The Lucky Ones

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: Ch 47 is almost
finished. It will be followed by a short epilogue.

*******

Chapter Forty-Six

When Kagome
woke again it was to the sound of the meal carts delivering the morning’s
breakfast. At some point the door to the room had been cracked open and left
slightly ajar so she could hear the activity going on in the hall. Coming to
full consciousness, she registered that her baby was tucked against her
breastbone and that Inuyasha had not gotten back into bed with her. Instead, he
had placed two chairs facing each other, lowered her bed to their level and
took down the metal sidebar. Then he had stretched his body out onto the chairs
but rested his head on the mattress, very close to her own
head. A quick look revealed that his eyes were closed and he appeared to be
sleeping peacefully. Smiling, she reached up one hand and scratched his ear. He
flicked it under her touch and let out a little sigh. A moment later one golden
eye cracked open and he looked at her.

“Morning,”
she greeted.

Hen>He smiled
and yawned. “Morning.”

“I have to
go to the bathroom. Can you take the baby?”

Inuyasha
nodded and sat up, reaching over to pick up their son. Even though it had been
years since he had handled an infant, she was pleased to see that he had lost
none of his talent with them. Their son barely stirred as he was lifted and
cradled in his father’s arms.

Slowly
getting out of bed, she was glad that she seemed much steadier and stronger
this morning. The events of the previous 36 hours had left her weak and shaky,
but it looked like she was recovering fairly well.

“Do you
need help? I can put him in the little rolling bed,” her mate offered.

Smiling at
him, she shook her head. “No, it’s okay.”

“Okay.”

She
shuffled over to the bathroom, noticing how odd it seemed to her not to be
carrying so much extra weight around. She was sure she had lost at least half
of the 11kg she had gained during her pregnancy when she gave birth, and she
felt significantly lighter.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘And look. I can see my feet again…’
she mused, looking down. ‘Hmm, my ankles
are still a bit swollen.’

Kagome
closed the bathroom door behind her and performed her morning toilet, using
washrags and adult wipes to clean up and refresh her body. She was still
bleeding heavily, but that was to be expected so she wasn’t concerned. She used
the toiletries she had packed in her bag to brush her hair, wash her face and brush
her teeth, promising herself a full bath complete with shampoo later that day.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘Inuyasha promised to help me.’

The sound
of her baby’s morning cry brought her out of the bathroom and she settled back
on the bed as Inuyasha handed her the infant and she opened her nightgown to
feed him.

“How are
you feeling?” he asked her.

class=GramE>“Much better.”

“I’m glad,”
he said, smiling at her as he gave her a kiss and went to do his own freshening
in the bathroom while she nursed their son.

He was back
a few minutes later and sat beside her while the baby finished up.

“Does he
need to be changed?” she questioned.

He took a
sniff and nodded. “Yeah.”

“You know
what that means.”

“What?”

“You’re on
diaper duty because I’m not up to changing him.”

spanspan>He
flattened his ears and whined, trying to look pitiful but she wasn’t moved.

“Soulful
puppy-dog eyes won’t save you, sorry. Besides it won’t be that bad. He should
only have piddled.

He sighed
and gave up. “Alright.”

“Oh, you’re
so abused,” she teased.

“Damn right
I am,” he grumbled.

She giggled
and burped their son before handing him to his father. Inuyasha changed him
quickly and dumped the dirty diaper into the soiled linens can then gave him
back to her for cuddling.

“He really
is perfect,” she commented.

class=GramE>“Feh. Our own
little beet-faced piglet.”

“O-class=SpellE>su-wa-”
she said slowly, making him lower his ears and head with each syllable. She
stopped at the last bit and gave him a wink so he’d know she was teasing. He
sighed with relief.

“Knock,
knock,” came a too-cheerful voice as a dietician’s assistant brought in a
breakfast tray. “Breakfast.”

“Good
morning,” she greeted as the young tanuki-hanyou
entered.

“Good
morning,” the aide replied, putting the tray down on her rolling bedside table.

Inuyasha
glared at the newcomer but Kagome ignored him.

“What
culinary delicacy do we have this morning?”

The aide
lifted the lid on the plate and read the printed meal slip. “Scrambled
egg, white rice, miso, fruit cup and decaf coffee.”

“But I
ordered quiche,” she complained innocently.

