A New Kind of Gift
A Mother's Day Fic
Hey guys! Well, I decided to upload quickly – even though I really should update Flat Line because I left it at such a mean cliffy. Hope you like this chappie! There may only be one or two more chapters after this.
Aw, Sessh and Inu are shopping together with the kids!
"The joys of idle shopping," Sesshoumaru noted, walking down the aisle and occasionally picking things from the shelves before deciding whether or not to buy the many products in his hands. Inuyasha grunted at his side, pushing the trolley beside his brother without really paying much attention.
"Daddy! Daddy, can we buy this?" Inuome cheered, running over with a multi-pack bag of Cheetos. Kagoyasha came up on his other side, jeering. "Daddy, let's get some of this!"
The next instant, another child leapt on to his back, grinning. "Uncle Inu, let's get some flowers!"
"No, no, and Sesshin, ask your dad." Inuyasha frowned. Sesshin's face wrinkled up into a smile, the arm in the cast swinging without her even flinching. It was healed by now anyway – she was a hanyou after all. She just wore the cast for show.
She tugged on her dad's trouser leg. "Daddy, can we buy Mummy some flowers?" she asked, smiling widely.
Sesshoumaru tried to look stern down at his daughter, but he couldn't say no to her. He sighed and picked her up, holding her on his hip as he walked towards the floristry aisle, his body sagging as Sesshin started singing at the top of her lungs 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'.
"Come on kids," Inuyasha waved, continuing down the aisle. Inuome and Kagoyasha walked along beside him, pointing at the things in the aisle and smiling.
"Now," Inuyasha steered the trolley around the corner until they were looking down the gifts aisle. He stopped the trolley. "Go and pick something for Mummy," he told them, giving the two gentle pushes forward.
Inuome's face crumpled. "But, Daddy, we don't have any money," she cried. Her brother nodded, the two looking up at their father with sad eyes. Inuyasha covered his face with his hand and sighed. "I know already. Just don't worry about that for now, I'll pay for it,"
Inuome's mouth opened, and then she nodded, grabbing her twin's hand before running off down the aisle. Inuyasha leant against the trolley, frowning. That instant, his niece ran up to the trolley from the left, brandishing some wrapped flowers.
"Goody!" she squealed, giggling. It was scary how much she looked like Sesshoumaru. Her face was slightly pale, her eyes a gleaming amber and an elegant moon sat between her two eyebrows, bringing out the pink stripes on the side of her face. Her long white hair flew down her back as she swung on the trolley, grinning.
"We got my mummy some flowers," she told Inuyasha, waving the roses around triumphantly. Sesshoumaru appeared behind her and easily took them out of her grasp, placing them in the flower holder of the trolley. He waved his finger at her. "Don't wave them around like that, Sesshin, you could make them wilt."
Sesshin looked up at her dad, and then pouted. "'Kay," was all she said. She ran off to where Inuome and Kagoyasha were, and Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha sighed. The three of them really were a handful. How were they going to cope tomorrow?
The two started walking, trying to be as slow as they could be to avoid the screeching voices of their children. "I say tomorrow we cook the girlsdinner – just me and you. We can get Miroku to baby-sit." Inuyasha said, tired.
Sesshoumaru ran a hand through his hair. "That means cookbooks, ingredients and aprons, right?"
"Minus the aprons," Inuyasha scowled. "But it has to be something the girls like,"
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. "They aren't 'girls' anymore, little brother. And does this mean we'll be cooking for the tajiya?"
"Sango? I don't know. They had a ladies night last year, remember? I just dunno whether Kagome wants to pull that trick again this time round,"
Sesshoumaru grunted in reply. "What luck," he frowned.
Inuome waved down the bottom of the aisle, trying to catch her dad's attention. She had a goofy grin all over her face. Inuyasha meekly waved back as his daughter suddenly turned and kept looking for a suitable present.
Sesshoumaru watched the three children, his face a mask. "I never thought…" he began, but he didn't finish. Instead he kept watching his daughter, laughing and giggling like there was no tomorrow.
He bowed his head and looked away. I never thought I would have a family. I never thought I could love someone as much as I do Rin and Sesshin. Of course, Sesshin was like the air he breathed. She was his first child, his precious little princess, and no one could take that away from him. She was his golden girl and nothing about her could change in his eyes. She was perfect.
Despite being a half-demon, she still looked like a demon-child. And despite her blood, Sesshoumaru loved her more than he could bear. Every time he looked at her, he saw the child Rin used to be. The child who would always smile and always fill his days with happiness.
