InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Spring Rain and Thunder Storms ❯ Chapter Two: Growing Pains ( Chapter 3 )

Of Spring Rain and Thunder Storms

Chapter Three: Growing Pains

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Sango stared in utter disbelief at Kagome, “What happened out there?” she shrugged, coddling the pup closer into herself. “His mother and father were killed in the battle, Hanako, she begging me to take care of him. I couldn't turn him away, not on her death bed.” Sango frowned at the situation that was in front of her. Kagome didn't know how to take care of a dog demon pup, much less was she ready to be a mom.

She watched as Kagome let the pup nuzzle her neck, “You know he's trying to imprint his smell on you right?” Sango said carefully. Kagome raised her eyes to her friend's, “He can do whatever he wants with me at this point, he just lost his mother, and needs as much love and affection as possible.” Sango recognized the look in Kagome's eyes, and the fierce, protective stance that she had taken up just a moment ago spoke wonders to her. “What are you going to do when he eventually gets hungry?” Kagome bit her lip, and Sango narrowed her eyes slightly, “I need to talk to Kaede about that, I need to know if there's a way to induce milk lactation for him.” Sango put a hand to her mouth, gasping slightly, “Kagome, what are you saying? You're not a demon mother!” She looked at her friend, the woman who was supposed to be like her sister, with tears in her eyes, “What would you do then Sango? What in Kami's name would you like for me to do Sango? Would you let a baby starve? Would you allow my child to die? Because weather you approve or not, he's mine, He's my child and he will remain as mine till the day I die.”

Sango looked down, she knew that Kagome's conscience would never allow for the pup to go without just because it was uncommon for anyone to take in a child, much less a demon pup to be taken in by a miko and fed by her own body. Kagome tucked a black strand of onyx black hair behind her ear and then looked up towards Kaede's home. The old woman stood in the doorway with Rin and Shippo peering at the situation unfolding in front of them. Rin walked from behind the doorway to approach Kagome, “Lady Kagome…why are you holding a puppy?” she asked curiously. She smiled slightly, “Rin, this is a demon pup; he is like Shippo or Lord Sesshoumaru in his natural form.” The girl grinned and hugged the miko around her waist. “Yay! We'll have a baby around!”

The reaction startled the group, before Kagome realized that Rin was right, while it was going to be hard, this was not a bad thing, just a difficult situation. She smiled brightly back at the little girl, before bending down so Rin could look at him closely, “What's his name?” Rin asked innocently. Kagome paused; she hadn't realized that she would have to name him at this point. “Well…he doesn't have one yet, but he will soon!” she said carefully, she looked up as Shippo came close to her as well with Kaede in tow.

Shippo peered curiously at the pup before smiling, “So does this mean I have a little brother?” he asked simply. Kagome nodded, bringing a grin to his face, he jumped into the air yelling excitedly, and Rin joined him quickly after. Kaede laughed at them before coming to stand at Kagome's side; “Well, it seems we have to figure out how ye are going to feed him. Come along child, we have work to do.” she giggled and nodded at Kaede. The old miko walked back to her hut, nudging the kids in the same direction. Inuyasha ruffled her hair as he past her before heading towards his girlfriend's home. He hoped she would help tend to his wounds from the battle, he grinned just thinking about it before running off to her.

When Kagome looked at Sango who stood to her right, she realized that the tajiya was really not sure how to feel about the situation. “Sango, please just don't worry about it. I'll figure it out, everything will be alright. Right now, I need you to be supportive and help me with this.” Kagome said before biting her lip. Sango smiled and hugged Kagome, “You're right, I'm sorry, I just worry about you is all.” They both looked at the perfectly white pup in her arms before Kagome and Sango walked into Kaede's hut while Miroku went to check on their children.

The two mothers sat in front of the old miko while she was starting a very thick looking brew. She had Shippo and Rin fetch her things, which were more than happy to help out the old woman. “Kaede, how often will I have to drink this?” Kaede smiled, “Ah child, you see, once you have started giving milk, your body will naturally produce it, it just needs something to wake up that part of ye body.” Kagome nodded, understanding that, like normal wet nurses from a later time, the milk would just come naturally after a while.

