He stared up at the ceiling of the hut, looking for answers.  Kagome slept beside him.  She had washed at his insistence.  Her body smelled clean and untouched.  He rolled over and embraced her.  

She sighed in contentment.  She didn’t know what he knew and slept blissfully unaware of his pain. 

He closed his eyes and saw his form take her… it wasn’t him, it was someone else… Naraku… took her.  The image of him pushing into her was forever in his mind’s eye.  He kissed her cheek and rose from their bed.  He needed to clear his head.  

“I thought you would be with Kagome tonight,” Miroku said, plopping down beside him. 

Inuyasha stared at the darkened landscape.  “I… can’t sleep.”

“Why?” the monk asked, laying back on the grass to stare up at the stars.  “I heard that you got her pregnant.”

Inuyasha shook his head.

“You deny it?” Miroku asked, sitting up.  He stared at the dog demon as if he were crazy.  “How can you?”

Inuyasha continued to stare at the landscape.  “Can I tell you something?  Something you can never tell Kagome?”

Miroku nodded silently.

“Kagome and I were captured by Naraku and Kikyou.”

“Yeah, so?”

“I shared pleasures with Kagome… but I didn’t… finish in her.”

“Then how did she…?”

“Naraku took my seed and my form… he…” he couldn’t continue.  He rested his elbows on his knees.  

Miroku gasped softly at the implication.  “Does Kagome know?”

The hanyou shook his head.  “I don’t think I should tell her…”

“No… don’t tell her.  It’s enough that the child is yours…”

Inuyasha leaned forward, covering his face with his hands.  “He took my woman… using my body.  Made her believe it was me who… Gods…”  He rubbed moisture from his eyes.  “I just keep seeing him as he… and she was enjoying it… it hurts.”  

Miroku reached out and patted the hanyou’s back.  

Inuyasha flinched.  He looked back at the monk.  “What do I do?”

“Don’t tell her,” Miroku said softly.  “Take care of her.  She’s your woman.  Your child needs a father…  Try not to think about how he or she came into the world… only that he or she is a part of you.”

^.~ 

“Kukukuku…” Naraku chuckled.  “And how IS that little one coming along?”

Kagome touched her stomach, protectively.  “How do you know…?”

“You mean Inuyasha didn’t tell you?”

“SHUT UP!” Inuyasha seethed.

“What?” Kagome demanded.

“I took his form and fucked you… filling you with his seed…” Naraku chuckled.

Kagome went pale.

“You bastard!” Inuyasha cried out, unleashing everything he could at his nemesis.  

The other hanyou disappeared, leaving behind a wooden doll wrapped in a single hair and echoing laughter.

“Is this true, Inuyasha?” she asked quietly.

Inuyasha stared at her, not saying anything, but the look he gave confirmed it.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears.

“The child is mine,” he whispered.  “I couldn’t… hurt you like that…”

“So you kept it to yourself?” she scowled.  “You are such an idiot.  How could you let me believe it was you who…”

He reached out and caught her, holding her body against his.  “I couldn’t tell you… especially since I wanted to fill you… and if given the chance it would have been me…”

“But he… he… I thought… Oh Gods,” she moaned, collapsing in his arms. 

He held her to him, his face in her hair, taking in her scent.  “Please don’t hate me for not telling you… I knew you would be happier not knowing it was he that night who… filled you.”

“Did you see him do it?”

“I got there after he finished…”

“Why didn’t you tell me?  Why…?”
 
“How would you feel to know another woman took your body and made me believe she was you so I would…?”

“Did Kikyou…?”

“No!  No… I knew it was her in a heartbeat and pushed her away.”

Tears continued to fall down Kagome’s cheeks.  “You knew it wasn’t me… but I didn’t know he wasn’t you… I’m so sorry.”

All he could do was hold her and let her cry.

^.~ 

“Hey there, Kagome-sama,” the monk greeted.

Kagome sat down in misery.

“I take it… you know now.”

She stared up at him.  “You know too?”

“Inuyasha told me the day it happened.  He couldn’t sleep.”

“Why couldn’t he tell me?” she demanded.  “Doesn’t he trust me?”

Miroku made a face.  “Of course he trusts you.  You above all people… he just… it’s hard, Kagome-sama.”

“Hard?”

“He couldn’t rescue you until it was too late… and you didn’t know it wasn’t him…”

“Yes, but he took the pain all on himself… and I went on and on like an idiot about his child…”

Miroku started at her thoughtfully.  “I don’t think he minded that part.  But his pain… Inuyasha takes a lot of pain for you.  That’s his way.”

“Pain for me?”

“Pain for us all… but mostly for you.”

“What do I do?”

“Love him… show him he’s needed.  Be his woman… his wife.”

Kagome nodded.  She felt like she had betrayed him, but… perhaps…  “Does he still love me?”

“You should be asking him that, not me.”

Kagome nodded again.  She stood and went to go find Inuyasha.

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