Well, I'm updating this story...again. I am totally sorry to my survivor fans. I really am. But for some reason I've had a major writer's block with that one since chapter two. The main reason is that there are two ways the story could go, and I'm having trouble deciding which. Until I decide, the story can't go anywhere, really.

Another good Kagome pregnancy story is Early December: by Maiden of the Moon. It's really cute.

Review Responses-

some girl's anthem- Thank you for adding me to your favorites! ;) I appreciate it. I'm glad you like my story so far, and I hope you keep liking it.

lazy lady- Yep. The horsey is wonderfully white! Bla Bla Bla...all done!

Dragon Man 180- Hrmm....::crawls under rock:: Hojo won't be too much of a problem...

Inu-babe666- You seem to really want a new chapter! Well, here it is! (;

FieryDemonFox-The email must have traveled slowly. (: I'm happy that you like it so far!

OceanBreeze777- You are so welcome! You inspired it, so I just had to dedicate it to you. Crap! Thank you for reminding me to give the horse a name! For some odd reason that totally slipped my mind. You'll probably see its name somewhere in this.

Inuyashalove-I'm glad you like the characters personalities so far. ;) Hojo being the stable boy just seemed to fit in so well!

Die Kikyo Die-Very...erm...interesting screen name! ( I'm glad you like! Here's the new chapter!

MichelleAnneSummers- I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations! ;)

Kostos-I don't think Inu will be particularly pleased with Kagome... Glad you liked it! Oh! And I didn't send you this chapter to proofread because I wanted to get it posted today, and my yahoo account is jacking up on me. I'll give you a break this time!

Rushyuo-You'll just have to read what horseys Kag'll see! Thanks for the review.

seida02-Glad you liked the chapter! I updated! Thanks for the review!

The Shikon Child

Chapter 5- The council

-

Inuyasha tapped his long nails on the large oak table, making a sort of offbeat rhythm. He sighed, wondering how long he had to wait for the rest of the council, which was composed of all of the bordering country's leaders, to get there. His parents had called the council, along with Kikyo and her father, to come and help them sort this affair. It was illegal for royalty to abandon their mate for another, but these were irregular circumstances, considering that Inuyasha hadn't actually mated with anyone.

Miroku, who was standing behind Inuyasha, started to jangle the golden rings on his staff in beat with Inuyasha's tapping. He was much happier than he had been earlier. To Miroku's luck, The King and Queen had been so preoccupied with Inuyasha's current situation that they had totally forgotten to deal with him and his nasty habit of abandoning his job to flirt.

Caught up in the rhythm, Inutaisho started tapping his foot, adding his own musical touch to the group.

They went on for a couple of minutes, caught in a kind of bored amusement, but stopped when they heard a small cough.

Izayoi was standing in the doorway, one of her thin, elegant eyebrows arched in questioning at their weird behavior.

Inutaisho flushed and stomped his foot on the ground a couple of times. "Damn those bugs...we really do need to get a pest exterminator in here..."

She shook her head at her husband's antics. He could be very comic at times... "Lord Kenta and Lady Kikyo just pulled up, and so did Lady Yuri and Lords Kiyoshi, Masuyo, and Nori. The rest should be here soon." She shuddered a bit. "Lord Naraku came too. What a creepy man..."

Inutaisho nodded, and straightened up, preparing himself for the arrival of his guests. "Send them in."

A few minutes later, a horde of people entered the room. They were all dressed in luxurious clothes, showing that they were nothing lower than the highest of rank.

Inuyasha looked up from the wooden table, and let his amber gaze fall on every guest. He did a double take when he spotted the only woman in the room. She looked exactly like Kagome, with only a few small differences. Her hair was slightly longer and straighter, and her eyes were more slitted and icy. She also had extremely pale skin, as though she had never set foot under the sun's rays.

She saw him looking at her and gave him a small nod before sitting down next to her father, right across from Inuyasha.

