The pursuit of happiness by Kagami no Miko

Chapter 1

First and foremost I must admit I've never written a fanfic of this nature and it has been a while since I've written anything in general. Still, I find this to be an interesting theme to write about and it'll do wonders to unrust the ol' writing gears.

With that out of the way I hope you enjoy this story and please, don't hesitate to leave a review, I'm new to this and I could use any and all criticism you might have to offer.

 Morning came just like any other day, waking up early to prepare everyone’s meals would be a chore for anyone else but Sesshoumaru found peace in his tiny kitchen. It was those brief moments of solitude where he could play around with everyone’s food before they woke up that gave him comfort and energy to start the day.

 After the packed lunches were prepared he got dressed and left for school, but not before waking his father, otherwise the old man would just sleep through the day like a rock. Inuyasha however could sleep in for all he cared, it’s not like him being late was anything new and their income was not dependent on his attendance.

 The chilly air of an early winter morning gave the school a somber quiet feel that quite pleased the young man, in his mind it was just him and his books in that classroom. Until the bell rang and ruined his fantasy.

 Homeroom began, classes came and went without poking his interest, it’s not like he wasn’t paying attention, he was just bored with how mundane they all felt.

 Lunch rolled around and with it his brother came thundering in his classroom.

"Oy! Sesshoumaru! What the hell is this?!" Asked his younger brother, pointing to his boxed lunch.

"A free and nutritious meal, for my dear brother to keep up his strength. What else?" Replied Sesshoumaru in his patented monotone voice.

"No, you idiot, this!" He asked, pointing to the tiny green slices that mocked his otherwise flawless meal of hamburger patties and white rice.

"Pickles."

"Pickles! You know I hate pickles!"

"Your point?"

 Inuyasha grumbled and mumbled under his brother’s fixed stare until he finally caved in and stormed out of the room, munching on his detested pickles, leaving Sesshoumaru to enjoy the rest of his meal in the company of his book while his class stared in awe.

"It’s amazing how he can get that delinquent to behave..." Some whispered.

"I hear he’s an even madder dog in street fighting." Some commented.

"It’s not surprising, their father was one of the biggest thugs in the district, must run in the family."

 Sesshoumaru stood up after this last remark making the whole class flinch, he walked up to the trash, threw out his napkin, sat back down and resumed his good reading. His classmates finally remembered to breathe at that point.

 Afternoon classes rolled in and rolled out with the same effect on Sesshoumaru, until the bell rang again, signaling his freedom. Finally he could take refuge in his fortress of solitude, his tiny club room.

It was an old school broom closet that he had refurnished with a comfy reading chair, a small table and a big book shelf with some reading material that poked his interest. At long last came the best part of the day, where he could just sit in his chair and read until it was time to head home and prepare dinner.

 Suddenly a girl stormed in, slammed the door shut and hid behind his shelf.

"Please don’t tell your brother that I’m in here!" She begged with puppy dog eyes.

 Sesshoumaru was stunned, but before he could react, his brother slammed open the door.

"Sesshoumaru! Have you seen Kagome around?!"

"Who?"

"My friend! Black wavy hair, blue eyes, nice legs. I thought I heard her coming around here..."

 Sesshoumaru quietly glanced at the girl meekly hiding in the corner behind the shelf, directly in front of the door, she couldn’t be seen from that angle. She frantically shook her head sideways as to signal her desperation.

"No, I have not. Why are you this desperate to find her? Has she wronged you? Don’t tell me you’ve succumbed to hitting women."

"As if! The old man would beat my ass with the iron bat if I ever did something like that! We’re playing hide and seek and she has a strong set of legs that one..."

"I can’t help but notice your fixation with her legs, dear brother."

"Shut up!"

 But before Inuyasha could come up with a retort the young woman could not contain her snicker from Sesshoumaru’s quip.

"What was that?!" Inuyasha inquired, stepping into the room.  

 Sesshoumaru once again glanced over at the girl in the corner, her palms now joined in prayer, begging him to help her in that situation.

"That was me." Sesshoumaru admitted.

"What?"

"Yes. I was practicing... ventriloquism." Said Sesshoumaru with reluctant honesty.

"You’ve gotta be kidding me." His brother wasn’t buying any of that.

"Dear brother, you wound me. You doubt your elder sibling?"

"Considering how you call me 'dear brother' with that sarcastic inflection. Yes. Very much so."

 Sesshoumaru sneakily glanced once again to the girl in the corner signaling for her cooperation. He picked up his book sideways and started flapping it, like his own hard cover puppet. Immediately after the girl spoke in a husky voice:

"I am Bookoumaru, the great lord of books. Heed my words or I shall curse your every meal with pickles as far as the eye can see!"

 Sesshoumaru was fighting the urge to blush at the ridiculousness of the situation with every fiber of his being. Why the hell was he even helping that woman? But oddly enough that seemed to do the trick. Inuyasha was cringing at his brother’s weak attempt at ventriloquism, so he simply looked down, looked back at his brother, gave him a meekly encouraging 'you keep working on that' look, quietly shut the door and walked away.

 When the coast was clear the girl jumped from her hiding and hugged Sesshoumaru.

"Thank you so much!"

 But to her surprise he simply slammed her head with the corner of his book.

"You buffoon! You mind explaining to me what the hell just happened?!" He asked, trying to sound more infuriated than he actually was.

"Ouch ouch ouch ouch!" She winced, trying to rub the pain in her head away. "Well, me and your brother play hide and seek around the whole school..."

"Why?"

"... Because it’s fun?" The girl was honestly confused at the simplicity of the question. Why else would anyone play hide and seek? Or anything for that matter.

"You two are both in high school, you should stop acting like such kids."

"Geez Sesshoumaru, you sound like an old man."

 Sesshoumaru flinched at her accusation before swiftly changing the subject, he had nothing to refute her accusation.

"You know my name but I don’t think we have been introduced."

"Of course I know your name, you’re Inuyasha’s brother. You two are famous in this school, the Taisho siblings."

 Once again Sesshoumaru cursed the epic story his father had left behind. No matter how hard he tried he could not escape the old man’s legacy. She too would judge him as a delinquent and just leave as to not associate herself with such a ruffian.

"I’m Kagome." She continued. "I’m in the same class as your brother, a pleasure to finally meet you."

 Or maybe not.

"Likewise." Even if she was a rambunctious girl, Sesshoumaru couldn’t help but reciprocate the courtesy, it was in his nature.

 An uncomfortable silence set in the room before Sesshoumaru decided to break it.

"So, you’re not leaving?"

"Nope." She immediately replied.

"Why not?"

"Because your brother is still out there! No way am I losing this game!"

"What’s at stake for you two to be so fired up about this?"

"Pride." She replied with manly determination oozing from her face.

 Sesshoumaru couldn’t help but smile at the silliness of it all.

"Pick a book if you’d like, just don’t disturb me." He sounded callous, but that’s as close as being gentle he ever got.

 Kagome rummaged around his shelf until finally settling for a dusty old copy of Moby dick.

"Melville? Really?" Sesshoumaru couldn’t help his snarky comment. He had read that book so many times he found it overrated, not that the simpleton would understand. Kids these days only ever see the movie adaptation, so authors are left to be forgotten. To his surprise the simpleton talked back.

"Say what you will about the man, but I like this sailor. Men who always stand still are boring anyway."

"Ahab?" Asked Sesshoumaru.

"No, Melville. A bookworm like you should know he based his work on his journeys as a sailor, right?"

 Sesshoumaru couldn’t hide his surprise under his usual stoic face, this girl wasn’t just a big child that ran around like his brother, she knew her literature. For once in a very long time Sesshoumaru was intrigued in something other than written information.

"Impressive." He said. To which she politely smiled and quietly sat down on the floor, slowly flipping through the pages. 

 Oddly enough time flew by faster than usual. It was strange since Sesshoumaru didn’t do anything particularly different, he simply had the girl’s quiet company, they didn’t even talk besides exchanging pleased grunts and sighs from their respective reading, occasionally glancing at each other. Eventually Sesshoumaru stood up and packed his book.

"Leaving already?" Asked Kagome.

"Yes. It’s getting late and I have important matters to attend."

"Some sort of study committee for the nerds?" She jokingly asked.

"No. Cooking dinner." He replied in his usual monotone.

 Kagome burst out laughing at the thought of the cool and collected Sesshoumaru wearing an apron and preparing meals.

"You laugh, but I’m sure you’ve seen Inuyasha’s meals. They are the product of my cooking skills." He admitted in a smug variant of his monotone voice.

 Kagome kept laughing.

 Sesshoumaru’s eyebrows twitched, but he kept his cool.

"Hey, can I borrow this?" She asked with a big grin from ear to ear. "Haven’t read this book in a while and I quite enjoyed doing so."

 Sesshoumaru complied, ignoring the tiny flutter he felt in his gut at the sight of her smile.

"Thanks! I should be done with this by tomorrow, meet you here then?"

"As you wish." He accepted. "Good luck on your game of hide and seek."

"Oh crap! We’re still playing!" And with that Kagome ran away in search of a new hiding place.

 Later that night, as he was preparing the family meal, Sesshoumaru couldn’t help recalling today’s events which left a tiny smirk on his face that caught his father’s attention.

"Anything good happen today?" Touga asked, beer in hand.

"Nothing much." Sesshoumaru answered, trying to kill off the smile on his betraying lips.

 Touga knew his son was lying, but he wouldn’t call him on it when Sesshoumaru was still holding the frying pot with piping hot oil inside. He didn’t want to risk burning hot croquettes to the face, so he just quietly sipped his beer and enjoyed his son’s happiness.