Chapter 38:
It was without a doubt this child was laughing, though she had not done it before.
He sat with Hiromi while Rin assisted Shaya with laundry, and he felt utterly ridiculous to be here with his hearing completely focused on catching the gentle giggles that belonged to his white-haired daughter.
She also seemed to be a bit obsessed with his hair.
Shaya was taking great pains to be kind to Rin, and as a result he had spent several days outside of their bed. She had promised to remedy the situation once Rin was not clinging to her skirts quite as much, which annoyed him. She should simply taker a firmer hand with the girl. It was nonsense for her to believe that he would allow anything to cause his onna harm, or problems.
Even if he had to slaughter humans that Rin was acquainted with to do so.
He had not expected that the humans might have taken such a foolish position. Especially when they did not seek him out to attempt to ban him from their set of hovels, but they had attempted to do so by frightening Shaya, a woman with a pup and a girl. He was surprised at his own anger, waiting cool for the time that he would decide to use it. What cowards they were.
"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin was kneeling by him, tugging on his sleeve. He had become in the tendency to forgo his armor while home with Shaya, because it kept her from hugging him as tightly, or for allowing his babe to rest more comfortably. 'Sesshomaru-sama? Did you hear Rin?"
"Hn." Behind her he could see Shaya hanging laundry between two of the closer, tallest trees. "You are not assisting her, Rin."
"Will Sesshomaru-sama let me play with his hair too?" Big brown eyes were looking at him hopefully, and he did not deny that it was meant to have some effect on him.
"Explain this…interest." He did not understand why it seemed such a tempting object. He watched Shaya pause behind him as she tuned into their conversation, noticing where Rin had gone. She offered him a smile that he did not understand, but he knew that it held some type of meaning into it. It always did.
"Mama lets me play with her hair," Rin tilted her head sweetly.
"That is not an answer."
"Sesshomaru?" Shaya's voice lilted. "I think it would be a good idea."
"Please Sesshomaru-sama? Rin would be so very grateful." She clasped her hands together under her chin, blinking her eyes a few times. She could not possibly believe that those simple actions would sway him.
His ears picked up the sound of Shaya's feet moving over the grass as that blue fabric moved around her legs, and she kneeled on his other side. "Rin? Go finish the laundry for me, sweetie." The girl opened her mouth to protest but Shaya's shook her head, and the green kimono went to do as she bid.
Lovely dark eyes turned back onto him. "Sesshomaru?"
"This is nonsense."
"I don't want her to be jealous of Hiromi."
"Jealousy."
"She's our…blood, and Rin sees you letting her touch your hair. It's not a lot, but to a girl?" Shaya finally met his gaze.
"She is a pup. Rin is older."
"She's loved you longer though." Shaya's voice was firmer. "And all she wants to do is to touch your hair a little, to make her feel special. She isn't asking for very much, Sesshomaru."
She considered him seriously for a minute before he felt her fingers reach gently to barely run them over the tip of his ear as they went to dip into his hair, running the strands out between her fingers so that the light caught them just so. Keeping her eyes on his hair she leaned forward a bit, so that she was speaking quietly—he was quite interested.
Rin was more than excited to be playing with Sesshomaru-sama's hair. Finally! She had been watching it blow in the wind for a very, long time and now she was finally getting to run her hands through the sheer mass of it while he held Hiromi.
She didn't think that her lord would appreciate her braiding it though. That would look very silly on him. She couldn't help giggling at how very soft his hair was on her skin—she couldn't decide which was softer: Sesshomaru-sama's hair or Inuyasha's ears. Sesshomaru-sama's white hair was silky, but his little brother's hair and ears were very nice too. Maybe it was a family thing.
"Sesshomaru-sama?" He did not respond, but she knew that he was listening. "Is Mama done yet?" She hadn't been able to reach the trees to help Mama hang up the sheets to dry, so Mama had been doing them herself. Mama had sent her over there to do it, but she hadn't known that Rin wasn't tall enough. Poor Mama. She'd help with everything when she got bigger.
"No." Sesshomaru answered quietly.
She held some of Sesshomaru-sama's soft hair to her face before dropping its heaviness, going over to sit by his leg. His eyes shifted to rest on her, and she smiled as brightly as she felt: happy. "I really like being here. It's very nice and quiet here, and I get to see the baby more." She rested her hand on Sesshomaru-sama's arm to lean over and see where Hiromi was sucking on her own fingers, eyes half-closed. "Her hair's a little longer, isn't it my lord?" She reached forward to touch some of the hair that still hadn't even reached her ears, giggling. "Her ears are so tiny."
