"Fine, she can do what she wants. Don't want my help? Well whatever, she can raise that baby on her own for all I care." Inuyasha was seething, pacing back and forth in front of Miroku. "What an irritating woman! Was I in my right mind when I said I'd marry her? Marry her? Ha! I'd rather punch myself in the face than marry her!"
Miroku, who was sitting on his couch, picking his fingernails hummed. "Well Inuyasha, like Sango said, this is all just a big shock for everyone, especially her since it was only her second time, doing..you know."
Inuyasha stopped pacing at whipped his head back at Miroku. "What?"
"Didn't you know? Kagome has had sex only twice in her life…once was just earlier this year and the second was with you, and then she ended up getting pregnant. That's quite a big reality shock for her, well for anyone. Of course you wouldn't know because you've been with enough girls that you could have 100 little Inuyasha's around the world you just don't know about."
"Very funny." Inuyasha pounded his fist in the couch cushion. "Miroku, what should I do? She's right, we can't stand each other but I don't want my kid to grow up knowing a different guy as his father."
"Well, maybe you should just listen to Sango and give Kagome a week or so to herself to think about it. Kagome probably hates you now, but I'm sure she'll get over it after she realizes how rash she's being."
"But I can't just wait for her to give me an answer…I need to know!"
"Why do you need to know so bad Inuyasha? It's not like the babys going anywhere. She's got nine months to slow cook that roast." Miroku chuckled. Inuyasha sighed in defeat.
"I just..grrr I don't know. Feh. Whatever, she can do what she wants, I give up."
Kagome walked down the hall to the location of Hojo's new video shoot with Sesshomaru. She was dressed in a beautiful flowing white gown and her hair was loosly pulled up in a low bun with wisps of hair falling before her face. She admired the paintings along the wall as she passed but one completely stopped her in her tracks. It was a painting of a mother holding her newborn child in a rocking chair in the middle of a field of unthorned pink roses and baby's breath. Subconsciously Kagome's hand gently touched her stomach and for some reason suddenly felt a little guilty.
"Kagome, are you alright?"
She whipped her hand away from her stomach and quickly wiped the unshed tears from her eyes. "Huh? Oh yes, I'm fine. The painting, it's um…very beautiful."
Sesshomaru walked up to where Kagome was standing and took a look at the painting. Pointing at it, he asked her, "Do you know what this painting means?"
Kagome looked at her manager and then slowly gazed at the mother and child painting. She took a deep breath and tried hard to see some hidden message inside of it, but to no avail. She shook her head. Sesshomaru shifted his sight from the painting and continued walking towards the place they were supposed to be. "The mother who is holding her child in the rocking chair is symbolic for a mother's protection, the baby's breath scattered is symbolic for the baby's innocence and the pink roses around them is symbolic for a mother's love."
Kagome heard the door shut and it was then she realized she was left alone in the hallway staring at the Mother and Child painting before her. Why does my heart suddenly feel like this? Baby, are you doing this to me? Are you making your mommy feel tore up inside over this silly painting? Smiling slightly at the painting, she picked up her flowing dress and continued on the video shoot location.
Once outside the door, she saw tons of people setting up equipment upon the sand of Hojo's manager's private back yard beach. Saying hello to a few people but not staying long enough to chat she walked to the water and lifted up her dress high enough to feel the water with her feet but not dirtying the gown.
"Hi, Kagome." Hojo had just walked up and was now standing beside her with a friendly smile on his face.
"Hi, Hojo. How are you?"
"I'm alright. Oh hey, thanks for agreeing to be in my video." He grabbed on to Kagome's hand to prevent her from falling as she had just almost tripped from not wanting to step on a seashell. Kagome turned and looked at him.
"No problem. It should be me thanking you for even considering me to be in this, there has to be about a hundred more beautiful girls who would die to be in your video." She laughed. She glanced at her hand because he had still not let go, but didn't say anything. It's not like I'm nervous around him, in fact I'm quite comfortable around him….but….
Hojo gently took a strand of Kagome's hair that was floating in her face from the wind and put it behind her ear. "There's no other beautiful girl I'd rather have in this video than you, Kagome. You were my first and last choice, there were no seconds."
