Black Ice: Damn! The response for the last chapter was crazy!
When Inuyasha returned home with Kagome, she was still asleep. She hadn't responded to Inuyasha and Nanako's careful attempts to awaken her, and Inuyasha had given up. Had they persisted any further, they risked incurring Kagome's vicious wrath, and Inuyasha didn't want to risk harming her or their child in even a play fight.
A goofy smile lit his face as he laid Kagome down in their bed, sitting beside her. Their child. His child. Though the possibility of creating a newborn was still prevalent, the thought of having a small child warmed his frozen body. Then again, perhaps it was the fact that he was having the child with Kagome that enthused him so. It was true that between he and Houjou, he was obviously the better choice for Gingitsune, but it couldn't be helped now. She'd made her bed and now she had to lay in it...with Houjou, he seethed mentally, then shook his head of the thought. Kagome was here and Gingitsune was not. Even if she came crawling back to him upon hand and knee, begging for his help—and maybe his body as well—he couldn't in all conscience take her. She'd betrayed and humiliated him. That was one of the most unforgivable crimes he could fathom.
Inuyasha knew he had to let go of his damnable feelings for Gingitsune—and yes, he would acknowledge them now; just not to his mate. Aside from the fact that she belonged to another, she would soon be killed, and besides that, Kagome was his nyoubou now. Even though it may have come about as an accident, he now harbored deep feelings for her as well, and he had to consider her welfare now, not to mention that of the unborn baby in her womb. It was his duty to ensure his child did not become a devourer, and it was impossible to do so preoccupied with another woman.
He was startled out of his musing when Kagome stirred, her eyes peeking open.
"About time you woke up." Inuyasha murmured, suddenly nervous. What if she didn't want the child? He hadn't considered that aspect...
"My stomach's killing me." Kagome gurgled, tenderly rubbing her belly. "I feel like I'm getting the shit kicked out of me. And some punches are being thrown, too, from the feel of it... You might need to slow down when you fuck me, Inuyasha. You're gonna reach my brain and tear me apart, if I'm not completely insane by then." Inuyasha chuckled, softly touching her bellybutton beneath her shirt.
"That might be true, but for a different reason. But first, I want to tell you—Gingitsune's pregnant."
"Oh, how lovely. We should throw her baby shower on the day of her funeral." Kagome yawned, and Inuyasha sighed, his shoulders drooping. Even she knew what was to soon befall the girl who used to be his friend—their friend. "I thought you were over her already."
"I am. I just can't help worrying about her."
"Well, that's rational." Kagome sat up, pulling off the confining socks adorning her feet. "The girl's months away from an untimely death and you're worried about something you have absolutely no control over. Yeah, sure, it's understandable."
"Stop being sarcastic."
"I'm sorry." She replied tonelessly.
"I could always just kill the kid before it develops into anything harmful. Maybe make it look like...spontaneous abortion, you know?"
"Inuyasha, when will you get it through your head? You've done all you can do. You warned Gingitsune that Houjou was dangerous, but she didn't believe you and recklessly had sex with him anyway. You know what I think? I think Houjou got her pregnant on purpose. Even though he's obviously got a thing for Kanna, he settled on Gingitsune because he knew he and Kanna could never be, as well as the fact that it would hurt you because you liked Gingitsune." As she passionately deduced, Inuyasha noticed Kagome's eyes gloss over, and he recognized this as the kind of psychic trance she had fallen into some time ago, when she was spouting off things about him she wasn't even supposed to have known.
"Houjou is a devourer because when Kanna transformed him, he was consumed with hate and rage, angry that you had—according to Kanna—deserted him in the lowest point in his life, as well as caused it to happen, when his entire home went up in flames, killing his family. What he did not know was that both incidents were Kanna's fault: Kanna transformed you, which forced Sesshoumaru to relocate you, and she also killed Houjou's family. It was all an intricate plot to get Houjou on her side, simply because he had too much potential as a devourer to waste." Before she could go on any further, with any more shocking truth, her stunned mate quickly shook her by the shoulders to snap her out of her psychic daze.
