Hiei was bristling internally. Nishi and the others should have been here by now. It was a twelve day journey by hippogriff from the capital to the castle, but it was day fourteen and no show. Hiei tried to reach her or the others with her mentally, but to no avail. They should at least be within his telepathic range by now. Mukuro seemed unperturbed. Said she might send a search party out if they did not show up by day twenty-four.
Ten days from now. Ten days from now was too long to wait. Nanashi was seven, almost eight months pregnant now and should not be traipsing through the mountains like this, especially without one of Mukuro's men as their guide.
After grappling with the decision as to whether or not to go after them overnight, he nicked himself some supplies, and went stole away early in the morning to go search for himself.
The hippogriff he took was the one he originally rode from the capital. She knew him and was a pretty dependent stead.
He kept his mind open as he rode down the main road, searching and searching for someone else's mind, so he could find out where Nishi and the others were. Even after a full day of flying and riding, he had nothing, much to his displeasure. He tied up his mare, found a tree, and slept uneasily for the night.
He woke up before dawn after only a few hours of sleep. The hippogriff did not seem a fan of being saddled up so early after such a late night, but she still journeyed on for him, like she seemed to understand his haste. He rode on, mentally seeking someone he knows, anyone he knows out there. After hours and a near headache, he finally found Nishi's mind.
'Nanashi?' he called out mentally. It was still faint, but he could reach her thankfully.
'Hiei?' she responded. He could tell she was talking out loud as she spoke. He saw she resting in a tent. Asa was near her, turning over to her in a motherly way.
'Where are the others?' he asked her. Surely it had to be more than just Asa and her on the trip.
'Kurama and Yasha are guarding the camp,' she answered only mentally. 'We were attacked on the road twice... we lost Kohaku and three hippogriffs. We have to walk lest we get separated.'
'It's the afternoon. Why aren't you still traveling?' he insisted. They were still alive at least, except for the groom. If they were already attacked twice, they should be on the move ceaselessly, not loafing around in a tent. He sensed that Nishi did not want to answer him. 'Why?' he pressed.
'I needed to rest...' she said. 'Yasha was supposed to protect Asa, but one of the attackers got around him. I stepped in to protect, but now I am so weak that I can't travel.'
He frowned to himself. He nearly searched through her mind for what happened, but recalled he promised not to do that. He instead entered the wolf healer's mind, wanting to know what happened. They had set out with the goal to reach the castle within the twelve days for them. The wolf healer had not wanted Nishi to travel at all though being pregnant. She had been having such a difficult pregnancy. One of the children was fiery, and one of them was icy. The fire child within her burned intermittently so hot for her that she could hardly handle it. If it was not for the ice child cooling her down, and even healing her internally, both of the children would have likely been lost. One problem though was the fire child was getting stronger than the ice child, putting all three of them at risk. It did not help that it wore on Nishi, straining her. Even now he could sense her heart was pounding too hard too often and her blood pressure was unnaturally high. He went back into the wolf healer's mind. She insisted Nishi could not travel until both of them were under control.
'I'll be there as soon as I can,' he told Nishi.
He then mentally warned the fox and the stranger he was coming, much to both of their relief. They relayed the same story he got from the wolf healer's mind.
Hiei got to their camp by nightfall, glad of it. Nishi was sleeping, but was glad to wake up to see him, caste as it had to be.
She sat up on her bed roll at the sight of him entering the tent. She reached her hand out to him, saying his name like a question. He stepped over to her, knelt down beside her, took her hand in his, and kissed carefully as if she were a delicate flower.
"You found us," she whispered with a small smile.
She pushed the sleeping bag over her down so he could see more of her. She was thinner, but round about the middle. He reached his hand down, hovering it over her stomach questioning. She nodded. He placed his hand on her, sensing the two in there. One of them started kicking, making Nishi gasp and let off a little laugh.
The wolf healer asked, "Nanashi, are you alright?" The level of concern in her voice was worrying.
Nishi nodded up at her. "Seven months along, almost eight. That one, I call fire, is the stronger one. The other one is ice." She straightened up. "So did Lord Mukuro send you to get us? You have been named his heir, right? The summons he sent to the king for me to come said you were potentially going to be named his heir." Her tone seemed a bit desperate.
