Author's Ramblings
Whew! Sorry this one took so long. Just took a while to get over…9-11. I didn't want it to affect my writing, you know? Anyway, here is Chapter Four! And, if you're interested, I have IY FIC CHALLENGES at the bottom of this chapter!! ~_^
Disclaimer
Ditto. Listed challenge ideas are mine!
~*Chapter Four: I'm
Sorry; Through It All*~
Inuyasha
gently laid Kagome on her bed. He had
visited her home so many times back when they had still been collecting the
Shikon shards that he had memorized the entire layout of her house. Some of it had changed, though, such as the
small office which had been converted into a bedroom for his and Kagome's son.
Earlier
that day, when Inuyasha clutched Kagome to himself as he snuck around the
premises of her house, he had discovered a note addressed to Kagome that read,
"Kenichi insisted on going to the park today, so that's where we are if you
get home early enough." Because of
this, he figured that no one else was home and thus he carried Kagome through
the front door (he had found her key in her backpack) and up the stairs.
And now, he
sat on the foot of her bed as he watched her unconscious form breathe. Still in his morphed-human form, he reached
out with an unclawed hand to brush a strand of the black hair he so loved out
of her face. His fingers traced her
eyebrows, eyelids, nose, and mouth with the gentle tenderness only he could
bestow upon her. He smiled slightly as
he recalled that he had done these very same things during one dawn so long ago
for him, the dawn after he had made love to her and had held her in his arms as
she slept. He remembered how his clawed
hands had traveled to her left breast, and above the area where her heart was
located he had marked her as his; back then, he had winced at the sight of
blood trickling down her chest and the slight grimace that appeared on her face
in her sleep, but now he was quite glad that he had marked her—it kept Rinmaru
from raping her, even if it didn't stop him from trying to kill her.
Inuyasha
sighed. "Shippo was right," he spoke as
if he wanted Kagome to hear him, "I'm only putting you in danger. I should've stayed away from you." He hung his head low, debating whether or
not to cry. "I shouldn't have made my
seed so potent that night." He crawled
towards her, kissing her forehead lightly. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this alone. I'm so sorry I made you a mother when I
can't be here to be a father." Tears
began to fall out of the corners of his golden eyes. "I'm so sorry, Kagome, so sorry!" He shut his eyes tightly, trying to stop his weeping.
He was
startled out of his tears and his apologies as he felt a delicate touch wipe
his tears away. He opened his eyes only
to see worried but extremely happy gray-blue eyes gazing into his. He opened his mouth in an attempt to say he
was someone other than whom she no doubt thought he was, to say that he was
some bystander who saved her and brought her to the address given on her
driver's license, but before he could speak she brought her lips to his in a
kiss so sweet and so timid that every thought he had been thinking simply
disintegrated.
After what
seemed like an eternity, Kagome separated her lips from his and she whispered,
"Inuyasha…."
It was that
simple action that drove Inuyasha mad. "Say it again!" he whispered with glee, "Say my name again!"
"Inuyasha,"
Kagome complied with a smile. She
closed her eyes in delight as he showered tiny kisses all over her face. It never occurred to her to inquire as to
why he appeared human even though it wasn't the New Moon, but nevertheless she
spoke, "Be the real you, Inuyasha. I
want to see the real you!"
Inuyasha
took a moment to fill his nostrils with her glorious scent, then obliged and
demorphed into his normal hanyou appearance. His inu ears returned, seemingly larger as a result of being nestled in
shorter hair. His claws returned, and
Kagome watched with morbid fascination as they elongated and sharpened.
She hugged
him. "You're alive!" she exclaimed in
Inuyasha's ear. "Oh, Inuyasha! You're alive!"
"For
you. For both of you." He nuzzled her temple, licking her cheek
slightly. "He's at the park, just so
you know," he informed her. "There was
a note."
Kagome
nodded and let her head drop back down to her pillow. She smiled, noticing that she was wearing Inuyasha's shirt—thus
rendering him shirtless. Her index
finger drew aimless patterns upon his bare chest, and she asked, "Would you
like me to tell you about him?"
Inuyasha
positioned himself so that he could lie next to her and smiled. "Yes, please."
"So polite
now, aren't you?" Kagome winked. "He's two now. Almost three."
