All right people, I am on my second last day of school, and I'm going to use those last moments to update with this next chapter. Oh and by the way if you want to know when I'm going to update from now on, go to my personal profile and I'll let you guys know what's going on.
Winter Wonderland
Chapter Forty-Seven
It was the middle of the night when a soft whimper caused the half demon to awaken from his slumber. Glancing up at the digital clock, he had only been asleep for a few hours. Rubbing his eyes, Inu-Yasha pushed himself off the floor and peeked over the bed at his mate who was lying on her side, facing him as she clutched her abdomen.
"Kagome . . . what's wrong?" yawned Inu-Yasha, crawling up to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Babies kicking," whispered Kagome, her eyes tightly closed as she was trying to deal with the pain.
Growling softly Inu-Yasha placed his hand on his mate's abdomen, and could feel the pup kick boxing in his mother's womb. Deciding to try the advice Sesshoumaru had given him yesterday, and lowered his head, placing it on his mates abdomen. Kagome opened her eyes when she heard Inu-Yasha whimper and growl into her stomach. Slowly the kicking started to subside, and the pain had completely gone away.
"Better?" asked Inu-Yasha, lying down beside his mate.
"Much better . . . thank you so much,"
Inu-Yasha kissed Kagome's forehead, "Anything for you darling,"
"So I hear were going skiing tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I want to see how many times my brother and the monk fall down," snickered the half demon.
"Oh . . . and I what will Sango and I do then?"
"Well, you mother said we could rent a room or something at the lodge,"
"A room at the lodge? Do you know how expensive that is?"
"You mother said that you and Sango would be able to relax while us men and Rin go skiing. Of course Kirara would stay with you if anything happened, and your mother said something about you guys getting a massage or something,"
"You mean we get to go to the spa?"
"Don't ask me! I'm still a little unfamiliar with this modern day places,"
"They basically treat you like royalty there,"
"Well then I like this spa place already,"
Kagome smiled and kissed her husband on the cheek, "I guess Sango and I won't be as bored as we thought then,"
"We'll come visit you and see how you're doing of course,"
"Does Kohaku know you're taking him skiing?"
"I believe so, Souta was supposed to tell him,"
"And what does your brother think about skiing?"
"He hasn't said much, but deep down I think he's nervous,"
"Your brother nervous?"
"I only wish,"
Nudging the half demon slightly, Kagome wrapped her arms around Inu-Yasha and snuggled closer to him, "I hope we get a room that looks over the ski hill, then we can watch you guys,"
"There's no way you and Sango will stand outside! You'll get a cold and . . ." The half demon was cut off as Kagome gave him a menacing stare that would have made anyone shut up.
"Would you stop acting like I'm made of glass, I'm perfectly fine,"
"Hey! You know your mother had to convince me to leave you alone while I take the others skiing, otherwise I would have stayed with you,"
Kagome sighed, right now she was beyond angry of how over protective he was being over her, but right now screaming would not solve anything. Taking a deep breath, Kagome turned her head to look at her mate, "Inu-Yasha I really appreciate you taking care of me and everything, but you know I would like to have some alone time by myself, and I would really like to talk to Sango alone without you breathing down my neck, and having a panic attack every time I sneeze,"
"But Kagome,"
"Listen, I'm sure you're tired of me saying the 's' word every time you tick me off. I don't want you to worry about me all the time, I'm sure you want to have fun. Miroku and the others don't know how to ski, or skate, or ride a skidoo, and your going to have to teach them. And I think you want to beat your brother at a snowball fight. Trust me, Sango and I are going to take it easy while were here and have fun too,"
"I know . . . I know Kagome, but after what happened last time when I wasn't protecting you as much . . . we lost our unborn pup . . ."
