A/N: Glad you guys like the KougaxTamako pairing as much as I do! :-). I was only curious because one review had said they weren't too sure about it. But, I love it, and I'm glad the majority does.

As for KagomexInuyasha, I haven't even decided what I want to do with that yet. I hadn't originally planned on putting something like that into the story, however; it makes a good story arch and I'll definitely be doing a lot more than that once I figure out what to do.

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Chapter 13: Tamako's Decision

Tamako had yet to tell her father about her and Kouga's conversation. However, Kouga had been sticking around a lot more, which only annoyed Inuyasha. He seemed to clingy and smug, and he didn't completely know why.

The only thing that Inuyasha's mind really seemed to wander to was Kagome. Was she still alive? And how could he find her if he was staying at the village? But he also didn't want to leave, because Tamako needed to grow up. While his mind wandered to his mate a lot, he was increasingly trying not to. He had to raise Tamako, he had to give her a stable home, not one where he was running off to chase ghosts.

Though, she was not quite a ghost...Kagome was Tamako's mother, and he felt the great need to bring her home for their daughter. What kind of father would he be if he refused that for his daughter? While he had moved around a lot in his childhood, running from the threats and dangers of the feudal world.

The weeks had turned into months, he watched her grow bigger and stronger almost every day. As the months moved, Tamako had hit a few growth spurts. Her demon blood was driving her to get bigger quicker, and stronger. He'd been her same age when he'd hit his growth spurt, and he was full grow by the age of fourteen. He almost expected her to grow the same way he had since she was still a half demon the way he was.

She was almost six now, but she looked like she was seven, almost eight. And she was also getting taller, getting too big for her father or Kouga to carry her around as she seemingly quickly became 4'0" tall. Her height wasn't the only thing developing, her body as a woman was too. That, Inuyasha could do without. He could tell the boys of the village were starting to notice, too...but he was always close to her to shoot them a glare, daring them to try anything.

But, her spiritual powers also slowly developed along with her demon strength. Kaede had been teaching her a few things about herbs and healing, but Inuyasha still refused to allow her to become a miko. Eventually, it would be Tamako's final decision, and he would allow that, but he would do his best to talk her out of it.

He'd even started letting her out of his sight more and more often as she grew. He usually left her with Kaede for several hours during the day for her training, but he was never far away.

That morning he'd left Tamako with Kaede to continue some of her training. It was just after lunch, and he'd spent most of his afternoon running around in the woods nearby, trying to catch a glimpse of Kagome's scent. He was restricted each time he went looking to look in only the areas surrounding the village, which didn't gather him any sort of clue as to what was going on. It depressed him. A lot. But he wouldn't show that, at least to his daughter as much as possible.

Walking to Kaede's hut, his hands tucked into his haori as he looked forward. His ears twitched every now and then at certain conversations he could over hear. Seeing his daughter standing outside the hut, leaning against it a little, he stopped a little and moved out of sight, wondering what she was doing. Glancing over, he could see a boy standing by her, one of the village kids.

Tamako stood quietly against the hut, her back leaned against it, holding a basket of herbs, her fingers against the edge of the basket and holding it to her stomach a little. Her eyes looked down at the herbs in the basket, her mind somewhere else as the boy talked. Kids weren't so mean to her in this world. At least, not all kids. Some kids had their prejudices from their parents, mostly in other villages. A lot of the kids in this village didn't much mind her or her father. They'd grown up with her father protecting the village, and thus earning a place there, and most people treated her the same. Kids in other villages were mean and cruel. Some in this village could be mean, too, but not all of them.

"Soo...Tamako...you know I um..." the boy started out slowly. He was a little bit older than her, about ten years old.

Her eyes looked up at his face slowly. "What? Spit it out, Kenji." she said. She could be as blunt as her father at times, especially when she was annoyed. And, his stammering annoyed her.

Kenji blushed when she said that, shrugging. "I just um...was wondering if...you wanted to...come over later? Like...like for...for dinner or something?" he asked, looking down a bit at his attempt to flirt.

Listening to him, she blinked a little and sighed, leaning her head back against the hut a little. "No." she answered flatly. "My Otou is coming to get me soon. Besides, I don't like boys. I like men. A man would just flat out ask instead of stammering all over the place." she stated, glancing at him, seeing the look in his eyes.

The way he looked sad, she sighed a little, shaking her head. "I already like someone, Kenji...don't take it too bad." she said, her ears lowering a little. "And...and no way my otou would let me go over. Your parent's aren't exactly nice..."

