Disclaimer: You know that InuYasha series and all its characters? Well, they ain't mine. They will be one day though!

Author's notes: Hey there! Didn't think I was going to continue this story, did ya? Well, neither did I, but hey! Here's the next chapter! Anyways, sorry the first part has a lack of conversations, I wanted to get some things set up before talking started...

Last Chapter: InuYasha finally finishes their home and they reach their first anniversary. Sango comes to visit Kagome for the first time since the two couples married. Sango also reveals that she is expecting a child. InuYasha gets a whiffs of Kagome's scent and notices something has changed...

Chapter 3: Unexpected and Unwanted Surprise

The morning dawned brightly, heralded by a burning ball of fire. Everything on the Taisho Estates was coloured a deep and fiery red, very fitting considering who lived on the grounds. Birds began their happy chirping; the fish in the glassy blue ponds began surfacing for early morning buggy meals. A few cranes wandered around snagging stray frogs where they could. The household servants began to set about their daily chores. Deep inside the home, InuYasha stirred from his very restful sleep.

Never before had he experienced such a restful sleep, and he attributed it to one thing, and one thing only. Unlike things happened very often, Kagome's scent had not changed over the past month. Her monthly cycle had not swept away his hopes as it had once before. This time, he had a feeling that the child that had begun to grow within her womb would grow to its full gestation. But never the less, he prayed to whatever deity would hear the prayers of a hanyou that his child would live.

Slowly, so as not to wake his mate, he rolled over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. She smiled in her sleep and called his name, turning and reaching for his warm embrace. He smiled and whispered gently in her ear that she was to sleep more. He then got up from the futon and shrugged on his fire rat haori. He moved slowly and quietly around the room as he gathered his sword and tied the sash on his robes. He slid the door back and silently skated past the bamboo beads without a sound. Just a short walk from the master bedroom, both Sango and Miroku slept peacefully. InuYasha had offered their home to the couple as a sort of get-away. So far, they had been there together for a whole week, although Sango had been there for two weeks prier. The young man smiled again at the sound of Miroku's gentle snoring and then rushed out of the house with all haste.

Every morning for the past month, he had taken to patrolling the surrounding forests and meadows for youkai and spirits that might somehow harm his new family. And as if in response to this new habit, the creatures that might have presented a problem retreated to their dens and tunnels, all of them watching the fledgling family for any opening in which they could wreck havoc. But for now, none of them made a move. InuYasha was pleased enough with this, even if it gave him less chance for practice with the Tessaiga than he would have wanted. But such is the price of being so proficient in his skill.

Back at the estates, the other sleeping beings began to stir from their slumber. Miroku rolled over and stretched thus waking his very pregnant wife. In his own room, Shippou yawned tiredly and rubbed the sleep from his bright green eyes. And in the master's room, Kagome slowly opened her eyes and shielded them from the glare of the sun. She rolled over and was greeted by a cold bed. She was beginning to get used to the fact that InuYasha no longer waited to for her to wake before he left. She sighed nonetheless and reached for her morning robe.

As she pulled the flowery sash tightly around her waist, she was disappointed to find that she had put on some weight. I guess this is what comes from no longer running around searching for Naraku and the Shikon no Tama shards. Maybe I should start exercising… She thought to herself. Shrugging it all off, she made her way to living room to have a cup of tea.

Just as she had slid the bedroom door closed, Sango emerged from her room with Miroku trailing sleepily behind her.

"Good morning you two! You guys sleep well?" Kagome chirped happily.

"As well as someone can be expected when a certain someone is snoring right in your ear!" Sango glared at Miroku accusingly. He simply shrugged and threw himself down onto the living room floor.

With more grace and poise, the two women lowered themselves down to the floor as well, making sure that they had a fluffy cushion. Sango absent-mindedly began to rub her swelling belly. Kagome smiled and leaned back on her hands to gaze out the opened door at the fishpond. Just then Shippou stumbled into the room and hopped into Kagome's lap.

"Everyone seems so tired today. What is your reason, hm, Shippou?" Kagome ruffled the young boy's red hair fondly.

"I heard noises coming from down the hall that sound like someone moving furniture, then it sounded like someone was groaning. It was really loud!" The kitsune boy mumbled.

