That Night At the Inn
Her
"Hey guys." Sango smiled at them as they walked back in camp. Beside her, tied up bodily with the rope she always kept with her, was Miroku with a large bruise forming on his head.
Sango was rather happy to see InuYasha's hand in Kagome's, though she was a bit curious as to why Kagome was wearing his robe...and his sheath?
"We're going back." InuYasha announced, his muscles tense for any demon attack. He had a lot of enemies; he didn't want his mate and pup to suffer from them.
"Going back where?" Miroku asked. InuYasha abandoning their journey didn't happen...well, ever.
"Back to Keade's and Kagome's time." he said. "Kagome is pregnant."
"What?" Sango and Miroku gasped at the same time.
"How could you possibly know that? It's far too soon to tell." Sango finished.
"My time has a test for it." Kagome said, smiling happily.
"Oh, congratulations!" Sango jumped up and ran to hug her friend. Kagome hugged her back with only one arm as the other was still being held by InuYasha who showed now signs of letting go. Ever.
"Congratulations, my friend." Miroku said, struggling to his feet without the aid of the arms that were firmly tied. He walked over to InuYasha. "I didn't think you would be a father before me."
Shippo was already asleep and heard none of it.
"Why are you tied up like that?" InuYasha asked, looking at Sango's ropes.
"He was trying to follow you." Sango glared at him as she held Kagome as length. She turned her smile back to Kagome. "This is such great news."
"Not really." Miroku said. "It's actually very problematic."
"I don't think I like you calling my child problematic." Kagome glared dryly at him.
"I agree." InuYasha concurred.
"I only referred to the fact that we all have enemies." Miroku said peacefully. "And I know for a fact at least one would use Kagome's pregnancy to his advantage."
"Which is why we're returning to her time." InuYasha said. "Me and Kagome will run ahead and go down the well. I don't know how long we'll be gone. You two can take your time catching up on Kirara but I want to get Kagome back to her time now."
"Alright." Sango released Kagome. "Go."
InuYasha knelt down and Kagome climbed on. He let her get comfortable then stood "I'm going to stay with her in her time. I want her there at least until the baby is born or Naraku dies, whichever comes first. I'll come back and visit but I'm going to stay there most of the time."
Sango nodded. "Me and Miroku will return to the village. But we'll probably keep searching while you're gone."
InuYasha nodded, approvingly.
It wasn't bye, not exactly, but they knew that nothing would be the same with a baby. So the air was a bit melancholy as the friends all looked at each other, saying farewell but not good-bye.
InuYasha crouched down, felt his muscles ripple and contract, then he pushed from the ground with one powerful thrust and they shot into the air.
XXXXXXXX
Kagome woke up, her head groggy, warm and comfortable.
"Are you up?" InuYasha asked.
Kagome lifted her head.
InuYasha was still running, he had run almost non-stop through the night and the sun had broken the horizon only an hour ago.
"Are we there yet?" she asked, wanting to stretch but unable to do so on InuYasha's back.
"Not yet." InuYasha said. "We traveled further than I thought yesterday."
Kagome looked around at the passing landscape. He wasn't going very fast, he must have been more tired than he let on. How well had he slept while she had been gone?
"Let's take a break." Kagome said over the wind that rushed by them.
"I'm fine." InuYasha called back, speeding up his pace as if to prove it.
Kagome almost yelled at him to stuff his pride and rest but she stopped herself. He was over-protective at the best of times. With her being pregnant, it was if that protective side of him had been kicked into overdrive. He really didn't want to stop until they reached the well.
But Kagome didn't want him pushing himself to exhaustion when an hour nap would be all he needed to finish the trip. They were relatively close, by car or InuYasha, so Kagome felt safe stopping. But if she said he needed to stop, he wouldn't listen.
"I need to rest, InuYasha." Kagome said. "I'm...feeling sick."
Pregnant ladies felt sick; InuYasha knew that though he didn't know that she was still too early along to actually get sick, she was sure. She was a bit scared he would tell her to just hold on until they reached the well.
