A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you so much for hanging on. I know I took longer than expected to upload this next chapter. (I even said I was back on my tumblr account, I'm so cruel please forgive me T^T.) Still, thank you again! Now onto the show~

"In our togetherness, castles are built."

-Irish proverb

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Of Impulse and Fey

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Boy, the road to recovery was a long one. Reito and Natsuki took their respective shifts in caring for me over the next several days. I still felt sick, though, not nearly as horrible as before. Reito, once he finally believed I was well enough, went to work in my stead at the company. I felt a little lighter knowing that my precious life project was left in capable hands. He also mentioned to Natsuki that he was pursuing a new, much stronger lead as to the whereabouts of the last murderous criminal. Natsuki seemed very relieved to hear such good news, but aside from that, she had…changed. I wasn't so sure about it at first, thinking it was purely the work of my continuous delirium, but as time went on I definitely noticed something different. At first, it was the sound of her voice. When speaking to me it became gentler than when she spoke to Reito. I figured that it had to do with the fact that I still had terrible migraines and for that I was grateful, but then came the other small gestures. A soft word here, a jovial crinkle in her eye there, and a small caress when she thought I was asleep.

Don't get me wrong, I was enjoying every second of it, but I wasn't quite sure what brought this on. Was it pity for my painful condition? Remorse for losing the baby? I couldn't tell. Perhaps I was looking too much into this, because I was eighty-nine percent sure that it had nothing to do with the fact that she actually liked me. Natsuki had just begun playing with the tips of my hair again, and I sighed contentedly. My ice queen had taken a liking to doing that the most, I was suspicious that maybe she probed into my mind at some point while I was unconscious because I absolutely love it when someone plays with my hair and it was something that not even Reito was aware of. When I confronted her about it, she neither confirmed nor denied, which was unlike her, but I was able to read between the lines. She just wanted to play with it, which was fine in the end anyway.

"You know, I'm really craving some oranges…" I said matter-of-factly. It was odd that I craved such a fruit because I never really gravitated toward them. I'm more of a sweet strawberry person. "Do we have any stocked in the fridge?" I asked, looking to Natsuki who continued to play with my hair. "What is an 'orange'?" She asked, puzzled enough to stop her ministrations for a moment. "Well," I stated sitting up more comfortably on my bed, "it's a round fruit that's the color…erm orange?" I laughed at my explanation when Natsuki merely scrunched up her face more in confusion. "C'mon, let's head down to the kitchen before my headaches start up again." Making our way down to the kitchen, I immediately spotted the ripe fruit and nearly made a run for it. My hands had begun to shake and my head began to reel, I needed this thing now. Sensing the urgency, Natsuki did what she thought would be best. Take the fruit from my hands and…

Splat!

She succeed in smashing my beloved orb onto the counter top. I really wanted to laugh at the incredulity of the scene, but the scent of the sweet fruit hit me like a wall that I grabbed a chunk to quickly shove into my mouth. Even the peel was amazing on my tongue. "What a strange food…" Natsuki commented. The extraterrestrial proceeded in following my example and ate a smaller piece. I hummed delightfully in response, the relief that washed over me was astounding. Feeling a little more stable, I took another whole orange from the fridge. Natsuki tried to pry the fruit from my hands and this time I did laugh. "There are different ways to opening an orange," so saying I reached for my kitchen knife and cut the fruit into sections. "See? Less mess," I said handing her a section. We stood in silence, munching away, when I felt it. Small bubbles in my belly, bubbles that seemed to suck greedily at the nutrients the fruit gave off. Thinking I needed to burp, I tried to do so as discreetly as I could, but the feeling didn't lessen.

Curious, I ate another section before giving into another sudden craving, pickles with peanut butter and sour cream. I quickly rummaged through my kitchen before finding the contents I was searching for and shoveling the seemingly disgusting, yet oddly satisfying combination down my gullet. "You make that seem like the richest food in the entire galaxy, and I would join you did it not smell so sour."

"Yeah, honestly, I'd never ever had cravings for such things until today…"

"'Craving?' Is that a human aspect?"
My brows shot up at the question, "You've never craved anything? Maybe you had a different word for it where you come from, but 'to crave' something usually means that your body is missing some vital nutrients and is searching for the food closest to satisfying that need. This also goes outside of food, like a sort of yearning, but that's something different altogether." I finished with a slight blush creeping on my cheeks when I reminisced our first coupling. Hopefully, she doesn't notice…

"Tonzae, are you feeling alright? You're cheeks are turning pink."

