One windy day towards the end of November, Kurama was sitting on the couch with Hiei, watching TV. This time, it was a documentary about a human family that had a baby. In the show, a camera crew followed a pregnancy from the moment the mom found out all the way to the birth (with her permission, of course), and Hiei could totally sympathize with the mom, because these days, he understood exactly what she was going through.

The strange thing was, this would have made him cry before, but even though he did tear up a bit, he didn't have to struggle not to cry, and instead of being filled with a sad feeling, he was feeling at peace with the world. Maybe not energetic, but he just felt like there was nowhere else he would rather be at this moment. The baby wasn't big enough for either of them to feel any movement, but Kurama rested his hands protectively over the small pregnant belly. Hiei moved his hands so that they were on top of Kurama's, and Kurama gave his head a kiss. They were just watching the scene where the mom told her overjoyed parents about the pregnancy when they heard the phone on the end table ring. Kurama muted the TV and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he said, pressing the speakerphone button so Hiei could hear the conversation.

"Hi, it's Botan," said the ferry-girl's cheerful voice over the phone. "I was wondering, how would you like to go shopping at the baby store tomorrow, maybe sometime after Kurama's work?"

"I'd rather go through a hurricane on crutches," said Hiei.

"Yes, yes, I know you hate shopping," she said, and Hiei could tell she was smiling. "But this is for the baby. Doesn't that make a difference?"

"Well…"

"I don't mind shopping," Kurama put in. "I'd love to go shopping for baby supplies. Are you sure you don't want to go with us, Hiei?"

"For you, and for the baby, but I won't like it," Hiei agreed finally.

"It's a date!" came Botan's excited voice over the line. "Oh, and I should probably tell you that Shizuru, Keiko, and Yukina are coming too. We've arranged it all in advance, so this is really more of a heads-up. See you then!"

Hiei groaned.

…

Kurama was looking forward to shopping for the baby. Ever since Hiei decided he wanted to keep it, too, almost everything about approaching parenthood excited him—even the thought of walking around and around the upstairs nursery, trying to get a newborn to sleep. It was also nice that Hiei was beginning to look quite pregnant whenever he had his shirt off. Kurama was insisting that he didn't need to wear those sweatshirts and hoodies that hung on him like a gunnysack, but Hiei was Hiei, and Hiei was stubborn.

Another way in which Hiei was stubborn was refusing to do anything about the pregnancy breasts that were coming in. He complained that they hung on his chest like weights, but when Kurama said a bra would probably help, Hiei said he would never wear a bra, no matter how big they got, or how cumbersome they were. All their female friends, meanwhile, said he would get used to them soon.

"Hi there!" said Botan cheerfully after she arrived at the house to pick them up. "You two really do live in the middle of nowhere, don't you? We could only take the train so far, and for the whole rest of the way, we had to walk."

"As convenient as it would be for me to live right on a rail line, Hiei insists on being surrounded by woodland," Kurama said, giving Hiei an exasperated but fond look. Hiei just gave his trademark "Hn!" and defiantly turned his head away.

"So anyway, we figured that once we went to the baby store, the sales associates would probably ask who was having the baby," said Yukina as they got into Kurama's car. "And since human males can't get pregnant, Hiei, we figured you should just say you're a woman."

"There is no way I'm doing that!" Hiei protested.

"It's just another way of fitting into the human world, Hiei," Botan pointed out. "You've done that before."

"Well, I think it's weird that human males can't get pregnant," Hiei said in a "so there" sort of voice. "Why would one half of the human race be able to give birth, but the other half can't?"

"They're not built to have children," said Shizuru. "They don't have the right parts."

"In my opinion, the demon way is better for equality," said Keiko. "You know, so that men can understand some of the pain women go through."

"We girls promised each other that whenever one of us has a baby, she would tell the others what this is really like," Yukina explained, addressing Hiei. "But it seems you'll be the one to tell all of us!"

"Yeah, we don't know anyone else who's pregnant," Shizuru agreed. "So you'll have to be the one to give us the inside scoop, Hiei. For example, we'll need to know your techniques for dealing with the Pain of Childbirth."

"Look, can we not talk about this?" Hiei said angrily, turning around to glower at all of them in the backseat.

"Aw, he's nervous about giving birth," said Botan. "That's so cute, Hiei."

"I am so not nervous!" said Hiei defensively, and Kurama rolled his eyes, letting the five of them verbally duke it out as he continued driving. It was just as he'd said a few weeks ago; Hiei's greatest weakness was his pride.

