Special

I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi



The house was dark, lit only by the red coals in the fire pit.  InuYasha snugged the blanket around his sleeping wife with his right arm, while holding his daughter on his left hip.

That done, he moved a little away from the sleeping woman to sit beside the fire pit , and, cradling her in his lap, "What am I gonna do with you, little flower, keeping your mama up so late? You must have worn her out, cause after she fed you, she fell right back asleep."

The baby crammed a fist in her mouth. He touched a strand of her silver hair, ran a fingertip over the flap of one soft, puppy ear. "Yukika.  Daddy's little snow flower.  You sure picked a cold time to come join us.  But I can tell you're going to be as beautiful as any flower."

She looked up at him with solemn eyes, and gurgled.

"You know I don't know anything about raising girls, but I suspect if that monk can do it, I can too." He smiled.  "Hell, I know that if my brother can raise a girl, I sure can."  

The baby whimpered.  "Not that I'm comparing you to their girls."  He lifted her up and snugged her against his shoulder. "No, you're daddy's special flower."  He patted her back.  "Hope you turn out more like your mother than me, though.  Then everybody'll love you as much as I do."

He sighed.  "Glad your mama's here to teach you all those things that make her wonderful.  The kami know I couldn't do it.  She's the one who makes our life here special.  So that's why you shouldn't keep her up all night."  Yukika yawned, and snuggled closer to his neck.

After a few minutes of rocking the girl back and forth, he moved her off his shoulder and put his sleeping daughter to bed in her cradle basket, then stretched out next to his wife.  Wrapping an arm around Kagome, he nuzzled her hair and sighed.  "Very special," he murmured, then let himself drift off to sleep.