As much as he denied it outloud, he thought Yahna was cute. In fact, she was probably one of the cutest children he had ever laid eyes on. From her rounded puppy ears, the slightly rosy cheeks, down to her tiny toes, she was cute. This was especially true when she slept. She wasn't being noisy or nosy, and certainly not clingy when she slept. She just lay there peacefully with an innocent smile on her face, devoid of any fear of the waking world.
Inuyasha traced a finger delicately across her cheek. Yahna let out a slight, rumbling purr. He smiled. So easy to please...
"Otoo-sama," she moaned as she woke. He froze. The child slowly extracted herself from the sleeping Kagome's arms and sat up. She blinked, yawned, and stretched, then looked over the adolescent girl to Inuyasha. He still had his arms wrapped around Kagome but was now resting his chin on her shoulder. Yahna smiled and placed her hands on either side of her. "Otoo-sama."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm still here, whelp," he grunted and looked away. With her improving sense of balance, Yahna stood and leaned over to him. An innocent kiss was placed on his nose and his eyes went wide. Yahna giggled and plopped back down on the bed. Huh? Why... What... I... Did... Wha... Huh?!
"Otoo-sama," she stated rather proudly. Her azure eyes flickered to the sleeping girl in front of her. "Okaa-sama." She nuzzled against Kagome until the girl started to rouse.
Fearful of the Japanese girl's reaction to waking with him there, Inuyasha lifted his arm and head away from her. He tried to scoot back but found himself already pressed against the wall. The last thing he wanted was to get sat for being where she had willingly let him stay.
"Okaa-sama!" Yahna purred as she nuzzled harder.
"Ohayo, Inuyahna," Kagome groaned and pushed the girl back. She suddenly realized she was pressed up against something big and warm. Curious, she looked over to see Inuyasha trying to keep as much of himself from touching her. His expression suggested he expected to get subdued. When did... oh... yeah. "Ohayo, Inuyasha."
The hanyou relaxed considerably and lowered his arm. However, he kept right against his side so he was still touching her as little as possible. He didn't put it beyond her to still sit him.
"Ohayo Okaa-sama, Otoo-sama," Yahna chirped.
Both adolescents froze. Their eyes shifted to the girl. "O-ohayo," Inuyasha studdered and continued to stare.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Inuyasha turned his attention to the offending piece of technology and growled. Yahna latched on to Kagome with lightening speed. A fearful expression covered the little girl's face.
Kagome lightly elbowed him in the ribs. "Stop it, Inuyasha!" she scolded. "It's just my alarm clock and you're scaring Inuyahna." Deft fingers reached over and touched a long, round button on the top. "See. No harm done."
"Shut up and get up already!" he sneered.
She gave him an annoyed glare. "This is my bed, you know."
"Keh!"
Kagome let out a disgruntled sigh. "Whatever." She pried Yahna off and sat up. The girl gave an exaggerated stretch, popping a few stiff joints. Inuyasha watched her out of the corner of his eye, restraining a slight sigh as she moved. Of course, pretended not to notice.
"Okaa-sama..."
The teenage girl flinched. "Eh, we really need to talk about that name, Inuyahna-chan."
"You can start by not calling her Inuyahna," Inuyasha snorted.
"Inu..."
"You said you'd stop calling her that if I stopped calling her an it. Well, I stopped. You stop too."
"And what would you have me call her?"
"Yahna, like everyone else does. She's doesn't deserve to be called an inu."
"You got that right. She's too sweet and innocent," Kagome retorted.
"Shut up!"
Kagome ignored him and turned back to the curious little girl. "Yahna-chan, please don't call me okaa-sama."
Yahna wrinkled her nose and folded her arms together. "Okaa-sama!"
"She's not going to stop. You're stuck being okaa-sama as much as I'm otoo-sama," Inuyasha snorted. The tree pup nodded in agreement.
"Calling a parent 'sama' is too formal. And I'm saying I'm her okaa-san, so don't even start, Inuyasha."
"Keh!"
She turned her attention down to the child. "Yahna-chan, don't call me okaa-sama..."
"Okaa-sama!" she stated stubbornly.
"How about Okaa-chan? Is that alright?"
"Okaa-sama!"
Inuyasha snickered as he propped up his head with his hand. Kagome glared at him. He made a serious face and looked away. She let out a sigh. "What about Okaa-san. It's just like..."
"Okaa-sama!"
The was a light knock on Kagome's door. "Breakfast will be ready soon, Kagome."
"Alright, Mama!" she replied. "Yahna-chan, you're being... Wait! That's it! Call me mama."
