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Rina's health wasn't the only thing that bloomed. After she left, Kikyo's abdomen swelled like a watermelon. She was afflicted with the curse of morning sickness but otherwise was very happy and excited. Jeremy couldn't seem to keep his feet on the ground. He was always smiling and almost floated in the air when he told Kagome about it.
"He's so excited about this," Felix commented after he left.
"Of course he is. This is his first child. Besides, he seems like a family man, and Kikyo is very excited about their child. He loves Kikyo so much; anything she loves, he will, too."
"They are close, aren't they?"
"Their kind of love is very rare. If his village hadn't been destroyed, I doubt that either of them would have found a love like they have right now."
Jeremy was very supportive of Kikyo, almost too supportive. He was constantly by her side and wouldn't let her walk anywhere without him. Even when she scolded him about acting like a mother hen, he just laughed and continued hovering over her. Although she still had her spells of irritability and nothing would appease her, his easy-going manner helped keep Kikyo in a tolerably good mood.
When it got closer to the time Kikyo would give birth, they moved in with Kagome. Something seemed off with Kikyo, enough that Kagome worried, but she acted fine, so she didn't think very much of it. Felix raised his eyebrows when Kikyo and Jeremy moved in with them, but he didn't complain. He did ask her why, though. "I've always delivered the children in her family," she explained. "Most of the family knew to come here to deliver their children. Sometimes they didn't because the family was spread out all over the world, but most of them remembered to come."
"Do they not anymore?"
"I think most of them are dead now. I was surprised when Rina came here because I thought the plague had killed off everyone except Kikyo's family."
Her friends also came to visit. Kikyo still wasn't very fond of them, but they mostly stayed and talked with Kagome, so they didn't bother her.
"When is the baby due?" Jenna asked, holding her one-year-old son on her lap.
"Sometime this month," answered Kagome, folding a blanket.
"Kiara, don't touch that!" Mia scooped up her daughter who was about to grab a pair of scissors. "Will Jeremy's family be coming?"
"He doesn't have any family outside of us."
"That's right. I forgot. He'll let us see the baby, won't he?"
"I think it'll be harder to convince him not to show it off. He's very excited about this."
"I can imagine," Jenna said. "He's had no family, and now he can start his own. I remember when I thought I didn't have family anymore."
"It happened so long ago I doubt that he feels bad when he thinks about it."
"Where is he, by the way?"
Kagome waved her hand outside. "I had him get me some pine cones. They burn nicely and give off a nice scent. Hopefully they'll help with Kikyo's delivery if she isn't as tense. I've found that they really help."
"Is it that close?"
"It'll happen any day now, and I don't want him here when it does happen. Kikyo will be in a lot of pain, and he'll probably panic; most men do. If either of you come up with something for him to do, I would be in your debt."
They shook their heads. "Not off the top of my head, no," Mia said. "Sorry."
The men came home. "I guess it's time for us to head back," said Jenna. She and Mia stood up. "We need to get these little ones in bed. We'll see you later, Kagome."
"Did you enjoy talking to them?" Felix asked once they were gone.
"I did. I hardly ever get to see them anymore."
He walked over to her and pulled her into his lap. "I missed you," he said, burrowing his face in her hair.
It's been a little over a year since we sorted out what was going on, yet it feels like yesterday at the same time. I didn't realize how much I missed having him like this until he actually started doing it again. I wish I could stay like this, but I need to see how Kikyo's doing. Reluctantly, she removed his hands from her waist, ignoring his looks of longing, and stood up. "I need to check on Kikyo," she explained.
She ran into Kikyo right outside the sickroom. "My water just broke," Kikyo said, looking very panicked.
"That's supposed to happen," Kagome assured her as she pushed her back into the room and onto the bed. "Just lie here and we'll see what we can do. First, let's get you changed out of that miko attire and into this."
She helped her niece get out of her clothes and into the gown. Just in time, too. The contractions started, and Kikyo wasn't quite prepared for how painful they'd be. When the first one hit, she arched her back in agony, screaming fit to wake the dead.
"Kikyo, squeeze this." Kagome handed her the same sand-filled ball she had given to Karen, Kikyo's mother. Of course, Kikyo didn't know that, nor did she care at this time.
Taking hold of the ball, Kikyo squeezed it as the contractions hit again, and again. She didn't scream, and she didn't arch back. However, her eyes held worlds of pain in them, and her hissed breaths told what screams couldn't.
The contractions kept hitting long into the night. Jeremy had come by with the pinecones and wanted to see his wife. Kagome couldn't let him, so she told Felix through a closed door to tell Jeremy that she needed more firewood. He had to chop it and bring them back her in one-foot logs, exactly one foot. Felix relayed the message, and Kagome continued to keep her attention on Kikyo.
Judging by the clock Kagome had made a long time ago, it was two in the morning when Kikyo gave birth to her daughter. Kagome methodically brought out the towels and wiped down her daughter. Once she was finished, however, Kikyo was still bleeding. This doesn't look good. Using some of the spare towels, she tried to stop her niece's blood from flowing. "Should I call in Jeremy?" she asked.
Kikyo weakly nodded. Upon entering the living room, Jeremy leaped up and grabbed Kagome's arms. "Is she okay?" he demanded, wild in his worry for his wife.
"Yes, she bore you a daughter. You can go in and see her, but don't excite her. She needs to rest right now."
He ran into the room, and Kagome turned to Felix. "I'm worried about her," she confessed. "She didn't stop bleeding after the baby was born. In the summer, that's not a good thing, but in winter, that's deadly. She could get hypothermia. I don't think she's in any danger of dying, but I'd like to keep an eye on her."
