IMPORTANT! PLEASE pay attention to the dates! It's the only way you'll have any idea what's going on later in the story.
A/N: Please enjoy and review!
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May 14, 2004. 4:12 AM. Inuyasha.
Inuyasha stumbled into the bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. Kagome, waiting for him as always, was already awake. With a groan, she levered herself up to her elbows.
"Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha's jaw clenched and it took all his strength to crawl over to Kagome and run a clawed hand through her silken, sleep-disheveled hair. His breath was ragged as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.
"Are you alright?" she asked tentatively, touching at his chest, seeking comfort.
He nodded, not sure if she could see the gesture in the dark. He tilted over onto his side and managed to gather her in his arms, ignoring the pain needling up his leg from his shattered ankle and the sharp, squeezing, suffocating pressure of his crushed ribs. "Everything will be better in the morning," he rasped, and placed his hand over her distended stomach.
"You're just in time. He's restless," she told him softly, and put her hands over his to hold it to her skin.
Sure enough, after only a few seconds, Inuyasha could feel the faint fluttering of an elbow, or maybe a foot against his hand. He let out a deep breath and pulled Kagome closer. He pressed his lips softly against her temple and grinned at the feeling of his unborn son under his fingers.
"Inuyasha, you look half dead. What happened tonight?"
"Nothing too horrible," he told her, trying in vain to be comforting. "A few broken bones and, to be honest, I think I may have a concussion."
"What!" Kagome tried to sit up in bed, but Inuyasha held her down gently.
"Shh, just stay with me, koishii."
"Inuyasha, if you have a concussion, you can't go to sleep. You should go to a hospital! What if-"
"Kagome," he whispered, interrupting. "Calm down. I won't sleep, I promise. You, on the other hand, need your rest."
She opened her mouth to argue, but Inuyasha beat her to it.
"No, Kagome, you need sleep. I'll be fine, but not unless I know that you're getting enough rest for the both of you. Okay?"
She pouted grudgingly, but settled back into his arms. "I hate this, you know."
Inuyasha did know. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "So do I."
She frowned grumpily. "Anyway, it's not like I can sleep with your son assaulting my kidneys. He has your temper."
He grinned at that, and kissed her cheek.
Rolling her eyes, she tucked herself closely against him and Inuyasha contented himself with the sound of Kagome's relaxed breaths and his son's continued flurry of appendages. Inuyasha grinned and poked Kagome's stomach. What he recognized as a tiny fist appeared a second later in the same spot.
"Stop encouraging him," Kagome scolded. "The last thing he needs to learn is that beating his mother is a sport."
Inuyasha chuckled and said, "But it's so fun," but gave in and rested his hand softly over her navel.
It took a while, but he felt her drifting off in his arms, and soon the tiny life inside Kagome stilled as well.
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April 14, 2004. 5:13 PM. Kagome.
Kagome smiled as she watched from a slight crack between the blinds of the window as Inuyasha's class of eight year old boys bowed to him respectfully and retired to the walls to put on their shoes, laughing and bragging about what they'd learned.
Anyone who could manage to gain the respect of a roomful of whining, bratty, pokémon-obsessed eight year old boys deserved a medal. Truly, it was impressive. And Inuyasha practically had those kids eating out of the palm of his hand. The sight brought her to wrap her arms around her stomach. She smoothed a hand lovingly over her navel.
Moving away from the window now that class was over, Kagome opened the door and slipped inside.
Inuyasha was knelt down, talking to one of the boys, giving him last-minute pointers. The boy nodded emphatically, and went to find his shoes, punching at something only he could see as he went, and nearly knocking himself off balance as he did.
As Inuyasha straightened, he must have noticed her scent through the myriad of others in the room, and whipped around to see her standing in the doorway.
His face burst into a smile, and suddenly she was in his arms, feet solidly off the ground, and pressed very tightly against Inuyasha.
"You said you wouldn't be back in town for another two days," he reminded her, not bothering to set her back onto her feet.
She beamed at him, gleeful that her surprise had worked out. "It started raining so hard that we ended the trip early. Our tent was about to float away, so I thought I'd surprise you."
He grinned, ignoring the chorus of "oooh"s and useless taunts that had begun. "I'm glad you did."
The boys, feeling brave, decided to be more aggressive, and the taunting turned into insults. One glare from Inuyasha, who then gently set Kagome down and reprimanded the boys for being disrespectful, had them hanging their heads in shame.
"You're dismissed, boys."
Inuyasha shut the door after the last of them, then turned to look at her with a mischievous expression.
