Lies, Letters, and Calloused Fingertips.

Lies, Letters, and Calloused Fingertips.



Chapter Fifteen: …When You Don’t Need It…



Kagome sighed as she countered the final step with Minoru’s hands on her arm, helping her. She was already well into her seventh month of the pregnancy, and she and Inuyasha were still apart. They hadn’t spoken in several months, and life for her had gone on as normal. She felt the brunt of the loneliness only late into the night, when she was in bed and thinking of only him and what they had been through together.



She tried not to think of him often, though, because the twins always began to move when she did, and then they wouldn’t stop moving, and there would be no sleeping for her that entire night.



Now, though, she felt that bitter emotion seeping into her from all sides as she looked past the red torii at the place both she and Inuyasha had come to know as the warmest and safest place on Earth in the past.



Sayuri Higurashi came running out of the front door of the small home, her face and eyes bright with excitement. “Kagome, dear! You’ve returned home for a visit at last?” she asked her daughter, slowing her pace as she approached and saw the full roundness of Kagome’s belly.



“You’re pregnant?!”



Kagome sighed as Minoru and Rin both stayed at her side, Minoru still holding her and helping her along. “Yes, Mama,” she replied in her usual soft voice. Mrs. Higurashi stepped back, allowing them to pass into the house. Before crossing the threshold, however, Kagome stopped to take one more look at the nearby Goshinboku, her eyes lingering on the scar that she knew would never fade away. Pausing in her steps, she allowed herself to be overtaken by the memories of that fateful day – that day full of pain and confusion and destiny. That day that she met Inuyasha…



Blinking and returning to the present time, Kagome stepped inside the house, Minoru at her side, Rin at her back, and her mother closely following the lot of them.





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Chiyo and Inuyasha were lounging in one of the hotel rooms with Suzume – who was doing anything but. While Inuyasha laid on the bed, his head propped up on multiple pillows, Chiyo sat in the window, her legs swung over to hang outside, and she watched as the parking lot bustled with a strange life that one didn’t see every day. Suzume was attempting another handstand, but she quickly fell over – again.



She sighed, glaring at Inuyasha. “Baka! This would be so much easier if you would lend me a hand!”



The hanyou snickered in her direction, his golden eyes glinting mischievously in the lamplight. “You used to be such a high and mighty demon slayer,” he commented in return. Suzume glared back at his telltale smirk. “Whatever happened to that attitude of yours, Sango-chan?”



She groaned, frustrated. “My name is Suzume!” she cried out. “Not Sango! Not Sango-chan! Just Suzume!”



“But you are her,” Chiyo commented offhandedly, tilting her body backward to lay her back against the wall. Suzume’s eyes widened when she saw the way the drummer’s body contorted. “And as her, this style of living should be in your blood.”



“What? You’re saying that since I’m the reincarnation of this dead demon slayer that I should be double-jointed like you?”



Chiyo sighed, rolling her eyes. Inuyasha chuckled at the sight of her rolling her eyes while upside-down. “No, you baka taijiya. You should be in better shape. If you were, then you would be able to do all sorts of things with your body.” She waggled her eyebrows at Suzume, which was another gesture that came off ten times more comical while performing it upside-down. “Legend has it that your hentai husband adored the way your body twisted.”



Inuyasha barked out a loud laugh while Suzume was busy flushing a deep red. She fumed at Chiyo, growling a little from her chest. “You butt out, ya pervert!” she snapped at the drummer, who just pulled herself rightside-up and smirked at the vocalist. Suzume whirled on Inuyasha, who still sat on the bed. “And you! What’s so important in Tokyo anyway? Why do we need to go there now that the tour’s done?”



Inuyasha quieted almost instantly, and he eyed Suzume. “Because I need to see my wife. It’s been a very long time now.”



Suzume blinked as old memories flooded her once again. Her right hand flew up, gripping her head as the surge of memory caused an ache. “Oh. Kagome… is your wife now?” she asked in a melancholic tone.



The hanyou vocalist nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Yes. And it’s been nearly eight months since I saw her last, and I’m anxious to continue what we’d started before I left.” He stood, walking past Chiyo and around Suzume, both women watching him.



“And what’s that?” Suzume wanted to know as he reached for the doorknob.



His hand rested on it a minute before twisting the brass knob and pulling the door open. “Recovery.” He left, shutting the door behind him and setting off down the hallway.



Suzume watched the door for a few more minutes after Inuyasha had left, and Chiyo finally swung her legs back inside the bedroom. “Was he always like this?” the drummer asked, sitting beside the reincarnation. Suzume glanced at her, then returned her gaze to the wooden door across the room from them. Chiyo barely noticed her shake her head. “No,” the vocalist answered. “He used to have way more spunk than this. Right now, he’s just…” She grimaced. “Depressed.”



Chiyo nodded. “It’s been a while since he’s seen Kagome. That seems to put him in a foul mood – when they’re apart for a long time, or when they’re fighting.” She snickered, laying back on the bed and mussing the sheets purposely. “She’s a kicker, that one,” Chiyo went on, watching Suzume’s back. “Seems so unlikely, the two of them.”



Suzume laughed lightly. “Yeah, they’ve always been that way. They fight, then they make up, then they fight, then they make up. They’re a rollercoaster relationship if we ever saw one!” Chiyo smiled.



“They were a real pair, eh?”



Suzume smiled, her eyes losing their focus as she dipped into the huge store of Sango’s memories that she was now privy to. “Yes,” she murmured as she sat inside Kaede’s hut and looked at her four best friends: sweet schoolgirl Kagome in her uniform, tiny and obnoxious Shippo in her arms, brash Inuyasha in his red fire-rat, scowling at the little kitsune, and, finally, her cherished monk Miroku…



She sighed, wishing the scene away. Chiyo watched her, concern flashing onto her face momentarily.



