Chapter Four: The Ransom of Red Chief
Kagome bit her lip then gave in howling in pain. The boy froze, apparently her scream alarmed him. She took advantage of his momentary lapse and swung him over her knees.
Before she even knew what she was doing her hand was falling across his butt, over and over. She had five good smacks in before she realized she was spanking a child who wasn't hers and of mixed blood. The crazy thing was he just laid there allowing her to strike him. She easily justified her actions.
If this little bastard belongs to who I think he does than I am for all practical purposes his auntie and if not then he certainly needed the lesson.
She stopped with her hand hovering over his blue kimono covered rear and forced herself to stop and take a deep breath. Kagome rolled the boy over and wasn't surprised to see the pure hatred that burned in his dark golden eyes.
"Who are you?" she asked not really expecting an answer.
"Keh." He stuck out his tongue. She raised her hand waving it in warning and his gaze fell to the floor.
Okay no big surprise here. Boy, what am I gonna do with you? Toss you back down well? This idea was very appealing. She slid her hands under his armpit and hefted him up. He kicked his bare feet and slammed his heal into her ribs. Kagome tightened her hold on him. He was part monkey and began scrambling up her side. Gods he needs a freaking leash! Was I just complaining about my girls? They are angels in comparison.
He swung his tiny fist up against her nose. All of his force was behind the blow and Kagome stumbled as stars danced before her eyes. Her foot came in contact with a Lego castle Miya was building and she fell to the floor landing flat on her face. Daylight flashed behind her eyelids then the world was blissfully dark.
Kagome woke a few minutes later but the little terror was gone. Her living room bore the destructive evidence of his temper tantrum. Even the couch cushions had been shredded. Damn it. Next time I get my hands on him I'm gonna kill him.
Her hand found a large knot growing on the top of her forehead. But before I commit murder I think I'll get some ice. Kagome pulled herself to her feet and returned to the kitchen. The freezer door stood open and a puddle of cold water stood directly under the fridge. All of my shopping…ruined. She checked the ice cube trays and found them laying face down on the floor.
Kagome shut the freezer door and retrieved the mop. There was no sign of the hellion child so she began the long process of setting the kitchen to rights. It was hard work and every muscle in her body ached from her night of drinking and the fall. She was standing over the sinking wringing out the mop when a movement outside the window caught her eye. She saw the top of a silver head move past the window pane.
Kagome dropped the mop head into the sink where it landed with a plop!
Okay you little miscreant bastard. This time you're all mine. She removed the mop handle from the mop head and quietly opened the kitchen door. It was a bright afternoon and the sounds of passing traffic and birds were too loud for her to hear him. But that didn't mean he wouldn't hear her as he probably had sensitive ears.
Kagome crept around the corner of the house and peered around and there was no one there. She slid around to the back yard into the gardens and all was peaceful. The fact the grounds were still intact was an indication he hadn't made it out there…yet.
Kagome leaned against the mop handle. The only other logical place to check was the well house. She headed down the garden path. He's here somewhere and I'm gonna find him.
She was moving across the stepping stones when she heard the snap of a tree branch above her head. Her eyes narrowed and her head began to pound. Come on! He's in the trees? That is so unfair.
Kagome lifted her chin and scanned the tree tops. They were empty but swaying. Leaves wafted down from the branches landing at her feet. Something or someone had just been sitting above her head.
Kagome took the mop handle in both hands and swung it around Kung fu style as she'd seen done in Hojo's favorite movies. She knew the movies were woefully inaccurate but still it was cool to spin the handle in her hands. It gave her a feeling of control and power. Something she'd been lacking in lately.
Whatever moved in the tree tops dropped down to the ground behind her. Kagome felt the breeze created by the fall and heard the slap of bare feet on the paver stones. She spun around and raised the mop handle as one would a cane or fighting staff. Kagome swung out at the figure before her striking him hard across the chest and shoulders. Her plan was fool proof. Hell, her aim was even good. It was a shame she squeezed her eyes shut before slamming him with the mop handle.
"Fucking hell Kagome! Are ya trying to kill me?" came the indignant cry.
"You were tracking me what the hell did you…expect?" she opened her eyes and even though she'd been secretly expecting this, seeing Inuyasha was still a shock.
He stood before her in the same fire rat robes, his ears perked in her direction. His hair and clothing were the same but his eyes were different. He was almost tired. She drank in the sight of him and his long silver hair blowing back in the breeze.
Inuyasha's face broke out into an unexpected grin, flashing the tips of his fangs as he rubbed his shoulder. "It's really you."
Kagome leaned against the mop handle and studied him. His face was thinner and his eyes bigger. Has he known hunger? Then she remembered the round body of the wiggling boy and dismissed the notion. She pushed her hair back from her face. "Yeah, it's really me."
He stepped forward and reached out to her. Inuyasha's clawed hand found her shoulder length hair and he ran his hand through it. "Gods Kagome, what happened to your hair… you cut it all off."
