Clack.

One tear escaped Hiei's eye, materializing into a small yellow gem on its quick path to the floor. Hiei watched it fall. It was soon followed by more. The pregnant demon waited, hoping Kurama would come back inside the house, maybe offer to give him a bubble bath, or do something, at least. Anything, even just hitting him right back, would be better than this.

But even as he wished for it, Hiei knew there were certain things he couldn't just kill or punch away. Sadness, disease, heartbreak, loss…Hiei couldn't keep his tears from spilling over, thinking about what a fool he'd been. What a stupid world. Or was he the one with the problem?

Well, maybe I don't need him after all, Hiei thought to himself resolutely, struggling to get up from the living room couch where he'd collapsed as soon as Kurama left. He was out of breath by the time he reached the top of the stairs, and the baby was kicking up a storm, probably because he sensed his mother's distress. This caused Hiei to start crying all over again, thinking that he'd upset the baby.

"At least I-I still…h-have you," Hiei sobbed to the baby, tears obscuring his vision as he spent ten minutes trying to get his heavily pregnant self into bed.

All night long, Hiei waited up in bed, feeling the baby's kicks, waiting for Kurama to call and ask to talk it over, and maybe come home, and they'd make up, and Hiei would cry, and everything would be all right.

But not this time. The phone didn't ring, the downstairs remained deserted, and Hiei was alone.

…

When Kurama arrived at his mom's house, he was relieved to see that the lights were still on. This way he wouldn't have to wake her up. He still had a key, but he only used it when she knew he was coming. Since it was almost ten, he knew the polite thing would be to knock. So he did, still trying to block out the memory of his fight with Hiei.

"Shuichi?" said Shiori in surprise when she opened the front door. She had curlers in her hair, and she was wearing slippers and a flowered nightgown. Her face was also covered in green night cream, something Kurama had made for her upon request. "What are you doing here, so late at night?"

"Mother…" Kurama turned his head away so she wouldn't see the tears in his eyes. "Is it all right if I stay here with you for a little while?"

"Well, of course, dear, but what happened?" Shiori asked, ushering him past the threshold and into the house. "Where's Hiei?"

"We had an argument." Kurama swallowed. "He kicked me out."

"Oh, Shuichi…" Shiori led Kurama to the couch and held him in her arms. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"If you're willing to listen."

"Always, honey."

"It started out as something so small…" Kurama recounted the scene to his mother in detail, although leaving out the part about Hiei hitting him, as he didn't want her to worry too much. By the end, his tears had escaped his eyes and he tasted the saltwater in his mouth. "I feel so bad, Mom, just thinking of him alone in our house…I know he's pregnant and hormonal. I know he can't help it. He's hurting, and I just want to make him happy. So why did I yell?"

"You said you were stressed about work," said Shiori. "Starting your own business isn't easy."

"It's like he said, that's just an excuse." Kurama brushed away a stray tear. "Nothing can justify the way I spoke to him tonight. And…and worst of all…I know he was trying to pick a fight with me. Sometimes he does that."

"When he's angry, you mean?" Shiori asked.

"It can be anything, not just angry—upset, confused, scared, or even simply bored," Kurama told her. "It's difficult for him to sit and talk things out, or to open up to people, so when he's feeling something he doesn't understand, he deals with it in the only way he knows how, which is by fighting. I'm trying to work on this with him, starting by not rising to the bait…But tonight I did."

"Everyone has their limit, Shuichi," Shiori said gently. "I think Hiei's way of dealing with problems is very unhealthy, but you're his husband, not his psychiatrist. You can show him love and support, but it's not your job to 'fix' him."

"I don't want to fix him, Mom, because he's not broken," Kurama said softly. "He's wonderful in his own special way, and I love him just the way he is."

"You could tell him that."

"He kicked me out of the house, Mother," Kurama reminded her. "As horrible as I feel, I don't think he wants me back, at least not for a few days. Maybe things will be different after we've had some time to cool off and decide what we want."

"That seems like a good idea," Shiori said gently, setting one hand on Kurama's shoulder. "How about this? I'll make you some tea, and you can head on up to bed. Sometimes when I have a problem, I find a little more clarity when I wake up in the morning."