Inuyasha's gaze also fell upon a demon who had chosen to stand in a shaded corner, rather than take a seat at the table like the rest. He had a dark appearance. His long, dark hair went to his waist and his eyes had a hint of red in them, giving him an ominous look.

When all of the council members, except Naraku, had taken their seats, Inutaisho cleared his throat. "I'm glad that you all were able to make it to this meeting. I called this meeting to discuss the situation at hand..."

Inuyasha's eyes clouded over, totally ignoring his father's speech. He knew that he should be listening. The whole meeting was about him. But he knew that he could wait until it was over, and then ask Miroku what the council had concluded.

An hour, many yawns, and a huge headache later, Inuyasha was relieved to hear the shuffling of feet and the screeching of chairs. The meeting was finally over. He was surprised that they hadn't called on him to say anything, but guessed that they didn't really care what he had to say. It was a matter of law, not opinion.

Miroku, who knew that Inuyasha hadn't listened to one word that the council said, leaned over and muttered into Inuyasha's ear. "You aren't obligated to marry Kagome. You are free to find any mate you wish. The only thing you are required to do is provide food and shelter for the girl and the child."

Inuyasha felt relieved, as though some weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He really wasn't ready to be married yet. He looked at his dad, who was the only one besides him and Miroku that remained in the room. He had a sour look on his face. "What's up?"

"Oh, It's nothing." He got out of his chair. "You do remember the alliance we made with the Kenta's, right?"

Inuyasha nodded. The relief he had been feeling evaporated. Now that he didn't have to marry Kagome, he had to marry Kikyo. Great.

"Well, if you ever choose to break the alliance, I'll back you up." His golden eyes softened. "I don't believe in arranged marriages. Never have."

Taken aback, Inuyasha openly goggled at his father. "But didn't you guys make that alliance so our people would stay in peace with theirs.... To make sure that the war that was threatening to come not happen?"

Inutaisho nodded, long silver strands of hair falling from behind his pointy ears. "But we can handle ourselves in a war. If you really want someone else besides Kikyo as a mate, we'll easily survive." He regained is posture, and his eyes hardened. "But I do suggest that you at least try to get along with Kikyo. It would prevent a lot of lives from being sacrificed."

With that said, Inutaisho left the room, leaving Inuyasha alone with Miroku.

Deciding that he probably needed to check on Kagome, Inuyasha got up and walked to the door. Miroku followed too, and got in step behind him. But before Inuyasha had a chance to even touch the handle, the door swung open, slamming right into his nose.

Inuyasha recoiled, and held his now bleeding nose. "What the hell?"

"Oh!" said the female dog demon with choppy, short hair that just entered the room. "I'm so sorry!"

"You'd better have a hell of a good reason for bursting in here like that!" yelled Inuyasha.

"I do! It's Kagome! Me and my brother were guarding the kid, as you ordered, and when we opened the door to give her lunch, she wasn't in there! She had climbed out of the window!"

-

The pearly white horse grabbed on to Kagome's kimono with its dull but strong teeth, obviously not wanting her to leave.

Kagome smiled and patted its head. "You don't want me to go?"

"She's grown attached to you," said Hojo, still amazed that the horse was actually letting someone touch it. "I still have no clue how you got her to warm up to you so much."

"Why did lord Shima buy her if she didn't cooperate well with others?"

"He didn't buy her," said Hojo thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "She was a gift from some foreign king. He said that she was the best of her breed. He called her angel, though we never quite understood why. She acts more like a little devil than an angel most of the time."

Angel shook her head, as though denying his accusation.

Kagome laughed, and gave her one last pat before turning back to Hojo. "So, you were going to show me around?"

"Yes!" said Hojo quickly. He grabbed her wrist and led her through the hall between the stalls.

Kagome thoroughly enjoyed herself as he showed her all of the different horses. There were so many different kinds. There were ones so tall that their giant heads nearly hit the ceiling, and ones so small that they barely came up to Kagome's knees.

They soon came to a small stall that held a small brown foal. "Ooh! That one's so cute!" Kagome yelled in delight, her chocolate eyes sparkling.

