Chapter Text
The world had changed.
Kagome laid awake, running through the past events. She had been quiet about her feelings about everything, considering that people took the idea of spirituality quite differently across the world. A weapon that could use people’s souls….
The world had changed but nothing had changed on the smaller scale. She moved slightly, trying not to wake him.
Naraku laid beside her, his eyes closed. She could tell he was truly asleep. That had taken some work for him to relax enough to sleep again. Usually he preferred to be awake and watching over everything while she slept.
But tonight she had wanted him with her.
Naraku knew what was bothering her instantly.
“If there is a war over what is known, it is not on your head,” he had told her. She was trying to keep that mindset.
Kagome wouldn’t take anything back. But things were much easier in the Feudal Era. Here, she worried. She watched him sleep now, letting time pass, and even she closed her eyes for a bit to drift into sleep.
A sudden sickness drew her from her sleep.
Kagome felt hot and cold alternatively, and she knew–she tried to get out of the bed, but Naraku chose that moment to wrap an arm around her.
He opened his eyes, his gaze flickering, and he tightened his grip.
“Why don’t you sleep? I told you-” he began.
“Naraku, move,” she said.
The room spun. She was sweating.
“Not until you accept your lack of responsibility over the actions of the mediocre-.”
“Move or I’m going to be sick on you,” she hissed. That did move him. Kagome slipped past him and rushed into the bathroom. She was sick after all. Afterwards, she sat on the bathroom floor, trying not to be dizzy.
Terribly embarrassed, she wanted to disappear in air. She hadn’t even managed to shut the door.
Naraku appeared on the threshold, holding a wash cloth and a bottle of water. His body was tense, watching her.
She smiled up at him wanly. Well, yet another thing to say she was used to him now. Kagome noticed something about his tension, as if…
“I’ll be all right,” she said.
He moved then, as if her voice had released him. He sat down awkwardly, handing her the wash cloth. She pressed it against her face, breathing in deeply.
“Are you truly all right?” he asked slowly. He touched her shoulder, as if he was restraining himself. There was a slight tremor in his hand. “You would tell me…”
Kagome blinked at him.
“Of course I would,” she said. “I just…didn’t feel well suddenly.”
“I have never seen you ill before,” he said.
“Well, there’s going to be a lot of first,” she said, slowly. She peered at him. “Are you okay? It was just a sudden thing, nothing serious.”
She was still clammy, however.
He was cautious, as if weighing his words. “I don’t like you ill,” he said.
“Me either,” she joked. She lightly touched his hand. It was…revealing, and she wrestled with the vulnerability of her state. But he didn’t seem repelled. She let down her walls and accepted the water.
Geez, though. She was slightly flushed.
“Don’t be embarrassed in front of me,” Naraku said. “I want to know how you are feeling now. Your body. What does it feel like now?”
She flushed hot as he put his hand on her knee.
“Um,” she said. “I’m still a little weak. A little dizzy.”
Kagome had sweated in her sleep and her hair was damp. What a picture she made…
“Do something to make me feel better,” she joked.
He paused. Then held out his hand, closing and opening it. In his palm, there was a ring. Kagome stared at it. They were sitting on the bathroom floor after she had been ill, and he was holding a ring in his hand.
“I wanted to give this to you,” he said. “Now seems to be the time.”
Kagome continued to stare.
“And this is just a ring, right?” she asked. “It’s not anything more, uh, serious?”
“It’s the custom here,” he said. “To give a ring to…” He paused, again, as if playing with the word in his mind. “Someone of importance.”
Kagome felt her mouth drop. She was on the floor, ill, and was he…
“Are you proposing?” she asked. Dumbstruck.
“It is a proposal,” he said, his eyes narrowing at her reaction. Kagome sat with that for a moment, taking it in. It was a lovely green stone. Her gaze met his, and she had to say it.
“You are sweet, aren’t you?” she asked in some wonder.
“Now,” he said, his jaw set, “that isn’t...if you say so.” He sighed.
He offered it to her. She took it and placed it on her hand. It fit perfectly and was actually very beautiful. Green. She didn't wonder at the color choice either. She didn’t really know what to do with the timing of the act, but she leaned against him.
