InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cheating Fate ❯ Minor Crisis ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Ami. Happy birthday to you.” Kagome, Souta, and Dr. Higurashi sang to the newly year old baby in the high chair. Kagome gazed at her daughter, feeling emotions she couldn’t describe. She couldn’t believe that one year ago she had given birth to this wonderful miracle.

Dr. Higurashi placed the tiny birthday cake in front of the big eyed toddler. As soon as the cake was settled, Ami let out a coo and then brought her hands down to finger her prize. Kagome laughed as she snapped a picture, and then another when her daughter brought a fistful of cake to her mouth.

When the cake had been devoured and the disposable camera was out of film, Kagome picked up her desert covered baby and walked over to the sink. Ami definitely needed a bath. She balanced her on her hip as she turned on the faucet. She was just about to check the water to see if it was warm when her mother stopped her. “Wait Kagome.” Kagome turned to her mother, and just as she had her in her sights, Ami took her hand and smashed her sticky palm to Kagome’s face. The whole right side of Kagome’s face was covered in cake, and, before she could process what had happened, a bright flash went off. Her mother had hidden an extra camera.

“That’ll be a keeper.” Souta said appreciatively with a huge grin on his face.

Kagome playfully scowled at the both of them then rolled her eyes. Their answering laughter made her sigh as she looked at her daughter, who had her head cocked to the side as she looked at her curiously. “What? Does Mommy look silly?” she cooed, then smiled. She moved her attention back to the task at hand and checked the water, that had warmed up considerably. Kagome placed Ami on the counter and started under dressing the one-year-old. She had some difficulty getting Ami to work her arms through the sleeves of her shirt, but once that was taken care of the rest came off easily. “There we go. In to the water now.” She lifted Ami up and then placed her in the sink.

Ami splashed around in the water, quite enjoying herself, and Kagome couldn’t help but smile along with her. Kagome’s mother took pictures as Kagome shampooed her hair. When the bath was finished, Kagome lifted Ami out of the water and placed her back on the counter. She turned for a moment to retrieve a towel, when water began to be sprayed everywhere. She quickly turned back around to find her daughter shaking the water off like a dog, which considering her bloodline wasn’t far from the truth. Kagome’s mother started taking pictures of the incident.

When Ami stopped shaking, she looked over at her mother as if waiting for what was next. Kagome could only stare at her daughter in shock, silently wondering if what had just happened was a good or bad thing. Souta broke the silence. “Wow! That was awesome! Put her back in the water! I want to see that again!”

“Shut up, Souta.” Kagome said as she wrapped her daughter in a soft blue towel. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen InuYasha do what Ami just did before, it was just a different experience seeing her daughter do it. Was it normal at her age for her to know how to do that? And if not, then where did she learn it? It must have been an instinct of hers. She looked to her mother for advice. “Mom . . . Do you think this is normal? For her age?”

Her mother cocked her head to the side as if trying to figure out the right thing to say. “I think that it’s probably normal, but I won’t pretend to be a dog demon expert.” She smiled at her daughter to reassure her and then took Ami out of her arms. She walked over to the kitchen table and grabbed an outfit Ami had just received for her birthday. After putting it on Ami, Kagome watched as her mother took a picture of the freshly dressed one-year-old. “Doesn’t she look gorgeous, Kagome?”

“She always looks gorgeous.” Kagome said offhandedly as she gazed at her daughter, still fretting about the incident. “Do you really think it’s normal for her do be doing that yet? I mean, she is only a year old.” Even though Dr. Higurashi tried to hide her face as she rolled her eyes, Kagome saw her do it anyway. “Mom! I’m serious!”

Her mother gave her a sympathetic look. “Sweetheart, I’m sure that she’s maturing at a normal pace. You shouldn’t worry so much. You aren’t doing anything wrong. Everything will work out.”

Kagome nodded, hoping that her mother’s words would sooth her mind, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t help thinking that if InuYasha had stuck around she would have been able to ask him if her progress was normal. As it was, that wasn’t the case and she had no choice but to trust her mother.

Kagome was on her hands and knees scrubbing InuYasha’s kitchen floor. She wouldn’t even have to be down here if he’d just owned a mop, she thought to herself bitterly. She couldn’t believe how much dust had settled around the baseboard. Had he never heard of dusting?

InuYasha was leaning against the counter, watching Kagome scrub. He had offered to help, but she just rolled her eyes and went right on cleaning. Maybe he better offer her something to drink. Wouldn’t want to seem like a bad provider. He walked over to his refrigerator and opened the door. He was about to grab a bottle of water when he heard Kagome exclaim, “You have got to be kidding me!” He turned around to find her staring in his direction with an incredulous look.

“What?” he asked.

“Do you not know how to throw anything away?” She heaved herself up off the floor, then made her way over to stand next to him. “Look at this. It’s a mess and it smells like something in there should have been thrown away weeks ago.” Kagome let out a sigh. “Guess the bathroom will have to wait. This looks like it needs immediate attention.”

