Sweetest Sin

DaggersBloodPain

Chapter Fourteen

Pain and Hope

The days passed as the odd band of friends fell into a routine of calm days and comfortable nights. Shippo began to meet with his new tutors and was already showing off his new tricks to all that would watch. Miroku and Kouga were usually found together either in the hot springs or disappearing into their rooms. Sango and Kagome were often seen walking in the many gardens with the ever increasing, and welcome, presence of Ayame. Rin was now stuck to Sesshomaru like glue, and if for some reason he couldn't be found she was plastered to Inuyasha's side and the hanyou didn't seem to mind, after all the girl had seen her caretaker Jaken killed before her eyes.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru continued to unify the western lands. Their announcement of the mating came as a shock to some and had several members of the council nearly have aneurisms. Inuyasha was having fun keeping the old windbags flabbergasted. It was the highlight of his day to send one of those overly pompous fools into seizure like fits. Sesshomaru just sat back and watched as his brother made the West come alive again, he had truly been a good choice.

One month after Inuyasha's friends had arrived at the castle, Ayame, Kagome, and Sango could be found beneath one of the cherry trees, enjoying the last few nice days fall had to offer. They had been sitting in a companionable silence when Sango noticed Ayame seemed uncomfortable.

"Are you alright Ayame? Is the baby kicking again?" She asked concerned.

"It feels funny," Ayame admitted quietly, and as she said it she brought Sango's hand to her stomach to feel what she meant by the comment.

Ayame's stomach was rock hard. The muscles under her hand were stretched tightly, and it was her whole abdomen. The baby was moving softly, the tightened muscles showing the movement happening under her skin.

"Ayame is your stomach hurting?" Sango asked as she gently rubbed the tense muscles in an attempt to relax the muscle.

"It doesn't hurt, but there is some pressure, I think the baby is lower too." She answered enjoying the confidant hands trying to soothe her tender skin.

"I think you might be going into labor soon." Sango diagnosed after Ayame's answers confirmed her suspicions.

"I think you might be right," She replied paling a bit and Kagome offered her hand to hold for comfort.

"Everything will be alright, we will keep you safe," She reassured the worried demoness.

Ayame's face contorted with worry at that, but stayed silent. She felt so full and sluggish, unable to finish her breakfast this morning and now just the thought of getting to her feet again was daunting. The tightened muscles of her abdomen pressing inward uncomfortably, but not painfully. Her hand stayed placed on her rounded waist monitoring her pup's movements, which had grown less frequent but still just as strong as the little one's room to grow shrunk.

It was still a bit early for labor, even for a demon. She knew it was because her body was not recovered from her imprisonment with Naraku. Her pup was coming now because much longer and she would be too weak to survive the birth. Youkai pregnancies were designed to last as long as was needed, if the health of one was in danger the pregnancy could be shorter or longer. Her body was being guided by instincts so deeply ingrained Ayame was not even aware she had them.

Eventually she got up, encroaching darkness forced her to her feet. Intending to try and sleep in her own cozy set of rooms, she left the garden aware of the twin sets of worried eyes following her. Sango and Kagome had grown quite attached to Ayame in the time since her rescue. The young female wolf was so much different then the carefree youkai they used to know. Ayame had been aged by her capture and all the girls wanted to do now was put the smile back on her face any way they could.

Sleep was slow in coming to her. She was too hot to sleep, removing cloths until nothing but the thin sheet hid her nudity from the world. She was so tired she was nearly in tears from exhaustion yet the odd feeling in her muscles fought against her tiredness, resulting in a light restless sleep for most of the night. It was only for what seemed like a few minutes that she slipped into a deeper coma like sleep.

She woke up in pain so intense the only sound she could force from her throat was a tiny mewl. She felt gagged by the pain, and if speaking was difficult moving was impossible. Curling around her abdomen was the furthest movement she could make against the radiating pain. The mewls of pain still coming in place of screams. Fear rose within her as she thought of her pup and that something had to be wrong there was no way a normal delivery should hurt this much.

As her fear spiked she felt a warm hand touch her shoulder and distant voices reached her ears.

"How long has she been like this?"

"Fetch a healer!"

"Ayame, honey can you talk to us?"

She heard that and honestly tried but couldn't do more then lift her head off the mattress, no words came out of her mouth as the pain held its grip on her vocal cords.

"The contractions are too close."

"She must have been in labor for awhile, she is too close, the pup is coming."

She felt a sudden release of pressure as a gush of fluid left her, and as the pressure dropped, ever so slowly the consuming pain backed down, and her eyes came into focus. A break, just a breather between peaks, but it was enough for her to see who was helping her.

"The contractions have slowed a bit, can you talk now?" Sango asked, and she was the one with the steady hands rubbing her stomach.

"Is my pup alright?" Ayame croaked out, before the pain started edging back up, this time the pressure different, coming from deeper within. The baby lay visibly lower in her belly.

"As far as we can tell the pup is fine, but is very eager to enter the world. We have sent for a healer, but they may not get here in time." Kagome warned, speaking quickly to try and get the message through before Ayame was overwhelmed.

"Kagome get behind her on the bed. This will be easier on both of them if she has support." Sango ordered easily as she realized the truth in Kagome's words.

"What is taking the healer so long?" Kagome mused as she moved to follow Sango's order. She slipped onto the bed behind Ayame, pulling the demoness against her chest, the laboring female's body fit into the warm embrace easily unconsciously grabbing Kagome's hands on either side of their bodies.

"I don't know, but I don't think this little one is going to wait to find out." Sango pointed out as the gravity from sitting up caused the pressure Ayame was feeling to increase, causing the sounds she was making to be more like grunts. The pup was definitely coming, but how could that be she had not been laboring for that long. Sango and Kagome had come into the room not ten full minutes after the first sound was heard. Sango had her suspicions the earlier tightness contributed to this quick painful delivery, preparing the muscles for the birth.

"Ayame, don't fight the pain, if you feel like you need to push do it. Your body knows what to do, and your pup wants to be born." Sango encouraged gently, as Kagome squeezed her hands reassuringly.

Kagome felt Ayame's body tense with the force of the push. Every bit of strength in her body went to birthing the pup. It did not take long for the pup to crown, forcing a loader groan of pain. Sango went to the foot of the bed ready to catch the pup as the next push had the pup out to its slightly pointed ears. The head was born with the third. Shoulders on the fourth, and in a rush the fifth and final push had the pup out and on Ayame's stomach with a quick maneuver by Sango.

A quick check confirmed the birth of a girl to be named Kaori.