She sidled up to him, and then she was in his arms again.
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April 15, 2004 (barely). 12:55 AM. Inuyasha.
"Goddamn it!" Inuyasha cursed loudly.
This was not a good time. Kagome groaned, frustrated. "Ignore it." She leaned up and kissed him, hands gliding over the smooth skin of his back. For a moment, Inuyasha acquiesced. He moved his hand from her bare back to the bed beside her shoulder to support himself so he could put more pressure into the kiss. His cell phone kept ringing.
The sound was stabbing into his sensitive ears. With a growl he jerked away and made to grab it off the bedside table, but his hand missed entirely when Kagome bit gently at the nape of his neck, followed by a scorching kiss over the same place.
He groaned and returned his hand to her side, tracing along the perfect skin.
Finally, blessedly, the phone fell silent. With a sigh, Inuyasha's hand slid along her thigh and pulled it up beside his hip.
"Kagome," he moaned, and kissed at one of his favorite spots on her body, the dip her collarbones created where they came together at the base of her neck.
She mewled and shifted beneath him, her hands gripping at his sides as her back arched.
And then the phone started ringing again.
With a vicious growl, he grabbed the cursed little machine.
"Inuyasha," Kagome whined, and licked a little at his shoulder.
"Just a second," he panted, and hit the talk button. "What?" he barked. He couldn't stop his hand from playing along her very large, round stomach. She shivered and giggled. He loved her reactions to his slightest touch.
"Where the hell are you?"
Inuyasha groaned. "Miroku, what the fuck do you want? I'm kind of busy."
"Inuyasha, if you're not at the bus station within five minutes, Naraku is going to have both of us castrated so you won't be late again. And if he doesn't kill you, I swear to god, I will."
"What?" Inuyasha grunted. Kagome's fingernails were scratching at the sides of his abdomen, and, combined with the feeling of her foot running along his calf, and her lips caressing the underside of his chin, he was barely hearing a word Miroku was saying.
Miroku sighed. "Inuyasha, get your horny ass out of bed right now, or Naraku will kill her so you won't have any more excuses."
That snapped Inuyasha out of his Kagome-induced stupor. He gulped. "Where are you?"
"At the bus station near the library. Exactly where you were supposed to meet me ten minutes ago. We've got to get this started within the next three minutes, or we'll be punished. Do you understand?"
"I'll be there in two." He hung up the phone.
Kagome was already glaring at him. "You'll be where, exactly?"
"Miroku's having some kind of fucking crisis. I've gotta go over there."
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Kagome
"Now? Since when have you ever been the chivalrous, helpful type; especially when it's inconvenient?"
"Kagome, I'd love to stay and argue this with you," he said, already sliding out of bed, "but I can't. I'm really sorry, but I have to go take care of this." Taking advantage of his hanyou speed, he was already pulling on pants and grabbing his shirt.
"You're just going to leave? Now?"
"I have to. Believe me, I don't want to, but-"
"So don't! I feel that it may be pointless to mention this, but we were kind of in the middle of something, in case you didn't notice."
"I noticed, Kagome," he told her, wrapping a hand around the side of her neck and pressing a quick kiss to her lips, then ducking down to press another above her navel as his hand caressed her rounded belly, "but there's nothing I can do. Get some sleep." He was striding out the bedroom door, shoes somehow securely on his feet through some move Kagome had missed.
"When will you be back?" she asked, pulling the sheet off the bed and wrapping it around herself.
"I'm not sure. Like I said, get some sleep."
Kagome jogged down the hallway in time to see him opening the front door to their little house. "Inuyasha!"
Pausing, he looked back at her. "What is it?" he asked, tenderness in his voice.
"I…I love you."
He streaked across the small room and, with a quick caress to her cheek, kissed her once, softly.
"I wish you didn't have to go."
"So do I." He was back at the door, looking at her soulfully. "Love you, koishii."
Kagome found herself smiling slightly as she went to the window after the door slammed shut. She just saw a streak of silver as Inuyasha quickly got up to full speed before disappearing from her sight in a split second.
There was absolutely no way for Kagome to track where he was going. She couldn't keep up with him in a car, not in the overcrowded streets of the city, and even if the roads were completely clear (which was like saying that maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to afford that car for her birthday that she'd wanted since she was a kid, the one that cost more than she got paid in a decade) there was no way Kagome could get dressed and into the car in time to see where he'd gone.
So she was in the dark. She hated it.
There was only one thing she could do: buckle down and wait.
