Shikuro: A Caribbean Fairy Tale

by Inuma Asahi De

Inuyasha was as bad as pirates came, according to his legend. Kagome was a woman of propriety, destined to marry for her family's honor when all she wanted was to live on the sea. What happens when their eyes meet by chance or perhaps by daring fate?

107. The Decision

Blanket Disclaimer: The writer does not own any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi but like everyone else wishes she did. All original characters or concepts are the author Inuma Asahi De's (with the exception of historical figures).

Chapter One Hundred and Seven

The Decision (Alternative Title: The Jerk)

Kagome didn't move, she couldn't even think in that moment. The only thing she could do was stare at the chest of the man who, she had just learned, was going to be the father of her previously unknown child. She gulped and her fingers tightened against his chest without thinking. The warmth of his bare skin against her fingertips, while normally delicious to feel, at the moment made her shift off center. Feeling shaky and just a bit dizzy, she suddenly pushed herself away from him only vaguely surprised that he actually let her go.

She stumbled backwards but kept her footing and her hands dropped to her stomach as if she might suddenly feel something there, a bump maybe. Her stomach was as flat as she remembered it being, however, and she bit her lip. "Where?" She almost said the word out loud but stopped at the last second as she realized how ridiculous she sounded. "I know where—," She looked down expecting to see a stomach the size of Sango's in front of her but instead only saw her palms pressed against a still flat white covered navel. "There's nothin—." The thought froze within her and her lower lip shook, a nagging feeling making her shutter.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, a natural instinct she wasn't even aware of taking over her. She allowed her power to leak out just a little and pushed it down deep within herself, searching for what she couldn't believe might be there. Sure enough, within seconds she felt the faint outline of something, the potential for life that had not quite taken shape just yet but was close, very, very close. She furrowed her brow and squeezed her eyes more firmly shut as she pressed her power just a little deeper, wanting to feel more.

"Tiny," was the only thing she could think to describe what she felt. It was a tiny, almost insignificant to sense, development within her that in no time would become astronomical. "If he didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known for at least a month—maybe more." She realized as the energy of that ridiculously small thing pushed against her own, the strange sensation of demon and human that was combining to form a life brushing against her consciousness. "Him and me—part of him; part of me." She felt her hands tremble and then drop. She allowed her power to dissipate and opened her eyes to the sight of the tatami mats.

She stared at them for several seconds as she wrapped her mind around the fact that she was pregnant. There was no doubt that she was pregnant; after all, she had felt it herself. Blinking back a wash of tears she couldn't even begin to explain, she raised her eyes back up to the silent man in front of her. He was watching her so intently, his fingers actually twitching at his side as if he wanted to reach for her but he didn't. Instead of reaching out, he simply stood still his eyes unguarded and waiting. She wanted to say something but for her life she didn't know what to say, she was too stunned to say a word.

"Kagome?" He whispered her name and it sounded already like he was asking for some kind of validation.

"How does he know?" A helpless feeling began to weigh within her and she felt her hands jump back up wrapping around herself as if for protection. What she was protecting, she couldn't say. "How?" The word came out as barely a whisper.

The humanized demon's eyes widened from the question and for a moment he simply stared at her like a fish out of water. "Well," Inuyasha felt awkward as he spoke trying to figure out the most delicate way to explain this. "Um—you should know-w?" He finally settled on, the hairs on the back of his neck actually standing on end as if even they wanted to escape.

Kagome blinked and for a moment seemed to come back to herself, a look of irritation washing over her features instantly. "I know that!" She snapped and wrapped her arms a little tighter around herself. "I mean," The anger dissipated, replaced by something else entirely: anxiety. "How do you know?"

"Oh," He winced, feeling ridiculous for assuming she didn't know where babies came from. "Idiot—of course she knows—she's not a moron." He groused and brought a hand up to rub at one sore shoulder with embarrassment. "I could tell the morning after." He explained softly as he looked towards her nervous features. "I can smell it, well," He visibly flinched and shifted his hand from his shoulder to the back of his neck. "I could before." He shrugged and indicated his nose with one hand but she didn't seem to notice.

"The morning after?" She looked down as she tried to process what he was saying, her brain simply not equipped at the moment to deal with this information. "You've known since it happened?" She managed to raise a hand up to touch her face as she felt a strange anger beginning to build in her.

Unable to think of anything else to say other than the truth he cleared his throat and managed a rather firm, yet groveling by nature, "Yes."

She held down her gasp as she looked up at him with absolute disbelief covering her every feature from head to toe even. "Oh dear—," She looked down at her body, knowing that the potential for a life was resting within it. "A living, breathing, screaming being—in just nine months I'll have a living, breathing, screaming being." The thought repeated itself within her like some sick joke but she pushed it down. "Demons don't carry as long though—so who knows how long it will be." The thought invaded her brain and she tried hard to fight down the sudden panic that the thought brought her. "I can't fight pregnant." A hand jumped up and covered her mouth as she felt the swell of bile in her throat. "What am I going to do?" Her eyes darted this way and that as she tried to think but she couldn't.

Inuyasha couldn't help the whine that built up in his throat as he wished, with every fiber of his being, that he could for just a second smell her. It killed him not being able to relay on that one sense that normally told him everything he needed to know about his wife's mood or problems. "Damn it—is this how human husbands' feel?"

"This changes everything—I can't endanger my child." Kagome closed her eyes the image of that little boy, his father's most charming smile on his face, coming to the forefront of her mind instantly. He was striking and adorable with little fangs and bright eyes but those bright eyes were soon replaced by dull ones: dark, deep, and black. "Naraku." Her eyes snapped opened and she tried to hold back a strangled gasp. "I can't stop him like this." Her heart felt as if at any second it might break in two but then another thought hit her. "And if I can't—," She looked up at Inuyasha whose face was beginning to plead wanting her to speak. "Then Inuyasha will have to and Naraku and Inuyasha'll—," Her eyes looked directly at Inuyasha her heart breaking. "I can't endanger this child—but I can't sit back and watch you both die!" She dropped her head, her knees buckling as she dropped to the floor, her hands holding on tight to the little hint of life within her. "Damn it."

Inuyasha heard the squeak of the word and immediately jumped forward. "Kagome please," He dropped down to his knees in front of her wanting to grab her and comfort her as he felt his heart accelerate but she shook her head stopping his hands from reaching for her. "Please," He repeated again, his voice unstable as he held his hand out to her without making contact. "Please—just—look at me?" He asked his voice desperate and she shook her head from side to side without looking at him once more. "Then, will you at least, listen?"

For a moment, she thought to raise her hands up and deliberately cover her ears but her anger made her stop. "I don't—," She paused before she could say, 'I don't want to listen,' her mind telling her there was one thing she certainly wanted to hear. "It's so tiny—it can't have been there very long. So how long has he kept this from me?" She blinked and her breath hitched in her throat. Raising her head up, she focused her intense gaze on his brown eyes watching as he stood firmly in place even as his body tensed. "How long?" The words slipped from her mouth as she watched him lean backwards instinctively. "Tell me how long you've known."

"Not too long ago." He answered quickly, as a nagging fear began to build in his stomach. He had known she would be upset but that night he hadn't had all the information, therefore, he wasn't aware how much she would detest his decision. "I also didn't know that this child would save her life." His stomach knotted as he remembered what she had told him about wanting to take his place (and currently unable to handle the truth, deluded himself about his mother's involvement with that decision). "Like hell." He gritted his teeth firmly preparing for the onslaught of what was about to come. "It happened the night the twins were born."

Her eyes widened and the calm cool she had barely managed to collect fell from her face. "Four days?!" Her mouth fell opened and she nearly fell backwards, a hand flying behind her to catch herself before she toppled over. "It's only been four days—just four days." Her heartbeat picked up in her chest as she tried to wrap her mind around what that meant. "How can you tell after only four days?"

He raised a hand up and tapped the side of his very human nose. "I told you, the nose knows immediately."

Something about his words made Kagome blink as she remembered another very specific thing that nose always knew. She pulled her head up and stared at him in disbelief. "It does—it always knows." She looked at those brown eyes and felt her heart sink so far into her stomach that she knew she was going to throw up.

Inuyasha braced himself as he looked into those eyes knowing that she had figured it out. "Had to marry yourself a smart one, didn't you?" He tried to joke even as he felt a strange and familiar part of him start to cower; after all, you don't mess with your mate. "Smart and with the power to kick my ass—," Internally, he snorted at his own comment knowing that, at the moment, she couldn't purify him at least. "Doesn't mean I still won't let her kick my ass, though."

"You're always so—so careful—so careful," She repeated the phrase, part of her wanting him to say something, to deny what she already knew was one hundred percent true. "Why didn't you notice my, you know," She blushed still uncomfortable with him knowing about such things even if they were married. "This time?" She licked her lips and pleaded with him nonverbally, wanting him to deny it, to at least try to lie his way out of it but he didn't. "Did you just—get caught up in the moment?" She desperately tried to give him the out, to give him something to latch onto but he only shook his head and looked away from her: guilt. "We hadn't seen each other and, your demon, well, even I can't control that."

He lifted his eyes up towards her own, a barely noticeable part of him, deep down, actually snickering triumphantly as if proud of its sexual nature. "Kagome—I," He looked at her normally tan complexion, worried by how pale she was starting to look. "I didn't mean for you," He took a deep breath knowing this was something he had to say, but also needed to be worried carefully, if her skin tone was any indication. "To find out this way."

"You—knew?" She felt her denial make way for anger. She was no longer able to delude herself now that he had admitted the truth so bluntly. "You knew?" She repeated and rage began to build in her that was a thousand times more powerful than anything she had ever felt in her life. "You knew!"

He winced at the pure ferocity of her voice but he couldn't deny it, he knew denying it was worthless. Besides, he may feel guilty but in that moment he didn't regret it, not if it saved her life in the end. "Yes." He spoke firmly, not letting the little bit of guilt stop him from being confident that his decision, although worth her anger, was the right one.

