I do not own anything, but Sayomi.

Word Count: 8,023

Release Date: April 5th, 2016, thought I actually finished it on the 4th!


Hiei did not flee to Demon World as soon as his talk with Sayomi ended.

The fire demon ended up following her through the temple to meet with the others.

"You have created quite a mess, Hiei," Kurama waited a while before he pulled the fire demon aside, Kuwabara's brown beady eyes watching them as they left the main room. The fox was surprised that Hiei had stayed with the group that long, but it seemed Hiei was truly worried for his sister. He had spent the majority of the afternoon watching Yukina for any signs of fatigue, noticing idly how close the Sayomi and Yukina were.

It had annoyed the fire demon. Usually when he came to visit Yukina fawned over him, always asking 'did he need anything' or 'was he comfortable'; she never strayed too far. Her eyes were always very kind when they fell on him. But not today. Her cherry red eyes were angry, an accusing look hit him every time she turned in his direction. There were no questions or asking if he needed help, just silence, almost like he was not ever there.

A part of him mourned her attention, his mouth turned down into a grimace every time she shot him one of her disappointed glares. It was as if Yukina expected more from him, as if he had personally let her down in some way.

Hiei had no doubts that the reason lay with Sayomi, especially by the blushed sympathetic glances she would shoot him with every time the ice maiden sent him one of her frosty ones. Her silver eyes strayed to him every few minutes, before she would look away fairly quickly back to one of the others or to focus on her hand of cards. They all seemed to be working to distract each other from the very obvious elephant of the room. Hiei was almost tempted to read her mind to see what caused her blushing, but chose not to waste the energy.

Kuwabara was obviously ignoring him, keeping him out of the conversation and while that suited him just fine, it was annoying. Usually the human would attempt to say something smart to him and they would argue; he much preferred that then. Now Kuwabara said nothing, would not even speak to him, purposely did not ask him anything when he went to gather the group drinks, when they had an intermission from playing the silly human game that he had not even been asked to join.

The fire demon was almost glad when Kurama pulled him aside, saying something about discussing some kind of Demon World politics.

"Hn," he shrugged a little, focusing his gaze out the window. They had walked a while around the temple before heading to Kurama's room in the temple to speak. The fire demon was not sure if it was to clear the fox's mind or his own, but he felt slightly less aggravated after the walk.

"Will you be staying for more than a few hours?," the red head asked, tilting his head to the side, hair nearly falling over his face in waves. He sat in a chair, one leg crossed over the other. His room at Genkai's had always been his own and over the years he had decorated it to his liking.

"I am not sure," he answered honestly, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. His main concern had been Yukina, he had run all the way to the temple with that single thought lodging itself deep within him. There had been no ideas of what to do, Sayomi had never even crept across his mind for being the obvious reason his sister was ill. Hiei had never even imagined that Genkai had exaggerated the truth about the ice maiden being sick. But she had. He had come expecting her so ill she could not move from the bed, maybe even dying. But no she was just a little under the weather, tired looking, weaker, but nothing some rest and saving her energy could not fix.

"No one would mind if you stayed," he frowned a little -Hiei snorted in disbelief-, before speaking a little more honestly, "Genkai would not mind," a mirthless chuckle escaped his lips.

"Are you angry with me as well?," not that he really cared, but it would be nice to know where he stood with the fox. Not that anyone ever really knew, but he could attempt to make a guess. Using the window, he stared back at the reflection of the red head, watching his face for any reaction.

"I am a little," Kurama smirked, "but I understand why you asked her to have an abortion," folding his hands in front of him, the fox returned the fire demon's steady gaze. He noticed Hiei looked tense.

"I do not care," he huffed, a small lie falling from his lips. A small part of him did. Wiggling his right hand fingers behind his back, he ached to spar. He felt slightly troubled at his sister's hard looks, and while he never wanted her to realize how close their bond should run, he never wanted her to look at him like that.

That he was truly the evil demon most people believed him to be.

"You do,"

"Hn," he kept his face blank, hoping, but knowing he would fail, that his lie would be believed.

"I do understand Hiei," he stopped, green eyes calculating, "Mukuro must not know,"

"She does not,"

"You should tell her," he felt like this was a repeat of his conversation with Yusuke. Both men refused to tell their partners what exactly they had done.

"No," growling the fire demon glared at the fox's reflection in the window. There was no reason. It was a one time mistake that would never happen again. It should have never happened in the first place, why ruin a good thing over a one time mistake?