After adding many herbs and spices, Kaede held a full to the brim bowl of the spicy smelling concoction. Kagome winced a little, thinking she's be able to drink it down in one gulp, but with how full it was, that was definitely not the case. She took medium sips, and after a while she realized that she was getting a little tired.

She placed the now empty bowl down on the floor of the hut before pulling back the cover of her bed make shift bed she'd been given in the corner of the hut. She placed the pup in her arms, lying on her chest while she closed her eyes. Kaede obviously knew this was a side affect and very foggily she could her explaining it to the other occupants of the hut.

As she started fading away from the waking world, Kagome felt the small pup nuzzle into her neck. The smile that rose to her face was still on her as she fell into the herb induced sleep.

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Small whimpers woke Kagome up, and as she looked at her watch and saw the time say 3:02 A.M. The fog in her brain caused her to have to try to blink away sleep. She sighed before looking down. The pup, was in a human form, and was waking up. Kagome bit her lip to keep in the squeal of delight that wanted to burst from her lips.

He was beautiful, he had chin length slightly wavy white hair with slightly purple tinted streaks throughout it, petite little features, and perfect little demon markings. She pealed the blanket off him slowly to see where he had them, like his mother he had light blue stripes on his cheeks and collar bone, but he also had them on his hips, wrists, and ankles.

He opened his little eyes and Kagome could have cried from happiness at the sight of them, he nuzzled into her chest and purred. His clear sea blue eyes twinkled at her before he reached up with one of his little hands and grabbed a lock of her hair. He stared at it in utter amazement while Kagome could barely keep her composure as she stared at him.

He looked up at her suddenly, he took one of his hands and placed it on her collar bone, and he whimpered just a little bit at the stretch so Kagome took one of her hands and slowly pushed his body up closer to her face. He smiled a toothless smile and then put his face in between her breasts. Kagome realized quickly that he was hungry when he started to nuzzle and whimper at her chest.

Biting her lip, she looked around to see that Inuyasha hadn't come back from his girlfriend's house and she chuckled slightly before looking at the pup in her arms. She reached behind her to unclasp her bra once she had down so, she sat up, laying the pup on the pillow where her head had been, before pulling a light blanket over her shoulders to keep any unwanted eyes at bay. She pulled off her top and pulled the pup to her breasts, cradling him against her chest. He immediately latched on as soon as he found his food source. Honestly, it was an odd feeling feeding the pup, but she quickly adjusted to the feeling, relaxing against the wall.

Once he had gotten his fill he unlatched and just laid his in her elbow. They stayed that way for a some time and Kagome thought he had gone back to sleep but after a while he opened his little blue eyes and reached up to her cheek before he nuzzled her again.. Kagome smiled at him and nuzzled him on his cheek before pushing some of his hair from his face. He cooed before relaxing completely against her with his fist pressed against his mouth. She reached behind her head to the small, thin blanket that she'd placed there, before pulling it to her front.

She slowly and carefully picked him up and then placed him in the center of the blanket before swaddling him up like a burrito. He cooed again slightly before reaching towards her hair as she leaned over him. Kagome placed a soft kiss on his forehead, feeling his light tug on her black locks, she looked at his face. He was peering at her, maybe just noticing that she was not the mother he remembered. He was staring at her own blue eyes, that were much darker compared to his, with a kind of look that she just couldn't place. Kagome pulled away slightly, loosening his grip on her. Kagome placed back on her bra and top before she laid him on her bed on his back before pulling her blanket over the both of them.

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Come the mid morning at around 9 in the morning, the small group of Sango, Kaede, Inuyasha, Miroku, Rin, and Shippo were staring at the new mother and child that were still sleeping. Kagome lay on her side, an arm wrapped around the small pup, and the pup lay facing her, his lips against her collar bone and they both had content looks on their faces. Their hair mingled around them and truth be told, they were quite the beautiful sight. The silver-lilac colors of the pup and dark onyx of Kagome's hair gave off a bright shine, which reflected off any form of light, like a jewel.

