Chapter 31- No Other Choice

Sesshoumaru glanced at the people who had joined him in this battle to stop Naraku. It had been 3 months now since he'd first heard Kagome was pregnant. He let out a small and quiet sigh 'this means she'd be 7 months pregnant and showing by now.' It was no use the more time past the more he thought of forgetting the battle and heading home so he could see her. He may not have been there to watch his child grow in his love's womb, but he vowed he would be there for its birth.

"Thinking about Kagome"

Sesshoumaru turned to look at his brother "why ever would you think that?"

Inuyasha smirked "because ever since you learned Kagome was pregnant when a battle comes around you are normally the first to jump in and when we camp at night you just stare at the stars. So you got to be thinking about being with her…in both cases"

The taiyoukai gave a nod "so it shows"

"Yea, but I don't blame you" he said as he took a seat next to his brother. Things had been going well between them and in some ways Inuyasha was glad that everything was taking so long. The bond between them was growing everyday, but he was still a little angry. Kagura had said the mountain was a weeks walk and she was right, but the only problem was the mountain had housed only Naraku's demons and his puppet…not the real him "I'm just hoping we can find this bastard soon"

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Kagome sat in a chair and looked out the window with a frown. She was seven months pregnant and it was showing. As time passed she was getting more and more worried about what would happen when it came time for the baby to be born and Sesshoumaru wasn't there. She was growing more and more fearful the closer her due date came and there was no word of them getting closer to Naraku since they had been lead on a false track.

"Kagome are you alright?" a female voice asked

Kagome turned her head to see Sango and immediately tears rolled down her cheeks "I'm frightened Sango" she sobbed as she let the other female wrap her arms around her "I'm so scared. I don't want to have the baby without Sesshoumaru here"

"Don't worry Kagome I'm sure he'll be back before then"

"But what if he's not?" she cried "what if I'm all alone?"

Sango held Kagome tighter "you're not though; you got me and Ecaro and even Rin and Shippo," slowly she pulled away to look her friend in the eye "even if he can't make it, we'll be here"

Kagome gave a small nod and sniffled "but I still want him"

"I know you do and I'm positive he'd like to be here to rather than out hunting that coward Naraku, but he's out there trying to find that bastard and kill him so he can then come here and be with you. Just give it some time, is there anything else that would make you happy? Maybe help keep your mind off him for a little bit"

Kagome gave another nod before wiping her tears away "well I am still feeling a little home sick and I'd like to be able to tell my mom about me and Sesshoumaru and the child I'm going to have"

Sango stood up "I'll go speak with Ecaro and if he agrees we'll send word to Sesshoumaru to ask his permission. Besides it might be safer in your world if the demons trying to attack us can't reach us" and left the room. Kagome sighed before moving to go lay down on her bed, closed her eyes, and rolled on her back to face the ceiling. Being pregnant sure wasn't easy when it came to sleep and she was starting to develop small back pains. Sighing again she opened her eyes to see a figure on her ceiling staring down at her.

Before she could even scream the shadow was upon her and a hand was covering her mouth and a male voice whispered, "don't fight me or I'll make killing you much slower and more painful," his other hand went to rest on her stomach "I can't believe Sesshoumaru picked a human to breed with; he hates humans, but yet, he seems to think he's in love with you so much that you now carry his hanyou child. Such a disgrace, I never would have thought he would have been one to follow in his father's footsteps, but he has. He's such a shame to our family, to our race, to all demons"

Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. Some how the voice seemed familiar and then it hit her 'Sabura!' Her eyes widened and she gasped 'Some body help me! Somebody quick, come and help me! I don't care what happens to me just let the baby live' she prayed.

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Ecaro gave a nod as he looked out the window and at the clouds "I think it's a very good idea, perhaps having her mother around will make things seem a bit easier on her" he turned to look at Sango who was patiently waiting by the door as he gave his answer "besides I am quite curious of what her world will look like. You said she believes to understand how the well works now, right?"

Sango gave a nod "yea, she had brought the question up after Rin, Shippo and Sesshoumaru were able to pass through the well"

"Well then I don't see any reason why not" he smiled "besides seeing where she lives I'd love to see the village where the group always resided after a hard battle with Naraku and while waiting-" he cut his sentence short as he took a far off look.

Sango frowned and stepped closer to him "Ecaro? Are you alright?"

