A Gift of Unusual Nature by Angelfire

Kurama opened the door to the small apartment, anticipation mixing equally with relief and annoyance.

Hiei was back! His lover came and went as he chose and Kurama never tried to put any restrictions on

him. Hiei would stay because he wished it. And so far, he had. But this time Kurama had been worried.

Before, Hiei's jaunts had been a few days, maybe a week at most. He'd been gone 20 days this time.

Kurama had promised himself he wouldn't panic until a full three weeks had gone by.

He eyed the trail of sodden clothing that was scattered along the path to the other room as he toed off

his shoes and put the wet umbrella into the stand next to the door. Hiei's coat was a sodden pile next to

his boots just before the step up into the living area. A few feet further along was his shirt, then his

pants. Kurama shook his head with a resigned smile. One of the few drawbacks about living with Hiei

was that he was a slob. He left the coat where it was as he hung up his jacket. He'd need to put a towel

down before he wrung the water-logged thing out. He stepped around the puddle oozing from the black

fabric and up into the room, then headed for the only closet next to the kitchen area for some towels.

He had just picked up Hiei's coat when the said youkai made his appearance. Hiei had chosen to wrap

himself in Kurama's favorite robe and the oversized garment made him look even more petite and

diminutive than usual. Kurama smiled and bit his tongue so he wouldn't laugh as Hiei stalked toward him

holding up the bottom of the robe so he wouldn't trip. Hiei stopped just out of arms reach and regarded

him with a somber and serious expression. Not his usual scowl and glare of greeting and Kurama felt a

little flicker of alarm.

"Hiei?" Kurama tried to place what was 'off' with his friend...something wasn't quite right...

Hiei nodded back at him, his knuckles white where he held the fabric of Kurama's robe.

"Are you all right?"

Hiei shook his head 'no'.

"Are you hurt?" Kurama dropped the coat and started toward Hiei, concerned.

Hiei shook his head 'no' once more as he retreated a few steps and held out one hand in a 'stop' gesture.

"What? What's wrong?"

Hiei was anxious as hell, he could tell as his friend dropped his gaze and his fingers twisted in the fabric.

What was wrong? Hiei undid the bow of the belt that held the robe crossed and then looked up at him,

the orange sparks in his dark eyes glowing.

"Don't laugh."

Kurama didn't. He fainted instead.

He came to on the sofa...Gods...what a bizarre dream...he heard the rattle of dishes and sat up, his head

swiveling towards the noise. Hiei was standing, back facing him, still in his robe. *No. I couldn't be real, it

was a dream...* Hiei turned and Kurama just blinked stupidly as his friend walked calmly over to him,

the cream colored robe still open and trailing now, framing his brown body...Kurama felt himself start to

go light-headed again. Hiei was no longer a him...he was a her! Perfect breasts, his waist curving in then

out into generous hips and a dark triangle of hair minus his male equipment. He held out his hand for

the mug Hiei offered and hoped it was spiked with the bottle of sake he kept in the top cupboard.

"Figured you over-react," Hiei scowled at him and Kurama almost choked on the swallow of un-spiked

tea as he registered the sweet soprano voice that had replaced Hiei's usual dark baritone.

"What happened?" he managed to get out.

Hiei sighed hugely, then settled next to him pulling the robe tight and hiding his body.

"Have you ever heard of a place called Jyusenkyuu?"

Kurama thought about it for a few seconds, then shook his head. He might have but his brain was in no

shape to go hunting about in the cobwebs for half remembered bits of lore.

"It's a training ground in China. A cursed training ground." He looked at Kurama out of the corner of his

eye. "There are a bunch of springs there. I...fell into one. I came out like this."

Kurama took a deep breath, stood up and went to get the sake. He poured a generous amount into the

tea, aware of Hiei's stare boring a hole into his back.

"Is it permanent?" *Not that he'd mind, now that he thought about it...*

"Kind of."

Kurama took a big swallow of the spiked tea as he turned around. "Would you mind elaborating on that

cryptic statement?"

"The curse is permanent. The shape is not." Hiei winced as Kurama turned back and poured some more

sake into his cup.

He knew Kurama was freaked. He always used big words when he was upset. Not that he blamed him.

He had been almost hysterical at first until he had coaxed some information out of that gibbering idiot

who was in charge of the springs.

"Cold water activates the curse...which is this," he gestured at his female shape. "Hot water turns me

back into a male."

He watched Kurama very carefully as his friend and lover absorbed that. He let out a mental sigh of

relief as Kurama grinned and the hard gleam in his eyes, the dangerous one that showed up when he

was feeling threatened, turned into a mischievous twinkle. Hiei covered his relief with a glare.

"What's the hell are you smiling about?" he snarled as Kurama came back and settled beside him again.

"You. This," Kurama slid his arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. "It's not every youkai that

gets to experience the best of both genders, you know."

Hiei sputtered a few half-meant curses, not having an answer for that. Kurama cut them off with a kiss. A

very passionate kiss.

* * *

Kurama blinked sleepily and smiled softly. Hiei was still in the futon with him which was a rarity.

Normally Hiei was up well before the sun. He studied his lover's face. Hiei really was beautiful in his

female shape. Not that Kurama got to see it all that often. His smile turned sensuous. But when he did, it

was always worth it. Hiei preferred his original shape in all things and Kurama really and truly didn't

care. Hiei was Hiei. That was all that mattered. He kissed Hiei softly, his lips slowly teasing him into

wakefulness. Hiei kissed back for a moment, then frowned and pushed him away. He raised his

eyebrows at Hiei's baleful stare.

"Not now. I'm hungry."

That pronouncement made Kurama laugh. "Fine. I'll make you breakfast if I get a rain-check?"

"Maybe," Hiei grumbled back as Kurama rose and pulled on his robe.

Kurama sang to himself with the radio as he bustled about in the kitchen and grinned when he heard the

shower start. *You're not going to get out of it, Hiei...* A shriek of agony rang through the apartment.

Kurama ran full speed into the bedroom, on guard and looking for assailants...nothing...he kicked open

the bathroom door and frowned.

"Hiei?" he pulled back the shower curtain. "Hiei?!"

He was in a collapsed huddle at the bottom of the tub. Kurama slapped off the faucet, shutting off the

warm spray of water from the shower head. He lifted Hiei carefully out of the tub then sat on the floor,

Hiei a contracted and shuddering curl against his chest.

"Hiei, what's wrong?"

Hiei twisted out of his arms and scrambled for the toilet. Kurama followed on his hands and knees and

wondered what in the hell was wrong with his lover as he kept a comforting hand on Hiei's back while

he got violently and repeatedly ill.

*...the water had been warm, Hiei was still female...Gods! Was something going wrong with the curse?*

Finally, Hiei was finished and Kurama handed him a cold washcloth as Hiei rested his forehead against

the cool porcelain.

"Hiei? What happened? Why didn't you change?"

"I don't know. It...hurt, Kurama! Shit!"

"It'll be all right," Kurama soothed, "maybe you've just come down with a bug that's scrambling the

magic. Are you done?"

Hiei looked up at him and Kurama was concerned by his pallor, the huge dark circles that had suddenly

shown up under his eyes and the almost gaunt look to his face.

"I'm hungry."

"Are you sure? Hiei, you just got sick..."

"I'm HUNGRY!!!" the violence in that sweet voice, the ravenous look in Hiei's eyes made him shrink back

a little.

"Fine. I'll go finish breakfast. Can you get..."

"I'm fine!" Hiei snapped and slapped his offered hands away as he struggled to his feet. "Just leave me

alone!"

Kurama bit back his own sharp retort and backed out, pausing in the doorway to make sure Hiei was

going to stay on his feet. Hiei glared at him, then the fury faded from his eyes and was replaced with an

unspoken apology.

"I'm fine. I just need to eat. I'll be out in a minute."

Kurama nodded, not at all sure that Hiei was anywhere close to fine, but left him to go and finish the

breakfast.

Hiei stalked in, dressed in his usual black pants and swamped by one of Kurama's t-shirts since his own

tops did not fit comfortably over his female anatomy. Kurama reminded himself once more to pick up a

few shirts for Hiei's bustier self as the youkai threw himself down to sit at the table. He started eating

before Kurama even had it all on the table and bolted everything down, even Kurama's portion, like he

hadn't had a meal in weeks. Kurama hoped fervently it was going to stay down as Hiei sat for a moment

and blinked at the empty plates. Then he looked up, his expression uncertain and a little uneasy.

"Kurama, what's wrong with me?"

"I don't know. How do you feel?" Kurama asked as he knelt next to Hiei and pressed the back of his hand

to his forehead. A little of the color was coming back to his face, but he still was pale.

"Sleepy," Hiei answered around a huge yawn.

Well, he did feel warmer than normal. "How's your stomach?"

"Fine."

"You feel nauseous at all?"

Hiei shook his head no.

"What happened in the shower?"

"I don't know. It just hurt," Hiei frowned at him.

"Well, you're acting like you've got a virus. Did you spend some time in the Makai while you were out

wandering?"

Hiei nodded affirmative.

"That's probably it, then. You've got a bug and it's scrambling the magic of the curse. Nothing to worry

about. *I hope.* Go get back in bed and sleep it off. I've got a test I have to take this morning, but I'll

skip my afternoon classes..."

"Don't. I feel better now. Really." Hiei stood and stretched, then gave another huge yawn as he headed

for the bedroom. "I'm sure I'll be fine when I wake up."

Kurama poured himself a bowl of cereal and after he'd finished eating, cleaned up the kitchen, then tip-

toed into the bedroom. Hiei was sprawled on the futon on his back, sound asleep. Kurama collected his

cloths and went and got dressed in the living room, then came back in before he left to check on his

lover. Hiei didn't feel as warm as he had and his color was almost back to normal. Kurama gave him a

kiss on his forehead over the lidded Jagon, and frowned when that elicited no response. Hiei rarely slept

so deeply. Well, that was probably a good sign. Probably meant that his body was purging whatever it

was that was wreaking havoc with the curse.

* * *

After 48 hours Kurama was at his wit's end. Hiei wasn't any better or any worse. In fact, he had started

to set his alarm clock by Hiei's cycle. He slept for five hours straight, woke in a horrible temper and

threw up, then ate ravenously and passed back out into a sleep so deep that Kurama couldn't rouse him.

None of the cures he knew of had worked and he certain now that it wasn't an outside influence that

was making his friend ill. There was something wrong with Hiei himself. It was time to call Yukina. He

knew Hiei would be furious. He had been adamant that Yukina and her 'Husband' not know of his curse.

But he'd rather have a furious and well Hiei than a sick and possibly soon dead one.

Yukina showed up without her brood in tow which Kurama was thankful for. He adored Yukina's children

and knew Hiei did also, though he'd never admit to it. But at the moment, with Hiei's uncertain temper,

it was safer for them to be out of the way. He leaned down into her fast hug and forced a smile. Yukina

'looked' at him and he knew she saw past his facade, that she could see the worry and tiredness that

was haunting his mind.

"So, what is this 'thing' that you couldn't tell me about over the phone?" Yukina asked as she started

past Kurama on a bee-line toward the bedroom and her twin.

Kurama put his hand on her arm, stopping her. "Yukina, a moment before you go in."

She stopped and looked at him expectantly.

"Hiei got cursed a few months ago. He can change genders now and at the moment he's stuck as a

female."

