Holy cow...it's been 2 months. I am sorry! One, I've been drawing a blank on this. SessRin drabbles I get tons of requests and this one is kind of reliving the in between phases of Kagome and Inuyasha but this one is for AM78 who wanted to see the gang work together. This is what I did. I am not good writing fight scenes with multiple people involved in the same places, so this was a practice run for me. Let me know what you think!

Thousand Year Berries

Kagome waddled up to Inuyasha as he worked with Rin. She held Sota tied to her back sleeping. Rin swung her katana over her head as Sango gazed on commenting on her form. Nearby Miroku sat with his son and daughters. The baby was one now and the girls four. Shippo was nearby making illusions and Rin's best friend Satsu sat on the fence cheering her on.

"Kagome-sama!" Satsu jumped off the fence and ran up to her. The child came up to Kagome's shoulder. "Look what Rin gave me!" She twirled in her lavender kimono with dark strips of purple and a pale yellow obi.

"Rin," Kagome gasped, surprised. "This is from Sesshomaru-sama, are you sure you want to give it away?"

Rin motioned Kagome over away from Satsu and said, "It's been a bad year for her family. Her kimono was tattered, besides," she glanced down mournfully at her feet and exhaled. "It hurts thinking about him. He hasn't come in months."

"I'm sure he'll come back," Kagome whispered and wrapped an arm around her. "I need to go to Jinenji's." Lying would be necessary this time, but if she phrased it right, even Inuyasha wouldn't be able to pick up on it. "A friend asked me if I could find thousand year berries. I said I would get some."

"Kagome-sama it's dangerous, especially with that." Rin poked Kagome in her belly.

Kagome was a few months along and finally just showing. "How do you know?"

Inuyasha leapt over the fence and sidled up next to her, kissing his sleeping child while wrapping an arm around Kagome's waist. "What do you need them for?"

"A friend that isn't feeling well. A demon friend," she spoke quickly, cursing herself for not saying it better or having a better backstory planned.

"I guess we can go get it?" Inuyasha said shifting his feet.

"I can show you where they bloom." Rin jumped up and down excited.

"Can I come?" Satsu bounced up and down with them.

"Sure—" Kagome started.

"No!" Inuyasha said even faster.

"Why not? Satsu and Rin can watch the kids. Miroku-sama, Sango, you want to come too, right?" Kagome diverted the conversation. How was she going to explain that she needed to get them for said demon in the future? "It'll be fun, just like old times."

"We don't need two twelve year-olds coming with us!" Inuyasha said grumpily.

"I want to come. Besides, the last time I got them for Jaken-sama, I was eight years old. I don't have Aun though and I nearly died…again," Rin snickered. "Come on Satsu, let's go ask your parents if you can come. It'll be fun."

"Kagome," Inuyasha tugged her down the fence holding her hand and held her against his chest. "What's going on? You're pregnant, this isn't safe."

"I'll be fine. My aim is bad when I'm pregnant but I need them for a friend that's very sick. Please?" Her eyes dilated and her bottom lip hung out. "I'll make it up to you," she sang seductively in his ear and pinched the fluffy tip of his ear. "When we come back, we could do page twenty seven."

"I want page thirty six," he said with a sly grin.

"Oh fine, but I'll have to stretch first." She pressed her lips against his, dipping her tongue into his mouth and smiling while she did.

"Just promise me you'll stay back?" he begged her. "I don't like when you fight like this." He palmed her belly, feeling the life they had created together. This baby had been more than a surprise. She hadn't expected to fall pregnant again nine months after she had Sota.

"I will. We'll take Sango and Miroku too," they went back to the garden holding hands.

Sango grinned childishly, holding her son while Miroku held Hanna and Kiseki's hands. "In the morning?" Miroku asked.

"Yes," Inuyasha said. "Satsu and Rin can watch the girls."

Inuyasha made Kagome ride on Kirara mainly because she had to hold her baby which meant that the fire cat was carrying Hanna, Kiseki, Kenshin, Sota and Kagome. Next to them Rin rode on Inuyasha's back, while Sango and Miroku rode horses to keep up. Satsu was unable to go, her parents didn't like the idea of her being in danger and to be honest, Inuyasha was glad there was one less person to worry about. It would take them a full day to get to Jinenji as long as they kept rest stops to a minimum but it seemed that Hanna and Kiseki were constantly thirsty and constantly needing to pee, forcing them to stop for the night in the forest.

