Kagome’s face was still burning with indignation as she burst through the trees at the edge of the village, like the devil himself was at her heels. Furiously, she stalked her way toward the square. Swiping her sweaty bangs aside, she paused at the well to get a drink. Her hands shook with suppressed anger as she lifted the ladle to her lips. She could feel a few of the villagers eyeing her from a distance. The aura of hostility she projected prevented them from making their usual greetings, however.

Clutching the ledge, Kagome breathed through gritted teeth. Of course her intermittent nausea would choose this moment to rear its ugly head. As she considered the source of her sickness, a fresh wave of bitter feeling washed over her. Sesshoumaru…how dare he make those kinds of statements—those kinds of claims. Just because he’d had sex with her, he considered her his property? What was she, a brood mare?

Kagome’s jaw clenched tighter still. She’d thought better of him than that. They’d had an arrangement—an agreement. Admittedly, things had gone too far. In the heat of the moment, she’d gotten carried away. She’d thought that they both had. But now she didn’t know what to think…

She didn’t know what to think of him.

Groaning, Kagome leaned forward against one of the wooden posts supporting the well roof. She rested her dizzy head against her forearm. As much as she had fought against it, she was attracted to Sesshoumaru. She respected him—cared for him, even. She had thought he felt the same way toward her. She’d thought that what had taken place between them this past week—inexcusable as it was—had been born from their mutual feelings for one another.

To learn that he viewed her as nothing more than an object was disheartening to say the least. It was beyond offensive. It was downright oppressive. She felt like a pawn in some twisted scheme. As her thoughts darkened in contemplation, her nausea rose again at the idea that she had in fact been maneuvered by him.

At every turn, he seemed to be one step ahead of her, able to anticipate her every action. Her brow creased as she thought back over the past week, as she considered the undercurrent of coercion in their encounters. It was subtle but unmistakable—how he had repeatedly seduced her, how he had bent her to his will over and over again. A physical and psychological onslaught. But where exactly had he been leading to with all that?

By the end of her stay, he had stopped trying to engage her. Even without the sexual gratification, he’d still continued to stick around. But, to what end?

A chill ran through her as that final, menacing look of jealousy surfaced in her mind, and she wondered—what if it had never been about her at all?

“Hey!”

Kagome flinched at the sudden sound, starting as a flash of red dropped down suddenly beside her. Clawed hands went to her shoulders, turning her roughly around.

“What the hell, Kagome?” Inuyasha snapped. “I’ve been watchin’ the road all day. You took that shortcut through the woods again, didn’t you?”

Kagome cringed at his harsh tone. “I—I’m sorry, Inuyasha. I wasn’t thinking.” Her fingers clutched at the front of his haori, as much to brace herself as to reassure him. “I just…I just wanted to get home.”

Inuyasha’s posture relaxed. Drawing her close, he frowned in concern.

“Are you okay?” His claw tip brushed her cheek. “You look kinda pale.”

Kagome’s eyes welled as she glanced away, nodding. Taking a moment to collect herself, she looked up at him tentatively.

“How did last night go?”

“I stayed over at Miroku and Sango’s place. Noisy brats everywhere,” he said with a scoff, “but other than that it was fine.”

A tremulous smile touched her lips. Her fingers curled against him.

“I’m glad.”

A little of her guilt eased at the knowledge he hadn’t spent the night of the new moon alone. As dependent on her as he was, she wasn’t the only person in his life. Not anymore, anyway. It was a comforting, if bittersweet, thought.

“No matter how many times Miroku told ‘em, those twins just couldn’t get it through their heads that my dog ears were gone,” Inuyasha grumbled. The upward twitch of his lips belied his complaining tone. “Kept digging through my hair looking for ‘em—”

Abruptly, he went rigid. Said ears swiveled pointedly toward her. Kagome went similarly still. All the remaining color drained from her face as he crouched down near her waist and began to sniff.

“I-Inuyasha…” she ventured, as his claws tightened around her.

Slowly, narrowly, Inuyasha’s eyes slid up toward hers, dark with recognition. A shiver of pure panic ran through her. Had Sesshoumaru dropped his scent masking too soon? Doubt seized her in its vicious hold. Had he dropped it—

On purpose?

“You…” Inuyasha’s voice was low, barely a rumble as he rose from his crouch. “Kagome, you…”

Her heart thudded in dread as she took an unconscious step back—only to be crushed to his chest.

“Kagome,” he murmured huskily against her neck. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “We’re gonna have a baby!”

Kagome sagged in his hold. Her breath left her in a faint exhale.

“You could tell…just by smelling me?”

Inuyasha drew back, his brows furrowed slightly. “Wait a second, you already knew? You knew, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I—I wanted to be sure,” Kagome said carefully, not quite meeting his eye. “My senses aren’t as sharp as yours, remember?”

Inuyasha considered her for a moment. “It wasn’t the scent,” he answered at last. “It was the youki that gave it away.”

“The youki?” Kagome echoed, placing a hand over her belly.

“You can’t sense it?”

Biting her lip, Kagome focused her attention on her womb. At first there was nothing. But then, after a minute or so, she could feel it: the first faint flickers of her baby’s youki. Her hand rose trembling to her lips. Wonderingly, she gazed at her husband.

“A baby,” Inuyasha said with a grin, sweeping her up again. “Our baby.”

Clinging to him, Kagome looked out across the village behind him, to where a lone figure stood staring at them darkly. Her heart sank as their eyes briefly met across that distance, before Sesshoumaru turned and walked away.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 9/23/22

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