"Okaa..."
"It means the exact same thing, but it's quicker to say."
This caught Yahna's attention. She peered up at Kagome curiously. "Ma... ma?"
"Yes, mama."
Yahna's brow knit as she went in to deep thought. "Mama... mama... mama..." After a moment, she looked up at Kagome and smiled. "Mama!"
Inuyasha's hand slipped out from under his head. He stared in shock. "What the hell?! That's not fair!" No one knows what that means except Kagome!
"It's perfectly fair," Kagome retorted.
The hanyou growled in annoyance and looked away as he pouted. Kagome sighed and got up. She gathered up her school clothes quickly so she could go change in the bathroom. Inuyasha snorted and stretched out on the bed, pulling Yahna on his chest.
"Keh, more room without her anyway," he grunted to the child.
Kagome shot him a glare as she left, but said nothing. He was being affectionate to Yahna for the moment, and she didn't feel like interrupting that for his childish comment.
~~~~~
Inuyasha grumbled as he watched Yahna building something out of strange pieces of... ah... well, he wasn't sure what they were made out of. Kagome had called them 'legos', but he wasn't really sure what that meant. He supposed it didn't really matter so long as the pup was entertained, but it made his afternoon rather boring... especially since the cat had taken to disappearing whenever he came over.
"Otoo-sama?"
"What?" She held something made out of the red and white legos. He eyed her curiously. "What is it?"
"Otoo-sama!"
"You don't really think about much else, do you?" She shook her head. Inuyasha sighed and pulled the child up in to his lap. "Alright, I'm going to ask you a question, pup, and I expect an answer. Why am I your otoo?"
Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Otoo-sama Otoo-sama."
"Right..." he groaned. "You really need to learn more words." He grabbed the legos and held them up in front of her face. "This is a toy. Can you say that?"
"Otoo-sama?"
"No, this isn't an otoo-sama. What is it?"
"Otoo-sama..." She looked up at his face.
He put the legos right in front of her face. "No, these. Right here in front of you. What I'm holding. What is it? Say toy."
"Otoo..."
Inuyasha grumbled in annoyance. "Can't you say anything besides that?"
"Otoo-sama?"
The child was pushed back on the floor. "Never mind." He got up and started to walk out the room. She immediately abandoned the legos and tromped after him. "Stay here," he snorted. "I'll be right back." The child stared at him for a moment, then toddled back to the legos.
Yahna sighed as she looked over the building things. They were neat, yes, but she'd been playing with them most of last night and all morning. Now they were getting kind of boring. She wanted to run around like she did with Shippo-chan, but no one else wanted to. Mama had left that morning while yelling at Otoo-sama. All Otoo-sama wanted to do was sit around. Of course, she couldn't really blame him. He kept falling on his face whenever Mama was around... especially when she was mad. Falling hurt and since he fell more than she did, she could understand why he didn't like standing much.
Yahna glanced down at the legos again. She had no other toys to play with. Maybe Mama has more somewhere...
Azure eyes traveled around Kagome's bed room. They paused on the girl's desk. Mama was always doing interesting things up there. There must have been a whole bunch of fun things. Mama wouldn't spend so much time doing things on the top if there wasn't. All Yahna had to do was get up.
She eyed the chair, guessing the distance from the seat to the desk top. True, she could just jump all the way up, but she had tried that yesterday and ended up sliding on some thin white stuff Mama put strange black pictures on. Otoo-sama had gone after her and slipped to, preventing him from catching her. Going up the chair seemed like a safer idea.
Abandoning the legos, Yahna toddled over to the chair. She crouched down and sprang up. Oops. Too high, she thought as she went right over it. Yahna put a finger to her mouth as she watched it go under her. Then she turned to look to see just where she was going to land. Her trajectory put right on course with the window... the open window.
Yahna yelped and her hands shot out in front of her. Her fingers snagged on to the side of the window, jerking her to a halt. All the muscles in her arms strained as the motion was stopped. When she had pulled herself back in and had her feet firmly planted on the window sill, the child let out a deep sigh of relief.
Now safe from direct harm, her attention refocused on the desk. From her view point, she could easily see on top of it. There were lots of thin white things on the top with a few 'book' things there too. She'd have to do this a little more carefully if she didn't want to go sliding off the edge again. This time, Yahna took a little more care in her aiming and strength. She leaped...
Little hands shot out frantically as she realized she was just going to miss. They wrapped around some strange black rope. Yahna tumbled to the ground. There was a loud thunk next to her. When the stun from the fall wore off, she sat up and rubbed her sore backside. Curious, the girl looked over the object that had fallen with her.
