InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha and Kagome: After the Jewel ❯ 9 months later... ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA! Nope. Not at all.

9 months later.


Kagome was pregnant. Very pregnant.

She felt like a sumo wrestler, and pretty much looked like one. No one in the village could remember a pregnant belly of these proportions before.

"It's got to be twins." Kaede said for probably the hundreth time as Inuyasha helped Kagome sit down. "Keh. Baba. It's not twins, there's one pup in there. I can hear it's heartbeat. And it's male. Healthy too. That's why she's so big." Inuyasha stated with more than just a hint of pride. But in his eyes something quickly outweighed his pride. Worry. And fear. Kagome saw the emotion in his eyes flicker and frowned. She touched his arm gently, reasurringly. "Inuyasha.. I'm sure we'll be fine." she said quietly.

"Keh." was his only reply.

But his mind was spinning. 'She is too big.' he thought, looking at her with placid eyes. 'Much too big.. I don't know if even my mother was this big with me. Keh. Weak humans. Aren't meant to birth hanyou pups.... And that's what worries me.'

He remembered a conversation with mama-higurashi and jii-chan in the depth of night not too long ago. He had confessed his fears to his mate's mother, he needed to get them off his chest, and he felt he owed it to her somehow. Afterall, her daughter could die giving birth to his child. Both had decided that Kagome couldn't know the risk. She was so heavily pregnant they didn't need to upset her anymore. He was perfectly capable of doing that on his own on a daily basis. As her hormones raged out of control her tolerance for his temper and short mouth waned.

Infact.. He should be expecting a.. "SIT BOY." CRASH.

Gingerly Inuyasha pulled himself from the floor and faced the very angry eyes of Kagome.

He knew why he was 'in the dog house' so to speak.

"And Inuyasha.. Would it kill you to call her Kaede? Kaede-san even?" she demanded hotly, her worry for him fading instantly.

"Keh. No. But not calling her that might." he grumbled, reffering to the sit commands.

Kaede sighed at yet another Inuyasha shaped hole in her floor and calmly walked out of the hut. 'Pregnant women.' Inuyasha heard her mutter before she stepped off the porch.

In that second Inuyasha couldn't of agreed with her more.

A sudden sharp gasp from Kagome made him whirl his head. Something about that.. Worry seized his heart.

Kagome was panting, clutching her stomach and her eyes were closed. Her face contracted with pain.

Her scent quelled any doubts for Inuyasha. She was in labor. "Shit." he breathed. 'I knew she was due soon.. But so sudden? Damnit. Was she giving any signs earlier?'

'Come to think of it.. She was kind of odd this morning. Refused to eat. Sat me more than normal.. And seemed reluctant to move, and she did take longer than normal to sit down. And she clutched her stomach in pain once too. But I was too distracted to notice. Damnit!'

"KAEDE!" he screamed and dove for his wife, whom was toppling over in pain.

For Kagome the contractions had started gradually. She'd barely realized them for what they were until a particularly savage one had gripped her midsection minutes before. Nearly screaming in pain, sweating, and gasping, she fell backwards.. And straight into the strong arms of Inuyasha.

"I..nu..Ya..sha. H-h-uuurts!" she groaned, burying her face in his shoulder.

Kaede rushed back into the hut. "Kagome!" the old woman gasped. "She be in terrible pain."

"Well duh, Baba! She's in labor! I can smell it!" Inuyasha snapped, growling harshly.

Kaede let the insults slide and bustled about her hut getting things ready. A mat was prepared, Sango was called for, and several pain killing and relaxing potions were brewed.

And then abruptly after all the fuss, Kagome sighed, and relaxed.

Inuyasha sniffed. What was this? The labor scent was less strong, and it was obvious that she was no longer in excruciating pain.

He blinked.

"Kagome?! What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know.. It just.. stopped." she breathed, still a little breathless.

"ALL THAT FOR A FUCKING FALSE ALARM!?" Inuyasha exclaimed, pissed. Of course the hanyou was very worried. Infact his mate had scared him half to death! And fear was always pushed aside by his anger, and it killed what little good sense he had entirely.

"INUYASHA. SIT BOY. SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIIIIIIT!"

Inuyasha was comatose, having been 'sitted' straight through the floor and several feet into the dirt below.

"Sango. Help me up please." Kagome requested, struggling to her feet.

