Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Nikanaru
By : Koday
Category: InuYasha > General
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Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter List
- 1
- 2
Koday

Disclaimer

Quite obviously, I don�t own any rights
towards the Inuyasha franchise, and am not making any sort of profit off of all
this. This is strictly a work of fan appreciation. I doubt I could even make
any money off this if I tried.

Mind you, if I did think I could, I�d totally
go for it.

(But I do claim unofficial ownership on any
of my original characters.)

Nikanaru

Chapter
1:

Max

I�ve never met the guy, but based on
some of the things I�ve heard, Satan would NOT be a gentle lover.

According to popular rumor, Midterm week
was second only to Finals week in terms of the worst possible hell a student
could go through. And when we say �hell�, that is to say that the experience
was actually like a hole in the ground breaking open right in front of you,
Satan himself crawling out and then giving you a swift kick in the balls with
his hooved feet with such force that left no question that you�d just
encountered the Lord of eternal torment.

While it was all metaphorical, Midterm week
alone had already left Max feeling as though he�d not only had the living shit
kicked out of him by said master of the Damned, but had also been tied down and
repeatedly violated by him.

Metaphorically, of course.

Jesus�so what�s Finals week going to be
like, then?? That dreaded though coursed like a
rampaging army through the already ragged battlefield that was his mind. Having
spent the last week doing nothing but study, study, study, eat, shit and study,
Max�s brain quite physically felt like an exhausted muscle, groaning in protest
every time he�d think of anything more intellectually stimulating than
primetime television.

Aw, ya just finished Midterms�c�mon,
relax a little. Just think of something else. Putting
the nightmare that was this past week behind him, Max tried elevating his
somewhat fraggled mood by focusing on the cute little children playing in the
park. Not that they were that hard to notice, given that their laughing and
playful screams were plenty audible, even with the intense wind rushing past Max�s
head. It was cute, no question there, but it was also too inane for a mind that
had been saturated in scholastic complications such as his had. So instead, he
decided to pay unusual attention to the billboards and advertising posters he
spotted as he went by. It actually became a challenge to read them all while
moving at such blinding speeds.

Let�s see, let�s see, let�s see�Is my
breath minty fresh? Am I worth it? Am I Zestfully clean? Are my panty liners
absorbent enough? Is my headache an Excedrin headache? Is�oh, Jesus Christ, is
it ever! Ow! Speed-reading, however, only reminded him of the intense reading and
the long hours spent studying a plethora of subjects given the way his eyes and
head throbbed painfully in unison. Squeezing them shut, he at last decided
simply to get home and do absolutely dick-all but snooze. He�d earned it, after
all.

Oops. Guess again, you jackass. Chastising himself, it hit him that another plethora of tasks he
had on his agenda were chores at the shrine, seeing as how he�d been putting
them off all week in favor of studying. It would take him the better part of
the evening to get them all done. He was inevitably screwed. There was no way
he was going to be able to relax until at least tomorrow.

Well, at least it�ll be dumbed down,
physical stuff. That kind of stuff I can deal with standing on my head. He presumptuously thought. And was promptly corrected when he hit
the roof of the building he was leaping onto much sooner than he�d anticipated.
Eyes snapped back open, as did his screeching mouth, just in time to see the
concrete roof his face was slammed into as his whole body tripped.

Pushing himself back up, Max brushed the
dirt off his face, offering himself a self-loathing chuckle. Probably
should�ve taken the bus back. It might be worth dealing with the stench today.
Too late for that now, though, so he simply ran to the other side of the roof
and sprang off of it, eyes open this time, onto the roof of the adjacent
building, and continued in the direction of the Higurashi Shrine.

*******

16
Years ago

�Bus pass?�

�Yep.�

�Money?�

�Yes, mom.�

�Cell?�

�All here.� To prove his claims, Souta
opened up the duffel bag to meet his mother�s inspection. Hardly sparing the
opportunity, Sakura Higurashi saw for herself that her son indeed had
everything common sense would suggest he�d need for a safe class trip to
Nagano. Though she didn�t acknowledge this without some reluctance.

