Kurama's feelings were kind of hurt as he walked downstairs to the living room. This wasn't the first time he'd been told that he could get a little overprotective of people he loved, but still, Hiei almost never spoke to him like that.

Besides, something might be seriously wrong with Hiei. What kind of illness was this, anyway? Kurama tried to remember all the symptoms he had observed in Hiei. Constipation, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness…and he was certainly being moody. Kurama decided to read a book downstairs to keep his mind off of things, but he heard the same pattern upstairs for hours—unsteady, slow footsteps; the toilet flushing; more footsteps; and then, fifteen to thirty minutes later, it would happen again. Hiei hadn't been given that much tea to drink; whatever he was doing up there, if he lost more body fluid than he took in, he could be in trouble.

It was just getting to be too much for Kurama, and he couldn't concentrate on his book anyway, so finally he made his way upstairs again. Who cared if he was being overprotective? Hiei had to be protected in his time of need. It was important that he was fed and hydrated, especially when he was sick. Also, if he kept getting out of bed and walking around like that in his weakened state, he was going to pass out for sure. Kurama took a couple of huge cooking pots from the kitchen, and in one of them he tossed three water bottles and the whole pack of saltines. It was heavy, but totally worth it. On his way to the bedroom, he grabbed a comfortable blanket from the closet.

"Hiei…" Kurama said softly, but the door was locked. "Open the door, hon, c'mon."

"No!" Hiei's voice was weak, but clearly miserable. "Go away."

"I brought you a pot to throw up in, and another you can use as a chamber pot," said Kurama.

"That's gross."

"Well, fine, if you want to keep walking back and forth to the bathroom all day."

"Hn." Hiei finally got out of bed and unlocked the door. When he opened it, Kurama saw that the little fire demon really did look sick, and he smelled awful. The pleasant prospect of a sponge bath floated to the surface of Kurama's mind, but then, it wasn't right to do that sort of thing with ulterior motives.

"I don't care if you say I'm fussy, Hiei," Kurama declared, setting the pots down and walking Hiei back to bed. "You're sick, and I'm going to look after you whether you like it or not. Exit Kurama, enter Mother Fox." And he gave Hiei a huge kiss on the cheek. "How long have you been sick without telling me, exactly?"

"Not too long. I started feeling kind of yucky on Monday morning, and it's just gotten worse since then."

"Hmm…" Kurama looked thoughtful. "I'll have to think about it, but we do need to figure out what's wrong, so we can treat you properly."

Hiei kind of hiccupped, then said, "You know you don't need to clean out the pots after I use them, right, Kurama?"

"Well, someone has to, and you're sick, so I'll do it."

Hiei started to protest, but Kurama got him back into bed, surrounded by blankets and pillows, and got him a book, the portable TV with its remote, and some tissues. Then he tucked him in with the extra blanket, set the pots down on the ground, and kissed him again.

"You've got to stay hydrated," said Kurama, sitting down on the bed again, but being careful not to sit on Hiei's legs. "How many times have you thrown up today?"

"Just twice," said Hiei, biting his lip. "I feel sick all the time, but usually someone has to mention food for me to actually need to vomit. But I do have to pee all the time. In fact, just looking at that jug of water makes me have to go. You can't possibly expect me to drink any of it."

"Well, hon, dehydrating yourself so you don't have to go to the bathroom is a terrible idea." Kurama stood up and crossed his arms. "So I'm not leaving until you drink at least one of those water bottles."

Hiei groaned. "You're a nagging pain."

"I just don't want you to be dehydrated. Besides, I brought saltines, too."

"Give it." Hiei stretched out his hand, and Kurama handed him the box of saltines. So he ate those and drank one of the water bottles.

"Good job," said Kurama. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I don't see what the point is if I'm just going to piss it out again in ten minutes," Hiei grouched.

