InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Always ❯ Chapter 3

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I do not own Inuyasha or anything related to it. Therefore, there's no need to sue me or any of that nonsense. Thank you!

Summary: Inuyasha is a business man with no desire to run the family business, known for his mean streak and sour attitude. Inuyasha becomes the object of many people's hatred. Kagome is a mother of two, doing everything she can to give her children a better life. But when Inuyasha suffers an accident and loses all memory of the last ten years, can Kagome show him what love is or will Inuyasha's past ruin a second chance he was given at life?

Inuyasha stopped his car about four blocks from Merchant's Market. The market went for nearly three miles near the center of the city. Stalls lined the alleyway for almost the entire length of the market. The scent of cooking meat attacked Inuyasha's nose as he made his way into the market. Vendor's had stalls selling meats, cheeses or some other kind of food, just outside of their small cafes, where you could try the food they were selling or just enjoy a meal. There were vendors selling just about everything. If you could think of it, it was somewhere in this market. Izayoi only ever went to one vendor when she came to the market, which was a man around Inuyasha's age that sold ancient Japanese artifacts. Nobody knew how the man got them, but they obviously weren't stolen.

After walking for several minutes down the alley, Inuyasha spotted his mother standing beside a stall, scanning over the items the younger woman was selling. Izayoi instantly spotted Inuyasha from the corner of her eye. It was extremely had to miss Inuyasha's silver hair. She waved at him, and a smile crept across Inuyasha's face. Izayoi didn't look a day over thirty, so she always got mistaken as Inuyasha's sister instead of his mother.

"Mom, what are you doing out here? It's raining." Inuyasha stopped beside her, facing away from the stall she was at.

"I got bored of sitting at home. I'm assuming Sesshomaru told you I was here?"

Inuyasha nodded, "He said you wanted to talk to me, which I figured was a lie." Izayoi giggled a bit. Sesshomaru always sent Inuyasha to chat with their mother when she was bored.

"Well, thank you for coming to see me. I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks." Izayoi turned to Inuyasha finally, "I'm assuming work has been busy?"

"That's an understatement, Mother." Inuyasha shook his head. "You know how I feel about work."

"I know, Inuyasha." She placed her hand on his arm, "But, there's nothing we can do about it, sweetheart." Inuyasha grumbled at his Mother's response.

"Why couldn't Father dump the family business onto Sesshomaru?" They had been walking down the alley for several minutes, when something caught Inuyasha's eye. It was a vendor selling paintings, he seemed to have a massive collection of the local artists. What had really caught Inuyasha's eye was a picture in the back of the small room that the vendor was set up in front of. It was a painting of a woman and her two children playing in the park. She had gorgeous brown eyes, long, black raven hair, and cream colored skin. Her two children, a boy and a girl, were almost identical to her. Inuyasha had done the painting one day he had taken off from TGE and sat at the park doing random quick paintings. He remembered seeing the woman, swinging her children around and chasing them around trees. As he looked closer at the painting, he realized that he had just seen that woman recently, but he couldn't place where.

"Are you okay, Inuyasha?" Izayoi had noticed the faraway look in his eyes. He quietly nodded, then stepped forward to the vendor.

"How can I help you, sir?" The older man, maybe fifty or sixty, had stepped forward when he noticed Inuyasha staring into the room.

"How much for the painting on the back wall?" Inuyasha hadn't taken his eyes off the painting. It was the only painting that had escaped his grasp. He had left it at the park after receiving an urgent phone call from Yura, something about missing funds for one of their projects. Inuyasha rushed to TGE without bothering to gather up the painting, leaving it behind.

"400."

"I'll take it." Inuyasha pulled the money from his wallet and handed it to the man. The man grinned widely, then went to retreive the painting.

The man returned with the painting and looked over it, "This is an extraordinary work of art. I've been trying to locate the artist responsible for creating it for months, but I never found out. I guess I never will." Inuyasha grinned inwardly to himself, "Enjoy it."

Inuyasha nodded at the man, "I intend to." Inuyasha bid the man farewell, and turned back to his mother, who stared at him with her brow raised. "What?"

"Collecting paintings again?" She smiled at her son. She knew the love he had for art, and it broke her heart that he wouldn't share that passion with her.

"I just like this one. It's nice." Inuyasha did his best to avoid all talk of art with everyone except Miroku.

"If you say so." Izayoi walked ahead of him, holding her umbrella above her head.

"There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about." Inuyasha said quietly, falling in stride with his mother. Inuyasha paused for a moment and took a deep breath, "I've been thinking about stepping down as CEO." Izayoi stopped dead in her tracks.

"What?" It was barely above a whisper, and that frightened Inuyasha more than his father ever could.

"I want to step down as CEO. I already have more money than I know what to do with. What's the point of staying there?" Inuyasha's mind had gone blank. He had planned this discussion on the drive over here, but as soon as it came up, his brain turned to mush.

"Takahashi Inuyasha. You will not hand over your father's empire over to someone unworthy of the title. If you wish to step down, wait until you have an heir."

"Mother, I never have time for anything but work, let alone a love life." Inuyasha's voice had dropped, "Why can't Sesshomaru just take over?"

"Sesshomaru has already established his practice. He-"

"Why wasn't I given that chance!? Why was I the one forced to give up what I loved to take over Father's empire?" Inuyasha's free hand curled into a fist as anger rose up within him, visible in his golden eyes.

