Unexpected

An Inu Yasha Fan Fiction by Caitlin M.

Moogleheadgirl@cs.com

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha or anything associated with it. So don't sic any lawyers on me.

Chapter 3: Understanding

Inu Yasha all but threw me on the kitchen table (and very nearly into Souta's breakfast). Sitting me down on the edge, and with my little brother as our captive audience, he pinned my hands at my sides and leveled his face with mine.

"You want to tell me, slowly, why you thought that would good idea?" he whispered. I soon learned that the only thing more terrifying than a shouting-at-the-top-of-his-lungs Inu Yasha was a quiet one. Although I knew it would do very little for his present mood, I felt a few tears make a mad dash for freedom, and I didn't bother to stop them.

I tried, I really tried. I explained how I was considered too young to have children by current standards. I told him how much university meant to me, the idea of a future. I tried to tell him how a family would prevent me from getting very far.

He had seemed to be cooling off, but as soon as that little blunder found it's way out of my big mouth, I went and set him off again. Fortunately, he didn't try to throttle me, as I was half-afraid he might. He just spoke calmly and rationally, which is extremely unsettling coming from Inu Yasha.

"Kagome, I've visited this bass-ackwards place often enough, and I know you well enough to know that these 'big tests' are not what you want. I know what you want is back on the other side of the well, with me." He leaned forward a bit and nuzzled my cheek. I felt his hands lift, taking the pressure off and letting lift my arms. I put them around his neck "They just make you think it's what you want. You don't need to give up anything. Just come home with me. We'll forget this even happened. It'll be all right."

I was tempted, despite the fact that he was encouraging me to dump my family and take off with him, all while Souta was watching with that rapt expression. Souta…he'd tell me to do it, too. He's really no help at all. But I couldn't forget all those years at school, having it drilled into my head that I need to get into a good college. If it was as simple as, "Hey, never mind," then what were all the late nights, fast breaks for the well, grueling tests, and truly ghastly "illnesses" for? Could I really just let it drop like that?

I started to protest, half to point this out and half to stop Inu Yasha from trying anything… intimate… while Souta was watching. Inu Yasha, however, was his usual pig-headed self, and refused to take no for answer.

"Why are you so eager to destroy this child? Is it something I'm just not understanding?" He had raised his voice again. It was a relief. I know what to do if he shouts; it's easy to shout back.

"I'm just…panicking, OK? You might imagine that this doesn't happen to me very often. I don't know what to do. I'm trying to make the decision that won't completely rearrange my life!"

"What are you, retarded? Nothing ever stays the same, things can and will happen, and…and…and you can't do this!" He grabbed his head in his hands and gave his hair a vigorous shake, as if that would help him understand what was going through my mind. I don't blame him…I'd kind of like to know, myself. You can't do this; he kept saying that over and over again. I wanted to fold, to back out. To admit, for once, that he was right. But there was something in me that persisted in thinking I had no choice. That thing must have taken control of my mouth, because I didn't want to say what I did, but that didn't stop it from coming out.

"Maybe I don't want things to change, and yes, I can!"

He bit off whatever he was going to say next, and bounded out of the kitchen before I could say anything else.

I spent the rest of the day in my room, contemplating what I jerk I was, and Mum found Inu Yasha sulking on the roof a few hours later, after a neighbor called to let us know there was someone up there. Then she paid a visit to me.

I got the whole nine yards: how I'm nearly an adult now, capable of making my own decisions, and how she couldn't make me do anything. Then she looked me straight in the eye, and I hate it when she does that because it makes me want to do whatever she says. She very rarely demands anything of me and I take it for granted. When there's direct eye contact involved, I'm helpless to resist.

"Inu Yasha and I have spoken," she started, and I tried to picture my mother and him having a serious, sit-down discussion…and failed. "Kagome, dearest, I know you have other ideas, but we think it would be best if you kept the child. Shush…" she held my face in her hands. "Please understand. Or don't, if you prefer. But I don't think you realize what this means to him."

I had a vague idea. With your parents' being dead and your one surviving relative on a constant quest to kill you, a loving family might be a nice thing to have. My voice seemed to have abandoned me, however, and all I could do was nod. Fine.

