A/N: A collection of moments from the child and adulthood of Kagome and InuYasha's baby girl. Enjoy the adorability and possible fluff 3

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or its characters.

Chapter One: Crimson Blanket

A round, tiny face peeked out, fleshy and pink. The tiny blue eyes were shut, sleeping peacefully with amazingly tiny breaths that seemed to be all that was needed. Her eyes would later change color. Wisps of dark, slightly wavy hair were silky to the touch, sticking up at odd angles that only baby locks were capable of. The skin, aside from its pink coloring, was soft to the touch and smooth. No more wondering where the phrase 'smooth as a baby's bottom' came from. Tiny pink hands, tiny pink fingers grasped the edge of the fabric that engulfed the little bundle of joy. So small! So fragile! So soft!

So beautiful in every way.

InuYasha stared down at his newborn daughter, his amber eyes wide and unblinking, unwilling to miss a moment. Afraid that if he looked away for just the smallest of seconds, she would be gone. Afraid that he was dreaming and not looking down at the infinite source of wonder in his arms, pondering how he, of all creatures, could have fathered something so beautiful and fragile.

He was careful, oh so very careful, with the nameless newborn. Despite the crimson armor that wrapped the tiny girl in a bundle, armor that had come off his own back and that had saved his life countless times, he still was careful to cradle her in the crook of his left elbow, only letting his white-shirted forearm and palms touch the new addition. Once again he looked at his claws. Claws that were meant for destruction and maiming and killing - not cradling fragile newborn baby girls. Once again InuYasha felt the worry tug at his heart, the fear that he would accidentally hurt his daughter - but the wonder and joy of holding, touching the creature was too much a pleasure for him to give up just because he didn't trust himself.

Taking in once again her round cheeks and nose and delicately lidded eyes, he decided it had been worth it.

Worth watching the love of his life scream in agony while he was powerless to stop the thing that was hurting her so much; worth all the blood that had escaped. Worth all the months he had had to be so extra careful - with her, with enemies, with the traveling, with everything. Worth walking on all those eggshells. And definitely worth the loss of his fire rat haori coat to protect the kid like this. Worth the endless wailing and sleeplessness and responsibility that was to come.

Worth everything he - they - had gone through to bring his baby girl into the world. Because she was beautiful and wonderful and already, InuYasha could feel himself falling in love with his baby girl. He had wondered what it would be like to experience this 'fatherly love' thing; it wasn't like the way he loved Kagome, or the way he used to love Kikyo, or even the way he loved his friends: Shippo and Miroku and Sango. Here was yet another person he would willingly give his own life for.

And she was only an hour old.

"Mm," came a whispered groan. Reluctantly, his eyes were drawn from the baby to the weary, smiling face of the woman he loved. Her warm sepia eyes met his liquid amber ones, but then, in unison, they both looked down upon the little, slumbering red bundle in his arms.

"She's beautiful," Kagome whispered hoarsely, voice consumed with loving awe. She extended her tan arms a bit, gesturing her desire to hold the thing she had just given birth to an hour ago, having woke up from the exhausted nap she had been taking.

Reluctantly, InuYasha gave the baby one last look before relenquishing her to the arms of her mother. And he froze. Something about the image before him. Kagome was looking down on the sleeping baby and it seemed like the rest of her world was fading away, but he didn't mind. It was an amazing sight: the bedraggled and weary young woman cradling a baby in her arms, and looking down on it with such incredible love that made him feel like an obselete parent already. It didn't matter that Kagome was a mess and that the newborn child was wrapped in the color of blood: it was still a beautiful picture. He took a picture in his mind to save for a rainy day.

Kagome tore her gaze from the bundle in her arms and met his eyes again.

"What should her name be?" she asked in a whisper, now in an attempt not to wake the baby.

He considered it for a minute, then with the return of a familiar, triumphant smirk, he said: "Cho."

"Cho?" asked Kagome incredulously. "Butterfly?"

InuYasha started to give an explanation, talking to his wife but looking at his daughter. "Butterflies... are beautiful," he said quietly, but continued. "And they're happy. And they spread life, and hope, and... and butterflies're loved."

The raven-haired, bedraggled young woman looked gently on her husband. "That's unlike you. I would've expected something more..."

InuYasha looked at her. She shook her head. "Never mind. Cho it is."

Just then, a bouncing kitsune burst through the door flap of the hut.

"I couldn't wait any longer!" cried Shippo. At the hiss to shut up from InuYasha (more like the hanyou Kagome knew), the fox boy quietly tiptoed over to the young woman and the mysterious, tiny, pink thing in her arms. "Kaede said it was a girl," commented the fox, to which Kagome nodded as InuYasha watched.

"Her name is Cho," whispered Kagome, first kissing the baby's head and then Shippo's, who was intent on the red-wrapped bundle

The green eyes peered happily and solemnly at the sleeping baby, whispering to it.

"Hiya, Cho," said the little fox quietly, the excitement in his whispered voice as apparent as the sparkle in his big eyes. "I'm your big brother. I won't let anything happen to you."

Looking at them, InuYasha supposed Shippo was right. After all, Kagome and the kitsune had pretty much adopted each other as family. So maybe his dream of being a big brother - of having a real family - had indeed come true.

After a while, Miroku and Sango made their way in as well to ooh and ah over the newborn baby girl.

Feh, InuYasha thought, eyeing his friends - especially Akira, Sango and Miroku's two-year-old boy and the demon slayer's large belly, at least we're not the only ones with a lot of work ahead.