InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Enlightenment ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter Three

Inuyasha sat on one of the couches in his now very spacious living room. He watched as Tai played with his blocks in front of him. He sighed. He knew that Tai missed his mother very much, but he just didn't want to see her. Tai's comment alone last night was enough to make him reconsider.

Tai was awfully being quiet. Surely a two-year old isn't this quiet all the time. He looked over at Tai and noticed he was looking at him. Tai quickly looked back down at his blocks once he noticed he was caught staring. Was he always this shy? Of course he couldn't blame his son. There were times when he was young and his father would be at home and wouldn't be able to look him in the eye because it was like living with a stranger.

There were a lot of things he didn't know about his son. He didn't know what he liked to eat, what his favourite colour was, what time he took his naps. It was like he was just becoming a father now. Even after Tai was born, he had gone to work during the day and came home to his family during the evening so he had no idea what routine Kagome had gone by. He hadn't spent much time with Tai since then and very rarely saw him because he came home late from one of his rendez-vous with Kikyou. How could anyone expect him now to be a father when he had no experience with the toddler nor did he have a good idea what a father was supposed to do. He surely couldn't look back to his childhood for help since his father was barely around either.

“Are you hungry?” asked Inuyasha, as he wondered maybe there was something Tai wanted.

Tai only shook his head and continued playing with his blocks. This was hopeless. Tai hadn't said a word to him since last night. Maybe it was this whole actually living together thing. Tai isn't used to him being around. He wasn't around for the past year and now they're expected to spend every waking moment together. What do fathers and sons do anyway? Play catch outside? From what he saw in Tai's toy chest, he didn't have baseball gloves. That was all he could come up with and he was slowly getting frustrated. He had absolutely nothing to do!

He was now officially jobless. All his years of hard work and he got fired. He had gone to university to prove to his father how serious he was about impressing him and getting a position in the company. He had finally reached the top. He was put in charge of managing the company's properties and sales. But he wanted more. He wanted to be trusted to go on trips to seal deals with other companies. That was Sesshomaru's job. His brother always did have better things than him. All he ever got was paper work. Sign here, sign there. Sesshomaru had it better than him.

“Are you sure you aren't hungry?” Tai was looking at him again and quickly glanced away.

Again he shook his head no and went back to playing with his blocks. This was driving him crazy. He just wanted his old life back. He loved his job maybe more than he should, but he couldn't help feel prideful of his accomplishments to get there. And now he had to start over. What company would accept him? His father had probably blocked all the job opportunities he was qualified for. But then again his father did say something about redeeming himself to gain his old position back. How was he going to do that?

He really despised his father sometimes. Just because he wasn't happy with Kagome didn't mean he had to be fired. It was his business what he chose to do outside of work and that included his family. Unfortunately for him his father didn't care if he was butting in his business. He was only worried for Tai's welfare, which was why he got fired in the first place. He didn't understand why now of all times his father acted like a self-righteous family man after all these years. He had Inutaisho had never showed any interest in his youngest son ever. His father really did favour Kagome and Tai over him.

He knew for a fact that his father was no doubt helping Kagome find a job and found her a new house. Damn him. If he was forced to suffer this way, so should Kagome.

“Daddy?”

“What?”

“I'm hungry . . .”

Inuyasha shook his head at Tai and got up off the couch. He went over to Tai and picked him up and went to the kitchen.

He had absolutely no idea how to prepare anything. It was nearly lunchtime and both him and Tai haven't eaten anything yet. Inuyasha set Tai down on the counter and went through the cupboards to look for anything edible. Cans of sausages, tuna, peanut butter, spam, and cereal. He held them out to Tai to see which one he wanted but he just wrinkled his nose and shook his head at each one. There wasn't anything to eat in the fridge either. Guess they were going out. He looked over at Tai who was still sitting on the counter with his feet dangling. Inuyasha picked him up again to head out to the car.

“Okay we're going out to eat. Where do you want to go?” he asked as he made a grab for his car keys.

No answer. He sighed again. Was he really that hungry that he didn't want to talk? He doubted that very much. All he heard from other people who had met Tai was that he was very smart for his age and energetic. It was awkward feeling that familiar strain in the father-son relationship except this time he was the father and no longer the son. He locked the door and went over to the car. Inuyasha set Tai down in his car seat and buckled his seat belt. He sighed again. Sighing was becoming a habit for him. How was he supposed to know what he wanted if he wouldn't talk to him, at all.