"Just relax, read your book, watch TV, sleep, whatever you want to do," Kurama replied. "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

…

The water in the bottles was clean and cold, but just as Hiei predicted, but it was difficult to drink very much of it if he wasn't thirsty, and he wasn't, despite possibly being dehydrated. That was why he had a headache, he supposed. Once you were dehydrated, everything in the body started to shut down.

It was a little embarrassing for Hiei to think that Kurama was going to clean out his chamber pots, but they were just too convenient to ignore. To be honest, he didn't know how Kurama could stand kissing him, seeing as he couldn't remember the last time he was this sick, and he felt really gross. But then, he asked himself, would he be grossed out by Kurama, if Kurama was the sick one? When you loved someone, you loved them all the time, didn't you? Even when they were sick?

Well, this wasn't the right time to think philosophically about love, Hiei reminded himself. It was a time to relax and enjoy himself as much as he could, like Kurama said. So he read the book, because there was nothing on TV he wanted to watch. His dizziness only came around when he stood up and tried to walk, so as long as he had the cooking pots, he didn't feel as tired as before.

Once he had read a few chapters of the book, he turned on the TV, despite not liking anything that was on. There were a few times they showed commercials for food, which caused Hiei to throw up, but it didn't happen a lot. Hiei was watching a reality TV show about someone who went through a whole pregnancy without knowing about it.

Ha! Hiei thought. How could someone possibly be pregnant and not even know it?

But a surprising thing happened to Hiei at the end of the show. After the woman rushed to the emergency room with "severe stomach pains" and gave birth, they filmed her holding the baby, and everyone was happy. Normally Hiei scoffed at such things, but this time, he actually felt himself getting emotional. If only the sniffles in his nose and sore throat had been more symptoms of his sickness, but the hot tears forming in his eyes told him differently. What was wrong with him? The only thing he could do was try very hard not to let his tears fall, because then Kurama would find the tear gems, and he would know Hiei had been crying. That would be just too embarrassing for words.

And yet…somehow, Hiei wished he had the fox-demon's strong arms around him. It wasn't as if he had never gotten sick before, and he had always been able to look after himself then. So why did he feel so lonely now?

Well, whatever. Hiei was starting to feel a little sleepy, and in this sickness, he welcomed any sleep he could get. One last pee, and then he was out like a light.

…

When Kurama checked on Hiei, around half-past six, he was pleased to see that the little fire demon was asleep, and that he drank half of the second water bottle. What Kurama wasn't so pleased to see was that he had the rather gross task of cleaning out the pots he had brought up earlier.

They're pretty full for just two and a half hours, Kurama thought with concern. At first, he'd thought Hiei had some kind of food poisoning or stomach bug, but food poisoning rarely lasted as long as a week, and if Hiei had something that was harmless, he should be feeling better after a week, not worse. Besides, a stomach bug or food poisoning didn't explain his sudden frequent urination. That could be an indicator of all kinds of scary diagnoses, some of them potentially fatal or chronic.

Kurama ran one hand through his hair in worry. Poor Hiei! What if something was really wrong with him? Kurama didn't think he could stand another loved one getting sick, and this time without a magic demon mirror to give him a hand.

Needless to say, Kurama did not sleep well that night. It would have been hard enough, considering Hiei woke up every hour or so to use the chamber pots, mostly to empty his bladder, but a couple of times to throw up (either he thought Kurama was asleep or he wasn't concerned about privacy). Once he muttered something about giant ice cream cones, right before going to throw up again, and Kurama figured he must have had a dream that made him sick. That was weird, because Hiei usually really liked ice cream. In fact, the smaller demon had a massive sweet tooth. The thought of a giant ice cream cone should have made him hungry, not nauseous.

It seemed like forever until the sun came up that morning. Kurama was relieved, because now Hiei's feelings wouldn't be hurt if he found Kurama sleeping on the couch. Kurama tried hard to keep himself entertained throughout the day, checking on Hiei periodically, while Hiei wouldn't step foot outside the bedroom. Around one in the afternoon, the doorbell rang. Kurama went to answer it, still worried about Hiei.

