InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ Spring is in the air… ( Chapter 86 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.02.2007 | Updated On: 09.27.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 8.8K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.02.2007 | Updated On: 09.27.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 8.8K | Status: Completed
Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chapter 86 - Spring is in the air…
With the harshness of winter’s bitter chill finally behind them, Sango was looking forward to working again in her garden. She was weary of the “terrible two’s” that Kagome had long ago warned her about (Kazuki experiencing his at age one) but so far, Emi was a perfect little angle. Now that the drama of her near fatal pregnancy with Kichiro was finally over, everything seemed to have returned to normal.
Well, almost…
Miroku had been unusually protective of her over the last three months, but really, could you blame him? She had almost died. If their situation had been reversed, she knew she would be just as protective over her husband.
“If our situation was reversed…I’d have gone running for the hills screaming youkai!” she joked aloud to herself, finding humor in the very notion of Miroku being pregnant. She remembered a long, long time ago, Kagome mentioning something to her about ‘manga’ that people liked to read in her time, some of the stories being what she had called ‘yaoi’. Not that she had anything against the notion of two men being together, but when one of them turned up pregnant, that was just…
“Stupid.” she muttered to herself, as she continued clearing her garden of weeds.
````````````````````````````````
Hoping to burn off as much extra energy as was possible, considering it was spring once again, our silver-haired village headman was mildly surprised to suddenly detect his pack-brother’s scent on the wind. It had been nearly three complete moon cycles after all, back when snow still blanketed the ground, that they had last seen the guy wander about the village.
“Inuyasha?” Miroku asked, “Can I speak with you a moment?”
“Sure, monk, what’cha want?”
Inuyasha sat down the plank of wood he had been working on, to assure his friend that he had his complete attention. Though the time for firewood was over, it was now the “repair leaky roofs” season (among “other” seasons) and he had to work quickly, before the spring rains started. But something in the tone of Miroku’s voice revealed that the ex-monk was somewhat troubled, and that the wood could wait.
“It’s about…Sango.” Miroku admitted hesitantly.
Instantly, Inuyasha’s ears jumped up.
“Is she okay?” Inuyasha asked with genuine concern.
“Oh she’s fine!” he assured the hanyou quickly, adding “Everything’s fine…” The way Miroku’s voice trailed off at the end revealed that even if Sango was fine, he was not.
“Spit it out.”
Sighing, Miroku confessed “That your brother saved her life is truly a miracle I can never hope to repay, and I cannot, in good conscious, take this kami-given second chance for granted.”
“In Japanese, monk.” he spat in exasperation. (In the same fashion as someone in America would say “In English” whenever somebody spoke in riddles.)
“I cannot risk Sango ever becoming with-child again.” he blurted.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at that, but his expression quickly softened to one of understanding, as he seemed to genuinely contemplate his friend’s mournful words. Miroku had worried, briefly, that Inuyasha would take advantage of the moment to poke fun at him, saying something along the lines of what the obvious way to ensure such a thing was, but he should have known better. Inuyasha may take advantage of every available moment to make a crack at his expense, when it was appropriate, not that the hanyou was entitled to any less, with as frequently as he used to function as the butt of Miroku’s own jokes, but Inuyasha was nothing if not a genuine friend, and in serious situations, he simply knew when such jokes were uncalled for.
“Human females are only fertile a few days out of the month…” he started after a moment, “But…” he added, “It doesn’t always land on the exact same day each time.”
“I see…” Miroku answered thoughtfully, realizing aloud “…and you can scent this change in Kagome, which is how you are more easily able to choose your time of parenting.” It wasn’t phrased like a question, though a brief not from the hanyou acknowledge he was correct all the same.
“Would you then be able to scent this change in Sango, also?” Miroku asked hopefully. I do not wish to stop bedding Sango forever… he added in his mind. Though…if that was what it would take…
“Unfortunately, no.” Inuyasha answered. “I mean, I could, but you’d have a tough time explaining to your wife why I always have my nose in her belly, not to mention explaining it to my wife.” he added in a gentle attempt at humor.
Miroku chuckled softly, but then wished to clarify “I thought the ‘heat’ scent, as you put it, was fairly strong to your nose.”
Shrugging, Inuyasha answered “Yeah, but I learned from those books of Kagome’s that your seed can actually live for a couple of days, so if you mated, and then the next day she went into heat, she’d still get pupped. The inu’s ability to scent heat is to help insure having pups, not to avoid them, and the ‘pre-heat’ scent is too weak to detect on the wind. Hell, Kagome woulda got pupped the first night we mated, had it not been for that future anti-pupping medicine she’d been taking.” he added, remembering how he had started to detect Kagome’s heat the very next evening after their first mating. “Only way to tell for sure by scent early enough for it to do any good is to really get a good smell.” he explained, bringing to light his earlier statement about having his nose in Sango’s belly. That really would be what it would take.
“I see.” Miroku answered again, somewhat more dejectedly than the previous time. He was just about to turn and walk away when Inuyasha suddenly said “Kirara.”
“Kirara?” Miroku echoed.
Nodding again, Inuyasha explained “A neko’s sense of smell may not be quite as good as an inu’s, but it doesn’t suck, plus she’s got an advantage, having much easier access to Sango than I do, what with always sleeping in her lap and stuff. Just plead your case.” he said, “I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Miroku remained silent for what seemed like several minutes, taking everything in, before he softly answered “Thank you, my friend.”
