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Hallow Be Thy Name	By : SplendentGoddess Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 4545 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi or VIZ Productions, and I do not gain financially from my fanfic in any way.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
A/N: This is the final chapter and epilogue of the Hallow series. Be sure to check out my other Halloween related fics! Stories with no sexual situations are posted both on mediaminer.org and fanfiction.net under this same author name.

Chapter 4 - The Nightmare Before Christmas...

Tightening the robe of fire-rat around her shoulders, Kagome offered her husband an appreciative smile as they made the short trek to the well. How had it gotten so cold, so quickly? Oh, right...none of that pesky 'global warming' stuff had happened yet in this century. As approaching snow clouds raced each other on the frigid afternoon breeze, ensuring that that night's storm would be a chilly one indeed, the miko almost felt guilty for leaving when the other residents of their village had to suffer through the pending storm, while she and her husband would be safe and warm on the other side of the well. Not that travel was probably the best idea in the world, considering her belly was ready to pop at any minute, but it was Christmas Eve...she had to celebrate it with her family. Besides, a nice juicy drumstick in Original Recipe sounded so good right about now.
Chuckling at the sound of his wife's growling belly, Inuyasha asked her, "Was that your stomach, or is the kid just getting testy?"
"I think a bit of both, actually." she replied with a smirk as they reached their destination.
Scooping his nine-month pregnant wife up into his arms bridal style, a feat he accomplished without difficulty thanks to his youkai strength, Inuyasha waited for Kagome to tuck herself into him, folding her legs back and resting her head on his chest, while wrapping her arms around his neck. As soon as he was sure that she'd made herself as small as possible, and he could safely leap into the well without Kagome getting hit by its edge on the way down, he made his jump, smiling at the feel of the welcoming rays of linear magic that danced against his aura whenever they passed back and forth.
It hadn't taken him long at all to rebuild the well back when it'd been destroyed eight months earlier, during the fight with that neko daiyoukai. While the reason the well had originally worked as a portal connecting time was because it'd been constructed with wood from the Goshinboku, the sacred wood that continued to line the well's frame underground was obviously still enough in its own right to allow the time portal to function, as they had successfully used the well with its above-ground structure completely demolished. Therefore, Inuyasha had merely decided to discard the well's remains within its pit, as he used all new wood to reconstruct a duplicate of its original appearance on the surface. After all, even though the well still worked just fine as a literal hole in the ground, it needed to be reassembled so that it would exist in its complete form in Kagome's time. Paradoxes and all that.
In fact, as the miko thought about it, it actually made sense that the well had been reconstructed during the Feudal era. After all, the original well in Inuyasha's time had already been extremely old and dilapidated to begin with, yet five hundred years later in her time, it appeared just about the same. Now, the reason why the well in her time wasn't literally crumbling to pieces with its incredible age made perfect sense, it was younger than they'd originally thought.
Arriving in said well at that moment, Kagome remained in her position snuggled against her husband in his arms, even after she felt the magic of time travel leave her. She didn't move until after she felt the fast breeze rush by her, indicating that she and Inuyasha had now cleared the well and were standing beside it in the well-house. Turning her face from where she'd had it buried against his chest, then, Kagome blinked up at her husband with a tender smile, a smile he readily returned as he slowly and carefully tipped his arms to help her stand back up on her feet. She might be strong and resilient, but that was very precious cargo she was carrying.
Making their way outside, Kagome was relieved to discover that the afternoon air wasn't nearly as cold in her family's time, as she returned her husband's jacket to him. While Inuyasha would probably have just told her to keep it until they got indoors under normal circumstances, the hanyou had since learned how Kagome could literally go from too cold to too hot in a matter of seconds. If she no longer wanted to wear his suikan, he wasn't about to force her to. That far along in her pregnancy, he wasn't about to force her to do anything she didn't want to do, which unfortunately included staying home in the Feudal era on Christmas Eve. The only consolation he felt in making the venture through time was that they'd definitely had a fairly cold winter storm on the approach back in his own century, and he was grateful to be able to get Kagome away from the upcoming nasty weather. Her family's home was warm, and safe, and full of such wonderful smells...
The hanyou would never really understand why they insisted upon putting a plastic pine tree in the middle of the living room, but he would admit that the smell of the cinnamon scented candles flickering on the tabletops was a nice change from all of the various other odors he could usually pick up around the house. Mrs. Higurashi kept her home sparkling clean, but that was actually most of the problem. Inuyasha could handle musty, dusty 'old building' smells just fine. It was the harsh chemicals of sterilizing cleaners that really bothered his sinuses. Not that the scents were usually too overwhelming, especially when there was usually the odor of recently prepared food of some kind or another also lingering in the air that he could focus on instead. But he definitely preferred the aroma of scented candles to disinfectant, so the Higurashi home was especially pleasing to his nose at that moment.
Hugs were exchanged as they entered the genkan, and after putting away her sandals, Kagome allowed her mother to help her to the couch.
"And how is little InuTaro doing?" Mrs. Higurashi cooed while placing a hand on her daughter's belly, causing Kagome to giggle behind her own hand. Although naming their child would officially be Inuyasha's job, her mother had just up and started calling her unborn grandchild InuTaro one day, and it'd sort of stuck ever since, despite Inuyasha's protests.
"He's doing quite well." Kagome replied, as she proceeded to tell her mother of the funniest craving she'd experienced to date. Chocolate and pickles? Bleh... It was a good thing it'd been in the middle of the night in the Feudal era when the desire had struck her, because there was no way she could make a 'store run' under those conditions. She'd fortunately gotten over the craving the very next morning, and had proceeded to wonder just what the hell Junior had been thinking in the first place. Was he trying to see how fast he could make Mommy throw up?