Rin rounded the children while Miroku and Inuyasha went to hunt for their dinner. They returned with Sika, something Inuyasha knew Kagome could eat without feeling ill. This pregnancy seemed to agree with her more and she was floating through the stages better than she had with Sota. While the deer broiled over their fire, Miroku reminded them of the first time they had met and he had stolen Kagome's bike and tried to steal her too. The subject turned to Kohaku who still tended to spend more time away from home than near it.

"I don't think he's ready to face everything he did," Sango spoke between bites of the deer as she held Kenshen in her lap trying to nurse him.

"Just give him time," Rin said, bringing Hanna and Kiseki back from the lake. "They're bathed Sango-san and you two will stay clean while we eat."

"Yes Rin-sama!" they said excitedly.

"Rin-sama?" she started laughing.

"Rin-sama gives us a bath, finds us food and sings us to sleep!" Kiseki squealed happily.

Rin sat down next to the fire and motioned the girls to sit as well. Hanna tried to bolt only for Rin to grab her by the back of her obi and plop her on her bottom. "I said sit."

Kagome and Inuyasha shared a glance as she touched the beads around his neck. "I should ask Kaede how to take these off. Then I could say sit—oh no!"

Inuyasha hit the ground face first, getting dirt in his mouth and flecks of grass between his teeth. "Ow…"

"Kohaku just needs time," Kagome redirected the conversation. "Does he ever talk about it?"

Sango shook her head. "No, after he fought against Magatsuhi's control and saved you from Naraku, it was just easier for him. He says the house is too loud but I know that's not true. Rin?"

She shook her head back and forth. "A promise is a promise." She crossed her lips and Inuyasha sat proudly. The two had a rapport. More than once he had walked by while Kohaku helped her build stamina and leg strength and he did talk to Rin, even if he didn't talk to anyone else. "When we come back, we should send for him again." Her cheeks reddened lightly.

Inuyasha picked the deer off the flames and said, "Let's eat."

"In the morning, Inuyasha and I will go ahead. Sango and Kagome, you will bring the children to Jinenji's farm. Rin you'll stay behind and watch them," Miroku picked off meat from the chest for his daughters and Sango.

"Another battle," Sango sat cross legged eating.

"Never ending," Kagome echoed the thought. "Which reminds me, a new Lord is laying claim to these lands. Inuyasha, I'm worried, what if the Samurais come?"

"I'll remind them whose village it is," Inuyasha said plainly.

"Can we continue to defy any leadership?" Miroku wondered.

"It's our village," he repeated. "And if the Lord knows what's good for him," he said staring at Rin who was braiding Hanna's hair. "He won't come near our village. We'll be ready."

"And if Sesshomaru doesn't return?" Sango asked, barely above a whisper.

"He will," Kagome said firmly, only because she knew that he would but it would take time. "Until then, we'll get ready."

By mid-afternoon the next day the children and Rin were dropped off at Jinenji's. Rin protested that she could do more than be stuck with children while they went, but Inuyasha insisted her role was just as important.

Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku and Kirara made their way across the fields of Jinenji's home where he said the cliff was and the berries grew. The area was desolate and brown, like a desert and the air was hot. Kagome slid off of Kirara, scanning the cliffs for the berries based in the picture. She found it off in the corner, high on a cliff, barely visible. "Up there!" she called pointing, just as a horde of demons flew from the cliff.

Kagome pulled her bow out and began releasing arrows to clear a path for Sango and Miroku.

Miroku and Sango leapt onto Kirara's back and flew into the air after the berries.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, as he jumped forward and started hacking into them.

"Shit," he twisted around a serpentine like demon, hacking it with Tetsusaiga.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, throwing the weapon through a pile of blue, red and green twisting demons with bulging eyes. It smashed into them cutting them in half.

Miroku threw sutras, while Kagome shot more arrows filled with pink light at the hordes, making space for them to get through but it seemed like no matter how many they killed, more came.

Kagome filled herself with reiki, letting it glow in her palms and then fired two arrows at once to clear a path.

"This would be easier if I could use the meido blades." Inuyasha slashed into a giant blue ogre.

"You'll destroy the berries!" Kagome yelled over the growling and hissing surrounding them.

Miroku pointed over Sango's shoulder at large patch demons blocking the berries. "You hit, I jump!"

She tossed her Hiraikotsu, slamming it into the patch of demons, dispersing some while Miroku swung himself off of Kirara onto the cliff, grabbing the berries.

