Once again, he was a bastard.

Or was he a savage?

After three weeks of contemplating, he decided on what was best for him. He may have been a bastard, but he couldn't find it in his heart to break things off with Kikyo just yet.

Inuyasha knew what love was, he wasn't stupid. He'd witnessed it and felt it firsthand, but he just wasn't sure what it was at the time. He knew it was a strong emotion, like when you didn't like someone, but you loved them all at the same time. It was like rolling your eyes and making sure that the significant person gets their way with you anyway, just so they could be happy. It was an intense emotion that made him want to cower under his bed.

And like the bastard he was, that's all he ever did because he was so used to it.

He was used to pushing Kagome away, trying to take all the power she had of breaking him away so she could never break him. He was used to only getting undressed for her by taking off his clothes, not the way she undressed for him. He was used to hating her because he knew there was a thin line between love and hate and there was a strong emotion when it came to Kagome.

He knew he was a fucking bastard who probably didn't deserve a chance to even admire her, but this bastard was sorry…and he wanted to let her know this.

XXXXX

Often, she found herself wondering what it would feel like when the little pea inside of her started kicking her from the inside out.

It almost made her think of Inuyasha.

She often touched the small but very noticeable bump just to see if she could get her imagination running, just to imagine feeling a tiny hand wrapped around her pinky, just to imagine baby smooth skin and diaper rashes and formula.

Sometimes she wanted little Kagome or little Inuyasha to stay safe and warm forever inside of her just so he or she would never have to deal with the harsh brutality of the real world, just so he or she wouldn't ever have to feel like the world had them by their throat.

Sometimes the idea hurt her so much that she'd just sit around and cry.

Kouga had offered to be there, be someone to take care of her. But no one could take care of her quite like Inuyasha used to do, and that made her sad, so she'd talk to her belly, tell her baby about his or her daddy.

When she was crying and felt nauseous suddenly, she'd say "Hey, whoever you are in there, don't worry. Mommy just misses daddy a lot today, that's all."

And then she felt stupid because there wasn't much to miss. Yes, she missed the old Inuyasha, the one who couldn't decide whether or not he had feelings for her, but old Yasha smiled at her. He laughed with her. He kissed her with a mouth and heart full of emotions that he didn't want to express or succumb to. He touched her with a trembling sweetness she adored.

She hadn't seen him for two months. Today made two months.

Sometimes she wondered if he was all safe and happy and warm with Kikyo, and then she'd cry again, not over that, but because Inuyasha, her Inuyasha fucking Takahashi wouldn't know that he'd have a baby by a woman he could never quite love.

Mama and Souta came to visit sometimes. Mama Higurashi would smooth a hand over the bump her grandchild made and with pixie dust and glitter and all things that made up a fairytale look in her eyes, she'd proudly declare, "I'm going to have an adorable granddaughter with miniature, fuzzy triangles for ears and a heart that's made of gold."

Kagome felt like sometimes, her baby would have pixie dust in it's eyes, too.

A granddaughter sounded very fine, and a daughter sounded just right.

XXXXX

No one had ever told him that she'd moved out here, so far away from him, alone.

No one had told him that the Hobo guy moved out here to be near Kagome.

No one told him that they had gotten close over the four months that she'd been gone away.

No one had told him that Sango, Miroku, Mrs. Higurashi, Souta, Kouga, Eri, Yuka, Ayumi, and Kouga had taken a trip out here to visit.

No one had told him that suddenly, Homo and Kagome had really hit it off and that he'd asked for her hand in marriage.

No one had told him that she'd said yes, or that her wedding day was tomorrow.

Bastards had to do what bastards had to do.

He could smell her from a mile away, that sweet scent of vanilla and jasmine aggressively attacking his nose and almost making his knees buckle underneath him. And then there was some other fucking scent he was probably too angry to even take the time to distinguish before he bombarded the door to her home with his fists clenched together like the way his heart was.

"Open up the door, Kagome."

XXXXX

She'd expected about this much, to be honest.