He shook his head quickly "something's wrong, there's a different smell in the air. I can't tell what it is, but I don't like it"

"It could be our food is being cooked and-"

"No it doesn't smell like any kind of food" his voice sounded distracted as he tried to decipher the scent. When he did he looked back at her with a huge frown on his face "to be honest it smells like fear"

Sango's eyes widened "oh no, Kagome!" and quickly ran out of the room with Ecaro following after her. It didn't take them long to make it to the bedroom where they saw a shadow figure sitting on top of Kagome on the bed with its' hand over her mouth. Sango gasped as one of her hands flew to her mouth.

Ecaro growled loudly to let his presence be known, but almost lost his posture when the shadow turned around to reveal his father's own brother, Sabura. As the shock faded the anger grew "Sabura! What do you think you are doing?"

Sabura growled "the real question is; what do you think you are doing?"

"What do you mean?" he asked as he took a few steps forward.

The older dog demon got off the bed and dragged Kagome with him "do you not see it nephew? You are as crazy as the rest of the family" he snarled "we shouldn't be breeding with these humans for it will only cause are extermination in the future. By breeding with these humans there will be less full blooded demons then those hanyous will start breeding with other humans thus diluting their demon heritage further till soon there will be nothing left. More and more demons everyday are breeding with humans and slowly driving us to extinction!" he glared as he watched his nephew take a few more steps closer "I wouldn't take another step my dear nephew" he said as he held his claws up to Kagome's throat while looking down at her "I thought Sesshoumaru was a demon who would never step so low as to mate a human since he despised them so much, but seeing this wench bearing his child…I can see I was wrong"

Ecaro stared at Kagome, her face full of fear and he snarled as he turned his attentions back to his treacherous uncle "Sesshoumaru is more of a demon than you will ever be Sabura. If we demons drive are selves to destruction than so be it, it will be our fault and possibly the way things were meant to be. Deal with it!"

Sabura's eyes flashed red as he growled viciously. Unfortunately for him he had not paid any attention to the female that had entered the room with his nephew and by the time he realized his mistake he was on the floor out cold.

Kagome turned around and latched herself to Sango "I was so scared!"

Sango calmly patted her back while whispering she was fine and safe now. Ecaro walked up, his eyes never straying from his former uncle, before he pulled out his sword "stand back ladies, he's waking up"

As they moved aside Sabura's eyes opened only to see his nephew holding a sword above him. Before he could even beg the air from his lungs was ripped from him as the sword plunged into his heart, then all was black.

Ecaro gave a final growl before he turned to the girls "I've made a decision and Sesshoumaru is just going to like it and accept it"

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Shippo pulled out a red crayon and continued to color his picture. Everything seemed so relaxed now that Kagome knew she was pregnant and it made it easier to act around her since there was nothing to hide. After her morning sickness left she was happier than could be and rarely had these mood swings that Sango had mentioned to him before. But as time passed it got worse to the point Kagome would suddenly start crying about nothing, then about missing Sesshoumaru or being scared of being alone when she had the baby. Both he and Rin tried their best to always cheer her up, but they could tell it was slowly starting to have no affect on her for she only thought of Sesshoumaru and paid less attention to what they were doing. They were fine with that because Sango and Ecaro had both explained it wasn't them that were doing anything wrong it was just Kagome being worried about giving birth to the baby without Sesshoumaru being around. Even Kagome herself had explained it to them and often apologized when she felt she hadn't given them enough attention.

"Shippo?" asked Rin as she pulled out a green crayon to color in her dragon with.

"Yea?"

"What do you think the baby will be? A boy or a girl?"

He looked at her and shrugged "I don't know maybe if we're lucky she'll have twins and one will be a boy and one will be a girl"

Rin smiled "I'd like that"

Both turned their head to the sound of the door opening, grinning when they saw Kagome followed by Ecaro. The grins were quick to vanish when they saw the adults held worried expressions. They quietly watched as Kagome went and started packing their clothes, which caused them to stand up with concern as they looked at Sango and Ecaro.

"What's going on?" asked Rin

Ecaro glanced at them "we're leaving; it's no longer safe here"

Shippo's concern grew worse "what happened?"

"Sabura tried to attack Kagome" he said bluntly.

Both children began to feel panic and quickly ran over to Kagome for reassurance and support. Ecaro stayed alert the whole time the three packed and only took his eyes off them when Sango had returned with Jaken following her. After he had made his decision he asked Sango to go fetch the toad while he watched over Kagome and was thankful the girl found the ugly demon quickly "Jaken, something of utmost importance has happened and I must take Kagome-sama and the children somewhere where they cannot be reached since this castle has failed"

"What has happened to cause such a decision?" Jaken asked, grumbling.

