Consequences

Pairing : MirokuxInuyasha
Rating : PG-13(in this part, hopefully NC-17 in later chapters)
Disclaimer : Rumiko Takahashi owns all the lovely characters.
Authors notes & Warnings : Mpreg. Slight angst. Slash. No yaoi on this chapter, just shounen-ai.
My very first fic, so feedback is appreciated and can be sent to saraste_impi@hotmail.com. I want to thank my wonderful beta Serenity for her work and for being the first ever reader this fic. *bows and hugs*.


It all began with wistful glances. One would glance at the other, stealing their eyes away when it became evident that the other had noticed, or even before that. Nothing was uttered, confirmed. Until one night urges ran high and hands sought out each other, secret endearments being whispered. Nothing was ever the same after that. Nothing could be. They had both found love, and held that precious thing well guarded, even from their friends. For them, being close to one another was enough, both having suffered in their past leading to their secrecy.

* * *

Inuyasha drew Miroku against himself on the forest floor, panting heavily.

“That was...”

“I know..”

They lay entwined over their haphazardly discarded clothes. It was always like this: sneaking away when the others slept and ending in the woods for a bout of sweaty lovemaking. This night had been no exception, but still a rarity among their nightly excursions. Miroku caressed the silky, raven black strands of hair of Inuyasha's human form. 'Such frailty and beauty', he thought to himself. 'My lover, my precious..'.

Inuyasha rested his hands on the small of Miroku’s back reveling in the texture of the monks skin. Everything was perfect. There was no moon, the sky was lit only by the light of the innumerable stars strewn all over it.

“It will be morning soon.” Miroku commented as he saw the dim light creeping upon them between the trees. “So it will, and I'll be back to myself.”

Inuyasha, a hanyou whose human blood took over every new moon, wasn't happy in his human form, it rendered him too vulnerable. He wouldn’t admit to it, but it also scared him a bit. He wouldn’t have been able to protect Miroku had something attacked them. The monk could easily defend himself, but it was instinctual for Inuyasha to fiercely protect those he loved. But now, with Miroku, those fears were veiled by the feeling of safety and oblivion. He let himself drown in his human lover’s arms, drawing strength from their heady expressions of love.

Before returning back to their friends, they snuggled for a while, content and sated.

* * *
As the sun rose over the hills and treetops, Inuyasha and Miroku had both fully dressed and were heading back to their camp. They were still searching for the Shikon shards with the others. It’d been foolish to leave Kagome and Shippo behind only defended by Sango and Kirara but they had had to get away for a while. They had craved for the privacy and needed the feel of skin to skin and the entanglement of limbs.

The sun basked them in its warm light as they reached the camp. Sango, the female demon exterminator, slept leaning on to Kirara in her big form. Kagome, the rebirth of Inuyasha’s first beloved, was curled up in a sleeping bag with Shippo, the young fox-demon, sleeping against her legs outside the bag.

Miroku walked hand in hand with Inuyasha, the others were still asleep and wouldn't notice, they hadn't told them about their relationship yet and so it would have been awkward had they seen it. Miroku fondled the hand in his hand, suddenly noticing that something was different. No claws! Daylight and Inuyasha was still human?

“You’re still human.” The monk glad in blue and violet robes exclaimed.

“What?” Shock, bafflement and fear mixed into a odd cocktail of emotions in the hanyou’s voice. Masking his face with incredulity.

“Didn’t you notice?” Miroku looked curiously at his lover.

Inuyasha looked at himself all over. No claws, raven black hair, human body.

“What??” He was dumbfounded. ‘What? Why? When? Why me?’ The question rallied around in his head as he ran his hand through his still black hair. Gone was the familiar silvery mane, the fangs, all the attributes of his hanyou body.

“You really didn’t notice?” Miroku inquired. ’How could he not notice, I would have.’

“I wasn’t paying attention, I.. I think I just assumed that I had. What’s happening? How did I not change back?” Inuyasha’s voice had risen considerably. He was nervous, baffled and a bit frightened. He didn’t like things that he couldn’t explain. Like the current situation.

