Kagome gets Pregnant: Chapter 1

The Characters of Inuyasha (manga and anime) belong to Takahashi-san

Kagome gets Pregnant

 

 

<@>

 

“Papa?” a voice echoed in Inuyasha’s head.

“Papa?” he wondered who it was. It sounded young, like a little kid, like a confused little kid that kept calling him ‘papa’.

“Papa?” it was louder now, only this time he felt something tug on his hakama. Or at least, what looked like his hakama. Inuyasha looked down further still, and to his surprise, found someone who eerily looked like Shippou staring back at him. His hair was black instead of orange and a lot shorter, yet his eyes remained the same shade of green, and he wore clothes that were similar to the ones Souta would usually wear. Admittedly, Inuyasha thought that this boy in front of him gave him a peculiar feeling, mostly in his stomach. He then looked at himself and found he was not wearing any of his usual clothing. The top part was much too short for his liking as a lot of his arm was showing, and he found it strange how the fabric was not as loose as his fire-rat haori or his inner kimono. The bottom half was no better. It was dark blue, hugged him all over his legs, and the fabric was starting to make him feel itchy. To top it all off, he had on a red wrap thing tied around his neck and waist with lettering he had never seen before, but he hoped it was some form of swear word, because that was what he wanted to do right now.

‘Shippou’ tugged at his jeans again. “Papa, are you alright? I’ve been calling you for so long. Or were you daydreaming again?”

Inuyasha finally found his voice and answered. “I wasn’t daydreaming,” he hesitated, “Shippou? Are you really Shippou?”

The little boy laughed. “Of course I am, papa. I have been living here for twelve years. I’d like to think you would know me by now.”

“I’m not really sure now.” What the hell was going on? And how was it that he never knew about all this? Had he been left in the dark for twelve years, without even knowing that this kid in front of him was possibly his son? Another question popped into his mind. Who then was the mother?

As if on cue, Shippou’s mouth broadened into a smile and he ran out of the kitchen to greet the person who had apparently entered the front doorway. How Inuyasha knew this, he had no idea, so he shrugged his shoulders and continued to do whatever he was doing. Automatically, one of his hands began a stirring motion, mixing a strange liquidly mixture with a pair of chopsticks. He tasted it. He nodded his head in approval. He picked up a sharp knife and started chopping the vegetables with speed and precision. He then went over to the stove to taste the broth he had made earlier. Perfect…

Inuyasha sighed in relief knowing that his preparations for tonight’s dinner were going ahead on schedule. He looked around again, and realised what he had just done.

“What the hell was that all about?” Had he been…cooking? Something caught his eye and he spun around. “Fuck.” The fish had not been prepared yet. Walking over to the bench, he began to do just that. So absorbed in his task, the hanyou did not notice the figure looming behind him, until it was too late.

A pair of arms snaked around him with such lightening speed that it caused him to shout out in fright, the force propelling the fish, with half of its guts coming out, towards the kitchen ceiling where it bounced off to land on the floor. He then heard someone giggling behind him and he quickly turned around to face the person who dared to interrupt him. But he gasped instead when he found a woman standing before him. There was something familiar about this woman, yet he wasn’t sure what it was. She was certainly very beautiful, especially her blue-grey eyes.

“Ka-Kagome…?”

She smiled, making his heart stop for a few seconds.

“Why yes, I am.” She brought her arms around his waist and then to his back, sending tingles down his spine. “Are you feeling all right? I’ve never seen you jump like that before.”

“I don’t know. You tell me, Kagome. I’m wearing clothes that I don’t even know the names of. I’m cooking when I know that I’ve never done this kind of thing before. And…and…,” he pointed to the boy who was standing in the doorway. “That brat over there keeps calling me papa. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Of course you do.” She replied, kissing him gently on the lips. “You look stressed out. I’m not surprised, since you keep insisting that you should clean the house and shrine every day, and cook a gourmet meal every single night. I can have rice, pickles and soup every once in a while, you know.” Kagome then took his hand and dragged him into their bedroom and closed the shoji door behind her.

“But, I’m not sleepy.” Inuyasha yawned.

“Yes, you are.” She replied, kissing him again.

“Are you sure, you’re Kagome?” He asked, finding his own lips starting to move against hers. “Because the Kagome I know, wouldn’t…well…you know—”

“Kiss you in front of everybody? Shippou isn’t everybody.” She finished while her arms gently brought Inuyasha down closer towards her and onto their large bed.

