Disclaimer:No I don't own Inuyasha...
A/N: Okay, I think that the first bits of ths chapter should answer ALOT of your questions...but of course, you must ask, is what she says right? Is it the truth? Is she good or bad? That's for me to know and you to find out! hehehe...remember to review, now that I have my computer back in decent order I can do Internet Ex. and AOL at once! YAY! Answering your questions will be ALOT easier now! Anyway, enjoy!
The Pink-Eyed Demon
The pink-eyed gaze of the youkai intruder seemed to burn into Sango. The demon slayer felt as if she'd been stunned by it, rendered completely paralyzed. Her hiraikotsu was now lying useless on the ground at the demon woman's feet. What was she supposed to do now?
The female inuyoukai was dressed elaborately in a yellow kimono with a pink obi. The soft pastels of the garment seemed to glow, making the woman appear heavenly somehow. Red orchids danced from the collar to the waist where the pink obi shimmered. The obi was covered with delicately embroidered Japanese characters that spelled out several foreign names to the demon slayer, well; she assumed that they were names anyway…
Behind her she heard heavy and familiar footsteps—Miroku…for a moment she cursed the fact that his wind tunnel had closed up when Naraku died…though if that hadn't happened she doubted the monk would've lived long enough to father all three of their children. Yet the monk was still valuable in a fight. Two was always better than one…
But the children…There were too many conflicts within her, too many decisions to make, her mind felt muddled…and then the demon woman spoke, bringing the demon slayer's mind and attention back to the present threat. The demon's voice was soft, much as Sango remembered Sesshomaru's voice, but unlike Inuyasha's brother this demon was clearly female—her voice was light and higher in pitch, it seemed to float. It was a beautiful sound, Sango thought, any mortal woman could've been jealous of it. The creature's singing voice was probably even more enviable…but the words that came out of her mouth made the demon slayer blink in surprise.
"Where is the hanyou son of Lord Inutaisho?"
Sango didn't answer; she held her tongue. In her experience it wasn't wise to answer the questions demons answered.
Behind her Miroku's staff jangled, and the monk pushed past his wife, trying to use his body as a shield, "Who is it that asks?" he demanded.
The demon woman narrowed her eyes, though the expression didn't seem to be one of disgust or anger; it was unreadable. After a moment she bowed slightly, taking both the monk and the demon slayer by surprise. Such respect from a demon! It just wasn't heard of, unless the demon wanted something badly, or perhaps, if it was looking to take its enemies off guard, or to gain their trust only to stab them in the back…
"My name is Lady Taikokajin…" she nearly whispered this as she rose from her bow, making both the monk and the demon slayer lean forward to hear her, "And I have come in search of the second-born hanyou son of Lord Inutaisho."
"Why?" Sango ventured, her voice wavering slightly from behind Miroku.
The beautiful youkai blinked once, her eyelids glittered an amazing bluish pink. Her eyes seemed to show amusement, "Well, first I must know if this is his estate or not. You are mortals…demons do not share such matters as the one I am here to discuss with the hanyou with creatures such as yourselves. It does not concern you." she looked from one human to the other, pink gaze wide and innocent, "Is this the hanyou son's residence or not?"
They didn't have much of a choice, and despite her strange behavior and her obvious resemblance to Sesshomaru, the demon woman seemed to be relatively harmless…Miroku made his decision and spoke out before Sango could.
"No, do you see any hanyous around here, demon?" he shouted, gesturing with his staff around them, to the cherry trees with their empty and frozen branches. "Now, if you'll excuse us, my wife and I—"
The demon woman, apparently named Taikokajin, chuckled and shook her head. Her long, silvered hair rippled and shimmered in the weak winter sunlight. "Did you think you could lie to an Inuyoukai?" she laughed again, making husband and wife wince in fear and curse Miroku's missing wind tunnel, "I can smell a hanyou here…" as if to prove it she lifted her nose to the wind and sniffed daintily, much as Inuyasha did while tracking something on the breeze. With that sniff finished she looked to the couple again, her pink eyes wide in surprise.
"There's more than that here!" she sniffed again, almost gleefully, making Miroku and Sango stare at her in consternation, "There's a kitsune youkai! A young one…and…the hanyou son of Inutaisho of course. His scent lingers everywhere in this yard, in this garden, on the walls, in the house…" she sniffed again and her eyes popped open wide and a glittering, pretty smile spread over her lips.