Hojo looked in the stall that she was pointing at and smiled. "Her name's precious. She's a rare breed. We just got her yesterday. We wanted her earlier, but the breeders said that they didn't want her taken from her mom so early."

"Can I see her?"

"Well..." muttered Hojo, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "She's just gotten here and I don't want to scare her..."

"She won't be scared." Kagome grabbed his shoulder and gripped it soothingly, hoping to win him over so she could pet the adorable foal. "You seem to handle horses very well."

Blushing ten shades of red, Hojo muttered something like "I guess it wouldn't hurt" and opened the small door.

He walked in the stall, still muttering something, and not really paying attention to what he was doing. But before he reached the baby horse, he slipped on a pile of horse dung. His arms windmilled as he tried to keep his balance on the slippery feces. His effort was in vain however, and he fell on the hey-strewn ground with a loud THUMP.

Kagome put her hand to her mouth, caught between laughing and seeing if the poor stable boy was okay. "A-are you all right?"

Hojo looked up at her with an embarrassed smile, his face, if possible, going a shade darker. "I'm fine."

Not being able to hold her mirth in any longer, Kagome burst out in laughter, holding the wall for support. She was laughing so hard that tears started leaking out of her closed eyes.

Hojo chuckled a little too, though he clearly didn't find that falling in horse poop as hilarious as she did.

"I-I-I'm so sorry," Kagome gasped between a bout of giggles. But her words seemed to make the experience all the more funny to her, because she started laughing even harder, holding the stitch that had started forming in her side.

Hojo was about to try to attempt to calm her a little, but was cut off by a livid voice.

"KAGOME!"

Kagome immediately stopped laughing and stiffened. She knew the owner of that voice and she also knew that the hanyou wasn't going to be happy with her.Looking up, she saw Inuyasha speeding towards her. His cheeks were red and he was breathing like a winded rhinoceros.

She bit her lip, but tried to form a smile. "Uh, hey Inuyasha."

Hojo looked between the two, wondering whether he should do something, but quickly abandoned the idea and fled because of the death glare that the hanyou sent his way.

"Why in the seven HELLS did you run away!?"

Kagome's instincts told her to run and hide, but she pushed them stubbornly away, standing her ground. "I wasn't running away!"

Inuyasha gave her a disbelieving glare. "Then why were you in the stables, and not in your room like you were supposed to be?"

"Because I wanted to get out! I didn't want to stay cooped up in my room for hours on end with nothing to do!"

He closed his eyes and balled his fists. "Did you ONCE consider that while you made your little trip down the castle wall that you could have fell, and killed not only yourself, but the pup too?"

Kagome hadn't thought of it that way... "But I didn't-,"

"And there's the fact that you left yourself vulnerable to the people will be after you to get the damn jewel that's supposedly in the baby!"

"I-I didn't think-,"

"I know you didn't think!"

Kagome's bottom lip trembled, and her chocolate orbs were glittering with unshed tears. She cursed herself for showing him her weak side, but she just couldn't stop the tears from coming, no matter what she tried. She couldn't control her racing emotions, as she normally did easily.

Inuyasha watched in horror as the girl in front of him started to silently shed tears. "Hey girl! Don't start crying!"

"I-I'm not trying to!" wailed Kagome as she wiped her tears on her kimono. "All I wanted was something to do! I was bored, and I felt trapped! I don't want to never be able to leave my room!"

Inuyasha looked around, as if searching for a sign to tell him how to get the girl to stop balling. Finally a solution came to mind. "If I arrange for you to be able to leave your room more often, will you quit crying?"

Kagome looked as though she was about to agree to the deal, but then she apparently decided against it, because she let out a sob louder than ever. "How can I quit crying when I know that I endangered my baby's life?!"

Great, now Inuyasha was feeling guilty for making her feel guilty. He awkwardly patted her back, trying to comfort her. "It's okay. You and the pup are fine. It doesn't matter now. Let's just go back to the castle."

