Work Text:
You know what they say about all work and no play.
Play Date
If loving someone was Inuyasha’s greatest strength, then it was also his greatest weakness. Not in battle, at least not in any battle that would pose a threat to those he cared about. Only in arguments with his dear wife who knew she was one of the few rare exceptions to his ‘I-give-fuck-all’ attitude. Listening to Kagome wasn’t so much of a chore as it was opening his mind to things he once thought were akin to a death sentence or entirely foreign, inaccessible to someone like him. She made him think the impossible could become possible. That he had a place in this world, one he didn’t have to carve out for himself.
Though it put her at odds with those unwilling to accept him as a person, or understand them, Kagome stood by him. She was unashamed to hold his hand or bend his ear when she felt something needed to be said. Always reminding him she was happy being his wife, joyful with the life they had together, and thankful for the child they made together.
Inuyasha could tune out anyone else and not feel a single shred of guilt. But Kagome? He wasn’t sure if he would ever recover if he let her down. Not after everything she’d given him. Even if she said there were no scores to be kept, Inuyasha wouldn’t forget. His entire life changed when Kagome pulled that arrow from his chest. Since then, nothing he knew had ever been the same.
However there were just some things a man couldn’t budge on. Especially when it dealt with certain high and mighty yōkai with sticks lodged too far up their asses. As the thought passed his mind, Kagome shot him a look out of the corner of her eye as if she could read his thoughts. Inuyasha huffed, sticking his hands in his sleeves and hunching forward to peer out the window overlooking the woodstove. He wouldn’t say it aloud, not with Shippō entertaining Moroha by the fire, not even a few sun away. But the words tipped Inuyasha’s tongue and worsened his scowl.
“If you keep that face up, you’re going to scare Moroha,” Kagome said in a low voice, pinching Inuyasha’s cheek with her right hand then giving it a light shake without looking up from the cookpot she was stirring. “Otō-san.”
Inuyasha grimaced, turning his head away with a shallow jerk of his chin. “Quit it, Kagome.” He butted his elbow against the windowsill as he leant away from her, sniffing the air. The tantalizing smell of steamed vegetables and cooked meat mingled with an earthy scent drifting down from the skies in a thin mist. “Besides, Sesshōmaru’s got a meaner mug than I do. If anybody’s gonna scare her, it would be him.”
Kagome lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. “Sesshōmaru always looks like that. I’m sure she’s gotten used to it like all of us have,” she brushed her hand on her hakama before dipping her fingers in a small bowl of water. “Besides, he’s her oji-chan. You, on the other hand, are her otō-san. When you’re scowling, she worries. It’s what daughters do.” After drying off her hand, she picked up a few minced sprigs of some green herb Inuyasha recalled Moroha thrusting into the palm of Kagome’s hand after she realized she had none left.
“She looks up to you,” Kagome added, tossing the pieces into the pot with a flick of her wrist.
Inuyasha didn’t have a ready answer for that. Kagome encouraged his bonding with Moroha even before she was born, and after finding out they had a girl, Kagome seemed dead set on ensuring he had a say or an opinion about everything. It felt nice, being included. Although he hadn’t the faintest idea what he was doing. But Kagome remembered her own father fondly, spoke about him wistfully though some of her memories ended abruptly with a saddened look on her face as details faded over time.
He could only imagine how important it was to her that Moroha had her father around. Kami knew how worried Kagome looked whenever he left with Miroku, imploring him to come back safely with an even greater fervor than before they became parents. Inuyasha watched with her a pang of hurt. If he could wrap her up in his arms and hold her close to make up for all the pain she endured, he would.
But it wouldn’t turn time back or return her father to her side.
Kagome looked up at him suddenly, then let out a soft sigh as she smiled understandingly. “Anyway, this isn’t just about you or Sesshōmaru. It’s about being able to spend time with family.”
Inuyasha groaned out a sigh. “Rin brings the twins when she visits, and Kaede doesn’t mind the three of them running around her place.”