InuYasha rolled his eyes. Why were women so picky about things? The fridge wasn’t even that bad. It wasn’t bothering him or his roommate. He decided to grab a few bottles of water before Kagome found something wrong with them. He put one of the bottles on the counter near the fridge. He’d offer it to her later, before she moved on to the bathroom.

He unscrewed the lid of his water and then took a sip. After quenching his thirst and screwing the cap back on, he looked over into the living room. His roommate, Miroku, was sitting on the couch watching Ami jump off the arm chair and then roll around on the ground. InuYasha smirked to himself. He had been hesitant on introducing Kagome to Miroku. He had feared that he’d come home to find a party in full swing and then have Kagome just turn around and walk away, but that hadn’t been the case.

When InuYasha had led Kagome over to the couch to introduce the two, Miroku acted like the gentleman that he rarely was. When Kagome blushed at one of his comments and looked away, Miroku had winked at InuYasha as if to say he was on his best behavior. InuYasha had appreciated it greatly. Especially considering it was on short notice.

Introducing Ami had been a little harder. Though she was normally good with strangers, Miroku’s cast scared Ami and so she hid behind Kagome’s legs until Miroku grabbed a marker off the end table and offered it to her. Once Ami was allowed to draw on the cast, she was perfectly content.

Ami jumped up off the ground and ran the couple of steps over to Miroku. “Watch me Miroku! Watch me!” She pronounced his name with difficultly and it came out like Merku.

“Alright, I’m watching.” Miroku told her with patience. InuYasha was slightly amazed. He had never seen his friend around children and it came as a surprise to him that Miroku was a natural with them. He really had done his homework.

Ami went down on all fours then tumbled forward. She ended up on her bottom before she turned around eagerly for Miroku’s response. As she was facing him, Miroku started clapping. It was evidently the response she wanted because she started clapping and giggling too.

InuYasha couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he watched her do more tumbles. She was such a ball of energy, he wondered if she crashed just as hard. “Word to the wise InuYasha,” He turned to see Kagome watching him watch Ami. He gave her a questioning look to signal for her to continue. “try not to give her too much sugar. If you think she’s hyper now . . . well let’s just say you wouldn’t know what to do with her.”

InuYasha chuckled as he rolled his water bottle between his hands. “Does she ever stop?”

“Oh yeah.” InuYasha watched as she went down memory lane. “One minute she’ll be playing with her dolls and then the next she’ll be conked out on the floor. Silly little thing wears herself out.”

InuYasha stood quietly for a second or two before his demeanor changed. He loudly, but not forcefully, put his water bottle on the table and said, “Alright, so no sugar, unless I want her running around my apartment all night, is there anything else I should know?”

Kagome racked her brains for anything that he should know, but when someone dealt with someone else’s needs like it was second nature it was hard to pinpoint exactly what they were. “Let’s see. You know that her bedtime is at eight o’clock, but if you don’t feed her sugar she should fall asleep where ever she’s at regardless. Hmm, just make sure she’s not getting into anything she shouldn’t. Like chemicals under the sink, so I advice you to put those someplace else.” She stopped for a moment to look at the cabinet under the sink uncertainly. “Scratch that. I’ll do that myself, but do watch her.”

“I wasn’t going to let her go unsupervised.” InuYasha replied in a condescending way, then he lightened up. “Anything else?”

“Yeah actually,” Kagome said as if it had suddenly dawned on her. “What exactly do you plan on feeding her for dinner?”

InuYasha suddenly became perplexed. He brought his hand up to scratch behind his head. “Actually I was hopping you’d already fed her.”

Kagome squinted at him. “InuYasha we got here a half an hour after you did and that was only because I threw her things into her bag. When did you think I had time to make her dinner? I’m not wonder woman.”

InuYasha looked down at the ground then up at her again. “Aren’t you?” His eyes held such an intense look that Kagome forgot what she was getting frazzled about in the first place. He looked away when she didn’t say anything. “So what do you think she should eat?”

Kagome blinked as she tired to clear her head. “Umm, well I think I saw some jelly in there. Do you have bread and peanut butter?” she asked musingly.

He smirked. “Are you kidding? Miroku and I are two bachelors in college, we practically live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Kagome smiled along with him as she shook her head.

“That should be fine for her dinner.” She looked over at her daughter, who was now jumping up and down in the arm chair. “Ami! Stop that before you get hurt!” Ami looked at her mother with wide eyes before she slowly sat back down in the chair. “That’s better. Besides, that’s no way to act in Daddy’s house.”

Ami’s bottom lip quivered. “Sorry Mommy.” Kagome let out a sigh as she smiled over at her daughter and then rolled her eyes over at InuYasha, who had never seen Kagome even attempt to raise her voice at her daughter. Over all she could tell that he was shocked and slightly awed by her ability to issue her authorization so effectively. Even if it didn’t work out quite as nicely every time.

