A/N: As usual, special thanks to Kim who not only is the best beta ever, but also throws sand ::panic::
Bloodlines
"If he spent more resources in keeping his borders protected," Kagome hissed, annoyed by the headache that hadn't left since Yutaka's beating, "we would be celebrating the fall of the Shiroari Order, not a single victory…"
"Patience," soothed her mate.
The miko sighed and leaned against his shoulder, when a servant kowtowed by their side. "Milord Sesshomaru-sama, milady Kagome-sama, the master of the house wishes to have a word privately."
The taiyoukai nodded, dismissing the man, before turning to her. "Will you come?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"I am aware of how little you tolerate this human."
She snorted. "I'll behave."
A surprised smile was replaced by a suspicious glare when she detected Rin sitting on her heels by the lord, eyes lowered. She realized immediately something was wrong, but she kept her mouth shut.
Her three daughters were by her side, with equally formal positions. Kagome was relieved to see them grown and healthy, considering how rarely they had the chance to see them.
She sat by her mate's side, and waited for the Daimyo of Satsuma to take his place. He spoke, voice rough and tone feignedly sweet. "This Tsuyoshi knows you are a busy one, Lord Sesshomaru, so I will be hasty. There is an important favor I require, and I am afraid I cannot accept a 'no' for an answer."
A muscle jumped in the demon's jaw, and his eyes narrowed. "Therefore there is not courtesy you request, but you make a demand."
"You must understand my most precious possession is at stake. My beloved Rin, the light of my days, is with child, and after the attack my palace suffered the day before yesterday, you understand she is not safe here."
It was Kagome's turn to hold back her ire.
"She and my daughters cannot remain here. I request you take them to the safety of your village, where no enemy has ever laid eyes on."
So this is it, Kagome thought bitterly. This is how he gets rid of them and starts from scratch with some whore, without losing us as allies.
She refused, however, to deny refuge to her own adoptive niece and her children, so she rushed to answer. "Of course. We will depart to our lands as soon as our soldiers are in shape to travel." She smiled softly at Rin. "Congratulations, by the way."
The young woman smiled and nodded. When her eyes met her aunt's, however, mute words were crossed.
Something's definitely going on…
"For the past six months, we had a personal escort assigned to my wife by the chief of the youkai taijiya. She will need her defender, here or away, so I insist you exchange a word with Kohaku-sama regarding these matters."
She nodded. "Of course."
No maidens, no daughters, no bodyguards, no soldiers, no husbands. Getting Rin alone to be able to chat took Kagome almost a whole week. It was fortunate they finally had time to talk honestly just then, since they would be leaving the Satsuma Fortress first thing the next morning.
Having her niece cornered, Kagome sat by her side on the stone bench of the garden. "Spill the beans quickly before the maiden comes back!"
She almost jumped, but immediately averted her eyes. "If I don't have a son this time, he'll forget about us."
The fear was so thick in her voice, Kagome's heart constricted. "Don't worry about this prick. The Shiroari Order is too weakened after this blow. We'll take them down, we don't need him anymore. If he gives you up, he won't have us to protect his palace, and you'll come to live with us, or you can go back to Edo, or you can even go to the taijiya village."
The dove-eyed girl bit back a sob, and nodded, holding her swollen belly tightly and protectively.
"Rin."
Kagome started at Sesshomaru's voice, noticing his hardly contained rage. His sharp golden eyes were rimmed with red, and a growl was held back deep in his chest.
Rin's eyes couldn't meet the taiyoukai's. She knew the question was coming since she'd seen him stare at her baby daughter playing in the gardens with the older two.
"The child you carry," he spoke, not waiting for her acknowledging. "And your youngest… they were not sired by the Satsuma Lord."
Kagome gasped, and turned to ask for confirmation from her niece, who had tears streaming her face freely.
The princess bolted from her place and kowtowed at her once lord's feet. "I am a dishonorable woman, Sesshomaru-sama," she whispered. "I have brought shame to my house and through our bond I have tainted your name. It would be your right to end my life."
"Raise, Rin," he said in a neutral tone, making the girl sit on her heels, still not meeting his eyes. The taiyoukai knelt by her side, placing a hand on the crown of her head, just like he used to eighteen years ago. She sniffed. "A faithless husband does not deserve the devotion of a truthful wife. I approve of your actions."
She sobbed pathetically, feeling the paternal love he still had for her after so long, relishing in the sense of protection his presence gave her. He was still her Sesshomaru-sama… "Thank you," she murmured.