Yukina blinked at him and giggled. "You are teasing me, aren't you, Kurama?"

Kurama crossed his arms against this shook his head 'no' solemnly. "Hiei didn't want you to know. He's

going to be furious that I've told you. But I don't know what else to do for him."

A strange, calculating expression came onto Yukina's face as she listened, then she smiled and patted

Kurama's arm. "Let me guess. He's sleeping for four hours, then getting ill, eating and going back to

sleep?"

Kurama felt a rush of relief. Yukina did know what was wrong with Hiei. "He sleeps five hours, though.

What's wrong with him?"

Yukina giggled again and Kurama gave her a little glare. This wasn't funny. "Well, I have a pretty good

idea, but let me check him over to make sure before I say one way or the other, all right?"

Kurama followed her into the bedroom. Yukina knelt on the futon and just gazed at Hiei's female form

for a moment, then shook her head and placed her hand on her brother's forehead. Hiei started a soft

purr in unconscious response to his twins presence as she moved her hand down his body, a light ice

blue glow emanating from the underside of her hand, almost imperceptible against the afternoon

sunlight streaming in from the window. Kurama kept his eyes on her as he went and knelt on the other

side of the futon, anxious and searching her features for any clues as to what was wrong with his lover.

She paused over his lower abdomen, the glow intensifying. She smiled as Hiei mumbled and turned on

his side away from her, curling into a tight knot.

Yukina raised her hand, closing her fingers into a fist and squeezing the light of her power out as she

gave Kurama a radiant smile. Kurama blinked back, wondering what in the hell was going on.

"Kurama, Hiei's pregnant."

It sank in, slowly, and he said the first thing that came into his head. "He's going to kill me."

"Oh, don't be silly, Kurama! How long until he wakes up?"

Kurama glanced down at his watch, his brain dazed and still whispering over and over *He's going to kill

me...*, "Thirty-three minutes."

Yukina rose and pulled the stunned youko up by his hand and led him out of the bedroom.

"Sit," she commanded as they reached the sofa and left him to come to terms with his impending

fatherhood as she went and made them some tea.

He hadn't even come to that realization when Yukina came back with a tray and the tea service. He was

still trying to figure out how to survive Hiei's inevitable reaction to the news that he was pregnant.

"I'm surprised you didn't think of that possibility, Kurama," Yukina said in a soft scold as she poured the

tea.

"I also. I should have. It makes sense now," he sighed as he took the cup and sipped. "I take it that this

cycle is normal for a pregnant Kooromie?"

Yukina nodded. "Well, it was how it went for me when I was carrying the twins. Though I only slept four

hours, not five. Every pregnancy is a bit different, you know."

"No, I wouldn't know," Kurama responded with dry sarcasm.

Yukina looked at him, a little shocked. "Kurama, don't you have children from when you were Youko?

You are so good with mine, I just assumed that you had been a father..." she trailed off as all traces of

the gentleness that usually graced his features disappeared.

"No. I don't have any children."

The harshness in his voice was reflected in the flat, hard sheen of his eyes. Yukina laced her fingers

together as she lowered her gaze and blushed, knowing she had trespassed into a place Kurama did not

wish to think on.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried," she apologized softly, then raised her head once more and offered

something she hoped he would be pleased with. "Well, you are going to be a father now!"

It sunk in this time. Father. Hiei was carrying his kit! No, if his lover held true to his Koorime heritage, it

would be twins. His hands started to tremble so violently that he had to put the tea cup down. Gods,

what was he going to tell Shiori? He tried to envision an infant version of Hiei's female shape...what

would the male look like? Panic took him for a moment.

"Yukina, what are my worst traits?!"

Yukina gave him a sympathetic smile and wondered if she should tell him that was exactly what her

husband had asked when she had told him that they had conceived together. She decided against it as

she gave him the same answer she had her husband. "Kurama, you don't have any bad truly bad traits."

That answer didn't reassure Kurama at all. He had quite a few, he just managed to keep them hidden

most of the time. He pushed that aside as a worry for another time. Hiei was pregnant and he had

almost no knowledge of Kooromie reproductive processes.

"Yukina, I need some help here. I don't know much about Koorime pregnancies. What do I expect?

What's normal? What's not? Is Hiei going to have problems because he's only a half-breed?"

Kurama tried to think of any fire spirits he might know who could provide information on the other half

of Hiei's heritage. He let out Hiei's favorite curse softly when he couldn't think of one, startling Yukina as

she gathered her thoughts to answer. She blinked at him, then laughed inwardly. She had never seen

Kurama this...unsettled. Then she got serious. There were quite a few things that Kurama would need to

know.

"A Koorime pregnancy lasts 16 weeks."

Kurama nodded. That he knew.

"The first four you don't do anything but sleep and eat. The nausea tapers off and is normally gone by

the middle of the second week," she added as she saw that question coming. "The next six you don't

sleep so much but your appetite increases. And we tend to get incredible cravings for certain foods."

She grinned and Kurama grinned back. Kuwabara had shown up on his doorstep quite a few times

during Yukina's pregnancies in a dither asking for certain fruits and vegetables that only grew in the

Makai.

"The last two are the hardest."

She took a deep breath before she continued. This next bit of information was repugnant to her and the

one and only time since she had been a child that she hadn't been able to resist the natural instincts of

her species.

"Pregnant Koorime need blood and rei in their fifteenth week. Not a lot of it, but we do need it," a small,

shy smile touched her lips as she remembered how giving and unafraid her husband had been when she

had hit that stage of her pregnancies.

Kurama gave her a startled look, but covered it quickly as he nodded his understanding. That was

something that he would have no problem giving to Hiei when and if he needed it. It would be a small

price to pay for Hiei doing all the work of carrying the kits.

"The last week, we 'nest'. It will be in a small, contained space."

Kurama was aware of that fact also. He and Hiei had helped Kuwabara construct what he referred to as

Yukina's 'nesting box' in the corner of that couples bedroom. It wouldn't be a problem. He would create

a bower for Hiei out of the house plants...he was pulled from his fast calculations about just how big to

make it when Yukina continued.

"We will also eat every hour that last week until twelve to twenty-four hours before we go into labor.

You'll know it's close when he stops eating. If you would like, I will come when it's his time to be mid-

wife," she offered shyly.

Kurama nodded his head yes vigorously. He was sure Hiei would want her there anyway. She frowned a

little as she searched her knowledge to see if there was anything else she needed to tell him. She

couldn't think of anything else really important.

"That's about it, I guess. If anything comes up, you can call me. And I'd like to come and check on him

every week, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all, Yukina. I would be very grateful if you would. And I imagine Hiei will be also." Kurama's

watch alarm went off. "I've got to start getting his meal ready. Would you like something as well?" he

offered as he rose.

"What are you making?" Yukina asked.

"Curry. I can make one big batch in the morning and feed it to him all day. And he hasn't turned his nose

up at it yet."

"No, thank-you. Can I do something to help, though?"

Yukina made light conversation as she set the table and tried not to laugh at Kurama's jitters as he kept

glancing at his watch. Finally he gave her a grim smile as he wiped his hands on a towel.

"He's awake."

"Let me tell him, Kurama?" she asked, knowing that Kurama was dreading dropping this bit of news on

her brother.

Relief claimed Kurama's expression. "If you wouldn't mind, Yukina. He'll probably take it better coming

from you."

Yukina gave him a hug, then headed for the bedroom. She peeked in and winced as she heard the

sounds of her brother getting ill. Well, at least she could give him the reassurance that this part of it was

almost done as she crossed to the doorway of the bathroom. Her own version of 'morning sickness' had

been fierce for three days, then had quickly tapered off. She waited out of sight against the wall until

she was sure he was finished, then stepped into the doorway. Her heart went out to her twin as she saw

him sitting against the wall with his knees drawn up, rocking slowly, his face down and hidden in his

crossed arms.

"Brother," she called softly as she went to him and held out her arms.

His head snapped up and for a moment she thought he was going to try to run from her. She stopped a

bit away from him, giving him the space to get around her if he decided to run, still offering the comfort

of her hug. He rocked forwards onto his knees, his arms going around her waist as he pressed his

forehead into her middle.

"Yukina, what's wrong with me?" he asked in a small voice as she wrapped her arms around his

shoulders.

"You're pregnant, Hiei."

"No I'm not." He looked up at her, his expression blank with shock.

"Yes, you are," she smiled back. "Come on. Kurama has something ready for you to eat. We'll talk about

it after you're done, all right?"

He followed unresisting as she took his hand and led him out.

Kurama held his peace and hovered in the kitchen as Yukina brought Hiei out and steered him to the

table. Hiei wasn't ranting and snarling and trying to blast him into atoms as he'd expected. Instead, his

lover was studiously ignoring him, wearing a closed, cold expression and refusing to look in his direction.

It was almost worse than the show of temper he had been expecting. Finally he couldn't stand it

anymore and came to the table and knelt opposite Yukina at Hiei's other side.

"Hiei..." he reached out to put his hand on Hiei's arm and froze as Hiei recoiled, sliding his whole body

towards Yukina and out of his reach.

"Don't touch me. Just leave me the fuck alone!" Hiei hissed, still not looking at him.

That total rejection hurt in so many ways that Kurama responded in kind.

Yukina groaned inwardly as a mask as cold and closed as her brother's slid into place over Kurama's

features as he rose smoothly and headed for the door.

"Kurama, wait!" she called out but Kurama was gone.

"Hiei!" she scolded her brother in exasperation. "That was mean! Kurama is just as shocked and

frightened as you are."

Hiei looked sideways at her as he worked on getting his mouthful of food down.

"I am NOT frightened," he informed her as he spooned up another bite.

He wasn't. He was terrified. That was very different from being frightened. And he was furious. At

himself and that Youko for not foreseeing that this might happen. Furious that Kurama had let Yukina

see him like this. Furious...just because!

"Fine. YOU are not frightened. But HE is."

"Why in the hell should he be frightened, Yukina? I'm sure he has dozens of children from spurned bed-

mates running around in the Makai," he snarled.

She blinked at him and put her hand on the knot of tension that was threatening to spawn a headache

at the base of his neck. Some of his anger receded as she kneaded lightly, the motion soothing.

"Kurama doesn't have any children, Hiei," she informed him softly as he finished.

That took Hiei by surprise and he almost choked on his last bite.

"And I don't think he's had as many lovers as you give him credit for. He's worried about you, Brother.

He loves you."

Hiei dropped his head further, half to cover his feeling of shame as Yukina moved behind him, going to

work on his neck and back in earnest now that he had finished. He knew that Kurama loved him and to

this day he couldn't understand why. He found it so hard to trust his lovers devotion, to believe that

Kurama wasn't playing some grand kitsune game that would end suddenly one day when the youko

found someone else who captured his curiosity. Again he had let his distrust, his own inability to 'love' in

the same way that fox did govern his reactions. Kurama wouldn't abandon him. He wouldn't.

He put his hand on his flat stomach. Babies. Were there really babies in there? In him?

"Yukina, tell me about being pregnant," he asked softly.

* * *

Kurama strolled down the drain way, heading for the little wild growth of trees at the end. Hurt and

anger roiled in him, unreflected in his calm countenance and movements. But it was there making him

want to lash out, to destroy something. He and Hiei had more in common than that youkai knew.

