InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ No Such Thing As Fate ❯ We'll, No Murders Yet...Yet ( Chapter 15 )

Hey everyone. I'm back and with the next installment of No such Thing as Fate.

This chapter was a pain and I'm debating if I should go back and write about those first few months between Kagome and Taishi. I don't know, maybe I will, and maybe I won't. I wrote this ahead of time so that would mean editing a lot of the story to fix things later on. When I write extra chapters that weren't in the original draft I always add stuff…it can get annoying trying to remember facts and stuff. Anyways, this chapter has not been beta-ed because I didn't feel like going through the channels necessary (No offense to any of my betas). I appreciate the reviews last chapter; I hope you people decide to review this chapter too. I just got really frustrated. I have like 150 something people adding me to their favs and half of them can't review…Oh well, just being grumpy.

ONWARD!!!

Chapter 15: Married life: We'll, No Murders Yet…Yet.

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Taishi stepped into the study glancing around warily. A breeze blew through the room. Everything was spotless and smelled of fresh linen and lemons. Taking a deep cleansing breath, he slid the door closed behind him and walked further into the room. The shelves, lined up neatly in convenient aisles, were filled to bursting with scrolls.

Taishi walked the aisles, searching, but not seeing what he wanted.

He paused at the end of the very last aisle and found the scroll he had been searching for slightly protruding from the shelf that held it. Taishi blinked in confusion but took the scroll. As a precaution, his gaze swept the shelf for anything that might cause it to suddenly fall.

He shuddered, the last time that had happened he'd been lucky enough to have a servant following him around. The poor man had taken the brunt of the blow while Taishi scampered to freedom and called for help. Currently, said servant was enjoying a sorely needed vacation on the castle grounds while he recuperated from a broken arm and leg. Taishi thought the poor man surely needed the break.

He still hadn't found anything to prove it was Kagome who'd set the trap.

His eyes did an extra sweep of the shelf and he smiled approvingly, finding the room to his liking.

Smiling brightly, even as his eyes swept the room yet again, he made his way to the pillow. He moved to sit but paused.

Staring apprehensively at the innocent looking brown cushion, he scowled and took the edge of it to look underneath.

He nodded approvingly. The last time he hadn't checked his seat, he'd found out a little too late that Kagome and her kit could make things, for lack of better words, go BOOM!. The kit provided the small joke explosion supplies, Kagome made it go boom in spectacular fashion.

He wondered if he could ask her for a simpler version, such an attack would do wonders in a war, and they would be unstoppable. Maybe she could make the explosion stronger, it obviously hadn't been meant to kill, but it left a nasty little burn.

Unfortunately, Kagome would never obey her husband's pleas to stop the nonsense…or help him in any shape, way, or form, `so long as breath was in his lungs'.

Her words, not his.

With a sigh, he sat on the pillow and cringing as his tailbone throbbed something fierce, the skin was still trying to heal and so he had to be careful.

He unrolled the scroll and sighed happily as he read the document. Taishi glanced up absently and his gaze focused on the cup of tea. He didn't think to wonder why it was there, steaming so enticingly. He immediately went back to reading.

Taishi reached absently for the cup of tea. When he tried to grab it, something sharp cut into his hand. Startled, he found himself retracting a wounded hand with lightening quickness.

Staring at the bloody extremity in shock, he didn't notice when someone sat down directly across from him.

“Oi?”

His gaze darted up at the familiar voice.

Before him, a sword was now lodged into the wood where his cup of tea had once been.

The cup was nowhere in sight, not even a shard of glass.

Taishi found himself slightly unnerved.

Having taken a seat across from him at the table was his wife. She raised an eyebrow in confusion and eyed the sword from its hilt to the table where it was lodged.

“Why are you grabbing a sword like that?” Kagome eyed him in interest as if he were some fascinating creature she had never seen before.

Taishi blinked at her from across the table his face pale. Kagome cradled her chin in her palms a smile lighting her face.

“Where the hell did you come from?” He hissed. Standing, he dusted himself off trying not to appear frightened by the woman he deemed evil incarnate.

She looked at him, her expression dry and disbelieving. “I just walked in. I knocked but you didn't answer.”

Taishi felt his heart flutter in fear. The adrenaline rush was wearing off, or it could have been that his hand was bleeding too much and his heart struggled to keep him alive. He looked to his hand before grumbling and using his sash to wrap the wound.

“What do you want?” he huffed, turning and walking to the shelf. He stuffed the scroll into a free space and turned back to Kagome.

Immediately he blinked rapidly, rubbed his eyes furiously, looked away to gather his thoughts, then looked back to Kagome once more. A sword flew gracefully up into the air, followed by another. Kagome caught one by its grip and tossed another into the air. The teacup from earlier somehow found its way into her juggling act, hot tea and all.

She watched the blades with sharp eyes. Taishi stepped back in fear, swearing he would scalp the idiot who had let her get into the armory again.

She didn't spare him a glance as she stood with surprising grace and kept juggling.

“Oh nothing, I just came to piss you off.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

Taishi nodded once, his face one of disbelief before making a quick retreat for the door. He needed to get to the healer; there was no way this was happening to him, the blood loss was causing hallucinations and he would swear the sword was poisoned. This was NOT happening.

Kagome laughed, the sound beautiful and haunting. He glanced over his shoulder at her, his expression one of confusion and fear.

“Did I scare you” she snickered, obviously having seen his reaction.

“No you wretched woman, I'm bleeding to death and your playing around,” he snarled before he could help himself.

Kagome laughed again.

“Hey Taishi-Baka”

He growled in frustration at the nickname but paused in the doorway.

“What!”

“I just- Eh? Oh hell, that's certainly not normal.”