She felt her hands shake and her legs quake and even her shoulders tremble as she turned slowly towards him. "I can't help Naraku—I can't stop your own death—because," For a moment all she could do was stare at him as the thought took complete shape in her mind. "You," She drew out the word, slowly and deliberately as she felt fire ignite in her stomach. "Did this on purpose!"

He didn't wince this time from her intensely fierce voice; instead, he titled his chin up and repeated his firm yes once more. "Yes."

"You!" She screamed, the energy it took to create such a sound making her head spin. "You did this without asking me?"

He growled slightly, the human quality of the sound odd as he looked up at her and tried to at least explain his side. "I'm going to die—."

Ignoring the implications of his words for just a moment, Kagome bristled. "And your response is to get me pregnant?" She felt a wave of terror fill her so deeply that she was sure she was going to pass out. "How about telling me!?" She shrieked instead of falling over, shaking her head back and forth hastily. "Discussing it!?" Her voice cracked and she frowned so darkly that it seemed inappropriate for her normally cheerful features. "You don't get to make that decision by yourself!"

"I—," He tried to explain, he really did, but the more he spoke the less confident he suddenly began to feel. "Why did I do it?" He asked himself, the fact he was more human than demon in then moment allowing him to question his decision. "To protect her." He seemed to remember vaguely but in hindsight (and with Kagome yelling at him) he felt that wasn't quite the case. "This doesn't really protect her but it makes me—." A feeling of vulnerability washed over him and, uncomfortable, he shoved the potential thought down not prepared to deal with them. "I did it to protect her—." He latched onto that thought quickly not willing to acknowledge the deeply buried truth. "I was protecting you." He spoke firmly even as a voice somewhere deep within him laughed bitterly.

"Oh that makes perfect sense." Kagome rolled her eyes as the sarcastic comment rolled off her tongue and into his ears. "Did you not see Sango give birth?"

Flinching, Inuyasha licked his lips and looked at anything except his wife. "It's not that kind of protect, it," He continued to justify his decision one more time but the words sounded cheap suddenly and stupid. "Was to protect your life." He struggled to get the words out and make them sound the way he wanted them to. "I had to leave you something to live for."

The bitter laughter within him turned hysterical.

Kagome froze and her eyes widened as she snapped her mouth shut, fury circulating throughout her entire body. Before she could stop herself, she felt her hand jump up as if it had a will of its own landing a brutal slap hard across her husband's face. The sound reverberated throughout the room, hitting every corner multiple times as it echoed in and out of existence before falling silent. For several seconds neither husband nor wife moved. The two only sat, Kagome staring at the side of Inuyasha's head, the oddness of his human ear lost on her as she looked at his actually reddening cheek. In his human form, it seemed, his skin was a lot more delicate than normal.

Cautiously, he turned back towards her, the red cheek leaving her view replaced only by his eyes. She felt her anger begin to ebb the second those shocked brown orbs filled her vision. She watched as he breathed in deeply, one of his hands twitching as if to rise up and touch the abused flesh but he didn't, he stayed absolutely frozen with his own incredulity. A sudden rush of nausea flooded her and guilt jumped into her throat in the form of bile.

She turned her eyes away from those wounded orbs and looked towards the door of the room suddenly feeling claustrophobic and lightheaded. "Oh god," She began to shake a little bit more and her breath hitched in her throat almost violently. "I—I'm gonna—."

His eyes widened and within seconds he had her on her feet, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other reaching for the door as his feet slid against the tatami mats. The shoji door moved hastily across the floor nearly dislodging itself from its track with the force Inuyasha threw it opened with. It clattered against the wall as it came to a halt, Inuyasha rushing through the door just in time for both him and Kagome to fall to their knees along the edge of the porch. The girl retched instantly over the side, her disgruntled husband doing his best to hold her hair out of her face as she gagged and coughed. Nothing really came up, however, because she hadn't eaten in a few days and within seconds ragged breathing replaced her dry heaving.

Inuyasha listened to the sound of her heavy breaths and squeezed his eyes shut as his human emotions made him feel horrible, "I'm a selfish dumbass." He flinched and momentarily felt as if he should agree but he couldn't, he was too stubborn to be wrong. "This is for her." He argued even as he felt the weakness of his argument, he knew that even if it saved her life, that didn't make it right. "It doesn't matter—this is what's best." He told himself as the silky strands of her hair rubbed against his fingers. "Keep telling yourself that—dumbass." He growled and didn't register that the sound was starting to change becoming less human and more demonic, that is, normal.

The birds chirped in the trees above his head and he raised his chin up to study them, glad for the distraction. Even though it was still cold they were preparing their spring nest, the arrival of chicks on their minds already. It mirrored the couple on the ground so perfectly that he quickly looked away unable to deal with the blatant analogy. It hit too close to home, watching a father and a mother of any species raising a child together. It was something he had always, at least since he had met Kagome, wanted. He could see that little girl, a tiny version of the woman he loved, beautiful and sweet and kind like her mother with maybe some of her temper mixed in too.

"And my eyes," He felt a smile curve on his lips. "Kagome's hair with bright gold eyes—I'd have to beat every boy that looked at her the wrong way." He started to chuckle but before the sound could even make its way into his throat, his mind stopped it dead. "I won't be alive to do that."

Beside him, not aware of the birds or the garden in the least, Kagome waited as her dizziness came back under control before rising. Without her consent, one hand traveled down towards her abdomen where a flat stomach concealed a well hidden secret. "This has to be some cruel sick joke." She told herself and the thought made her feel queasy again. "I can't believe this," She brought a hand up and grabbed at her forehead, her fingers clutching at her bangs as she grew slightly dizzy. "I absolutely can't believe you would do this." She leaned back away from the edge of the porch and inhaled sharply through her nose.

"Kagome—." He reached for her slowly and was shocked when she didn't pull away. "I know this is hard to take in," He worded as delicately as possible as he looked at her small frame feeling as if he didn't even believe his own words at the moment. "But—it's necessary." He nodded his head as if he was not just trying to convince her but to convince himself. "I'm just trying to protect you, to do what's best for you, so you'll be okay when I'm gone." He tried to smile but the look she sent him in return made him freeze.

Her eyes were swirling with such an intense storm of dark grey that it almost looked as if, at any moment, lightning might be released from them.

"You listen and you listen well," She began slowly, punctuating every word so harshly that he had no choice but to lean back and listen. "All my life people have made decisions for me because they thought I was some fragile flower—pretty, stupid, and easily trampled." She bit through every word and hardened her heart against the pain she felt coming off of him. "You, until this very moment, never made me feel like you thought I was any of those things." She felt her voice break and watched as his eyes widened in reaction, looking towards her slowly. "You saw my strength, drew it out even, and I fell in love with you because of that." She took some of the bite out of her voice as she said those words, allowing them to sink into his thick skull. "But right now—you—you're treating me how everyone else always treated me, like I'm a frail, dumb, powerless, fucking flower."

The half demon turned human inhaled sharply at the sharpness of her alliteration and started to say something but a voice within himself controlled his tongue. "Mate." It spoke the word delicately and with such affection that he felt it must have been human even if it did refer to her as his mate and not his wife. He licked his lips as she reached out and grabbed the bottom of his chin as if to tell him to close his mouth. He obeyed, partially because he was in shock at hearing the demon voice but mainly because Kagome made him want to obey.

"You're doing something because you think it's best for me." She spoke with a firm, regal tone that made his whole body seem to pulse as if her very nature was making something within him reawaken. "But," Kagome continued on as she held his face in place for just a little longer, making him look her in the eye. "It's not." She dropped his chin and closed her eyes as if she were holding back tears. "If you died, I'd be broken, completely destroyed but that doesn't mean I'd follow you. Child," She hesitated and the fingers, which had been on his cheek twitched as if wanting to reach farther down, to touch something that was barely known. "Or not." The fingers won their battle and she couldn't stop herself from touching her stomach and she smiled briefly before the expression become solid. "I'm not," She looked up at him, puncturing every word with authority. "That weak."

He wasn't sure if he should be hurt or pleased.

"I would spend my whole life avenging you and living for you—like you lived for me." She lifted up her head and those beautiful grey eyes shone with pure commitment. "And when my time came, I would follow you into that dark unknown and I would be so—," She closed her eyes and even though he could not sense emotions like he could, he felt the misery his death would bring her. "So happy," She opened her eyes and looked at him, irises filled with love. "To find you again." Her lips formed a thin line of determination that made his knees almost weak. "But not one second before my time was up in this realm."

"Kago—," He stared at her, the love he had for her growing as he watched the fortitude on her face. "Me," He sighed as that nagging reality deep within him let itself come back. "Why did you do it?" He asked himself one more time knowing that he had misled himself to a certain degree. This wasn't just about protecting her and this most certainly wasn't because she was even remotely weak. "I know you're not weak."

"Then why?" She pleaded for understanding as she tried to fathom his action in any way possible.

"Because," He hesitated as he felt human emotions surface so strong that he felt weak for just a moment. He closed his eyes and cleared his throat as the human within him made him admit something to himself that the demon had never acknowledged. "I didn't want you—," He dropped his head into his hands hating the way being human in that moment made him feel. "To live without me."

"What?" Kagome felt her face scrunch up as she tried to understand what he meant. "That makes no sense."

"I know damn it," He lifted his head up as he tried to understand himself. "Being human's messing with my head." He tried to growl but the sound his pathetic human throat made just made him feel more pathetic.

Kagome bit her lip as she realized exactly what she had to do, the one thing she didn't want to do. She wanted to remain angry at him, she wanted to make him suffer just a little bit for what he had done but, in the end, that simply wasn't Kagome O'lionsigh. "I'm not blind or clouded." She told herself as Inutaisho's words from so long ago touched her soul.

"See the world with eyes unclouded by hate."

"I can see him—I will see him." She coached herself and stretched out her senses until she could feel his emotions. He was covered in turmoil and confusion but deeper still, underneath everything was an emotionshe had never expected to feel: fear. "You're afraid to die."