Kurama had just had a thousand years to learn how to hide it. He had also been abandoned as a

newborn. A kit of unlucky color born out of season to a low caste vixen. She had left him naked and

exposed to the elements and predators, too selfish to give him a clean death. He had also been 'rescued'

by one of the many bands of robber youkai but instead of being kept, he had been sold to the Flesh

Merchants. He knew that was why he was so fond of Shiori, why he loved her so much. She had been

the mother he had never had and always yearned for.

He reached the end of the drain way and jumped lightly down to weave his way through the

overgrowth, the plants parting obediently in the few places that were difficult to pass. Finally he was in

the clearing he had created when he had first discovered this place. He pulled a handful of seeds out of

his pocket, held his hand up over his head and cast them in a wide circle around him with a graceful flick

of his wrist. An impenetrable barrier of thorns covered vines grew in response to his will, walling him

away from any prying eyes.

He started a series of katas that resembled a sensuous gymnastic dance. It was his fighting style, one

that he had created and mastered in Cyninko's arena. He never had the bulk of most of the other

fighters and had to rely on speed and maneuverability to survive. And he had, killing every warrior sent

against him with a cold determination. Cyninko's goad to his stable was the promise that if they could

survive two hundred matches then he would set them free. It had only happened twice in the 1500 year

history of that place and Kurama had been the first to do it. The katas became more complex, faster as

he fought the flood of memories that the knowledge of Hiei's pregnancy had re-awakened.

A face formed in his mind, beautiful as only Youko vixens could be. He pushed it away and refocused on

his kata pushing himself faster, harder. So beautiful as she stood there smiling...no...I don't want to

remember this! His body was begging at him to stop now and he smiled grimly and pushed himself

harder, hoping that the physical pain would keep the memories at bay for just a little longer...she just

stood there smiling as he screamed in the cage while her father drowned her newborn kits...his

kits...harder, faster...don't think, just move...coming back from a skirmish in the Border Wars...don't go

there, idiot...the village smoldering...stop it...Yana and the kits...so much blood...he collapsed with a sob

and buried his face in his arms and let the grief take him. Finally it was spent and he felt himself go lax

with physical and emotional exhaustion.

* * *

Yukina let out a breath of relief when the front door opened and Kurama came in. He gave her a wan

smile as he came and knelt next to the sofa where she sat with her sleeping brothers head in her lap.

She had started to fear that Kurama had really and truly left as the hours ticked by. It was almost time

for Hiei to wake up again.

"How is he?" Kurama asked as he started to reach to touch Hiei's cheek, then pulled his hand away.

"Oh, fine. Cranky, but then he always is, isn't he?" she answered in a light voice and snuck a peek at his

aura.

It normal soothing and steady green was shot through with black streaks of exhaustion and depression.

Gods! Kurama was reacting to this far worse than her twin was. She kept her tone light as she suggested

Kurama take Hiei into the bedroom or find a bucket. The smile he gave her was almost his normal one as

he gathered Hiei into his arms and took him into the other room. She wasn't sure what to do. Should she

stay and try to be a referee or leave the two to sort their own problems. She decided that the two of

them needed to work it out on their own and was putting on her coat by the door when Kurama came

back out.

"I've really got to go! I made you dinner, it's in the oven staying warm. Kurama...it will work out. Just

give him some time to get used to the idea."

"Thank you for staying so long, Yukina. And thanks for the dinner," Kurama gave her a bow and avoided

her last comment.

She stretched up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He gave her a genuine smile and a nod and she left

knowing she had done all she could.

* * *

Hiei frowned and studied Kurama's profile as they ate. Kurama hadn't said one word to him yet. He

didn't seem angry, just...distant. Very, very distant. Shit. If this was what he was the treatment he was

going to get for the next three months, then his decision was right. He figured that Kurama didn't have

any children because he didn't want any. He wasn't sure if he wanted any either. And he was pretty

certain that if he did decide to have any, he was not going to do the carrying and baring of them.

Yukina had inadvertently given him the solution to his problem with the warning not to use any rei while

he was carrying the babies. They were already drawing most of his energy, that was the reason he was

so exhausted and sleepy all of the time. She also had said that if he used his rei for anything it would

endanger the babies and he could lose them. Well, that's exactly what he was planning on doing. This

pregnancy was a big mistake and one that he was going to rectify tomorrow when Kurama went to class.

Kurama's restless movements roused him and he snarled soundlessly as he waited for the wave of

nausea that always accompanied his waking. He was surprised when there was nothing more than an

uncomfortable queasiness that was possible to suppress. He glanced at the clock. He was also awake an

hour earlier than he should be. Well, with the way Kurama was tossing and turning, no wonder. He

propped himself up on one elbow so he could get a good look at his lover. Shit, it was one of his

nightmares.

Kurama had a really bad one about once every other month. The first few times he had simply vacated

the bedding and fled to the roof. Then Kurama had chosen to have a whopper on an evening when he

had barely managed to drag himself back into the safe haven of his lovers arms very chewed up from an

encounter with an extremely unhappy dragon. He could barely move and Kurama had been doing an

excellent impression of an eight-limbed Juus having an epileptic fit.

He had hit on a solution that had worked wondrously. He had dipped into Kurama's dream state and

overlaid a few of his own contented memories of the two of them together. It had nudged the Youko's

subconscious out of his nightmare instantly and Hiei had done it ever since. He had found that he didn't

like sleeping alone and this way they both got to finish the night in peace. Though he ended up with a

very aroused and determined Kurama to deal with on the mornings after.

He opened the Jagan as he put light fingers on Kurama's forehead and discovered suddenly that he had

no control over the thing. Instead of the third eye obeying his will and transferring the images he had

decided on, he found himself in Kurama's dreamscape. He hated this! Dreams had no meaning except to

the dreamer and he found himself in a chaotic frenzy of rapidly shifting images. Horrify images.

Tiny, silver-furred youko kits floating with wide golden eyes under crystal clear water accompanied by

Kurama's howling screams and a female's light laughter...Kurama, covered with soot and blood trying to

piece together the bodies of four kits, sobbing but hands steady as he worked with a grim

determination...Kurama reaching for a newborn pair of twins that Hiei held and screaming as all three of

them ignited and burned into cinders as soon as he touched them...the contact was broken when

Kurama twisted away and a wave of weakness hit him as he felt a twinge of pain in his middle.

The Jagan...it was sucking away his rei...the babies! He was aware of them now, could see the tiny sparks

of their life-forces in his body. Black sparks with a silver corona. Sparks that were wavering slightly.

Suddenly those sparks where the most important thing to him in the world. He would never let anything

harm them, not even himself! He willed the Jagan to close and groaned when it wouldn't obey. Fuck!

The ward...he needed to get the ward...

"Kurama..."

Kurama jerked out of the nightmare and panted into the darkness...what?

"Kurama..." barely audible, *Hiei*, he turned his head...the Jagan was open and glowing lambent red.

"Hiei?"

"...ward..." it was a whispered plea.

It took a half-second for Kurama to place what Hiei was asking for, then he was a blur of motion. He

winced as he heard the hiss of burned flesh as he pressed the strip of ward covered fabric over the Jagan

and lifted Hiei's head so he could wrap and tie it. He had never known Hiei to lose control of his implant

like this. A trembling hand caught one of his own, a weak pressure as it guided his hand down and

placed it flat against Hiei's belly.

"Check them, Kurama. Make sure they're still there..." Hiei's eyes slid closed and he went limp.

Kurama knew what he was asking and shifted form without a thought. He took a deep breath as his

senses shifted and expanded and golden eyes narrowed as he focused on the aura of his mate and the

two little sparks of new life at its core. They were flickering and distressed, pulling Hiei's rei, his very life-

force from him. Hiei was almost gone and Kurama knew suddenly what was happening. Stupid, stubborn

youkai! Hiei's self-preservation instincts should have kicked in, stopping the flow of rei to the kits when

his own was so severely depleted. Hiei was still channeling it to them and Kurama knew he would until

they all died. That was a thing Kurama would not allow to happen. He drew his thumbnail across the

underside of his right forearm opening a deep gash, then pressed it to Hiei's mouth.

"Take it, Hiei!" he growled as Hiei didn't respond.

Then he exhaled as fire lanced up his arm as Hiei sank his fangs and started to suck both blood and rei.

He leaned back against the wall for support, cradling his mate against his chest as the rei flowed out of

him. Hiei was purring now, a sweet sound wound around a hypnotic vibration. He felt his form shift as

he weakened and again felt the loss of what he was, what he by choice lived without, and still Hiei fed.

He knew he had given as much as he safely could, that he needed to stop Hiei, but that purr had

wrapped itself around his heartbeat and insinuated itself into his mind making it too much of an effort

to move, to resist.

* * *

Hiei purred contentedly, sated and still half caught in memory-dreams as he slowly started to wake up.

The taste of human blood, the sweetest and the best, was in his mouth and a vibrant fire that hummed

through his veins. He wondered how many more times he could feed off the human he had caught as he

pressed his tongue against the cool flesh of the wound and felt for it's pulse. It was weak and sluggish

and the blood that trickled onto his tongue had very little rei left in it. He heaved an unhappy sigh and

decided he might as well finish it off now. He bit down, re-seating his fangs in preparation to fed some

more and heard a whisper of pain/protest come from his treat.

It snapped him into full wakefulness. He was on his back, Kurama a slumped shadow next to him, and it

was Kurama's flesh that he had his teeth in. *Oh, shit!* He opened his mouth carefully so his fangs

would do no more damage, then sat up as the nights events came back to him in a rush. One hand went

without thought to cover the little lives in his body as the other went to the ward around his forehead.

He paused just on the verge of pushing it up out of the way. He couldn't use it! He ground his teeth in

frustration as he reached for the light.

He didn't need the Jagan to tell that Kurama needed a lot of blood, fast. His hands were a blur as he

wrapped a bandage around Kurama's wound. His stupid lover was going to need every drop he had left.

He wrapped Kurama's pale and cold form into a blanket and told himself to stay calm as he wrestled

with Kurama's long and limp body. Finally he had him loaded and balanced across his shoulders. He

paused to pick up the phone thing, then blurred out of sight.

He was angry at his breathlessness and the creeping exhaustion that kept trying to take him to his knees

as he staggered into the emergency room of the human hospital. Humans were swarming around him

suddenly and Kurama was lifted from his shoulders making it easier for him to breathe.

"He's lost a lot of blood," he managed to pant out at one of the healers.

She nodded at him and they were gone. He slunk into a dark corner and eyed the phone thing he had

tucked into his pocket as he worked on getting his breath back. Hiei hated Ningenkai machines. He

didn't understand or trust their magic. But Kurama had said if he ever needed to talk to Yukina with it he

only had to push the first and last button.

*Work...* he willed it as it and winced as it started a shrill ringing in his ear.

He knew the human healers would be able to put back the blood Kurama was missing. Kurama's

damaged and drained rei was something they had no experience with and he needed Yukina's help.

"Yo," Kuwabara's sleepy voice grumbled in place of the ring.

"I want to talk to Yukina."

"Who is this?" Kuwabara asked around a yawn.

"Hiei, you idiot. Let me talk to my sister!"

"Hiei? You even sound like a gi..." there was the sounds of a minor scuffle and he could hear Kuwabara

laughing in the background. He promised himself he would break a few of that asshole's fingers the next

time he saw him...

"Hiei? What's wrong?" Yukina asked, having apparently gotten the phone away from her husband.