He turned around and gasped in shock. The weapons and teacup she had been juggling were hovering in the air. Kagome looked stunned and frightened by what was happening. She laughed at the sight looking more insane than he had ever known her to look.

The teacup suddenly tipped and dropped its contents on Kagome's head. She gasped and began to melt, flailing wildly. Taishi only looked on in morbid fascination. He pointed and began to laugh hysterically. He wanted to run but his body felt like dead weight.

The swords turned and pointed sharp tips at him. They quivered in the air. Kagome's warped voice was suddenly laughing again in a rather normal manner. He blinked at the sound and looked to his wife who had reappeared in her normal form.

“You demon, why do you torture me, even in my dreams” he asked bitterly. Half of his mind halted at the comment that spilled from his own lips. Kagome was a evil little woman with fearsome powers and beauty that could attract the attention of gods but she was still a human. If he gave her the title of `demon' he would have to admit there was something not very human about her that he would never have control over her the way he wished. That simply wasn't an option; she would learn and be a good wife one day, even if he had to kick her face in.

Kagome chuckled coldly and Taishi was suddenly very aware of the projectiles hovering over her head.

“Taishi” she cooed as if speaking to an infant, “I'm part of your dreams. You suffer because you have been foul to your `wife' and you know it.”

“That has nothing to do with it, this has never happened to me before and I'm sure it's never happened to anyone else!” he screamed near hysteria. He knew she wasn't real now, his wife would never know he had snapped and so she could never hold it over his head. His pride wouldn't allow such an evil woman access to such a secret.

“You know it has everything to do with it? I told you I would kill you Taishi, you're afraid for your life. I'm here to make sure you remember that and respect powers you don't understand.”

Taishi blinked wondering if that was his mind speaking or his wife.

She was calm now. Taishi, however, was not.

“Go away you Demon Bitch!”

He was frustrated; there was nothing else he could think to call her.

Kagome chuckled, her form fading into red smoke. Taishi pressed his lips together grimly.

“That's so funny to me, you call me demon but I have your little `pets' face. You should really think about what you just said Taishi it could mean everything and nothing.”

Taishi glared at nothing a loud hum echoing in his ears as thoughts began to race.

“She's an evil little creature but she can be tamed, she is, after all, only human. You aren't her, you're my imagination,” he murmured to himself.

The voice, no longer Kagome's, laughed.

“You got it, after how long?” It was his own voice and it echoed around him strangely.

Kagome suddenly appeared before him again a hand caressing his cheek. Taishi found himself unable to move and he could only glare at her.

“That doesn't change the warning. Your consciousness is telling you you're wrong, you know very well that Kagome can be your savior, or your destruction. Of course, you don't want input from me, now do you?”

`Which `Me'?' his mind asked pathetically.

Before he could respond to her comment, Kagome grinned wildly at him. One of the swords she had been juggling, was turned awkwardly but held easily in her hand, the blade placed at his throat. His body wouldn't move to back away no matter how he struggled.

“Just think about it…”

The blade slid neatly across his throat and he gagged. Suddenly, he was falling back and Kagome's form morphed into his reflection smirking at him as he toppled backwards and kept falling.

XXXXXXXXX

Taishi gasped in panic a hand flying to his throat. There was no blood and though he breathed frantically he was thankful he could breath.

He blinked at the ceiling a long moment working to calm himself. Glancing around, he took in the sunset orange canopy around the bed he lay in, acting as privacy and shield from mosquitoes.

Thoughts and phrases swirled in his head but refused to be made sense of. When he reached for fragments of the dream, the images and words slip away, fading into nothingness.

A shifting of fabric made him glance over to his side. Quietly, he moaned at the action, his head throbbing painfully when he moved to quickly.

Kagome lay at his side facing away from him her pale naked back faced to Taishi. He assumed she was still asleep.

`I fell asleep in here? I must have a death wish, evil little thing might slit my throat' he thought grimly eyeing her sleeping form. Suddenly he longed to run a hand over those creamy shoulder blades and over unblemished skin, as should have been his right as her husband, but he wasn't willing to be severely wounded to satisfy his whim.

Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he sat up and looked for his top on the floor. He'd gotten rather used to this; he often came to missing his shirt after a night of drinking and he woke up in her bed more often than not. It would take a few days, but he would remember what had happened eventually.

With Kagome, it usually involved fighting and them both passing out from exhaustion, nothing more. The servants usually dragged them both to the bed and left them to their own devices.

He wondered how Kagome had the strength to argue with him until they were both too tired to stand, but he only shrugged the thought off. When something more did happen, she usually had a knife to his throat when he woke up, as she demanded that he get out. That served to tell him that this particular time, he hadn't done anything more than probably argue with her like a drunkard and pass out.

Taishi grabbed his shirt from the floor and shrugged it on. With a sigh, he rolled his shoulders silently wishing he could ask his `beloved' wife for a massage, but he knew better. Asking her for something so intimate, especially in those rare instances when he couldn't watch her hands, would get his throat slit. She had proven on more than one occasion that she liked to hide little weapons on herself and could do so while completely naked if need be.

“Why are you up so early you lazy bastard?”

Taishi glanced over his shoulder at his grinning wife. It wasn't a friendly smile; it was calm, cold and calculating.

Kagome sighed eyeing him.

Getting angry over his presence in her room seemed stupid, it happened too often now and it was just a waste of energy to fight with him about it.

He'd thought he could break that fiery spirit early on, make her regret her attacks and slights against her lord and husband. Kagome was having none of that. She refused to be controlled or put down by his `punishments' and scolding. If he could dish out the pain, she could return it tenfold.

