A/N: Ok, so I lied. I've already made any changes that I'm going to for this chapter so I thought I'd post it. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any affiliated characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. I seek to gain nothing from the writing of this story except for enjoyment. There are numerous characters that I have created that I do claim ownership of, and ask that, if for some reason you want to use them in one of your own stories, you simply ask my permission.

InuYasha walked towards the prone form lying on the hospital bed. 'I should have asked the wench to tell Kagome's family. . I can't explain it like she can. Kami how many tubes do they have her hooked up to?' There were tubes in her hands and arms, protruding from her nose and mouth, and wires trailing out from under the gown covering her chest. The thought that someone had been touching her there made him growl possessively. . The nurse had told him what to expect when he saw her, but he would never have been prepared for this. He hated the smell of the different demons that had had their hands all over her. 'I have spent the last 7 years protecting her from demons. . More have touched her in the last 24 hours than in all those 7 years combined.' The smells of the hospital were not quite so dominant in this room. Kagome's scent wrapped around him, slightly changed now that she carried someone else's blood in her veins, but underlying everything was the recognizable aroma of a spring rain.

He concentrated on that as he tenderly took one frail hand in his talons, being careful not to bruise the nearly translucent skin covering it. He fought tears with sheer will power at the sight of the evil needles deep inside her. How long would she have to be like this?

InuYasha didn't know how much time had passed by him simply standing there. He felt more than heard a movement by his side just before a soft hand rested atop his head, fingers trailed down his hair and the scent of tears reached his nose. Turning, he wrapped Kagome's mother in an embrace as she cried into his haori. He swallowed, forcing the lump in his throat away as he looked at the door, dry eyed. Souta was peering through nervously, trying to work up the nerve to come inside.

The hanyou offered the boy a crooked smile as his mother-in-law, Izumi, pulled away from him, wiping her eyes. "Souta, come in dear." Her smooth voice did more to comfort both boys than anything else. "She's sleeping." At InuYasha's worried look she quickly assured him. "The nurse explained everything to us. She will wake up, son."

InuYasha silently blessed the nurse for her foresight, and nodded, unsure of what to say at a time like this. He hated all the emotions running through him, clouding his mind, making him numb. The silence stretched on, becoming almost awkward and painful as each tried to find words that would bring comfort the others.

"Your son is beautiful."

His head snapped up, he had forgotten his own child. "Where is he?" He could see him now, now that Kagome was alive.

"The nurse will take you there if you wish, he's in the nursery."

He looked down again at the too-white face of his mate, and once again, felt completely torn. Souta took this as his chance to do what he could to help.

"Mom, why don't you take him? I'll stay with Kags and page you if there is any change." He wanted so badly to prove his worth in a time of need, much as he hated having to see his sister in this condition.

Finding his voice again, InuYasha rasped out a "Thanks kid." and reached out to tousle the boy's hair, but stopped, knowing that would make him feel as if he were being treated as a kid. He instead rested his hand on Souta's shoulder, giving it a warm squeeze.

As the hanyou and his mother-in-law made their way down the hallway, InuYasha glanced at the door that Sesshoumaru had used to leave, wondering what had called him away from here. Sensing, as women sometimes have the ability to do, exactly what he was thinking, she spoke softly.

"I'm sure he'll be back. Perhaps he thought you would want to be alone with her."

InuYasha nodded, knowing that Sesshoumaru probably had no desire to be in the same room with Kagome. . He simply didn't care. The thought bothered him less than it should have as he reasoned that as long as his brother didn't care what happened to the girl, he no longer wished for her death.

They continued to walk in silence, both of them knowing, but purposely not saying what the other was thinking. Finally he could take it no longer, and stopped, turning to her. "Mom, what if she doesn't wake up?"

The woman that stood no taller than his shoulders seemed to shrink visibly as she sighed. Momentarily he wondered at how she could seem so much older than her when he was, in reality, more twice her age.

"That's something that we have to be prepared for, but that doesn't mean we can't hope for the best. She could wake up tomorrow, she could wake up tonight, why she could even wake up while we're visiting my grandson." Izumi continued walking and smiled. "Speaking of which, I'll bet he's getting hungry again. The nurses will show you how to feed him." At this she paused to chuckle. "He's adorable when he's eating, like he's trying to swallow the entire bottle."

InuYasha allowed hope to take root in his heart. Kagome's mother was taking this well, handling it with a quiet strength that only women possess in times like these. As long as she was ok, there was hope. Respect for the woman that raised his mate welled up in him. Pride mingled with it. He loved this family as his own.

The pair turned a final corner to face a glass wall, separating them from a room filled with bassinets. Infants of all kinds lay in snug pink or blue blankets. Most of the babies were pure blooded, and bore only demon markings and pointed ears, but one blue bundle stood out. The hanyou standing on one side of the glass stared at the hanyou laying on the other.

'Kami, he is beautiful.' thought the proud father.

