"Ow!"
He'd known her long enough to recognise the difference between pain and annoyance, so he didn't vault over from his spot in the doorway. He'd been in enough trouble the last week for being overbearing: she'd finally grabbed his ear and explained, through clenched teeth, that this was a perfectly natural development and that he did not need to stay within a metre of her at all times or snarl at everyone who came close, thank-you.
Later on she'd soothed his ruffled feathers by gently telling him she understood, and that she appreciated his concern. He'd then taken to sitting in the doorway to their hut, the symbolism fairly obvious, and that was how he found himself listening to his wife's increasingly frustrated muttering as she worked with needle and thread on some article of clothing.
He muffled a laugh as she let loose one especially vile word at the offending garment.
Oops.
"Oh, you find this funny, husband?" The term – one she almost never used - was said in a tone normally reserved for pond scum, school tests and Naraku.
Definite Oops.
"Keh, I just thought you looked cute, wench!" Normally saying something she did was 'cute' tended to defuse her anger, but it didn't work this time, and all he got was a stony glare. He tried another approach.
"What are you working on anyway, Kagome? You started working on that thing two moons ago and this is about the third time you've picked it apart. I haven't seen you so annoyed since the last time you had those test-things."
Her anger seemed to subside and she let out a long sigh, gathering the fabric into her hands. He'd obviously missed something here.
"It's for Shippo. The problem is every time I turn around these days he's half an inch taller! And...I wanted to get this finished before this happened. I don't want him to think this is some sort of...apology. He did so well in the last round of exams, I wanted him to have a reward."
He pulled himself up and padded over, sliding in behind her and rubbing her back softly. Not mollified, she fixed him with another glare. "It doesn't help that you kept putting off talking to him about our plans before we started trying because you were embarrassed, so he worked out on his own why I started to smell different! I've barely seen him outside of meal time the past week!" The pain in her voice was clear. They'd settled into a comfortable rhythm in the two years since she'd come back, the three of them, and suddenly it had all been upset.
"Keh, what does it matter? It's not like we're going to turf the runt out or anything. He's pretty much our own, so if he wants to go off and sulk like a brat, let him."
He nodded at his own sage parenting advice (heh, this stuff was easy! To think, he had been getting worried about it), he didn't notice his wife grab a nearby ladle until it was brandished in his face.
"Inuyasha! You insensitive idiot! He probably doesn't realise that. I don't think we've ever been clear enough on that, and now that I'm pregnant he might not think there's space for him."
"Well, that's stupid." He let out a grunt and crossed his arms defiantly. "Ever since you came back you've cooked for him, made him clothing, made space for him in here. You treat him like your own pup...practically everyone in the village thinks that way, too."
He yelped, more in surprise than pain, when she rapped him lightly on the head with the cooking utensil. She had stopped glaring, swapping it for a look of exasperation.
"This is why I wanted you to tell him that we wanted to have a baby, Inuyasha. I'm pretty sure I know how he sees me, but that's not the problem." Her expression softened, her hand moving to cup his cheek and gently bring his face around to meet hers. "He needs to know his mother and father aren't going to push him away." Her emphasis on the word suddenly rearranged all the thoughts in his brain, and something clicked. His eyes must have shown the sudden revelation, too, because Kagome nodded with satisfaction and favoured him with a smile.
Then she rapped his head with the ladle again.
"Now go, Papa. I'd like our son back a little bit before supper-time so I can measure him properly."
"Fine, wench. Keh. Just stop hitting me with that thing." He left the hut grumbling about wenches and their cooking implements, her gentle laughter ringing out the door after him.
It was late afternoon by the time he finally tracked Shippo down, the sun already threatening to slip lazily over the horizon and the shadows growing longer. The kit had apparently been paying close attention to the lessons Inuyasha had given him on tracking and hunting, because he'd done a good job of covering his tracks and keeping downwind of the village. He knew that the boy often played down here with the other village boys in the afternoons, entertaining them with his illusions and joining in their games. He couldn't smell any humans nearby today, though, which meant the usually sociable kit must be keeping to himself.
Frustrated at his lack of progress and Shippo's sulking, Inuyasha had let loose a few less-than-complimentary words about damn tricksters and felled a nearby tree with his claws - only to hear the tell-tale squeak and wail of one of Shippo's mushrooms as it was squashed by a falling branch. From there he'd picked up the kit's scent, which led him to a small rocky outcrop in a copse of trees. It was about the height of two average-sized men, and looked like a tiny mountain.
He was about to leap up when a giant spectral fox flared into life at the top, balls of luminescent blue fox-fire spinning. Had he been human he'd no doubt be fleeing in terror, but his nose knew the difference between a real youkai and an illusion, so he settled for glaring at it instead.
The illusion blinked down at Inuyasha warily, then made a noise suspiciously like someone clearing their throat. He glared back at it, tapping his foot impatiently in the awkward silence. Finally it drew itself up taller and a voice boomed-
"WHO DARES CHALLENGE THE MOUNTAIN KING?"
He sighed, not really in the mood. "Keh, come on runt. I know that's you up there. That illusion might impress the Kitsune examiners but it don't work on me."