"Because your father knew he was dying!" Izayoi's eyes swelled with tears and Inuyasha stood shocked. "He had known for months, but he refused to tell you and your brother. He didn't want you to worry about him. He forced you to take over because it would have been easier to place you then to convince Sesshomaru to drop his practice. He loved you, Inuyasha, and don't ever think for a second that he didn't." Tears fell freely down her cheeks at this point, "If you want to step down, please, I beg you, just wait a little bit longer."

Inuyasha's heart shattered seeing his mother completely break down. Instinctively, he enveloped his mother in his arms, gaining curious looks from the surrounding people. "I'm sorry. I'll never bring it up again. I love you." Inuyasha kissed his mother's cheek.

Izayoi shook her head, "I know it wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry. We just wanted the best for you."

Inuyasha kissed her cheek once more, "Let's get you home." Inuyasha took her arm and began the journey back to his car.

Kagome sat in the living room of her house. Taking the kids out for ice cream had been a more exhausting task than she had anticipated. Sango had stuck around to spend time with Kagome and her kids, and discussed the possibility of going with Kagome tomorrow to Shikon No Tama, which after hours of discussion, Kagome finally agreed to. Now, she sat on the sofa, pondering anxiously, what tomorrow was going to bring. The thought of failure frightened Kagome to no end.

The ringing of Kagome's phone jolted her from her thoughts. She answered it quietly, hoping not to wake anyone in the house. "Hello?"

A deep, gruff voice breathed into the receiver, "Kagome."

"Onigumo."

"How are the kids?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kagome snarled into the receiver.

"Watch your tone, bitch. They're as much mine as they are yours."

"No, Naraku. They're not. You haven't called, you haven't seen them. Everyday, I sit here and they ask where you are, if you're going to come see them. They asked if you still love them! I honestly have no idea how to answer that because I'm not sure you ever did. So no. Go to hell, Naraku. You abandoned us, when we needed you most." Kagome's anger shook her body relentlessly.

"I can take those kids from you in a heartbeat. So, I'd watch how you talk to me." Naraku's voice became a low whisper.

"How could I forget? You never let me go a day without knowing you were the powerful and almighty asshole? You're just a rich piece of shit." It took Kagome all her willpower not to yell into the receiver. "Stay the fuck away from my kids." Then she slammed the phone down. Kagome buried her face in her hands and let out a low growl. Kagome jolted from her hands when a soft voice broke the silence.

"Mommy?" Sakura stood  at the bottom of the staircase, rubbing her eyes. Kagome smiled at her daughter.

"Come here, baby." Kagome held out her arms and Sakura immediately walked over and crawled into Kagome's lap. "Are you okay, sweetie?" Kagome asked as she kissed Sakura's forehead.

"Yes. I heard you saying bad words." Sakura snuggled up against Kagome's chest.

"I'm sorry. Mommy was just frustrated." Kagome stroked Sakura's hair as Sakura closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep. Kagome smiled at the small child in her arms then leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I love you." Kagome stared at Sakura's gentle face.

Kagome was being wheeled down to the delivery room. Her contractions had gotten worse and became extremely painful over the last hour. Her doctor said that she was dialated enough to begin pushing. "No! Not yet! I must wait for Naraku! I don't want to do this alone." She began to sob openly, tears streaming down her red cheeks. Naraku hadn't called or shown up since she had arrived at the hospital the day before.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. We can't wait any longer. He will still have time to get here while we prep you, but we need to get you pushing as soon as possible." The doctor's unnaturally golden eyes sparkled down at her, but there was one thing that struck her as odd. She knew for a fact that this doctor wasn't an obstetrician, but her body was in too much pain to comment on that fact. The doctor then turned to one of the nurses, "Get her in the room and prepped within ten minutes, I'll be there shortly to deliver the child." The doctor smiled down at her then left her side.

Kagome let out another loud scream as she reached the fifth hour of her labor. The pain was excruciating. Sweat soaked her entire body, her face was a deep red, she gritted her teeth every time she was told to push, and yet, there was still no Naraku. It was just her, the doctor and several nurses. She pushed with all her strength, but if she continued, she would black out. "I can't! I can't keep doing this!"

The doctor look at Kagome with his golden eyes, it was all she could she because the rest of his face was covered. "I understand it hurts, and I know you're scared, but I know you've done this once before already." He stroked the hair away from her face. "You can do this. I just need a few more strong pushes."

Kagome nodded silently, and continued to push. She pushed for another to hours before the cries of a new born baby filled the room. A feeling of relief rushed over Kagome as she sat the panting heavily and sweating. Her vision was blurry, but she could tell that the nurses were washing her baby. After several minutes, the doctor turned around holding her baby that was wrapped in a pink blanket.

"Miss Kagome, I'd like to introduce you to your daughter." The doctor handed her daughter over to her and looked on as Kagome teared up. She had just given birth to her second child, and the man that had blessed her with her daughter wasn't around to share the amazing and intimate moment. She had shared the moment with a room full of people she had only known for twenty-four hours, and the doctor she had met only hours before being wheeled off to the delivery room. She looked around the room, tears in her eyes, and smiled.

She looked directly at the doctor, "Thank you." Although, she couldn't see it, she knew the doctor had smiled at her.

Kagome had never learned the name of the doctor that delivered her baby, but she was forever in his debt. He refused to let her give up and gave her the only moral support  she received during the labor. She looked down at Sakura, who had fallen asleep against Kagome's chest. She quietly stood, holding Sakura in her arms, and carried her back up to her room. She set her down gently, kissed her forward once more, and left the room. Kagome needed to get some sleep, if she were to have any chance of being fully functional tomorrow at Shikon No Tama. She fell face first into the sofa and quickly slipped into her dreams.