"Why didn't you choose me?"
Kagome cuts her eyes at InuYasha and sets her morning tea down. It helps with the sudden onset of nausea she's been experiencing since Satoru has been back. "InuYasha, you can't be serious."
His ears droop. "You said you would always choose me."
"I said I would always be by your side, which I can do as a friend. But I can't keep that promise if you keep pushing for more when you know I'm with Satoru. I'm not leaving him." Kagome covers her mouth with her hand. Her stomach lurches. Oh, this is the worst. Can't they just get past this? Is she going to be nauseous for the entire pregnancy? Please no. She can hear Satoru now, telling her to just stay in bed and leave everything up to him, and then Sesshomaru will double down and tell her to listen to her mate.
Funny how those two get along when it comes to keeping her in the house.
"That's not what you meant back then." He stands quickly and paces the room. "You said you would be with me. And I'm here now, but you're still..." He drags a hand down his face. "You chose a human over me."
She shakes her head. No, that's not it. It's not because Satoru is human. "I'm with Satoru because he's Satoru. That's it. Has nothing to do with him being human." Kagome pushes the chair out and stands. Speaking of Satoru, she needs to track him down. The tea is not working. InuYasha is picking a fight for no reason, and... she dry heaves. Kami, this is the worst. The longer InuYasha stands here picking a fight with her, the worse she feels.
"Shit. Are you okay?"
"Fine," she says, through clenched teeth. She retches again. "Can you get Satoru?" Kagome grips the back of the chair and then pulls it back out. On second thought, maybe she should sit down. She lies her head on the table and breathes out of her mouth. At this rate, Satoru won't need to tell her to stay in bed. She won't have a choice. Ugh, and she was doing so good earlier and then InuYasha had to come in to the dining room and start up again. She should have known. InuYasha is a fighter. He's steadfast, and he doesn't give up, but he needs to give up on them.
Kagome inhales and then breathes out of her mouth once more. Better, but not enough.
"Fuck. Okay. Just hold on!" InuYasha rushes out of the dining hall. A moment later, Satoru flashes in front of her.
"What's wrong?" He squats down next to her and pushes her bangs back. Kagome sighs. His hand is cold. That feels nice. "Kagome?"
"M'better now." Not really. Her stomach is a mess of knots, and her throat is tight, but seeing Satoru is nice. She likes looking at him.
"Flare your energy," Sesshomaru says. Kagome grunts. She would turn her head to look at him, but even that takes too much energy. Satoru's brows pinch together, but he flares his energy all the same.
Oh.
"Do you feel better now?"
Kagome lifts her head and looks at her stomach. "Surprisingly, yes." So that's how it's going to be? Satoru caresses her stomach. His shoulders relax. In a split of a second, one flare of Satoru's energy got rid of the nausea. Why did she even bother with the horrid tasting tea?
"I'll take you to Shoko."
"No, I don't think she needs to check me out." Kagome glances at Sesshomaru. "How'd you know about the energy?"
"It is what demons do to calm our young." He stares at them for a moment. "This Sesshomaru wasn't sure if it would work considering you both are human, but..." He shrugs one shoulder. "Your mate doesn't act like a typical human."
Satoru grunts. "I thought the second trimester is supposed to be easier."
"Is it?" Kagome shrugs one shoulder. "It just came back recently." She worries her bottom lip between her teeth. "I'm fine when you're near. This might be your fault," she jokes.
Satoru doesn't smile. He keeps his hand on her stomach.
"Satoru?"
"I want you to tell me if you get nauseous later today. We need to monitor it. See how long they can go without feeling my energy." His eyes darken. Kagome presses her thighs together.
Not the time. Not the time.
"Tend to your mate," Sesshomaru says. "We will resume our discussion when you are done." Sesshomaru walks out of the dining hall. Kagome scratches her cheek.
"What discussion?"
Satoru reaches for her and pulls her into his arms. "Planning on how to take out Sukuna and Kenjaku, the sorcerer who took over my best friend's body." He kisses her forehead. "Utahime's curse technique is more support based, so one option is to use her technique to boost mine."
Kagome frowns. What is wrong with her? Satoru and Sesshomaru were talking about how to get rid of Sukuna and she's stuck on someone else giving him a boost.
"What's with the face? I'm not leaving you. We'll kill Sukuna and Kenjaku and then we'll rebuild jujutsu society."
"It's not that..." Kagome blows out a breath and averts her eyes. "I know you'll come back to me. I'd haunt you if you didn't."
"But," he prods.
"I don't want anyone giving you a boost." She peers up at him. "I can do that."
Satoru stops. "You can give me a boost?" He swallows. "Gome-chan, I don't want you anywhere near the battlefield."
"I don't need to be near it. I can do it right now."
"Please don't have sex in the middle of the hallway," Shippo says. Kagome startles. Where did Shippo come from? Next to him, Megumi's face is pink, and Yuta looks exasperated. Shippo must be putting those two through it.
Oh!
"Yuta, I almost forgot. I have something for you. It's in the bedroom."
"So, you guys weren't about to do it right now?" Shippo jokes.
"No, I was talking about amplifying Satoru's powers."
"OHHH!" Shippo nods his head. "Yeah, that's like Mama's thing." He rubs his chin. "The Shikon is a part of you now, right?" At Kagome's nod, Shippo continues. "And it likes Papa, which may or may not be something to worry about, but you could do some impressive numbers with that."
"What's the Shikon?" Yuta asks. Shippo gets the door for all of them. Once inside, Satoru tightens his hold on Kagome as if he does not want to let her down.
