Back When by johi

Younger Days

New-ish Story. It's short and fluffy so take it for what it is.

Disclaimer: Own nothing except for the ideas!

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A young boy aged nine stood on the driveway of his new house. His mom, dad, younger brother, sister and he had just moved to an area on the opposite side of the city. He hated it.

His sister came to stand beside him and grasped his hand. "My new house?" She asked with an angelic innocence that only a child the age of four could possess.

Sesshoumaru gently swung their linked hands and answered grudgingly. "Yep. But I get to pick my room first, since I'm the oldest."

Rin looked up at her idol, her mouth forming a silent, 'Oh.'

"Nuh-uhhh!" Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru's seven year old brother shouted while scrambling out of the back seat of the car. His fists were clenched tightly as he stomped over to his siblings. "Daddy, dad said that you're not allowed to do that!"

Rin cringed at the loud voice.

Sesshoumaru frowned at Inuyasha, but before he could yell back their parents intervened.

"Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha," Their father began sternly. "I will not have you two fighting today. Your mother and I are going to be helping the movers with the furniture, so we are leaving you both responsible for Rin."

"Okay." They both said, and stood back as two of the hired help came towards them; one going backwards as they carried the black leather couch that was to go in the living room.

Rin was pulling on Sesshoumarus hand and grunting with the effort of trying to make him move. "Come this way."

Sesshoumaru looked at her and complied after seeing her face begin to turn red with the strain. "Where are we going?" He was teasing her by walking much slower that she wanted him to and only making her more frustrated with the act.

"Over *grunt!* here *puff!" Finally she stopped and looked up and him angry. "Se-sho-ma-roo!"

"Yes?"

"Play with me!"

"Okaaaay." He drawled before quickly picking her up under her arms with her back to him and waddling over to the grass, making her swing side to side like a pendulum.

Rin laughed wildly when her brother swung her around a couple times before falling backwards with her landing on top. Sesshoumaru was average to small in height for his age, but Rin was very tiny. Her head came just to his waist, and compared to other four-year-olds she looked one to two years younger.

Sesshoumaru looked around for his brother when he saw him playing in the dirt, which was to be a garden eventually, with some of his trucks. All of a sudden he heard a girlish giggle that was not his sisters. He sat up causing Rin to slide and sit between his legs, still dizzy from her 'Around the World' spin. "Who was that?"

Giggle

There it was again! He looked in the direction of the long line of shrubs that went from the side of the house to the sidewalk, acting like a fence. There was someone in the bushes! Sesshoumaru stood up and walked over to where he thought it was coming from, telling Rin to stay there. "Who ever you are, you better come out right now. Or else!"

There was nothing for a few seconds until all of a sudden there was a ferocious 'Raahr!' followed by something leaping out of the bushes and pouncing him to the ground.

Sesshoumaru lay silent on the grass, too shocked to do anything but stare at the pair of blue eyes that belonged to the face that was pressed nose to nose with him. "I'm a llama." It whispered.

That brought him back to reality. He sat up and pushed the form off of him which he then discovered was a little girl. She had long black hair and blue eyes. She also looked to be about his age. "You're a what?"

She grinned at this. "A llama. I have black spots and a long tail and I'm a carnival! Raahr!" She laughed again and started walking around on her hands and knees making growling noises.

Sesshoumaru just stared at the strange girl. Did she mean leopard? If so, leopards are carnivores. He learned that at school. Shortly after this strange meeting, Inuyasha came over with his two trucks in hand. "Hi, what's your name?"

The girl looked away from the prey she was stalking, which happened to be Rin. "Kagome Higurashi." She took care to properly pronounce her last name. "Who are you?"

"I'm Inuyasha!" He said loudly.

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and looked back at Kagome. "My name is Sesshoumaru," he said proudly. "And I'm nine years old."

Kagome's face brightened up. "Really? I'll be nine on July twenty-first. That's in eleven days, if you didn't know." Kagome looked behind Sesshoumaru to see the littlest girl hiding behind his back. "What's her name?"