Servants told him she was a sweet curious girl when she thought no one was looking. Taishi only saw the blood thirsty little creature he had repeatedly mistaken for a vengeful demon. Kagome knew he was a bit frightened of her and she used it to her advantage in every planned move she made.

Taishi refused to be controlled by a half crazy woman with too many sharp playthings he could never quite keep out of her reach. However, the constant power struggle was wearing on his nerves and she seemed to revel in it.

Now it was simply a battle of the wills. They were both taking mental notes of the score and his current standing made him sigh and rub at the bags under his eyes.

Kagome: 23

Taishi: 8

She yawned and stretched lazily as he spoke, “I know better than to sleep in around you; the cut on my throat from last time is still healing.”

There was no way in hell he was telling her he'd been dragged from his sleep by the freakiest nightmare he'd ever experienced.

He rubbed the bandages around his throat nervously as they throbbed with ghostly pain from the dream and previous wounds. Kagome gave a wide grin that was frighteningly reminiscent of her fox kit.

“I hate you Taishi-baka, I don't know why you insist on trying to win me over or even deal with me in the first place. You even had the balls to come to my bed drunk. All you have to do is stay away and I might leave you alone.”

“I think I can justify coming to you a little tipsy. I was to be married to the girl that swore to murder me,” he reasoned.

Kagome shrugged, that was on him but at least she didn't need to explain why she wasn't a virgin. Taishi thought he had been her first and she was content to let him think so. She hated him but not enough to live with the rumors telling him such a thing would cause.

“And…,”He smirked at her, “I will deal with you because of this.”

His hand shot out and rubbed the slight bulge of her stomach. Kagome's smirk quickly became a scowl. Taishi's smiled smugly. She smacked his hand away, turned over, and pulled the sheets up over her naked body.

Taishi briefly wondered why she was naked, then he thought about it and decided didn't want to know.

He instead took a lock of her mid-back length hair, silently admiring the silky locks. The servants had put something in her hair that caused it to grow like weeds. He kept forgetting to thank them for it she was beautiful but he didn't like short haired women.

Kagome's eyes narrowed.

“Besides that, you are beautiful and I plan to keep you here to raise our child.” Kagome squinted at him before rolling over and ignoring him.

“You haven't threatened me in a while.”

The first month or so had been particularly brutal. She attempted to escape a few times but despite how stupid the guards looked, they were surprisingly efficient. Taishi had ordered they beat her but that hadn't stopped her from trying again when she had healed herself. That had been the agenda for a while, escape with Shippou, get caught, have the crap beat out of her, heal herself in the dead of night when nobody could see, and repeat.

That had worked, until she'd realized she was pregnant. Accidently being kicked in the stomach wasn't and losing her baby was not logical and so she had taken to attacking Taishi in her frustration. It was rather fun and Taishi didn't have her beat because she had finally been announced as with child by the doctor. Currently she was just too tired to be bothered with the bastard and the random attacks just got boring. Oh, she enjoyed the paranoid manner in which Taishi stalked through his home in fear of her, but it wasn't worth the energy at the moment.

Kagome glanced over her shoulder at him warily, “You want me too? I actually think its fun.”

“And here, I thought you might be slowly learning to love your husband” he replied without missing a beat.

Kagome snorted, “Jackass” she huffed.

He sent a dirty glare at her back but neither of them commented more on the subject.

Taishi turned away from her slightly. Hoping to ward off a headache, he rubbed at his temple somehow managing to listen to every move Kagome made for his own safety.

He glanced back at her warily and suddenly wondered if he was a masochist. She was beautiful, befitting of her new status as his wife and then some, but she was also very very dangerous. Yet, he kept going back to her bed, despite the fact she was pregnant and her use to him was being fulfilled.

He found it strangely amusing she hated his concubines and had on occasion threatened to kill them and yet she hated the thought of being his bed partner, not that she resisted him the rare times he asked. When he had asked her about her reluctant willingness -strange as that is- to not fight with him when he would come to her room for the night, she had simply told him that if she refused he would simply force himself on her she didn't have the strength to fight.

He had been offended at first, but then he had seen her logic. He had made it clear what he thought of her, so why shouldn't she worry about her own well-being while in his home.

She had continued on to tell him that she would rather sleep with him willingly than be tied down and forced; he wasn't butt ugly or anything just the biggest asshole she had ever had the displeasure to meet. She hadn't yet reached a point where she considered it disgusting to touch him, and so, she could deal with it for a while longer having already declared she was going to run away. He had agreed with her logic, except that last bit of mad ranting he was sure was brought on by her carrying of the child, albeit reluctantly.

Her quick agreement on the matter probably had something to do with her inability to run away as sick as the child made her. Taishi's own assumptions on as to why she was suddenly agreeable made sense and he had been satisfied. Of course, she had ruined their moment of mutual understanding by bluntly telling him as long as he didn't open his mouth she could easily ignore her husband and go about her business.

It was times like those when he became truly frightened of his wife.

Kagome was not one to just blindly agree with a forced marriage, in fact, she was that person you had to marry in secret, as in without that person ever knowing, and you were to never EVER let that spouse find out about the arrangement. Despite all that, she had been strangely agreeable. Even the assassination attempts had been toned down significantly from the first month or so of her living with him. He had concluded that she was simply calming down or too tired to fight because of his son growing in her belly.

“You should really set those youkai free before they get free on their own and eat you.”

Taishi blinked rapidly then stiffened.

“That's none of your business woman,” he snapped all previous thoughts scattered by her random choice of topic.

`Besides my fears are not of being eaten by youkai anymore,' he thought bitingly as he eyed Kagome apprehensively.

She quirked an eyebrow, “You Jackass” she grumbled.