Kagome winced slightly . . . she had a pretty good idea that this is why he was protecting her so much, "There aren't any demons here Inu-Yasha,"
"I know that . . . but you could fall down the stairs or slip and I wouldn't be there to catch you,"
"I'm not that big of a klutz,"
Inu-Yasha nodded, his one hand on her abdomen while the other as on her back making small circles.
"I promise I'll be extra careful tomorrow . . . and Sango and I will take the elevator instead of the stairs,"
"That would lower my stress level,"
"Just have fun tomorrow, and don't worry about me, I can take care of myself,"
The half demon kissed his mate on the lips, "Alright, let's get some sleep now,"
Kagome smiled and closed her eyes, and almost instantly went to sleep, and was soon followed by the half demon.
The next day dawned bright and early and everyone being in a rush. Sesshoumaru, Rin, Kohaku. and Miroku were trying on the ski suits that Mrs. Higurashi had bought them, and to make sure that the ski boots fit. As everyone was eating breakfast, Rin was braiding Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru's hair so it wouldn't be in the way while they were skiing. Shippo had been whining all morning about not being able to ski, but Inu-Yasha promised that the fox could ride on his shoulder as they went down the slopes since there wasn't ski's to fit Shippo's size, that is until next year when he would grow taller. Souta was extremely excited to go skiing, although Kohaku seemed a little nervous, and so did Miroku.
After dumping the bags in the back, and strapping the skis to the roof of the van, everyone crawled in with Inu-Yasha driving this time, and were off. When they reached the lodge, Inu-Yasha dropped everyone at the main door while he went to park the van. Kagome took the liberty get everyone an all day pass on the lifts, and then she and Sango were taken to their room for the day while the men and Rin skied. The place was quite huge with a hot tub, a telephone for room service, large TV with cable, large chairs that looked quite comfy. Making sure Kagome and Sango were comfortable, Inu-Yasha and Miroku were about to join the others downstairs, but Kagome stopped them at the door.
"Here . . . it's called a beeper. It you hear it beep it will show you a little message,"
"So, you'll beep me if anything goes wrong?"
Kagome nodded and Inu-Yasha kissed her on the cheek.
"Okay then, Kirara you watch them carefully okay?"
The fire cat gave a small mew and jumped onto Sango's shoulder.
Inu-Yasha and Miroku headed back downstairs to see that everyone was dressed and ready to go. Making there way outside, Miroku was having a very difficult time walking in the strange boots, and so was Sesshoumaru, but he didn't utter a word of complaint. Kohaku seemed to have an easier time than, and Shippo seemed to be glad he didn't have to wear the funny boots. When they made it outside Inu-Yasha explained how to get into the ski's and how to use the poles for balance.
"So . . . does everyone have their ski's on?" asked the half demon. At everyone's nod, Inu-Yasha continued his lesson. "Alright, now in order to move you shuffle your legs and use to poles for balance, like this,"
Everyone watched Inu-Yasha and copied his actions, although Miroku ended up falling backwards on his first try. With a little bit of patients from Inu-Yasha, the monk was finally able to walk.
"Okay, now that Miroku has caught up to the rest of us, I'll be teaching you the basics of skiing," said Inu-Yasha, leading them towards the beginners slope
"Do we get to learn how to stop?" asked Miroku, gliding past the others and running into a pole that read 'Beginner Slope'.
Souta and Inu-Yasha did their best to explain to the other how to stop, turn, slow down, and how to fall so they wouldn't hurt themselves.
"So . . . does everyone understand?"
Everyone nodded.
"Alright then, we'll head to the first slope,"
Inu-Yasha and Souta lead the way the ski lift, and made sure that they understood not to sit on the 'T' bar, however half way up Miroku and Kohaku ended up taking out everyone behind them when the monks skis had crossed, causing him to fall down. No one was hurt, but they had to turn off the 'T' bar momentarily, which left the others stuck on the lift. When they reached the top, Inu-Yasha and Souta went first to demonstrate to the others, and soon everyone was skiing down the slope. Sesshoumaru turned out to be the best out of everyone else, but by not paying attention as he passed his brother, the lord ended up skiing into a huge bush. Inu-Yasha wasn't able to stand for twenty minutes since he was laughing so hard while Rin plucked the pine needles out of Sesshoumaru's silver hair. As everyone started to improve on their skiing, Miroku seemed to be the only one who kept falling down.
