InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Oops ❯ The Six Words You Knew Where Coming ( Chapter 22 )

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any characters there in.

A/N: Some strange stuff is covered here, mostly reactions to the "ask Rini" call, and other reviews.

Chapter 22: The Six Words You Knew Were Coming

(Day 55)

Rini lead InuYasha through the door and down a long hall, she stopped him when they reached Kagome's room. She listened at the door, another thick wooden one.

"InuYasha," she said quietly after a moment, "tell her."

"…What?" InuYasha didn't bother to lower his voice, "Is this were you have Kagome?"

"I know," Rini ignored him, "you inu's think actions speak louder then words, and that's true, but they can be just as confusing. Are you sure that Kagome is getting the right message? The state she is in, at this time of your relationship, she needs to hear it at least once."

InuYasha gave her a sour look.

Rini gave him a stern glare and whispered, "Just do it." She reached for the door and pushed it open, "And don't get too friendly in here. No mating for a few days."

"But you said…" InuYasha frowned into the dark room. A dark blue light filtered in from the window on the far wall.

"Later." Rini grinned, "Right now they're both too delicate. Just… be with her. We'll finish our talk later."

InuYasha entered the room and Rini closed the door behind him, "Kagome?" He asked softly as he crept toward the broad high bed near the middle of the cozy room. In the bed a small lump under the covers shifted, "Kagome? You asleep?"

"Inu…yasha…" The lump mumbled. Kagome drew the covers from over her head and sat up. Her hair was rumpled and her face showed signs of recent tears, "...Hi," She looked around herself uncertainly, she could see a slight glimmer of InuYasha's eyes reflecting the paltry moonlight.

InuYasha walked to the edge of the bed and knelt, "You look awful."

Kagome scowled in his general direction, "InuYasha…" she warned.

He looked from Kagome to the bed to the closed door and back, "Can I...?"

Kagome blinked blindly at him, "What?"

InuYasha scowled, "Move over." He ordered.

Kagome scooted over and curled on her side, facing away from InuYasha. She didn't want to see him right now, she just didn't feel up to it. She had told Rini more then she had wanted to about her situation, and it unnerved her how much Rini seemed to have inferred. The thing was, she didn't feel any better about her relationship with InuYasha, if anything, she felt worse.

Now she felt more alone, inadiquite, and … raw. She was too tired to deal with anything right now, and it was making her, well, bitchy. She felt InuYasha's wait distort the bed, "You remembered to remove your armor?"

"Keh." InuYasha replied. Kagome wouldn't let him in a bed while he wore his armor, she said it was dirty. He wasn't about to get into that argument again, espeacialy since he was fresh from a battle.

Once he was under the covers he pulled Kagome against his chest, and rested his head on hers, his mouth near her ear. He could smell old tears on her skin and feel tension in her body.

"Are you ok?" He asked softly.

Kagome shrugged, "The baby's fine. Rini said so." she said sadly.

InuYasha frowned, this didn't sound like Kagome, "Rini told me about the baby, I asked about you."

Kagome frowned, if he would just shut up she would be able to get some sleep and wake up like nothing happened, "I'm alive, isn't that all that matters?"

An unreasonable anger took hold when InuYasha realized what was behind Kagome's strange behavior.

"I didn't think you were that stupid. Damn it! Rini was right." InuYasha growled and turned her on her back so he could see her face, "I can't believe I have to tell you something that should be obvious…. I love you, you stupid bitch!"

Kagome lay there, looking up into InuYasha's glowing eyes, shocked into silence. She had never expected to hear those words form InuYasha. When she finally managed to speak, she heard what she said at the same time he did.

"What about Kikyo?" she whimpered. Then she winced slightly, couldn't she just accept what he said? Why did she have to complicate things? Why couldn't she just be happy that he admitted that much?

