A/N: Hey everyone! I've got to update today rather than tomorrow because I won't be home in time to post this new chapter. I thank everyone for their wonderful comments and reviews! After reading them, I felt so refreshed and energized that I couldn't help but work more than what I usually do for updates!

"In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths."-Anonymous

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Of Impulse and Fey

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I finally woke up some hours later, finding myself laid out carefully on our spare futon. Shivering, I did my best to sit up, but only succeeded curling up in an awkward manner from the immense pain that shot through my body. "Don't get up Shizuru," Natsuki murmured from her position beside me. Her cool hand brushed across my forehead, and I whimpered in response, my body unsure if the gesture was welcoming or more painful. "…W-water, pluh-please…," I rasped. Reito quietly appeared with a glass filled with water and an obscenely bright yellow crazy straw. I quirked my brow and pursed my lips in amusement. When we first moved into the house, he and I bought a set of crazy straws to remind us of the night at Nine Tails where Reito came back drunk from his first and last call. He was so drunk and doped up all he could talk about was "the slut who shoved her hand down his pants" after she slipped him a date rape drug to get out of paying for the night and the "obscenely frilly straws". He chuckled at my look, albeit nervously, before pressing the straw to my lips. Drawing in the water from the glass took more effort than I anticipated and I choked on a droplet. Coughing shouldn't be a bodily function; I thought I was going to die.

I must have passed out again because when I came too, someone was sitting behind me to keep me sitting upright and the light of the morning began to peek through the shutters. My blood was pounding in my ears and pulsing strongly through my body. It was uncomfortable for the most part, but it wasn't excruciating like earlier. A hand carded its fingers through my matted, sweaty hair while keeping a firm, yet gentle arm wrapped around my mid-section. "You know, you've held me like this before, and I thought it felt nice. I hope that it feels the same for you tonzae," Natsuki voiced. "Well, I can't say it's totally awful. My body hurts, but not like before." I wanted to sit up a bit more, but there was no strength left in my limbs. "Where's Reito? I hope he doesn't feel too bad about making me pass out…," I stated, allowing the hand to continue its ministrations through my hair. "He stepped out a couple hours after you fainted. To visit his concubine I imagine." This was said with such calmness, that I snorted with laughter; the pain was worth it. "Did I say something funny?" Natsuki frowned at my reaction.

"It just that you called Chikako a 'concubine', I'm not sure she's all that she is to him. It's still hilarious though. I can't wait to tell him when he gets back."

"Whatever you say, Shizuru."

We remained quiet for a time. I was as comfortable as I was going to get in her embrace, so I drifted to a place in my mind where my discomfort wouldn't feel so bad. By the time the sun reflected brightly on the wooden floorboards, we carefully moved from the floor. I managed to plant myself on my beloved chaise lounge (I'm still surprised I made it to my room) when Natsuki turned to head down to the kitchen for food. "Ah- I could make something," I said, trying hard not to offend my temperamental guest. I still had nightmares about returning home to a kitchen that looked like it was hit by an atomic bomb. Her eyes flashed defiance, and she was out the door. Well, I can't say I didn't try Reito. The blunette returned not but a few minutes later with a bowl of soup. "Reito prepared this before he left; he also taught me how to use the microwave." I would have chuckled, but a rogue wave of pain twisted from my wretched rib. I vaguely heard the soup slosh onto the floor from being hastily placed on the nearest bed stand and felt Natsuki hover over me, "Is there anything I can do to ease the pain, tonzae? What was that?"

"Make it stop," I weezed, "it all hurts so much."

"I wish I could aymantiae, I really wish I could."