Kagome shook her head and her hair brushed against her shoulders. "After the girls it was just easier…"
Inuyasha nodded. "I've seen them, they're beautiful. The tall one, she reminds me of...you."
Ayumi? I guess I can see that. Hey wait, I wasn't crazy he's been watching me…I wonder for how long? "Thank you."
He felt the need to explain. "I left after I saw your family. You didn't need to see me, you have so much." He bit his lip and looked away to the tree beside them. Kagome's forehead furrowed. What is it that you aren't telling me?
She took a deep breath. Everything was so strange. The birds chirped in the trees, the wind buzzed in her ears and before her stood the man she'd never expected to see again. "Inuyasha… are you missing something?"
He checked his belt and fingered the scabbard of Tetsusaiga then looked back up at her. "Nope."
Kagome licked her lips. "Okay let me rephrase that. Are you missing someone?"
His ears fell flat against his head and his eyes narrowed. "So you've seen him, huh?"
Kagome sat on a small stone bench under the cherry blossom trees just off the path. She rubbed the growing bump on her forehead. "Yeah you could say that. He's quite a…handful."
Inuyasha frowned and he sat beside her, put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her to him as he had in the past. "Kagome, did he hurt you.?" His scent enveloped her reminding her of safety and protection. She pressed her face to his shoulder and smiled.
Kagome began to answer Inuyasha's question, 'no, not really' but then it occurred to her that she always pushed everything under the rug. When she was hurt, upset or inconvenienced Kagome took it in stride and said nothing. Until now she was proud of this habit but maybe this one talent was a fault and not a strength. Maybe Inuyasha would've picked her over Kikyo had she been more forceful. Maybe Hojo would be here with her now and not away on his 'business' trip.
"Yes Inuyasha, he did hurt me. He bit me then knocked me out and did excessive damage to the house."
His eyes flashed with anger and his face fell in bitter disappointment. "Kagome, I'm so sorry. The pup, he hasn't been right since his mom died. It's my fault he got over here…The well's been acting funny and I knew it had to be you so I came to see you and he followed me…"
Kagome frowned. Pup? "Does he have a name?"
He grinned proudly. "Taro."
She nodded, "InuTaro?"
"Yeah."
"Is Pup a nickname?"
He shrugged, "He's just a kid. It's common, that and he hasn't earned the right to be called by his proper name." Little bastard…and he's mine.
"How old is he?"
She was shocked when Inuyasha had to pause and think. "Three, I think… Yeah it's been a year since… he's three."
Three! That monster is easily the size of a six year old! "But he's so big!"
Inuyasha shrugged. "He's mixed and we tend to grow faster than you fragile humans."
Kagome asked the pressing question. "Isn't he two thirds human himself?"
"Something like that." He was purposely vague.
Kagome pressed, "What do you mean something like that? Kikyo is human!"
"Yeah she was but his mother was half kitsune." He avoided her eyes and let her reach her own conclusions.
Kagome's mouth fell open. Someone other than Kikyo! "How?"
"We wanted a child and Kikyo…couldn't have any."
Kagome's first thought was, Guess that whole reanimated clay thing really came back to bite her in the ass. Inuyasha paused and gathered his words before continuing. "The woman was a shrine servant, Kikyo picked her to stand in and have her child."
Kagome was shocked. She'd forgotten how brutal the Warring States world was. She'd heard of the practice but never in a million years would have thought Inuyasha capable of such of thing or that Kikyo would be willing to do it.
Inuyasha found the pressing silence uncomfortable and chastised her. "Kagome don't look at me like that. My world is different from yours and it was her idea. You don't understand…she was barren and she hated it so much…"
But Kagome did understand. It took her two years before she conceived Ayumi. When she realized she might not ever have a child, it was the bleakest moment of her life. However she couldn't see Kikyo sharing her hard won Inuyasha or him going along with it. This was unexpected. But one never knew the depths of another's soul or sorrows.
Kagome had to ask. "And what of the servant? What became of her?"
He replied simply, "She died in childbirth." So it was a done deal with nothing behind left to regret.
"But you said his mother died a year ago, he's three?"
His voice broke. "Kikyo's spell finally broke down and I found her in the woods."
You've been alone for a whole year? Her heart wrenched for him and she understood why the boy was so wild. But that didn't mean she forgave the bite or Taro's attack on her. "So much has happened hasn't it?" Her voice was soft.
His confession came easier than he'd anticipated "Yeah…when I saw the well was active I decided to investigate." He wasn't able to express in words how it had felt when he picked up on her scent. It was like coming home after a long winter.
Kagome nodded, "I can see that." Well time to show him what his son has done to her home. "Are you hungry? It's past noon and I can fix us some lunch."
The pain melted away from the lines around his eyes. "Ramen?"
She sighed. "Yes ramen, my girls love that stuff." And it's always reminded me of you.
He jumped to his feet. "Then let's go."
