A/N: Ok, sorry for the delay…I had been hoping people were still enjoying the story towards the end. I decided to rewrite the epilogue completely after coming up with the perfect title for it. As usual, the tame version is on here. The complete and uncensored version is on AO3.
"Inuyasha! You are such a liar!" Kagome called out, as she scrambled to catch up to her boyfriend. Damn him and his long legs. "You said we were going for a walk! This is a hike! Not a walk!"
Inuyasha paused, turning to glance back at Kagome, who was puffing a bit and shooting him a fake glare. He grinned briefly at her. "Sorry, babe. This is definitely a walk in my book. It doesn't count as a hike if you don't break a sweat."
"What does this look like then? Hmm?" Kagome rolled her eyes at him, pointing to her forehead, where her bangs were starting to get slightly plastered. "Definitely a hike. Also, in my book, it's a hike and not just a walk if it's not comfortable to wear street shoes on it. Anyway, since we know I'm right on this one, do you even know if we're going the right way?"
"Yeah, I'm fairly confident…" Inuyasha replied, trying his best to sound as confident as possible. "The directions from the point where we left the actual trail got kind of a bit hard to understand, but it's no matter. I'll find the right place."
The pair continued on, until they came to the part that seemed to be the rocky scramble that was mentioned. Inuyasha eyed the surroundings, thinking it would be a piece of cake for him, but a bit too risky for his girl. It was doable for a human, if they were skilled in rock climbing and with proper equipment, which she was not. She had taken a moment to sit down and hydrate, while he explored a bit, so upon returning back to her side, he dropped down to kneel with his back facing her.
"We should be super close now, but it's more of a technical climb, so I'll have to give you a lift. Get on," he told her over his shoulder. Once she had stowed the water bottle away, she moved to put her legs around his sides and latched onto his neck. With one quick movement, Inuyasha rose to his feet, arms looping under her knees for additional support. A split second later, he was rocketing straight up, leaping nimbly from boulder to boulder.
Within mere seconds, they had made it past the boulder zone, and it was easy going once again. Inuyasha let his girl slip down off his back and took the backpack from her, as she only had ended up wearing it when riding on his back.
As soon as they reached the clearing, Kagome gasped, as she stared at the marvelous scenery before them. "Oh, wow! Inuyasha! Would you just look at all these sakura blossoms up here! There are sooooo many of them! And look, you can even see Mt Fuji as well from this spot! Wow!"
"I knew you would love it," Inuyasha gave her a quick grin. As they had approached their five year anniversary of dating just this past Christmas, they had decided they would take a decent vacation abroad somewhere to celebrate their relationship. Both of them had always wanted to go to Japan, so they immediately began making plans for a springtime vacation. Always one to want to explore off the beaten path, he had done some research on his own to find some amazing secluded spots to explore.
"I do! A scene like this is exactly what I had in mind for our trip to Japan. A prime view of Mt Fuji, framed by sakura blossoms in the foreground. It's like you were able to read my dreams or something," Kagome beamed happily. She had immediately pulled her phone out and was busy taking pictures of everything in sight right now.
While she played photographer, Inuyasha set the backpack down and started pulling out the contents, as they had come up here for the purpose of eating a picnic dinner outside. Once he was almost done, Kagome came back to plop down on the thin tablecloth he had spread out.
As they ate, Kagome shot a few curious glances at her boyfriend. She had noticed that ever since they had arrived in Japan, he kept sinking into these weird silent moods. Granted, he did have a tendency to be comfortable with silence, but she had noticed that he wasn't his usual manner of quiet. The difference was subtle, most likely anybody else would not have noticed, but she knew this man like a book.
"Hey. Have you been feeling ok the last few days?" Kagome finally asked, turning to gaze at his face, which was slightly angled away from her. "You've been quiet in a bit of an odd way a handful of times since we got to Japan."