Once in the driver seat he glanced back at Tai who was idly looking down at his lap. Inuyasha groaned and pulled out of the driveway. Even he didn't get this much stress in the office. Within minutes Inuyasha pulled up in front of a house just two blocks away from them. He turned off the ignition and made his way to Tai's door to unbuckle him. He lifted Tai out of the car.

“Don't do that,” he growled at Tai.

Tai was sucking on his thumb. Why was he sucking on his thumb? It was a bad habit and he should know. He had been a thumb sucker until he was six and Sesshomaru had no problems penalizing him for it. Tai immediately popped his thumb out of his mouth and looked down avoiding eye contact.

“Come on,” sighed Inuyasha and took hold of Tai's hand.

He noticed Tai looking around curiously. As much as he didn't want to come here, he really didn't know how he was going to feed Tai. Only one person knew him better than anyone. He took a deep breath and pressed lightly on the doorbell. He rang it again. And again, and again, and again. Finally the sound of feet shuffling from inside could be heard. Inuyasha braced himself. Seeing his ex-wife was not in today's agenda.

“Mommy!” squealed Tai.

Tai wasted no time in attaching himself tightly around Kagome's legs. Inuyasha watched as Kagome swept him up into his arms and hugged him back happily.

“I missed you baby,” she laughed as she tickled Tai's chin.

“I missed you too mommy,” laughed Tai.

Well at least he was talking now. He ran his hand through his hair impatiently waiting for her to notice him just standing there.

Kagome looked up at him with uneasiness evident in her eyes. She was dreading this unplanned meeting as much as he was. They hadn't seen or talked to each other since they completed signing all the papers necessary to finalize their divorce. It was odd seeing her again actually. He remembered times when they were younger when all he looked forward to was seeing her. That feeling had long since vanished only too be replaced with utter dread.

“Hi Inuyasha. It was nice of you to bring Tai over,” she cleared her throat and opened the door wider for them to enter.

“Uh…yeah. Tai was begging to see you,” he mumbled.

His eyes scanned the living room and the small foyer once he entered the house. So this was the house his father got her. It was very similar to their old house. There were still a couple of boxes left in the corner but he could see that she wasted no time unpacking. The living room was already set up and so was the dining room.

“Mommy I'm hungry,” said Tai tugging gently on Kagome's hand.

“Is that all you came here for?” she teased.

“No. I missed you and so did daddy,” said Tai matter-of-factly.

A wave of awkwardness swept through the room and only enhanced the growing tension the two adults felt upon laying eyes on each other only a couple moments ago. Kagome just smiled sadly down at her son and made her way to the kitchen followed by Tai. Inuyasha sighed and followed behind them.

“Well you're in luck because I just made macaroni and cheese.”

Lunch was quiet, until that Tai began his endless chatter to Kagome. He knew that kid wasn't quiet. He just missed her. At least now he should be satisfied. Inuyasha watched the two interact each other with so much familiarity and closeness. Tai was all smiles and so was Kagome, both were simply happy to be back in each other's company. It reminded him of him and his mother though he quickly pushed those thoughts out of his head.

Lunch ended and Tai had somehow fallen asleep on Kagome's couch absently sucking on his thumb. Tai had grown drowsy after eating two bowls of mac and cheese on Kagome's lap. Kagome stroked Tai's hair absently, occasionally running her fingers through his silver locks and pulling out tangles. Without Tai to keep the mood light and not so awkward, it felt as if the awkwardness was slowly suffocating them. He had nothing to say to her and she had nothing to say to him. What else could they possibly say to each other that hadn't been said already?

“You know you shouldn't let him suck his thumb like that,” he mumbled to Kagome.

“He's only two,” replied Kagome. “So...How's he doing?”

“He's... adjusting.”

Kagome stayed quiet as she stroked Tai's hair. It was amazing how even the texture of his hair was exactly like Inuyasha's. If she didn't know any better, he could've been Inuyasha's clone. She remembered during the time of her pregnancy that she hoped her baby would have Inuyasha's eyes, hair, and ears. She knew the chances of their offspring inheriting those characteristics were very slim since they would only be a quarter demon.

“He fired me you know,” grumbled Inuyasha.

“I know,” she answered.

“Was that your idea of pay back?”

Kagome's head shot up. She couldn't believe what he was accusing her of. She would never stoop so low as to request from her ex-husband's father to fire his own son. How dare he blame her for this! He brought it down on himself! She absolutely had no intention of getting fired nor did she care about his stupid job.

“I can not believe you just said that. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I could care less what happened to that stupid job of yours whether you had been allowed to keep it or not,” she hissed.

