Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Fourteen: Bedtime Stories and Babysitters

Day Twenty – Four

Less than a week left of the assignment. I'm beginning to wonder what life without a constant migraine feels like. Not to mention that a full night's sleep seems like something from a fairy-tale.

And speaking of fairy-tales, as per instruction, I've put together a list of bedtime stories and lullabies for Mikomi. I had a little help picking out the best ones.

I also put together the list to give to a babysitter. That was a little more challenging once I started asking the opinions of what should go on the list of the other members of my little family.

Kagome picked up yet another balled up piece of paper and tossed it into the fire. The lists weren't quite ready yet. She wondered if she would ever get it all finished. With the help of her friends... well... maybe an incomplete list wouldn't drop her grade too much...

ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo

"Let go!"

"No!"

"Let GO!"

"NO!"

"Inuyasha LET GO NOW!"

"Get OFF me, wench!"

Shippo took the lollipop out of his mouth and snickered at the loud growls that were not coming from the dog demon, but rather the miko. He heard Sango sigh heavily and turned to the humans behind him.

"Why is Kagome trying to strangle Inuyasha?" asked the kit.

Sango huffed. "Because he is an idiot."

"He's always been an idiot, but she's never tried strangling him before." Not that the kit was complaining. A soft click sound caught his attention and he picked up Mikomi and pressed one of her buttons. Yesterday he realized he could hear the click right before she started wailing, so he started pushing buttons before she started making sounds. Of course, he wasn't going to tell anyone about his newfound knowledge. Inuyasha would make him stay up all night listening for clicks and whirrs.

The demon slayer looked uncomfortable as she sat down near the kit. "Well, he mentioned something that he shouldn't have mentioned the other day while they were on the other side of the well."

Shippo nodded. "PMS. I heard Kagome apologizing yesterday for getting so worked up about it. But why would that make her mad? What the heck is it?"

Sango cleared her throat, ignoring the curious look of the monk. "Every human woman has a monthly cycle," she tried not to blush under the scrutiny.

"He mentioned THAT?" Miroku laughed. "Kagome must really love Inuyasha if he is still alive!"

"This cycle is what makes it possible to have babies," explained Sango as she continued to ignore the monk. "It changes the hormonal balance of the woman while it is getting her body ready. And during this change, the woman sometimes feels pain or discomfort. There are other physical symptoms too. And sometimes that is what makes a woman's temper shorter than usual during this time."

Shippo nodded wisely. "Makes them insane."

"SHIPPO!" Sango scolded him while Miroku doubled up laughing.

"What? That's what Inuyasha said, not me!"

Making a mental note to never EVER say those three letters to any creature female, Shippo decided he would have a better view of the quarreling couple from Miroku's shoulder. He did, after all, have strong self-preservation instincts.

Watching the fight was much more entertaining than anything he had seen in a very long time, and safer than pursuing the current conversation with the irate demon slayer. Kagome had both hands around the rosary and her right foot braced on Inuyasha's stomach as she pulled with all her might. The angry hanyou was holding both of her wrists and trying to shake her loose.

"So… she's trying to kill him because he mentioned… uh… because he made her mad?"

Still chuckling, Miroku shook his head. "She's not trying to kill him, Shippo. She's trying to take off the rosary."

"WHAT?" Shippo's blood ran cold. Inuyasha without the subduing rosary. He would be kibble by nightfall. "Why would she do that to me?"

"OW, move your foot Kagome!"

"Then let GO!"

"Woman…" he warned, "MOVE your FOOT!"

Shippo sighed as Inuyasha fell over, taking the miko with him, when he tried to dislodge her. Kagome scrambled up to her knees, without taking her grip off the rosary. Quickly she jumped to her feet, straddling the fallen hanyou. With her knees bent she pulled up with all of her might. Shippo knew that Inuyasha could have knocked the girl down easily. But he didn't want to hurt her, which put him at a major disadvantage. The kit jumped from Miroku's shoulder after he made a suggestive comment about the situation, the bone boomerang would be making contact in seconds.

"She isn't doing it to you," Sango told him as she propped her weapon against a tree. She stepped over Miroku's prone body to pick up the kit. "She's doing it for Inuyasha. She wants him to be free."

"But how will she control him?"

Sango pat his head. "She doesn't want to control him, Shippo. He isn't a pet, and she worries that he will grow to hate her because she does have that control."

At that Shippo fell silent. He no longer knew who to root for in the scuffle. Inuyasha managed to crawl out from under Kagome and yanked the rosary from her grip. His pause in his moment of glory gave the girl enough time to jump onto his back and grab the rosary again. The hanyou cursed colorfully as he ended up spinning in circles to try to dislodge the girl. But he was careful. He was always careful with her. What would happen if Inuyasha really did start to hate her because she had the sit command?

