For Inukag Week 2017 theme Family.
The tiny, fervent cries pierced the cool night air, reaching the ears of those waiting patiently outside the hut for more information. Suddenly, the group was alive with cheers and hugs. A silent sigh of relief left them as the fear of stillbirth had been looming in the shadows. It was almost morning now, the early rising animals beginning their daily foraging. The labor had been a long and difficult one, spanning almost two whole days.
Miroku hugged Shippo and let out a jovial laugh as Inuyasha pushed the noren aside, smiling ear to ear but nonetheless looking worse for wear. Several men of the village had stayed to cheer on the new parents and knew that Inuyasha had been a brave one to stay in the hut the entire time as his wife had their child. It was usually forbidden for men to witness such an event, but in this case there had been no other option for the new family. Inuyasha had refused to leave Kagome's side and Kagome herself had begged Kaede and Sango to allow Inuyasha to stay with her, as it kept her calm during the contractions.
"It's a girl!" Inuyasha laughed, pushing his bangs up over his forehead and looking anywhere but at the men as his cheeks flushed with sheer joy. Sure, people in this era always wanted boys, especially as the first born. But Inuyasha never cared much for human customs and figured that Kagome was the eldest child of her family and she did a damn fine job bringing honor to their home so any girl of theirs would do the exact same. He just didn't want them to begin joking with him about the fact that she was less than thirty minutes old and he was already hopelessly and impossibly in love with her. "And she has my ears!" he stated, standing up straight and slapping a fist across his chest with pride. He had always hated his, but on her they were like a tiny black crown.
"Congratulations, my friend!" Miroku laughed, slapping Inuyasha on the shoulder as the other men cheered and squeezed it tightly in a sign of affection. "A bride for my Yousuke, I presume?" he joked, elbowing the hanyou in the ribs. "Like hell, monk. She ain't never gettin near no boys. 'Specially none-a yers!" Inuyasha growled, but the threat held no weight. He couldn't help but beam at his two other friends. He surely needed to thank Rin for watching Miroku and Sango's children to shey could share this with them.
Shippo was over joyed, bouncing from foot to foot in anticipation of running inside and seeing Kagome and the baby. He had some new toys and he was willing to give her any number of them if she wanted. But he knew that if he made any sudden movement towards that hut without Inuyasha's direct permission, he would find himself on the wrong side of those claws that he, himself, had seen eviscerate many an enemy. He was practically vibrating with excitement, his skin alive with goosebumps at the tiny new cry and Kagome's cooing from inside the hut.
"Well, my friend," Miroku smiled, "It looks like you finally have a family!" As the two men smiled and talked more of the child with the other men while awaiting Kaede's allowance in, Shippo stood to the side of the group. His face was downcast as he stared at his small fingers tracing the worn paint lines of his favorite wooden horse. Miroku's words rang through him like struck metal. 'You finally have a family.' He felt like a fool. How could he have thought that they would include him in their family? Sure, he was a friend, but not family. Sango had Kohaku and Miroku and her children.. And Kagome had Inuyasha and now their daughter. And Shippo had.. No one. He was a loner. "Ya hear me, Squirt?" Inuyasha called, stopped at the noren to face him, "I said get yer butt in here and meet this kid." Sheepishly, Shippo followed. He was much more subdued now that he wasn't expecting a little sister. As he came through the door of the hut he was immediately greeted with the iron tang of blood thick in the air. Fearfully he looked to Inuyasha, his eyebrows knit in concern for the woman he thought, until recently, to be his adoptive mother.
Inuyasha felt his worry and looked down to him, nodding that everything was okay. "Shippo!" Kagome called, leaned up against the far wall with a little bundle curled to her chest. She looked exhausted, her hair pulled up away from her face with the edges of her hairline still wet from sweat, but more radiant than Shippo had every seen. She adjusted the bundle and smiled down to it, moving the outer cloth to reveal a head of black hair. "Heyy there baby girl. Wake up! You gotta meet your aniki!" she cooed, bouncing the baby. Shippo stood, frozen. Aniki? Big brother? He was her big brother? That meant… He looked back up to Inuyasha, his emerald green eyes brimming with tears. The hanyou raised a dark brow to the kitsune and nodded his head towards Kagome. "Well? Get goin', runt." he prodded, giving Shippo a gentle shove with the broad side of his foot.
Stumbling for a moment, the child regained his composure and smiled a toothy grin, pulling the wooden horse from his vest pocket.
Inuyasha watched from the far wall as the kitsune skittered up Kagome's arm, resting on her shoulder as he scoped out the new child. He had smelled Shippo's anxiety and fear the moment Miroku had made the comment on family. And honestly, he had always considered the kit to be like a little brother to him. But now he watched as his wife held the new baby closer to the teeny outstretched hand of the kit and he saw so much more. His entire world in one small hut. His wife, his newborn daughter and their tiny, orange kitsune son.