Kurama had a paid parking space by the train station, and he let all the others off while he went to park, so they could wait for the train. It was November, so the heat lights were on. Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, and Kurama waited in the bus shelter, but Hiei and Yukina were resistant to cold, so they stood outside. The six of them barely made it onto the train because Botan's purse got stuck in the train doors as they closed, and the ride had to be delayed so she could pull it out. It was going to be a long ride.

…

Once they got to the nearest shopping center downtown, they went to look for the nearest baby store. The first department they headed to, upon the girls' insistence, was the maternity clothing.

"You can do better than those baggy sweatshirts," Yukina told her brother brightly.

"See, Hiei?" said Kurama. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"I can't wear maternity clothes," said Hiei, as they walked to that section of the store. "All of them are going to be for women."

"I'm sure you can find more casual styles that will reflect your personality," said Keiko, and along with the rest of the group, she led Hiei to a department full of clothing just for people in his current situation. Maybe I can do this after all, he thought.

"Ha, look at these fake-ass jeans," said Shizuru, pointing. From the waist down, the pants looked like regular jeans, but upon closer inspection, they had a nice, stretchy waistband, and there was some plain blue cloth that went up all the way up to the bust underneath, meant to be hidden by a shirt. They did look comfy.

"I like them, but I think they're really fitted to a woman's body," Hiei pointed out.

"Just try them," said Kurama.

Jeans were not something you found in Makai, so Hiei could count the number of times he'd worn them on one hand. Besides, these days, it was pretty much sweatpants and pajamas only, if he wore pants at all. So he didn't know what his jeans size was, and he had to guess at it. They looked in the petites section, obviously, and Hiei grabbed a few pairs. Then he went into the dressing room as the others waited outside, and picked up the pair he thought would fit best (since he had only been guessing at his sizes, he had to grab a few separate pairs).

The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the pants and pulled them up was that they didn't have a fly. They were kind of like sweatpants or yoga pants in disguise. But, perhaps because of the many pregnancy-related body changes Hiei was already experiencing, they fit fine. And they were even more comfortable than they looked! They weren't even tight in the ass, as he was afraid they would be. They were snug and hugged his figure well.

Hiei thought maybe if he got clothes that were designed to accommodate a "baby body," he could look, and even feel, much better. If anyone thought he was weird for wearing maternity clothes, he really could just tell them he was a woman. After all, if he chose to tell the truth, he could look forward to spending the rest of his pregnancy in a mental health facility.

With that in mind, Hiei left the dressing room and modeled his new jeans.

"Hiei, they're wonderful!" said Kurama, obviously pleased. Hiei could tell by the way his eyes lit up that he really did love them.

Over the course of their trip to the maternity section, Hiei avoided the dresses, skirts, and girly tops. But there were a bunch of T-shirts to choose from, and some of them were actually kind of funny. Since Christmas was coming in about a month, they found some holiday-themed T-shirts, including one where there was a little cartoon baby right where the bump was supposed to be, wearing a Santa hat. Hiei wanted to buy the one that read, "Be Nice, Because Look Where Naughty Gets You," but Kurama wouldn't go for it. There were actually a few T-shirts that ranged from slightly weird to downright offensive, and they laughed at those but didn't buy them.

Eventually, Hiei caved into the bra idea. It was a little embarrassing when they had one of the sales associates measure him, but once he actually had some support, it felt so much better than just going around letting them hang free and bang into his chest. When he said he was on his twelfth week of pregnancy, the sales associate informed him that he could start leaking colostrum soon, which wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, but he thanked her for the warning anyway.

They left the department loaded with shopping bags full of maternity clothes, some more fitting for the upcoming winter months, others for the spring and summer, when Hiei would really be huge. The associates let Hiei wear a pair of his new jeans and one of his T-shirts out of the store, and he stuffed his old clothes in a shopping bag. After they bought the clothes, Hiei cut the tags off them, since tags irritated his skin.

After that came the really fun part—buying things for the baby. Buying onesies and other baby outfits was kind of like buying maternity T-shirts, in that they wanted to buy all the ones that were funny or cute. Hiei was amused, because Kurama was the one acting like an expectant mom, exclaiming over the tiny little baby socks and shoes, and of course he absolutely had to buy the pajamas that had dinosaur scales on the back, as well as a onesie that read, "I'm Cute, Mom's Hot, Dad's Lucky."

