Ok, dudes! This is a big one! Hahaha.

Deds: This chapter is for my faithful, more-than-one-time reviewers, BrokenWingedAngel16, and strodgfrgf. Yes, I know, I have been neglecting Rin and Jaken, I'm sorry. They're just not very important to my plot, but you never know, they might make a comeback!

Disclaimer: You heard me. I said, "FRENCH FRIES!"

Moonlight Shadow

Sango searched all over for Miroku, finally locating him in the centre of town, assisting in the reconstruction of the community council building that had been wrecked by Inuyasha the other day. 'Inuyasha should be helping, that lazy bum,' she thought, then scolded herself. 'He's got his hands full with his own place, he really bit off more than he could chew, poor guy.'

She waved at him and he dropped what he was doing, wiped his forehead, and came to speak with her. "Uhh, Sango…" he began, but she cut him off.

"Listen Miroku, something weird happened at the river just now." She came right to the point.

"Inuyasha showed up and he was looking for Naraku. I mean, even I was scared, and then he just snapped out of it, like a trance. Miroku, I'm worried. What if he does it again, and hurts someone? What if he's sick?"

She shuddered at the thought. In her mind, Inuyasha would remain as she had always known him: young, strong, arrogant, and practically indestructible. The thought of him getting sick was something she was unwilling to accept.

Miroku thought about what she'd said. He'd noticed it too, only it had been a few weeks ago, when he and Inuyasha had been on a hunt, and his friend had momentarily gone berserk. When he returned to his senses Inuyasha had made him promise not to tell anyone, especially Kagome. Miroku decided to break that promise now.

"This isn't the first time this has happened, Sango, and it likely won't be the last." He proceeded to tell her of his experience. She gasped when he finished. 'Oh no,' she thought, 'No, no, not when Kagome's so far along, not when they're just starting a life together…' She covered her mouth with her hands.

Miroku brushed her cheek with his hand; he knew what she was thinking, he had already realised it. He sighed.

"Sango, darling, I hate to bring this up, but you're still in your bathing robe, and people are staring."

She turned so red he thought she could have passed for a tomato. Embarrassed, she ran back to their hut, and quickly changed. When her face had cooled, Sango headed to Inuyasha and Kagome's house.

She hoped she could catch Kagome alone; the news she had wasn't good, and she didn't want to scare Kagome when Inuyasha was around. She gathered her courage and marched solemnly to her best friend's hut. Upon reaching it, she discovered it was empty, but their bed was mussed. She sat down to wait.

When Inuyasha spotted Kagome she was climbing up the bank, her face, her neck, well, her entire body, pink, as if she had scrubbed herself unnecessarily hard. He frowned mentally; the frown on his face was nothing out of the ordinary to her.

"Having another bath?" he asked casually, and offered her a hand up. "Yeah." she replied, taking it. "I was all sweaty, and I never did finish what I'd started this morning, you know." She looked pointedly at him; he had the grace to blush.

Kagome put her clothes on silently as he watched her, his hands up his sleeves. His face was pensive, far away. She felt at a loss. What was she supposed to say to him? She wanted to take him back to her time, to be checked over by her doctor, whom she occasionally visited when she made her trips to the hardware store, but she had a feeling he would brush off her concern and refuse. That was the problem with him. He was always insisting he was fine when he wasn't, even when he had severe wounds he would insist, because he was "built differently".

She could hear his arrogant voice in her head saying just that, and she felt her eyes grow moist. She didn't want him to change, she loved him just as he was. But here he was changing before her very eyes and she was powerless to stop it.

She reached out and slipped a hand up his sleeve to take one of his hands. He looked into her eyes and felt his heart crumble. They were red and rimmed with the first vestiges of salty tears. He knew she was worried, he could smell it rolling off her. But what could he tell her? He knew she wasn't buying his claims to being alright, and that, lately, neither was he. Something was wrong, but he didn't want to tell her what.

