A/N: It took me years to under stand why I try; moments of life that we have are very simple in fact. One act of kindness can change the world, one true friend can change your life, one 'Thank you' or 'Sorry' can make your day: it takes years to build a life. It takes seconds to destroy it, whether or not you remain unknown is up to your life time.
But I've had a change of heart, when I heard what happened to one of my favorite authors on FF and my only twilight favorite I saw that the meaning of this story wasn't about a man who had a child by mistake. It's about a man who grew from his mistakes. You may not know this but Daddy's Little Cannibal—formally known as Stephanie—was killed by a drunk driver in an accident. I did not know her personally; I never did more than read her stories, profile, and review every update. But that alone made me become attached to her in a strange way. Read the last two chapters of her most recent stories and you would understand. She was the kind of person who made you laugh on a bad day, and never stayed sad for a long time so…
Although I feel I have no right to even write this—I do feel that I must.
Dedicated to-
Daddy's Little Cannibal: Stephanie
We will remember you always~
Chapter 1:
"Inuyasha that has the most amazing date ever!" a woman: long streaky black hair, a good amount of make up, and a thin figure; spoke loudly, hugging a silver haired man. The long haired man lifted her up and walked up the red carpeted stairs, which led to the second floor. Opening his door with one hand closing it with his foot behind him, the young man dropped the girl on his king sized bed, a soft dark blue cover over the mattress stopped the girls fall.
"Hope you get to have more like them" she nodded snuggling into his half bare chest, "I know what we should do to finish off this day"
"What Inu?" the half Inu man flipped his girl over so that his knees could straddle the woman, "Mhm Inuyasha wants to be a bad puppy with me?"
Just as Inuyasha was about to pull the girl's shirt clean off the door bell rang twice. Inuyasha ignored it continuing his raid, suckling on the woman's pink flesh her strong pulse speeding she moaned under the boy she considered to be a sort of lover—for the moment at least. The door bell rang again, four times in a consecutive row. Once again it was disregarded, but it could not be ignored when it rang again, eight rapid pushes of the button. The half dog boy howled in anger his neck and face turning red with anger, silver hair tussled, and his shirt half off. He pulled on his black tee-shirt again whipping off the red lipstick; before he left running down the stairs to greet—or kill—the visitors.
"What!?" A child in a pink rain coat stood before him holding the hand of the adult next to her, a demon man with sleek black hair holding an umbrella.
"I'm sorry, this must be a bad time," he spoke plainly in a monotone working tone.
"No, just tell me what the hell you want." He looked back to see his girl friend. "And make it quick."
"Achooo!" the young child sneezed, looking up at Inuyasha with shimmering large blue eyes.
"Well, I could make it quick and let the poor girl get sick…" the child whipped her nose with her wet coat sleeve, "…or you can allow me to explain the situation and keep her warm and healthy"
The younger silver haired man snorted, "Fine come in. Get some cloths on Kikyo!" she ran into the room to put her bra and blouse back on.
Inuyasha let the two in. The child looked around curiously eyes sparkling with interest; the man merely shrugged and assumed she'd never been in a mansion before. "Just hang jacket there." He pointed to the hanger and the girl nodded, attempting to pull off the pink rain coat in futility. He sighed pulling it off for the girl, letting her sit down on the couch. She wore a red sweater and light blue pants; underneath her sweater a baby yellow shirt managed to peek out and she wore the average beat up baby yellow cap. She was so small in stature that in order to seat her self with no help she had to climb.
"Would you like anything to drink? Tea, coffee, milk?" Inuyasha asked as he placed himself on the opposite lazy boy chair.
"Anything for you?" The man glanced at the child.
"Can I have milk?" she glanced at the silver haired stranger, sparkling eyes averting his strong golden gaze.
"Would you like cookies with that?" Inuyasha asked. He always had a thing for children; they were such innocent creatures.
"Please" she turned pink as Kikyo came down, placing herself on the armrest of her boyfriends chair; giving him a peck on the cheek.
"Otonashi, milk and some cookies!" he yelled looking behind him to the kitchen were the old maid stood.
"Yes sir" the maid replied as she entered the kitchen.
"I'm going to go straight through this Mr. Takashi. Do you recall the name Kyoko?" Inuyasha nodded. Kyoko had been his girl friend back in college, she was a first year while he'd been a third.
"Well this is Kyoko's only young" the demon man referred to the shy half demon "her name is Shiru; she's almost three and a half."
"Here're the snacks you asked for sir" Otonashi placed the tray of sweets on the short coffee table that separated Inuyasha and Kikyo from Shiru and the man.
"Thank you!" Shiru answered cheerfully. She reached for a cookie giving up she kneeled on the rug and swiped one off the plate, chocolate chip; and proceeded to wolf it down along with the glass of milk.
