InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Across Time ❯ Discoveries and Then Some... ( Chapter 3 )

Across Time by: Sakura

A/N So, did y'all like my Inu-Yasha/Kagome scene? And how about my Miroku/Sango one? Cute, ne? BTW, this chapter is happening in elapsed time, meaning that not everything is happening right after something else. Just thought I'd let you know.

~*~*~*~*~

"S-so you're telling me that I'm p-pregnant?"

Sango had just taken something called an "E-Z to Know You're Pregnant" test from Kagome's world. She had been feeling sick lately, and the future priestess suggested taking the test.

"Well, that explains everything!" Miroku said, grinning. Seeing that he could have been the only person to get Sango pregnant, Miroku had every reason to be happy. He would finally have a son. Or a daughter.

"Um, Matoko, do you think you could tell us if it's a boy or a girl?" Kagome asked the young hanyou.

Matoko didn't look up, but continued to stare at the grass. The group feared for the quarter-demon's health; she hadn't really said or eaten much in the past few days.

"I guess I could tell you, but..." Matoko's voice trailed off as she turned her head to look at her surrounding friends and father. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. "I'm sorry you guys. I enjoy staying here with all of you, but I miss my own time; my own family, tough I'm not quite sure any of them are still alive. And Jaeger, I just abandoned him while he was injured! For all I know, those damned villagers could have already killed him; I've been gone for so long. Please, just let me have one last chance to see my home before I have to go back there forever."

~*~*~*~*~

Reluctantly, Matoko had managed to pass through the well from her father's time era. Now, she walked around, searching for the spot she had last seen her friend. She, instead, came to where her brother's body had been; it was not there now, and Matoko figured another demon must have come and eaten it (it's what they do, after all).

She knelt down and touched Ryu's dried blood that was staining the grass. The only thing was, Matoko hadn't noticed all of this blood before; she had been at her brother's side following the assault, and even then he hadn't bled so much. Then, her nose picked up on the scent of what she had swept her hand across. It was indeed Ryu's blood, but...it was fresh. Matoko had been gone merely a week and a half.

A rustle in the bushes made Matoko stop dead. If it was another group of murderous humans, Matoko figured she could muster the strength to kill them all; but if it was a horde of demons, or just one demon, that would be a different story. Along with the new smell of Ryu's blood, the female hanyou could pick up the faintest scent of *wolf*.

"Jaeger?"

Jaeger stepped out from behind the bushes, looking equally surprised as his friend.

He limped heavy over to Matoko who had continued to squat in the grass. During her week and a half absence, Jaeger appeared to have found himself a pretty kimono. He looked different in a gray kimono than he had in the wolf pelt he had been wearing before.

Jaeger came and sat in a green patch of grass behind Matoko. He grabbed a piece of her hair and leaned closer to take in her scent.

"I've missed you," he said calmly. He sounded as if he was in a dire need of sleep.

Matoko leaned forward and further away from the wolf demon, blush spreading across her cheeks. If Jaeger was open about his feelings, that was fine; Matoko on the other hand, decided to keep her emotions to herself. The wolf had already admitted his feelings about Matoko to her, but that had been when they were in serious peril.

Maybe he was just delusional then, Matoko thought. "You pulled the arrow out of your leg..." she said looking down.

"Not quite. Ryu-- your brother- he took it out for me."

Matoko thought she was going to faint. Ryu had taken out the arrow implanted in Jaeger's leg?

"B-but that's not possible. You're lying!" Anger began to rise in the hanyou. How could Jaeger be so cruel as to say something like that? It was inhumane.

"I wouldn't lie about something like that," Jaeger growled back. How could she think he was lying? He was a wolf, not a bastard. "C'mon, I'll take you to him myself!"

And so they trudged on through the woods. Jaeger had said he had taken the injured Ryu to Koga's cave or, likely, his cave now. When the wolf told Matoko that they were about half a mile away, the hanyou broke into a sprint. Jaeger too, tried to run with his friend, but his injured leg would not allow it. Therefore, they continued to walk up the trail.

Once they reached the cave, uh, den actually, Matoko rushed to the back where her brother lay on a stack of pelts. Ryu's eyes were closed, but he was alive; Matoko realized he was breathing in small, steady breaths.

"I'm sorry I called you a liar, Jaeger," Matoko said blushing.

"And I'm sorry for believing you. For a second there, you had me thinking I really was lying," the wolf replied smiling broadly. "Welcome back to the living."

Matoko looked surprised. Was Jaeger talking to her? She soon noticed that his eyes were no longer on her, but to the one by her side. Ryu. Matoko turned her head ever so slowly. Ryu had his eyes half open and was giving his sister and new friend a weak smile. Tears of joy poured from Matoko's two-colored eyes as she pulled down to embrace her brother.

~*~*~*~*~

"Congratulations, Inu Yasha! Now we're both going to be dads," Miroku said joyfully.

Kagome too, had taken the "E-Z" test, just to be on the safe side. Matoko did say that they would have a child together. As, fate would have it, Kagome found herself pregnant as well.

"But when were the two of you... alone? You've been with us most of the time," Sango said curiously.

Both Inu Yasha and Kagome's faces turned a bright pink. Apparently they had been alone... too alone.

"And what about you, Miroku?! You two must've been alone yourself! Sango couldn't have slept with Shippo!" Inu Yasha retorted, his face still pink about the last comment.

