InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Little Bits ❯ Mama ( Chapter 10 )

Mama

 

She'd thought she was prepared for the worst. But when the shrine shook and the well disappeared, she knew panic. On her hands and knees she stared at the empty ground, calling her daughter's name, begging the kami to bring Kagome back. The experience of her husband's sudden death didn't help her. The year of worry, of fear, as her daughter shuttled back and forth through time, fighting youkai and monsters, as working on keeping an ever cheerful, optimistic face to the world for her daughter's sake: it didn't help lessen the fear and despair that threatened to shatter her universe. Only Inuyasha's voice, echoing from nowhere, with his assurance that Kagome was fine, and that he would find her, gave her the strength to pull back from her panic, to find some sort of explanation for her daughter's bewildered friends, to turn her thoughts to the needs of her son and her father-in-law.

 

The three days were an eternity, as if time had stopped. Somehow, she managed to keep her small family going: cooking meals with the foods her men liked most, making sure they ate, and that they, one at a time, at least tried to sleep. She clung with desperate conviction to those words shouted from another world, another dimension: “I'll definitely find her!” She trusted the dog-eared boy. She knew, that for all the rudeness and the arguing and the misunderstandings; when it came down to what mattered, he loved Kagome more than his life, and would do anything to protect her.

 

Three days after the well disappeared, it reappeared in a pillar of light, and her daughter flung herself into her arms with a cry. They clung to each other for a long moment, before remembering the boy who had brought Kagome back. But before Kagome could say her thanks, Inuyasha disappeared.

 

And the well sealed.

 

She watched her exhausted daughter break, then, calling for the boy, discovering that the time-slip was gone. It was she who moved, at last, to pry Kagome's hands from the well and pull her into her arms once more. It was she who held her daughter, rocking back and forth, as Kagome cried out her fear and her heartbreak. It was she who brought them to a seated position on the stairs as Kagome's tears stopped, to sit together, huddled in silence as the day waned.

 

"Mama," whispered Kagome, looking up at last, her eyes swollen and red, underlined with harsh shadows, her cheeks raw and still damp from her tears. "He saved me. I was so scared—it was so dark—"

 

"I know," she said, managing a smile, as she drew her fingers through Kagome's bangs. "When the well disappeared, we heard his voice. He told us he would find you. I believed him."

 

"All I wanted was to come home, but I knew it was the wrong wish, I knew what I had to wish on the jewel, but I was so scared," her daughter whispered, voice a mere husk of a whisper, tears threatening once again. "Then he came. He found me. He was with me, and I wished the Shikon No Tama to disappear. And it did. And then, we were here..."

 

"I know." Her heart clenched, for Kagome looked so exhausted, and so forlorn. "I wish he could have stayed, too, at least for a while." She put back on her face of optimism. "But let's worry about you, for now, all right?" She pulled Kagome to her feet, keeping an arm around her daughter. "You need a bath, some food, and some sleep. Let's get back to the house. We'll get you into the tub, and I have all I need for your favorite meal. How does that sound?"

 

Kagome leaned more heavily against her for a moment, and then said, "I don't think I want you to make oden."

 

She felt shock and dismay. "It's no trouble, Kagome," she started, and then hesitated, as her daughter looked up.

 

"I don't want you to cook," she whispered. "I want us to cook. Remember, when I was littler, when you were teaching me? We cooked together all the time? I want us to make everyone's favorite foods. Just like before..."

 

She looked at her daughter, and knew surprise, and relief, and love. She tightened her hug. "I'd love that, daughter."

 

A ghost of a smile was Kagome's response, and they exited the well house together. And Mama knew that Kagome would survive, and thrive. And they would be together, mother and daughter, for some years yet, before the unending cycle of life inevitably drew their paths apart. But she would have what she wanted most—to be with her daughter, to see her finish growing up, safe and loved. And if, some future year, the well re-opened, and if her daughter chose leave her mother and return to her silver-haired young man, then Mama would rejoice and be content, knowing that her daughter had followed her heart—

 

— And that was good.