Chapter Six

The second Kamiya Minoru showed signs of consciousness, George contacted Koenma. He was lying on the couch in his common room but he couldn't sleep, he was watching Shizuru. Not literally, of course. There was a door between them and, regardless of how clingy she'd been earlier, there was no way he could justify slipping into bed with her. Instead he was focusing on her soul shard, sending gentle waves of care through the connection in an attempt to fill the cracks that weaved through it. He'd never tried to heal a soul shard before, there wasn't enough known about soul bonds to know if that was even possible, but he hoped he could at least comfort her.

A timid knock echoed through the cavernous room and Koenma's nose wrinkled in annoyance. He'd never realized just how large and empty his quarters were until he started spending time in Ningenkai. The close intimacy that a smaller room provided was both soothing and addicting. The knock sounded again, louder this time, and Koenma sat up on the couch.

"You may enter, Ogre."

"Yes sir, Koenma, sir," George said, pushing the door open. His eyes were closed as he shuffled into the room and Koenma's eyebrows went up.

"Is there a reason you're doing your Blind Ogre impression?"

George peaked one eye open and took a hesitant look around. When his gaze landed on Koenma both of his eyes flew wide and a purple blush dusted his cheeks.

"No, no sir. No reason."

"Hm," Koenma said, his lips pursed, but he didn't comment any further.

"Ah, Kamiya Minoru is awake now, sir. You said you wanted to be informed."

Koenma's eyes flew wide and he swore as he threw his legs over the side of the couch. "And you didn't lead with that? What's wrong with you?"

"Koenma?" Shizuru's voice was both timid and thick with sleep and he turned quickly to find her peeking out through the bedroom door. "Are you alright? I felt…that is, you seem agitated?" She swallowed hard. "Is-is something wrong? Is someone else hurt?"

Somehow Koenma managed to cross the entire living room in four steps. "Nothing's wrong, Shizuru. It's actually a good thing."

He took her hand and pulled her gently through the door. It was so wrong to see her practically cowering when he knew how strong and fearless she usually was. Once again he sent gentle waves of spirit energy to caress and sooth her cracked soul shard. A look of peace and contentment relaxed the worry lines on her beautiful face and she closed her eyes with a sigh. Unable to help himself, Koenma reached forward and cradled her cheek with his hand. He brushed his thumb over the apple of her cheek and she leaned into him before cracking her eyes open just a bit.

"Are you leaving?"

"Just for a bit," Koenma said, unwilling to lie. "There are some things I need to take care of."

She swallowed hard. "Kazuma?"

"Hey," Koenma said, stepping closer. Her head tilted back to look him in the eye and his hand slid from her cheek to rest against the side of her neck where his thumb gently stroked along her jawline. "It's going to be fine, okay? We're going to save him."

Soft brown eyes searched his face before Shizuru smiled and a trace of her old strength shown through. "I believe you."

A lump welled up in Koenma's throat and he forced his breathing to remain calm and even as he leaned forward to press his forehead against hers. He'd been trusted before, obviously seeing as he was the prince of the dead, but something about the complete and utter faith Shizuru had in him broke something deep inside. He didn't want to let her down. He wouldn't let her down.

"I'll be back soon," he whispered and Shizuru nodded just a fraction. He pulled back reluctantly, his eyes dropping to her lips for only a second before they went back to her eyes and he smiled. He stepped away and released her face. Her hand was on his and he wondered when she'd done that. She held on to his fingers as he moved away, taking half a step forward to delay the loss of contact.

When her hand dropped from his he felt more than just the physical loss.

"Come on Ogre," Koenma said, squaring his shoulder and tossing the loose end of his red scarf back over his shoulder. "There's work to do."

"Yes sir, Koenma, sir," George said. He followed the young god from his rooms and carefully shut the door behind them. Koenma paused just long enough to reach out to Shizuru's soul shard and give it a gentle caress. A tentative thread of gratitude reached back and Koenma wrapped his energy around the weak line, cradling it as if he were holding her hand. Shizuru gripped back and Koenma smiled as he made his way to the med-bay.

##

Yusuke found Keiko's energy on a bullet train leading towards Genkai's temple. That was both good and bad. Good because it meant she was safe. Bad because he had no way of getting to her until after the train stopped.

Moving to the transport room, a new addition of Koenma's that—thanks to the only useful skill of the otherwise useless SDF—portals could be opened into Ningenkai or Makai from any point at any time. There were established portals of course, holes that never moved or varied in size, but it was nice to have the option for temporary portals. It made things like this much easier.

The SDF chick with the crazy blonde hair was on duty and she gave him a picture perfect salute even though she wouldn't meet his eyes. The people in Reikai really needed to get over that whole Mazuku thing.

"My girlfriend's on a train but I need a portal on stand-by for when she gets off," Yusuke said, not bothering with pleasantries.

"Of course sir," the woman said. "Did you have a specific location in mind, sir?"

"Somewhere near here," Yusuke said, zooming in on the wall map of Japan until he'd zeroed in on the train station nearest to Genkai's temple. "That's her stop."

"For two people then, sir?"

"Yup."

"It will take several minutes, sir."

"She's on the train for at least another hour."

"That will be plenty of time sir."

Yusuke nodded and closed his eyes to focus on Keiko's energy. "Good. Carry on."

##

"I think I would know if my ward was four months pregnant," Genkai snapped and the doctor shrunk back at her menacing aura. "That's not exactly something I would miss."

