The following morning, the ninshinsu was cramping again. Hiei often awoke to cramps in his lower belly these days, which he assumed was the baby's nest getting bigger to accommodate the child as it grew as well…but if it wasn't Hiei's imagination, it hurt a little more than usual today. And there was a strange smell emanating from the bed, though it was slightly familiar as well.

Hiei sniffed at the air. It smelled like it was coming from him, and he recognized the smell now…but it couldn't be. It had better not be.

Reminding himself that he was in his own house, in his own bedroom, and nobody was watching, the pregnant demon pulled down the covers to glance at the sheets (he had fallen asleep naked). And there it was. Red blood, soaking into the sheets, right underneath where his bottom half had been while he slept. Hiei's eyes grew wide and his heart pounded impossibly loudly in his ears when he realized what it must mean.

This could not be happening.

…

"Sir, is it okay if I put you on hold for a few minutes?" said Kurama.

"No! I don't want to be put on hold!" shouted the client over the line. "I've spent half my life on hold!"

"I understand, sir," Kurama told him patiently, "but I just want to forward you to someone in the right department."

"I'm done with you!" the man declared. "Let me speak to your manager!"

Kurama sighed inwardly. "I'm going to have to forward you to him, then, instead."

Over the phone, Kurama heard a scream of frustration. Why was someone so upset about being put on hold? That was when Kurama felt his communicator, on silent, ringing in his pocket. When he checked the caller ID, he saw that it was Hiei.

"Please hold and my manager will be with you shortly," Kurama said quickly, and in an instant, he had parked the call and dialed for his manager to pick it up. Then he answered. "It's crazy at the office today, Hiei. Can I just call you back in a few minutes?"

"No!" Hiei's panicked voice immediately got Kurama's attention. "It's an emergency!"

"What kind of an emergency?"

No response—and suddenly Hiei burst into tears over the line.

"What, Hiei? What is it?" Kurama was repeating as he stood up and burst out of his cubicle, charging out into the hallway. "What happened?"

Hiei was trying to talk, but it was impossible to understand him through thick, heavy sobs.

"What's wrong, Hiei?" said Kurama, though he was already running out the door of the office building. Whatever this was, it couldn't wait until he got off work. "I can't understand you. Just try to calm down, okay? Take deep breaths."

"It's…it's the baby," Hiei managed to gasp out, his breath still ragged.

Kurama stopped in his tracks. "What about the baby?"

"Just come home! Now!" Hiei howled.

"Hiei, I've got a 45-minute commute ahead of me," Kurama reminded him anxiously. "Please just tell me what's wrong."

"I-I think it's dead!"

"Dead?" Kurama felt a rush of cold surge through his body. "You…you mean like…like you think you miscarried?"

No verbal response, just more tears, which Kurama took to mean that his guess was correct. When had it ever felt so horrible to be correct?

"Hiei," said Kurama. "How much blood is there? Are you in pain? Can you see any tissue?"

Still, there were no words, only the sounds of raw heartbreak.

"Here's what I want you to do, Hiei," said Kurama. "Use the portal to Makai outside our backdoor and go to the hospital right away. But go to emergency."

"Stay on the line?" Hiei begged.

"I'd love to, hon, but I need to contact Reikai for a faster way to the hospital," Kurama told him. "I'll meet you there as soon as I can, okay?"

"O-Okay," said Hiei, sniffing.

"I love you," said Kurama, but all he heard was a few beeps and a dial tone, so he called Prince Koenma's office. Jorge picked up the phone.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"This is Kurama," the fox-demon said quickly. "Can I please speak to Prince Koenma? It's an emergency."

"Um…okay, hold on a second, please."

There was a fumbling sound, some voices, and then Koenma picked up. "What is it, Kurama?"

"I need you to open up a portal to Makai for me," Kurama told him, in the most authoritative manner he could. "Right now."

"Those things aren't toys, you know," said Koenma. "There's one right by your house. Use that one."

"I'm 45 minutes away from it!" Kurama snapped. "I need one outside my work."

"But why?"

"Look, do you want me to head over to your palace and start something?" Kurama demanded. "Because I will. I'll start something, unless I can get to Makai right now."

"Are you threatening me?" Koenma said incredulously.

"You bet your ass I am!" Kurama said angrily. "If you must know, Hiei and the baby could be in danger, and I want to meet my husband at the emergency room, so he doesn't have to go through this himself. That's why!"

There was a sigh over the line, and finally, "Okay. But I have to close the portal as soon as you use it. I can't have my dad finding out about—"

"Yes, fine! Just do it!"

Not five minutes later, Kurama was in the biggest Makaian city, heading towards the emergency room on foot, hoping he would be able to find Hiei.