On the other side of the low tea table, Miroku and Sango shifted embarrassedly, their cheeks as red as tomatoes. Kagome smiled and shook her head at the hilarity of it all. She had slept well the whole night through, but it didn't seem like enough now. She was more exhausted now even though she had no reason to be.

"I guess that's why you guys didn't get much sleep either, eh?"

Sango's blush increased ten-fold and Miroku turned to study the bright paintings on the door screens instead of Kagome's smiling face. As if to pull the attention from the embarrassed couple, one of the maids entered the room and set a tray down on the table and bowed low to Kagome.

"Here is your tea, Lady Kagome. Is there anything else you would have me do for you?" She said with her eyes cast down.

"No, that's all for now. Thank you, Sakura." Kagome waved the young girl off and began to pour some tea for herself. She didn't feel hungry, actually the idea of food made her sick for some reason.

"Those hasu blossoms have grown quite beautifulovernight." Sango remarked as she poured a cup of tea for herself and offered another one to Miroku.

"This breed seems to favour the early morning for their climax of bloom." Miroku said sagely.

"InuYasha said he planted them because when he gets up and smells them, they remind him of me. It's sweet, isn't it?" Kagome couldn't help but smile at the recollection.

Slowly the flowers swayed back and forth in the early morning breeze, which also brought their sweet smell wafting into the room. Branches all heavily laden with flowers, momo, sakura, yuki yanagi, ume, and mokuren trees also lent their sweet scents to the mixture making the air almost intoxicating. (IB: All the trees I just stated all bloom during the spring, around March and April. Just so you know)

"Speaking of the devil, where is that guy? Where'd he get off to this early in the morning?" Miroku asked, true curiosity twinkling in his violet eyes.

"He has this new habit of patrolling the area for new youkai every morning in the early morning. He'll be back in time for lunch." Kagome sighed.

"The old dog is always in time for lunch, especially if it's his favourite: ramen." Sango stated sarcastically.

The group laughed happily at the memory. Pictures of InuYasha staring confusedly at Kagome's retreating figure with ramen noodles hanging out of his mouth, then him buried deep in the earth with one had holding up the precious cup of noodles. Those where the good old days. Each of them thought.

Just as they all started to regress into themselves with their memories, a great clamour arose from the entryway on the north side of the house. There was shouting and the sound of breaking pottery and china.

"InuYasha's back." Shippou announced

True to form, InuYasha stood at the doorway to his home with a scowl on his face and his hands tucked into his sleeves. When he had returned, he had scared one of the maids that had been carrying a tray full of freshly made pottery to the kitchen. She in turned had screamed and dropped the tray, smashing every single piece of the fragile crockery to a thousand pieces.

Now the poor girl and several other servants scrambled to pick up each piece and sweep the floor clean of all the shards too small to be picked up. The maid was practically falling over herself with her apologies for being so clumsy. All the while InuYasha stood there, his silence scaring everyone. It was Hitoshi that got everything back into order.

"I'm so sorry, Milord. She's new and not accustomed to the ways of this house. It won't be long before everything is back to normal."

"Where is Kagome?" InuYasha's tone caused the old man to stop and blink for a moment before answering.

"She's in the receiving room with Lord Miroku and Lady Sango."

Having all the answer he needed, InuYasha stormed off towards the living room to his mate and companions.

He found them laughing hysterically about some memory, of him no less. Sango was clutching her swelling stomach, Miroku wiping tears from his cheeks, Shippou was rolling over the floor, and Kagome was trying to muffle her laughs with a delicate hand placed over her mouth. InuYasha's ears twitched in an irritated way from their perches on his head. Then they pinned themselves back, plastered to his head in anger.

Everyone in the room slowly stopped laughing and caught onto the hanyou's foul mood. There was something not quite right with the man. It was Miroku who rose first and broke the awkward silence that had followed their merriment. His monk's staff jangled happily as he rose and addressed the peeved InuYasha.

"Welcome home InuYasha! Won't you join us for a cup of tea?"

"Keh!"

InuYasha growled dangerously and glared at the man then turned to address his wife who had raised herself from the floor, sensing that something was not quite right.

"What's wrong InuYasha?" She asked.

"Kouga is coming this way." He said through a sneer. Everyone knew how much he hated the wolf youkai with everything, even now that he had made Kagome his mate, he hated him even more.

