InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Lucky Ones ❯ Chapter Thirty-Eight ( Chapter 38 )

The Lucky Ones

By Terri Botta

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I'm poor so don't sue.

Rating: R for later chapters.

Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome, Miroku/Sango

Summary: Sometimes Fate hands you a gift you never thought you'd ever get, and it's up to you to accept it for what it is.

Feedback to: tci100@psu.edu

A/N: Just wanted you guys to know. Some people have thought that *I* am the artist of the Lucky One's fan art. I'm *NOT.* Kristin of k r i s t i n s s t u d i o . c o m (remove spaces for URL) is the talented artist of the Lucky Ones fan art. Go see it if you haven't yet. Click Gallery, then Inuyasha.

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Thirty-Eight

Mama was awakened at 7:30 by Souta excitedly telling her to get up because they had to go over to Tokyo House before Yukio left for Osaka without him. Considering she hadn't been able to get to sleep until almost 2am, she didn't really appreciate being woken up after only 5½ hours of rest but there was nothing to be done for it. She scrambled to put on clothes, do something with her hair and find the napkin her grandson (one of her fourteen) had scribbled the security code on before Souta dragged her out of the shrine and the scant two blocks to the front entrance of the Fushikenwa's Tokyo property. The code worked and the tall gate swung silently open, and they were faced with the long, winding driveway that led back into the trees. All they could see of what appeared to be a very large house were the spires on the roof.

They were about to start walking when a small man driving a golf cart putted up to them.

"Good morning, Higurashi-san. I've been instructed to take you up to the house," the man said.

Mama bowed and smiled with relief. "Thank you."

"Whee! Can I drive?" Souta enthused as he hopped into the seat next to the driver.

"No," both the man and Mama said in unison.

Souta pouted but didn't press the issue. Mama got into the rear bench of the golf cart and the driver putted them along the tree-lined driveway to the house. The trees were so tall and so dense that they soon could not see anything of Tokyo or hear the street noise.

"It's so green and beautiful," Mama commented. "I never knew such a place still existed in Tokyo."

"Most don't and we like it that way," the driver said. "You have no idea of the kinds of barrier spells we have on this place to protect it, not to mention what we had to do to keep it from getting flattened when the Americans bombed Tokyo during the War."

His voice had changed a bit and she turned her head to see that he had altered his appearance. Instead of the small man there was now a lizard-like creature in his place wearing a polo shirt and a pair of Bermuda shorts.

'Oh my. This is going to take some getting used to,' she thought. A quick glance at Souta revealed that he was looking a little stunned too.

"What? You thought I was human?" the driver asked irritably. "Newsflash, kid. Pretty much anyone who works for a youkai family is either hanyou or youkai. Get used to it."

Souta gulped but didn't say anything.

The driver took them to the front entrance of a monstrous house that was more like a castle than anything else in its scale and grandeur. It had a wide sweeping front porch with the classic Japanese roof and a huge wooden door. They got out of the golf cart and approached the house as the driver putted off somewhere, presumably to the garage. Going up to the massive wooden door with block carvings and giant metal bolts, she moved to knock when it swung open more silently than she thought physically possible.

"Oh…"

Inuyasha stood leaning against the now open doorway, dressed in a cut-off gray muscle shirt and a pair of low riding gray sweatpants, revealing most of his flat stomach. He looked disheveled and yawned a bit as he blinked sleepily at them.

"Morning," he greeted, stepping back and allowing them to enter.

They crossed the threshold into the magnificent dwelling and hastily removed their shoes. Inuyasha, in his typical fashion, was barefoot.

"Sugoi! Sugoi!" Souta breathed, taking in the wide hallway and high ceilings.

Inuyasha just shrugged. "You should see our house in Alberta. I built that one to look like a Northwestern hunting lodge. The front great room is nine meters high."

"You built it? Did you build this house too?" Souta asked, wide-eyed.

He nodded. "I've built all the houses we've lived in. More or less. I designed them too."

"You design houses?" Mama questioned.

"Yep. It's what I do. I'm a whattdya call it… architect."

"An architect?!"

"Mmm hmm. Kinda fell into it like Kagome fell into being a doctor. The Houjou clan saw the work I did on the first house I built Kagome and wanted me to build theirs. Then other daimyos wanted houses and it went from there. I have construction crews and clients all over the world."

"That's wonderful, Inuyasha," she said, although architect was not a career she would have imagined for him.

"It's nice. I like it."

"Do you design houses for youkais?" she asked.

"Youkai, humans, hanyous. You name it. If it lives somewhere, I design it. I even designed a couple of animal habitats for zoos. Did one for Australia Zoo last year. That Crocodile Hunter guy is as crazy in person as he is on TV."

"Wow," Souta enthused.

Inuyasha led them to the huge eat-in kitchen and motioned for them to sit down.

"Yukio's already up. He'll be down in a minute. Coffee?"

"Yes, please. Thank you," Mama replied.

He went to the counter and stood in front of the cappuccino/coffee maker.

"Now if I can just figure this damn thing out. Miroku, my 'cosmopolitan' son. Whatever the hell that means. He doesn't own a simple coffee maker. No, he owns this monstrosity. Why? Because he likes all that fru-fru coffee like latte, cappuccino and chai. Wanna tell me what the hell 'chai' is? Never heard of it," he complained. "All I want is plain coffee without all that pansy-ass crap they put in it these days."

