Interest

A/N Okay - here we go with the next chapter. First, thanks again for the positive comments; much appreciated. and second, sorry for the slightly rushed next few chapters. The tried to keep to the restraints of the challenge, even though I missed the deadline by WAY too long when I originally wrote it.


Summary: Miroku comes to terms with his new condition
Theme: Puppies

All the following warnings MAY apply to all chapters, but WILL apply at sometime in the story: MPREG, anal, oral, humor, N/C, H/C, hand job, blow job, WAFF, M/M, Rim, Spanking (mild)

Chapter 22 - Puppies

There are points in a man’s life where an event changes the way you view yourself and the world around you. Miroku’s first was learning that he was condemned to live a short life because his family was cursed.

His second was watching his father die.

There had been so many since then that sometimes he forgot them all, but he had a feeling he was never going to forget this one. Pregnancy had managed to surpass any life-altering event he’d ever had. By the time he was waddling in order to get places, following some of the most grinding hip pain he’d ever experienced, he hadn’t been able to deny it any longer.

He’d honestly hoped for it to be a parasite.

Walking back from the village, Miroku admitted that a parasite this large would have been one of the more disgusting incidents of his life, and perhaps he wouldn’t have lived through it, but he wouldn’t have lost his masculinity. He wouldn’t have women and men of the village stare at him as he walked to Kaede’s.

Well, perhaps that wasn’t completely accurate, but this was the first time people had watched Miroku with a look of stunned, disbelieving shock, with that little touch of ‘you poor bastard’ from the men, and ‘now you’ll see what we go through’ from the women.

The latter was particularly disturbing.

This last trip, he’d heard women talking incessantly in voices a touch louder than normal.

“With little Juuro, my back ached so much I don’t think I slept more than an hour at a time for the last two months.”

“Did you have heartburn with your boy? My mother said it was a sure sign of having a boy, when you had heartburn so badly you felt like your chest was on fire.”

“I had gas so loud it woke up Minoru next door with my last girl.”

The last was when Miroku had given up waiting for Inuyasha and started back to the hut on his own. He couldn’t listen to them any longer!

Huffing, Miroku paused a moment to lean against a tree. His whole body ached in all the wrong places. The last month, even walking back to his hut was exhausting. Inuyasha carried him at least a quarter of the way, these days. Miroku closed his eyes as he realized he was hoping to hear Inuyasha come stomping up behind him and offer to pick him up so Miroku could damn well rest.

Humiliating, to be this way. He hated it. He hated the misshapen way he looked, so swollen and deformed. He couldn’t stand, or sit, or do damn well anything anymore without issue. He was kicked and prodded from inside at all hours of the night and day. And his stomach was so HUGE.

He’d never realized how hard it was to put on sandals when you couldn’t see your own feet.

Growing up with the knowledge that he had a hole in his hand that needed special care, that would remain a danger no matter how hard he trained, or how physically fit he became, Miroku was no stranger to the idea of an…uncooperative body. Like those born with poor eyesight, or lacking a limb, he was aware that sometimes, one had to accept one’s body and its flaws.

But this wasn’t a flaw a man should have to accept! Even his balance was precarious when he was doing nothing more than standing! It was ridiculous. Complaining about it to Kaede had done no good whatsoever. She’d tsked, and looked at him as though he were the most childish being ever made.

And then claimed his lack of balance was his fault. The last vestige of masculinity – not that she phrased it that way. He didn’t have the balance of a woman, she said. Too high, like a man’s, even if it was a little lower than normal, what with his hips shifting in unnatural ways.

Kaede had called them feminine hips, the last time he’d been to visit. Inuyasha was a bit more honest.

“You’ve got an ass like a girl now, Monk.”

The hanyou’s admiring tone when he’d said it did nothing to make the idea any more palatable to Miroku.

A fat backside was not a good look for a man, no matter what other unnatural things were going on inside of his body. Besides-

A small bush crackled next to him and Miroku’s nerves jittered. It was merely a squirrel, but it could have been something else a lot more dangerous. There wasn’t time to rest, not without Inuyasha here. Holding onto his staff tightly, he pulled the rest of his body behind the shakujou in a disgraceful waddle and cursed at himself.