Miroku and Sango stared at the demon woman, their mouths agape. Was it a trick? She looked so much like Sesshomaru, even said she was an Inuyoukai, but she was kind, charming, friendly, and even respectful…but it was likely all an act. Some demons went to elaborate lengths to trick their enemies before making the killing move and springing the trap. The thrill was in the hunt, not in the kill. Perhaps Taikokajin was one of these sadistic youkais…
"Oh! My!" she looked to Miroku and Sango and smiled charmingly, "There's a pup in your household!"
The demon slayer and the monk stiffened at the same time.
Miroku's knuckles whitened as he gripped his staff. "What do you want with Inuyasha?" he snapped, narrowing his eyes threateningly and ignoring the mentioning of Koinu completely.
Taikokajin seemed to pale at his tone, as if she couldn't understand why he was so hostile. "I have come to talk with him only." She offered a small bow, as if to appease the monk although surely she had no fear of him, "I didn't even know of his existence until just a day ago!" she blinked at them thoughtfully for a moment, and then asked, "His name is Inu-Yasha you say?" she chuckled, "Sesshomaru only told me the hanyou's name once and already I've forgtotten it! How apt the name is though…it's certainly original in comparison to Sesshomaru." Here she snorted slightly and looked away, as if recalling something.
The couple were now completely lost, and their faces expressed this clearly to the pink-eyed Inuyoukai woman before them. Softly she sighed and cleared her throat, trying again. "Inutaisho was a very obscure youkai…" she began only to be interrupted by Sango.
"What do you mean you didn't know he existed? Who told you? Why should you care?"
Taikokajin looked annoyed now, though exactly why wasn't clear—whether it was that she'd been interrupted by a mortal or because the questions bothered her. After a moment she sighed and answered them anyway, "I mean that I only knew that Inutaisho had one son—Sesshomaru! And as far as who told me—well that was Sesshomaru of course! Inutaisho's family was always quiet and obscure…"
"Wait…" Miroku interrupted her; again, thinking hurriedly, "You didn't answer the last question. Why should you care about Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Inutaisho? Who are you?"
Taikokajin frowned for the first time, her face wrinkling, "You mortals are so tiresome!" she growled, seeming suddenly a lot more like an Inuyoukai to Miroku and Sango, "I am their cousin. We are of the same clan."
That was believable it was true—she looked a lot like Sesshomaru, but it still didn't answer the questions that Miroku and Sango really wanted answered. Why was she there? Could they trust her? What did she need to talk to Inuyasha for?
Lady Taikokajin paused then, her face's animated appearance dying away and becoming serious. She sniffed the wind and her expression darkened, fell. "He and the pup aren't here are they? They've left…" she sighed, "I'm smelling only memories…" she looked sharply to Sango and Miroku and asked, "When will the pup and the hanyou return?"
"We don't really know…" Miroku began hesitatingly, only to be interrupted by Sango readily.
"Inuyasha left with his wife and son to build a second estate in the east…this one wasn't big enough for him. We're his housekeepers."
Taikokajin's eyes narrowed for a moment, apparently she suspected Sango's words were false, but she made no mention of it, only sighed. "Well then I guess I will be going." She bowed her head slightly, and thanked them in a quiet and soft voice that was almost hypnotic. A moment later the massive white dog replaced the woman once more. It didn't pause even a moment before it dashed back toward the gate, traveling fast, with leaps and bounds. In a second it'd scaled the wall and was gone, nothing more than a confusing memory…
"Well!" Miroku turned round slowly and faced Sango, "That was very strange…"
"Yes, but I'm glad she's gone."
"I'll bet she's going to come back…Inuyasha's never been lucky enough to miss it when some demon decides to make his life miserable. Chances are when she comes back we should be in hiding, just in case she has a grudge against liars…" he smirked at the demon slayer and she frowned crossing her arms over her chest.
"What else was I supposed to do! I threw hiraikotsu at her and she caught it!"
Miroku shrugged and hugged her quickly, sighing with a surge of relief, "I'm just glad we're still alive!"
"So…" Mrs. Higurashi began cautiously, glancing toward Kagome furtively, "…When do you and Inuyasha plan on giving Koinu a sibling?"
The crimson stain that spread over Kagome's cheeks was immediate. Mrs. Higurashi had a way of burrowing straight to whatever topic would make Kagome flinch in embarrassment. It was just her way of cutting through the formalities and small talk when she sensed a larger yet underlying, quieter subject. She despised the thought of Kagome having anything that couldn't, or wouldn't be shared with her. After all, what good was a mother who couldn't advise her daughter?