“Thank you,” she said. And then of course. “And yes. Because you are asking.”
“Asking,” he muttered, his eyebrow raised.
“You didn’t just assume I’d say yes,” she said.
“I rather did,” he argued. “Why wouldn’t you?”
She paused a bit, furrowing her brow, but then admired the ring despite it. He was very certain. She liked the look on him.
“I suppose that’s right,” she said. “I’m sorry I worried you enough for you to propose. I didn’t know I just had to get sick.”
He was quiet for a moment.
“Kagome. You know my existence–”
“Your existence,” she repeated.
“I plan to live as long as you do,” he said. He looked thoughtful, then. Pondering his own words. Savoring them as he said it outloud.
“I guess you would,” she said, but then it hit her. The full meaning. “And after me?”
He looked at her, his own brow furrowed.
“There is no after,” he said. Her heart dropped. She reached out and touched his chest, as if to prove he was aware of what he was saying.
“I don’t want that for you,” she said, firmly. “You better not be simply saying that!”
Naraku’s mouth twitched.
“I thought you’d react differently,” he said.
“I’m not that type of person,” Kagome said. “I want you to know you can go on as you are. I wouldn’t take that from you, not for the world. You can live, you know.”
“I’m not built for eternity,” Naraku said. It shocked her.
“Because of me,” she said, slowly. “Because of how I…affected you.”
“Because perhaps I never was meant for it,” he said, his voice stern. “I am not like the dog lord after all. You know what I was.”
Kagome didn’t know how to respond. She knew some part of him was thinking it’d appeal to her, but it vastly didn’t.
“I’m still not feeling well,” she said. “But we aren’t finished with this conversation.”
She saw it, imagined it, imagined him unraveling without her.
“All that time in the past hunting you, and this is where I’m at,” she muttered to herself. She didn’t miss the irony.
“Accept what I’m saying,” he said. “Accept what is.”
Kagome looked ahead, and her eyes were sad. She had been proposed to while sick and now she was being told he didn’t want to live without her.
“I want you to live a long life,” she said. “And find something in that.”
She knew what she was saying. She knew it’d be hard for him, maybe near impossible. She could see how he was. But his life meant so much to her now. She didn’t want to be the endpoint.
“I know I’d like to be with you that long,” Kagome continued. She was just human.
He moved and drew her to him.
“Careful,” she whispered. “Still sick, remember.”
“I–know how you see it,” he said. As if he still didn’t quite believe it himself. “I’ve accepted my time with you, Kagome.”
Kagome’s heart hurt, and she felt so much for him that she could burst. She knew she couldn’t convince him no matter what she said. He had made up his mind, she could tell. She just wanted…
She closed her eyes, a wave of sickness over her once more.
“Now you’re going to worry over me,” she said.
“Still ill?” he asked, and he placed his hand on her face. “What could be the cause?”
There was a hint of desperation in his voice. She didn't enjoy hearing it there. As far as she knew, the basic idea of just being–ill, she guessed.
“There’s no cause,” she said, and then…she thought about something. With all the sudden changes in her life, she hadn't been paying attention.
“Kagome?” he asked, seeing something change in her face then.
It wasn’t possible. She was on birth control, and she took it rigorously–except sometimes during all the chaos that was always happening…
“Hm, okay,” she began. Stopped. “Well, what to do about this?”
She didn’t know if she should put out that idea yet. But he was looking at her as she was hiding something from him. He could see through her pretty well at this point.
“I need you to go to the store and get something for me,” Kagome said.
“And leave you here alone,” he said. “No. I will let a puppet go in my stead.”
He was still half-controlling about things. She’d be fine if she was left alone. In fact, she needed that because where her mind was going with this–
She sighed. She couldn’t really expect him to leave her. He had already told her he didn’t want to live without her. And she wouldn’t push him.
“That will do,” she said. “I need…”
She stopped once more.
“From a mere store? What could be so important as to not tell me plainly?” he asked, half-amused.
She took a deep breath.
“A pregnancy test.”