InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity ❯ A Hanyou's Truths ( Chapter 35 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"I can't believe it," Kagome marveled as she stared at Shippou. She grinned as though she couldn't help herself.

Shippou shrugged and made a face. "I'm glad you've finally remembered. I have to admit, I was a little concerned that you never would."

She giggled and patted Shippou's hand. "Why were you able to conceal yourself from me better than the others did?"

"I don't really know. Maybe because I'm a kitsune, and therefore more adept at deception?"

Kagome considered that as she straightened her shirtsleeve. She leaned her elbow on the patio table, resting her chin in her raised palm. "I still can't believe it," she commented again. "Shippou-chan, all grown up and married . . . with children. They're adorable, by the way. I just . . . wow!"

Shippou's gaze shifted to the youngsters running around the yard. Toga chased after Shippou's oldest child, a three year-old daughter named Nori. The girl squealed with glee as the younger daughter, Toshie, ran after them both. Aiko pushed herself into Kagome's lap.

"I'm glad you're here, Kagome. It's been too long."

She smiled. "It's all still pretty fuzzy to me. But my memories are there. It's just taking awhile to put them in order, I suppose."

Shippou shook his head. "I'm just glad you do remember. We really worried that something had happened; something irreversible."

Shaking her head slowly, Kagome frowned and admitted, "I still don't know what caused me to forget . . . or how I could ever forget you guys, in the first place. You were like a family to me, and I . . ."

Shaking his head, the kitsune she knew so well yet somehow didn't offered her a tender smile.  "Don't, Kagome. Don't feel bad for something you obviously couldn't control."

She nodded though her expression was still distressed. She kissed Aiko's cheek. Her smile returned.

"Where's InuYasha?" Shippou asked suddenly, starting out of his reverie and dragging his attention off the children at play.

Kagome glanced up from Aiko's downy-soft head and shrugged. "He said Sesshoumaru wanted to talk to him, but he wasn't sure why . . ."

A strange expression filtered over Shippou's features, almost like he might have a good idea, just what the discussion was about, but something about the little smile that surfaced gave Kagome pause, made her wonder if she really wanted to know what he was thinking, at all . . .

Finally, though, Shippou chuckled.  "Ah, if only I could make myself invisible," he mused, more to himself than to Kagome.

She bit her lip, narrowing her eyes, and swallowing the questions that whispered in her mind . . .


InuY asha stared across the desk at Sesshoumaru with a look of undisguised incredulity on his face. It had taken awhile for the information to sink in, and now that it had . . .

"Close your mouth, InuYasha. You'll catch flies that way."

"You can't be serious," InuYasha said, his voice awed by what his brother had just so eloquently stated. "What you've said is . . . it's impossible! That's not . . . No . . ."

"It's entirely possible. Myouga told me this."

InuYasha leaned forward, elbows resting atop the polished coffee table and his face buried in his hands. "Anything else?" he muttered, his voice muffled by his hands. `Good kami, I sincerely hope there's not . . .'

"Ah, no. I believe that does it. You may go."

InuYasha raised his head to glare at his deranged sibling. "Why do I think you're enjoying this, you bastard?"

"Yasha-oji-chan!"

InuYasha looked up just in time to catch Toga as the youngster launched himself into his uncle's arms. "Hey, Toga."

Toga squirmed around to face his father though he remained on InuYasha's lap with his plastic cup in one hand and a short, black, very fluffy Mokomoko-sama in his other. He leaned back to stare up at InuYasha before asking, "What's a bastard?"

Sesshoumaru shot InuYasha a glower. "Yes, InuYasha. Why don't you explain it to him? While you're at it, why don't you explain to his mother how Toga learned such a word?"

InuYasha schooled his features, very aware that Toga was still staring up at him with a rapt expression on his little face. "It's a word I use to tell your father how much I like him," InuYasha explained, narrowing his eyes slightly at his brother. "But not a good one to say to your mother."

Toga nodded slowly. "So I shouldn't tell kaa-san you said `bastard'?"

Sesshoumaru flinched. "Toga, come here."

The boy scooted off InuYasha's lap and ran over to Sesshoumaru, who picked him up and spared InuYasha a glower before turning his attention on his young son.

"Yes, tou-san?"

Sesshoumaru spared a moment to pin InuYasha with a very bored stare before turning his attention back to his son once more.  "If you promise never to say that word to your mother, I'll take you to the toy store later, and you can pick out whatever you want."

The boy was intrigued with this idea. "Anything?"

"Anything," Sesshoumaru agreed.

"Okay!" With that, the lad hopped down and sped out of the room.

InuYasha couldn't hide his amusement. "Resorting to bribery?"