"Why doesn't Inuyasha want her to take it off?"

Sango smiled softly. "The first day Kagome met Inuyasha, Kaede spelled the rosary to attach to Inuyasha and bonded him to Kagome."

"Yeah… so?"

"He has never been through the well without it. What if the rosary is what lets him go through the well? If she took it off he might not be able to go through. He wouldn't be able to go to Kagome."

Shippo bit his lip while he thought. There has to be a loophole somewhere to make everyone happy. Did Kagome just bite Inuyasha's hand? Ouch.

"What if Kaede took the spell off? That way when Kagome says 'sit' nothing would happen. Everyone wins!"

"What if it's that spell that binds him to her?"

Shippo sighed. "Sounds like you've been thinking about this a lot."

With a smile Sango shook her head then looked over to the fight where Kagome was screaming. Inuyasha had taken off her shoe and was tickling one of her feet with one hand, the other was busy trapping both of her wrists around his neck so she couldn't rip off the beads and fangs. "Not me. Inuyasha. He has been talking to Kaede."

"Then why would Kagome try to take off the rosary?"

"Do you really think she would be fighting him if she knew?"

Shippo sighed. "The idiot didn't tell her, did he?" He turned to look at Sango curiously. "You haven't told her either, have you?"

The woman snickered. "Are you kidding? And miss out on THIS entertainment? Not on your life!"

ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo

1. Phone numbers: cell phone number, restaurant number, fire department and police numbers.

2. Offer the baby a bottle of milk every hour or two, only use the bottled milk in the refrigerator.

3. Give the baby food from the jar at noon or at seven p.m.

4. Change diapers as needed. Use baby powder.

5. First aid supplies in cabinet by the refrigerator, in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, in the master bedroom closet. and in the bottom drawer in the baby's dresser.

6. Feel free to eat snacks, watch television, or do homework.

Call me when:

1. Call if the baby cries for 20 or 30 minutes and you can't figure out why.

2. Call if the baby gets a fever, throws up, or gets hurt.

"What about demon attacks?" Sango asked. "Shouldn't you put that on the list?"

Kagome stopped writing and looked up. She wondered if she should have asked for their input. "Um… we don't really have all that many demons in my time."

"But there are some," Miroku said, "So it would be wise to include it on your list."

"I agree," said Shippo as he sucked up another ramen noodle.

"Me too." Inuyasha licked inside his ramen cup for one last time. "Put it on the list."

3. Call in case a demon attacks.

"Or dark mikos," added Sango as she fed some of her noodle juice to Kirara.

3. Call in case a demon attacks, or a dark miko.

"Or wild animals," said Shippo as he tossed his container over his shoulder, making sure it hit Inuyasha in the process. His ears twitched as the cup hit him in the head, but he was studiously ignoring it.

"Shippo… I don't think that…"

"Write it down." When Kagome didn't move her pencil, Inuyasha grabbed her hand and moved it for her. She rolled her eyes.

3. Call in case a demon attacks, or a dark miko, or wild animals.

Inuyasha frowned at the paper. He sat down next to Kagome and took her list. "Maybe we shouldn't leave the baby with anyone. Ever. It's too dangerous. No one can protect it like we can. It ain't safe." He grunted, crumpling up the paper and tossing it behind him before folding his arms across his chest. "We ain't leavin' it."

Sigh. "The assignment says that I have to make a list to leave for the babysitter."

"Ain't happenin'."

"But…"

"No."

"I'll fail!"

"Feh."

"I'll have to repeat the entire grade all over again. One more year of school."

Grunt. Grumble. Crinkle crinkle. "Keh." He tossed the now slightly rumpled but mostly straightened out list back to Kagome.

"Make sure the babysitter can cast a barrier, then."

Kagome blinked. A barrier? "Inuyasha…"

"Write it down, Kagome. The only person we're leaving the baby with is someone who can cast a barrier."

"HEY!" Sango threw her empty cup at Inuyasha's head.

He sighed. "Or can slay demons." He looked over Kagome's shoulder. "You're not writing this down. Write it down." He glared at his friends. "And if one more person throws a cup at my head I'm going to shred you."

You must be able to slay demons or cast barriers.

"That's not one of those things to call about. I think that goes more under qualifications," Kagome said as she wrote the words towards the bottom of the page.

Inuyasha looked thoughtful. "Okay, that's number one then." He looked at the group. "We need more qualifications. That's not enough."

