Beyond the Darkness
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A/N: Finally submitting the beginning to season three now. (: I've already written this in my Vampire Kisses fanfiction, but the reason I've been MIA is because I'm grounded, but I'm online I guess as a Christmas gift from my mom. 8D Anyway, I don't know when the next time I will be on will be, so don't be expecting a new chapter any time soon, however I will work on chapters while I'm gone. I hope this was worth the wait. (: Enjoy season three. ;D R&R por favor. -Michele
::Forty-One::
Traveling had become quite wearisome and Nikala's and Sesshomaru's baby had grown. Nikala had become five months pregnant when autumn hit and she had taken to riding A-Un for the time being. Of course, the bigger Nikala became, the more protective Sesshomaru was of her.
"I'll be back, Sesshomaru. Rin and I are just going to search for berries," Nikala said calmly, but Sesshomaru disagreed.
"I think not," he said sternly. "Rin can go with Jaken, but I don't want to risk putting you in any danger."
Nikala arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Sesshomaru, I'll be fine. I'm not a weak demon, you know," she snapped. However, her battle was lost against Sesshomaru and he refused to let her out of his sight.
This somewhat irritated Nikala. In a way, she knew he was only trying to protect her and the baby — since, after all, it was his first born — but she also felt he was going a bit overboard. She couldn't do anything without being his sight, as if a demon was going to leap out and attack her. But even if that were to happen, Nikala was plenty strong enough to handle things on her own. Her fox fire was plenty powerful, wasn't it? After all, she was experienced with pregnancies. It wasn't as if having a baby was completely foreign to her.
She sighed heavily as she watched longingly after Rin and Jaken wander into the forest. She leaned a shoulder against a tree.
"I know how to carry a baby, you know. I've already had one. I'm experienced," she added with another arched eyebrow.
"You are experienced with carrying fox offspring, but nothing dog-demon," Sesshomaru retorted. Nikala scoffed.
"What does that have anything to do with anything? A baby is a baby, Sesshomaru, whether it be a fox, a dog, or a toad!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. Sesshomaru stared at her, his golden eyes slightly widened. Nikala made a heavy sigh as her temper lowered. "All I am saying is that you don't need to be so protective over me because of this baby. You can trust me, love, I promise." She made her way towards him and placed a hand on his arm, her touch automatically making him want to touch her back.
"I know I can. I'm new at this," he said softly. "I … I don't know about these things. Lord Sesshomaru shouldn't be having a —" he paused briefly before making out the word awkwardly "— baby."
Nikala cooed. "No, Sesshomaru. Don't you dare think of such a thing. You're going to make an excellent father. You'll be so admired by your child. Who wouldn't want their father to be the most powerful demon ¾ the lord of all other demons and of the Western Lands of Japan? You're child will be so proud of you, Sesshomaru," she said with excitement, a wide smile developing in her lips
Sesshomaru was silent while he pondered this. He could imagine a little boy, looking strangely like Shippo, only with his silvery white hair and golden eyes, and then a little girl looking exactly like Rin, only with Nikala's hair and eye color, plus her tail. He imagined the both of them staring up at him with wide smiles, their arms embraced around his legs. "Daddy," they'd say, "we're so proud of you."
The though actually frightened him a little as he shook his head to rid of it. Sesshomaru wasn't admired at; he was feared upon, even by Jaken. Strangely enough, he was loved by Rin and Nikala, the females of the group, and even that made him wonder.
Exactly why does Nikala love me? he thought. I know why I am in love with her, but what does she see in me?
Since when had questions like this pondered his mind, he wondered. Could he be the wonderful father Nikala knew he would be? What made her think that?
Her voice brought him back to reality when she called his name. "Sesshomaru? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he assured and turned his back on her. "If you want to join them, then go ahead. Just be careful."
Nikala squealed and wrapped her arms tightly around his body, pressing her face against his back, as if he'd just said they were going to see Shippo again.
