Rin
The day Inuyasha died of an illness my husband left in the morning.
A week before this happened, my granny, Kaede, sent us word of the sickness that had taken Sesshomaru's younger brother, Inuyasha. The entire week, no matter how much I begged him, he refused to visit the half-demon. He hadn't decided to go and visit him until the day he died.
I was concerned for Sesshomaru. My husband wasn't a very expressive man; the only way that he could express how he was feeling accurately was through actions. Ever since we married he had always told me when he would be leaving and would kiss me good-bye. Knowing his strange verbal complex I would always giggle as he did so because I understood he was saying "I love you" in his own way. That day Sesshomaru said nothing as he left; he was gone, without a word and without a kiss.
He came back that evening completely drenched from a sudden rain that had come unexpectedly from the east. In his right hand he held a long object wrapped in a sand-colored silken cloth. He said nothing to me as he entered our bedroom, walking over to the sliding door leading to our garden and opening it. He collapsed into a sitting position on the porch. His eyes were dull and he stared emotionlessly at the rain. I said nothing, simply walked over to him and kissed the top of his wet hair. That day I went to bed in our large western-style bed he had gotten me for my eighteenth birthday.
That was a two days ago. He still remained completely silent.
"Sesshomaru," I began quietly. I stood behind his silent form as he sat on our porch. The bamboo and orchids in our gardens swayed as a breeze blew through, carrying the scent of rain along with the darkened clouds overhead. His face wouldn't turn to me and his body wouldn't move; the only reaction I could get from my husband for the last two days. Remaining planted to the boards of the porch he still clung onto the object wrapped in cloth.
"Sesshomaru," I tried again, my voice cracking. A pain, throbbing and heavy entered my heart as I stepped in front of my husband and bent before him. His eyes, dull and shadowed, looked on.
Tears sprung to my eyes as the realization that had dawned on me began to make its way into my denying heart. I could feel my lips quiver as I bit them to hold back cries. Hiccupping, I fell forward, gripping the sides of Sesshomaru's haori and nuzzling my face, now wet with tears, into his chest.
"Please Sesshomaru," I cried, breathing in his faint musk of forest and rain through shallow breaths. He remained still.
"LOOK AT ME!" I sobbed. He stayed there, emotionless, unmoving, uncaring. My husband had died, I had realized in that one moment. He was gone. All that was left was his dull, metallic eyes and a hollow feeling in my heart.
The day that Inuyasha had died, my husband had died with him.
A week after that I visited Kagome.
I rode on AhUn to the small village that I had spent most of my pre-teen-hood in hopes that I could find some form of condolence. I knew it was selfish of me to visit my no doubt grieving sister to sate my own sorrow, but as I walked up the hill to the hut that she and Inuyasha had built I felt nothing. My mind was still stagnant on the dull metal of Sesshomaru's eyes.
"Kagome?" I called out as I folded back the fold of the mat covering the entrance to the home, "Kagome, are you there?"
The absolute silence that swam through the room chilled my blood. Something was wrong.
"Kagome!?" I called out louder now. This time a small, almost mute noise retorted and I stilled. "Kagome, is that you?" I whispered, making my way past the small table and cooking area of the hut. My heart quivered as I neared the bedroom.
It remained quiet for a moment before a sound, almost impossible to hear, came from inside the room. I pulled back the cloth over the door and entered, anticipation and anxiety aching through my body. A shifting noise reached my ears as the flap dropped behind me. Now I could clearly hear the noise. It was the quiet cry of a baby. Instantly my mind went to Inume, Inuyasha's and Kagome's child. I ran to the bed in the center of the room, my eyes instantly drawn to the small roll of cloth in the middle of the sheets.
"Inume!" I cried wrenching her from the tangled cloth. I held the baby girl close to my chest as my mind whirred with questions, the most prominent one being the whereabouts of my niece's mother. Inume stirred loudly in my arms and instantly I set to cooing her, rubbing her back softly as I looked about the room.
"Kagome, where are you?" I voiced my thoughts. I turned to leave the room, set on asking granny Kaede exactly what had happed to the village's priestess and what to do with Inume. I froze when something caught my eye. Hidden behind the foot of the bed a leg peaked out, sprawled against the floor. I felt all the blood in my veins freeze. I stumbled across the room, my grasp of Inume growing snug.
"Kagome-" I choked on the name as, sprawled across the floor of the bedroom, Kagome Higurashi's dead form entered my vision. I screamed, my body jerking into action as I spun around and ran from the place. My mind, racing with fear and confusion, could barely process that I was already on AhUn and returning to the castle until I had landed and attendants flocked to me. One of them took the child, recognizing that the half-demon girl had barely eaten for hours. I didn't protest as I walked to our room, tears stumbling down my cheeks as I shuffled over the floorboards. Coming to a halt in front of the main bedroom door I gripped the handle to the sliding door and meekly entered. I didn't realize I was standing on the porch until the top of Sesshomaru's silver head was adjacent to my hip. Lip trembling I collapsed next to the breathing corpse, grabbed hold of his arm, and screamed into his sleeve. My sister was dead.
The sickness started a few days after that.
I had no idea as to why after waking up in the morning I would have to run to the garden to puke. This continued for a few weeks, my body becoming weary and Jaken's concern growing. The day I couldn't even manage to hold down my super Jaken finally decided to summon a doctor. The dog-demon healer was knowledgeable in both the body of humans and demons and as soon as he laid eyes on me he made a diagnosis:
I was pregnant.