His head snapped up and he looked at her surprise. "No!" He denied it instantly but her eyes narrowed in response and he realized she had read him. "I really wish you wouldn't read me like that."

"Sorry," She apologized but her words didn't seem sincere at all. "But it's perfectly natural—to be afraid, I mean."

He scoffed and looked away actually embarrassed, a hint of red on his human cheeks. "Even if I was scared," He licked his lips and glanced towards her before looking away. "It doesn't matter. If it means protecting you," He forced himself to look back at her, the fierceness of his commitment evident in his gaze. "I'll do anything."

She bit her lip as she felt her mind come to terms with the fact that he and herself were simply too much alike. "Even die. For the other, we would both die." She summed up and he frowned slightly before pursing his lips. "We're some pair, huh?" She tried to joke as a cool breeze of very early spring or very late winter made them both shiver but neither seemed to notice the cold.

Ignoring her attempt at humor, Inuyasha leaned his head back and shook it slowly from side to side. "Kagome," He began as he tried desperately to find a way to explain himself. "I don't think you're weak." He reiterated his earlier point feeling frustrated with his human emotions. "At the time I just thought," He brought his hands up and rubbed at his forehead with both of them. "Shit," He ripped his hands away and looked at her with dark brown eyes that were beginning to almost lighten, a sliver of gold rising for just a second before disappearing. "I couldn't bear the thought of you living without me."

Kagome blinked not sure if she had seen the gold or imagined it.

"It's just wrong—," He continued on, unaware of what she had seen. "Right when I finally find you, the most beautiful, smart, perfect mate, I'm dead," He slammed a fist down into the ground and his hair snapped silver before fading black almost in an instant. "Who the fuck came up with that idea?"

"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered the name as his gold eyes flashed with the dangerous fire of demonic power she loved desperately.

"Fate is some sick bastard and I," He jabbed a finger in his chest not knowing it was a claw. "I just had to make sure you didn't have to live without me." He felt his fury growing, the voice that had laughed seeming to grow excited now, egging him on. "Not because you're weak," He pointed towards her as the gold of his eyes seemed to solidify and the silver in his hair became permanent in one instant. "But because I'm selfish!"

Kagome gasped as his body seemed to glow, silver and gold brilliant as they took over him making him a true half demon again.

"I wanted some way," He continued on, the demon making him speak quicker and with far more passion than before. "To always be in your life." The words flew from his mouth as he admitted them to her and to himself, his golden eyes flashing with brilliant fire as he let the weight of that truth fall from his shoulders.

Standing with her mouth nearly opened from shock, Kagome took in the way the sun hit that stunning silver hair and those blazing golden eyes. She felt his reasoning sink in, accompanied by relief and even though she knew it was selfish and it changed everything she also knew there was nothing to be done. She was going to have a child, this man's child, the man who loved her so much that he had done some stupid, selfish thing, to make sure he could always be with her. "You're a sweet idiot."

"What?" Inuyasha blinked and tried to figure out what the hell she meant but in that moment he inhaled. Instantly, he was overwhelmed with the most beautiful scent he could ever remembering smelling. Lilies, the ocean, and underneath that an unexplainable sweetness that was just barely a fragrant part of her scent. His heart stopped in his chest and he looked straight at her, his golden eyes meeting her relieved ones. He stepped back in shock looking down at his hands and then up at her as the tears began to overflow. The smell of salt that wasn't part of her natural scent made his stomach flip and he bit his lip. "Ka—."

"You're back." She told him as tears she couldn't possibly control entered her vision.

He gulped as that smell consumed him making his head spin and his body ache. Over and over again he inhaled, the smell of her anger turning into a slight flourishing of forgiveness making him fill with a self-hatred he could barely explain. He blinked and she smiled at him and he could see the relief in her eyes. Before he could stop himself he reached forward and without even a hasty word pulled her against himself tightly. The feel of her in his arms, the brush of her hair against his nose as he nuzzled her neck, and the tantalizing scent that wafted from the place just behind her ear made him whine. "I'm sorry." He whispered against her soft skin so quietly that she didn't hear him but instead only felt the brush of his sentiment against her psyche.

"I know." She mumbled as she too basked in the sensation that was her husband. There was just something so different about him when he was, for lack of a better term, himself. "The brush of his energy—the demon within him and the human—wrapping around each other." She allowed her hands to come up around his back. "You—the feel of you."

Inuyasha only continued to hold her, his eyes closing as he scented deeper towards a barely realized scent. "Pup." The thought drifted in and out of his mind for a moment before he sighed heavily. "My pup—my mate—my pup—my mate." The words repeated over and over again within him. "I love you." He added a little louder and this time she heard perfectly without needing her senses at all.

"And I love you." She agreed as the cold breeze caught her bangs causing them to intertwine with his own.

He pulled away as he felt the brush of her blackish brown strands. Gently, he raised his hand catching the stray hairs that whispered about her forehead with just the tip of his fingers. She closed her eyes against the gentle feel of him containing her delicate curls and both, at the exact same time, sighed. Slowly, she leaned forward, her heart which had been madly racing in her chest, cooling in its furious gallop. His fingers released her hair as he welcomed her into his arms, his wife practically plopping herself into them as she breathed in his scent. It seemed that the world, with its cold wind, was giving them just a second to fall into each other and lose themselves. They could forget about everything in that one moment from Naraku to Inuyasha's impending death; they could forget everything and simply hold each other.

The half demon's palms slipped underneath her shirt to feel the contours of her back. His fingers were warm against her skin making her snuggle in closer to him as she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to drift for just a moment. There were still traces of anger within her but despite them she couldn't hold back a slight excitement. "Still—," She allowed that excitement to waver momentarily. "How can I be excited if this—if this child never knows their father—if they're never even born?" She frowned darkly the uncertainty of the future haunting her thoughts and keeping her anger alive just a little longer. "I'm still mad." She whispered into his chest and he forced himself to smile as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"At least you're honest." He joked softly and she smiled against him in amusement.

She allowed the joke to permeate her and warm her as her eyes fluttered opened. "I am that."

"Kagome," His voice was soft and just a bit worried as he allowed himself to pull her a little more firmly against himself. "I'm—."

"A jerk? I've known that since day one." Kagome agreed and he chuckled, the vibration of his chest making her smile. "And I'm gonna be mad for a while but," She frowned ever so slightly as she let herself fully be immersed in their reality. "I understand, I may not agree, but I understand."

"I've said it before," He kissed the side of her neck. "And I know I'll say this a million times after this," He pressed his nose against the spoke just behind her ear where her scent seemed to accumulate. "You're too good for a bastard like me."

In that moment even though she concededly agreed with his statement, she didn't say anything; instead, she simply held onto him a little tighter. "A million times more, huh? Will that even be possible?" She wondered, the uncertainty of her statement making her nervous. "The future's so uncertain right now—fate—fate's been tampered with so much everything's practically upside down." Her mind drifted to Kaede and the things Kaede had told her: the truth. "Everything I know is wrong." She bit her lip and let that thought resound in her mind. "Everything I know is a lie."

Unaware of his mate's thoughts, Inuyasha couldn't help himself as he lowered his hands down Kagome's back and halted them on the exact opposite side from where he assumed the baby rested. He inhaled with his human nose, cursing it for its weakness as he tried to imagine the smell that should be drifting all around her. "Soft and warm—milky and a little sweet." He closed his eyes as he remembered back to Sango's motherly scent and the fragrance that had just started to waft from Kagome's skin. Something in him prickled with barely contained excitement and disappointment and before he could stop himself, words slipped from his mouth. "We're having a baby." He felt Kagome tense just slightly before her whole body seemed to go liquid in his arms.

"A little you." She whispered and he couldn't keep the pleased smile off his face even as his heart ached a little.

"A kid I'll never see." A little voice whispered from somewhere inside himself but he pushed it down, not letting the future ruin this sweet moment. "No way," He groused and pulled her a little closer. "It's gonna be a little you."

"Huh?" Kagome actually blinked in surprise, not expecting this man to want a little girl for a first born.

"I want a daughter." He let her preconceived notion shatter with his strong words. "We already have enough pesky boys running around." He crinkled his nose as she pulled away from him and looked at his face in shock. "What we need is a girl—a sweet little girl with your face and your hair." He nodded his head once firmly and looked Kagome straight in the eye. "And hopefully lacking your temper."

She laughed, and the sound was beautiful as she reached up and gently patted his cheek that was still red from her slap. "Poor baby." She cooed and he snorted loudly turning his face away from her.

"One day this kid's gonna ask," He paused and decided not to indicate that the child would most likely be asking her. "How Okaa-san reacted to finding out she was pregnant."

"And you'll say," She spoke without looking at the shocked expression on his face and without acknowledging the shock in her own heart. "She slapped papa in the face."

"But—." Inuyasha tried to protest, upsetting the sweet balance of the moment but once more Kagome held up her hand defiantly.

For a moment she allowed Kaede's words to echo in her head but only for a moment. "Everything you know is wrong." She lifted up her eyes to the golden ones of the magnificent dog demon before her. "I'm sick of people saying what is and isn't right." She told him and he stared at her like she was crazy, right but crazy none the less. "I think it's time for us to come to our own conclusions." She nodded to herself as a smile began to make its presence known on just the edge of her lips. "Izayoi—Kaede—and fate. Who the hell ever said I had to listen to fate or to them? I never listened to my mother, to my father, to the rules propriety and look what happened." She solidified her heart and tightened her hands into defiant fist as she continued to look at her husband's confused features. "Who are they to tell us anything?"

"Who are they?" Inuyasha spoke slowly as he stared at her not having a clue who she was referencing whatsoever.

Kagome's eyes widened and she felt her heart sink for a moment. "I haven't told him?" She blinked slightly and frowned. "No—I told him—he just." She gulped slightly and tried to control her breathing. "You must have missed that earlier." She commented off handedly even as he narrowed his eyes at her as if he remembered but didn't all at the same time. "He probably only focused on the 'me taking his place' part of the conversation and not the 'who wanted it that way' part or—he just blocked it out—I can't blame him if he did."