Inuyasha growled silently to himself. He had hoped she wouldn't have noticed, because he still wasn't exactly sure how to approach the subject, but he was also thankful that she even had noticed. She paid just as much attention to him as he did to her. Although he had done his best to contain his minor bouts of anxiety, he hadn't been able to completely cover them up.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Inuyasha replied slowly, fidgeting a bit as he set his food down. Maybe he just needed to bite the bullet and get things done and over with.
Kagome frowned, her deep brown eyes scrutinizing his face, as she saw the look of unease flash right across it. "Ok. If you say so. I was just getting the impression that something was really bothering you. If you want to talk about it, you know I'm here for you when you're ready."
Inuyasha shook his head, as he scooted a bit, so that he was facing her more fully. "No, I don't want to talk, Kagome. I…um…" he paused, trying to decide how to best word things in his head. Which wasn't working very well at all. "I just want to ask you a question."
Raising her brows a bit, Kagome shifted a bit herself, getting closer so their knees were touching. There was definitely something going on with him, and she was starting to get a bit concerned. It was very unlike her usually confident boyfriend to be this unnerved. "Ok. What is it that you wanted to ask me?"
It took a few long seconds for Inuyasha to meet her gaze. Deep golden eyes bored right into hers, and she found herself unable to look away. "I wanted to ask you," he began, before pausing to swallow. "If you will marry me?" A split second later, he grimaced, hurriedly digging in his pocket for the small box he had been carrying around. He silently cursed himself, for he had intended to have it in hand already before actually popping the question. Damn nerves made him screw up.
Kagome's mouth fell open, as it took her a few long seconds to process the words that just came out of his mouth, and her eyes grew as wide as saucers as she glanced down, staring at the beautiful diamond and sapphire ring that he was presenting to her. "Yes!" she exclaimed at last, while tears began pricking her eyes. "Yes! Yes! I will! Yes!"
The instant that he slipped the ring onto the appropriate finger, Kagome launched herself forward, throwing her arms around his neck. The momentum of her attack resulted in the two of them falling backwards, so they were laying down amongst the tall grass and wildflowers.
"Not supposed to cry, silly," Inuyasha told her, as he shifted onto his side. His sensitive nose had picked up the salt of her tears, which he carefully wiped off of her cheek. She mumbled something about them just being happy tears, before moving in to kiss him. Their kiss quickly turned heated, as they lay there beneath the sakura trees, just getting lost in the moment.
Inuyasha eventually pushed himself up off of her, brushing the bits of dirt off, while she sat up and finger combed out her hair. Now that he had finally popped the question, the massive weight on his shoulders has lifted, and he was at ease once again. Proposing had been a lot harder than he had anticipated it would be. It wasn't like he had actually feared she would say no, as they had in fact chatted about the prospect of marriage on a few occasions over the past year or two. He just supposed his fears were natural, for he had always thought that anybody who wasn't actually nervous at such a milestone, most likely didn't care about the outcome.
As much as they both wanted to stay there, they did need to make it out in time to catch transportation back to their ryokan near Hakone. Although most of their trip was booked to stay in Tokyo and Kyoto, they had taken two nights to enjoy some peace and quiet in a more secluded location.
As they arrived at their dwelling for the night, the sky was erupting with brilliant shades of red and orange. Kagome was giddy and in very high spirits, both from her engagement just a short while ago, and at the anticipation of taking a nice long soak in the private onsen at their inn.
Not wanting to risk anything happening to her beautiful, shiny new ring, Kagome very reluctantly slid it off her finger and back in the box that she was given it in. "Inuyasha, you are taking a bath with me, right?" she asked, turning towards her fiancé, and giving him a pointed look.
"I'll join you in a few," he replied relucantly. Since it would be dark real soon, and the onsen was partially out in the open, he decided to set about getting the place lit up a bit.
Kagome wasted no time in stripping off her clothing, as she headed to the showering area to wash her body off before getting into the natural hot springs feature, as was customary for Japan. Once her body was clean enough, for after all, they had done some rolling around in the grass earlier, she stepped into the steaming bath. "Ohhhh, this water feels amazing!" she called out, tilting her head back to catch sight of Inuyasha. "Join me!"
