InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Invitations to Trouble ❯ No Father of Mine ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter two

“Kiso, um, I think I need to tell you something.”

“What is it love?”

“Um, you know the snakes in my hair.”

“Yes…?”

“We’re all…”

“What was that? I couldn’t make it out.”

“…pregnant…”

“…&rd quo;

“Kiso?”

“But I never touched the snakes.”

*giggle*

{}

Deep in the bowels of the mountain cavern, away from the summer blizzard raging beyond the ancient stones, bodies stirred. Heavy dark lids cracked open at a distant noise, burning fiercely before closing again in slumber. Wolves.

A few as large as horses, they lounged in loosely scattered piles against one another for extra warmth. One rolled over to get more comfortable and encountered a foot. The growl that greeted the intrusive appendage was cut off as the wet black nose identified a familiar scent. It changed to an eager yap of welcome. Lean and muscled hands rubbed over the large erect ears, short claws scratching lightly.

"Hey you lazy curs, what have you guys been eating?" Tilted eyes of bold blue scanned the den, spotting a pile of bloodied fur and gnawed bones. A quick sniff marked them as human remains. Framed by the cold distant light pouring from the cave's entrance, the young man carried an air of indomitable will and strength like a second skin. The simple act of straightening from the half-crouch displayed long tanned limbs, rippling with battle-honed muscles.

The prince of the ookami youkai turned towards the other figure he knew was there with him. A mirthless laugh greeted him from the shadows. "Welcome back my boy. How was the hunt?" Thick hands passed briefly into the faint light and then pulled back in a gesture of polite inquiry.

Ruggedly handsome, his face was tightened in a deep scowl as Kouga address the curtain of darkness the shadows provided. "It was lousy, my lord. The snow has driven off most of the prey, except for a few rabbits and vermin." Taking another glance at the fresh bones, he said carefully, "I see you had better luck."

"Passing fare. Too skinny for my liking, but fine for the beasts." Making a wet noise, Gorotsuki sucked a pointed tooth. "However, I have always found human hearts to be quite tender!" He gave a short laugh at the joke. Kouga didn't respond.

"Who was that, my lord?" barely concealed challenge swam beneath the respectful tone.

Ignoring the inflection, the gravelly voice remarked dismissively, "Just a gift. A small gesture of respect from a new ally. No one we knew or should be concerned about." Black eyes glittered, "Why? Afraid it was your human pet, Kouga?"

Bristling defensively at the implied threat, the wolf prince hid his trepidation behind a cocky smirk. "Hell no. Kagome's not a pet, she's my woman. Besides, she's safe with Inu-koro for the moment until I can come to get her." Moving around the den, Kouga passed each mound of furry bodies, but never turned his back fully on the still seated figure. 'I will not be weak before your eyes you old bastard. I refuse to!'

Cruel amusement changed the eyes to flecks of obsidian as Gorotsuki watched his only son. "Oh really? I wonder if she is aware of that?" The light tone was severely at odds with the maniacal glee in his gaze. Kouga shot him a distrustful look.

Something was up. His stomach gave a lurch before tightening painfully. 'If this old shit's happy, someone must be in hell.'

"What's that supposed to mean, my lord?” A title was all the address he would ever give that bloated sack of muscle-bound evil. Since the day he'd watched Gorotsuki gleefully snap his mother's neck like a dry twig, the word 'father' had never left his lips. 'I'll be damned if it ever will.' Awaiting an answer, Kouga paused beside a particularly large wolf.

A long scroll fluttered to the floor as it shot out from the shadows cloaking the lord. Picking it up warily, Kouga scanned the contents before flinging it away in a shower of hot curses.

Gleaming eyes watched the display in delight and the rough voice dripped honeyed venom. "Kouga my boy. You seem troubled." Large fangs smiled invisibly from the darkness. "What is wrong?"

"He took her!" Unseeing, Kouga stalked back and forth, wanting to lash out at something. Especially that sack of horseshit smirking at him. 'He knew all along. Somehow he knew what had happened to her!' The urge to leap over and kill the older man was so strong that Kouga could nearly taste it, but he knew he couldn't give in to it.

