InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Miracle ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

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

Whelps... here's the second chapter.  Please enjoy and leave a review if you have time.  Thank you!


Her head hurt and the sunlight coming through the window was not helping.  Kagome rolled over, pulling the blanket over her head.  She'd had the weirdest dream last night and it still kind of freaked her out.  “You're awake.”  Frowning at the unexpected voice, she pulled the sheet down just far enough to peek out.  It was Inuyasha.  What was he doing in Kaede's hut this early?  He usually waited until well after she'd gotten up, bathed and gotten dressed before approaching her.  Finally taking the time to look around the room, she realized it was unfamiliar.  Kagome sat up, staring at the sparse furnishings and eventually at Inuyasha.  “Don't worry, you're safe,” he said softly in response to her worried frown.  “This is... my hut.”

“You don't have a hut.”  Kagome was beginning to see that her so-called dream probably hadn't been just a dream.

“Yes, I do.  I've had it for months.  I just didn't tell you about it because I was embarrassed.”  Kagome's eyes narrowed.  “I thought that it was a step closer to us... to me moving on, but I thought  you would probably stay in your time and so I never said anything about it.”

“How do you know that's what my Inuyasha was thinking?” she replied angrily.  The side of Inuyasha's mouth twitched in a sad smile.

“Because it was exactly what I was thinking when I built a hut.  I knew there was never a chance in hell.  But I built it anyway.”  At her quizzical look he laughed a little.  “Even though I knew, there was still...  I felt it was right for you to stay here.”  Kagome raised a shaking hand to her forehead.  Her headache was back full force and it seemed unlikely to fade on its own.  Reaching for the bag she usually carried with her, assuming it to be at her side like it always was, Kagome came up empty handed.  “It's in the other room, I'll get it.”  Other room?  Kagome slowly crawled out from under the blanket, coming to stand at the doorway she'd seen Inuyasha go through.

She'd assumed it was the entrance to the hut, but instead she found a whole other main room with another doorway that had to go into yet another room.  Kagome gaped at the space.  “He... you built this yourself?”

“Uh, yea.  I guess he started it.  Must have taken a lot of hard work.”  Kagome's eyes welled up with tears as she explored the rest of the room before coming to stand at the doorway to the other room.  It was the main bedroom and it too had another door.  A door into the most amazing bathroom she had ever seen in the Sengoku Jidai.  Inuyasha had put a lot of work into it.  “I know it must be hard... to see what he began...”

“You have no idea,” she whispered.  She was unprepared for the snarl she heard behind her.

“That's not fair Kagome!” he shouted, startling her and forcing her eyes to his.  “I know you're scared, and angry.  I'm angry too!  I can't go back to where... when... whatever.  I can't go back.  I'll never see my Kagome again either.  But I'm here with you now and like it or not, we're stuck together, so you'd better fucking get used to it!”  With that, he stormed out of the bedroom and out of the hut.  Kagome didn't try to follow him, knowing he would need to blow off some steam.  Likely they would have plenty of firewood for the coming month...

She felt guilty for acting like that.  She just couldn't help missing the Inuyasha she knew.  Knowing that this Inuyasha was not the same one made it very difficult to feel for him the same way she always had.  She felt like she had to get to know him all over again.  He seemed to care for her in the same way, but she couldn't believe he'd come to that conclusion so easily.  Obviously he was still struggling with it like she was.

Unsure what else to do, Kagome rifled through the food stores and got out supplies for some porridge.  It was simmering away when Inuyasha finally returned.  He wouldn't look at her, going to sit at the doorway into the main bedroom.  His back against the wall, arms crossed in front of him with Tetsusaiga resting across him, he looked exactly like the Inuyasha she'd always known... the same pout, the same droop to his ears.  “I'm sorry,” she whispered.  “I should have been more sensitive to you.  I know you must be hurting too and I was so caught up in feeling sorry for myself that I ignored that.”  

She heard him sigh, “Keh, I shouldn't have yelled at you.”  She smiled a little.  Spooning out two bowls, she took one over to him and sat a few feet away to eat her own.  “Thanks,” he murmured.  Kagome glanced up at him, nodding, before returning to her food.

