Chapter Text
Inuyasha sighed as he looked in the bathroom mirror.
He took in a deep, clarifying breath, held it, and released it, hoping against hope that his anger and frustration would go away with it.
It was not justified anger, not really, though he knew at least Kagome would understand his disappointment.
They’d gotten another call on the mission hotline, with an assignment from Miroku that he’d insisted needed both of them.
Another chance to go out into the field? This time on a mission that he could actually help out on?
Agreeing hadn’t taken any real thought at all, and with a little more time to prepare, Kagome’s mom was getting some much appreciated time with her grandkid.
But it hadn’t been real.
Instead their “mission” had turned out to be a surprise party to celebrate he and Kagome’s anniversary, and all of their friends and family were there, even Mama Higurashi and Moroha.
They’d pulled out all the stops, even arranging to have a suit and dress on hand for them to change into, and opulent decorations and rich foods lined several tables, the centerpiece of it all being a large, ornate cake that shined under a spotlight.
It was such a beautiful, meaningful gesture, and it made him feel so disgusted with himself for being so let down.
It wasn’t fair to the people here who’d put so much effort into all of this that he wasn’t as thrilled and touched as Kagome was.
He needed to get it the fuck together, he needed to get himself in hand, he needed to wipe this scowl off his face and find that winning smile Kagome was always telling him was so handsome.
He sighed again and ran a hand down his face, looking closely at his ever burning desire to return to the field and leave retirement behind.
Super strength was a rare ability, and of all the supers to be gifted with it, all had told him that he was the strongest.
He’d been indispensable for so many missions, had defeated countless enemies and solved endless issues with his ability to lift buildings or move giant debris or pick up gargantuan monsters and move them to safer battle grounds.
He’d had no end of respect and admiration, and Koga was right, he had never planned on retiring, not until Kagome.
Kagome was… more than he’d ever thought he’d have, her love was purer than he thought he deserved, and the baby they’d made together… she was the type of miracle he never would have dared to pray for.
So why wasn’t it enough?
Why wasn’t it enough?
Not one person out there needed him to prove himself to them, certainly not his wife and child, and that was the crux of it all, wasn’t it? He was proving himself.
Over and over and over he’d felt the need to prove himself and his worth to the world, prove that half demon or half human, he was all super, the strongest of the strong, the best of the best.
But he had. He had proven that.
There was a beautiful woman out there, and a perfect, flawless, intelligent, talented, powerful baby that looked to him and trusted in his power, ability and love in ways no one else ever had or ever would.
That realization loosened a tight, nasty knot that had been squeezing his gut for far too long, and he felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
He did not need the approval of the world any longer.
And he finally felt… free.
He smiled then, and it looked so much easier and real than all the others he’d been practicing, because it was.
It finally was.
He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck and left the bathroom, returning to the party in a much better mood.
He found Kagome in a corner with Moroha, and when his child reached for him from Kagome’s hip he scooped her up happily.
“Hey baby girl.” He greeted her, kissing the top of her head, and he answered Kagome’s concerned stare with a grin and a kiss to her cheek.
“Sorry, guess something we had for lunch didn’t agree with me. But I’m fine now.” He said, and he saw by the light in her eye that she understood.
“I’m glad. Isn’t this so nice? I can’t believe our friends did this for us.”
“I can believe they did it for you.” He said warmly, smiling down at her as she snuggled into his side, and she rolled her eyes.
“You’re a sap.”
“Only for you.”
“Inuyasha! Kagome!“ they watched Koga and Ayame approach and greeted them happily, Kagome cooing over the teeny wolf cub Ayame had wrapped securely around her chest.
“So, how’s it been?” Inuyasha asked Koga, nodding over to the women and the baby as Moroha hunkered down on his shoulder, glaring at her mom for snuggling a child other than her.
“I gotta tell ya man,” Koga said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “When she told me she was pregnant I used to have dreams of teaching my kids how to be supers. But now…” he trailed off, and Inuyasha noticed the distant, haunted look in his eye. He laughed and smacked him good naturedly on the back of the shoulder.