"Uh...well, you see Inu Yasha...Sango and I...I mean, it's not like we... What does it matter? We're soon-to-be parents! We should all be happy rather than trying to rip at each other's throats." Miroku sighed deeply; he had made a good recovery, and he felt like praising himself.

"This is all so confusing," Shippo muttered to Kirara as they watched from Kagome's bike.

~*~*~*~*~

Matoko and Jaeger helped Ryu sit up, leaning his back against the rock wall for support; seeing as he still wasn't strong enough to sit up by himself. He sighed, trying to get himself comfortable.

"Tell me about my mother," Ryu said finally, crossing his legs.

Matoko stood and cleared her throat, almost as if she were going to make a long speech.

"She wears funny clothes, Ryu. Her `kimono's' this short," Matoko paused, indicating that Kagome's skirt was inches shorter than her own. "And she can purify the Shikon no Tama, just like you said; they have all the shards, isn't that cool?" She paused again, looking at her brother with an almost puzzled expression. "...But you don't look anything like her. You look more like Father... well, except for your ears."

Ryu looked almost like a miniature version of Sesshoumaru, though the full demon had marks on his face and forehead, whereas Ryu did not. He did have the long silvery hair, the small golden eyes, and the elfin ears.

Jaeger's ears twitched in astonishment.

"You don't know anything about your own mother?" he asked.

"No, I was brought up by Matoko's mother. I was separated from mine while I was still young." Ryu gave a small smile that would have looked frightening had it come from Sesshoumaru.

Jaeger looked towards the waterfalls that hid the cave entrance from the outside. He seemed to be in deep thought about something.

"I want to go see her," Ryu said closing his eyes as if he too were thinking of something.

"Not until both of you are healed," Matoko said shaking her head. "By the way Jaeger, where'd you get that kimono you're wearing?"

"After he removed the arrow from my leg, I stole it from that man who shot at me; I smelt of human, so I washed it here in the river, but it still stinks." Jaeger turned to look away from the falls; he was smiling while holding the bridge of his nose, indicating the stench of his new kimono. Then his smile faded and his face turned into one of a scowl. "Yes, I killed him; he was a bastard and deserved to die. Don't look at me like that, Matoko, you know I'm right."

"No. Killing humans is wrong, even if they do wrong towards you. Both humans and demons have a purpose for living, and if we start killing each other... well, then what was the point in either of us being born?"

"You're [mostly] human, of course you wouldn't understand. I just thought..." Jaeger sighed deeply looking to the ground. "Why am I wasting my time? You'll never see it like we do. Because of your human blood, you get treated with equality, and not like you're something different."

Now it was Ryu's turn to be angry. Jaeger had no clue what he was talking about; he wasn't different than anyone. He was a pureblooded demon, not some pathetic mutt.

"But that's what it means to be different," Ryu said from his spot by the wall. "Nobody trusts you; you're always the first to be blamed... And it's always, always your fault!" [1]

The hanyou hung his head, his short-term anger gone.

"Look, if we're going to be staying together, then we should at least try to get along. Is that clear?" Ryu cautioned.

The younger demons nodded in agreement.

~*~*~*~*~

One month later...

"Come on Sango. Just think, a couple more months of this... and we'll have our own child! Won't that be great?" However, Miroku got no reply as he continued to usher his "wife" into the hot spring.

As her belly grew fatter and her feelings towards the monk grew stronger, Sango had no more desire to push him away whenever it was bathing time. And he...had no will to leave her side. Sometimes they acted as though they were a real couple. But Inu Yasha knew better...

...speaking of Inu Yasha, he and Kagome were not fairing off as good as their friends. They tried the whole couple thing, but for some reason, it never really worked. Whether because of Inu Yasha's attitude, or Kagome's pregnancy; no one understood. And bathing together like Miroku and Sango was just out of the question. Kagome resumed taking baths with Shippo.

"I'm too young to be having kids; I still have school! What'll my friends think? That I'm some kind of whore?"

Kagome thought this over to herself. She was only 17 and was supposed to be getting ready to graduate from high school, but instead she was having a baby. Her mother hadn't been too happy when she told her family either.

The sound of loud splashing and a couple of laughs from the hot spring next to her, made Kagome think of her future with Inu Yasha. From what Matoko had told them, they weren't destined to have a future. Once their child was born, Kagome would abandon it with Inu Yasha and he would find himself another woman- she was to be Matoko's mother.

Matoko had already altered history, and so had Kagome by falling into the sacred well; maybe it wouldn't hurt to change it just a little more...

...Inu Yasha watched closely as the mother of his son, de-submerged into the warm water of the spring. [2]

~*~*~*~*~

A/N Hidden humor, what a wonderful thing. If you can tell me where the humor was, or if there was any at all then I'll give you...nothing! Ha! *gets angry glares from readers* All right fine...I'll give you a pat on the head. There, yah happy? Jeez.

[1]- that was an actual quote from the anime; it was said by the infamous Inu Yasha. Episode: Jinenji, Kind Yet Sad (English dub).

[2]- don't get any sick ideas. Inu Yasha was just watching... He saw NOTHING.

Disclaimer: yeah, yeah, you know... I don't own Inu Yasha or any of the other characters from the show/manga. I DO own "E-Z to Know You're Pregnant" test, Ryu, Matoko and the character Jaeger- I do not own his name; that would belong to Immortal.