Several minutes later, they had both finished but remained sitting in silence.  Kagome had been mulling over their situation for most of that time and finally came up with the courage to ask the question that had been nagging at her since the beginning.  “Why did you tell me the truth?”  Inuyasha looked up at her from his bowl.  “You could have continued to pretend and I might never have known the difference,” she admitted.

“And when the pup was born in a few months and there was no doubt it was mine?  You would think I'd done something to you.”  Kagome shook her head softly.  She couldn't deny that the thought would have crossed her mind then.  Not that she honestly believed Inuyasha could ever take advantage of her like that or hurt her in any physical way.  But he was right, the evidence would be there and there wouldn't have been any other viable explanation.  “I couldn't let you think I would ever hurt you like that.”

“But...”

“It doesn't matter Kagome.  A lie is still a lie.  There's no way I could live with myself, lying to you for the rest of our lives.”  He sighed, getting up to take Kagome's bowl from her and setting both of them in a bucket of water by the genkan.  He stood staring toward the door for some time, his ears twitching slightly.  She couldn't tell if it was simply agitation or if he was listening for something.  Kagome worried that he was considering leaving.  “Someday you're going to remember everything and if that had happened and I had lied to you, you would have hated me anyway.”

“I don't hate you.  I'm just...”

“Confused.  I am too.”  Kagome frowned at his back.  Inuyasha glanced at her over his shoulder before letting out a soft snort.  “Just because I know what happened doesn't mean I know why.  Midoriko never really explained why it had to be me, why I had to leave my reality to come here, why she couldn't explain to... to the other me.  I don't think it really matters now.”  Taking a few steps over to where she was sitting, he knelt beside Kagome, resting a hand on her knee.  “The pup is what matters.  Taking care of you and making sure you're ok is the most important thing.  So if we can't... figure this shit out, then we need to at least find a way to make it work for the pup.”  Kagome nodded silently, taking in his words and trying to process them.  There was so much to consider now that their relationship was expected to change, the baby notwithstanding.  How was she supposed to treat someone who wasn't quite the man she loved, not exactly her best friend and not really the father of her child... but was all of those things at the same time?  Why was her life so confusing?

Looking around she thought back on what he had said about the hut.  "You said he started this?  Does... does that mean you finished it?"  Inuyasha glanced around as well as though taking in the building for the first time himself.

"Yea.  The foundation was much bigger than the one I built before...  But once I started working on it, it seemed to make sense.  I felt how it was supposed to go.  It was mostly done anyway."  Kagome stared at the faintly far away look on his face, the way the amber in his eyes glowed as his thoughts drifted away.  Was he thinking about the other her?  The Kagome he'd left behind?  She shook off the thought.  How much sense did it make to be jealous of herself?

Part of the reason she was so thrown off by this Inuyasha, was the way he spoke to her.  He sounded older, more mature, than the Inuyasha she remembered.  He'd been acting, obviously, for the last couple of weeks because she hadn't noticed the difference at all.  Granted he'd been kinder to her, more patient, but she'd assumed that was a result of many things, her sudden illness most importantly.  But this hanyou in front of her spoke like Inuyasha would if he'd had a few years to think about his behavior and had decided to change it.  “You're older.”

“Huh?”  Not quite the eloquent response she was expecting.

“You're older than the Inuyasha I knew.  Maybe only a few years, but I can tell.”

Inuyasha rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.  “Actually, I'm not.  We're all the same age, that's the same across the different dimensions from what I could understand.  I've just learned to control myself better.  My...  The other Kagome wasn't as patient with my behavior as you've been here.  It took a while, but I learned.  After a while she stopped sitting me completely.”

Slightly appalled by her other self's treatment of the hanyou she frowned.  “I wish I never had to use that word again.”  Inuyasha looked skeptical.  Kagome smiled softly.  “I'm serious.  I hate having to do that to you.  I told myself a long time ago that I would only use it to protect you.  But my Inuyasha is so stubborn and... volatile.  He gets so angry sometimes and calls me the worst names, just because Kirara stole the last fish or Miroku teased him about still being a virgin.”  Kagome waved off the issues as unimportant while Inuyasha balked at the affront to his masculinity.  “He really leaves me no choice sometimes.”