"You okay their monk?" called Inu-Yasha as he saw Miroku disappear into a batch of trees. He heard a loud thunk, crash, a very loud 'ow' and then Miroku's soft voice of 'I'm okay,'
Inu-Yasha chuckled to himself while Sesshoumaru merely rolled his eyes.
Shippo squealed with delight as Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru raced down the hill, and they were both neck in neck. Everyone else was waiting at the bottom while Miroku recovered from his last encounter with a tree. Kohaku and Souta cheered Inu-Yasha on, while Rin was cheering for Sesshoumaru.
As the brothers started to reach the finish, the more brutal the competition got with them both trying to knock the other one over with their poles. Finally having enough of almost falling over, Inu-Yasha grabbed a handful of snow and chucked it at his brother. Being blinded by the snow on his goggles, Sesshoumaru's ski's crossed and the lord went tumbling down the rest of the way, which Inu-Yasha regretted since his brother beat him anyway. When Sesshoumaru finally came to halt by landing in a huge pile of snow, Inu-Yasha found himself being tackled by his brother, and the two started wrestling in the snow, which caused other skiers to stare.
Kagome giggled as she saw the two brothers rolling around on the ground, "Boys . . . they never grow up do they?"
Sango nodded and giggled along with Kagome as she watched Miroku try to break up the fight, "I wonder how many times Miroku has fallen today?"
"Probably too many for us to count,"
Watching the last little bits of the fight, Sango returned into their room and closed the sliding door behind them, but left it a little open so Kagome could come in.
"Will you two break it up already!" screamed Miroku and Kohaku, but their efforts to stop the fight were useless.
"You're the one who started it! You tried to knock me over with your poles," growled Inu-Yasha.
"That was an accident dear brother, and have you ever heard of two wrongs don't make a right?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Inu-Yasha . . . SIT!" cried Kagome.
Inu-Yasha was pounded into the ground, but the only problem is Sesshoumaru was underneath him. Miroku looked up and waved at Kagome before she headed back inside.
"Inu-Yasha . . . Sesshoumaru . . . are you two alright?" asked the monk. He could hear Inu-Yasha cursing and Sesshoumaru wasn't moving at all.
"Are you two going to lay there all day or are we going to try out the other slopes?" asked Rin.
As soon as the rosary wore off Sesshoumaru threw his brother off him and got to his feet. Inu-Yasha growled and refused to face his brother as he stood up, "What are you all looking at?"
Miroku just rolled his eyes and started to head for the next ski lift, with Souta and Kohaku following him.
"Are you guys coming?" asked Rin.
Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru glanced at each other before sighing and following after the others.
"Does it really hurt when she sits you like that?" hissed Sesshoumaru.
"Sometimes,"
The lord chuckled to himself, "And to think she sat you six times yesterday,"
"Can it fluffy,"
The gang headed up on the ski lift to try one of the more advanced slopes. When they reached the top, Inu-Yasha noticed that this hill was a bit steeper than the others.
"Are you scared Inu-Yasha," sneered Sesshoumaru.
"You wish," hissed Inu-Yasha.
Inu-Yasha took the lead with Sesshoumaru behind him, and then followed by Rin, Miroku, Souta, and Kohaku. Shippo climbed up to the top of Inu-Yasha's head to get a better view that on the half demons shoulder. However the poor fox didn't see the low branch, which sent him flying into Rin, who luckily caught him.
"Inu-Yasha you jerk!" screamed Shippo.