Mama giggled and went over to the machine. "Here, let me see if I can help. I've had some experience with these things, although never one quite like this."

She inspected the appliance and thought she knew how it worked. Inuyasha had the coffee already measured and in the unbleached filter, and he had the coffee carafe filled for eight cups. She experimented with a couple of levers and managed to get the top off to pour the water into the proper side for plain coffee, and pulled open an almost hidden door that revealed where the filter and grounds went. Beside her Inuyasha snorted but nodded in approval and within a few minutes the smell of fresh brewed Colombian Roast was wafting through the kitchen.

"Ahhhhhhhh," Yukio sighed as he breezed into the room dressed in jeans, a royal blue T-shirt and his riding leathers. "Coffee. Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee. What? No espresso?"

"If you want espresso go the Hell to Starbucks," Inuyasha grumbled, sipping his own coffee.

"Ooooohhh, testy. Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the den this morning?"

"You're assuming your mother let me sleep with her in the friggin' den."

Yukio hugged his father. "Awwww, poor Otou-san. Did she make you sleep on the couch again?"

Inuyasha just growled.

Her grandson turned to her and flashed her a brilliant smile. "Good morning, Mama-baachan."

"Good morning, Yukio."

"Good morning, nephew," Souta greeted.

"Ojisan!" Yukio replied, giving the teen a hug. "You ready to go?"

Souta nodded. "Yeah!"

"Okay. Let me grab a cup of coffee and we'll get going. We'll catch the 9 o'clock bullet train to Osaka."

"Yay!"

Yukio snickered and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"I think there's danishes in the breadbox," Inuyasha offered.

"Ooooo!" Yukio said, going to the breadbox and rolling back the door. "Yeah!"

He pulled out two danishes and tossed one at Souta. "Want a danish?"

The boy grabbed the pastry. "Thanks!"

"Mama-baachan, danish? We've got cheese and raspberry."

The thought of eating a sugar-laden bread roll for breakfast made her stomach turn and she declined.

"No thank you."

"Heh. Kagome won't eat them for breakfast either. I've got miso and rice if you want it," Inuyasha said.

"That would be perfect."

Inuyasha moved to the refrigerator, pulled out the miso and rice, and set them to heat in the microwave.

"Damn, I love these things. Best invention of the 20th century. When I was first here with Kagome and we were going through the well, I didn't appreciate them, but when we had to wait for them to be invented, I really missed it," he admitted.

Yukio scarfed his danish and knocked back his coffee, then grabbed another pastry from the breadbox and ate that too.

'He's got his father's sweet tooth,' she thought.

"Okay, ready," he announced.

"Me too," Souta said, finishing off his danish.

"Let's go then. We'll be back late this afternoon."

"Oi, Yukio!" Inuyasha called, halting Yukio in his tracks. "You take good care of that boy."

Yukio went over to his father and nuzzled him. "You know I will."

Then he came over to her and nuzzled her too, an odd little gesture that was part sniff and part caress with his nose. It tickled.

"I promise to bring my ojisan back safely, Mama-baachan."

"Thank you, Yukio."

He smiled, gave her an open mouthed kiss on the cheek, and then he and Souta were gone with a set of careless 'bye's tossed over their shoulders and a couple of conspiratorial whispers. She heard the front door close a few moments later.

"He will take good care of the boy," Inuyasha assured her. "He's even more family oriented than I am. He always looked after the littles when he was growing up. I was surprised when he and his mate didn't adopt and raise a brood of their own."

She blinked at him. "Yukio is married?"

Inuyasha sighed sadly. "He was. She's dead now."

"Oh."

The microwave dinged and he took out the miso and rice, offering them to her with a set of chopsticks, a spoon and a refill of her coffee.

"Thank you."

"It's no big deal," he replied, brushing it off as he put a bowl of water into the microwave to boil.

Mama watched him as he went to a cabinet and opened it. She gasped when she saw that it was literally full of different flavors of ramen noodles. He selected three packages, ripped off their plastic covers and dumped them into one large bowl. Then he poured in the boiling water from the bowl he'd put in the microwave, sprinkled the flavor packages on top and mixed the whole thing together.

Coming over to where she was sitting, he plopped down into the chair opposite her with his ramen and coffee and began eating. He paused when he saw her smiling at him, his hand to his lips and his mouth full of noodles.

"What?" he asked testily.

"You haven't changed a bit," she answered with a giggle.

He shrugged. "Keh."

"You do look a little tired though. Did Kagome really make you sleep on the couch?"

He shook his head. "It's not like that. She's… she's uncomfortable and restless. Sometimes she moves around a lot and I'm just in her way. Some nights I can get away with sleeping at the foot of the bed, but other nights she just kicks me in the face and I'm better off moving to the floor."

Mama giggled again. "Well, it isn't like you don't deserve it. Her condition is all your fault, you know," she teased.

He smiled and she knew he'd gotten her joke, then his face grew serious.

"She is having a hard time. Worse than the other times. It's funny that the doctor actually thinks that's a good thing."

"Well, if she's getting morning sickness and pressure on the bladder and all of the other things that go along with a pregnancy that means things are proceeding as normal."

He nodded. "Yeah."