Their old relationship, or whatever it was, used to be the same thing. He'd be so hard to talk to sometimes, so hard to hold, and then, she'd smell Kikyo's perfume or she'd catch word about them being seen together. She'd say that she wanted no more and run off with the whole Amazon River streaming down her cheeks, he'd come up with some stupid, gruff apology and she'd say he was forgiven for him to run off and do the same thing.

She said she expected this but she still found it within her to gape like a fish out of water.

Were him and Kikyo happily married now? After all, Inuyasha was a business man. He got things out of the way as fast as he could.

'Like making me pregnant with little Kagome or little Inuyasha.'

She assumed that he'd heard. Heard about the whole Hojo thing, a lie that she had been willing to play along with to keep him out of her life for good. There was no Hojo, there was no wedding tomorrow.

"Leave, Inuyasha." Kagome had said as if he hadn't gotten on a plane and traveled three thousand miles away just to bang on her door.

"I'll give you until one," Inuyasha said, seething.

Her eyes widened. Truth be told, she expected Inuyasha to respect the so-called 'fact' that tomorrow was her wedding day. She expected him to respect her choices and decisions and go separate ways for good, but she kind of hadn't been expecting it, hence the whole 'I'm getting married tomorrow, Inuyasha!' thing. She'd told Sango to make sure that it got back to him so she wouldn't have to be in this position right now…

"Five," he said, a snarl ripping through his throat, "four…three…two…one…"

"Goddamnit, Inuyasha! Okay, okay."

He slid through the cracked door easily.

XXXXX

It had been four, almost five months since he'd seen Kagome Higurashi. Sometimes, he stared at the pictures they'd taken in high school and college at night when everything was quiet and lonely, his eyes skimming over every detail in her face. From her ocean eyes to her tiny nose, from her midnight hair, which was much longer than the last time he'd seen her, to her plump, pink lips that were always ripe for kissing…and…and for other things that he tried not to think of for too long.

But they had a lot of memories.

His original intentions were to take her back with confidence, with his demeaning authority that always seemed to make her swoon. But then his eyes began to take note of her larger breasts, her longer hair, her creamy thighs in her short nightgown that fit her curves just right, those lively ocean eyes that were wild with fiery anger, those smooth and delicate hands that always made him gasp for breath whenever she smoothed them over his cock were shaking at her sides. And then there were those erected nipples that almost had him seeing red, and then the swell of her stomach…

His heart dropped like a beat and he gulped, looking back up with her, some kind of emotion she could not decipher swimming through his eyes.

And then he was seeing red.

"You…you…bitch!" He said, hands shaking at his sides as he watched her with her lovely face and all, raise her chin up to look him straight into his red eyes, making him even more angrier.

He moved up to her and savagely licked her lips, and she held her composure.

"You…you…you broke my heart, you fucking bitch."

She nodded, tears in her eyes but her chin still raised. "You broke mine's first."

"You're a bitch!"

Claws tearing into her nightgown, she did all she could do.

"And you're a bastard. A lying, cheating bastard," she whispered against his lips before brushing hers against his, tears certainly running down her face now. There was no such thing as holding them back anymore.

And she'd missed him. She wrapped her arms around him and bit into his bottom lip softly to show him how much she missed him.

She pulled away, pleased to see his eyes return to their normal hue. He looked weakened and exhausted, completely worn out. He looked hopeless, and though she had imagined how good it would feel, it hurt.

He took a seat down on her couch. "I loved you."

Kagome shook her head. "You're out of it. You don't know what you're saying right now—and that's okay. I understand. Let's get you a cab and find you a motel, and then you can be out of here by tomorrow, okay?"

He firmly shook his head. "I loved you, woman."

She looked down to her flimsy nightgown that showed much of the baby bump that Inuyasha didn't know that he'd helped her gain, and then looked at him. "You never loved me."

"I love you, Kagome."

She stood, more tears forming. "Stop saying that!" she covered her ears. "You don't love me! You don't love me, Inuyasha, and you will never love me! You had Kikyo! You had her and you had a ring and a dream job and a dream car and a nice future, but you didn't have me because you never wanted me!"

He growled and stood to his feet, too. "I always wanted you!"

"You always wanted Kikyo!" she yelled at the top of her lungs and instantly regretted it. It probably wasn't good for the baby, but neither was Inuyasha.

