Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

Chapter Forty-Four: Hard Days

A couple of days later Noboru was freed, Sesshomaru summoned another council since they still haven't had the time to discuss the reason why he had been missing long enough for the enemy to strike.

More than a week after his return, the rebuilding of the valley had been completed; the funerals of all those who had died held, and any traitor who had not been shot in the middle of the battle had been condemned and killed. All the inhabitants of the valley were ready to return to a quasi-normal standard life, although there was still some tension, since, officially, they had not found who had planned the entire attack.

Voices about Noboru's involvement had been spread, as well as the ones about the demon who had been killed in the dungeons because he was a witness. That's why a lot of people were now suspicious about the dog demon, while others simply thought that Inuyasha had accused him due to the bad relationship he had with the courtier. No one really knew the truth and as it often happens, many completely false rumours began to circulate by word of mouth.

Inuyasha was even more tense, after almost a week spent at the castle with no news of what was happening in the village and because of the whole ordeal about Noboru. Sesshomaru was looking forwards to his brother's return home so that he had not to deal with his fretting aura and especially because, even if he would have never admitted something like that, he was nervous about the upcoming meeting with the elders. Inuyasha going back to the village also meant that his family along with Rin would soon arrive at the castle and he would introduce his mate to the council.

Sesshomaru was currently in his office, facing the small balcony. At first glance, it appeared as if he was simply staring into space, when in fact, his mind was returning to the two weeks he had spent with his mate. At the same time, thoughts about what would happen in a few minutes plagued him. That was how his brother found him when he entered the room a few seconds later.

"Are you ready, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha inquired. A low almost imperceptible grunt was his only answer. "I can't wait for this shit to end, I had enough of this palace, elders and rumours following me everywhere lately," the half-demon added.

"I am afraid you will have to deal with it a little longer, little brother," Sesshomaru's cold voice reached his dog-ears. "I want you here for the first weeks Rin is going to live at the palace. As the only human lady living here until now, your mate will have to help mine adjust to life within these walls."

Inuyasha groaned. "Weeks? How long are you gonna force us to stay? Do you remember that we both also have duties in our village?"

"I remember that you have more important duties as my heir," the dog demon sternly replied as if he didn't care about anything else. "The humans of your village will have to get accustomed to your absence for the next two weeks at least. If your aura lingers in your forest enough, no demon will try to attack them anyway."

Inuyasha glared back at him. "That's what I've always hated about you, Sesshomaru. No matter how much you change — and believe me when I say you still have a looong way to go — you'll always remain self-centred. As long as people do your bidding everything is fine, you don't care about others. This was the reason why I didn't want to be your heir in the first place. You demand, never ask and dismiss the others as they were nothing. The nerve of you! We will stay here for as long as you ask because we care for Rin, but if I had the choice, I would have gladly told you to fuck off just for the way you're always dictating. I'm your equal, Sesshomaru, remember it; blood doesn't matter anymore between the two of us."

Sesshomaru looked at him arrogantly, then, he averted his gaze again. "Do not worry; you won't be my heir for long now. Give my pup fifty years and you will not have to attend these tedious matters anymore."

As if, more like 500 years, Inuyasha thought grimacing.

"Does the thought of a son of mine dislike you that much, little brother?" Sesshomaru asked deadpanned. Apparently, he had noticed Inuyasha's body stiffening.

"Why would it?" the half-demon retorted. "He or she will be a half-demon as well and let me tell you, I'll be happy to tease you 'til the end of the world. You siring a son on a human," he commented amusedly. "I can't kick your ass for your hypocrisy since we're technically on the same page now, but I won't forget how you used to deem half-demons until some years ago, or worse humans."

"I still deem you inferior, Inuyasha, no matter what you say," Sesshomaru cooly replied, smirking inwardly at the hard glare Inuyasha sent his way, "and my son will be stronger than you in due time since he will be trained by me," he added with confidence.

