Word Count: 7708

Release Date: May 3rd, 2016

I own nothing, but Sayomi and the baby.

Hiei was strange when he came to her to feed her child.

The fire demon simply showed up that morning at breakfast. It had been a shock to see him walk through the door and sit rather unceremoniously, but Yukina had simply made another place for him at the table, even if she did send him a half hearted glare. Genkai had raised an eyebrow, but they all agreed to keep their questions to their selves.

"Hiei it is nice to see you," Yukina smiled at him, placing his plate in front of him. The ice maiden seemed to wish to play nice that day.

"Hn," studying his sister's aura, he noticed it was healthy, not bothered unlike before. No one had fed on her after the last time, the bags under her eyes had disappeared completely, her body seemed strong again. Her long minty hair was tied back in a high pony tail that reminded him of the grim reaper, Botan, only reminding him he had to make this visit short.

Genkai seemed healthy as always, forever old, but still Genkai.

The woman stared at him from across the table, her big eyes watching him. There was something different about her from before, but he ignored it. His mind mulled over the looks she gave him, they were curious, almost shy, but still curious; he guessed she was not angry at him for his words. Her long hair was unbound, falling over her shoulders in waves, her baby belly did not seem any bigger than before.

The child within her reached out easily, starving for his energy. The bags under the woman's eyes did not escape him and guilt pricked at him just a little. Pushing it away, he ate at his food carefully. He needed to build up his strength, he would be on grim reaper duty as Yusuke called it for a week.

They were going in week on and week off schedules. Hiei was almost thankful he started the week he had to fed the child, taking a detour to Genkai's was easy and then on his way back he could head home to Demon World. When it was his week to return to grim reaper duty he could once again come by the temple to offer up his energy. No suspicions would be raised. It was nearly perfect.

Somehow his lies only seemed to benefit from this situation.

"How long are you going to be staying?," Genkai sipped on her tea, watching the fire demon. The old woman wondered why he seemed so anxiously.

"Long enough," he paused, "I have business to attend to," he finished his plate, but before he could get up, Sayomi had pushed her nearly full plate across to him.

"I'll get a new one, you look like you need it," she smiled at him, before moving to collect his plate. He watched her for a moment, before focusing back on his rice and eggs. It was strange how willing she was to feed him, but he chose to ignore it.

Sayomi layered up in her warm coat, feeling that the early December air was too cold, but it was probably one of the last few times she would be able to be out before the snow came the following week and she wished to see the grass and think of summer one more time.

Once again it was the weekend, but Kuwabara had chosen to stay at home. He called on Thursday and delivered the news, Yukina's face had told her, before the words ever did; but the human had some kind of final he had to study for. There was no other choice. Kurama was unable to join them as well, something to do with work for his step-father and some kind of mission; not many details were given and Genkai had grumbled about being old and no one telling her anything.

It did not bother her to spend the weekend with just Yukina and Genkai, but it felt strange not to have the two young men join them for the weekend and she found that she missed the two of them very much.

Her thoughts traced over to the day she had seen the vision involving the tunnel and her mind went over who exactly could be the voice for a while before she decided it must have been Hiei's. It was odd, her visions were usually looking in at a scene, not her actually doing things in the vision. Both this vision was strange, her thoughts roamed over it carefully, remembering the smell of the fire, and the crunch of the bones, it was obvious that she was not pregnant, she could not run that way while pregnant. The warm hand had obviously been from Hiei, but it still bothered her that she could never see him to confirm her suspicions.

It scared her that she did not know who the boy was, and kept telling herself that it was not her child. That it could not be him. He would be safe. But doubts plagued her and once again she found herself searching the future for visions that would just not come. They showed her nothing of him, but she found that Yukina popped up in her future often, as did Yusuke, the young King of Tourin.

It worried her beyond belief.

"Woman," Hiei's voice cut through her, startling her more than the winter's wind. The fire demon stood off to the side, near one of the Buddhist statues. He wore his usual black clock, his hands deep in his pockets. No other words came from his mouth as he stared at her, but she did notice the icy winter wind turn warm as it blew through her, the goosebumps retreating across her skin.

