Bloodborne Duties

Bloodborne Duties

An ancient curse was placed upon the Inuyoukai family: if the youngest born heir does not produce an heir-apparent before his 205th birthday, the Dogs will surrender to the Panthers. Inuyasha is the youngest heir and it is his duty to avoid the curse.

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With Kagome on his back, Inuyasha scaled a high cliff. It was all part of the journey that was required to find Totosai- why the old man lived in a dent on the side of a mountain was beyond Inuyasha. But to each his own... I'm sure a lot of people will have a problem with me putting Kagome in a tree house to live. Inuyasha slightly looked over his shoulder to hide a small smile. So long as Kagome likes it, fuck what the rest thinks.

"Inuyasha," Kagome called. "If Totosai pulls out your fang, how long will it take for it to grow back?"

Inuyasha grunted as he slipped his hand into another nook in the mountain to hoist both of them up. "Five hours," he replied. "Fangs take less time to grow back versus normal teeth."

He could hear her pout. "No fair. If I lose my teeth, they'll never grow back."

"That's because I'm a strong, ferocious, and beastly hanyou."

"Don't get cocky now." Kagome playfully pinched his cheek. Inuyasha yanked his head out of the way and leapt into a small nook in the mountain. Kagome took the opportunity to slide off his back and stretch her legs; they had begun cramping since Inuyasha had been climbing the mountain for nearly half an hour. Kicking her left leg, then her right, Kagome plopped down on the ground cross legged, watching Inuyasha rotate his arm.

"Such a pain to find the old geezer," Inuyasha muttered. "Why couldn't he be remotely normal and live in a tree?"

"That isn't normal either," Kagome pointed out, laughing. Inuyasha shot her a playful glare.

"Are you saying you wouldn't enjoy living in a tree?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "No! I'd love it but it isn't normal for normal human beings."

Inuyasha was glad, though he wouldn't show it, that Kagome said she would love living in a tree. Although he was confident that she would enjoy it, it felt amazing nonetheless to hear her say it herself. After resting for a few moments, Inuyasha crouched down so that Kagome could clamber back onto his back before resuming his trek up the mountain.

"Almost," Inuyasha grunted as he hauled himself up to a large cave.

"We're here," he declared as Kagome slid off of him. Inuyasha crossed his arms almost immediately and began walking into the dark depths of Totosai's humble abode. Kagome followed him closely; throughout her journey across Feudal Japan, she had harboured a fear for caves. Nothing good ever happened in a cave.

"INUYASHA!" Totosai's screech was heard. Inuyasha lowered his ears and his face set into a mean scowl.

"Live somewhere normal, old man," he spat as Totosai approached them, sitting atop a floating Momo. "I went through hell and back to climb up here. The least you could do is carve a cave closer to the ground."

Totosai glared at the young hanyou before him. "Man up, Inuyasha. I thought your demon abilities would make it a breeze for you to climb up here."

Inuyasha's eye twitched and he smacked Totosai. "It was a breeze for me, but it tired my mate out, and I do not appreciate when something we have to do for you tires her out."

Kagome put her hands on her hips and glowered at Inuyasha. "Be nice, and don't hit him! We're here so he could take your fang for our son's sword. Totosai doesn't have to help us, but he is and he's doing it from the goodness in his heart."

Inuyasha snorted. "Don't underestimate him, Kagome."

"Stop this jibber jabber and follow me! I have to yank your tooth out before I can do anything concerning a sword." Totosai shut the bickering couple up and made them follow him into the depth of his cave. Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's arm, the grotto was beginning to spook her even more than she had anticipated it to. Sensing her discomfort, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to his body.

Feeling the warmth of Inuyasha seep into her pores, Kagome relaxed just a little bit. Her old paranoia was kicking in, but she had no reason to be afraid. They were in the home of an old friend and her mate was right beside her. He would make sure nothing ever happening to her. Still, caves never equaled to happy memories for her.

"Now, Inuyasha," Totosai whirled around with a pair of giant pliers in his hands, "open up!"

Inuyasha's eyes widened. "What? You're gonna stick that in my mouth? Hell no!"

Kagome giggled. "Come on, Inuyasha."

He glared at his wife. "Why don't you open up and have a giant hunk of metal shoved into your mouth!"

"You wouldn't let that happen to me, would you?" Kagome was pushing his buttons and he knew it. He would so punish her later. But at that moment… he had a pair of mean looking pliers waiting for him. Keeping his mouth firmly clamped shut, he glared at Totosai with as much intensity as he could muster up. Kagome pulled his hand into hers and smiled at him.

