Of the Mourning
Chapter One: Gone Now
"I need a miracle... to bring me back to you, back to you. Ooh I know you're gone now... but I still wait for you, wait for you." - 'St. Patrick' ~ PVRIS
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His lips touched hers, a gentle caress of fangs and tongue.
Hands, usually deadly, slid along his favorite dips and curves of her body.
His eyes, so bright and golden, so expressive – bore into hers as he murmured her name, a prayer to the evening.
Silver hair matted with sweat encased them within their own world.
She whispered her love into his ears and branded it upon him with the scent of her skin.
.
Cerulean hues snapped open in the middle of the night with a name falling from crimson lips, sweat caking pale flesh.
Tears slid along flushed cheeks as Kagome cried softly, "Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha."
Slowly, small, delicate hands moved to the beginning swell of her abdomen and she repeated the name long into the dawning morning.
When her friends went to visit her she had not moved from her position, curled on her side, hands covering her stomach.
"Oh Kagome-chan."
She made no move to acknowledge the people within her hut... instead his name continued to be whispered.
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"Kaede-san, this is not normal!" came a harsh whisper as Sango paced within another hut not too far. "I've seen mourning but this is more than that!"
The older woman looked at the tajiya and the man that sat drinking tea and queried, "Miroku-sama, have you seen this before?"
The houshi slowly placed his tea cup down and looked sagely at Kaede, his voice strained, "I have. Once. A village woman had been mated to a youkai. He died and not long after... she followed. From what I gather, matings are not like our weddings. A piece of the very soul of a person is traded during the bonding process... it does not help that Kagome-sama is pregnant. Hanyou pregnancies, even quarter hanyou, can be very taxing on the female body."
It was quiet for several minutes and surprisingly it was Shippo who spoke, "Youkai pregnancies are different." he looked at the adults in the room and they silently urged him to continue. "Youkai children bond with parents while still in the womb. They do not only feed on the nutrients the mother provides, they feed on the essence of the parents in order to grow." he paused and looked down. "I don't know how it is for part-youkai babies but as the baby grows it is going to look for youkai essence to feed off and Kagome-chan isn't youkai."
"What do you mean youkai essence?" Sango demanded.
"Like energy - youki. It's going to look for youki." Shippo clarified, his were sad as he continued softly. "My mother was pregnant when she died so I remember that she would get tired and have to eat a lot more because the baby was draining her energy."
Sango looked at Kaede, fear shading her features and she stopped pacing, "What will we do? Inuyasha is dead and Kagome-chan can't feed the baby the way it needs to be fed." Slowly her horror grew and she whispered, "She will lose the baby."
Miroku gave Shippo a shrewd look and questioned, "So the youkai partner must be in contact with the baby when there are hanyou pregnancies, correct?" Shippo nodded and Miroku pressed on, "Can it be any youkai? Could you do it?"
Turquoise hues grew sad and the kitsune shook his head, "I don't have enough youki to sustain a baby."
"But could any youkai then assist?" Sango piped.
"Not any youkai but a youkai with similar energy could. If I was older I could because I'm a kitsune and we're both canines but I think it's better if they were the same race."
The silence in hut was deafening.
Sango and Miroku shared a look that spoke volumes.
Kaede's eyes fell to the sleeping bundle in the corner of the hut and the idea was born.
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'Gome Yuki:: Since "Petite Problems" is coming to an end I started working on this plunnie. Someone post in the forum about a month ago looking for fics where Kagome was pregnant and I was literally hit with this. It's going to be around the same length as PeProbs as far as chapter length. But as usual, this could end up being a monster of a story. It's going to be angst, angst, drama, drama. Let me know if this worth continuing?