InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unfettered ❯ Resolutions ( Chapter 5 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: inufan625 
Coming to terms with things...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 05.06.2006 | Updated On: 11.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 3.1K | Status: Work In Progress
Coming to terms with things...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 05.06.2006 | Updated On: 11.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 3.1K | Status: Work In Progress
A/N: Thanks to those who have been kind enough to review, I sincerely appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha!
“All right, let us begin,” the judge said as he looked at the little boy. “Your name is Higurashi InuTaro, is that right?”
“Yes sir,” Taro said quietly.
“Do you know what a lie is?” the judge asked.
“It is when you don’t tell the truth, like when my step father said he didn’t hit my mama,” Taro replied.
Opposing counsel choked on the sip of water he had taken, and the judge had to snort to mask a slight laugh. Much was to be said for the simple honesty of young children. “I see. Now, can you tell me what a promise is?”
“Papa says...” Taro started.
“When you say papa, do you mean Yoshido-san?”
“No sir, I mean my real papa,” Taro replied. “He says that making a promise is giving your word, and that sometimes his word is all a man has. When you make a promise you have to do everything you can to keep it, because if you don’t, then you can be rich and still have nothing, because you won’t have your honor.”
Yuriko could have cheered as the judge gave a small nod. She could see that Taro’s answer was much more than he had been expecting.
“Your father is right,” the judge told him. “Now, do you promise that you will answer every question Sato-san or Takamori-san asks you with the truth?”
“Yes sir, I promise,” Taro replied.
“Good. I am satisfied that this boy has the mental capacity to take part in these proceedings,” the judge announced. “Sato-san, you may begin.”
“Okay, Taro, I want you to first tell me everything you can about the night before you and your mother left to stay with your grandma,” Yuriko said.
“Mama was cooking dinner and he came home,” Taro began. “I didn’t mean to leave my car on the floor... He stepped on it and got mad. He yelled at mama and I hid behind her. He told her to move but she wouldn’t.” Taro wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, and continued, “I wanted to help her, but mama made me promise not to. He hit her in the stomach and threw my car. She still wouldn’t move, so he hit her in the face. He threw our dinner on the floor and left. I brought mama the trashcan, to help clean up, and then made an ice pack for her face. After that, she made me ramen and we watched TV together until bed time.”
“Was this the first time your step father hit your mother?” Yuriko asked.
Taro shook his head. “He hit her lots of times.” The young boy lowered his head. “Mostly because of me.”
“That will do Sato-san,” the judge said. “Takamori-san if you would...”
“Taro who is your real father?” he asked. “Do you even know?”
“InuYasha,” Taro replied. “Mama always made sure I knew that he wasn’t my papa. My papa would have never hurt my mama.”
“All right. How long have you known your real father?”
“He found us the day we went to stay with grandma,” Taro replied. “I don’t know how many days ago that was. I’m sorry.”
“You remember that you promised to tell the truth?” Takamori-san questioned.
“I remember.”
“And you still say that your mother never took you to see your father, or that your father never came over to see your mother.” Taro shook his head, and the lawyer continued, “Did your mother ever leave you with your grandmother to go somewhere that you could not go?”
“No, mama never left me in case he came while she was gone. She didn’t want him to be able to hurt me when she wasn’t there to protect me,” Taro explained.
“I think I have heard enough,” the judge said. There was no doubt in his mind that the little boy was telling the truth. “Bring in your clients, and I would like to see the man claiming to be the boy’s father as well, if he is here.”
Taro jumped up and ran to his mother as she entered the room. Kagome hugged him. “Hey, baby.”
InuYasha stepped in behind her and picked Taro up. He carried the boy around the table and sat beside Kagome. InuYasha took her hand and she smiled at him.
He came in next and sneered at Kagome. It was all InuYasha could do not to reach across the table and beat the shit out of the bastard.
