Happy Bath Ending

A/N: Hello everyone and I'm really sorry for my hiatus. I got promoted at work (yay?...) and have been working non-stop. I'd say in the past month I've had maybe 5 days off total. My body feels like someone threw it down a flight of steps and my brain is mush. I still am writing, even if it is only 1 or 2 sentences a night. I hope you enjoy this smidgen, and I'll have more up probably shortly after new years. I hope everyone had a great X-Mas and will have a wonderful new year. Champagne and kisses!

***Oh and Head Trauma will start getting regular updates starting late Jan or early Feb*** (put the gun away Nikkie :P )

Sesshoumaru’s eyes fluttered and he opened them, looking over at Inuyasha. Somehow the hanyou had woken before him and gotten dressed, but was laying on top of the covers, still beside him, reading a comic that he had stolen from Miroku. Sesshoumaru inwardly smiled at how Inuyasha had placed his hand protectively over his stomach. Sesshoumaru flexed his fingers, tickling the pregnant belly.

“So you’re finally awake.” Inuyasha’s voice wasn’t warm and loving, in fact, quite the contrary. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes in confusion and opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but upon inhaling, he groaned. He had forgotten his ‘deal’.

“She said she’s here to talk to me, but that you said that you have to give me permission or something like that. Is that true?” Inuyasha tossed away the comic and was picking at his nails, not looking at Sesshoumaru. Seeing him there, picking his nails, eerily reminded the youkai of their father. It was a trait all three of them shared, picking at their nails when they were angry or stressed.

Sesshoumaru straightened himself in the bed and sat up. “Koi, it’s not what you think it is.”

A small laugh came from Inuyasha. “Oh, so now the Western Lord thinks he knows what I think. Tell me, brother, what am I thinking about you right now? I mean really, am I some sort of bargaining chip now?” Firery golden eyes met still sleepy ones, and Sesshomaru sighed.

“I won’t play games with you, Inuyasha.” He leaned away when his brother slammed his hands down on the covers in frustration.

“She tried to kill me!! US!! Do you make it a habit of inviting my enemies here?” He roared, pointing at his stomach. “Don’t you even fucking touch me!” He cried, snatching away from hands that reached to hold him. He pulled away too fast and his feet got tangled in part of the sheet and he fell off of the bed and landed on his side with a loud ‘thump‘.

“INUYASHA!” Sesshoumaru leapt from the bed to gather up his fallen mate. Fear filled his chest, for the angle that Inuyasha had fallen, a great deal of the impact was absorbed by his stomach. The bed wasn’t terribly high off the ground, but high enough to that if he sat on the edge his feet just barely touched the ground. He cradled Inuyasha protectively, brushing away the tears that had slipped from the hanyou’s precious eyes.

“My love, my heart, are you injured? Shall I call for Midoriko?” Sesshoumaru’s heart broke at seeing the painful grimmace on Inuyasha’s face.

“N-No. Just help me back in the bed. Please.” Inuyasha’s words were soft, and his brother could feel the pain in his side as if it had been him that had fallen. With a touch as light as a feather, he gently scooped him up and placed him back in the bed. Wordlessly, he kneeled and opened Inuyasha’s robe, gasping at the ugly purplish bruise right below his right breast. He felt like crying. He hung his head, unable to look at his mate.

“Shou…it’s your fault that Sango is here. It isn’t your fault that I fell. I can’t handle that pain and these new emotions. It’s like I can feel the guilt that you felt for not telling me about Sango coming here, and its like tripled now from me falling. I’m ok,” He reassured, wincing and holding his side. “You’ve hurt me worse than this,” He added, and then slapped his forehead. He was trying to make his brother feel better, not worse. He ran his hand through long, silvery white tresses, whimpering. He felt initially betrayed and confused as to why his former friend had shown up, but now such trifles didn’t matter.

Sesshoumaru finally raised his head and rested it on Inuyasha’s thigh, looking at him. “She came yesterday, but I told her that that was our day and to come back to talk to you. I promised to kill her if she caused you harm. And look, your skin is bruised like an old apple!”