Inuyasha tried to ignore the way she continued to talk about his other self in the present tense, as though he may walk back through the door at any moment.  It hurt, like an angry stirring in his gut.  He was trying so hard to forget about the other Kagome and focus on the one in front of him, and here she was, flaunting his other self in his face.  He didn't know how to make it clear to her without it dissolving into an argument.  At the same time she was talking to him as though some of their experiences were indeed theirs, referring to him directly and reminding him of his involvement as though it had been him there all along.  It was very confusing and it was making him very frustrated.
****

Cleaning up the meal took almost no time and the two decided that a short walk outside to get some fresh air would be a good idea.  Kagome seemed to relish the time outdoors even more than Inuyasha did, who didn't care for being inside unless he had to be.  But the young miko was glowing in the morning light, the breeze tossing her hair around her face.  She looked more beautiful than he remembered her to be.  Something about the small smile on her lips made him feel like glowing a little himself.  “When the baby's born...”

“Pup,” Inuyasha corrected automatically.

“Alright, pup,” she conceded.  “Will he look like you?”  Inuyasha frowned, looking down at the grass under his bare feet.  He hadn't really thought about that yet.  Part of him really hoped that it might, what father doesn't want to see a resemblance in their child?  But the other, stronger part, hoped to all the Kami in existence that the child would look like Kagome.  He wouldn't wish a childhood like his on anyone, certainly not his own pup.

“I... I don't know.  Maybe,” he said, shoving his hands into his sleeves and crossing his arms over his chest as they walked.

Kagome glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.  “Would it bother you if he did?” she questioned him in a confused tone.  The inuhanyou at her side shrugged roughly, an awkward and telltale gesture.  Inuyasha was trying to act nonchalant and that was something he'd never been good at.  In order to quell his fears about her wishes, she decided to cut to the point.  “I hope he has your ears.”

The words were soft, but they hit Inuyasha like a punch in the gut.  That was the last thing he'd been expecting her to say.  She...  really wanted the pup to look like him?  She wanted it to have his ears?  She had to be crazy!  But he could sense nothing but sincerity coming from her.  “What?”  More of an expulsion of air than a question, but Kagome blushed deeply, ducking her head.

“I-I just think that our... pup... should look like you.  You're so... unique and beautiful.  I...”  She stopped talking, staring at her toes as they walked.  Birds whistled and chirped in the silence between them, accented by the buzzing of bumble bees bobbing around the early spring buds.  After several moments she spoke again,“Sorry.  I won't bring it up anymore.”

The inuhanyou was still a bit speechless, unsure what to tell her.  “It's not that Kagome.  I just... the other Kagome never would have said anything like that to me.”  Kagome frowned a moment and he struggled to take the topic off of their other selves.  “T-thanks Kagome,” he murmured, reaching over to gently take her hand in his own.  She slowly relaxed, squeezing his hand to let him know she understood.

They continued their walk around the village, several of its inhabitants greeting them as they passed.  Kagome was all smiles for them, asking the elder women about children who had just been married or just had children of their own, asking the younger mothers about their kids who had run off to play.  While it might not be her natural time, this was her home too and her attachment to these people grew everyday.  Inuyasha accepted any greetings directed at him with a silent nod, rarely speaking more than a gruff “hey” in response.  The villagers expected nothing less of the rough hanyou they had gained as a protector since the arrival of the strange miko girl from the future.  They allowed him to keep them at a distance while they came to respect him more as time passed.