"She would appreciate the honesty," the urge to rub his temples was great, the premature headache already settling in at the base of his skull. Hiei was just so stubborn over some things, Kurama wondered if he realized how much Yusuke and him were alike.

"She would end our mating,"

"Hiei, if she is not willing to look over your transgressions then maybe..." flickering his eyes towards the reaction, a deep sigh falling from his lips.

"It does not matter," Hiei began, his thoughts a mess. It was not like he had not entertained the thought of telling Mukuro, but at every thought he realized that it would be over. She was not a forgiving creature, her heart ran as black as his. Cheating would be an act of dishonor and betrayal to her, there would not be a second chance.

The lies he had created about the detective and his mistress had mostly ruined any friendship between his mate to be and Yusuke. She did not wish to talk with the former human or have a thing to do with him. She had been angry when he showed up to inform Hiei of the warnings from Spirit World. When he showed interest in inviting Yusuke formally to their 'ceremony' -a stupid human thing- a sneer had fallen across her face, disapproval deep within her voice.

"I can not change your mind then," the red head sighed, choosing to look up towards the ceiling, his mind filled with topics.

"No," looking out the window, his cherry eyes caught Genkai stalking across the grounds, her face hard. Suddenly as he watched, Kuwabara jogged towards her. The human was shirtless, but held firm. "What are they doing?," he asked suddenly, angling his body so Kurama could watch as well.

"Genkai has been teaching Kuwabara about forming barriers made of his Spiritual energy," shifting his focus to the human, the fox grinned, "Who knew he held such talent for them," there was a tinge of pride there.

"Hn," it made sense the fire demon thought. The human's defenses had always been high, Kuwabara had always been able to take more of a beating than any of them. It made sense than any kind of defensive energy would fit his personal aura so well. The human had always had a bleeding heart. "I thought he gave up fighting," Hiei mumbled, his mind thinking over what the others had told him.

"In a way, but Genkai and I both agree we should still be ready in case," frowning a little, they both watched as the old woman blasted the human with an attack, but he held firm. The energy all but dispelled in two great rifts on either side of his body, the ground baring scorching marks from the force of her attack. Obviously the gain of the exercise was to see how far she could push him until he finally broke.

"Yusuke came to me about Koenma's warning,"

"I figured he would,"

"You do not worry," raising an eyebrow in question, his eyes refocused on the fox in question. If Kurama was not then worried then he should not be, but...

"There's not enough for me to go on..." he paused for a moment thinking over everything he had been told. Koenma said his main informant was missing, that things were brewing,

"You think the toddler is hiding something,"

"It's a known fact that Spirit World is still facing allegations of now illegal dealings with both demons and humans,"

"King Enma," spitting the name, the fire demon nearly growled. He like most demons did not care for the former King of Spirit World. The man had been cruel and spread lies about the truth of demons. He would have rather Enma face death instead of the jail time he was currently serving.

"Yes, he may be locked away, there were calls for his execution from Yomi and others, but jail time for an indefinite amount of time was the sentence," pulling strands of his hair away from his face, the fox felt the need to wrap one long strand around his finger, thinking over the situation of Spirit World.

It was a dangerous one. The distrust harbored by many from King Enma's reign of terror had not gone away. Many believed a system of checks needed to be put in place to keep better watch over Spirit World so another corrupt ruler of souls would never surface. Koenma, many felt, was not a fair and just ruler, he had blindly followed his father's wishes for a very long time. Why give the heir of the horrible previous King the new title of King?

Yusuke had made the transition go smoother with his support of Koenma. After all the demi-god had thrown his lot in with, been disowned for a time, because he had refused to allow his Father's soldiers to kill the former human. And for a time there had been a massive power play in Spirit World once the Father allowed his son to return, both gathering support from the citizens of Spirit World, but once Koenma had some, not all, but enough of Demon kind to back him it was over.

Kurama did not know the details, no one did honestly, of how exactly Koenma had found the charges to put his Father away. It was a secret which the demi-god refused to disclose, stating simply that it had not gone as smoothly as they had hoped and lives had been changed.

But the demi-god was fair. He judged souls off the merits of their life, choosing to look at more than just the big decisions, he dived into their past to see if things had been out of control. He judged demons just as he did humans, no turning a blind eye to either race's bad apples. He had formed a special squad of soldiers to deal with any conflicts between the races that were always watched over to ensure fairness, it was often that Yusuke joined them. The former human liked to say he was keeping watch, when they all knew in reality he just wanted to land a good fight here and then.

