August 29

The day of the baby shower has come and gone. It was quite a long day and I'm so tired now but it was a lot of fun.

This morning I was so happy that I was practically dancing around the house as I was sweeping the floor.

"Looks like someone is really happy, Nico."

I turned around to see Inuyasha standing in the doorway with Nico at his feet.

"How can I not be? I have a wonderful husband and a cute cat and a baby due in three months." I walked past them and stepped outside to throw out the dirt in my dustpan.

Inuyasha came outside with me and put his arms around my waist from behind. "You make me the happiest man in the world, you know that?"

I put the broom aside and dropped the dustpan on the porch. Then I turned to face him. "Tell me something I don't know." Then I took his face in my hands and kissed him. Things were quickly becoming more passionate and I started to think of how nice it would be to go to bed really quickly and make love before Miroku and Sango arrived to help get everything ready…

"Eww!"

Our romantic moment was lost at the sight of Miroku and Sango's kids coming towards the house looking grossed out while their parents were behind them with amused expressions.

"Is this a bad time?" Miroku said with a smirk.

"Not at all," I replied, even though I wished they had come a little bit later.

"Are you ready to get everything set up?" Sango asked.

"Definitely!"

"Everyone will be here in a few hours so we'd better hurry," Inuyasha said.

Then another person came to the house. It was Takero. He looked quite panicked. "I'm so glad you're home," he said to us.

"What's going on?" Inuyasha asked.

"I hate to bother you, but there was a disturbance in the village today. A few members of the guard were taken hostage by a demon. The demon took them into the woods but we can't get close enough to save them."

"That's horrible!" I said.

"And you need us to rescue them?" Inuyasha said.

"If you don't mind. I know that tetsusaiga of yours could blow the demon away in a second."

Inuyasha looked conflicted and I could tell he would rather have stayed home to get ready for the baby shower but someone had to save those men before something bad happened. "Inuyasha, maybe you should…"

"I'll go save them," Miroku offered.

"And I'll go with you," Sango said.

"It's too dangerous, my dear," Miroku said to her.

Sango put her hands on her hips. "And when has danger ever stopped me?"

"True, but you should stay here and help them get ready for the baby shower…"

"I'll go," Inuyasha interrupted.

"Are you sure?"

"If you go by yourself you'll just end up being taken hostage too and I'll have to go save you later anyway. This way saves time."

"Thank you so much!" Takero said. "I'll show you where they were taken."

Inuyasha turned to me and hugged me. "This shouldn't be long. I'll be back in time."

"Be safe. I love you."

"I love you too." He gave me a kiss and went off with Miroku and Takero.

As I watched him go, I wished he could have stayed but I knew this was important.

Sango put her hand on my shoulder. "They'll be fine. Let's start getting everything all set."

A few hours later, Sango and I had made snacks and set up decorations and things in the backyard. I think we did a pretty impressive job. Inuyasha and Miroku still hadn't gotten back yet and I tried to resist the urge to be worried.

Soon after, people started to arrive. Shippo came along with Rin and Kaede. Kohaku came by as well. Our friends from the wolf demon tribe came after them, including Ayame. By now we had a decent-sized party and all of them had brought something for us which we put on the gifts table. The only thing missing was Miroku and my husband.

"You're absolutely glowing, Kagome," Ayame said to me shortly after the wolves arrived. "You look so happy."

"Thanks! I am, I've been getting more excited as the due date gets closer."

"Have you decided on a name yet?" Hakakku asked.

"We'll call him Koichi if he's a boy and Moroha if she's a girl."

"I love those!" Ayame said.

"Where the heck is Inuyasha anyway?" Koga asked.

"There was a demon in the village this morning that kidnapped some people. He went to go help them."

"Well, I hope he's back soon. It's his baby shower too after all."

"I agree." Once again I was worried. I didn't think it would take this long and I just hoped Inuyasha and Miroku were alright.

Luckily I didn't have to worry about it much longer.

"You're here!" Rin exclaimed as Inuyasha and Miroku came into the yard.

"Why are you all dirty?" Koga asked. "Have you been rolling around in the mud?"

"You could say that," Miroku replied as he picked up Shinichi who ran over to hug him.

"That stupid ass demon actually had them underground," Inuyasha said. "We practically had to dig them out."

"Well we're just glad you made it back," Sango said as she came over to hug Miroku as well.

Inuyasha came over to me to hug and kiss me. I blushed a little bit as he ran his fingers across my cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"Better now that you're here," I replied.

"Inuyasha you're so freaking sweet!" Ayame said.

Now he was blushing. "Well...I've got to take care of Kagome."

At that moment, Sesshomaru and Jaken landed on the ground next to us.

"Hey," Sesshomaru said.

"I'm so glad you're here," I said as I hugged him. Inuyasha laughed at the look on Sesshomaru's face. One of his greatest joys in life is to see his brother get uncomfortable when I hug him. Meanwhile, Jaken mumbled about how I still don't respect Sesshomaru enough.

"Of course," Sesshomaru said. "I wouldn't have missed it."

