Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters and Inuyasha or the Yashahime plotline!

Chapter 3

"Wake up! Wake up!" Shippo yelled as he shook Miroku frantically before running to tug on Sango's arms.

It was early morning when everyone was stirred awake by Shippo's frantic shouts.

"Yah Shippo!"Inuyasha growled as he looked at Kagome who was still trying to rub sleep out of her eyes, "You better have some sort of emergency for yelling at us at this hou-"

"Kin'u is missing!" Shippo exclaimed as he pointed to the blanket Kin'u was slumbering under. The team had decided to settle for an early night, the finding of Kin'u had taken an emotion toll on all of them. Disbelief and shock coursed through them and they still had a hard time coming to terms with the facts and her existence. Kagome had offered the little girl a little blanket to sleep under. Kin'u accepted the blanket gladly and settled next to Kirara and Shippou who had been delighted to tell her stories of their journey thus far.

"Kin'u?" Inuyasha asked with a yawn, "who?"

"Are you joking? It's Kin'u!" Shippo exclaimed with a disbelieving look at the hanyao. It had been a few measly hours; he couldn't have forgotten the little girl already. He looked at the group only to see that they were all still dazed. He couldn't be the only one hallucinating about meeting Ki'nu. That little girl they had seen was definitely not his imagination. He guessed that they still had a hard time believing that she was real and had thought the encounter was a dream. He fumbled through Kagome's bag to look for the proof of her existence that Kagome had stored away for safe keeping. He pulled out the green pearl and let out a frustrated shriek, while waving the pearl in the team's face, "Miroku! Sango! Your daughter?"

Miroku and Sango's eyes met and the memories of meeting their daughter that seemed like a dream replayed.

It was all real? Not some weird dream they had. They really had a daughter? That came to them from the future?

The group immediately leapt into action, Sango taking flight on Kirara searching the ground from above, Miroku dashing towards the riverside and the rest searching the forest.

"Ugh, Inuyasha," Shippou mumbled from Kagome's shoulder as he looked at the hanyao in front of them, smelling the ground, trying to catch the scent of the little girl they were looking for, "we seem to be going in circles."

Inuyasha replied with a frown, "that's because I'm not used to her scent yet!" he let out a loud angry sigh as he looked at the sky, it was early morning and he's gotten no lead, "and Miroku and Sango's scent keep throwing me off trail!"

With another angry growl he crouched down to the ground, trying to see if he could smell any scent and track it if he were closer to the surface. How did he not notice? How did he not hear a little girl leave their campsite? What if she was taken by some demon or worse, Naraku? Though she was an unexpected addition to the team, she was part of their team now. It felt as if he had failed his team, that he failed to protect one of them. His thoughts were interrupted when the trail led him to one Miroku searching in the forest with worry evident in his eyes.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku quickly approached the hanyao, "did you manage to track down Kin'u scent?"

"Keh!" Inuyasha let out another frustrated growl, "Kin'u's scent is a mix of yours and Sango's, I can't quite distinguish it." He turned to look at Sango who had just landed beside Miroku, "you two have to stay behind me so that I can tell if it's Kin'u I'm smelling."

The two nodded and trailed behind Inuyasha. The team carried on their search, until Inuyasha stopped in the middle of a field.

"Why did you stop?" Kagome asked worriedly.

Inuyasha frowned and sniffed the air again before replying solemnly, "her scent is gone."

"What?"

"That would mean that she was somehow airborne." Miroku bit his cheek, "what if…Naraku got her?"

"I don't sense his presence." Inuyasha replied, "but I smell a village close by."

"It would be possible for her to follow or maybe get taken by one of the town people." Sango said as she observed the ground, tracing a hoof print on the ground "these tracks looks fresh, someone had been through here." She began making headway for the village, "we should head over there now, we can catch up with them."

As the team approached the village, they were surprised to be greeted by the haraiya they had ran into while performing exorcism at Oni's head castle.

"Oh it's you guys," The haraiya smiled, "it's been a while, how have you been?"

"haraiya samma," Miroku immediately got off Kirara with Sango close behind him, "did you see a little girl enter the village? Wearing green kimono? About this high?" he quickly used his hands to make out Kin'u's height.

"She had dark brown hair, violet eyes, a white tie on her hair that reaches just below her ear?" Sango added, her eyes hopeful.

"I don't think so," the haraiya said, "but then again, there are many children here." She replied thoughtfully, "the village head guards might know as they have been guarding the rich families in town and preparing for the demon that will strike tonight." She turned to stride back into the village, "come along then."

The team quickly followed her. As soon as they stepped through the gates, Inuyasha paused to sniff the air. His ears twitching as he observed the house before them.

"What is it Inuyahsa?" Shippou asked.

Inuyasha replied without looking at them, his nose still scanning the surroundings for danger, "Kin'u is here. I can smell her scent."

He quickly dashed off towards one of the houses with the team tailing close behind.

Inuyasha slid open the sliding door to reveal the lord and lady of the house laughing and chatting with a little girl and a little boy that had their back to them.

"Kin'u!" the frantic parents quickly pulled their daughter into a hug. Sango immediately checked over Kin'u for wounds as Miroku reprimanded her, "why didn't you let us know where you are going?"

"I'm sorry father, mother." Kin'u replied, looking down.

