InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Family Connections ❯ You Remember Privacy... ( Chapter 1 )

Standard Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all belong to Rumiko Takahashi…

Family Connections

*Chapter One*

~You remember privacy…~

"Inuyasha, would you mind telling me exactly how long you are planning to take up residence on my couch?" Miroku asked irritably from where he leaned against his kitchen counter, staring into his steaming coffee cup rather than at his lounging former roommate.

Completely unconcerned with the tone of his friend's voice, Inuyasha kicked his feet up on the cushions next to him simply because he knew how much his shoes on the leather would irritate Miroku. Thumbing idly through the newspaper, he grunted and answered, "For exactly however long my asshole brother has seen fit to take up residence on mine."

"Dammit, you can't possibly stay here until Maru goes back to Osaka," Miroku scowled, making an effort to distract himself from the urge to throw his coffee at the young man's head by flipping through his mail.

"Watch me."

"I moved out of the dorms so I could be by alone. Remember that state?" he huffed, tossing aside the bills and junk. "I did NOT move out to give my short-tempered friend a second residence for when his family came to visit," he paused when his eye caught familiar handwriting, opening the envelope with care and looking over the contents.

"Get me a cup of coffee, would you?" Inuyasha ignored that last rant and casually ordered, tucking a thick lock of his charcoal black hair behind his ear. "And put sugar in it if it's still that swill you got from the market," he added, one brow arched arrogantly until he realized his friend's attention was focused elsewhere.

"Oi! Miroku? What the hell's gotten into you?" he twisted to try and see over the counter to whatever he was looking down at.

Miroku very calmly refolded the letter and set down his mug, smoothing his shirt as he came out of the kitchen. Inuyasha's gaze followed him curiously as he walked around to the end of the couch behind his head. Without changing his expression in the least, Miroku bent down and tipped the whole thing up on its end, effectively dumping his friend unceremoniously to the floor.

"What the-?!" Inuyasha started, only to be cut off when his jacket smacked him full in the face.

"Out," Miroku folded his arms over his chest. "I have company coming so I need the room. You can survive your brother for the next week or however the hell long he's going to be here."

"Now just a minute!" Inuyasha shot to his feet, wishing again and again that he and Miroku weren't the same height. It always worked so much better when he could look down at someone, "What company? Who's that important that you'd dump me out without warning like this?!"

"That, Inuyasha, is absolutely none of your damn business," Miroku gave him a pointed frown, his brows lowering.

Inuyasha's uncommonly violet eyes narrowed suspiciously and he reasoned out, "It's a girl, isn't it? You're still pulling that shit? I thought you swore off the womanizing when you started going after Sango."

Letting out an annoyed sigh, he responded in a tight voice, "I am not `womanizing,' you idiot."

"You throw me out and I'm telling," Inuyasha folded his arms stubbornly across his chest.

Miroku finally gave into the urge to smack his friend upside the head, "Hell, Yasha, what are we in high school? I don't care if you tell Sango because I'm not fucking womanizing, got it? You just can't be here."

"Why not? Why won't you tell me who it is?" he grumbled, tossing over the idea of telling Sango around in his head. Miroku might be bluffing.

"Will it make you go away?" he snapped out, obviously reaching the end of his patience.

"It might," Inuyasha straightened, smirking arrogantly at having caught his friend on his sudden "guest."

Miroku reached out, twisting a large portion of Inuyasha's waist-length hair in his fist and dragging him towards the door. He ignored the surprised, swearing man, determined to have him out of the house before he recovered enough to start fighting, "You can meet them when they get here, but for the moment, I am going to keep it a surprise. And you, Inuyasha, can't keep a secret to save your life."

"What do-! Oi! Dammit, Miroku-!" Inuyasha sputtered, but by the time he'd collected his thoughts and regained his balance, he was on the front step and Miroku was pushing him out.

Miroku slammed the door and locked it, smiling at the violent swearing and the fist that pounded against the wood a single time as he made his way back to the kitchen. He picked up the letter again and reread the contents, finally letting his face break into a wide grin.

His favorite little cousin was coming to stay with him after her graduation.

"Kagome," Miroku reached down to finger the small silver charm that hung around his neck at all times. "I've missed you."