"One sec," Inuyasha told her, letting out the smallest of sighs. He glanced at his fiancé, happy to see the look of pure joy on her face, as she relaxed inside the pool. Once his body was washed off and his hair tied up to keep it out of the springs, he very gingerly started putting his toes into the water. "How the fuck can you stand this?" he snorted out a laugh.
Kagome opened her eyes and grinned at him, as he started making his way deeper into the water. Her eyes roamed his bare torso, keenly taking in his rippling muscles. As he finally made it past mid thigh length, Inuyasha suddenly winced and grabbed for his package. "This is like being boiled alive! What kind of sadist are you?! This water is going to literally burn my balls off!"
"It's not that bad once you get used to the initial burn," Kagome giggled, as she watched her fiancé's hands protectively cover his most sensitive area. "Besides, you're hanyou, so this should be nothing to you. I mean, testicles grow back, don't they?"
Inuyasha shot her a look before rolling his eyes. "They better, if you want kids some day."
"I do," Kagome beamed happily at him. "But there's no rush on that." She paused, watching Inuyasha as he slowly eased the rest of his body into the water, taking a seat along the ledge right by her. "After all, we can have a baby a year from now, ten years from now, a hundred years from now."
"Exactly," Inuyasha grinned. He had explained to Kagome a while ago, how youkai were able to claim a human mate, and how it would affect the human physically. Since it was something much more permanent than any human marriage, he had been a bit worried how she would react to the idea, but fortunately she had seemed rather interested at the prospect. Which had been a huge relief, because he couldn't imagine life without her.
"When do you want to get married? I've always wanted a spring or a fall wedding. Where we live, I think I want to have it in the fall though. So it will be much more likely to be dry, plus the fall colors. If you're ok with that. We could plan for either this fall, or the following year," Kagome suggested.
Inuyasha shrugged. "I'm good with whatever. I'd marry you tomorrow if that's what you wanted to do. We can get married this fall, if you think you'll have enough time to plan everything to be exactly how you want it to be."
"Ok. I'll look into things when we get home, and decide which year. Let's get married on the first day of fall though, whichever year it ends up being. I want to do that day of the month," she decided.
After chatting about some ideas for their big day, Inuyasha finally stood up, having had his fill of the super hot bath. He briefly ran a towel across his body to soak up some of the water, before heading in to grab the spare futon he had spotted earlier. An idea had come to mind as they had been soaking in the hot tub, gazing out at the fiery sky while it slowly began to darken.
Kagome had found herself becoming a bit overheated, but she didn't want to completely get out just yet. She decided to compromise by finding a place to sit with the majority of her body out of the water, with her legs dangling in the pool. Propping herself up with her hands on the ground behind her, she arched her back and let her head fall back a bit. With eyes closed, she concentrated on the sensation of the chilly air caressing her skin.
Her nipples were suddenly, very achingly hard, as the breeze tickled her bare breasts, making her bite her lip and stick her chest out even more. She couldn't help but notice that it was extremely quiet in their ryokan all of a sudden, as Inuyasha had apparently stopped whatever it was that he was doing. Instead of opening her eyes to see where he had gone, she decided to continue to very seductively pose at the edge of their onsen.
Out of nowhere, she felt something warm and wet brush across one of her nipples, quickly followed by a sharp pinch, as her fiancé closed his teeth on the little bud. It was rather impressive how silently that man could move, but she wasn't the least bit surprised by his actions. After all, she had been posing in such a manner for the sole purpose as to entice him.
"Being so damn sexy ought to be a crime," Inuyasha growled, as he moved his mouth up along her collarbone and neck.
Kagome gave him a coy smile. "Maybe it is a crime, and I really like being bad. What are you going to do about it, Officer?"
Inuyasha groaned, closing his eyes as he nuzzled the side of her neck, just below her ear. "I'm going to punish you. Not right away, though. Might have to torture you a good bit first." With one easy swoop, he had his fiancé in his arms as he stood up, quietly padding across the wooden floor over to the futon he had spread out.
