Author : Saraste
Fandom : Inuyasha
Pairings : MirokuxSango, past InuyashaxKagome, past Kouga/? (I'll let you guess, it ain't so hard..)
Rating : PG-13
Genre : Slash with a side-serving of het(non-explicit), Family
Warnings : MPREG
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"Inuyasha, there's someone here to see you." Sango knelt down by the hanyo and lay a hand on the hanyo's shoulder to get his attention.
It was a feat for her as the man lay on his side on the floor and the former taijiya was weighed down by the weight of her swollen stomach, making her movements slow. She'd soon be giving birth to her and Miroku's first child.
Inuyasha just lay there, listless, not showing any reaction to having heard or otherwise noticed the woman. Sango gently shook his shoulder, not even getting the reaction of him shrugging her hand off. She sighed and got up slowly, bracing her hand against her back, groaning slightly. She'd be clad when the child was born, her back was killing her.
Although Sango knew perfectly well why Inuyasha behaved like he did, why the once lively, annoying and exuberant hanyo was reduced to this apathetic state, his behaviour still worried her greatly. She glanced at him worriedly and backed out of the hut and talked in hushed voices with Inuyasha's visitor.
Inuyasha heard someone enter the hut again, his mind registering such things still. Not that it mattered any more. Nothing mattered to him now. Not when the one he'd loved was gone.
It had all happened so suddenly that it all still seemed like it might be just a dream, not the grim reality. The Shard seekers had enjoyed peace after having defeated Naraku with their combined Shikon no Tama enhanced powers.
But even with Naraku gone it didn't mean all demons were. They'd been to careless. And had paid dearly for it.
And such was Kagome's fate that she was attacked by surprise on her way to the small village on Sesshoumaru's lands where the friends had all settled down. The attack had been swift. Inuyasha had held her lifeless body in his arms for what had seemed like an eternity after they'd found her.
Inuyasha had went on a rampage and after having caught the ones responsible he'd just shut himself in the hut he and Kagome had called home. Miroku and Sango, who had just gotten married, took care of him. And even while they kept his whithering form in some state of aliveness they could not mend the rift in his heart.
Nor gather the pieces of his soul like they'd done the Shikon no Tama.
Sesshoumaru, now finally reconciled with his brother after Naraku's demise, had even tried to actually beat life back into him. But it had all been in vain, no matter what anyone of them did, it didn't bring the hanyo's old self back. He'd vanished as if his life had been taken along with Kagome's.
And now, on a clear day some eight months after Kagome's passing, an old friend had appeared on the edge of the village.
Sango had not believed her eyes at first. For what greeted her gaze besides the familiar man was not something she would have expected to see.
What she saw was Kouga, the wolf prince, a one time suitor of Kagome's and an annoyance to Inuyasha's existence.
The attitudes between Inuyasha and Kouga had worsened to open hostility before the defeat of Naraku and none of them had seen the ookami for almost a year now. The situation had forced the Shard seekers to avoid coming across Kouga and his pack as much as they could. And after a while, Kouga had stopped bumping into them and aid with their hunt for Naraku.
It was Kagome who had seen Kouga last. She'd gone to confront Kouga over the reason why the two seemed so intent to kill each other every time they met now despite Inuyasha's very vocal protests against her going. She'd come back empty handed, telling that she'd gotten nothing out of the wolf. But Sango had seen how Kagome would glance at Inuyasha oddly after she had returned to them. And there had always been a lingering sadness in her eyes. Then they had been thrust to open conflict with Naraku who didn't survive the confrontation, burying all other worries from their minds.
And now Kouga was there. Holding a small child tenderly in his arms. "I need to see Inuyasha" he quipped.
Sango finally regained her ability to speak. "Whose child is that?" she asked incredulously, if not even a bit bluntly, staring at the bundle in the man's strong arms.. And even through her surprise she registered how carefully Kouga held the child, as if it was the most precious thing in the world.
Her eyes widened as she realized the truth. "It's your, isn't it? But why are you here?"
Before Kouga could answer, Sango decided to call her husband, better to get answer from Kouga if he was a bit cornered. "Miroku, come here!"
The black and purple clad monk soon stood by her side, anxious. "What is it? Is it the baby? Do you need to sit down? It's your back again, isn't i--" When he spotted Kouga he, too, stared, flabbergasted enough to stop mid-sentence.
"I want to see Inuyasha." Kouga stated yet again, looking at the pair defiantly."I need to speak with him."
Both Sango and Miroku grew sad. "So you have heard of Kagome, I take it?" Miroku asked, searching for tell-tale signs of grief on the wolf prince's face.
A shadow crossed Kouga's features. "Yes I heard, I was unable to come sooner." He shifted the child on his arms. "It was a shock to hear, I'll miss her. It must have struck Inuyasha hard." Sango nodded, a tear escaping her eye as Miroku patted her arm in comfort.
