Author's Note: Since the fic is called "Coming of Age" Hanaharu does grow up in it, so in this chapter, she's a bit older. I'm actually getting a lot more done with this fic than I thought I would.

"Hanaharu!" Cupped hands accompanied a gaping mouth as he waited for response from his daughter… anywhere…a scent, a sound, anything. The young girl often ran off on her own into the forest, seeing that most of the time it was safe… except for at night. But she was always back by nightfall, lest she fall victim to her father's rage.

"Hanaharu! Jigoku ni otosu." He stopped in his tacks, a slight breeze only blowing his daughter's scent away from him. He let out another growl, thinking to what experience he had with the girl. There was always one spot she enjoyed, and he had been ignorant to go and look there first.

Hanaharu sat there by the river, legs folded back behind her and golden eyes closed, humming a sweet harmony to herself with the stillness of the river. Unlike when she was three years old wearing a yutuka, she now wore a dark amethyst kimono, fitting her body freely so that she could sit in this manner. The young girl was ten years of age, and like her father at that age, thinking that she could do things on her own without supervision.

The young girl had her hands folded in her lap, a small purple flower in her hand. She loved flowers, and it had all to do with her name. She loved the fragrances, even if they were sometimes too strong. Her father would never let Hanaharu bring more than one flower home a week due to his acute sense of smell. She wished she could just stay out near the flowers of bring a few more home. Her mother also loved flowers, especially the light colored irises.

Hanaharu opened her golden colored eyes, looking to the flower she held in her hand. 'I believe Otou-san will like this one.' She looked into the water, leaning over towards the water's edge as she let the flower lie on the soft grass. The girl let a clawed finger run through the water, eyes closing somewhat as she lay down, propping her head up with the dry hand.

"Otou-san is probably looking for me… maybe I should go back. Okaa-san is probably worried too. She looked across the river. She knew, that if she really had wanted to, she could jump the river. But her father always told her that half the river and the other side was demon territory. She always wondered what was over there, why he had thought it so dangerous, but now she was even more interested.

"What are you doing." The girl looked back to see her father towering over her, his arms crossed as he sat down next to her. The hanyou waited for her to explain, but knowing his daughter, she would change the subject, or at least try.

She sat up, grabbing the flower she had picked out and presented it to him. "Otou-san, isn't this one pretty?" She smelled the flower, then showed it off to her father.

The hanyou took the flower from her, careful to put it in her hair near her ear. It was one of the prettiest flowers that the girl had ever shown him, probably second to the white and mauve iris. "What's it called?" He looked to his daughter, pulling away and smiling. She still was a daddy's girl, even if she didn't still admit as such.

She smiled up to her father, he asked the name of every new flower, even if he already knew. "It's called a Kikyou."

InuYasha gave a half-hearted smile, remembering a love that once was, but still smiling for his daughter. "Eki. Utsukushii." Even if it hurt him to remember, he would always have to keep a happy face on when around his innocent daughter. She didn't know better. It wasn't as if InuYasha and Kagome were going to explain every detail of their life together.

"I knew you would agree."

"Hai, now let's get going. Your mother wants you home for dinner. ON TIME."

This got a nervous laugh from the girl. She was almost never home for dinner when she needed to be, that is, unless some one came looking for her. "Gomen."

The hanyou stood up, holding out a hand to help his daughter stand. She took it, pulling herself up from he ground, dusting bits of grass before they headed home. "I'll race you."

"Otou-san! You always let me win! It gets boring after a while." She crossed her arms, looking up at him with a somber expression.

"You're saying you want to loose?" He laughed slightly, stopping in his tracks.

She stopped another pace ahead of him, turning back towards InuYasha. "I never thought I'd say this, but… Duh!"

She was telling him that she wanted to loose? She knew how athletic her father could be, she'd watched him before, and she wanted to see how she compared to him.

"Fine."

The girl hugged her father, excited that he would actually do it. "You're the best, Otou-san!" She pulled away from the other hanyou, the two lining up at two adjacent trees.

"Ready?" The hanyou showed a smirk. His daughter couldn't keep up with him if he was actually racing.

"As ready as it's gonna get."

"Set."

"Otou-san! Just get it over with!" She was impatient, and the hanyou knew it.

"Go!"

InuYasha didn't start until at least five seconds that Hanaharu went. She looked back to her father. "Cheater!"

How was he cheating? He was only giving her a head start, one that really wouldn't make any difference. InuYasha started running once the young girl was about twenty feet ahead. He made his way to her, kimono sleeves fluttering behind him, eyes set on the path ahead.

