InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Palm of Your Hand ❯ Fidelity ( Chapter 14 )

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

Disclaimer: InuYasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, not me. I'm just having fun and making no money doing it.

Fidelity

On her way home from work the next morning, Kagome went grocery shopping for the dinner she would be preparing that evening. She decided to go ahead and drop the food off at InuYasha's apartment, since it was on the way.

When she arrived at his door she decided to knock first. It was still somewhat early and it was possible, although unlikely, that he could still be home. She knocked and waited several seconds. No answer. She knocked once more before fishing the spare key he had given her from her purse.

Just as she pushed the key into the lock the knob started to turn. Startled, Kagome jerked her hand away. As the door opened, she looked up smiling, but her smile quickly faded when she saw, not InuYasha, but rather a very attractive young woman standing in front of her.

"Oh, hello. Can I help you?" the woman asked smiling. She looked no older than twenty, and she had clearly been sleeping before Kagome had knocked. Her black hair was pulled back into a messy bun, and she was wearing an open ivory silk robe over pink floral print pajama shorts and tank top.

Kagome's first instinct was to glance up at the numbers on the door, just certain she would find that she had accidentally come to the wrong apartment. Unfortunately, she found that not to be the case. She felt like she was going to be sick. Several seconds passed without any words being spoken. "Ma'am?" the woman questioned her.

'Ma'am?! Fucking ma'am?! As if it's not bad enough that he's a fucking cheater, it has to be with girls so young they refer to me as ma'am?!'

"Excuse me? Ma'am? Are you okay?" the girl asked.

Kagome broke out of her daze and began backtracking slowly. "Uh...yeah, I'm fine. Just got off on the wrong floor. Sorry." she choked out before turning and scurrying back to the elevators; repeatedly pushing the call button so rapidly it looked as though she were having some sort of seizure. The painful lump at the base of her throat was getting more difficult to ignore by the second.

Finally the doors opened, and as she entered the elevator, glancing back over her shoulder to see that the girl was still standing in the doorway, giving her a somewhat concerned look. The doors couldn't close fast enough, and the second they did she choked out a sob, letting go of the tears that flooded her eyes. She sat her groceries down at her feet, and with shaking hands, quickly dug her sunglasses out of her purse and put them on. As soon as she exited the building, she ducked into an alley to give herself a minute to calm down and dry her tears before heading back to her apartment. The distance seeming significantly greater than ever before.

When she finally arrived at her apartment she entered in a daze, dropping the groceries unceremoniously onto the floor and sinking down to sit right where she stood. She just felt numb, her mind was in complete denial, trying desperately to formulate another logical explanation for what she had seen, but coming up short. It was her worst fear coming true. 'I guess I had good reason to be reluctant after all…' she thought. The dream she had been idealizing, the hope that had kept her going all these years...it had all been a sham. She lowered herself flat onto her back. 'No.' She shook her head against the hardwood. 'It can't be what it looks like. There has to be another explanation for this. There just has to be…" she thought as a few more tear slipped from the corners of her eyes and rolled down into her hair. "All those things he said, I know he was being sincere... wasn't he? Or maybe he was just saying what he thought I wanted to hear. Maybe I'm just a name on some long lists of conquests. No, that's stupid. This is InuYasha not some douchebag playboy...but then again, how do I know that isn't exactly what he is? A lot can change in five centuries...do I even still know him at all?' She was cutting herself off at every turn. Her emotions were waging a seemingly unconquerable battle against logic and reason.

She was thankful that Ru wasn't home at the moment. She didn't feel like she could face him right now.

She was startled from her musings by a knock at the door.

<<>>

*Bzzzt* *Bzzzt* *Bzzzt*

InuYasha's phone vibrated against his chest.

It was an unfamiliar number. 'Probably one of the installers…' he thought as he tapped the green circle and lifted the phone to his face. "Takahashi." he answered gruffly.

"Well, hello there, Takahashi!" the woman on the other end mocked him teasingly.

InuYasha's attitude brightened immediately. "Hey!" he smiled. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked as he stretched back in his desk chair.

"Umm...well, I think I might have done something bad actually..." she said sheepishly.

