Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of it's characters and I do not intend to gain any kind of retribution for this work of fanfiction.
This little piece is set on the Reunion AU, which has a story of its own and after "The Bed" that is the first chapter here.
I hope this is of your liking and thank you for reading!
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The Promise
"Did you seriously just thought that you could tell him that, and that I would have to say 'Okay'?" Kagome yelled at the hanyou sitting on the bed in their bedroom.
"I didn't mean to say it like that!" He explained with his ears flattened.
"Oh! Of course! How can I forget?! Your nine year old son made you say it!"
"Hey! You make me sound like an idiot." One of his ears flicked as he turned to her.
Kagome only stared at him with narrowed eyes and he could almost hear her inside his head. "You are an idiot."
"You didn't want me to tell him that? I just told him that if he didn't have a sibling by his next birthday he could have a dog!"
Kagome sighed and sat beside him. "I still have no idea what kind of conversation would make you promise something like that to Asahi... I can get the sibling, he's been asking for one since you came home the first time. And he has always wanted a dog!" She left her body fall backwards with a heavy sigh and pulled him to her by his arm.
Inuyasha stopped and leveled in the fact she had said 'came home' when talking about the moment he finally met his son. When the possibility of having a family became something real for him.
"I don't want to have a dog!" she whined with her eyes closed.
Inuyasha chuckled and turned to the side, propping his head on his arm. "Too late to say that... Around... ten years late to say that," he said with a smirk. That turned into a full smile when she mirrored his posture and threw an arm on his chest.
"Alright... I don't want that kind of dog." She told him, opening one eye to peek at his amused face. "Lose that smile, you're the one in trouble here!"
His head dipped forward to peck her forehead, "I don't think so."
Kagome was tired and as soon as she had fallen on her bed, things had started to drift into the background as she felt increasingly sleepy. Now that she was falling asleep while curled around his body, she found it easy to drift further as she nuzzled his neck with her nose. Working had been to hectic lately and she was feeling exhausted at the end of the day. Kagome pulled herself closer to him as she focused on his words.
"Wait... why not?" she mumbled against his chest.
He pulled back enough to see her face, still hugging her by the waist.
"Because his birthday was last month so we have eleven left to give him a brother or sister..."
Kagome shook her head but couldn't help to smile at his happy tone. Things were too easy in his head.
"Still, it's not okay to promise him things on situations like that... I know we decided to have another baby, but just how did you end up promising something so weird?"
He rolled on to his back pulling her with him, leaving half of her body on top of him with her head resting on his shoulder.
"We were in the park playing... with a ball-not fetching, don't laugh Kagome."
"Sorry, sorry... Not laughing, see? Not laughing."
"So we were playing and I got bored and told him to sit for a while. He didn't want to and when he sat beside me he told me that if he had a brother or sister he could play with them when I didn't want to. And I told him that siblings weren't just for that. Then he jumped to having a big dog to play with. I told him that we were not adopting a dog." Inuyasha let out a sigh. "Then I have no idea what happened until I was promising that."
Kagome laughed loudly. "So basically your son played you..."
"No he didn't." His tone was pouty and he was looking away from her, making her laugh harder.
They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying each other's presence. Kagome started to draw imaginary forms on his chest and inuyasha was playing with her hair when she broke the silence again.
"What if this time it's more difficult?" her words were almost a whisper.
"Eh?"
"What if we have problems having another baby? We are not young anymore..."
Inuyasha scoffed. "Thirty is not old age Kagome..."
"I know, I know but we are not teenagers anymore. What if it's more difficult this time. What if we can't?"
"Hey! Don't go there!"
"But look how much Miroku and Sango had to do to have Ichiro... The already had the twins but it took them almost three years of trying! And they had medical help."
Inuyasha put his other hand around her and pulled her until she was fully on top of him and he could see her face. She placed her chin on his chest and waited for whatever he was going to say with his serious face.
"I get it, but THEY also had problems to conceive the girls. And if we need help-that I don't think we'll need- we'll get help. There's nothing wrong with that." One of his brows arched and he smirked. "But just think about it, Kagome. We made Asahi on our first try..."
Kagome slapped his chest playfully. "We weren't trying..."
His smirk became a full grin. "Exactly my point."
"You make it sound so easy..." she sighed as she rested her cheek on his chest.
"It should be easy... at least easier for you than the last time." He glared at the ceiling. "This time I will be here, and I'll do everything I can and..."
"I know, I know...Its just that... You weren't there last time and..."
"But I will! I will be here!" He repeated with a hint of barely contained desperation in his voice.
Kagome nodded and stretched her hands to cup his face, making him look at her. "I know you will. And I wasn't blaming you for anything... it's just that you didn't SEE me during the whole process."
"What are you talking about?" Inuyasha frowned at her when she found a very interesting pattern on their bedsheet..
"I mean... I got big. Balloon kind of big... you just didn't see me like that." She mumbled and Inuyasha was sure that the only reason why he understood was because of his ears, the same ones that flattened at her words.
