Kagome’s mind went frightfully blank. 

When she came to herself again, her hands and face were smeared with blood. There was nothing left of the organs but a rusty stain in the snow. Nothing left of the rabbit but skin and bones, one of which she was gnawing as Taiyoutori shredded the bloody hide into strips.

Horrified, she flung the femur away. Half-staggering to her feet, she crumpled back to the snow. Her lower belly was warm, so incandescently warm, like a fire freshly stoked. So at odds with the cold nausea roiling through the rest of her, as she whimpered and bit her nails into the tree roots beneath her.

“Kagome.”

She started, lurched around to find Sesshoumaru staring down at her. She’d been so distressed she hadn’t even sensed him. Hot tears of shame and fear bled down her face, mixing with the sticky gore that filmed it.

“I…I just…” A wretched groan broke from her as she tasted the blood on her lips. “I was just so…so hungry…”

Sesshoumaru knelt. His downy fur brushed her shoulder. It was all she could do to resist the urge to lean into him.

“Sesshoumaru,” she whispered, her terrified gaze latching with his. “What’s happening to me?”

He brushed a lock of sweat-dampened hair from her eyes. “Nothing is happening to you,” he said, “apart from the obvious.”

“Humans don’t eat raw meat,” Kagome despaired.

“No,” he replied, glancing to Taiyoutori as he snapped up another bloody strip. “But youkai do.”

Kagome’s shoulders sagged. “Something came over me. It possessed me, Sesshoumaru. I think…it was the baby, wasn’t it?”

“Apparently.”

“It was so scary.” Kagome shuddered. “It’s like my senses were hijacked. Then all of me was. I had no control over myself.” Swallowing, she looked to him in fresh panic. “What if it happens again? What if I hurt someone?”

“You won’t.”

“How do you know that?” she said, clutching at his armored chest. “How do you know that it won’t get worse? What if I’m carrying a monster inside me?”

At the word ‘monster’ a shadow seemed to pass over Sesshoumaru’s face. Abashed, Kagome hung her head. When a clawed finger tipped up her chin, she reluctantly met his gaze.

With perfect equanimity he said, “I know it because this child is yours, and you wouldn’t harm one of your own.” After a beat, he added, “Nor would I.”

But I might, Kagome dreaded to herself. We both might.

There was more than one way to hurt a person. If this pact of theirs ever came to light, not only Inuyasha would be devastated by it. Still she nodded, knowing what he meant.

“If the child forced you to feed, it must have done so only out of desperation. This insatiable hunger has been plaguing you for days, has it not?”

Kagome touched a hand to her round belly, still radiant with warmth. “I do feel better,” she admitted, sheepishly meeting his eye. “…But I’m still hungry.”

“I see.” Sesshoumaru rose from her side, inclining his head slightly as if he were listening for something. Glancing back to her, he said, “Wait here.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 1/4/23