Needless to say, I didn't get my cast removed. But hey, at least I didn't die in a fiery explosion sent straight from hell. Neither did anyone else, for that matter. David, the noob protector, was still alive. He was missing a few patches of hair from his head, but other than that, he was completely fine. Not even a scratch on him. Lucky bastard. I would have been blown into tiny pieces and my bits would have been strewn across the hospital parking lot and left for the birds had I been inside that vehicle. Or near it...
Sesshomaru was laying down in our large bed next to me, his hand wrapped around my waist protectively. I loved being in those moments with him, knowing that nothing and no one would ever be able to separate us. It was also wonderful to know that he was already seeing me in a whole new light, not just as a human woman. Some things were just magical.
"I can't believe someone is trying to kill me. I doubt they even know me. Because if they knew me, then they clearly wouldn't want me dead." I groaned loudly, rolling over until I was facing a prone Sesshomaru. "Do you know who is doing this to me?" I grabbed a long lock of his silver hair, braiding it while I waited for him to answer. I wasn't sure why I was always fascinated with his beautiful hair, mine was generally just as long, even if I had recently trimmed it. When the silence ticked by for more than a few minutes, I looked up from my braiding, my browns eyes clashing with gold. "You at least suspect someone, don't you?"
"I am fairly certain the one out to annihilate you is not human." I glanced up at him in confusion. "A demon seems the more appropriate guess, although I'm unsure which demon would take such a personal vendetta against you Rin. Or against me, in fact. Clearly it is a demon who finds me less threatening than themselves, that leaves only a few options available." His words were more monotone than normal, giving me the impression he was completely aware of the trouble making demon and it didn't please him. In fact, he kind of seemed slightly upset about it, if I could say Sesshomaru felt slightly about anything. Generally his emotions were guarded, and when they weren't, it was an explosion of emotion that took my breath away. But this side of Sesshomaru, the one who seemed hurt and unsure how to go about it, that was new. He must have been thinking it was someone he knew then. But who?
I sat up slowly, processing his words back and forth in my mind. Who would think Sesshomaru incapable of hurting them to the point they would consider going after his mate? Not many people. In fact, I wasn't sure Sesshomaru was incapable of taking out a threat against me, even if they were a close friend or family. Family... I looked up at Sesshomaru. "You do know who it is, don't you?" He remained silent. I guess I was going to have to take a shot in the dark with this one. "You think it's your mother, that's why you're reluctant to tell me anything about the entire assassination situation. You think I'll hold it against her forever." Well, who wouldn't? I was human. I couldn't survive a car bomb. Or a bullet. My life had almost been snuffed out on several occasions.
His upper lip curled, showing off an impressive set of fangs. It was so dog-like and not something I would have ever thought Sesshomaru could do, I started laughing. My entire body shook as I laughed, air barely coming into my lungs. Soon I wasn't laughing, I was hyperventilating and then I was balling, tears streaking down my face as I wailed loudly. "Your mom is trying to kill me? I haven't even met her before, why would she want me dead? Does she even know I'm your mate? God. What about your dad? Could it be him? I haven't met him either, although I'm pretty sure it's not him. Why haven't you introduced me to your family before? It's because I'm human, isn't it? You don't think I can handle meeting them, or you think I'm not worthy enough to even warrant an introduction." I stood from the bed, wiping my long sleeved shirt sleeve over my face to remove the ever increasing trail of tears. For some reason the sight of my dampened sleeve made me cry even harder, until I was standing in the middle of the room sobbing uncontrollably.
Sesshomaru stood, clearly intent on comforting me, although he looked startled. What was wrong with me? I was Rin Higurashi and I knew for a fact that I didn't behave that way, yet there I was, crying like my heart was broken because some psychopathic demon wanted me dead. I knew Sesshomaru would always protect me, so why was I crying like death was on my doorstep?
Sesshomaru took another step towards me, arms outstretched as if to hug me. My eyes narrowed at the demon, daring him to come a step closer.