Inuyasha scowled. “You can’t blame her for me falling. You just want to kill her.”

Sesshoumaru managed a small smile. “Now you know what I’m thinking.” Inuyasha laughed and wrapped his arms awkwardly around his brother, as his stomach was partially in the way. Sesshoumaru leaned up and kissed him gently and sweetly.

“I suppose one day this love situation will get better and we won’t be so tense.”

Inuyasha smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I suppose we shall address the dirty slayer.”

Inuyasha laughed again. “The dirty miko, the dirty slayer, were all my friends dirty?”

Sesshoumaru shrugged. “They weren’t very clean. Especially the miko! You could smell her for miles when she was on her moon. Did I ever accost you when she was bleeding?”

Inuyasha thought. “No! No, you sure didn’t. Awww…and here I thought it was because you loved me.” He batted his eyes, making Sesshoumaru playfully nip at his cheek. Inuyasha looked down at his crotch and back at his brother.

“Hey, if this thing doesn’t ever go away and I’m stuck with it, I promise not to let it get all yucky like Kagome’s.”

Sesshoumaru coughed and then smirked. “This Sesshoumaru approves.” They both laughed at their immature humor and poked and tickled each other before going to see what the hell Sango wanted.
****************************************************

When Sango had arrived and Sakura reluctantly told Inuyasha of her presence, he had instructed her to show Sango to the library and keep an eye on her. Chisato had heard that the slayer had come, but since it was under the direction of her son, she hesitated to rip her head off and instead opted to sit on the chaise across from her. Of course, Rin sat next to her, both of them dainty and porcelain-like. Sakura remained standing behind them, ready to attack the unwelcome guest if need be. Suzuka was sent to the market, far, far away. Miroku was somewhere hiding, as he had been extremely sheepish following previous events with Suzuka.

“Oka-Oka, I don’t like her.” Rin’s voice was loud and condescending, downright disrespectful since ‘her’ was sitting right across from her.

Chisato smiled. “Neither do I, my Lotus flower.”

Rin beamed at the pet name. “Can we feed her to AhUn?” Sango shifted uncomfortably at that question.

Chisato gave her a chastising look. “Now, now Rin. What is she?”

Rin pursed her lips and thought. “Ummm…a bitch?” She asked hopefully, thinking that she had the right answer. Sakura chuckled, but straightened up when Chisato shot her a dirty look.

“No, Rin, try again. Something nicer, perhaps.”

Rin thought, reddening because she didn’t know the answer. “What did we have last night?” Chisato gently coaxed.

Rin lit up. “Guests!”

“That’s correct. And do we feed guests to AhUn?”

“No.” Rin pouted, her lip stretching out for at least 2 miles.

Chisato patted the girl’s head, her gaze never leaving Sango. “That’s right. We don’t feed guests to AhUn, no matter how much they are a scab on the ass of the world.”

“Ok, that’s it!” Sango yelled, standing up.

Sakura quickly unsheathed her tanto.

“I’m sick of all of you! You, with your damn knife, you with your stuck up bitchy self, and you,” She said, pointing at Rin, “I just plain hate children.”

“Well, we don’t care for you either. So what do you want?” All of them turned to see Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru standing at the library doors. Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and beckoned for Sakura, Rin, and Chisato to follow him. “Inuyasha needs to be alone to talk to his guest. I’ll be right outside,” He said to Inuyasha, caressing a chubby cheek lovingly.

Chisato snorted. “Fine. It’s tea and cookie time anyway,” She said haughtily, sashaying out of the room, her protégé and knife wielding servant in tow. Rin turned and blew Sango a serious raspberry before ducking out of the room.

Sango slowly sat down, looking almost suspiciously at Inuyasha. He was moving stiffly, but was largely pregnant and very gorgeous. His skin seemed to have a honeyed hue to it, and due to the markings on his face, she could see that he was mated and had undergone changes to make his inner youkai more prominent.

“I um…I just wanted…to tell you that…” She trailed off again, looking at her hands.

“Sesshoumaru said you only have ten minutes, Sango. Make them count.” Inuyasha’s voice was neutral, and it snapped her back on track.

