Chapter 4: Disputes
The lean youkai's legs moved at an incredible speed, appearing to hardly touch the rough ground at all. A speed and grace that were even more astonishing considering that his jewel shards had been taken from him. Yet since his legs were his major weapon, his means of self defense as well as of attack, it had been only natural to him to restore as much of their former strength as possible.
Lately, he had often been condemned to wandering around aimlessly; simply spending the dull days protecting the few remaining members of his clan from whatever demon had chosen to attack them. Today, however, he had a clear destination in mind; he had memorized the path long ago; always connected it to one certain being. Someone, who had, as suddenly as she had appeared, awoken a part inside of him he had never known of before. Someone who had taught him the meaning of longing, of jealousy and envy.
But she had been stolen from him before he could even do anything to catch his interest. On top of all of that, she had been stolen from him by that inukorro… this hanyou…He had certainly proven to be strong by defeating Naraku a couple of years ago; but the youkai still despised the idea of leaving her in his 'care'. Especially now, that she was so vulnerable, due to what he had done to her…
He gritted his teeth. Of course he knew that she had freely chosen to stay with the hanyou, that she was willingly – at least he sincerely hoped so – having his child. And still he would never give up on her. He would there; he would make sure that she was all right. And that was just what his object was on that day.
He came to a halt in front of a hut near a large stone stairway, dirt whirling around his fur-booted legs. For a moment, he still completely still with only the dust moving around him, and sniffed the air. He frowned. He was sure that this was where she lived, yet he could not catch any of her scent. And even the inukorro's smell was very faint.
Worry etched into his very features, he walked up to the small hut and carefully took a peek inside. Half-expecting to find it empty and deserted, he was quite surprised to make out a familiar figure sitting at a small fire, busying himself with sutra-charms.
"Ah, Koga…" the monk acknowledged his appearance with as much as a short glance and a faint smile.
"Oi, houshi", Koga replied in his usual rough manner, "Where's Kagome?"
What was the sense of beating around the bush when you could get right to the subject and save precious time?
Miroku quietly smiled to himself, then turned toward the wolf demon.
"Kagome and InuYasha went to see a …healer." He answered calmly.
Koga's chest suddenly tightened, his muscles tensed up, his blood seemed to pound harder.
"Healer?" he growled "What did that inukorro do to her?"
"No no, it's not like that", Miroku added instantly, waving his hands, "they just went for a 'check up'; to see if everything is well with Kagome and the baby."
Koga's system almost instantly returned to functioning normally, his heartbeat slowing.
"It'd better be…" he muttered lowly and, before continuing in an almost shaky voice, directed his gaze to the floor. "Say, houshi…how is she doing?"
Miroku blinked in surprise at the unexpected question; yet soon a kind smile formed on his lips.
"Kagome is doing fine." He consoled the wolf demon, "the situation is being trying on her, but she's a strong woman; she will manage."
Koga gave a short nod of agreement before turning around to leave.
"Thanks", he said, lowly but clearly and quietly stepped out of the hut.
Of course the healer that Kagome and InuYasha were visiting at that moment was far different from anything the wolf demon would ever have imagined. Much to InuYasha's dismay, the couple was paying another visit to the gynecologist's the hanyou had so learned to fear and find embarrassing beyond belief. Luckily, however, their stay in the waiting room had been of shorter duration that day, since they had made an appointment beforehand rather than just walking in.
On the very top of that day's to-do-list was Kagome's first ultrasound. Ultrasound… Kagome had tried to explain the procedure to InuYasha. Yet no matter how simple the descriptions were and how she tried to word them, he just did not seem to grasp the sense. One thing the hanyou had understood, however, was that she would, once more, have to expose her stomach for the medical man to examine. Ever since she had told him, his grip on her hand had intensified ever so slightly, his brows seemed to be knitted even closer than usually, his gaze jumpy. All that was certainly invisible to the outside observer, yet completely obvious to Kagome herself. After all she knew of her boyfriend's nature; she had learned to deal with his extreme jealousy – and the process of learning was most likely still not over.
