Hojo had left shortly after dropping them off at the shrine. The sun was beginning to set, during the sky a brilliant purple. The screams of Kagome had quieted and InuYasha had a mostly quiet meal with the children and Mrs. Higuarshi. After which Mrs. Higuarshi had bid them to get ready for bed. They ran up the stairs racing each other to the bathroom. Mrs. Higuarshi scrubbed down the kitchen counters.

InuYasha twitched his ears as he considered everything that Hojo said. Was his absence to blame for Kagome's behavior or would she have ended up like that anyway? Was it just something bad but natural that had happened to Kagome or was it something else... something that forced her to behave like that?

"InuYasha," said Mrs. Higuarshi breaking him free of his thoughts, "You should go tuck the children into bed."

"Me?" he asked. She giggled lightly.

"Yes, you. You should start getting used to it." He pushed his chair back and stood. He hesitated a moment to watch her work at making the kitchen clean. Mrs. Higuarshi had always represented everything a mother should be to him. She was just good at doing it.

He didn't know what being a parent really meant. He had considered that being a father meant he had to protect everyone. He was good at that, and confident in his physical abilities. But it also meant tucking kids into bed, cleaning the house... and other things.

He wasn't sure he remembered everything his mother did. And his mother didn't have to do everything herself because there had been servants. It would be different for him and Kagome because they only had each other... and it might all fall to him if Kagome never become any better. He pushed his chair under the table.

"How did you do it?" InuYasha asked.

"You just make sure they are in bed and kiss them good night. They might ask for water or a story, which is fine, but don't let Kishirou get away with staying up too late."

"No, I mean, being a single parent? Although that other stuff was good to know too."

"Well, it's not easy, that's for sure. You have to do everything for your children instead of yourself. You put them first."

"What if Kagome never gets any better? What if she never remembers me?" asked the hanyou. Mrs. Higuarshi slowed her circular cleaning strokes.

"I don't know if that is going to happen or not. Part of being a parent is tackling one problem at a time. Don't let the future crush you before it happens. Right now, all you have to do is tuck the children into bed. You can handle that, right?" Mrs. Higuarshi asked. He nodded. She gave him a beaming smile, and he suddenly realized she had to be optimistic all the time for him, the children and Kagome, and it must be exhausting.

He went up to the children's room, thinking he could handle this one task, and found the unexpected. Toshi was crying while Kishirou threw pillows at her from his bed.

"Shut up, Toshi! I'm so tired of you being a big baby!" Kishirou yelled.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" InuYasha demanded. Kishirou yelped and hid himself under his blankets. Toshi was looking at the floor. "Somebody answer me!" Kishirou dropped the covers and pointed an accusing finger at his sister.

"She started it!" said Kishirou.

"Started what?" asked InuYasha.

"Being loud. I can't sleep when she's loud." InuYasha looked at Toshi to defend herself but she just continued crying. The hanyou picked up the pillows off the floor and tossed them back on to Kishirou's bed. It was a delaying tactic so he could think of what to do next. Then he remembered what Kagome always made him say to Shippo when he cried.

"Tell Toshi you're sorry."

"But she started it!" Kishirou said loudly, then added with a pout, "She should be the one who has to apologize." InuYasha crossed his arms, gave him a low warning growl.

Kishirou paled, scrambled back under the covers and said, "Sorry Toshi, Sorry!" InuYasha snorted.

"Hey kid, he said sorry, stop crying," the half demon said to the little girl.

"She's crying because she lost her stupid balls!" said Kishirou.

"Am not!" said Toshi finally speaking up.

"She has a white one under her bed but she keeps crying over the green and blue one! What does it matter! They all bounce the same!" said Kishirou.

"I didn't lose them!" Toshi protested.

"Yes you did! And your stupid crying keeps me awake all night!" Kishirou yelled back.

"We'll look for the balls tomorrow, ok kid?" said InuYasha, hoping this would end the argument and stop the little girl's tears.