Taishi tilted his head in confusion. What kind of insult was th-

A snarl tore from Taishi's throat and he lunged across the bed at Kagome. She blinked, startled by his sudden violent mood swing, and tried to move but Taishi grabbed her hair. He held her where still despite her shout of pain and anger.

He was so tired of the shit. Of being insulted and yelled at in only a way Kagome could. She spoke using words he had never heard of and cursed at him with more colorful language than a sailor. Her main goal in life seemed to be making her husband insane. He had never been so degraded, insulted, even worse by a woman who he assumed was of ill breeding. Taishi vowed that, once the baby was born and not in need of its mother, he would never speak or associate with such a woman again.

The problem was he couldn't decide if he should just kill her or throw her in a dungeon to rot for the rest of her life.

It didn't help that he desired her like no one else before her. He had plans, oh yes he had plans, it was only a matter of patience. That in no way, however, meant he was going to sit and be insulted at every waking moment.

He was going to make sure she understood that, even if he had to brand the lesson in word across her pale back.

“You have gotten on my last nerve. Why can't you be a proper lady like everyone seems to think you are?” His voice was tight but calm.

Taishi frowned, a bit confused by his own sudden outburst of rage but he only shrugged it off, his wife was rubbing off on him, that didn't bode well for their son.

He reached up to caress her cheek and she flinched away on instinct. He touched her anyway and she glared at him, daring him to lash out and strike her.

She and her husband had gotten into nasty little fights starting from day one. When he decided to hit her, he always left a mark and a lasting memory to fuel her hatred for her husband. It was shocking and painful, and something she would never forget, but she didn't completely blame him. She had dished out her share of nasty little surprises in retaliation. She was sure he had enough bites and healing knife wounds to prove it.

“I'm a `commoner' remember husband.” She sneered.

He shoved her away, frustrated, knowing he had to be careful. She was famous for her surprise attacks when he hurt her too badly during their skirmishes. He was mildly surprised she hadn't lost her baby from the stress, but he couldn't convince her to be submissive for the child's sake and stop fighting him.

Kagome held a hand over her stomach a moment feeling the contents twist violently and she glared at her husband. She knew that feeling all too well. Swallowing bile that fought to rise from her throat, she took deep breaths waiting for her stomach to calm. The feeling began to fade as she tuned back in to Taishi's speech.

“If only the other nobles' knew the truth about you. You act the perfect lady in others presence, then you turn into a demon where I am concerned. I'm your husband you should have learned respect for your significant other, right?”

Kagome pulled a knife from god only knows where and lunged at him, her face twisted in rage. Taishi tumbled back in his attempt to dodge and bit his lip to stop the hiss of pain as wounds on his backside made themselves known. He jumped to his feet to face Kagome trying to appear unafraid. She stood on the bed looking very much the demon he had accused her of being with a dagger in hand and the bed sheet wrapped around her to preserve some bit of modesty.

“Kagome…”

“I have no respect for you because you see me as a pet to tame. I will never do what you want. You wanted a woman to challenge you mentally; well you got her and a great big bull's-eye over your heart where I will stab you one day. Now if you pull my hair again, see if I don't cut your balls off!” she shouted angrily.

“It's not my fault,” Kagome did a double take of the human lord. “You just pulled my hair jackass!”

“That's not what I meant and STOP CALLING ME THAT! I give you what every woman should want. You live in lap of luxury with money to do with as you like, instead you try to kill me, you won't even choose your own cloth for kimonos. What is wrong with you, do you know how many women would grovel at my feet for a chance to even be a concubine in my home, and yet here you are, my wife.” He cried angrily.

Kagome laughed at him and Taishi scowled.

“Now what the hell made you think I care about your money, I. Hate. You. If I wanted money, I could go home and be with my family in `the lap of luxury'.

Taishi paused and they stared at each other a moment, “…Your not a commoner?”

Kagome blinked at him startled and frowned.

Wealth in the feudal era was very different from wealth in the 21st century. Her family would be considered very well off in this time period. However, in the future they were an average family that still had struggles to overcome from time to time.

They stared at each other.

Taishi slowly broke into a grin, obviously having taken her silence as confirmation. This simply meant he wasn't married to some random little commoner Miko. She was from a wealthy clan, all the better for his child's breeding. Kagome's eyes narrowed seeing the grin.

She glared at him a moment.

“Hey jackass do you-” he snarled again and lunged at her. Kagome squealed in surprise and danced nimbly out of his reach. She jumped off the raised bed and ran for the door across the room.

He reached for her as she stopped in the open doorway. She kicked the sheets on the floor behind her and smiled grimly. Seconds before he reached the door, she shut it in his face with a delighted grin. Taishi slammed into the door with a grunt and tried to yank it open.

The wood cracked slightly when he delivered a few well-aimed blows to the door. Angrily, he realized that she was much stronger than he, and could easily hold the door closed.

“Kagome open the door you little bitch.”

“I'm going to take a bath, I'm covered in your stinky scent, thanks for making my bed stink.” She called. `Not to mention I'm so gonna puke if I have to see your face again so soon' she thought rubbing her stomach warily.

This whole situation pissed him off. She was stronger faster, and as clever as a…wolf. He couldn't control her because he couldn't think as quickly to stop her before she did things like this.

“Open the door!”

“No! Fuck off!”

Taishi silently wondered how she could be so damn fast even as her stomach got bigger with the child.

“Kagome!”

Taishi gasped and stepped back when the tip of her dagger was shoved through the door inches from his head. Releasing the handle, he stepped back. Taishi glared at the blade as if it would vanish if he stared hard enough.

Angrily, he kicked the door and almost immediately, a second blade appeared in the wood. He blinked in confusion at the second weapon.