“…yeah,” his eyes started to droop, and soon he was fast asleep, dreaming about how warm the woman’s body was against his –

Inuyasha suddenly woke up. Stunned, he looked around his surroundings and found that he was back at a familiar setting. He was outside with all of his companions sleeping around the dying flames of the campfire. He breathed out a sigh, leaning his head against the base of the tree.

Fuck… that was the strangest dream I’ve ever had.

It was then he realised that the next few days were not going to be to his liking.

 

 

<@>

 

Sango stared at Miroku’s face as they walked back towards Kaede’s village. It was the sort of face that made her particularly uneasy, especially when he began to hum a cheery tune.

“I’m almost too afraid to ask, but why are you so happy today, houshi-sama?”

His blue eyes looked confidently right back at her, and Sango’s suspicions were confirmed. He was in a very lecherous mood today.

“Oh, Sango, how my heart soars by the mere thought of it,” he then used his eyes to direct the slayer to the people in front of him. “It has come to my attention, that we have another member of our humble group, who has experienced the fine art of perversion.” 

Almost immediately, Sango shouted to the hanyou. “Inuyasha, how could you?! I thought you weren’t like that!”

“What?!” he shouted back, having heard the whole conversation, but still pretending to ignore it.

“No, no, Sango. Not him, the one next to him.”

 And the slayer, to her horror, saw who the houshi was referring to.

“That’s impossible. Kagome-chan is not a pervert.”

“One would think so. But you should have seen her face yesterday night. Eyes wide and staring, and roaming, Sango! Roaming! I will tell you now, she enjoyed the whole view.”

“What view was that?” She dared to ask, though she didn’t exactly know what had made her say such a thing.

“Um…” Miroku said, suddenly noticing the miko’s eyes on him. “I’ll tell you later.” He then smiled brightly at Kagome. “That apprenticeship is still open. It would be an honour to tutor you.”

Kagome’s face turned a bright red at his comment. Ever since ‘that night’ – an event she would have rather experienced alone – Miroku had consistently insisted that she become his apprentice so that she could learn the art of, as he called it, lechery. She cursed herself for staring at Inuyasha’s nude, and very masculine body, for too long, and while Miroku was there as the audience. But she couldn’t help it. He was there, and she happened to be in the area. It was simply an opportunity of a lifetime, a sign from the Kami itself. If only Miroku had not been there, she would have liked to touch the hanyou’s muscles, in more than one place.

Kagome sighed. Now it seemed that she would never get the chance.

Damn it all…

By the afternoon, they arrived at the village, and they were somewhat surprised when Kaede was there to greet them. They had never seen her so happy, cheerful even, as she warmly greeted them, especially Kagome. Even Inuyasha had to admit the old miko had a certain spring to her step, if springing meant limping quickly, rather too quickly for his liking.

“Kagome, my child, I have just heard the news.” A tear ran down the old woman’s cheek, yet her smile did not vanish. “Let me be the first to congratulate you, Kagome, oh, and you too, Inuyasha. Without you, this miracle wouldn’t have occurred. Although I must say, it was quite a surprise. I thought I had to die twice, before anything happened between you two. But Inuyasha, you were always a sneaky one, so I would have never guessed. This moment…it makes me feel so young again.”

Somehow the hanyou did not feel the same ecstatic emotions that Kaede was having, partly because he knew that they had not defeated Naraku yet and mostly because, he didn’t know what the fuck the miko was talking about.

 “What the fuck, are you talking about, ba-baa?” He said politely.

Kaede slapped the hanyou on the back, laughing. “Oh, you can’t fool me. Everybody knows about it.”

“Who’s everybody? And what do they know?” He dared to ask.

“Kagome’s pregnant.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“’Oh, is that all’? Is that all you can say?” Kagome snapped back, hurt at how nonchalant he sounded. If anything he should have reacted with more appreciation to such news…

Wait a minute…did Kaede just say,

“Pregnant?”

“Yes, my child.”

“Are you pregnant?”

“I can’t imagine how, not to mention, who with.” Inuyasha muttered, trying hard not to make it sound like a snicker.

Shippou laughed in the background.

Kagome looked at Kaede again to see whether there was any sign that she was lying, or playing some sort of bizarre joke. There was none. So she opened her mouth to speak her denial, when Sango suddenly gasped in surprise, having recovered from the shock of the news. The slayer ran to a stunned Kagome and clasped her hands around hers. Eyes began to fill with tears, tears of joy for the one who was going to receive the most wonderful gift.

“Kagome-chan, I’m so happy for you both. But why didn’t you say anything about it? You really kept us in the dark. I wouldn’t have guessed that would happen to you both…well not so…you know…so soon.” Her hands shook with excitement. “When did it happen? How did it happen?”