"Kagome, wake up!" He said firmly, and she blinked away the gloss from her eyes. That was good; he was fearing he'd have to hit her, and if worse came to worst, she'd hit back.
"...Did you just hit me or something?" Her perception was eerie. "My head is pounding!" She groaned, pressing her cool hands to her temples.
"Do you know what you just said, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked carefully.
"...I said something?" He stared at her. Surely she was lying? But he could only sense confusion. So he just shook his head, mumbling, "Never mind..."
"Okay." Her stomach rumbled faintly. "I'm hungry."
"Let's go hunt." Inuyasha said immediately, jumping to his feet.
"Wow, what enthusiasm. Are you hungry too?"
"I don't want you to starve or anything."
"Oh. That's considerate of you." Inuyasha grunted in reply, but as soon as they left the apartment, he realized he'd stupidly forgotten to mention Kagome's pregnancy to her. With an inward sigh, he decided he should go about this as logically and rationally as possibly.
"Kagome, do you like children?"
"I'd be hard-pressed not to. Phaidron's a baby."
"...Who?"
"The child you implanted into my womb." She replied conversationally, and Inuyasha's jaw dropped. Apparently, Kagome did not notice this, because she went on, "Actually, his name is Kurayami, but he prefers Phaidron. He's yet to take a distinct physical form, but I do sense a rapidly progressing mental form. That's why I slept for so long—I was communicating with Phaidron."
"So..." Inuyasha tried to form words. She already knew! Hell, she knew the child's sex and name! Maybe her psychic prowess was greater than he'd imagined... "We're having a boy?" He finally croacked.
"Yep." Kagome smiled. "He said you might be a little....dumbstruck."
"He knows me already?" This was so fascinating, Inuyasha could barely keep the zeal from his voice.
"Not directly." Kagome chuckled at his excitement. "But he recognizes you as his father and my teisei through my memories of you."
"Phaidron..." Inuyasha whispered, touching Kagome's stomach. He was startled when he felt a sliver of warmth that he suspected was his son's hand behind his nyoubou's flesh. Kagome took his hand and held it as they walked.
"I think he likes you, oyaji." She smiled softly, and Inuyasha's stomach fluttered. He never knew his own father—and even if he had, he wouldn't have remembered him after his transformation--, but he was intent on being the best he could be to Phaidron. He glanced endearingly at his new mate.
He would be his best to her as well.
Inuyasha held his content nyoubou in his arms as he sat against a tree in the dark of night. Kagome—and Phaidron, of course—had had their fill of blood for the time being, and was currently resting with Inuyasha. He didn't recall ever seeing her hunt before, but when she did, she was mercilessly shrewd...and vice versa. Not a drop of her victims' blood touched grass; Inuyasha saw that, even laden with child, Kagome couldn't be slowed at all.
"Do you always hunt like that?" He inquired of her as she rubbed her stomach. "Or is Phaidron aiding you?"
"A little of both. He's very intelligent, but I get the impression that something's missing in him."
"He hasn't fully developed yet, girl." Inuyasha chuckled.
"I know that." Kagome huffed, feigned annoyance. "But I'm saying, even when he does develop a physical form, he'll be...incomplete somehow."
"I'm sure you're just being paranoid over nothing, that's all."
"I don't know, Inuyasha. It worries me."
"That's only natural. He is our son, after all." Inuyasha stroked her long locks of hair. "But there's really nothing to worry about. Phaidron will be absolutely fine."
"Mm..." Kagome sighed, and drifted off to sleep. But as the night wore on, Inuyasha was getting more and more uncomfortable. He had a terrible feeling, but couldn't quite put his finger on it...
"Inuyasha?" The voice was soft, but not that of Kagome. He looked up from her face into Kanna's, and she looked sad. Inuyasha scowled.
"Leave. Now. You fucking stalker." He said venomously, holding Kagome protectively.
"Wait, I haven't come to start any trouble." he put her hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"I don't give a flying fuck. Get the hell away from me and my mate before I murder you in cold blood." Kanna was noticeable hurt, and her eyes glistened with something Inuyasha didn't quite recognize.
"Please, Inuyasha, you have to remember the love we had."
"Fuck you."