The half demon just laughed as they rounded at a bend, but Inu-Yasha almost screamed as he saw the cliff. Inu-Yasha stopped at the very edge and so did Sesshoumaru, but Rin had to be caught by the demon lord, and Kohaku and Souta were saved by the half demon. Miroku screamed as he went flying over the edge. Cursing to himself for not being quick Inu-Yasha and everyone else watched as the poor monk landed in a huge pile of snow.
"Well . . . I guess we now know why this slope is called 'Drop Bottom'," sighed Shippo.
Finding a soft place to land, they all managed to get down and help the poor monk. They pulled a shivering Miroku out of the snowdrift.
"You okay Miroku?" asked Inu-Yasha, dusting the snow of the monks shoulders.
Miroku shook his head, his body shivering.
"I must admit, you're sure having it rough unlike the rest of us," said Kohaku.
"Perhaps we should take him back up to lodge," suggested Inu-Yasha, "We can head back up to the room and order something to eat,"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Can you ski down the rest of the hill?" asked Rin.
Miroku nodded and managed to get to his feet with the help of his friends. They skied down the rest of the hill and immediately headed inside. All of them were thankful that they had a room to go to since the cafeteria was completely crowded with people.
They found Kagome and Sango sitting in front of the TV watching the daily news.
"Miroku what happened to you?" asked Sango as she tried to get up from her seat.
"I'm okay Sango . . . just had another bad crash,"
"Don't tell me you crashed into a tree again," sighed Kagome.
"No . . . we went down 'Drop Bottom' and . . ."
"You went down that slope? That's the most advanced slope here," cried Kagome, "Did anyone else get hurt?"
"No just the monk . . . we managed to stop before we went over the cliff," sighed Inu-Yasha.
Miroku come sit on the couch and we'll take a look at you to make sure your okay . . . Inu-Yasha how about you order us some food?" asked Kagome.
The half demon nodded and went to the telephone, but stopped when he picked up the receiver, "Um Kagome . . . what am I supposed to do?"
Kagome sighed, and remembered that Inu-Yasha still didn't know how to use the phone, "Do you guys want Pizza to eat?"
Everyone shrugged their shoulders and Kagome took the phone from Inu-Yasha. She pressed the 1 button.
"Yes hello? Could we have . . ." Kagome turned to see how many people were in the room, "Does your kitchen still make pizza's? Oh good, can we have four then . . . large . . . um Pepperoni, Hawaiian, Cheese, and Meat Lovers? Thank you so much . . . oh . . . were in room 15,"
Miroku had laid on the couch as Sango started to cheek him over.
"You do have a lot of nasty bruises honey," sighed Sango, "Perhaps you shouldn't do anymore skiing for today,"
"I'm going to have to agree with you their Sango," said Miroku.
Rin took a seat in one of the chairs, "I must say, this skiing is quite interesting, and I never knew someone could get hurt in so little time,"
Inu-Yasha chuckled and took a seat beside the monk, "I guess skiing isn't your thing, but hopefully you'll be better at skating,"
"Is it easier?"
"Yeah, but if you fall the landings a lot harder,"
"……."
Inu-Yasha laughed as he saw the expression on Miroku's face.
"So are you guys going to do anymore skiing?" asked Kagome, taking a seat beside Inu-Yasha.
"Have you guys had enough?" asked the half demon.
"I would like to go down a few more runs," said Rin.
"I wouldn't mind either," added Kohaku.
"Inu-Yasha, I could take Rin and Kohaku skiing for a while, I know the slopes," said Souta.
"I don't know Souta," sighed Inu-Yasha.
"I will accompany them,' said Sesshoumaru.
"Really?" asked Inu-Yasha.
"Sure,"
There was a knock at the door, and the pizza's had arrived.
Sesshoumaru glanced down at the people below as the he and Rin were going up the ski lift. Sota, Shippo (who was riding on Souta's shoulder), and Kohaku had left them and gone to the easier slopes since Sango's brother was picking up Miorku's habit of falling.
