Toward Tomorrow - InuKag Week Day 7

A/N: We've come to the end my friends. So I let Inuyasha take it from here.

word count: 1100

rating: K

My son was really fucking loud.

I'm talking, ear-splitting, banshee screeching, if-there-were-glass-it'd-be-broken loud.

And seeing as infants did the crying thing at all hours of the night, I have grown accustomed to zombie-walking in the twilight over to the basinet on the floor, and begging him to go to sleep. Everyday.

Kagome refuses to leave him in the room I made for him, so my half-dead stumble to his corner of the room is short.

"Kid," I struggle out sleepily, "I've survived just about every deadly encounter you can think of, but I don't think I've ever been this close to death."

He screams in response, so I reach down and scoop him into my arms. His nose sniffs desperately at my robes and I feel his tiny fingers dig into my shoulder.

He knows instantly it isn't his mother and he opens his mouth in a pitiful gasp, his eyes finding mine in distaste. I don't want you, they say to me. I want the goods.

"Well you ain't getting them right now, bud. Mama needs her rest or else she's going to kill me. And boys need their fathers. Trust me," I yawn and start to slowly make myself out of the room, "I should know."

Considering you know, that I never had one.

His crying feels numbing, but once we're finally outside in the dark, his surprise overtakes his water-works and he quiets down.

"You wanna hear a story, little man?"

He gurgles at me and pets the fabric on my chest.

"Alright. Where should I start…" How do these things start? "Once upon a time there was this really weak half-demon kid. And he lost everything. His papa, his mama, and his home."

He turns his head away, almost as if unimpressed.

"Yeah I know, it's boring right? But it gets better. Just give me a second." I shift him from my right arm to my left and tuck the blanket around him a little bit tighter. There's a breeze.

"This kid meets this girl. And she's great. She gives him something he hadn't had for…well since never pretty much. Hope. And hope is a dangerous thing, let me tell you now kid. It's nothing something you'll have to worry about though. Feel free to hope for the rest of your life." I get a knot in my throat. "I-I'll make it so you can hope for the rest of your life, I promise you that."

"But something happens and kid is…well he's damn tricked. And he's an idiot so he doesn't know he's being tricked and the girl he met becomes his enemy. And then he falls asleep for a really long time. Areally long time. I'm talking decades. I'm talking five decades."

My son's eyes fix at the joining of my lips, eyeing them with fascination. Well at least he was listening. Both our ears twitch.

"But someone finally comes around to wake the kid up. A girl. A really cute girl. And he is still an idiot so he tries to bang her up a bit, but you can bet that she puts him in his place."

"Bang her up?"

I furrow my eyebrows because I should have known she was behind me, but I was so goddamn exhausted…

"He tried to kill her."

"Alright alright," I watch my wife sleepily wipe the sand from her eyes. "You wanna tell this story?"

Our son cries and throws out his curled up fists in excitement. I can't resist kissing his cheeks as I finally give him what he wants. "Here," I pass him over carefully.

"No no," She yawns adorably and cuddles the boy into her neck. "Go on, don't let me stop you."

"I don't remember where I left off."

"The kid was being an idiot, and the girl was putting him in his place."

I sigh and watch my little family snuggle into each other under the light of the moon. Call me a sucker, I can't deny these two anything.

"She teaches the kid kindness. And laughter. And…he teaches her how to have a damn heart."

Kagome clears her throat and narrows her eyes, but there's a loving smile on her face. I think there might be one on my face too.

"And with the help of their friends, they save the world."

"Hmmm. Is that it?"

"No," I find myself hovering over them like I'll fall of the edge of the earth if I don't. "No, the girl leaves the kid for a long time, and the kid suffers."

"She didn't do it on purpose," she whispers back at me, a tint of sadness coloring her words.

"I know," I reach up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Our son has passed out between us. His breathing is steady, and music to my ears. "He doesn't hold it against her."

"That's a relief."

"And she comes back, so that helps." I want to kiss my wife after this, but her eyes are dancing, and I can tell that she wants me to finish. "And the boy wises up and marries her."

I can't resist any longer, I duck down and finish what she's started. I bridge our lips together, and I feel the hum of her chuckle reach from her chest to mine.

She breaks apart from me first, and I'm so close that I stare with half-lidded eyes at the brown sparkle in her eyes.

Words don't come easy to me. They stumble and fall from my mouth like rocks, or smoke, or blunt little knives. But for some reason talking about this story makes it easy. Like I'm watching my life from beyond the reflection of a mirror.

"And she gives him a son. A beautiful, loud, hungry all the damn time, needy son. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, a lot like his mother…"

She slaps half-heartedly at my chest, and I curl my hand around her to pull in my little family against my body. I feel so full and complete. I feel like the sun. The moon. The earth. Although even they could not know this feeling that I hold so heavy in my heart.

"The boy is the happiest he's ever been in his life."

"So is the girl." Kagome sags against me, and I can tell it's time to take my wife and son to bed. I swoop them over expertly, and gather them close. The fresh rays of another dawn peek over the hill at horizon, and I dip into our hut just before they can touch us.

We all settle comfortably in our large bed, the three of us. The two pieces of my heart, and me.

"And they all lived happily ever after."