Chapter 11 – Inheritance
May 2nd, 1986
It was about six in the morning when Rin Hoshino woke up for one of the last Fridays before school officially let out for summer vacation. Her official last year of Junior High had nearly come to a close and a wave of mixed feelings came over the young teenager. In three months, she would walk down the halls of Buchanan High for the first time as a student instead of the kid sister of one of the school's most infamous graduates in recent years. To say she was nervous about entering high school would be an understatement. Yawning, she slung her bathrobe and towel over her shoulder to head for the upstairs bathroom across from her bedroom. Without thinking, she grabbed the doorknob, surprised to find that it was locked and the shower already in use. Funny, she didn't smell the usual cologne-bomb of Drakkar Noir coming from the bathroom, meaning that Miroku was probably still asleep. But if he was asleep, then who was in the bathroom? Annoyed, Rin knocked at the door. The sound of running water suddenly stopped and the handle unlocked from the inside. Out stepped Inuyasha, nearly naked save for a bath towel wrapped along his lower half. Water dripped from his long hair and on to the carpet below. Rin gawked at the teen hanyou. Despite the crappy attitude, Inuyasha was surprisingly attractive. Rin felt her cheeks get warm as she stared at her reluctant housemate's lean, toned, build. His golden eyes seemed almost glow from within like pure amber. Were all youkai this gorgeous? She wondered.
"What?" Inuyasha spoke in a gruff tone of voice. Why was the brat looking at him like that, moreover why wasn't she saying anything? Either way it was starting to piss him off.
"I-I need to use the shower." Rin stammered, averting her eyes away from him.
"Sure." Inuyasha replied, stepping out of the young teen's way.
As Rin passed the damp youkai boy, she noticed a very familiar scent emit from his hair: Kiwi watermelon. Quickly, she opened the shower curtain and her hunch was confirmed, Inuyasha had used the very last bit of the shampoo that she begged her mom to buy her at Save-A-Lot about a month ago. He didn't even leave enough in the bottle for one shower.
"Inuyasha, you asshole! You used all my shampoo!" she yelled from the open doorway.
Inuyasha paused in the hallway, irritated that the damn brat couldn't wait until later in the day to be annoying. "And? Miroku's 2 in 1 stuff was empty. Deal with it, Brat." he snarled, slamming the door to the guest room shut.
Upset, Rin tossed the empty bottle into the trash can. Any fleeting attraction she had for her 'not-cousin' was squashed the minute the jerk opened his mouth. Once her shower was done and she had blow dried and fixed her hair in a side ponytail, Rin got dressed. Eager, she pinned the brand new New Kids on The Block button that Miroku bought for her at the record store to put on her rhinestone bedazzled denim vest. Using her bed as leverage, she propped her leg on the edge to carefully peg the cuffs of her acid-washed jeans. Chelsey Ling, her best friend since preschool, was going to be so jealous of her new pin, and that Miroku was the one who got it for her given her friend's weird crush on the big doofus. Seriously, what did women see in him? She had to wonder.
Gathering her light blue Jansport backpack and Trapper Keeper off the bed, Rin headed downstairs, eager to pop the last two strawberry toaster strudel pastries that she had hidden in the back of the freezer away from her older brother's grubby hands. As she opened the freezer door and shuffled things around, her toaster strudels and the icing packets were nowhere to be found in her spot. Following a loud chewing noise coming from the living room, Rin saw Inuyasha sitting on the couch with none other than her coveted strawberry jam filled pastries half eaten on a plate. He didn't even bother to put the icing on right as it was just globbed on top. Ooh, he was really testing her patience! Reluctantly, she opened the other side of the refrigerator and grabbed the milk carton and a box of Lucky Charms from the pantry. Cereal was the last thing she wanted to eat for breakfast but there was little chance that she could get her mom or Miroku up this early to make her something else. Sighing, she poured the dry cereal in the bowl with the milk and took a seat at the dining room table to eat and finish off the homework from her French class that was due first period.