“I lost my job because of you,” he continued as if he hadn't heard a word she said.

“Keep thinking that when you know you brought everything down on yourself,” she replied coldly.

“Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to be fired by your own father! I went to work only to find my office had been cleared out and my stuff waiting for me at the lobby!” he yelled. He hadn't meant for this angry outburst. One minute he was just idly sitting there and the next moment he was spewing out whatever he could. Weren't they supposed to fight anyway? Wasn't that what divorced ex-couples do? None of the things he had accused her of had any truth behind them because despite their differences, he knew her. It was just that he felt a twinge of resentment that his own father was helping Kagome back on her feet while he was making life harder for his own son. He knew it was immature of him to behave this way and downright low, but he just couldn't help his impulsive nature.

“Ssshh...You'll wake Tai,” she warned.

“He helps you get back on your feet but he kicks me out to the curb! His own son!”

“Go back to sleep honey...” she whispered to Tai trying to clam his stirring. “Don't blame me for your misfortunes. Blame yourself. You were the one who decided to cheat on me and abandon Tai. You'd always complain about how your father never paid attention to you. Well guess what, you did just that to Tai.”

“I was busting my ass providing for the two of you!”

“Inuyasha you didn't need to `bust your ass' for anything! It's not like we were living in poverty!” she hissed.

By now Tai was fully awake and was crying his eyes out. He didn't know why his parents were fighting. He had never seen his mother like this or heard her voice so angry. It scared him. And to see his dad look like he was about to rip her apart scared him even more. So he did the only thing he could. He cried and wailed as loud as he could.

“Don't you dare say that you were doing this for me and Tai! We were by far the last thing on your mind! You were always away and never around for him to at least glance at you! Admit it Inuyasha. You were not a very devoted husband or father. You were obsessed with your job and when you weren't working, you spent your time having an affair with one of your bimbo secretaries! Time that you could've spent at home with us!” Kagome was now turning bright red from all her screaming. She wanted to pound his face on the wall for having the audacity to blame her for everything thing. She was far from done.

“You -!”

He hated it when she was always so bang on and so perceptive.

“I had to take care of your son while you were gallivanting around and saying you were working!”

“I WAS working!”

“So you say. I don't know why I let it carry on for a year. I knew this whole time did you know? But I bet you just thought of what a fool I was for believing every single word that you have ever said” she quieting down enough for him to hear.

Inuyasha was slightly taken aback by this. A year and she hadn't said anything. At the back of his mind he always knew Kagome was too smart not to have noticed. He always thought she was busy with Tai or something to take notice of his behaviour. But right now, he didn't really give a damn. All he wanted to do was hurt her more. He was just so angry at the way things had turned out, how much his life had changed and for some reason he blamed her for all of it. He knew there was no rationale behind it but his ex-wife provided the perfect outlet for his anger.

“Come on Tai. Say bye to mommy. We're leaving,” he said picking up Tai from the couch and hoisting him on his shoulder.

Kagome gave Tai a fleeting smile before he was carted off by his father. It was all she could do for now. As much as she wanted to kiss and huge her son goodbye she knew she couldn't because Inuyasha was already on his way out. She noticed as Tai's crying abruptly came to a stop and looked at her with big, sad, amber eyes that made her clench her chest. Her poor baby. He must be so confused.

Tai's cries escalated after realizing that he might not see his mother for a long while again as they reached the door. “Mommy! I don't want to leave mommy!” he cried pounding on Inuyasha's back. Inuyasha walked out of the house regardless of his son's demands and a slight stirring of regret and guilt. It was going to be a long drive home.

~*~

“Look would you stop crying already?” asked Inuyasha in a very tired tone.

Ever since they arrived home from Kagome's house, Tai hadn't stopped crying. He was beginning to wonder how much water this kid retained. He has been crying for fifteen minutes straight and he showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Although, now his sobs were slowly turning into light hiccups. Inuyasha rubbed his temples.

“I'm sorry we fought in front of you okay? Stop crying,” he said digging in his pockets for a handkerchief.

Tai's eyes were now red, his nose puffy and runny, and was currently trying to wipe his face with his sleeve.

“Blow your nose,” said Inuyasha offering the handkerchief to him.

Tai's tears continued to fall as he made no motion to take the piece of cloth. Inuyasha reached over to Tai's nose and squeezed his nose gently with the handkerchief. But he was still crying, quietly this time. Inuyasha sighed.

“What do you want me to do? I don't know what you want me to do if you don't talk to me.”

