Inuyasha could hear Hoshiki's screams from outside as he neared Kagome's apartment, and that immediately had him frowning. The kid was pretty calm usually, so it was unexpected to hear that, but he also realized that the cries had a strange mixture of fear, anger and helplessness that translated into a strong urge to stop them, to remove anything that could make the child unhappy.

He walked to her door quickly, knocked, and, when Kagome didn't reply quite enough, he opened it. Fortunately, it wasn't locked, otherwise he would probably have broken it. He frowned at the thought. She should lock her door, it really wasn't careful not to and… and he couldn't be so overprotective of her. He didn't have any right to.

"Oh, hey, Inuyasha, I'm sorry, did you knock?"

Kagome walked towards him, holding the child against her. She was rocking him gently, clearly trying to soothe him, and that sight at least was reassuring. It sent a wave of tenderness through him. She was doing her best. That was short lived, however, as his sensitive nose picked up on the scent of blood. What was going on here?

"I'm so sorry," Kagome started, trying to speak over Hoshiki's cries. "I know you were supposed to take him out, but he barely slept tonight and I don't think it's going to be much fun if he keeps—"

A particularly loud shriek had her wincing.

"—I don't know how to help him," she finished miserably. "It's his teeth, I think."

"His fangs," Inuyasha realized out loud, and suddenly everything made sense.

That was always bad for demons — and half-demons, obviously. Their organism kept trying to heal them, and of course, the teeth still had to pierce the skin. They did grow them faster than humans, but it was known to be an absolute nightmare. He didn't remember anything of that time, but his mother had mentioned it to him once or twice, and his brother's wife had complained to him about it. He'd even helped with the kids back then.

"D'you want me to take him?"

Kagome let out a relieved sigh.

"You don't mind? I've been up all night too and—"

"'s fine, c'mon buddy."

He weirdly liked Kagome's rambling, most of the time, but with Hoshiki's screams in the background, he couldn't say he enjoyed them. She did look exhausted, with bags under her eyes and messy hair. He took Hoshiki from him, and the kid calmed down, just a little, at his contact, but it mostly meant that his screams weren't as loud.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized a second time. "I know this was supposed to be a day out for you and I'm sure you both looked forward to it, but I just couldn't get him to sleep, I tried, really, but—"

She seemed to be on the verge of crying, and it was so unlike her that Inuyasha had no idea how to react. Why was she apologizing, exactly? There was nothing she could have done. The kid was in pain. Sure, it was unpleasant and painful, to know that he was suffering and there was nothing they could do about it, she probably hated it as much as he did, but they just had to wait it out.

"D'you have anything he could chew on, perhaps?" he asked, interrupting her somewhat awkwardly, not knowing how to handle it. "I know it helps for some kids, gives them something to focus on, though it ain't gonna last long for a demon. I think my 'ma had something like that for me."

"Oh," she said, and he saw her bit her lower lip and close her eyes briefly. "I didn't think about that," she mumbled with a quiet voice. "I'll see if I have something."

He watched her with worried eyes as she rummaged through cupboards. She looked close to her breaking point. As she stepped out of the kitchen, probably to go in Hoshiki's room, he focused on the kid. Hoshiki was screaming and moving around in his arms.

"You look just as tired as your 'ma," Inuyasha commented. He knew Hoshiki liked it when he was resting against him and his voice rumbled through his chest, and indeed, he seemed to calm down a little when he talked. "Don't you wanna go to sleep? 'cause it seems to me like you need some. Give a break to your 'ma. Don't worry, we can reschedule our walk."

Kagome walked back in, holding a rubber ring, and allowed herself to rest for just a second against the door, watching as Inuyasha rocked Hoshiki, talking to him gently. His voice didn't change that much, when he spoke with the kid, which she found interesting. Most people talked to babies differently, and Inuyasha did have a deep, somewhat scary voice, but he didn't change anything with Hoshiki, which she thought was great. He did, however, watch his language a little more, and she appreciated him all the more for it.

"I have something," she said, approaching the pair, "but you're right, it's never going to last, and I'm afraid he'll swallow some parts."

Inuyasha took the ring from her hands. It was large enough that it wouldn't fit entirely in his mouth, and it wasn't like there much out yet.

"It'll do. Why don't ya take a second to— I dunno, eat or drink or something, and I'll try to get him in bed?"

She nodded, looking grateful.

"Thanks, Inuyasha. I don't know if you'll be able to do it, but I— I really appreciate it."

"Any time."

After what felt like hours, Inuyasha finally managed to get Hoshiki to rest. With the help of the rubber and a lot of singing that rumbled through his chest, the kid's eyes finally closed, though to be fair, he was probably way past his point of exhaustion. He laid him down very, very carefully, and as he did, he realized he was wearing the gloves he'd given to Kagome. That had him frowning briefly, until he understood.

Well, that explains the smell of blood. The kid was small, and he doubted his claws would have gone very deep, but still, he couldn't control himself yet, and he'd probably hurt Kagome. The thought was unpleasant. Had he done that, too? Hurt his 'ma? He hoped not.

He found Kagome dozing off at the table when he came back in, but she looked up and smiled at him quickly when he sat down, facing her.