****

"Inuyasha, I swear to any god you believe in, if you're messing with me I'm going to beat your head against the nearest wall," Sango hissed at him as they made there way through the crowded train station.

Inuyasha was scowling as he searched through the milling people, tall enough that he could get a clear view around them while dragging Sango along behind him. "He's here all right, I followed him this morning," he assured her.

"This really is pathetic," Sango rolled her eyes and dug in with her heels to bring them to a stop. "So he threw you out. I would have thrown you out myself if this is how you were acting!"

He set his jaw a flung out his hands in an expansive gesture, his eyebrow twitching with suppressed temper, "Sango, I have had to listen to Maru and his fiancée at least twice a day for the past week. Miroku has adamantly refused to so much as return my phone calls as to why I can't stay at his apartment to get ONE decent night's sleep. He didn't deny he was having a girl over before he threw me out and I was on my way to talk to him when I saw him stop here. I just want an answer, dammit!"

Sango covered her mouth with one hand to hide the way her lips twisted in amusement at the rattled disgust on her friend's face. She could only imagine how strained the temperamental man would handle having to hear his brother… well, that way, "Gomen, Inuyasha. Do you see him any where yet?"

Inuyasha let out a huff and turned, his gaze sweeping the platforms and stopping in mild surprise, "There."

Sango turned around and leaned up on her toes to see Miroku standing off to one side of the main traffic, leaning against a pillar with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his dark jeans. She was about to lift her hand and wave when a cute girl pounced on HER boyfriend, wrapping her arms around his neck as the sound of delighted laughter reached their ears. Even worse, that Miroku's arms came around the girl's waist and he lifted her up in a warm embrace.

Instantly regretting his hasty actions when Sango went ramrod stiff beside him, Inuyasha murmured, "Well, shit, I didn't think it was TRUE…"

~

Kagome was giggling when her feet finally touched the ground again, her arms still loosely around her cousin's torso as she gave him a thorough head-to-toe inspection. Leaning up, she gave his earlobe a yank, "You got pierced? I thought you said that was too girly for you!"

"Oi, easy!" he gave her his infamous charming smile, ruffling her hair even as she got the same inspection, but Miroku was shaking his head in disapproval by the time he was done. "Your shorts are too short," he scolded, scowling in annoyance when he caught several passing boys noticing her legs.

Kagome rolled her eyes and punched him lightly in the chest, "Miroku, that is JUST like you! I'm off the train not five minutes and you're already trying to settle in as a guard dog. Can't you keep it all bottled up until I've had a chance to at least shower?"

"Just as disrespectful to your elders as ever I see," he gave a mock sigh before it settled back into an affectionate smile. "You look good, brat. It's nice to see you stuck with your classes," he nodded and bent to take the two suitcases she'd dropped to throw herself on him.

Kagome wrinkled her nose, but patted her hips as she answered, "And lose the figure I worked so hard on? I think not. Besides, if I'd dropped off when it's so important you would have come down to Tokyo and throttled me."

"You do need a haircut though," Miroku remarked when she brushed aside the bangs falling in her eyes for the second time.

Kagome arched one brow and reached up to yank the ponytail he was sporting, "Get rid of this and we'll talk, baka."

He laughed richly and motioned for her to start walking, "C'mon, let's get you back to my place and get you settled. On the way you can tell me what stunt you pulled that made your mother think you needed me to play guardian so soon after graduation."

She grinned, her expression just a little too innocent not to be suspect, "What makes you think I did something? I just explained very rationally that I wanted to come stay with you and Mama thought it was an excellent idea."

"I've known you too long to fall for that shit, Kagome," Miroku was shaking his head again, but there was no real heat in his voice, just thick amusement. "Spill it."

"Okay, okay, but it was nothing serious," Kagome's dark eyes were sparkling with delight. "Aiko loaned me some kinky lingerie and I stuffed it in my closet with a book of phone numbers. No names."

Miroku stumbled, nearly dropping her luggage as he started laughing, "Oh God! Kagome!!!"

"What?" she responded in an affronted tone, but he could see the pink tinge on her cheeks. "I wanted to come here and you said I could as long as Mama agreed. You didn't say HOW she had to agree to it. And here I am, so it all worked out."

