Speed Racer Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love, Life, and Reincarnations ❯ Independence Day ( Chapter 3 )

Ryan groaned and buried his face in the back of his wife's neck as the sun began to peek inside their room to wake them up. If it hadn't been for the ninety degree weather they'd been having, the blankets would have flown over their heads and they'd be snuggling dangerously close to each other. Maybe even then some. But it had been like an oven in their home all night long, making it uncomfortable and miserable for them and their three sons. He and Torie had been up off and on all night trying to soothe a cranky four-year-old who kept kicking his blankets off and knocking his fan down whenever he got too cold. Every time the fan had hit the floor, Torie literally jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to make sure he was all right before she finally conceded a small amount of defeat with the child, aiming the fan above him so he wouldn't get chilled. Their ten-month-old and nine-month-old sons had not fared any better during the night, crying out whenever they were uncomfortable or out in hunger. Even the cats and dogs had been miserable, sleeping in the cool spots in the living room instead of their normal spots in the bedrooms. Next to him, his wife stirred and he tightened his grip around her waist.

"Not yet," he murmured, eliciting a small giggle out of her.

"Not yet, huh?" She turned herself around so they ended up facing each other and she could snuggle up to him a little. "And what will Sesshomaru say if he walks in here and sees us acting like two lovesick teens?"

"He'll probably say, `Mommy, I'm hungry,' then crawl into bed with us," Ryan replied, stealing a kiss from her. A kiss that she returned promptly and warmly.

"Mm-hmm . . . So it's best if we don't start anything right now, love."

"Aww, but I miss starting things," he pouted mockingly, kissing her again.

"Later," she said in between kisses. "Like when the children are in bed for the night and no threat of them waking up like they did last night."

They continued kissing for a while longer until the sound of little feet entered their room and a little boy had snuggled himself tightly between them.

"Morning, Mommy. Morning, Daddy," he yawned.

"Morning, sleepy-head," Ryan grinned. "Excited about tonight?" To that, the little one shrugged, causing Ryan's grin to grow wider.

"I bet you're more hungry than excited about fireworks right now, huh?" Torie stage-whispered. Sesshomaru nodded his head vigorously, grinning. Ryan laughed with Torie. When the time came, Sesshomaru would be more than excited about watching the annual Fourth of July fireworks display. He and Torie already had their area staked out, one of the best places to be that day and they'd been there every year since they'd been together.

As Torie scooped the four-year-old into her arms and headed out of their room, Ryan reflected on how their lives had changed in just the last year or so, from Torie telling him that they were finally going to have a baby (they started trying to have a baby after six months of dating) to Little Ryan's birth in September. Then a phone call from his aunt in Japan towards the end of October changed things even more. She'd told him that there were two little boys, brothers, going up for adoption. Her supervisor had given her and only her permission to call them and offer them their choice between the two. His older brother, Yoshi, would have been called next if they had declined. When Torie had seen the pictures of the boys and learned their birthdates, she had wanted both. She couldn't bear the thought of separating the boys. So they had put in for both, expecting a long wait before they'd even be able to bring the boys to their home in Philadelphia. But fate had been on their side. The papers went through quickly and they had brought the boys, Sesshomaru Hakkai Taisho and his baby half-brother Inuyasha Kenshin Taisho, home the first part of December. The boys were full-blooded Japanese. He and Torie had seen pictures of their parents. Inuyasha looked full Japanese, except his eyes were amethyst. He and their son could have passed as twins, except for the three week difference between them. Sesshomaru, however, didn't look full Japanese. His eyes were more of a golden-amber than brown and his hair silver-ish blonde.

`And he'd been partially neglected because of it,' Ryan surmised as he checked on the two sleeping infants before heading down the stairs. `He didn't even know how to react to Torie giving him kisses and hugs, cuddling him, and playing games with him at first. He never smiled. Now . . . now he's all smiles and hugs. He's certainly grown quite attached to her.'