The judge looked at the man who was sitting with the little boy in his lap and was taken aback by their likeness. It became more than clear that the woman’s husband was merely trying to make things as difficult as possible for her. The psychological evaluations by the court appointed doctors had revealed the woman to be a fit mother who had fallen in to the same trap many battered women did. Her shame had kept her from reporting her situation, and as far as he could tell, she had done everything in her power to protect her child. The little boy was also found to be sound, damaged slightly due to seeing his mother abused, but nothing that wouldn’t heal with time spent in a loving and healthy home. The woman wanted nothing from her husband, except her son, and he had no doubts as to which man had fathered the child.
"I have come to my decision. Higurashi-san, I am awarding you full custody of your son. I see no reason for a paternity test. It has become clear that you, Yoshido-san, simply wish to continue to hurt this woman and made your accusations not because you feel any attachment to this child, but because you are angry that she has finally found the courage to leave you. I find no proof that she was unfaithful or that she is an unfit mother.
“On the contrary, it seems to me that she could have spared herself much pain had she let you take your anger out on her child. If there were more mothers like her, we would have less abused children and far more men in jail. I am ordering you to under go counseling as well. Higurashi-san, I grant you your divorce,” the judge finished. “Sato-san, the courts will send you the finalized decree as soon as it is processed.”
Kagome was crying as she hugged InuYasha, their son between them. The judge left and her ex-husband stood up.
“Have the bitch and her freaky little bastard,” he sneered.
InuYasha stood up and narrowed his eyes at the man. For a brief moment Kagome was worried about his intentions, but as the same low growl he had used at the apartment filled the air, her ex-husband turned and hurried out of the room.
InuYasha snorted. “Coward.”
“Thank you so much, Sato-san,” Kagome said sincerely.
“You are very welcome,” she replied. “I will send you a copy of the paper work when it comes in.”
“It’s over, mama,” she said, hugging her mother. “The judge isn’t even going to make them take a paternity test. He gave Taro to me and I’m finally free of him.”
“That’s wonderful, sweetheart,” Asami replied. “Now, let’s all go inside.”
Since the mediation had taken place in the late afternoon, it was nearly time for dinner, and Asami set about cooking with the help of her daughter. Taro led his father to his Uncle’s room so that they could play video games together until the meal was ready to be served. It wasn’t very much later when Kagome’s grandfather came to bring the two hanyou to the table.
Higurashi Makoto was an old man, and one whose beliefs were well established. He had spent his entire life living, in the same house, on the grounds of the shrine that his family had watched over for generations; raised to uphold the Shinto system of beliefs and as a priest of that faith. His life had not always been easy and money had always been tight, but he had been satisfied with having his family near him and living an honorable life.
It had been difficult to maintain his faith when his only son, his only child, had been killed in an automobile accident nearly fifteen years ago. It was only months afterwards that he had lost his dear wife to a fast spreading and malignant cancer that had stolen her life, but not her mind or the heart he had fallen in love with so many years before.
When his son’s wife came to him several months after his death with his two grandchildren, whom he had never before seen, and told him that she had no where else to go, and no more money to care of her children, he had welcomed them. He found a new admiration for the woman whom he had not wanted his son to marry, and decided at once not to make the same mistakes. He had stubbornly refused to speak to his son after the wedding, but now, in his empty house, he realized that there were more important things than his pride. His son was gone, but he had two living, breathing pieces of him right here before him.
There were no words to describe the joy that had returned to his life that evening. His infant grandson took after his mother in appearance, but his granddaughter with her bright, curious blue eyes was the picture of his son and his late wife, and he had loved them both from the first moment he had laid eyes on them.
Both children grew and with each day it became clear that they were special; remarkable both in different ways, but neither better than the other. Souta, who was so open, so approving. He was always encouraging and friendly, and such an obedient and affectionate child. A little boy who had never known his father, but was still a son any man would be proud to claim as his own. Then there was Kagome, who seemed to shine more brightly than any other. She was lit with an inner light and had always been uncommonly kind and generous, seeming to feel things more deeply than others. She had a capacity for empathy that was sometimes more than he would have wished up on her.
Perhaps it was because he could see how special she was, beyond what any grandparent thinks of their grandchild, that had caused him to fail to see that the young hanyou from the past was more than just part youkai, but also an honorable man.
