A/n: Blagh blagh blagh. HOSPITAL SUCKS. I'VE BEEN HERE FOR LIKE A MONTH NOW. LEMME GO HOME!

Chapter 6:

"He's crying again." Syaoran explained with a hefty sigh. Most pregnancies came with morning sickness in the early days, but as Fay approached the 6 month mark, he couldn't go a full night without waking up ill. Thankfully this world was cooler than the last, but Fay was miserable either way. Anger having ebbed away, he now seemed to spend his entire waking time either crying or being sick.
"That's a shame, I have news." Sakura sighed, placing the breakfast plates on the table.
"News?" Kurogane questioned. Sakura nodded and grinned.
"Well, ever since I was younger, I've had dreams about things before they'd happen." She explained, fiddling with the edge of her apron as though she thought it sounded a little mad.

Dressed in a floor length green velvet dress, with a white smock and white gloves, she felt incredibly overdressed for breakfast, but so was the custom here. She mused that the dress probably weighed more than she did. Kurogane and Syaoran who were used to carrying large swords and therefore good with moving with weight, wore brown slack pants with heavy button up jackets without complaint. They both looked incredibly handsome, but Fay (elsewhere in the house, crying) could not find a jacket to suit his new shape, so was now completely unable to leave the house.
"Hm?" Kurogane questioned.
"They're called prophetic dreams," Syaoran explained, buttering his bread.
"And… well I can't actually tell prophetic dreams from regular dreams so I could be wrong… but I think I know the gender of Fay-san's baby." She chirped and bobbed on the balls of her feet excitedly.
"And…"
"Well, I have to ask him if he wants me to tell first. He might prefer to keep it a secret for now, and I might be mistaken." She said modestly.

"By all means, tell." Fay said, rubbing his eyes and entering the room. His usually kempt hair was wild and messy, sticking out at odd angles, his eyes were sore and it wasn't only his stomach that was swollen now. Though he was by no means fat, he seemed to have gained weight on his wrists and arms too, looking more human than his usual almost skeletal physique. All in all he looked exhaustedly tired, generally run down
"Okay… Fay-san." She held her breath. "If my dream is right… You're having a boy." She smiled happily. Kurogane couldn't help but smirk, just having one up on the mage.
"Hmm… is that so?" The disappointment in his voice and on his face was evident.
"I know you wanted a girl… but I know you'll love him just as much," Sakura said kindly, smiling softly.
"It's fine, no sense shooting the messenger."
"Some people are predetermined to have a certain sex baby. Factors such as heat, age, weight at the time of conception etcetera can also affect the gender card." Syaoran put forward helpfully.
"I know. The other father's family's all boys, and my parents only had boys, so it's understandable." Fay had expected, from the moment Kurogane said genetically it was unlikely to be a girl that the infant may be a boy, but he still wanted a girl. Kurogane had taken to being referred to as 'the other father', Sakura, Mokona and Syaoran didn't question it (which they both assumed to be Syaoran's instructions.) He sighed softly.

"Boys?" Sakura queried cheerfully, cocking her head. "You never mentioned that you have brothers."
"Had." Fay said simply, without blinking. Sakura's eyes widened and she looked appalled with herself.
"I… I don't think before I speak! I am so sorry I…" She stammered.
"It's fine Sakura-chan." Fay swore. "I can handle a boy." He said eventually, though he wasn't entirely sure he could. Truth be told a boy with his eyes really might crush him… and the name. Theoretically his name should be Fay…
"I… I'm sorry." Sakura whispered, hanging her head.
"Don't mention it." Fay said, in a slightly firmer voice. "A boy is a boy."
"I shouldn't have said anything." Sakura mumbled, feeling she'd upset him, both in mentioning siblings and telling him he was having a boy.
"Eh, he'd have found out sooner or later." Kurogane grunted. "Kid, we're gonna be late." He added to Syaoran who nodded and cleared his plate. He bowed.
"Thank you for the meal Sakura-hime." She smiled and curtseyed back, being over formal as was expected of her. The swordsman and his apprentice left with vague goodbyes, Mokona with them. Syaoran was quiet for a long while, before rather tentatively asking.

"Are you happy, that it's a boy?" He kept his eyes ahead, hands clasped around the handle of his sword. He knew what they were up against today.
"Me? I don't care." Kurogane said. Syaoran gave a vague 'mm' that could have been disbelief, but was most likely the noise of confirmation. He suspected that whatever had gone on with Fay and Kurogane behind closed doors involved Kurogane not having anything to do with the infant. He wondered if that situation would work.
"The princess would be terrified if she knew we were fighting a dragon." He said apprehensively, hoping the slight fear didn't show in his voice. Kurogane nodded.
"Which is why we didn't tell the princess, she never leaves the damn house anyway." Sure enough Sakura had taken to staying in the old manor house every day with Fay to make sure he didn't get lonely. Mokona still went out with the boys every day, and through word of mouth (and Mokona had a very large mouth) they had discovered a dragon's den in the nearby mountain. A quaint little town, one would probably correctly assume paranormal entities such as dragons were few and far between. That left the option that there was a feather.