His back stiffened as his smile quickly faded. "What? What is it? Are you in some kind of trouble? And where are you calling from?" the rapid fire questions poured out of him, his voice tinged with slight panic.

"Oh, no, it's nothing like that." she said assuredly. "I mean, it's probably nothing at all..."

"Okay...and?" he said.

"Well... I have some friends in America that I've been meaning to visit for a while, and I thought, what better time to come than now, while you're here? So, anyway, I took some vacation time and flew out here. I thought I'd visit you first and...well, I guess technically you could say I broke into your apartment so I could sleep off the jetlag and surprise you when you got home...even though it's hardly 'breaking in' when you just leave your key on top of the doorframe..." she explained.

"Get to the point." he said sternly, as he closed his eyes and slowly lowered his forehead against the desk. He didn't like where she was going with this.

"And...someone...a woman...knocked on the door and so I answered." she said quickly before pausing. She was met only with silence. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." he answered, crestfallen. "Did you tell her who you were?"

"No, I didn't get the chance. She said she had the wrong floor and took off...but...she seemed really upset, and after she left I noticed there was a key in the doorknob...and it worked on the lock..." she elaborated. Several more moments of silence passed. "Are you mad at me?"

He sat back up in his chair. "No, I'm not mad... I'll take care of it."

"Okay...I'm really sorry…I just...I didn't know..."

"It's okay," he interrupted. "stop worrying about it. Are you at the apartment right now?" he asked.

"Yes...I take it you know who this woman was…?" she said.

"Yes." he said simply.

"Is it...are you dating her?" she asked.

"I'll see you tonight when I get off work and I'll explain everything to you then. Okay? I don't really have time to talk right now."

She sighed. "Well...okay...I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye."

InuYasha ended the call and returned the phone to his pocket. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, rubbing his face with his hands. He knew he should have just told Kagome everything right from the start. He thought he would at least have until the end of the project to tell her. 'Perfect fucking timing.' he thought sarcastically. Once again he had screwed up, true to form, and it was up to him to make it all right again. He needed to go talk to her right now before things could get any worse.

<<>>

Upon exiting the building, InuYasha did something he hadn't done in a very long time, at least not in broad daylight. He walked into the alley, and when he was sure no one was looking he jumped onto the roof of a neighboring building. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop at lightening speed, he made his way to Kagome's apartment. The energy release proving effective in averting his desire to destroy something. He didn't bother calling, not only because it was unlikely she would answer, but also because he didn't want to alert her to his visit, lest she run away.

When he arrived at her building, he entered through the roof access door, which, much to his disapproval, was left unlocked.

He quickly descended the stairs, hopping from one landing to the next until he came to her floor. When he knocked on the door of her apartment, Kagome opened it without hesitation.

"Oi, don't you know better than to open the door without looking? I could have been a serial killer." he scolded.

A part of her had sort of hoped it was someone coming to kill her.

She grabbed the door with both hands and tried to slam it with all of her might. Unfortunately for her, InuYasha was much, much faster.

His arm shot out and caught the door. She tried to push against it, but her strength was obviously no match for his, and he handily pushed his way inside.

She gave up on attacking the door and started pushing InuYasha himself instead. "Get out!" she ground out. Trying to sound tough while still clearly suppressing tears. All of her reasoning went out the window the second she saw him and her anger returned. There was just something about him that evoked such strong feelings in her, whether positive or negative, like no one and nothing else could.

"What's the matter, wench?" he asked, standing as still as a stone pillar, completely unfazed by her assault. Of course he knew exactly what was the matter.

His casual demeanor only served to further infuriate her. "You know what's the matter you sleazy, two-timing bastard!" she yelled, all the while still struggling to push him out the door and failing miserably.

InuYasha leaned down and lifted her over his shoulder, carrying her to the couch ass-up. She took the opportunity to start punching him in the kidneys. "You might as well stop fighting me, 'cause you ain't gonna win." he said as he sat her down. She looked up at him defiantly while a few rogue tears escaped her eyes and she swiped them away furiously. "Are you ready for me to explain things to you or would you rather keep assuming the worst?" he questioned her facetiously.

"Did your girlfriend tell you I stopped by your apartment?" she spat out through her tears.

