ch26

The big news

She jerks her head back at the comment and watches as her daughter opens a cupboard full of large cans of powdered formula and another cupboard filled with small bottles.

"kittens..."

Kho begins pouring water into the bottles from a pink gallon jug labeled 'nursery water'.

" yea. Kittens, warrens have kittens you know."

The woman's eyes go wide in horror, she wants to snatch her daughter and run the hell away. She doesn't. She simply watches her daughter measure tiny scoops of powder into the various colored bottles before shaking them almost violently.

" they are... the werecats?"

"only Kaiba is, and now the babies- but Jou is human."

"thats unusual..."

"that's why they came out here, I guess someone didn't like the idea of mixed blood and wanted to make sure the babies weren't born. So they ran here."

" and you... they didn't hurt you?"

" nope, they found me when I got stuck in a bear trap and have been taking care of me since then. I'll be right back."

She carries the armload of milk bottles up stairs to Jou, he looks slightly flustered as he lifts the soiled sheets off the corner of the mattress. He looks to Kho and sighs.

" can't let him sleep in this mess,do you mind?"

In a slight hurry she sets the bottles down on top of the dresser before running into the closet for clean sheets. Jou lifts Kaibas sleeping form up off the bed and out to the bathroom while Kho strips the bed and lays down fresh clean sheets. She cant help but grin at the soft chorus of mewling that wafts throughout the room. Jou returns a moment later, assisting Kaiba as he walks back into the room wearing a long soft robe, he looks toward the sound and gives a weak smile. Kho fluffs a pile of pillows and sets them against the head board, so Kaiba can sit upright. He allows Jou to lower him down to the bed, and then to pull the blanket up over his lap. Jounouchi grins as he walks over to the small bassinet containing a small wriggling boy now whining with small high cries and clenched fists. Jou picks him up and carries him over to Kaiba grabbing a bottle off the dresser as he walks over to Kaiba. He reaches out to take the infinitesimally small child from Jous hands, a small clear bottle in the other hand.

" your name is Akira."

Jou grins at Kaiba while sits down feeding one of the boys, Jou picks up a girl in one hand another bottle with the other and sits down beside Kaiba. Kaiba smiles at the girl that bats at the bottle while she drinks from it,idly pawing at Jous thumb.

Its almost a week later that Seth looks up at the sky and sees large black bird flying with purpose toward the estate. He blinks at it curiously wondering if he should be worried, he decide to allow it to land. He staggers backward in shock when it twists in the air its body contorting and extending until it resembles something human, more so when it takes a few steps forward. The girls wings thin out and flatten, wrapping around her nude form. She leans down and unties a red string from around her ankle, attached to which is thick heavy yellow envelope. She smiles and look directly at Seth.

" Are you Mokuba?"

"no... what business have you with him?"

" I have a letter for him from his brother."

" you have spoke with Seto Kaiba?"

" yes I have, I live with him at the moment."

"stay here, I will retrieve him."

She does as told, tapping the ground with her bare toes in boredom before she begins tossing the heavy envelope from one hand to the other. Mokuba bursts out the patio doors panting heavily, having halfway across the house. He stares at her intensely, regarding her carefully. She just waves at him rather cheerfully.

" whats it you want?"

Kho tilts her head to one side curiously.

"didn't the other one tell you? I have a letter from your brother, you are Mokuba yes?"

" I am"

She holds out the envelope to him with one outstretched hand, the other hidden underneath her strange garb. Mokuba reaches forward, quickly snatching the letter from her then backing away. She walks over to a stone bench and sits down, crossing her knees. He carefully opens the letter, aiming the opening away from himself, nothing happens. He glances over to her, then walks over to a nearby table where he spills the contents of the envelope. A light breeze almost taking away his brothers written words, Mokuba quickly grabs it before it can be off and away. Aside from the paper are a stack of pictures taken with an old polaroid camera, all with scribbling on the back. He doesn't look at them right away, he flips open the page and grins, it is from his brother.

" mokuba, and everyone else.

We would have written sooner but we've been rather busy, with the new babies and all. That's right, their here! They're a whole two weeks old and theres two boys and three girls, we think. Haruka, Kaiba says her pheromones smell like a boys, but she looks like a girl to me. We made sure to take a lot of picture of them all. We named them all finally, it took awhile to agree on all of them. They're called Akira, Haruka, Suna, Mako and Sakuya. Pretty huh? By the way the delivery girl is called khokenri, shes a harpy from the nesting ground thats nearby, or a siren I forget. But anyway its a long way there so let her rest for the night okay? Be nice and we'll send more when we can alright

love

Katsuya & Seto

Mokuba quickly picks up the stack of photos, he grins widely at the first image. It is a picture of all five infants sleeping in the crib Mai gave them, various dolls and blankets around the edge of the bumper. Still grinning like a maniac, he looks over to the girl waltzing up to her and wrapper her up in a tight hug.

