Musume Chapter 2
Hey, I'm back finally. I know it probably feels like I up and died on you, but I'm here. Sorry for the ultra long wait. Will try to do better in the future, but I'm afraid there are no guarantees. Please bear with me!
"That was wonderful." Sanchi said, leaning into him. Then she turned her head to look at Aisa. "She's beautiful, isn't she? Our daughter?"
"What?" Inu-Yasha stared at her and Aisa uncomprehendingly.
"Aisa, show him please."
"Yes, haha." The girl then carefully undid the scarf around her head, releasing a torrent of hair to spill down her back. Her locks were mostly black like her mother's, except for two strands of hair framing her face that shone a bright silver. The ears poking through the hair were ever so slightly pointed, and when he released her mother to take a closer look at her Inu-Yasha realized that her scent now seemed like his own, human and demon mixed. He wondered for a moment that he hadn't noticed it before, then looked at her scarf and realized it held many pungent herbs.
"Well I'll be damned." Inu-Yasha whispered, not aware he had lowered his voice. He touched the silver hair on the side of her face timidly, as if afraid it would dissolve under his fingers.
"So it's true? You really are…" Aisa let her sentence trail off unfinished, seeming just as stunned. He could only nod. To his surprise, she suddenly stepped forward and grabbed hold of him, burying her face in his chest as the salty smell of tears reached his nose. He stood there awkwardly staring into the distance, not sure if he should embrace her or not. So he saw when Kagome came around the side of the hut and saw him there. He could only watch as emotions flitted across her face and she visibly came to the worst possible conclusion in a mere instant.
"Kagome!" Inu-Yasha tried to sidestep out of Aisa's grip to chase after the silently fleeing miko, but she would not let go. "Damn." Aisa drew back a bit and looked at him with a slightly shocked expression, though she did not release him.
"Inu-Yasha, who is that girl?" Sanchi asked innocently.
"She's one of my companions. Her name is Kagome."
"And what is she to you?" Aisa's eyes held the suspicion her mother's lacked. Inu-Yasha fidgeted a little, well aware of the trap hidden in the question and clueless as how to avoid it.
"He just told you, child. She is his companion." Inu-Yasha did his best not to broadcast his relief at Sanchi's neat rescue. "Now, why don't we go introduce ourselves to them." She took a firm hold on Inu-Yasha's arm and steered him in the direction of his lodgings for the night, not so incidentally pulling him out of her daughter's grasp.
They walked up to the rich dwelling Miroku's conniving had obtained for the night with Sanchi still hanging on Inu-Yasha's arm. Aisa had put her hair back up in her scarf, hiding the silver strands and her scent. Sango sat on the porch polishing her giant boomerang. She looked up as they approached.
"Inu-Yasha. Kagome was looking for you."
"Yeah, she found me. There's been a misunderstanding." He scowled.
"Oh? What did you do this time, baka?"
"I said it was a misunderstanding. Where's everyone else? I don't want to repeat myself."
"Shippo and Miroku are inside. Kagome hasn't come back yet."
"Shit. I'll have to go find her before she gets into trouble. Sanchi, Aisa, wait here with Sango." Cursing under his breath, Inu-Yasha back-tracked to catch Kagome's scent. He had half-hoped that she would run straight back to the house to cry, but no such luck. Not surprisingly, when he found the trail it led him out into the forest where he soon spotted her weeping underneath a willow tree.
"Kagome?" he called.
"Go away, Inu-Yasha." she said without even looking up. He moved closer in spite of that and crouched down in front of her.
"Kagome, listen. That wasn't what it looked like." As she looked up at him, Inu-Yasha did his best to put sincerity in his eyes.
"Then what was it?"
"It was; she's" the half-demon scrambled for the right words, lost them, and settled for bluntness. "Aisa's my daughter, Kagome."
"What?" The miko stared uncomprehendingly at him, her face mirroring the shock he had felt earlier.
"She's my daughter." He repeated. He shifted uncomfortably. " I didn't know until just recently. But there isn't any doubt she's mine." He watched for a moment in sympathy as Kagome's mouth worked silently in shock. "Come on. We need to go back to the village." He hoisted her onto his back and ran without another word between them.
Probably a lousy place to end it, but I want to post this sucker. Hope I haven't lost any body with the long wait, Please review!