“Anyway,” Kagome said when the two of them just stood there for a couple of seconds. “I still have some more cleaning to do before I leave. I think I’ll tackle the bathroom now.”

Miroku let out a snort. “Good luck.” he called as she made her way back to the tiny bathroom.

Kagome felt a little uneasy as she turned on the light. It was a simple layout. One sink with a tiny medicine cabinet/mirror hanging above it, a toilet with the seat up, and a cramped looking shower with a blue curtain that looked to be as old as her mother. What made the sight so much worse was that it looked as if it had never been cleaned. Dirty laundry littered the floor, the waste basket was overflowing, and a fine layer of hair covered the sink. Probably the aftermath from multiple shavings. Kagome let out another sigh. She might as well get a move on. Who knew how long it was going to take to scrub this room down.

After a half hour of rinsing the sink out, carrying dirty laundry to the laundry room, and scrubbing just about everything, Kagome wiped her brow. All that was left was taking out the trash. She went over to pick up the trash can, and when she saw what was laying on top she let out a loud shriek.

“Kagome?” InuYasha called from the living room. “Are you alright?”

Kagome ground her teeth together as she marched out into the living room still carrying the trash can. “What is this?” she asked as she thrust the can in his direction.

InuYasha peered into the overflowing waste basket and then lifted an eyebrow at her. “It looks like a condom. A used one.” He was looking at Kagome like she was loosing it. “I know you’ve seen one before so I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it.”

Kagome was livid. “Of course I’ve seen one before!” she half shouted, “And you want to know what the big deal is? I’m leaving my daughter over here in your supervision and I know she’s never seen one before! I don’t want her going and seeing stuff that she doesn’t need to be seeing. So let me ask you this, are you planning on having anyone over while she’s here?”

It took a second to comprehend what Kagome was getting at, but when it did hit him it was like a bucket of cold water being poured over his head. “Of course I’m not! And that’s not even mine!” he shouted back as he pointed at the trash can.

“Oh right, like I’m supposed to believe that! You haven’t changed one bit.” With that said, she stormed over to the main trash can and dumped the articles out of the little one into it. “I can’t believe you were going to parade women around in front of our daughter.”

InuYasha felt his blood boil. How could she assume things like that when he’d been on his best behavior ever since they came back into each others lives? Couldn’t she see that he was changing? Hell, he could even see the differences. Why couldn’t she? His anger was controlling his movements now. He walked up to her, as she continued to empty the trashcan with her back to him, grabbed arm and turned her around to face him. “That’s rich coming from you.” he hissed at her. “Considering you’ve been parading men in front of her since before she can probably remember. I bet she wonders when I’ll just not be around anymore.”

Kagome went to smack him, but he caught her hand in the process. So she opted for insulting him instead. “You’re a pigheaded jackass and I know you’ll never change. Never.”

InuYasha glared at her and was about to affront her right back when a small voice interrupted him. “Mommy, what’s a condom?” Both adults looked down at their three-year-old daughter, who had just asked about condoms.

Kagome pulled her hand out of InuYasha’s grip and then kneeled in front of Ami. She rubbed Ami’s arms as she contemplated what to say. “Sweetie . . . “ She trailed off. What could she possibly say? Despite her pride, she looked up at the man she was just fighting with and asked him with her eyes to help her out.

He stood there without moving for a moment and then sighed. He slowly knelt next to Kagome and attempted to smooth out this rough patch. “Ami,” He stopped and considered telling her the truth and then he thought he‘d better stretch it. “a condom is . . . kinda like a pocket. You can put things in it and then it protects whatever’s inside, but only once. Although, sometimes it breaks and when that happens the condom’s no good anymore so you have to throw it away.” As Ami cocked her head to the side, InuYasha briefly glanced over at Kagome then back at Ami. “Do you understand?”

Ami blinked innocently than replied, “Is that why you and Mommy were fighting? Cause Mommy gets mad at me when I break things too.”

Miroku, who had been holding in his laughter up until this point, couldn’t help but let his amusement be known. InuYasha held back to urge to pummel the man who had gotten him in so much trouble in the first place. Instead, he pursed his lips and begrudgingly answered, “Yes, that’s why Mommy and I were fighting.” He knew that by saying that, he was basically submitting to Kagome. And although he hated to do that, he didn’t want to corrupt his daughter over something as stupid as claiming a condom.

A bright smile adorned Ami’s face. She leaned in to whisper in her father’s ear. “Say sorry. Mommy always stops being mad and give kisses then.” She leaned away and then ran back into the living room giggling.

InuYasha was frozen in place for a second after Ami had left and was only brought out of his stupor when he heard Kagome ask curiously, “What did she say?” He shook his head with a smile and looked over at her.