"Does Kohaku know?"
Kagome had to bite her tongue not to squeal. She covered her mouth while gasping dramatically. "He's the…?"
Rin gulped and nodded. "He knows, yes."
"Has he vowed himself to you?"
"To love me and guard me like a husband to a wife."
"His honor is intact, then. If you are to remain at our house, rest assured no one will stop you from living as a married couple. If you desire to return to Edo, we will speak in your name to your kin."
She finally gathered the courage to look up at him. "Thank you so much…"
"Kagome, why do you cry?" He asked, hearing the soft sobs and smelling the salt.
"It's nothing," she whispered, hiding against his chest, covering her face with the sheets.
Sesshomaru sat on the futon, pulling her with him, and pressing her against his body in an embrace. "I cannot fix what troubles you if you keep it a secret."
It took her several dragging minutes of soothing words and caresses to finally speak. "I couldn't stop thinking about Rin and Kohaku, and how I really want them to be happy together… I was already too emotional, and then… I remembered how I almost lost you last week."
"But I am still here."
She nodded, her tears trailing down his skin. "But still, seeing that monster Yutaka, about to hurt you, about to take you away from me… I was so scared… I think I got a late reaction."
"The wellbeing of our troops and then Rin kept you busy. You had not dwelled on it."
She sniffed. "Gods, if I lost you…"
"You will not, Kagome. Stop thinking of it."
"We never brought them back… Kouga-kun, Ayame-chan, their cubs, Ah-Un… When they kill you, they kill you forever. If I lose you to them, I'll live for eternity, and it'll be without you. I won't even find you in another life."
He sighed. "You would not find me in the next life either way, since youkai do not reincarnate."
She looked up at him. "They don't?"
"No, it is a gift the gods bestowed upon humanity. We live longer lives instead."
"Then there won't even be a ghost for me to talk to!"
"We do not become spirits either. We descend to the netherworld, before our souls are cleansed. Then, our essence returns to the earth. Only humans have the choice of staying as a spirit or returning to the living in a new form. If I fall before you do, Kagome, do not search me among the dead. Find me in the air you breathe."
Her lower lip trembled, and she hugged him tightly. "You're not helping! That means I can't even have you in heaven if they erase your soul like it never existed!"
He suppressed a chuckle. "I believe there is a solution to your fear."
"Huh?"
"I will see to it as soon as we arrive to the village. Totousai's services will be once more required." She gave him a suspicious look, and he smirked. "Sleep, Kagome. I promise my soul will not disappear into nothingness."
"Not tonight not ever?"
He chuckled. "Not tonight, not ever."
Sango blinked, bringing attention to the diminutive wrinkles at the sides of her eyes, the light filtering from the door of her home shining on half of her face.
"This is a mess to explain," Kagome groaned. How had Rin convinced her of facing Sango in her name? "Do you want me to repeat it?"
"No, I understand just fine that my daughter and my brother are having their second child and I just found out," the woman replied.
"Well… lucky you at least they're not really blood related. I don't think they ever saw each other as family, honestly."
Her friend's eyes narrowed. "Ah, so you knew…"
Kagome laughed awkwardly. "I caught them kissing once nine years ago. No biggie. So, you're not angry, are you?"
Sango sighed. "I always wondered why Kohaku wouldn't say anything… He's been making eyes at her since the day he realized he wouldn't die by Naraku's hand… I hope Miroku takes it as well as me. We've wanted to kill Tsuyoshi ever since the day we met him. Maybe it will serve to cheer him up about this mess."
"There's one more thing. I don't think we should send her back to Tsuyoshi. Ever. Even if the baby's a boy, it's better for everyone if he just forgets about her and she and Kohaku can be happy."
Sango nodded. "I wouldn't send my girl back to that pig even if my life depended on it."
She clapped her hands in front of her face. "Good! 'Cause I've got an idea."
The crate was made of rich, dark cherry wood, with bronze details, and Kagome had to rip her eyes from it to stare at her husband's. "For me?"
"Yes. A gift I hope pleases my mate and placates her fears."
She opened the lid and stared at the perfectly polished red bow in it. "Gods, it's beautiful."
"Take it."
Her hands brushed the wood and it tingled against her skin. "It… it feels like you," she murmured while inspecting the saiguu-yumi closely.
"And it will feel like you once you imbue it with your purification powers."
She stared intently at the perfectly carved longbow. "There's something familiar about it…" A gleam caught her eye. The string… is silver!
