Summary:

Rui gets the facts of life. Hiei, Kuwabara and Yukina tend to an injured Yona. Rui makes her move. Yusuke and Keiko's son is born.

Notes:

Warning: Contains sexual content and mentions of rape, abuse and infanticide (the ice maidens' practice of killing their sons)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Yarika took the bull by the horns and visited Rui with an important purpose. As Shizuru and Rui were settled in and the flirting was becoming more obvious, Rui needed another life lesson. This time about the birds and the bees.

She had done the same thing with Yukina sometime after the latter had settled with Genkai. As Kuwabara had obvious affections toward the near oblivious ice maiden, she had introduced the basics including anatomical differences between the sexes, basic sexual mechanics, contraception, signs of an abusive partner, and most importantly, consent. Yukina initially only knew what every ice maiden did: if a man forced a certain part inside her, she'd have a baby boy and it would have to be destroyed. That was one of the things that prompted her to run away from the glacier; she thought all babies were innocent and deserved to live. Rui had confessed that it had been Hina's choice to dally with the unknown fire demon and keep his child, the elders had lied and said Hina was forced. Yukina hated that they'd lied to her.

After she had gone to live with the Kuwabaras and started reciprocating Kazuma's affections Shizuru had also helped her understand a few of the finer points. Between the two Yukina had enough theoretical carnal knowledge, but hadn't done it yet. Kuwabara had yet to push her to do the deed, so she hadn't actually seen him naked yet. Shizuru, Yarika, and last but not least, Hiei would have killed him if he had. The besotted fellow cherished her so much he was willing to wait until marriage although he had most certainly rubbed quite a few out thinking of her.

Now it was Rui's turn. If Yarika felt strange teaching a woman about a century older than herself sex-ed, she didn't show it. As Rui seemed to be entirely same sex oriented, Yarika didn't have to spend much time on male-female sexual mechanics. Rui did know something, about that. Hina had told her what she had done with the handsome fire demon she had met down below while she was gathering medicinal herbs and wild foodstuffs for their village, but she didn't know anything about preventing conception in the first place.

Then came the big guns. Yarika explained consent, as Shizuru would likely refuse to touch her unless Rui fully understood it.

"You have the right to choose what sexual contact you want with someone and how. If you want to stop, they have to or it's considered rape. Same for the other person. They have a right to do only what they feel comfortable with."

Rui nodded. She was as red as a beet but she knew that Yarika was only doing this to help her. Yarika dove into the various sexual practices between women, most of which she'd experienced herself. This shocked Rui a bit, but relations between women were a bit more familiar to her.

"Do women really use an imitation of a man's sexual organ to pleasure another woman?"

"It's not necessary, but many enjoy it. Digital and oral stimulation just don't go far enough with some couples. Some men enjoy their female partners using that on them, too."

"But men don't have a-"

"It goes in the back door in that case."

This was almost too much for Rui. "Oh my!" She hid her face with her hands.

"Different strokes for different folks, as they say. Experimentation is natural in a sexual relationship. Communication is key, voice it if you do or don't want to try something. Everything should be done with full consent of both parties. Or more if one is into that kind of thing."

Rui felt dizzy. Three or more! Humans and other demons were so strange.

"Have you ever…?"

"Nah, three is a crowd. And as long as I'm in a relationship, I'm monogamous. That's another thing, no cheating! If you're in a relationship, that's one of the shittiest things you can do to your partner, along with abusing them. Same sex relationships can be abusive and they are less likely to be reported to the police because of the stigma. I had a girlfriend who was like that, but I sent her packing with the promise that if she tried to hurt me again or my family I had means to make her disappear entirely."

Rui knew that women could treat other women evilly. She had seen it on the glacier. "Do you think Shizuru would hurt me like that?"

"I don't think so, but it's best you be aware of things that can go wrong so that if it does happen you know you don't deserve it and are not alone. You can come to me if you have any trouble. I promised you that no one would hurt you unless Hiei decided to, didn't I?"

"About that… I've reconsidered. I don't think I want to die anymore."

Yarika smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. I don't think Hiei has a grudge against you anymore, so I doubt he wants to carry it out. He's really not so bad, as you've probably figured out by now."