“Where the hell did she get that?”

“Master?”

Taishi froze and glanced at the door where two samurai stood staring at him warily.

“How much of that did you see?” he asked coldly.

They didn't think to lie to him, “Since she jumped off the bed, the shouting drew us…”

Taishi groaned and walked over to the bed where he sat heavily. He ran a hand through his loose black hair.

“My lord is it true she's pregnant, she's graceful and fast like a young boy.”

Taishi nodded absently as he tried to gather his thoughts.

“She's pregnant and starting to show.” He shook his head in dismay, “Sometimes I think she's a-her eyes glow like… a demons…” Taishi glanced thoughtfully at the door.

“She may be possessed; I want a monk brought to exorcise the room and her.” Both samurai blinked seeing their master was dead serious. They nodded uncertainly, “Make sure she eats, she'll refuse sometimes and feed her share to the fox child. Make sure he gets his own food.” They nodded again as Taishi stood and walked from the room.

“Have a servant prepare my bath supplies,” he ordered leaving Kagome's room.

Minutes later Kagome peeked out of the entrance to her own small washroom. It wasn't a spring or even a full body bath but she could tidy up in there without having to race down to the baths exclusively for Taishi's family.

She shoved the door open and tightened the sheet around her body absently. She walked over to a stain on the floor and glared at the strange wet shape on her floor mat.

XXXXXXX

“What the hell is your problem?It's almost midnight. Get out!I was sleeping,” she howled angrily trying to shove the drunken man out of her room. He stumbled around and she could never get a good enough grip on him to shove him that final bit out of the room.

“No” he breathed leaning down in her face.

Kagome gagged at the overpowering smell of sake on his breath.

He was suddenly leaning over her grinning idiotically. Kagome looked to the door for help but found the guards were long gone. They usually scampered off, especially when Taishi told them in drunken stupors to go away.

The bastard didn't drink much, but when he did, he was the most annoying creature to walk the earth.

“Why not!” she snarled.

If only the baby wasn't taking all of her strength, she wouldn't have to fight with ass holes named Taishi, in fact, she would be out of the western lands and very happy wherever she chose to go with Shippou.

His grin became childish in nature as he spoke,“Cause you're beautiful and I love you” Kagome nodded absently. He had told her often the only thing he was concerned about was how pretty she wasand her childbearingability, nothing more.She strongly believed enough alcohol could make you tell anyone you love them, and so she easily ignored him.

“That's nice, now get out.” She demanded trying to shove the bigger man out of her personal space.

“Don't tell me what to do; I own you and nobody can ever have you!”

Kagome rolled her eyes. It wasn't even worth it to smack somebody as far gone as Taishi was, but she desperately wanted to stick a knife in his ribs.

“Look I'm tootired for this-“

Taishi held his stomach, “Oooh, I don't feel well”he whined like a child trying to convince his parents he was too ill to attend school.

Kagome gave a shriek when he leaned over as if in pain andpuked all over the front of her sleeping yukata.

In a fit of rage, she smackedher husbandin the head a few times, screaming obscenities in every language she knew,even as he slowly began to lean on her for support.

Kagome screamed in anger,“Get off me, you'll crush me you bastard!”

Taishi was oblivious and Kagome whimpered as she tried to push him off.

She found herself knelt in a puddle of throw-up and Taishi moaning on her shoulder about how he was going to die.

“Fucking- get off!” with a burst of strength shewas able to shove him off. He collapsed to the ground as if he were boneless. Kagome hoped up and ran for the washroom. The servants had left water in the basin and she planned to use it.

She practically ripped her sleeping yukataoff as she ran into the room and quickly began to wipe off any puke that had touched her skin.

“Why do yous hate me k`gome” Taishi moaned from the floor.

Kagome sneered at his form,“Because you're a fucking idiot.”

“Im's not, you said you're gonna kill me.”

Kagome shook her head at how irrelevant that was to the current conversation.

“Don't worry bastard I can't kill you now,” she grumbled.

She had a few reasons why she couldn't kill him, for one, he was the lord of a castle and she wanted to live if at all possible. Ifshe killed Taishi and couldn't get away,all the little one'sshe protectedwould be executed, her poor babyand kitwere just was along for the ride.She couldn't allow that, they were innocent…well for the most part. Some of the things Shippou did as pranks certainly made that claim debatable.

Another reason was her lack of strength, she was always sick and her energy `loved'the baby.Any energy she wasn't using for herself went to the child.It drained her power, leavingher near a power level to match Kaede'sand she couldn't quite figure out why.Thankfully,she had realized she was pregnant before she had run off,like an idiot,into the forest. Nonetheless,she would be the first to admit she wasn't happy with her sacrificed freedom to wander, in exchange for her baby's care and safety, along with her and Shippou's.

The third reason was rather simple, if she ran now, she wouldn't get far trying to fight off the samurai;fighting demons outside of the castle was not apleasant thought at the moment and her dangerously low energy made the task even more perilous than before.

She scampered from the bathroom hoping to quickly tug a Yukata on and go about her business.Taishi seeing her naked was the last thing she was worried about.

She paused in frontof her closet and blinked in surprise. Her closet was full of all her old clothesbut her belly prevented her from being able to fit them. The servants had told her the new clothes would be brought to her tomorrow morning.

“Oh no” Kagome moaned burying her face in cupped hands.

A loud snore tore through her thoughts. She spun around to glare at Taishi. He was out cold, on her bed -how he got there she could only guess-,and wouldn't be moved anytime soon. She walked over to the downed lord and kicked him violently in the side.

“Taishi, I swear you make it incredibly hard to not slit your throat and be done with it.” She huffed angrily.