"Sabura-sama decided in the interest of preserving our race that Kagome should die. If he came to kill her you can be positive more will come"

A look of shock entered Jaken's face before he nodded "then if here isn't safe, where would you be taking them?"

"I'm taking Kagome to her world beyond the well. No one should be able to follow except those she has allowed. Once we arrive at the well safely you will then go to Sesshoumaru and relay the news" he ordered.

Jaken nodded and then left the room to go gather Ah-Un. After the toad was gone, Kagome smiled and walked up to Ecaro, lacing her arm through his. When he looked down at her with a slightly confused expression, she smiled and said "I think I was right when I said you will make a great lord someday. You handled this situation very well and sounded very commanding….almost as good as Sesshoumaru"

Ecaro blushed at the compliment "I do not think I will ever be as good or sound as good as Sesshoumaru"

She gave a small laugh "maybe, but you're close enough to be placed in second beside him"

He grinned "I'm more than willing to take second place; it's a lot easier than first"

The comment caused Kagome to laugh out loud before gathering her things and making sure the children had everything before they all headed out where the two-headed dragon waited patiently for them. Rin made a comment about not all of them being able to fit, which Ecaro chuckled and said no need. He placed all three girls on the dragon and had Kagome hold Shippo while he took to the air using a cloud much the same as Sesshoumaru used with Jaken tagging along on it. It was a very comfortable, but long ride to make it to the village where Kaede greeted them.

"What brings you all out here?" she asked as they landed. She was quite shocked to see them, upon paying closer attention she noticed something different about Kagome "child, there's something different about you" she walked up for a closer inspection "your stomach has gotten bigger"

Kagome smiled "well that's what happens when you're pregnant"

Kaede blinked in surprise before congratulating the girl "how far along are you? Does Sesshoumaru know?"

"I'm about 7 months along and yes, Sesshoumaru knows he was told awhile ago before I even knew myself," she answered "Sango and Ecaro were able to tell long before I was"

"Ecaro?" the old woman said confused.

Just then a tall dog demon walked up to them and looked at Kagome "we should really go, it's not safe to linger around out in the open like this"

She nodded and quickly introduced the two with a quick summary to Kaede of what was going on. The woman wished them luck and to come see her when all was safe and when Kagome had the infant. She walked with them to the edge of the village where they said around of good-byes and the group continued towards the well.

Ecaro stared at it as it came closer to view "so that is the well that will take us to the future then, huh?"

Kagome smiled, she'd finally be going home to see her family which she hadn't seen in so long "yup"

Stopping in front of the well the group decided to figure out how to go about getting them all into the well. After much discussing it was decided Kagome would take Sango and Rin first and then return to bring Shippo and Ecaro. So she left on her first trip and told the other girls to wait just on the outside of the well and not to leave the shed just yet and went back for the boys. Once everyone was there Kagome grinned as she opened the well house door "I'm home"

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Note: Hey everyone…you miss me? I know I've been gone for a really, really long time, but I have a very valid reason. I knew a guy back when I was living in another province about 5yrs ago. Well he had used to ask me out, but I always said no in fear of losing our friendship. It wasn't until I moved that I realized I should've said yes. We'd been in contact ever since, waiting to date, but distance was in the way. Well it was last summer he said he was moving 3hrs from me around new years then I lost contact. So it was like 4 months ago that I caught him online and learned the goof has been living in the same city as me since November. We met the next day and that very night decided to start dating since his time here was limited cause of his job which was going to be sending him everywhere. Heck he's moved 3 times around the city since we started dating, but we've been spending most of our time together. It was a month ago when he started to act weird. His phone had been disconnected about 1 and a half into the relationship, but he was still awesome for calling, but over the course of this month he's kind of slowed to where he may have called me only once this month and I've only seen him once this month. He's hardly even been on msn. So I've been sending him e-mails to call me…kind of like he was supposed to yesterday, but didn't, so I'm considering myself a free girl again. I don't want any man who can't break up properly and even continues to lead me on right to the very end. I even confronted him about how I felt he didn't like me anymore, but he said he did. Well if he does, he's done a lousy job showing it. So I've put myself back into my writing. I told you I wouldn't abandon this story and I won't. I even got the sequel planned out. And to make every one happy I have the next chapter ready and am giving it to you, plus its super long so I hope every one enjoys it and then there will only be one more chapter left to go. All answers to reviews will be in the next chapter