Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Inuyasha or its original characters.
A/N: Shorter chapter this time but I needed to divide this one and the next.
Chapter Nine: New friends, old friends.
In the end, it was decided that they would keep travelling for the next three months, and then if they still had some shards to hunt, they were going to make a new plan. They hoped they didn't get to that because no solution had been found yet. They couldn't find the shards without Kagome's sight, after all.
They found one within the first month while they were coming back to the village, or it should be said that the shard found them itself with the help of its wielder. It was a big strange ugly lizard who thought it could be easy to steal their chunk of the jewel just because it was protected by a mere child. That got Kagome angry, who charged blindly at him, and even if she managed to kill him swiftly without any damage, it caused a big fight between Inuyasha and Kagome, one that involved a lot of sit and reminded the others of the old good times.
Inuyasha, the most reckless of all, had the audacity to accuse Kagome of being too careless in battle.
When they reached the end of the established time and they still didn't have any luck, they found themselves at a loss. Both Kagome and Sango were starting to have problems. They may have had more time since Kagome had stopped going to school, but now they were both showing it became dangerous and tiring, not to mention that it was uncomfortable to rest in sleeping bags with pregnant bellies. They were also starting to attract more demons, and travelling around villages with a pregnant Miko wasn't the ideal. After all, most people still believed in the pureness of soul and body, which still angered Kagome a lot.
Currently, they were in front of the fire finishing off their meals, racking their brains out for any possible plans. They were heading back to Kaede's village, and Inuyasha had predicted they could be there within midday tomorrow.
Kagome was in Inuyasha's arms, and he was tenderly caressing her belly when she spoke, "I don't see any solution. If we don't find the last two shards by tomorrow, we are gonna put the hunt on hold."
"I'm actually worried that they'll gonna looking for us at the village, and we still can't hide the jewel's aura because it's incomplete," Sango interjected. Attracting danger in the village wasn't ideal either, but what better choice did they have?
"You shouldn't have problems when we are on the other side of the well since I'm always bringing it with me, " Kagome reasoned.
"And you two alone are enough to fight off any demon so stupid to approach the village for any reason," Inuyasha added.
The evening of the next day, Inuyasha and Kagome were back at the shrine because she had an appointment with the doctor the incoming morning. Besides, she was also enjoying the comfort of a modern bed now that she was starting to suffer backaches. On the other side, Inuyasha didn't like to spend the night at the shrine because that diminished the chance of getting his way with his mate. Soon he would have to put even that on hold; he wanted at least to enjoy the last months of bliss.
"So, tomorrow is the big day?" her mother asked while they were having dinner. Her grandfather, just like Kaori had predicted, had easily coped with the disappointment, and now he couldn't wait for his great-grandchild to be born. It was stifling at times, but her mother had reassured Kagome saying it was normal. Better that than the disappointed glances anyway.
"Yup!" Kagome answered excited and rubbing her belly. "I hope we will be able to see the gender of the baby."
Inuyasha was still a little perplexed by the fact that they could see the pup before the birth, even if it was strangely, let alone understand that they could find out if they were having a daughter or a son. But once they had explained to him that it was completely normal and the pup wasn't affected at all, he had settled down.
"What are you hoping for, sis?" Sota pried; he was also very much excited about the new addition to the family.
"I don't care, as long as he or she has Inuyasha's hair..." she answered curling one of his locks around her index finger, "...I'm happy. Unfortunately, Sesshomaru had already told us it's highly improbable the baby will have his doggy ears," she pouted. "He said that the amount of demon blood is too low to guarantee such features." Besides, they couldn't be sure the pup would have had Inuyasha's ears anyway; it could have been just a trait specifically of him. No one could tell how a hanyou would be born in general. If she thought about who she already knew, she could see it. There were no rules. Instead, since her baby would be mostly human, it was easy to predict that there wouldn't be any major problems.
"I'm fine with it," Inuyasha interrupted, "these things had always caused me trouble. The pup's life will be easier if will look mostly human; it also means your hair colour, koi."
"Hmpf. I disagree. Your hair is the most beautiful I have ever seen, so soft, and they didn't even tangle up compared with mine."
"The wonder of demon blood," he smirked and kissed her on the top of her head.
"It will be a boy," Gramps predicted proudly, "every Higurashi's firstborn was male." Inuyasha gave him the hairy eyeball, and Sota looked at him like he had grown a second head.
"Mom, did you and dad have another son before me?" Kagome asked her mother. She shook her head, amused. "Then, evidently, gramps has mistaken me for a boy. Strangely, he didn't recognize his error now that I'm four months pregnant," she concluded. "Besides, technically, I'm not a Higurashi anymore."
Sota chuckled, and her grandfather snapped out of it.
"Nonsense. You were an exception, Kagome-chan," he said. "Your father was the firstborn, I was the firstborn, and so my father, my father's father and so on. Furthermore, until you two get married in this era, you will still be considered a Higurashi, young girl, and that makes your baby a Higurashi as well."
"Oi, and why is that?" Inuyasha spoke up. "I'm actually in that strange register of yours now, and the pup will have my name, that makes him or her a Taisho." He narrowed his eyes, daring the old man to say more.
Gramps pouted as if he was the baby, and nothing more was said on the argument.
