InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Yellow Brick Road ❯ Birth ( Chapter 16 )

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INYUSHA AND COMPANY, NOR DO I OWN WIZARD OF OZ.

AN: Thank you to angelic memories and ktshabatie for beta-ing.



Chapter 16: Birth

It had been weeks since Michi had first stepped into the Western Citadel. Life had settled in for her. Her mother was dead; her father had already mated and pupped another. She had a new alpha, and her grandmother was never to be heard from again. Life had more than settled; it had bloomed.

She found herself more comfortable in the company of the human females then the other female youkai of birth within the Citadel. She had taken it upon herself to defend the breeder from all things that would go unnoticed by the lord. It was not to state that the lord was weak (far from it), but he ruled through tradition. His hand had been forced in such a way because there had not been enough time for him to establish his dominant birth right before the great Inu no Taisho’s passing.

Since tradition held the rule for all to live by: females were only to be disciplined by other females or their direct alpha. Kagome-sama did not pay attention to whispers around her, so Michi corrected those who misspoke.

The addiction of power seemed to slither into her being, but she refused to abuse what had been given her. Her uncle was lord; his decisions were not to be questioned, especially by power hungry bitches that had centuries to try to sway his favor.

It was the first time that Michi knew happiness.

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Yawning, Kagome stretched from her nap. To regain focus she blinked her eyes a few times, and then attempted to find a vertical position. Wrong. Her stomach clenched, and her world spun out of control. She was unaware of the clawed hand that traveled down her arm; said hand wrapped around wrist, and applied pressure to a spot that had been found a week earlier.

Slowly Kagome’s stomach was brought back into line, and she attempted, for a second time, the same monumental task of sitting up.

“Eat,” the baritone voice decreed from above her head.

“Good morning to you too,” she refused to allow his emotional retardation to curb her good mood, nausea did that enough, thank you very much.

“It is already afternoon; you slept through your mid-day meal. Now, eat.”

’No sense in fighting lord grumpy pants.’ She reached for the fresh orange. Yet again, a stealthy hand wrapped around her wrist. “That will only make you sick.”

“Then why is it here?” Her tone was that of a petulant child; she wanted an orange damn it.

“Eat the rice first, and then you may have your orange,” Sesshoumaru had almost finished going through the new scrolls of the day, if she had only remained asleep for another half an hour.

“Yes, father,” Kagome’s snippy remark was met with a growl of displeasure. She bared her neck to him, and he in turn nuzzled his acceptance. She then proceeded to eat her exciting lunch of steamed rice.

Sesshoumaru continued his work while his bitch ate in silence. She had begun what she called ‘morning sickness’ just over a week ago. Her scent had become laced with a strong acidic smell, and he demanded to know what was wrong. When she had been cornered, the infuriating woman had explained that this was a common occurrence for pupped human females as their bodies adjust to the needs of carrying.

Sesshoumaru had then taken her to a human midwife (scaring the villagers to death); the mid-wife had divulged herbs and the wrist treatment as possible solutions.

Noting that her inability to control her stomach was greatest at the time of waking, Sesshoumaru decreed that anytime she slept it would be in his presence. At first, the obnoxious woman fought against her alpha, stating many reason why this was not plausible (none of which withstood Sesshoumaru’s logic), then finally she conceded.

While Sesshoumaru wanted to claim this concession resulted from her desire to be in the presence of her alpha; he knew it was the fact that he ensured the nausea did not overwhelm her upon waking. At least it was a way to build trust.

The rice was gone, and now the orange was not nearly as enticing as it had been. Oh well, she would bring it with her to eat later. “Sesshoumaru-sama, I am going to search Rin out. I wish to know how she fairs.”

“Hn.” Kagome had reached the shoji before his warning was issued, “Do not overtax yourself.”

“Hai, my lord.”

