Short chapter just so you guys know I havent vanished!

Disclaimer still stands.

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Kagome sighed as she rubbed her belly thoughtfully. It had been only yesterday that the American nurse had accidentally let the cat out of the proverbial bag that she was pregnant. She'd hoped that it had been a mistake, and that the nurse misread her chart or thought she was someone else, but the look on her mother's face had told her everything she needed to know. Without waiting for an explanation she had asked to be left alone for a while. She hadn't heard from anyone aside from a nurse giving her food since.

'I should have asked mom to stay,' she thought. Her mother would probably know who the father was, and why he wasn't here now. Was the father someone she met during the time she still couldn't remember? Or was it someone she already knew? There was no way that it was Inuyasha's since he'd long since chosen, and it wasn't her. Or maybe it's worse than all that and she was raped or something. She shuddered at that thought. 'Maybe that's why her mother looked so terrified when the nurse slipped up.'

Before she could dwell on that embarrassing and degrading thought the door to her room opened to reveal an old woman. The woman was dressed in a simple blue dress that was far too big for her as most older women had a habit of wearing, and her white hair was pulled back from her face by a pair of what looked like chop sticks, 'what's the official name for that?' Kagome wondered absently as she waited for the woman to enter the room.

"Well hello there Kagome dear!" the woman greeted as she finally stepped into the room, "It's been quite some time since I've seen you."

The younger woman stared at the older woman in confusion. She didn't know this woman at all, "I'm sorry, but I don't remember you," she said finally after a few minutes of her mind drawing a blank at the woman's face.

"Oh that's all right dear," the old woman said, "My name's Talia, and we met a few months ago. It's only natural that you don't remember me. Now, come on and let's get you packed. I'm going to be your in house nurse for a while." The woman now identified as Talia scurried around the room, at a pace much faster than Kagome would have guessed her to be capable of, collecting the younger woman's belongings that had been scattered about by her mother.

"At home nurse?" Kagome asked. Why on earth would she need a nurse at her home? Wasn't her mother more than capable of handling that? Not to mention that she knew her family couldn't afford that sort of thing, "I'm sorry ma'm, but I'm afraid my family can't afford such a thing, so if this is some sort of thing assigned by my doctor I'm going to have to decline your services," she said as politely as she could.

Talia stopped what she was doing and scoffed at Kagome, "Child, my services are paid for by your mate so hush up and let me do my job." She winced a little at the shocked look on Kagome's face at the mention of "mate," but it simply wasn't in Talia's nature to skirt around an issue like everyone else had been doing. And while she'd been threatened with her life if she upset the girl for any reason, it had just slipped out at the younger woman's protest to her help. 'Oops," she thought sheepishly.

Kagome for her part found herself gaping for the second time in two days, once again unable to form words at the shock of yet another 'cat out of the bag' experience. "My what?" she finally managed. Surely she had heard wrong. Mate? There was no way she was anyone's mate. That would mean that she was with a demon, and her child was hanyou. Not to mention that she couldn't think of any demon's that she'd actually consider doing such a thing with, much less any that she'd tie herself to for all eternity. "Surely you're mistaken; your age must be getting to you."

"Oh stop, now you're starting to sound like him," Talia admonished, "The Kagome I know is sweeter than that."

"Like who?"

"Your mate of course," the old woman rolled her eyes. She knew what the younger woman was doing, but she also knew that if she said what she wanted to that she'd end up with an irate female. 'Yes,' she thought, 'telling her to get a hold of herself and stop hurting Sesshoumaru would go over so well." Talia finished packing Kagome's things and made her way back to the door, "I'm just going to take this stuff downstairs, I'll be back for you in a few minutes."

"Wait! You didn't answer…" but the old woman was gone before she could finish her sentence, "…my question… argh! Why is the world against me?" she cried as she flopped back on her bed. All she could do was hope that the day couldn't get any worse, 'Like my 'Mate' being some sort of two headed lizard,' she thought, 'Or someone like Sesshoumaru,' though the demon lord was certainly a better option than a two headed lizard.

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Sesshoumaru was sitting at his desk as he had been for the past few hours. The past few days were quite possibly the worst days of his life thus far. Even worse than the year he'd spent after his memories returned to him he would wager.