Kagome noticed that there were several more women with infants either strapped to them as they made their way about the village or, more often, cradled delicately while they sat just outside their front doors to get some sunlight.  She was having a very hard time picturing herself in the same position, but she'd heard a friend of her mother's say once that she didn't even think of herself as being pregnant or a mother until she was well into her sixth or seventh month, when she started to show exponentially.  Looking down at her own relatively flat stomach, Kagome couldn't imagine what she was going to look like in a couple of months.  Would she get really big?  She had mixed feelings about the idea.  While she had dreamed about being pregnant a few times when she imagined some kind of future with Inuyasha, she'd never really considered it a possibility.  It was nothing like the reality, and certainly not this reality.  My life never sticks to the paths I expect.  With a soft sigh, she smiled at another villager, an older man with a bum knee who kept an eye on his grandchildren for his son and daughter-in-law while she went about the family's chores for the day.  “Lovely day Miko-sama,” he called.

“It is.  I hope you're well, ojii-san.”  He grinned and laughed, waving his cane at them and hobbling after his youngest grandson.  “He's such a sweet old man.”

“Keh.”  Kagome rolled her eyes, but didn't allow Inuyasha's pensive mood ruin her own.  As they reached Kaede's hut, the inuhanyou frowned.  “What are they all doing here?” he muttered.  Kagome's brows furrowed.  She followed him into the hut, seeing the cause for his question.  Miroku and Sango were both sitting with Kaede, softly steaming tea in their hands.  What surprised Kagome to see was a young kitsune with flaming red hair.  He turned to look at her and she stopped breathing.  He'd grown in the few years since she'd seen him.  He'd kept in touch, but he hadn't been to the village in the three years since Naraku had been defeated.  “Hey runt, what are you doing here?”  Shippo smiled tentatively, standing to greet them.  The kit had barely reached her knees when they'd first found him, had been almost chest height when he left to find the other kitsune clans, he was now almost eye-level with Kagome.  She wasn't terribly tall, but to see such a change in her little kit...

“Ka-Kagome,” he greeted, bowing slightly.  Kagome gaped at him for a moment before rushing over to embrace him.  He released a rough breath under the pressure of her arms, laughing slightly.  “Kagome.”  She laughed and squeezed him harder until he returned her hug.

“You've grown so much!” Kagome stated the obvious.  The kitsune rubbed his neck sheepishly, blushing and biting his lip.  “I'm so glad to see you.”

“I'm glad to see you too.  Inuyasha,” he finally acknowledged the hanyou.  With a grunt of approval, he nodded and moved to sit against the wall.  Kagome and Shippo sat as well, the young miko saying hello to her friends in turn.  “I wanted to see how you guys were doing for myself.  Your letters just aren't enough,” he said by way of explanation, “And sometimes Myouga gets lost and forgets to deliver them until they're months old.”  Kagome grinned a little though she felt the pressure of her recent discovery weighing on her.  She and Inuyasha still hadn't discussed if they should tell anyone the truth of what had happened.  But how could they avoid telling them the truth when they'd already made it clear that nothing had happened between them?  

As the group caught up, Kagome found herself lost inside her head.  She was listening, responding to questions and laughing along with the others but she felt as though that was someone else.  What was she really going to do?  An honest to goodness baby was growing inside her and Inuyasha was the father.  She knew he hoped she would just accept the whole situation and follow along with whatever was “suppose to happen” in their future.  Well she wanted an explanation from Midoriko herself.  Not that she didn't trust Inuyasha, but he didn't seem to know much more about it than she did and he couldn't give her the answers she needed.  “Kagome?”  Snapping her head up to look at her friends, Kagome realized she had been staring at her lap intently, not listening anymore.  “Are you alright?” Shippo asked gently, touching her knee.  She heard Inuyasha growl lowly but he bit it off when everyone looked at him, blushing faintly.

“Hai Shippo-chan, I'm fine.”  His face told her he didn't believe her, even after she gave him a wide smile and Sango's concerned look wasn't helping either.  “So tell me about this girl you keep mentioning.”  It was a decent distraction, Shippo blushing and the other three looking up at him with interest, but Inuyasha continued to watch her avidly the rest of the time they remained in the hut.  When it came time to go to bed, Kagome suddenly panicked.  How was she going to explain going with Inuyasha to his hut when Shippo was likely going to stay here at Kaede's?