"Are you having fun Sesshoumaru?" asked Rin as she adjusted her goggles.
The lord said nothing as they prepared to get off the lift. They skied down a fare ways before coming to a fork that led to two different slopes.
"Which one should we take?" asked Rin.
Sesshoumaru was about to answer, but a certain scent caught his attention. Turning around he could see the two bitches he had encountered before skiing towards him.
"So I was telling Hojo that . . ."
"Eri look," pointed Yuka.
The two girls looked at the two skiers at the beginning of the fork and recognized them immediately.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Eri, stopping a good distance from them.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," said Sesshoumaru, in his usual calm emotionless voice.
"I see Kagome must have brought all you freaks here for the winter . . . staying up at the cabin are you?" asked Yuka.
"Maybe she did, maybe she didn't,"
"Sesshoumaru . . . let's go . . ." whispered Rin.
"Oh . . . leaving so soon?" sneered Eri.
Sesshoumaru glared at the two, his eyes flashing red, "I would suggest that you do not run into my brother . . . he has been a little overprotective lately of his mate, and to cross paths with him might be your last,"
Eri and Yuka did not looked scared, but Rin could tell by their scents that they were.
"You think you can threaten us here?" asked Yuka.
"There's plenty of people here watching, if you were to even touch us . . ."
"Hello there!"
Eri and Yuka turned around to see Hojo skiing towards them and stop right in front of the girls, splattering with them with snow.
"I thought I recognized you two, how are things goin?" asked Hojo, completely ignoring the two girls.
"Everything is fine, and how about you Hojo?" asked Rin.
"I'm good. So how's Kagome doing?"
"She's fine. Her and the others are up in the room we rented,"
"Oh you got one of those? I hear they're very expensive,"
"That's what Kagome said,"
"But then again her mother did win the lottery,"
Rin nodded in agreement, "So, are you here by yourself,"
"I'm actually here with Ayumi and her boyfriend, but I got separated from them,"
Sesshoumaru sighed and turned to go down the slope on the left.
"Well we'd better be going. It was nice seeing you Hojo,"
"It was nice seeing you too," Hojo took the slope to the right, leaving the two freezing girls still standing there.
Sesshoumaru skied down the slope with Rin by his side, and ran into Kohaku and Souta at the bottom.
"Inu-Yasha wanted to let you guys know that we can ski as long as we like," said Souta.
"I think I'll head back to the room," said Sesshoumaru.
"You sure?" asked Rin.
The lord nodded his head and started to head back into the lodge.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Kohaku.
"We ran into some people he doesn't take a particular liking to . . . did you guys want to go down some more runs?" asked Rin.
Souta and Kohaku nodded as they headed back to the ski lift with Rin right behind them.
For the rest of the afternoon the three children stuck to skiing while the adults stayed in the room they rented with Sesshoumaru in a rather foul mood. As the sky started to darken, Rin, Kohaku, Souta, and Shippo headed back inside. They found everyone sitting on the couches and chairs talking amongst themselves.
"So have a good time?" asked Inu-Yasha.
"It was great," said Rin.
"Shall we head back to the cabin then and get some supper?" asked Miroku.
Inu-Yasha nodded, "I'll go get the van ready,"
Inu-Yasha and Miroku sat outside of the cabin on the porch, drinking their coffee and staring up at the stars.
"How are you feeling Miroku?" asked the half demon.
"Better, but the bruises on my knees still hurt pretty good,"
Inu-Yasha nodded.
"So . . . I never did ask what you saw while you were in those vines,"
"I don't really want to talk about it monk,"
"Painful memories?"
"That's not what bugged me the most,"
"Was it the worst fear?"
The half demon have a nod.
"Oh . . . I take it you saw Kagome dying?"
"Not only her . . . also our unborn child,"
Miroku sighed and stared up at the sky, "You know . . . my worse fear would probably have to be Sango dying after giving birth to our child . . . that fear still haunts me,"
The half demon nodded again, and was about to tell Miroku something, but decided against it.