The aide
did a double-take, then cast a frightened glance at
Inuyasha who glared even more and lifted one lip to bare a fang.

“I’m
joking,” she hurried to reassure the poor girl who was looking more and more
frightened with each passing second.

“Of
course,” the aide stammered, laughing nervously. “I must go. I have other trays
to deliver.”

She bowed
and skittered out. Kagome turned to her mate and thwapped
him over the head with her spoon.

“class=SpellE>Ow! What was that for?!”

class=GramE>“For being rude and scaring that poor girl.”

class=GramE>“Oi! I have an image to protect! I
was too nice to the nurse last night. The staff will think I’ve gone soft and
then they’ll think they can order me around.”

Sheled led
her eyes.

“Weren’t
you going to get coffee for yourself once they served breakfast?” she reminded.

He looked
stricken. “Trying to get rid of me?”

She rubbed
his ears and kissed him. “Never, but I know how you are without coffee.”

“Impossible?”

“You’re
always impossible. You’re just incorrigible without coffee,” she replied,
mixing cream and sugar into her own decaf before taking a tentative sip. She
grimaced. “While you’re at it, you can get me a cup of real coffee. I’m not
sure what this is, but it isn’t coffee.”

class=GramE>“Heh. I don’t think the doc wants
you to have caffeine,” he commented.

“That’s
fine. This stuff is horrible even by decaf standards.”

He leaned
over and kissed her. “All right. Do you want the pup
in the basket?”

She looked
down to see that the baby was dozing off. ‘All
they do is eat and sleep at this age. That and soil their diapers.’

“That would
be fine. It would give me two hands to eat with.”

“Okay.”

Inuyasha
carefully lifted their son and placed him in the bassinet. Then he returned to
her side and gave her another kiss.

“I’m going
down to the cafeteria. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Don’t
terrorize anyone on your way down.”

“class=SpellE>Keh, wench, you ruin all my fun.”

“I still
love you.”

He sighed
and kissed her a third time. “I’ll never stop loving you. I’ll be back soon.”

“I know.”

“All you want
is decaf?”

She looked
at the tray of food and crinkled her lip. “Bring me back a muffin.”

class=GramE>“Muffin and decaf. Okay.”

She nodded
and he left the room, closing the door behind him. A minute later, while she
was trying to figure out if her egg was really an egg or some strange
pseudo-food made from plastic and food coloring, there was a plink on her
window.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘Huh?’

She turned
her head just in time to see a pebble plink against the glass, followed by a
third a few moments later.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘What the?’

Pushing the
tray away, she eased herself out of bed and over to the window to open it. She
had just slid back the glass when Yukio’s head popped over the sill, scaring
the life out of her.

“Morning!”
her eldest chirped happily.

“class=SpellE>Eeeeppp!” she squeaked. “What are you doing?!”

class=GramE>“Sneaking in before visiting hours. What’s it look like
we’re doing?” he replied, hopping into the room. He was dressed in jeans and a
simple green T-shirt.

class=GramE>“We?”

class=GramE>“Yeah. Miroku’s with me, but he’s still down there coz he’s
got the food.”

“I see.”

As she
watched, Yukio took a thin rope from around his shoulder and dropped one end
out the window.

“Should I hum
the theme from Mission Impossible?” she suggested.

class=GramE>“Heh. We’ve got this all worked
out,” he answered, flashing her a grin as he pulled up
a bucket full of food and coffee. The bucket was shortly followed by her second
inu-hanyou son.

“Good
morning, Okaa-san,” Miroku greeted, pulling himself over the sill.

“Good
morning. Giving up your boring career in education for a job in international
espionage?”

Miroku
shook his head and wiped his hands on his jeans. “No. This idea was all class=SpellE>Aniki’s.”

“Oh like I
had to twist your arm or anything,” Yukio groused back as he closed the window
to keep the draft off the pup.

“I’m gonna
go wash my hands. I haven’t climbed a building in decades,” Miroku said,
heading for the bathroom.

“Because
you might get dust poisoning,” Yukio teased.

“Hey, I’m
not gonna hold the pup with dirty hands,” Miroku answered, closing the bathroom
door.

“He has
done nothing but rave about holding the pup ever since he woke up, but be
warned he has a massive hangover,” Yukio told her as he took the food out of
the bucket and arranged it on the rolling tray. The breakfast that had been
brought to her by the staff was quickly relegated to the bedside table. “I
brought you your favorite: miso and some class=SpellE>shumai, and a short cinnamon latte.”