"Good afternoon, Shizuru," he said, welcoming his friend Kuwabara's older sister. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I just wanted to drop Hiei's scarf off," she replied. "Apparently he left it at Kazuma and Yukina's apartment, and I told them I'd drop it off. I think Hiei's been more forgetful lately."

"Maybe," said Kurama uncertainly, taking the scarf from Shizuru. "Thank you. I'll give it to him." Figuring he could use the help of someone as chill as Shizuru to calm his nerves, he added, "Why don't you come in and stay for a bit? It's nice to keep up with friends."

"Sure," she said, and walked over to the couch. "How's it going, then?"

"Not so well, I'm afraid," Kurama confessed as he sat down next to her. "Hiei's been ill for almost a week."

"That stinks," said Shizuru. "What's wrong with him?"

"Well, that's just the problem." Kurama sighed. "We don't know. There are a whole bunch of symptoms that don't appear to be related."

"Like what?"

Kurama figured Hiei would be embarrassed if he relayed all the things that were bothering him, but then, Shizuru might be able to help. So Kurama didn't leave anything out when describing what was wrong.

"And finally," said Kurama, "his tastes appear to have changed. Hiei used to have a sweet tooth, but now if you even mention something sweet, he throws up. Even just smelling something will trigger it. All he can eat is saltines, water, and ginger ale. Oh, and certain types of tea, but he wants salt in it."

"Ew," said Shizuru, lighting a cigarette. "Who wants salt in their tea? That's gross."

"Whatever calms his upset stomach, though," said Kurama. "I just feel so bad for him."

Shizuru took a long drag on her cigarette thoughtfully, but she didn't say anything. That was when they heard soft footsteps upstairs. The door to the bedroom opened and Hiei was soon hanging over the landing, looking furious.

"PUT THAT OUT!" he hollered. "THE SMELL IS MAKING ME SICK!"

"What?" said Shizuru. "Secondhand smoke never bothered you before."

"Well, it does now!" Hiei's voice was shaking and Kurama felt even worse. "You don't care about me at all!"

"That's not true, Hiei," said Kurama. "You know I love you."

"Then tell her to put the cigarette out! Now!"

"It's okay, Hiei, he doesn't have to tell me," said Shizuru, and she put it out. Kurama used some seeds to make the room smell nice again.

"I guess you won't be able to smoke in here anymore," said Kurama. "But you see? Hiei's really moody like that, too."

"Jeez, he's acting like he's pregnant or something," Shizuru joked, but Kurama didn't laugh. Finally, it was all sliding into place. Why had he not seen it before?

"That's it," he said softly, staring down at the scarf in his hands. "This isn't an illness. Hiei's pregnant."

"Um…what?" said Shizuru. "You're joking, right?"

"No." Kurama's voice was still quiet as he ran the soft white scarf through his hands. "I'm not. I think Hiei is pregnant."

"But he can't be. Males can't get pregnant."

"Correction: human males can't get pregnant," Kurama said. "But Hiei's not human, and…oh, God, Shizuru, Hiei's pregnant!"

"Hey, don't freak out," Shizuru said. "I mean, I know you're probably a little upset, but—"

"Upset?!" Kurama repeated in disbelief, feeling tears in his eyes. "Why, I don't know when I've ever been so happy!"

"Are you sure?" she said tentatively. "I mean, this wasn't planned."

"It's not like I'm still a teenager in high school, part of a roving gang of spirit detectives," Kurama told her. "I'm an adult, I've got a good job that could easily support a family of three, I'm married to someone I love, I live in a nice house in a good neighborhood with great schools, the three worlds are at peace…oh, Shizuru, it's wonderful!"

"Here," said Shizuru, handing Kurama a tissue from her purse. Kurama wiped his eyes.

"Thank you," he said. "I don't usually get like this, I know, but I'm just delighted with this news. Not only is Hiei not sick, but he's going to bring our child into this world."