�Okay.� She conceded. �We�ll leave in
fifteen minutes. You should go get something to eat.� The boy nodded and went
downstairs to the kitchen. In spite of herself, Sakura could only stand still,
alone in her son�s room, trying to come to terms with the sense of dread she
was unable to overcome. In fifteen minutes, she would drive Souta to the bus
stop, where, for the first time in two years, one of her children would be sent
away from home for an extended period� Out of her reach, out of her
supervision, out of her direct ability to see to his safety. She knew the trip
was only supposed to be a few days, and that the trip would be chaperoned by
several teachers, but no matter how she attempted to rationalize the situation,
doubt and fear quaked at the foundations of her very soul.

When a hand rested upon her shoulder, she
turned to see her father with a consoling look in his eyes. He knew this wasn�t
easy for her. Even Souta knew that. In fact, when he�d first told his mother
about this overnight trip and had seen the sudden horror in her eyes, he�d
tried to act as though he didn�t really want to go, just for the sake sparing
her the painful memories. For Sakura, the idea of Souta leaving home for
something more than just a trip around town, but for a real overnight trip� it
was absolutely terrifying. She couldn�t handle it if something happened to
him�if he left and then somehow never returned�

�her only remaining child.

�I�m okay.� She assured her father,
although the slightly trembling voice in which those words were spoken betrayed
their very meaning. This was torture for her, yet she knew she had to endure
it. She couldn�t keep Souta locked up for the rest of his life. It wasn�t fair
to him. She had to try and accept that what had happened before happened under
extraordinary circumstances, and she couldn�t create an association between that
and normal situations like this one.

Besides, Souta was going on a supervised
class field trip, not through a time portal to a world full of demons and
monsters, where all her contact with him would be completely cut off.

Leaving her father be, and while Souta ate,
she took a walk around the shrine yards, as doing so usually brought her some
peace. Not this time, though. She was simply unable to shake all the terrible
memories this situation was resurfacing. Remembering how she betrayed every
motherly instinct she now followed religiously when she had allowed her
daughter to travel back and forth through an occult rift in time that had been
discovered in her own back yard. In the well.

The Goddamned Bone-Eater�s Well.

Everything in their lives had changed so
quickly when the time-traveling properties of the well had been discovered�her
daughter had disappeared for two days and the only explanation offered was from
a seemingly delirious Souta. He�d sworn that a monster had burst out of the
Bone-Eater�s Well and dragged his sister back down it in a flash of light.
Obviously, the child�s claims were dismissed as either a result of delusion or
shock, but either way, Sakura spent those two days frantically trying to find
her missing daughter.

Then, just as suddenly as she had
disappeared, Kagome had re-appeared at the bottom of the well.

Kagome�s explanation for what had happened
to her had been even more unbelievable than Souta�s: That she had been sent
back in time to feudal Japan, and had been in the company of demons and other
unholy beings. However, she had been in such a state that it seemed she herself
hardly believed what she was saying. Despite that Sakura�s rational mind made
it impossible for her to believe such a story either, Sakura just considered
herself lucky that her daughter had returned to her safe and unharmed. She
believed that the circumstances under which Kagome had disappeared weren�t
important, so long as she was home and safe.

She should have known better.

Barely hours after her Kagome had come
back, he came out of nowhere. The same nowhere where Kagome had
reappeared from. And he dragged her right back, while Sakura and the rest of
the family was stunned with sheer confusion. Only hours later did she return
again, this time with him, and explain the extraordinary circumstances.

Demons. Time travel. War. Sacred jewels.
Half of the legends her father had often ranted on about in hopes of selling
cheap souvenirs to tourists had turned out to be true. As unbelievable as it
all seemed, proof of it was right in her backyard.

That brought Sakura to the single hardest
decision she ever had to make in her life; Her daughter was now determined to
go back and forth through time to the Feudal era, a notoriously dangerous time,
in order to collect fragments of a� powerful jewel before some� evil characters
could.

Every motherly instinct in Sakura screamed
for her to say �No.� Refuse. Forbid it outright. What on earth kind of parent
would willingly allow their child to venture somewhere the parent couldn�t
follow, where few safety measures existed, so the child could risk her life
every day? The loss of her daughter was something she�d never be able to
handle. Especially after having already suffered the loss of her husband.

But, before Sakura had said anything after
her daughter had explained the situation, Sakura had taken a moment to think.
She knew her daughter well, and knew that, despite her young age, Kagome had
always had a strict sense of justice and fundamental right. Listening to her daughter
speak of this �journey� she had to undertake 500 years in the past, Sakura
could feel the passion emanating from Kagome�s voice.

