Stolen Dreams

Chapter Two:

The weeks leading up to the birth were filled with activity. Kagome spent her days tottering around the house cleaning, decorating and rearranging everything with Shippo by her side most of the time. The young fox could hardly wait for the babies to be born. As soon as Kagome had the pups, she would make the wish on the Jewel and Shippo would finally meet his big brother Sota. The boys exchanged letters and news through Kagome and the well, but soon they would actually meet face to face. Shippo was all atwitter, wondering what tricks he should show Sota first.

Also staying in the house were Miroku and Sango, back from their honeymoon in the mountains, and Sango's younger brother Kohaku. Sango and Kagome spent a lot of time giggling in the garden and making their husbands nervous with their whispered secrets and sly glances. For their part, Inuyasha and Miroku spent as much time helping around the village as possible and keeping out of the way of Kagome and her hormones. All in all, their lives were perfect. That is until a dark, stormy night just days before Kagome's due date.

Miroku was the only one awake in the whole house. He sat in the living room reading by firelight and enjoying the relative peace after a day full of activities. Over the howl of the wind outside, the monk soon became aware of another sort of howling. "Wolves?" he pushed up from his chair, dropping the scroll in his haste. Miroku pulled up short of sprinting from the room as amber eyes preceded his half-demon friend into the firelight.

"Is it Koga?" Miroku asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Inuyasha turned and headed back out into the hallway. He paused a moment, not looking back, "Will you...?"

Miroku laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'll keep an eye on things here. You go check it out." Inuyasha was gone in a flash of red and white. The monk padded silently to his room to fetch his staff.

Outside, Inuyasha ran. His feet barely touched the ground and the howling grew louder with each step. He did not stop as the rain pounded down on him, making it hard to hear and see. Instinct guided his feet until suddenly he burst through a clearing and there they were. It was Koga and a small pack of wolves. The wolf-demon prince was beyond distraught. Although there had been animosity between them in the past, since Naraku's defeat Inuyasha had come to think of Koga as an ally and as a friend. "What happened?" Inuyasha shouted over the howl of the wind and the wolves. Koga dropped to his knees before his one-time rival and pleaded, "Help me."

Kagome cleaned Koga's wounds with a damp cloth and applied an ointment to help them heal faster. "I'm sorry that I can't do more, Koga," she said softly. Koga offered a smile and laid his hand over hers. "So it's true. You cannot use your powers anymore." The saddness in the wolf prince's eyes tore at Kagome's heart. She stood from the chair and went about cleaning up the bandages and dirty water. Inuyasha had carried Koga into the guest bedroom over an hour ago and called for Kagome and Sango to help him. Sango now stood at the end of Koga's bed in full battle gear. At Koga's remark, the demon slayer looked to her husband before asking "What do you mean, Koga? Who has said that Kagome cannot use her powers?"

The wolf prince pushed himself up to a sitting position. His bare chest, covered in ointment, gleamed in the candlelight. Outside the wind still howled, but that room became very quiet and still as they awaited Koga's answer. At last he spoke.

"Last night my pack was attacked by a group of Naraku's demons." Kagome gasped and clung to Inuyasha. Sango drew her sword half out of its scabbard and Miroku clenched his hand where he still wore a rosary despite his curse having been lifted.

"But when we defeated Naraku, we destroyed all but a few of his demons," Inuyasha argued, "and the ones that escaped dispersed in all different directions. They had no loyalty to each other with Naraku gone."

"These were huge, monstrous rock demons led by a sorceress," Koga snarled, "It had to have been Kagura! Her hatred of wolves went beyond Naraku's bidding."

"But Kagura only wanted her freedom, not to marshal the remnants of Naraku's horde," Miroku jingled his staff as he thought about this. "And what did she want from you, Koga?"

Here, Koga hung his head. Kagome went and laid a hand on his shoulder as tears ran down the wolf prince's cheeks. "They said to deliver the Priestess Kagome or..." he swallowed hard, "They took Ayame. And our son." Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha filed silently out of the bedroom as Koga wept openly into Kagome's shoulder.