A sway of blue fabric came into her vision again as Mama came to stand nearby, a smile at her face at them.
"Oi!" She knew that voice. Mama turned around to see Inuyasha coming out of the forest with Kagome-sama on his back, waving at them. He leaped a few times before stopping, stooping to let Kagome off.
"Hello Kagome!" She scrambled to run over to hug her friend hello, feeling her hug her back briefly.
"Hey, Rin." Kagome cleared her throat, standing next to Inuyasha who had his arms inside his sleeves, looking very bored. "Inuyasha…"
"Hey, this was your idea, remember." He rolled his eyes, going to throw himself down somewhere several yards from them all and propping his head up on his fist.
Those ears. Glancing back at Sesshomaru-sama she went closer to sit at Inuyasha's backside where all his hair was falling onto the ground while she heard Kagome and Mama exchange hello's too. Inuyasha's ears twitched, and she knew that he would pretend to be annoyed, but she had to make sure. Which was softer?
"I'm glad you came to visit," she heard Mama Shaya say brightly.
"Well, um…I needed to talk to you. Sesshomaru, I mean."
They twitched again, and she giggled, ready to pounce. He was always very quick, but that did not mean that she would not try. She glanced back to see Kagome going to sit in front of Sesshomaru-sama and Mama, looking very serious.
"I am not concerned about a human threat," Sesshomaru-sama said impassively.
"What? No, that's not what I was going to say, although that's something to…never mind. Just…here." Kagome-sama reached into her pocket to hold out to Sesshomaru-sama, which he took with light fingers.
"What is that Kagome?"
"I…really don't know. But apparently it's how I got back." Got back? She forced her attention away from Inuyasha's very nice ears and back towards where she could see Mama's confused face and Sesshomaru-sama's uninterested one.
"I do not care how you returned." Sesshomaru-sama still held it in his palm.
"Well, you left so sudden—" Kagome-sama blushed, and she abandoned Inuyasha's ears for a little while, turning around to watch completely. "Things have just been really busy since we've been tending to those who were hurt. That's how I got through the well."
"What is it?" Shaya turned her attention to Sesshomaru-sama. Mama took the baby, who mewled at being removed from Sesshomaru-sama's hair. He unrolled the cloth around it and she twisted her head to see. He let something rest in his lap while he unrolled a piece of paper, scanning over it quickly. "Ah, Sesshomaru?"
"Hn." The little piece of paper evaporated under Sesshomaru-sama's toxic claws. "How obnoxious."
"Wh…What did it say?"
"I fail to fall victim in this attempt to be manipulated, miko," Sesshomaru-sama said in that tone. That tone that usually came before Master Jaken getting hit, except that he wasn't here right now to be hit. Uh-oh. He was looking at Kagome-sama in a very stern way.
"What? Manipulated? Are you joking?"
Sesshomaru-sama rose up quickly and left the clearing, leaving them all a bit stunned. "What did you do Kagome?" Inuyasha rolled back to sit up, sticking his arms into his sleeves. "You pissed him off."
"Whatever he just read made him leave," Shaya sighed. "What did it say?"
"I don't know! That's the point!" Kagome slapped her hand to her own forehead. "Oh, he's so stupid!"
"I'll…find out from him later when he's not being so…" her voice trailed off as Hiromi's voice interrupted, crying and shifting in her arms. "I knew that would just upset the baby." She felt around at the baby's behind for a moment before moving to rise.
"I'll go get it for you. Where are they?" Kagome got up, taking several steps towards the house. Turning back around she began walking backwards, pausing for a moment.
"Miss Kagome?" She wasn't moving anymore. Was she ok? Inuyasha's head rose from where he'd been picking something out of his teeth, focusing on his wife who was currently swaying on her feet.
"Kagome?" he sounded nervous. Getting up he caught her before she stumbled, holding her up. "Kagome!" he growled firmly.
OoO
They moved her inside, and Shaya brought blankets into the main room to make her more comfortable. Kagome had already been sick all over the floor, and Rin had cleaned it up, and he was out of his mind worrying about her.
Shaya was tending to her know while she retched into a bucket, pausing at intervals to let the redhead offer her water and a cloth to wipe her mouth off. Rin had gone to fetch more water from the river, and he sat with his claws gently going over his arms inside his sleeves while he wanted to go and find something to kill, anything to take the edge off of his nerves.
