Wings and Darkness

Chapter 3 - Fathers

Mommy and Daddy were fighting again. All they did was fight.

It was all the baby's fault. The baby wasn't even born yet and already it was causing problems.

Mommy was always crying, Daddy was always frustrated. Mommy was always crying about how the baby was coming, Daddy was always saying it was his job. He couldn't stay. It was his job. If there was anything she hated more than the baby in Mommy's belly, it was The Job. The Job was ruining everything. Daddy always talked about leaving, said it was important, said it was for her. Mommy would always cry. The baby needed Daddy.

She didn't care if the baby needed Daddy. The baby was in Mommy's belly. Baby had Mommy. Mommy had baby. She was the one that needed Daddy.

She told Daddy this. He held her in his lap. He kissed her forehead. She held him tight. She rested her head on his chest, it was the place she liked the most. He would always tug on her chin and make her look at him. He had pretty eyes. They were her eyes. She had his eyes.

The last time she ever saw him he said he'd be right back. Don't worry, The Job wouldn't take long. He told her he'd need her, so he'd be right back.

But he didn't come right back at all.

She was running. Running running running. Running from Mommy. Running so hard she couldn't breath. Running so hard she must be able to get to Daddy. Daddy always went far away. She could go far away. She needed Daddy. Daddy needed her. Daddy couldn't be gone, no matter what Mommy said. Daddy wasn't gone. Daddy would be right back.

But when Grandpa found her at the train station trying to go far away like Daddy, she knew she couldn't go get Daddy. Grandpa told her Daddy had gone further than the train could take her. Daddy had gone in a car, and Daddy wasn't coming back. The car had taken Daddy away.

Daddy wasn't coming back. Daddy was gone. She cried until baby came, and when baby came Mommy said she needed Daddy's eyes. She had Daddy's eyes. Mommy needed her.

She would be there for Mommy. She would be there for baby. Baby needed her. She would never leave baby.

Kagome awoke in a cold sweat. She hadn't dreamed about her father in a long time. She could still remember waiting for the train on that cold fall day where the leaves had just fallen from the tree. She was so cold because she had left the house without a coat. She had wanted so much to find her father, the train was the only place she knew that could allow her to travel far distances.

She hadn't realized yet that her father had died. He had died in a car crash and he wasn't coming back. She couldn't remember the exact moment she realized he had died - but she could remember the exact moment she knew he wasn't coming back. That was the moment when, even at six years old, she knew she would have to be there for Sota and for her mother. Sure, her grandfather would be there, but she could remember thinking that if her father could go away, so could her mother and by proxy so could her grandfather. But she wouldn't go away. She wouldn't leave Sota.

But she had. She had gone away from them. Sure, she was still alive and they knew it (well, not by that time, but they knew at least she was happy), it wasn't the same as when he father had died. He hadn't chosen to die and never see them again - she, however, in her selfishness had. She left Sota. She had been selfish beyond reason, leaving Sota and abandoning her responsibilities.

Salty tears streamed down her face and in the middle of the night she left her mat on Kaede's floor and left the quiet little hut. She had been careful when she stepped over Rin to avoid awakening her. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, dreaming of her Lord Sesshomaru no doubt. A small part of her guilt was offset by the fact that she had become a sister and guiding force for Rin - at least until her Lord Sesshomaru came back to claim her.

The guilt suddenly weighed heavy on her mind. She had thought of her family often over the last fifteen months, but it was always to casually think about what her family might have been doing if she was there. Now, however, she came to start thinking about what they may need her for. While Inuyasha may still be alive 500 years in the future, she would surely not be. Her mortality crept up on her like a cloak - she would one day die and leave him. She could only hope that he would live long enough to tell her family all about the continued adventures she had. Maybe he would look in on them from time to time and guide them as she was unable to.

But still she cried great racking sobs that began in her stomach and echoed throughout the valley. To avoid waking Kaede and Rin she ran towards the forest. Despite her promise to Inuyasha to never go back there, she felt herself drawn to the well. It had always been on her family's land, and as a result reminded her of them.

Sota. She wondered what he was doing now, and whether or not he would ever forgive her. She felt herself fall into a crouch and held her knees tightly to her chest and sobbed.

