A/N: So tired...So much work...ugh...


Chapter 41: Anticipation

Kagome sighed slightly, looking around the hut that Inuyasha had built them years ago. The hut was no longer new…it was slightly lived in. And with a hyper toddler hanyou around the house, she was surprised it stood up so well.

The certain hanyou was snuggled up to her chest, seeming to be asleep, but every so often he would open his eyes and look around sleepily. Inuko was getting tired, but she knew he wanted to stay awake to hear the rest of the story. It was just as well; the story was nearly over anyway.

"Those were the happiest times for the Hanyou and Miko, weren't they?" Sango asked, her face looking sadder, and having noticed Kagome's was beginning to take on that sad quality as well, the closer the story got to its climax.

Kagome nodded, "Yes, they were…the happiest times."

Even Miroku and Shippou looked a bit uncomfortable…they hadn't seen Kagome reveal her emotions in ages, hidden behind the mask of trying to appear happy for Inuko. "What happened next?" Shippou asked, slightly afraid of what the answer would be.

"Well, the Hanyou and Miko had to go back for her doctor's visit again, and this time to decide if they would be having the baby in her time or his…It was one of the last times the Miko came to her world, and the very last she would be entering, or leaving it, with a happy heart."


Where is that baka? Kagome wondered, glancing outside of the hut. I told him he had to be back here a half hour ago! We're going to miss that clinic appointment! Scowling, she went back inside the hut, proceeding to flop down with a grunt.

Ever since they had moved into their hut, Kagome had known the burden of what it meant to be a housewife; she had to cook, clean, and get that lazy baka she called a mate to do all the tasks she had given him. Once she hit five months on, Inuyasha had ordered her to stay inside the hut, and had practically put her on bed rest already. Though she knew there was sweeping to be done, whenever he saw her do it, he ushered her back to the bedroom and made her lie down.

It was sweet of him, she supposed, even if it was a bit annoying. (Though, she had to admit, him snatching things up that had fallen on the floor was a lot easier than her trying to kneel down on her already sore knees and pick it up).

Her stomach had grown some more, but Kaede had already seen that it was slowing down in its growth. It was explained that because youkai fought so many times, if there was a possibility of an early birth, the baby needed to be big enough to survive outside the womb. But since the baby was a hanyou, it would probably need those extra months anyway.

And Kagome was suffering from this extra weight. Her back and knees ached, she couldn't bend over or see her feet, and having Inuyasha mutter about how fat she was didn't help either.

Kagome glanced at the wristwatch she had taken back ever since her mother had named the time they needed for the appointment. And looking at it, she knew that they were already going to be thirty minutes late, if that.

But, thankfully, she heard the hanyou stomp into the hut. "Hey, Kagome, you here?"

Giving an angry snarl, she shot up from the bed, and nearly pounced on him in the doorway. "Where were you!" she yelled, glaring at him with her prepare-to-die eyes.

Inuyasha gulped. Yep, she was mad this time. "I was trying to catch us some lunch," he replied innocently, holding out four fish.

"Never mind that!" she yelled, grabbing the fish and tossing them to a corner of the hut. "Do you know how late we are going to be?"

He raised an eyebrow. "For what?" This was a bad idea.

"For what?" she screeched, debating on whether to sit him or drag him back so they wouldn't be even more late. "For the visit to the doctors! I told you about it yesterday, baka! We need to go back so we can see if we can have our baby here or back there!"

Inuyasha had several smart retorts on hand, a few that he was itching to use. But he knew she had talked of it yesterday, and told them that the ultrasound could probably tell if the baby had his ears or not. The particular object on his head twitched at the thought of it. The truth was, he wanted to see the baby, but he didn't like going back to that place again. "Do we have to?" he whined.

Much to his surprise, Kagome smiled slightly instead of yelling. "Inuyasha?"

"Hmm?" he asked, wondering what brought this on.

Grabbing a bit of his silver hair, Kagome pulled his head down to her level and yelled, "I want to see my baby, damn it!" in his ears, marching out of the hut and towards the well.

Once Inuyasha had recovered from Kagome screaming in his ears, he flicked them again and muttered, "It's my baby too," before following her to the well.


