded with tears' trick and made him feel tremendously guilty.

Michiko also found that Inuyasha's ears flicked and twisted to catch all the sounds around him and she was fascinated, stalking him just to see how the ears moved. She blew in them and ran her fingers over the fur to make them tickle and she constantly watched them until she too hit on the nickname Puppy Brother. Inuyasha was not old enough to realise that his ardent disapproval of the name only made it stick more and that had he ignored it, they might have stopped.

Then one day while he was sitting and reading on the floor at his brother's feet with the end of Sesshoumaru's tail wrapped round him, he became tired and just rested thinking. As he played with the fur, grooming the long soft hairs, he idly wondered whether or not Michiko's tail would be as soft as Sesshoumaru's. The older brother's was softer than either of his parents' fur and a beautiful silver; and the younger sister looked very like her brother, facially and in colouring.

Inuyasha pulled a hank of his own hair round and noticed the colour difference, the texture was just as soft however, but something Kouga had said now bothered the hanyou. He had ignored the remark at the time, Kouga was a bigheaded loudmouth at the best of times, but what had the wolf meant when he had said that 'proper youkai had tails, not the stupid lugs' that Inuyasha had.

"What are lugs Shu?" He asked quietly, not wanting to disturb his brother's work.

"Who mentioned the word Inuyasha, it can have several meanings?" Sesshoumaru answered, while still concentrating on his writings.

"No one big; only Kouga."

"One of your fellow pupils...the wolf cub..? I don't know of anything specific he might have been referring too, it can be a slang word for ears." It wasn't until Inuyasha had wandered off a bit later and didn't turn up for dinner that Sesshoumaru thought over the relevance of the brief conversation. He went to find his little brother; Inuyasha was sitting in the hall in front of the picture of the combined families.

A discreet scent of the air showed that Inuyasha had not been shedding tears, even though there was a salty air indicating they had come to the surface. Sesshoumaru sat down next to his brother and nodded to Inu no Taishou over the boy's head; their father returned the nod and left the two alone.

"Why has the picture made you sad Little One?"

"It hasn't. I hadn't seen before. Why haven't I seen?"

"Seen what Inuyasha, you have seen this picture many times since it was put up?"

"Not seen how different I am to everyone before."

"You look as you have always done, Pup."

"Inuyasha is not a dog." He put his face down with a scowl and hid behind his fringe. Sesshoumaru was alerted to the childish way of talking and took things slowly especially as he scented the saline again.

"You are not a dog, no, but you are an Inu child and that makes you a Pup." He explained.

"Why only Inuyasha got big ears like dog. I want a tail like proper youkai, not stupid big dog ears. No one else has got them. I don't want them anymore. I never saw before." As always when he was upset, Inuyasha got his words and sentences mixed and Sesshoumaru had a job trying to work out just what the child was saying. Of course Inuyasha had seen his ears before, and enjoyed having them stroked and scratched, but what did he mean by proper youkai?

"You mean that you have only just noticed that..."

"That everyone else has small ears on their head sides; only Inuyasha got them stupid ones on top." Inuyasha sniffed. "I wants a tail like everyone and Kouga." He turned and snuggled into his brother's chest and started to cry. Sesshoumaru petted him while thinking on how best to help; images of pulling Kouga's tail from his body didn't help calm him, but as he let out his youki to comfort Inuyasha, it comforted him too to feel the small pup once again turn to him for answers.

It was as if Inuyasha had never seen the differences before, and perhaps he hadn't, they all accepted each other for what they were; now someone outside the family had made him truly look and removed some of the boy's innocence. Sesshoumaru might have known that one day this would occur, but he would not allow Inuyasha to weaken under the news, the boy would have to learn to use his strengths.

"Inuyasha, stop being ridiculous. You haven't got a tail because your mother is human; you have puppy ears because you are a partially transformed Inu hanyou. You are a proper youkai in the half that is youkai. Until you are older and we know if you have powers of any kind you are no different to any other child who has not yet reached their potential. All youkai are different, as are humans I should think.

"You combine the two cultures; it cannot be changed and is nothing to cry about. You will undergo training as youkai, but you must come to terms with who you are inside. Some people will not like you and others will; but it is up to you to deal with your youkai and human elements yourself, only you know them best and can blend and quieten them. Do not start to see problems where there are none Inuyasha, if you have insecurities, fight and subdue them."

He allowed Inuyasha a few more moments until he felt him shudder to draw breath and calm down.

"Look closely at that picture Inuyasha, see the love and the fact that you bridge both species are clearly to be seen; be proud of who you are and let no one look down on you, certainly not a wimpy cub of a wolf. Do you understand?" He spoke a bit more sharply, waiting for his brother to nod. Inuyasha understood, but he wasn't completely convinced.

Sesshoumaru stayed with Inuyasha until he got up, subdued, but hungry and they both walked to the dining hall. Inu no Taishou joined them with an approving smile for his eldest and a whispered 'well said'.

"The only devils in this world are those running around in our own hearts, and that is where all our battles should be fought." - Mahatma Gandhi