Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story (and Hikari) belongs to me.
A String of Pearls
My sweet Hikari,
Mama always said that every woman should own at least one set of pearls. Yours just came a little early. Shippo insisted on being the one to choose which pearls were used for your very own unique rosary. The whole family, including Sango and Miroku and their kids, went searching for the pearls. The fangs were your father's idea. There are three. One is your father's. One is Shippo's. And one from your uncle Sesshomaru. That one was a surprise. Rin had told him of the rosary we were making for you, she often comes to babysit Sango's children, and he came by the hut, stood there and ripped out a fang, and said that you are under his protection. How he managed to do that without a lisp is beyond me!
I don't have fangs, or I would have included one of mine as well. Instead, I threaded the beads and poured all my love into making it as pretty as I could. And it is my magic, with Kaede's help, that will give the rosary its power.
We thought long and hard about what command to give the rosary. Our first thought was to give the command for you to return. But decided that there would be too many risks with that one. We wouldn't know what circumstances we were pulling you from, and if it might cause problems we can't foresee. Keep in mind that we are trying to think of everything that could go wrong before placing the spell on the rosary. Blurting out the first word that comes to mind doesn't always work out too well. In the end, we decided to put a sort of a tracing spell on it, so that we would always know where you are. Since it is my spell, it only works for me. You can thank me for that later when you start dating and your father doesn't 'happen' to show up everywhere you go.
Yes, I know, you don't like the idea of being given a command. But keep in mind that as your parents, we do need to know where you are so we can keep you safe. And you are in the unique position of being able to be in more than one world. When you are old enough, the tracing spell will come off of the rosary.
Your Loving Mama
Making the rosary had been nicer than she could have imagined. More than nice. It had been heartwarming and full of extreme gooshy moments that made her eyes brim with happy tears. Watching Shippo study each and every pearl for the rosary made her heart give a little squeal of joy. The fangs had been a little odd for her, but they were sweet as well. And likely very powerful. After all, it was Inuyasha's father's teeth that made the swords of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. And here Hikari would have teeth from three very strong demons... in their own way. Her mother had donated her own mother's necklace (one Kagome had broken as a child) of beads to scavenge for parts.
Kagome touched one of the fangs, marveling at how Sesshomaru had taken her hand and placed his tooth in her hand with an icy glare before vanishing once more. The teeth held some importance that she couldn't quite grasp, but appreciated anyhow. Somehow she managed to not giggle when she saw the three demons with matching gaps in their teeth. Luckily demons grew their teeth back quickly.
Every little bit about the rosary was something that would one day be a cherished memory. Kagome had taken all the pieces and wove together an intricate pattern of that was both sturdy and delicate looking. Perhaps she had a future in jewelry making...
Kaede provided Kagome with the magic spell she would need to weave into the rosary as she made it. All that was required now was to give it a command as she placed it around her daughter's neck.
"How about 'stay'," suggested Miroku as they were walking to next village to investigate a minor demon infestation. Cricket demons were eating the rooftops off of the huts.
Kagome joined Inuyasha and Shippo as they glared at the monk. It was on the tip of her tongue to snap at him that her daughter was not a dog. Then clamped her jaw shut. After all, Inuyasha's command was 'sit', and she really didn't want to bring up a sore subject.
Hikari, however, seemed to enjoy the command. "Stay!" she ordered as she pointed to Miroku. The monk held up his hands and froze. This set Hikari to giggling, and this time she pointed to Shippo. "Stay!" Shippo froze in as comical of a pose as he could manage and still remain standing. "Stay!" She gave the order to her father, but he gave a rumbling mock growl, scooped her up, and tickled her instead.
"We need to think about what we want the command to do," Kagome reminded them as she shifted the weight of her stuffed yellow backpack. The trip would be overnight, and it helped to prepare for any eventuality. Hikari had four outfits packed... just in case. Potty training had not yet been completely successful, so big girl pull ups were also included. Not to mention all the ramen.
"We want her to come back," said Inuyasha between the raspberry sounds he was making as he blew on a shrieking Hikari's belly. "Right?"
"But what if we are in battle?"
Kagome blinked. She would have expected the logical question to have come from Miroku, but she shouldn't have been surprised at Shippo's thinking. When it came to Hikari, Shippo was always concerned with safety. He had even been trying to teach her fox magic, but so far hadn't had much luck.
Inuyasha stopped blowing and started tossing his daughter in the air. Kagome tried not to watch. Though Hikari loved it, seeing her little girl get launched into the air gave her panic attacks. Happy as she was that Inuyasha finally got over thinking that his daughter was so fragile that a strong gust of wind might do her in, she wasn't loving the 'let's see what we can do to make Hikari squeal with delight' phase. Especially since her daughter seemed to delight in flying through the air. "Well," he said as he caught Hikari and gave her a swing before shooting her up in the air again, "What about if we only use it when we aren't stupid enough to try to call for her during a battle?"
