Vows
by Yami Yue

Chapter Four

When I awoke, Yukina was sitting in a plush chair beside the bed. The room was lit softly, but it was dark outside. "Kairi came to check on you a few hours ago. She said the baby's fine," Yukina told me. "I slept all day," I noted. "Off and on," she said. "Kairi told me that you stayed awake long enough to eat something for lunch and use the facilities," she added. I didn't remember even seeing Kairi or eating lunch. "This kid is taking more out of me than I thought," I thought as Yukina continued on. "Yusuke called, he said Kurama came looking for you after we left the other night," she informed me. I frowned, why would he come looking for me? "I still believes he loves you," she continued. I wasn't as sure as she was, but I didn't comment. Still, some part of me hoped that she was right. I didn't want to truly believe that Kurama would just toss me away so easily, like others had done to me in the past. Until now, our relationship had been the best thing that had ever happened to me. I'd given him my heart and I still wanted to believe that Kurama had given me his in exchange.

"How long have you been sitting here?" I asked her as I slowly sat up. "An hour or two," she answered. "You didn't have to stay here. You could have had Yusuke send that bird of his to take you home," I said. "Hiei, you're my brother. I can't just leave you like this. You need my help this time and I already told you I'd help you as much as I could," she replied. I got out of bed and stretched, feeling the ache in my body from lying down so long. Yukina rose from her seat and headed for the door. "I'll get you something to eat," she said. "Don't hurry. I need a shower first," I told her, knowing the hot water would soothe my aching body. "Alright," she agreed then left the room, giving me privacy.

I gathered some clean clothing and headed for the bathroom. I turned on the water in the shower to let it warm up to a decent temperature. As I undressed, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like I hadn't slept in days and felt groggy after such a long sleep. I had put on a few pounds over the last few weeks and I hoped that when this was all over, all the years of fighting and training that had kept my body fit would not have gone to waste. Call it vanity if you want, but I was proud of my body, especially after Kurama took such an interest in me. I stepped into the shower nearly sighing with relief as the warm spray came in contact with my sore body. "Would Kurama really come here to seek me out?" I wondered as I began to bathe myself. "For what? He can't still want me, can he?" I mused. I quickly tried to push those thoughts aside not wanting to get my hopes up, but the dream I'd had while I'd been sleeping for so long came to mind just as swiftly. I'd dreamed that he had come back to me and we were raising our child together, we were family, and a happy one at that. As much as I wanted that dream to come true I didn't dare allow myself to believe it would come true in fear that it would just be another broken dream and my heart would be shattered to pieces.

I finished my shower and reached for a towel after shutting off the water. It felt odd to use the towel to dry myself after years of just using my energy to do the job, but the towel got the job done and I got dressed, then exited the bathroom feeling a lot better than I had when I'd gone in. A maid had come in and changed the bedding while I had showered and tableware had been set up on my desk. My stomach growled at the thought of dinner soon being served. There was a knock at the door and I opened it, feeling Yukina's energy on the other side. My sister entered the room with a tray. She smiled softly. "Feel a little better?" she asked me as she walked over to the desk and set the tray down on it. I nodded. "I still feel drained," I told her as I shut the door behind her. I followed her over to the desk. I was glad that Yukina had brought a large amount of food, and I was sure I could eat it all with no problem. However, I didn't think she'd brought it all for me. "Where's the extra plate?" I asked her as I sat down at the desk. "For what?" she asked me. "Aren't you eating?" I asked her. She shook her head. "I ate with Kairi while you took your shower," she said. "Go ahead, your body needs the extra energy," she encouraged. I didn't need her to ask a second time. and began eating. The moment I took the first bite, I realized just how hungry I really was. I was starving as though I hadn't eaten all day, though Kairi had told Yukina otherwise. It wasn't long before I finished off all the food on my tray. Once I had eaten I began feeling sleepy again. "Maybe Kairi should check you over again tomorrow," she suggested. I nodded in agreement, then brushed my teeth and went back to bed. Yukina sat down beside me and transferred some her energy to me as she had earlier, while humming that soothing tune she'd hummed before.

I hadn't realized I'd drifted off to sleep until I'd awakened the next morning to someone knocking at the door. "Lord Hiei? Are you awake?" Kairi asked from the other side. "Come in," I said, not feeling at all like getting out of bed. She entered the room closing the door behind her. A soft frown upon her face. "How do you feel?" she asked me. "Tired," I told her. "You look better than yesterday, but you're loosing energy faster than you should be," she told me. "Why?" I asked her. "The baby is draining your energy at a faster rate than your body can handle," the healer told me. "You're going to need someone to transfer energy to you constantly or you and the baby both won't survive much longer at this rate," she continued as she sat down upon a cushion placed on my side of the bed. "Then do it," I said as I rolled over onto my back. Kairi closed her eyes and I felt her energy wash over me just as it had before, only this time I began to feel it enter me. By the time she withdrew her energy I didn't feel as tired as I had before. "That should be sufficient for a little while," she told me. "I'll come back in a few hours to check on you again," she told me as she rose from the cushion. I yawned and nodded ready to take a long nap, despite my new boost in energy. My eyes slid closed only to fly open again at the feel of someone gently shaking my shoulder. I hadn't even realized I had even been asleep, but it was no longer morning from what I could tell. Kairi looked at me, watching my face. "Lord Hiei, I want to check on you and the baby now," she said. I sighed with annoyance but slowly moved into a sitting position so she could help me remove my shirt. I laid back down again and closed my eyes as Kairi placed her hands upon my abdomen. A soft moan of pleasure escaped my lips as she transferred a little bit of energy to me.

Suddenly, the door opened breaking her concentration. My eyes snapped open at the withdrawal of her energy and I turned my head ready to kill whoever had interrupted us. They widened in shock when I saw Kurama standing in the doorway looking anything but pleased. His golden eyes were ice cold as he glared at Kairi. "Kindly take your hands off him and leave," Kurama said, his tone cool and even. The healer glanced at me and I gave a slight nod. Quickly, she rose from the cushion at the side of the bed and left the room, casting a worried glance over her shoulder as she went. "What are you doing here?" I asked him. "I think the better question is what was she doing here?" Kurama responded as he shut the door behind himself and made his way over to the bed. "Her job," I told him. "Her job?" he repeated. "Just how long has this been going on?" he demanded. I glared at him. "What is wrong with you?" I snapped at him. "What the hell do you think is wrong?" he hissed back. "I come here to talk to you and I walk in on this," he said motioning to me in the bed. "I never thought that you'd betray me like this Hiei," he said turning toward the door. Confused and angry at his behavior, I sat up. "I never thought you'd betray me either, Kurama, but you made it perfectly clear the other night, that you can't even stand the sight of me anymore," I hissed. Feeling suddenly exhausted I laid back down and closed my eyes. "Get out," I told him. "Wait a minute Hiei, …." He began, but I cut him off. "Out, now," I growled as I rolled over onto my side, turning my back to him.

A sudden pain in my abdomen made me cry out. "Kairi!" I yelled. The door flew open and I could hear footsteps dashing into the room. "Lord Hiei, what's wrong?" she asked. "Pain, abdomen," I gasped out. "Yukinia help me lay him on his back," Kairi said. Suddenly, I was on my back with my sister and Kairi looking down worriedly on me. "Give him some of your energy while I examine him," she instructed. As I felt Yukina's energy enter me the pain began to lessen but I began to feel sleepy. My eyes began to slide closed and the last thing I saw before they shut completely was Kurama's worried face.

To be continued....

Does anyone know how to get more space between the paragraphs? I've tried several times in document manager to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.