The Lucky Ones
Chapter Thirty-Eight
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The Lucky Ones
By Terri Botta
Disclaimer: I don’t own
Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I’m poor so don’t
sue.
Rating: R for later chapters.
Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome,
Miroku/Sango
Summary: Sometimes Fate hands
you a gift you never thought you’d ever get, and it’s up to you to accept it
for what it is.
Feedback to:
tci100@psu.edu
Website: http://www.wordsmiths.net/Botta
A/N: Just wanted you guys to
know. Some people have thought that *I* am the artist of the Lucky One’s fan
art. I’m *NOT.* Kristin of www.kristinsstudio.com
is the talented artist of the Lucky Ones fan art. Go see it if you haven’t yet.
Click Gallery, then Inuyasha.
*******
Thirty-Eight
Mama was
awakened at
go over to Tokyo House before Yukio left for
without him. Considering she hadn’t been able to get to sleep until almost
after only 5½ hours
of rest but there was nothing to be done for it. She scrambled to put on
clothes, do something with her hair and find the napkin her grandson (one of
her fourteen)
had scribbled the security code on before Souta
dragged her out of the shrine and the scant two blocks to the front entrance of
the Fushikenwa’s Tokyo property. The code worked and
the tall gate swung silently open, and they were faced with the long, winding
driveway that led back into the trees. All they could see of what appeared to
be a very
large house were the spires on the roof.
They were
about to start walking when a small man driving a golf cart putted up to them.
“Good
morning, Higurashi-san. I’ve been instructed to take
you up to the house,” the man said.
Mama bowed
and smiled with relief. “Thank you.”
“
enthused as he hopped into the seat next to the driver.
“No,” both
the man and Mama said in unison.
rear bench of the golf cart and the driver putted them along the tree-lined
driveway to the house. The trees were so tall and so dense that they soon could
not see anything of
the street noise.
“It’s so
green and beautiful,” Mama commented. “I never knew such a place still existed
in
“Most don’t
and we like it that way,” the driver said. “You have no idea of the kinds of
barrier spells we have on this place to protect it, not to mention what we had
to do to keep it from getting flattened when the Americans bombed
during the War.”
His voice
had changed a bit and she turned her head to see that he had altered his
appearance. Instead of the small man there was now a lizard-like creature in
his place wearing a polo shirt and a pair of
shorts.
to,’ she thought. A quick glance at Souta
revealed that he was looking a little stunned too.
“What? You
thought I was human?” the driver asked irritably. “Newsflash,
kid. Pretty much anyone who works for a youkai family is either hanyou
or youkai. Get used to it.”
The driver
took them to the front entrance of a monstrous house that was more like a
castle than anything else in its scale and grandeur. It had a wide sweeping
front porch with the classic
roof and a huge wooden door. They got out of the golf cart and approached the
hous ths the driver putted off somewhere, presumably to the garage. Going up to
the massive wooden door with block carvings and giant metal bolts, she moved to
knock when it swung open more silently than she thought physically possible.
“Oh…”
Inuyasha
stood leaning against the now open doorway, dressed in a cut-off gray muscle
shirt and a pair of low riding gray sweatpants, revealing most of his flat stomach.
He looked disheveled and yawned a bit as he blinked sleepily at them.
“Morning,”
he greeted, stepping back and allowing them to enter.
They
crossed the threshold into the magnificent dwelling and hastily removed their
shoes. Inuyasha, in his typical fashion, was barefoot.
breathed, taking in the wide hallway and high ceilings.
Inuyasha
just shrugged. “You should see our house in
I built that one to look like a Northwestern hunting lodge. The front great room
is nine meters high.”
“You built
it? Did you build this house too?” Souta asked,
wide-eyed.
He nodded.
“I’ve built all the houses we’ve lived in. More or less.
I designed them too.”
“You design
houses?” Mama questioned.
call it… architect.”
Kagome fell into being a doctor. The Houjou clan saw
the work I did on the first house I built Kagome and wanted me to build theirs.
Then other daimyos wanted houses and it went from there. I have construction
crews and clients all over the world.”
“That’s
wonderful, Inuyasha,” she said, although architect was not a career she would
have imagined for him.
“It’s nice.
I like it.”
“Do you
design houses for youkais?” she asked.
somewhere, I design it. I even designed a couple of animal habitats for zoos.
guy is as crazy in person as he is on TV.”
“Wow,”
Inuyasha
led them to the huge eat-in kitchen and motioned for them to sit down.
“Yukio’s
already up. He’ll be down in a minute. Coffee?”
“Yes,
please. Thank you,” Mama replied.
He went to
the counter and stood in front of the cappuccino/coffee maker.
“Now if I
can just figure this damn thing out. Miroku, my ‘cosmopolitan’
son. Whatever the hell
coffee maker. No, he owns this monstrosity. Why? Because he likes all that
and chai. Wanna tell me
what the hell ‘chai’ is? Never heard of it,” he
complained. “All I want is plain coffee without all that pansy-ass crap they
put in it these days.”
Mama
giggled and went over to the machine. “Here, let me see if I can help. I’ve had
some experience with these things, although never one quite like
this.”
