Chapter 8 – Return of the Taijiya

I got a lot of requests for longer chapters – now, here it is! I originally thought of making this two chapters, but I figured I could combine them. Enjoy! Kaza's POV continues…and I still don't own Inuyasha…damn it, just read.

It was sunset in the village. A little girl sat outside her hut, playing with a doll. As she giggled, her father stepped out of the doorway and saw her. He sat down and began to play with her, waving the doll around and slipping it up the sleeves of her yukata. They were both giggling. Sitting on the low step in front of our hut, I watched them from the top of the hill, my heart cold. My knees were pressed to my chest and my arms wrapped around them, and I wiped my wet eyes with the sleeve of my yukata. A father and a daughter. It was something I'd never known.

A breeze whipped through the camp suddenly, and I shivered and wrapped my arms tighter over my body when I felt a warm blanket drape over my shoulders. I started and looked up to see Kagome sitting down beside me, a smile on her face. She didn't look at me, but pretty soon saw the girl and her father playing. He picked her up on his shoulders and carried her inside the hut.

"I know you miss him, Kaza." She said softly.

"I don't even know what he looks like." I whispered. "I've never known him at all."

"He vanished the day Sango learned she was pregnant with you. You would never know him. If he's still alive, he probably doesn't know he has a daughter." Her voice was sadder than I'd ever heard it. After a moment, a question that was burning inside me finally came out.

"Kagome, can you tell me what he was like? My father. When you knew him. What did he look like? How did he act?"

"Miroku?" She said with a grin. She didn't seem surprised at all by my question. "I'll tell you one thing, he was gorgeous. It is true, you have his eyes. He had black hair in a little ponytail, and he was tall. He always wore the black and purple robes of a monk, and carried around a staff. He had a gauntlet that held the Kazaana that looked exactly like yours." She poked my hand. "I had it made for you from what I could remember his looked like. Also, he was a pervert."

"My dad?" I definitely didn't expect that.

"God, yes. He was a lech. Every woman he saw, he asked her to bear his child. He got slapped a lot for it. Especially by your mom. Oh, he drove her crazy. He managed to ruin every single moment the two of them had together by rubbing her ass. Sango slapped him every day, but it was obvious she loved him."

"What was my mom like back then?"

"Your mom? Sango? Miroku was in love with her from the start. She was the best youkai Taijiya in all of Japan, and when she was sixteen, she kicked hard ass. Not a single thing, youkai or man, could stand up to her and expect an easy fight. I can remember when I first saw her, she was tricked into thinking Inuyasha was her enemy. She rode in an Kirara, with her hair all blown back and screaming, "Hiraikotsu!" It's not a surprise that Miroku fell for her more than anyone else."

"She doesn't talk about it very much." I said. It felt so good to talk about it. Kagome wasn't holding back, she was telling me everything she knew. "She hasn't killed a youkai in years, and she doesn't talk about my father unless she has to."

"Of course." Kagome said softly. "Because it hurts. Sango and Miroku were in love. They didn't want anyone else, they only wanted each other, and it showed. When Miroku vanished, Sango's whole life came crashing down, and especially since she was pregnant with you. She still loved him."

"She hasn't been with another man at all." I told her. "It's just me and Kirara in the house. I know she still loves him, because even though I think she's gotten a lot of proposals, she's turned them all down."

Kagome just smiled, and we descended into silence for another minute. Then after a while, it occurred to me another question I'd been dying to ask. "I know my parents were in love when you guys traveled, but what about you and Inuyasha?"

"Inuyasha?" She laughed, and I could see the little wrinkles around her eyes. It occurred to me that I was bringing back memories of a time 15 years ago – when she was – "I was just your age when I came to this land, Kaza, and I swear, the first time I came here, Inuyasha tried to kill me."

"Whoa!"

"He hated me. He hated everybody back then. But mostly me. I was just a nuisance to him, and a reminder of a memory he didn't want. I was the reincarnation of his…past lover, let's just call her. Her name was Kikyo."

"I never knew there was someone before you." I was hooked now. I was getting so much good dirt on my parents, Inuyasha and Kagome there was no way I was going to leave.

"Don't talk about her!" Kagome sighed. "It's a long story, and one you seriously don't need to hear. He hated me back then – when we first met Shippou, he hated Shippou – when we met Miroku, he hated him, and when we first met Sango, he hated her. It takes time for him to build trust. Your mom also hated Miroku because he was such a lecher." A happy smile crossed her face. "But a lot of things change when you've been traveling together for a year, and slowly, I fell in love, and so did Sango. It was amazing…and we were so close to catching Naraku, too, when…"

"When my father vanished." I finished. "But we're going to find him. I promised my mom I'd come back home, and he'd be with me. We have to find him."

She smiled and stood up. "And we will. If I've come to learn one thing from living in this land, it's that anything can happen. People who have been missing for fifteen years can show up again. Keep your eyes open. And let's go to bed – if we wake up late, Inuyasha will yell at us."

"Tell me about it." I grunted, getting to my feet. As we walked back inside the hut, I stopped her and said softly, "Thanks, Kagome."

"Anytime, dear." She whispered, and I went inside. As we fell asleep, I couldn't help but think that there was something prophetic in Kagome's words…but I was too tired to think about it.

Oh well, I thought, what can happen anyway?


"Get up, Kaza!" At first Shippou's voice sounded far away – I was dreaming. I felt him shake me, and I groaned. Stupid fox. Let me sleep.

"KAZA, YOU STUPID WENCH, GET UP!"

Wait, that wasn't Shippou.

Well, if it was Inuyasha, then I'd better get up.

I peeled open my eyes and saw the fangs of a demon lion bearing down on me.

I shrieked my lungs out.