"Inuyasha, think about it… for a brief moment of pain, your son can have a sword like the Tetsusaiga."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Keh, I'm not afraid of pain. I fucking killed Naraku—I do not want a piece of metal in my mouth. Especially one that big."

Totosai rolled his eyes. "You chicken." Dropping the giant pliers, Totosai picked up one that was ten times smaller and teasingly smiled at Inuyasha. "Better?"

"I oughta kill you."

"Just open up!"

Grumbling, Inuyasha opened his mouth wide and, in a matter of seconds, Totosai had yanked his left canine fang out. Pouting, Inuyasha had his arms crossed firmly in front of his chest, displeased that Totosai had to pull his tooth out in such a barbaric fashion. Kagome sighed and rubbed his arm.

"What did you think, Inuyasha? He'd use some magic potion to pull your fang out?"

His silence meant that that was exactly what expected. Totosai dropped his fang into a glowing purple vial and proceeded to grin with no shame at the couple before him. Clapping his hands together, he said: "All done! Come back again in a fortnight. Oh, and when you return…" He clapped his hand twice and the wall behind him began to move, revealing a long staircase. "Do take the stairs."

Before Inuyasha could even react, Kagome said the s word and had him pummeling to the ground.

"TOTOSAIIIIII!" Inuyasha roared from his position on the ground.

.xx.

"I cannot believe he didn't fucking tell me that there was a staircase," Inuyasha grumbled to himself as he and Kagome made it down the mountain –via the staircase- and into the forest. "That would've saved us a lot of time. Go figure! A staircase!"

Kagome shook her head in amusement. "Oh, Inuyasha…" Before she even said the last syllable of his name, her attention became much focused and her body was rigid, to match. Inuyasha knew the look on her face very well and immediately, unsheathed his Tetsusaiga.

"Where?" He whispered.

"It's coming from that direction," she pointed northeast. "It's really faint, but it's there."

Nodding, Inuyasha crouched so that his wife could climb onto his back before he shot in the direction that she guided him to. Dodging trees, Inuyasha kept his eyes focused on the unknown destination—jewel shard. Despite the fact that their mortal enemy had been defeated, the search for the shards was proving to be as stressful as it had ever been.

Especially because of the unspoken fact that Kagome had to become pregnant.

Very soon.

"Left," she whispered and he did as he was told. Screeching to a halt, Inuyasha gawked at a small village coming into view. Kagome slid off of his back and her expression matched his. They were definitely not expecting a village. Perhaps a strengthened bunny rabbit, but not a village.

"If there's a crazy baby eating rat in this village, I will snap." Inuyasha snorted and Kagome had to laugh. He tried to exude a mean disposition, but Inuyasha was nothing more than a cuddly teddy bear. Well, my cuddly teddy bear, Kagome amended inwardly.

"I don't sense crazy baby eating rats," She assured him but he caught onto her playful tone. Shooting her a glare, he proceeded to walk towards the village, determined to get in, get the shard, and get out. The aura of the shard was getting stronger and stronger as Kagome got closer to the village. Hopefully some children were playing catch with the shard and Inuyasha and she didn't have to do too much damage.

Right, and the sky is red, the grass is blue, and Inuyasha is gonna dance the Macarena wearing a tutu and pigtails. Kagome's own sarcastic remark caused her to giggle to herself. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head.

"Funny mental image," she assured him. Taking her explanation as worthy, Inuyasha tried to find somebody for them to speak to. The village looked quaint; mothers were chasing children, grandmothers were sitting around their huts, fathers and grandfathers were in the gardens, ploughing, pulling, and wedding their vegetation. It was nothing more than a regular village in Feudal Japan. Nothing that Inuyasha and Kagome hadn't seen before.

"Pardon me," Kagome called to a woman walking across the dirt path with a baby on her back. Looking over at them, the young girl's eyes widened as soon as she digested what Inuyasha was. His expression was set into a scowl, his arms were crossed, and his ears were tweaking involuntarily.

"He's harmless," Kagome immediately stated. Taking a step towards the girl, Kagome decided an introduction would suffice. "I'm Kagome and this is my mate, Inuyasha."

The girl's jaw dropped. "Oh my… the two that destroyed Naraku?"

Inuyasha's scowl softened just a little bit and Kagome nodded. "Yes, that's us."

"You two are mated?"

Inuyasha was annoyed by this point. "Yes, we're mated, why is that a surprise? Now, is there a village leader here we can fucking talk to?"

Kagome shot Inuyasha a glare. "Be. Nice." Her tone had a note of finality in it and Inuyasha knew not to argue back. Muttering profanities under his breath, he took a step back and let his wife do what she did best: coax frightened villagers.

