Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warning: A teensy bit of angst. Kagome has to go through this, but I promise that things will get better for her. Life is like that sometimes.
A/N: This story called for one lemon, so one I delivered. If there's enough interest, I will probably end up slipping an optional PWP scene in down the road. But I have an absolutely kawaii little epilogue in mind and I need to let the plot drive the story there first.
VIII. Transitions
Kagome exhaled slowly as another bout passed. She pulled herself upright and Inuyasha pressed a damp rag to her head. This is getting ridiculous. She had lost the last contents of her stomach nearly an hour ago, but the heaving had yet to let up.
Inuyasha had become mildly agitated soon after the new moon, remarking on the shift in her scent. But he had never been in this situation before and wasn't sure whether the change was simply due to their mating. It had been just as natural to dismiss Kagome's late cycle because of the excitement of their approaching nuptials. Realization had dawned on the young couple only when her period failed to return.
The onslaught of morning sickness in the weeks following their small wedding therefore confirmed what they already knew. Thankfully, Kaede didn't seem particularly concerned about the timing. An early delivery wouldn't be the first in the village and certainly wouldn't raise any eyebrows.
News of Kagome's condition was in fact met with warm smiles and congratulations from their friends. Inuyasha's delight was apparent when he delivered the news to Miroku-sama. "First time, bouzu," he crowed. "We got pregnant our first time. You're obviously not doing it right." Kagome blushed.
She wasn't so sure that the first time had done it, but clearly they had conceived a child early in their burgeoning intimacy. The possibility had occurred to Kagome from the beginning, yet the thought of carrying Inuyasha's child had seemed anything but dreadful and it wasn't as though they had access to birth control anyway.
Oh, to have known what she knew now. Kagome groaned as her stomach churned, but the discomfort was less intense and the nausea passed quickly. Inuyasha eyed her carefully before handing her a cup of water. She rinsed her mouth, then warily tried a few sips. His hand gently stroked her back as the minutes passed. It seemed that her stomach had finally settled, and she gratefully took another small drink.
Inuyasha led her back to Kaede's hut, guiding her through the dark to their futon. He curled around behind her as she settled in for what was left of the night. His fingers caressed the slight curve that was just beginning to protrude from her lower abdomen, and he nuzzled under her hair to lightly nip and lick at the back of her neck. Her hanyou didn't need much rest, but she knew he would continue to hold her like this after he managed to lull her back into sleep.
Sleep was slow to reclaim her, however. At first, the bouts of sickness had awakened her every night, and in her exhaustion she had fallen easily back into dreams. But the sickness was coming less frequently now. Kagome had managed a few nights of uninterrupted sleep before this.
Well rested sleep was more difficult to come by. Her dreams were at least as exhausting as the nightly interruptions. They weren't bad, for the most part, but they were vivid. Sometimes Kagome dreamed of her family in the modern era, sometimes of her small family here. Most of the dreams were ordinary enough, though the relived battles could be disturbing. In some dreams she was a miko, drawing easily on the spiritual power that seemed to be slipping away from her in the waking world. In some dreams she was a hanyou, leaping through the trees and hunting her prey. Those dreams were especially unsettling – she liked the feeling of freedom and the wind whipping through her hair, but the smell from the carnage of the hunt usually triggered another wave of morning sickness.
Morning sickness, indeed. The nausea generally gripped her in the earliest hours of the morning, well before sunrise. Shippou-chan had taken to sleeping with Kaede, or often with Kohaku-hun and Kirara where he would remain undisturbed by the nightly disruptions. Although Kaede could be awakened easily when needed, she seemed to be able to sleep through anything if she wasn't summoned. After the first few nights, Inuyasha had become accustomed to soothing Kagome until her stomach settled.
She hadn't expected it to be like this. Kagome hadn't expected pregnancy to be perfect, hadn't even expected it to be easy, but she never would have imagined that it would make her feel so rotten at night, so exhausted during the day. And this is only the beginning. With the promise of raging hormones and swelling ankles, not to mention some of the less pleasant aspects of pregnancy she had heard about, Kagome had every reason to believe that it was only going to get worse.
She was lucky to have Inuyasha, lucky to have Kaede and Shippou-chan and close friends, but she couldn't help wishing once again for Mama's comforting presence. Mama had experience in these things, would have been able to help ease the difficult times. Kagome sniffled as she thought about what it might have been like to share this with her family and friends in modern Tokyo, imagining Mama's delight in holding her first grandchild and Souta's reaction to becoming an uncle.
Sensing her melancholy, Inuyasha tightened his hand over her belly before venturing upwards to cup her breast. His teeth grazed her neck and he wuffed a low guttural sound against her back. It was an oddly reassuring sound, which sufficed to distract her from her sadness. Her consciousness ebbed into darkness in the warmth of his embrace.
She recoiled in horror at the garish sight, the blaring sounds and the acrid smell of the wreckage. It had been a dreadful accident, the inexorable result from a chain reaction of small events entirely beyond anyone's control. The six-car pileup shut down several blocks in West Shinjuku as emergency response teams fought the snarled Tokyo traffic to try to bring aid to those trapped within the tangled metal.
One of the cars seemed familiar, niggling at her memory. The 'jaws of life' – overlarge metal cutters – were used to allow the paramedics access to the broken body within. She couldn't get close enough to see the driver, too much metal and too many people in the way. But she saw the slick dark fluid pooling near the wreckage, and she knew it was hopeless even as the paramedics worked to try to continue to pump air and blood through the lifeless victim. The hot sun beat down mercilessly upon them, pollution choking the still air.
Kagome pressed closer as they rolled the victim on a stretcher to the waiting ambulance, but she couldn't get near enough to see whether she recognized the poor driver. The sirens blared as the ambulance pulled away. The sights and sounds and smells seemed to melt together suddenly, as she felt … her consciousness being … pulled away…
The first awareness she gleaned out of the grey fog was the sound of a woman crying. The shrine materialized around her, brighter and more colourful than Kagome could ever remember.
It was a beautiful day. The warm sun shone down upon her, the smell of incense lingered in the air. The birds sang as a gentle breeze brushed past and a sense of calm filled her. It will be fine. The thought skittered across her consciousness like a whisper. Life will go on and another day will dawn.
The sound of sobbing drew her from the shrine and towards the Higurashi home. Goshinboku came fully into view, and then the slight figure of the woman sitting under it. Her shaking form was proof enough that the tree's normally calming presence offered little solace this day.
Kagome's throat tightened as she drew near, the woman's familiar figure unmistakable.
"What's wrong? Mama, what happened?"
Kagome sat up in a cold sweat. She brushed the hair from her face and wiped at the freely flowing tears. Inuyasha was beside her immediately, crooning to her with soft words.
"It's alright, Kagome. It was just a dream, just another dream."
His hand stroked through her hair as she regained her bearings. But she couldn't shake the feeling of sadness, the echo of some horrific tragedy. Something was wrong. In her heart, Kagome knew that something terrible had happened.
"Inuyasha, please," she wrapped her arms around him tightly, buried her face in his haori. "Please take me to the well."