"The seeds too Miroku-sama!" Kagome bellowed from the bottom of the cliff.

He nodded and dusted them into his palm and then into a pouch. "This better be for someone important!" As soon as he had the seeds, he ran down the winding path of the cliff and jumped into the precipice, trusting Sango and Kirara to catch him.

On his tail were the many serpent like demons, screeching as they chased after Sango and Miroku.

Kagome closed her eyes, taking calming her breaths. Occasionally, in the present time she would train against Sesshomaru. She had slowly learned to call on her reiki without the use of the bow. The light glowed in her palms, bouncing from hand to hand as she focused it, propelling it into the demons behind Sango and Miroku, turning them to dust. There's a place between solace and fury where the majority of your power lies. If you call it in fury, you attach yourself to darkness, in solace the force won't be strong enough. The place in between is where you will find your power the strongest. She focused on serenity, but the need to protect her friends. The firestorm of reiki would go straight through Miroku and Sango but Kirara would be hit. "Fly passed me!"

"Kagome no!" Inuyasha yelled, attempting to hack his way through the demons surrounding him.

"Trust me!" she called back to him. Just trust me. Her palms expanded upwards, calling on the full extent of her reiki just as Kirara flew over her head. She let loose the storm against the slithering demons, turning them into dust in one large blow, feeling as if her nerves were on fire. The power felt like it was beating between her hands and legs until she screamed and landed on her knees panting and holding her stomach.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha ran for her, taking out the rest of the demons with kaze no kizu.

She winced at a bubbling pain in her side. "I need to rest."

"Kagome?" Inuyasha knelt down next to her, lifting her up bridal style and kissing her forehead. "I think you overdid it."

"It'll pass…" she felt herself being carried as the world went in and out of focus. She wasn't sure where she was or where they were going. "The well…the berries need to go through the well," she whispered and then winced against Inuyasha. "Somethings wrong." She held her stomach and then the world went from blurry to black.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha shook her shoulder trying to get her to wake up. He ran ahead of the others, jumping over trees, logs and large boulders to get her back to Jinenji's hut. "It better be worth this." Her pain was almost rhythmic, coming and going as she cringed against him.

As soon as he made it to the hut, he laid her down, panicked calling Rin. "Rin!" The girl was in the garden with Jinenji, helping him plant while taking care of the children. She ran up to Inuyasha, leaving the babies with Jinenji's mother. "Somethings wrong. She's in pain. She used a large blast of reiki but now she can't move."

Rin nodded in response and got on her knees. She touched Kagome's forehead to look for fever, then pursed her lips. "I have to check down there." She parted Kagome's legs and then pulled back the material of her haori and untied the Miko's hakama. Rin slid the pants down enough to see below. "No blood, that means she isn't having the baby." She set a hand on Kagome's swollen belly. "She is contracting though. Stay here." She reached over Kagome to grab a kettle and put it on the fire. "We have herbs to help stop labor but if they don't work, you should take her back through the well. Maybe they can do something?"

Inuyasha fell to his bottom deflated next to Kagome, holding her hand. "You overdid it."

Rin ran out of the hut and came back minutes later with her hands full of herbs. She mixed them quickly, boiling them into a tea, then straining the hot water with cold water so it would be drinkable faster.

Inuyasha waited with baited breath as Rin spent the rest of the afternoon administering the medicine. Throughout that time, Kagome didn't rouse and he became more worried that something was wrong.

After Sango and Miroku returned, he took Kagome onto Kirara leaving them behind with their children and Rin as he rushed back to the village to take her through the well. Sango agreed to care for Sota until they returned. His only fear was that there was no one who would care for Kagome and if the baby looked the same as Sota, what would they think?

They made it back by nightfall. He took the thousand year berries with him and jumped with Kagome through the well. After he landed he set her down on the bed that was near the well. When the hut was rebuilt after the fire, it was turned into a small apartment so that Kagome and Inuyasha could spend the evenings in privacy. "Kagome?" he says softly, trying to get her up.

"Inuyasha?" she whispers, her vision still blurry. "I think I overdid it."

"We got the berries," he said quietly. "You need a doctor. I brought you to your mother's home."

She rolled onto her side and stared at the wall. "I can't. They won't understand what they see."

He climbed into bed behind her, lifting his knees into hers and wrapping her in his arms. "Please Kagome?"