Kagome had made sure that they would make it to her doctors appointment, even if it meant some screaming and yelling on her part to get Inuyasha to move it. When they arrived, they were, as she had expected, late, but thankfully, it wasn't a busy day at the maternity clinic, so they had gotten in to see a doctor fairly early.

At first, she was still angry at Inuyasha for dragging his feet and causing them to be late to their appointment, but when the time came for her ultrasound, she didn't care anymore. This was her favorite part of the appointment—the moment when she'd see her baby on screen again…showing her this life inside her.

It seemed that even the baby was excited, as she felt it kick against her abdomen as she sat down on the bed provided and removed her large maternity shirt once more. "You've gotten a lot bigger since the last time I saw you," the technician joked, grabbing the bottle of gel once more.

Kagome gave a nervous laugh, "Maybe it's just a big baby…"

Inuyasha, who was sitting in one of the chairs against the wall, snorted. Yeah, like anyone would believe that…

The lights dimmed once more, and the ultrasound probe was placed against Kagome's skin, while the woman moved it across, soon finding the now grey and black blob beneath.

Like always, Inuyasha and Kagome felt the miracle of parenthood fall upon them, both thinking, There's my baby…while watching that grey blob move around inside her belly. The screen fuzzed with a pulse again, picking up the baby's heartbeat.

"Everything looks normal," the technician said, moving the probe around to get better angles at the baby. "See, there's its spine—" she pointed to the grey line on screen, "And there's the head…and if I turn it this way, you can even see its little nose."

Kagome glanced at the small curve the technician was pointing to. She glanced at Inuyasha, who through the smile on his face, she could see his nose was a bit sharp, almost to a point. She touched her own nose, feeling the same curve that matched the one on screen. No doubt about it, the baby had her nose.

Moving the probe once more, the technician asked, "I think I can tell what sex the baby is, would you like to know?"

Kagome instantly glanced at Inuyasha, who stared like he hadn't understood a word she had said. In his time, you didn't know what a baby was until it was born. Would he want to know now? "Give us a moment," she told the technician, who nodded and turned away to fill out some more paper work.

Inuyasha came over to her, glancing up at the now blank screen. "What did she mean, Kagome?" he asked. "Can they really…?"

Kagome nodded, "Yes, Inuyasha, they can tell whether it's going to be a boy or girl in my time. Do you want to know? It would certainly help when picking out baby clothes."

The hanyou stared again at her. "They can really know?"

"Not completely," Kagome explained. "Like everything, they can always make mistakes. I mean, look at me! Mama told me they thought I was going to be a boy."

Inuyasha glanced back at the blank computer screen for a moment, and then at her round belly bare before him. He made his decision. "No."

"No?" Kagome asked.

He sighed while trying to explain, "Kagome…I do want to know, but…I don't want us knowing and expecting something and then not getting it, do you know what I mean? How would that child feel if he or she knew they were expected to be something else? And besides…" His hand gently touched her bare stomach, feeling their baby wiggle and kick beneath them. "I think that it's better if we let it be a surprise…that way, we won't know anything until the time comes, making the moment even more special."

Kagome smiled, he was probably right…it seemed much more exciting if they didn't know. "Okay, I don't mind."

The technician came back to them. "So it's a no then?"

Kagome nodded, "Yeah…I think we want it to be a surprise."

"Okay, but I'm going to have to take a few more pictures…hopefully some you can take home.

Once more the probe ran over her skin, but before the image was frozen to be printed out, the technician paused for a moment. "Hang on…I didn't notice this before…"

"What?" Kagome and Inuyasha asked at the same time, instantly paling. Was there something wrong with their child?

"Look at this," the woman pointed to two, dark grey, triangle like formations on the baby's head. "I've never seen this before…I hope it's just something wrong with the image…" But no matter where she moved, the two shapes stayed.

The technician seemed puzzled by the appearance, but Inuyasha and Kagome stared at each other with a nervous look on their faces. It looked like the baby might have to be born in his time after all…


"Look, Mama!" Kagome said, the minute they got home. "They let us bring pictures this time!" She pulled out the black and white pictures, and her mother took one look at them and tears formed in her eyes.

"That's my grandchild…" she sighed, looking at each of the pictures in turn.