However, it worked.
He slowed to a stop near a stream.
"All right, just for a bit." he said as she climbed down and got that stretch she wanted.
"Go lay down." Kagome suggested. "I'll keep watch."
"No." InuYasha's voice was firm. "Rest. We'll start again in a little while.
"Will you at least take a seat?" Kagome asked, trying not to sound desperate. She wanted him to take a break before he hurt himself.
He looked at if he might argue with her, but he turned after a moment and sat beside a rock, leaning against it just a bit.
Kagome smiled thankfully as she kneeled at the waters edge and started drinking from it.
She had forgot to grab her backpack before she left. Sango would take it back to the well for her, she knew, so she didn't worry.
Once she drank her fill, she leaned back and looked over at InuYasha.
His eyes were wide open and he was staring at her, looking out for her.
Kagome tried not to sigh.
He was tired, but he wouldn't admit it or show it at all. In her time, he slept like a baby because he knew he was safe there. But, while in the past, he could stay awake; it seemed, for weeks on end. He slept rarely at the best of times, never when he was human and never when he thought they were in danger. She wasn't even sure how long he could go without sleep. Sometimes he would only pretend to sleep and Kagome couldn't tell the difference or he would sleep but only for a few hours.
He wasn't going to sleep until they got back to the future.
"Alright, let's go." she stood back up.
"Do you feel better?" he asked, standing as well.
"Huh?" Kagome blinked then remembered she was acting sick. "Oh, yeah. I guess I just needed to pause for a moment."
He started to return to her, then froze.
"Wha-" was all Kagome got out before he was jumping in front of her, pulling out Tessaiga, and glaring across the stream.
"You! Half-demon!" a female called as she walked out of the forest. "I know your smell. I would recognize it anywhere."
Kagome gasped. The woman was beautiful, inhumanely so, with long black hair and jewel bright eyes.
"You smell like that inn keeper." InuYasha growled.
"She will...avenge me. She will...come after you. You will pay...for this.
The innkeeper's words came back to her. Was this 'her'?
"So you are the one that slaughtered my mate." she glared, her glorious face furious. "You'll pay for that, half-breed scum."
"Look, I'm kind of busy." InuYasha said. "Can we do this some other time?"
Kagome blinked in surprise. That he was willing to forgo precious sleep was one thing, but that he was not only willing but wanted to abandon a battle just proved how desperate he was to get her back to her time
"There is no other time for me!" she snapped. "I will follow my mate to the grave, but I'll take you with me."
She reached into her kimono and pulled out a green, flashing orb just a few sizes bigger than the completed Shikon Jewel.
Kagome, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the wicked aura coming from the object, pulled InuYasha's sheath from her waist and held it in front of her protectively.
"I got this from a demon who specializes in explosions." she grinned wickedly and the uncomfortable feeling in Kagome's belly turned into outright fear. "All I have to do is break it and all of us here will die!"
She squeezed it in her fist.
InuYasha cursed and slammed Tessaiga into the ground in front of both of them.
The glass shattered.
The world exploded in a sea of light.
InuYasha turned and pulled Kagome into his arms.
Kagome felt the blast through the sword, through InuYasha, through the sheath, through the armor like robe, but it was muted like listening to music through a wall.
"INUYASHA!" she yelled as he hollered in agony.
The force of it lifted both of them off their feet and shot them backwards and disintegrated the cloth of InuYasha's white kosode.
Tessaiga, rooted to the ground, didn't move as the transformation reversed as its master was thrown back.
At the last moment, InuYasha turned so he hit the ground instead of Kagome.
His neck snapped back and his head slammed onto the ground and he cried out in pain as Kagome slipped from his grasp.
"Inu...Yasha!" she called to him, her head aching from the force of the blast.
InuYasha's vision was blurring, darkness creeping in at the edges.
He looked over at her but he couldn't breath through his nose, couldn't check to see if she was all right.
The darkness of unconsciousness slipped over him.
Enemies left and right! So what do you guys think? Please review and let me know.