"We need you. We're at the human hospital east of the apartment."

"I'm on my way."

His sisters voice was cut off and replaced by a most annoying buzz. He scowled at the handset and

pushed buttons. Nothing worked so he whacked it against the wall until it stopped. He was overtaken by

a huge yawn as he put it back in his pocket. He wanted to do nothing more than curl up in the hidden

space behind the fake plants that shared the corner with him and sleep as he started to feel light-

headed and floaty. But first he had to find out where they had taken Kurama.

* * *

Yukina left a grumbling Shizuru to hash out Kurama's admission details with the stubborn woman at the

front desk. Shizuru just was not a morning person, even though it technically was still night. The sun had

just started to lighten the horizon in preparation for her lift into the sky. Yukina smiled sweetly. That

rude woman had just met her match. The receptionist had squawked and sputtered when Shizuru had

simply reached over into the folders on the other side of the counter and pulled the right one out. She

had stepped back out of the receptionists range and read the Ward number out loud to Yukina and

made a shoo-ing motion at her, then offered the folder back to the lady with a cold smile.

Yukina slipped on silent feet through ward 4-1 trying not to disturb the other human patients that slept

there as she peeked shyly into each curtained space. Hiei and Kurama were in the last one on the left.

Her twin was in a chair pulled up close to the bed on the right side, clear of the huddle of equipment and

the ward nurse that was to Kurama's left. He was asleep, his head turned slightly in the crook of his left

arm and next to Kurama's shoulder, his right hand resting lightly over his lovers own. It had always

amazed her how sweet and unguarded Hiei's face was when he slept and now, with his normal chiseled

angles softened by the curse, he was downright angelic.

"May I help you?" The nurse gave Yukina a hard once over, her hands busy exchanging an almost empty

IV bag with a full one that held the red-black of human blood.

"I'm family," Yukina assured her and flashed her best smile.

The nurse relaxed and let Yukina head for her twin unchallenged. She shifted her vision as she started

across the few feet that separated the edge of the curtain from the bed. Her steps stuttered and she

stopped, staying well out of the range of her brothers aura for the moment. She had never seen it like

this! It was almost overwhelming and mantled like a pair of shadow wings around himself and the

unconscious youko. Her eyes narrowed with worry as she tried to find Kurama's green in all that black

and she gave a little gasp as she detected the deep red tinge in the cold black refection of Hiei's inner

fire. *Oh, Hiei! What did you do?*

"What happened?" She asked the nurse, wanting as much information as possible before she ventured

into Hiei's space.

"They're not sure. He," she pointed at Kurama, "was almost blue from blood loss when he was brought

in. There is a laceration on his right arm, but nothing that should have bled that much. She," the nurse

pointed at Hiei, "came with the gurney when they brought him up from the ER. They told me she had

brought him in, so I figured it was all right for her to stay with him?" the nurse ask hesitantly, a little

unnerved by the way Yukina was staring at her twin.

Yukina dragged her focus away from the bed and blinked a little dazedly at the nurse. She saw the

distress in the tiny and soft white/blue of her human aura, a weak glow against Hiei's shadow, and made

herself smile.

"Yes. Hiei's his..." she paused for a moment and hunted for an explanation this human and none of the

others that were wandering around would question, "...fiancee."

The nurse nodded, reassured and then smiled, giving reassurance back. "He'll be all right once we get

another pint in him. "

She decided not to tell this delicate little thing just how close the young man she was tending had come

to death. She seemed shocked enough as it was.

"All done," she said softly to her patient and Yukina as she reached out and patted his hand.

A chill ran up her arm and raised the hairs there. She pulled her hand away quickly as she had the feeling

that something dangerous was hovering close and didn't like her touching the red-headed young man.

Then she shook her head and chided herself mentally for being silly.

"I'll be right back."

Yukina gave her a distracted nod and wished she would leave permanently so she could get to work. It

worried her that Kurama's rei was so weak than she could not find a trace of his aura, though she hoped

that it was only because Hiei's was so strong at the moment that it was masking the Youko's. The nurse

came back with a stool and she colored prettily and bowed, truly surprised at the woman's

thoughtfulness.

"I'll be back in a little while to check on him," the nurse assured her with a glance at her watch as Yukina

took control of the stool, then left pulling the curtain closed behind her.

Yukina waited a full minute to make sure the nurse wouldn't be back for some forgotten item, then took

a deep breath and advanced cautiously on her brother. She knew from the size of his aura and the rei

swirling in it that he was Bloodhigh and in the sated stupor that feeding on human blood brought to the

Koorime. And he had lost the babies. If he still carried them his aura should have been wrapped tightly

around him and barely visible to her. She stepped into the radius of it and for a moment felt the push

backwards and threat of promised violence. Then it was enfolding her, warm and welcoming as Hiei's

subconscious registered and accepted her presence. She put a hand on his back, felt the rumble as he

purred softly a few times as she started a quick check to make sure he was all right before she turned

her attention to Kurama.

She startled, then smiled. They were still there! She took in a little surprised gasp of air. Not only there,

but growing! She could see it happening as they fed greedily on the rei that Hiei had in so much

abundance at the moment. They hadn't even put a dent in it yet. She lifted her hand and wondered how

long Hiei's Bloodhigh would last with the babies feeding off it. She was very pleased that both he and

the babies were all right. She was not very pleased with her thoughts on how Hiei had achieved this

state. She put her hand on her twins wrist needing to remove his physical contact with Kurama so she

could see what was going on with the damaged youko. Hiei's eyes snapped open and a warning growl,

somehow more menacing in the higher pitch of his female form, froze her. Bloodhigh Koorime were very

dangerous and Hiei might react before he realized what he was doing.

"Hiei, you need to let go and move," she kept her tone low and soothing. "I can't see what's wrong with

Kurama with your aura oozing all over him."

The growl cut off as Hiei narrowed his eyes at her, then he smiled and she almost giggled. If Hiei knew

how disarming that expression was he'd have an incredible weapon to add to his arsenal.

"'kay, 'kina," he mumbled at her as he moved his hand after giving Kurama's a light squeeze, then leaned

back in his chair.

She gave him a smile and a pat on his knee, then focused on Kurama. She frowned unhappily. It was as

bad as she had feared. She couldn't see his aura at all. If she hadn't known better, she would have

thought him to be what her husband so unkindly called a 'brick'. A human with so little spirit that it

couldn't even cast an aura. She had to reach out and physically touch Kurama's skin to get any reading

off of him.

Mother Snow! In her other vision he now appeared almost translucent, a crystal shell barely prismed

with the verdant greens he normally shone with. And that was fading rapidly as his physical body drew

on it to heal itself. What in the Worlds had he been thinking to let Hiei drain him this much? She dipped

into her talent and started to feed him some of her own strength. She let out a breath of relief as she

saw the green of his power pulse, then spread until it lightly tinged his whole being. That had been too

close. If Kurama had lost any more rei he would have ended up with his power crippled. As it was, he

was going to be a psychic invalid for weeks.

She sighed softly as she snagged the stool with one foot and dragged it over so she could perch on it, still

keeping her fingers in contact with the youko's skin. She knew she would need to monitor Kurama and

keep passing along small doses of her power until his body stopped drawing on his resources long

enough for him to start to recharge his own rei. The blood flowing into his body was helping, but still, it

was going to be a long morning.

* * *

Hiei snapped awake, stiff and uncomfortable and tensed as he tried to place the unfamiliar

surroundings. He registered Kurama, still faded and pale against the white sheets of the bed but not as

dead looking as he had been, Yukina sitting next to him letting out a huge yawn, the slightly faded smell

of cigarette smoke and perfume that meant that Shizuru had just been close. The human hospital...the

smell of cigarettes and perfume mixed with the scents of the sick and his stomach lurched. He sat up

ramrod straight and swallowed hard as he clutched the side of the chair. *Shit, I hoped this part was

over!*

Yukina looked over at Hiei's sudden movement and knew from the convulsive swallow and her twin's

expression what was coming. She hopped off the stool to scurry around the bed to the wastebasket

there. She kicked it so it slid under the high bed and stopped right between her twin's feet just as he

retched. She gave him a sympathetic look as she tracked the soft soled rush of the nurses feet closing on

them fast. The nurse whipped through the curtain, her eyes on the still unconscious Kurama. She looked

relieved when she saw it wasn't her patient getting ill, then her expression turned sympathetic also as

she saw Hiei put his face in his hands and the wastebasket between his feet.

"Done?" the nurse asked gently.

Hiei nodded and she collected the wastebasket and hurried away. Yukina headed back around the bed

as Hiei fumbled under the oversized T-shirt he was wearing and tugged the drawstring on his pants. She

hid her grin as he let out a relieved sigh as they loosened. She had swapped her focus between Kurama

and her brother over the eight hours she had been here standing watch. Hiei had slept straight through

the whole time as his aura had shrunk and the babies had grown. He had only twitched and sighed in

relief the two times she had loosened his pants for him. Now his aura was back to where it should be for

a pregnant Koorime. A Koorime that was about half way through his pregnancy. She went so she stood

behind her brother and gave him a soft hug as he slowly became aware of this fact.

"Hn..."

Hiei couldn't believe it. He was fat. He ran his hands over the strange shape of his body, pressing slightly.

Well, maybe not fat. The muscle was still firm and hard, just pushed out from the space the babies took

up inside him. He blinked as he felt something under his right hand, a series of flutters like the beat of a

moth's wings that was gone before he was certain he even felt them. Was that one of the babies?

Yukina watched Hiei's hands explore his well rounded belly through the shirt. He wasn't really big yet,

but obviously pregnant when he pushed the shirt flat to follow his distended contour.

"What happened?" her brother asked, obviously confused.

"You had a huge amount of rei at your disposal. The babies took advantage of it."

Hiei leaned his head back against his sister’s chest and tipped his head up to look at her, concern in his

dark eyes. "Is Kurama all right?"

"Not really. But he will survive. Hiei, what happened?"

Hiei scowled, the frown only accenting the beauty of his feminine features instead of making them fierce

and menacing as she was sure he meant the expression to be.

"What do you think happened?" he all but snarled.

"I think you almost killed Kurama. I want to know why," she answered calmly but forcefully.

She had to know what happened. If Hiei had simply turned on Kurama in his sleep, then the two of them

would have to be separated or at least well watched until her brother delivered his children.

"Yukina, don't scold him. It wasn't his fault," Kurama's soft voice broke the locked gazes of the twins.

They both focused on him as he raised his right arm shakily and frowned at the bandage wrapped

around it with slightly glazed eyes.

"I should know better than to let an unconscious Koorime feed on me," he said more to himself than

them as he let his arm sag across his chest, then turned his head and focused on Hiei.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Hiei looked at his sister, uncertain of what to answer. He really didn't know. Yukina smiled at Hiei

reassuringly, then transferred the smile toward Kurama as she went to him.

"Yes, they are all doing fine," she told him as she settled on the edge of bed.

"Good. So, how am I?" he asked uncertainly.

He felt terrible, like a tattered spider web barely clinging to its base in a storm wind and weaker than a

newborn kit.

"Not as well as they are. But you will be all right, Kurama."

"Good." He managed to get his arm to move again and reached out towards Hiei.

He needed his lovers touch to anchor him to consciousness, and just for reassurance.

