The Best Kind of Fruit by DestinysTears

The Best Kind of Fruit

My participation piece for the Fanfic Tournament Challege found here: http://dokuga.com/forum/29-challenges/46246-the-ultimate-fanfic-tournament-challenge#46250

Rating: K+

Category: Oneshot

Theme: Watermelon

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and co. Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I write for entertainment purposes only.

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“Is this really alright, Inuyasha? I mean, I don’t want to impose or anything,” Kagome asked as she glanced over at her friend in the driver’s seat. “After all, this is your family get-together.”

Inuyasha had been kind enough to offer her a ride home from work while her car was in the shop; that was when he had invited her to come to the barbecue this afternoon. At first she had turned down the offer, but after his insistence, in the end she had agreed, albeit reluctantly.

“Keh, we’ve been friends for ages – you’re practically family now,” Inuyasha answered as he turned the wheel smoothly to the right, steering the car into the adjoining street. “Besides,” he added with a casual shrug, “I bet some other family friends are coming too. They won’t care.”

Kagome sighed resignedly as she looked out the window and at the approaching beach parking lot. “Alright, if you say so…” she responded under her breath, unbuckling her seatbelt while Inuyasha put the vehicle in park.

The two exited the car and headed for the beach, which lay just beyond the slightly elevated terrain between the concrete lot and sandy beaches. The dark blue ocean and seaside came into view, accompanied by the sight of a large crowd of busily chatting people.

“Ah – There’s my boy!”

Inuyasha and Kagome turned to see a tall, built man with silver hair approaching them, a wide grin spread across his strong, undeniably handsome face. His arms were outstretched as he made his way forward out of the crowd, readying for a hearty welcome.

Swallowing the unprepared hanyou with his sturdy arms, Inuyasha’s father, who went by the name of Shiro, gave him a firm shake. “So, how’s my son doing nowadays?” he asked cheerfully, still holding Inuyasha with his inescapable embrace. Inuyasha winced, hardly making an effort to hide his discomfort. But before he could reply, his father turned his head slightly, finally noticing the standing figure of Inuyasha’s guest beside them.

“And it looks like you brought Kagome with you as well! It’s so good to see you!” Shiro exclaimed as he reached over to yank Kagome into the choke hold. “Now, how are you, my dear? I hope my son has been treating you well lately!”

“Per-perfectly fine–” Kagome answered brokenly between gasps of air, flashing him a slightly unnatural and uncomfortable smile.

“Good to hear! I’m glad he isn’t giving you any trouble.” To their relief, the jovial Shiro released them, allowing them to frantically gasp for the oxygen they had been so cruelly deprived of.

“So, Inuyasha – has your… relationship progressed any further…?” Shiro hinted with an expressive eyebrow raise, followed by a none-too-discreet wink. “If you know what I’m talking about.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, obviously not completely surprised by his father’s intrusive question. “Dad, no one knows what you’re talking about.”

Kagome laughed, already too familiar with this conversation. Inuyasha’s father would always pull this question out of nowhere every time she paid a visit. If Shiro had the choice, he would ask his son these types of questions all day long. Thank goodness he didn’t.

“Well, fine then. But if you’re not going to make a move on Kagome, then please tell me, at least, that you have another girlfriend?” Shiro prodded him, only to receive another characteristic eye-roll from his equally characteristic son. “Then how about dating? Admiring? Perhaps a little crush? Oh, for the love of everything good, please tell me that you’ve held a woman’s hand before!” Shiro became increasingly louder and more enthusiastic with each passing second of Inuyasha’s incredulous glare.

“Of course I have,” Inuyasha responded exasperatedly. “Now would you stop pestering me?”

With a sigh, his father continued his rant. “You know how much I want those grandpups, son. I’m almost positive Sesshomaru will be too picky to settle down, so I’m counting on you!” As Shiro gave him the thumbs up, Kagome found herself having wandered off from the small reunion.

She walked a little ways before stopping, her eyes catching sight of the beginnings of a large bonfire. A few men were busy stacking and placing wood in the slight, man-made dip in the sand, standing it up so that it somewhat resembled a cone-shaped tent.

While locked in her meditative daze, Kagome barely heard the sound of a young girl’s lighthearted laugh, growing louder as it came closer to her.

Soon, she was knocked straight out of her daze as a small body crashed into hers, tackling her to the ground, caught completely off-guard. Now lying face up on the sandy ground, she heard the subdued utterances of the people who had been timely enough to have seen the interesting sight.