She paused,thenscreamed when the foul smell of sake and bile met her nose, “you stink, get off my bed you bastard!” she sobbed in rage hoping up and downlike a child having a tantrum. She sunk to her knees and stared at the human lord. The guards would ignore her unless she screamed bloody murder;they were probably halfway across the castle anyway. Taishi was much toobig for her to try and drag to his room, she took pride in her strength but she wasn't willing to use that almost-non-exsistant-at-this-pointstrength like that and risk losingher baby.

After a moment of going over pros and cons, wrapped and shivering in her bed sheet. She gave a sob of frustration and bowed her head.

“You're going to make me start hating humans Taishi. Why me?”

XXXXXXXXX

Kagome glared at the wet spot, “Fucking Idiot!”

She looked at the wet spot and looked to the servant standing in the doorway.

“Have someone replace the mats and my bedding,” she grumbled. The servant bowed and vanished back into the hall.

Kagome pressed her lips together tightly.

“Why me?” she growled stalking back toward her washroom.

XXXXXX

Kagome smoothed the kimono robes over her belly examining herself in the mirror curiously. The servants stood behind her waiting until their lady was ready to move on from the mirrors so they could work on her hair. She scowled and turned to the side. She wasn't very big but she didn't like the fact that her belly was getting fat and slowly but surely it was becoming harder to move about freely. Now her belly was rather big and certainly interesting to look at, but that was about it.

Her eye twitched and she licked her lips uncertainly. She forced healing energy to her hand and rubbed it across her belly. She paused her self-examination her face blank. She didn't know if she should go put a fist through Taishi's face and run or just run away and never let any man find her again, or anybody for that matter.

Isolation was sounding excellent right at that moment.

Her eye twitched again.

“Now what am I supposed to do about this,” she pondered aloud. `I'm pregnant with no idea what to do with a kid. The little monkey is draining all my energy too and making me sick.'

Her personal servant, Mora, blinked.

“This is great milady; you will have your very own little one instead of that fox child. Milord will have his heir too. Surely you're happy to have a baby.” Kagome turned a glare on the young woman at her mention of Shippou. The servant cowered and Kagome snorted.

“Watch your mouth if you're so afraid of being punished by me,” Kagome grumbled bitterly.

Mora nodded timidly, stepping away and bowing her head submissively. Kagome looked back to the mirror.

“Back home most women don't have babies so early,” she murmured. The servants blinked at her, confused but understanding what she meant all the same time. Kagome heaved a sigh that made her belly rise and fall with the breath.

“I get in the most fucked up situations.” She tsked.

Kagome moved to sit down on her pillow when a sudden urge swept through her. She raced for the washroom and before the servants could call to her, she was puking her guts out into the chamber pot.

“Milady!” a servant rushed in to hold her hair back and another asked if there was anything they could do for her before she tried to swat at them angrily.

“Leave me alone!” she hissed before heaving up her breakfast once more.

Mora grimaced, “Could someone get milady a light snack and fetch the doctor.”

Kagome watching through blurred vision as the servants vanished from sight. The servant holding her hair managed to pull Kagome back from the chamber pot before she collapsed on it spilling its contents onto the floor.

“Come milady, let's get you to bed.” Kagome nodded blearily as the servant helped her stand. Another, she hadn't realized was there, helped her to the bed. They laid her down and wiped her face with a wet cloth.

“Milady?”

Kagome blinked at the woman who walked in with a kind smile and an armful of bottles and other containers. She was the doctor, but for the life of her, Kagome couldn't remember the women's name.

Smacking her lip's she sat up a bit.

“Umm hi”

The servant by her side didn't try to make her lay back down but instead fetched whatever sheets and pillows were available and set them up behind Kagome so she could sit up comfortably.

Kagome smiled in thanks before looking to the doctor.

“I hear you've been throwing up again?” Kagome smacked her lips again and scowled at the foul taste in her mouth.

“Milady should wash her mouth out once I've given you something for the stomach sickness.”

“I'm fine now, there's nothing in my stomach to throw up anymore” Kagome assured sarcastically.

“Milady I think you should rest more often. The stress isn't good for your baby or you.”

Kagome sighed irritably.

“I rest enough. There is nothing here to entertain myself with, and the stress is just a normal part of life now with that ass hole husband of mine.” she sneered.

The servants blinked at her language but Kagome couldn't bring herself to care. A servant returned with cut peaches and Kagome looked up eagerly.

She had been puking not a minute ago and now her stomach was ready for food again, she didn't understand but she wasn't complaining. She really didn't want to take medicine on an empty stomach anyhow.

The doctor noticed her reaction and smiled approvingly.

“Milady if you would not fight with milord it would be much easier to relax and he would be happy with you.”

Kagome rolled her eyes, reaching eagerly for the bowl of freshly cut peach slices. The servant passed her the bowl without much fuss.

“I can't do that for him or any other man. I think I would have had to stay single my whole life because obeying some idiot male blindly isn't my cup of tea.” Varying degrees of confusion flashed across their faces as they translated her language.

Kagome only chuckled to herself.

Another servant clapped and bounced energetically. “I understood what milady said,” she cried in an annoyingly shrill voice.

Kagome shot her a glance, “It's not as if I don't speak the same language as you.”

The glances they shot her said they weren't so sure about her claim but of course, they would never voice this aloud.

“Milady said she would have had to stay single because a man would hate her behavior. Our lady believes that she can't obey men because they aren't good for her.” The girl pointed out. There was silence in the room and the women each became lost in their own thoughts. Kagome stared at the servant who had attempted to translate her slang debating if she should correct the girl or not.