Inuyasha scoffed, purposely ignoring the jibe. "Figures you will say something like that. Whatever makes you sleep at night, bastard. Why don't we head for the wolf's den now?"

At the same moment, east of the castle, someone else had already been awake for a while or rather had never fallen asleep and was about to face another tiring day, if her son's temper tantrums were any indication.

"Uh, I feel like someone has been playing the drums in my head right now," Kagome thought while bringing a hand to her temple. She was trying to feed her youngest, who this morning had decided didn't want to eat anymore. "Please, Toga, just a little bit; you didn't even drink your soup. If you don't want the rice, at least eat your fish. Osamu went to the stream to catch it just for you," she tried to convince him. It had been going like that for a half-hour.

The pup had his arms crossed and his nose up in the air, his face was scrunched in a fierce scowl and the overall portrait reminded her of Inuyasha when she used to go to the future for school matters. It was quite impressive for a five-year-old child to retain such expression. Did her son have to take so much after his father? Not for the first time, she wondered if her mate had also been like that as a child.

"No, no and no; I don't wanna!" Toga reiterated, huffing and putting his foot down.

"Toga," she repeated sternly, starting to lose her patience after the hard night she had had, the lack of sleep and the migraine; she didn't need one of his fits right now. Everyone was ready to start the day while Kagome had been stuck at the table trying to convince him to eat, so neither of the two was currently washed or properly clothed.

She was about to switch in her strict mom mode, the tone the same she used every time she sat her mate. Muteki recognised it; she heard an "uh oh" quietly whispered.

"I wanna daddy to feed me!" he shouted throwing the bowl with the soup away, scattering it all over the place to make his point. "I won't eat until he comes back." He huffed again and looked at his mother as if to say the argument was closed and he didn't want to hear another word.

Said mother sighed and tried to ignore the fact that his son had also increased the number of things she had to do that day, throwing soup all over the floor. Her eyes began to twitch nonetheless. "You know your father is not here at the moment, baby, and he wouldn't want you to starve yourself," Kagome reasoned again. Inuyasha had been missing for almost a week now and Kagome had no clue when he will come back; she had no way to find out.

Suddenly Toga threw himself at her starting to sob in her chest. Kagome caressed his back and let him, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. "He promised he would be back soon and he isn't here yet. Mommy, don't leave us too!" he cried leaving aside his anger and revealing his true feelings.

"Where all of this is coming from?"

"Toga, honey, your father didn't leave you; he just has urgent matters to fix with your uncle," she soothed him.

Half an hour later, after more crying, fits and some more shouting, Kagome had managed to get him to eat, wash and she also prepared herself, an operation that had proved extremely difficult since Toga had refused to separate from her for even a second. He was currently attached to one of her legs. Muteki had called him a wimp and Kagome had shot her oldest son a dark glare as soon as more tears welled up in Toga's eyes. In this, he certainly did not resemble his father and his emotivity seemed to have even worsened since the village had been attacked. She just hoped this phase would end as soon as possible; better grumpy like Inuyasha than whiny like Sota.

The day had started on the wrong foot: not only had she not slept a wink due to a difficult birth she had to deal with the previous night, but she hadn't even had a chance to eat because of her son; her headache showed no signs of abating and she was also starting to feel hot. She had an insane amount of rounds to do and couldn't afford to waste that much time.

"Are you feeling good, Kagome?" Kichiro inquired; he had noticed that the miko was a little slower this morning, she had bags under her eyes and appeared a little flushed too.

"I'm fine, Kichiro, thank you. I just couldn't sleep because of that boy I had to deliver last night," she offered, then turned to her son. "Baby, mama has to visit some ill villagers this morning and you have to go with your brother for training with uncle Miroku, you can't stay with me," she said trying to loosen his grip on her leg.

"No, I don't wanna go; you're gonna leave me too," he cried clinging more to her and leaving some snot on her pants. Kagome wrinkled her nose seeing the freshly cleaned hakama already stained before she even left the house but ignored the exasperation that was bubbling up in her chest again.