"I'm
sorry."
"For what?"
"For not
being there for you. For not telling
you that I gave you my child."
A puzzled
look crossed Kagome's face. "How did
you know that I would be pregnant?"
"…"
Inuyasha blushed lightly. "I…wanted to
give you something that, even if it was taken away from you, would always be
yours. A necklace or a ring can always
be stolen or copied, but a child can't be. So I gave you my child." He
paused for a moment to wipe Kagome's happy tears away. "But I…I also had ulterior motives. I wanted something to strive for. If it were just you in this time, I could've
lived a crazy and wild life back then—having the comfort that if I didn't live
long enough, then at least that Hojou kid could take care of you. But knowing that it was you and our son in
this time, I knew I had to live long enough to be a father. So I was careful with how I acted, and I
thought about every consequence before I did anything." He pulled Kagome into his embrace and kissed
her passionately. He felt her tongue
enter his mouth and trace the contour of his canine teeth. Her tongue soon receded and he proceeded to
suck on her lower lip, nibbling it every once in a while. "Kagome…" he sighed, after he removed his
lips from hers. A few moments of
labored breathing later, he continued, "So, tell me more about our son."
Kagome
smiled, and soon complied.
* * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rinmaru
scowled as he awoke and found himself no longer in the university classroom in
which he had been defeated in battle against his stupid halfling uncle. He mumbled and grumbled, but was soon
interrupted by an all too familiar voice.
"Stop that
racket," Jaken scolded, "Sesshoumaru-sama does not whine as much as you do."
Rinmaru
simply snorted.
"The things
I do for you."
"What do
you do for me?!" Rinmaru bellowed. "Not
once in my life can I actually recall you being civil to me! Not once!"
"Oh, stop
being so snitty. Sesshoumaru-sama would
be so displeased."
"You know,
I really don't give a flying fu©k about daddy dearest right now."
"Of course
you wouldn't." Jaken adjusted the
waistband of his jeans. "You were too
busy getting beaten by your uncle."
"SHUT UP!"
"And
discovering the lowly human female you wanted was marked." Jaken snickered.
"I SAID
SHUT UP!!"
"You know,
sometimes I wonder about this attitude of yours." Jaken picked a piece of lint off of his ancient kimono. "Neither Sesshoumaru-sama nor your mother
were this hormonal."
Rinmaru
growled. "Don't talk about my mother."
"Don't you
find it intriguing that Higurashi Kagome resembles her a great deal?" Jaken
inquired, seemingly innocent.
"What's
your point?" Rinmaru spat.
"Oh, just
an observance. Nothing more."
"Riiiiight."
Jaken
turned to exit Rinmaru's bedroom. Before walking out the door, he remarked, "I suppose Sesshoumaru-sama
would like to see you now. But don't
expect him to be happy."
* * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
…And I
swear to you on my ancestors' graves that when I reentered my classroom, it was
empty.
"But you
said you found a note, right?"
That is
correct, Kitsu-san.
"For the
last time, Romigo-san, please call me Shippou!"
Alright,
alright. But, case in point: I found a note signed 'Inu Yoshou'. Isn't that the name Yul-san mentioned to
me?
Shippou
inhaled harshly. "Actually, Yul would
have said 'Inuyasha'. But he did
change his name to Inu Yoshou in 1735."
Really? You never wrote anything about that in your
diary, the professor commented.
"That's
because I didn't know until recently." Shippou leaned back in his office chair. "Now, tell me what the note said."
You're
not going to like it, I fear. A
pause, then 'Yul's droning made you late for this one. Watch her more carefully, as they will stop
at nothing to kill her now'. That's
what he wrote.
"Fudgemuffins!"
Shippou yelled. "That irksome Rinmaru
must've made a pass at Kagome! And when
he found out Inuya..err, I mean Yoshou marked her, he freaked and tried to kill
her! Darn it! Darn it all to heck!" He
malevolently stomped like the young kit he once was about his office,
centimeters shy of throwing a tantrum.
Shippou-san! Calm down! I'm sure that Higurashi-san is fine!
