April 2010 Week 1
Title:How It Could Have Been; ch 53, Silly Boys
Author:petalears
Universe:AU
Rating:PG
Summary:Who is the Alpha of Alpha's according to Kouga?
Quote:You can’t fix stupid.
-Ron White
Silly Boys
The pup looked very lost all of a sudden and Sesshoumaru’s youkai flared, demanding that he make Inuyasha feel safe again. So the older brother knelt down in front of the younger and wrapped his tail around the quivering shoulders; Inuyasha immediately turned into the warmth and snuggled, sighing heavily. He was dressed in a good quality kimono; not silk yet for everyday, as the pup was still only small and liable to wreck any material after only a few days wear and his hair was neatly tied back in a braid. Inu no Taishou entered the room soon after; he knew that his middle son was nervous and had come to encourage him, but he smiled when he saw that Sesshoumaru had beaten him to it.
"So, My Inuyasha, you have butterflies in your tummy." Papa stated. Inuyasha looked at him bemused, confused as to what his father meant.
"Butterflies, Papa? I’s not eaten any."
"It means that you are nervous or worried about something and your tummy feels all fluttery inside. Isn’t that how you are at the moment?"
"Yes, Papa...I feels a bit sick too."
"It is perfectly normal Inuyasha; most beings would feel as you do now. I know you are looking forward to school, but you have been away for nearly a whole year and going back is making you feel the strangeness. It will soon pass I promise and hasn’t Sesshoumaru told you yet that he is going to take you? He won’t let anyone frighten you, now, will he? Come on, let me look at you, yes, you are perfectly presentable. " Inu no Taishou gave his son a kiss and a hug, although he had to get under Sesshoumaru’s protective tail to do so.
The older brother sighed, he knew that Inuyasha had to go back to school, besides the boy wanted to go, but they would miss each other and the freedom to just find each other would be curtailed. He also noted that if Inuyasha were to get to his class that day, it would be up to him to get the pup there. So, he mentioned that it was time to go, and unwound his tail from Inuyasha and took him by the hand instead. Their father nodded at his eldest and allowed the pair to pass him and as they went out of the room, he gave a final ruffle to Inuyasha’s hair.
As they walked to the school rooms in the Palace grounds, Sesshoumaru could feel the slight tremble in Inuyasha’s hand and he released some of his youki to reassure the pup. It worked, Inuyasha felt warmer as the youki of one of his alpha’s surrounded him and knew that he was just being silly with his trepidation. But whereas Inuyasha was left feeling secure, the other children inside the classroom were set on edge by the strong youki, until The Tiger told them to be easy; it was the Prince of the West who came to see them. The Tiger understood that Inuyasha was feeling strange and stood to greet both sons of his Lord.
Sesshoumaru could smell the salt as tears came to Inuyasha’s eyes, drawn up because he knew that he would be leaving the family for a few days; but they didn’t fall. Inuyasha controlled them himself without the need of the whispered admonishment not to cry, from his older brother. Soon The Tiger came out from the classroom and stood before the brothers. He immediately evaluated the situation, neither brother really wanted to let go of the other, which meant he would have to exert his authority. Therefore he put his arm around Inuyasha and started to draw him gently away, despite the growl that Sesshoumaru didn’t even realise he was making.
The Tiger let his youki rise to counter his young Lord; he had no fear of being overwhelmed by the Prince, Sesshoumaru was nowhere near as strong as him, even though it might be a close call when the youth matured. But by then Sesshoumaru wouldn’t be in this position; The Tiger growled low too, calling to Sesshoumaru to withdraw, he had Inu no Taishou’s authority at the moment with regard to his student. Sesshoumaru shook his head as if realising for the first time what he was doing and he bowed his head slightly to his former teacher, seeing The Tiger smile in return as he escorted the preoccupied Inuyasha back into his care.
The door closed on the anxious Sesshoumaru, who waited for a few moments to make sure Inuyasha was not going to come back after him, then he returned to his study where Inu no Taishou was waiting with papers for his signature. Inuyasha was standing next to his teacher at the front of the class; The Tiger still had his arm around the pup and was speaking to the rest of the children.
