My Will

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu and co, as they are the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi (though we do share a birthday and blood type-small world, ne?)


This story is also posted on MM.org, but due to technical issues with that site (i.e. me not being able to log in), I've started posting here again. So if AFF is having troubles, try MM.org-same name, you'll know it's me ^_^

To warn you ahead of time, Kag’s child is the only important OC. This fic was born of an observation of other fics-there is a majority of IY fics with Inu cast as a single dad. I wanted to explore the opposite, and have Kagome take on that role.

Unlike ABSFT, I will not be denoting POV shifts. I think it should be fairly obvious who's thinking what, but astericks will always be strategically placed.
Thank you very much for reading.
I hope you enjoy!
~Sabichan~


A loud cry rang out in the dead of the night. Jun Higurashi shushed the writhing girl beside her, whispered promises that it would all be over soon. Inwardly she winced as her hand was trapped in yet another bone-crushing squeeze, but did not show any outward signs of pain. She could not show weakness when she was needed to be strong.

Frightened, pain glazed eyes watched her face intently, and lips that not so long ago were constantly drawn into a smile were now red and bruised as the girl did her best to keep in her cries.

“How much longer? She can’t take much more.”

“Just another few minutes. Just keep her calm. You have to make her relax, or it’ll just hurt more.”

Jun nodded, and resumed her earlier placating. As promised, the end to the ordeal came two minutes later, and another loud cry filled the room.

Although…this was different cry altogether.

It was an infant’s first tears, am earsplitting declaration of new life, and the signal that the pain of birth was nearly at an end.

As the afterbirth was being taken care of, Jun wrapped the still howling bundle in a warm, soft blanket.
A stray thought hit her and she realized the girl beside her had once been wrapped in the very same blanket years ago.

If only more time between then and now had passed. She was only fifteen for God’s sake.


“Mama…Mama…”

Snapping back to attention, she turned back to her still panting daughter and set the child in her shaky, but eagerly awaiting arms.

“It’s a girl. You have a baby girl,” she stifled back a sob. “She looks just like you, Kagome.”

“Mama…”

New tears wet the cheeks of both mothers, the older and younger, as a myriad of emotions passed through each.
Happiness, that the baby had been born healthy.
Relief, that the dangerous part was finally over.
Sadness, that the hardest part was only just about to begin.


Down the hall, a young boy lay in his bed, wiping away tears, relieved that his big sister was finally finished, and no longer hurting. It was hard listening to it, knowing there was nothing he could do to help, nothing he could do to stop her pain.
But now that the baby was born, he could help in so many other ways. He was going to be the best uncle ever regardless of the fact that he only had ten years on the kid.

With himself, their ever attentive mother, and Grandpa, the new baby was going to be just fine. Kagome was going to be just fine. Even living in the tiny, cramped apartment, they were all going to be happy, no matter what Dad might have thought…

Tiny doubts began to pile in his young mind as he remembered perhaps the most traumatizing month of his life. But as his door opened quietly, he shook away the thoughts and peered up at his exhausted, but smiling grandfather.

“Come, Souta. Your niece is here.”

“Did she name her yet?”

“Yes. She’s decided to name her Keiko.”

“Just like grandma.”

With a shine of nostalgia in his eyes, his grandfather nodded.

“Yes. Just like grandma. Come, your sister is waiting.”

Once they reached the room, Souta slowly and nervously stepped forward to his dazed, but glowing sister, laid up in his mother’s bed. She smiled at him.

“Hey brat. By time you get here, she’ll be walking.”

He rolled his eyes, but was thankful to see his sister was acting normal. It helped to calm his nerves and he stood confidently at the edge of the bed.

There, wrapped in a faded pink blanket was the face he’d been waiting nine months to see. She was red in the face, probably from all the bawling she’d only just stopped, but still cute as he’d imagined. A shock of ebony hair stood straight up on her head, and wide brown eyes intently scanned his face, as well as everything else around them.

“Keiko, huh. Well kid, I’m your big strong uncle Souta.” He puffed up with pride, trying hard to impress the still confused baby. The others in the room chuckled, and he grinned wide, having achieved the desired reaction. Then his eyes softened as he reached forward to touch her tiny fist that waved carelessly in the air.

“And I’m gonna take good care of you…” With a glance up at his big sister, he added softly,

“We all are.”


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Toshi Higurashi had always been an honest man. His family loved him deeply, and friends respected him.
He was the kind of person who would hand his lunch over to the homeless man in the park, or give his last
dollar to a person in need. All in all, Toshi was a good man.
With a weak will to live.

Having suffered from depression since childhood, the events of the last year of his life only contributed to the constant struggle he had each day.

Losing his job had been the first blow. He had been next in line for partnership at one of the most affluent law firms on the entire Eastern seaboard. Then, as quickly as success had come for him, it was taken away.

All because of one trial, all because of one client-all because of one huge lie, and false accusations.

Their savings had been enough to help them get by, as well as the revenue from the small homeopathic medicine shop his father-in-law ran. Still, things were shaky and he was fighting a legal war against his accuser, as well as his old colleagues.

The second had been Kagome’s pregnancy. Suddenly, the wide-eyed little girl he’d once
claimed was the reason he woke up each morning was going to be mother a fifteen years old.
And now he had another mouth to feed.