He opened his mouth to say something when something burst through their front door. "Lady Kagome!" it shouted.
"Who calls?" she asked.
It turned out to be a young boy. He looked no older than fourteen. "Please, it's my grandmother," he said. "Something's wrong with her."
"What do you mean? You didn't come running through a demon-infested forest for something minor."
"She doesn't recognize me or my dad, and she keeps screaming. It's all he can do to keep her inside the house."
She looked at Felix. "I think it would be a good idea to look into this," she said. "I just need to talk to Jeremy for a second." She entered the dim room and saw Jeremy holding Kikyo's hand. It was very white against his tan hands. She was so pale; she had lost so much blood. "Jeremy, I need you to look after Kikyo for me. Can you do that?"
"Where are you going?" he asked, his bloodshot eyes looking up at her.
"There's an emergency in Vale. I just need you to stay awake for a little longer and see that she doesn't get cold. Can you do that?"
He nodded. "I can manage that. Please hurry. She's so white. Why is she like this?"
"She's lost a lot of blood, but if she doesn't get cold and we take care of her, she'll get better."
She followed the child, keeping her Hiraikotsu ready. There were a few problems, but they were dealt with quickly. When they arrived in Vale, the child went straight for one of the houses nearer to the gate. He opened the door and hurried inside. "Dad," the child called. "I brought Lady Kagome."
"In here," a deep voice said. They followed it to the living room, where the child's father held the grandmother down on the couch. "She's delirious," he said. "She doesn't know us."
Kagome went to them. "Let's see," she murmured, looking for something wrong. Her miko sight revealed a blackness around the grandmother's soul, completely encompassing it. She let her hand hover over it, purifying it. Unfortunately, once the blackness disappeared, the grandmother's soul wasn't purified; there was nothing underneath the darkness. As it disappeared, though, the old woman screamed in pain. Kagome immediately withdrew her hand. "I don't know if there's anything I can do," she admitted.
"Please try," the child begged.
Kagome tried to make the woman swallow some tea that had some purifying qualities, but the woman only spat it back out. She put garlic near the woman, but she had violent spasms and almost threw off the man holding her down. In the end, there was nothing Kagome could do. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "but I can't save her. I can put her out of her misery quickly, but that's all I can offer."
The man looked down at the old woman. "If she gets out, then she'll kill people. She already tried to kill us. Please, just make it quick." His son started crying.
Kagome nodded. Putting her hand over the grandmother's heart again, she focused her miko power into one beam and purified the darkness all at once. The woman convulsed violently, screamed almost as loud as Kikyo had, and collapsed.
The man released the woman and took his son out of the room. Kagome followed them. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her," she said.
"At least you tried," the man said, tears in his eyes. "My mother was old; she was going to die soon anyway. Thank you for coming. Here, please take this as payment." He handed her a bag of coins.
"I can't take this," she protested, but the man shoved it into her hands.
"Take it," he said.
There was no arguing with him, so she took it and left him and his son to grieve for their mother and grandmother.
She trekked through the woods with Hiraikotsu slung over her back. Instead of bothering with fighting them physically, she just blasted any demon in her way with her miko energy. She was bone-weary and only wanted to go to sleep. If she had to fight with a demon hand-to-hand, she wouldn't last.
The house came into view, and her clock inside said it was four in the morning. Stumbling to the weapon room, she put Hiraikotsu in its spot and entered the main house. It was late, and Felix was probably already asleep. All she wanted to do was join him, but first she had to check on Kikyo.
The room was dark when she got there. Jeremy let the lights go out, she thought irritably; she was tired, so she wasn't in the mood to be charitable. Going back into the kitchen, she lit a candle and took it with her to the sickroom. She lit the candles in the room and looked over at the bed. Kikyo was sleeping quietly, her child in her arms, and Jeremy was also asleep, his head on the bed. I can't blame him. He's been chopping wood and doing all sorts of things that are physically draining. I guess he deserves his rest.
She sat next to Kikyo; she was still so pale, and it was chilly in here. She looked down at her niece, brushing back her bangs. Her skin was so cold. Frowning, Kagome picked up one of her hands and put two fingers to her pulse. There was none. Kikyo was dead.
"No." Kagome dropped her hand and put a hand over her heart, using her miko power to try and sense any life in her niece. It was no use; her soul had already fled. "Kikyo!" she cried, sobbing into her niece's soulless body.
Her cries woke the baby, and she added her wails to Kagome's. This cacophony woke Jeremy. His sleepy eyes took in the scene, but he didn't comprehend for a second. "What happened?" he demanded hoarsely.
"K-Ki-Kikyo's dead," Kagome sobbed.
"What?" He reached for her cold, pale hand for a pulse. "Kikyo…Kikyo, you can't do this. Please, baby, come back to me." He started to call for her in a broken voice and wouldn't stop. It was a pitiful sight to see, him calling for his wife, but she would never answer.
After the initial pain had somewhat dulled, Kagome pulled herself together and picked up the squalling baby. She immediately quieted, but her father did not. "Kikyo, Kikyo, don't go," he was pleading with her.
"Jeremy," Kagome said, her voice hoarse from her tears. "Jeremy, I know how much this hurts you."
He ignored her. "Kikyo, wait for me. If you won't come to me, then I'll go to you."
He made a move to get up, but Kagome pushed him back down. "Jeremy, you can't follow her," she told him.
Glaring at her, he said nothing. "Jeremy, Kikyo would not want you to die. She would want you to live and care for your baby." She held out the silent child.
Jeremy took the baby to his chest and crumpled. "No, please no. Kikyo…my Kikyo." He held the baby to his chest and sobbed.