"That would work," said Kagome as she kept her eyes firmly ahead, "Though pulling her from the future blind might cause problems, too. What if people saw? What if she steadying a ladder for grandpa when we pulled her and he lost his balance and fell? We have to careful."
"How are we supposed to know what she's doing?" complained Inuyasha, "Its not like we can see what she's doing. We won't even know where she is!"
"That's it!" exclaimed Kagome, spinning around just in time to gasp in horror as Hikari came plummeting towards the ground. Of course Inuyasha caught her, but her heart still felt like it might have sprained itself. "We need a tracing spell," she said when her heart started beating again and she remembered her great idea. "A spell so we'll know where she is."
"How would that work?" asked Miroku.
She deflated a little bit, disappointed that her great idea might not have been so great after all.
"That's easy," shrugged Inuyasha. "It will be like with Kagome, like how I just know where she is or if she's in trouble. What?" he grumbled at Kagome's incredulous look, "You think all those millions of times I showed up at JUST the right moment was all luck? I just know. Something just tells me where you are."
"Your spidey-sense is tingling..."
"My what?"
She grinned, "Nothing, Inuyasha. I think I get what you mean. So the spell would just let me know where she is. Maybe let me know if she is in danger?"
"Will the spell allow such a thing?" wondered Miroku aloud.
"What word will you use?"
"I don't know Shippo. It probably shouldn't be an everyday word. I mean, I sometimes really regret using the s - i - t word. Do you know how often that word is used in every day conversation? Sometimes the word just slips out and poor Inuyasha... So though it is tempting to use an everyday word so I'll be able to keep tabs on Hikari every second of her life, when she gets a little older she is going to want a little privacy. And as difficult as it may be, I want to respect her privacy as much as possible. I didn't have time to think about a good command the first time I used a rosary, so this time I want to do better."
Inuyasha grumbled under his breath about stupid commands, but he never asked for the rosary to be taken off, or even for the spell to be dissolved.
"Let's see..." she held her hands out for her daughter, and Hikari threw herself into her mother's arms with joyful abandon. Shippo, who asked to be carried less and less, hopped up onto Inuyasha's shoulder to make faces at his sister. "What is another word for 'see' or 'find'?"
"Um..." Shippo thought hard. "Seek? Like in Hide and Seek!"
Kagome smiled, "That is a very sweet suggestion."
"Yeah, but the runts play that game all the time. I thought you said you wanted one we wouldn't be using all the time."
"Descry," suggested Miroku. He smiled at the three blank faces looking at him. "It means to 'to detect'. It wounds me that you look so surprised. I am a learned man, after all."
Inuyasha grumbled something rude about the type of 'learned' man that Miroku was, as Kagome made nonsense sounds at Hikari to distract her. The little girl did NOT need to pick up any more of Inuyasha's more colorful words and phrases. 'Descry' did seem like a good word though. It meant exactly what they wanted to say, and it wasn't a word she used every day (or ever really).
"Descry it is," She said.
Kagome began to softly say the chant as she lifted the beads. No time like present to go ahead and get this over with. They had argued back and forth about the need for the beads. Though they hated the idea of it, they hated the panic of not knowing what time period their daughter was in. It was a necessary evil. The beads were finished yesterday, and Kagome had let Hikari play with them to get her used to them so she wouldn't be so spooked by them. The little girl had chewed on them, whipped them around like her daddy used a sword, then had grown bored with them and had gone to draw pictures with Shippo. One more word and the spell would be complete. Stormy eyes widened then narrowed as the rosary touched soft white hair.
"Descry!"
But it was too late.
Hikari was gone.
ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo
ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo
Hikari made him proud.
Okay, he would have preferred that putting the stupid rosary on her would have gone faster and easier, but he was proud of how his little girl was able to keep from getting caught. She seemed more of a liquid than a solid sometimes. Not to mention the fact that she would disappear into the future and they would have to trudge all the way back to the well to go through time. Then she would disappear back right before they caught hold of the little pup. It would be a very handy skill to have to escape enemies.
"Inuyashaaaa..."
"What? I wasn't smiling!"
His mate looked puzzled for a moment, then glared at him. "I was going to say that I think we might be going about this the wrong way." She blew out a frustrated breath. "How in the world are we ever going to be able to discipline her if she can just vanish any time she wants? Maybe we should do a restraining spell after all."