I should really learn to keep my mouth shut, groaned Kagome as she wrote the word 'Qualifications' as another heading. She would have complained and refused to do it if it wasn't such a good idea.

1. You must be able to slay demons or cast barriers.

Though, she told herself, I'll just have to do a little rewriting before I turn in the final list. She doubted her teacher would take her seriously if she wrote down demon slaying as a requirement for babysitters and to call in case of dark mikos. Then again… who knows. Maybe she would get extra credit for being creative.

"Waaahhhhh!"

Patience, Kagome. Have patience. "What's wrong, Shippo?"

"I can't cast barriers and I'm not a demon slayer, but I can watch Mikomi as well as anyone!" He sniffled dramatically as he fed another spoonful of food to the doll. "See? Put down that the babysitter can be an illusion casting fox demon master too."

"No."

"Kagome! Inuyasha is being mean!"

"No! Ow! Quit biting me, you brat!" Inuyasha shook his arm to dislodge the pointy toothed kit, occasionally bonking him on the head. Mikomi took the opportunity to wail. "You're too young! We already have to babysit YOU!"

"Kagooomeeeeee!"

Fuzzy ears pinned to his skull as Inuyasha prepared himself for the sit command. When it didn't come, both he and Shippo looked at each other, then at Kagome. She was taking deep breaths and counting to ten quietly, over and over again as she tried to get the baby to stop crying.

"Inuyasha, don't hit Shippo." The kit smirked and the hanyou frowned. "Shippo, don't bite Inuyasha." The frown turned into a smirk of his own.

Once Mikomi stopped crying, after the diaper change, Kagome flipped through her papers to find her assignment. She scanned the page and nodded once she found what she was looking for.

"I think we'll give the babysitter list a break for now. We'll uh… work on it later." She took out a blank piece of paper and began writing.

"What are you working on now?" asked Miroku. "Is that another part of your assignment for Mikomi?"

Tempted as she was to lie, Kagome nodded.

"Well?" demanded Inuyasha. "What is it?"

Kagome's eye began to tick. She began counting again to keep her blood from boiling.

"Why does she keep counting?" Shippo asked Sango. The demon exterminator shrugged as she began getting her bedding ready.

"Why don't you ask her?"

"Because," whispered the kit, "Her eye is doing that funny twitching thing."

Kagome ignored her friends and continued to work on her assignment. A shadow with dog shaped ears fell over her paper. She sighed. He wasn't going to give up. Part of her was grateful that he wanted to help. The other part knew that every time he did, the others did too, and then it would just become a fiasco.

"I need to get together a list of bedtime stories that I read to the baby."

Inuyasha peered at the paper. "What do you have so far?" Kagome read her list out loud.

Little Red Riding Hood

Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty

Three Little Pigs

"Isn't Little Red Riding Hood the one where the wolf is the bad guy and he tries to eat the little girl?" asked Shippo.

Inuyasha smirked and waited for Kagome's answer.

"Yes, Shippo."

"What happens at the end of the story again?" asked the amused dog demon.

Kagome couldn't help but smile. He knew the answer to that. She could tell by the tone of his voice. His slightly blood thirsty tone wasn't what made her smile though, it was the fact that he not only listened to the bedtime stories she told Shippo, but he remembered them.

"The hunter killed him, Inuyasha."

"Heh." He smirked. "What happened in the pig one?"

Kagome ducked her head to hide her smile. "I believe the pigs tricked him down the chimney and cooked him."

"Heh." He smirked again.

"Maybe you should take Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty off the list," suggested Sango.

"Oh?" Kagome turned her attention to her friend.

"In Cinderella the girl marries a man she doesn't even know. He couldn't even recognize her without her fancy dress. He was going to marry any girl who fit the slipper!" She glared at Miroku, who looked surprised that he was somehow being blamed. "And in Sleeping Beauty she marries a man she met when she woke up because he kissed her! That is hardly enough reason to get married."

"It was true love's kiss that woke her up," Kagome tried to explain in defense, "Not just any ol' kiss from some strange guy."

Sango snorted. "She didn't even know him. How could she love him?"

Inuyasha stood up and stretched before leaping onto a low branch. He leaned against the trunk and put his hands behind his head before closing his eyes. "Eh, let her keep her stories. Doesn't matter."

"No? In Cinderella the girl marries a man so dense that he doesn't even know he has the wrong girl, even though the step sister only fit her foot in the shoe by cutting off her toes. Is that the kind of man you want your daughter to be looking for? You don't care if your daughter hears stories where the woman falls in love with a total stranger? Where the woman is kissed by a man she doesn't know and she marries him anyhow. You don't mind that your little girl learns that she is supposed to wait around to be saved instead of learning that she can save herself?"

