AN: I think from this point on, I am going to write this in third person narration form. I only intended to use POV for the characters background stories.
Chapter 4
Inuyasha stared at the headstone of his mother and father dressed in all black. It was his father's dying wish to be buried next to his late wife. The funeral had been over, and his father's body buried for about two hours now. Having to say goodbye to both of his parents definitely wasn't one of the easiest moments in his life. Despite what his father put him through half his life, the man was still his father and he would miss him.
"Take care of him, mom." He whispered while placing a bouquet of flowers at their burials. Inuyasha knew that it wasn't until his mother passed that his dad turned into the tyrant that he was; maybe now that they can be together again after death that he'll finally be at peace with himself.
"Are you going to be alright?" Kikyo kneeled down to his side and placed a hand on his for support.
"I'll survive...thanks for coming even though you didn't have to."
Kikyo gave his hand a squeeze and leaned her head on his shoulder. Though, getting this much affection from her was foreign to Inuyasha, he welcomed it. "I guess this means that you finally take over your father's company, right?"
Inuyasha nodded his head, "Yea, I suppose so."
"D-do you think we should t-try tonight?" Kikyo nervously stuttered.
"Try what…" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"W-well, your father wanted you to have a successor before he died. I know you aren't that thrilled about being married, but…I'm willing to give it a try-"
"Don't kid yourself," Inuyasha cut her off and stood up. "You know as well as I do that this marriage is all paperwork."
Kikyo stood to her feet as well, "That may be true…but the fact still remains the same that we are married, rather you like it or not. Now, you can mope about it, and be miserable for the rest of your life…or you can accept my proposal to start over, and try to be a loving couple."
Inuyasha looked her in the eyes, and saw that she was being genuine. He sighed and shook his head, "We're not a loving couple, Kikyo…we never can be."
"We could be if you just give me a chance! You never gave me a chance from the start, Inuyasha!"
"Because you didn't give me a chance!" There was that line again, Kagome had used it on him just three days ago in the hospital. Inuyasha took a deep breath and palmed his face because Kikyo was right, and so was Kagome. He never gave either of them the chance they both deserved. Perhaps if he had given Kagome the chance to tell him she was carrying his child, he wouldn't be married to the woman he never gave a chance to be a decent wife. He was so busy being hung over a woman from his past that he was blinded to see what he had right in front of him.
Still, he couldn't get over Kagome and believed that he never would. "I'm sorry, Kikyo. You're right," Inuyasha finally spoke up.
Kikyo cracked a small smile and held his cheeks in her hands, she closed her eyes and attempted to place a kiss on his lips, but Inuyasha turned away. She frowned and bowed her head in defeat, "I-I'm sorry…I just thought-"
"Don't apologize. It's not your fault, I just…I need more time."
She nodded her head, and Inuyasha snaked his arm around her waist. The two walked back to their car in silence.
-X-
Kagome and Hojo sat across from each other at a table in the diner Kagome worked at. Ira was with them sitting in a booster at the end of the table next to Kagome. The two had been pretty good friends for about a year since Kagome met him on a campus tour when she was still in high school. He was studying to be a doctor, and they really hit it off when she mentioned wanting to be a pediatric nurse. Hojo became somewhat of a mentor to Kagome, and she always welcomed his comfort whenever she needed it. Hojo was one of the few people that stuck by her when the news got out that she was going to have a baby.
"How has Ira's ear infection been? Is she still feeling discomfort?" Hojo asked, while watching Kagome wiped apple sauce from her daughters face.
"It's clearing up. The antibiotics have been doing its job, and she hasn't cried from any pain since yesterday, which is a good sign. I can't thank you enough for your help."
Hojo smiled at how much Kagome cared about Ira, "Good, I'm just glad she is doing better." He took a sip of his coffee and then gave her a more serious look. "Now, how are you doing lately?"
Skeptically, Kagome raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Hojo? I'm well. Healthy as a horse in fact!"
"No, I mean…how are you?"
Kagome sighed, finally understanding what he was getting at. She lowered her eyes played with a small puddle of water on the table with her finger. "Well, you know…it's the same thing with me. I work, take care of Ira, eat and sleep; nothing too exciting."