"Many do not think the punishment fit the crime," Kurama agreed with them. King Enma should have faced harsher consequences than he was given, but the fox also understood that Koenma could not rightly try his Father when a large group of Spirit World citizens still outwardly supported the former King. His hands were tied so to speak.

"There are others who do not believe he should be punished," Hiei growled, knowing that some of the idiots of Spirit World believed that their older ruler was a fair ruler. They were some of the ones who held a hatred for demon kind.

"Exactly, I do not believe Koenma told Yusuke everything, he is hiding secrets,"

"Like always," grunting, he barked out a mirthless laugh.

"Or Yusuke was not paying enough attention when the demi-god briefed him," smirking the red head, chuckled a little. Yusuke may be strong, but his attention span when not engaged in a fight left much to be desired.

"The detective doesn't have the greatest attention span," rolling his eyes the fire demon sighed. Once again it did not matter to him, but he knew that if his former teammates got dragged into some kind fight, that either willingly or forcefully he would be brought into the source of conflict. It never failed.

"Either way, as I warned Yusuke it is our best interests to watch and listen," his emerald eyes watched Kuwabara's energy shield deflect another energy blast from the old woman, "Koenma only mentioned that trouble may be brewing, a small group is causing trouble, I believe, is what I could concern when I questioned him myself,"

"Nothing else?," would the demi-god ever actually tell them anything useful?

"Nothing," he sighed, twisting his vivid hair around his fingers.

The two men stayed quiet for a few minutes, their eyes both watching the humans outside training. Genkai finally realized that Kuwbara would not waver from her attacks if he had time to set up a barrier.

Yukina and Sayomi appeared outside, the ice maiden serving as a distraction for him. When he turned to wave at them excitedly, the old woman attacked, firing off a small energy blast that knocked him ten yards in the opposite direction.

"She's really working him hard," tilting his right ear towards the two, Kurama listened in, Genkai was calling Kuwabara an idiot and yelling at him to pay better attention.

"Hn," he nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. Hiei could not help his eyes from first watching Yukina, she seemed a little better now, her eyes a little less tired. Her small pale hands covering her mouth as she giggled, some of her escaping hair blowing gentling in the breeze. She wore it differently now than earlier in the day, all of it was pulled back in a long minty braid.

Sayomi stood to the side, her right hand on her hip as she also laughed at the human. He could not see the bump now, her jacket gray large and covering it so well. She had also tied her hair up, a messy bun at the nape of her neck, much like the bun she had worn the night he met her.

"Yukina is very fond of Sayomi," Kurama stated, his emerald eyes watching as the ice maiden turned to ask the pregnant woman a question. The two fell into another fit of giggling causing Kuwabara to turn a shade of red as bright as his hair.

"Hn," he rolled his eyes, a small part of him was pleased that his sister at least had someone else to talk with besides Kuwabara. The other women of the group hardly had time to visit her these days he remembered from the last time he had sat and let her prattle on.

"Your sister was rather lonely before, she helps," he smiled, placing his palms on his knees, "I think you should get to know her, she is very kind,"

Hiei shrugged at the fox, his eyes taking in the scene. Kuwabara wrapped a large arm around both women while Genkai rolled her eyes, before quickly throwing another blast of energy at the trio, quickly a shield arose to protect them. Kuwabara said something to Yukina, said it rather intimately to her, his lips real close -too close- to her left ear, causing her to blush.

The pregnant woman laughed at Yukina's blush, her body shaking with mirth, a part of him did not enjoy that. It disgusted him that the human even had an arm around her shoulders, but then he figured a whore liked the attention of men.

"You could do much worse," Kurama spoke softly, a small smile playing at his lips. He spoke the truth, Sayomi was kind, she had done nothing so far to cause any ill moments with the group.

"She is a whore," he growled, wondering how his sister could be so okay, so fine, with the fact that another woman was so close to one she held so dear. He would never allow another male so close to Mukuro, she was his and his alone.

"Regardless she is carrying your child," lifting an eyebrow in question at the whore comment, he shook his head choosing to move on from it. He had a feeling that no matter what questions he asked, the fire demon would say nothing.

"I have no interest in being a father," he sighed, the conversation feeling worn out.

"Maybe, but fate has chosen to give you a child,"

"She can keep it," grumbling his cherry eyes watching as Genkai separated the trio, forcing Kuwabara to continue training.

"Are you going to allow the child to continue feeding off of Yukina?," sly he asked, even though he had a feeling the answer would be no. Hiei cared too very much, was too protective of his twin to allow something like that to happen to her, even if it really was not harming her.

