a/n: thank you for the reviews! And I pretty rushed to type up this chapter and didn't bother with editing, so please forgive me for any mistakes!

Chapter 27

If there was ever a man to claim he does not fear a pregnant woman, he has obviously never known one. A pregnant woman was not a force to reckoned with.

A pregnant Inu... Now that was a completely different story.

Sesshomaru had prided himself on his strength for ages. He came from a very long line of powerful Daiyoukai. He's had many, many battles, faced great dangers, and had come close to death a time or two.

But nothing -nothing- was nearly as terrifying as the sight of Kagome, his sweet, precious Kagome, as she was now. As she grew closer and closer to her delivery, her mode swings became worse and worse. When she first woke up early this morning, everything was fine. She walked around with a smile plastered on her face. She was cheery and polite, even helped several servants with their labors. However, the moment Rin left to attend her lessons, Kagome had burst into tears. For nearly an hour straight she'd sobbed, saying how much she missed Rin and such. Then it was hell afterwards.

Nothing was right with her. She yelled at the servants for not doing their job correctly, then yelled at them even more when they did do it correctly. Though she rushed to apologize afterwards, she started yelling even more. There was a point when Sesshomaru felt a bit of sympathy for them, which was soon directed at the poor vase that had been flung at a near wall.

And then, dear kamis above, that anger was turned to Sesshomaru. Currently ducking behind the already low desk in his study, he watched as Kagome paced back and forth, grumbling here and there about nothing in particular. Sesshomaru didn't dare try to calm her down. Especially not when her youkai flared violently around her. He feared she might physically lash out at him if he attempted to use his own youkai to soothe her.

Not that he feared Kagome in such a way. He knew for a fact that should they battle it out (not that he'd ever wish for such) it would be impossible to tell who the victor would be. But he could never intentionally cause physical harm to her, especially not while she was carrying his pup.

So he just sat there watching her with eyes wider than normal. He glanced over to his left, contemplating sneaking out the window in order to escape. He didn't care how much of a coward he was being. Anyone could understand.

He inched over to the window little by little when Kagome's back was turned. When he was finally close enough to push it open. He managed to get one leg out before Kagome turned on him with glowing red eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She growled, the sound more terrifying than anything he'd ever heard. "I'm talking to you!" Sesshomaru gulped when she started making her way over to him with glowing claws, her youkai near visible with its intensity.

Sesshomaru was half a second away from leaping out the window when the door to his study slid open, and a cheery little girl walked in, humming a light tune.

Kagome's mood changed just like that. Her youkai was reigned into her body, her eyes changed back to their normal color, and a bright smile split her face. "Rin!" She exclaimed happily with a clap of her hands.

Rin, oblivious to the monster Kagome had been all day, grinned, and ran over to Kagome, hugging her tight. Kagome picked the child up and held her to her chest, nuzzling her.

Sesshomaru blinked dumbly. Huh. All it took to cure Kagome's mood swings was to place Rin in front of her? He should have known that to begin with. From now on either Kagome would have to go with Rin to her classes, or Sesshomaru would have to make Rin stop taking classes until Kagome gave birth. Kamis, neither he nor his household could take another day like this. The poor servants were shaking they were so scared.

As the two left his study, Sesshomaru slowly eased himself back inside the window. He released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, then shook his head. He'd mentally mocked several of his soldiers when he'd sometimes overhear their expressed fear of angry mates or women they were courting. He'd called them all kinds of gutless cowards once upon a time. But now that he'd actually been in their shoes, so to speak, he felt as if he was the one being mocked and called a gutless coward.

Kamis. His life was increasingly becoming one big disastrous storm with a certain blue eyed onna at its center.

...

Kagome spent that evening and the entire next day reading more scrolls and thin books. Rin hadn't had to go to her lessons today at Sesshomaru's command, so she'd stayed under Kagome's watch. Rin kept herself completely distracted while she busied herself with Kagome's long hair. The girl hadn't complained not once as she spent hours indulging in Kagome's hair while the older woman read.

Kagome didn't mind as she skimmed through the pages of her latest book. Hours and hours of disappointment. She was still no closer to discovering the mystery of her maternal lineage than she was when she'd started looking. Her body felt heavy with the weight of exhaustion, the ache in her lower back remained prominent, and her fierce little pup was particularly relentless today with his/her kickings. Reaching the last page of the book, she slammed it shut, making Rin jump behind her. She hastily apologized, then wiped her eyes. She was near the point of tears, she was so frustrated.