"I am pleased to let you know that Inuyasha has returned to us, you may come and speak with him and welcome him back. But before you do, I wish to introduce him to the newer students who arrived after he left. Will Ginta, Hakkaku and Xing-fu come forward first?" The Tiger watched the two wolf cubs come up, they were cousins to each other and Kouga, although they were more like siblings in their more similar natures. Both were easy going and a little timid, and they followed Kouga around all the time; the pair seemed fairly interested in Inuyasha and smiled in a friendly way, as did the panda cub.
Xing-fu was plump with a round and friendly face and although he had come from the continent, he seemed quite self assured and at home; although he was the furthest away from his family and would be remaining in the Western Palace during the shorter breaks, along with the wolf cubs. After they had been introduced, the rest of the class came over and were given an hour to speak and exchange news with Inuyasha. By the time they were called back to start lessons, Inuyasha was well and truly settled with his friends once again.
That night however was very hard for the pup; he was inundated with memories, mainly of the reasons why he hadn’t been at school and he was homesick. He missed everyone at the Palace and the farm; the school was too quiet as all the other pupils were in their own rooms for the rest of the evening. After the last meal and social hour, the boys were sent to their chambers to be calm and contemplative, before they slept. Inuyasha couldn’t sleep though, he tossed and turned, throwing his blankets off and going to view the moon from his window. He could see the Palace from here and it made him miserable to be so near and yet so far.
"We are not a long way off from you, Inuyasha." Whispered Sesshoumaru, whose own aura had been disturbed by his brother’s and he had come to Inuyasha, quicker than he could be seen.
"Shu...Shu?" When he heard his brother’s voice, Inuyasha began to wail in earnest and he couldn’t seem to stop, so Sesshoumaru entered at the window and picked him up. He tried to comfort the pup, but Inuyasha was very clingy and Sesshoumaru was forced to sit down and wait for him to go to sleep in the old familiar way, wrapped up in the Prince’s tail. Finally once Inuyasha was in his deepest sleep, Sesshoumaru put him in the futon and left quietly back through the window. The Tiger watched the older brother’s departure and could now go to bed himself, knowing that all was well with his young charge. He had not been at all surprised at the turn of events, he was well aware of Inuyasha’s homesickness that night, but now the little hanyou would be fine.
It was relatively easy to slip right back into school life for Inuyasha, he was not too far behind as he had been given work to do while he was looking after Hanako. The Tiger had taken special, time consuming effort, to write some assignments for the boy, as well as lend him copies of scrolls for reading, one at a time. Inu no Taishou had been extremely grateful for the male’s intuition and generously presented The Tiger with the deeds of his house, complete with a small packet of land.
The teacher was overwhelmed and protested he had done nothing but his job and that it wouldn’t have taken long for the diligent pup to catch up anyway; after all, the children had a couple of centuries of learning at their disposal if they so wished. But Inu no Taishou wouldn’t hear of it; what he had really rewarded was the devotion in helping his son to achieve in his difficult circumstances, and not caring that said son was a hanyou.
The following couple of years passed by easily for everyone it seemed; Inuyasha was amongst friends and was left alone by the natural class leaders, Kouga and Xing-fu, inasmuch as they no longer tried to make him one of their followers. The pair got up to a lot of mischief if they could get away with it, which wasn’t often; they got into trouble regularly which was a source of entertainment for the others, but it was not harmful and they were very well liked in general.
Only once was there a problem, when both boys got it into their heads to see which was the strongest youkai and who would be the alpha out of both of them. The prank took place during one of the holidays; the boys were restricted to certain areas of the Palace and grounds, along with the attendants from their homes that looked after them. This time they had given their servants the slip while they were occupied with Ginta and Hakkaku, and had decided to test out their skills with some of the weapons in the armoury. It was a plan which they had been brewing together ever since they had been given a tour of the Palace that would be their home from home.
