Hoodies, sweatshirts, and yoga pants. That was all Hiei was wearing these days. They were loose, they were comfy, and so far, they had managed to hide most pregnancy-related changes from view. The only exceptions were the other places the fat had gathered—mainly, Hiei's face and ass. Hiei was self-conscious about it, but Kurama thought it was cute.

"Your cheeks have never been so pinchable," he would say. Or, "Your ass has never been so squeezable." Hiei had to constantly be on the alert for the snuggles and kisses that came his way every time Kurama thought about the baby, which seemed to be all the time.

Recently, though, Hiei had noticed that fat was gathering in the most disturbing place of all.

"Kurama, do you think my chest looks any different?" Hiei asked one evening, staring into their full-length mirror. "Be honest."

"Dr. Setchi said you'd start developing breasts around this time," Kurama reminded him. "And you know you won't be able to hide them forever."

"Well, I sure as hell am going to try," said Hiei.

…

Kurama noticed that Hiei spent less time in the house lately. Hiei refused to live in a house that didn't have a lot of trees and nature in general surrounding it, and more than ever, he was gone, basking in the great outdoors. Of course, the cold didn't bother him like it did Kurama, and at any rate, he said he liked fall the best.

It did get lonely, though. Sometimes Hiei would be missing almost all day, returning home only around night. Kurama would come home from work only to find the house empty, even though he always looked forward to seeing Hiei. And on Monday afternoon, when Yukina came by to see the sonogram photos again, Kurama had to find Hiei because he seemed to have lost track of the photos.

"Maybe Hiei will know where they are," Kurama reassured her.

Despite his power level being lower, Hiei's scent was both strong and distinct these days, no doubt because of all his pregnancy hormones. Kurama had a good nose, so he was able to find Hiei fairly easily in the woods (he and Yukina disguised their own energy, of course, so as not to startle him). And then he realized where the ultrasound pictures were.

Hiei had them. The pregnant demon was sitting underneath a tree, studying them closely as if trying to break some sort of code. Not even Kurama could read his facial expression; he was neither smiling nor frowning, just staring almost unblinkingly at the tiny creature that was growing inside him right now. Was that what he had been doing all this time out of the house? Brooding over the ultrasound pictures?

"What's he doing?" Yukina whispered. "I don't think he looks very happy."

"But not sad, either." Kurama was confused. "It's almost like he doesn't understand them."

"Hiei?" Yukina said quietly, stepping into his range of vision.

"Yukina!" said Hiei, dropping the photos as his face turned red. "W-What're you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see those pictures again, and the video," she said, pointing. "Can we go back to the house?"

"Oh, um, sure." Hiei stood up, looking flustered as he tried to gather up the photos from the ground. Kurama followed Yukina to where Hiei was standing and scooped them all up for him, wondering why Hiei was acting so nervous.

"What's the matter, Hiei?" Kurama wanted to know as they trailed behind Yukina.

"I'm fine!" Hiei's face was still the color of ketchup, and he was sweating like a pig. "What are you talking about?"

"You just look all riled up, that's all."

"Well, I'm not!"

"Okay, Hiei," Kurama told him. "Just remember, if you need me, I'm always here."

"Whatever," said Hiei, and they didn't talk any more until they got back to the house.

…

"I like this one the best," said Yukina, teary-eyed again, gripping one of the photos and looking at it sideways. "You know, Hiei, I think it has your nose! See?"

"You may be right, come to think of it," Kurama replied, looking closely at where she was pointing. "Good eye, Yukina."

"Who do you think the baby will look the most like?" she continued. "Do you think it will be a girl or a boy? How big do you think it will be?"

Why was it that when Yukina said the baby looked like him, Hiei felt like she had punched him in the gut? Recently, he had just felt out-of-sorts, and he just couldn't seem to blame it on the regular pregnancy hormones, although those didn't help. The more these troubled feelings nipped at him, the more they felt like an instinct, telling him something wasn't right—especially when he looked at the pictures. But he couldn't figure out what it was, and he was scared to talk to Kurama about it.

"I'm only on my tenth week," Hiei reminded her. "How can you tell what it looks like at all?"

"Hiei, you should be enjoying your pregnancy," Yukina told him, smiling slightly. "Babies are always a blessing."

"Babies are always a blessing?" Hiei repeated doubtfully.