"Thank you," she smiled a little, pushing hair from her face. Her hood had fallen down when Hiei had startled her, and she pulled it back over her head, trying to keep some of the wind, even though it was warmer now, from her face. The fur of her hood tickled her cheeks a little. She watched him for a moment, appreciating his male body, before shaking herself of the lustful thoughts. A large part of her felt guilty for looking on another's man in such a way, even if they had already crossed so many lines.

"And you're welcome for breakfast," if any other person would have said that, the fire demon would have believed they were being sarcastic, but in her face he found no malice, no ill will. Sayomi knew that heating up the wind around her was her thank you for giving him the rest of her breakfast.

"Hn," stepping close to her, he could smell her just a bit. The smoky smell he had noticed before only seemed stronger, drowning out her own natural smell. It seemed the longer she was pregnant, the more her own smell would diminish to be replaced by their child's. Eyeing her, he noticed that at least she had the sense to dress for the weather in a thick winter coat and some kind of brown boots.

She was honorable and sensible.

Without saying anything else she reached her hands out, pulling the silver gloves from her hands and stuffing them in her pockets, palms towards the sky in question. A smile lite up her face, a shiver going through her. She did not make any other moves, allowing him to make the decision on his own terms.

Sayomi's master was prideful, she knew what it meant to allow the master to be the one to make the decision even if she already knew the decision they would make before they did. She would allow Hiei to choose to touch her, choose to give her the energy, not force her way through his defenses. It made things worse the last time, she had cried after he had growled at her, something she found rather easy to do now due to her overflow of hormones.

Hiei stared at her hands for a moment, before sighing and placing his on in her's. When she made no move to move his hands towards her stomach, he sighed in relief, staring into her eyes. He appreciated that she was not going to push him to do anything, to allow him to contribute on his own terms.

"I won't bite I promise," she grinned at him a little, her fingers staying still as a statue beneath his tan ones.

"Obviously," he snorted, and without much thought Hiei warmed his hands further to warm her own, noticing they were cold, before gathering energy in his hands and channeling it into her body through their intertwined hands.

The only response this time between their bodies was Sayomi's gasp. The air around them grew heated for a few moments, causing Sayomi to sweat just a little from the heat under her thick coat. Much like last time the child between them pulled both of their energies around itself like a coil.

For a few moments the two of them stood there, their hands being the only physical touch between them. Hiei noticed in those few minutes that Sayomi's eyes closed, her face falling into a serene mask, a small but still there smile gracing her lips.

Sayomi for her part enjoyed the feeling, her body feeling stronger than it had in days. Once a week had passed she had begun to feel weak, not on fire like before, but weaker. She tired going to bed earlier, but it did not help. The child within her demanded energy and she had to force herself to stick to her agreement with Hiei not to take Yukina's energy more than once.

When Hiei felt the child was finished, he stopped pulling his energy, merely played with it in a way, almost as if he was familiarizing himself with it, he cut the invisible cord between them. Gently, as not to make her cry again, he pulled his hands away from the woman, stuffing them back in his pockets.

"Thank you," she smiled a him, taking her gloves gently from her pockets and putting them on, first the left one and then the right.

"It is nothing," he watched her, noticing her breath was noticeable in the air.

"Be careful with whatever business you have, it's supposed to snow this week," she smiled at him, rubbing her palms together.

"Hn," he heated the air around her again, careful not over do it. It made sense, the air tasted damp to him.

"Goodbye Hiei," quickly, Sayomi turned on her heel towards the temple, feeling rather light as she went. There was a happiness in her steps, a strange feeling of hope residing in her chest, that maybe just maybe this odd arrangement could work out.

Hiei watched her go, her steps barely made any noise as she walked. When she reached the top of the temple stairs, she looked back just for a moment, her silver eyes catching his, he caught the smile of her lips. She raised a hand in goodbye.

He nodded goodbye to her, before leaving a speck of black in his wake.

It in fact did snow three days later.

Genkai complained about the ache in her bones all day, shocking the two women with her nastiness. It seemed that even the strong willed Genkai had her moments of weakness. Yukina soothed the pain with her healing powers, before throwing another log on a fire in one of the main rooms.

"I am so glad Kazuma chopped all that wood up in the Summer," Yukina smiled. The three had agreed to spend the day and if the storm continued the night together in one of the rooms with a fireplace. Genkai did not wish to use all of the heating oil up to heat the temple with the three of them could use the logs.