Shippou
nearly screamed. "You don't get
it! Do you know how long Yoshou's been
waiting for her? 500 years. And you've read about how impatient he
is!—This is what Sesshoumaru is counting on! Yoshou's impatience! This is
probably what he planned on happening: getting Yoshou to make an appearance,
letting them have happiness for a small amount of time, and then ripping it out
of his and Kagome's grasp! And, once
Fluffy finds out that…" Shippo paused, then paled. "Oh, dear lord I don't want to think of that…."
On the
other end of the line, Professor Romigo paled as well as he caught on to
Shippou's train of thought. That
would be awful. Letting Inu-san and
Higurashi-san live, but taking…taking that darling little boy—what's his name
again?—away from them…! Oh, that would
be the ultimate torture!
* * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Chichiwe."
Sesshoumaru
turned, his vision catching the image of his seemingly dejected offspring. "Ah, Rinmaru. Enter."
Rinmaru
obeyed. "Hai, Chichiwe."
A pregnant
silence ensued. Then, what seemed to be
hours later, Sesshoumaru spoke, "Jaken is quite the clueless one, ne?"
"Huh?"
"You and
I…we have him running everywhere doing every little thing that supposedly
contributes to our Great Plan."
Rinmaru was
thoroughly confused. "I guess…."
"But he
does not know our true intentions," Sesshoumaru clarified.
"What do
you mean, Chichiwe?"
"Do you
really think I would kill my halfling brother? Yes, he is indeed a hanyou and he did indeed deny me what I believed to
be rightfully mine, the Tetsusaiga. But
it would be highly illogical if I did kill him. You see, my son, I have uncovered some very interesting
information—concerning the fact that Higurashi Kagome was marked by Inuyasha."
Rinmaru
raised his eyebrows, his curiosity piqued.
"I have
instilled in you many aspects of the dog-youkai mating rituals, but I neglected
to inform you of one fact: a marking most often comes about when the male
intends to sire a pup with the female."
Rinmaru
gasped. "So that means…!" I knew I smelled a quarter-youkai on
her! I knew she wasn't a virgin!
Sesshoumaru
smirked, merely adjusting the position of the right corner of his lips. "Yes, Rinmaru. They have had a child together." The gleam in his eyes died down as he pondered, "I still do not
understand how she is still alive, however. And from my information, the offspring is still quite young. I cannot conceive of how this human girl
could have been pregnant for approximately 498 years."
"She
doesn't smell like an immortal."
"Perhaps it
is an aftereffect of carrying around that Shikon no Tama for so long. But it is not relevant right now. What is relevant is the fact that our
pathetic halfling relative has a child through Higurashi Kagome. We can use this to our advantage."
Chichiwe…are
you planning on killing the kid? A
defenseless kid? Rinmaru mentally
shuddered. "Hai, Chichiwe…we could."
Sesshoumaru's
lips formed into what could be considered a smile. "Keep in mind that Jaken is not to be informed. He has caused too many blunders in the past. Have him do something that will not
interfere."
From
outside the doorway, Jaken stood. He
heard it all. A single tear dripped
down out of one Kermit-esque eye, and he hastily wiped it away with a green
finger. Sesshoumaru-sama…he
mentally sighed, you don't trust me? After all we've been through? I've stayed by your side through it all!
Another
tear fell. Through…it all…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Maybe it's just me, but I tire of seeing poor Jaken kicked
around. He might be evil, but at least
he's loyal. That's got to count for
something, right? Anyhoo, let me know
what you think of this chapter. I know
it might be kind of short compared to the rest, and for that I apologize. By the way, IY fics have been sparse in
coming lately…to jumpstart 'em, I've got a few plot challenges!! I don't really have a prize, but maybe some
of you authors out there could consider them…? Take a look:
1) What if Naraku made a mistake and killed Kaede instead of
Kikyou?—would Kagome be the reincarnation of Kaede instead? And how would this affect Inuyasha? And what would become of the Shikon no Tama?
2) What if Kagome and Souta were the reincarnations of Sango and
Kohaku?
3) What if Kagome was the eventual descendant of herself and
Inuyasha? [meaning that she and Inuyasha lived and had a family in the past,
and their successors eventually give birth to Kagome herself, who jumps in the
Well and starts the timeline over again….]
4) And for the pure humor and sheer impossibility of it, what if
Sesshoumaru and Jaken were lovers?