As he lowered her onto her back, he remained on his knees at her side, leaning down to put his mouth on her once again. Kagome was arching her back, moaning a bit, letting her thighs part as she felt his hand glide across her lower body.
Scenting her arousal, Inuyasha closed his eyes, indulging in her scent. He thirsted for every inch of her body, as much now as he did the first time he had seen her naked. She had the body of a goddess, and she was all his.
Letting out a ragged gasp, Kagome briefly opened her eyes, staring up at the almost dark sky above them. Thoughts of whether anybody would see or hear them just briefly came to mind, but she didn't care. Not with the way her fiancé was making her stomach knot up with anticipation. Every time they were intimate, he loved on her with a burning hot passion, and she could never get enough of the things he would do to her.
While using his tongue to trace little patterns across her skin, Inuyasha slowly started rotating himself a bit, easing himself to get into a better position between her legs. He let his clawed hand glide firmly up along her entire inner thigh, wrapping his fingers around her leg to squeeze her gently. Although she sometimes complained about her legs, he thought that her thighs were the perfect amount of thickness.
A small whimper escaped Kagome's lips, as she felt long strands of hair tickle her, while her fiancé seemed more preoccupied with kissing the inside of her thigh. "Babe, please," she breathed, lifting her head to glance down at him.
"Eager, are we?" Inuyasha asked, flashing her a cheeky fanged grin.
Finally unable to hold off any longer, Inuyasha moved to grasp each of her thighs with his hands, spreading them wide open. It was pretty dark out now, but between the fires going in the pits, and his extra sharp vision, he could see just about as clear as day. Tonight was going to be a special treat, and he intended to take his time. It wasn't going to matter how late they stayed up, for they had been planning on a lazy day tomorrow here at Hakone anyway.
Their love making was almost torturously slow, but full of wild passion. After finishing at last, Inuyasha took time to catch his breath, affectionally nuzzling and kissing Kagome, as he breathed in their combined scent deeply.
Kagome gasped beneath him, her chest swelling as much as it could since he was still laying down on top of her. She reached up to run her fingers through his damp hair, before closing in on one of his ears to stroke the furry appendage. "I love you. So much. I can't wait until the day I'm officially Kagome Takahashi."
"Neither can I," Inuyasha grinned, feeling pleased that she was wanting to take on his last name. "I'm so glad I found my mate at such a young age. I want thousands of lifetimes with you. I love you more than anything." Lowering his head once again, he kissed her slowly, but with as much passion as before.
Late summer, three years later
Kagome sighed, wiping her brow a bit, before bending down to pick up the box that was full of cartons of eggs. The truck had come with her weekly delivery, so she was busy trying to get everything put away in the proper place. Up front, Ayame was working the counter, while Sango was busy on the grill, and Shiori was taking care of the cold food orders and tending to the seating area.
Sunrise Bakery was absolutely booming with business these days, and she was forever grateful to have a good solid team working for her. Over the years she had dealt with a few flaky employees that eventually quit or were let go, but no major fiascos had ever happened like when she was brand new, thankfully.
Out of her former employees, she definitely missed Rin the most. The younger girl had quickly become like a little sister to her. Rin had continued working at the bakery over summers after starting college, and right now she was off at Johns Hopkins for medical school, as her ultimate career goal was to become a pediatrician.
Finally getting the last box stacked inside the freezer area, Kagome headed out to go sit in the small break room for a moment to recoup. As soon as she had taken a seat, and was about to close her eyes to rest for just a moment, she heard thumping footsteps. "Hey, boss! Thought I was going to be late, sorry! Traffic was a bit backed up!"
"You're fine, Kohaku. Once you clock in can you please have your sister take over the register and tell Ayame she can go on break?" Kagome asked, cracking an eye open. For some reason the heat lately was really getting to her. It had been an abnormally hot summer. Perhaps the AC needed servicing soon too, since the unit was older.
"Will do!" the young man told her cheerfully. She smiled and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the wall behind her.
A few minutes later, she heard lighter footsteps come in, which meant that Ayame was in here taking her scheduled lunch break. "You ok, Kagome?" she heard the wolf demon ask. "You look a bit pale and you're sweating. It's not even hot in here at all."