Mrs. Higurashi laughed at her daughter's ire, and proceeded to tell Kagome of some of the wonderful cravings she'd forced upon her during her pregnancy. Kagome apologized guiltily, before busting up in another round of giggles. Inuyasha merely shook his head as both women continued to laugh, but it was in amusement. He loved seeing his wife so happy, and especially with her mother. The fact that the older woman accepted him, accepted the fact that her daugher's children, her grandchildren, would be part youkai...Inuyasha knew he owed Mrs. Higurashi about as much as he did her daughter. Both women had been nothing but kind to him from the moment he'd met them, even when he hadn't really deserved it. It was no wonder where Kagome got her gentle, understanding disposition. Idly, Inuyasha wondered if her temper came from her father, but that was a subject they breeched very rarely. Not that he could blame her with as infrequently as he spoke of his own mother. But now wasn't the time to worry over such things.
They had a pleasant visit with her family well into late afternoon and early evening, until Kagome's mother finally decided to run out to collect that night's chicken dinner. While Inuyasha had had chicken on several occasions in his long life, nothing in his time could ever compare to the bizarre, yet incredibly delicious way that they seemed to prepare the bird in Kagome's world. He'd had KFC on two past occasions, the two previous Christmases that had passed since his marriage to Kagome, and the hanyou was thoroughly in-love with their extra crispy variety. That was another reason why Kagome had insisted that they'd had to come tonight, because her mother had already placed the order including the extra bucket of chicken for Inuyasha, and all that food would go to waste if he wasn't there to eat it.
Mrs. Higurashi did share her son-in-law's concerns regarding her daughter's pregnancy, however. All throughout dinner, every time Kagome made the tiniest moan or groan, she had two people from either side of the table both asking her if she was all right. She appreciated the attention, really, but to be perfectly honest, their paranoid behavior was starting to make her a little paranoid, herself. She lost track fairly quickly of how many times she had to tell both her husband and mother that she was fine. Souta, on the other hand, seemed perfectly confident that his sister was okay, but wouldn't stop asking her about what type of special abilities his niece or nephew was going to have. That quickly got annoying in its own right, when he simply wouldn't accept "We don't know." for an answer.
Exchanging gifts went over well. Kagome's grandfather was thrilled to receive all of the rare dried herbs she'd collected for him over the summer. Rare in the future, anyway, as modern industrialization nearly drove some of the more delicate plants to extinction. For her mother, the miko had taken several one-time-use cameras back into the past, and spent the last year cataloging precious memories that she'd then made into a photo album. It was a repeat of the gift she'd given her mother last year, but as everything continued to change and children continued to grow, Mrs. Higurashi truly appreciated being kept up-to-date in the half of her daughter's life that she couldn't personally experience.
As for Souta, Inuyasha had gotten a little creative, and had decided to honor the lad who'd always thought of him as his personal hero, even back when he hadn't really been much of one. Having kept the fang of a rouge oni that'd wandered into his forest last autumn, he'd had the local sword smith turn the fang into a dagger. There was no way in hell he'd give such a job to Totosai...they didn't want Souta accidentally blowing up his family's home! But the local smith had been happy to do the small favor after everything the hanyou had done for their village over the last four-plus years. Kagome definitely contributed to her brother's present, as well, because she had been the one to purify the fang of any residual traces of evil prior to giving it to the sword smith. It was a harmless ivory dagger, now, completely void of magic, but Souta was still stoked to own something that was made from an oni's fang. Inuyasha wondered how he'd top it next year.
The resident time-travelers weren't the only ones to have come bearing gifts, of course. Kagome hugged her mother while shedding happy tears for the small collection of baby clothes she'd received. Traditional looking baby clothes, so that nobody in the Feudal era would know the difference. The fact that his wife's mother, a human woman who had grown up thinking that youkai were nothing more than the monsters of children's bedtime tales, was willingly helping them to provide for their hanyou child, was more than enough of a Christmas present for Inuyasha. So he couldn't help but to laugh, then, mostly just to cover his dumbfounded appreciation, when he opened the box Mrs. Higurashi had addressed to him, only to discover three cases of instant ramen. If he would've had anything left over of his mother's, he would've given it to her, she meant that much to him, but unfortunately Naraku had destroyed the shell of lip coloring he'd given to Kikyou five decades prior. As it was, Inuyasha showed his gratitude in the only way he knew how, by bowing deeply in respect...close enough so that she could tweak his ears. It was amusing how Mrs. Higurashi could squeal in delight just like her daughter.
Souta was just about to give his sister his present, a 10,000yen gift card to her favorite bookstore, when she suddenly winced in pain while grabbing her stomach.
"Sister?" "Kagome?" Both Souta and their mother asked worriedly at the same time.
"Kagome!" came the frantic call of her mate not two seconds later.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" she insisted with a bit of a laugh, though her voice and face were both still contorted with pain. "Although perhaps we should cut our evening short." she relented then, her eyes meeting her husband's with an apologetic gaze.
"Oh no, no way..." Mrs. Higurashi chimed in before Inuyasha even had a chance to say anything. "Not with that blizzard you two told me they were expecting tonight."
"But..." Kagome quickly shut her mouth, the look her mother shot her having left no room for argument. Inuyasha, on the other hand, had only ever seen Mrs. Higurashi's nice side, as he proceeded to disagree.
"Kagome needs to get back, weather be damned. She needs Kaede to deliver the baby."
"You are not taking my daughter back to the past, to give birth in a cold hut with no electricity in the middle of a snow storm!"
Cowering in fear, Inuyasha quickly realized in that moment that Kagome did in fact get her temper from her mother, after all.
