InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dangerous Assumptions ❯ Cubs, pups, kits &kids ( Chapter 3 )

NOTE= This is a revised chapter, I have made some changes form the previous form.

Finally! The long awaited ch 3 is here! I found a new tool on my computer…a thesaurus! Oh, the wonders I have found LOL or in other words, it really helps me figure out other words to use to spice up the story

This chapter may seem slow to some people but it is necessary to the plot. The story starts out as I/K but later on will become K/K. Kagome is not the kind of girl to jump from one guy to the next, so that's why this chapter is essential, to set up the friendship between Kagome and Kouga. Although it will take time for them to get together. .. let's put it this way, Kagome will still be with Inu-Yasha for another six or so chapters. In addition, don't worry Kagome will still talk to Sesshoumaru.

Ch 3 Pups, Cubs, Kits and Kids

"Kagome, I have an idea, we can talk about our own parents and how they dealt with us. That way we can compare how youkai and humans approach parenting." Kouga suggests, hoping that the mysterious girl would accept.

Kagome was taken by surprise. "Nani?" With wide eyes, she decided to clarify her confusion; after all, it couldn't be what she thought she heard. "What do you mean Kouga-kun? Do you really want to talk about your childhood with me?"

Kouga took both of her petite hands into his own. "Of course I want to talk about it with you. I want to be with you, Kagome I thought that one of the reasons you get nervous around me is that we know so little about each other. I've decided to spend some time to get to know you and for you to get to know me. Why did you think that I wouldn't want to talk to you?"

After blinking twice, Kagome realized that Kouga did indeed mean what she thought he did. `What a shock, a youkai male that WANTS to talk. Well I'm not going to pass up this chance to learn about youkai. Oh, Kouga's wants an answer.' After noticing Kouga's stare, she took a deep breath, trying to answer through her embarrassment. After all, it hurts to know Inu-Yasha would talk civilly with Kikyo when he spends over half of the time being disrespectful to Kagome. `Inu-Yasha was nice to her even after she stole the jewel shards and gave them to Naraku.' Kagome did not have much success making a coherent sentence. "Well, that is….ah…."

Kouga's smile vanished as he thought of something that would explain Kagome's disbelief. "It's Inu-Yasha isn't it?" He refrained from saying dog-turd, Kagome would not appreciate it. `After all, the reason I call him that is tick him off. And he's not here.'

"Nani?" Kagome was caught off guard, once again. "What does Inu-Yasha have to do with what?"

Seeing her puzzlement, Kouga gave a genuine smile, not some little smirk. "You're not use to someone opening up to you. I bet HE never talked to you about himself…"

Kagome quickly interrupted him. "He does too talk to me. He's told me some of…"

"Did he TALK about his childhood or did he merely say he a rough childhood? Has he talked about his mother or father? Saying that his childhood was unhappy is not talking about it." Kouga edged on, he figured that the bad-tempered dog didn't like to talk about himself.

Despite realizing that Kouga was only pointing out the truth, Kagome felt that for some odd reason, she should protect Inu-Yasha. "He doesn't remember his father and his mother died when has young."

Fighting to hide a cocky grin, Kouga instead gave a small smile. "Kagome, he would still have a childhood, even without parents. Does he remember his mother?" He waited patiently as Kagome pondered on that question.

The truth is that Kouga is somewhat curious about the inu hanyou's experiences. `After all, it's what we live through that shapes how we act.'

After thinking for a short time, Kagome realized that Inu-Yasha never did tell her anything about his mother except that she died a long time ago. The only way she knew that he did remember his mother is because of the mu-onna, the nothing woman. Inu-Yasha thought it was his mother, so he must remember what she looked like and he didn't suspect her actions until he saw the faceless reflection. `That means he memorized something more than her looks. He must recall something about how she acted, right?'

A hand under her chin suddenly tipped Kagome's head up so she faced Kouga. "He doesn't talk to you, does he? You have to catch hints here and there or drag it out of him. I bet you even had to guess he had a rough childhood, he didn't voluntarily tell you, right?" He asked her in a soft voice.

When Kagome was reluctant to meet his gaze, Kouga knew he had his answer. Wanting to ease her discomfort, he decided to change the subject. "Do you want me to start or do you want to go first?"

"Ah, where to start?" Kagome was at a loss, she got Kouga's co-operation in telling her more about youkai but she wasn't expecting to talk about herself. `It's only fair, I guess. I mean, Kouga's more than willing to tell me about himself and his experiences so I should tell him some about myself. But there are some things I'm not ready to tell, it's…it's too personal.'

