Chapter 6 – Don't cry
Inuyasha turned around a corner. The scent was becoming stronger; he stopped when he could hear the voices he wanted to hear, clearly. His brother surely had already smelt him, but it didn't matter, the head healer certainly didn't.
Sesshoumaru spoke first: "So what are the news?" he said, calmly
The healer answered, eyes toward the floor: "Huh… well, my lord, it's not very… good."
Sesshoumaru frowned. The healer was starting to tense up. "What do you mean, by 'not very good'?" the Western Lord asked with an impatient tone.
"W-well-ll," he started shakily, "firstly, your Excellency's lady doesn't seem to be healing like she does normally. With the other healers, we came to an hypothesis; since we all know that your wife is the goddess of the sun and the moon, the cloudy sky seems to be blocking the way to her…" The healer blinked, "err, my lord? Can you forgive my self for asking, but are you listening…?"
Sesshoumaru didn't seem to be listening indeed; but he didn't have to open his gracious mouth. He let go of a deep growl instead, showing his anger.
The healer fell to his knees, hands covering his head, convinced that he would receive the lord's rage. As it wasn't coming, he looked up to see the lord.
Sesshoumaru regained his composure, and said: "Hn. If ever they are some other news about her condition, I want to know. I'll be at my library, studying."
The man on his knees bowed to the floor until his lord left. He then got up, his head between his shoulders, and returned to the master bedroom.
Inuyasha, who had been listening all along, but hadn't seen Sesshoumaru's face, felt his own anger rising; in his head, Sesshoumaru hadn't really listening. But in reality, Sesshoumaru was very concerned by Chikara's health; he simply just didn't let it show, which could pass at others' eyes as someone cold and uninterested.
Inuyasha was about to get up and tell his brother a piece of his mind, when a cry got his attention. Ears perked on top of his head, he tried to find where the sound was coming from. It sounded like Takato. He found out that it was coming from the room next to the master's; but the door was on the other side of the corridor. He then remembered, as he walked toward the room, that last time he checked, the baby was with Ayashii. He frowned: 'If ever she did something to him… she'll pay with her life, being Sesshoumaru's servant or not!'
As he put his hand on the door, he could hear her trying to soothe Takato, without success. He slid the panel quickly; in one instant, he jumped forward and had the baby in his arms, safe and sound. With the surprise of the moment, the servant fell backward, on her butt with a loud thump. She got up, dusting her old clothes, frowning at what she was seeing.
Inuyasha was rocking back and forth the crying baby. "Now, now, little one, don't cry. The old and mean servant won't touch you again." He smiled, as the baby started to quieten. Continuing to rock Takato, he looked at the servant: "Who's better with kids now, huh?" A big mocking grin formed on his lips.
She put one fist up, the other one on her hip: "What did you just call me! Old and mean! Why you little- I'll show you!"
"Don't you talk to me with that tone!" he cut her fiercely, snarling. "I'm part of the royal family too, if you didn't remember." He showed her his fangs to prove his point.
She flinched and then bowed her head: "I beg for you pardon… my prince" she said, with a bitter voice.
Takato whimpered a bit to gain attention; he caught hold of a strand of Inuyasha's long – and shiny, in Takato's opinion - silver hair.
"Oww! Hey stop that little one." He took back the hair that the baby definitelywanted to hold to.
A smile flashed on the servant's face. "So, my prince, do you know what's wrong with the young one then?" She rubbed her hands while waiting for an answer from Inuyasha.
The dog demon looked at the baby, analysed its behaviour before deciding of what to say: "Of course! Isn't it so obvious? He's simply hungry."
The woman looked at the hanyou, uncertain if he had just made that up. "You seem to know a lot about the young prince. Can I ask how do you know all this?"
Inuyasha looked at her and answered simply: "I pass a lot of time with him and Chikara, as we are travelling together with some friends."
The servant was a bit shocked. "Wait, she's travelling with you and not with the lord?"
Inuyasha crossed his arms. "Feh, do you honestly think that the oh-so-great-lord-that-doesn't-take-care-of-his-family would travel with us? He can't take his responsibilities, that's why I can take care better of Takato than him. Humph." He stomp his foot on the ground.
She raised her eyebrow and said: "Very well then… whatever you say. I'll take care of the baby; just hand me the prince." Ayashii approached to take the baby, but Inuyasha step back.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
"Well I'm taking the young prince, that's what!"
"Argh! Stop yelling! You're giving me a headache, you old hag" Inuyasha yelled. "Anyways, I can take care of him myself. I'm old enough, ya know" he bragged.