There went that theory of the AC being in need of repair, apparently. "I don't know. It's weird. Like all of a sudden lately, I've just been feeling…off. Like it's hot outside, and the heat is making me feel extra exhausted, even when I go inside. It's giving me headaches too and making my body ache. Hell, even my boobs were hurting when I was moving all the cartons just a few minutes ago," Kagome lamented.
Ayame eyed her boss curiously. Her nose twitched, as she took in the human girl's scent. "You don't smell like sick people typically do, so that's weird. Maybe you're just getting too sensitive to higher temperatures. As for the body pains, it's probably your body adjusting to the workouts at the new gym you said you've been going to. You probably pulled something and didn't know."
"Yeah, that's gotta be it," Kagome agreed. Sango had found a new Crossfit gym that she absolutely loved, and had gotten her super interested in trying it out with her. Crossfit was pretty fun, but her body was taking a bit to adjust to the intense workouts. "I just came in here to rest and collect myself for a quick minute. Anyway, do you and Kouga have family plans this weekend?"
"Yep," Ayame nodded enthusiastically, as she retrieved her tupperware from the miniature fridge in the break room and stuck it in the microwave. "Sayuri wants to go camping so we're going to head to our favorite spot around Rainier. What about you and your hubby?"
"Inuyasha got stuck on an extra shift today but we are both off this Sunday. Don't have anything planned other than relaxing around at home together," Kagome replied.
"That's good, better take it easy, if you're not feeling so hot. Well, I might have got that backwards, since you said you are feeling hot. You know what I meant," Ayame giggled.
Kagome laughed with her, and then moments later she frowned, as the bubbly wolf demon opened the microwave, letting out the steamy air. "What on earth are you eating?"
"Curry. Although a somewhat milder curry than you humans usually eat. Last night we were lazy and all ordered random dishes through DoorDash. Of course Kouga had to tease me for being the weirdo wolf that actually likes this spicier stuff. Must be why I have red hot hair," Ayame informed her, with a smirk. "But anyways, our DoorDash nights are the only time I get to satisfy my spicy tooth since neither him, my daughter, or our son can tolerate it at all. If you want to try some I'll give you a bite. It's from this new place called-"
"No!" Kagome choked out, clapping a hand to her mouth, as she lurched up out of the chair she was in. Gagging a bit, she raced towards the bathroom right at the end of the hall. Making it just in the nick of time, she hurled the contents of her stomach into the porcelain throne. Tears pricked her eyes, for she hated throwing up, and this was completely random and unexpected. Maybe she was getting the flu again. Perhaps she had picked up some germs the other week from when she had allowed a summer camp to bring a large group of kids to her bakery for a tour and to see how a cafe operated behind the scenes.
Suddenly alarmed, Ayame set her food down and rushed after her boss. The bathroom door was open, for the poor girl hadn't had time to try and shut it before puking. "Hey, Kags, maybe you better go home for the day. I can stay late and close in your place if you need me to."
Kagome shuddered and wiped her mouth, before trying to get up. "No…I'm fine. The nausea just hit me out of nowhere. I think the smell of the curry was so strong that it just pushed me over the edge. I'm sorry. I hope I didn't ruin your appetite now."
Ayame stared hard at the pale girl, eyes narrowing a bit as she mulled things over in her mind. "No, no need to apologize. I'll just save my curry for later, no big deal. Actually, I'm going to run out to Walgreens super fast. I'm going to go get something for you that might help."
All Kagome could do was nod. While the wolf ran off, she flushed the toilet and cleaned up the small amount of splatter that was outside the bowl. Not wanting to go back into the break room, which now stunk of curry, she decided to just hang out in the bathroom and wait for the older girl to return. At least she had her phone on her, so she sent a quick text to her husband, letting him know what had happened and how she felt. When he didn't answer right away she sighed, figuring he was most likely in the middle of handling some sort of issue.