As he took in her appearance and proximity, he knew the anger he felt for her only moments ago had vanished. There was something about Kagome. She could bring out the strongest emotions in him. Anger, guilt, self-doubt, . . . happiness. He smiled at her, and then shook his head as he got up off the floor. “Nothing. Nothing important anyway.” He stuck out his hand to help her up.

She gratefully took it, and, with his help, got up off the ground as well. “Thanks for patching that up.” she said as she smoothed out her scrubs. She looked over at Ami to see her lying on the ground watching TV. Miroku had changed the channel to Sesame Street. It was the one show that could capture Ami’s attention fervently.

“No problem.” Kagome’s eyes flickered back over to InuYasha. He wasn’t looking at her, but she could tell that the praise slightly embarrassed him. Although, she couldn’t understand the reason behind his self-consciousness. Usually he was overconfident, and it startled Kagome to see him act so vulnerable. The next sentence he spoke also had her pondering his thought process. “Look, I’m sorry about . . . what you found in the trash and I agree that it’s a big deal. Ami’s too young to be seeing or knowing about that kind of thing, and I’ll make sure that there aren’t anymore laying around.”

Kagome stared at him in shock. Was he actually apologizing? She could count on one hand the amount of times that had happened, but this was the first one that hadn’t been about something major. Sure it was a big deal, but Ami didn’t even know what sex was. To her it was just a word. A word that she, as of yet, hadn’t asked about. Kagome’s shock melted into confusion. Maybe she had been wrong about InuYasha. Maybe he was changing. “Okay.” She looked down at the bathroom trash can. She was thankful for the excuse to leave and clear her head. “Umm, I should really go and put this back.”

She picked up the trash can and headed back into the bathroom. After inspecting it once to make sure she didn’t miss anything, she turned off the light and walked out into the hallway. She looked to her left and saw that a door was wide open. She felt herself sigh, she had to go and shut it so Ami couldn’t wander any place she wasn’t supposed to be. Especially places Kagome hadn’t cleaned.

With her hand on the handle, Kagome started to close the door, but stopped when she recognized the room’s arrangement. Posters covered the walls, but instead of bands like it had been in his bedroom back home, they were posters of medical related things. It was comical in a way. Kagome never would have guess that InuYasha would have taken his interest in medicine so far. She was proud of him. She was about to walk out of the room when a worn-looking book on his nightstand caught her eye.

She walked over to it and read the title. Fatherhood by Bill Cosby was what it read. She was surprised by how far he was into it. He was already halfway done. A small smile adorned her face. He was actually taking this father thing seriously. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was because time had passed and he had matured some or if he’d have acted this way from the beginning. A part of her believed the first, but the other part of her wasn’t so sure. How would she know? She hadn’t ever told him.

The light suddenly came on with a “Kagome?” and she spun around with wide eyes. InuYasha stood in the door way staring at her with confusion. “What are you doing in here?”

“I-I-I . . . I didn’t mean to impose.” She stuttered as she quickly made her way out of his room. She could feel the blush on her cheeks, but she couldn’t decipher why she was so embarrassed to begin with. It wasn’t like she wasn’t allowed in there. Although, she couldn’t shake the intimacy of being in one’s room without their permission. No matter the reason. It was wrong. Especially if that room belonged to your ex-lover.

InuYasha closed his bedroom door and then went after Kagome. Why was she acting so skittish? It wasn’t like he was mad that she had been in his room. There wasn’t anything in there that he was hiding. So why was she acting like she went through his underwear drawer? “Kagome?”

She was leaning against the kitchen counter and she had her face in her right hand. Great, now he was going to chew her out for going into his room. “InuYasha, if you’re going to give me a lecture could we please go in the other room.”

Lecture? What was she talking about? InuYasha looked at her with a confused expression. Why did she look like she’d done something terrible? . . . Did she think he was mad because he found her snooping around in his room? Because if she did, she was nuts. He didn’t care. He had nothing to hide. He took in her distressed form and an irresistible scheme popped into his head. He hardened his expression. “We don’t have to go anywhere. Just make sure you stay out of my room from now on.” he said with as much fake nastiness as he could without breaking into a smile.

She looked up in alarm. Was he seriously going to get bent out of shape over her going into his room. Sure she expected a lecture, but not hatred. “What?”

“You heard me. I don’t want you in my room. It’s the one place in the house where you’re stench hasn’t gotten to yet.” He was biting back a smile at this point and he was pretty sure she could see through his ruse now.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. Was that a smirk trying to escape his imprudently placed façade? “Is that so? Well, then I better go fix that.” With that said, Kagome sprinted around InuYasha and made off toward his room.

InuYasha was startled for moment before the smirk he was trying to keep off his face became full-fledged. With a startling leap, he starting pursuing her.

Miroku turned on the couch to see what all the ruckus was about, but only got a glimpse of InuYasha’s hair flailing out behind him. “What are you crazy kids doing back there?”

