FNC: This chapter, despite its extremely short nature, is dedicated to one of the most important people in my life thus far, Clouds In The Sky, affectionately termed by me as "Kumo-chan." Of course, I pretty much have no life, so...yeah. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Jakoutsu's reaction to Kinamadare was everything I expected. Since he wasn't a demon, he couldn't detect whether she was ours or not, and he just...went berserk.
"WHAT IN THE FUCK??!?!?" he gaped, head probably reeling. "Who—whose baby is that?! I know it's not y'all's, 'cause...well, hell, Inuyasha hasn't even been here a full nine months, so...but what if Seimegami took over Kagome's body?! That would mean that she could have her kid in, like...four months! Aah!" Inuyasha and I looked at each other, then back at our clueless friend.
"Jakoutsu..." I began, but he was now in his own world of pandemonium.
"And I was so ignorant! I should've known something was going on!" he wailed. "They were fucking behind my back!" We anime-sweatdropped.
"Jakoutsu!"
"Oh, why, why must it always be the young ones?!"
"You're only twenty-four..."
"Wow, really? I didn't know that." Inuyasha commented. I threw him a glare and he shrugged, grinning sheepishly.
"Jakoutsu, you idiot, nobody's had a baby—yet, anyways. I am, however, due." I smiled, motioning to rub my belly. I grimaced slightly when I felt pudge I never possessed.
Jakoutsu blew a sigh and grinned at us. "You idiots. Worrying me like that. Whew! I'm going to get some Rocky Road." As he walked in the kitchen, I called after him, "Hey, Ja-chan, get me a carton, too! Ooh, ooh, and some pickles, too! ...Dipped in hot sauce! And add some lemon juice to it, wouldja?" Both males stared at me.
"Oy...this pregnancy is gonna take a toll on both of our stomachs..." Inuyasha gurgled, clasping his belly. "Since when you do eat shit like that?"
"Since I got pregnant."
"Well, you've obviously never been pregnant before, 'cause you don't like pickles, hot sauce breaks you out in hives, and lemon juice is too sour for you." Jakoutsu cleared his throat. I pouted.
"Ah, well. It sounded nasty anyway. But I am hungry."
"Then I'll make you something edible. How about a nice sundae?"
"Sure. Can you put some—"
"And nothing abnormal that you'd find in a French restaurant, please?" Jakoutsu smirked. I laughed.
"I was going to say sprinkle some Dom on it."
"Oh, now that I can do! Heh! Be back in a jiff." While Jakoutsu was in the kitchen, I turned to Kinamadare, who was currently sleeping, and lightly tickled her cheek.
"Ohh..." I sighed happily. "Soon, around January or something, I'll be having a little girl or boy with—hopefully—cute dog ears like his or her father." My proud smile slowly dissipated into a frown.
"What's wrong?" Inuyasha murmured, concern radiating in his eyes as he looked at me.
"Oh...nothing. It's just...this fatness. I mean, I know it's the former me talking, the whore me, but I can't help but feel disgusted at the damn fatness." My mate glared at me, but before he could go off on me, Jakoutsu came in with the sundae. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at me, a look that clearly stated, "We'll talk about this later."
And talk about it later we did. Once Sango came over to get Kinamadare and Jakoutsu went off to god-knows-where, Inuyasha and I were left alone in the house, and I without any distractions or diversions to avoid this talk. Of course, normally, I'd be trying to watch tv or something, but Inuyasha told me he'd located some kind of "circuit breaker box" or something and flipped a few switches that cut certain things off. I dunno how that shit works, but if I ever find it, I'll destroy it to death. There Inuyasha and I sat on the couch; me with my eyes cast downward, glowering at my stomach, and Inuyasha with his eyes cast sideward, glowering at me. Damn you, unborn fetus Tsutsuji/Aoitsuki! Well, that's what I'd name a girl or boy, respectively. It's just that I haven't told Inuyasha yet. Tsutsuji, for you who don't speak Japanese, means azalea, and Aoitsuki is blue moon. Isn't it pretty? Aoitsuki is interchangeable, but frankly, it sounds more boyish to me.
"Damn it, Kagome, what the hell is wrong with you?" Inuyasha finally said.
"Umm...I'm schizophrenic? Hehe..." I chuckled uneasily, looking up at him shyly. He merely frowned.
"That's not funny, Kagome."
"Yeah, I know." I sighed. In any other situation in which I wasn't pregnant, I'd easily turn on that charm, and he'd forget this entire conversation. However, my self-confidence was currently in very low supply. Apparently, the supply and demand system was not on my side right now. "I don't know, I just...I guess I don't think I'm good enough for you, is all."
