*Repost* Always and Forever- Chapter 7 (NC-17)

[KeikoDogDemon]

Always and Forever

By KeikoDogDemon

Chapter 7


*Note: Posting my fic under my original persona because people kept confusing me w/ another author on AFF.net*







Inuyasha carefully and quietly removed Kaori from Kagome?s arms while his mate slept. Then he sauntered over to the fire and, sitting down, leaned back against the wall with the baby in his arms. He removed his haori and wrapped it around the infant so that only her face and tiny hands were exposed to the chilling air. Then he sat there admiring her in the firelight as the flames danced to and fro.

The child was unmistakably Kagome?s daughter. Even though her hair and eyes more resembled his, her facial features were exactly that of her mother?s. Earlier that week there had been a new moon, and when Kaori had transformed into a human along with her father, Inuyasha had been amazed at how much she looked like Kagome with her hair black. He leaned down and planted a kiss on the soft skin of Kaori?s cheek. She stirred slightly and then awoke, her large golden eyes staring into his. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and almost immediately broke out into a wide baby grin and cooed. He held his clawed finger out to her and she grasped it in her tiny hand and put it in her mouth, the smile never leaving her face.

?You need to go back to sleep, kid,? Inuyasha said. ?You?re mom?s already conked out and I was just about to hit the hay myself.? Kaori looked up at him with a questioning look on her face and continued to make a meal of his finger. He sighed. ?Oh well. You sleep all day, so it?s no wonder why we can?t get you to sleep at night.?

Kaori made some baby noises and continued to ignore him.

?Just like your mom, I swear. She never listens to me, either.?

That?s when Inuyasha caught a whiff of something that wreaked. He twisted up his face and held his nostrils closed with his free hand. ?Kami, Kaori, what the hell have you been eating?? The baby laughed.

Standing back up, he walked over to where Kagome was asleep on their futon. He kneeled down and began poking her on the shoulder.

?Kagome....Kagome...wake up, wench.?

Kagome stirred. ?Mmm...huh...wha...? Inuyasha...what is it?? She looked up at him with tired eyes.

?Kaori took a shit and she stinks. Will you change her??

Kagome sighed and took the baby from him. ?Honestly, Inuyasha, it?s just a dirty diaper. Would it kill you to change her once in a while??

?Feh!? he exclaimed. ?I change her sometimes when she wets herself, don?t I??

?Yeah, like once a week,? Kagome replied. Laying the giggling Kaori on the floor of the hut, Kagome removed wipes, baby powder, and a fresh diaper from her bag and began to change her daughter.?

?One of these days I?m not going to be here to do this for you. What will you do then??

Inuyasha frowned. ?Don?t mention that. I don?t want to think about that right now.?

?Fine,? Kagome replied.

Once Kaori was good and clean, Inuyasha took her again and began bouncing the girl on his knee lightly as she squealed in glee.

?Doesn?t take much to make her happy, does it?? he asked.

?I think she gets that from my mom,? Kagome replied. ?My mom?s always been a happy person...I can?t think of anyone else in my family that?s that cheerful.?

Inuyasha snorted.

?What?? she asked.

?My mother...she was happy too, you know.?

?Was she?? she asked. ?I...didn?t know that. You don?t talk about her much. Why is that??

Inuyasha stopped bouncing Kaori and handed her to Kagome. Then he got up and walked over to the window. He stood there for a moment, looking at the crescent moon.

?I don?t like to think about her much,? he said. ?It?s too hard, sometimes...so I?d rather just not think about her.?

?Inuyasha,? Kagome began. ?You may not think so, but...talking about the good times you shared with her...it may make you feel better.?

He turned to look at her. ?Not right now. Maybe later.?

Kagome dropped her head and looked down at Kaori. Time for a subject change...

?Kaori will be five months old tomorrow,? she said.

Inuyasha?s ears twitched and he turned to face her. ?Really? Has it been that long already??

Kagome smiled. ?Yep...she?s really growing up.?

Inuyasha took Kaori and gave her an Eskimo kiss, which only made the baby laugh and gurgle.

?Before you know it she?ll be teething...and then walking...and talking.?

Kagome laughed. ?Let?s not get hasty, Inuyasha. Remember, we only recently started bottle feeding her. I think it?s a little early to be thinking about her talking.?