Sure enough, as soon as Kurama burst into the emergency room, there was Hiei, in a chair in the corner of the room. Judging by their phone conversation, Kurama expected Hiei to be crying, still, but what he saw was actually worse. Hiei was wearing his long black traveling cloak and a pair of pants, but nothing else, not even shoes. He was sitting on his chair with his feet drawn up against his chest, encircling his calves with his arms, his head leaning on his knees, his face white as a pillowcase. The worst part, though, was his eyes, wide and blank, the way they seemed to stare right through everything else going on. There were no tears; he was frozen with fear and shock.

Kurama rushed over to him, knowing that he needed to resist his natural tendency to set his emotions aside. All he could really do was provide comfort, and feel along with Hiei as best he could.

"Oh, honey," said Kurama, putting his arms around the smaller demon, hoping to get a response out of him. Hiei was unusually cold, and his limbs were very stiff. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Why…why are you sorry?" Hiei's voice was small and weak. "I-I'm the one who killed it."

"Hiei!"

"I told you I couldn't grow a baby," Hiei insisted; Kurama would never forget the hurt, disturbed look in his crimson-red eyes. "I-I couldn't keep our baby alive. I…I f-failed."

And then he was crying again, head facedown on his knees, shoulders shaking, tear gems scattering all over the floor. The other demons in the emergency room were giving them a wide berth.

"It's not your fault," said Kurama, feeling tears in his own eyes.

"It is my fault."

"Don't blame yourself, Hiei." Kurama held Hiei in his arms and rocked him back and forth slowly. "This was a tragic accident of nature. It's nobody's fault."

"But I had a bad feeling…an instinct," Hiei wept. "I-I just didn't know what it was warning me about."

That was news to Kurama, but he said, "Even if you did have an instinct, Hiei, there was nothing you could have done to prevent a miscarriage. I know you didn't want that to happen, and I didn't, either. Even though it's hard for me…I can't imagine what it must feel like for you."

"S-So hard."

Kurama could say nothing more; all he could really do was keep rocking Hiei, letting him get his emotions out into the open. It didn't help that they were in a Makaian emergency room, either; some of the things you saw in there were much worse than anything common to its human counterpart. There was the usual amount of demons with swords or other various weaponry in their eyes or stomachs, barely missing their vital organs, or with body parts halfway sliced, ripped, pulled, shot, or blown off; but since they were in a city where a lot of elemental types lived, there were other injuries as well: third-degree burns, limbs frozen black from ice, lungs filled with water, stones tightening themselves determinedly around a patient's neck…Kurama supposed everyone was wondering what was wrong with Hiei. Besides the tears, there was nothing visibly wrong going on. No one could actually tell that he was having a miscarriage, although Kurama could smell the blood on him.

As they waited, watching gruesomely injured demons pass through in various states of distress, Kurama rocked Hiei back and forth—the way he might have rocked the baby—and thought of how Yukina said Hiei was the blessed child, not the cursed child, because unlike the ice maidens, he was made with love. Until now, Kurama hadn't realized just how true that was. Things rarely went the way they ought to for Hiei, and that just made Kurama hold him even closer, feeling so utterly terrible for his husband.

Finally—

"Minamino?" said the doctor, whom they didn't recognize.

Kurama pulled up Hiei's sobbing body (his limbs were like pudding) and helped him follow the demon in a white doctor's coat, ignoring everyone who was rude enough to stare.

"What are we doing?" Kurama asked, trying to stay calm because, well, someone had to. "An emergency ultrasound?"

"Precisely," said the doctor, then he turned to Hiei. "Can you describe your symptoms? Was there any fetal tissue?"

Kurama pictured the remains of his child as a bloody mess of tissue in Hiei's pants, wondering how he'd feel throwing the soiled bedsheets in the wash. It made him feel dizzy and sick. But the problem was, he hadn't been there when Hiei made this discovery, so he couldn't answer the doctor's questions—and Hiei couldn't either, because he was borderline hysterical. Boatloads of hormones, anxiety, heartbreak, and self-blame were not exactly a recipe for a calm demeanor, especially if you were like Hiei and had low self-esteem all your life that you could never quite find the words to describe, and you had just witnessed the horrors that went on in a Makaian emergency room.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," said Kurama, leading Hiei along. "I was at work when it happened, and I don't think my husband is in any condition to answer…"

"I'd normally give him an over-the-counter drug to calm him, but there could be a chance that the baby is still alive," the doctor told Kurama, "and that drug isn't necessarily safe for pregnant youkai and their unborns."

"So you think there's a chance?" Kurama asked him, his heart lifting just a little, and he jiggled Hiei's shoulder. "Did you hear that, hon? The baby could still be alive."

Hiei just sobbed, his hands over his face. There was a trail of tear gems behind them.