"But since when have you thought you were actually fat?! What the hell is a few pounds, Kagome?!"
"I don't know!" I whined, aware that I sounded younger than the undeveloped child in my womb.
"Kagome, there are people in damn America fatter than you. Way fatter. And they're not pregnant. Hell, you're not fat!"
"Then what the fuck is this?!" I cried out, jumping to my feet and gripping the looser skin around my midsection. "There's no reason for you to care about any of the other fat people, especially not the fat people in America, for God's sakes! I mean, they're not your mates! Who in the world would ever want the fat girl?" I muttered sullenly, releasing my fat. Inuyasha looked up at me and I at him.
"Look at me, Kagome. What do you see?"
"A hot hunk of a hanyou who doesn't deserve Shamu's obese mother-in-law." I moaned.
"Kagome..." he sighed firmly. "Look at my body." I glared at him weakly. He wanted to show off, the prick... I humored him, however, and lazily ran my eyes over his frame. A blush dusted my cheeks when I noticed the throbbing bulge in his pants. I looked up at his face, and his expression was, like, so damn serious. He was staring me in the eye.
"Any man should get excited seeing their mate carrying his child." He said. My eyes brimmed with unshed tears and I threw my arms around his neck. He unhesitatingly returned the embrace, stroking my hair with one hand and lifting me onto his lap with the other. I was amazed at the strength, and it obviously showed in my aura. He chuckled. "It's like when a mother defends her child, and they seem to possess superhuman strength; inuyoukai strength damn near triples when their mate is with child." I smiled lovingly at him.
"Did you know I love you?"
"Do you love me enough to stop calling yourself a whore?" I scowled at him.
"Why do you always deny what I am?"
"I'm not denying who you are, because that's not what you are!"
"Well, fine, if you wanna get technical, it's not what I am—it's what I was, and there will always be a part of me that'll remain that whore."
"But you are not a fucking whore, Kagome! You're my mate, for god's sake!"
"I'm aware of that, thank you, and I have the rash on my ass and the bite marks to prove it! I am what I am, so don't try to change me. I'm a whore, not a miko, and I'm going to hell in the end. That's how it is, that's how it's gonna be." I harrumphed, crossing my arms stubbornly. Inuyasha groaned, lifting me from his lap and plunking me onto the couch. He got to his feet and headed for the door.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" I exclaimed, alarmed. I knew he wasn't actually leaving me for this petty argument...right? Right?!
Oh, damn! Is this the part where I'm supposed to offer my input for you to yet again disregard? Well, here it is, plain and simple: No, you idiot. Inuyoukai mate for life, everybody knows that. He's a little ticked right now—though who wouldn't be, what with your constant self-condemnation—but he's just going to take a little time away from you. Let you cool down, too.
"I'm going for a walk." He ground out shortly, closing the door behind him. Even as he said the words, I felt the dampness on my cheeks. Now I was alone again, having run off the only man I romantically loved. A migraine was coming on, and I could tell already that this was going to be a long pregnancy.
I found out something about myself. After Inuyasha left, I'd quietly cried myself to sleep. I tend to sleep whenever I have a problem. I read somewhere that when something's wrong, people go to sleep and when they wake up, problem's solved. Apparently, the psychological theory was pretty damn right, because when I woke up, Inuyasha was staring at me, laid beside me. I looked at him, he at me, and at the same time, we blurted, "I'm sorry." We paused.
"But what are you sorry for? I'm the one that—" We once again said together.
"Go ahead."
"No, you."
"It's only fair that you go first."
"Ladies first."
"...But I insist."
"But I'm the one who walked out."
"Therefore...! (scoffs in obvious way) You should go first!"
"Fine. I'm sorry, because I was the one making a big deal out of nothing. You are who you are, and, well...I can't help that. I'm sorry for trying to change you."
"No, no, I'm sorry for being so superficial." I sighed. "I'm such a bitch..."
"Yeah, you are. But you're my bitch." He grinned, kissing me on the lips. I smiled against his mouth before he pulled away again.
"...Wow. I just realized something."
"Hmm? And what's that, mate?"
'We just had our first lover's quarrel!" I giggled, clapping my hands together quite Londonishly. "Yay, us!"
Inuyasha laughed. "And this is good?"
"Well, sure! I mean..." I delicately traced a finger down his chest, making him shudder. Oh, yeah. I still had it. "The more we fight..." I leaned in close to his lips again, our noses touching. "...the better the make-up sex." I shortly puckered my lips, teasing him. My koinu whimpered, obviously wanting more. In any other situation, he would've already had me face down on a pillow by now and by kami, I would've loved it. However, due to his child in my womb, he had to be gentler nowadays. Of course, knowing Inuyasha, who'd most likely never inseminated anyone before, he probably thought that we couldn't have sex while I was pregnant.