“Oi runt, where are you staying?”  The kitsune glanced at Kaede then at Kagome.  “I got an extra room at my place.  I know you have a hard time sleeping since the baba snores.”

Kagome squeaked angrily.  “Inuyasha!”

“Keh.  She does.”  Kaede took the mild insult with grace, chuckling lightly and waving them all out of her hut.  “Look, we gotta talk kid.”  Kagome stood at the doorway to the old miko's hut, watching Miroku and Sango walk back home arm in arm.  At Inuyasha's statement to Shippo, her head whipped around, staring at the hanyou with wide eyes.  “Come on,” he waved to her.  She hesitated a moment before following along.  Once they had returned to the hut, Shippo took a bit to sniff around before they could settle down to talk.  “You know already.”

“It's hard not to smell it.  I'm not a little kid anymore Inuyasha.  My nose is probably better than yours.”  The inuhanyou growled at this but said nothing in response.  “She doesn't smell like you any more than usual...  Why didn't you say anything in your letter a couple months ago?” he directed at Kagome.

She stumbled to answer, unsure what to tell the kitsune.  “She didn't know until yesterday,” Inuyasha cut in.  “This is a lot more complicated than it seems.”  And Inuyasha began to explain what had happened as best he could.  Kagome sat in silence, watching the expressions on Shippo's face as the truth was unfolded to him.

“But you don't smell any different.”  He made his point by leaning closer to sniff the hanyou more deeply.  Inuyasha growled at him sharply but did nothing more.  “Wow.  I mean, really?  This is so crazy!”

“Please, you can't tell the others yet.  We're still not sure why this had to happen this way.  I still don't remember anything.”  Kagome's pleading eyes were more than enough to draw a promise out of the kitsune.  He also told them he would stick around and help them find the rest of the jewel since he had come into a few more tricks in his time with the other fox demons.  He also agreed to stay for the night in the spare room since he really didn't fancy sleeping in the woods when a futon was available.  Kagome hugged him goodnight and watched him head to bed.  Then came the true test of how the night would go.  The miko turned to look at her companion who seemed to be staring at her already.

What did she want him to do?  He knew what he wanted.  He knew what the right thing to do was.  He even knew what the very attentive Shippo would expect them to do.  But none of that mattered.  Only what Kagome wanted mattered.  He stood and approached her, watching for any flinch or movement away from him.  She did none of that.  The young woman simply stared at him.  Perhaps she was waiting to see what he would do.  “Kagome...”

“I um... I can go back over to Kaede-obaachan's if you want,” she sputtered.  Inuyasha frowned slightly.

“Is that what you want?”

Her mouth twitched in thought.  “No.”

“Stay here.  I can sleep out here if you're... uncomfortable,” he growled the last.  For some reason the very idea of Kagome being so uncomfortable around him as to not sleep in the same room with him made his hackles raise.  He wanted to be close to her, needed to be.

Kagome shook her head faintly.  “It's your hut Inuyasha.”

“It's yours.  I built it for you.”

“It's ours then,” she conceded to avoid an argument, not realizing her admission until Inuyasha's eyes widened and his ears swiveled pointedly toward her.  “Uh...”  Biting her lip she thought more carefully about what they were deciding.  This was not the turning point in their relationship, this was not the be all end all either.  This was simply a moment in time and she had to stop placing so much importance on it.  “You should be allowed to sleep in your own room.  You take the futon, I'll use my sleeping bag.”  Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her solution before leading her gently into the bedroom.  He gave her one last look before rolling out the futon and blankets.  “Oh.”

“Uh huh.”  The two of them stared at the double futon, clearly unused.  Again, he knew what he wanted, and he knew what the right thing to do was but...  “Look, it's big enough that we can share it and you can have your side and I'll have mine, ok?”  