Inuyasha poked the small fire he had built. He remained squatted to the ground in his trade mark style, glancing up every few moments to watch his father's relaxed posture. His father remained with his head rested back, eyes closed, and leaning against a great tree. One knee was propped and he casually draped his arms across it while the other foot lazily stretched out before him. He seemed entirely too relaxed for Inuyasha's tastes considering the circumstances.

They hadn't said anything to one another since Inuyasha had found his father in the same position, a small fire burning down to embers before him. Inuyasha had taken it upon himself to build it up, stoking the flames as he cautiously stared at the man who had fathered him.

After some time, Inutaisho finally spoke. "I'm surprised you aren't with that young lady."

"Keh," Inuyasha blushed lightly. "She stays with that old miko and Sesshomaru's ward. Says it's because of her training, but I think it's more so she can take care of them."

"Huhn." Inutaisho grunted. "She's your mate isn't she?"

Inuyasha shrugged lightly. "Mates are for full yokai."

Inutaisho opened his eyes and raised his head off its perch. "I don't think that's true."

"True enough for me."

Inutaisho studied his son's thoughtful expression before leaning his head back against the tree. "So, who pulled tetsusaiga free from my body?"

"Kagome."

"I see." Inutaisho gave a soft half smile before returning to his previous relaxed expression.

"Keh." Inuyasha sat back himself, allowing himself to rest on the ground as he studied his father. It was the first time he got a good look at his father's human form. He had always wondered what features he had taken from his father besides his pointed ears, golden eyes and silver hair. Looking at his father now he realized he had inherited his sharp jaw line and distinct cheek bones. He was similar in stature to his father, but not quite as broad through the shoulders. He was pleased to know that anyone who looked at the two of them would immediately know they were father and son.

"Tell me more about your journeys for the jewel."

Over dinner that evening, Inutaisho had heard the basics of their journey to find the jewel. There were gaps in his knowledge, especially how Kagome had come into the picture. All he really knew at this point was that the jewel had been in her possession when she had accidentally shattered it with her arrow, scattering the pieces across the land. They had met their remaining companions during the journey and had defeated the hanyou Naraku.

"What more do you want to know?"

"How did Kagome come to possess the jewel?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "She just had it inside of her. We don't know, and it doesn't really matter."

"I think it does. So she just had it inside of her?"

"Keh, that's what I said isn't it?"

Inutaisho caught his reprimand before he said it. One step at a time.

"How did you come to meet her?"

"She found me pinned to that damn tree."

"Was she the one that released you?"

"Ya."

"Why did she release you?"

"She didn't actually know what she was doing. She just kind of did. She didn't know why I was pinned there and she needed me to save her from a centipede yokai."

"A miko needing your saving? She seems perfectly capable."

"She wasn't then."

"And you said she didn't know why you were pinned there? How did she not know, I thought it would have been common knowledge by that point."

"Keh, what the hell are you asking all these questions about Kagome for?"

"I'm simply curious about the girl. You intend to marry her, do you not?"

Inuyasha blushed a deep crimson color. That said everything Inutaisho needed him to say.

"Have you asked her yet?"

"I was going to when I show her the house I've been building her."

Inutaisho smiled thoughtfully. "So you plan to stay in this region then?"

"Yes. The village is where we belong."

"You have a place in the west."

"No thanks. I've never been welcome there before, just because you're alive doesn't change that."

"Of course it does. You are my son, all Inu will recognize that."

"No offense old man, but bull shit." Inuyasha studied the back of his hand intently. "And besides, we're happy here. We don't have any intension of leaving."

"You have a rightful place at me side."

"At your side huh? Me? A fucking hanyou?" Inuyasha's laughter was without humour. "I get that you don't understand this old man, but my life hasn't been at all easy. After mother died I was on my own. A little kid trapped in a world where no one wanted me. Demons thought I was an abomination and humans thought I was evil. I didn't belong anywhere. Until I was finally old enough to fight for myself and learned to use my claws I was completely along, hiding in trees, caves, lakes….anywhere I could find a place to go. I scrounged food I could, often stole food from farmers and stole livestock. If I couldn't find it I went hungry. My existence sucked. It wasn't until these last four years since I met Kagome that I've had a real life. This village welcomes me, I belong here. Hell, they've even invited another hanyou Jinenji to live amongst the people, and they do so without complaint. I'm sure there are some judgments, but for the most part, people are just happy to have Kagome and I here. This place makes her happy, and I will be damned if you want me to uproot and follow you around leaving her here, or worse, taking her away from her friends and adopted family."