Blushing harder at being found out, I simply nodded and took another bite of my pickle slathered in peanut butter and sour cream.

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Back in my room, I twisted at the semi-uncomfortable feeling of the gas in my stomach. "Natsuki, could you help prop me up? I don't think I can lie down just yet." Natsuki eyed me suspiciously before leaning over to fluff up a pillow underneath my back. I had begun sweating from the small amount of exercise and I was feeling quite tired. "Maybe I ate something bad. I can't be for certain because Reito is very particular of his produce, maybe it was the combination…" I trailed off to myself in thought. "Is there something wrong, tonzae?" I hummed in response. "My stomach, there's something weird going on in there," I said patting it slightly. The bubbles felt like they were rising in response. It felt like opening a bottle of soda after shaking it a little. 'A rush of carbonation fighting to reach the surface', I remember one of my professors in college describing that was how the early stages of pregnancy felt.

At the sudden realization, I felt giddy and light headed. I knew that the color had drained from my face and stress sweat broke from my brow, but I also felt the stupid smile that I couldn't wipe off my face. The baby made it.

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Natsuki marveled at the expressiveness that her partner possessed. The wide range of emotions playing out on her face and through her eyes, Natsuki and her people were more of the stoic sort. Only because everyone could read each other's emotions through their thoughts that they never really needed to show them on their faces. Of course, everything has a set of outliers. Her friend Haruka flashed in her mind, and Natsuki lovingly caressed at the memory before filing it away and coming back to the present. So, her child had made it after all. The relief waved and crashed within her and Natsuki felt her face reciprocate Shizuru's in her elation. "We're…we're really going to be parents after all." Natsuki whispered to herself. Her knees collapsed underneath her and she fell with a hard thunk. Shizuru watching her extra-terrestrial winced at the sound. "Are you all right, Natsuki? That must have hurt a bit. Here," the human patted at the spot on the bed next to her, "hop in."

The blunette stared at the spot when she heard the ruby-eyed pregnant woman snort delicately with laughter. "Do I need to coax you into bed with me again?" She wiggled her brows in amusement referring to the first time Natsuki and Shizuru had slept in the same bed when she was still in canine form. Natsuki merely gazed at her dazedly before realizing that the prickly sensations she felt in her eyes were her tears. The foreign droplets slid down her cheeks before she could catch them. Wiping them with her hand, Natsuki watched the salty water glisten on her palm in amazement. The only time she ever allowed herself to cry like this was when she was sure she was alone.

The last one left.

She heard rustling from the bed above her and saw Shizuru's slim fingers wrap around hers. Natsuki looked up to see Shizuru producing tears of her own. This human woman couldn't ever look ugly, Natsuki thought as she watched the tears shimmer in her eyes with the most beautiful smile gracing her features further. "You little fool, I thought you would've figured it out by now." Natsuki didn't understand and must have shown her confusion on her face because her human lover sighed as if being put upon before brushed a stray tear away. "You are no longer the last one, tonzae." Natsuki merely collapsed in Shizuru's arms when the next wave of grief, relief, and other emotions crashed into her.

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"I'm going to be an uncle, eh?" Reito asked delightedly while preparing a concoction of food I was craving. "Damn, this baby sure is one greedy little beast," I thought while patting my slightly bulging belly happily. "Yes," Natsuki replied before coming to place her hand atop mine. I smiled at my ice queen knowing that she answered to both of the present and private conversations. This telepathy thing could be quite handy. "Ah yes, I found something that would interest you Natsuki." Reito said before placing a tray of beautifully breaded, fried onions that were cut into strips to be easier to dip into a puddle of honey mustard and –dare I say it- mayonnaise. Natsuki faced Reito with full attention; however, she dipped her finger in my sauce despite herself. I watched her shudder a bit at the mustard and giggled a little. She really was adorable.

