The Trials and Tribulations of Parenthood

Parenthood Chapter 6

The Trials and Tribulations of Parenthood

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. They are owned by their respective authors. I only claim ownership of the plot.

Authors Note: I have made use of a type of demon that was not found in the series but was mentioned in the story “Broken Promises, Shattered Dreams” written by BrokenRyu. Thank you very much to these two lovely ladies for giving me permission to use their Vorseth. I will try to do your creation justice in this story.

Chapter 6

Both vorseths let loose a scream of rage at seeing their young one disemboweled before their very eyes. As one they advanced on Hiei, intending to tear him apart between them.

‘Fox, I could use some help here.’

A rose whip appeared in Kurama’s hand as the nearby trees swayed in obedience to his unspoken desires. One of them lashed out with a branch and knocked the male hard in the chest while the rose whip snaked around his legs. The whip jerked tight and the large male toppled over stunned. A series of bursts from the spirit gun and the female went over, almost falling on top of Yusuke as she did so. Yusuke jumped out of the way at the last minute and ended up on top of the fallen youngster.

Hiei drove his katana through the heart of the stunned male, watching the blood spurt out in an oddly detached way.

The remaining youngster looked at it’s fallen parents and an odd gurgling sound came from it’s throat. The gurgling sound turned into a keening cry when it sniffed it’s parents and seemed to realize they were dead. Then it turned and started shuffling off deeper into the Makai.

“Let it go.” Her voice came out as an exhausted croak when Hiei took a step to go after it. “It’ll live or die on it’s own now.”

All three of the men knelt beside the exhausted miko where she was slumped on the ground. She made an effort to rise but her knees buckled under her, refusing to support her weight. She looked at Hiei. “I guess I could use some help.”

Kurama spoke quietly. “We need to get out of here. All this blood is gonna attract some very nasty things soon and I’d just as soon not be here.”

Hiei gathered Kagome into his arms and raced for the border with Kurama keeping pace beside him. Yusuke brought up the rear, acting as tail guard in the event that something tried to follow them.

They all breathed a sigh of relief once they crossed the border. Hiei made for the apartment, Kagome still in his arms while Kurama left to go to Yukina and Yusuke called in their report to Koenma.

Once he had her safely in the apartment and lying on the bed Hiei finally took the time to look over Kagome’s wounds. None of them were life threatening and so he felt safe gathering some towels and was clothes to clean them for her.

She finally felt safe enough to allow herself the luxury to cry. Her sobs were quiet at first, not even noticable except for the shaking of her thin shoulders. Hiei embraced her awkwardly, not entirely sure what to do with a sobbing pregnant female. Since they had met he’d never once known her to cry. ‘Shit, I need help with this one.’

‘Kurama?’

‘Hiei?’

‘What am I supposed to do with a crying female? Maybe you should bring Yukina over?’

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Then ‘what she needs right now Hiei is you. Not me or Yukina. She needs to know that you love her and you’ll keep her safe. And she needs to know that it’s ok to cry Yukina says.’

Hiei sighed and tightened his arms around her. ‘I’m no good at this comforting shit.’ Somewhere in the back of his mind an idea began to take shape. He didn’t know if it was some long ago memory or something he’d seen somewhere but he slowly started rocking back and forth and humming tunelessly under his breath. Apparently it was the right thing to do because Kagome slowly stopped crying and even relaxed enough to fall into a light sleep.

‘Hn, I’ll have to remember this.’

He watched over her sleeping for several hours, amazing himself at how comfortable this new activity was. And he never even remembered falling asleep, though his arms stayed wrapped tightly around her, unwilling to give up the comfort it brought.

Kagome stirred, opening her eyes slowly, reluctant to leave the warmth and comfort of his arms. ‘I guess he must really care a little to have been so fast to rescue me from those vorseths. But darn it, I still wish he could be happy about this pregnancy. They’re still his children too, even if we didn’t plan on this happening.’

Moving quietly she disentangled herself from his arms and went to stand by the window, looking out into the graying dawn. ‘Maybe he’s just being like all new fathers. Nervous.’ The image of Hiei changing diapers and burping babies suddenly appeared in her mind causing her to let out a small giggle. ‘Although I can’t imagine him being very happy when the babies urp up on him. Or being peed on if the babies are little boys. If he even hangs around that is.’

She turned around almost bumped into him standing behind her. “I wish you wouldn’t be so quiet coming up behind me like that.”

“You didn’t think you could get up and leave without me noticing did you?”

“I guess I’ve just got a lot on my mind. I need to know what you plan on doing Hiei. Will I be raising these babies on my own? Will you help support them? And I guess one of us needs to find a new place to live.”

“Is one of us moving?” He chose to ignore the questions and answer only the last statement for the moment.

“Does that mean that you’re staying to help me raise the babies?

“I’m not in the habit of giving up what's mine Kagome. And those babies are that. I’ve never been a father before so don’t be expecting miracles, but I will be here.”