"I didn't mean to turn you into a newborn. Please understand that. I just...hit the wrong vein in my eagerness, and then you were taken away from me..."
"Save that bullshit for someone who cares, bitch. I don't care about you, and if I ever did, it was only because you manipulated my weak human brain." Now he saw the glistening for what it was—tears. But that couldn't be; vampires were physiologically unable to cry...right?
"I love you, Inuyasha. Can't you see that?" Kanna threw her arms around his neck in a teary embrace, and yet again he was immobilized. Not come to start trouble, indeed—the trouble was just beginning!
"Unhand me, goddamn you!" Inuaysha snarled, his eyes bleeding with ire when Houjou leapt from the branches above them and made off with his unconscious mate. "KAGOME!!!!" What would he do to her? To Phaidron? His mind was reeling, but Kanna refused to let him go.
"She's not the one for you, my love, but I am, and together, our love will transcend her enchantments upon you." Kanna smiled, holding his hands in hers. They were much colder than his, and sent a chill down his spine. "Not even Sesshoumaru can break an everlasting bond." Inuyasha stopped struggling, horror etched into his features. An everlasting bond was even stronger than the nyoubou-teisei bond—if it succeeded, that is. The chances that it did were one in two hundred. Success was exceedingly rare, due to the fact that both partners had to have no doubt in either of their hearts about the bond formation. If even a speck of uncertainty tainted either of them, the bond was rejected, and the one on which it was attempted would die, never to be revived.
"Those don't work," Inuyasha croaked, nervous.
"Want to find out?" Kanna smiled slyly. He shook his head slowly, not wanting to provoke her into rashness. "Well, I'm content without it for now. But just bear in mind that if you start acting up, I'll have to teach you a lesson!" She playfully waggled her finger at him, and for the first time in his entire life, vampire and human, Inuyasha wanted to cry. His mate, heavy with his child, had been kidnapped by a half-deranged devourer, and now he was being held hostage by this fully deranged woman. When had his life taken such a horrible turn?
"What are you...going to do to her?"
"I've ordered Houjou not to harm your little whore," Kanna waved him off flippantly, and Inuyasha burned to say she was the whore, but when his life was in her hands, he was quite disinclined to voice his opinion of her. "So don't worry about her. I think I'll even let her come to term. Would you like that, Inuyasha?"
"Yes," he said immediately, hoping she was being sincere.
"Okay." Kanna smiled tenderly, kissing his face. Like the rest of her, her lips were soft, yet so cold. "For you, I will allow the child. I like seeing you happy, my love, and if that's what it takes, then that's what I'll do."
"Thank you." He was hyperaware that she continued to touch him, no matter how subtle. She was far from stupid; she knew that if she let go for even a split half-second, he would take the opportunity to either run away or kill Kanna. She wasn't about to let either happen.
"We can't stay here forever, you know." Inuyasha pointed out, his anger sharpening his logic. "The sun will be coming up soon, and...I know how sensitive you are to too much light." It had only been a random stab in the dark, but from the joy written all over her face, he'd hit the mark.
"You remember that?!" Kanna cried out blissfully, embracing him even harder. Misery guided Inuyasha's already dismal thoughts, and he began to think that Kanna might never release him. "Oh, Inuyasha, I knew a part of you still loved me! Yes, yes, you're right—I know just where you and I can go." Her smile was blinding as she took his hand and brought him to his feet, leading him off somewhere.
He wondered if he would ever see his nyoubou again.
Black Ice: (snickers) Now, that would almost entirely Rain's contribution. Just when things were getting all good!
Blood Rain: (intently watches Spongebob Squarepants rerun)
Black Ice: Uh...Rain? Yoo-hoo? Aren't you gonna step up into the limelight?
Blood Rain: (still watches rerun)
Black Ice: Hold on a damn minute. Every time I want some damn credit, you have to get in my way and hog it. Now that it's entirely yours, you don't want it! Bitch, if you know what I know, you better get your fat ass from in front of that TV and get this credit!!!
Blood Rain: Commercial! (hops up and kicks Ice in the teeth, sending her flying into the wall) (casually steps over Ice's body) I'm gonna get some graham crackers!