Kagome chewed her lower lip, not taking her eyes off the very large, very comfortable looking futon.  Finally she nodded.  She heard Inuyasha release a sigh before stepping into the bathroom to do something.  While he was gone Kagome quickly changed into her pajamas, taking a moment to touch her bellybutton.  She still couldn't believe there was really a baby in there.  Sliding under the blankets, a little stiff from never having been used but still soft, Kagome slowly allowed herself to relax.  Inuyasha's return from the bathroom made her tense again, however, as he stood in a simple pair of sweats she'd given him years ago.  His bare chest and face lightly glowed in the moonlight from the window and the young miko found her breath had left her.  When his nostrils flared faintly, Kagome realized he was probably very aware of what seeing him like this did to her and she blushed, finally turning away and hiding her face under the sheet.  Could this be any more embarrassing? she wondered as she felt the other half of the futon become occupied.  

Inuyasha squirmed around for a few moments before he seemingly got comfortable.  He not only smelled Kagome's nervousness in the air but the faint scent of her excitement.  That she was even slightly attracted to him made him feel better, but her anxiety far outweighed her attraction at the moment.  “Goodnight,” he heard her whisper.  He grunted something similar and tried to ignore how close she was.  It was just so tempting to reach out and touch her, try to hold her... something!  Nearly half an hour later they were both still wide awake and trying to hide it.  Inuyasha sighed and rolled over to find Kagome facing him.  He blinked a few times, startled to see her staring straight at him.  “I...”

“Can't sleep either?”

“No,” she laughed softly.  Chewing her lip, she appeared to be contemplating something.  “Do you think...  It's kind of weird.  Could you touch me?”  The inuhanyou’s eyebrows shot straight up into his bangs, golden eyes wide in shock.  “On my stomach!” Kagome hissed, flushing as she realized what she'd said.  Unsure how to react, Inuyasha pulled himself up on one elbow and stared down at her.  “I just... I started to remember stuff the last time, and I thought maybe, if I knew more, then I wouldn't be so worried.”  While the logic made sense, in a weird way, Inuyasha was frightened by the prospect that touching her at all would lead him into deeper temptation.  “Please?”

She heard him sigh roughly.  “Alright, wench.”  She smiled at him in gratitude, peeling back the sheet so she could lie on her back.  Again, she heard Inuyasha expel a rough breath.  She lay there for a few moments in the silence, unsure if he actually intended to follow through.  She didn't entirely understand his hesitation but when he did finally touch her his hand was trembling.  Nothing happened.  Kagome frowned and tried to concentrate on the memories she'd had before.  Still nothing.  “Kagome?”  She shook her head.  After a moment she lifted her hands to the hem of her t-shirt, pushing it up to sit just under her bra and pulling Inuyasha's hand back down onto her bared stomach this time.  They remained that way for several minutes, neither one saying a word.

Her skin was so smooth.  He supposed he'd always known that, but it was amazing to really feel it for himself.  The muscles of her stomach quivered slightly under his fingertips and he found himself gently moving them to calm her.  It seemed to have much the opposite affect, Kagome's eyes flicking to his when her whole body twitched.  The soft scent of her arousal curled in his nose again.  About to do something more, Inuyasha was shocked when her eyes seemed to glaze over like they had the day before and her breathing came in soft pants.  

What startled him more was finding himself drawn into his own memories and yet not.  Heavy breathing, the slide of fabric over heated skin as his lips trailed over the soft flesh of his mate.  She gasped his name, her fingers digging into his hair to surround his ears.  He felt it as though he were there.  Kagome sighed and squirmed, seeking more from him, touching him like he'd never been touched before.  And it felt good, really good.  Without much patience he removed the rest of their clothing, straining at the bit of his own self-control.  Kagome's soft pleas didn't help any and Inuyasha felt the situation spiral into passionate oblivion far faster than he had anticipated.  

A soft cry of his name brought him into another memory, again not really one of his own, and he stared down at the dying face of his love.  His breathing quickened in fear and he reached out to her.  Instead of her chest, where a gaping wound bled, he found the jewel in his grasp.  As soon as he touched it, the memory faded and he was in a more familiar place.  Midoriko stood in front of him, cradling a small clear globe to her chest.  At first, he'd thought it was the Shikon.  Kagome lay on a pedestal on his left, the Kagome he now realized was not the same one who he knew, but still his Kagome.  Her Inuyasha had already been transferred to his reality and the Inuyasha who was actually the father of the child now resting in Midoriko's hands was dead.  His memories and feelings roiled under his thoughts, a part of him and yet someone else entirely.  It was up to him now.  