The old servant scoffed: "For your information, you can't take care of everything…"
"What do you mean? I often help Chikara with Takato, so why couldn't I now?" he asked.
"Well, you are male…" she started.
"Thanks for the information, you noticed it too?" Inuyasha said sarcastically.
"I MEAN, that men can't- can't …" she blushed a bit, "feed-the-babies-with-their-breasts-like-women-do" she shot her whole sentence in one breath.
Inuyasha was a bit surprised; she was right, he couldn't feed Takato himself. His ears flat on his skull, he was about to admit defeat when something came back from his memories. 'Yeah, that ought to do it!' He cleared his throat and a smile flashed on his face. "I'm sorry, but I have to say this; Inuyasha :1 and Old Hag: 0!"
Ayashii looked at his perplexed. "But why are you saying this? As I know, what I just said is right, so that means that I won." She crossed her arms in front of her, showing her point.
Inuyasha kept his smile plastered on his face: "Let me explain myself. I am not only a man; I'm also half-demon."
"So, where are you trying to get to?"
"Well, first of all: I remember a while a go, Chikara told me that demons, male and female, can bear and feed their offspring. Plus, unlike female humans, demons always produce milk, not only after giving birth, like women. Secondly, I am a male half-demon, which means that there is a small chance that I can feed this youngster."
"You, someone from royal blood, AND male, you would put your ego on the side and try to feed a child? Pfft… you're bluffing" the old servant said.
"Well, anyways, I've got nothin' to lose, old hag. My self-esteem can't be hurt any deeper." He thought for a second before saying: "Okay, if my theory is wrong, you can take him and I won't say a thing, plus I'll excuse myself. BUT, if I'm right, I will demand proper excuses and…" he paused to think again, "you will scrub and massage my feet." He looked at her in the eyes. "So, we have a deal, Ayashii?"
She couldn't refuse; she was certain she was right and Inuyasha was wrong. "Of course it's a deal. You'll finally see your rightful place in society, which is not feeding the children."
Inuyasha looked at Takato. 'Okay, what did I get myself into, this time? This should better work or I'm in deep-'
"Are you going to do it or not? My poor old back is already starting to hurt." She put a hand on the lower part of her back.
"Yeah yeah, calm down." He took a deep breath. "Okay, I was told that in order to do this, I have to be calm and comfortable." He sat down the only, but large, futon in the room. He arranged the pillows to make some makeshift nest.
The baby, who had calmed down when he first arrived, was starting to squirm again. Inuyasha sighed and gathered his courage; he had to do this or else he would be turned into ridicule. He approached Takato closer to his chest. The baby demon squealed at the action; he knew what was coming next. Inuyasha opened his shirt to reveal a well-muscled chest. Suddenly he stopped and blushed at the thought of what he was going to do. He then felt nervous, so he looked up and glanced at the servant; she was as anxious as he was, and she was chewing her dry bottom lip.
He took another deep breath. 'Okay, it's now or never.' The hanyou finally decided to bring the baby to one of his nipples. He waited a bit; Takato was sniffing, maybe to see if there was food. Then Inuyasha felt it, the sensation of the baby sucking greedily. It was the strangest feeling for the hanyou. He looked up at the servant with an expression on his face mixed between disgust and surprise.
"So?" she said simply.
"So…" he answered, "it seems that it's working, the kid seems happy with this." He then smiled, a smile so large that it was hanging from side to side of his face: "Oh Ayashii… You didn't forget the little bet we just made, didn't you…?"
"Huh, but- ah, well…" She was stunned so much that couldn't explain herself coherently.
"Feh, don't worry, I won't forget about it. But for now, I want to leave us alone, I'm getting a bit tired and anyway, I can take care of Takato myself; you are no longer needed."
The old servant grumbled and bowed, in sign of defeat.
As she turned her back to get to the screen-door, she mumbled: "Don't worry, I'm going. At least I won't have to take care of that royal crying machine." She chuckled, but Inuyasha ignored her.
In the hall, someone that had been listening since he had heard yelling, smiled. Not a smile of happiness, but a murderous smile; one that belong to nobody else than Sesshoumaru. "She won't live long enough to repeat that again… dear old Ayashii."
°°°
Calm was now decorating the room, except for the sound of Takato eating, and Inuyasha savoured every minutes of this oh-dear-I-would-kill-for peace. But it didn't it didn't last very long, as his dog ears picked some little feet that were running his the direction of the bedroom he was peacefully sitting in.