Kagome meandered her way through the courtyards until she came upon a waddling Rin. In the last week, as Kagome fought to keep the contents of her stomach, Rin fought to keep from yelling at any being that crossed her path. Miroku had hauled himself up in the study trying to discover a helpful hint about the ‘Mikaboshi problem.’ He was in no way afraid of his very pregnant wife.

Rin had spent the last four days walking in perpetual circles around the compound; she would have laughed at how fast the servants ran in the opposite direction from her if she had not wanted someone to vent her frustrations on. The mid-wife that had been brought in for her baby’s birth had told her that walking would help speed up the delivery. Rin was not looking forward to the pain of birth, but after this last week she could no longer stand this pregnancy. She could not sleep more than an hour before she had to pee. Solving that problem took entirely too much effort anymore. It should not take an individual a quarter hour to urinate. She often found that by the time she stood from squatting, she had to go all over again.

Her dear husband would only appear at night nowadays, and then his hands would be insistent. Did he not know that it was those very actions that got her into the miserable state that currently made up her existence? Her hand reached out to grip the wooden support beam of the overhang in the open hallway. It seemed like the time in between when her stomach would tense was becoming increasingly shorter.

The pregnant woman nearly jumped out of her skin as Kagome began to speak to her. “Rin-chan, how are you faring today?”

The death glare would have made her lord proud. How dare the twit ask her such a question? “I am wonderful, Kagome-sama. Whatever would I have to complain about?”

Kagome laughed at the angry pregnant woman. “You do realize that your condition is not a permanent one? Well, I take that back, you did marry Miroku.”

“Do not speak that letch’s name to me. Can you believe that he still expects me to perform my wifely duties? The audacity of that man,” Rin had stomped her foot to emphasize her point.

“Well, I remember hearing somewhere that those ‘wifely duties’ can actually help you go into labor.”

Turning to stare at the obviously insane woman, Rin suddenly doubled over grabbing her abdomen. A torrent of liquid spilled onto the floor, between the heavy-laden woman's legs. Two silver haired inu-youkai, one male and one female, were upon the women within moments.

“I believe the mid-wife is now needed,” it mattered not who said it for utter chaos descended down on the Western Citadel.

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Nea rly twenty-six hours later, a ghostly pale Kagome and an obviously shaken Michi emerged from the birthing room. Only moments before, wailings of an infant had been heard.

An overly anxious monk rushed into the room in the wake of the females’ departure. Sesshoumaru had stood still, straining to hear the conversation within the room. Satisfied when he heard no sounds of distress coming from those within the room, it was safe to assume his ward was well.

Refocusing on his breeder, he found her face still had no color. Sesshoumaru’s hand slipped under her chin and then splayed his fingers out to cradle her head. While her lack of normal color was slightly odd, the tiny trembles sent his instincts into over drive.

Kagome was engulfed by the male inu’s form as he buried his nose into the crook of her neck. Her usual startled reaction was absent. There was nothing wrong in her scent besides an added level of exhaustion.

“I don’t think that I can do that.”

Gazing down, his ego swelled. His bitch was looking to him for strength. She was calling with her eyes, pleading for him to protect her. Perhaps more trust had been built in the last week than he had realized. Pulling the unresisting form into his, he tucked her securely in his arms and made his way towards his, their, private chambers.

“Oi, where do you think you’re going?” Inuyasha’s voice rang out. It was hard for Inuyasha to see Kagome search for Sesshoumaru’s protection over his.

A feminine clawed hand steadied the hanyou before he could follow. Gently shaking her head, she spoke, “It is his place, and that is hers.”

Ears flat against his head, he now focused on the elderly woman emerging from the birthing room. “The parents wish for you to come meet their new son.”

Now was not a time to be jealous; this was a happy moment.

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Sess houmaru sat in front of his desk, one hand gently clawing through his bitch’s tresses, while the other settled comfortably over their pup. The scroll that had arrived a short while ago occupied his thoughts.