She'd come back just to be sick like this? Something was off.
"Thank you," Kagome whispered. Shaya moved the bucket with a wrinkle to her nose so that Kagome could lie down on top of the blankets again, so that Shaya could dab at the side of her face.
"She ok?" he finally interrupted. Shaya glanced back at him, and he saw something there. "What?" The stupid woman turned around again without answering him and his nerves tripled. Did she know something that he didn't? Aw, he was gonna kill Kagome if she got bad sick on him! Why couldn't things just be calm and normal for once in his life?
Shaya leaned down to press her ear to Kagome's stomach, and his eyebrows came down. "What the hell are you doing?" She moved her ear on Kagome a bit, not even paying attention to him. Why was she always so weird? He got up to move over to Kagome's side, letting his hand land on Shaya's shoulder to pull him back up to face him. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"
"There's a heartbeat," she breathed. She seemed a little stunned.
"Duh!" he growled out at her. How did Sesshomaru put up with her when she could be this annoying?
"No, I mean…" Shaya blushed. "She's pregnant."
When he woke up he found himself lying under a blanket with Kagome next to him, still inside Shaya's house. He could smell wood burning, and there was less light coming in from the area near the door. Leaning up on his arm he could see that kid sitting nearby with what seemed to be her dinner, and it took her a few minutes to focus on him.
"Oh, hello Inuyasha! Is Kagome still sleeping?"
He'd fucking passed out. B…Because Kagome was having a kid. Straightening his spine he looked back down at the sleeping miko who'd turned towards him, black hair haloed around her face. She'd been wanting to have 'em for a while now, what with Yoshi always near, and Hiromi's white hair always taunting her.
A kid, from a hanyou and a miko.
How long had he been asleep anyway? "Hey kid, how long we been here?"
"Mama moved you onto the blankets with Kagome-sama when you fell, a few hours ago. You must have been tired," Rin shrugged with a smile.
"Yeah? And where are Shaya and my bastard brother anyway?" It was their house, and he didn't hear anybody else moving or breathing that wasn't in this room.
"Mama went out to wash Hiromi. Sesshomaru-sama hasn't come back yet," Rin sighed, pulling her legs up to her chest. "It's getting very late, too. I wish he would come back so that I could tell him about Kagome's baby."
Yeah, that was something that he was sure Sesshomaru would just love to hear about. "Keh."
The door moved and Shaya came in to sit beside Rin, setting Hiromi down beside her. The kid lay in her blanket beside the woman in blue, gurgling lightly while she attempted to roll. "Hello Inuyasha."
He didn't answer, snorting lightly while he pushed himself out of the blanket.
"Have you listened to the heartbeat yet, Inuyasha?" Rin's little voice piped up. That's right. Shaya had said something about a heartbeat, hadn't she? "Cuz Mama told me that Sesshomaru-sama used to listen to—" Shaya's hand came down over the girl's mouth before she could finish her sentence, cheeks going to the same shade of red as her hair.
"Yeah, what's with the heartbeat thing?" Sesshomaru listening to a heartbeat? That was more detail than he had needed.
"Your baby has a heartbeat, Inuyasha," Shaya's cheeks blazed. "You can hear it competing with Kagome's if you try."
That interested him. Turning around he emulated Shaya's previous actions to let his head rest on Kagome's abdomen, tilting his head a bit so that his ears were closer to her skin. It irritated him that his ears weren't in the right place for this. Stupid ears! Finally though he was privy to the thump, thump, thump-thump that was the chorus of two heartbeats intermingling with each other.
"Sesshomaru-sama was the one who told Mama that she was pregnant with Hiromi. Remember Mama?" Apparently she'd let her hand leave Rin's mouth, but he was more focused on the sounds that he was hearing. A kid. "You told me, remember?"
"Hai, Rin." He could hear the embarrassment in her voice. "Actually, I think it's time for us to go to bed now. Let's leave Inuyasha with Kagome. He can take care of her." Without glancing back he could hear their footsteps as they headed into the bedroom, taking the awake baby with them.
Kagome would be glad. She had told him before that she wanted a baby between them, as mothering as she had always been towards that runt Shippo. She'd be a good mother, caring and nurturing and sweet.
But hell, him a father? He was the hanyou bastard that half of the village still avoided for taking their precious miko for his wife. And what was he going to do when she wanted him to be polite and not to cuss?
His wife was going to kill with him with sits.