He tried to ask the ancient priestess why but she only smiled and whispered a blessing as she gently pushed the globe of light into Kagome's abdomen.  Her scent suddenly flared in his nose, the fact that she was pregnant very clear.  He couldn't be sure if he was happy about the turn of events but knew that a primal instinct, along with the alternate version of himself, made him purr with pride that his mate was pupped.

A sudden gasp turned his head to the right, another memory that was definitely not his own changing the landscape.  “But how could you do this to us, to me?  We're... I'm not ready for a child.”

“It is for the very sake of the world that you must take on this burden, Kagome.  You are a strong miko, much stronger than your counterparts, and the hanyou who is to be the father of your child is more openly compassionate and caring than you know.  He will make an excellent mate and he is more than strong enough to protect you and your future family.”

“But he's not my Inuyasha!”

Midoriko chuckled.  “They are all your Inuyasha, child.  It is simply a matter of accepting the love he has for you, accepting the love in his soul.”

“That's why he's not my Inuyasha.  Inuyasha doesn't... doesn't love me.”  Kagome's voice trailed into a whisper at the last, her head tucking down.

Midoriko stared at the young woman in front of her for quite some time.  “If you truly believe that, why do you love him so completely?  If he did not love you in some capacity, do you think I would force this child upon you?  The goal is the purity of the wish for the Shikon no Tama.  There is nothing so pure as the love a parent has for their child.  Yet the combined love the two of you share and that which you will have for your child is what will truly promise the end of the Shikon no Tama and free our world from the strife its existence causes.”  Kagome couldn't seem to argue with that but Inuyasha could see the doubt in her face.  “Trust in me Kagome.  You will come to love this man as much and more than you have ever loved him in the past.  Trust in him and the love that he will try so hard not to show you.”  She nodded and the memory faded completely.

His vision was filled with a red tinge, a dark palace surrounding him.  He heard two women calling to him, one demanding he give himself over to his beast and the other calling him back.  He followed the second, more familiar voice before realizing it was Kagome.  She was crying for him even as his claws dug into her shoulders.  “Please, Inuyasha, I love you just the way you are.  Come back,” she whispered.  And then her lips were on his and he felt his soul pulse in response to her kiss.  He wanted to return to her, wanted to be with her more than anything.  The red faded from his vision and his claws retracted from her flesh, his eyes closing and his lips responding to hers.  That too faded.

Inuyasha was left staring down at Kagome who was gasping for breath.  Sweat trickled from her temples and her whole body seemed flushed.  His hands rested on her waist, his knees bracing him up between her thighs.  She stared up at him, equally confused, but unable to keep herself from running her fingers through his hair.  He closed his eyes a moment, relishing the soft touch.

“In...Inuyasha?”

He breathed out a growl at the sound of her husky voice.  “It's alright, Kagome,” he whispered.  “I've got you.”  He lowered himself slowly, wrapping his arms around her and holding her to his chest.  He had... hurt her.  He didn't remember doing that.  The entire event felt foreign to him, as though it were lived by someone else.  The other Inuyasha... Her Inuyasha?  Yet he felt that he'd always known she loved him.  Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt the repeated brush of something, some memory he was sure he should recall and couldn't.  She nuzzled her face against his collarbone, breathing out a deep sigh, distracting him from his thoughts.  Their bare skin stuck together with sweat where they touched.  “Kagome.”

“I'm ok,” she murmured.  “I'm sorry I made you do that.”  He frowned, pulling away.  “I didn't mean for you to have to remember all that with me.”  Inuyasha shook his head softly, lowering his mouth to hers.  She accepted his kiss eagerly, responding by using the tip of her tongue to investigate his lips.  Inuyasha hadn't been anticipating that and gasped slightly, opening himself to her questing tongue.  She smiled against his mouth before pushing further into the kiss.  The motion of her moving against him made Inuyasha gasp, pressing himself against her.  “Inuyasha,” she breathed softly, making it clear that it had a similar effect on her as well.

