InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stay With Me ❯ Snapshots of the Past ( Chapter 17 )

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

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha! The frustration! All the characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Thank her for the wonderful characters I have terribly used.

Chapter Seventeen

Kagome hummed to herself as walked the last few steps down the driveway. Her tennis shoes kicked away some stray gravel in her path. Even though Takeru had Inuyasha with him, she still made it her habit to come and greet them. At first she had been downright afraid of this stranger that would be watching her son constantly, but after awhile something had happened. Ever since Inuyasha had started watching Takeru he had given her glimpses of himself. Not intentionaly of course. She doubted he even realised she was around half the time. But she had seen and the glimpses were of the Inuyasha she remembered.

Sometimes she saw it when he was watching Takeru. A look in his eyes. A mumbled response. The flicking of his ear when he was joking about something. That small glimpse of fang that appeared whenever he grinned. They were small, but they were Inuyasha.

She had finally come to terms. Not saying it didn't hurt. It did. Sometimes it hurt so badly to see Takeru look up at Inuyasha and smile, but instead of calling him pappa or daddy, it was Mr. Itou. It was painful to know that the man she loved had changed so drastically that he could not even rememer her. It hurt more than losing him the first time. It felt like she was losing him all over again. But she lived with it. She moved on through each day like she had before, because someone else depended on her and she would not dissapoint him. So now she smiled and put all her love into Takeru. She would just have to be content that Inuyasha was watching over their son, even if he himself wasn't aware of that fact.

Kagome smiled at the sight of one silver head appearing over the hill. Inuyasha was listening intently to whatever Takeru was talking about. His eyes were watching the walkway, but his ears were perked in Takeru's direction, capturing each word the little hanyou spilled out.

Seconds later Takeru's black tipped ears popped into view, followed quickly by the rest of him. Inuyasha glanced up at her and tilted his hea don her direction. Takeru stopped talking and ran towards her. He giggled in delight as he latched on tight. His little body tackled her with just enough force to knock her from her kneeled position. Her head hit the pavement with a sick crack.

She wasn't sure how long she was out, or even if she had passed out at all. She tried opening her eyes, but squeezed them shut again as the afternoon light hit her painfilled gaze. She winced slightly in pain before trying again. When her eyes opened up, she found Inuyasha and Takeru standing over her. Her head was starting to pound, but she couldn't help but laugh out loud at the shock on Takeru's face.

"It's ok sweets. I'm alright."

"We'll have to see about that." Kagome didn't have time to ask what that comment meant before she was scooped up into disturbingly familiar arms. She was trying her hardest to calm the pounding in her suddenly woozy head that she never noticed them moving towards the house. Inuyasha walked slowly enough to make sure Takeru could keep up.

Kagome watched as Inuyasha shouted out orders to the shocked maids. Kagome could tell they wanted to ask what was wrong, but none of them wanted to approach the yelling body guard.

After he made sure everyone was scurrying away, Inuyasha headed towards the stairs. She tried to look over his broad shoulder at Takeru, but he wouldn't loosen his grip enough to let her move. She growled low in her throat from frustration. The shocked look on his face matched Takeru's earlier expression.

"Where is Takeru?"

Her little hanyou popped up in front of them. His ears were pressed against his head, his face looked absolutely miserable.

"Momma's room is over here by mine." Kagome was feeling pretty bad at this point and she knew Inuyasha was picking up on it. Her body was tense from the pain and she could tell her face was pale. She just hoped Takeru wasn't. She didn't want him to feel any worse about it. Of all the things a hanyou had to worry about his own mother should not have to be one of them.

Inuyasha strolled into her room as if he owned it. He headed for her bed and laid her carefully on it, making sure her head was resting carefully on the large fluffy pillows. Without a word he went into her bathroom. She could hear him pulling out the drawers looking for something, then the water turning on. While he was in there Takeru reappeared with Sesshomaru and Rin right behind him. Takeru immediately crawled up onto the bed with her.

"What have you done to yourself this time?" Sesshomaru stood over her bed, giving her another of his bored looks. Kagome ignored him entirely as Inuyasha carefully placed a cold cloth on her forehead.

"Ignore him Kagome. He's just cranky he had to leave his desk chair. What happened?" Sesshomaru sniffed at the comment about his chair.