"Thanks, Mother." Kurama smiled sadly, glad she was here to help. He drank the green tea she made for him and went up to bed right afterwards. But, just as he'd predicted, he didn't sleep a wink. He just stayed up, staring at the cracks in the ceiling, wondering how this could possibly have gone so wrong.

…

As the week passed by, Hiei realized that Kurama had been doing a lot more around the house than he had previously thought. And it wasn't just jobs he took over because Hiei was too pregnant to do them. These were things Hiei hadn't ever known how to do, such as laundry, dishes, cooking, general upkeep of the house…How had Kurama managed to keep a job and do all of these chores without complaint? Hiei felt so guilty whenever he thought about it. Maybe he had been being sort of lazy. And even if Hiei wanted to learn how to do those things, his due date was less than two months away, so it really wasn't the time.

Yukina volunteered to help him out, cheerfully doing all of Kurama's chores, even when Hiei insisted that she didn't need to go to all that trouble. She said, completely unironically, that if he was too embarrassed to let her help him out with his personal hygiene, she could always have Kuwabara do it instead, but Hiei refused; although the thought of Yukina helping him in the shower, as Kurama had been doing, was indeed embarrassing, having Kuwabara do the same would be nothing short of nightmare fodder. When Homura arrived the next day, asking how he could help, Hiei had never been so thankful that he'd located the man. Needless to say, the shower was no longer a sexy time, and Homura wore swim trunks, but at least he helped Hiei get through it quickly, never making small talk or finding any reason to dawdle around.

This also meant, of course, that Homura had to take over Kurama's bathroom duty. Hiei was always feeling stiff and achy and tired and fat, so a lot of the time he needed help in there, and he felt the older demon was the best candidate to take Kurama's place. Homura didn't seem to mind listening to Hiei bitch about being pregnant, probably because, three years ago, he'd been through the same thing himself.

"This is ridiculous!" Hiei complained. "It takes me five whole minutes to pee now, and I have to sit down while I do it! And I'm stuck on the stupid toilet again!"

"Here, Hiei, grab onto me," said Homura, reaching out two muscular arms, and Hiei used the other man for leverage to help himself up. As usual, Homura helped Hiei pull his pants back up, and he flushed the toilet while Hiei washed his hands.

"I can't grow anymore," Hiei declared, drying his hands a little too aggressively on the hand towel by the sink. "I've reached maximum baby capacity. I'm completely stuffed full. If this baby gets even a little bit bigger, I'm going to pop."

"Trust me, I felt the same way, but Ru-Ru was still a week late," said Homura. "And your due date isn't for another six or seven weeks."

"I know that, Homura, but look at this thing," Hiei said irritably, gesturing to his belly. "Isn't it way too big?"

"There's no right or wrong way for a baby bump to look, Hiei," Homura told him. "Not that I blame you, of course. When I was on my thirty-fourth week, I felt like I was going to explode. Being small doesn't help, does it?"

"Homura, right now I feel a lot of things," Hiei grumbled, "but 'small' is NOT one of them."

With help from Yukina and Homura, Hiei was able to go through the motions of everyday life, but of course they could never take on Kurama's true role as husband. They could be there as his family, but not the love of his life. Hiei still missed Kurama very much, and he wished they'd never fought. When he was alone, Hiei would spend time trying to bond with the baby, but his little boy had slowed down a lot. Hiei used to feel a lot of kicks, but now he only felt one every so often, and he knew it was because the baby was missing Kurama, too. As if Hiei needed something to make him feel even more guilty.

"I know you miss your daddy," Hiei told the baby as he rubbed his belly, trying not to cry. Yukina was cooking dinner for him in the kitchen, so he was in the living room, hoping for some privacy. "But I'm still here. And I still love you."

All he got in return was one very small movement. You couldn't even call it a kick.

"Please," Hiei begged, now wiping tears, despite his efforts to fight them back. "Your daddy and I are just taking a break, that's all. Please, please don't be upset…"

But there were no more movements after that.

"Just because…just because Daddy and I aren't together right now…" Hiei couldn't stop himself from breaking down into tears. "That doesn't…that doesn't mean we don't love you. I-I guess you wish you could hear his voice again…and feel his touch…" Hiei was crying now, remembering the sensation of Kurama's fingers on his belly, and the way the baby so enthusiastically kicked in response. The baby did miss Kurama, just like Hiei did.

