“Kagome—you still in bed?”
Before she could respond, Inuyasha burst through the door of their home, a pile of parcels from the Modern Era balanced in his arms. She winced as the afternoon sunlight slanted full across her face. Her hand rose belatedly to shield her eyes from the glare. With an unmistakable spring in his step, her husband strode over to the side of the room already stacked high with gifts from around the village. Depositing his burdens there, he turned back to her with an arched brow.
Kagome sighed, tugging the blanket up to her chin. “I’m just not feeling all that well.”
“Yeah, your mom told me that’s normal early on.” Inuyasha dropped down cross-legged next to her in the bed. “Sango, too.” Leaning over, he started rifling through part of the stacked goods that were fast-overflowing their home. “Here—she said this stuff really helps.”
Kagome reached out as he handed her a small square of rice paper. Within it were a few chips of dark, chalky tree bark. The same medicinal bark Sesshoumaru had brought to her when she was sick. Frowning, Kagome lifted up one of the chips, holding it before her in contemplation—until she realized Inuyasha was staring at her.
“…Thanks,” she said as she slipped the bark into her mouth, the taste of it bitter on her tongue.
“If you need more, I know where to find some.” Folding his hands into his sleeves, he continued to watch her as if she was the most fascinating creature on earth. “I still can’t believe it. I was starting to think, well—don’t get mad at me or anything—but I was starting to think it wouldn’t happen. Not every woman’s cut out for it, ya know.”
Kagome paused mid-chew. Her eyes rested heavily upon him. So he’d thought that she was the one to blame for their infertility. Of course he had. Her gaze averted, her jaw tight. Her irrational prickle of anger subsided as she realized it was probably for the best that he should think this way.
“That’s true,” she said at last, keeping her voice as neutral as she could.
He pulled the blanket from her. When he fit his hand to the slight swell of her stomach, she fought the urge to pull away.
“Couldn’t have come at a better time, if you ask me,” Inuyasha said. A glint of fang showed in his self-satisfied smile. “It ain’t natural for a woman to be childless. I could tell it was starting to get to you. You’d been acting up for a while, but now it all makes sense. Now you can settle yourself down and focus on our family, like you’re supposed to.”
Kagome swallowed. A thin sheen of sweat misted on her brow. Despite the bark, she was feeling sicker than ever. The light pressure of his hand crushed her. The warm air of the hut smothered her like layers of dense wool. She closed her eyes against her mounting claustrophobia, willing her arrhythmic heartbeat to even out.
Uncertainly, Inuyasha withdrew his hand. “Maybe you should get some air,” he muttered. “You’ve been cooped up in here for days.”
Turning over, Kagome shook her head. “I don’t want to go outside.”
Between Inuyasha and Rin, the news of her pregnancy had spread like wildfire throughout the village. She couldn’t step foot outside her door without someone offering her their unsolicited advice or asking her personal questions. And now, even if she went home to the Modern Era, she’d face the same sort of overwhelming attention. It was stifling—more external pressure than she could bear, when her own troubled thoughts were threatening to consume her from within.
“Well, I think you should go out. Go visit Sango or the old woman. Get some tips so you’ll be prepared.” The futon shifted as he stood. “Kohaku needs my help putting down some vermin, but I’ll be back tomorrow night at the latest, okay?”
Faintly, Kagome nodded. Her spine stiffened as he bent back down and stroked his claws through her hair. It was an affectionate gesture, but all she could feel was the possessiveness beneath it. Much like Tessaiga, she was a trophy to him. He cared for her—treasured her, even—but he didn’t see her as an individual. He didn’t see her.
No one did.
Even her friends and family back in Tokyo viewed her through the lens of their own expectations. And that was fine. That had always been fine. Until…
Kagome shuddered, hiding her eyes behind the blanket’s hem. Within her, youki rippled, soft and feathery as a candle flame. The baby had only affirmed others’ views of her that much more. She’d known this—hoped for this when she’d decided to go down this path. Inuyasha’s effusive pride and happiness seemed to validate her efforts. So then why…
Why did she feel such a miserable sense of foreboding inside?