I glanced over at Rin to see how she was taking this. Sure enough, her eyes were locked on him but she didn't approach him and he didn't approach her. This was probably the first time she'd seen Sesshomaru face-to-face since April. I hoped something good would come from it.

"Now that everyone is here, how about you start opening your gifts?" Sango suggested.

So we went through all of the gifts one by one. We were given everything from baby clothes, blankets, diapers, toys, baby carriers, and nursery decorations. Sango was right, we did end up with quite a lot of things that were already on our list.

Inuyasha and I both laughed when we unwrapped our gift from the wolves. The bib said "Honorary wolf demon" on it and one if the outfits had a wolf tail attached to it.

"Very creative," Inuyasha said.

"We like to be original," Koga replied.

After opening gifts we continued to hang out and play games and eat. I ended up chatting with Sango and Ayame. Midori, Mieko, and Shinichi were busy chasing Nico around. Inuyasha and Koga were in a good mood and were acting like bros. I never thought I would see the day where these two actually turned out to be friends. Sesshomaru still made Ginta and Hakakku nervous but they ended up being engaged in what looked like a deep conversation for a while.

"It's so nice to have everyone together like this," Ayame said.

"Isn't it?" I said. "Things like this make everything seem a little more real."

"What's it like?" Ayame asked. "To be pregnant."

"It's amazing," Sango replied.

"It's one of those things where you just never realize how truly incredible it is until you experience it," I said.

"I…" Ayame looked kind of nervous and Sango and I looked at her with concern.

"Ayame, is everything okay?" I asked.

"I'm pregnant with Koga's child," she replied.

"Oh wow!"

"Really?!"

"Shh!" she exclaimed. Then she looked over to make sure Koga hadn't heard. "He doesn't know yet."

"You have to tell him," Sango said excitedly.

"I-I'm not sure how he'll react. He's always so busy running the wolf tribes and everything…"

"Ayame, I wouldn't worry," I said. "I think Koga will be very happy when you tell him."

"How did Miroku and Inuyasha react?"

"Miroku cried when I told him I was pregnant with the twins," Sango replied. "With Shinichi he jumped up and started dancing around the house."

"Inuyasha was so excited when I told him," I said with a smile at the memory. "He wouldn't stop kissing me."

"That is really nice." Ayame glanced over at Koga. "I'll tell him soon."

I noticed Sesshomaru separate himself from Ginta and Hakakku and walk over to Rin. "Rin, can I talk to you for a moment?"

She looked very surprised but she nodded and followed him around to the front of the house.

"Excuse me, girls," I said to Sango and Ayame. "I need to, um, put out some more chopsticks."

I absolutely had to know what was going on between Rin and Sesshomaru so I went inside and opened the front window as quietly as I could so I could hear what they were saying. Maybe Inuyasha was right, I am a meddler, but this has been going on for so long that I needed a resolution.

The two were standing right outside the window. Rin was looking at her feet nervously.

"It's been a while, Rin," Sesshomaru said to her.

"Yes.. it has," she replied.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you."

"My lord...it's okay. I know after what happened we were both scared."

"Yes, precisely." Sesshomaru sighed. "Rin, please hear me out. I've wanted desperately to come to see you every day but I just couldn't allow myself to do that. I couldn't put you in that kind of danger again. With you being human, being around me puts you at so much risk. I thought it would be for the best that we live our lives separately so that you could have a life as a normal human. There is a reason demons and humans stay away from each other."

I nearly gasped. Was he telling her that he was going to continue to stay away from her?

"Of course. I-I understand…" Rin's voice shook as she spoke. I felt terrible for her.

"Wait," Sesshomaru said as she turned to leave. "I only said it would be better if I stayed away from you, not that I want to."

Rin looked shocked. I was too. "You mean, I'll still be able to see you?"

"I never cared about a single human until I met you, Rin. I was always so set in my ways but you've changed me for the better. I've realized that I can't just cut you out of my life that easily."

Rin smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I want to keep seeing you, Lord Sesshomaru. I've missed you so much."

Tears fell from Sesshomaru's eyes as well. He reached out to her and she gladly hugged him back. "I don't know what our relationship can be from this point on, Rin, but I'm not staying away from you anymore. I will continue to visit you as often as I can."

"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru. You have no idea how happy that makes me."

I was happy too. In fact, I was ecstatic that the two of them had finally worked things out. Just as I closed the window, there was a shadow standing over me.

"Meddling in other people's business again, honey?"

I turned to find Inuyasha standing behind me with his arms crossed. "I think I was pretty justified with this one," I said as I stood up.

He just smirked. "Sure."

"No really. Sesshomaru and Rin are friends again. It was so sweet."

"I know. I could hear everything from the backyard."

"How…?"

He pointed to his dog ears and I nodded with understanding.

"Oh yeah, right."

"It's about time Sesshomaru stopped being so stubborn."

I raised my eyebrows. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"I may have yelled at him a few weeks ago."

"That figures."

"Are you ready to come back outside?"

"Sure."

Our friends stayed for a bit longer before they started to trickle off. Miroku and Sango stayed longer to help clean up. Afterward, Inuyasha and I put all of our new stuff in the baby's room to work on decorating later.