H. Muse: Nine virtual months?

Jewel: shrug I had to wait on you.

Last time:

"Inu-Yasha!" Her call did no good, Kagome had seen him enter the well house. Probably he'd already been gone by the time she'd tried to stop him. She settled onto her bed. "Does he really think I'd abandon my baby?" The question turned out to be the center around which she began making her decisions.

Inu-Yasha held his daughter carefully. You couldn't tell she was his, not at all. She looked like a miniature of her mother, even had the same dark hair. He drank up the sight of her, memorizing her scent. Demon and miko blood in her veins, a strange combination already at war. That had been at war the entire pregnancy.

Some things weren't meant to be mixed. He knew that now. It didn't make it any easier.

Kagome had only come for a visit. It was too soon for her to be giving birth, according to humans. Her child, though, wasn't human. Their child. His eyes burned.

Some things weren't meant to be. His daughter's face blurred for a moment, brought back into sharp focus with a few rapid blinks. He nuzzled the tiny head, drinking in the baby scent, the soft downy feel of her hair. It would be the last time he would see her. He knew that. Was sure of it. All the signs were clear to him.

Not to the others, though. They were busy with Kagome. She hadn't been expecting to have the baby, after all, and had brought none of the supplies she'd intended to bring with her. She had screamed and screamed throughout the birth, swearing that the trip back had accelerated her pregnancy.

Maybe it had, maybe it hadn't. He had heard the stories in the village where he'd grown up - that his mother hadn't been pregnant long with him. She had come back to give him her decision. Had told him after he'd jumped her out of the well.

But now that he held his daughter, he knew he wouldn't see her again, regardless of what her mother said. One long nail ran gently down the side of her cheek. And Kagome's voice broke his musing.

"Have you chosen a name for her?"

"Sakata." His human grandmother's name. Kagome smiled, holding her arms out for their daughter. He surrendered her, reluctantly.

"Aye, Kagome. A lovely child." Kaede was obviously bursting with curiosity, as her next words proved. "What have ye chosen to do, then? Shall ye and the wee one stay?"

"What? Oh! No, not right now. I've got to show her to Mom and Grandpa and Sota. And she's got to have all her shots and everything before we come back."

Kaede's eyes lit up. "Ah, then ye will be staying with us?"

"No, Kaede." Her voice was gentle. "I won't. I will be here on weekends, to look for the shards, and I'll bring Sakata with me. But we will live in my time. She will grow up in both times, and when she is seven, will decide whether to live in mine - or in her father's."

All eyes were on him suddenly, but he kept his fixed to his daughter's face, nodding once to show he'd heard. Kagome continued, "And I will stay with her. Mom's expecting me back tomorrow, so Inu-Yasha will take us back to the well. Right now, what I really want is to sleep…"

A lot of murmuring later, the three were alone in the room. He kept watch while she slept, their daughter tucked tightly to her side. He packed up the gifts she'd been given quietly, bundling them to take back with her tomorrow.

He waited while she said her goodbyes, then lifted her and their daughter, carrying them effortlessly through the trees to the well.

"You've been awfully quiet, Inu-Yasha."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You're still mad that I'm not staying, aren't you?"

"It's not that." He dropped to the ground, made himself comfortable. "I thought you would give us a chance."

"Inu-Yasha! I am giving us a chance! You'll see us on weekends!"

He nodded. "I know." Golden eyes met hers. "Do you still believe that I took you against your will?"

"Oh, honestly! What are you worried about that for? It was a long time ago, I still don't remember what happened, and I really don't care! I have to do what's best for my baby, and right now, that means going home!"

He got up, gathered their things, and jumped them through the well. Stayed for the apparently obligatory pictures, and went back through the well. He wasn't supposed to go get her for another six weeks. Her mother had spent two hours explaining that that was positively the earliest she could be expected o travel to visit his time, and that there was to be positively no shard-hunting until the baby was at least a year old.

He went straight to the God-Tree when he got back to his time. Climbed to his favorite perch. He had a decision to make.

H. Muse: There, all done.

Jewel: All done?

H. Muse: Yes, done.

Jewel: eyes H. Muse

H. Muse: looks uneasy

Jewel: keeps staring

H. Muse: starts babbling All the clues are there! Might have to reread, but the clues are there! He knows that he's not gonna see his daughter again…

Jewel: I know that.

H. Muse: Then why are you still glaring?

Jewel: sighs You like those annoying open-ended endings, don't you?

H. Muse: Ah, you noticed!

Jewel: You still haven't managed to get Trunks conceived.

H. Muse: vanishes in embarrassment

Jewel: There's a possibility of an explanatory epilogue, if required and demanded.