InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Killing Me Softly ❯ Epilogue: Blessings ( Epilogue )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

~oOo~

Travel was quite awkward the next day as Inuyasha carried Kagome back to Kaede's – it was apparent that he was still very irked with her.  Still, he was tender and careful with her, totally attentive to her needs and her morning sickness.

She could only be thankful for that, because even if he wanted to stop and rant at her, he wouldn't get anywhere – at least, not in the morning.  If he did, he'd get nothing but the contents of her stomach for his efforts.

She was surprised at how many of the things she'd managed to collect over her and Shippo's time in the cave they were able to take on this trip – Inuyasha had shouldered her overstuffed bag, and Kirara had been able to take a bit more with her riders.

All in all – besides the bump in her belly, and the morning sickness – this could have been just another jaunt after Naraku with the group.

“Uhm, Inuyasha?”  she asked meekly.

“What?”

“Well... I was just wondering, you know, what we're gonna do with Naraku now that, well...”  she trailed off uncertainly.

“Keh!  Now you're worried about it?”  he asked incredulously.  “You should have thought of that before you ran off!”

Her lip wobbled and her eyes filled with tears – and she tiredly reflected that the emotional rollercoaster that was a pregnant woman's curse would end up sucking her dry.

“I didn't think you'd drop everything to come chasing me down.  I mean, I knew you'd look, but, I always knew that Naraku and the shards came first... and Kikyou,”  she said lowly.  “I figured you'd just have her look for shards with you.”

Quietly fuming, the hanyou sent her a look that said quite clearly that they would be having a long talk later.  “Keh.  I'm gonna be blunt here, Kagome, since you're missing the point.  I wouldn't have touched you that night if I had any intentions of you being anything other than first priority in my life.   You've always been that, you've just been too blind to see it.  Now take a nap.  We should reach Kaede's this afternoon, and I want you awake for our little discussion.”

Wide-eyed and pink-cheeked, Kagome looked up at him from the safety of his arms, and then sighed, nodding.  She was rather tired again...

As she drifted off to sleep, she couldn't help the thought that she finally felt safe and warm... for the first time since that awful night she'd left him.

I don't ever want to do that again...

~oOo~

By the time Kagome actually woke, they were on their final approach to the village, and within minutes, Inuyasha was shouldering aside the matting over Kaede's door after calling out to let her know they were back – and bearing the missing members of the group.

Kaede was, however, understandably taken aback when she caught sight of Kagome's obvious pregnancy.  In all their discussions about circumstances, Inuyasha had never mentioned anything about what had actually occurred between he and Kagome, so the elderly miko's first question was, “Is the babe yours, Inuyasha?”

The hanyou snarled at her as Kagome burst into tears, thinking the older miko was calling her a whore.  After yesterday's events with Takenawa, that thought was just too much.

“Of course it is, you old bat!”  he yelled as he clutched her tighter to him protectively.  “As if Kagome would just go off with some guy!”

“That is not what I meant, Inuyasha.  But I did not know that this had taken place between ye, and was in fact inquiring if this was the result of... force by an assailant.”

The hanyou growled deeply at that, but shook his head, somewhat mollified that she wasn't accusing Kagome of being of loose morality.    “No.  It's my pup.  And Kagome's mine, too.  Got any problem with that?”  he asked, narrow-eyed as he continued to hold a now quiescent Kagome.  

“Nay, Inuyasha, sheath thy claws.  Kagome is an adult, and ye have always been her choice.  Truthfully, I had expected something like this sooner-”  she shot him a disapproving look,  “- if ye hadn't been so busy chasing that shade of my sister.”

Inuyasha flushed, but finally unbent enough to sit down as the others piled into the hut, and soon the babble of voices regaling Kaede with the tales of her and Shippo's adventure sent Kagome back to sleep.

The moment her eyes closed, Inuyasha was snapping out whispered orders for the others to keep it down so she could sleep.

Worried, the hanyou asked Kaede if her weariness wasn't a bad sign.

The elderly woman shook her head as she gazed thoughtfully at Kagome's peacefully sleeping face surrounded by crimson fire rat.  “Nay, Inuyasha.  Her skin tone is good, and her color is healthy.  For every woman, childbearing is slightly different.  Carrying a child is hard work and takes a great toll on a woman's body.  She is just sleeping because she is giving most of her energy to the child, so that it will grow strong.”

“Oh.  Well, good, then,”  he said hesitantly, as though he didn't know whether to fully believe her or not.  

Kaede merely shook her head, and with a sigh, beckoned him to follow her from the hut.  He refused to leave Kagome behind, though, picking her up gently and joining the priestess outside.  “Gonna throw us from the village now, eh?”  he asked defensively.

One eye staring impatiently at him, Kaede sighed again, and shook her head.  “Do not get belligerent, Inuyasha.  I am merely taking you to a hut that was abandoned recently.  It will be yours now, as ye have a wife and a babe on the way to care for.”  She watched interestedly as his ears lowered and he almost looked... diffident.  

“You sure the other villagers won't mind?”  he asked softly.