"But what of your animosity?" Miroku asked, not having forgotten the last instance he'd seen Kouga and Inuyasha take it out on each other, nearly succeeding in killing each other. Even if the ookami seemed calm now it wasn't a guarantee. And even if the monk didn't quite believe that Kouga would try and kill anyone with a child in his arms he still slid a protective arm around Sango and groped for a few sutra's inside his robes.
Kouga's face took on a look of serenity. "There are things more important to me now...," he murmured, looking down at the child in his arms.
Miroku saw the truth in that look, the pure love. He nodded his understanding. It seemed that for the ookami too, family overrode all other thoughts. They could ask Kouga later.
"I could ask if he wants to see you," Sango said. She wasn't sure if it was the right thing. But maybe seeing Kouga would bring some life back to the hanyo's dead eyes.
"How has he been?"
"He's drawn almost onto himself. We try and see he eats and Shippo keeps him company." Miroku explained as his wife walked into the village and the men turned to follow her. The monk tried to steal a peek on the child Kouga carried in his arms but was unsuccessful. "But he rarely speaks, he's drawn almost completely into his own world. One where Kagome didn't pass on..." Miroku sighed heavily. It had struck them all hard. Having Kagome's exuberance, her positivity and liveliness taken away so abruptly had left none of them unscathed.
They stopped in front of a hut a little ways outside the others. Hearing Sango talk inside the two men waited. The child on Kouga's arms started to fuss and as the wolf demon drew the blankets away Miroku felt his breath stop.
The child had raven black hair with streaks of white and perched on top of the hair were a pair of little white ears. Miroku stared at Kouga in disbelief. It couldn't be...! Kouga saved him a brief glare. "But how?..." Miroku stuttered out.
Just then Sango came out.
"He barely acknowledged me. And Shippou's run away again. Playing with the other children I suspect." She looked at the two men and then at the small child. She stared at the child.
And stared.
And stared.
"Now do you understand why I need to see him?" Kouga asked them both quietly.
"I see.." Sango murmured almost to herself. "But how? When did?... I thought you loved Kagome?"
"I don't know about my feelings myself any more," the ookami sighed. He was troubled but as his expression fell on the child he seemed to become instantly soothed. "But she, she's my everything now," he smiled at the child in his strong but gentle warriors hands. The devotion in his eyes made Sango choke in her emotional state. Miroku patted her shoulder.
"It wasn't anything serious, just a one time thing..." he stopped at the creak of floor broads.
"Come to make a relationship out of it, have you?" The voice was a low growl, gruff because of lack of use, threatening and laced with malice reaching to the core.
They all whipped around to see Inuyasha standing in the doorway, leaning on it heavily, the exertion almost too much for him, after his long months of continued ill health. Kouga stared at Inuyasha's ragged appearance. His hair matted and lank. His face was hollow, dark circles under his eyes and he looked bone weary.
And there was such anger in his eyes. Such anger. But it was mixed with infinite sadness. Making Kouga feel a chill down to his very bones. It was the face of a man who'd lost his reason to live. A man ready to do anything.
If the hanyo hadn't noticed the child in his arms, Kouga was certain he'd had been attacked right after the other stopped speaking.
"No...," there was such raw emotion, such incredulity in Inuyasha's voice now and his face was devoid of colour. He seemed on the edge of fainting. "Not this, please..." His protesting muscles finally gave out and his knees buckled. He ended on his knees on the door opening. Claws fisting into fabric, emotion shaking him, head bowed.
He raised his head up, to glance at the child again. He spoke in a whisper. "Please tell me it isn't mine..." He collapsed in a heap, crying. "Tell me it isn't mine, please, please..."
Kouga looked at the hanyo uneasily. He sighed. He'd known it might come to this.
"She's yours, I can't and will not deny it."
At his words, Inuyasha snarled at him, attempting to lash out. Kouga backed a few meters in one leap, shielding the child in his arms. They could all see Inuyasha's eyes bleeding from gold to crimson.
"Kuso...," Miroku whispered under his breath and drew the few sutra's he'd been fingering earlier to stamp them to Inuyasha in an attempt to subdue him.
The child began to cry, having been woken by Kouga hoisting her in an attempt to protect her. "Shh, precious..." He leaped even farther sideways.
Sango was stumbling backwards too, Miroku throwing her a worried glance, why hadn't he seen this coming and told her to stay away?
It was Sango's luck that she tripped and fell when she did. Inuyasha's leap would have made him hit her. But the hanyo fell to the ground, unconscious, as Miroku hit him in the head with his staff. And covered him with sutra's. The monk rushed to Sango to help her up, seeing her fall, even if it had prevented possibly more grievous harm befalling her, had made his heart stop.
"Are you okay?"
Sango nodded an okay and let Miroku fuss over her, assuring him that their baby was okay and she was okay.
They turned as Kouga slumped to sit on the ground, shaky hands cradling his daughter close. He looked terrified.
"I had no idea he hated me this much..."
They all looked at the still unconscious hanyo, what had really happened to make him loose it so completely? To let out his youkai and attack without indiscrimination. It seemed that Miroku and Sango weren't the only one's who didn't know everything about the hanyo's inner turmoil.