When he had almost attacked Sesshoumaru a few minutes earlier, it had dawned on him, as soon as he'd become lucid again. The shock on his brother's face had made it all clear: he was sick, and it was all in his head. He couldn't remember what it was he did during his bouts of insanity, so he didn't think he'd hurt anybody - yet. But the tears in his mate's eyes sealed his decision. He would ask her for help, and do whatever she thought best.

Kagome was surprised when he grasped her hand tightly, almost desperately. She had expected to be turned away. Then, he pulled her close, and enfolded her within his arms, and began to stroke her hair, like he always did when he was worried, or scared. She felt her gut sink. Her Inuyasha wasn't putting on his brave front anymore…had he finally realised what she had feared?

Inuyasha decided now would be a good time to tell her of his suspicions. He sighed, and sat down on a nearby log, and pulled her down to sit with her back against his chest. She was so quiet, he thought he might go deaf from her silence. Finally, he began.

"Kagome, I know you know something weird has been going on lately. I didn't want to admit it, but I've been losing my memory, and I think I'm doing strange things - I'm not myself. I have been experiencing these lapses since our fight with Naraku. I haven't told anyone this, but when I stabbed him with Tetsusaiga, something flew into my eye, miasma I think. At first I thought nothing of it, but it's the only reason I can think of that would be causing my memory loss."

She turned to look into his eyes. He looked so sad, she felt her heart clench. An overwhelming desire to cure his ills made her grow warm.

"I still want you to see a doctor, sweetheart," she said, caressing his jaw in her hand. "Just to rule out any disease. I don't think I could stand to watch you die, and not be able to stop it." With these last words the tears began to flow from her, running in rivers down her still-damp face.

Inuyasha smiled, and hugged her tight. His heart swelled. So this was what it was like to be loved completely by a woman. "Whatever you wish, babe." he whispered, licking her lips and teeth when she parted them, letting him in, putting up no resistance at all.

Neither of them were prepared for the doctor's diagnosis.

Later that day both Inuyasha and Kagome returned to their house, only to find Sango asleep on the porch, in the swing Inuyasha had finished last week. Kagome smiled at her sleeping friend and shooed Inuyasha into the house, so she could speak to Sango privately. He "Feh'ed" and did as she asked. He had a roof to work on anyway.

Kagome sat on the edge of the swing and rubbed the spot between Sango's eyebrows, and Sango wrinkled up her nose, then brought her hand up to swat Kagome away. She laughed, and Sango woke up, rubbing her itchy nose, then she playfully punched Kagome in the arm.

"Ow, that hurt!"

"Yeah, well, wake me up like that again, and I won't be as gentle!"

"That was supposed to be gentle! I'm going to be bruised for a month! Oh, my poor, beautiful, white skin!" Kagome wailed, and both girls broke out in laughter.

After they'd settled down, Sango moved over so Kagome could make herself comfortable on the swing. As she settled in, Inuyasha could be heard hammering shingles to the roof above them, and he was making quite a racket.

"I can't hear shit," Sango yelled, "Let's go somewhere else!"

"Ok!" Kagome yelled back. Taking Sango's hand, both women made a beeline for Sango and Miroku's house, a five-minute stroll away.

Sango and Miroku's house, complete now, was smaller than Inuyasha and Kagome's, and Miroku had had many people willing to help him, including Inuyasha, when he wasn't working on his own house. Inuyasha was taking so long because only Miroku had offered to help him, and Inuyasha only accepted occasionally. He wanted the house to be something he'd made with his own two hands, and none of the villagers, besides Haruko, had offered their help anyway.

Kagome and Sango, after making sure Miroku wasn't around, made themselves comfortable on the front step. Kagome got right to the point.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Sango?"

Sango sighed. She had been gung-ho to get this out before, but now she found she didn't want to open her mouth. Finally, she just blurted it out.

"Kagome, Inuyasha hasn't been himself. Miroku says that its been going on for a while now. Is he sick?"