"Hiei? Are you all right?"

The pregnant demon looked up, tears still streaming from his eyes, to see his sister standing in the doorway of the kitchen, wearing a flowery apron over her pretty spring dress. Hiei had never seen such a look of pity on her face before, and he hated it. But when she came to sit by him and put her arms around him, his feelings seemed to let themselves out.

"No, I'm not all right," Hiei sobbed into her shoulder. "I'm the worst parent in history!"

"Now, what makes you say that?"

"The…the baby…he misses Kurama!"

"But surely he knows you still love him," Yukina pointed out, setting one hand on the baby bump. Hiei felt a small kick in response to her touch, but instead of cheering him up, all it did was tell him that the baby would kick for Yukina and not for him.

"It doesn't matter." Hiei sniffed. "He's mad at me because I'm the one who kicked Kurama out to begin with."

"Come on, little one," Yukina implored. "Can't you kick for Hiei?"

Nothing, absolutely nothing. Hiei was in total despair. His kid was already giving him the silent treatment, and he wasn't even born yet.

"Maybe he's not angry with you, Hiei," Yukina suggested, stroking Hiei's belly, despite getting no feedback. "Maybe he's just sad."

"That's…that's even worse."

"I'm sure he'll feel better once he's had time to get used to the situation," she insisted. "It's always difficult for kids when their parents fight, but as long as he understands that you both are there for him, he'll be all right, I'm sure."

"But how can we both be there for him if we're separated?" Hiei asked her.

"I'm sorry, Hiei," said Yukina with a sigh. "I don't have all the answers."

…

Kurama had been having unusual nightmares for the past several days, all of them involving Hiei in danger and Kurama completely unable to help. The situations seemed to be more and more dire, with Hiei pregnant in each one until the one on Tuesday night, where Kurama dreamed that the baby was finally being born—but something went wrong.

It didn't matter what they tried. Kurama's healing powers, the kitsune elders' skills, even heading to the hospital. Not even the doctors knew what to do. Hiei lost more and more blood until finally, by the time the baby was born, the fire demon was dead. Kurama was handed a bundle of blankets with the baby inside as they took Hiei's body away, and when he pulled back the blankets, he was shocked. It was Hiei again, screaming, "I hope you're a better father than you were a husband!"

"He's in pain," Kurama told his mom gloomily as he made breakfast for them the following morning. "I know he is. I can just feel it. The baby, too."

"If he's not feeling just as bad about this as you are, dear, I'd be quite surprised." Shiori's tone was mild as she sipped her tea, but the worry was clear to see on her face.

"Well, then what am I supposed to do?" said Kurama, shutting the cabinet door a little harder than perhaps was necessary. "I want to go to him…but how do I know we won't just start fighting all over again?"

"You've had this time to cool off, so maybe you won't start fighting again if you try to discuss it calmly."

"That's not going to happen," said Kurama, trying to hide his exasperation. "As much as I love Hiei, right now he can't do anything calmly, much less talk over our relationship troubles."

"Shuichi, I know Hiei's had his issues, but we all do," said Shiori. "I've become quite fond of him. The truth is, the moment I met him, I could tell the two of you didn't have an ordinary friendship. I wasn't sure what I sensed at the time…but I knew there was something more underneath. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes, a lot of people have been saying that since we got together," said Kurama.

"It could be that you're soul mates," she suggested. "And if that's the case…you probably owe it to each other to make up."

"One of Hiei's biggest weaknesses is his pride, though," said Kurama. "Knowing him, it'll be up to me to make the first move."

"And you should," Shiori told him. "Not that it's any of my business, but I really would love to see you two happy together again. I hate watching you suffer like this. And you're probably right that Hiei is suffering, too. Soul mates can always tell."

"Thanks, Mom." For the first time since his fight with Hiei, Kurama truly smiled. "I think I know what I need to do."

…

Hiei had never been so uncomfortable in his life, and he was truly missing his husband. Yet at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to pick up the phone and meet Kurama halfway. What if Kurama didn't want to talk to him? And besides, even if he did, Hiei was full of such shame that he wasn't sure he'd even be able to face Kurama.

Still, it was a little worrisome to Hiei that Kurama hadn't tried to make a move yet. Every time they had a fight, it was usually Kurama who tried to make things right again. But it had been four days and he still hadn't made any contact at all.

