InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon a Time ❯ The Parting of the Ways ( Chapter 33 )

Disclaimer: I still don’t own Inu & Co., but they’re on my Christmas list for next year.

33. The Parting of the Ways  

Inuyasha came instantly awake as Kagome leaped from the bed and ran from the room. She leaned over the porch railing as her stomach emptied itself.

“Are you all right?” The soft voice behind her was concerned. Even though he could detect no hint of illness in her scent, he had reason to worry. He had long suspected that there was a reason why hanyou’s like himself were scarcer than expected given the apparent frequency of relations between the two races. Maybe, he thought, they were just too different to breed successfully together. It was, he decided, possible that the pup they both wanted so badly could endanger his mate’s life.

She took the cup of water he held and rinsed the vile taste from her mouth. “I’m okay. Believe it or not, this is normal under the circumstances. It should disappear within a few months.”

He didn’t want to mention the source of his unease. “Isn’t there anything you can do about it?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll ask Kaede-baachan later on. Now,” she said, “Let’s go back inside--it’s way too early to be up.” She closed her eyes briefly, fighting down another wave of nausea.

Another brief trip to the railing and she turned back to him, smiling shakily. “This is embarrassing. With all the fighting, all those times people were hurt, all those times you were hurt, I could always manage to keep enough control so I wouldn’t be sick. But now--”

“I can tell you why.” At the girl’s raised eyebrows, he continued, leading her back inside, “You would probably have been sick with a vengeance every one of those times--those battlefields are more suited to a wild thing like me than somebody with your kind of gentle spirit. I think that the reason you weren’t is because other people needed you to be strong so you could take care of them.” He stretched out on the bed, an arm around her, absently stroking her hair with his free hand. “My mother was like that--it’s one of the few memories I have of her.”

Kagome sent a silent prayer of thanks to the long-dead woman who had given her this most precious of gifts. “I really wish I could have met her, but I think I know what you mean. My mother is like that, too--remember how we were worried that she would go ballistic when she found out about us? But then, all she actually cared about was my hurt leg.”

That reminded him of something that had been bothering him a little. “Why didn’t you tell her? About the pup, I mean.”

She shook her head. “I know it sounds a little silly, but I don’t want anybody in the village to know until I can find a way to ease the relations a little--things have been a little tense in that area, and I don’t think that this will make it any easier for them.”

He used his other arm to pull her closer. “Kagome,” he whispered, “There will always be some who will look for any chance to turn against us, even in this village.” He sighed. “I know there aren’t a lot of them, but if they talk long enough and loud enough they can eventually get others to listen.”

She smiled up at him. “Exactly. That’s why I have to try. I figure it’ll be a while before it becomes obvious, and I can probably cover it up for a while with heavier winter clothes. Kaede will have to know, but I can trust her to keep the secret. These are our neighbors--I don’t want any trouble with them over anything, especially this.”

He gave her a sad smile. “It’ll never be easy for us, will it?”

Her expression was somewhat more hopeful than his own. “Nothing worthwhile ever is. Does that mean we shouldn’t make the effort?”

He thought of their long months of travel, the endless fighting against humans, youkai, and Naraku himself, the pain of countless misunderstandings due to his pride and indecision. Then he thought of all that he had gained by it: the friends he had made along the way, the acceptance he had gained in both worlds, the mate he had never hoped to find, a new position of responsibility and authority, and now the prospect of a family of his own to cherish and teach.

As he considered the overwhelmingly good things that had come of their trials so far, that faint smile broadened into a legitimate grin. “Hell, no,” he said, crushing her to him. They stayed like that for a timeless moment, until he released her and pulled the light cover up over them. “Now,” he growled, “Go to sleep. I’ll take you to Kaede’s once I’m sure the old hag is up.”

She burrowed closer to him, craving his warmth despite the first hints of what was likely to become another oppressively humid day. Closing her eyes, she sighed happily--her life couldn’t possibly get any better than this.

The old woman looked at the girl before her without the slightest trace of surprise. When the two had come to her earlier in the day to request something to treat occasional nausea she had known instantly what the cause of the symptoms was--she had, after all, attended every mother-to-be in the village for decades.

Before anything else, however, she had shooed the hanyou from her home with instructions to not return before sunset. “Now,” she said, “Tell me what’s going on.”

“You remember how sick he seemed a couple of weeks ago? That was all my fault.” She explained that he was able to sense the different phases of her fertility cycle, and had sent her to her own world to wait for her fertile time to pass. Unfortunately, the absence of his mate at such a time was what had caused the hanyou’s illness. She had, she said, sensed his pain from the other side of the well, and had returned home to try to help him.

She spoke of her horrible worry that he might die, and how she had almost forced herself on him in an attempt to end his suffering. With lowered eyes and a burning face she explained that she was neither ashamed nor unhappy about the consequences of that action. She was, she said, thrilled that they were able to create something so wonderful.

The old miko sat silently, watching the girl before her for any sign that she might be lying about any of this. Satisfied that she wasn’t just saying that she was happy about the situation because she thought that that was what she was supposed to feel, the woman nodded slowly. “First of all, we need to get you something to help settle your stomach. You’re in good enough health generally, so I don’t anticipate any problems later on, but we’ll want to use something as mild as possible right now.” As she spoke, the old healer was busily grinding a combination of herbs into a fine powder. “I’ll show you how to make this later on. All you need do is make this into a tea. Drink just a little of it--no more than a swallow or two--when your stomach starts to feel queasy, and close your eyes for a minute or two. It should clear things right up.”

The girl looked up suddenly. “Can you do something for me?” At the older woman’s silent nod, she continued, “I don’t want anybody else to know about this yet. Things are just too unsettled in the village.”

Clearly understanding the implications of what she had discovered, the old miko nodded slowly. “What about your friends?”

“I know. They deserve to know, but I don’t want to take a chance on this getting out to the rest of the village yet. After all, this only happened a couple of weeks ago--I’ll have plenty of time to tell everybody once this mess with that bunch from the village is straightened out.”

The hanyou smirked as he raced away from the village: the old woman had given him the perfect opportunity to go through the well for the day. Although the woman was already a significant part of the conspiracy, he hadn’t expected that she would be quite so helpful in getting him out of the area without Kagome knowing.