"No, I will come from time to time to give some my energy to it's core until the child is born,"

"And then you will have nothing to do with it, I presume?," a hint of malice entered his voice as he shook his head.

"Hn," shrugging Hiei caught a glimpse of the angry emerald eyes in the window.

Kurama chose to stay quiet, keeping his disapproving thoughts to himself. There was no point trying to change the fire demon's mind; it was made up. He only hoped that Hiei would change his mind before the baby was born. Having a child was not a curse like Hiei thought, it changed a person, usually for the better.

"I was wondering how often I should come," after a few moments Hiei spoke again. Demon cores were not something he wondered about. As long as his own still functioned within his body it had never occurred to him to know the finer points of cores. And anyway creating another core had never been on his list of things to do, having a child was not something he wanted so he had never sought out the information on how to feed a fetus' core.

"If you were a normal couple," -Hiei snorted- "you would continuously feed the child every day with your energy. It's less draining this way, only a small portion very day is required." Furrowing his brow, Kurama wondered how often was necessary to feed the child. Obviously his friend could not come every day. How long was too much time?

"Would once a month work?," he asked quietly, turning away from the window finally. His mind kept jumping to Sayomi, imagining the bump underneath her coat. The urge to trace it with his tan calloused hands never fully went away and he mentally shook himself to rid his mind of the thought.

"Too long, Yukina would have to supplement the fetus with her own energy," he sighed, holding his hands up to placate the fire demon's glare.

"No," his sister was innocent in all of this mess. It was not fair for her to give her own energy for his mistakes. Hiei was supposed to look after her, not allow her to fall weak and ill as a consequence of his actions.

"I would say it would be better to come once a week," he began, but Hiei's growl stopped him.

"That's too often!," Mukuro would eventually start to believe something was going on if he left that often for Human World.

"Every other week, or twice a month should suffice then," doing the math quickly, he realized that if Hiei gave up a substantial amount of energy it should supply the core for long enough between visits that the ice maiden would not have to donate her own energy.

"Mukuro will find it suspicious," he muttered.

"Then tell her the truth,"

The answering growl was enough of a protest for Kurama to know the answer.


Sayomi had a hard time keeping her eyes off Hiei while she played Go Fish with the other's. Every few moments her eyes would be drawn to the fire demon, her son's energy always pushing to intermingle with his father. She could almost see the lines forming between the two of them in the air as it was.

Every not and then when she looked, Hiei's eyes would fall on her, unreadable, but open at the same time. Anger was readable on the surface, but everything that lay underneath was a a mystery to her. She did not know him well enough to guess his thoughts and so she did not try, her face blushing when she caught him looking.

When Kurama and Hiei left the room it grew quiet for a moment, their footsteps echoing down the hallway, disappearing before anyone spoke.

"What did you two talk about?,"

"What the hell the Shrimp want?,"

The odd couple spoke at the same time, Kuwabara's loud voice booming over Yukina's soft tones. The human sent her a shy look, looking sheepish, before nodding for her to speak first.

"Thank you Kazuma," she sent a bright smile towards the human, "Kurama slide the door shut to give you two privacy, but what did Hiei wish to speak with you about?," one small hand went to rest on Sayomi's arm.

"He wasn't an ass right?," there was a twitch of an eye from the human in slight anger.

"He told me why he came," Sayomi spoke softly, choosing to lay her cards face down on the table, "Genkai wrote him in Demon World that there were complications with my pregnancy," she huffed a little, "He did not give me any details,"

"Well that explains grandma being so smug at lunch earlier today," chuckling the human had wondered what the old woman knew that they did not, but it made sense that she would write to them.

"Quit your chuckling you big baffon, I ain't your grandma," Genkai's voice broke through the conversation, the old woman sliding the door open rather roughly.

"Genkai, what do you wa-!," he was asking before the old woman stalked rather forcefully over to him and grabbed his ear. "Ouch that hurts!," he whined, her small frame dragging him a foot or so across the floor before he yelped.

"Training, outside now, we're wasting daylight" she growled, before looking over to the two women, "Join us once you've changed, I need your help," they both nodded quickly, "NOW Kuwabara!," she growled at him, giving him another swift tug on the ear when he had not moved from the floor.

Suffice to say Kuwabara got up quickly, reaching for his jacket as he bounded out the door. Genkai followed along, a large smirk on her face.