"Basically, a wish-granting jewel that only looks out for itself. One shard of it could keep someone from dying." Shippo plops down on the small couch in front of the bed. "It can turn a half demon into a full demon. There's really nothing it can't do."
"... And this is a part of Kagome-san?"
Shippo shrugs. "More or less, I think."
Kagome heads over to the vanity and pulls out a shard. "This is not the jewel, by the way." She deposits it into Yuta's palm. "It came from a barrier I made. Figured you might want to eat it."
Yuta stares at the shard and shudders.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm not sure." He meets her gaze. "It feels so clean."
"Back up," Satoru says. "How long will the amplification last? With Utahime, certain steps need to be taken and it should amp me and any others in range up to 120% or so."
"For you? Potentially forever. And I don't need to be on the battlefield or near it for you to receive the benefits."
"We should go," Shippo says, slapping his hands on his thighs. "Come on, you two, I'm not done kicking your ass."
"But I'm curious," Yuta says. Megumi grunts. "What? We've only seen a little of what Kagome-san can do."
"Before you go," Kagome says, "I want to make sure there aren't any adverse reactions to you eating that." Not that she thinks anything will happen, but the off chance, it does not agree with Yuta's cursed energy. She wants to be around to stop it. Satoru wraps his arms around her and rests his chin on top of her head.
"Oh. Okay." Yuta chuckles as he clutches the shard. "It'll actually be Rika that does it." His shikigami appears behind him and eats the shard from his palm. "Rika?"
Rika's body glows. Pulses. Her body goes from purple to white and then back again.
Crap. Did she just kill Yuta's shikigami?
Rika shakes her head and waves Yuta off. The pulsing stops and the ends of Rika's hair are pink. Yuta holds out his hands. For a moment, nothing happens, and then a barrier forms around him. Rika smiles, flashing large canines before she fades away. At least Kagome did not kill Yuta's shikigami. Man, that would have been bad.
Shippo touches the barrier and pouts. He shakes his hand, dispelling the smoke. "Didn't think it would hurt me."
"Sorry, Shippo. Yuta must have wanted a break from you."
"How rude." Shippo crosses his arms. His tail flicks back and forth in slow strokes. "Let's go. I wanna see your shikigami up against Megumi's."
"I would, but I don't know how to get rid of the barrier."
Kagome moves out of Satoru's hold and presses a finger to the barrier. It shimmers away.
"Oh! Wow. Kagome-san, you're amazing," Yuta praises. Megumi's lip curls back. "What?"
"Stop it," Megumi says.
Kagome blinks. Is Megumi jealous that someone else got a gift from her? Megumi scoffs and turns his head away. Oh, he is. She bites her tongue. Shippo clasps a hand to Megumi and Yuta's shoulders and whisks them out of the room. The door closes and suddenly Kagome is hyper-aware of Satoru's presence.
It's just them.
Alone.
Finally.
"About this amplification," Satoru says, circling his fingers around her wrist. He leads her to the bed. "If it's going to take a lot of you, then I do not want it. Your health and their health are the only things that matters."
"It won't take anything out of me," Kagome assures him. "I know not to overdo it."
Satoru does not look convinced. He sinks to his knees and palms her stomach. "I'm serious. If it comes at a risk to you, then we aren't doing it." The Shikon pulses. Satoru pauses. "Was that..."
"No, that was the Shikon." Kagome gives him a lopsided smile. "It does like you. If it wasn't a part of me, then I'd be worried." If it were the Shikon of her world, then she'd be sweating like crazy. This Shikon does not have the same malice. She widens her legs and cups his face. Kami she wants to kiss him. She could kiss him all day. Her stomach tightens. Okay, she wants to do more than just kiss him.
Satoru raises a brow. "Are you still nauseous?"
"No." She huffs. "I'm fine."
He stands and moves her legs, so she is fully on the bed. "I don't want you overworking yourself."
Kagome glares at him. "I'm not helpless."
His shoulders droop. "Not saying you are. I just worry about you." He squeezes the back of his neck. "I was too rough with you when I got out."
Kagome rolls her eyes and pulls him forward. He catches himself. "Gome-chan," he warns.
She lifts her hips and wraps her legs around him. "Satoru," she replies. His cock is hard and heavy. "Please. I want to do it this way."
His nostrils flare as his Adam's apple bobs. His hand slides down and grips her thigh. "You drive me crazy," he admits. "Want to keep you locked away sometimes where no one else can lay eyes on you."
She doesn't need him to clarify who that no one else is.
"But you shouldn't be on your back," he says, pulling away. Satoru flips her on her side and kisses her ankle. "I love you." He tosses his shirt over his head and behind him.
Kagome swallows. She isn't sure how much time passed when he was in the realm or if he worked out when he universe hopped, but he's so much bigger now and she wants to run her tongue over every single ab. When he angles his body over hers, she raises just enough to kiss him. Her body hums with pent-up need. Her energy flares and mixes with his. She's danced around this before, never fully committing to it, but she wants to—no—she needs to now. Satoru gasps.
His eyes are blown.
Wild.
With a crooked smile, Kagome peers up at him. "I love you too."
A/N: Sukuna was supposed to be in this chapter. Guess Kagome was feeling needy and didn't want to share a chapter lolol.
Speaking of Sukuna, he may or may not be happy with his new host. Though I guess any host is better than Yuji in his mind.
We got multiverse side stories coming up and another shikigami meeting because Buyo Jr. is going through it. I'm still reading the manga so I know what's going on, but to be honest I doubt I drag the fight scenes on that long.
Next chapter, How To Tame Satoru gets to experience an energy massage.
Take care! Hope you are having a great weekend and refilling your well. Stay safe. And get plenty of rest!