Kagome was touched by the concern in her best friend's voice. She knew Sango and Inuyasha didn't always see eye to eye, but they revered each other as close allies and had made their admiration for each other's battle skills clear at the beginning of their friendship.

Kagome knew that out of all of their friends, Inuyasha considered Sango to be the most competent in a fight, and he'd relied heavily on her skills in the past to win those fights they often found themselves in. She also knew that Sango viewed Inuyasha as one her closest friends, someone she looked up to, even if she was loathe to admit it. In her mind he would always be arrogant, headstrong, and fearless, and she liked the feeling of his quick acceptance of her skills.

In truth, both were close contemporaries, even though they rarely shared any time alone with each other. Inuyasha understood about Sango's brother, and Sango understood what everyone else construed as Inuyasha's skewed sense of honour and logic.

Kagome smiled, but hung her head. "Yes, something is wrong," she said, and told Sango about her previous conversation with her mate. Sango nodded every once in a while, but her eyes were far away, deep in thought. When Kagome finished, Sango wrapped her arms around her friend in a warm hug, awkwardly reaching over Kagome's distended belly.

"Oh, Kagome, I hope he'll be alright," Sango whispered, but deep down, she didn't believe her own words.

Sesshoumaru stood in the same field as he had the day he had taken Kagome hostage, intent on forcing her to heal Rin's sickness, not really knowing whether or not she could, but glad that he had. Rin stood next to him now, he could feel her inquisitive little gaze latched onto his face. He put a hand to the top of her head and pulled her to rest against his thigh. Was it his imagination, or had she grown taller?

He felt what he thought could only be guilt rise within his heart, for he had been neglecting his vassals, not to mention his domain, for so long now that the changes in both were more noticeable to his absent-minded eyes. He looked at the field before him, but he wasn't seeing it; he was seeing her, hair blowing in the wind, and he realised that that had been the day he'd fallen in love with his brother's little miko.

He narrowed his eyes. 'Well, Father, are you happy? Seems we are not so different in our tastes after all,' he thought, and couldn't help the image of his mother's face passing before his mind's eye. 'No,' he thought, 'Mother's death was unavoidable, wasn't it? She made her choice, and it killed her. Mother...'

He was brought out of his thoughts as Jaken hollered, "Get over here, you stupid beast!" at the two-headed dragon, AhUn, who refused to move from its spot in the grass. Sesshoumaru watched without humour as Jaken yanked once more, hard, on the beast's reins.

Snorting in irritation, AhUn lowered its heads as if to acquiesce, but as soon as the little kappa looked away, thinking he'd finally gotten his way, they whipped their heads back and sent the toad flying through the air, screaming his little head off. Rin began to giggle, then was outright laughing, rolling in the grass and holding her sides with the effort.

Looking away, Sesshoumaru let out a small smile. He didn't smile much while he was with his vassals; it made him approachable, something he wished to avoid. But his mirth was at Jaken's expense, so he let it linger a while longer.

Sighing, he mentally reviewed how much area in his lands needed patrolling, and figured he would have looked the whole domain over in a few more days. Finding everything peaceful, this patrol had gone without incident, and he was bored. As soon as he had seen to this duty, he would return to Kagome, and resume her lessons. If he was lucky, she will have had the pup by then and be more than ready to spar with him.

He flexed his claws in anticipation, then called, "Jaken! Prepare to leave, we are not yet finished our rounds." and walked away, anxious to get back to Musashi.

Kagome waited with Inuyasha in the doctor's office, her hand in his, while her other hand held a magazine about babies to her face. Inuyasha twitched in nervousness. He'd never seen a doctor before, and he didn't know what to expect. Kagome tightened her grip on his hand; he stopped fidgeting.

Suddenly, a door opened and the secretary called, "Higurashi, Kagome?" and Kagome threw down the magazine and hauled him into the examination room.