"I wonder what angered her," Sayomi muttered, rolling her eyes. A tinge of sympathy went through her at the old woman's rather rough treatment of her friend. Some times she felt that Genkai was too rough.

"Genkai is rather rough in her teachings," Yukina shook her head, a small smile lighting up her face, "She just wishes for Kazuma to be strong,"

"That does not mean she needs to be rough with him," her silver eyes strayed to the doorway in which the pair left, her mind wondering what kind of training the pair were doing.

"I do not think she knows how to be any other way," Yukina sighed, tucking a strand of her long minty hair between her ear.

"No, I think she does not," she watched as Yukina went to move, fussing over her hair. "Do you mind if we talk for a moment?," she asked before the ice maiden could reach for her jacket.

"I'm sure Genkai won't mind too much," the ice maiden nodded, sitting back down.

"I'll say we had to braid your hair so the wind won't blow it around as an excuse," giggling a little, Sayomi moved to kneel on her knees, using her fingers to comb through the long thick minty locks. Yukina preferred to have her hair in a braid, but the demon always muttered that when she braided her own hair it never turned out right. It was always lopsided or crooked or too many miscellaneous hairs.

Sayomi thought that Yukina just liked to have her hair played with.

"That's a perfect excuse," the ice maiden laughed a little, her eyes closing in happiness, enjoying the feeling of her scalp messaged as Sayomi began to gather the sections together.

"What else did Hiei speak with you about?," she asked after a moment, remembering their conversation before Genkai barged in the room. There was a pause in her hair moving, before Sayomi very slowly smoothed her hair back into place, returning to braiding.

"We talked about his core," concentrating very hard on the braid, she tried to work in the hair that always fell around Yukina's face, to make a French Braid. Her mind slipped to braiding her own hair many times through out the years...


"It suits you," her master's voice carried through the hall, both intimating and commanding all in one go. Another of her master's servants, a guard, stood in the room. It was the first time she was ever brought before her master in such a way. The white kimono was made of cotton, a simple thing, with red brown flowers, an Anisu flower, her mind supplied, wrapped around her hips.

Only a few hours before she had awoken, the futon beneath her cold and hard. When she had awoken there was nothing that she remembered before awakening. Her mind was wiped clean, but she remembered how to speak, but her legs trembled when she put weight on them. It was a strange feeling. To remember how to function, but now how she had learned how to function.

Her master did not comment on her memory. Did not say anything about how she came to be his servant. He simply instructed her to dress, her naked body becoming rather obvious, but despite that she did not feel the cold.

She did not know what prompted her to braid her hair in such a way before she joined her master in his great hall before his other subjects. A nagging voice across her brain told her it to do it and she did, taking moments longer than needed to braid her hair, winding it around her fingers wistfully.

Her master seemed pleased by her appearance, a smile peeking out from behind his beard and mustache.


"What about his core?," Yukina's voice pulled her from her memory. It at the time had been a happy one, still to the day was happy. Those were the days when her master was kind, those days the cruelest thing said to her was that her hair was lopsided.

"I explained the situation and he..." she paused for a moment, nearing the end of the braid. It stretched down Yukina's back, minty rope across her kimono. Admiring her handy work, she reached for the red ribbon that usually kept the ice maiden's long hair tied back. Her tongue poked just a little out of her mouth as she tied the long silky ribbon in the neatest bow she could at the bottom of the braid. "Hiei agreed to contribute to his core." She said at last, Yukina jerking around in her seat to look at her, eyes wide.

"That's wonderful!," smiling so very brightly the ice maiden nodded enthusiastically. It was strange to see her so excited, but then again this was a step in the right direction.

"It is," nodding along with her friend, she pulled her own hair from her face, watching as it pooled over shoulders. Quickly she pulled it back, a quick messy bun at the back of her neck, similar to her hair the night Hiei had visited the Brothel.

"This is good, Sayomi," an ice hand moved to rest on her own, the owner of said hand seemed to realize her reluctance to admit it.

It was not that Sayomi was not grateful for the fire demon's help, but she worried that she could not count on it. Would he stay true to his word? How often would he come to contribute to the baby's core? Would it be often enough? Or would their son suffer and grow weak in the moments between visits?

A smaller part of her turned the puzzle of the strange relationship between Hiei and Yukina. The fire demon was possessive in a strange way. The first day she had met the ice maiden, the fire demon had all but growled at her to keep her son from going after Yukina's energy reserves. And he had been adoment that Yukina would have nothing to do with contributing to the core of their child when he had finally decided to make an appearance.

He protected her.