When Kagome had vanished from the battlefield that day he had felt a pain in his chest, but had not identified it as anything connected to the girl at the time. He had continued with his life as it had been, patrolling his lands with Jaken and Rin; following close behind and fighting with Inuyasha when they crossed paths. Unfortunately his nightmares had continued, and as time went on they revealed more and more of the woman he had killed more than a hundred times in his mind. When one vivid nightmare revealed that the woman had been none other than Kagome he had gone into a killing spree in frustration. Why was this woman haunting him? After that he did his best to avoid sleep, but his body eventually would force it upon him and would reveal more of the woman.

It had been nearly a year after her disappearance when Sesshoumaru's travels took him through a small valley during the heat of the summer, and when he crossed an old woman who looked and spoke to him as if they were old friends he paused. He did not remember this woman at all. Then she had asked where Kagome was, and he nearly killed her.

It would be another year before the healing spell Kagome had used on him finished its job, which he later learned that it was not designed to make one forget but rather separate the mind so that it would heal properly. The old woman had explained that when someone lost their memories and new ones were created it was often very painful and harmful to the mind for both sets of memories to exist at the same time while any healing was taking place. The spell healed the mind enough for the person's original memories to return, but to avoid stress locked any new memories created away until the mind had fully healed and was capable of handling the stress.

He'd been furious at himself for his weakness when they finally did return, but found it hard to stay that way as the feelings he'd developed for the girl won out over any anger he held for her. After all, it wasn't her fault he had believed that annoying old wench and pursued Kagome as his mate. It would be much later that he realized that he held some sort of respect for her prior to the incident which had spurred his beast to cooperate in full force in the conquest.

That was when the pain had begun. There had always been a dull ache in his chest that he had been able to ignore up until that point, but with the realization that he truly loved the woman known as Kagome and had lost her that it hit him in near crippling intensity. He'd confronted his brother, convinced that he was hiding her from him, only to find out that he would have to wait five hundred years to see her again. And for five hundred years he waited.

'Only to be greeted by a mate that does not remember this Sesshoumaru,' he thought bitterly. He knew he had not been the most noble of creatures in his long life, but surely he had not angered the kami's so much as to deserve this treatment.

Sesshoumaru's trip down memory lane was interrupted by the sound of his office door opening. "I knew I'd find you here!" the annoying voice of Talia was heard as the door latched behind her.

"What is it hag, I was under the impression that you were supposed to be seeing to my mate's release," Sesshoumaru said without turning his chair to face her. Five hundred years of the annoying woman's presence was beginning to get to him. If it weren't for the fact that he knew she was good for his mate he would not have called her.

"Oh hush Sesshoumaru, I'm only here to let you know that we'll be leaving within the hour," The old woman made her way around the desk and pulled something from her bag, "Here, I saw this in the gift shop and thought it might cheer you up," she said before placing a small box on the desk and turning back towards the door, "and before you ask. Kagome told me about it once so don't go thinking I used to spy on you!"

Before the demon lord could question the woman on her meaning she was gone, leaving him with the offending red box. He glared at it for a moment as if it would burst into flames or run away from the action, but to his dismay it merely continued to sit there oblivious to the homicidal demon sitting so close. Sighing, Sesshoumaru lifted the lid of the box and pulled the object from it. There, sitting in his hands was nothing other than a snow globe. Confused as to why Talia would give him such a thing he merely studied it for a moment.

Within the globe was a girl with long black hair wrapped up in a winter coat patting the head of a snowman that stood a short distance away.

"Sorry just looking at you with the snow all around reminded me of a snow man."

The corners of the demon lord's mouth turned up slightly in a ghost of a smile at the memory. For many years after his memories returned he and Rin would recreate the snowman Kagome had taught him to make that winter afternoon. The action served to help him cope with the loss of his mate, as well as bond with the little human girl he had grown to think of as a daughter. He still did not understand how he had any resemblance to the snowy abominations they created, but he learned quickly that his mate's mind was best left alone lest one want to go insane attempting to decipher its logic.

Carefully placing the object in an empty spot on his desk he averted his eyes towards the clock. It was now three-thirty. He was expected at the Higurashi's house for dinner at five. He only hoped that the old hag managed to keep her mouth shut enough so that he was not purified on sight upon arrival for dinner.