"Mom!" Kagome whined, rolling her eyes. Why was it that everyone asked that question? As if one pup hadn't been hard enough work! She quickly looked around her to make sure that Inuyasha or her grandfather hadn't overheard her mother's words. "Koinu's still very young…"
Mrs. Higurashi was smirking quietly and nodding through her mischievous expression. "And you thought you couldn't get pregnant…"
Now Kagome's face was livid red. "Mom!" she hissed, "Stop it!"
Mrs. Higurashi laughed gleefully. "Okay, okay. If you insist…" she rose from the kitchen table and went to the refrigerator, taking out some vegetables to begin slicing in preparation for dinner. After a moment of recovering herself from embarrassment Kagome stood up as well and started to help her mother, wordlessly.
It was about 6 o'clock in the evening. The Higurashi family was waiting for their youngest member (second youngest if Koinu was counted) to return home. Sota's whereabouts were questionable, he had been finished with his classes since early that afternoon, but Kagome's mother was certain that the boy would be home in time for supper. Her reasoning, of course, was that he had no money to buy food so he had to come home for it, or so she hoped. Sometimes Sota's resourcefulness proved her wrong…
Inuyasha and Koinu were in Kagome's old room, sleeping peacefully. While in the 21st century Inuyasha generally slept deeply and peacefully—it was like a vacation or a muscle relaxant to the hanyou. Kagome's scent lulled him into tranquility first, and then her bed, being softer than most things in the Feudal Age by far, dragged him to sleep. Sometimes Kagome suspected that that was the real reason he'd come to get her in the latter days of their shard-hunting and Naraku-chasing. It'd not been because he'd worried so much or was possessive—it was the lure of her family life and the fluffiness of the bed. There'd been many a night while she was trying to study for tests in high school that Inuyasha had fallen asleep on her bed while "watching" her and she'd had to sleep on the floor.
Now, nearly a decade later, and what seemed worlds away, Kagome had shared the tiny bed with her hanyou a few hours after they'd arrived for a family visit while they'd napped and she'd nursed Koinu in the afternoon. Later with Koinu crashed out on Inuyasha's chest, Kagome had found both the pup and the half-demon so deeply asleep that she'd snuck from the room to avoid waking them. Downstairs she'd discovered that her grandfather had left to take care of the shrine and a few of the artifacts there, and Sota was still MIA. So, determined to be useful and not a guest in her own home, she'd resigned herself to cooking with her mother.
And then…
"Mom!" called a familiar voice from the front door, "I'm home for dinner!"
Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome exchanged brief glances at the sound of the young man's voice, they were relieved that he'd finally come home. Setting aside the food preparations, Mrs. Higurashi turned on her heel and left the kitchen, a light smile of anticipation playing over her features. "Welcome home Sota!" she cried, eagerly, "Guess who's come to visit!"
Kagome followed swiftly on her mother's heels so that by the time they'd entered the room just as Sota was trying to come up with an answer. He saw his sister and blinked. "Kagome?"
"Hello Sota!" she smiled a little awkwardly, feeling miles away from her brother, who was still clearly so rooted in the 21st century, and mentally so much younger than she was.
"Kagome!" Sota stepped forward more eagerly then and enveloped his older sister in a strong bear hug. When they'd separated he immediately looked down at her flattened middle and asked, "Was it a boy like Inuyasha said it'd be?"
Kagome nodded, "We named him Koinu."
Sota grinned, for a moment the boy that he'd once been several years ago flickered in his smile, and Kagome felt a wave of nostalgia take her momentarily, but it was broken the moment her brother asked, "Did he get Inuyasha's ears?" the smirk in her brother's gaze was blatantly obvious.
"Come and see silly!" Kagome chuckled, "He's your nephew after all!" she and Sota, followed closely by Mrs. Higurashi, walked to the stairs and then up to Kagome's room. At the threshold Kagome opened it cautiously, hoping not to wake her husband and their pup…but as she inched the door open wider, and the bed became visible, she saw that Inuyasha was awake already, but he hadn't gotten up yet. The hanyou was still lying on Kagome's bed on his back, with Koinu sleeping on his chest. The little pup's ears, fingers, toes, arms and legs were jerking reflexively in a dream as Inuyasha watched over him, amber eyes soft and full of warmth.
Beside Kagome Sota inhaled sharply and chuckled, "He looks just like Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha's ears and eyes both turned to his wife's little brother at the same time. He frowned, irritated by Sota's rather loud voice…and, confirming the hanyou's glare; Koinu began whimpering as he woke from his sleep. Inuyasha frowned at the infant's cries but casually stroked the baby's head, and patted his little back. The pup was comforted by this contact and his whimpering ceased, instead it became a sound akin to purring.
