Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters, just the original ones and the plot.

A/N: A longer chapter as promised, a big event happening at the end. Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: Prejudices

Kagome had to admit it, watching Sango taking care of Emi and Kimiko warmed her heart and made her wait with excitement for her own bundle of joy. Sure, she still thought she was young. She was still afraid, but she realized she couldn't keep thinking that way, and she had to make the best of her situation. She will love her son no less and be the best mother she could; she could do it, especially with all the good people surrounding her.

Sango looked up and smiled at Kagome, "Don't worry, your son will be here with you very soon. They will grow up together. Isn't that great?"

Kagome nodded, "I just hope that Inuyasha waits at least five years before he starts teaching him how to fight. He's already talking about swords, and I have my suspicions that last time Myoga came visiting us, he told him to commission a sword to Totosai."

"You're kidding, right?"Sango asked, befuddled. But then, it was Inuyasha they were speaking about. She shouldn't expect less from him, Sango thought, chuckling.

"You know him, Sango-chan. I'm afraid my son's first words will be Sankon-Tessou." She rolled her eyes.

Sango giggled, "And how long are you staying on the other side, Kagome-chan? I don't want to wait too much to meet him."

"Hopefully, we are staying there only for one week after the birth, and once we settled here, we'll start going back and forth like usual. The thing is, I'll have to start school again after the pup is born, and I have to take a test before. It's gonna be a disaster, I already know," Kagome said, resigned. Ayame had suggested she stayed at the shrine a little before the due date to avoid any danger and that they waited for a least a week after the birth.

"The baby is gonna steal all of your time. Are you gonna manage to do everything?" Sango inquired. At the moment, she couldn't find time to do anything else. Sure she had not one but two babies, but one was still a great responsibility, especially the first months.

"I talked with Kaede, and we decided that we are gonna proceed slower with our studies to give me time with school again. Besides, my family on the other side will help me as well," Kagome explained. They had started to plan a schedule to avoid her being overloaded with things to do.

"Well, let's hope you don't have any surprise like me then; two babies are hard to handle, believe me."

Kagome laughed. "Don't worry, in the future, you usually can't have this type of surprise anymore. In the same way, we can know the gender in advance, you can also know if there's more than one baby." Thank Gods!

Kagome was now walking towards her hut and had to cross a big part of the village. She was taking her time since she also had the added weight of her belly, Kirara perched on her shoulder. The cat demon was starting to travel with Kohaku lately; the boy was practising his skills as a demon slayer, but they were currently stationed in the village. Thus, Kagome had gladly accepted her company while coming back home. It wasn't midday yet, but Kagome met a lot of people on her way anyhow. Inuyasha was still on patrol duty, and she was thinking about the lunch to prepare. Inuyasha had promised he would provide the meat, but she could, at least, start cooking the rice.

She was thinking along these lines when she caught a voice calling her from behind.

"Miko-sama?" an older man asked. It was clearly from outside the village, and some wives around her stopped as well to listen. He wasn't alone, but with a young girl that could be her age or one year older.

Kagome caught her gasp when she turned, and the man's eyes widened when they noticed her pregnant belly. She put a hand on it protectively and asked cooly. "How may I help you?"

The man realized his mistake and bowed low in a sign of reverence; the girl looked at her belly in disdain and just acknowledged Kagome with a hint of her head. The man scowled at her and forced her to bow properly, putting a hand on her back. Kagome stiffened; it wasn't a good omen. Kirara noticed her reaction and narrowed her eyes at the strangers.

"We seek the miko Kagome-sama," the man replied politely.

"That would be me, good man," she informed them. Silence followed her statement. At this point, a little crowd was forming in the middle of the village to assist and help Kagome if she would have needed it. Villagers were very understanding of her condition, and unlike others who came from outside, they accepted her and Inuyasha as they were. The girl snorted. "Is there any problem?" Kagome asked then.

"How can you be a priestess if you are pregnant? You shouldn't even wear priestess robes. It's a shame and an insult to the other mikos," she stated.

She heard some gasps from the villagers, and the man looked aghast.

"Akemi! That's not the way you can speak to a spiritualist," he chastised.

"She isn't-" the girl tried to say again.

"Excuse me, I'll let you know that I am wearing these robes because of my spiritual power, which I retain even if I am very pregnant and married. The old belief that says one must preserve both pureness of body and soul is very much false. Spiritualists can maintain their powers as long as they remain pure in their souls. Instead, one can be pure in the body and lose the power when the soul lacks purity," she explained, angered at the girl's behaviour. They came to seek help, and then, the girl even had the courage to talk back to her.