"Guys..." Kagome tried to intervene then, hoping she sounded more optimistic than she really felt. "We don't even know that I'm going into labor. It was just a little cramp. I'm sure we can stay until mor-" The miko's words were cut off as another wave of pain washed over her lower abdomen, much stronger than the last one.
"Okay, that seals it." her mother said with finality.
Inuyasha knew there was no arguing with the elder Higurashi woman, but still...
"Who's going to help Kagome with the delivery?"
"I'll call Dr. Moto." she stated, as though it was the most obvious decision in the world.
"What?! No!" Kagome protested. "I'm not going to the clinic, I won't!" Wrapping her arms around her stomach in a very protective fashion, Kagome's eyes briefly flashed to red and back as she declared, "I would rather give birth by myself in a cave than let that man anywhere near my baby."
"There's no other option!" her mother retorted. "He's the family doctor, and-"
"Feh!" Inuyasha interrupted then, getting more protective because of his mate's emotional state. "Kagome's in no condition to travel."
"You were going to take her through the well!"
"I could get her safely to Kaede's in under a minute! Those metal carts you people travel in-"
"Enough!"
Everyone froze as they slowly turned their gazes to the one person who'd been so quiet in the last few minutes they'd nearly forgotten that he was even in the room.
"Here's what we're going to do." Jii-chan started with an authoritative tone. "We're going to keep an eye on Kagome's condition, and prepare her bedroom for the baby's delivery."
His daughter-in-law looked as though she wanted to argue against the idea of Kagome giving birth in the house, but she snapped her mouth shut just as quickly as she'd opened it at the look Jii-chan sent her way, before the old priest continued with his instructions.
"We'll monitor her progress, and as soon as she's close to delivery time, we'll call the paramedics. If we plan the timing right, then they'll have no choice but to help Kagome deliver the baby here. On the other hand, if things haven't progressed by morning, then Inuyasha can take her back through the well. Labor can take hours, especially for the first baby, but because there's youki involved, we can't really guess a reliable time frame."
Inuyasha chimed in in that moment, agreeing with the old man as he acknowledged, "Kaede said that she's heard hanyou births are usually pretty fast. Probably a safety thing, to get the mother out of her most vulnerable stage as quickly as possible."
"I know Kagome's got youki in her..." Souta voiced in confusion then, "...but other women having hanyou babies are just normal humans. How can there be a 'youkai' safety thing like that for human women?"
"Keh, the mothers may be human, but the babies they're carrying are half youkai. It's up to the kid how long it wants to take to be born, and a youkai brat knows on an instinctive level that putting Kaa-san at risk means putting itself at risk, too."
Mrs. Higurashi would question the statement that it was actually the will of the unborn child that determined the length of delivery time, though then again, mothers who'd had especially long labors did often joke about how their children hadn't wanted to come out. Either way, she was relieved to learn that hanyou births were apparently easier than conventional births in that regard. The last thing she wanted for her poor daughter was to suffer through countless hours of painful contractions as her body took its sweet time, especially since until the paramedics arrived, she wouldn't be receiving any sort of medication for the pain.
Things progressed according to Jii-chan's plans for the next few hours. Kagome was propped up against several pillows, sitting in bed, and comically worrying over the fact that she'd just eaten and drank to her heart's content at Christmas dinner more than she was over the fact that she would be giving birth at home instead of in a hospital. Inuyasha had already assisted her with going back and forth to the bathroom twice, so hopefully she was good now.
The miko respected her mother's concerns, but greatly appreciated the fact that she'd relented to her desire to avoid the clinic. Mrs. Higurashi had only been thinking from a worried mother's point of view, after all, but keeping that frame of mind in place in reference to her own daughter, it was no wonder why the miko was so adamant about keeping her hanyou child away from that place. As for the pesky little detail of whether or not she would truly be giving birth at home, or if her labor would last long enough that Inuyasha could return her to the past come morning, that question was answered rather abruptly the moment Kagome declared with mild anxiety that her water just broke.
Recognizing his cue to call the paramedics, Souta rushed into the kitchen to make the call. Coming from a background of over three years of experience making up stories on his granddaughter's behalf, Jii-chan's script for the boy was simple, and mostly the truth. He told the phone operator that his sister and her husband were visiting for the night and that his sister had just gone into labor - true. He said this was her first baby, and that they had no idea how long the birth was going to take - also true. He told them his sister was hysterical, and for some reason crying 'no hospitals', and didn't know that he was calling an ambulance for her out in the kitchen - umm...not so much. He also told them how it appeared his mother was agreeing to her wishes, as they weren't even talking about driving her anywhere. Was it really safe to just give birth in the house by yourself?
That conversation ensured that whomever they sent to 'get' Kagome would be fully versed on the scene they'd be walking into. Then, it'd be up to the whole family to make sure their unsuspecting victim did the job they'd actually hired him to do, aid in Kagome's delivery at home.
What might've only been around twenty minutes later, or several agonizing eternities in whichever layer of hell was infested with scores of river-dancing abdominal parasites, depending on your perspective, Inuyasha informed his wife and the rest of her family that the paramedics were running up the shrine steps.
Although he hated to see his wife in so much pain, and would readily agree to allowing her their modern-time's version of pain killer to help ease her distress, Inuyasha supported her decision to remain home one hundred percent. There was no way he'd let her anywhere near a birthing clinic after what she'd informed him her family's doctor had wanted to do to their child. Granted, Dr. Moto hadn't truly been prejudice of 'InuTaro's' hanyou status, he hadn't been aware of it. But that was beside the point. Aside from literally grabbing her baby and forcefully fighting her way out of the hospital, past security guards and who knew what else, there'd be no way that she and their child would be able to leave once they saw what it looked like.