Comfortingly, the young woman squeezed his hand and showed him a calming smile. The hanyou's face, however, remained rather hard. There was nothing that could possibly ease his tension in that very moment, Kagome knew that well. All they could do was get the examination done as soon as possible…
"Miss Higurashi" the doctor greeted her politely, bowing, as the two of them entered the examination room, "and InuYasha, if I remember correctly."
The hanyou simply gave a short nod of confirmation.
"According to the records, you are here for the first ultrasound, correct?" he inquired, looking up from his file into Kagome's face.
She blushed slightly while uttering a stuttered "H-hai."
"Then I think we should take care of that first and then go over the 'rest of the list'", and motioning over to a small bed with a moveable sonograph at its head. "If you would please lie down and expose your abdomen."
As she nodded, Kagome could feel the tension increasing in the hanyou. His grip seemed to have locked around her hand and his face was completely rigid, frozen in a frown. The couple quietly walked over to the bed. Prying her hand out of his strong hold, she finally sank down onto the soft mattress and, with shaky fingers, lifted her shirt and pushed down her skirt by a few inches. While she knew that InuYasha, standing at the right hand side of the bed, was far from being pleased with the situation, Kagome herself could not help but feel embarrassed. She was certainly aware that this was nothing but a medical examination, all just in order to find out if child was progressing well; still somehow felt as if it were something very private, much too personal to be shared with anyone than the expectant father himself.
The doctor reached for a small tube and unscrewed the top.
"This might be a little cold…" he warned as he carefully squeezed the plastic and emptied the contents onto Kagome's swollen belly.
She shivered slightly, which was instantly rewarded with InuYasha worriedly placing a strong hand on her arm.
The older man returned his attention to the sonograph and pressed a series of buttons. With a low, humming sound, the machine sprang to life. The doctor reached for a small, cylindrically-shaped device attached to the machine and carefully brought it down onto Kagome's stomach.
While the doctor was making adjustments to the screen, Kagome had to smile to herself. Was it just her imagination or was InuYasha's heart really beating strong enough for it to reach her ears?
"All right…" the doctor mumbled, catching the couple's attention.
Skilfully, he moved the scanning device along the swollen area, thus producing rather grainy pictures on the small screen. Obviously searching for something, he leaned closer to the screen and, while eyeing it, slightly shifted the scanner's position. His face lit up.
"Here it is…" he stated, adorning several sections of the image with crosses.
"Huh?" InuYasha uttered, blinking and leant closer to the screen. No matter what direction he would tilt his head, the last thing he was able to recognize was the child inside Kagome's womb. And even though she would have hated to admit it, Kagome's imagination was, in this regard, almost as limited as the hanyou's.
The doctor smiled knowingly. It was almost the same for all young expectant parents coming for their first ultrasound. Hardly any of them were able to recognize anything at all without a little bit of help.
"Here", he pointed to a spot in the upper right corner that he had already marked with a cross and slowly circled a lighter area "you can see the baby's head. And if you follow down this line…", his explanations were accompanied by the fitting movements of the cursor "the spine, you reach the feet."
Kagome squinted at the screen, highly concentrated. Smiling to herself she happily found to finally be able to make out the outlines of the small being. It certainly was amazing, Kagome thought to herself, being able to see what was still safely hidden inside of her. At her right side, InuYasha was still tilting his head, staring at the screen, fully concentrated. He was seemingly having an even harder time recognizing the picture than she had had. Yet after several more moments and many more angles his head had been titled to, a victorious grin appeared on his face and he looked down at Kagome, proudly.
"Everything so far seems to be fine", the doctor finally commented, turning back toward the couple, "it seems to be growing rather rapidly. A strong child."
And while Kagome's imagination developed horrifying visions of stomach's growing so big and heavy that she was no longer able to move and kicks from her unborn child so strong that they could easily send her off balance, the victorious grin on InuYasha's face seemed to even increase in size, his pride hardly containable.