Kagome fully believed that going into the
past and doing this was not only the right thing to do, but absolutely necessary.
This jewel, the Jewel of the Four Souls as she called it, was a mystical object
that could bestow immense power upon whoever possessed it. Thus, if the wrong
person were to get the jewel, they would have the power to inflict immense pain
and suffering onto others. Innocent people. And there was no way in hell Kagome
was going to sit back and let that happen.

Sakura had known that if she had tried to
forbid her daughter from embarking on this quest, Kagome would have gone
anyways. If Sakura protested it and tried to stop her, it would only give
Kagome a reason to avoid her, and avoid coming back home.

Furthermore, there was the demon�or
half-demon, as he had later specified, that Kagome had traveled with: when
pressed about it, Inuyasha had sworn to Sakura that he would keep Kagome safe.
Despite the boy�s gruff demeanor and attitude, (And despite her father�s
continual warnings that the dog-demon was a no-good, satanic roughneck.) Sakura
had sensed a degree of sincerity in him. She knew he was physically strong�
physical strength to match the strength of Kagome�s willpower. Him being there
alongside Kagome had helped reassure Sakura immensely.

Thus, and still with immense hesitation,
Sakura had put on a fake smile and told Kagome that she had her support on this
quest. Sakura had, of course, set conditions; rather predictable ones about
Kagome returning home at least every two or three weeks, and keeping up with
her studies while she was back in time.

And despite the lump in her stomach she
always had whenever her daughter had been gone, despite her constant worrying,
Kagome had always come back. Never hurt. Never scarred. The worst she had ever
come back with had been some tattered and worn clothing. And Sakura had always
greeted her with a smile, just as she had always sent her off with one, fake as
they may have all been.

Despite that everything seemed to be going
well, Sakura still never got used to the idea. Although she was perpetually
worried for her daughter�s safety, each time she came back Kagome seemed to
have matured considerably. Hard to believe, but these trips to the feudal era
were changing Kagome; building her character. She seemed to come back home a
stronger person each time, until eventually, she almost seemed invincible. A
fearless woman who was more that ready to take on any challenge life sent her
way. Sakura prayed that when this quest was over, God willing very soon, Kagome
would apply this same attitude to modern life. She would have gone very far in
life had she.

And then there was the budding relationship
she seemed to have with that half-demon. It slowly dawned upon Sakura that her
daughter was, if not in love, then very close to it. Inuyasha too, from what
she could tell, had strong feelings for Kagome. Whenever Kagome had come home
in an angry mood, grumbling about the idiot dog-demon (Which happened pretty
often.) Inuyasha eventually followed behind her with some attempt to either
apologize or cheer her up. However sad, or unintentionally destructive, his
attempts may have been. (A bicycle twisted beyond repair, several shattered
ancient artifacts, and a few explosions in the back courtyard stood as
testament to that.)

That did offer Sakura some measure of
relief. To know that Inuyasha truly cared about Kagome meant that she knew he
would protect her with his life. Even though Sakura has always known that
Kagome wasn�t telling her about half of the dangerous things that went on in
the feudal era to spare her the worrying, Sakura was able, after two years, to
ease up, and have faith that her daughter was in good hands.

She finally allowed herself to believe that
her daughter would always come home.

Then, Sakura�s worst nightmare happened.

Pausing in her steps, Sakura looked up at
the old well-house. Two years ago, in front of that building, she had kissed
Kagome on the cheek, given her some bag-lunch specially made for her and her
friends on the other side of the well, and wished her well as she watched her
daughter disappear through the time portal.

That was the last time she had ever seen
her.

Two weeks went by. Sakura was curious, but
unworried. Three weeks went by. Worry began to set in.

Two months passed.

Panic.

By that time, Sakura had been repeatedly
jumping into the well herself, desperately trying to get it to work for her.
Hoping she could somehow go find Kagome, go save her from whatever was
preventing her from coming home. But the well denied her every time. Denied her
her daughter. Denied her from even knowing what happened. If Kagome was even
still alive or dead. Or suffering.

Not knowing was the hardest part by far.
The two years since Kagome had gone had been absolute hell, Sakura never
knowing for sure whether Kagome had been killed, or was hurt, or anything. Not
a day went by where she didn�t look at the well house and desperately hope that
Kagome would finally appear out of it. Sakura found herself sporadically
breaking into tears, crying for something�anything to give her hope that Kagome
was even alive. At one point, she even found herself wishing that she could
just know if her daughter was dead, so that Sakura could at least deal with it,
and not spend everyday praying, hoping in vain, to the point where it
physically hurt, that Kagome would come back to her.