Brought into an entirely new daze, Kagome stared up at the cloudy blue sky, hardly knowing what had happened and barely noticing the little girl that lay on top of her. However, the small weight of the girl was soon lifted off of her, successfully breaking Kagome out of her most recent daze.

“Oi, are you alright?” asked the man who had removed the little girl from on top of her. Kagome turned her head in the direction of the voice, finding that the low baritone belonged to a handsome, silver-haired man, crouching beside her.

“…What in the world just happened…?” Kagome asked slowly as the man helped her to her feet. Blinking a couple times, a little girl wearing a yellow and orange checkered sundress came into focus. Suddenly, the young girl suddenly burst into apologies, beating the man to the punch before he could utter a single word to her.

“I’m so sorry! I was playing hide-and-go-seek and wasn’t looking where I was going and I ran into you and–” The child continued to explain with large, apologetic eyes, occasionally glancing at the tall, silver-haired man, then turning back to look at the puzzled woman. “…but are you okay now? Did I accidentally hurt you?”

Kagome laughed, unable to find the young girl’s apologies as anything but adorably humorous. “It’s alright,” she assured her with a cheerful smile. “Don’t worry about me; I’ll be just fine.”

The girl let out a small, but nonetheless relieved sigh before the man, still standing nearby, put a hand on her small back. “Rin, why don’t you go and continue your game? Be careful this time,” he told her with a somehow lighter voice than when she had heard it before. Rin nodded happily, giving the woman a brief parting wave before sprinting off to join the other children.

“I’m sorry about that,” the man apologized, turning his attention back to Kagome. “That would be my younger sister. I guess you could say that she’s… frivolous, at times.” The alluring man gave a half grin before extending his hand towards her. “Sesshomaru,” he said, clearly introducing himself.

“I’m Kagome,” Kagome replied with a delighted smile, taking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

After a firm squeeze from Sesshomaru, he released her petite hand. Then looking to the left, he indicated a pile of sticks and branches that lay on the ground beside them. “I was just taking those over for the fire,” Sesshomaru explained, before pointing at the growing skeleton of the bonfire. But before he could ask her if she would care for helping out, Kagome was already beside the messy stack of wood, grabbing half of it for herself.

“I’d love to,” Kagome smiled, answering the unasked question as she shifted the branches in her arms with a delicate laugh.

Sesshomaru and Kagome added their bundles of sticks to the pile by the edge of the bonfire before taking a seat on a thick log that lay a good ten or twelve feet away from the bonfire.

Kagome sighed, brushing her hands clean and leaning back. “It feels so nice out here,” she sang contentedly, closing her eyes for a moment as a fresh sea-breeze blew her way.

“I assume you’re a friend of Inuyasha’s?” Sesshomaru asked her unexpectedly, glancing over at the relaxing woman. Kagome opened her brown, doe eyes, looking over at him with a raised brow.

“How’d you guess?” she asked curiously, surprised that he would know beforehand.

“I saw you two arrive together,” he replied simply as he picked up a stray twig beside his foot and tossed it into the wood pile.

“Oh, I see,” Kagome responded, sitting back on the log again, propping herself up with her arms. “And if you don’t mind me asking, how are you related to Inuyasha?” Tilting her head at him, she waited patiently for his answer.

“He’s my half-brother,” Sesshomaru said while watching a few of his relatives continue setting up the bonfire.

“Oh, so you’re that half-brother!” Kagome chimed in realization. She shook her head. “I should have known. You two have a lot of similarities in appearances, you know.”

Sesshomaru nodded his head with a crooked smile, somewhat amused by the enthusiasm. “But luckily, our personalities are nothing alike.”

Kagome’s brow furrowed, curious to see what differences he was thinking of. “As in…?”

Sesshomaru inclined his head slightly. “I guess you could say he’s more… brash, and I’m–” he paused for a few seconds, searching for a proper word.

“Refined? Organized? Developed?” Kagome fed him a few words with a playful laugh, her chocolate eyes glimmering with mirth. It was true though; she could tell that Inuyasha and him were completely different personalities, despite her having known him only for a few minutes.

“I guess,” he replied with a good-humored smirk.

“Dinnerrrrrrr, is served!” abruptly shouted a loud voice. Kagome immediately recognized it as belonging to none other than Shiro, Inuyasha’s father.

Then strangely enough, Kagome heard an almost disgusted noise come from Sesshomaru’s throat, as if he could hardly stand the word ‘dinner’.

“What’s the matter?”

Sesshomaru stood up, offering the young lady a hand as she moved to stand as well. “I also assume that you have never had my father’s ‘cooking’ before.”