Kagome laughed softly. "I…um thanks."
"Alright kiddies, let's get a move on. Hojo, you need to be over here and Kagome I need you to come and sit down over there so you can have the rest of your make up put on." Hojo's manager called out.
"C'mon, lets go." Kagome said sweetly, nudging Hojo in the shoulder and walking up to where every one else was.
Sango was enjoying her ice cream cone walking around the shopping district when a few tabloids caught her eye. She gasped, almost dropping her cone, as she whipped one out of the stands. "Kagome and Inuyasha: Heated Argument in Hospital" the picture on the front showed Inuyasha holding on to Kagome's arm from inside the building and Kagome glaring up at Inuyasha. Oh no…this isn't good… The next one she saw was of Kagome and Hojo. Apparently Hojo's new video with her in it was stirring up some juicy gossip about them being together and a secret romance from the summer. Buying them both, she ran as fast as heels could take her to her car and raced to Kagome's.
"Miroku, it's Sango."
"Well hello, beautiful." Miroku said flirtatiously.
"Not the time buddy."
"Ahem, sorry. What's up?"
"Have you seen the papers lately?" She asked in a huff.
Miroku was at the moment flipping through the channels at home when something had popped up that gave him an idea of what Sango was talking about. "No, but I'm watching the Entertainment channel and it doesn't look quite good for our lovely friends."
"Ha…doesn't look quite good is an understatement for their predicament." Sango was going in and out of lanes, passing cars like there was no tomorrow. "First off, word is that Hojo is madly in love with Kagome and regrets ending their secret romance during the summer while Kagome is torn between him and Inuyasha, which leads into the second tabloid of the confusion of why Inuyasha and Kagome were fighting in the hospital, the biggest question is why they were in the hospital in the first place…especially the maternity ward."
"Heh…" Miroku chuckled nervously. His eyes were wide as he watched the reporters guess as to what Inuyasha and Kagome were doing in the hospital together and why they were fighting, a scene in the background of them caught on tape was playing. "Sango, I honestly don't think they can stay quiet about this anymore…if Kagome really is going to keep this baby and Inuyasha refuses to let another man father his child, I think they are going to have to come clean and think of a situation for themselves."
"Glad you see it my way. And I've came up with a perfect solution for them, I just need you to have Inuyasha over at Kagome's in 15 minutes…can you do that?" Sango was now pulling up into Kagome's condo complex.
"Uhh…yeah, I can.But do you really think that's a good idea? Kagome doesn't seem reasonable right now and Inuyasha is so angry he could kill. I'm just not sure who would come out alive…them…or maybe even us."
"Very funny Houshi. Just get him here in 15. I'm out. Bye." Sango hung up and started up her journey to her friend's house.
Kagome was currently residing in the bathroom hugging the toilet for dear life. "Who ever called morning sickness 'Morning Sickness' was a complete liar. It's morning, day and night." For having been throwing up for the last couple days, Kagome however, looked quite beautiful. After she brushed her teeth for the third time in the last five hours, she splashed water on to her face and looked into the mirror. She was getting that pregnancy glow, the sweet rosy cheeks and luckily her complexion was as clear as it ever was. Kagome was dressed in striped pj pants and a lacy pink tank, her belly was starting to protrude out ever so slightly.
"Kagome?" Sango called out. "Hey I let myself in… are you in your room?"
Kagome internally sighed to herself. It wasn't like she hated Sango, quite the contrare. She loved Sango to death, she was her best friend and the best thing that could have ever happened to Kagome. But here was the problem nowadays. Wherever Sango was, Miroku was and wherever Miroku was…Inuyasha sure was to be around the corner. For the past week, Kagome had been secretly trying to avoid Sango. Today was definitely not as successful.
"Yeah, I'm in my room." Kagome answered. She hopped onto her bed and put a blanket around her. Sango walked in and gave her friend a small smile.
"How have you been Kags?"
"I have felt better." Kagome breathed in and out, trying to settle her stomach.