Just a few minutes later, Ayame bustled back into the bathroom, with one small bag. "Here," she said simply, holding it out. "I bought you two, just to be extra certain."
Kagome reached into the bag and pulled out the two rectangular boxes, expecting it to be medicine, but her eyes widened when she saw what she was holding. "Oh….I could be…" she gaped
"Pee on the sticks and find out," Ayame grinned. "When's the last time you had your period?"
"Uh…time flies by so fast that I lose track. I think it was right around the beginning of July. Oh. My. God." Kagome answered somewhat weakly. She had stopped taking her birth control at the beginning of this year, as she and her husband decided to just let nature take its course. Having been so busy working, it felt like July had just happened yesterday, for she had completely lost sense of time.
Becoming a mother was something she had greatly desired, and now that there was a chance that she actually was pregnant, she found that she was suddenly terrified. It did make sense though, given the symptoms she had been experiencing these past few days.
"So you probably conceived about six to eight weeks ago. Bingo," Ayame said gleefully, before turning to leave so her boss could pee in peace.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha had finally gotten the chance to check his phone, and immediately frowned when he read his distressed wife's message. Deciding that he could afford a quick detour now that his last stop was done and over with, and he was pretty close to begin with, he peeled off in the direction of Sunrise Bakery.
As he made his way in the back door, his ears caught the sound of crying, and hushed female voices. They were coming from the bathroom, so he barged down the short hallway, where he saw Kagome giving Ayame a hug. Upon his appearance, the wolf pulled back and gave Kagome's shoulders a quick squeeze, before excusing herself, trotting off with a massive grin.
"What's wrong? You said you were puking your brains out. Do you need to go to a doctor? I can call off and take you now if you need me to," Inuyasha told her anxiously. Now and then his human wife fell sick to some various illness whenever a bug got passed around, and he always worried and fretted over her until she was healthy again.
Kagome just wiped her eyes and shook her head, breaking into a grin among her tears. "I do need a doctor, yes, but not right now." She paused, raising her head to gaze into two very worried looking golden eyes. "I…um…we…" she began, for she hadn't had time to process the news properly, and figure out a way to break it to him.
When Inuyasha opened his mouth to question her, she beat him to it. "You're going to be a father!" she bawled, flinging her arms around him in a tight squeeze.
Completely stunned, Inuyasha just froze in place, blinking as he replayed her words again in his mind. Suddenly a huge grin broke across his face, as he pulled back a bit to tilt her chin up so he could gaze into her teary eyes. "You're pregnant?!"
Kagome beamed happily and waved her hand holding the two pregnancy tests up where he could see them. "Both tests came back positive!"
Inuyasha finally gave her a huge bear hug in return, tilting his head down to kiss her fully on the lips. "Wow. I'm excited! And terrified as fuck. Shit. What are we getting ourselves into?"
His slightly panicked and wide-eyed look made Kagome giggle. "Yeah, I'm a similar mixture of super excited and scared shitless right now. But I think we will be great parents! Oh! I can't wait to tell everybody the good news!" She paused, eyes lighting up as another thought came to mind. "I bet our adorable little baby will have your cute ears!"
"Of course you would hope for that," Inuyasha grumbled.
Kagome grinned and gave him another hug, before pulling back and letting her hands slide down into his large clawed ones. "Let's go break the news to the others real quick while you're here, and then I'll let you get back to work. Ok?"
Despite the slightly nauseas feeling that lingered, Kagome was on cloud nine, as she tugged her husband along to go tell her other best friend, Sango, the big news. Telling Rin would have to wait until later that night, when they were both home, to try and catch her on FaceTime after her classes were done for the day.
Of course, Inuyasha had to hurry back out to get on his next call, but not before a few passionate kisses in the privacy of the hallway by the back door. Getting through the rest of the work day was quite a challenge, for Kagome's mind was going into overdrive, as visions of nursery ideas and ideas for names preoccupied her thoughts.
