Nocturne - An Inuyasha Fanfic

Chapter Twenty One: Summons

Nocturne - Chapter Twenty-One: Summons

Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)

o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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Inuyasha watched his elder brother take off to who knew the fuck where. What that meant was that now he was saddled with all of Sesshomaru's baggage.

He growled aloud in annoyance and aggravation. Of course, his honor-bound brother would run off and leave Kagome and her whelp. It had been surprising enough that he had even bothered to come back after all the damage he did. Now, Inuyasha was left to clean up the mess.

What a fucking mess it was. None of this was even his fault! Why did he have to put back the pieces? He didn't break this. It's not as if he had pushed Kagome into his brother's arms and knocked her up.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes — fucking bullshit. Kagome didn't even want him around anyway. She'd made that abundantly clear when she left him.

And then she dared to try and apologize and pretend that this was all a long time coming. No! He'd been happy. Why was it his fault she wasn't happy?

Before he knew it, he found himself outside of his old home — the one he had built for Kagome and himself. His nose turned up in a grimace. His brother's scent still lingered here, mingled with Kagome's and her kid's scent. He blew air out of his nose to rid himself of the smell.

It was still early, and Kagome probably wasn't up yet. She claimed to be a morning person, but he begged to differ. The woman may rise before the sun reached its zenith, but she was lucky to rise as early as most of the village.

She'd probably come out soon to start on her usual routine of chores. Fetching water, making breakfast, running to the village to deal with other people's bitching.

He leaned up against the side of the house and closed his eyes.

Kagome finally appeared outside moments later, just he'd expected. She had the baby strapped to her back and carried a pole over her shoulders. It took her a minute to realize he was standing there, and she gasped with surprise, bringing her hand over her chest.

"Kami! Inuyasha, you scared me!" she hissed. Her eyes narrowed as her adrenaline lowered, "Why are you here?"

"Cuz I care," he touted.

"Or a certain elder brother asked you to keep an eye on me," she responded dryly.

He gave a noncommittal shrug. Sometimes the woman was too observant. He could smell the saltiness of dried tears on her, but she didn't look as though she'd been crying recently. Her face wasn't all red and puffy like when they'd fought in the past, and she had cried. Instead, she looked resigned, if not a little determined.

Kagome rolled her eyes and walked off without another word to him. As she walked past, he could see the baby's head swivel to watch him with her dark eyes. Like her mother's, they were bright and lively and held an air of superiority about them. It would figure that any child of Sesshomaru's would look at him that way.

Breaking the cold gaze, the baby cracked a grin and cooed, pushing out her tiny fist in a grabbing motion. Kagome looked back, noticing the attention little Setsuna was paying to him. "For some odd reason, she seems to like you. It can't be because of your charming personality."

"Keh," he scoffed.

She softened, smiling. "Setsuna."

His first inclination was to ignore her and walk along without a word, but he was curious, and as much as he wanted to hate her and the baby...he could not bring himself to do so. "What?"