Suddenly all of the servants gave horrified cries as if finally digesting what was said. Kagome sputtered in laughter at their very delayed response as the women fused over her asking her if it was true.

The doctor shook her head and went back to mixing powdered medicines.

“I think if you would just listen to my advice for one day you would see the difference.”

Kagome closed her eyes. She totally didn't agree and with good reason. When she left him alone for a while, he came to start fights with her later on. All he had to do was stay out of her sight and the castle would be a peaceful place, but of course…

“Kagome”

He didn't.

Kagome roared and flung her empty bowl at the door where Taishi stood. He stepped out of the door way and let the bowl smack against the wall before moving back into the doorway with a frown.

“That's not proper behavior for a lady,” he scolded lightly his eyes taking in her form. Her richly clothed form on an expensive bed, canopy overhead to provide elegance and privacy, propped up and letting the servants tend to her, belly swollen with child, Taishi couldn't help but smile approvingly, pride in his eyes. He was the reason for her condition and soon he would have many powerful children to liven his home and one day inherit everything he owned.

“Fuck you!” she snarled before looking to the doctor.

He blinked and forcefully dragged himself from blissful daydreams of the perfect wife she would become while she let their babe suckle.

“See my point. His mere presence, the fact that he's breathing the same air as me, drives me up the wall.” She snarled. Everyone knew she was over exaggerating to get her point across but that didn't make the doctor not want to bang her head against a wall any less. Taishi frowned finding each passing moment wiped away his hopes and dreams.

“Kagome you will learn to control your anger. I'll have you executed if my son starts having angry outburst like his mother.”

Kagome smirked, “You pig. I hope it's a girl”

He sent her his darkest stare and Kagome only laughed.

Taishi turned and walked away, frustration lining his face `Is it worth it?' he pondered, his thoughts humming annoyingly like flies. `I still have time, I'll decide soon.' He shook his head.

Kagome turned the instant he was gone, and looked pleadingly to the doctor.

“Please can you somehow tell me its gender?”

“Well, from the fuss it's putting up in you and the extreme sickness I would say it's a boy” she murmured uncertainly.

Kagome blinked.

With a groan, she rolled her eyes and flopped back on the pile of sheets and pillows.

“Useless,” she grumbled.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Kagome glanced at her husband warily then to the orange clad monk. Shippou glanced wide eyed at the monk then to Kagome.

They had been having fun. It was the first time in month's Kagome had laughed carelessly at his antics.

Taishi frowned at Kagome thoughtfully. She had asked for art supplies a while ago after complaining for days on end about the doctor's orders and the lack of anything to keep her and the kit entertained, but he had never seen art like this before. There was drawing paper littered across the floor of Kagome's room. Shippou was in the middle of drawing little stick figures on his piece of paper and Kagome was drawing a sketch of her mother's face.

Taishi glanced in interest at the picture. He hadn't known she could draw.

“Kagome I thought you would be dressed by now.” He said with a disapproving frown. Kagome glanced down at the plain pink sleeping robe then back to Taishi. “I didn't feel like it, I can't go outside with Shippou today so we were going to play up here.”

Her eyes flickered to the monk standing behind Taishi. Said monk tensed when glowing blue eyes turned on him in the dimly lit room. The balcony doors usually provided much more light but it was very cloudy outside in preparation for a bad storm, it made her form seem muted in color but her eyes stood out even more. His eyes narrowed thinking Lord Taishi correct in assuming his wife was possessed, that is, until he saw her forehead.

Her long black hair was all pulled back and tied at its end. However, the hair that framed her face wasn't long enough to reach the hair tie so it simply hung in her face.

The black strands fell in her eyes again and she tucked it behind her ear again, revealing one eye to him again and the mark on her forehead. Kagome glanced at the monk.

“My lord may I be alone with her a moment, I need to gather some information.”

Taishi nodded absently and sent Shippou a glare. The kit rolled his eyes and walked from the room making sure to stick out his tounge and blow as he passed. Taishi's lip lifted in a snarl but a glare from Kagome made him reconsider calling the disrespectful child on his behavior. He turned and left Kagome and the monk to their work.

She watched as the monk leaned his staff against the wall and closed the door. After a moment of silence between them, the monk sat down across from her and they stared at each other again in silence.

She became bored rather quickly so she went back to her picture.

“Your holiness,” Kagome's eyes darted up and cut a glance at the monk who was now bowing with his head pressed to the floor. She ignored him and went back to her picture.

“Are you human?”

Kagome blinked at him.

“You sure cut to the chase. What's your name?”

The monk stared at her a long moment before making a decision

“My name is Ranam.”

Kagome nodded absently before glancing at him again “I'm a human, what made you think otherwise?” she mused aloud.

“We'll you have the mark of purity on your brow and you're a woman, a pregnant woman at that.”

Kagome shrugged non-caringly as she continued to draw. Ranam eyed her carefully.

This girl was powerful, her energy made the air hum. A normal human like Taishi could probably feel it to but he hadn't known what was going on around him. He had never been in the presence of a being like her. She was unearthly and didn't even seem to notice it.

Weren't Miko's supposed to lose their power's when they were ready to bear children, instead hers were going strong. In fact, he could practically see her power hovering over her. It seemed as if she were protecting her body with an unconscious shield, more around her belly than anywhere else. She seemed very worried about losing her baby but that was understandable. From what Lord Taishi had told him, Kagome had been having a difficult pregnancy and was very often sick and bed ridden…until she snuck off to go entertain herself.

Ranam shook his head.

“How many months are you, holiness?” Kagome blinked and grinned happily. Ranam blinked, from Taishi-sama's description she was very violent when anyone paid attention to her stomach and very protective of her baby. In fact, she had always been very violent to the lord of the castle even before she had known she was pregnant.