"I know, I just worry Hiei will not return as often as he should..." she muttered, choosing the moment to climb to her feet. After all making Genkai wait too long was never a good thing, the old master was often cranky and snappish on her good days, making her wait did not bode well.

"He will," Yukina handed her gray jacket over to her, smiling a small secretive smile, "Hiei is honorable," her words echoed the ones she had spoke before in the town at the base of the mountain.

"I know you believe that," she paused for a moment to zip it up, her hands wrapped tightly in the fabric of the sleeves. The jacket was a few sizes too big, bought for when her baby bump was much larger. "But why do you believe Hiei is honorable?," she asked.

"Hiei agreed to look for my brother in Demon World, he has not given up what is probably a hopeless search, simply because he agreed to it," cherry eyes turned sad, a far away look flittering across her face. It was as if she had clocked out from her present state of mind.

Pausing Sayomi, bite her lip for a moment, she had never heard news that the ice maiden had a sibling, never heard the woman talk about her time before she had come to live with Genkai. It was as if that part of her past was closed off, forgotten, much like her own was. They both had a mutual understanding that the subject was off limits, choosing to talk both of the present and the future instead.

"You have a brother?," asking quietly, Sayomi tugged gently on the ice maiden's small hand towards the hallway to follow Genkai and Kuwabara. They would walk as they talked she figured, hoping the very deep sadness that rested like a rock on her friend's face would disappear soon.

"Yes," sighing, Yukina allowed herself to be tugged down the hallway, her thoughts coloring darkly. "We are twins."

"Where is he?,"

"I do not know, I have never met him," her silver eyes moved quickly to Yukina, surprise falling across her face. Yukina's features were hard, but firm, an even darker look dominating her features.

"Why not?,"

"My race of people do not approve of men, he was cast out,"

"Oh," she chose not to ask, the dark look that resided in her friend's eyes spoke volumes of how she felt about it. If she had not seen it herself, Sayomi would never believe that such a deep hatred resided in her friend's soul. "I am sorry."

It was the only thing she could think to say, the words tumbling from her lips quickly, over the course of her many years, comforting another soul had never been very high on her list of things to know about. Having friends had never been part of her life before, but now suddenly she was overcome with the emotion to somehow comfort her friend. Sure she had seen other people comfort others in the few movies she had seen and sometimes in real life while serving under her master, but her experience was limited and actually doing something versus watching someone do it were two completely different matters.

"It was a long time ago," the words were quiet, icy hands pulling the braid over her shoulder to fiddle with it quickly. "I never met him," the words 'I wish I could have' were left unsaid as they walked through the temple, sadness clinging to the woman like a blanket.

"Well Hiei is honorable," Sayomi finally said, she took the minty haired girl's hand, giving it a squeeze, she prayed to the gods for a moment that her words would have a positive effect instead of a negative one, "I'm sure he will find him," she smiled as brightly as she could.

"I hope so," a fake smile took root across her face, her eyes intermingling with pain.

Sayomi tugged a little harder at the fingers tangled within her own. Kuwabara would be able to fix this.

Kuwabara always fixed Yukina.


"I am leaving," Hiei's voice startled her and her head shot up in shock.

The fire demon leaned casually against the door jam, his bare arms crossed over his chest. Cherry eyes stared her down in a bored way, he seemed to calm as he looked at her. His traveling black cloak was no where to be seen.

Sayomi had spent the day with Yukina and Kuwabara and true to her thoughts the human had mostly fixed the ice miaden's mood, except sometimes when no one looked, the dark look crossed her features again, but quickly disappeared behind a bright and sunny facade, but Sayomi realized it was all an act. But at dinner Yukina had seemed better, the dark look mostly gone as they joked about what to do the following day, before Kurama and Kuwabara left in the evening to return to their jobs and school.

Monday they would return to cleaning many of the seemingly endless temple wings, she had sighed a little, Genkai's stern glance crossing over her briefly. Much as she did not mind house work, it seemed to be a never ending cycle at the temple. There was always some room to clean or some furniture to polish. The weekends when the boys visited were a brief reprise from the normal day to day activities. Idly she had began to wonder if this was what humans experienced when they worked their jobs and careers, the animosity for the day Monday when the weekend came to a close understood, all too quickly their break went.

