InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ His Little Girl ❯ Missing ( Chapter 24 )

 

 

Mother Higurashi was woken quite early in the morning to a desperate and somewhat painful suckling at her breast. She opened her eyes and looked down to see a closed eyed Shippou suckling at her left breast, his small paws pressing against her breast as he searched for milk. It was then she realized that even though this action seemed conscious, he wasn't. Gently pulling the sleeping kit from her breast, she closed her robe, gathered the empty bottle from the night before and carried him in her arms out of the bedroom.

 

Entering the kitchen, she set the old bottle in the sink and grabbed a new one. Filling the four ounce bottle with milk she once again warmed it in a pan of water on the stove until it was just warm enough and fed it to him, the rubber nipple slipping easily between his lips as he suckled the milk down. She made a mental note to herself that she would need to get a small can of formula at the store. She wasn't sure how long he would stay unconscious but no matter how long it would be, her grandson would need far more nutrition than regular milk could give him.

 

She knew for whatever reason that he hadn't eaten for a while, it was evident in the weight he had lost and she had remembered Kagome telling her once that hanyou and youkai ate and needed to eat more than a human because of their rapid metabolism, especially children. She also knew, as a mother and as a nurse, that feeding him too much at one time would make him sick and do more damage then it would help. So she made a plan to feed him once every two hours, and only four ounces at a time for at least the next day. If he was still asleep after that she would up the amount two more ounces until he was drinking a full eight ounces in one feeding.

 

She laughed silently as she wondered how the kit, who was proud enough to say that he was growing and could hunt on his own, would take to the knowledge that he was feeding from a bottle again. She smiled down upon the child in her arms as he suckled hungrily and burped him against her toweled shoulder. Rinsing out the bottle, while holding Shippou in one arm, she set the bottle in the dish drainer and set the nipple and ring aside to be boiled clean.

 

Carrying him back to her bedroom she laid him in a nest of pillows as she got dressed and brushed her hair. After applying a light bit of makeup, she moved deep into her closet and began searching the row of boxes on the floor.

 

“Aha!” she said triumphantly as she emerged with her bounty.

 

Her bounty was a medium sized box with `infant to toddler' inscribed on the folded lid. Setting the box on the foot of the bed she opened it and began milling through the old clothing. Finally finding something that would fit Shippou while she washed his clothes and mended the tears made by sharp branches. Holding the pair of small red denim pants, and the red t shirt before her, she moved to dress Shippou.

 

She smiled as she looked down upon the small kit. He was dressed completely in red and the pants and shirt were just baggy enough that he looked like a little mini Inuyasha, although dressed in cotton and denim instead of fire rat haori and hakama. Lifting Shippou once again into her arms she walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen once again to prepare breakfast for Souta and jii-chan.

 

“I can hold him mom,” Souta said as he saw his mother alternating between gathering items from the fridge, stirring soup on other foods on the stove, and setting the table, all the while trying not drop Shippou.

 

“Thank you sweetie,” she said gratefully to Souta as took Shippou from his mother and held the kit in his arms.

 

“Why's he still asleep mom?”

 

“I don't know Souta. But I'm worried too.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Kagome-sama! Kagome-sama!”

 

Kagome turned around in the garden where she was playing with Rin while Miroku, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru were talking up in tall sakura. Looking beyond the garden's wall of flowering bushes, she saw a male kitsune youkai come running toward her.

 

“Tiyeko-sama,” she greeted the youkai miko. “Is everything alright my friend?” she asked with a warm smile as he stopped quickly in front of her his red hair swinging in his face before settling back against his shoulders.

 

“I should say not Kagome-sama. I haven't seen Shippou in nearly two weeks.”

 

“Shippou?” she mulled over the name in her mind, it felt like she should know something but everything drew a blank. She looked up at the kitsune. “Who is Shippou?”

 

Tiyeko was taken aback. How could she not remember her own kit, the kit she adopted in a formal adoption ceremony in front of nearly a hundred witnesses? The adoption ceremony that took place after her mating ceremony.

 

“Kagome-sama…Shippou is your son.”

 

My son? Kagome thought. I only have a daughter…A son…Shippou…Shippou……Her eyes opened wide with alarm, Shippou!

 

“Oh Kami! Oh Kami!” she began hyperventilating she had forgotten Shippou, oh god how could she have forgotten him?!

 

Kagome fell to her knees as she began to sob. That morning after she'd woken from her nightmare that was last time she could remember clearly seeing or thinking about the kit. Why had she forgotten, how could she forget?! Her body bent forward as she rested her face in her open palms on her knees.

 

Hearing his mate's cries and smelling her tears Sesshoumaru made one strong swift leap and was in front of her in the blink of an eye. Pulling her sobbing and shaking body into his arms, he sat there, in the grass holding her against his chest. What had upset her so?

 

“Shippou, Sesshoumaru how could I have forgotten about Shippou?!” she sobbed against his chest.

 

“Shippou?” the taiyoukai question as Miroku and Inuyasha joined them.

 

“My son! Our son! I oh Kami, I adopted him in front of everyone and I forgot him!” she began sobbing harder.

 

As they all turned the name over in their minds and started to remember it was a though a great heavy fog was lifted from their minds and they all remembered the young kitsune youkai clearly.

 

“He called me Daddy. How could I forget him? He always used to bite my ears when he thought I was hurting Kagome,” Inuyasha said.

 

Inuyasha got up and began trying to sniff the kit out to see where he'd gotten to.

 

“His scent's too faint,” the hanyou said sadly. “He's been gone a while.”

 

“Did someone take him?” Kagome asked as she tried to dry tears that just kept coming.

 

“No. His scent's not mixed with anyone else's. He left on his own. Where would he go?”

 

“Kaede-sama?” Miroku asked as he pulled his silver hair away from his face. He loved the thick silver hair, it was as soft as feathers and down to his waist but sometimes, it was just a pain, like now as the wind picked up and blew the long tresses in his face.

 

“Maybe. We should go see her,” Kagome said and stood.

 

“No, not now,” Sesshoumaru said as he held her arm not letting her leave. “It'll be dark soon. We'll leave in the morning. If he is in the elder miko's village, then he is safe and will be safe until we arrive. That will give us time to talk to Shinta and find out what it was that made us forget.”

 

They all nodded somberly and followed him into the castle, gathering Rin on their way down the hall to the dining chamber. After they all ate they would go and discuss the matter further with Shinta, Sango and Maika. Everyone needed to be present. Sesshoumaru turned his head and saw Jaken out of the corner of his eye. He felt an underlying rage towards the toad youkai retainer, but couldn't understand why. Perhaps he had annoyed him again. The taiyoukai focused his eyes forward and decided to think on the matter later.