InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Forty-Eight: Dreams ( Chapter 49 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters or stories. This story is for private entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I made up for it with two new chapters. n_n Part of the reason for the delay was the chapter I just wrote on a round robin for Amy Fushigiyugi and Belledaynight on "Yin & Yang", a collaboration by many talented authors under the pen-name "inuyashalovegroup". Grateful thanks for Amy, Vyncent and Fairia who helped with edit and encouragement, special note to Fairia for helping me with Kagome's boxers. O.O For Vengeance, special thanks to Vyncent and Fairia13 for continued help and inspiration, kowtows and deepest gratitude to Jazngurl for all of her hard work in translation and ideas, and many, many hugs for all the supportive reviewers who have stuck with me since the beginning. If anyone wants added to my mailing list for updates, please let me know and email me at Inufanasha(at sign)aol.com.

WARNING: SOME DARK IMAGERY.

Chapter Forty-Eight (Dreams)

A pale yellow light danced back and forth, the soft glow of starlight and warmth. Delicate wings beat a quick rhythm as the youkai sought out its Lord. The messenger swayed with the wind, alighting and glowing, flicking up and away, its music silent but poignant in ethereal beauty.

A pale hand, claws extended, snatched the small creature from the darkened night. Wings fluttered in terror, and the soft buzzing of angry demands for release fell on deaf ears.

"Such a tiny creature..." The dark voice purred as the wings beat frantically, seeking escape.

There was no escape.

Fingers tightened, and the small, delicate form was crushed, its pale yellow glow extinguished under cruel claws.

"They seek to warn the Taiyoukai." His dark smile of knowledge was smugly macabre. "What pitiful messengers the spider sends."

Opening his hand, the crushed remains fell to the dark earth below, discarded. Red eyes glowed behind the laughing mask of the baboon, summoning his own small soldiers to his side.

The loud buzzing of hundreds of insects, the poisonous scourge of Hell, crowded out the night sounds of the forest around him. Clear wings whirred incessantly, while eyes glowed with bloody fire.

"Saimyousho." He named them, his smile one of wicked delight. "Listen to the words of your Master, and heed them well. Find the butterfly messengers of the Taiyoukai, and destroy them. Let none escape."

There was an increased whir of noise from the attentive insects, conveying their understanding. With a flick of their wings, they were suddenly gone, the menacing wave spreading out to find the glowing youkai of Suyo's calling and crush their delicate light under their own inimical evil.

*~*~*~*~*

His sleep was troubled, but he always arose with an abundance of energy...sometimes, he felt, an overabundance. Strange images were ingrained on his sleeping mind, images he could not place. When he sought for them, delving through the corners of his mind, the inu would surge against his constraints, the rage of denial seeking to overwhelm him. Grudgingly, he left it alone, unwilling to sacrifice the loose rein he now held over his inu blood.

He sifted through the dreaming memories, trying to find something familiar, and could not. Seas of people in strange clothing, buildings tall and edged with a plain line of architecture he detested in his own personal taste. These images were tangled with the strange ones of a more personal acquaintance...ningen in clothing similar to the miko's...people from her own time, perhaps, who were once familiar to her? A face, a mother's face with tender brown eyes that reminded him---uncomfortably---of the warm brown eyes of a young miko who had captivated him...

He did not desire these memories. He did not desire her...

*Since when have I ever prevaricated and deceived myself?* He thought idly. She was intoxicating to him, the thought of her, the recollection of her. The feel of her soft skin under the tips of his fingers, the sharp edge of his claws held delicately away from her white skin that was so fragile...

She was a distraction, a need he could not tolerate as Taiyoukai.

And still he called to her in the deep night...seeking understanding, union, joy...

*Joy?*

She was joy...the embodiment of it, the nuances of it captured in her scent...ripening and growing and fulfilling him as nothing had or ever could...

Fangs flashed as the inu growled within him. Her fragrance was soothing to the inu, the inu would claim her, keep her...

::MINE.::

He refused to give in to his baser nature. *I am Taiyoukai.* He reaffirmed each morning he awoke with her fragrance lightening as his awakening consciousness reasserted its cool control.

And that was what disturbed him the most. Her scent, there was something...something in her scent that made him wish to seek her out and wondered, idly, if...

*Impossible.*

He would know more, but not by seeking her. He was not one to go into a battle unprepared. And he knew this would be a battle, of a kind he did not know, but his instincts told him that he must know more...

The inu raged inside of him, snarling against his decision.

::MINE.::

He coolly reasserted his control over the inu, reining it back, though for how long could he deny his inner nature, he knew not.

Golden eyes tinged red for a single moment, glowing in the faint candlelight of a distant land, the inu still seething underneath the surface...

::Mine...::

*~*~*~*~*

There was one single face that stood out in her dreams. A face that made her shiver and want to hide. Silly, really, to want to hide away from a mere dream...

*Gotta be the hormones.* Kagome thought idly to herself, plucking at the browning grass beside her with distracted motions. Her eyes were troubled, as her thoughts rambled on without focus.

It was a woman's face. Well, not really a woman's. Not an onna, and definitely not that of a ningen. The ears were a dead give away. Pointed and sculpted along the scalp, hidden partially by the luxuriant white hair that fell in long silky waves along proud, arrogant features.

She was beautiful, this youkai woman who haunted her dreams. But there was something in her eyes, in the harsh set of her beautiful mouth that disturbed her...

*Cruel.* Kagome decided. *She's cruel.*

She actually felt a relieved sense of happiness at having finally realized just WHAT had been troubling her about that beautifully cold, haughty face.