As Rin scooped the last bit of cereal in her mouth, the elder Hoshino sibling made his way into the kitchen to grab a Jolt Cola from the fridge, neglecting the coffee pot to get his morning caffeine fix. Miroku hadn't gotten used to waking up this early in a while but it seemed like the three weeks of community service had reset his schedule to early bird hours, rather than rolling out of bed just an hour before his shift at the bookstore started.
"Ready for school, Rin?" Miroku asked, spinning the keys to the Camaro on his finger.
Rin shot a confused look at her older brother, he seemed oddly chipper for being up so early. "Yeah, I'm ready but isn't dad supposed to take me on his way to work? Besides, I'll be there 45 minutes early."
"Well, yeah. I have errands to run before my shift so I don't mind dropping you off today. But if you want to wait for dad instead of being dropped off by your totally rad older brother, its fine." He smirked, leaning against the fridge.
"Ugh, don't ever say something so lame ever again." Rin cringed. "Before you take me to school though, I need to call Chelsey. Dad usually lets her ride with us so is it okay if we stop by to pick her up?"
Miroku reluctantly agreed to Rin's request. It wasn't that he didn't like Rin's best friend, it was just that Chelsey acted so quiet around him that he couldn't tell if the headgear braces wearing girl was infatuated with him or hated him by the way she often stared at him. Moments later, Rin came down the stairs to grab her backpack and put on her shoes by the door. "She said yeah, we can pick her up."
"Hey, Inuyasha!" Miroku yelled to the hanyou on the couch. "I'm taking Rin and her friend to school, make sure my dad knows that I already left so that he's not worried about Rin missing from the house."
Inuyasha gave the warlock a thumbs up from the couch. "Got it."
"Thanks, bud." Miroku replied heading out the door with Rin in tow.
About thirty minutes later, as promised Inuyasha kept his word. Afterwards, he began to doze off on the couch with a rerun of Welcome Back, Kotter blaring in the background from the TV. His nap was soon interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Still sleepy, he rose from the couch and answered the doorbell. It was a delivery person from UPS with an over sized rectangular shaped package from his brother's company addressed to him. Strange of Sesshomaru to send him anything in the mail, let alone something important enough to send international priority. Taking the pen from the delivery driver, Inuyasha signed for the parcel, giving the delivery driver a heavily accented 'Thank you.' before closing the door. Curious, the hanyou brought the parcel upstairs. Using his claws as a box cutter for the tape, he opened the package. Beneath the exorbitant amount of foam packing peanuts he found an antique, practically ancient, katana that looked like it'd seen much better days just from the scabbard alone. Carefully, he removed the sword from the leather holding. To nobody's surprise it was just as beat up on the blade as it was on the scabbard, superficially nicked in a few corners at the top and near the cross-guard. Faint brown specks of rust dotted the blade's steel surface; Nothing that a good polishing and a whetstone couldn't fix up quick though. Inuyasha stood up from the bed, readying himself in a defensive stance as he began to pose with the blade in potential combat scenarios. It was surprisingly light, almost as it was an extension of his body. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an etching in ancient kanji near the cross guard next to one of the larger specks of rust. He phonetically began to read the characters aloud. "Tes-sai-ga."
As if by magic, a barrage of youki encircled him which made the katana pulsate in his hand. Inuyasha tightened his grip as the sword magically transformed its shape into a four foot curved fang with decorative cream-colored canine fur around the cross guard. Surprisingly, the sword was just as light in this form despite the massive growth. Curious, Inuyasha brought the fanged blade to the scabbard. Would it even fit back? To his surprise, it had no issue going back into the sheath. He pulled the sword out again, it was back to the beat-up katana form. The teen hanyou readied himself into another battle stance. This time, he spoke the sword's name and just like before, the sword transformed into the fanged blade once again. "Fucking awesome!" He exclaimed practicing more moves with the ancient sword. Interrupted again by a knock at the door, Inuyasha sheathed the blade once again, covering it with his sheets to answer the door. It was Auntie Chieko with a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast.