All he'd ever hoped for, in one small little girl...
"Sesshoumaru?"
Sesshoumaru turned to face his brother, looking slightly worn out. Inuyasha was a couple of paces ahead of him. The half-demon smiled awkwardly, his hands drooping on the bar of the shopping cart. "We really should get some ingredients. Let's just make a simple roast, okay?"
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. "A simple roast? Since when is a roast with all the trimmings 'simple'?"
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes in return. "You know what I mean. Let's stick to what we know, okay?"
"I've never cooked before," Sesshoumaru shrugged.
Inuyasha lookedback, shocked. Slow resignation crossed across his face."...Neither have I,"
Then the two were just staring at each other without a word, hopelessness and rage boiling up inside of them. "You idiot!" they both cried, simultaneously – nearly at each other's throats.
"How the hell are we supposed to 'cook' if you haven't ever been in the kitchen?" Inuyasha screamed.
"That's rich coming from you! It was your idea! I'm the lord here, remember? I don't need to cook for myself!"
"Well if you were a proper father you'd have at least been able to make Sesshin dinner!"
"The same goes for you! You have twins, for crying out loud! And you can't even make them a simple–?"
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru stopped mid-argument. Sesshin, Inuome and Kagoyasha were stood watching them and crying their eyes out, suddenly appearing beneath them. Inuome was wiping her nose in her sleeve, Sesshin's head was tilted heavenward and she was sobbing her little heart out.
"Daddy, why do you and Uncle have to argue all the time?" Kagoyasha whined, wiping his eyes. Inuome sniffed and kept crying, sobbing at the top of her lungs.
Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were frozen on the spot, their faces only inches apart. Their eyes were wide as they stared at their children.
The other customers in the shop were turning to look at them, giving them filthy looks. Their looks would have been even more disgusted had Inuome and Inuyasha not been wearing baseball caps.
Sesshin couldn't stop crying. Her face was turning pink. Sesshoumaru felt his control slipping at seeing his beautiful little daughter turn red with tears. He bent down and lifted her up, cradling her. "Shh, it's all right."
"Yeah," Inuyasha continued, bending down to his own kids. "Daddy didn't mean to shout, I'm sorry." He ruffled Kage's hair and then stroked Inuome's cheek with the back of his hand, before pulling the two into a hug. Sesshoumaru buried his face in his daughter's hair, sighing.
He didn't hate Inuyasha anymore, but he couldn't help arguing with him most of the time. It was a bad habit that wouldn't shift. Of course the bad feeling towards him wouldn't disappear over night, but they were making some progress. Considering they had hated each other for around 200 years and then suddenly in three years they were becoming friends, was not too shabby.
Sesshin curled her fingers around her dad's matching hair, sniffing away her tears. She wiped her eyes and rested her head on Sesshoumaru's shoulder.
Inuyasha looked up at his brother without a word. He couldn't imagine sharing a kitchen with his brother for a whole day, but if it would make Kagome happy…
She likes it when you don't argue with Uncle Sesshy… Kagoyasha had said.
Inuyasha held onto his children tighter and then straightened, looking down at them with a soft face. Then he just grinned. "Will chocolate make it any better?"
Sesshin jerked backwards to smile at her uncle, coming back to life. "Does that include me?" she asked in a squeaky voice.
Sesshoumaru smiled down at her. "Of course,"
Inuome and Kagoyasha and Sesshin giggled. "Yay!" they cheered, punching the air. Sesshin wriggled out of her dad's grasp before dropping to the floor, chasing after her cousins as they ran at top speed towards the confectionary.
Inuyasha simply grinned and continued to push the trolley. "Fancy some chocolate?" he asked Sesshoumaru without turning.
His elder brother began walking alongside him, a smile on his own face. "I wouldn't mind,"
Kagome tucked Sesshin into the little airbed on the floor and grinned, brushing her niece's hair out of her golden eyes. "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite," she whispered. Sesshin giggled and wriggled under the covers.
Rin stood in the doorway and smiled in the direction of her daughter, waving. Sesshin waved back.
Inuome and Kagoyasha sat up in bed, clapping their hands. "Bed time story! Bed time story!" they chanted.
Kagome kissed both of them on the forehead and tucked them in as well. "Only a short one," she warned.
"Yay!" they cried. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha appeared on the landing behind Rin, their heads poking into the room.
Rin stepped in and pulled up a chair against the wall, next to the one Kagome was about to sit in. Sesshin lay on the airbed in front of them – before her cousins' two beds. She pulled the blankets up to beneath her nose in excitement.