"Agreed," the old woman grumbled, sipping on her tea, while her free hand rubbed her knee absentmindedly.

"Does it snow like this all the time where you come from Yukina?," Sayomi asked, pulling her blanket around her tighter.

"It is much colder on the floating island where I originate from," red eyes glazed over for a moment, "even our flowers are frozen, but they grow regardless."

"Demon World is a mysterious place," Genkai spoke, standing up straight to crack her bones.

"Yes, yes it is," quickly the ice maiden made more tea, before pulling a deck of cards from one of her long sleeves. "Would anyone like to play cards while we wait for the storm to die down?," her smiles all innocent.

"Only if Genkai plays," Sayomi had quickly discovered that since there was not much to do in the temple during the winter that the ice maiden often played solitaire to entertain herself and whenever she could she would try to rope someone into playing with her. Genkai had the only TV in her room and often watched sports or the news on it; it was old much like the psychic herself and no one else was allowed to use it.

"I guess I will join you," the old woman surprised the two of them, both looking at her in shock. Genkai never offered to join them, sometimes she watched and sipped her tea, making smart remarks, but she never played with them.

"Wonderful!," it did not take long before Yukina was dealing the three of them cards, the group deciding to play rummy.

"I do not know how to play," the seer grumbled a little, her son sensing her aggravation. His aura rose a little, curious, "do not worry little one, nothing interesting is happening," placing her hand on her stomach to comfort him.

"It's an American game," the old physic instructed as she pushed her faded pink hair over her shoulder, "We each get seven cards, the goal is to earn points by creating a set of the same, like three fours, or a sequence of cards in the same suit like a seven, eight, and nine of clubs. Each turn you pick up a card at the beginning of your turn and at the end of you turn you have to discard one card. You are able to add a card to a set or sequence. The goal is to earn the most points per round and go out with no cards before anyone else. Each card you place down is worth a certain amount of points and whatever cards you still possess in your hand will be taken point wise from your total. Easy enough?." the old lady grinned at her.

It was the most she had ever heard Genkai say at one time.

"Do not worry, one of us will go first to show you," smiling softly, Yukina giggled at Sayomi's bewildered expression, "We'll be fair and go easy on you," she was teasing her.

"Speak for yourself, I play for keeps," huffing the old woman laughed before shuffling the cards.

"Sometimes Genkai gets a little competitive," leaning over, one hand covering her lips, Yukina whispered to the seer.

"I can hear you," she announced, rather smugly, "and I just believe in winning."

"I think we should team up," Sayomi smiled, shaking her head at the old woman's antics. Leaning over towards her friend, she bumper her shoulder rather playfully.

"There's no teams in rummy, every woman for themselves," she once again announced, seeming rather smug about something.

"So how good is Genkai at rummy?," another shoulder bump.

Yukina seemed to think on it for a moment, tilting her head to the side, "She usually wins unless Kurama is playing with us, but even then he usually can only give her a run for her money, she seems to always come out with the most points."

"We gonna play or you two gonna talk about how good I am all day?," the old lady seemed to be rather happy today, despite her pain. Cracking her knuckles the old woman shuffled the cards again, before handing them to the pregnant woman, "Deal so that we have two turns to show you how it's done ad then you're on your own."

And true to her word Genkai did play for keeps.

Hiei found watching over Grim Reapers boring.

It was the same thing hour after hour, day after day. At the beginning of each day, he would be told where they would mostly be going, and he would stand a top a building where no humans would notice him. Then he would open the Jagan and spread his energy far and wide, picking up the signals from the grim reapers, each one carried a special device that amplified their energy so he could pick it up easier from greater distances.

It was incredibly boring.

It gave him too much time to brood over his situation.

Which in turn made him even more irritable about the whole situation; he much rather be in Demon World with his mate to be.

They had not spoken since he had came to Human World, her anger still in the air. She was not very pleased with him for keeping secrets, but as the few days had gone by, she had come around, asking him questions about the ceremony that was to be held in their mating's honor.

It still reminded him of a human wedding, which did not please him, but he figured if it made Mukuro happy then he could live with it. The guilt ate at his insides these days like stomach cancer, and the desire to please her to cure some of the guilt away was strong. He found in the few days he spent in Demon World before he left for this silly mission were spent kissing ass.