"I suffered through it twice, although Souta was much worse than Kagome."

He snickered. "I keep telling Kagome the pup has to be a boy because a girl wouldn't be so much trouble."

She laughed softly, then sobered and took a sip of her coffee. "I never miscarried though."

Inuyasha looked away, his ears down and his face sad. "Kagome's had four."

"I know. She told me."

"After the third, I told her I wanted to stop. She'd carried that one almost to five months. I… I could even hear the pup's heartbeat. We really thought that one was gonna make it. Then… then it died, and… and I found Kagome in the bathroom. There was so much blood…"

Mama swallowed hard and blinked back tears as he recounted the tale. "That must have been terrible for you."

He nodded slowly. "I told her no more. I didn't need a pup. I'd had nineteen sons and fourteen daughters; twenty-nine of which made it to adulthood and twenty-seven who were still alive. I didn't need my own pup if it meant she had to go through all of that, and I couldn't stand to see her suffer anymore, but she kept begging me to try again. After we lost the fourth one, I swore no more. Then this new drug came out and she said it was helping a lot of women stay pregnant. We had one more batch of frozen embryos and I'd already told her I wasn't going to put her through the harvesting of another bunch of her eggs, so we had one more chance and she convinced me to take it."

"And are you glad you did?" Mama asked.

He blinked at her. "Are you kidding? She's made it to seven months. Even if the pup's born now as long as it's born breathing, chances are it'll live. We didn't tell anyone she was pregnant until she passed six months. Half my kids wanted to have my balls for keeping our mouths shut, but at least this way if she had lost another no one would have come for them for my 'putting her through that' a fifth time."

She heard what he wasn't saying and frowned. "Is that what some of them said to you? Did they accuse you of putting Kagome through that pain?"

Inuyasha sighed and nodded. "One of them, yeah. Miroku."

"Miroku? He's the one who lives here, right? He's an inu-hanyou like you."

He nodded again. "Yeah. My last one. He's been upset ever since Kagome and I started trying to have a pup. I don't know what his problem is, or rather I do know what his problem is but I have no idea what to do about it."

"He's concerned that a biological child will replace all of your adopted children in your eyes because it will be 'yours.' Am I right?"

Inuyasha blinked at her for a few moments then nodded. "Yeah. Exactly."

"One of my best friends in school was adopted. When her mother got pregnant, she was very worried that she would be 'replaced' by the 'natural' child. It sounds like Miroku is worried about the same thing."

Inuyasha agreed.

"Yeah. The thing is, it isn't like he doesn't have reason to believe that. His mother is one of my brother's courtiers. She was having problems with her mate so she went out and found a human to breed with when she was in heat just to piss him off. Then she said the man raped her. Luckily my brother knows when humans are lying, and he could tell that the man was telling the truth when he said that she'd come on to him and practically forced him. Inu-youkai bitches in heat can be very… aggressive.

"Sesshoumaru spared the man and refused to allow her to kill the unborn pup so her little plan to get back at her mate backfired right in her face. Instead she was told to give the pup to us when it was born. He hadn't even taken his second breath outside of the womb when she dumped him into Kagome's arms. To this day, she refuses to say his name or acknowledge him as her son in my brother's court, and she takes every opportunity she can to flaunt her three full inu-youkai pups in his face," he told her with a bitter smile.

Mama gasped. "That… that's horrible. Poor Miroku."

Inuyasha scowled. "I wanted to rend the bitch who told him who his mother was limb from limb. Then I wanted to rend her limb from limb when she slapped him away from her and told him to never tell anyone she was his mother or she would kill him. He was only seven for God-sakes! He was just a little whelp and she knocked him back clear across the fucking room."

Tears welled in Mama's eyes and she covered her mouth in horror. "The poor boy. What did you do?"

"Me? I comforted my pup and left her to my brother. We were living in Sesshoumaru's house at the time and I couldn't afford to jeopardize Kagome and the pups by starting a fight. Of course by then Sesshoumaru had mated Rin and they had a hanyou pup of their own. So by the time Sesshoumaru got through with her she almost wished I had gone after her because she and her mate lost all their standing in the court."

"Good for your brother. I would have done worse to her," she said angrily.

He paused and took a deep breath. "Miroku, though… he was never the same after that day. I… I don't think a pup can ever really recover from rejection like that," he admitted regretfully.

"Kagome and I, we did our best to make sure he knew we loved and wanted him, but he wanted her to acknowledge him and she never did. Then when we started trying to have a pup, it was like it triggered something in him. My psychologist pup, Asame, said he was 'projecting' or some such crap. He was taking all of his hatred and anger at his mother and putting it on us."

Mama nodded. "It's not unusual for kids to do that. It's almost like a test of your love for them. If you love them, then you will love them even when they hate you and hurt you."

Inuyasha rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah. Something like that. And as I said, I do understand why he feels the way he does, but he's getting worse and it's really hurting Kagome. Last night in the cab on the way back here, he asked us if we wanted his room for the nursery since we would be staying here until after the pup is born."

"His room? Why would he think that?"

"Because it's the nicest bedroom with the most natural light. It used to be Kagome's and my room when we lived here," he answered.

Mama nodded that she understood. "Ah, I see. So he thought you'd kick him out of his room and give it to the baby."