"We have to check for a heartbeat on the ultrasound, so get him set up for a transabdominal," the doctor ordered his assistant, a young woman, when they got into the room with the ultrasound machine waiting for them…waiting to tell them if their baby was still alive.

…

Hiei didn't even know what was going on. All he knew was that he was following behind Kurama and an unfamiliar ER doctor, and that he was in unbearable pain. It was not physical pain; his body wasn't hurting him anymore. But the thought of what he'd just lost kept overwhelming him so that he couldn't stop his tears. This was unbelievable. At this point, he was basically having a nervous breakdown, and he couldn't control it at all. He would never hold this baby in his arms; he would never see it grab his finger for the first time; he would never even hear its heartbeat again. It was gone.

Feeling more upset by the minute, Hiei wondered what would happen when they came home from the hospital and had to tell everyone that the baby died. He didn't want to see his friends' pitying looks. Didn't want to hear their words of sympathy or their tears. And what about Yukina? Hiei felt a fresh wave of hysterics just imagining how her face would look when she got the news. The last thing he wanted was to make Yukina sad.

And no matter what Kurama said, Hiei blamed himself for this. If only he had done this, hadn't done that…There were a million possibilities running through his mind.

"Come on, hon," Kurama was saying gently. "Let me help you up."

Hiei didn't even question whatever they were doing until he realized they were going to do another ultrasound—and suddenly he didn't want that! He couldn't look at whatever was left in there! How would he deal with not hearing that heartbeat? As he was still quite strong, it took both Kurama and the doctor's assistant to hold him down and keep him from escaping.

"Sir, please!" said the assistant. "Do I have to get the anesthesiologist in here?"

"Honey, calm down," Kurama added, stroking Hiei's bangs back and giving him a kiss on the forehead. "The doctor's going to help you, okay?"

With that, Hiei gave up and just stayed crying, letting them do the ultrasound the way he actually thought they did it (with the transducer on his abdomen, not inside him), and dreading what he would, or wouldn't, see.

And then, like the beat of a drum: Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump…

"Is—is that me?" said Hiei, dazed.

"No, it's the baby!" Kurama said joyfully, wrapping his arms around Hiei and squeezing. "Hiei, the baby's alive! Look!"

Hiei looked. There was the baby on the screen, actually a little bigger than last time, and appearing even more like an actual baby. The heartbeat was there, too. It was a little faster than last time—most likely due to Hiei's current emotional and mental state—but it was there. And it was certainly just as strong.

"Oh, Hiei!" Kurama had tears on his face now, too, and he couldn't seem to let go of Hiei. "Don't you see? There's the baby's head, the legs and feet, the hands and arms…It's like I could reach right out and touch it!"

"And, as you can see, the opening to the ninshinsu is closed, which means you weren't having contractions," said the doctor.

Hiei suddenly started crying again, except this time, they were tears of relief and joy. The two of them, Hiei and Kurama, just hugged each other and cried, until they both finally calmed down.

"Thank you, Doctor," Hiei said shakily.

"You're quite welcome," he said. "Still, if you're not having a miscarriage, why did you think you were?"

"I-I was bleeding," said Hiei, "and I had some cramps."

"Neither of those things necessarily mean you or your baby are in danger," the doctor told him. "Have you had cramps before in pregnancy?"

"Well…yes," said Hiei. "I told my regular doctor, and she said it was because the ninshinsu was growing in size."

"That's probably what you felt this morning," said the doctor. "Did they hurt more than usual?"

"Maybe a little." Hiei noticed that Kurama was staring at him, and he started to feel his face flush with embarrassment. Maybe he'd rushed to the ER a bit too soon.

"And how much blood did you see?"

"I, um, a teaspoon? It was less than a tablespoon…" Hiei shrugged, feeling sheepish. "I-I'm not sure. I saw a little on the sheets. There wasn't any baby tissue, I know that."

"Hmm," said the doctor. "Perhaps your bleeding wasn't related to your pregnancy at all. Have you ever experienced bleeding from this area before?"

"Only once," said Hiei, remembering. "It was one of the first times we…uh…"

Hiei trailed off, realizing what he was saying. Kurama's face was suddenly the same color of his old pink school uniform. Even the assistant looked a little embarrassed.

"Would you consent to a physical exam, sir?" asked the doctor, as calmly as ever.

"Um…sure," said Hiei, humiliated. Of all the reasons to be bleeding. Well, that was better than what he had thought was happening, obviously, but he had enough embarrassment now to last him until the end of the pregnancy, he knew.

Anyway, it turned out they were right. The doctor said that, because the area was more sensitive during pregnancy, Hiei had "small fissures" from the activity he and Kurama had engaged in the previous night.

"I would advise you to be less rough next time," said the doctor, in the same tone of voice he would use if he was telling them that it might rain tomorrow and perhaps they should carry an umbrella.