He let out a little sigh. "So, you're saying you would rather assume the worst then?" he asked patiently. He got no response. He reached behind his neck and removed his concealment charm, placing it on the table before continuing. "Kagome," he sat down in front of her on the coffee table and grabbed both of her hands in his. She still didn't meet his eyes, but she didn't try to pull her hands away either. "I'm gonna set everything straight today, right now, and you're gonna have to start trusting me, 'cause we can't go back to the way things were before. I'm gonna be more open with you and you've got to have some faith in me. Okay?"

"What am I supposed to think?" she said to him, sniffling as she looked up to meet his eyes.

"Well, what you're supposed to think is the truth, but seeing as how I failed to tell it to you, I can see why you'd jump to the wrong conclusion. I take full responsibility for that." InuYasha said. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Kagome, the girl you saw at my apartment...she's not my girlfriend, she's my daughter."

All of the air escaped Kagome's lungs at once as she lifted her head upward to meet his eyes. Confusion and relief, along with a slew of other, indiscernible emotions were evident on her face. "Daughter?" she repeated in disbelief. Her grip on his hands tightening.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before now. I should have told you immediately, but I was just so fucking happy to see you and I didn't want to bombard you with everything all at once. I guess a part of me was afraid that it might freak you out or upset you and I didn't want to scare you away. Then, the longer I waited the harder it got to bring it up... I know I have no excuse and I'm a fucking coward." he said, shaking his head dejectedly. "But I swear to you, Kagome, I swear to you that I won't keep anything from you ever again."

Kagome had stopped crying at this point, and InuYasha wasn't sure whether that was a good sign, or a very bad sign.

"Ru told me that you've never even been in a relationship with anyone in his lifetime." she said, confusion still painted across her face. She was loath to admit that she was suddenly burning with jealousy at the thought of him having a baby with another woman.

"That's true, I haven't." was all he said in response.

"So you just knocked up some random woman, then?" she asked him.

He chuckled mirthlessly. "Well, I'm not sure if those are the words I would have used exactly, but yes. I just knocked up some random woman. There's a lot more to the story than that though, if you want to hear it."

"Of course I want to hear it!" she almost shouted.

InuYasha flinched slightly at her tone, but he was relieved. If she was going to tell him to go piss up a rope she probably wouldn't be interested in hearing the story.

"Okay." he began. "Well, I've had a few…" he rolled his eyes. "lapses in judgement in the past. Not that you'd know anything about that…Ahem!" he pointedly cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I get it. I've done stupid things." she snapped irritatedly. "Get on with the story."

He smiled slightly and moved to sit beside her on the couch. "Anyway," he continued. "after one of these 'judgement lapses' the woman comes to my apartment and tells me that she's pregnant and she's going to have an abortion. I knew right away she was going to try to extort money from me. The fact that she came to tell me instead of just doing it made that obvious. Well, anyways, I did want the kid, so I just flat out asked her what she wanted. She asked for five hundred thousand yen, and she wanted a signed agreement that she would have no legal obligation to the child. Now keep in mind, that was quite a bit more money in nineteen sixty-three than it is now, but still...she clearly had no idea how much money I had access to, or what a huge bargaining chip she held. Of course I had doubts about whether or not the kid was really mine, so I made a deal with her; that I'd cover all medical expenses as long as I got to choose the doctor...for obvious reasons…" He pointed to his ears for emphasis. "and I'd give her the money after the pup was born and she agreed to my terms. There wasn't DNA testing or anything at that time and I couldn't exactly tell her that I'd be able to tell by scent, but she didn't ask any questions, and I was grateful for that. She probably figured I thought she was lying about the whole thing, but I could scent that she was telling the truth about being pregnant, at least. So anyway, fast forward about eight months and she gives birth to identical twin girls who were undeniably mine, ears and all. The nurse had concealment bracelets ready for them just in case, but their birth mother didn't want to see them or hold them or anything, so they didn't have to hide that they were hanyou from her. She knew how to contact me if she had ever wanted to see them, but she never did, and to be perfectly honest, I'm glad. She obviously wasn't a very good person, and besides that, I don't know how I would have explained why we didn't age…" He paused, giving her a moment to speak if she had a question, but she remained silent.

