A/N: And now for a moment that's been anticipated by everyone throughout the story…
Hook, Line, and Sinker
"He's coming!" Inuyasha burst through the screen door, very nearly derailing it. He thumbed Tetsusaiga's hilt in a reflexive reaction. "Now! Hurry!"
"Are you sure?" Kagome spluttered, her eyes dilated small and frantic. "Can't he wait? Rin isn't here right now and…"
"You think you can something like that to wait?" Claws wrapped around Kagome's wrist and dragged her along. "'Sides, you're female, don't'cha know how to handle this crap?"
"I don't specialize in it!"
Kichiruka peered cautiously from the premises of a puddle just beside the porch where he heard all the ruckus. "Um, Lady Kagome, what's going on?"
"Nothin' you can make better," Inuyasha harrumphed, leading his wife indoors. "Just stay out of the way."
Kichiruka watched the door snap shut. Rin said she would be back by today, but she wasn't and now, with no one here to clue him in, his mind whirred for any information that would be at even remotely useful. Furrowing his brow, the water demon tried to remember the exchange of events when he last saw Rin three days earlier.
oOo
Hanging a wide-angled left on the east side of Miroku's porch, Rin swung around the corner and ducked for cover. She held her breath a little longer. Any sound could betray her now and she didn't want to be followed.
I told Kichiruka I would meet him at the pond by midmorning…it's already past noon. He's going to think I stood him up. She briefly wondered if he could trace her by scent. Like a dog…
The idea quickly faded. He was a sea demon and Rin couldn't remember ever noticing nostrils on fish.
Certain now that her pintsized pursuers were being held at bay by their parents, Rin exhaled with relief. Kaede trained her to help welcome children into the world, but she wasn't sure she could handle them after that point. Certainly not right now. Clearing her thoughts, Rin sang distractedly to herself. Making up little nonsense songs was something she carried over since childhood. And it keeps the twins entertained. But, crouching to put on her sandals, she hushed quickly as the puddle at the foot of the porch steps suddenly burbled, its surface area spreading as it bubbled over. Then three spikes poked out followed by the rest of Kichiruka's silvery topknot and bangs.
"Good afternoon, Rin dear!" he hailed cheerfully, apparently heedless of the mud he crawled out of. A few syllables and he was pristine again.
Stumped, Rin fumbled with the comb in her hair. "How'd you find…?"
His ears flexed lightly. "I could hear you. You have a beautiful voice." On a whim, he reached out and touched her throat, eliciting a surprised squeak.
"Could you please mind your personal boundaries?" Rin said tartly, scooting back.
Kichiruka blinked, not entirely able to understand this human fixation with space. "Is it an aversion to touch?"
Seeing the way he examined his webbed fingers, Rin sighed. Great, have I insulted him somehow? "No, humans just like having enough distance to see the other person clearly."
Ah. "But I like studying details."
"Does your research have to be so tactile?"
Kichiruka ignored the question. "For instance, I find these very interesting." He traced the curved edge of Rin's ear with a finger, the points of his own fluttering. "No one in my realm has them like so. They're like seashells."
She curled away at the ticklish sensation of his breath in her ear. "Kichiruka!"
"Oh! Here, before I forget." He dug inside what Rin assumed was a breast pocket in his vest. Removing his fist, Kichiruka beckoned with his eyes for Rin to hold out her hands.
When his fingers uncurled, nestled in the girl's cupped palms was a pair of bright orange earrings, their elongated, spiraling ends like mini conic shells.
"Are they natural or crafted?"
"A bit of both." Kichiruka flipped his conch staff upside down and pointed to the shorn end, an inch or so shorter than Rin remembered it.
"It came from…?"
"Wait right here." Kichiruka's eyes sparkled a bright sapphire and he raced down to the edge of the porch. With quiet amusement, Rin watched him go from a yokai's twenty-something to a childish ten-year-old. Grinning, he raised the conch and whispered softly into it. She shouldn't have been able to hear it, but Rin swore the tiny shells said a gentle, "Can you hear me now?"
