"Two?" He asked in some confusion. "How could she have two?"
"Come on, Inuyasha. Even you're not so dense that you don't know that sometimes women have two. Now get down here."
Hmph. He knew that perfectly well, it was just, at this point he wasn't even sure he even wanted one, let alone two. He had hung around outside of Kaede-baba's hut for the first part of Kagome's labor and when she had started screaming, he'd rushed inside to help her, but the old woman had forced him out. This had happened five times before she got fed up and told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to come inside the hut again until it was over. Confused, frightened, and deeply affected by Kagome's cries, he hadn't argued, and after a few more minutes of listening to it, he had fled deep into the forest, far out of sight and sound of the village. He had huddled in a tree all that night and part of the next day with the sound of Kagome's pain never far from his memory. He wanted her child, but he'd spent the night brooding on whether the cost was enough. What kind of creature could put its own mother through such agony bringing it into the world? He looked around when he felt his claws dig into the bark at his side and was surprised to notice that he'd done a fair amount of damage to the tree during the night. Well, it was only a tree, after all. Better he tear up its unfeeling bark than the flesh of some innocent who hadn't done anything wrong.
He glanced down at a sound of disgust. Still waiting there, huh? Well, he wasn't really surprised. If it had taken the man this long to find him, he could hardly be expected to just walk off at the first sign of stubbornness on Inuyasha's part. Not that he'd ever been the sort to back down from a challenge anyway.
"Are you coming or not? Like it or not, she needs you. She needs you now."
That wasn't actually his objection, really, but he supposed it was too late now. He'd never gotten a good look at her when he went into the hut before, so he didn't know what to expect, but as long as she was alive and no longer screaming in pain, he believed he could handle whatever the baby had done to her. With a sigh, he jumped down and followed the man back to the village. When they arrived at the edge of the forest, his companion left him, gesturing irritably in the direction of Kaede's hut where Kagome was waiting and then leaving for (apparently) more important business. Inuyasha glared in annoyance before he continued through the village alone.
His steps became slower the closer he got to the hut, as he began to pick up a most unwelcome scent, one which always brought him a feeling of panic and desperation. It was Kagome's blood, lots of it. The smell was everywhere. Why hadn't that asshole told him something had happened to her?
He stood outside the hut door, trying to calm himself. That was right…if something terrible had happened to her, they would have told him, right? They wouldn't have left him to discover it on his own, would they? They would never be that cruel. They also surely knew what would happen if he entered that hut and something had happened to her. No one who had hurt her would be safe from his claws, so she must be all right, since he really didn't feel like going on a killing rampage among these people who had helped him, or at least left him alone, ever since he was unsealed. The village was innocent. No…the only ones he could blame for it were himself and the baby…
He placed his hand on the edge of the reed door and took a deep breath to calm himself, which ironically had the opposite effect since it also forced him the breathe in the hated blood scent, but he was ignoring it now as best he could. He had to believe that if whatever had caused her blood to spill was something dire, somebody would have told him. The alternative was too appalling to consider.
He moved the door aside carefully and peeked in before entering. The first thing he noticed was that she was alone and the feeling of panicked protectiveness he had just managed to suppress roared to the surface again. Kaede-baba had left her alone? How could she? Didn't that old hag know that Kagome needed protecting, now more than ever! He growled in rage, thinking of what might have happened to Kagome while she was here, alone and helpless and reeking of blood, when he noticed that she was awake and watching him shyly from her place on the futon. When she held her arms out to him silently, he gave the hut one last appraisal before he crossed to her side. The blood smell was coming from a pile of blankets in the far corner of the hut, which apparently Kaede-baba had not bothered to take with her when she left. Well, the smell was less bothersome not coming directly from Kagome, but he would have to get her out of here as soon as possible. The stench in the air could not be good for her.
He sat down on the end of the futon and looked at her, not touching. He could smell them…Kagome herself and…them. He'd had almost a year to prepare, but it was still a shock for them to suddenly be here, when yesterday there was only Kagome. She smelled so tired. He didn't know what was involved in childbirth, but it seemed to have exhausted her. Nervously, he looked down at the boards between his feet. What was he supposed to do now? He didn't know anything about kids. What if he did something wrong, what if he, what if…fuck. He realised that he was quickly working himself up to bolting right out of Kaede's hut, and the thought of leaving Kagome alone again both terrified and calmed him. He couldn't do that. She needed him here to protect her. Slowly he raised his eyes from the floor to her face. She was watching him, maybe wondering what he was thinking and when she whispered his name he gave her a reassuring glance. He still didn't know what to expect but he did know that, though he might not be sure of anything else, she needed him now more than she ever had and he had never been one to shirk his responsibilities. He wasn't going anywhere.