"I was incredibly lucky that things turned out the way they did...it was almost miraculous really. If she'd have just decided to keep them without telling me, their birth would have outed my whole family as youkai. My brother is good at cleaning up messes, but I don't know how even he would have fixed the shit storm that would have resulted from that. The youkai council would have probably demanded my head on a pike. Sesshomaru threatened to castrate me if I ever even looked at another woman ever again…" He chuckled. He knew he was rambling at this point, but her silence was starting to make him anxious. "If things would have went any other way I would have been screwed...but I've always been the luckiest, unlucky bastard on planet earth..."

Kagome had listened to the entire story with rapt attention. All the while rubbing her thumbs over the back of his hands nervously. "So you raised them by yourself?" she finally asked softly.

"I was 'by myself' in that I didn't have a mate, but with Rin and her girls...I think I probably had more help raising them than most married couples do."

"Is their mother still alive?"

"No idea." he shrugged. "She'd be old as hell if she is."

Kagome nodded. "What are their names?"

"Izumi and Shima. I let my nieces pick their names. Izumi is the one you spazzed out in front of today at my apartment. Her personality is a lot like Rin's, and she's kinda like...all into peace and love and harmony and all that crap. And Shima's just like her old man...argumentative and defiant and stubborn. We don't always see eye-to-eye." he smiled wryly. "But...that's just the way it goes sometimes."

"You don't get along?"

"Well, we get along okay most of the time I guess...we just disagree on some things. Our biggest disagreement is that she thinks she makes good decisions, and I think she makes bad ones." InuYasha joked. "She entered the teenage rebellion faze around age thirteen, and still hasn't found her way back out of it."

"Ah, I see." Kagome smiled slightly.

"The old cliche of twins being opposites holds true for them. I remember when they were pups, Shima was always in trouble for something, usually for smarting off to me or Rin, and when I'd put her in 'time-out' Izumi would cry 'cause she felt sorry for her sister." he chuckled. "And when I would drop them off at school Shima would shoot into the building without even saying goodbye, and I'd have to peel Izzy off my leg every single morning until she was in middle school." He smiled and shook his head at the memory.

Kagome cracked a watery smile just before the flood gates reopened in full force. She dropped her face down into her hands as she let the tears flow, the only sounds in the room were little gasping sobs and sniffles.

InuYasha grabbed her around the waist and pulled her onto his lap. He wasn't exactly sure why she was crying this time, but he was fairly certain it wasn't because she was mad at him. She clung to him as he held her for several minutes, rubbing circles on her back as her tears soaked through the material of his shirt. When he noticed her crying start to let up he spoke. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'm just...a little sad." she said between sobs.

"Why are you sad?" he asked her as he ran his fingers through her hair.

There was another long pause before she spoke. "I never made it back." she sniffled as the tears continued to pour from her eyes and drip down from her chin. "I never got to see my friends again... and you had this life that I can never be a part of. I just...I wish I could have been there...with you."

InuYasha almost couldn't believe she was opening up to him. Finally acknowledging, and allowing herself to grieve the loss that she had so obviously been denying, even to herself. InuYasha had lived five hundred years without her, he had never really thought about the fact that Kagome had lost those five hundred years with him in an instant. He would turn back time for her if he could, but he couldn't. All he could do was comfort her while she mourned that loss. "I believe that everything happens for a reason. I had to believe that in order to stay sane all those years...but just know, Kagome, that you were always with me." He squeezed her tighter and held her close until her tears finally dried.

She lifted her puffy red eyes to look into his, and leaned in, grabbing his face in her hands and tenderly pressing several slow, open-mouthed kisses against his lips. The fantasy she had placed on a pedestal had just been violently shaken down to earth, and everything was finally crystal clear to her. She was undeniably in love with him, and not just the idea of him. She hadn't just fallen in love with the romantic notion of adventure or destiny; nor that of a wild and earthy and powerful free spirit. No. She had just fallen in love with a man. A real flesh and blood man who sat before her now, flawed and beautiful and well-nigh tame. Barely a shadow of the boy she once knew remained, but still she loved him. In fact, she had never loved him more. All lingering doubts were removed from her mind as she sat looking into his eyes, gold and bright as a winter sunset. He was real. He wasn't a dream, or an idea, or a fantasy; he was a person, he was just InuYasha, and he wasn't perfect, but he was everything. He was hers.

