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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the characters in it.  This story though IS MINE.  Any person who copies this story will find my wrath upon their doomed heads (and a bottle of Coke up their nose).  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

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Chapter 6

Time goes by

                     Time seemed to slow down for Kagome after she told Inuyasha everything.  Even though the next two weeks were filled with playing with Shippo, and talking to Sango and Miroku, who were now betrothed (a/n: yes, Kagome DID miss a lot during the months she was gone), The days just seemed to creep by .  She finally sent Souta home, though he pitched a fit, insisting that she still needed him.  And she was getting weaker and weaker, but she wanted to be with her friends alone when the time came, and so her Brother returned while she stayed.  Mostly, she spent time with Shinju and Inuyasha walking in the woods.

                     "I'm really gonna miss this."  She whispered as they walked on their last walk together.  She leaned heavily against Inuyasha as they walked through his peaceful, shady forest while he carried Shinju under one of her strong arms.

                     "Miss what?"  Inuyasha asked he carefully put Shinju down on the ground for a second while he turned to talk to her mother, where she happily squealed as a butterfly came and landed on her nose.

                     "THIS!"  She said laughing quietly, and then placing her handkerchief as she coughed, staring dismayed at the red specs on it before continuing on, "Walking and talking with you, seeing Miroku and Sango get married, and watching Shinju and Shippo grow up_"  She broke off, because a lump was suddenly in her throat, and she couldn't speak anymore.

                     Inuyasha had the same lump in his throat too.

                     "Don't worry Kagome," he whispered softly pulling her close, "You can always borrow my body if you wanna peak."  Snorting through her tears, she took a swing at him, which he easily ducked and grinned impishly at her, very much like that night at the festival. . .

                     "Hey Inuyasha, I do have one question, that I would very much like answered before I die."

                     "Yeah?  Spit it out already!"  He said, chasing the butterfly off Shinju's nose, making her cry, forcing him to pick her and rock her silent as Kagome asked her question that had been burning in her ever since they had told her she was pregnant, and this all began.

                     "Well, HOW exactly did I get pregnant?  I mean, you and I never. . ."  The blush on both their faces made an ending to her sentence unnecessary as the looked away from each other.  He gave her Shinju, who was still carrying on, to soothe with her soft melodious voice, while her thought about how he did manage to give Kagome a daughter, until after some thought Inuyasha spoke on the delicate subject.

                     "There are legends that say when a Youkai and Human become so close that their life energies literary become like two lengths of the same pattern, and then, THAT kind of energy is thrown into the pile with the powerful Youkai energy, it can create sort of spark, and cause a whole new life-energy_"

                     "Wait, hold on a sec."  Gasp Kagome, a little winded after singing to Shinju, wheezing into her now well-worn handkerchief.  "Are you seriously telling me that I got pregnant because you and I were so close, that our life energies were like identical, and then when we were goofing off in the field after . . . the dance, it set off a spark in the energies, and created Shinju?!"

                     "Yep, that' about the size of it."

                     "How often has THIS happened?"

                     "Maybe once or twice in the history of both races, but it's not exactly a common occurrence, if you get my meaning.  Demons seldom want to get that close to a human, and vice versa."  He stopped here, trying very hard to ignore the curious and prying glance that Kagome was throwing him, knowing the question that was resting on the tip of her now giggling tongue.

                     And there was no chance in hell he was going to answer it.

                     All of sudden, his Kagome's lovely brown eyes suddenly went huge, and her breathe turned ragged.  A few short gaps escaped from her lips as she suddenly felt hot all over, her chest, which had taken to burning over the last week, suddenly seized up and refused to let her breathe.

                     "Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, worried over her strange behavior.  He sounded very far away to Kagome, who was started sliding to the ground breathing raggedly. . .

Later. . . .

                     Keade stepped out of her hut, a grim look on her face as the nervous bunch waiting outside.  She shook her head, and said, "She has only maybe an hour left, she's very weak from her fever.  Yet, she wishes to speak to ye.  Please come inside."  All of them trooped into her room, solemn as a funeral procession as they gathered on the floor around her bed, her pale face standing out even against the cloud white pillows.  Without even realizing it, Inuyasha knelt down as he usually did; Shinju tucked firmly in his lap, and gently took Kagome's pale hand and held it in his own.

                     "You all have been so wonderful to me this last year.  Helping me study, letting me gripe when I needed to, you've been the best friends I've ever had!  Thank you, for being there for me, and helping me figure out things.  Before I go I have a few requests to make."  Here she paused as the rest gathered closer so not to miss a word of her requests.

                     Swallowing a bit she continued, voice grower ever weaker as she looked at all of them, "Miroku, Sango, live your life for each other and any children you might have.  Do your best to let no one interfere with your love.  Also, I ask that you look after Shippo for me.  I'd like him and Shinju to be raised as siblings . . . but I doubt that he'd survive!"  Smiling through their grief, the young couple nodded, and then she turned to her almost-son.

                     "Shippo, work hard, and be good to Sango and Miroku, they'll need you to prepare them for Parenthood, so make it into something they'll look forward to, and grow into someone I can be proud of."  The little Kitsune, nodded and hugged her tight, and she hugged him with all the strength she had left, before turning to the one who held her hand, and stared into his golden eyes and whispered "Promise that you'll let Shinju into your heart, and never let her suffer the way you did."  He nodded, for a second time that day a large lump in his throat rendered him speechless as he watched her, and she continued with "And don't hold her to my memory or grief.  Let her grow in the light of her own sun, and heal your wounds."  She weakly placed one hand on her daughter's soft cheek, and whispered, "May you know nothing but light and joy, my darling."  She whispered, and as a huge wind blew out the candle beside her, so the life in her body finally left. . .

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Fooled you!  Yes, yes I know I said I'd be skipping ahead, but I realized that I really didn't have the time.  Also, sorry it took me so long to update, but computers having bugs don't exactly care that I promised extra chapter after reviews, and speaking of that, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!  I asked for three, and I got ten!  AHH!  Happiness is!  Okay, I want to see if we can get the # of reviews up to forty.  What say you, can we manage that?  (P S.  Who's got the mad: "figure out a way not to make her characters into a bunch of whores" skills!)

NEXT CHAPTER:  Shinju's six, Inuyasha and KIKYO?! What's up with that?  Plus the Seshy bit

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