In all this time the only thing she'd managed to learn was more details on politics and the past rulers of the western lands and how to properly handle weapons and other nonsense. Nothing in the old letters gave away anything that could be helpful, either.

'Why is this so difficult?' She groused in her mind. Why hadn't her father ever told her anything about her birth mother? Why couldn't she have been born second? Her life would have been soooo much simpler. Perhaps Japan wouldn't even be in its current state if Souta had been the first born.

'Do not be so hard on yourself,' her beast comforted.

'Some help you are,' Kagome thought, annoyed. 'You know more about this than I do, yet you won't even tell me.'

Her beast whined a bit, like a puppy who'd been denied a treat. 'Hai. It has been forbidden for me to say anything about that.' The was a moment of silence. 'Perhaps you are looking for the wrong thing.'

'I don't even know what specifically I'm supposed to be looking for.'

'Hmm. Remember the past. Sort through the memories. There is something there, you just have to remember.'

Kagome frowned. She had so many memories. Too many, in fact. How was she supposed to sort through them all.

'Just think,' her beast said again.

Kagome sighed quietly, then closed her eyes. She rubbed her temples, trying to focus. 'Think, Kagome. Think. Think...'

FLASHBACK

A 40 year old Kagome (about 7 human years old) felt her body strain as she concentrated on her hands held out in front of herself. Sweat beaded her forehead and her breath hitched. After several long minutes of her straining, she let out an exasperated breath, her taut body turning to jelly.

"I can't do it," she said, annoyed. She looked up at one of her new mentors, a stern elderly ningen woman dressed in red and white.

"Yes you can," she said gruffly, her own voice coming out as annoyed. "You're not concentrating enough. Now, try again, child."

Tears of frustration stung at Kagome's eyes. She didn't even know what she was supposed to be concentrating for. This was her first lesson with this onna, and all she'd said to do was to focus on her inner power. What did that even mean?

Thankfully, her father entered the room at that moment. "Papa-san," Kagome murmured tearfully, running over to hug his legs.

Her father lifted her in his arms, hugging her. Kagome buried her face in his shoulder, silent tears sliding down her face. "What is wrong, my little hime?" He asked softly, gently rubbing her back.

"I can't do it, papa-san!" She sniffed. "I tried and tried and tried, but I just can't do it! And now my head hurts!"

"There there, darling, it's alright," he soothed.

"The child will never learn if you continue to baby her, Lord Keito," Kagome's mentor admonished strictly.

Keito's voice held a bit of an edge to it when he spoke to the woman. "She is but a child, miko. It is too soon to push her to try and wield her power."

"I doubt she even has said powers," her mentor griped. "Her youkai is too strong."

"She does have them," Keito said sharply. "Though her spiritual energy remains dormant, I can feel it bubbling deep down inside of her." He sighed. "She is simply too young. We shall try again when she is older."

Spiritual energy? Kagome thought curiously. What was that?

The onna huffed. "I am but a ningen, Keito-sama. I age much faster than she. My time here is limited, unlike hers and yours."

"There are many other priestesses out there, Kaede-sama. You are not the first to cross my path, nor will you be the last." With that Keito turned on his heel with Kagome in his arms and headed out the room.

Before he fully left, however, the onna called out, "There are very, very few other spiritual ningen who will be as lenient towards youkai as I am, Keito." Kagome looked up at the woman. She clasped her hands together in front of herself. A pink glow began to surround her body. A split second later, she was gone.

END FLASHBACK

Kagome's eyes snapped wide open. It couldn't be. Could it? No. It was impossible. Miko and youkai didn't mix well. She hadn't even known there could be such a joining.

She got to her feet as fast as her belly would allow, quickly apologized to a protesting Rin, and walked over to the shelves. She fingered through the scrolls, pretty sure she'd seen a book based on spiritual bodies. When she found the thin, dust covered volume, she went to sit back down, letting Rin continue her work. She'd skipped over the book earlier because she'd figured it'd be pointless reading something she'd been sure had nothing to do with her.