Kaede finally decided it was wise to wake Kagome, and shooed the group out of her hut, leaving just Kagome and the pup. The first thing Kagome did as she shook the sleep from her eyes was look down at her little pup. He was breathing slowly, but steadily, now that it was light out she could really see the purple that shown throughout his markings and hair. He was breath taking in his own way, she could imagine him in her time being a model throughout his lifetime, she giggled at the thought before sighing, and knowing there was a lot of work to be done.

She knew she had to go to her time to get supplies for the pup but she also had to explain things to her mother, and figure out if the well would work for him. She rose up carefully from the bed, before placing the covers back around him. She got dressed slowly, taking her time, before brushing her hair out, untangling the knots when she felt them. She relaxed against the wall of the hut, she had been thinking of names since Rin had mentioned it to her yesterday. There were just so many options, and she didn't want to pick one that wouldn't suit him later in life. When she heard a small mumble she walked back to the make shift bed to see a very curiously looking around pup, She giggled before picking him up and carrying him outside with her.

The group smiled at the new mother as she showed him to people and places around the village. He would giggle with her and pay apt attention to everything she did. Sango had cooed and loved on the little one along with Rin, while Shippo was a little timid of the small pup, realizing now that while he was a demon, he was definitely not big enough to play with him yet. When she was finally ready to try to go home with the pup she had Miroku hold the baby while Inuyasha and she jumped into the well, then Inuyasha came back and tried to jump down with Miroku and the baby.

Kagome had sighed in relief when it let her, Inuyasha, and the pup through. They walked into the shrine to see her mother making lunch, she gasped when she saw the pup in her arms. She ran right over and started cooing, “Oh Kagome! Whose is he? He's beautiful!” Kagome laughed before grinning sheepishly, “Well Mama, he's mine…” Her mother stopped cooing immediately and the turned to Inuyasha with spoon in her hand and smacked him on the head with it.

Kagome's mouth dropped in shock at her mother's antics, “Mama! He's not my by birth! You saw me only a few days ago!” Her mother stopped at that, peering curiously at her daughter then. She calmed almost immediately and as she started explaining, gasping and tearing up when she told of the battle and the loss of the pups parents. “Well dear, you're going to need things to take care of him; he's going to need a lot of supplies...” Kagome nodded, “I know that's why I came back, I need to get as much as I can before we go back.” Mrs. Higurashi got a thoughtful look on her face before walking into one of the back rooms in the shrine. Inuyasha grumbled before being kidnapped by Souta into playing video games. Kagome shrugged and followed her with the pup in her arms. Her mother cheered suddenly and started to pull out three or four full boxes of baby things.

“These were you and your brother's baby things. I know some of it's outdated but most of it is in pretty good shape.” There were a ton of traditional male kimonos and simple baby clothes that went all the way through to toddler years. There were bottles, pacifiers, blankets, a port-a-crib, and many, very useful things for her to bring with her. “Oh Mama, these are all so perfect, are you sure?” Her mother smiled brightly, “They were all for you anyways dear, for whenever you had a family.” Kagome hugged her mother tightly before she pulled away and kept looking through things.

Her mother came up to her side and had a thoughtful look on her face, “The only thing I think you are going to need sweetheart is diapers and formula.” Kagome bit her lip at the mention of formula, “Actually, Mama…I'm breast feeding him.” Her mother stopped then, looking at her very young daughter, “Kagome, are you sure?” she shrugged then, “I took an herb remedy that makes me be able to, so yes. I need a breast pump for if he's ever without me though.” Her mother nodded before she grinned, ran into the kitchen and grabbed her credit card with keys in hand, “Let's go get those and maybe a few little outfits and toys for the little darling.” She giggled; her mother was already in grandma mode.