He nodded, leaving the subject alone when another one came into mind. "So, how is your friend doing?"
"What friend?" She asked giving him with a quizzical look.
"Mr. Takahashi? I saw you two talking at the hospital."
"Oh…he's not a friend." Kagome rolled her eyes not wanting to think about him, "That man can take a long walk, off a short bridge."
Hojo's eyes widened at her statement, "Wow…pretty harsh to say about someone who just lost his father."
"Yea well, you don't know what he-" She lost her train of thought as her brain processed what Hojo had said to her, "What do you mean…just lost his father?"
"His father was on his death bed that night. He passed on early the next morning. He didn't tell you?" Hojo asked with a confused look on his face that Kagome only returned with a confused look of her own.
"No…he didn't." She replied while resting her elbows on the table and starred out the window next to them drifting into her own thoughts.
Hojo saw that he had lost her attention after that statement. "If you and him aren't friends, then what is your connection? The way you two were acting in the hospital didn't seem like you met for the first time that day."
Kagome didn't immediately answer his question. She wasn't sure what to tell him that would be the truth…without actually being the truth, "We, uh…dated, a couple years ago." It wasn't the whole truth…but, it wasn't a lie, either.
"Oh," He replied, feeling a little defeated. The atmosphere got a little uncomfortable, and Hojo cleared his throat in attempt to cut the thick wall of tenseness. "So, how have things gotten with your family?"
"Better," She said. "My grandfather still doesn't speak to me…he sees me as tainted, and doesn't really care for Ira much either. I feel bad for her…I can understand not wanting anything to do with me, but my daughter didn't do anything wrong. Mom adores her though, so I guess that is enough for now. We've tried reconnecting a little, but there is still a lot of distance between her and I."
"What about your little brother, you said you two were always close."
"Yes, we are. Things never changed between me and him. I guess he took my constant teenage bitching as common brother/sister quarrels. But, at the end of the day…we always had each other's back."
Hojo nodded, "I'm glad to hear that things are getting a little better with them. Some progress is better than none."
She didn't show any facial expression. Instead, Kagome lowered her hands to her lap and looked at the empty plate of food she finished some time ago. "I suppose you're right…"
"What about Sango, still haven't heard from her?" He asked.
While shaking her head, Kagome said "No…she doesn't speak to me anymore. I don't blame her though. I honestly don't blame anyonee for hating me these days. It's not like I don't deserve it. Looking back on how I treated people a few years ago, I'd hate me too."
Hojo chuckled, "Yea, you were definitely a little full of yourself back then! Only cared about you and what you wanted."
Kagome narrowed her eyes at her supposed friend, "Thanks…"
He winked at her, "Don't take it to too hard, Kagome. What teenage girl doesn't think they are better than everyone else at some point in their life?"
"If this is supposed to make me feel better…it isn't working."
Finally deciding not to mess with her anymore, Hojo became serious. "Look, bottom line…when you think you have no one else, remember that you will always have me." He said, penetrating her eyes with his own.
Kagome could feel a spark, and blood began rushing to her cheeks. "T-thanks…I'll keep that in mind." She softly, then took a look at her wrist watch. "Is it really this late? I've got to get home and get some cleaning done." Kagome stood up and picked up Ira.
She was gearing herself to put her daughter in the car seat when Hojo placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let me give you two a ride home." Hojo said sincerely.
Kagome continued strapping her child in, "You don't have to…I think we'll be fine." She answered when she was pulled up and forced her around to look Hojo in his eyes.
"Kagome, I am very proud of you. You are incredibly independent…but don't be so independent where you won't ask for help. It's freezing outside…you don't need to be out there, and Ira definitely doesn't need to be. Let me take you home."
The intensity in his eyes and voice once again made Kagome turn bright crimson, "O-okay…" She forced out.
After getting her daughter together, Hojo paid the bill for the food and led Kagome out of the dinner to his car.