"Yeah... you're still a miko, and I am the Empress of Japan..." she crossed her arms and looked at her defiantly.

"Spoiled brat," Kagome thought, gritting her teeth.

"Akemi. Shut up!" he slapped her at the back of the head and was about to speak again when Kagome interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to ask you our village if you are here to cause a ruckus. You still have to answer my first question on why you seek my help, and your companion is only causing problems."

"Well... we don't need you because you clearly are nothing more than a sullied miko," Akemi stated, not heeding the man's words.

Kagome narrowed her eyes, trying not to show how much that hurt her. Sure, she was used to prejudices, having travelled with Inuyasha and Shippo for more than a year and, even in the future, racism wasn't uncommon. However, it was different when someone came looking for her in her village and then scorned her because she was a married priestess. Talk about bigotry. She didn't want to imagine what this girl would say if Inuyasha came to her aid.

"What's happening here?" asked a voice from behind her she recognized as the one belonging to the headman. "Who are you?" he asked, appalled. He must have heard the previous comment because he had a frown on his face, just like Kaede, who was next to him.

"I apologize for my daughter's rudeness. We heard the priestess who defeated Naraku was living in this village and came here to ask her help. Akemi has just developed her spiritual powers, but in our current village there is no available priestess able to teach her," the traveller explained. Kagome mentally snorted; if she would ever want to teach a spoiled child like her. It was a miracle someone so biased had developed spiritual powers.

"While my apprentice is not available yet to teach the ways of priesthood. She was very much right when she stated that in order to preserve one's spiritual power is necessary only purity of heart and soul," Kaede explained, "You, my child," she turned to Akemi, who was still looking at them defiantly, "are lacking in that field. This way, ye could find yourself onto a very dangerous path," she predicted. "Keep acting and thinking like this, and ye will find yourself without yer powers soon or worse."

"As if!" she snorted. "We are just in the wrong place since she is definitely not the one who defeated Naraku."

Kaede shook her head, "It's a pity, really, so young and already so biased." Her father appeared contrite and was trying to shut her up without any luck.

"In that case, young girl, you can leave my village right now with your father. We don't need your kind speaking ill of our esteemed priestess, who, may I make clear that to you, is the same girl who defeated that great evil. She maintained the sacred jewel pure as no one could do," the headman piped in.

At that point, Kagome was trying not to let the tears fall, even if the episode was making her more than uncomfortable and distressed. But when Inuyasha arrived in the clearing, he was still able to smell her tears and sadness, added to the fact that a villager had reached him at the edge of the forest to tell him that some strangers were badmouthing her mate and you could have a very angry hanyou.

Before anyone could react to his presence, he got in front of the crowd, shielding Kagome, and spoke so icily that one could mistake him for his half-brother. He had to hold onto every ounce of his strength to not unsheath his sword and point at the two strangers.

"You really have the guts to come here, seek her help and then start spouting off bullshit," with a firm grip on Tessaiga to hold his nerve, he kept speaking. "Now, you have two options: leave this village at your choice as the headman suggested, or I can make you do it," he snarled at her, a fang poking his bottom lip. "What do you choose?"

He didn't have to say it twice; in the blink of an eye, she was gone, her father bowing hastily before trailing after her.

That night Kagome cried inconsolably wrapped in Inuyasha's arms. He had always thought that the only one who could give her the wide berth would have been demon haters, the same kind who had always shooed him away because of his mixed heritage. Never in his wildest dreams, he would have imagined someone calling her a sullied miko because she had decided to have a life beyond her duty as a priestess. And there was nothing he could do it.

"Shhh... Koishii. Please, stop crying; you're making the pup antsy," he plied, feeling how his son was reacting to his mother's obvious distress. "That can't be good for you either; all these kicks must hurt."

She rubbed her red eyes and looked up at him, "Who said one must be a maiden to be a real priestess?" she asked.

"No one, koi, you shouldn't heed her words or let them hurt you. She was simply a bigoted and frustrated girl. Maybe she should get laid herself and see what she's missing out on. Maybe she would also do the world a favour and lose her powers that way, but, unfortunately, I don't think anyone could offer himself for that. No one wants an ugly shrew," he snickered.

Kagome chuckled, "Yes, maybe she was that frustrated."

"Kagome, koishii, you're the strongest priestess alive right now. Every day you get better and better. You saw things that a harpy like that one could never imagine; your arrow killed Naraku. Who knows, maybe she was jealous. I mean, look at you, you're stunning, you're powerful, intelligent, anything a man could wish for. I still don't get why you chose me, but that's for another day. My point is, you should never let anyone tell you that because you decide to have a family – a family with a half-demon – you can't be what you want to be," he told her, a clawed hand stroking her hair.