````````````````````````````````````````
K ohaku took a few paces back, gazing at his work so far. The support beams were all in place, and now he was working on constructing the frames for the various windows, which all had to be finished before he started putting up the walls. He had stopped working on his new hut temporarily after…what happened. He knew his place had been at home, helping tend to his Ane-ue. After…what happened, he had also found himself unintentionally being more standoffish towards Kaori. Yes, he loved her. Yes, he wished to make her his wife. Yes, he was still working on the very hut he would soon be sharing with her and her mother. But did he still want to have children? Of course, a very big part of his being actually screamed yes, because besides the fact that he’d simply always loved children, it was also his duty to pass on the Taijiya traditions. He and his sister were the last, after all, and it would be up to both of them if they ever hoped to repopulate the nearly extinct profession. With Sango having only two children, one of which already starting to show signs of taking more after her father, that only left little Kichiro in the position of following in Mommy’s footsteps. But thinking about Kichiro again reminded Kohaku of the all too important reason why he was now starting to feel as though he did not want children. It wasn’t so much the notion of children themselves that troubled him, but the way in which they were brought into the world. So much could go wrong. He loved Kaori too much to risk inviting such a catastrophe. Maybe they could adopt? He just didn’t know what to do any more. He’d already lost so much; his entire family, save for his sister, and then, after…what happened, he’d nearly lost her, too. He couldn’t even fathom the concept of continuing to function in this world if anything ever happened to Kaori as well. He’d simply go mad.
Kaori could easily sense her fiancé’s turmoil, but knew that what Kohaku needed right now, was time. She knew all about his past, and what he’d already had to find the strength to overcome, and nearly losing his sister had likely brought many of his buried memories back to the surface. She strived to make sure he knew that she was there for him, when he was ready, but that she wouldn’t force him to talk about it if he didn’t want to. Approaching the site of their new hut, she smiled at the progress he’d obviously been making, as it looked much further along than the last time she’d seen it. Approaching where he stood, she silently offered him the gourd she carried.
Kohaku accepted the water, thanking her with a brief bow to his head, before drinking it down.
“Since you’re here…” he spoke upon handing her back the empty gourd, “Would you prefer the bedroom window to be smaller?” he asked, gesturing toward the rather large gap in the main bedchamber’s framework.
“How large does a window truly need to be?” she asked in turn, humoring him with the trivial conversation, as they each blatantly ignored the enormous elephant standing beside them.
“Inuyasha constructed the back windows to his hut large enough that a grown person might escape through them, should there be a fire.” he explained. “Miroku copied his technique when he designed our hut.”
“Well then,” she answered, “I think that is an excellent idea. It never hurts to be too protective of your family.” She cringed as the last words slipped past the border of her lips, wishing desperately that she could somehow capture them and thrust them back down her throat before reaching Kohaku’s ears, but unfortunately, she possessed no such power.
Kohaku winced, knowing well that Kaori wanted a family, and remembering quite clearly how they used to speak of such things, before…what happened. He knew she had been nothing but understanding towards his behavior as of late, and if the current look on her face was any indication, she was in the process of berating herself for what she believed to be thoughtless words. He could not allow her to continue thinking such nonsense. Instead, Kohaku swallowed his pride, if not his fear, as he wrapped one arm around her, pulling her closer, as he quietly agreed “No, it doesn’t.”
Startled by his comment, she turned her head to meet his eyes, and found him gazing at her understandably, yet sadly, in return.
“Kohaku…”
“No, you’re right.” he spoke before she had a chance to continue, the tone of her voice having already spoke volumes in itself.
“I understand that what happened to Ane-ue is…rare, and…”
She shushed him with a gentle finger upon his lips.
“I do not wish to force you to speak of such things.”
Shaking his head with an appreciative smile, Kohaku pulled back from his future bride enough so that he could reach for, and kiss, the top of her hand. “You do not force me.” he assured her softly.
At hearing those words, Kaori merely smiled, and once again closed the distance between herself and her future husband, this time by wrapping both arms up and around his neck. Kohaku readily complied, wrapping his arms around her back in turn, as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, taking in as much of her scent as his human nose would allow.
“I was so scared.” he started after a moment. “I thought…I thought I was going to lose her, and then…it’d just be me. I’d be the only one left…all alone.”
“You’re not alone.” she dared to whisper softly, and he seemed to appreciate her words as she felt his grip on her tighten.
“It was my fault…all my fault…”
Suddenly, she realized he wasn’t talking about his sister’s pregnancy any longer.
“…I…I killed them…” he whispered, as though if he dared to say the words any louder, it would bring more truth to them, “I killed them all.”
Kaori knew that he’d heard this argument a thousand times before, but…
“It wasn’t you.”
Shaking his head, Kohaku never loosened his grip on his fiancée, as he argued “Everybody says that. Everybody says that I was controlled by Naraku, and that my actions were not my own, but it was my weakness that allowed Naraku to take control over me in the first place. Had I been stronger, I would have seen through the deception. I would have felt the foreign force over my body, and resisted its pull. I tried to fight against him, later, and actually succeeded a few short times, but that first night, I was truly his puppet. He hadn’t even placed the dark shard within my back, not yet. That was only used to keep me alive when I had otherwise fatal injuries. My body had died, but I remained frozen, locked in that moment of death, my soul never vacating. My body did not rot, but it did not heal, either. I…I had no heart beat.” Kaori had never heard him speak of such things before, and knew to remain silent as he continued. “The only thing that saved me from that hell was Ane-ue.” he admitted, “I remembered her…even though I didn’t understand how or why. Slowly I started to feel things, glimpses of the past. I started to hear Naraku’s voice in my head more clearly as a voice not my own, and I understood that I didn’t want to do the horrible things that he ordered me to do. Even so…I was so weak. Many times he controlled my body, completely against my conscious will. I watched, helpless, as I slaughtered innocents; women and children. Anyone else would have condemned me to the darkest depths of hell for all eternity, and I deserve no less, yet Ane-ue still forgave me. Still called me brother…”
“And I shall call you husband.” she spoke softly.