It had been her choice to do this. Of her own volition she had gone to Sesshoumaru, and he had agreed to help her. She had thought that she could trust him. She had shown her true colors to him, and he had seen—he had seen right through her. He had taken advantage of the situation, used her own weakness to manipulate her, to compromise her that much further. The things she had done, the things she had allowed him to do…
His parting words to her, his parting look to her in the village square only fueled her dark misgivings. Now, as she thought back over the past six years, she saw in his acceptance of her cup the throwing down of a gauntlet. In his breaking of her engagement ring, in his attendance at her wedding, in his gifting her that necklace, in their every exchange and encounter since she’d let him into her life, she saw his clear intent to create a rift between her and Inuyasha.
The pact was the last bit of leverage Sesshoumaru would have needed. Unwittingly, Kagome had handed him the key to exacting his ultimate revenge against his brother. To take from Inuyasha what he held more dear to him than even their father’s coveted sword. Kagome’s stomach roiled in horror at this terrible suspicion.
“No,” she whimpered out into the gathering darkness. “No, it can’t be…”
Pushing herself shakily to her feet, she trudged to the curtained door. Outside in the purple twilight, pale dust glittered in the deserted village square. Pulling her thin yukata tighter around her, Kagome walked barefoot toward the western edge of the village.
Her intuition guided her to him as ever.
Perched on the railing of a broken fence, Sesshoumaru watched her with preternatural stillness as she approached him, his features half-shrouded in shadow. His aura simmered around him in dark, forbidding currents. His form remained motionless as a gargoyle’s as she drew to a stop just before him. In tense, brooding silence, they weighed one another.
“There’s something I need to know,” she whispered. “Something I need you to tell me.”
Sesshoumaru’s gaze narrowed. “Have you not made enough demands upon me, woman? Return to your home and leave me be.”
Kagome shrank from the venom in his tone. Mustering the last bit of her strength, she straightened and looked him square in the eye.
“Tell me,” she said, unable to keep the tremor from her voice entirely. “Tell me you didn’t agree to the pact just to destroy my marriage.”
Sesshoumaru leaned in toward her. His eyes glinted with a cold metallic light. Weakly, Kagome held her ground against the chill that invaded her heart.
“That is precisely why I agreed to it.”
Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
Revised 9/28/22
OK!!!!! Now I’m confused. What the heck?
Lol! Sorry if it seemed out of left field…hopefully next chapter will clear things up! 😊
Have a great weekend! ❤️
in kagomes defense, i have to say that sesshoumaru was mostly just posessive towards her, and their interactions were also mostly sexual. if not all of them. so yeah, why should she think that he feels something towards her? saving her from those guus or asking her “to be his” is compatible with kagomes fears of his intentions. and that answer, hell… kagomes gonna lose that baby from stress, dude
still, she is still pretty fucked up too (you dont get pregnant and lie about a fathers child and still get to be the good one, even if inuyasha is a dick) and was foolishly blind about sesshoumaru wanting her. but feelings wise? sesshoumaru wasnt clear. sorry pal, step up your game, lol. thats it, if he feels anything but posessiveness towards her.
about this chapter, i felt that inuyashas interaction with kagome was somewhat forced. he literally said EVERYTHING he could so we could hate him, lol. he was 100% despisable. i get that this inuyasha is a possible take of what we can expect from edo’s men and the jealousy we know from series, but maybe the fact that there was nothing positive on their chat felt to me like it was “inuyashas hate time!” (lol) and an excuse for kagomes shitty decisions.
or maybe im reading too much on this capter, lol.
anyway, after everything that happened in the hut, i have to say that im a little dissapointed of sesshoumaru. dude, are you gonna show anything but lust to kagome? jesus, keep it in your pants, lol (but i loved the smut char, you are the best at it). but well, it was a good kind of dissapointment: i can get sesshoumaru being not open about his feelings (again, if he has them)
well, this is just a walltext now, so ill cut it here. hopefully kagome will grow up so i can not hate everything about her. but thats pretty hard at this point, lol. still, i totally get her insecurities on this chapter. and sesshoumarus answer was horrible. even more: you get her pregnant and she doesnt come to you so you just get angry and stop trying to make her want you? what the fuck dude. make some effort appart from fucking her to get her to like you, lol. she has your fucking baby
jesus this is long. sorry char. have a good weekend!! again, this got me hyped so i can continue studying, lol. thank you!!!