“What’s happening?” Sango asked a bit sleepily. Her eyes fell over Inuyasha and her eyes widened. She took in his appearance, and, for a brief second, wondered if it was still night.

“You’re ...but how?” Sango jumped up on her feet and proceeded towards the pair of them, staring at Inuyasha. It was odd to see the hanyou in human form in broad daylight. Behind her Kagome was also stirring, waking little Shippo in the process.
Kagome sat up and yawned, stretching her arms and letting the slight breeze spin her ebony hair around her head.

“What’s with all the noise? How was your night, Inuyas...”

As she spoke she turned to look at the hanyou and reacted the same way as Sango when she saw he was human. ’So that’s what he looks like in daylight. But he shouldn’t be human anymore. ‘What’s going on?’

Meanwhile Inuyasha was stomping around, flabbergasted. ’How can this be happening to me? Was it something I did so the gods are punishing me now? It must be a curse, it has to be! But who put it over me and why?’. He glanced at Miroku, a lost expression on his delicate features. ’I don’t know what to do, love.’ He was drawn from his thoughts by Kagome appearing beside him.

“What is this? Isn’t this supposed to be a night-time thing only?”

“I have no clue as to what caused this.”

“It must be a curse.” Sango said thoughtfully.”

Miroku had been silent the whole time. He’d been looking at Inuyasha with worried eyes, brow furroved. Now he spoke up. He had to calm his lover and reassure him.

“Whatever it is, we will all be there for you, Inuyasha, for as long as it lasts.”

‘And I’ll keep you safe, my precious, so that no harm comes to you.’

Inuyasha and Miroku’s eyes locked and they changed an affectionate look that remainded unnoticed by anyone except for Shippo. He had just finally gotten up and sat on Kagome’s lap. He didn’t understand it though, being so little and said nothing about it.

“Do you think Myoga would know something of this?” Kagome asked thoughtfully, turning to glance at Inu Yasha. By hearing the girls voice, Inuyasha reluctanly pulled his eyes from his lover.

“Unlikely, though we aren’t in any danger just now so he might show up again. That cowardly flea!”

They were interrupted by Sango.

“If it is a curse, which is very likely, who do you think put it over you?”

Inuyasha had enemies and rivals, but few knew of his turning human. That trait of the hanyos was not so commonly known.

“It was most likely someone who knew of your turning human and used that to weaken you.” The exterminator said matter-of-factly.

“Kouga!” Inuyasha immediately snarled, the image of his wolf yokai rival appearing in his mind. Miroku reflexively reached out a hand to calm Inuyasha. He was cut short by Kagome, and drew the hand back.

“But he doesn’t have that kind of power, does he? And he wouldn’t. Right?”

“Why do you keep defending him, Kagome?” Inuyasha demanded. Miroku sighed at his lovers tone. Really, he should get over that. As if he was in love with Kagome, maybe a fling before, but nothing more. It also hurt Miroku to hear that slight undertone of jealousy, a bunch of protectiveness over Kagome but a hint of jealousy nonetheless. He knew the hanyou didn't harbor any romantic feelings for the girl, but it still hurt.

“Maybe it wasn't Koga, where would he find someone to curse you, and he has his honour.” Miroku commented.
'And besides now that we're together, he can have Kagome'. He unconsciously licked his lips. He also looked into Inuyasha's eyes, trying to get him to notice that he had noticed that subtle undertone in his angry voice. The hanyou either remained clueless or didn't think it was anything big.

“It must've been Naraku, then! Or better yet, Sesshoumaru. He hates me as much!” Inuyasha burst out. But if it was to cover for his earlier blunder, the monk didn't know. Miroku raised his eybrows and both Kagome and Sango looked doubtful too.
“But Sesshoumaru doesn't even know about your change. Does he?”

The monk clad in dark blue and purple robes inquired. His lover was rambling now, confused. 'So I misinterpreted that..perhaps.' But he too wanted answers. A curse was the most likely reason for this.

“Feh! Might've just been his twisted sense of humor, even if he doesn't know. “

“But why?”

