Chapter 3 – He's pregnant
Chikara was back at the castle around midnight. She hadn't decided if she should tell her husband before parting or not.
Still, it took her a few minutes; she decided that she should inform him of the situation. She would have to use a projection of herself again though, as he was travelling outside his country.
Chikara concentrated again, trying to find Sesshoumaru's location by using the power of her elements. As she found him, she transported her soul toward his position, rendering her body inanimate.
He was surprised to see her appearing in front of him; at first, he thought there was some kind of emergency. "Greetings to you, my dear" he said gracefully. "What are you doing here? Is there some kind of problem?"
"No… well, kind of" she answered him, opting for an evasive answer. She thought right then that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to inform him about Inuyasha's situation. She gave him a goofy grin.
He knew she was hiding something. "Is there something wrong with Inuyasha?" His young brother had some kind of gift to get into trouble, so that's why he had suggested that name first.
"Yes… I mean…!" Chikara slapped herself mentally: 'Great. Stupid.' She took a deep breath, not really knowing how Sesshoumaru would react: "Okay, hum… there's this demon…"
He nodded slowly, encouraging her to continue, knowing he probably wouldn't like the outcome of this 'problem'.
She fidgeted a bit, trying to find the right words to say: "Well, it's kind of funny… actually no, it's not. Ahem, okay. Inuyasha got some demon pregnant and I believe they're in deep shit." She exhaled loudly. 'There, it was easy…right?' she waited for an answer from her mate, but he didn't seem to have a reaction to this.
"Huh, darling?" she asked carefully, cocking her head on one side. "You heard what I said, right?"
He nodded gracefully and looked at her in the eyes: "How could there be a problem about Inuyasha taking a mate?"
She shrugged with her shoulders, not really knowing what to say. But then, she said uneasily: "Well… they didn't bond."
If Sesshoumaru would have been eating, he would have choked on his food: "What! Who is the other one?" he asked sternly.
She noticed the change in his behaviour; she backed a bit and answered him: "Listen, I will tell you only if you promise me not to get mad at this demon… and you let him stay at the castle for his own protection." Her face clearly showed that she didn't want to change her mind. "Naraku is still alive and I want him and the pup to live."
He nodded, though he was a bit angry… 'Wait! Did she say 'him'' he thought. He closed his fist: "The demon is male?"
"Yes… hehe," she chuckled nervously, "I guess I can't hide it longer: it's Koga, leader of the wolf tribe…"
Sesshoumaru gasped of surprise, but his mood switch immediately back to anger.
Chikara had to react quickly: "…you know, he's from that tribe that has been your most loyal ally all these years?" she tried to remind him that important notion.
Inside, Sesshoumaru was fuming, although he didn't want to let it show. He closed his eyes; they would surely betray him by showing too much negative emotions, thinking his wife hadn't noticed. "Can't he go to his own caves? If they are not bonded, then he has nothing to do with the Western Lands and its royal family."
"Please Sesshoumaru," she cringed at what she had said; she hated to plea to have something, "he doesn't want to go home. He said they would treat him like dirt and he has no where else to go…"
Chikara gave her mate a pleading look.
He finally replied: "Fine… He can stay. But! I will have a serious discussion with Inuyasha next time I see him." He then mumbled something to himself, but Chikara didn't push her luck to ask him about what he had said.
Her red eyes glowed with happiness and she was practically hopping in the air: "Really? Thanks dear, and please, be nice with Inuyasha… I don't want to see blood." She gave him a ghostly kiss and vanished in the air, like she had come.
The demon lord sighed and shook his head; why wasn't he able to say 'no' to her?
°°°
Kagome was the first one to wake up in the early morning. She stretched and let out a loud yawn that woke up Miroku. She looked at him with an apologizing look: "Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."
The monk smiled at her: "It's okay, I couldn't sleep well anyways."
Kagome sat from her sleeping position and looked around.
Sango woke up, not long after hearing Miroku and Kagome talking. Kirara woke up too, stretching her small limbs. Shippo was still sleeping like a rock.
"Hey, where is Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, noticing his absence.
As Miroku was trying to make something up in his head to answer her, the said half-demon entered the small hut.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Kagome's face and she was about to run up to him when she was stunned by something she thought impossible. After the dog demon, entered a certain pregnant wolf demon.
Kagome's eyes widened and she pointed at the wolf demon, stuttering: "What's wrong with him!"
Koga backed away and tried to hide his stomach with his large cape, out of shame.