Stupid. Stupid to come away from the village due to a few comments that were playing games with his head. Not when he’d likely fall over if he tried to use his staff for defense. He couldn’t defend himself any better than a small child with a twig, at this point. Reaching inside his clothing for the ofuda he had tucked away, just for reassurance, he felt his stomach brush against his hand even though he knew he hadn’t been close enough to touch it.

It had moved. His own stomach had moved enough to brush against his hand.

The thing inside him had moved enough to brush against his hand.

Miroku swallowed, rather dizzy. Looking at the bulge in front of him that was causing him so much grief, his hand crumpled the ofuda in his fist. Trembling, he stared as he felt it again.

A small, soft something bumped up against the side of his hand. That had never happened. He’d made sure it hadn’t. He hadn’t touched his belly deliberately since Kaede had told him the news. His emotions shuddered worse than his body whenever he’d felt that odd, stretching shove from small limbs inside of him.

He’d thought it would be so disgusting to feel it from the outside as well that it had been easy to avoid.

Inuyasha rubbed his belly enough for both of them. And if his eyes looked a little sad when Miroku didn’t return Inuyasha’s rather wondering smile, it hadn’t been enough to change Miroku’s mind. Feeling his belly would change nothing.

His stomach moved again, a small, sudden jump that barely bumped his hand. Then another. And another. In short, jerky little thumps that were almost like…

“Hiccups?”

He stared at himself, amazed. Something small enough to be inside of him, and it…had hiccups. Miroku’s lips twitched before he could stop himself, remember being there the first time one of the local woman’s baby had hiccups. The look of shock on the little thing’s face had lightened everyone’s day.

And the same thing was going on inside of him. The being in his stomach was…having hiccups. Little lungs heaving, little mouth open, little face as surprised as the babe in that woman’s arms.

Miroku swallowed, the ofuda dropping from his hand as he loosened his fingers and cupped the top of his rounded stomach. The small nudge against his hand made his body start to tingle, painful pins and needles that spread over his skin. His eyes stung.

A crash behind him nearly had him fall on his back as he was recalled to where he was, but Inuyasha’s angry voice rang out before he could panic.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, trying to get back home alone, monk? You’re supposed to wait for me!”

Inuyasha didn’t whip him around, merely held on to one arm and stomped around to Miroku’s front. Miroku stared at him. The world felt like it had shifted in the past few seconds, and for the life of him, he couldn’t think of what to say. He felt another small bump from inside his skin, and followed his first impulse. Reaching over, Miroku grabbed Inuyasha’s free hand.

“Inuyasha, feel this.”

“Monk, don’t think you can pulls some crazy shit just to get out of-“

Inuyasha froze as his hand was placed on the mound that Miroku had been cursing for months now. His ears quivered wildly. The belly and Inuyasha jumped at nearly the same moment and Miroku’s lips quirked again.

“Wha-“

“The baby has the hiccups.”

Inuyasha spread his hand out over the top of Miroku’s stomach and caressed it, staring at him. “Miroku-“ His voice was oddly soft for having been so angry.

“I never knew babies could have hiccups this small.” Miroku bit his lip to keep from saying more. His body felt light and odd, and the urge to babble was a bit too strong for comfort.

Inuyasha swallowed and his other hand came out around Miroku’s hips. Pulling him in, the bulge of Miroku’s stomach between them, he lay his head on top of Miroku’s. Miroku’s entire body prickled all over again.

Inuyasha shook as he murmured against his ear. “That’s the first time you called it a baby.”

“No…” Miroku strained to remember. Was it? He could remember lamenting the size of his belly, the discomfort of it all. The ripping away of his masculinity. But had he really never said it? “I suppose…”

“It is, Miroku. You’ve been acting like this is the end of the fucking world. You call the baby ‘it,’ or ‘this thing.’ Like it’s some kind of monster.” Inuyasha drew back and looked into his face, his ears flat against his head. “But it’s mine too, you know. My baby. I don’t care if it’s a freaking hanyou, and I don’t care if it’s not normal that you have it. I want it, Miroku. And if you don’t-“

Inuyasha stared at him, so much pain on his face that Miroku could hardly breathe. ‘Afterwards’ had never occurred to him. Just the now, with this distended belly and all it entailed. But afterwards…

The baby hiccupped again and Miroku palmed the spot, his fingers going over Inuyasha’s. “I never meant that-“

Inuyasha stared at him fiercely. “You don’t have to take care of it or anything. I know you hate this. I know it, all right? But at least I’m not raping you anymore! And…there’s a fucking baby, Miroku. It’s… it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard of and you fucking hate it.”

