A/N: I am so sorry for not updating in a long time…I was out of town. Anyway, I'm back, and I'll update as often as I can now that school started. This is just a fun chapter until it gets more serious and all the fun goes away… (too bad…) Anyway, I also added some SM fluff! Whee!
Chapter 15: Parenthood (Again)
Sango leaned against Miroku as she held a sleeping baby girl to her chest. The baby looked like Sango, with her dark brown hair, but she had Miroku's deep indigo eyes.
"She's beautiful." Miroku said. "Just like you."
The youkai exterminator next to him rolled her eyes. "Yes, Miroku, you say that every five minutes."
"Well, it's the truth, isn't it?" He said with a grin.
"Whatever, but I think we need to worry about naming her first." Sango said, with a tone of bitterness.
"Well…Sango, you know you just can't pick any name." The monk said carefully.
"Miroku, I am sure any half wit can pick a baby's name in three days."
"I told you before, Sango, that you have to pick the perfect name!"
"You told me you had one picked out!"
He paused for a moment. "I did. I…I wanted to name it, if it was a boy…Kohaku."
Sango gave a tiny, inaudible gasp. As she turned away to look back down at the baby girl, Miroku could swear there was tears in her eyes. "Still…" she said, after a long pause. "We can't. She's a girl."
"Well," Miroku said. "I don't know any girl names."
She snorted. "Please! You know more names for women than any other man I have ever met."
He blinked. "But, I didn't want to offend you, naming her from one of them."
"Oh." Sango sighed. Well, he's not completely tactless… "But…what about your mother's name?"
"I don't know my mother's name." Miroku said. "I…I never met her."
She stared. "You…never met your mother?"
"Never." He said, without looking at her.
"That means that…you…you were a…" She said, unable to finish her sentence.
"It doesn't matter." He said. "My father took care of me until…then Mushin became my adoptive father."
The youkai exterminator sighed and looked down. "My mother died when I was five years old. I don't remember her much. It was more like the village and father raised me."
"What was her name?" Miroku asked.
"Suki." She replied.
He looked back down at the baby. "That's it."
"What?" she asked.
"Suki."
She smiled as he put her arm around her and they both looked down at their child. "Suki." she murmured, while Miroku kissed her on her forehead.
"NOT AGAIN!" the shirtless Inuyasha yelled, as he was woken up for the billionth time by Kuro's nightly screaming.
"INUYASHA, STOP YELLING!" Kagome bellowed back, going over to comfort Kuro. She picked him up and held him close to her yellow yukata. "IT'LL ONLY MAKE HIM SCREAM MORE!"
"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!"
Kagome tried rocking him, feeding him, but nothing seemed to work. He just would not stop crying.
"That won't work!" Inuyasha yelled. "The only way to get him to stop is to let him know to stop!" He grabbed Kuro from her arms. "SHUT THE HELL UP, BRAT!"
It didn't work.
Kagome growled in annoyance. "Inuyasha, give me Kuro."
"What?"
"GIVE ME KURO!" she ordered, through ear splitting screams.
Inuyasha had no sooner handed the three month old over before Kagome yelled, "SIT!" followed by a loud crash as the hanyou hit the floor.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" he demanded, but he wasn't answered because an unexpected sound filled the hut.
It was laughter.
From Kuro.
Kagome and Inuyasha abandoned their tiff to look at him. His eyes were shut, but he giggled in laugher at the silver haired hanyou. Kagome gasped. "That's his first laugh…"
Inuyasha sat up, and smiled down at the giggling Kuro. This moment was short lived, because Kuro began to cry again, however, it wasn't the wails he had before. "He's crying again." Kagome said. "But at least we know a way to make him shut up…" she grinned at Inuyasha.
"Oh no!" he said, backing away. "Don't you be getting any ideas! That's not fair!"
"Inuyasha, how else am I supposed to get him to be quiet?" She said, over Kuro's increasing volume.
"But you're going to 'sit' me for no reason! That's what not fair!"
"Inuyasha, I'm sorry, all right! It's just that Kuro's getting louder and he might not stop!"
He glared, but said, "Keh."
Kagome really didn't want to do it, but it was the only choice she had. "Si—"
She was cut off by another laugh by Kuro. "What? But I haven't done it yet?" But then she saw what Kuro was looking at, the look of sheer terror plastered on Inuyasha's face.
Inuyasha noticed it too. "Hey! You think this is funny, kid?" But Kuro kept laughing.
"Well," Kagome said. "At least I don't have to say, 'it'."
"Yeah…" He paused. "Kagome, did I really look that scared?"
Sometime later, everyone was piled into Sango and Miroku's hut to see Suki. "Wow…she's so tiny." Shippou said.
"That's how small babies are." Sango replied. "Kuro-chan was that small when he was born."
"Yeah, but he's so much bigger now." The kitsune youkai said. It was true. Kuro was catching up to his height.
"Well, monk," Inuyasha said. "You finally got that kid you wanted."
"Yes…but I never knew how much trauma I would go through before it was born."
"Was I really that hard to deal with?" Sango asked, annoyed.
"Sango, you'll be happy to know, every day with your hormones was torture." He said, cringing at painful memories.
"Serves you right." She said. "I told you that we weren't ready for children yet."
Kuro crawled over towards Sango, looking at Suki. "See, Kuro?" Kagome said. "This is your cousin, Suki-chan."
When Kuro looked at her, the first thing he noticed was the lack of dog ears. He touched her head, looking for them, and touched his own head, but it didn't add up. Suki looked at Kuro with interest, and reached out for one of his ears, which she grasped in her fingers. She rubbed it, and then let go, her hand falling on her own head.
Kagome giggled. "How cute!"
Miroku came and sat by his wife and now his child. He looked happier than ever to have a family. "Sometimes, I can almost imagine what she's going to be like older." He said.
"Of course. Everyone does that." Inuyasha said. "I mean, look at Kuro. One day he's going to be a great hanyou and slay a hundred youkai in one swing. Youkai all around will fear him, just like they do me!"
"Inuyasha…we talked about this." Kagome said, but Inuyasha wasn't listening, he was off in his own world. Kagome rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I have never seen anyone be happier talking about violence."
"You'd be surprised." Miroku said, while they both looked at Sango.
"And someday, you'll learn how to use Hiraikotsu." She said. "You'll carry on the line of youkai exterminators and you'll kill all the youkai in the eastern and western lands!" she said with a smile.
Kagome sighed. Both her spouse and her best friend were off in their own dreams of much violence. "You know, Miroku-sama, sometimes I pity you."
"Thank you, Kagome-sama, but I'm afraid I have to pity you more."
A/N: Okay, next chap is getting back into our action plot, and again with the bad guy. So, sayonara until tomorrow!