Inuyasha, feeling a bit of anger building inside from Kagome's reaction, approached her and pushed her hand toward the floor: "You shouldn't point out like that! He's pregnant, OKAY?"
Sango gasped and put a hand over her mouth.
It took a few seconds for Kagome to take in the information; was her mind crazy? Or maybe she heard it wrong? Whatever it was, she felt a bit dizzy and fell backward, on her butt.
Seeing that it was maybe too much of a shock for Kagome, Inuyasha approached her and gave her a hand to get back up. He felt a bit guilty from yelling at her. "I'm sorry Kagome, I shouldn't have reacted like that…"
Sango added: "He's right, Kagome. But, you should have been more polite too. What if it had been you in Koga's place? I'm sure you would have been terrified" she said, with a sad tone.
Kagome felt bad, so she apologized to the pregnant wolf demon.
"It's okay, Kagome" the wolf prince said shyly.
Miroku spoke up, changing the subject: "So, um… Koga, how come you are here?"
Inuyasha cut in, before any conversation could begin: "Wait, I think Koga should sit. He's not supposed to tire himself in… his condition."
"Inuyasha, I'm not an invalid, ya know…" Koga blushed, but gladly accepted the help to sit down.
Everyone was a bit dumbfounded at Inuyasha's nice behaviour. Of course Miroku knew of Inuyasha and Koga's secret relationship as he had step on them a while back, but Kagome didn't know anything about it. Miroku had told Sango, so she knew too, but still it was a bit weird for her since they had been 'rivals' for a long time and now mates.
Now sitting, Koga knew the gang would want to know the reason of his presence. "Hum, okay. I… don't know how to say this but…"
Inuyasha mentally gasped; Koga looked like he was about to reveal their secret relationship to the others, so he cut him: "What Koga means is that last night, I was walking in the forest when I heard someone call my name. I went to see and found Koga… in a weak state."
Koga glared at Inuyasha: "That's so not true! I'm no weak demon!" He shook his head.
Kagome was surprised at Koga's childish behaviour: "Well, you can't say that you're at your full strength pregnant like that, right?" It was strange to Kagome to talk about a pregnant male, but she was slowly getting used to it.
The wolf demon looked away and mumbled something; Inuyasha took the opportunity to continue his little story: "So, I was surprised to see Koga… pregnant. Then I decided to bring him here since… he was alone."
Sango already saw what the half-demon had in mind, so she played along: "But where is your mate, Koga? Shouldn't he be with you… to be to your side through your pregnancy?"
Koga was a bit stunned, he never thought someone would ask directly: "Huh, well, I- yes… my mate well he kind of ran away when I told him of my pregnancy" he said, at first trying to sound sad, but he really started to cry because a thought had struck him: what if it had really happened to him? What if Inuyasha would have abandoned him? The hormones did the rest, thus the tears.
Kagome sat down beside the prince and rub his back to soothe him: "I'm sorry, Koga. We didn't know. Don't worry… we will help you."
Miroku wanted to see if they had planned this whole story entirely so he asked the wolf prince: "But why did you come to Inuyasha?"
Koga gulped. 'Okay, think of something quick...' He took a deep breath: "Well, at first, my senses were a bit dulled, perhaps because of the pregnancy, so I thought Inuyasha's scent was my mate's. Anyone with a keen nose could see the slight difference, but it seems that I couldn't. I probably would have been able if it hadn't been of those stupid hormones and the overwhelming feeling of finally finding my mate…"
Koga stopped to look around; everyone seemed to believe his story he had just made up.
Inuyasha continued, knowing Kagome and the others would like to know the 'rest' of it: "Seeing that I wasn't his mate, Koga was about to go away when I asked him what was going on. So he told me the whole story and I offered him to come here with us… It's a horrible thing to leave a pregnant mate alone, especially with Naraku still roaming around." The half-demon closed his fist, showing he was trying to be sympathetic to Koga's situation.
Kagome felt sorry for the wolf demon. "So… how far are you? From what I see, you must be at least six months, maybe more…"
The prince lift an eyebrow: "What are you talking about? I'm a month and, today, twenty days along." He chuckled: "If I was even at only four months, I would be on the edge of exploding!"
Inuyasha added: "Listen Kagome, the pregnancy of canine demons only last around three moons."
Kagome's eyes widened: "Oh… wow. This is great" she smiled, "I'm sure all women would love to wait only a third of the nine months." She turned to Sango who approved with a lot of vigour. The modern girl quickly made the calculation; if Koga was human, he would be… 'God, that doesn't make sense. He's way too big for around his fifth month… unless…'
Miroku thought it was a bit strange that Inuyasha wanted Koga to stay with them, since they were travelling and danger was constant for them. "So, Koga's going to travel with us?"