"I can't," she said as she spoke, but she lifted the cellphone on the nightstand and quickly wrote a text message. Something is wrong but I don't know what to do. He's here.

Sesshomaru sat at his desk in his office when the text came through. He closed his eyes staring at the phone, knowing that Kagome needed help, but they were playing a dangerous game. He would not reveal himself to Inuyasha and there was too much at risk if she went to a hospital for help while she was pregnant, although as his mind flashed back to their second born, Taisho had black hair, and shelled ears on the side of his head and until Sesshomaru had literally slit the boy's finger open to find his yoki, no sign that he even had youkai blood in his veins. I need to distract my brother.

He reached to the side of the desk and lifted the office phone dialing out. "Shippo," he folded his right leg over the left and leaned back in his chair. "I need a favor. How are the tremors?"

"I haven't had one in a while Sesshomaru-sama. What do you need?" Shippo's voice had dropped substantially from when he was a child but his power had quadrupled.

"A distraction," Sesshomaru spoke wryly into the phone. "I need to spirit away Kagome into my office without her lover knowing."

"And without Inuyasha knowing that we exist," Shippo's voice rose several notes in excitement.

"Exactly. Do you have enough energy to fly without it triggering an episode?" He held up a finger to the nurse that entered his office. "I'll be there shortly."

"I don't think so."

"It's gotten that bad?"

"I can send others though."

"I need you. He won't suspect you. I'll send Tsukimaru to you. With any luck she brought the berries."

"You really think those will extend our lives?"

"There's only one way to find out. She has to live and we both know it…actually…if you can just keep him away from the Higurashi home I can see what's wrong with Kagome."

"I want to see her."

"No."

"Why?"

"You know why, it's bad enough you tried to talk her into not letting me bond Natsuki."

"You hurt Rin!"

"And Tsukimaru saved your life. No, Shippo…the answer is no."

Kagome woke to the feeling of something tightening around her upper arm then a stinging pain in her wrist. She tried to push off the hands that were holding her but the hand was caught and pressed into the mattress. "Don't move," she knew that voice.

"Ow." She felt something hard break her skin, then the same thing slide out. Her eyes were sticky when she finally peeled them open to see Sesshomaru leaning over her. "What's going on?"

"Well, I had a contingent of fox demons cause mischief around the city that caught the attention of your lover. It was rather easy to get him to leave…I had them spirit away your brother and when I told your mother that it had to be believable, she said he was missing…"

"I can never get used to how much you talk," her lips stuck together as she spoke. "What are you doing?" At last she looked at the other set of hands holding her. "Who are you?"

"Taiyomaru," the black haired man spoke. His hair reminded her of Rin, but he had the same double stripes as Sesshomaru. "I suppose I'm not born yet."

"She's only twelve," Kagome leaned against the pillows. "Ow." She grabbed her stomach.

"You overdid it…whatever you did to get the berries. You could have waited," Sesshomaru scolded her with a half-grin. "Thank you."

"I'm going to save you." Kagome tried to sit up.

"I said don't move." He lifted a bag onto his lap, removing a doppler and lifted up Kagome's shirt exposing her bump.

Kagome smiled as he found the heartbeat. "Are you going to tell me what it is?"

"I won't ruin surprises," Sesshomaru set the doppler down and pulled out a portable ultrasound machine. "Lower the lights Taiyomaru."

The lights were shut off and he turned the handheld machine on. "It would be better if this was done on a real machine but I doubt I can spirit you away to Osaka for a few hours."

"He'd probably come looking for me." Kagome exhaled, breathing heavily easier. "What is this?" She pointed at the line in her wrist.

"You're dehydrated and that also has magnesium in it, to stop your contractions," Sesshomaru said rather thickly.

"I guess I really messed up this time."

"I'm not going to die tomorrow." Sesshomaru changed the views on the screen and wrinkled his nose as he stared at the picture. "Hello little one. Quiet Taiyomaru."

"I didn't say anything," the black haired man argued.

"Just be quiet." He switched the views again, freezing the frames. "You should be glad to know the baby looks healthy. I would suggest though, that you rest more, no more adventures if you can help it in that era."

"Okay," Kagome agreed softly. "If I can manage it. Some Daimyo is trying to entice us to give him our lands and someone still hasn't returned."

Sesshomaru nods pensively. "It was a bloody time wasn't it?"

