Surprise

The first thing out of his mouth - "Mine? What do you mean, mine? Sesshomaru, don't walk away from me!"

"Uh, Uncle Yash?" Ichiro says. "She kinda...looks like you."

"Yeah, but that's...im...possible..." he trails off, and stops to stare at Kagome.

"Took him a minute," Ichiro says.

"And you're surprised?" Taisho replies.

The pregnant woman - apparently their mother - claps her hands sharply. "All right, boys," she says warningly. "Be nice."

"I was!" Ichiro protests.

"I wasn't," Taisho mutters.

"KAGOME!"

"Ow. I'm sitting right here!"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" he demands frantically.

"I was going to! I was waiting for the right moment!"

"The right moment? Something like 'By the way, Inuyasha, we have a kid?'"

Etsu, upset from all the yelling, starts to cry.

Before Kagome can reach for her, the other woman plucks her neatly out of Ichiro's arms and starts to soothe her. "It's all right," she says softly, stroking the little girl's back. "I've had practice. And I think I need to get back in the habit."

"What's wrong with it?" Inuyasha demands.

The woman - Kagome realizes she still doesn't know her name - gives him a withering look. "She," she says shortly. "And she may not have the demon blood you do, Inuyasha, but she does have sensitive ears. Not to mention the fact that yelling upsets any child."

"Oh," he says, voice small. "Uh, is she OK?"

"She'll be fine," she says, wiping tears off Etsu's face. "Won't you?"

The little girl hiccups and gives her a shy smile.

"Mom's a sucker for babies," Ichiro says. "She goes nuts every time Koga has one, too."

"Koga? Koga's still around? And married? He married Ayame, right?"

Ichiro nods. "Yeah. And they have about a gazillion kids."

"Six," she corrects.

Kagome grins. "I knew it!"

Inuyasha speaks through clenched teeth. "Excuse me? Can I talk to you for a minute, Kagome?"

"Sure," she says. "What about -"

"The kid'll be fine," he snaps. "Kiare can watch over her. She knows what she's doin'. And Sessh is fine with kids."

Kagome looks doubtful.

"When he's not eating his own young," Kiare adds dryly.

"We've been trying to break him of the habit," Taisho adds, with a perfectly straight face.

Kagome gives up, and follows Inuyasha.

"Why the HELL didn't you TELL ME?" he demands, the instant their outside.

"I was going to!"

"Oh, yeah? When? When the runt graduated college?"

"Don't call her a runt! She has a name!"

"Well, gee, Kagome, I'd call her by name, except I don't know what it is! Because you didn't tell me!"

She blinks. "It's Etsu," she says, in a very small voice. "And I was going to...I just didn't know how. You were so angry when I saw you last..."

"Saw me last? Kagome, that was five hundred years ago!"

"Actually, it was only a few months ago, remember?" she replies.

"For you, maybe," he shoots back. "For me...Kagome, it's been a helluva lot longer."

"Well, you didn't exactly come looking for me," she replies.

He stares at his feet. "I was...I didn't know how you were gonna react," he mutters. "I didn't think you'd wanna see me."

"But why..."

"'Cause I'd pissed you off, too, remember? And it was only a coupla months ago."

"Why didn't you come see me?" she asked.

"I was gonna," he admits. "Soon as I got up the guts."

"Well, I was gonna tell you about Etsu...as soon as I got up the guts," she replies, smiling slightly. "If you'd come by the shrine, you would've seen I was...well, kinda chunky."

He shrugs. "I took off. Me and the brats."

"You and...Sesshomaru's kids?"

"Yeah."

"And what is up with that?" she demands. "You two hated each other!"

"Still do," he says immediately. "We just...work around it. Or something. I don't know."

She grabs his hand and drags him back inside. "You have to hold her," she says. "And she has to get to know you."

"What? What? Why?"

"Because you're her father, stupid!" She shoves him into a chair, takes Etsu, and settles the little girl onto his lap.

She looks up at Inuyasha and grins. He looks down at her with an absolutely terrified expression, one that only deepens as Kagome starts to explain things to him.

The expression on his face is very easily read. It says Oh, my God, I have a kid. What do I do with a kid?

End