InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Royal Birth: Sequel to His Little Girl ❯ Worthless ( Chapter 12 )

 

 

Inuyasha watched on as Kagome fed his newborn pup. With Maika dead the question had arisen as how to feed his pup and keep her alive. The problem was solved when Kagome took his pup and fed her from her breast. The miko already had two pups of her own to look after but was willing all the same to feed his pup as well. Her generosity and beauty of spirit was unmatched by any other.

 

 

“How do you know of Maito wolf?” Toga asked as he stepped closer to his son and the conversing wolf youkai.

 

“He came to my pack's cave and propositioned me. He said that he could give me whatever I wanted if I would join up with him and help him to kill you all. The real kicker was when he made it abundantly clear that he wanted Kagome and the pups to die first. Like hell I'd ever let that happen,” he growled low. “I'm surprised by it really,” Kouga said as he looked up at the two and looked them in their eyes. “Any dog and especially any wolf know that ones you protect first are the pack females and pups. What's with this guy anyway?”

 

“Tell me Lord Kouga,” Toga said as Sesshoumaru stood silent. “Would any of your pack side with him?”

 

“Definitely not. Kagome is a sister to the pack and as such she, her pups, and her pack are also part of our pack and protected by us. Even the wild wolves see her as pack, there's no way that any of them would turn against her. You have our alliance with your pack, that of the northern and southern wolf youkai tribes.”

 

Toga, Sesshoumaru and Kouga all bowed to one another as well as taking each other's arms in a warrior's grasp, their hands grasping the mid arm instead of the hand. Moments later a treaty and alliance contract was drawn up to solidify the spoken agreement.

 

“Would you stay the night Lord Kouga?” Toga asked offering the hospitality of his lands.

 

“No. I'll see the pups and then leave. Ayame's pregnant and I don't like leaving her alone.”

 

“Understandable,” Sesshoumaru said as they walked back down the hall to where Inuyasha and the others were.

 

The three youkai entered in time to see Kagome burping the child and handing her off to her father. Even though Kagome's kimono was closed they all knew what she had done. Sesshoumaru was the first to approach, bringing the pups in his arms to their mother. He smiled upon his mate and knelt next to her as he put Sakura and her still unnamed brother into Kagome's arms and kissed her hair.

 

“I am proud to call you my mate,” Sesshoumaru whispered to her as he kissed her cheek.

 

Kagome smiled at him and nuzzled her face into his neck before turning to greet the others. She smiled upon Kouga and beckoned him closer with her eyes and voice. As the wolf prince came closer, his movements were slow and cautious. He was not afraid of either inuyoukai or his hanyou brother, but knew that by his own pack law that parents of ones so young could prove vicious at any sudden movement from an outside male and knew that they would be in the right if they were to kill him, even if there were no threat intended.

 

“Hey Kouga,” Kagome greeted softly and leaned forward to lay her head on his shoulder in an armless hug which he returned with both arms and a stroke of her hair.

 

“Hey Kagome. How're you doing?” he asked as he pulled back to a respectable distance.

 

“I'm just fine,” she said with a smile and passed the squirming male in her arms to her friend. “I can never get him to stay still him always wants to go to whatever male is near. Is it a canine thing?” she asked her friend and Kouga laughed.

 

“Kind of. To establish which male is part of his pack or not and which is dominant or not, male pups often reach out to the adult males to sniff out where they fall in pack order.”

 

“Why doesn't Sakura do that?” she asked as she looked upon her daughter who was lying peacefully in her arms, content to simply stare at the new male.

 

“Females don't have to worry about that. By pack law females are placed at the center of the pack, not so much in pecking order, but in protection. Even though females tend to be a bit more vicious than the males, when a threat is perceived, the males surround the females, protecting them and the pups first before anything else.”

 

“Oh,” Kagome said as she absorbed the information.

 

“You didn't know?” he asked and was surprised when she shook her head in the negative. “I was sure that dogs were the same as wolves.”

 

“In that respect wolf we are,” Inuyasha said from his seat beside Kagome, his brother on the other side of her and his father standing to the rear of them.

 

Kouga turned concerned eyes on the inuhanyou; his voice had lacked much if all emotion when he had spoken. Kouga knew Inuyasha well and had never before heard the hanyou speak without any emotions, it sounded almost as though Inuyasha were drained and had simply given up.

 

“How are you doing Inuyasha?” Kouga asked his voice a bit softer than before.

 

“I got a pup to raise,” was his answer but even those words seemed devoid of emotion.

 

Kouga released a long breath through his nose and stood silently. “I've gotta get back to Ayame. If you need me just send one of the wolves for me,” he said referring to Kagome's wolves.

 

“I will,” Kagome said with a smile as she looked at the two wolves who sat just inside the room, their tails wagging as Kagome looked at them.

 

“You've spoiled them already haven't you?” he asked with a teasing smile.

 

“I guess,” Kagome said and lifted a hand to her wolves and they bounded forward to her as Kouga returned her son to her arms.

 

The two female wolves came up to Kagome and happily lapped at the girl's face as they wagged their tails happily. Kouga snorted and shook his head with a silent laugh. Oh yeah, he thought with an inner chuckle, she's definitely spoiled them.