The went to the baby boutiques that loved the little pup, after discussing it with her mom, they agreed that fabric diapers would be a lot better suited in the feudal era. They picked up six fabric diapers, wipes, and tons of insets for them just incase they couldn't get back to modern time for a while. The got pacifiers and little things to help soothe him till Kagome got completely adjusted. When they finally went to Babies R' Us, they found a really nice kit for on-the-go breast pumps and was perfect for what she needed it for. They ended up getting a sweet little bassinet that could raise into a full sized crib if you added on parts to it (that Kagome was leaving in the modern time until he got bigger) and a really nice sling that would help her while travelling with him. They found a good kit that had bags for at home, at a friend's, and on the go use that would hold anything they might need for the pup for long periods of time.

When they got back home, Inuyasha and Souta were looking around for food while holding wireless game controllers. You would have sworn they were brothers if it weren't for the difference in their looks, which sent Kagome and her mother into tears of laughter. The two women and Kagome's pup went into the back room where all of the baby clothes, toys, and extra things that Kagome might need were in. They started sorting through what Kagome would keep there for when she came home, and what she would take with her. They agreed that Kagome would leave the crib in the modern time because there wasn't enough room for it in Kaede's home, nor did they think it would go to much use when Kagome had the bassinet already.

They set the crib up and ended up having the old room for storage cleared out (with help from Souta and Inuyasha) and started making it into more of a nursery of sorts for the pup. Her mother expressed that she would keep putting things in there as time progressed for him; it made Kagome glad, if her mother hadn't approved of her taking in the pup, she wasn't sure what she would have done.

They agreed to stay over night, which made Kagome's mother happy, it was only at dinner that her mother finally asked what the pup's name was. Kagome sighed, she told her mother her reasoning for not yet deciding, and she seemed to understand. Her mother ended up showing her how to do things that she would have never thought of and they talked all night about what to do in certain situations, by the end of the night, Kagome had never been happier that her mother was around.

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Inuyasha was helping her bring the last of the stuff through the well when he came over the edge and grinned at her before they walked came back to Kaede's. Suddenly Inuyasha stopped walking and stared at the sky, his brother Sesshoumaru was coming near in the horizon. He came back frequently to see Rin, but Inuyasha growled low in his throat before telling her roughly to get in the hut. She stared at him confused, why did it matter if Sesshoumaru was here? Then, as Sesshoumaru landed, she realized why. He was staring at her and then at her sling. She put an arm over it before she started backing up. He was in front of her before Inuyasha could even attempt to get to her.

Kagome held her breath as he put his face right near to her collar bone and breathed in. He pulled away to look at her face before looking at the sling. “Stay away from her Sesshoumaru!” he briefly glanced at him before turning back to her. “Miko, why is there an imprint of a pup on you that is obviously not yours?” She bit her lip before pulling back the cloth on the sling showing Sesshoumaru her pup. “His mother and father passed away, and the mother left him to me on her death bed.” He narrowed his eyes before looking at the pup that laid still and quiet, sensing his new mother's fear. The pups carried markings that he didn't recognize but none that marked him as more than a little more than upper-middle class.

Sesshoumaru took a step back before looking back to the miko; she was only a slip of a girl that was obviously unsure of what she was doing as she stood in front of him. Why an inuyoukai would leave a pup in her care he could not understand. “How old is he?” she released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, “About a week, his mother died along with his father in a battle that we were in yesterday.” He had a hard time seeing the rationality that the mother of this pup would have had to give a human girl her pup. A small whimper came from the sling as Kagome turned her eyes to him; she pulled the pup out of the sling, placing him right over her collar bone. He immediately nuzzled the skin there. Sesshoumaru made a small growl in the back of his throat which made the pup tense up before turning his face to him. The pup growled back before turning back to his new mother. The inuyoukai heard him very clearly in his native tongue but he did not appreciate what he was hearing.

Kagome had watched the exchange before placing a hand on the back of her pup's head. “What is the whelp's name miko?” Sesshoumaru's voice commanded calmly over the space between them. She pursed her lips and looked at the child in her arms, he was perfect, and everything right in a child. “He doesn't have one, I haven't named him and his father never could.” She said before staring at him over the top of the pup's white and purple streaked hair.

