InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny, Time Travelers, and a Little Baby ❯ 'What's in a name?' and 'The night is good for waffy moments.' ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Let's see. What's in my pockets. Hmmm, a penny, lots of lint, a snickers miniatures wrapper, some gum, and a number to God knows what. That's all I have. Take it if you want. But be warned, I don't own Inuyasha. So there. (*Sticks out tongue*)

 

Chapter 3 : What's in a name? (also known as The Night Is Good For Waffy Moments)

 

"What should we call her Shippo-chan?" Kagome asked with a smile from her place on Inuyasha's back.

 

"Hmmm," Shippo considered it, his small brows scrunching together in concentration, "How about Gome, after you. Since you are kinda like her mother now."

 

At this Kagome looked thoughtful. She was starting to get rather attached to the child, but it wasn't supposed to happen like this. It made her think of having kids, which made her think of making kids, which made her think of Inuyasha, which made her look at him, which made him snap at her to quit staring.

 

Or so she thought.

 

Little did she know that Inuyasha was thinking nearly identical thoughts, which made him turn his head and stare at her, which made him embarrassed when he saw her catch him staring, which made him snap at her to stop staring at him, and to glower at the road as he trudged onward.

 

He knew she was still a little peeved, behind that cheerful expression, about what he'd said before about the baby. He wasn't a monster. He had no intention of leaving the kid on the side of the road in the first place. Just not on keeping her with them as they had Shippo.

 

As a reply to the fox kit, Kagome only said, "How about, we call her Kaede since Kaede is the one who's going to watch her until she finds a suitable family for her. Hopefully." 'I just pray I can give her up then.' And with that thought permanently in her mind, they continued on.

 

Just then, Baby Kaede started crying. She was only 10 minutes old and had been quiet so far, but she needed food!! Inuyasha stopped at the sound, not expecting a baby's cry to be so loud. Shippo and Kagome slid off his back. The young fox looked at her as if she had grown a second head before he started frantically jumping around trying to figure out what was wrong. And Kagome, being a girl and naturally level headed about children, started checking her makeshift diaper (a bandanna courtesy of Shippo) and finding nothing there, she surmised that it was her stomach.

 

Inuyasha had started yelling for her to "Shut the damn thing up." To which she replied "Sit," with a calm expression.

 

"We have to find her some milk and quick. She won't stop crying until then." Kagome said as she looked at the two boys, waiting for them to do something about it.

 

Unfortunately, they had no clue what she was looking at them for. So, Shippo got brave and stated the obvious, "Kagome, we don't have any milk."

 

"I know," she replied, and looked pointedly at Inuyasha.

 

"What?" He was thoroughly puzzled as to why she kept looking at him.

 

"Look," she cried out in exasperation. "We have no milk and are about 30 miles away from any town whatsoever. You," She poked him in the chest, "are a dog-demon who is extremely fast when he wants to be. Now, run to the nearest village and get some milk.” She finished sarcastically. “Or just find the nearest cow and bring it back."

"Okay." He finally got it, and ran off faster than you could see. Just a red and white blur really. He came back just ten minutes later with a cow over his head.

 

"What did you bring a cow for, baka?" Kagome screeched.

 

"Well that's what you said to do. I don't have any money for milk, and the villagers most likely wouldn't sell any to me anyway. Besides, the cow was closer." He gasped out. Hefting a large cow over long distances is hard work, even for a super strong half-demon.

 

Kagome looked as if she was going to scream. 'He can be so stupid! Does he not understand me when I'm being sarcastic?! Baka!' "Well, at least we won't run out of milk." She said dejectedly, shaking her head and heaving a great sigh. "Just how do you expect me to feed her from this cow?"

 

"Well, you see Kagome," He said slowly, as if to a dim child, "milk comes out of those udders down there. You squeeze the udder and pull down at the same time and out comes the milk. Then you feed it to the brat." He finished with a growl of frustration.

 

She rolled her eyes, "Duh, genius! What I mean is, where do you expect me to put the milk? It's not like I have a bottle on me. Or a pail for that matter. Besides, babies can only drink through sucking, got it?”