“Maybe they’ll all get something useful and quiet, like predicting the lottery numbers.”
“No shit. I mean no offense man, Moroha’s a cutie but…” he shivered, and Inuyasha laughed loudly again, his own pride for his ultra powerful offspring eclipsing how overwhelming the emergence of her powers had been.
She was probably more powerful than he and Kagome were combined.
He couldn’t wait to see what she would become, and that was another strike on the side of the list for “good things that come from being retired.”
He would not risk missing out on Moroha’s future.
They moved along and Shippo walked up, wringing his hands nervously and he smiled fondly at the young man they’d known since he was just a little thing.
A master of illusions, Shippo had been placed under Kagome’s Mentorship because his parents were regular mortals with no powers, and his were closely tied to control of the mind. He’d essentially watched Shippo grow up, and he’d become an integral part of their family.
“Hey guys,” he said, voice a little shaky, and Kagome greeted him as she always did, with a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the head that made him blush.
“Shippo! Oh I’m so glad you could make it. Moroha’s been missing you.”
“Yeah, uh… about that. I need to… introduce you to someone.”
He reached behind him and grabbed the hand of someone standing very near, pulling them around to stand very near.
“This is Sora,” he said, not releasing their hand. “They’re my new partner. I mean, like, not like a superhero partner I mean… a romantic partner. We’re… we’re together.”
“Oh Shippo!” Kagome squealed, hugging both young people, babbling happily about her excitement and how proud she was, and when he smiled and rested a hand on his shoulder, Inuyasha saw Shippo sag in relief, and he was touched that their opinion meant so much to him, and they watched him walk away fondly for a moment before the next wave of greetings and well wishers descended upon them.
“Inuyasha! Kagome!” Rin ran up to them, sparkling with happiness and bouncing with excitement, and behind her, his brother slowly followed. He was a strange, silent foil to the young girl’s effervescent demeanor, but his ability to keep himself tightly controlled for the sake of his caustic power had been just what she’d needed to help her get control of her own wildly fluctuating abilities. Kagome had been first choice as a mentor since she and Rin’s powers were so similar, but she’d already been occupied with Shippo, so Sesshomaru had been forced to actually interact with someone. Tiny orphan Rin seemed to have had a profound affect on his solitary brother, though Inuyasha would never say anything about it out loud.
“Hey runt!“ Inuyasha greeted her, ruffling the hair atop her head, and he nodded at his brother who grunted in return.
“How are you Rin?” Kagome asked, passing over Moroha when the young girl reached for her, and as they talked he watched his brother make blank eyes at Kagura from across the room.
“When ya gonna give up the secret bullshit and stop sneaking around?” He asked, and Sesshomaru’s piercing eyes cut back in his direction.
“I assure you I do not know what you could possibly mean.”
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, a biting remark already on his tongue, but then an explosion sounded in the distance followed by a deep rumbling in the ground, and a sharp, evil laugh.
Two sets of golden eyes widened and then narrowed, and behind him Inuyasha heard Kagome pass Moroha off to her mother before hurrying them along so she could stand at his side.
All the supers in attendance raced out of the building, immediately finding a rising plume of dust from whatever had been destroyed, and in its center hovered a woman with a wicked grin and glowing red eyes suspended on a mass of nearly invisible threads.
“I am Yura of the Hair!” She yelled, her voice carrying down streets and alley ways as all milling civilians turned to see what was causing so much commotion.
In a flurry of movement, clothing was stripped away until most of them stood ready and waiting in their super suits.
He looked over at Kagome, a hard glint in her eye and red Lycra covering her body that matched his own, and he reached out to take her hand.
She laced their fingers and squeezed, and though he’d just come to terms with never doing this again, and knew she was more than happy in their retirement, an old fire flared up at the thought of truly getting to fight by her side again.
Even if this was the last time.
He grinned, and so did she, and with Yura’s next call, they leapt into the air with their friends, and fought once more to save the world.