"Of course it's strong. After all, I'm a-"
InuYasha was never able to finish the sentence for Kagome's fingernails came crashing down into his lower arm, painfully piercing through the skin, unexpectedly, causing the hanyou to desperately gasp for air.
"Kagome, InuYasha, you're back!" Shippou exclaimed, instantly jumping up into Kagome's arms as the couple entered the hut.
"Welcome back", Sango greeted them, smiling, and after letting InuYasha and Kagome settle down around the fire, added inquiringly, "so what did the doctor say? How is the child?"
Kagome smiled back at her friend.
"Everything is perfect", she answered, "it seems to be growing fast and very strong."
Miroku snickered.
"That is understandable. After all, the father is a hanyou."
Kagome's face instantly darkened, and InuYasha's gaze dropped to the floor.
"Yeah… That's exactly what InuYasha wanted to tell the doctor…"
Their two human friends sweatdropped. It did indeed sound perfectly like the hanyou to blurt out something like that when his pride got to his head, overpowering what little of foresight existed in his mind.
"Oh, and by the way, we brought something!" Kagome suddenly remember, rummaging her pockets to pull out a small envelope. She carefully opened the thin paper, revealing what looked like a photograph. Smiling, she handed it to Sango.
The demon slayer looked at her, puzzled.
"What is this?"
"It's a print of the ultrasound", Kagome answered
"Yeah, that's the baby, on it." InuYasha added, another proud grin forming on his lips.
Carefully, Miroku bent over to catch a glimpse of the picture while Sango was studying it intently.
"Ya have to follow the bright lines", InuYasha explained, rather clumsily.
For Sango, however, it seemed to have been enough.
"Ah, I think I can see it!" she exclaimed happily, yet still looking at the small paper in wonder, "The medicine in your time is certainly amazing, Kagome-chan…"
The monk nodded in agreement.
Shippou, however, from where he had sat down on Sango's shoulder, frowned.
"I don't know…" he muttered, "to me it looks more like a hamster on its back…"
As soon as the little fox demon had uttered those words, InuYasha's fist soundly connected with the top of his head.
"You little…"
"Mmmmmmmmh… this feels good…" Sango said dreamily as she joined Kagome in the hot water of the spring.
Her friend nodded in agreement.
"The perfect end of a long day…" Kagome added.
For several minutes, a deep silence lay in the air as the two young women simply cherished the relaxation of their tired muscles and savoured the unusual quiet.
"Miroku told me", Sango suddenly broke the silence, looking at her friend, "Koga was here earlier, while you were back in your time. Miroku said he was very concerned about you; he asked how you were doing."
Kagome gave a small sigh. The wolf demon had proven to be rather persistent. Even now, that she was pregnant with InuYasha's child, the child of his greatest rival, he had not given up on her. His feelings for her seemed to reaching deeper than just the superficial affections she had first supposed him to feel. Koga seemed to be serious.
"Well, it's a good thing he didn't meet InuYasha", Kagome thought aloud, "I'm sure they would have started fighting again…"
Since he had discovered that she was pregnant, Koga and InuYasha had not yet met each other. They had always been rivals – supposedly for Kagome's affection, which had been directed to InuYasha from the very start – and she was sure that Koga would not let the hanyou get away without a good fight. His jealousy had to have even grown; and it pained Kagome to even try and imagine the hurt and pain he had to be going through.
With a sigh, Kagome got onto her knees to shift her position, thus for a short time exposing part of her swollen stomach to the chilly air.
This had caught the demon slayer's attention; and she was now looking over at her friend in surprise.
"What is it, Sango-chan?" Kagome asked curiously, noticing her friend's gaze.
A slight blush crept to Sango's cheeks.
"I'm sorry…", she stuttered, "I was just surprised… I mean, last week, it wasn't like that at all!"
Kagome chuckled quietly and unconsciously brought a hand up to her stomach.
"Mhm, I know… It's growing faster and faster now… it even surprises me… I'm afraid that by the end of next week I'll have grown out of my clothes…"
Sango looked at her friend sympathetically.
"It has to be a strange feeling…" she commented.
Kagome slowly shook her head, smiling.
