Oneshot

Against the Odds

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor the characters from the show.

It had taken a little less than three months for Inuyasha and Kagome to become an official couple. Then two after that to be married. Though married in whose standards was a difference in opinion.

Kagome counted the moment they'd donned their robes and exchanged vows traditionally in front of their friends. Whereas he counted it on one cool yet warm night in his forest. What had started as their normal teasing turned into quiet and heart skipping truths. Her soft words had soothed his soul like the breeze on a summer's day, her small smiles and lingering touches had done him in, and he'd fallen for her like the stars from the sky, showering her in kisses that burned like meteors, and covering her in his love forevermore.

Inuyasha twisted in his bedsheets, reaching a clawed hand for his wife, only to find a cold futon under his palm. Glowing eyes opened in the darkness and took in the empty sheets beside him. Dark brows knitting with concern, he jumped to his feet and sloppily threw on his fire-rat robes. Quickly locating his sword, he stuffed it under his belt and rushed for the door.

The shuffling of fabric had his ears twitching, and he turned back to his bed, watching as a tiny head of silver hair peek over the blankets. With a groan and a grumble, a child slowly sat up, rubbing at one eye and taking care to keep the rest of his body in the warm sheets. "Papa," whispered his first born son, voice cracking from sleep.

"Kazuo," he spoke tenderly, kneeling at the boy's side and brushed his hands across his small crown, large fingers going through thin strands. Tiny fuzzy ears tickled his thumb, and he tried to ignore how hot they burned under his touch.

Groggy golden eyes blinked up at him, "where's Mama?"

"She stepped out for a walk," he half lied. Voice rough from having to twist the truth to keep their son at ease. He pulled the blankets to Kazuo's chin and maneuvered him to lay back. "Don't you worry," he smirked, "I'll get that sneaky wench back in no time."

Kazuo awarded him with a tiny smile, one front tooth missing and a fang peaking out from his lip. "Can I help?"

A tightness in his chest twisted at his son's plea, and even though he knew he shouldn't, he found as the months passed by, that he could do little to deny him. "Alright," he conceded, getting a small yet thick blanket out of a chest, holding it open and gesturing to his son with a wave of his hand.

Like a kid opening his first gift, Kazuo's face lit up immediately. Tossing his blankets aside and jumping out of bed, he stumbled on his still waking legs. Inuyasha couldn't help smiling as he watched his son's excitement, which resemled that of a new born pup, his feet slipping on the sleek wood beneath him, he caught himself with his small hands and ran to his dad.

He giggled as he fell into the blanket, the one his parents insisted on him always using whenever leaving the house. His father caught him swiftly, bringing the small boy to his chest and wrapping the blanket around him. Kazuo snuggled close, inhaling his father's forest scent. Closing hie eyes, Inuyasha pushed his nose to the crown of his small head, "you're mother's going to kill me," he grumbled.

Kazuo smiled, cherishing the moment in his father's arms. A few coughs shook his body before he answered, "S'okay, she can't stay mad at us."

Inuyasha pulled away, a toothy grin on his face, "no she can't, can she?" The young boy answered with his own grin, rivaling that of his father's, and Inuyasha chuckled, feeling a warmth build up in his body to his chest, warming his heart the way only a child could. "Alright," he conlcuded, turning on his boy and crouching before him, "you ready to use that nose of yours?"

He knew his father couldn't see, but Kazuo nodded in excitement, clapping and jumping on his little bare feet, giggles escaping him and filling the room. He scrambled to his father, climbing up his back and wrapping his tiny arms around his neck. Head popping up from Inuyasha's thick mane of hair, Kazuo's ears flicking away the lingering strands.

Standing up, Inuyasha walked twards the door, enjoying the tiny warmth of his son on his back. "It's cold out tonight."

Kazuo nodded, "Mom said I'm strong!" He tightened his hands on his father's robes confidently.

"Yes," Inuyasha agreed, "you are," and with clawed hands, he pulled the door away, a cold burst of air sweeping into the warm hut.