She
inspected the appliance and thought she knew how it worked. Inuyasha had the
coffee already measured and in the unbleached filter, and he had the coffee
carafe filled for eight cups. She experimented with a couple of levers and
manago geo get the top off to pour the water into the proper side for plain
coffee, and pulled open an almost hidden door that revealed where the filter
and grounds went. Beside her Inuyasha snorted but nodded in approval and within
a few minutes the smell of fresh brewed
Roast was wafting through the kitchen.
“
dressed in jeans, a royal blue T-shirt and his riding leathers.
coffee. What? No espresso?”
“If you
want espresso go the Hell to Starbucks,” Inuyasha grumbled, sipping his own
coffee.
up on the wrong side of the den this morning?”
“You’re
assuming your mother let me sleep with her in the friggin’
den.”
Yukio
hugged his father. “Awwww, poor
Otou-san. Did she make you sleep on the couch again?”
Inuyasha
just growled.
Her
grandson turned to her and flashed her a brilliant
smile. “Good morning, Mama-baachan.”
“Good
morning, Yukio.”
“Good
morning, nephew,” Souta greeted.
the teen a hug. “You ready to go?”
“
Let me grab a cup of coffee and we’ll get going. We’ll catch the
Yukio
snickered and poured himself a cup of coffee.
“I think
Inuyasha offered.
and rolling back the door. “Yeah!”
He pulled
out two danishes and tossed
one at Souta. “Want a
The boy
grabbed the pastry. “Thanks!”
We’ve got cheese and raspberry.”
The thought
of eating a sugar-laden bread roll for breakfast made her stomach turn and she
declined.
“No thank
you.”
either. I’ve got miso and rice if you want it,”
Inuyasha said.
“That would
be perfect.”
Inuyasha
moved to the refrigerator, pulled out the miso and
rice, and set them to heat in the microwave.
“Damn, I
love these things. Best invention of the 20th century. When I was
first here with Kagome and we were going through the well, I didn’t appreciate
them, but when we had to wait for them to be invented, I really missed it,” he
admitted.
Yukio
and knocked back his coffee, then grabbed another pastry from the breadbox and
ate that too.
thought.
“Okay,
ready,” he announced.
“Me too,”
“Let’s go
then. We’ll be back late this afternoon.”
“
“You take good care of that boy.”
Yukio went
over to his father and nuzzled him. “You know I will.”
came over to her and nuzzled her too, an odd little gesture that was part sniff
and part caress with his nose. It tickled.
“I promise
to bring my ojisan back safely, Mama-
“Thank you,
Yukio.”
He smiled,
gave her an open mouthed kiss on the cheek, and then he and Souta
were gone with a set of careless ‘bye’s tossed over their shoulders and a couple
of conspiratorial whispers. She heard the front door close a few moments later.
“He will
take good care of the boy,” Inuyasha assured her. “He’s even more
his mate didn’t adopt and raise a brood of their own.”
She blinked
at him. “Yukio is married?”
Inuyasha
sighed sadly. “He was. She’s dead now.”
“Oh.”
The
microwave dinged and he took out the miso and rice,
offering them to her with a set of chopsticks, a spoon and a refill of her
coffee.
“Thank
you.”
“It’s no
big deal,” he replied, brushing it off as he put a bowl of water into the
microwave to boil.
Mama
watched him as he went to a cabinet and opened it. She gasped when she saw that
it was literally full of different
of ramen noodles. He selected three packages, ripped off their plastic covers
and dumped them into one large bowl. Then he poured in the boiling water from
the bowl he’d put in the microwave, sprinkled the
packages on top and mixed the whole thing together.
Coming over
to where she was sitting, he plopped down into the chair opposite her with his
ramen and coffee and began eating. He paused when he saw her smiling at him,
his hand to his lips and his mouth full of noodles.
“What?” he
asked testily.
“You
haven’t changed a bit,” she answered with a giggle.
He
shrugged. “Keh.”
“You do
look a little tired though. Did Kagome really make you sleep on the couch?”
He shook
his head. “It’s not like that. She’s… she’s uncomfortable and restless.
Sometimes she moves around a lot and I’m just in her way. Some nights I can get
away with sleeping at the foot of the bed, but other nights she just kicks me
in the face and I’m better off moving to the floor.”
Mama
giggled again. “Well, it isn’t like you don’t deserve it. Her condition is
He smiled
and she knew he’d gotten her joke, then his face grew
serious.
“She is
having a hard time. Worse than the other times. It’s
funny that the doctor actually thinks that’s a good thing.”
“Well, if
she’s getting morning sickness and pressure on the bladder and all of the other
things that go along with a pregnancy that means things are proceeding as
normal.”
He nodded.
“I suffered
through it twice, although Souta was much worse than
Kagome.”
He
snickered. “I keep telling Kagome the pup has to be a boy because a girl
wouldn’t be so much trouble.”
She laughed
softly, then sobered and took a sip of her coffee. “I
miscarried though.”
Inuyasha
looked away, his ears down and his face sad. “Kagome’s had four.”
“I know.
She told me.”
“After the
third, I told her I wanted to stop. She’d carried that one almost to five
months. I… I could even hear the pup’s heartbeat. We really thought that one
was gonna make it. Then… then it died, and… and I found Kagome in the bathroom.