"Yes, always," Yukina said emphatically. "I know what you're thinking of, Hiei—but in my opinion, no child is cursed. In fact, since you were created with love, that makes you the most special and blessed of all."

"That's a wonderful way of thinking about it, Yukina," said Kurama, but Hiei couldn't have spoken if his life depended on it. The truth was, Yukina was his weakness, and the angelic expression on her face was cutting into him like a knife. Even if she said it was okay to cry, he still didn't want to. And he definitely didn't have the heart to remind her that they weren't planning on keeping this baby in the first place.

Luckily, Hiei was distracted then by a loud knock on the door. Kurama went to answer it, and it was Yusuke and Keiko.

"Hey, Kurama," said Yusuke. "Listen, it's Keiko's 'time of the month,' and she was wondering if she could have some of your herbal tea."

"Of course," Kurama replied, smiling at them. "Anyone else want tea?"

"I'll have some," Hiei said, since this pregnancy was giving him cramps, too. "Make sure you put salt in it."

"You take your tea with salt, Hiei?" said Yusuke, looking disgusted, as Kurama headed for the kitchen.

Hiei glared daggers at him. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Well…I guess not," said Yusuke. "Anyway, I'll be back. I have to go to the bathroom."

"Sure," said Keiko, and she sat down on the couch next to Yukina. "Whose photos are those?"

Yukina looked uncertainly at Hiei. Keiko was an ordinary human; would she believe it if Hiei said he was pregnant?

"Keiko," said Hiei, "if I told you the answer, you'd never, ever believe me."

"What makes you say that?" Keiko raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's kind of a demon thing," Hiei said awkwardly.

"Yusuke is a demon now, you know," said Keiko, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure it's nothing I haven't heard before at this point."

"I doubt Yusuke knows about this either, Keiko," Yukina told her. "Hiei? Do you want me to tell her?"

"Y-Yes, please," Hiei said nervously.

"Okay." Yukina took a deep breath. "Keiko, they're Hiei's."

"They can't be," Keiko said. "You and Hiei are twins, remember? If they were Hiei's, the ultrasound would show two babies in the womb."

"That's not what I meant," said Yukina, shaking her head. "I mean, Hiei is the pregnant one."

"What?" said Keiko. "How is that possible?"

"It's possible because youkai are built a little differently than humans," Yukina explained. "And unlike humans, where only the females can get pregnant, all youkai have the ability to become pregnant, male or female. Demon energy can be fertilized by male sperm, just like a female egg can, so if a male youkai has unprotected sex with another male, human or fellow youkai, at just the right time, the 'receiver' can become pregnant."

"So you're pregnant?" Keiko was still staring at Hiei. "Seriously?"

"Look, youkai can do a lot of other things humans can't," Hiei said impatiently. "You were at the Dark Tournament, weren't you? You saw what some of us are capable of."

"Well…true," Keiko said reluctantly. "But how long does a youkai pregnancy last? Do you lay an egg or something like that?"

"That depends on the type, Keiko, but since Hiei is an elemental, his pregnancy is going to be very similar to a human's," said Yukina. "That means forty weeks is considered full term, and it's going to be a live birth."

"Wow," said Keiko. "When are you due?"

"June 11," Hiei told her. "I'm on my tenth week. But we weren't planning on making a formal announcement 'till week twelve, so you can't tell anyone. You can't tell Kuwabara, you can't tell Botan, you can't tell Yusuke—"

"You can't tell me what?" said a voice from the doorway. Yusuke was back.

"Uh…" Keiko glanced nervously from Hiei to Yukina, then over at her husband, her cheeks peppermint pink.

"Really, what?" Yusuke said.

Hiei breathed out heavily through his nose. "I give up."

"I'm going to be an aunt," said Yukina, beaming. "Hiei's pregnant!"

Yusuke blinked.

"Hiei's a demon, Yusuke," Keiko reminded him. "Male demons can get pregnant, just like females can."

"You," said Yusuke, pointing. "You. Are. Pregnant. Do I have that right?"

"Look, I don't see why this should be so shocking!" Hiei snapped. "After all you've been through in your career as the Spirit Detective, Yusuke, does this really surprise you? You're a demon, for crying out loud! You could get pregnant!"

"W-What?" said Yusuke, alarmed.

"We're just a little confused, Hiei," said Keiko. "I mean…where does the baby grow? Where does it come out?"

"It grows in the ninshinsu, which is sort of like a nest," said Hiei, "and it comes out my ass."