Of course, it was still risky having medical professionals involved at any level at all, but they had a plan.
Having run downstairs to meet the paramedics at Inuyasha's heads up, Souta was in position when they arrived, looking as frantic as ever, and rambling on and on about how his family was going to be so angry with him when they found out that he'd called them. On the way upstairs, he told the two men how everyone else was in his sister's old bedroom, the room that had been hers before she'd married and moved out, and that even though they wouldn't let him in there, saying he was too young, it was obvious she was in labor from the way everyone kept yelling about it, coupled by his sister's loud moans of pain.
"Paramedics!" they called out while knocking loudly on the door, trying the knob mere seconds before they would've kicked the door in, which of course wasn't locked. Nobody wanted to have to replace any doors after this.
Inuyasha, who was dressed for the role of modern-day husband in a pair of Kagome's dad's old slacks and a Christmas sweater, toped off by a wool cap that nicely covered his ears, jumped to his feet in 'surprise' as the men barged into the room.
"What are they doing here?!" he demanded, glaring at Souta who stood precariously behind them, while Mrs. Higurashi placed a soothing hand on her son-in-law's arm and cooed something softly about Souta just being a boy, and not knowing any better.
The paramedics looked around the room in concern and confusion. The young woman in the bed appeared to be in the heavy throws of labor, while it seemed that her punk looking husband with bleached hair was adamant that she receive no medical treatment for her condition. Was he in a gang? The older woman also in the room, clearly the girl's mother, looked as though she'd had everything prepared for a home delivery. Glancing across the room, the bedroom window had some sort of Shinto ofuda slapped to its surface, and although they hadn't noticed it originally, upon closer examination, so did the door to the room they'd just entered through. Was it some sort of archaic religious practice to not take your daughters to the hospital when they were in labor? What was wrong with these people?
"Ma'am, your daughter needs to go to the hospital at once." Nagai, the lead paramedic, said with concern.
"Like hell-" Inuyasha started to protest, though he stilled when his wife raised her hand to grasp his wrist.
Turned out Kagome hadn't been about to interrupt him, though, she'd merely been experiencing another contraction. After she gasped for breath a few times, she managed to apologize to the paramedics, saying how her brother shouldn't have called them, and that she couldn't go to the hospital, stressing the word. Then, wincing in pain once more, she started to cry, half from the genuine pain and exhaustion she was feeling, half a part of the act, as she confessed that she was scared, though, to be giving birth without a doctor. Nagai again insisted that she needed to go to the hospital, attempting to assure her that everything would be all right, and that's when Mrs. Higurashi dropped the bomb of her daughter's broken water sack. Kagome was fully dilated, and by that point, her mother was honestly surprised that she hadn't already started crowning. They'd actually cut it a little close on the paramedics call, but on the other hand, they couldn't have called them too early, because then it would've been too hard to avoid their insistence of taking Kagome to the hospital.
As it was, upon realizing how close to delivery the girl actually was, the lead paramedic immediately consented that, under the circumstances, the best thing to do was to assist the girl in her birth then and there, and then take both her and her baby to the hospital for standard post-birth examinations afterwards, not to mention cataloging birthing records and all that.
Mrs. Higurashi had of course started to disagree, attempting to shoo the men from her daughter's room, but in that moment, Kagome cried out that she wanted them to stay. That if they would let her give birth in her bed, which she was already doing anyway with or without their help, that she wanted somebody who knew what they were doing to assist her in case anything went wrong. Mrs. Higurashi appeared to sigh in mild resignation before consenting to her daughter's wishes.
Secretly, Inuyasha was fighting his baser instincts. They'd warned him in advance that the 'paramedic' person they'd have come assist Kagome would almost certainly be male, and he hated, absolutely loathed the idea of some strange man seeing and touching his wife so intimately. In his time delivering babies was something that only women did. Hell, he shouldn't even be in the room! No way in hell would Kaede have let him remain, but by that same token, there was no way in hell he was going to leave Kagome alone with that strange man currently touching her the way he was. But he was just there to help deliver the baby, that's what the hanyou kept telling himself over and over again. There was obviously no way in hell that he could help Kagome deliver their child, not with those ten miniature daggers on his fingertips. The only one who was a viable option was Kagome's mother, but the woman had admitted to lacking the necessary knowledge to offer her daughter the type of assistance Kaede would've given her back in the past.
Sighing to herself, a genuine sigh that time, Mrs. Higurashi wondered if she'd been unreasonable in her refusal to let Kagome go home just because of the weather. But even though her daughter was a grown woman, she was still, and always would be, her baby girl. They could've ignored her wishes and headed for the well anyway, so she truly appreciated the fact that her daughter had respected her enough to allow her to have her way on this issue, at least in part.
Kagome was secretly happy about the way things had played out, for several reasons. For one thing, she really hadn't wanted to return to the past that night when it was most certainly freezing on the other side of the well. Her mother had certainly had a valid point about giving birth in a cold hut in the middle of the night with no electricity, in the middle of a snowstorm. Her room was warm, her bed was comfortable, and Inuyasha was by her side, which was truly the only thing that Kagome really cared about. She wasn't nervous about the paramedic whom she'd never met before assisting her with her delivery, because she'd been telling the truth when she'd stated that she would simply feel much better with anyone helping her who'd had training and knew what they were doing, rather than her going it alone.