"Damn, that's close to about the time she left college, just about four years ago even though she hadn't completed the basic amount of years." Inuyasha took one of the milk glasses and drank it as well; his free hand twirling in Kikyo's hair.
"Well she died recently" the man spoke solemnly, looking down at Kyoko's only child; who remained indifferent on the outside.
"So? That's it," Inuyasha groaned, "so what's that point of this shit?"
"Well had you let me finished you would know, in her will it states that Shiru is your daughter" Inuyasha spit out the milk next to him, probably staining the rug. He glared at the man then at Shiru.
"What!? I don't have a kid!" he growled at the two setting down his glass, the woman starred in disbelief at the toddler. Shiru put down the unfinished cookie and sat herself back in her seat finishing of her milk before everyone continued.
"So these ears aren't proof enough for you?" the man pulled off Shiru's cap after a long pregnant silence. Shiru looked at the woman nervously remaining still as a statue, unsure of her reaction; her hair was shinning silver with large ears just like Inuyasha's. Hell, now that he thought about it, her eyes had the same dog eye pattern that he did the only difference was the largeness and the blue color. Her scent was similar as well.
"Isn't there some kind of blood test we can run on her?" Kikyo asked, now finally able to move her mouth and be a part of the conversation. Inuyasha leaned forward waiting to hear the answer.
"They did, they ran three see?" Shiru pulled up her left sleeve, three little dots ran in a straight line; the last one slightly off.
"All were positive. We checked her blood type, yours is AB positive and Kyoko's was O positive so she has the same blood as you AB positive. Count the years and it's exactly when you and she were first found to be active. And it's stated in her will that she wants you to be her care giver"
"Of course if you say no we can just put her in an orphanage and I'm sure you of all people should know what it's like to be a half demon"
Inuyasha snarled angered at the demons words, they were just much to true. "What about her family? Fricken humans; would want to care for a cute puppy like Shiru, Kyoko had two brothers and a sister what of them?" the confused man questioned about his—so called—child's relatives.
"The youngest of her brothers is not of legal age to care for a child, and the other two were married to half demon hating humans. Once again you would understand the circumstances" the two silver hairs locked eyes, big blue eyes looking into the souls of the worn thin golden ones.
"Keh, fine… I'll take care of her" Inuyasha snorted, turning away, Shiru looked from her father to the lawyer man.
"Good, just fill out the paper work at my office a week from today. Here's my card." The man passed Kikyo the small slip of paper with his number, name and business. "Be there 10 A.M. sharp. Shiru will be there with her stuff. It's not much really." the man looked at Shiru with a smile, "Ok then, come along Shiru"
"Ok…" Shiru nodded taking the tall man's hand.
"Where's she staying?" Inuyasha asked.
"At our child services, don't worry we'll take good care of her, I'm sure no one would attempt anything after all she is under your last name. I'm sure you would both like to think about things over this week" the man helped Shiru into her coat, the toddler took her hat pulling it on over her ears; sneaking three cookies into her pocket.
"Of course Inuyasha, you are always welcomed to call and refuse" the man looked back at the couple standing at the door way.
As they closed the door Shiru smiled and waved. "Bye bye Inuwasha…" with her childish voice she could pronounce most of his name correctly in general. He remained starring at the door thinking three simple life changing words that most men would have said earlier in their child's life 'I'm a dad…'
"Inuyasha, I've got to talk to you about something…" Kikyo began, looking at Inuyasha with a clear black eyed glare. He groaned in return.
"Just go home, we'll talk later" his woman continued to glare at him as he drooped like a wilted flower attempting to walk up the stairs without tripping in general.
Inuyasha drove that day, slumping low in his seat using the heavy traffic in his way as an excuse to why he would be late; his heart pounded fiercely against his chest. Besides the fact that Inuyasha felt completely incompetent in his ability to care for a toddler he knew that he must. With a sigh he though of the large blue eyes that he'd seen, only for the first time, a week ago; the way they focused on one object and could explain anything and everything in a moment reminded him much of Kyoko: his first and only love.
His hands shook as he placed the car in parking. Nearly falling flat on his face as he stepped out of the car, he stumbled along the way; very nearly forgetting to lock the car. The young father headed down the damp stairway placed to the right side of his car. His ears lay flat upon silver strands of long unevenly cut silver hair. He suddenly felt older than he should.
He entered the white building, greeted by the automatic opening doors; shoving his hands into his front pockets he entered the building, heading to the lawyers specified office. He knocked on the door three times before finally hearing an answer "Come on in" the sleek haired demon sat in a comfortable looking black chair.