Kagome continued with an even softer voice "I've seen your face when you look at my stretch mar-"
Her words came to a sudden halt when a growling Inuyasha turned around, leaving him on top of her and with his snarling face in front of hers.
A couple of growling breaths were needed before he could form words, and as he breathed slowly his face lost it's anger and Kagome was able to see the hurt behind them "Inuyasha... what is...? Why are you upset?" Another growl made her stop talking.
"Why? Why?" He huffed, still glaring at her.
The feeling of his clawed hands pulling the hem of the oversized shirt she was wearing drew her attention. One of the two only pieces of clothing she wore at night. The shirt he forgot at home one time when they weren't living together yet, that had officially become hers after he saw her wearing it.
Inuyasha pulled the shirt over her head and off her arms then leaned back to face her. She could see how upset he was. With tingling sensations, she wondered where this was heading. She had a hope but with him she was never sure.
"You think I look at you with disgust?" He asked with a ragged voice.
Kagome stared at his face and cupped his cheeks with her hands. "I didn't say that. I just think that my body doesn't look like it did before I had Asahi... and stretch marks are not cute."
He stared at her for a long time without saying anything. The only sound inside the room was the vibration in his chest. It was not the sound she was used to hearing from him when they were in that kind of position.
Inuyasha opened his lips and looked like he was trying to speak. He closed them and tried again. "First of all, I don't really know how you looked like before," he shook his head slightly, "I was way too drunk to pay attention to that. Second..." another contained growl came out of him, "They are part of you! Every single mark and freckle and... I-"
"Ok... Maybe you don't hate them but I know you don't like them! And you don't have to... I sure don't."
Inuyasha growled again, but it sounded more like a groan. His body moved lower until his face was at the level of the stretch marks she had on her belly, just above her hips.
"These bother me-" He started to say but before he finished his sentence her hands shot to cover herself. "Kagome, don't do that and let me explain."
Kagome shook his head and tightened her hold on her hips. "No! I don't want to hear how ugly they are!" She closed her eyes tightly and tears started to fall, "And you have no idea how they looked just after the pregnancy. This is the cute, softened-by-time look of a stretch mark..."
"Take your hands off." His voice was serious and he laced their hands together and pulled them away from her body. "I'm bothered by the marks, not because of how they look." He looked at her as he let go of one, then he traced a few of the marks on her belly, sending shivers all over her body.
"These marks are the reminder of everything you did on your own, of everything that I missed." He treaced the longest one as he kept speaking, "Every single one tells me about the moments you were alone. And the pain that could have been avoided."
Kagome was sobbing by the time he finished talking. She felt his other hand going to her hips, where he kissed each of the visible marks there allowing his fingertips to travel up to the sides of her breast where she still had a few less noticeable marks too.
"When I see this I can only think of the moments you needed someone and I wasn't there..."
She cupped his face again and pulled him close until his tormented eyes made contact with hers.
"I don't blame you for not being here..." she whispered before pecking the tip of his nose.
He gave her a soft smile before going back to his serious face. "I know you don't, but that doesn't mean I don't... If only I had not ran away, If I had resisted a couple of months more his pressure, I would have been here when you looked for me. I would have BEEN here for you... for Asahi" His eyes became unfocused as he kept talking and Kagome wondered if he was telling that to her or to himself. "I would know every story. Every single important thing. I would have supported you. I would have been there to help you with the morning sickness, rubbing your back. When you first felt him moving... When your belly got so big that getting out of bed was difficult, it would have been me the one who pulled you up, not your brother. Being there when Asahi first opened his eyes. His first words. His first steps..." he let out a bitter laugh, and Kagome wanted to cry at the lost and sad look on his face. "Even his first tantrum-"
Kagome had started to nuzzle his cheek, going down to his neck, "But now you are here," she left a kiss on his crook of his neck, "To experience the rest of our firsts," Another kiss, this time on his neck, "and to be with me with the new baby..." a kiss to his jaw, "And see how I turn into a beached whale," He huffed in disagreement as she left another kiss on his cheek before looking at his face, "You can be in charge of the night work when the baby comes."
And then she kissed him in that way that made him forget what they were talking about.
-.-.-.-.-
Seven months and two weeks later Kagome stood at the entrance of their room, beside her eldest son and looked at Inuyasha sitting on their bed, with his back resting against the headboard, looking completely oblivious to the rest of the world.
"Mom, I'm going to bed."
Kagome look down and ruffled Asahi's hair before following the boy to the room and tucking him in.
"Mom..."
"Yes, baby."
He fiddled with his covers before frowning and looking up, with a face that was too much like his dad. "You don't need to tuck me in anymore... I'm a big brother now! I can do it alone."
Kagome sat on the bed and stroked his little head. He was growing up so fast, and looking like his dad a little more every day.
"But I want to do that for my big baby."
"I'm not a baby!" He declared with a pouty face.
"I know! You are my big boy... but I like to do this. Can I do it if I miss coddling my big boy?"
Asahi tilted his head for a moment before answering, "Keh! If you want to..."
