Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter, but RL intruded over the weekend. This chapter turned out a little different from what I expected. Next chapter will complete the tale.

XI. Becoming


It was the most beautiful, most unspoiled countryside. Fuji-san could be seen in the distance, the plumes of his heated breath rising into a multihued sky. Higurashi-san never would have been able to conjure this dreamscape in even her wildest imaginings. She inhaled deeply, drawing the fresh scent of clear air into her being.

The world suddenly shifted around her, the scenery blurring as they flew through the air. Unused to the remarkable sensation, Higurashi-san clutched the rough haori of her red and silver mount. The wind tousled his streaming hair but he seemed impervious to its buffeting resistance. He glided effortlessly across the treetops, finally touching down next to the clearest inland stream she had ever seen.

A small boy with a fluffy tail and a giant two-tailed cat were catching fish in the river. A young monk sat with a beautiful woman by a crackling campfire, speaking to a third person she could not see. She recognized them immediately from Kagome's tales, these friends from the other side of the mysterious well.

She turned to look upon the hanyou boy who had become her daughter's constant companion. Strangely, he looked less boyish now. More like a man carrying the weight of true responsibility. He returned her gaze steadily.

"You must be patient, Kagome-sama," the monk's voice soothed in the distance. "Your condition may be interfering with the time slip. That would account for what happened last time."

She wanted to turn her head, to look upon the subject of the young monk's counsel, but she could not shift her gaze from the amber-eyed countenance before her. She struggled to no avail to speak, to move, to reach out to a daughter so close … yet hundreds of years away.

It had been more than a year since Kagome last departed through the well, anticipating and dreading the imminent completion of the jewel quest. As the days stretched into weeks, the gnawing uncertainty about a dreamlike vision from long ago had flowered into a desperate hope that she would not be lost to them forever.

Years ago, Jii-chan had dismissed her vision as a hallucination brought on by grief. Yet the visitation had calmed her, reminding her of the joy to be found in her children and lending her the strength to face each new day without her beloved husband.

Mama Higurashi could hardly believe her own eyes the first day the hanyou boy had appeared in her kitchen. She simply had to touch his ears to confirm the reality of the returning vision. As realization dawned that he was indeed flesh-and-blood, she had accepted that her daughter's fate was sealed to the boy. It was thus that Mama had decided to do everything in her power to succour Kagome in whatever small ways she could aid in her daughter's quest, eventually winning Jii-chan and Souta to the cause as well.

The well must be sealed. Inuyasha would have returned to tell us if she had been harmed.

"I protect Kagome with my life," Inuyasha's calm voice drew her from her reverie. "I swear to you that no harm will come to her." He sounded confident, like a man at peace with the world.

"Bring her back to us, Inuyasha. Please bring Kagome, and the baby as well. I know that she belongs to you now, but the baby is part of all of us."

Mama's quiet plea faded and her consciousness ebbed, the darkness reclaiming her in a dreamless sleep.


Jii-chan knelt before Goshinboku, praying to the kami that kept watch over the Higurashi family. The incense wafting lightly through the early summer evening suddenly made Kagome feel choked and irritable. "Mama." She felt the tightening low in her abdomen, like the early onset of her monthly cramps. She shifted uncomfortably, trying to find some relief from the bulk she now carried as the life within her stirred. "Mama, something is happening."

A spasm clenched her belly as wetness seeped out over her thighs. As the hanyou beside her suddenly sat up, the shifting of their futon pulled her consciousness back into the waking world.

"Kaede," he barked. "It's time!"

They were the worst cramps she had ever experienced and they were washing over her with increasing frequency. The pressure would build until it felt as though she might explode, blossoming into a sharpening ache.

"Shippou-chan, go fetch Miroku and Sango."

"What the fuck do you need them for, Babaa?"

"I need someone to assist with the birth, Inuyasha. I don't have time to deal with you as well. Miroku can keep you occupied."

Village men were normally barred from the birthing process, but Kaede allowed the hanyou to remain near. Most youkai imprinted their parents' scents at birth, and there was no way to know what senses this little one might have. Best not to deny the babe.

Inuyasha had been fretting, pacing through the small dwelling like a maddened bull. But Kagome was glad for his presence, for his unyielding strength as her hands clamped down on his through the worst of the contractions.

"Gnnnhhhh." Great heaving gasps marked the passing of that last one. Truly, Kagome wondered whether this hadn't been going on for days. She had never felt so exhausted.

Sango-chan wiped her brow with a dampened cloth. "You're doing well, Kagome-chan. So brave," she soothed. "Your timing was very lucky. Just think – you're going to miss the worst of summer's heat." Even in her fatigued state, a part of Kagome's mind registered the taijiya's growing belly, recognizing that Sango-chan would have to suffer the heat and humidity of summer while carrying the additional weight of her own pregnancy. There was no reason to add to her friend's burden by causing her to fear the inevitable pangs of birth. Kagome redoubled her efforts to brave this labour with a stalwart resolve.

It was common knowledge to the village women that birthing was best achieved while standing up. So long as the mother was not overcome with fatigue, gravity would aid in labour. But feeling the age in her bones, Kaede wasn't looking forward to kneeling and catching. She decided on an unorthodox approach.

"Inuyasha, your assistance is required now."

Kneeling by his young wife, the hanyou paled as the elderly miko explained what he should do. On Kaede's orders, he peeked to see how far along the baby had come. But the sight and scent of the crowning child was too much for Inuyasha to bear.

He hit the floor with a resounding thud.


Inuyasha awakened to the soft sound of cooing. Sitting up next to Kagome, he looked down on the tiny swaddled being she held next to her chest. His eyes widened as she graced him with one of her brilliant smiles.

"Would you like to hold your daughter?"

He trembled slightly as she placed the tiny infant in his arms. It was love at first sight. Inuyasha traced his clawed finger over the baby's tiny nose, over her perfectly formed human ears. The shock of silver hair and the violet eyes marked her father's gifts, but she was a happy looking little thing. Above all she resembled Kagome.

Inuyasha handed the babe her back to her mother. His ears squeaked.

"Where's the rest of them?"

"What?" Kagome looked confused.

"The others, where are the other babies?"

"What other babies?"

"She's so tiny. With your size and all that labouring noise, there must've been at least three of them in there."

The sudden and overwhelming scent of anger roiling off of his wife took Inuyasha by surprise. Kagome's eyes narrowed.

"I-nu-ya-sha,"

Oh, Shit.

"Osuwari!!!!"


Additional A/N: A few people have contacted me for a link the lemon. I'm not in the habit of passing links around to people I don't know, as I wouldn't want to inadvertently corrupt any under-aged minds. If you're old enough to read the chapter, I'm sure you can figure out the clue left in the author's note at the beginning of Chapter 6. /wink/