“So he can just wait for some demon to kill me, because his own honor won't let him do that himself. Not to his weaker brother.”

Sango coughed. All turned to her, maybe she could shed some light into all this.

“It must have been Naraku.“

Though that had been Inuyasha's second quess, the hanyou had gotten carried away with his resentment towards his brother and the subject had almost been dropped. Even though it was the obvious answer.

Inuyasha groaned. Miroku looked compassionately at his lover. Kagome spoke next.

“It does fit into his schemes, he's always trying to weaken us.”

“And he has the power to do something like this.” Sango added, absently brushing Kirara's fur. The demon cat purred.

“But why Inuyash.. oh.” The obvious dawned to Miroku.

“Because he's the strongest of us.” The demon exterminator stated the fact. Though she with her hiraikotsu and Miroku with his wind scar were powerful, both of them had hindrances.

Naraku had control over Sango because he held her brother, controlling him through a shard that kept him alive. Miroku's wind tunnel was heritage from his grandfather and father, a curse set by Naraku. Amd then there were Naraku's hell bees which poisoned Miroku if he sucked them into the void.

Even Inuyasha had had a supposed hindrance before : Kagome. He previously would have defended her to his death. But maybe Naraku had noticed that something had changed and had laid upon him this curse. 'What if he knows?', Inuyasha glanced worriedly over to Miroku. 'What if he knows and will use it against me? Us? I can't bear to lose him. Lose him, no.. don't think such things'.

Miroku noticed a flurry of emotions going rampant on his lovers face. Worry. Realization. Pain. Confusion. 'He can't be thinking he'll lose me, can he? He must be'. He smiled reassuringly at Inuyasha, as if trying to convey wordlessly that all was fine and would continue being fine. 'I will never leave you.'

“But what do we do now?” Sango asked. “Will we go on with our search or try to figure out how we can undo this curse?“
Inuyasha rubbed at his temples, trying to regain his composure. He drew a deep breath.

“We'll do both. Firstly, it would be nice to find Myoga, maybe he could have something on how to reverse the effects of this curse. Secondly, what else would we do than carry on like before?”

'What, he's going to continue on going? When he's vulnerable like that? No way!'

“But you're weaker now, you can't possibly continue like nothing’s happened.” Miroku hoped he had kept his mouth shut as the hanyou glared at him.

“You think I'm weak? Can't defend myself now, can I?”

Of course, by saying such things Inuyasha contradicted most of his own feelings on the matter. He had yet to tell Miroku anyhing of them. His tone and seeming slight anger were meant to cover his insecurities and the fear that threatened to seep into his heart.

Kagome, oblivious to the tension between the two men, chose that moment to save the day.

“Don't worry Inuyasha”, she said and moved Shippo on her arms so that she could reach out one hand and reassuringly pat the hanyou's shoulder with it, “I'll protect you.”

At this statement most of them were taken aback. Surely, her skill with the bow had advanced considerably, but other than that she could offer no other form of protection. Miroku, laying aside his pangs of quilt, realized that it was the gesture itself that Kagome hoped would calm Inuyasha. He was grateful for that, and saw his lover relax a bit, not so wound up as moments before.

Sango, however, had noticed the tension. There was something between the men. Something she couldn't pin point. As her basic impression of Miroku was based on the fact that he was quite the letcher, she suddenly thought that maybe they were rivals. Fighting for Kagome.

She suppressed a sigh as it was now obvious to her, by her judgment of the situation, that Miroku had chosen someone else over her. 'What am I thinking, surely he wasn't.. And surely I wasn't, was I? No. Couldn't have been.' With this clever self-deception she decided to monitor the situation of the supposed love triangle where the men were fighting over the woman when in reality they were head over heels in love with each other leaving Kagome as the third wheel..

“So we'll continue our journey, hoping that something might cross our paths that will bring some light into this matter.” Miroku intoned.

So they set forth, packing up their camp and leaving for another day of travelling.

Sango and Kagome taking the front, giggling and Inuyasha behind them muttering to himself with Miroku keeping the rear with a nice backside view of his lover. He was a pervert after all.