A deep sigh escaped the inu hanyou. It was quiet. Not completely quiet, as Kagome's time never was, but there wasn't a screaming child. Finally some peace an...

"Otoo-sama?"

Inuyasha froze. Slowly, his golden eyes traveled down to see a small child sitting at his feet. Bright azure eyes looked around in wonderment. Her nose twitched as it picked up strange new scents... then sneezed from the strange stench in the air. Her eyes traveled up to him expectantly.

The hanyou just about fell over dead. She had passed through!?! The damn tree pup had passed through!?!

"How the hell did you get through!?!" She looked at him, tilted her head to one side, and blinked. "Oh, right, you don't talk. Never mind. Doesn't matter. You're Kagome's problem now." He grabbed her by the back of her hakama. "Now where is she..."

~~~~

"Yuki told me a new joke today," Souta stated rather proudly. His mother smiled and nodded for him to continue as she took another bite of her rice. "Alright, knock knock."

"Who's there?" Kagome asked as she reached for some of the pickles.

"A..."

The door to the dinning room was slammed open. The Higurashi family all turned to stare at the intruder.

"Okaa-sama!" Yahna cried as she leaped into Kagome's lab and latched on to the front of the girl.

Kagome nearly choked on the pickle she's been eating. Hesitantly, she peered down at the child.

"Okaa-sama! Okaa-sama! Okaa-sama!" the child purred as she snuggled in to Kagome's stomach.

"Caring for pups is women's work! It's yours now! You deal with it!" Inuyasha snapped.

"O-Ok-k-kaa-s-sama?" Kagome studdered.

"Nee-chan...?"

"It's not what you think!" The girl suddenly blurted out. "I swear it's not!" Her gaze turned to Inuyasha. "Why is she...? When...? What...? I...? How did she get through the well?!"

"I don't know and I don't care! It's been crying for three days straight and everyone is sick of it! And no one will let me drown the filthy brat! Now you deal with it! I don't wanna see it anymore!"

"You can't drown her!"

"Keep it away from me and I wont!" he barked and turned to leave. There was a sudden tug on his hakama. Oh gods, no. He looked down and found the pup had grabbed his leg with one hand while still holding on to Kagome with the other. Her death grip was firmly in place and the stubborn look on her face said she wasn't going to let him go no matter what. "Damn it! I hate you! Let go!"

"Sit!" Kagome snorted. "You're staying right here until I get an explanation, Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha grumbled in response.

"Um, Kagome," Ms. Higurashi broke in, "Is there something you need to tell us?"

~~~~~

The village let out a collective sigh. There was quiet... blissful quite... for the first time in two nights. Everyone was going back to sleep, thanking all the gods they could think of for the current peace.

Well, not quite everyone. Tired as he was, Shippo had trekked out after Inuyasha and Yahna. Now he was slumped by the well, trying to stay awake. Inuyasha's scent ended right here, so the kit knew he must have gone to Kagome's country. The problem was, Yahna was nowhere to be found. Her scent was here, mixed with the older hanyou's, but she was gone. He was certain she couldn't have gone far and there wasn't any blood so Inuyasha hadn't killed her. Where could she have gone?

He fought back another yawn and crawled up to the lip of the well. Emerald eyes peered inside, but like the first ten times he had checked, she wasn't there. Maybe I just can't see her in the dark... he tried to reason, though he knew it was wrong. Desperate for some sort on answer, Shippo leaped in to the well.

Like every other time he had been in the Bone Eater's well, he landed in the dirt. His nose barely picked up Inuyasha's scent. He couldn't detect Yahna's at all. If she had gone in the well, she hadn't hit the bottom.