Tai continued to wipe his face with the back of his sleeves. His light hiccups were getting the better of him as Inuyasha watched him try to calm down.

“I...don't...want...you to...eat...mommy,” he hiccuped.

Inuyasha looked at him a bit stunned. All this time he had been crying because he thought he was going to eat Kagome? He didn't know what he was going to do with Tai if he hadn't stopped crying altogether. The drive home hadn't been pleasant and he had to open a few windows because the sound being trapped in his car was hurting his sensitive ears. First he thought that he would let Tai cry himself out and get tired from it eventually. He soon came to regret that because now he felt as if he was deaf in one ear. Apparently this kid had a really good set of lungs and could wail for long periods of time.

“I wasn't going to eat your mom,” sighed Inuyasha.

“Yes...you were.”

“No I wasn't. I wouldn't lay a finger on your mom, et alone eat her. Has that been why you were crying all this time? Because you thought I was going to hurt her?” he asked placing Tai on his lap.

Tai rubbed his eyes to stop his tears and nodded his head slowly.

“Well I wasn't okay? I'm sorry if your mom and I scared you. Why are you still crying?” he noticed that Tai was still crying his big amber eyes out.

There was a pause. Tai stopped fidgeting with his sleeves and wiped his last tear. Then he slowly looked up at Inuyasha with big puppy dog eyes. It was the first time he had ever made direct eye contact with him today and Inuyasha had to catch his breath at the sudden realization.

“I want you to say sorry to mommy.”

“What!”

He stared incredulously at Tai. Did he just ask that him apologize to Kagome? That was just too far. He thought that Tai might've asked him for a new toy or something, but he wasn't prepared for that. He looked down at Tai again to see him staring. How could he apologize to Kagome after he yelled at her and blamed him for everything? What would he say? Awww...hell.

“Mommy said that saying sorry made people not mad at each other any more”

“Alright,” he said in defeat. He was just too surprised by his son's behaviour to argue. He tried fro the life of him to look back in the past to make sure that Tai really was only two and a half years old. It astounded him that his young son was acting so mature for a child his age.

Tai scooted off his lap before he could say anything and ran over to the phone. Within seconds, Tai came back with the phone to Inuyasha. He sighed and took the phone from Tai's tiny hands and hesitated before dialing her number. This was really difficult. And Tai wasn't making it any easier by staring up at him as if he was mocking him.

He sighed again before punching in her home number that she had given him incase he needed to get a hold of her while he had Tai. Tai started to look excited, was he mocking him or what? Tai reminded him of Kagome's expression whenever she had to go to the bathroom badly. He cracked a smile at his funny random thought. Tai looked scared and looked away. What was up with this kid? Okay his kid. Although he turned away, he strained his ears to hear his mother's voice at the other end of the line.

“Hello?”

Tai looked back over at Inuyasha as if to urge him to say something.

“Inuyasha? Is that you? I have caller display,” she stated.

He cursed to himself. It was hard enough that he was never really any good at making apologies but he was really having a hard time figuring out what to say. Although he'd known her for so long, he still had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth. “Yeah it's me. Tai wanted me to call you.”

“Oh? Put him on the phone!” Her tone immediately changed from sour to cheerful.

“Actually he wanted me to call you to apologize . . .”

He did it. The worst was over...or was it? He looked over at Tai who looked at him impatiently. He covered the speaker to speak to Tai. “What's wrong now?”

“Say it.”

He groaned. Damn Kagome for teaching his son all these manners. He had a headache. Tai was really going to make him say it wasn't he.

“I'm sorry okay?” he grumbled.

“What?”

“Don't make me say it again!”

“I seriously didn't hear you over your grumbling,” sighed Kagome.

“Too bad.” He looked over at Tai to see his bottom lip quiver and tears threatening to fall once again. “Okay, okay! I'm sorry! There I said it. You happy now?”

“Now tell her you aren't going to eat her,” whispered Tai.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “And I would never eat you.”

“Um okay? I'm glad we have that part cleared up. After all these years and you still can't seem to manage a proper apology” she said in a dryly.

“Keh! Your son thought I was going to eat you alright! I'm trying my best here not to bite your head -” Tai's expression was one of utter shock, “I mean… Ahhh! I'm just trying my best not to make this worse than it already is and to stop Tai from crying.”

There was a pause for a few seconds and he heard Kagome give another sigh. Looks like he wasn't the only one sighing more frequently these days. “I am sorry I got carried away with yelling at you in front of Tai,” she said slowly. “We have to learn not to fight in front of him. And we have to keep our personal issues with each other out of his hearing range. What kind of example would we be setting for him if we fight in front of him all the time?” her breathing was calm so he knew that she wasn't angry with him anymore from his outburst.