She sighed nonetheless. "Neither your father nor I would ever do such a thing, honey."

"You promised dad you would train hard while he was gone," Muteki interjected with a scowl on his face. "Now you want to skip lesson again," he scoffed. "He will be very disappointed when he comes back."

His younger brother turned sharply at him, rubbing his eyes with his fists, sniffling and then blinking a couple of times. Meanwhile, Kagome retrieved a handkerchief to clean his nose before he stained his clothes too. "I don't wanna disappoint daddy." He pouted, suddenly afraid of that possibility.

"Then why are you crying worse than a newborn? He hasn't left us and you know how he feels about you crying too much," Muteki told him with a tone too much stern for a seven-year-old. "Mom has to work and you'll come with me to uncle Miroku's. You'll train hard and then you can show dad how much you improved!" He extended his hand toward him and Toga nodded, immediately letting go of his mother to grab it tightly. Muteki looked up at his mother and smiled brightly, glad to have been able to change his little brother's mind and help her.

"Sneaky little pup," Kagome giggled. "Inuyasha, when are you coming home? You better be on your way now or I will chew your cute ears off."

The half-demon with puppy ears, silver hair and golden eyes sneezed while he was waiting with his brother outside the council room.

"Your mate must be complaining about you, little brother," Sesshomaru commented amused, even if his expression and tone didn't give away anything.

"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed, "most likely; that's why these old geezers should hurry. The faster we start this meeting, the faster I get to come back home. Toga was still a little scared when I left; sometimes I think that pup is too impressionable."

"He carries his grandfather's name. He must not be weak or too delicate," Sesshomaru replied. "You should be sterner with him, not show weakness yourself."

"I'm not showing weakness! If it wasn't for me, he would still be attached to Kagome's skirt right now," he retorted.

Sesshomaru scoffed a little. "You were being authoritative just because his crying wasn't leaving you time to have your way with your mate. You should teach him that he has to be strong because he has to become a warrior, not because his parents want to copulate all the time."

Inuyasha's cheeks became immediately red and began to sputter. "It's not that! He knows that strong men don't cry." He huffed and crossed his arms, nose up in the air, just like said son was doing far from there.

Sesshomaru shook his head and a second later they entered the room. The moment of the truth had come.

"Will you finally tell us why you were missing, Sesshomaru?" Kosuke immediately asked. He didn't seem pleased, Inuyasha noticed, and he was going to be it even less in a couple of minutes. After all, the dog demon was one of the elders who had voted against his upgrade to heir because of his heritage; he couldn't see him pleased with the current turn of events, even if Kosuke recognized his strength now.

Sesshomaru let his gaze fall on each of the elders; he noticed Goro was being strangely silent. Maybe, for once, he was heeding his words or he was simply afraid of his threat. The dai-youkai took his time before answering; his tone neutral and controlled didn't suggest the turmoil going on within him. "I took a mate," he finally said, in the most natural way in the world, as if it wasn't a big deal, as if the elders hadn't been waiting for this moment for centuries.

But where was she? Why had he waited so long before announcing her? Why didn't he consult them before the mating? Suspicions arose almost immediately. The only one who was calm was Hayato, but since he already knew everything it didn't count.

"You took... a mate," Kosuke slowly repeated, "and why are you informing us just now?"

"It seems to me we had more urgent matters at hand," Sesshomaru simply replied.

"Sesshomaru, where is she? You'll agree with us that the way you're telling us appears suspicious," Sayaka told him.

Inuyasha saw the moment in which Sesshomaru's eyes filled with determination and he knew his brother would go straight to the point. It wasn't like him to stall, after all.

"I was simply looking out for her safety, of course. My mate is human; she is currently staying at Inuyasha's village," He said without much preamble, and Inuyasha swore he felt all the air being sucked in, the moment the elders inhaled heavily out of shock. Not satisfied, Sesshomaru added, "we obviously bonded."

