Author's Note: I just saw fifty shades of grey… it was terrible.
Chapter 11 : Burning
Reina jumped through the well of time. She took a moment to breath but instead ragged sobs came out. She desperately wanted to be back in his arms but if he stepped anywhere near her….
"Don't worry, I will protect you" Reina said to the unborn infant. She curled up and cried for a moment.
Kagome appeared next to her. At first she wanted to say something but seeing Reina in such a state, she decided to give her a hug. It only made her cry harder.
"What am I going to do?" Reina said miserably.
Sesshomaru was wondering the same. What was he to do?
"I don't get it, let her have the baby and then use Tenseiga to bring her back" Inuyasha reasoned. He was obviously pleased with his own brilliance.
"How stupid are you? If I could use Tenseiga, I would. It only works once" Sesshomaru said, annoyed to have to explain himself at all.
"You've already used it on her?" Inuyasha asked dubiously
"When she fought off Hanako's possession, her heart stopped from the stress. I used Tenseiga to revive her" Sesshomaru said slowly. He hadn't mentioned before. He didn't think he would need to use it a second time. He thought he would be able to protect her.
"Damn" Inuyasha said finally. They both looked to the well. Nothing happened for a long while. As the time passed, Inuyasha grew impatient. Sesshomaru felt more anxious but on the surface he looked impassive.
"God what's taking so long!" Inuyasha said annoyed.
Reina cried for a long while before it became sniffles.
"We have to go back" Kagome said. "We can decided what to do then"
"I can't go back, he'll kill the baby" Reina replied. It was her baby, she had to protect it.
"Please, you can't leave him like this. He's dangerous, there's no telling what he will do" Kagome threatened.
"Tell him that I will never return if he does anything rash" Reina demanded.
Kagome thought about it for a minute. He loved her, he would do whatever she asked within reason. She felt it in her gut.
"Okay, I'll tell them that" Kagome said.
"I'm going to go stay with my mom for a while. I should probably tell my manager to cancel the Tour" Reina replied shakily.
Finally Kagome returned to the feudal era sans Reina.
"Where is she?" Sesshomaru demanded.
"She needs to think things through" Kagome began. Already Sesshomaru's eyes glowed red from anger.
"She also said, if you do anything rash, hurt anyone, she will never return" Kagome threatened.
Sesshomaru stopped mid transformation again. Agony crossed his features, in the end the threat of never seeing her again won over his anger. He turned back into the man, his expression like stone.
"Bring her back to me, or I will find a way to do it myself" Sesshomaru rationed. He turned to leave, there must have been some magic in this world that would allow him to cross the time well. Perhaps he would obtain a pearl or some sort of token.
Reina tried to explain to her mother what was going on. Her mother was incredible angry with the mystery man. Reina refused to reveal his identity
"Who is he? He should take responsibility for this" Reina's Mother, Miharu said angrily.
"It's a very complicated pregnancy. He wants me to… get an abortion" Reina explained.
"He should be here" Miharu said tersely. Then a touch of worry dotted her forehead.
"How complicated is this pregnancy" Miharu asked softer.
"I….might not… make it" Reina struggled to say.
"Get rid of it" Miharu said at once with a very stern tone.
"No, I'm going to get rid of her. I won't let anyone harm this baby" Reina said equally sternly.
"I hate to say it, but that absentee father is right. You can always adopt. Don't throw your life away" Miharu said, holding her daughters hand.
"NO!" She said outraged, flinging her hand away from her mother's hold. Reina stormed out of the room.
-Eight and Half Months Pass -
Sesshomaru could not find a way to cross the well. Every day he became increasingly angry, Rin and Jaken each had less and less to say. He would lash out in anger at every word. Then one day out of the blue her scent filled the air once more.
"She's returned" Sesshomaru thought banishing away everything else. He turned into a ball of light speeding towards her, towards the well.
Reina was walking unsteadily with Kagome. Reina draped her arm on Kagome's shoulder for support.. Reina was heavily pregnant and deathly pale. Sesshomaru stopped ten paces away from them. Reina looked up at him, her brown eyes sparkling but the rest of her face ghost white. She was gravely ill, he could tell.
"Promise me you won't hurt the baby. It doesn't matter anyway at this point" She said with a little laugh. How could she laugh at a time like this. Sesshomaru glared daggers at the swelling of her midsection.
"Don't look at me like that. I didn't want to leave this world without saying good-bye" Reina said as softly as possible. She had been gone for so long. Sesshomaru felt his heart turn to ice at her absence. Just those words, and that look in her eyes, melted that ice instantly.
"I won't hurt her" Sesshomaru promised. Reina believed him. In fact he was the only person to address the baby as her and not it. Her own mother insisted that the baby was an it
"Then come here and kiss me" Reina commanded. Kagome let go of Reina's shoulder. She stood shakily on her own.
"Why did you wait so long to return" Sesshomaru said while closing the distance between them.
He kissed her passionately disallowing her to reply. Her lips felts soft, but her skin felt cold. She was at death's door.
"I knew if you had a chance to save me you would. The chance is gone…." Reina replied once their lips parted.