"He's not." Rui was glad that Hina's son had turned out better than anticipated.

"Yona adores him, that's proof enough. I don't think he realizes that she's got him wrapped around her finger."

Indeed, Yona had Hiei wrapped around her finger. Like her mother she had the gift of winning people over. A certain fire demon had no chance of resisting. Training was going well, she was eager to learn anything he could teach her. She was a little slower than he was at that age, but not by much. Hiei was inwardly beaming with pride but showing little on his face. His daughter was already more powerful than most demons were. With enough training she would likely reach S-class and be able to fight in the Demon World Tournament. He recalled how Shura had been a serious contender at the age of seven, although in his case he was artificially created so he barely counted. Yona was created in a night of passion, although it was a mystery which of those three nights it was.

Yarika had finally told him that strong feelings for a partner were the catalyst for hanabito to breed, as a mechanism to prevent a child by rape. Theirs was a highly adaptable breed of apparition, their daughters often took on the best traits of their fathers and they could evolve between generations to better protect themselves. Yarika had inherited her father's logic and clever way of convincing people and Yona had inherited Hiei's natural gift for fighting and high demon energy level at birth. Not all of it, though. She needed a little more training, training that was his duty to provide.

Yona had worked hard that day and was visibly tired. She was doing the final set of katas when she swung too hard, lost her balance and fell backwards and down an embankment.

Hiei raced after her and caught her before she'd gotten to the bottom. Her head was wet. He pulled his hand away and saw blood. He'd felt this terror once before, when that Spirit World cultist had dropped her from the sky to save his own skin. The bond of blood had become stronger since.

"Yona! Look at me!"

The child looked up at him, bleary eyed. She was alive and most likely just dazed. He allowed himself a degree of relief but he could not dismiss the possibility of serious injury. He may have survived a sheer drop at mere hours old, but she was not him.

"I'll take you to your Aunt Yukina. Try to stay awake," he said.

When he got there, it was Kuwabara he encountered first. For the first time, Hiei wasn't hostile. "Call Yukina down immediately."

Kuwabara's insults died in his throat when he saw Yona. He went and hollered up the stairs for Yukina, then went to grab a dish towel.

Yukina rushed down to the two men and child, Kuwabara holding the towel to stem the bleeding. "What happened?"

"She slipped and fell." Hiei's face was anxious, he didn't bother hiding his concern.

"Let me look," she said, bending over Yona. The child's gaze was a bit more steady by then.

Yona started whining. "It hurts."

"I know, sweetie," Yukina cooed. She probed, her hands glowing. "She'll be all right, she just got a cut and a bit of a bump."

Hiei sighed with relief. He noticed Kuwabara looking and instantly put his normal cocky expression back on.

Yukina worked her healing magic. The bleeding ceased and Kuwabara helped clean the blood off, taking care not to open the freshly healed wound. He was as good with children as he was with kittens.

"See? Your little noggin is all mended," grinned Kuwabara. Yona smiled at him fondly.

"Hn," sniffed Hiei at the sappiness. He wasn't blind, he could see that Kuwabara was good with children. The human's extreme care cleaning Yona's wounds softened him a little. Perhaps he had judged Kuwabara a little too harshly. He caught Yukina and Kuwabara's shared look, the lovey-dovey look he hated. This time he held his tongue and his sharp gaze, his child's safety was more important than his sister's virtue. He'd never admit it, but he was grateful to the oaf for tending to her.

"Let's get you home," he said to Yona, scooping her up.

Yarika wasn't as upset as he'd anticipated. He'd thought that she'd forbid further training. She did not, but she was a little worried. She soothed Yona and checked her over. "You did right to take her straight to Yukina," she said, inspecting the mostly healed injury. "Just be more careful next time. She is irreplaceable after all."

Hiei nodded. "I will."

Yona winced away from Yarika's hand, as she was still tender. Yarika sighed. "A bath for you, missy, then straight to bed. I'll bring your supper up. No more training until I feel that you're all healed."

"But Mommy!" whined Yona.

"No buts. March!" Yona obeyed.

"And you…" she turned to Hiei. "You need to clean up too, you have blood on you. I'll wash your coat for you." She pointed to the bathroom. He took the coat off and also obeyed.

