XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Safety Not Guaranteed

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'll come by after my sonogram, okay? I'm...we're supposed to find out the gender tomorrow. Won't that be nice," a soft watery voice filtered down into his mind as a warmth weighed on his cheek. For a moment, his body struggled in vain against the invisible bonds keeping him immobile. He pleaded - without knowing why - to leave his body to follow that warmth, that voice, but something snagged and kept him tethered to this strange prison. A searing pain gripped his throat, ripped him from the light he so desperately craved and wrenched him back into the distortion of an eternal night he had just so recently escaped. Just long enough to hear that voice and feel that warmth. It felt like an eternity frozen in the emptiness - not knowing who he was or how he came to be in this foul place. It was beyond frustrating to know that the answers were just within his grasp if only his body would clasp onto it.

"I know you must be pissed off I didn't take her farther away and that I, uh, kinda got us kidnapped by rat demons so...that wasn't great. They were friendly though and she was fine. I mean she was puking up a gut but that's not my fault. That part is technically yours," yet another voice cut into the darkness some unknown time later, "But you can kick my ass after you wake up, okay? Just know you gotta wake up to do it so...motivation."

He could only ever listen to the general mumblings of various voices that sounded so painfully familiar.

"I would say, my friend, that merely staying in my employ would've been healthier in the long run," another male voice chuckled darkly - no real humor in the tone as he continue, "But this isn't the first time you've saved us nor dare I say will it be the last. You will overcome this. I know you will. Until then, know that Sango, Kikyo and I will always be there for Kagome. Always. There is no need to worry about her well-being. Focus instead on healing so you may save the world yet again."

That voice irked him for some reason. Why the hell would he want to save the world again? Was that who he was and how he came to be here? Because his dumb ass was out there putting himself in mortal danger? That didn't seem right. And why the hell would he do that more than once?! That's stupid. That was so stupid. Especially considering what he was rapidly piecing together. Apparently he was going to be a father and had a wife, this Kagome girl, and what did he decide was the best course of action? Saving the world? Was there really no one else who could do that?! Why did it come down to him?! God, if only he could remember.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kagome sniffled as she ran her finger over the little blob in the black and white fuzzy photograph. A little girl. They were going to have a little girl. Sniffling once more, Kagome reached up to wipe away a stray tear that had escaped the confines of her eye and coughed lightly. It had been three months since that fateful day. Three months since Inuyasha had done what needed to be done and had nearly paid the ultimate price. He hadn't woken up since they found him bloodied and hanging on by a thread. They hadn't expected him to make it and they had told her to expect the worst. She'd moved back home to the Higuarashi shrine to be closer to the hospital where the love of her live was being kept alive by the wonders of modern medicine. While she loved her friends, who thankfully had retained their memories during this hard time, she missed him. More than anything. It was excruciatingly painful to have him be so close and yet just out of reach. Sesshomaru had assured her all costs would be paid in full - like that had even been on her radar upon seeing the mutilated body. The daiyoukai was trying to be helpful she supposed so she didn't hold the somewhat insensitive comment against him. He'd also been sending other types of financial help her way after all. Rin had been coming around more often as well as his little ambassador. Bringing gifts and money and clothes. Kagome suspected an ulterior motive for Rin's frequent visits as Raiden (and Kikyo not that Rin cared) had moved into the shrine in case a rouge member of the Divine Soliders decided to try to attack the mate of the one who had slain their leader. Not that Raiden even noticed the poor girl. There was something painful lurking behind his eyes whenever Kagome tried to nudge the potential love match along. Something he wouldn't share with her.

Picking up her cell phone, she sighed heavily before crawling into her twin poster bed that felt so empty for something so small. Her mother had been preparing the guest room for "when" Inuyasha woke up so they could sleep comfortably. The upstairs would become the nursery now that Sota had left for university. Gramps had been...less harsh whenever he spoke about Inuyasha too. Mama had told her that Gramps had seen Inuyasha die in that alleyway - something she had not known and something which had her eternally grateful that the worst of her problems was a coma. Gramps had waited in their apartment for an entire week before realizing they were never coming home. By then, the rail lines were haphazardly operational and he made his way home just in time for Kagome to arrive. All in all it was painful being home. The memories in this room more likely to make her cry than they were to bring comfort. Her alarm clock still battered from where Inuyasha smashed it. The little bottle that once held jewel shards collecting dust atop multiple high school textbooks. The bow in the corner in dire need to repair after years of non-use. The well-house in full view of her bedroom window. The scar on the sacred tree.

"Kagome?" a soft voice floated through the door before it opened exposing Kikyo holding a tray, "I have some tea that used to be good for pregnant women. Google it first. I read today that some herbal tea might cause early labor or complications. Can't even have honey nowadays. Something about bacteria."

"I've come to the conclusion that everything good in this world is bad for babies so I imagine that tea is on that list," Kagome laughed softly as she sat up and pulled up her phone, "What type of tea is it?"

