~ One Month Later ~
Kagome sat up in bed, clutching her stomach as nausea overcame her. Scrambling to her feet she threw on her sleeping yukata and ran outside, barely making it to the bushes before she threw up her dinner from last night. Ugh, again! Third day in a row. She stood up and walked over to the nearby stream taking her time washing out her mouth and splashing her face. She stared into the slow moving water, examining her reflection. A flash of a child interrupted her view and she sighed, sitting down on her butt and watched the sun rise. She hadn't told Inuyasha about the dream; it probably meant nothing, just her imagination going wild after hearing Inuyasha's story.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha's soft voice called out to her gently as he knelt next to her, folding her into his arms. "Again?"
"Yea, again. I think it's time we see Keade." She nuzzled back into him, turning her head and breathing in his musky scent.
"Do you think we did it?" I could sense his smirk as he pressed his lips to my head, gently kissing me.
"I hope so." She smiled, desperately hoping that she really was pregnant. If I'm not I'm going to be so ticked about all this puking. They watched the sun rise before he helped her stand up, and hand in hand, walked to Keade's.
Inuyasha pushed aside the screen door and let Kagome walk in first, following close behind. Keade was grinding some herbs, a boiling pot of water waiting for them. She looked over at Kagome and Inuyasha, a knowing smile spreading across her face.
"So you think you are pregnant, child?" Kagome blushed as Inuyasha pulled her into his arms. "No need to be shy, the entire village knows you and Inuyasha have mated. It was only a matter of time. Ye will make a good family. Now then, let's check." Keade poured her grinded herbs into the boiling water before standing up and leading Kagome over to a bed mat, shooing Inuyasha out of the hut. He left with an angry 'Keh' and crossed his arms; they could hear him jump onto the roof of the hut, impatiently waiting. He didn't need to wait long before Keade was calling him back inside. He jumped down from the roof and walked back inside, sitting next to Kagome, his ears twitching with a nervous excitement.
Keade knelt back next to the fire, stirring her boiling herbs, mixing in a few other ingredients. "Ye are pregnant Kagome."
Kagome clapped her hands together in excitement, flinging her arms over Inuyasha's shoulders. He blushed and kissed her forehead, a happy smile on his lips.
"But ye should know child, this pregnancy will not be easy on you." Keade was staring down into the pot, disrupting there moment of happiness with her words. "I don't mean to worry you, but you should know what you will face. There are few recorded instances of youkai mating with humans." She passed as Inuyasha lightly growled. "I'm not condemning it Inuyasha, just stating a truth." His growling slowly stopped as Kagome wrapped his hand into hers. "From those pregnancies we know very little about the amount of pups birthed or survived and how the pregnancy affected the human mother." Keade sighed as she took the pot of the fire, pouring out the now thick liquid into a tall container, sealing it with a lid. "All we know is that these pregnancies were extremely difficult. Humans weren't designed to carry a youkai's child the same as a female youkai. I have never even heard of a hanyou and female mating let alone delivering a healthy child. So I needed to warn you, I do not know what will happen." Keade lifted up her head, staring straight into Kagome's eyes.
Kagome stared back into Keade's eyes, swallowing the news. "I understand." She felt Inuyasha's grip tighten around her and she breathed in deeply. For some reason, it had never occurred to her that this pregnancy would be any different than a normal one. She knew of the basic symptoms she should expect, but now she felt like she was completely in the dark. Having no real knowledge of what was happening to her own body scared her, she could feel herself shiver. "Since Inuyasha is also half-human, shouldn't this pregnancy be closer to a human's?"
Keade thought over what she said carefully. "It could be, but I fear we have no way of knowing. It is too early to tell the number of pups you are carrying. Youkai have been known to carry one to five pups at a time, depending on the species. I pray child that you are only carrying one. More than that with their youkai heritage will be too hard for your body to handle."
"Thank you Keade, but I'm supposed to be meeting Sango for lunch. We really need to be going."
"Could you help Rin and me out tomorrow afternoon? We need to deliver medicine to the villagers. Oh and here, take this. Drink it. You will need to drink one every day, I believe that the nutrients within it will help build the strength of your body enough to better handle the pregnancy." Keade handed Kagome the container she had poured the thick liquid into.
They left the hut hand in hand. They weren't shy anymore, constantly holding onto each other. Inuyasha had hardly been separated from her except for his trips with Miroku. Kagome felt herself smile albeit the news Keade had given her. She took off the cap from the container and sniffed the thick liquid.
"That smells awful." Inuyasha wrinkled his nose, leaning away from it.