His naivete sometimes can be quite amusing.
So, to tease him even further, I wiggled my fingers down his pants, creeping down his dick. He groaned lightly, legs vibrating as he clamped them together. I withdrew my hand just before it got crunched up. What the hell?
"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.
"We...we can't do that, not...not, like, now!" he panicked. "I-I mean, you're pregnant, and I don't wanna harm the pup!" I fought the urge to snicker. I saw this coming. So I straightened my face to the most serious expression I could muster in this situation and said, "Relax, Inuyasha. You won't harm him-slash-her."
"You don't know that!"
"Actually, yes, I do. It's a statistically-proven fact. As a matter of fact, they say sex is even better for the baby's metabolism or something like that. Hey, maybe he-slash-she'll be smart." Inuyasha still looked unsure. I sighed with a slight roll of my eyes. "Inuyasha—trust me. You won't hurt me or the baby. Besides, I'm still in the early stages!" The hanyou kept silent, eyes averted. I growled, narrowing my eyes. I grabbed his collar and mashed our lips together in a furious kiss. Inuyasha cried out, trying to push me away, but I fisted my fingers in his hair, stilling him. His arms flailed alarmingly, slowly slackening as I trailed my tongue down his swollen bottom lip down to his Adam's apple, which resonated with his audible tremble. With enough sucking of his thyroid cartilage, his arms completely remitted.
"Ohhh...damn you." He muttered, his vibrating cartilage tickling my tongue. I merely smirked, lifting his shirt off of his head.
"It's why you love me. Now shut up and let me make love to you, you idiot." I kissed his right nipple, giggling as I did so and he flinched at the sensation. The concept of him being just as ticklish there as I was, was even funnier than his naivete.
However, once he put his hands up my shirt to take it off, the amusement was gone and I felt very deeply ashamed. Sure, he said all that junk about how we were mates, and he was turned on by me carrying his child, but would it all change when he actually saw my bare stomach? Would he be repulsed? And so, feeling like the hypocrite I'm usually not, I pushed his hands away, sheepishly turning my back to him. I could tell by his very aura that he was hurt and confused.
"Hey, you, what's wrong?"
"Um...nothing..." The short pause that followed and the slightly darker air he emitted told me that he'd narrowed his eyes.
"You're thinking about your weight again, aren't you?" I shook my head rapidly. "(sigh) Damn, Kagome. Well, fine, then. Fuck it. If you don't want to do anything, then we won't do anything. I give up. Your weight insecurity, however, is really beginning to grate on my nerves." I felt the bed move and level with the deduction of Inuyasha's weight and I sighed. Again, diffidence ruined my relationship with my mate. When I rolled back over, Inuyasha was gone.
"Damn it!" I swore. I paused before praying that the child didn't have my temper.
It took Inuyasha an awful long time to return from wherever he'd gone. I was up all night worrying about the idiot man I'd mated, and even Jakoutsu, a bit of waddling--I mean, dancing--and a few pints of Rocky Road couldn't calm me down. My nerves were shot to hell, possibly much like my romantic chances with Inuyasha. If he came back, it would probably only be because he felt obligated to take care of his child. My mind was filled with depressing thoughts such as these, and they all kept me awake, well after Jakoutsu'd gone to bed. It was one in the morning, and I couldn't sleep—no, wouldn't sleep until Inuyasha returned. I absolutely refused to. Within the interval of our separation, I ate a strange variety of foods, such as fried sausage wrapped in flat hamburger, topped with bacon bits and smothered in spray cheese and steak sauce. Surprisingly, it was pretty damn good, and I made about three of them before getting sick. I wobbled over to the couch to lay down a while, and so I wouldn't accidentally go to sleep, I cut on the tv. If there was one thing I hated about early morning tv, it was the paid programming. Nothing but paid goddamned programming and other stupid shit. However, a certain produce did intrigue me.
"Tired of him always leaving you?" a disembodied female voice said in the thirty-minute showing.
"Huh...yeah, I am!"
"Has he been leaving you because of your low-self esteem? Do you feel like less than what you used to be?"
"Hell yeah!"
"Have you gotten fatter?" A vein popped in my forehead.
"Could you get to the goddamned product already?!" I growled.
"Then try Flab-B-Gone—the weight-loss dieting pill for women that works." I rolled my eyes at the overly cliché label.
"Oh, forget it. Those things make your tits all...flabby. And mine seem to be getting bigger. I definitely don't need that..." With a sigh, I clicked off the television. I cast a longing look at the front door once more. Yep. This was gonna be a long pregnancy.