"Can sex hurt the baby?" Kurama asked. "Can it cause miscarriage?"

"No, not at all," the doctor reassured him. "It can cause you to go into labor during the later months of pregnancy, but that couldn't happen right now. But like I said, that area is very sensitive during pregnancy, and it's important to be careful during penetration."

"Thank you, Doctor," said Kurama. "Come on, Hiei, let's go."

As they walked back to the outskirts of the city, where they could take their already-established portal right back home, Hiei said, "Kurama, are you angry?"

"What?" Kurama looked over at him in surprise. "Why would I be angry?"

"I think I had you really worried," said Hiei. "And I made you come all the way here for nothing. All I did was panic, and it was totally embarrassing to find out the real reason."

"But you made the right decision," said Kurama. "We didn't know for sure what happened."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if something really had been wrong, but you had ignored it, things might have gotten much worse," Kurama explained. "But you realized that, when in doubt, it's best to get medical attention. In retrospect, maybe we could have called first. But no harm, no foul. Everything's fine, and that's all that matters to me."

…

That night, in bed, holding Hiei in his arms, Kurama was still thanking his lucky stars that everything was all right. Every so often he would kiss Hiei's hair and give him an extra snuggle, just to remind him how brave he had been today. And then, a small voice came through the dark:

"Kurama?"

"Yes, Hiei?" said the fox-demon, lovingly smoothing his husband's bangs back and giving him a kiss on the forehead.

"I want to keep it," Hiei whispered.

"W-What?" Kurama pulled away from him in shock.

"I want to keep the baby," Hiei repeated. "I-I know what that uneasy feeling was now. It wasn't warning me about a miscarriage. It was my instincts, warning me not to give the baby away. Now that I know, I feel better than I have in weeks. I've decided we should raise the baby ourselves…if that's okay with you."

"Oh, Hiei! Of course it's okay with me!" Kurama cried, squeezing Hiei as tight as he could, feeling tears under his eyelids again. "It's better than okay! It's wonderful!"

"And if you want, we can tell everyone, as soon as the sun comes up tomorrow." Hiei was grinning now, Kurama could tell.

"I love you, Hiei," Kurama whispered, burying his nose in Hiei's hair. "Thank you. Thank you so, so, so much."

"Well, hey," said Hiei, "you played a part, too."

Kurama laughed and hugged Hiei again. Tears were streaming down his face and he didn't care. It was probably one of the happiest moments of his life—with many more to come.

…

Hiei actually woke up earlier than Kurama the next morning. Kurama called in late to work, and they told all their friends that Hiei was pregnant, due on June 11, and that they were planning on keeping the baby. All the women were over the moon, especially Yukina, and even Shizuru got a little carried away. Kuwabara was shocked that a man could be pregnant, but he was happy at the prospect of a new baby. Even Jin and Touya got a call, since Kurama had told Touya they were putting the baby up for adoption.

Prince Koenma called of his own accord to make sure everything was okay, and Kurama reassured him that they were, and thanked him for his concern. They told Kurama's human family that they were planning on adopting. Shiori was thrilled to have a grandchild on the way. Hiei hadn't been lying when he said he felt the best he had in weeks. At least twelve times a day, Kurama (who was as bubbly as a can of pop with an Alka Seltzer in it) would hug Hiei and thank him, not only for agreeing to keep the baby, but also for bringing it into the world. Hiei never knew when he was going to be ambushed with a rib-crushing squeeze or the most loving of kisses.

Kurama also reminded Hiei that this meant they had a lot more planning to do.

"Now we actually do get to design a nursery and buy baby clothes and everything," he gushed. "I think we should make the guest room into a nursery, don't you?"

"Whatever you want," said Hiei, and he couldn't help smiling.

...

Several days later, November 21 was Hiei's birthday, and Yukina's, too. They were turning 103, still young for demons. Yukina and Hiei had finally got their "secret twin" business sorted out less than a year ago, including her telling him when their birthday was, so this was actually the very first birthday Hiei celebrated. Hiei and Kurama offered to give Yukina a full spa day as a gift, but she turned it down, saying that the news of her being able to be an aunt after all, was enough. Hiei wasn't accustomed to this, so he didn't want a big party this time around. The other two members of the Reikai Tantei paid for a movie date for Hiei and Kurama, while Yukina had her own birthday party, which she held at the nature park nearby. Hiei appreciated the fact that they saved the birthday cake for after he and Kurama left (he still couldn't stand the smell of sweets, and he didn't want to throw up at Yukina's birthday party). She did serve lots of salty food, like popcorn and French fries.

"Happy Birthday, Hiei," Yukina said brightly to her twin brother, giving him a big hug. "And thank you again."

"Happy Birthday to you too, Yukina," Hiei said, hugging her back.