Kagome smiled at Rin in gratitude. "I wasn't balanced well and fell over when Takeru gave me a hug. I hit my head is all. It's not that bad. Really!" A snort from across the room was the only indication that Inuyasha was still around.

Sesshomaru turned towards him. His half-brother was leaning against the wall beside the door with his arms crossed. Although he was trying to look bored, Sesshomaru could see the concern in the way his ears flicked around the room constantly, always landing back on Kagome when she made even the slightest of sounds.

"How hard did you hit your head Kagome? Where you out for any amount of time? Do you have a headache? Is anyting else hurting?" Sesshomaru snorted as Rin shot the questions at Kagome.

"If she didn't have a headache before I believe she has one now." Rin glared over her shoulder at Sesshomaru.

"That was not nice Sesshomaru. I have to know how badly she's hurt. If you can't be nice I'm going to have to kick you out of the room."

Sesshomaru just lifted an eyebrow at her. "And how are you going to do that?"

Takeru ignored the two adults arguing. He curled closer to his Momma hoping he hadn't hurt her too bad. He knew he had to be careful 'cus she was only human, but sometimes he forgot. He had accidentally scratched her once and she had to get stitches for it. She healed alot faster than most people because she was mated to a hanyou, but she still got hurt. He didn't want her to get hurt. Especially because of him. She was his Momma!

Inuyasha watched as the Tai Youkai argued with a human woman. He thought it was quite funny to see the Great Tai Youkai arguing with a human. Future mate or not. It was pretty funny.

All laughter left him though as he looked over at Kagome and Takeru. Kagome was scratching her sons ears gently as she whispered to him. Even from across the room he could hear her tell him not to worry.

Not wanting to break into either conversation he waited, looking around the room to waste time. Apparently Kagome liked pictures. There were so many all over her walls. He had even seen the ones she had in her bathroom. Pictures in a bathroom. Go figure.

Most of them were of nature. Sunsets, sunrises, valleys, the mansion yard in winter, ice hanging from a birdfeeder, the ocean. So many of them, but she had even more pictures of family. Most of the family pictures were placed on dressers and tables. A few looked to be friends. There was one picture of a young couple in graduation robes smiling into the camera, with a very pregnant Kagome between them. There were more pictures of Kagome and a group of friends. One of the friends he recognised as the wolf youkai that worked at Takeru's school. Most were of her and Takeru though. He saw a grouping of pictures that were obviously pictures of Takeru in each year of his life. They hung over her bed in a circle, all surrounding one picture that looked to be of her and a young man.

Inuyasha couldn't help it. He was too curious about this woman as it was. The chance to see the man she had fallen in love with was far too great to pass up.

He studied it carefully from where he stood. They looked to be very young. High school age maybe? Kagome hadn't changed much. She was smiling as the man behind her rested his chin on top of her head. His arms were wrapped around her protectively. His amber eyes looked content. Happy. His silver hair was the same as Sesshomaru's, although a bit shorter. It was quite a difference, compared to Kagome's jet black locks.

Inuyasha studied the features of the young man, bit by bit. He could see Takeru in the young mans face. He wondered absently if they had the same mannerisms also. Or maybe Takeru had picked up his Uncles mannerisms instead.

He looked over to where Sesshomaru was still arguing with the little woman. Was Kagome's husband like Sesshomaru? Cold? Standoffish? The picture said otherwise. He seemed more human than Sesshomaru. More prepared to smile and laugh.

Inuyasha looked back at the picture over Kagome's bed. In a dark and blinding instant something hit him. It was like waking up from his coma all over again.

In all of his studying he had looked at each individual feature. He had ignored the face in it's entirety. But now he saw it all and understood all of his youki's urgings. Suddenly he understood why Takeru had seemed so shocked that first time they saw each other. It wasn't because he was scared of him. Or because Inuyasha was a hanyou also.

It was because he had recognised him.

How could he not? His mother had Inuyasha's picture on her wall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I am so happy to finally get this chapter out! I have been waiting and waiting to be able to write it. Don't worry though. I'm already working on the next chapter. Hopefully I can get it done pretty quickly. Sorry for the cliffy!

~Addicted2pjs