"I will, sweetheart. I'll be back soon," she promised, and headed out to the forest, not knowing that she most definitely would not be back soon.
* * *
"So this is the fox-woman you spoke of earlier, eh Kagura?" Naraku asked with dark curiosity as he watched the pregnant fox-woman wander through the forest alone, weaving through the trees to find her comrades, through a white mirror the pale, aura-less girl, Kanna, held before him.
"Yes," Kagura replied. "That's the woman who travels with Sesshomaru. Apparently they're mated," she added. A wide grin spread across the evil half-demon's face as he stroked his chin.
"Oh really? This makes everything all the more interesting. What a fool, Sesshomaru is. Does he really think it wise to pick up any more weaknesses?" He chuckled. "Mmm … this baby the fox is carrying, is it his offspring?"
"Well, I would assume so if the two are mated," muttered Kagura with an eye roll. Kanna nodded.
"The baby is Sesshomaru's," she said softly. Naraku continued to stroke his chin in deep thought.
"Hrmm … fox-dog hybrid. No doubt it would possess Sesshomaru's mighty powers, and also the fox abilities. A full fox-dog demon. How very rare," he said.
"What? Are you planning on absorbing this baby as well?" asked Kagura, crossing her arms. "Don't you think that's a bit macabre? I mean, it'd be just a baby. It's not even born yet."
"Which is why we'll kidnap the mother. It'll lure Sesshomaru to us and then I can absorb him as well. I'll have double his power once the baby is born and I'll be invincible!" Naraku claimed with excitement.
"We're going to wait for the baby to be born? How long will that take?" Kagura groaned. Naraku eyed Kanna for the answer.
"The baby was conceived in the middle of spring, bringing the woman to being five months this fall," she replied.
"Five months," Naraku said. "If we catch her now, we'll be waiting for another four months for her to burst."
"Four months is a long time," Kagura sighed, rolling her eyes away from the two.
"There are cases where babies are born off schedule. The fox-woman's child could be born earlier than nine months," Kanna said knowingly.
"That would make it premature, though," Kagura said. "What good would the baby be if it were premature?"
"In any case," Naraku interrupted, continuing his plan, "we'll kidnap the mother of this remarkable child, brainwash her so she doesn't go running away, lure Sesshomaru so I can absorb him, and then wait for this baby to be born. I'll be plenty powerful with Sesshomaru's power during the wait."
"So why do you need the baby?" Kagura asked. Suddenly, she gasped and clutched her chest as she felt Naraku's finger clench her beating heart, squeezing it slightly.
"We are sassy today, aren't we, Kagura? It might be best, you know, if you'd just shut your mouth and do as I say because your running lips are going to get you into a lot of trouble," Naraku threatened as he gave Kagura's heart a final squeeze before making it dissolve into his skin. "Having the fox-woman will be quite pleasurable. She's quite beautiful. I can see why Sesshomaru suddenly became infatuated with love." Naraku chuckled again. Kagure kept from saying anything about Kikyo and how he wanted to cut off all connectivity with his own emotions, therefore why would he want the fox demon for his company so as not to be tortured again.
"What do you want us to do?" Kagura said instead.
"Distract Sesshomaru so I can take the woman. The imp and human girl should be of no trouble, so don't mind them, should they come to Sesshomaru's aid. Sesshomaru's clever, so getting into battle with you would mean something is going on with me. He'll be especially worried since his mate is out away from him with us near," Naraku explained.
"Right," Kagura agreed and nodded. Perhaps she could alter his plan a little bit by letting it slip that Naraku would be going after his pregnant mate, letting slip of his true intentions to absorb both him and his baby. Sesshomaru would be outraged and would want to kill Naraku for sure, finally setting Kagura and her heart free.
I'll just have to make sure there are no Saimyosho around to overhear our conversation, she though as she glanced out of the room. Sesshomaru will show no mercy in this. He's changed. He'd do anything for that fox-woman. He just better not be reckless.