Sesshoumaru made a face. "Not quite. More like full-out extortion, and the boy's damn good at it." He sat back in his thickly cushioned chair and steepled his fingers together as he regarded InuYasha with his amber eyes. "And when will you start your own family?" He leaned to the side long enough to stare pointedly at his calendar before resuming his perusal of InuYasha's face. "Three days, if we go by this," he remarked, nodding toward his desk.

InuYasha didn't deign to answer. He stood up instead and stalked out of the room.

"You understand what I'm telling you, InuYasha? On those nights . . ."

Sesshoumaru delighted in telling him all this, he didn't doubt. It gave him a lot to consider; things he hadn't realized needed to be considered before.

With a frustrated sigh, InuYasha jerked open the door that led onto the patio. He had known, when Sesshoumaru had ordered that he come by, that it wouldn't be a pleasant visit.

Kagome was nowhere in sight. InuYasha frowned. He could smell her near. He just couldn't see her. His ears twitched as he tried to hear her voice over the din the children were making with their play.

The wind switched directions, blowing Kagome's scent straight to him. He smiled despite his otherwise nerve-racking thoughts and headed in her direction. She was still with Shippou. He'd figured as much.

He wandered toward the hedge and the bench that was hidden from view, where he knew Kagome was sitting. All he wanted to do was to gather her up and take her back home, as far away from Sesshoumaru and his damned words of wisdom as he could get.

Shippou's voice stopped him short, though, and InuYasha crossed his arms over his chest as he moved to be further upwind, hiding in the shadows of the gazebo, to listen.

"Why didn't you say goodbye, Kagome? I've always wondered that."

Kagome's sigh was soft. "I don't know. I've remembered everything but that, I suppose . . . but I know it had something to do with InuYasha."

From InuYasha's vantage point, he couldn't see Kagome's face. He muttered a few choice curses, though, when he scanned the area and couldn't find anything else to hide behind. For some reason, he really wanted to hear this conversation. Shippou stared down at Aiko, who was calmly sitting in Kagome's lap. "For the longest time, I thought you'd left because you were upset with us," Shippou admitted. InuYasha flinched. Shippou hadn't told him this before. Then again, when had InuYasha ever bothered to ask?

Kagome stood up, cradling the child against her chest. Aiko was close to two years old. Kagome held her as though the girl was weightless. "I wish I knew why. I wish I could tell you all of it. I know it wasn't your fault. I don't think it was anyone's fault." She turned to face Shippou. InuYasha could finally see her face. She looked confused. Slowly, though, the confusion was replaced with dawning apprehension, as though something was making sense to her, at last. "Kikyou," she murmured. "I used the jewel to bring her back . . . for InuYasha."

Shippou took a step toward her. She stepped back, shaking her head furiously. The onslaught of the memories, the pain in her expression was a viable thing. If only for the moment, she'd forgotten that InuYasha had come for her. If only in that second, all she knew was the pain of the decision she'd taken upon herself to make. "Kagome . . ."

InuYasha felt his heart constrict in his chest. As though he'd been yanked right back to that day, he couldn't help but close his eyes against the all-consuming torture that had shrouded him when he had awakened that morning to find Kagome gone. He started to leave his hiding place. Something in her voice stayed him, something poignant, something broken. "The Bone Eater's Well filled with water . . . I remember." Aiko squirmed in Kagome's arms, sensing Kagome's distress. Kagome set the girl down and watched her go with a sad, distant look on her face. "How did InuYasha get through?"

Shippou sighed, cleared his throat.  "Kikyou opened the well."

Kagome looked as though she was going to cry. Shippou wrapped an arm around her protectively. "Why? Why would she do that? She wanted to be with him, and he—"

Shippou sighed and squeezed Kagome's shoulders. "But he obviously wanted to be with you, instead."

Kagome smiled though she still looked sad. InuYasha started out of the shadows. "What happened to Kikyou?" she asked.

Something about the way Shippou's head dropped, something in the slump of his shoulders slowed InuYasha's approach. The kitsune youkai sighed softly and shook his head, as though he didn't want to tell Kagome the rest of the story. InuYasha wondered if he really wanted to hear it himself. "She died soon after she opened the well." Shippou sat down, as though telling the story was draining him mentally, the telling. "She collapsed right after InuYasha went through. Miroku and Sango carried her back to the village. She never recovered. Kaede said it took all of her spiritual power to open the well just for InuYasha. That's why I didn't go with him then. We were afraid . . . Kaede told me how hard it would be for Kikyou to do this, even just for InuYasha. It would have been selfish for me to go, too. I wanted to—I did . . . I missed you so badly . . . But . . . before Kikyou died, she told me that she'd never regret doing what she did, and that I should tell you to . . . to love him . . . for the both of you . . ."

Kagome ducked her head and wiped her eyes.

InuYasha turned around and walked away. He'd never realized, never once stopped to think about what the consequences of his desire to get to Kagome would do to Kikyou. How could he have been so selfish? He made a face. Had he ever stopped to think about the consequences of his actions?