And now she found herself in the familiar
position she had been in every day for the past two years. Over all that time,
the hurt had never dulled. No. Today, it was even worse. Knowing that she had
to let her only remaining child go off to where she couldn�t be with him,
assuring his safety, she was forced once again to deal with all the emotional
damage that had all but killed her on the inside. And yet knew that she had to
be strong and deal with them, for her son�s sake, no matter how badly it hurt
her.

And it did hurt. She wanted nothing less
than to clutch Souta protectively in her arms and never let him go. But that
was simply not possible. Her child would grow up, and she couldn�t reasonably
hold him back because of her insecurities.

And so, all that she was left with was to
hug herself as the pain coursed through her while she desperately trying to
fight back to tears. She didn�t do a terribly good job of it.

Just then, she heard a door open from the
house, and quickly silenced herself, covering her face with her hands. She
would NOT let Souta see her like this. She wanted to send him off guilt-free.
She wanted him to have a normal, enjoyable trip that any other kid his age
could enjoy.

However, even though Sakura was no longer
crying, she still heard it.

She suddenly stiffened then, listening.
Crying. Yes, that was what she was hearing. But from who? She turned around and
saw Souta leaving the house with Grandpa, packing Souta�s luggage in the car.
Neither of them were making any sound. Listening again, hearing the crying,
she�d now able to determine that it was neither hers, nor Souta�s. This was a
baby�s crying, judging from the pitch. Turning back around, she realized that
it was coming from

The well house.

She froze where she was. In that instant,
it felt as if time itself had stopped. She couldn�t hear the wind. She couldn�t
hear the sounds of the city. She couldn�t hear her own breathing. All she could
hear was the muffled wailing coming from the small building in front of her.

Finally, Sakura was able to move. Feeling
like an anthropoid muscle trying to move again, she willed her shaking hands to
the latch on the door to the well house.

Both Souta and Grandpa looked away from
their efforts to pack the car when they heard the creaking shoji to the well
house being opened. Immediate concern hit them both when they saw Sakura
entering.

�Mom?� Souta called over to her. His mother
had never set foot in that building since her last attempt over a year ago to
use the well herself. He and his grandfather gave each other worried looks before
silently agreeing to follow her. Something had to be very wrong for her to go
in there again.

The old house was almost completely devoid
of light, save for the invading column of it that leaked through the shoji.
Sakura paused a moment to let her eyes adjust to the dark, as the crying only
got louder. Now inside, she was able to determine that it was indeed coming
from the bottom of the Bone Eater�s well. However, it was so pitch dark that
she couldn�t see the all the way down.

In an almost automatic and robotic manner,
she lifted her legs over the side of the well and began climbing down the
ladder they had installed there so many years ago.

�Mom!� Souta called again, running up to
the well house as he saw his mother descending into the well. For a brief
moment, he was worried she had snapped. He feared that him going on this trip
had once again made his mother desperate enough to try and use the well herself
again. But just as he approached the doors, he heard the crying too.

�What on earth?� Grandpa remarked as he
caught up and heard the noise. Both of them approached the well, looking down
into its darkness where both Sakura and the sound now where.

�Mom? What is that??� Souta called down.
When there was no answer, he was about to climb down himself, when he finally
saw his mother coming back up, but climbing with a single hand. As she came up
further, he was able to see why�

In her arm, Sakura now carried a crying
infant child.

A quite distinctively demon child.

*******

Present

CRUNK!

�Oh, son of a��

Sakura�s attention diverted from the book
she was reading to the front door as Max struggled with the rickety,
semi-fictional slides. Grumbling in annoyance, the boy hefted the entire frame
up, loosening it from whatever was blocking it and managed to open it enough to
give him the leeway he needed to get into his own house. An equally frustrating
struggle ensued when he tried to close it behind him.

Guess that�s first thing on my to-do
list. He noted to himself after the shoji�s
successful closing. Turning around, he offered a smile in return to the
middle-aged lady smiling at him from the coffee table.

�Hey, Grandma.� Giving a quick,
two-fingered salute, Max headed off to the stairs leading up to his room.

�Max.� Sakura called to him, halting him in
his tracks. He once again turned around to face her.