The following morning a driver picked them up and brought them to the demon hospital; Kagome had still to figure out how they kept humans away but she didn't care too much.
In the end, she had discovered that Rin's doctor was Ayame, the red-haired wolf demon that actually managed to marry Koga, even if it didn't happen 500 years in the past yet. It had been a surprise because they actually met her just a couple of times in the past, and she had always been furious with Kagome because of Koga. Rin had told her that the doctor was a friend of hers; Ayame was the last person she would have thought of. Did she act like her best friend in the future? Who knows, maybe they were; after 500 years, no one could say it. She had welcomed both of them warmly and reassured her that everything was going to be good even if she was still young. Ayame had then told them of her family and showed them a lot of pictures. Koga was still the same, and they had fifteen children, of which thirteen were girls. Inuyasha had laughed at that, visualizing Koga surrounded by women like their mother, who certainly wasn't the shy and quiet type. Kagome had agreed; Koga must have had his hand full.
They actually met him a couple of times in the modern era and, even if Inuyasha still acted as he hated his living guts, their relationship was much more relaxed than in the past. And Koga wasn't the oppressive type anymore, thank God for that. They had also met some of their children, and Kagome had fallen in love with the youngest, a little girl of five whose hair was red like her mother and the eyes the startling blue of his father. She had Koga wrapped around her little finger, and no one was immune to her doe eyes; one would have thought that after twelve girls, Kouga was immune, but no. Even Inuyasha had commented on her beauty and expressed his wish to have a little girl like her one day. Koga had warned him, "You may get what you want, but you could also find yourself surrounded like me." He had grinned when Inuyasha got paler, and Kagome hadn't understood if it was a warning because he already knew they were having a bunch of girls or if he was just making fun of Inuyasha, who was still very gullible sometimes.
When they reached the studio and Ayame was checking her, Kagome started complaining about the shard hunt. Even if Ayame already knew about that because it was her past and couldn't reveal anything.
"Just two shards, two, and we couldn't find any information in two months that we have been looking. Where could they be? I just hope they aren't at the border of the afterlife again. As much as I'd like to pay homage to Inuyasha's father, I think that two trips there were enough, hmph. Now we had to put a hold on the whole quest because Sango and I can't travel anymore without tiring ourselves and..." she was interrupted by Ayame.
"You can't; it wouldn't be good for the pup. That type of life is not fitting for a young expecting mother. It surprised me that both Inuyasha and Miroku had let you travel for so long. If it were up to me, I would have prohibited you from travelling two months ago as a doctor, but, unfortunately, I discovered how stubborn you are. I must say you and Inuyasha really found each other in that," the red-haired demoness said sternly. As a doctor, she could be very authoritative.
"Keh," Inuyasha snorted, "every time I tried to make her reason that it was better if she stayed at home, she sat me, and I can't do much if I'm glued to the floor, ya know."
"Well, that's for sure," Ayame agreed on. "those beads must be a huge problem right now."
"You don't say..." he scoffed. Kagome had activated the spell far too often in recent times. It did happen that she did it on impulse and apologized immediately afterwards or that she regretted it to the point of bursting into tears because she was sorry. Other times, however, she would get angry over the silliest things, and he would find himself planted face down without cause. He didn't understand this thing about hormones going crazy during pregnancy, no matter how many times both Kagome and Ayame had tried to explain it to him. All he knew was that, for some strange reason, he had to put up with a lot more Sit than he deserved.
"Anyway, don't stress yourself too much about the jewel. You have a much more important matter in your hands right now. Are you ready to find if you are having a little girl or a cute boy?" Ayame squealed. She already knew, of course, but she also knew how exciting this moment usually was for the parents-to-be.
"Oi, my boys won't be cute," growled Inuyasha, "if anything, they will be strong like his father."
"As you say, Inuyasha," she laughed, "And there it is... well, it seems you're gonna get your wish."
"What?" Kagome and Inuyasha asked expectantly.
"You're gonna have a cute son just like his father," Ayame winked.
"I said that no boy of mi- Wait, what did you say? boy?"
"Kawaii," Kagome squealed. "Inuyasha! We're gonna have a little cute boy with silver hairs and golden eyes," she already had little hearts in her eyes.
"Oi, stop that right now! My son is gonna be strong, not cute!" Kagome wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "No, Kagome, I'm serious..." she started kissing him everywhere, "Wait, Kagmffff." She stopped him with a fierce kiss that escalated into something more until Ayame cleared her throat, and they separated, cheeks red and avoiding to look at her in the eyes.
"Ok, ok, he can be strong, but can he also be cute? Then when he grows up, he will be handsome like his father, and the girls will fawn over him," Kagome offered.
"Keh, as long as he will be strong."
When they came back in the feudal era and shared the good news with the others, they were shocked that, in the future, one could know in advance the gender of the baby before was born, but Sango and Miroku were also a little bit jealous because they wanted to know what they were having too.
"Ya know Miroku? I'm kinda glad we're having a boy. I was worried I had to kick your son away if I had a little girl," everyone laughed at that.
"I'm so underestimated..." Miroku commented while shaking his head.
They were having a good time on the riverbank now that the summer was approaching, and the days were getting longer and warmer when Inuyasha tensed.
"What? What is it, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. The others looked perplexed as well. Then Kagome sensed a familiar aura too.
"Koga..."