"Kikyo…" InuYasha's mind froze, this was complicated, he didn't understand everything about their relationship, he wasn't even sure what Kagome was asking, "Kikyo…"

Suddenly InuYasha's eyes stared off into the distance and his ears perked up, "The feelings I had for Kikyo are nothing compared to the feelings I have for you." He said in a hushed whisper, "Before I met you, I couldn't imagine that love could be so deep, so fulfilling, so positive. Or that feeling this way would lift me up, make me feel happy with the way I am, and make me want to be a better person. Kikyo is nothing compared to you, in my heart."

His eyes refocused on hers and his face became determined, "I chose you, Kagome."

Kagome smiled brilliantly, "InuYasha… I love you too." She leaned up and kissed him lightly on the mouth, "Now be quiet, I'm trying to sleep." She curled against him curtly, feeling lighter then she had for years.

InuYasha stayed as he was for a few moments after Kagome settled, amazed at how easily she had accepted it. He grinned, settling down in the bed and holding Kagome close to him, "Keh." He said affectionately.

*

"Sterile?" Rini put a finger to her mouth in thought. Rini and Sango were in Kagome's room late the next morning. The sun managed to thrust a few sharp rays through the thick canopy above the house and light the room, "Well, I am a bit surprised that he managed to breed with a human… but there are many stories of families descended from magical creatures, and you mustn't forget about his magical side."

Sango was blushing from her seat on Kagome's bed, she had had some questions from the night before and they had lead into strange territory, "Oh, of course…. I do have one more question, this has been on my mind for sometime…" her blush deepened, "Kagome, I mean, most miko's are inexperienced. But…"

"Miko powers are not solely based on purity." Rini saved her finishing the thought, "or else dark miko's wouldn't exist…. However,… Didn't you discuss this with your monk?"

"He's not my monk!" Sango practically jumped from her seat on Kagome's bed.

Rini waved off the reaction, "Remember, physical purity is not the only form of purity, nor is it necessarily based on virginity, though there is a change. There is purity of the mind and purity of the heart, the amount of power a person wields is a separate issue. And whither or not that power is "holy" is based on the purity of that persons mind and heart and spirit, the physical body has little to do with it, so long as it's healthy. Not too mention that there are different kinds of purity, just as there are different kinds of innocents.

"That being said, it is said by some that Miko's loose their powers after taking a mate because taking care of one man takes more energy than seeing to the spiritual well being of a whole village, but more think it is a voluntary dampening of their powers in order to live a normal life. Miko's are doomed to interesting lives and tend to end up in the middle of things."

"Why did you say holy like that?" Kagome asked from her piles of pillows, "Sort of sarcastically?"

"Did I?" Rini grinned sheepishly, "Well, I am tired of being considered an unholy thing just because I'm not a god, just because I have youki. Some youkai are in the service of gods or mankind, and they have youki like the rest of us. Do you know why Miko power is considered holy?"

"Because miko's have purity?" Kagome answered hesitantly when Rini didn't go on.

"No, well, yes, but that's not all." Rini stuttered slightly over the point, "A miko's purification works by neutralizing energy, making it more like the earths energy, basically removing any foreign energy from the object or place being purified. Human energy is… of the earth, youki is not. The same power that destroys a youkai can therefore invigorate a human and aid in their healing. Theoretically an adept miko could manipulate their energy in order to aid in the healing of a youkai, or the empowering of an object with what ever kind of energy they wanted."

"Wait," Kagome and Sango said at the same time. Sango nodded for Kagome to speak first, "Miko energy is a skill, it's not part of me?"

"Sort of." Rini leaned back slightly, thinking about this, "from my talks with my neighbor monk I have come to see this is not as most think. Miko's, natural mikos, have an unusual amount of energy available to them and the instinct to use it. They also tend to have an unusual … amount, of innocence or purity, they want to make the world a better place. Or else they don't become miko's, they go into the dark arts."

"But… why doesn't that affect the baby?" Kagome put her hands over her abdomen protectively.