"I didn't lose them!" cried Toshi.

"Liar," said Kishirou.

"Enough!" InuYasha growled. "Both of you be quiet and get under the blankets." The kids quickly did what was asked of them. Toshi continued to sniffle. He flicked the light switch off.

"Isn't Grandma going to tuck us in?" asked Toshi.

"No, that's what I just did," replied InuYasha.

"You didn't tell us a story," argued Kishirou. InuYasha twitched his ears about as he considered the request. He remembered that Mrs. Higuarshi had mentioned the need for a bed time story. He sighed and turned the light back on. "Do you know any Great Dog Demon stories?" asked Kishirou

"Maybe."

"I've heard them all. All three of them, and they are boring," said Toshi.

"There's more than three of them!" said Kishirou, "I just don't remember the other stories very well."

"Which three?" asked InuYasha. He sat down in the chair near the bed.

"I know the one where he found the little fox, the one when the jewel broke apart, and how he was stuck to a tree."

"How about the one where he fought the great big wolf?" asked InuYasha. Kishirou nodded excitedly, though Toshi continued to pout. InuYasha told the story with such enthusiasm and even demonstrated the sword fight by bouncing around the room with an imaginary sword that Toshi gasped and clapped her hands. When he finally shut off the light the two children were ready to dream of adventures and most importantly Toshi had stopped crying. He was feeling pretty smug until he ran into Mrs. Higuarshi who told him the kids should have been asleep an hour ago.

----------

In the morning Kishirou, woke his grandmother, and then ran down the stairs into the kitchen to set the table. Toshi walked down rubbing her eyes after breakfast was ready. She tottered from side to side as she descended the staircase. InuYasha was waiting for her at the bottom.

"Morning, kid," said InuYasha. Toshi looked up at him sleepily.

"Morning."

"I think I have something you might want." He pulled his hands out of his sleeves to reveal one green ball and one blue ball. She gasped with surprise but she looked up at InuYasha nervously.

"I didn't lose them I swear! I don't know how they got there!" Toshi said. She ran back up the stairs and into her room. InuYasha followed her. She was sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Kid, I thought you wanted these?" asked the hanyou.

"Am I in trouble?" Toshi asked.

"No."

"Really?

"Really," InuYasha dropped the balls onto her bed and ruffled her hair. "Just next time, if they happen to go in the well house come get me, ok? I'll get them back for you."

"Even if they end up on the bottom of that stupid well?"

"Yep."

"And you won't yell at me? Or shake me?" asked the little girl. InuYasha sighed and sat down on the bed.

"Did your mom do that?"

"Yeah. I know I'm not supposed to go in there. But I don't mean for the balls to end up in the well house, they just bounce… and if I tell anyone where they went, I get in big trouble," explained Toshi.

"Even though you are not supposed to go in the well house, it's not ok for your mom to shake you," he said softly.

"You know what?" asked Toshi.

"What?"

"I like you," she hugged him happily. InuYasha gave her a toothy grin. "Are you going to stay a long time with us?"

"You bet," he replied.

---------------

Kagome began loudly crying shortly after the children had departed for school. InuYasha rubbed one of his ears. He fished around the couch until he found his discarded bandanna and put that on. It didn't help much but it was something. He went to see Mrs. Higuarshi in the kitchen. She was cleaning up the remains of breakfast.

"So, Toshi, she's not Hojo's?" asked InuYasha

"Good heavens no. Why would you think that?" replied Mrs. Higuarshi.

"Because he's over here a lot and he used to like her when she went to school," said the half demon. Mrs. Higuarshi sighed.

"I suppose I can see why you would have thought that. But Toshi doesn't even look like him. I honestly don't know who the father really is. I assume it was someone from America or Europe because of her blond hair and light colored eyes. I was always grateful that her features were different enough that Kagome would mistake her for yours. It would just crush her if she knew. That's why I keep Toshi in all those cute little hats, so that Kagome doesn't focus too much on why her ears not the same as Kishirou."