"I don't know what he was thinking. I think he was just trying to pick a fight. It didn't work, but Kagome got very upset which made the pup upset and that meant Kagome couldn't sleep because the pup kept kicking her."

She smiled at him. "Which meant she was restless and uncomfortable, and there was nothing you could do to help her. Then you ended up sleeping on the floor because she couldn't settle down."

He nodded, then frowned at his cold ramen. "Yeah, something like that."

He got up and took the bowl to the microwave to heat up the noodles. "Do you need me to warm your miso?"

She looked down at her mostly untouched soup. She'd practically ignored it during her conversation with Inuyasha. He so rarely opened up and actually talked to her that she'd completely forgotten to eat.

"No, it's still warm, but thank you."

He gave a little grunt of acknowledgement and she took the opportunity to eat as much of it as she could before he returned to the table. This time she waited until he was finished eating before she spoke again.

"So what are you going to do?" she asked.

"Do?"

"About Miroku."

He blinked. "Oh. Umm, I don't know. I'll have to talk to him at least. I can't have Kagome upset like that. It's bad for the pup and for her."

"But you know the moment you do that, he'll think you're just worried about the pup and don't care about how he feels," she pointed out.

He nodded and sighed. "I know. But what else can I do. It's a no win situation."

"Has Yukio spoken to him? Maybe he'll listen to a sibling more than a parent."

Inuyasha shook his head. "So far Yukio hasn't really been around when Miroku's been upset. He wasn't in the cab with us last night so he missed the bedroom bit, and I haven't had much of a chance to talk to him about it without Kagome around. She doesn't want us to make too much of a big deal out of it because she doesn't want the pups to fight."

"And Yukio is so protective of his mother that he would fight if he thought she was threatened," she observed.

"Exactly. But I don't think we're going to be able to avoid it. We're all staying under one roof now so it'll be harder to ignore."

"Where is Miroku now?"

"At work. He's a professor of Japanese history at Tokyo University."

Mama nodded in appreciation. "Very nice. I'm sure he's an excellent teacher."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Being as he lived through most of the time period he teaches, it's kinda easy for him. Now my civil engineer son, Takuma, his job is hard. He designs bridges and roadways for the government in Manitoba."

"A civil engineer. Impressive."

"All my pups do something. I have an actress, a couple of nurses, three doctors, a bunch of 'businessmen' which just means they deal in money, a singer, an oceanographer, a fashion designer, a pilot, a martial arts teacher, a veterinarian... I even have a daughter who's a miko. She studies and teaches shamanism in Hawaii."

Mama smiled. "It sounds like you're very proud of all of your children."

He beamed. "I am. Even the one who 'races cars' for a living."

"What does Yukio do?" she asked.

"Aside from fix engines with me? Just about anything. He has four or five degrees. Mostly he helps me run my business. He's a fair architect, but he's a better drafter. I can give him a rough sketch and he'll make the scaled drawings. He's a little more creative than me too. His designs are fancier."

"So he works with you in Canada."

He nodded. "He has for the past thirty-five years or so. Since his wife died. Before that he had his own little investment business. Rental properties and stuff like that. But after Miaka died he sold it and moved in with us."

"He came home to Mom and Dad," she mused with a soft smile.

A flicker of sadness and even a little anger crossed Inuyasha's face and Mama realized there was more to that story than he was telling.

"Yeah. He always stuck close to us, or at least he tried to."

"I remember that he was very attached to you. It doesn't look like he outgrew that."

Inuyasha shook his head. "No, he never did."

Suddenly his head came up and he sniffed, and she knew that his sharp senses had caught something.

"Excuse me," he said and left the kitchen without waiting for her answer.

'Kagome must be awake,' she mused, sipping her tepid coffee.

Sure enough Inuyasha returned a few moments later escorting a sleepy Kagome. Mama was glad she had already swallowed the coffee in her mouth otherwise she would have spit it all over the table when she laughed at what her daughter was wearing. Kagome was dressed in a dark blue terry cloth robe and a long red cotton nightgown that had a puppy face right where her swelling womb was and the words 'Big Dog To Be' in English. She also had a pair of fuzzy white dog slippers with ears, black eyes and noses on the toes.

She lost her battle with laughter and chortled for several moments.

"Morning, Mama," Kagome greeted.

"Good morning, Kagome."

Inuyasha sat his wife down at the table and Mama watched him fuss over her like a mother hen. He closed her robe and tied it with the belt, then zipped around the kitchen fetching Kagome a light breakfast of white rice, a small bowl of miso and a cup of green tea with mint. He did this all without direction or complaint, and soon Kagome was sipping her unsweetened tea and nibbling at her food.

"How are you feeling? Did you get enough sleep?" he asked as he set the meal down in front of her.

Her hand reached out to grasp his and gently squeeze.

"I'm alright. Tired and sore from all the kickboxing this kid is getting up to inside my body, but otherwise alright."

He kissed her on the cheek. "I keep telling you this pup's a boy, Kagome. Only a boy would put us through this."

"You're just saying that because you want another son."

He blinked at her and Mama saw him flatten his ears a little bit. "Have I given you any reason to believe that I want our pup to be male?" he asked softly.

She raised her eyes to him and looked a little guilty. "Don't you want a boy? A son of your own?"

"I already have fourteen sons of my own," he insisted, his voice a little harsh.