 

"Hello! Are you blind? Or did you not see her parents? She's youkai." He `politely' informed her.

 

"And what's that supposed to mean?" She asked, getting angry now.

 

"We don't have to suck as babies." Shippo piped in with a cheery smile.

 

“Oh." Was her intelligent response to that answer. "Well, where do I put the milk then?"

 

"How about your canteen. It could work. Then all you'd have to do is hold it up to her." ^-^

 

"Good idea Shippo."

 

"Keh."

 

“So, Inuyasha. You seem to know a lot about milking cows. Care to try?"

 

"Hmmm, let me think about that.….no."

 

"Please?" *puppy-dog eyes*

 

"Nope. That's women's work. No men allowed." He said with an arrogant smirk, hardening his heart to her pleading gaze.

 

"Alright.” She clenched a fist to his stubbornness. “Shippo? How about you?"

 

"I wasn't really listening to him explain it." He dodged the responsibility.

 

"Okay then, it's up to me." She said bravely and handed Kaede to Inuyasha, who somehow stopped the screaming.

 

After several failed attempts to get milk actually in the canteen, Kagome gathered enough to feed Baby Kaede for a while. When she went to get her from Inuyasha, she found Kaede cooing and grabbing for his twitching ears.

 

`I guess they appeal to everyone.'

 

She cautiously ambled over to him. "Okay Inuyasha, you can give her back now."

 

“How `bout I feed her?" He asked, staring at the baby.

 

O_O "Okay, if you really want to." She handed him the canteen.

 

He took it from her and held it out to Kaede who took three huge swigs of the milk, belched, and went right back to eating. `That's my girl.' Inuyasha smiled a small smile as his eyes got wistful. 'I wonder what my own pups will look like.' Then he tilted his head to see Kagome looking at him with a mixture of contentment, yearning, and something else he couldn't place. He didn't realize that his face held almost the same expression, except his held a tiny bit of confusion. Enough so to make Kagome look away.

 

They both felt the loss of eye contact.

 

"So, um, is she done?"

 

"Yeah, I think so. Here." He handed her the canteen and baby. "Well, let's get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get rid of her." He said, though now he wasn't sure if he meant it.

 

“Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's go." And they started off again.

 

Walking slower.

 

With no one riding on Inuyasha's back.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Meanwhile*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

After killing the traitorous youkai, Kikyo told her ninja to start tracking. He quickly retraced the chameleon's steps to a birth spot. He was very good at relating the details. Including a very important one. Kagome and Inuyasha had the baby. And they were going back the way they came.

 

"I've come to realize that you can be very useful to me, Kosimu." Kikyo said to him. It was the name Naraku gave her for him and he was now worthy of being called by it. "You need more…..discreet clothing. We'll find you some more appropriate robes in the next village. You'll need it if you are to be following me around." Maybe it was because the night black fighter's suit he had on just shouted "Bad Guy", but she didn't want him to be in his fighting clothes all the time.

 

So they continued on, following the trail of the deceiving pair, making sure to stay out of any traveler's path. It was slower going, but it would be worth it when they snuck up on her former love and the bane of her existence.

 

`Now to get that baby. You will be very helpful in this part of my plan Kosimu.'

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*With Our Favorite Monk and Demon Slayer*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Sango and Miroku had been searching all over and still couldn't find any shards. Sure, they had found some exceptionally strong youkai, but none of them had a piece of the jewel. All they had gotten was some unnecessary exercise and blood stains on their clothes.

 

After nearly a week of searching, they were giving up. They had found a marvelous little town and had weaseled their way into the most ornate house using Miroku's good ol' "I-see-an-ominous-cloud-hanging-over-your-house" bit. It really was a nice house, but it also had a rather large family. They only had one spare room. That was it. Just one. So, they did the only thing they could do in this situation.

 

Bicker and fight with each other.

 

"What do you mean it won't be so bad?! This is about the worst night I'm going to have to spend anywhere." Sango yelled and paced the room.

 

“What I meant was, it won't be so bad because now we can get to know each other a bit better." Miroku said as she went by him. (*rub rub*)

 

"Pervert! (*SLAP*) I can NOT believe you'd pull that at a time like this!"