Maybe I should call him, Hiei thought, digging in his pants pocket for his communication mirror. When he took it out, he could only stare at it, wondering if he was making the right decision…but he had to call Kurama. That was the only way they'd make up.

Hiei was just about to dial Kurama's number when he heard the cordless phone on the counter ring. And suddenly, his heavy heart flew all the way to the sky. Kurama!

The speed at which Hiei reached the phone was outstanding for someone who was over eight months pregnant. But he reminded himself, just before he picked up, that he had to be cool. He didn't want Kurama to think he'd just been pining away for him this whole time, whether that was the truth or not.

After waiting for the phone to ring a few times so he wouldn't look too eager, Hiei picked up the receiver and spoke without even asking who it was.

"So, Kurama," he said haughtily, "you've decided to come crawling back to me, I see."

But to his surprise, it was a young woman's voice on the line, not Kurama's. In the background there was a lot of noise, beeping and voices and other sounds he couldn't quite make out.

"Excuse me?" she said in confusion. "Have I reached the Minamino residence?"

"Who wants to know?"

"My name is Akari. I'm calling from Kyoto General, concerning—"

"Kyoto what?"

"Kyoto General Hospital," she said clearly. "But before I can disclose any information, I need to be sure that I'm speaking to Hiei."

"Y-Yes…that's me…" Hiei didn't know why, but he had a very bad feeling all of a sudden. He felt cold, all the way to his toes. For the first time that day, the baby kicked hard.

"All right," said Akari carefully. "I'm calling concerning your husband, Shuichi."

"What about him?" Hiei held the phone to his ear, his hand shaking as he slowly lowered himself to sit on the couch. "What happened?"

"I'm afraid your husband was involved in a hit-and-run about an hour ago," said Akari. "By the time emergency services arrived, the other driver had fled the scene."

"He was in an accident?!" Hiei yelled, standing up again. "Is he okay?"

"The doctors are trying to stabilize him now," she said, sounding uncomfortable. "They can tell you more when you get here, but I'm just the receptionist."

Hiei was relieved that Kurama was alive, but the words "trying to stabilize him" didn't sound right.

"Can I speak to him?" said Hiei. "Please?"

"I'm sorry," she said sadly. "He's not really in a state to speak right now."

"This—this has to be a mistake." Hiei swallowed. "Shuichi always wears his seat belt, and he always drives safely!"

"No matter how careful a driver is, he is still only as safe as other drivers on the road allow," said Akari. "I'm sorry. These things do happen."

But not to him, Hiei thought, his demon heartbeat speeding up much more than it should.

"You should come to the hospital and speak to the doctors," Akari was saying. "They'll be able to answer your questions much better than I can."

Hiei couldn't say anything more to her. She was so unhelpful. Why couldn't he just speak to Kurama? All he wanted was to talk to his husband, to make sure he was okay. Was that too much to ask? And what about the other driver? Why hadn't he stopped to help? At least Akari was right that Hiei had to get to the hospital…but how was he supposed to get there?

Wait…what about his mom? Hiei thought, suddenly remembering Shiori. She would want to know about this for sure. And she could take them to the hospital to see Kurama. Hopefully by then he would be able to talk.

"Hello?" said Shiori when she picked up the phone, her voice unnaturally bright.

"Um…" Hiei cleared his throat. "It's Hiei."

"Oh, yes." Shiori was obviously smiling. "Have you and Shuichi made up?"

"What? I-I mean, no…" Hiei was trying to talk, but his throat felt like it was closing up. "It's—it's Kurama. He's…he's hurt."

Silence on the line. Total silence. And then, finally, a whispered, "Hurt how, Hiei?"

"I just got a call from the hospital," Hiei told her, trying to keep his voice from wavering out of control. "It was a car accident. We need to go to him!"

"I'll be right over," said Shiori, and the line went dead. It was the first time she'd ever hung up on him so quickly.

Hiei waited by the door, staring out the window, until he finally saw headlights approaching. As soon as he got the slightest indication of Shiori arriving, he was struggling to get out the door despite the heavy burden being thirty-four weeks pregnant placed on him. Luckily, she got out of the car to help him. Hiei struggled into the backseat with Kurama's stepbrother, while Shiori got into the passenger seat up front, with her husband, Kazuya, at the wheel. Hiei didn't exactly feel the most comfortable in a car right now, but what choice did he have?

