InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Torrent ❯ Again ( Chapter 28 )

~~Chapter 28~~

~Again~

 

Butterflies darted across the meadow on silvery wings, leaving streaks of color behind in their rapid dance. Tajiko cooed, laughed, swiped at them. Wiggling so much that InuYasha had to pull her out of the baby snuggly that secured her to him, he kissed her cheek then let her down to chase the insects.

 

Kagome sighed, a contented sound. She leaned against him to offer him emotional support, and InuYasha watched his daughter at play for a moment before kissing Kagome's cheek and heading up the hill to his mother's grave. `They make me happy,' he realized as he watched his mate and his daughter. Kagome chased Tajiko as the youngster shrieked in pure joy. He smiled. He hadn't realized children could crawl so fast. Tajiko amazed him, just as Kagome always did. `Maybe,' he thought as his grin widened, `Tajiko is just more remarkable than other children . . . .'

 

“Do you want me to come with you?” Kagome asked as he started away.

 

He stopped and turned back, the slow smile she loved spreading over his features. “Would you?”

 

She scooped Tajiko into her arms and caught up with InuYasha. She squealed in delight upon seeing the thick violets covering Izayoi's grave. InuYasha took the girl and kissed her cheek before letting her down to play in the flowers. Kagome giggled as Tajiko's little nose wrinkled. “I think the flowers might be overwhelming her,” she remarked.

 

InuYasha made a face. “Nah. Mother wouldn't hurt her. She would have loved Taji as much as we do.”

 

As if in answer to InuYasha's assessment, a gentle breeze lifted over the meadow, blowing away the scent, dissipating it enough for the tiny nose to withstand.

 

Hunkering down beside the small stone marker, InuYasha traced over the name etched in the stone with a claw, digging it in deeper. Kagome felt tears well behind her gaze as she watched him. `He did that,' she thought with a small smile. He always had been a man of few words. The one he'd carved into the stone spoke volumes to Kagome. He'd etched in the word, `Mother'.

 

Tajiko hitched herself forward, pulled herself up on InuYasha's knee. With a shriek of delight, the girl managed to grab a fistful of InuYasha's hair, and she tugged hard. Letting his hand drop from the stone, he slowly and deliberately turned to face their daughter. “Tajiko,” he said, his voice low, gentle, “you can do that to Papa. Don't do that to Mama.” He leaned down so that his face was breaths away from Tajiko's smaller twin version. “That would hurt Mama. We don't hurt Mama.”

 

“M . . . mm . . . mamamama,” Tajiko echoed then dissolved into giggles.

 

InuYasha's eyes widened in wonder. She didn't miss the trace of upset, though, either. Upset that Tajiko might have said `mama' before `papa'? “Did . . . did she just say `Mama'?”

 

Kagome sighed and knelt down beside her family. “She could have. It was probably just baby-babble though.”

 

He didn't answer right away. Tajiko let go of his hair and dropped onto her rear with a hefty sigh before she scooted off into the violets again. InuYasha shifted, spreading his legs and dragging Kagome close. She laid her head on his chest, content to watch their daughter play as she heard the beat of InuYasha's heart strong in her ear.

 

“She's so beautiful,” Kagome mused, staring at the smiling golden eyes of the child at play. So enthralled with everything around her, Tajiko was kinetic, reactive energy in motion. Every little thing drew her attention, and Kagome grinned lazily, watching as Tajiko was sidetracked time after time. InuYasha chuckled softly.

 

“I still say she looks like you. Come to think of it, she smells like you, too.”

 

Kagome wiggled closer, nudging his chin up so she could nestle against his neck. “She looks like you, of course. Every little thing about her looks like you. Anyway, does she really smell like me?”

 

“Sort of.”

 

Kagome leaned away to stare at the disgruntled-sounding hanyou. “Why did you say it like that?”

 

He made a face. “She smells like you used to, before you became my mate. She smells like you did when you first freed me from Goshinboku.”

 

“Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?”

 

“Feh!”

 

His face reddened. Kagome's gaze narrowed. “What are you saying, InuYasha? I thought you said you liked how I smelled.”

 

Incredibly, his face reddened even more. “I did . . . I do . . . But I'd prefer if no one else likes the way Tajiko smells.” His expression darkened, and he glared belligerently at Kagome. “And that fucking Kouga better keep his sons away from my daughter or I'll---” Kagome's laughter cut him off. Still looking quite irritated, InuYasha snorted. “What's so funny?”

 

“You sound like an overprotective father, that's all.”

 

“That's not funny! She's my daughter, what am I---”

 

“InuYasha . . . She's six months old. I think you have awhile before you need to worry about any guys trying to steal your precious baby girl.”

 

He didn't look mollified. If anything, he looked more irritated than ever. “Feh! If you had given me a son instead, we wouldn't be having this conversation.”

 

“Oh, it's my fault that we had a girl, is it? I'll have you know that I've taken enough biology classes to know that it is entirely up to the male, as far as whether or not a baby is a girl or boy. So that would be you. I claim no responsibility.”

 

He frowned at her for a moment then sighed with a grin that threatened around the corners of his lips. “You do that on purpose, don't you?”

 

She slumped back against him, idly toying with the dark blue-black prayer beads around his neck. “Do what?”

 

“Take away my best arguments.”

 

“Do I?”

 

“Feh. Of course you do.”

 

Gaze wandering to the infant hanyou, Kagome smiled. “It was too much for her,” she said softly. InuYasha looked over her head. “Sleeping in her grandmother's arms?”

 

Tajiko lay in the midst of the violets content in slumber. Her silvery hair stirred with the gentle breeze, her skin glowed with healthy color. InuYasha cleared his throat as he stared at the girl. Kagome didn't miss the huskiness in his tone. “Mother loves her, too.”

 

“Did you bury her here?”

 

He sighed, folding his arms around Kagome, holding her tightly against him. “Yeah. No one would help me. It was the best I could do.” He fell silent, content to listen to the birds sing, the guardians of the meadow, the keepers of his mother's grave. Kagome felt his lips on her forehead, and she smiled. “I learned to write so I could make a marker for her. I thought she deserved that. I came back later to put her name on the stone but . . . I guess I just thought that anyone who mattered would know who she was.”

 

Kagome wiped a tear off her cheek as she tightened her hold on him. “You amaze me, InuYasha.”

 

 

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