"Light colored eyes?"

"You haven't noticed? They are a very striking violet," responded Mrs. Higuarshi. InuYasha heart thumped madly. It was like that first day in the well house when he saw Kishirou all over again. He put his hand to his chest in an effort to slow the beat.

"Why is she sick?"

"She's sick?" asked Mrs. Higuarshi, "She seemed fine at breakfast. Did she say she wasn't feeling well? Maybe I should have taken her temperature before she left if—"

"No not like that. Not like cold or the flu. Like—" InuYasha paused in his words and looked hard at Mrs. Higuarshi, "She's healthy?"

"Yes, always has been. She gets allergies pretty bad sometimes. I'm not exactly sure what causes it because she's ok with flowers, she plays in the grass, she hugs animals just fine… and then one day she'll just complain that something smells bad and feels sick for the rest of the day. It comes and goes."

"Kishirou doesn't do that?"

"No, Kishirou has never had trouble with allergies." Damn pup can't smell for shit. Fuck, that probably means Toshi could smell that spider and Kishirou couldn't. And if she was the one who told Kagome about me… damnit! That would explain how Kagome made the connection between me and Naraku. But that doesn't explain why she thinks Naraku is alive… though the bastard did have a knack for coming back even after we thought we had killed him. Damn it! And these humans don't have a clue that Toshi isn't well.

"I have an idea for Kagome," said InuYasha.

----

"Just leave the house," said InuYasha as he climbed the stairs.

"You might need me," replied Mrs. Higuarshi.

"I'm telling you now that I don't. Just stay out of my way. I know what I'm doing," he said sternly. Mrs. Higuarshi was wringing her hands with worry. He approached Kagome's bedroom door with caution. She was crying and screaming nonsense. He unlatched the outside of the door, took a deep breathe, and entered the room. Mrs. Higuarshi as agreed locked the door behind him in case he couldn't stop Kagome from trying to leave.

Kagome was curled up in a ball on the floor under the window. He inhaled deeply taking in all of her scent. His heart hammered in his chest. The smell of her tears hung heavy in the air. He walked towards her slowly. She still had her face buried in her knees. He bent down and placed a light hand on her knee. She looked up through her tear washed eyes.

"You look so much like him," she said. He was afraid to speak, afraid that it might set her off. So far this was much better than he expected. He gently pulled her into his embrace and buried his nose in her raven locks. He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for her decision. She spread her fingers slowly across his muscular chest and clutched the fire rat robes. "But you are a fool to think I would fall for this, Naraku."

"I love you, Kagome," InuYasha said and held her tighter, he squeezed his eyes shut expecting the purification and it came in a red hot flare. The room flashed pink and the air crackled. The airs on his arms rose and his blood was set afire. He locked his jaw and inhaled her scent in an effort not to scream. He let Kagome go because he was afraid his claws would dig into her skin as the pain intensified. The waves of purifying light penetrated his core and he let out an inhuman howl of agony. He trashed on the ground and she pushed her energy farther into him, till at last he was a sweaty whimpering ball on the floor. She still had the firerat robes in her fists. His human hands reached out to her, but she pulled away.

"Please Kagome," InuYasha said between pants and he struggled to sit right again. He reached out for her. "Please recognize me for who I am."

"Its not possible," she said in disbelief as she back away from him.

"It is possible. I don't know why the well sealed itself. And I don't know why I was finally able to get through but I did and I'm here. Please, Kagome," he pleaded. He brushed his black hair over his shoulder and held an outreached hand to Kagome.

"Its not possible," she said angrily. "I don't know how you pulled this off but I'm going to end this!" She pounced on him with very intense blue eyes. He could only assume she was channeling once more, but it no longer hurt him. He reached up and touched her cheek and ran his thumb over her jawbone. He drew his nose close to hers and nuzzled her gently. "Why isn't this working?" She jumped away from him.