We went with Inu Yasha's initial plan… the one he had snapped out shortly before his escape from Kaede's hut. We figured that it made the most sense…But Inu Yasha made it very clear that I was free to change my mind.

I would have, but to be honest, the decision was made. We were already preparing to send me to school and to send Inu Yasha down the well with the baby. Provided it went through. It occurred to me that we two might be the only ones that were capable of it. When I voiced this concern, Inu Yasha just laughed at me. Apparently, such an idea was so ridiculous, it didn't even make sense. I could kill him.

Well, if I didn't love him so much, anyway.

The actual pregnancy wasn't all that eventful. Except for a black cloud of bad karma hovering over the house, nothing really changed. I appeared to be the only one very deeply effected by my predicament. Either my family had better poker faces than I had thought, or else they had learned to expect the unexpected with me and just make do. Even Inu Yasha was pretty much himself, although sometimes he gave me a look that made my heart ache. And when he put his big, warm hand on my growing belly, I though I might cry. Sometimes, I did. Then he'd scowl and tell me what a crybaby I was, and I'd chew him out about being macho, and for a moment, it was like we'd forgotten everything and were ourselves again. Which made it infinitely worse.

Since the baby wasn't going to exist in my world, it would be unwise to see a doctor about my present condition. It would be very hard to explain where Inu Yasha was going to take it and why it wasn't going to come back for check ups. It was very unsettling not knowing what was going on while my body did weird, unpleasant things to me, but Mum had, of course, been through the same thing, and everyone kept a close eye on me. But for several months, all Inu Yasha and I had to do was sit around the house and mope.

It was a very long eight months.

The baby was slightly premature. It wasn't enough to endanger it in any way (I don't think… I didn't exactly have much to go on), but I went into labor while no one was home. I'm sure if my family had any indication that I would be giving birth, they wouldn't have gone on a shopping trip and left Inu Yasha and me home alone. As it was, they were out, buying formula, diapers, and other things required when caring for a baby.

I suppose I should have been grateful. Though it was probably the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life, I was not in labor long. Inu Yasha was beside himself, panicking but trying to keep me calm. He held my hand while I pushed, his face white. I thought I could hear his heart beating, but it might have been my own pulse in my ears. I was starting to black out, and I was sick with fear. Neither of us knew what we were doing, and women could die in childbirth.

Then I heard a cry, and a door opening. There was a shout, or a loud noise, or something, and then I passed out completely.

I found out later that Mum, Grandpa, and Souta had gotten in just as Inu Yasha was wrapping the baby in a towel. As soon as they walked into my bedroom, which is where I had gone once the contractions started, he grabbed the bags of baby stuff from them, told them I needed a healer, and headed for the well.

It occurred to me that we hadn't even said good bye, and now I wouldn't even be able to apologize, which is what I had been planning on doing after the baby was born. I thought he'd at least stay around for a few days. By the time I'd be back on my feet, the well would be sealed.

After lots of bed rest, and, indeed, a trip to the doctor, it was decided that I would survive. Which was all well and good, but it had been the scariest thing I had been through in quite a while, and for a few weeks afterwards I was something of a hypochondriac, convinced that every little thing wrong with me was that awful afternoon catching up to me. But I recovered, and eventually I felt well enough to try the well.

I climbed down gingerly, and hopped off the rope ladder just a foot from the floor of the well, eyes closed. After a moment, I looked up and saw the well house roof over my head.

Damn.

To be continued…

Author's note:

I'm not depressing, am I? Laughs. I'm glad that bit's over… the pregnancy is not the focus of the story, it's just a hurdle.

I'd like to take this time now, not as though you all haven't already heard this or something like it: teen sex = BIG FAT NO. I don't know… I just figured, as long as I have your attention, I can preach for a moment. This stuff is very nice for story material, but I personally think that, as much as I love them, Kagome and Inu Yasha were being incredibly stupid. You guys all have your own lives, but keep that in mind. This story will, eventually, have a happy ending, but it doesn't always work like that in real life.

That's all. See you next time, same bat time, same bat channel.