He tried to be nicer with his opinion about the whole situation, even helping her pick guests for the celebration. It was not something he enjoyed and the whole thing felt fake to him, but he choose to keep his opinions to himself for Mukuro's sake. Their relationship in the last few months had taken a delicate turn.

Some parts of it were to blame on himself, he knew he had withdrawn from her in some ways, his guilt forming a wall between them. He no longer allowed her to read his mind as freely as he once had, though that had always bothered him just a bit, but had allowed it for her. Their argument about affection only made the wall between them grow in height and bulk. Some days Hiei wondered if they could return to the way they were before or would they always be this way. Always have this secret between them, the secret that he had caused.

But he knew their relationship as it was, was better than the alternative.

If Mukuro ever knew about Sayomi and the child then she would leave, never to return. All of his hard work to form a place for himself in Demon World would be lost, she would cast him out from everything, and while he did not value status as much as strength, it was nice to have a home, someplace safe to sleep when traveling grew weary.

In a way if his mate to be left, he would lose everything.

Hiei would just be another demon among demons.

Kuwabara showed up the day after the snow ended rather incredibly.

Sayomi had heard talk of a human's ability to create holes in dimensions, to be able to as humans would call it to 'teleport', but she had thought they were only rumors made up by members of Spirit World to scare Demons with the power of Humans. She had never actually believed that anyone had the ability to cut through dimensions or to slice through barriers, not even King Enma had been able to accomplish that.

It was all a shock to them all in truth when suddenly the air around them literally shifted, the fire even flickering for a moment, so brief that they would have never noticed if they were not already sitting in silence.

Sayomi had been sitting closest to the fire, Genkai sipping on her tea in front of her. Yukina sat closest to the door, the sheen of sweat glistening on her face. The room was becoming too warm for her, but since the storm had hit, the other two women had not taken the cold well. The power had gone out and the light of the fire at night was all they could see by.

"What was that?," Sayomi asked, her head popping up. Silver eyes took in the room, feeling as if soemthing had shifted, but nothing had. The room remained the same.

"I do not," Genkai spoke harshly, a worried look crossing her features quickly, before fading away. With a widening of her eyes her energy flushed out from her, pushing over the other women -Sayomi felt the energy engulf her like a great wave- and out over the grounds quickly, before snapping back quickly.

"Who is it Genkai?," Yukina asked, her body stiff. Her cherry eyes flickered around the room, her back straight at the door.

"You should know, he's your lover," barking out a laugh, Genkai visibily relaxed, her arms dropping back into her lap. She leaned more towards the fire, a small smirk taking over her face.

"Kuwabara is here?," The pregnant woman asked quickly, fanning out her own energy qucikly, doing so may have weakened her, but she wanted to feel it for her own self. There was no way the human could have gotten there in the storm. Trains were delayed and the radio had advised people to stay off the roads, no one would bring him all this way, and there was no way he walked all the way to the temple. It was impossible.

Sure enough, the human's golden energy flashed brightly from somewhere outside, the barely there fife force of the fish let her know he was only a few feet from her favorite koi pond.

"I'll go and greet him," Yukina smiled, a small blush across her face. Quickly before anyone could respond, she was already sliding the door open, escaping out into the cold hallway in a mad dash. The door slide shut behind her before anyone could protest.

"But how-" Sayomi wondered aloud, her thoughts a mess. Her mind mulled over the possibilities, unable to find any that made sense.

"Kuwabara is special." Genkai said after a moment, her pink-brown eyes staring into the fire, "His main attack is using his energy to form a sword made of Spirit Energy that he can bend to his will," she paused for a moment, sipping from her ever present tea cup, "but he had another ability, hes able to use his spirit world and sometimes," she laughed a little, "if he knows exactly where hes going, he's able to use the sword to form a doorway of sorts to that place."

"So it's like teleportion?," she asked after a moment, her voice curious, full of wonder. In all her centuries of being alive she had never met a Human with so much potential as Kuwabara, in all honesty she was surprised that Spirit World had not recruited him.

"In a way yes, he can also use his 'dimensional sword'," the old woman huffed, forming quotation marks, "to cut through barriers. It's quite impressive, when he practices and does not do things on a whim," she grumbled.

"What do you mean?," the seer guessed their was a story behind the old woman's words, a small curious smile forming across her face. Kuwabara had strange luck, she had realized, things never went his way in the way he wanted.

