Little 'Yasha

It started out as an excuse for cuteness and shota. I am rather addicted to both. The little playtime A/U grew into something with it's own brain and is making me write this...so I thought I'd share it a bit.

Summary is that Miroku finds puppy Inuyasha in a Catholic monestary. Saves him from much abuse and trauma there. Is also enslaved by puppy's cuteness, and is a complete shotacon hentai.

Anyway, the fic is mine, but the A/U and Miroku are just as much jenerik_brand's fault as mine. There's no explicit shota in this part, so you can read it, I promise, even if you don't like shota.

This story takes place after they have left the monestary and are traveling and have been for perhaps, five months.

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It was dark and rainy...fuck it'd been raining all day and there was still no shelter to be found. 'Yasha was thankfully asleep, fastened snugly to his back inside a shawl, rain shedding hat he had been wearing covering most of the little hanyou. Miroku could feel his legs around his sides, though 'Yasha kept them tucked into the fabric. Smart kid. He knew he was asleep by the way his boy's breath moved across his back, by the stillness of the very warm body against his. He didn't know what they'd do if he couldn't find shelter soon. The rain had started in the late morning, and now the winds were so strong that they blew the precipitation sideways, and kept threatening to blow him off course. Had it been just him, he likely could have found adequate shelter in trees or an outcropping, but Inuyasha needed warmth and food, something more than crackers or bread that was now soaked through. If he could only find a farm...a hut...an abandoned cave...SOMETHING!


He was starting to worry actually. Inuyasha was rarely this still and quiet, and that he was sleeping now was not normal. Usually he would be awake and worried about his Daddy walking in the rain, looking with eyes that were sharper and clearer than Miroku's own, or sniffing with that cute little nose that was unerringly precise when it came to locating other people. Damnit, he felt half blind now that he thought about it without his little baby's help. Why WAS he being so quiet? "'Yasha? Love? Are you awake?" He paused to jostle the shawl gently, but there was no response. Damnit.


That spurred him on. He wanted to stop and check his baby, but the rain was not letting up in the slightest, and he didn't want Inuyasha any wetter than he already was. Still, it was at least another hour, and much darker by the time he almost fell over a barn. Thank all the gods. And it wasn't locked. Even better. He managed to get the door opened quietly and stepped into the dusty stillness as the rain banged down all around him. Animals moved slightly, making noises, probably expecting to be fed or milked, or whatever, but he didn't care. The first open place he came to he set his staff down and unknotted the wet shawl, carefully pulling Inuyasha around, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. "Little 'Yasha?"


He was wet through. Not surprising...they both were, but he felt chilled and far too warm at the same time. And his big, golden eyes so expressive were still closed. Sitting down on a convenient stool, he cuddled him, gently patting his cheek. "Wake up baby...we found shelter. There are animals, don't you want to pet them?" His baby stirred, then whined fretfully, making a pained face but not waking.


It wasn't warm enough in here, and a quick glance around didn't find anything he could wrap Inuyasha in to dry him off and warm him. Shit. Still holding him close he finds the opposite door to the barn and opens it slightly. He was right...there had to be a house close by with these animals. The barn was clean and well kept...and the animals were content. They would not be so if they were not well cared for and that meant people near by.


He could barely see it through the rain, but it was there. If Inuyasha were awake, he'd be able to lead him there, unerringly, but he was just going to have to deal with that. Grabbing his staff and the shawl, he wraps him up again, wincing at the wet cloth. "Shhh...it's okay. Gonna get you warm and dry, just hang on baby." He didn't like this. Certainly his baby was quiet and shy around other people, but he had not been so with Miroku for weeks now. And he rarely slept this deeply, even after their loving, and they hadn't done that in...He paused. When was the last time? Two...maybe three days now. That wasn't right, was it?


He gritted his teeth. That didn't matter. Taking a deep breath, he heads back out into the storm, covering his baby as much as he can, rapping sharply on the door when he came to it with his staff. The face that answered it was suspicious.


"Please, benevolent sir. I had been intending to shelter in your fine barn for the night, but..." gods, no, don't let his voice crack!! He was so worried though, don't turn me away. Please...Inuyasha... "My child, he seems to have taken ill. Please, I just need to get him warm and dry."


He shifted his precious burden, watching the man's eyes widen as his baby's silver hair peeps out from the wet shawl. In their travels thus far, Inuyasha's welcomes had been...varied. Because he was still so scared and shy, strangers but rarely got to see his natural charm and friendliness. And being marked as youkai, well some humans were more open minded than most. Still, he is surprised when the man steps back and gestures for them to come in.


