As a village priestess, Kagome had been around a lot of babies. If she put her mind to it, there were certainly a few things about Shin that struck her as not exactly ‘normal’ for a human infant fresh out of the womb. 

He was very quiet for one thing. Instead of wailing, he just gave whimpery little cries for attention. More often than not though, he was calmly silent, watchful. And that was another thing that struck her as strange—how aware he seemed of his surroundings. She had the uncanny impression that he understood a great deal more about the world around him than a newborn typically would. And whatever he didn’t grasp, he was trying actively to puzzle out. 

He seemed bizarrely coordinated for a newborn baby. He was constantly reaching out with his tiny hands, kicking out with his tiny feet—not at random, but with some clear objective in mind. Like her dress that was in the way or a strand of hair that was tickling him. It was the sort of behavior she’d have expected a few months on, not a few days.

When she thought of this, along with his early arrival, it was somewhat unnerving. But she forced herself not to dwell upon it. What was the point, anyway? Shin was going to be however he was going to be. He wasn’t human, no matter how ‘human’ he seemed at present.

There was more to her baby than met the eye—this much she knew.

It wasn’t long before the visitors started trickling in, bearing gifts and well-wishes to disguise their curiosity. By some unspoken understanding, they’d given the new family a whole week to get settled. Kagome was honestly surprised, having expected maybe two days of peace at best. 

Some of these visitors were more welcome than others. When a sour-faced Jakken arrived with an ornate chest in tow, Kagome’s expression was as dubious as his. Inuyasha’s nose wrinkled outright at the sight of him.

Opening the chest, Kagome gasped at what she saw gleaming beneath wrappings as feathery as moth’s wings. Hardly daring to touch it at first, she lifted out a miniature set of clothes—a snowy white haori emblazoned with blue flowers at its silken collar, the same rich shade of blue as the hakama sheening below. The clothes were clearly of immortal make, and very fine. 

It was a princely gift.

Kagome’s awed gaze shifted to Jakken. She didn’t know what to say except a breathless, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, woman,” Jakken groused back. “I’m only the messenger. Sesshoumaru-sama commissioned them from the Shinchuu.” When Inuyasha said, “Huh?” Jakken turned to him witheringly. “The Divine Silkworm—don’t you know anything?” At the sound of Inuyasha’s claws cracking into a fist, Jakken paled to a sickly pea-green. A drop of oily sweat beaded on his brow as his yellow eyes swiveled back to Kagome. “The clothes will grow with the boy, obviously, and protect him from most harms.”

This wasn’t at all obvious to Kagome, but she was more than willing to accept that these clothes were a rare and precious gift. Irrational as it was, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment that Sesshoumaru hadn’t presented them himself. Pushing her misgivings aside, she nodded politely to Jakken all the same.

“Give him my thanks, won’t you?”

Eyeing the baby dozing at her breast with great skepticism, Jakken pursed his beaklike mouth. “Is that boy of yours even remotely youkai?” His black cap went slightly askew as he shook his head. “Why milord troubles himself with you humans and demi-humans I will never understand. But it’s not for me to question his whims.”

With that, the imp took his contemptuous leave.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 6/29/23