"But when the fuck did you EVER start wanting that son of a bitch!" he screamed right in her face, moving towards her like she was prey.

"Everyone bullshitted me! Everyone told me that you moved and never uttered a word as to where! And you're all the way over here, getting married to some fucking pansy tomorrow that's probably scared of sex, who's dick is probably smaller than my thumb! But oh, wait! To put the icing on top of the cake, you're fucking knocked up, too?"

She took a step forward. Never had Inuyasha scared her. "You're such a stupid prick! Who the hell are you to talk down on my marriage and my pregnancy, you fucking bastard?!"

"I can, because I fucking love you and I don't get why you're doing this to yourself!"

"Oh," she snorted, crossing her arms. "I'm doing this to myself because I'm making myself happy. I'm finally realizing who was there and who wasn't," true, even though upset and slightly disappointed, Hojo promised he'd be here throughout her whole pregnancy. "If you loved me you'd leave."

He snorted, looking away from her and crossing his arms over his chest, too. She looked around a little to see his eyes watering, and it made her chest constrict and her heart jump into her throat.

'Inuyasha?'

"You're right," he said, turning around to face her. He bit his lip so hard that blood almost started running down from the almost-inflicted wound, and if it had, she knew she'd have an urge to lick it off. "If I love you, I have to leave, right? And you're happy, too. You're pregnant. Congratulations. And you're getting married. Congrats once again."

She blushed softly, suddenly at loss for what to say. She folded her hands behind her back shyly. "Thank you."

He nodded and just as he was about to go travel another three thousand miles back to where he came from, she stopped him by gripping his hand tight in hers.

She looked up at him through long lashes. "Why'd you come, Inuyasha?"

He snatched his hand from hers, eyes still looking a little glazed. "It doesn't matter anymore."

She was at the front door before he could take three steps towards it. "You mean to tell me you flew three thousand miles and found out where I lived, came here and banged on my door for nothing? I'm pregnant. I'm getting married tomorrow," he snarled and bit his lip again. "I should be happy. You disturbed my peace and for that, I deserve an explanation."

He took in her beautiful form once more, that was now slightly swollen from expecting a child, and shook his head as a growl erupted deep from within his chest. "Maybe I should get out of here before I lose it."

She felt a tiny, tiny kick from within her belly and she smiled.

She suddenly wanted him to stay. After months of continuous crying and hoping and wishing, he was here.

"We could talk as friends for a second." She told him.

And so they did.

"How many months are you?" he asked, his voice sad and distant. He'd never expressed these kind of emotions before, and suddenly, she wanted to see him express everything.

"Four, going on five," she told him, a little twinkle in her eye.

He froze. "T-that's around the same time you left, right? You were never into Hojo back then…god…you never fucking told me, Kagome…"

She looked at him, a smile threatening to break through. "I figured it wasn't worth it. After all, the baby wasn't yours, it didn't concern you…"

"Are you sure it's not?"

He'd said that without really meaning to, but now that it was out there, he couldn't take it back. Nor he could he take back the growl that ripped through throat and roared in chest. Nor could he take back the way his claws dug into her sofa.

She nodded, all newfound hope of telling him completely vanished.

"I love my baby…and I love Hojo, too. Are you actually thinking that the baby—"

She was cut off by another deep growl and from a snarling Inuyasha in her face. "You're lying, wench! That may be his child, but you don't love Hojo…you can't fucking love Hojo, so cut the bullshit!"

Her whole world on fire, she stood and pushed him away from her. "What do you mean I can't love Hojo?! I can love whoever I so please…"

His lips were on hers in an instant and his heavy hands were pulling her hips toward his, making both their hips slam into one another's. She gasped and tossed her head back, the sensation of being touched by him long overdue…

"But Hojo isn't me. Might be his kid, but you? You're mine."

His tongue brushed against hers and she shuddered before pushing him away, fresh tears on her face.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT!" she yelled out at him, pushing and punching and shoving at him.

He caught her wrists with both of his hands, his eyes angry. "I'm the idiot? You're the one who got knocked up by that idiot, you're the one marrying an idiot tomorrow! Or…you were!"

She shook her head before taking a step away. "I can't believe I thought you'd care enough to notice."