His anger had been great when he found out that his only granddaughter had been spoiled by the half demon, and more than that, carried within her his child. He had raged and demanded that she have an abortion. He had even threatened to throw her out if she refused, but Kagome had remained resolute in her decision.
“You will do the right thing, young lady,” Makoto yelled. “Afterwards, as is proper, we will hold a ceremony for the child, but it must be done.”
“No. I won’t,” Kagome said quietly, but her voice was firm.
“You will, or you will find yourself cast out of this house,” he told her.
She lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. “I’ll leave jii-chan, if that is really what you want, but I will not get rid of my baby, of InuYasha’s baby. I love him and I could never destroy a life created out of that love. Our baby didn’t ask for this, to be born into a world where his father doesn’t even exist. I will have to live with that, and with knowing that my child will never know its father, but I won't punish an innocent life for my choices. I know it won’t be easy, and that I will have to make sacrifices. I am prepared to accept that, even if it means that you will no longer consider me your granddaughter.”
His retort died on his lips as he realized that he was now making the same mistake he had made once before. His son’s words had been frighteningly similar to the ones the girl before him had just spoken. “You will always be my granddaughter, and while I do not approve of your decision, it is yours to make.”
“I know this isn't what you hoped for my life to be, and it isn’t what I imagined either,” Kagome admitted. “But as you taught me, we must always have faith that things will work out as they were meant to be.”
When Kagome had come home with a nice looking young man and informed them that they would be getting married, he had believed that her words had come to pass. Things were working out as they were meant to, and that his granddaughter was going to have the life she deserved. He now knew how wrong he had been.
He watched as Kagome talked to both her son and the man she loved, and wondered how he could have so badly misjudged not one, but two men. It was he who had encouraged her to marry, insinuating that he would be more accepting of her child if she were to have a husband, to be a proper wife. It would always be his shame that he had resorted to such a thing, and that he had wanted to deny life to the little boy who was currently making faces behind his father’s back to see his mother laugh. Now he could not imagine his life without the little hanyou boy.
The strange young hanyou who had been deserving of both his respect and his gratitude, for protecting his granddaughter as she fulfilled her destiny, had received neither; and a man, who had turned out to be nothing more than an abusive coward, had gained his approval in spite of the fact that he could see that Kagome was not in love with him, and that she was unhappy.
He wondered how many lessons he had yet to learn from those lacking in years, but not in wisdom. He decided, however, that this injustice had gone on far too long, and he stood. The others at the table fell silent.
“In life, one comes to find that age does not always mean wisdom, and that youth is not always foolish,” he began. “My grandchildren have been a blessing in many ways, but most important is what I have learned from them. It would be a lie to say that I was pleased when a strange young hanyou came through the well on this shrine to take my granddaughter to fight youkai, or that I thought such a man worthy of her.
“One of the most difficult things for a man to admit, especially for one as old as I, is when he has been wrong. Thank you, all of you, for teaching me that it is not what a person is, but who they show themselves to be that is the most important; a lesson I should have learned long ago. And thank you, InuYasha, for not only protecting Kagome, but for returning and bringing with you the little girl I remember. It is an honor to be able to welcome you to the family. I hope you can one day forgive a foolish old man for his mistakes, and taking so long to correct them.”
Kagome looked to InuYasha with tears in her eyes to see what he would do. The older hanyou looked directly at the eldest Higurashi and bowed his head respectfully. She rose from her seat and hugged her grandfather tightly.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Kagome reached up and toyed with the smooth blue beads around his neck. “I’m so glad it’s over, that everything worked out.”
“Keh, me too,” InuYasha offered. “I was thinking... I should probably head back in the morning, to get things ready. It might take me a while though.”
“Will you come visit us? Taro will miss you... I’ll miss you,” Kagome told him quietly.
“Every day,” he agreed, turning so that he could look directly at her.
Kagome smiled and InuYasha brushed a hand across her cheek before capturing her lips with his own. A startled gasp escaped her as he held her close and their feet left the ground. He landed gracefully in the branches of the Goshinboku, where the two sat together in a companionable silence, and simply enjoyed the night.