“Why?” he asked her, stating concerns that seemed more appropriate for a past-Inuyasha to have asked of Kagome, rather than himself. “Why do you love me? I’m a horrible, weak monster. I’ve hurt so many. How can you love a creature like me?”
Pulling back only enough so that her eyes met his own, Kaori stated without hesitation “I may never fully understand the turmoil in your heart, but I do understand the longing in your soul. On that level, we are the same, you and I. I too believed myself to be unlovable, unwanted. I too felt alone and isolated in the world, with nobody by my side save for my mother.” He smiled at her kindly, but remained silent, as he brushed a stray hair from her face. Kaori briefly turned her face to follow his movements, cherishing the feel of his delicate touch, before she added a bit louder “Neither of us are alone any longer.”
Slowly, hesitantly, Kohaku dared to inch himself closer. Kaori, seeing this, readily aided in closing the distance between them, by moving herself closer as well. When their lips met, it was gentle, and caring, speaking of promises for a brighter future, and happiness for years to come. Pulling away, Kohaku once again brushed a few stray hairs from Kaori’s face, as his eyes met her own. “I love you more than you could ever know.” he whispered.
Kaori’s eyes spoke of playful disagreement, as her gaze seemed to articulate that she did in fact love him just as strongly, but the words remained unspoken as she met his lips with her own for the second time in as many minutes. Slowly, hesitantly, Kohaku increased the passion behind their kiss, delicately edging his fiancée’s bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, seeking permission for entry. When it was granted, he felt a small portion of his scars fade away. Her love was healing him. She often spoke of how he had rescued her, but he knew…they both knew…that it was really the other way around. His talks with Inuyasha had helped, but nothing could fully hope to recover the damage done to his soul, save for the love of a beautiful woman. Inuyasha himself could easily attest to that.
The last coherent notion to pass through either of their minds, as Kohaku gently laid Kaori down upon the soft grass, was how strongly they truly loved one another.
````````````````````````````````````
Dinner that evening was unusually quiet, their rambunctious kitsune man/child having completely worn himself out with his training. For a youkai to reach the point of utter exhaustion, Kagome knew that Shippo must have really worked himself hard. And it was true, for the fox had engaged himself in battle with an illusion of…himself. So not only had he needed to remain on his toes when it came to his own sword play, but he also had to keep a fixed concentration on the movements of the puppet replica under his control. If he could successfully learn to master keeping control over his duplicate, while remaining focused on his own fighting, as well, he could quite literally become twice as strong in battle. While Shippo was remarkably strong for a kitsune, the simple fact remained that kitsune were somewhat weaker youkai in general, so just as his father had taught him, he knew that he needed to utilize whatever strengths he did possess. Creating a successful copy of himself during battle could prove a lethal distraction for his enemy. They could find themselves engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a fake, and never see the Wind Scar coming until it was too late. Sure, it was an underhanded trick, but he was a kitsune, was he not? Besides, it’s not like Shippo planed on going around challenging others to battle. Having been raised by Kagome since age seven ensured that Shippo had developed his mother’s detest for violence, but having also been raised by Inuyasha since the same age, ensured that he’d developed his father’s since of desiring strength - in the sense of possessing the ability to protect the ones he loved. Looking at everything with what Kagome had called a somewhat martial arts point of view, Shippo strived to master his ability to defend and fight, while at the same time praying that he would never truly need to utilize such a skill.
Kagome couldn’t have been more proud of her eldest son, but the current silence was starting to get to her, since Kazuki had also chosen that precise moment to take a nap, so it was not very long before her voice finally broke through the airwaves, asking her husband the innocent question “What did Miroku want?”
She didn’t mean for it to sound rude, and indeed, that was not how he took it. Inuyasha knew himself how reclusive their friend had been for the last three months. It had actually startled him when he’d first detected Miroku’s approach that morning, since neither he nor Kagome had seen heads or tails of the guy outside of his own hut in what seemed like forever. Well, actually, he hadn’t seen Miroku himself in nearly the full three months, Inuyasha realized guiltily, since he had permitted himself to become overly absorbed in his village duties as a means of excuse for not finding the time to visit. But it wasn’t so much that he was avoiding the monk, but rather, his wife. Whenever he gazed upon her, Inuyasha could not help but to still see her as she had appeared before, all bloodied and laying cut open. It would take him a little while to get that visual out of his head, he feared. Kagome understood, and quietly stood beside him while he dealt with his inner demons in his own way.
During the times she had gone to visit with Sango, as she had done on many occasions over the last three months, Kagome related to her husband Miroku’s reclusive behavior, barely saying two words to her before he’d go back to simply watching over their children, so that Kagome could assist her “sister” with preparations for her spring garden, or whatever else it was they chose to do to pass the time. She didn’t miss the way Miroku’s adoration for Kichiro seemed unusually high, but she supposed that under the circumstances, his behavior was perfectly natural. Sango had complained, mildly, about feeling somewhat smothered, but in the same breath had also complimented her husband, stating her genuine appreciation for his tender care and devotion. She simply wished that Miroku would finally realize that she wasn’t quite as fragile as he seemed to believe she was.