The magic light making thing! Mama used that when it got dark out. It was much brighter that a fire. She lifted the cord and the base of the light making thing lifted a little as well. She let go of the cord and it clunked on the ground. Oh! So it's attached to the magic light making thing.
Her attention once again turned back to the desk. Alright! This time! She crouched and leaped. This time she was over the desk. Her feet connected with the desk at a slight angle, then flew out from beneath her as papers went flying. She landed on her bottom with a small yip, but wasn't harmed. Now finally on the top of the desk, she set about exploring.
The first thing her fingers came across was a little thick, pink square thing. She picked it up. The object was very flexible but solid in the middle. There were little lines all around the side. She ran a finger down the edge and it split apart where the lines were. Little fingers pinched the top slip... and it came off! Even more curious, she examined it closer. It felt just like the white things Mama wrote on, only smaller and a different color. She placed the tip in her mouth, then pulled it out and stuck out her tongue. Tastes like white things. Her fingers traced around the edges. One side was sticky. She licked the sticky stuff. Eeeewwwww... Yahna shrugged and stuck it to her chest. It stayed there. She smiled and pulled off a few more, sticking them in various other places on her clothes. The rest were discarded off the side of the desk.
Next, she went for one of the book things. Her eyes instantly went for the one with a bright cover and people on it. There were two girls on it and they were wearing clothes sort of like Mama's when she left in the mornings. The child flipped it open and scanned through the pages. Oh, there were pictures in this one... lots of pictures. All of Mama's other books were mostly full of strange pictures she called 'kanji', but this one actual had people. And they were walking... in a place with big buildings and few trees and no grass... Oh, there was a boy too. He didn't look very happy... and all the word pictures were really big around him. Oh, the girls were yelling back. Why? She flipped a few more pages but the pages didn't really tell her what was going on. In fact, they just made things more confusing. There was a floating bowl of rice in a cloud over one of the girl's head while the girl looked like she was drooling in one picture. She flipped much further ahead and saw one of the girls sitting in water. All of her clothes were gone. Oh, Mama has those... but hers are much smaller... Getting bored with the picture book, she tossed it aside.
Her hands came across a small box with a picture of a flower on it. She tried to lift the lid, but it wouldn't come open. Yahna picked it up and placed it on her lap. Then she tried opening it again. The top still wouldn't budge. She pulled harder. It wouldn't budge. Harder... harder... Phsssh!!
The top was jerked off and its contents flew everywhere. Strange objects landed all around her and on the floor. Her eyes scanned over them. She discarded the broken box and went for the items. She knew some of them. The long, yellow ones with the gray point were called 'pin-sils' and were made for writing. The little metal things that were shaped like rectangles with rounded edges were used for keeping thin white things together. Oh, but that one was new.
The new object looked like a 'pin-sil' but was gray and shiny. One end had something clear over it with a thin gray thing inside. She picked it up. It was cold too... like metal. Yahna placed the end in her mouth. Tasted like metal, but this wasn't smooth like the other stuff. This one had a bumpy texture and didn't feel good against her tongue. She pulled it out and examined it carefully. It was kind of heavy... not like the 'pin-sils'.
Clawed fingers traced up it until it came to the clear thing over one end. It looked sort of like glass, but it didn't feel like it at all. She gave a tug on it and it came right off. She tasted the clear thing. It tasted odd, and she couldn't quite place it. It almost tasted like the 'legos' but not as bumpy and a little more... what was that taste called? She spit it out and examined the thing it was covering. It was also metal, but very, very thin. The tip came to a point and one side was very fine, sort of like Otoo-sama's claws. Wonder if it's sharp... She pointed the tip towards her hand...
Her nose twitched. Oh, what's that? Something nearby smelled really good. Her tummy gave a rumble. She hopped off the desk and the metal thing was discarded. Following her nose, she made her way towards the 'kit-chen' thing where all the food was made by Mama's Mama. Sure enough, there was Mama's Mama stirring something in a pot. Yahna toddled over and gave a tug on the woman's skirt.
Mrs. Higurashi peered down at the child curiously. "Oh my. Where did all those post-it notes come from?" She reached down and scooped Yahna up in her arms. Gentle hands pealed off the pieces of pink paper. "Were you playing with things on Kagome's desk?" Yahna nodded. "Oh, I see. Yahna-chan, you shouldn't..."
"What are you doing down here?" Inuyasha demanded as he stomped into the kitchen. "I told you to stay put, pup."