"Yasha-oji-chan? Where are you going?"

InuYasha forced a smile for Toga's benefit. Then he lifted the boy and leaped into the lowest branches of the nearest tree. Toga giggled. InuYasha leaned back against the tree trunk and pulled Toga close. As though realizing how far they were off the ground, the pup sat still and sighed. "Why are you sad?" he asked in his high-pitched child's voice.

Throat raw, InuYasha had to swallow a few times before he trusted his voice enough to answer, "I just found out something . . . about someone I cared a lot about." He stared over the child's head searching the skies for resolution that wasn't there.

Toga nestled against InuYasha's chest. Suddenly, all he saw was black fur. He leaned to the side to glance down at the boy. Toga held up his Mokomoko-sama. "When I'm sad, I snuggle this. Do you want it?"

Slowly, InuYasha smiled. "Thanks, pup. This is yours, though. You'd better keep it."

Something about Toga's words helped to put things into perspective. The simplicity of a child . . . everything in black and white, and the ease in which sadness could be forgotten. There wasn't such a thing, he knew, as black and white in decisions. But to wrestle with the shades of gray left behind . . . what good would it do? He couldn't change the past now any better that he could before. To berate himself over things that he had no control . . . It wasn't fair to him, and moreover, it wasn't fair to Kagome.

InuYasha knew in his heart that he wasn't responsible for Kikyou's decision to open the well for him, any more than he could have changed the past to save her life the first time. He'd mourned her long ago. He'd buried her long ago. He'd helped to bring an end to the one responsible for her real death, her first death. Naraku was dead. The bastard could never hurt another living being again, and that was enough. InuYasha had finally gotten to tell Kikyou goodbye before he'd leapt into the well. In the end, it had been enough.

From where he sat in the tree, InuYasha could see Kagome walking with Shippou. The two were talking quietly, and Kagome didn't look sad anymore. His smile widened.

"She's pretty, isn't she, Yasha-oji-chan?"

InuYasha glanced down at the child and followed Toga's gaze. He was staring at Kagome. InuYasha grinned. "No, Toga. Kagome's beautiful."

Toga leaned his head back to stare solemnly up at his uncle. "Tou-san says Kagome is going to be your mate. She'll be my aunt then, right?"

Though not the first time InuYasha had stopped to think about spending a lifetime with Kagome, the word `mate' shocked him, nonetheless. "I haven't asked her, no," he hedged, hoping the child would leave this line of questioning alone.

"If you make her your mate, then she'll be `Gome-oba-chan?"

InuYasha could feel himself blushing. "You ready to get down now, Toga?"

Toga shook his head. "I like it up here. Kaa-san never—"

"I-nu-Yasha!"

He grimaced as Kagura's `don't-you-mess-with-me' tone of voice drifted up to him. His grip tightened around Toga and he peered down through the leaves at his sister-in-law. "I wasn't going to let him fall," he remarked, trying to forestall whatever ear-blistering tirade he knew was coming. Toga squealed in delight as InuYasha hopped down. Kagura's indrawn breath was audible. She snatched her child away from him and moved Toga aside before stepping closer to InuYasha. InuYasha stepped back in retreat. "I swear, he was perfectly safe!"

"Oh, was he? You're not, not by a long shot." She advanced another step. InuYasha really hoped that she didn't have her wind fan on her, because if she did, he was as good as chopped liver. He couldn't hurt his own sister-in-law, and he didn't have Tetsusaiga, either . . .

"Now, Kagura," he began, holding his hands out before him. Toga came running with Kagome and Shippou close behind. Kagome didn't wait to see what was going on. She pushed between InuYasha and Kagura, prepared to protect the hanyou from his own sister-in-law.

Kagura sighed and shook her head. "Don't do that again! He's a child, not a rag doll! Don't you have better sense than that?"

InuYasha was cut off before he could speak. Sesshoumaru stepped up beside Kagura. "Calm down, Kagura. He's not got any pups of his own . . . yet."

He could sense the heat of Kagome's embarrassed flush wash over her, and InuYasha glared at his brother over her head.

Sesshoumaru, the ass, chuckled as he turned and grabbed Kagura's hand to lead her back toward the house.

Toga stared at the ground, shuffling his feet nervously. "Sorry, Yasha-oji-chan . . . but I didn't tell kaa-chan you taught me that word!"

"What word?" Kagome asked.

InuYasha waved his arms frantically from behind her to stop the boy. Toga either didn't understand, or he was really bent on InuYasha's complete destruction.

"Bastard!"

Kagome gasped and slowly turned to pin InuYasha with an incredulous stare. InuYasha groaned. Shippou threw his head back and laughed.

Backing away with his hands in the air, the classic, `I can explain,' stance firmly entrenched, InuYasha had a feeling that Kagome was about to inflict more damage that Kagura would have done . . .