"Kouga-kun is coming?" Kagome seemed confused.

"I remember him saying at some point about a year ago that he would come back and claim you as his mate." Sango said pulling herself up as well.

"That (bleep!) is gonna have me to reckon with! He ain't takin' my mate without a fight!" InuYasha growled, clenching his fists so hard that he drew blood from his palms.

"How long do you think it'll take him to get here?" Miroku asked

"His filthy scent was at least a whole week old. Maybe five days, maybe six."

"Well, I would offer my help with my kazaana, but this is your fight alone, InuYasha." Miroku shrugged.

Kagome caught the last bit of Miroku's statement and instantly grew curious as to why. "Why can't you help him? Why does he have to fight Kouga alone?"

"When one youkai challenges another about a mate, as in this case, when one tries to take the other's mate, the mate has to protect their territory. If he does it with help, it shows him as weak, and the challenger will likely return at a later date to claim the female. So InuYasha's only hope is to defeat Kouga by himself. That's the only way he can be assured that Kouga won't come back to get you. Once he's beaten Kouga, he'll have to admit that you are InuYasha's and then he won't return." The monk said as he sat back down and took another sip of his tea.

"I see. It's a property dispute." Kagome said distastefully.

"That's what comes from marrying a youkai, Kagome. It's not bad, that's just the way things are!" Sango tried to comfort the hurt pride of her best friend.

"Kagome, walk with me for a while." InuYasha said, tugging on his wife's elbow.

She looked at him for a moment and then looked at Sango. Hesitantly she nodded her head and followed InuYasha out onto the veranda and then on to the gardens. Back in the living room Sango sighed and sat back down, retrieving her forgotten cup of tea.

"Don't worry. InuYasha will be able to defeat Kouga with no problems. He did defeat Ryuukoytsusei by himself." Miroku pattedhis wife's back hoping to cheer her up. She nodded distractedly.

The young couple walked quietly through the great gardens that surrounding their home. On the eastern horizon, dark clouds were gathering, a precursor to a big spring rainstorm. If you a youkai's excellent sense of hearing, you could hear the distant rumbling of thunder. Even the wind had picked up. It came in big gusts, dislodging whole flowers along with petals and sending them spiraling through the air.

Kagome suddenly became acutely aware of the fact that she had not bathed or changed since she had gotten up. The ornate morning robe she had put on was threatening to fly off into the sky, leaving her body completely naked. She tried desperately to keep herself modest but was failing miserably. And with the silk robe fluttering all around her, she could feel the cold wind much better, which sent shivers over her body and goose bumps up and down her arms and legs. InuYasha caught his mate's discomfort and draped his haori over her. She thanked him quietly and tied the coat tightly around her waist.

At the furthest corner of the compound, InuYasha chose a bench against the eastern wall, sheltered from the wind. Kagome gratefully sat down on the bench and leaned into her husband's strong shoulder. He draped his arm around her protectively before saying anything.

"How have you been feeling lately?"

"Fine, I guess. I feel a little bit fat. I think it's because my body isn't used to such inactivity." She barely caught the smirk that crossed InuYasha's face at that statement.

"Have you eaten yet, today?" More curious questions… why was he asking them?

"No. I had a few cups of tea with Sango and Miroku, but the thought of eating makes me feel sick. Why are you asking?" Kagome pushed away from him just far enough that she could see his face. But his silver bangs covered his eyes.

"Just curious." He sighed and abruptly changed his tone. "Kagome, when Kouga gets here… I need you to stay in the house. I don't want you to get hurt."

"InuYasha! You know very well that he wouldn't hurt me! And why do I have to stay inside? I can help you, and you know that!"

"Kagome, don't fight with me! Just do as I say!" InuYasha growled.

"InuYasha, I am no child, and I'm not a weakling! I can take care of myself!" Kagome shouted at him indignantly.

"By the kami, Kagome, I know that! All I'm asking is for you to stay inside when we fight! Is that too much to ask!?" He shouted back at her with equal fury.

By now, both were standing and nearly nose-to-nose. InuYasha's face was getting a little flushed, but Kagome had actually gone pale. Slowly, the two relaxed and stared at the other with something like a glare. They would have stood there until the sun had taken to its fiery bed had a big gust of wind not blown InuYasha's haori right off of Kagome. He dove after it and finally grabbed it when it became entangled in the lower branches of a momiji tree. He walked back to where Kagome stood holding her robe tightly to her. He handed it back to her and began to speak very slowly.