“A visit whenever Rin can spare the time from her duties and get Towa-chan and Setsuna-chan ready isn’t fair to them, her, Moroha or us.”
This time, Inuyasha sighed outwardly. He wanted to ask what role Sesshōmaru played into this but before long it would be raining and a question like that would make Kagome prolong this conversation. If it went bad then there would be no traipsing off into the forest to cool down.
That’s not an option anyway, Inuyasha thought to himself, he told himself he wouldn’t do that anymore after Moroha was born. For better or worse, no matter how uncomfortable the situation, if he could help it then he was staying close by when she or Kagome needed him.
As if she inherited her mother’s ability to simply know when he needed encouragement, Moroha laughed with delight and clapped her hands together. Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at Shippō’s dancing acorns putting on a show close to the fire. While Shippō wasn’t small anymore, he hadn’t outgrown his delight for praise. He preened with every peal of laughter squeaked out from Moroha’s tiny body. A small smile pulled at Inuyasha’s face as he watched his daughter cheer on the acorns, the tips of her hair ribbon danced as she bounced in time with the performance.
“She’s growing up, Inuyasha,” Kagome said under her breath. Inuyasha turned to her, surprised to see she was looking at him with that tender expression she’d been giving him more often since Moroha was born. “Soon, she’ll be out there having her own adventures and seeing the world with her own eyes.” With a smile, Kagome lowered her gaze but Inuyasha couldn’t look anywhere else.
She was so excited for a future he couldn’t even comprehend as something possible.
Then again, a few years ago he couldn’t fathom that Moroha would have ever existed. That Kagome would return wanting to be with him. That somehow he would defy every expectation of him. He made friends, married a wonderful woman, and had a child with her. Every step Moroha took awed him. To think she would go somewhere beyond his sight sent a rush of emotion through his chest he was ill-prepared for.
Inuyasha blew a huff through his nostrils and leant forward with a hand resting on his bent knee. “And we’ll be right behind her in case she gets into trouble.”
Kagome glanced at him, her cheeks flushed from steam rising from the pot, darkened a few shades as her blush-pink lips curled up at their corners. “I don’t think she would want her otō-san and okā-san tagging along everywhere.”
“Then we’ll send Shippō,” Inuyasha answered, glancing over when he heard Shippō’s confused yelp. Moroha was distracted from her show when the acorns stopped dancing but the kitsune recovered quickly, deciding to show her his spinning top. The colorful toy captured Moroha’s heart immediately and she demanded Shippō to show it to her now. Remembering how large it could get, Inuyasha jerked his head toward the door when Shippō glanced his way.
“Why don’t we take this outside, Moro?” Shippō scooped up the acorns, accepting the few Moroha plucked up and handed to him. Her chubby hands fisted in his sleeves as she hauled up onto his back in an awkward replica of how Kagome hoisted up onto Inuyasha’s. From beside him, Kagome giggled and Inuyasha smirked as Shippō stashed his acorns away with reddened cheeks then hiked Moroha up on his back.
“You two are the worst,” Shippō grumbled as he passed by, somehow managing to make it to the door with a squirming four-year-old’s knee lodged into his spine.
Inuyasha’s nose twitched. The storm wouldn’t reach them until after dinner was ready, and by then Moroha would be hungrier than she was wanting to play. Kagome set the lid atop of the pot before she turned to face him, dusting her hands off. Inuyasha settled in with his ear flicking at every joyful cry from Moroha insisting the top move faster. His gaze drifted to Kagome when she stepped toward him expectantly, resting her hands on his knee. From the glint in her eye, their conversation was far from over.
“They’re cousins, Inuyasha. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could be friends?”
It would be, Inuyasha could attest, but the reality of it was that blood didn’t always make family and friends could be more trustworthy than family itself. However, telling Kagome that would’ve been futile.
Resigned to his wife’s excitement, Inuyasha leant back against the wall then gestured blithely with a raised brow for her to go on. In a rush of breath, Kagome said, “During the winter, Rin and Sesshōmaru stay in Chūgoku and during the fall, they only have a short time out of every month they can come here.”