"What did I—miss?" He asked slowly even as his subconscious mind echoed with the answer, an answer he couldn't quite handle.

"Your mother," Kagome began slowly as she braced herself. "Yeah—we'll start with her and work our way to Kaede—that may backfire but here goes nothing." She nodded her head a few times and took a deep breath before continuing. "She told me—we should switch." Kagome watched as Inuyasha stared at her as if not understanding at all. "That I, you know—should," She leaned forward as if trying to get him to fill in the blank so she wouldn't have to say it. "Don't be so dense!" She yelled at him in her head but the confusion she saw on his face told her to just be direct. "I should die for you."

It was quiet at first as the half demon processed what she had said or better yet tried to ignore it one last time albeit unsuccessfully. Finally, like Mount Vesuvius before an eruption he blinked and she could have shown smoke came out of his ears as a warning before he exploded. "What!?" He jumped slightly as that part of himself which had been hiding the truth from his mind finally gave up. "What do you mean Okaa-san?"

"Yep—," She looked away slowly as her mind raced a bit from the information. "You did miss that earlier."

Inuyasha ignored her words and placed his hands directly on her shoulders, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "What did Oka—Okaa-san," He stumbled as his mind tried to process Kagome's words but failed horribly. "Tell me what she said."

Kagome felt her heart tighten as his emotions washed over her, cold and desperately confused. "Well—to take your place."

"Why?" Inuyasha bit out the word taking just some of his upset out on her without meaning to.

Kagome ignored the viciousness of his voice and instead reached out trying to calm him as best she could. "She knew you were going to die, right?" The young girl nodded to herself not allowing him time to confirm or deny her knowledge. "She loved you and—just like any mother—she wanted to protect you." Kagome felt her heart connect to her own unborn child, that connection making her understand Izayoi, if just a little bit, more. "This was—I was—the only way she could think to make it work." She bit her lip from the thought, her mind turbulent. "But now—with what Kaede said, with the baby here," She sprawled her fingers a little wider, covering as much of her stomach as possible. "It won't work but does that mean we're backed into a corner?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again before closing it again. His eyes narrowed, widened and then shut along with his mouth once more. He didn't say anything, or think anything for several seconds and then his eyes snapped opened and his mouth snapped opened. "Are you sure?" He asked even as her scent told him her words were the truth. "Please just—tell me you're lying."

"I can't do that." She looked up at him without saying another word knowing that it had to be hard to accept that your mother was plotting to save your life at the expense of another.

"Damn it—I know—I'd know if you were lying." Inuyasha said the words with such anger laced within them that Kagome couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by it. "I could smell it." He paused as he tried to put everything she was saying into perspective but he came back empty. He couldn't even fathom it, it seemed impossible; his own mother would never do something like this but the proof was in his mate's scent and he couldn't deny it. "What the hell was she thinking?" He shook his head quickly from side to side as if to stop his own digression. "I'm a grown man; I don't need my mommy to protect me!"

"But you weren't then," Kagome offered him the thought, watching as he raised his head up with deliberate swiftness, his eyes large golden suns of shock. "You were a baby to her—and she couldn't let her baby die."

Something in Kagome's words made his brain jump with memories of being a small child by his mother's side. He could just see her beautiful dark eyes as she cooed over him and hugged him to herself, whispering words of pride and sweet nonsense in his ears as she rubbed them. "Inu-chan." He could hear her whisper the nickname that only she had called him. Sesshoumaru, his father, the nursemaids, and midwifes had never once referred to him in such a way but she had. She had called him Inu-chan and her eyes had lit up with undeniable pride and love that he would never forget seeing in her eyes. But that look had changed after his father had died, pride and love were still there but there was something wholly different within it as well. An emotion was present in her eyes and voice that just now began to make sense.

The room was quiet, little to no light coming through the opened window as the summer breeze wafted between the curtains. It was a moonless night outside and the tiny Inuyasha was laying in the bed with his mother, terrified to be transformed without the comfort of his father next to him. This was the first moonlit night he had ever spent without his father and it was beyond terrifying. The ship creaked as the waves outside pressed against the bow and he hiccupped with fear from the sound. Men yelled to one another as they worked on a repair on the mast from a gale and he shook with anxiety. Everyone and everything was a threat while he was human.

"Okaa-san," He whined in the back of his throat as he sniffed the air with a nose that could not smell anything.

His mother pulled him a little closer to her as he hiccupped and placed a kiss between the spot where two tiny ears should be. "You're okay." She whispered as he pressed himself more firmly against her. "Inu-chan."

"Okaa-san," He mumbled back, fear keeping him from speaking any louder. He sniffled as he looked into the dark, every shadow an enemy and every creak his impending demise.

"I promise you," She continued on as she cradled him against her body, wetness touching his dark hair from tears she couldn't hide. "I will protect you—I will protect you." She pulled away and cupped his tiny cheeks in her hands, staring at him with that look of pride and love. "You're my pup, Inu-chan." She spoke the words firmly as that pride shifted and that love in her eyes depleted, replaced for just a moment by overwhelming pity. "I—," Her voice broke and her fingers gently pulled away from his pudgy cheeks. "I won't—let-t-t anything," She tried to finish her words but they were cumbersome and wrecked with tears.

"Okaa-san?" He questioned and reached up for her putting his hands on her cheeks instead. "Don't cry."

"Oh sweet boy," She whispered and pulled him against herself, her head buried in the side of his hair as she cried, cried for him, her son that would die. "I wish I could," The words were strange as they fell from her mouth. "Protect you from everything."

Coming back to the present, Inuyasha felt his hands tighten into fist as he realized what his mother had meant then. "I knew she was aware I was destined to die." He felt anger boil within him as he realized that she had always been looking for a way out. "I know why you would want to save your pup from that but—to change it at this high a cost?" He glanced towards Kagome who had been waiting patiently, as if she too had shared in the memory (which of course she had).

"I can't blame her," Kagome whispered, she could still feel the anger coming off of him and could see the tension in his shoulders as he tried to control it. "I understand her," She pressed a little harder as he tilted his head down, concealing his eyes with his bangs. "You just have to understand where she was coming from."

"Understand?" He spoke the word with a barely contained calm quality to his voice. "Understand?" His head snapped up and he looked at her with flashing eyes. "I understand protecting your pup but," He tried to argue, growling low and long in his throat, sounding truly dangerous. "I grew up!"

"But she never saw you grow up." Kagome smiled halfheartedly as his face grew tight with barely controlled anger. "She died—."

"I was fifteen!" Inuyasha groused even though he knew what she was saying made a bit of sense. "I was fifteen when she died—almost as tall as I am right now—grown!"

Kagome nodded her head and the smile turned to a frown. "Grown at fifteen, huh?" She mumbled as she took in a shaky breath. "That's still very much a child for a demon, isn't it?" She asked the question even as a fear began to settle in her stomach. "If this child ages like a demon—will I die when it's still a child?" She shuddered and closed her eyes warding off the dangerous thoughts and focusing on the conversation once more. "To her, you're still a child."

"She's not that dumb," Inuyasha continued on as he clutched his fist at his side, anger consuming him. "She has to realize I continued growing," He put his hand out by the ground and shot it up quickly as if to imitate a child growing. "All pups grow up!"

"To her that doesn't matter." Kagome whispered trying to stop him before he launched into a tirade.

"Of course it matters!" He shouted anyway, the sound of his voice echoing so well throughout the garden that it actually reached all the way across it. "I'm a grown man." He reached forward and grabbed Kagome's shoulders, not shaking her but (with the upmost of care) trying to get her to understand by contact. "She wanted me to let my mate die, so I could live, that's—that's," He looked at her helplessly as he felt a little nauseous himself. "Si—." He stopped himself unable to finish the word because he couldn't think for a moment of his mother that way. "You can't make decisions like that by yourself."

Kagome smiled but the expression was anything but warm. "Sounds a bit like an earlier conversation we had."

He froze at her words and his hands loosened their grip on her arms before falling down all together. Without looking at her, he brought his hands up and rubbed his face as he sat back on his heels. For several seconds the air between them was silent, only the chirping birds and distant crickets making any noise. After what felt like an eternity, he sighed, his shoulders sinking just a bit before squaring once again. "You kept things from me too." He said and pulled his hand down across his face as if to pull the emotion of the words with it. "You kept this from me—you were going to die without once talking to me." The anger in his voice was barely contained and the swell of it in his eyes made Kagome falter.

Kagome winced as she stared into those golden eyes, hurt, confused, and angry. She knew in that moment she was just as wrong as he was to have made a life altering or in this case death giving decision without him. "We really lack communication, don't we?" She tried to joke, to make the pain she felt in his aura go away but she couldn't, it only amplified and then festered. "I—I," She stumbled and closed her eyes as her cheeks tinted with embarrassment that he didn't miss.

"Why did you do it?" He asked slowly and her eyes open looking at him and wishing she could go back and change everything from four days before.

"Because—," She shook her head and spoke as if her words were the most natural thing in the world. "I love you too."

The anger melted within him as he heard the soft murmurings and he sighed before falling back from his heels to his bottom, tired. "And she knew you would love me." His voice was bitter and the hurt that flooded him was consuming. "She knew and she used that to lure you to your death."

Kagome didn't deny his words only nodded her head. "It was wrong." She told him and reached forward, brushing her fingers against the back of one of his hands. "And I was wrong—I should have told you and I'm sorry but," She paused as she took his hand not bothering to hesitate as she enveloped his fingers with her own much smaller ones. "We're both a little wrong, aren't we?" She pulled his hands towards her and placed the flat of his palm against her stomach for the first time.

For years to come, she would never forget the look on his face as his hand sprayed over the surface of her navel, flat and unassuming, but filled with a little life. The way his eyes lit up and the way his expression seemed to instantly shift from anger, grief, and confusion, into complete amazement and rapture.