“Ye and the others have protected this village since Kagome's advent into all of our lives.  The villagers know who is responsible for the safety they are enjoying in these dangerous times.  Ye are more welcomed than ye know.  Your family will not be derided here, Inuyasha,”  she said gently as she turned and began to lead the wide-eyed and surprised hanyou to his new home.

He strode along behind her, stunned, but undeniably happy.  A home... Ever since Kagome came into my life, I've gained things no other hanyou has had – a wife, a pup... and a home.  Keh... my pup won't have to worry about being cast aside as a child like I was...

Because even if something happened to me n Kagome, I know Sango and Miroku – and Shippo, the runt, would take care of him or her.

His thoughts were cut short as they reached a hut near the eastern edge of the village, a few other huts clustered nearby, and Kaede pushed back the matting covering the doorway.  Inuyasha followed her in, and Kagome woke just as they walked into their new home.

She blinked sleepily, and then looked around, confused.  “Where are we?”  she asked.

A soft look entered Inuyasha's eyes as he looked down at her.  “Home,” was all he said, and Kagome looked over at Kaede, not understanding.

“This hut is yours and Inuyasha's now, Kagome.  Ye are a married woman with a child on the way, and ye two need a place to call your own.   What the previous owners left behind is yours, and what ye have gathered yourself while ye were gone will also be brought over.”  She smiled at the awed look on Kagome's face, then turned and exited the hut.  “I suggest ye get a fire going, Inuyasha,”  she said over her shoulder.  “I will have Houshi bring over some firewood to get ye through this night.”

Not knowing what to say, Inuyasha gently settled Kagome down on her feet and then began to inspect the hut to see if it needed any repairs before winter caught up with him.   Slipping out the door, he hopped onto the roof as Kagome looked around the inside of the hut, which was larger than Kaede's, with two rooms, and was pleased – it was in good shape, the roof sound and intact.  Heading back inside, he stopped as he watched his... his wife get the fireplace ready for the promised wood and kindling.

“Do you think,”  she said hesitantly, looking up at him with a little blush,  “you can gather enough wood tomorrow to get us through the winter?  We didn't have a chance to lay in a supply over the summer like everyone else.”

He smirked at her and held up his claws.  “Keh.  With these, I can chop enough tomorrow to keep us and Kaede in wood for the winter.”

She smiled a little, and looked down.  “Oh.  Okay.  I guess I will do a little cleaning in here tomorrow while you work, then... it is a bit dusty.”  She looked around and sighed.  “Home.”  The word felt good in her mouth – especially as it was a home that she would be sharing with the father of her child.  Just then, the baby moved, and she beckoned Inuyasha over excitedly.  He hadn't yet felt it move.

“Put your hand here,”  she murmured.  “The baby's moving.  Feel it?”  she giggled.  “It kinda tickles right now,”  she told an enchanted Inuyasha.

Eyes wide and somehow defenseless of a sudden, he stared in awe at where his hand was touching.  “Kagome,”  he breathed in wonder, finally looking directly at her.  And then he clutched her to him and kissed her, simply overwhelmed with the knowledge that was finally setting in – he had a wife, and a pup was coming, too.  

He was no longer alone.

Kagome welcomed the tender contact, but it was not destined to continue, as a shout came at the door, and Miroku staggered in with an armload of wood.  Settling it against one wall of the hut, the monk smiled gently at his two friends that were obviously in need of some privacy, and nodded.  “We will bring over the rest of your things in a little while, Inuyasha... to give you two some time to hash things out.”

Inuyasha pulled from his daze and nodded.  “Send the runt over here when you want to get started to sit with Kagome, and I'll come help.”

Miroku bowed slightly and left, and Inuyasha's attention returned to Kagome.  He just stared at her for a minute, and then said,  “That night...”  he started slowly,  “... I swore to protect you forever, Kagome.  That's not a vow I take lightly, you know that.  I was promising myself to you forever.”  He looked a little uncomfortable then, and looked away, a slight blush on his cheeks.  “When I went after Kikyou to tell her off about things... I told her that we had never really loved each other, because we didn't know what love was all about.  Then... she asked me if... I loved you.  I didn't want to answer her, because she shouldn't be the first to hear those words, you should be.  So I just nodded.”  He looked back up at her then, meeting her stunned eyes with a desperate intensity.  “So I'm gonna say it now like I should have that night.  I love you, Kagome.  I probably won't say it a lot, but... it'll always be here, in my heart.”

There was a still silence for a single moment, and then with a choked sob, Kagome threw herself at a startled hanyou, crying,  “I love you, too!”  into his chest as she cried the last four months out of her system.

Wrapping his arms around her, Inuyasha just inhaled the scent of his wife, and his pup, and did something he'd never done before...

He prayed... thanking the kami for the singular blessing they'd given a broken hanyou.

Kagome.

Naraku was still out there, and he would kill him – but not just for he, and Kikyou now.  He would do it for Kagome...

And their child, too.

~oOo~

A/N:  And there we have it – the end.   A little longer than I planned, but oh well... I never did plan too well anyway.  

Amber

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