The secretary tried to lead Kagome to sit on the table when she stopped her. "Look, I made this appointment, but we're really here for my husband." She looked at Inuyasha, who reddened slightly under his cap. "Oh, that's fine. Sir, if you'll just hop up on the table, Dr. Ayame will be with you in a moment."

Kagome and Inuyasha glanced at each other. "What happened to Dr. Fushi?" Kagome quickly asked.

The secretary laughed. "Nothing, today is just his day off. Dr. Ayame is an intern here for the summer, a fourth year med student. She's painless, don't worry." And with that, she closed the door quietly behind her. Inuyasha sighed. "Well, at least we know her," he said, very glum. Kagome rubbed his arm, and smiled. "Who knew we'd run into a demon in my time? I wonder if she and Kouga are still together?"

Half an hour passed and Ayame had yet to make an appearance. Kagome sat in a chair, rubbing her tummy while Inuyasha paced back and forth in front of her, occasionally jumping back up on the table when he heard someone approaching their door, only to be disappointed when they faded or passed without anyone coming in.

Finally, after forty-five minutes and much grumbling, Ayame opened the door and smiled brightly upon seeing her patient. "About time! What took you so long?" Inuyasha demanded, hopping back up on the table. "Hello to you too, Inuyasha," she said, then went straight to Kagome and embraced her warmly. "Kagome, you look great! May I?" she asked, and Kagome nodded, and watched as Ayame put her ear next to Kagome's belly. "Demon pups grow faster than human babies, how far along are you?"

Kagome thought about it. "About five months, I guess."

Ayame stood back up, and smiled. "It'll be soon, in the next few days, I'd say. By the way, why are you guys here? Demons live a long time, but you shouldn't still be alive, let alone young, Kagome."

Kagome laughed. "I never told you, did I? When we met I was visiting the Sengoku Jidai. I wasn't born there, I was born in this time. There's a well on my property that connects this era with that one, and we travel through it all the time. I thought you looked more mature, Ayame! How old are you now, if you don't mind my asking? And how's Kouga?" Ayame laughed, "I'm one thousand twenty-three years old, and not a day older!"

Both women laughed, and Inuyasha coughed loudly be fore she could mention Kouga again, then raised his brows as if to say, "What about me?" when they looked to him. He was tired of being ignored in favour of their girlish reminiscing...and Kouga, yuck.

"Oh! I'm sorry, honey," Kagome said, taking his hand. "Ayame, we came today because Inuyasha is…sick. Tell her what's been happening, sweetheart."

Both women sat down and listened as Inuyasha recounted his symptoms since the battle with Naraku, with Kagome adding whatever he forgot mention in his explanation. Ayame nodded, then, as he progressed, began to lean forward in her seat, absorbed in what Inuyasha had to say. A frown formed on her face and grew deeper as he continued.

When he finished she began to jot down something on a piece of paper. When she was finished, she handed the paper to Kagome and said, "Take him to the hospital and give this to the receptionist in the Radiology Department. I want Inuyasha to have a CAT scan. If that proves inconclusive, I'll order an MRI. I'll call them right now and get you in today. I have a feeling this miasma has caused some major problems."

Both Inuyasha and Kagome looked at each other, worried. Ayame got up and ushered them back to the waiting room, where she hugged them goodbye. Inuyasha stiffened when she hugged him; he could smell that dirty wolf Kouga all over her, but he didn't push her away. "Good luck, you guys," was all she said before moving on to her next appointment.

Kagome told Inuyasha to wait outside while she talked to the secretary, who called the hospital and arranged a one o' clock appointment for Inuyasha.

That afternoon, Kagome and Inuyasha were waiting once again for their names to be called in the Radiology Department of Tokyo General. Kagome was again reading a magazine about parenting and Inuyasha was fidgeting.

This place had even more smells than the doctor's office; he could smell the stench of blood from an operating room two floors below in Emergency, and from one floor below that wafted the stink of formaldehyde from the Morgue. There were a million other scents to sort through, and for a moment he thought he smelled…urine?

