Chapter 35: Twins?

After a grueling 7 hours flight, Kagome, and Shippo both finally arrived back home after Thanksgiving. Hayato had decided Sota had to spend another day or two with him because he wanted to make sure that he was going to pass his college tests.

Kagome was glad to be back, but she couldn't help but feel a little melancholy for having to say goodbye to her father. She felt like she was letting go of her security blanket as she waved goodbye at the airport…

But the idea that she was going to see Inuyasha and Shiori again filled her heart up with so much happiness that she thought that she was going to burst. She and Shippo came skipping off the plane and began to look around… they didn't have to look for long.

"MOMMY! SHIPPO!" screamed out a small voice that Kagome so dearly missed.

Little Shiori was running towards them, carrying a small bouquet of flowers and looked as if she was out of her mind with joy. She the flung herself into Shippo's arms and said, "Welcome Home!"

Shippo gave her a quick hug before she turned to Kagome and held out the flowers, "These are for you mommy!"

"Oh, Shiori," Kagome said as she bent down to eye level to take them. She breathed in their sweet scent. "They're gorgeous. Thank you."

Shiori smiled happily before she turned towards the figure who was standing a little ways back. "DADDY! Daddy they're back!"

Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha walking towards them with that small smile that she had been longing to see. Kagome stood up and walked over to him and gave him a kiss.

"I missed you," she said.

Inuyasha smirked, "I thought so."

"Hmm," Kagome said. "Well then what about you? How was your holiday?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Fine I guess… though it was kinda depressing to tell you the truth."

That surprised Kagome. "Depressing? Why is that? How come?"

"Well 'cause… I spent most of the time wishing I could be with you," he answered with a blush.

Kagome's eyes widened for a second before she began to turn red. "I really did miss you Inuyasha."

"Uh," he began. "Yeah well… you're back now… Thanksgiving is over… Rin had her baby and…"

"WHAT?" Kagome screamed so loud that several people looked back at her in concern. "Rin had the baby while we were gone?"

"Yep," Inuyasha said calmly. "She went into labor a little bit early… but since we're dealing with a half-demon… it was always hard to say when the baby will be born. She was taken to the hospital and she has a healthy baby boy."

"A boy?" Kagome groaned, happy but upset at the same. "Why didn't you call and let me know?"

He shrugged. "Rin said that she wanted it to be a surprise when you got back. But I'm just glad that she finally decided on a name for the kid."

"Oh, really?" Kagome said excitedly as she and the kids began to follow Inuyasha to get their bags. "What did she pick?"

"She decided on Daichi," he answered with a smile. "The dai means large, or great… and combined with the chi it means wisdom."

"So great wisdom?" Kagome repeated happily. "Who does he look like?"

"Well… my mom thinks that he looks like Sesshomaru… I have to agree, 'cause he has gold eyes and white hair. But he has Rin's face… anyway, we're going to stop by the house. Rin wanted you to meet him."

"Yup!" Shiori finally said as she took Kagome's hand. "He's so cute! Auntie Rin says that he sleeps all night and that he's going to grow up to be just like Uncle Fluffy."

"For everyone's sake, I hope not," Inuyasha muttered under his breath.

Kagome playfully hit his shoulder and said, "Inuyasha, be nice."

"Yeah daddy," Shiori said as she looked at Shippo and Kagome. "So what have you been up too? Did you miss me? Did ya? Huh? Did ya?"

Kagome responded to that by gently squeezing her hand, "More than you'll ever know."

*In the car*

In no time they were heading down the familiar road to Inuyasha's parent's house to see Rin and Daichi.

"So, how does Sesshomaru like being a father?" Kagome asked as she leaned back in her seat and relaxing.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Hard to say. He doesn't talk all that much. He's always been famous for his poker face."

"Oh I'm sure that he's thrilled," she replied as she looked back at Shippo who was chatting merrily to Shiori.

"I still wish that I could've been there when he was born though," she sighed. "I can't wait to see everybody."

Once they arrived at the house, both kids jumped out to race towards the front door. But as Inuyasha helped Kagome out of the car, he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. He jerked his head towards the side of the house to try to make out what it was.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome said as she looked where he was looking. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing," he answered but he looked back. He could've sworn that he saw someone hiding from behind the house. "Look… how about you all go in? I want to go and check something out."

"Huh? Ok…" Kagome said in surprise. She shrugged it off as she followed the children, who were both greeting Izayoi. When the woman looked up, she smiled brightly at Kagome and waved her over. Kagome was only too happy to comply.

Once Inuyasha was sure that they were all safely inside, he quickly ran to the side of the house to see who was there. When he turned the corner… he stopped dead. For it was the very last person he had been hoping to see… in fact, it was the very person that he had hoped he never had to see again.

It was Hojo.

"Yo," Hojo said cheerfully.

"Hojo," Inuyasha growled. "What are you doing here? This is private property. Leave or else."

"My, are you always this friendly?" he asked causally.