Not yet.

The grudging thought rankled him, 'Even with the shards, I'm still not strong enough to kill him. But one day...' Spotting the offending scroll, he kicked it savagely away instead. Confused, the wolves had backed out of range of his rage.

"That dog-furred bastard took my woman..." Coming to a halt, Kouga's mind raced furiously.

"Who, Inuyasha?" Though muttered, Gorotsuki had heard the comment clearly. Ebony orbs heated in anticipation of potential mayhem.

Cold as the storm outside, blue eyes blazed back. "No, Sesshomaru."

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Two Days Later

Laughing together as they approached the cottage, Sango and Miroku were in high spirits. The week before, the two had managed to recover a jewel shard on their own. Since Inuyasha, Kagome, Sesshomaru and Kuroi were still on their respective 'honeymoons', the monk and taijiya had gone collecting on their own.

Miroku had needed a particular herb from mistress Kaede, so they had both decided that an impromptu visit to their friends was in order. Coming to the door, a beaded hand snuck forward to caress the nicely rounded bottom in front of him. Instead of the usual slam with a large bone boomerang, only an admonishing swat met his touch. "Miroku, stop that! At least try to behave for a little while."

"But Sango," with an air of innocence she didn't believe for a minute, Miroku all but pouted, "It's just so lovely that I can't help myself." Ducking another swat for the off-colored comment, he leaned in for a quick kiss.

The weeks alone had brought hidden feelings fully into the open. With the small victory of the shard, they had only blossomed further. Not ready yet to accept him as a lover in the full sense of the word, Sango had been willing to start with just kisses.

Really nice kisses. Pacified by the silky brush of his mouth, she stopped protesting and placed a hand against the soft purple robes over his chest. "Miroku..." The monk gave her a tender look and lowered his head for another pass.

Disgruntled growls drifted down towards them.

Moving apart, honey-brown and deep violet eyes widened as they rose to look at a large tree a few yards away. The waning glow of sunset cast a fiery light across the limbs, giving the illusion that it was burning. In the shadows of the leaves and branches, two sets of tawny orbs watched them intently.

"Lord Sesshomaru, Inuyasha? What are you both doing out here?" If anything, the growling grew more pronounced at the question. Stepping lightly between Sango and the tree, Miroku waited as the two figures dropped soundlessly to the ground and stalked towards them like twin predators. The growling had stopped, but the silence was even more unnerving. Both the monk and taijiya tensed as the brothers closed in.

Inuyasha swept right by them to open the door. On the other side of the couple, Sesshomaru followed closely behind. Neither of them said a word.

Breathing in unknown relief, the pair took one look at each other before turning to enter. The same question danced on the tips of their tongues. 'What's eating the two of them?'

Once past the threshold, two smiling faces greeted them, welcoming them both inside. "Hi guys! This is a pleasant surprise." Hugging their friends tightly, Kuroi and Kagome drew them to a seat. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru still scowled darkly from a corner of the room.

Plucking a small pouch from an inner pocket of her kimono, Sango handed it to her friend. "Here Kagome, we found this in a bat demon."

"Thank you Sango! I thought I sensed a jewel shard approaching." Taking the pouch, Kagome shook the glowing sliver out onto her palm. It glittered brightly before settling into a steady glow. She closed her hand and headed for the bedroom to put it up. "Be right back!"

Clearing his throat, Miroku inclined his head towards the brooding pair in the corner of the room as he graciously accepted a cup of tea from Kuroi. She placed a hand on a hip and huffed, "Don't mind them, trust me." As she headed for the kitchen, she tried to ignore the pointed look from one of the brothers in particular.

Once safely hidden around the corner, she bit her lip in an attempt not to laugh hysterically. Grabbing a bowl and a bag of 'pret-sals', she went back into the main room. Handing Sango a cup, Kuroi didn't bother going near Inuyasha or Sesshomaru.

'With the way they look right now, I might pull back a stump.' she thought sourly.