*Kami, I hope that's not going to be my daughter!* She shivered with the thought. *Ugh!*

One of the elder women of the village had said she might well dream of her coming child. The woman had put a papered scrap in her hand, saying it was a charm to ward off the jealous spirits who might try to give her unborn son an ugly face. She had patted her arm, and said conspiratorially, "Even a boy should have a nice look about him, child. It's not as important, of course, as a girl being born ugly. But a boy shouldn't be hard on the eyes, either. You use my charm, and pray to the kami for your baby."

Fingers pulling at the grass, Kagome quirked her lips up in a rueful smile. The villagers meant well, they really did. But some of their superstitions were really trying. She was always being stopped on her daily walks into the woods by older women and young mothers who told her what she should and shouldn't be doing to insure this or that. Some advice, she actually liked: she shouldn't sew at all, as it may cause knots to be tied in the umbilical cord....she should eat red meat (*Shards, I could go for a cheeseburger right now!*) to thicken her baby's hair...she should keep away from funerals, making sure that the restless spirit of the newly dead wouldn't latch on to her baby out of jealously for the new hope of life...oh, there were too many to count!

Others, she would rather have done without. Whenever she got quiet and moody, she was scolded by some kindly-meant old biddy who told her she would sour her son's disposition. Whenever she was lighthearted and exuberant, the same dire warnings were given her---but this time in case the baby would be born too happy and foolish.

*I'd rather a happy, foolish baby, come to think of it.*

Worst of all, a lot of those old women kept suggesting she go and clean out the midden. Doing such a humble task would please the spirits, and ensure the gift of beauty to her child.

She didn't care if her child was born with crossed eyes and a bulbous nose, buck teeth and a receding chin---there was NO WAY she was touching that mire with her hands!

*EW!*

Shuddering at the thought, she welcomed any distraction, and was glad to see Koharu and Shippo coming up over the hill from the village. Shippo was darting around, playing a strange version of hopscotch that he had made up himself from Kagome's description of it, and Koharu carried a covered basket in her hands.

Koharu walked slowly and ponderously up the long hill, Shippo skipping alongside. She had gained weight even quicker than Kagome had. The young girl had been ecstatic when she had discovered her pregnancy, thanks to old Kumiko's eels, and she had dove into it with the pure delight of one who had only one desired goal in life: to have children. Miroku had been a bit taken aback by Koharu's exuberance, but Kagome could tell that the blue-eyed monk was as eager as Koharu for their baby to come.

The monk had even started building a house for Koharu---a signal to the village that he accepted the child, and the mother, and would provide for them. It wasn't a formal arrangement, but it satisfied the wagging tongues who had been skeptical about whether or not the amorous monk would ever settle down with anyone---or with any ONE woman.

Koharu was almost giddy with the attention she received---she loved spending hours speaking with old women, taking their advice very seriously, and had quite a stash of omamori---charms to ensure this or that for her coming babies. Koharu was convinced that she would have twins. A boy and a girl, with Miroku's eyes and her wavy hair. One grey-haired granny had advised her that if she ate enough, the kami would see what a good provider she was for her child, how truly giving she was in sacrificing her own girlish figure for her baby. The spirits would be impressed with her self-sacrifice, and would bless her with two children, instead of just one.

Kagome didn't even try to argue with Koharu about how the kami had nothing to do with it...it was the male's sperm seeding two eggs or a single egg dividing into two that determined how many children would be born at once. Koharu was in a happy little dream of her own, and Kagome was not one to burst it with something the sweet but traditional girl would not truly comprehend.

Half way up the hill, Shippo abandoned Koharu's side for Kagome's.

"Okaa-san!" Green eyes lighting up, he bound up the hill on all fours. Kagome dropped the shredded grass in her hands and opened her arms, waiting for the little kitsune to hop into them with his usual exuberance.

But Shippo slid to a rolling stop by her side, and gave her a gentle hug instead. Kagome blinked in surprise at his careful handling of her, and Shippo flushed. "Lady Kaede said I must be more careful, okaa-san, around the babies in your stomach."

*Babies?* Kagome froze, eyes wide, but Shippo's next words laid THAT thought to rest.

"Kaede gave me a big scolding, and said I needed to be more careful around both you and Koharu, as the babies in your stomachs were still tiny and might get hurt. I would never hurt you, though, okaa-san." His green eyes were tremulous with that frightening idea, and Kagome hugged him hard, leaning awkwardly to the side, as her belly wasn't that accommodating any more.

Since her impending motherhood had become known, Shippo had started referring to her openly as "okaa-san". Kagome loved hearing it, she had always thought of Shippo as her own little brother, but over the years, her maternal instincts had kicked in and she had seen him more and more as her own little kitsune. She had often daydreamed that she and InuYasha were together, raising a family, and Shippo had always been there with them, playing big brother to a whole brood of tiny little InuYasha's.

Now, she couldn't seem to fit InuYasha into that familial picture, and sometimes, in her most secret heart of hearts, she dreamed of another inu who might play father to her children...

Blushing, one hand rested on her stomach in a now-familiar motion. Her other arm hugged Shippo to her side, and the little kitsune laid his paws on it as well. Suddenly, Kagome gasped, and Shippo giggled.

"I felt it! I felt it!"

The strange sensation returned...a feeling like she got after shaking a soda can and all the bubbles rushed all at once to the surface....that was the only way she could think to describe it, and Shippo's green eyes were dancing as he shouted happily.

"It's a baby, okaa-san!"

Kagome laughed, and ruffled his rusty head. "Of course, silly. I think it's moving." Her eyes were glowing and happy as she turned to look up at Koharu. Koharu's own eyes widened, and she dropped the basket, clasping her hands over her own wide belly in delighted anticipation.