“Yes,” Miroku added, a little stunned himself, “when did it happen? And how did you two manage to keep it so quiet? I never heard anything.”

Inuyasha looked at Kagome, his face displaying the look of a confused puppy, which was then focused on Miroku. He shook his head, saying, “What did we manage to keep so quiet about?”

“You know, the step before Kagome-sama gets pregnant.” Miroku replied.

“Uh…marriage?”

“No,” the houshi said, feeling somewhat put-out by his comment.  He swung an arm around Inuyasha’s shoulders and whispered into his ear. “You know…the other step… You…her…rolling around…”

The rest was too much for Inuyasha to handle, as was his face, which now resembled the exact shade of his haori and hakama. In all his life, he had never heard the things that Miroku was describing being depicted so vividly, so detailed, so…all other things, and it was beginning to make his skin tingle very strangely. He didn’t know why he was feeling such sensations, but he decided for now, he did not like it, and he pushed the houshi away to show how much he disliked this thread of conversation.

Miroku just smiled happily. “You may ignore it now, but soon, you will be dreaming about it.”

“You’re not pregnant?” Sango asked yet again while trying not to show her disappointment. “Are you sure? Kaede-sama said you were.”

“I think I would know if I was pregnant or not, Sango-chan.”

Sango sighed. “It just would be nice if something like that happened for the both of you.”

“Wait a minute.” Inuyasha said, apparently shocked by something. “Who said Kagome was pregnant? She doesn’t look pregnant to me.” And to prove his point he quickly, to her utter embarrassment, lifted half of her shirt up to reveal her naked stomach. “Does this look pregnant to you, Kaede ba-baa?! What kind of joke are you trying to pull?”

The old miko gasped at the hanyou’s accusation. “Are you saying that I would spread false rumours like that? I thought you would have more respect for me than that, Inuyasha.”

“Just because you’re old, doesn’t give you the right to that ‘I’m old, therefore I know more than you, argument.’ Besides...I’m much older than you, you wrinkly old prune.”

“Inuyasha...”

Inuyasha suddenly tensed at the sudden drop in temperature, and he knew he had said too much. Slowly he turned and faced the most fearsome face he had ever seen on Kagome. He readied his body for that terrible word to be spoken by the miko.

But nothing came.

“Please, Inuyasha.” Kagome said, politely, gently pushing him to one side. “Let me handle this, all right?”

To his amazement, he nodded and could only watch as she tried very successfully, to dissuade the older miko that she was indeed not pregnant. It was a well-known fact that Kagome had the knack of persuading anyone to do her bidding. Well...that was a well-known fact only known by Inuyasha himself.

Suddenly he jumped when he heard a scream of utter frustration.

“What do you mean you don’t know?! You’ve got to know! You’re not trying to protect him or her, by trying to feign innocence? You had better tell me, or else...”

 “Or else, what?” it was then the old miko appeared to grow, her presence suddenly very dangerous. Her shadow loomed over Kagome, causing her height to stretch out even further. “Are you saying, my child, that the whole village wasted days of hard labour, preparing food, and decorations, for nothing?”

Kagome could not get her chance to answer when she heard a collective intake of breath behind her.

“Food? Did she say food?”

“You’re not dreaming, Inuyasha. I heard it too.”

And like little boys excited over the prospect of free food, Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippou hurried down the path towards wherever the scent of food could be detected by the hanyou’s nose, leaving only the women to sigh in disbelief.

“I can’t believe them.”

“Uh...I know.” Sango responded with an almost faraway voice. And then her stomach rumbled loudly. She laughed nervously. “But, perhaps we should go and look out for them.”

“Sango-chan, it’s not right to eat their food if—”

But Sango had already left.

Kaede smiled triumphantly. “Now you just come with me and celebrate our good fortune. You’re eating for two now.”

“But, but...I’m not pregnant!”

But the old miko was too happy to notice.

 

<@>

 

It seemed that the whole village was gathered around Kaede’s hut that night, in celebration of the good news, which to Kagome’s dismay, the whole village now thought that she was expecting a non-existent baby. No matter how many times she had politely told everyone that this was not so, they had all just laughed and then carried on with their eating and singing in sake-influenced melodies. Even Miroku and Sango were having a good time, with the houshi chasing the women around the hut, and Sango right behind them, with Hiraikotsu in hand. Shippou was oddly quiet, simply eating and watching the festivities with a secret smile on his face. Inuyasha was sitting on the wooden floor eating yet another bowl of rice and another serving of fish, while watching in amazement at a young man trying to balance a sake jar on his nose. Kagome sat down next to him, and sighed so loudly, the hanyou immediately took notice.