He smiled when she noticed it. "The string was made with my hair and youki. In your bow, Kagome, rests a piece of my power. Even if I were to fall in battle, you would still hold a part of my soul. No matter if my essence is completely purified, I will be with you."
Tears gleamed in the corners of her eyes and she hugged him tightly. "Thanks, this… this means a lot to me."
"Woman, I refuse to see the end of me any time soon. I have promised you an eternity, and I will fulfill that oath."
"Yeah, you better, 'cause I've got a chunk of your spirit now, and I'll do bad things to it if you go dying on me."
"I shall keep it in mind."
The messenger delivered the scroll to the miko, and she read it before releasing a delighted squeal. "Rin's baby's born! It's a boy!"
Jinenji smiled brightly, and Inuyasha lowered from his place atop of a smiling Bokuseno to peek at the written words. "Should we go visit?"
She looked at him surprised, before smiling. "Of course, silly!"
After a frenzy of preparations, everyone was headed to receive the new member of their adopted family. Kagome was pressed against her husband's side, when she heard him chuckle. He answered the question before she could even phrase it. "There was a time when my pack consisted of no one but me… Now, thanks to you, it seems to be growing at monstrous speed."
She giggled. "Don't accuse me of that. You had Rin way before you had me!"
"And you returned her to my pack through our bond. For that, I am thankful."
She kissed his cheek, sending tingles through his body when her lips brushed a stripe. "I don't think Rin ever stopped considering you family."
"I certainly did not."
"God, he's your clone!" Kagome gasped, looking at the newborn and Kohaku.
The man smiled softly, holding his son against his chest. "I'm so glad we don't have to hide around anymore…"
"So, where are you going to live?"
"At the taijiya village. I'm still the headman, after all. Imagine how surprised the villagers will be when I arrive with a wife and four children… Would you like to hold him?" Kagome nodded brightly and held the boy in her arms. "I'm gonna go get more firewood. Inuyasha, give me a hand?"
The hanyou nodded and strode behind the slayer, leaving a napping kitsune, a miko, and taiyoukai behind.
The miko looked up at her husband, holding the tiny bundle against her chest. "Sesshomaru?"
"Hnn?"
"Let's make a baby?"
"I hadn't seen you in a long time, my friend," Kohaku commented while gathering the logs.
"Well, yeah, we're always busy lately."
"So I've heard. Nashiko got pretty beaten up last time."
Inuyasha coughed. "Y-yeah… We took down a dragon, and it wasn't an easy fight. She… she did good, though…"
Kohaku's lips turned into a smile. He was about to answer when a feminine voice did for him. "Like hell she did well. She's still al patched up. Now that aunt Kagome's here, she could close those wounds for her." The taijiya turned to see a short haired brunette girl clad in a black bodice and holding a guandao over her shoulder. The female slayer poked the half demon with the bottom tip of her weapon. "You should take better care of my sister," she hissed.
"Hi to you too, Momoko," the hanyou growled.
"Good morning, Momo-chan. In to meet your nephew?"
"Hell yeah! Let me give you a hand with that," she chimed, taking a few logs of her own and setting her weapon in its sheath at her back.
They returned to the hut, finding Kagome and Sesshomaru staring at each other, both extremely rigid and quiet. The female taijiya said her salutations and leaned to kiss the newborn's forehead softly. She then entered the bedroom, following both males, finding Rin and a still wounded Nashiko.
She looked at both of them, and a wicked grin crept on her face while she set her logs on the fire pit. "Nieces… Amiright?"
Their dark red faces were enough to make her snort.
Sesshomaru hadn't said a single word in response, and she blinked, waiting for his answer. What if he didn't want to have hanyou with her?
Just when she was about to withdraw the offer, Inuyasha stormed out of the other room, fuming and so red Kagome could have sworn his face matched his pants.
"I'm gonna go talk to him," she said quickly, handing the child to her mate, and following her brother in law outside.
She finally caught up with him on the stairs to the shrine, and she couldn't help but laugh at his expression: a flawless combination of embarrassment, panic, shame, and anger. "Inuyasha, calm down, what is it?" He babbled something, and she shook her head. "C'mon, let's go talk somewhere else."
She pulled him by the sleeve, up the stairs and into the woods. When he realized where they were headed, he almost passed out.
Kagome sat between the roots of the Goshinboku, and Inuyasha followed her reluctantly after several long moments. She smiled at him. "What is it?"
"I… Keh! Nothing's wrong, wench, why would it be?"
She cocked her head, grin widening. "Is it about Nashiko?"
