"What the heck makes you think I have a cookie?" Inuyasha says annoyed. He had stayed up half the night with Emi, the youngest, because she was crying. He glanced over at Kagome and Kaiyo, the middle child, to see them both still asleep. Just then Emi started fussing again.
"Kagome..." he whined. She turned over and pulled the covers over her head with the blankets. "It's your turn..." she says groggily. He sighed heavily and got up to pick up Emi with Rei at his heels. "Daddy, what's wrong with her? Why is she crying? She's loud, can't you make her be quiet? Shouldn't you hold her or something? Mommy does that."
He growled in defense, and the oldest pup yipped and went over to her mother and got under the covers. She's probably hungry, Inuyasha thought as he bent over to pick up Emi and she immediately stopped crying. She reached up and pulled on his hair and giggled. He sat her down by her toys while he prepared a bottle. She didn't like being put down, but Inuyasha ignored her whines for now. He was doing all he could.
This was his third child with Kagome. He knew the routine by now. He still didn't like changing diapers. That is one thing he left to Kagome whenever he could in exchange for getting up several times in the night with their kids. With the bottle ready, he picks up Emi and feeds her. He looks down at Emi as she feeds. She's the one who looks the most like Kagome. Beautiful. Her big eyes start to droop as she eats. Hopefully she'll go back to sleep, Inuyasha thinks to himself. He knows that at this age, babies usually just eat and sleep. That was fine with him, but he didn't like getting up in the middle of the night to feed her. He was exhausted.
As she was feeding Emi, he heard Kagome begin to stir. He was thankful she was finally up to help him. Rei was riding piggy back style on Kagome's back while playing with her hair. Kaiyo was just resting on Kagome's hip. Kaiyo had always been a late sleeper and a calm baby, the opposite of Emi. Inuyasha smiled when he saw them come in. Kagome had always been great with their kids.
"G-g-good morning Inuyasha," she says to him stifling a yawn. She let the kids down on the floor and went over to him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Then she looked down at Emi who was fast asleep in Inuyasha's arms. She brushed aside some hair off of Emi's face and smiled down at her.
"Mommy I'm hungry!" Rei called loudly.
"Yeah, me too!" chimed in Kaiyo.
"Okay okay you two, I'll fix you some food. Don't bother daddy though, okay? Emi is sleeping." The girls nodded in agreement and began to play. Inuyasha watched the two run around the room playing. Rei was 6 and Kaiyo just turned 3, and they usually get along fairly well. Everything was fine until Rei started screaming.
"GIVE IT!" Rei shouted as she tried to snatch a toy from her sister.
"NOOOO! STOP IT!" Kaiyo whined in protest.
"THIS IS MINE"
"I HAD IT FIRST!"
"Girls," Kagome said in one of her motherly tones she often used on them. They stopped immediately. "If you can't share that toy, I will take it away." Kagome got them to be quiet, but not soon enough. Emi woke up with all the commotion and started crying. Inuyasha tried to feed her the rest of the bottle, but she pushed it away. Then he tried kind of bouncing her up and down, which only seemed to make it worse, and rocking her didn't help either. He looked up at Kagome. "I don't know what to do! She won't stop!"
"Try burping her Inuyasha. She did just eat after all." So he tried sitting her up and burping her. It took a few minutes, but sure enough, she gave a praise worthy belch for just a tiny baby.
Kagome announces it is time to eat and everyone comes to the table. Emi sits in her highchair playing with some toys while the rest of the family eats. When Kagome first had Rei, she brought a lot of modern day things into their home. Emi dropped her teething ring on the floor. Since Inuyasha was closest, he picked it up and gave it back to her. The next time, she threw it on the floor and looked at Inuyasha expectantly. Kagome laughed in her food. She could see where this was going.
Again, he picked it up and continued eating. As if this is some kind of new game, Emi giggled and tossed the ring again. Now Inuyasha was starting to get annoyed. He glanced at Kagome, who still tried not to make eye contact with him. His other two girls were openly laughing at him. He picked up the ring again.