"I thought you might be hungry, Inuyasha-kun so I made you some breakfast."
Inuyasha nodded his head, accepting the plate of food from his godmother. Truth be told, he was still hungry and the toaster pastries he made earlier didn't quite hit the spot. Feeling that it was kind of rude to eat upstairs, Inuyasha brought the plate downstairs to the couch and began to indulge in his second helping of breakfast. He'd have to tell Miroku all about the sword later when the guy came home from work. Knowing Miroku, he'd probably be happy to know that he wouldn't have to continue looking at flea markets for a weapon suitable enough for frequent use.
With the plate on the coffee table, Inuyasha grabbed the remote again. Changing the channel from Welcome Back, Kotter to MTV where there was a hair metal video currently airing with some of the most attractive women he'd ever seen in his life wearing nothing but skimpy bikinis, dancing around a band of effeminate guys in tight leather pants. Every single one of the band members had hair all teased up and nearly the same color and length as the white mane atop his own noggin. Inuyasha mentally sneered at the men. He would rather be caught dead than use hairspray like a girl. He watched the video until the title credits appeared and a WcDonald's commercial aired in its place. Perhaps, Miroku was onto something with this heavy metal stuff if he could pull 'babes' like that just by knowing a few chords on the guitar. Adjusting the throw pillow behind him, he flipped the TV to Cinemax, this time the TV was locked on a drama movie with an equally attractive twenty-something actress in the throws of a simulated sex scene with her pretty boy co-star. Inuyasha felt his cheeks go warm as the actress began to moan, her perky, naked, breasts rose and fell with each breath she took. Hearing the sound of Auntie Chieko's footsteps close by, he reached for the remote again, and quickly flipped the channel onto the Weather Channel. That was too close of a call. Miroku may be a shameless pervert, but that didn't mean he had to follow the warlock's example. Though in the back of his mind, he wouldn't mind clicking back to that channel again. Taking a bite of his bacon, Inuyasha focused his attention on the sounds of smooth jazz coming from the Weather Channel's background music. After breakfast, he'd test out the Tessaiga a bit more.
While Inuyasha was busy accepting the mysterious package, Miroku had just picked up Rin's friend Chelsey and like he expected, the girl froze up in the backseat, quiet as mouse with flushed cheeks only really talking to Rin every now and then. As Miroku drove around the neighborhood, he saw someone familiar running along the sidewalk, it was Sango's younger brother, Kohaku, on his way to the bus stop to catch for the bus to Buchanan High. Miroku pulled over to greet the teenager. He already had one other unexpected passenger, what more would adding one more person hurt? Besides, he figured it might get him brownie points with Sango if he offered to help her brother get to school on time. Miroku quickly stopped the car. Rolling down his window, he called out to the boy.
Kohaku stopped in his tracks. "Oh, hey Miroku. What's up?"
"Need a ride to school? There's an extra seat in my car if you're worried about missing the bus."
Kohaku caught his breath from running so fast. "Honestly, I probably already missed it. Sure, I'll take you up on that offer. Got any room for my equipment in the back?"
"I can pop the trunk." Miroku replied, pulling the lever under his seat for the trunk.
Rin watched from the passenger seat as Kohaku shoved his red duffel bag into the Camaro's trunk. The freckle-faced teen was about her age, maybe a year or two older at most with short chestnut brown hair that had bangs covering his forehead and large mahogany eyes that were concealed by aviator rimmed eyeglasses. His features were soft yet masculine enough to throw him into the cute boy camp. She took note of the mystery boy's height; Taller than her brother for sure. A faint blush stained her cheeks as she stared at Kohaku. Lightly, she pinched her arm to stop herself from gawking at the high school boy. Honestly what was with her today? First she caught herself getting flustered over Inuyasha and now this Kohaku boy. She might as well change her name to Chelsey with all the boy crazy thoughts going through her head since earlier that morning.