"Because…" Rini shook her head, "miko energy is human energy, manipulated…. And you really wanted to have InuYasha's baby. Kagome, there is no other reason that his seed wasn't purified the next time you were startled."

"So it's always been me…." Kagome looked into her lap softly.

"Is that why youkai disintegrate when they are purified?" Sango took her turn, "because they are more energy than physical and once the youki is changed, nothing is holding them together?"

"Yes." Rini nodded solemnly. "Now if that's all…" she waited for a reply and looked between the two young women, when none came she clapped her hands decisively and stated, "Let's talk about sex!"

Kagome looked up from her lap, startled.

"How far have you gotten?" Rini asked in all seriousness.

"Um… huh?" Kagome responded.

"Well how much do you know?" Rini tried again, when Kagome remained silent she continued, "Do you know about foreplay?"

Sango jumped to her feet, "I think I'll go find the others." And she quickly left the room.

Kagome bit her lip and shook her head slightly, a dark blush creeping to her cheeks, "I think InuYasha knows something but we don't, much… not since we were first married. I was shy."

"And now you're not?" Rini prodded gently then returned to a more flippant tone, "Young couples don't always bother with that nor need it right away, though I wouldn't have thought you so wanton." She chided in a friendly manner.

"Um, I uh…." Kagome's blush deepened, "InuYasha bites." She murmured quickly in a manner of defense.

"And you respond to that?" Rini asked, Kagome nodded shyly, "Good. Are you this shy with InuYasha?"

"I don't think so." Kagome thought, she thought she was very open and able to talk to InuYasha very well about mating.

"Has he tasted you?"

Kagome had a coughing fit.

"Is that a no?" Rini smiled knowingly, she had known a few shrine maidens that had entered married life late, later then Kagome in fact and all of them were very innocent of marital activities. This act in particular was difficult to talk about because humans seemed to change their attitudes about it every hundred years or so.

Kagome shook her head as she recovered, "No we don't, I mean… I've never felt comfortable with… him, below a-a-a point."

"It's alright Kagome." Rini smiled encouragingly, she decided to drag this out to give Kagome a chance to recover, "You told me how uncertain you were about him, perhaps your instincts are better attuned to his then you know."

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, her color fading slightly closer to normal.

"Youkai of InuYasha's level find that act a show of love and trust." Rini explained, "Youkai females can be vindictive and as most body parts will grow back after a few hundred years…"

"They'll bite it off?" Kagome asked wide eyed.

Rini nodded, "Inus in particular treasure this, and only perform it with their mates. It shows absolute trust and submission. That's not to be confused with real submission, rather putting yourself at the mercy of your mate, it acknowledges your mate's worthiness of you."

"InuYasha, h-he…" Kagome gasped.

"I doubt he thinks you think him unworthy." Rini assured her gently, "You have sacrificed too much to bare his child. But… it would mean a lot to him if you would trust him more. Why haven't you gone, how did you say it? below a point? Could it be that you didn't trust your position with your mate? You are an unusual human Kagome, you demand the love and respect of your mate or you can't rest in your relationship. I think you will find that once you feel more secure you will relax in regards to mating."

"I'll see to lunch now. You try to take a nap." Rini stood up and walked to the door, "Remind me to finish this talk later."

"Ok." Kagome snuggled down into the pillows until she was laying down, "Oh, Rini, I wanted to thank you."

"You haven't gotten my bill yet." Rini grinned, "It's my job."

"No, I mean, for telling InuYasha what to say." Kagome clarified, "It was nice."

"I'm not sure…." Rini gave Kagome her best confused look.

"Those weren't InuYasha's words." Kagome smiled weakly, "He doesn't talk like that. It's Ok though, when he said he loved me, that was him, and that's what really matters. That stuff about Kikyo… InuYasha doesn't like to lie. He may make promises he can't keep, but he thinks he can. But he doesn't flat out lie, they may have been your words. But InuYasha let them come through his mouth. And I'll believe them. So thank you for finding him the words I needed to hear."