Kagome pursed her lips, recalling all the times that she had had dinner with the Taisho’s. Now that she thought about it, every time she had eaten with them, they had always gone out to eat…

Laughing, Kagome asked him, “Is it really that bad?”

Sesshomaru lifted his eyebrow at her, as if to say that that was an absolute understatement.

“But fortunately,” Sesshomaru continued as they began to head towards the serving tables, “someone always brings fruit.”

As the two approached the long, rectangular tables, Sesshomaru nudged her towards the side, motioning towards the “after dinner” food, where a large bowl of perfectly sliced watermelon sat.

“We’ll have to be fast – or else my father will throw a tantrum,” Sesshomaru advised, causing Kagome to hastily grab the saran-wrap covered bowl while he snatched a couple forks before they hurried off, just as roguishly as thieves stealing priceless diamonds.

Giggling madly at their comical and slightly childish antics, Kagome plunked down beside Sesshomaru in the sand, placing the bowl in between them.

“I’m surprised that you ended up taking the entire thing,” Sesshomaru commented as he handed her a plastic fork. Kagome’s forehead creased in perplexity.

“Well, what else was I supposed to do? You said to be fast,” Kagome pointed out, poking him lightly on his arm. Sesshomaru gave out a low chuckle.

After flashing him another teasing smirk, Kagome peeled the saran wrap off the top of the bowl. Reaching forward, she stabbed a cube of watermelon with her fork, subsequently plopping the small chunk in her mouth. Watching Sesshomaru as he did the same, she chewed her little mouthful. Soon, she was already on her next piece.

“I wonder–” Kagome thought aloud between chews, “If your dad’s cooking is so terrible, why hasn’t anyone else thought about eating the fruit?” Taking another bite of watermelon, she listened as Sesshomaru gave his opinion.

“I have no doubt that they have,” Sesshomaru answered before gracefully chewing his own piece of fruit. “However, my father practically jumps on any person who tries to avoid his ‘cooking’. For example…”

Sesshomaru pointed back towards the buffet tables, indicating the way his father had generously plopped an almost unsanitary amount of dark colored goop onto a young man’s plate before giving him a strong pat on the back followed by a reassuring thumbs-up sign.

Although Kagome pitied the poor soul for his tough luck, she couldn’t help but find the scene a little funny. “Ah, I see now. Is that why we’re sitting so far away?” she asked, tilting her head slightly so that she could see Sesshomaru’s face. Kagome silently noted the intriguing pair of magenta stripes that ran across either cheekbone, as well as the lavender crescent moon that adorned his forehead, much like the one on his father Shiro’s forehead.

“Precisely.”

After a short moment of silence, Sesshomaru looked back around at the curiously staring Kagome.

“Why did you think we were over here for?” he asked her. Kagome raised an eyebrow, without a doubt catching the slightly mischievous tone in his voice.

“Very funny, Sesshomaru,” Kagome rejoined, with a playful roll of her eyes.

Then without warning, Kagome felt a wet, cold substance smack her right in the very center of forehead. She whipped her head in Sesshomaru’s direction, though her expression was more of a look of astonishment than reproach.

“You can’t be serious,” Kagome said incredulously, hardly believing that someone so composed as Sesshomaru would resort to something like this. But soon, she found herself laughing – something so out of character for him was surprisingly hilarious.

“Alright, well, two can play at that game,” she stated sinisterly. Sesshomaru only lifted a brow, as if challenging her without words. Taking a couple pieces of watermelon in either hand, she reached forward deliberately, and smeared the pinkish-red hunks all over each arm.

Satisfied, Kagome sat back, giving him a pleased smirk of victory. However, Sesshomaru only took another chunk of watermelon, only with his fingers this time, and popped it in his mouth while continuing to watch her mockingly with his golden eyes.

“Lovely.”

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Kagome removed her keys from her purse, fiddling through the key ring to find the one that went to her apartment. As she walked up the stairwell, she yawned, still tired from the prior day’s late night. Sesshomaru had dropped her off at her house around one in the morning, kindly enough. She never knew she could have so much fun at a family reunion.

When Kagome reached her room, she was unexpectedly welcomed with a white, plastic grocery bag sitting at her door step. She bent down to open the bag, pleasantly greeted with the sight of a large, round and green fruit inside. On it, Kagome caught sight of a little piece of paper. Taking it gently in her hand, she read through the note:

‘Kagome,

Dinner this Saturday? 7:00. Watermelon-free.

-Sesshomaru

P.S. Of course, if you insist on having watermelon again, I’m sure that can be arranged.’

At the bottom, a ten digit number was written. Kagome smiled, reaching into her pocket for her phone.

Maybe she’d pass on the watermelon this time around.

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