I don’t think Sess has only been sexual. He even confessed to wanting Kagome for a while in a previous chapter. He asked if she loved inuyasha. Took care of her when she was sick if I remember correctly. Like he told her in a previous chapter she already condemned them both. I just think Sess is taking what he can get right now even though he wishes for more.
didnt remember when he asked if he loved inuyasha!! that makes a point. about the rest, i mean, of course i loooove reading when he takes care of her, drinks from her cup or saves her while thinking OH MY GOD HE LOVES HER, but all in all, they are small (and even ambiguous) gestures (i mean, he would be a downright asshole if he didnt took minimal care for her, lol).
also, confessing /wanting/ someone isnt the same as to confessing feelings for someone… when he told her he wanted her to surrender to him (and in the middle of the act!! thats a dirty tactic lmao…), it REALLY gave some “i want you as my property” vibes. it doesnt have to mean just that (possessive gestures in love are my guilty ff pleasure, lol), but i can get kagome having that fear. she is a modern woman, after all.
anyway, i didnt want to mean that he only wants kagome in a sexual way! i really think he loves her, and i believe that all the little gestures give away that feeling. but i wrote that he needed to step up his game in a way of expressing that yeah, i can get kagome being unsure about his feelings. the most romantic thing he did was asking if she loves inuyasha and drinking from her coup years ago. he mostly just fucked her in the hut. personally, i need a little more, lol. and id need some reassurance that he doesnt just view me as someone who surrendered to him and has been claimed. he never said anything about him surrendering to her, or anything. he only asked it from her, so…
he is a youkai in edos era, so i get it. but kagome is a modern girl, so i get her fears too!
Yay glad this chapter got you hyped!! 😊 Thanks so much for taking the time to share your feedback! I can totally see where you’re coming from with Inuyasha, Sess and Kags…
What he said to her at the end was certainly out of line – although given all the shitty things all the characters have done I guess it’s like a drop in the bucket at this point. 😅 But I digress!
Thanks again for sharing, Junot!! Good luck with your studies and have a fantastic weekend! ❤️❤️
Hmm, interesting. Now that Sesshomaru has admitted his true motive for accepting Kagome’s pact, I wonder what will become of the pup’s future. Did Sesshomaru already know that Inuyasha was sterile and calculate that she may come to him eventually for advice or help or whatever?
Will Inuyasha dissolve the marriage when he finds out about the betrayal or stay and raise the child with her to save face? Will Sesshomaru take his child away from her as a last crushing blow? If he did, how would he raise the pup? Would he raise him as an heir or a bastard? Which ever way he decides, would he truly care for his child?
Looking forward to more chapters…excellent writing.
Thank you, Cheryl!! Love hearing your theories – certainly a lot of directions the story could go! Especially after this revelation 😉
Hope you enjoy the next chapter! Have a great weekend 💕
Just because Sess has feelings for her and probably wanted to destroy her marriage because he wants her for himself doesn’t mean it was only to take what inuyasha has. Until this point he hasn’t acted on his feelings and respected their marriage. She was the one who coerced him to cross that line! She needs to grow up and make a choice and deal with the consequences. Lol!
You make a good point 😉
Kagome’s certainly in quite a pickle…hope you enjoy how things go down!! ❤️
I re-read my last comment here and thought, what the fuck was I thinking, we all know that Inuyasha is a freaking jerk and he would never stay and raise Sesshomaru’s bastard with Kagome just to save face. He would be just too damn jealous to do something like that. 😐
So with that, forget about him staying to save face!!!
LOL 🙂 Thanks for updating another chapter so soon. Have a great weekend!!!
Lol! It is hard to picture Inuyasha taking on Sesshoumaru’s kid – knowingly anyway 🙃
Thanks for sharing, Cheryl!! ❤️
What’s going to happen when that baby comes out with a crescent moon on it’s forehead!? Kagome girl, you might want to jump in the well, shoot it with a few spiritual arrows to hopefully close it up and then never go back!
lol I know I’d be heading back through that well! 😆
Thanks for sharing, Molly! ❤️
Grrrr I want to bitch slap Kagome. She feels Sesshoumaru manipulated and used her? She proposed this deal, she enjoyed the sex and kept coming back for more.
If she did not like him, why would she spend time talking to him and complaining about Inuyasha long before the pact? Why did she keep the necklace?
None of them deserve that baby. The child is better off with people who are mature and not emotionally warped like the three of them. You think the kid is safe with Inuyasha once he smells it and recognizes who the real father is?
