A women's piercing scream echoed the cave walls, filling every empty space and blanketing the darkness that crept under every rock.
Demons and humans alike would have been very attracted to the cry of distress if not the sheer power that leaked from her sweat covered body. But even with her strong demonic aura, the smallest of night animals did nothing to scatter away from the cave entrance. They still slept peacefully high in the trees or crept low in the bushes as if the screams were as natural as the cool night air around them.
A short growl came from the woman as she clenched her fangs together tightly, then from what felt like hours holding the built up pressure she released her tight posture to continue breathing rapidly.
Her clawed fingers drug into the cave ground as she tried to find some balance between pushing and breathing. This was, in fact, her first time birthing pups.
She lay deep within the moist cave with her back slightly against the wall and her knees well apart while keeping her long white kimono out of the way for her pups.
The moons light gave the darkness outside the cave a white glow, even a human with its dull senses could walk easily through the surrounding land.
Most human women would be jealous of how she's able to look so composed while giving birth to not only one infant, but three. But for this Inuyoukai this was nothing close to composed. Unconsciously she let her claws grow sharper as she scratched the ground, she snarled and growled whenever she wasn't breathing or screaming, and she was unable to open her eyes as she pushed for what felt like an eternity.
One last and undeniably the loudest scream came from her as her first pup slipped from her body somewhat easily. She had so little time between the first and the second pup that they came out on the same push. Both pups lay on the cave floor covered in their mother's blood.
Before she could even worry about the first pups she was already taking a breath in to push her last one out of her body.
With the last pup on the floor the young mother slumped back against the cave wall. The coolness felt good on her extremely heated back.
As her heart race slowly decreased and her claws slowly grew shorter and less deadly the exhausted new mother opened her eyes for the first time since she begun her labor.
Although the cave was dark her highly equipped senses, which were even stronger since she became pupped, made being there without sight no effort at all. Now with her sight other demons would not dare intrude on her small cave, especially with the importance the first days a mother spends with her pups.
Peaceful silence filled the night sky once more and every animal felt more relaxed like the mother, as if her pain from earlier was their own to bear as well.
Quickly she leaned forward and paid no attention to the ache in her lower area as she looked at her pups for the first time. These next moments with her pups will be the most important of both the mother and her pup's lives. Even without being a mother before she instinctively knows such times must be handled with the up most care.
Little mewls come from the pups and each one moves slightly. A light flutter in her chest makes her worry of birthing complications disappear. She has heard many stories of other mothers losing pups and she knows that sounds and movements are the best signs of healthy pups.
She gently reaches towards the closest pup. His cries become much louder than the others as she bring him over her knees and to her chest. She starts to lick and clean her young pup being very gentle and soft, something unordinary for a demon that's capable of ripping other demons apart limb by limb.
After her small boy is clean she sets him in her lap and wraps some of her kimono around him. She then leans forward, more carefully now that she has a pup in her lap and picks up another.
This one is a small girl. The second to come from her womb. Her mewls aren't as frequent as the first but she squirms more than the youngest did. Her mother smirks proudly knowing that her daughter will be a strong demon like her father.
Once clean she lays her daughter next her side with another part of her kimono wrapped around her.
The last to be cleaned is the oldest. He is the calmest of both his younger siblings. His mother can already feel his power; she already knows that this one will be the exactness of his father, personality and all.
Once the last is cleaned she removes her youngest from her lap and lays him on her other side still wrapped up.
After cleaning she must bond with and feed each pup. It is important that the pups know and easily recognize their mothers scent, even at this young stage.
Holding her oldest in her hands she inspects the small body, everything is as new to her as it is to him. His markings, which right now look like small bruises, grace his body in the exact spots his father has marks.
For the first time the pup let's out a cry, very soft yet firm. Her ears barely twitched to the sensitive noise. Something inside her chest feels different. The young mother hasn't had much experience with this feeling, or any feelings at all, but she definitely knew what it was.
Her crystal blue eyes stared at the small creature in her hands; she made careful that her claws never touched his tender skin. His small hands could barely grab into her skin as he tried to move himself into a more comfortable position, which he couldn't do with her holding him like this.
As if she was told, she brought the pup closer to her head. The pupped squirmed slightly with her warm breath now fanning across his naked body. She took a short breath in smelling the familiarity of the pup. It was her smell with some of his fathers.
Leaning forward she pressed her head to the side of the pups body so his small head was by her hair and neck. His squirming ceased as he sniffed little sniffs for the very first time.
Once she felt he had enough of her smell she pulled him away from her once more. The pup's movement against her white hair irritated his small nose and as she pulled him away he sneezed quickly and strongly. The small movement shook his whole body but barely vibrated his mother.
She titled her head and smiled affectionately for the first time at her pup. Even a demon couldn't resist the cute actions of a young one. The smile didn't fade as she saw her pup's face moving again.
But this time it wasn't a sneeze. The pup slowly opened his eyes only to blink them shut and try to open them again. The mother watched closely as his eyes fluttered until they were able to open fully revealing piercing gold eyes. Just like his fathers.
Everything seemed to stop in that moment. Even her demon heart stopped as she looked into her sons eyes for the first time.
Once he realized what he was looking at he looked curiously at her, blinking a couple more times. Then his small mouth opened wide as he let out a deep yawn.
The mother let out a gentle breath of a laugh as her son's mouth opened wide revealing one small fang on the upper right of his mouth.
When his yawn came to an end the mother stared at him caringly. Her son slowly closed his eyes once more before his mother leaned him close again. She again rubbed her head along his warm body taking in his scent as she let out a soft nurturing growl.