“What’s wrong, Kagome?”

“Oh...I don’t know.” She said in mild frustration. “It’s just everybody here thinks I’m pregnant for some reason. I don’t know what idiot started these rumours, but it’s getting on my nerves. Who would start a rumour like that? It’s not like we’ve...we’ve...” She blushed, “Done anything...not that far anyway...only kissing, and hugging.”

“Well...yeah.” His cheeks turned a shade of pink. “But at least it’s a nice rumour. Not like those other ones, where people call you monster, or something. Besides, a lot of bad things happen around here. Seeing a happy moment like this...it’s good for everyone.”

 Kagome found herself smiling. Sometimes he always managed to say the sweetest things, and it always managed to surprise her. And so to cover her own embarrassment, she kissed him on his ear. It twitched in irritation at the miko’s attentions and tried to swing itself away from her.

“Stupid woman,” Inuyasha muttered more softly than he had intended, but still blushed hotly from her simple touch.

However, their moment of quiet was interrupted by whistling sounds of – to their embarrassment – approval, and the whole hut seemed to shake with laughter from all of the villagers’ joy at seeing the hanyou and miko expressing such a tender moment in such a public place.

Inuyasha and Kagome’s faces burned bright red from being caught by the whole village. Even though they knew many of them were drunk enough with endless amounts of sake, it did not shake that feeling that by tomorrow, some of the more sober villagers – mostly women – would no doubt spread the news. For this reason, the hanyou began to shake all over, and with what sounded like a whimper, he bolted out of the old miko’s hut.

Everyone was silent, for about a few seconds, and then the party continued like it was.

It took a while before Kagome could recover from the shock of having the whole village see her display such a private moment. It was a surprise, even to her that she would dare plant a kiss on his ear while everyone had their eyes on them. At least Inuyasha had enough sense to leave this crazy party. She would have left too, but currently her legs were refusing to move.

There was a tap on her shoulder.

“You’d better go and follow him, Kagome-chan.” Sango said.

And with that, the miko nodded and stood up to chase after the hanyou, but not before she turned around to scream at the top of her voice:

“I’M NOT PREGNANT!!!”

 

<@>

 

Kagome found that she did not have to go very far, as she had already spotted him, with his older brother, Sesshoumaru.

She gulped. The appearance of Sesshoumaru had always meant trouble, from plain hating his younger brother, an unhealthy obsession with Tessaiga, to this, the most terrible thing to have ever existed on this earth:

Rin.

Yes, Rin, the little, sweet and innocent girl who belonged to the Great Sesshoumaru. Yes, she was all that, until she started directing her full attentions to her hanyou. Every minute she was with them, she spent with Inuyasha, and only with Inuyasha. No one else was allowed to touch him when she was around. She fumed at the thought of that little girl having full privileges of touching the hanyou’s ears, a privilege that Inuyasha was only too happy to oblige, since he thought that Rin was only being curious, and the most adorable thing in the whole world. If only he knew the truth.  Kagome knew that she did the ‘cute’ act on purpose, but for what reason, she couldn’t discern it.

“Ino-no oji-chan!” she heard the little girl say with joy as she jumped into the hanyou’s awaiting arms.  He picked her up in his strong arms, and swung her around in a few circles, making Rin scream with delight.

Now is not the time to be thinking about such things, Kagome. He’s swung you around plenty of times.

 “No, he hasn’t.” Kagome grumbled.

You’re not jealous, are you?

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Rin loves you, Inu-no oji-chan!!” shouted Rin.

Immediately, Kagome ran to them in a huff, and snatched Rin away from a somewhat stunned hanyou.

“You just stay away from him.”

Rin pouted. “But Rin loves Inu-no oji-chan, more than Kagome-sama!”

“Why you little—”

“Be good, Rin.” Sesshoumaru said, smiling wickedly at Inuyasha, before disappearing into the shadows of the forest.

However Rin was not listening, as she and Kagome began to fight over Inuyasha about just who was more important to him. The hanyou sighed, blaming his brother for his cruel sense of timing. He always had this certain feeling every time the bastard brought Rin over so that he could ‘look after her’. Sesshoumaru was up to something, though he never could discover what his plan was. He now knew that it wasn’t Tessaiga that he wanted, but ‘something else’, as his brother had said at one point. Whatever it was, Inuyasha would just have to make sure his dear brother got what was coming to him.