Kurogane had a bloodthirsty look in his eyes, one that almost frightened Syaoran. He didn't dare say it out loud but perhaps princess Tomoyo had been right to send him away… and perhaps it was a good thing he wasn't fathering a child.
"Mekkyo!" Mokona piped in.
"A feather?" Syaoran asked hopefully.
"I'm not sure, but it's strong!" Mokona whispered dramatically, and a little like a bloodhound pointed directly at a large crack in the rocky cliff face.
"Secluded and surrounded by myth, yet close enough to locals for food… perfect place for a nest." Kurogane voiced, his hands feeling the crevice like a man gone mad with anticipation. "Think you're up to this?" He asked, looking at Syaoran.
"Yes." He nodded firmly, and the three (Mokona hiding under Syaoran's jacket) ventured into the mini valley between the rocks. Syaoran tripped and stumbled over skeletons and various animal debris, thankfully there was nothing human-like about most of the remains.
"This one's dangerous." Kurogane said softly, his eyes glazing over slightly as though he was reliving something painful. "They normally don't leave a thing, if it's abandoning food… it's eating too often, it's spoiled for choice: be on guard." Syaoran nodded and jolted at a noise ahead. Whatever it was, it was huge.

A shaft of light caught them, starting out small but widening as the cracks above their head grew wider. Syaoran knew the cave was in danger of collapse, but they got through it unharmed. Sure enough on the other side of the cavernous hide out was a clearing, and in that clearing, a beast. Dragons, he supposed, came in all shapes and sizes, but perhaps he'd been biased by storybook pictures. The thing looked wild, with blood-red scales and four deeper red eyes. It's teeth were crooked and grew outside and inside its mouth, its jaws overlapping slightly.
"I don't think it's seen us." Syaoran said very softly, watching it carefully. On further inspection its tongue was too huge for its mouth, and its wings were almost terrifying. He'd expected more scales, but had been alarmed to see feathers, jet black and razor sharp.
"Those things don't just chew their food." Kurogane whispered, speaking from experience, he'd dealt with enough dragons to know. "They mangle it, so try not to get eaten."
"MEKKYO!" Mokona said loudly, causing the monstrous dragon to raise its long thin neck, winding round to stare at the intruders. "MOKONA CAN SENSE A FEATHER!"
"Mokona." Whispered Syaoran feebly.
"It's fine, we had to get its attention eventually." Kurogane said, steeling himself. "They have tough hides, your sword won't cut it."
"EH! Then how do we fight it!" The boy asked in terror, he could not exactly kick a dragon to death.
"Three weak points." Kurogane said as it approached. "When I say jump, jump." Syaoran was completely bewildered, but the dragon was almost upon them now, it roared menacingly. "JUMP!" Kurogane leapt onto the creature's back and Syaoran did the same.

"The throat, the stomach, and the centre of the skull!" Kurogane yelled informatively, while Syaoran tried desperately to keep his grip. The scales, some easily the size of dinner plates, were not rough and slimy as he'd assumed, but smooth and straight as glass. The thing reared and bucked at the invaders attack, but Kurogane, who seemed to have experience with this kind of thing, had already scaled the beasts neck. There was a sickening crack as he plunged his sword right between the eyes of the dragon. And the howl was something so chilling, Syaoran felt it in his bones. He never wished to hear it again. The beast fell to the floor, dead, knocking both warriors onto the floor.

"I was no help." Syaoran said eventually, feeling a bit disgusted as he straightened up. The blood-spatter had soaked their clothes, and whereas Kurogane seemed to find this a war-paint tribute, Syaoran himself thought he'd been useless.
"Dragons are… wild. Demons too. They're harder to handle than anything we've faced before, once you've got it though: it's all a game," Kurogane glanced at the body of the beast.
"Mokona doesn't sense the feather anymore." Mokona whispered gently. Syaoran cringed, all that for nothing.
"Then it wasn't a feather, it was the dragon." Mokona sighed.
"Mokona could have sworn it was a feather!" It protested meekly, as Kurogane bent down to survey the thing. Since Fay's baby was a boy… He tore off a scale, one of the finer facial scales, roughly the size and shape of his fingertip, held it up to the sun and stared at it. It was beautiful, in a way, like some precious jewel, translucent and casting a red glow. He pocketed the gem-like disc and nodded.
"Let's go."

A/n: Sakura's said Fay is having a baby boy! What up with Kuro-rin taking a dragon scale? And why was this chapter more about dragons than babies? Because… well… heh. Wait and see. Somewhere along this story I became involved, and I gave it a PLOT! Mwuahahaha. Also, I am mean to characters in future chapters.