"Hey Rin." Miroku interrupted his sister. "Mind getting out to sit in the backseat with Chelsey? Kohaku's legs are longer than yours and he'll need the extra room."
"Okay." Rin nodded, grabbing her backpack from the floorboard, unaware she had left it unzipped since leaving the house earlier that morning. As she left the seat her Trapper Keeper fell out and onto the street below. Simultaneously, both she and Kohaku reached for the binder, locking eyes with each other in the process.
"Here you go." Kohaku handed her the binder.
"Thanks." Rin replied, nervously tucking a stray hair behind her ear.
Miroku honked the horn. "Today, Rin!" he groaned.
"O-kay, jeez. I'm going to the backseat alright!" Rin snapped back. Hurriedly, she zipped up her backpack with the binder placed in the largest pocket as she climbed over the folded passenger seat to crawl into the back.
Rin took her seat beside Chelsey. It was a good thing that Kohaku was in the front seat, otherwise she'd be doing the same thing to him as Chelsey was doing to Miroku. Nothing but staring in silence out of fear if she opened her mouth, she'd say something embarrassing.
"Rin, you remember my friend Sango from earlier this week right?" Miroku spoke up.
Rin nodded. "Yeah, the girl you brought to dinner on Tuesday, right?"
"Kohaku here is her younger brother." Miroku introduced Kohaku. "Kohaku, Rin is my kid sister and the girl beside her is her friend Chelsey. I'll be dropping both of them off at the junior high after I drop you off."
Kohaku leaned over the seat to address Rin and the other girl. "Nice to meet both of you. What grade are you in if you don't mind me asking?"
"Eighth." Rin responded. "We'll start as freshmen at Buchanan High in August."
"Awesome!" Kohaku responded. "If you need any help with finding your classes after you get your schedule during freshman orientation, you can usually find me out by the baseball field before classes begin. I'd love to show you around. It's so easy to get lost on the first day with how weird the school's layout is."
"I'd appreciate that very much, Kohaku." Rin replied, shifting her eyes to the floorboard. Damn, did he have to be so freaking nice too?
Minutes later, Miroku pulled next to the curb at the front entrance to Buchanan High to let Kohaku out. The young teenager gathered his things from the trunk and gave Miroku his thanks for letting him hitch a ride. Further down the street, Miroku stopped the car right before the entrance to the parking lot of Sullivan Junior High. Rin and Chelsey quickly stepped out of the car.
"Do you need me to pick you up during my last break?" Miroku asked his sister.
"No. I'll take the bus with Chelsey like usual."
"Alright then, I'm off." Miroku said, speeding out of the parking lot with the radio turned up to full blast now that the girls were out of the car.
"So, you got them?" Chelsey spoke up, pointing to Rin's backpack.
Rin nodded. "Of course, you got the money."
Reaching into her jeans pocket, Chelsey grabbed a crisp five-dollar bill. Carefully, Rin looked around the corner to make sure that any teachers weren't nearby as she pulled a stack of Polaroids out of the front pocket of her backpack. On the assorted Polaroid pictures were candid photos of Miroku in various stages of undress.
"You know, Chels. I only do this because you're my best friend. I honestly don't know what you see in my brother. He's so weird."
Chelsey held a particular embarrassing picture of Miroku; Shirtless with a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, close to her chest. "But he's such a hunk! You really don't know how lucky you are. One day, I'm going to have his babies just watch."
"Rin made a disgusted face at her friend. "Totally atroch, Chels! You do realize he's a man-slut right?"
Chelsey sighed as she flipped through more of the pictures, stopping on one with Miroku deep in thought with his guitar on his lap. "I wish he'd hold me on his lap like he holds that guitar. Do you think I'd ever have a chance with him if I lose the braces?"
Rin raised an eyebrow at her friend's statement. "The braces are the least of your problems. Besides, I think he's spoken for at the moment. He really seems to like Sango."