"It's like he's falling in love." She realized as she watched him inhale, his eyes falling closed and his fingers pressing against her as he tried to breathe in everything her scent could possibly offer. "I think everyone," She whispered and his eyes fluttered back open as if he was waking from some dream. "Has their moments—me, your mother, even you." She added in the last bit slyly and he snorted before shaking his head.

"Lies." He whispered, trying to joke with her, his early anger gone at the feel of possibility within her.

Kagome laughed slightly even as she realized there were other things she needed to tell him, "Later, I'll tell him about Kaede later—one thing at a time." She looked down at their joined hands and continued to smile, the warmth of his fingers making everything seem like, for a moment, it might be okay.

Inuyasha pressed his hand a little firmer against her before pulling away. Even though he couldn't feel a thing, something about the action itself made everything feel warm and real. "I'm going to be—a father—again." He sighed heavily feeling suddenly exhausted as he leaned back away from her and breathed in deeply. His mind flashed with images of his mother, with images of a pup that he would never know (that may not ever be born), he saw Kagome's smile and he heard her laugh, and it was in a world without him and that was wrong. "It's so—wrong."

"Wrong." Kagome repeated as her mind began to turn back to her earlier thoughts. She could just see Kaede in front of her, those brown eyes filled to the brim with regret. "Everything we know is wrong."

"Damn right." He looked up as if he were searching for heaven.

Something inside of her sparked then as she finally realized the possibilities behind Kaede's words. "To fix your mistakes Kaede—I'd have to change fate." Kagome felt a cool breeze push against her very soul and she smiled a real smile for the first time in days. "I'm really sick," She began slowly, her voice so firm that Inuyasha's head snapped up and his ears twitched with disbelief. "Of people telling me—us," She corrected, including him in her idea as she turned those grey eyes towards her husband, fire beginning to build in them. "That we can't stop fate—that we're wrong to think we can."

"Huh?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at her confused.

"I'm sick of us," Kagome reached out without a second thought and grabbed her husband's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Being fate's play thing."

"But its fate—?"

"And what is fate?" Kagome countered as she began to see clearly, to finally understand something. "You said it yourself, fate's a bastard and I'm sick of believing in it." She pulled his hand more firmly against herself, his knuckles brushing against the valley of her breast. "I'm sick of everyone telling us how fate's going to play out." Her heart pounded and she knew he had to be able to feel it against his knuckles. "No one can decide our future—no one." She nodded firmly and the spark in her eyes turned to a raging fire. "Not your mother, or your father, not Sesshoumaru or Rin—not anyone." She continued on skipping Kaede's name as she looked away from him and out into the garden as if expecting to see that very woman or Izayoi waiting to challenge her. "We are the ones in charge," She spoke and it wasn't to him but to fate itself. "We can make our own decisions, no one can tell us that's wrong!"

The warmth of her body against his hand made him stay calm even as his heart began to race from the possibility she was speaking. "Kagome?"

The girl's head snapped towards her husband once more and she smirked in a way that mirrored his own face on several occasions. "Your mother said fate was in control, that we can't stop it but we can alter it." She spoke rapidly but practice helped him keep up with her. "She wanted to alter it by me dying instead of you."

"That's—."

"Ridiculous?" Kagome filled in for him not even bothering to wait for his response. "Exactly—she was wrong." Her eyes blazed with her statement and she decided right them and there that she was not going to let him change her mind. "You got to make a decision for both of us," She smirked at him and the devious nature of it made his heart flip flop. "Now it's my turn."

"Okay—?" He spoke slowly unable to keep the question out of his voice as he looked at his petite wife.

"I've heard you say this a million times, we fight to live, but do you really believe in that?" She dropped his hand and crossed her arms over her chest, right underneath her breast knowing it drove him a little wild. She waited only long enough for the demon in front of her to shake his distracted head before she finished. "Then let's fight and live," She watched as he raised his head up and stared at her amazed. "—both of us."

"Did I miss something?"

-break-

The light in the room was minimal, the sun already starting down its gradual decline into dusk on the other side of the building they were reclining in. Sitting on a little futon, propped up by pillows she must have retrieved (or better yet made Miroku retrieve) from the ship, Sango bounced a fussy baby, the other one tucked into a tiny blue kimono beside her. Sitting just a little ways away, close enough to pick up his son if need be, Miroku stared at the mother of his children as she mumbled something in Italian he didn't understand. It was amazing how motherhood had made the dead language resurrect on Sango's tongue. He wouldn't pretend to understand it, that would be foolish, but he wouldn't question it either. He had learned long ago not to question a passionate Italian.

Across from the husband and wife with their twin children, sat the grandparents (no one would dare question that title for fear of confusion) of said children. Inuyasha blinked slowly as he watched Sango bounce the baby. Unlike Miroku, he could understand the soft Italian words, gentle and sweet.

"It's okay little one." He translated in his head as she whispered and cooed to her baby while rocking him back and forth. "Mama's here; so, don't cry."

Something about that promise made a lump form in his throat and without thinking he turned towards his wife, looking down at her stomach. In just a few months it would round and in a few more it would grow large like a melon under her shirt. A burst of pride he could barely contain formed in his chest at the prospect and he tried hard to suppress his instinctual pleased growl. "Thank god for being demon again," He cleared his throat and licked his lips. "I can't help but feel proud." He frowned suddenly as that pride was replaced by an immediate depression. "I'm such an idiot."

"I'll say." Kagome giggled from beside him and he nearly jumped out of his skin before turning and glaring at her for reading his mind.

"How many times can I forget you can do that?" He grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest as his eyes turned back towards Sango and Miroku who were looking at both of them suddenly.

"Talkin' to yourself or each other?" Miroku asked as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms more firmly over his chest. "Because I know you sure as hell ain't talkin' to me." His tone came across as pure sarcasm, which seemed pretty well placed considering the current circumstances.

Inuyasha didn't wince from the words but he felt as if he should have. "You've been kind of," He waved his hand towards his grandchildren and Sango before shrugging. "Distracted."

Sango cooed for a moment longer as the little baby gurgled before promptly dozing off into sleep and, finally, raised her head up. "I'll give you that." She spoke slowly as she looked from the human demon to Kagome. "But—I think it's about time we knew everything that was going on."

"Sango," Kagome tried to gently protest as she leaned forward towards the other woman imploringly. "You just gave birth."

"Like a weak ago." Sango huffed as she gently lowered the baby towards her left, surrounding herself with her twin boys.

"Four days." Kagome threw the real time frame out in the open. "That's not enough—."

Sango looked up at Kagome and frowned darkly as she reached for a tiny kimono (an identical blue to the first one) without even looking. "You of all people," She spoke a bit stiffly as she broke eye contact and looked towards the little boy on her left. "Should know my body's practically brand new right now," She laid the blanket on top of the child, Richard Kagome thought it was, and carefully tucked in the edges underneath him to keep him warm. "It's like I never gave birth."

"I should know too." Miroku commented off handedly as he clicked his tongue to try to ease some of the tension.

"Miroku!" Sango hissed as a blush formed on her cheeks and she slapped a hand over her eyes. "That's personal!"

Miroku laughed and was two seconds away from opening his mouth to say, "I'm sure Otou-san can smell it."

"I'm trying very hard not to." Inuyasha replied even as a barely contained smirk started to form on his face.

"Oh dear lord," Sango growled and glared at both of them as Kagome, sitting directly across from her, tried desperately not to giggle from a combination of embarrassment and true amusement.

"Joking aside, there's no excuses." Miroku spoke slowly, the brief moment of ease dissipating with his words. "I only heard the end of your—discussion," He said the word slowly as if he wasn't sure it was the proper term or not. "But I still think we need to all be involved."

"Miroku—." Inuyasha started to speak but his son's loud sigh gave him pause.

"No excuses." Miroku shook his head and glanced down at one of his young sons. "I've been your son for over eleven years." He looked away from the boy and towards his father one more time, staring him down as if to make a deeper point. "We've fought together, starved together, nearly drowned together, and let's not mention the countless times we were shot at together," He listed tapping one finger for each of the things they had done. "I'm not going to ever stop fighting for you." He snapped the fingers that had made the list and huffed before crossing his arms over his chest. "But I can't do that if you hold out on me—again."

Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head the last little quip his son had made sinking into his normally stubborn skull fully. "I know—it's a nasty habit." He and nodded towards his son trying to find the right words to even begin his side of the argument. "But this is so—complicated." He finally managed to say after several seconds and winced as he realized how ineffective those words would be. "And you just started your family—I can't put this on you."

"So is Nihon-go," Miroku clicked his tongue this time and tisked at his father before sending him a tired smile. "But I learned that."

"Touché." Inuyasha grumbled in French and allowed his hand to fall from his neck and land in his lap. "Look," He licked his lip and stared pointedly at his son. "You know about Naraku and the jewel and that we have to beat him but—." He hesitated as he tried to conjure up the words that would be best but it seemed impossible. "—it comes at a price." Inuyasha glanced at his wife, wondering if he should mention anything more than that. His skin crawled from the idea and the anger he had barely controlled earlier started to swell again. "Okaa-san."

Realizing that he was reverting to his earlier anger, Kagome quickly took over for him. "It's supposed to be," She waited for Miroku and Sango both to turn towards her before she continued quickly. "Inuyasha's death." She decided to leave out her part in this for right now. "It's not like it matters anyway," She thought if only to herself. "After all, I'm not going to let him die—neither of us will die."

Miroku and Sango both looked at each other slowly, their eyes meeting over the tops of their children before they both sighed, their shoulders slumping and their eyes, at least, growing pained.

"That's not quite the reaction I was expecting." Kagome felt her eye twitch slightly as she glanced at an equally perplexed Inuyasha.

"Forgive me if I'm over reaching here," The half dog demon began slowly as he looked at his son and daughter-in-law with a taunt smile. "But I'm a little hurt you're not more upset."