She was completely healed, after all, as if the incident had never even occurred, both physically, as well as mentally. She bore no scars upon her body from Inuyasha’s claws - which she had blatantly told the hanyou when she’d caught notice of his difficulty meeting her eyes during the one time he had gone to check on her along with his mate - and she also knew that thanks to Tenseiga repairing her internal damage, she was still able to bear children. Kagome had told her that had they been successful in saving her by conventional means, in that she had not fallen victim to infection, and had gradually healed from the surgery on her own, that while she should have still been able to bear future children, she would have advised against it, just in case. In her time, she explained, there were still some open debates about whether or not the policy “once a c-section, always a c-section” held any validity, and that even were it perfectly safe to proceed with future vaginal births after such a surgery, under normal circumstances, Kagome could not guarantee the complete accuracy of her 16th century facsimile. But since that was not the case, courtesy of Tenseiga, Sango had been starting to feel a little restless in resent weeks, wondering when her husband would wish to approach her body once more. She had thought, at first, that he was merely waiting for the end of the two month “safety period” Kagome had previously insisted they abide by after Emi’s birth, but that time ended over a month ago. Besides, the reason for insisting upon a delay in resuming intimate activities after giving birth was not applicable this time around, and she knew that.
Kagome had felt torn between empathizing with her best friend’s frustration, and Miroku’s caution. She wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t be acting the same way, herself, had she been Sango’s husband. Kagome was pulled from her thoughts when her husband finally answered her nearly forgotten question, when he said “Miroku wanted to learn how to properly avoid Sango’s fertile time.”
Nodding, Kagome stated “So he has given up on the notion of ten or twenty children.” It wasn’t stated like a question.
“Can you blame him?” Inuyasha asked in turn, though he hadn’t meant it as a literal question, either. “If that shit ever happened to you, I’d forbid you from ever getting pupped again.”
“If that ever happened to me,” Kagome repeated, politely omitting her husband’s curse word in her version, “my youkai blood would ensure my survival.” she reminded.
Inuyasha calmed down somewhat at that, again remembering the conversation he’d had with her mother so long ago, which had prompted his realization as to what had been wrong with Sango in the first place. He did know that Kagome could easily survive such a procedure, as with the aid of his youkai blood pulsing through her veins, her wounds would close up within a matter of hours after the surgery. She was also highly resistant to infection, generally speaking, and hadn’t even come down with so much as a cold since their bonding four years ago. At first he didn’t know if he’d be able to handle the concept of cutting open his own mate, but then he reminded himself that he had promised her mother that he would, if it were necessary, and in fact he knew that it was true, that he would do whatever it took to save Kagome, including cutting his own pup from her belly. Still, he could honestly say he was sure that even if she bore no scars as a result, that he would be scarred after such an occurrence. He really didn’t want to think about it, but he just couldn’t help it, as his mind seemed to have a different idea, constantly doing its best to remind him of what he did not wish to think about. It was finally his turn to get pulled from his thoughts, then, when he suddenly heard Kagome continue speaking, and he welcomed the distraction.
“I’m sure you truly don’t need to worry about such things.” she said comfortingly, as if she had read his mind in that moment. Perhaps, in a way, she had, as she was surely able to sense his emotions, with as strongly as they were reflecting off his aura at the moment. “Your youkai blood does make me stronger, but not only in that I would survive such a procedure, but that my body would never permit such an incident to occur in the first place. Remember how your body shut down your punctured lung, so that you didn’t attempt to breathe through the lung that was filled with fluid?” he nodded, “Humans can’t do that. Youkai bodies are intelligent, and can do things like that to prevent possible complications. Something like entanglement with an umbilical cord would never happen, as my body would see to it that I never injured myself in such a way.”
“But you are not youkai.” he muttered softly, reaching for the hand she had gently placed upon his cheek at some point, lightly kissing her palm.
“True, but I am not purely human, either. I do possess some youkai blood within my system, and that, coupled by the fact that I’m sure you plan on making sure our future pups are all true hanyou, just like Kazuki, assures me that everything will be just fine.”
He blinked at her for a moment, and then, with a weak smile daring to slowly spread itself across his lips, he asked in a self-reassuring manner “You mean, you still want to have more pups?”
As much as the incident with Sango had traumatized him, he would be lying if he said he didn’t still want more pups with his mate. Sango was merely a human, after all, even though he loved her as a sister regardless of her species. But the fact of the matter still remained that what Kagome had just said was true, she likely would not suffer from any of the complications that could hinder a mortal woman, because she was not a mortal woman.
“Of course I do.” she answered softly, her own smile firmly in place. “Everything in life bears risk, including having children. I knew that before this happened. Women still die from childbirth in my time, even though it’s very rare that day and age. Fatal complications during birthing will slowly grow much rarer and rarer over the centuries to come because of our medical advancements, giving us new technology that can aid us whenever a problem does arise. But though the act of childbirth itself, sans technology, is really no safer in my time than it is here, do you truly think such complications are actually so common? If it was oh-so-very-dangerous to bear children, then how do you account for how many humans there are in my time? Didn’t you joke once…when I told you the documented global population of my time, that the “stupid humans” had all bred like rabbits?”
Chuckling at his memory of making that comment, Inuyasha slowly turned his body enough that he could wrap both of his arms around his mate, pulling her closer, until she practically fell over into his lap. Not that he would have minded if she had.
“Good…” he growled out after a moment, revealing that he had in fact been hoping that Kagome had not been turned off to the idea of future children after watching her best friend nearly die as a result of having one. “Then let’s get started.” he joked, as he slowly started to work his hand into the folds of her chihaya, pleased to find that she still wore no chest wrapping, as his callused palm instantly came into contact with the flesh of bare breasts.
Letting out a noise from the back of her throat that was somewhere between a giggle and a moan, Kagome managed to find her words as she pointed out “I’m not in heat right now.”
Shrugging, Inuyasha mumbled something about “Never hurts to practice.” just moments before lowering his mouth to hers.
