New chapter! Hope you guys like it! Thanks to everyone who read and a special thanks to Duchess Rose for being the first person to Story Alert, CityOfFallenAshes for being the first person to Favourite, and KiraraGoesMeow for being the first person to Story Alert, Favourite and Review!

KiraraGoesMeow: It's a very pleasant chapter. This is actually one of the first fics I ever wrote, but I was scared to put it up because of the character death. My friend stole my notebook, flipped through the pages and demanded to know why Survivor's Guilt wasn't up xD Glad you like it so far!

Hope you enjoy Chapter two!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. All rights go to Rumiko Takahashi.


Chapter two: What Was She Like?

"Daddy! Daddy! What're you thinking about?" asked a little black haired girl.

Inuyasha was snapped from his thoughts and looked down at the girl. It'd been five years since the fire. Five years since Kagome died. Karin had grown into an adorable hanyou demon, but she reminded Inuyasha of Kagome everyday. "I was thinking about Mommy," he said heavily.

"My mommy or your mommy?" she asked.

Tears collected in his eyes. "Your mommy."

Karin climbed onto Inuyasha's lap and looked up at him seriously. "Are you sad, Daddy?"

Inuyasha gave him a small smile, trying to hold his tears in. "Of course I'm sad, Karin. I loved your Mommy."

"Tell me about her," she demanded.

Inuyasha looked down, unable to face his daughter and look her in the eyes. She really reminded him of Kagome then. Karin was part demon like Inuyasha, but she was human now. Karin only transformed on the day of the summer solstice, but unlike Inuyasha, Karin was human by day and demon by night. It was sinister, how much Karin resembled Kagome. She had dark wavy hair and big brown eyes. Inuyasha pulled Karin in a gentle hug.

"You look just like Mommy. She had long black hair and brown eyes," said Inuyasha. "She knew I couldn't say no to whatever she wanted."

Karin giggled. "That's like me."

"Mmhhmm. She had a habit of never listening to me. But she'd get very mad when I didn't listen to her."

Karin's smile slid off her face. "She'd you-know-what you, right?" she asked.

Inuyasha's hand instinctively flew up at the beaded necklace that Kaede placed around his neck so many years ago. Karin had inherited her mother's power of being able to "sit" Inuyasha. Karin was careful not to say the actual word and send Inuyasha face down into the earth.

"Yeah," whispered Inuyasha.

"What else?" asked Karin.

"She was a complete scatterbrain. And the clumsiest person I knew, though Auntie Miki could give her a run for her money," said Inuyasha laughing a little. "But your Uncle Souta called her: Kagome the Klutz."

Karin grinned. "Uncle Souta told me. He and Gramma have lots of stories about Mommy."

"Your mother was human. Not part demon like you and I," continued Inuyasha.

"Like Auntie Rin?" asked Karin.

Inuyasha sighed. Even Sesshomaru was happily married. But on the bright side, Rin was a great sister-in-law. Or at least didn't kill him every time she saw him. "Yeah. Like Auntie Rin."

Karin wanted to know more, but she was afraid that Inuyasha would get mad at her. "Daddy, how did Mommy die?"

Oh god. How do I do this without losing it, thought Inuyasha.

Karin noticed the sadness in her father's eyes. She tugged on his baggy, red robe. "You don't have to tell me. You're too sad."

Inuyasha wiped his eyes. "No, I'll tell you." He took a deep breath. "Baby, you were only a couple months old. One day, before the sun was awake, our kitchen caught on fire. Mommy tried to get you out of your room, but the door was on fire too." Karin silently listened as Inuyasha's voice started to shake. "I jumped over the flames and got you out of your crib. Mommy waited for me. I kept telling her to leave without me, but she wouldn't listen."

"Why didn't he listen, Daddy?" asked Karin. "She would be right here."

A tear leaked out of Inuyasha's eye. Then a tear turned into many tears. They were creeping down the side of his face. He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to relive it anymore, but he owed at least this much to his own daughter. "She wanted to make sure we were OK. We were all getting out of the hut when the roof fell on Mommy." Now, Inuyasha's tears were steadily flowing down his face. He'd completely lost it in front of his own daughter. Karin never saw her father cry. Ever. She held onto his robe and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Inuyasha opened his eyes and found himself staring at Karin. She gave him a small smile.

"Don't be sad, Daddy. It's OK," she said.

"I tried," he croaked. "I tried to save her. But it was too late. When I got you out, the hut was completely on fire." His only daughter was growing up without a mother. And it was all his fault. Why did I listen to her? I could've saved both of them!

Karin noticed the look on her father's face and didn't know what to do. "Daddy? Are you OK?"

Inuyasha hastily brushed his tears away and forced a smile on his face. "Yeah. I'm just missing Mommy is all. Go play with Harumi, Misaki, or Shippo."

"Can I play with Mamoru?" she asked.

Inuyasha hesitated. His daughter…playing with Kouga's son…Kagome would want her to. "Just be careful. Mamoru isn't very big yet. He's smaller than you."

Karin gave him a big smile. "I will, Daddy!" she exclaimed, running off.

Inuyasha sighed as he watched her tear off into the fields, looking for the kids.

Meanwhile, Sango, Miroku, Kouga, and Miki were watching from a nearby bush. Miki and Sango were close to tears. Kouga, who normally would have laughed at Inuyasha for crying, didn't have the heart to even insult him. Kouga had long given up on teasing Inuyasha. Mainly because it got on Kagome's nerves, but he'd still poke fun every now and then. Now that Kagome was gone, Kouga felt like Inuyasha had gone through hell and didn't need any more grief. Miroku's eyes were dull and sad looking.

"He's so heartbroken!" exclaimed Sango.

"Losing Kagome has been really hard on him," said Miki. "And raising their daughter alone on top of that."

"I don't know what I'd do if I'd lost Miki in an accident," said Kouga, taking Miki's hand. She began to blush and decided to look down, letting her hair cover her eyes.

"If I'd lost Sango…I don't know what I'd do either," said Miroku.

Sango scoffed. "Please. You'd most likely ask the next woman you saw to bear you a child!"

Miroku pretended to gasp. "Sango! After all these years? That's how much confidence you have in me?"

"C'mon Sango," said Miki. "Miroku loves you too much. He'd be heartbroken if you died."

"You know, I thought that Inuyasha would've committed suicide the day after Kagome died," Kouga said quietly. Kouga felt something hit the back of his head. "What the hell? INUYASHA!"

They all turned around and saw Inuyasha. He looked defeated. "I would've committed suicide. But I couldn't do that to Karin," he said slowly. "I didn't want her to grow up without any parents." With that, Inuyasha turned on his heel and sped off.

"He's still hurting," said Miki sadly.

"It's survivor's guilt," said Sango gravely.

"Survivor's guilt?" asked Kouga.

"Yeah. I felt that way when I thought Kohaku had died," explained Sango. "I felt so bad. I felt so guilty that Kohaku had died and I couldn't do a single thing to save him. Inuyasha has been beating himself up for five years now because he thinks it's his fault Kagome died."

"The way things happened…Kagome made it clear that she wanted Inuyasha to save Karin at all costs," said Kouga.

"He saved her," said Miroku, watching Karin happily play with Misaki, Harumi, Shippo, and Mamoru. "But at her expense."


Another rather depressing chapter. Don't worry, it'll lighten up from here. Well, no. There will be another chapter or two that'll be depressing, but then it'll pick up from there. I promise. Read and review. Flame if you want. 'til the next chapter, Happy Reading!