Inuyasha || Inuyasha/Bankotsu || A Turning of the Tide

[lynx212]

Title: A Turning of the Tide

Fandom: Inuyasha

Verse: Everyday Romance: Inu/Ban

Pairing/Characters: Inuyasha/Bankotsu, Sesshoumaru

Genre: Romance/Drama

Words: 1,737

Rating: T

Summary: Sesshoumaru was in over his head. The damnable thing was, he didn't care.

A/N: Written for iy_no_kakera

The rest of the Verse can be found HERE

The request had been a simple one.

“Ru, I have to catch a flight due to a meeting turning into negotiations. Had dinner plans with Ban. Could you pick him up from Snap Shots and fill in for me? Sorry such short notice. Life happened.”

Sesshoumaru received this text message from Inuyasha asking him if he could pick Bankotsu up at a downtown studio and take him out to dinner. Inuyasha had made plans with his lover for dinner but one of his meetings not only ran over but it kicked off the need for further negotiations. Sesshoumaru was done at his office for the day and spending the evening in such pleasant company sounded like a fine idea to him.

It was simple. Retrieve Bankotsu, eat with Bankotsu deposit Bankotsu at home. Simple as pie.

Only that wasn’t what happened.

If Sesshoumaru’s mind was a vase, the first chip appeared in the vessel from point one… the retrieval.

Virtually every sighted person in the city knew who Bankotsu was. It was hard not to. Over the last seven years he’s been on the top twenty, faces to watch, list of models. Sesshoumaru was no wallflower, almost as many people knew who he was as well. So when he waltzed into Snap Shot Studios, none of the staff so much as batted an eyelash at his presence. In fact, the security let him pass with a bow that was followed by mutterings of gratitude at being in his presence.

He walks into Studio Room Seven and the sight that greeted him came as close as anything ever has, to stopping him in his tracks.

Electric blue.

That’s what his brother-in-law had on.

Bankotsu was wearing a white button up shirt with three quarter length sleeves that sat perfectly pressed under an electric blue vest. This was paired with white slacks that were fitted perfectly over his taut and toned legs and backside. White shoes that were accented in that same electric blue covered his feet and when Bankotsu turned around Sesshoumaru could see several strands of his unbound hair had small white accents wrapped around them.

In short, he looked stunning.

When Bankotsu noticed him, a smile claimed his face as he waved at the awestruck man in the doorway.

Bankotsu wrapped up his conversation with the photographer, made his way over to Sesshoumaru and asked him if he was joining him and Inuyasha for dinner.

“Work has made Inuyasha unavailable this evening. He asked me to come in his stead.”

When that charismatic smile faded into a sad watery semblance of itself, Sesshoumaru thought how fortunate his sibling was. To have nothing more than his momentary absence make such an impact, “Was tonight a special occasion?”

The soft chuckle he received in response confused him until Bankotsu said, “Every moment with him is a special occasion.”

Yes, Inuyasha was fortunate indeed.

“I extend my apologies.”

“Don’t worry about it. I knew it was coming. I saw Mayumi waving red post-it notes in the air as she held up my phone during my last shoot. I guess I was hoping it was an, I’m going to be late as opposed to I’m not going to make it.”

“Still yet you appear so morose.”

“If you want honesty, I am feeling a bit crestfallen because I wanted him to see me in this outfit. Yeah, yeah I know that’s silly but I designed it myself. After seeing the pictures of me in it, I thought it turned out rather well. If Inuyasha liked it, I was going to layout something similar in red and white for him.”

“If you would be willing to give me the opportunity, perhaps I can take your mind off his absence for a few hours.”

“I’m all yours.”

Sesshoumaru extended his arm and thought, Bankotsu-kun, you should not say such things.

The first full length crack just made itself known.

***

A simple dinner date turned into quite the enchanted evening.

Upon receiving a mango flavored tea with his meal, Bankotsu talked at length about some tropical drink he’d had several months ago while working in Maui. Sesshoumaru asked a few more questions about this wondrous drink before asking his incidental date if he had any other plans for the evening. When Sesshoumaru received no as an answer, he then asked Bankotsu if he’d like to join him for cocktails.

They ended up on the rooftop of the Emporium.

The bartender manning the rooftop ballroom bar managed to replicate Bankotsu’s drink and the smile Sesshoumaru received in return for that blurred the Demon Lord’s logic. By all rights and if Sesshoumaru had, had any modicum of decency and sense, they would have finished their drinks and called it a night. That isn’t what happened.