Ami looked away from the television for a brief second to figure out what all the commotion was about, before deciding it wasn’t important enough to divert her from her show. “Mommy and Daddy are playing.” she said to Miroku. “They be tired real fast.” She’d heard her mother say that last part about her countless times and it brought her great joy to be about to say about her mother now.

Miroku just chuckled. “I’m sure they will.” Then he went back to watching Sesame Street since there was nothing else he was capable of doing.

Kagome quickly shut the bedroom door as she let out a laugh. She felt InuYasha ram into the door from the other side, and she was momentarily pushed away from the door. She held her guard smoothing though and felt adrenaline pump through her veins. What was he going to do once he got in here? She obviously hadn’t thought this through. There was no way she could hold her own with him pounding on the door like he was. He would make his way through eventually and when he did, . . . she had no idea what would happen.

“Kagome, you can’t keep this up. So, why don’t you let me in before I break down my door.” Kagome, in spite of herself, smiled at his attempt to persuade her. Like she was that big of an idiot to just open the door.

“No, I don’t think I will. I’m quiet comfortable right here. Thanks though.” She held back the laugh when she heard him use a playful growl. She was about to go for the lock when InuYasha rammed into the door again. Thwarting her plan before she could get close. She went to try again, but once more he rammed into the door.

InuYasha smirked to himself. It would be all too easy for him to just plow the door down. Kagome didn’t have enough muscle strength to out do him. He figured he’d keep this up for another three or four strikes and then he’d barge on in.

Kagome felt his attacks becoming more urgent. She felt her heart rate speed up as she registered that he was about to get through. So when the attacks stopped for a brief moment, she knew that this was the final blow. Being the cleverer of the two, Kagome stepped away from the door just as InuYasha burst through it, and, expecting resistance and having too much speed, went right on bursting through until his bed stopped him with a complaining groan.

Kagome took in his position. His arms were sprawled across the bed, in an attempt to stop himself, and his feet dangled off the end. His face was hidden in the blanket. Kagome couldn’t keep the laugh contained. Her knees gave out on her as her laughter consumed her.

InuYasha’s ears twitched at the sound. He grumbled under his breath about plans backfiring, and then pushed himself off his bed. He looked down at Kagome, who was still in a full fit of giggles, and rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t that funny.” he objected as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Kagome reached up and wiped a lone tear from the corner of her eye. “Oh it was that funny. You just don’t know, cause you didn’t see yourself.”

He rolled his eyes once again before he reached out and grabbed her elbow to pull her to her feet. The action caught her off guard and, as soon as she was on her feet, all sense of fun left her ambiance. Her shocked eyes met his deep amber ones. She became incredibly aware of his hand on her elbow. And that was just plain wrong. “Umm . . . I should probably be heading home.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I know you want to spend time with Ami before she has to go to bed. . . . And I’ve got some things at home I need to get done too.”

His eyes didn’t leave hers as he took in her excuse to leave. A part of him wanted to yell out and tell her not to go, but he let his hand drop anyway. “Alright. If you have things to do, then . . . you should probably . . . get going.” The words came slow and trough, as if he thought just prolonging his speech would make the moment last longer or at least convince her to stay.

“Yeah.” She turned away from him to clear her head and then, realizing that they were still standing in his room, blushed. “I guess I’ll talk to later tonight, right? I mean, you’ll have Ami call me before she goes to bed?”

“Of course.” She didn’t turn to look at him. So she nodded to confirm that she understood. Then she walked out of his room and back into the living room, where Ami and Miroku were finishing up Sesame Street. “Ami, Mommy’s leaving.”

Ami took her time looking away from the television screen, and when she did she looked as if she didn’t comprehend what her mother had said. “Why? We stay at Daddy’s.”

Kagome smiled uneasily. “You are sweetie. Mommy has to go home.” Ami let the realization sink in before she started to get upset.

“No! Mommy has to stay here!” she yelled as she jumped off the floor and ran over to wrap her arms around her mother’s leg. “Mommy stay too!”

Kagome sighed as she knelt down to look at her daughter better. “Ami,” she cooed, “you get to stay here with Daddy and Miroku. You won’t even know I’m gone. You’ll be having too much fun.” Tears started falling from Ami’s eyes as her cries increased.

“No, no, no! Mommy stay here too!” She tried to move out of her mother’s range so she could throw herself on the ground, but Kagome grabbed her arms before she could.

“Ami, listen to me. Mommy can’t stay. Daddy wants to spend time with you. Only you.” Kagome could see that her words meant nothing to the crying child, so she hardened her voice a bit. “Ami, you agreed to spend the night over her. Do you want to hurt Daddy’s feelings by just going back home?”

Ami shook her head feverishly. “I want Mommy to stay too!” Big, fat tears were spilling over the rims of her eyes now.