"No, not really. I would've thought it would be, but it really isn't. I mean, yeah, it's surprising. It all happens so fast. But it just feels natural… If you cross out the constant sickness…" she added, sweatdropping.
Sango chuckled but then said with a sincere look.
"Still, I think you're very lucky, with someone who loves you more than anything in the world, and then you're having his child…"
"Well well", Kagome said, smirking, "If you wanted to, you could be just as 'lucky' as I am." And with a wink, she added "Miroku-sama's always waiting for you."
"Oh Kagome-chan!" the demon slayer exclaimed and tried to hide her deeply flushed face in her hands. "Don't say that…"
"That has to be it!" Sango said, pointing up to a huge mansion built into the side of a steep mountain. Just a few days after InuYasha's and Kagome's visit to the modern era, a messenger had appeared at the hut near the shrine, asking the group to perform an exorcism. As far as he had been able to explain, a demon seemed to have gained access to their castle, decimating the royal family's servants. Of course Miroku had readily agreed to help upon hearing of the heiress' unspeakable beauty.
Sango had always wondered where all those beautiful princess' always came from and just why they seemed to attract demons so readily…
After a short walk, the companions finally arrived at the mansion and were happily greeted by the lord's servants who instantly showed them to their room where they could finish the necessary preparations.
"Kagome, you stay here. We shouldn't get you in any unnecessary danger", InuYasha commanded and turned to the other woman. "Sango, please stay here with Kagome."
"Okay." She simply answered nodding shortly.
Kagome however seemed to be less thrilled.
With a sigh, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, bow and arrows shouldered.
"It's just a small demon, InuYasha…" she said, frustrated.
"That doesn't matter", he replied instantly, turning towards the door, "In the state you're in, it could be dangerous for you and the baby."
"InuYasha is right", Miroku supported the hanyou, "In any case, the two of us will be more than enough to handle the demon. We will be back shortly."
Kagome sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time since InuYasha and Miroku had left to perform the exorcism. They had now been gone for more than an hour already, much longer than they would usually take.
"That's it!" Kagome said to herself and jumped up from where she had been sitting. Grabbing her bow and arrow, she was about to start for the door when Sango caught her wrist.
"Kagome-chan! InuYasha told us to wait. I'm sure they'll be back soon!" she tried, yet knowing how stubborn the miko could be.
And her knowledge was proven to be correct when Kagome freed her arm from Sango's grip and shot her a stern look.
"He's just being overcautious." She explained "I can take care of myself."
Thus said, she slipped through the door opening and disappeared into the corridor.
Sango sighed. It was true, Kagome certainly could take care of herself, yet InuYasha had a point as well. In her current state, she should not be taking risks and endanger herself and the child she was carrying. Maybe it was overcautious, but Sango would have rather wanted to be overcautious than to have to be sorry in the end.
With a deep sigh, the demon slayer shouldered her hiraikotsu and slipped into the corridor.
Poisonous spider demons…
"Persistent little things…" Miroku said through gritted teeth as his staff slashed through five slender bodies with one swing, sending the remains falling to the floor.
The demons seemed to have nested in the entire main wing of the castle, building their nests in the walls and ceiling, reproducing at an insane rate. Killing them certainly was not the problem: what was difficult was finding them in the first place. The youkai only emerged if humans approached their nests, knowing or unknowingly, then injected their poison into the poor human's body to complete drain them of their energy and afterwards devour them.
"Just how many can there be left!" InuYasha shouted over to Miroku, busying himself with dispersing of a rather large nest filled with eggs.
"Not too many, I hope…" Miroku replied.
After having smashed the eggs from inside the nest, InuYasha suddenly spun around.
Footsteps… And that smell!
"InuYasha!" Kagome suddenly appeared in the door opening, bow and arrows in her hand, obviously prepared for battle.
The hanyou gritted his teeth, his temper rising immediately. Hadn't he told her to safely stay back with Sango until they returned? Just why didn't she ever listen to him?
"What are you here?" he yelled.
"I was worried, what else!" she yelled back.