In the living room, Miroku lit the fire and stood leaning heavily on his staff. Sango looked at Inuyasha who was slouched in a chair. She knew Inuyasha was beating himself up about what to do. The solution, for now, seemed simple enough: send Kagome to the future while searching for the enemy.

"She'll be expecting that, Sango," Inuyasha mumbled into his sleeves. "She knows what she's doing. She knew that Koga would come to us for help and will be expecting us to try and get Kagome to the well."

Sango was shocked, "But none of Naraku's demons knew about the well. The only ones who know about it are us and..." she gasped. "No! Inuyasha? You don't think it could be her?"

"We knew this would happen one day," Kagome spoke from the doorway. "Kikyo is a very powerful priestess and very bitter. I thought she had turned dark before we defeated Naraku." she walked over and kissed Inuyasha gently on the top of his head. "We have one advantage. Kikyo thinks that my powers abandoned me when I married Inuyasha. She doesn't realize that as soon as I give birth, I'll be able to use them again. And I'm due and day now."

"Well that's all right, but how do we know it's even Kikyo at all?" Miroku asked.

"Because she came to me." Inuyasha finally stood. His fists were clenched and his eyes were closed in shame as he spoke. "A few months ago, when people first found out about Kagome's pregnancy. Kikyo came to me in the middle of the night and demanded to know if it was my seed in Kagome's womb. When I told her it was, she became furious. But when she threatened Kagome I banished her. I even informed my brother of her treachery. I didn't think...I had hoped she wouldn't do anything more."

"What is to be done tonight?" Sango asked.

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Inuyasha..." Sango surged forward only to be stopped by the half-demon's glare.

"I know Kikyo. She will not move against us until she is good and ready. First, a brutal attack and threat. Then nothing. She will wait until we have all but forgotten her threat and then she will strike."

"What about Ayame and her son?" Kagome asked, "We have to help them."

"For now," Miroku spoke up, having figured out Inuyasha's plan, "We let her think that we are unable or unwilling to help the wolves. She will not harm them unless we outright refuse her. In the meantime we send Koga home angry."

"Right." Inuyasha agreed. "And send messengers to my brother and our other allies. See if we can sniff out where she's been hiding all this time."

The four bid each other goodnight and headed to bed. Kohaku and Shippo, who had been eavesdropping, scurried back up to their bedroom wide-eyed. Inuyasha helped Kagome into their bed and lay beside her. He did not speak. It was not necessary. Kagome simply lay her head on his strong chest and held his hand. Inuyasha lay staring at the ceiling for an hour before a soft something startled him out of his misery. It was a movement from Kagome's belly. A smile replaced the scowl he had been wearing. The father-to-be laid a hand on Kagome's stomach and went to sleep.

The next morning, as planned, Koga and his wolves returned to their mountain dens. Shippo, Kohaku and Miroku went to town under the premise of getting supplies and sent messengers to The Demon Lord of the Western Lands and their other allies. Sango and Inuyasha worked within the house preparing as though for an attack. Kagome felt like a prisoner and wished her mother was already there with her. A few years ago she would have tried to sneak away to visit the future, but not now.

The young priestess sighed and put down her knitting, she was terrible at it anyway. She was in the rocking chair in the nursery and looked around at all Inuyasha had done there. They had painted the walls a soft yellow and Kagome had stenciled little blue and pink bears along the top as a border. Miroku and Inuyasha had built the two cribs based on drawings Kagome had provided. Kaede and some of the village women even provided straw mattresses. Then Mrs. Higurashi had bought matching bed sets with little white puppies on a green background. The two windows were covered by soft white drapes that were swaying in the gently breeze. The whole nursery felt so warm and cozy but Kagome knew she could not hide away in there until trouble passed. She pushed up out of her rocking chair and...her water broke.