Where did it all go wrong? As he looked down at his son, a small, white haired mop covering his head, he felt a surge through his chest. He looked like a young version of his own father; like the Inu no Taisho was laughing down at him from above as he stared into the face of a long dead youkai.

Genetics were a despicable thing.

His offspring had the nerve to insinuate that he was lacking in visual glory, as well. It was almost as if the howling was not cut off after Inuyasha received a scolding worthy of an old woman from the miko.

He scowled, glancing toward the woman who carried all three males' guises.

"If I were in my true form, you would be terrified." Did the boy even know what his true form was? Had Kagome told him that much? His stared down his nose into defiant gold eyes.

His brother snickered behind him. "More like awed. You're just a twenty-five meter tall puppy."

That actually garnered a reaction besides glaring from the youngest male, although not at all what Sesshoumaru wanted to happen. A smirk crept across the face of the disrespectful whelp before him. "You turn into a giant dog?"

His sire quirked an eyebrow, as if to say what of it?

"If I hear one more word out of you, Hiroshi, we can go on the next plane home," his mother cut in. She leveled her eyes at him. "This is your father. Treat him with respect." The boy was acting like an insolent teenager, not the boy that was frolicking around Japan since they got there.

"But mom!" Ah, there it was. "Why do I have to? Where has he been this whole time?" There was an underlying sense of hurt when he spoke, and she knelt down, opening her arms.

"You were fine with your Uncle Inuyasha," she pointed out, dragging him to her after he ran her way.

"He's not scary," a muffled whisper answered from the fold of her wet shirt.

Sesshoumaru frowned. He wanted to intimidate the child, not scare him. He simply went off instincts, staying his ground at the challenge that was silently issued by the boy's put-off attitude. He took a step forward, then hesitated. Should he treat the boy as a human child, then?

"I'm sorry I scared you," he said, bending at the knees to match Hiroshi and Kagome. When the boy looked up, with snot dribbling down his nose and wet eyes, he sighed, then offered a half-smile, trying to convey his feelings. "I'm not a human. I couldn't be with your mother for a long time because of it." Well, that and a few other things. Answering a child's questions would help establish trust, and ease any discrepancies. "I'm a youkai, as is my brother and as are you." He glanced at his estranged mate for confirmation that this was working, but she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "That's why I can turn into a… giant dog." True form had a better ring to it, but if this helped, then… "Your uncle and I wanted to take you out today so that you could meet us the way that we really are, or half are." If he kept explaining, the tension would continue to dissipate, but Sesshoumaru had not rambled in decades, not since he had to calm Inuyasha after-

"How tall is twenty-five meters?" the boy asked.

Sesshoumaru blinked, then smiled fully.

Sesshoumaru's apartment was relatively small and gave a cramped feeling with more than two occupants, but he dismissed it as he dropped the bag of fast food on the table, followed by the two others that Inuyasha carried. He laid out paper towels and plates, dumping fries on one and piling hamburgers on another, while Kagome set drinks down and Hiroshi immediately grabbed at some chicken nuggets that were still in a container.

WacDonald's splurges had never appealed to him, but Inuyasha seemed to find a sort of nostalgia in the food (which he apparently felt today, as he was the one that suggested the fast food restaurant in the first place), and his son… well, he and his mother seemed to chow down instantly. No "itadakimasu" or any acknowledgement, and Inuyasha shook his head, walking over to the television and turning it on.

"You watch anime, kid?"

Kagome rolled her eyes from the table before stopping with a gasp, then clapping her hands. "Itadakimasu!" she practically yelled, with a slight pink to her cheeks. Her hair was still dripping a little, and Sesshoumaru left for a minute, only to return with a towel.

"Thank you," she smiled up at him, then toweled her hair and hung the fabric over the back of her chair to put away when she finished her meal. They ate for a while in silence; a children's anime coming from across the living room to the open dining area.

"So you attended a university in America," Sesshoumaru began, nodding towards the former Shikon Miko. "What degree did you pursue?" He congratulated himself on his patience in abstaining from googling her after he found out she left. Not that it was easy to find her; her name wasn't as uncommon as many people would assume, on top of how her first and last name seemed to be words that product companies found appealing to customers. If he ever saw one more advertisement for Kagome Bamboo again…

"Environmental Sustainability and a degree in history," She answered after swallowing her food. "I interned on a farm and now I live and work on part of it under a grant I received through the Master's program." She paused for a moment. Was there meat in her teeth? "I actually work with my old professor and her husband there. They rent out a Mother-in-law house to me and help babysit Hiroshi when I have to go to any functions." She took another bite, hoping she hadn't stumbled over any of the words. She could feel her legs shaking, like the first time she had met him, five hundred years ago. Did she miss anything? Was he going to ask her more? Was she supposed to respond with- "What do you do?" She almost blurted. Her face began to heat, and she watched his eyes dance with amusement.

"I'm an elementary school teacher."

Better late than never, right? Happy New Year!