InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 4: Justification ❯ Justification ( Chapter 109 )

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

Bellaniece stretched languorously and slowly opened her eyes to gaze at her mate.  "Are you sure it's perfectly safe for us to be having sex this late in my pregnancy, Dr. Izayoi?" she drawled, lovingly rubbing her swollen belly.

Kichiro rolled onto his side, his eyes bright as he slowly reached out and tweaked one of her darkened nipples.  Some women's bodies reacted to the extra hormones created during pregnancy in the deepening of pigmentation in certain areas.  Bellaniece was one of those women.  "It's fine, princess, but if it's too much for you . . ."

She pulled his hair.  "I married you because you put out," she informed him with an impish smile.

"That's the only reason?"

Bellaniece giggled.  "Nope . . . you also worship me."

His hand trailed down to her belly.  "I just finished worshipping you," he countered.

Brow furrowing, she bit her lip and heaved a loud sigh.  "So you wouldn't worship me twice in a row?"

He grinned.  "Well, I wouldn't want to wear you out . . ."

Bellaniece curled up beside him, her cheek resting on his chest.  "Daddy said he's finished with the nursery."

She heard Kichiro snort and tried not to smile.  "I could have painted it," he remarked.

She sighed.  "Sure, you could have, but Daddy wanted to, and you have to admit, the mural is lovely."

Kichiro snorted again.  Sure, it was lovely.  Cain had outdone himself.  Painting the entire room to resemble a fairy's paradise, the detail in the work was extraordinary.  As loathe as he was to admit as much, it was obvious to him that the work was a labor of love for Bellaniece, and that was the real reason that Kichiro had humbled himself enough to ask—nicely—if Cain would paint it.  Cain, on the other hand, hadn't been above making Kichiro grovel just a little.  Kichiro smiled.  Gin had caught him giving Kichiro a hard time, and she'd taken the tai-youkai to task over it, much to Kichiro's undisguised amusement.

"What'd he think of the statue?"

Bellaniece cuddled closer and smiled.  "He was surprised . . . He said he hadn't realized I'd ever have wanted it."

"That's stupid.  She was your mother."

"Yes, but when I was younger, there was a painting of her . . . It was an early one he'd done . . . Daddy sold it long before I was born . . . but he found out that the person who'd bought it had died, and that the portrait was being auctioned at the estate sale.  He asked me if I wanted it, and at the time . . ." she trailed off with a somewhat sad little laugh.  "At the time, I didn't think I did.  I didn't want the reminder."

"So that's why he didn't just give it to you."

"I don't know.  Maybe.  Then again, he told me what he'd done with the proceeds from it.  The additions to the art department at the university . . . I think they're worth it."

"Keh."

She giggled as she craned her neck back to look at him.  "He thought the statue looked good in the nursery.  It's amazing, the changes that your sister has brought about in him.  I've never seen him so . . . content . . ."

"Good, but I'd rather not be spending the night, talking about your father, Belle-chan."

"Oh?  I beg your pardon, then."

"As well you should," he agreed, kissing the tip of her nose.

"You know, lover," Bellaniece began, her husky tone drawing him out of his reverie.

"Hmm?"

"I'm hungry."

He rolled his eyes.  "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Well, I am eating for two," she pointed out.

"Hundred, maybe," he muttered under his breath.

She sat up and smacked him in the face with a pillow.  "Need I remind you that if I'm eating for two hundred, then they're your two hundred, not to mention how scary that'd be . . .?"

He pushed the pillow off his face and grinned unrepentantly.  "So we could populate a third world country; is that what you're saying?"

She rubbed her belly again.  "I love being pregnant, Kichiro."

"I love seeing you pregnant, Belle-chan."

"Barefoot and pregnant . . ." she mused.

He stood up and leaned down to kiss Bellaniece's cheek.  "What do you want to eat?"

Bellaniece grinned.  "Fried chicken."

Kichiro groaned, catching sight of the clock beside the bed.  "Fried chicken?  At two a.m.?"

Her grin widened, and she blinked innocently.  "I adore you, my lover."

He reached for his pants and tugged them on.  "Yeah, yeah . . . You'd better hope that place is open."

She giggled.

There was only one restaurant in Tokyo that made fried chicken the way Bellaniece was accustomed to.  Sierra had told her about it shortly after Bellaniece had announced her pregnancy along with her insatiable need to have what she called 'Kentucky Fried Chicken'.