"I'm human now. You can't purify a human. It's me. Can't you see that?"

"Don't toy with me," she screamed. She picked up a bedside lamp and threw it at him. He covered his face and it shattered against his arms. "You think because InuYasha isn't here that my children and I are unprotected?! I'll protect them always!" She picked up a book and threw that, he batted it away. As she was picking up a stool, he tackled her to the bed.

"Bitch, stop being so damn crazy."

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"You can't purify me. You should be able to tell that I'm not that fuckin spider." She struggled, screamed and bit down on his shoulder. He fought to get away from the range of her teeth, while still pinning her to the bed. She used her nails but that didn't bother him as much. "See me for who I am!" He roughly smashed his lips into hers. He needed to taste her. His human heart was beating wildly as he was plagued with doubt and intense loneliness. He forced his tongue past her teeth, forced her to submit to his affections, but then her teeth bit down on his lower lip. He couldn't get away and in a frantic effort to be free, he slapped her. Her eyes swelled with renewed tears.

"Oh Kami, I'm sorry, Kagome, I'm sorry," InuYasha chocked out, "I didn't mean to, kami, I didn't mean to!" He released her and backed away until his back hit the door. He sunk low to his knees and covered his face with his hands. The first of his tears fell on to the carpet.

"Get out!" she screamed. She picked up the stool and threw it. It hit his shoulder and rolled away. "Out!" There was an urgent knocking on the door.

"InuYasha, dear, do you want out?" asked Mrs. Higuarshi

"Yes!" He rose to stand, and banged on the door with an open palm. "Please." The door opened and InuYasha practically fell out. Mrs. Higuarshi swiftly shut the door as another bedroom object landed against it. She secured the locks and then finally took in InuYasha's changed appearance. She had never seen him in his human form before. His eyes were covered by his black bangs.

"Oh my, she really nailed you in the face, huh?"

"I'm fine," he said gruffly and stomped to the bathroom. In the mirror he saw that his lip was bleeding and the faint outline of her teeth. His black hair and violet eyes shocked him in the reflection. It was different seeing the change as opposed to feeling it. He had failed Kagome and the children. He covered his face as he let out a chocking sob.

"InuYasha, dear, it's not your fault. Do you want to come out and talk about it?" asked Mrs. Higuarshi gently. He could see the shadow of her feet under the door. He sniffled, trying to hold back the sadness.

"I'm just going to take a shower," he replied. He turned on the water so she couldn't hear him as clearly.

"Well, I'll be out here if you need anything. Just remember, you tried your best. That's all you can do."

-------------------

The house had been eerily quiet since InuYasha had left Kagome's room. He couldn't smell her tears in his human body. Though the absence of the yelling and the scent should have been a relief, it made him nervous instead. He couldn't be entirely sure she was still in the house without his ability to smell her. The window in the bedroom was too high up to jump and Mrs. Higuarshi had nailed it shut years ago. It was most logical to assume that Kagome hadn't left, but he was feeling lost without his youkai senses. He had stood outside her bedroom watching for her shadow to move across the edge of the wooden door and even pressed his ear against it to hear her moving inside.

The children arrived home from school at their usual time. InuYasha was walking down the stairs when they entered.

"Who are you?" gasped Kishirou.

"Who do you think I am?" asked InuYasha. He ruffled Kishirou's hair.

"But what happened to your ears? And your hair, it's the same color as mine!" said Kishirou.

"I still have ears," the hanyou said pointing to his rounded earlobes.

"And your eyes are the same color as Toshi's!" said Kishirou. InuYasha looked over to the little girl to find that her eye color did match his own. It caused his heart to flutter. He had to make sure she was his before he said anything to .

"Sometimes Hanyous turn human. Doesn't it happen to you Kishirou?" asked InuYasha. He sat down on the stairs so he'd be more at the children's level.

