Chapter 16
Kagome's days were spent fussing over her new charge. She was surprised at how easy Yasha was. All the books she read talked about colic, gas, and hard to obtain schedules. But Yasha ate every two hours, took a nap in the morning and afternoon, went to sleep at 8, and started sleeping through the night, giving up his 3 am feeding, by the time he was 2 months old. He was every mother's dream baby. But he did have lungs. When he cried, the whole shrine heard it. Kagome could easily hear him screaming out, "WIND SCAR!", when he was old enough.
From just before Yasha was born, Kagome had made the decision that she would capture practically every moment of her child's life. After Kagome purchased a state of the art digital video camera and camera, Yasha became a star in the Higurashi household. She wanted to capture every moment in case Inuyasha ever did return. And if he didn't, she knew this would be the only child she'd ever have and she wanted these moments saved.
Shortly after the baby was born, Kagome took him for a stroll to the local park. As her luck would have it, she ran into Hojo on the way. Although she tried to discourage it, he started walking with her.
"So how have you been, Kagome?", he asked, pleasantly.
"Fine. Just fine. Well, still sore from having the baby but, I'll recover."
"He sure is cute. I bet your husband is happy."
Kagome smiled at him, "I know you know, Hojo. My husband and I aren't together right now."
"Well, I'm sure he's still happy at the fact that he has a son. I know I would be beside myself with joy."
"Yea, well, I can't reach him so he doesn't know yet."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Are you getting a divorce?"
"No, we're not. Not yet anyway."
"Oh. I was just figuring, you know, that you could, um, use a break from the baby.", Hojo said, looking at her with anticipation.
"What do you mean?"
"Would you like to go to a dance with me on Friday night? If you feel up to it, I mean."
"Hojo,", Kagome said, holding up her left hand, "I am still married. And I want to work things out with my husband. So, no."
"Oh. Well, ok.", Hojo reached down to tickle the baby's chin, "Hey Kagome, it's hot out today, don't you think he's too warm with that hat on?"
"It's only a light bonnet. And he likes hats. So no, he's fine.", Kagome said quickly.
"Ok. Far be it for me to override the mother. Well, bye Kagome. See you around.", he waved as he left.
"Whew! Finally!", Kagome sighed. And then,
"What were you doing Kagome?", she heard and she turned around to face her friends, Eri, Yuki and Ayumi.
"What? Why are you here?", Kagome asked, surprised.
"Trying to keep you from making a mistake again!", Yuki said.
"Huh?"
"Why don't you go out with Hojo?", asked Eri.
"Go out with Hojo? Guys - I'm MARRIED!", Kagome stated.
"Yea, to a guy who is a no show!", Ayumi said.
"And has been since right after your wedding!", Eri added.
"Well, we're working on it, ok?", Kagome lied.
"We just heard you say that you can't get a hold of him! Now which is it?", Ayumi said, tapping her foot.
"Were you guys spying on us?", Kagome said, her voice beginning to raise.
"Yea, well ...uhhh.", the girls stammered.
"Look, my problems are between me and my husband. Now please leave me be.", and before anymore could be said, Kagome crossed the street and headed home.
Arriving home, she took Yasha in, fed him, and put him down for his nap. Walking over to her window, she looked out. Turning to her desk, she picked up the note that Inuyasha had written. She hadn't read it for a while, for it still made her cry. As she read it, one line stuck in her mind ...
'A half-demon and a human'
She walked down the stairs and out to the sacred tree where she stopped.
'A half-demon and a human'
'That's right,' she thought, 'Yasha is part demon. Inuyasha told me ...'
flashback
"Demons and half demons age differently than humans. You see how slowly Shippou ages. My mother died when I was still a kid. But she was old. When a half demon turns about 13, he stops aging like a human. 50 years went by. I was still about 13 but my mother was old. So when she died I was left alone when I was still too young to survive."
end flashback
'Yasha will outlive me by years, probably. I'll be old and gray and he'll still be a teenager.', she thought sadly.
As she stared up at the tree, tears falling down her face, she heard the voice ...
"Come Come Child. There's no need to cry."
"Huh?", She turned her head towards the bench under the tree, where the voice came from, and sitting there was an elderly woman.
'Where'd she come from? I'm sure I was alone,', Kagome thought, then a realization hit her, "Grandmama?"
"Yes, child. Now what's all the crying for? You can tell your grandmama anything, you know", the old woman said.
Kagome walked over to the bench, looking at the old woman. But, how can this be? Her grandmother had died over 10 years ago!
"Come, child, come to grandmama. Come tell me your problems."
As if unable to stop herself, Kagome knelt down in front of the bench and began telling her grandmother everything. She held nothing back. After she was finished, she felt her grandmother's withered hand wipe away her tears.
"Now child, I'll tell you what to do. South of here lies the Aichi Prefecture. There is a town there called Inuyama. Go to the teahouse and asked to speak with Kimi. Tell her I sent you. She will then take you to her grandmother Tamae. Tamae will assist you."
As her grandmother spoke, she put her hands around Kagome's head and Kagome crossed her arms and laid them on her grandmother's lap, her head in her hands, as her grandmother gently stroked her hair. When her mother returned home from shopping, she witnessed her daughter, knelt in front of the bench, her head in her arms.
'Poor Kagome.', she thought as she entered the house.