She shook her head. "That's not what I meant..."

He cut her off. "I know what you meant and don't ever let any of our pups hear you talk that way. It's bad enough with Miroku being the way he is right now. We don't need any of the others joining him."

She sighed. "That didn't come out the way I meant it to. I was trying to say that this baby will be a blood related child..."

"All of my pups are blood related to me. I've spilled my blood for them more than once. That's blood related enough for me."

She sighed again. "You aren't going to let me make my point are you?"

He crossed his arms and stared her down. "Your point makes no sense. Unless... unless you think that this pup is more important than our other pups."

She looked down at her belly and placed one hand across the rise of her womb. "No, of course not, but you have to admit that this one is different."

"Only in how he came to us. We can't ever let the pups think we love this one more."

"No, never," she agreed.

He sighed and knelt next to her, holding the hand she'd placed over her womb. "I know what you're trying to say, koi. You're thinking that because this baby was born of your body and my seed that he's somehow more special than the ones who came to us already in this world. They're all special, koi. All of them. Do you think we could have asked for so many good pups if we'd borne them all? Could we have gotten better ones? Think of Yukio, and Akihiro, and Sai. Would you have traded any of our other pups for more like the one you carry now?"

Kagome's eyes teared up and she sniffed, shaking her head. "No."

He reached up and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. "Then he, or she, will be no different than the rest, right?"

She nodded. "Right. When did you get so much older and wiser than me?"

He lifted up slightly and bent over her to kiss her on the cheek tenderly. "I was always older and wiser. You just didn't realize it until now."

She threw her napkin at him and he snickered as he skittered away, grinning wickedly.

"And who's to say I don't want a girl? Maybe I want fourteen daughters to give us an even number."

"If this baby is a girl, I'll feel sorry for her because she'll have fourteen big brothers and an over-protective father who will meet every would-be boyfriend at the door with big swords in their hands."

"Damn straight. No one comes sniffing around my girls."

"Your girls. You should listen to yourself sometime, hm?"

He smiled and put his arms around Kagome's shoulders from behind and looked over at where she was sitting, still sipping her coffee.

"What do you think, Mama? Boy or girl?" he asked, calling her 'Mama' for the first time ever.

It shocked her quite a bit actually. He'd always called her 'Kagome's mother' or 'woman' or 'Higurashi' but never 'Mama.' She took another sip of her coffee to give her a moment to compose herself.

"I think I've never been more proud of you than I am right now, and the sex of the baby isn't important as long as it's healthy, and both mother and baby come out of labor fine," she replied.

Inuyasha smiled at her. "Spoken like a true grandmother."

Mama just chuckled, then looked up in alarm when Kagome gasped with pain.

"Kagome?" both she and Inuyasha asked in unison.

"It's... it's okay. The baby just moved that's all and he's putting... pressure... on... my... back," she replied, teeth gritted in pain.

Inuyasha immediately knelt down next to her and start rubbing her abdomen.

"Is he moving, koi?" he asked.

Kagome clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut. "No... not yet. Ah!"

Inuyasha cursed and rubbed harder. "Gotta be a fucking boy. C'mon pup, come over to Otou-san and get off Okaa-san's spine."

He began to make barking noises at the unborn baby, yips and whines and a couple of growls.

"Inu... Inuyasha, he's moving!" Kagome announced with a heaving sigh.

"Heh, he came over to kick at my hands. I tell you, he's gotta be a boy, coz if this pup's a girl she isn't going to need any of us to protect her. She'll be born kicking ass."

Mama saw Kagome relax as the pain subsided, her eyes closing in relief. "Inu... thank you."

"Shhh, it's okay. I love you. I'm glad I was able to help," he said in a soft, almost hypnotic voice.

"That... that's the first time he's actually answered you, isn't it? All the other times he just moved away from your hands. This time he actually went towards you."

"Yeah."

"He responded to you," she stressed, her eyes opening and focusing on him as he stopped rubbing and stood up.

"Yeah, he did, didn't he?"

"That means he's starting to have consciousness, doesn't it?" she asked, her eyes wide with wonder. "That's just... wow. I mean, I know it happens. I've read about it, but this is the first time we've ever experienced it."

Inuyasha tenderly brushed a tendril of hair away from her face and gave her a pleased smile. "Yeah."

Kagome let out a deep breath. "Whew. That... that was pretty exciting but now I'm wiped out again."

"Finish your breakfast. I'll get your vitamins," he said, pointing to her soup and tea.

"Okay," she agreed, picking up her teacup.

Mama watched as Inuyasha brought her daughter two pills and a tall glass of water with three slices of lemon.

"Thank you," Kagome said as she took the pills with her water.

"So what are your plans for today, Kagome?" she asked.

"She's resting. Isn't she," Inuyasha answered firmly for her.

"Inuyasha thinks I overdid it too much yesterday so he wants me to rest today."

"That's probably not a bad idea."

"Feh, see your mother agrees with me."

Kagome huffed. "Fine, but I'm not spending the day in bed."

"Fine. I'll set you up on a lounge in the sunroom. You can rest there and look out at the trees and birds and other shit you like to look at."

"Do you have to go soon, Mama?"

"No dear, I can stay a while," she assured her daughter.

