Beyond the Darkness
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A/N: I want a British boyfriend. /: One like WILLIAM MOSELY. (: Now that sucker, is HAWT. Okay, done fantasizing. Here's your chapter. (: Enjoy && R&R. Ciaoz. -Michele
::Fifty-Two::
Sesshomaru was stunned. One minute she was dead, the next she was …
Tensaiga didn't do anything. It hadn't even pulsed. He stared down at her weary and confused face.
"Nikala?" Sesshomaru heard InuYasha cry out. Heads turned immediately and then rushed footsteps stampeded over to them.
"Ma! Mama!" Shippo cried.
"Shippo," Nikala rasped, lifting a hand to her son's face.
"How did this … Did you use your sword, Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken pondered in utter amazement. Sesshomaru couldn't answer him — he was still so stunned.
"Oh, this is truly a miracle," Sango said, tears stinging her eyes.
"Lady Nikala, how is it you are alive?" Miroku questioned. "You were, well, dead not five minutes ago."
"Lord Sesshomaru has a healing sword, Tensaiga," Rin explained.
"Oh, that's right," Kagome said. "So he had to have used Tensaiga to heal her, right?"
Now, everyone stared at Sesshomaru, who was staring down at his now-living mate. Her topaz eyes shifted at met his golden ones.
"I didn't use Tensaiga," Sesshomaru said, still looking at Nikala. "You woke up your own."
"So Nikala must not have been dead for Tensaiga not to work, assuming that you did try, Sesshomaru," Miroku said.
"So we worried for nothing?" InuYasha scoffed. Kagome glared.
"InuYasha! She could have very well been dead. She was out for hours with a gaping hole in her chest. We thought we lost both her and the baby," she said, her brown eyes wide with worry.
"How is the baby, by the way?" asked Sango. Nikala ran a hand down her large belly with a smile.
"Doing well," she whispered.
"It's still alive?" Sesshomaru finally asked. Nikala looked up at him with a nod, her smile gradually growing.
"Yes."
"What a relief," Miroku sighed. "We will continue praying for you, my lady." He knelt down to her and brushed his lips against her forehead. Nikala brought a hand up to his face and stroked it.
"Thank you, Lord Monk," she said. Miroku slightly blushed.
"Please, you need your rest. It would be best for you not to speak any more," he advised.
"Miroku's right," Kagome agreed. "Let's leave Nikala alone. Now that we know she's alive we can all rest a little better." After that, she and the others left Nikala, all except for Sesshomaru and Shippo. Rin went to hug her neck before trailing after Kagome, dragging Jaken along with her.
"You really are alright, Ma?" Shippo sniffled.
"Yes. Especially now that I have my two favorite men here with me," she replied, stroking both of their faces at once.
"The girl is right," Sesshomaru said suddenly. "You need your rest. That hole needs to mend." And, as soon as he said it, Tensaiga pulsed in its sheath. His eyes widened as he looked down at it.
Tensaiga? You choose now to do some healing?
He withdrew the sword and he could see the pall-bearers surrounding the hole in Nikala's chest. Utterly confused, he raised it to swing.
"Sesshomaru, what are you doing?" cried Shippo. Nikala shushed him.
"It's alright, dear. He's healing me," she said softly and closed her eyes. Sesshomaru swung at the pall-bearers, cutting them in half. And then, right before their eyes, the hole in her chest began to mend. Nikala's breathing steadied. She was healed.
"You did it!" Shippo gasped softly. Sesshomaru sheathed Tensaiga.
"Thank you, my love," Nikala whispered and reached for a hand to kiss his fingers.
* * *
Sesshomaru and Nikala left the clearing with Rin, Jaken, and A-Un a week after Nikala had fully healed. She was well enough to walk on her own, but Sesshomaru made her resort back to riding A-Un so that she wouldn't be walking with her pregnant belly.
"We plan on heading over to Kaede's village," Kagome had informed them before they were about to leave. "So in case Nikala goes into labor, run to the village. She can be helped there."
"Thank you, Kagome," Nikala said with a smile, holding her hand in both of hers.
"Very well. Come, Nikala, we should be on our way. Naraku's scent will be even more difficult to trace now," Sesshomaru said. Nikala nodded and hugged Shippo good-bye. She climbed on top of A-Un and the walked out of the clearing.
Now they were back on the forest path, tracking Naraku yet again. They'd been traveling for quite some time now, this day marking Nikala eight-in-a-half months.