Hiei looked at Kurama's outstretched hand and then at his sister and chewed on his bottom lip. He never

showed physical affection for his Fox in the presence of others, even Yukina. It was hard enough for him

to do it in private! Kurama seemed to realize what he was asking and started to withdraw his hand and

move it so his arm would rest more comfortably on the bed. Yukina was reaching to help him when Hiei

intercepted it.

*Damn Fox! You're doing this just to embarrass me, aren't you?* he grumbled mentally as he laced his

fingers into Kurama's and resisted the urge to lean down and kiss the back of his Fox's hand as Kurama's

eyes closed.

"So, what happened?" Yukina asked again.

Hiei just ignored her, his way of telling her that it was none of her business and he wasn't going to talk

about it.

"Hiei, I've got to know. If you..."

"It was this or lose all three of them, Yukina," Kurama interrupted, opening his eyes slightly and ignoring

Hiei's glare. "He lost control of the Jagan and was too stubborn to let the kits go."

"Oh," Yukina answered in relief and glanced at the ward around her brother’s forehead and tried to

ignore the withering stare of the two eyes under it, thankful that it was directed at Kurama and not

herself.

"It was a fair trade, Yukina. Get him something to eat, would you? Please? That has to be why he's trying

to bore a hole through my head with his glare," Kurama managed a tease and a wavering smile.

Yukina nodded and hopped off the bed, knowing that most of her errand was to give the two some time

alone.

"What, Hiei?" Kurama asked wearily as soon as Yukina had disappeared through the curtain.

Hiei took a steadying breath and tried to rein in his temper. Kurama had not asked if the babies were all

right. In fact, his lover sounded annoyed that he hadn't let them die.

"You don't want me to have your babies, do you, Kurama?"

Kurama winced inwardly at the accusation in Hiei's voice. *Gods, Hiei. Don't start this now...please...*

Hiei almost growled as Kurama closed his eyes, a cold mask of calm settling over his features. The one

that meant that Kurama was going to shut him out. It didn't happen very often and mostly when Hiei

went hunting information about his Fox's past.

"Do you, Kurama?"

It was a fierce, hard whisper that struck too close to the truth. His dead kits floated up to hover in front

of his closed eyelids. Three who never even got a name to take with them into the Reikai. The other

four...Little Yana, Mako and Larai and Kobiashi...why couldn't he remember the happy times with them?

Why was all he had left of them images of their deaths?

"I don't want to talk about this right now, Hiei," he managed to get out in a calm voice.

"Then don't 'talk' about it. I want a simple 'yes' or 'no'," Hiei persisted, determined to get his answer as

his free hand went to scratch fiercely at the itchy skin on the sides of his belly.

"It isn't a simple question," Kurama swallowed hard, feeling his composure starting to slip as his dead

kits refused to be banished back into the darkened corners of his memory.

"Yes, it is. For once, give me a straight answer, Kurama."

Kurama opened his eyes slowly and narrowed them at him slightly. "A straight answer. Fine. I don't

know, Hiei. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Kurama yanked his hand out of Hiei's grasp and pressed his forearm against his eyes, trying to block the

memory of the kits out.

Hiei blinked. It wasn't what he wanted to hear but it was better than a flat out 'no'. Why couldn't

Kurama just answer one way or the other? He blinked again as Kurama's composed features crumbled

into pain and was so startled that he didn't resist the sudden jerk of the youko's hand out of his own. He

watched his lover cover his eyes and swallow hard, then knew from the shuddering rise of Kurama's

chest that he was crying. He frowned, then had a sudden flash of insight as his sister’s voice telling him

that Kurama didn't have any children overlaid the images of the nightmare that had spawned this whole

rotten day's chain of events. And he knew.

Yukina didn't know how easily his Fox warped words. Kurama had told her that he didn't have any

children. Any children now. Not that he had never had any. Stupid Fox! Why didn't you tell me? He

leaned forwards and took Kurama's wrist to pull his arm away from his face. Kurama resisted but Hiei

just continued to move it gently, not needing much force, until he had his lover’s hand back in his own.

Kurama turned his head away from him though his trembling fingers closed tight around Hiei's own. Hiei

gave a fast glance toward the curtain, listening as he got up and grumbled to himself at how out of

whack his balance was, then leaned across the bed and grumbled some more as his belly made him feel

like he was teetering back and forth on the firm mattress. He kissed Kurama's cheek gently, then rubbed

his own against the dampness of the tears there.

"I," and he stressed that word, "won't let anything happen to these babies, Kurama," and left it at that

for the moment.

Kurama turned his face back towards him, his expression surprised and guarded. Hiei gazed evenly back

into the bottomless depths of Kurama's eyes as he focused on the footsteps heading up the room. It was

the healer. He growled softly as he tracked her almost noiseless tread and realized that she was

definitely heading for them.

"I hate this place," he grouched as Kurama frowned at him while he wiggled, trying to get off the bed.

He'd be damned if he'd let a human see him being all mushy over Kurama. He had to kick his feet a little

to get his weight to shift back down into his hips so he could slide off.

Kurama was still trying to figure out what to make of Hiei's statement when his lover wiggled off of the

bed. Was it a threat? Or something else? Knowing Hiei, it was probably both. Kurama wanted to

reassure him, but could not. Not yet. He knew in his heart that if there had been some way he could

have saved Hiei and let the kits slip away, he would have done it. They were not 'real' to him yet, and he

wasn't sure if he ever wanted them to be so. He didn't know if he was willing to give anybody the chance

to hold that much power over him again, if he could ever open his heart that much again, if he could

dare to love them. Hiei's fingers gave his own a reassuring squeeze, then were gone as a nurse slipped

through the curtain and smiled at him.

* * *

Kurama's hand shook slightly as he turned the doorknob to let himself into the apartment. He rubbed at

the tension that was almost a headache between his eyes as he shrugged off the shoulder strap of his

satchel. It was stuffed full and heavy with a backlog of assignments. Gods, he was tired. He had thought

that he was ready to go back. Physically, he was recovered, but his rei was still weak and it had been

exhausting to try to take notes and concentrate on blocking out lecture halls full of undisciplined human

auras at the same time. He hadn't realized how powerful his unconscious shielding had been until now.

His doctor had agreed to an early release from the hospital if he would take a week off from the

University and just rest. He had enjoyed it immensely. Hiei had insisted that he could take care of both

of them and he had done so quite well with two helping visits from Yukina. They had mostly just slept,

eaten and taken long, slow walks when Yukina had given him the O.K. to be up and about and avoided

the subject of Hiei's advancing pregnancy.

It had shocked him when he'd gotten his first look at Hiei's new shape in the hospital. Hiei had gotten a

wicked gleam in his eyes when the nurse had come in to fuss over him that first time. Hiei had turned

sideways in his chair as the nurse had wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his arm and yawned

loudly, bringing Kurama's attention back to him, then pulled the T-shirt tight against his body just as she

had started pumping up the cuff. She had almost sent for the doctor at the reading. He had asked her to

do it again, just to make sure, and had closed his eyes and shut that evil little youkai out as he had

relaxed and taken some deep breaths.

Yukina had assured him that Hiei was all right and the kits had just taken advantage of the huge amount

of nourishment he had so generously, if unintentionally, supplied. She also assured him that the kits had

settled back down into what was regular growth for in-utero Koorime, even though he thought Hiei was

expanding at an alarming rate. And so did Hiei. She had told them both not to worry when she had come

on Friday to check on them and had simply upped her estimate on how far along Hiei was. Somewhere

between eleven and twelve weeks. He rubbed harder at his forehead as he stepped up out of the

entrance way and into the main room.

He still wasn't sure what he was going to tell Shiori tomorrow when he met her for lunch. That worry

had gnawed at the edges of all his other woes all day and he pushed it aside once more as he glanced

down to pull the folded section of newspaper out of the side pocket of his satchel before he leaned it

against the end of the sofa. He and Hiei needed to have another talk about what was acceptable

behavior in the Ningenkai. He looked up and registered the untidy piles of food on the floor of the

kitchen behind the long piece of furniture for the first time.

*What in the hell?* he frowned, then realized he was looking at the contents of the refrigerator.

He stalked towards the appliance, seeing the faint glow of the light that came from the slightly ajar door

and noticed that there was a towel tied to the handle that disappeared around the edge and into the

interior. He yanked it open to see Hiei sitting cross-legged on a pillow inside, one of the richly illustrated

children’s books he had bought for him open and propped on his very distended stomach. Hiei looked

up from his book, blinked once, then reached for the towel and pulled the door closed. Kurama stared at

the closed door for a moment, amusement warring with annoyance as he replayed that image in his

head. His hands went to his hips as the annoyance won.

"Hiei! Get out of the refrigerator!"

"No." Hiei's muffled voice replied calmly.

"Hiei..." Kurama yanked open the door again, "you can't stay in the refrigerator."

"Why not? I'm hot. Isn't that what this thing is for? Making things cold and keeping them that way?"

"Things, Hiei. Not people," Kurama tried to keep his tone reasonable.

"I'm not a 'people'." Hiei reached for the towel again as he continued, "I'm a very hot, very pregnant

Youkai and I'll stay the hell in here if I want to!" With that he pulled the door shut again.

"No, you won't!" Kurama yanked the door open again and glared at Hiei. "All this food is going to go bad,

if it hasn't already. Get out."

He realized as they glared at each other that his weariness was making him snappish. He was about to

suggest some alternate ideas for getting and keeping Hiei cool in apology when Hiei uncoiled and slid

out. Kurama knew that dark look.

"Hiei, don't use your Rei!" he warned and retreated fast, knocking over food and containers as he

backed.

He managed to bat the book off of its trajectory for his head and held up his hands to block the egg that

followed it. He turned and ducked his head as the shell broke and spattered him with white and yoke.

The rest of the dozen hit on various vital areas of his body in blurred succession as he leapt to dive over

the sofa. He thanked the Gods that Hiei was only throwing eggs. He peeked over the top and threw

himself sideways as a carton of juice buzzed his cheek and continued on to spatter against the wall.

"Hiei, calm down!"

"I am calm."

Kurama crawled to the other end of the sofa and risked another glance over the top and ducked as Hiei

saw him and launched a whole chicken at his head. It made a very ungainly flight to crash into the wall

also.

"Hiei..." Kurama put warning into his voice as he looked over the sofa top again, worried that Hiei might

realize that there were forks and knives very handy.

"Hiei?" His lover was standing very still, his hands on the side of his stomach and wearing a very

perplexed expression.

"Hiei?" He came around the sofa cautiously as Hiei blinked twice, then seemed to focus.

"Kurama, come here!" Hiei whispered.

Kurama did, slowly. When he was in range, Hiei reached out and grabbed his hands and put them

against his stomach. Kurama cocked his head, wondering what Hiei was doing, then he felt it. He felt

them. Little bumps and pushes. Suddenly, in that one instant, they became real to him. These where his

kits moving under his hands. His and Hiei's.

"Is this the first time you've felt them?" he asked back in an awed whisper as whichever one was under

his right hand seemed to know it was there and kicked against it several times.

Hiei shook his head. "No, I've felt them move, but never like this. Ooof! Stop it!"

Hiei glared down as the kit under Kurama's left hand moved with enough force to bounce his hand off of

his lover’s stomach.

"I don't think they like you being upset," Kurama said softly as he pressed his hand back against Hiei's

stomach and felt both of the kits shift violently again.

