October 10
I've noticed that we've kind of fallen into a routine over here. The kids were already up when Inuyasha and I woke up this morning. They played with Nico while we worked on breakfast then we got them dressed for the day. I took them out to play while I did the laundry and Shippo joined us today. Inuyasha made us all lunch. Just as we were finishing up and the kids were playing with their toys, there was a knock at the door.
Inuyasha opened it and we were all shocked to see Miroku and Sango there along with Kohaku and Kirara. The two of them were filthy and injured but they looked like their hearts would burst with happiness at the sight of their children.
"Oh my god!" I said, feeling like I wanted to cry as soon as I saw them.
"You're back!" Shippo exclaimed happily.
"Mommy! Daddy!" the kids said as they ran over to them.
"My babies!" Sango said tearfully as she and Miroku tearfully hugged and kissed them.
"So you finally found them," Inuyasha said to Kohaku, sounding as relieved as the rest of us were.
"It wasn't easy, but I wouldn't have stopped until they were back safely," Kohaku replied.
"We missed you," Midori said to them.
"We missed you too, my dears," Miroku said. "We're so glad we made it back to you."
"So where the heck have you two been? We thought you were dead," Shippo said.
"We almost were," Sango said as she wiped the tears from her face.
"It's a long story," Miroku added.
"Well we all want to hear it," I said. "You look like you're in pain."
"It's not too bad," Miroku said modestly. "We were so focused on getting home honestly we forgot about it."
"Well let me bandage you up. I'm sure you're hungry too. Inuyasha, can you make them some food?"
After Miroku and Sango's injuries were bandaged and they were fed, we sat around eager to hear about what happened to them.
"So we were on our way to the demon slayer village that morning," Sango said. As she spoke she hugged Shinichi close to her and Miroku was holding the twins. They had hardly let go of their children since they arrived. "We stopped so that Kirara could get water and that's when we were attacked."
"The spider demons came out of nowhere," Miroku continued.
"Daddy, were they big spiders?" Midori asked.
He kissed the top of her head. "They were huge. There were maybe six of them. We fought them off and tried to run but they overpowered us and pulled us underground. They've got this huge colony underground and it's kind of like a maze."
"It was horrible," Sango said, shuddering at the thought. "It was covered in spider webs and these cocoons where they'd wrap their prey in their webs. And the place was littered with human bones."
"Geez," Inuyasha commented.
"That's horrifying," Shippo said.
"So we started to fight again to try to get out and there were a lot of spiders," Miroku said. "There could have been millions of them down there. Then they took Sango away." He reached out and held her hand trying to find comfort with such a painful memory.
"In the middle of the fight, I was carried off by the spiders," Sango said. "I don't remember much of what happened, I was knocked unconscious until Miroku found me."
"I had to search through the labyrinth and fight off all of those spiders to find her. I don't know how long it took, I just knew I needed to find her. When I did find her she was unconscious and strung up like a ragdoll by the spider webs. I knew they were preparing to encase her in one of their cocoons and eat her. I managed to cut her down and wake her up and we tried to run through the labyrinth again to find a way out."
"But they did manage to find us," Sango said. "We were surrounded by so many of them. There was literally no way out. It was such a horrible feeling. And then they captured us. I think we were out for days after that."
"That's when I found them," Kohaku jumped in. "The demon slayers and I managed to get into the spider cave. That place was truly terrifying; just the most awful sight you could imagine. And there were so many spiders. It was like we were constantly fighting them off. We searched through the whole place. It was a good thing there was a big group of us, otherwise, I don't think we would have made it. We found them wrapped in the cocoon of spider webs. They were totally unconscious, I thought they were dead at first. We had to cut them out before the spiders came back or we'd never get out. They had been poisoned too so we gave them some antidote we had been carrying with us."
"We were so relieved when we saw you guys," Sango said to Kohaku. "It took forever to fight our way out and Miroku and I were already so weak from the poison. After we got out we came straight here."
"Wow," I said. This was not the story I was expecting.
"I hate spiders," Shippo said, shuddering. "I don't know how you did it."
"It sounds like you guys have been through hell and back," Inuyasha said.
"You could say that again," Miroku said. "We knew all of you had to be worried sick. The only thing on our minds was getting back to you and our kids." As he said it, he hugged his girls again.
That reminded me of something. "Do you want to get the cards you made for your mom and dad?" I asked the kids.
They quickly ran over to get them and gave them to Miroku and Sango who were amazed.
"Wow, these are great!" Miroku said.
"I love them!" Sango said, starting to get teary-eyed again. "Thank you." She gave each of them hugs.
Soon after we helped the kids pack up all their stuff to go home. They were so happy and excited to be back with their parents. Sure enough, they were going to have a lot of stories to tell tonight. I was just glad that their family has been reunited and we didn't have to give any horrible news to such small children.
Afterward, the kids went outside with Kohaku and Shippo and Miroku and Sango stayed inside to talk with us.
"You guys, we can't thank you enough for taking care of them while we were gone," Sango said.
"And we'd do it all over again if we needed to," I said. "I'm just so glad you're back. We were starting to think that maybe…" My voice trailed off. I couldn't bring myself to say it.
"While we were down there, our only thought was getting out alive so we could get back to the children," Miroku said. His voice sounded far away as he thought of it. "We even said that if we didn't make it out, we just wanted them to be well taken care of and know that we love them." Sango started to cry again and he put his arms around her.
"If it came to that we would have raised them ourselves," Inuyasha said.
"R-Really?" Sango said, drying her tears again.
"Keh, of course," Inuyasha said. "I don't know how we would have told them, but they would have stayed with us and we would have made sure they had all the love we could give them."
"You two truly are good friends," Miroku said.
We all hugged and then went outside with them to say goodbye to the kids as well as Shippo and Kohaku.
"Bye, you guys. We'll see you later," Miroku said to us. "Maybe we can have a game night or something later this week."
"You just let us know when," Inuyasha replied as we waved goodbye to our friends.
We went inside and as the evening went on, I couldn't get over how quiet it was in the house now. I guess after two weeks I had gotten used to having the children around. I missed their laughs, hearing them chase Nico around, and the random stories they would tell. I even missed it when they argued with each other and cried.
"Don't look so sad, Kagome," Inuyasha said as he sat down on the couch next to me. "We'll see them again soon."
"I know," I said with a sigh. "I miss them already though."
"Think of it this way, love. In a couple of months, we'll have this little one keeping us up all night instead," he said as he put his hand on my stomach.
I giggled a bit at that but he was right. These two weeks were the first time I'd ever really taken care of kids for an extended period of time and it made me realize just how much I loved it. It was difficult but it was a fun experience. Now I'm even more ready for our little one to come.