No matter what they did, no matter what they tried after Kagome had put down her barrier, she would not let the child leave her grasp and she would allow no one to touch her. InuYasha, after recovering from being thrown across the room by Kyoko, had been the first to try, and he had been blasted back by Kagome's miko power, hitting the opposite wall yet again. Koga was the only one who could stay close to her as she held the toddler close, the only one she would allow to touch her.

And somehow, InuYasha didn't fume, despite his headache. He just sat on the other side of the room, watching and thinking. The thing that Kagome held, the little boy, was definitely not one of Naraku's detachments. At least, he wasn't any more. There was no doubt of that, but yet the child reeked of Naraku. But it wasn't external, it was internal. His blood... it smelt like Naraku. But that wasn't what bothered him. It was that the blood also smelt like her. It smelt like Kagome. And the two scents did come together to make once, but InuYasha could still distinguish between the two.

So, truly, this child had connections to Kagome. Almost... almost as if the child was her own...

"Kagome," Koga said softly, turning to face her, "Kagome, can you hear me?"

Kagome made no move to respond to him, and her eyes just remained distant and hollow as she stroked the young boy's black hair.

"Kagome... That boy could be a threat. He came from Naraku, didn't her? I can't put my pack in danger..."

She tightened her grip on the boy. She didn't care where he had come from. There was something deep inside of her that told her she couldn't let it come to any harm, something that connected her to the child. She wouldn't let him go.

"Kagome," Koga continued, his voice a bit sad, "I won't hurt him... I just... just want to see him for a moment."

"You're an idiot," Kyoko spoke up from her leaning spot against the entrance, "She's not gonna let him go."

"Why not?"

Kyoko sighed, brushing her bangs out of her eyes, "Can't you smell it?"

"...Smell what?" Koga asked, confused.

"Her blood," Kyoko said dully, talking as if she was explaining something simple to a complete idiot, "Her blood is in that boy. She may not have given birth to it – Naraku probably did and then freed the poor boy from his grasp – but her blood runs through its veins. It's her baby, her child."

Koga's eyes widened in shock and InuYasha's closed in silent anger.

"She's not gonna give it up, no matter what you say," the hanyo said, anger apparent in his tones, even though he was controlling it, "And she probably doesn't care that it is also Naraku's child. It's hers, and she's gonna protect it and care for it. That's just the way she is."

Kagome nodded slightly then, still staring into nothing with that hollow stare as she clutched the child tighter to her. She would protect him, care for him, and maybe even love him. She had to. The boy was hers...

"Kagome..." Koga said quietly after a pause, gently moving to pick her up, being cautious, "Let me take you up to the bed at least."

She didn't respond, but she didn't fight. So he picked her up and moved her, setting her down gently on the futon. InuYasha then stood after exchanging a quiet argument with Kyoko, and then grabbed Koga's forearm. The wolf snarled.

"Shut up, flea bag," InuYasha snapped back, "Your wolf friend wants us gone."

Koga looked up at Kyoko and she nodded, so he followed suit as InuYasha headed for the exit. But just as the hanyo was about to leave, he took Tetsusiaga from its sheath and stabbed the wall with it, embedding the rock with the sword.

"It'll protect her." He said simply, and then left with the wolf behind him.

And then there was a silence between both the girls, neither speaking while Kagome still looked off into space with her hollow eyes. And after a while Kyoko made her way towards Kagome cautiously, sitting down next to the miko, her eyes on the girl the whole time. Slowly, she then reached out to touch the boy's head, and surprisingly, Kagome didn't stop her in any way.

"The last thing I would do is hurt either of you, Kagome," she whispered, taking her hand away from the child after a pause, "...I'm not sure if I know how you feel now though. I had a child fathered by my... my 'owner.' But this..."

"This isn't normal." Kagome finished quietly, still stroking the boy's hair, "I never gave birth to him. But still, I know he's mine..."

"I can tell he's yours. I can smell your blood in his veins, just like I smell mine in my own child's."

Kagome, looking off into space, suddenly realized everything for the first time, almost if she hadn't processed it at first. And then the tears came to her eyes. How the hell was she going to deal with this?