“Mama! Mama!” the boy cried, running into her room.
A quick glance at the clock told her that she had only been sleeping around three hours, having stayed up most of the night with her hanyou. They had talked a little, but mostly they had held each other and spent the time indulging in gentle caressing and tender kisses.
Her voice was thick with sleep as she spoke to her son, “What is it baby?”
“I can’t find papa,” he whined. “I looked everywhere, but he’s gone. He left us.”
His reason for waking turned out to be more serious than she had first thought; though she guessed she should have expected it to be something important, since Taro was not prone to overreaction. She sat up and hugged the little boy to her.
“He didn’t leave us,” Kagome said reassuringly. “He had to go get our home ready for us to live in. Now that we don’t have to worry about him anymore, we can finally go home with papa.”
“But-But he didn’t say goodbye,” Taro sniffed. “And I wanted him to play ball with me today.”
“Papa left really early and he didn’t want to wake you,” Kagome explained.
“When will he be back?” the boy pressed.
Kagome released him and smiled as she scratched behind his ears. The little boy’s eyes fluttered closed. “He promised to visit every day, so I expect he’ll be back at least in time for dinner, and you and I can play together until then.”
Taro stepped back and pouted. “Why can’t he just stay here? Or why couldn’t we go with him?”
Kagome sighed. “If we went with him, we would only be in the way. Look at it this way: the sooner papa finishes our house, the sooner we can go there and stay with him. Besides, it really is just like he went to work and he’ll be back tonight, okay?”
“Okay, mama,” the little boy agreed, though rather reluctantly.
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha!
~ * ~
Taro sat with his hands in his lap and tried to remember everything that he had been told. The nice lawyer lady was sitting in the chair beside him, and there was a balding man across from him. A few chairs down at the head of the table was a man with white hair and glasses. He was the judge.“All right, let us begin,” the judge said as he looked at the little boy. “Your name is Higurashi InuTaro, is that right?”
“Yes sir,” Taro said quietly.
“Do you know what a lie is?” the judge asked.
“It is when you don’t tell the truth, like when my step father said he didn’t hit my mama,” Taro replied.
Opposing counsel choked on the sip of water he had taken, and the judge had to snort to mask a slight laugh. Much was to be said for the simple honesty of young children. “I see. Now, can you tell me what a promise is?”
“Papa says...” Taro started.
“When you say papa, do you mean Yoshido-san?”
“No sir, I mean my real papa,” Taro replied. “He says that making a promise is giving your word, and that sometimes his word is all a man has. When you make a promise you have to do everything you can to keep it, because if you don’t, then you can be rich and still have nothing, because you won’t have your honor.”
Yuriko could have cheered as the judge gave a small nod. She could see that Taro’s answer was much more than he had been expecting.
“Your father is right,” the judge told him. “Now, do you promise that you will answer every question Sato-san or Takamori-san asks you with the truth?”
“Yes sir, I promise,” Taro replied.
“Good. I am satisfied that this boy has the mental capacity to take part in these proceedings,” the judge announced. “Sato-san, you may begin.”
“Okay, Taro, I want you to first tell me everything you can about the night before you and your mother left to stay with your grandma,” Yuriko said.
“Mama was cooking dinner and he came home,” Taro began. “I didn’t mean to leave my car on the floor... He stepped on it and got mad. He yelled at mama and I hid behind her. He told her to move but she wouldn’t.” Taro wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, and continued, “I wanted to help her, but mama made me promise not to. He hit her in the stomach and threw my car. She still wouldn’t move, so he hit her in the face. He threw our dinner on the floor and left. I brought mama the trashcan, to help clean up, and then made an ice pack for her face. After that, she made me ramen and we watched TV together until bed time.”
“Was this the first time your step father hit your mother?” Yuriko asked.
Taro shook his head. “He hit her lots of times.” The young boy lowered his head. “Mostly because of me.”
“That will do Sato-san,” the judge said. “Takamori-san if you would...”