"Let's just say once, Kuwabara ended up halfway through a wall," the old lady smirked even bigger, her eyes dancing in mirth. Sayomi giggled a little at the image, the child within her rising his energy at her body movements. It was as if he wished to know what was going on as well.

"What are you guys laughing about?," the subject of their conversation asked as he slide the door open, tall body covered in snow. He was obviously dressed for the weather, a thick blue hat covered his ears, while the rest of his tall broad body was covered by layers of thick coats and pants. While he stood there he removed to pairs of gloves from his fingers before moving to remove his winter boots. When he dropped the boots to the floor, they landed with a heavy thunk.

"Genkai was telling me about your abilities," she paused, smiling largely at him, "How did it feel to be in a wall?," his face expression, one of disbelief and embarrassment, only made her mirth multiple, the giggles falling from her lips easily.

"That was a one time thing! I've gotten much better since then!," he exclaimed, shooting the old woman a dirty look, one hand rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Behind him Yukina was laughing as well, her body shaking with mirth. Her body was flushed by the cold, but Sayomi found it suit her, almost as if the weather invigorated the ice maiden.

Genkai just snorted.

It was nearing the end of his first week of duty watching over the grim reapers and Hiei could not be happier about it.

The week had been boring, pointless. The snow had been an annoying addition to his list of the things that made this assignment hell. It was not as if the cold bothered him, but more so that he did not enjoy the snow.

It reminded him too much of where he was born, which in turn only caused his mood to plummet.

Only a few more hours remained until he could switch off the job to the next guard, he believed it to be Yusuke, but he was not sure. Nothing of entertainment had occurred while he was on guard duty, unless you counted a soul that had been a little rude to the grim reaper charged with taking it to Spirit World, otherwise it had been quiet and attack free.

The fire demon almost wished someone would have attacked one of the grim reapers under his charge. At least he could have had some kind of excitement, but it did not happen, and he was bored. His days had passed slow, his mind on overdrive.

Always thinking of Mukuro, her body around his own.

Always thinking of the woman ad the unborn child that resided within her.

It had not been a good week for him.

"Yo! Hiei, man, how's the week been?," he was right after all, he thought, watching Yusuke approach him, one hand raised in hello. Yusuke only wore a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a red and green jacket, one hand shoved deep in his pocket. The hair jell that he was so fond of was missing, his hair blowing softly in the breeze.

"Detective," nodding at the former human, he wondered if Yusuke would be cold in his outfit, but chose to mind his business. If Yusuke wanted to freeze to death out here that was his business, not his own.

"Howa doin'?," grinning from ear to ear the former human clapped him on the back, before once again shoving his hands in his pocket.

"Boring, this is child's play," Hiei grumbled, rolling his eyes in disgust that he, Hiei, second in command to Mukuro, was babysitting the grim reapers of Spirit World. It was beneath him.

"Yeah I can imagine," the former human rubbed the back of his head, staring out at the buildings around them. Hiei had mostly stayed atop one rooftop, creating a little shelter. He much preferred trees, but Spirit World had conveyed that the building was the center of the area he was to patrol. Yusuke would be staying here as well.

They stood in silence for a while, Yusuke wandering around the rooftop for a while, eyeing the tent and cot with distaste. They were the only two who would be patrolling this area so they would be the only ones using the cot and tent. The former human grumbled that Spirit World was too cheap to get them a proper room.

"I'm supposed to be moving in with Kieko soon," the words tumbled out of Yusuke's mouth quickly and without warning. The former human had his back to the fire demon, his body standing proud, Hiei sensed that the human was proud of this. Proud that after all this time, he would finally be moving in with the woman he had been protecting for most of his life.

"Hn," grunting Hiei moved to stand beside the Tourin, "Mukuro and I are to be mated soon."

"Yeah, I got an invitation," snickering just a little, the former human clapped the fire demon on the back, "I'm glad to know you still want me there, buddy," he grinned all the while.

"You are an influential member of Demon World politics, of course you would be invited," he grumbled after a moment, half glaring at his friend from the corner of his cherry eyes.

"That may be true, but Kieko's name was on the invitation too," laughing Yusuke looked out at the sky, his hands shoved deep in his jeans pockets, "Who gave you her last name? Kurama?."