A new word, huh? Too bad I can't ask what it means because I wouldn't remember the answer anyway. However, when she said that I came to the slow realization that she completely understood the situation; she was too aware of it. "Natsuki," I gritted my teeth in agony and fear, "do you know what's happening to me?" Although tears blurred my vision, I willed my eyes to bore deep into hers. Her silence gave me all the affirmation I needed. "Shizuru," she whispered and I felt all the color drain from my face. No, don't say it. "You're," the blunette started while taking a cautious step forward, "you're pregnant. With my child." The nausea that lurked within my belly lurched upward into my throat, and I swallowed down hard to keep from spewing the contents on the floor. I told you not to say it!, I mentally screamed at Natsuki, too bad she couldn't hear me. "Oh I can hear you alright," she said. I snapped my gaze to focus on her with narrowed eyes. "It's rare, but even those with the thickest of mental walls who had no chance of communicating telepathically before are suddenly able to speak with their mated partners. It has something to do with the fact that their lovemaking breaks down the mental barriers that would otherwise have never been broken."

"I would give anything to have those barriers back," I seethed.

"They can only speak with their partners though. Our researchers couldn't figure out why that was other than most subjects were slower to trust the general public with intimate thoughts. Or that they were more prone to anxiety than the rest of the population," she continued as if I hadn't said anything. Still, I caught the minute twitch in her left hand. Her Achilles' heel in terms of showing any outward signs of internal turmoil. Damn it, I shouldn't feel have to feel bad about hurting her feelings. I was the only in never-ending discomfort and pain. As a reminder, another piercing stab of pressure tore through my side; I nearly fainted again. When I recovered, my brain finally began working. "Hang on, but how am I pregnant? I'm nothing like you," I asked incredulously. She took in a breath, and uncharacteristically patient as ever, let it out to explain. I wanted to strangle her due to her total composure. It was annoying me. "Remember when you asked me about the mark on my back yesterday? You are marked with it as well. I knew as soon as you mentioned the pain in your rib. You can't see it now, but once you're a little farther along in the pregnancy it will begin to show. And," she smiled awkwardly, "please understand that I'm calm, so you don't panic too much. I think even with your murderous intent you'll be wanting me alive to help you along with the pregnancy."

I only felt that "murderous intent" spike. Natsuki flinched, but rose and retrieved the almost forgotten bowl of soup. "If this is the thanks I get for giving the angel of small death what she wants, then I don't want any thanks," I said, wincing as I tried to push myself into a better-seated position. She said nothing, but I noticed that damned hand again. I huffed in aggravation. Pain always put me in a foul mood. Sure, I had a pretty high tolerance for pain considering, but it didn't make it any less unpleasant. Reito, when I bit his head off for no apparent reason, usually handed me his handy fast acting painkillers because he knew me so well. "I'm sorry…" I mentally apologized, both meaning it and curiously testing our new tether. My alien ice queen gave me a sideways glance before a soft smile spread on her lips. "It's alright, I can feel only a fraction of what you're feeling, and that's only because you don't know how to control your new ability yet. I've never gone through a pregnancy, but from what I'm gathering now, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. You're stronger than you look," she thought back to me. I can't say that I'm not impressed by this new ability, but it felt weird. It was like I could feel her voice caress my mind, cool and soft, like my satin robe I first laid eyes on her in. Engrossed in my musings, it suddenly became outrageously hot.

Natsuki reached forward to lay her chilly hand on my forehead again as I began to dry heave. "Eat." She commanded, trying to shove the spoon past my lips. "No-" I started to saying, but she pushed the spoon into my mouth before I could finish. "I don't want to eat. I'll probably throw it up after I'm done eating it," I grimaced. "You will eat. The reason you having an intense fever now is because you're lacking nutrition to care for both yourself and the child. Even if you vomit, you'll still have some vitamins and minerals than none," Natsuki chided. Her voice was firm, though I could still see the beads of sweat gather at her temples. "Urgh," I grumbled when I finally ate the last spoonful of watered down chicken noodle soup. It was already creeping back up my throat. "How am I supposed to work like this?" I wailed. I wanted to cry, but feared the headache that usually follows after would make my head explode. "Reito said that he will take over for the time being. He mentioned doing so before," my extraterrestrial baby momma (daddy?) answered nonchalantly. Oh yeah, I forgot about that… I wanted to play hooky from work and took a month long cruise all along the coasts of Eastern Asia. Those were some wild nights. Natsuki raised an eyebrow at me, and I blushed, completely forgetting that she access to my thoughts. Trying to save face I asked, "How long do the pregnancies last?" Although I asked to try and block her out of those thoughts, I was nervous to find out. I may be strong now, but if I had to deal with this for another nine months, I'm not sure I could make it.