Yeah, Kagome thought, suddenly unable to form words any longer, Practice makes perfect, all right.
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chapter 86 - Spring is in the air…
With the harshness of winter’s bitter chill finally behind them, Sango was looking forward to working again in her garden. She was weary of the “terrible two’s” that Kagome had long ago warned her about (Kazuki experiencing his at age one) but so far, Emi was a perfect little angle. Now that the drama of her near fatal pregnancy with Kichiro was finally over, everything seemed to have returned to normal.
Well, almost…
Miroku had been unusually protective of her over the last three months, but really, could you blame him? She had almost died. If their situation had been reversed, she knew she would be just as protective over her husband.
“If our situation was reversed…I’d have gone running for the hills screaming youkai!” she joked aloud to herself, finding humor in the very notion of Miroku being pregnant. She remembered a long, long time ago, Kagome mentioning something to her about ‘manga’ that people liked to read in her time, some of the stories being what she had called ‘yaoi’. Not that she had anything against the notion of two men being together, but when one of them turned up pregnant, that was just…
“Stupid.” she muttered to herself, as she continued clearing her garden of weeds.
````````````````````````````````
Hoping to burn off as much extra energy as was possible, considering it was spring once again, our silver-haired village headman was mildly surprised to suddenly detect his pack-brother’s scent on the wind. It had been nearly three complete moon cycles after all, back when snow still blanketed the ground, that they had last seen the guy wander about the village.
“Inuyasha?” Miroku asked, “Can I speak with you a moment?”
“Sure, monk, what’cha want?”
Inuyasha sat down the plank of wood he had been working on, to assure his friend that he had his complete attention. Though the time for firewood was over, it was now the “repair leaky roofs” season (among “other” seasons) and he had to work quickly, before the spring rains started. But something in the tone of Miroku’s voice revealed that the ex-monk was somewhat troubled, and that the wood could wait.
“It’s about…Sango.” Miroku admitted hesitantly.
Instantly, Inuyasha’s ears jumped up.
“Is she okay?” Inuyasha asked with genuine concern.
“Oh she’s fine!” he assured the hanyou quickly, adding “Everything’s fine…” The way Miroku’s voice trailed off at the end revealed that even if Sango was fine, he was not.
“Spit it out.”
Sighing, Miroku confessed “That your brother saved her life is truly a miracle I can never hope to repay, and I cannot, in good conscious, take this kami-given second chance for granted.”
“In Japanese, monk.” he spat in exasperation. (In the same fashion as someone in America would say “In English” whenever somebody spoke in riddles.)
“I cannot risk Sango ever becoming with-child again.” he blurted.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at that, but his expression quickly softened to one of understanding, as he seemed to genuinely contemplate his friend’s mournful words. Miroku had worried, briefly, that Inuyasha would take advantage of the moment to poke fun at him, saying something along the lines of what the obvious way to ensure such a thing was, but he should have known better. Inuyasha may take advantage of every available moment to make a crack at his expense, when it was appropriate, not that the hanyou was entitled to any less, with as frequently as he used to function as the butt of Miroku’s own jokes, but Inuyasha was nothing if not a genuine friend, and in serious situations, he simply knew when such jokes were uncalled for.
“Human females are only fertile a few days out of the month…” he started after a moment, “But…” he added, “It doesn’t always land on the exact same day each time.”
“I see…” Miroku answered thoughtfully, realizing aloud “…and you can scent this change in Kagome, which is how you are more easily able to choose your time of parenting.” It wasn’t phrased like a question, though a brief not from the hanyou acknowledge he was correct all the same.
“Would you then be able to scent this change in Sango, also?” Miroku asked hopefully. I do not wish to stop bedding Sango forever… he added in his mind. Though…if that was what it would take…
“Unfortunately, no.” Inuyasha answered. “I mean, I could, but you’d have a tough time explaining to your wife why I always have my nose in her belly, not to mention explaining it to my wife.” he added in a gentle attempt at humor.
Miroku chuckled softly, but then wished to clarify “I thought the ‘heat’ scent, as you put it, was fairly strong to your nose.”
Shrugging, Inuyasha answered “Yeah, but I learned from those books of Kagome’s that your seed can actually live for a couple of days, so if you mated, and then the next day she went into heat, she’d still get pupped. The inu’s ability to scent heat is to help insure having pups, not to avoid them, and the ‘pre-heat’ scent is too weak to detect on the wind. Hell, Kagome woulda got pupped the first night we mated, had it not been for that future anti-pupping medicine she’d been taking.” he added, remembering how he had started to detect Kagome’s heat the very next evening after their first mating. “Only way to tell for sure by scent early enough for it to do any good is to really get a good smell.” he explained, bringing to light his earlier statement about having his nose in Sango’s belly. That really would be what it would take.
“I see.” Miroku answered again, somewhat more dejectedly than the previous time. He was just about to turn and walk away when Inuyasha suddenly said “Kirara.”
“Kirara?” Miroku echoed.
Nodding again, Inuyasha explained “A neko’s sense of smell may not be quite as good as an inu’s, but it doesn’t suck, plus she’s got an advantage, having much easier access to Sango than I do, what with always sleeping in her lap and stuff. Just plead your case.” he said, “I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Miroku remained silent for what seemed like several minutes, taking everything in, before he softly answered “Thank you, my friend.”