In fact, it felt like Hiei had an insane super ball bouncing off his insides as Hiei addressed his stomach,

"Well, they had better get used to it!"

Kurama smiled as the kits responded with another intense series of maneuvers. The smile flew into a

frown as Hiei flinched, his brows coming together as he let out a small hiss.

"Hiei, are they hurting you?"

Hiei shrugged one shoulder as he rubbed the top of his belly, then flinched again. Kurama swept him up

into his arms and strode quickly for the sofa.

"Should I call Yukina?" he asked as he put Hiei down prone on the cushions, then knelt next to him and

began to stroke the curve of Hiei's belly.

Hiei considered it as a tentative purr was coaxed out of him from the gentle, soothing feeling of

Kurama's caress, then shook his head 'no' as the babies frantic movements started to slow. He blinked in

surprise as Kurama put his cheek against the side of his belly and started to sing very softly. His purr fell

into the rhythm of Kurama's lullaby and within seconds, the babies were still. He let out a mental sigh of

relief and felt his eyelids get heavy as the song and Kurama's hands soothed him also.

* * *

Hiei snapped awake, then relaxed as he recognized the familiar darkened shapes of Kurama's bedroom.

It still unnerved him to sleep so deeply that he didn't register when he was moved. It took him a

moment to locate and place the fast whir that sounded through the room. It was from the fan

positioned so that it would blow on him, the air deliciously chilled as it passed over the several large

bowls of ice that were in front of it. It felt wonderful. It almost offset the heat of Kurama's body against

his back. The babies shifted restlessly. They were hungry and when they were hungry, so was he.

*Fine. I'm going. Be still,* he grumbled at them mentally as he carefully eased out from under his lovers

arm that was draped over his expanded middle.

He grabbed a set of the clothes Yukina had brought for him as he flitted noiselessly out of the bedroom.

He saw that Kurama had put the refrigerator back together. He opened it and gave a quirked smile and

shake of his head as he saw the prepared meal waiting for him. He had told Kurama again and again that

he was well able to fend for himself. But he had to admit that his Fox's cooking was better than anything

he could put together.

When he was done he started to dress, knowing he wouldn't be able to rest again until he had satisfied

these bizarre cravings he'd developed over the last few days. He frowned at the crimson of the pants

and shirt, both styled so that they would fit loosely over his pregnant shape. They were conspicuous,

and he felt like he was outlined in light. Though Kurama had gotten that gleam in his eyes when he had

reluctantly put on the sapphire blue set, the darkest of the maternity clothes that Yukina had let him

borrow, when he had expanded beyond the limit of his own pants and Kurama's shirts. Kurama said he

liked the way he looked in colors. He filed that away for the first evening he had his regular shape and

body back.

He collected the flat tai-chi shoes that had also come in Yukina's care package and headed back for the

bedroom window knowing that Kurama would hear the front door open and wake. His lover was still

fragile and needed all the rest he could get. He had slipped out these last three nights without disturbing

Kurama and hopefully by the time Kurama was back to his old, nosey and alert self, these cravings would

have passed.

* * *

Kurama's thoughts drifted as he waited for Hiei to come back to bed. He knew he should get up and

keep his lover company, but Hiei had grumbled at him the first night he had been home from the

hospital that he was perfectly capable of getting his own meals and that Kurama needed his rest. He

must have been in pretty bad shape not to register the nights that Hiei had left his side. It had only been

the past two that he had woken enough to know when Hiei had gotten up for his late night snack, and

even then he had drifted back to sleep long before his lover came back.

He worked on keeping himself awake by trying to formulate a way to approach Hiei over his suspicions

about the rash of robberies that had been plaguing the florists in the area without upsetting him too

much. Whoever the thief was, and Kurama had a very good idea of just who that someone was, had

been stealing roses. And not just a few here or there. This person had wiped out the stock in every store.

Last night when Hiei had slipped back to curl up against him he had smelled very strongly of roses.

Kurama had thought it was just part of an amusing dream until he had read the paper on the train on

the way to campus.

The light from the open window was suddenly blocked by an ungainly shadow. "Hiei, where are you

going?"

"Out. Go back to sleep," Hiei answered as he straddled the sill, one leg in and one out.

"Did you break into all those florist shops?" Kurama asked as he sat up.

Hiei paused on the window sill and Kurama saw the shadowed shrug of his shoulders against the faint

moonlight.

"What do you need roses for, anyway? And why didn't you just ask me?" Kurama questioned, curious.

"I want them. They taste good. You aren't recovered enough yet to be wasting your rei on making

them," Hiei answered with another shrug.

"You're eating roses?"

Hiei shrugged again and Kurama had to bite his tongue to keep his laughter in check. "Hiei, you can't just

take things in the Ningenkai without paying for them."

Hiei's eyes sparked with orange fire as he glared back.

"No, you're the one who can't take things from the Ningenkai without paying for them. I don't care. I

need them."

He rubbed at the babies who were turning somersaults in his belly. He had to have rose petals. Now. He

turned, ready to leap down when the aroma hit him and made his mouth water. He glanced back over

his shoulder and saw Kurama hold out a huge bouquet of roses with very large, full blossoms. He was

sitting cross-legged in front of Kurama before his Fox had a chance to blink.

"You shouldn't have done that," he mumbled around a mouthful of bittersweet petals as he saw the

slight tremble in his lover's hand as he offered another stem.

Kurama shrugged this time and asked, "Are you having cravings for anything else?"

"That sweet snow," Hiei answered right before he decapitated another rose with a sharp click of his

teeth.

*Sweet snow?* Kurama laughed softly as he figured it out. *Ice cream.* But there hadn't been any

reports of break-in's or robberies of grocery stores in the crime section.

"Hiei, how did you get ice cream," Kurama wondered out loud.

Hiei blinked at him with two rose petals sticking out of the corner of his mouth. His tongue flicked out

and collected them as he answered, "From the food store on the corner. Where else would I get it?"

He turned a curious look on Kurama as his lover dropped his face into his hand with a groan.

"Hiei, I have to shop there. Why didn't you just tell me and I would have bought you some."

"I want some. Now. Buy it for me."

"Now? It's three in the morning!"

Hiei shrugged and struggled up to his feet with a growl, feeling he had made his point. It was getting

harder and harder for him to get up as his belly got bigger and bigger. He swore he had expanded

another five inches while he had sat.

"Just wait, would you?" Kurama said with a sigh as Hiei headed for the window again.

Hiei turned to see Kurama stepping into a pair of jeans. "There's an all-night store over on Pine."

Hiei licked the last of the sweet snow that Kurama insisted on calling ice cream off his spoon as he gazed

at his lover. Kurama had insisted on going with him even after he said that he would just take the money

and pay for the frozen treat. Kurama had told him that it wasn't safe for him to be out and about alone

this late at night now. Hiei snorted to himself. As if any human could catch him. And he could outrun any

youkai...well, almost any youkai. He was slower now, his balance out of center and it was harder to

breathe with the babies pressing against his ribs all the time. But still, he seriously doubted that

anything in the Ningenkai could touch him and besides, Kurama wasn't in any shape to take on anything

that might decide to take a whack at him either. He had explained that to Kurama, but his lover had

insisted on accompanying him anyway and now had fallen asleep at the table, his head pillowed on his

crossed arms.

A tender expression overtook his normal, fierce countenance as he reached out to gently push a stray

lock of hair out of Kurama's face. It was a rare thing, this look, and would have startled Kurama or

anyone else who knew him. It was a look that only came to his face in the small hours of the morning,

when he was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no one and nothing that could see it.

He rubbed the silky stuff between his fingers and wondered if their son's would have the same texture

and coloring.

What were the babies going to be like? Powerful, of that he had no doubt. Would it be possible for he

and Kurama to raise them in the Ningenkai? But what other choice did they have? Kurama was

stubbornly insistent on staying in the Ningenkai until his human mother died and he, himself, was going

to be on Mukuro's hit list for quite some time. He grinned. Probably until she died. Their parting had not

been good. After two years of sharing her bed and learning the 'in's and out's' of being a ruler, he

decided he really didn't want either thing. Kurama had tried to warn him of what was coming but he had

to do it the hard way and find out on his own.

There had been none of the glory he had envisioned in ruling. The power and control only came through

hard, tedious and boring work full of 'allies' that smiled as they sharpened the knife they were planning

to stick in your back. Literally. He had taken two that had been meant for Mukuro. And even though

Mukuro had been an interesting bedmate, it had been Kurama he thought of when he had been with

her. It was Kurama he had dreamed of. It was Kurama that he missed enough to be willing to accept

what amounted to a banishment into the Ningenkai.

Also, Kurama had never, ever done what Mukuro had attempted, which was control him. His lover never

tried to put any restraints on his coming and going, never asked or demanded explanations for where he

had been or what he had been up to unless Kurama discovered it on his own, like he had with the flower

sellers. His Fox understood and valued his own freedom and granted that same respect to his lover and

friend. Hiei had learned it was a very rare gift indeed.

*You are very lucky to have a father like him. He's going to spoil you rotten. Just like he does me,* he

smiled as he put his hand over the babies, still now that they were all stuffed and contented.

He schooled his features back into their normal mask as he leaned forwards to kiss Kurama's cheek with

cold lips.

"Kurama, you are going to get a crick in your back if you stay like that."

Kurama opened his eyes a crack and grumbled something back at him.

"Come on," Hiei pulled and tugged and coaxed until Kurama got to his feet, then half guided, half

supported him into the bedroom.

Kurama collapsed onto the bedding with a grateful sigh and mumbled, "Love you, Hiei," as he let Hiei get

him undressed.

Hiei didn't bother to answer, but got undressed quickly and wiggled into the curl Kurama had made of

himself against the cool breeze from the fan. Kurama cuddled against him, his arm going as far as it

could around his waist and within four beats of his human heart was taking the deep even breaths of

sleep. He yawned as the babies shifted against his new position, then settled. He drifted off trying to

envision what his children were going to look like once they were out of him.

* * *

Kurama listened to Shiori babble happily as they ate. She was happy with her 'new' family and he was

happy that she could find so much fulfillment with them. He smiled gently and poured them both some

more tea and went over the lie he was preparing to tell her as she started in on her questioning of

himself. Why did he look so tired, was he getting enough sleep? Was he eating? How was school? Did he

know how proud of him she was?

He took a deep, mental breath as he answered her questions and noted again that she avoided the

subject of his love life. She hadn't mentioned a thing about it for over two years. That had also been the

last time she had visited his apartment. He knew she didn't come because Hiei was there. It was her way

of telling him she did not approve of his relationship with his lover. She had been anxious and nervous

on her last visit and had asked very leading questions about his relationship with Hiei. He hadn't said

that Hiei was his lover, but hadn't refuted it either as he had tried to turn the veiled accusations aside,

knowing the answer would upset her.

He knew that her questions had been brought on by his step-father, who had 'teased' her about her

'beautiful' son constantly when he had been living with them. She had defended him unhesitantly then

and he knew that she still did, even though she now knew the truth. Thankfully, it seemed that once he

had removed himself from the house his stepfather had stopped tormenting her about it. But he had

planted the seed and it had taken root and germinated for a year until Shiori had finally had to confront

him about it. Especially once Hiei came back and started to live with him.