More tears fell on her cheeks, but this time we're joyous tears, "Marriage looks good on you, Koibito. I don't remember you being so sweet during the shard hunt, if anything, you were quite the opposite," she stuck her tongue out at him. "But if I shouldn't let someone tell me those things, then I want you to promise me that you won't think less of yourself anymore just because of your heritage or that you're not worthy of me." She kissed him. " I fell in love with you, the half-demon, not anyone else; that's why I chose you. The truth is that you are, Inuyasha. You are everything a woman could ask for, well, maybe less grumpy sometimes."

He turned an interesting shade of red and flicked her nose, "Keh. Marriage doesn't look good on me, you look good on me," he cupped her cheeks, "and with that, I ran out of those girly things. Don't talk of this side of me with anyone else; it doesn't suit my usually strong and rough imagine. Got it? What kind of badass demon would I be otherwise?"

She laughed wholeheartedly, "And what are you going to do if I started talking about how cute and lovely you are?"

He feigned anger and then grinned. "Well, isn't it obvious? I'm gonna tickle you 'til the end of the world."

It was now two weeks after Akemi's incident, and Kagome was due in another two. Since Ayame had warned them that there was still the possibility she went to labour early, they had decided to move to the shrine until the baby's birth. They didn't want to risk being in the past when the time came. Even if in the future she would have to adapt to the old ways, Kagome was adamant that for her first time she could use some comforts. Not that labour was comfortable, that's for sure.

She wasn't exactly thrilled about being stuck for two weeks in the future. They had spent all of their time in the feudal era, except for doctor appointments and visits to her family, since she was three months along. She didn't want anyone from school to see her like that because she couldn't let the school board know. That's why every time they visited, she was forced to remain on the shrine's grounds. The only other time she had left the shrine was when they had been invited to Sesshomaru's, but they had always had the aid of a driver who picked them up. Maybe she would suggest Rin spend some time together and, even if she still couldn't leave his house, there were more things to do than at the shrine.

Inuyasha, who now knew much more about the future and understood most of its principles, laughed at that, saying that was some sort of retaliation for when she had forced him to stay there - not that he had ever listened to her.

Now she had to spend two weeks, and probably more, stuck at the shrine with her entire family fussing over her. Gramps was certainly the worst; he didn't even let her breathe and kept asking her if she needed something or if he could help her. It was strange because he couldn't be so much of a help if something was to happen. Sometimes she feared for her son; her grampa was so excited about him that she sometimes wondered where all his thoughts about being too young and all had gone. She only hoped he wouldn't monopolize all his interest in him because, in that case, they risked a third world war between him and Inuyasha.

Besides, her mother had informed her just this morning that her grandparents, who she barely knew because they live afar and never had the possibility to come to visit, were coming to stay at the shrine until she had the baby. After all, it's not like they could miss the birth of their first great-grandchild. Kagome had snorted loudly at that; they didn't even know their grandchildren!

That was a huge problem per se, and according to Kagome, they shouldn't let them know Inuyasha had demon blood and, as consequence, her baby too. But Kaori had reassured her; her parents were too senile, and no one would have believed them if they suddenly started spreading out news about spirits and demons. Besides, they couldn't even realize what he was, dog ears at all. So why force Inuyasha to wear a hat for all that time? Yeah, her mother surely had great confidence in her parents.

It was just the second day of her imprisonment and she already hated all; she wanted this baby out and people stopping hovering over her. She was currently hiding in her old bedroom, even if Inuyasha could still come through his favourite entrance – the window –, but she didn't recognize it anymore. Luckily for her, when her mother and Rin had started re-decorating it, they had saved her school stuff because everything else was gone. Sure, it still was too small to be considered the bedroom of one young family, but since it had no sense to move out, they had done the best they could do. There was now a king-size mattress and a little blue crib on the opposite side, a new dresser full of baby clothes, diapers and maternity dresses she had never worn, and a playpen that didn't even enter the room and had to be moved in the living room. It was a wonder; the whole house had changed just for her baby's sake. She felt guilty about that; in less than two years, she wouldn't even be there anymore, and her family would never see her baby growing up.

"Kagome?" her mother called, "Are you getting ready? Your grandparents are coming in less than an hour, and you shouldn't stay in your pyjamas."