Seven months later
"WILL YOU FUCKING MOVE!" Inuyasha hollered, as he blasted his horn. The old and dented piece of shit little Toyota Camry in front of him was going five under the speed limit in the left lane on the highway. Just as he was about to flick his sirens on, since the driver was seemingly oblivious, they finally put the blinker on and slowly moved over to the middle lane.
"FUCKING FINALLY!" he yelled, as he stepped on the gas as soon as his lane was clear. He was about halfway through his workday today, when his wife had called him, sounding extremely frantic in the voicemail she had left him. She had been staying at home to rest for the past week, as her body was too fatigued to go to work or even leave the house. Apparently she had gotten up to go get a drink when her water broke.
She had called him while en route to the hospital, for their neighbor had graciously volunteered to be on call to transport her, in the event that he was on duty when the time came. Which very unfortunately he had been, and about forty minutes had gone by from him assisting in arresting a burglar and wrapping things up procedure wise, to him being able to check his phone and see the missed call and voicemail alert.
Immediately, he had called his father, the Chief of Police, to inform him that he was taking off for the rest of the day because he had much more important matters besides work to tend to right now. Fortunately he had been in his own patrol car for the stop today, so he was able to head straight for the hospital that his wife was at.
Their neighbor had kindly texted Inuyasha the details on where Kagome was in the huge building, so upon entrance, he made a rapid beeline to his wife's room. His long legs took him quickly there, and nobody dared to stop him or question him, mostly because he was in his full on police uniform. There was no way he would have taken the time to change, not when she so desperately needed him.
As Inuyasha reached Room 627, he heard the sound of Kagome's pained cries. Without knocking or asking permission, he strode into the room, only for one of the nurses to whirl around and gasp at him. "Sir! What are you doing in here?"
"Going to my wife," Inuyasha told her very abruptly, not giving her so much a sidelong glance, as he rushed to the side of the bed. There was barely enough room for him, so all he could do was drape part of his body alongside Kagome, as he wrapped her in his embrace. Well, to the best of his ability, for she had tubes and needed attached to her.
It greatly pained him to see her like this, red from exertion and face contorting in pain. No sooner than he had tried to position himself on the small sliver of available bed, did the nurse from earlier dare to approach him again. "Sir? This is a sterile environment. If you can please take a moment to go change into these it-"
"We're fine! I'm not leaving my mate's side for a split second!" Inuyasha snarled, shooting a deadly glare over his shoulder that stopped the nurse dead in her tracks. The young woman merely nodded and retreated back to where the other nurses were doing who the hell knows what with their equipment.
Turning his attention back to Kagome, he leaned in to move his face close to hers. Tears were streaming down her face, as she threw an arm around his neck, hanging on for dear life. "It hurts so bad!" she practically screamed in his ear.
"I'm sure it does," Inuyasha told her helplessly. There was no way he could relate to her present ordeal, so he wasn't quite sure if there was anything he could say that would make things any better. Most likely not, so all he did was give her a quick kiss on her sweaty forehead. "Just hang on to me and do whatever helps make this easier for you."
It seemed as if an eternity went by, with Inuyasha dutifully allowing his wife to hang onto him with the death grip she had. Between her cries, and the stress of it all, for he couldn't bear seeing her in pain or distress, he had a massive headache himself, but he wasn't going to complain. Oh, also the fact that she had most likely ripped out some of his hair from the root hadn't helped matters anyway. It didn't matter, for he knew it was nothing compared to what she was experiencing right now. All he could do was crouch over her awkwardly, trying to comfort her with his presence.
Finally, after one loud, very painful moan, after Inuyasha's ears picked up the voice of the midwife telling Kagome to give one more push, he heard the brief sound of cheering. Pushing himself up a bit, or as best as he could, for his wife still had a death grip on his hair, he gazed down at her red, glassy eyed face. "You're amazing," he murmured, wiping some sweaty strands off of her cheek.
A sudden, loud wail behind them made Inuyasha whip his head around, and Kagome struggled to try and see. The midwife was smiling hugely at them, as she made their way along the other side of the bed from where Inuyasha's lower half was. "Congratulations! You have a beautiful baby girl!"