There was so much blood…”
Mama
swallowed hard and blinked back tears as he recounted the tale. “That must have
been terrible for you.”
He nodded
slowly. “I told her no more. I didn’t need a pup. I’d had nineteen sons and
fourteen daughters; twenty-nine of which made it to adulthood and twenty-seven
who were still alive. I didn’t need my own pup if it meant she had to go
through all of that, and I couldn’t stand to see her suffer anymore, but she
kept begging me to try again. After we lost the fourth one, I swore no more.
Then this new drug came out and she said it was helping a lot of women stay
pregnant. We had one more batch of frozen embryos and I’d already told her I
wasn’t going to put her through the harvesting of another bunch of her eggs, so
we had one more chance and she convinced me to take it.”
“And are
you glad you did?” Mama asked.
He blinked
at her. “Are you kidding? She’s made it to seven months. Even if the
it’ll live. We didn’t tell anyone she was pregnant until she passed six months.
Half my kids wanted to have my balls for keeping our mouths shut, but at least
this way if she had lost another no one would have come for them for my
‘putting her through that’ a fifth time.”
She heard
what he wasn’t saying and frowned. “Is that what some of them said to you? Did
they accuse you of putting Kagome through that pain?”
Inuyasha
sighed and nodded. “One of them, yeah.
inu-hanyou like you.”
He nodded
again. “Yeah. My last one.
He’s ups upset ever since Kagome and I started trying to have a pup. I don’t
know what his problem is, or rather I do know what his problem is but I have no
idea what to do about it.”
“He’s
concerned that a biological child will replace all of your adopted children in
your eyes because it will be ‘yours.’ Am I right?”
Inuyasha
blinked at her for a few moments then nodded. “Yeah.
“One of my
best friends in school was adopted. When her mother got pregnant, she was very
worried that she would be ‘replaced’ by the ‘natural’ child. It sounds like
Miroku is worried about the same thing.”
Inuyasha agreed.
he doesn’t have reason to believe that. His mother is one of my brother’s
courtiers. She was having problems with her mate so she went out and found a
human to breed with when she was in heat just to piss him off. Then she said
the man raped her. Luckily my brother knows when humans are lying, and he could
tell that the man was telling the truth when he said that she’d come on to him
and practically forced
be very… aggressive.
“Sesshoumaru
spared the man and refused to allow her to kill the unborn pup so her little
Instead she was told to give the pup to us when it was born. He hadn’t even
taken his second breath outside of the womb when she dumped him into Kagome’s
arms. To this day, she refuses to say his name or acknowledge him as her son in
my brother’s court, and she takes every opportunity she can to flaunt her three
full inu-youkai pups in his face,” he told her with a bitter smile.
Mama
“That… that’s horrible. Poor
Miroku.”
Inuyasha
scowled. “I wanted to rend the bitch who told him who his mother was limb from
limb. Then I wanted to rend
him away from her and told him to
tell anyone she was his mother or she would kill him. He was only seven for
God-sakes! He was just a little whelp and she knocked him back clear across the
fucking room.”
Tears
welled in Mama’s eyes and she covered her mouth in horror. “The
poor boy. What did you do?”
“Me? I
comforted my pup and left
Sesshoumaru’s house at the time and I couldn’t afford
to jeopardize Kagome and the pups by starting a fight. Of course by then
Sesshoumaru had mated Rin and they had a hanyou pup
of their own. So by the time Sesshoumaru got through with her she almost wished I
gone after her because she and her mate lost all their standing in the court.”
“Good for
your brother. I would have done worse to her,” she said angrily.
He paused
and took a deep breath. “Miroku, though… he was
the same after that day. I… I don’t think a pup can ever really recover from
rejection like that,” he admitted regretfully.
“Kagome and
I, we did our best to make sure he knew we loved and wanted him, but he wanted
to acknowledge him and she never did. Then when we started trying to have a
pup, it was like it triggered something in him. My psychologist pup,
taking all of his hatred and anger at his mother and putting it on us.”
Mama
nodded. “It’s not unusual for kids to do t It’ It’s almost like a test of your
love for them. If you love them, then you will love them even when they hate
you and hurt you.”
Inuyasha
rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah.
Something like that. And as I said, I do understand
why he feels the way he does, but he’s getting worse and it’s really hurting
Kagome. Last night in the cab on the way back here, he asked us if we wanted
his room for the nursery since we would be staying here until after the pup is
born.”
It used to be Kagome’s and my room when we lived here,” he answered.
Mama nodded
that she understood. “Ah, I see. So he thought you’d kick him out of his room
and give it to the baby.”
“I don’t
know what he was thinking. I think he was just trying to pick a fight. It
didn’t work, but Kagome got very upset which made the pup upset and that meant
Kagome couldn’t sleep because the pup kept kicking her.”
She smiled
at him. “Which meant she was restless and uncomfortable, and
there was nothing you could do to help her. Then you ended up sleeping
on the floor because she couldn’t settle down.”
He nodded,
He got up
and took the bowl to the microwave to heat up the noodles. “Do you need me to
warm your miso?”