Kenji looked down and shrugged slowly. "O-oh...oh um...okay..." he started to say, shaking his head. "My parent's aren't mean!"

"They say mean things."

Blinking as Kenji looked at her. "How...do you know what they say?"

"I can hear them. My otou can too. What would your parent's say if you brought me home? They'd be mad." she told him matter-of-factly. Something was troubling her, it was obvious by seeing how annoyed she was.

Kenji pouted. "But...but I think...I think you're really pretty.." he murmured slowly, chewing on his bottom lip.

She only shrugged, her eyes glancing towards her fathers hiding spot as the wind changed, picking up his scent. "You better go, Kenji. My otou is spying."

Frowning as he was caught, Inuyasha moved to walk up to them. "Keh, was not. Just...making sure you're safe."

"Yeah right, otou. You were spyinggg." she said, smiling a little to him.

As soon as he was in sight, Kenji blushed and bit his bottom lip. "Well...well I...I'll...I'll talk to you later, Tamako!" he said. Gently pulling a flower from his pocket that he'd been hiding, pushing it into her hands before running away.

Tamako looked down at the flower curiously, her ears twitching a little as she smelled it. Resting it on top of her basket, sighing and looking up at her father. "I have to take these into Kaede before I can leave. I'll be ready in a sec." she said.

Inuyasha nodded, watching her walk into the hut. Once she walked back out, he motioned his head to walk with him down the road, glancing at her after a few minutes of walking "Whats the matter?"

She walked with him, her eyes settled forward and shrugged. "Don't know what you're talking about..." she said slowly.

Scoffing at the answer, he watched her from the corner of his eye. "Of course you know what I'm talking about. You're acting weird. Did something happen today?"

Her eyes looked forward as she walked, shrugging again. "Its nothing..." she started to say. But, glancing at him, seeing the look on his face to show he wasn't going to back down, she sighed a little. "Kaede-sama says she wants me to become a miko..." she said softly.

He just blinked to her, looking at her a little. "A miko? Tamako...she suggested that when you first got here. I said no. I do not want you to be a miko..."

Nodding slowly as she walked quietly along the path towards their house. "I know, otou. But...its my decision. Not yours." she said, biting her bottom lip. "I wonder if Kouga is coming by today..." she said out loud.

Scoffing again at the sound of the wolfs name. "Hell if I know. He shouldn't. He's around entirely too much Tamako. Its gotta stop."

She pouted at his response. She knew he didn't like Kouga...but she did. She loved him. Blushing at the idea as she thought of it, sighing slowly. "Otou...please stop. I like Kouga...he's...he's my...friend." she said, chewing on her bottom lip lightly. She knew better than to tell her father the truth behind her and Kouga's relationship, that he'd basically asked her if she'd be his mate when she gets older. She had no idea how to approach the subject either.

"What does that wolf have to do with anything anyway? You were just talking about how Kaede mentioned becoming a miko. I don't see how Kouga correlates to that at all."

"Well, I wanna talk to him about it of course!" she told him. Sighing a little as they reached the hut, looking up at her father. "Otou...for once, will you let me make my own decision? I know you don't want me to do it...but its not your decision to make. Its mine."

Stopping just by her, he blinked slowly. "You don't need to talk to him about it! The decision has been made, I told you." he said, sighing slowly. "You're not old enough to understand the consequences of this decision. A hanyou being a miko? Thats unheard of. Its usually unheard of for a hanyou to possess spiritual powers like you do. Though miko's usually don't have children so there is no way to know if spiritual powers run in the family..."

Tamako looked up at him, pouting. "Well, my okaa wasn't a traditional miko! She was with you, regardless on the mean things people say about hanyous. I know that people wouldn't like if I become a hanyou, and I'm not sure if I even want to. But, I would like to talk it out with someone other than you. I...I want to learn the things that my okaa knew, the things that made her strong and powerful. I want to be able to use my powers. Why would you deny me that?"

Sighing as he watched her, moving to rest his hands on her shoulders. "Save the decision for another day. Sleep on it. Your spiritual powers are not going anywhere...you don't have to do anything about them today."

"But soon, I do." she said, pouting a bit and looking down. "Besides...Kaede is already teaching me how to use a bow...and...and I think I'm good at it."

"She's...WHAT?!" the hanyou grumbled, gripping his daughters shoulders a little. "I did not give Kaede permission to teach you such things yet."

"I asked! I wanted to learn! I've heard stories of my okaa fighting with a bow and arrow, and the villagers used them. I want to learn! You refuse to teach me, so how else will I learn?" she asked.