But right now he had other things to attend to, as he tried with all his might, to separate the two girls from pulling each other’s hair and faces apart.

Inuyasha knew that it was going to be a long night.

<hr>

“And how old are you, Rin?” Miroku asked.

“Houshi-sama…,” Sango warned in a whisper. “Don’t be such an ecchi.”

 The little girl, a little confused by the word ‘ecchi’, ran to her dog-uncle to ask what it meant.

“It means that people like Miroku here, like to pretend they can see through a girl’s kimono.”

Rin’s eyes grew wide in obvious terror at this explanation, and immediately jumped into the hanyou’s arms, wrapping herself with his overly large haori sleeves, as if in protection from the houshi’s eyes. She then peeked over his shoulder, a look of anger and fright, directly pointed towards Miroku.

“Inuyasha, how could you? I was just making conversation with her. You shouldn’t scare such vulnerable young people like Rin. ” Miroku tried to say. He turned to Sango for assistance. “Sango, tell him that I didn’t mean any harm.”

Inuyasha interrupted before Sango could utter a word, which she was glad, as she wanted no part of this conversation, no matter how interesting the topic.

“I’m just saying what my brother told me to say, ‘Teach Rin, about the facts of life’” he said, in an almost perfect imitation of Sesshoumaru’s voice. “And that is a fact that Rin, and every other girl should know.”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to be so blunt about it.”

“Keh, I have to be blunt, bonzu. If you don’t tell them now, someone else will ‘tell them’, if you know what I mean.”

Miroku finally sighed. “You always had a way with words, Inuyasha.”

Inuyasha began to smile triumphantly, something he had not done in a long time, but something else had made him stop short of the smile, and he cracked his knuckles in irritation. For there, in the distance, was a spiraling mass of dirt and leaves, twirling and twisting, and heading straight towards them. Growling, Inuyasha prepared for the onslaught of his enemy, an enemy he only knew too well. Quickly, he placed Rin on the ground and warned her to stay with the miko, which she did so, much to his relief. And with a hand on his scabbard, he bent both of his knees slightly in readiness.

You’re not going near her this time, you bastard.

Unfortunately he was too late, as a very angry Kouga, sped forward with such lightening speed; Inuyasha didn’t have time to register anything when the ookami used the hanyou’s head as a springboard to bounce off his head and land directly in front of a startled miko. Piercing blue eyes focused on Inuyasha’s pathetic form in disgust. He snarled.

“You have some nerve. I turn my back on you for just a moment, and what do I find? Yes, I heard it too. Just about everyone was talking about how great it was. You touched my Kagome with your useless self, and made her pregnant! How dare you! You have no right to be with someone as pure as her. I should just kill you now, you half-breed!!”

“Hey!” Shippou shouted. “What gives you the right to say such stupid things? It’s not his fault that he made the first move before your sorry butt could do anything.”

Kagome sweat-dropped at the way the kitsune had said those words, and her hands covered her face in embarrassment. Of all the things that Shippou said to make Inuyasha and herself feel awkward…

She groaned, wishing of all things that whoever made up this stupid rumour, would shrivel up and die, or at least live long enough for her to do the deed.

Kagome tried not to notice the argument between Inuyasha and Kouga, who were both becoming louder with each swear word that decorated every second word of their sentence. Ignoring was not an option, as she knew all too well that she would be dragged into the conversation anyway. And she didn’t dare use the subjugation spell on the hanyou; after all, she had promised herself that she would not use it, a promise that she intended to keep.

But that was not to say that she would just stand idly while doing nothing, as she opened her mouth…

…and was surprised when a crying sound came out of her mouth instead. Kagome turned and looked down to find Rin had started to cry, her sobbing falling on everyone’s ears, and making Inuyasha and Kouga immediately stop.

“R-Rin…,” Inuyasha said, trying to console the little girl while at the same time trying not to panic, “don’t cry anymore…please.”

She sniffled, clutching onto his haori. “B-but otou-sama, he’s saying mean things to you. And Rin doesn’t like it when people say mean things about you.”

In an instant Kouga spun around, his face displaying multiple images of shock, and his voice barely able to mouth the words:

“What?”

The others seemed to have the same idea as they stared at the hanyou, whose face was looking as pale as the colour of his hair.

As slowly as he could, Kouga stalked towards the little girl, and crouched down so he was able to inspect her closely. He leaned in closer, his nose twitching while smelling the girl’s scent to see whether her scent was similar to either Inuyasha, or – he hoped that it wasn’t true – to the miko’s. And just as slowly he stood up straight, his face unreadable. Kouga then looked down at Rin, his blue eyes watching her every movement. He pointed to Inuyasha.