"You know . . . the thing I thought was my worst fear I didn't see . . ."
"Well what is your worst fear?"
"In all honesty the last time I thought about my worst fear was before I turned Kagome immortal like myself . . . well not fully immortal . . . life span of a half demon really . . . but anyway my worst fear was Kagome growing old and dying before my eyes as I remained the same,"
Miroku nodded, "Yes . . . that would be terrible for you,"
"That's one of the reasons I wanted to turn human for Kikyo . . . and I would do it for Kaogme to,"
"But you don't have to . . . you both get to live long lives,"
Inu-Yasha nodded and took another sip of his coffee.
"You still think about her . . . Kikyo?"
"I can never forget her Miroku . . . she reached out to me . . . the lonely orphaned half demon I was back then. She comforted me and I did the same for her . . . however . . . it was not meant to be . . ."
"Indeed,"
The two were quiet for a moment before Inu-Yasha spoke again, "You getting excited? Less than two weeks to go,"
"I know . . . I'm just kind of glad were here,"
"Why's that?"
"Women usually have a hard time giving birth back in our era and end up dying a lot, but Kagome said that the doctors here can prevent that,"
"That's good to know,"
"And you?"
"Of course I am . . . I'm still trying to think of a name for my little one,"
"Any ideas?"
"Not really . . . but I still have about another two months' . . . I think Kaogme's around seven and a half month's or something,"
"Well shall we go inside, head to bed, and join our wives?" asked the monk.
"Sounds good to me,"
"So, have you tried taking away Kagome's back ache yet?"
Inu-Yasha stopped and glared at Miroku, "Why the hell would I tell you that?"
Miroku sighed, "You know, I did it last night and Sango slept all night . . . she also helped me . . ."
"I don't even want to know!"
"Oh come on Inu-Yasha, just ask Kagome,"
"Can it Miroku,"
"Just talk to her . . . trust me you'll be glad you did,"
"I said shut up already,"
"Do you seriously think you can last another three month's? I mean when Kagome's ready to make love to you again she probably won't be able to walk for a week,"
"I said shut up!" Inu-Yasha grabbed a pile of snow and chucked it at the monk.
Miroku stumbled when he got the snow planted in his face and you think that he would have learned his lesson, "Look I'm just trying to help you,"
"You actually think I would do that to her?"
"Okay, now that was a bad joke,"
"Damn right it was,"
"Just talk to her okay?"
Inu-Yasha growled, "Fine, I'll try,"
Miroku smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder, "Good,"
The two walked back into the cabin and made sure the door was shut and locked before turning out all the lights and heading to bed. Inu-Yasha found Kagome half asleep when he entered their room.
"How are you feeling?" asked Inu-Yasha, pulling back the covers and laying down beside her.
"I'm okay . . . but your yelling woke me up,"
"I'm sorry,"
"It's okay, but I couldn't help but listen to your conversation,"
"You mean . . . you hear all of it?"
"Most of it I did,"
"You must be pretty disgusted with me,"
"Now why would I be disgusted at you?
Inu-Yasha was about to answer but Kagome cut him off.
"Inu-Yasha you have to be open with me . . . tell me if you want me to do something to you and I'll tell you whether I agree or disagree,"
"But Kagome . . . your tired,"
Kagome just smiled and kissed her mate on the cheek and whispered into his ear, "Do you want to sleep . . . or something else . . ."
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment before whispering something back into Kagome's ear.
"Alright then . . ."
And after that night . . . he would have to thank Miroku for convincing him to talk to Kagome . . . and the half demon did reward his mate back by taking away her back pain.
TBC. . . .
Last day of school! I can't believe it, and I'm done High School! Yes! Anyway the updates will be kind of slower now with me working and my old computer. So just read and review please!
Lynns