Mrs. Higurashi smiled and handed the girl to him. "She must have smelled dinner being started. Actually, I need to make a quick run out to get some more vegetables. Would you mind if I took her with me?"
The older hanyou gave her a confused look. "If you really want... but Kagome said not to go outside..."
The woman just gave him a knowing smile.
~~~~~
"I'm home," Kagome called in a less than cheery voice as she came in the door. There was no answer. Her shoes were slipped off, and she walked deeper in the house. "Is anyone home?"
"Just me," Inuyasha stated as she came into the living room. In his hands was a less than pleased Bouyo struggling to get away.
"Inuyasha, let him go!" He shot her a glare. She matched it with an unspoken promise of being sat. The hanyou snorted and released the cat. Bouyo darted off with no intention of coming back anytime soon. Kagome flopped down next to him. "Where's everyone else?"
Inuyasha thought for a moment, trying to remember where everyone had gone. "Souta left with you this morning and hasn't been back yet. Your jiji was muttering something about youkai legends, but I haven't seen him since, and your okaa-san took the pup out somewhere with her."
"Oh. So it's just us," she observed rather dryly.
"Yeah, so? Been just us before."
Kagome rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure she'd done well on her biology test and wasn't really interested in fighting. Honestly, she had been hoping playing with Yahna would take her mind off it for a while. Oh well. She grabbed her books and carried them to her room. Kagome opened the door and froze.
Her desk was a mess. Pens, pencils, paper, and paper clips were all over the floor. The top of her pencil box had been broken off and tossed on the floor while the bottom half was upside down on the desk. One of her manga had been tossed on the floor along with her sticky notes. Other books had flopped over and two had fallen off the side.
The school girl whirled around. "Inuyasha!!"
"What?" he snapped irritably.
"Sit!"
There was a loud 'umf' from the living room. Kagome growled and turned back to her room, muttering. What did he think he was doing, tearing my room apart like this! Really! Doesn't he have any restraint?! She was picking up the items on the floor, when she spotted her exacto knife without the cap on. Curious, she picked it up and examined it. There was a small set of teeth marks in it... too small to be Inuyasha's.
"What the hell was that for!?" the hanyou snapped as he barged in to the room. She looked over at him with a very odd expression. "What?" She held up the exacto knife, showing him the small teeth marks. "Eh? Where..."
"Yahna?"
"The pup? Why would she bite in to one of your school tools? Maybe that baka cat of yours did it."
"Bouyo doesn't bite exacto knives."
"Oi, I was here the whole time. I watched her. She wasn't out of my sight for more than a few moments..."
"You left her alone!?!"
"Only for a few minutes..."
"SIT!!!"
"Erk!"
_______________________________________________________________
Japanese words I've used in this chapter
Kanji = japanese characters used for writing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yahna, as I have come to know her since I started this, is one of those children you really just can't leave alone. She's far too curious. Hey, at least Inuyasha is getting along better with her, right?
To answer the question of whether or not Yahna will learn more words, the answer is yes. She will have to. She's just learning them in order of importance (to her anyway). Besides, once she really starts picking up language, you're gonna wish she hadn't.
What's men's work? Good question, Shinigami-Sama1. That will be something addressed later...
Fate Bringer, true Inuyasha is an adult by feudal standards. However, there have been hints in the show that Inuyasha didn't really have much contact with people for most of his life. He is certainly not very socialized (a hint that he probably wasn't around people much) since he behaves a lot like a middle school student. He doesn't strike me as the type of observing people who don't have something he wants. Also, in those times, very small children were almost always with their mother during the day. Men don't take as big a role until they get a bit older (about Yahna's appearance age). This is the stand that I'm taking with Inuyasha. He doesn't really know what he's doing and it's going to take time to learn. Parenting is something that is taught, usually by one's own parents (not directly, but observed as one grows up). He only had a mother, so this has led to some of his biases. Besides, makes it more interesting if he has to learn and figure things out.
Badgerwolf, thank you for the complement. I'm trying to use some of what I know about teen parents but keep it in their personalities. Not always easy. Of course I will reveal what is up with Yahna... later. Be patient, young badger.
Souta is a 4th or 5th (maybe 6th) grader, from what I can tell. He would have legos, not duplo blocks, Dragon Man 180. I did say they were his, I'm sure.
Ba-chan or Ba-san are how you say grandma in Japanese, MalletWielderofDoom.
That's all for now. I'm off to enjoy my spring break. I'll put up a story when I come back. Tell then.