Sterile - an Inuyasha Fanfiction

The Truth

When she woke up she could hear them talking. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing as steady as she could, but she knew she wouldn't be able to pull it off for long. Her mind was still reeling from seeing Shippo for the first time in...

Well, she guessed, she had actually seen him just last week, but she hadn't known it at the time. A week ago, he was simply Teiji, a Shippo look-a-like. But, that had all been a lie, a ruse. Her anger was starting to bubble up and overcome her shock. Why hadn't he just told her who he was? Why had he been lying to her for weeks? Why, when she had said Shippo's name so many times to him before, had he never told her who he actually was? Her face tightened, but she tried to relax it so that she could listen to whatever they were talking about before they realized that she was awake.

"You're really him." Sota's voice sounded guarded. She didn't like that. This was Shippo, there was no need to be guarded around him.

"Yep, and you must be Sota. Kagome used to tell us about you."

It was quiet. Kagome could almost hear the tension that vibrated between them.

"Do you know what he did?"

Someone moved next to her as they adjusted their position. "I only just found out when I found her a few weeks ago. We all thought... Well, we were told that the well had sucked her in."

Kagome couldn't stay quiet any longer. Her eyes opened slowly and she spoke softly. "So, that's the lie that he told you?" She carefully maneuvered to sit up, and Sota quickly reached out to help pull her up. Their concerned eyes focused on her as she got her bearings. Her eyes quickly met Sota's worried look before they landed on shining emerald.

Shippo nodded. "I didn't know... I didn't know what he did. None of us did."

Kagome could still hardly believe it. He was so much older. It was him, the real him, and he had grown so much since the last time that she had seen him. With a sudden lurch she realized that she would actually get to know the answers to all the questions that she had always wondered about. Shippo had found a mate. Shippo was going to have a kit, and she wasn't going to miss it. Shippo had learned some new skills, as evidenced by the prominent stripes on his black belt. She hadn't missed everything. He was here. He was real, and suddenly, it felt like she could breath again.

She took a huge, shaky breath of air and it felt like it was the first time that she had really, truly breathed in years. "Shippo!" She pushed herself up into her knees and threw her arms around him. He was quick to return the hug. He snuggled his face into the crook of her neck and he squeezed her tightly. She could feel his body shaking slightly, as if he was on the verge of tears. She felt tears sting the corners of her eyes as well, but she refused to let them fall. But, these tears were different from the ones that she was used to shedding. These were happy tears.

"I've missed you, Mom." His voice shook as he spoke into her hair, and she only squeezed him harder as a memory enveloped her.

...

It was summer. The heat was intense and she sat with her feet in the riverbank. They had become swollen from long hours of hard work in the blistering sun, and the cool water helped to erase the pain that radiated up from them. This was her first summer back in the Feudal Era, and she loved it. She could hear the loud noise of cicadas and the soft chirp of birds as she leaned back onto the palms of her hands and closed her eyes. The summer breeze ruffled her hair and she smiled as she felt a familiar presence hurrying her way.

"Kagome!"

The adorable fur-ball that was Shippo collided into her side and hugged her tightly. She shifted so that she could pull him close with one arm too. He hadn't been around for nearly two months. "How was training?"