*

InuYasha wandered along the side of the odd house and away from the small thinning of trees that passed for a clearing in this dense wood, where Miroku and the neighbor monk chatted about how surprising youkai companions could be. Besides being bored, he had felt a warning from his henti meter when the old monk started to relate his first encounter with his neighbor Rini, when he had been much younger.

"InuYasha!" the monk jogged slightly to reach him.

InuYasha turned and waited for the monk to caught up to him.

"I've been meaning to talk to you." the monk huffed, he may have been in good shape but it had been a while since he had to run after anyone.

"If it's about that summer you met Rini, forget it." InuYasha turned away distastefully.

"No, well, that did remind me about what I wanted to say." The monk sighed sadly, "You assumed much about my relationship with Rini."

"Am I wrong?" InuYasha turned back to face him.

"Not entirely." The monk gave him a weak smile, "But that summer was a long time ago. It did remind me about something Rini wanted me to talk to you about though. Come."

The monk led InuYasha back to the bench in the tiny garden where Miroku was still sitting.

"I want to talk to you about mating." The monk stated when InuYasha was seated.

InuYasha stood up, "What? I'm not going to-"

"Relax," the monk waved his hands in a dismissive manner, "I'm to talk to you about the spiritual effects of mating, not the physical stuff."

InuYasha sat down again hesitantly.

"Despite what Rini said last night, you must be careful about when you choose to mate." The monk rubbed his chin in thought, "How to go about this…. Picture your energy, your aura, as a clear pond. Under that pond is a thick layer of loose muck, that's not necessarily a part of you, or bad for the pond, but everything you do, every person you meet, sends ripples across the pond and stirs up the muck a little bit. Big things, like fighting, mating other magical rites stirs up the muck a lot. And before you can use your energy again you've got to calm the muck down and clear the water.

"For a normal human that doesn't matter as much as it does for Kagome, as a holy person that uses her power in defense, or you as a being of energy."

"So?" InuYasha scowled, "Kagome can't use her powers now anyway."

"The baby will not be inside her forever InuYasha." The monk shook his head, "Eventually she will be able to use her energy again. And I did mention that you will need to keep your own pond clear."

"How do I do that?" InuYasha asked, trying not to sound curious.

"Any number of techniques can be used … the easiest being sleeping, eating, bathing. Mundane pond rippling generally only requires mundane solutions. Meditation also works."

"Keh." InuYasha responded.

"And now the physical stuff."

*

"InuYasha," Kagome mumbled tiredly, "stop that. Rini says no."

InuYasha sighed and stilled the movement of his claws, "I can't wait to get out of this place." He grumbled to himself.

It was late into the night, well past midnight and InuYasha was wide awake. He had a lot to think about and only the night to think it over. Kagome had been alone much of the day, with long intervals in between Rini and Sango running in and out of her room in.

He heard Kagome sigh and turn on her side to face him, he had moved slightly up on the bed so she had to look up to see his face, "InuYasha… I love you right?"

He hesitated in surprise before replying, "Yeah, sure. Why?"

"And you love me?"

InuYasha frowned, "We covered that."

"Do you…trust me?" her voice was small and trembled, her face was in his shadow but he could hear the blush.

"More then anyone, ever." InuYasha replied honestly.

"So you love me and trust me… do you… do you respect me? I mean, … do you think I'm… worthy?"

"What?" InuYasha said surprised, that had taken him a little off guard.

"To be your mate." Kagome finished softly.

"Of course!" InuYasha scooted down the bed to look her straight in the face, "What's this about? You're not getting stupid ideas again are you?"

"No, I was just wondering…" Kagome blushed and lowered her eyes to look at his chin instead of his eyes, "why you've never tried to… um, taste me?"

"Taste…?" InuYasha froze when he realized what Kagome was referring to. That was one of the things that the monk had explained to him after the muddy water talk, well, he new of the impulse, the monk just backed it up. Valiantly he kept his voice normal and a vagrant blush from his face, "Rini told you about that?"