He gave her a pointed look, his shoulders still shaking with laughter, "So long as nothing happened with that lingerie, I think I can live with that. We've already spoken about that enough, I think."

"Hai, hai," Kagome waved that aside, the pink on her cheeks darkening. "You have to know them first and you have to like them. You also get the first punch free of yelling in the morning."

"Good girl," Miroku set down one of her bags to pat her on the head again, getting another glare.

"Mou, I'm not a puppy," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Miroku!!" the shout had both instantly turning to find the source of the noise and while Kagome looked curiously at the angry looking girl and long-haired boy behind her, Miroku started swearing under his breath.

"Dammit, I knew that idiot couldn't keep his mouth shut," he growled out in annoyance and shook his head.

Kagome glanced back at him and then to the other pair and gave him a sympathetic smile, "Sango?"

"Aa," his eyebrow twitched angrily.

She shrugged and lifted her arm to wave, smiling at his shocked friends, "I guess this means I get to say hi a little sooner than you thought, ne?"

Miroku let out a regretful sigh, but nodded and set down one of her bags to make a motion with his hand for the more volatile looking pair to join them. "This could get messy, brat," he warned Kagome when he saw Inuyasha's surprised face melt down into a scowl and Sango's cheeks turned dark red. The two stalked towards them, shouldering travelers aside carelessly in their determined trek across the platform.

Kagome snorted, raking a hand through her hair as she patiently waited for just the perfect moment to get her cousin out of the trouble he was rapidly falling into. Some things just never changed, she thought with a slight smile, feeling how tense her cousin was behind her. Miroku was glaring at Inuyasha, a slight blush on his cheeks as his eyes silently promised all sorts of vicious repercussions for ruining his surprise.

"Miroku! You-!" Sango had reached them, just starting to let go of her own formidable temper when Kagome shot forward and swung the girl up in a tight embrace. It wouldn't have been all that remarkable, except that Kagome was almost a full head shorter than the older girl and yet showed not even a hint of exertion.

Inuyasha's eyes widened and he looked from the violent annoyance in Miroku's expression down to Sango's own dazed, confused face. Shaking his head to clear his own bemusement, he gave the… energetic girl a thorough once-over before arching one brow in speculation and taunting, "What the hell is this, Miroku? You're brining in some cute little school girl for entertainment?"

Kagome covered her mouth with her hand to smother her laughter when Miroku simply dropped her bags and slammed his fist into Inuyasha's face. The poor man didn't have time to so much as brace himself, and she bit down on her lower lip when she heard the curses drifting up from him as he stumbled to his feet. `He's cute… it's a shame Miroku seems to dislike him so much,' she flashed him a smile that seemed to temporarily blind him before she stepped back beside Miroku.

Tilting her head to one side as she regarded the girl staring at her nervously, she gave her a bow and grinned again, "Miroku has told me so much about you! I've been dying to meet you, Sango-chan."

Miroku looped an arm around Kagome's shoulders when Sango's mouth dropped open, and he smiled ruefully at his girlfriend before again scowling murderously at Inuyasha, "This was supposed to be a surprise. Sango, I'd like you to meet my baby cousin, Kagome."

Sango and Inuyasha both stared in almost comical disbelief as Kagome reached up to grab his arm and nod enthusiastically, giggling when the disbelief melted into chagrined embarrassment that spread a rosy tint over Sango's face.

"Cousin?" Sango winced, glaring at Inuyasha over her shoulder and digging her elbow hard into his stomach for causing the awkward scene.

Ignoring the startled yelp, Miroku schooled his expression back to trademark blandness, "My aunt sent her to live with me now that she has graduated."

Sighing with mock long-suffering, Kagome leaned forward to catch Sango's arm, "Miroku talks about you all the time, Sango-chan! I have to say though that I'm surprised you really are so pretty. I mean, not to be rude, but he CAN be a real pervert-"

"Oi! Kagome!" Miroku's face flamed and he practically threw her bags into Inuyasha to clap a hand over her mouth. "Ignore her, Sango. She's had a long trip and doesn't know what she's saying."

Sango blinked, looking from Miroku to Kagome before a slow, brilliant smile spread across her lips. Miroku groaned when Sango tugged the younger girl away from him and started to saunter off, "I think you and I are going to get along perfectly, Kagome-chan."