A few moments of silence passed.
"May I…see them?"
She blinked wearily, as if just remembering why they were staring at each other and when she spoke her voice was quiet and strained. "Oh, yes, of course."
She moved the blanket aside but made no attempt to sit up or hand him either of the bundles lying against her side so he leaned forward and carefully brushed the blanket off one of them and looked at it. What he discovered surprised him. He could smell himself and Kagome in the child's blood; she was definitely theirs, but…human? He glanced up at Kagome and met her eyes. She nodded slowly, her own suspicions confirmed by the confusion in his eyes, and moved the blanket away from the other child, whom he examined similarly before sitting back with a sigh as she pulled the blanket back over them. A hanyou. The boy was hanyou, the girl human…how? He wasn't completely human, how could any of his children be? He looked up to meet Kagome's eyes again. Did it matter? In the end, he would protect them all the same and maybe the girl would have an easier life because of it, though somehow he doubted it. Her father and brother were both hanyou, after all, even if the boy did look more human than he himself did.
Looking at Kagome, he knew that it didn't matter at all. If he never solved the mystery of his daughter's blood, he would not care, and neither would her mother. Her mother, Kagome… his lover, his friend, and now the mother of his own children, something he had never expected, not with her, not even with Kikyou, whose feelings, he could admit now, had been cold and calculating even when she was alive. She had wanted something from him and the best way to achieve it had been to fall in love with him. It did not make her emotion less real, but looking back on it from the perspective of time and experience and the sure knowledge of Kagome's utterly unselfish love, Kikyou's had lacked something vital, some spark, and it was this lack that had allowed Naraku to break them apart. He had never really trusted Kikyou, and she had never trusted him, and it had literally been fatal, but Kagome was different. He trusted her completely, had relied on her with his life many times and he knew she had the same trust in him and would never betray or leave him. She had never even asked anything of him but that he allow her to remain at his side. She was the first real friend he had had in his entire life, even if he hadn't known it at first, and he treasured her now beyond all others.
Kagome watched as Inuyasha's expression went from mildly annoyed confusion at the revelation of his daughter to something softer she rarely saw, even after so many years, to one akin to awe, which she was certain she had never seen. Inuyasha, in awe? Looking at her with such a face? When he reached out one clawed hand and gently stroked the side of her face she stayed perfectly still, fearful of breaking him out of this unusual mood. Inuyasha was many things, all of which she admired, if sometimes rather distantly, but gentle and tender in this way was rarely one of them and she treasured moments like this when he allowed his softer side to show through his tough demeanor, even if she didn't know the cause. She had been so aware of her pregnancy at all times that it had never occurred to her that it would never seem as real to him until he actually saw the result, and so she never wondered what sort of an affect that result would have on him.
He was still watching her with that awe-filled look and when she reached up and covered his hand on her cheek with her own he whispered her name roughly. He was no more certain of what he was doing than she was. They had known each other for years, had been friends, lovers, partners in battle, but at times they were still shy around each other, uncertain but plunging ahead anyway, fearless of what might lie ahead. With Naraku and Kikyou both out of the picture, they had no fear of the future, no true reason to doubt it, which had led them eventually to this hut, to Inuyasha stroking her face lovingly, and to two new lives which had been nothing but hopes and prayers only a few short hours ago.
***
Later that night, everybody sat around Kaede's fire pit, just enjoying each other's company. They had their own huts near the village, but most nights they gathered here for the evening meal and conversation. Kaede didn't seem to mind, and they'd spent so much time here during and immediately following the quest that doing it now, even after years had passed, felt as natural as being in their own huts. Tonight's conversation naturally revolved around the mystery of Kagome's daughter being human. Inuyasha and Miroku had been debating in circles for an hour, with Kaede putting in occasional comments, while Kagome and Sango watched with varying levels of interest. Sango was quite as shocked and curious about it as the men were and was watching their conversation avidly, though she seemed too tired to actually participate herself. Not surprising, considering she had a two-year old son and was close to term with another.
