This chapter is shorter than the previous and future chapters.
Chapter 3
Despite having one of the longest night's sleep he's had in years, Hiei is still tired when he gets up and begins his journey back to Mukuro's lair. His stomach feels better; it appears it was only a one-night thing, perhaps caused by something he ingested that day. At the base of the forest there isn't much light; though the sun is making it's way to the top of the sky, it is blocked by tall, thick, leafy trees, only the occasional splotch of light visible on the forest floor. Hiei prefers it this way, and takes his time as he makes his way to the exit. Why he chose to spend this night in the human realm, he has no idea. He wouldn't have this pesky sunlight problem in the demon realm.
He makes his way to the forest edge at a steady, boring pace, birds and squirrels moving around every which way, annoying him with their constant motion but reminding him to keep his guard up. Sure enough, amongst the movement of the woodland animals, he senses another, stronger presence heading toward him. It doesn't take long for him to guess who it is. Aside from the familiarity of this particular aura, there isn't a large list of beings that would be willing to follow him without immediately identifying themselves.
"Kurama."
"Yes," Kurama replies, coming out from behind a tree. "You might know already, but I have some news for you."
"Don't dance around, just tell it to me."
"Alright. You're sister is pregnant."
Kurama is ignored for a few seconds, long enough for him to suspect that he hasn't been heard. Hiei does respond eventually, just before Kurama repeats himself.
"For how long?" he asks.
"Since yesterday," Kurama answers.
"Hm. You certainly didn't waste any time telling me."
"You weren't exactly difficult to find. So what are you doing in the human realm anyway?"
"I'm trying to avoid people; I thought this might be a good place to do it."
"You told me earlier that you were busy."
"Well I lied, didn't I?"
Kurama sighs. "Anyway, Yukina will give birth close to her one hundredth birthday, which she says is two hundred forty nine days from now. Which means you are ninety nine years old."
Hiei shoves his hands in his pockets and gives Kurama a look of frustration. "What gave you the impression I needed to know that?"
Kurama meets his gaze and patiently explains, "nothing, but it's the sort of information people generally like having. I'm giving it to you assuming you will do what you want with it." "The only person that is relevant to is Yukina. I'd actually have preferred not to know, for future reference," Hiei says, turning his face away so that Kurama now stares at the back of his head.
"If I were to tell you about Yukina's condition, you'd be able to figure out how old you were based on that alone. I couldn't have kept that a secret, could I?" Kurama says.
"Whatever. Is there anything else?"
"No, that's all. Where are you going?"
"Back to the demon realm, where else?"
"We would like it if you visited us sometimes, you know."
"I thought you said you were done."
"Sorry, I guess I lied."
Another silence falls.
A gust of wind bends the trees apart and, for a brief moment, Hiei and Kurama are completely bathed in sunlight. Kurama struggles to keep his long hair out of his face, only managing to clear his vision once the wind settles and the shadows return. Hiei is gone. Kurama readjusts his shirt and begins his journey home, leaving the way he came.
Though he had been unusually silent the night before, Kuwabara is as loud and talkative as always as they ride the train back to the city. He seems to have no limit of questions for Yukina, who, despite being quite sleepy at the moment, answers every one of them.
"So, how long have you been...expecting?" he asks, awkwardly replacing the word 'pregnant.'
"Since yesterday," Yukina replies, much to everyone's confusion.
"How can you know if it's only been one day?" Keiko says, grabbing the question before anyone else can.
"Well, I knew it was going to happen some time around now anyway...and my stomach- well, not my stomach, you know what I mean, I felt this really strange movement around there and I figured that was it beginning. It makes sense, everyone always told me I'd feel some kind of indication that the process had started. And most of us have a gestation period of two hundred fifty days. It's not usually so exact, but I guess it is sometimes, because my birthday is just that far from yesterday. So, I must be pregnant."
"Wow..." Keiko mumbles, amazed. "But, can you really be sure? Maybe you should get it tested, just in case?"
Yukina shakes her head. "I'm almost completely sure I'm right, and even if I'm not, it will be obvious in a month or so. I don't know how we would test that anyway!"
"Kurama told me before he left that you smelled different, and that's why he asked you what was up," Yusuke offers.
"Smelled her?" Kuwabara yells, indignant.
"He's a god damn fox, he's good at smelling, get over it."
Kuwabara grimaces in mild disgust, but soon recovers and returns his attention to Yukina. "So, what are you going to name it?"
"I haven't thought of one yet. Would you help come up with something?"
"Of course! I'll start making a list right now!"
"Wait until you get home, stupid," Shizuru says. "Isn't it kind of early to be thinking about names, anyway? The first thing is how to deal with the baby itself."
The rest of the trip, until they all part ways, is in silence.
~Until next time! If you want to tell me something or otherwise interact with this thing, go right ahead and do so. Thank you for participating in DomClaudeHello's attempts to entertain people.