Chapter 4- A Father's Love

Inuyasha sped through the forest, following the scent of the young hanyou that Kagome had saved. His direction was unmistakable. He was heading for the well.

How could I let that kid get away? Oh, well, it's not like he could go through the well or anything. Only Kagome and I can use the well. Even if he's run off I'll be able to track him… he thought as he raced through the forest that had been his prison for fifty years. He was confident up to the point where he actually reached the well, and there, just like Kenshin's scent, it ended. He blinked in surprise before muttering a curse that would've scared Sesshoumaru witless and jumping through the rift in the fabric of time. The soft lights, like always, greeted him gently, calming him somehow, as they pulled him through the gap between the ages. His calloused feet touched the packed dirt floor, and Kenshin's scent met his nose. His legs reacted like springs, vaulting him into the shrine above. Inuyasha followed the boy's scent directly to the house. Kagome was home. Kenshin was with her.

"Mama, this is Kenshin," he heard her say. Yes… Kagome's mother was there as well.

"Kagome… how? When-?"

"MAMA! Kenshin started traveling with us a few days ago!" he heard, but his mind was processing quite well what the ebony-haired teen's mother had been about to say, and the very thought had him blushing like mad. But he firmly quashed it immediately. Kagome just thinks of me as a half-breed, just like everyone else!

A little corner of his mind was telling him that she had just been upset and hadn't meant it, but the more rational part was disagreeing with it whole-heartedly and attempting to squash it out of existence. This was the same little voice that absolutely went crazy with worry the moment he caught the scent of anxiety floating from the ultramodern miko. Again, he squashed it.

Kenshin sniffed the air cautiously as Kagome continued to talk with the woman, who evidently was her mother, and perched him on her hip. She began to follow her into the place where he had smelled that wonderful concoction she had been brewing. Kagome allowed him to slide from her hip onto the floor as she continued to converse with her mother.

"Kagome, Inuyasha is here!" he told her suddenly, and she whipped around to look at him suddenly in shock. Here? But… why? Oh, well I did leave Kenshin with him; maybe he's just here looking for him, she thought, but was soon interrupted by someone knocking on the door. She peeked out the window to see none other than Eri, Ayumi and Yuka. Of course! How could things get any worse unless they come over? she thought sarcastically. It was then, of course, just as her mother let them in, that Inuyasha leapt off the back stairs to stand right in front of them. For some strange reason, Kenshin and Inuyasha soon found their ears ringing. Kagome, on the other hand, lost it. Again.

"SHUT IT!! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"

The room grew deathly still at her outburst. Kenshin buried his face in Inuyasha's pants leg, slightly frightened by the girl's cry. Kagome took a couple of deep breaths.

"Inuyasha," she began in a clipped tone, "take Kenshin and go upstairs. NOW."

Her finalistic tone left no room for argument. She then stiffly guided her friends to the living room. As they sat, Yuka began to ask questions.

"Hey, Kagome, what was that mess you were rattling off in Social Studies today? You know, about there being demons in the feudal era? Our teacher said it was just a bunch of hog-wash!" she questioned the girl. Kagome gained a dreamy look on her face.

"She's wrong! There really are youkai in the feudal era! I've been there! I've SEEN them! Shoot that… I've fought them!" she exclaimed, becoming exited. Her friends glanced back and forth at each other nervously.

"Kagome… what are you talking about?" asked Ayumi worriedly. Kagome grew all the more excited.

"I fell through the well and I've been traveling back and forth to the Warring States era during the times that I was supposedly sick, collecting the shards of the Shikon no Tama! You see, really I'm the reincarnation of this priestess named Kikyou and…!"

Kagome continued to rattle on about how she was a reincarnation of a beautiful priestess and how she had met and fallen in love with a hanyou that had once loved the priestess. Her friends tuned her out after a minute, all three of them scared to death about what was wrong with her this time. That's when Kagome's mom came in.

"Kagome! Have you been rattling on about the feudal era again? I'm sorry, girls. In all her fevered dreams she imagines herself in the feudal era of Japan. I'm sure I don't understand why, but she believes that she's actually been there," Mrs. Higurashi apologized. The girls acted like they understood and quickly made excuses to leave. Kagome watched them from the window and did not speak to her mother until they were long past the bottom of the steps. Then, she turned and smiled.

"You know, all that acting practice really paid off! They totally bought it!" she exclaimed, grinning at the elder woman widely. She giggled girlishly.

"It was a well-laid plan, Kagome. I'm proud of you for thinking things through so well," her mother commended.

"What plan?"

Inuyasha had been watching them from the stairs, Kenshin at his side. His expression was arrogant, as usual, but it held quite a bit of curiosity, too. Kagome blushed.

"My… master plan. Make everyone at school think I've gone loony, and then pretend to run off because my mother was talking about putting me in the nut house, when really I'm just gonna disappear into the Sengoku Jidai and only come back to visit Mama, Souta and Jii-chan every once in a while," she said, explaining the entire thing to him.

"That means that… you won't leave me behind anymore?" Kenshin asked timidly. Kagome smiled at him fondly and nodded. A huge grin lit up his face and he raced down to her, throwing his arms around her waist. She bent down and hugged him tightly. She suddenly noticed her shirt dampening. He was crying.

"Kenshin? Kenshin, are you alright?" she asked nervously. He nodded into her shoulder.

"I'm glad you're never going to leave me again!" came his muffled reply. She smiled, and smoothed the child's hair soothingly, rocking him back and forth, whispering comforts and promises of forever.

Well, at least I know she's not going to break her promise to never leave him again. It's a good thing that she's not coming back here anymore. She should be in the feudal era, he thought, and a small voice in his heart add on 'with me', but he pushed it aside, ignoring it. Kenshin needs her. He wants her. If she were a youkai, she would be able to understand that this is the kind of behavior that a pup only shows towards his mother. Again, the voice returned, telling him that the boy's actions towards him were those of a pup towards his father. Again, he quashed it, but this time, he was unable to keep the blush from surfacing. And… a sense of pride. The kind he would feel over his family… his pack…

How many times was he going to have to squash that little voice?

AN: (cackles) Hooray for little voices! XDD Please enjoy and review, minna-san!