Inuyasha bobbed his head slowly. “Okay.. so?”
It often meant times spent indoors due to dropping temperatures and not wanting their children to fall ill. Moroha and her cousins played to the amusement of their mothers while he and Sesshōmaru sat at opposite walls, watching over their families. Meals were louder but Inuyasha could hardly enjoy his soup with Sesshōmaru just lingering in the corner like a statue, removed from the rest but not to the dismay of his wife or children.
Rin was used to it, getting up now and then to ask him if he wanted tea or something else. Sesshōmaru spoke so softly Inuyasha couldn’t catch what he was saying but it must have been charming— if his brother could even be that— because Rin returned, flustered and smiling as she fielded her daughters’ curious questions. Emboldened by Rin’s inclusion of Sesshōmaru, Setsuna and Towa mimicked her questions and carried over small portions of their meals.
Inuyasha half-expected Sesshōmaru to snap at them with how often they pestered him or tell them once and for all that he didn’t eat food humans ate, drawing a line in the sand, but instead he accepted their small offerings then returned them to Rin to place back in the twins’ dishes when they were distracted.
Why would he go that far to keep from hurting their feelings, Inuyasha wondered.
“So, this is the perfect time,” Kagome drummed her hands against his thighs, startling him out of his thoughts.
Seizing her hands with a light curl of his fingers around his wrists, Inuyasha echoed slowly, “The perfect time for what?”
Kagome grinned impishly. “A playdate.”
“A…” Inuyasha’s hold loosened and her hands slipped back as he tried to piece together what she said. His ears pressed back against his head as he tossed the foreign words around, finding nothing in the space of his mind labeled ‘Kagome’ that matched up. “A what now?”
“A play date!” Kagome threw her arms up, reminding him of the young girl she’d been. While her appearance hadn’t changed at all, she was significantly maturer than then, but her cheer was infectious as well. He found himself smiling as well as she held his arms by his sleeves, excitement danced in her eyes. “A few days during their off time where the girls can play together.”
“Right,” Inuyasha drawled, almost afraid to ask but that look didn’t mean anything good. “And when exactly is this playdate going to be?”
Kagome rubbed her hands up and down his arms, rustling his sleeves. “This week…?” She trailed off sheepishly, Inuyasha’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Before he could utter a protest, she tugged at his sleeves. “It’s summer, Inuyasha! You know how Rin feels about keeping cooped up when it’s warm.”
Inuyasha groaned. As much as he hated the idea of Rin having nothing to do with herself than play the mind games yōkai passed the centuries with, he didn’t want to go there either. It was bad enough that he’d never seen the palace himself. If he showed up with Moroha, that would grant him all the wrong attention and expose Moroha to something he wasn’t sure how to begin explaining.
“I can’t exactly fly there, Kagome,” Inuyasha said and pulled his sleeves out of her hands, letting her grasp his fingers instead. “And how’re you even going to let Rin know about this in time?”
Kagome squeezed his fingers and Inuyasha realized how stiff his hands had been. Gradually, she worked her thumbs around in slow circles at his joints to loosen them up then cupped her hands around his own. “I don’t have to,” she said, pressing a kiss to his claws. His heart flipped when she looked up to him, cradling his hands to her chest. “She already knows.”
Inuyasha’s racing heart did skip a beat only to drop into the pits of his stomach when he realized. “... You’ve been planning this?”
“For a while now,” Kagome admitted, squinting one eye with an apologetic wince. Inuyasha groaned and she squeezed his hands a little tighter. “And you don’t have to worry about going anywhere, Towa-chan and Setsuna-chan will be coming here.”
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, suspicious of his wife’s guileless tone. “How..”
This time, Kagome smiled sweetly as she reached for his rosary. “You’ll see,” she whispered, tugging him down into a kiss.
Never again, Inuyasha thought to himself. Never again would he let himself fall prey to anything Kagome said to him just because it was topped off with a kiss and a smile. He should’ve known she would butter him up with talks about feelings and the people he couldn’t say no to just to get her way in the end.