She silently sucked on her lower lip. It was more then she’d had but it wasn’t enough, he had to stay because he wanted her also. She looked up at him and he could see the question in her eyes.

“Hn. And yes I also am asking you if you will accept me as your mate.”

Her eyes went wide and she felt her knees starting to buckle. Hiei took her in his arms and led her over to a chair, looking over her in concern. “What?”

She laughed weakly. “That has probably got to be the weakest excuse of a proposal I’ve ever heard.”

“Hn.”

“Of course I’ll take you as my mate silly. I just thought you’d never get around to asking me, that you didn’t want me anymore.”

Hiei growled softly in the back of his throat. “Let me show you how much I want you woman.”

H picked her up, intending to carry her back to bed, but stopped when she visibly flinched and tears welled up in her eyes.

“I guess I’m still awfully cut up.”

“Hn, that won’t stop me from making you mine.” He started nuzzling down the length of her neck and gently lowered her to their couch. Shivers of anticipation ran through her body with his ministrations and she never noticed when he bit down on the side of her neck.

She turned her head and looked at the slight trickle of blood running down the corner of his mouth in fascination. He cupped her chin in his hands and brought her shining eyes up to meet his own. “You need to return the favor and finish the bond.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kurama opened the door to find Yukina sitting on the couch waiting for his return. Her eyes took in his torn clothes and the way he was covered with blood and dirt. “Is she dead?”

“No.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, grimacing when he pulled out tangles of matted blood and gore. “No, she isn’t dead. Just very scared and cut up in several places. But she’ll heal soon enough. Hiei is with her now.”

“Is that such a good idea? It was his reaction that had her running off in the first place. Kurama, he’s my brother and I love them both but she can’t just keep hurting like this.” Yukina had tears starting to well up in her eyes again and Youko started swearing in the back of Kurama’s mind ‘Someone needs grab him by his feet and bang his head into the ground until some sense breaks through.

Kurama sighed. ‘I know Youko’ in complete agreement with his other side for once. ‘But it isn’t our place.’ He gathered Yukina in his arms and sighed again. “She will be fine Yukina, after all that has happened I doubt Hiei will be making the same mistake again.”

‘And if he does, I have some special seeds to plant in that dirt clod he calls a brain.’

“I need to go take a shower love, and get all this ick off of me. After that we’ll go out to dinner and a movie. Tomorrow I’m positive that you’ll get to visit with Kagome and you’ll be able to see for yourself that she will be fine.”

“Ok, but next time you talk to Hiei please tell him that he needs to let her cry if she wants to. He doesn’t seem the type to really let her.”

“I promise I’ll tell him that.”

After a shower Kurama was feeling much more back to being himself and even Youko was pacified at the moment, now that the smell of the vorseths was off of him. ‘That steak is sounding better and better.’

Yukina was waiting for him when he walked back into the living room. She was absolutely beautiful in her new white dress and Kurama let out a low whistle of admiration. “If I hadn’t already promised you a dinner and a movie I’d be dragging you off into the bedroom about now.”

She smiled and if it didn’t quite reach her eyes, well, it did chase some of the shadows away and help lift the air of melancholy that had been surrounding her.

“Would it make you feel better if we went shopping for baby stuff instead? Or ramen and garlic flavored squid covered in ice cream perhaps? I’ve heard breeding females like eating strange things”

She swatted him and grinned. “You just wait! I’ll show you strange and I’ll make sure you eat some of it too just to keep me company!”

‘You will take full responsibility Kurama, if she dares try to make us eat something like that.’

‘She wouldn’t actually do something like that Youko.’

‘Keep hoping. If she does I’ll make you wear baby diapers in front of Koenma.’

‘You wouldn’t!’

‘And Hiei. And Yusuke and Kuwabara too.’

“Hm, maybe that combination isn’t such a good idea. How about I bring you a dozen red roses instead.” Kurama kept a hopeful look on his face as he smiled down at her.

She laughed softly. “I’ll settle for the steak dinner and the movie for tonight. The roses can come later.”

‘You lucked out this time.’

‘Shut up Youko.’

“Lead the way.”

The restaurant wasn’t crowded and a candlelit table in the back was where the waiter led them. Once they were seated and their order was taken Yukina leaned over. “Would you like to hear the rest of the news about the babies?”

“Babies? As in more then one?”

She giggled at the shocked look on his face. This was so much fun. “Of course there is more then one. Ice demons always have twins.”

“I forgot. Does that mean anytime you get pregnant it will be twins for sure?”

“Unless something happened and it ended up being triplets, yes.”

Kurama could feel his face turning interesting colors and finally settling on something close to pale white while Youko snickered in his mind.

‘Better either figure on having a very large family or becoming very well acquainted with those talented fingers of ours.’

Thank you to all of you who have continued to review for me, it means a lot. And gives me the motivation to continue writing this. Ah, reviews are wonderful things, so please continue to let me know what you think.