Hanaharu watched as he father passed her, running on towards the village and their home not even at top speed, disappearing into the thick forest. The breeze flowing past her caused the flower in her hair to loosen from her hair, falling out. "Oh!" She came to a stop, walking back towards it as she knelt down to pick it up. "That was strange." She stood up again, ready to go back home, and when she had even taken a step…

"Ahhhh!" The ground fell from under her, causing the fourth-demon girl to fall into a hole, a shaft that was much like a dirt slide. She fell slid downward, screaming the whole way as it tossed and turned her through the ground, finally landing on her stomach, and scraping up her kimono.

The girl groaned, opening her eyes to almost total darkness, just a glint from the tunnel she fell from. Hanaharu sat up, rubbing her head. "I…guess I… fell in." She stood up, brushing off the front of her kimono. "Well, that makes me late for dinner." The girl looked around the best she could in the dark, using her bare feet to feel around on the ground.

"Ah!" She jumped, feeling something sliver across her foot. She leant up against the wall, almost crying. "Otou-san… he'll come and get me." She clutched the flower in her hand, knowing that it was probably ruined. "Otou-san!" A tear fell to the floor, making the earth damp blow her.

The hanyou skidded to a stop, looking back towards where he had left the girl. "Hanaharu?" He sniffed at the air, listening to the forest. 'Where could she have gone?' He hadn't even been outside of her sight two minutes and she was gone. "Shimatta." He began rushing back; in disbelief that he had let his one and only daughter like that. "Hanaharu!" InuYasha ran back towards where he last saw the girl.

He heard a scream, finding a hole just large enough for the hanyou to fall through. He knelt down next to the hole, looking into the darkness. "Hanaharu! Are you down there?"

"Otou-san!" The young girl cried, making her way back towards the light. "Otou-san, I can't get out!" She clawed at the wall, desperately wanting out of there. "The walls are too steep and I can't climb through that tunnel!"

The hanyou looked around, taking off the outer fire-rat kimono that clothed his body. "Hold on and get away from the hole, I'm comin' down." The looked down through it, he could fit through. If he squeezed, he could. InuYasha wasn't a very large man, even if he was strong enough to take down demons a hundred times his size.

Hanaharu stepped back, knowing that her father would get to her even if it meant getting his sword out and hacking away the ground. It was starting to get harder to breathe now, and she was scared, even if her father was right there. "Otou-san… onegai… hayaku."

The hanyou easily made his way down the slide, landing on his feet at the bottom, his daughter running up and embracing him, crying. InuYasha hugged her back, closing his eyes. "Hanaharu, gomen ne, I shouldn't have done that."

She opened her eyes, looking up to the man. "Otou-san, it's not your fault. The flower fell, and I went back to get it."

"Hanasu na." He looked around the small cavern. He could see better in the dark than his daughter because he had more demonic blood. "Save the air, we need to find a way out.

"Otou-san, can't you use Tetsusaiga to break through the ground?" She pulled away from him, looking back up towards the opening above them.

"Iie. The ground might burry us."

The small girl closed her eyes, making a silent prayer to the kami. Her mother and father weren't all too religious, but the monk had told her to respect the Buddha and kami, and told her if she prayed, they would answer her. "Otou-san?"

The hanyou was looking up towards the entrance. Hanaharu wouldn't be able to climb up it, the way down was too slippery and there was nothing to hang onto. "I have an idea. Hanaharu, get on my back."

The girl did as her father commanded. She knew he wasn't always sensible, but when he needed to do something, he knew what he was doing. She climbed onto his back hanging onto him around his neck as if she were to let go she would die. "Ookee."

The hanyou didn't hold onto her, cracking his knuckles as he looked up at the celing of the small cave. "Eki. Hold on tight." He flexed his claws, jumping up at the celing. "Sankontessou!"

He slashed at the ground above them, causing it to fall down and stir up dust and dirt from all around. Light poured around into the cave as the roof collapsed, InuYasha taking this opportunity to jump out into the light, both he and his daughter being covered in the damp earth as it fell past them. He landed in a kneeling position on a large tree, giving Hanaharu the chance to let go and stand for herself.

She was too scared, clinging around his neck even after her tried loosening her grip a bit. "Iie, Otou-san." She kept her eyes closed and her head against his back, not budging.

InuYasha understood, letting her hang there on his back as he looked down to the large crater where the cave was. "Hanaharu, miru."

"Otou-san, watashi wa kowai." She slit her eyes open, looking the at the ground as she let out a gasp. "It's bigger than I thought it was." The crater was about twenty feet long, and there was at least ten feet of the ground gone. She slowly let go of her father, only keeping a thin hand against his shoulder. "Chichi, where's your kimono?"

He looked around, spotting a bit of red on the ground; he jumped down to get it, holding it in a clawed hand as he sat there in a crouched position. "Musume, let's go home." Both of them were absolutely covered in dirt, a bath even sounded good to InuYasha.

"Hai." She smiled, sitting down on the branch and sliding off, landing on the ground under the tree.