"I understand your frustration but I'm simply telling you as it is. Miss Yukina is pregnant. There's no mistaking."

"Clearly," Hiei said, his arms folded tightly across his chest as he glared. "Any idiot with a speck of spiritual awareness would be able to tell that much, the child is impossibly strong, but that doesn't explain where it came from seeing as my sister is a virgin."

"Are you certain?" the doctor asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. The Jagan on Hiei's forehead glowed.

"I would know."

"If this wasn't such a serious moment I'd comment on how disturbing it is that you've looked into that," Genkai said dryly and Hiei shot her a glare. She brushed it off without flinching. She'd been subject to the ire of far more dangerous creatures than an irritated fire demon.

"Perhaps…" The doctor said, a faraway look on his face. "Perhaps it was an immaculate conception? I understand that the Ice Maidens reproduce a-sexually once every hundred years. Could it be her time? That would at least explain the absence of the father's DNA."

"I consider that highly unlikely seeing as she is nearly three hundred cycles and has yet to have produced a child," Genkai said speculatively. "As she is only half Koorime, it is likely she does not carry that reproductive gene."

"That aside," Hiei said sharply. "The moron's spiritual energy makes up half of the child's signature. That's not something Yukina could do on her own."

"You sense Kuwabara in the child?" Genkai said, her eyes wide in surprise. She touched her fingers to her chin. "Interesting. I wonder—"

There was a sudden spike in the child's energy signature and Yukina screamed. The doctor was unable to stop Hiei or even Genkai from racing into the room. The room was frigid but Yukina's skin was still uncommonly warm as she writhed and flinched on the table, whimpering in pain despite being unconscious. Genkai instantly accessed her spirit wave, the power severely depleted but still usable for scanning the status of the body.

Finding nothing physically wrong with Yukina, Genkai moved her hands down the ice demon's body to rest over the child in her stomach. Genkai gasped and jerked back, her eyes wide in shock.

"The child!" She said, her voice breaking. "It's growing!"

Both she watched in stunned silence as the doctor and nurses hurried around the room, trying to find a way to sooth Yukina's discomfort without putting the child at risk. Hiei stepped up to the head of Yukina's bed and rested his palm flat on his sister's forehead. His Jagan flared to life and after a few tense seconds Yukina relaxed. She was sweating and panting, but at least she'd stopped screaming. Hiei didn't move his hand, his eyes remaining closed as he held his vigilance on Yukina's mind with his third eye.

Once again, Genkai tapped into the spirit wave and rested her hands flat on Yukina's expanding stomach. She felt the child stirring, growing steadily, but remarkably healthily, in Yukina's womb. The connection to mother and child was steady and both the child's heart and spirit were strong. But there was a third, outside presence, that caused Genkai worry. The pushed more power into her hands, ignoring the strain on her old body as sweat beaded across her forehead.

There.

A tangled knot of red spirit thread was bundled about the child's navel, slowly unraveling where it connected to the umbilical cord. It was as if it were being wound in on a spool only the spool was the child and the red string was being absorbed into the child's very soul. As the thread wasn't hurting the child—it was actually strengthening it—Genkai left it alone and carefully released her grip on her spirit wave.

Curiosity had Genkai reaching for Yukina's left hand where her connection to Kuwabara—a thin line of red spirit threat—had always resided. All that remained was a single loop of red tied at the base of her pinky. The rest had inexplicably disappeared.

Genkai looked down at Yukina's stomach again, her feelings torn between fondness and sorrow.

"I understand now," Genkai said and the doctor looked up from the ultrasound he'd set up to keep a visual on the rapidly growing fetus. According to the display at the bottom left-hand corner, the child was now nearing the developmental state of a 20 week fetus, making Yukina almost six months along.

"Understand?" the doctor said. "Understand what?"

"What happened," Genkai said before giving him an accusing once-over. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out for yourself being such a distinguished Reikai healer."

The man flushed in both embarrassment and irritation. Genkai didn't bother to hear his response as she spoke again.

"She still has the self-reproduction gene," Genkai said. "It's merely dormant with sexual intercourse being her body's primary reproductive method. However, thanks to Kuwabara's spiritual power, Yukina was able to jump-start the process and essentially impregnate herself. The reason the child is female is because Koorimes always have female children, barring the lack of a physical male partner. That explains why the child holds both of their energy signatures without having Kuwabara's physical DNA."

Yukina moaned in her sleep and Hiei's Jagan flared brighter before she settled. Genkai gently took one of Yukina's overly warm hands into her own.

"Hang in there, Yukina. You'll stabilize soon. Just stay strong." Whether on purpose or as a purely reflexive action, Yukina's hold on Genkai's hand tightened just a fraction as the child in her stomach visibly continued to grow. Pressing Yukina's hand to her forehead, Genkai closed her eyes and stretched out with her spirit energy to keep track of the slowly unraveling thread. If her calculations were correct, the child would stabilize at around 36 weeks. Hopefully that would give Yusuke and the others enough time to bring Kuwabara back for the birth of his child.

Hopefully.

Kaliea: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. I've been crazy busy with work and school and family and basically just life in general. That being said, I'm not sure when the next update will be but thanks so much for your patience. Hopefully the next chapter should see a little more action with the boys finding out what happened to Kuwabara and why and just what, exactly, they'll need to do to save him. Thanks for all of your support and don't forget to review!