Everyone was silent the whole ride to the hospital. There wasn't really anything they could say. Hiei just followed behind them into the emergency room, with Shiori helping him along, and he let her do the talking once they got inside. He tried to find Kurama using the Jagan eye, but he couldn't get it to focus. If he could just talk to Kurama, everything would be fine. He knew Kurama was okay, but he needed to hear it from Kurama himself. He needed to tell Kurama he was sorry. That was all.

It couldn't be over. Not after all they'd been through.

Finally, at 5:45, Hiei arrived, panting for breath, at the airport, glancing about for employees…When he saw a human man in a uniform working outside, he approached him, trying to catch his breath.

"Where's Flight 394?" Hiei demanded, without a hello. "It's an emergency!"

"Why is it an emergency?" said the human, looking unimpressed. Hiei wanted to threaten him, but then he thought about what Kurama would say if he did that.

"Fine, I'll humor you," said Hiei. "I have to tell someone how I really feel about him."

"Hmm…well, it's Gate 12 you're looking for, but there's no way you're going to make it," said the man. "The flight's already boarding, and then you have to go through security and everything…"

"What are you talking about?" Hiei snapped. "Flight 394—the one to Honolulu—that doesn't leave until six!"

"Sorry, little man, you're thinking of the 6:00 flight to Maui." Now the human did look kind of sorry for Hiei. "The flight for Honolulu leaves at 5:30."

"Are you shitting me?!"

"I shit you not," the man replied without a beat. "I'm telling you, you're not going to make it in time."

"LIKE HELL I'M NOT!" Hiei shouted, and pushed past the man, ignoring the "You go get him, son!" that followed him…

"Mrs. Hatanaka." Hiei was jolted out of his memories by an unfamiliar male voice, calling Shiori by her second married name. The look on the doctor's face seemed grim, but it couldn't be that bad, right? This wasn't how you told people their relatives were dead, right? But they hadn't said Kurama was dead, they said he was hurt…whatever that could mean.

"Please!" Hiei shut his eyes against the blinding lights of the emergency room. Everything seemed so loud and impersonal. "I just want to talk to him. They…they wouldn't let me do it on the phone."

"Doctor, please tell me, how is my son?" Shiori pleaded. "He left the house in his car only a few hours ago."

"Yes, ma'am," said the doctor. "He's alive, but—"

"I told the lady on the phone!" Hiei interrupted, beyond frustrated at this point. "I told her he always wore his seatbelt and drove carefully!"

"We don't believe he was at fault for the accident," said another doctor, walking up to join them. "The good Samaritan who called the paramedics reported the other motorist driving erratically—too fast, and not staying in his lane. He or she seemed unharmed, but drove away before a license plate number could be recovered. These things can happen in an instant."

With a combination of speed and help from the Jagan, shouldn't Hiei be able to find Kurama in time? Too bad he was going so fast, and had run so far, that he felt like one of his lungs was going to burst. Usually he could pace himself, but that was the last thing on his mind right now. Where were the gates, anyway? All he could see was a bunch of people hurrying around with their suitcases.

"KURAMA!" he called, zipping through the airport. "KURAMA!"

"What kind of accident was it?" said Kurama's stepfather. "Was he just rear-ended, or…?"

"No, he was T-boned," the first doctor clarified. "Hit from the side. This can be very dangerous because there's nothing to protect the person in the car besides the door. That's why his wearing a seatbelt didn't make as much of a difference as it would have if he'd been hit from the front or back."

"The good news is that Shuichi has been stabilized and he doesn't seem to have sustained any lasting brain trauma," added the second doctor. "The bad news is that his spinal cord was severely damaged in the accident, and he's currently unresponsive."

When Hiei got deeper into the airport, he slowed down, because he knew Kurama's human form wouldn't be able to see him if he was running at top speed. Running slower allowed him to focus more on the Jagan, which told him where the gates actually were, and how far they were away—but before he could set off for them, he was stopped by a security guard, at the back of a huge line leading up to a metal detector.

"Hey, watch it, buddy!" said the guard. "You've got to wait your turn like everyone else!"