----
Kagome put the kettle on the stove to boil. Inuyasha stood in the door way taking in the damage. He'd never seen the shrine house in such shambles. Flour coated every surface. A broken bag of sugar lay on the floor. Everything was inexplicably sticky. Shame and quick anger burned through him. This was not how he'd envisioned introducing her to his son. His sudden interest in the ramen waned.
"I'll…help you clean this up." He gestured towards the ruins of the kitchen.
Kagome raised a brow. "Yeah…thanks." She bit her bottom lip. "So where do you think he went?"
He growled, "Back down the well if he knows what's good for him."
Kagome sighed. She'd never seen a boy who needed a mother more. It killed her to see her old friend and first love in such a condition. On the other hand it was a welcome distraction from her problems.
She pretended not to hear the little nagging voice deep in the recesses of her skull that gloated over his stupidity. He made the wrong choice and was paying for it. She stomped down the feeling and told her self, I've never wished them anything but the best and I'm sorry to hear of his loss. Yeah that was better.
Another ugly thought occurred to her and she asked, "Inuyasha, do you beat him?"
He muttered, "Only when it's called for…apparently I haven't done it enough." He glanced up and saw her face. "Oh Gods Kagome, I'm not a bad man. It's not like that."
She pulled out a tube of Chap Stick and rolled it over her lips. "I can see that. Besides…" Kagome stifled a small smile. "I took him across my knee after he bit me."
Inuyasha was impressed. "Really? You're still pretty fast for an old lady then."
She put her hand on her hip. "I'm hardly old, and speak for yourself! Aren't you over two hundred some odd years or something?"
"But I ain't human, you age faster." He gave her still perky chest a pointed looked.
Kagome blushed and pulled her arm over her breasts. "That is not up for discussion here. And you do look horrible. You're thinner and tired."
He pushed his long hair back over his shoulders. "Yeah it's the damned pup. Sometimes he's worse than Naraku."
Kagome demanded, "How is that even possible?"
"Naraku had to regroup. Sometimes we'd get a day or two off. This one's at me every moment of every day." He shook his head.
"Inuyasha, he is a boy not the devil incarnate." lied Kagome. "Surely there is something you haven't tried."
"Yeah I haven't tied him to a tree and left him there…yet." The idea was growing in appeal daily.
A child who was a mixed human, Inu yokai and kitsune would definitely warrant a call to Nanny 911 on a good day. Kagome asked, "How did your mother handle you?"
"She didn't have to." Inuyasha's voice lowered. "I had enough respect and sense to obey her…"
"Didn't you lose her while you were young?" Considering how he ages maybe she lived a long life? Kagome had always wondered.
"Yeah…" His thoughts were far away.
"So what did you do then?" Who watched over you?
"Sesshomaru came for me and I followed him." His ears fell flat against his head.
Really? "Like Rin?" Kagome was intrigued.
Inuyasha gave a cold chuckle. "Hardly. Until I learned to hunt for my own dinner occasionally he'd toss me a scrap. When the villagers came demanding my head for stealing their livestock, he held me out the window by my ankle then threw me to them."
Kagome wasn't surprised but she did wonder. "He didn't just try and kill you outright?"
"Nah, I wasn't a challenge but he always promised." Inuyasha had given up on waiting for Sesshomaru to fulfill his vow. For whatever reason he'd grudgingly accepted his existence. That isn't to say they still didn't have bloody battles from time to time.
Wow, yokai children are so much stronger than humans. Kagome considered this than said, "Maybe you are too easy on Taro."
Pure horror crossed Inuyasha's face. "I should treat him like that? I've seen you with your children and you don't do that!"
Kagome made a face. "I wasn't insinuating Sesshomaru was a model parent, I meant you should let him hunt and work off some of that energy. Put him to work."
Inuyasha threw out his hand and scoffed. "He's too young to be useful."
Kagome gestured to the remains of her kitchen. "Don't count him out until you try. Anyone who can inflict this kind of this damage can benefit from some good old fashioned hard work."
Inuyasha studied the over turned table and allowed, "Maybe you have something there."
The kettle whistled and Kagome removed it from the stove. "You've got to do something. Or I might be tempted to nail him the God tree myself." And I won't need a scared arrow.
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Notes:
Yes the practice of giving a servant to your husband to have a child to keep, has been going on for centuries. A famous example of this can be found in the Old Testament. Rachel fears she is barren and asks her husband Jacob to take her maid Bilhah in her name so that she might have a child. Of course Jacob already had three other wives but that is beside the point. A great book everyone should read is Anita Diamant's The Red Tent.
It's worth mentioning this practice continues today in far off parts of the world. If you are female and reading this, thank the blessed God above that you live in a free modern country where woman are people and not objects.
…Not to say that our guy Inu is a bad person, just that's something that might have taken place and the servant may have agreed to it to earn a valuable place as a member of the family. So please don't be too unhappy with him. ..Nuff said.