"It's the worst. I come here and it's like heaven and there it's almost like hell. So different but the people are kinder in many ways. I don't know."

"Is she happy?"

She noticed his eyes changed when he asked and so did the pitch of his voice. "Are you okay?"

"It's the anniversary of her death," Taiyomaru filled in for Sesshomaru when he seemed at a loss for words.

Kagome considered the last time she had seen Rin, when they dropped her off with Sota at Jinenji's home and how angry she was that she didn't get to go with them and then that she didn't want to be left behind. Kagome had no idea what had happened as they returned, but there were battles of wills when Rin started wanting to spend more time sparring than she did in the fields learning herbs or in births but Kaede-sama insisted. Rin was a child without a choice in the matter.

Kagome bit down on her bottom lip and finally answered, "I don't really think so. Village life isn't for her. She seems more wild at heart."

"She began her training while I was away," his voice was wistful and distant. "She was angry when I returned." And then he said no more and closed the machine. "Your baby is healthy. Try to relax. If you can get away in another week or two, come to my office in Osaka, I'll do a more thorough scan."

"Okay," Kagome said. "When is Inuyasha coming back."

"With any luck tomorrow. I need to return. Taiyomaru will stay with you until the medicine is finished running. Good luck Kagome."

"Bye Sesshomaru."

After he left, Taiyomaru sat down next to Kagome. "He feels guilty."

"For what?"

"Life wasn't always easy for them, or peaceful. He keeps a journal, hundreds of them. He once asked himself whether he had done the right thing by bonding her and taking Ka-san from the village. I don't think she would have been happier. They were like any couple, but there were differences because of what he is and what she was. His guilt remains though, would she have been happier without him?"

"I don't think so. She only smiles when he is there. She's happy with her best friend and with Kohaku sometimes, but it's not the same. They have a special connection, I'm sure you know."

"I know," Taiyomaru says distantly. "They were very close, despite the difficult times they experienced. You know it's strange. My lover and I lost a child awhile back. The baby was born ill and Chichiue did everything he could to give the baby life, to keep her alive but in the end she left us. Yua was so angry with me. She felt like it was my fault because I was gone when the labor began and she couldn't fly to get to Chichiue, but I can."

"You're a hanyou?!" Kagome gasps.

"A strange hanyou. I am not like the rest and we don't really understand why. Something was different about my conception and if I say more, Chichiue will kill me. But, Yua and I went through a period of dark mourning. For a time she was convinced had I been there, the baby would not have been lost. We will never know, but it brought us closer together and that is only the tip of some of the sorrow we have experienced and oddly, we always come out stronger."

Kagome nods, her eyes getting heavy again.

"I'll be gone by the time you wake Obasan. Sleep."

Please review! Oh wow I have a few people to respond to!

I literally have no idea what the fuck I wrote overall for this chapter because I have been writing it over months instead of a day like I usually do. School and life have been too hectic, but here is something until I can get to the next. Guys requests help creative sparks. We have 3 more births to get through and well...more fun stuff too...so please ask.

Smmahamazing: Thank you! I also enjoy the future Sesshomaru with Kagome. Part of the reason I wanted to write these was to show how Sesshomaru and Inuyasha evolve and the hatred eventually subsides into respect.

Mechinex5: Thank you thank you! Sesshomaru is definitely broken after Rin's death and because of everything they went through. The Rin asking about babies was fun to write. She was 8 I don't know how much is shared at that age in that time, but I know from my own kids that the questions are coming. HEHE yeah Sesshomaru and his Harem...all Kagome ever knew about was that Sesshomaru would cheat on Rin, he never told her anything else. He was extremely tight lipped. Ah the Sakura Tree, yes Sesshomaru and Natsuki sat and had a civil conversation and yes Mayumi and Taisho were conceived under the night of the fullmoon :)...It's why their yoki is more latent.

Scquiggles Magee: No, Inuyasha cannot beget hanyous. Basic genetics he is 50% hanyou which means he passes on 25% of his demonic aura into his offspring. His children may look like him but the Sota and Izayoi are no where near as powerful as he is and you find out in Instinct that Taisho inherited his mother's spiritual power.

Freshlymintedsenshi212711: Thank you oh so much! HAHA I love emotional writing!

New Readerx2: Sesshomaru had Sayako's permission to mate with her while she was in heat. All of him sleeping with random females were prearranged agreements. I love the Ikea soon and yes Natsuki is needed. Even if she drives people crazy!