Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, it's characters, or anything associated to the franchise. The copyrigth strictly goes to VIZ, Rumiko Takahashi, and their associates.
Chapter 2
Nozomi Arc
Daddy?
"She's Yours"
I was right! I knew it once I looked at him. He is my daddy! I remember seeing his eyes in my dreams! I turned to the man, ready to talk to him but his answer stopped me.
"Impossible."
Impossible? Mommy used that word before…am I impossible? What made me impossible?
"She is yours."
I looked back up at Mommy. Her face was down, not looking at me or at the man. I've only seen mom that sad a few times. I didn't like it. I don't like it. I wiggled in mommy's arms until she put me down. I don't think she knew she was still holding me. When my feet touched the ground, I ran over to the man and pulled on his suit pants. When he looked down, I saw his eyes again. They were like mine, but not like mine.
"Can you come have lunch me?" I asked him. Mommy must have heard me, because she pulled me away from him and shook her head at me.
"Don't, Nozomi." I frowned at mom. Don't do what? She looked back up at the man and spoke again. "Let me drop her off at school. I'll explain everything." I turned to the man to see him nod before mommy picked me up again and we finished walking to my school.
The man followed us quietly, and I know now why mommy hated me being so quiet. I reminded her of him. He was quiet.
"Hello Kagome." I turned to see my teacher, Ms. Taka, open the door for us. Her eyes widened as she saw the man behind us, but she didn't talk about him. Mommy put me down and I walked over to Ms. Taka and took her hand. "Have a good day, Kagome," Ms. Taka said to mom, still looking at the man.
Mommy said goodbye to me and gave me a goodbye kiss before leaving with the man behind her. I watched them leave as Ms. Taka pulled me inside. "Is that your father, Nozomi?"
I looked up at Ms. Taka and blinked. I thought about that man being my daddy and I smiled. "I hope so. He seems strong!"
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"Nozomi," Ms. Taka's assistant, Ami, called me. I looked up from my book as I sat in the playroom. Ami walked over and knelt down in front of me. "You have a visitor." She nodded to look at the person coming into the room.
I blinked as I looked behind Ami, seeing the man from earlier. Ami stood up and said something to the man before leaving. Sitting in the chair next to me, the man looked nervous. Why would he be nervous to see me?
"Want me to read to you?" I asked with a smile. The man blinked as if in surprise, but the look vanished quickly.
"How old are you?"
I held up my hand with my thumb down, "four. My birthday is next month! Mommy says I'll be big enough to fix cereal by myself then!"
The man made a sound before nodding. When he didn't talk for a minute I turned to read my book again. I've read it before, but I like the story. It was a story about a cat named 'Socks.' Mom said it was a more "ader-vanced" book, but I could read it just fine. Well, except when I came to a word I couldn't say.
"What's this word?" I asked the man, showing him the book and pointing to the word. He looked at me, then the book, as if asking himself if he should answer me.
"Pounced." He said it as if the word tasted nasty. I giggled and looked back at the book. "Your name is Nozomi, correct?"
I looked up from my book and nodded at him. "That's…'cor-rect'." I said repeating the word. "What's your name?"
He seemed surprised I had asked him. "Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru Taisho."
I smiled, "Nozomi Higurashi! Nice to meet you!"
Sesshomaru—what a funny name—nodded to me and stared off into space. After a minute, I put my book down and jumped up from my seat and stood in front of him. He looked as if he was thinking really hard. I smiled and waved to him, getting his attention. "Yes?"
"What did you and mommy talk about?" I asked. "I've never seen her sad like that."
His eyebrow twitched! It was so funny! It was the only part of his face that moved. "Is that so?"
I looked down at my feet. "Not really, but she hasn't been that sad in a long time." Smiling at him, I bounced on my tippy toes. "Maybe you can make mommy happy! Auntie Yuka always says mommy 'needs a man!' Can you be mommy's man?"
He stood up so quickly I fell on my butt. Did I say something wrong? He looked down at me with those scary eyes again. A second ago they almost looked like mine. Like the eyes from my dream.
"You are mistaken, little one."
I blinked. "You can't be mommy's man? Then can you be…" I shook my head and turned to grab my book. This man was scary, the way he looked at me. "Sorry." I sniffed. I hugged my book as tears fell from my eyes. I felt Sesshomaru kneel down behind me. He was big and tall, like a tree. If only he wasn't so scary…
"…I apologize, pup."
I turned to him, wiping the tears from my face. "What is 'apologize'?"
He sighed—like mommy does a lot—and patted me on the head. "…I'm sorry. I have frightened you."
His eyes weren't so scary when he spoke to me that time. "It's okay," I smiled. "You look like him."
His eyebrow twitched again! "Who?"
"The man in my dreams. The one who helped mommy fight the bad man," I said. "My daddy."
Sesshomaru sighed again—do all grownups do that a lot?—and patted my head again. "I cannot be your father."
"Why?"
"You are human."
Human? Isn't everyone human? That's what my teacher told me, what my aunties Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi told me. I didn't understand.
"But…you're human, too."
Sesshomaru froze in front of me. I don't know what happened, but his eyes turned scary again but I don't think he was being scary towards me. A second later he sighed and stood up and turned. I stood up, too, and frowned as I saw him begin to leave.
"Mister Sesshomaru!" He stopped. "Can you have lunch with me tomorrow?" He made a small noise and I smiled. I'm pretty sure it meant 'yes'.
Ami walked in as Sesshomaru left and she looked at me with that same look mommy gives me when I don't eat broccoli. "Okay, missy, you've had enough free time. It's naptime for you like all the others."
I frowned but nodded and followed Ami to the nap room with the other kids.
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A/N: Ugh. Another short chapter. I'm not used to writing short chapters, but if I go on any further the suspense will die. At least this one's longer than the last one! Thank you to my reviewers! I wasn't sure how this would be percieved, but I appreciate the critism and input! Thank you!