Kagome, on the other hand, was considering stopping the pointless discussion entirely. She was very tired and wanted to sleep, and had her own theory about the way her children had ended up. She just wasn't certain how the men would accept what she said. Their talk had mostly revolved around magic, something about her miko powers had come up at one point, and what would they say when she told them it was nothing as esoteric as that, that it was simply biology? They were both intelligent men (at some point Inuyasha had stopped trying to hide behind his pretense of stupidity; she wasn't sure when, but she'd known he wasn't really such an idiot a long time before that), but they had no knowledge of science and they seemed to be enjoying the banter well enough even if she wasn't. She'd let them continue for a little longer.
Ten minutes later, Inuyasha looked around in surprise when Kagome's head fell onto his shoulder with a soft thump. He blinked at her for a few seconds and then looked around at the others with an almost resigned expression. It looked like the party was over for the night. He gently picked her up and was on his feet before realizing that there was no way he could carry her and the twins together safely. Sango and Miroku came to the same conclusion and gallantly offered to help, and so the seven of them (for Shippou lived with them as well and Kaede had also elected to join the trip) and Kirara made their way into the forest, to the hut Inuyasha and Kagome shared, with Miroku and Sango carrying the twins. When they arrived, the others went inside but Inuyasha held back for a minute, looking at the building. It was really Kagome's house; after spending so much of his life outside, he preferred it to sleeping indoors. It was easier to protect her from outside as well, so he spent his nights in one of the trees surrounding the clearing as often as he actually slept inside it with her. She understood and accepted this, but he had built it for her, with help from Miroku and some of the men from the village, and the two of them had shared so much over the years that it would have been his even if he had never spent a night under its sturdy roof at all, though somehow he doubted Kagome would have allowed that…demanding girl that she was sometimes. He smirked to himself, thinking of it, but when his thoughts continued down that path without his will, he shook his head and banished them. They hadn't done anything like that in months, and tonight was not the night to start it up again. No, tonight…tonight they were parents. Together. It was an amazing thing. Had Miroku felt like this the night his own son was born? He'd have to ask; maybe the bouzu would remain serious long enough to talk to him about it.
"Hey, Inuyasha, do you plan to stand there all night?" The houshi's voice came from just inside the hut, sounding a bit amused. Inuyasha lowered his eyes from their appraisal of the roof and studied Miroku for a time as he stood in the door, holding back the reed curtain. There was light and warmth inside. They'd started a fire, and despite the lightness of his tone, Miroku's expression was calm and serious. He twitched the curtain again, a clear invitation, at which Inuyasha snorted quietly. He was being invited into his own home?
The houshi just shook his head. "Come inside, Inuyasha. Kagome-sama needs to rest and while I'm sure your arms are the only place she'd like to be, her futon is really a better place for sleeping."
Had he just…what was the fucker implying with that? Glaring balefully, he swept past the man, finding it hard to believe that only minutes before, he'd actually considered asking that lecherous idiot for advice! Once inside, he crossed the room and laid Kagome on the futon, then sat beside her, blinking around at the others. Kaede and Sango were doing something with the babies, Shippou was in the corner entertaining Miroku and Sango's son, Toguishi, with Kirara curled nearby, and Miroku himself, who had come back inside and was now standing just in front of the door, was looking at him with a calm and happy expression. He looked so pleased and almost giddy…you'd think he was the one with the baby.
"Well, Inuyasha, have you thought about names?" At the houshi's question, Sango and Kaede looked up from what they were doing. They looked back down again a moment later, still interested and listening, but also focused on their task.
Names. He had thought of names, actually. As the man, it was his duty to name any children born into the household. However, where Kagome came from things were different, and he didn't want her to be angry if he announced names for her children without consulting her first. He shrugged off Miroku's question. "Yes, but later. Right now Kagome is tired and needs to rest."
They took the hint, which even he could admit was not very subtle, and left, taking Shippou with them. The women gave him the babies on the way out, and finally they were alone. They hadn't been given enough time that afternoon and he needed time to be with her, and to talk. They had a lot to talk about.
There was movement behind him and her voice said, a little testily, "Finally. I thought they'd never leave."
His lips quirked into a small smile before he turned around and faced her. She'd been awake since halfway through the walk to the hut but neither had felt a need to call attention to the fact; it would have given their well-meaning but sometimes meddlesome friends an excuse to stay longer.
They contemplated each other in silence for some minutes before Kagome turned her eyes to the infants in Inuyasha's lap. She smiled softly and reached over to stroke her son's silver head. He looked almost human…he didn't even have dog-ears, just pointy ones like a lot of humanoid youkai had. When she asked, Inuyasha picked the baby up and placed him on her chest. Looking down at the newborn, she cooed, "I do believe this is the most beautiful child ever born."
Inuyasha snorted. "Is that what you think?"