"I've almost got her. My sources have found a few residents with in our area that hadn't moved into this neighborhood until a little over three and a half years ago- corresponding with your timeline. Unfortunately, the information is a bit…scrambled. Whoever it is, they're really good at covering their tracks," Reito said crossing his arms and frowning in thought. "He's miffed that it's taking this long. He's really good at finding people," I thought over to Natsuki. "Before working for me or at Nine Tails, he was a private investigator." Natsuki 'hmmed' telepathically in response and I visibly quivered at the sensation. Who knew how long it was going to take before I got used to it. "We hit another wall just recently too. They must've found out that we were digging because the company got hit with another cyber-attack wiping specifically that information. And don't worry," Reito turned to me, "it's all under control now. I didn't want to bother you with it until I knew you were well."

"Wise decision. Did they scrap everything you found?" I asked, mid crunch into my fried onion.

"No, well, they deleted what they could before the security firewall booted them out. The rest is just in scrambled pieces." He said broodily. To Reito, such an attack was an act of war. He regarded himself very highly when it came to computers, systems, code, and the like. In fact, he was the technician I entrusted to build that very security firewall program. This must have been a heavy blow to his male pride. I patted him on the shoulder sympathetically whilst heading to the fridge for something to drink. Natsuki sensing this on small level offered what she could in terms of comfort. "Still, this is better than where I had been with nothing before. I thank you deeply, Reito." Reito looked up at her in a bit of shock. She had never addressed him with his name before. After a beat or two, Reito cracked a smile of gratitude. "You're very welcome." By this time I had returned to island where I had been enjoying my snack this time armed with a beverage in a light brown color.

Taking a sip, I "ahhed" in delight before munching on another onion sliver. Reito and Natsuki regarded my drink and me in curiosity. "I'm afraid to ask, but Shizuru, what are you drinking?" Reito questioned while trying to discern the answer for himself by staring harder into my glass. "Coca-Cola and milk," I said innocently. "Oh for the love of- SHIZURU! Now you're taking this pregnancy craving thing too far! That's disgusting." He reached for my glass and I neatly swiped it from his grasp and took a hard swallow. He was a lover of Coca-Cola and the combination obviously left him in displeasure. "The bubbles are too harsh on my stomach and I didn't want just milk so I did what satisfied both needs." I tried to argue. To be honest, if I hadn't been pregnant and completely sane, I wouldn't drink this either. I set the glass behind me and did my best to fend of my friend from my drink. Unable to keep my attention on Natsuki, she snuck behind me and too a swig. "Oh, that's…odd. If not completely terrible, Shizuru I don't think you should continue drinking this." With that said, she dumped the contents into the sink. "Wha- but I'm thirsty!" I pouted. "I'll make you some tea," Reito said, happy that Natsuki was on his side.
"But it's hooooottttt! I want something cool," I replied, teary and pouty like a child.

"I'll make you iced tea then." Reito said unaffected at my outburst.

Natsuki on the other hand, merely rubbed the small of my back that had begun to ache for sitting for too long. Relenting, I leant against my extraterrestrial's front. She then wrapped her arms around me and I felt happy and safe in my small cocoon. Sighing in contentment, I listened to Reito filling a pot with water and Natsuki's steady breathing and promptly fell asleep.

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"And she's asleep," Reito said laughing at the bundle in Natsuki's arms. "So it seems," Natsuki replied with a small smile "I'll take her upstairs." The Japanese male nodded before proceeding to clean up the area. "Natsuki," Reito called out when the blunette reached the doorway, "I will find her." The ice queen stood, carrying her lover in her arms, stunned. Reito didn't know what drove him to say it, but he gave into the need. "I know you will, zxhenzwei." Reito stood puzzled at what she just called him. He wasn't sure if it was a compliment or an insult. The manner in which it was said seemed like she was calling him an idiot. "It means 'friend'," she muttered hurriedly over her shoulder as she turned to leave once again. "'Friend', huh?" Reito thought to himself. Who would have thought that he- the skeptic- would have made a friend out of someone from a different planet? "Life is definitely full of surprises," he said softly to himself, scrubbing lightly at dried orange peels.

A/N: I hope that you all enjoyed this installment of "Of Impulse and Fey". Thank you again for your everlasting patience. I will be working on the next chapter, but I cannot guarantee that it will be up in a week to two weeks time. I will do my very best, however, to keep you updated on my tumblr account. Please enjoy the rest of your week. Love you all~