DISCLAIMER: I do not own InuYasha or anything to do with it.

A Family of His Own

By: Of Memories Past

Chapter 4

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"Is that everything?" Kagome carefully looked at the small chaos surrounding herself and her family. Brows furrowing, she turned to her husband and gave him a questioning look. He nodded, and she sighed. If he said that the two large packs were enough, then the two large packs were enough—even if she believed that they needed another.

"Okay, if that's everything then we had better get going." Sango piped in, walking up to her friend. She held in her arms the newest addition to hers and Miroku's family. Tiny Hana was beautiful and at the moment, sleeping peacefully while held close to her mother. With her pale, soft skin and rosily tinted cheeks, the two-month-old infant seemed to be an angel. "Now I only have to find Hiroshi."

Kagome smiled in understanding. She knew well how difficult it was to keep track of children. At that moment she turned to gather her own but stopped. Kozue happily chatted away as any small child would with his Uncle Miroku while Aiko chased a small butterfly not far from them. However, as usual, one of her pups was missing. Only this time it was Haru.

"Oh no, where is he, Sango?" Kagome groaned.

Sango shrugged, looking about her to see if the missing pup was in view before her own eyes going wide. "Where's Kirara?"

As if on cue, the fire-cat, fully transformed, came into view above the trees. Two squealing children happily rode on her back as she flew back and forth, dodging branches, taking shallow dives, and other minor stunts. But no matter how harmless the aerobatics were, the two mothers below could only picture one of the children falling off and harshly hitting the ground below.

"Hi, Mama!" Haru called down, laughing as yet another tree branch was dodged.

Hiroshi's laughter followed. "Mama, hi!" He waved.

Kirara growled happily, knowing that the children were having the time of their lives.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed, pointing upward to the fire-cat.

Inuyasha's own amber eyes slid from the pack that he was about to shoulder to the sight of his son and adopted nephew flying high in the air. "Kagome! How did you let him out of your sight!" With on great leap, he was in the air in pursuit of the flying cat.

Kagome growled angrily. "He is your son too, you know! How did you let him out of your sight!"

But Inuyasha did not hear a word his mate said. Kirara, after having seen him join her in the air, thought that everything was turning into one big game. She growled playfully every time Inuyasha got close enough to snatch the children and then increased her speed, escaping at just the last minute. His curses as he missed did not seem to bother the fire-cat. As a matter of fact, it seemed to her that he was just a sore loser, and the fact that she was winning made her play all the harder.

Haru and Hiroshi howled with laughter as Kirara dodged one particular branch at the last moment, causing Inuyasha to crash right into it. It resulted in the large tree falling down to the earth below and a predominantly irked hanyou letting a stream of curse fly from his lips.

Miroku sighed. "Well, I had better start chopping that up. At least we'll have firewood for a while."

But Kozue, who had rushed to his father's aid, listened with wide eyes as Inuyasha attempted to dislodge his body from underneath the tree. He had never heard such angry words come from his father's mouth before, and he began wondering what they meant.

Kagome on the other hand, knew exactly what Inuyasha said. Her face flushed as the steady stream of curses continued and secretly wished that she could "sit" him. But that defense had disappeared a few years before after they had been married. On their wedding night, she had removed the prayer beads from his neck. But that did not mean that she couldn't do anything. So Kagome ran with all her might and leaped at her husband.

Inuyasha, who had just managed to get himself out from underneath the tree, suddenly found himself back on the ground with an extremely angry Kagome on top of him, her hands wrapped tightly around his throat as she yelled.

"How could you be saying things like that in front of your children!"

Inuyasha pried her hands from around his neck. "It's not my fault that that tree fell on me, wench!" His ears went back as he realized what he had just said. He had not called her that in ages, and the darkening look on her face made him realize that it would take a great effort to get out of this one.

But instead of more shouting, Kagome calmly crawled off of him, took her pup by his hand, and led the still wide-eyed Kozue back into her small home. She turned in Inuyasha's direction just before they entered. "We'll leave tomorrow. I do not feel like traveling today."

Normally, he would have argued, but the dark look on Sango's face as he glanced to her warned him that he should give it up. He sighed. "I've really screwed up this time."

Kirara chose that moment to come back down to the ground with two joyful children. Hiroshi and Haru had loved their ride with the large fire-cat. They rolled off of her back as she crouch down and then threw their tiny arms around her in thanks, hugging her tightly for her gift to them.

"Thank you, Kirara!" Haru said.

Hiroshi scratched her ears. "Thank you!"

Giving her one last pat, Haru ran to where his father was sitting dejectedly on the ground. "Daddy, I ride on Kirara! And she go high!" He jumped in Inuyasha's lap and hugged him. "Can I go for ride on you later?"

Inuyasha smirked at his son's broken three-year-old language and gave his tail a tiny tug. "If your Mama will let you." He did not feel like giving a lecture on why he needed to ask before riding the fire-cat at the moment.