"You should be worried about yourself! And the baby!" he spat.
"I told you I can take care of myself!"
Suddenly, Sango appeared from behind Kagome, staring up at the ceiling above her friend, frightened.
"Kagome-chan, get down!"
The young woman let herself fall down in time to feel the demon slayer's hiraikotsu swish past just shortly above her, halving two youkai in the process.
"Just what do you think you were doing?" InuYasha growled, confronting Kagome. Now that the battle against the youkai had ended, another fight seemed to have just started.
"I told you! I was worried about you!" Kagome answered loudly.
Miroku and Sango simply stood and watched the arguing couple. Fights like these occurred rather often. Still, that time, something seemed different.
"There was no need to worry about me! You should be more worried about yourself and the baby!" he spat back.
"But nothing happened!" she retorted exasperatedly.
"That's not the point!" InuYasha yelled, stepping closer toward her, gesturing wildly. "You put yourself in danger! You and the child could've been hurt!"
"But we weren't." Kagome tried, "I told you I can defend myself! I can fight!"
"Keh", he spat. "If you could defend yourself, Sango wouldn't have needed to protect you! If it hadn't been for her, the two of you could've been killed."
This fight was different. InuYasha's anger was not subsiding.
"Do you really want our child to be killed!"
"O-Of course not!" Kagome stuttered, surprised at the harshness in his tone, the accusation in his voice. "How can you say something like that?"
The hanyou was beside himself with fury.
"How I can say that?" he spat "Because you made it look just like that! You would have stayed back with Sango if you really valued your and especially our child's life!"
Kagome staggered back from the impact of the accusation, away from InuYasha. His words had hit her hard, hurt her deeply. She understood his overcautiousness, but a reaction like this…
How can he say that I do not value our child's life? How can he seriously ask if I wanted our child to be killed?
Kagome's gaze dropped to the floor, face hidden behind long strands of her; a hand unconsciously slid onto her slightly swollen stomach, protectively.
"Sango-chan", she said lowly, her voice unsteady, "please let me borrow Kirara…"
The demon slayer looked at her friend with worry etched into her very features.
"I want to go home…"
a/n: First of all, thanks to everybody for their support! You might find it strange, but every single review I get does make me happy!
As for this chapter, the end is quite extreme, I know… I just tried to imagine InuYasha's reactions – extreme as they always are – in this kind of situation, and I believe that they would be something along those lines.
Oh and about Koga, considering the existence of Ayame, I decided to go along the lines of the manga and simply leave her out. I think Koga-kun was supposed to be the more offensive type of Hojo, to create the tension for InuYasha. Having him fall in love with Ayame would surely be cute and nice for Koga, but, sorry, I just don't see it in a story like InuYasha, with so many tragedies.
And I'm really sorry if I should slip in Japanese words, but I've started reading the manga (now at vol. 24) and am watching the original episodes (all over again), hoping to improve my characterisations.
I hope you find this chapter entertaining and not too out of character, place and series!
Now, as I always do, a few words to my reviewers:
Roku: Oh of course, our Miroku always has his ideas, yet what Sango thinks of them is the question ; )
skydragon459: I guess we just confused each other there.. So don't mind that. I hope you like this chappie!
Shelby: Umm update! … I seriously forgot to notify people.. But then again, my profile usually has the latest! And thanks for the praise!
AikidoChick18: They're in character? Wonderful! I sometimes find it rather hard not to make them OOC… Hoping you like this chapter!
XBlackRoseX909: Well, things aren't always perfect, are they? This chapter should've shown you, as well. And don't worry, I'm not gonna be too easy on Inu and Kag.
Melinda-chan: Umm no, you're right, I'm not a mother. If I was, I'd have even less time to write and my stress level would, with all that's going on, be going through the ceiling… How I found out? I guess from anywhere you can pick stuff up. TV, books, internet, and most importantly, my own vivid imagination!
Pwalefriend: Kag's mom is always so nice, calm and considerate, that I just can't see her going crazy over it. She'll have her little comment her and there as she always does, though.