After half an hour, Kagome was sure that Inuyasha hadn't gone to Miroku's. He'd gone wherever it was that he went every night. He'd gone off to be mysterious, to lead a part of his life about which Kagome knew nothing.
Kagome was no control freak, but she didn't like the fact that at least a couple hours of each of her boyfriend's days were spent doing something she didn't know about, which was somehow more important than staying with her the night after she'd come back from a two-week long camping trip with Sango, and…well…finishing what they'd started.
Kagome picked up the phone and called Sango's cell, to see if Inuyasha actually was over there, but Sango's cell was off. Like Inuyasha's should have been, Kagome thought angrily.
This would be the last night Kagome sat waiting in the dark for Inuyasha to come home. This time she would find out what was happening.
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February 9, 2004. Kagome.
"You know," Kagome said, reluctantly taking a break from her delicious cheesecake. "I can't think of a single time in my life when I've been happier than I am right now."
Leaning over the small table, Inuyasha gave her a soft kiss to the cheek. "I know I've never been happier." He took her hand under the table. "Things can only get better from here."
She grinned at him happily. "And they weren't exactly bad to start with."
He squeezed her hand and found that her smile was contagious. "So do you have a name in mind?"
Kagome's eyes widened. "I hadn't even thought about it." She couldn't believe that that hadn't been the first thing to cross her mind. Everything was happening so fast. She put her free hand softly on her stomach. There was no noticeable difference in shape or size. "Did you have any ideas?"
Inuyasha shook his head. "We'll think of something. After all, we've got a little over six months to figure it out. That's plenty of time."
A warmth was filling Kagome's heart, the likes of which she'd never experienced. It was a completeness and a happiness she'd never imagined possible. "Inuyasha…I love you so much."
He gave her a dazzling smile. Everything about him radiated joy; the way he held her hand, softly yet securely; the way his eyes glittered in the dim light from the small lamps on the walls; the way his face looked more angelic and carefree than she'd ever seen it; it all reminded her of an immensely beautiful embodiment of happiness. "I love you too."
She bit her lip softly. "You're going to make a great father."
His eyes widened suddenly, and they glazed over a bit. "Father," he repeated, and chuckled a bit. "I hadn't thought of it like that. But I think I like the sound of it." The grin returned to his face full blown.
"Me too."
"This means that you have to move in with me now," he teased. Kagome had been too lazy to finally finish bringing all her things into his apartment. Most of them had migrated there of their own accord, but not everything she needed was there.
She laughed. "I suppose it does." Kagome gasped, an idea filling her mind. "Can we turn the guest bedroom into the baby's room?"
He looked amused. "Of course."
Kagome was getting excited. "Inuyasha, we're going to have a family. A real family."
"And we won't fuck it up like our parents did," he added jokingly.
She smiled and nodded, but took the sentiment to heart. Even though she'd only learned about the child a few hours before, she was already starting to love it. Even though there was no evidence of its existence, other than a doctor's word that it was there, Kagome knew that her child was growing inside her; she simply knew, and it was the most incredible thing she'd ever felt in her life.
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June 10, 2004. 6:18 PM. Inuyasha
"K-Kagome?"
Oh Gods, she was here. She was back in their home, facing him, tears already on her face. After half an agonizing week of no contact since she got out of the hospital, of being unable to eat or sleep or do anything but imagine how much she must hate him, wondering if it could possibly compare to how much he loathed himself.
She burst into sobs. "Inuyasha!" She stood to come to him, but he was faster, sprinting across the small room and taking her solidly into his arms.
"Kagome…oh god, Kagome, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry." He muttered the words over and over into her hair. His voice was cracking and his limbs were quaking. She was clinging to him as if her life depended on it.
"I couldn't do it!" she wailed, tears blurring her eyes and wetting Inuyasha's shirt. "I tried so hard to stay away, because I knew that…that your life…it could only possibly hurt me more. But I can't!"
He had no words for her, nothing he could say to fix anything he'd done, anything he'd had to do. "Kagome…"
"Inuyasha, please; I came back because I need you. I need you to be here for me. Every night, in my sleep, I…I hear him crying for me, and…"
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A/N: So there's chapter two. Confused yet? Review and tell me! Tell me what you think!
Review replies:
Inuyasha'sChic: Thanks so much for being my first review on this site!
ErrorDexis: I hope this was fast enough; I'm completely reorganizing the order of the story, so it takes forever to get things right! I was so, so flattered by your review! Thanks!
REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW….please!
Schrodinger's Cat