InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomaru's Story ❯ Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 

Sesshoumaru regarded his new mate as she dressed, eager to find Tomaru and begin the day's activities. He cleared his throat. “Kagome?”

 

She turned as she fastened her obi. “Hai? What is it?”

 

He stood and walked toward her, dressed simply in his usual haori and hakama. He had somehow materialized another haori this morning and she didn't really want to know how. “We need to talk.”

 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Can it wait? I want to go wake up Tomaru.”

 

“Tomaru is what we need to talk about.”

 

Her eyes widened in alarm. “Is he all right? What happened? Is he sick?”

 

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Do not worry. He is perfectly fine. I checked on him myself last night before retiring. Shippou did a fine job of putting him to bed.”

 

Kagome relaxed. “Thank Kami,” she whispered. “If anything ever happened to him…”

 

She looked up at him, her eyes full of sadness. “He's… he's all I have left of Inuyasha,” she murmured. “I know that bothers you, but Tomaru is my last link with him.”

 

Golden eyes narrowed. “About that-“

 

He was cut off by a wail drifting down the hallway. Speak of the hanyou. “He is awake, it would seem,” he said instead, knowing that she got very anxious when he cried. “You go to him and I will meet with you in the dining area.”

 

She gave him a brilliant smile. “Hai. We have a lot to tell the children.” She stood on her tiptoes to give him a lightning-quick kiss on his striped cheek before rushing out the door and heading for their son.

 

Baka… you should have told her. She's your mate now- you have claimed her, now claim your son!

 

I can't. Not yet- when the time is right, and she is ready for it, I will tell her.

 

-------------------------------

 

“You… you're what?” Shippou asked, totally stunned.

 

“We're mated now, Shippou,” Kagome replied cheerfully as she spooned mashed apples into Tomaru's waiting mouth. “Sesshoumaru and I are officially a couple.”

 

Rin looked back and forth between the youkai who had resurrected her from the dead to the miko who had adopted her as her own daughter. Shippou merely narrowed his eyes at Sesshoumaru and stood up. “I don't believe it. Prove it. If you had taken her as your official mate, she would bear your mark. And I don't see it.”

 

The kitsune had nerve- he had to grant him that. He knew what a little wimp he had been around Inuyasha- perhaps living around a more mature role-model had helped to toughen him up a bit.

 

Standing, the tai-youkai moved around next to Kagome where she sat sideways at the table, feeding Tomaru sitting at a make-shift high chair that Kagome herself had designed and created. He grasped her shoulders, turned her back to the kit and lowered the neckline of her kimono, brushing her long hair aside so that his lavender crescent was quite obvious. “Does that reassure you, kit?”

 

Mollified, he sat down again. “Hai.”

 

“Does it bother you?”

 

Shippou looked surprised. “No. Should it?”

 

Rin finally spoke up. “You… married Mama?”

 

The tai-youkai turned to the little girl, his eyes softening a bit although the cool mask he always wore never changed. “In ningen terms, hai. She is what you would call my wife now.”

 

She pondered that a moment. “So… can I call you Papa?”

 

Kagome choked on a smile. Shippou's eyes boggled. Sesshoumaru actually smiled slightly. “If that is what you wish.”

 

“Yaaaaaay!” Rin cried as she stood up and ran around the table to launch herself against the inu-youkai's stomach. She wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight squeeze. “Rin has a Papa now too!”

 

Big brown eyes looked up at him innocently. “You're Tomaru's Papa, aren't you?” she said, more of a statement of fact rather than an actual question.

 

He froze. Completely and utterly. He… could… not… move. He could only shift his eyes, which he turned to Kagome.

 

Who continued to feed the child in question as if the statement didn't affect her in the least. Tomaru, his face somewhat smeared with excess applesauce, giggled and twitched his little white ears. Kagome turned and grinned at the little girl. “Hai, Rin. Sesshoumaru will be Tomaru's Papa now too.”

 

Somehow he was able to start breathing again. He hadn't even realized he had stopped. Rin opened her mouth, possibly to elucidate about her query, when Sesshoumaru spoke first. “Perhaps we should celebrate,” he said, slightly louder than normal, trying to drown out anything else the girl might reveal.

 

Rin grinned brightly as she clapped her little hands. “Oooo! That would be wonderful! A party!”

 

Shippou raised an eyebrow at his new father-figure but didn't speak what was on his mind. Instead he agreed with Rin's statement. “I agree. A party to celebrate your new mate would be ideal.”

 

Kit's even starting to sound like me… “Very well. I shall tell Jaken to begin preparations at once.”

 

As he turned to leave, Shippou watched him through narrowed green eyes. Something fishy was going on here, and it wasn't the salmon that was on the menu for dinner.