Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-yasha.

I know absolutely nothing about Child Services, so I deeply apologies to those in that field of work if I get something wrong.

Neracio: Don't worry, Kimi will have friends, she's only just been born, or has she?

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Faith

Chapter 2-A New Case and The Promise

Kagome awoke to someone nuzzling her neck. Smiling she snuggled closer to the warm object behind her. The object put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Kagome smiled again and poked the object in the ribs.

"Morning." she told it, then threw off the covers and headed for the bathroom. The object, which had silver puppy ears, golden eyes, and a long curtain of silver hair, protested when the cold morning air rushed under the blankets and assaulted his tanned skin.

Kagome smiled at hearing her husbands' protesting. Stripping off her nightgown, she turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm up. Grabbing a soft beige luffa from a basket on the bathroom counter, Kagome entered the now lukewarm shower.

Turning the temperature up, Kagome put the luffa on a shelf and reached for the shampoo. Squeezing a dime-sized amount into her hand, she lathered the formula in her hair, reviewing her dream from earlier.

She had dreamed of the birth of her daughter, Kimi. That was 15 years ago, so why was she dreaming of it now? It's probably nothing.' she told herself as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair.

Reaching for the conditioner, Kagome frowned. It wasn't on the shelf where it normally was. Eyes narrowed, she turned, to find her husband, Inu-yasha, smirking at her from behind the shower curtain, holding the conditioner teasingly.

Kagome huffed and reached for the luffa instead. Inu-yasha pouted. He had wanted Kagome to get mad and come after him. She was so cute when she was mad. Instead, she was going to wash herself and ignore him. His eyes roamed her perfect body, and she narrowed her eyes again.

Silver puppy ears perked up as he had a sudden idea that would rile her up. He checked her out as she was showering again, and Kagome stuck her tongue out at him, and turned, giving him a fantastic view of her rear end.

"Eeeek! Dad! You're a pervert!" yelled a teenage female voice. Inu-yasha whipped around to find his fourteen-year old hanyou daughter glaring at him in such a familiar manner he cringed.

"Oh great, now I have two to worry about." he muttered. His daughter's golden eyes were narrowed and she put on a sour expression.

"Ugh, that's so gross, mum's trying to shower for Kami's sake!" she told him, then turned and headed downstairs, presumably to have breakfast.

Kagome turned the shower off and reached for her towel. Wrapping it around herself, she stepped out of the shower and headed over to the mirror to brush her hair and teeth. Inu-yasha smiled and followed suit.

Kagome brushed her teeth and spit out the remaining toothpaste. Reaching for her brush, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed. Her reflection looked the same as it had since her and Inu-yasha had been mated.

Since she was mated to a half-demon, her appearance didn't age as that of a normal human girl would. Instead, her appearance was frozen to that of when she was 24, when her and Inu-yasha first, well, you get the idea.

Now reaching the age of 39, Kagome had no wrinkles, no bags under her eyes, no crow's feet, no nothing. She had also noticed that minor cuts, scrapes, etc. healed a little faster than normal. She wasn't a hanyou, but being mated to one made all the difference.

Kagome smiled at her husband who was currently brushing his elongated canine teeth, and headed for their bedroom, dropping the towel on the way. She felt his gaze on her body as she turned into their room, smiling to herself.

.:.30 Minutes Later.:.

"Have a good day at school, sweetie." Kagome told her daughter, who rolled her eyes and said "Bye mom." in a bored teenage voice.

Kimi, who had black hair with silver dog ears perched on top of her head, was dressed in a pair of black jeans with a t-shirt that said "Anti-Social, That means 'go away'." on it. Her black raven hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore a small amount of black eyeliner.

"Yo! Aloy!" Kimi called to a black-haired girl her age. Brown eyes flashed in annoyance as she turned, only to find her best friend in front of her.