She frowned
even as the delicious aromas filled her nostrils. “I’m not supposed to have
caffeine.”

“Izayoi
warned me so I got decaf.”

“Bless
you,” she sighed gratefully, easing herself back onto the bed as he wheeled the
tray in front of her and tucked the blanket over her feet.

“You’re
welcome, Okaa-san.”

“So, Miroku
has a hangover?”

He sat on
the end of the bed and picked up his own danish.
“Yeah. We went out to the bar near the house after we
left here and stayed there until Last Call. I told Miroku to take 4 aspirin
with a glass of orange juice before he went to bed, but he didn’t listen to
me.”

“You went
out drinking? Your father isn’t going to be happy about that.”

Yukio
shrugged and took a bite of his pastry.

“Please do
not talk about me so loudly,” Miroku complained as he came out of the bathroom.
He paused to coo at the sleeping pup but did not disturb him, then slumped down
into one of the chairs by the bed. “Coffee,” he demanded, holding out a hand.

Yukio
handed him a tall, insulated travel mug.

class=GramE>“Headache, sweetheart?” Kagome asked innocently.

Miroku
opened the mug and took a deep drink. “Yeah. First I
get only 4 hours of sleep before Aniki is dragging me out of bed to come see
you, then he gets this harebrained idea to sneak in through the window. I
didn’t even get a shower this morning.”

class=GramE>“Oh you poor baby.”

Miroku
sniffed and took another drink.

“So who all
went on this little bender?” she questioned, popping a piece of class=SpellE>shumai into her mouth.

class=GramE>“Me, Miroku, Mariko, Eri and Mama-baachan. class=SpellE>Tetsu wanted to come too but Izayoi convinced him it would
be safer for him to get drunk at home,” Yukio replied.

“My style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>mother
went with you?” she gasped.

Yukio
nodded vigorously. “I was surprised too, but she drank jus mus much as the rest
of us.”

“Did Mariko
drink?”

“She had
one wine cooler. Then she switched to decaf. She was there mostly to make sure
the rest of us got back safely. She and Eri crashed at Tokyo House last night.
So did Izayoi and Tetsu. They figured there was no
sense in going home to Yokohama if
they were just going to turn around and come back today.”

“I can
understand that,” she agreed, taking a sip of her latte. “Mmmm,
this is delicious. Thank you.”

“Where is
Otou-san? I have coffee and ramen for him.”

“He went
down to the cafeteria to get breakfast.”

“style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>He
is back. And did I hear you have ramen?” Inuyasha announced from the doorway.
He was carrying a tray with two paper coffee cups and a couple of donuts.

Yukio
picked up a sealed container and showed it to his father. It was immediately
pounced on as the donuts were forgotten.

“I didn’t
scent you in the hall,” Inuyasha commented, settling next to Yukio on the bed to
eat.

“We came in
through the window,” Yukio replied.

“What
happened to my muffin?” she asked, pretending to be upset.

Her mate
looked contrite and sheepish. “They were all sold out of muffins, but see I
brought you a jelly donut!” he replied, reaching over to the tray and holding
up a sugar-laden pastry.

“Thank god
my sons brought me real food otherwise I would have starved this morning.”

He flattened
his ears and blinked sadly at her. This time Soulful Puppy-Dog eyes worked to
earn her forgiveness and she smiled at him, giving his hand a reassuring
squeeze. His ears came up and he went back to scarfing
down his ramen and coffee while she ate more of her shumai.

Inuyasha
turned to Miroku, sniffing. “You reek of alcohol.”

class=GramE>“Really? No kidding,” Miroku replied dourly.

class=GramE>“Oi. Did you go out drinking?”

“A whole
bunch of them did. My mother included,” she defended.

“class=SpellE>Keh, I knew she drank. I remember the night I found her
drinking sake in the dark. But I thought I had taught my pups to know better.”

“Poor
Miroku has a headache,” she admitted.

class=GramE>“Really?” Inuyasha replied, then
smacked the metal underside of the bed with Tessaiga’s
sheath making a loud clang.

“Hey!”
Miroku complained.

“Oops.
Sorry, it slipped.”

Miroku
rubbed his temples and growled. Inuyasha responded by making class=SpellE>Tessaiga’s sheath ‘slip’ again. Twice.