"Rin told us." Miroku spoke without preamble even as he dipped his head down and covered half of his face with the flat of his hand, rubbing at his tired eyes. "A day—two days ago," He breathed in slowly and the pain that radiated off of him hit Kagome hard in the gut. "I—I had hoped—." He trailed off, his dark eyes becoming even darker at the thought before he looked up at his father. "Is it really true?"

Inuyasha stared at his son, not sure what to say as he looked into the eyes of the little boy he had rescued all those years ago from a London gutter. "Miroku," He said the name slowly and tried to form other words but couldn't. "I wish," He stumbled and growled and finally raised his head up to look at his son, hating himself for causing the pain in those dark eyes. "It wasn't true—but it is."

Sango's breath hitched in her throat and she couldn't find the will to swallow it down as she pulled the baby in her arms closer to herself. "So it is true." She whispered as if she wanted to deny it and make it simply disappear but knew she couldn't. "This isn't right!" Sango shrieked instantly causing Inuyasha's hand to fly up to cover his ears and both babies to wail. "Shit." She cursed and tried to calm the baby in her arms as she looked towards the other boy trashing under his little blue kimono. "Miroku—Richard."

"Got it." He responded, his voice tight as he reached for the little boy, pulling him into his arms within seconds.

"Sorry—sorry," Sango pulled the baby up to her shoulder, rubbing his tiny back as she apologized. "Mama, well," Sango's lip trembled and the anger inside of her came off her body in waves. "She's just—."

"Pissed," Miroku finished for her and was immediately chastised.

"No cursing," Sango bit out the words but the malice in her voice didn't seem directed at Miroku in the least. "In front of the boys."

Miroku didn't say a word, or point out the fact that Sango cussed in front of them first, he simply nodded and uttered a gentle apology laced with his own upset over his father's fate. "I'm sorry, love."

Inuyasha winced at the words and started to open his mouth and reassure the two but his voice fell flat. "I can't apologize—I have to do what I have to do." He glanced towards Kagome his mind jumping, upon seeing her determined face, towards her earlier words.

"We fight to live, right?"Her eyes blazed and her cheeks flushed from the prospect of her words.

It rang in his head and he stared at her as the second half played just as loudly.

"Then let's fight," The words had jumped from her red lips, all her hope and belief pouring into them. "And live, both of us!"

With those words ringing in his ears, he watched as she opened her mouth speaking over the den of crying children without even glancing at him.

"It's not going to happen." She spoke so firmly that even the babies seemed to sense her mood, quieting ever so slightly as their mother and father rocked them.

"What?" Sango raised up her eyes away from the crying child and towards the priestess.

"I decided it's not going to happen." She finished firmly and glanced towards Inuyasha who was sending a strange look towards her. "I might have told him that part already but," She bit her lip, watching as he acknowledged the movement by glancing away from her eyes momentarily. "We didn't really talk about the how, did we?" She scrapped her teeth over the sensitive lip and looked towards Miroku who had interrupted them before she could even begin thinking of the how. "How do I stop it?"

"Kagome—fate is powerful." Inuyasha began slowly without bothering to look at anyone in the room as he spoke. "And wanting to change it and being able to are simply two different things."

Kagome shook her head defiantly and actually growled at her husband. "All of us were raised to be something—a street rat," She motioned to Miroku who actually flinched at the old term. "A half demon," She flicked her wrist towards her husband who backed up just a fraction in shock. "A countess," She turned her eyes on Sango who didn't even budge, her eyes as firm as Kagome's. "And," She pointed at herself showing them what she was without words. "Whatever the hell I am," She settled on and with a shake of her head continued. "We broke our roles became something more than what we were supposed to be." She looked towards Inuyasha her eyes desperately pleading. "We changed our fate—if we've done it once we can do it one more time."

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they dissected Kagome's words taking them in individually. Finally, Inuyasha raised up his hands and rubbed at his face tiredly. "How?" The word sounded as if it had originally been intended to be a whisper but had, at the last second, grown to something more. "How the hell are we supposed to change it!?"

Kagome licked her lips and her mind turned towards the ghost child that she had learned the horrific truth about only a few days before. "I don't know yet—," She glanced up at him as she tried to piece together her own thoughts. "But I think you dying is not the solution."

"There's no way in hell we're going with your solution!" Inuyasha gabbed a finger at himself not even wincing as blood actually trickled down his chest from his claw stabbing inwards. "I will follow fate if it means you live."

"Wait just a second." Sango's voice boomed over their argument follow quickly by Miroku's.

"I think something very important," The young man looked between the husband and wife swiftly. "Has been left out here." He closed his eyes and sent an obviously fake and creepy smile towards the two. "Care to share with the rest of the family?"

"Um," Kagome opened her mouth, the slight hiccup of sound making her wince. She glanced towards her husband, not sure what to say as her mind seemed to instinctively jump from the secret of Izayoi to another one within her. "Well—." She looked towards Miroku and Sango slowly and as discreetly as possible dropped her hand away from Inuyasha allowing it to land just in front of her stomach on her lap. "I don't want anyone to know," Her fingers twitched but she halted them before they could give away her secret. "Not until this is over—I don't need everyone worrying on it." She looked at Inuyasha once again, pleading with him with silent grey eyes. "You knowing is all I can handle right now—."

Beside her Inuyasha noticed the storm building and nodded towards her as he realized exactly why she had paused so dramatically. "I can't blame you—it's probably gonna be easier to just keep that under our hats for now—still." He shifted a bit uncomfortably realizing that Sesshoumaru, Myoga, Totosai, Rin and every other demon in existence (including but not limited to even Shippo and Takeshi) would be able to tell without her consent anyway but for now, he honored her wishes. "There are more important things to tell them anyway." He assured internally before his mind shifted back to that other immense secret. "Just tell them about—Okaa-san." He finished slowly, unable to hold back the sound of frustration in his voice.

Kagome nodded both thankful for his understanding and sorry for his pain. Clearing her throat, she turned back to the patient Sango and Miroku who were (for the moment at least) waiting patiently. "When I was training with, Izayoi—you know, Inuyasha's mother." She looked towards Inuyasha again noticing the way he tensed at his mother's name. "Sh—she told me about Inuyasha and what was going to happen to him."

"Rin said that she knew all along." Sango asked softly as she rocked her son. "She's a special type of—miko?" She said the word as if she wasn't too sure she had pronounced it correctly. "She could see the future."

Kagome nodded and without prelude continued on. "She brought me there for a reason—a reason no one else knew." The girl shifted awkwardly in her spot and glanced at Inuyasha before silently adding, "Until an hour ago." Inhaling deeply before expelling her breath with a visible shake of her shoulders she finished: "She wanted me to train, so I could kill Naraku in Inuyasha's place."

The room grew silent with the exception of Inuyasha's sudden sharp intake of breath. "Ain't gonna happen." He bit out the words unable to control himself.

Confused for just a second, Miroku looked between Kagome and Inuyasha. "Wait," He spoke hastily as his mind tried to form words but failed miserably the first few tries. "Does that mean," He paused for just a second as the meaning of those words formulated anxiously in his head. "Completely—as in die instead?"

"Yes." Kagome nodded her head and looked towards Inuyasha. "And I was planning to do it."

The dog demon opened one eye and glared at her clearly disgruntled by more than just the plan itself. "Like hell." He snorted and looked away from her as his fingers dug into his sleeves.

"Inuyasha—."

"I'm two seconds away from covering my ears and yelling 'I can't hear you' over and over again." The dog demon replied irritably and Kagome frowned knowing it had more to do with his mother than it did with her.

"That's very adult of you." She mumbled just to herself, knowing he would still hear her anyway.

"Still," Sango interrupted before Inuyasha could send a snarky comment back at his wife. "Why—," Sango looked between the two as the steam that had been fueling the half demon's temper started to fall away from Inuyasha. "Why would she do something like that?"

"Love." Kagome shrugged as she leaned against the wall, her eyes staring at that little babe in Sango's arms. "She loves him," She looked at that little baby, Sango's eyes following her own, both women staring at the child. For a moment, Kagome allowed the hand in her lap to turn and push against her stomach, the child's energy brushing against her own just for her to feel. "She would do anything," She sat up a little more firmly as her own resolve grew, her hand backing away so as to be inconspicuous. "For her baby."

"I'm not a baby." Inuyasha grumbled and had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep from snarling out his words.

"I know." Kagome looked towards him, trying to calm his irritation the best she could but feeling as if she were failing. "And deep down she must know that too," The miko added and something about her words seemed to irk the demon even more but he brushed it off and instead of commenting sighed heavily. "But either way—I've decided neither of us is going to die."

"I'm still wondering," Inuyasha cut in, his voice tight and still on edge but Kagome easily ignored the bite in his voice. "How that's going to happen?"

Kagome didn't say anything as the ghost formed in her mind once more, his dark eyes and curly hair haunting her vision even now. Pained, she closed her eyes off from the people around her and brought her hands up to encircle her waist. "Control." She managed to say the word, coaching herself even as she felt a coldness touch her skin. The other's around her narrowed their eyes and knitted their brows from the silence that followed.

"She's being stranger than normal." Sango looked towards Miroku the sound of her voice entering the quiet space that Kagome had left.

"And that's saying something." Miroku raised an eyebrow at the young miko not liking the feeling of being in the dark. "I feel like we're still missing information here."

Sitting just a few feet away from his wife, Inuyasha silently agreed with their own assessment. "Kagome?" He whispered and reached for her, brushing his fingertips against her elbow.

The girl jumped slightly at the contact and reached up to touch his fingertips that were still resting against her sleeve. "Do you," She took a deep breath as she was bombarded with the emotions of everyone in the room, the doubt and worry making her shift awkwardly. "Remember the ghost—the one I saw on Shikuro."

"Yes." Sango spoke quickly, her eyes widening as she looked at the whiteness of Kagome's skin. "It's like she just went pale."

"What about it?" Inuyasha quickly interjected as he looked down at his wife, his heart panicking a little as all the color drained from her face.