"No, I never lose my ears," said Kishirou

"I didn't lose mine either, they are just different," replied InuYasha.

"How long are you like that?" asked the inu child.

"I'll be back to normal tomorrow. Hey, don't tug on my ears."

"That means you can go outside without a bandanna, cuz you look normal," said Kishirou.

"This really isn't a normal look for me. Would you-- I said stop messing with my ears and my hair," he batted the child's outreached fingertips away.

"But how can you just change like that?" asked Kishirou.

"How come you don't?" countered InuYasha.

"Because changing isn't normal. My ears are my ears and I don't lose them. They're attached." explained the dark haired child.

"Mine are attached too so you don't need to be pulling on them."

"Well you must be some kind of crazy hanyou, because I don't change," said Kishirou

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not. Look Kishirou, your father wasn't a youkai. He was a hanyou and that means you are less than half youkai. Maybe that's why you don't change," explained InuYasha.

"But mom said--"

"Your mother says a lot of crazy things right now. I knew him, he was a hanyou."

"But he could change into a really big white dog," said Kishirou.

"No, he couldn't. But he didn't need to anyway. He was more powerful than most youkais and he had a kickass sword," replied InuYasha.

"Like yours?" asked Kishirou pointing at the Tetsaiga.

"Yeah kinda."

"How come you carry that around everywhere?" asked Toshi.

"Because there are still youkai in this world," replied InuYasha.

"Have you fought with it? Can you show us it?"asked Kishirou.

"Yes. No," replied InuYasha.

"Why not?" asked Kishirou.

"Because I get in big trouble when I take it out in the house, ok?" He clearly remembered the last time he did and he was in trouble with pretty much everyone in the family. Suddenly he remembered there was a member of the Higuarshi house hold missing.

"Hey, Kishirou, where's your grandfather?"

"You mean Great Grandfather?"

"Yeah."

"He died last year."

"Oh," said InuYasha, "Sorry to hear that."

"Toshi, come here, we have to get your hair done," called Mrs. Higuarshi from the upstairs bathroom.

"Oh, no," said Toshi and she took off running for the kitchen.

"Toshi, come here." Mrs. Higuarshi had her hands on her hips at the top of the stairs.

"She went that way," said Kishirou pointing at the kitchen. "I better get started on my homework." He went to the dinning room where he began to pull his textbooks out of his backpack. Mrs. Higuarshi came down the stairs and went after Toshi. Shortly after she was forcefully taking Toshi up the stairs to the bathroom. His human nose had scented a very light scent of something his youkai senses remembered. InuYasha followed them as something didn't feel quite right.

"I hate this! I don't want to!" said Toshi.

"Just sit there, Toshi."

"No," she tried to shove past her grandmother, but she pulled her back. Mrs. Higuarshi picked up a bottle and squirted some of the liquid into the sink. The scent that had pricked his memory became dangerously clear. He ran in and pulled the girl away from her grandmother.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" demanded InuYasha.

"Making me stinky!" said Toshi.

"I am not making you stinky. I'm fixing your hair. And the smell is gone when I wash it out with soap. Come here," said Mrs. Higuarshi.

"No," said InuYasha. "This stuff it doesn't smell right." Toshi hid behind InuYasha's leg.

"Don't be ridiculous this doesn't hurt her," said Mrs. Higuarshi.

"It burns," Toshi said.

"Only if it gets on your skin, which if you wouldn't squirm wouldn't happen."

"It makes me sick for days," said Toshi.

"Toshi, don't be so dramatic," said the elder lady.

"She's not. I could smell it on her when I got here," said InuYasha.

"That's not possible, the last time I did this was over a month ago."

"Well I could. What are you doing with that stuff?" asked the hanyou.

"Bleaching her hair," replied the elder woman.

"What? Why?" asked InuYasha.