It was a first for him, helping to bathe a child. He didn't have to do much except wash Yona's hair and get her in the tub to soak. He took care with her head as not to hurt her further. He did a quick wash on the stool outside the tub, but declined to soak. He didn't want to leave Yona in the tub for long. He took her out and wrapped her in a fluffy towel, then led her up to her room. The child got into her pajamas and crawled into bed, mindful of her mother's orders. Yarika was the boss in this house, and all knew it.

When Yarika went up to check on her after scrubbing the blood out of Hiei's coat, she found them both asleep. Yona had likely asked him to stay with her and like the secretly doting parent he was, he complied. Yarika committed the scene to memory, pondering getting a camera.

Armed with her newfound knowledge, Rui saw things differently. The lesson Yarika gave her was the final piece of the puzzle. She now understood just how terrible it really was on the glacier, isolated and repressed. That freedom to seek out your own passions in a sometimes dangerous world was better than the oppressive safety she had grown up with. Hina had understood that. Yukina had as well. Now she did. Even if she had no interest in men, she realized that they were no worse than women and a viable choice for a partner. Some women were truly happy with them.

She had someone who she wanted to be happy with, too.

After her tasks for the day Rui bought the day's groceries, intent on making them both a nice meal. She liked the variety of food available at any neighborhood grocery store. In remote Demon World one had to either visit a farm or grow and hunt food, although communities had their own shops. One of the reasons that the ice maidens were even allowed off the glacier at all was to trade for needed supplies or to obtain food and medicines that could not be found up on it.

Rui hummed as she cooked, checking the cookbook as she added this and that. Cooking was one of the classes she had taken. Humans' cuisine was a little different and she wanted to do it correctly.

Shizuru toed off her shoes at the door and placed them neatly beside Rui's. "That smells good," she said.

Rui smiled with pleasure at the praise. "It should be ready soon."

The two women ate their meal, the atmosphere relaxed. Rui cleared the supper dishes and kneeled back down at the table.

"Yarika told me that she had a word with the black cat causing Kazuma's bad luck," said Shizuru, stubbing out her cigarette. The black cat in question being in reality a short and ornery fire demon. "He seems to be less stressed now, and the wedding is almost all ready to go." While black cats weren't considered unlucky in Japan, she had heard the superstition and thought it an appropriate euphemism.

"I'm so glad." Rui shifted closer to Shizuru. "Watching Yukina and Kazuma together, it makes me so happy. It makes me want that for myself. The person I liked before is gone, but I think she'd want me to move on."

"I agree," said Shizuru. This new, bolder Rui was cute too. Much cuter than any of the gang leaders and megalomaniacs she had chased after. In recent years she had been thinking that there was a deeper reason she always chased after unattainable and awful men. When faced with a proper, kind, and mature woman around a century older than herself, she knew.

Blushing, Rui slid a hand over to touch Shizuru's. Shizuru took it, and used it to pulled Rui over close, closer then she had ever been to anyone in her life.

Rui had imagined how sweet a kiss would be, but this defied her expectations. This one moment made the toil of the last several months worth it. Yarika was right. The freedom to love was worth living for, worth crossing the bridge to this world for. Hina, wherever she was now, would

It wasn't a secret for long. None of their friends cared that Shizuru and Rui were both women, or human and demon. Even Hiei merely shrugged when he got wind of it. He was still not happy but finally starting to accept that Kuwabara was going to be his brother-in-law and he was in no mind to kill Rui, the woman had suffered enough. Kuwabara himself was only weirded out because it was his sister doing lovey-dovey stuff. She didn't even do that with the losers she sometimes brought home to supper.

"I think the Kuwabaras have a very specific type," said Yusuke.

"Agreed," said Kurama.

"it's kind of unsettling because that's my sister and she's acting weird," said Kuwabara.

"Oh please, you and Yukina have been parading around acting all lovey dovey for ages," said Yarika.

"You act like you're above all that," said Botan, who had stopped by for a quick chat between ferrying souls.

"Of course I'm not. Hiei only goes for that sort of thing in private."

Botan's brain broke trying to imagine that. "You must be joking." She still didn't comprehend why Yarika had slept with Hiei and was now dating him. She had had quite a period of disbelief that Keiko loved Yusuke, too. She still had some disbelief that they were so happily married.