In reality, since Kagome had had training as a midwife herself, she pretty much knew all the ins and outs of childbirth, and wasn't going into this totally ignorant. She could've given her mother and Inuyasha instructions to assist her if need be, as she already knew all of the things like when to breathe and when to push, and when not to push. So because of her knowledge, she hadn't truly been in as great of a risk as she could have been, should the paramedics thing not have panned out, but as it was, she still preferred having their assistance. Not to mention their painkillers... Just because her youkai side gave her a higher tolerance for pain didn't mean it didn't still hurt just as badly.
As the man of the hour got into position, Kagome tightened her hold on her husband's wrist to silence the growl that had started to build in his throat. Nagai glanced nervously in Inuyasha's direction, but Mrs. Higurashi spoke up in that moment that Inuyasha was only concerned for the safety of his wife and their unborn child. She assured the man that everything was fine, and that they appreciated his desire to help Kagome. Inuyasha's eyes briefly met his own with a look that bespoke of slow pain should anything go wrong, but he also gave a curt nod in that moment to indicate to the man that he had his permission and trust to proceed. Gulping nervously, Nagai worried about the sanity of the girl's husband. He'd seen plenty of overly protective spouses in his day, but never in his career had he ever heard anyone actually growl at him. What made it even worse was how both the Kagome girl and her mother merely seemed to be soothing the man, as if his growling like a wild animal was a perfectly natural reaction, and what had Mrs. Higurashi said his name was, Inuyasha? That was obviously a gang name.
The secondary paramedic, Hori, having missed the subtleties of what'd just taken place between Inuyasha and his partner, took that opportunity to lead Souta back out of the room, congratulating the boy on his quick, independent thinking, and assuring him that he'd done the right thing on behalf of his sister. Jii-chan appeared out of nowhere in that moment, a rosary of holy prayer beads wrapped between his hands that weren't just for show, as the elderly priest offered genuine prayers on behalf of his granddaughter for an easy birth and healthy baby.
"Right thing, my eye!" he said, surprising the young paramedic with his level of hostility. "Souta, you should have known better! How can his child be born in a hospital?" he questioned his grandson harshly.
Souta's eyes grew wide in that moment, as if only finally just realizing the error of his ways. "I...I'm sorry, Jii-chan...I didn't think-" he started to apologize.
"You're damn right you didn't think, boy." Jii-chan criticized, before his facial expression softened just a bit, as he admitted, "But you were only concerned for your sister and her unborn child, I suppose I can't fault you for that."
Looking as though he was relieved to at least be partially forgiven, Souta took off down the hall in that moment, entering his own room with a worried expression on his face. Jii-chan took off in the other direction, heading downstairs into the living room, leaving the paramedic standing in the upstairs hallway very confused, until he shook his head to clear it of such thoughts, as he reentered Kagome's bedroom to assist his partner.
The birth went surprisingly well, or at least, it was surprising for the two men who'd had no idea that hanyou births were supposed to be faster than normal, or even that the birth they were assisting in was a hanyou birth at all. While Hori administered Kagome something for the pain that still kept her clear-headed, and monitored her heart rate with mild concern because of how high her pulse seemed to be, Nagai was busy with the actual delivery. Once Kagome started crowning, the miko feared the paramedic aiding her would shriek in surprise at any moment, but why everything was still all right was answered when her mother slyly informed her in a rather overzealous way how her baby had a full head of raven hair, as opposed to being bald, the same as she and her brother Souta had had back when they'd been born. Must run in the family to be born with hair, Mrs. Higurashi stated with pride.
Well, that answered that question.
The birth continued to be relatively easy, at least as easy as a birth could be, while Kagome kept steady contact with her husband for both her support, as well as his own. Inuyasha needed his wife's calming influence to not jump off the handle at the strange man holding his child. One wrong move, and he'd be ready...
With the delivery of their daughter complete, Hori took the infant to clean and tie-off the umbilical cord while Nagai continued to assist Kagome with delivering the afterbirth. One solid push later and that was expelled, and Kagome collapsed against her mountain of pillows with an exhausted yet elated expression on her flushed face, her bangs stuck to her sweaty forehead in a way that Inuyasha would swear had never looked sexier.
That was when they all heard Hori gasp.
Looking up quickly, they saw and heard the man frantically telling his partner how the baby had no ears. Well...none that he'd noticed yet, anyway. Nagai took the infant before Mrs. Higurashi could intervene, and after digging around in the freshly rinsed head of downy soft baby locks of raven black, he discovered with dread what they'd hoped could've stayed hidden. Two little flaps of fuzzy skin folded over what appeared to be the child's ears, placed way too high upon her head, almost like puppy ears.
Inuyasha...
The baby girl he held in his arms chose that moment to open her eyes, as a set of honey-amber orbs gazed up at Nagai's panicking face quizzically, showing way more awareness than a newborn infant should be capable of.
Those aren't contact lenses...
Snapping his eyes back up to meet the father's own piercing orbs of gold, Nagai could do nothing but hold his breath, while Hori babbled something next to him about the child needing to be taken to the hospital right away.
"That child isn't going anywhere." Mrs. Higurashi stated with conviction.
"Give me my baby!" Kagome cried, trying to crawl out of bed despite her current condition.
Turning to run, Hori took half a step before coming to a screeching halt, nearly crashing right into the girl's grandfather who was suddenly standing right in the doorway, thoroughly blocking his path.
"Going somewhere?" the Shinto priest asked with a grin so wide, and face so polite, that it was scary in its own right. Holding up an ancient looking bottle of sake, he then said, "You must stay, celebrate the birth of my first great-grandchild!" Jii-chan seemed positively giddy with family pride.
Instinctively, Nagai tightened his grip on the infant he held in his arms, and the girl started to whimper in discomfort, not from any physical pain, but from the emotional distress she could sense in the room all around her. The area literally reeked of fear. What was going on? Instinctively, smelling fear made the baby afraid, and it wasn't long before her whimpers grew into more human-like cries.
