Pack of the West

Chapter 4: Parentage Revealed

When they returned Yumi was sleeping peacefully in Miroku's arms so he went into the hut to put her down to finish her sleep.

Inuyasha stopped him for a moment before he could go through the door. “We still have to look for her parents, are you prepared for that?”

“If we find them, I’ll be ok,” Miroku answered, entering the hut thinking in his mind ‘I hope we find them dead.’ It was then that he realized that maybe he had become too attached to this girl and perhaps he should try to distance himself a bit, but the thought of her leaving him made his heart clench painfully.

Inuyasha went to the well and meet Kagome as she came through with bags and bags of stuff for Yumi. “I think that Miroku and Yumi are too attached,” Inuyasha explained as they walked back to the village side by side. “I tried to take her away from him for awhile and they both went ballistic.”

He was irritated when Kagome took Miroku’s side. “Why would you do that Inuyasha? Miroku is all she has and you tried to take her away?”

“I wasn’t going to take her forever, jeeze. I just wanted to bring him to his senses. This is going to cause problems for us Kagome, you wait and see.”

“Inuyasha….SIT,” the raven haired girl yelled angrily “You’re just thinking about yourself and how hard it would be to collect those stupid shards with a baby. That child could easily have been you, you baka! At least nobody tried to drown you!” Kagome stalked back towards the village leaving a stunned Inuyasha getting up from the ground.

‘I didn’t mean it like that’. Inuyasha’s feelings were quite hurt and he became angry, slashing at a tree and cutting it in two. When he had calmed down he realized that he did think Yumi would be a hindrance to them but he also wanted what was best for her, and to be with her own parents was best. He knew from experience that she would be happiest in her own mother’s arms.

He returned to the village in a quiet mood. Everyone was feeling strained and anxious.

“Come on, lets go then,” Sango stated.

Shippo jumped up on Miroku’s shoulder and made a funny face at Yumi who was now in a baby carrier strapped to Miroku’s chest that Kagome had brought back. The little girl giggled, delighted, her joyous laugh sounding like crystal bells easing the tension that had surrounded everyone.

Kagome had also brought formula, clothes, diapers, shampoo and anything else she thought a baby would need, her yellow bag overflowing.

“Kagome we don’t need that much stuff,” groused Inuyasha as he made her take out some of the many outfits. “Just take a few; we can wash them on the way if we need to.”

The group made their way back to the pond and Inuyasha sniffed around on the ground trying to pick up the odour of the men who had thrown her in. He soon found it and they headed west following the scent to a ratty looking village.

They could see as they walked through that the people there were poor, most went back into their huts and closed the doors, looking at them with suspicion. The group finally stopped in front of a gang of three men who were harassing a shop keeper.

“Hey,” Inuyasha greeted, his voice dripping unconcealed disgust “Are you the guys who tried to drown a baby?”

“What if we are, oh, I see you have the brat,” the man with a large belly hanging over his pants retorted. He sneered at Miroku who put his arms around Yumi.

“Don’t bring her back here or we’ll do it again,” threatened the tall skinny one with the scar running across his cheek. The shortest and youngest of the group hung his head and said nothing.

Kagome and Sango were shocked at the unfeeling men. “How could you do that?” questioned Kagome. Sango was so repulsed that she shook in anger wanting badly to hit these men with her boomerang.

“We want to know where you got her, did you steal her?” Inuyasha wanted to rip his claws through these men and he cracked his knuckles loudly.

“We don’t have to tell you anything,” the fat one drawled not intimidated in the least, drawing his sword. “Be on your way, your not welcome here freak, and take the brat with you.”

Inuyasha lost it, he struck out with his claws and a huge gash appeared on the fat ones chest. Inuyasha was breathing hard trying to bring himself back under control when the skinny one charged him, sword raised, ready to strike him down.

Miroku’s staff knocked him on the head and he hit the ground unmoving. The fat one was groaning, holding his chest as the blood seeped through his fingers.

The youngest was walking backwards away from them, eyes wide in fear. Sango grabbed his collar and practically lifted his feet off the ground. “Where did you get that baby?” she asked, her voice dangerously quiet.

“A wolf woman came, she was wounded and in labour. She had the child here in the village, but didn’t survive childbirth. These guys took the baby and threw her in the pond. I…I didn’t want to hurt her but…but…”


Sango dropped him wiping her hand on the leg of her outfit as if she had touched the most distastful thing in the world. “But you didn’t help her much either,” she commented. The boy dropped his head in shame.

“What about the father?” Kagome asked.

“There was no father, just her, that’s all I know honestly.” The boy was now crumpled on the ground weeping.

The group walked away and out of the village. Inuyasha couldn’t catch any scent of the female wolf demon. “It’s been to long, the scent is gone. Guess she stays with us, for now,” he said, smiling at Yumi.

Miroku was very happy, he said a prayer for Yumi’s mother and the group continued to walk down the road.

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A few days later as Miroku was bathing her he noticed little smudges on her face that would not come off. “Hey, what do you think these are?” he asked worriedly thinking that perhaps they were bruises.

Inuyasha came to look at her noticing that Miroku was still nervous when he came near. He sighed and decided not to make a big deal out of it; instead he looked at Yumi who immediately brought her hands up to grab his hair.

‘At least she forgives me,’ the hanyou thought with a smile. “These are her demon marks,” he told the nervous monk. “Sometimes pups don’t get them until they’re a few weeks old. It’s nothing to worry about. They should be easier to see in a few more days when they appear fully.”

Five days later everyone was shocked at the marks on Yumi’s face. Two magenta stripes on each cheek and a little blue crescent moon on her forehead. There was only one other demon they knew of with marks like those.