Moi-Moi: This will be a kind of fillery chapter, but still feel free to read. :)

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When he finally came to, Jack rested a hand to his head as he groaned. He cracked his eyes open and blinked rapidly to clear his blurry vision. Once he was finally able to see, Jack sat up slowly and took in his surroundings. He was in a bed? A pretty soft one too. Tentatively bouncing on the mattress a bit, Jack looked around the room. It looked like a bedroom but it was bare of any personal touches. It was probably someone's guest room. But whose?

Rising from the bed, Jack finally noticed how chilly he felt. "Where's my coat!?" he cried out when he looked down at himself. Who had kid napped him and stolen his clothes!? Looking around the room, Jack spotted a pair of pants on the bedspread. With a suspicious expression, he grabbed the pants and slipped them on.

Outside the bedroom was a long, dark hallway. Left or right? His instincts were telling him to go left. But before Jack could take a single step, he heard low growls. Freezing in place, Jack turned behind him. "Jungle cats? You must be Chase's," Jack said to the growling panther and tiger that had cornered him. "Have I mentioned how much Chase sees me as a friend? More like a brother really!" Jack said as he backed away slowly. He had only gotten a few steps when the panther leapt at him. Jack screamed as loud as he could and shielded his face with his arms.

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Hitomi patted Yanagi's back as she held her daughter in her arms. She rocked slowly on her wooden rocking chair in her and Chase's bedroom. (It was as much hers as it was his now. She'd already moved her clothes in and she slept here every night.) Chase had insisted that Yanagi sleep with them. He'd said that it was so he could better defend her, but Hitomi liked to think that Chase just liked having her around. More than once, Hitomi had caught Chase staring at Yanagi as if she was some tiny miracle. When Yanagi started to stretch and struggle in her arms, Hitomi laughed. "You don't want to sit with mama? You probably want to start moving as soon as you can, huh?" Hitomi asked.

Suddenly, the doors to the bedroom opened and a tiger and panther strolled into the room. The panther dragged a whimpering body into the room with its teeth latched onto a black tank top. Less than graciously, the panther dropped the person onto the middle of the floors. "Please don't hurt me!" Jack Spicer cried out as he shook violently with his arms around his head.

"No one's going to hurt you, Jack," Hitomi said with an amused look.

Suddenly freezing, Jack looked around before standing quickly. He looked around the large, black bedroom until his eyes landed on Hitomi. His jaw fell slightly when he spotted the moving baby in her arms. Jack pointed at it weakly. "Is that the..."

"Baby?" Hitomi supplied with a smile. "Yes. Do you want to see her?"

"Uh... I guess," Jack replied and stepped forward. Once he was close enough, Jack glanced down at the baby in slight curiosity. "Huh... She kinda looks like Chase."

"She's just a fussy as he is, too," Hitomi mused when Yanagi started to once again struggle in her arms.

"So, where is Chase? And where are my clothes? And how did I get here?" Jack fired off questions.

"Chase is around here somewhere. Your coat is drying. I had to borrow it to wrap the baby. Sorry," Hitomi said with a slightly apologetic look. "And I convinced Chase to let you come back with us instead of leaving you unconscious in the forest."

"Oh... Well, thanks I guess. But I can take care of myself," Jack argued.

"I'll try to remember that. You do know karate after all," Hitomi said with a roll of her eyes.

Jack blushed slightly. She remembered that? Clearing his throat loudly, Jack stood tall. "Yeah. I've been learning a few moves. I'm sure I could take you on," he declared proudly.

"As amusing as your loss to Hitomi would be, I'm going to have to say no."

Jack froze up just seconds before turning on his heel with a bright smile on his pale face. "Chase! You're back! Thank you for not leaving me alone and unconscious out there," Jack said in a tone dripping with admiration, gratefulness, and a twinge of fear.

Chase rolled his eyes. "You should be thanking Hitomi. It was her idea. I was just fine leaving you where you were."

"Even though you passed out on me, you did stay. Even more important, you didn't try to kill me or my baby. That deserved some kindness," Hitomi explained.