 

"At a time like what? It's not that bad. Look, if it'll make you feel better, I'll sleep way over here. Happy?"

 

"Well it's not like I have a choice now do I? (*sigh*) I guess it'll have to do. But remember, I have Kirara with me, and she doesn't need much sleep."

 

'Like she'll be a problem. I still have that catnip, right?' "I will try my best." He said, straight faced, as he lifted his hand to his chest and bowed in a sign of 'respect' while he felt for the bundle. 'YES!' He held in his smirk. "Goodnight Sango-san." And he went to bed.

 

"Goodnight Houshi-sama." 'Maybe it won't be so bad. As long as Kirara doesn't take a nighttime walk again.' And she went to sleep.

 

Miroku waited for 10 minutes after he heard her breath even out before he made his move. Quietly, he snuck over to Kirara and slipped her the catnip. She sniffed and found it to be the 'Good Stuff'. Quickly, she took it between her teeth and, when Miroku motioned with his head, leapt out of the room in a blur of blond fur. Cautiously, he made his way toward the sleeping Sango.

 

He often did this. Pay off Kirara to watch Sango as she slept. She was beautiful. Tonight, she had one hand up by her face in that relaxed half-fist that only comes when in the deepest sleep and her mouth slightly parted, rhythmically releasing puffs of breath as her lips took on a pinkish sheen. A mock serious expression flitted by, almost as if she knew he was there, but didn't wake up.

 

He could always pretend that she was his at night. That this was what he got to see every night before he slept and any morning that he woke up before her. He didn't have to be the monk with the cursed hand. Or even the pervert. At night he could let down his guard and just be himself. Miroku. Lover of Sango. Maybe not physically. Yet. But in his daydreams and fantasies, she was his and he was hers. Simple as that.

 

He watched as his angel slept, content in her dreams. As always, he wondered if her skin was as soft as it looked. And as always, he never touched her. Anywhere. Not even her cheek. He didn't want to wake her and ruin the moment. He was living on moments. He didn't want to waste a single one. Raising from his knees, he laid beside her. He always slept better when he was near her, the reason why still escaped him.

 

As he was pondering this, Sango reached that half-conscious state where you can't tell dream from reality. She turned around and saw Miroku staring at her. He seemed to be frightened, but she wasn't threatened. On all accounts, she should have smacked him a good one. Instead, she turned into him, wrapping herself in his warmth and breathing of his scent. As she fell back to sleep, she had dreams of him.

 

Weird ones that involved a family and house of their own. It also contained more explicit stuff that made her blush in her sleep.

 

Miroku was scared when she woke up. And he had good reason to be. He was bracing for the slap that was sure to come when.….she rolled into him?! And it seemed to be intentional! She wrapped his arms around her and went back to sleep. He lifted his head as well as he could and watched her some more.

 

He was shocked when she started blushing. 'What is she dreaming about? Could it be me? Nah! She has no reason to dream of me. I'm just her blanket for tonight. (*sigh*) Well, better be a good one and keep her held in warm and tight.' So he nodded off, arms tight around Sango, and had dreams of her.

 

A familiar one that involved a family and house of their own. As well as some explicit ones that had him wondering, 'Is that even possible?', when he awoke.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*On the road*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

"Kagome! Kaede's crying again!" Shippo called. He had been assigned babysitting duty while Kagome tried to catch a few hours of shut eye. Inuyasha refused to watch the baby, even though he hardly needed sleep. Instead he sat up in a tree and protected them.

 

He didn't want to admit that he had grown fond of Little Kaede, but he had. She was the convenient prop that he needed to imagine his family with Kagome. It was a scary thought for him.

 

But not that scary.

 

As he watched Kagome sleep for what had to be the zillionth time, he finally realized that he loved her. More than anything he had ever felt for Kikyo, he loved Kagome and wanted her to be his. He wanted to be the one to make her happy. Stop her crying. Keep her safe for all eternity. He wanted her to bear his pups. Be his mate. Wait. His mate?! Of course his mate. He more or less acted like it now. The only thing missing was consummation. He blushed at the thought. But how to find out if she felt the same. Would she be willing?