"Hmph, I know my Miroku. She won't last more than a week."
"You don't know Sango, she's super pretty and my parents are just as smitten with her as he is." Rin remarked as she walked up the final steps to the main entrance to the school. Looking at her reflection in the window to her left, the young teen sighed at her lack of feminine curves. Perhaps, if she looked more womanly like Sango, Inuyasha wouldn't call her a brat and Kohaku wouldn't see her as some helpless junior high kid.
As the two girls approached the door at the entrance. Chelsey gave rin a sly grin. "I know that look on your face Rin, you're thinking about a boy aren't you?"
Rin felt her face go red again. "What?! No! I'm just a little queasy after dealing with Miroku's bad driving. Nothing to do with Kohaku at all." Quickly, Rin covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh crap."
"Kohaku huh? Never thought you'd be the type that went for older boys."
"Ugh, I'm going to the library." She huffed, passing Chelsey through the door.
"You can't escape from your hormones in books you know!" Chelsey yelled, holding the door open to follow her friend to the library before first period started.
"Kaa-san! I'm home!" Miroku yelled to his mother in the kitchen as he entered the house. Exhausted from the unusually busy shift at work earlier that day, he couldn't wait to go to his room to crash out for a nap. As he slipped off his sneakers, he noticed two other pairs of shoes by the door that didn't belong to any of his family members. Girl's uniform shoes. He recognized that the black pair belonged to Sango, but whose shoes were the brown ones? Confused, he darted up the stairs and like he suspected, Inuyasha's door was wide open and sitting on the floor adjacent from the hanyou were Sango and Kagome, both still in their school uniforms. In between the group was a sheathed antique katana. Miroku took a seat next to Inuyasha. "What's going on?" He asked.
"Beats me." Sango replied. "He brought out the sword and said to wait until you got home from work to explain things further."
"Oh-kay?" Miroku addressed Inuyasha. "So what's with the sword and why did you feel the need to call the girls over with the pager?"
Inuyasha grabbed the sword as he rose to his feet. Quickly, he unsheathed the katana, revealing the beat up blade.
Miroku took a look at the sword. "I'm glad you found a weapon but this is what called for a meeting with the girls? A rusty katana?"
"I'm not done yet, Smart Ass." Inuyasha barked as he readied himself in a battle stance. "Stand back, Elvis. The good part is about to start." Like before, golden tinged winds of concentrated youki started to surround Inuyasha as he spoke the name of the sword. "Tessaiga!" Miroku and the girls watched in awe as the sword transformed into its true form of the giant fang right in Inuyasha's hand.
"Cool ain't it?" Inuyasha bragged, holding the transformed sword over his shoulder.
Miroku got closer to the blade of the fang. He'd never heard of a sword that could transform like that, then again, genuine youkai artifacts were a rarity given the strict government intervention when it came to anything supernatural. That didn't stop Tsubaki from amassing quite the selection of youkai artifacts in her antique shop though. "Cool? More like kickass!" Miroku exclaimed. "How did you even come into possession of this thing, Inuyasha?"
"Honestly, I don't even know myself. It just showed up this morning for me to sign for. I'd never expect Sesshomaru of all people to send me something other than a headache so I'm as shocked as you all are."
Kagome and Sango joined Miroku to take a closer look at the fanged sword. "What do you think, Sango?" Kagome was the first to speak up.
"It's definitely a youkai blade, for sure. No human could ever forge something of this magnitude." The taijiya responded. "Though this is the first time I've ever seen one up close and not behind a glass case at Sentinel's headquarters."
"Looks like your job just got a whole lot easier, Taijiya. Try not to get in my way with those little electric toys you call weapons." Inuyasha remarked, gloating about his new sword.
"Hmph, its flashy alright but do you even know how to use it, Inuyasha?" She responded in a haughty tone, crossing her ams under her chest. "No? That's what I thought."