�Yeah?� That question was met with an
expectant expression from the woman.

Uh-oh. Something�s wrong. He deduced. It couldn�t be anything major, given that she still had
that ever-present smile on her face.

�Oh!� He exclaimed in presumed realization.
�The Midterms went okay.� Still she simply smiled at him. �Uh, I�m pretty sure
I did well.� No change. �And�and I�m going to get started on my chores right
away! Don�t worry, I�ll have �em done before supper.�

Sakura continued to smile at him, slowly
stirring up a panic in Max�s mind.

What?? What the hell is it?!

�For heaven sakes, Max,�� She asked. �You
did remember, didn�t you?�

Remember? Remember what? Was I supposed
to do something?? What, is this some special day? Oh, shit, is it mother�s
day?! No, no, that in May�or March. Well, one of the �M�s.

�Well, yeah! Of course!� Luckily for Max,
one amongst his skills was acting. So the fact that his mind was racing
blazingly to try and figure out what occasion it was was in no way reflected on
his confident, self-assured facial expression.

Is it mother�s day? Father�s day? Is it
someone�s birthday?? Damn it, man, THINK!

�So what are you going to do, then?�
Another question which only added to the poor young demon�s confusion. Deciding
that instead of trying to seek the answer in the dank recesses of his own mind,
Max should consult the agenda in which he had written all the important dates
in at the beginning of the year. It was upstairs, in his room, in a drawer,
under a pile of other books� probably. Truth be told, after he had gotten it
and written in it all those months ago, he�d placed in somewhere in his room
and never looked at it since. Slowly, he began inching towards the staircase
while doing some good, old-fashioned stalling.

�Well, y�know, just let me unpack. I mean,
what AM I going to do for this special occasion? Can�t make a decision like
that with all these excess textbooks straining my back like this.� That, by any
stretch of the imagination, was complete bullshit. The heaviest backpack that
any high-schooler could be cursed with could ride on Max�s back with absurd
ease, given that Max had the physical strength to heave a family-sized minivan.
Sakura, having raised him, would know that, and he would know that she would
know. But Max had no time to let completely obvious details get in the way�he
was oh-so close to the staircase, and a mere few more ramblings away to
salvation from this potentially awkward moment!

When suddenly, Souta appeared from the
kitchen and merrily shouted:

�Hey! Happy birthday!�

AHA!

�Happy birthday, Grandma!� Max immediately
echoed triumphantly, arms outstretched as if to emphasize his exclamation.

Confidence was quickly diminished when the
smile left Sakura�s face and Souta stared at him as someone would stare at a
mental patient.

Fuck! Misfire!

�Uh�� Max stammered, now out of ideas.

�Max?� Souta carefully asked.

�Yeah?� Max carefully responded.

�Max�� Sakura�s warm smile graced her lips
again, with a hint of humor in its curve. �It�s your birthday.�

��

��Nyuh??� Max inquired articulately as he
suddenly remembered the month and the day. Not that he was completely oblivious
to the fact that it was the 17^th, its just that he�d been so wrapped
up in schoolwork lately that he�d had only a passing notice of dates. �Oh.�
Lowering his arms relief washed over him�well, that and a wish that he were
limber enough to give himself a swift kick in the ass. Both Souta and Sakura
were trying to restrain their chuckles, not that Max would have blamed them in
the least for not bothering.

�You actually forgot?� Souta managed to get
out as his chuckling died down. �Oh, man, I can remember when you were so
excited when your birthday was coming up you couldn�t sit still.�

�Uh-huh.� Max indignantly reminisced,
looking over to the wall near the stairs where there was a peculiar
discoloration hidden under a strategically placed portrait. The result of a
shoddy attempt at spackling and painting the wall back up way back when Max had
unintentionally crashed into it from coming down the stairs at too great a
velocity. Hey, he had had a right to be excited; he had finally hit the big 1-
0 that morning.

And now, relatively few broken walls later,
he had hit the big 1-6.

I think. Max
reminded himself, given that they didn�t know what his precise date of birth
was. Instead, they just went by the date Sakura had found him at the bottom of
the well.

�Oh, don�t worry about it.� Came her warm,
grandmotherly assurance as she got up from the table and give him a peck on the
cheek. �Kagome used to do he exact same thing. I�m proud that you�re taking
your studies so seriously.�

�Yeah, well...� Max shrugged off the
compliment. �Hey, it�s no bid deal. I gotta finish all those chores tonight
anyways.� He moved to head back upstairs, but Souta quickly ran interception.