Sure enough, Inuyasha tensed, especially considering the amount of time that passed without anyone saying a word. The shock had been huge, but internally he was dying to laugh at the greenish complexion Goro had taken on. He couldn't wait to see the reaction of Shou's family; his daughter was still convinced she could mate with Sesshomaru. But, really, could anyone be that dumb? Apparently, being ancient didn't grant intelligence; Goro was proof enough.

"What have you done you fool! A human, you bonded with a human," Goro bellowed, jumping out of his seat. "You are the last one of your line and you bonded with a human!"

Sesshomaru turned sharply to him, rage pouring out in waves; his claws beginning to gleam green as if he was preparing himself to attack, and Inuyasha stepped back to avoid being caught in his fury. "You know better than me what does that mean. Souls cannot bond occasionally; it will only merge when both of them accepted each other completely, and usually, there is just one person for every one of us. That Sesshomaru has been lucky enough to find her and recognize her, it says enough," the half- demon commented, crossing his arms and assuming a defiant posture.

"Well, it's clear that silver-haired demons are very lucky indeed," Toru offered, "both of you found a match for your soul, just as your father had done before. How peculiar everyone in your family was destined to be with a human. I mean, Toga wasn't a surprise, really; He had always had a compassionate heart and held no grudge against humans, unless they did something to him, of course. Inuyasha, you're half-human yourself, so it is also natural you were drawn to your mate, but Sesshomaru..." he trailed off.

"... it is surely unexpected, and completely ironically," Minato continued for him, "your father must be laughing at you right now, I'm sure of it," she chuckled.

"I don't see anything to laugh about!" Goro shouted again. "Now that he is bonded with a human he will have half-demon pups; his pure-blooded line will end and we cannot let him make this mistake!"

"You haven't a say against a true bonded pair, Goro," Hayato replied coolly. "if the bond took form means they were truly destined. Besides we have an excellent example of what can be born from human blood mixed to this great line," he added gesturing towards Inuyasha, winking. "Inuyasha has nothing to envy from many purebloods, if anything the opposite. Just think what Sesshomaru's half-demon son could do if he grew up here at the palace, trained in the best possible way. No offence, my boy, but in the end you grew up in the wild and pretty feral. Although, that was certainly training that paid off for you as well."

Inuyasha grinned, waving his hand as it was nothing, "Oh, don't worry, Hayato-sama; fighting for your life as a pup can be quite the training indeed." The rage Inuyasha had proved since he was little at the very thought of Sesshomaru's abandonment, a feeling that had only increased when he had first discovered his brother had mated a human, was now almost gone. He had realized that there was no way 200 years ago someone would have really accepted him within those walls. It didn't mean he wasn't willing to help Rin and any of her sons find their place there.

Kosuke chuckled, but his laughter held no amusement. "Figures! That's why you didn't consult us, that's why you tell us just now. You were afraid we would have forbidden you to do something so foolish."

"Can you blame me?" Sesshomaru shot back, raising his eyebrow.

"Of course not, I would oppose the idea for sure. Not that I am pleased now," he easily said, "but I find it useless to fret now; it's done and we cannot do anything, just like with your father and the princess. You're his son throughout, I hope your love story is luckier than his, though."

Sesshomaru growled at that; Inuyasha stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I can state for my parents that despite all, they had felt the luckiest of the world every moment they have been together. So maybe yours is indeed a blessing. I foresee a long life for my brother and his new mate," he offered smirking. Kosuke's dig had been well-placed, it had to be admitted, but why give him the chance to gloat at seeing the pure fury in Sesshomaru's eyes? At least he was smarter than Goro and knew nothing could be done.

"It was very nice what you said regarding both your parents and your half-brother, Inuyasha," Minato praised. "Besides, we have always complained about Sesshomaru not taking a mate and now that he did you all have long faces. You'll finally have the heir you always wanted," she giggled. Ah, the irony!