Bewildered, and wide eyed, Sango timidly complied.

"I'm going home." she announced, putting her hands on her abundant hips and staggering out the door. "It might not be wise, Child.." Kaede cautioned... But Kagome was gone.

Kaede looked at Sango. "Mayhap you and the fire cat should see she gets there safely?"

Sango nodded. "Of course."

An hour later Kagome was home, snuggled into her own bed and sobbing. She had enlisted Jii-chan's help in sealing the wellhouse with demon binding sutras, these had come from a neighboring shrine and were similar to what Kagome had seen Miroku and Kaede use to seal Inuyasha in a hut to heal. So Kagome was pretty confident they would work. And just in case she had also stuck them on her door, and her window. She just didn't want to see the arrogant hanyou right now. In an hour or so, or in an extreme case she would relent and realize that he was just deathly worried but at the moment she just /needed/ to be mad with him.

The second he recovered Inuyasha was up and running. He darted straight to the well and darted in, waiting for the odd sensation of weightless as he shifted time.. But it didn't come. And it didn't come. And didn't come.

The heartbroken cry of an enraged hanyou split the earth for miles.

The rejection cut him worse than a million sealing arrows from Kikyou. With the help of Kagome and her modern logic he had come to realize his 'love' for the dead priestess was just an infatuation. A need. She had been lonely, he had been lonely. He was an outcast, and so was she, just in a different extent.

Sobbing openly, for maybe the third time in his life, he beat the ground with his fists and howled with rage.

'Kagome! How could this happen!? Why do I have to be such an idiot?! KAGOME! COME BACK! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!'

His head was pointed towards the ground, and he was shocked to feel the prayer beads slip right over his head. He stared at them dumbly. 'Of course. With the well closed she isn't even born yet.. She won't be alive for centuries.' The knowledge made a part of him die inside. He slipped the beads back over his head. They were a reminder of his mate. The only part of her he had left. Even the bond they shared through mateship was dead. Simply vacant. Like he had never been claimed by a woman, never put a child in that woman's womb. It didn't exist because she didn't exist.

In her time Kagome was experiencing similar troubles.

After a few hours of restless sleeping, and sobbing, she suddenly realized something. A comforting presence was lifted from her. Some instinct lead her hand to the scar on the back of her neck, and she was quite shocked to find the spot cold, and rough. Instead of warm with smooth scar tissue. And the feeling of love and calm that normally came from rubbing the spot was gone. The power of the mark was dead.

'Of course. I sealed the well.. Inuyasha doesn't exist in my time. He's dead..' The sudden feeling of aloneness made her heart lurch painfully.

"GRANDPA!" she screamed, tears falling down her cheeks in rampant streams.

"GRANDPA!"

The old man burst into the room minutes later, closely followed by Mama, and Souta.

"Kagome?!" the little old man wheezed, eyes gaping and chest heaving. He'd been all the way outside and darted in at his grandchild's frantic screaming.

"Jii-chan! YOU NEED to unseal the well! HURRY!"

"But I thought.."

"NOW JII-CHAN!"

Kagome's frantic screaming left no room for argument, grabbing Souta on the way out the old man left in a hurry.

Mama however, unphased by her daughter's water-works (and seeing through them to the worry and misery beneath) came and sat beside her daughter, taking her in her arms in a motherly embrace.

Kagome sobbed against her chest.

"Mama.. The mark. It's gone. He's dead. All because I sealed the well!"

"Ssh.. Calm down Kagome, stress isn't good for the baby." Mama chided, rubbing her child's back in comforting circles.

"Jii-chan will have the sutras off in a minute and we'll see what happens."

Kagome gasped in pain in answer, her hands flew to the back of her neck and she sobbed again at the love and warmth that flooded her body. But this time her tears were those of relief.

Mama smiled. "See, dear?"

"Thanks, Mom.." Kagome breathed shakily.

There was a thud at the window. And a curse. "OY! KAGOME!"

Kagome's heart did a flip-flop. "INUYASHA! Oh no! I forgot the sutras on the window... And..."

A loud crash, and a painful oath from Inuyasha revealed she'd forgotten about the ones on her door too.