She looked up quickly, but there was no malice in his voice. "Yes, I do."
"Well, what about this one?" He asked, indicating the girl he still held.
Kagome giggled softly. "Well, they're twins, aren't they? So they're both the most beautiful!"
He snorted again. "Silly wench. Boys aren't beautiful. Only girls are beautiful."
She shrugged. "Anyway, you didn't really answer Miroku-sama's question. Have you thought about names for them?"
"Yes. But I wanted to make sure you liked them first."
He said it so matter-of-factly she could only gawk for several seconds, which he didn't notice because his attention was focused on the baby in his lap.
"All right…what are they then?"Still not looking at her, he said, "Riyoubi for the girl, Shinkio for the boy. I…" He fell silent with a grunt. He didn't really have anything to add and after a few seconds of silence, he began to worry…did she not like them? Risking a glance up, he met her gaze, which was soft and pleased and relaxing. She did like them after all?
"They're perfect." She favored him with one of those smiles that never failed to convince him that all was right with the world. As long as Kagome could smile like that, nothing could be wrong. He blinked at her, eyes widening slightly, and reached out to touch her hand where it lay on the futon at her side.
The boy began to fuss suddenly, breaking the moment, and Inuyasha pulled his hand away with a sigh.
"His diaper," he commented, wrinkling his nose.
Kagome nodded and sat up. "Probably hungry too. Give me…Riyoubi," she added, sensing the hanyou was not up to baby-changing quite yet, and tired as she was, she would have to get used to it sometime.
Saying her daughter's name for the first time gave her a blissful, thrilled feeling and she smiled happily at Inuyasha, who promptly melted again, though all he did was hand Riyoubi to her mother, then excuse himself and go outside. Kagome watched him go with more than a touch of disappointment. He'd been acting so happy and solicitous all day and she'd hoped that tonight of all nights he would want to spend inside with her. Oh well…with a resigned shrug she set about changing and feeding both babies but was interrupted ten minutes later when Inuyasha reappeared in the hut's doorway. He came and sat on the futon, silently watching her do her motherly things and blinking occasionally but not moving otherwise. When she was done, she handed the twins to him so she could lie back down and they gazed at each other for a while in peaceful silence.
After several minutes had passed, he said, "Third quarter."
She blinked, unsure what he meant. "What?"
"That's what phase the moon is in. These were born in the moon's third quarter."
He said this with some formality, and as it also seemed he was speaking to the infants he held rather than to her, she still didn't know what he was talking about.
After the silence had stretched out for nearly a full minute, he looked up to meet her perplexed look and said, "Idiot. Didn't you know that's what determines a hanyou's cycle?" He sounded a little exasperated, as if he thought she ought to know this fact, but not unhappy, and his voice was calm.
Oh. "No…I guess I didn't." It had never occurred to her to wonder why Inuyasha's human night was the night of the new moon, had only accepted that it was so, and even if she had wondered, she wouldn't have had the nerve to ask. He was so touchy about it.
"Well, it is."
"Hmmm. I wonder if Riyoubi will be affected by it."
He stared at her in total confusion. Why wouldn't she? "What?"
"Well, she's human, isn't she? If she has no youkai genes, she isn't a hanyou, so she shouldn't be affected by the moon's cycle, right?" She said earnestly, forgetting for the moment that Inuyasha was not of her era and lacked modern scientific knowledge.
Her well-meaning explanation did not help to lessen his confusion. "She has no youkai what?"
Oh…how could she explain this? "Uhhh…"
"Okay…"
They stared at each other. Kagome was wondering how she could explain genetics to a man whose scientific knowledge went no farther than weapons of war and Inuyasha was watching her and quickly losing what little patience he possessed.
"Well?" he snapped after five minutes had passed. "What the hell are you talking about? What's this geeene or whatever that she doesn't have?"
Hm. Well, when Inuyasha demands an answer…but how to begin? "Okay. Hm. Oh, come down here." She reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him down so he would lie next to her on the futon. He placed Riyoubi on her chest next to Shinkio and did so, relishing in the way her scent surrounded him and the warmth and closeness of her body. She reached across herself and tweaked the lock of hair that hung in front of his shoulders. "Do you know why you have silver hair? Almost everybody else has black hair, like mine."
He gaped. What the fuck kind of question was that?
She took in his expression calmly. "Just answer the question. You don't, do you?"
He snorted and pulled his hair out of her grasp. "There's no reason, that's just the color it is. Now let go of it."
"Hm. But there is a reason, and I know what it is."