Hiei had been the one thing he would not give up to make his mother happy. He had seriously

considered it when the problem first arose but could not do it. He had been waiting for Hiei for far too

long, had been searching for such a soulmate for over three hundred years. It didn't matter to him that

Hiei was male. He loved Hiei for what he was inside, not for the body he wore. Though it was a very nice

body...he blinked and put a firm lid on those thoughts for the moment as he waited for his human

mother to run through her queue of questions.

"So, tell me what's been going on with you?" was his cue.

"Hiei's pregnant. You're going to be a grandmother soon."

Shiori froze and stared at him. "What did you say?"

He smiled, his Youko self terribly amused as he repeated his statement.

"Hiei's pregnant. You're going to be a grandmother soon."

He caught the cup that slid out of her nerveless fingers and was suddenly concerned that she might faint

as she turned very pale.

"Mother?" he took her hands into his as she took a few gulping breaths. "Are you all right?"

She shook her head no and got out, "How?" in a high squeak.

"I think you are the one who explained to me how the birds and the bees worked not so long ago,

Mother," he said in a gentle voice, hoping to tease her out of her shock.

He hadn't quite expected this reaction as she continued to blink at him with very wide and glassy eyes.

"But...but...Hiei's a boy!"

That was the launching point he had been waiting for. He took a deep breath and started to spin his tale.

"No, Hiei's not. His family desperately needed a son. The last set of children born were twins. They

raised one as a boy."

"Hiei?" Shiori stated.

Kurama nodded. "Hiei thinks of himself as male. For all intents and purposes, he is, in everything but the

plumbing."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Shiori all but wailed and made him wince with guilt at his deception. But if

this worked as he hoped it was going to, then Shiori wouldn't have any more cause to be displeased with

her son in any way.

"I couldn't! I swore I wouldn't! But now, with the pregnancy, the situation has changed drastically. Hiei's

family has disowned him. Everyone but his twin sister refuses to acknowledge that he even exists. He's

all alone now except for Yukina and me. I love Hiei, Mother. More that I love my life. And now he's

carrying my babies and your grand-children and I hope you might be able to accept him."

Shiori cocked her head at him as her eyebrows raised while he studied her, hoping.

"Grand...children?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded. "Twins. A boy and a girl, we think."

Her hands tightened on his own.

"Grand-children...oh, Shuiichi!" she lifted his hands in her own and pressed them against her eyes. "I'm

so sorry...I should have known better than to think..." she trailed off and he felt the hot moisture of her

tears on the backs of his hands.

"Mother, it's all right," he freed his hands and put them on her cheeks and brushed away her tears with

his thumbs.

"And in a way it 'is' true. Like I said, Hiei thinks of himself as 'he'. Please don't call him 'her', it would

offend him terribly and he's acting strange enough as it is..." he let that hang with a smile.

She looked confused and he knew it would take a while for her to settle the whole thing in her mind. But

he had held out the lure which he knew she wouldn't be able to resist.

"Grand-children...I'm going to be a grandmother..." he watched with a grin as she explored the word

with her voice, tried it on for size... "Grandmother!" and decided she liked it.

"When is Hiei due? Does he have a good doctor? Twins can be tricky," she asked/said in a rush.

"Yes, we have a very good doctor and she thinks about four more weeks."

"Four weeks? You waited eight months to tell me I'm going to be a Grandmother? Shuiichi!"

"Hiei's had some problems with the pregnancy. We didn't want to get our hopes up until we were sure

that everything was going to be O.K."

"Is it O.K.?"

Kurama nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. "Our doctor says that everything is going well now.

Though Hiei thinks he's going to explode like and over-inflated balloon any day."

Shiori laughed. "Every pregnant woman in her eighth," she paused for a moment and gave him a very

meaningful look, "in his eighth month feels that way. And I can imagine with twins it's even worse!"

Kurama moved around the table so he could give his mother a relieved hug. "Thank you, Mother. You

don't know how much this means to me."

She hugged him back. "Thank you, Son. For such a wonderful gift. Do you think I could come by the

apartment sometime soon? I would like to speak with Hiei, it you think he'll talk to me."

Kurama hugged his mother tighter. "You are welcome at our home anytime you choose to come by,

Mother. You always have been."

* * *

Kurama laid on his stomach, his chin supported on his crossed hands and watched the bower with

amusement as another pillow flew out of the small entrance. Hiei had wandered in after dinner to stand

in front of the pile of pillows and blankets stacked against the wall while Kurama worked on putting up

the laundry, then had crawled into the dome of plants dragging some of the bedding after him. He had

now been lining his nest for the last forty minutes. He seemed to have settled on what blankets were

acceptable, though Kurama wasn't going to fold the rejects until he was certain Hiei was done. It was

dangerous to get too close to the mouth of the bower since there was a steady stream of pillows being

tossed out and then dragged back in and then tossed back out. Though it seemed like they were going

through the final cull. Two of the pillows had come out and not been retrieved.

Yukina had advised him to make the bower last Friday for two reasons. One was to give Hiei time to get

used to the idea of using it for his 'nest' and the second was to give his rei plenty of time to re-charge for

this up-coming week. He had woven it while Hiei was napping and Yukina had sat quietly next to him,

watching. He smiled softly. Yukina had grown as protective of him as she was of her twin. He knew that

she had been observing his rei, still unsure that he had recovered enough to let Hiei feed off of him. She

had been delighted with the results of his effort and demanded that he make one for her the next time

she conceived. Hiei had inspected the interior of the small dome of tightly intertwined vines and flowers

when he woke up and had pronounced it acceptable with a shrug and a "Hn," and had totally ignored it

up until now.

He watched Hiei emerge and crawl over to him, his belly so big it was almost dragging on the ground. He

frowned a little at the tiredness that was apparent in his lovers face, knowing that Hiei was crawling

because it was too much work to get up to his feet. Hiei arranged himself so he sat cross-legged with his

back to his lover.

"My back hurts," he grumbled.

Kurama sat up and obediently began to rub.

"What brought that on?"

"Just wanted to get it out of the way," Hiei answered with a one shouldered shrug.

"Shiori's going to drop by on Sunday," he informed Hiei as his lover relaxed and leaned back into his

hands.

"Fine. I'll go see Yukina."

"Hiei, she's coming to see you!"

"Why?" Hiei suddenly stiffened under his hands. "You told her, didn't you?"

"Of course I told her," he said with a little smile, remembering Shiori's delight in the news.

Hiei turned himself around and glared at him. "Why?"

Kurama rolled his eyes and sighed patiently. "She's my mother, Hiei."

Hiei gritted his teeth as a wave of annoyance swept over him. His lover's insistence on that fact had

always bothered him. He had held his tongue on his thoughts about the subject so far, but suddenly he

decided it was time to let Kurama know just how he felt about it.

"No. She's not. She's just a human you used to survive."

"I owe her my life, Hiei. I owe her..."

"You owe her nothing! She's just a human. And one who you have let trap you here. Don't you realize

that? How do you think she would react if she knew what you really were? If she knew what you did to

her real child? I should tell her. If I'm lucky, she'll just drop dead from shock. No matter what, it would

solve this insanity that is keeping you here!"

Kurama's expression went from gentle tolerance to cold fury in an instant and Hiei actually leaned

backwards, startled, as he realized exactly what he had blurted out. It might be the truth, but it was a

truth that Kurama did not want to hear or accept. And he had threatened the human woman Kurama

was so attached to. For a moment he saw the promise of violence and pain in Kurama's eyes and tense

stillness, then his lover rose in one fast, graceful movement and was running for the door. He realized he

had crossed the line of what Kurama would accept from him. Shit. He needed to fix this, fast!

"Kurama! Wait!"

It took forever to struggle to his feet and it started the pain stabbing up in his lower back again. By the

time he waddled to the door, cursing his ungainly body and stupidity the whole way, Kurama was out of

sight.

*Fuck!* He started out the door anyway, but as soon as he stepped out onto the walkway the night sky

and open space beyond the railing seemed to focus on him and pressed down. He couldn't stand it and

retreated back into the apartment. He slammed the door shut against the outside that was trying to

follow him in and glared at the barrier, panting. What the hell was that all about?

*BE STILL!* he willed the babies as he clutched at the pain that radiated across his belly and then went

to shoot up his back. They were so big now they couldn't move much, but they were kicking like crazy

and it hurt. He took a few deep breaths as he headed back for the bedroom, trying to relax. He knew

that if he calmed down, they would. It was impossible to do as the normal, confining space of the

apartment seemed to expand around him as it pressed in at the same time. He had to get into

someplace small and safe. He crawled into the nest Kurama had made for him and curled up as much as

he could around his belly and waited for the pain to pass.

It hadn't and now Hiei wandered in and out of a haze of agony. As soon as he had realized something

was seriously wrong, he'd been in too much pain to crawl out of his nest for the phone thing to call

Yukina. He didn't know anything could survive hurting this much, and he'd been through a whole lot of

hurting. He was sure he wasn't going to survive as the hot iron band clamped around his middle again

and squeezed until he couldn't breathe. As much as that hurt, he dreaded the next part more. It let up

and fire radiated in searing waves across his lower back, then erupted up his spine.

He worked on breathing knowing the next pain was coming soon. Too soon. How could he be so stupid?

Kurama was gone. Probably for good. He had finally managed to do it, found something that his Fox

wouldn't forgive him for. No matter what he thought, Shiori was taboo. He knew that! Shit. He knew

that her life span was short, only a blink by youkai standards and she was old already. Why couldn't he

just have let it pass? He had driven Kurama away forever over a human who would be dead in a few

years anyway...stupid, stupid...he swallowed the scream as the next pain hit him without warning.

* * *

Kurama ran until he was winded and then ran some more. Finally he had to stop or pass out. He leaned

forwards and put his hands on his knees as he waited for the dark spots to clear his vision. Gods...he had

been ready to kill Hiei for that. And as coldly as he would any youkai who threatened Shiori or himself.

He got enough breath back to start walking again and did, heedless of the direction, just as long as it was

away from Hiei.

Hiei had hit a very tender nerve and he knew that almost everything his lover had said was true. He was

terrified of how Shiori would react if she ever found out what she had carried in her womb, nursed at

her breast, loved and raised as her own child. It would kill her if she ever found out what he had done.

How he had forced out the soul of the girl child she had been shaping in her body and rearranged that

flesh to suit himself with as little thought as he would kill a rabbit for dinner. He snorted to himself. He

hadn't done a very good job on the body. But what could he expect? He had been almost dead.

Kurama shook his head, Hiei just couldn't understand. Shiori hadn't trapped him here. He had trapped

himself as soon as he had refused to die and entered into the human world by his own choice. Shiori had

taught him so much, some of it wonderful and some of it terrible. But it was a part of him now, a part of

his experiences. And one of those things which he thought was wonderful and terrible at the same time

was the ability to love as humans did. It was different from what he knew as 'love' as a Youko. It was

something else, something beyond. He still didn't understand it, nor could explain it. He just felt it.

Shiori was his mother, not the Youko vixen that spawned him and left him to die. He sighed and berated

himself quite harshly as he walked in and out of the bright pools thrown by the street lights. Now that

he had calmed down he knew that he had over-reacted. Hiei would never tell Shiori, the same way that

he would never have told Yukina Hiei's secret. That confession had come on Hiei's own initiative.

