Standard disclaimer: I do not own anything besides the children and the plotline.


Ayato entered his home with a weary sigh; he was beyond exhausted. Having a pregnant girlfriend was beginning to take a toll on his health; he felt as if he had eaten an entire pot of that stew Touka's human friend would always make.

Hinami wasn't faring much better than he was; she was having a very rough pregnancy. The baby kept her awake most of the night and it wasn't even kicking yet. She was constantly sick, spending most nights curled on a rug in front of the toilet. Their friends and family tried to help her; Kimi recommended that she lay flat on her back and rub certain points on her belly. Touka helped as much as she could seeing as Hinami was experiencing many of the same things she did with the twins, but it wasn't enough. It was assumed that her more intense symptoms were inherited from her side of the family, which didn't help at all since both of Hinami's parents were dead. Even Touka's human friend, Yoriko, gave her advice on how to sit in a way to alleviate the pain in her back.

On the whole it had been a very rough pregnancy thus far; Ayato could only hope that something would change soon so they could both get some sleep. He shuffled into the kitchen after kicking his shoes off at the door.

"Uncle Yato!" Two small voices cheered.

Ayato grunted as something slammed into his legs and wrapped around them. He looked down to find his sister's children clinging to his legs. Shaking them off, he set a bag on the kitchen counter and wandered into the living room. What he saw made him groan.

Hinami was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the living room, playing with two babies laying on the soft rug in front of her. The room was riddled with baby things; there were two cribs, a bassinet, changing table, highchair, even a baby swing, and boxes of baby clothes from Touka.

"I was gone for ten minutes, what the hell is all this?"

Hinami turned her head and smiled brightly, getting up from the floor clumsily. She practically bounced towards him and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Welcome back!"

It never failed to amaze Ayato that Hinami was full of energy during the day despite spending the night before in the bathroom. "Well?"

She moved away, shuffling back to the infants on the floor, and bent to gather one in each arm; something that should be physically impossible, ghoul or not. As she settled them on her hips, she explained. "After you left for the store, Touka, Yoriko-san, and Kimi-san came by and dropped off all these things that we might need for the baby."

Ayato nodded. "And why are there four brats in their place?"

"They all had to run an errand so I offered to watch the kids so they could get it done quickly," Hinami chirped. "Did you get the coffee?"

"It's on the counter."

"Thank you!" She set the babies in the playpen (bought specifically for when they babysat the twins) and skipped into the kitchen. She dug through the bag and pulled out the coffee beans, getting ready to make a cup. While she worked, she talked about different things. "Do you think we should paint our bedroom?"

"What? Why?" Ayato sat at the table, trying to ignore the toddlers crawling all over him.

"Yoriko-san said that certain colors can soothe newborns," she said. "I was wondering if we should paint our room one of those colors."

"That sounds like a load of bullshit," he grunted as Miyu accidently kneed his stomach.

Hinami ignored him. "Or we could move. The baby will have to have its own room eventually."

"Hinami, you are only four months pregnant," Ayato pointed out.

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's never too early to start planning your child's future, Ayato. Oh! We also need to think of names. I think it should be Hikari if it's a girl and maybe Arata if we have a boy; what do you think?"

"I think we don't even know what gender it is and we'll decide when it's born," he said, uninterested.

Hinami deflated. She sighed and focused on pour the hot water over the grounds. "You could at least act like you're happy," she mumbled dejectedly.

"Hina- Okay, Kaneki brats need to get the hell off before I get pissed!" Ayato snatched Miyu off of his lap and set her on the floor, also detaching Minoru's arms from his shin.

"You don't need to be so mean to them, Ayato," Hinami huffed, walking over to the twins and patting their heads.

"I didn't even hit them," he shrugged. He waited until Hinami sent the twins into the living room to watch the babies. "Hinami."

"Hm?" She busied herself again with the coffee.

Ayato sighed. "Hina, I didn't mean that I was unhappy about the baby. I just don't want to get in too deep when things could still go wrong."

He didn't need to say what he meant by "things could still go wrong"; she already knew. They were ghouls; the constant threat of being hunted down by the CCG made bringing a child into the world extremely difficult. Hinami thought of what her own mother might have gone through just to give birth to her.

She stopped what she was doing and sighed. "I know… It's just hard."

Feeling bad for ruining her mood Ayato got up from the table and wrapped his arm around her from behind, his hands resting on her slight baby bump.

Hinami closed her eyes and leaned her head back, letting it rest against his shoulder.

"Ahem."

Ayato turned his head and found three women standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He clicked his tongue. "What do you want?"

Touka smirked at her brother. She gestured to the two beside her, Yoriko and Kimi. "We came back for our children. No need to get so defensive, little brother."

Hinami moved out of his arms and smiled at the women before disappearing into the living room. She reappeared a couple minutes later with the two infants in her arms and the twins following behind her like ducklings. The twins ran to their mother and began to tell her about their time with their aunt; the infants cooed happily when their mothers picked them up out of Hinami's arms.

"Thank you for watching her, Hinami-chan," Kimi said gratefully. Yoriko smiled and nodded while she tried to calm her wiggling son.

"Anytime," she responded, smiling brightly.

"Well, we'll be back later to pick up the stuff you won't need," Touka announced, grabbing the twins by their hand. "Call me if you need something."

Hinami followed them to the door and saw them out, kissing the twins' cheeks. She locked the door behind them and returned to the kitchen, one hand rubbing her belly. A steaming mug of coffee was waiting for her on the table. She lifted her swollen feet up onto the chair across from her and brought the mug to her lips, taking a long drink.

"… Ayato," she called, setting the mug on the table.

"Wha?" He walked into the kitchen, changing his shirt.

"I don't want this coffee," she stated bluntly. "It tastes weird."

"You've gotta be kidding," he groaned. She shook her head seriously. He sighed. "Alright fine, what kind do you want?"

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I want some of Big Brother's coffee."

"Son of a-" He grabbed a thermos from the cabinet and stomped to the front door. He shoved his feet into his shoes and closed the door behind him, grumbling obscenities the entire way.

Hinami giggled and rubbed circles on her belly. "Daddy might not show it very often but he does love you and Mommy, doesn't he?"


Okay so this was actually going to go differently than it did but somehow I just forgot to write it that way? There's still at least two chapters left before the end, so I'll work what was supposed to happen in this chapter into the next one. Since this one isn't really all that great, in my opinion...

The Nishikimi and Yoride babies don't have names because I couldn't think of any :/ And in case you don't know, Hikari and Arata were the names of Ayato's parents (Hinami's parents' names are also in the running for Ayahina baby name)

As always a huge thank you for reading, I really do love you all that read my shitty fan fiction. Please feel free to tell me what you think or any comments/questions you might have, I'm always hungry for feedback. There are like three ways to contact me, so definitely put those to good use! ^^

With love,

Lau ( ˘ ³˘)

Tschüss!

Coming soon to an electronic device near you: Admiration from Afar (Tousaki)