“So you’re a descendent of the houshi and taijiya?” Suzume asked the drummer, who blinked in surprise at the personal question.



The former demon slayer watched in rapt attention as the normally upbeat musician dimmed significantly. It struck her that she’d never really heard Chiyo speak of her family life, nor had she ever heard Inuyasha speak of it.



“I’m sorry!” she cried out, backtracking with a slight tinge of pink to her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to-”



Chiyo sighed, silencing Suzume. “My Okaa-sama died when I was very, very small. My Otou-sama fell into a very deep depression, one from which he still has not recovered. My parents shared a very special bond, and they were very close – much like you and the hentai were five centuries ago.” She smiled a small, sweet smile as a thick wave of nostalgia overcame her. “My family is one of the few branches of our lineage that knows the legend of Naraku and his demise, and the role that our ancestors played in it. We have known for hundreds of years Inuyasha’s true nature, and of his loss of his Miko mate. Now, I am the only one who has witnessed his gain.” She raised her violet eyes, and Suzume gasped when she realized that they were Miroku’s eyes, somehow passed down through hundreds of generations.



Finally, she looked away, sighing. “You have his eyes,” she commented to the drummer without looking back up.



She listened as Chiyo chuckled. “Yes,” she said quietly. “That is what Inuyasha said as well.”





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Minoru was at Kagome’s side, silent as he helped her through the foyer. Rin had already gone back to Sesshomaru’s side for the night, and it left a heavily pregnant Kagome and a quietly pondering Minoru alone at the mansion. He had been staying there with her on and off again in Inuyasha’s absence, mostly because her pregnancy greatly concerned him. Her son the human Miko was fine; he feared nothing from the boy. But the daughter… Her aura frightened him, throwing him on his guard at all times now, whether he was around Kagome or not.



The girl was consumed by so much demonic blood that he found it hard to believe Kagome’s nonchalant attitude regarding her obvious fatigue. He knew that rest and youkai-strength prenatal pills weren’t going to help her until the birth as much as she was trying to make him believe, and every time he came over to spend the night or the weekend or the week at their large, currently empty home, he chose the bedroom next to Kagome and Inuyasha’s own master bedroom – in case she needed him in the middle of the night, he could rush right over to her side.



Minoru could feel that Kagome’s quarter-demon daughter was a good soul, but she could unintentionally drain her mother dry throughout this pregnancy, and he was honestly surprised that Kagome was still standing herself, let alone still carrying the boy. He’d heard of youkai pregnancies ending very badly for humans, and it still astounded him how a human woman could carry a hanyou or quarter-demon to full term. Being a doctor in this life, Minoru used the memories from his life as Miroku to become Kagome’s OB alongside Dr. Ayana Ishida.



He still wasn’t too sure what he or Kagome thought of the goofy kumo, but she was a damn good doctor, and they were headed for another visit to her office in the morning. With that thought in mind, Minoru began to prepare to turn in for the night.



“Minoru?”



He blinked, looking to the doorway. Kagome’s voice sounded weak, and it was coming from down the hall instead of the next room. He went quickly to the room her voice had come from, and he found her in one of Inuyasha’s various practice rooms.



This one, he noticed, seemed dedicated solely to percussion: several different types of drums, a xylophone, an electric keyboard – and an absolutely beautiful black grand piano sitting just inside the balcony. The door to the balcony was wide open, and the wind was blowing in gently, parting the thin, white curtains.



Kagome sat at the piano, staring down at its keyboard. From the doorway, he could see the slight, gorgeous pink tinge to her cheeks – but he knew it wasn’t there because of embarrassment or strain. He froze as she began to speak. All he could do was stand there and listen as she poured her heart out.



First, she sniffled a little, her cheeks flushing a bit more. “Did you know that Inuyasha loves sunsets?”



Minoru made no move; he just stood and watched her.



She licked her lips. “He’s loved them since he was a little boy. Once, when we were camping, and you and – I’m sorry, Miroku and Sango had gone in another direction… he told me the entire story.” She released a soft, bitter laugh, running her thumb along a key on the piano. “I don’t even remember what really brought it up… He just started telling me about his mother.” She stopped for a moment, shaking her head. “He, um… He really loved her. His mother, I mean. Yikes, did he love her. And… I was so… girlishly excited that he was sharing all of this with me!”



Kagome pressed down on the piano key, and the light, pretty noise filled the large room. Minoru took a deep breath, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. He was sure he was in for a long while of this.



“Izayoi-hime loved sunsets, so Inuyasha decided, as a little boy, that he did too. He loved anything she loved, and that included gold and yellow flowers, puppies, and books along with the sunsets.”



Minoru smiled at that; he found it very difficult to imagine the brash hanyou, who normally reeked of masculinity, going all gushy over flowers and rainbows.



Kagome paid him no heed, though, and continued. “After the well closed and I lost the first baby… I sat every day for over a month, watching the sunsets as they came and went. And – practically every single day, I would ask the Kamis… Why? Why can’t I be like the sunset – perfect and beautiful and… and something that he loves no matter what?” The former priestess finally raised tear-filled brown eyes to meet his, and Minoru’s insides clenched at the look in her eyes. Her hands rose to cradle her large belly, and they both looked down at it.



“They’ll be beautiful, though,” she murmured, and Minoru looked up at her. She still stared down at her stomach, the most peaceful and joyous look he’d ever seen residing on her face. “And, even if Inuyasha doesn’t love them… I will. No matter what.”



Minoru blinked at her. “You’re not seriously thinking that he would ever abandon you or your kids, Kagome.”



She didn’t answer him.