Clash of Alphas by sarhea

Skye's Prompts - Demonstration

Prompt: Priestess Skye’s Prompts – Demonstration (req’d 450, actual 755)

AN: After the baby’s born.

~ooO Demonstration Ooo~

Higurashi Kun Loon was highly amused. Of course she did not show it as she solemnly demonstrated the most efficient way to change a baby diaper. Her son-in-law looked baffled and slightly terrified as he obeyed her slow, detailed instructions on how to change the cloth diapers on his son, her grandson Nishimoto Kenshiro.

“No,” she said carefully. “Hold the material like this, tightly.” She demonstrated pulling the terry cloth tighter around Kenshiro’s waist. The baby squirmed and wriggled trying to escape from her grip.

Sesshoumaru frowned. “That is too tight.” He tugged the material to make it looser before securing the pin.

“It has to be. Otherwise he will wriggle out of it.” And sure enough the baby managed to kick and squirm enough to writhe out of the diaper, leaving it bunched up below his hips.

Sesshoumaru looked dismayed. “This is much harder than it seems to be,” he said finally.

“You don’t have any experience looking after babies?” Kun Loon asked.

“I do! My daughter Rin has many offspring, her children and grandchildren.”

“And you didn’t change diapers for any of them?” Kun Loon was sceptical. Then she remembered. “Forgive me, I forgot she probably had them in a time when males generally did not take active roles in child rearing.”

Sesshoumaru shook his head. “That is not it. Rin had a girl-child just four years ago. I look after Tamiko whenever they visit.”

“Then why are you so bad at changing diapers?” Kun Loon asked feeling slightly exasperated.

Sesshoumaru huffed and fidgeted. After sometime he spoke.

“Youkai offspring tend to stay in their primal beast form until they are old enough to think and comprehend.”

Kun Loon blinked taken aback. “Wait a second, you mean as a puppy?”

“If the parents are inu then yes.”

“What about InuYasha?”

“What about him?”

“He was hanyou. I didn’t know he could shift.”

“Hanyous do not. They take the primary traits of their ningen parent as infants when they are weaker. It is only when they are older that their bodies become strong enough to bear traits from the youkai parent.”

Kun Loon looked down at her squirming grandson. “I thought you said Kenshiro is youkai.”

“He is.”

“Then how come he looks like a human baby? I thought you said youkai babies shift into the baby form of their youkai parents when they are babies.”

Sesshoumaru sighed. “Kenshiro is different from most pureblood youkai pups. He shifts between a ningen infant and a youkai pup based on his whims.”

“But how?”

“I am not certain but I believe it is because Kagome is strong in her own right that our offspring will be strong enough to bear the full weight of pureblood youkai traits.”

Kun Loon was quiet for a moment, adjusting to the idea of having grandchildren that would actually shifted into puppies, not just have puppy traits like ears or tails.

“What do modern youkai do? I mean for childcare and kindergarten?”

“There are facilities that cater to youkai and hanyou couples. The staff are trained to look after children that stay in beast form, those that shift and those that don’t.”

“What did youkai do in the past?” Kun Loon asked.

Sesshoumaru frowned. “A wealthy couple retained caretakers, tutors for the young ones. Sometimes a group of families would join to hire one tutor for their children.”

“Did your parents hire tutors?”

“Of course.”

“And when you were very young?”

“I had several nannies,” he admitted. “Youkai infants are very energetic and destructive. I ran wild in my mother’s household like any mortal dog because I did not listen to anyone and my dokkatsu made it hard for anyone to discipline me.”

Kun Loon made a face imagining a greyhound-sized puppy stalking and pouncing on visitors, teething and drooling acid on furniture and rugs, dish-pan-sized paws clawing wooden floors and shredding curtains.

“Goodness. How did your mother cope?!?” she asked dismayed.

“She did not,” Sesshoumaru admitted. “My sire was the one to discipline me. At least until I was old enough to understand, and for tutors.”

“Do you plan on doing the same? For your children?” Kun Loon asked carefully.

Sesshoumaru smiled faintly. “Kagome is nothing like my dam. She will never let others be the primary caretakers of our children.”

Kun Loon nodded. “Of course. There is nothing wrong with getting help but at the end of the day they are your children. You are responsible for making sure they grow up to be strong contributing members of society.”

 TBC...

 

INUYASHA © Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan • Yomiuri TV • Sunrise 2000
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