Greetings All! Welcome to chapter 7! Guess what! There's dialogue in this one. Yay! Lol we're going to take a quick break from Sesshomaru and Aiko and see how Inuyasha and Kagome are doing. Don't worry though, we find out some interesting things about our absent stars in this chapter.

"It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages."
— Friedrich Nietzsche

"Some people claim that marriage interferes with romance. There's no doubt about it. Anytime you have a romance, your wife is bound to interfere."
— Groucho Marx


CHAPTER START

"Wind Scar!" Inuyasha's voice roared above the tumultuous battlefield as his attack cut its way through the landscape, as well as about twenty of those stupid magically enhanced demons. "Damn. Would you idiots just stand still so I can kill you!" The hanyou was getting perfectly fed up with all their zipping about, not to mention that bad habit they had of disappearing with a shimmer the instant before he could get his claws on them. I mean, really! Who the hell ever heard of a shimmery demon!

"Inuyasha, look out!" Thanks to Kagome's warning Inuyasha just missed a rather sharp looking spear that had been headed straight for his fuzzy ear topped head. He ducked and whirled around to face the spear thrower fully planning to remove his head just out of spite. Unfortunately the . . .thing, because that's really all it could be called, didn't seem to have a head or a face for that matter. It was all arms and legs; stick-like with no musculature or fat to speak of. All the same, Inuyasha was sure that if it had a mouth it would have been smirking.

"Bastard."

A second later the demon was a pile of snapped bones, unmoving.

Inuyasha looked up toward the large tree where his mate was perched. Kagome was back to firing arrows one after another, each one of them hitting their mark. He couldn't help but take a second to admire her skill. She had improved a lot over the years. She almost never missed her target and, lucky for him, didn't hit things that weren't her target.

Inuyasha cut down a few demons who had gotten wise and started to head for the tree, and his archer. He scoffed. As if they had a chance.

The sun was beginning to set. They had been fighting since noon. Kagome was going to need some of her arrows collected. She couldn't just keep firing pure spirit energy like she was now; it would drain her too quickly. And there was no way in hell Inuyasha was going to let that happen, especially not now that she was carrying his child. Really, he didn't think she should be here at all, and he had told her as much. Now that had been an argument to remember. The making-up with each other hadn't been all that bad either. Inuyasha had a suspicion that Kagome had conceived on a night similar to that one a few weeks previous. In the end, he had to agree with her. History had told them that the safest place for her was right by his side where he could protect her. And he was now man enough to admit that, had she not been there with him, things wouldn't be going as smoothly as they were.

The clearing Inuyasha stood in stunk of the dead and dying. Fallen demons and segments of their comrades littered the ground. Out of the nearly four hundred demons that had shown up for the battle, only about eighty remained. Aiko had been right. But of course, he knew she would be. She always was. That was one of the reason's Inuyasha hadn't gotten along with her at first. Back then, he couldn't stand it when someone proved him wrong, and, in Aiko's case, that was frequently. And then she would usually just piss him off further by not responding when he threw his weight around, yelled, and called her names she didn't deserve. She had made him feel so childish. Which, he had been. He knew that now.

When he thought about it, he owed her a lot. She pushed him. Not in the same way Kagome or Kouga did. But she challenged him to be better. She was probably the closest thing to a mother Inuyasha had since his own died before she could teach him all those important things boys need to be taught by their mothers. That was a weird thought however, considering the fact that she might possibly be his sister-in-law some day. Inuyasha grinned as he thought of his short conversation with Sesshomaru just before they parted ways.


" Six months."

"Hn?"

"I give it six months before you're successful in wooing her."

Sesshomaru quirked and elegant eyebrow nonchalantly, "What makes you think I have any interest in the female, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha grinned, "Well, for starters, I ain't as oblivious as you always seem to think. I notice things. Your eyes, for instance; they didn't leave her from the moment she first spoke. And I would have to be blind not to have noticed how her scent appealed to you."

"Hn."

"Just . . . don't hurt her. " Inuyasha looked his older brother square in the eyes. "She's like a sister to Kagome and a good friend of mine. " He paused and took a breath. "A few years ago I probably would have killed you just for thinking about it. But . . ." Another pause, and Inuyasha turned his gaze toward the interior of the cave where they had just concluded their meeting. "Well, now's different."

Sesshomaru took a moment to respond. "First of all, Inuyasha, you would never have been able to kill me had you tried." Inuyasha scoffed ineloquently but let the older demon continue. "Second, I assure you I have no intention of harming the woman. And third . . ." Sesshomaru's eyes glinted in challenge. "It will be four months."

Inuyasha threw his head back in laughter "You're on brother!" And with a fanged smirk he added, "Good luck, you're gonna need it."

Sesshomaru eyed his challenger coolly. "I highly doubt that, little brother."


Shortly after that Inuyasha and Kagome had set off for the battle ground he was currently in the heat of and Aiko and Sesshomaru had headed west. As he sliced open the gut of yet another one of those ridiculous shimmery demons, Inuyasha vaguely wondered how the two of them were getting along. His guess would be that they haven't said more than a handful words to each other since they started walking. Aiko wasn't a big talker, his brother less so. He couldn't wait to see what happened in the next four months. Maybe he should plan out his gloating speech now. I mean you do actually half to talk to a girl to win her over right?

Right!

This little challenge was in the bag! His only regret was that he probably wouldn't be there to see his brother get knocked down a few pegs. Oh, to see the look on his face when he tumbled down off the saddle of his oh-so-high horse, and probably be happy about it. Hell, Aiko was clever. She would probably make Sesshomaru think the whole fall was his idea.

Behind every good man is a woman who can yank the rug out from under him. Yup, Aiko would be good for his big brother.

And, with that thought Inuyasha yanked Tessaiga out of the last standing demon in the clearing, who, curiously, didn't really have proper arms. It felt good to sheath his sword for the first time in hours.

"We did it Inuyasha! We won!" A weary but cheerful smile adorned his beautiful mate's lips and he just couldn't help but return it.

"We sure did! Now let's get you down from there at find a place to rest for the night"

"Inuyasha, that sounds heavenly."

CHAPTER END


Sometimes I just love Inuyasha. He's got such a fun personality: even if he is a silly childish jerk sometimes he can be a sweetheart too. He is a little bit more grown up in this fic than he was in the anime. But I feel that's appropriate considering he's been mated for like 30 years and now has a child on the way. People change in 30 years, even demons. Anyway, again thanks everyone for the input. Reviews always make my day!

In other news, I am now available for beta reading. I finally got around to filling out my profile. Lol That thing is long. XD So if anyone's interested in my input you can check out my profile page.

Later All!