“I don’t hate it.” And the sex. It hadn’t felt THAT bad, not the first few times a night. And they still had sex all the time…

“You do. You tell me all the damn time! When I touch you, when you’re clumsy, when I have to help you get up off the futon. And I’d rather leave and take the baby than have it grow up with you hating it, Miroku.” Inuyasha’s voice broke and Miroku clutched at his hand as the hanyou tried to pull away.

“I would never hate it.” Miroku’s throat felt so tight he could barely speak. “I hate- I hate being pregnant. I hate looking this unnatural way, and having my body like this but… not the baby…” He’d never thought of it as a baby. Inuyasha was right, he realized, a bit horrified by himself. The baby had been ‘the thing in his stomach.’

It had never been the baby that would one day be outside of his stomach. In his arms. Looking at the world through eyes that might look just like his own. Or like Inuyasha.

It was hard to breathe all over again.

“Miroku, don’t lie. You are always such a fucking liar.” Inuyasha didn’t remove his hand, though. His fingers stroked across Miroku’s belly softly as he stared at it. “I’m sorry it ended like this. I wouldn’t have-“

“I know.” Miroku looked down at their hands. He thought of Inuyasha over the past few months. Hovering over him, stroking his hand over Miroku’s body, sneaking up behind him at night to make love to him, curling up afterwards with his hand over Miroku’s stomach, nearly purring into his ear.

Staring at him with those huge golden eyes that could be so fierce and so heartbreakingly sad at the same time.

Miroku took a deep breath, feeling like the most oblivious idiot ever to grace the earth. “I- I’m not.”

Inuyasha’s ears swiveled limply as he drew his hand away. “You’re not what?”

“I’m- “ How could he have been so caught up in all of this that he’d forgotten how fragile Inuyasha could be? “I’m not sorry it happened.”

Inuyasha’s ear went flat again. “I told you, don’t lie, monk. Not about this.”

“I’m not lying about this any more than I lied about- “ What hadn’t he lied about? “…than I lied about liking what you did to my body. Sexually,” he added, when Inuyasha looked blank.

Miroku could feel the flush coming as Inuyasha stared at him.

“All you’ve talked about is how much you hate it.”

“Having a big belly. That’s what I hate. Not a child. Whether it’s human or youkai or hanyou, it wouldn’t matter. I would never hate a child.” Miroku took a deep, steadying breath. “But..I hadn’t thought about it as…a baby…yet.”

Inuyasha leaned back, staring at him hard.

“I hadn’t!”

There was a small smile, barely there, like Inuyasha’s face was trying the expression on after a long time away from it. “How could you not think about the baby? What the hell did you think was inside you?”

“I was trying not to think about it!”

Inuyasha shook his head. “You’re insane, you know that? First guy I ever heard of having a baby, and you don’t even think about it?”

“Well I was a little more preoccupied over how hard it is to urinate when I can’t see my member than I was over what was coming…after.”

Inuyasha reached for him again and nuzzled against his hair. “You’re an idiot, monk.”

“So you’ve said.” Miroku wanted to feel aggrieved, but he was still struggling with the idea of an ‘after.’ With a baby. With their baby.

“Good thing you’re a cute idiot.”

Miroku flushed again, appalled. “Inuyasha, I look like someone who swallowed a melon.”

“Yeah. You’re all round and wobbly and cute. Like a baby chick.”

“Inuyasha!”

“What? I like it.” Inuyasha picked him up and started walking back to their hut. “But if you try to walk back home alone again, I’ll find some way to blister your ass, cute or not, monk.”

Miroku growled under his breath and stopped mid-exhalation as his stomach twitched again. He slowly prodded it once, feeling the delicate probe back against his fingertips.

How had he ignored the wonder in this?

After a few minutes of silence, Inuyasha rumbled in his throat, his voice rough. “You…really didn’t think of it as a baby?”

“No,” Miroku whispered.

Shaking his head, Inuyasha continued to walk with him. “Can’t believe you didn’t think about what was going to happen when the baby actually came out.”

Miroku’s hand stilled. Came out? No, he hadn’t thought about that. At all.

Buddha save him, how in all the hells was the baby going to come out?!