"Don't even think about it, chum. If I'm not good enough to meet your folks, you're not good enough to even touch me. How about that? How do you like them apples, huh?"
"I don't understand what fruit has to do with this situation."
I laughed through my tears at him. How could he make me so mad and happy at the same time? It didn't make sense. "It's a line from a movie, you goof." He raised an eyebrow, his markings standing out more clearly than I'd noticed in days. I blinked a few remnant tears away before looking at the entire room around me. Oddly enough, everything was more clear. Extremely clear. I'd never noticed some things about the penthouse, but now it was easy to take in any detail, no matter how small. I shut my eyes hard, before popping them open again a few moments later. Everything was in such perfect focus, I felt slightly dizzy. "Oh, I need to sit down."
Plopping back on the bed, I placed my head in my hands. "I don't feel right, Sesshomaru." I kept my eyes shut, all the while feeling as if I was on a carousel, spinning around and around. My head reeled and ached, nearly to the point where I thought I might have gotten sick. The sudden nausea was nearly more than I could handle. I placed my head onto his shoulder, sighing dramatically as the room decided to stop spinning.
"What is it?" His hand rested along my shoulder. I lifted my hand from my stomach, locking fingers with his in a soothing gesture.
"I think your mother constantly trying to kill me might be causing me to go slightly crazy. I'm crying for the littlest thing and now I feel like my vision has just corrected itself." I looked up at him, noticing his odd expression. Everything about him was so much more pronounced, so wonderful. I didn't think I could ever get enough of it. "God, you're really beautiful, do you know that?" I grabbed his hand, bringing it up to my lips before I kissed the back of it. "I'm sorry for overreacting about everything." I thought about it for a minute. "Well, your mom trying to kill me is ridiculous. So I'm not sorry about being upset with that. But you know. I apologize about the other stuff. Crying, being angry and then feeling sick all in a few minutes!" I laughed before my eyes widened slowly with a frightful realization. "But you know, I'm sure it's nothing."
I stood up from the bed, dressing quickly before I slid some flats onto my feet and grabbed a jacket. "You know, shouldn't you be heading to work right now?" I looked at the clock on the wall. "Yeah, it's already past six o'clock in the morning! You should go to work, make sure everything is going fine with your company. I'll just go down and visit Kagome for a few hours. No need to worry about a thing! I won't even leave the building." I wrapped a scarf cozily around my neck, just incase there was a draft in the hallway. "Anyways, I love you! Have a good day and for the love of all things holy, call your mother."
I didn't even wait for his reply, practically running out of the room and through the penthouse like the devil himself was nipping at my heels. I couldn't be sure about anything, but I hoped Kagome was home so she could help me stop freaking out. I couldn't be pregnant. I COULDN'T.
I knocked for the fourth or fifth time, barely containing my panic as my sister failed to open the door yet again. In my haste to abandon the penthouse and its inhabitant, I hadn't even grabbed my spare set of keys to our old apartment. "Kagome, come on. Open the door already!" I pounded once again. It was the start of a new day so why the hell was she taking so long to answer? Couldn't she tell this was important? Ugh. I would have started calling her, but I left my new cellphone upstairs with the spare key. I pounded yet again on the door, determined that she would know I was out there. After a few more seconds of silence, I nearly turned to go back to the penthouse. If she wouldn't answer, I would just let myself in. But that required seeing Sesshomaru and explaining to him my odd behavior, which I was in NO mood to do. I lifted my hand to bang on the door when, to my relief, I heard the locks being undone. To my dismay, a very underdressed Inuyasha ripped open the door, sleep clouding his eyes. His chest was bare, the only thing he was wearing were a pair of boxer shorts.
"What do ya want so early, Rin?" He practically spat out at me. Clearly he was missing his beauty sleep. Or he just didn't like me that well. Either way, I didn't have time for small talk.