Inuyasha ran his hands through his hair and continued. "She gave up everything for me. Literally everything. Her family, her friends, her future…just to be with me. I can never repay that, and it if means I give her the life she wants, than she can have it."

A calm silence stretched between father and son as each thought of the other's words. It became immediately clear to Inutaisho how much Inuyasha loved this girl. She was clearly bright and strong, with a good head and on her shoulders, and if even half of the glowing words he had for her were the truth he was a lucky man to have her love in return. Still, Inutaisho's chest tugged at him for he knew something that Inuyasha did not.

"Tell me son,"

"Stop calling me that!"

"You're my son, what do you expect me to call you?"

"Inuyasha works."

"Who do you think gave you that name?"

"Feh, whatever."

Inutaisho grinned. "Tell me, son, where did she come from if she had to make such a choice as to pick between all of her family and friends and you?"

"Keh," Inuyasha paused, thinking for a moment. "Really, that's up to her to tell you when she's ready. I ain't about to go telling you stuff that doesn't really matter."

"How do you know it doesn't?"

"Look, she can't go back to where she came from. It literally just ain't possible. Trust me when I say that. As far as it matters now, she's from here and that's it."

Both father and son began to feel the discomfort of their first private encounter growing. But rather than dwell, Inuyasha caught the faint scent of Kagome's tears.

"Kagome's crying! What the hell is she crying for?" He sprang to his feet, sniffing the air to find out where she was going. He immediately caught the scent, and in a panic followed it, knowing exactly where she was going.

Back to the well.

When Inuyasha and Inutaisho found her, Kagome was still huddled very close to the fetal position, he body racked with sobs.

"What happened?" His voice rose in anger as the panic of losing her gave way to frustration that she would come back here again. "What the hell are you doing here? You promised me you'd never come back here again!"

Her body racked even harder with uncontrollable sobs. She was barefoot again and still wearing her sleeping yukata. Inuyasha bent down and puddled the huddled ball into his arms, smoothing her hair with his hands and pulling her tightly up against his chest. When the crying didn't calm he pulled her back, taking off his fire rat and draping it over her shaking form. He tugged her back against his chest and she clung to his fire rat as if it were her salvation. He had no idea what was going on - she had promised to never come back to the well again. Never to put him through the fear of losing her again. Three months ago he thought he had lost her – he had come back into town to find her sitting over the edge of the well hoping it would reopen so she could go home. It was that night they were finally honest with each other and let their relationship really begin – free of memories of old loves, and lives lost. Free of judgment over who was what. But here she was, crying harder than he remembered ever seeing her beside the same well he had lost her through before.

"Shhhh, koi, it will be okay." He gently rocked her back and forth. While he normally would never do this, somehow he just knew. He knew this is what she needed, and while he was uncomfortable with the actions as he had no idea what exactly he was doing, he could sense it was the right thing to be doing at that moment.

Slowly her sobs turned to hiccups as she let go of the fire rat and instead attached herself to his kosode. As she calmed he slowed his ministrations and rested his chin atop her head.

"What happened?"

She shut her eyes and rubbed her head against his chin. "I had a dream."

"Kami woman, all these tears over a dream?"

She whimpered lightly and he tightened his hold on her.

"It was about when my father died."

Inuyasha froze. He didn't really know what had happened to him, only that he had died in one of those disgusting, foul smelling contraptions they called an Auto-mow-beel. He grunted his acknowledgment and prodded her to continue.

"When he died I was very young, but I knew I would have to take care of my family. I made a promise the day I realized he was gone that I would take care of them, especially Sota. Mom, dad, Grandpa…they could all go. But I was immortal in my own eyes, I never saw my own death as a possibility, so I swore that I never would let Sota down. But…hic…here I am. By the time he will be born I'll be long dead and gone."