Kagome’s heart broke as she thought about leaving her daughter, but it was going to happen sooner or later so they both might as well get use to it. “Ami, you’ll see Mommy in the morning. Daddy’ll bring you to work with him and then you can tell Mommy all about what the two of you did. Mommy’s even going to talk to you tonight on the phone before you go to bed.”

Ami wiped the tears off her face. She didn’t want her mother to leave, but she didn’t want to make her father sad either, but she did like to talk on the phone. “Promise?”

Kagome smiled. “Would Mommy break a promise to you?” Kagome leaned in to give her daughter an Eskimo kiss. Ami smiled shyly back, and then Kagome kissed her on the cheek. Kagome gave her a long hug before she stood up.

InuYasha had watched the whole exchange. He loved watching Kagome interact with Ami. It amazed him each and every time and he couldn’t help but wonder if he would every be that good with her. Kagome turned to look at him. “I guess you probably need to leave.” he said with a resigned sigh.

She nodded. “I’ll just put those chemicals up before I do though.” She briskly walked over to the sink and bent to take the assortment of chemicals out. Then she proceeded to put them in an empty cabinet above the stove.

Kagome sighed as she walked over to the kitchen chair and took her purse off from where it was hanging. “Don’t forget to call me.” she told him before going over and kissing Ami on top of head. Tears started welling up in her eyes again and Kagome knew if she didn’t leave now she wouldn’t be able to. She turned toward the door, opened it, turned to them, one last time, and waved, and then walked out the door.

Tears spilled from her own eyes as she leaned against the closed door, but she willed herself not to break down completely until she was in the confines of her own house. After taking a shaky breath, she made her way over to her car. This would be the first night that she would ever be separated from her daughter and the separation had more of an affect on her than she ever thought possible. Sure she had known it would be hard, but not this hard. She had to force herself to keep driving, because every second of the car ride that wasn’t filled with Ami’s bubbly voice made her want to turn around and get her. Unfortunately, every second made her feel this way.

She pulled into her driveway and, out of habit, opened up the back door to let Ami out. She didn’t stop herself until it was too late. Emptiness filled her insides. She wasn’t whole without her baby.

Kagome gently shut the door and then made her way into her house. She flipped on the light switch and silence was what met her. It was eerie and she regretted thinking that she had to sleep in the too quiet house by herself.
With a sigh, she walked into the kitchen to make herself a small supper. She opened the pantry door and took out a cup of ramen noodles. It was a fast and simple dinner, and she didn’t really want to think about what she doing tonight. She just wanted to stay busy.

While the noodles cooked, Kagome busied herself with the dirty dishes that had been left from breakfast. She didn’t even bother with the dishwasher. She washed them by hand just for the prospect of doing something.

Her noodles were done by the time she finished the dishes. She ate quietly and she didn’t let her mind wander. After finishing the noodles, throwing away the trash, and washing her utensil, she decided that watching TV wouldn’t hurt her.

Flipping through the channels, Kagome tried to think of the positive. She would be able to watch whatever was on in peace. She wouldn’t have to worry about Ami getting into anything and having to tell her to keep it down so she could hear what was being said. Yes, this was a night of relaxation. Not about being sad. It was her night off, so to speak.

Kagome stopped on a channel that looked promising. It was a black and white movie about a woman’s husband going off to war. It was at the scene where he was getting deported. The woman was in tears and kept babbling about never seeing him again. The movie continued in the same dramatic format.

Kagome watched with greedy attentiveness as the woman made dinner in her empty house, much like she had done, but was interrupted by someone knocking on her door. The woman was startled, not expecting someone at such a late hour. The confusion quickly turned into horror as she recognized the mailman holding a letter with regret spread across his face. Tears instantly started streaming down the woman’s face as she started shouting at the mailman. Saying things like “No, no!” and “It’s not true!”

Tears were also falling from Kagome’s eyes. She wasn’t sure if it were from the movie or if her own emotions were finally coming out, but nonetheless, she let them fall freely.

The movie only got worse. Kagome watched with an aching heart, as the woman planned her husband’s funeral. At the memorial service, she was approached by a solider. He told her that he had been in her husband’s platoon and that he was sorry for her loss. The woman proceeded to nod. Everyone had said they were sorry for her. But the man continued. He pulled out a bundle of letters and the woman recognized her husband’s handwriting immediately.

As it turned out, the letters were addressed to her. The solider said that her husband never got the chance to mail them and he happened to have stumbled across them. With tears still streaming down her face, the woman gratefully accepted the letters from the solider. She started reading at first, but then an overtone of her husband’s voice picked up where she left off.

Her husband’s letter went on to tell her how much he loved and missed her, which only had Kagome crying harder. The movie went on to show the woman coming to peace with her husband‘s death. Not fully over it, but the letters were a little piece of closure that she hadn’t had before.

When the movie was over, Kagome’s emotions were still running high. She wiped her tears away, but didn’t bother to change the channel. The television host announced that this was the Letter Special. Kagome didn’t think much of it until P.S. I Love You came on.