She looked
down at her mostly untouched soup. She’d practically ignored it during her
conversation with Inuyasha. He so rarely opened up and actually talked to her
that she’d completely forgotten to eat.
“No, it’s
still warm, but thank you.”
He gave a
little grunt of acknowledgement and she took the opportunity to eat as much of
it as she could before he returned to the table. This time she waited until he
was finished eating before she spoke again.
“So what
are you going to do?” she asked.
“Do?”
He blinked.
“Oh. Umm, I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to him at least. I can’t have Kagome
upset like that. It’s bad for the pup and for her.”
“But you
know the moment you do that, he’ll think you’re just worried about the pup and
don’t care about how he feels,” she pointed out.
He nodded
and sighed. “I know. But what else can I do. It’s a no win situation.”
“Has Yukio
spoken to him? Maybe he’ll listen to a sibling more than a parent.”
Inuyasha
shook his head. “So far Yukio hasn’t really been around when
night so he missed the bedroom bit, and I haven’t had much of a chance to talk
to him about it without Kagome around. She doesn’t want us to make too much of
a big deal out of it because she doesn’t want the pups to fight.”
“And Yukio
is so protective of his mother that he would fight if he thought she was
threatened,” she observed.
it. We’re all staying under one roof now so it’ll be harder to ignore.”
“Where is
Miroku now?”
Mama nodded
in appreciation. “Very nice. I’m sure he’s an
excellent teacher.”
Inuyasha
shrugged. “Being as he lived through most of the time period he teaches, it’s
kinda easy for him. Now my civil engineer son, Takuma, his job is hard. He
designs bridges and roadways for the government in
“All my
pups do something. I have an actr a c a couple of nurses, three doctors, a
bunch of ‘businessmen’ which just means they deal in money, a singer, an
oceanographer, a fashion designer, a pilot, a martial arts teacher, a
veterinarian... I even have a daughter who’s a miko.
She studies and teaches shamanism in
Mama
smiled. “It sounds like you’re very prof alf all of your children.”
He beamed.
“I am. Even the one who ‘races cars’ for a living.”
“What does
Yukio do?” she asked.
four or five des. Ms. Mostly he helps me run my business. He’s a fair architect,
but he’s a better drafter. I can give him a rough sketch and he’ll make the
scaled drawings. He’s a little more creative than me too. His designs are
fancier.”
“So he
works with you in
He nodded.
“He has for the past thirty-five years or so. Since his wife
died. Before that he had his own little investment business. Rental
properties and stuff like that. But after Miaka died
he sold it and moved in with us.”
“He came
home to Mom and Dad,” she mused with a soft smile.
A flicker
of sadness and even a little anger crossed Inuyasha’s face and Mama realized
there was more to that story than he was telling.
to.”
“I remember
that he was very attached to you. It doesn’t look like he outgrew that.”
shook his head. “No, he never did.”
Suddenly
his head came up and heffedffed, and she knew that his sharp senses had caught
something.
“Excuse
me,” he said and left the kitchen without waiting for her answer.
sipping her tepid coffee.
later escorting a sleepy Kagome. Mama was glad she had already swallowed the
coffee in her mouth otherwise she would have spit it all over the table when
she laughed at what her daughter was wearing. Kagome was dressed in a dark blue
terry cloth robe and a long red cotton nightgown that had a puppy face right
where her swelling womb was and the words ‘Big Dog To Be’ in English. She also
had a pair of fuzzy white dog slippers with ears, black eyes and noses on the
toes.
She lost
her battle with laughter and chortled for several moments.
“Morning,
Mama,” Kagome greeted.
“Good
morning, Kagome.”
Inuyasha
sat his wife down at the table and Mama watched him fuss over her like a mother
hen. He closed her robe and tied it with the belt, then zipped around the
kitchen fetching Kagome a light
of white rice, a small bowl of miso and a cup of
green tea with mint. He did this all without direction or complaint, and soon
Kagome was sipping her unsweetened tea and nibbling at her food.
“How are
you feeling? Did you get enough sleep?” he asked as he set the meal down in
front of her.
Her hand
reached out to grasp his and gently squeeze.
“I’m
alright. Tired and sore from all the kickboxing this kid is getting up to
inside my body, but otherwise alright.”
He kissed
her on the cheek. “I keep telling you this pup’s a boy, Kagome. Only a boy
would put us through this.”
“You’re
just saying that because you want another son.”
He blinked
at her and Mama saw him
his ears a little bit. “Have I given you any reason to believe that I want our
pup to be male?” he asked softly.
She raised
her eyes to him and looked a little guilty. “Don’t you want a boy?
“I already
fourteen sons of my own,” he insisted, his voice a little harsh.
She shook
her head. “That’s not what I meant...”
He cut her
off. “I know what you meant and don’t ever let any of our pups hear you talk
that way. It’s bad enough with Miroku being the way he is right now. We don’t
need any of the others joining him.”
She sighed.
“That didn’t come out the way I meant it to. I was trying to say that this baby
will be a blood related child...”
“
of my pups are blood related to me. I’ve spilled my blood for them more than
once. That’s blood related enough for me.”