What was this? He tried to look uninterested and failed utterly, causing Kagome to smile slightly.
"Your father had silver hair, didn't he?"
"Yeah…all inuyoukai have it."
"That's why."
What? This was getting annoying. "Look, Kagome, all this cryptic shit is starting to piss me off. Just tell me what the fuck you're talking about."
"All right. Calm down, I'll explain. Everyone has these little…creatures swimming around in their blood. They're called genes." She paused, considering her next words.
"Genes…you said that before. But you said Riyoubi doesn't have any?" He looked down at the baby, concerned. What would happen to her if she didn't have these gene things? Was it dangerous?
"No, she has them, she just doesn't have any youkai genes. She only has human genes." He gave her a completely lost look and she smiled reassuringly before continuing. "Everyone gets half their genes from their mother and half from their father, and the mother's genes and the father's genes are different." She paused thoughtfully again and he waited for her to continue this time, though he didn't look much less confused than before. "Genes determine what people look like." Why hadn't she thought to start there in the first place?
Inuyasha considered this. That part about them making people's appearances seemed to make more sense than what she'd been saying before. "So if my father had silver hair, then I have silver hair, right? And so do Sesshoumaru and these puppies." He added, meaning Shinkio and Riyoubi. "And it's because these gene things tell us to?"
"Right," she said, smiling at him.
He twitched happily. That smile again. Something still didn't make sense, though, so he put her loveliness out of his mind for the moment. "But my mother had black hair…why don't I have black hair? And what was that about Riyoubi having only human genes?"
Hmm…a discussion of dominant and recessive traits was probably beyond him, at least for right now. She'd keep it simple. "I'm not sure why you ended up with silver hair instead of black. The genes given by one parent are usually stronger than the genes given by the other." She saw the chauvinist conclusion to this statement cross his face and rolled her eyes. "And it has nothing to do with men being stronger than women. The mother's genes are stronger than the father's as often as they're the other way around."
Oh. "What about Riyoubi?"
"I was getting to that. Everybody gets half their genes from their mother and half from their father. But the genes that come from each are slightly different. I guess you could call them male genes and female genes. In your case, all your female genes are human and all your male genes are youkai. In order to make a girl baby, all of the genes from both parents have to be female, but if any of the genes given by the father are male, then the baby is a boy and since all of your female genes are human, and I only have female genes, Riyoubi doesn't have any youkai genes at all." She looked up and was startled and a little embarrassed by the expression of total astonishment on his face. "Inuyasha, close your mouth. You'll start catching flies soon."
"I'll what?" He shook his head. "How do you know all this shit?"
"Well, I read a book on it once…and everyone knows about it in the future. I'm getting tired though. I think I want to go to sleep soon."
He nodded absently, still distracted by what she'd just told him. He held up his left hand and looked at the palm, trying to see what she was talking about, but couldn't see anything special. Hadn't she said those gene things were in his blood? He nicked his palm with a claw and looked at the welling blood curiously, but it didn't seem any different than normal, so he looked over to ask Kagome about it and almost laughed at her expression. She was giving him this incredulous, disbelieving look, as if she thought she might be imagining that he had just cut his own flesh.
"Why did you do that? You can't see the genes; they're too small, and if you touch me now you'll get me all bloody…go bandage it.
"Keh. It'll heal by morning."
She sighed, too tired to argue. "Fine. Just don't smear blood all over me then."
He snorted lightly through his nose. Of course he wouldn't do that. He lay on his side, facing her, watching her calmly as she studied the twins still lying on her chest.
"Inuyasha?" She said suddenly, startling him, but still looking at the twins.
"Hm."
"Thank you."
"Huh? For what?"
She gave a nervous little laugh and said, "I don't know…for being, I guess. Thank you for existing, and for loving me. I'm the luckiest woman in the world. Either world…" She shrugged and looked away, suddenly self-conscious and unsure of what had prompted her to say it.
Inuyasha had no idea what to say to this. No, he knew exactly what he wanted to say, but could not express it verbally, so instead he lightly grasped her chin, pulled her head around to face him again and kissed her softly on the lips. She thought she was the lucky one…amazing.
After a few seconds he pulled back and looked at her. She gave him a small, shy smile and when she pressed her face against his chest he wrapped his arms around her and leaned his cheek against the top of her head. He didn't know what he'd ever done to deserve her, but every day he thanked whoever was in charge of such things and tried to show he was worthy of the gift, even when he knew that nothing he did could show how much this woman really meant to him.