He studied her. She was unwell. He could lie to her, tell what she wanted to hear. It would comfort her, but a lie was still a lie. He went with the truth. "He didn't. I came to find you on my own accord. He also has yet to name me his heir. Six months in a fighting pit of his own making as a trial, and he is still considering it. He's-" he stopped himself. He did not want to say anything he should not reveal about Mukuro, except to Nishi. The wolf healer was still in the room.
"So he doesn't even know you're here?" Nishi asked aghast. "You just took off..." she sighed.
The wolf healer looked more annoyed. "She needs somewhere better than a mountain range where we've been ambushed on the road twice to give birth. We're counting on that being the castle," she pressed.
"Well, now you've got an escort from the castle. That should help at least," Hiei commented. He did understand their pressing worry though. He had left the castle without a word. What if Mukuro saw it as him abandoning his 'chance' to become his heir? What if they arrived at the castle's gates, only to be turned away now? "I'll get her into the castle, one way or another," he determined. Neither woman looked one hundred percent convinced.
The next morning, Nishi insisted she was well enough to travel even though the wolf healer seemed to suspect otherwise. Hiei rode next to her, keeping his guard up to protect her if need be. They had to go slow for her, but they were also racing against time. She needed to get to the castle as soon as possible to give her a safe place to rest and deliver.
They were able to ride the whole day uninhibited by anything or anyone. Hiei would have preferred going faster, but he could tell Nishi did, too. She looked absolutely exhausted. Her eyes had heavy black bags under them. She was skinnier than she should be. Her hair lacked its usual sheen.
In the evening however, Nishi had stop abruptly. She stopped her hippogriff without warning. She slipped off of it, stumbling down to the ground and calling out for the wolf healer. Hiei watched the scene unfold, ignoring the stranger's swearing. Nishi sat herself down on the ground, arms wrapped around her stomach. She was whimpering.
The wolf healer was down before, asking in a rush, "hot or cold?"
"Both," Nishi whimpered out.
The wolf healer stayed next to her. "Breathe through it. I can heal you afterwards, as usual."
Nishi nodded, even as the minutes eked by. The pain had her. One had stayed on her middle, and one hand burrowed its way into her hair, tangling it up. Her breathing kept hitching. The visible part of her face was flushed.
Hiei slipped off of his own stead, coming down next to her. In close proximity, he could sense both the heat and cold coming from her. The heat was stronger. He looked at the wolf healer who was watching Nishi intently. He looked at the stranger and the fox, who were both standing on guard while the women were on the ground.
Nishi finally heaved a sigh of relief. Hiei saw her face and neck were red. She was sweating. The wolf healer reached over to her, hand coming to her middle. The wolf healer was healing her thankfully.
Once finished, the wolf healer brought her hand up to Nishi's neck, frowning. "Too fast," she sighed. "We'll stop here tonight so you can rest-"
"No," Nishi groaned stubbornly. "We need to get Hiei back to Alaric Castle. I can rest there."
The wolf healer shook her head. "We've been over this. If you push yourself too hard, your body might go into labor too early. It's much too dangerous out here in the open for that."
Nishi's breathing had hardly slowed. "If I just keep resting, I'll end up delivering out here anyway." She pulled herself away from both Hiei and the wolf healer. She rose up unsteadily to her feet. She stumbled over to her hippogriff, remounting it determinedly. "We've got at least another hour or two of light left. We can travel a little bit of it at least before making camp." She clicked her heels into the stead's sides before any of them could protest.
Hiei rushed over to get on his own stead, going after her. He hoped the others would follow them soon after. When he caught up to her, he noticed how worn down she looked. "How long have they been burning and freezing you?" he asked her.
She kept her eyes forward. "I started feeling them around four months, but they got debilitating last month. You would have known that if you had kept your promise and stayed in mental contact."
She was annoyed with him at that. "We were out of range of each other, you know that," he explained.
"You should have tried," she grumbled.
"I did," he answered, but with no bite. He did not want to upset her.
She huffed, stifling a yawn he did not miss. "Lord Mukuro will let us in the castle, won't he?" she asked in a worried tone.
"I don't know," he answered honestly, even though it might not put her mind at ease. Quietly, he added, "and she."
"What?" she asked, looking at him.
'She,' he mouthed the word.
She gaped at him. "How do you know that?" she whispered.
"My last opponent in the fighting pit, the osteopath that gave me this," he pointed up to his forehead. She nodded, likely recalling the time he told about that. "I should have killed him and he nearly killed me," he admitted. She seemed to pale at the mention of that. "But Lord Mukuro intervened, putting the both of us in healing tanks he has. She entered my mind and pulled me into hers."