?If she?s anything like you it?ll be hell getting her to shut up,? Inuyasha said, smirking. She bopped him over the head with a pillow, but he only laughed.

Kaori grabbed onto one of Inuyasha?s long strands of hair and tugged, making him yelp.

?Hey, stop it,? he said. ?That hurts.?

Kaori only yawned in reply and reached for her mother.

?Took her long enough to get tired again,? Inuyasha replied. ?Keh.?

Kagome placed their daughter on the futon and covered her with Inuyasha?s haori. Immediately the infant closed her eyes and began sucking on her thumb as she drifted off to sleep, sighing softly.

Kagome moved over and leaned into Inuyasha, placing her head on his shoulder.

?Why don?t you go back to sleep, Kagome?? he asked.

?Not really tired anymore,? she replied. Then, out of the blue, she asked, ?How do you think Miroku and Sango are doing??

?I suppose they?re all right,? Inuyasha replied. ?Why??

?No reason.?

Two months earlier, Sango had finally given birth to her first child, a son she had called Tenkei. Shortly afterward she, Miroku, and some other men and women from Kaede?s village had decided to return to the demon slayers? village, rebuild it, and start a new life there. It had been difficult to see them go, but Kagome realized that it was what Sango had truly wanted. She would raise her children as demon slayers as she herself had once been and become a happy, wealthy woman as she and Miroku took their places as head man and woman of the village. Kagome could only wish that they had found the happiness they had longed for.

?I miss them, Inuyasha...and little Tenkei, too.?

?Yeah, me too.?

They sat in silence for a while just enjoying each other?s company. Then Kagome kissed him tenderly on the cheek and whispered in his ear, ?I love you.?

?I love you, too.?

He turned to embrace her, but his arms only grasped thin air. He looked around the hut. She was nowhere to be seen.

?Kagome?? He got up and ran for the door. Pushing the covering aside he called, ?Kagome!?

?She is no longer here, Inuyasha.?

That voice...he knew that voice.

Whirling around, he was surprised to see Midoriko there with him, floating above the fire like an apparition. He growled low in his throat and his rage caused his demon side to slowly begin to bubble up to the surface.

?Where?s Kagome? What have you done with her??

Midoriko?s expression was downcast, and she closed her eyes in shame. Inuyasha was astonished to see a lonely tear fall down her face.

?I am sorry, Inuyasha...but my strength has finally given out. I could no longer tie her to this world without completely destroying myself in the process. If I had allowed that to happen, she would have been trapped here in this era forever.?

?But, Kagome, she...? He choked on his words. Tears began to flow from his eyes and down his face, landing on the cold, hard floor.

?I am so sorry, Inuyasha. I did my best, but...it wasn?t enough. I hope that, over time, you will forgive me. Perhaps after time has passed, and my powers have rejuvenated once again, I can reunite you with Kagome...but for now, dear hanyou, please be strong, and find it in your heart to understand...and forgive.? With that, she disappeared, leaving no trace of her presence behind.

Inuyasha fell to his knees. In a mad fit of rage, he began to pound into the floor with his fists.

?Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!!!?

He broke the boards beneath his feet and then turned to start punching the wall of the hut.

?No...Kagome...Kagome! Don?t leave me! Kagome!!!?

Never before had Inuyasha been in so much pain. Even when his brother Sesshomaru had punched a hole straight through his chest, compared to the emotional pain he was in now, that experience had been a walk in the park. He felt like ripping to shreds anything that got in his way. He wanted to destroy something, anything, to make this empty feeling in his heart and soul go away.

Suddenly he heard Kaori wailing behind him, and that brought him out of his wild fit of rage. Returning to his senses, he rushed over to his daughter and picked her up, rocking her back and forth in an attempt to soothe her. After a few moments she settled down and her crying was reduced to small whimpers. He continued to hold her and caress her forehead. Kaori looked around the room, her eyes searching frantically for her mother.

Inuyasha couldn?t take it. He wrapped his forearms gently around Kaori?s tiny, fragile body and held her head against his shoulder with his hand. Then he let the tears flow once again, only this time there was no madness...only misery. Kaori tried to pull away and lift her head up from his shoulder, determined to catch sight of her mother, but Inuyasha held her down.

?Mom?s gone, Kaori,? he said.

As if she understood the meaning of his words, Kaori ceased struggling and buried her face in her father?s shoulder, crying softly. Eventually she fell asleep, but Inuyasha remained awake for the rest of the night, mourning the loss of his mate.