"I know, but I have to drink it." Kagome held her nose so she couldn't smell it and drained the container, sticker her tongue out when she finished. "Ewwwwww."
Inuyasha laughed as he looked down at her scrunched up face. Leaning down and kissing her when she put her tongue back in, he licked her lips and instantly shrunk away from the vile taste of what she had just consumed. "Ugh that really is gross."
"You happy Inuyasha?" He froze when she asked, turning his head to look back at her.
"Of course I am, this is what we've been trying for. Why? Are you happy?"
She sighed as she leaned into his shoulder as they continued to walk. "Of course I'm happy! I've wanted to have your child for so long. It's just, what Keade said worried me."
"I know, me too. But we can do this! You and the pup are going to be fine. Nothing will happen to either of you, I won't let it." He smirked as they continued to walk, Sango, Miroku, and their children coming into view.
Kagome looked up at Inuyasha one more time. There are some things you can't protect me from. She let go of his hand and ran over to Sango, giddily plopping down next to her. Sango looked up at her questioningly.
"What are you so happy about?" Kagome blushed and looked down at her still flat stomach gently placing her hand over it. Sango gasped, "Are you? You're pregnant!" They both started screaming, startling the boys who looked over at them before they quieted down. "When did you find out?"
"Just now." Kagome touched her stomach again; amazed that life was growing inside her. Their child was growing, each minute, inside of her. She felt like she was glowing.
"Our children will grow up together." Sango looked out at her children, watching them play. Amarante and Chiho were chasing each other and Miroku was sitting talking to Inuyasha, a happy Katsuro asleep in his lap. "It'll be nice to have another mom as a friend." Sango looked over at Kagome, a soft smile on her lips.
"Didn't you make friends with any woman from the village?"
"I did." Sango sighed, twirling a blade of grass in her fingers, "But most of them are intimidated by me, or disturbed."
Kagome's brows rose, face scrunched, she never imagined Sango having a difficult time making friends around the village. "What do you mean?"
"Well, most only see me as the demon slayer who saved the village. They can't see me, or accept me, as also a woman. So they act strange around me, they don't know how to talk to me. I'm not just another woman to them." Sango sighed, breathing in deeply. "The others are worse; they completely avoid me because I married a holy man. You know monks are not supposed to marry; he had to give up his official tittle to marry me. The look down on me because of this. They won't even let their children play with ours."
"I didn't know it was so bad Sango." Kagome's thoughts ran wild. If it's so bad for her kids, what will it be like for mine? She looked down at her stomach, touching it protectively. She coughed, quickly changing the topic to something else she had to worry about. "Keade told me that we don't know what to expect from my pregnancy. There is no history that we know of to go by. We don't know how my body will handle it, how it will react." Sango's eyes flashed up to hers, worry laced in them. "I'm worried."
"I don't blame you. But every pregnant woman is worried. There are so many things to think about, to figure out, to worry about. It can be overwhelming!" Sango threw her hands up in the air, posturing wildly. "But you have me. We will all be here." She motioned around at their tiny group, smiling. "We may not know what will happen, but you can count on all of us to be there, helping, every step of the way." She laid her hand on Kagome's shoulder before dropping it down to the ground and turning her gaze to keep a watch on her children.
Kagome smiled at Sango, her mood instantly lifted. She did have all of her friends to help her through this, no matter what happened, they were there for her and that was a lot more than what some people got. She looked at Amarante and Chiho running around, giggling. Only eight more months and she would have her own child. She looked over at Inuyasha and watched him as he ever so carefully picked the sleeping Katsuro from Miroku's arms and held him protectively in his own. He's going to be such a great dad. He would never let anything happen to our child.
As she watched him the world faded to black and the old witch floated into her vision, her blue hair illuminating the suddenly dark area. She heard the witch cackle as she faded from her sight and the world returned to normal, no one else seemingly disturbed. Kagome's gaze was still locked on Inuyasha as the sight of him playing with Katsuro flickered with her dream of him playing with their child. The witches cackled words stampeding through her head, making her hair stand on end.
"Be prepared Kagome, you were warned."
Author's Note:
I have added a poll to my profile about the number of children Inuyasha and Kagome should have in my current story, 'Mate', from one pregnancy. This may decide the direction I go with the story. This poll will close after month three of her pregnancy in the story where a new poll will be posted about the sex of the baby/ies. Once she is 7 months pregnant that poll will close and another poll will open regarding the names of the baby/ies. This will not completely determine what will happen but I want to consider my reader's opinions while I write this story.
If you want your opinion to be heard, vote in this and future polls.
I hope you all are enjoying 'Mate',
FeudalAi
P.S. Reviews are much appreciated.