�Are you kidding?� He asked incredulously.
�This is sweet sixteen, squirt!�

When are you going to stop calling me
that? I�m taller than you now, you prick.

�Come on, the Shrine�s not gonna collapse
overnight! Grandpa is gonna be back any second with your cake, and then we can
all head out to a movie or something. You wanted to see �Casual
Armageddon�, right?�

�Uh�I did, yeah, but�� Max paused to give a
quick, indicating glance at Sakura. �I�m not sure that�s the kinda movie we
should see with the, uh�� Stopping a moment, he scanned his vocabulary for the
appropriate word.

�Elderly?� Sakura finished for him.

�You said it. Not me.� Max replied
innocently.

�Oh, for heaven�s sakes, I�ve more than
seen my share of violent movies in my time.� She assured him with a pat on the
shoulder. �If that�s the movie you want to see, then that�s the movie we�ll
see. Simple as that."

�Simple as that.� He echoed, smiling with a sigh. It was nice to
know that his family was fairly open-minded about things, even if those things
happened to involve adrenaline pumped films with grotesque violence and gore.

And hopefully, no nudity. I do NOT want
to watch a sex scene with Grandma sitting next to me!

Or course, they�d have to be fairly open
minded to adopt him in the first place. Hell, if any other person had found a
demon-baby left in the bottom of a well in their backyard, the Vegas money was
on them selling the baby to some lab for government experiments. Maybe instead
of �Max�, he would have been named �Subject X-666�, and be turned into some
super-soldier who was sent on dangerous missions for freedom and democracy,
with the incentive of an explosive chip they had implanted in his head. Maybe
they�d clone him and have a whole army of super-soldiers to do their bidding.
And, in the spirit on mined Hollywood clich�s, those clones would one day snap,
turn on their masters and try to take over the world.

Actually, that would be really fucking
cool.

But in the end, Max�s common sense thanked
God that that wasn�t the case. Instead, he had a family that had taken
considerable risks to keep him, raise him, give him a public identity and give
him a chance at leading a happy, relatively normal life. At least by human
standards.

Not that he had any idea what the
alternative, demonic standard was. What did it mean to be a demon? Max didn�t
know, and, frankly, didn�t care.

Reflection of the life he�d lived up to
this point, however, was brutally interrupted when a loud banging occurred just
outside the defective shoji. All three turned around to hear the follow-up
sounds of crashing and a stream of curses.

Great Grandpa�s home!

All three rushed over to the shoji and
jarred it open to the sight of Tetsu Higurashi on the ground, with what now
appeared to be a box with squished cake inside.

�I can�t believe this!� The family elder
grumbled with virility surprising of a man his age. �The cake! Gods, that cake
was expensive!� Souta and Sakura moved to help the old man up, while Max
regarded said cake, its smell clearly identifying it to Max�s highly sensitive
nostrils.

Oh my COW. That was a
Strawberry-Peanut-Butter-Vanilla-Icing-Double-Decker-Delight! He actually got
it right this time!

The smell immediately reminded Max of a
perpetual frustration he�d had on his birthdays: He had once fallen in love
when he went to his friend Dai�s birthday party years ago and had a chance to
taste that sweet, heavenly pastry, its aroma firmly burned into his memory.
Every birthday of his afterwards, he had specifically requested that cake, only
to have someone goof it up and give him something like
Chocolate-Jelly-Raspberry-Icing-Quad-Carnal-Euphoria. Of course, Max had always
been too polite to complain. He had just plastered on a smile and thanked his
family, while weeping softly on the inside.

And now they�d actually gotten the
long-lost cake of his dreams, only to have it smashed under the weight of an
84-year-old man.

While the others helped Grandpa inside, Max
looked over the squashed box, staring at it like one would mourningly stare at
the remains of a beloved family member.

And the aroma�dear God, how he had lovingly
remembered that hauntingly delicious aroma. Even though the cake was now pizza,
he found the smell even more delightful than he remembered.

Wait a minute�He rationalized, inspecting it closer. Some parts are still good.
Maybe if I just get the bits that haven�t been squished into the dirt�although
that�s kinda gross�aw, hell, I didn�t wait all these years for nothing!