“Taro who is your real father?” he asked. “Do you even know?”
“InuYasha,” Taro replied. “Mama always made sure I knew that he wasn’t my papa. My papa would have never hurt my mama.”
“All right. How long have you known your real father?”
“He found us the day we went to stay with grandma,” Taro replied. “I don’t know how many days ago that was. I’m sorry.”
“You remember that you promised to tell the truth?” Takamori-san questioned.
“I remember.”
“And you still say that your mother never took you to see your father, or that your father never came over to see your mother.” Taro shook his head, and the lawyer continued, “Did your mother ever leave you with your grandmother to go somewhere that you could not go?”
“No, mama never left me in case he came while she was gone. She didn’t want him to be able to hurt me when she wasn’t there to protect me,” Taro explained.
“I think I have heard enough,” the judge said. There was no doubt in his mind that the little boy was telling the truth. “Bring in your clients, and I would like to see the man claiming to be the boy’s father as well, if he is here.”
Taro jumped up and ran to his mother as she entered the room. Kagome hugged him. “Hey, baby.”
InuYasha stepped in behind her and picked Taro up. He carried the boy around the table and sat beside Kagome. InuYasha took her hand and she smiled at him.
He came in next and sneered at Kagome. It was all InuYasha could do not to reach across the table and beat the shit out of the bastard.
The judge looked at the man who was sitting with the little boy in his lap and was taken aback by their likeness. It became more than clear that the woman’s husband was merely trying to make things as difficult as possible for her. The psychological evaluations by the court appointed doctors had revealed the woman to be a fit mother who had fallen in to the same trap many battered women did. Her shame had kept her from reporting her situation, and as far as he could tell, she had done everything in her power to protect her child. The little boy was also found to be sound, damaged slightly due to seeing his mother abused, but nothing that wouldn’t heal with time spent in a loving and healthy home. The woman wanted nothing from her husband, except her son, and he had no doubts as to which man had fathered the child.
"I have come to my decision. Higurashi-san, I am awarding you full custody of your son. I see no reason for a paternity test. It has become clear that you, Yoshido-san, simply wish to continue to hurt this woman and made your accusations not because you feel any attachment to this child, but because you are angry that she has finally found the courage to leave you. I find no proof that she was unfaithful or that she is an unfit mother.
“On the contrary, it seems to me that she could have spared herself much pain had she let you take your anger out on her child. If there were more mothers like her, we would have less abused children and far more men in jail. I am ordering you to under go counseling as well. Higurashi-san, I grant you your divorce,” the judge finished. “Sato-san, the courts will send you the finalized decree as soon as it is processed.”
Kagome was crying as she hugged InuYasha, their son between them. The judge left and her ex-husband stood up.
“Have the bitch and her freaky little bastard,” he sneered.
InuYasha stood up and narrowed his eyes at the man. For a brief moment Kagome was worried about his intentions, but as the same low growl he had used at the apartment filled the air, her ex-husband turned and hurried out of the room.
InuYasha snorted. “Coward.”
“Thank you so much, Sato-san,” Kagome said sincerely.
“You are very welcome,” she replied. “I will send you a copy of the paper work when it comes in.”
~ * ~
Asami was waiting anxiously for them to return. She saw Kagome’s smile and knew things had gone well.“It’s over, mama,” she said, hugging her mother. “The judge isn’t even going to make them take a paternity test. He gave Taro to me and I’m finally free of him.”
“That’s wonderful, sweetheart,” Asami replied. “Now, let’s all go inside.”
Since the mediation had taken place in the late afternoon, it was nearly time for dinner, and Asami set about cooking with the help of her daughter. Taro led his father to his Uncle’s room so that they could play video games together until the meal was ready to be served. It wasn’t very much later when Kagome’s grandfather came to bring the two hanyou to the table.
Higurashi Makoto was an old man, and one whose beliefs were well established. He had spent his entire life living, in the same house, on the grounds of the shrine that his family had watched over for generations; raised to uphold the Shinto system of beliefs and as a priest of that faith. His life had not always been easy and money had always been tight, but he had been satisfied with having his family near him and living an honorable life.