````````````````````````````````````````
K ohaku took a few paces back, gazing at his work so far. The support beams were all in place, and now he was working on constructing the frames for the various windows, which all had to be finished before he started putting up the walls. He had stopped working on his new hut temporarily after…what happened. He knew his place had been at home, helping tend to his Ane-ue. After…what happened, he had also found himself unintentionally being more standoffish towards Kaori. Yes, he loved her. Yes, he wished to make her his wife. Yes, he was still working on the very hut he would soon be sharing with her and her mother. But did he still want to have children? Of course, a very big part of his being actually screamed yes, because besides the fact that he’d simply always loved children, it was also his duty to pass on the Taijiya traditions. He and his sister were the last, after all, and it would be up to both of them if they ever hoped to repopulate the nearly extinct profession. With Sango having only two children, one of which already starting to show signs of taking more after her father, that only left little Kichiro in the position of following in Mommy’s footsteps. But thinking about Kichiro again reminded Kohaku of the all too important reason why he was now starting to feel as though he did not want children. It wasn’t so much the notion of children themselves that troubled him, but the way in which they were brought into the world. So much could go wrong. He loved Kaori too much to risk inviting such a catastrophe. Maybe they could adopt? He just didn’t know what to do any more. He’d already lost so much; his entire family, save for his sister, and then, after…what happened, he’d nearly lost her, too. He couldn’t even fathom the concept of continuing to function in this world if anything ever happened to Kaori as well. He’d simply go mad.
Kaori could easily sense her fiancé’s turmoil, but knew that what Kohaku needed right now, was time. She knew all about his past, and what he’d already had to find the strength to overcome, and nearly losing his sister had likely brought many of his buried memories back to the surface. She strived to make sure he knew that she was there for him, when he was ready, but that she wouldn’t force him to talk about it if he didn’t want to. Approaching the site of their new hut, she smiled at the progress he’d obviously been making, as it looked much further along than the last time she’d seen it. Approaching where he stood, she silently offered him the gourd she carried.
Kohaku accepted the water, thanking her with a brief bow to his head, before drinking it down.
“Since you’re here…” he spoke upon handing her back the empty gourd, “Would you prefer the bedroom window to be smaller?” he asked, gesturing toward the rather large gap in the main bedchamber’s framework.
“How large does a window truly need to be?” she asked in turn, humoring him with the trivial conversation, as they each blatantly ignored the enormous elephant standing beside them.
“Inuyasha constructed the back windows to his hut large enough that a grown person might escape through them, should there be a fire.” he explained. “Miroku copied his technique when he designed our hut.”
“Well then,” she answered, “I think that is an excellent idea. It never hurts to be too protective of your family.” She cringed as the last words slipped past the border of her lips, wishing desperately that she could somehow capture them and thrust them back down her throat before reaching Kohaku’s ears, but unfortunately, she possessed no such power.
Kohaku winced, knowing well that Kaori wanted a family, and remembering quite clearly how they used to speak of such things, before…what happened. He knew she had been nothing but understanding towards his behavior as of late, and if the current look on her face was any indication, she was in the process of berating herself for what she believed to be thoughtless words. He could not allow her to continue thinking such nonsense. Instead, Kohaku swallowed his pride, if not his fear, as he wrapped one arm around her, pulling her closer, as he quietly agreed “No, it doesn’t.”
Startled by his comment, she turned her head to meet his eyes, and found him gazing at her understandably, yet sadly, in return.
“Kohaku…”
“No, you’re right.” he spoke before she had a chance to continue, the tone of her voice having already spoke volumes in itself.
“I understand that what happened to Ane-ue is…rare, and…”
She shushed him with a gentle finger upon his lips.
“I do not wish to force you to speak of such things.”
Shaking his head with an appreciative smile, Kohaku pulled back from his future bride enough so that he could reach for, and kiss, the top of her hand. “You do not force me.” he assured her softly.
At hearing those words, Kaori merely smiled, and once again closed the distance between herself and her future husband, this time by wrapping both arms up and around his neck. Kohaku readily complied, wrapping his arms around her back in turn, as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, taking in as much of her scent as his human nose would allow.
“I was so scared.” he started after a moment. “I thought…I thought I was going to lose her, and then…it’d just be me. I’d be the only one left…all alone.”
“You’re not alone.” she dared to whisper softly, and he seemed to appreciate her words as she felt his grip on her tighten.
“It was my fault…all my fault…”
Suddenly, she realized he wasn’t talking about his sister’s pregnancy any longer.
“…I…I killed them…” he whispered, as though if he dared to say the words any louder, it would bring more truth to them, “I killed them all.”
Kaori knew that he’d heard this argument a thousand times before, but…
“It wasn’t you.”
Shaking his head, Kohaku never loosened his grip on his fiancée, as he argued “Everybody says that. Everybody says that I was controlled by Naraku, and that my actions were not my own, but it was my weakness that allowed Naraku to take control over me in the first place. Had I been stronger, I would have seen through the deception. I would have felt the foreign force over my body, and resisted its pull. I tried to fight against him, later, and actually succeeded a few short times, but that first night, I was truly his puppet. He hadn’t even placed the dark shard within my back, not yet. That was only used to keep me alive when I had otherwise fatal injuries. My body had died, but I remained frozen, locked in that moment of death, my soul never vacating. My body did not rot, but it did not heal, either. I…I had no heart beat.” Kaori had never heard him speak of such things before, and knew to remain silent as he continued. “The only thing that saved me from that hell was Ane-ue.” he admitted, “I remembered her…even though I didn’t understand how or why. Slowly I started to feel things, glimpses of the past. I started to hear Naraku’s voice in my head more clearly as a voice not my own, and I understood that I didn’t want to do the horrible things that he ordered me to do. Even so…I was so weak. Many times he controlled my body, completely against my conscious will. I watched, helpless, as I slaughtered innocents; women and children. Anyone else would have condemned me to the darkest depths of hell for all eternity, and I deserve no less, yet Ane-ue still forgave me. Still called me brother…”
“And I shall call you husband.” she spoke softly.