"I guess there are a lot of things demons can do that humans can't," Shizuru said after a long silence. "But this just seems strange. How does it work?"

"Well, there are all types of youkai," Kurama reminded her. "Some can only get pregnant once every thirty days, but for others it's seven or fourteen or ninety. An ice maiden is only able to have a baby once every hundred years. In addition to that, the gestation period for each type differs wildly. Hiei's pregnancy will last as long as a human's, because elemental types are very similar to humans, but a kitsune pregnancy lasts only about twenty weeks, and we go through estrous cycles, which means we can only get pregnant at a certain time of year. The same is true of many animal types."

"When's the next time you can get pregnant?" said Shizuru curiously. "Is it in the fall, so that the babies are born in the spring?"

"Oh, not me," said Kurama. "I can't get pregnant. I'm in a human body, remember? But if I was in my youko form…yes, you'd be right about that. It was kind of cute how every spring in the kitsune areas, there would be a bunch of new babies. I can't say I miss going through heat, though. It's an annoying time."

"Okay, so how do demon pregnancies work, then?" asked Shizuru. "Is it different with females, too?"

"With females, it's exactly the same as with a human woman," said Kurama, "but with males, it's a little different. During puberty, a male demon grows an organ very similar to the female uterus, called the ninshinsu. It's located on top of the bladder and remains closed to the rest of the body, unless it's the fertile window or during the delivery of a baby."

"Fertile window?"

"During the fertile window, this compartment is filled with a tangible concentration of demon energy containing the male demon's DNA, which, if fertilized, can grow into a baby, with help from the stem cells inside the ninshinsu during the fertile window," Kurama explained. "Once fertilized with the father's sperm cell, the demon energy will feed off the cell matter in the ninshinsu to eventually become one single cell, which divides into many until it becomes a blastocyst, then a zygote, and eventually a fetus. And then, when the time comes to have the baby, it opens again, but it has to open a lot wider to let a baby through. That's what contractions are. The baby is delivered anally, through a birth canal that leads directly to the ninshinsu, and the entrance to the ninshinsu closes up again. For Hiei's type of demon—elemental—the fertile window happens every thirty days, and lasts a week. If conception doesn't happen, the energy just disperses itself again.

"The thing is, though," Kurama finished, "I don't see when he ever could have gotten pregnant. I have a tonic I drink before sex that temporarily lowers my sperm count to zero. And he wouldn't cheat on me, especially not with someone who didn't use protection."

"You're absolutely sure?" said Shizuru. "There was never a time when you did it without your contraceptive potion?"

"Well, four weeks ago was Hiei's fertile window, but I couldn't take the tonic, because we were, um, in public when we did it," said Kurama, feeling his cheeks get a little warm as he thought about that nice day in the supermarket restroom. "But I had a condom in my wallet, and we used that."

"Wallet condoms are usually old, though," Shizuru pointed out, "and it only takes one of those little guys to make a baby."

"I suppose we should have been more careful," Kurama agreed. "But I don't regret it."

"You shouldn't be so quick," Shizuru told him. "You still don't know how Hiei's going to react to this news."

"Like I said, the circumstances are different now," said Kurama. "It will definitely be a shock to him, but he'll probably get used to it in time. We were bound to discuss having children eventually. I guess it just came sooner rather than later."

"Well, you have to do what you think is best, I guess." Shizuru stood up. "Should I go now, so you can talk to him?"

"Sure, and thank you," said Kurama. "If it weren't for your suggestion, I don't know how long it would have been until I figured it out."

"You would have eventually, trust me." She grinned. "Congratulations. Let me know how it goes, okay?"

"I will."

Kurama was glad Shizuru had taken his words as the truth without questioning them. Perhaps she had seen so many strange things over the years, being Kuwabara's sister, that not much about Makai could really surprise her anymore. However, Kurama decided not to act excited when he talked to Hiei, because until they knew he was pregnant for sure, it wasn't safe to get anyone's hopes up.