“I'm six months,” She said with a lovely smile.

Ranam's gaze flickered to her belly, she was rather small to be so far into her pregnancy but maybe her child would begin to grow soon. Or…the problem could lay with her baby.

“I would like to perform an exorcism over your baby; I think your child may be possessed.”

Kagome's eyes seemed to glow even brighter, “You won't come near my baby,” she said calmly.

“But you-”

Kagome frowned at him, “What makes you think I can't take care of my own problems, I have my spiritual abilities while most Mikos would have their powers weakened or stripped from them completely.”

Kagome brushed her hair behind her ears again, no sense in hiding the mark now.

“Kagome-sama your baby may be dying from demon influence.”

Kagome's lips twitched in annoyance.

“If I was worried I would have gone for help on my own,” she sighed.

He caught a flash of something hanging around her neck and blinked seeing pink light `What was that?'

“Kagome-sama pleases this-”

She was in his face in the blink of an eye on her knees staring at him intensely, mere inches from his face. Kagome smiled at him showing a glimpse of her human canines. He took a sharp intake of breath and looked into her eyes. They looked rather normal except for the color.

Her breath was hot on his face and smelled sweet as if she had been eating cakes before he had come to see her.

“If you hurt my baby, I'll kill you,” she whispered.

“What? But-”

“Get out,” she said softly.

He swallowed nodding slowly. He got up and went to the door moving slowly as if going to fast would set her off. Once outside the door, he closed it and took a few breaths to gather his thoughts. He looked at the guard standing at the door.

“I need to speak to Lord Taishi”

XXXXXX

“My lord do you know what you have done?”

Taishi narrowed his eyes at Ranam. The monk was being respectful but his voice was tight as if he wanted to yell.

“No I don't please elaborate” he sneered.

Ranam took a moment to think before continuing. “My lord do you know what that mark on milady's forehead is?”

Taishi tossed a scroll aside and continued to go through his paperwork in a bored manner. There was silence; he took a moment to glance at the older man before rubbing his chin.

“She told me it was a mole that appeared a while ago.”

Ranam frowned, “So, you didn't know? My lord that mark on her forehead is proof of her purity. The gods favor her. I'm surprised you haven't felt their wrath.”

Taishi froze glancing at Ranam, he had no reason not believe the monk but the way he explained and spoke to those above him would have gotten him killed had he been speaking to any other ruler.

“She's been lying to you. She seems to be hiding something and is content to use you to achieve this. She's afraid of being found, but from what, I can't tell and it may very well get someone killed. She's put a protective barrier around herself and her baby to suppress her presence and it's been up for a long time judging by the hum and residue in the air around her.”

Taishi snorted, “I know she is hiding something from me, that's why she is constantly watched. It is the guard's job to protect her so if she wants to hide herself, let her. She's been here a while and hasn't done much else that would alarm me more than her usual violent tendencies.”

Ranam swallowed a improper comment, “her…kind,” he took a shaky breath, “is not to be trifled with. They are not toys to do with as you like.”

Taishi sent Ranam a hard stare for his lack of tact while dealing with royalty. He would have the idiot punished but he didn't have time to search for another monk.

“She is not a toy, she is my wife. I am not stupid. I saw early on that treating her as property was not the way to handle her,” Ranam sighed in relief thinking his lord had come to a reasonable solution, until Taishi continued, “challenging her for dominance is the way to gain obedience. If she wants to be treated like a demon bitch, I can oblige. She will be a proper and dutiful wife soon enough” Ranam's eyes widened in surprise. Finally, he dropped his chin and sighed deeply.

“Did you at least do your job?” Taishi sneered.

Ranam swallowed debating who was scarier, Taishi's wife, or Lord Taishi himself.

“No, she would have killed me” he admitted quietly.

“She threatens to kill everyone. You can't be afraid, she wouldn't really kill but she'll badly hurt you and make you wish you were dead” Taishi waved the monks concerns off with a hand.

“My lord.”

Taishi glanced at Ranam.

“She thought I wanted to kill her child.” There was a tense silence.

“Well you're here to save the child, why didn't you simply explain yourself!” Taishi snapped angrily.

“I just told you,” Ranam ground out angrily, “I don't think she cares, She would have killed me. She moved so fast…to show me what she could do when threatened. I didn't even have time to blink before she was mere inches from my face, staring me in the eyes.” Ranam trailed off a bit as memories of that few scant seconds danced through his thoughts.

“She seems to think there is nothing wrong with her baby. She's a powerful miko, I don't think I could make her do a ceremony to ward off evil either.” The two men stared at each other even as they became lost in their thoughts. “Restraining her might hurt her and the child would be lost.”

“Then you are useless.”

Ranam blinked at his lord but continued.

“There was no demonic presence that I could sense from her so you shouldn't have to worry very much, only extremely powerful youkai would be able to hide completely, and besides milady is very powerful also, she could purge any evil on a whim.” Ranam paused hesitantly in his ramblings. He knew Taishi still wanted the exorcism done, but Ranam wasn't willing to face the gods to make this one lord happy. There was nothing he could do, but that wouldn't stop Taishi from trying.

“My lord what will you do then?”

Taishi turned away dismissively and Ranam caught the hint. There was nothing that could be done. Kagome was just that dangerous to trifle with, all they could do was leave her and hope things turned out well. Ranam bowed and exited the room, satisfied his master had listened to his advice even a little bit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I hope that was to everyone's liking. Remember it hasn't been beta-ed and I hadn't considered writing about that first few months between them. I hope I filled in some of that gap with hefty paragraphs this chapter.

I beg of you! please Review.