Kagome hadn’t heard a lot about the movie, but she did hear that it had gotten good ratings. So she decided to watch it. Twenty minutes into it, she regretted not changing the channel. It was a love story which involved another husband dying and leaving behind letters for his widowed wife.

Kagome was to into the story to change stations now. By the middle of the movie, with tears still falling from her eyes, the phone rang. Kagome was startled by the harsh ring and, before answering, she grabbed a tissue out of the Kleenex box on the end table. “Hello?” she said with a sniffle.

“Kagome?” InuYasha’s voice asked in a confused tone.

“Y-yeah.” she said and then looked at the clock. It was already eight o’clock. “Oh, wow, uh . . . is Ami doing alright?” Tears still evident in her voice.

InuYasha was silent. “Yeah, she’s fine. . . . Are you okay?”

Maybe it was his concern for her or maybe it was because the woman had just gotten another letter from her deceased husband, but she suddenly broke down. “He’s d-dead! And then he left hmm ehhh ahh.” Her sentence went into babbling.

InuYasha’s voice suddenly went serious. “Who’s dead, Kagome? Are you hurt?”

Kagome shook her head violently and then felt foolish for doing so. “N-no, I’m--” Again she was cut off by her own sobs again.

“Kagome, don’t go anywhere. I’ll be over there as soon as I can.” He hung up the phone before Kagome could stop him. She stared at the phone, as the dial tone monotonously rang, until the operator came on and told her how to place a call. Was he seriously coming over?

As the knowledge hit her, she realized that she was sitting on her couch watching sad moves with tears pouring out of her eyes. She was acting like one of those mothers who suffered from postpartum depression. Before she could get up and fix her appearance, InuYasha was pounding on the door. She looked at the clock again. He had gotten over there way too fast for someone who lived a good ten minutes away.

“Kagome, open up!” InuYasha shouted. Kagome wiped the remaining tears away and took a deep breath before she got up and went to answer the door.

As the door opened, InuYasha couldn’t help but give her the once over. He had to make sure she was in once piece. After making sure no blood was visible, he actually took in her puffy face. A slight jolt of anxiety made its way through him. He didn’t want to see her upset. The tears he could smell in the air were something he could brush off if he tried, but he couldn’t escape the evidence of her tear-stained face. “Kagome? What’s going on?”

Kagome took a shaky breath. “I’m fine.” she sniffled as she dabbed at her eyes again.

“But you said someone died! Damn it Kagome, this isn’t a joke!” he yelled out of frustration.

Kagome blinked in surprise. “Someone did die, but it was only a movie, InuYasha. I’m a little emotional right now. That’s all.”

InuYasha stared at her for a moment, trying to comprehend what she had said. She had only been watching a movie. She was crying because of some stupid movie. “You’re kidding, right?” InuYasha could feel some anger building somewhere inside him, but it was overshadowed by the relief he felt. She was crying because of a movie, but at least she was safe.

Kagome let out a strangled laugh. “No.” she gave him a poor excuse of a smile, and then continued. “I was feeling a little pitiful and a couple of really sad movies were on. They just seemed to match my mood was all.”

“So I basically came over here for nothing?” He shook his head in disbelief. What an anticlimactic evening this was turning out to be. “Why did I even come out here then?”

Kagome’s tears were drying up fast. “I never asked you to come here. You did that on your own.” It was then that she realized that something wasn’t right. If she was here by herself and he was here without anyone, then where was Ami? “Who’s watching Ami? Please tell me you didn’t leave her with Miroku!” She was suddenly panicked. She even went as far as to start putting her shoes on before he stopped her.

“No, she’s in the car fast asleep. Calm down.”

“You left her in the car!” she yelled as she pushed past him. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to her? Someone could have walked right up to the car and kidnapped her!”

InuYasha was right on her heels. “Kagome, I have very sensitive hearing, if you don’t remember. No one was going to sneak up and steal her.”

She didn’t stop to listen to him. Instead she went on the next worst thing that could have happened. “Then what about carbon monoxide poisoning? I can see you left the car running. Did you even stop to consider that?”

“Kagome would you stop overreacting. She wasn’t in the car but for three minutes by herself. She’s fine.” he said as she wrenched open his back car door. He reached over and stopped her before she could disturb her. She whorled around and glared at him, so he lifted both his hand in surrender. “I’ll bring her inside and put her in her bed. There’s no point and bringing her back to my place. She’s already asleep.”

Kagome let her shoulders relax. If Ami was sleeping safely in her own bed, then she could at least let InuYasha carry her there. “Alright, but gently. I don’t’ know if she’s soundly asleep yet.”

“I know how to carry a sleeping child.” he grunted as he maneuvered around Kagome to get in reach of his daughter. He unbuckled her newly installed buster seat quickly, and then eased her out into the cool night air. Ami didn’t stir as InuYasha towed her inside.