It took every bit of self control Kagome had to not laugh at the expression of horror on the hanyou's face. It came as no surprise he became a red blur as he leapt from the tree and ended up beside her. The pencil was snatched out of her hand and and heavily scratched out two of the miko's favorite fairy tales. His relaxed posture gone as he glared at Kagome.

"What? They're classics!"

Shippo took the pencil and put it back in Kagome's hand. "Write down the mermaid one. I liked that one"

"The Little Mermaid?"

He grinned, "Yeah, that's the one."

Sango nodded. "The mermaid endures many hardships to pursue her dream. She has her tongue cut out and endured excruciating pain to be with the man she loves. She is a strong woman, a good role model. She even is the one to save the prince! Add that one to your list."

"Write it down, Kagome," instructed Inuyasha as he sat next to her again. Apparently he decided not to hop back up to the branch.

But the pencil didn't move.

"You want me to write down that story?" she asked. He nodded and pushed her arm a bit as a not so subtle hint to start writing. "You want me to write down the story where the girl works so hard and endures so much, only to have the man she loves more than anything in the world marry someone else and she ends up dying?"

"Forget it." Inuyasha snarled.

"What about the story of the beautiful woman and the beast?" suggested Miroku, hoping to distract Inuyasha from the looks that promised death he was shooting towards Shippo and Sango.

"Doesn't the father basically sell his daughter to the beast to buy his own freedom?" Sango gave a glare of her own to the monk.

"Leave it off the list."

"But Inuyasha, it's a good story," argues Kagome as she begins to write down the title.

"No. Leave it off!"

"Give me back my pencil, dog boy!"

"Ow! Let go of my hair!"

"Then give me back my pencil!"

Inuyasha held the pencil out of her reach as she made a grab for it. She pulled on his hair and yanked on his sleeve.

"True," Miroku said as if two of his companions weren't fighting over a pencil like a pair of children, "The daughter trades her freedom for her father's. That shows that she is kind and selfless."

"Or she is spineless," grumbles the exterminator.

Kagome stops struggling. "But Sango, Beauty was strong in her own way. She lived with the Beast, who everyone was terrified of and hated. He was filled with such bitterness and anger, but eventually Beauty saw him for the person he was inside, not the beast that other people saw." Inuyasha stopped struggling as well. "She fell in love with him, and even when her sisters tricked her and tried to keep her away from him, she still went back. In the end she chose to be with him because she loved him, no matter what anyone else said or thought. And he loved her."

Inuyasha sat back down and thrust the pencil back at the miko. "Write it down." He blushed at the smile she gave him. "How many stories do you have to have?"

Kagome looked at her paper woefully. "I only have three... I need at least two more."

"Pick one with a fox as the hero!"

The next hour or so was debating verbally... and not so verbally... different stories to add to the list. Eventually Kagome gave up writing and sat rocking Mikomi back and forth as she listened to her friends. It warmed her heart. Inuyasha obviously wasn't the only one who listened to her stories at night.

As Inuyasha vehemently insisted that Little Red Riding Hood be left on the list regardless of if she's a heroine in distress who had to be saved (he felt that any story where the wolf dies HAD to stay on the list), Kagome reached up behind him to where she could see his rosary peeking out. If she was careful and didn't touch his hair, she just might have a chance to get ahold of the stupid thing while he was distracted. Her fingers were a breath away when Inuyasha twisted suddenly and grabbed her wrist, glaring at her.

"Don't even think about it, wench."

ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo

Making the lists for the babysitter and the bedtime stories took longer than I expected. There were a lot of things that I didn't think of at first. Luckily I had some friends help me brainstorm. It was interesting hearing everyone's point of view and listen to thing things that they felt were important both in who watches their child, and the stories that their child hears.

I guess I never really thought about the importance of the stories we tell to our kids. Would it really be all THAT bad to tell a fairy-tale where a handsome prince saves her and sweeps her off her feet? What's so wrong about love at first sight anyhow? It's possible to fall in love with someone who's under a sleep spell, I know it is.

Besides, I want my kids to believe in happily ever afters. Sometimes when all the demons in the world are descending upon you, that belief in happily ever after is all that keeps you going.

Kagome Higurashi

ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo

Author's Note:

Thank you all for your reviews. It means a lot to me. I enjoy reading them. Many of them make me think harder about how to approach the next chapter. Though I don't change the direction of my stories based on reviews, I do take constructive criticism and suggestions seriously. And since some of you have asked so nicely, I will be putting the teacher's response up as the very last chapter.