“Otou-sama?”

Rin nodded eagerly.

Kouga looked at Kagome, his face beginning to show signs of disbelief. He pointed to her, yet somewhat hesitantly, and he asked with growing dread in his heart.

“Okaa-sama…?”

To his horror, Rin smiled; the sort of smile children usually did when they found out some dirty little secret that they were not supposed to know.  A hand reached up to cover her mouth, but it did not stop her eyes from smiling.

“You didn’t know, youkai-sama?” she asked, and then pointed to Inuyasha. “This is my otou-sama.” She pointed to Kagome. “And this is my okaa-sama. Okaa-sama is going to have another baby soon. Rin always wanted a little sister.”

Kouga’s eye twitched at the little girl’s declaration yet was too stunned to say anything at all. His mind was a complete blank, and so, the best thing he could do in situations such as this, was to open his mouth, and…

Kouga fainted.

“What just happened?” Inuyasha asked, not knowing whether to be happy, pissed off, confused, or even a combination of all three. But he knew one thing after he saw the ookami lose consciousness.

“Let’s get out of here before he wakes up,” to which everyone agreed, and as quickly as possible, they managed to slip away leaving Kouga to sleep off his shock.

 

 

<@>

 

Cool water splashed on his face, as Inuyasha attempted to wash away the happenings from the previous days. He knew his dream had been some form of bad omen. From the moment he had woken up, his days were filled with nothing short of oddities. Everyone thought that Kagome had become pregnant, and the worse of it was that those same people thought he was the one who made her pregnant. Well, no…that wasn’t so bad. He had actually enjoyed it. It was much better than being called those ‘other names’, and everyone seemed to enjoy the concept of the miko being pregnant, although he already knew that she had a different view about it. So for her sake, he wondered if there was any chance of it ending soon.

However, there was one thing that had irked on his mind.

Shippou…

That brat was up to something, Inuyasha knew that much. The kitsune, suspiciously enough, had stayed quiet and well-behaved all throughout their little problem. Yet to his amazement, it was this behaviour that plucked at his nerves, pulling them without snapping it completely. Inuyasha hated that feeling.  The feeling where he knew something was up, but trying to find exactly what it was remained, irritably enough, a mystery. If only he could come up with some way to ‘convince’ him. And if that didn’t work, he always had the option of hanging him on the highest tree branch at the mercy of some hungry youkai.

 Inuyasha nodded, shaking his hands from the water. Then standing up to leave, he stopped as a new scent whiffed into his nostrils.

It was a scent he recognised with a mixture of sadness, and nervousness.

It was Kikyou.

Slowly in graceful yet authoritative strides, the miko approached him. Inuyasha found himself unable to move from his spot, undecided to whether he should approach her or not.

Kikyou sensed his apprehension, so she stopped at a comfortable distance between them. She then smiled the kind of smile that she showed to no one but him, and she was relieved when she saw the hanyou relax his stance.

“Inuyasha,” she acknowledged by bowing her head, but made a cursory glance around her to make sure that they were alone. “Are we alone?”

“Yeah… Why? Do you have news of Naraku?”

Kikyou sighed. “We cannot talk about something else besides him?”

Inuyasha looked away in embarrassment. “Sorry, it’s just these last few days have been really weird for me.”

The miko’s face suddenly hardened. “Yes. I know. It’s amazing what my Shinidamachuu can hear from people’s incessant rumours. It seems everyone knows about it.” She stepped closer towards him, the anger of this new betrayal still fresh on her mind. “But,” she paused for effect, “but why, Inuyasha? Why?”

“Um…you see,” Inuyasha began, but shut his mouth when Kikyou placed a cold finger on his lips.

She stared at him, watching his eyes for any signs of defiance. All she saw was confusion.

“Inuyasha,” she began sternly. “I have travelled around the countryside, looking for signs for Naraku, and from out of nowhere, comes all this talk about a certain miko being pregnant. Of course I wouldn’t have been interested, after all babies are being born every day, but that was not until I found out whom this miko was. And when I found out who this miko was, suddenly everyone was so happy about it. Isn’t it wonderful? They must be so happy. I wonder what the baby would look like after it is conceived.  And so on, and so on. Everywhere I hear about this happy moment and yet…”

Inuyasha stayed silent as Kikyou talked, and he gulped when he saw that her eyes were on him again.

“And yet… Why? Why does everyone know except me?”