"My thanks. May Buddha bless you," he paused as the man's wife comes from the other room. Dear Buddha, she looked like she was ready to birth at any moment!! A very pretty face, beautiful hair, and such a lovely glow from the child within. And the fact that the man had let him in with a very pregnant wife...well...he was beyond grateful. He wished he could show it better, but he's already at the fire, pulling the shawl from his still sleeping son. "C'mon baby...wake up for me?"


He felt, rather than saw the wife kneel down beside him, more gracefully than he’d thought possible. “Haku, go and get some water from the rain barrel. “ Her husband obeyed as she took the kettle from the fireplace and emptied it into the small tub she had set down in front of the fire. “What sort of youkai is his other parent?” Her voice was calm as she tested the hot water.

“Inu youkai, I think. Dog demon.” His fingers shake as he unfastens the ties to his baby’s kimono. “I don’t know how this happened, he was fine earlier. I should have stayed at the last village, damnit!!”


“It is likely the last village is what made him ill, hoshi-sama. Thank you husband…just a little at a time.” She monitored the cold water mixing it with the hot until she nodded. “Here, let me.” Gently she took Inuyasha from his hands, removing his final piece of clothing, the wrap. It would have to be the ragged one. Now it looks like I don’t take care of him at ALL.


“Many children in the nearby villages have been sick with a fever.” Gently she immersed the small body in the warm water, scooping it over him as his baby lay passive in her hands. She knew what she was doing, that much was clear. Her hands seemed used to handling children, though there were none in the house. “Husband, the herbs. Thank you.” Gently she turned ‘Yasha over and Miroku winced at the still red scars left from his days at the monastery.


He was about to say something, reaching out to gently touch the scars that still pained his baby sometimes, in his bag there was a salve they used when they had use of hot springs. It helped soften the scars, helped them heal. But he didn’t get a chance to say anything or dig in their bag because he was yanked away by the back of his kesa and dragged face to face with the furious husband.


“What have you done to that boy monk?” The man’s voice was low, and he had dragged Miroku far enough away so as to not disturb his wife, nor the boy she was bathing and working over diligently. “Them marks, well, they’re just about the size of your staff here, ain’t they.” Miroku blinked as his staff was shoved in his face. Were they? He glanced over, but he couldn’t see his baby for the pregnant woman in the way. That was something he had never even thought of. That the ‘correcting rod’ the European brothers had used on Inuyasha was the same thickness of his staff…his staff that he FOUGHT with disturbed him greatly. Of course as a novitiate he had been beaten on a regular basis with Mushin’s staff…but never so hard that his skin was broken or bruised.


He kept his voice calm. After all, he was not angry. How could he be angry when this person only had the good of his child in his mind and heart? How could he be angry at someone who had opened his home to a stranger and a hanyou child? “I thank you, Haku-san, for the concern you show for my child, and the care you and your wife are taking of him, but I assure you that I have never, ever harmed him. In any way. Ever.”


“Then how’d he get so marked up? Huh? You tell me. Them marks are recent.”


“The marks are scars from worse wounds. I was actually going to suggest, I have some salve we have been using to soften them and help them...” His words were jerked from his throat as the large farmer yanked him close again.


“Don’t LIE to me!! He’s your son and you BEAT him. How could you?? Is it because he’s part youkai? What the hells kind of monk ARE YOU?”


Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. “The kind of monk who took a vow of protection over the child,” he said evenly. “The kind of monk who took him away from the people who beat him and raped him and caged him. The kind of monk who would take his own life before he let anyone harm his child. Because that is what I am bound to do if I fail him. Therefore, I must not fail him. I appreciate your concern, truly you have no idea how much. But if he wakes without me, he will be frightened. I do not want that. Do you?”


“Listen you worthless little…” but the man’s words were stopped short by his wife’s voice.


“Haku, look.” She moved slightly and Miroku craned his head around enough to be able to see his baby with his most frightened look on his face, big, amber eyes open and trembling so much that the water in the small tub rippled. Nothing, not even Death itself could have stopped him then as he ripped himself from the farmer’s grip, sprinting over to the tub. She was already lifting him out of the warm water, but as soon as his baby saw him, his arms went out for him immediately, and grabbed their usual tight hold over Miroku’s heart. He clutched the small wet body to him gratefully as little arms clutched him back, whimpering softly, still afraid.