Jack blinked several times as he thought this over. People want to kill a baby? Why? Looking down at the infant in Hitomi's arms, Jack raised a dubious brow at her. "What's so special about some baby?" Jack accidentally voiced aloud.

"She is my heir. By nature, she is more special than anyone else on this pathetic planet," Chase said with a growl. The jungle cats who were still watching vigilantly raised their hackles and growled. Jack's eyes widened in fear while Hitomi rolled hers.

"I can already tell that you're going to be one of those parents," Hitomi said with a shake of her head. "They believe that their children are perfect and superior to others. Don't try to convince them of otherwise."

"It is the truth. She is half me. And despite the other half coming from you, I think she turned out quite fine," Chase teased with a smirk.

Hitomi narrowed her gaze while standing from her rocking chair. "Then you wouldn't mind watching her. Would you? She refuses to sleep and I'm exhausted. I've tried laying down with her but she keeps trying to crawl away," Hitomi said and passed Yanagi over to Chase. He took her into his arms a bit awkwardly at first, but didn't complain. Hitomi did look exhausted. Chase was sure that Jack Spicer had gotten more rest than she had in the past 24 hours. "She's not even a week old and she's already trying to move around," Hitomi commented offhandedly as she climbed onto the bed. She didn't even bother to cover herself before passing out on a pillow.

"It is time for you to leave, Spicer. Take your belongings and go," Chase said.

Despite the words not holding a threat, Jack couldn't help but get the feeling that there was one there. Wide-eyed and stuttering, Jack offered his agreements that is was way past lunch time anyways. Jack eased out around Chase before quickly fleeing the room. How did he make just standing there (and holding a baby of all things) so threatening!? Whatever. He had to find his coat before he could leave...

Chase watched Jack go before moving to take up the rocking chair that Hitomi had been sitting in. He held Yanagi to him while staring penetratingly down at her. But despite his harsh looks, Yanagi wriggled happily while smiling brightly up at him. When she started to wriggle some more and almost slid down his lap, Chase held her steady. He was about to pull her back up when she gave his shin a decent kick. Immediately, he dropped her. Eyes going over to Hitomi to see if she had seen, he nearly sighed in relief to find her completely unconscious. "You are more than a handful. Now come back here," Chase ordered and reached down for his daughter.

The second his fingers grazed her sides, she immediately started to fuss and wriggle more. At this point, Chase was losing his patience. Growling lowly, he almost grabbed her by the front of her onesie and lifted her that way. But what she did next stopped him. With a raised brow, Chase watched Yanagi wriggle a bit before rolling over onto her stomach. She proceeded to make some cooing noises as she positioned herself further. Finally, she started to move. Chase's eyes widened. Even he knew that babies shouldn't be crawling this soon. Slowly, a proud smirk slid onto his face. "I told your mother that you were special. You'll prove to be a most capable heir," Chase said. When he saw Yanagi's arms give out and she fell onto her stomach, he nearly sighed in exasperation. "Once you've been properly trained first of course."

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Hitomi hated to say it, but her baby was starting to act like that other half-magical baby from that trashy novel that was so popular with young girls. After sleeping almost 24 hours, she'd woken up to find Chase watching their daughter crawl around the room. He was the ever observant Papa Hawk while Yanagi laughed and roamed about. It had come as more than a shock.

And then Hitomi had caught Chase trying to teach their five-day-old baby how to walk. Boy, had she chewed him out for that one. Babies can't walk at five days old. Their bones have barely started to fully develop! He'd hurt her! Probably give her some kind of disability for the rest of her life! Hitomi had ranted and raved loudly until Chase had smugly pointed out their daughter wobbly walking around the throne room on her own. He had felt nothing but pride whilst Hitomi felt a mixture of embarrassment, pride, and dread. Was her baby pressing the fast-forward button on her aging process?

"I do not see what the issue is. She is growing and she is happy," Chase acknowledged as he watching Yanagi playfully chase Naomi in her lioness form.

"She's growing too fast. You're immortal. Eighteen years is nothing for you. But, it's supposed to be a long time for me. I'm not sure how to cram eighteen years of milestones into eight months," Hitomi lamented.