Phantom memories brushed along the edge of Inuyasha's consciousness, the memory of their first time together in another reality, the moment he'd known she was truly his.  Shaking his head to dislodge the thought, he focused on the woman below him and the scent of her arousal in the air.  That hadn't been him, nor had it been her.  They were both alive and well and they had never...  He laughed faintly, nuzzling the soft spot just under her ear.  "I've never even seen you naked," he whispered, almost more to himself than to her.  Kagome stiffened and Inuyasha lifted his head to look down at her.  Her eyes were curious and still heated, her pupils wide in the dark.  "I have these memories of the other me, the one that died with the other you.  Our first time together," he murmured, nibbling her chin thoughtfully.  Kagome's eyes closed as though she too was remembering what he did.  "But I realized I've never even seen you in less than this."
"Sure you have, lots of times," she muttered, laughing a little.  He frowned.  He hadn't.  Not that he could remember anyway.  He had seen the Kagome of his reality a scant handful of times and they were generally in dire circumstances when he didn't get to enjoy it and she was still mostly covered.  The only time he'd peeped on her without her knowing had been the first week he knew her, and she'd sat him off a cliff when she noticed him...  Apparently his counterpart had seen this Kagome far more often.  The jealousy was a vicious thing and he struggled not to nip Kagome's shoulder too hard when he tried to distract himself from his thoughts with her body.  She gasped, arching her back slightly, bringing her hips up against him.  "Inu... Inuyasha," she breathed.  

The sound tickled his ears and reminded him none too subtly that his counterpart had never been with Kagome like this before and most of his jealousy vanished.  Laving his tongue over where his teeth had been, he was glad not to taste any blood as he'd feared he'd bitten too hard.  The woman below him was breathing heavily, gasping out to him as her fingertips roamed his back in needy uncertainty.  She wanted something from him, she just didn't seem to know what it was yet.

A creak made him sit up, his whole body rigid with alertness instead of anticipation.  "What?" Kagome whispered.  His ears swiveled to the room next door and he sighed deeply.  Her eyes drifted to the wall where he was staring and she flushed red, finally remembering that Shippo could likely hear everything that was going on in their room.  She pulled her hands away from Inuyasha's shoulders to cover her cheeks, closing her eyes and trying to breathe out her embarrassment.  Inuyasha sank onto the futon beside her, also struggling to calm himself down.  "Maybe I should have stayed at Kaede-obaachan's," she murmured into her hands.  He grinned a little.

"Then I would have been grouchy in the morning."

Kagome frowned.  "Inuyasha, you're always cranky in the morning."

"Hey!"  Kagome chuckled softly, reaching over to pat him lightly on the chest.  The pair had switched sides in their excitement and didn't notice until they both curled into their new pillows, the scent of the other tickling one nose and wrapping securely around the other.  "Kagome?"

"Hmm?" murmured the young woman, now almost asleep.

Another hesitation.  "Would you mind if I...  well you know, I don't want you catching a cold or whatever."  Kagome blinked sleepily, looking at the wall across from where she lay.  She felt him move slightly closer to her turned back, the warmth of his body lulling her even closer to sleep.  When the tentative weight of his arm rested on her side she couldn't help smiling, pushing herself further back into his chest.  She felt him release a sigh, his breath ruffling her hair.  This... this was nice.  The soft rhythm of his breathing, the warmth of his skin and the gentle rumbling sound he made in his chest that he didn't know she could hear, all combined into a kind of lullaby that helped Kagome go right to sleep.


I want to thank those of you who have added this story to their alerts or reviewed.  I appreciate the time taken to read and give a signal that you are enjoying the story.  I feel that a lot of people have stopped taking even that small amount of time and expending that small amount of effort.  I'm just as guilty, so I intend to change that in the future.  If you enjoy a story, at least let the author know it!  Thanks again guys!
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