 

Kouga walked from the room and left the castle heading back to his caves and his mate. Inuyasha watched the wolf youkai leave; it had been strange but not a bad thing to hear the concern in his voice. Maybe Kagome had been right when she had said once that they acted like brothers. The hanyou stood up with his daughter sleeping in his arms and walked outside to stand beneath the overhang of the castle outside. His daughter was wrapped in his arms and tucked into his haori and under kimono so that she wouldn't catch cold.

 

He stood outside and watched as the large flakes of fluffy snow fell slowly and peacefully to the already white blanketed ground. He looked down into his daughter's sleeping face; she was so tiny and so very young. He didn't know what he would do without Maika there to help him. Kagome had already said that she would breastfeed the pup but he didn't know how to raise a child, let alone one so tiny. He'd learned how to survive on his own and had raised himself in the wild. That was no place for a child especially not a hanyou he thought.

 

His ears twitched on top of his head as he heard voices that weren't too far off. Whoever it was, they were talking low enough, thinking he wouldn't hear them, but he did. He heard every word and they felt like knives cutting through him.

 

“Is that him?”

 

“Yeah that's the brother of Sesshoumaru.”

 

“A hanyou how disgraceful.”

 

“I know and to think his pup has just been born, she's a hanyou as well.”

 

“No kidding?”

 

“Yes. And to think his mate died in labor. It's sad yes, but such a blessing. Now she won't have to deal with the shame of bearing a hanyou child.”

 

“A hanyou raising a hanyou. The pup won't have to wonder if she's worthless, she'll grow u knowing it.”

 

“That much is clear as the daylight. Do you know he grew up in the wild?”

 

“Nothing more than a beast he is. I wonder if he'll follow the example of the male wild animals and eat the child?” the voice sneered.

 

“Worthless hanyou that he is, he just might.”

 

 

Tears gathered in the hanyou's eyes and he had to bite his lip to keep his trembling mouth from moving too much. The loss of Maika hadn't truly hit him yet but what those voices had said? That hurt so much. They thought he would eat his own pup! He looked down at the tiny sleeping face tucked inside his shirts. A silent horror swept over him. Was what they said true? Was he a disgrace?

 

His heart grew cold and still. Had he condemned this innocent pup to a life that would kill her? Kagome had a hanyou yes, but she was the pup of a living taiyoukai. She wouldn't be thrown into the wild. No one questioned Sesshoumaru's hanyou because of whom he was and who his mate was. But he, Inuyasha? He had grown up in the wild always being hunted and chased and hurt and starved. He had watched a male panther kill the pups of a female panther simply to reaffirm his dominance of the region.

 

Would he kill his daughter? Was it true that Maika's death was a blessing? He had been having challenges earlier between his feelings for his mate and his feelings for Kagome. He had thought that he was lost, but maybe, maybe he was just worthless. His legs grew weak and he fell to his knees in the snow. He was a danger to his child. There was no question about it, he was a hanyou and just by being her father he would get her killed.

 

“I'm sorry,” he whispered to the sleeping infant.

 

He stood slowly and walked back into the castle. He put his daughter into his brother's arms and walked silently back out of the castle. Sesshoumaru sat beside his mate, confused as to his brother's actions but silent about it. Perhaps Inuyasha just needed a chance to grieve his mate. He held the sleeping naked infant pup in his arms and looked down into her angelic face. He saw a slight shiver pass through the sleeping infant and ticked her into his haori.

 

Inuyasha looked back at the castle. This was what was best for his pup. If he stayed she'd die. He would be the cause of her death, directly or indirectly it would have the same result. He was worthless, a hanyou, a disgrace. The voices he'd heard were right, Maika's death was a blessing, at least she wouldn't be shamed now. He loved his little girl but he knew if he stayed…if he stayed she'd know she was worthless and he didn't want that. He wanted her to think that she was a beautiful princess. Kagome would make sure she knew that she was worth the world and more.

 

He crouched down onto all fours and took off into the darkening night as he ran from the castle. He wasn't supposed to have been here anyway. This was all a mistake. He knew now why his mother had died, he had shamed her and in doing so that had gotten her killed. He was the reason why his mother had died. He wouldn't kill his daughter as well.

 

Inuyasha ran far and fast the destination clear in his heart but not in his racing thoughts plagued by feelings of doubt and worthlessness. It took his half the night to get to where he was now. He stood on his hands and knees as he looked at the snow covered field that held his mother's grave. He moved slowly closer and came up next to the flower and snow covered mound that was her grave. It was shrewdly dug, he'd been so small.

 

Inuyasha looked at the grave and moved a foot or two away from it. Standing up he walked in a slow circle outlining the nest he would make. Like the night before, he carved his nest, a small bowl in the earth, just big enough to hold his curled up body. He pounded down the loose dirt with his feet and then curled up in the bowl shaped nest. The tears that had gathered in his eyes finally fell as he curled up on his side and looked at his mother's grave. Inuyasha cried himself silently into a uneasy sleep.