Her Life – Chapter 19 – "Unthinkable"

They all feared for him now. Not a single soul within the Fujioka household knew what either themselves or another had done to put him into such a state. They'd tried everything to get him to open the door, even if it was only the tiniest crack. Shippo, Kouga, and even Sesshomaru made an appearance to try to coax him out, or to just talk to them, but none prevailed.

If his own wife couldn't get him to open the door, then who could?

There was only one last option. Kikyo was sure they would be mad though since this was their yearly vacation in Spain, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

She'd arrived at the house two days later and, by their standards, not a bit too soon. The strong smell of sake was starting to waft out of the room. Only problem was it wasn't regular sake they smelled; it was demon sake.

Without even greeting her nieces and nephews, Kaede dashed to the room that held her brother-in-law. Noticing that others were following her, she quickly shoed them away before lightly rapping the door with her knuckles and waiting fretfully for an answer. The elderly woman had already decided that if no reply came that she would have Sesshomaru break the door down. Waiting a few moments more, Kaede was about to tap again when a barely whispered voice was heard.

"Come in ya old hag."

Knowing now that this was serious (since he hadn't called her that in centuries) Kaede twist the doorknob that was now unlocked and let herself into the ill smelling room.

Within seconds of being with him she had already heard the door lock, not allowing another living soul in with them both. Only, it wasn't the fact that her only way out was secured or that the mild scent of the demonic sake was making her sick that bothered her; the clearly slumped over man sitting by the fire was what disturbed her more.

Never once in her extended human life had he ever acted like this. In all his years Inuyasha had never been much of a drinker, but, something had clearly sent him into a drinking frenzy from the amount of bottles sitting by his side. Silently, she went over and sat in the chair opposite him, truly getting a good look at her brother-in-law for the first time.

Seeing his face for the first time made her heart drop. His face was a complete blank, showing the complete signs of heartache yet not. He appeared to be a man with too much on his shoulders; so much so that he couldn't feel anything. Those amber eyes though revealed pure sadness. And every time he took a drink of sake they just seemed to become even worse. Anyone could clearly tell he was holding everything in, but for what purpose?

Seeing as he wasn't going to acknowledge her presence, Kaede decided to look around for any sign of what could have sent him on this downward spiral. The first thing she laid eyes on, of course, was one of the journals. Figuring that a book couldn't have done this she went on to look for something else but a gruff voice stopped her.

"Go ahead," He threw the book roughly in her lap. "Read it."

Taking this turn of events by the reigns (so to speak) Kaede did begin to read Kagome's entry silently when she was stopped again.

"Out loud!" He growled menacingly.

Something dropped in the pit of her stomach when she heard him demand such a thing. Quickly mentally preparing herself for what might be ahead, Kaede took a deep breath before she began.

"My dearest Inuyasha…."

He stared at his sister-in-law, silently watching her sip her drink and nibble on a few crackers. Clearly both were waiting for the other to bring up the elephant in the room. Knowing that she most likely wouldn't, he decided to do it for her.

"Have you told him yet?"

A small meaningful smile crossed her face while she gently pat her slim stomach, knowing what was taking place inside her body.

"No," She answered. "And I won't until after this blows over. He needs to grieve for her, not push everything down because of such a wonderful miracle."