InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When Lights Go Down ❯ Chapter 3

“Children, don't stop dancing
Believe you can fly . . . away.”
- Don't Stop Dancing, Creed, Greatest Hits, 2004

 

InuTaisho gazed at the tiny form in the incubator; a tiny form that he had a hard time seeing fully thanks the respirator and all of the wires the child had been attached to. What he could see - soft, white fuzzy ears, silvery-white hair and a tiny face scrunched in pain - sent a powerful surge of mixed emotions - anger, pain, frustration, elation - through him, and he couldn't decide which one he should be. He placed his hands on the glass of the incubator, a sorrowful expression on his face.

 

'So tiny . . . no bigger than the palm of my hand . . .'

 

He wanted to take the child out of the incubator but, when he'd asked the doctors about holding his son, they quickly told him 'no.' The child wasn't strong enough to live outside of the incubator just yet, they had said.

 

“Born to early,” he breathed, a lump forming in his throat. “All because his mother drank while pregnant for him . . . and worse. So much worse. I should have known better . . . I should have kept in contact with her, make sure she was all right and that she took care of herself.”

 

“Tai?” a female voice inquired, her tone laced with concern. He blinked then took a deep breath then slowly turned to face his former mate and his son.

 

“Yashira, Sesshomaru,” he nodded to each of them. “What are you doing here?”

 

“We called your apartment when you didn't show up for your visitation,” Yashira stated quietly, taking a step towards him. “You didn't answer so I called your driver. Myouga said you here but couldn't say anything more. What's happened?”

 

InuTaisho didn't answer her. How could he? His one-night indiscretion had come back to haunt him and the one paying for it was the child that had been borne out of it. Mutely, he turned away, his gaze landing back on the newborn in the incubator. Yashira moved towards him, her hand resting on his arm. Then she, too, looked at the child.

 

“Who is this?”

 

“My son,” he whispered.

 

“Your son?” Yashira echoed in quiet disbelief.

 

“Hai . . . Before you ask, I just found out . . . the doctor who called me said they had performed some tests and the tests said he was mine. He also said his mother had left already, abandoning him, and that the boy probably wouldn't make it through the night so I came . . . as quickly as I could.”

 

“I didn't know you had seen someone,” she murmured quietly.

 

“I haven't been,” InuTaisho admitted. “It was one night. She approached me after I'd had a little too much to drink. I never saw her again after that.”

 

“So what are you going to do?”

 

He paused for a moment, his golden eyes focused on the tiny form now squirming as pain started to wrack his frame. His face had contorted even more and the pup let out a weak cry. Already, the infant hanyou suffered and there wasn't much he could do about it. It wrenched at his heart to see it, and he placed a hand back on the incubator's glass.

 

“I intend to watch over him,” he finally replied. “And to do whatever it takes to help him. Same as I would do for Sesshomaru. He's my son, my responsibility, and I will not turn my back on him. I will not abandon him the way his mother did.”

 

“What's wrong with him?” Sesshomaru inquired. The thirteen-year-old remained in the doorway. “Why's he crying like that?”

 

“Withdrawal pains,” InuTaisho murmured, his heart breaking into a thousand pieces as the pitiful cries filled the room. “Because I refused to listen to my instincts, I impregnated a drug addict . . . and she didn't care about the life that grew inside her. Because of her addictions, when the pup was born, he was automatically put into withdrawal. It's slowly tearing him apart.”

 

“Why would anyone do that to themselves?” the teen asked, disgust lacing his tone.

 

“That's a very good question, Sesshomaru,” InuTaisho sighed. “I wish I knew the answer to that.”

 

“What are you going to name him, Tai?” Yashira tilted her head some. “He shouldn't go without a name, no matter what happens to him.”

 

InuTaisho thought about it for a moment, thankful for the brief distraction from the child's whimpers and mewlings. Yashira was right. The pup needed a name, no matter what. He smiled a little then nodded. He had the perfect name for the infant, one that befitted the family bloodline and one that he hoped would let the child know that someone loved him and would inspire that primitive desire to fight and continue to live.

 

“Inuyasha.”