He growled, more frustrated than ever. One second he wanted to find Hojo and rip his head off and throw it in the fucking ocean, and one second, all he wanted to do was forget that he'd made himself look so stupid in front of Kagome…forget that she had actually agreed to marry some idiot…let him knock her up. Kagome had always made sure they used protection.

"What are you talking about?"

"You came here just because you were bored with your little fiancé, or wife, whatever she is to you now. You came here because you want me to run back to you so I can get laughed at when I'm face down in the dirt again, wondering once more why you never bothered catching me. You don't love me, Inuyasha."

He pulled her towards him, his lips close to her ear. "You're not marrying him tomorrow."

"I am," she challenged, a dangerous dare in her eyes.

"You are not."

"I AM!" she exclaimed, snatching away from him to brush away her tears. "Go to hell, bastard."

"I know I'm a bastard," he said softly.

"Congrats."

"Kagome—" he started, but he didn't know what to say. Here she was, the woman he'd finally realized he loved, pregnant and to be married tomorrow. He was upset. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want her to have a baby with some other man that wasn't him. He didn't want her marrying some pansy in this stupid place. He wanted her home, where she belonged.

"I know I was a bastard," he started off again, a snort escaping him. "I'm not good at holding emotions. They burst whenever they feel like it. I know I have a bad temper and I know that sometimes I make you feel worthless, but you are so worth it, Kagome, and it took me a long time to see that. When you pushed me away, said you were done with me, it made things change for good. I tried to feel something other than love for you, and I didn't want to feel heartbroken over you leaving me anymore. I didn't want to feel empty. So I pushed away every single thing you wanted me to feel for you back then, and I wanted to hate you, but it wasn't enough. I had to be near you, I had to be inside of you. I never said I'm in love with you, but I got a hell of a lot better at hiding it. I know I'm a jerk. I know you need to run away from me again, some place where I'll never be able to find you. But I fucking love you, Kagome Higurashi, and I can't let you get married tomorrow. You already know I'm a bastard. Don't make me give you other reasons as to why I'm saying you can't."

His whole speech had her eyes tearing up and she wrapped her arms around him, and surprised, he pulled her into his arms. She kissed his cheek and his lips brushed across hers, tasting her tears.

"So…you're not getting married tomorrow…right?" he asked after a while of holding her.

She shook her head and he growled in approval and relief.

"And you still love me…right?" he wanted to hear her say yes so bad.

She pulled away slightly to meet his eyes and smiled. "I wouldn't stop even if my life counted on it."

He growled once more in approval and pulled her towards him, burying his nose into her hair and kissing her neck gently, licking it languidly. She giggled. "I don't smell Hojo on you," he pulled away, confused. "This…it smells like a mix of us."

"I totally think you're gonna be a great dad." Kagome said, bracing herself for what was to come next.

His eyes snapped open and he looked at her curiously, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're lying. And even if you're not lying, either way I'll still be mad."

"Don't stay mad for long," she whispered against his lips before kissing him deeply. "I'm sorry," she said as she pulled away. "I found out when I was with Sango. It was the day before you told me you proposed to Kikyo. I was going to tell you that day I came over, but…" her voice croaked.

He shushed her with his finger, pulling her into his arms. He was beyond happy, happier than he would probably ever be, and of course he was a little mad… "I broke things off with Kikyo a while ago. I felt bad…but I was tired of being miserable. I was tired of not being able to have you fully, and she pursued me…and I thought that maybe I could stop screwing around with you, maybe I would stop cheating on her, but mostly, I wanted to stop making you feel like you were used, because I felt like I couldn't keep hurting you that way, and I couldn't keep loving you when—"

She kissed him to shut him up. "I was so scared when I found out. Then I was about to tell you, but you had proposed, and we had got into an argument. I wanted to tell you, Yash…and sometimes, I got so sad. I got so sad being all by myself and I just really missed you—"

This time he interrupted her with a kiss. "No more of that, woman. And I'll buy you a ring bigger than Homo could even imagine."

She smirked. "Really now, Mr. Takahashi? You want me to steal your last name, you mean?"