"Yes." Kagome was almost dizzy from her blush, and it mortified her. She really had thought she had progressed past such childish things as that, "and I wanted you to know that I've always thought-"

"I know." InuYasha interrupted her suddenly, "I know. You always freeze up when get around your waist, it makes sense now, since you doubted me-"

"I didn't really-" Kagome rushed to explain something she really didn't understand.

"Whatever," InuYasha brushed off the defense, "Now you know. And I'm getting closer." He grinned wolfishly, "You let me kiss you blow the navel."

"But I feel bad." Kagome ran her hand up his chest to rest on his shoulder, "You didn't tell me this was so important to you." she felt InuYasha shrug lazily, "No, I want to know, and I've realized that you do all the… preliminary stuff. It's not fair, I should do something."

"I'm just happy your there." InuYasha said in a distracted manor, his whole demeanor shifted as he realized what she was saying, "You want to do stuff to me? You're ready to let me taste you?"

"Well, I guess…" Kagome looked bashfully at him through her lashes, she couldn't see much of him but she knew he could see her well enough, "I suppose we could try…"

"Cause, it's not really ma-" InuYasha shifted next to her excitedly.

"Rini says no." Rini's stern but mirthful voice filtered through the thick wooden door.

InuYasha growled.

Kagome sighed, "Doctors orders, good night InuYasha." She gave him a quick kiss before she rolled over and pulled the blanket around her tighter.

InuYasha whimpered, Kagome had sounded almost relieved.

*

"Stop giving me that look," Rini said the next morning over breakfast, "neither of you needs to be getting worked up like that. Especially Kagome."

"How long are you going to keep us here?" InuYasha growled.

"You may leave tomorrow." Rini answered professionally, "After that it should be safe for you to resume your prescribed activities, provided that you take it easy for a few weeks."

"… You make it sound like he's sprained his arm." Miroku blinked at Rini, "That statement took all the fun out of it for me."

Rini shook her head, "I still can't believe you're all grown up and with a pup on the way!" Rini smiled at InuYasha with tears in her eyes, "It seems like such a short time ago that you were refusing to leave your mothers womb. And now you're mated to a miko." she laughed, "Tell me are you as stubborn now as you were back then?"

"Keh!"

"What do you mean Lady Rini?" Miroku asked innocently.

"First he tried to come out the wrong way," Rini turned back to the monk, "then, when we got him turned around he decided to stay put for another two weeks. I think he was pouting. All I can say is it's a good thing all hanyou's are runts or your mother would have had a hard time at the birth."

"What's that?" Shippo perked up, InuYasha had too, but for a different reason, "InuYasha's a runt?"

Rini shook her head again, "All youkai, of our type, are born small. But hanyou's have less time in the womb, generally, and because of that they are more susceptible then youkai infants to illness and sudden death. Don't take that the wrong way, physically InuYasha was perfectly formed and ready to live, but his youki was underdeveloped, and he was vulnerable on that end. But I guess his father helped him out on that end too."

Shippo didn't loose he amazed and happy smile though, "InuYasha was a runt…"

"Shut up brat!" InuYasha thumped Shippo on the head, "Listen hag, I was never a runt!"

"Stop that!" Rini admonished InuYasha for his treatment of Shippo, "You had a little piggy nose too." She added spitefully

"What do you mean youkai spend more time in the womb?" Sango asked attempting to change the subject, "I thought they gave birth quicker then humans."

"Not at all." Rini blinked at Sango, "look at it this way… how old do you thinks I am?"

"... I don't know, you look quite young." Sango answered carefully.

Rini laughed, "Well, I'm… something over 200 years old." Here the neighbor monk snorted, she frowned at him and responded, "I don't like telling humans, it sounds so old to them, anyway this will do. Over 200." She turned back to Sango. "With all those year of life, why would pregnancy only last a few months? No, I'm sorry to say that the longer your projected life is, the longer you hold you offspring. After all, making a being based on energy requires much energy, and youkai like us don't have it to spare. But we rarely take them to what humans would call "term"."