She looked from the earrings in her palm back to the demon perched on the veranda's edge, his grin sprouting a few more teeth.
"See? If I can teleport my whole body, I can't see why my voice – or anyone else's – would be impossible. The spell should hold, too, since I learned long-lasting enchantment recently," Kichiruka explained into the staff and the earrings quivered slightly as they relayed his voice. "Master Tensai says I passed when I showed him these. Never did tell him what they were for." He winked.
Rin smiled and spoke softly into the earrings. "So can you hear this?"
"Aha! So this is the vixen who's leading you astray, eh?" Both Kichiruka and Rin jumped at the snappish old tone emitting from both ends of their line.
"Master?" the water yokai squeaked.
"No, your mother. Yes, who else, you idiot?" Tensai railed. "And how dare you waste all I've taught you on a mortal!"
Kichiruka walked over to Rin, staff in one hand while he frisked the inside of his jacket with the other before withdrawing a scrap of paper, notes scribbled on it front and back. Rin watched her friend's eyes roll over the list. They widened a moment, then he waved a hand over her earrings. Tensai's diatribe went dead in there, now spouting entirely from Kichiruka's conch.
"Master," he appealed, "I'd appreciate it if we could continue this when I return?"
"Fine," Tensai snarled. "Get yourself over here right now."
"My apologies, but I'm on a mission right now."
"What? Your quest to get l—"
Kichiruka muted the speaker just in time. It would've been highly inappropriate material in a lady's presence. Compromising his proximity to Rin in exchange for privacy, he took the call elsewhere. But for all that badgering it certainly doesn't stop Kichiruka from finding his way over here, the young woman observed.
When he returned, she asked, "Aren't you ever worried that your teacher might disown you?"
Kichiruka tapped a hand to his chin and rolled his head from side to side. "Mmm…not really. I'm pretty much the reason Master Tensai has a comfortable situation."
"Oh?"
"The children of our sea's lord had recently left to seek their fortunes and Lord Ichikawa was going to dismiss their old teacher if he couldn't find further purpose for him."
"Well that sucks!" Rin huffed, sympathizing for the irritable demon. "I thought your teacher, Tensai, knew all these arcane arts. That's what you're learning, isn't it?"
Kichiruka nodded. "But it is a very competitive field with a combination of talent and dedication. And you don't often keep around someone who isn't willing to use such power outside the ocean."
"He doesn't ever come out like you do?"
"I'm sure Master Tensai has his reasons." Kichiruka shrugged. "His guise is considerably less human than mine. Claims he 'forgot' how to construct it." The water demon's tone suggested he thought otherwise. "Anyways, after he's done chewing off my ear, Master Tensai often forgives me with a new lesson. He's a little odd." Kichiruka smirked.
Rin giggled. She knew the type.
"In any case," Kichiruka stood up, "what do you think of this? I was thinking about a new dance routine for the Obon festival. Look."
Rin did. "You call that dancing?" she drawled.
Kichiruka popped his right shoulder and robotically swung the rest of his form with it. "Pretty neat, huh?"
Rin's head tilted to one side, her eyebrows scrunched and mouth askew. "Who the heck dances like that?"
"It'll catch on someday." He popped another joint.
"Ri-ight." Rin rolled her eyes. "Maybe in, like, another five hundred years."
Kichiruka laughed. "Sure, why not?"
Suddenly, a thunderous pounding set the veranda to shake. The wooden panels trembled under the stomping of many feet. Whatever was coming their way must have traveled in droves. Staff in hand, Kichiruka braced himself. "Yokai?"
"Ugh, the twins," Rin groaned, tucking her head against her knees.
Kichiruka was puzzled at this little remark of anticipated distress. "Twins?"