 

These were the thoughts running through his head when Shippo yelled. So, naturally, he whispered the first thing that popped into his head.….

 

"Oi, brat! Keep it down. Can't you see she's sleeping?” With a sigh, he impatiently flung out a hand to the kit. “Give me the runt."

 

"O-okay Inuyasha, if you want her." Shippo whispered back and handed over the baby. Immediately, she stopped crying. "Hey! How'd you do that?"

 

"Do what? She just likes me better than you." He childishly stuck out his tongue.

 

"Well at least Kagome likes ME better than YOU!" Shippo repeated the older demon's gesture.

 

Due to his previous thoughts, Inuyasha got madder than mad. He got so mad that he didn't do anything. He just sat there and brooded, thinking of ways to make the fox kit suffer.

 

The boy was getting nervous now. That one would always get a rise out of Inuyasha. Then he'd have some entertainment for the evening when he cried to Kagome and she let loose a barrage of 'SIT's. But right now, Inuyasha was just sitting there, doing nothing. Rocking the baby back and forth, real slow, putting her to sleep. And staring into nothing.

 

In truth, Inuyasha's attention had drifted to the sleeping Kagome. It brought back all his earlier thoughts and a few new ones. 'I can see how she feels while she's asleep. I heard about this somewhere. All I have to do is wait for the fox to go to bed, then ask her simple questions in her sleep. It's brilliant, I tell you. Genius, I say. Then using those answers, I can decide what to do next. Ask her to be my mate or wait it out.' (AN: I've had `The Emperor's New Groove' on the mind lately *sigh*)

 

So he waited and waited. Finally, Shippo gave up on watching Inuyasha to see if he'd kill him and fell asleep, and, from all the rocking, Baby Kaede was also soon in the land of slumber. So it was just Inuyasha and his 'brilliant' idea.

 

Slowly he crept towards the sleeping girl from the future. She was stunning. The moonlight played off her hair and made it glow. It highlighted her fair skin in all the right places, accentuating her natural beauty. Inuyasha almost forgot what he came over to do. Finally, he bent low to her ear and started to ask his first question, but, as luck would have it, Kaede woke up and started screaming for a diaper change and food.

 

This woke Kagome who was doubly surprised to not only see a screaming baby at her chest, but Inuyasha so close their hair was mixing together. Brown eyes stared into tawny-gold as she tried to catch her breath.

 

'She's definitely going to be my mate. She has to.'

 

'What is he doing so close? Not that I mind or anything, but why?'

 

"Um, Inu…..yasha…..?" Kagome stuttered as a blush spread across her cheeks.

 

Inuyasha had the same blush and started babbling something about babies needing food and him going to wake her up to do it. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! Why can I never think of better cover stories?'

 

Kagome just stared at him blankly before getting cranky for being woken up so early. "Why couldn't you milk the stupid cow yourself?! It's not just women's work if it's for our baby! (*O.O;;;*) Oops." Kagome quickly put a hand over her mouth, but it was already out. She had just revealed her deepest, darkest, most secret desire to the one person who was never supposed to know of these things.

 

"Our baby?! She's not our- (*O.O*) Oh." Inuyasha realized that she had made a mistake, but also understood that his question had just been answered unknowingly. 'She thinks of Kaede the same way I do. YESssss. Maybe she does want to be my mate.' His expression got hopeful, but with all that hair in his face, Kagome thought he was mad at her for saying something like that and she started apologizing.

 

"Forgive me Inuyasha. I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did. I meant, for the baby that's traveling with us. Yeah, that's it. It just came out wrong. I'm so sorry Inuyasha."

 

'Or maybe not.' His hope exploded like a balloon and he went back to sulking.

 

"Just change her bandana and feed her, alright? I'll see you in the morning." He turned to walk off, but Kagome stopped him with a hand to his arm.

 

"Inuyasha? How long until we get to the village?" She asked tentatively.

 

"About three days, I think. But only if we keep up this pace. Two if we speed up a little."

 

"Thank you Inuyasha. And I'm sorry again for offending you."

 

`Kagome, you could never offend me.' "Feh." He walked off to sit back up in his tree. 'Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll see what she really thinks about me.'