"It came around again and I—I talked with it." She felt the wave of questioning hit her and her eyes twitched until they opened. Before she could stop herself, she raised her head up and looked into the eyes of her companions, each one fully prepared for what they were about to hear. "It wanted to show me something." She waited for a moment, not sure as to why she took that second, but she did. "The truth."

"Truth." The other three adults in the room collectively whispered the word.

"The ghost," She looked up and breathed in threw her nose before finishing. "Is Naraku."

"But Naraku's not dead." Sango instantly argued in place of Inuyasha and Miroku who had also been seconds away from saying the same thing. "He's apparently trying to kill both of you right now by proxy!"

Kagome shook her head slightly from side to side. "But he is dead—in a way." She supplied but didn't wait for them to whisper questions or demand answers before she continued. "And to understand how he is both dead and alive you have to know his past." She waited patiently for everyone to comprehend her words, once the feeling of understanding brushed against her skin, she continued. "The ghost of Naraku showed me his whole life and I watched it and felt it like I did Sango's." The priestess lifted her head and tried to block out her memories of swaying bodies and tortured souls. "And he showed me—his truth," She looked directly at Inuyasha as she spoke her next words. "Henry Morgan is his father but his mother was not Morgan's wife," She closed her eyes as she remembered that woman's beautiful ebony skin and curly dark hair. "She was a human slave."

"You're kidding." Miroku mumbled as his mind ran with the information stunned. "Talk about the short end of the lineage stick—a half demon and a slave." He chocked slightly and looked over at his father apologetically. "Not that I think either is a bad thing—."

"Don't hurt yourself." Inuyasha rolled his eyes at his child before quickly looking back at Kagome. "So he's a half demon." He shrugged his shoulders indicating that he didn't see the point. "How does that make him a technically living dead half demon thing?"

"Do they have word for that—someone's that's dead but alive—or walking still somehow?" Sango commented off handedly while Miroku looked thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"We can call them the walking dead men." He offered up the thought but Sango scrunched up her face at the term.

"That's just not catchy." She shook her head back and forth slightly. "Too long."

Miroku shrugged the baby in his arms gurgling happily from the motion. "We'll work on that."

Kagome felt the corners of her mouth twitch in response but the feeling didn't last long. Almost before she could control the sensation, overwhelming depression flowed through her and she felt tears prickle her eyes. "Henry Morgan loved Naraku's human mother but—his demon wife." She whispered softly as her heart cracked in her chest from the memories of his pain. "Ripped that love apart—literally." She raised her wet grey eyes up and looked at the group not seeing them but instead seeing that orchard and smelling that blood. "She beat her, ripped her body apart, hung her in the middle of the yard where she suffocated after enduring hours of torture at that demon woman's hands," The image of that woman, swinging slowly back and forth, the bundle of baby at her feet. "And she finished by murdering Naraku's infant sister, leaving the tiny body at their mother's hanging feet, and watching as that little boy found them—before committing suicide herself."

One of Sango's hands jumped to her lips covering a gasp accompanied by a horrified moan. "Dear lord."

"His wife was dead—the woman he loved murdered by her hands." Kagome closed her eyes wishing the images away but they lingered like a demented nightmare. "His daughter was dead but his son," She opened her watery eyes as the images of death slipped away replaced by the tiny body of a very little boy. "His son was alive and plainly a half demon."

The atmosphere in the room was sober as Kagome's voice trailed off leaving that fact transparent in the air. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity it was Inuyasha who leaned back and placed his own question into the room. "I've smelled him," His words made the whole group jump at first before turning to look at him. "He doesn't smell like one, don't get me wrong he smells weird but not like a half demon.

"But he doesn't look like one."

"Exactly," Kagome bit the inside of her cheek as a shiver ran up the back of her spin all the way to the base of her skull. "We all know the scandal Morgan was facing," She shook it off and raised a hand up to brush at her face as if the action could make the feeling disappear. "The affair is enough of one by itself but to have a half demon, half slave child out of wedlock—your wife go insane and murder the mother." Kagome dropped her hand down to her lap and clutched at her pants leg. "Henry Morgan had to cover it up, make people think Naraku was by his wife and full demon."

"And the jewel—he used the jewel to do it?" Miroku asked the question before anyone else could.

"Does it really matter that Kaede did it?" She wondered and bit her lip. "No—the pain of his mother is enough for now." She glanced towards Inuyasha who was watching her with those intense golden eyes. "One day but not now." She smiled at him sadly and he returned the gesture with an equally strained smile of his own. "A Shinigami—um—." She stumbled as Miroku and Sango both looked at her now like she was insane.

"A death god." Inuyasha quickly supplied before motioning for Kagome to continue.

"What he said." Kagome cleared her throat and shrugged awkwardly. "Well—the death god told Morgan about the power of the jewel, that it could make Naraku a full demon." She hesitated as she felt a certain amount of anger jump up in her heart. "So, he implanted the Shikon jewel in his little son's heart—Naraku couldn't have been older than five."

No one moved in the room as they absorbed the fact that anyone could do such a thing to their child. Sango and Miroku both pulled their individual twin just a little closer subconsciously. Inuyasha even side glanced towards his own child, watching him carefully for signs of stress before he turned back towards Kagome. He allowed his eyes to sweep her body once before jumping back to her tense face.

"The jewel ate away at Naraku until there was nothing left but a sliver of soul that is forever attached to the jewel, unable to escape but for short periods of time." The girl sighed heavily and closed her eyes. "I'd like to hope Henry Morgan didn't know what would happen but either way—what asshole does that to their son?"

"That's a good question." Miroku mumbled as he pulled his young son closer to his chest.

"That sliver of soul is all that's left of Naraku; otherwise, that little boy that lived a miserable life, is dead." Kagome opened her eyes and looked out across the group imploringly. "I felt it, I saw it, every horrific thing from his mother's murder to the shikon being shoved inside his body." She felt sick as she remembered the pain that had shot through his small body. "He doesn't deserve to have his soul annihilated and that's what we're," She worded carefully so Inuyasha would not complain. "Supposed to do to stop him—we destroy every part of him including that sliver of boy that's left."

"It sounds horrible and—I know you." Sango bit the inside of her cheek and reached across the small space so she could lay her hand on Kagome's knee. "You're far too gentle to destroy a little boy's soul." She waited until Kagome was looking at her before continuing softly. "But—do we have a choice? Naraku will destroy everything if left unchecked." She glanced towards the baby cradled against her chest by her other hand.

"But that's the thing," Kagome turned towards her husband for a moment, wanting him especially to hear her words. "If we find another way for us maybe we can save him too." She felt Sango's hand pull away as she reached for Inuyasha, touching his sleeve. "If we change fate—we save him and we save us."

"So we've made a full fucking circle?" Inuyasha whispered again but the fire seemed to have gone out of his words.

"Language." Sango gently chastised and Inuyasha had the decency to smile slightly before continuing.

"We're back to how?" The dog demon looked tired as he watched Kagome's fingers tighten against his sleeve having never actually let go of him. "You still haven't come up with an option that doesn't end with him dead and one of us dead."

"What about purifying?" Miroku inquired suddenly, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Isn't that what you've always done before?"

"Yes." Kagome supplied but her shoulders slumped from the suggestion. "But—Izayoi said it wasn't enough." She looked at her fingers against Inuyasha's sleeve and slowly allowed them to relax and drop away. "She told me that only killing him would end the problem, purifying just wouldn't cut it."

"No offense—but," Sango spoke slowly and carefully even as her eyebrows knitted together in careful thought. "Something's just not adding up." The girl tapped her chin carefully in thought. "I mean—Izayoi says purifying won't work but, your father," She looked towards Inuyasha slowly. "Left you a sword that purifies."

Inuyasha felt his eyebrow twitch as Sango spoke. "How the hell do you know that?"

"Rin talks a lot." Miroku mumbled with a shrug before smirking incessantly and adding. "And watch your language Ojii-san." He wagged his finger at his father playfully who glared at his son instantly in response and started to push himself up to his feet.

"You can't attack him, he has a baby." Kagome quickly intercepted, one of her hands shooting over towards Inuyasha to stop him from grabbing for Miroku.

Inuyasha snorted as his son laughed and held up the little babe for his grandfather to see. "Baby shield." He mocked as he rocked the boy who yawned in response.

The half demon felt his heart tighten at the sight of the tiny pup and trying to maintain his air of irritation slumped down and crossed his arms over his chest. "Better be glad you're holding the pup." He grumbled but the sound was far from aggravated anymore.

Kagome shook her head at the two men before turning towards a snickering Sango. "You bring up a good point Sango." Her words seemed to bring everyone back to the seriousness of the presence. "Why would Taisho leave a sword that purifies if Izayoi said purification won't work?"

Sitting quietly with his back to the wall once more, Inuyasha allowed Kagome's words to permeate him fully before he added: "And why didn't he tell her?" He allowed the fact to dangle in the air as he glanced towards Kagome who seemed to be putting two and two together.

"He wouldn't just give you a sword for no reason." Kagome commented as he looked over at her brooding husband, the half demon's arms crossed over his chest and his eyes fixed on nothing in front of him. "And he wouldn't keep it from Izayoi for no reason either."

"So what's the reason for the sword and the secrecy?" Miroku placed the thought into the room, creating a gap of silence that seemed to overcome them for a moment.

"I think, if you find out the answer to that question," Sango rocked the baby in her arms unconsciously with one hand while pointing the other at Kagome. "We might know how to change fate."

"And how do you propose we magically find the answer?" Inuyasha offered sardonically as he brought a hand up to his forehead rubbing the spot where his earlier headache was coming back to life. "The old man's dead and unless we can conger ghost we're stuck."

Kagome brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit it slightly as her mind began to work on overdrive. "I can't conger ghost," She spoke clearly as she rose from her seated position without looking at anyone. "But I can go to their world."

"What?" Inuyasha looked up at her as she stood above all of them regal and determined.