"He sounds like a cat!" Sota announced, stepping into the room, hesitantly, despite his obvious fascination. His gleaming eyes were caught between Koinu's tiny form and the much larger, much more imposing shape that the pup was resting on—Iinuyasha.
"Would you like to hold him, Sota?" Kagome queried, restraining her sniggling laughter at the sight of such curiosity in her brother's expression. Immediately Sota looked between his sister and Inuyasha's grouchy face, eagerly nodding, yet also cautious: Inuyasha didn't look exactly friendly. The hanyou reminded Sota of a guard dog standing careful watch over a meaty soup bone.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha protested, sitting up swiftly but carefully, shifting Koinu to his lap as he went, "Are you sure…" he threw Sota an uncertain look, clearly doubtful of the youth's ability as far as babies went. In his arms Koinu squealed happily and clutched at his father's clothes greedily, distracting Inuyasha for a moment as he tickled Koinu, making the pup squeal and giggle before the calmed purring began again. Sota watched the exchange as if Koinu were his son and not his sister's and the hanyou's.
In a moment Inuyasha looked back to Kagome's younger brother, his expression very stern. "Sota," he murmured awkwardly, "Are you sure? I mean—be very careful." The words all seemed to come out of the hanyou's mouth in a frustrated rush, a growl even—his ears had folded backward. He clearly didn't want to resign himself to the fact that Sota, who he knew was a tad clumsy, had a right to hold his pup—and worse still, if he didn't hand Koinu over Kagome would probably sit him.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome hissed, irritated with his over-protectiveness of their son, "Sota is Koinu's uncle…" Yes, just as Inuyasha had thought…
"Yeah, well Koinu's other uncle isn't trustworthy you know!" Inuyasha growled stubbornly, but even as he spoke the hanyou was rising to his feet and handing Koinu to Sota, however reluctantly. His eyes held a silent threat that Sota hardly noticed in the shock of receiving the pup.
Awkwardly the new uncle held the strange, dog-eared bundle in his arms, grinning rather stupidly, and yet at once genuinely at the infant. Koinu squirmed and fidgeted restlessly, immediately noticing and taking in Sota's changed scent and becoming uneasy with the loss of his father's familiar fragrance.
"Kagome!" Sota suddenly shouted; beaming, "He's got blue eyes!" he looked between the pup's parents, grinning, "That's really rare! And…" he paused, squinting into the tiny child's face, "I think he has your lips Kagome! And your chin Inuyasha…"
Koinu started to whimper warningly, fussing. His little face crinkled into frustration and unhappiness, then the tears started to form in his tiny, squinted, and clearly upset blue eyes…Sota's smile fell and he made shushing noises and began rocking the pup, which quieted him a little, but not enough to appease Inuyasha's instant wrath and protection.
"Hand Koinu here." Inuyasha growled, reaching demandingly for the pup. Sota relinquished his hold quickly, giving Koinu to Inuyasha again. The hanyou sighed the moment he had Koinu in his arms, still whimpering and fussing, and looked up to Kagome, "He's hungry."
"Oh no…" Kagome moaned as Inuyasha came to stand beside her and hand Koinu to her in preparation for feeding. The moment the pup was in his mother's arms, taking in her scent, which he instinctively associated with food and shelter, he quieted significantly. His tiny fists waved restlessly through the air though, seeking to keep his mother's attention and hopefully extract some food from her…
But Mrs. Higurashi interrupted then, saying, "Why don't you try bottle feeding Kagome? With how often you've told me the little brute gets hungry it'd be a relief to both you and Inuyasha!"
Kagome stared at her mother thoughtfully, but even as she thought about the possibility Mrs. Higurashi and Sota could both see the relief growing in her eyes like an infectious disease, spreading like yawns in a crowded room. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was confused.
"Bottle feeding?" he barked, "What's that?"
"Instead of breastfeeding…" Mrs. Higurashi tried to explain, curtly, but she could easily see that that told the hanyou just about nothing. Considering that it was a delicate subject Mrs. Higurashi decided to shrug the matter off. She waved one hand through the air dismissively. "Never mind it Inuyasha, it's a good thing, trust me." She turned to look at Kagome, "Well, do you want to see if we can get him to take a bottle?"
