Chapter 24

Sunset

Kagome came in carrying a box from the back storeroom to set out on display. She was anxious for today; it was the first time in two weeks that Kaede had scheduled Kikyo and Kagome together. She couldn't help but feel nervous waiting for the conversation she was also excited to have. She was smiling at remembering how she came to the idea to have today's proposition for Kikyo.


Inutaisho's eyebrows shot up at the slam of his office door opening. To say that he was surprised to see a fuming Kagome entering his study was an understatement. Sesshomaru followed silently behind her, not lessening Inutaisho's worries one bit.

"You! Need to allow Rin's mother to see her!" she said slamming her hands down on his desk. "You had absolutely no right to demand that of Kikyo! I demand you to allow Rin, her mother in her life as much as she wants if you want grandchildren in the future!"

Inutaisho's mouth appeared slightly agape as he stared at his daughter-in-law in wonder. How was it that she knew about Kikyo and Rin? How did she know he had demanded the tramp to stay away from his first grandchild? Who is she to come in here threatening no grandchildren from his eldest and favorite daughter-in-law? So many questions to run through, with no answers.

Kagome put her hands to her hips sitting there, as the seconds turned to minutes her fuming for every moment the silence lasted. "Well?"

He sat back in his chair folding his hands gently in his lap. "Well…. I had wanted you for a daughter-in-law and didn't want that tramp ruining it." He stated, literally making Kagome's jaw drop.

Anger boiled even greater within Kagome if that was even possible. He felt her aura growing in a threatening way, where his Youkai was responding with its own nudge in defense.

"That was not for YOU to decide Inutaisho Taisho! You don't know anything about her! She is not to blame for this stupid mess! Your idiot son is the only person to blame and punish! NOT someone who was lied to over and over again! It is HIS fault for not wearing protection! HE lied to her and strung her along! How could you want me to be your beloved daughter-in-law at the cost of being with someone with the maturity of a 3-year-old? Ridiculous! Why would I put up with being treated that way? You WILL let Kikyo come see Rin and even take her should she choose, because that is the right thing to do! I cannot believe you!" she all but shouted the last bit before she let a burst of her energy free pushing his chair back from his desk but causing no damage to his own Youkai.

Kagome turned around without looking behind her mumbling to herself about working with Kikyo again and getting her to see her daughter. Sesshomaru stayed behind looking at his father who had just pulled himself up to his desk again combing his hand through his hair whilst viewing his eldest son.

The smirk on Sesshomaru's face made its way to an all-out boasting smile angled to his father in a way that bragged he was not in trouble with his mate.

"She wasn't serious about the no grandchildren, right?" his father asked in fear. Looking back and forth from the door to Sesshomaru.

"She is dead serious," he stated while following his mate, "She is set on everyone having a happy ending, accept Kikyo or accept Rin as your only grandchild." And with that he left the room.


Kagome couldn't believe she had blown up on her father-in-law in such a way, but he had sought her out when she calmed down and tried to explain he didn't do it out of maliciousness. He had known that Kikyo had considered an abortion and in Inutaisho's mind that was enough reason to take and keep Rin from her. Kagome had talked some sense into him to make him understand what Kikyo was going through. When they had finally talked, Kagome couldn't be sure that he actually understood, she knew he desperately wanted to see her pregnant with Sesshomaru's children. He had probably just accepted the lesser of two evils to ultimately get his way.

The bell rang over the door indicating someone had just entered the building. She looked up to see Kikyo. "Kikyo!" She all but shouted.

The other young woman looked taken aback in surprise with how loud Kagome had shouted her name in the small shop.

"Uh, Kagome!" she said with a similar gusto to show her enthusiasm.

Kagome could tell she had come off a tad too strong. "Sorry I am just very happy to see you! It has been too long."

Shrugging her shoulders Kikyo had a thoughtful look on her face thinking it had been a couple of weeks since they last saw each other. "Yeah, I guess it has been."

"How are you doing?" Kagome asked, trying to get herself composed.

"Well I took what you said to heart and took some time to myself to get myself back together and am honestly feeling better!" She said with a smile.

That was great news to hear, but Kagome didn't want to upset her, unsure if she would want to talk about Rin or not.

"That is great to hear." she stated, trying to calm herself down before bringing anything up.

"Enough about me though! How are you doing Kagome?" she asked, moving to help her with the new display.

"Hm? Oh me? Good, things are great. They're good," Kagome said distractedly looking around at the items around them. "How is school?"

Kagome could tell she sounded like she was making small talk and kept struggling to appear normal to Kikyo.

"It is going good…." She trailed off furrowing her eyebrows together as Kagome was acting very odd. "Is everything okay Kagome? You are acting…."

Kagome let out a long breath that she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Okay I can't hold this in anymore! How would you like to see your daughter Rin again?!" She blurted out jumping up and down looking at Kikyo's face.