Inuyasha's eyes flashed red in that moment, which wasn't a part of the plan, and Mrs. Higurashi had to scramble to get Tetsusaiga from where she'd stashed it in her daughter's closet. She hadn't thought that it would look too good for him to be wearing a sword on his hip, but she should've known better.
Growling low in his throat, Inuyasha stepped away from Kagome's bedside, worrying his wife when she lost physical contact with him, but so far, he seemed to have himself under control, as his eyes kept shifting back and forth between crimson and amber. Nagai stiffened at the man's appearance, and barely managed to keep from soiling himself when Inuyasha's lips pealed back to reveal razor sharp fangs.
"Unhand. My. Child." he stated in a voice much lower than his usual timber, jagged purple stripes slowly appearing on his cheeks.
At his words, Mrs. Higurashi stilled in her attempt to reach for his sword, instead turning to face the paramedic standing not three feet away, as she held out her arms to indicate he should give her the baby. It didn't appear that Inuyasha was on the verge of becoming a mindless killing machine, so retrieving the baby was definitely more important than retrieving Tetsusaiga. While she'd never before witnessed one of her son-in-law's transformations, Kagome had told her before of their occurrence, including the fact that she had been helping her husband over the last year with spiritual exercises to maintain more control over his mind while in that form. From the looks of things, those exercises had been a good thing, indeed.
Thoroughly freaked out, Nagai could do nothing but stand there in shock, even as Inuyasha viciously yanked the cap from his head, as though he were disgusted with its very presence, revealing his own set of canine ears, both of which were turned forward, honed in on every sound Nagai's body was making. Hori was the voice of reason in that moment as he frantically said, "Just give them the child, man! We'll write on the report that it was a false alarm!"
As if hearing his partner's words had been what he'd needed to snap himself back into reality, Nagai hastily handed Mrs. Higurashi the crying infant before he and Hori practically ran from the house, their path made clear by the infant's great-grandfather who stepped aside as soon as he saw Nagai hand the girl over to her grandmother.
Unafraid of approaching Inuyasha in his half-transformed state, Kagome's mother knew that seeing that his daughter was safe would be all that was needed for his heated blood to cool back down. Indeed, as Inuyasha observed the woman holding his child, a woman who did not reek of fear, but rather smelled of family and love, the crimson from his eyes immediately drained to reveal relieved orbs of golden amber.
"Your daughter is safe, Inuyasha..." she cooed then, "...and quite healthy, from the sound of things." she added with a bit of a chuckle, having to speak a little louder than normal to be sure she was heard over the infant's cries.
The adult hanyou's attitude immediately shifted from protective to nervous as his wife's mother handed him his crying daughter. He'd never held a baby before, not even Miroku's son. The instant the child was placed in his arms, however, she immediately stopped her wailing as her nose started twitching a mile a minute, clearly picking up her sire's scent and recognizing him for who he was.
"What are you going to name her?" Mrs. Higurashi asked as she smiled at the shared look of amazement between father and daughter. His expression was understandable, but it was genuinely shocking to see such recognition in the eyes of a newborn baby.
"No clue..." Inuyasha chuckled with a touch of pink rising to his cheeks, as he sheepishly admitted, "I'd only been thinking of boys' names."
The baby girl in his arms started to whimper again in that moment, and it was then that Kagome decided to speak up, having been enjoying the scene before her in silence as she shared her mother's reaction to observing Inuyasha holding his daughter.
"Sounds like she's hungry." the miko stated, as she worked a breast free from the yukata her mother had helped her change into after the onset of labor.
"I'll leave you three alone." Mrs. Higurashi stated with a smile as she observed Inuyasha very carefully passing their daughter into Kagome's arms, so that she could feed their brand new infant for the very first time. It reminded the elder Higurashi woman of the days when she'd been a new mother, herself. "If there's anything you need, just call me." she added as an afterthought before seeing herself out of her daughter's old bedroom. Neither new parent even looked up or acknowledged her words in any way, simply too lost in the presence of their daughter.
Inuyasha remained silent for several minutes as he observed their daughter suckle dinner to her heart's content. Then finally breaking the silence, he brushed a stray hair from Kagome's face as he murmured, "Merry Christmas, Love."
"Merry Christmas, Inuyasha." Kagome replied in kind, her smile the purest he had ever seen her wear to date. "And what a wonderful Christmas present you've given me." she added after a moment, brushing the back of her knuckles across their daughter's silky forehead.
"I disagree..." he argued affectionately, "...she is the best present that you've ever given me."
Finally seeming to realize that they were now alone in the small bedroom, Inuyasha smiled himself as he stated with amazement, "Your mother has got to be the most understanding, caring, loving woman in the whole world." Leaning forward to kiss his wife's cheek he added, "It's no wonder where you get it from."
Kagome felt like her heart was going to burst from her chest, and not from how rapidly it was beating. Even though he'd opened up to her tremendously throughout the last two years of their marriage, hearing him say something so heartfelt was still a fairly rare occurrence.
"Your mother was a remarkable woman as well, you know." the miko spoke up in that moment. "To have fallen in love with a youkai, to have bore him a son, and to have raised that son on her own with love and devotion, despite the prejudice of the world around her."
Inuyasha had to close his eyes to prevent them from watering at his wife's tender words.
"Koibito..." Kagome whispered lovingly, gaining his full attention as he reopened his eyes and locked gazes with her own. "If you have no thoughts at this time as for a name for our daughter, may I name her instead?"
Kagome understood and respected that in the time her husband was from, naming the children was the father's honor, but the name she had picked out would honor not only her husband, but also the woman who'd sacrificed herself to raise him.