"Ki!" Aloy, or rather, Aloysia, smiled at her friend. Aloysia, who was Miroku and Sango's daughter, was a tribute to both of them. With Miroku's black hair and lecherous side, and Sango's brown eyes and temper, she was a perfect combination, and was often sought out by the boys. The boys were usually scared off by her temper though, once they tried their cheesy pick-up lines on her, and got a smack or punch in return; or in one case, a nicely done kick to the groin, when one guy managed to pull a Miroku and grope her. He was unconscious before he hit the ground she had kicked him so hard.

"What's up Ki?" Aloysia asked, Ki being her nickname for Kimi.

"Just got here, you?" replied Kimi boredly. Aloysia pointed to the ground where Keitaro, the boy who had groped her the first time, lay unconscious again.

"Just knocked him out. He tried to grope me again, so I did the same thing." Aloysia rolled her eyes. "I don't think his name suits him, honestly, unless he's 'blessed' with stupidity."

"I have to say I agree. Say, he doesn't by any change know your father, does he?" Kimi questioned, referring to the pervert her mother had married. Kimi and Aloysia were always rolling their eyes at the couple when they were at Aloysia's house.

"I hope not. Ick, I can't believe my mum married that retard." Aloysia said with disgust, but Kimi knew her better. As much as her father groped her mother, Aloysia and Miroku, her father, were practically inseparable. The only time they didn't spend their free time together was when Aloysia was hanging out with Kimi or she was practicing weapons with her mother.

Ring!

"Ughhhhh..." Kimi groaned. 'Here we go...' she thought. 'Another day of detentions and pissing the teachers off.'

.:.With Kagome.:.

"Miss Higurashi, you have 1 new case, 1 case to check up on, and a call on line 3. Also you're needed in the emergency ward, that's where the new case is, his parents were killed earlier, and the poor thing was in the accident that killed them as well."

Kagome sighed. She had just entered the building where she worked, and her new secretary came bustling up, informing her of today's work without even so much as a hello.

"Miss Brown. While I appreciate your eagerness to help me with my work, you have missed a few of the basic things we went over in your training."

The blonde nodded and looked as though every word Kagome spoke was her life line. Kagome fought the urge to roll her eyes, as it was entirely un-professional.

"First. You failed to pass on a simple greeting this morning, which would have been polite. Two," Kagome said, holding up a hand to silence the blonde who was opening her mouth to speak. "Interrupting is rude, I though you would have known that without me telling you. Three, I specifically asked to have a Chai Latté with soy milk in my hand when I walk into this building."

"Now, I am going to walk out of this building, and re-enter. If you fail to do what your training says you should do, you will be fired, got it?"

The poor woman nodded her head so hard Kagome wondered if it might fall off. She turned on her heel and marched out of the building, all the while one single thought ran through her head.

'I sound like Sesshoumaru.'

Sesshoumaru was Inu-yasha's older brother, whom Kagome had gone to, seeking professional advice on how to carry herself, etc. when she had heard he was a big business man. The stoic man had agreed; under one condition.

He got to see his niece.

Inu-yasha had broken all contact with Sesshoumaru when they were quite young. Kagome hadn't even known Inu-yasha had an older brother until after they had gotten married. Inu-yasha had claimed that Sesshoumaru was an arrogant ass who cared about no one but himself.

But Kagome wasn't sure about that. When Sesshoumaru had learned he had a niece, he had been surprised and had seemed upset that she had been kept secret from him for 15 years.

Of course, it was hard to tell anything with the emotionless Sesshoumaru, but his mask had fallen slightly when Kagome had told him about Kimi.

She sighed, and turned around once she was out of the buildings doors. She really didn't have the time for this, but that secretary had to learn, and she had to learn fast.

Walking back in, Kagome took her usual pace, and was greeted by Miss Brown the moment her foot stepped past the double doors.

"Good Morning, Miss Higurashi! Here is your Chai Latté with soy milk, and today your work includes..." she continued to state what she had earlier, so Kagome tuned her out, heading for the emergency ward to look at the new case. Miss Brown handed her a file folder before she went through the ward's doors that included the new case's information.