Her point was made, but Inuyasha did not want to accept that she was right. His ears lowered on his head. "Not spiritual bows, are they?"

She shook her head slowly. "No...not yet. She said I should talk to you before she goes ahead and teaches me that..." she whispered, her eyes looking down and sighing. "Otou please, I want to learn. And, if I decide to go ahead...I want you to be okay with it."

"I don't think I'll ever be okay with the idea of you becoming a miko. You have no idea how cruel humans can really be. Yeah, you've heard them, but you have not really been around them. And if you become a miko, they'll call you a dark miko, evil, all those things. You'll most likely be hunted for being a hanyou miko..."

Listening to his words, she sighed. "I'll think about it. But...I think I want to do it."

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The next afternoon, Kouga had indeed showed up after Tamako's lessons, and she was so excited when she saw him when they got home. She'd grabbed her bow and her quiver of arrows. Her father accepted that she was learning how to use a bow and arrow, and now she wanted to show off to Kouga.

They'd gone off for a walk as they usually did, and picked a usual spot by the water. "Kouga-kun! You wanna see what I've been learning?" she asked.

Smiling as he settled on a rock, nodding. "Sure, go ahead. Lets see what the old miko has been teaching you."

Nodding, slowly she notched the arrow into her bow, pulling it back and aiming for a tree, concentrating her eyes carefully. Releasing the arrow, the tip glowed a bit pink in spiritual energy before it hit her mark, she smiled, looking back at him. She hadn't meant to manifest her spiritual energy like that...it just happened, and she didn't know why. Looking back at Kouga slowly.

"Good job! Looks like you've got some spiritual energy going on. Just..don't point that thing at me." he said, chuckling a little bit.

Shaking her head, resting her bow down and moving to sit on his lap, hugging him. "Never!" she said, laughing along with him.

Resting her head on his shoulder, cuddling up to his chest and closing her eyes halfway. She felt so safe in his arms, in a different way than she felt with her father. She still was only six, not quite old enough to know much about sex yet. And, Kouga was really good with her. He was pretty much just her friend for now, with the promise of becoming mates one she'd gotten older. But still, he really enjoyed being around the girl, and it showed when he hugged her softly.

Tamako leaned close to him, closing her eyes halfway and staring off into space. "Kouga-kun...what...what would you think about me becoming a miko?" she asked, looking out over the water.

Shrugging, Kouga looked back at her. "Is that what you want? I don't know much about human traditions. And I'm not sure all what a miko does. Its a spiritual thing, right?"

Tamako nodded slowly. "Yeah. Miko's are very spiritual and use their powers to help other people. Usually a village has one single miko, and she usually has spiritual power to protect the village, along with knowledge of different medicines and such..." she said, sighing and looking up at him. "I don't know if I want it or not. My otou doesn't want me to be a miko though..."

"Well, why doesn't he want you to be a miko?"

"Because he's afraid people will call me a dark miko because I'm a hanyou. And that they won't take me seriously, or think me evil for doing such a thing. A lot of humans don't like our kind..hanyous or demons. They think we're all out to hurt them. But we're not. There are good demons and bad ones...good hanyous and bad hanyous. Just like humans. They don't understand that..." she said, sighing slowly, closing her eyes halfway and cuddling up to his chest. "He just doesn't want me to get hurt." she whispered slowly.

Listening to her explanation, Kouga nodded. "I can see his concern. Priestesses aren't usually so friendly with demons...and come to think of it, I don't think I've heard of a demon priestess." he said before turning to look down at her. "But..if this is what you want, you should go for it. If anything it'll teach you how to use your spiritual powers effectively." he suggested.

Smiling, Tamako looked up at his face slowly. "You really think I should?" she asked. Seeing him nod, she nodded with him. "Then...then yeah, I will. I'll do it. My otou will just have to get used to it."

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A/N: I did quite a big skip there. But, more stuff happens as Tamako gets older. And with her having demon blood increases her growth rate, too.

And, to address a comment I was left, five really isn't too young to start understanding things about relationships. I was the same age when I started to like boys, and about 8 when my mom gave me "the talk." And besides, all children mature differently. I sort of wanted to make Tamako be a mix between mature and childish at the same time. Also, its not like Kouga is really claiming her, but just making a promise to do such.

For the comment also addressing the thought that Kouga hated half demons, I don't necessarily think that is true. I think he hates Inuyasha, yeah. But, he was going to be with Kagome and have children with her, therefore making them hanyou as well. I wouldn't think that Kouga would hate his own children. Thats just me though, and the stance I decided to take within this story.

Again, thanks for reading! :-)