Kagome shook her head and kissed the boy on his cheek and walked away. She was about to turn off the light when she heard Asahi's hesitant whisper.
"Mom, dad will still play with me, right?"
"Of course he will, baby. Why do you ask?"
"Because... he is always busy now. And he always has a baby with him!"
She was back on his bed by the time her son stopped talking. "It's just that he is just figuring out how to be a daddy for a baby..." Asahi tilted his head again. "Remember how he was when he came home the first times?"
Asahi grinned at her and chuckled.
"You do! He didn't know what to do and he was nervous, remember?"
Asahi nodded. "He thought giving me cake for dinner was good."
Kagome shook her head again. "Yes, he did. And remember how he got the hang of it after spending time with you?"
The boy nodded, and she smiled back at him. "He is just doing the same again... learning how to be around babies. And if you want daddy to spend time with you, tell him!"
Asahi didn't look so convinced.
"I'm sure dad will say yes. He always wants to play with you..."
"Really?"
"Yes! I think he misses spending time with you, and going places with you. And just being with you. I promise."
"You promise?"
"Yes!"
Asahi nodded slowly and Kagome kissed one of his ears. "Now, go to bed. You can play with daddy tomorrow."
Kagome walked to her room, feeling the pressure on her breasts that let her know it was time to breastfeed.
"I think it's time for mommy time." She announced at the same time she reached the door frame. And just as she suspected, Inuyasha was still immersed in his little word.
His golden eyes were moving back and forth between the babies' heads, one on each arm. "They are so tiny..."
Kagome climbed on their bed and sat beside him. "I know. Asahi was bigger than this little lady here."
She took the little baby girl from her father's arm and brought it to her chest.
Kagome had decided to start using a different night shirt now that she had to nurse the babies more than once each night, and pulling his-now-her shirt over her head was too much hassle.
As the baby fed, Kagome looked at Inuyasha staring at the little boy. The baby was starting to bat his arms and move his head around, and both parents knew their little bundle of joy was telling them that in just a couple of minutes he would be starting to cry for food, too.
"The doctor said they were too small..." Inuyasha said carefully stroking the boy's little black floppy ear, causing it to flick.
"For human babies. Don't forget that..." she stroked the back of Inuyasha's head and neck. Since the doctor told them it was not possible to carry them to term, Inuyasha had been worrying about them. Thinking about what could happen to them later on for being born too early.
"But we don't have human babies..." She pulled his face until he was looking at her. "Thanks to who and what their father is, they are healthy babies now!"
He blinked a couple of times before he smiled and dipped his head down to give her a tender kiss. "They are fighters like their mom."
Kagome pecked him back and smirked at him. "Just take care of the little one."
Inuyasha nodded and went back to distract the baby from his hunger. Satsuki was not easy to fool and those grey-almost-silver eyes stared at his father as if he knew what he was trying to do.
She looked at the baby happily suckling on her breast. With her barely visible silver hair on her head and her half closed blue-almost-grey eyes. Kagome smiled stroking Izayoi's little back. Those eyes resembled Asahi's when he was born, but his had been scarily blue. Kagome smiled softly thinking about everything that happened during the last year.
The pregnancy hadn't been easy, and it had been unexpectedly different than Asahi's. It had taken a bigger toll on her body. It told her without a doubt she was not nineteen anymore. And Inuyasha had been eager to help her with every single pregnancy-related situation.
If she was having morning sickness and threw up almost all day until she only had stomach bile left to vomit, he was there rubbing her back. Even if the smell of vomit made him dizzy.
If her feet, back, hips or even breasts hurt, he was there to gently massage her.
If she suddenly wanted chocolate chip cookies with rice at three in the morning, he was there to start with the rice and then run to get the cookies.
When she was petrified by the doctor's explanation about how the placenta was separating and he recommended a early delivery, he was there to hug her and support her through the process. To tell her everything would be alright and despite everything the doctor said could go wrong, it would be alright. And just as he said, everything turn out just right.
And now he was there to take care of them during the night, every time, just like he promised.
After both babies had eaten and he was placing the boy in their crib, Inuyasha turned to Kagome with a playful smile on his face. "Look!"
"At what?" She answered distractedly as she pulled the covers away to lay down.
"This is what happens when we actually try to have a baby."
Kagome looked at him and chuckled, Inuyasha had his arms pointing at both of the sleeping babies proving his point with a playful grin. "I can't believe you just said that."
He shrugged before turning the lights off and walking to her waiting open arms and holding her close to his body, making the soft rumbling sound that she liked before he whispered in her ear. "It's just the truth... And you know what?"
Kagome was busy nuzzling his neck to form a complete word. "Mmhmm?"
"We don't need to get a dog now... but a friend of work tis giving akita puppies for adoption..."
The End.
A/N:
Thank you for reading!
This was a super self-indulgent chapter and just a scene I had in my head when a friend of mine came up with a writing challenge.
Thank you for staying with me during this story and to those who leave a review or a like, thank you for taking the time :D
Love,
Nanna.
P.S. I know, I know I'm gonna focus on finishing Soulmates now.