“Yes. I first wanted to apologize for trying to kill you. I was…blinded by grief, to say the least.” She briefly met his eyes before looking away. He nodded and gestured for her to continue.

“Naraku killed Kohaku. In a most vile and disgusting way. I want revenge. Kagura and I want that bastard dead. We are willing to assist in any way, even up to giving our lives.”

Inuyasha nodded. “It may come to that before it’s all said and done,” He murmured, shifting slightly. Sango swallowed and reached into her pocket.

“I’m serious, Inuyasha. I’ll even give you all this.” She handed him the carefully wrapped bundle, and he gasped upon opening it. The light pink glow bathed his face, and he looked up in awe at Sango.

“This…this was Kohaku’s shard, wasn’t it?” The fat tear that slid down her face was his answer.

“He took away everything from me,” She whispered in a tight voice, clenching her hands so tight that her fingernails embedded into her palm and bled a bit.

Inuyasha stood and waddled over to Sango, embracing her. “I know. We will all work together and defeat him. I promise,” He said, stroking her under her chin. He walked over to the doors and motioned to Sesshoumaru, who was literally right outside of the doors.

“Sango has given us another shard, and a purified one at that! Where are the other shards?” He showed his skeptical brother the pink shard, and Sesshoumaru grunted and walked over to a dresser in the corner, pulling a bundle from underneath several cloths. He walked to the middle of the room and knelt, unfurling the bundle. Hundreds of purple slivers gleamed evilly in the light, the glare hurting Sango’s eyes. She looked at Inuyasha, then at Sesshoumaru, noticing both of them were looking angrier by the moment.

“Shou…there were more shards, weren’t they?” Inuyasha’s voice sounded slightly panicked. He watched as his brother counted the shards individually, by tens, by twenties, by fifties, and by hundreds and was still coming up short.

“Yes, there were.” Sesshoumaru looked up murderously at Sango, making the slayer scoot herself away from him. Sesshoumaru balled his fists up, his eyes flooding with red. “That bitch! That goddamned piece of shit whore! I’LL KILL HER!” He roared turning around and punching his fist straight through the chaise Sango was just sitting on.

Inuyasha stroked his shoulder, trying to calm him down. “Tell me, how many did she take? How could she have taken them?”

Sesshoumaru inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to settle his rattled nerves. “The only opportunity was when she was trying to purify them. She must have had some in her hand or something when she ran from the house. How could I have been so stupid?!!” He admonished, running frustrated hands through his hair.

Sango, who had silently been watching, was in awe. The shards were still purple, so apparently Kagome had been tainted enough to not be able to purify the shards anymore.

“Kikiyo.” Both brothers looked at Sango, wondering why she had said the other miko’s name.

“What about her?” Sesshoumaru asked defensively.

Sango looked thoughtful. “If Kagome can’t or won’t purify the shards, then all we have left is Kikiyo, right?”

Inuyasha groaned. “I haven’t seen her for at least a few months. And if we could find her, why would she help? She hates me, despite knowing the truth about things.” Sesshoumaru gave him an odd look, and sat back.

Sango gave Inuyasha a bored look. “I’ll ask Kaede if she has seen her. If I find her, I’ll see if I can convince her. Kikiyo owes you. She kept you away from your intended, didn’t she?” Sesshoumaru’s features relaxed and he nodded. Perhaps Sango had some clarity after all.

Sango stood and walked to the library doors. She paused and turned to smile weakly at Inuyasha. “Thank you for believing in me and giving me another chance. I promise, Kagura and I won’t fail you.” She blushed and bowed, backing out of the room.

Sesshoumaru turned and rewrapped the shards, placing them back into the dresser. To be safe, he placed the purified shard in a different dresser in an adjacent corner. No use risking cross contamination. He walked back over to Inuyasha and protectively held him and stroked his hair. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” He whispered, tightening his embrace. “Never.”

Inuyasha sighed and closed his eyes, leaning on his mate for support.
***********************************

A/N: I wanted it to be a lil emotional and a lil humorous. Who thinks Rin is getting too big for her britches???