Kagome nodded, trying to stifle the sobs that were threatening to break loose. She definitely wasn't used to this pregnancy thing. If she endangered her life, she would endanger the baby's life too. Kagome mentally vowed to never do something like that again.

Inuyasha led her through the gardens in the direction of the large front double door, and Kagome's spirit soared at the thought that she would finally get to explore more of the palace.

With a great heave, he opened the doors. Kagome gasped and cupped her hand over her mouth. She had thought that Inuyasha's room was huge, but this room easily dwarfed it.

There were a couple dozen demons and humans who were obviously of great importance chatting merrily with each other. They had on such extravagant clothes that Kagome, still in the blue kimono, looked nothing better than a peasant in comparison. Some were holding beautifully designed crystal drinking glasses, taking delicate sips, their pinkies sticking outward. Many turned to Kagome and Inuyasha, having heard the door creek open.

"Why hello!" said a rather large demon, who beamed at the pair. He had two rounded ears at the top of his head that were covered in gray fur, which was the same color as his long hair, and a nose that stuck out irregularly far from his face. He was a mouse demon. He turned to just Kagome, his friendly smile widening, and offered her his large, pudgy hand to her. "You must be the famous Kagome that we've been hearing about!"

Kagome smiled back awkwardly, hoping that all traces of her crying were gone from her face, and shook his hand. She wondered how he knew about her, but figuring that probably everybody at the castle knew about her if even the stable boy had caught wind of her. "Er, hello."

He turned to Inuyasha, and whispered in his ear. "You got quite a catch there, sonny. You may just want to keep her as your mate, eh?"

Inuyasha blushed furiously, glad that the demon had whispered the comment so Kagome couldn't hear it. "Keh."

The demon chuckled happily and clapped Inuyasha on the back. "Well, I'll be off," he said as he headed toward another group of people to chat.

"Come on," said Inuyasha as he lead Kagome through the small crowd of people littering the room. "Let's just go."

Before they had made their way through the room, someone caught Kagome by the arm, spinning her around.

Kagome gasped. The dragon-shaped birthmark on her hand felt as though it was on fire. She looked at the man who held her arm, and nearly ran away in fear. He was the scariest person she had ever laid eyes upon.

Inuyasha instantly recognized him as the demon who had stood in the shadows while the council was in session. He had to hold back a growl when he saw Kagome wince in pain from contact.

The demon released her arm, a slightly sadistic smile playing at his lips. "So you're Kagome. My name is Naraku." His eyes traveled to her stomach, and then placed his finger on it, which instantly sent spasms of pain through Kagome, making her recoil in pain. "And that must be 'The Shikon Child.'"

Inuyasha didn't contain his growl this time. He pushed the scared Kagome behind him. "Get the hell away from her."

"Already attached?" Naraku snarled viscously. "Well, if you ever get tired of the whore, send her to me."

That was the last straw. Inuyasha leapt at him, but before he reached him, Miroku appeared out of nowhere and held his staff in front of Naraku, preventing Inuyasha from getting to him.

All of the people had turned towards the quarrel. Most of the demons were glaring at Naraku, their heightened senses allowing them to hear the conversation from all the way across the room. Even the humans looked mad. Apparently Naraku didn't have a good reputation.

"I suggest you leave right now," said Miroku calmly, though his eyes held a deep hatred for the man standing before him.

Naraku's smile widened. He gestured toward Miroku's beaded hand. "So, how are you enjoying the family curse?"

"I said leave," said Miroku, his voice still calm, but dripping with venom.

"Fine." Naraku took one last lustful glance towards Kagome. "But I'll be back for her. You can be sure of that," he said before vanishing with a loud POP, leaving a gust of smoke in his place.

-

Soooo tired. ZZzzzzz. What a dramatic chapter! (: I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. It was shorter than the last chapter, but I want to get this posted today, because I don't think that I will get much of a chance to work for a while. Busy busy me. I didn't get the opportunity to get this to my beta, so sorry for mistakes.

Review?

Lima S