"Nice to see you to, Inuyasha. What are you doing here?" Then it all clicked. "Oh crap, I'm sorry I forgot you two moved in together! Man, how the time flies, huh? Anyways, I really need to talk to Kagome, so if you'll just excuse me..." Without waiting for his reply, I pushed hurriedly past Inuyasha and into the entryway before scrambling like a madwoman to Kagome's bedroom, kicking my shoes off and removing my coat as I moved. I let my possession fall to the floor as I stepped through the doorway and into her bedroom. My sister was sitting up in bed, hair tousled around her face in quite a fashion. I plopped down on the bed as soon as we made eye contact. "I need to talk."
"Heh. You need to let us sleep. The sun isn't even out yet!" Inuyasha huffed angrily before sitting in a nearby chair, clearly not leaving us alone to speak.
Kagome rubbed my shoulder sympathetically. "What's the matter, Rin?" In a matter of seconds, I poured all of my recent revelations out to Kagome, ignoring Inuyasha whenever he smirked or cursed under his breath.
"Anyways," I finished up. "I think Sesshomaru is going to talk to his mother today, so that'll be good. But there's something else..." I trailed off, not wanting to say it aloud. I knew if I said it aloud, it made it that much more of a possibility of being real. I didn't want it to be real. Not right now. I had so much stuff going on and I hadn't even planned a wedding yet. I didn't want to be a pregnant bride, nor did I want to be a mother before I was married. I narrowed my eyes into angry slits. It was all Sesshomaru's fault. If he was terrible in bed, or didn't look so delicious naked, I doubt I ever would have found myself in such a situation so early into our lives. We'd only been together for a few short months. I didn't think we were ready for such an adjustment to our lives. I wasn't even sure Sesshomaru would be pleased with the idea of a child so soon. What sane man would?
"What is it?" Kagome looked at me worriedly. I tried to tell her, but once I opened my mouth no words came out. "Rin, you're really starting to worry me. What is it?" I closed my eyes, mumbling the words to her.
I heard Inuyasha's small intake of breath. I opened my eyes, turning to see how far away he was, which was pretty damn far. I shouldn't have been able to hear the barely audible gasp he'd just clearly made. I turned back to Kagome. "Did you just hear him gasp?" She slowly shook her head no, staring at me like I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had. But then again... "Great, first my eyesight is perfect, now I'm starting to hear better too. What's next?"
"It'll probably be your strength. You'll notice it getting a bit easier to lift heavy things, you'll have a shorter temper and honestly? You might start craving raw meat and raw fish. My mother told me all about the side affects." Inuyasha came forward, sitting next to Kagome on the bed. "Rin's pregnant." Kagome stared at me, barely comprehending. I could barely comprehend it.
"Now, now. That isn't exactly true, right? I mean, I haven't even taken a pregnancy test so for all I know, it could just be stress mimicking a bunch of different symptoms... Right?" Inuyasha shook his head while Kagome just sat there, staring off into space.
"I don't want to alarm you any more, Rin, but I can smell it on you. I couldn't at first, because the change in your body's chemistry is so subtle. But now that you've brought it up and I'm actually looking for a different scent, it's impossible to not notice." He reached over and patted my hand in a soothing gesture, no doubt completely aware of how freaked I was. Could I have actually been pregnant? It would be the icing on the cake to the crazy last few weeks I'd been having.
Kagome shook her head, no doubt clearing out her thoughts. "I have a pregnancy test under the sink in the bathroom. Go ahead and use it and then we'll know for sure, okay? I'm sure everything will be fine, either way. There's no need to worry, Rin. You'll see." She put her feet over the side of the bed, standing up before tugging me along with her into the bathroom. She found the test, handing it to me before turning to leave. "It'll be okay, little sister. I promise."
Okay. Okay. You can do it, Rin. Just pee on the stick. No big deal. Nothing to worry about. Whatever happens, happens. I glanced down at the pregnancy test, really wondering for the first time if it was truly possible. A baby? A perfect combination of Sesshomaru and myself? I thought of a beautiful child, as beautiful as Sesshomaru, running around and playing with both of us. In my mind our baby had long silver hair, tiny dog ears and markings on his face, just like his father. The image made me smile to myself. Suddenly, a baby didn't sound bad at all.