InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What Are You? ❯ Chapter 34 Alternate ( Chapter 39 )

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

Chapter Thirty-Four Alternate

Kuraimaru

The wet nurse Jaken had come back with (one day late, which he earned a boot to the back for) was a wolf, whose own pups had been miscarried and born stillborn. While it was a bit saddening to her, it suited my purpose just fine.

I would have transformed myself into a man that day the twins were born, but Chiyuota said I was too weak to be moving around, and I still needed to go get to Kikyou. So, I stayed put for a while, until I felt my strength return. It was a good feeling when I knew that I could fly again, transform, and all of my other abilities were back to their usual power.

We still hadn't thought of a name for the boy. As I walked to the room where the wet nurse, Kisa, had the twins, a name seemed to come to me as I thought of him. It was perfect. I turned and went hunting for Naraku. I opened the door the room he was in and frowned. Rin had apparently convinced him to stay still, while she attempted the impossible—to brush his curly hair. It didn't seem to horribly bother him, and he was mostly ignoring her anyway. He had a pen and paper as he tried to think of a name for our firstborn. Ours… A warm feeling enveloped me for a moment.

Rin dropped the comb and flew at me. “Sesshomaru-sama!” she cried, wrapping her arms around my legs. “I'm so glad everything went so well.”

I rested my palm on her head. “So am I.” I attempted to dislodge her from my legs, and failed, although I did manage to move one of her arms so I could walk. She was content to hang on, giggling, while I drug her across the floor. I carefully sat down across from Naraku. Rin removed herself from my leg and ran to the other side of the table, reaching across Naraku, almost falling on him as she tried to grab the dropped comb. He picked it up and handed it to her. She took it and ran back over to me. I attempted to ignore her antics as she brushed out my hair. Naraku raised an eyebrow. I ignored him and took the mostly blank scroll from his hand, reviewing how many times he had crossed something out.

“Not a single name I've thought of seems to fit him,” he sighed. “Sometimes, I think that it might, then I go to look at him.”

I nodded. “I know what you mean.” It was as if his spirit rejected the names, not him. It was as if he were trying to direct us to a specific name, but we hadn't found it yet, because he couldn't tell us yet. The name that had came to me floated back. I told him what I wanted to name him.

Naraku smiled. “That one fits him.”

I smiled, but it never touched my lips. One can smile without making movement. Most of a smile is in the eyes, after all, as are most of the other emotions. “I think so as well.”

“I wonder if he will accept it, though,” Naraku commented. “Any time we think of something, he seems to be the one to reject it more than we do.” I had heard of this happening before, and it made sense. The twins were born of two very strong demons. Sometimes, but not often, it is the offspring, more than the parent, who chooses their own name. Basically, at his young age, he had learned to control us—primarily me, as he knew how to do that in the womb. Perhaps, it was some twisted version of Naraku's love of manipulation, incorporated into a demonic ability. It was a frightening concept, but one that may benefit the child in the years to come--though it would be aggravating for us.

“We shall find out,” I said. I rose slowly. Rin set the comb down. Naraku and I left the room, Rin trailing along behind us. She suddenly leaped in between us.

“I think he'll like it,” Rin said.

“I hope so,” Naraku muttered. We were both sick of doing this, and we never wanted to do it ever again.

When we arrived in the nursery, Kisa was just laying the twins down for a nap. She gestured for silence, unnecessarily. Rin peered at the boy. “Hey… Little brother…” He looked at her sleepily. His sister was already asleep, sucking her thumb. Kisa left us. I would never make the mistake my parents did in raising me. No matter their choices in life, I would support them, not shun them. It would be difficult, but I could do it. In fact, it was going to be difficult for Naraku and I both in a lot of ways.

For one thing, when I became a man, and claimed that I had always been a man, then others may wonder about the twins. I could say that their mother died; I had been intending on saying that anyway. But then why does Shuarra Meitsuki look so much like Naraku? I suppose we could say that she is his, and the boy is mine, and their same age is purely coincidence. That may not hold up for long though. Of course, Naraku could also claim that Shuarra Meitsuki is an experimental reincarnation of himself. The experiment would be if she grew up or not. I suppose there are really a lot of things we could claim.

Or we could just kill whoever began to talk. That was more likely. He and I would discuss what to do later, but slaughtering would be the best way to silence them.

After this, I was going to go find Kikyou and retrieve the Sacred Jewel. Naraku knew that; we had discussed it, and he was not to follow me. I promised him that I would return as a man, and that I would be the Jewel's keeper.

I looked at Rin. After I got my wish, there was one wish that Rin and I both had. That one, I would grant too, if it was within my power. Of course, Rin might be able to wish for it on her own. But I would wait until she was older, to see if this was really what she wanted.

An immortal human, hm? I wanted Rin with me, and she wanted to be my daughter, and look after the twins. And how could she without being immortal? I didn't think my heart could bear watching her grow from a child to an old woman anyway. Having to endure that might destroy me, and I would have none of that. No, my adopted human daughter had to at least partway fit in. That girl… she meant a lot to me.

“Kuraimaru…” Rin whispered, putting her finger in the child's open palm. He instinctively grasped her finger. She smiled. “Do you like it?”

There was something special about Rin that I couldn't quite name.

He blinked, then yawned. His eyes slowly slid closed. Rin smiled. “I think he likes it.”

“I think so too,” I said. My knuckles brushed Naraku's. It alarmed me a bit when he used the opportunity to take my hand.

Rin was consumed with the sleeping children, and how Kuraimaru held her finger in his sleep. I looked at Naraku. He was already looking at me. He leaned forward and kissed me.

“Gross,” Rin reprimanded.

I pulled away, but said nothing. “Rin. Leave the twins alone to sleep.”

“Yes, Sesshomaru-sama.” She pried the little fingers off of hers and quietly got up. She tiptoed out of the room and disappeared down the hallway—probably off to the kitchens. It was past her lunchtime.

“You will stay with me even after I am a man?” I said, looking at Naraku.”

“For as long as you'll let me.”

I liked his answer. “And nothing will change?”

He sort of chuckled. “Oh, things will change…”

I rolled my eyes. “Not like that.”

He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Nothing will change.”

“And you won't complain about the Sacred Jewel?”
“I never agreed to that.” So I would still have to endure the scowls, the whines, the petty disputes that would come from my holding on to it. I didn't care, though. He had agreed not to steal it and use it to become a full-blooded demon. He was going to accept me, no matter what, and stay beside me, and help me raise the twins. I was content, for the first time in my life.

I really knew what it meant to be content.

And, thinking of the twins, back in the nursery, asleep and safe… I thought that, for once, the world really was a perfect place.

The end!

Kisa—Pure Help (she only exists for the one purpose, and is unimportant.)

Kuraimaru—Nobilty/Dark Perfection

What do you think? Did you like the ending? Hate the ending? Want to know about the twins?

I'm considering making a sequel, but it will focus more onShuarra Meitsuki and Kuraimaru growing up and such.