InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Aiji: A Blanket Fic ❯ Quickening ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Part 3

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" he demanded, pulling her back away from his chest so that he could see into her eyes when she answered him. He had a desperate need to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling, for she was the only thing holding back gnawing dread that threatened to consume him entirely.

Kagome's head lolled down onto his forearm in a weak response to his shifting. Her eyes were dull, half hidden behind heavy lids and thick lashes, and when she spoke, her words came out as little more than an airy sigh.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha…I'm sorry, you were right…I'm not strong enough…"

His eyes widened in disbelief.

"Baka!" he scolded, hugging the girl protectively to his chest. "Why would you start listening to my bullshit now, of all times?" He could feel the warmth of her breath against his collarbone as she rewarded him with a soft chuckle that made the churning in his stomach settle down a little. If she could laugh at a time like this, then he was right about how seriously he had underestimated her. When her face tilted back again to catch his gaze with her own, the heavy dullness in her eyes had abated some and she actually smiled at him. The sight of those upturned lips sent a warm surge through the weary hanyou, and he let out the breath he'd been unconsciously holding. Never before had he hoped so fervently to be proven wrong.

"You don't think I'm weak?"

"Nah." he whispered, pulling her head back down to his chest so that he could bury his nose and mouth in the dark tangle of her wet hair. "You think I'd pick my mate so carelessly? Like I'd want a whelp with weak blood…"

"You ass…" Kagome sighed, shifting herself to lie more comfortably in his embrace. "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

"I think I might…" he whispered back, pulling her into his lungs with each deep, calming breath. Kagome let a hand wander lazily up and down his body, tracing the lines of his muscles, amused by how they seemed to dance in ticklish response beneath the soft, gliding movements of her fingertips.

"Hey… don't tease." he chastised gently, placing the hand that was not otherwise occupied in cradling her to his body over her wandering fingers and pressed them flat against his chest. "This is hardly the time or place."

"Are you telling me?" she murmured, closing her eyes and nuzzling her face into him, trying to burrow in further against the warm, taunt flesh of his breast that stubbornly refused to yield. "Besides, I don't think there's room for you anymore."

He couldn't help but smirk in spite of himself. "Tell him I was here first."

"Inuyasha…"

"Alright, alright, I know…tell him or her I was here first."

"No, Inuyasha…" she groaned, squirming against him in growing discomfort. Inuyasha's breath caught in his throat, the cold sweat that had been nearly forgotten breaking upon his back once more.

"A-again?!" he gasped incredulously. "So soon?!" Despite his best efforts to keep up a calm, composed façade, his voice was threatening to give him away.

"H-h-hai!" Kagome managed to squeeze out between quick pants.

He wasn't sure how or when it had happened, but at some point she must have reached up and grabbed two fistfuls of his hair, because his face was moving steadily downward toward hers as the contraction reached its peak. They were practically nose to nose by the time it leveled off, then slowly began to ebb. Kagome relinquished her hold, allowing his head to bob back up several inches, then released a deep breath that dissolved into a relieved whine as she wilting back into his lap. As he nervously stroked his palm down over her ample belly, trying to figure out a way, any way to comfort her, he became increasingly aware of his lap, and how, for reasons unbeknownst to him, it suddenly felt very, very wet.

"Kagome?" he prodded gently, reluctant to disturb her any further, but unable to ignore the disquieting puddle that they were now sitting in, though he took some comfort in the fact that at least it didn't smell like blood.

"Looks like we won't be making it back to the village after all…" she half laughed, half sobbed, her smile almost a grimace as she quickly wiped away the unwelcome tears trickling down the sides of her face with the back of her hand before they could roll into her ears.

"What… happened?" he haltingly questioned, plucking at the damp fabric of his hakama and listening to the noise of moist suction as it pulled away from his leg.

"It's nothing, Inuyasha…nothing serious. It's…my water broke." She stroked his troubled brow, reversing their positions as she now tried to offer him some comfort.

"Broke?"

"It's Ok, it's supposed to happen. It just means…that the baby will be coming soon. It seems our little aiji can't wait any longer."

There was a funny, indiscernible shimmer in her eyes that was begging him for something, but he wasn't sure what. He didn't know what to say to her, and was even less sure of what she wanted or expected from him, so in an attempt to compensate, he concerned himself with her more physical needs.

"All that trouble I went to to get you warm and dry and you've managed to soak us both again." He shook his head in mock reproach as he eased her out of his wet lap so that he could fix things. He would see to it that she was made to be warm and dry again. This was something he could handle, something he could do for her. He hoped it could be enough.

Leaving her wrapped in his kimono, he crawled over to the corner of the room where he'd taken notice of the blanket earlier. Leaning back on his heels, he gave it a good shake, letting fly several years of dust, pine needles, and the dried out husks of long dead insects, then held it up to the faint light cast by their small fire. The edges were worn, gnawed slightly here and there; probably from a family of field mice or some other small rodent that had taken up residence within its warm folds at some point over the last decade or so. Other than that, it was in fairly decent shape. Most likely a bit too stiff and scratchy for Kagome's liking, but they didn't have a lot of options open to them, and she'd know better than to turn her nose up at it. Hell, it could have looked like mold and smelled even worse for all he cared, so long as it kept her warm.

Pivoting, he shook it out again, this time over the shallow pit he'd dug for her to rest in, and let the far edge drape across it, covering the bottom. The one thing the blanket had going for it was its size, he noted with some satisfaction. It was quite big. Kagome would be able to lie on one half while covering herself with the other, and still have room to spare.

'Room for me.' he thought, and not unpleasantly, as he could no longer pretend that the cold and damp weren't affecting him. 'Plenty for both of us…with a little left over for…anyone else who might come along.'