The hanyou blinked, his mouth too dry to answer her, but that did not stop Kikyou from showing her anger.

“I was your first love, so I think I should be the first to know about these things. You don’t know how much it hurt me, to think that everyone else knew about the good news, while I was left in the dark.”

“Kikyou, listen—”

“How could you?”

“But, I—”

“Do I mean so little to you?”

“No, but—”

“Then why was I the last one to be informed about this news? I do not like it when this sort of thing happens, especially when it comes from you. I should have been the first to know. I could have blessed the baby for good health, you know. I am very disappointed in you. ”

“Wait…what?” Inuyasha’s face suddenly fell, “Oh, no. So you heard this fake rumour as well?”

“Fake rumour?” she replied, if somewhat skeptically. “What exactly do you mean, Inuyasha?”

“I don’t know who it is, spreading these lies about Kagome being pregnant. We haven’t even…even;” he blushed, mumbling, “done anything like that. Anyway it’s too early to think about things like that. But maybe…someday…” His face reddened to a darker shade of red. “Do we have to talk about this?”

 “Are you saying that Kagome is not pregnant?” Kikyou asked bluntly, although there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

He shook his head.

“Well…we would have to rectify that, won’t we, Inuyasha?” She said slowly, stepping closer towards him once again, her face displaying for the first time, coyness, as she reached into her kimono…

 

<@>

 

Meanwhile, Kagome paced frantically up and down on the wooden floorboards, while her teeth nibbled on the skin of her thumb in anxiousness. He’s late… It can’t take that long to wash his face… What if something happened to him? What if—

“Maybe he’s gone to see Kikyou again.” Shippou snickered, his tiny hands covering his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

“No, Inu-no oji-chan wouldn’t do that to Rin!” the little girl retorted at the top of her voice. “Inu-no oji-chan promised Rin that he would stay with Rin forever!”

However, Kagome was too tired, and worried to try and stop Rin or Shippou from exclaiming the impossible. So she walked outside to greet the fresh air of the night, and to look for any signs of her hanyou. She heard someone approaching her, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Inuyasha walking to her.

“Come on,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist, and gently nudging her to walk with him.

“Inuyasha, what’s wrong?” Kagome asked as they walked along the dirt path. Inuyasha didn’t reply. She looked at his face, searching for any signs of what was bothering him. She found none.

At last they stopped, and Kagome found that they were somewhere in Inuyasha’s forest.

“I don’t think they would be able to hear us now.” Inuyasha said, breaking their comfortable silence.

“Are you sure?” Kagome replied, knowing very well that the distance between Kaede’s hut and the forest was more than far enough. “What’s bothering you?”

“That brat probably told you that I went to see Kikyou.”

She smiled as her arms went around him in an embrace. “You know he always says that to upset me. But the strange thing was, was that he almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing when he said it. In fact, he’s been acting very strangely today. Maybe I should say something to him.”

“Don’t bother, kitsune are born mischievous, no matter what you say to them. Anyway, he was right about one thing, I did see her.”

“Oh,” was all the miko managed to say, while trying not to let her jealous feelings interrupt their quiet moment together. Unconsciously, she hugged him tighter, just wanting to feel his comforting presence without having to worry about what he was about to say to her.

But nothing could prepare her for his next words.

“I didn’t know how it happened; I thought she came to talk about Naraku. But she said she wanted to talk about something else. And then she mentioned that she heard you being pregnant and all that, and she was angry that she wasn’t the first to know.”

Kagome’s mouth opened in shock, not wanting to believe that her predecessor, one of the most powerful of miko, had believed some rumour about her being pregnant with Inuyasha’s child. She could not believe it. What was the world coming to? She frowned while praying that some day she would find this joker and put an end to this silly gossip.

“And what else did she say?”

“She was pretty pissed that she hadn’t been told first, she wanted to bless the baby.”

The miko threw up her arms in exasperation, “Does everyone here think I’m pregnant?!”

“I told her that you weren’t. So she made me promise that if you ever did get a baby, she would be the first to know.”

“You mean she’s not angry at me, for being with you?” She asked hesitantly.

Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders. “She even gave me a list of names we could call our baby. If it’s a girl, she suggested Kiyoko, Hotaru, or Akane. If it’s a boy, she likes Yoshiro, Ranma, or Daisuke. There are some really nice names here. Look, here, see for yourself.” He gave her the list and Kagome stared at it with only a blink of her eyes. She then gave it back to him, fell into his arms, and started to cry.

