Tango of Mortality

Chapter 1: Life's Blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Ayashi no Ceres, and am not profiting off of this story in any way, shape, or form. Rated M for language, sexual situations, and self-inflicted fantasy violence.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Kazuyu. You're pregnant." The doctor said, lowering his clipboard so that she could see the smile on his face. Shiori's mind went blank for several moments.

"I….What?" She asked numbly, blinking slowly.

"You're going to have a baby, Mrs. Kazuyu. I realize that's not what you came in here for, but the urine tests showed us you're about two months pregnant." The doctor must have gotten this reaction from expecting women all the time, because despite her obvious shock the smile did not leave his face and his voice did not lose its cheerful tone.

"But….Aren't I too old?" She asked bluntly. The doctor laughed.

"Well, women don't tend to reach menopause until about 50 or 60 years old. Up until that point, you're perfectly capable of having children." The doctor informed.

"What about health risks?" Shiori asked, feeling butterflies in her stomach.

"Well, there are risks, but modern medicine has reduced them significantly. I'd have to say the greatest risk is to the child. How old is your husband?" The doctor asked, now taking on a more serious air.

"We're the same age." Shiori said.

"Both forty….well, it's a much better bet than having a child at fifty. There could still be potential problems, but as long as you come in for regular checkups we should be able to spot them before they get too serious. You see, when a couple older than thirty-five decide to have a child, they open themselves up to certain risks. The most severe would have to be Down's Syndrome or autism, both of which are more likely to occur in children born from parents who are above the age of thirty-five. Still, you and your husband are only five years over the risk stage, which isn't that bad." The doctor seemed uncertain how to continue. His patient had yet to make her attitudes about her pregnancy clear, and it went against his Hippocratic oath to try and sway her decision in any direction.

"How much time do I have until abortion isn't an option?" Shiori had to force the words out of her mouth. It wasn't that she disapproved of abortion; she understood why some women would make that choice. It was just not something that she, Shiori, would choose to do in her own life. She had been devastated for many reasons when her first husband died so early in their lives together, one of the most agonizing reasons being that she was now unable to give Shuichi the house full of siblings she had imagined for him. She had always worried whether that was the reason he was so alienated and introverted throughout his childhood, because he didn't have siblings to help him learn how to interact with other children. How strange that this should become an option just when she had deemed it unnecessary for her son's emotional health.

"You have three more weeks, Mrs. Kazuyu. Please come back to the clinic if you have any more questions. Well, other than your pregnancy, you're in perfect health, so I'll let you go now. I'm sure you'll want to discuss this with your husband as soon as possible." The doctor said, his cheer returning.

"Thank you very much, doctor."

(Later that night, Kazuyu family residence)

"You're pregnant?" Asked her husband, his eyes lighting up as he sat up straighter on the bed. "That's wonderful, dear!"

"You really feel that way? You're not just saying that because you think it's what I want to hear?" She watched Kazuyu carefully from where she sat at the nightstand of their bedroom, taking off her makeup. This was the reaction she had halfway expected from him, but she couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.

"You know, Shiori, for a long time since I asked you to marry me, I'd been thinking that I wanted you to have my child. But I never felt comfortable with telling you that, for some reason. But now that you are pregnant, I think that we should keep this child. Now, don't think you don't have a say in this as well, I'm just telling you how I feel. If you think the health risks are too great or we're too old to take care of a baby, abortion is still an option. It's entirely up to you, Shiori, I want you to do whatever makes you feel most comfortable." She could tell by his tone that he was speaking earnestly from the heart. She felt a few tears welling up in her eyes and hugged him to hide them.

"I want to have this child." She said, holding her husband close.

(The next morning, Hirobe family residence)

Miyako Hirobe, who had gone by the name Miyako Kitajima before her divorce, remarriage, and relocation to the Miyagi prefecture, paused on the steps of her house as she heard the phone ring. She had been just about to go up to her daughter's room. She was sure that what she'd been about to tell her daughter was so important that it ranked far above a phone call, but now as she listened to the ringer blare, she couldn't remember what she'd been about to say. After pausing for another moment, trying to collect her thoughts, she sighed and turned around, heading down the stairs to the kitchen where the phone sat. She was almost there when the answering machine clicked on. Miyako heaved a sigh of frustration and started to turn around in the direction of the stairs again.