Souta helped Grandpa sit down, despite the
old man�s insistence that he was fine.
�For crying out loud, Souta, it�s not like
I�m anywhere near a state where I have to use a cane or ride around in one of
those Rascals!�

�I know, Grandpa. We just wanna make sure
that you stay that way.�

�Forget me! You should all be outraged
about that cake. Do you have any idea how much those things go for these
days?.! If it wasn�t someone�s birthday, I�d have spent the night calling consumer
protection over what they�re extorting!�

�Oh, just forget about it, dad.� Sakura
admonished. �This is supposed to be happy day. We can just go out to eat.�

�That�s not the point! There�s been wasted
money here, and we�re in the middle of a recession! Tourism around the shrine
is low this year� we should learn from this and start being extra cautious with
the money we got and the expensive things we get.�

�Dad��

�We should stick a notice on that door
until we get it fixed so that no one will go crashing into it again. And we
need to start making maximum use out of everything around the house. No
throwing anything out until the bottle is absolutely dry!�

�Grandpa, any chance we could discuss this
tomorrow? I�m sure Max doesn�t want to spend his birthday talking abou...�
Souta turned around to notice that Max hadn�t followed them in. Curiously he
and Sakura peered out the door and saw Max with his back to them, crouched on
the front steps, holding a box up to his face.

�Max?�

Max turned around to face them. That is, to
face them with a face now partially covered in strawberry, peanut butter,
vanilla, and whatever else was in the remains to the cake. Sakura and Souta
could only stare at him abjectly.

�That�s what I�m talking about! Good
thinking, Max!� Grandpa congratulated him before sticking a post-it note on the
front door and heading into the kitchen. Eventually, the creeping of smiles
began to cross the lips of Sakura and her son.

�Um�sorry, did you guys want some?� Max
tried, offering the box and all its lumpy contents to them. �It�s, uh, still
pretty dang good.� Both of them shook their heads no, and Max simply went into
the kitchen with the box, while still grabbing at chunks of cake and stuffing
them in his mouth.

Happy birthday to me�happy birthday to
me�

*******

Opening the door to his room, Max took a
moment to stretch. Finally, after dealing with school, family, and what had to
be the most bitchin�, ass-stomping, skull smashing, bullet-riddled Jet Li
action flick he�d ever seen, he got to have a few peaceful moments to himself.
Not that he didn�t mind having a busy life and being surrounded by people�hell,
he couldn�t stand not having anything to do, nor being alone for too long. He
went nuts when he was bored, and tended to �make� his own fun, which was the
leading cause of his groundings back when he was a kid. But it was still nice
to have a moment to collect his thoughts, change out of the damnable school
uniforms secondary students were forced to wear, and put on something more comfortable.

It also helped that he could, for at least
a few seconds, take off that illusionary Toku crystal that hung from a string
around his neck and give his true form a few seconds to see what little
remained of the daylight.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Max
regarded how his �demonic� features had grown along with the rest of his body.
Given that he really had no knowledge of his own developmental stages, he had
always been worried that at some point he might start developing new, weirder
features, more difficult to conceal than the ones he already had.

But no. Even now at sixteen, he still had
the same things he�d had since he�d been a kid: The fangs, the claws, the alien
yellow-gold pupils�

�the pointy, elf-like ears�

�the jagged red stripes covering his face
and wrists�

�the big, poofy tail�

�and this weird-ass moon thingy on my
forehead.

End Chapter 1

*****

Koday: So,
for those of you wondering �Where am I going with this?�, I plan on this being
a pretty danged long story. How many chapters, I cannot say just yet, but
easily in the double digits.

And I�ve rated this fic MATURE due
to the violence and the sexual content I intend to spread generously throughout
in said later chapters. (Be advised, it may be kinda warm and cuddly now, but things
will start to get both nitty and gritty soon enough.)

I also can�t comment on update frequencies,
simultaneously because my life is sporadic, and also because I�m an asshole.

Finally, quick note: To my knowledge, Mrs.
Higurashi has never officially been given a name. I�ve seen �Sakura� used in
some other fanfics, and it just seems to fit. So I went with it. Anything else,
I pretty much make up as I go along.

I�ve written fan fiction before, but this
is my first attempt at a longer, somewhat more serious story. Do me a favor and
criticize the hell out of me so that I can maybe turn this into something
mildly acceptable, would you?

Cheers.

Koday.
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Nikanaru	By : Koday Category: InuYasha > General Views: 3209 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

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