"Your plan is idiotic," Sesshomaru says, coolly as he strolls into the dojo. He's wearing his old outfit from the feudal era, minus the spiky armor piece. His mokomoko trails behind him.
Kagome scowls and gives Shippo the look. The look all moms instinctively have. The kind of look that conveys how much trouble their child is in. And right now. Shippo is in so much trouble, it will take nothing short of him bringing Satoru home to soothe things over.
"What plan?" Yuta asks, stretching his arms and then twirling his sword with one hand. He rolls his shoulders back and takes a fighting stance. His dark hair highlights how pale his skin is.
Sesshomaru looks over at Yuta and then blurs out of view. Kagome's heart jumps to her throat as she throws her hands up. A pink barrier envelopes her and Shippo right as Sesshomaru's claws make contact. She gulps and tries to calm her breathing as Sesshomaru inspects his smoking hand.
"Your plan is idiotic. I can hear how fast your heart is beating. The barrier is fine, but only if you can maintain the concentration to keep it up." He pulls out his sword and dashes to Yuta, who barely blocks the attack.
Kagome bites her tongue as her hands drop to rub her stomach, soothing the twins. There's a pulse and her barrier dissipates into a shimmering glitter of pink. Shippo leans forward and picks up a crystal.
"Do your barriers always do this?"
Kagome swallows the lump in her throat and nudges her heart to go back to its rightful place in her chest. "N-no, that's not normal."
She rubs her stomach again. The pulse returns and her cheeks warm. She pats her face. Did the room get warmer?
"Wonder which twin is doing that," Shippo says with a whistle.
"Twins?" Yuta grunts out, falling to one knee as he blocks another attack. "Kagome-san, you're having twins?"
"Focus on me," Sesshomaru says, lifting his sword and spraying acid at Yuta. Yuta rolls to the side and gapes at the hole in the floor where he was just at. "Too slow." Mokomoko grabs a hold of Yuta and dangles him upside down.
Kagome grimaces. Sesshomaru can be quite brutal sometimes. "What if he didn't dodge that last attack?" Her stomach flip flops. Ughhhh, the smell of acid makes her want to hurl. The smell dances across her nostrils and travels down her cavity, settling on her tastebuds.
"Then he'd be dead."
Yuta makes a choked noise and then is promptly thrown into a wall.
"Get up."
"I'm fine right here," Shippo sing-songs. "I like my ass where it is."
"No, you should go." Kagome plucks the crystal out of Shippo's hand and nudges him forward.
"But mama! I didn't even do anything."
"You ratted me out."
"He beat it out of me. Where is the compassion?" Shippo sniffles, but the motion is exaggerated and not at all sincere. He rubs at his eyes with his fists, but no tears come out.
"Priestess, you are too far along to be putting yourself and the pups at risk. If you insist on helping, send a shikigami in your stead." Sesshomaru hits Shippo with his whip.
"This is as bad as training with Gojo-sensei," Yuta complains, dusting his shirt off. "Shit!" He dodges the green whip and lets out a sigh.
Kagome feels a tiny bit sorry for him.
"What's going on—OW! You son of a bitch!" InuYasha shakes one fist while palming his face with his other hand. Splat! Blood hits the floor, and Sesshomaru looks far too smug. "I wasn't fucking ready for you to attack me!"
"Because you're an idiot," Sesshomaru says, brushing his hair back, before flinging an attack at Yuta and Shippo.
"Ummm, maybe we should go back," Yuji says, taking a seat next to Kagome. Megumi grunts.
"How are you doing, Nanami-San?" Kagome tucks the crystal into her hoodie pocket—okay, Satoru's hoodie.
"Better thanks to you." Nanami crosses his arms and leans against the wall. "So, this is the strength of a demon?"
"A little. Sesshomaru's being pretty nice to them."
"NICE!" Megumi and Yuji exclaim.
"Sesshomaru-sama, will you be participating in the culling games then?" Yuji asks.
"This Sesshomaru cares not for what happens to humans." He blocks an attack from Yuta, kicks Shippo into InuYasha, and then drops low to sweep Yuta off his feet, and rams his claws into Yuta's gut. "Heal yourself. We will finish this after dinner."
"A-after dinner?" Yuta squeaks out, as his blood stains the floor.
"However," Sesshomaru continues, sheathing his sword. "The imprisonment of one of my own cannot go unpunished."
"I'll go," InuYasha says, pushing Shippo off of him.
"Sorry," Yuji interrupts, "but when you say the imprisonment of one of your own…"
"He's talking about Satoru, sweetie." Kagome pats Yuji's head. "Satoru is my mate, which makes him pack."
"Which means we can't let this go unchecked. Yada, yada, yada." Shippo mimics puppets with his hands as he rolls his green eyes. "Permission to kill the higher ups now? I appoint myself as the next lead."
"Granted, and no."
"Why not?" Shippo whines, tail drooping.