Kagome sat down and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Sesshoumaru watched, a smile on his face, while Inuyasha leant on the doorframe – his eyes firmly locked on where Kagome was sat. She always looked beautiful whenever she was around the children. They brought out a different side of her – a protective, loving side. Not to say that she didn't have a protective, loving side where Inuyasha was concerned.
She seemed different. More radiant – as if a fire was burning inside of her.
Sesshoumaru glanced at Rin who caught his eye andsmiled warmly. His heart thumped in his chest. Instead of smiling back, he nodded at her and turned down the corridor, stepping down the stairs.
Rin knew not to expect much out of him when others were around. She knew she didn't understand him, but nor did she want to understand him. He was like the wind. She couldn't catch him and hold onto him, but she could be with him forever. It was better that way, she decided.
She knew he loved her, and that was all that mattered. In a way a nod of the head showed more affection than blowing a kiss goodnight. She couldn't explain why, but to have him change only the slightest bit was enough to make her feel special.
Inuyasha stared at Kagome for another lingering moment before following his elder brother downstairs, his hands in his pockets. He would come up after story-time and give the kids a kiss goodnight. He knew Sesshoumaru would do the same, except more secretly. He hated showing affection around anyone else. Sesshin and Rin brought out his caring side.
When their dads were gone, the kids sat up in bed - Inuome opening her mouth to speak. "Mummy, tell us about how you met Daddy."
Kagoyasha nodded. "Yeah, Mummy, make a story about that,"
Rin looked down at her own daughter and saw Sesshin staring up at them with awe-filled eyes.
Kagome grinned and clasped her hands in her lap. "All right... Once upon a time there was a girl named Kagome. She lived in the Sunset Shrine on top of a very tall hill in Tokyo. But one day, on her fifteenth birthday, she was pulled through the Bone Eaters well by a horrible monster,"
Inuome and Sesshin gasped, but Kagoyasha cried 'cool!' Kagome tried to suppress the smile emerging on her face, but couldn't. Rin grimaced and slid off her chair, sitting down beside her daughter to make sure Sesshin's cast was not digging into her in anyway.
Kagome continued. "While she fell through the well, the scary centipede monster licked her face and asked for the legendary Shikon no tama, which she was sure Kagome had. Kagome had no idea what the demon was talking about and cried out – using her hand to cast away the demon with some kind of magic repellent."
Inuome and Kagoyasha's eyes widened. Sesshin pulled the covers down slightly, her amber eyes huge with disbelief.
"Kagome didn't understand where the magic power had come from. But it got rid of the monster and one of its arms fell off. Then the next instant she was sat at the bottom of the well – all alone except for one limp arm,"
Sesshin let out a cry of shock, but she didn't look too afraid. She was absorbed in the story, clutching onto her mother's arm.
"Kagome clambered out of the well – only to find she wasn't at home anymore. She was in a beautiful forest, surrounded by trees and wildlife. When she saw the familiar Go Shinboku tree, she ran over to it but found that she couldn't see her house in the distance. When she walked around the tree, she saw a boy asleep against it. He looked dead. He had long silver hair and was dressed all in red. His eyes were shut and he looked young – about her age. Kagome was unsure of what to do. He was pinned to the tree by some kind of old arrow,"
"Daddy!" Inuome giggled.
"But before Kagome could save the boy, she was dragged to a strange village by many men. She was told the boy was called Inuyasha, and he was not to be freed. She wondered if he was evil…"
And so the story continued until the children had fallen asleep, Sesshin tucked up on the airbed and Inuome and Kagoyasha asleep in their own beds. Rin turned to face Kagome, a smile on her face. "You know, I really should start reading Sesshin to sleep. She always stays up till late and in the end Sesshoumaru has to go upstairs and calm her down. Normally I sing to her and that's enough,"
Kagome waved a hand absently. "Different children like different things," she reassured. "Maybe Sesshin prefers being sang to, tonight was just something different. Come on; let's go watch some television – okay?"
"Yeah," Rin stood up and followed Kagome out of the room, switching off the light and hesitating in the door before looking back into the bedroom. It was decorated with yellow walls, a beige carpet and a teddy-bear border, complete with curtains and lampshade.
Kagoyasha rolled over in his sleep, while Inuome took light breaths. Sesshin's lips were parted, yet she remained silent in her sleep – untouched in her dreams. Satisfied, Rin smiled and shut the door half-way.
"Night kids," she whispered.