"Get the hell out of my way!" Hiei said, jabbing an elbow in the man's ribs as he pushed to the front of the line…As he sped up and ran past the metal detector, he heard a whistle being blown, and soon the security guard was in hot pursuit, but obviously, pathetic human legs were no match for his.

Hiei could hear the man's walkie-talkie buzzing as he called for backup, but surely he could outrun them…right? Gate 12, Gate 12…where was it? Consulting the Jagan was a little harder. The room was starting to spin. Maybe if Hiei managed to shake the humans, he could take just a little rest.

"Last call for Flight 394 to Honolulu," said a voice over the intercom. "The doors are now closing."

"Unresponsive?" said Shiori. "As in…he's in a coma?"

"Yes," said the second doctor. "I'm sorry, ma'am. It's really a miracle he's alive at all. No normal human has ever survived something like this before."

Well, of course Kurama had survived something a normal human wouldn't, because he wasn't a normal human. Still, it didn't help, because Hiei knew that if Kurama had been in his demon form, a car accident would barely have scratched him, whether it was a "T-bone" or not.

"What do you mean by that?" said Kurama's stepfather. "People have survived T-bones before."

"Not to this extent, or so I hear," said the first doctor. "In most cases, he would have been killed instantly."

Kokoda's eyes were full of worry for his older stepbrother. "If he's in a coma, does that mean he's never going to wake up?"

"We're doing everything we can," said the first doctor. "But the damage to his spinal cord was severe. If he wakes up, it's likely he will have to readjust to a new way of life."

Gate 12! There it was!

And then there was that red hair that stuck out like a signal fire…that lanky frame…All of a sudden, Hiei seemed to have discovered his second wind. The amount of human security guards on his tail seemed to be increasing, but now that Kurama was in sight, slowly moving down the line, Hiei suddenly found it easier to run faster.

"KURAMA!" Hiei shouted at the top of his lungs, slowing down a bit so the redhead could see him. "KURAMA! KURAMA!"

"Kurama…" Hiei repeated, barely able to look up at the two doctors. The memory of that day in the airport two years ago was blurring with the reality of today. Back then, he had reached Kurama at the last minute. Surely he could do the same this time. "I…I just want to talk to him. I want to tell him something…I want to hear what he has to say!"

The two doctors looked at each other and whispered for a little. One of them beckoned a nurse over and she joined the discussion. Finally, the nurse separated from the two doctors and walked over to Hiei, guiding him to sit down in a chair, then she sat down beside him.

"You're Shuichi's husband?" she said gently. So apparently she had gone with "fat man" rather than "pregnant woman" at the sight of the baby bump—but that was the least of Hiei's worries.

"Yes," Hiei mumbled. She reached out for his hand, but he yanked it away.

"I know this is difficult for you," said the nurse. "But you have to understand. Shuichi can't speak to you right now because he's in a coma. You know what that is, don't you?"

"Hey!" Before Hiei knew it, there was another hand in his face. "Where's your boarding pass?"

"P-Pass?" Hiei panted, his hands on his knees. "I don't need any stinking pass!"

"No pass, no entry!"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Hiei hollered, trying to get past him, but the security guards seemed to be closing in. "KURAMA!"

"I-I think…" Hiei knew the word from somewhere. Didn't it happen in that English-language soap opera he'd watched? Yes…that was right. The main character, Lisa, had a boyfriend who went into a coma while she was pregnant, too—although in her case, her boyfriend wasn't the father of the baby, and it was theorized that she and her "baby daddy" caused the coma to begin with. But, Hiei remembered, the comatose man had never woken up. "Yes…I know what a coma is."

"I'm so sorry," said the nurse, setting her hand on his shoulder. "We're going to give it time and see what we can do. You're free to speak to him now, but he's not going to be able to respond. Would you like to see him anyway? Your mother-in-law has contacted some of Shuichi's other loved ones, and she's going to go see him."

Hiei remembered seeing the man in the coma on TV, unconscious, hooked up to machines, living just a shell of a life out of a hospital room. There had been needles stuck in his arms, and even something hooked to his throat that helped him breathe.