The daimyo were in upheaval again. It was bothersome; not only did humans live short life spans but they also insisted on continuously overthrowing each others’ reigns. Apparently the most influential one now had come from a nothing family, and had been thought to be nothing but the family fool. It would seem that the Ashikaga Shogunate was ending, and the great city of Kyoto was not as impenetrable as once believed.

Toto skittered across the clawed hand currently invading her sanctuary. “Wake her,” the little shadow hissed at the proud youkai.

Starring at the one that dared to order him, he watched as the shadow dissipated into the surrounding walls’ shadows. Never would he become used to that sight. It had happened countless times over the last week.

No, he would not wake his bitch from her rest because she deserved sleep.

Rumbling softly to slumbering woman as she shifted restlessly in her sleep, all tranquility was lost when his loud mouth brother barraged in.

Kagome vaulted away from Sesshoumaru’s embrace when Inuyasha’s voice ripped her from slumber. The sudden movement forfeited any ability Kagome might have had to control the violent roll of her stomach. Inuyasha had lunged forward to catch Kagome before she became reacquainted with the floor. His act of chivalry was rewarded with a very thorough dowsing of vomit.

The rage that had boiled at the rather callus acts of his hanyou brethren lost steam at the sight of his brother’s reward. Sesshoumaru quickly retrieved his now ill female, and gently cleaned her face of any residue from her previous actions. Her glassy eyes searched the room for anything to orient herself on; when the gaze became fixed on the same scroll Sesshoumaru himself had spent the previous hour starring at.

“Oda Nobunaga…”

“Hn.” The elder inu was too busy glaring down the younger hanyou to pay attention to what his breeder was saying.

Inuyasha was thoroughly pissed. He had come here to make sure that Kagome was fine, and what did he get for his troubles? He was vomited on. Great, now he was going to have to take a bath. He hated bathing. It wasn’t that he did not like to smell clean, rather it was utter vulnerability one faced while bathing. You were alone, nude, and without the protection of the fire rat cloth. To top all of that off, the water severely muted the scents in the surrounding area while at the same time absorbing noises. Really, he had learned at a young age that bathing was not essential to life; in fact, quite often it was detrimental.

“What, ya bastard? I’m the one covered in vomit, here.”

“Hn, and the smell is displeasing to this Sesshoumaru. Not to mention it will more than likely to cause his breeder to repeat the performance that produced such a foul odor.”

“The Ashikaga Shogunate has fallen, we are too late,” the despair that radiated off the young woman caused the two bickering dogs to quiet.

“No, the Ashikaga are still the name of power.”

Her head whipped to pin the tai-youkai with a beseeching look, “We must hurry, and time works against us.”

The tremors racked her body once again, causing Sesshoumaru to pull her further into his protective embrace. The sight made Inuyasha almost sick; he decided that he was tired of not understanding anything that occurred. Sesshoumaru had used him for the position of personal whipping boy. The result of Sesshoumaru’s form of stress relief caused Inuyasha to spend more days in bed recuperating then walking the Citadel. If the damn ice prick would use his concubines, then Inuyasha would not have so many bed-ridden days.

“What the fuck?”

“Inuyasha,” ears flattened in a now Pavlonian response. “You need a bath.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, wench. I wouldn’t need a bath if it weren’t for your weak human body,” his focus changed to the inu, “And you: quit growling. I ain’t going nowhere until someone tells me what the fuck is going on, and why the fuck we have to hurry.”

If the fast moment would not have caused his breeder to throw up again, Sesshoumaru would have punched the hanyou through the wall. As it was, he had to settle for lashing across Inuyasha’s chest with his acid whip.

“Stop it the two of you.” In order to secure the female in his lap, Sesshoumaru had to give up of the game of ‘make the hanyou dance.’ He rumbled softly at her in an attempt to recreate the peace that was found before Inuyasha intruded.

The sweet lull that the vibrations created around Kagome were proving too much for her to fight against. Absently, she wondered when he had developed this power over her. Another round of nausea reminded her exactly what was at stake. Nuzzling into the large youkai’s neck she whispered, “We must.”