Inuyasha clutched Kagome tightly to him. He always knew it would happen – eventually she would die, and if fate treated them kindly, he would still be alive at that point – although he had no idea how he could possible go on without her. He didn't want to face the reality that if nature would be allowed to take its course, by all accounts he should outlive her by hundreds, if not thousands of years.

"I need you to promise me something."

Inuyasha didn't respond. He just clutched her to his chest.

"Promise me!"

"What is it?"

"When my family is eventually around you'll…you'll take care of them. Once I leave them."

He didn't say anything at first, thinking over her words. They cut through him like shards of glass, but still, he nodded against her head. "I promise."

Even if Inutaisho had been further away than the edge of the clearing he would have known immediately where he was. The bone eater's well. The passage through space and time. The passage that brought time lines together, that had the power to bring people who otherwise had no business being together into one time.

So Kagome was one of those people. From the sounds of it, she was from the future. Just like Akiko.

Akiko. The name still rang in his ears. While he had truly found his love in Izayoi, and the greatest happiness he could imagine, the woman still touched his soul. Time travelers, he was convinced, were special people.

He wondered if either Inuyasha or Kagome knew that other time travelers had used the well before them. Akiko had not been the first, but she was, until now, the last that Inutaisho was aware of. While Akiko had promised to come back eventually, it was clear based on the way events had unfolded that this had not been permitted. If it had been, things would have been very different for them now…especially for Inuyasha.

Akiko would be long dead by now. Two hundred years will do that to a human, no matter how extraordinary. She had been one of a kind, showing her qualities with every challenge they overcame. It was because of her that Inutaisho met Izayoi, and fell in love. It was because of her that they had wed, and conceived Inuyasha. Akiko and Izayoi had both become pregnant around the same time. They were both to have their children and raise them together. Their children would be the best of friends.

But Hiroto had other intentions. While Inutaisho understood, it had broken his heart to watch Izayoi's sorrow when Akiko was taken away to have her baby. Hiroto had locked her back in her own time, to live out her remaining days – to have her descendants there. Hiroto had made it clear – time travel, especially the birth of the child of a time traveler, was against the natural order. It could overthrow the balance. And always, Hiroto needed balance. And so Izayoi had gone through the rest of her pregnancy alone and in sorrow, an emptiness within her that even Inutaisho could not fill. Her sorrow had even effected the child she carried, for she swore that the baby kicked less once Akiko was gone.

Now that Kagome was calm, Inutaisho entered the clearing and made his presence known to Kagome.

"So, old man, how much of that did you hear?"

There was no point in lying. "All of it."

Kagome pulled away from Inuyasha, her eyes growing wide. "Please, only those closest to us know…"

"That you're from the future?" Inutaisho lifted his hand to silence her. "There is no need to fret young lady, you will have no judgments from me."

"You seem awfully calm with this." Inuyasha narrowed his eyesbrows suspiciously.

"You don't know me very well yet if you think this could surprise me."

"I don't know you at all." Inuyasha placed his hand around Kagome's waste, tugging her into him tightly.

"You aren't the only person to come out of that well my dear. The well has been opened before."

Kagome shot up to her feet. "It has? Who opened it? When was it open? Who came through? Can it be reopened?"

Inuyasha's eye went wide in panic.

Inutaisho held up his hand. "The well cannot be easily opened once closed my dear. If you want to go back through it, it is highly unlikely that you could. If its closed with you here, then it is the will of the kami." Inutaisho reached forwards and touched her shoulder gently. "I will explain it all later. For now, I believe we have company."

"Father."

The humming of Tesseiga sounded very much like Tetsusaiga's greeting to its former master.

"Sesshomaru."

End of Chapter 3! Sorry, I did a compete rewrite – didn't like the way it was going. I decided I wanted to move the plot a bit quicker. I know there's an ominous edge to the beginning here, but you'll learn a lot more in the next couple of chapters – including the new enemy. I promise, there's a good reason for Kagome's emotion.

As always, please read and review. For reference, the previous issues with the well are addressed in my one off fanfic By the Well. Again, not necessary to read first, but it may help with the relationship dynamic a bit.