It had been difficult to maintain his faith when his only son, his only child, had been killed in an automobile accident nearly fifteen years ago. It was only months afterwards that he had lost his dear wife to a fast spreading and malignant cancer that had stolen her life, but not her mind or the heart he had fallen in love with so many years before.
When his son’s wife came to him several months after his death with his two grandchildren, whom he had never before seen, and told him that she had no where else to go, and no more money to care of her children, he had welcomed them. He found a new admiration for the woman whom he had not wanted his son to marry, and decided at once not to make the same mistakes. He had stubbornly refused to speak to his son after the wedding, but now, in his empty house, he realized that there were more important things than his pride. His son was gone, but he had two living, breathing pieces of him right here before him.
There were no words to describe the joy that had returned to his life that evening. His infant grandson took after his mother in appearance, but his granddaughter with her bright, curious blue eyes was the picture of his son and his late wife, and he had loved them both from the first moment he had laid eyes on them.
Both children grew and with each day it became clear that they were special; remarkable both in different ways, but neither better than the other. Souta, who was so open, so approving. He was always encouraging and friendly, and such an obedient and affectionate child. A little boy who had never known his father, but was still a son any man would be proud to claim as his own. Then there was Kagome, who seemed to shine more brightly than any other. She was lit with an inner light and had always been uncommonly kind and generous, seeming to feel things more deeply than others. She had a capacity for empathy that was sometimes more than he would have wished up on her.
Perhaps it was because he could see how special she was, beyond what any grandparent thinks of their grandchild, that had caused him to fail to see that the young hanyou from the past was more than just part youkai, but also an honorable man.
His anger had been great when he found out that his only granddaughter had been spoiled by the half demon, and more than that, carried within her his child. He had raged and demanded that she have an abortion. He had even threatened to throw her out if she refused, but Kagome had remained resolute in her decision.
“You will do the right thing, young lady,” Makoto yelled. “Afterwards, as is proper, we will hold a ceremony for the child, but it must be done.”
“No. I won’t,” Kagome said quietly, but her voice was firm.
“You will, or you will find yourself cast out of this house,” he told her.
She lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. “I’ll leave jii-chan, if that is really what you want, but I will not get rid of my baby, of InuYasha’s baby. I love him and I could never destroy a life created out of that love. Our baby didn’t ask for this, to be born into a world where his father doesn’t even exist. I will have to live with that, and with knowing that my child will never know its father, but I won't punish an innocent life for my choices. I know it won’t be easy, and that I will have to make sacrifices. I am prepared to accept that, even if it means that you will no longer consider me your granddaughter.”
His retort died on his lips as he realized that he was now making the same mistake he had made once before. His son’s words had been frighteningly similar to the ones the girl before him had just spoken. “You will always be my granddaughter, and while I do not approve of your decision, it is yours to make.”
“I know this isn't what you hoped for my life to be, and it isn’t what I imagined either,” Kagome admitted. “But as you taught me, we must always have faith that things will work out as they were meant to be.”
When Kagome had come home with a nice looking young man and informed them that they would be getting married, he had believed that her words had come to pass. Things were working out as they were meant to, and that his granddaughter was going to have the life she deserved. He now knew how wrong he had been.
He watched as Kagome talked to both her son and the man she loved, and wondered how he could have so badly misjudged not one, but two men. It was he who had encouraged her to marry, insinuating that he would be more accepting of her child if she were to have a husband, to be a proper wife. It would always be his shame that he had resorted to such a thing, and that he had wanted to deny life to the little boy who was currently making faces behind his father’s back to see his mother laugh. Now he could not imagine his life without the little hanyou boy.
The strange young hanyou who had been deserving of both his respect and his gratitude, for protecting his granddaughter as she fulfilled her destiny, had received neither; and a man, who had turned out to be nothing more than an abusive coward, had gained his approval in spite of the fact that he could see that Kagome was not in love with him, and that she was unhappy.
