Chapter 10: Interlude Before the Dawn
"I don't know…", she answered hesitantly. "I don't think that's going to work…"
Next to Kagome, supporting her head with his shoulder, Inuyasha had crossed his arms in front of his chest, his forehead wrinkled in thought.
"Why not? What's wrong with it?" he asked, glancing at her from out of the corner of his eye.
Kagome sighed. Apparently, the hanyou just did not understand the obvious problem. It was at times like these that their different origins became evident.
"In a way, a name defines a person", she tried to explain as simply as possible, "Eventually, our son or daughter will go to kindergarten and school; just imagine what would happen if he or she had a name that went out of use hundreds of years ago."
InuYasha let out a thoughtful noise and nodded in understanding. Those were factors the hanyou had certainly not thought of taking into consideration when offering one of his family's traditional names as that of their firstborn. He had never known the kind of childhood Kagome had experienced and which – at least in part – also awaited their child. He had not needed a poorly chosen name to suffer from discrimination; his heritage – in fact his birth – alone had been enough to damn him in the eyes of the majority of the people.
"This is much more difficult than I thought."
"Exactly", Kagome answered, chuckling to herself. "All of those books on choosing names are there for a reason."
The hanyou turned his head slightly to look at her, yet not enough to destroy her comfortable position on his shoulder.
"Books, huh?" and hesitantly, he added, "Maybe we should get some of those when we go to your time."
Kagome raised an eyebrow in surprise. Although quite pleased that the suggestion had come from him rather than her, she was still astonished how quickly he had given in to help. Then again, despite the nearing time of their child's birth, InuYasha had become much calmer in the past few weeks. Knowing the hot-blooded half-demon, however, she quickly figured that he was simply trying to remain composed for her sake, keeping all possible causes of stress as far away as possible. A comforting thought, she had to admit; it warmed her heart remembering how much he had come to care for and love her. The once proud loner, set on nothing but his own desires, had truly developed into a considerate companion, valuing the life and wishes of others more than even his own.
That, of course, was not to say that he had completely let go of his stubbornness: the hanyou still knew when and how to make his opinion count, when he considered it beneficial for all parties.
Said hanyou let out a yawn and stretched his neck, glancing over at the dying fire.
"The others should be back with the food any time", he stated tiredly, "I'd better go get some firewood."
He shifted slightly, allowing for the woman at his side to carefully remove her head from his shoulder. She stretched her back equally tiredly and leaned back to come to a rest with her upper body against the cool wall.
The concerned words 'Be careful' stood silently in the air. Both would have uttered them as advice and wish to the other, had they not known that they were already part of the mute agreement they shared.
Lately, when leaving the hut without her, InuYasha never went far, always staying within hearing distance, out of pure concern that something might happen in his absence. He abhorred leaving her by herself in the first place, yet in some circumstances it was simply unavoidable. Thus he had learned to make do with the situation as it presented itself to him and found his own compromise.
He placed a quick kiss on her lips – a gesture he only allowed in the absence of extra pairs of eyes – and stepped toward the entrance of the hut.
"I'll be right back", he declared firmly and swiftly made his way outside.
A slight shiver went through his steeled body as a freezing draft brushed down the hills and past his back. With the nearing of Christmas – a holiday Kagome had insisted in introducing to her group of friends a long time ago – the temperature had dropped astonishingly low. It was now freezing day and night, and the few clouds appearing in the sky more and more frequently brought with them delicate flakes of snow.
Once more the hanyou stretched his neck as he stepped forward, further away from the hut, the icy grass crunching under his feet. He raised his head high into the air, allowing his nose to catch the multitude of scents carried on the breeze.
"Okay, come on out", he commanded suddenly with a strong voice "and tell me what you're sneaking around here for."
Instantly, a soft rustle could be heard in the neighboring trees and with a swift motion, a slender figure bounced onto the ground a few feet from the hanyou.