'Gross,' he thought, before dismissing that and searching for anything else that was familiar. A new smell assaulted his nose, the smell of newborns. He had noticed this smell from Kagome recently, and it had been getting stronger since last night. He hoped she would have the pup soon. He needed something to take his mind off his own problems.

The nursery down the hall drew his attention, so when Kagome was so deeply absorbed in her magazine that she didn't notice him standing, he crept quietly to look through the windows at the babies. He smiled when he saw them. There were only three, but they were all sleeping, and one was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. It had tubes in its nose, and a machine beeped quietly next to it, it time to its heartbeat.

Inuyasha wondered why this baby was hooked up to a machine when the other two weren't; what was wrong with it? He read the wristband on the child's thin little hand. All it said was the name of the hospital and that the child was female. Inuyasha grew sad. Was the little girl sick, like him? He felt an overwhelming urge to touch the child, but could only rest his hand on the cold glass, and watch as her little chest rose and fell it time to the heart-lung machine.

Suddenly, Kagome's hand appeared and rested atop his on the glass, warm and comforting. She wrapped her other arm around his waist. "They're beautiful, aren't they? So small, so precious…" she whispered, moving her hand to rub her own swollen tummy. She had a feeling that her pup was going to be a strapping little devil, if the size of her gut was anything to go by. He nodded, then said, "Kagome? What's wrong with the little girl? Why doesn't she have a name?"

Kagome felt her heart melt. His tone of voice was so sad, she almost felt her own tears begin to rise.

"She was probably born too early," she replied, softly. "Some people don't name a child if it's not going to live very long. But not all babies born pre-mature die, Inuyasha."

He looked at her then, and she saw tears in his eyes. Upon seeing them, she herself was undone, and she hugged him hard, stroking his hair and cooing soft words in his ears. She didn't know why, but she suspected his lapse in composure was due to his reminder of his own mortality: the insanity that sporadically overtook his mind.

They were still holding each other like that when the receptionist called Inuyasha's name, and Kagome wondered absent-mindedly whose dumb idea it was to put the Maternity Wing next to the Radiology Department.

Sango rolled over, right into Miroku. He grunted, still sleepy, but she was too worried to sleep much. Miroku knew this, and had watched her pace in the night when she thought he was asleep.

He was just as worried as she was, but he was better at hiding it; Sango, however, couldn't seem to keep her emotions under control. Finally, frustrated with her constant anxiety, she rose and went out back to practice throwing Hiraikotsu. She hadn't used the boomerang in a while and it felt good to stretch her unused muscles again. What with her friends gone to the future, it was up to her and Miroku to protect the village, though any threats were minimal, since Kagome had the Shikon Jewel, and she was gone.

So, Sango practiced.

She practiced until noon, and even then she wouldn't come in.

When Miroku called that he was hungry for her cooking at suppertime she still refused to stop.

Finally, after midnight, she dropped, and Miroku carried her to their bed, and undressed her. She was so tired that she didn't even bother to resist, as she normally would. Although, she didn't resist much anymore, even to his most forward advances. He smiled.

She'd worn herself out today so she'd be able to sleep tonight. He crawled in next to her naked body and pulled her close. She mumbled what he thought was an "I love you" but it was muffled, and he smiled. Kissing her forehead, he held her tight. There was no need for words.

Inuyasha flinched as the machine whirred, clicked, and two red lasers lined up to intersect over his face. Kagome wasn't in the room, in fact wasn't allowed past the lead shields surrounding Radiology, because of the pup.

He looked at the small space around him, nothing but smooth white, he didn't even know what this thing around him was made of, but he began to feel claustrophobic. He shoved the panic down into his gut and held still like the technician told him to. The tech was another thing. When Inuyasha had seen that the exposure of his ears was unavoidable, he prepared himself for the questions he knew the man would ask.