Kikyo paused in her movement before staring blankly into the book she was about to place on the shelf. "W-what did you say?" she questioned quietly.

"I'm sorry Kikyo, I recently found out about what happened with Inutaisho. I talked to him and made him see the error of his ways. I have seen her and she is so beautiful and full of life. And what Inuyasha did to you was wrong and I want to take you over to the house to see her!"

Silence followed as Kikyo did not move from her position. However, Kagome knew this was overwhelming information, but she was still hoping that she was going to say something. Kikyo looked up from the book she was looking at with tears sliding down her cheeks and her eyes closed, appearing sorrowful.

"Kikyo?" Kagome said, moving to come closer to her friend. "I know its alo-"

Kikyo released a sob as she fled through the door. Kagome stood there blinking as she tried to process what just happened with Kikyo; staring at the now vacant spot, her stomach dropped.

A feeling of dread entered Kagome as this was not the way she envisioned the conversation going. Reaching to her pocket for her cellphone; she pulled it out to dial for Sesshomaru, needing to regroup and decide the next course of action.


"You should have seen her face Sesshomaru! She looked so devastated! I was trying to help her see that she had a second chance…" she said. "Why couldn't she see that?" Kagome all but exasperated out as she plopped down beneath the tree.

While they walked around the shrine grounds, Sesshomaru couldn't help but feel the words 'I told you so' come forth in his mind. But this was not the time for gloating. Sesshomaru came to a stop next to her where he gracefully sat down, still observing Kagome.

"WELL?!" She yelled, seeing him wince when she raised her voice. Now feeling bad for shouting, she lowered her tone to a reasonable level for his demon hearing, "Aren't you going to say anything? An I told you so? She will come to her senses? Anything?" She asked a tear slipping down her face as she looked at him.

"Nothing I say will help... She was overwhelmed. She needs time to process." He stated, pushing her tear away from her cheek. He hated seeing these emotions consume her, he still didn't know how to handle it and didn't want to do anything wrong. "Give her time."

Kagome sniffled as she closed her eyes, leaning towards Sesshomaru for comfort. "I just want everyone to be happy, and everyone to love each other."

He wrapped his arm around her pulling her closer as he sighed. "I know." He said softly.

It was the only thing that could be said in response to how big her heart is. He still doesn't understand how she would want Inuyasha happy after all he had done and how messed up everything was. This is what made her unique in his eyes. Most humans were selfish and petty, while she didn't hold an ounce of that in her heart and just wanted peace. He finally had an idea of something he could do to help Kagome in her endeavor.


"Father," Sesshomaru greeted as he shut the study door behind him.

Inutaisho looked up in surprise from his paperwork, it was odd seeing his eldest twice in one day. What on the devils earth, could he want this time.

"Yes son?" he asked, taking his glasses off and setting them down on his desk.

"My mate is very distressed with this Rin ordeal."

Inutaisho sat back, closing his eyes as his headache started to form. "Yes, I felt that when she came in and berated me." He said with a sigh.

"She contacted Rin's mother and failed in her endeavor." He replied looking at his father waiting for some eye contact.

Opening his eyes a small smile tugged at his lips. "What has this got to do with me son? The woman denied her child yet again, showing that she was not capable of caring for Rin in the way that your mother and I can."

Sesshomaru glare was his response. "Step mother." He said with finality leaving no room for argument. "Fix it! Tell Inuyasha and demand him to reach out to the mother then."

His father snorted at him before stating, "Maybe I should tell Inuyasha… But I can't fix Rin's mother, Kagome can't fix Kikyo's attitude, if anything she proved why we are the parents of Rin now."

A small knock made its way through the study, as both demons' attention turned towards the door. The door opened revealing hanyou ears atop a silver head of hair.

"Father, have you seen my guitar?" he asked, finally seeing who was in the room. His eyebrows rose in question, not really sure what he just stumbled into. The tension was thick in the study.

"Sesshomaru." he stated angrily. Still upset about Kagome and him getting together.

"Inuyasha" Sesshomaru replied, haughtily.

Sesshomaru looked at his father, then raised an eyebrow in a way that stated 'this is your chance'. To which Inutaisho sighed and raised a hand dismissing his eldest. He nodded taking his leave in that moment, he moved towards the door. Glancing at Inuyasha from his side as they glared at one another yet again.

Once Sesshomaru left the room, he left the door slightly ajar so he could hear the conversation between his brother and father. Not wanting to draw attention to himself he stood silently.

"Um, what was that about?" Inuyasha asked his father as he moved to sit in front of the desk his father coccupied.

Another sigh escaped Inutaishos' mouth as he leaned back in his chair observing his youngest. "Inuyasha, what your brother and I talk about is not usually your concern; albeit this time it does concern you…" he trailed off before moving on. "How do you feel about Rin?" he asked.