Sesshoumaru looked behind at Rin to see if she would answer but when she hid farther behind his back he answered for her.

"Oh," Kagome said. "Hi, Rin! I was going to eat you, did you know that? Because llamas eat animals smaller than them."

Rin whimpered and grabbed onto her oldest brothers shirt.

Before Sesshoumaru could say anything, Inuyasha did. "No they don't, stupid! Llamas don't eat other aminals. They eat grass."

"No!" Kagome countered defensively. "Llamas do too! They have black spots and long tails and they're like kitties but meaner!"

Inuyasha snorted. "You're so stupid. That's a leopard! Llamas are stupid, ugly aminals with long necks like a camel. I guess you do look like a llama!" He laughed cruely.

Kagome's lower lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears at how mean this boy was to her. "Oh yeah? Well you look like a stupid dog, with those stupid ears!

"Don't make fun of my ears!" Inuyasha screamed and ran away to the house.

Kagome sniffed and wiped her face on the sleeve of her shirt, then looked at Rin. "I wasn't really going to eat you. I was just pretending." She then turned her attention to the outward appearance of the two siblings in front of her. "How come you look so different? Why do you have colors on your face, were you playing in your mommies make-up? And why do you and Inuyasha have white hair, are you a grandpa?"

"'Cause Inuyasha and me are youkai and she's not." Sesshoumaru answered calmly.

"Why?"

Sesshoumaru sighed dramatically. "'Cause she's human. She's adopted."

"Oh." Kagome said cheerfully. "What about that other boy, Inuyasha? Is he 'dopted? He has funny ears, is he gonna turn into a dog?"

"No," Sesshoumaru said thoughtfully. "He just got different parts of youkai in him."

"Oh." She said, still not understanding. "Well I'm not a youkai, I'm just Kagome!"

When Sesshoumaru stood up, so did Kagome. They both learned that they were about the same height, Sesshoumaru being slightly taller.

"Kagome! Kagome where are you?" A woman's voice called.

"That's my mommy." Kagome said.

"Kagome Higurashi, where are you?" That time it was a man, and he was coming towards them. Just has he came around the shrub fence, he saw Sesshoumaru's dad struggling with two bookshelves tied back to back. He grunted as he darted over to help. "Let me help you with that." He grabbed the same end and Sesshoumaru's dad and helped him gently lower it to the ground out of the back of the truck. At the same time, both men stretched and grunted. They introduced themselves as "Taro Nishiyama" and "Kisho Higurashi" and stood off to the side to talk.

"Hey," Kagome said to Sesshoumaru. "Wanna come to my birthday party?"

"Um, okay. But I have to ask my dad." Sesshoumaru said while taking Rin's hand and walking towards their parents with Kagome.

"Daddy!" She called and ran towards him. "Daddy, can Sesshoumaru and Rin come to my birthday party?"

"Sure, if it's okay with Mr. and Mrs. Nishiyama." He answered, picking her up.

Taro smiled down at two of his three children, one which had the same white hair as him. "Sesshoumaru, Rin, would you like to go to Kagome's birthday?" After Sesshoumaru said 'yes' for both of them, Taro looked around the front yard for his middle child. "What about Inuyasha, where is he?"

Kagome squirmed in her fathers arms and frowned. "Oh, but not him. He's mean and called me stupid. I don't want him to come."

Both fathers felt embarrassment for their child's behavior and apologized on behalf of them. Just then Mrs. Higurashi came around the corner, wondering where her husband had gone while looking for their daughter. She smiled at their new neighbor and shook his hand. "Hello, I'm Mai, Kisho's wife."

Taro smiled and returned the greeting. "My wife, Yumi, will be in the house somewhere, organizing where everything is to be put." The three adults laughed and continued talking for a little while longer before Rin pulled on Sesshoumaru's hand and said that she was hungry.

Taro Nishiyama bid Mai and Kisho Higurashi farewell in the need to feed his children, and to look for Inuyasha. The Higurashi's all said goodbye disappeared into their house next door.

As Sesshoumaru was walking towards the front door of their new house he thought, 'Maybe this won't be so bad.'