"I love you." she said to him, never breaking their eye contact.

"I love you, too." he echoed in return before leaning his forehead against hers.

"You're a dad..." she stated matter-of-factly as she twisted a strand of his hair around her fingers.

"Yeah. Is that weird to you?" he asked.

"Not weird...just...I'm just a little shocked, I guess. It just needs time to sink in." she said as she snuggled back into his chest.

"So you're not gonna kick me to the curb or anything?" he asked jokingly.

Kagome giggled. "No, I'm not gonna kick you to the curb, baka."

They held each other for several minutes without another word being spoken.

Kagome was the one who eventually broke the silence. "Do you...do you think you might...want to have more kids someday?" she asked with slight apprehension in her voice.

"Definitely, yes." he answered without a moment of hesitation. "As many as you want."

She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Good."

He smiled.

Kagome let out a giggle.

"What's so funny, wench?" he asked playfully.

"Just thinking about something…" she shook her head.

"And what's that?"

"You kept doing things that reminded me of my mom and I thought it was so weird, but now it all makes sense. You were just acting like a parent because you are one…"

He chuckled. "Well, I hope I don't remind you too much of your mom…"

"Hey! What's wrong with my mom?!" Kagome feigned offense.

He paused a moment. "Nothing actually. In fact, now that I think about it, she's kinda hot." InuYasha shot back, barely containing his mirth.

Kagome sat up and poked him in the ribs. "Watch it, bub!" she mock scolded him. "That's my revered mother you're talking about."

They let out a simultaneous burst of laughter.

"So wait…" Kagome said suddenly in realization. "when you said that your brother threatened to castrate you if you ever looked at another woman...were you implying that you haven't...you hadn't had sex in fifty years?!" she said incredulously.

"Well I said it had been a while didn't I?"

Kagome's mouth hung open. "Yeah but...fifty years? Isn't there a point where you turn back into a virgin?"

InuYasha chuckled. "I don't think so."

"I wish you would have told me…" she pouted.

He furrowed his brow. "Why? What difference would it have made?" he asked.

She paused for a moment, thinking. "I don't know. Maybe I'd have gotten you a card or something." she giggled.

"Cheeky little wench." InuYasha grinned and shook his head.

"So is there anything else I should know about you?" Kagome asked as she settled back down against him.

"Well," he paused to think. "I'm very good at painting fingernails," he said as he ran the pad of his thumb across her fingers. "although I hate the smell...and I can do a french braid in like three minutes flat." he chuckled, combing the fingers of one hand into her hair while the other continued to rub lazy circles on the small of her back.

Kagome giggled, nuzzling her face against the side of his neck. She turned in his lap to straddle his waist, gently running her fingers up the back of his arms as she planted little, wet kisses down the side of his throat.

InuYasha moaned at the sensation. "Damn... This is the type of thing that gets you going? Hmm..." he leaned down to her ear. "I have a box of vintage Barbie dolls at my house." he whispered huskily as he slowly ran his hands up the outside of her thighs before letting out a hoarse chuckle.

Kagome let out a little giggle before snaking her arms around his neck kissing him thoroughly. Despite his joking, she could feel the sure sign that he was actually quite serious poking her bottom. Her hands slid down his chest and yanked his shirt out of his pants before unbuttoning it and pushing it off his shoulders. All the while maintaining the contact between their lips.

"Maybe I can come over and play 'dress-up' sometime." she teased as he grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head. He relished the feel of her bare skin pressing against his. He continued to kiss her as he wrapped his arm around her waist and stood, carrying her to her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind them.

<<>><<>><<>>

A/N:

If I made a calculation error with that extortion figure please just overlook it. It's not particularly relevant to the story. 500,000 yen is about 4300 usd today. Sounds like a stupid small amount, right? But in 1963 it was about the average annual household income in the U.S. I couldn't find what the average income was in Japan in 1963, nor what the conversion rate to usd was at that time… So if I'm totally off just imagine that it says whatever amount you think it should be and carry on.

Thanks for reading and reviewing. I love every review and the fact that you see the characters as real people makes me massively glad. That's how it should be.

Have a great day/night,

StoatsandWeasels