She sighed
again. “You aren’t going to let me make my point are you?”
He crossed
his arms and stared her down. “Your point makes no sense. Unless... unless
think that this pup is more important than our other pups.”
She looked
down at her belly and placed one hand across the rise of her womb. “No, of
course not, but you have to admit that this one is different.”
we love this one more.”
“No,
she agreed.
He sighed
and knelt next to her, holding the hand she’d placed over her womb. “I know
what you’re trying to say, koi. You’re thinking that
because this baby was born of your body and my seed that he’s somehow more
special than the ones who came to us already in this world. They’re all
special, koi. All of them.
Do you think we could have asked for so many good pups if we’d borne them all?
Could we have gotten better ones? Think of Yukio, and Akihiro, and Sai. Would
you have traded any of our other pups for more like the one you carry now?”
Kagome’s
eyes teared up and she sniffed, shaking her head.
“No.”
He reached
up and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. “Then he, or she, will be no
different than the rest, right?”
She nodded.
“Right. When did you get so much older and
than me?”
He lifted
up slightly and bent over her to kiss her on the cheek tenderly. “I was always
older and
realize it until now.”
She threw
her napkin at him and he snickered as he skittered away, grinning wickedly.
“And who’s
to say I don’t want a girl? Maybe I want fourteen daughters to give us an even
number.”
“If this
baby is a girl, I’ll feel sorry for her because she’ll have fourteen big
brothers and an over-protective father who will meet every would-be boyfriend
at the door with big swords in their hands.”
“Damn
straight one one comes sniffing around
He smiled
and put his arms around Kagome’s shoulders from behind and looked over at where
she was sitting, still sipping her coffee.
“What do
you think, Mama? Boy or girl?” he asked, calling her ‘Mama’ for the first time
ever.
It shocked
her quite a bit actually. He’d always called her ‘Kagome’s mother’ or ‘woman’
or ‘Higurashi’ but
‘Mama.’ She took another sip of her coffee to give her a moment to compose
herself.
“I think
I’ve never been more proud of you than I am right now, and the sex of the baby
isn’t important as long as it’s healthy, and both mother and baby come out of
labor fine,” she replied.
Inuyasha
smiled at her. “Spoken like a true grandmother.”
Mama just
chuckled, then looked up in alarm when Kagome
with pain.
“Kagome?”
both she and Inuyasha asked in unison.
“It’s...
putting... pressure... on... my... back,” she replied, teeth gritted in pain.
Inuyasha
immediately knelt down next to her and start rubbing her abdomen.
“Is he
moving, koi?” he asked.
Kagome
clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut. “No... not
yet. Ah!”
Inuyasha
cursed and rubbed harder. “Gotta be a fucking boy.
C’mon pup, come over to Otou-san and get off
spine.”
He began to
make barking noises at the unborn baby, yips and whines and a couple of growls.
“Inu...
Inuyasha, he’s moving!” Kagome announced with a heaving sigh.
“
gotta be a boy, coz if this pup’s a girl she isn’t going to
any of us to protect her. She’ll be born kicking ass.”
Mama saw
Kagome relax as the pain subsided, her eyes closing in relief. “Inu... thank
you.”
“
he said in a soft, almost hypnotic voice.
“That...
that’s the first time he’s actually answered you, isn’t it? All the other times
he just moved away from your hands. This time he actually went
you.”
“He
to you,” she stressed, her eyes opening and focu on on him as he stopped
rubbing and stood up.
“Yeah, he
did, didn’t he?”
“That means
he’s starting to have consciousness, doesn’t it?” she asked, her eyes wide with
wonder. “That’s just... wow. I mean, I know it happens. I’ve read about it, but
this is the first time we’ve ever experienced it.”
Inuyasha
tenderly brushed a tendril of hair away from her face and gave her a pleased
smile. “Yeah.”
Kagome let
out a deep
that was pretty exciting but now I’m wiped out again.”
“Finish
your
vitamins,” he said, pointing to her soup and tea.
“Okay,” she
agreed, picking up her teacup.
Mama
watched as Inuyasha brought her daughter two pills and a tall glass of water
with three slices of lemon.
“Thank
you,” Kagome said as she took the pills with her water.
“So what
are your plans for today, Kagome?” she asked.
“She’s
Isn’t she,” Inuyasha answered firmly for her.
“Inuyasha
thinks I overdid it too much yesterday so he wants me to rest today.”
“That’s
probably not a bad idea.”
“
'> Kagome
huffed. “Fine, but I’m not spending the day in bed.”
rest there and look out at the trees and birds and other shit you like to look
at.”
“Do you
have to go soon, Mama?”
“No dear, I
can stay a while,” she assured her daughter.
“See
Inuyasha, Mama is going to stay with me. That means you can go do whatever you
want and leave me and Mama to do mother-daughter things.”
Inuyasha
snorted. “Keh, I was just going to see what I can do
with that wreck of a car Miroku bought, and maybe later work on the first draft
for that new client in
Kagome took
another sip of her water and nodded. “That sounds good. I’m finished eating
now. I think I’ll go get dressed and then go lie down in the sunroom.”
As her
daughter stood up slowly, Inuyasha
the dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher.