"Hi, Inuwasha" Shiru waved at her father from her seat next to the lawyer, it was awkward even to the young girl. She looked back down at the cherry taffy in her sticky hands, attempting to put her mind else where.
"Hey kiddo…" the half demon seated himself in front of the two, still unsure whether or not he was about to screw up his entire life.
"Well everything's just about done and cleared up" the man took out a stack of papers, passing them over to Inuyasha.
The demon took a second look at Shiru, who once again remained indifferent; whether because she knew nothing of what was going on or whether she chose to know nothing he did not know. "Ok just sign here, here, and here and she'll be all yours." He pointed to certain spots and lines, each marked with a blue 'X' Inuyasha did as he was told; making sure he skimmed through the wad paper.
"Shiru, Inuyasha's gonna be your daddy from now on, isn't that nice?" she looked meekly at Inuyasha, tilting her head slightly—exactly like a puppy. Shiru jumped off from the seat walking over to her father with wobbly legs.
She tugged at his sleeve whispering into his dog ear, as he leaned close. "I gotta go… bad." Inuyasha nodded standing up and watching her walk to the bathroom. After the door behind her closed he turned back to the man, a serious—back to work—look on his face.
"So how did her mother die anyway?" He spoke with a business like voice, skipping the chit-chat and getting right into the meat.
"Shiru's mother had cancer; and she couldn't pay for the treatments. Shiru was only a year old when she was diagnosed. The doctors gave her six months to live—nine months at tops. Kyoko didn't take the treatments but she still managed to live, she only died now because of a car crash while taking Shiru to the hospital. Her daughter had a nasty flu, coughing, vomiting, and a fever of 110; couldn't eat or drink, that girl was going to die. But I guess that pup's lucky that she's a half demon, because if not she would have not been here today at all" Inuyasha felt his heart race. As a child, he had once had that very same fever. Of course his parents were rich, so he hadn't had to worry about it at all.
"So she really just signed Shiru to me?"
"No she wrote to try her family first; none of them wanted Shiru because she was a half demon, nasty people they were. Not even their children would play with Shiru. Of course I wouldn't leave her there" Inuyasha looked at his desk finding a picture that explained a lot.
"You married a human?" Inuyasha looked at the photo on his desk where he was carrying a brown haired girl who was blushing bright red at the photo taker.
"Her name's Suzu. We met first in high school. Married her right after college."
"Got any brats?" Inuyasha snorted rudely. The man ignored his comment.
"Two actually. Now you know why I have a soft spot for half demons. In fact, my youngest daughter is the same age as Shiru. It's hard because I know they'll cry a lot and people will make fun of them no matter what they do or where they go, but I know there are still people around who do love half demons even if they're afraid to show it" Inuyasha nodded golden eyes distant starring into his past, remembering the many fights he had for merely being what he was, with a sigh he knew all the women he dated were just a hopeless cause all they wanted was his money and sex—not a ring on their finger or his child in their bellies. He was sure there would be no woman on earth like Suzu for him. Besides, who would date him now that he was the father of a—almost—four-year-old half demon?
Shiru walked back from the bathroom still trying to put the hook of her overalls correctly on. "Well that's pretty much it." The demon passed him a folder, "These are her medical records, allergies, and the rest of the stuff you need to know"
"Thanks." Inuyasha swiped the folder away, tucking it under his pit.
"Just call if you have any questions at all."
"I'll keep that in mind. Ready to go Shiru?" Inuyasha held his hand out to the child. With an unconfident smile she took his hand. Looking back at the lawyer man, the child quivered slightly wondering of what she was expected to do. "Come on kid" he gave her hand a small tug letting her knew they were leaving.
Shiru nodded silently looking back at the kind lawyer man; she'd grown attached to him over the last few months. Now she was unsure of what kind of man her father would be, but if her mother had loved him enough to give birth to her the half demon who appeared much like her must be kind.
"Okay…" Inuyasha lifted her into the car, buckling her up in a booster seat. He closed the door and went to the driver's seat, usually he'd have his personal driver Godai take him around but he wasn't sure how Shiru would react. As he drove the child remained silent in the back seat starring out the window blue eyes starring out into the distance watching the people and cars all go by, every person with their own batch of problems. He decided it was best to wait for her to warm up to him, after all he didn't exactly want to talk to a kid.
"Inuwasha…" Shiru called his name.
"Hm?" Inuyasha acknowledged the girl behind him with a sound rather than a look.
"Why don't people like half demons?" she asked curiously, innocently, not fully able to grasp how dark her question had been.
"It's not that, Shiru. A lot of people like half demons. Certain people are just mean and don't want us around. But don't worry about it kiddo"
"You're a half demon, too?"
"Yeah"
"Mama liked half demons?"