Stifling a thick cough, Kazuo closed his eyes from the effort then opened them again. Gasping as he looked at the scenery around them. "Snow!"

"Right," his father responded, sharp eyes scanning his surroundings, nose and ears working simultaniously. "You know what that means."

"Ah!" The boy leaned over Inuyasha's shoulder and peeked at the ground, "tracks!" He pointed in the direction the prints lead away to, and his father took a good leap, landing a couple yards away from the house, snow kicked up around them, and he followed in the direction his son pointed. The boy laughed as the snow tickled his cheeks, coughing a bit more from the cold entering his lungs.

After a couple minutes of jogging and turning between the sleeping bare trees, Inuyasha spoke up, voice firm and authorative. "Kazuo," the boy stiffened and straightened up on his back, "concentrate. Where to now?"

The boy looked around, coughing and sneezing before confusion lit his little face, "the tracks are gone!"

Inuyasha slowed to a walked, "it's been snowing longer over here, you won't be able to count on your eyes now." He stopped and let his son take in his words, "remember your other senses, they're as powereful and as helpful as your sight, if not more."

Nodding confidenly, Kazuo took in a deep breath through his nose, sifting through the many scents of the winter's night air as his ears swivled atop his head.

Inuyasha waited patiently, being older and experienced, he already knew the general direction Kagome was at, and it only lead to one place. He felt his spirit sink, dreading the state they'd find Kagome in. He could already smell the lingering odor of sake in the air, but it was too late and they were already out here together. So he pushed the melancholy thoughts aside and consentrated on treasuring the time he was spending with Kazuo. Training was an important part of being a demon, wether one was full, half, or quarter of that. Briefly, he imagined what it would have been like with his own father.

"There!" Kazuo shouted, pointing to a familiar direction which was now rarely traveled upon. "Apples and cinnamon," he sniffed a bit more, "and-" he coughed, a hard one this time, lasting longer than the others. Inuyasha stood still, all senses now trained to his small son. He took in a raspy breath, leaning his tired head on his father's shoulder. That last one had taken a bit out of him, but he wouldn't give up, not only had he inherited his father's bold looks, but his strong sense of will too. With a sore and scratchy throat, he looked on in the distance and continued, pointing his frail fingers, ignoring the sparks swimming under his skin, "-and vanilla."

Inuyasha's throat constricted, feeling his son's aura twisting and turning, but there wasn't much he could do. They'd arleady tried everything. His voice deep and gravely, he praised his soon, "good work Kazuo." He swallowed thickly, taking a few hurried steps, "that's two down, now use one-" before he could finish, he wished he could take it back, for in the distance he could hear her clear as the ocean, crying waves into the night air. Getting ready to pivot on his heel, his son stopped him.

"I can hear her!" He cried out, his emotions welling at the sound of his mother. "Papa!" The young boy panicked, the flashes on his skin rippling faster, "why's Mama crying?!"

Heart skipping, Inuyasha realized it was too late, and that Kazuo would have to witness his mother in a broken heap. He cleared his throat, walking up to the clearing where the well slept, cradling Kagome on the lip, her body convulsing with her sorrow. The snow fell and melted on her bare arms, red from the cold biting her skin, and coating her black hair in whisps of white. The closer he got, the more discontent Kazuo got, so he bent down and let the boy off.

In a fit of coughs and pink and gold flashes, Kazuo ran to his mother, tripping and slidding in his growing panic. Concern for her blinding him from his body's discomfort, he let his blanket fall behind him, and skidded against his mother's shaking form, "Mama!" He grabbed her sleeves and desperately shook, calling out to her again, "Mama!"

Mind swirling and full of morbid thoughts, Kagome pulled away from the well, startled to see her son so far from home. "Kazuo," she breathed, worry creasing her brow.

"Mama," he cried, streams falling down his cheeks to mirror her own. He reached up and grabbed her freezing cold cheeks and noticed how puffy and red her human eyes were. His face scrunched up in pain, because if anyone, his mom was the last person that deserved to be in this much agony. So he threw himself into his mother's lap and cried.