“Oh come on, what the fuck must we do?” Really, he was sticky and wet. The smell was enough for him to admit he needed a bath, and she was talking in riddles.

“You need do nothing. This is between this Sesshoumaru and his breeder.”

“No you don’t you bastard. I won’t allow you to take her from me,” his ears flattened again at the sound of his brother’s growls. “I know what I conceded you to you asshole. But, I will never abandon Kagome. If she needs help then I’m gonna be there for her. I told Miroku, and now I’m tellin’ you, if I have to kill the Kami to protect her, then that won’t stop me. She deserves happiness, not a place as some prize bitch!”

Sesshoumaru’s normal baritone voice dropped even lower as his lethal nature became prevalent. “Your submission allows you no room to make demands of your Alpha.”

“I ain’t making demands. I’m tellin’ you, I will never abandon Kagome,” his voice snarled with determination.

No longer could she take the tension that was building between the two brothers. Kagome would not let any more blood be spilt on her account. “You have never abandoned me, Inuyasha. You followed me when everyone told you to stop. Inuyasha, I will never ask you to follow me to hell. It was you in the woods that made me fight Mikaboshi. I could never fail you. Do you know why I vowed to always stay by your side?” Inuyasha shook his head. “Because through it all, you always believed in me and you always stood by me.”

Inuyasha could not listen to her glorify his actions of the past. Did she not know that he was never that person? “No, that’s … that’s … that’s not true. I never-“

“Yes you did. Okay, so sometimes, your temper got in the way, but in your heart, you always cared what happened to me. The choices you had to make were hard, but never did I doubt that you cared,” she had moved from the tai-youkai’s lap, and was now standing. “Did you not understand that you were my anchor, the one that taught me what it meant to never give up?”

Sesshoumaru moved to recollect his breeder while Inuyasha drowned in her eyes. “Inuyasha your friendship has been … the only happiness I have known here. Never doubt your place in my heart, but now is not the time for you to be insecure. My child’s life is on the line and I know where Mikaboshi is.”

Spinning the woman around so that she now faced him, Sesshoumaru’s red eyes bored into her. She sighed, “My Lord, he protected me when you tried to kill me. I do not know what instincts drive you, what I know is my past. While he is far from a selfless being, he has proven his loyalty to me time and again.” Reaching for his clawed hand, she placed it over her womb. “What lies in here is ours. I will fight just as fiercely as you to protect our pup.” Moving his hand up to her heart, she continued, “What lies in here is still scared of you.” Pressing his hand harder upon her chest, she pleaded, “This takes time that we do not have right now. For all the fear that lies here, I know that I can make this one vow: the pup will never know ill of his sire from me.”

Amber eyes now stared at the intertwined hands. She was so small, yet so strong. This was what he would do that his brother could not: he would prove her strength to her. “Tell this Sesshoumaru what to do to protect what is ours.”

“This is not your burden alone. We will save our pup together.”

No. She would not be risked in this; her place was here in safety. “You will stay.”

“No, I will not. I did not ask to be your breeder, but that does not make this child any less mine. You arrogant dog, if you want me to trust you then must trust me. Toto is the only one that can know Mikaboshi’s presence. The journey will be too long for her go without feeding; also, she cannot speak without my presence. I will not bare my neck or back down on this one,” his growling became vicious, as his bitch continued to challenge him. “Is your pride worth your pup?”

She met his eyes with the defiance of the fifteen-year-old girl who was drugged down the well. Inuyasha quit mentally griping about having to bathe, and smiled. The smile was broad, wide, and the first true one to adorn his face in nearly three years.

Kagome could feel it, the power. It burned and boiled just beneath the surface, trying to find an Achilles heel in her containment. If Chihuahua boy pushed her much further, then she would lose the control … no, best not to plan on taking off the ruby slippers.

“You will submit to your alpha,” he could feel it as well. The ki that built behind her tense muscles; yet this was more than ki, this was reiki. She had reconnected to her purity.