A wry grin surfaced on his features as he headed for the front door, pausing briefly to grab his keys and wallet off the table behind the sofa.  She was dear to him.  He couldn't really remember a time when he didn't know her smile, her laughter.  She was everything to him, and in another four weeks, give or take, they'd have a pup of their own.  Running all over Tokyo in the middle of the night for fried chicken . . . well, he could live with the trade-off . . .

'Whatever you want, princess,' he'd promised her.  Kichiro's grin widened as he slipped out the front door into the late August evening.  The stars were hidden.

It was a promise that he'd be happy to keep.


"Cain?  Are you awake?"

Cain sighed and slowly opened his eyes, only to find Gin hovering over him.  "Hmm?  You okay?" he asked, sitting up quickly as he blinked to clear his sleep-clouded vision.

Gin grimaced.  "Yes, fine . . ."

He nodded and flopped back on the bed.  "Good."

Groaning as she tried to scoot closer despite the roundness of her belly that hindered her movement, Gin smiled as Cain rubbed the mark on her back with deft fingers.  "Your back hurt?"

"No," she replied slowly.  He frowned at her and shook his head.  "Well, maybe a little.  Not too much."

"Just another few weeks, baby girl," he promised, managing a little smile but unable to hide the hint of worry that he just couldn't help but feel.

"I'll be fine," she said, and he grimaced.  He hadn't really wanted her to see that.  She wiggled around so that she could kiss his chin.  "I told you, Zelig-sensei, you can't get rid of me that easily.

"Good."

Gin giggled softly as Cain rubbed her belly with his free hand.  "I'm not Buddha," she complained, wrinkling her nose as he shot he rolled his eyes.

"You're much cuter than Buddha," he informed her.

Her giggle escalated into soft laughter: little silver bells . . .

Cain's smile widened.  "Okay, so suppose you tell me why you're still awake?"

She sighed, ears flattening slightly as her expression shifted into a scowl.  "Well . . ."

"Yes?"

"I'm hungry."

"You're . . . hungry."

She nodded, ears flattening a little more.  "Y-Yes," she admitted.

"Okay," he agreed, kissing her forehead before carefully scooting toward the side of the bed.  "You want another tuna-junk sandwich?"

Gin pressed her lips together into a thin little line and quickly shook her head.

Hiding a grin behind a meticulously placed cough, Cain nodded slowly and crossed his arms over his chest.  "All right, then what do you want?"

She sat up, folding her hands together and resting them atop her belly.  "Do you remember earlier, when the girls were over?"

Cain nodded again.

She scrunched up her shoulders, her ears cautiously popping up a little bit but not completely.  "Belle was talking about fried chicken . . ."

"And you want some now?"

She jerked her head in a curt nod.

"You're such a little piggy," he teased as he pulled on a rumpled pair of khaki slacks.

"That wasn't very nice," she pouted.

Cain relented with a chuckle.  "I'm glad you're eating.  I just wish you'd do it before we go to bed."

"But I wasn't hungry then; I'm hungry now!" she whined.

"Okay, okay . . ."

Her ears flattened again.  "I don't need it," she muttered.

"It's all right, baby girl," he assured her.  "I swear, I don't mind at all."

"You shouldn't say things you don't mean," she pointed out with a little sniffle.

Cain tugged a shirt over his head and wandered over to kiss Gin's forehead.  "I'm sorry, it was thoughtless of me, I love you, and I swear I'll never do it again."

She blinked then shook her head at Cain's use of her baka cousin and brothers' ridiculous saying.  That Cain sounded completely insincere didn't help, either.  She pushed against his chest to shove him back.  "I can't believe you said that to me!"

He chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose.  "I'll be back, baby girl."

"With my chicken?"

He nodded.  "With your chicken."

She patted her belly.  "Sebastian thanks you."

Cain shook his head, stopping long enough to stare at her; to engrave the image of her in the billowing white nightgown with her stomach huge with their pup into his mind so that he would never forget how she looked at that moment.  She hummed a song softly under her breath, smiling as she ran her hands over her belly, bonding with her unborn child.

'Three more weeks,' he thought with a grimace.  'Just three more weeks . . .'