The boys didn’t know yet what their inherent youki talents would be, their powers would not come into effect until puberty, so they had to test their strengths with something else. The something else was going to be a weapon chosen by each and the choice was amazing. It took no time to sneak into the armoury; there was only one guard on duty and many places for small boys to hide, in fact it wasn’t well guarded at all. Kouga and Xing-fu split up and carefully chose their weapons, both reaching for them at the same time.
Suddenly they were stuck; a hand or two was caught in a barrier that surrounded the weapons, each item was secured from theft, because they were under various youki wards that produced the barrier. Of course the boys were discovered immediately as alarms went off; in fact it was Inuyasha who was first on the scene followed by Sesshoumaru. Xing-fu didn’t know who Inuyasha truly was, and hadn’t seen him while the break was on and asked what he was doing. Sesshoumaru was almost shocked at the cub’s audacity; didn’t the boy know he was in serious trouble?
"It is no business of yours Cub, but Inuyasha has rooms here, as do you and the Wolfling. You will answer to my father for your trespass in the weapons room; you know you are not allowed here." Sesshoumaru called to the guard to collect the boys and bring them to Inu no Taishou. Inuyasha followed and whispered to Kouga, asking him if they had been going to do their challenge with the weapons. Kouga of course, couldn’t help bragging at the sound of admiration in his friend’s voice; he had been trying to impress Inuyasha for a very long time and became incautious, as he told the other boy what the two had been going to do.
Of course that had meant that Sesshoumaru had heard everything, but he was not impressed and told Kouga that neither would Inu no Taishou regard them as anything but stupid. Of course then an argument started between Kouga and Xing-fu, who told the wolf in no uncertain terms that he was an idiot for letting his mouth run away with him. Had he been silent, they could have pretended to just be interested in the weapons, having innocently wandered to the wrong area of the Palace. Of course Inuyasha had to put in his two-penneth;
"If you’d said that though, you’d a been lying; why didn’t you just have a fight in the arena like we is s’posed to do? Then you’d a not got hurt either, nor in trouble."
"Shut up you little..."
"Do not finish that phrase Panda Cub, do not add insults to a fellow pupil to your misdemeanour and Inuyasha, I do not think that either Kouga nor Xing-fu want your advice at the moment. You should go now and play outside." He watched with pride as his honest little brother smiled at him and bowed, before running off to wait until later to play with Sesshoumaru. Ignoring the scowling panda, Sesshoumaru turned his attention to Kouga.
"I would have thought you would show more sense by now Kouga, you are the eldest of your peers, but it seems there is neither end, nor solution to your idiocy." His words produced the desired effects; Kouga’s face suffused with colour as he blushed, just before it paled when Inu no Taishou called both boys into his study. The Western Lord had a great deal to say about the irresponsible behaviour that both of the cubs had shown; once again he appealed to Kouga’s duty in the future and how much his cousins looked up to him.
The admonition struck home to the young wolf, but the panda for some reason resented the General acting in loco parentis; however he was too wise to let that obviously show, but it still rankled. The boys were expecting a beating to be the end result of their stupidity, but Inu no Taishou said that since they were so interested in the weapons, they should be put in the next room to it, the dungeon, and spend a few hours locked away.
So for the rest of the afternoon, their freedom was curtailed by iron bars and they counted themselves lucky they were not shackled to the walls or floor, where iron rings and bracelets were hanging. A few hours after they were shut in the dark, a crack of light appeared, and a small figure slid in through the door opening. He came over to the two single cells and offered each boy a persimmon that he had been given for himself. Kouga thanked the pup, recognising Inuyasha’s bravery in risking his father’s anger in visiting them; and he bit into the sweet dark brown flesh of the fruit. But Xing-fu was not in the mood to humour the sanctimonious runt who had got them into even more trouble with his runaway tongue.
He knocked the fruit from Inuyasha’s hand and turned his back on the boy. Shrugging his shoulders, Inuyasha returned to Kouga and told him that his cousins were waiting for him to come back and that he had heard the prisoners would be let out in time for the evening meal. And so it proved to be, not only that, it was a good meal, made up with favourite foods because Inu no Taishou understood the need for young Alpha’s to prove themselves, even if they went about it the wrong way.
