Hitori ni Sasenai
By Lady Mac
A/N: Quick re-post for ff(dot)net - I decided there was actually some plot development mixed in between two lemons, so I've thrown that back in with the most horrendous edit ever. Please forgive it, but enjoy the extra plot. However, the lemonS will be posted on (as soon as I finish them), under the same pen name (go to the author search and find Lady Mac). Please feel free to read and review there as well as here.
Aff(dot)net-ers: hooray! An update! I realize I haven't posted much here in a long time, so enjoy the several chapters you get all at once.
Um … yeah, I guess that's about it. Probably no more updates for several weeks, if not longer. Local scholarship applications are due soon, and the AP exams are looming, which means a section a day in Calculus. I have nightmares about indefinite integrals (I'm not making this up!) …
PS: see if you can guess Houjou and Eri's secret! Any reviewers who get it right will receive special recognition in future chapters! (but only until I reveal it - after that you cheated!)
Disclaimer: My rights to Inuyasha and everything contained therein are like Paris Hilton's sense of decency…
Chapter Thirteen
Honeymoon
The picture was immaculate. Kagome and Inuyasha stood in their wedding robes at the foot of Goshinboku, and carefully, deliberately read the vows they had written to each other. Kaiya forced back tears through the entire ceremony, but when her daughter finally pulled away from the kiss with her new husband, pure bliss etched on her young face, the tears burst through and poured down her face even as she applauded. She rushed forwards and enveloped Kagome in a huge hug.
"Mama!" she said happily, squeezing her back.
"That was so beautiful, honey!" she said, wiping at her smearing makeup with a handkerchief.
"Thanks," she said, as Inuyasha took her arm and hung on tight. "We wrote them ourselves."
"Really?"
"Yeah." The hanyou handed her a sheet of paper, smiling broadly. "You want a copy? This is everything I promised to do to your daughter."
She laughed as she read it. There were several things listed that he hadn't said out loud, and it was amusing to see them written in such elegant script. "You wrote this yourself? I had no idea your handwriting was so beautiful, Inuyasha!"
"Thanks," he said, his cheeks pinking slightly.
"Well, Kagome," said Grandpa, coming up beside her. "How does it feel to be an old, married woman?"
"Jii-chan!" she laughed. "I'm not old yet!"
He smiled. "I am glad that you chose to have your ceremony here under Goshinboku. It was certainly a great force in bringing you together."
"It was, wasn't it?" she said, looking up at its branches which were again - for only the second time in five hundred years - covered in pale pink flowers.
"Kagome!"
She turned towards the voice. "Yuka! Ayumi!" She laughed and started towards them, pulling a bemused Inuyasha with her. "What are you doing here?"
"Your mom said we should stop by today, but she didn't say why," Yuka explained, though she was obviously distracted by the well-dressed couple.
"Did you just get married or something?" Ayumi asked. "Because that sure looks like a wedding kimono."
"Well ... actually, yes," Kagome said, blushing. She couldn't believe her mother! Inviting her friends to this... Not that she wasn't glad they were there, but how was she going to explain this without seeming like a total slut? At least Houjou knew already - he could help them "get it." She grinned a little. "What, mom didn't invite Eri, too?"
"Actually, she did," Yuka said. "And she should be here soon."
"Where is she?"
"She's ... well, on a date. But enough about Eri!" Ayumi said. "Since when are you married? When are you gonna introduce us to your husband?"
"Oh!" Kagome laughed. "Okay, Yuka, Ayumi, this is Inuyasha. He's the mysterious, invisible boyfriend you're always going on about."
Inuyasha stepped to her side and bowed. "Hajimemash'te. Yuka, Ayumi."
"Hajimemashite," they replied, bowing as they giggled a little. "Kagome never told us how cute you are."
His ears twitched and Kagome clung to his arm. "Well, you wouldn't have believed me if I told you, would you?"
"Can I touch them?" Yuka asked, reaching for his ears.
"No!" he said, pressing them to his head and ducking behind Kagome. "I .. I mean, I'd rather you didn't."
Kagome rolled her eyes a little. "This is more what he's like nowadays. He's getting lots better at controlling his violent impulses."
"Oh, thanks," he said, letting go of her and crossing his arms.
"It's a compliment!" she insisted. "Come on! You know that; you're not completely dense, are you?"
"You didn't say it like a compliment," he pouted.
She clenched a fist, beginning to be truly annoyed. "Inuyasha, don't you make me say that word."
He winced visibly. "Fine."
Kagome turned back to her friends. "This is my new husband. We're married now."
"You bicker like an old married couple already," Yuka observed.
"Sure do," said Ayumi. "But you've been together for, like, three years, right? I'm sure that'll do it for anyone."
"How long have you been engaged, anyways? And why didn't you tell us?"
"Well ..." Kagome thought for a moment, glancing at Inuyasha. "Around three months. He got me a ring two weeks ago, but you haven't seen it because I leave it at home. I didn't want many people to know about this. The rumors will really be terrible."
They nodded knowingly, and Kaiya stepped out of the house. "Kagome, Inuyasha! Why don't you and your friends come in? I have some food ready!"