Kagome's hand ran over the curve in her belly. That's my baby…

"Hey, what's that?" Souta asked, coming into the kitchen to see both his sister and his mother nearly on the verge of tears, looking at some pictures.

"That's pictures of your sister's baby," Mrs. Higurashi said, showing Souta the images. He glanced at them for a moment before getting a puzzled look on his face.

"That's a baby?" he asked, turning them sideways as if to see it more clearly the other way. "It looks like an alien!"

"Hey, that's my kid you're calling that, squirt," Inuyasha came in, snatching the pictures away from Souta and handing them back to Mrs. Higurashi who, while humming, began to hang them on her refrigerator.

But Mrs. Higrashi paused, looking back at the images. "What's this?" she asked, pointing at the lumps on the grey blob's head.

Kagome and Inuyasha just looked at each other and smirked slightly. "Well, Mama, it looks like I might have to have the baby in his time after all."

Her mother looked puzzled for a moment, but one look at Inuyasha's fuzzy ears gave her understanding. She laughed while Inuyasha pulled Kagome closer, his hand resting over their future child. "I guess the baby does take after its father."

"Not quite Mama," Kagome cut in. "It looks like it has my nose," she told her proudly.

"Did you find out what sex it is?"

Kagome shook her head. "We decided we wanted to wait on that…After all, in Inuyasha's time, they don't know until it's born. We also wanted it to be a surprise."

Her mother sighed, putting the picture back on the refrigerator. "That's going to make shopping for clothes a bit more difficult."

"We've got a while to wait before we need baby clothes, Mama," Kagome told her sharply. "After all, it's only five months old; I've still got another four months before I'm in desperate need of baby clothes."

While they were talking, her grandfather came in, and, like usual, tried to ignore the fact that Kagome had a lump the size of a soccer ball on her stomach; he didn't like the idea that already a man had defiled his pure granddaughter. He went over the fridge, and immediately saw the strange pictures. "What is this?" he demanded, squinting his eyes to see the strange image.

"It's your great-grandchild," Mrs. Higurashi said with a slight smile, glancing back at the suddenly nervous Inuyasha and Kagome.

Unexpectedly, Jii-chan suddenly burst into tears. "That's it? I never thought I would never live to see my great-grandchild!" For some reason, what had seemed repulsive to him before now seemed wonderful.

While he went to go hug Kagome, Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Senile old fart."


Hours later, while they were preparing for bed, Kagome came into her room in her maternity pajamas, and sat on the bed, Inuyasha sitting up with her. His fingers instantly went to the shell necklace he had given her so long ago. "You still have it?" he smiled.

She nodded, "I told you, I never take it off, Inuyasha."

"I remember when I gave that to you," he spoke softly, holding her gently in his arms. "I was so afraid you'd reject it…and reject me. I was still trying to figure out my emotions then…and I never thought, in my wildest dreams that this is how we would ever end up." Over the years, the seasons, they had both changed so much.

Kagome smiled back up at him, moving his hand across her belly, and feeling their child, the child that had been made through their love. "But just look at us now."

"Yeah…look at us now…" He bent down at kissed her softly, his arms moving to hold on to her, as if for dear life. She was the same, pulling at him with the need to be closer…to know that their souls were one…

They had barely gotten anywhere, before a knock was heard on the door. "Kagome…you need to get to sleep. You're going to need at least eight hours of sleep from now on."

The moment was ruined, and sighing, they pulled apart, but still kept the loving smiles on their faces. They lay back down on the bed and pulled the covers around them, both feeling the closeness on being in each other's arms. "Goodnight, Kagome," Inuyasha murmured as the light was turned off.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha."


The next morning, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou were already up and about in the village, when Shippou suddenly sniffed the air. "I smell something…familiar."

"Familiar?" Miroku asked, turning to him. "Is it a 'good' or 'bad' familiar?"

Sniffing again, the kitsune groaned. "If Inuyasha gets back today, then it's a 'bad' familiar."

Sango and Miroku glanced at each other with confused looks on their faces, before turning back to the edge of the village. They suddenly saw something on the horizon coming closer to them. They squinted, and it soon proved to be a whirlwind. Finally, it came closer, and receded, leaving them with a person they hadn't seen in a long time.

"Kouga?" all three gasped, staring at him.