When he gasped upon seeing them and asked, "Mister, what happened to your ears?" Inuyasha replied curtly that it was a birth defect and that he didn't want to speak any more about it. The tech shrugged, but continued to stare in fascination, until Inuyasha growled, then he didn't do it anymore.

Inuyasha asked him if he was done yet. "Not yet, sir. Hold still for just a few more minutes." Then the intercom clicked. Inuyasha heard a stat call from somewhere outside the department, something to do with O.R. Number Three, and Doctor Something-or-other.

He wished Kagome could be with him. She was probably reading that magazine again, he thought, and he wondered what was so interesting in a colourful wad of shiny paper. It didn't matter, he supposed. Finally, he was allowed to leave, and the tech told him to go wait with his wife, and that the doctor would be with them momentarily to explain the results.

When he came out Kagome wasn't in the waiting room. He looked down the hall, and she wasn't looking at the newborns, either. 'Where is she?' he thought, panicking. Then, he heard a toilet flush, and after a moment a door opened, and Kagome came out, smiling. She went straight to him.

He chuckled. "Had to go?" he asked.

She nodded. "Like a damn racehorse!" She was still drying her hands on her pants. "I swear, I have to go worse every time, and I only have a little to let out! It's ridiculous!" He laughed at her frustration. She had to pee so often lately that he didn't even wonder where she went anymore when they were at home and she would disappear for a while.

"So, how'd it go?" she asked. He grunted.

"That good, eh?" She smiled, taking his arm. They went back to the waiting room and sat down.

Kagome proceeded to fall asleep on Inuyasha's shoulder, and Inuyasha let his mind wander as stat calls and a television set screeched in the background and uniformed interns ran past, before he too succumbed to the boringness of the Radiology waiting room and fell asleep.

Sesshoumaru approached the house Inuyasha was three-quarters of the way through building, and stopped to listen. No one was home, the area was silent, and Inuyasha's tools and a pile of unopened shingles lay in the yard, discarded where his brother had dropped them. It was a wonder no one stole from him, the way he left his possessions lying about, Sesshoumaru thought.

Without knocking, he entered the house. Inside, it was dark, but his eyes quickly adjusted. It smelled of both Inuyasha and Kagome, but he concentrated on Kagome's scent. It had changed slightly; it smelled like…newborns.

'Great,' he thought. 'she still hasn't birthed the pup. I had hoped she would have by now…' he frowned. Where was everyone, anyway?

He walked through what he thought must be a sitting room to the kitchen. He passed a set of stairs and wondered if their bedroom was up there. There were several rooms in the house; in fact, it was the largest house in the entire village, and it wasn't even finished yet. He promised himself he would go upstairs later and see for himself his brother's handy-work. From what he'd already seen, Inuyasha obviously knew what he was doing.

Sesshoumaru sat down at a table and made himself comfortable on one of the chairs. There was a pot and burner on the table, but the tea inside was cold. He drank it anyway.

Finally, he went upstairs. He followed his nose to their bedroom, and he opened the door.

Kagome had made the bed this morning before they left, but had flung her dirty clothes on a chair; she'd planned to do laundry at her mother's tomorrow. He could tell which side of the room belonged to his brother. It was messy, unkempt, and there were tools all over, and little metal things Sesshoumaru had never seen before. He eyed the basinet next to Kagome's side of the bed warily.

He opened the closet, not feeling the least bit nosy. He was a little more reluctant when he found a basket full of Kagome's skimpy underwear at the bottom. Behind everything, in the corner, lay Tetsusaiga, right alongside Dokkasou-sada. Sesshoumaru reached out, but didn't touch Tetsusaiga; instead he picked up Dokkasou-sada and held it up.

The sword pulsed in recognition. Sesshoumaru smiled a little. His fang still knew him, and acknowledged him in greeting. It glowed slightly before returning to its normal state. Sheathing it, he put it away, and closed the closet, then left the house.