"I'd sooner put the wolf in charge." Sesshomaru holds out his bloody hand and steam rises, leaving behind a clean hand. "Kagome."
"Ohhh no," Kagome says, as she crosses her legs to get more comfortable. "I'm gonna be far too busy with these kiddos to be making those kinds of decisions." She sucks in a breath, closes her eyes, and imagines two shikigami. It doesn't hurt to try, even though Sesshomaru's words sting.
"Kagome, what the fuck are you doing?"
She peeks open one eye and then the other in shock at two large eggs in front of her. Talk about the world's most useless shikigami. Freaking eggs. Her shoulders slump as she blows a breath.
Megumi rises and hoards the eggs in front of him as he takes his place next to Kagome.
Kagome blinks slowly at Megumi. They might be the world's most useless shikigami, but they're her eggs, dang it!
"Where's Nobara?" she asks.
"Back at Jujutsu High with everyone else. She wanted to learn more about soul stuff from Yuki-san. Jaken is with her, so I guess she'll be back." Yuji scratches his cheek. "Speaking of which…is it alright for my brother to come here?"
"You have a brother?" Kagome's brows furrow together. Yuji never once mentioned a brother the entire time he was staying with her and Satoru.
"Yeah…. I didn't know about him either."
POP!
"Eggs aren't supposed to pop," Yuta comments, holding his stomach.
"Nothing about this place is normal," Nanami mutters.
Kagome ignores them and tilts her body towards Megumi, who refuses to take his eyes off the eggs. The eggs shake.
POP!
A hand pushes through the shell. A leg through the other.
"We're all gonna die," Yuji exclaims. "This is like the making of a horror movie."
A head pops through and Yuji makes a cry that sounds like he's croaking. Big blue eyes stare unblinking at Megumi. Another leg pops out of the other egg and it takes off, running into a wall.
Kagome purses her lips together as she scratches her nose. Great, not only are her shikigami useless, but they're stupid too. She sighs as she struggles to get up off the ground. It's like her stomach grew overnight.
"You can barely get up and you think you really going into battle?" Sesshomaru states as if she asked him for his so unhelpful opinion.
"I'm trying your plan, aren't I?" She slaps her hand on her leg as she walks over to the flailing egg. "It's okay, just calm down," she soothes, rubbing the egg. It shakes and a head full of black hair and the fuzziest cat like ears where normal ears would be, emerges.
"Kagome-san…did you just give birth?"
"You're a dumbass," Shippo chortles. "Since when do humans lay eggs?"
"I've seen some shit!" Yuji exclaims. "Give me a break here."
Kagome helps the shikigami break out of its egg. To be honest, she was expecting something like a phoenix. Not something that resembles a cat girl. She turns her head and blinks at the sight of Megumi, holding a similar cat girl shikigami with white hair.
That's different. She reaches her hand out to the dark-haired one and grabs its hand. Maybe she should name them? Ugh, but she sucks at names. Sesshomaru dashes past her. The hairs on the back of her neck stand. Is he charging at Megumi?
There's a pink light and Sesshomaru is pushed back. The white-haired shikigami in Megumi's arm glares at Sesshomaru. Her nose wrinkles in distaste as the barrier dissipates.
"Megumi-kun," Kagome says, "I know you like to collect things…but that isn't a pet." She frowns. Pet doesn't seem like the right word to use, but these are still shikigami, even if they look more human than others.
Megumi's cheeks turn pink. "I wasn't—" A white smoke cloud appears where the Shikigami was and a white cat with the largest ears possible takes its place. On its back are small wings and it has one long tail like that of a lion.
Kagome clucks her tongue and looks at the other one, who bats its pretty blue eyes up at her. "Can you do that too?" A nod. She huffs. Of course it can and Megumi is already eyeing this one to add to his collection. Buyo Jr. leaps out of Megumi's shadow and puffs up his tails.
Oh boy.
"You know what, guys, I'm just gonna take a nap." Kagome shakes her head as walks towards the door. Nanami calls out to her. She stops and waits for him to ask whatever is on his mind. A series of emotions flit across his face before settling on something akin to acceptance.
"You and Gojo," he says. He pauses, contemplating his words.
She and Satoru what?
"Sukuna has already revealed that you are a priestess," Nanami says. "And considering that demons exist…Did you really fall out of the sky into Gojo's lap?"
Sukuna knows? Well, she hasn't been that subtle. Whatever. "Yep! I was checking out something back at home and the next thing I knew, I was falling. And I've been with Satoru ever since."
Nanami's mouth drops. "He was telling the truth," he mutters in shock.
"How many years have you guys been together?" Yuji asks.
"…Years? It hasn't even been a year." Kagome chuckles. Hasn't been a year, and she's knocked up.
"For fuck's sake," InuYasha groans.
"You mean for fox's sake," Shippo chastises. "You gotta watch your language around the baby shikigami. What if they pick up your bad habits?"
"How about I shove this sword up your ass?"
