InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When Lights Go Down ❯ Chapter 4

“Shhhh, it's all right, pup, it's all right,” came the soothing rumble. “I've got you now. You're okay. No more need to fuss like this. We're going home soon. You can relax. Shhhh. It's all right. It's all right.”

 

InuTaisho cradled his infant son close as the child cried and fussed, the tiny face scrunched in pain and tears flooding the little one's eyes. The infant's muscles had tensed hard, creating pain for the young one. They refused to relax, despite the gentle massaging the nurses had taught him to give the pup.

 

Eight weeks had passed since the boy had come prematurely into the world. The pup's first night had been the worst. He had cried and cried until he had exhausted himself out, but even then, he still whimpered in his sleep. The doctors had monitored him throughout the night and gave the pup a mild painkiller when he needed it, though they were reluctant to at first. Inuyasha was hanyou and most never wanted to keep a child of mixed parentage. However, thanks to a very large donation to the hospital's pre-natal unit, the doctors had gone out of their way to make Inuyasha comfortable and give him the best care possible, despite their misgivings as to how long he would live.

 

Then the infant had decided to prove them wrong. Not only had he lived through that first night but the night after that and the night after that. His lungs continued to develop and he slowly grew stronger to where he could be taken out of the incubator for short periods of time until he no longer needed to be in it, thanks to the demon blood that flowed through him. Unfortunately, due to his demon blood, the addiction to the drugs remained and it caused a lot of discomfort for Inuyasha. His system was still cleaning itself out. InuTaisho glanced down at little one in his arms.

 

Inuyasha remained on the tiny side but that was to be expected. Being thrust into the world when you weren't ready to be didn't go without consequence. Having your mother drink, smoke, and take illegal drugs while she carried you didn't go without consequence, either. Though she had done the wrong, you, as her child, paid the ultimate price. Inuyasha had been born small and underweight, and addicted to what she had taken during the pregnancy. His lungs weren't completely developed upon his birth. The withdrawal, Inuyasha would eventually get over. He would grow. All of this InuTaisho knew, but there other consequences to Izayoi's actions, another price that his infant son would pay, one that no one had counted on. His son, they had discovered, had been born blind.

 

“Don't worry,” he murmured as he continued to soothe the fussing infant. He stood just inside the main entrance of the hospital, waiting for Myouga to pull up with the limo. Tenderly, InuTaisho kissed his son's forehead as he continued, “I'll be your eyes for you, little one. You will know the world and all the colours and sights it has to offer. I'll find a way. I promise you. You will have a good life.”

 

The white limo pulled up at that moment, and InuTaisho picked up the diaper bag that the nurses had packed for him. Inuyasha still fussed but not as much. Another glance at the child told him the pup had worn himself out once more. Smiling to himself, InuTaisho covered the infant up and headed out to the limo. Home awaited them.

 

* * *

 

Sesshomaru sighed softly then set his pencil down. The noise coming from the new nursery was slowly driving him towards insanity. Frustration had already come. And it was only the first night of his father's weekend visitation rights.

 

With a grunt, Sesshomaru pushed himself away from his desk and padded into the living room. Every attempt to do his homework had proven futile. He'd hoped that his half-brother would have quieted down by now, but the stubborn hanyou had refused to give up. According to his father, the infant still suffered withdrawal pains. They weren't as bad as before, but they still made the tiny infant very uncomfortable and very irritable.

 

'Guess I can't fault Inuyasha for that,' he grumbled to himself as he padded into the kitchen. 'Not his fault his mother's a whore and Father was too stupid to realize it. I just wish he'd stop crying, if only for a few moments.'

 

Truth be told, Sesshomaru didn't mind the thought of having a younger sibling. He'd been wanting one for as long as he could remember. But, since his parents had separated and divorced three years before, neither of them had dated anyone else. Both had become too busy trying to provide for him that they simply didn't bother to try and get back into the dating game, and, since they had no one else to really dote their attentions on, he received all of their spare time. Well, all of his mother's spare time. His father came to games and competitions, when he wasn't out of town on business, but otherwise only spared time for Sesshomaru every other weekend, two weeks from each summer month, and every other holiday. He felt second-rate in his father's eyes, and, with Inuyasha around now, the feeling had only sharpened. Not for the first time, Sesshomaru wondered why his father even bothered with him.

 

'Don't think about it,' he scolded himself. 'Father's made his decision. He wants Inuyasha, not me.'

 

He'd just gotten into the refrigerator to make himself a sandwich when the sound of fussing grew louder. Eyes wide with surprise, Sesshomaru whirled around to see his father enter the kitchen, Inuyasha cradled close to him. The youkai frowned when he saw him.

 

“Sesshomaru? What are you doing, son?”

 

“I was just getting me something to eat,” he began when his father shook his head, a bit of a smile on his face.

 

“Why don't you sit down and take your brother for a while? I'll fix supper. Okay?”

 

“Me? Hold Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru squeaked, feeling both scared and shocked. Shocked that his father wasn't yelling at him for making a snack before supper. Scared because he'd never held Inuyasha before. The child looked so frail, more so than any infant he'd encountered, that he feared he'd snap the child in half with little to no pressure at all.

 

“Sure,” the silver-haired man nodded, ushering him to a chair. “Shouldn't take me too long to fix us something to eat. Curry sound good?”

 

“Y-yeah,” the youth stammered, plopping into a chair. His father handed his half-brother to him, instructing him on how to hold Inuyasha so the pup would feel safe. Then the older male busied himself with pulling out pans and cooking ingredients. Wide-eyed, Sesshomaru glanced at the hanyou in his arms then blinked when he saw the pup had quieted down considerably. Inuyasha still whimpered, and he squirmed, his arms brushing against his face and his legs kicking some, but the whimpering wasn't from before. If anything, the pup appeared to be a little more at ease, and drifting off. For a moment, because the pup had quieted so quickly, Sesshomaru thought he'd hurt the infant and started to panic.

 

“Relax, boy,” came the gentle tone. “He's just tired. He wore himself out. That's all.”

 

“That's all?” Sesshomaru echoed, blinking.

 

“Hai,” his father chuckled as he began to prepare their dinner. “You did the same thing when you fussed for a few hours like that.”

 

“I fussed like that?” he murmured, finally looking at his father.

 

“For a month straight, it seemed like,” InuTaisho smiled warmly. “You were colicky, though. After that, you calmed right down, and only fussed when something bothered you, like your tummy or your ears. All babies fuss when they're uncomfortable. Doesn't matter if they are youkai, ningen, or hanyou. Some just aren't as bad about it as others.”

 

“Was I as bad as Inuyasha?”

 

“No,” his father replied softly. “You weren't as bad as this. But then your mother took care of herself when she carried you in her belly. She did everything the doctors told her, and you were born healthy and on time.”

 

“And Inuyasha's didn't,” Sesshomaru stated flatly, remembering when he'd first seen his sibling and how torn his father had looked.

 

“Correct. And his demon blood holds onto the addiction longer than what his human blood would. That is why he still fusses when a human baby wouldn't anymore.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Sesshomaru gazed at his half-brother's face once more. Pale, watery eyes stared at him unseeing. He could tell by the way the hanyou's eyes didn't move and a pang of sympathy hit Sesshomaru. His father had told him his brother was blind, could possibly be blind for the rest of his life. They wouldn't know for certain until Inuyasha got older and they searched out the possibilities. Until then, the child wouldn't know light or darkness, or colour, or what it was like to read.

 

'I'll read to him,' Sesshomaru told himself as he gave the pup a tiny hug. 'I may not be able to do much else for him but I can do that. I can do that.'