Inuyasha's nose twitched, and he took Kagome's arm, suddenly excited. "Come on! She made ramen!"
"Hold on, hold on!" she said, gripping his hand. "I can't go that fast!"
He picked her up suddenly, and jogged toward the house. She laughed out loud. "Come on, if you want any food! He'll eat it all!" They laughed and followed them to the doorstep, where Inuyasha set his bride gently down. They went to the kitchen, and sat around the table. Inuyasha was right about the ramen, and had his own Styrofoam cup of it while the girls ate pickled vegetables.
"So, Inuyasha," Yuka said between bites, "how did you know there was ramen?"
"Smelled it," he said through a mouthful of noodles.
"How?"
"Superhuman senses," he said, explaining nothing.
"It's a family trait," Kagome said, hoping that helped. "It comes with the ears and everything else."
"That's cool!" Ayumi enthused. "So your kids are gonna have that, too? They must be recessive traits, since I've never seen anyone who looks like him. He's probably only got one ancestor with those features."
Kagome smiled. Ayumi was into genetics to an almost frightening degree. "I hope they look like him." Sudden realization struck her. "Secret time!" she said, and both girls leaned in eagerly. "Okay," she continued. "You'll have to find this out eventually, so I'll tell you now." Kagome took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."
Their mouths dropped open and their eyes widened. "A .. Already? But you just got married!" Ayumi protested.
Yuka elbowed her. "Hello? Means nothing! Besides..." she looked around, making sure that Mrs. Higurashi was gone. "She already told us she'd slept with him." She turned back to Kagome. "So, was this an accident, or did you plan it?"
"Totally accidental," she said. "I mean, we're happy and all, but it wasn't planned."
"Is that why you got married?" Ayumi asked.
"I was going to marry her way before that happened," Inuyasha said, feeling the need to butt in. "It was just what made it necessary to actually put things in motion so that the pup–"
"Baby," Kagome corrected.
"Right. So that the baby isn't born out of wedlock, and so forth." He nodded. "Sesshoumaru would never let it go if the bastard fathered a bastard."
"I thought he was the illegitimate one," Kagome said. "Didn't your father love your mother, not his?"
"Hold on," Yuka interrupted. "What's this?"
"His half-brother has a grudge against him," Kagome explained.
"His mother was youkai. Mine wasn't. Therefore I'm illegitimate by youkai tradition, even if Oyaji didn't see it that way. And Sesshoumaru is the true heir to the line because he's full-blood." He turned to the girls. "But I got the coolest legacy sword, and he hates me for it." He smirked. "Baka. He doesn't understand Tenseiga's true power."
They stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Umm ... okay then," Kagome said. "By the way, Inuyasha is a hanyou. Youkai father, human mother. Hence the ears and super-senses. He's about twenty, not counting the fifty years he spent under a spell, and he's visiting from sometime around 1550. The well in the shrine works like a portal and we can go back and forth."
They nodded slowly. "That ... makes sense?" Yuka said.
"Seems reasonable enough to me," Ayumi agreed.
"I'll tell you all the details later," she promised, starting to eat again, but she nearly dropped her chopsticks a moment later. "Eri! Houjou! You came!"
The two blushed at the sudden attention, but entered the kitchen and stood at the end of the table. "Is that really true?" Eri asked. "What you just said?"
"It is," Houjou answered. "She told me before, at the dance."
She looked at him disbelievingly, but he gave her a "would I lie to you?" look and she seemed to accept it.
"What's going on here?" Inuyasha asked suddenly.
"What?" they said together, then blushed again.
"There's something up with you two." He eyed them closely and sniffed slightly, and then his eyes widened. "You've–"
Kagome clapped a hand over his mouth. "You're going out! Oh, that's so great!" She jumped up and embraced Eri. "That's so great! How long has it been?"
"Um ... just a couple of days," she said.
Kagome could barely contain her delight. "Ooh! That's so exciting!"
Inuyasha touched her arm. "Sit down, Kagome. You're getting overexcited; you shouldn't jump around like that."
"Sorry," she said, sitting down beside him again. "Please, pull up a couple of chairs. My mom made plenty of food!"
They sat and talked together until the sun began to dip into the western sky. Yuka and Ayumi managed to goad the newlyweds into a passionate kiss before they left, at which Eri and Houjou turned a mysterious, deep crimson. When they finally departed, Inuyasha escorted Kagome back into the house, where they sat down heavily on the couch.
"I'm totally wiped," she complained.
"Keh! No wonder. You've been all go go go! all day. You've gotta take it easier; your body can't handle that anymore."
She sighed and leaned against him. "You be pregnant next time. I'm not so sure I like it."
At that moment Kaiya came in with a neatly-wrapped package and sat on a chair opposite them. "Well! Omedetou!" she said cheerfully.
"Arigatou, Mama," Kagome said tiredly.
She smiled. "You certainly do look worn-out."
"It's been a long day," Inuyasha answered for her. "And someone refused to give it a rest."
Kaiya smiled. "I've been there." She looked at the couple, then down at the package in her lap. "Well … I got you another wedding gift, but I wanted to wait until everyone had left to give it to you."