“Shhh…shhhh little one. Daddy is here, see?” He stroked his face, and with thanks took the small blanket the woman held out and wrapped his shivering son in it, sitting cross legged before the fire. “Shhh…you’re safe. These are good people. You’ve got a fever and they are helping me care for you.” He rocked him gently, thrilling as always to the touches from small, clawed fingers on his face as he kissed his baby, rubbing his nose with Inuyasha’s. More than simply a show of affection, it put his scent right there for his baby’s very dog-like senses, and as usual it calms him quickest. “That’s my good boy,” he croons. “My very good boy, ‘Yasha.”


He can hear the husband and wife behind and to the side of him, the husband still furious, the wife calm. Like a rock in a storm. That’s fine. He doesn’t mind, at least until Inuyasha’s ears flatten fearfully as the man raises his voice.


“I don’t CARE what it seems like woman, I SAW…” Really he won’t put up with that, not when it is frightening his child, and he looks around, making sure he can see where everything is. He won’t reprimand someone in their own home; that would be beyond rude. Instead, he gathers himself to stand up with his armful when the wife simply grabs her husband by the ear, drags him over to the door and shoves him out into the storm. Her voice is quiet, and he can’t hear what she says before the door closes.


“Baby? Could you hear that?” He’s pretty sure that the boy had. His ears were still cringing, but he seemed more unsure than frightened now.


“She…she said…don’t come back in until you get your head out of your ass,” his boy reported, then coughed, whining and rubbing his face against Miroku’s robes. “Daddy, I hurt.”


“Tell me where you hurt, little love. Tell me so Daddy can know what to fix, hmm?” His voice is calm, quiet and he cuddles Inuyasha, resting his cheek between those ears that are slowly relaxing. “Tell your father baby.”


His baby’s voice is unsure. “I…my head is poundy. An’ I feel so hot and cold…and my chest feels heavy and hurty.”


He glances beside them as the wife settles back down next to them. “My husband will go think on the error of mistrusting my judgment while we see to the little one,” she said, her voice light. “Headache, chest and fever, hmm? Chills too as well? I think we can help make that feel better for such a brave boy.” She smiles at Inuyasha. “My name is Sai, child, can you tell me yours?” Deft hands are already refilling the kettle and moving it to heat water again.


‘Yasha looked up questioningly and he nods. “Go ahead baby. You can tell her your name.”


Daddy said so, so it must be good. “My name is,” and he coughs, harder this time. “Inuyasha.” Shivering he pushes his face against Daddy’s chest. He had no memory of how they got in here, just waking up in water with a strange lady and no clothes and so hot and burny…but Daddy is here. So it’s okay.


“I think that’s a fine name for such a brave, beautiful pup.” She mixes herbs in a cup, crumbling them as the water begins to steam on the fire. “We’ll have you feeling better in no time at all, Inuyasha, never fear.” To Miroku she added, “Rarely is it youkai blood takes ill. When they do it is unlikely to be serious or to last very long.” At his curious glance she smiles. “My husband’s grandmother is a usagai youkai. Very shy and beautiful…and prolific. His grandfather only died last year and she is still nursing the babe she bore not five months after her husband passed to the next world.” She pours steaming water into the cup, brewing the tea carefully. “His mother, a hanyou, has thirteen other children besides Haku, and each one of them, aside from the youngest have younglings as well. With all that, there aren’t very many youkai bloods around these parts we don’t have some sort of relation to. Here…can you get him to drink this? Just small sips, but if he can drink it all, that will help a great deal.”


Miroku took the small clay cup interestedly, shifting Inuyasha in his lap and tasting the tea himself to make sure it wasn’t too hot for the boy. Ugh. The better it works, the worse it tastes. “Here baby…I know it doesn’t taste very nice, but it’s medicine to help you feel better, hmm?” His boy is so good, he sips obediently and without complaint though the tea must smell much worse to his sensitive nose than Miroku’s own. Meanwhile, this was a very interesting family indeed. “I know that youkai/human relations happen, but you are the third person we’ve met in our travels who has youkai blood connections. Before this, I think in my entire life I had met perhaps two, including my baby here, and heard of one other one.”


“Well, we like our peace, and anonymity. There are plenty of youkai who like to give us bad names. But your little one is so obviously youkai or hanyou perhaps people feel more comfortable giving you information they might otherwise not. Haku…well…I’d say I apologize for his behavior, but I understand it. Last year, our boy, Momiji was shot and killed by a demon hunter’s bow.” She sighed, her fingers stroking her large belly. “Momiji was only a tiny sliver youkai, you know. Haku’s blood measures only one quarter. His father was fully human. But Momiji was born with the most beautiful, long silky rabbit ears, and the gift of growing things.” She stroked Inuyasha’s ear with gentle fingertips, and Miroku is surprised the boy allowed it without flinching. Of course, he may just be distracted by the noxious tea, but still.