Inuyasha watched the pair as he picked up the discarded blanket, flicking it once in the air to clear it of snow. He warily eyed a cup of sake, half covered in snow, before walking up to the two most important people in his world.

"Inuyaasha," Kagome whispered, still shocked to see them there, and wondered briefly if maybe it was her intoxicated mind that was conjuring them up from thin air.

Kneeling before her, he gave the priestess a sad smile and draped the blanket over Kazuo's back. "Kagome," he wanted to be angry at her, he wanted to yell at her, but above all else, he was glad she was okay. So with relief for the woman he loved, he wiped a tear from her sickly pale face. How long had she been out here? Why hadn't he heard her leave their home? "He was worried about you."

She shook her head, her balance slightly off, and swayed drunkenly to the side before righting herself. "I-I have to get back." She whispered, eyeing her crying boy and then turning to the well, "she'll know what to do." She hugged Kazuo close with one arm and wrapped a hand on the rim of the well, "Mama... we can take him to the hospital, I juss... I have to make this work."

With the patience of a monk, Inuyasha watched her as she grew delirious, and tried to talk her out of what he knew she'd do next, "let's get back, Kagome, it's too cold out here for Kazuo." It was too cold for her too, but her own safety was clearly the last thing in her mind. He was reaching for strings here. If anything, her motherly instincts could help her back to him.

She shook her head crazily, "I-I haave to go," she slurred, aura building within her, then pooling at her hand, she let it burst into the well at a desperate attempt to make it work again. "I haf ta' save him!" Her purifying light lit the area, cleansing the air and sending sparks flying through her hair. Inuyasha stared, always slightly amazed at the power she could muster.

Kazuo convulsed in her arms, a seizure quickly taking over, and they both looked down in concern, hoping their boy was okay. His olive skin pulsed with his demon blood and with his mother's holy powers, both fighting for equilibrium, and leaving scortched burns everywhere it spread. Kagome cried out and tried to soothe his shaking body, no matter how many years had gone by with Kazuo in her arms, she would never get used to the hopelessness that wracked through her body, through his body, his face scrunched up, small claws scratching himself through the pain.

Their son was suffering, and there was nothing they could do. Inuyasha found he couldn't blink away the burning in his eyes, and he cursed his miserable life. For a brief moment in time, he had thought that he had found happiness. That through all his suffering, he had finally deserved a good life. He had a wife he wouldn't trade the world for, a place he belonged that he could call home, and a child born of love beyond all the odds thrown against him. He had fought the strongest, protected the weakest, but now that it mattered most... he blinked at his suddenly blurry claws, what good were they when he couldn't save his own son?

There had never been a time in history that a demon and a priestess had a child together, so the complications were unheard of, they had no one to fall back on, no one to give guidance. And so the half demon from his tortured past, and the modern day priestess, fought through what they could, working together to make the best of their situation.

Some days proved better than others, and somedays he'd find Kagome wishing she could get back to her time, to her modern medicines, if only for a chance to give her boy some peace.

Inuyasha had lost count of the times he'd found Kagome at the well, hair disheaveled and crying her voice raw. So with a heavy heart, he watched helplessly as Kagome gathered her son in her arms and sat on the side of the well, swaying dangerously, she dropped and dissapeared into it's sleeping passage. He winced as he heard her hit the bottom. Her crying only got out louder.

His ears seemed to pop and ring as he stared unblinking at the wood, dully wondering how long this torture would last. His body shook from the shock and sorrow surrounding him, face freezing and wet, he gathered himself slowly, standing and staring into the darkness below. He rubbed the sleeve of his fire rat, removing all traces of his sorrow, because for them, for his small family, for his world, he had to be strong. He had to endure.

He leapt over the edge and dropped below, gathering his precious cargo in his arms before taking to the sky. He had to be their rock in this unyielding current that was their life. He had to keep them all together, whole, and in one piece.

Because Kazuo, their son, was dying.

A/N

This turned out longer than expected. I love me an angsty InuKag. But...I'm so sorry what have I done... Please review! I'd love to know what you think!