Author:petalears
Universe:AU
Rating:PG
Summary:Who is the Alpha of Alpha's according to Kouga?
Quote:You can’t fix stupid.
-Ron White
Silly Boys
The pup looked very lost all of a sudden and Sesshoumaru’s youkai flared, demanding that he make Inuyasha feel safe again. So the older brother knelt down in front of the younger and wrapped his tail around the quivering shoulders; Inuyasha immediately turned into the warmth and snuggled, sighing heavily. He was dressed in a good quality kimono; not silk yet for everyday, as the pup was still only small and liable to wreck any material after only a few days wear and his hair was neatly tied back in a braid. Inu no Taishou entered the room soon after; he knew that his middle son was nervous and had come to encourage him, but he smiled when he saw that Sesshoumaru had beaten him to it.
"So, My Inuyasha, you have butterflies in your tummy." Papa stated. Inuyasha looked at him bemused, confused as to what his father meant.
"Butterflies, Papa? I’s not eaten any."
"It means that you are nervous or worried about something and your tummy feels all fluttery inside. Isn’t that how you are at the moment?"
"Yes, Papa...I feels a bit sick too."
"It is perfectly normal Inuyasha; most beings would feel as you do now. I know you are looking forward to school, but you have been away for nearly a whole year and going back is making you feel the strangeness. It will soon pass I promise and hasn’t Sesshoumaru told you yet that he is going to take you? He won’t let anyone frighten you, now, will he? Come on, let me look at you, yes, you are perfectly presentable. " Inu no Taishou gave his son a kiss and a hug, although he had to get under Sesshoumaru’s protective tail to do so.
The older brother sighed, he knew that Inuyasha had to go back to school, besides the boy wanted to go, but they would miss each other and the freedom to just find each other would be curtailed. He also noted that if Inuyasha were to get to his class that day, it would be up to him to get the pup there. So, he mentioned that it was time to go, and unwound his tail from Inuyasha and took him by the hand instead. Their father nodded at his eldest and allowed the pair to pass him and as they went out of the room, he gave a final ruffle to Inuyasha’s hair.
As they walked to the school rooms in the Palace grounds, Sesshoumaru could feel the slight tremble in Inuyasha’s hand and he released some of his youki to reassure the pup. It worked, Inuyasha felt warmer as the youki of one of his alpha’s surrounded him and knew that he was just being silly with his trepidation. But whereas Inuyasha was left feeling secure, the other children inside the classroom were set on edge by the strong youki, until The Tiger told them to be easy; it was the Prince of the West who came to see them. The Tiger understood that Inuyasha was feeling strange and stood to greet both sons of his Lord.
Sesshoumaru could smell the salt as tears came to Inuyasha’s eyes, drawn up because he knew that he would be leaving the family for a few days; but they didn’t fall. Inuyasha controlled them himself without the need of the whispered admonishment not to cry, from his older brother. Soon The Tiger came out from the classroom and stood before the brothers. He immediately evaluated the situation, neither brother really wanted to let go of the other, which meant he would have to exert his authority. Therefore he put his arm around Inuyasha and started to draw him gently away, despite the growl that Sesshoumaru didn’t even realise he was making.
The Tiger let his youki rise to counter his young Lord; he had no fear of being overwhelmed by the Prince, Sesshoumaru was nowhere near as strong as him, even though it might be a close call when the youth matured. But by then Sesshoumaru wouldn’t be in this position; The Tiger growled low too, calling to Sesshoumaru to withdraw, he had Inu no Taishou’s authority at the moment with regard to his student. Sesshoumaru shook his head as if realising for the first time what he was doing and he bowed his head slightly to his former teacher, seeing The Tiger smile in return as he escorted the preoccupied Inuyasha back into his care.
The door closed on the anxious Sesshoumaru, who waited for a few moments to make sure Inuyasha was not going to come back after him, then he returned to his study where Inu no Taishou was waiting with papers for his signature. Inuyasha was standing next to his teacher at the front of the class; The Tiger still had his arm around the pup and was speaking to the rest of the children.