Sango, on the other hand, was busy telling Hiroshi why he needed to ask, but was nonetheless happy that he had had a good time.

"Thank you!" With that, Haru ran off to play with his sister and share the story of his adventure.

Inuyasha chuckled and then turned to the fire-cat. "Kirara"

But Kirara had heard the stern tone in his voice. She carefully approached him, waiting until she was close to transform back into her smaller form. With a cheerful chirp, she jumped into Inuyasha's arms, licking his face and snuggling under his chin.

"Kirara," Inuyasha heaved a sigh as the small cat purred. "You do know how to get yourself out of trouble."

Kirara chirped and licked his face again, snuggling even more as she heard the sound of Sango and Miroku's laughter. Yes, this was her lucky day.

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Kozue comfortably lay snuggled under the warm pelts of the bed he and his two siblings shared. It had been an interesting day. First they were planning on traveling, and then after his brother and Hiroshi rode Kirara, the plans changed. And he was somewhat disappointed. A trip sounded like a fun idea. They had gone on a trip to see Uncle Miroku's friend once. Kozue had loved being able to spend time with everyone for the four days it had taken to get there. He loved sleeping under the stars by a gentle fire and listen to the stories of the times before he was born that his daddy and uncle told. He sighed. It would be better if sleep claimed him now so that tomorrow would come sooner. He closed his eyes, prayer that sleep would come quickly to his small body.

But he would have no such luck. A light nudge caused his chocolate eyes to open once more.

"Kozue?" It was Aiko.

He rolled over to face his sister. "What, Aiko?"

Her sleepy, violet eyes blinked tiredly. "Mama is mad at Daddy."

He nodded.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Go to sleep, Aiko."

The violet-eyed pup nodded and turned over to sleep. Kozue listened carefully until her breathing was even and then closed his own tired eyes.

"It's not because I rode Kirara is it?"

A low growl rumbled in Kozue's chest as his brother's question popped up. It was going to be a long night.

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Inuyasha groaned as he stretched out on his stomach in front of the fire pit, his chin resting on his crossed arms. The small flames provided ample warmth, but he would have much rather been in his own bed under the warm covers with his mate. However, his mate would not have it. The same anger that had burned in her dark eyes earlier that day was still there as he had tried to climb into bed, and he was blatantly told that he would be sleeping anywhere but with her. So much for apology attempt number one…

But he knew how big of a mistake he had made. Oh yes, it was a big one. He had not called Kagome a wench or anything else like it since they had become mates. As far as he was concerned, he would be lucky if he were ever allowed back in the bedroom.

Rolling over onto his back, Inuyasha blocked out the dim firelight by resting an arm over his eyes. "She hates me."

"I don't hate you, Inuyasha. I'm just mad at you."

He looked up to see Kagome standing in the entranceway to their bedroom, wearing those things that she called pajamas that came from her time with her hair pulled up into a ponytail. They were a soft pink color and covered in tiny pictures of kittens. She had had them since she was a kid. He could remember sneaking into her bedroom in the middle of the night to find her sleeping peacefully in them, once in a while reaching out to touch the soft material. In his opinion she still looked unbearably cute in them, and it was extremely difficult to remain where he was.

Kagome motioned to him, and he followed her into the bedroom. The small fire pit in the corner of the room glowed dimly, being now only embers. She quietly walked over to tend to it, trying to sort out in her mind what to say. What he had said earlier had hurt. It had been years since he had called her that. Finishing with the fire, she turned around only to be engulfed in his arms and carried over to the bed.

Inuyasha sat down on the edge of it and sat her in his lap. "I'm sorry, Kagome." He put his arms completely around her and pulled her close. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean it."

Kagome looked down at him and smiled. She knew he was sorry. She could tell by the tone in his voice, the way he treated her, and the way his ears lay flat on his head. Giggling, Kagome reached forward to scratch those ears. "It's ok, Inuyasha. I forgive you."

He smiled back and simply leaned forward, wanting her to continue scratching. She giggled, grabbing the ears with both hands and rubbing them gently. He loved having his ears scratched, even if he pretended to hate it when her mother did. She stopped scratching and leaned down, quickly kissing him. He demanded her lips again as she went to let go, pulling her head gently back down. She laughed when he stood up and then playfully tossed her onto the bed. But before she could get up, he had her arms pinned down.

"Inuyasha?"

He smirked. "You think you can get away?"

Kagome laughed again and started squirming. She would try to escape, knowing full well that it was impossible. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get away.

Inuyasha leaned down to her ear. "Looks like your mine tonight then."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "An what makes you think that?" Her answer was the sensation of fangs grazing her neck.

Inuyasha grinned mischievously and then leaned down, kissing her lightly. "Just a feeling."

A/N: Another one done. If you liked it, or even if you didn't, review and let me know. The search for the last shard starts in the next chapter, and I still have a zillion ideas racing around in my head. Thanks for reading and God Bless! ~Of Memories Past