Suddenly, a pair of young girls – probably about half of Rin's age, Kichiruka guessed – bounded from the house, making a beeline for their babysitter. The girls tackled Rin in unison, and the young woman demonstrated amazing restraint. She was obviously used to this. Then – catching their visitor's gaze – the twins darted behind her, each taking turns to peek out from the cover of her shoulders. Looking up, Kichiruka noticed a little boy, perhaps two years younger than his sisters, running after and dragging along his toddler brother.
One of the girls stepped a little closer to him. Propping a wrist over his knee, Kichiruka knelt in consideration for her inspection. "Hmm?"
"Is Mister Demon here to help again, too?" she chirped.
Kichiruka blinked. Mister Demon?
"Yes, Mama's going to have another little brother –"
"Or sister!" interrupted the other twin.
"Or sis-ter" – a peeved look was exchanged – "for us soon."
"There sure are a lot of you already," Kichiruka chuckled, picking up the smallest. The little boy cooed as he was bounced on a knee. Then everyone wanted a ride. When Rin looked over again she could only make out the demon's twitching arm from under the dog-pile of kids.
"See what happens?" she tsked.
"Does Miss Sango really want more?" Kichiruka gasped when he finally surfaced. Someone tugged on one of his spikes.
"I'm not sure it can be helped," Rin snorted. "I swear, Sango must conceive every time her husband hangs up his—oh, hi, Lord Miroku!"
"Hello there. Having fun, Kichiruka?" he teased. No sooner had Miroku settled down on the porch his children rushed into his lap, each fighting for space. Setting one on his shoulders and couple more in his lap he made it work. Miroku had always wanted a big family; years as an itinerant made him appreciate the gift all the more.
"Someone's coming this way," Kichiruka announced, jerking a thumb toward a steadily approaching man in traveler's clothes.
Miroku stood and greeted the guest when he reached the porch steps. "Good afternoon. Is there something we may offer you?"
"Is this where I will find Rin, the resident midwife?"
Kichiruka felt the young woman beside him stiffen. Perhaps they were fearing the same thing: another suitor?
"Please forgive my rude intrusion," the man profusely apologized and prostrated himself in the same breath. "But I must be direct. I come from the humble town towards the south. Our local midwife has fallen ill and the headman's lady is soon to birth. We will need a professional substitute immediately."
He looked toward Rin expectantly, the first ray of hope brightening his road-wearied face. "It's a modest sum," he said, clunking a heavy sack down between them. "But would you be willing to accept?"
Rin stared at the obscene offer. She'd helped neighbors for a tenth of the price when they could afford it. They must be desperate. But Sango's very near…
"Take it." Miroku's wife slid the screen aside, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. She studied the escort's lightened expression and knew it was the right choice. "It'll be at least another week," Sango assured, smiling at Rin. "I've gotten pretty good at telling. You go ahead."
"Say, you have piercings." Kichiruka's desultory observation broke up any lingering tension. It took Miroku a moment to realize the demon was gawking at his ears.
"Erm, yes…" The monk tried to shuffle closer to his home, but Kichiruka kept pace with a single quickstep. His eyes remained trained on Miroku's ear as if he made the movement subconsciously.
The water yokai tugged on one, then with the tip of his claw, tapped on the other so it swung a little. "Do you have more on the right side?" Faster than Miroku could blink the curious demon popped up beside his opposite shoulder already studying the rest of his set.
Violent eyes pleaded with Sango's.
"Endure your karma," she said, not a drop of pity in her voice.
"Oo, what's this?" Kichiruka exclaimed when he found the small rat's tail gathered at the nape of the monk's neck.
"All right, that's enough." Miroku hustled off.
"Wait, you're fascinating!" Kichiruka followed after him, gaggle of children in tow.
"Well, can't say the demons here are unfriendly." Rin coupled her sheepish smile with a shrug for the slack-jawed escort. "Give me a moment and we'll head out."