That initial crack has spidered and spread.

One drink turned into three and before he could make sense of it, the two of them were on the dance floor. He knew Bankotsu was familiar with several styles of dance but the range as well as his comfort level with each was astounding to Sesshoumaru. They were walking away from the floor, ready to call it quits when the sounds and rhythms of the Bachata filled the air.

Bankotsu stepped closer to Sesshoumaru, Sesshoumaru’s arm wound around the shorter man’s waist, and the first chip out of that damaged vase slid to the floor.

They were on an exit ramp and headed for the highway before Sesshoumaru could process the night's events. Blurs of movement. Blurbs of conversation. Shades and hues of enlightenment. It all conspired to rob Sesshoumaru of his senses in a way he had never experienced before.

Bankotsu was speaking. Words were spilling out of his pale pink lips like a song that lulled Sesshoumaru into a trance he had no desire to be free of. Sesshoumaru was responding in kind. He was using more vocalization than he’d ever put forth in idle conversation and entertainment in his life.

The hours with Bankotsu ticked by on the clock like minutes.

“It’s after two in the morning,” Bankotsu noted as he worked to remove the small white adornments from his hair. “You must be tired of me prattling on about nothing. I’m sorry I’ve kept you.”

“There is no worry to be had Bankotsu-kun,” the familiar slipped out before Sesshoumaru could think about it. Even after he thought about it he was fine with it and that was another stressing matter altogether. “If there is no other perk to owning my own company, there is the ability to delegate without possible refute.”

“Regardless, give your staff my condolences. Especially if my actions cause them to pull more than their normal duties tomorrow. I’m surprised that you aren’t sleepy yourself.”

“I only sleep because I wish to. This late night will not tire me.”

“I forget that,” Bankotsu admitted as he leaned his seat back. “Inuyasha is the same way. Most nights I’ll be ready to sleep for eternity but he’ll still be energized and ready for action.”

“I could remain up for a week without pause,” Sesshoumaru replied. Even as he voiced the words he heard the invitation in them. There was equal regret and hope in that statement. He regretted opening that door even as he hoped that present company would walk through it.

“So, if I’m not tired tonight and wanted to see the sunrise over the ocean…”

“We could be there in just under three hours.”

With nothing else said, that is exactly what they did.

At six minutes past five in the morning they arrived at the shore. As dark waves crashed against a jagged shoreline, two figures sat on the sand and waited for the appearance of light on the horizon. Not many words were exchanged but the silent camaraderie was enjoyed all the same.

It was a slice of perfection.

As the first rays of daylight split the horizon, brilliant blue eyes turned from the vision as their owner said, “Thank you for bringing me here.”

“No, thank you for accompanying me.”

“I think that honour is all mine. My evening would have been pretty damn somber without you.”

The lazy lopsided grin on Bankotsu’s face caressed parts of Sesshoumaru’s soul. It caused something in his mind to set sail, and before he knew it, he was drifting. That’s what Sesshoumaru’s mind was doing. His mind was drifting away from the safe harbour of his conscious lucidity and as it got further away from the safety of that lucid shore he felt a large chunk of that fragmented vase break free.

Repairing it was no longer an option.

Once the sun was midway above the horizon Bankotsu stood up to stretch and Sesshoumaru got to his feet as well. He watched as the shorter man spread his arms and let the wind carry the feel and smell of a new day across his skin. Dark tresses that were an inverted mirror image of his own flowed out to the side almost mimicking the ocean in their movements.

When Bankotsu turned around he found Sesshoumaru staring at him and much closer to his person than he expected.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do it.”

Sesshoumaru gives him a puzzled look.

“Dive in,” Bankotsu answered as he looked up at his brother-in-law. “I’m resisting the urge to dive in, aren’t you?”

Yes as a matter of fact Sesshoumaru was, it's just that his destination wasn’t the ocean. As that fractured vase shattered, he caught himself leaning forward to perform and action he would not have been able to explain. He was in over his head and when Bankotsu gave him a baffled look, Sesshoumaru found himself at a loss for words. He has lost and was lost to a lot of things it would seem as the closest thing to panic he’d experienced in over a century hit him.

Rationale went out the proverbial window and before he could think about it, his instincts had taken over and resolved the situation for him. By the time either of them could make sense of what was happening they were on the front lawn of Inuyasha and Bankotsu’s home.

Stunned, confused and off kilter in a way that literally had him stumbling around in his own yard Bankotsu turned around to ask Sesshomaru what was going on, only to find himself talking to thin air.

He was alone.