"I am pleased to let you know that Inuyasha has returned to us, you may come and speak with him and welcome him back. But before you do, I wish to introduce him to the newer students who arrived after he left. Will Ginta, Hakkaku and Xing-fu come forward first?" The Tiger watched the two wolf cubs come up, they were cousins to each other and Kouga, although they were more like siblings in their more similar natures. Both were easy going and a little timid, and they followed Kouga around all the time; the pair seemed fairly interested in Inuyasha and smiled in a friendly way, as did the panda cub.
Xing-fu was plump with a round and friendly face and although he had come from the continent, he seemed quite self assured and at home; although he was the furthest away from his family and would be remaining in the Western Palace during the shorter breaks, along with the wolf cubs. After they had been introduced, the rest of the class came over and were given an hour to speak and exchange news with Inuyasha. By the time they were called back to start lessons, Inuyasha was well and truly settled with his friends once again.
That night however was very hard for the pup; he was inundated with memories, mainly of the reasons why he hadn’t been at school and he was homesick. He missed everyone at the Palace and the farm; the school was too quiet as all the other pupils were in their own rooms for the rest of the evening. After the last meal and social hour, the boys were sent to their chambers to be calm and contemplative, before they slept. Inuyasha couldn’t sleep though, he tossed and turned, throwing his blankets off and going to view the moon from his window. He could see the Palace from here and it made him miserable to be so near and yet so far.
"We are not a long way off from you, Inuyasha." Whispered Sesshoumaru, whose own aura had been disturbed by his brother’s and he had come to Inuyasha, quicker than he could be seen.
"Shu...Shu?" When he heard his brother’s voice, Inuyasha began to wail in earnest and he couldn’t seem to stop, so Sesshoumaru entered at the window and picked him up. He tried to comfort the pup, but Inuyasha was very clingy and Sesshoumaru was forced to sit down and wait for him to go to sleep in the old familiar way, wrapped up in the Prince’s tail. Finally once Inuyasha was in his deepest sleep, Sesshoumaru put him in the futon and left quietly back through the window. The Tiger watched the older brother’s departure and could now go to bed himself, knowing that all was well with his young charge. He had not been at all surprised at the turn of events, he was well aware of Inuyasha’s homesickness that night, but now the little hanyou would be fine.
It was relatively easy to slip right back into school life for Inuyasha, he was not too far behind as he had been given work to do while he was looking after Hanako. The Tiger had taken special, time consuming effort, to write some assignments for the boy, as well as lend him copies of scrolls for reading, one at a time. Inu no Taishou had been extremely grateful for the male’s intuition and generously presented The Tiger with the deeds of his house, complete with a small packet of land.
The teacher was overwhelmed and protested he had done nothing but his job and that it wouldn’t have taken long for the diligent pup to catch up anyway; after all, the children had a couple of centuries of learning at their disposal if they so wished. But Inu no Taishou wouldn’t hear of it; what he had really rewarded was the devotion in helping his son to achieve in his difficult circumstances, and not caring that said son was a hanyou.
The following couple of years passed by easily for everyone it seemed; Inuyasha was amongst friends and was left alone by the natural class leaders, Kouga and Xing-fu, inasmuch as they no longer tried to make him one of their followers. The pair got up to a lot of mischief if they could get away with it, which wasn’t often; they got into trouble regularly which was a source of entertainment for the others, but it was not harmful and they were very well liked in general.
Only once was there a problem, when both boys got it into their heads to see which was the strongest youkai and who would be the alpha out of both of them. The prank took place during one of the holidays; the boys were restricted to certain areas of the Palace and grounds, along with the attendants from their homes that looked after them. This time they had given their servants the slip while they were occupied with Ginta and Hakkaku, and had decided to test out their skills with some of the weapons in the armoury. It was a plan which they had been brewing together ever since they had been given a tour of the Palace that would be their home from home.