“Not on this. Never on this. I will challenge you anytime; your arrogant ass cannot bend to save our children. I will not fail again, because the one to pay the price is not me, it will be our child!” Her chest was heaving under the excursion of fitful breathing. Her body was completely encased in a soft glow of pink swirling with white.

Sesshoumaru answered her challenge with one of his own. Uzume had said that she needed to purify the connection that Mikaboshi had made to the pup; this had to work. If the pup was no longer at risk, then he would not have to fight a stubborn female about traipsing across Japan while pupped.

“You will submit now or you will find yourself chained to the pallet,” his voice was not raised however, his eyes once again held a red hue. Youki swirled around him, which caused his hair to perform a hypnotic dance.

Inuyasha was having a hard time breathing; the room was chalk full of two opposing powers that oddly enough had not attacked each other. He was sure that the entire Citadel could feel these stubborn individuals facing off.

“No,” she said in a deadly calm voice. Snarling and stepping forward, Sesshoumaru’s actions were met step by step with Kagome’s reactions.

“You have already submitted to this Sesshoumaru as your alpha. Shall I be forced to remind you of your position within my pack?” He never ceased the slow advance on her, while she never ceased hers.

Their hair began to intertwine as their ki mixed together. “I have stated once before, my burdens are mine alone.”

“No. As your alpha, it is this Sesshoumaru’s honor to carry your burdens.”

She was not inu-youkai, she did not understand. She gave him the pack he had been denied. She had vowed to never try to turn his pack against him. He had taken from her that which could never be given back, and she had begun the slow process of forgiveness. This was one of the many things that he owed her. He was alpha, her safety; the pup’s safety was his burden. It was a task that he would be victorious in, for her.

“You over-grown ankle biter, how do you propose to accomplish this feat, when you cannot even see the yellow brick road? Do you know where the Emerald City is? This is beyond your honor; this is the future. The greatest of journeys are not meant to be solitary.” She pushed her pain and anguish out through her powers when the last statement was made. It was time to face accountability. Though her resolve did not lessen, the sapphire orbs softened, beseeching him to understand. “I tried. I tried to do this on my own and all I accomplished was releasing the shadows back onto Japan. Before I understood what I had done, I had burned their passage home, and any way of approaching myself. My burden is more than the destruction of Mikaboshi, more than the salvation of my child; it is the atonement of my failures. My failures have caused so many innocents to suffer and I will spend the rest of eternity making reparations for those past transgressions,” her head was fully tilted back as her eyes began to cloud with the purity of her power. She narrowed her eyes in a dare for him to defy what she had said.

“You would do this alone? No great journey is solitary,” his hand fisted in her hair at the base of her head. “Together, we will save our pup and the time is now.”

He turned her around and then tucked her into his form. Grasping both her hands with his, he placed them over her womb. Both their ki danced together as he coaxed her to follow the connection the flowed from her womb to the world outside. The farther their ki pushed to follow the trail of Mikaboshi, the more frenzied the dance became between their powers. It reached forest, field, river, and lake. On they pressed together, searching for the dark one that threatened what was theirs.

All those within in the Citadel seemed frozen in time as power surged forth from the two alphas. Those that were caught in the powers’ path, could not repress the fear the two twining ki invoked. There was no sense of malice, but that of vengeance for the righteous. Japan could feel the wrath of the West.

Finally the frenzied dancing powers found their target. The Malevolent One hid amongst foreigners that knew not of his threat. Kagome searched the foreigners for one that was pure. Once the pure one was found, she brought the link from her womb to the priest. She had already marked the priest so that he would be easy to recognize. This one would not be a sacrificial lamb, and he would be the beacon of light.

To ensure that the beacon’s light would not dim, Kagome let herself vulnerable as she flooded her reiki over the priest. It was in that moment of vulnerability that she felt the pain descend down upon her body. Sesshoumaru felt the small body in front of him recoil as if from some sort of pain. His arms moved to pull her more firmly to his body, while had his youki completely encompass their bodies.