“Whoops.”

“Stop
that!”

“Inuyasha,
you’ll wake the baby,” she scolded.

As if on
cue, the newborn began to make hiccupping noises in his bassinet. She glared at
her mate, who lowered his ears and looked contrite.

“I’ll get
him,” Miroku offered.

class=GramE>“Oi. You up to
it?” Inuyasha questioned.

“I’m fine,”
he insisted and leaned over the bassinet to look at the infant. class=GramE>“Hey you. How you doing this morning? Do you know you’re a
whole day old now?”

Kagome saw
him reach into the bassinet to carefully pick up the pup and cradle him. She
was very pleased to see that he took great care to support the baby’s head.

“He
shouldn’t be hungry or wet. He was just fed and changed twenty minutes ago,”
she said.

Miroku
nodded and lightly rocked the baby, crooning softly under his breath. The
infant settled down almost immediately.

“Huh,”
Inuyasha grunted with appreciation.

“Hmm, looks
like you’re a natural,” she commented.

Miroku
looked up at her and smiled.

The next
several minutes were devoted to eating. Kagome finished the breakfast brought
to her by her sons and nibbled a bit at the one brought by the hospital staff,
eating the fruit cup and rice but leaving the “egg” and “miso,”
as if what they had brought her could have been considered actual food. Both
were so bland that they were practically flavorless. She was all for a low
sodium diet because of her blood pressure, but they were being a bit extreme.

Her mate
and sons ate along with her, consuming the pastries, ramen and coffee Yukio and
Miroku had brought with them, then her sons stayed to
watch the baby while Inuyasha walked her out to the bathing room for a bath.
The hospital staff was shocked to see the two inu-hanyous
in the room when they came to get the tray because no one had observed them
coming in.

Inuya was was true to his word as always and muscled his way into thehinghing room to
help her shower and wash her hair. Luckily, it was so early in the morning
shift that the nursing staff hadn’t begun giving baths yet so they weren’t met
with too much resistance. Kagome was certain there would have been more of a
scene if it had been just a little later.

Showered,
changed and feeling much more human, they returned to her room to find that
Izayoi and Tetsu had arrived.

“Good
morning, Mama,” Tetsu greeted as he came up to her.

“Good
morning, sweetheart,” she replied, hugging him and scratching his back. He
purred his little dragon purr and nuzzled his nose into the junction of her
throat and chin happily.

“You’re
feeling better,” he said with a smile when he pulled back.

She nodded.
“I am. But I’m still tired.”

“That’s to
be expected,” Izayoi commented.

“I know.
But my blood pressure is down to 110 over 80 so I’m hoping to be released
tomorrow morning,” she answered, getting back into bed.

“That’s
wonderful, Okaa-san,” Yukio said.

“Yeah, I’m
happy about it. I can’t wait to get out of this place.”

“You should
try to nap,” Inuyasha told her, arranging her blankets for her.

class=GramE>“Yes, Mama. You need your rest. We don’t mind if you sleep,”
Tetsu agreed.

“It’ll be a
while before Mariko and Eri get here, and we can’t start without them. Eri
would kill us if we named this new pup without her,” Izayoi added.

“Ah, the
Ritual of Naming,” she mused. “How could I have forgotten?”

“You
didn’t. You just blocked it out,” Yukio teased.

Yukio just
giggled.

The Ritual
of Naming had become somewhat of a tradition in the family. It had begun with
Yukio of course, on that day so very long ago when the rest of their companions
had bombarded Inuyasha with potential names for their first pup, and it had
since become a staple of new pup naming. Inuyasha always pretended to be
irritated by the barrage of names, usually just picked for their entertainment
value, but she knew that he enjoyed the game as much as the pups did. It was
always worse with a son because he was traditionally in charge of the final
decision, whereas she was the one who made the definitive choice fol thl the
girls. She had no doubt that today’s ritual would be a free-for-all. Even class=SpellE>Tetsu appeared to be looking forward to it, but that was
probably because it would be his first.

“class=SpellE>Oi, you pups better watch it or I’ll pound you,” Inuyasha
threatened.

“Inuyasha,
play nice,” she warned, but it had no heat because she had to yawn at that
exact moment.

“class=SpellE>Feh. Go to sleep, wench.”

style='mso-tab-count:1'> “I shouldn’t leave you class=SpellE>unchaperoned.”

style='mso-tab-count:1'> “Keh, we
can take care of ourselves,” her mate insisted.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> “We’ll make sure he behaves
himself,” Yukio promised.