"Hmpf. And why not? It's not like I can leave this house." She got up anyway and started choosing a dress from one of the many Rin had bought for her. Some were good, but not like the ones she had chosen for the baby. Maybe she had felt a little bit disappointed she didn't have time to go shopping for her baby herself, but at least her sister-in-law hadn't a bad taste. She could even consider bringing some of those clothes with her when the well closed. Rin had offered her to go shopping on the outskirts of Tokyo, where they had fewer possibilities to meet someone who she knew, and they had done it once, but in the end, between her duty in the village, her studies – because she still had to take that damn exam once she was to come back to school – and the whole journey to some distant mall, she had given up.

As she dressed up for her grandparents' arrival, looking at her nine months pregnant belly in the mirror, she thought that, at least, she had gained very little weight. With little effort, she would be back to her previous form.

"So? What do we tell to these grandparents of yours? Did they know where I come from?" Inuyasha asked while they were waiting for the old geezers to arrive in the living room.

"Of course not, Inuyasha, they would think you are some freak escaped from a mental facility if you tell that. Stick close to the lies we told my friends. You are from Beppu, you run your family business, and we met when I started coming there for my health problems. We are now living there for time being. Got it?" she had said that so fast, Inuyasha hadn't understood anything, not that he could remember everything anyway. It seems Kagome would still have to do the talk. And what was a mental facility? He shrugged, not that he cared so much about it.

"Sis, I don't think that was much clear for him. Maybe you should let us talk, Inu-no-niichan. But even if you let something slip, they aren't going to remember it anyway," Sota explained, "they tend to forget a lot of things."

"But how are we going to do all of this for two weeks; aren't they going to ask me something else or different? Don't they want to prove if I'm good enough for their granddaughter or shit like this?" Not that it mattered to him, but it was how her grandfather had acted at the beginning. It was likely they would behave the same way.

Said grandfather scoffed at that, "Don't worry about that, boy. Kaori's parents had never been so much clever, even in their young days. I guess it got worse with the age." He said while straightening the newspaper he was reading.

"Oi, wench, they seem to be just like Totosai! It won't be a problem then, a little bump on their head if they started getting annoying," he snickered.

Everyone nodded.

"It's not like you're so young anymore, Gramps," Sota stated.

"Watch your mouth, boy. I'm still alive and kicking; we will see how well do you fare when you are of my age" and bumped him with the newspaper.

"And you were worried about boring yourself out while we are here. With a family like that!" Inuyasha chuckled.

In the end, the first meeting with the grandparents went totally smooth and just as gramps had said, they didn't seem very clever. The grandmother had even petted his ears, saying that whoever had implanted them had done a very good job because they seemed very realistic. She had touched them and didn't realize they were real! Yep, senile, and worse than Totosai at that! Well, at least they wouldn't have to worry about them finding out he was half-demon.

They didn't even remember how old both she and Souta were, that's sure. They had commented on how it was high time she got married and had an heir because she was getting too old and said they were disappointed they hadn't been invited to their marriage. Now she understood better why her mother had never wanted to come back to Kyoto once her father died and preferred to move in the shrine with gramps. If sometimes she had thought living with a grandfather who had a history fetish was hard, she couldn't fathom how her life would have turned out if they had moved in with her mother's parents. She shivered at that; Gramps wasn't that bad in the end.

As the due date grew closer, Ayame instructed them with all the things they need to remember, and Sesshomaru had left said that as soon as Kagome started going into labour they needed to call him; he would deal with everything. Eight months had passed, and Inuyasha still couldn't ruck his brain about Sesshomaru's change of heart. Kagome agreed, getting used to an interested and concerned Sesshomaru wasn't that easy, luckily – or maybe not – even in that he preserved his cold demeanour, so both Inuyasha and Kagome had no difficulty recognizing the Sesshomaru of the past in him, only a more tempered version.

Everyone was so intent on making sure everything was ready for the baby that Kagome was feeling much more oppressed than usual, and that was saying something. If the baby didn't get out soon, there would be a death in the Higurashi household before the time.

Finally, three nights before the scheduled great day, Kagome was awakened by a painful contraction that made her bend over and kick Inuyasha reflexively. Well, at least he shared some pain too. A couple of hours and lots of painful contractions later, her water broke. Kagome found herself trying to calm her distressed mate as if the pain and panic weren't hard enough to handle already. She was the one with painful contractions, for God's sake. A couple of Sit had resolved everything and, when he had been calm enough, he had called first Sesshomaru and then Ayame to tell her Kagome was having the pup. In the background, Inuyasha could hear Koga swearing for being awakened up at this godly hour.

When they finally reached the hospital, Inuyasha had been sat so many times he could claim he was in a worse shape than Kagome... maybe. One thing was for sure, they were in for a very long night.