"Well its ginger tea," Kikyo replied sheepishly, "But your mother didn't know whether it would be good or not and I cannot remember from nursing school whether they even discussed it. Ginger helps with morning sickness that I do know but in tea form?"

"The internet has the answer," Kagome sighed happily as she began typing furiously, "Okay, so...the verdict is...should be okay?"

"For human babies anyway," Kikyo sighed heavily as she set the tray down on the small desk and handed Kagome a steaming cup before taking one herself, "I imagine it would be difficult to give a half-demon infant any defects from tea anyway."

That had been a surprise if ever there was one to be told her child was going to be a full half-demon rather than a quarter. 'Unsurprising' to her specialist doctor Sesshomaru referred her to perhaps but the math in her head didn't add up. Something about Inuyasha's strong demonic energy and heritage.

"I'm sure there's a book out there somewhere that make life just as miserable," Kagome joked weakly before glancing over at the sonogram, "Do you...do you think he'll be disappointed its a girl?"

"No," Kikyo replied quickly before taking a sip and explaining further, "Inuyasha will be excited to be a father. The gender will not matter to him. Of that I am sure."

"Do you ever wish you two had children?" Kagome asked curiously before grimacing at how the question might be taken, "I mean..."

"Do I ever wish that Naraku had not betrayed us and that we had lived human lives?" Kikyo snorted as she rolled her eyes, "No, he would've been miserable and I would not have known what to do with him. He was also so controlled around me. If he started acting like himself, I would have lost my mind. Besides, the jewel would've thwarted any chance for our plan to work. It was - in some ways - a blessing that things ended the way they did. I do wish I had not have died and been brought back. That I could most certainly have done without."

"Wouldn't have met me though," Kagome pointed out as she gave her friend a sympathetic smile, "That has to count for something."

"It does," Kikyo laughed softly as she took another sip and gestured at her friend to drink, "Take another sip. I heard you sniffling in here. Tea solves all problems."

"So does sake," Kagome grumbled before sighing and taking another sip as Kikyo choked on hers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Four months to the day, Inuyasha opened his eyes and found himself staring up at the generic ceiling tiles in the pitch black of night - the incessant beeping of the machines attached to him giving him a headache he would not soon forget or forgive. Still, the headache was soon forgotten as Kagome arrived less than an hour later with the happiest smile he'd ever seen on her face. Her purse filled to the brim with sonogram pictures, test results and baby name books. Despite the constant annoying interruptions from doctors and well-wishers, Inuyasha found himself never wanting that moment to end. Kagome was showing - which had him silently mourning missing the growth - but in some ways, it was magical to have his first night awake in months filled with little baby kicks and the knowledge that he was going to be a father to a little daughter. He enjoyed seeing how frustrated Kagome was getting as he shot down name after name. It didn't matter to him - at all - what the brat would be called formally. He would call them whatever because he would be around to see his little girl grow. And that was all that mattered to him.

Many months after that, he got to meet the little girl in the flesh and hold her in his arms. It did have Kagome's nose, his hair and his ears but it donned emerald eyes. It also zapped him "by accident" with her little shit miko powers after he wouldn't stop nuzzling her. Couldn't turn her head or do anything useful but she could do that. The first spiritually charged demonic energy having baby in the hospital's history.

So much of the last year changed history in other ways as well. The immediate aftermath of the attacks around the world had led to the exposing of demon-kind. However, it turned out that around the world it had been made blaringly obvious that there were many more "good" demons than "bad". Indeed, without the help of local demons or mythical beasts, all would have been lost. It took at least a decade but by the end, everyone had figured out how to live harmoniously with one another. Human and demon marriages were becoming commonplace. This included Raiden and a local school teacher - much to Rin's chagrin. Still, Rin couldn't find it in her to be that upset as she found another demon to love. Children began filling the Higuarashi shrine. Inuyasha and Kagome certainly weren't satisfied with only one. All of their friends were fruitful and multiplied and all moved within a three block radius of one another. Kikyo, however, remained at the shrine for the remainder of her days. She decided that she would be the fun single aunt in this lifetime and had no desire to have children of her own. Apparently, in the lifetime prior to this one, she had been mother to six children and was quite done with the idea since she possessed the memory quite vividly. The whys and hows of the sudden memory dump was never learned but it was suspected that it had something to do with Kagome. None of them were ever bothered by it and while it would have been nice to know, they didn't dwell.

Three days a week Inuyasha traveled to the Institute to continue his studies but his career path had been altered. He was to be Sesshomaru's beta, this much is true, but instead of gaining "experience" out in the field, he would eventually become an instructor at the Academy. He was done with all the battles and bloodshed. He was done with the horrors that accompanied it. This included the poor man who had been tortured out of his sanity who Inuyasha made a point to visit at least once a month if not weekly. Still, after all Inuyasha had seen and done, he made the decision that it was time to hang up his sword. No more fighting for him. Well, except for fighting the students who tried to beat him in the exhibitions. The next person to throw him out of that ring as he had done so many generals all those years ago was none other than his own first-born daughter. And that was perfectly fine by him.