He pulled his hands around her waist, giving her backside a squeeze before kissing her nose and making her giggle with delight. "We can always share…and I can think of a whole lot more things we could share, too." He said, licking her ear and making her blush as red as a tomato.

"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, face still burning red.

"When is my pup due?" he asked gently, pulling her into his lap.

"July 9th, supposedly." Kagome said, leaning into him and feel ecstatic for once. Baby Takahashi was trying to run a marathon with little kicks every now and then.

"And it's a boy, right?"

Kagome hit him lightly. "No, stupid. Don't jinx me. Boys are too hard to handle and they make girls cry."

He snorted before nicking her on the neck. "Well, girls are drama queens and they're much too sneaky. So…let's have both."

Her heart pumped excitedly in her chest and her smile was as bright as the stars. "Only if you agree to no more Kikyo, no more stalking me down, though you really won't have to, not anymore," she snuggled in closer to him. "And only if you agree to make up to me for hurting me so many times. You broke my heart."

Here they were now. She would be heavy with his pup in just a few months and she would be giving birth to a child he really didn't think would be his. But here they were now, even after months of being apart.

"Only if you agree to always love me back no matter how much of a bastard I am—"

"I do that all the time, Yash—"

He growled at her for interrupting him... "And only if you agree to be my wife and mate, if you can deal with a bastard for forever."

She snuggled closer to him. "I've dealt with you for this long."

Even bastards deserved happy endings...

He let his fingers smooth over hers before lifting up a shaking hand to brush his fingers across her red cheeks. "Why…why did you lie to me? Why did everyone lie to me?"

Kagome looked up at him, kissing his cheek and giggling at the pout on his face. "Everyone was only protecting me, Inuyasha. Everyone wanted me to tell you and I only wanted you to be happy with Kikyo…" she trailed off, her hand fumbling with his as she brushed her thumb over his knuckles before leaning in closer to him.

He felt his throat tighten, his heart jump—and he really was a bastard. Little Kagome, little Kagome that gave him feelings that were so intense that it almost made him sick to his stomach, planned to raise their own kid all by herself and never tell him a word about it, but all feelings of anger were soon replaced by guilt as his nose snuggled into her cheek. Yes, she could have easily told him…and no, she didn't have to lie about Hojo and drive him to the point of insanity and plain hopelessness. But all because she wanted him to be happy, and he knew she had to be in love with him to go through all that.

"Wench…you were planning on raising a hanyou child all by yourself with no help…and…and you never thought of abortion?"

She pulled away, fire in her eyes again as she hit him, making him groan. "How can you say that?"

"It's a hanyou, Kagome…" he trailed off and then he felt her lips brush across his chastely.

"And have I ever judged you? Have I ever hated you for what you were, Inuyasha? I've always loved you for who you were, not for your money or your cars or your job…all I ever wanted was you. And I freaked when I found out, it's a surprise I didn't lose it, because what was I going to do with myself? Having a child by you while you were in love with another? When you proposed to another? But I kept it…because I've always loved you for you, and I felt like the baby was a gift you left me with so I could always remember the one I loved."

"I don't love Kikyo," he told her, cheeks red from her confession. She always had this little fucking spell on him that made his cheeks go red, made his heart swell. "I love you. And I'm sorry, Gome…like I said, I was in denial about my feelings. I proposed to Kikyo because I felt like she deserved it. I was always fucking you, or I was always thinking about you, missing you, trying to tell myself that I didn't," his cheeks were redder, and Kagome knew that she was so lucky to have Inuyasha express himself to her like this. "That doesn't explain why you lied about the marriage, telling me that it was Hobo's fucking kid."

She smiled softly and a little sadly at how upset he was… "I wanted you to stay away. I wanted you to think I was off and happy with Hojo so you could be happy with Kikyo…and I didn't think it would hurt you much seeing as the way you acted towards me…" he frowned and she kissed it off his mouth and replaced it with a smile like a magic act. "I always wanted you to know, I didn't want you mad at me…"

"Hush, Kagome," he said with a genuine smile before kissing her again.

Bastards always deserved happy endings…even if they fucked up, they had to prove that they would try their best to fix it, and there was something about this bastard named Inuyasha Takahashi that made him head over hills for Kagome Higurashi.