"This time, don't throw it. Okay? That's enough," he said trying to sound calm. Emi looked at him with her head tilted for a second. Thinking that he got through to her, he continued eating. Thump. He looked up to see that she had thrown it once again. "I'm not picking it up anymore!" he said. She reached her hands for it, but he wasn't budging. So Emi started to pout. Inuyasha, not wanting to hear anymore whining, complied. "OKAY! Here! Don't throw it anymore."
"Inuyasha..." Kagome started, but she couldn't finish because she heard another thump and knew what was coming.
"You know what!?" He hardly had any patience, and he reached the limit. "IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" he shouted as he clawed the toy to death. Almost automatically, Emi started crying, and the other girls were silent, trying to figure out what had happened. They weren't really paying attention.
"INUYASHA!" Kagome screamed at him. He looked up to see Kagome hovering over him giving him the death glare. He cowered back in fear. "Now look what you did! What the heck were you thinking!? That was her ONLY teething ring stupid!"
"Yeah but she was the one..." Inuyasha started, trying to make up an excuse, but Kagome wouldn't listen. She crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Inuyasha SIT"
Inuyasha does a face plant in the ground and moans from the pain. The two older girls got a kick out of this and started laughing. "Sit!" Emi chimed in. Kagome gasped and her face lit up with pride. "Her first word! Inuyasha, did you hear that!?" Kagome said while picking her baby up and hugging her. Emi liked the attention and just giggled. She said the word 'sit' over and over again. Rei joined in too and Kaiyo just sat back and giggled.
"I heard," he mumbled angrily from the ground. It was a good thing that the spell didn't work with his children too. Then he would really be in trouble. He sat up suddenly and sniffed the air. Kagome was too happy with Emi right now to care what Inuyasha was sniffing in the air, but she soon found out.
"HELLO!" A voice shouted from the door. The door opened and there stood Sango and Miroku and their five children. "There are my favorite girls!" he said smiling at Inuyasha's kids. "Uncle Miroku!" the two older ones shouted as they ran over to him and gave him a hug. Emi just bounced happily in Kagome's arms. He swooped them up, one in each arm, as he entered the house with Inuyasha watching him like a hawk. "Hello Kagome, hello Inuyasha. What are you doing on the floor?"
Kagome turned around in surprise and didn't give Inuyasha a chance to reply to him. "Miroku! Sango!" she said happily welcoming them into her home. "I see you brought the whole gang, hi there!" she said to the kids. There was quite a lot of them too. The oldest were seven year old twin boys, Haruki and Yutaka. Next came the five year old girl, Katsuki. Then Nanami, who was the youngest daughter at two. And last but not least, Sango was holding Aki, a young boy about Emi's age.
"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Sango says politely.
"Oh no, not at all!" Kagome insists. "We just finished up breakfast. And you know you guys are welcomed here anytime you want." Emi cooed happily, which reminded Kagome of what just happened. "Oh! Emi said her first word just before you got here!" she said happily. Both Sango and Miroku were very glad to hear this news.
"Wow, she's growing up so fast!" Sango commented. "Aki is taking his own sweet time on learning new words." Miroku said putting the other two girls down and went to Emi.
"You said your first word?" he said as he took her and held her. "What was it Kagome?" Inuyasha cowered in fear again.
"Go on," Kagome urged her. "Say it! Come on, you can do it! Say 'SIT'" CRASH. "Hehe, Opps, sorry Inuyasha! I really didn't mean to." He grumbled from the floor and uttered several curse words under his breath. Why is she getting a kick out of my pain?