The escort followed hurriedly after, lest he'd be the strange demon's next subject.
oOo
Now, the third day and no Rin, Kichiruka stared at the closed door. Too bad Inuyasha and Kagome didn't know him quite as well as Tensai or even Rin. At least then they would have known he wouldn't listen. Cleaning himself off with a routine spell, Kichiruka made for the entrance.
"Hey, we told you to mind your own."
"Oh, Inuyasha, let him stay. Come on in, Kichiruka," Kagome invited from Sango's side.
Miroku's wife breathed deeply, a blanket draped over her swollen form. She looked at the water demon with bleary eyes, but not an ounce of anger. "I'm glad least Rin's friend is here." She smiled, then sipped from the brewed herbs Kagome offered.
"And I've had training," the priestess huffed indignantly at Inuyasha. "It's just…"
Miroku cleared his throat and summed up the situation prettily. "Lady Kagome has been invaluable in providing alternate means to keep the rest of the siblings out of impressionable, possibly traumatic, situations."
"So you've never actually been in the room with Miss Sango?" Kichiruka asked bluntly.
"Keh, an' she missed out on the first three anyway," Inuyasha threw in.
"Well, Rin should be on her way back tonight," Kagome said hopefully.
The scream that wracked Sango jolted everyone in the room. There was a knock on the sliding door that joined the two rooms and Kagome heard Shippo's efforts to calm the other children down.
Kichiruka paled. "Whadda we do?"
"Miroku," Kagome said looking at her friend.
He tipped his head. "I'll keep them occupied." His glance still hurried back to Sango. "Are you sure…?"
Kagome nodded. Then turned. "Kichiruka, water, quickly."
"Got it!" The conch staff spun and Kichiruka took aim into a bucket. "Wait, human babies come out alive?"
"Uh, yeah!" Inuyasha sloshed a rag in the bucket. "What did you expect?"
"Eggs?"
"Cripes, Kagome, he doesn't know what the hell to do!" the hanyo blustered.
"Inuyasha, be still."
"Don't tell me to shut up!"
"Sit!"
Kichiruka watched Inuyasha plunge face-first into the floor. The water demon swallowed his next question.
"Kagome…" Sango's breathing quickened and she worked to slow it down. "Thank you for trying…"
"Don't worry, you'll be fine."
"…But I really wish Rin were here."
"Me, too."
"Um, if I may offer," Kichiruka approached the miko. "I think I can provide a means."
"How's that?" Inuyasha grunted. "She's miles away and we're—"
"Rin? Are you there?" Kichiruka spoke into the conch.
Kagome and her husband shared a baffled look. "How's she supposed to hear that?"
"Kichiruka?" Rin's voice chimed clearly.
Everyone turned toward the staff and the water demon indulged an exultant grin. Then, collecting himself, he said, "Sango's in labor."
Rin swore. "Oops, did they hear all that?"
"Yeah," Kichiruka agreed, "they're nodding."
"I blame Inuyasha," Rin amended.
"Hey!"
"The directions," Sango moaned.
"Right." Kichiruka passed the conch to Kagome. "Think the steps through, Rin. We're counting on you."
"No pressure, huh?" she smirked. Guess not when you have yokai magic.
oOo
Word about Sango's successful birth would've been only a week's worth of talk were it not for the demon, the very same one who brought ice in summer and was seen at the Obon, who attended and apparently assisted the former demon exterminator. The news rushed the village faster than any riptide. Some wondered if this yokai was lucky while others continued to speculate his intentions and if this was just an elaborate plot to take their little community under.
But when a lightning storm set a neighbor's house ablaze that demon was the first there. His attachment to Rin was obvious enough a few tongues began to wag about what Sesshomaru would say to the pair.
"Maybe it's arranged."
"That would explain why she was turnin' down all the highborns earlier."
"But another demon? Has that gone over well with the inu-yokai?"
Then again, who knew what went through the minds of yokai in the first place? The townspeople were having enough trouble trying to figure out Kichiruka without troubling themselves as to the motives of Rin's guardian. And as long as the water demon was useful…
"My shed's been flooded since this past spring, do you think you could drain it?" one neighbor implored after mustering the guts to ask the demon.
