Lay Up by SinSisters

Timed Arrivals

Collaboration fanfiction between Sin-Sohma and M.L.Death.

Read. Review. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Neither of us have any rights to Inuyasha. All characters are the property of Rumiko Takahasi and are meerly manipulated to our liking. We make no monetary profit from this story, or any other stories we post.

(~~~~) Indicates time or location change.

(****) Indicates PoV change.

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"What do you think the New Year is going to bring," a young man with deep blue eyes and long black hair braided down his back asked. He was sitting in the gym's bleachers with a basketball tucked between his knees.

Next to him sat a boy with hair that hung at the nape of his neck and was tied in a low ponytail with dark brown eyes. “Honestly Bankotsu, I'm not sure,” Miroku replied.

The two of them lapsed into silence and just observed as the other boys in the gym shot baskets, stretched, or, much like themselves, lounged in the bleachers while waiting for the coach to arrive.

“Well, how long do you think we'll be waiting for Coach Higurashi this time?” Bankotsu asked, starting to unconsciously spin the ball in his hands.

Miroku stood up and stretched, his arms behind his head, and then made his way down the bleachers and onto the floor. “That, I can not answer either my friend.” He held his hands up for the ball Bankotsu was holding. “Though, we might as well get some practicing in. What do you say?”

“Sure, why not?”

Bankotsu tossed the basketball towards Miroku's waiting hands, but it was intercepted at the last moment. He looked to see who had caught the ball instead.

“Ah, Sesshomaru. You're just in time for a pre-practice game.” Miroku smiled.

Sesshomaru smirked and twirled the ball on the tip of one of his fingers, his amber eyes moving over to Bankotsu who had just made it to the end of the bleachers. “I can see how this year is going to go. The coach is already late.” he commented.

Bankotsu shrugged. “Maybe he had something to do. Either way, he'll show up.”

“Eventually, as he always does,” added Miroku. “So, are we going to play or what?”

Sesshomaru tossed the ball back to Bankotsu and took off his jacket, leaving him in his white undershirt. He carelessly discarded the garment to the side and walked passed his friends and onto the court.

“Sure, we can play; you two against me.”

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‘Nervous’, ‘anxious’, and ‘excited’ were just a few words to describe the girl that was sitting at the very back of flight B19 with her notebook held tightly in her hands. During the long 18-hour flight from Japan , writing was the only thing that helped her keep her mind off of the fact that she was really moving in with her father.

Kagome took a deep breath when she heard the captain make an announcement over the intercom. “Passengers, please fasten your seat belts, we are about to begin our final descent. Welcome to Chicago , Illinois . Thank you for traveling with United Airlines.”

****

“Looks like it's almost time.” a man with dark hair, sitting in the airport's food court, said to himself as he checked his watch for the tenth time that day. He was sitting there reading the newspaper and nursing his usual morning cup of coffee when the announcement that her flight had landed reached his ears.

Rolling up the newspaper and tucking it under his arm Kane Higurashi made his way over to the gate to meet up with his daughter who he had not seen in years. Amongst the ocean of brown and black business suites, typical of the Japanese businessmen that made a regular commute between here, he spotted his daughter.

“DAD!” she yells through the crowd. Kagome and her father embrace, the soft smell of aftershave and cigars fill her mind with nostalgic thoughts of when she was little. "So what's the agenda for today, Dad?" She asks gleefully.

Kane held his daughter at arms length and chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Well, you see...I was actually running late for practice. It's the start of the new year and we've got to make it to state this year! I could take you there with me to meet some of the players if you want, but you must be tired from that long flight, I'm sure everyone would understand if you took the rest of the day to wind down and get settled.” he said apologetically. It was his first time seeing his daughter since she was a little girl and here he was bailing on her early.

Kagome smiled, understanding. She knew that her dad was the head coach for one of the top college basketball team. “Actually, the flight took a lot out of me.” She rolled her shoulder to emphasize her point. “I'm pretty worn out. A nap would do me a world of good right now.”

Kane helped Kagome get all of her luggage packed into the back of his car, happy that he had decided to drive his new Toyota Rav4 and set off on their way home.

“So...How's your brother?” Kane asks, attempting small talk.

Kagome turned from the window she had been staring out of up until now and smiled at her father. “Souta's the same old annoying little kid as always. He is playing soccer now.”

“Really!?” He was happy to hear that his boy was following in his footsteps and getting into sports. “What about your mother? She uh...Still the same as well?”

“Yes, she is.” She turned her attention back to the large buildings they were passing. “You know, she wasn't too happy with my decision to move here.”

Kane laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Let me guess, she made her serious angry face and went on about how irresponsible I am?” He puffed out his cheeks and drew his brows together, looking much like Kagome's mom, Mitoko. He even did an imitation of her voice. “’Your father is a lazy good for nothing that will never grow up. Nothing good can come from you living with him. He's just a large child!’”

Kagome couldn't help but to laugh. He had almost repeated her mom word for word. “It's sad that you know her that well.”

Kane shrugged. “Well, you don't stay married to someone as long as we did without picking up on some of their habits and ways.”

The rest of the car ride went between Kane asking Kagome questions about herself to catch up, and Kagome making comments about the scenery. Sure, Chicago had nothing on Tokyo , but it was so refreshing for her to see so many different types of people. You could actually tell these people apart. They didn't just mesh together like an overpopulated city of robots. They had a style to each of themselves. They were all...different.

After a few more minutes, Kane could see his apartment building in the distance. It was definitely one of the nicer ones downtown, built with white brick and marble around the entrance. As if the outside appearance didn't say enough, the condos inside were to die for. He pulled up in front of the building and parked.

Kagome was temporarily rendered speechless. She knew her dad made a lot of money from his job, but to be living here he was definitely doing better than she thought. This place was beautiful. Still staring and somewhat in a daze, she barely noticed when the doorman opened her door for her to get out.

“There's luggage in the back seat and trunk. Have them all carried up to my apartment.” Kane instructed the man and moved to stand near his Kagome, draping his arm over her shoulder. “Come on, you haven't even seen the rest of it.” he said leading her in and to the elevator.

Kane's apartment turned out to be on the 24th floor and there were only 25 in the whole building. As he explained, each floor was home to one apartment. When the elevator stopped on his floor, Kagome got off, but stopped when she noticed her dad didn't do the same.

“Dad?” she asked, looking back. He was rummaging around through his pockets for something. She stood in the doorway so that the mechanical doors didn't close. “What's up?”

Out of his pocket, he pulled a small key ring with two keys attached, handing them to Kagome. “Sorry, but I'm late enough as it is. I really have to be going. Just make yourself at home and when practice is over, I'll come and spend some time with you.”

Kagome shook her head. “No, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine by myself. I might just spend the rest of the night unpacking and what not.”

Kane smiled. If there was one thing that never changed about Kagome after all these years, it was the fact that she never liked to feel like a burden or that she was in the way. “Don't worry Kagome. I want us to spend time together.” he said and stepped forward to give her a hug.

After a minute, she eventually hugged him back. “I know dad and we're going to get to spend a lot of time together this summer.”

After Kane left, Kagome made her way into the apartment. Honestly, she was too tired to even bother to try and pay attention to what the place looked like right now. She dropped the one bag she had been carrying and headed straight for the door that her dad had told her would be her room. Upon opening it, she was amazed to see what it looked like. Her dad had actually had her room decorated just for her.

The room was decorated with black furniture and in the center of it was a platform queen sized bed. The bed was donned completely in red bedding with pink pillows scattered at the top. Above the bed were two pieces of sheer hanging from the ceiling, laced in a spiral design. The walls were a blue-gray color and the floor was hardwood, with a large black and gray rug placed beside the bed. In the corner of the room was a desk set up with a brand new computer and on the wall in front of the bed, there was a flat screen TV. Yup, he really outdid himself on this one.

Kagome walked over to her bed and fell into it, happy that it was so soft. She snuggled into the pillows and released a relieved sigh. “Finally, a bed to lie in. I was getting cramped from sitting in that plane seat for so long.”

She closed her eyes and yawned. “I'll just get a quick nap before dad gets back.” she mumbled to herself before almost instantly falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All of the players where still in the gym and awaiting the arrival of their coach. He was now two hours late. Some of the new recruits had just given up and went home long ago.

“Where the hell is the coach? He should have been here by now!” Shippo, the only new recruit to actually stay, asked annoyed. He was starting to think that following his friends out would have been a good idea.

“Just be patient.” Miroku assured him. “The coach is simply late.” He and Bankotsu had taken up their spots in the bleachers again, exhausted from their two-on-one with Sesshomaru.

“No,” Everyone's attention turned to Sesshomaru who was on the court and practicing his lay-ups to pass the time, not that he needed to practice his trademark move. “An hour and thirty minutes ago, the coach was late. Now, this is just pathetic.” They watched as he made yet another shot.

“I say we just leave.' Bankotsu said. “It's obvious he's not...”

Bankotsu didn't get to finish that sentence because of the sound of the gym doors opening. Right as Sesshomaru lands his next shot Coach Higurashi sauntered in and caught the ball before it landed, a smirk spread across his face as the rest of the team impatiently eyed him

“Sorry I'm late...So, who's ready for a summer of hell?”

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The doors to the Taisho mansion went flying open and then slammed shut as Sesshomaru made his way through them and towards the stairs that led to his room with only one thought in mind: taking a hot bath, massaging his muscles, and laying down to sleep for the rest of the night.

Upstairs, Inuyasha heard his big brother come into the house and left his room to greet him. Plastering the best fake smile on his face that he could, he ran and met up with Sesshomaru just as he reached the top of the staircase.

“Hey, Sessh, so, how was practice?” Inuyasha asked. He stepped to the side to allow his brother room to pass.

“Hn.” was Sesshomaru's grumbled reply before disappearing into his room. Inuyasha stood with his arms behind his head and watched him go, releasing a sigh. “He looked tired.” He smirked. “Guess I'll have to do this the other way.”

Once the door was shut and locked, Sesshomaru turned around and fell back onto his large king sized bed. It had never felt so good to lay on a mattress before in his life. Turning on his side, he closed his eyes, figuring that a nap would actually be better first.

Inuyasha was on the other side of the door with his ear pressed to the wood. Once he heard his brothers body hit the bed, he stood up straight and cleared his throat.

Sesshomaru's eyes snapped back open at the sound of someone, most likely Inuyasha, banging on his door. “HEY, SESSHO! I NEED YOU TO TAKE ME TO THE MALL REAL QUICK!” he yelled from the other side. Sesshomaru tried his best to ignore his younger brother and suppress the killing urge that was rising in him.

Inuyasha, hearing no response, opted to increase his volume. “COME ON, I REALLY NEEED YOU TO GIVE ME A LIFT. I'D GO MYSELF, BUT YOU KNOW I CAN'T DRIVE!”

Okay, that was it. He was officially about to murder him. Just as Sesshomaru sat up to make his way to the door and dispose of Inuyasha, his father's voice rang out through the house.

“SESSHOMARU, BE A GOOD BROTHER AND DRIVE INUYASHA TO THE MALL!”

If there was a hell, he had most certainly found his own personal one within his family.

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INUYASHA © Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan • Yomiuri TV • Sunrise 2000
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