"I find this to have been completely unbecoming of you anyway, Sesshomaru. You disappeared for two weeks without giving a reason and didn't even warn your brother apparently, endangering his family as well as the whole valley with your foolishness. This should be a warning, boy. You have enemies within these walls; think carefully about your moves, especially because this is a repeating of your father's story, and despite what Inuyasha brilliantly said, I would hate for the same mistakes to be repeated," Ryota interjected, his tone harsh and stern.

"Well, it seems that half-demon heirs are gonna be the rules from now on." Hayato chuckled, his eyes gleaming again with mischief.

"Oh, Gods, finally I finished with Kasumi-san," Kagome huffed, wiping her brow while quietly walking next to Kichiro after her last visit. "She has so many children that every time one catches something, everyone fell ill and it's a nightmare to deal with some many distressed at children at once and alone." She adjusted her things, and the fox demon helped her share some of the weight. "When are they gonna invent birth control?" she murmured under her breath then; it was absurd people had so many children other than incredible irresponsible. This was a farmer village, they weren't rich and despite all, everyone kept doing children as if they could allow it.

"Birth control?" Kichiro asked befuddled, not really grasping the concept.

"Do not mind me, Kichiro, some innocent healer-mumbling."

The fox demon nodded then eyed her warily, noticing the way her breathing was shallow and her skin flushed. "Being a priestess must be hard sometimes Kagome," he offered.

"You don't know half of it. I don't know how Kaede managed to do everything on her own all her life. Sure, she wasn't married with children, but still. The good news is that we have a new apprentice healer. Since Rin will be leaving now, Kaede thought was a good idea and I won't be alone when she won't be here assisting me anymore. Even if I don't like to think about it, one must be realistic."

Kichiro nodded and the two stayed in silence for a couple of minutes enjoying the warm breeze of late April, when suddenly Kagome had a spell of dizziness and the fox demon had to steady her. "Kagome!"

"No, don't worry, I'm fine, I'm just tired," she said meekly, instinctively leaning against the demon to find support.

Kichiro panicked, he knew nothing of a human body but he could say that the young miko was anything but fine. He realized that he had not done at all well humouring her all morning while she had been going from house to house, without having a free moment to eat at least something to replenish the strength she lacked. Touching her forehead he noticed she was burning and without thinking a second more he scooped her in his arms and quickly ran towards the elderly Kaede's hut that surely would have known what to do. Kagome didn't object in the slightest, in fact, she seemed to find some comfort in finally being able to close her eyes a little.

"Inuyasha," she whispered weakly just before her breathing evened out and collapsed in Kichiro's arms.

When the guard reached the old priestess hut he entered without announcing himself – and later he would have scolded himself for such an action – catching off-guard the inhabitants.

"What happened?" Kaede asked, immediately rushing over while Rin prepared a sleeping mat to lay Kagome down. The old priestess started checking her and noticed her temperature which was too high. They needed to cool her down; it wouldn't do her any good to keep such a high temperature for too long. "Rin, go fetch some water," she instructed the young girl.

"She has been sleeping less in those last days, and last night you had to assist that difficult birth and she couldn't close her eyes at all. Besides, this morning she had to deal with a grumpy Toga and a lot of ill children," Kichiro explained. "I tried to get her to rest, at least for a little while, but she wouldn't listen to reason; said she was too busy to think about things like that and didn't even eat that much." In truth, the fox demon felt guilty about the whole situation, Inuyasha trusted him and he had already seen more than once how stubborn the young priestess could be; he should have insisted more.

"Foolish girl, always try to help everyone without thinking about herself. She thinks she will be good this way, and now that Inuyasha is away, she is stressing herself even more," Kaede murmured, boiling some water to prepare a special tea. Not to mention that aside from practical matters she was mulling over other problems too and thinking about it, Kaede should have seen it coming. The girl wasn't a goddess, she was still a human and thus she needed her rest, both physically and mentally.