"Inuyasha—," Kagome smiled , her eyes closing with her own resolve. "I think it's time you met Kilala."

-break-

The ship creaked underneath his feet as he leaned over the railing and tried desperately not to puke up his own lung. His stomach turned as a particularly large wave, the size of which seemed to be equivalent to a small mountain, shoved the boat upwards before dropping it back down with a fit of energy. Bile rose in his throat and he was positive his skin turned bright green before he threw his face over the rail and lost the contents of his stomach to the sea. He felt the hair at the knap of his neck pulled back as the lentil soup from two days before entered the waves. Finally, the sickness subsided and he pulled his head up, resting his forehead on the railing as he caught his breath.

"I hate ships." He mumbled as he felt his skin grow hot even though the wind currently blowing against him was cold as ice. "Why the hell," He looked up at his mate who smiled at him from a just now creasing mouth, age finally showing where youth had stood for centuries. "Are we doing this, Paedar?"

"Because he's our pup." Paedar replied as he looked down at the man he had loved since before even Izayoi was a thought in someone's head. "And we have to protect our pups."

"He's full grown." Aengus argued as he turned his head back around and positioned himself over the railing once more.

"I'm full grown," The sound of their other male pup came to them and both men turned to see Eion sauntering over the wooden deck casually. "But you still protect me." He smiled brilliantly at his father/brothers before leaning next to Aengus who looked about ready to retch again.

"That's different," Aengus mumbled as he leaned a little further over the rail and groaned. "You live with the pack—," He explained slowly and clutched at the railing a bit harder with his claws making it splinter. "That pup went rouge."

"True." Eion shrugged and nuzzled Aengus' shoulder slightly to show his sympathy for the man's plight. Aengus merely grumbled expertly in response, while Paedar chuckled and finally released Aengus' hair, at least for the moment. "How much farther?" The youngest of the three wolf demon's asked as he leaned away from the railing and glanced towards Paedar.

"I asked the Captain." Paedar spoke calmly as he looked out across the vast sea before them. It wasn't necessary stormy at the moment but it didn't appear calm either. Little waves (mountains to the sea sick Aengus) jumped out of the dark blue water, their white foam beautiful against the backdrop of the setting sun. "We're close," He squinted looking for the telltale signs of distant land. Just on the horizon he could see the outline of fuzzy land, inky almost translucent. "Maybe even a day—couple hours."

"How specific." Eion grunted sarcastically but Paedar seemed to ignore him rather effectively.

"They should already be in—," He stopped and without lowering his eyes in thought or dropping his chin mumbled, "That place—," because he was unable to pronounce the Nihon-go word Nippon. "Kouga did say they left just 'fore we arrived at Genoa."

"Why couldn't we just go with the pup," Aengus lifted his head up and narrowed his eyes at his mate angrily. "I'm sure his vessel isn't as nauseatin' as this one."

"It's probably the same." Eion chimed in much to his other adoptive father's pure hatred.

Aengus merely mumbled something incoherent before managing to say out loud: "I hate my life."

"No you don't." Paedar shook his head slowly back and forth. "We didn't go with him because I had to secure the tavern before we could leave." He explained as he had explained probably a few hundred times. "Besides—I still wasn't sure we would go—I just wasn't expecting it this soon." He added, his voice soft as he crossed his arms over his chest and clicked his tongue. "Damn pup's so unpredictable," He looked towards Eion and for just a moment it almost looked like he was blaming him for the unpredictable nature of his great-grandson. "I wasn't thinking this would happen for 'nother two, three hundred years."

"He found the pretty 'un a bit early." Aengus chuckled before a wave jumped up and made his whole face swell before he threw his head over the side once more.

"She was pretty." Eion agreed as he held his 'father's' hair back instead of Paedar. Aengus reached up one of his hands, waving it in appreciation as he continued to cough and sputter.

"Pup's'll be cute." Aengus added as he suddenly raised but up no longer coughing or gagging anymore.

Eion nodded quickly in agreement and dropped Aengus' hair. "I wonder if they got married."

"They better've." Paedar growled slightly in annoyance before glancing over at Eion once more. "By the way," He waited only long enough for Eion to look over at him before he smirked. "When we get back—you're marrying Aibhlinn."

"What!?"

"It was part of the deal for 'er to run the tavern while we're gone." Aengus told him as he shrugged and tried really hard not to laugh as his son stared at him as if he had suddenly sprouted horns. "You're apparently a very eligible bachelor."

"I'm not marrying some random—," Eion threw his hands in the air and stepped back as if he were about to jump over the side of the ship. "Wench!"

"Oh," Aengus laughed and bobbed up and down for a moment not succumbing to his turning stomach. "You hear that?" He looked at Paedar whose lips were twitching with barely contained amusement. "He called 'er a wench." He pointed at Eion who was staring at them absolutely horrified. "You know what they say."

Eion, who was by now white as a sheet, looked one second away from fainting. "What!?"

"Last time a man in our league," He motioned towards his demonic features as he raised a dangerous eyebrow up. "Called a human a wench." Paedar spoke so evenly and factually that it made Eion look like he was going to be sick instead of Aengus. "They fell in love and had a tiny little pup of their own."

Images of his daughter and Inutaisho jumped into Eion's mind and he growled causing both men to laugh, even the normally stoic Paedar. "I hate you both." He shook his head and decided to firmly ignored everything they said from now on (of course that had been something he had said to himself far more often than just once). Still, he couldn't help but allow his heart to tighten as images of his little girl formed in his head making him pause. "Izayoi."

"Dadaí!" Her bright eyes shinned like she hadn't a care in the universe, her whole face blossoming into the most gorgeous smile as she grabbed his clawed hand. "I wanna play!"She yanked and giggled and her black hair fell down her shoulders bobbing as she moved. "Come play."

"Play what, pup?" He asked but didn't budge as he looked at her sweet perplexed face.

She paused and seemed to think about his words before tilting her head to one side. Her dark Irish eyes closed and she smiled revealing a missing front tooth. "I haven't thought of that." She laughed and he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face from the sound.

Eion came back to the real world slowly, his whole body feeling heavy. "Where does the time go?" He asked into the opened hair, the question more rhetorical than answerable.

"It slips away." Paedar reached up and touched the little lines of his face. Although he still looked youthful, they were there, evidence of his own time slipping away. "A wisp of sand that falls just out of our reach before we ever realized we could even touch it."

"Do you think," Aengus spoke, his voice serious for once and lacking any of his earlier illness in its sound. "We'll be able to make a difference?"

"All those years ago," Eion whispered the words as he looked away from both men out into the world. "Izayoi told me that we wouldn't—that we couldn't," He closed his eyes against the waves and the distant strip of almost unreachable land. "Make a difference." He gritted his teeth and shook his head as he felt the first signs of wetness fall from the sky downwards, hitting his hair. "But—who can just accept that?"

"No one—." Paedar paused as he imagined his granddaughter standing on a very different ship years upon years ago.

He could see her round stomach and her bright eyes, filled with the promise of everything she was meant to do and be. And then, he saw those eyes darken, watched as her youthful optimism was replaced by the pessimism that comes from a hard, cruel, life. He sighed and closed his eyes trying to get back that imagine of the little girl he had known in life but it was gone for now.

"Seanathair." She whispered as she walked into the garden where her grandfather was tending to their crop of vegetables.

He lifted his head up to look at her and smiled slightly as he wiped his hands on his pants. "Yes wee one."

She smiled slightly at the name but the look didn't reach her eyes in the least. "I need," She paused and bit her lip, looking away from him in favor of looking over the fence towards a little boy that was playing just twenty feet away on the other side of the garden.

Paedar followed her eyes and spotted his great-grandchild happily tearing up a row of carrots with his baby claws. "I'll get 'em." Growling, he crinkled his face fully prepared to march over to the child and smack his bottom for such an inappropriate behavior.

"That's not it." Izayoi stopped his feet from moving without even having to lift one of her fingers in protest. It was in her voice, the soft demand to listen to what she could barely say."I need—to talk to you about something."

"What?"

She raised her head up, those soft sad eyes filled with a type of self hatred he had never seen in another human's face before. She looked towards her son, all the love in her heart spilling out of her eyes and turning into tears. She watched as he stopped pulling up carrots in favor of clawing at an old tree stump in the yard instead, as if he were instinctively sharpening those claws."I don't want him to die."

The memories faded just like the sand that slips through grasping fingers and Paedar straightened his back making sure to stand as tall as he possibly could. "We have to try." He spoke clearly, the words and his own posture making both Eion and Aengus stand just a little taller as well. "I'd hate myself if I didn't at least try." He finished bluntly, the gravity of their situation making all three men tighten their hands into fist.

"How much further?" Aengus asked, this time his voice tight and prepared.

Paedar licked his lips and slid his hands onto the railing as images of that girl flashed into his mind, "Just a bit more." He nodded firmly as that misty strip of land seemed to become more tangible in that moment as if they might land there any second. "Only a wee bit more."

End of Chapter

Please Review

A/N: Hello everyone. Let me say: sorry it took so long but honestly, I ran into a plot hole and it took me a month and a half to figure out how to dig myself out of it without having to rewrite (I kid you not) most of this saga of the story. But I think I have finally worked it out and fixed it, we'll see when I start writing the next chapter whether it worked or not…anyway hope you liked the chapter!

PS: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Bonus Point:

Inuyasha and Kagome's baby—if everything goes well—boy or girl?

Last Chapter's Bonus Point:

Thank you for sharing, I really appreciate your thoughts and favorites. I must say the most common favorite parts were the claiming scene in the beginning, Jinenji arch (that actually surprised me), the three scalliwags, and Inuyasha telling Kagome she's pregnant. Glad you liked those and thank you!

AppleAxara, Luchiia, AiydenWarrior, Glon Morski, Venna, Atem4321, Inu Riot Girl

Next Chapter:

The Man I Barely Know

See you then!

UNEDITED

POSTED1/1/2015