But now as she studied the plain cover of the book, she knew the answers to her heritage would be in here. Well, some of them anyway.

The first few pages were a boring preamble. It then began talking about the kamis, and the creation of the world, and how youkai and ningen came to be. And then how certain ningen were gifted with spiritual powers by the kamis to purify the land of evil. These spiritual ningen were originally meant to serve the kamis and do their bidding. But then war broke out between youkai and spiritual ningen, both trying to destroy the other for power. However, a separate group of youkai, the dragons, broke off and began gathering, gaining power, until they struck both sides of the war. It was a three sided war for many years until three powerful youkai made temporary peace with the spiritual ningen. The dragons didn't stand a chance against the powerful combined forces, but they weren't banished from Japan. After that war ended, there was still chaos until it was decided that Japan would be split into four different regions. The north, west, and south would be commanded by the three powerful youkai who'd led the war. The spiritual ningen had not wanted more war, only peace, so they'd agreed to stay out of demon politics. And it was thus from then on.

It wasn't until Kagome got to the back of the small book where it separated the different spiritual ningen. She skipped through the information about sages and monks and priests. The page about priestesses was similar to the one about priests. All she'd learned was what she'd already known- that mikos were spiritual ningen gifted by the kamis to purify the land of evil spirits, youkai, and ghosts. The next page, however, had Kagome sucking in a breath.

Drawings of mikos covered the page. Whoever the artist of the painting was had brought life and color to the images, making them seem almost real. In one image a miko was pointing a dainty hand, the spiritual pink light surrounding the appendage. Just like it had done with Kagome's the night she'd escaped Naraku's castle. Another image showed one of a miko holding a bow and arrow, the pink light glowing at the tip of the arrow. The final drawing was one of a miko in action, a katana glowing with the pink light in her hand. On the page after that, there was an ugly youkai lying on its back with a miko plunging a glowing sword into its chest. The artist had made it seem as if the youkai was disintegrating around the blade.

Just as the dragons she had fought the night of her escape had done, as well as the ones that had ambushed her and Inuyasha.

Kagome simply stared at the image. Did she really have spiritual energy? She thought of the mysterious pink light that had saved her life twice now, yet frightened her to no end. Had her birth mother been a miko? Joining between spiritual ningen and youkai were simply unheard of. Regular ningen and youkai joinings were already frowned upon, even illegal at one time. But a spiritual ningen and a youkai? A powerful youkai, at that. How did that even work? Spiritual ningen were meant to destroy her kind, yet the opposite had occurred. How was she even alive? The spiritual energy inside her should have been warring with her youkai until they destroyed each other, leaving Kagome dead.

But clearly she wasn't dead. And wielding that power hadn't killed her, or even hurt her. What had her father done? He'd clearly known she possessed spiritual powers- he'd said as much. Had he joined with a miko intentionally? He had to have known such a relation couldn't have ended well. Just like there was never a female first heir before, there was also never a recorded result of the pairing of a youkai and miko. The two species simply were not on the same level in any way. They were literally created to disaffirm each other.

Another ache was forming in Kagome's head, and she shut her eyes tight. One question answered, and yet again many more pop up. She hated not knowing the truth. What was she going to do?

She didn't have time to answer that particular question, however, when the door roughly slid open. Both she and Rin (kamis, she'd forgotten all about the little girl playing with her hair) turned to face the door. Kazu stood there, a stern, serious look replacing the normally playful features. His gray eyes met Kagome's, and suddenly she knew something wasn't right.

"My lord sent me to warn you immediately," he said, an urgent tone in his voice. He strolled over and handed Kagome a plainer-than-plain simple serving kimono with a little plain bonnet-type cap. Kagome looked at it quizzically. It was the exact same attire many of the female servants wore. "Quickly put those on."

Kagome let him help her to her feet, still not sure what was going on. "Kazu, what-"

"No time to explain, milady," he cut in sharply. "Just don those quickly. We have very little time."

"Very little time for what?" She asked, even as she began to hastily undress, with Kazu facing away, of course. "What's going on?"

His shoulders were rigid, and when he next spoke, all the blood drained from Kagome's head.

"Lord Souta of the North has just arrived."

a/n: hehehehe, as much as I hate cliffhangers when I'm reading a good story, I have to admit it's pretty entertaining when I get to control them. R&R!