"The average pregnancy lasts for three months, however, that's without complications. Since we don't have the equipment to monitor your progress, I have no way of knowing exactly how long this will take. The longest recorded pregnancy was seven months, but both the baby and the mother didn't survive."

Now I wanted to cry more than ever.

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Reito came by my room later in the evening. He profusely apologized for the crazy straw accident, got on his face and everything; it was embarrassing. He told me that he went to see Chikako- something I already knew- and that they had made up when he showed up on her doorstep white as a sheet. He confided in me that he didn't release any details about my "condition", but only that he really needed some air and distractions. I told him I didn't blame him and teased him about Natsuki calling Chikako a concubine. That was before I was in so much pain I couldn't speak for an hour. "Do you think you can eat a little more now?" Natsuki questioned, carefully sitting me up and rubbing my back in wide circular motions. "I suppose I should shovel it down now before I can't," I muttered. The blunette hummed and nodded and went downstairs to get yet another bowl of soup that was more water than anything else. Lying against my headboard I sighed heavily, "This is going to be a long three months."

…

Something was wrong. She could feel it. At first Tomoe couldn't put her finger on it, perhaps it was the taste in the air? No, that wasn't it, but what was it? Annoyed, the woman marched into her kitchen to set the teakettle she finagled from her sweet Shizuru's home. They were going to be together forever anyway, so she would return it as a self-wedding gift. Throwing open her cupboard, she thought of her little plaything. "I wonder how she's doing. Missing me I imagine," she cooed to herself while grabbing a dainty teacup. Not even a moment past after the words left her mouth when the cup's handle broke clean off and shattered on the floor. This is a bad omen… Her 'Zuru-chan was alright, wasn't she? There was no need to be alarmed by the human's silly little superstitions, right? The water sizzled in its confines, rising in temperature. Staring down at the cup, the teal haired alien felt a grotesque chill down her spine. The cup was the last gift Shizuru had given to her when it all ended. "Ah ha well I guess now I can ask her for another...," Tomoe squeaked out nervously. This was bad. Something was terribly wrong.

"I'm sorry…"

"'Zuru-chan…?"

"I don't want to eat. I'll probably throw it up after I'm done eating it."

Tomoe's eyes bulged in alarm. The sudden ache in her side felt too familiar. Shizuru was suddenly speaking through her mind, and not to Tomoe, but to someone else. It was apparent that her lovely pet had just obtained the skill due to the fact that she couldn't control it. Most children began like beacons, literally shouting out their thoughts across. This wasn't right. Tomoe tried to brace her body against the countertop, but her hand missed, making her fall to her knees hard. This was all wrong. How could she hear Shizuru's thoughts now when Tomoe knew those mental walls were stronger than gariabiyean steel? There was only one-way, she was marked. To top it off, she was marked and made pregnant. Realization dawned on her, the other woman from the windowsill. "That stupid, skanky whore!" She screeched. The other woman was the last of that filth Tomoe had been trying hard to shake off her tail. And now she's contaminated her beautiful prize. "If only I was able to kill her off last time," she snarled angrily.

Getting to her feet, she almost didn't feel the scorching heat of the stove fire when her hand slipped past the protective grates of her gas stove and into the fire. A nasty smile spread on her face as she hungrily eyed the flames. The teakettle screamed.