"You must promise me to protect her" Reina said urgently "She is half me, remember that"
Sesshomaru's eyes looked pained and conflicted. He looked fiercely at the bump then he placed a hand on it.
"No harm will come to our child whilst I live" Sesshomaru solemnly vowed. Sesshomaru gently lifted her and carried her into Kaede's healing hut.
Reina laid in bed while Kaede tended to her. She fussed about every little thing. Are you too cold, are you too hot? Is the pillow soft enough? Would you like to hear a story? A song might be good for the baby.
"Ye must try to eat" Kaede said earnestly. Her fussing would not cease. Although everyone agreed. Reina had the appetite of a bird.
"I'm not hungry" Reina replied. Her health was quickly deteriorating as the time went by. Her cheeks were hollow, her skin thin and translucent.
"Anything you want, I can go back to our time and get it. Just please try to eat something" Kagome suggested.
"Barbeque?" Reina suggested. Kagome quickly nodded and disappeared. She returned forty minutes later with a small grill contraption. She cooked small bits of meat on it.
Reina tried to eat it. As the chopsticks came to her lips she hesitated.
"I feel really sick" Reina said.
"Please just eat" Sesshomaru finally said. He had been standing in the corner. "The baby needs it"
He knew that would work. Reina nodded and swallowed the food despite her turning stomach. Surprisingly her stomach stopped turning and she suddenly felt very hungry.
She began to eat a lot but her skin remained pale and cold.
"I feel a little better" Reina said finally sighing. They set the grill aside.
"Maybe you just need more protein" Kagome smiled.
"Maybe" Reina said shyly.
Then a huge pain ripped through her abdomen.
"Oh god… I think I'm ready" Reina said gravely after another moment of intense pain.
Sesshomaru shot up from the corner and quickly gave Reina a kiss. A good bye kiss
"I love you" He said knowing it would be the last time he would every see her. Finally the façade broke, and pain twisted his features. A single tear down his perfect face.
"I will come back to you, even if it takes another thousand years" Reina replied. In that moment she had remembered her past life, and the one before that. She would find him again, she would always find him again. I guess that's what it means to have your life pass through your eyes.
Kaede quickly shoed them out.
"Kagome, some cloth and hot water please" Kaede demanded.
Sesshomaru stood right outside, staring at the doors as though he had x-ray vision. Kagome ran in and out of the hut with various items. He could hear her screaming in pain inside.
Finally after an hour. He heard a baby's wail. He felt everything inside him vanish. She was gone. He could no longer hear her tormented screams. He could feel the ice grow on his soul. He could hear his own heart beating madly in his chest. He walked in to view the massacre
He could see them speaking but all he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears. Reina laid eyes closed, peaceful as if sleeping. Her hair matted, but otherwise she looked the same.
He could see Kaede holding a small bundle in her hands. She looked at him alarmed and cautious. Sesshomaru bent down to Reina and picked her limp body up. He held her in his arms. Why wouldn't the ringing stop. He would see that they were trying to say something to him.
She felt cold, as ice on a winter's day. He held her head to his chest. She would have a funeral. He would make sure all would pay her respect.
"Come back to me" He finally said, sending out his wishes to whoever dared to listen. He ran his fingers through knotted hair.
A cough, a gurgle, a sputter. Her body began to warm. It was as though the universe heard his plea and decided favorably upon it.
"Sesshomaru" A whisper. Sesshomaru felt his body freeze in place. He though if he had moved to suddenly, the life would slip away from the girl once more. Then slowly he lowered the girl back into the bed. Had he gone mad? He closed his eyes for a moment. Was this a dream, it felt so unreal. Every feeling felt foggy like in dreams. He opened his eyes and looked at Reina.
Her eyes were open. Her cheeks flushed, her body warm. She was more than alive, she was well. She smiled at him. Then her eyes turned worried.
"The baby" She managed to say. "Is she okay?"
Sesshomaru felt his body burst into flame. Everything felt as if it was glowing. He had lost everything and found it again. Joy, an unbelievable amount of it surged through him. Sesshomaru's eyes darted to the corner where Kaede stood holding the bundle.
"She be fine, but you're not going to like this" Kaede finally said. Sesshomaru frowned. Whatever she was going to say, didn't matter. Reina was alive. She was breathing, resplendent, under a sheen of sweat.
Reina however turned to Kaede slowly, with whatever strength she had.
"What's wrong" Reina said in a panic. Worry saturated her every word. She felt her heart speed up, until the pounding in her ears became like the beating of a drum.
Kaede held the bundle out to the pair of them. The girl was beautiful, beyond beautiful. She had a light pink crescent moon on her head. Her ear length hair was light brown with a singular silver streak on the left side. But her beauty was not what they saw first.
A pair of luminous round red eyes stared back at them. They were just like Hanako's eyes.
Several crazy thought went through Reina's mind all at once. They were all garbled, filled with love, pain, fear, and regret. What did this mean?
"Oh no" Reina finally said turning pale again. She suddenly felt incredibly dizzy, the room span around and then darkness.