"You will not stay until tomorrow?," she asked, choosing to sit up. Sayomi had been laying out across her futon, her shirt pulled up over her ever growing bump. Fingertips traced the bump, her mind wishing he would move for her to feel, but he did not. Facts whispered across her mind that since it was her first pregnancy -her only she thought- that it was too soon for her body to feel him moving; he would eventually move enough that she could feel, but for now she would have to be patient. Being patient was hard and she was almost glad Hiei had interrupted her thoughts. The hour grew late and she had not expected company, nor had she noticed her door slide open.

"No," Hiei had watched her for a few moments before he spoke, his wide cherry eyes taking in her form. It was strange how she had not noticed him, but she was so far deep in her thoughts, he briefly turned the idea to read her thoughts over in his mind, but chose to ignore it. There was nothing she could ever think that would interest him anyway.

It was just her body that he craved and even standing there, watching her stroke her smooth skin, skin that bulged, thin small discolored marks beginning to flash across her stomach's skin, he felt his body want her.

It was likewise strange that he wanted her so, but it was purely a physical attraction. There was no interest in wishing to know her. The one and only time they had ever truly spoken, besides where it was concerned, she had been engaging and witty, but he wondered now if it was all an act. To fool him, to get him into bed. Whores would say anything to get their fuck in.

"Did you come to feed him then?," her soft voice pulled him from his thoughts, her silver eyes expecting much from him with her gaze. It seemed strange that she could look at him in such a way, but no fear was there. Many feared him, but she did not. It interested him in the way a bold mouse would entertain a cat; he wondered if she should.

"Yes," what other reason would he come to her? All she signified was a mistake, evidence that he had done wrong. A secret now stretched between Mukuro and him all because of the woman in front of him. Hiei had resigned to keep that one night a secret, but one wrong slip now and the truth would come tumbling down like a rock slide, unstoppable and nearly impossible to avoid.

"Oh," speaking softly, she stared down at her stomach, marveling at it for a moment as it poked over her thighs. "Then I guess come here then, its easiest with skin on skin contact," sighing softly, a small part of her wanted a cup of sake to deal with the situation, but she knew better.

"Don't order me around," grunting at her, he listened anyway, sliding the door behind him shut. The click it made when it shut was loud, definite as it closed them off from the outside world.

"I am only trying to make this easier on you," she grumbled back at him, rolling her eyes. Despite Yukina reminding her many times that the fire demon was honorable, she felt that he was much more stubborn. It was as if he enjoyed denying others of what they wanted, as if his way was the only way that mattered. He was very selfish.

"You have already complicated my life far too much to make this easy," he paused for a moment, "despite being easy yourself," catching her eyes, he noticed the anger rise in her, her aura flashing brilliantly for a second, an outraged gasp falling from her lips at his words.

"You-!," words escaped her for a moment, "What have I told you about being insulting me!?," she accused, reminding him of their first conversation after a moment. Fingers tangled in the fabric of her futon's sheets in anger, her silver eyes flashing at him. Her lips turned into an angry pout. Before when she was in the Brothel he had insulted her then, and they had a moment of understanding that it was wrong to insult the other for their stations in life.

"Hn," he grumbled, remembering as well. A light blush gathered in his cheeks, his mind turning over to where the conversation had led them. They had talked over a whore getting pregnant, it was ironic now, he had done exactly what they had discussed that night.

"I am not easy," she all but growled at him. It had never been her choice to work in the Brothel, and while he may have known that, he still chose to think of her as being an unkept woman and it bothered her. She knew he must think of her as a whore and a small part of her did not ever want the Father of her son to think that, to maybe one day tell their son that his mother worked in a Brothel.

"You are still a whore," he rolled his eyes at her, standing only a few feet from her. The air between them felt charged, an electricity there that surprised him.

"Not anymore," Sayomi's anger was easily found on her face, her arms crossed over her breasts in such a way to almost hide them. Her face was upturned to look at him, a defiant look in her eyes.

"The past defines who we are," he said suddenly, thinking of his sins. They were a part of the reason he would never tell Yukina. She was everything he was not, pure, innocent, full of love. He was nothing but guilt, stained by the blood of all the people he had killed, full of hatred for his mother's people. And while he may have changed, become slightly better of a person, had people he allowed to be in his life, functioned with them on a regular basis, his past had defined who he was. Created him.

Just like being a whore had defined who she was. She was not strong, but weak. A pawn. Her past had created her, created this woman who glared at him for calling her what she was. She denied the truth of what exactly she was, her skills as a whore had been honed, she was taught to be witty when needed, to be a flirt to attract the opposite sex's attention.