Sango, seeing what Miroku meant, added: "Yeah, isn't it a bit too dangerous for a pregnant… demon?"
Koga felt a bit left out, even though he was in a hut with people. Changing from happy to sad, he looked up at Inuyasha and simply said: "I wanna a hug…"
The half-demon's eyes widened, thinking Koga was crazy to ask something that could seem intimate by the others. "What? No, I'm not… your servant." He sighed mentally, hoping Koga won't take it personally.
Water started to gather in the demon's eyes: "But, but… you promised me you would take care of the pup and I!"
Kagome was a bit angered by Inuyasha's childish behaviour: "Honestly, Inuyasha, he only wants a hug! He's not asking you to become his mate… and since you promised that poor Koga you'd protect him, you'd better do it!"
Inuyasha's ears flattened on his skull and tried to say, with a bit of faked anger in his voice: "Fine. I'm glad Chikara's supposed to come to get you; I won't have to stand any more of those kinds of things from you." He said to the pregnant demon.
Inuyasha kneeled down at Koga's level and encircled his arms around the demon, putting his head on his shoulder, while patting his back gently. He brought his mouth closer to Koga's pointed ears and whispered so softly that only he heard: "I'm sorry, I'm only trying to act right."
Sango and Miroku looked at each other, knowing Inuyasha was only acting hostile toward Koga because he didn't want the others to know his relationship with the wolf.
But the monk reacted to something Inuyasha had just said: "Did you say that Chikara is coming here?"
Inuyasha got up and nodded at his friend: "Yeah, because she thinks he'll be safer inside the castle's wall. She's coming this morning to take him…" he said, trying to hide the sadness in his voice.
"How does she know about this?" Sango asked.
Koga, who finally spoke, answered her: "She came to visit Inuyasha last night, and she saw me… that's how."
"She visited in the middle of the night?" Kagome said, stupefied that the goddess would do something like that.
Miroku felt like he should say something: "Well, she came early in the night, as an apparition, but you girls were already asleep when she came. She didn't want to disturb your sleep, so she didn't stay long. Before going, she said she wanted to check on Inuyasha so I guess that's what she did."
"Are you sure your brother won't mind her bringing Koga in his castle?" Sango asked, finding it a bit strange that a cold-hearted demon like Sesshoumaru would agree to have someone not from his clan in his home.
Inuyasha chuckled: "Well, even if he doesn't want to, Chikara will definitely convince him anyway… she can be very stubborn sometimes, so I guess he won't have much choice."
"More stubborn than you, Inuyasha?" Koga said, laughing his ass off.
The gang started to laugh at that remark, which woke up Shippo. "Hey, can't you guys calm down a bit? It's too early for me…" The small fox rubbed his eyes, and saw the wolf demon: "Oh hi Koga… hey did you gain some weight?"
Kagome frowned a bit; she didn't want Koga to be upset about his weight gain: "Now, Shippo, can't you see Koga's pregnant?"
The little fox demon rubbed his eyes again and yawned. He approached the wolf demon while everyone was staring at him, trying to find out what he was going to do.
Shippo stopped when he was near the wolf's rounded belly and sat beside him; he patted it gently and brought his ear close to it and fell back to sleep.
"What the?" Inuyasha said.
"Um, Shippo, I don't think Koga likes that. Come over here with me instead…" Sango offered, but the demon child didn't answer back.
The pregnant demon laughed softly and petted the young fox's hair. "It's okay, the kid's only curious. He isn't doing anything wrong… and anyways, I have to get accustomed to children since I'm going to be a parent soon…" he smiled sweetly.
Inuyasha smirked at Koga's mention of parenthood. 'Yeah, and you're not the only one; I'm going to be a father too.'
Kagome sat beside the wolf demon: "Can I…?"
Koga nodded, not minding.
The young woman brought a slightly shaky hand to her friend's protruded stomach. She felt the baby shyly hit where her hand was.
"This pup is going to be strong, I'm sure of it" Kagome smiled widely.
"Or pups… we're not capable of saying yet if there's only one… or more" Inuyasha reminded the gang.
Koga blushed and looked up at Inuyasha with a strange look.
Kagome saw the older demon's face getting 'coloured': "Is there something wrong Koga?"
The wolf shook is head.