"See Inuyasha, Mama is going to stay with me. That means you can go do whatever you want and leave me and Mama to do mother-daughter things."

Inuyasha snorted. "Keh, I was just going to see what I can do with that wreck of a car Miroku bought, and maybe later work on the first draft for that new client in Singapore."

Kagome took another sip of her water and nodded. "That sounds good. I'm finished eating now. I think I'll go get dressed and then go lie down in the sunroom."

As her daughter stood up slowly, Inuyasha gathered the dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

"I wonder where the housekeeper is. Didn't Miroku say she comes in at 9?" Kagome asked.

"I thought that's what he said, but I haven't seen her," he responded, coming over to help her steady herself on her feet.

"Hmm, I was worried that maybe you'd screamed at her and she'd quit or something like poor Mai in Osaka."

Inuyasha snorted. "Mai just wanted the raise."

Mama stood too and waited to see what her daughter and her mate would do.

"Well, you did scream at her rather loudly, you know."

"The floors were too slippery!" he insisted.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to fall."

"You slipped in your socks and almost fell down the stairs."

"I did not."

"Did to."

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to! I saw you slip!"

"Inuyasha you saw me stumble because the baby decided to kick me in the spleen!"

"And then you slipped!"

Kagome looked up to heaven and prayed, "Oh Kami-sama, please save me from this over-bearing, over-reacting man who jumps to conclusions faster than Paris Hilton jumps into bed."

"Who's Paris Hilton?"

She sighed heavily. "Never mind."

"Feh."

"I'm going to get dressed."

"I'll help you up to the room," he offered.

Kagome put up a warning finger. "No. Mama can help me. I'll be fine."

Inuyasha lowered his ears and looked dejected, and Mama had to stop herself from giggling.

"But…"

Kagome took one look at his face and gave in. "Oh alright."

She offered him her arm and he took it, standing beside her and supporting her as she walked from the kitchen.

"Mama, go to the sunroom. It's down the hall to the left. You can't miss it. I'll be down in a few minutes," Kagome said.

Mama did as asked and made her way to the large sunroom. Her daughter was right and it was impossible to miss the large solarium full of plants. It was an obvious addition to the house, and a recent one to boot, and it looked out over the sprawling backyard with its garden and the trees beyond. The floor was made of blue-gray stone that served as a thermal mass and was tastefully furnished with a simple wrought-iron glass topped table with 4 matching chairs, and two heavily cushioned wrought-iron chaise lounges with small matching tables next to them. In one corner a little fountain bubbled noisily as it spilled its water through a series of cupped brass fern leaves.

She'd brought her refilled coffee mug with her and sat down to watch the birds feeding from the birdfeeder and taking baths in the birdbath until she heard movement behind her. Turning her head, she saw Inuyasha escorting a dressed Kagome into the room. She had put on a loose denim jumper dress, a white T-shirt and a pair of tabi socks, and had pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Inuyasha had dressed as well, and he was now in a pair of faded jeans and a black T-shirt that said 'Your village called. Their idiot is missing' in English.

"Over here, koi," Inuyasha said, ushering her over to one of the chaise lounges and helping her to lie down on it. He put extra cushions under her feet to elevate her ankles.

Kagome went willingly and Mama moved her chair to sit next to her once she was settled. Inuyasha disappeared for a few moments and returned carrying a glass of ice water (with the requisite 3 slices of lemon) and a little hand held Motorola transceiver. He had the transceiver's bright red twin clipped to his belt.

"I'll be in the garage seeing what I can do with Miroku's hunk of scrap metal. If you need me, beep me," he said, placing the glass and the transceiver on the table beside the lounge.

"Don't let Miroku hear you call his classic Aston Martin a hunk of scrap metal," she warned.

"Feh. It's a piece of crap. He should have bought the Delorean if he wanted a fixer-upper."

"James Bond doesn't drive a Delorean."

"James Bond is a womanizing asshole."

"Yeah, but Sean Connery is soooooo cute."

Inuyasha just growled jealously, making Kagome giggle and give him a little push.

"Go. Before you go all alpha-male on me. I don't want Sean Connery. He doesn't have your cute, fuzzy ears," she teased.

"Feh. Nice to know it's my ears that do it for you."

She gave him a sly smile and slapped his backside lightly as he turned away.

"It's a lot more than your ears."

"Don't tease me," he quipped back, kissing her forehead sweetly. "If you need anything…"

"I'll beep you. I promise. Now shoo. Mama-daughter time, remember?"

He sighed and acquiesced, but not before fixing Mama with a look that spoke volumes.

"Don't worry, Inuyasha, I'll take good care of her," she promised.

He nodded, gave Kagome one more kiss and a pat to his unborn child, and left her alone with her daughter. Kagome sighed with relief the moment he was gone.

"Ah, finally. A moment's peace without my Great Protector hovering over me and flipping out every time I sneeze."

Mama chuckled. "He's only looking out for you, Kagome."

"There's looking out for me and there's smothering me. He passed the point of looking out and went over to smothering a long time ago, Mama."

"Being that you've had four miscarriages and this baby is your last chance, can you blame him?"

She sighed again and rubbed her abdomen. "No. I suppose not, but it is annoying. Pregnancy is difficult enough without having to fight him on every little thing. Honestly. He's so worried about stressing me out that he doesn't realize that his worry is stressing me out."