Kichiruka assessed the situation. It was a simple matter really, and his conch staff did need a refill now that he went for every opportunity to practice "carrying."
A couple days later there was a light rapping on the outermost panel. Inuyasha slid open the door. "Yeah?"
"Is the water demon available?"
"Y'mean Kichiruka?"
"Yes. Is he there?"
"Well…yeah, but…"
"Wonderful!" Another villager shouldered his way in, wrapping his arms around said yokai. "Come, come, just a small favor. We need our vegetable garden irrigated."
When one family's home went up in flames, Kichiruka was the first there to quell the blaze and contain it. Readily, he accepted the odd, often time-consuming jobs. It wasn't until Tensai made note of it that he realized just the toll this 'friendliness' might be taking. Looking at his reflection in the pond, Kichiruka rubbed the dark circles ringing his eyes. He wanted the villagers to like him, but…This is getting ridiculous. He drew the line at rerouting the river.
"I have a sister, wife, and six children to feed!" bemoaned one farmer.
"I've an ailing mother!"
"Hey, remember that time I brought over some…?"
But how could he deny any of them?
"You're too damned nice." Inuyasha groused later that evening in his home. Kagome sat by the hearth arranging herbs to quiz Rin later when she dropped by.
"I told you these guys'll take advantage of you from day one and now lookit yourself." Claws waved in Kichiruka's direction and the exhausted yokai chuckled mirthlessly.
"That may be true," he conceded.
Rin entered Kagome's hut.
"But it has its perks."
Inuyasha open his mouth to argue the point…then, with a light click of teeth, clamped it shut. He hated the familiarity of that look on Kichiruka's face. But just because he wasn't going to encourage it, didn't mean he had to be a creep about it either.
Poor bastard.
oOo
Kichiruka dozed into the late hours of the night. When he woke, Inuyasha had long ago stoked the hearth and Rin was gone. Stretching out his legs, the water yokai reached for his conch staff. Guess I'd better get going. He slipped outside and started strolling in the general direction of the nearest rice paddy pond. It'd be a quick route home.
But when flashes of the capsized junk came to Kichiruka's mind he paused at the edge of the pond. For whatever reason the water demon couldn't place, the ocean hadn't felt like home in quite some time now. Whatever days he spent there now were only to count the hours when he would return to the surface. And now, mentally drifting through the empty, decorated rooms of "home," Kichiruka didn't feel much for going back.
It's not like anyone's waiting there for me.
The slice of moon was still high overhead. It seemed silly to teleport back to the ship at this hour when he would just go to sleep for a while, wake up, and pop up back here the next day. Kichiruka smiled slightly. He was very adept at arguing with himself.
Walking along the desolate dirt paths, he scanned the area. It was the middle of summer and the air hung thick, amplifying the incessant buzzing of mosquitoes and the occasional song of cicada and cricket. Darkness stole color, but his night vision was good enough to make out general locations and figures. He spotted Rin's hut with relative ease. It was warm inside and her scent perfumed the cozy space. Kichiruka half wished she would wake up so they could sit up and visit for a while. He crept closer. And kept silent.
He had never had the chance to observe Rin sleeping. It was a hot night and she slept without sheets in just the simplest of undergarments. The fabric looked soft, shimmering a bright white in the moonlight that filtered in, Kichiruka would've guessed it was silk. If I could touch her I'd know. Fighting down impulse, he stuffed his hands into his sleeves and contemplated on just how powerful this mysterious demon guardian of hers must've been to keep Rin in all this luxury that contrasted so starkly with her surroundings.
Kichiruka didn't really care when he couldn't come up with an answer, allowing his eyes to roam where his hands wouldn't. When he wandered back up to Rin's face his gaze lingered longest. Her long hair spilled over the blankets and more than ever he wanted to reach out to test the texture.
Blue eyes rolled to the ceiling in exasperation. What would Rin do if she could see me now?