Chase didn't reply to that. If his enemies had their way, none of them would be lasting another eight months. Suddenly, a thought hit him. "Thanks to you, Jack Spicer is calling here almost daily. Apparently, he's spoken to the monks. But he wanted to let me know that he's on my side," Chase said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

"Don't be so mean to Jack. He may help us out one of these days. Besides, we don't have many allies left. Everyone in this room is all we really have," Hitomi said with a frown.

Chase observed Yanagi finally catching up to Naomi and roughly tackling her to the ground. (Was she getting stronger?) His eyes glanced at Hitomi who stood next to him. This was all he had? "This is more than enough," Chase replied. He should have expected Hitomi to slip her hand into his and rest her head on his shoulder.

"Why can't you always be a romantic? And smile more. You're always so grumpy," Hitomi commented and poked at his right cheek.

Chase let out an annoyed scoff and ducked his head out of the way. Hearing loud giggles, Chase turned back in time to see Yanagi awkwardly running towards him with her tiny hands fisted. Once she was standing at his feet, she offered up whatever she had been holding in her hands. With a puzzled frown, Chase accepted the gift.

"Is that fur?" Hitomi questioned incredulously.

"Yes. Mine," Naomi said while rubbing her back. "She snatched it right off me." Everyone watched Yanagi smile brightly before raising her arms for Chase to pick her up. "Not only is she too fast and strong for her age, she's getting smart too," Naomi commented.

"I wouldn't expect any less," Chase said and hoisted Yanagi up into his arms. Immediately, she released a big yawn before resting her head on his shoulder. Chase turned to leave with the sleepy child in his arms and a smirk on his face.

"I'm not sure, but I think I'm a little jealous," Hitomi mused.

"At what? That she prefers her father over you or that he never carries you like that?" Naomi asked.

"Uh... I think a little of both," Hitomi replied and Naomi laughed.

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Chase stared up at the ceiling with his right arm behind his head and his left holding Yanagi in place where she slept on his chest. They had tried keeping her in a crib when she slept to prevent her from rolling over and falling to the floor. In worked at first, but then Yanagi had woken up after her nap to find no one to let her out. Needless to say, she had thrown quite the tantrum and kicked the bars clear off the side. Since then, Yanagi always slept with someone, usually Chase.

Yanagi's growth didn't show any sings of slowing down or stopping. After almost a month, she was already stronger than most of the humans on the planet. She could run, jump, and was getting better at climbing anything taller than her (which was everything). She did all this from the body of a one-month old, however.

Hitomi was pleased. She could deal with a baby with superhuman strength as long as they still grew like a baby should. Chase, on the other hand, had felt only disappointment. Time was running short. Eventually, his enemies would finish recuperating and they would be knocking at his door once again. No matter how strong, he couldn't take an infant into battle at his side. There had to be a faster way.

"Perhaps there is..." Chase mused with a growing smirk. He glanced down at where Yanagi was snoozing peacefully before running his hand along her short, black hair. His world was filled with magic. Surely, he would be able to find a way to help prepare Yanagi for her destiny.

"You know..."

Chase restrained the surprise he felt at being snuck upon. Glancing towards the bedroom door, he spotted Hitomi leaning on the doorframe with a smirk on her face. He raised a brow at her in question.

"I'm not sure how you manage to look so sneaky and conniving laying there with a baby sleeping on your chest. Especially when she's wearing a bright pink onesie that says, "Daddy's Little Princess" in glitter," Hitomi said with a laugh.

Chase frowned. "You're the one who insists on dressing her like this," he argued.

Approaching the empty side of the bed, Hitomi climbed on and crawled towards her family. Huh. Family. It had a nice ring to it. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"My future," he answered.

"What about it?"

"I just realized how perfect it will be," Chase replied with a grin. Hitomi narrowed her gaze at him. When Chase raised his left arm to make room for her, her suspicions flew out the window. Chase rarely wanted to cuddle. She wasn't about to ruin the moment. Chase stared up at the ceiling again with a smirk on his face. 'Perfect.'

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Moi-Moi: Chase, what are you planning? Just don't do anything stupid...