Birth Right by Walter205

Mine to Protect

Her sensed the change in her even before the sound of liquid splashing on the stone floor reached his ears, alerting him to her water breaking and that the long anticipated arrival of his heirs was finally at hand. Cradling his mate within his strong arms, he had taken off for the pre-selected birthing room, summoning the hand picked nurses and midwives that Kagome had chosen beforehand.

All four females were assembled by the time he had reached the chamber, coming as he had from the garden where they had been taking a leisurely afternoon stroll. His non-paternal daughter Rin was there, along with the elder village miko Kaede. Also present was his slightly older sister Inuemi, along with Tsuki, the one castle healer that Kagome had managed to get along with, the other healers not at all impressed by the human miko.

Two humans and two demons to tend to his miko mate that would be giving birth presumably to half demon offspring. Sesshomaru handed Kagome off to Inuemi, giving her the barest of death glares as he fought against his instincts to shred anyone who came near. As previously agreed upon he would wait outside where a special futon laced with Kagome's scent had been prepared to help him fight against his inner desires.

At first it worked like a charm as intended, but as her soft cries and whimpers gradually increased in volume and duration and the first scent of her blood reached his nostrils they flared as he could feel his control slipping. His own blood was drawn as he clench his claw elongated fingers into a fist and he crammed his eyes shut as he pressed his now bloody hands to his ears, trying to drown out the cries of his suffering mate as he worked on gaining control.

But then the cries stopped. Sesshomaru lowered his hands and glanced up from where he had been staring at the ground. Taking a deep breath, he nearly gagged at the amount of Kagome's blood that he could smell. Eyes starting to turn red, he rushed for the chamber entrance, watching as first Rin and then Inuemi emerged, the former crying while the latter was downcast, her face fallen and full of sad dismay.

Brushing aside the curtain, the Lord of the West came face to face with the sight of his lifeless mate lying on the birthing futon, her white robes stained crimson, Kaede and Tsuki standing nearby with their eyes closed and head bowed. Sesshomaru's hand came to rest on Tensiega but the sword wouldn't pulse for him, since Kagome had been revived once after the final battle with Naraku and the twins never took their first breaths to begin with.

Now his eyes bled fully red as his demonic blood craved for vengeance to be taken upon all. When he finally broke out of his mental stupor and managed to regain control, he found himself at the main hall of the castle, with the shredded bodies of his sister, his wards, and three dozen castle guards and servants scattered all about the wrecked room, his clawed hands stained in all of their blood.

Despair and grief overtook him then as he sank to his knees and closed his eyes once more. He felt weightless, as if he was floating through the air, and opened his eyes once more to see the spectral form of his father hovering in front of him, in the otherwise all consuming darkness that surrounded him.

"Father...," Sesshomaru started before his voice cracked. His father gave him such a pitying stare that he couldn't even feel angry at the though of being pitied.

"Sesshomaru, my son...," Toga started before lifting his right hand and sharply backhanding Sesshomaru across the face, sending his sprawling onto the invisible floor below him.

"Such a disappointment that my second born turned out to be. You had someone to protect and you let them slip through your fingers. At least when I died, I ensured that my mate and offspring lived," his father sneered at him before turning and departing, fading away into the blackness.

"Kukuku, how the mighty have fallen. You fell into the same trap that your father did. Fear not though, they were weak. They got your father killed and they died for you because they were weak. Weak, hate them, despise them...," came the taunting voice of their long dead nemesis, Naraku.

"Silence, leave me be," shouted Sesshomaru as he screwed his eyes shut.

'Just let the darkness take me...' he thought as he let himself fall backwards into the void, embracing it as he willed himself to die and join his mate in the afterlife, the bliss silence of eternal oblivion beckoning to him with open arms...

It was a much softer crying now that drifted to his ears, one belonging to a voice much younger, one he had never heard before.

With a start, Sesshomaru's real eyes snapped open, his ongoing nightmare of despair fading away to a distant memory as his senses opened themselves once more to the real world. The smell of Kagome's blood invaded his nostrils, fresh yet not overburdening as it had been in his dream, letting him know that there wasn't a mortal amount of it that had been spilled.

With a huff, Rin and Inuemi exited the birthing room with their roles of midwife having been fulfilled. Pulling down the cloth covering her mouth, the former took a deep breath of fresh air before sighing.

"I wish all births went so easily," she whispered, softly enough that no one with human hearing would've heard. She then turned to face him and a smile grew across her face that reminded him of when she was younger.

"Someone's waiting to greet you," Rin gushed, before standing aside and gesturing to the room. Sesshomaru stood but almost immediatly fell over as he found that his feet had become shaky, almost traitorous to his mental commands it seems. Exerting greater willpower, he urged one leg forward and then another, parting the mat with one hand as he entered and beheld the sight before him.

The twins rested peacefully against Kagome's chest as she lay spent but still awake on the futon, with Tsuki and Kaede finishing up the cleaning of the area around the floor. As agreed, they would each get to name one of them but had yet to decide who would get to name who. Kagome had already decided on Souta for the boy and Sango for the girl, the former being her long lost brother and the latter their dear friend and comrade in arms that had departed for the afterlife during the final battle with Naraku.

Sesshomaru intended to name the boy Toga after his father but had no idea on what to name his daughter. Begrudingly he accepted that if she got to name the boy and named him Souta that he would likely name his daughter Kaede anyways, if for no other reason than to please his mate.

Coming closer to the trio at the head of the futon, he was surprised to see that they had grey hair, perhaps a contrast between Kagome's brunette and his white hair? And their markings were still purple but radiated up and down from their eyes instead of across their cheeks, possibly because of the dual nature of the demonic and radiant auras intertwining in their bountiful souls.

And then there was his mate herself, her breathening coming shallow yet steady, normal for the associated loss of fluids while giving birth, especially for more than one newborn at a time. He choose to pass on a kiss but instead touched his forehead to hers, his eyes boring into hers as she blinked sleepily. She did manage a couple of smiles for him before her eyes stayed closed. Having been dressed in nothing but a simple robe earlier, he curled up around them in an instinctive protective manner and promptly stood watch over his new and improved family.

"Do you have someone to protect?"

'No, this Sesshomaru doesn't have someone to protect. He has something to protect. Family, Pack.'