“I am truly sorry for your loss,” he said quietly, his voice thick with emotion. “I cannot begin to think…if I lost my boy…”


She smiled at that. “In our own fields no less, with me not twenty feet away. The bastard demon hunter was going to cut off my boy’s ears for bounty. He never made the first slice. But it was too late for my first born. Haku’s…some of his brothers and sisters have visible youkai traits. And they were always celebrated in his family. He was so angry at the thought of someone hurting a youkai child…”


He held up a hand, the one not engaged in Inuyasha’s slow sipping. “There is no need for apology. That someone was so concerned about the health and safety of my son means…so much. There, is that gone? What a good boy.” He kisses the tiny nose, and that makes his boy smile. “But why did you stop him? Surely you thought the same…”


She takes back the cup and shrugs slightly. “Mothers know. I wasn’t sure at first, but he began to wake as Haku was…er…chastising you. He never moved, but his eyes looked around frantically, his nose sniffing…I thought perhaps he was afraid you were there. But when you said he would be afraid if he woke without you, if it were true, than I was doing the child a great disservice. Sickness thrives in fear. And I was right after all. But…He is not your blood son, is he.”


“Does it truly matter? Are you getting sleepy my little one?” ‘Yasha’s eyelids were droopy, and he had begun to sag in Miroku’s arms.


“Nnnnhhh…sleepy…” seemed to be all he could manage, in response.


“Truly? No, it does not matter. If those scars are what he took from those who had him before, than it does not.” She grunted and got to her feet. “That tea will make him sleepy. We have a spare pallet. It is best he stay by the fire where it is warmer. By tomorrow, he should feel much better.”

Later that night, when all was quiet, the small house filled with the sounds of sleep, Miroku found himself waking suddenly, not quite sure why he was so fully awake so quickly. The fire was banked properly, his baby was curled up tight against him…ahhh…that was it. “C’mon little one…” He grunts slightly as he lifts the boy in his arms. Inuyasha was still mostly asleep, but his little wrap was damp and getting damper.

Outside, the storm had stopped raging, and a decent distance from the door, he kneels down, untying the wrap and holding up not only his sleepy son, but the warm gown Sai-san had dressed him in, he encourages the boy to relieve himself. It had happened a few times, when Inuyasha was still building up his muscles and wind, when they had first started walking together. And, he sheepishly remembered before he learned to notice when the boy was stubbornly pushing himself past his limits because he was frightened of being left behind. He’d sleep so deeply at night that he couldn’t respond to his body’s signals in time. The poor child had been mortified, and terrified. It made sense that sickness might have the same effect. At any rate, he’d learned to read his baby’s body signals better. And he’s glad for more reasons than not wanting to wake up soaking wet and slightly smelly.

There, he’s done. “Such a good boy,” he murmurs as he gathered him up, leaving the damp fundoshi off for the moment. Sai-san hadn’t been kidding that the tea would make Inuyasha sleepy, he thought to himself, as the drool seeped through the shoulder of his light hadagi. Between the tea and sickness…there. Laying the small wrap out in front of the fire to dry, he lays himself back down on the pallet, Inuyasha curling up on his chest. He was a bit heavy, but the warmth was pleasing, and his baby relaxes noticeably as he covers them both.

He is still inclined to worry as he pets his baby’s soft hair and softer ears, but the boy’s sweet breath across his neck was reassuring. They still had such a long way to go before they reached the monastery he was heading towards. It was the only place he knew of that might have the kind of information he sought. His own personal quest to right the curse that had been visited on his family had to be put on a brief hold. Finding out the best way to help his baby control his youkai was more pressing. Neither of them particularly cared for the current full moon method of the ofuda circle, but the last few, Inuyasha started to react favorably to his voice, which was good. The first time…when he had found his baby drugged and chained in the dungeons of that damned place…there had to be a better way. For the moment, they practiced meditation, and Miroku never lied to his child, but he was starting to wonder about some of the wards that had been in place at that monastery. He hadn’t had enough time to dissect them all, to figure out everything, even to identify some of them. His main concern and focus had been to get the little hanyou out of there. In hindsight however…still that was hardly a luxury he had. In this moment, now, his baby was safe. Ill, but safe and recovering. And if Sai-san was right, he’d need to get some sleep of his own to deal with the morrow.