If he had been allowed to form a deeper physical bond, he would have been able to protect her better. That however, would not come about until he had gained much much more of her trust. He felt her reiki recede into her body, so he allowed his youki to follow in suit.

She was trembling from the exertion. Her voice was raspy as she spoke, “I believe that Yuichi is needed.”

Sesshoumaru stiffened at her request for the kit. What did he have to do with this?

She sensed his hesitation, and with much effort turned her head to look at him. “Yuichi has a talent for seeing auras that the rest of us do not possess. Please, I am not sure what I felt.”

With a nod, he focused on his brother. “Inuyasha, you will fetch Yuichi. Then immediately afterwards you will bathe; the smell is most annoying.”

Inuyasha grumbled the whole way to the kit. Not only were both of them telling him he stunk (as if it was his fault), now he was the errand boy. ‘Good doggy, play fetch. Feh.’ Sighting the kit with Michi, he did not fail to notice how both of them covered their noses as he approached.

“Lord Fluffy wants to see you. Quit staring at me like that and get moving brat!”

Michi knew better than to let her curiosity run away with her, but she could not resist. “Why do you smell so horrid, Inuyasha-sama?”

“Damn wench threw up all over me, and then she told me I stink. Stupid girl.” Inuyasha had his ears pinned while he kicked a lose pebble in the pathway.

Michi could not help the laugh that escaped her lips, “Was she trying to melt you too?”

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< br> Yuichi approached the study with caution. He knew that the hanyou was not lying to him, but only an idiot was not nervous about approaching an inu-youkai with a breeding female. Rapping lightly on the shoji, the command to enter almost seemed ominous.

Upon his entrance, he noticed how exhausted Kagome looked, which would make sense. The amount of ki that had flowed through Citadel was enough to drain even the strongest of youkai. The nervous kit subjected himself to the tai-youkai.

“My Lord, my presence was requested?”

“Hn.”

“Yes Yuichi-kun, I need your help. Can you see the aura of the pup?” Kagome moved to kneel in a position that allowed Yuichi a clear view of her lower abdomen.

Understanding dawned on Yuichi as he began to concentrate on the task at hand. What he saw left the young fox speechless.

“Yuichi-kun please, what do you see?”

Shaking his head to clear away the impossibility of it all, he answered, “There are two youkai auras, but one seems to have a clouding, or darkening to it. It is not the malevolent darkness as it was when it seemed that the auras were fluctuating before. I don’t really understanding what I am seeing. Why aren’t they hanyou?”

“Yuichi-kun, you are saying that I am carrying twin youkai pups, and that one’s aura is clouded by some darkness?”

“Hai.” The orange head nodded ferociously.

Kagome was oddly numb and nauseous at the same time. Once again, a clawed hand slid down her arm and grasped her wrist. The pressure applied there forced her stomach back into submission. She looked at the hand engulfing her wrist; how many times had he done this for her? His strength was there for her to use when she had none left of her own.

Yes, the Chihuahua was an asshole. He was arrogant. The damn dog would not even bow down to a Kami when she had come to offer him help. He had raped her in the cave, but she got the distinct impression that it was not about dominance. Oh and speaking of dominance he had a nasty habit of pinning her to the ground, yet again, he had not done that since he begged for a chance. He had not forced her to fulfill the most basic duty of a breeder, nor had he gone to the concubines. It really was amazing how poor the youkai thought human hearing was. Finally, she had just denied his status as her alpha, and he did not force a submission, but met her as an equal. Sesshoumaru had anchored the power within her so that she did not fear being consumed by it. All great journeys are better when they are not solitary.

Yes, he was an asshole, but he had made it quite clear that he wanted to be her asshole. In time, they could work out the details. He had proved that he was willing to bend and sway with her; she could trust him.

Together they had saved one of their pups completely, and limited the taint on the second one. The time needed to build a relationship would be found after they had saved the second pup, together.

She lost herself in his hypnotic amber orbs, “We must.”

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