"Go away, stupid Inuyasha!" Shippo's voice squeaked back, before the kit let out a horrified gasp that he'd given himself away so easily. The bellowing voice returned. "UH, I MEAN, THERE IS NO SUCH BRAVE AND POWERFUL KITSUNE HERE, ONLY I, THE MOUNTAIN KING! GWA-HA!"
"Oi, brat, Kagome wants you back before dinner." Inuyasha pointed up at the figure. "Besides, aren't mountain kings supposed to be ogres or something? Not kitsune?"
"UH...THE MOUNTAIN KING IS UH, VERY POWERFUL, YES! AND TAKES MANY FORMS. GWA HA!"
Tired of the game, his hand went almost of its own accord to Tetsusaiga. One quick swipe would destroy the silly little 'mountain', and he could give the kit a good whack on the head and drag him back home. "Come on Shippo, you brat. Kagome is waiting for you, I need to take you back. She'd be pissed at me if we missed out on dinner."
"THE GREAT MOUNTAIN KING DOESN'T NEED DINNER OR STUPID INUYASHA OR ANYONE." The once-booming voice was cracking a bit, and Inuyasha thought he could hear something suspiciously like a tearful sniffle. "IF YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS WITH THE MOUNTAIN KING GO AWAY." The fox-fire floating alongside the illusion flared, briefly bathing the scene in a pale blue light.
His sword was halfway out the sheath, teeth grinding in annoyance, when he stopped himself. This was stupid and annoying - what did Shippo want from him, dammit? To play his little game? Did the runt really want to be left alone out here?
He slid Tetsusaiga back into the sheath and took several deep breaths. Kagome - what would she do here? She'd just get mad if he dragged the kit back by force. How was he supposed to have a conversation, though, if the stupid brat wouldn't talk to him properly? If he'd just stop playing this stupid game...
The game! Of course, that's what Kagome would do.
He glanced around nervously, hoping that nobody was watching this. The monk had been bad enough in the week since they'd announced that Kagome was pregnant, if he saw Inuyasha now he'd be unbearable. But, he thought, sometimes you just have to take these things like a man.
He approached the outcrop and went down on one knee, laying his sheathed sword in front of him. Shippo's apparition peered down at him, with an expression about as sceptical as a hovering ephemeral kitsune illusion can manage.
He cleared his throat, trying to do his best impression of a cowering peasant. "uh-keh. Uh, O Great Mountain King! I have come with a plea!"
Shippo was silent for a moment, as if suspecting a trick and possible an imminent pouncing. Almost hesitantly, the voice returned. "THE GREAT MOUNTAIN KING HEARS YOU, PATHETIC MORTAL. HE WILL HEAR YOUR PITIFUL REQUEST."
Inuyasha grit his teeth but forged ahead. "O Mountain King, my wife has sent me because you have captured our son, and we are desperate for him to be returned safely!"
"YOUR...SON?"
"Keh...yeah. My son." The cowering mortal-act was gone now, and suddenly saying those words felt like the most natural thing in the world.
"...WHAT DOES YOUR SON LOOK LIKE, MORTAL?"
Apparently Shippo still needed a bit of reassurance. "Keh...he's a kitsune youkai, green eyes. Skinny. He looks like a bit like a beggar because he won't sit still long enough to let his mother measure him up for new clothes. And I'd like him back so we can go home and eat, please."
There was silence for a while before the illusion suddenly vanished, and Inuyasha eased backward from his kneeling position and sat patiently on mossy ground. Slowly, cautiously, Shippo's face appeared at the top of the rocks, before he vaulted over the edge and landed at the foot of his mountain. No words passed between them as the kit walked over and looked at Inuyasha with a strange mixture of fear and hope, and the hanyou gave him the most genuine smile he could muster before nodding gently. They'd grown closer the three years Kagome had been absent, both hoping to somehow fill just a tiny bit of the void she'd left, and now the final link in the chain was silently forged.
Shippo's eyes widened briefly, tears threatening, before the kitsune caught himself and crossed his arms, letting out a dismissive "keh" in a pose, Inuyasha realised with a hint of chagrin, the boy could only have picked up from him. Inuyasha stood and offered his hand to his son, which was quickly taken, and the two started their walk back toward the nearest path.
It was the kit that broke the silence.
"You know, Dad"- there was a brief pause after he spoke the word, as if trying it out - "you're really bad at that game. You're supposed to fight me and conquer the mountain."
"Keh! You little brat, I'll show you a fight!" He took a playful swipe at Shippo, who picked up on the invitation and bounded ahead toward home, taunting the hanyou to catch him. And as Inuyasha chased him home, the boy's laughter echoing in the dusk, he had a sober realisation: that this was only the first of many mountains he'd have to climb and conquer - no longer as a gruff loner, but as the parent of a kitsune youkai and of stubborn, dog-earned hanyou.
Maybe he'd have to have a chat with Kaede about the gods and their twisted sense of humour.
A/N: First place, First Tweak's "Mountain" prompt. The Shippo-as-son thing isn't everyone's cup of tea, but this almost leapt out of my fingers and onto the screen.