“And we’ll
take care of the pup while you sleep so you won’t have to worry about him,”
Miroku told her, still holding the newborn.

“We’ll all
find something to do. I brought a book of baby names to go through,” Izayoi said.

“And I
brought Otou-san’s portfolio like he wanted. I can go get it from the car,”
Yukio added.

“So don’t
worry about entertaining us,” Tetsu assured her.

class=GramE>“All right, all right. I can take a hint. Wake me if the
baby starts to fuss.”

“If he
needs to be fed, we’ll wake you,” Izayoi promised.

“Okay,” she
agreed, looking at her family and smiling softly. “I love you all so much. I
don’t have the words to tell you how much I love you and how important all of
you are to me. I have been so sed sed with such a wonderful mate and beautiful
children.”

They beamed
at her and Inuyasha leaned over to kiss her tenderly.

“And we
have been blessed with you, Mama,” Tetsu answered,
misty-eyed.

class=GramE>“Yes, Okaa-san. We love you very much,” Izayoi confirmed.

“We couldn’t
have asked for a better Kaa-san,” Yukio said, his
voice soft with emotion.

class=GramE>“Rest, Okaa-san. We’re here and we’ll take care of
everything,” Miroku added.

She nodded
and closed her eyes. The room got quiet and soon a heavy drowsiness settled
over her. She knew her mate was there guarding her and she was surrounded by
her beloved children. She was safe and secure, and nothing would harm her or
her new baby.

“Sleep, classllE>llE>koiishi,” she heard Inuyasha whisper to her as he kissed
her brow tenderly.

She was
asleep a few minutes later.

********

Ayumi felt
a little nervous as she followed Higurashi Mama
through the sliding doors of Hirata
Medical
Center. When she had stopped by the
shrine that morning to inquire how Kagome was doing, she was shocked to find
out that her friend had not only given birth to a baby boy, but that there had
been severe complications and that her friend had been comatose for 16 hours.
As a result, she had readily accepted Mama’s invitation to join her, Souta and
Jii-chan when they went to visit Kagome. The family cat came as well, hidden in
Mama’s large handbag. But now, as she stepped through the doors, she was
starting to have second thoughts. She had grown up believing the place was a
simple clinic staffed by a couple of doctors and some nurses in a few rooms on
the first floor. She could hardly believe the nondescript building was actually
a full service, multi-story hospital that treated youkai and hanyous.

Everyone
she saw looked human, but then Mama had told her that a spell had been
cast on the hospital to make everyone look that way. In fact, she was
relatively certain that everything she was seeing was an illusion of some kind.
It had her jumping out of her skin because she didn’t know what was style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>real.
The feeling was very unnerving and she didn’t like it at all.

“Mama-class=SpellE>baachan,” came a voice behind them
as they walked to the elevators and they turned to see two women coming towards
them. One was the Polynesian woman who she had met before with Kagome when they
had lunch in the park, but she did not recognize the tall, blonde woman beside
her.

class=GramE>“Ah, Eri,” Mama greeted.

“Good
morning. Jii-chan. Souta,” Eri said. “Are you just arriving?”

“class=SpellE>Hai,” Mama replied. “This is Ayumi. She is a friend of
Kagome’s from school.”

The woman,
Eri, offered a hand in a Western-style handshake. “Hello, Ayumi.”

“Hello,
Eri-san,” she replied, adding the honorific for politeness and shaking the
offered hand.

“And this
is Mariko, Ayumi,” Mama introduced.

“Ayumi and
I have met before Mama-baachan,” Mariko answered, offering her a smile. “It is
good to see you again. I am sure my mother will be pleased to see your face.”

She bowed
nervously and nodded. “I hope so, Mariko-san.”

Mariko
smiled again as they all got into the elevator aent ent up to the third floor.
The others went ahead but Mariko stayed beside her as they walked down the
corridor to Kagome’s room.

“Why are
you afraid?” Mariko asked her.

“I’m not…
not really. Just… nervous. I know this is a youkai
hospital. Mama told me so, but everyone looks human.”

“That is
the Spell of Normalcy at work. Only those who are Gifted
or who have had the spell lifted from them will see through it.”

class=GramE>“Spell of Normalcy? Is that the illusion spell?”