"Will she be okay?" Kichiro inquired.

Kaede nodded. Of course, that wasn't the perfect moment for Kagome to fall ill, especially because she had seen the way her children were tense due to their father's absence; she couldn't imagine how they would react to their mother not feeling good. "She will, but for one we just have to make sure her fever drops; she has likely been feeling hot and feverish since yesterday." It had been a delirious night; both mother and child had risked death and wouldn't be alive now if it hadn't been for Kagome's future knowledge. Because of this, their attention had been solely on them.

Later that evening Kagome had not yet regained consciousness and the temperature had dropped only slightly; Kaede and Rin had had to change her clothes several times because she kept sweating. They couldn't do anything else but wait for the fever to break naturally and for Kagome to wake up and eat something so that she could replenish some of her energies.

However, when they were reached by two distraught pups, the youngest told them something else that could have helped them ease their worries.

"Mommy should drink daddy's special medicine. He made me drink it when I wasn't feeling well and it immediately worked."

"Uh... No, Inuyasha's medicine no," Kagome moaned. She had just woken up, she felt as if a truck had run over her and now she even had to hear her son's sentence.

"Mommy!"

"Kagome-sama, you're awake!"

"Kagome, thank God!"

Several voices shouted at once and Kagome groaned, her head still splitting in two. Kaede noticed and immediately hushed everyone, kicking out of her hut everyone who wasn't necessary inside since it was too crowded and the woman still needed her rest.

"Child, what did ye think ye were doing by ignoring the symptoms your body was sending ye? Do ye think ye are helping your family or the village by falling ill?" she scolded her.

Kagome didn't answer, instead, she turned to her sons and asked them if they had been good.

"We're good, mama, but we need to care for you now that you aren't feeling good and Dad is away. I'll do it, mama. Dad said that I'm the man when he's away and I need to defend you." Muteki puffed out his chest in a great show of pride.

Kagome smiled at her son's antics and Toga interjected because he didn't want to be left out. "And I am the one who suggested Daddy's special medicine!"

"Aye, this special medicine. Did anyone of ye know the ingredients by any chance?" Kaede inquired, inwardly chuckling at the way the pups were fretting over their mother.

"No. Inuyasha made me drink it once when we were still haunting Naraku and it smelled and tasted awful." She shivered at the thought. "He only told me it was something his mother taught him, but he refused to tell me what was he using apart from the fact that they were fresh ingredients, even when he made it for Toga. But I remember it was quite efficacious," Kagome replied.

"What about ye, children?"

They both shook their heads. "It helped a lot to suggest it, Toga, since we don't know how to make this medicine," Muteki huffed.

"Well, it seems it's your luck I'm here to make it, isn't it?" a voice suddenly said, making them all turn to the hut's entrance where a half-demon stood with his arms opened. His sons immediately run to him, and he reached his bedded mate leaning over to kiss her burning forehead. "Why don't you tell me why I left you healthy and find you in this state? You haven't been acting like your usual self, have you? What should I do with you, koishii?"

"How did your meeting with the elders go, son?" Kimi asked Sesshomaru as soon as they were back in the royal wing.

"Some of them weren't very pleased, but nothing I did not expect," he replied, "not that they could do much. We bonded and I will have an heir soon too."

"What? Your mate is already pregnant?" his mother hastily questioned, befuddled.

"That's the reason the jack-ass waited two weeks to come back," Inuyasha snorted, "couldn't wait another month to impregnate her or warn us."

Sesshomaru shot him a death glare, narrowing his eyes, "It seems to me, little brother, that we already addressed the subject. Do not be repetitive."

"But you didn't see fit to tell me," Kimi tutted. "I would have thought you would inform me as soon as you knew it. What must a poor mother do to be considered by her son?" she sighed theatrically.