"...the fox," he admitted after a while. Truth be told, the fire demon had convinced Mukuro to allow Kurama to be in charge of sending out the invitations. The fox would be sure to invite everyone and would know exactly where to send everything better than anyone else.

After all these years, Kurama still knew more secrets than anyone.

"Well thanks for inviting us," smiling softly, the demon lord seemed content in that moment. Hiei watched him for a few moments, noticing that Yusuke looked more at peace than he had in years, despite the new developments unfolding in his life.

"Hn," nodding the fire demon turned back to the sunset. The snow that had fallen was beginning to melt now, puddles would litter the streets soon. It had been a quieter week because of the snow fall, Yusuke would have his hands fuller now, more people would be out and about than before.

"I'll have to invite you to the house warming party that Kieko is going to throw," he snickered again, looking much like a child, "She hasn't mentioned it yet, but she'll want to have one."

"I'm sure Kurama will insist I come," grumbling the fire demons shook his head. He knew that without a doubt for some reason or another that he would be there. Whether Kurama insisted on it or not. Somehow, someway, he would end up going, even if it was under the excuse to see his sister. Yukina would be there with Kuwabara and the others.

"Probably," laughing even harder than before, "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear Kurama was your wife and he had you by the balls," he quickly scampered away from the fire demon, feeling the heat soar around him.

"Sometimes you are an imbecile," glaring at the detective, he shook his head a little.

"Yeah, yeah," he held up his hands in a don't shoot me gesture, a devilish grin lighting up his face. "But I think your time is up, you're a free man for a week."

"Don't die this time," Hiei grumbled, flashing away quickly in a flash of black. He cast one look over his shoulder at his first friend.

The three of them were having a wonderful time in the snow.

Hiei had not meant to stop at the temple on his way back to Demon World, but some kind of feeling had urged him to, almost as if a string connected him to that place. He could not escape the sensation that drew him there, he'd spend a week thinking of the temple and the secrets it held. Carefully he kept his presence masked, but if the look Kuwabara had sent the trees in his direction, then at least the human knew he was here, but oddly enough he chose to say nothing. Just go on about his business.

They were playing some human game involving throwing the snow at each other after forming balls with it. As he watched Yukina used her abilities to create a shield out of the snow. Sayomi called her a cheater, before retreating some distance away as Yukina pushed the shield away from her body and towards her two opponents.

Kuwabara fell to the ground covered in snow. Quickly without stopping, he jumped up to return to throwing snow at the ice maiden. The pregnant woman took the chance of his open back to throw two balls of snow at him, hitting him in the back of the head.

Yukina's giggles filled the courtyard, loud and clear, easily heard as far away as Hiei was.

A small part of the fire demon felt jealous, jealous that that woman and the oaf could make his sister so very please. But another part of his, enjoyed the scene, enjoyed the fact that his sister no longer was miserable. He had heard tales of her time in the floating ice country, she had been miserable and alone, but here she was happy. The temple was a good place for her loving and gentle heart. Committing her long minty free hair unbound, the large smile on her flushed cheeks, and the laugh in his mind was easy; it would bring him comfort that he made the right decision to keep his identity to her a secret.

The woman laughed just as loudly as his sister, he noticed. Her laughter was different, a little more composed, but still happy. Still rang bright through the trees. Her own flushed skin caught his eye, desire pulling in the pit of his stomach. He told himself that was natural, he'd seen what lay under her layers of clothes, she was indeed beautiful. The bump of their child was more noticeable under her coat then last week and it shocked him. How fast was this child growing? How long exactly did he have until it would be brought into the world?

Demon pregnancies were difficult to predict. Some species of Demons were pregnant for years, other Demons were only pregnant for a few months, some matched Human pregnancies. It was all a mix of both parents, how quickly their species of Demons grew in the womb. Hiei did not know anything of his own parental history and knew nothing of the woman who carried his child.

He quickly shook his head to push the thoughts from his head. There was no reason to worry over things he could not control. The child would come when it was ready, not a moment sooner, not a moment later. There was nothing he could do to influence the pregnancy in any way. In the end the whole thing would work itself out.

Hiei chose to continue to watch the scene that unfolded before him.