“I wonder
where the housekeeper is. Didn’t Miroku say she comes in at 9?” Kagome asked.
“I thought
that’s what he said, but I haven’t seen her,” he responded, coming over to help
her steady herself on her feet.
“Hmm, I was
worried that maybe you’d screamed at her and she’d quit or something like poor
Mai in
Inuyasha
snorted. “Mai just wanted the raise.”
Mama stood
too and waited to see what her daughter and her mate would do.
“Well, you
did scream at her rather loudly, you know.”
“The floors
were too slippery!” he insisted.
Kagome
rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t going to fall.”
“You
slipped in your socks and almost fell down the stairs.”
“I did
“Inuyasha
you saw me stumble because the baby decided to kick me in the spleen!”
“And then
you slipped!”
Kagome
looked up to heaven and prayed, “Oh Kami-sama, please save me from this
over-bearing, over-reacting man who jumps to conclusions faster than
Hilton jumps into bed.”
“Who’s
Hilton?”
She sig hea heavily. “Never mind.”
“I’m going
to get dressed.”
“I’ll help
you up to the room,” he offered.
Kagome put
up a warning finger. “No. Mama can help me. I’ll be fine.”
Inuyasha
lowered his ears and looked dejected, and Mama had to stop herself from
giggling.
“But…”
Kagome took
one look at his face and gave in. “Oh alright.”
She offered
him her arm and he took it, standing beside her and supporting her as she
walked from the kitchen.
“Mama, go
to the sunroom. It’s down the hall to the left. You can’t miss it. I’ll be down
in a few minutes,” Kagome said.
Mama did as
asked and made her way to the large sunroom. Her daughter was right and it was
impossible to miss the large solarium full of plants. It was an obvious
addition to the house, and a recent one to boot, and it looked out over the
sprawling backyard with its garden and the trees beyond. The floor was made of
blue-gray stone that served as a thermal mass and was tastefully furnished with
a simple wrought-iron glass topped table with 4 matching chairs, and two
heavily cushioned wrought-iron chaise lounges with small matching tables next
to them. In one corner a little fountain bubbled noisily as it spilled its
water through a series of cupped brass fern leaves.
She’d
brought her refilled coffee mug with her and sat down to watch the birds
feeding from the birdfeeder and taking baths in the birdbath until she heard
movement behind her. Turning her head, she saw Inuyasha escorting a dressed
Kagome into the room. She had put on a loose denim jumper dress, a white
T-shirt and a pair of tabi socks, and had pulled her
hair back into a ponytail. Inuyasha had dressed as well, and he was now in a
pair of faded jeans and a black T-shirt that said ‘Your village called.
“Over here,
koi,” Inuyasha said, ushering her over to one of the
chaise lounges and helping her to lie down on it. He put extra
under her feet to elevate her ankles.
Kagome went
willingly and Mama moved her chair to sit next to her once she was settled.
Inuyasha disappeared for a few moments and returned carrying a glass of ice water
(with the requisite 3 slices of lemon) and a little hand held Motorola
transceiver. He had the transceiver’s bright red twin clipped to his belt.
“I’ll be in
the garage seeing what I can do with Miroku’s hunk of
scrap metal. If you need me, beep me,” he said, placing the glass and the
transceiver on the table beside the lounge.
“Don’t let
Miroku hear you call his classic Aston Martin a hunk of scrap metal,” she
warned.
should have bought the
“James Bond
doesn’t drive a Delorean.”
“James Bond
is a womanizing asshole.”
“Yeah, but
Sean Connery is soooooo cute.”
Inuyasha
just growled jealously, making Kagome giggle and give him a little push.
“Go. Before
you go all alpha-male on me. I don’t want Sean Connery. He doesn’t have your
cute, fuzzy ears,” she teased.
that do it for you.”
She gave
him a sly smile and slapped his backside lightly as he turned away.
“It’s a lot
more than your ears.”
“Don’t
tease me,” he quipped back, kissing her forehead sweetly. “If you need
anything…”
“I’ll beep
you. I promise. Now shoo. Mama-daughter time, remember?”
He sighed
and acquiesced, but not before fixing Mama with a look that spoke volumes.
“Don’t
worry, Inuyasha, I’ll take good care of her,” she promised.
He nodded,
gave Kagome one more kiss and a pat to his unborn child, and left her alone
with her daughter.ome ome sighed with relief the moment he was gone.
Great Protector hovering over me and flipping out every time I sneeze.”
Mama
chuckled. “He’s only looking out for you, Kagome.”
“There’s
looking out for me and there’s smothering me. He passed the point of looking
out and went over to smothering a long time ago, Mama.”
“Being that
you’ve had four miscarriages and this baby is your last chance, can you blame
him?”
She sighed
again and rubbed her abdomen. “No. I suppose not, but it is annoying. Pregnancy
is difficult enough without having to fight him on every little thing.
Honestly. He’s so worried about stressing me out that he doesn’t realize that
his worry is stressing me out.”
“True. But
men rarely see that side of things. All Inuyasha sees is you in discomfort and
danger. He’s always been vicio pro protective of you.”
“I know.
Believe me, I know.”