"True. But men rarely see that side of things. All Inuyasha sees is you in discomfort and danger. He's always been viciously protective of you."

"I know. Believe me, I know."

They grew silent and Mama sipped her coffee while Kagome stared out of the sunroom, her face pensive.

"I'm scared, Mama," she finally said. "I'm so scared."

"What is it that you are so afraid of?"

Kagome placed a hand on her abdomen and looked down at the swell of her womb.

"Failure. So much is riding on this baby. If he, or she, is born alive and lives, it will be the first successful birthing of a hanyou sired child. So many others have tried and failed. So far we've gotten the closest to doing it. If we do, then we prove that hanyous can have children- at least some of them can. So many youkai bloodlines would be saved from extinction if that could be true for other hanyous. So many others have a vested interest in seeing my baby born alive. I feel terrible pressure…"

Mama covered Kagome's hand with her own. "Don't. You're doing the best you can. That is all anyone could ask for. Don't let their anxiousness make you more nervous than you already are. All you need to do is concentrate on staying healthy and bringing this baby into the world. Let everyone else worry about the rest of it."

"I can't. I pushed Inuyasha into this. He kept telling me he wanted to stop. After I miscarried the third baby almost halfway into the second trimester, I had to try that much harder to get him to agree to another attempt," she replied.

"Seeing you in pain was very hard on him."

"I know, but I wanted another baby, and I wanted it to be his baby. His and mine. I know he said that this one will be no different than the others, and in some ways he's right, but in others he's wrong. This baby is different. Not because it's more important or special than our adopted children, but because…"

"This one you carried," she finished for her.

"Exactly. I know how much it hurt him to find out that he couldn't sire pups. I wanted to give him that chance if I could."

She looked at her daughter lovingly. "I understand, Kagome, but you didn't need to prove your love for him by putting yourself through all of this danger."

"I didn't do it because I felt I had to prove anything, Mama. I know Inuyasha loves me no matter what. I did it because I really miss being a mom. It's been 215 years since I had a baby to care for."

"Kagome… children grow up and leave home. That is the way of things. The duty of a good parent is to see that her children grow strong and good, and become positive members of society," she reminded.

"Yes, but most parents aren't immortal with mortal children," Kagome answered sadly. "I know. I've buried six of my babies. Two I watched grow from infants to old people who died from their age. Even Eri, my full-youkai daughter isn't immortal. Yukio? He's getting older. I can see it in him. Eventually, he'll die too. They'll all die and Inuyasha and I will still be here. Then what will we do? Our family will be gone and it will just be him and me."

Mama had no answer for her. She had no idea what it must be like for Kagome to know she would outlive all of her children.

"The children don't know," Kagome began in a very soft voice, as if she was afraid someone might hear her. "But Inuyasha and I have made a pact. When the last of them go, we'll go too."

A shiver of cold touched her heart at what she was hearing. "Kagome do you mean…?"

Kagome nodded. "We've decided. I'm not scared. I think by then we'll be ready for death. All of those we loved will have already died. You, Jii-chan, Souta… you'll all be dust by the time Inuyasha and I are ready to go. It will be a peaceful release and Inuyasha and I will find each other in the next life. A love like ours is eternal. We've probably been together for millennia in one form or another."

"And the children don't know about this pact?" Mama said.

Kagome shook her head. "It would upset them too much. We've kept it between ourselves. You're the first person I've told since we made it after Takako's death in 1949."

"But why would you do such a thing?" she asked.

"Because the world changes and we don't. You have no idea what it's like to stay the same while everything else around you evolves almost faster than you can handle. Even now, technology is changing so fast we can barely keep up. I had to help my children through the Industrial Age but we've approached the time when my knowledge of the future has run out. I don't know what's going to happen anymore."

"None of us do, Kagome. That doesn't mean we go out and choose to die because of it," she argued.

"You don't have to. You're mortal. Time will do it for you and you won't have to worry about it. It's different with Inuyasha and me. We don't age. We don't change. We are forever preserved as we were the day Inuyasha made his wish. I've seen what happens to humans who get tired of living. Yukio's wife Miaka refused the infusions of his blood and chose to die. She left my baby an emotional wreck. He cried every day for almost ten years and I could do nothing to help him. Inu-youkai mate for life and his mate chose death over him," Kagome explained gently.

"But aren't you choosing the same thing, Kagome?"
Her daughter shook her head. "No. I'd never leave Inuyasha. When we go, we'll go together. We'll both go to sleep and not wake up. We've already decided how we're going to do it. There's a potion I can make. I know the ingredients." She looked down at her womb again. "But… if we can have babies, then we'll stay longer. As long as we have living children who need us, we'll stay. We won't go until all of them are gone. We won't leave any of our children orphaned if we can help it."

"Then I hope you will have babies," she answered honestly. No parent should be having this type of conversation with a pregnant child. Pregnancy was for the celebration of life, not death.

"Maybe. Maybe by the time this little one is grown, the technology will have advanced so much that all hanyous will be able to have babies without any trouble, and we won't have to go through the kind of hardships we've suffered again."

Mama nodded and decided to change the subject after a brief silence. "So. Inuyasha is an architect. That's a surprise."