“Why?” he asked her, stating concerns that seemed more appropriate for a past-Inuyasha to have asked of Kagome, rather than himself. “Why do you love me? I’m a horrible, weak monster. I’ve hurt so many. How can you love a creature like me?”
Pulling back only enough so that her eyes met his own, Kaori stated without hesitation “I may never fully understand the turmoil in your heart, but I do understand the longing in your soul. On that level, we are the same, you and I. I too believed myself to be unlovable, unwanted. I too felt alone and isolated in the world, with nobody by my side save for my mother.” He smiled at her kindly, but remained silent, as he brushed a stray hair from her face. Kaori briefly turned her face to follow his movements, cherishing the feel of his delicate touch, before she added a bit louder “Neither of us are alone any longer.”
Slowly, hesitantly, Kohaku dared to inch himself closer. Kaori, seeing this, readily aided in closing the distance between them, by moving herself closer as well. When their lips met, it was gentle, and caring, speaking of promises for a brighter future, and happiness for years to come. Pulling away, Kohaku once again brushed a few stray hairs from Kaori’s face, as his eyes met her own. “I love you more than you could ever know.” he whispered.
Kaori’s eyes spoke of playful disagreement, as her gaze seemed to articulate that she did in fact love him just as strongly, but the words remained unspoken as she met his lips with her own for the second time in as many minutes. Slowly, hesitantly, Kohaku increased the passion behind their kiss, delicately edging his fiancée’s bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, seeking permission for entry. When it was granted, he felt a small portion of his scars fade away. Her love was healing him. She often spoke of how he had rescued her, but he knew…they both knew…that it was really the other way around. His talks with Inuyasha had helped, but nothing could fully hope to recover the damage done to his soul, save for the love of a beautiful woman. Inuyasha himself could easily attest to that.
The last coherent notion to pass through either of their minds, as Kohaku gently laid Kaori down upon the soft grass, was how strongly they truly loved one another.
````````````````````````````````````
Dinner that evening was unusually quiet, their rambunctious kitsune man/child having completely worn himself out with his training. For a youkai to reach the point of utter exhaustion, Kagome knew that Shippo must have really worked himself hard. And it was true, for the fox had engaged himself in battle with an illusion of…himself. So not only had he needed to remain on his toes when it came to his own sword play, but he also had to keep a fixed concentration on the movements of the puppet replica under his control. If he could successfully learn to master keeping control over his duplicate, while remaining focused on his own fighting, as well, he could quite literally become twice as strong in battle. While Shippo was remarkably strong for a kitsune, the simple fact remained that kitsune were somewhat weaker youkai in general, so just as his father had taught him, he knew that he needed to utilize whatever strengths he did possess. Creating a successful copy of himself during battle could prove a lethal distraction for his enemy. They could find themselves engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a fake, and never see the Wind Scar coming until it was too late. Sure, it was an underhanded trick, but he was a kitsune, was he not? Besides, it’s not like Shippo planed on going around challenging others to battle. Having been raised by Kagome since age seven ensured that Shippo had developed his mother’s detest for violence, but having also been raised by Inuyasha since the same age, ensured that he’d developed his father’s since of desiring strength - in the sense of possessing the ability to protect the ones he loved. Looking at everything with what Kagome had called a somewhat martial arts point of view, Shippo strived to master his ability to defend and fight, while at the same time praying that he would never truly need to utilize such a skill.
Kagome couldn’t have been more proud of her eldest son, but the current silence was starting to get to her, since Kazuki had also chosen that precise moment to take a nap, so it was not very long before her voice finally broke through the airwaves, asking her husband the innocent question “What did Miroku want?”
She didn’t mean for it to sound rude, and indeed, that was not how he took it. Inuyasha knew himself how reclusive their friend had been for the last three months. It had actually startled him when he’d first detected Miroku’s approach that morning, since neither he nor Kagome had seen heads or tails of the guy outside of his own hut in what seemed like forever. Well, actually, he hadn’t seen Miroku himself in nearly the full three months, Inuyasha realized guiltily, since he had permitted himself to become overly absorbed in his village duties as a means of excuse for not finding the time to visit. But it wasn’t so much that he was avoiding the monk, but rather, his wife. Whenever he gazed upon her, Inuyasha could not help but to still see her as she had appeared before, all bloodied and laying cut open. It would take him a little while to get that visual out of his head, he feared. Kagome understood, and quietly stood beside him while he dealt with his inner demons in his own way.
During the times she had gone to visit with Sango, as she had done on many occasions over the last three months, Kagome related to her husband Miroku’s reclusive behavior, barely saying two words to her before he’d go back to simply watching over their children, so that Kagome could assist her “sister” with preparations for her spring garden, or whatever else it was they chose to do to pass the time. She didn’t miss the way Miroku’s adoration for Kichiro seemed unusually high, but she supposed that under the circumstances, his behavior was perfectly natural. Sango had complained, mildly, about feeling somewhat smothered, but in the same breath had also complimented her husband, stating her genuine appreciation for his tender care and devotion. She simply wished that Miroku would finally realize that she wasn’t quite as fragile as he seemed to believe she was.