Instead, she took a seat beside Sango and watched as Kagome returned. The pregnant girl shot a glance towards the father of her unborn children, and then completely dismissed his presence. Slapping on a bright smile, she asked Miroku about the demon that he and Sango had encountered.

Kuroi sipped her tea and fought the urge to giggle again. When she had told her husband that both she and Kagome were wise to the little contest he and Koinu were playing, he'd almost bitten his tongue off. However, when she'd informed him that both women weren't going to be a part of it any longer, in ANY way, he'd been sulking ever since.

'Well, not all the time. That little thing he tried last night had almost worked. I never imagined he could dance like that.'

(A/N: I'm sorry, I have to go take a break. Sesshomaru, strip-teasing? I'm going to go lay down for a moment, I feel a bit light-headed.)

Yellow eyes bored a hole into her back, so she sipped more tea to block them out. 'I don't know what Kagome told Koinu, but she's been more upset at him than I thought was humanly possible.'

Actually that was an understatement. When Kuroi and Sesshomaru had returned after her announcement, they had found the unconscious hanyou face down in a deep, deep hole.

With a soft sigh, she sadly shook her head, 'He really should have accepted that offer she made at the wedding to remove the rosary.' Inuyasha had wanted to keep it on so Kagome would have some protection in case he ever slipped and went full youkai again. Knowing that the swelling on his face had only recently gone down, Kuroi wondered if he was regretting that generous decision.

A familiar foot touched the side of her leg from behind, one cloth-covered toe tracing intricate patterns on the bare flesh, making her stomach flutter inside.

Sesshomaru was trying again.

Her mind was getting fuzzy from the sensation of simply being touched by him. ‘How sad is it that he can make me weep with just his foot!? If he keeps this up, I’m going to die.’ It was taking every trick she knew and some new ones she’d only recently developed to keep her husband from knowing how well his little ‘attempts’ to garner her forgiveness were working. In an effort to stir up some righteous anger, she reminded herself of why they had even fought in the first place. ‘He tried to use you to beat his brother, keep that in mind.’

‘Didn’t you enjoy it though?’ there was that reasonable voice again.

‘Shut up.’

‘Honestly, did you really mind it that much?’

A small shadow passed behind her eyes. Did she really?

Noting the charged atmosphere in the house, Sango turned to Kagome and helped her sit down. "So, how is the morning sickness? Has it gone away yet?"

Glad for the assistance and a relatively safe topic, Kagome gave her a genuine smile. "Yeah, it stopped a few days ago. I can't tell you how glad I am to be eating again without having to worry about it causing a problem." Getting a small handful of the salted breadsticks, she continued, "Last month I even talked Inuyasha into letting me go home to see a doctor from my time and to see the rest of my family. Mom's excited to be a grandmother and she hopes one of the kids will have his ears." For a moment, her expression turned wistful, "I think Inuyasha really liked seeing the twins on the monitor."

It soured as she peered at the frowning father to be. "Even though he said they looked like blobs and he tried to hit the doctor."

Since the announcement about the unborn children, the young woman from the future had been informing her friends about a few of the tools from her time. The machine that used sound to 'see' an unborn child seem marvelous to the taijiya. "So the children are fine?"

"Healthy as their father." Placing a hand lovingly against her side, she wrinkled her nose. "They’ll probably kick as hard too, when I‘m further along."

Kuroi tapped her chin with a finger. "Strong legs and a hard head. Sounds exactly like Koinu." When a soft growl met her chiding, she asked her sister, "Why would he try to hit the doctor?"

Small embarrassed waving motions caught her eye while Sango and Miroku peered over their shoulders at the flushed father. 'Uh-oh. Koinu did something stupid again.' Giving a light laugh, Kuroi tried to change the subject by asking Miroku, "Was the bat demon hard to kill?"

Since he'd already answered the question a moment ago, Miroku glanced at her, but hid his surprise well enough to answer cordially that it hadn't been a problem. He also noted that the frantic motions Kagome had tried to keep he and Sango from seeing had also stopped.

'There is something wrong here.'