Kagome laughed. "Isn't it? What's even more of a surprise is he's damn good at it. He has such a strong grasp of space and the use of materials. He just knows what works. His clients love him. We don't have to advertise for new projects. We get all our new clients from referrals," she answered proudly.

"He says your house in Canada looks like a… a…"

"Northwestern Hunting Lodge," Kagome supplied. "Yeah. It's incredible. It has huge beams and a towering great room. He even has two carved totem poles that support the great room roof. He made it all from stone and logs. You'll have to come stay there with us sometime. I'd love for you to see our Alberta house."

Mama nodded. "I think I would really enjoy that."

Kagome reached over and finished her water.

"Would you like another?" Mama asked, already standing.

"Actually, no. What I'd really like is a cup of coffee, but we have to be quick about it. Inuyasha doesn't want me having anything with too much caffeine. He says it makes me too hyper for the baby," she replied, rolling her eyes.

Mama giggled. "Then let's go to the kitchen and make some coffee. I could use a refill too."

Kagome reached up a hand and Mama helped her rise to her feet.

"Don't tell Inuyasha you let me walk anywhere without him," she kidded.

"I won't," Mama promised as she and Kagome made their way to the kitchen, running into the formerly missing housekeeper who happily made them a fresh pot of coffee.

They spent the majority of the day together, talking and doing mother-daughter things. Kagome showed her the room they were going to use for the nursery, and the plans that they had. It wouldn't be safe for the baby to fly until after he or she was six months old so they knew they would be staying in Tokyo for at least that long.

Mama mentioned the upcoming nuptials they had been planning the last time she had seen Kagome, before the well closed and her daughter had to wait 450 years to see her again. Kagome said she still wanted to marry Inuyasha in a Shinto ceremony, and she knew Jii-chan wanted it as well, but she wanted to put it off for a year. She felt that getting married right after having the baby was just too much for her, and she didn't want to have to worry about planning a wedding while she was pregnant. Mama was more than happy to put it off for another year because it gave her more time. Kagome also decided that she wanted to marry Inuyasha on her birthday, because that day also marked the day she had met him.

The rest of the afternoon was consumed by wedding and baby plans. Inuyasha popped his head in around lunchtime, covered in grease and grime from fighting with 'that piece of shit British car,' and Kagome made him wash up before she let him into the kitchen. After lunch he disappeared again the moment he saw that they were looking at wedding sites on-line, and talking about tuxedos and formal ceremonies and guest lists. He beat a hasty retreat before they could drag him into it.

Yukio and Souta arrived back at the house right around three in the afternoon. Both were in good spirits and Souta was positively thrilled to have ridden back with Yukio on his Triumph motorcycle. He couldn't stop talking about the day, the ride, the bike, how Yukio popped a wheelie for him just so he could see how it felt… Mama stopped him short after that because she just didn't want to know. Inuyasha then dragged Yukio and Souta out to the garage to look at 'the car,' muttering something about 'women and their damn planning,' and the house was quiet again.

Dinner plans were made to go out to eat at a favorite restaurant, and Yukio was sent to fetch Jii-chan from the shrine. Sometime before it was time for them to leave for their reservation, three phone calls were received at the house. One was from Sesshoumaru regarding a new company he'd been asked to invest in and he wanted to know if Kagome knew anything about it. Inuyasha ripped the phone from Kagome's hand and told his brother to 'read the fucking prospectus' himself, but not before the invitation to dinner had been extended to him and Rin and accepted.

The second was from Tomo to say that he would be coming by the following afternoon to visit with his parents on a one-on-one basis, and he was making sure that they would be at the house when he arrived.

The third phone call was from a contact in Tokyo's District Public Prosecutor's Office. Apparently a certain Dr. Ishimoro had filed a complaint against Kagome Higurashi and her mother for damages to a car, harassment and threats on her life. Both Yukio and Inuyasha's faces darkened at the news, and Inuyasha clenched his fists so hard he nearly broke the skin. He was fully prepared to personally deal with the 'good doctor' himself, but Yukio begged for the privilege of taking down the woman who had hurt his mother. Inuyasha found a perverse pleasure in agreeing to let the baby the doctor had so slandered handle the 'problem.' Yukio promised to make it his first duty the following day.

Miroku returned home from the university and was roped into going to dinner with them, upping the number in their party to nine. A car was hired to take them to the restaurant and the seven of them left with enough time to get there. Sesshoumaru and Rin were already waiting when they arrived, and a brief pissing contest ensued between the two brothers over the earlier phone call, which abruptly ended when Kagome erupted into hysterical tears. The two sulked for the rest of the evening, each in their own little corners as far away from each other as possible. The only really good thing about having dinner with the taiyoukai was that he promised to have the necessary papers drawn up for Yukio's 'conference with the good doctor' by 9am the following morning.

The evening ended with the hired car dropping Jii-chan, Souta and Mama off at the shrine before taking the rest of them back to Tokyo House. Plans were made for Mama and Kagome to go shopping for baby items to furnish the new nursery the following morning, to wit Inuyasha just handed over his Platinum card and made Mama swear to make sure Kagome didn't overtax herself and to have her back before Tomo's visit at three. Then Mama stood on the curb and waved as the car drove away before following Souta and Jii-chan up the shrine stairs to the house.

A/N: Next chapter Yukio proves this fluffy puppy still has fangs.