Brown/black still-closed dog-ears peeked out from underneath a mass of white hair. One fist had escaped his soft, blue prison and lay curled and resting on the olive skin of one chubby cheek. On the tiniest thumb InuYasha had ever seen was a sharp little talon. 'We're going to have to watch those.' He thought, 'He'll gash himself wide open if he's not careful.' Lips that reminded him of Kagome's mouth pursed over and over as the little one dreamed of his next meal and his button nose held that almost invisible line down the center that all babies seemed to carry, like a seam; as if God had just finished putting him together before he was born.

The lump that formed in InuYasha's throat couldn't be swallowed away this time as a single tear escaped the corner of one golden eye. He needed to touch the pup, to bond with him, to reassure himself that he was real. That he was really a father. It was too much to believe just by seeing.

A hand slipped into his and tugged slightly, leading him to the door accessing the nursery. InuYasha tore his gaze away from his son and followed Izumi into the next room. "Taisho-sama to see Baby Taisho." She spoke up and the smiling nurse nodded and went to retrieve the infant from his bassinet.

"You're just in time to feed him, Taisho-sama, he was about to wake up and show us all how healthy his lungs are." The nurse grinned widely as he carefully placed the baby in InuYasha's hands.

The hanyou almost shook with nervousness. 'He's so tiny,' he thought to himself. 'I could break him if I'm not careful.' The male nurse helped settle the child better in InuYasha's arms and stepped back when confident that he was securely held. "I'll go get a bottle of his formula and be right back."

Kagome's mother watched as the baby began to squirm. She smiled when it became obvious that his stomach decided that it was time to wake up even if the rest of him was so comfy and warm he could sleep for a week. She said as much to her son who responded with a chuckle of his own. "Time to wake up son."

The baby's eyes opened at the sound of his father's voice, as if he had been waiting for him. InuYasha sucked in a deep breath at the sight of the chocolate orbs that stared up at him. "Kagome's eyes. He has Kagome's eyes." His hands curled around the tiny form, being careful of his claws. He could almost see his own heart flying out of his chest and landing on his son's nose as a little hand clamped on to one of his fingers.

InuYasha counted the four perfect fingers plus one little thumb and a sudden possessiveness claimed the hanyou. He felt he could take on the world if only to keep this little one safe.

Father and son studied each other for a few minutes before the tiny stomach reminded the pup of why he had had to wake up in the first place. His face twisted in irritation and a squeak made it past his lips. Grinning, InuYasha thought, 'Hey, if that's all the noise this guy's gonna make, maybe it won't be so bad after all.' Unfortunately the nurse decided to return at that moment and when the tyke caught the scent of food, his 'squeak' turned quickly to a cry that could grate the nerves of someone much more patient than our favorite hanyou.

"Ahh, just getting warmed up I see." Spoke the nurse.

InuYasha flattened his ears flush with his head in protection against the offending noise. "Warmed up? This is just getting warmed up?" As if to prove his point, the cries progressed into a lusty wail. "Kami, give me that bottle!" yipped the dog demon, taking it as soon as the nurse gave it a final shake. He quickly offered it to the baby, who latched onto it, glaring at his father as if he had been purposefully starving him to death.

The collective sigh from all three adults would have made anyone observing the altercation laugh silently. The only sound heard now came from the infant. Grunting, smacking, suckling and swallowing all at once, the child was easily the noisiest eater InuYasha had ever seen. When he happened to mention this to his mother, she laughed so hard she actually caused the baby to stop eating . . . for about three seconds before he resumed his meal, almost rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"He eats exactly like his father does."

InuYasha "Keh"-ed, pretending to be offended by her words, when in fact, he was secretly proud of passing on yet another trait to the tyke. Grinning, he ran the back of one claw gently over a downy-soft eyebrow, stroked an ear, and returned to the tiny hand. InuYasha made his way to a chair designed specifically for the purpose of feeding babies and sat down gratefully. He had been on his feet since before the hours of pacing in the waiting room.

Suddenly he remembered how tired he was. Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally, he was drained. Remembering his time in the waiting room reminded him once again of his mate, hanging on to life by tubes and wires. Looking down at his son he felt pulled in half. The desire to stay here and drink in his son's scent warred against the need to be by Kagome's side in case she woke up. He sighed heavily and his head drooped. He blinked away more traitorous tears as a familiar hand rested in between his ears.

"Mom, I'm scared."

There, he had said it. He was terrified. So much that it made him sick. His fear laughed at him, taunted him, told him of everything that could go wrong, and everything that would go wrong. Told him he was a failure for allowing this to happen to his beloved. Told him that nothing would ever be right again. He cursed his fear for making him weak, and it cursed him right back.

"I know."

Slowly the realization hit him that the pup's eating wasn't the only sound in the room. Faintly, as if muffled under folds of fabric, came a steady "Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep."

A/N: I'm sorry these chapters aren't longer, and that they don't contain more plot, but I really felt that Kagome and the pup each deserved one chapter all to themselves. The next few chapters will have your head spinning with plot twists to keep up with. They might actually be a little confusing. Also, you might feel that they don't correspond completely with the series, and if that is a problem then I have to wonder why you are readin a fan fic. If you want something that follows the series, go read the series.

I really feel though, that I have remained true to the characters, which is the most important thing. If you think there is too much OOC-ness, let me know. Also, Sesshoumaru is hard to write but TONS of fun!