I've decided to add a second part to this original one-shot. This takes place a year later at the same location. I hope you enjoy!

"A hundred hearts would be too few to carry all my love for you." - Author Unknown

Fragile

If there was anything more delicate than his wife, it was the tiny babe nestled at her breast. Her tiny paternal ears lay against her head, blending in with her small amount of silver hair. Her eyes, a rich combination of gold and brown to create a vivid hue of honey lay closed as she suckled from her mother. Her father, the adult hanyou watched his family while keeping a vibrant eye and ear on their surroundings.

The wind was calm and slightly cool bringing with it the smell of sakura and fresh spring grass. Branches from nearby budding trees swayed lightly, providing the family with intermittent shading. While nice, the weather still was much too cool for lighter clothing, but that didn't stop InuYasha and Kagome from spending the day at their mountain spring along with their pup, who was conceived at this very spot a year ago.

The miko rocked her daughter as she nursed. While stroking her small head and occasionally caressing her tender and developing flaps of ears, Kagome gazed lovingly at her child. Her mind drifted to the day she was born into the world. Her husband was right beside her-although with much reluctance on Kaede's part, as she delivered. He was awestruck as his firstborn came screaming and fussing. After cutting the umbilical cord and having the babe washed off and wrapped securely in a blanket, the old miko handed him his daughter.

She would never ever forget his face, of how overwhelmed and proud and joyful he looked on that winter night.

"She's… she's so beautiful." He murmured as his eyes met his daughter's more vibrant ones for the first time. His lips gradually drew into a genuine smile, lighting up his eyes as he gazed up at his wife. "Just like you."

A small cooing drew her back into the present. She looked down to see her daughter, finishing her meal and reaching her hand out to the water, as if trying to touch it. Steam was wafting from the surface, although not obscuring her view beyond the furthest bank.

Knowing her daughter's fondness for water, making sure the water wasn't hot for her daughter's tougher-than-human skin inherited by her father Kagome set the child on her lap so the hanyou's head and chest was well above the water line. The girl immediately cooed in excitement, her hands slapping the surface while her smile made its way to her slightly chubby face.

"She has your smile." The mother turned to see her hanyou husband looking down at their daughter with the fondness and love of a new father. He slid closer to them, so he could see his child. "The one thing she has inherited from you I'm happy to see."

"She looks so much like you, though." Other than her smile and the shape of her nose-which was her mother's, the girl took after her father in every other way. She was brave, bold, determined, and seemed to have inherited a double dose of stubborn from the both of them which served to make her human nights even more tiring. They didn't know who she'll take after in personality yet. Either way they were sure to have their hands full in the coming years.

The baby hanyou didn't want to get out when it was time for breakfast. The girl seemed to love her baths-another thing she took after her mother in. And because she was capable of using her claws-tiny though they were she could cause unintentional harm. And her fangs were just as useful as weapons if she didn't get her way, even though the baby knew not to bite her mother while feeding.

Since she was getting fussy, InuYasha took hold of his child while Kagome got out to dry off and dress. The adult hanyou held the girl close, to calm her with the low growling only she could hear and understand. The girl took to whimpering and little puppy growls while she pinned her silver ears back instead. Yes, the stubborn gene was there alright. Still the father didn't stop, only his growling went a little deeper and more assertive. While the pup knew he was her father and dominant, she needed to understand when to listen to him while she was still very young.

Kagome, now dressed in her miko garb unpacked containers of grilled fish and rice on a blanket, all the while watching her husband and daughter. It reminded her of the first time he held her. How he would wake up in the middle of the night to change and rock her back to sleep. When his eyes would light up at the sight of her doing something all by herself. In the beginning when they first found out her pregnancy, he was afraid of doing something wrong to their child. Reassurances on her part helped him, but at night she would stay up with him, comforting him until he went back to bed with her.

She could see none of those now. After 5 months, InuYasha was ever the capable and confident father. He managed to soothe his daughter until she was quite and half asleep.

"At least she wasn't as bad on her human nights."

"Keh, pup doesn't understand it yet. Not for a couple of years probably." He came to sit down next to her, both facing the hot spring. Making sure Amaya was comfortable in his arm, he looked to his wife. "What are your plans for today?"

The miko pushed a black strand from her face. The breeze that blew the spring's and the forest scents towards them was getting a little stronger. "Kaede's been more lenient since Amaya's birth. But pretty soon I know I have to start back up again."

InuYasha remembered how trying the birth actually was. Since the child was definitely hanyou- knew for a fact since he let his demon took temporary control that night, it was supposed to be short and quick since usually demon births had to be in order for mother and child to survive, according to Kaede. Kagome's pregnancy was a short 7 months because of her husband's blood but the birth to come would be anything but.

It took almost the entire night, the sky covering up the stars for a late and rare autumn rain. The hanyou refused to leave the hut no matter what. Kagome insisted he'd be there, crying that she couldn't do this alone. By the time it was all over, his wife covered in blood, sweat and tears, was exhausted. First births usually took the longest, but since this was her first hanyou delivery Kaede admitted she was uncertain how much human and how much demon factors would apply.

He snapped back into the present when he felt a nuzzling at his chest. His baby girl was settling in for a nap. Hanyou or not, she still needed to sleep like any other infant.

The couple enjoyed the silence as they ate. Sparrows and larks sung and frolicked in the surrounding wood, hidden among the green and blooming colors of spring flowers. The air was fresh and cool, carrying with it the many soothing smells of the coming season. The winter following their child's entrance into the world was not as harsh and brutal as years past-which was a blessing for the new parents. Still Amaya got the chance to see her first snow. The girl seemed to like it. But the first signs of spring were definitely welcomed in the village.

And on the first day where it was tolerant enough for a journey up to their spring, the couple took their chance and that's where they found themselves today. A secret place that meant more to them than any other, aside from the Goshinboku and the well that once separated them but ultimately reunited them.

Eventually after breakfast, while still aware of his family's safety, the hanyou pulled his wife to his chest so they could lay down. Kagome, more than happy to accept, lay her head so she could easily see her daughter and kiss her husband's neck should she so choose. Wrapping a leg around his and a hand to softly brush her baby's sleeping face the miko settled in and closed her eyes.

Having one arm wrapped around his beautiful wife's waist and the other safely around his 5 month old pup, InuYasha let himself relax. He sensed no danger, no threat to his family anywhere within his wide range of senses. Neither Kagome nor their daughter would have so much as a missing hair on their heads if he had any say about it.

Five years ago, he thought none of this was remotely possible. Five years ago, he was awakened from a fifty year slumber by a fiery and determined fifteen year old girl from a strange land. Five years ago, he didn't have friends who stuck with him or a home to call his own. And five years he wouldn't have thought fighting the greatest evil Japan has ever known and emerging victorious, with a heavy price. And certainly he wouldn't have dreamt of that same fifteen year old girl, now a blossoming and wonderful woman he would one day call his wife and mother to his children. Spring was the season of many first to him. A second chance at many things, all thanks to the slumbering woman who rested on his shoulder. She was the one who gave the precious gift of fatherhood to him by birthing his first child, who also slept comfortable in his embrace.

His ears flickered at the calming sounds around them. The area in which they lay was tranquil and quiet. No war, no danger, no bloodshed, no hate or malice. It was just him and his family.

And that was more than enough for him.