"Quit gawking!" she'd scold, then make some remark about the drool on his chin.
Kichiruka straightened. Well, he wouldn't disturb her, he vowed. Then resumed his unabashed staring. It's not voyeurism, it's field study…He didn't find the excuse very convincing either.
He saw the curving length of the sword across from her within easy reach and was mildly jealous.
Would she let me sleep beside her?
Kichiruka played out the possibilities in his mind and, as much as he liked the more unrealistic ones, he settled for the foot of her bedding. He lay first on his back, staring listlessly at the ceiling's beams. The heavy material of his jacket was stifling in the humidity. So Kichiruka switched to his side. Then his stomach, back, side, side, stomach…It's too bloody hot for this!
Frustrated, he considered leaving.
Rin rolled over with a soft moan.
He liked that sound. Maybe she'd do it again.
Y'know, it's not that humid. Well, maybe if I just shed a couple of layers. Wriggling out of the stuffy short jacket, he folded it over the second, navy blue layer of his clothes and set them aside. Kichiruka entertained the idea of removing the white kosode he wore under it all…but settled for loosening it instead. He couldn't let Rin get entirely the wrong impression.
Flopping on his stomach in the now tolerably-warm room, he listened to Rin's easy breathing and tried matching pace. The sweat-salted air and steady ebb and flow of heartbeats lulled Kichiruka into a gentle sleep. For once in a long while, he felt completely at home.
oOo
Some time after her unknown guest had fallen asleep, Rin woke up at her usual – what Kagome called, ungodly – hour. Still rubbing sleep sand from her eyes, she stretched and felt her toes touch slick, bare skin.
Bare skin?
Scooting back, Rin did what most normal women do when they find a half-naked man in their room. She screamed.
Kichiruka bolted upright, his loosened kosode flapping open. "Yes? What's wr—Whoa! That's a huge dog!"
Fortunately for the errant demon, the greenish luminescence of Rin's Shadow Teeth provided enough light for him to be identified. She sheathed the blade.
"What the hell are you doing here at this hour?" she demanded.
"Seeing to your wellbeing," Kichiruka answered, quickly cobbling the words as they came to mind.
"Well, get a move on." Rin prodded him with the blunt end of the scabbard. "This is about the time I start my day."
"At this hour? It's barely dawn." He yawned and slouched back down on his elbows.
"You're a demon, aren't you?" Rin frowned. "Why on earth do you need sleep?"
"Uhh…I'm tired?" he mumbled. Playing 'hero' for the whole damn town is no mean feat. "You must be too. Lay down."
"Not around you!"
"What? I wasn't thinking…anything." Kichiruka wasn't very successful at suppressing the devilish grin.
Rin frowned. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?" Throwing on a light yukata – she didn't dare change with Kichiruka around, even if he was staring 'politely' off into a corner – she got up and stepped outside. Tch, apparently water demons know exactly what to look for. Walking off her temper, Rin completed a lap around the village, besides a few loose chickens and one mangy dog no one else was really hanging about. When she was sure that enough time had passed for Kichiruka to be asleep again, she headed back into her home. Sure enough the demon snored peaceably – almost innocently – on his stomach, one cheek rested over crossed arms.
Rin couldn't be too sure, but she thought she glimpsed more spots trailing down Kichiruka's chest. Was every inch of him covered like that? Squeezing her eyes, she shook her head, trying to clear out every-inch-of-Kichiruka-without-a-stitch from her mind. Modestly pulling on the tie around her waist, she laid her head on his back. Folding her hands over her stomach, Rin decided it was time for a nap.
.
A/N: Yay! Twenty-seven chapters later, Sango finally has her baby! Eheh...Now before we move too far along, I wanted to give a little height comparison. . com/art/Measuring-Up-Hooked-175760122?q=sort%3Atime+gallery%3Aferal-instinct&qo=0 of some relatively important characters (please remove spaces before use). Thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated.