It had been 15 years, and he was back at the spot where his wife first collapsed and took her last breath. Inuyasha was breaking, and even at his demonic age, the memories stayed with him. His granddaughter alone should have been enough to motivate him to do more, but it was almost useless. The girl had been no more than a blooming sprout when it happened, she couldn't understand what it was like. Now, he just sat there, watching the sunrise wanting it to take him away like it took the birds. There he sat, raveling the strings of his life before him. If the world crumpled under him at this moment, he would only hear the sound of the earth's music and nothing else. No, he would not fight the way he had done so many years ago, the war had beaten the spirit out him, and his wife's death being the last blow.
"Inuyasha!" he heard his granddaughter, Valerie, yell from the distance. She never called him her grandfather, and yet, he always wanted her attention. There was something about her, the same look in her eyes as Kagome. "Where have you been? I asked the neighbors where you had gone, no one said a thing. Did you leave before dawn? Look at you, all full of grass, let's get you home." It seemed as though Inuyasha was no more than a bother to her, but he was hanyou, he didn't need her looking after him. Even so, the young girl to it upon herself to mend his wound even when they were invisible. What Valerie didn't understand was that today was the anniversary of his wife's death; the day he lost the love of his life. He was a half demon, the human part of him etched with pain at the loss.
She steered him away from the woods and into the village. The people looked at him strangely; after all, he had once been a slave, not even born to those lands, before his deceased wife's family took him in, Inuyasha had been running from owner to owner, looking for a place to stay. After a while, almost as if he had rediscovered his inhuman strength, he began stealing and fending for himself. Then he met her, the girl that smelled like exotic flowers of his home lands.
Kagome.
Her family took him in. they were honorable people and he had been more than grateful to them. Every night, after his work around the family's farm was done; Kagome would sit with him and teach him how to read. He remembered those nights well, they were both starting to develop teenage feelings for one another and deeply in denial. Inuyasha was brought out of his memories but a small voice.
"Inuyahsa," Valerie said; the name still foreign to her. "What was it like before my grandmother died?" this was a question he never expected to hear from her. She usually just let him be, letting him be a fool and get lost in the memories of his wife. This has to be a joke, he thought. The look on Valerie's face told him otherwise. He recognized that look; determined, ready to get answers.
"What do you want to know kid?" he asked her, trying to keep up his tough exterior. "When I met Kagome, or when I went to war?"
"Both," was the young woman's reply. "We never talk much as is, and I am to be wedded in only 5 moons." Taking this into consideration, Inyasha sat down calmly.
"Listen kid," he signed. "This story isn't the best, and your old gramps isn't as romantic as your gammy Kagome found me to be."
A throaty laugh left her, but not one of malice. She always laughed with joy, even when it was at the simplest things. Realizing he had no choice, Iuyasha started his story….
He was born the son of a great demon lord and kind hearted princes, but not many saw him as this. As a half demon, he was out casted from both forms of societies. When his mother died, he was sold as a slave for farmers and such. The humans were the only ones who bought him, beating him ruthlessly when they found the excuse. As the years passed by, Inuyasha rebelled and ran away from his owners, only killing when he couldn't control his inner demon. In his later years as a boy, he fought demons and humans who mistreated him and judged him.
The day he met Kagome, she was in an old kimono that had possibly been worn for ages. Inuyasha had been rooming the village for a place to stay, and finally he had found her family's small cottage. With a gruff exterior, Inuyasha asked for shelter in exchange for work. He would cut the wood for fires, find herbs, do their hunting, anything for shelter. Kagome's father had been more than generous, taking him in and clothing him. Inuyasha had been offered a family.
The years grew, and so did his fondness for the now young woman he had grown with. She had many suitors waiting, that he knew. But Inuyasha also knew she didn't want to marry. Kagome was as free as the wind during a hurricane. He spent many nights listening to Kagome tell him she would rather be a cow than marry an egoistic farmer's son. It was a thought that made him smile, her wanting to be as free as h wanted to be. That and the thought of her being a cow, it was just plain silly. The day came where during one of their late night talks; she had asked the hanyou why he had fallen in love with her.
"What?" he asked completely astonished. How long had she known?
"Just tell me why," Kagome said. "There is nothing special about me. I'm a simple farmer's daughter with no mother to teach her how to be a proper lady." And she was right, if there was a man in the village, it was she.
"Because of your will to be free," Inuyasha replied. "I always wanted to be free, having been enslaved for so long. You were the only person who understood what it was like; the way your father kept you locked away from the world. The type of freedom we want is different, but we still wish to be as free as the birds who claim the sky. And your different from everyone else, you accepted me for the way I am." With that, the young woman burst into tears. She had felt completely touched by his words.
The next morning, Inuyasha asked Kagome's father if he could court her. Laughing with a cackling "HAHA," the father had said no. After all, Inuyasha had nothing to offer and he was half demon. That was why when the war came about with a sickening "BANG!" Inuyasha fought and swore he would return and ask for Kagome's hand in marriage. He left for war with his head held high and his heart in his hand.
The war took up four long years of Inuyasha that could have been spent at Kagome's side. Instead, he was tarring away at the skin of full blooded demons, fighting for the freedom of hanyous. The smell of blood assaulted his sensible nose at every corner and he had cheated death more than enough times. He had lost count of the times he had wanted to give up and go back, but he was stubborn and would return to Kagomes with his head held high, asking for her hand in matrimony.
By the end of the war, Inuyasha had come back with victory on his side. He was glowing with pride, ready to give his grand speech. Back at the village, he saw Kagome, with a swollen belly and he knew of the delicate package inside. He sat and talked with her. She told him she was 6 months into her pregnancy. Her father had died a about three and half years after Inuyasha left for war, and in during these tragic events a sick minded man had taken advantage of her. Inuyasha cried with her, and held her like he had when they were young. Where had the years of their youth gone? How had they gone to waste like this? No, he could not do this to her, he still loved her, and he would love her child just as much. He was back; he would never leave her side again even if hell froze over. His sweet Kagome, she didn't need to be alone ever again.
"Kagome," he started, with his heart in his throat. "I know you feel ashamed, but you must not. Your child needs a mother and a father. If you would allow me the honor of becoming your child's father figure, I gladly would. May I have this honor? I promised you I would come back from the war successful, and make you my wife. Kagome, will you marry me?"
Not believing her ears, the now woman looked up to see her childhood love was being completely honest with her, almost pleading her with the look in his eyes. In her heart, she knew he would always stand beside her and treat her as his equal, and not the way most husbands of this era treated their wives. Inuyasha was back, and he was willing to stay with her and her child.
The two married and Inuyasha became the father of a healthy young girl with pear-like eyes and grace. She grew and had a child of her own, Valerie, but was killed by bandits shortly after giving birth. Not long after, Kagome had become ill, constantly complaining about the pain in her head, coughing up blood by the dozens and feeling tired. Valerie was a year old when Kagome died. Her death wasn't calm and peaceful, she would have hated it. She died fitfully under the rising sun and blooming flowers of spring, fighting for her next breath of air. Inuyasha tried to raise Valerie, but there was only so much a 56 broken hearted hanyou could do.
With a heavy heart, Inuyasha raised his adoptive granddaughter in the best way he possibly could. He always considered himself a strict father, grouchy and internally aching after the loss of his wife. Often, he would scare the girl when he got flash backs of war. Other times, he would help her weave flower crowns; the way Kagome had showed him when they were children. The smile on Valerie's face was enough reward for him. Inuyasha has never been the best cook, so his granddaughter learned from other women in the village and he did the hunting. He tried to make each meal as fun as possible, the childhood he had suffered through only encouraging him to be a "fun" parent. Between noodle mustaches and soup burns, he and Valerie has the best seven years together.
But all children grow, and she shut herself from hi in her blooming years. She did not wish for more fun meals, instead wanting to be a mature woman of 15 years of age. Now, Inuyasha was aware of the looks the young men gave her, and he warned her that men could be despicable. The young fox demon form the village trade store asked to court Valerie. Inuyasha told him to ask his granddaughter himself. At Shippo's confused face, he explained that he would let the boy court his granddaughter but only if she wished it. Since lately, the young woman did not want to speak much with her grandfather; he was surprised when she agreed to the courtship. In time, Inuyasha warmed up to Shippo, he was sweet to his granddaughter
The child was as wild as her grandmother, with the same free spirit. Eventually, her childish ways came back, and Inuyasha had the young fox demon to thank for that. Now, Inuyasha watched as the last woman in his life was on her way to her new home, in the arms of a fox demon that loved her and had proven it time and time again. Now, he could meet Kagome in the afterlife and tell her that tried his best, that he felt he did not fail, as a husband or as a father of two beautiful women.