Emi giggled when Inuyasha fell. "Sit!" she said with glee. Sango laughed and Miroku grinned ear to ear. "Wow! What a big girl! I bet you learned that from mommy, didn't you? Oh such a good girl!" he said using baby talk with her. "Too bad the spell doesn't work with the children too," he mumbled, but it looked like he didn't say it quiet enough. Inuyasha stood up with his fist raised.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" he yelled ready to beat Miroku in the head as soon as he let go of Emi.
"Still as hot-tempered as always I see. I was JOKING Inuyasha, calm down."
The parents sat down and talked while the kids decided to play. "Kaiyo, Rei, lets play house. I'll be the daddy, and you can me the mommys!" Haruki said taking both the girls hands and walking outside with them. "Okay!" they responded in unison as they left together. Inuyasha twitched when he saw this. He didn't know what to do. Kagome and Sango both smiled. "How cute!" Kagome commented. "Like father like son I guess," Sango said with a shrug.
"MIROKU YOU SICK PERVERT!" Inuyasha yelled as he whacked him upside the head with his fist. However angry he was, he held back a little because Miroku was holding Emi. "Thanks to you, your son is becoming a two-timing pervert just like you!"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome said sternly, but he didn't listen.
Miroku rubbed his sore head. "I hardly see a problem," Miroku says innocently. "He just likes to play with the girls, what can I say? I'm not going to stop him from playing, Inuyasha. Besides, it's not like he's doing anything to them..."
"You better pray on your life that he doesn't!" Inuyasha threatened him. "I mean, they are only kids! He is about as perverted as you are, taking advantage of younger girls like that."
"Inuyasha, there is only three years difference between me and Sango. That is about the same distance between Haruki and Kaiyo. It's even less time between him and Rei. So he's not too old for them. Besides, I don't think you should be the one talking. There is hundreds of years difference between you and Kagome. That didn't seem to bother you..."
"THAT'S DIFFERENT!" he yelled.
"Inuyasha stop yelling, you are going to upset Emi and Aki," Kagome said calmly. He looked like he was going to yell back, but stopped himself. Inuyasha crossed his arms and sat by the door where he could see the children clearly, especially Haruki. He wasn't going to let that one out of his site. Kagome sighed. At least he wasn't screaming anymore. She couldn't help but smile at him though. She thought it was cute how protective he was over his daughters.
All of the other children went to play outside too while the grown ups talked inside. All the kids except Emi and Aki that is. Emi didn't mind. She loved the attention Miroku was giving her. Aki wasn't too happy though. He wanted to go out with the bigger kids, but he could barely pull himself up to crawl, so Sango kept him with her, even if he did fuss about it. Katsuki crouched near the house and watched an army of ants go in and out of their home. It didn't take too long before she was bored of that and decided to destroy it. Her and her brother Yutaka then played in the dirt. Nanami was having fun with Kirara. It was a good thing Kirara was so used to the kids. She didn't even mind when Nanami got a little too rough with her and pulled on her ears.
How did I end up babysitting again? Inuyasha complained as he sat there in silence. However he may dislike it, he kept an extra sharp eye on Rei, Haruki, and Kaiyo. He didn't trust that kid, especially since he knew Miroku, and he was Miroku's son after all.
"Still the same old Inuyasha," Sango said with a smile. "Although, in a strange way, he does seem a lot more calmer now that he has kids."
"Yeah, he does. I guess it sort of tamed him a bit," Kagome said with a small smile.
Miroku took a moment from making faces at Emi to chime in to the conversation. "Well, you've done a fine job training him Kagome, I must say. I do see a tremendous change in him. It's amazing how much he's changed over such a short period of time." Now Miroku took Aki as well so he had both Aki and Emi.
"Well, it hasn't been that short of time. It's been six years since I gave birth to Rei. He really is good with the kids, but we did have a few incidents though. Like today, he destroyed one of Emi's toys. I think that was just a mix of frustration and lack of sleep. I can't blame him. Emi doesn't let him sleep much anymore. She only wants him when she wakes up in the middle of the night. Good news for me, but bad news for Inuyasha."