“Papa!” A small tug at Inuyasha’s pants leg redirected his attention down to Moroha, grasping his pants leg in one small fist while her other hand pointed up to the sky. “Papa, which cloud is oji-chan?”
Inuyasha’s brow furrowed. “Cloud?” He glanced up at the sky then shook his head. “He’s not a cloud, Momo..” He sucked his teeth at the thought of Sesshōmaru as a cloud of all things. “If he was, he’d disappear in seconds anyway.”
No doubt he would be one of the ones fortelling a storm. Deceptively bright and hiding something malicious behind it. Although a voice in the back of his mind that sounded oddly like Kagome pointed out rainfall was good for their crops and a few of the villagers had considered prayers to the land kami for a few rainy days. Inuyasha sniffed, puzzled when he smelled salt. Looking down, his heart leapt into his throat at the shimmering tears glazing over Moroha’s brown eyes.
“Oji-chan’s gonna disappear…?” She asked in a tiny voice, close to breaking with how harsh it wavered.
Inuyasha internally panicked, thinking back to what he said. Damn it, no wonder Kagome told him to pick his words better. He scooped her up in his arms, thumbing away the tears clinging to her eyelashes. “He’s not going to disappear because he’s not a cloud, okay?” Moroha sniffed, rubbing her arm across her eyes with a nod.
Inuyasha sighed with relief. “What’s got you asking about him anyway?”
In the typical fashion of a four-year-old child, when her attention was diverted to something else, Moroha took to it wholeheartedly. She held a fistful of Inuyasha’s suikan, rocking back and forth. “Mama said that Setsu and Towa are coming today to play with me.”
Inuyasha nodded. “Yeah, I heard that too.”
“And last time they came, Setsu told me a secret but I promised not to tell..” She shook her head, her ribbon swaying while her forelocks brushed against her cheeks dramatically. Inuyasha smiled a little. “... But papa, you won’t tell anyone, right?”
He huffed. “Didn’t you say you promised not to tell, you can’t break your promises, Momo.” Though he could admit that he was a little curious about what Setsuna told her and what it has to do with Sesshomaru. Moroha wrinkled her nose and pinched her lips, brows furrowed cutely. Inuyasha smiled. Kagome was right, she did look a little like him when she did that. But did he really make that much of a face?
“Well,” Moroha gave his shoulders a few pats. “Don’t worry papa, you’ll see when oji-chan gets here.”
Inuyasha hummed absentmindedly, letting her climb up on his shoulders while he stared up at the sky. A second passed before the words registered in Inuyasha’s mind and he tipped his head back, jostling Moroha where she drummed between his ears mindlessly. “Hang on, what do you mean when oji-chan gets here.”
Moroha shimmies up until his hold on her ankles was the only thing keeping her from toppling off his head. Upside down, his daughter’s scowl is just as cute but the look she gives him is unimpressed. Nothing short of Kagome’s influence. “Papa, don’t you know.. oji-chan always plays with Setsu and Towa..! Setsu told m— oop.” Her hands clapped over her mouth so hard Inuyasha almost winced at the force of the slap. “Oh no,” muffled as she shuffled back into place. “I broke a promise.”
Inuyasha’s ear swiveled. Mortification aside, he could hear the sadness in her voice and sighed inwardly. He folded his ears back against his head, grimacing at how muffled his hearing was. In a louder voice, he said, “What’d you say, Moroha? I couldn’t hear you.”
One of his ears sprang up at his will, drawing a gasp from her.
The other followed suit and Moroha giggled.
“So,” Inuyasha cocked his head, making one of his ears flick to the side. “What were you saying?”
Moroha rubbed the soft fur of it with one hand, the other wrapped around his head to pat his cheek. “Nothing, papa.”
Inuyasha smiled, leaning into her warm little hand as she entertained herself with his ears and running her fingers through his hair. He never expected his ears would be a part of him someone loved. Always a target for abuse, and a sign of his heritage, he hated them for most of his life. But his daughter absolutely loved them, enough that she wanted her own.
And Kagome— well, he knew how much she liked them.
