Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.

Okay, I couldn't help myself. I was watching all those father-daughter videos on YouTube and got swept into a moment of complete InuYasha/Kagome thoughts. What would her dad think, looking down from heaven at his baby girl?

I Loved Her First

In the afterlife, there is an absence of time. So, while my wife, son, and father-in-law worried about my beautiful fifteen year old daughter in the Feudal Era, I was there to watch over her, to protect her even when the man she loved couldn't. I saw everything that had happened to her and, at first, the hanyou wouldn't have been my first choice of husband for her.

First of all, he had tried to kill her. That hadn't earned him any brownie points. And he'd treated her like dirt, something I would have swiftly rectified, had the gods allowed me to do so. Then, when she's finally started trusting him, he'd thrown it in her face with that Kikyo woman. I have nothing against Kikyo, only that my daughter was caused so much grief and heartache in her name. In fact, now Kikyo helps me watch over them, keep them on the right path. The gods owe her much.

Now, however, I see them together, past all the pain and quests. They are happy. He has made her happy.

My grandchildren race around with little dog ears on their heads and smirks accompanying soft eyes. They're beautiful. But I can't help feeling that he doesn't deserve her.

After all, I loved her first. I was there to have my heart entrapped by her when she first came into the world. I was the one to teach her how to ride her bike and the one she came to when something was wrong. Even after I'd passed, she prayed to me, asking for strength. She wrote me letters that she would leave on my grave or where my grave would one day be. Every time something had gone wrong with that idiot, she'd come to me for comfort, even if I could only join her in her dreams.

But he was the one that got a first hand look at her maturing, becoming the woman she was born to become. He got the hold the children I could only watch from afar. Where she had been my life, she was now his. I could barely believe that my baby girl was now a wife and mother, pleased beyond belief at her life.

When they'd been separated for those three years, I'd known that it was too much for her. He was supposed to be hers and she his. She would never be completely happy without him.

So, I'd lobbied with the gods, begging them to give her the life she deserved. Had she not done their will? Had she not gone through enough to win such a simple thing?

And then when she'd seen him for the first time in ages, the happiness she'd felt had filled me with sadness. She truly loved him and I would no longer be the man she went to when things were hard. She would turn to him to cry and I was slowly being pushed out of her mind.

Until tonight. It has been three years since she wrote me a single letter but tonight, after her husband and children were fast asleep, she wrote to me.

I'm sorry, Daddy, for not writing in so long. I hope you can forgive me. I won't make excuses. Please show Mama, Grandpa, and Souta that I love them and am thinking of them. I miss them so much, but knowing that you're showing them that I do helps. Sometimes I can't believe my life. I'm a priestess now, Daddy! Since Kaede's passing, it's been harder to keep up with the sick and my own family.

You would have spoiled Mika without realizing it. She knows how to wrap her father, Hakkakei, Youta, and Jengi around her little finger. Lately, she's been getting her brothers to do her chores for her, the little sneak. But you wouldn't be able to help loving her just the way that I do.

InuYasha used to ask about you, when we were first married. Now, when I start to miss you all over again, he just holds me and makes me feel better. Kind of like you used to do. And he's very protective, like you were. He teaches me something new every day. I suppose it's true that every girl marries her father, huh? :)

I just miss you so much. It's not the same as with Mama and Grandpa and Souta. I know that one day the well might reopen, should the gods will it to. Then I could see them again. But you...you'll always be just beyond my reach, won't you?

I miss your goodnight hugs and kisses and the stories you would tell me. I miss you explaining why things happen. I remember when they diagnosed you and you told me what was going to happen, just like if I was a grown up. It hurts to think of, but I still miss how grown up you would make me feel.

It looks as if Jengi is waking. He's had a terrible cold for the past few days, so I must go to him.

I love you.

She'd signed it in a flourish and kissed the page next to it. I choked up a little and felt a tear roll down my cheek. My thoughts returning to her husband, I focused solely on him. Remember, InuYasha: I loved her first.