As he watched, Genkai appeared on the steps of the temple to shout at the group for making such a commotion, carefully where she could not be directly seen by the old woman as she was half hidden behind the human, he watched as Sayomi created a snow ball, choosing to suddenly lob it at Genkai.

Of course, the old woman dodged it, her angry gaze falling on the pregnant woman. The angry shouts fell from her lips carefully, one pointed finger at Sayomi. Apparently she was offended that the pregnant woman believed her so incompetent that she would not be able to dodge a snow ball aimed in her direction. And then she called them all fools.

Chuckling to himself, he left shortly after, staying only long enough to watch Genaki join the trio in playing the Human game.

Genkai kicked all their asses in the snow ball throwing.

"Stop fidgeting," Genkai barked at her for the fourth time. The old woman sat in her corner as before, her back leaned against the wall. A small table was to the old woman's right, a steaming kettle and a tea cup her only companions beside her pipe. The old woman did not touch it, but every few moments when Sayomi began to fidget she would turn it over in her fingers before putting it back down on the table to bark at the pregnant woman.

"It will be fine," Yukina smiled, patting her arm in a motherly way for a moment. The ice maiden sat to her right, choosing to offer silent comfort every time she got worried. The ice maiden had begun knitting a scarf for Kuwabara since Christmas was only a few weeks away and now sat quietly knitting it while they waited.

The doctor from before was late.

No one was surprised, the snow from the week before had been quite heavy and people that lived off the main highways and roads were still quite stuck where they were. But the doctor had not called to cancel their appointment and Genaki seemed quite confident that her old friend would show.

Thankfully the power had returned the day before, so the sonogram machine was able to be powered on. The screen glowing a soft blue at them, static every now at then flashing across the screen. Sayomi was tempted every now and then to use the wand and try and examine her own ever growing bump, but decided she could wait.

She was no doctor and would not know what to look for if there were any symptoms of trouble. The words from the doctor's last visit still flashed across her mind and she only hoped that her child would still be strong with no noticeable birth defects, that all the energy Yukina and now Hiei had donated to her son's core would not be in vain.

All the problems her son could have worried her and while in all of her visions, he had always been healthy, no noticeable problems, she knew how quickly the future could change. One little thing could send a path that seemed set in stone veering off course, hurtling down another course faster than the speed of light. Little decisions could throw off the whole future faster than anything.

Sayomi knew she would love her son no matter what kind of defects he had, if he had any, but she worried that he would not be alive at all, that somehow he would die while in the womb, or be stillborn. As long as her son was alive she could handle anything, but the fear that he would not survive the pregnancy held her tight in fear's grip. In all her centuries she had never been so frightened by anything.

"She is here," Genkai murmured at last, rising to her feet, before the door even slide open. Kuwabara stood at the door, a big grin across his face, he slide the door open even further to reveal the doctor by his side.

"Hello everyone, sorry for the delay," the tall woman seemed to shake herself quickly, "but the roads are still a mess. You would think they would know how to clear snow by now in this day and age, but I guess that's just an old woman's dream." She smiled brightly at them, holding her briefcase at her side. Her nearly white hair seemed damp from the weather outside.

"Hello, Mitsumi," Genkai greeted her friend with a nod, smiling a little at her.

"Nice to see you as always, my old friend," quickly Kuwabara slide the door shut as the doctor talked, sending an encouraging smile to his friends, "And how is our mother to be doing?," she smiled as she talked, moving to the sink against the wall near Genkai to sterilize her hands.

"Nervous," the ice maiden answered for her friend, before Sayomi could even get the words out.

"Sickeningly so," Genkai added, rolling her eyes at the dirty look the pregnant woman sent her.

"It's expected to be nervous, this is your first pregnancy," the doctor known as Mitsumi paused for a moment, pulling a notebook from her briefcase, "Have you been taking the prenatal vitamins I prescribed?."

"Every day as you instructed," sighing carefully, Sayomi forced herself to remain calm. Her fears would be relaxed.

"Have them made you sick? Any side effects? Is the morning sickness gone away? Any heavy bleeding?," she waited a moment, readying her pen to take notes.

"No, I don't think I have had any side effects. My morning sickness has gotten better in the last few weeks. Certain foods still make me sick, I can not stand the smell of cooking beef, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. I have not had any heavy bleeding, but I have not felt him move yet," moving her hands over her bump, she watched carefully at the doctor took notes of everything she said.