"That's insane." Yusuke still looked dumbfounded. "Even when I see demon spawn in horror movies, the male demon has to pick a female to bear his children."

"That's just movie star baloney," Hiei scoffed. "If a demon wants to have children, he's going to impregnate another demon if he can—male or female. Why would he pick a human?"

"Maybe because he loves her?" said Keiko, looking slightly offended.

"Oh…sorry," said Hiei. Yusuke and Keiko probably were going to have a baby someday. Luckily, though, they didn't have to discuss it any further, because that was when Kurama came back into the room with two cups of tea.

"Here you go, Keiko," he said, and she sipped the tea, looking relieved. Hiei drank his tea, too. It was salty, just as he liked it. Over the course of his pregnancy so far, it seemed his stomach could handle salty foods better than other kinds. Before, salt had just been okay, but now he could tell he was starting to crave it.

"Kurama, is it true that I can get pregnant?" Yusuke blurted out, his face still a bit pale. "That's what Hiei said."

"You two told him?" said Kurama, looking at the twins.

"Yes! Now can I get pregnant or not?!"

"Not without a male partner," Kurama reassured him. "As long as you're not being intimate with a man, you have nothing to worry about."

"There's no chance of that happening," Yusuke said, looking slightly better, but not much.

"Does that mean we get to tell everyone else?" Kurama asked Hiei. "I mean, I don't think we need to tell my mom, not if we're putting the baby up for adoption—"

"You are?" said Yusuke.

"Yes, we feel that's best," Kurama confirmed, while Yukina suddenly looked heartbroken. Hiei felt bad for her, and for Kurama, too, because he knew full well that Kurama thought it would be best to keep the baby.

"Well, you should do what you think is best," Keiko said finally. "But like Kurama said, who else are we going to tell?"

"Just the rest of our friends, I think," said Kurama.

"Right," Hiei agreed. "I'm not sure I could explain this to any more humans."

…

As the days went by, Kurama could tell his husband was getting a bit of a bump. It wasn't really visible when he was wearing his typical loose hoodie or sweatshirt, but when he had his shirt off, you could definitely see something there. Hiei was only 4'10", petite, with hardly any unhealthy body fat before the pregnancy, so the bump really had nowhere to go but out—and Kurama couldn't believe how much he loved it.

"Hiei," said Kurama on Thursday night, the first night of Hiei's eleventh week of pregnancy. "You're getting a baby bump."

"No, I'm not," said Hiei self-consciously, looking at his shirtless self in the mirror.

"Yes you are." Kurama got out of bed and walked over to Hiei, lovingly wrapping his arms around the pregnant demon's newfound belly. "See? Right here."

"It's just bloating," Hiei insisted.

Kurama gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I think you look cute."

"I don't look cute," said Hiei, his cheeks pink. "I look like I need to lay off the snacks."

"Hiei…" Kurama whispered in his ear. "You should love your body, like I do."

"Hmm?" Hiei sucked in his breath; his face had gone from pink to tomato-red. It reminded Kurama of when they first started out sexually, and Hiei had been surprisingly shy, as well as a virgin.

"Come on," said Kurama. "Let me take you to bed, Hiei."

Kurama really did think Hiei's pregnant body was adorable, all of it; his baby bump, combined with a rounder face and fuller ass, was impossible for the fox-demon to resist. After they crawled into bed, Kurama set his hands on Hiei's unusually puffy cheeks, surprised at how warm they were, even for a fire demon.

"So let me get this straight." Hiei put his hands on top of Kurama's. "You're turned on by my baby body?"

"I'm turned on by you, Hiei," Kurama said honestly. "But I do find your 'baby body' to be extremely attractive, yes."

"But why?" said Hiei. "I don't feel attractive at all."

"Well, then…" Kurama leaned over and gave Hiei a kiss on the forehead. "Shall I make you feel as sexy as you really are, Hiei?"

"You mean, you want to…?" Hiei swallowed...

Kurama just smirked...

...

Hiei had collapsed onto the floor, as it were, relying on his elbows to support his weight, as Kurama panted with exhaustion...When he finally got enough of his strength back, the fox-demon hauled Hiei up to lay next to him on the bed.

"Oh, wow," Hiei breathed. "That was the best sex I've ever had."

"Hmm…you can thank the hormones for that," said Kurama, grinning, and in a matter of minutes, they were asleep for the night.