They grew
silent and Mama sipped her coffee while Kagome stared out of the sunroom, her
face pensive.
“I’m
scared, Mama,” she finally said. “I’m so scared.”
“What is it
that you are so afraid of?”
Kagome
placed a hand on her abdomen and looked down at the swell of her womb.
born alive and lives, it will be the first successful birthing of a hanyou
sired child. So many others have tried and failed. So far we’ve gotten the
closest to doing it. If we do, then we prove that hanyous can have children- at
least some of them can. So many youkai bloodlines would be saved from
extinction if that could be true for other hanyous. So many others have a vested
interest in seeing my baby born alive. I feel terrible pressure…”
covered Kagome’s hand with her own. “Don’t. You’re doing the best you can. That
is all anyone could ask for. Don’t let their anxiousness make you more nervous
than you already are. All you need to do is concentrate on staying healthy and
bringing this baby into the world. Let everyone else worry about the rest of
it.”
“I can’t. I
pushed Inuyasha into this. He kept telling me he wanted to stop. After I
miscarried the third baby almost halfway into the second trimester, I had to
try that much harder to get him to agree to another attempt,” she replied.
“Seeing you
in pain was very hard on him.”
“I know,
but I wanted another baby, and I wanted it to be his baby. His
and mine. I know he said that this one will be no different than the
others, and in some ways he’s right, but in others he’s wrong. This baby
different. Not because it’s more important or special than our adopted
children, but because…”
“This one
you carried,” she finished for her.
She looked
at her daughter lovingly. “I understand, Kagome, but you didn’t need to prove
your love for him by putting yourself through all of this danger.”
“I didn’t
do it because I felt I had to prove anything, Mama. I know Inuyasha loves me no
matter what. I did it because I really miss being a mom. It’s been 215 years
since I had a baby to care for.”
“Kagome…
children grow up and leave home. That is the way of things. The duty of a good
parent is to see that her children grow strong and good, and become positive
members of society,” she reminded.
“Yes, but
most parents aren’t immortal with mortal children,” Kagome answered sadly. “I
know. I’ve buried six of my babies. Two I watched grow from infants to old
people who died from their age. Even Eri, my
full-youkai daughter isn’t immortal. Yukio? He’s
getting older. I can see it in him. Eventually, he’ll die too. They’ll all die
and Inuyasha and I will still be here. Then what will we do? Our family will be
gone and it will just be him and me.”
Mama had no
answer for her. She had no idea what it must be like for Kagome to know she
would outlive all of her children.
“The
children don’t know,” Kagome began in a very soft voice, as if she was afraid
someone might hear her. “But Inuyasha and I have made a pact. When the last of
them go, we’ll go too.”
A shiver of
cold touched her heart at what she was hearing. “Kagome do you mean…?”
Kagome
nodded. “We’ve decided. I’m not scared. I think by then we’ll be ready for
death. All of those we loved will have already died. You, Jii-chan
Souta… you’ll all be dust by the time Inuyasha and I
are ready to go. It will be a peaceful release and Inuyasha and I will find
each other in the next life. A love like ours is eternal. We’ve probably been
together for millennia in one form or another.”
“And the
children don’t know about this pact?” Mama said.
Kagome
shook her head. “It would upset them too much. We’ve kept it between ourselves.
You’re the first person I’ve told since we made it after Takako’s
death in 1949.”
“But why
would you do such a thing?” she asked.
what it’s like to stay the same while everything else around you evolves almost
faster than you can handle. Even now, technology is changing so fast we can
barely keep up. I had to help my children through the
Age but we’ve approached the time when my knowledge of the future has run out.
I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore.”
“None of us
do, Kagome. That doesn’t mean we go out and choose to die because of it,” she
argued.
“You don’t
have to. You’re mortal. Time will do it for you and you won’t have to worry
about it. It’s different with Inuyasha and me. We don’t age. We don’t change.
We are forever preserved as we were the day Inuyasha made his wish. I’ve seen
what happens to humans who get tired of living. Yukio’s wife
She left my baby an emotional wreck. He cried every day for almost ten years
and I could do nothing to help him. Inu-youkai mate for life and his mate chose
death over him,” Kagome explained gently.
“But aren’t
you choosing the same thing, Kagome?”
Her daughter shook her head.
“No. I’d never leave Inuyasha. When we go, we’ll go together. We’ll both go to
sleep and not wake up. We’ve already decided how we’re going to do it. There’s
a potion I can make. I know the ingredients.” She looked down at her womb
again. “But… if we can have babies, then we’ll stay longer. As long as we have
living children who need us, we’ll stay. We won’t go until all of them are
gone. We won’t leave any of our children orphaned if we can help it.”
“Then I
hope you will have babies,” she answered honestly. No parent should be having
this type of conversation with a pregnant child. Pregnancy was for the
celebration of life, not death.
technology will have advanced so much that all hanyous will be able to have
babies without any trouble, and we won’t have to go through the kind of
hardships we’ve suffered again.”
Mama nodded
and decided to change the subject after a brief silence. “So.
Inuyasha is an architect.
Kagome
laughed. “Isn’t it? What’s even more of a surprise is he’s damn good at it. He
has such a strong grasp of space and the use of materials. He just
what works. His clients love him. We don’t have to advertise for new projects.