"Well, I've got some news for you." Sango tried to sound cheerful. She wanted to make sure Kagome was in a good mood so it could drop to bad rather than bad mood to worse mood.
"Yeah? And what would that be?" Kagome smiled.
With a smile still on her face, Sango dropped the magazines on Kagome's bed and watched as her friend eyed the curiously before realizing what they were and then screaming out loud. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
"Now Kagome," Sango laughed out a little nervously. "Don't freak. It's just a gossip magazine… they don't know they actually got half of their story true."
Kagome couldn't help but glare at her friend as she was flipping through the pages. "Oh my gosh, they think that Hojo likes me? And I'm torn between him and Inuyasha?"
Sango pointed out a picture of them in the maternity ward. "Did you see, they think that you might be pregnant." And then she waited for it.
"WHAT?!"
Right on cue, Sango winced.
"No…noo…no…no…no!" Kagome was starting to stress about the articles, just as Sango had wanted her to. The doorbell rang.
"I'll go and get it. I've got another surprise for you, so just hold on. Just…let those sink in, okay?" Sango hurried to the door and Miroku and an irritated Inuyasha was standing in the door way.
"Inuyasha…have you seen the news or tabloids at all?" Sango whispered in a rush. Inuyasha gave her a confused look and responded with a, "Uh. No. I don't read those things, nor do I try to watch the Entertainment channel."
She turned to Miroku. "He's your client and you don't even keep him posted up one these things?"Miroku gave her a teasing glare. "Hey, I just found out about this now."
"You should have been all up in these peoples business trying to get them to not print this. If I would have known about this a lot sooner, that's what I would have done."
"Yeah, well I would have too if I knew about it!" Miroku growled."Wow, poor Inuyasha's image is going to go downhill all because his manager was all play and no work." Sango bit out.
"Why you-"
"Will you guys shut up for a minute and tell me what the hell is going on?!" Inuyasha shouted to get them to stop bickering. "Why am I here?"
Sango glared one last time at Miroku then turned on Inuysaha. Swallowing her hesitation down, she told him. "Inuyasha, your at Kagome's place. She's in her room right now, probably crying over what she's reading and seeing. When you are able to take a look at it, both of you are going to sit down and together you are going to think of a solution to this problem. You hear?"
"And what makes you think I'm going to listen to you?"
"Sango, who was at the door?" Kagome had just walked around the corner when her eyes adjusted to the scene before her. Miroku with his arms crossed watching Inuyasha and Sango having a glaring match in the middle of her living room. "What is going on here?" She was about two seconds from exploding in rage.
"Surprise!" Sango jumped trying to make her not as mad. Kagome just glared.
"What is she talking about, Kagome?" Inuyasha tore his eyes away from Sango and walked up to her. "What am I supposed to see?"
Kagome was holding the tabloids in her hands. "Oh you mean these? I'm guessing this is what she wanted you to see, Inuyasha. Cause for your information, they are the weapons responsible in destroying us. And I would have you to thank for that, so here you go…thank you very much." Kagome threw that tabloids at the man before her.
Each page gave Inuyasha a deeper look of dissatisfaction and anger. But the page that hit him the hardest was the one of him and Kagome in the Maternity ward. It read : Kagome Pregnant? Inuyasha the Father. "Hey Miroku…do you think Sesshomaru has seen this?"
Once Inuyasha said this, two sets of eyes rounded and two gasps broke the silence. Miroku and Kagome looked at each other in fear. "Oh shit." Miroku said. "Inuyasha, knowing him, he probably has."
"Oh no! Sess…he's going to kill me for not telling him about any of this." Kagome sat down on her couch.Miroku took the tabloids from Inuyasha and looked through them while Inuyasha sat down on the other side of Kagome.
"He's going to kill you? He's going to slaughter me when he finds out that I really did get you pregnant." Inuyasha put his head in his hands. "I forgot about him. Miroku…seriously…I think I might die tonight."
Just as Sesshomaru was their subject of talk, Kagome's cell phone started ringing. The caller i.d was Seshy. All eyes were on the phone. "Answer it Kagome, get it over with." Miroku egged her on.