-X-
After twenty minutes of awkward silence in the car with Hojo, Kagome was walking through the front door of her tiny apartment. Once closing the door, she picked up the stack of envelopes waiting for her at the foot of the door. She let out a deep sigh, "Oh great…bills." She whispered to herself and picked them up off the floor, sitting them on her coffee table.
She took Ira out of the car seat, and sat her in the play pin for an afternoon nap while she got the cleaning done in her house. Kagome walked in the living room and turned on a pot of boiling water to make some tea.
'I feel a little bad for Inuyasha, I wonder how he is doing.' Kagome started washing the dishes that were waiting for her in the sink. 'I remember him saying he never really got along with his father, after his mother died...I can imagine he's lonely.'
She shook her head from the thoughts of her unforgivable ex-boyfriend, "Oh, what do I care for!? His family issues aren't my problem! …ouch!" Kagome pulled her hand out of the dish water, she saw blood beginning to come out of her index finger after cutting her hand on a knife in the water. "Fantastic," She grabbed a nearby paper-towel to wipe up the blood while walking to her bathroom for the first aid kit.
After cleaning up her bloody finger and wrapping it in gauze, Kagome sat down on the side of her bath-tub. "I guess this is what I get for being insensitive. Screw you, karma!" She yelled and then sighed. "I wonder if I should give him a call and see how he's doing."
Kagome considered the thought, but then shook it off. 'No way, Kagome; don't go getting soft because you're feeling sorry for him! His loss has nothing to do with you!' She stood up and headed back into the kitchen to finish the chore she initially started.
When the dishes were complete, the water on the stove finished boiling so Kagome proceeded to make a cup of green tea. The phone started ringing from the living room which annoyed her a little. Today was one of those days where Kagome just didn't feel like talking to people. But maybe talking is what she needed to do to clear her head about feeling bad for Inuyasha. When she located the phone, Kagome plopped down on her sofa and started going through the lovely stack of bills she left on the table from earlier.
"Hello little brother," She said upon answering the phone.
"How'd you know it was me?"
Kagome chuckled, "Caller ID, dummy. Now what do you what?" She asked while opening the first envelope.
"Why do I have to want something, can't I just check on my sister once in a while?"
"Fair enough, Souta. What's up?"
"I was calling to see how my little niece is doing. Is she still sick?"
Kagome glanced over at her daughter taking note that she was still sound asleep, "Just a little, she's been on antibiotics for a couple days now. But she's still going to be on medicine for at least seven more days just to be on the safe side. She is showing signs of being more like herself though, which is a positive sign." Kagome pulled out a pen and paper and started calculating her expenses for the previous month. She had gotten Ira's hospital bill from the other day which of course wasn't in her budget for the month, but she would figure something out. What was important is that her daughter was treated and healthy.
"That's really good news, I'm glad she's doing better."
"How are things at the house, and mom?"
"Mom's great, she can't wait for you to bring Ira around again."
Kagome sighed and felt a little dejected by her brother's statement. "So that's it…she just wants to see Ira."
"No, Kagome…I didn't mean it like that."
"Yea you did, even if it wasn't intentional. It's alright though, I'm used to it…I'm sure gramps still hates me too."
"Kagome, they don't hate you. You're family…mom and grandpa could never hate you. Mom hates what happened to you, and how you got into this situation. She hates the decisions you made in your past and hates herself for not doing anything to stop it; and gramps, he's just old! You know that."
"I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, Souta." She furrowed her eyebrows when she came across an odd letter while opening her mail. After tearing open the seal, Kagome began reading and her widened. "H-hey, could I call you later?" Without waiting for an answer, she hung up the phone and started reading the letter further in depth.
Dear Ms. Kagome Higurashi,
I regret to inform you that Mr. Inuyasha Takahashi has requested your appearance in a court hearing to negotiate shared custody rights of your child/children (Ira Higurashi). Your absence in court could result in your forfeit of your maternal rights and full custody given to the requester listed above. Please respond to this letter promptly by the end of next week to schedule a hearing date.