"Give it a rest, Botan," said Yusuke. "Even ornery little demons need lovin'." There was no denying that Hiei's moods were far better lately, even with the impending marriage of his sister.

"There is a chance we will have to throw a wedding for Shizuru and Rui," said Kurama. He was more interested in his plants, but he didn't object to romance on principle. "Since it is harder for them to openly be together."

"That's right," said Yarika. "It may not be legally recognized in this country, but they still deserve the pomp and circumstance." She paid Yusuke for the ramen she had just eaten. "Speaking of, Hachi and Kiku just got married, I sent them a wedding present. Most of Demon World doesn't care that they're both men. Humans need to get with the program." She was still in contact with the friends she'd made in Demon World.

"Everyone should be as happy as me and Yukina," said Kuwabara.

They weren't the only happy couples. As difficult as it had been for them to be together in adolescence, Yusuke and Keiko now had a noisy but loving marriage. It helped that Yusuke had matured enough to decide that Keiko was more important than fighting constantly. He adamantly denied it, but he had as much of Raizen in him as he had the fiery spirited female doctor who was the mother of his human bloodline. He had Raizen's deep devotion to the woman he cared about. They still argued on the regular but that was their preferred way of showing affection.

Yusuke was being uncharacteristically sweet and doting. Keiko was having such a hard time with the baby he shut his cart down early every day so that his in-laws could handle the dinner rush at their diner.

"Here, Keiko," he said, giving her some porridge he'd made. "You're not well, so I made you something light." He'd done the same many times for Atsuko when she had a particularly bad hangover. Being raised like that and forced to fend for himself had made him efficient in housework and in cooking.

Keiko smiled, taking the bowl and eating a few bites. "You're good at this, Yusuke."

"I got Mom to thank for that."

"Right, the hangovers." She loved Atsuko but it couldn't be denied that the woman partied too hard.

"I'm not gonna leave this one to fend for itself," said Yusuke, rubbing Keiko's prominent belly.

Keiko ate a few more bites, then set the bowl aside, wincing.

"What is it, Keiko?"

"It's happening again. Yusuke, call the hospital. It might be time."

Yusuke raced off to the phone.

Seven hours later, Keisuke Urameshi came into the world screaming his head off. In his first hour of life he had proven himself Yusuke's son as he not only did he pee on a nurse, he gave the doctor a black eye while wildly flailing his legs and arms.

"That's my boy!" cried Yusuke.

"Full of piss and vinegar, just like Yusuke!" said Atsuko. She would be celebrating with her usual bar buddies that night, they had a betting pool on the kid going.

Keiko's parents were fond of Yusuke, they also delighted over the baby. "So cute," they said in unison.

Their friends had further compliments.

Kurama heartily congratulated them and presented a lovely basket of flowers.

Kuwabara was happy for his friend and rival. "He's great, Urameshi. My kids with Yukina are going to pound him, though."

"Hiei was saying something similar about Yona," said Yarika. She'd told him the news before he took Yona out for their training session. "He thinks she'll be dominating the Demon World tournament in a few years, in fact. He says to train your son well so he can keep up with her." This was Hiei's way of congratulating Yusuke.

Yusuke huffed. "Keisuke will beat all your kids!"

"Not until he graduates from college!" said Keiko.

Keisuke looked smug in his blankets. He seemed self confident for a newborn, like he would not only be a great student, but he'd also trounce his parents' friends' kids.

Yusuke grinned. "That's my strong and smart boy," he said with pride.

Notes:

This is one of the rare times I openly use a character as a mouthpiece. Consent is very important and abuse happens in both straight and same sex relationships. As a person in the LGBT+ community I have seen it happen myself.

Even though this is around the 00s Japan the yu yu gang is pretty used to odd things and their exposure to both demon and humans opened their minds considerably.

Biz and I headcanon Shizuru as a possible lesbian, Sakyo be damned. Her crush on him was NOT in the original manga and this is Japan where the pressure to conform to traditonal gender roles and heterosexual marriage remains strong.

It is normal for small children to bathe with their parents in Japan (like the bath scene of My Neighbor Totoro with Satuski, Mei, and their dad)