She was completely healed, after all, as if the incident had never even occurred, both physically, as well as mentally. She bore no scars upon her body from Inuyasha’s claws - which she had blatantly told the hanyou when she’d caught notice of his difficulty meeting her eyes during the one time he had gone to check on her along with his mate - and she also knew that thanks to Tenseiga repairing her internal damage, she was still able to bear children. Kagome had told her that had they been successful in saving her by conventional means, in that she had not fallen victim to infection, and had gradually healed from the surgery on her own, that while she should have still been able to bear future children, she would have advised against it, just in case. In her time, she explained, there were still some open debates about whether or not the policy “once a c-section, always a c-section” held any validity, and that even were it perfectly safe to proceed with future vaginal births after such a surgery, under normal circumstances, Kagome could not guarantee the complete accuracy of her 16th century facsimile. But since that was not the case, courtesy of Tenseiga, Sango had been starting to feel a little restless in resent weeks, wondering when her husband would wish to approach her body once more. She had thought, at first, that he was merely waiting for the end of the two month “safety period” Kagome had previously insisted they abide by after Emi’s birth, but that time ended over a month ago. Besides, the reason for insisting upon a delay in resuming intimate activities after giving birth was not applicable this time around, and she knew that.
Kagome had felt torn between empathizing with her best friend’s frustration, and Miroku’s caution. She wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t be acting the same way, herself, had she been Sango’s husband. Kagome was pulled from her thoughts when her husband finally answered her nearly forgotten question, when he said “Miroku wanted to learn how to properly avoid Sango’s fertile time.”
Nodding, Kagome stated “So he has given up on the notion of ten or twenty children.” It wasn’t stated like a question.
“Can you blame him?” Inuyasha asked in turn, though he hadn’t meant it as a literal question, either. “If that shit ever happened to you, I’d forbid you from ever getting pupped again.”
“If that ever happened to me,” Kagome repeated, politely omitting her husband’s curse word in her version, “my youkai blood would ensure my survival.” she reminded.
Inuyasha calmed down somewhat at that, again remembering the conversation he’d had with her mother so long ago, which had prompted his realization as to what had been wrong with Sango in the first place. He did know that Kagome could easily survive such a procedure, as with the aid of his youkai blood pulsing through her veins, her wounds would close up within a matter of hours after the surgery. She was also highly resistant to infection, generally speaking, and hadn’t even come down with so much as a cold since their bonding four years ago. At first he didn’t know if he’d be able to handle the concept of cutting open his own mate, but then he reminded himself that he had promised her mother that he would, if it were necessary, and in fact he knew that it was true, that he would do whatever it took to save Kagome, including cutting his own pup from her belly. Still, he could honestly say he was sure that even if she bore no scars as a result, that he would be scarred after such an occurrence. He really didn’t want to think about it, but he just couldn’t help it, as his mind seemed to have a different idea, constantly doing its best to remind him of what he did not wish to think about. It was finally his turn to get pulled from his thoughts, then, when he suddenly heard Kagome continue speaking, and he welcomed the distraction.
“I’m sure you truly don’t need to worry about such things.” she said comfortingly, as if she had read his mind in that moment. Perhaps, in a way, she had, as she was surely able to sense his emotions, with as strongly as they were reflecting off his aura at the moment. “Your youkai blood does make me stronger, but not only in that I would survive such a procedure, but that my body would never permit such an incident to occur in the first place. Remember how your body shut down your punctured lung, so that you didn’t attempt to breathe through the lung that was filled with fluid?” he nodded, “Humans can’t do that. Youkai bodies are intelligent, and can do things like that to prevent possible complications. Something like entanglement with an umbilical cord would never happen, as my body would see to it that I never injured myself in such a way.”
“But you are not youkai.” he muttered softly, reaching for the hand she had gently placed upon his cheek at some point, lightly kissing her palm.
“True, but I am not purely human, either. I do possess some youkai blood within my system, and that, coupled by the fact that I’m sure you plan on making sure our future pups are all true hanyou, just like Kazuki, assures me that everything will be just fine.”
He blinked at her for a moment, and then, with a weak smile daring to slowly spread itself across his lips, he asked in a self-reassuring manner “You mean, you still want to have more pups?”
As much as the incident with Sango had traumatized him, he would be lying if he said he didn’t still want more pups with his mate. Sango was merely a human, after all, even though he loved her as a sister regardless of her species. But the fact of the matter still remained that what Kagome had just said was true, she likely would not suffer from any of the complications that could hinder a mortal woman, because she was not a mortal woman.
“Of course I do.” she answered softly, her own smile firmly in place. “Everything in life bears risk, including having children. I knew that before this happened. Women still die from childbirth in my time, even though it’s very rare that day and age. Fatal complications during birthing will slowly grow much rarer and rarer over the centuries to come because of our medical advancements, giving us new technology that can aid us whenever a problem does arise. But though the act of childbirth itself, sans technology, is really no safer in my time than it is here, do you truly think such complications are actually so common? If it was oh-so-very-dangerous to bear children, then how do you account for how many humans there are in my time? Didn’t you joke once…when I told you the documented global population of my time, that the “stupid humans” had all bred like rabbits?”
Chuckling at his memory of making that comment, Inuyasha slowly turned his body enough that he could wrap both of his arms around his mate, pulling her closer, until she practically fell over into his lap. Not that he would have minded if she had.
“Good…” he growled out after a moment, revealing that he had in fact been hoping that Kagome had not been turned off to the idea of future children after watching her best friend nearly die as a result of having one. “Then let’s get started.” he joked, as he slowly started to work his hand into the folds of her chihaya, pleased to find that she still wore no chest wrapping, as his callused palm instantly came into contact with the flesh of bare breasts.
Letting out a noise from the back of her throat that was somewhere between a giggle and a moan, Kagome managed to find her words as she pointed out “I’m not in heat right now.”
Shrugging, Inuyasha mumbled something about “Never hurts to practice.” just moments before lowering his mouth to hers.
Yeah, Kagome thought, suddenly unable to form words any longer, Practice makes perfect, all right.