Since she seemed to be nervous, Kouga took the first turn. "It's ok, Kagome I'll start. I'm the eldest son. I have four younger siblings. The age difference is hard to explain since youkai age slower than humans. I'll tell the years, and then say what stage of growth it is. You understand?"

She had an idea of what Kouga meant, but Kagome decided to make certain. "Do you mean like how long infancy and childhood last is different?"

"Of course." Kouga was glad that she understood whet he meant. "Humans go through life so fast. Most humans die of old age while a youkai born the same day is still an juvenile or a child. Higher youkai, like me, have a longer life span than lesser youkai. Normally our childhood goes fast, averaging around 50-100 years before entering puberty, which can last twice the amount of time."

"That kit, Shippo, that you've taken in, he's barely halfway through childhood and he's been alive for at least 50 years." Kouga gave a grin as Kagome's eyes widened in surprise.

When she was able to verbalize once more, she tried to ask; "How …did you…. know that Shippo was…" For once, words failed her.

"I learned it back when those cats kidnapped you. When it was over and we were waiting for you to finish talking to the villagers, I overheard Shippo talking to Inu…Yasha why he didn't remember the cats last attack 50 years ago. Inu-Yasha said that he was too young to remember." Kouga barely stopped himself from saying dogface.

"Ok… I think we got off track. You were going to tell me about your younger siblings…" Kagome stated , still in a daze.

He needed no more prompting, Kouga was as eager to tell Kagome about himself as he was to learn about her. "Ok, Jiro was born when I was still a toddler, oh probably 10 years old." Kouga was about to continue but he was cut off how long infancy lasts. "Well, pregnancy itself is usually around 14 months. The cub, or as you humans call it, baby usually learns to walk by it's first year and is weaned after 3 years although infancy lasts an average of 10 years. A youkai child is considered a toddler until his 20th year…what is it?" Kouga had to ask, concerned at Kagome's pale face.

"Ahh…a human is only pregnant for 9 months and nurse about one to two years. What about your other two siblings?" Kagome asked.

Kouga smiled as he continued. "My second and third brothers are twins. You've already met Ginta and Haggaku." She nodded her head, but a little surprised. " They were born while Jiro and I both were children, I was 53. My sister Amiko was born shortly after I entered puberty, when I was 125."Kagome asked how old he is now he answered that he was 203. "I'm barley an adult but older than the dog Brea…… Inu-Yasha. How old are you, Kagome and do you have any siblings?"

"My little brother Souta was born when I was seven, about middle of childhood, you can say. Right now I'm in the middle of puberty, I'm fifteen but I'll turn sixteen in a few weeks!" Kagome got excited at the thought of her sixteenth birthday, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Kouga.

Curious, he decided to find out why. " Why is that important, Kagome?"

At her narrowed eyes, Kouga decided to clarify the question. "I'm not too familiar with human customs, is there a reason why that it is important?"

Because he was sincere in the request and not insulting her, Kagome made the choice to tell Kouga. "Well, for humans of this… country , when a girl is 14 she is considered old enough to take on adult responsibilities. It's about age 14-15 when girls are often married off…"

"What?" Kouga was astonished that humans married at such a young age. Youkai don't get married until they are adults.

"But in my country, it's different." Kagome decided to speak quickly before Kouga got any ideas. "Girls don't get any of the adult responsibilities until age 16 but my society doesn't approve of a girl having a child at such a young age. It's more acceptable at age 18 but it's preferred to wait until we turn twenty, when we become a full-fledged adult."

"If your people don't have children until they are an adult, then what sort of responsibilities do you have at age sixteen? What then, makes that age so desirable?" Kouga had to question.

"Well, for one thing society stops thinking of us as little children. Oh sure, the older folks think of us as still youth. But it's a clear-cut line between being a child and a young adult. At that age, we can get a few choices at a job. At age sixteen a girl can…" Kagome stopped her speech and blushed when she realized just WHAT she was about to say and to WHOM. `No way am I going to tell Kouga that in my homeland, modern-day Japan, the age of consent is 16 for girls!'

It was unfortunate for Kagome and her blush that Kouga was not finished. "When DO humans start to go through puberty?"

Kagome had to think about how to word her answer. She knew that girls in the modern age started earlier than girls in the Sengoku Jidai. But she couldn't say it quite like that since Kouga doesn't know that she travels through time. "Around here, the average human will enter puberty around the age of fifteen."

"What!" Kouga face-faulted, he knew that humans grew up faster than youkai due to their shorter life span. But to compare the length of the growth stages to a youkai's, it's unbelievable! At fifteen years, a human enters puberty while a youkai is still a cub. ` hold on, Kagome said "around here". Oh yeah, I forgot that she's a foreigner, but she's never said what country she's from.' Kouga accepted the fact that she didn't want to talk too much, about where she is from, but he still wants to know about the woman herself. "Okay, that's the `girls around here', but what about you? When do girls… I mean people start puberty in your country?"

