Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all of it's characters are property of the brilliant Takahashi-sama and I claim no ownership of them. Only the story belongs to me.
Pairings: Inuyasha/OC, Sango/Miroku, Sesshoumaru/Kagome.
Follows: The Anime and movies.
"spoken" 'thought'
Special thanks to my betas PockyThief , TheMikoShivae and Kiyota .
Chapter 11: The verdict
The next week passed slowly with everyone doing pretty much everything for me. Sango even ended up having to give me sponge bathes, since Inuyasha refused to let me leave the hut to use a nearby hot spring. I was quickly going out of my mind not knowing if I was pregnant or not, not being able to leave my own hut and having everyone waiting on me hand and foot.
I knew they all meant well, but there was only so much a girl could take. I was about ready to start strangling people when Sesshoumaru finally returned. It was around lunchtime and currently only Inuyasha and I were still in the hut. The others had returned to the village earlier deciding it would be better not to crowd so many people in here while he was here.
Inuyasha had promised to bring them the verdict the moment it was known. I had asked him why he couldn't tell if Sesshoumaru would be able to. He said it would still be another week for demons to be able to tell if I was pupped, but Sesshoumaru could tell early because he was the father. I suppose that it made sense since the pup's father would have a deeper connection.
So we were just sitting there talking quietly when a knock finally came at the door. Inuyasha glanced at me for a moment before standing to open it. It opened to reveal Jaken, who moved out of the way so Sesshoumaru could enter. As they walked over to the table, Inuyasha closed the door before retaking his seat next to me.
Sesshoumaru knelt down next to me, glancing down to my stomach, before turning his gaze to me. “Do not move and keep your priestess powers under control. You will feel a slight amount of this Sesshoumaru's youki enter your body. It will not harm you, so do not try to fight back.” I nodded to his instructions and closed my eyes.
A moment later I felt him rest his hand on my stomach and I sucked in a breath when his youki entered me. It didn't hurt, just felt kind of tingly. Almost like my stomach was falling asleep, but without the pins and needles. Opening my eyes, I found myself gazing into his amber ones. “You are pupped,” he finally told me and I released the breath I didn't know I had been holding.
“Only took you one try. I'm impressed,” Inuyasha joked, grinning over at me. Glancing back at Sesshoumaru, I was thankful he decided not to comment. I didn't think it would be a good idea to inform Inuyasha that we had already tried for a second time, without waiting to see if the first had worked.
I heard Jaken cheer from the side and smiled over at him. Removing his hand, he drew my attention back to himself. I watched as he reached into his haori to pull out a vial. It was filled with a weird looking green liquid and I knew right away that it was going to taste nasty. “Drink this,” he instructed, but a movement from Inuyasha caught his attention.
“You may smell it if you wish. This Sesshoumaru is not about to poison her,” he told Inuyasha holding out the vial to him. Inuyasha took it, removed the cork and quickly took a sniff. Judging by his reaction it did not smell very good, but seemed to pass his inspection as he handed it back to Sesshoumaru. “It will ensure the pup is female.”
“Bottoms up,” I mumbled as I took the vial and quickly swallowed the contents, causing myself to cough, due to the taste. It was worse than I could have ever imaged. “That's disgusting,” I complained handing the vial back to him and shot Inuyasha a glare when he started laughing at my misfortune. Sesshoumaru seemed intent on ignoring my grumbling.
Instead, he placed the vial back into his haori and pulled out a small chest, the one he had brought the first time he came here. “Raise your shirt.” he instructed as he set the chest down on the table and lifted the lid. I did as he bid and exposed my belly as I watched him remove the gem and stare at it for a moment.
Just as I was about to ask if he was alright, he shook his head slightly and turned back to me. He glanced up at me and waited for me to nod my consent before moving the gem until it was almost touching my stomach. “This won't hurt her, will it?” Inuyasha questioned, stopping Sesshoumaru from continuing.
He turned to glance at his half-brother shaking his head. Turning back to me, he allowed the tip of the Soul Crystal to touch my belly. Right away I could feel the energy in the gem being sucked into my body. As her soul drained out, the tip started to become translucent. The more it entered me, the more the gem cleared, until it was completely see through.
“Now what?” I questioned after he had replaced the gem in the chest and put it back in his haori. I lowered my shirt while waiting for him to reply, unable to stand the silence that had settled over the small group. I glanced over at Inuyasha, hoping that maybe he had some kind of an idea, but he merely shrugged his shoulders at me.
“Now this Sesshoumaru must return to the castle. Jaken will be staying here to help you. He is to follow your command as he would my own. This Sesshoumaru will visit when able, but others will become suspicious if I am here too long. This Sesshoumaru has no wish to endanger your or the pup's life,” he told me as he rose and prepared to leave, while Jaken headed to open the door.
“Have you had any luck with that?” I questioned knowing he would understand what I was referring to. He shook his head and turned starting for the door. Stopping in front of Jaken, he told him something, but it was spoken too quietly for me to hear what it was. As Jaken bowed, seemingly agreeing with him, Sesshoumaru walked outside, disappearing into the storm.
After a moment Inuyasha stood and headed for the door, more than likely to tell the others the news, and Jaken waited for him to walk out before closing it, and making his way back over to sit down at the table next to me. “What did Sesshoumaru say to you before walking out?” I questioned when my curiosity got the better of me.
“Nothing Lord Sesshoumaru hasn't told me a 100 times already,” Jaken replied glancing over at me. He must have seen the confusion written on my face because he laughed. After a moment, he wave his hand and tried to contain himself. “Lord Sesshoumaru told me that if anything happened to you my life would be forfeit, just as he did every time he left Rin in my care.”
“Ah, okay,” I replied with a smile and watched as Jaken's eyes began to cloud over. It would seem Sesshoumaru wasn't the only one from the West missing the sweet, little girl. “You really miss her, don't you?” I questioned returning his attention back to me. He stared off into space for a moment before a small, sad smile crossed his lips.
“More than I thought possible. While I am content in serving Lord Sesshoumaru in any way he may see fit, Rin made it much more enjoyable. I wasn't always as nice to her as I should have been, but she never once held it against me. She was probably the only one to ever truly be my friend,” Jaken told me and it was easy to see he was fighting to hold back tears.
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