 

Baby Kaede had wisely stayed silent throughout the exchange, but started screaming again after Inuyasha had walked off. Kagome fed her, changed her, and sang her to sleep. Inuyasha watched and listened to the bedtime ritual and dreamed of the day Kagome would be singing that to their little pups.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Back at the Over-Crowded House*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

When morning broke, Miroku was the first to wake up. He was fully rested, having had the best night's sleep he'd had in ages. Then he noticed where he was and slowly disentangled himself from Sango with a blush.

 

Somehow, in the night, Sango had turned her body around so it was flush against Miroku's. She had her legs curled around his. He, on the other hand, had slipped a hand into her robes and was caressing her back, pulling her robe open enough that her bound breasts were on his chest. Her hips were pressing against his morning wood and his face was in the crook of her neck, unknowingly laying gentle kisses on the sensitive flesh and eliciting the soft moans that were muffled in his chest waking him up. Vaguely, he was aware that her skin was as soft as he'd imagined it.

 

He had to be careful so as not to wake her. Reluctantly, he slipped his hand out of her warm clothing, unwound their legs and fixed her robes. Then he stood up to look at her just as she started to stir.

 

She woke with a blush, her dream still fresh in her mind's eye, and the first thing she saw that morning was Miroku's piercing violet-brown gaze staring at her. The next thing she noticed was that Kirara was gone. She then released a jaw-popping yawn, rubbed her eyes, and stretched like there was no tomorrow. Miroku just watched her antics before her coffee eyes found him again.

 

"So, Houshi-sama, are you ready to go or can I clean up and get some breakfast first?" She was staring at him, just daring him to say no.

 

Lucky for her, he had no intention of leaving so early. His position upon waking still tugging at his pants, he let his gaze roam her body and settle on her eyes. 'Definitely the best thing about her. So expressive.' "Of course not Sango. I couldn't rob you of food and bath." He said with a grin.

 

Sango narrowed her eyes. Something wasn't right. He was supposed to say something about helping clean her back or even reaching over to grope her. But he stayed away and just smiled. 'He's really being thoughtful this morning. Hope he doesn't mess it up by doing something perver…..ted.' (*Sigh*) She reached for Hiraikotsu and beamed him a good one. "See ya later, letch." And she walked off to take her bath.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Roadside*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Kagome woke slowly. She didn't know what it was, but something didn't feel right, and she didn't really want to know the reason. Ever since they had gotten the baby, Inuyasha had been more protective and Shippo had started sleeping slightly away from her, just in case he kicked out in his sleep and hurt the baby. But this morning, she didn't sense either one of them.

 

She suddenly knew what was wrong.

 

Holding Baby Kaede close to her chest, she stood and looked around in all directions. No sign of russet fur or a red kimono met her eyes. Just when she was starting to freak out, Shippo came out of the bushes carrying firewood with Inuyasha right behind him carrying a couple rabbits.

 

"Don't do that to me, ya big doof!" Kagome yelled as she ran to Inuyasha and slapped his arm. "You had me worried sick!"

 

"What did I do to deserve that?" He said as he dropped his kill.

 

"You left me and the baby alone, in the woods, without any notice of where you were going!" She shouted indignantly.

 

"Well, you were sleeping and Shippo didn't want to wake you because he knew how tired you were."

 

"What!? I said that I should stay here. You were the one that didn't want to wake her up and YOU forced me to go because I'd make `too much noise' at camp." Shippo said mockingly.

 

Inuyasha started sputtering and making all sorts of threats to Shippo's life until Kagome stepped in.

 

"Sit!"

 

"Bitch. What was that for?!"

 

"For threatening Shippo again. I've told you a million times that he's just a kid, but you don't listen."

 

“Sorry, what'd you say?" He said sarcastically as the spell wore off and he popped up.

 

"When are we going to eat? I'm starving." Shippo diverted the oncoming storm with a growl of his stomach.

 

"Just as soon as he starts the fire and I feed the baby." Kagome said and turned with a toss of her hair.

 

"Bitch." Inuyasha said with a hint of a smile at her quick adoption of the motherly role as he went to start a fire for breakfast. 'And I wouldn't have it any other way.'

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

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