Striding through the silent house, Cain jammed his hands into his pockets and brushed aside the nagging doubts that were never far away.  'She'll be fine, right?  She'll be . . . just fine.'

'Of course she will.  She's strong.'

'Strong . . . right . . .'

It seemed like such a long time ago, the day he'd first met her.  It seemed like a lifetime ago.  Gin had changed him, hadn't she?  She'd taught him that sometimes things just happened, whether he expected them or not. He'd been so set on living in the past, dealing with guilt that shouldn't have been his to bear, that he'd nearly lost something more precious to him than anything he'd ever known.  Gin was his reason, his sanity . . . her life, her love . . . Maybe in the end, she truly was his justification—his vindication.

So long as he could hold her close, so long as he could see her smile . . . It'd all be worth it, in the end.  Maybe having this baby with Gin . . . Maybe it would be his salvation . . .


"Fancy meeting you here."

Kichiro did a classic double-take as his brother sidled up to the counter beside him.  "What are you doing here?"

Ryomaru made a face.  "Nez wanted fried chicken."

"She isn't pregnant anymore."

"That's right . . . and since she spent the majority of that time blowing chunks, I figure that going on middle of the night fried chicken runs is the least of my worries."

"I thought Nez hated fried chicken."

Ryomaru shrugged.  "She used to . . . sort of.  Bad memories, I guess."  A quiet sort of pensiveness entered into Ryomaru's gaze.  Kichiro frowned as he stared at his twin.  It wasn't an expression he was used to seeing.  "Her mother, you know?  She was frying chicken just before she fell off that ladder and died."

Kichiro sucked in a sharp breath.  "Damn . . . I never knew . . ."

Ryomaru shrugged and cleared his throat.  "Yeah . . . anyway, maybe it just don't bother her as much anymore."

Kichiro grinned.  "She's all right."

Ryomaru grinned back.  "Hell, yes, she is."

"Oh, damn.  If I knew you two were going to be here, I'd have just had you drop some chicken off."

The twins turned to stare at their sleepy-eyed cousin.  Toga yawned, rumpled shirt untucked, hair mussed and askew—a far cry from the normally unflappable future tai-youkai.  Scratching the back of his neck, he let his head fall to the side.

"Balls, Toga.  You look like you've seen better days," Ryomaru remarked.

Toga nodded.  "Worked later than I wanted to, and Sierra was feeling a little off tonight.  Anyway, she decided that she wanted fried chicken, so I did the sensible thing."

"What's that?" Kichiro asked.

Toga grinned sheepishly.  "I said, 'yes, dear', got dressed, and drove over here."

"Did you, now?" Kichiro teased, crossing his arms over his chest as he grinned at Toga.

"Come on . . . pregnancy is old hat around our house.  We came to an understanding long ago."

Ryomaru turned around, stuffing his wallet back into his pocket again.  "What sort of understanding?"

"Oh, that's simple.  It doesn't matter if I'm going to be tai-youkai or not.  In our house, Sierra's right.  She's always right, and I do whatever she wants while she's pregnant because I value my mate … and my parts, thanks."

"And you thought I was neutered," Kichiro grumbled, rolling his eyes as he slowly shook his head.  Glancing over Toga's shoulder, he chuckled.  "Well, will you look at that . . .?"

Ryomaru and Toga both turned in time to see the next person who stepped through the door of the small American restaurant.  "You know, I think we're a little sad," Ryomaru admitted with a grimace as Cain spotted them.

"A little sad?" Toga countered.

"Speak for yourselves," Kichiro shot back.

"Only because Grabby-chan gets . . . grabby . . . when you feed her," Ryomaru grumbled.

Toga snorted.  "Kami, that's just wrong."

"So I'm not the only one sent out in the middle of the night for food?" Cain remarked as he neared the others.

"Hell, no," Ryomaru grouched.  "Hungry wenches are worse than rabid youkai."

Kichiro chuckled and shot Cain an insincere grin.  "You should have called, old man.  I'd have been happy to pick up some extra for my baby sister."

Cain's grin was just as disingenuous.  "That's fine, you ass-monkey.  I don't mind taking care of my mate."

"You'd better never," Kichiro growled.

"Oh, I won't . . . You, on the other hand . . . you'd better concentrate on keeping my daughter happy."

Kichiro chuckled.  "Count on that, Zelig."

Cain chuckled, too.  "I will."