"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free," came his wife's voice from the kitchen. He smiled as she continued to sing, Sesshomaru's laughter mingling with hers. Ryan stepped into the kitchen, brushing back some of his dark locks.

Torie stood in front of the counter, the four-year-old balanced on her hip. As she sang, she swayed and twirled about, pulling out bowls and glasses from the cupboards and spoons from the silverware drawer. Her long, golden tresses swung with her as she pulled out cereal from the pantry and milk and juice from the refrigerator. In that moment, with a great swelling of emotion in his heart, he had decided that his wife looked incredibly sexy in her light grey shorts and tank top and with a child on her hip. He couldn't have loved her more in that moment.

As she glided across the floor, their eyes met and she smiled, setting Sesshomaru in his chair with practiced ease. Her song changed as she turned around and poured the child his cereal and juice then placed it in front of him.

"American girls and American guys, we'll always stand up and salute, we'll always recognize when we see Old Glory flying, there's a lot of men dead so we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our heads . . ."

"Mommy, am I Amerikan?" Sesshomaru inquired, taking a bite of his cereal. Her smile grew a little wider and her brown eyes glimmered. Torie leaned over him and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"You are now, baby," she stated. "Eat your breakfast while I go check on your brothers, kay?"

He nodded big nods, still chewing his food. Ryan shook his head as she breezed by him, his hand catching her arm.

"Have you any idea as to how much I love you?" he murmured.

"Have you any idea as to how much I love you?" she inquired back. Their lips touched for a moment then their eyes met. Without another word, she continued towards the stairs and he went to fix his own breakfast. Sesshomaru flashed him a toothy grin as he sat down next to him.

"Mommy's silly," he giggled.

"More than you'll ever know, Sesshomaru," Ryan agreed. "More than you'll ever know."

* * *

The morning flew by rather uneventfully in the O'Connell household. Or at least as uneventfully as any home would be with four males living in it, three of them under the age of five. Torie didn't mind, though. There were no other guys in the world that could take the place of her four, even when they drove her crazy. But, at the end of even the worst day, when she watched them sleep, she knew she wouldn't have had it any other way. Boys would be boys. And, she had to admit to herself with a hefty pat on her back, she could get herself, her husband, and her sons fed, washed, and dressed, and get a lunch and supper packed into a cooler and a picnic basket by 8:30 in the morning. With their cats and dogs fed, watered and able to get outside should they need it, and a neighbor to check on them during the day, Torie tucked Little Ryan and Inuyasha into the double stroller, packed some extra diapers and bottles into the diaper bag, stuffed her money into her pockets and headed out the door. Ryan, with Sesshomaru perched on his shoulders, waited outside with the red Radio Flyer that carried the cooler and picnic basket. She grinned at how adorable her guys looked in their patriotic shirts.

"Okay, the parade starts at ten and Jack's already got the sidewalk in front of the office saved for us. It's a lovely day for a walk, isn't it?" she grinned.

"Beats trying to get through traffic. Do we have enough blankets?" Ryan inquired. They started walking.

"Took some extra ones to the office yesterday and the grill is still there from last week's employee barbecue," she answered. "We are set, my love."

"What about fireworks? Jack said something about having some sparklers and morning glories for the kids to play with."

"Robert and Val are the ones bringing those. Next year is our turn to bring them. Relax, Ryan. We're covered. I'm not going to let anything ruin the Fourth for the kids," Torie grinned as they made their way towards Center City. The people that they passed commented on how cute or adorable the boys looked and cooed at the infants while Sesshomaru played shy. By the time they had reached the office complex, Little Ryan and Inuyasha had fallen asleep in the stroller and Sesshomaru was fast on his way to falling asleep. If it hadn't been for the parade, Torie would have taken him inside the building and rocked him to sleep. Thankfully, Jack had pulled out some lawn chairs for them to sit in. Torie placed the stroller between two of them then took Sesshomaru so Ryan could take the wagon inside. The toddler yawned a little and curled up on her lap.

"Excited about the parade, Sesshomaru?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Good." Torie kissed his forehead and they settled in to watch the parade.