"Don't get cocky, inukorro", the youkai said, eyebrows raised in annoyance, "I'm not here to talk to you."
Inuyasha turned toward the wolf demon and looked at him with a surprisingly composed expression, arms crossed in front of his chest.
"I told you to leave her alone."
"You have no right to order me around", Koga retorted angrily, "I'm here to make sure that Kagome is doing fine; wouldn't want to trust you with it."
Anybody the least bit familiar with the hanyou's usual temper would, at this point, expect the silver haired man to lose the former and challenge his opponent to a deadly duel. Gathering, however, all of his available self control, he gritted his teeth and let his face turn rigid.
"Kagome is fine", he stated plainly, "Now that you know that, you can leave."
Koga snorted and shifted his weight onto his right leg, cockily placing his hands to his hips. Yet just as he was about to respond to his rival, a noise caught the men's attention: the entrance of the hut opened, spilling out warm light and revealing the blanketed form of Kagome. She had slung a thick kimono around herself and now slowly stepped outside and, taking in the scene before her, took a step toward the two men.
"Koga-kun", she said, smiling, "I thought I'd heard your voice."
While Inuyasha quickly stepped over to his partner, a rush of protectiveness overcoming him, the youkai simply stood frozen in awe, staring at the female in front of him. Although her smile alone was hypnotizing to him, at this point in time her body attracted all of his attention. Even through the kimono she was wearing and the additional one she had hurriedly slung around herself in manner of a blanket, her stomach was protruding very visibly. Not having seen Kagome in months, the change in her appearance appeared even more drastic. This rude reminder drove icy daggers through his chest once more. There was no denying – and certainly no forgetting – that she was having a child. The hanyou's child.
"K-kagome…" he stuttered, still struggling for composure as he dared to take one step closer to her and – consequently – to Inuyasha.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as the hanyou made his way to the young woman and possessively placed an arm around her waist, never taking his eyes off his former – and possibly even current – rival. While Kagome had certainly chosen to be with him, Inuyasha had never quite been able to shake off those pangs of jealousy.
"So..." she began, eager to break the silence, and looked over to the youkai "what brings you here? How are you; how are the others doing?"
Koga shuffled his feet uncomfortably, a trait very unlike him slowly managed to raise his gaze to her face, his own flushing with an ever so slight tint of pink.
"Oh... umm.. we're okay, not.. not much going on lately" he stuttered again, for some odd reason finding it hard to muster his usual defiant self confidence to let her hear all those compliments she so entirely deserved in his eyes. "I just... umm...I stopped by to see.. well.. how you were doing.. with the.. the baby and all", he added utterly uneasily.
Kagome smiled at his nervousness.
"We're doing great", she answered blissfully. "Though it's about time..." she added, stretched her back with a tired smile and again came to a rest against Inuyasha's shoulder.
"That... That's great..." Koga replied after another short pause and managed a small smile. He had meant to tell her so much more, to ask her so much more; yet he had accomplished almost nothing. "I'm really glad to hear you're fine." He shortly glanced at the floor, then raised his gaze once more. "I... I guess I really should be going now."
Silently, hesitantly even, he turned around to escape the situation, the unease.
"Good luck... with the birth and all..." he added still facing away from the couple.
"Wait, Koga-kun", Kagome's voice halted his departure and made him finally turn his head around back towards her. "You know you're always welcome..." here she quickly had to place a hand on Inuyasha's arm as he was about to step forward and protest against her invitation and added "whatever Inuyasha might say."
While the hanyou commented said addition with a quick snort attributable to his stubbornness, the other man offered a small yet thankful smile, nodded and without any further word rushed off into the thickening darkness.
Sango and Miroku walked silently side by side, slowly making their way back home from the village where they had picked up a small supply of fresh food. With each step they took, it seemed as though the darkness around them turned thicker, the winter's icy air cutting into the exposed skin of their faces. Neither of them had spoken for a while; the only sound accompanying their journey was the sweet jingling of the golden rings on the young monk's staff.