"What happened with Sesshoumaru's mother?" Shippo asked innocently, "Kagome will be ok won't she?"

Rini grimaced, "I'd rather not talk about that…. But," she sighed, "if it would make you feel better. As you know-"

InuYasha growled, "I don't care what happened then. It ain't happen' to Kagome."

"InuYasha perhaps you should entertain your mate." Rini suggested, she was tired of his cabin feverish outbursts.

"We're not allowed to do anything." InuYasha pouted, Kagome was on bed rest after all.

"Talk to her then." Rini insisted.

"I'm not supposed to upset her."

"Then don't say any thing that would upset her!"

"If I could do that she'd never be upset at me!"

"Oh for the… just go!" Rini sighed, exasperated.

"InuYasha," Miroku interjected mercifully, "I believe that Kagome has a deck of cards in her pack."

InuYasha grumbled quietly to himself, as he stood and left the room.

"Well you're no picnic either." Rini called after him before turning back to the others, "As you may know, both Sesshoumaru and his mother are poison type youkai. They have poison in their system, their blood. Sesshoumaru's mother was very powerful, but much of that power stemmed from the rare poison type she possessed. And it is a known complication that if the mother and child have different poison types one or both of them chance dieing in the birthing process. It so often happens that many times the possessor of the unusual poison decides not to bare children. But Sesshoumaru's father and mother wanted, and needed, to produce an heir. For that purpose, I was enlisted to help. Everything went well, but she had horrible nausea through out the latter months of her pregnancy, it was a bad sign. It was decided I should remain at InuYasha's father's castle for the remainder of her time.

"I was woken one night by a servant telling me the lady was ill. When I arrived, she had already progressed well into labor. Unfortunately that was not good, I had missed some important windows to see them safely through the ordeal, and worse, where InuYasha merely threatened it, Sesshoumaru was breach. It quickly became obvious that only one of them would make it through the night and it was probable that the lady would never bare another child if she did. The lord was called, but the lady chose, if only one of them would live, it would be her baby. The lord echoed her wishes… it wounded him I think, to be so heartless. But the baby was thought to be a male and if she could not produce again… I think that may have distanced him from his son.

"I did all I could to protect them." Rini swallowed sadly, "But in the end the Lady was touched by her son's poison. With the difficulty of the birth there was nothing I could do for her, the child was, of course, male and I had to attend to him first, according to the parents' wishes. By the time I returned to the mother, she was gone."

*

A/N: And now the answers I couldn't fit in the chapter!

Rini likes carrots; she prefers them in a honey sauce.

I don't know what a half-hanyou half-human would be called.

On faking youki… energy travels in waves, like sound, it has different vibrations, like sound. Some people, like mikos, can change the frequency of their energy to cancel out the frequency of other energy. Sound waves can do this too. But in changing her "frequency" Kagome has also heightened certain moods, if you call fear a mood, because the youki frequency causes those reactions in humans. Sound has the same effect, but I think it's a really low base that you can't even hear. Don't try that at home kids, I think it affects the heart.

Energy is in blood, but baby's and mothers can have completely different blood types, their blood is separate from a very early stage.

As of the end of this chapter Kagome is 58 days from conception (this number can be found under the chapter heading). That is in actual days, not the assumed date that doctors will give her because most times we don't know the exact day that conception occurred. But I do… so Kagome is exactly 2 months and 2 days pregnant. Or approximately 2 months 2 weeks and 2 days. Confused yet? Good.

The sit situation; in Japanese the order "sit!" (like you'd tell a dog), is different then other forms of sit. So Cartoon networks translation of "Sit boy!" was actually pretty good I guess.

Anyone that didn't understand the last chapters youki talk… don't worry, if it affects anything it will get recapped