Hustler by Little Sheriff

Rose

Hustler

Chapter 6 - Rose

657 Words

Sesshoumaru stared blankly at the stage, not paying attention in the slightest. He knew someone would get his attention when the time came. Not like any of this mattered anyways. So he was graduating, big deal. He had to sit through some big ceremony for hours so he could receive a piece of paper that essentially stated he wasn't a complete nincompoop, how eventful. It's not like he had put any real effort into high school anyways, what was the point? The lessons were ridiculously easy. He skipped classes often to go spend more time at pool halls, and still performed better than many of the students who regularly attended the classes. His SAT scores were extremely high, and he'd had many scholarship offers solely because of those. He'd refused them all of course. College wasn't in his future, not now at least. He had no interest in attending more classes for subjects he could care less about.

A new life, that's what he was after. He was moving from his father's house soon, into a new apartment. It was a ratty little hell hole if he was honest with himself, but it was his. He'd make his living in the pool halls, that's where he belonged. Jacob had given him a job as a bartender at one of his favorite places, he was taking the training soon. The money from that would pay for the apartment. The real money though, that would come from the games. Come from those who thought they were the best, although he was confident they'd soon learn different. It'd be petty cash at first, but he was sure he could be one of the best hustler's out there given the chance.

The graduation droned on, and eventually Sesshoumaru took his turn walking the stage, his mind still elsewhere, focusing on his future. He could hear the girls in the audience sigh when he walked across, and had to restrain himself from sighing. They were pathetic. Finally it ended, Sesshoumaru bid farewell to those he actually talked to, and left. He'd driven himself there and his father had asked he come straight home after the celebration.

As Sesshoumaru walked through the front door, he saw a single rose sitting on the table besides the door with his name on a note attached to it. Picking it up, he saw it was a note from Izayoi.

Dear Sesshoumaru,

I do apologize, but your father and I were unable to attend your graduation. Inuyasha was running a slight fever

when he woke up this morning and I didn't feel that having him there with so many other people was a good idea.

 Besides, you know how long ceremonies bore him, he couldn't have sat still through it even if he was feeling well.

 He does seem to have recovered though, so your father and I have taken him out to dinner, we figured you could

fix something of your own. Inuyasha wanted ramen, and since he didn't eat a thing today we thought it best if we

took him out to somewhere where we knew he would eat so he could rebuild his strength. We know you don't

like it there, it's why we didn't wait for you to return. Your father and I are proud of you for graduating, although we

 do wish you'd reconsider going to university. You could still get into one. Don't throw away your future on that silly

 game, you know you won't get anywhere playing it. Your father's wasted enough time playing, you shouldn't have to.

-Izayoi

Sesshoumaru stared down at the rose, what he supposed was his graduation gift, before setting it on the glass dish they generally used to store keys. He paused for a moment before pulling a lighter out of his pocket and lighting the note on fire. He watched the fire crackle happily as it slowly consumed the note and then the rose.

~~~~~

A/N: We're about to get to the part w/, ya know, actual pool. Sorry for the long wait, I go away on weekends and totally forgot to write anything. But look, I did a long chapter (for me anyways) to make up for it. Just to straighten up any questions anyone might've had, this does take place in America. Why? B/c I totally don't know the schooling system and billiards rules for Japan, and I don't wanna research it. Outside of that, please review and tell me w/e it is you're thinking about this story. Whether you hate it, have an idea, or anything. I'd love to have some ideas of where y'all think it's going from here  ^_^