Kagome swallowed her nervousness and answered. "He-hello?"
"Kagome. Where are you?" Sesshomaru asked calmly yet his calm tone was a bit icy.
"Um…I'm at home." Kagome's heart started to race. She was never afraid of her parents when they were angry before they left her to see her dream of stardom out and moved to America, but Sesshomaru…he had been her manager and had taken care of her since she was seventeen and whenever she had got into trouble she feared to think what he would say to her. Sesshomaru was like an older brother, a very protective and strict older brother.
"Good, stay where you are. I'll be over in a minute."
"Okay." Kagome hung up the phone and let out a relieved breath. "Well…he didn't sound too mad, maybe he doesn't know about it."
"What did he say?" Inuyasha asked.
Kagome frowned. "He said to stay where I am and that he's coming over right now."
"I'm leaving." Inuyasha rushed to get up but Kagome pulled him right back down on the couch.
"Ohhh no you don't! If I have to get yelled at about this, so do you! Maybe if he kills you, I won't have to!" Kagome growled.
Just then Inuyasha's cell phone started to ring. The caller i.d was Brother. "Shit. I'm not answering that. There's no way in hell I'm answering that."
"Just answer it, Inuyasha!" Kagome said. "You're going to get him even more mad if you ignore him and he finds out you're here anyway."
"No." Inuyasha stood his ground. "My brother is scary as all hell when he's mad. There are days I can handle him…but because this concerns you, I have no way in hell of surviving."
"Let me see your phone, Inuyasha…its starting to get annoying. If your not going to answer it then just stop the ringing." Kagome snatched the cell away from him and evilly flipped it open and put it to his ear, forcing him to answer.
Inuyasha glared at Kagome but grabbed the cell and answered anyway. "Yeah?"
"Inuyasha. Where are you?" Sesshomaru said in the same calm yet icy tone.
"I'm…uh…" Inuyasha was searching for a good answer to get him out of harm's way for a few more hours.
"Inuyasha, I'm going to ask once more. Where are you?" Sesshomaru was walking up the steps to Kagome's condo.
"I'm at Kagome's." It was no use lying. Kagome wasn't about to let him leave and he had a feeling that Sango and Miroku would hold him down even if he tried to get away.
"Stay where you are." Sesshomaru hung up on his younger brother and knocked on Kagome's door.
Everyone on Kagome's side of the door jumped and looked at the black polished double doors in alarm. They knew exactly who was standing on the other side and not one of them wanted to get up and answer it for if they did, one of them might not live to see what was going to happen next.
"I'm not getting that." Miroku said at once.
"Neither am I." Kagome said second. He's fast...
"Nope, I'm definitely not." Inuyasha said. "Feh."
"So…you're going to make me?" Sango gulped.
Sesshomaru knocked again, this time a little harder.
They all jumped again.
"Please Sango, go answer it." Kagome and Inuyasha pleaded. Kagome held both her hands in a 'please' sort of way and Inuyasha kept shaking his head to tell her that he couldn't do it. Miroku nudged her towards the door and bit by bit Sango slowly turned the door knob to reveal a very pissed off Sesshomaru.
"Hi Sesshomaru, how are you today?" Sango smiled guiltily.
Sesshomaru looked at Sango. "Where are they?"
Miroku stepped up by Sango's side. "Whom are you talking about, Sesshomaru?"
"Miroku, I'd advise you to get out of my way. I may not want to lay a hand on Miss Sango here, but you are family. I would have no regrets harming you." Sesshomaru said coldly. "Where are those two?"
Miroku and Sango stepped away to reveal Inuyasha and Kagome sitting on the couch trying to act as innocent as possible. Kagome smiled cheekily and waved cutely and Inuyasha cleared his throat and looked everywhere but at his brother.
Sesshomaru stepped into the condo and shut the door behind him. At once, the atmosphere changed, it was now completely pulsing with sheer fury. Standing before them like a punishing father before his guilty children, he crossed his arms and whispered out venomously,
"Speak."
Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other and for once they both had agreed on one thing… We're in trouble…