Kagome took a peek at the folder and was met with a picture of a smiling young boy of about 10 who had curly orange hair and forest green eyes. Kagome scanned the information sheet, revealing the little boys' name to be 'Shippou'. He revealed to be 10, just like Kagome guessed.

She pushed the emergency ward's doors open, and walked down towards the end of the hallway after a nod from the receptionist. The boy's file had said he was in room 5-E, so that's where she went. Upon opening the door, she found that the center's only doctor, Dr. Vér, was currently taking the young boys blood.

Kagome breathed a silent sigh of relief. At least he managed to get away from the accident physically unscathed. Mentally unscathed was another question. Kagome was slightly worried that he would be completely unresponsive, as the file said that her partner, whom was a long-time friend, had not been able to get so much as a peep out of the boy.

Said long-time friend was currently in the office that Kagome and her shared, running over the file of the girl who needed a yearly check-up, to see how she was doing in her current home. Usually the check-ups were every 4 months, but the girl had been with her guardian so long, and never had any complaints or signs that anything was wrong, that this would be the final check-up.

Kagome's long-time friend and business partner, Sango, was currently reading over the girl's file, frowning. She always helped Kagome out, usually doing her share of work and then some, much to Kagome's dismay. Sango had been contemplating taking this case too, after all, it was just a simple check-up, but when she read the first little bit of the file, she decided to leave it for Kagome.

Besides, she hadn't seen him in a while, and, as far as Sango knew, she hadn't filled her promise.

Kagome scanned the boy's frame. Dr. Vér had left about 4 minutes ago, but neither boy nor Child Services Worker had said anything.

Kagome sighed and refrained from shifting from foot to foot in her uncertainty. It would appear unprofessional, not to mention set the poor kid on edge. Instead, she stuck with her schooling and decided on the practical approach.

"Hi, Shippou, is it? My name is Miss Higurashi; I'm going to help you find some people to take care of you while your parents are away. Can you tell me if you have any relatives in the area?"

"..."

"Do you know if you have any relatives in the area?"

"..."

'So much for the practical approach...'

"Look, Shippou, your parents died in the crash. I need you to help me find out if you have any living relatives that can take you in. If not, I'm going to have to put you in a foster home, ok?"

"...ok..."

Kagome smiled warmly at him as he finally looked up to meet her eyes. The boy didn't smile back, but Kagome had expected this.

"Thank you, now, do you have any grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or siblings eighteen or older, close friends of the family or anything like that?" Kagome asked Shippou softly.

"No. Grandparents are dead...my parents were only children like myself...and I don't know about the 'close friends of the family' part." He responded flatly.

"Ok, then I need you to do me a big favor. I'm going to give you a bed and some clothing, and you're going to stay in a room with lots of other little boys and girls for a few days. It's going to be like one big sleepover; can you do me a favor and be a good boy?" Kagome asked politely.

Shippou nodded.

"Thank you very much Shippou. Also, I was wondering if there is anything you require, say, something specific you want to help pass the time. For example, a notepad or something to draw on, a craft kit, specific video games as there is a Playstation unit in the room, and a computer also."

"I'll do just fine with the computer, they're my specialty!" Shippou said enthusiastically. Kagome smiled at him and led him from the emergency ward and to the housing units. She said good-bye to him at the doors after gently ushering him in.

'Alright, now that that's done...'

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Aloysia-famous in war

Keitaro-blessed

I apologies for the long wait, but I had to re-write this chapter a few times until I was satisfied. Was it worth the wait? Also, you may have noticed that the summary has been changed. That's because I have changed the plot line also, and I hope you enjoy!

--(Beta)--: lol this is a great storey ne? do u agree? If you said yes, and didn't review then you're LIEING! evil glare no go review because u KNOW it was an AWSOME chappie! Do not anger the beta! For the beta is all powerful! cue lightning MWUA-HA-HA-HA-HA! review --.--"