“One of
them, yes. This place has multiple spells on it.”

They passed
by a nurse in the hall who nodded to them as they walked by.

“Is she a
youkai?” she asked.

Mariko
nodded. “Yes. Nearly everyone you see will be youkai or of youkai blood.”

“And that’s
why I’m nervous. I can’t see what they really are. It’s all fake.”

“And that
frightens you.”

“It
unnerves me. I don’t like not knowing what’s real and what isn’t.”

“That’s
perfectly understandable.”

“I know you
have to do it to… to protect yourselves from being discovered, but…”

“But it
still makes you nervous.”

class=GramE>“Yeah. Gomenclass=GramE>. I don’t mean to be rude,” she apologized shyly.

“It’s okay.
I’m not offended.”

They
reached Kagome’s room and entered. Ayumi was shocked to see that it was full of
people. She recognized Inuyasha only by his face because he had black hair and
dark eyes, and his dog ears were gone. The other four people in the room were
complete strangers to her. Three were Japanese men and one was a Japanese
woman, or at least that was how the spell made them look. She knew from her
conversations with Kagome over the past few weeks that all of her ‘children’
were adopted hanyous except for one full-blooded neko-youkai, so none of them
really looked like the people she was seeing. They were all concealed in some
shape or form, and she had no idea who was who or what was what except for
Inuyasha, Kagome and the Higurashis.

Kagome was
in the bed holding a baby wrapped in blue. She was smiling at something that
was being said as they came in, but all eyes turned towards them as they
entered. She hid behind Mama and Mariko so she wouldn’t be seen right away, and
peered out from behind Mama’s shoulder.

“Ah and the
mouse chaser has arrived,” one of the men enthused with a huge smile. “We can
start now!”

“Watch it,
boot licker,” Eri snapped back, but somehow Ayumi knew she wasn’t really angry.

“class=SpellE>Ooo, Otou-san, I think she may be hung over. Hit the bottom
of the bed with Tessaiga and make her ears ring,” the man teased.

“I’ll have
you know that I am perfectly fine. Unlike you wimpy dogs, I don’t get hung
over.”

“And the
cat fight has already started,” one of the other men in the room joked.

class=GramE>“Meee-oowwww. Hissssssss,”
the third man added. This one did look somewhat familiar, although she couldn’t
place where she had seen him before.

“Okay,
that’s enough,” Inuyasha scolded.

Eri went up
to her mother and kissed her. “Good morning, Mom.”

“Good
morning, Eri. Mariko. Mama. Jii-chan.
Souta.”

The family
cat hopped out of Mama’s handbag and jumped up onto the bed with a mew.

class=GramE>“Kirara!” Kagome exclaimed and
hugged the cat with one arm.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘That’s odd. I thought the cat’s
name was Buyo.’

“Oh! class=GramE>Ayumi-chan!” Kagome greeted,
seeing her for the first time.

“class=SpellE>Hai,” she replied, feeling even more nervous as all eyes
turned to her.

“I’m so
glad to see you. Everyone, this is Ayumi. She and I used to go to school
together.”

She bowed. class=GramE>“Hello everyone.”

A chorus of
hellos answered her.

She went to
stand next to the bed after Mama, Jii-chan and Souta
had said their hellos and looked down at the baby who was sleeping in Kagome’s arms.
Her friend looked tired but happy.

“I stopped
by the shrine to see how you were doing and Mama-san offered to let me come
along to visit. I hope you don’t mind,” she explained.

Kagome
shook her head. “Oh no, Ayumi-chan.
I don’t mind at all. Of all my school friends, you’re the only one who knows
the truth. I’m very happy to see you.”

“Mama-san
told me what happened when you went into labor. I’m glad that you’re going to
be all right.”

class=GramE>“Me too. It was scary, but we survived.”

“Barely,
and with no thanks to that asshole doctor,” Inuyasha snorted.

class=GramE>“Inuyasha. Language,” Kagome warned.

She pointed
to the infant. “May I see him?”

Kagome
beamed and turned the baby around so his little, sleeping face was visible to
her. She couldn’t see what color his eyes were, but he had a mass of black hair
and two human ears that made her wonder if he was concealed too.

“class=SpellE>Ooooh, Kagome, he’s so beautiful. He looks like you.”

“He got my
nose, but he has Inuyasha’s chin,” Kagome replied.