"Maybe, but I am working towards being a mother," her words caught him off guard. He had not expected her to be completely honest with him, to admit he was right, but then he realized she had done the same as before. "I would really appreciate it if you did not judge me based off my past, you know only the tip of the iceberg," her fingers traced her stomach, her gaze dropping from his own to stare at the bump that lay there, "I wish to be someone worthy of his love."

"Hn," he shook himself mentally, his eyes resting on her protruding stomach as well.

"I hope one day you become someone worthy of his love too," moving her face to look at him, she smiled brightly, the same smile that had drew him into her. The same bright white teeth, the skin of her face practically glowing from the pregnancy.

"I do not want it's love," he half snarled, shrugging at her. Her words had caught him off guard, he felt frazzled, off center. His mind mulled over her words, a small part of him wondering if it would ever wish to love him. Or would it feel the same way towards him as he felt towards his own father? A hatred that burned so deep he felt it in his bones. Or would it feel the half thought of regretful feelings he felt for his own mother; always pushed away, but still there buried under the hatred for her people.

"Regardless he will love you," Sayomi chose to stand, her hands not quite reaching for him, but held in expectation.

"Why makes you think that idiotic thought?," He huffed, staring at her opens hands in question.

"All children love their parents," the smile played across her face again, before she made a decision. The smile still shown brightly across her face, but determination crossed her features as well, her pale hands reaching for his slightly tan ones.

"What the hell-?,"

"Shhhh," shushing him, Sayomi clasped her hands around his rough larger calloused hands, a small blush forming across her face. It felt nice to touch him like that, his hands fit well with her own. Her own hands soft and small, pale, while his own was a stark contrast to her own: rough and calloused, tan almost. Absentmindedly she stroked the pads of her thumbs over the backs of his hands.

Without giving him a chance to jerk his hands away from her, she gave a little tug, pulling him closer to her all at once, his aura rising to meet her own -an automatic response to his body being moved without his consent- it wrapped around the two of them for a moment, before the child within her sparked to life, his aura intermingling with their own.

The blush crept along her cheeks, her nose inhaling the smell of Hiei, a mixture of fire, burnt wood, and something almost sweet, refreshing, the smell she noticed everyday when she went outside when it was colder.

Hiei was shocked, feeling it recognized him so intimately, the child pulling both of their energy together, twisting it until even the jagan could not tell where his own energy and Sayomi's begun. It wove them like a band, in and out, tight coils of their energy. The child's core shown brightly, his jagan literally seeing it residing inside the woman's womb, the core pulled his energy towards it like a magnet, unrealistically strong, unable to escape.

So he did not, choosing to limit exactly how much the child could take.

Once the child was done, the air around them seemed to pause, Hiei's eyes fluttering open; he had not even realized he had shut them. Unsure how to felt, he stayed completely still, cherry eyes rapidly blinking, taken back by the experience.

Sayomi smiled at him, her silver eyes large and bright, a knowing look across her face. She was content with what had transpired. Her son's core shown brightly within her, finally a mix of both of his parents. Her body felt stronger, even stronger despite Yukina's help. It seemed being fed by Yukina was a total difference than being fed by Hiei.

"That was..." he was still awestruck, the words failed him at the moment. He did not suddenly feel love for the child, but some kind of connection had formed. He understood why he was needed to build the core, it's core was weak before just a small dying campfire in the early morning, but now it burned, a hot blaze during a wildfire.

"Amazing," Her words snapped him from his thoughts, he snatched his hands from the place on her bump, when and how exactly his hands had ended up there he did not know, nor did he care.

"Do not attempt that again," he growled, a small speck of begrudging respect budding for both the woman and it. The woman because she was brave enough to take control of the situation and stand up to him in such a way, and for the child because it broke out through his wards and stole from him before he realized to stop it. "I will donate," he spat the word angrily, "my energy, but on my terms not your's!"

Without saying anything else he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room angrily.

Guilt blossomed across his face at the tears pricking at the corners of her silver eyes, but he ignored it, pushing it down somewhere beneath the guilt he already felt for bedding her in the first place.

He tried to ignore the warmth in his hands from here his palms had rested against the smooth skin of her ever growing bump, her small hands overlapping his own.

The image stayed with him the whole way to Demon World.


Okay if you squint hard enough there is a Hiei/Sayomi moment there, I'm sorry that it probably wasn't what most of you exactly wanted, but I found that it fit this chapter better this way! Also there are some more clues of the general conflict brewing this chapter! I promise that there will be a general conflict! I swear! This story is not all mush! Also I'm wondering if any of you will guess the significance of the name meanings this chapter. :)

Until next time!