After a while he stood and, grabbing Kagome?s bag and holding onto his daughter tightly, made his way outside. He had to get away from the hut and the village. The pain was just too much. But he had no idea where to go. So he just headed north as fast as he could, with a sleeping Kaori still clutched tightly to his chest.


~**~


One minute Kagome was sitting comfortably next to Inuyasha in their hut, and the next, she was on her bed, in her room in the modern era, with the scent of the hanyou still fresh in her mind.

?What....what happened? How did I get here??

She stood up, but immediately sat down again as it finally came to her.

?I...I?ve been transported back to my own time. Midoriko?s power, it...must have given out.?

As the full reality of the situation took hold of her, she curled up on her bed and cried into her pillow.

Suddenly, her bedroom door creaked open, and her mother entered the room.

?Kagome? Is that you, dear??

Kagome, sniffling, looked up. When her eyes met her mother?s, she couldn?t hold it in any longer. She rushed into her mother?s embrace and began sobbing. Mrs. Higurashi, quite astounded, held her daughter for a moment, letting her cry, and then finally asked, ?Kagome...what?s wrong??

?It?s horrible, Mom,? Kagome began. ?The well...it?s been...closed up.?

Mrs. Higurashi gasped. ?What about Kaori and Inuyasha? They?re not still on the other side, are they??

Kagome nodded and sobbed louder.

?Oh my dear Lord,? Mrs. Higurashi said as she squeezed Kagome tighter. ?Kagome...I am so, so sorry. I wish...that there was something I could do...?

But the only thing she could do was stay there with Kagome as the young girl cried her heart out into her mother?s shoulder, soaking Mrs. Higurashi?s blouse with her tears as she did so.


~**~


He hadn?t thought about where he was going, but eventually Inuyasha realized that somehow he?d made his way to the village of the demon slayers. He had no idea what else to do, so he willingly accepted and followed the path that Fate had laid out for him.

It was extremely late, so of course Miroku, Sango, and even baby Tenkei would be annoyed at such an abrupt and unexpected visit from the exhausted hanyou at such a late hour. But once Miroku lit a candle and he and his wife saw the expression upon their friend?s face, they immediately softened.

?Inuyasha, what?s going on?? Sango asked. ?Where is Kagome??

Inuyasha placed Kaori, who was still wrapped up in his fire rat kimono, down on the futon next to Tenkei, never once lifting his gaze from the floor.

?Kagome is...gone. Midoriko?s magic finally failed. She?s back in her own time...she?s stuck there.?

Sango?s eyes went wide and she gasped. Miroku just stared at his son and the small semi-demon child resting together on the floor in disbelief.

?We knew this would happen,? the monk said. ?We just weren?t sure when. Midoriko didn?t exactly give us a time and date on when to expect Kagome to leave.?

Inuyasha growled and brought his hand into a fist so tight that his claws began to draw blood.

?This is so fucked up!? he cried. ?Midoriko told me that if she had just let herself die permanently from lack of power that Kagome would have been stuck in this era. Why couldn?t she have just done that? I mean...she said she understood how much Kagome and I need each other. Why didn?t she just let her stay??

?Enough, Inuyasha,? Miroku said sternly. ?You?re just being selfish. We will all miss Kagome, but don?t blame all that?s happened on Midoriko. It was because of her that you had the chance to meet and fall in love with Kagome in the first place. Did you forget that??

?I haven?t forgotten,? Inuyasha replied. ?But...it?s just so hard.? He put his head between his knees as he felt the tears begin to fall again. His ears perked up and he lifted his head when he heard Kaori whimpering in her sleep. He reached over and cuddled her to him. She opened her eyes and, looking up and him, cooed contentedly.

?You still have Kaori, Inuyasha,? Sango said.

Inuyasha nodded. ?Yes. I?m thankful for that, at least.?





*So do you all hate me? I think I even hate myself right now. I tried so hard to convince myself not to write this, but once I get an idea in my head, it keeps pestering me until I write it. I realize that not all fanfics can be about the characters living happily ever after, so I tried to express that. With that said, I would greatly appreciate some opinions on where to go from here. Your feedback really does help a lot.*

-KeikoDogDemon


Note: Tenkei- Heaven?s blessing; gift of nature