“Why me?” she mumbled repeatedly against his chest, while Inuyasha attempted to calm her down by rubbing her back as soothingly as he could. He smelt her tears, and he could almost feel every drop stinging at his heart. A burning anger began to rise within him at the thought someone out there was responsible for Kagome’s tears. He clenched his hand and swore that something very painful would befall on that person who dared pull such a prank on his Kagome.

 

 

<@>

 

“Are you sure this pregnancy rumour is going to get them together?”

“Of course it would bring them together, Rin. I mean, you saw how his arm went around her waist? This will work. Ah! I can’t believe I am wasting my young childhood playing matchmaker for them. It’s not right.”

 

<@>

 

The next day, Sesshoumaru arrived to collect Rin. He walked towards Inuyasha with an air of grace and regality, much like his silky silvery locks, which he liked to keep in immaculate fashion, flowing easily with step.

As always, the hanyou was there and ready to greet him, and always with a scowl on his face.

“Whatever it is, I will not take responsibility for it.” Sesshoumaru replied coolly, flicking his hair to show his authority.

“Oh, well, that depends on the situation, doesn’t it, aniki?” And with speed that shocked even the tai-youkai, Inuyasha snatched the mokomoko-sama from his grasp. He held it in front of him, right over a damp section of the ground, saying, “Be very careful of what you say. I could stain your pelt so badly, that it would be impossible to wash out. Do you remember your other one?”

Sesshoumaru did not dare gasp as he knew it would show his weakness. However, seeing his lovely mokomoko-sama being dangled precariously over a mud puddle, almost caused him to lose his rationality, and he, as frostily as he could implored him for calm.

“Calm yourself, Inuyasha.” He watched in suppressed horror as Inuyasha brought the pelt down by a centimeter. “There is no need for this violence. Just tell me what you want, and this Sesshoumaru will oblige. ”

“Alright,” Inuyasha said, yet managed to smirk as he lowered the mokomoko-sama another centimeter. “Good, at least we agree on something. What I want to say is that Kagome has been upset lately, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it?”

“You threaten me, just to ask that? Who do you think I am? But if you must know, I could not care less about your sniveling woman.”

“Someone,” he emphasised, lowering the mokomoko-sama once again to Sesshoumaru’s now obvious terror. “Has been spreading lies about Kagome being pregnant, and that I had something to do with it. While I don’t mind it that much,” Inuyasha blushed at the thought, “this rumour is making her upset, and I don’t want to see what happens when she gets upset. So…I want to ask you…” he shook the pelt in warning. “Did you or your accomplice, have anything to do with it?”

Unexpectedly, the tai-youkai’s face relaxed into almost a smile, yet it was gone again before Inuyasha could catch it.

“Oh, yes. I did hear it. It came as quite a surprise actually. That is why I came here, to congratulate you on doing something right for a change. Although I would have disagreed with the timing, Naraku is still at large; nevertheless, I am happy for the both of you. But now you are telling me that this is all false? I find that very hard to believe, I mean, Shippou was the one who told me.”

It was at that moment, everything made sense. Inuyasha’s instincts had been right all along.

He growled. Shippou was the one who had spread all those rumours, and brought unneeded chaos to their otherwise peaceful lives. He had caused all this mess, and now he was going to pay for it.

Sesshoumaru waved a hand in front of the hanyou’s face, disliking the fact he was still holding the mokomoko-sama tightly in his grasp.

“Please let go of my mokomoko, it is very delicate.”

And Inuyasha did just that, letting it fall straight down to the mud puddle. 

“I’m going to wring that fucking brat’s brain out of his ears.” He angrily leapt away, leaving Sesshoumaru to simply stare at his now mud sodden pelt in quiet contemplation.

 

 

<@>

 

Shippou’s muffled sounds turned into laughter as he thought about how his plan of getting Kagome and Inuyasha together was not only working, but he was also able to get a few laughs out of it from their embarrassments whenever people came to them to congratulate the ‘expecting’ couple. The plan had originally formed from something Sango said, when she had talked about how in youkai pairings, the expectation of a baby from the female mate would induce a fatherly type manner in the male, which would then result in a form of an affectionate bond between the two mates.

Of course the miko and hanyou were nowhere near that stage, so he had to compromise. Shippou had to admit it had been more difficult than he had intended, and that it was taking longer than he would have liked, but he knew that if he kept the rumour alive, then everything would be nice and neat.

Nothing was going to stop him.

A dark shadow loomed over his small figure, the shape instantly recognisable by the two triangular shapes on top of what looked like a head. It spoke to him in a low, menacing voice.

“Hello, Shippou, my best friend in the whole world.”