"Really?" Kagome was suddenly more cheerful. "That's so sweet, Mama!"
She reached across and handed it to Inuyasha, who tore the paper off carefully with his claws. Inside was an elegant leather-bound book, with the title embossed in gold.
Kagome suddenly turned bright red. "Mama!"
Inuyasha squinted at it. "Spice? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Look inside," Kaiya prodded.
Kagome opened the cover to reveal an inscription, "To the happy couple on their wedding day, Love, Mama Higurashi," and an envelope. She opened it carefully. "Oh! Mama, you didn't!"
"I did!" she said, beaming at Kagome's happy expression.
"What is it?" Inuyasha asked, looking up from paging through the book, the purpose of which was still hidden from him.
"A room at a luxury hotel downtown! For two nights!"
"I figured you'd want some time alone to try out your new book," Kaiya explained. "And you two deserve a honeymoon as much as anyone else."
At that moment, Inuyasha squeaked and snapped the book shut, his cheeks tinged red. He had apparently discovered what it was about. "What the hell kind of world is this?" he demanded. "Publishing stuff like this!"
Kagome saw right through his feigned indignance. He couldn't wait to get her alone …
The room dimmed suddenly, and Kaiya looked outside. "You can leave pretty soon, then," she said. "As soon as the sun goes down, you'll be fine."
"Why when the sun goes down?" asked Kagome.
"Saku no hi," Inuyasha said, suddenly.
Kaiya nodded. "You'll be human, so they won't give you any trouble at the hotel."
Inuyasha closed his eyes then, and the two women watched in amazement as the transformation came over him. When he opened his eyes, the amber had turned to deep violet. "Well, then," he said, turning to his bride. "What are we waiting for?"
&#&-
(in the hot tub at the hotel)
…The bulge that pressed against his belly moved slightly.
He came violently inside her, gasping at the suddenness. For a long moment they didn't move as the steam rose off the water around them.
Kagome finally spoke. "Did … did you feel that?"
"Yeah," he finally managed, slowly disengaging himself and relaxing on the seat. "It was the pup, wasn't it?"
She smiled. "Baby. And yes."
He placed his hand over her womb and closed his eyes. "That's the first time this has happened?"
"Yes." She set her head on his shoulder and sighed. "I love you."
He held her tightly, and let the penetrating warmth and peace lull him to sleep.
When he woke, the only light came from the dim lamp by the door to their suite. Kagome sat under it in a deck chair, wearing an alluring piece of red silk and reading their book.
He crossed his arms on the edge of the tub. "Studying?"
She looked up and smiled. "You're awake."
He rolled his eyes. "No, I'm still asleep. Find anything interesting?"
She cast her gaze skyward, imitating his sarcasm. "In a book about sex? I think not!"
"Cheeky wench."
"Foul-mouthed puppy."
"Kami-sama," he sighed. "The things our kids will have to put up with."
Her laugh was genuine, and seemed to Inuyasha like falling starlight. She had kept her hair in the bun she had put it in to prevent it from getting wet in the hot tub, and her long neck and alluring shoulders were bare in the cool night air.
"You're cold," he said. "We should go inside."
"Did you hear that?" she said, laughing as she smoothed the fabric over her small bulge. "Papa's being overprotective!"
He wrinkled his nose "Papa? You honestly think she'll call me that?"
"Why not?" she said. "And she? What makes you so sure it's a girl?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. I've just sort of assumed she was. Not that I'd be disappointed with a son, but … I don't know. Just a thing, I guess."
Kagome chuckled. "I kind of thought it would be a boy. No girl would cause her mother so much trouble."
Inuyasha frowned. "You mean the morning sickness thing." He looked at her carefully. "Do you feel okay?"
"It was nothing," she said, waving the topic away.
"You're still sick," he said, looking definitely worried. "Oh, kami, I'm so sorry, Kagome …"
"I said it was nothing, and I mean it," she insisted.
She smiled, then shivered a little as a gust of wind came rustling through the bamboo forest that was planted around the perimeter of the balcony. "It is a little chilly."
He stepped out of the water, and she handed him a towel. "Still the queen of modesty, I see," he said.
"Blah, blah, blah," she responded, turning the dial on the side of the tub to turn off the heater and jets.
He followed her through the sliding glass doors, and grimaced at the open bags on the bed. "Why'd we leave those there?"
"Ready again so soon?" she asked, picking one up and moving it to the floor beside the bureau.
"I told you, I'm hanyou, wench!"
She rolled her eyes. "Then here." She handed him the book, her finger marking a page. "Study up a little first while your hair dries. I don't want to sleep on soggy sheets."
"Where are you going?"
She stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. "Duh!"
When she emerged a few minutes later, Inuyasha leapt from the chair and grabbed her, forcing her into the soft mattress with a barrage of kisses.
"Wait, wait!" she laughed, pushing at his chest. "Your hair is still wet!"
He pouted and sat back on his ankles as she pulled the band from her hair and used it to tie his back. "I thought you liked my hair."
"I do like your hair. When it's dry."
He brushed off the comment and came down on her again, nibbling her lower lip with his blunt human teeth …