"No," said Hiei, swallowing. "I-I…I don't want to see him like that. I don't want to remember him like that. Just…just keep the good memories…"

Kurama's head turned…When he saw the situation going on, his green eyes grew wide. Hiei thought he saw him rushing over, but suddenly his vision was blurring, and when he tried to rush past the security guards and get to where Kurama was in line, he felt a very sharp, horrible pain in his side. The room spun on, and sooner or later he found himself on the floor. Then it was just a tangle of men trying to take Hiei away while he stubbornly fought them, despite growing weaker all the time, until he finally heard a voice shouting, "Stop! Leave him alone!"

Then there was the familiar smell of roses, that soothing voice, and Hiei reached out his hands, feeling half-dead. Soft hands reached back.

"That's a nice way of looking at it," said the nurse, setting one hand on Hiei's shoulder as she stood up again. "I'm going to go with your mother-in-law to Shuichi's room."

"Okay." Hiei's voice was unnaturally soft and quiet, but he let her go, surrounded by the injured and the dying, the horrible realization that he may have spoken his last words to Kurama just beginning to surround him and crush him. Just like that stupid human body that had now crushed Kurama.

In the time Shiori and her family were seeing Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara arrived, with their wives in tow. Hiei gestured for Yukina to help him up, because he knew what to do.

"I know how to fix this," he told her, suddenly full of hope. "I can give him some of my life energy, like Kuwabara did for Yusuke at Maze Castle. Then he'll be better."

"No, you can't, Hiei!" said Yukina, holding him back. "Your life energy has to go to the baby. Kurama wouldn't want you to put the baby's life in danger just for him. You know he wouldn't."

"Well, can't someone else do it, then?"

"Even after Kuwabara transferred some of his energy to Yusuke, he was still very weak," Yukina said. "Only a soul mate can transfer enough energy to heal Kurama, and even if you weren't pregnant, you would still be greatly weakened. I can't let you. It's too dangerous." She let Hiei go, then, and gestured towards the doctors. "I'm going to ask to see Kurama, and I promise I'll do what I can for him. My healing powers are far from that of my mother or grandmother…but it will be better than nothing."

Hiei didn't say anything as he watched Yukina go. She was right, of course; Kurama wouldn't want the baby to be in danger to save him. He was too much of a self-sacrificing idiot for that. How could someone be so smart, but also so dumb? That was Kurama for you…Hiei felt his heart break as the thought of losing his husband washed over him again.

It was too much to handle, the loud sounds of the emergency waiting room, the bright lights, the sound of people who were all worried or in pain or both, the voices of so many people who had been touched by Kurama's kindness, all getting the news that he may never wake again. Hiei was standing at the back of the room, his eyes squeezed tight, hugging himself with his arms, trying so hard to shut it all out when at the same time, it was getting more and more overwhelming.

"Hey, um…Hiei?"

"Yusuke?" Hiei opened his eyes to see the former Spirit Detective heading his way. "What do you want?"

"I just…well, the doctors found this in the car." As he got closer, Hiei could see that Yusuke was holding a crushed brown paper bag. "I thought you might want to see it."

Wordlessly, Hiei took the bag from Kurama to inspect it. Inside, there were a few loose French fries and an empty wrapper for a hash brown. My fast-food order, thought Hiei. But there was something else in there…Is that what I think it is?

Hiei didn't think he'd ever seen Yusuke this serious, or this silent. He just bit his lip, watching closely, as Hiei slowly took a rose out of the bag, undoubtedly one of Kurama's roses, as it had remained seemingly unharmed. There was a small piece of paper tied to the stem, and in Kurama's neat handwriting, Hiei could just make out the two words the fox-demon had written on it.

I'm sorry.

For the first time since getting the news, Hiei felt his lip tremble.

"He—he was coming for me, wasn't he?" Hiei whispered, his voice cracking. "He was coming to give this to me."

"Yeah…" Yusuke sighed. "I think so."

"I told him!" Hiei said furiously, tossing the rose aside as the hot tears he'd been fighting back finally reached his eyes. "I told him it was his own stupid naivety that would get him killed someday! It was just because he was such an idiot!"

"C'mere, man," said Yusuke softly, and Hiei could only lean in to the smell of sweaty ramen as his heartbreak set itself loose. He still half-expected Yusuke to say something dumb and tactless like, Well, he's technically not dead yet, or, It was actually the other driver's fault, and when he didn't, simply let his friend cry in his arms, it only served to emphasize the fact that Hiei's whole world, along with his heart, had just been shattered.