Inuyasha approached his pregnant lover and helped him to get up.
Koga got out of the hut, leaving everyone puzzled.
Sango blinked and Kagome asked: "What happened?"
Inuyasha sat back down where he had been sitting. Feeling all eyes on him, he answered bluntly: "Koga simply needed to pee. Must be the pup's fault for kicking his bladder."
Miroku tried to stifle a giggle because of the girls' shocked expression.
Kagome was about to ask how the half-demon had been able to decipher Koga's expression when the said demon re-entered the small house with a certain goddess behind him.
Chikara of the Sun quickly glanced around the single-roomed house. With her generally joyful personality, she tried to hide the nervousness she was feeling. "Good morning, everyone!"
The others greeted her back, happy to see her.
She approached Koga, who had gotten back to his previous sitting spot: "So, how are you doing today?" She examined his face intensely. She frowned when she noticed that his face was too thin: "You don't eat enough, lad."
Koga blushed slightly at the motherly tone she had used. "I know, but I generally don't eat much as I'm not hungry often."
Kagome joined the discussion: "Chikara's right: you are way too thin, it can't be good for your health or the baby's" she warned the wolf demon with her finger, pointing his belly.
The goddess sighed and clapped her hands; two guards from Sesshoumaru's castle entered with big crates.
The gang looked curiously at the two boxes; one of the two guards, a large ox demon, opened the first crate. He started to take food out of it and placed it on the floor.
"I brought this to eat, as I know food is hard to find in late autumn" the goddess said, pointing the first crate. "And I brought these to help you through your journey" she added, pointing at the other.
Sango was relieved to see that they wouldn't have to worry about that, since they didn't own a lot of money. "Thank you very much, Chikara."
"Bah, it's nothing, really. Back at the castle, there's plenty" the older woman answered.
°°°
After breakfast, Chikara got up and helped Koga to get up as well. "My friends," she started, "it is time for Koga and I to part. I was glad to see you." She gave a goodbye hug to everyone.
Koga waited by the door, trying to ignore the awkward moment between his friends and him; he wanted to kiss Inuyasha goodbye, but he couldn't because of the others.
Chikara saw the sadness in the pregnant demon's behaviour, so she tried to hurry up. When she took Inuyasha in her arms, she whispered: "Don't worry, I promise I'll take care of him."
Then they all got out of the hut, to see the wolf and the goddess leave.
Near the small house, was a carriage hauled by Rin's favourite demon pet, Ah-Un. Since the demon could fly, it was going to be faster to get to the castle.
The ox demon went to one of the carriage's trunk and took out a large coat of fur and brought it to Koga. The dragonfly demon helped to put the coat on Koga.
Chikara saw the puzzled look on her wolf friend; it was cool outside, but not enough cold to wear that: "We are going to fly to the castle, and up there," she said, pointing the sky, "is much colder than down here, in the forest."
Kagome saw that Chikara was wearing her normal attire: "Won't you get cold dressed like that?"
The goddess had her short kimono that showed her graceful legs. Even with her leg warmers, Kagome doubted Chikara would keep herself warm.
"Well… don't you forget, Kagome, I'm the goddess of the Moon, but also of the Sun, so I don't have to worry about temperature. I drain my energy from my elements… unless the sky gets all covered up."
Kagome was about to say something else, but the goddess cut her before she could open her mouth: "And if that's the case, I have my own cape with a fur collar." She smiled like nothing was to worry about.
The modern girl tried to make a smile herself, but she was still a bit anxious: "Yeah, well you better be careful, you guys."
Koga approached Kagome, giving her a small hug, which made her blush, and said: "Don't worry, everything will be fine."
The girl made a shy smile, but in the back of her mind, something was telling her that it wouldn't be so simple. "You're right, I'm probably fussing for nothing" she said, not wanting to bring panic to her pregnant friend.
So, with this, they were about to go when an earthquake shook them all.
Roots started to squirt out of the forest ground and destroy the trees to get their way toward the gang. Then they all came together, forming a large amount of roots and from under them, a white baboon appeared.
Sango took her giant boomerang from the hut and yelled at everyone to be prepared.
Most of the forest animals within the region had escaped; the forest was silent, except from the sound of the enemy.
As the baboon was about to speak, everyone's blood froze in their veins, as they knew what was going to happen next.
Hi everyone! Hehe, sorry for the delay, but... I was too lazy to get to writing this chapter. Anyways, I've started University, so I doubt it'll be easy to update, but I'll try my best. Please review! I love reading your comments.