She hummed under her breath, looking slightly jealous. "You two know everything about each then?" He was half irked, half complimented by her jealousy. "Can we do that? After I have the twins of course?"
"Sure," he agreed.
They kept riding, with the others catching up to them after their conversation died. After another hour, Nishi was too tired to keep riding, so they rest for the night.
They kept traveling on and on, at such a slow pace so Nishi could handle it. It was frustrating to watch her have to stop and rest suddenly because she was being frozen or burned from the inside. It took them seven days to reach the castle's gates. Hiei felt like he should have been relieved to get there, but there was an inkling of fear that they might be turned away. Nishi would not be able to take much more traveling at this rate.
They reached the main gate late in the afternoon. He expected guards to be there but was rather surprised to see Mukuro, face uncovered waiting for them with the masked one, her right hand man still. Behind them Hiei could see the gates were locked.
"A woman," he heard the stranger comment. At the very least, she was allowing herself more freedom.
Hiei led the lot of them up to Mukuro, unease icy in his stomach. They stopped a good ten feet away from Mukuro. Hiei dismounted his hippogriff and helped Nishi to do likewise. She looked at him, biting her lip nervously. He took her by the hand, leading her over to stand with him before Mukuro. Nishi bowed respectfully to her, but Hiei stayed stiff back. If she denied them entry, then there would be no sycophanting to her.
"Hello again, Hiei. You left in the early hours of the morning," Mukuro commented. "Why was that?" she pressed.
She already knew why. It was obvious, especially with Nishi standing before her. "I think you can tell that my wife that you sent for is quite pregnant, and was delayed on the road," he answered.
"I told you I would send someone out looking if they were more than twelve days late. You ran off far sooner than that." Mukuro's gaze cut from Hiei to Nishi. Hiei sensed Nishi's stiffen, hoping she would not falter at such a harsh gaze. Her free hand snuck protectively around her middle. Hopefully neither child would decide to burn or freeze her in that moment. Mukuro spoke in amusement, "the angel, which fell from the sky and rescued the crown prince."
"Yes, my lady," she answered back, using the wrong address to appease Mukuro.
"My lord," Mukuro corrected with slight shortness in her tone.
"My lord," Nanashi answered, correcting herself.
"Step closer," Lord Mukuro commanded.
Nishi stood up straighter, dropping her hold on Hiei's hand. She took her other hand off of her middle, leaving her hands to rest at her sides. She walked up to Mukuro, stepping as close as she dared to the woman standing over her. She bowed as low as she could to her, as much as her swollen stomach would allow. Mukuro kept her eyes trained on Nishi. Hiei felt a sense of unease, realizing whether or not they might get back into the castle now depended on Nishi. Much to his impression, she kept her breathing calm, eyes held respectfully low.
"Seven months pregnant?" Mukuro asked.
"Yes, my lord," Nanashi answered, trying not to sound mousy. "Nearer to eight now."
"Rather large for that," Mukuro commented.
"Twins, my lord," she answered quietly.
"Twins," Mukuro commented dryly. "Quite a stroke of luck to have not one, but two children on the way."
Nishi looked uncertain, as she did not know what to make on that comment, or how to respond appropriately. She had to have clued in by now how much was riding on her in this conversation. "Yes, my lord," she said humbly.
Mukuro held her gaze on Nishi's stomach. "A fire elemental and an ice elemental," she revealed. "Hard to endure?"
Nishi kept herself speaking, confiding, "at times difficult when one freezes and one burns."
Mukuro studied her yet. "Do you know the genders yet?"
"Yes, my lord. My nurse," she gestured back to the wolf healer, "confirmed that fire is a girl and ice is a boy."
Hiei had heard that reveal before, still hoping the wolf healer was wrong about one of them being a girl.
"Hmm," Mukuro hummed. "It is getting late," she spoke louder, addressing the rest of them. "We should retire before nightfall. I imagine the whole lot of you are worn out from your journey, especially the mother to be. Kirin, make sure the servants set up rooms for them. Hiei and his wife are to go to his rooms. Dinner shall be in a in two hours."
Mukuro turned away from them, unlocking the gate herself. She sauntered away from them, the right hand on her tail. Only then did Nishi allow herself a chance to heave a full body sigh of relief.