"You did it!" she yawned. "He really, really needed some sleep. At this point, I think he was crying from exhaustion as much as from pain." Then, her face crumpled a little. "God, this is going to last for days, isn't it? My poor baby…"

"Hey," he said, instinctively reaching out over the table to take her hand in his, the gesture so natural that it almost scared him, "it's gonna be fine, 'kay? I mean, it does hurt like a bitch, but it'll also be over in just a few days. I mean, 'til he grows the next one, but let's take it once at a time, alright? Just make sure he doesn't rip the rubber to shreds."

She nodded, laughing a little.

"Thank God you don't talk like that around him."

He scoffed, but still chuckled. Yeah, it wouldn't be too great if the first words Hoshiki learned were parts of his vocabulary.

Kagome squeezed his hand in hers.

"Thanks, Inuyasha," she said softly. "And again, really, I'm super sorry that—"

"Stop apologizing already woman," he practically growled, and her eyes widened at the sound."It's not like there's much you could have done."

"I mean, I could have given him—"

"Kagome. Stop beating yourself up about that. You're doing everything you can, right? And it ain't like you're taught 'bout how to rise a demon, are ya?"

She shook her head wordlessly.

"So this isn't your fault and— ah, don't cry!"

Shit. Shit shit shit. Him and his big mouth. He hadn't meant to cause that, he didn't think there was anything wrong with her.

"I'm sorry," she said yet again, only sobbing this time, "I don't mean to cry, I'm just really tired and I— I feel like I'm being such a terrible mom, and I couldn't do anything to help him, and you made it work really easily so clearly, I could have done better and—"

Ah, fuck. In just one step, he was in front of her. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her against him as she cried. She held onto him, fingers digging in his shirt. He simply let her, hands moving on her back, trying to get her to calm down. He just wanted to comfort her, wanted her to be okay, and yet he couldn't help but think about how nicely she fit in his arms, and about how he liked that. Holding her.

It wasn't the fucking time for those thoughts.

When she moved back, she quickly wiped her tears away. She felt a bit ridiculous for the whole thing. She hadn't meant to push all of her emotions onto Inuyasha. Poor guy really hadn't signed for that. They were Hoshiki's parents, of course, but they didn't exactly do their thing together. Not that she hated the idea of them being… partners, or something, but she still hadn't meant to lose it like that. Sometimes, things just got hard.

"Feeling better?" Inuyasha asked, patting her head somewhat awkwardly.

She laughed, a bit embarrassed.

"Yeah. Sorry I—"

"You really need to stop apologizing. You're doing a fucking fantastic job here. I know demon mothers who knew that shit was coming, and you handled it a thousand better than them."

Well, better than Kagura, at least, and he supposed that wasn't too hard, but she didn't need to know that. She smiled again, and he nodded, satisfied. She should be fine with a good night of sleep. But first…

"Did he scratch ya?"

She blinked, and then he watched as her hand went to rub her arm.

"Oh, yes, he did, but it's nothing too bad, really, and I gave him his gloves, so…"

"Yeah. Y'should let him keep it. 's good if he didn't do much, but he can still hurt ya." His face was surprisingly somber as he said that, and it almost made Kagome want to ask questions, but she held them back. She was way too tired to have an actual conversation, but one of these days… They would really need to have one. "And you can always, y'know, call me, if things get too hard."

She gave him a bright, sincere smile at that. She had to admit, she was impressed by how he stuck around, even when things were complicated. He wasn't just there for the bright, happy, easy moments of Hoshiki's life. He was genuine about wanting to be involved in every aspects. Even the ones that were far from brilliant.

"Now ya should get some sleep, too," he said when she yawned again. "I can stay here, if ya don't mind?"

"I don't. You can— watch TV or— I have some books— or—"

"I'll handle myself," he shrugged. If she didn't get herself to bed now, she was just going to fall down from exhaustion. "And I'll take care of Hoshiki if he wakes up, so don't ya worry 'bout it, okay?"

Her smile softened as she watched him. Who'd have thought, huh? The tall, broad-shouldered half-demon with the tough exterior and the crude language. Taking care of his kid, and of her, though she wasn't his anything.

She didn't think much when she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Inuyasha. For everything you did for us today."

It took him a couple of seconds to find his voice again.

"Yeah. Whatever. Now go."

She laughed, missing the fact that she was the reason he was reacting, that he was blushing, and that he was avoiding her eyes.

"G'night," she mumbled on her way out, though it was the middle of the day.

"Good night," he mumbled back.

The second her door was closed, he let himself fall on the couch, hand covering his face. This was— He was ridiculous. This shouldn't affect him this much. This shouldn't affect him at all. They had a fucking baby together, and he was losing it at a kiss? It made no fucking sense. He made no fucking sense. Nothing fucking made sense here.

He growled loudly, grabbed the remote control, and turned the TV on, trying to think about something else. Trying to think about anything but how he liked to hold her, how he was glad she'd kissed him, and how he was starting to think that he wouldn't mind, if she did it again.

Damn. He was fucked.

Hey, it had been a while! This was written very quickly so I hope it's good, but it had been on my mind all day so I wanted to get it out of my system x) They were actually supposed to have the conversation Kagome mentions briefly in this chapter, but then it... didn't happen because it didn't work that well in this. I hope you liked it, I will say I really really enjoyed writing it! Thank you for your support on this story, it really means a lot, and as always, I really appreciate any reviews you leave, they always make my day when I receive them!

Dya.