InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love Reigns Down ❯ That's What Friends Are For ( Chapter 7 )

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

The steady clicking of heels on the polished floor vibrated throughout the corridor, the sound echoing off the whitewashed walls. On a normal day, the hollow reverberation would have made the lab-coated figure flinch, but today wasn’t a normal day. Smiling secretly to herself, she rounded the corner before scanning her card and entering the closest door to her right. Shutting the door firmly behind her, she leaned against the cool metal, allowing her eyes to adjust to the fluorescent lights that had automatically turned on with her appearance. After a few seconds, she straightened up and resolutely walked towards the other end of the room. Standing in front of glass cabinetry that spanned the entire length of the wall, her gaze skipped across dozens of vials until finally resting upon the one vial she was looking for. Opening a glass panel, she gingerly slipped the vial from its holder. Cradling it carefully in her palm, she couldn’t suppress the silly grin on her face. She was simply too happy to contain it. Giddy with daydreams, she recalled the exact moment that she had shared the happy news with her husband and the ensuing debate that had followed.

What do you think? Pink or blue? Or maybe something more neutral like yellow?

How about red?

Red? I don’t think so. So laughing and be serious, InuYasha!

Okay, okay, how about green? Make it feel like a forest.

Oh, that’s not a bad idea. I like it, but then I really do love blue. It is my favourite colour…

So, we go with blue.

“I was wondering how to ask you about that.”

Kagome whipped around, startled. “Kaz, you scared me!” She held her hand to her heart, feeling the rapid palpitations that the sudden appearance of her friend had caused. Hoping he didn’t notice, she hid her other hand behind her back, the vial safely tucked in her palm. Schooling her features, she watched as her lab partner casually crossed his arms and legs and leaned against the doorway. “I thought you were working in the concrete bunker today?” she asked using the nickname they gave to the stone building that Kazuki had been working at for the last few weeks.

He shrugged as a smile played on his lips. “I am, but they do let me out occasionally for good behaviour.”

Kagome couldn’t help but tease, “Good behaviour, huh? So, that means you don’t get out much.”

Kazuki laughed. “That’s an understatement.”

“So… what are you doing here?”

“Hmmm… funny you should ask. I was talking to Fuji and he mentioned how a certain young miko was grinning like a mad fool all morning.” That was an understatement. Fact was, as soon as he stepped foot into the lab, he was immediately bombarded with questions from Fuji and Sakura, asking if he knew what was wrong with Kagome. She had been acting strangely all morning, bursting out in laughter at no apparent reason and not playing attention at all to what she was doing. Kazuki listened patiently as they gave him a detailed account of how absent-minded she had been. Kagome always prided herself in her strong work habits, so to act like this was out of character for her. Frankly, Kazuki was amazed that their friends didn’t realize what the ‘problem’ was. As soon as he heard, he knew. But then again, he was expecting this to happen. He didn’t tell them what he suspected. No, he’ll let Kagome break the news to them herself. Instead he reassured them that Kagome was fine and that he’ll talk to her. He then went to seek her out, and he knew exactly where to find her. Now standing here, he noticed how her eyes gleamed bright and how her cheeks were flushed with excitement. She was literally bursting with joy, and no matter how much she tried to tamper it down, it came across loud and clear.

“Oh?” Kagome tried to look innocent, but knew she was failing miserably by the way he raised his brow at her.

“Yeah, something about her head being in the clouds. Sakura and Fuji having to repeat themselves because she wasn’t paying any attention to them at all. Like she was in some type of la-la land. Sound familiar?”

“Oh, ah, well…” Darn, busted. “If they were talking about me…”

“If? Oh, come on, darling, ‘fess up, will you? And you’re worried about me blowing up the lab.”

A huge grin broke out on Kagome’s face. She was fairly bursting with the good news and couldn’t wait to share it with her friend. She gushed out in one breath, “I have wonderful news, Kaz. I was hoping you were going to be here today. I’m—”

“Pregnant,” he finished for her.

“W-wait. You knew? How did you know? We only found out yesterday.”

“Lucky guess.”

Kagome bounded towards him, excitement etched all over her face. She grabbed his arm and said, “Isn’t that great news, Kaz? I didn’t think I could get pregnant this fast, but I did and we’re so excited! And we took Mama and Sota out for dinner last night. Mama started crying. She can’t wait to be a grandmother. And Sota’s going to be such a great uncle. He said there was a rocking chair in storage at the shrine and he was going to dig it out for me. I can put it in the nursery, and then we had this discussion on room colours—”

Kazuki couldn’t help but grin at Kagome’s enthusiasm. He hadn’t seen her this happy since her wedding day. When she finally stopped in mid-chatter to take a breath, he took the opportunity to pull her in for a hug. “Congrats, darling.”