"I apologize on behalf of Inuyasha," Kagome said serenely to the frightened village girl. "He has a temper. We would very much like—"

"ATTACK!"

Kagome's head whipped to the left to see three giant Birds of Paradise descending onto the village. Her eyes zoned in on the middle bird—the heftier of the other ones. She took a step away from the village girl and she took the opportunity to scurry off. Inuyasha withdrew his sword and Kagome pointed to the middle bird. "That one!"

"Right. Stay here." Without another word, he bounded towards the birds and, with one swift slice of his sword, incinerated them all before running back to his wife with a jewel shard clasped in his hand. The villagers were in awe. In the blink of an eye, this demon was able to take down the birds without so much as breaking a sweat. Dropping the shard into Kagome's palm, Inuyasha put his sword back in his sheath.

"That was easy," she giggled and he rolled his eyes.

"Keh. Let's go now."

Nodding, Kagome and Inuyasha turned around and were on their way out of the village when the girl from earlier grabbed Kagome's arm. The Shard Hunters turned around to see her give them an apologetic look. The baby was still strapped to her back.

"I apologize for my rudeness earlier," she murmured and Inuyasha just about had enough.

"We get it," he yanked Kagome away from the girl and glared at her. The other villagers were running towards them, wanting to hear what their savior was going to say. Kagome was about to say something but Inuyasha shot her a nasty look and she knew that she should keep quiet. He was having one of his moments.

"We get that you don't want us in your village because she's human and I'm half-human and we're married. We get that you do not believe that we're the same Inuyasha and Kagome that killed Naraku. And we also get that you all are fucking two faced; as soon as I killed those ugly birds, your tune changed. Well guess what? I could fucking care less if the birds got you. All I wanted was the damn jewel shard and now that we have it, my wife and I are on our damn way." Turning around, he nodded at Kagome. "Let's go."

Giving the girl an apologetic look, Kagome ran after Inuyasha without a second look back. The village girl was stunned and stood there, staring at the hanyou that just told her off. An elderly man hobbled up to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Calm down, Bijou," he murmured, "rumour has it that the half-demon that killed Naraku has a temper."

Looking up at the old man, Bijou nodded, blinking back her tears. "I know. I just… I didn't…"

The old man pulled her into an embrace. "Look at it from their point of view. Everybody shuns them because of the unity they've created it. His patience wore thin and you were the only person he was able to yell at."

Bijou sighed. "I get it, Grandfather. Thank you…"

.xx.

"Did you have to be so damn rude?" Kagome scolded Inuyasha. "You'd think that after three years, you'd be used to all of the two-faced incidents."

"No," Inuyasha scowled, "I'm not. Why? Just because I'm a half-demon, it automatically makes me not good enough to be a mate?"

Sighing, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's arm and made him look at her. "Listen," she whispered, "I'm here. I'm yours. Totosai is forging a sword for our son. Who cares what everybody else thinks—you have me, and their opinions could matter less."

Inuyasha's ears lowered. "I know but… I don't know!"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "That makes a boatload of sense."

"Keh," Inuyasha looked away from her and shoved his hands back into his haori sleeves. "It just makes me realize how unworthy I am for you."

Grabbing his forelocks, Kagome yanked at his head so that it was millimetres away from hers. "I want to be with you, which is why I offered to be the one you mate with to avoid dying because of your curse. I am looking forward to spending eternity with you, Inuyasha."

His eyes were focused on one thing only: her lips. As she waited for him to react, he did the only thing a rationale male would do under the given circumstance. He kissed Kagome. A part of her was anticipating such a move, yet the other half of her was unsure of how he was going to react. In a sense, she was glad he reacted in the way that he did. Inuyasha's lips coaxed hers into submission and she could feel a pool of heat gathering in her core. The scent of her arousal assaulted Inuyasha's nose like an ambush and he was all but ready to take her right there.

Inuyasha's arms were tightly wrapped around her waist as he tried to feel the most of her. Gods, I love her… He thought wildly as the kiss turned from a tender caress to a frenzy of passion. Kagome's hands dug through his hair and Inuyasha growled, in a primitive manner.

Take. Mate. His youkai commanded. Inuyasha knew that was what his youkai wanted. Hell, that was what his human wanted too. Hesitantly, he pulled away from Kagome and before he could say anything, she spoke for him.

"Let's make a baby."

Smirking, he picked her up bridal style and bounded towards Kaede's village. He intended for them to mate on a bed this time—a bed that was quaintly waiting for them in herera.

"One step ahead of you, wench." He replied. While Inuyasha bound through the forest, Kagome's soft lips were working on his neck. He felt himself get excited and it was just a matter of moments before he took her.

Punished her.

Made her scream his name.

.xx.