He shook his head. His daughter wasn't going to be put on a leash like a dog. Even if it was a pretty pearl leash. "No. Descry is a good spell. I think we should split up."
"Split up?"
"You go to your time, I stay in mine. One of us will catch the pup."
Kagome thought it over for a moment, then nodded. "That is a good plan. If you are the one to catch her, then you have to make sure she knows that this behavior is not acceptable. You have to be firm." She tugged on his hair. "Firm, Inuyasha! I want to hear you promise."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be firm."
He walked his mate to the well, leaving Shippo and Miroku to stay in the place where Hikari had last vanished, and watched until she and her scent disappeared. The familiar ache burned in his chest as he watched her go. When was the last time they had been separated by time? Since she promised to be his mate they had been nearly inseparable. It physically hurt to not have her near. It was the only way, he reminded himself, to make sure Hikari was safe. He turned from the well and used all of his senses to try and locate his daughter.
He was a few yards away from where he left the others when he heard a giggle and caught Hikari's scent. Both disappeared again before he got to where she was.
"I wish she would take me with her," complained Shippo. "She looks like she's having fun."
She was having fun. Somewhere along the way she had turned it into a game. He didn't want to make her cry by scolding her. But she could get herself into real trouble if she kept this up for too long. What would happen if she got too tired? What if she fell asleep or something in the middle of moving through time? Would she stay in that limbo? There was too much they didn't know about how her magic worked for him to be comfortable with her using it so often.
Hikari appeared, squealed, then disappeared again.
Inuyasha sat down. Chasing after her hadn't worked. At all. In fact, it seemed to make her work harder at evading them. He frowned at the spot where she had disappeared. He was still frowning when she appeared again. The frown caused Hikari to stop for a moment, then she giggled, spun around, then disappeared again. This time she was only gone for a few moments before she came back. She stood still and looked at the disapproving frown on Inuyasha's face. She crouched down as she had seen him do a hundred times, and studied his face. She tried smiling at him a couple of times before inching her way closer.
"Hikari," he said in a deep voice. Hikari stilled at his tone. "Sit." She sat. It was difficult not to grin at someone obeying that command from him for once. Shippo and Miroku turned their heads so she wouldn't seem them stifle chuckles.
"Daddy mad?" Her voice was tiny and innocent. She seemed fragile and all of his protective instincts were kicked into high gear. Scooting on her bottom, she came closer to peer up at him.
"Daddy sad." He corrected, careful to not stop frowning the second her little lower lip started quivering. It was probably one of the hardest things he ever had to do. Getting run through with a blade was nothing compared to not caving in to the lip quivering. "When Hikari goes bye-bye..." her term for when she transports, "It makes Mommy and Daddy very sad. It hurts our hearts."
Hikari's eyes widened, lightening as they filled with shimmering tears. "Hikari hurt Daddy?"
"It scares Mommy and Daddy when we don't know where you are. We can't protect Hikari when you go bye-bye without us. You never ever go bye-bye alone." He almost regretted what he was about to say next. But there would be times when he and Kagome would be fighting demons or some other evil that always seemed to worm out of nowhere, and he couldn't have Hikari alone. "You have to at least take Shippo. He will be responsible and protect you. And you will be responsible and protect him too."
"Pipo my sponsable ." Hikari's tears had dried, and she looked very solemn. "Pomise." She looked around until she found Shippo, who had been watching quietly She ran to him and grabbed his hand until he followed her. "Stay Hikari," she scolded him. \
Then they both vanished.
Inuyasha sighed.
Maybe Kagome would have better luck.
Hikari,
The rosary looks beautiful on you. Your mama says pearls are classic. In fact, it looks so good you should probably never take it off.
Ever.
Even when you are fifty. Probably not even then.
I love you.
Oh, remind me to tell you about the funny story of how your brother got those tiny little scars on his ankle. Have I mentioned how proud I am of you lately? You are going to make a great warrior when you are older!
Daddy
P.S. You are a pretty good warrior now. But when you get a little taller you'll be UNBEATABLE!
ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo
ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo
Author's Note:
Thank you all for your reviews. I really appreciate them. They are a lot of fun to read and generally make my day.
After I finished the last chapter I wondered if I should use the next one (this one) to go ahead and wrap up the story. I think I was getting a little discouraged. But I decided to take it to twenty chapters after all, just like Kagome's Baby.
I know it is common sense, but I'm saying it anyhow... Ignore any spelling mistakes in Hikari's lines. She's just a kid, give her a break.
Disclaimer Part II: (Just in case) I don't own anything spider-man related either. All things spidey sensing belong to Marvel and possibly Stan Lee or Disney. I forget who owns what these days in the Marvel world….