"Look, Kagome. I love you. I really don't want you to get hurt! Please do this one thing, for me."

With the look he was giving her, her resolve fled like a scared deer. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. "Alright. I'm sorry."

InuYasha held her tightly for a moment then scooped her up into his arms and announced that it was approaching lunchtime, and she needed to get dressed.

Kagome was thrilled by the fact that InuYasha actually agreed to come to the bathhouse with her. He didn't do that very often, simply because he hated what that meant. Whenever they got in there, Kagome would beg and plead for InuYasha to let her clean his hair. And he was doing it voluntarily!

Now the two of them sat in the waist deep pool of steamy hot water. On one of the walls, a small waterfall from an outside pump, fed from a hot spring, splashed down into the pool. The water then exited out of a small hole near the door and traveled back to the stream. InuYasha was doing a couple laps of the pool, trying to delay the impending doom of hair washing.

"Quiet being a baby! Come over here!" Kagome said impatiently from her seat on the underwater bench that went the whole way around the pool.

"Alright, no need to shout! I'm comin'."

Reluctantly, he swam up to Kagome and looked at her sheepishly. He hated getting his hair washed with that sham-pooh stuff from the future. She only shook her head at him and smiled like a mother smiling at a child who does not want to get a shot. She lifted herself to sit on the ledge of the pool and motioned for InuYasha to take a seat on the bench between her legs. He took his seat and braced himself.

"You can be such a baby sometimes," Kagome stated as she poured a good amount of shampoo onto the hanyou's head. "Why don't you like to get your hair washed?" He obviously didn't care at the moment; he was leaning into her massaging hands like a dog being scratched. Kagome half expected him to start shaking his leg. (IB: Funny image isn't it?)

For some reason, today InuYasha actually enjoyed having his head messed with. Maybe it was because from his seat, the smell of the child within her was even more acute. Or perhaps it was the gentle touch of her hands rubbing the cleaning goop into his scalp. Whatever it was, he was disappointed when she told him to go underwater and rinse the stuff out.

"Alright. Sit back down, I still need to put conditioner in."

"Keh!" He wanted it bad, to have her hands messaging his head, but he refused to give her that satisfaction.

She poured the sweet smelling stuff onto his head and rubbed it all in before wrapping his great abundance of hair into a tight topknot to sit for a while. After she had done that, InuYasha got up and turned to face his young wife. She gently draped her arms around his neck and jumped into the water. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her softly. A gentle kiss turned quickly into a hungry yearning for more. He lifted her up and allowed her to wrap her slender legs around his waist and began exploring her neck and collarbone and lower with his lips and teeth. They remained like this for quite some time before Kagome spoke hesitantly, her voice a little shaky.

"Inu…Yasha. We… need to rinse that conditioner out of your hair and get back to the house. Sango and Miroku are probably waiting for us."

The young man growled something incoherent into the crook of his mate's neck and then eased the girl back down into the warm water. He plunged himself down into the water and released his hair from the topknot and let the conditioner disperse into the water. When he returned to the surface, Kagome stood ready with a comb and proceeded to comb his hair free of all its knots. When that was accomplished, with much grumbling from a particularly annoyed hanyou, both dried themselves, dressed, and left to eat the lunch that was undoubtedly waiting for them.

The next few days went by without any hitches. It rained almost everyday for the whole day and most of the night. Kagome started getting sicker though, nothing but the crackers she had brought from the future would stay in her stomach. InuYasha of course knew the cause but said nothing, leaving the others to worry over her. Let her figure it out on her own. She'll know before long. He kept reminding himself each time she retched her previous meal.

As Sango's pregnancy went on, she grew a little bigger as each day passed. The baby within her had even begun to move, though only Sango could feel it at that point. InuYasha could tell that the young woman did not only carry one, but two babies. But again, he kept quiet.

Their relative peace was broken on the sixth day when Hitoshi entered the receiving room where they sat enjoying some soba noodles. He bowed to InuYasha and Kagome before speaking.

"What is it, Hitoshi?" InuYasha asked, slightly annoyed at the intrusion.