We get all our new clients from referrals,” she answered proudly.
“He says
your house in
looks like a… a…”
“
Hu
It’s incredible. It has huge beams and a towering great room. He even has two
carved totem poles that support the great room roof. He made it all from stone
and logs. You’ll have to cmE>come stay there with us sometime.
I’d love for you to see our
house.”
Mama
nodded. “I think I would really enjoy that.”
Kagome
reached over and finished her water.
“Would you
like another?” Mama asked, already standing.
we have to be quick about it. Inuyasha doesn’t want me having anything with too
much caffeine. He says it makes me too hyper for the baby,” she replied,
rolling her eyes.
Mama
giggled. “Then let’s go to the kitchen and make some coffee. I could use a
refill too.”
Kagome
reached up a hand and Mama helped her rise to her feet.
“Don’t tell
Inuyasha you let me walk anywhere without him,” she kidded.
“I won’t,”
Mama promised as she and Kagome made their way to the kitchen, running into the
formerly missing housekeeper who happily made them a fresh pot of coffee.
They spent
the majority of the day together, talking and doing mother-daughter things.
Kagome showed her the room they were going to use for the nursery, and the
plans that they had. It wouldn’t be safe for the baby to fly until after he or
she was six months old so they knew they would be staying in
for at least that long.
Mama
mentioned the upcoming nuptials they had been planning the last time she had
seen Kagome, before the well closed and her daughter had to wait 450 years to
see her again. Kagome said she still wanted to marry Inuyasha in a Shinto
ceremony, and she knew Jii-chan wanted it as well,
but she wanted to put it off for a year. She felt that getting married right
after having the baby was just too much for her, and she didn’t want to have to
worry about planning a wedding while she was pregnant. Mama was more than happy
to put it off for another year because it gave her more time. Kagome also
decided that she wanted to marry Inuyasha on her birthday, because that day
also marked the day she had met him.
The rest of
the afternoon was consumed by wedding and baby plans. Inuyasha popped his head
in around lunchtime, covered in grease and grime from fighting with ‘that piece
of shit British car,’ and Kagome made him wash up before she let him into the
kitchen. After lunch he disappeared again the moment he saw that they were
looking at wedding sites on-line, and talking about tuxedos and formal
ceremonies and guest lists. He beat a hasty retreat before they could drag him
into it.
Yukio and
afternoon. Both were in good spirits and Souta was
positively thrilled to have ridden back with Yukio on his Triumph motorcycle.
He couldn’t stop talking about the day, the ride, the bike, how Yukio popped a
wheelie for him just so he could see how it felt… Matopptopped him short after
that because she just didn’t want to know. Inuyasha then dragged Yukio and
something about ‘women and their damn planning,’ and
the house was quiet again.
Dinner
plans were made to go out to eat at a favorite restaurant, and Yukio was sent
to fetch Jii-chan from the shrine. Sometime before it
was time for them to leave for their reservation, three phone calls were
received at the house. One was from Sesshoumaru regarding a new company he’d
been asked to invest in and he wanted to know if Kagome knew anything about it.
Inuyasha ripped the phone from Kagome’s hand and told his brother to ‘read the
fucking prospectus’ himself, but not before the invitation to dinner had been
extended to him and Rin and accepted.
The second
was from Tomo to say that he would be coming by the following afternoon to
visit with his parents on a one-on-one basis, and he was making sure that they
would be at the house when he arrived.
The third phone call was from a
contact in
Prosecutor’s Office. Apparently a certain Dr. Ishimoro
had filed a complaint against Kagome Higurashi and
her mother for damages to a car, harassment and threats on her life. Both Yukio
and Inuyasha’s faces darkened at the news, and Inuyasha clenched his fists so
hard he nearly broke the skin. He was fully prepared to personally deal with
the ‘good doctor’ himself, but Yukio begged for the privilege of taking down the
woman who had hurt his mother. Inuyasha found a perverse pleasure in agreeing
to let the baby the doctor had so slandered handle the ‘problem.’ Yukio
promised to make it his first duty the following day.
university and was roped into goin din dinner with them, upping the number in
their party to nine. A car was hired to take them to the restaurant and the seven
of them left with enough time to get there. Sesshoumaru and Rin
were already waiting when they arrived, and a brief pissing contest ensued between
the two brothers over the earlier phone call, which abruptly ended when Kagome
erupted into hysterical tears. The two sulked for the rest of the evening, each
in their own little corners as far away from each other as possible. The only
really good thing about having dinner with the taiyoukai
was that he promised to have the necessary papers drawn up for Yukio’s
‘conference with the good doctor’ by
the following morning.
The ing
ing
ended with the hired car dropping Jii-chan,
them back to
were made for Mama and Kagome to go shopping for baby items to furnish the new
nursery the following morning, to wit Inuyasha just handed over his Platinum
card and made Mama swear to make sure Kagome didn’t overtax herself and to have
her back before Tomo’s visit at three. Then Mama stood on the curb and waved as
the car drove away before following Souta and
A/N: Next chapter Yukio proves this
fluffy puppy still has fangs.