"I'm making her hair white. Her blond roots are starting to show," said Mrs. Higuarshi.

"You can't see them under this stupid hat," said Toshi.

"You will be able to see them eventually, don't you want to be pretty?"

"No," pouted the little girl.

"Why the hell does it matter what color her hair is? Let the girl alone. That stuff stinks," said InuYasha.

"Because it needs to look like somebody else's hair," whispered Mrs. Higuarshi, "so her mother doesn't realize what she has done."

"Who the hell cares what Kagome thinks! She's crazy anyway," argued the hanyou.

"Toshi might just care if Kagome rejects her like she does you," Mrs. Higuarshi whispered tightly. InuYasha locked his jaw as he glared back at the older woman. He held Toshi behind him protectively.

"I'm here now. And I'm not rejecting her," InuYasha angrily whispered back.

"You have violet eyes," said Mrs. Higuarshi suddenly.

"I always do in my human form. Just like my mother." He picked up Toshi and carried her down the stairs. He sat her down in the kitchen, picked up her blue ball from the table and handed it to her.

"Go play," he said gently. Toshi looked at the ball and then up to his eyes.

"Do I still have to wear these flowered hats?"

"Nope," said InuYasha who snatched it off her head. She smiled broadly, hugged him, and ran out the back door into the green yard. Mrs. Higuarshi came up behind him.

"You know, I wanted her to wear those hats so Kagome wouldn't focus on her lack of inu-ears. I wanted Kishirou to wear hats so nothing bad would happen to him at school."

"Its stupid, let the kid be who she is. Kagome's a crazy bitch, but she's not going to stop loving her kids." InuYasha was still watching Toshi play outside and didn't notice the narrowing of Mrs. Higuarshi's eyes when he talked of her daughter. Shortly after she sighed and watched Toshi too.

"She had brown eyes when she was born. Great big brown eyes. Over the years they changed. It worried me when she started to look more like her father, but maybe it shouldn't have. Did you ever see Kagome again after the well sealed? Even just for a day?"

"Yes," InuYasha said and paused before continuing, "But I won't know if Toshi is really my kid until that smell wears off. It doesn't matter though. She's mine now."

He felt the change wash over him. His claws elongated and his senses returned. He twitched his fuzzy appendages and could hear Kishirou crying upstairs. "Damnit, what now?" He ran up the stairs and into the children's room. Kishirou was sitting on the floor, leaning against his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest.

"What's wrong?" InuYasha asked softly as he knelt down next to the child.

"You're not my dad," said Kishirou between sobs.

"What?"

"I thought you might be. I mean, Okaasan always talked about my daddy wearing red. And I really thought about it and she always said when he turned into a dog he had white hair and yellow eyes. And you do. And when you are human you have the same hair color as me and the same eye color as Toshi," cried Kishirou. InuYasha nervously ran his clawed fingers through his snowy locks. "But you can't be him, because he's dead."

"What?!"

"See," Kishirou handed him part of a torn yellow paper. "I snuck into Mommy's room. I know I'm not allowed to, but I wanted to see if I could find some clues about what my dad really looked liked. He's been dead for years, that's why he doesn't visit, that's why he never talks to me on the phone. Mommy didn't want to tell me."

InuYasha recognized Sango's curvy handwriting. The note was torn and part of it was missing. He had the end of the letter. He read as his ears ticked to the chocking sobs of his pup.

"--how to tell you this, but he died under the fall of a mountain. I wasn't sure at first, he's been able to survive through so much, but me, Miroku, and the rest of the village moved the rocks away. I am sending you all that is left of him.

He loved you so much. He tried every day to get back to you. I hope his spirit finds you in good health. Live a happy life, Kagome. It's what he would have wanted for you. May this letter comfort you because he is now free to find you, unbound by the physical limitations of his body.

Love Always,

Sango and Miroku "

He looked up at Kishirou. His face had turned a blotchy red. There has been too much suffering.