The way he almost jumped out of his skin made her let out a bark of laughter. "What does she have to do with anything? What the fuck are you even talkin' about?"
She whipped a tear. "Inuyasha… I've caught you staring at her every single time I've seen you two in the same room. You get so blushed when she passes by, I'd swear you get a fever each time." He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "I know you are head over heels for her, so don't deny it."
The hanyou gulped and after several long minutes, he looked away, 'kheing' loudly.
Kagome hugged her knees and leaned forward. "Why don't you tell her how you feel?"
His eyes darkened, and he kicked a root. "It's still the same."
"Huh?"
"It's the same. I couldn't mate you, and I won't mate her. It's the same. Nothing's changed…"
"Is this about not being able to give her kids? She's a taijiya, Inuyasha, she's got to know."
Inuyasha whirled to look in her eyes so fast she almost didn't caught the movement. His eyes were huge, and he had paled to a sickish yellow. "How did you…? Who told you?" He breathed.
She sighed, hugging her knees more tightly to her chest. "I kinda figured it out between you left and Sesshomaru found me. Nothing else made sense… Still, this isn't about me, it's about her… And you… You should have talked to me, Inuyasha. I should have had some saying in it… It was my future too, ya know…" She looked up at the bright blue sky between the leaves, and shrugged. "I love my life, and I wouldn't change anything… but if you would have talked to me, everything would've been different… What I mean is you should talk to her and give her the choice."
The hybrid felt the air enter his lungs like a knock on his ribcage, lifting the weight of so many years of secrets, and insecurities, and silence. The words of his sister-in-law filtered into his brain a moment later. "Why would I do that?" He asked with a blush, and she giggled again.
"Because… I've caught her staring at you, too."
A/N: OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD.
So, I started publishing a couple of random fics to procrastinate because I'm a terrible human being, and one of them, Strictly Business, got like FREAKISHLY popular. For you to notice the impact, this fic has 46 followers and 24 favs. SB got, in only SIX CHAPTERS, 46 favs and 95 follows and I'm so very conflicted about this... I mean, yeah, SB has a complex plot but it came to me in a shower... I didn't have to work on the plot twists like in this one!
Here are the summaries of all my fics.
*The Fall: [IN PROGRESS] [Alternative Reality][IN PROGRESS] [InuxKag] [PG-16]. She never fell down the Well, she never freed him. At 16 years old Kagome Higurashi already knows exactly what life will be to her and she wants more... A mysterious dog-eared boy who pushes her buttons offers an alternative to boredom.
*Strictly Business: [IN PROGRESS] [Alternative Universe] [SessxKag] [PG-18]. Dr. in biochemistry Sesshomaru Taisho has no time for or interest in seducing women. Being a practical taiyoukai, he decides to skip the initial steps hiring an escort, who ends up being exactly what his life was missing. Only Kagome Higurashi, petit fantasy-fulfiller at night and bankrupt student by day, can provide him with what he needs... And also, maybe, offer a solution for the demanding investigation that keeps the demon working restlessly.
*Dear Mama, Gramps, and Souta: [IN PROGRESS][Canon Universe] [InuxKag, SessxRin] [PG-9]. Kagome's family has tried to move on, but the empty sit in their table reminds them Kagome is gone, and this time it's forever. Years after her daughter's departure, however, Mrs. Higurashi stumbles across a chest that has something far more valuable than a treasure inside. Letter after letter, the family will discover what it was of their sweet Kagome, written and explained by her own hand.
*Chapter One: [Alternative Reality] [ONE-SHOT] [InuxKag] [PG-12] Written on October the 21st 201, paying homenage to the movie Back To The Future II. Topic: Alternative Timelines. Inuyasha is dead and nothing can bring him back. Kagome closes the Well and returns to her time, where she must try to survive an empty life without her beloved hanyou... Except that maybe... She doesn't have to.
Anyway, if you want to read them, check out my profile. Also, I posted a cover picture on DA for Strictly Business (and it got removed, since allegedly it's CHILD PORN despite Kagome is 19 on the fic and a grown married woman by the end of the canon series); so you can find it on dokugaDOTcom/gallery?func=detail&id=10780
I hope this chapter wasn't too bad. I wrote it very sick and started it at 3 am and finished at 9.30 am. I'm destroyed, why do I do this to myself? Possibly the version Kim corrects will make more sense XD
AS ALWAYS, THIS CHAPTER NEEDS AT LEAST TWO REVIEWS SO I CAN POST THE NEXT ONE!
Lots of love ::heart::