"Well those are all good signs. Some women experience morning sickness their whole pregnancy, but it's a good sign that it is subsiding. It is your first pregnancy, it is normal for you not to have noticed movement yet. We are going to check the baby today using the sonogram to hopefully tell the sex and notice movement. We will also look for a heart beat," once she was finished her notes, the doctor looked towards Genkai, "Do you have a scale around here?."

"I figured you would ask for one," smirking the old woman pointed under the sink where Mitsumi had washed her hands. "Yukina grab it for them please?," she instructed.

"Of course," laying her half knitted scarf down, the ice maiden quickly retrieved the scale from under the sink and brought it to the doctor.

"I want to know how much you weight. You look healthy, but each week I want you weight yourself and tell me at each visit. I will weight you each time I come, but still it's always nice to keep tract in case you end up having complications," she paused for a moment, gesturing for Sayomi to stand on scale.

The pregnant woman glared at the scale, remembering her time at the brothel. In those days the scale had been her enemy. Luckily before she had become pregnant she had only ever been forced on the scale one time. The weight the mistress had told her to fall to had been one hundred and twenty pounds, but she had been very skinny then. Before when she had been under her master she had always kept her weight at one hundred and twenty five pounds. When she had been weighed for the mistress she had gained eight pounds, bringing her weight to one hundred and twenty eight pounds.

When she stood on the scale a small feeling of being judged went through her, at the brothel keeping their weight down had always been the mistress' goal. Often she would always tell them that they needed to stay thin to impress the men. Some of the girls were nearly starved to keep the weight off.

She sent a small thanks to fate for getting her out of the Brothel in that moment.

"One hundred and thirty four pounds, that's a good weight, how much did you weight before?," the doctor asked, marking the weight on her paper.

"Around a hundred and twenty, but I always preferred to be one hundred and twenty five," she sighed, stepping off the scale quickly. Had she gained too much? Too little? Her bump seemed healthy enough to her and she hoped that she was eating enough.

"I think you are gaining weight as you should then. For a healthy baby you should be eating three hundred more calories a day than you did before," smiling at her, the doctor patted the table, "time to see the little one,"

"Maybe you should just name him 'little one'," Yukina giggled, they all called the growing child within their friend, little one. Since the child did not have a name it seemed to fit rather well. Genkai snorted behind her cup of tea in her corner.

"Alright, please lift up your shirt," Sayomi did as she instructed, watching the doctor remove a bottle of the jell from her briefcase, "it's gonna be cold," she warned.

"I remember from last time," she laughed a little, having to will her body to stay in place as the jell touched her stomach. Nervous butterflies erupted within her .

"Relax," using the wand of the sonogram machine to smooth out the jell on her stomach, the doctor turned turned towards the machine, pushing a button before it flared to life. Without a word, she moved the wand around, when the baby finally came into view. "There's the head, the body looks healthy, no noticeable deformities," Sayomi sighed in relief.

"What about the sex?," Yukina asked, staring into the screen, one of her hands weaving into Sayomi's hand. The ice maiden gave her friend's hand a tight squeeze I excitement.

"Yukina I think you are more excited than Sayomi," Genkai mocked her, but her own wrinkled eyes were staring holes in the screen, looking for the signs of gender as well.

"I told you he is a boy," Sayomi muttered, shaking her head at the two women, a small smile lighting up her lips. Her silver eyes were trained on the screen as well, the feeling of happiness overcoming her quickly. To see her son this way was beautiful to her, remarkable, it brought a feeling to her that she could not describe.

Her only wish was that Hiei could see the image on the screen as well.

Next time she would be sure to show him the photos.

"There it is! Definitely not a shower," the doctor grabbed all of their attention quickly, before pointing with her hand to a spot between the child's legs.

"He may be a little bashful, but he is definitely a little boy."

I am so sorry that this is late, but I had some real life issues going on... I got a new boss and I've bee adjusting and honestly this is the first day off I've had off in over two weeks. And I had some other problems going on. I am very sorry everyone. If it makes you feel better I am up way past my bed time to finish this chapter. Also this chapter is largely very unedited, so please point out any problems for me. Also I apologize, but I am not a doctor so I am trying my best to make her pregnancy as believable as possible. Please review! It makes me happy to hear all of your kind words!

-j.d.y.