"thank you SOO MUCH!"

"air air please air"

He whips himself away from her and wipes his face before he can cry. Turning round he bolts for the door, freezing midway through and shouting over his shoulder.

" hey come in hurry!"

She up and runs after him following him through a path she could never backtrack. Eventually he runs out to the sitting room where he finds almost ever member of the house idly mulling about. Jono stands beside Seth, who sits in a wing backed armchair across from Deardra in her own chair, Malik and Ishizu look up to Mokuba expectantly from their place on a small off white couch . Leaning against the window sill Bakura silences his conversation with Atem to eye the curious looking girl on Mokubas tail.

" all five where born! They where born two weeks ago! They sent pictures too- they're all so tiny!"

He flails the fist that holds the slightly rumpling paper, then runs down the stairs over to Deardra shoving the pictures in her hands. The whole room converges in on her, everyone leaving their various spots in the room to peek over her shoulder, aside from Seth and his slave, who appear perfectly content to listen and wait. She woman smiles at the first image, She passes it to Atem who is directly behind her as she looks at the pictures before passing them back she talks out loud.

"oh my, these ones are quite big,oh my how strong your brother is."

" they're all the same size as a damn orange!"

Its Malik who says it even though he grins widely at the picture in his hand, he passes it back to his sister. Deardra stares at the last picture for a moment, Jou and kaiba sitting together each holding one baby while the other three lay in their laps.

"they are a significant amount larger than a normal litter... but they all appear quite healthy..."

Mokuba hears her not finishing her sentence and worries, Atem voices his curiosity as Ishizu carries the pictures over to Seth.

" what is the customary size for infants of your people?"

Deardra examines the picture closely paying special attention to Haruka.

" about the size of a stick of butter...its part of why most of them don't survive, but these ones...so very pudgy."

"really? A stick of butter?"

Mokuba leans over and looks at the picture, she taps the tip of her finger against Harukas face.

"That one... is a hermaphrodite."

"huh?

"what"

"wha!?"

"no way"

Ishizu takes the picture that Deardra sets down, looking at it curiously before handing it to Seth, who looks only mildly interested. Mokuba looks at her inquisitively before asking.

"how can you tell?"

She looks at him with a warning expression on her face.

"do you really want to know?"

He lowers one eyebrow as he carefully weighs that question, his answer cutoff when Bakura asks.

" so who's your friend?

Standing at the foot of the stairs is Khokenri looking around the room curiously, she waves in Bakuras direction. Mokuba looks over to her as if he forgot that she existed, he hands Atem the letter that came with the pictures before strolling over to her and introducing her to the room at large.

After dinner, Kho helps Mokuba place the pictures into a multi photo frame. She then watches him hang it out in the sitting room near the many photos of himself.

" Its nice to finally see another face in here."

When she doesn't answer Mokuba turns to find her glaring out the large window. He stands beside her following her line of sight, but sees nothing. Her sharper crisper vision spots warren in the distance, hiding in the jumbles branches of a tall tree.

"whats up? Is something wrong?"

" someone is watching... I cant tell how long they've been there."

"It doesn't matter they wont come in as long as seth is here... and wow you must have really good eyesight."

" I'm a bird."

He coughs trying to cover up the fact that he feels rather stupid.

" let me show you the guest rooms."

Across town Helios slams down the receiver to the phone, he hums to himself as he drums his fingers on the surface of his desk. Stalking his way out of the room he tries to calm himself he debates on what steps to make next. He goes over the binding laws of his clan... of what Moonlace would have warned them of. A child of outside blood must survive to three years old before it can be considered as part of the clan. By now killing them before they are born is no longer an option, now he must kill the infants or at least prevent them from reaching the Kaiba estate... Kaiba himself needs to drop for having debased himself with that mongrel human. Needless to say the human has to go as well, he looks out the window eying the giant KC logo that towers over the city. He wonders what it would look like set ablaze...he quirks an eyebrow. Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest.

A/n: heey peeps, or you know just peep whatever. i was curious as to what you think about khokenri. i know shes kind of random but i like adding original characters because i like orginial writing. just curious about what you think so far