Taking another glance at the silent men behind him, he studied the look of smoldering desire Sesshomaru was giving Kuroi and she was pointedly trying not to notice.

'Now that is odd.' Newlywed behavior was nothing new to him. As a monk, he had married many loving young couples. The fact that he'd peeked in on one or more of them on the blessed night following the ceremony, was only to ensure that they were truly committed to each other. Smiling at the fond memories of a life's calling satisfyingly fulfilled, he appraised Kuroi's own distracted expression with a knowing eye. A sneaking suspicion started to grow.

He was sidetracked from exploring it by a bare foot tapping irritably against the floor. While Sesshomaru merely appeared hungry, Inuyasha just looked plain pissed. The object of his barely concealed anger? Why, his new wife and mother of his soon to be children, who else?

'If he frowns any harder, his face is going to split in half.' However, the same held true of the widely smiling Kagome. 'I haven't seen a smile that fake since the day I asked my old teacher what happened to my hidden stash of rare sake.'

Something had to be done.

Miroku gave Sango a long look. She raised a dark brow a fraction in response. Taking his cue, the young man stood and went to the door. "Inuyasha, Lord Sesshomaru. I was wondering if you could examine a few of the demon's remains and give me your thoughts? Excuse us please ladies."

Going outside, he headed for the small furrowed plot he'd passed coming to the cottage and waited for the two to catch up.

By the time they did, he was seated comfortably beneath a tree overlooking the recently turned soil and examining the evening sky in quiet contemplation. Once again, they made no sound, but he sensed their youki approaching. When he knew he had their attention, he nailed the brothers with a steely flat gaze and asked simply, "What did you two morons do?"

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Sango was a lot of things, but blind and stupid weren't among them. As soon as she and Miroku has arrived, she'd sensed something was amiss. In spite of the air of generated cheer her friends were displaying, her instincts told her they were really upset. From the way Kagome had glared when Inuyasha passed by, she knew one was more upset than the other. Rubbing her forehead, she cut right to the chase.

"What did the two morons do?"

Kuroi and Kagome started in surprise at the frank question. Since one was blushing too hard to see clearly, the other answered. "Basically Koinu and Sessy have been trying to see who can please their mate the most. They're mad because we told them we wouldn't sleep with them until they grew up." Kuroi delivered the news with complete indifference to the subject at hand before turning to her sister. "I thought you said Koinu tried to hit the doctor? Why would he do that?"

"Because the ultrasound hurt his ears. He thought the doctor was trying to attack him and I cannot believe you just came right out and said that!!" Still red, Kagome was trying to discover a way to fall through the floor by will power alone. Sometimes her sister's boldness was a real pain.

"Sango's a big girl. Besides, hanging out with Miroku, I know she's heard worse."

Meanwhile, Sango was turning a shade to match Kagome. She'd been expecting something, just not that! "Um, well. That's definitely unusual." coughing delicately, she sipped her tea. 'Somehow it's not really that surprising when I think about it for a while. Those two tried to kill each other over a sword, what would they do over their manhood?'

"It sounds a bit drastic though..." Patting her flaming cheeks, her thoughts traveled to the man outside.

'I hope Miroku isn't having the same amount of trouble.' Recounting the monk's more lecherous moments, she rolled her eyes. 'What am I thinking? He's probably having the time of his life.'

"So, have you talked to them about...it?" Still flushed brightly, she sipped again to hide her discomfort. Kuroi snorted and almost fell over laughing. "Heaven help me. One's pregnant and can't say sex. The other hangs around the world's biggest lecher and is embarrassed to talk about it too? This is rich." Cupping her chin on a hand, she sniggered darkly, "Yes Sango, we talked to them about it." Gesturing to the door, she asked mildly, "Would you like to try?"

The blush hit a brand new shade on the other girl, bringing a fresh peal of giggles from Kuroi.

Sango slid Kagome a look.

Her friend nodded back.