His ears perked up at Moroha’s delighted cry and he lifted his head to the sky, watched as the clouds twist and part in their languid pace across the skies. He could understand why Moroha would think of Sesshōmaru as a cloud. The sight of him is strange. As strange as it was when Inuyasha first met him as a child. Someone who could not be real, whose entire essence seemed to be that of a dream or some hallucination made up of the mind. With all the nights he’d gone hungry as a child, all the times he went without sleeping during the night of the new moon in fear someone would kill him— that someone else like him would exist in this world was a dream.
And at the time, he’d been right. Sesshōmaru drew the line between them decades ago. A line that was wiped clean with the birth of his own daughters. Hanyō, just like him.
Like their uncle.
“Setsu!” Moroha called, wiggling around as she was undoubtedly waving her arms despite the distance between them. “Towa!”
Inuyasha could almost make out two tiny figures clinging to Sesshōmaru’s fur as it undulated against the winds like a white serpent gliding across the skies. A pair of small hands waved back and Inuyasha smiled as Moroha clapped her hands to his cheeks.
“Papa! Papa, did you see? Setsu and Towa waved at me!”
“Yeah,” Inuyasha managed to say with how she pushed and pulled at his face. He shook his head to knock off her hands, giving her a light bounce so she could flop backwards against his back. Like a strange giggling cape clinging to his shoulders. Inuyasha smiled but it wiped off his face when yōki built in the air above him. He glared through his bangs, staring up as his elder brother descended from the skies.
As he stood before him, regal and aloof, Inuyasha attested that Sesshōmaru hadn’t changed in the slightest with the passing seasons. Golden eyes narrowed contemptuously, the marks outlining them darkened into arches of blood red. Shadows clung to his eyes as he said, “Inuyasha.”
This, Inuyasha realized, was something about them that would never change. Even in greetings, it was as if a fight were going to break out within seconds if either of them even breathed wrong. But unlike back then, he didn’t feel like drawing Tessaiga. Sesshōmaru’s hands didn’t tense and poison didn’t leak from his claws. Their auras didn’t clash. Instead, there was something softer there. Milder, perhaps. Moroha beat her fists against Inuyasha’s back, whining, “Papaa!”
Reminded of his daughter hanging upside down at his back, Inuyasha crouched down and let her slide onto the grass unharmed. She tumbled head over heels then scrambled up to her feet, running full tilt toward Sesshōmaru without a care in the world. “Setsu! Towa!”
Sesshōmaru’s gaze drifted to Moroha and Inuyasha tensed until she ran past him unharmed, holding out her arms as two small voices answered in kind. Towa leapt off the boa feet first, nearly crashing into Moroha. The two embraced, cheeks squished together as they laughed and talked before the younger twin called out from atop Sesshōmaru’s fur. She held a ball to her chest, gazing down at the ground anxiously.
Moroha and Towa shared a glance, then as if they planned it, helped Setsuna down. The three chatted as if they hadn’t seen each other in forever and Inuyasha felt thoroughly ignored. He glanced up at Sesshōmaru, noting the flash of awkwardness in his gaze. As if sensing he was being watched, his attention snapped to Inuyasha.
How is it, Inuyasha wondered, that his own daughter could get along with his brother’s children better than he could with Sesshōmaru himself. It wasn’t like he wondered or worried over what Sesshōmaru thought of him. He couldn’t care less about his opinion but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a little curious.
“Inu-oji-chan!” Towa shouted, tearing Inuyasha’s focus away from Sesshōmaru as the pair ran up to him. Setsuna held onto Towa’s hand while Towa presented the ball to Inuyasha with a smile.
Used to this from Moroha, Inuyasha looked over the ball curiously then mumbled. “.. A mari?”
“Mm!” Towa nodded, sharing a glance with Setsuna. “Hahaue made it for me and Setsuna. Sometimes, we play with Jaken but his legs are too small..” She wiggled her foot as if demonstrating then looked up to him. “So he’s not good at being the ma..” Her lips pursed as she mouthed a word then tried again. “Ma.. ma.. eh..” Towa looked at Setsuna who didn’t seem to have the slightest idea of how to pronounce the word she struggled with either. At a loss, both girls turned around.