And then Kirara bounded over me, her own fangs drawn, and stabbed him between the eyes. At the same time, I felt someone's strong arms encompass me, and I looked up to see a flash of red. Inuyasha was carrying me away, and he set me down to the side of the battle.

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded, and then he started yelling.

"Holy hell, girl, what did Sango teach you! If I wasn't there when you were born I'd swear you weren't her daughter. Damn it, Kaza, can you do anything other than scream? You're a Taijiya, now PROVE IT!"

"Right." I nodded, standing up and grabbing my katana. It was true – deep inside me I really wanted to prove to them I could fight. Inuyasha seemed to smile as I drew my sword, and said,

"Kaza, you get his eyes."

"Of course!" I stammered. "But how do I do that?"

It looked like he had a heart attack. He stared at me.

"You did not just ask me that."

"INUYASHA!" We heard Kagome yell. She and Shippou were staving off the demon, but only barely. "A little help would be nice!"

"Okay, Kaza, here's what we're gonna do." He said through clenched teeth. "You ride up on Kirara and while Kagome and I aim for his heart, you take out his eyes and blind him."

(A/N – Anybody see a bit of a Miracle repeat? Sorry, old habits die hard.)

"Where is Kirara? I don't see her." I said, scanning around. "She's not here."

"This is taking too long." He muttered. "Get on." I clambered onto his back, and in one bound he leapt into the air. We skimmed up above the demon's flaming orange mane until I could see his purple eyes.

"NOW!" Inuyasha roared. Just as I raised my katana to stab his eye, he swiped one paw at us. In a split second, Inuyasha was thrown to the ground, and somehow I was caught in his huge paws.

I didn't even realize what was happening until I felt my katana slip out of my hands and fall to the ground. Below me, Kagome shrieked, "KAZAAA!" I was paralyzed – his mouth was wide open, I could see all the way down his slimy throat. I could my eyes as the stagnant breath washing over me, and the last thing I thought was of my mother's warm arms.

And then it came. The last thing I ever thought I'd hear.

"HIRAIKOTSU!"

I turned, hardly daring to believe it.

"Mama." I whispered.

Kirara was flying into the clearing, flames licking her tail and legs, I could clearly see a rider on her back. She was wearing the same outfit I was, a mask over her face, holding high a giant bone boomerang, with long, ebony hair into a high ponytail that whipped her face, and dark brown eyes that were burning straight into me.

It was just as Kagome described her, and for a second I thought I was dreaming.

And then she hurled the boomerang towards me. It sliced the air and cut off the demon's arm in a single stroke. As it roared, she caught it, Kirara looped back, and she threw the killing blow at its neck. The demon was dead before it knew what was happening.

Me, I hardly even registered that I was plummeting to my death, I was so entranced by how kick-ass my 30-year-old mom was being. But I remembered when the same strong pair of arms caught me. Inuyasha was smiling, and he said, "You need to stop getting yourself in these kinds of situations, Kaza."

He gently set me down, and I nodded in thanks. My eyes were fixed on someone else. Kirara touched ground and she stepped off, taking off her mask and dropping the boomerang. Before I knew it, I sprinted to her and collapsed in her arms. She wrapped her arms around me and all my tears poured out. She stroked my hair and whispered, "Oh, Kaza. My baby."

"Mama…" I could only say. It was too good to be true. But she pulled away and smiled, saying,

"I love you, Kaza, but you kind of suck at these fights, don't you?" I nodded, grinning. She sighed and said, "Oh, well. Plenty of time to learn."

She didn't get any father, because she was soon tackled by two of the most powerful and deadly forces ever to join forces in the name of love – Kagome and Shippou.

"SANGO!" They squealed in unison. She looked overwhelmed.

"Shippou? Kagome? Oh my God." She stammered.

"We missed you SOOOO much!" Shippou was bawling. I looked over at Inuyasha, who was pointedly ignoring the whole scene.

"Shippou! You're so grown up! Wow!" Sango said, getting to her feet. "Amazing how much you've grown!"

"I know!" He beamed. Sango grinned and turned to hug Kagome. Their reunion was much more personal. I realized that when they were my age, they'd traveled the whole length of Japan together, and they were probably best friends.

"We have so much catching up to do." Kagome whispered, and Sango only nodded. But now, Inuyasha had come up, she turned to him and grinned.

"You don't look particularly happy to see me, Inuyasha."

"Feh." He grunted. "I'm just disgusted at how pathetic a fighter your daughter is. She can't even defend herself."

"Watch it." I growled, grabbing my beads. "Don't make me suck you in."

"Just try it, wench." He sneered. We both grabbed the hilts of our swords and I swear we would've killed each other if Kagome hadn't said calmly, "Inuyasha, sit."

He was thrown to the ground as Shippou said, "How did you know where we were, Sango?"

"Oh," she said, calmly, "I've been following you for two weeks."

Great. Now my mother stalks me. My life just gets weirder and weirder.

"I would have gone with Kaza from the start, but I needed to brush up on using the Hiraikotsu, so I waited and then set out to find you."

"You couldn't remember how to use the Hiraikotsu?" Inuyasha scowled. "Pathetic, Sango."

"Aggh, damn it, Inuyasha!" She roared, seizing Hiraikotsu and smacking him on the head. "You are just as tactless and retarded as you were fifteen years ago!"

"Is that a challenge?" He barked, jumping up and massaging his head.

"You bet it is!" My mother yelled, and for a second I thought they were really going to battle. But then, Kagome 'sit' Inuyasha, my mother grinned and dropped Hiraikotsu, and Shippou sighed and shook his head.

I was smiling. My mom was back with me, and everything seemed alright again.

Okay! Please review! And if you have any questions you would like answered – for example, why doesn't Kagome have kids, where the hell's Kikyo, etc. – please tell me so I can answer them! Thank you for everything:)