DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or anything to do with it.
One Cold Starry Night
By: Of Memories Past
Epilogue: Family
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"Kagome!" The happy kit scrambled up from his position on the cave floor and hopped over to his surrogate mother on his good leg. "You're back!"
Kagome laughed and returned the affectionate squeeze that Shippo had around her neck. "Yes, I'm back, Shippo." She gently positioned the child so that she was holding him against her hip, careful not to hurt his injured leg. "Did you behave?"
Shippo was in the process of nodding his head when Miroku approached. He swallowed, knowing that Kagome was going to find out exactly what he had done while she was gone.
"Did he behave?" Miroku spat out, glaring at the kit. He angrily pointed to his face. "Does it look like Shippo behaved?" The poor monk was obviously not in the best of spirits as his glare shifted to the child.
Kagome suppressed laughter and tried to look stern when she looked at Shippo. "Shippo, why are there colorful drawings all over Miroku's face?" She pursed her lips waiting for an answer.
Shippo swallowed and looked up at her wide large, green eyes. "I ran out of paper?" he squeaked.
"Shippo…" she warned.
Dropping his head, he mumbled. "He was the first one to fall asleep. I remembered your stories about when you or your friends were the first one to fall asleep during your slubber parties. Well, this is like a slubber party, so I drew on him."
"That's slumber party, Shippo," she corrected gently.
At that moment, Sango walked up, rubbing at her eyes. She had just woken up. "You're back already?" she asked, yawning.
"Yes," Kagome grinned. "But it looks like you weren't a very good babysitter."
Blinking her eyes, Sango looked at Shippo curiously before turning to face Miroku. Her smile started out slowly as the annoyed, colorful face of the monk reached her sights, but hysterical laughter soon erupted from her. "Look at the daisies!" She pointed to his face and pinched his cheek in a very matriarchal manner before walking back to her sleeping role to wake Kirara. She laughed the whole way.
"He did draw just about everything on your face," Kagome agreed merrily.
Miroku's left eye began to twitch as he clenched his fist shut. The others found it hard not to laugh as the tree drawn at the corner of his eye seemed to blow in a breeze as he did that.
"No, he forgot one thing," he ground out.
"What did I forget?" Shippo asked curiously.
Miroku looked up at Shippo menacingly. "Your grave!" He reached for to snatch him out of Kagome's hands.
But Kagome leapt back, laughing at the irate monk. "Miroku, leave him alone. He was just having a bit of fun. It will all wash off."
"What will all wash off?" Inuyasha stepped back into the cavern, carrying over his shoulder the carcass of a wild boar. Blood from the killing blows seeped down the body and fell onto the ground in rather large droplets.
Kagome swallowed the gagging reflex, knowing that it would be good once cooked.
Inuyasha smiled tentatively and placed the carcass in a dark corner. He'd take care of it later.
"Be good, Shippo," Kagome said, placing him on the ground. She turned to Inuyasha and smiled.
He smiled back hesitantly before opening his arms and allowing Kagome to rush into them. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as Miroku and Shippo sat back watching with wide eyes. The clincher on their surprise was went Kagome reached up to kiss his cheek. Inuyasha simply smiled down at her tenderly kissed her forehead.
"What?" Miroku gaped. "How come—"
Kagome giggled and left the warmth of Inuyasha's arms. "Come on, Miroku. I need to talk to you and Sango." She grabbed the confused monk by his hand, and led him away to go and find the demon huntress.
Shippo, however, smiled brightly up at Inuyasha and lifted his arms to be picked up.
Inuyasha reached down and lifted Shippo into his arms. "What do you want, runt?"
The small kit thrust his face into Inuyasha's until they were nose to nose. "Mates?" Shippo looked right into Inuyasha's amber eyes.
Inuyasha looked into the close, emerald orbs and swallowed before nodding his head. "Yes."
The smile that spread across Shippo's face could have split his head. Finally, he had a family again. The kit affectionately rubbed is nose against Inuyasha's, surprising the hanyou slightly, before throwing his tiny arms around his neck. "Dad?"
Inuyasha's breath caught before exhaling slowly. He nodded his head. "Yes."
Shippo grinned. "You going to teach me everything now?"
A smirked crossed the hanyou's features and he glanced toward the dark corner where the wild boar waited. Yes, this was a new chapter in his life now. One that he had readily accepted. And he could do it. It would just be a bit more interesting.
He slipped the kit onto his shoulders and started walking toward the waiting dinner. "Yes, Shippo, I'm going to teach you everything." He grinned as Shippo cheered. "And the first thing you're going to learn is how to clean out your dinner."
Shippo grimaced all of a sudden and tried to get off of Inuyasha's shoulders. But the hanyou held his grasp tightly
"Ewwwww, Dad, NO!"
End
A/N: Well, that is the end. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Let me know what you think! God Bless! ~Of Memories Past