“Chichiue?” Towa called.
Inuyasha glanced up at Sesshōmaru, startled by Moroha playing with the end of his fur hanging shy of his pants leg. Instinct told him to snatch her away from him before anything could happen to her, but Sesshōmaru seemed unbothered. As if he didn’t even notice what she was doing. Inuyasha’s eyebrow twitched. His kid was definitely fearless but she had to learn some sort of self-preservation.
His ear twitched when he heard Sesshōmaru’s quiet sigh. A sigh he made plenty of times when Moroha asked something of him in a way he thought was embarrassing. Indulging her, because what else was he supposed to do?
“Mariashi.”
Towa gasped happily then beamed up at Inuyasha. “Jaken’s not good at being a mariashi!” She said at the top of her lungs, looking back to Sesshōmaru for approval. Setsuna smiled at her sister fondly but the pair didn’t see what Inuyasha had. The quick tip of Sesshōmaru’s lips or the way his tail curled at the end, poking at Moroha’s back to nudge her forward. He gave a slight nod, hardly perceptible but enough for Towa who looked as if she had won a great prize.
“Inu-oji-chan, your legs are really long, right?”
Inuyasha glanced down at his legs and it struck him that he wasn’t sure how tall he was. It never really mattered until now. “Well, yeah..?”
“But chichiue’s legs are longer,” Setsuna pointed out.
Moroha stomped over, setting her hands at her sides in a perfect mimicry of Kagome. “Nuh-uh,” she said in a peevish tone. “Papa’s legs are longer.” Setsuna’s cheek puffed as she turned on her cousin, glaring down at her. Towa looked between them surprised, holding the ball between her hands. “Uhm..” She glanced up at Sesshōmaru first then Inuyasha looking for help as sparks flew between her little sister and cousin. Inuyasha’s lips twitched as he watched them. Arguing seemed to run in their blood but unlike him and Sesshōmaru, they wouldn’t come to blows. At least not as quickly.
Towa let out a soft huh as the ball was plucked from her hands. Inuyasha tipped his head to look at her then caught sight of something sailing at him from the corner of his eyes. He caught it with one hand, close to piercing it with his claws when he felt the material and shape. Staring at the mari confusedly, Inuyasha looked up and found Sesshōmaru staring back at him. Silence fell over them as all eyes turned toward the daiyōkai.
“Inuyasha will be the mariashi,” Sesshōmaru declared.
A pause followed before the girls erupted into cheers. Moroha teased Setsuna who huffed at her while Towa swept both of them in a hug, laughing sprightly. Bewildered, Inuyasha stared at the ball in his hand then up to Sesshōmaru before gazing around the clearing he picked out for the girls’ playdate.
Since when did he have to be a part of this too?
“Don’t let the ball fall,” Sesshōmaru walked past him, his arm barely clipping Inuyasha’s in what he almost thought was a nudge. “Little brother.”
It almost sounded like he was… happy. The idea of Sesshōmaru and happiness was just too foreign for Inuyasha to put together but as the girls clamored around his legs, he could hardly think to contest it.
As the game started and the ball sailed through the air, Inuyasha realized what Kagome said. It wasn’t only about him and Sesshōmaru but this was for them as well. A way for them all to grow closer.
The mari touched the tip of Sesshōmaru’s boot before it was kicked in the air, tossed toward Moroha who did her best to kick it well. Her loss of balance almost had her toppling onto her back until a discreet press to her back by the tip of Sesshōmaru’s fur had her standing upright. She was so focused on where the ball was landing, she hardly seemed to notice.
But Inuyasha did and he met Sesshōmaru’s gaze, feeling a strange understanding between them. The three girls cheering and playing between them were enjoying their childhood, a peaceful one where they could kick around a ball in the field outside without a care in the world.
No swords, no feuds, no pain and suffering.
What happened between them was their problem to mend. And maybe, just maybe, they were both willing to try.