“Have you
decided on a name?”

“Not yet.
That’s what we’re going to do today.”

“Oh.”

She stepped
back and took another look around the room. On the other side of the bed sat
Inuyasha and one of the Japanese men. They had put chairs right next to the bed
and there was a pile of large papers with what looked like architectural
drawings on them spread on a rolling bed tray. Near them and seated closer to
the window was the second man. Next to him was the woman, who was closest to
the foot of the bed. Eri took the last chair in the
room and sat directly at the foot of the bed. On the near side of the bed were
herself, the remaining Japanese man, the one who looked slightly familiar, and
the Higurashis, all of whom were still standing
because there were no more open chairs in the room.

Her
nervousness returned and that seemed to draw unwanted attention towards her as
a number of the occupants in the room looked her way. She wanted to disappear
and escape the scrutiny because it was making her very uncomfortable, but when
she moved to take a step back, she ran into Mariko who she had forgotten was
directly behind her.

“Would you
like to see?” Mariko whispered in her ear.

“Eh?” she
asked, looking over her shoulder at the Polynesian woman.

“Would you
like to See?”

“You mean,
lift the spell like you said?”

Mariko
nodded. “I’ll lift it if you think it will make you more at ease.”

“Oh, yes,
please.”

“Are you
sure? We don’t look anything like what you are expecting.”

She nodded.
“Hai. I know what Inuyasha
looks like and he’s okay.”

“All right
then.”

Mariko
touched her forehead with one finger and a moment later everything seemed to
shimmer before her eyes. Suddenly, the human hand that was touching her face
became elongated and had grey claws instead of fingernails. It was also missing
a finger.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘Four fingers…’

She looked
up to see Mariko’s true form and gasped. Her nose and mouth were gone and
replaced by a beak, and her hair had turned into teal colored feathers.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘She… she looks like a bird!’

Mariko
chuckled. “I tried to warn you.”

“H… class=SpellE>hai, but it’s okay. Now I know.”

She turned
to look at the other occupants of the room. Only Kagome, Mama, Jii-chan and
Souta remained the same. Inuyasha, of course, looked just as she remembered
him, but three out of the five others looked very much like him with the same
white hair and dog ears: two of the men and one of the women. The remaining
woman, Eri, had flaming red hair, pointed ears and brilliant green eyes. She
also had claws and a set of fangs, and looked almost feline.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘What was it one of them called her?
Mouse chaser? Is she the neko?’

The last
man had jet-black hair and pale skin that didn’t look like human skin once it
reached his neck. His face was narrow and his features were very sharp, almost
hawk-ish or even reptilian, and his eyes were a
vibrant violet that seemed to look right through her. Even the infant had
changed and now had his father’s silver hair, and a pair of pointed ears where
human ears should be instead of dog ones on top of his head. And the family cat
had transformed from an obese calico to a sleek white cat with black paws, a
black star on her forehead and two black-tipped tails.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘Wow? What is she?’

She turned
to one of the men who looked like Inuyasha, the man whose human form had been
familiar to her. He was standing very close to her, right next to Kagome’s bed.

“Yukio-san?”
she tried, hoping she was right.

The room
erupted into laughter as the man she had addressed blushed. The other man who
looked like Inuyasha stood from where he was seated next to his adopted father
and came over to her.

“style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>I’m
Yukio,” he said with a wide grin. “This…” He reached up and rubbed the blushing
man on the head. “This is my otouto, Miroku.”

“class=SpellE>Otouto?” she repeated, then blushed herself and bowed
deeply. “Oh forgive me. I thought… I knew Yukioa baa baby and you looked a
little familiar…”

“You knew
him as a baby?” Miroku asked excitedly. “Oh, can you tell me something good
about him? Something really embarrassing?”

“Hey!”
Yukio complained and put his brother in a head-lock. “Why I oughta…”

“That’s
enough,” Inuyasha warned, but she just started to giggle at their antics.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> ‘They’re just like puppies tousling.
I feel more at ease already,’ she sighed to herself.

Yukio
immediately let Miroku go and returned to his place on the other side of the
bed. Both of them were still smiling and chuckling.

“class=SpellE>Pssst, you can tell me later, okay?” Miroku whispered
conspiratorially.

“I heard
that!” Yukio groused.

She blushed
further. “Oh, I don’t think I know anything like that.”