Warm Regards,
Kaede Hongo
Attorney at Law
Kagome had fire in her eyes as she threw the letter across the room, "You have got to be kidding me, Inuyasha!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Her sudden conniption startled, and woke up Ira from her slumber and she began crying. Kagome walked over to the play pin and picked up her daughter. After a few minutes of bouncing and back patting, Ira finally quieted down and Kagome placed her on the floor, allowing her freedom to crawl around.
'I will not let you do this, Inuyasha…'
-X-
It had been four days since the funeral, and Inuyasha was started to feel like himself again. It was as if a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders…almost. Since his father died, all of his responsibilities became Inuyasha's, much to his misfortune. 'The man is dead, and he still plagues me!' He thought while sifting through a stack of old finance documents. Inuyasha began in doing a lot of research on his company's financial defecates. From what he was seeing, even after the merge with Kikyo, the company was still losing money but he could not figure out why. Something was missing, but what, he just couldn't figure out.
"This is endless!" He bellowed while pushing all the documents off of his desk. Inuyasha stood up and leaned against his wall-sized windows. "What am I missing…?"
Just then, a loud and violent bang on his office door broke him out of his thoughts. "Inuyasha, you have three seconds to open this door, before I kick it down! One…"
"Kagome…?" He said to himself while walking to his door. "Three!" He heard through the door, but before she had the time to kick it, Inuyasha opened it and Kagome nearly fell inside. "Whoa there, killer…what happened to the number, two?"
"I can't believe you!" She screamed at him while throwing a punch to his chest. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her knowing her baby punch had no effect on him. "Why are you doing this, Inuyasha? WHY!?" She went to throw another punch, but this time, he caught both her wrists in one hand.
"Mind telling me what I did, before you start attacking me? How did you even get up here without being stopped?" He asked nonchalantly and closed his office door with his free hand.
"Let my arms go, right now…so that I can stomp your face into the floor!" Kagome began struggling to release herself from his grip.
"And you really think I'm going to let you go, and allow you to inflict pain on me?"
She narrowed her eyes and looked at him with pure disgust. "This isn't a joke, and I am not laughing!"
"Well neither am I. But the only way I'll let you go, is if you calmly tell me what I did that was so wrong." Inuyasha slowly released her arms and in a split second, Kagome slapped him across the cheek. "So much for calm…"
"A custody battle, Inuyasha!? Are you freaking kidding me?" Kagome hit him in the chest with the letter she received in the mail a few days before.
Inuyasha furrowed his eyebrows, finally realizing the reason for her rage. He walked back over to his desk, picking up his cup of coffee and took a sip. "Oh, so you finally got the letter." He said causally, which only fueled Kagome's fire.
"Don't act like this isn't important! Why are you doing this!?" She leaned over his desk, holding herself up with her arms.
"I told you, I wanted to get to know Ira-"
"And I told you, NO!"
He raised his brows at her, "Which is the exact reason why I'm doing this…"
"How did you even get to file for custody without establishing paternity!?"
"I have a good lawyer…" He said while taking another sip of his coffee. "But, of course…if you stop being so stubborn and talk to me, I won't have to take it to that level."
Kagome chuckled, and bit her tongue finally understanding Inuyasha's motives. "So that's what this is really about? This is your attempt to get me to sit down and listen to you? That's really sick, Inuyasha! But you know what, fine…" She walked behind his desk and took a seat on top of it. "I'm here now, talk…I'm listening!"
From his sitting position, Inuyasha had to fight the urge to stare at her lustfully. But, it didn't help that from the angle he was, looking up meant eyeballing her chest. While clearing his throat, Inuyasha slid his rolling chair a few feet away from her. "I'm just trying to make up for lost time, Kagome. Why does our past have to affect me being in Ira's life?"
Kagome's eye twitched unwillingly as a result of the rage she was currently feeling for Inuyasha, "Because I don't want you in her life," She said with so much malice in her tone, "Since day one I have been the one there for her, I've taken care of her, I fed her, I clothed her. You did nothing, but leave me in the dark while you went off to start a new life and relationship with another woman! So tell me, Inuyasha…why should you be allowed to just waltz into her life, and act like darling daddy, when before the day you decided to be a creep and follow me the hell home, you couldn't give a damn about me!?"