…

"Ya know, everything still doesn't make sense," I said in my bed. It wasn't like I could go very far in my state. Natsuki paused in changing into her- my- sleepshirt, "How you are marked, you mean." I nodded. I wanted to ask her mentally if she was the one who marked me, but she told me later that I shouldn't speak much telepathically because I was more of an anomaly than she realized. It turns out that now that I can speak telepathically, everyone else who can speak telepathically can hear my thoughts too. Since Reito found information that this "Tomoe" was closer in proximity than what was considered safe, she didn't want to risk exposing me and my pregnancy to the vile creature. "So…was it you?"

"No, it was not. However, I do have an idea who did though."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"The people you loved most. The 'humans' who raised you and disappeared when my planet went to war, your parents."

"You're joking," I deadpanned.

The heavy medicine ball was back in my stomach, overriding the chill in the air. My parents were normal. They had to be. I mean, yes, I had two mothers and I was adopted, but times were changing. Two mothers or two fathers raised most people on earth now, it was normal. There are many truths I have to accept, and many more facts that I have yet to uncover, but within the whirlwind of answers and questions I couldn't accept the fact that my parents weren't who I thought they were. I needed some rock, some foundation, to keep my footing in this whole process. And yet, pieces of the puzzle about the odd things my parents did started clicking together. Why they were upset I couldn't dream, the timeline of their disappearance corresponding with Natsuki's appearance, and why not even the top of the line private investigators could find them, they weren't here. They weren't from here either. I must have started hyperventilating at the startling revelations because Reito came out of nowhere with a brown paper bag. Once I got my breath back, I nudged Reito's hand from my face.

"The investigators said something that I didn't understand at the time," I said to no one in particular, "They told me that prior to my adoption no one under the names of Maria and Rochelle Graceburt ever existed." Natsuki gasped and recoiled from my bed as though she had been burned. Reito looked between Natsuki and me in puzzlement before asking, "Do those names mean anything to you?" The extraterrestrial nodded frantically. "Yes, Maria and Rochelle Graceburt were well-known researchers of our planet. Their most famed theories were about mental blocks and telepathic inconsistencies."

"People like me," I said feeling a bit hollow inside.

I loved my parents very much. I looked up to them. I went to the ends of the earth trying to find out what happened to them. Eventually, I came up to my own private conclusion that they grew tired of me and left without a word. That that was why they didn't put up a fight about my leaving home. I thought that it must have been easy to do since I was adopted, related by name and not by blood, that they chose to abandon me. I bought a failing technology company and built it from the ground up, so that they would come back. So, that they would tell me how proud they were and how much they loved me. It wasn't like they didn't say so when I was growing up. My parents were kind and patient and loving toward me. Even for something simple as learning how to tie my shoes, they never failed to tell me how proud they were. My mothers were my life. Reito knew that as well. I think they knew that I was always trying hard to please them after Nine Tails and told me on many occasions that they loved me no matter what I accomplished. Even if I didn't managed to accomplish anything at all, I was their little girl.

Nonetheless, my fears have come true. I was nothing but an experiment. One they never could come up with a solution for. They must have never really loved me then. "Shizuru?" Natsuki called out to me. I brought my tired gaze into hers, breaking inside. I didn't have the power to speak anymore. I lost my will to live. Just then, my midsection exploded with pain. "Ah-!" I screamed while doubling over in agony. This was worse than all the other times, the pain that felt like knives stabbing me from the inside with the heat of a thousand suns, I couldn't pass out though. My body wouldn't let me. My ribs felt like they were cracking under some invisible pressure binding my upper half. Sweat broke out on my body and I felt like I was drowning, suffocating. "M-mak-make it sto-p!" I shrieked, "Oooow, God-! Make it STOP!"

God, please, let me die.

A/N: Well, that is a wrap for this chapter. I wonder if Shizuru's going to be okay... Thank you soooo much you wonderful readers, you. And even though it's not Friday, have an awesome rest of your week and have a fantastic weekend! Updates every Friday (normally...)