Nn, sorry, short chapter. Running short on time.
Though Sesshoko would never admit it, as a child, she adored the story Cinderella.
She just loved how in the end, it was the girl who was sad and beaten who ended up getting all the goods.
And in the cherished story, it was the mother who had been kind and the stepmother who was evil.
How funny it was that Sesshoko's family was the opposite.
As ridiculous as it sounded, Inu Taisho was not afraid to call his ex-wife anything less than cold-blooded evil. At the budding age of twenty-four, she left him with her debts, his regrets, and their year-old daughter. What kind of woman does that?! Shouldn't she have at least tried to help him raise Sesshoko, her own flesh and blood. There was a name for that maternal instinct that was supposed to kick in when a woman had a baby. What was it called? Mother's intuition? Well, anyway, Inu Taisho truly believed his evil ex had none of that whatsoever.
So why on Earth did Kirimi want her granddaughter? Was she going to take the kid, then abandon her new husband with it and run off to, oh, I don't know, Africa with some new new man?! Inu Taisho knew with all his heart that the wench could not raise a child. Even if Sesshoko wouldn't make the best parent in the world, she would at least be better than Kirimi!
"Inu dear, you should calm down. Please, you'll give yourself an ulcer."
Inu Taisho turned to see his loving wife Izayoi with a worried expression on his face.
He grabbed her hand and kissed it lightly. "I'm sorry, Iza-chan, but I have to make sure to keep that woman away from Shoko. Do you think I'd be able to get a restraining order?"
Izayoi shook her head. "They wouldn't let you. Not without any real threat." Inu Taisho sighed. "Inu dear, Kii-san is a woman divorced from reality. If she gets to Sesshoko, she won't be able to do any harm to her. And besides, Kii-san can't legally take this baby away from Sesshoko." Izayoi said reassuringly, but it was Inu Taisho's turn to shake his head.
"That's not what I'm afraid of. If Sesshoko finds a way to get rid of this baby, she'll do it, for sure! And... she needs this kid, Iza-chan. If she ever wants anything happy in life."
Izayoi, however smiled. "Oh, I'm not so sure she'd give the baby away so quickly..."
"Whatever do you mean by that?"
"Omigosh! Shoko, lookit how big you've gotten!"
"Can I rub your belly? Please?!"
"It's a girl, isn't it? What're you going to name it?"
"I've heard you don't even know who the father is! Are you going to try and raise it on your own?"
Sesshoko was very close to tearing off some limbs at this point. Tonight was Girls' Night, the night when Inuyumi brought home some of her 'friends' - people who hated Inuyumi significantly less than others - and they talked and were obnoxious all through the night.
Unfortunately for Sesshoko, she was pregnant if from of a bunch of gabby teenage girls, and they would not. stop. talking. about it!
"Hey guys, shut up and let her finish. So then, when are you due?" Came a new, cool voice. It was Kagura, the oldest, and probably Sesshoko's favorite, of Inuyumi's 'friends'.
"Six months." Sesshoko replied nonchalantly. It was no big deal, to her.
"That's a long time from now, sure, but have you thought about taking parenting classes?" Kagura asked. Sesshoko looked up at her in confusion. Kagura sighed. "Hm, well it's probably too late to sign up for classes, but you should get some experience. After all, you don't seem like the type to get along with kids all that well."
Sesshoko narrowed her golden eyes. "And where am I supposed to get experience?"
Kagura thought for a moment, then her face lit up. "Oh! I know! My family's going to see Star Wars this Thursday (Are you?) and my little sister Kanna can't come. You could maybe babysit her that night."
Sesshoko seamed to think for a moment before Inuyumi grabbed her sister's arm, smiling wildly. "We'd love to! C'mon, Shoko! This'll be fun."
"I'm not so sure I trust your definition of 'fun'." Sesshoko said dryly.
Kagura sighed. "Please? We do need someone to look after her, and you need the experience. She's not a baby baby, she's a two-year-old. It won't be so bad. Please, Shoko?"
"Hn... fine, alright." Sesshoko capitulated.
After all, what could be so bad about looking after a two-year-old.
Little did Sesshoko know, it's not called 'Terrible Twos' for nothing.