Hmm from this chapter it sounds like the well is working. Maybe Kagome should just leave and go home to the future. Maybe she will meet up with the older, hopefully more mature versions, of the Inu brothers.
Maybe Kagome and the baby won’t survive the pregnancy. She is certainly acting irrational and crazy.
Lol I want to bitch slap Kagome too – is that weird? 😅
You raise a lot of great questions!! Thanks for sharing your reactions, Doug!! Have a great weekend! ❤️
i feel for kagome right now. i found it strange that she would look back over all the things sesshoumaru did while yasha and she were getting married. why would he do those things?~i had a feeling yasha was sterile and of course he blames the woman b/c men NEVER have problems with their c***s. i think she going to loose this child if she don’t come to terms with what she’s done(and enjoyed a few times even if she says she didn’t) and that would be even more devastating for her. i don’t see yasha raising this child should he find out on his own that he’s not the father. hell, he might even kill her! i hope it doesn’t come to that. to be honest i want her and sess to get mated, have the pup, and realize they were meant to be together. i know there’s still a lot of angst b4 that happens, but i really looking forward to a somewhat happy ending. keep up the great writing. c’ya’
Thanks, candace! I’m glad to hear you can still sympathize with Kagome – despite everything, I sympathize with her too! 🙃
Hope you enjoy the next parts of the series!! Have a great weekend! ❤️❤️
Whew…….
That…that was…hm. Sesshoumaru is such a calculating being that her deduction MAKES SENSE, but…BUUUUT…he’s not fully in control of this situation. Sess would NEVER relinquish his control willingly. Somewhere along the way, even if his intentions weren’t emotionally motivated, he started…feeling. For her. He wouldn’t care about her comfort pregnancy wise if he didn’t care. His pup or no. He cared for Rin, hence he kept Rin. Otherwise he would have left her to die multiple times and not saved her from the underworld.
Soo… yeah.
But dayum! I caught up again!!
Hey!! Great to hear from you, girl! So glad you’ve gotten caught up with the story 🙂
You make some awesome points! Sesshoumaru is calculating, and a demon – but that said, we have seen him care for Rin.
Hope you enjoy where the story goes from here on out! Take care!! <3
Ok I just re-read Transgressions and The Pact over the past few days and Kagome from Transgressions and Sesshomaru from The Pact are my favorite versions of each lol. Just had to say that before I get to the point of this post, which is that after re-reading I’m trying to reconcile the seemingly caring Sesshomaru from the beginning chapters to the angry and a bit brutal Sess of the past few chapters. Char this is just how good your writing is because it’s just going around and around in my head! I guess I need to talk through the angst until the next chapter!
In the beginning of The Pact there are all these little clues from Sesshomaru that he wanted Kagome for more than just sex. Why would he ask if she loves Inuyasha the night of the celebration when he drank from her sake cup if he only wanted to bone her? Nevermind cutting the grass engagement ring, the extravagant necklace, the mating (possibly?) mark, his comment that he’d kill 400 when he saved her from those ruffians, removing her wedding band, telling her how he’d wanted her for a long time, feeding her with the extravagant meals, the bathing & grooming, etc.
To me, these are actions of someone trying to woo the object of his desire, possibly out of love, but if not that, at least a desire to have the beautiful, powerful, exotic Shikon Miko from the future as his own. After years of watching Kagome from the sidelines he has insight into who she truly is and he’s demonstrated his ability to provide her with a more exiting life that Inuyasha never could. (He even told her he knows what she needs, and I think he was talking about more than the big D haha.) Did he simply underestimate her bond with Inuyasha and her self righteous streak? Is he furious that after all his efforts she didn’t stay with him and is he now past the point of no return after her rejection? After revealing that his intention was to destroy her marriage will he now only be satisfied with destroying her along with it? I hope not because while I love the angsty ride I always want them together in the end lol.
Ok I got it all off my chest now!!
Hey Molly!! Thanks so much for sharing your insights about the series so far! ‘The Pact’ Sesshoumaru also happens to be my favorite version of Sess that I’ve written as well 😉
So much loved hearing your take on the flashback ‘clues’ 🙂 You pose some really great questions!! I’m so incredibly happy that you’ve enjoyed the series this much so far!
Hope you like seeing where the rest of the story goes <3