As the midwife placed the tiny newborn onto Kagome's chest and covered them up with a blanket, she immediately burst into tears as she gently cradled their daughter. "She's perfect!"
Inuyasha found himself grinning like a fool, as he gazed down at the tiny little head of thick black hair. "We have a daughter," he said, feeling quite awed at the fact. Earlier in his wife's pregnancy, they had debated whether they had wanted to find out ahead of time if their child would be male or female, but had ultimately decided to find out the old-fashioned way on that aspect. "I bet she's going to take after you."
Kagome wiped her tears with a spare hand before trailing a finger along the side of the newborn's head, which was still damp from the birthing process. "She might, but….I think she has your ears!"
"Of course she does," Inuyasha grinned wryly. He wasn't the least bit bothered by that, for as he gazed down at their little girl, he was inclined to agree. She was absolutely perfect.
Unfortunately, before long Kagome had to reluctantly give up their daughter, so doctors and nurses could do their more thorough examination and take the necessary measurements. They didn't keep her for long before returning, and soon enough, the new parents were able to have some alone time with their newborn.
Kagome felt like every last bit of energy had been drained from her body, but she was happy to remain awake for a bit longer. Their daughter had hungrily latched onto a nipple when she was placed back on Kagome's chest. "Seems she has your appetite as well," she laughed quietly, as she cradled their newborn to support her and keep her in place.
"That means she will grow up nice and strong," Inuyasha grinned. "So did you finally decide which name you liked best?"
"Moroha," Kagome replied, lifting her head to gaze at her husband. "It just seems to fit her." She shifted a bit, making sure their daughter was still in the best position. Finally, after she had her fill and let out a big burp with some encouragement. "Now that she's had her first meal, I think it's time for you to hold your daughter."
Rather gingerly, for fear of his claws scratching her delicate skin, Inuyasha moved to take Moroha into his arms. She was so tiny, he thought, as he gazed down at her in awe. "She definitely looks like you," he said quietly.
Kagome had reached for her phone, her quick fingers getting the camera up so that she could get a video of the first time her mate got to hold their first child. He was still in his police uniform, for he had refused to change into the flimsy outfit the nurses had offered him once again.
Only taking a short little video, for she had noticed the emotional look on her husband's face, Kagome set the phone down and just gazed at them. He held Moroha for a bit longer, watching her as she drifted off to sleep. Once she was dozing, he moved to bring her back to the bed.
"You're crying?" Kagome asked, a bit surprised, when she caught a glint on her husband's cheek as he moved to place Moroha in the crib that had been set up for her next to the bed. "I've never known you to shed a tear, ever."
Inuyasha sighed and wiped his eye. "Couldn't help it," he muttered. He was just glad that if he had to cry, it had happened now, and not right at the time their daughter was born, when they had a full house in here. There was just something about holding their little baby girl in his arms for the first time, that did something to his heart.
Kagome grinned tiredly, and squeezed his hand. "I love you," she told him. "If you want to go home real quick and change, so you can be more comfortable, I won't mind. I'm just exhausted so I'll probably be asleep by the time you get back."
"No, no way. I'm fine. I don't want to leave your side," Inuyasha said, shaking his head. Was she crazy, thinking he would even consider that? He eyed the bed, thinking that there would be enough room for the two of them. It would be a tight fit, but doable. After helping his wife scoot over to one side, he slid in next to her, having to lay on his side to fit. With the bars up on each side, they weren't in any risk of falling off. He doubted that he would be able to get any sleep, which he didn't care about anyway. He was content to just stay up and watch over both of them all night long.
Kagome closed her eyes, beyond exhausted at this point. She was far from comfortable, but relieved that Inuyasha was able to squeeze in there next to her. His body warmth soothed her, and despite the pain, she knew she would sleep better with him so close by. After he gave her a long, slow kiss, she nuzzled against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. A happy smile remained on her face as she finally fell asleep, for she was elated to begin this new chapter in their lives.
A/N: As usual, appreciating the reviews and thoughts on this story. I had a lot of fun writing it and would love to hear if you enjoyed it just as much. :)