He nodded in agreement even though she couldn't see him. He knew she was right about them needing to get along. They had to get along for all those moments that they'd be together with Tai and it wasn't like they were going to see each other all the time. All this was is an agreement to be civil to some degree that they didn't bit each other's heads off every time they were forced to be in the same room. “Keh. Glad to see we at least we can agree on something.”

For once during the whole day, he was actually making progress with Tai. He had gotten him to calm down even if it took that he had to settle a few things with his ex-wife. Well they didn't really settle anything, they just worked out a routine so that Tai wouldn't be upset or be witnessed to them `trying' to settle anything. Not only that, but progress was also made with Kagome. At least now he knew that he didn't need to be at his guard all the time when they had to be in the same room because she wasn't bent on tearing what was left of him and his pride apart. He knew that they would never fully be at ease around each other but having a sort of truce was reassuring and they were both adults after all. There would always be tension between them and that was something neither of them could ever hope to change but at least they had an understanding of what was needed to be done. Tai should had an effect on him on thinking rationally.

“Did he stop crying? How is he?” Kagome's voice had a hint of urgency to make sure her son was alright.

“He's fine. He stopped crying when he made me promise I'd apologize. So I did.” He looked over at Tai in the corner of the room to see that he was once again sucking on his thumb.

“Oh that's good.”

“Why does he suck his thumb?”

“He does that when he's thinking or when he's worried. It's kind of like a security blanket for him.”

“Oh. Here. I think he wants to talk to you,” he said holding the phone out to Tai. Tai hurriedly waddled to him to make a grab for the phone.

“Hello mommy? Did you hear that? Daddy said he wouldn't eat you,” Tai said enthusiastically.

Inuyasha fell back on the couch and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as he listened in on their conversation.

“That's good to know Tai. Are you being a good boy for daddy?”

“Very. I haven't bitten him once,” Tai said proudly.

Bitten? He bites people?

“Oh yeah. Inuyasha if you're listening, which I know you are, he tends to `gnaw' on things. But don't worry. Your father said that you and Sesshomaru went through that phase too,” assured Kagome. “Well make sure daddy feeds you dinner before you two go to bed and make sure you don't forget to turn off the faucet okay?”

“Yes mommy. Mommy? When are you coming home?”

Inuyasha looked over at Tai to see his mood had completely changed. How were they ever going to explain this to him? They had told him that they would be living apart because sometimes mommies and daddies didn't get along. Tai understood that part of it, but he did not understand that it was permanent.

“This is my home now Tai. Remember what me and daddy told you? You get to have two houses, which means two rooms, twice as many toys,” said Kagome trying to sound cheerful.

Tai stayed quiet. Poor kid. Inuyasha sighed and walked over to Tai.

“Say goodbye to mommy. I'm sure she has plenty of unpacking to do okay?”

Tai nodded his head and said goodbye after promising that he'll remember to turn off the faucet.

Kagome put the phone back on the receiver after Tai had hung up. She really needs to get used to the fact that Tai may sometimes ask her or Inuyasha those questions. No matter how awkward it might be, she has to find a way to explain it to him thoroughly but lightly.

The phone rang again. She looked down to the caller display. It was the company Inutaisho had told her about. She let it ring until the call was transferred to her answering machine. Maybe Inuyasha was right. Inutaisho had been helping her get back to her feet this whole time and it was time for her to prove to herself that she could survive on her own. He had gotten her a new home and a new job. He was helping her partly because he was family, partly because she's Tai's mother, and mostly because he felt responsible for his son's actions.

“Ms. Higurashi? I believe Mr. Takahashi has talked to you about a position in our firm and if you're still interested please call us back.”

She decided that she wouldn't call back. She'd have to call Inutaisho to tell him thanks for his help but she couldn't let him help her with everything. Her new house alone was enough. She would find a job on her own for she had no doubts in her abilities.

Her mind drifted back to the afternoon with Tai and Inuyasha. How foolish was she to get into an argument with Inuyasha in front of her son? Poor Tai must've been traumatized. No wonder he thought Inuyasha was going to eat her. She could only imagine that he hadn't stopped crying until he got Inuyasha to agree to apologize. She was rather proud of Tai and his manners which only showed his maturity beyond his tender age. She had taught him well and Inuyasha paid for it. She always knew he had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth whenever it came to apologies. Kagome just hoped Tai had poor Inuyasha wrapped around his little finger...