Kagome nodded eagerly. The thought had occurred to her more than once that Koinu would still be taking his food in the form of milk while he was teething…she had seen the little claws growing at his fingertips, still small and pliable now, but quickly becoming tiny instruments of torture. In his little mouth then…she shuddered to imagine the little pup's fangs—she knew from experience that the fangs were markedly unpleasant. There'd been times when Inuyasha—half demon as he was, and therefore so much more powerful than she was physically—had lost control in the heat of a moment…she'd sported the scratches and bite marks to prove it too!
Thinking about that made Kagome's face burn abruptly and she cleared her throat, avoiding her mother's eyes, focusing on Koinu instead. The pup was fussy. His tiny, newly clawed fingers reached for her shirt, plucked in the area of her breasts…Kagome's face burned all over again—Sota and Inuyasha were watching…and the hanyou certainly was having trouble holding back his smirk. She wanted to smack him but restrained herself.
"Yeah, Mom, that sounds like a great idea…"
"Hey Kagome what's to blush about?" the hanyou teased her long before she'd finished her sentence; the smirk on his face was begging her to challenge him. But Kagome stoutly ignored her husband and instead continued to keep Koinu settled. Inuyasha, losing interest apparently in his attempt at embarrassing his wife further, yawned and turned his amber gaze away from Kagome's blushing face to Mrs. Higurashi, "Are we going to have steak?"
Endnote: THANK you to all reviewers! With your help this story has almost reached 100 (it's less than 20 shy of it!) in less than seven chapters! (SQUEE!)
Onto thanks and question answering:kirarakitty (Back in "So much for the Hanyou's..." I mentioned (I think) a note about how I found some interesting research/discoveries on hybrids. They don't pass on their genes like you or I do/will(IF they can reproduce at all!). KoinuSHOULD (You're right!) not have ears, or silver hairfor that matter. He's TOO demon-like...Inu should've passed on his genes evenly (i.e. the pup should have gotten a haploid sex cell from Inu with 1/4 demon genes (Inutaisho's) and 1/4 human genes (Izayoi's) to make up his half of Koinu's DNA with Kagome's full human genes) but he didn't. Hybrids can pass on traits unevenly. I found a story about a ginny (female cross between a donkey and a horse) that was fertile being bred to a male donkey. The resulting foal should've looked like a donkey, right? Long ears, smaller, you know, a jackass (coughs, pardon that! I'm stupid! Stupid pun) but it looked like a horse. The ginny hadn't passed on her donkey genes to the foal, mostly she passed her horse genes. So the baby wasn't 1/4 horse, 3/4 donkey, it was something else, almost like a hybrid all over again. That's what I made happen to Koinu to give him dog ears. Dominance in the traits could still make my theory all wrong, but it was so cool that I had to use it...I encourage you to do a search and try to find out more for yourself, it's really cool, and chances are my long explanation has only confused you(grins!))
THANK YOU:SerenaClearwater (thank you, fortunately my dad fixed it up! (grins) now I can get everyone in this again! YAYS!), Tosarah,BeccaPatty, andcool-chick-rae (Do you see now why she smelled and looked like our favorite brothers? But is she real? Can you trust her words? Or is she a trickster and a shapeshifter? Hmmm...(winks)), freelke (glad to hear it! Chapter 8 is ALL fluff and family stuff...more coming!), angelpup, Mad4Manga (VERY good ideas, I had a thing about Sota's new girlfriend, but I cut it out...Maybe I'll add it back in later, I was going to make her an "exchange" student from the good old USA. Not myself or anyone else, just a life-like situation...I'd make it funny becuase she'd have nasty grammar mistakes with her Japanese...), mal, NefCanuck (good questions...(grins)), fanfiction1 (Just in warning, painkillers have their disadvantages. They can slow labor and some say increase the chance of c-section. I'd say go as long as you can without them...and remember, labor isn't MEANT to be painless...I feel like a encyclopedia (blush)), lady kjerston of the western (don't be sorry! It's okay! Hearing from you is good enough! Missed you! And computer troubles and long in stuff (nods sympathetically) I understand! And his ears? (snickers) Yes, a torture for him in the future (dreams of nice little incidents she can write about in other companion stories for when the pup is older...) oh wait...still typing aren't I? Dream later...anyway, good to hear from you, and don't be sorry! Thanks for taking the time to review though!)
Kay, I'm done now...Next chapter is called "The Tracks of a Demon." It's an interesting chapter, might answer some questions but is more likely to make you ask more...anyway, review and feel free to ask me a question! Love you all! (bows) until next time!