Kagome smiled, she thought that Kouga would catch that word play on her part. "In my country girls start earlier than boys, so you were right the first time. The average age for girls to start puberty is around age thirteen…" Kouga falling off the rock he was sitting on due to surprise interrupted her. "Although some can start earlier or later than that."

With some trepidation, Kouga had to ask two more questions. "Just how early and….uhh what about you?"

Kagome blushed although her mother raised her with an open mind, it was still a bit embarrassing to talk to Kouga about her monthly cycle. It has nothing to do with that he is a youkai and everything to do with that he is a member of the male gender, a GUY! "Ah…well…" Kagome's blush deepened. "Iwasanearlybloomer."

"What? What you say that a little slower?"

"I…uhh… I was an early bloomer." Kagome took a deep breath, trying to calm down her nervousness. After all, a girl is allowed to get nervous when a cute guy that is head over heels for you ask about that! Talk about embarrassing, and the kicker is that he doesn't realize it. Sigh "I started my period when I was only eleven."

A quizzical look on his face warned her what Kouga was about to ask. "What do you mean by `period'? What is it?"

By now Kagome's blush had grown so much it seemed unhealthy. "Ahh, you know that humans do not have a mating cycle right?"

He answered with a nod of his head. "I do know that much. Humans are fertile year round, that's why humans don't go into heat."

A sense of relief came to Kagome on hearing that. `Gah, I'm still trying to get Inu-Yasha to understand that!' Giving a sideways glance towards the wolf prince, She saw that he was patiently waiting for her to continue. She once again was forced to realize the differences that separate Kouga and Inu-Yasha.

"Humans don't have a mating cycle, instead women have a fertility cycle." Kagome remembered how her mamma explained it, but Kagome doesn't want to go too far into details. "The last stage of the thirty day cycle is called menstrual period, often called the period for short. That's all I want to say right now on that subject. That is something we girls normally don't talk to guys about."

That left Kouga perplexed. "Why not?"

"Well, often guys will make fun of us when go through our periods. Or in some cultures, it is considered dirty and the woman who goes through it is dirty or contaminated. It's because they don't understand what we go through. Okay, enough of that! Let's get back on the original subject." Kagome made it clear that she didn't want to talk anymore on the subject of a human's fertility cycle and the period.

But it left a curiosity growing within Kouga. `I don't understand it, but I won't ever think of my Kagome as unclean or make fun of her, not for any reason!'

~~ TBC

Author's note= First off I want to say it is possible for a girl to start puberty as early as eleven. I started my period when I was eleven and my sister started breast development at age ten!

O.o oh my I really made Kouga confused in this chapter… oh well it was fun!

Ok I know some people will be confused on the youkai age in comparison to humans that is why I made a chart. This is for higher youkai; lesser youkai would be half of the higher youkai.

Youkai -----------------------Human

Years]---------stage--------[Years

0 ]--------birth---------[ 0

] [

10]-----infancy--------[ 1

20]-----toddler-------- [ 3

] [

] [

100]-----adolescent-----[ 13

] [

] [

200[-----adulthood-----[ 20

Now why did I put the youkai aging like that and why make the pregnancy so long? Simple I want it to be realistic. Look at nature, the longer life an animal has, the longer pregnancy is, for the most part. Humans and gorillas have a long term pregnancy; nine months for humans. While elephants are pregnant for nearly 2 years and giraffes for … 15 months (I think that's what they said on the Animal Planet).

Why are their pregnancies longer than the great apes, including humans? Simple it's brain development. Apes and humans have a larger brain at birth than other animals, so they have to be born earlier before the head is too big for the birth canal. In addition, since Humans adopted an upright stance, it has made the pelvis more rigid, therefore, human females do have a greater difficulty in giving birth. To adapt to an upright stance , humans began to give birth earlier in the development. That is why human infants are so helpless. Baby apes are better off than humans, baby giraffes and elephants are able to stand on the first day.

I think since youkai have magic and (at least many higher) youkai can transform, that they wouldn't have the same difficulty as humans, therefore the pregnancy would be longer. The series itself does give hints that youkai age slower than humans do.

Shippo is said to be alive when the cat demons attacked 50 years ago, he was just too young to remember.

Hiten, the eldest Thunder Brother. When he was defeated by Inu-Yasha , he made the comment "In all my centuries…" However, he looks about 19 or so.

Well if you don't agree with me, that's your choice and this is my story.

Note to all flames= YOUR RIDICULOUS LITTLE OPINION HAS BEEN NOTED.

~see ya next chapter