The footsteps stopped in their run and as the doors were opened very rashly to reveal the source of all this noise. Rin was breathing heavily from the run; she took deep breaths and smiled. "Uncle Inuyasha, I- what are you doing?" she asked, tilting her head on the side and pointing with her finger.
"Huh? What-" He stopped right there and looked down at Takato, where she was indicating. He blushed fiercely. 'Aww… you're so stupid Inuyasha, how are you going to explain her this! She's just a kid, dammit!'
Inuyasha sighed. "Come here, brat."
She frowned. "Hey, don't call me 'brat', my name is Rin, you know."
"Come on, stop whining. Okay, Rin, you know that women, once they gave birth to a kid… they…" he tried to find the suiting word for her, "can feed they brats, right?"
She looked at him confused, "what's 'giving birth'?"
Inuyasha blushed. "Hey look kid, I'm not your mother, 'kay? I'm not supposed to explain those things to you," he sighed. "To give birth means that the woman has the baby, it comes from her, okay?"
She frowned. "Jaken told me that babies came from storks."
'WHAT! Ah damn. Don't tell me I also have to explain her this too… '
°°°
And so, after explaining the whole thing to Rin, twice, and after telling her what he was doing, she finally got the picture.
"SO, that's how babies are made! Thanks uncle Inuyasha!" Rin smiled, happy, because Jaken never wanted to tell her where they came from. Actually, she was starting to doubt the stork story, but still, she had no idea of the truth.
Then Rin remembered why she came in the first place. "Uncle Inuyasha, do you remember what you promised Rin earlier?"
Inuyasha remembered; he had promised her that he would play with her for the whole afternoon. "Huh, yeah about that, I thought that we could play outside at first, but I feel very tired, to tell you the truth."
Rin looked a bit sad. "It's okay, Rin understands; nobody wants to play with Rin."
She looked about to cry.
Inuyasha's eyes widened. 'Not again, please don't cry!' As fast as he could think, an idea flashed in his mind.
"Rin, look, maybe I'm too tired to go outside and I have to keep an eye on Takato, but I have an idea. You are a little girl, so you must have dolls, right?"
Rin saw where he wanted to go with that, so she nodded.
"Well what are you waiting for? Go get them."
As soon as he finished his sentence, she was already running to get her dolls.
She came back a few minutes later with three small dolls; each had a beautiful miniature kimono, unique in details.
Inuyasha placed a dozing Takato in the pillow nest he had been sitting on and took a doll in his hands to play with Rin, as he had promised it.
°°°
After spending the whole afternoon until the sky came to be dark, they played with the dolls, their imagination running wild and leading their game.
As dinner came, they stopped as the meal was brought by the servants. They ate and enjoyed their meal, but Inuyasha knew that in the castle, someone was still wounded and that was not happy.
This affected Inuyasha's mood a lot, but he didn't let it show, at least not in front of Rin. Time pass so quickly when you're not bothering about anything; even though he would never say that aloud, but he had fun playing with Rin and her dolls. It had been like he had returned in his own childhood.
A young servant came to take Rin to her room for bedtime. She got up and hesitated. Inuyasha looked at her and then smiled. She run toward the hanyou and surprised him when she put her tiny arms around him to give him a big hug. "Good night, uncle Inuyasha."
He returned the hug. "Good night, Rin. Now go, or you'll be tired tomorrow."
So the little girl left and he turned toward Takato. Servants were cleaning everything from the meal and left themselves; Inuyasha and the young prince were alone. Inuyasha sighed; it had been a long day and a good night of sleep seemed very welcoming. It was getting a bit hot in the room, so Inuyasha got up to open a bit the outdoor doors that opened on a small interior garden. He looked up at the sky; the moon was almost a new one. Tomorrow he would be in his human form and that would be very stressful with Sesshoumaru in the castle. But at least, he would be in security inside those walls.
He looked again at the futon where he had put Takato earlier. He approached it and kneeled down slowly not to wake the baby. Takato moved a bit when Inuyasha took him in his arms, but the young demon didn't wake up. Inuyasha settled down to sleep; he locked Takato in his arms so he wouldn't fall or, with the hanyou's weight, be crushed.
Finally, after a few minutes, both demons were deeply asleep.
Okay guys, sorry about the long update, but I had to take my laptop for reparation and I couldn't continue to write because, yes we have another computer but, I can't write when my brother's around (and that means always, since the other house computer is right beside theone I was trying to write on). So yeah, I love this chap, a bit longer than usual, though. As always, reviews are welcomed, good or bad.