"Whatever you want, Koi." was the hanyou's response, not carrying about something as trivial as his right to name their child when he was still so overwhelmed by the simple fact that he had a child.
He had a child...his own, biological, flesh and blood child. He and the woman he loved had created new life through their expression of said love; Kagome could name their daughter whatever she wanted.
Smiling, Kagome looked down at her feeding daughter, just as amazed as everyone else had been to see such recognition in her eyes. The part-canine infant suckling from her breast knew that she was her mother. Reaching up and gently caressing her daughter's soft hair, carefully massaging the delicate ears that rested hidden within, she stated with finality, "This child's name is Izayoi."
Inuyasha made a sound that was a cross between a gasp and a choke, as he stared at Kagome with an unreadable expression. Just when the miko was beginning to worry that she'd made a mistake, her husband's look melted into one of absolute, unadulterated devotion, as he crashed his lips down upon her own in a passionate kiss that bespoke of his eternal gratitude. Gratitude for the gesture of naming their daughter after his mother, gratitude for her desire to bear his child in the first place, gratitude for her love and partnership even back when the outcome of their mission had still been uncertain, and gratitude for her very presence in his life, from the moment she'd first awoken him from his enchanted slumber.
He would never, ever tire of her presence, as his love for her would only continue to grow over the years, over the next centuries to come. His love for her would grow as their family would grow around them, as he promised himself then and there that there was no way their current daughter would be their only child. He wanted an entire litter of puppy-eared children with the woman currently lying beside him.
As if reading his thoughts, Kagome commented in that moment, "I wonder if all of our children will look like her, or if some will have human ears, or silver hair."
"So long as they are our children, I don't care what they look like." he stated, realizing in that moment that it was true; he didn't care. They could have muzzles and tails, or appear pureblooded human. As long as they were the product of himself and Kagome, that was all that mattered.
"Come on, Otou-san, there's room for you up here." Kagome said with a smile as she scooted herself over.
Crinkling his nose as he rolled her title for him around in his head, Inuyasha joked as he joined her in the bed, "Oyaji is more like it."
It was then Kagome's turn to crinkle her nose.
"But I like Otou-san better, and besides, you've been calling me Okaa-san."
Shrugging the best he could while lying on his side with one arm draped across her belly, he replied nonchalantly, "Oyaji is more appropriate."
Wanting to disagree but biting her tongue, Kagome smiled down at their daughter once more, before racking her brain for a term they could both agree on. Her husband was from the past, so something less modern would definitely be more fitting.
"How about Chichi-ue?" she asked then.
His eyes widened a bit at the surprisingly respectful term before drifting fully shut, a pleasant upward curve to his lips as he replied, "That'll work, Haha-ue."
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"Trick or treat!"
"Oh my, and what are you supposed to be?" the elderly lady with graying curls asked the five-year-old standing before her.
"I'm an inu-hanyou!" the girl replied with pride, wiggling her koinu ears for emphasis, which caused the old woman's eyes to widen in surprise before she quickly dumped a few pieces of candy into the child's plastic bucket and closed the door.
Laughter could be heard coming from a few paces behind the girl, and she turned to stick her tongue out at her 'babysitter'.
"Izayoi, if you keep scaring everyone like that, then I'll never get my turn to collect any candy!" Shippou stated in amusement.
"I'll share, I've got plenty!" she replied while holding up her bucket.
"I'll say..." the kitsune commented, whistling in pride at his charge's collection. "But this is also my first Halloween in Haha-ue's time, and I'm gonna enjoy it!" he declared then, stating as they approached the next house, "This time, I'm going first."
Pulling a leaf from his vest, Shippou quickly made sure that no one was around before he popped himself into the appearance of a human boy wearing a standard-issue Digimon costume. He'd promised his mother that he would behave himself while in her time, and not let anybody know that he was a kitsune, or that Izayoi was a real hanyou. Of course, tell that to the five-year-old who kept insisting upon wiggling her ears everywhere they went, but he supposed such a thing could always be chalked up to batteries, right? Yeah, that sounded like a good excuse, he'd go with that. This wasn't just her first time Trick-or-Treating after all, but his as well, and he planned on making the best of it, no matter what. So 'battery powered' definitely sounded like a good excuse if anybody actually grew too suspicious of her ears and tried to cause trouble. He'd just earned his right to be in Kagome's time unsupervised, he wasn't about to blow it now.
For the longest time, nobody had even realized that Shippou was capable of traveling through the well. He'd tried to pass through it once, long ago during his adoptive parents' quest to complete the jewel - the first time around - and since the well had failed to allow him entry into Kagome's time, even with some jewel shards, the kitsune had simply assumed, as had everyone else, that he was incapable of traveling through the portal at all. It was because of that reason that his adoptive parents had always attempted to keep their ventures into the future at a minimum, visiting with Kagome's family for longer periods during her time's various holidays, but otherwise spending the grand majority of their time in the past with him. While Kagome had definitely wanted to share Izayoi with her mother, and had taken lots of 'mini' trips into the future for the elder woman's sake, the miko had done a good job of making sure that her attention remained evenly divided between their two children.
After all, just because Izayoi was their first-born biological child didn't mean that they loved him any less as a son, and Shippou understood that. He'd realized what he'd truly meant to the couple back when they'd gone out of their way to make a room for him in their hut, the hut that Inuyasha had begun construction of immediately following the purification of the Sacred jewel. He hadn't minded staying with Kaede for those first two months at all, not when he'd originally believed that he'd be stuck staying with the elderly miko forever. The fact that Inuyasha and Kagome had actually wanted him in their house had left the kitsune literally speechless the first time they'd told him, which was quite a feat to accomplish in its own right.