"But inuyasha-Sama will learn to master the Tessaiga in no time at all, after all it is his birthright passed down from the late master." A nasally yet aged voice spoke out from out of nowhere. Just then, Inuyasha felt something prick his neck like a mosquito. Quickly, his hand swatted whatever bug had just landed on him.
"Maybe I deserved that. But please understand that I was so parched after being stuck in the box for so long." The flattened bug in his hand started to speak in a strained tone of voice. Only it wasn't a bug, it was a small insect youkai that looked like a little old man dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. Within seconds, the little old bug man had regained his shape. "Allow me to introduce myself, Inuyasha-sama. I'm Myoga, I was your father's retainer many moons ago. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance my lord." The bug youkai bowed in Inuyasha's palm.
"My father sent me a little old man bug?" Inuyasha asked confused as to why the creature was even here.
"I'll have you know I'm a well respected member of the Flea Youkai Clan in Otherworld, so I'd quit with the bug remarks." Myoga snapped at the hanyou. "Either way, I'm glad the enchantment your father put on the sword just before you were born was able to hold up for all these years. Kami only knows what would happen if Sesshomaru was able to use the Tessaiga once the enchantment expired."
"Enchantment? Would you care to elaborate further on that, Myoga-san?" Miroku asked the flea youkai, still curious about how this youkai sword stuff worked in the first place.
"Gladly." Myoga responded. "You see, the late master Inu-No-Taisho, used to carry with him two great swords forged from his very fangs: The Tenseiga, a sword of healing that was bequeathed to his oldest son, Sesshomaru-sama and the Tessaiga, a sword of destruction that was meant to go to his youngest son, Inuyasha-sama. However, due to his untimely and tragic death, he was never able to personally hand off the Tessaiga to Inuyasha-sama once he came of age."
"However." Myoga continued. "Sesshomaru-sama was supposed to make sure that Inuyasha-sama received the Tessaiga on his thirteenth year per the master's last will and testament. But he really should have known that Sesshomaru-sama wasn't going to follow through. The man is nothing but petty when it comes to anything regarding Inuyasha-sama."
"I only managed to smuggle the Tessaiga out before the 18 year seal broke by possessing one of Sesshomaru-sama's youkai servants as they crossed over from Otherworld. He has no idea that the sword is even in the mortal realm, let alone the United States right now."
"You stupid flea, you shouldn't have done that." Inuyasha remarked, sheathing the sword with his other hand.
"And why is that? It's your inheritance isn't it? He has no legal right to something that was bequeathed to you in a will." Kagome spoke up.
"And? Like that's going to stop him. Knowing Sesshomaru he's probably on a plane to San Diego as we speak. You know how the old saying 'When something is too good to be true, it usually is.' goes? This is one of those situations." Inuyasha answered Kagome.
"What's going to happen when he tracks you and the sword down, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, butting in the conversation.
"Dunno, but one of us may possibly die. I know one thing is for certain...It sure as shit won't be me."
"It was nice knowing you for a brief moment Inuyasha-sama. Would you mind fetching some packing tape so that I can get mailed back to Tokyo?" Myoga responded, cowardly lowering himself back into the open box with the packing peanuts. Inuyasha grabbed the flea youkai by his kimono collar. "You're not going anywhere. You got us into this mess, flea, you're gonna stay here and teach me how to use this thing."
Myoga began to sweat in Inuyasha's grip. "I was afraid you would say that."
80's Slang/General Glossary:
Drakkar Noir – A cologne that was popular in the 80s with heavy notes of bergamot and cedar. Notable as the cologne of choice worn by wannabe ladies' men.
Welcome Back, Kotter – A 1975 Sitcom about a teacher and a group of delinquent boys set in an inner city high school. It starred a very young John Travolta.
Pegged Cuffs – Teens in the 80s would often tightly roll the hem of their jeans in order to create a straighter silhouette.
80's Mix Tape: Track 11
Scorpions – No One Like You