Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story (and Hikari and Ban and most of the other kiddos) belongs to me.

Chapter Twenty:

Meeting Inuyasha

"You WILL have her home before midnight." Inuyasha said in a voice hard enough to cut stone.

"Uh... sure," the boy said with a roll of his eyes.

Pretty stupid move. Inuyasha had the guy up against the wall with his feet dangling two inches off the floor between heartbeats. Kagome should have stopped him, but it wasn't very likely. Besides, if she was strong enough to do that, she would have done it too. What a rude young man! A little fear and respect would probably do him some good.

"Let. Me. Repeat. Myself."

"Yes, sir. Midnight. No problem." Repetition, once again, turned out to be unnecessary.

His feet slowly touched the floor again. He definitely looked nervous now. His eyes darted to the stairs then to the door. It was entirely possible he was planning to make a break for it. What was his name again? Kiba? Or was that the last guy? Suichi maybe? It probably wasn't terribly important. It was unlikely that there would ever be a second date. There never was.

"I want your name. Full name, none of this nickname garbage. Your car license number. Your telephone number. Your parent's telephone numbers. And five references." She wasn't sure why he wanted his name. After all, they had run a criminal background check on the guy.

"What?"

"NOW."

Inuyasha shoved a piece of paper and a pen at... apparently his name was Masato. The handwriting was a little shaky, but still legible. It was possible the hanyou wanted a DNA sample. He and Souta had been watching a lot of CSI shows lately. The guy looked completely unnerved when Inuyasha began sniffing him to memorize his scent.

"I will know if you have touched her in a way you shouldn't have," Inuyasha growled. Kagome had to turn her head to hide her smile. "And if I find that you have placed one hand in an inappropriate place, I will hunt you down. You do know the meaning of the word disembowel don't you?"

The young man gulped. Guess he did. He was a bit smarter than the last one. Poor guy had turned green as Inuyasha had described, in great detail, what it meant to be disemboweled.

"It's probably best not to touch at all…"

The boy nodded.

To his credit, Masato did not run away screaming into the night like a couple others had. He even managed something that resembled a smile when the sound of footsteps finally came down the stairs. She was in her prettiest red dress that swirled when she turned and her hair was intricately braided on top of her head. She was even wearing heels (which Inuyasha had made no secret to how he felt about such impractical footwear) and makeup. Just a touch of strawberry lipgloss and some mascara, just enough to enhance.

At the base of the stairs she twirled a pretty piourette to show off the skirt of her dress and matching shoes.

Kagome was glad she was dating... honest. But it was still a little scary. Ok, absolutely terrifying. The world was not a kind and gentle place, filled with far too many evil things. She was traveling where they could not protect her. ...unless they stalked her and watched from the shadows (... not that they did that... too many times since she started dating... okay okay every time so far).

But at some point they would have to stop stalking the dates and let her live her own life. Kagome just wasn't ready for that. And she knew Inuyasha wasn't.

"Masato," she greeted with a smile. Perhaps too mischievous of a smile for Kagome's peace of mind. That smile meant trouble. "You ready to go?"

She gave Kagome a hug, then lifting her head up to give a kiss to Inuyasha's cheek (leaving a strawberry scented print of gloss), then she turned to go with her very nervous looking date.

"Be careful, Hikari!" Kagome called.

How had her little girl grown up so fast?

It seemed like just yesterday she was holding her in her arms for the first time. She remembered everything so clearly. Hikari's first step. Her first word. Her first time traveling through time on her own leaving everyone terrified. Her first fight with a demon (she won... though she had resorted to Shippo style trickery, which was fine by her). Her first fight with a human (she lost... and it was the LAST time Inuyasha let her attend public school). Her first singing recital (and she COULD sing). Her first dance recital (...not so much...).

Kagome remembered the first time Hikari looked at her new baby brother. Hikari had been so uncertain, so afraid of the changing dynamics of the family. But all it took was a second, and her eyes changed from worried and scared to suspicious and protective. Suspicious, that is, of everyone and everything that came anywhere near Yoshio. To this day, Hikari was so overprotective that she would stand between her father and her brother if he got punished... even when he really deserved it. And that child made Shippo on his worst day seem like a saint. She loved him dearly, but he excelled at causing mischief.

"I don't like that kid."

"You don't like any of them, Inuyasha."

"Feh." He fidgeted, cracking his knuckles and bouncing impatiently on the balls of his feet. "See if your brother can keep an eye on Yoshio will you?"

"Souta is out on a date."

"What?" Her mate cursed her brother's thoughtlessness for having other plans when they needed him. "What about your mother?"

"Date."

"You're kidding!" He rubbed his hand over his eyes. Apparently her mother had slipped out without his notice. He mumbled something about tracking her down while they were out. "Well, what about the old man?"

"Grandpa said he wasn't babysitting Yoshio without having a week's notice for protection scrolls and spells preparation." Kagome held up her hand to stop Inuyasha's next words. "No. We aren't taking him with us. We will stay here and wait. We need to trust Hikari."

"She's just a baby, Kagome!" He wrung his hands in an endearing way.

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "She's smart, Inuyasha. Not to mention probably ten times as strong as the guy. And let's not forget that she has the ability to travel through time on her own if she needs to escape." On her fifteenth birthday they had deactivated the spell on their daughter's necklace, trusting her to not abuse her power. It was reactivated a month later... but eventually was deactivated again a little bit before her sixteenth birthday.

"Maybe I'll just check up on them a couple times... just to make sure they got where they are going safe. I don't trust those cell phones. And I don't trust that Masato guy. She's too young to be dating!"

Kagome laughed gently as she touched his arm. "May I remind you that her dating was YOUR idea?" And now Hikari was going to torture him.

"She was going to MARRY that wolf brat! She's too young to even THINK about marriage! And this was that stupid book's idea! Something about fish in the sea and kissing frogs and finding Mr. Right." The book on understanding your teenage daughter hadn't been as helpful to the hanyou as the book on babies.

Kagome patted Inuyasha's hand sympathetically. He was truly torn and distraught. She would give him a few more minutes to suffer before she took Yoshio to the past to spend the night with Sango and Miroku's family. His bag was already packed and sitting by the bone eater's well and their friends were already expecting him.

Hikari would grow older. One day she would marry and have children of her own. One day she would crave her independence and travel far from home, having adventures she would probably never tell her slightly over protective parents about.

"Come on, sweetie," Kagome said as she gave her mate a kiss, "Let's go stalk our daughter."

But til the end of time, Hikari would always be Inuyasha's baby.

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The End

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Author's Notes:

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and encouragement. I appreciated every single one of them. You inspire me and make writing fun.

I tried to mirror Kagome's Baby as much as possible while still making this an independent story.

In my head there are many other adventures for Hikari, and one day I'll start writing them down for anyone who wants to read about them.