"Relax, mother, it's not like you wouldn't have found out soon anyway. The elders demanded I introduce Rin at court as soon as possible. Inuyasha will head east right now."

The dog demoness eyed both the brothers. "It will do you good to finally get the girls to the castle; I've had enough of your unstable auras. You, too, son, I thought I taught you better than this." She then addressed Inuyasha, "Be careful, bring everyone here safely and meanwhile we will make sure to set the proper protection for them. I predict that there will be even more difficult days ahead, even though things are returning to their normal pace. The news of Sesshomaru's mating with a human will give even more of a stir than your family's short introduction."

Shortly after, Inuyasha left them and headed towards the stable, he greeted Ah-Un and informed him that they were going to travel to the village again. He anticipated that the journey back would certainly be more difficult considering there were five of them having to travel beside the guards. While the latter could very well revert to their true form, he wasn't sure if they all could travel on the pack dragon without tiring it out too much and he would want to spare Kirara yet another trip. If Shippo was then going to come along, the half-demon doubted that he would be able to maintain whatever form he decided to take for so long. They would have to consider their options well, especially since travelling with two pups and a pregnant woman they would need to make more stops.

Hours later, he finally caught sight of the village when the sun was already setting and his impatience began to show. All the excitement and turmoil he had felt during the week away from his family increased exponentially. After more than 9 years of being constantly together, Kagome and Inuyasha knew that they couldn't be apart for long without feeling a sense of loss. For this reason, Inuyasha and Miroku never took too many long trips, and the half-demon tended to be more clingy and affectionate on the days following his return. Given the current situation, moving away from the village had cost him a lot both times and as he had already explained to Katsuro, it was only that bit of rationality he had left that made him keep up appearances and respect his duties in the west. But now he finally wasn't going to leave Kagome and their children for long and he fully intended to enjoy his companion.

However, as soon as he reached his house, he noticed something was wrong. It was already suppertime and no one was there. He could have thought that they were maybe eating at Sango's but then since their house was bigger and the two families together counted many components, for their get-together they usually chose their residence. But at that moment, he couldn't detect any scents that weren't stale, meaning no one had been there after morning.

These considerations, combined with the fact that he was already quite agitated, immediately sent him into a panic mood and without thinking twice he left Ah-Un in the meadow and headed towards Kaede's, the first likely place where he could have found his family. Once there he noticed a quite large crowd waiting outside, which included Kichiro and Osamu. That fact relaxed him a bit: if they were out there it meant Kagome and the pups were inside.

Inuyasha approached them unceremoniously and didn't give them time to speak up because he headed immediately towards the hut, where he could hear voices speaking. It didn't take him long to understand Kagome wasn't feeling good and that only enraged his inner demon more. Kagome had likely tried to do everything on her own, even avoiding meals or sleeping less and at one point she had collapsed. He took a deep breath and tried to regain some control; it would do no good to show like that after almost a week he had been missing. He would likely make his sons worried more and he didn't want to be hard on Kagome now, even if he wanted so much to argue with her for being so reckless while he wasn't with her.

"Well, it seems it's your luck I'm here to make it, isn't it?" he said entering the hut and looking at his mate currently laid down, his heart clenched at the sight. One moment later his sons jumped in his arms and he didn't waste time before approaching Kagome and kneeling to caress her and leave a kiss on her burning forehead. "Why don't you tell me why I left you healthy and find you in this state? You haven't been acting your usual self, have you? What should I do with you, koishii?"

She closed her eyes in bliss, at having him once again next to her. "Inuyasha... I missed you so much."

"You better be prepared, wench," he smirked despite the situation. It was rare he used that name now, but usually, it was always when he thought she was doing something reckless or stupid. "because I'm not leaving your side very soon and if you thought I was stifling when you were expecting, you have no idea how I will be now."

A/N: Papa Inu is back at the base! See you in a week for the next update. I hope you liked this one 💞.