Hugging him back, she said happily, “Thanks, Kaz.”

“How far along are you?”

“A little over four weeks. I’m pretty sure we conceived on our honeymoon when—”

“Geez, Kags! I don’t want to hear the details!” He pulled away and covered his ears in mock horror.

She laughed. “Sorry.”

“Well, yeah…,” Kazuki grumbled good-naturally. “How are you feeling? Any morning sickness?”

“No, thank goodness. In fact, I’ve been feeling great.”

He leaned over and plucked the vial out of her hand. “And what about this?”

She gave him a sheepish look. “Ah, well…”

“You were going to give yourself the shot?” Not waiting for her to answer his rhetorical question, he shook his head. “Seriously, Kags, you could have just asked me.”

“I would have asked if you had been around…” Kagome admitted. “You’ve been so busy lately and I didn’t think you’d be here today, but now that you are… could you?”

Kazuki scoffed, “Of course, I’d help. Was there any doubt?” Taking charge, Kaz steered her towards the door, leading her out into the corridor and into another room a few doors down. Once inside, he gestured towards an examination table situated at the center of the room. “Sit down. I want to check your hcG levels first.”

Kagome hopped up onto the table before she took off her lab coat and rolled up the sleeve of her blouse. Holding out her arm, she allowed Kazuki to tie a tourniquet on her bicep and watched as he proceeded to clean the area before he stuck a needle into her vein. After filling a test bottle of blood, he popped the needle out. Handing a cotton ball to Kagome to hold against the wound, he said, “I’ll run the test as soon as we get back into the lab. Okay, Kags, now pull down your pants.”

“Wha—?”

At her fish mouth expression, he said, exasperated humour evident in his voice, “I’m going to stick you, but only with this.” He waved another needle in his hand. “Now, lie down.”

Snapping her mouth shut, pink hue dusting her cheeks, she murmured, “Oh, right.” She did as she was told, watching him all the while as he prepared the syringe. Kagome wasn’t use to being half naked around her friend and lying there with her pants down she was embarrassed. There was nothing sexual about it, she knew that, but this fact didn’t make her feel any less exposed. Oh, Kami, help her. She’d rather give the shot to herself. But this was Kazuki, and there was no one she trusted more to do this for her than him.

“Nice pink panties.”

Her cheeks exploded with colour to match her underwear. She lifted herself off the table but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

“Just kidding. Relax, will you?” His bemused smile was soon replaced by a more somber expression. She glanced at him and noted with relief that Kazuki had on his professional face. Fine. If he could be objective about this, so could she. Taking a deep breath, she did as she was told and settled back onto the table.

Nervously gnawing at her lip, she hesitantly asked, “Kaz, can I ask you a question?”

“You know you can. Shoot.”

“Well… you remember all the case studies we did with hanyou babies? The increased success rates of births after the mothers received the immunization shots?”

“Hmmm,” Kazuki replied nonchalantly. He had an inkling of what Kagome was leading up to, but he waited to hear her out.

“Well… none of the cases involved miko.”

“Nope. They were 100% normal women.”

“Kazuki Matsumoto! I’m 100% normal!”

Kazuki laughed at her indignation. “Yup, you are. 100% normally reckless, that is.”

He expected her to laugh with him, but when his quip was met with silence, he turned to face her. “Hey, Kags, I was just kidding.”

“I know,” she said quietly, “but do you think this is reckless? Me having a baby?” She bit her lip and waited to hear what her friend would say. He was brilliant in his selected field of work and there was no one she trusted more. She valued his opinions and knew that he would be honest with her in his assessment of her situation.

“No, darling, I don’t think you’re reckless.” He went to stand by her, a bit unnerved by the beseeching look she gave him. He knew she was worried and rightly so. There were dangers involved with her pregnancy. “But I won’t lie to you. You know as well as I do that this is a high risk pregnancy, Kags. Being a miko, you’re meant to purify youkai, not house one in your body. Your body’s natural reaction would be to purify any youki in it. Honestly, I’m surprised you even got pregnant at all. The odds of you carrying a youkai baby were stacked against you from the very beginning.” He was being blunt, but he wasn’t saying anything she didn’t already know. She was a scientist, a miko to boot. Of course, she knew. But she was also a woman and right now she needed some reassurance. “But you’re a damn powerful miko, darling. You told me yourself how you’ve honed your powers. And if there’s anyone that can pull this off, it’s you.”

She was still worried, but his words did make her feel better. She squeezed his hand in thanks. She could always count on her friend to say the right thing to put her mind at ease. “I can and I will. For my baby’s sake.”

“Do you have a barrier erected?”

“Yes.” The one word said so softly carried with it heavy meaning.

Nodding because he expected that answer, he then asked, “Does Yash know about the complications involved?” At the shake of her head, he pressed on, “Kagome, you have to tell him.”