Kagome hurried ahead of him into Ami’s room to pull back the covers so that he could lay her down faster. Once she was tucked in, Kagome sat on the edge of the bed and gently pushed back Ami’s bangs. She was glad her daughter was home safely.

She felt InuYasha walk up beside her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and whispered, “Let her sleep. She’ll still be here in the morning.” Kagome nodded as she leaned down and kissed Ami on the forehead. InuYasha followed suit, and then they both walked out of the room. Kagome quietly shut the door behind her.

InuYasha and Kagome stood silently outside their daughter’s room. InuYasha awkwardly cleared his throat after a minute or so. “So, do you want to finish that movie?” he asked, and then suddenly felt like it sounded like he was inviting himself over without intending to do so. “I mean, I could leave so you could get back to it.”

Kagome started at him for another moment before she slowly replied, “You could watch it with me. If you want to, that is.”

InuYasha only nodded. She grabbed his hand, out of gratitude, and led him to the couch. They sat a good cushion length apart at first, but as the movie dragged on and Kagome began to cry again the distance disappeared.

Kagome cried on InuYasha’s shoulder as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through her hair soothingly. They were both caught up in the movie, unaware of exactly how close they were to each other. As the end credits finally starting flying across the screen, Kagome buried her face into his shoulder. “That was a bittersweet movie. I liked it though.”

He snorted. “You would.” She pulled away from him to unconvincingly glare up at him. InuYasha wasn’t even affected by her poor attempt, but what did affect him was her tear streaked face. Even though he hadn’t caused them, he still didn’t like to see them on her face. He lifted his hand and softly brushed the tears off her face. The gesture seemed to cause more to form. “What is it?”

She shook her head out of embarrassment. “You know how I told you that I wasn’t ready to forgive you?” He nodded and she continued. “Well, I’m still not ready exactly, . . . but I think I might be ready to start forgiving you.”

InuYasha was shocked beyond words. Whatever he had thought she was going to say, it hadn’t been that. “Really?”

She nodded as more tears fell from her eyes. “You’re a really good Daddy for being so new at it.” As her statement hung in the air, Kagome began to feel lethargic. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” She lightly let her head fall onto his chest.

“. . . I know why you didn‘t.” he whispered, as he resumed to run his fingers through her hair. “And I don’t blame you for it. It‘s not like you didn‘t try either.”

Kagome slightly shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I should have . . . tried . . . harder . . .” InuYasha listened harder to see if she’d say more, but after that all he heard were her light snores. He chuckled to himself as he let his head rest on the top of the couch. With contentment settling around him, he let himself fall asleep as well.

InuYasha was awoken the next morning by a kink in his neck. He lifted his head slowly, so not to irritate it further. He momentarily wondered why his neck felt that way, but was cut short when he felt Kagome stir against him. He looked down at her confused for a minute, and then the memories of the night before hit him.

InuYasha let out an almost silent sigh. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure how Kagome would react when she woke up and he wasn’t looking forward to finding out either, but with one look at the clock he knew he had to wake her. “Kagome.” he said in a coarse voice as he gently shook her shoulder.

She groaned, but didn’t wake. InuYasha rolled his eyes and repeated what he’d just done. This time when she groaned it was slowly followed by her opening her eyes. “What? I’m sleeping.”

Although InuYasha was surprised by her nonviolent reaction, he still knew the time for sleeping had passed. “Come on, Kagome, we’re going to be late for work if you don’t get up.”

The word work had pulled Kagome out of her stupor. She jumped up off the couch, and then franticly started running toward Ami’s room. All the while yelling, “Oh my gosh! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner! I can’t be late!”

The next ten minutes involved a cranky Ami and a frenzied Kagome. By the time Ami started complaining about being hungry, Kagome still hadn’t gotten clean work scrubs on. She roughly took the cereal box out of the pantry, but before she could do anything more, InuYasha snatched it out of her hands. “Go get ready. I’ll take care of breakfast.” It wasn’t like he had any spare clothes here anyway.

After another ten minutes of Kagome getting dressed and Ami and InuYasha enjoying a nice breakfast, they were ready to leave. Kagome grabbed her keys off the counter, but InuYasha just shook his head. “I’ll drive.”

Kagome looked at him in confusion. “Don’t worry about it. I can drive.” she said anxiously as she tried to push past him.

He shook his head again. All the more determined to hold his ground. “You’re too stressed to drive, plus I think you need to relax. Maybe if I drive you can calm down.”

Kagome pondered this for a moment until she sighed in defeat. “Fine. You can drive, but please try to make it there on time. I really can’t be late again.” InuYasha just smiled as he picked Ami up and then led Kagome out the door.

“We’ll make it.” he said egotistically. As he sped off down the road, he couldn’t help but think that things were going to change between him and Kagome. Maybe not all at one time, but gradually. Whether it was for the better or the worse, he wasn’t sure. But change was definitely on the horizon.