The Sins of the Father

Chapter 1:

Lips. Lips burned a trail of moist heat along the side of her neck. Passion swollen lips enflamed her with each feathery soft brush against her skin. Her head was tilted back and her own lips were parted as her lover lavished open mouthed kisses upon her heated flesh and began a slow, determined path down her neck and along her collarbone. The sharp tips of fangs grazed her pulse point and she shuddered. She ached with need, and when she finally felt her lovers lips and fangs explore the valley between her breasts, a low and guttural moan escaped her throat. The sound of her pleasure ignited her lover's passions even further, and she was soon rewarded with gentle nips and kisses along the sides of each of her breasts. Her half closed sapphire eyes looked down to meet a pair of heated golden ones, and she whimpered as an erect nipple was suddenly enveloped into the warm cavity of his mouth.

"Oh, Kami sama..."

Hands. Hands roamed the sides of her body, making sure to caress each and every exposed bit of skin as if they could not get enough, could never get enough. Her own hands were buried deep in the silky white strands of her lover's hair, pulling him against her.

Claws. Claws, ever so deadly in battle were soft and loving against her skin as the hands they belonged to trailed down, down toward that secret place that was hot and quivering and burning with a need that only he could satisfy.

Fingers. Fingers probed and caressed her darkest place, causing an ache so intense she would die if it continued. Her breath was coming out in soft pants as she shivered underneath him; she had to be dying, and yet she had never felt so alive. Her body was strung as tight as her bow, putting her completely at the mercy of her hanyou lover and his deadly yet gentle hands.

Lips. Lips, hot and swollen and forceful captured her own and devoured her. They demanded her submission as a tongue made its way inside her oral cavity to do battle with her own. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but respond to the demand of those lips and tongue and her own passion. Her whole world consisted only of the two of them; no magic jewel, no deadly enemies, no past loves... just the two of them and their passion on the mossy ground under the shade of the Goshinboku.

"Kagome..."

Words. His words were beautiful to her, full of love and praises and want and need, and each word that he spoke to her was pure music. His breath was hot against the shell of her ear, and he gently nipped the lobe of her ear as he spoke.

"Kagome... no matter what happens tomorrow... I will always love..."

The words were getting painful, and she did not want pain. No. She silenced his words with her own lips, and her hands made their way down his body and found his need for her, hard and hot against her thigh. Her small hand grasped him, clenched him firmly and he growled, low and feral.

"Koishii... onegai... I need..."

"Shhhh..."

And then he filled her, and there was a moment of blinding hot pain and then it was gone, gone only to be replaced by an overwhelming sense of completion. This, this is what she had wanted, what she had craved, and she looked at him in wonder. His own eyes were filled with passion, love, and so many other emotions it sent her heart spinning, flying away even as her own body soared even higher. And then he began to move.

Bodies. Bodies strained against each other, sweaty and hot, reached together to satisfy the aching, burning need that all but consumed them. Each thrust was an eternity, each meeting of the lips a lifetime, each gasp and moan an affirmation of a love that would last forever. Together they battled their way to the gates of heaven itself, and when the gates finally opened, they were lost to all but that one moment in time in which they were one, and they desperately clung to each other through the spasms and white hot pleasure that overcame them like a tsunami.

In the aftermath, she held him close, unwilling to move and uncaring that they could be discovered at any moment. She placed whisper soft kisses along his forehead, his nose, his lips, and with her shaking fingers she rubbed the tips of his velvety soft ears.

He made an inarticulate sound and pulled her tighter against him.

"Always..." he whispered, before the blanket of sleep covered them both.