"First of all, I top. Second—"
"Guys, be quiet for a second," Megumi interrupts as he pulls his ringing phone out of his pocket. Buyo Jr. continues to paw at the cat like shikigami, who paws back with kitten like wonder.
Kagome shakes her head and tries to head back out so she can take a much needed nap, but the distress in Megumi's voice stops her. She walks over to him, abandoning all thoughts of getting some rest. "What's wrong?"
He swallows. Buyo Jr. must sense the urgency of the situation because he brushes his head against Megumi's.
"Megumi, what's wrong?" Kagome asks again, this time softer. She prays that there haven't been any new developments regarding Tsumiki. Whoever took her is most likely keeping her safe to get Megumi to join these culling games. At least she prays Tsumiki is safe.
"It's Maki. She went to the Zenin estate to get some weapons that they took from jujutsu high. I gave her permission as clan leader."
"Is she dead?" Yuji questions, face grim.
"No. But Mai tried to kill her. Mai is saying Maki attacked her first. Not sure what is going on, but Naoya-san is insisting I come down there as clan leader and sort it out." He sighs. "And he won't tell me where either of them are, unless I bring Kagome-san with me because he wants to talk to you."
"Who?" Kagome scratches her head. Who the hell is Naoya? "What does he look like? And if you're the clan leader now, then he shouldn't be playing games with you." She wrinkles her nose as Megumi and Yuji explain who Naoya is and what he looks like.
This Naoya guy does sound familiar.
Oh. Shit.
That guy.
"He doesn't want to talk to me. He's probably still smarting over me slapping him for his disrespectful comments. And he knows I'm with Satoru because Satoru confronted him."
"The priestess is not going," Sesshomaru states. "Shippo will accompany you. Kill those you see fit. These sorcerers are becoming tiresome."
"Yes, milord," Shippo jokes, playfully saluting Sesshomaru. "Might mess around and wipe out the whole clan. Sorry, Gumi."
"So, we're going to force him to talk, then?" Megumi asks.
"Nah, I mean he wants to see mama so badly." Shippo's tail wags behind him in slow, measured strokes as though he just found something he wants to sink his teeth into. Kagome can't find it in her to care one way or the other if this Naoya guy ends up dead. She wants Satoru back. She wants Tsumiki back. And she really, really wants to take a nap.
"We can't take Kagome-san there," Megumi points out.
"Give me some credit here. I am a fox, after all. The real question is, should Naoya get to have a meeting with mama or papa?"
"Gojo-sensei isn't here."
"He's here in my heart." Shippo sniffs. "Mama, do you give me permission to do unspeakable things in your likeness and image?"
"I should say no." She motions for the other shikigami in Megumi's arms. It reluctantly leaves Megumi's arms and leaps to her shoulder. "But I'm too tired to care. Take one of the girls before you go. They should be able to help if need be."
"YES!" Shippo fist pumps the air and throws an arm around Yuta, who grins like he just found all his favorite items replaced with coal. "We ride out in twenty."
The white shikigami meows, and Kagome nods her head in acceptance. There goes her shikigami. It nuzzles her face and then rushes back to Megumi's arms. The dark-haired one tugs on her hoodie. She smiles softly at it.
She should name them. Something cool? Or something just nice?
"We aren't killing anyone, right?" Megumi asks.
"Do what needs to be done," Sesshomaru says. He walks over to stand by Kagome. "I will escort the priestess back to her room. Human, clean your blood off the floor." Sesshomaru escorts her out of the dojo and down to her bedroom, which is way on the other side of the estate. "We will get our mate back. Do not be rash."
Kagome dips her head, cheeks burning. "I feel useless. I should be able to do something."
"You just created two shikigami, one of which whom could create a barrier to repel this Sesshomaru. You are not useless."
"…Thanks, Sesshomaru." She blinks. Her eyes prickle with tears that want to fall. Damn her emotions for being so haywire. "I just want him—them, back."
"And they will. This Sesshomaru will see to it. Stop crying, it is unbecoming."
She barks out a laugh. The dark-haired shikigami squeezes her hand. Everything is going to be fine. It has to be.
A/N: Merry Christmas! I hope you have been having a wonderful and gentle holiday season. I was originally going to answer some questions, but that will have to wait until the next update.
It was brought to my attention that this story and maybe others have been getting some hate on social media. I just want to encourage anyone that wants to create, that there is an audience out there for you. There is an audience for all of us. Honestly, in all avenues of life, there will be people who do not like you and do not like your work, and that is okay. So, if there is something out there that you have been hesitant to do because you are afraid of what others might say, ignore them. Go for it. I promise there is an audience, a community out there for each and every one of us.
Stay encouraged. Stay hydrated. Be kind to yourself. And...I'm honestly shocked it wasn't a smut scene that set those people off LOL. Next update will most likely be Wish I Could since Geto is determined to have this smut scene. I won't spoil too much, but it's different from the other smut I have written. Take care of yourselves!