"Lady Nikala," Rin said from down below. Nikala peered down at her.
"Yes?"
"Do you think the baby is going to be a boy or a girl?" she asked. Nikala smiled and Sesshomaru's ears perked.
"I don't know, dear. We'll just have to wait and find out." Her topaz eyes flickered to Sesshomaru briefly.
"I sure do hope you have a girl. I'd like to have a sister," Rin said wistfully. Nikala's breath caught in her throat. A sister? So, she'd thought of Sesshomaru and herself as parents. Nikala looked back at Sesshomaru, who was staring back at Rin, bewildered.
A sister … Oh Rin!
"I'd like to have a girl too. I'm only familiar with boys," Nikala chuckled. "And I'd love for you to have a sister as well."
Rin smiled widely and looked forward, her hands behind her back, but then she turned back to Nikala with one last request.
"Lady Nikala? Will I be able to hold the baby when it's born?" she asked. Nikala smiled widely and nodded.
"Of course! After everything you've done for me, I'd be more than happy to let you hold the baby."
"But, of course Lord Sesshomaru needs to hold it first," Rin said, looking up at Sesshomaru. He'd heard what she'd said, but chose not to say anything.
"I think Lord Sesshomaru would really appreciate that," Nikala giggled.
"Especially because this is his first born," added Rin. Jaken scowled at the two giggling girls for teasing Sesshomaru.
"Feh. Females," he said with an eye roll. "How dare they tease you my lord."
"Nikala and Rin have no reason to be scoffed at by you, Jaken," Sesshomaru said heartlessly. Jaken remembered: he couldn't ever insult Rin and Nikala in front of Sesshomaru. He was grateful Sesshomaru hadn't shoved a foot in his face, like he usually did when he said something to annoy Sesshomaru.
"Sesshomaru," called Nikala sweetly. Sesshomaru stopped and turned to her.
"Yes?"
"Could we stop at a hot spring? Carrying the baby is wearing me out," she said, placing her hands on either side of her large belly. Rin's face lit up, and Jaken didn't look so annoyed either.
"Yay! Could we Lord Sesshomaru? Please?" she pleaded. Sesshomaru's heart thumped at the sight of Nikala's smile. He couldn't believe that there was actually a chance that he'd never be able to see that smile again. He wanted nothing more than to just see that smile for the rest of his life.
"We'll go to the springs," Sesshomaru agreed. Nikala and Rin squealed.
"Thank you, my lord!" Jaken exclaimed.
They set off for the springs that weren't too far from InuYasha's camp. It was the same spring Sesshomaru had caught InuYasha and Miroku peeping at Nikala bathing, along with Sango and Kagome.
"Will you come in the spring too, my lord?" asked Rin, excitedly. Sesshomaru hesitated, and, just as he was about to decline, Nikala said, "Won't you join us, my lord?"
To be in the springs with Nikala, to have her skin rub against his like it had many times before … He quite liked the idea.
"Alright. For a little bit," he agreed. Nikala smiled and gently tugged him to her so as to plant a kiss on his lips. Immediately, Sesshomaru's inside swelled with light. It had been too long since he'd had a kiss from her. Far, far too long. They wandered off the path and walked through the trees until they entered an area of warm steam. Nikala hopped off from A-Un, walking alongside Sesshomaru and grabbing his hand.
"Have you ever been in a hot spring, Sesshomaru?" she asked.
"I don't believe so," he replied. Nikala bit her lip in a smile.
"Well, you're going to have a wonderful time." Sessomaru looked down at her bright face.
"I'm sure I will," he replied with a small smile.
They reached a clearing where a large spring was, a tall hedge separating the spring and the other side of the forest, serving as a wall.
"Are you going to need help taking off your kimono, love?" Nikala said coyly. Sesshomaru smirked.
"I think I can manage," he replied. "But when I need help, I'll let you know." Nikala laughed, but it was soon replaced with a string of moans and groans. She keeled over, her hands on the sides of her belly. Everybody stopped walking to tend to her.
"Nikala?" Sesshomaru asked, sternly.
"Lady Nikala, what is it?" Rin asked worriedly.
"Lord Sesshomaru, what's going on?" Jaken cried.
Nikala let out a loud moan and yelped. "The … baby. It's coming!" she cried. Everyone's eyes widened and Sesshomaru's heart slammed against his ribcage. He was about to be a father very, very soon.