InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sesshoumaru's Baby ❯ Chapter Two: Say What? ( Chapter 2 )

 

 

Sesshoumaru's Baby

 

Two: Say What?

 

Inu-Yasha's ear twitched. He knew the others were watching him speculatively as they sat around Kaede's hearth, waiting for the old miko to return from the screened-off next door room where Sesshoumaru was resting. He could see the tension in their faces: Sango's mouth was set in a grim line as she stirred a pot of rice over the fire, and Miroku kept sneaking inquisitive glances at him. Shippo was giving him the miniature death-glare he'd adopted when he brought his brother there in the first place. Kagome, however, didn't seem to have much of an opinion. She looked slightly happy, even.

 

“What's up with you, bitch?” Inu-Yasha said irritably, nudging her with his shoulder when she smiled and ruffled Shippo's hair. “What the hell are you being so cheerful about all of a sudden?”

 

“Oh, nothing,” she assured him chirpily. “I'm just glad to see you two have finally gotten over your differences, that's all. Is it a truce now?”

 

Inu-Yasha bit back the urge to laugh insanely and betray himself totally. “No,” he growled. “It's none of your business. It's my family, not yours.”

 

“Why would you bring him here if you weren't getting on?” asked Miroku.

 

“Shut up monk.”

 

Sango lifted her eyes and looked at him, a dark glitter in her stare that reminded him of the time when Miroku had disappeared off during her exorcism of the rats in the village, when he got his wind tunnel slashed by a mantis masquerading as a princess. The look she and Kagome had given the wayward priest when he got back was exactly like that.

 

“What's your problem?” he grouched.

 

“Nothing,” Sango replied evenly. “I'm still working it out.”

 

About to ask her what the hell she was on about, the door to the other room slid open and Kaede walked in, brushing her hands together. She walked to where Sango was sitting and checked on the rice. “Put some of those herbs in it now,” she instructed the demon slayer, and sat down. “Make sure you stir it accordingly every now and then.”

 

“Well?” Inu-Yasha said.

 

The old priestess looked at him studiedly for a while, and then asked, “So, how long has that been going on?”

 

Inu-Yasha hesitated. “How long has what been going on?”

 

“Most young men that go slipping off nights usually go to young women, Inu-Yasha, I can't for the life of me fathom why you've been sleeping with your half-brother.”

 

Kagome choked; Miroku dropped his staff. It hit the ground with a soft jangle as everyone stared at the hanyou with wide eyes. “What!” said Sango. “Am I hearing this right?”

 

“Have you been following me or something?” Inu-Yasha spluttered.

 

There was a short silence, then Miroku gagged. “Inu-Yasha, that is more disgusting than your preferring dead girls.”

 

“I do not prefer dead girls!”

 

“No,” said Sango, who couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, “but you prefer your brother?”

 

Inu-Yasha coloured to the same shade as his fire-rat robe, and wished the ground would swallow him up, or Naraku would burst in, or this would all turn out to be a dream…or Sesshoumaru would get his ass in here and deny the whole thing. You know, plausible deniability and all that.

 

“Nothing's happening. She's talking shit.”

 

“Inu-Yasha, you just admitted it in front of everybody,” Miroku pointed out. “You said, `have you been following me or something?' You didn't deny the charge, you just made the case stronger. We all know what that implied.”

 

“It's rubbish!” Inu-Yasha snarled. “Look, hag, what the hell is up with him anyway? Why the fuck isn't he on his way right now?”

 

Kaede took a sip of tea she'd brewed from twigs and leaves, like most poor people did, and smiled back at the enraged hanyou. “I don't think that's a good idea, Inu-Yasha,” she said. “He is not fit for journeying anywhere. It's a rare case, certainly - I'll have to research the circumstances, it's very unusual. But you can't chuck both of them out now.”

 

Sango frowned. “What do you mean, both of them? Who else?”

 

Kaede took another sip of tea. “The baby, of course.”

 

The shell-shocked look on Inu-Yasha's face was priceless. They were silent for a long moment; long enough for Inu-Yasha's flattened ears to pick up the slight sound of Sesshoumaru turning over in his sleep behind the screen.

 

“What baby?” Shippo said finally.

 

“Inu-Yasha's baby, of course,” Kaede said calmly, as if she discussed male pregnancies every day. “Lord Sesshoumaru is going to have his child.”

 

Miroku burst out laughing.

 

Frowning, the old priestess hushed him with a wave of her hand. “What is so amusing, monk? I fail to see humour in the situation.”

 

“With all due respect, Lady Kaede, Sesshoumaru-sama is a man,” he said between giggles. “Men can't get pregnant and have babies. It's impossible.”

 

“Under ordinary circumstances, yes. I might point out I have been a midwife for forty years, lord monk, I know what to look for. He displays all the classic signs of pregnancy.”

 

“He doesn't look pregnant,” Sango pointed out.

 

“I believe he is about three or four weeks gone,” Kaede replied. “He won't show for a month or two.”

 

Inu-Yasha, having been quiet for a while, lost his temper completely. “He can't be pregnant!” he shouted angrily. “Where's he supposed to have the baby from?”