"Are you out of your mind?" said Hiei. "Don't buy that, it's embarrassing."

"Oh, don't pretend you're not excited," Kurama told him with a grin. "Just look at these shoes! They're so cute and small."

"What does the baby need shoes for?" Hiei snapped. "It won't be walking for what, a year after it's born?"

"Yeah, but they're cute," Kurama repeated, as if that settled the matter, and Hiei was sure the baby had gotten the better of him. It was nice that he was throwing himself into fatherhood, but again, it was a little embarrassing, too!

The truth was, Hiei was only entering his second trimester next week, so they couldn't really buy that much yet. Plus, they could only buy "unisex" things, because it was too early to know what kind of baby they were having. They didn't really brainstorm names, either, agreeing that when the baby was born, they would just know what his or her name should be.

Once they got home, Kurama thanked the girls for a nice shopping trip.

"You're welcome," said Yukina, smiling and giving both of them hugs. "We'll do even more after the baby's born!"

…

That evening after work, Kurama's communicator rang while he was cooking a salty dinner. When he looked at the Caller ID, he was surprised to see that it was Touya, the Ice Master, calling all the way from where he lived with his lover, Jin, in Makai.

"Good evening, Touya," said Kurama. "What a nice surprise. How can I help you?"

"Jin and I have got the most wonderful news!" said Touya. His voice sounded happier than Kurama had ever heard it; in his experience, Touya had always been very calm and serious, rather like himself. But now he sounded downright giddy.

"Really? What is it?"

"I'm pregnant!" Touya said gleefully. "The baby's due July 14! We were going to wait until the second trimester, but we can't, and I'm telling everyone! But I thought I'd tell you first! I'm on my eighth week already!"

"Um, Touya, did you have a lot of sugar or something today?" Kurama asked tentatively. "You don't quite sound like yourself."

"Oh, no, I've just been so happy!" Touya replied. "I don't know what Hiei's complaining about. Being pregnant is great!"

"You didn't get any morning sickness or anything like that?" said Kurama.

"Well, earlier this morning I was a little hungry, but then I had some soda crackers and I felt brand-new!"

Wow, Jin sure is lucky, Kurama found himself thinking. But then, maybe pregnancy wasn't the same for everyone. It sure seemed to be going easy for Touya.

"Congratulations," said Kurama. "I'll tell Hiei."

"No, I want to tell him!" Touya protested.

"I'm sorry, but he's sleeping now," Kurama said, and he was thankful he didn't have to lie. The last thing he wanted was for Touya to start telling Hiei how much he loved being pregnant. That wouldn't make Hiei feel any better.

"Okay, then," said Touya. "But I just want you to know, when you told us Hiei was pregnant, we thought it was a good idea to have a baby too, and we conceived on our very first try! I've never felt so alive!"

"That's great, Touya," said Kurama. "But I'll have to let you go. I'm cooking dinner."

"Could Jin and I visit sometime?" Touya asked.

"Sure," Kurama told him. "Just make sure you call us first."

"No problem!" said Touya cheerfully. "See you then, Kurama!"

"Have a good night," said Kurama, and they ended the conversation. Hiei walked into the kitchen, looking groggy from his nap. Kurama smiled at his look: slightly oversized pajamas, messy hair, bare feet, faint red crease marks from the pillow on Hiei's cheeks. Even the Jagan looked slightly unfocused, and it wasn't fully open, either.

"Who was that?" he mumbled, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Touya," Kurama replied. "He's pregnant."

"What?" Hiei's head snapped up, his eyes widening.

"Yes, he and Jin are expecting a child," Kurama confirmed. "It's due on July 14, about a month after ours. It seems like once they learned we were having a baby, they wanted to have one, too."

"Well, at least I'm not the only one who's pregnant," said Hiei finally, shrugging. "How soon until dinner?"

"About twenty minutes."

"I'll get back to my nap, then," said Hiei. "Wake me when the food's ready, okay?"

"Of course," Kurama promised, smiling again.

"Oh, and...Kurama?" Hiei suddenly looked a little nervous.

"Yes?"

There was a pause, then Hiei ran up to Kurama and wrapped his arms around his husband, squeezing him tight. Kurama was shocked, but pleased. He kissed the top of Hiei's head and hugged back, and the happy feeling lingered in him long after Hiei had gone to finish his nap. As long as Hiei was happy, so was he.