Though he did his best to accept it, the distance between them grew, and he would go days without speaking to her sometimes. He mostly blamed himself for it, for failing his eldest child, and in turn his entire family. After all, he had been the one to approve of her letting a college student tutor her…privately.
Hiten Morita had seemed like such a nice young man. Kagome had been having some trouble in her algebra class lately, and he’d seen the ad in the paper for the free assistance program. It turned out that the boy lived only a few blocks from them, and before long, he was a common guest at their home.

That was why he had let Kagome go over there that night, to study at Hiten’s apartment instead of at their own home. He trusted him, Kagome was rapidly improving, and even had a bit of a crush on him. Toshi made it no secret that if only Hiten were a few years younger, he wouldn’t mind if they dated.

Hiten, though, had a different idea altogether. He proved patient enough to worm his way into the hearts of the Higurashi family, to earn that trust. Then, he used it for all that it was worth.

Kagome didn’t remember a thing. The last thing she could remember was Hiten giving her a soda, and smiling at her-then nothing.

When she had awoken a few hours later, he claimed she had simply passed out right in front of him. And when he took her home that night, he sat Jun and Toshi down, then expressed his concern over how hard Kagome was working at school. She was Student Body President, on the Honor roll, as well as a prize member of the volleyball team. He claimed her exhaustion had finally caught up to her, and the family was grateful this had at least happened with someone trustworthy. Kagome rested up, and was soon back to normal, but not a week later, Hiten had an announcement to make.

He had been accepted at a University on the West coast, and would be leaving in only a few days. They had been so sad to see him go…

Two months later, after Kagome had complained incessantly of nausea and stomach cramps, they’d finally been concerned enough to take her to a doctor. And that was when they learned that the boy they had once placed so much faith in had simply been setting them up, biding his time until he could flesh out his plan.

He had drugged Kagome, then raped her. And now, Kagome was pregnant.

Their only relief had been the fact that at least Kagome didn’t remember a thing and that by the time she started to show, school was out for the summer.

But of course…things still only went downhill from there.

It was only a month before Kagome was to give birth that he found out. The constant legal battle had officially been lost, and not only were they bankrupt, but they lost their home in the settlement as well. They were given a mere two weeks to move out of their family home.

A few days after that particular bomb was dropped, Toshi Higurashi, husband of seventeen years, father of two, and soon to be grandfather of one, hung himself from the rafters of the attic, where his father-in-law found him.

Ever a man of words, perhaps the most hurtful thing to Jun was the fact that he had not even bothered to leave a note. Not a word of apology, not even a single goodbye. Simply a quick release from the catastrophe he’d just left her to deal with on her own.

Man is inherently evil and selfish, and no matter how pure a person may seem, it is only natural to put himself before others. After all, that is why selflessness is so highly regarded in society. That is why do-gooders are admired, beloved and praised. Because what they are doing is so unnatural to the common man.

But just below the surface…that’s where it lurks.
No matter how strong the will of Man, Nature will not be denied. Toshi was in no condition to even fight it.

But as Jun, her father, and their own children, came to realize…this time, he hadn’t even tried.


A simple, two bedroom apartment was where the family now resided. Located on the rougher side of town, it was nothing like the safe, comfortable home they’d spent their lives in. But with such limited income, it would have to do.

Jun worked two jobs, as a waitress in two different restaurants. Souta had a paper route he did before school began, and Grandpa did his best selling home remedies to the neighborhood and the residents of their complex.

And Kagome…Kagome hardly ever stopped working.

Though it was obviously the easiest thing to do, she refused to quit high school. She gave up her position as Student Body President grudgingly, but realized what little social standing she held now that she had a child. No matter how that baby came to be, she was still an unwed teenage mother. Instead of the pillar of strength and righteousness she came to be before it all happened, she had now become the image of everything wrong.
Other boys assumed she was easy, and her friends called less and less frequently.

Her after school job kept her busy enough not to notice that, though.

If there was ever a thing that little Keiko had made her young mother realize, it was how much she loved children. The Gods had at least blessed her with a strong maternal instinct, which she didn’t waste for one moment.

The day care center was more of a glorified, under-funded government program, but to Kagome and the people of the neighborhood she lived in, it was a god-send. During school, she had someplace safe to leave her daughter, with people she trusted. After that, she was able to return the favor, as well as spend time with one of the most precious people in her life.

Keiko. If there was ever a child more beautiful, it was unknown. As yet another stroke of luck, she looked almost nothing like her “father”, and almost identical to her young mother. She’d been mistaken as her baby sister so many times, Kagome had stopped correcting people. It was never out of embarrassment though.
Kagome would sooner follow her father in death than to deny that Keiko was her own flesh and blood.

Though life was not easy for any member of the Higurashi’s, they still felt the same happiness that any average family would. Each night, they came home to the people they loved dearly, whom they depended on. Keiko became their main concern, and the old adage of it taking a village to raise a child never rang truer.

Maybe Souta and Kagome were forced to grow up too fast-maybe Jun was forced to grow older too soon. But crying and pining were not going to pay the bills or feed the baby. Life had to go on, whether they were ready or not.

For Keiko’s sake…

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