"What am I going to do?" she mumbled quietly, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks, "I... I can't be a mother... not right now."

Kyoko then took Kagome and the child into her arms, offering comfort.

"You'll do fine."

"Kyoko, I can hardly function. It hurts, all the time. I can't even... I barely...," she said, struggling for words, "If I can't take care of myself, how can I take care of a child?"

"You won't be alone, darling," Kyoko said softly in comforting tones, "I'll be here, as will Koga and your other friends... Would you look at me for a moment, Kagome?"

And Kagome did so, looking up at the demoness, who's attitude had turned into seriousness.

"You have to remember this. You aren't alone anymore. We're here, and we'll always be, no matter what that Naraku said to you. You can't hold on to that spider's words any longer. You have to learn to let them go."

Kagome paused, thinking. Kyoko was right, and she was aware of that. But it wasn't just as easy as saying it. For a long time Naraku's words had been her only conformation that she was actually alive, the only link to the outside world. It would be hard to get them out of her mind, where each word had been etched into her skull...

"Momma..." the boy said groggily from his spot in Kagome's arms, shifting a bit in his spot to look up at the girls, "Are... Are you Kagome? My mom?"

Kagome looked down at the child hesitantly, looking into the boy's red eyes. She almost flinched back at the sight of them, but then she realized that they weren't anything like Naraku's. These were filled with innocence, fear, and curiosity. Naraku's were filled with evil and hate.

So Kagome, unable to force a smile as she answered, tried to show some sort of caring through her eyes.

"...Yes."

The boy smiled softly and then spoke in a small tone, "He calls me Kumo."

Spider.

Kagome nodded, still wearing an unreal smile, "Then that's your name."

He smiled a bit wider up at her, and nodded, resting back in her arms.

-----

"What the hell are we gonna do?" InuYasha said to no one in particular as he massaged his temples slowly.

"Oh, shut up and quit your whining hanyo," Koga spit out, kicking InuYasha in the back of the head with his foot, "Whining isn't going to help Kagome."

"Neither will kicking me, flea bag!"

"Oh shut up..." Koga growled, sitting down on the ground, crossing his legs over one another.

"So, Kagome has a baby now?" Shippo asked curiously, scampering over to InuYasha and climbing up onto the hanyo's shoulder.

"Sort of, Shippo," Miroku answered quickly before InuYasha could spit out a remark, "The child was born of Naraku, I would think, like Kagura, Kanna, and Byakuya were. But somehow, Kagome's blood ended up in the child's blood."

"So..." Shippo began, attempting to grasp the concept, "Kagome is like the child's mom, but the boy just wasn't born from her?"

"Yes."

"But wouldn't that mean the child isn't really hers?"

"Not necessarily, Shippo," Miroku continued, "Naraku has more powers now, I think. He may be able to do more things than before."

"Oh... but—"

"Oh, be quiet, runt!" InuYasha snapped, "It doesn't matter what makes the kid hers! The only thing that matters is that the kid is hers, and it's also Naraku's!"

Shippo fell silent immediately, jumping off the hanyo's shoulder and scampering over to Sango.

"So, what are we gonna do mutt-face?" Koga asked, "The kid is Naraku's, I can't ignore that fact. He could be a threat in some form or another..."

"But we can't take him away from Kagome," InuYasha finished, "So I say, since Kagome won't let me within a couple feet of her, you're gonna have to just watch the kid with her flea bag."

"...I guess."

Then they fell silent, unable to say anything else. All in all, they were still in shock, and they were engulfed in guilt. They had let him get to her, and now she was even more hurt then the last time. And that hit Koga the hardest. She had started to be able to smile again... but now, because of his stupidity, she wouldn't...

"I'm leaving." He then announced, standing, "And don't you dare even—"

"—yeah, I know. I can't step foot inside your god damn caves," InuYasha growled, "Now go check on her. And, I swear, if you end up hurting her, I'll tear you apart with my sword."

"One," Koga snapped back, listing his retaliations, "I'd never hurt Kagome in any way, unlike you. And second, you left your sword inside the caves."

And then the wolf demon was gone before the hanyo could say a word, leaving the boy to end up cursing himself.