He would await his brother's return, though Inuyasha would know he'd been here, he scent was in the house now. He strode away, oblivious to the pair of slightly narrowed hunter's eyes that watched his retreat from the smaller house a short distance away across the meadow.

Kagome and Inuyasha jumped back through the well, he holding her tightly, she lost in her own thoughts. The doctor had found nothing wrong with Inuyasha; his CAT Scan had been completely normal. She wondered, then, what was causing his lapses in lucidity. She decided to forget about it for a while and just enjoy his company.

When they got back to the house it was dark, so Kagome didn't go see Sango like she planned; all the lights in their friends' house were out. She sighed.

Inuyasha hugged her close. "Still worried?" he asked.

Frankly, he was relieved that nothing showed up on the scan. All Kagome's worrying had been getting to him, and he hated the sensation in created in him.

She nodded, but her eyes were drooping shut, so, picking her up bridal-style, he carried her over the threshold of the house, and up the stairs to their room. When he got there though, his nose stopped him. The room smelled…off.

Kagome snored lightly in his arms as he thought about what he was smelling. It smelled faintly of…Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha frowned, and began to growl. He thought he'd been pretty lenient to allow his brother to continue to train and protect his Kagome, but he never intended to go so far as to be civil to him - not to his face, anyway - and the realisation that the very demon he was unfortunately related to had been standing in this room, their room…it made him unbelievably angry. So angry, that he laid Kagome down, and ran from the house, his eyes flashing red as he did so.

His nose immediately latched onto his brother's scent, and he followed it, all the way to the Western border, but lost it after entering Sesshoumaru's lands. 'Damn,' Inuyasha thought, 'He must have taken to the air from here. That bastard! Myoga was right, he wants Kagome, and I'll bet my last good nail that this whole training and protection deal has been a way for him to worm himself into her good graces! If he so much as touches her again…' his thoughts trailed off from there.

He suddenly remembered that he'd left Kagome all alone, asleep no less, and unable to defend herself. Well, he supposed she could, but he wouldn't feel right until he was by her side. Quickly, he returned to their home, hoping she was still safe.

Kagome had rolled over a few minutes after Inuyasha had fled, and cried out in pain. Waking up completely, she moaned Inuyasha's name aloud as the contraction stretched, and she curled into a fetal position to try to alleviate the pain.

When the pain finally subsided, she rolled out of bed and painstakingly made her way down the stairs, only to be hit with another contraction when she reached the bottom. 'Damn stairs,' she thought as she clenched her jaw.

She began to cry, it hurt so much. She tried to get up, but couldn't; her legs were cramped underneath her and she didn't have the strength left in her tired body to use the banister to pull herself up. Sighing in defeat, she called Inuyasha again, but when he didn't answer, she began to worry. Where was he?

Finally, after suffering two more contractions in a row, she grabbed her necklace and held it till she felt the little crescent moon grow warm; Sesshoumaru was coming.

She sighed in relief, and hoped Inuyasha wouldn't take it the wrong way that she'd summoned his brother when she was in trouble. By the time she'd crawled to the front door, she saw Sesshoumaru stride quickly across the meadow, her miko senses flaring momentarily at the vicinity of his jaki.

Sesshoumaru flew through the air, his rounds of the lands done for the day. Just as he turned to fly home, his entire person pulsed; Kagome was summoning him. He frowned; he had only been at their house a few hours earlier, where had she been?

He decided that didn't matter. The urgency of the summons increased, and he began to pulse more rapidly. The closer he got to her, the faster the pulsing became, until he was almost vibrating. When he put down in the meadow before the house, he saw her poke her head out the door. She was on the floor, crawling.

He began to run.

Whew, that was a huge bitch! I've given up on the page-break thing, it just wasn't working. It would make all the points-of-view much easier to understand, but...sigh. What can I say, I'm a dummy and can't figure something so simple out. Oh well. You know what do do, my beloved chalamalas!