“I know,” she said in a small voice. “I just don’t want to worry him.”

He sighed. Leave it to his lab partner to try to protect her baby and her husband. “But he has a right to know. Do you think he would endanger your life if he knew?”

“No, he wouldn’t. But like you said, no miko has ever given birth to a youkai baby before, so we don’t know what will happen. Maybe, nothing will happen. Maybe it’ll all just work out… in the end.” A defiant expression crossed her face as hugged her stomach. “But… even if there are complications, this is what I want. More than anything, this baby—” She faltered and swallowed hard. “This is all I ever wanted: to marry InuYasha and have a family. It’s all I ever dreamed of.” Her brows scrunched in determination. “I want this baby, Kaz. And I’ll do anything, anything, to protect my child.”

He lifted her chin so that her eyes met his. “I expect no less from you, Kags. I have every confidence that you’ll do everything in your power to protect your baby. And I promise you that I’m going to do everything in my power to help you. So, I don’t want you to worry about this, you hear me? I’ll be here for you, every step of the way.” He lifted up the needle, “Starting now.”

He placed his hand on her hip, swabbed her thigh with an antiseptic wipe and was about to inject the needle when the door banged wide open. Startled, the needle jerked out of his hand as he stared at the enraged hanyou that appeared in the doorway.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO MY WIFE?!”

Yash snarled as he stood in the doorway. In that split second, all he saw was his wife lying on her side, her pants pulled low and Kazuki with his hands, his fucking hands, on his wife’s bare hip.

It only took Kazuki a spit second to find his composure again. He flicked a glance at Kagome’s surprised face before he calmly said. “What do you think I’m doing?”  He adjusted the syringe in his hand and tapped the air bubbles out. “I’m giving your wife a shot. Being pregnant, Kagome needs a series of weekly shots in her first trimester to boost up your baby’s youki.” Half turning to face the other hanyou, he gave Yash a steady look, “Did you know she was planning to give herself the shot?”

Kagome shot Kazuki a dirty look — which he pretended not to see — before she sat up and peeked over his shoulder. “InuYasha, let me explain.”

The red haze evaporated from Yash’s eyes and ignoring the other hanyou, he quickly made his way to Kagome’s side. His look darkening once again, he bit out, “Do you mind not touching my wife?” He pointedly glared at Kazuki’s hand still on his wife’s hip.

Raising his hands in defeat, Kazuki flippantly replied, “Fine. You give her the shot then.”

“InuYasha,” Kagome grabbed her husband’s hand as she implored, “I asked Kaz to help. Please let him.” Kagome gnawed at her lip, her gaze skipping from one hanyou to the other. Feeling Yash’s hesitation, she gripped his hand tighter and said, “And it is easier if he gave me the shot…” She swallowed her words as his sharp gaze turned to her.

“The shot you were going to give yourself?” His voice was deceptively calm, but Kagome knew better. She cringed. She had some explaining to do.

“InuYasha, don’t look at me like that. It wasn’t going to be that bad, doing it myself.” She tried to sound confident, but he heard the waver in her voice. She shot a desperate look at Kaz seeking his help.

 “She’s right. It’s no big deal if she gave herself this first shot. It’s a small dosage, so it would have been fine. It’s when we get into the second month that the dosage increases and it would have been more difficult for a self-induced shot. Now,” he raised the syringe still in his hand, “do you mind if I do this?” He waited until the other hanyou nodded before he swabbed another antiseptic wipe over Kagome’s skin. Placing one hand to hold her still, he inserted the needle into her thigh and pressed down on the plunger.

The way his wife gripped his hand eased Yash’s anger and the last of his annoyance disappeared when she turned her doe brown eyes upwards and locked her gaze onto his. She let out the breath she was holding and smiling softly she said, “Our baby will be okay now.”

“Of course he’ll be,” Yash said gruffly, a lump forming in his throat as he looked down at her. Lying there she looked so vulnerable and he wanted nothing more than to gather her into his arms and hold her tight. He refrained himself and gave her a tender smile instead while gently brushing back her bangs.

“And how do you know the baby will be a ‘he’?” she teased playfully as she adjusted her pants and sat up. She was relieved that InuYasha was no longer upset with her.

The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk. “I don’t. Just makes it easy calling the baby a ‘he’. As long as he’s healthy, that’s all that matters.”

Kagome smiled and nodded in agreement.

Kazuki quietly cleaned up during this by-play and was about to slip out the door unnoticed when Kagome thanked him. “You’re welcome.”

Before the door closed behind him, he caught a glimpse of Yash engulfing Kagome in his arms. He looked thoughtfully at the couple before a small smile played on his lips. Anything for you, darling.

His eyes suddenly lit up as a solution to the problem came to him. He knew what he had to do.

He was going to ask for Yash’s blood.



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