"haraiya samma, "the lord frowned at the sudden interruption and looked to the elderly woman, "who are these people?"

"Lord Hiragana, they are here to help me with catch the demon," The elderly haraiya replied, "but it appears that they are looking for someone as well."

"you are Kinu's parents?" lady Hiragana smiled kindly at them, "we ran into her in the forest on our way back. We thought she was lost; I hope you aren't too worried."

"Thank you for taking care of Kin'u." Miroku replied as he bowed slightly to the lord and lady in gratitude, "we hope she wasn't too much trouble."

"She's quite the lively child, such a delightful soul and quite mature too," Lord Hiragana replied with a beam, "she said she was picking fruits from the forest for her family."

"Picking fruits?" Sango asked.

Kin'u nodded, her face bright once more,"mom looked sad last night and I wanted to look for fruits that always cheered you up."

"Such an endearing child" Lady Hiragana smiled at Kin'u before turning to the group, "Which reminds me, have you had lunch yet? We would be honored if you would stay for lunch!"

"Yes!"the little boy beside the lady and lord beamed, "please stay for lunch!Kin'u chan!"

"Mother,Hiroshi kun and Lady Hiragana said that they have umeboshi" Kin'u beamed as she burrowed herself deeper into Sango's arms.

"Yes," Lady Hiragana nodded as she gestured to the pile of packed parcels behind them, "we have some packed so that you could bring them on your trip."

Inuyasha turned to Kagome whispering, "now I see where Kin'u takes after Miroku."

"I guess we did get that reward for returning Kin'u to her parents," Shippou whispered to Inuyasha and Kagome,"it's just that Kin'u was the one who gave us the reward."

As soon as the food was served, Kin'u exclaimed happily as she pointed at the umeboshi in her plate, "mom! Look it's umeboshi! You can have mine to cheer up more." With that said she offered the bowl of umeboshi to Sango.

Hiroshi offered his bowl and smiled at Sango, "Lady Sango can have my umeboshi too!"

Sango raised an eyebrow in confusion. Why would umeboshi cheer me up? This sentiment was shared by everyone in the group, as they often had umeboshi rice balls, and they have never noticed Sango's love for the food. Still, Sango smiled at her daughter and Hiroshi's gestures, "thank you Hiroshi kun, Kin'u, but are you sure you don't want it? I already have plenty in my bowl."

Kin'u shook her head, "I want mom to have it!"

"Me too!" Hiroshi nodded, eager to go along with his new friend.

Lady Hiragana chuckled at the gesture before turning to Sango, "Lady Sango, please do not feel burdened. I've also taken the liberty to place some extra ones in your rice. Please let us know if you would want more."

Kagome raised her eyebrows. Now she felt ashamed. Was she really that inattentive to her friend? She didn't know that Sango loved umeboshi that much.

Sango's eyes widened in surprise as she realized why her entire meal was abnormally sour, "thank you lady Hiragana, this is plenty enough."

"I'm glad you find it satisfactory." Lady Hiragana beamed, "when I had Hiroshi, it seemed like there was never enough umeboshi in the world to sate my cravings for it."

"uh?" Sango choked in surprise at what the lady was hinting at and stuttered to come up with a reply. Miroku coughed to cover up his shock. Two days in a row, he had faced situations that left him speechless, kami must have it out for him.

"That I can attest. "Lord Hiragana chuckled, "we went through a whole jar within a week."

Lady Hiragana turned to Sango, "and please do have more of the mizo soup, our cook has a family secret recipe that provides plenty of nutrients that are required."

"uh…lady Hiragana," Miroku finally calmed down enough to chuckle amusedly, "we're touched by your concerns, but I think you might have come to a wrong conclusion."

"What is Miroku talking about?" Inuyasha asked as he inched closer to Kagome.

Kgome chuckled as he looked at Inuyasha and Shippou who was leaning in towards her to hear the answer, "lord and lady Hiragana believes that Sango is pregnant."

"eh?!" Shippou exclaimed loudly, but immediately had his mouth covered by Kagome.

Lady Hiragana blushed as she apologized to Sango,"my apologies, when Kin'u chan told us that you had been craving umeboshi and that it helped with your mood swings and appetite, I assumed."

"but it does!" Kin'u argued as she tugged onto Miroku's sleeves, "does it not father? You brought home several jars of umeboshi just last week to make sure mother has enough to last the winter! You even ask me to prepare a bowl of it for mother when she was sick the day before!"

Miroku shared a shy look with Sango, understanding Kin'u's words. He could tell that numerous emotions were swirling in the taijiya's eyes, this was too much information for one to digest at the moment. Unexpecting gaining a daughter, then learning she was a twin and now knowing the existence of a third child. He himself had been suppressing the overwhelming emotions and he knew that the two of them are direly in need of a talk. He composed himself and turned to face their daughter.

"Kin'u,"Miroku leaned down to whisper to Kin'u, "remember our talk about the different time where Goyatsu is at?"

Kin'u nodded and her eyes widened in realization, "does that mean that mom doesn't like umeboshi yet?"

"you are quite the observant child," Miroku chuckled as he picked up Kin'u's bowl of umeboshi and returned it to her, "so why don't you finish it as a reward?"

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed the plot so far~