"Did you hear what you just said, Kagome? You said 'I couldn't give a damn about you. The way I feel about you has nothing to do about me trying to do what's right with the child I helped create! All I'm trying to is make things right, and do what I feel is best for Ira!" He countered.
"And you think a custody battle is what's best? Don't you think that's a little unfair to her; to see mommy and daddy yelling back and forth at each other and fighting over her in the middle of a court room?"
"Yes, I do! Because you won't let me do it on my own, you've given me no choice but to have someone else make you let me be a father to her! And you know what?" Inuyasha stood up and was now looking down at her. "I think the only reason you're acting like this is because you can't stand the fact that I want a relationship with Ira…that doesn't include a relationship with you."
That, was the absolute wrong thing to say and Inuyasha knew it. He knew he still cared about Kagome deeply, be he needed her to realize that she needed, and wanted him just as badly as he wanted her. Inuyasha never intended to break her, but he needed to break the wall that she put up around herself that cut him off. Kindness didn't work on her, so the only way to get to Kagome at this point would be to fight fire with fire.
Kagome's eyebrows furrowed as his statement sunk in, she could feel the tears welling up inside of her but she refused to let him see her cry. "I hate you…Inuyasha." She said in a low tone and stood up from his desk in attempt to leave his office, but Inuyasha grabbed her and turned her back around to face him.
"I know you don't mean that." He said, but Kagome never looked at him. "And I don't want to fight with you, I never did…don't make me your enemy."
Not having the ability to fight her tears anymore, one slowly fell from each eye. "You made me your enemy the day you stopped loving me…"
"I never stopped-"
"Don't make me do this, Inuyasha…if you want to meet Ira, I'll let you." Kagome cut him off. "But, don't make me have to fight over her. My daughter is my life…literally. Ira is a part of me, and I can't put her through something like that. A custody battle is way too stressful, and it's not fair to her."
"K-Kagome…"
"Just promise me one thing, Inuyasha. Don't hurt my baby girl." She said with pleading eyes.
Inuyasha didn't like seeing the woman he loved with tears in her eyes. He wished he could just take her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay. But, it was too early for that. Kagome was too vulnerable and wouldn't accept any feelings of affection from him.
He looked at her with the same soft, loving eyes he did back when they were together, "I would never hurt her, Kagome and I'll drop the custody charge." Inuyasha said to her while wiping the tears from her face.
"Thank you," Kagome couldn't fight the urge to smile at him, she missed his touch and at that moment, if only for a second she felt joy. Which was something she haddn't felt in a very long time.
Inuyasha's office door opened, and Kikyo walked in, "Inuyasha, I wanted to surprise you with a lunch…who are you!?"
Both, Inuyasha and Kagome turned their attention to the person at the door that interrupted them. "Kikyo…?" He said.
Kagome pulled out of Inuyasha hold, and cleared her throat. "W-well, Inuyasha…I think we're done here. I will give you a call sometime later this week about, well, you know. Alright, I'm going to go." She said quickly while walking past Kikyo and out of the door.
Kikyo watched the heavily embarrassed young girl sprint from the office before turning her attention back to her husband, "Okay…? Do you want to tell me who she was?" She asked.
Inuyasha took his seat at his desk, "Honestly, no I don't want to. But, I suppose I have to at some point since you'll probably see a lot of her from now on."
"Excuse me…?"
"Just, have a seat…and I'll explain everything."
-X-
AN: Hello my lovely readers! Sorry for going on like, a week long hiatus. Honestly, half this chapter was written since about last Tuesday…then I got lazy because I came up with a different idea for future chapters which slightly alters this one. I hope I made the right choice in writing this the way I did rather than my initial idea (that I'm not going to tell you in fears of you wanting me to write it that way) In any event, I really enjoyed all the reviews on the previous chapter. I saw that it hit many of you emotionally, and I'm glad that you guys feel that close to the characters. You guys sharing you honest opinions makes Kriss a happy author! So please, continue to read, and keep the reviews coming. I love reading them, and replying to you guys!
-Kriss