Completely perplexed at this point, Inuyasha had no idea where this conversation came from. Only thing Inuyasha knew was he couldn't locate his guitar, so now he was being asked questions about his sister. "I mean she is a baby and not too bad…. Why? What has this got to do with me?" he questioned yet again.

"I think you misunderstand me son, do you notice anything different or familiar about Rin?" He asked not wavering his eye contact.

Sitting back further in the chair, Inuyasha was trying to wrap his head around what his father was insinuating. "Familiar?" he asked, almost not wanting to come forward with his feelings.

Inutaisho nodded as he urged his youngest to understand what he was asking. He saw a dawning of understanding come from Inuyasha's face in that moment.

"I knew something about her seemed…. I don't know…. Right? Is she…." He broke off not wanting to say outloud what he was thinking.

"Is she what?" his father urged on, wanting him to say it.

Not to anyone in particular, Inuyasha appeared far away within a memory, "She looked so much like Kagome…. I couldn't help myself…. I was getting nowhere with Kagome…. Only ki-" He looked up again as if realization came to him. "Rin is… Rin is mine?" he questioned looking at his father.

"That she is." he replied showing what appeared to be pity and understanding on his face. "When did you know?"

Inuyasha appeared deep in thought at the moment as he looked farther away within his eyes. "I….. I think I have always known." he whispered. "She looked so much like Kagome, her eyes are so soft…."

Inutaisho gazed at his youngest once more as he stood up to come to him. "Yes, Rin is your daughter, she is Kikyo's daughter… We only found out she was pregnant towards the end, and she did not appear to have the means in which to raise our granddaughter, and you know we had always wanted a little girl of our own…." He trailed off hoping Inuyasha would understand.

Silence permeated the air as father and son looked at each other. Contemplating what they both now knew. Inuyasha turned to get up walking towards the door, Sesshomaru began to back away as the door opened, not wanting to get caught.

"Son…" his father drawled; Inuyasha paused in the doorway turning his attention back to his dad.

"Yes?"

"Your immaturity is partially my fault… I think it is time to cut the cord… you need to move out son, gain some perspective on life and start taking responsibility for your actions… Rin is a consequence of those actions and you need to take the full weight of your responsibilities." he stated with some finality before turning back to the paperwork on his desk.

Sesshomaru drew further into the shadows, taking his leave to his room; not standing around to hear what his brother had suddenly shouted. That conversation was over and there was no need to listen to the argument he was sure was about to happen. Closing the door to his room, he pulled out his cellphone to call Kagome.


Kagome smiled after hanging up from her mate's call. Inuyasha finally knew and they had freedom to be together out in the open now. Kagome stood under the tree that had seen so much. It had been around for hundreds of years. It saw the beginning of a village, the end of a village. It witnessed the beginning and continuation of a shrine to modern day. It saw Kagome's relationship with Inuyasha grow and blossom long enough to witness its end. It was also the sole witness to her relationship with her mate. Looking up into the branches she wondered, if the tree could talk, what stories would it share?

"Kagome?" a soft feminine voice questioned just a few steps away from her.

Kagome's eyes shifted from the tree to the person in question and smiled as she saw Kikyo coming closer to embrace her, returning her hug.

"Kikyo…. I am so sorry! I did not mean to come off that strong… It's just that I recently found out and was so angry for what Inutaisho did, and so excited to have you over to see Rin and I just assumed that was what you wanted, and I jumped the gun big time and I understand if you are mad at me, I just wanted…" She trailed off seeing tears well in Kikyo's eyes once again.

"It's alright Kagome…" Kikyo stated while taking her eyes off Kagome and looking past the tree at the sky with a far away look.

"I had been trying to start a relationship with Inuyasha… I figured if we started dating and getting serious he would invite me over…. I kept asking to go to his place so I could see her… I figured if Inuyasha invited me… then Inutaisho couldn't interfere…. I had already begun focusing more on my studies to be a nurse so that I can afford a two bedroom and take Rin back… Many women are single mothers with full time jobs and I know that I needed to be more mature for her." She paused, looking back at the tree before finishing. "I took your advice and have completely given up on Inuyasha, it wasn't meant to be… I just want to be with her…"

She made eye contact with Kagome just then. "I am sorry for intruding here…. I got your address from Kaede and just figured that we needed to talk… I was just shocked and overwhelmed at the store, you told me news that I had been wanting to hear for so long… I didn't know anything about you when Inuyasha and I were together, I just needed you to know." she trailed off at the smile that formed on Kagome's lips.

"The past is in the past. The future is what we have to look forward to and we can now move toward building relationships and surrounding ourselves with love." she stated while motioning for Kikyo to follow her.

"Would you like to see Rin now?" Kagome's hand was open for Kikyo to take as Kikyo smiled, realizing that the surrounding brightness from the sunset was corresponding with the brightness of her future.