The boys didn’t know yet what their inherent youki talents would be, their powers would not come into effect until puberty, so they had to test their strengths with something else. The something else was going to be a weapon chosen by each and the choice was amazing. It took no time to sneak into the armoury; there was only one guard on duty and many places for small boys to hide, in fact it wasn’t well guarded at all. Kouga and Xing-fu split up and carefully chose their weapons, both reaching for them at the same time.
Suddenly they were stuck; a hand or two was caught in a barrier that surrounded the weapons, each item was secured from theft, because they were under various youki wards that produced the barrier. Of course the boys were discovered immediately as alarms went off; in fact it was Inuyasha who was first on the scene followed by Sesshoumaru. Xing-fu didn’t know who Inuyasha truly was, and hadn’t seen him while the break was on and asked what he was doing. Sesshoumaru was almost shocked at the cub’s audacity; didn’t the boy know he was in serious trouble?
"It is no business of yours Cub, but Inuyasha has rooms here, as do you and the Wolfling. You will answer to my father for your trespass in the weapons room; you know you are not allowed here." Sesshoumaru called to the guard to collect the boys and bring them to Inu no Taishou. Inuyasha followed and whispered to Kouga, asking him if they had been going to do their challenge with the weapons. Kouga of course, couldn’t help bragging at the sound of admiration in his friend’s voice; he had been trying to impress Inuyasha for a very long time and became incautious, as he told the other boy what the two had been going to do.
Of course that had meant that Sesshoumaru had heard everything, but he was not impressed and told Kouga that neither would Inu no Taishou regard them as anything but stupid. Of course then an argument started between Kouga and Xing-fu, who told the wolf in no uncertain terms that he was an idiot for letting his mouth run away with him. Had he been silent, they could have pretended to just be interested in the weapons, having innocently wandered to the wrong area of the Palace. Of course Inuyasha had to put in his two-penneth;
"If you’d said that though, you’d a been lying; why didn’t you just have a fight in the arena like we is s’posed to do? Then you’d a not got hurt either, nor in trouble."
"Shut up you little..."
"Do not finish that phrase Panda Cub, do not add insults to a fellow pupil to your misdemeanour and Inuyasha, I do not think that either Kouga nor Xing-fu want your advice at the moment. You should go now and play outside." He watched with pride as his honest little brother smiled at him and bowed, before running off to wait until later to play with Sesshoumaru. Ignoring the scowling panda, Sesshoumaru turned his attention to Kouga.
"I would have thought you would show more sense by now Kouga, you are the eldest of your peers, but it seems there is neither end, nor solution to your idiocy." His words produced the desired effects; Kouga’s face suffused with colour as he blushed, just before it paled when Inu no Taishou called both boys into his study. The Western Lord had a great deal to say about the irresponsible behaviour that both of the cubs had shown; once again he appealed to Kouga’s duty in the future and how much his cousins looked up to him.
The admonition struck home to the young wolf, but the panda for some reason resented the General acting in loco parentis; however he was too wise to let that obviously show, but it still rankled. The boys were expecting a beating to be the end result of their stupidity, but Inu no Taishou said that since they were so interested in the weapons, they should be put in the next room to it, the dungeon, and spend a few hours locked away.
So for the rest of the afternoon, their freedom was curtailed by iron bars and they counted themselves lucky they were not shackled to the walls or floor, where iron rings and bracelets were hanging. A few hours after they were shut in the dark, a crack of light appeared, and a small figure slid in through the door opening. He came over to the two single cells and offered each boy a persimmon that he had been given for himself. Kouga thanked the pup, recognising Inuyasha’s bravery in risking his father’s anger in visiting them; and he bit into the sweet dark brown flesh of the fruit. But Xing-fu was not in the mood to humour the sanctimonious runt who had got them into even more trouble with his runaway tongue.
He knocked the fruit from Inuyasha’s hand and turned his back on the boy. Shrugging his shoulders, Inuyasha returned to Kouga and told him that his cousins were waiting for him to come back and that he had heard the prisoners would be let out in time for the evening meal. And so it proved to be, not only that, it was a good meal, made up with favourite foods because Inu no Taishou understood the need for young Alpha’s to prove themselves, even if they went about it the wrong way.