His father's son
Kagome stood in front of the mirror at the vanity; she traced her young face and her long, silky hair, her stature. She had aged very little, seeming as Yamazaki had grown so much in power by the time he came of age, when they mated his ageing process had slowed even more, consequently, so did hers. She had aged four years, possibly five, still barely more than a child, she looked about twenty, she was actually several hundred years old. Of course it was nice to be able to stay with Yamazaki this long and grow old as he does, but it required letting an awful lot of loved ones go, loved ones she wanted more than anything to hold onto forever.
She knew what was going to happen; she had seen it happen before. She still looked after the descendents of Sango and Miroku, they never wanted for anything and they were always welcome and human members of the wider pack in the Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern Lands. But the original Sango and Miroku, the ones she met and loved, they grew old and died, she loved them and they loved her and they lived a good life together and had many, many children. She loved each generation as much as the one before but never as much as the duo. They died and their children died, and the children's children and she aged a year.
It was going to happen again. Oh everything would be ok and remain relatively peaceful and unchanged for three or four years, but then time, and it weak effect on her would bite back as it always did. Jiichan was going to go to die, as was her mother, her younger brother would slowly become her older one, then an old man, and all her school friends would die, and then she'd turn twenty one. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop it, and they have all more or less accepted it, no one can escape fate – but it hurt nonetheless.
It was her birthday and she knew she should be happy, but it was still a reminder. She was so selfish, she couldn't have it all, but she wanted it so badly. A strapping young man of about thirteen strode into the room, "come on mum, dad's got all the preparation downstairs, and granddad is here, and grandma, and uncle Souta." Granddad was Yamazaki's father, his mother had passed away a couple of years ago while Sesshoumaru was away on a mission so he could not bring her back, and Grandma was her mother. As for 'uncle Souta'... they were the same age physically, more or less, and acted like brothers, the title was just that.
"Hai Shippou, I'll be down in a moment," she said and straightened, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear and straightening her dress. "How do I look?"
"Stunning as always, look, everything will be ok." He smiled one of his rare, knowing smiles when he was wise and saw so much more than people believed he could.
"How do you know?" She answered, knowing he knew what was troubling her no matter how well she believed she could hide behind her usually genuine smile.
"I don't," he answered immediately as cheery as always, "everything just usually turns out to be fine." He took her hand and led her out of the room, "now smile and laugh and have no morbid thoughts, it's your birthday, enjoy yourself." It was times like these that Kagome was reminded just how much Shippou was Yamazaki's son.