Hiei had just been blowing off steam. An idle threat born of his temper and the discomfort of the kits

inside him. He knew that his lover was frustrated by his insistence at staying in the Ningenkai and that

was all it was. He looked up to take his bearings and smiled as he shook his head. His steps had

unconsciously brought him back to where he should be. Had brought him home to Hiei.

He was somewhat surprised not to see Hiei glowering at him from the sofa as he entered the darkened

apartment, though the light was still on in the bedroom. He headed for the refrigerator, wanting

something to ease the dryness in his throat before he went in and faced his lover. A soft groan, barely

audible, spun him in place and sent him sprinting for the bedroom. His gazed raked the room, searching

for the source of the sound, then focused on the bower as another muted mew of pain guided his eyes.

He dropped to his hands and knees and stuck his head in. He paled as he saw the grimace on Hiei's

sweat slicked features, his lovers fingers knotted into the blanket and whole body tense as he rode

another contraction.

He backed and sprang for the phone, tucked it between his ear and shoulder after he dialed, and rushed

for the bathroom. He had just grabbed all the towels and washcloths when the phone was picked up on

the other side. Kuwabara's sleepy voice grumbled at him as he paused just long enough on his way back

to the bower to snatch up one of the half-melted bowls of ice in front of the fan.

"Hiei's in labor. I need to speak to Yukina, Kuwabara," he bit out as he worked on getting himself and his

supplies through the tight opening.

"He's in labor? But it's not time yet!"

"I know THAT! Please put Yukina ON!"

"How far apart are the contractions, Kurama?" Yukina's calm voice asked in an instant.

"I don't know...I was out and I came back and Hiei's in labor and..."

"Kurama, calm down. Time a contraction."

He took a calming breath and swallowed hard as Hiei groaned again and drew a quavering breath,

totally unaware of his presence. He put his palm on Hiei's stomach and could hear Yukina moving

beyond the phone, probably getting dressed as he watched his watch. Hiei had barely managed a few

pants before the next one hit.

"Five seconds," his panic came back as he realized the kits were coming NOW! For all his age and

experience, he'd never delivered a baby before. "Yukina, what do I do?!"

"Stay calm. See if you see a baby coming, Kurama."

He could hear her muted voice talking to her husband as he worked the pants off his lover and did as

she asked. There wasn't a sign of either baby.

"Stuck..." Hiei gritted out around another contraction.

Kurama lifted his head so he could see over Hiei's belly and met his lovers eyes for a moment before Hiei

clenched them shut again as another contraction took him. He almost screamed for Hiei at the pain and

panic he saw in them.

"Yukina, I don't see anything and Hiei says they're stuck."

"I'm on my way, Kurama. Ten minutes, at the most. Tell him that. Hold on."

The line went dead. Hold on. Don't panic.

"Hiei, Yukina will be here in a few minutes. Hold on, it will be all right."

Something deliciously cool and wet touched Hiei's face, moistened his parched lips. Kurama. His Fox had

come back. He wished he had the breath to tell him he was glad but he was trapped in a pain-filled cycle

that didn't give him a chance to do anything but try to keep breathing. The babies wanted out and he

couldn't do it, no matter how hard he pushed. They were stuck and if they didn't get out soon, they

were all going to die. Kurama's fingers closed around his own and gave him something to cling to as his

body made him try one more time. Kurama kept telling him over and over that Yukina was on the way,

that she would be here any second, that it was going to be all right.

He realized that his lover was babbling like an idiot but didn't mind. He promised the babies that help

was coming, just a few more minutes and they would be free, then set himself to endure just a little

while longer. He could hold on just a little while longer. Yukina was coming. She would fix it.

* * *

"Kurama?" Yukina called into the darkened apartment.

"Yukina!!!" Kurama's muffled voice almost wailed back from the bedroom and she ran, leaving Shizuru

to take the key out of the lock and close the door.

Kurama's expression was wild with concern and fear as she reached out and put her hand on her twins

rock hard stomach before she was even all the way in the nest. She winced as his exhaustion

communicated itself to her through the link she established and he whimpered as a hard contraction

rippled under her hand. She 'looked' and saw the problem. One of the babies was laying sideways across

the birth passage.

"Kurama, get behind him and let him lean against you. Hiei, I'm going to have to move the babies," she

told her brother as Kurama moved into position. "It's going to hurt, but then we'll get them right out,

O.K.? Hold him still, Kurama."

Kurama nodded as she put both her hands on Hiei's belly, one over each twin, then she closed her eyes

and concentrated.

Kurama moaned in sympathy and tightened his arms around Hiei's ribcage when Hiei screamed for the

first time and writhed against him as his belly rippled and bulged under Yukina's hands. He could see the

kits shift as they followed under the guiding glow of her palms.

"Hiei, push now. Hard!"

He felt Hiei's tremble against him as his muscles shuddered with exertion and exhaustion as he strained

in his arms with the next contraction.

"Good! One's coming now! Push hard, Hiei!"

Kurama pressed his cheek against Hiei's and wished there was something he could do to help. Hiei made

a little sound between a sob and a gasp as Yukina continued to coax and scold and Kurama felt Hiei's

hands close around his wrists and guide his hands to the sides of his belly.

"Help," Hiei whispered, sounding desperate as his hands pressed against Kurama's and made them

follow the next contraction as it worked its way down.

"Hard!" Hiei instructed with a grunt as his hands pressed against Kurama's again as another contraction

came right on the heels of the last one.

Kurama did and prayed to the Gods he wasn't hurting Hiei or the kits as he did as Hiei asked.

"Good! One or two more like that and this baby will be born! Just a few more, Hiei!" Yukina encouraged.

It took three. Hiei pressed back hard against him on the last one with a growling hiss, then Yukina

crowed.

"He's out! Half way there, Hiei!"

Kurama heard an angry squall and glanced up to see a towel wrapped bundle get passed into Shizuru's

waiting hands and withdrawn through the entrance. He felt the other kit shift into position under his

palms and made himself focus totally on the rhythm of Hiei's contractions. It took another seventeen to

get the other kit out. Kurama counted each endless one in a whisper. Toward the end, Hiei was limp

against him, at the end of his strength and he and Yukina basically pushed and pulled the last kit out by

force.

He had a shiver of anxiety as the towel wrapped kit was passed silent and still into Shizuru's waiting

hands. Yukina gave him a reassuring smile and followed Shizuru out, taking the soiled bedding with her.

He held Hiei gently against his chest and stroked his neck and shoulder with one hand, waiting for that

new cry. Why didn't the kit cry? Hiei gave a huge sigh as his eyes fluttered open. Kurama schooled his

fear out of his face as Hiei focused on him and scowled.

"I'm not ever going to do that again. Where are the babies? Are they all right?" he demanded in a soft,

tired voice.

"They're fine, brother."

They both looked to Yukina who was crawling back in. Once in, she turned and reached back out, then

placed a blanket wrapped baby into Hiei's arms.

"Your son!" she smiled and giggled a little at her brother’s awkward unease and showed him how to

settle it into the crook of his arm. Hiei glanced up at Kurama, then focused on the baby, moving the

blanket away from its face with a slight tremble in his hand.

Kurama watched from over his shoulder as a beautiful little face was exposed, green eyes staring evenly

back up at his parents.

"Figures," Hiei grumbled as he brushed the cap of red hair that crowned the infants head, then one

finger traced the jagged white starburst streak that ran through it with a feather light caress. "At least he

inherited something from me."

Hiei unwrapped the blanket and proceeded to begin to examine every bit of his son. Kurama rested his

chin on his lovers head and smiled, pleased that Hiei was so fascinated by his baby, but still couldn't

enjoy watching his lover as he listening for that unheard cry. Surely the girl was all right. Yukina would

have said something if she wasn't. Hiei was just starting to marvel at the babies perfect, tiny fingers

when Shizuru called for Yukina softly.

Yukina blocked the entrance for a moment, then turned back with another blanket wrapped baby and

Kurama felt a huge weight lift off his chest as she offered it to him. He shook his head 'no'. He wasn't

ready yet.

"I'm sure Hiei will want to hold her first."

Yukina saw Hiei look up at Kurama out of the corner of his eye with a little frown.

"Take her. I've got my arms full at the moment," he commanded.

He and Kurama had never gotten a chance to talk about what happened to his other children yet, but

Hiei knew it had been bad. He also knew that his lover was terrified of becoming attached to these

babies, was afraid that they would die on him to. He cuddled their son against his chest and slid his tired

and sore body over onto a pile of pillows as he gestured at Yukina with his head to give Kurama the

baby.

"No...I..." Kurama tried to back away but had nowhere to go in the small space and suddenly had a baby

cradled between his hands.

He closed his eyes, unwilling to look at her. He would hold her for a just a second, then give her back to

Yukina. She was so small and light that he almost opened his eyes to see if there was anything in the

blanket.

"Here," he started to offer her back to Yukina, "I've held..." a soft, rhythmic trill drifted up from the

blanket and he glanced down, startled.

Another pair of huge green eyes blinked back at him out of a tiny, porcelain white copy of Hiei's face. He

stared, instantly entranced. Unlike Hiei, there was none of the anger and mistrust in her face or the

loving eyes that studied him back. He realized that she was...purring! He moved the blanket that

covered her head away and shook his head in wonder. His daughter was an exact negative image of Hiei.

He eyed the jagged black stripe in her white hair as he put his head down close to her own so he could

nuzzle her chest and memorize her scent. She trilled a little louder and one tiny hand escaped the

blanket to rest on his face. He looked up at Hiei, tears stinging in his eyes.

"She's beautiful, Hiei."

"Of course she's beautiful," Hiei answered with a smirk. "What else...HEY?!"

Kurama had unbuttoned his shirt earlier so he could put some cool washcloths on his chest while he was

struggling with the babies. One side had fallen far enough open when he had moved for his son to

nuzzle it aside while he had been watching Kurama fall in love with their daughter. He glared down at his

son, who had latched onto the nipple he had found and was happily sucking away.

Both Kurama and Yukina laughed as Hiei blinked and frowned at the baby at his breast.

"Hiei, you should let them nurse at least once, since you've still got the equipment," Yukina advised

around her giggles.

Hiei glowered at her out of the corner of his eye but shrugged and grumbled, 'Fine."

He had no idea how to get the little demon to let go without hurting him, anyway. He shifted his focus

back and forth between their son and their daughter, watching with a critical eye as Kurama examined

the girl, kissing her little fingers and the bottoms of her feet after he had counted all her toes. He

wanted to hold her desperately, but knew he could wait for just a little bit. With one, last, noisy gulp

their son let go and fell instantly asleep, his little belly round and full. Hiei couldn't help but smile a little

at the contentment on the baby's face, but quickly hid it before the others could see.

"Here," Hiei held out their son toward Kurama. "Take Kithi and give me that one and let me get this over

with."

Kurama raised his eyebrows. "Kithi?"

Hiei nodded back with a little challenging gleam in his eye. Kurama shrugged and grinned. Kithi. Not bad.

He liked it. And he knew that Hiei was giving him a chance to name their daughter. He knew what her

name was as soon as he had looked at her.

"Time to see your other father from the outside, Sekka," he cooed down at her as he let Hiei settle Kithi

into the crook of his arm, then passed Sekka over.

Hiei looked down at his other baby and nodded. It was a perfect name.

"Sekka," he greeted her with a kiss on her forehead.

Yukina smiled softly as she left the couple to the joys of their newborns, on her way to make some

phone calls.