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 12: Congratulations are in order
I had just set a teapot over the fire to begin making tea for Jaken and I when the hut door burst open, and I was tackled by Sango. “Congratulations Kagome-chan,” Sango said with a smile as she hugged me for a moment before letting me sit back up. Glancing up, I saw the others enter the hut before Inuyasha closed the door behind him.
“Thank you Sango-chan. I was just making some tea. Why don't you guys sit down and join us?” I told the others with a smile as I looked around at everyone. Sango sat down to my left, closely followed by Miroku. Inuyasha and Madoka sat down on the other side of Jaken, who was on my right. Kaede took the seat at the end of the table and Shippo crawled into my lap.
We sat for hours talking about anything and everything we could, from baby clothes, to names, to the best forms of birthing. I told Kaede that I wanted her to be my midwife and she was thrilled at the idea. We had just finished our discussion on the differences between deliveries in this era and in my own when Jaken spoke up for the first time since they arrived.
“It is time you get to bed Lady Kagome. You need your rest,” he insisted as he stood and held out his hands to help me up. I went to tell him that I was fine staying up for a while longer but everyone seemed to agree with him as they stood and started making their way to the door. Standing up, I turned to tell the others to stay, but Inuyasha cut me off.
“Get some sleep Kagome. We'll stop by tomorrow to visit, but the toad is right, you need your sleep,” Inuyasha insisted as he gave me a quick hug, the others following after, before heading toward the door. If Inuyasha was going to agree with Jaken, which I didn't even think was possible, well, who was I to disagree?
After Jaken had shut the door, he helped me to my bedroom, turning around instead of leaving when I went to change, and covered me up after I had laid down. “Do you need anything Lady Kagome?” he questioned as he stood by the side of my futon. Glancing up at him, I shook my head and then looked toward the door where Shippo was standing.
“Come to bed Shippo,” I told him with a smile and watched as he glanced up at Jaken, who nodded to him, before rushing over to climb into the futon next to me. Jaken gave me a slight bow before turning and heading out of the room. After a moment I could hear the sounds of him cleaning up the mess everyone had left and I would have to remember to thank him tomorrow.
It didn't take me long to arrive back at my castle after leaving the priestess's hut, and soon I found myself in the doorway to Rin's room. A room that had always been so noisy and full of life now seemed nothing more than empty room collecting dust. As I stood at the door, I glanced around at everything, wondering if this pup would end up liking the same things Rin did.
Would she have an obsession with flowers? Picking every one she could get her hands onto and braiding them into crowns to put on Jaken's head. Bringing me one, being able to tell that I had a bad day, and make things brighter. When I slept at the castle, would I awake to find she had put some in a vase near my futon?
Would she be like Rin, the only one ever able to come into my room without waking me up? Would she constantly smell of the flowers she picked, have dirt under her fingernails at any chance she could? Would she be just as happy to be surrounded by a field of flowers? To travel with us when she was old enough and in my care?
Would she make up little songs about our daily travel and sing them as we patrolled the land? Would she awake from nightmares and crawl into my lap, never once thinking of asking permission or worried that I would be mad at her? How close to my precious Rin would my pup be? Enough to make me stop missing the one I lost?
Stepping back out of the room, I closed the shoji door just as I could hear one of my guards approaching me. Turning to face the direction he was coming from, I waited a moment for him to appear, bowing before me as he did. “I have news, Sesshoumaru-sama,” he told me keeping his eyes trained on the ground.
“We shall discuss it in the study,” I told him as I turned and started making my way back to my study. Once we were inside, I walked over to sit down while waiting for him to close the door and turn back around to me. “Speak,” I told him after he had moved over to my desk and was once again bowing before me.
“Ushio's body has been discovered. By the look of things he has been dead for weeks, Sesshoumaru-sama. Probably since the night he was last seen in the castle,” the guard informed me and I could do no more than bow my head. Truthfully, I wasn't surprised. I had already begun to believe such an outcome would come about.
“Is there any thing else?” I questioned after a moment and watched as the guard shook his head. Giving him a quick dismissal, I began rubbing the bridge of my nose to try and ward off the incoming headache. The only lead I had was now dried up, leaving me no closer to finding the one responsible for Rin's death. I was back to square one.
Moments after the guard had left my study, I could feel my cousin's presence enter the room and come to stand before me. “What do you plan to do now, Sesshoumaru?” he questioned after a moment of silence. I dropped my arm back to the desk before glancing up at my cousin and wondered why he would think anything had changed.
“This Sesshoumaru will continue to do as he has. This Sesshoumaru will find Rin's killer and make them suffer. It is only a matter of time before those responsible are brought to my attention,” I assured him as I reached across my desk to pick up one of the scrolls waiting for me to read and respond to, giving him a clear sign he was dismissed.
“If you need any help, Sesshoumaru, all you need do is ask,” he told me with a nod of his head before turning and heading back out of the study. I wanted to confide in my cousin, whom I knew to be loyal and one of the few demons even close to being a friend, but I would not take even the slightest of chances and only trusted Jaken because he had cared for Rin as I did.
Please R&R, good and bad reviews are welcome, however, I will ignore flames.