Since then, he'd tried to make his new parents proud of him, which included becoming a stronger youkai, so he often took off for a couple of weeks at a time, himself, to take the Kitsune Youjutsu exam. He might still be a little kid, in youkai terms, but Shippou was definitely old enough to understand how the couple would appreciate some time to themselves from time to time. Hence why he had agreed to take Izayoi Trick-or-Treating.
They'd first discovered that Shippou could pass through the well about eight months ago, and quite by accident. It'd never even been a concern of theirs that Izayoi would be able to pass back and forth, as she'd been born in the future, but held a definite connection to the past through her father's blood. Shortly after her birth, as soon as both she and Kagome had been up for it, the couple had returned to the past with their new baby in tow, and the villagers had been all aflutter over their newest addition. The three of them had gone back and forth through time often, even if only for a couple of hours at a time, as Kagome had definitely not wanted her mother to miss out on any part of her granddaughter's growth, while at the same time always feeling bad about having to leave Shippou behind. The kitsune had understood, but that hadn't made it fair.
They'd been heading into the future yet again, that time to celebrate 'Uncle Souta's' birthday, when Izayoi had started wailing about how she wanted 'Aniki' to go with them. She had never quite understood why Shippou always had to stay home whenever they went through the magic well. It wasn't often that Izayoi exhibited her hanyou speed and strength, but she'd done so in that moment to break free from her mother's grasp just in time to grab a shocked Shippou by the tail and leap back into the well with him. Kagome had caught both of them in surprise just as the lights of time began to engulf them all, and to everyone's surprise, Shippou included, the kitsune had successfully passed right on through into the future with the rest of them. Apparently, all that had been needed was to be in physical contact with Kagome; she'd been able to carry him through just like she'd once carried those dried youkai in her backpack, thinking them harmless jerky. Overjoyed at the discovery, they'd opted to not look at all the time lost in that moment, as Kagome had instead enjoyed getting Shippou up to speed on everything in her world. Fortunately, he was a fast learner, and while it had turned out that being in physical contact with either Kagome or Inuyasha was required to pass through the well, he'd started going with them often. Kagome had been thrilled to finally have her entire family together around her mother's dinner table.
Still, love her children as she did, there was something to be said for occasional nights alone, just she and Inuyasha. At first, whenever they'd needed some 'alone time' together, either Sango and Miroku had agreed to watch Izayoi, or Kaede would take her in if they were unable. Shippou remembered with pride the first time they'd left a then one-year-old Izayoi alone in his care in their hut. Granted, it'd only been for a few minutes as there had been an oni in the forest they'd needed to take care of, but that had been such a tremendous gesture of trust on Inuyasha's part that Shippou had promptly stopped insulting the hanyou after that day, even in jest. They'd started leaving her in his care for longer intervals of time after that. As Izayoi had continued to grow, so had the kitsune's relationship with the couple he no longer thought of as merely his guardians, but truly his parents, as he began calling them "Haha-ue" and "Chichi-ue" himself, to avoid any unnecessary confusion with the toddler. Izayoi thought of Shippou as her older brother, even after she'd grown taller than him, as her human blood caused her to age like a mortal child. Now, at age five, she was already over twice his height, but since he could make himself much bigger with the use of his kitsune magic, it evened out.
Izayoi was strong, though, possessing all of her father's inherent youkai abilities, which they were sure would also include slowed aging once she reached adolescence. Inuyasha had told Kagome how even he had aged like a human child until around his thirteenth or fourteenth birthday, when he'd virtually stopped aging altogether. It'd taken him over a century to lose what random enemies had always called his 'baby face'. Finally, he appeared to be a young man in his very late teens, roughly the same age as his wife, and thanks to Kagome's newly acquired youkai aging, she wouldn't surpass him in appearance now, as they'd continue to age together ever-so-gradually over the next several centuries to come.
Snapping out of his thoughts at the sound of a slamming door, Shippou couldn't help but notice the distinctive twinge of fear lingering in the air, as Izayoi happily dashed back to him from up at the house's front door as she proclaimed, "Look how much candy I got this time!"
Shaking his head in amusement, Shippou remained silent as they headed down the sidewalk to the next house with a lit porch light. The fact that Inuyasha and Kagome trusted him enough to keep an eye on their daughter during her first time Trick-or-Treating was so unbelievable, that when they'd first asked him if he'd be up to the task he'd very nearly blasted them with a kitsune attack he'd learned at the Inn designed to undo the illusions of others. His thoughts had literally been Who are you and what have you done with my parents??? Of course, the two of them weren't completely alone, as Mrs. Higurashi was waiting for them in the car down at the end of the block, but still...
But Halloween was and would forever be the couple's anniversary, so it was no wonder why they'd wanted to spend the holiday alone. Now that Izayoi was out of her extended 'terrible twos' stage, which Kagome had called the 'terrible two, three and fours', they had finally started talking about making her a baby brother or sister. Inuyasha had been very patient when Kagome'd requested that they wait a few years between children. Since she wouldn't outgrow her child-baring years for at least five or six centuries, they had plenty of time to work on that litter of puppy-eared children he was looking forward to. Still, why put off till tomorrow...right? There was no time like the present, after all.
Ten miles across town, in the suite of a fancy hotel, Inuyasha's lips slowly curled up into a smile as he detected the subtle change in his wife's scent.
"What're you smiling about?" Kagome asked him lazily, as she snuggled her nude form against his own just a little bit tighter.
"I'll tell you in the morning, Koi. Get some rest." he murmured while kissing her forehead.

~~~ The End ~~~
For real this time...
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