Inuyasha clenched his fists tightly. "Look… get lost. Or I swear that I'm gonna make you regret it."

"Jeez," Hojo said as he leaned up against the side of the house. "You need to lighten up. I just wanted to know how things were going between you and Kagome, that's all. Is that so wrong?"

"What's going on? It's none of your damn business. So now that you know…" Inuyasha began to walk towards him, cracking his knuckles in the process.

"Hey, I think that I do have a right to know what's going on with my own son," Hojo said as he stretched out. "After all… you learn things every day."

"Look, you gave up everything to do with Shippo and Kagome. So, you don't need to get involved with anything that's going on here. Now that you know, get lost. If you don't leave right now, I'm gonna smash your face in."

Hojo merely yawned as he stood up straight, "If it bothers you that much, fine. I was simply curious. I mean… after hearing the truth about Shippo's birth… I was surprised to hear that you are still with her."

"What the hell are you getting at?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Wait…" Hojo said slowly as a smile crept into his face. "You mean you don't know? She didn't tell you?"

"Know what?" Inuyasha demanded wanting to wipe that sick smile off Hobo's face. "If you don't tell me right now then…"

"Oh no," Hojo laughed. "I think I rather let Kagome tell you. But if you truly wish to understand… then why don't you ask her yourself?"

"Ask her what?" Inuyasha practically screamed as he grabbed Hojo by the front of his shirt. "What are you talking about?"

"INUYASHA?" Kagome's voice suddenly interrupted them from somewhere in the front yard. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

Inuyasha then let go of Hojo; the last thing that he wanted was for Kagome to see who the uninvited guest was.

Hojo brushed off his clothes as if they were dirty and replied, "Relax, I won't let her know that I'm here. I just wanted to see if she had the guts to tell you the truth." And without another word, he turned and left.

Inuyasha was tempted to go after him and punch his lights out, but Kagome's voice was getting louder by the second.

"Inuyasha?"

"Coming!" he called back and went to go meet her.

"There you are," she said grinning at him once he had appeared. "Why didn't you tell me how cute Daichi is?"

But when she looked at his face, her smile slowly faded. "Inuyasha? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Inuyasha replied shortly and quickly walked past her and up to the house.

*Later*

The ride back to Kagome's house was a quiet one; Shiori was fast asleep in the car, and Shippo was just put to bed. Kagome and Inuyasha were both on the front step saying goodnight like they always did; but the air around them was so thick that you could cut through it with a knife. She kept glancing at Inuyasha with a worried look on her face. But Inuyasha was so lost in his own thoughts that he hardly paid any attention to her.

"What?" he finally snapped at her.

Kagome jumped softly at the sting in his tone. "N-nothing!" she said quickly. "I'm just worried about you. Inuyasha… what's wrong? You're acting really weird. Weirder than normal I mean."

"Keh, just leave me alone," he said moodily.

"Why are you acting like this?" Kagome demanded her anger threaten to take over.

"'Cause," he finally snapped, "I met that Hobo back at the house and he told me that you were keeping secrets from me. I need to know… is it true?"

Kagome didn't say anything, but she did go very white. "You… you saw him at the house?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha growled, letting his anger get the better of him. "And he said that you were hiding something from me. Tell me, is it true?"

"I can't think of what he could've meant," said Kagome looking everywhere but at him. Inuyasha noticed this and took hold of her hand and forced her to look at him in the eye. "Kagome? What are you hiding from me? He said that it had something to do with Shippo's birth?"

"It's nothing important!" she suddenly said before clamping her hand over her mouth in horror.

"So you ARE hiding something from me!"

"I told you that it's not important!"

"Then why don't you want to tell me?"

"Because it doesn't concern you!"

"The hell it doesn't!"

"Just drop it! It's not worth getting so upset over!"

"Who's getting upset?" Inuyasha shouted a little panicky. "Kagome what are you hiding from me that you don't want to say?"

Kagome didn't answer as she wrenched her hand from his grasp. She just stood there, not moving an inch, and didn't say a word. She was breathing hard, and her bangs were covering her eyes so that he couldn't see the pool of emotions that must've been swirling around inside her.

Suddenly, she looked up at him, and he was startled to see the tears that were beginning to form. She took a deep breath before she muttered, "Hojo and I only married because of the twins."

Of all the things that Inuyasha was expecting, this sure wasn't on the list. "T-twins?" he stuttered. "What the hell are you…?"

"YOU WANTED TO KNOW THE TRUTH SO BADLY DIDN'T YOU? I JUST SAID IT! A LONG TIME AGO I HAD TWINS! HAPPY?" she screamed before she ran inside and slammed the door in his face.

Leaving Inuyasha feeling like someone tore out his heart and began to stomp it flat. Finally, after about an hour of standing there and staring at the door, he realized that Kagome wasn't going to come back out. He slowly turned back to his car to drive home… wishing that he could just crawl under a rock and fade away.

(Sorry for taking awhile. But lately I've been finding it harder and harder to come up with any ideas for this story. I'm at a total writer's block.)