Sesshoumaru stared hard at the duo, knowing that the pup was already starting on the process of marking her as his mother, with or without the miko's approval. He grunted before turning to go to the human village that Rin resided in. He didn't look at her once after he started that way. She sighed in relief as Inuyasha walked over to her and the pup. They started their way back to the village with all of the pup's things and entered Kaede's home. Sesshoumaru stood inside listening to Rin talk about what the older miko and Inuyasha's wench had taught her. He stared at her out of the corner of his eye when she sat down with the pup still in her arms.

Kagome could feel his eyes on her while she walked over to the pile of her things that resided in the corner of the hut. She pulled out the pieces of the bassinet, putting together the stand it would be screwed onto before pulling out the mattress that went inside the lovely make shift crib. She reached into the bag of things she brought with her, to pull out a small cushion, a baby pillow, and blanket that also went into the crib. She looked carefully at her pup, seeing him starting to doze already, but he was keeping a very close look at Sesshoumaru, which worried her.

She picked him up and immediately he nuzzled into her arm before she laid him down in the bassinet and putting the blanket over his small form. When she turned around, Sesshoumaru stood directly behind her staring at the bassinet carefully. She gasped and gripped the back of the bed as he turned to her, “He should be with you at all times, it will imprint his smell and aura more onto yours which will keep away some minor demons.” Kagome turned away from him to look at the pup, “He is just starting to, and I can feel it every time he nuzzles me. He is still in mourning over his birth mother.” The demon lord sneered at her, “Are you going to name him miko? “

She looked at him over her shoulder when he used that tone to say her title. “Sesshoumaru, do you have a problem? Is that why you are pushing this so hard?” the demon lord scoffed at her, “I just think it is interesting that you are taking your sweet time in naming him, miko. Maybe it is because you know that once you name him, he is yours, and yours alone”as he said the words, he felt her miko powers flair before she swung around to face him, “How dare you! He is my pup, and I have as much right as anyone to take my time in choosing a name!” The demon lord refused to back away from her even though his youkai was bucking under his skin when he felt the brush of the miko's powers. “You took the pup, decided to take him and to raise him, now act like his mother and name him!” he practically shouted at her. Kagome's eyes widened, she had never heard Sesshoumaru raise his voice, especially not over something like this.

She pressed herself closer to the bassinet as he took a step towards her, he leaned in close to her neck, like he had in the clearing, “You are going to have to learn quickly miko, that dealing with Inuyoukai, is not like other youkai, we fight for dominance, so learn your place.” As he ended the conversation, he walked out of the hut. Leaving Kagome trembling up against the bassinet before taking a few deep breaths and looking at the pup. Maybe he was right, the longer she held out on naming him, the more people were going to question if she could handle this.

She placed her elbows on the bassinet, leaning on it slightly, “Well my love, I guess we should start thinking of how we should go about this.” The pup cooed to her while she thought, there were so many perfect names for him, but none seemed to fit with what she thought about her new pup.

She was still thinking of names when she was breast feeding the pup, she had a blanket covering them, but when she was suddenly startled by Sesshoumaru walking back in, and Rin following in after, she didn't miss the stopping and staring from him. He almost looked shell shocked, or as shell shocked as the ice prince could get. Kagome looked him dead in the eye, “If you could name him, what would you name him Sesshoumaru?” she asked quietly, knowing only him and her pup would hear.

Sesshoumaru acted like he hadn't heard her at first, continuing listening to Rin's stories and rambles. As he stood to say his goodbyes however, he turned to her, “Koichi, I would name him Koichi.” Kagome smiled brightly at him while he walked out. She looked back at her pup that was drinking quietly, “Well darling, I think you have new name, my sweet, darling Koichi.” The pup continued to suckle, but was staring into her eyes as he slowly started to drift off to sleep.

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A/N Hey everyone! Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter needs to be finished up and then I'll post it very soon!

KOICHI - Japanese name meaning "light/shining first (child)."

The other names that were possibilities were these ones below -

Rairakku - Lilac

SORA  - "sky".

YASU - From Japanese”peaceful", "peace" or”level".

YUUKI - (yuu) "gentleness, superiority" or  (yuu) "distant, leisurely" combined with ( ki) "hope",  (ki) "radiance" or  (ki) "life".