Mr. Higurashi held out his hands to her, beseeching. “Can I hold him?”
Kagome wanted to say ‘no,’ but she couldn’t. Defeated, she held Shin out to him instead. Mr. Higurashi lifted her son easily out of her hands and smiled. Blue-eyed and human once more, Shin smiled back.
“Jiijii,” he burbled, and Mr. Higurashi’s eyes went wide.
“Amazing,” he murmured, glancing to Kagome. “Is he telepathic?”
“I don’t think so,” Kagome said, peering dubiously at Shin. “Not exactly. He just has strong instincts—and a really strong sense of smell.”
“What makes him change…?”
“Forms?” Kagome supplied. “Nothing ‘makes’ him—well,” she grumbled, remembering Toutousai and his pesky golden hammer, “almost nothing. But for the most part, he just transforms as he pleases, space permitting. That’s why here in the city I keep him close like I do, because otherwise it’d be trouble. He’s a whole lot bigger and scarier than he looks.”
“Amazing,” Mr. Higurashi said again.
Shin beamed at the praise. Kagome sighed heavily.
“Why?” she asked.
Lowering Shin to his lap, Mr. Higurashi looked at her. “Why, what?”
“Why did you leave us like you did?” she asked tersely, so that her voice wouldn’t break. “Even if you don’t think I’ll like the reason, I still want to know—need to know. You fell in love with another woman, I get that—but why did you have to leave Souta and I behind?”
With a curious note of empathy in his voice, Mr. Higurashi said, “You know your grandpa can’t sense spirits like you and I can. Your mother can’t either. And I’m guessing Souta can’t, too?”
“No,” Kagome said, “he can’t.”
Mr. Higurashi nodded. “It’s not a common gift. It awakens for people at different times, when a moment of crisis triggers it. I didn’t know that back then. Not for many years, until I met other people like me. All I knew for the longest time was that after my mother died when I was a boy, I could see her ghost, and those of others. And some things…some things that had never been human at all…”
Kagome felt a twinge of pity for her father. She’d had Kaede, an experienced reiki-wielder in a dangerous era when demons still ran amok, to guide her through her own frightful and bewildering initiation into the spirit realm. And Kagome had been fifteen years old, besides.
“Anyway,” Mr. Higurashi resumed, “you can imagine what my youth and early adulthood were like, seeing otherworldly activity happening all around me, which no one else could seem to see. And having a father who was so ignorantly harping on ‘youkai’ and such all the time.” Kagome experienced another commiserating pang. “It was maddening. The only thing that kept me from thinking I was crazy was that other people could clearly see the evidence of spirit beings—just not the beings themselves. Still I tried to pretend like a normal person that they didn’t really exist. I tried my best to ignore them.
“But then there came a time when I couldn’t—when I came upon a really nasty creature attempting to prey on a child. When I managed to focus my aura and fend it off, that’s when I ran into a band of ghost-hunters and exorcists who’d been on the trail of this fiend. Reiko was one of them.”
Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
Been doing some background maintenance on the site recently, so please pardon my dust 🙂 (btw, seems like the ‘like button’ issue is resolved now, bella – thanks for bringing it to my attention! <3)
DAMNNN THIS JUST GETS MORE AND MORE INTERESTING! Don’t be shy, post a part 165 🤭
And you’re welcome Char ☺️
Great chapter. It’s so nice to get these background stories for all the characters
Gasp.
Noooo 😱 That tramp is an onmyoji???
Smh….Why do we have to wait?! I have so many thoughts but I can’t provide any type of analysis because there’s too many possibilities 😭
(I lied, I have a couple thoughts lol)
I think we’ve all had a period of blaming Kagome for all of the chaos she’s created BUT I believe that there’s always something that’s happened in our past that makes us react in certain ways. I had a recent convo with my mom’s friend that mentioned their friend had a fear of almost everyTHING that could possibly cause physical harm because her father was an alcoholic and, as a child, she was fearful of him falling down and dying. She realized her son has the same fear and her husband pointed out that she reacts to the same things, in the same way. She eventually went to therapy and had to confront her own parents about the stem of her fears and they willingly apologized. Sometimes, we forget how people made us feel and we carry it until we’re ready to drop the load. Kagome has been carrying something that she hasn’t been able to understand or quantify until now. This interaction might be what she needs to sort out her own feelings and situation. Her life with Inuyasha is doable, for now, but her eternal bond to Sesshomaru and her yearning for him isn’t going to end anytime soon. She has to REALLY learn and accept whatever it is they have going on for what it is and move forward.
(So glad you worked out the email notifications! I was on the road last week helping my little brother drive his ’87 Lincoln to our home [14 hours], followed by planning my grandad’s 80th, and finally got a chance to sit and breathe when I realized I hadn’t seen an update in a while lol)
shin smiles so easily. best baby 🥰🥰🥰
also char, while you’re puttering behind-the-scenes, could we please have an index page for this series? 🥺🙏 i love going back and reading certain scenes like the winter castle one, and it’d be great if there’s a way to find them more easily.
just a suggestion tho, you don’t need to~
OMG 🙊 I’m so stoked now!!! So is Kagome’s dad an exorcist too?? Can he fight? Has he trained to wield his reiki?
….
IS HE RIPPED UNDER THAR???? 👀 [perverted]
I’m SHOOKKK. Wait does this mean…?
Did he see the six-point pink star in Kagome when she was born? The one she was named after? Did he sense her power and the Jewel in her body? Has he known all along? 🤯
( ˶°ㅁ°) !!
Ooh this is a peek into what the supernatural realm is like in the modern world. So he chose that world, did he? Now that’s like father… like daughter 👀
Yooo that’s sick. Mr. Higurashi is a protagonist of his own action seinen.
. . .. Or maybe the antagonist? My brain can’t help but be suspicious lmao. We don’t know anything about him. And what if he turns on Kagome, kidnaps Shin or reports him to his exorcist friends? 💀
I’m so excited for this backstory aaaa
I love these bits of worldbuilding elements!
It’s surprising to me that Kagome can relate to the ‘normal’ human experience with youkai🤣
She? The girl who was right at home in a demon’s fairytale castle, frolicking about with her poison-mouthed demonic son and mate while ghosts and spirits watch on? Mr. Higurashi has no idea he’s talking to a tiger and not a housecat.
Oh i love the background you’re weaving for her father. I want more of this rabbit hole! Cheers to you!
Just keeps getting better and better omg