"It's true," said InuYasha causing Kishirou to cry harder, "that a mountain fell and I was under it." The inu child's head shot up and he stared at InuYasha with wet blue eyes. "I was able to dig my way out from the rocks and into the inside of a mountain. I survived off of cave mold and drinking water that dripped down from the ceiling. I was stuck in there for over four months without any light. I didn't know if I was going deeper or getting closer to finding a way out.

I did finally find a trail of mushrooms that only grow near the surface. I followed those out. I went to the village then. I normally stayed away so the Youkai didn't follow me and hurt the people." InuYasha shrugged. He was looking off into the distance of his memory, "I needed a decent meal and a place to rest without fear of attack. I went to Sango and Miroku's place. They have kids about your age. The Youkai didn't look for me after that.

I remember, I remember, Sango thought I was dead because she found... she found this," he said tugging on the top of his firerat clothing, "and... well a lot of blood. She mentioned something about finding my hair too. I got stuck, I had to cut some of my hair off with my claws and abandon my shirt, there was too much weight on it to move.

But I'm fine now, pup, and I'm here." Kishirou had stopped crying and was staring at InuYasha.

"So you are my daddy?"

"Yeah, I am," said InuYasha. He reached out to hug him, but Kishirou stood up and stomped his foot.

"Then why the hell didn't you get here sooner?! Didn't you know Okassaan thought you were dead?! Maybe that's why she screams all the fuckin time!"

"I wanted to," said InuYasha.

"That's not good enough!" screamed Kishirou. He stomped his foot again. InuYasha grasped the child's shoulders.

"You know that well house your mom is always telling you not go near? I was on the other side of well 500 years in the past. I don't know why the well first started working and I don't know why it stopped. But it stopped, 6 years ago. It opened one day in that time span and your mother could got through, but she went back without me. She had to because of a Youkai attack. That's how you got your sister, but I didn't know about either of you until I got here."

"That just sounds crazy. Crazy like mom's crazy."

"Well its true. Ask your grandmother if you like," InuYasha tweaked one of Kishirou's black inu ears. "You have ears that are different from anyone else you have ever met, just like me. And I've always kept my word, right? Dog demon promise, everything I've said is true." Kishirou looked at him doubtfully but finally nodded.

"Will you ever go back?" asked the inu child.

"I don't know, but if I do, it will be with you, ok?"

"And Okaasan?"

"Yes, and Toshi too," said InuYasha. Kishirou gave him a crushing hug and cried into InuYasha's long snowy hair. "I love you, Kishirou." The hanyou rubbed his child's back and rocked and forth. Kishirou cried himself into exhaustion and fell asleep. He picked him up and laid him in his bed. He pulled the warm comforter over him, tip toed out, and softly closed the door. When it clicked shut, Kagome started screaming. "Oh hell." Kishirou was startled awake, jumped out of bed and ran straight into InuYasha. "You ok?"

"Don't leave," said Kishirou.

"I'm not," replied InuYasha. The child raised his arms up and hopped in the customary pick-me-up request. InuYasha did just that and carried him downstairs to find Mrs. Higuarshi finishing up making dinner. InuYasha put Kishirou down in a chair.

"You show me where you got this paper after dinner, ok?"

"But, I'm not allowed in Okaasan's room," said Kishirou.

"You will be this once," said Inuyasha.

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Thanks to everyone who is taking time to review this. Honestly I didn't realize that it had been years since I worked on this. Decided I don't want to drag it out any longer and I want to finish the story. So as this is my third update this week, you can tell I'm heading strong for actually completing this tale! Good news is I have it all plotted out in my head and I just got to get it on the paper. Please keep the reviews coming! It gives me a reason to keep this up. Also, it helps me know if you guys really really need questions answered. So hopefully this cleared up a lot of Qs I keep getting. I know it doesn't answer all of them, but that's because I'm not finished with the story yet! All will be answered by the end, promise!