Mama quietly stood up and remedied the situation, even helping her son-in-law to his feet on the way out, though the hanyou certainly didn't need it. But the ferocity of the older woman's grip made it clear that she was upset with him. "Stop hurting my daughter." Mama hissed pleasantly and sauntered down the stairs as if nothing happened.

"After you two work things out I'll have some lunch and ramen ready, let Kagome know." Mama-Higurashi's voice called sweetly up the stairs.

Inuyasha shuddered. 'Creepy modern age women.' He turned towards Kagome's room and rushed in. Kagome was struggling to get up, he gently pushed her back on the bed. "Hush, Koi. Don't over do it."

"Inu-" he put a finger over her lips and snuggled up next to her, pulling her close against his chest. "I'm sorry." he said simply.

An emotional, exhausted, mess, Kagome pulled him to her, buried her face in his haori and sobbed herself to slumber.

When she awoke she was aware of three things. It was night. She was alone. And she was starving.

"Mmph.. I.." she had barely muttered the beginning of his name before Inuyasha was there helping her off the bed. Was it her imagination? Or did he look.. grim? She blinked and the impression faded, leaving behind the placid eyes of her hanyou-mate. "Your mom has dinner ready." he said, steering her towards the door. "Mm. I need to go to the bathroom." "Keh. Piss, sleep, and eat. That's all you ever need to do." Kagome playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Hey, you try getting pregnant!" "Keh. Rather not." Relieved at having him back, and a little bit wary of starting another argument, but not able to let his comment slide (afterall let's face it, she was pregnant, not in her current more sensible and tolerant state of mind) "Inuyasha." she said sweetly. "I'm naming this baby Koga I want you to know." "WHAT!" he screamed, just as she shut the bathroom door in his face.

A few minutes later (most of which had been spent convincing Inuyasha she could go to the bathroom by herself. Understandably the hanyou didn't want to be seperated from her, but that was too much.) Inuyasha carried Kagome down to dinner. He swept her into the kitchen and deposited her lightly in her chair before taking one beside her. He was still slightly seething, but he would let it slide. Besides, she was in pain.

Jii-chan turned shifty eyes between the pair of them and opened his mouth to say something, and Mama abruptly pushed a plate of food infront of him instructing him to try it. He quieted, and Souta quickly took the hint not to say anything aswell. Dinner passed in awkward silence. But Kagome found it hard to care. She had Inuyasha back in her life.

"Ow." she groaned, setting her chopsticks aside and clutching her stomach. Mama didn't look surprised, Inuyasha had filled her in on the earlier labor troubles. Inuyasha however freaked. "Kagome?! Kagome?! Are you okay?" he demanded, grabbing her arm and staring at her with wide worried eyes.

'Good god. Not again. Not now..' he thought.

Kagome shook her head. "It just hurts." she complained. "It's been hurting all day.. But I've been hurting more emotionally, so I haven't really noticed until now.

Meanwhile Mama had slipped off into the kitchen and came back with a still steaming mug of tea. Inuyasha crinkled his nose as she slid it towards Kagome. "Here. Drink this. It will dull the pain a bit. But get ready, dear. Inuyasha told me about your earlier episode, I gaurentee you'll be having a baby within the next three days."

Kagome sipped her tea and tried not to be afraid.

'Kami! In three days.. I might be a mother. And the pain! It hurt so much earlier.. I'm.. Terrified... But I don't regret it. Not at all.'

Inuyasha sensed her fear, and guessed it's origin. 'Hell, I'm just as nervous as she is. I've put her life in danger, and I'm going to be a father. I can't be reckless anymore. I can't be stupid anymore.' he sighed softly and stroked her thigh comfortingly. He was happy to feel her gradually grow more at ease. But he could sense she was in pain, and it tore at his heart to know he put her through it.

Dinner ended shortly after that, when Inuyasha insisted that Kagome go back upstairs for more rest. Mama nodded approvingly. "Enjoy these last few nights to yourself." she said sagely. In the years to follow Kagome was wishing she hadn't taken any of her free time EVER so much for granted.

She protested only a little. She was tired. Still. And her body hurt. She allowed Inuyasha to carry her back up the stairs and gratefully snuggled into her bedpillows. "Inuyasha.." she muttered. He didn't reply, but his ears perked. "Love you." she mumbled as she snuggled into his embrace. "Love you." he replied softly, kissing her forehead, then laying his chin across her head and holding her close and falling to sleep.