'Inuyasha...'

~~~

"INUYASHA... INUYASHA..."

Kagome woke with a start as she felt someone gently shaking her, and stared into a pair of worried brown eyes.

"Okaa-san. You were dreaming again... calling out for... for otou-san. Daijabou? Mother?"

She sighed as the details of the dream - no, memory - fogged over, as she was abruptly brought back to her present reality; a thirty one year old single mother of a thirteen year old hanyou.

"Yuki. I am fine. Arigato. I just... I just need a bath. You need to get ready for school, do you not?"

Her daughter narrowed her eyes slightly before nodding.

"Hai. I worry for you mother... this is the third night in a row that you have called out his name. Are you sure you are going to be okay?"

"Hai," she said as she plastered the biggest smile she could muster on her face. Her daughter only answered with a frown, and she knew that Yuki had not been fooled. She did leave, however, closing the door softly behind her.

The second she was out of the room, Kagome buried her head into her hands. Why must she always dream of that night, that beautiful yet painful night, the night before she lost him forever? That night she finally knew what she meant to him, she truly believed they'd be able to build a life together, and yet --

And yet, the very next day the baka hanyou had thrown himself directly in front of an attack aimed for that, that... that...

That stupid clay pot of a memory that had no right to walk the earth and no right to take him away from her.

She grew up in that moment, when he died. He had been pierced straight through the heart, and as he died he looked at her with such remorse and sorrow and love. His last words to her haunt her every hour of every day, and even with Yuki she still didn't know how she ever managed to gain the strength to go on living without him.

"Live Kagome... live... and remember.. always..." he had said on his knees as the Tetsusaiga fell from his hands to the blood soaked ground. His beautiful golden eyes, eyes that had held such passion for her the night before, were clear and blank as he drew in one last, tortured breath.

The arrow she had shot at Naraku soon after had burned him from the earth and sent him to the hell where he belonged.

Kagome shook her head and forced herself to get out of bed. She made her way over to the bathroom; each footstep taking an eternity as she found herself mentally reopening an old wound that had never completely healed. She was lost in memories as she undressed and filled the bath. With a sigh, she lowered herself into the warm, lavender scented water as she continued to mentally revisit the events that had made her who she was today.

~~

She had felt no joy in holding the completed Shikon No Tama in her hands, nor in knowing their nemesis had forever been banished from the earth. All she wanted was Inuyasha back. After all they had been through together, didn't they deserve their happy ending?

She had begged the Lord of the West to revive him; prostrated herself at their enemy turned ally's feet, but to no avail. He only looked at her with the same expressionless mask that he always wore, and told her that it was not Tensiega's will. How she had raged against him when he said that; she had drawn her bow and aimed at him an arrow imbued with enough holy strength to bring down even the mighty Taiyoukai. He stood perfectly still in the path of the deadly arrow, and said nothing to dissuade her. It was then that she saw the hint of compassion flash across his golden eyes - eyes so very like his brothers - and she collapsed to the ground and wailed.

When Kikyo approached her with the intent of taking the Shikon to hell with her for good, she swallowed her hatred for the incarnation and complied; herself lighting the pyre on which the undead miko clutched the cursed jewel tightly against her chest for the second time. It seemed only a fitting end to both the tragic existence of the one time great Miko and the accursed jewel that had caused so much pain to so very many. When the fire finally died out, Kagome felt more complete than she had in years as the portion of the soul that Kikyo had been using was returned to her.

She also felt much more keenly the weight of her grief.

Of Inuyasha's few personal items, his robes, which could not be burned on his funeral pyre, went to Shippo per the hanyou's wishes. Made from the hides of fire-rat youkai, the robes were impervious to flames, self-mending and adjusting, and impervious to most blades. It had shown them all how much the hanyou had cared for the kit, and that he had desired to protect him even from beyond the grave.

The submission spell on the rosary he wore had long been removed, but Inuyasha had continued to wear the necklace. When pressed, he admitted that it was a connection to Kagome, and he had requested for it and the locket she had once given to him to follow him into the afterlife. Both items had been removed before the funeral pyre, and buried with his ashes.

The Tetsusaiga went to Kagome -- The sword had almost a mind of it's own, and he had felt that it would protect her, even in the event of his death. It was a painful thing for Kagome to have to accept, but she did, respectful of his last wishes.

They had buried Inuyasha's ashes under the Goshinboku. Miroku had performed the Shinsosai rites, and each of them placed some small item over Inuyasha's grave while the young monk quietly chanted. Shippo, a top -- a symbol that the deceased hanyou had help him on his way to becoming a man; Kilala, a fang -- for they had battled well together with the tools nature had given them; Sango, a dagger -- so that his warrior's spirit could continue to battle evil in the beyond; Miroku, some of his best sake -- so that Inuyasha's spirit could ascend enjoying the sweetness of life; Kaede, a blessing -- to help the two opposing sides of his spirit find peace in the hereafter, and Kagome, a cup of raman with the chopsticks pointing straight up -- so that Inuyasha's spirit could enjoy his favorite meal, one last time.

Her true offering to Inuyasha's spirit was something immensely private, and the others respectfully withdrew soon after they had placed their own offerings.

Before long, Kagome was the only one left kneeling under the Goshinboku. Using a small knife she had pulled from her backpack, she cut her right hand and allowed a few drops of blood to fall over the small patch of earth. For Myouga had once told her that when a youkai loses a mate in battle, the one left behind will often spill their own blood over their mate's final resting place, as a way to affirm that their bond would not be severed even by death.

She had stayed by the tree for hours, frozen in grief, until Shippo had cautiously approached her. She took the young kitsune into her arms and wept. If the young fox youkai had noticed the cut on her hand or the smell of the blood on the ground, he wisely kept his own council on it.

She stayed with Kaede long enough to bare witness to Miroku's and Sango's wedding -- the one happy event in the aftermath of the final battle. When her monthly cycle didn't come, and then didn't come in the following two months, she knew she had to return. She did not care to raise a child in the Feudal Era, and without Inuyasha. She only hoped and prayed she'd have the strength to raise the child on her own in her own time.

She did not tell them exactly why she had to leave so abruptly, but the knowing look in Sango and Miroku's eyes hinted that they knew. They had also agreed to take in Shippo, who had taken her decision to leave the hardest, and in the middle of the night, she snuck out to the well without so much as saying goodbye.

To this day she wondered if she should have stayed.

For when she got home, it was only to find that her grandfather had died of a stroke, and her own mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

And the reality of what it would mean for her to be an 18 year old single mother of a part demon child had finally sunk in.

Her mother had lived long enough to help her bring Yuki into the world at least, and for that, Kagome was thankful. With her hanyou father, they did not know what to expect, and Kagome could not risk delivering her at a local hospital. Should she have been born with the characteristics of her father, there would have been a media circus at the best or she would have been carted off for Kami knows what sort of experimentations at the worst.

Yuki was born a normal human looking girl, with black hair and brown eyes. At least until the sun set that night. Upon first light of the moon, her features and abilities changed to match those of her father. Such has been the case each and every night of her life. Therefore, Yuki has been able to go to school like a normal girl her age, but never has she been able to participate in after school activities, parties, and sleepovers.

Yuki was a very bright girl and understood the necessity, although Kagome could not help but notice how lonely her daughter seemed at times.

At night, her thirteen year old daughter would often don a baseball hat and practices swordsmanship by the well house. This is something Kagome allowed her to do, since it gave her a reason to force her daughter to keep the Tetsusaiga with her during her hanyou phase, without having to explain the necessity of it.

Often, she would watch her. Although Yuki had yet to make the Tetsusaiga transform, her movements with the sword were swift and skillful. Kagome thought that she resembled her father, and the resemblance only grew with each instance that she watched her daughter wield the demon sword.

'That's probably why I've been having those dreams', Kagome thought to herself as she reached for a bottle of shampoo.

Kagome sighed as she lathered her hair with the apple scented suds, convinced that had found the reason for her painful trip down memory lane and ignored the small spark of dread in the back of her mind.


