Feudal Diaries:

Kicking

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Summary- In which Inuyasha begins to understand his impending fatherhood.

Spring would be on its way, soon enough. There was still snow on the ground, but it was beginning to melt, slowly but surely. The food they stored would last for at least another month.

Inuyasha stood outside of the hut that he shared with Kagome, surveying his surroundings. It had been about 7 months now since Kagome announced her pregnancy to her half-demon husband, and needless to say...he was both excited and nervous. At first, everything seemed to go about normally. Kagome pretty much looked and acted the same, except for the fact that she seemed a lot happier these days. As the months went by, however, that's when he started to notice a few things.

First was the morning sickness. Even after she announced it, Kagome still felt sick in the morning and could hardly keep anything down. It worried poor Inuyasha to no end when it seemed like she would rather just lie in bed, feeling sick to her stomach almost all the time.

Then came the cravings. They came sometime during her 4th month. She would often wake up in the middle of the night, requesting things such as watermelons or sweet bean buns. Truthfully, Inuyasha actually preferred it when she was sick, but he supposed it would pass, eventually.

Then, of course, there were the mood swings...good GOD, the mood swings. They were the worst! One minute, Kagome would be clingy and all over him, and then the next minute, she'd be crying for whatever reason. He couldn't understand it! Even when he tried to compliment her, she'd start breaking down into an unintelligible mess. Not just that, but there were times that she'd just absolutely explode at him in anger!

He was thankful she never used that certain word that he despised so much.

Inuyasha heaved a small sigh. As excited as he was about being a father...he was starting to wonder if all this nonsense was worth it. He honestly felt bad for Miroku when Sango was pregnant those two times.

Right now, all he wanted to do was enjoy the peaceful quiet of winter...

"Inuyasha!"

...So much for that.

With a groan, Inuyasha turned to Kagome, who waddled up to him with this...oddly wide grin on her face.

"Yes, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked. "What is this time? You wanna eat something that you know doesn't grow in winter? Or are you gonna yell at me for no damn reason-"

"Feel this!" Kagome interjected as she pointed to her largely swollen midsection.

"Uh...what?" Inuyasha asked, causing her to roll her eyes and grab his left hand...and place it over her belly. "...Uh...am I supposed to feel how warm you are or-"

Without warning...something suddenly rubbed under his palm, causing Inuyasha to tense and his eyes to go wide.

"...What...what was that...?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"That was the baby, Inuyasha," Kagome replied with a bright, beaming smile. "Our baby is kicking!"

Inuyasha's eyes widened even more, if that was possible. Before he could even speak, he felt it again: that tiny yet rather powerful nudge.

"You feel that, right?" Kagome asked. "That's our baby, Inuyasha..."

"...Our...baby," Inuyasha repeated.

"That's right," Kagome nodded...and then, as his golden yellow eyes met her chocolate brown orbs...he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace, causing her to laugh as she hid her face in his shoulder, her eyes welling up with tears.

"...It's amazing, isn't it?" Kagome asked.

"...Yeah..." Inuyasha whispered. "It is..."

"And just think...in two more months, we'll finally see our baby..."

"...I know...I can't believe it...I can't believe I'm gonna be a father...!"

Kagome laughed before Inuyasha pulled away and pressed his lips against hers, which caused her to moan softly as she leaned into the kiss...and as they did, Inuyasha tenderly placed his fingers over her belly, once again, feeling the small kicks of their child.

It occurs to me that I never actually wrote fics about Kagome during her first pregnancy with Ichiro. I just wrote her announcing she was pregnant and then skipped right to Ichiro's birth, which is why I wrote this little snippet!

Review, please!