But even so, Kurama's hopes were already up—very up, and call it intuition, but he had a feeling that wasn't going to change.

…

Hiei was not feeling better, even after a week of being sick. It was almost two in the afternoon and he was stuck in bed, watching ningen TV. During the commercial break of a show he was watching, a commercial came on, showing pictures of the types of animals ningens kept as pets—dogs and cats, mostly. But they were alone, in cages or tied up, and they all looked sad and lonely. Most were shivering in the cold.

But it was when the narrator started talking about how the animals spent every day fighting for their lives, that they were always cold and alone, that tears filled Hiei's eyes…and by the time the (very long) commercial was halfway through, he was downright sobbing. In fact, he was so distracted that he didn't even notice Kurama was in the room until the TV switched off.

"Oh, don't worry, Hiei," said Kurama, giving him a hug. "It's okay."

"Why would someone do that to those poor innocent animals?!" Hiei demanded, trying to ignore all the yellow tearstones on the bed. "I hate ningens sometimes."

"But humans are the ones who rescue those animals, too," Kurama reminded him, one hand stroking Hiei's back, the other in his hair. "Not every animal gets rescued, but for each one that is, an enormous difference is made in its life. And by touching just one life, you can touch many others as well, like ripples on the water."

The sensation of Kurama's human heartbeat, much faster than any demon's, drummed out a soothing rhythm as Hiei leaned his head against his husband's chest. Kurama's voice was calming, and eventually, Hiei's tears stopped.

"I was hoping you would come outside with me for a moment, Hiei," said Kurama gently. "I'd like to show you something."

"Can't you just tell me about it?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

Hiei looked up at Kurama, studying him intently. There had been a slight change in his demeanor. Kurama didn't appear to be feeling anything particularly strongly, but he seemed more…relaxed, somehow. Like he wasn't worried anymore. Earlier today, Kurama had been getting visibly concerned, and now there he was, as calm as the unbroken surface of a beautiful lake. Had something changed?

"What did Shizuru tell you?" Hiei asked suspiciously, turning his head to the side.

"That was what I wanted to talk to you about," said Kurama. "Come on."

"I don't want to." Hiei was definitely feeling nervous now.

"Please, love? It's important," Kurama implored him.

"Oh…okay," Hiei mumbled, seeing that he wasn't going to win this argument. Kurama helped him out of bed, but he shook his arm away. "Let me go! I can walk on my own."

"As you wish," said Kurama, smiling, but Hiei started to feel dizzy again, and as they got to the top of the stairs, he decided staying alive was more important to him than his dignity right now.

"I-I guess I could use a little help," Hiei admitted, holding out his arm, and Kurama helped him down the stairs and out of the house.

The whole time, Hiei was reflecting on how gross he must look and smell to Kurama right now. The last time he showered was Friday morning, and it was Sunday afternoon. Not only that, but he was pretty sure he had vomit on his pajamas, which he hadn't changed since Friday night. And he was incredibly weak, too…barely able to walk on his own! If Hiei had ever felt unattractive, it had to be now.

Kurama led Hiei out to a peaceful spot in their backyard, and pointed down at the ground, where Hiei could see the freshly turned earth. Hiei figured Kurama wanted him to ask what it was for, so he did.

"I'm glad you asked," said Kurama. "In this spot, I have planted the seeds for the Tree of Life."

"What's that?" said Hiei.

"It's a rather obscure Makaian plant, but a useful one when you need it," Kurama replied. "You see, many of my plants can take my enemies' lives in very horrifying ways. But this tree is the opposite. It can't grow without the presence of life, which is why it's called the Tree of Life."

"Don't be mysterious," Hiei said nervously, trying to guess at what Kurama meant. "Are you saying I'm going to die?"

"No, I'm not saying you're going to die." Kurama took a deep breath. "I'm saying we…Shizuru and I…well, based on your symptoms, we think you're pregnant."