"Miyako-chan? It's me, Shiori. Please pick up if you're there. I really must talk to you about something. You can call me at…." At the sound of the hauntingly familiar voice Miyako leapt the distance between herself and the phone and yanked it off the receiver.

"Shiori! I can't believe it's you, it's been so long!" Miyako was surprised to find she was almost sobbing. Perhaps it was the emotional attachment she had to the place where she'd lived with her first husband, the place where Shiori had befriended her. The place that had become such a dark wound in her daughter's heart.

"I've missed you, Miyako-chan. How have you been? Are you happy in Miyagi with that childhood sweetheart of yours? And how's Maya-chan doing?" Shiori fired off the questions one after the other. Miyako paused, feeling overwhelmed. She was unsure how to respond. Granted, Shiori wasn't the sort of person who others needed to sugarcoat their problems with, but Miyako didn't even know where to begin when it came to the incredible complex landscape of her family problems.

"I've been well. Ken and I are getting along very well. He's such a sweet and tolerant man, just as I remember him from when we were kids. He hasn't changed at all. Maya has tried so hard to be the perfect daughter for him, even though…." She trailed off. She was coming dangerously close to revealing too much.

"Yes, even though he's not her real father. Shuichi is the same way with my new husband." Mercifully, Shiori finished the sentence for her.

"You remarried? When?" Miyako asked excitedly as soon as Shiori's words sank in.

"Oh, just a year and a half ago, now. He's very good to me. I have a younger step-son now, too. His name is Shuichi, too, just like my son by my first husband! Isn't that funny? And my Shuichi, he's grown into such an exceptional young man. He's handsome, he's well-behaved, he's a brilliant student, and he always puts my happiness and well-being above everything else. All the girls at his school love him. He's going to Kokusai High School in Tokyo now. All the girls adore him – he has his own fan club, can you believe it? Although the love letters that keep pouring in do get tiresome. As far as I know, though, he's never had a girlfriend." Shiori prattled on happily, but Miyako was only halfway listening. Something Shiori had said several sentences ago nagged at her.

"Shiori. Did you say he was going to Kokusai High School in Tokyo?" She asked, gritting her teeth anxiously.

"Why, yes, he's going to Kokusai High School." Shiori replied cheerfully.

"My God." Miyako uttered, feeling faint, "Maya's just transferred there. She's leaving for Tokyo in two days."

"What? Really?" Shiori demanded. Her tone had become tinged with triumph. "That means they'd have run into each other whether I'd called you or not. But even so…..Miyako, I'll get straight to the point. I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations." Miyako said hollowly, taken aback. It was almost too much to take in all at once. Shiori was dropping too many bombshells on her too quickly. "But what does that have to do with…."

"Miyako, I…" Shiori hesitated and Miyako heard her take a deep breath on the other end of the line. "I'm worried about my son. He's well-behaved and an excellent student, but I know he's still isolated somehow, just as he's always been. And I'm worried about what's going to happen with this pregnancy. If anything happens to me….I want him to have a fiancée, Miyako, or at least a steady girlfriend. I haven't seen him show the slightest interest in a girl, ever, even despite the fact that his female classmates worship him. I'm worried he's devoting too much of himself to me. I want him to have a life of his own, both for his own sake and so he'll be able to take care of this baby if….if something goes wrong with my pregnancy."

"Why call me?" Miyako's knees buckled under her and she slowly sank to the floor. She was sure her voice must sound like the disembodied groan of a specter. She knew what Shiori wanted, and she knew even more what Maya's reaction would be. This was a disaster.

"You can't tell me you don't know." Shiori's voice had become intense, insistent; the voice of a desperate woman. "I know he loves her. He has to. Why else would he not take a girlfriend even once in all the years since she moved away? Who else could he possibly be waiting for?"