"She loved them Shiru, she didn't even know I was rich until we were already kissing and stuff."
"Did you love mama?"
"Yeah, of course I did I'm not stupid."
"Why didn't you help mama, you've got lots of money and mama was sick all the time."
The man paused, thinking for a moment before answering, making sure he didn't curse too much in front of the girl. "Well she didn't tell me it's not like I have super senses or something" Inuyasha looked back during the Red light to see his daughter's face; it was unreadable. Shiru was quiet for a moment twiddling her thumbs.
"I think mama showed me a couple of pictures of you…"
"She did?" Inuyasha shrugged.
"They're in my photo book."
Inuyasha parked the car in front of his house, glancing back at Shiru he spoke "We'll look at them before your bed time ok?"
"Kay…" he unbuckled Shiru and helped her out, hauling a couple of the boxes, leaving the rest for his butlers to carry up.
"I fixed up your room. We can paint it when you feel like. I bought you a new bed and a couple of other things." Inuyasha looked down at Shiru. She walked beside him silently, nodding as he spoke in acknowledgement.
"Here you are." She looked around the new room; the walls were a light green color, with a small child's bed in the right hand corner, farther down in front of that sat a new desk in front of two windows looking out to the garden.
"What do you think Shiru?" He set her thing off to the side.
Shiru remained silent, but Inuyasha could smell salt water. Was she crying?
"Is something the matter Shiru?" Inuyasha, with slightly worried eyes, kneeled down to look at the little girl. Her back turned to him, she was obviously trembling.
"Mama… mama's not coming back is she? She's not gonna come back and get me like after nursery is she?" Shiru stifled back her tears, biting hard at her lower lip with her little demon fangs.
"…" Inuyasha remained silent unsure of what to say, well what would you have said to her? "It's ok Shiru…" Inuyasha held the little confused child as she cried. "I know this is tough, but I'm going to take care of you. I promise." Shiru sniffled the last of her tears away and looked at her father. Although she could not see his face and her nose was drowned by the smell of her own tears, she could still tell he was crying.
"Why are you crying?" she asked bluntly, not expecting much of a response.
"Because I'm so sorry…" Shiru hugged her father tightly; her arms didn't even nearly make it across his back. But that didn't stop her from trying.
Night fell and Inuyasha had made sure to tuck Shiru into bed, kissing her forehead and looking at a couple of photo's before she went to sleep. Yet he remained wide awake thinking about what he was going to do, what he needed to do, and to make sure he removed all relations with the women he once dated. He tossed and turned but could not manage to find sleep in his restless mind. When two hushed knocks were placed at his door he sat up—wearing his striped blue pajamas instead of just boxers like he usually did.
"Inuwasha?" Shiru peeked through the door, holding her pillow close to her "Are you awake?"
"Ya, what are you doing awake at this hour?" Inuyasha stared at his clock and flipped on the lamp, then turned back to look at Shiru "its 1:30 you know?"
"I had a nightmare…" the child answered shyly, cowering back away from Inuyasha's bed.
"…Come over here then." Shiru tiptoed towards her father's bed, crawling up onto it with a bit of help "Tell me what happened?"
"It wasn't really a nightmare…" Shiru answered honestly.
"Then why did you—?"
"I wanted to make sure you weren't gonna leave me…"
"Oh, Shiru… I'm not going to leave you here—I would have needed to pack some clothes and take the refrigerator with me." Inuyasha laughed with Shiru as she giggled at his joke.
"Can we look at the Picture book one more time before we sleep?"
"Sure, you can sleep here with me if you want." The adult half demon lay on his stomach lifting the white book from his side and opening it to the first page.
"Mama said this was when she first went to college, here you are!"
"I was the first person to talk to her in school; I had to walk her around because the teachers made us" the silver haired adult smiled at the memories, golden eyes gleaming.
"And this one was from the school festival"
"Her sandal was broken. So I carried her the entire time" Shiru smiled.
"And this one?" she pointed at the next photo.
"Oh that was when I first met her parents, it was a bit embarrassing."
"Why?"
"A dog chewed up my shoes, so I was walking around in socks." Inuyasha chuckled while flipping the page, telling his daughter stories from the few pictures he had either taken or had been in. Then there was an orange divider, separating the pictures of college from the pictures of Shiru's beginning. Inuyasha pat the short girls silver ears, "Bed time, kiddo."
"Kay…" Shiru nodded and yawned. Her eyes fluttering she laid herself down on the pillow. "Good night." Shiru curled up under the blanket as Inuyasha shut off the lights.
"Good night… Shiru." He put an arm around the young girl, watching her for a few minutes to make sure she would fall asleep. He smiled when he heard her even breathing, knowing she'd dozed off he did the same.
Thanks for reading…