"So Kuroi, how was that wedding night again?" Innocently asked, the question had a dramatic effect. The laughter died, replaced by a faint growl as a blush crept over Kuroi's face. At the reminder of how she had fainted from nervousness before making it to her wedding bed, Kuroi snapped out a heated "Screw you both!" before settling into her seat with a sulky expression.

The other two simply smiled.

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‘Someday, I’ll have to remember to make an offering at the next temple I see.’ Dodging a vicious claw swipe, Miroku jumped and feinted to the left. He then reached up and pulled himself into the tree limbs. The two irate men quickly followed, flanking him on both sides.

Confronted with the molten glow of their eyes, he gave a nervous laugh. ‘I think I touched a nerve…’ Braced against the rough surface of the tree trunk, Miroku rattled his beaded hand menacingly. The other two halted their advance, reminded of the equally powerful weapon at the monk’s disposal.

“Now that I have your attention, I repeat. What did you two morons do?” The death glares and growls were fainter this time, heartening the young man greatly. Sesshomaru scowled deeply before looking away. Inuyasha just glared while blushing furiously. Miroku took a shot in the dark.

“You two newly weds didn’t try to have a little contest against one another and hoped your wives wouldn’t find out, did you?” He laughed aloud, sure that even these two wouldn’t have done something as stupid and petty as that. The gaping jaws confirmed his fears.

Smacking the flat of his hand against his forehead, he hopped out of the tree and sat heavily on the ground. “Holy sh..ahem.” Clearing his throat, he tried again. “The truly sad part of this situation is that I was joking.” Deep violet eyes watched the guilty parties slink out to land beside him. Taking an opportunity, he rapped them both across the head with his staff.

“Hey bouzo! What the fuck was that for?” the hanyou scowled, but his brother rapped right back, sending the monk sprawling.

“Do not touch me holy man. When you get your own accursed hands under control, then you can preach.” Inuyasha blinked before an impressed smile slid across his face at his brother‘s statement. Sesshomaru had a point.

Picking himself up, Miroku gave a beatific sigh in spite of his battered state. “At least when I go home, I’ll be welcomed in my beloved’s bed.” Twin snarls of guilt laden hate signaled he‘d hit a sore spot, fueling his inner amusement. Outwardly, he rearranged his features into a look of understanding. “Have you tried apologizing?”

“Yes.” Like naughty school boys, the two hung their heads and answered in a sulky monotone.

“Did you beg for forgiveness?” Eyes closed, Miroku ticked off his questions.

“Yeah…” that response was grudgingly given.

“Did you swear never to treat them so callously again in your lives, as well as informing them of how much joy and light they‘ve filled those same pathetically miserable lives with?”

“…”

Miroku gave a sigh of the long-suffering, then pinched the bridge of his nose and said slowly. “I’m going to go to the house and take Sango home. Hopefully, I won’t give in to the urge to slap a sealing scroll across both of your groins.” Rising to his feet, the monk started for the house.

Inuyasha moved to block him. “What the fuck are you acting so high and mighty for bouzo?” frustrated and having had his limited patience severely tried over the course of the past few days, the hanyou pointed an accusing finger at his friend, “You’re the master womanizer here, not us!” Indignation shone bright in both sets of golden eyes.

Sesshomaru rose as well, looming over the patient human. “I feel that I must agree with my brother. You have never before acted in a manner befitting a gentleman, so how do you presume to have the right to lecture and threaten us?”

Unconcerned, Miroku walked around the two bodies prepared to rend him apart. “I have always made my intentions clear when wooing a maiden.” Regarding then with mock astonishment, he placed a hand over his chest, “But wait! Sleeping with a woman because she is desirable IS so much more dastardly than making love to her to beat another man. Especially when she’s someone I said I loved and cherished more than my own life.” Glancing once more over his shoulder at the stunned pair, he strolled away, “My mistake.”

Inuyasha looked humbly at his stricken brother. “Do you want one of the twins, because I don’t think either of us will be having anymore kids in our lifetimes.”

A deep groan was all his abashed sibling could manage.

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Miroku strolled in, took the blushing Sango by the hand and headed right back out calling cheerfully, “Remember ladies. You married them!”