"More sleep for you," Sango said with a smile knowing exactly what sleepless nights are like. "I don't get that luxury though, but luckily for me, Miroku is a great help. Even when he can't help me when I have feed Aki at two o'clock in the morning, he gets up with me anyway." Kagome smiled and looked at Miroku. He was not aware that he was being talked about. He was having too much fun laughing and playing with the babies to care right now.
-
Meanwhile:
Haruki was chasing Kaiyo and Rei across the yard. Almost as if it were in slow motion, he saw Rei trip on her own feet and fall. There was nothing Inuyasha could have done to stop her too. He sat up alert after she fell wondering if she was okay. She stood up, and appeared to be fine until she looked down and saw her knee was scraped and immediately started crying. Inuyasha got up quickly and went over to her to see if he could help. Her knee was scraped, and it was only bleeding a little bit.
"Rei, are you okay?" he asked gently.
"Daddy!" Rei cried with her hands held up to him. Her tears didn't stop. He had never seen her cry this much before. He picked her up and brought her back to the house. Even when he sat down with her on the porch, her tears didn't stop. He really didn't know what to do.
"Shh, stop crying, please. It's okay, you're fine." She clung onto him and cried into his shirt. Inuyasha could do nothing but hold her. Kagome even came over to see what was the matter.
"Rei, what's wrong?" Then she noticed the cut on her knee. "Oh, I better clean that out right away."
"No!" cried Rei loudly. She clutched tighter to Inuyasha like Kagome was going to hurt her by cleaning out her cut. Kagome seemed a little taken aback, but decided to leave her be. The cut didn't seem that bad anyway. It could be dealt with later. Inuyasha just shrugged, and Kagome smiled at him. He pushed Rei's hair out of her face and rubbed her back until her sobs became silent and she was calm again. However, she didn't move after she calmed down. When Inuyasha looked down he realized that she had fallen asleep. He lips curled into a small smile.
Later that night
The sun had set and Miroku and Sango had long since left with their children, and Inuyasha's and Kagome's children were fast asleep in bed. The two of them were sitting together in the front room of their house. Inuyasha was leaned against the wall and Kagome was between his legs with her head on his chest and his arms wrapped around her.
They sat there for the longest time in silence, something they don't get to have very often anymore. The only sounds that were heard were the faint animal noises coming from outside. It had been a very long day, and no doubt Emi would be up soon wanting to be fed again, but he was so comfortable right there, he couldn't bare to move Kagome.
"Kagome?" he said softly, hoping he hadn't woken her up.
"Hmmm?" she uttered groggily.
"Is this how you pictured it?" he asked. "Our lives I mean."
She was silent for a moment. This wasn't exactly what she was expecting from Inuyasha. He was never one to ask questions like this. "No." She finally answered. "It's better than I imagined." She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm so happy, Inuyasha."
She could make out a faint blush on his cheeks in the moonlight. He gave her a small smile and kissed her. "Me too."
Suddenly Inuyasha jerked awake from his dream. He glanced around, disoriented, not sure where he was at first. He calmed down as his senses came back to him. He was in a small town in a rented room with Kagome resting in his lap. His hands were resting on her slightly enlarged belly. They were expecting a baby. Sango and Miroku were with them as well. They were across the room tending to their newly born twins. Miroku looked over at Inuyasha and smiled wearily. He hadn't had much sleep lately with the newborns. Inuyasha couldn't help but think that will be him in a few months. But he's not worried anymore. He is sure he can do it. He looked back down at his beautiful Kagome sleeping in his lap. He kissed her forehead and she stirred from her sleep.
"Is something wrong?" she asked sleepily.
"No, I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep," he said softly. She closed her eyes again and went straight to sleep. Inuyasha however, was up for most of the night. He was even up after Miroku and Sango had gone back to sleep after feeding their babies. He looked down at Kagome sleeping in his lap. "I love you," he whispered.