“Anything
will do. He’s always telling me about things I did as a little pup. I need some
ammo for myself.”

“I’ll… I’ll
try to remember something.”

“Great. So
I look familiar?” he questioned hopefully.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> She blinked at him and wondered
if his expression meant what she thought it did. ‘Is he… is he flirting with
me?’

“class=SpellE>Hai,” she replied nervously. “When I saw you I thought I
had seen you somewhere before.”

“Hmmm, you
don’t look at all familiar to me. Are you in college?”

class=GramE>“Hai.” ‘He is flirting with me.
What do I do? What would Kagome think?’

“Where do
you go?”

“I start at
Meiji this semester.” ‘I
can’t not answer him. That
would be so rude!’

class=GramE>“Hmmm. Never been over to Meiji, but I teach at
University
of Tokyo.”

class=GramE>“University class=GramE> of Tokyoclass=GramE>? My older sister goes there.” ‘He is kinda cute. And those
ears are adorable...’

class=GramE>“Really? What does she study?”

“Political
Science,” she answered, casting a glance at Kagome. Her friend looked amused
but not distressed or unhappy. ‘She’s not
upset so I guess it’s okay then…’

He nodded.
“I teach history.”

“My sister
took Introduction to Historical Science last semester.”

“What was
her name?”

“class=SpellE>Kanesaka Maeko.”

“class=SpellE>Kanesaka... Kanesakaclass=GramE>. I think I remember seeing that name on my student list.”

She shook
her head. “None of her professors were named Fushikenwa.”

He waved a
hand. “Oh I’m not using Fushikenwa right now. I’m using Kensaiga.”

She gasped.
“You’re
Sensei Kensaiga?” ‘style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>He’s the hot young professor my sister
and all the girls in her class were gushing t?! t?! Kami-sama!
If only they knew!’

He grinned
and she was certain he puffed out his chest a bit. “The very
same.”

“Then I style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>have
seen you before. I used to meet my sister on campus for lunch right after your
class. I knew you looked familiar.” ‘She
talked about you every day. She is going to be so jealous if you ask me out.
Oh, I don’t care!’

“Wow. class=GramE>Small world, huh.”

“Ahem!” an
irritated voice interrupted.

She turned
to see Eri glaring at Miroku. “Not to interrupt your little mating display, but
we have a pup to name and I’m on a schedule.”

They both
blushed furiously and Miroku sputtered a bit. “It’s not like that!”

“Uh
su
sure it isn’t. Now I’m ready to get this party started so let’s do it.”

class=GramE>“Meee-oooow. Hisssssssssss,”
Yukio teased behind cupped hands.

“Oh shut
up,” Eri groused, then flipped open a small laptop she had been carrying in her
bag. “I’ve already bookmarked BabyNameAddicts and class=SpellE>BabyNames. Provided the satellite link-up doesn’t crap out
on me, between the two I’ve got over 50,000 names to choose from.”

“Not that
you take this seriously or anything,” Yukio commented.

“Hey, class=SpellE>Tetsu came with his name and I missed Hitomi
and Kitarou’s namings so
I’m making up for lost opportunities.”

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “And to think there was a time when we
actually named our own pups,” Inuyasha mused to Kagome.

“I don’t
think we ever did that,” she replied.

“Am I interrupting?
I can go...” Ayumi offered. ‘I don’t want
to intrude on a private family affair.’

“Oh no,
it’s okay. We’re just going to decide what to name the new pup. It’s fine if
you stay. It’s a lot of fun,” Miroku answered.

“Kagome-class=SpellE>chan?” she asked, looking at her friend in the bed.

“It’s fine
for you to stay Ayumi-chan. I don’t mind.”

“I’ll get
more chairs,” Miroku announced.

“Okay,”
Kagome said.

Miroku left
the room and returned a few minutes later carrying six chairs stacked on top of
each other.

‘style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Wow. He’s strong,’ she thought as she
helped him distribute the chairs, blushing when he winked at her. ‘style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Okay, he’s cuter than Inuyasha. And he seems
happier and less violent.’

class=GramE>“All right. Before we begin The Ritual of Naming are there
any specific meanings or s yos you already have in mind?” the woman who looked
like Inuyasha asked once they all had taken seats around the bed.

Kagome and
Inuyasha looked at each other and then shook their heads.

“No not
really, Izayoi, but I was thinking the name should be special,” Kagome replied.