Shippo fought back another yawn as he plopped down in the dirt. "He better not have hurt her," the kit grumbled. Another yawn overtook him and his eyes began to feel even heavier...

~~~~~

"She was born from the holy tree!?!" Kagome's jii-chan exclaimed. Kagome nodded as Yahna snuggled against the girl's chest. "Are you certain?"

"That's what the old bat claims," Inuyasha grunted before taking another bite of rice.

Everyone was still gathered around the table, seated comfortably on the floor. Inuyasha had been given a bowl of rice while Kagome had explained the strange child's origins.

"So, Inu-nii-chan had a child with a tree?" Souta asked with a very confused expression.

"I did not!" the hanyou snapped. "Stupid, god damned tree did it all on it's own!"

"Or not," Kagome added with a shrug. Inuyasha shot her a glare. "Either way it doesn't really matter since she's already here. I'm more interested in how she got through the well..." she trailed off as he gaze turned to the half inu.

Inuyasha folded his arms and turned up his nose. "I already told you I don't know. And so long as the thing shuts up, I don't care how it got through."

"If she got through than others might be able to, as well," Kagome added.

"Okaa-san," the tree child purred.

The school girl's expression turned visibly pale as she stared down at the child in her lap. "And who taught her that?"

A smirk appeared on Inuyasha face. "Now you know how it feels..."

"Inuyasha, so help me, if you taught her..."

"I didn't teach the runt anything. It started that all on its own."

"Inuyasha...!"

"A little gift from the heavens," Kagome's mother suddenly stated. Both girl and half youkai stared at her in confusion. "If she was born from the holy tree, then she must be a gift from heaven."

"That's right," the old man across from Kagome agreed. "And you two should feel honored you were selected for such an important task."

"Important task?" Souta questioned before anyone else could.

Jii-chan nodded. "Obviously, this child is very important and has something to do here on Earth."

"What?"

"I don't know yet, but it must be grand to have her born from a tree already touched by the gods." His gaze turned to Kagome and Inuyasha. "Her care and happiness... her very life has been entrusted to the two of you. That is a great honor..."

"Yeah, well someone else can have that honor," Inuyasha snorted. "I don't want it!"

"But you're stuck with her, so deal with it," Kagome snorted back.

Yahna peeked out from her 'okaa-sama's' chest and stared at Inuyasha. He was starting to move. Her little hands darted out and grabbed hold of the closest thing on him: his hair. The hanyou halted and scowled.

The child released her hold and held out her arms to him. "Otoo-sama?"

"Carrying pups is women's work!" he snapped in response.

"Sit!"

If there was one thing Inuyasha had learned from Kagome's time, it was that carpet felt a lot better on the face than dirt when sat. He grumbled as he waited for the curse to wear off. Then the hanyou sat back up and glowered.

Yahna was shoved in to his grasp. "Carrying pups is parents' work," Kagome hissed. "You are her parent, so carrying her is part or your work."

Yahna was shoved back to Kagome.

"It is not mine!"

Yahna was shoved back to Inuyasha.

"She looks like you!"

Back to Kagome.

"It's the tree's brat!"

To Inuyasha again.

"The tree you were sealed to for fifty years!"

Kagome.

"It's not mine!"

In Inuyasha's arms once more.

"She is too!"

"Otoo-sama! Okaa-sama!" Yahna suddenly wailed. She through her arms up in the air, exasperated.

"You keep out of this!" the both snapped before going back to fighting.

The child covered her ears and whimpered as she was, once again, passed back and forth. Maybe wanting Kagome back hadn't been such a good idea.

_______________________________________________________________

Japanese words I've used in this chapter

Jii-chan = grandfather or an older man one is close to (though not always related to)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To answer a question several people raised, technically the only ones who can go through the well are Kagome and Inuyasha. Yura didn't go through it. Only her hair, attached to a single hair on Kagome's clothes, went through (and items seem to go through just fine with Kagome or Inuyasha). As for Mistress Centipede, as near as I can tell in the show and manga, she was dead and dumped in the well. Then, in Kagome's time, she was coming back to life due to being to close to the Shikon no Tama. However, I would like to point out, that there is a part where Kagome can't get through the well because she doesn't have the Shikon no Tama. Eventually, it calls her back to the feudal era (don't remember the exact episode but it was when they first met Naraku). Shippo had the jewel with him when he went in to the well and couldn't get through. So far, based on what I've seen and read, it seems like something only Kagome can do with the Shikon shards and Inuyasha can do when she's in her time.

Caliko, do you honestly think I'd leave Sesshomaru out? No way. There's way too much fun to be had with him... and Rin. *grins evilly* Don't forget Rin.

Well, I do hope to write original stuff and sell it, FranceGamble. I have some original stuff on FictionPress, but most of it is old since I haven't bothered to update it. I've revamped my novel a few times since posting a piece of it up there. Also, I'm running a web comic, for any who are interested. Feel free to come visit it at http:// yangchild. keenspace. com/ (just take out the spaces). It's not too far along, story wise, but it's getting there.

Ah, so long as I'm promoting stuff, I have a few Inuyasha fanfics to recommend. The first is A Lifetime Loving You by Stone Dragon Ruby. It's quite good so far. A little sad, but definitely worth reading. The other is Inuyasha's Hunt for the Truth by Pierce. Inuyasha is quite a bit OOC but it is side-splitting funny. I couldn't stop laughing after I read it.

*sigh* Well, I'm off to do some homework and try to keep up the classes I could get. My school had to lay off a whole bunch of teachers 'cuz our new governor decided to cut $10 million out of schools this year and will do it again next year. Bastard! Don't forget to leave a review. Later.