It had been a month since Yuzuki had left. The dragon still moped around the palace, his hisses and growls only punctuated by sniffles and cries. Sesshomaru eventually sent him to the barracks to fight the new influx of solders that flooded the place due to his daughter and her announcement at her party. It was a temporary fix but one that would hopefully last long enough for him to convince his numerous advisors that the dragon should be brought into the fold.
Kagome had been acting strange as of late. She went to bed earlier and earlier every night. Granted, it was to his bed she retreated to, but no the less, he was worried about her. Her sudden dislike for almost all foods was also on his mind. She would take one look at the spread of foods and then promptly scrunch up her nose at the smell.
Late at night, he would rub her back hoping to help ease her into sleep but only served to rile her up to the point that she just collapsed into a heap on their bed. He sat at the table eating in slow, measured bites, keeping an eye on the woman that sat across from him. She swirled her food around her plate and made it look at if she had eaten something.
Her lover was not the only one to notice.
"Kagome, why don't we take a walk?" Sango stood and offered her hand. The questioned woman nodded and accepted the help, wanting to be out of Sesshomaru's keen gaze. She followed her friend to the door and exited quietly. Once they stepped onto the perfectly manicured grass, the slayer dragged the girl far from the dinning hall so they could have a private conversation. "What has gotten into you?"
The girl chewed her bottom lip between her teeth and glanced to her friend, her eyes wild and a little frightened. She twisted her fingers into the rich silk of the robe she wore, its fabric a beautiful blue.
"I don't know!" She cried, burning her head into her hands and sobbing almost silently. Sango wrapped her arms around her and spotted a bench a few paces away. She half lead, half dragged her friend over it the bench and forced her to sit before demanding answers.
"So when I was kidnapped I didn't grab anything to take with me obviously," She started, her hands wringing the fabric again. "And when we returned, me and Sesshomaru...celebrated my homecoming."
"You mean like...celebrate celebrate?" Sango asked and nodded when Kagome sighed and curled her body into a ball, assuming the fetal position. "So? A little sex is a good thing...right?"
"It is when I'm on my pills that help prevent pregnancy!" She mock whispered, her voice shooting up a few octaves. Sango gasped like a fish for a few seconds before shaking her head.
"But you had your moon cycle not long after that," She hissed, suddenly worried about eavesdroppers. "That means you're not pregnant right?"
"That's what I thought!" She sighed again than contined. "Until I delved a little deeper into my health books. Totally happens a lot of the time."
"Have you told him?" Sango gasped, noticing the scrunched up eyebrows and the hard biting of the lip. "Why haven't you told him!"
"What if he hates me?!" Again, slipping into a loud whisper, Kagome leaned forward and Sango followed suit, bending closer to mutter angrily in her face. "He hates InuYasha, what if he hates our child?"
"You slept with the man, I really doubt he is going to up and leave you! Besides, he is a man of honor, he will take care of you," She grabbed her best friends hand and rubbed soothing circles into her palm. "We are taking about Sesshomaru here, right?"
"Yes!" Kagome gasped but the smile that crept up and onto her face made the other girl laugh. "What if you're wrong and he hates me?"
"What if I'm right and he ends up loving you more?" Sango rebutted, her eyebrow raised in question. "Do what you think is right."
Sango glanced over Kagome's shoulder and smiled.
"Oh look, it's Mr. Baby-Maker himself," Sango snorted when Kagome's eyes went wide and her head snapped around to gaze at the slowly approaching Lord. With a panicked look, she grasped Sango's hand, begging for her to stay a little longer but the slayer just slid her fingers from the girl's grasp and bowed her head in the man's direction.
"You will confide in the slayer but not me?" He questioned and Kagome pinched her lips at the hurt undertone found in his voice. She patted the spot next to her and he took it with a graceful motion. "What troubles you?"
"I have something I need to tell you and you have to promise to let me finish," She glanced up at his face and caught a cool stare. He was emotionally detaching himself because he thought she was going leave. She could see it in the way he subtly leaned back, his perfect posture marred by the curve of his spine, and the way his eyes chilled to a rock solid gold. "Promise?"
He nodded once and she nodded too, mostly to herself. He watched her wring her hand into the billowing fabric at her waist.
"I think...I'm pregnant," the air went still and all thoughts flew out a window. He looked at her with wide eyes and a rather shocked expression on his face but she never saw it, content to squeeze her eyes shut and look at her lap. The pause was dragged out longer, causing bursts of light to flash across her closed eyelids from the force she was using to keep them closed.
"It is mine?" His voice was quiet and just as still at the air. At his question, she felt anger bubble up in her chest.
"Who the hell else's could it be?" Her head shot up and was met with a smirk. He was playing with her. The breath in her lungs rushed out when he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I knew I should have told you but-"
"I knew," He stated, bringing a hand up to run through her tangled hair she had yet to comb.
"You what?" She hissed, smacking his fingers from her curls and glaring at him. She only managed to look more kissable than before. "How?"
"Yuzuki told me," He ran a loving hand across her cheek and stopped when she stilled to his touch. "She said she gave you something."
"Yeah, this," She snorted and shoved her hand into her gown. She bumped around in her cleavage for a while until she yanked on a piece of paper and handed it to him. She spoke the words as he read the, "'You'll make a great mother.'"
"She did not lie," He muttered, folding the paper and placing it back in her grasp.
"What are we going to do?" She muttered, laying her head on his shoulder and throwing her legs across his lap. He grabbed her waist and her legs before throwing her over his shoulder. She laughed like a schoolgirl and he walked slowly back to their shared room.
"Now we celebrate."
()()()()()
A woman glanced up at the loud clap of thunder, her earrings all but forgotten on her vanity. She had given her maids the night off due to the storm and so slowing untying the many layers of silk was proving to be rather difficult.
She watched a shadow dart from behind a building and with a rueful smile, she watched her daughter sneak away from her own rooms to that of the soldiers. When the door slid open on well oiled hinges, she refused to glance over her shoulder to her mate. He walked forward with strong steps, his bare feet making no noise on sir wooden floor.
"I seem to be having trouble undressing myself. Seeing at you have done it plenty of times, I was wondering if you might lend me your assistance?" She smirked when his clawed hands undid various knots and ties, letting the heavy fabric droop around her frame. When her back was exposed, her mate ran a delicate hand across the large scar that stretched from her lower stomach up to the beginning of her shoulder blade, curving around her form like a claw mark.
She hatted the scar but her mate always claimed it was proof that he had chosen the right woman, that she could not be taken from him by something as major as being impaled. She laughed when he trailed a claw from her back to her rib cage, his fingers brushing the bones.
"Our daughter returned tonight. She crept across the yard as if we wouldn't notice her," She scoffed and caught her breath between her teeth when her mate brushed the underside of her breast. He kissed a line from her shoulder to the delicate curve of her throat to the underside of her chin.
"We were so young at the time," He reminded her, nipping at her skin with his fangs and leaving small lines that would fade by the morning. They were the same shade of pink as her mating mark.
"Would like to know what else is young?" She questioned, letting her fancy garb pile on the ground at her feet. She snaked a bare arm around his shoulder and he lifted her by the waist, the pair so comfortable with the others body that he knew what she wanted and just how to give it to her. "The night!"
Their laughter sounded into the storming night.
Finally! This has been sitting around for a while and I already have half the next chapter done! In case you didn't catch it, Yuzuki vanished because she was conceived! Good job to a guest who guessed this correctly.