When she pulled her son away she kept him close as his small hands came up and touched her face while he looked into her blue eyes with his gold ones.
His hands were weak and fragile. They felt like feathers on her skin.
As they came in reach of her mouth she let her tongue out to lick his left hand quickly. Then she pulled him closer to nudge her face into his body again. And once again she growled her motherly growl and when she pulled away her son was yawning once more.
Before she could put him to rest she undid the top of her now bloodied kimono and let it fall away from her rather large milk filled chest.
Now holding her oldest in her arms she brought his sleepy eyes down to her left breast. As if already knowing what it was for his small mouth latched onto her, surprising her slightly from the foreign feeling of her pup's mouth.
She did the same with each pup. Only her youngest didn't open his eyes which she wasn't too worried about as she held him sleeping in her arms. Her other two pups were sleeping as well as they lay to rest on her left away from the entrance of the cave.
Slowly she closed her eyes as dawn approached. She let her senses spread as far as they would go, using up a lot of her energy, but she mustn't let her guard down while her pups were at this stage…
Days went by and not a single creature has seen the mother stir from the cave. All they saw was the darkness that filled the area where the mother last was heard.
Another morning came and as the sun started to rise into the sky and the mother slowly walked to the cave entrance. It has been 3 months since the pup's birth.
She glanced back towards the darkness of the cave and smiled gently. She knew that three pairs of eyes watched her curiously and intently.
Sniffing the air again she stepped out of the cave and into the sunlight. Squinting her eyes slightly she looked around the surrounding forest and focused everything on finding a threat to her and her pups.
Once she was used to the light and felt very sure that they were the only powerful presence within miles she smiled once more and turned towards the cave.
"It's alright. You can come out now." She called to the blackness.
As expected they moved slowly. The oldest being the first to step into the suns light and try and sniff it as if it were an object.
The warmth was something different on their skin; it seemed to come from no where, there mother's warm skin was very different.
"Come on." She spoke softly and lightly while watching her pups take their first steps outside of the cave.
Inuyoukai pups age much differently than humans. While in the first weeks they develop rapidly so that by the end of their twelfth week they look to be about year, and then from then on they age slowly. Not as slowly as their adult lives, but much slower than humans.
Her youngest, once in the sun light, quickly runs o his mother. With his small, now clawed, hands he grabs onto her leg for protection and comfort. Something that they won't grow out of for awhile. Inu pups will continually seek out their mother's warmth and comfort.
She laughs lightly as she sets her hand soothingly on the pups head. He looks up with big blue eyes at his mother worriedly. He doesn't feel safe away from the closeness of the cave walls.
"It's ok young one." She coos to her pup.
Her daughter also prefers her mother's familiarity over the new outside world as she stays close to her mother's side.
The oldest looks around curiously at the trees and grass and sky. The mother smiles warmly at all her pups. Each one feeling just as confused as the others.
As much as she would like to keep the pups in the cave longer for them to grow more she cannot. She chose this area for birthing because the lack of demons and large animals. But that's exact safeness also puts them into hunger. She hasn't eaten since the birth of her pups and she's running very low on milk. And now that their fangs have grown in they must start eating red meat to help them grow stronger.
Also there is the issue of meeting their father. They will need to know his scent before they get to old. While some fathers see pups right after birth, they do not necessarily have to. But if a pup gets to old before they reach the scent they will not be able to except the smell as family and more or less despise it.
The mother notices her oldest taking a step onto grass for the first time. He bends over to sniff the new substance and comes back up to eye it once more, he recognizes the smell from afar in the cave but never has he been this close to it. Slowly he steps out onto the soft green area and walks a little further into the grassy area.
The mother starts to walk forward and closer to her pup to get rid of the uneasiness she felt when he was a little too far from her.
The other pups were soon on the grass as well, each one experiencing something very new.
Smiling she adjusted her new kimono. She buried her bloodied one back in the cave. Although it seemed like an unlikely place to want to give birth the cave walls made it safe and warm for her pups first days and the lack of smells made them get more used to hers and hers to theirs. So she was prepared and brought herself a more suitable and less extravagant kimono. And also ones for hers pups. Each was very much like their fathers, white with red markings.
The mother looked at each of her pups and smiled as they got used to the grass and started exploring more new things around them.
Looking into the sky she thought of the pup's father. She missed him terribly and couldn't wait for him to meet his young pups. She knew that he would be very proud, especially with three pups. Even in Inuyoukai births three is not common.
Plus they all looked like him in ways. The oldest was his spitting image. Long white hair with a very strong and proper body, he held it up very much like his father also. He had all the same markings and the same golden eyes. Even his personality was the same, quiet and controlling. Their daughter was a beauty. She was going to be a very fought over mate just like her mother was. She had big blue eyes just like her mother and the same wavy white hair. She has the same markings on her body as her father but the ones on her face resembled her mothers. Her personality was a lot of her mother and father mixed, very playful but calm and observant. And then there was their youngest son, who was more like his father than most would think. He was very hesitant and careful when it came to things he did not understand but he really seemed to think things through. Although physically he will never be as strong as his older brother he will be a good opponent for him to challenge. He also has all the markings of his father and his straight white hair. But his eyes are crystal blue like his mothers.
She again smiled proudly at her pups. They will grow strong and feared in the Western Lands.
"Come my pups. We must find your father." The mother said as she started to walk away and into the woods. The pups quickly followed trying to keep up while also sniffing and exploring each new thing around them.
Lord Sesshomaru's pups have now entered this new world.