The demon exterminator let out a deep sigh as a strong breeze from behind sent a shiver through her body. With quite some effort, she tried to balance her heavy basket and at the same time tug the thin blanket tighter around her body. Needless to say, she failed miserably. Within split seconds, the basket had dropped to the floor, vegetables rolling off in all directions, leaving a disgruntled Sango even more uncomfortable than before. Muttering sourly under her breath, she knelt down to retrieve the lost goods, her blanket sliding from her shoulders in the process.
Silently, Miroku joined her on the ground and quickly gathered whatever lost food was in his reach.
"Thank you", Sango said hastily, apologetically as they had finished their small task. Yet as she was about to stand back up and lift her load, a much smaller weight suddenly pressed down on her shoulders. Confusedly, she looked up to see the young man gently placing an additional blanket around her; one she recognized as his own, as the one he had wearing before to guard himself from the cold.
His soft touch sending a rush of warmth through her body, she carefully let her fingers glide across the soft fabric.
"But... this is..." she began, not sure to say, just feeling the need to somehow show her appreciation for this small but yet so sweet gesture.
"Don't worry about it", was his only reply as he stood back up, smiling, with her basket in his hands and slowly strolled off, continuing on the route they had been following before the small incident.
The young woman, apparently in a daze, still knelt on the floor, the delicate fabric of his blanket in her tight grasp while her eyes followed the monk. For many moments there was not the slightest reaction in her body suggesting any sort of attempt of following him. Yet finally, the reverie seemed to lift itself; Sango blinked rapidly, at last taking in her surroundings.
"W... wait!" she managed to press out as she hastily scrambled to her feet and hurried off to follow her companion.
AN: Well, what should I say? I am very well aware of how long it has taken me to post this update. Hence I made the decision to publish this part of the story – which would make a rather short chapter compared to the previous ones – as a kind of interlude before the final events of the birth. I will not try to make any inapplicable excuses at this point; I suppose it will suffice to say that I have been extremely busy with uni life: I have actually managed to pass my final exams and have yet only to wait for my masters thesis to be graded to officially be university graduate with the academic title of MA. I suppose that explains part of my complete absence from for such a long time.
As a bit of a compensation, I have two extra goodies for you. One is another quick illustration of Kagome I made, roughly corresponding to the stage of her pregnancy in chapter 8, to be found in my deviantART account ( http://cayastrife. ). The second piece is for the music lovers among you; it is my own personal flute rendition – well, me playing the flute – of Toki wo Koete, one of my most favorite Inuyasha songs of all time. This one's on youtube ( ). No, this is no cross-promotion; it is simply my wish to share some of my art with you in compensation for the long waits I am putting you through. Chapter 11, quite possibly including the baby's birth, should be available in a short while.
And now, as always, a few individual words to my reviewers:
Kinkatia: No need to apologize. If anybody knows what "busy" feels like, it's me. Writing a little bit every day sounds like a good idea, and it's actually how I used to write back in my high school days. Nowadays there are just too many things distracting me. So I usually sit down and have writing sessions of 2 to about 8 pages, depending on the state of my creativity. Anyway, I hope your stories are coming along well!
Roku:I am relieved to hear that you are happy with the way the story is turning out and that I have been able to do justice to your challenge. Of course I hope the final chapters will not disappoint you; I will certainly do my best – I'm really glad I accepted your challenge, it has given me the opportunity and drive to write a story I might never have attacked otherwise.
Kinboshi Hiko: Thank you so much for your compliment. I am doing my best to keep everybody in character, yet in some situation it's just not possible. Nice comments like yours make me feel all warm inside
Tracey Claybon: Thanks for being so understanding. I know that I don't exactly have an obligation towards anybody, still I can't help feeling that I owe my readers an update when I have promised them so often and have made them wait for so long. Anyway, I am trying to improve in that department'