He wondered how many lessons he had yet to learn from those lacking in years, but not in wisdom. He decided, however, that this injustice had gone on far too long, and he stood. The others at the table fell silent.
“In life, one comes to find that age does not always mean wisdom, and that youth is not always foolish,” he began. “My grandchildren have been a blessing in many ways, but most important is what I have learned from them. It would be a lie to say that I was pleased when a strange young hanyou came through the well on this shrine to take my granddaughter to fight youkai, or that I thought such a man worthy of her.
“One of the most difficult things for a man to admit, especially for one as old as I, is when he has been wrong. Thank you, all of you, for teaching me that it is not what a person is, but who they show themselves to be that is the most important; a lesson I should have learned long ago. And thank you, InuYasha, for not only protecting Kagome, but for returning and bringing with you the little girl I remember. It is an honor to be able to welcome you to the family. I hope you can one day forgive a foolish old man for his mistakes, and taking so long to correct them.”
Kagome looked to InuYasha with tears in her eyes to see what he would do. The older hanyou looked directly at the eldest Higurashi and bowed his head respectfully. She rose from her seat and hugged her grandfather tightly.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
~ * ~
Kagome and InuYasha put Taro to bed together and then went outside. They made their way over to the Goshinboku and stood together looking up at the ancient tree. After a moment the hanyou wrapped his arm around the waist of the woman beside him and she leaned her head on his shoulder.Kagome reached up and toyed with the smooth blue beads around his neck. “I’m so glad it’s over, that everything worked out.”
“Keh, me too,” InuYasha offered. “I was thinking... I should probably head back in the morning, to get things ready. It might take me a while though.”
“Will you come visit us? Taro will miss you... I’ll miss you,” Kagome told him quietly.
“Every day,” he agreed, turning so that he could look directly at her.
Kagome smiled and InuYasha brushed a hand across her cheek before capturing her lips with his own. A startled gasp escaped her as he held her close and their feet left the ground. He landed gracefully in the branches of the Goshinboku, where the two sat together in a companionable silence, and simply enjoyed the night.
~ * ~
Kagome was roused from her sleep by the urgent cries of her son.“Mama! Mama!” the boy cried, running into her room.
A quick glance at the clock told her that she had only been sleeping around three hours, having stayed up most of the night with her hanyou. They had talked a little, but mostly they had held each other and spent the time indulging in gentle caressing and tender kisses.
Her voice was thick with sleep as she spoke to her son, “What is it baby?”
“I can’t find papa,” he whined. “I looked everywhere, but he’s gone. He left us.”
His reason for waking turned out to be more serious than she had first thought; though she guessed she should have expected it to be something important, since Taro was not prone to overreaction. She sat up and hugged the little boy to her.
“He didn’t leave us,” Kagome said reassuringly. “He had to go get our home ready for us to live in. Now that we don’t have to worry about him anymore, we can finally go home with papa.”
“But-But he didn’t say goodbye,” Taro sniffed. “And I wanted him to play ball with me today.”
“Papa left really early and he didn’t want to wake you,” Kagome explained.
“When will he be back?” the boy pressed.
Kagome released him and smiled as she scratched behind his ears. The little boy’s eyes fluttered closed. “He promised to visit every day, so I expect he’ll be back at least in time for dinner, and you and I can play together until then.”
Taro stepped back and pouted. “Why can’t he just stay here? Or why couldn’t we go with him?”
Kagome sighed. “If we went with him, we would only be in the way. Look at it this way: the sooner papa finishes our house, the sooner we can go there and stay with him. Besides, it really is just like he went to work and he’ll be back tonight, okay?”
“Okay, mama,” the little boy agreed, though rather reluctantly.
~ * ~
True to his word, InuYasha returned to his family each evening just before nightfall and joined them for dinner, after which he made sure to spend some time with both his son and his beautiful miko before bed. Every night he slept with Kagome in his arms, only to leave in the morning to finish preparing everything that needed to be done so that he could bring his family in order to start their lives together. He hated spending time away from them, but knew that the sooner he finished, the sooner it would be that he never had to be separated from them again.