~~~

Shippo breathed a sigh of relief. After a day of running at top youkai speed, he now stood in front of the bone eater's well, completely and utterly exhausted.

He was worried about his son -- Shinta was in a state of living death. He refused to respond to his questions, refused to eat anything he offered him, refused to interact at all. Shippo had assumed that when he woke his son would immediately attack him. That had not been the case. His son was aware, but remained listless in his arms. When Shippo put him down, he merely stayed where he was put. Nothing he did made his son respond in any way.

In fact, he wished dearly that his son would have attacked him instead -- at least it would have proved that there was a spark of life left within his soul. He could only hope that Kagome would succeed where he had failed.

He climbed up to the rim of the well with his son in his arms and prayed to all the gods that were listening for access to Kagome's time. Though the well had never let him through before, he hoped that it would this time -- his need was great and his cause was just. The well had to let him through, he thought, as he took a deep breath and jumped --

-- only to hit the bottom of the well floor.

He swore under his breath, and sat at the bottom of the well, completely dejected for a while. Why would the well always work for Inuyasha? What ties to Kagome did he have other than his love and need for her?

Shippo suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Placing Shinta over his shoulder, he climbed out of the well and ran over to the Goshinboku, where he then set Shinta down against it's trunk.

"Kami, Inuyasha, forgive me," he said, his heart beating furiously as he dug with his claws into the hardened ground over the area where Inuyasha's ashes had been buried. Before long, he had a good size hole in front of him, and he caught the glint of silver. Excited, he dug around the glint and exposed the slightly tarnished locket. Reverently, he removed it from the ground and placed the chain over his own neck. He returned his attentions back to the hole in the ground, and it wasn't long before his saw the first obsidian bead. A few more swipes of his claws had the rosary free, and he placed it over his son's neck. Shinta's half closed violet eyes flashed gold for just a moment as he did so, but he showed no other reaction to his new adornment.

A very excited Shippo collected his son into his arms once again and sprang for the well. This time as he jumped, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the well would accept him, and was not surprised when the blue lights enveloped the two of them.

~~~

Translation key for my very bad and probably horribly misused Japanese:

Kami Sama - Lord God(s)
Koishii - Dear, Beloved
Okaa-san - Mother
Otou-san - Father
Hai - Yes
Daijabou - Are you well?
baka - idiot
hanyou - half demon
youkai - demon
taiyoukai - great demon
Shinsosai rites - Shinto funeral rites (I know, I know, Miroku's a Buddhist monk...)