"Lord InuYasha, you have a visitor. He awaits you at the gate."

"Did you get his name?" Kagome asked, her breath catching in her throat.

"He said he was one, Lord Kouga."

All movement in the room stopped abruptly and all eyes turned to the young man. His face turned stony and he rose slowly. He looked down at the young woman at his right and nodded to her. She nodded weakly back and stayed where she was. InuYasha grabbed Tessaiga and left the room to accept the challenge.

After he had left, Shippou hopped into Kagome's lap and looked at her sad face. "Kagome, why are you sad? InuYasha will be back soon. Let's go watch him, he'll grind that wolf into a bloody pulp!" He grabbed Kagome's hand and pulled her towards the door, but she remained unmoving.

"Kagome, are you not going to see InuYasha beat Kouga?" Miroku said, confused.

"I'm going to sit here where I'm safe." She said, staring ahead of her without really seeing anything in particular.

Sango looked at Miroku as if to ask, "what's with her?" but he simply shrugged and looked back at Kagome, still more confused than he had been. Sango scooted over to the girl and draped her arm around the girl. Tears began to trail down her cheeks and make dark circles on her pale blue kimono.

"He'll be ok. Don't worry." She tired her best to reassure the woman.

That was all the incentive that Kagome needed. She threw herself fully into Sango's arms and cried with all that she had. Seeing his surrogate mother so sad, young Shippou ran back to Kagome and hugged her as best he could with his short arms. Miroku, feeling totally out of place and awkward, got up and headed towards the great gate where InuYasha now faced Kouga.

"You got a (bleep!) of a lot of nerve to show up here like this!" InuYasha growled menacingly at the wolf youkai that stood before him.

"You've done well for yourself." At that point Kouga lifted his nose to the breeze and frowned disdainfully. "I see you've been busy too. With my woman, no less."

"Kagome is mine, (bleep!)! She chose me as her mate, not you! The child she bears is mine by right!" He crouched down in a fighting stance, fully readying himself for Kouga's attack.

Kouga snarled at him and fell into a similar stance. "That child dies with you, half breed mutt!"

"Go to (bleep!), filthy wolf!" The hanyou growled again and would have sprung on Kouga if a voice from the veranda had not stopped him.

"InuYasha, please stop! Kouga-kun, leave please! I've chosen to be InuYasha's mate, not yours. Go, please!" Kagome stood there, tears streaming down her face. She was begging that no blood be shed; she still cared for Kouga, as a friend. She didn't want to see him killed.

"Kagome! I told you to stay inside!" InuYasha roared at her, cause her to fall on her knees, still crying.

"No, let her stay. Let her see what a worthless worm you are, and then she'll come crawling back to me! Her rightful mate!" Kouga sneered, and almost laughed at the distress in InuYasha's voice and face.

As they stood there waiting for someone to make the next move, rain clouds thundered overhead and lightening forked across the sky like a snake's tongue. The rain came swiftly, and hard. It pelted down on everyone around like hail, each drop stung like cold needles. The wind drove it perilously into the eyes of the hanyou, youkai leader, and young woman. One of them had to make the first move, but none of them could.

End of Chapter

Translator:

Hanyou: Half demon

Haori: Jacket worn over kimono by both men and women (formerly only by men). The cut is the same asfor kimono, but it's only about thigh-length. The front panels are narrower than that of the kimono so that they can't be wrapped. Instead, the haori is closed with two pieces of string at breast level.

Youkai: Full demon

Kitsune: Fox

Hasu: Japanese Lotus

Momo: Japanese peach tree

Sakura: Japanese cherry tree

Yuki yanagi: Snow Willow

Ume: Japanese plum tree

Mokuren: Japanese magnolia

Kazaana: Wind tunnel

Kami: Gods

Momiji: Maple tree

Soba: Soba noodles are native Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour and wheat flour. They are roughly as thick as spaghetti, and prepared in various hot and cold dishes. The most basic soba dish is zaru soba in which boiled, cold soba noodles are eaten with a soya based dipping sauce.

Last notes: Yeah, thanks all of you guys who stayed with me. Sorry I had so many translations. But hey… such is life. Anyhoo, please please please review on this chapter, ok? I worked on it from one in the afternoon to one in the morning! Ok, need sleep! BYE!