* * *

He had to admit, he liked this holiday his parents had been talking about lately. The parade had actually gone by in front of him, where he could almost touch the people in it, instead of on a TV. Sure, he had taken a nap after the parade but Sesshomaru had already concluded that his new mommy didn't play fair when it came to nap time. He'd fallen asleep a lot quicker than what he normally did. Mommy had hummed and sang a little as she had rocked him. A dirty trick, to be sure, but he didn't care. She loved him, so did his new daddy, and he loved them.

`That's all that matters,' he had told himself as they had joined a large crowd of people wandering the city. They had done some shopping and taken a tour of the city (his mother's insistence) and stopped to see what his parents had called the Liberty Bell, taking a family photo of them in front of it.. Now they waited for the fireworks display, his baby brothers cradled in his parents' arms.

"Mommy . . ."

"Yes, baby?"

"When are the fireworks going to start?" He'd been desperately trying not to ask that question. The other children there had been asking their parents that nonstop, it seemed like, and they were becoming a little strained. His curiosity finally got the better of him.

"Should be any time now, baby," she replied. "It's starting to get dark out now."

"Hey, Torie . . . we have some sparklers left," someone called out. It sounded like his Aunt Val. "Is it all right if we light some for Sesshomaru?"

His eyes lit up and he looked at his mother, his expression hopeful and pleading. The other children there had been running around with sparklers and morning glories until the adults had put a stop to it, saying it was too dangerous to run around with them. He'd gotten one sparkler the entire time and had loved how it had burned bright blue, like his daddy's eyes. Of course, he hadn't run around with his. Mommy had said not to so he didn't.

"Sure," she smiled. "Bring them over." Then she looked at him just as he was about to scream out "Yay!" and jump around. "Same rule applies, Sesshomaru. No running with the sparklers. In fact, I want you to stay by me with them. Got it?"

"Got it," he echoed. Sesshomaru hugged her then, trying to be somewhat careful of Inuyasha in her arms. The sudden hug brought an "Ack" then a playful "Help me! He's attacking me!" but she returned it, kissing his cheek then tickling his side. He squealed and laughed, nearly landing on his rump in his attempt to get away. His daddy laughed as well. If they hadn't been holding his brothers, they would have chased him a little or swung him upside down to bounce him on his head, though his head never hit the ground for some reason. He bounced but never on his head. His brothers, however, were slightly on the ornery side, as someone had put it. Mommy kept saying it was the weather. Too hot for babies to be outside for too long, she'd said.

His Uncle Robert approached and handed his daddy the extra sparklers. Sesshomaru promptly stood straight up, his expression serious.

"What do you say, Sesshomaru?" his mother whispered.

"Thank you, Unca Robert!"

"You're welcome," he grinned, ruffling his already messy hair. His daddy held out one of the sparklers while his uncle lit it then handed it to him. This one burned white and he watched it, transfixed, as it burned itself out. He'd been handed a second one, his dad lighting it as he held it, when a shrill whistle filled the air. Sesshomaru turned just as something exploded high in the air, creating a shower of green sparks and white stars.

"Mommy, Daddy, look!" he almost shouted, smiling.

"We see it, baby."

Sesshomaru stood next to his mother's outstretched leg, his attention fixed on the nearly spent fire stick in his hand and the rain of fireworks going off in the sky . . .

* * *

"Did you enjoy the fireworks, Sesshomaru?"

She already knew the answer to the question, smiling warmly at the number of times he kept crying out, "Look!" and pointing to the sky. The little boy yawned and nodded, snuggling himself further into the blankets. Her smile grew warmer then she kissed his forehead. His eyes closed and she tucked the blankets over his shoulders. The night promised to be cooler than the previous night. Her children would sleep well tonight.

"Good," she whispered. "Good night, baby."

"Night, Mommy," he murmured sleepily. She turned off the light then headed for the nursery. Ryan was waiting for her there. Two more little ones needed to be tucked into bed then they could rest. Tomorrow was a new day.