Chapter 11- Whole Nine Months

"You will always refer to the Princess Kiara as 'Mistress' or 'My Mistress'. Never address her by her first name, only her husband can do that. You'll stay in your mistresses quarters at all times during the day if you are not one of the three she'll have attending her during the day. One of you must stay up all night in case your mistress should awaken and need something. All of you will not fall asleep until your mistress does. And, one of you has to keep your mistress company," The tall man who had called dinner, a man of Moraine's enkai, Zen, led them down the dark hallway. The torch in his hand blazed so that everyone could see the markings on the walls. They were images of Kiara and her mother; this was Kiara's private part of the palace.

"What do you mean, keep her company?" Yusuke's face had bruised slightly from Kiara's slap.

"One of you has to sleep with her in the same bed, duh," Zen turned around. "Don't you know anything about being in an enkai? The Princess has certainly let you become lethargic. If you were under My Mistress' charge, she'd have had you all beaten already,"

"Forgive Yusuke, shujin*, he is new, and doesn't know everything yet," Kurama apologized.

"Well, he'd better learn fast or he'll soon be meeting the god of the dead," Zen stopped in front of a pair of gold leaved doors. "These are your mistress' quarters," He threw open the doors and handed the torch to Hiei. "Let the moon shine upon your face,"

"As well as yours," Kurama said.

"How do you know all of this stuff?" Kuwabara asked.

"Kiara told me about her home back when we first met. I remembered it all, surprisingly. Her city-state has a rich culture," Kurama walked through the door, and flipped off his shoes in the mat next to the door.

"Wow, nice place," Yusuke whistled.

"I this all real gold?" Hiei wondered as he set the torch in a holder with a big silver disk behind it. This made the light jump from all different mirrors until the whole room was lit up.

"And then there was light," said a dark voice.

"Who is that?" Amitomo demanded.

"Guess who," Karasu appeared from behind a nearby pillar and leaned onto it, crossing his arms.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Kurama rushed forward. He drew his hand behind his hair. "ROSE WHIP!" The light green vine appeared in his hand.

Karasu drew off one of his gloves. Kurama stopped moving forward, and stood still. "Ah, you remember one of my greatest weapons: my own skin. How do you think Kiara will like you without an arm? Or a leg? Or maybe even a head?"

"Put that glove back on, Karasu," Kiara strode out of the bedchamber, and stood between Karasu and Kurama. "I said put it back on," She glared at the dark man.

"Fine, Mistress. Whatever you want," Karasu said as he slid the glove back on his hand.

"Mistress? You mean you've," Yusuke said, exasperated.

"No, I have not changed my mind about killing Kiara. I fully intend to do that after she gives birth to my son," He glanced at Kurama, whose eye had begun twitching. "But I do plan to bring her back to life after Lord Hades has the Flame,"

"I will not allow you to have the Flame," Amitomo said. "As a warrior and as a man I cannot allow you to,"

"Please spare me from listening to you any more. A man? How can you be a man when you're in love with a man?" Karasu grinned at Amitomo's shocked face. "Here's the deal: I stay here, Kiara has my son in nine months then I take her away, do her in, get the Flame, get my soul back, and then resurrect Kiara from the dead. In return you will let me do all these things and I won't tell the Queen about your little scam, and that Shi Yongei and this man are in a romantic relationship. And if you think you can get away with the whole Sabaku army following you, you're going to face a lot of angry women,"

"Or, we could just kill you now," Hiei unsheathed his katana.

"Yes, four Spirit Detectives and a Warrior of the Flame against one demon. The chances are in our favor," Kurama twirled his whip, but then it did something strange. The whip turned brown, and shriveled up into nothing.

"I feel strange," Yusuke said, falling to the floor. The other three Spirit Detectives did the same, as well as Amitomo.

"Karasu, stop it!" Kiara yelled, but Karasu fell to the ground as well.

"I'm not doing anything," Karasu's eyes widened. "But, my energy is being sucked out of me, AAH!" Gold bands appeared on all of the men's wrists.

"This is my mother's doing," Kiara growled. "She's taken your spirit energy and all your powers. The bands are what restrains you to me,"

"You mean I have no powers? I'm just like a mortal human?" Karasu looked unbelieving at his wrists. "Impossible!"

"It's possible, and true," Kurama glared at him. "Like it or not we are in the same predicament now,"

"WHY MEEE?" Yusuke cried.

"These are horrible with my clothes," Amitomo commented.

"Why must I be bound to Kiara?" Hiei asked. "What did I ever do wrong in the world to receive such a fate?"

"This feels strange, not having any spirit energy," Kuwabara banged his wrists on a pillar. "WHY WON'T THEY COME OFF?"

"They won't come off until my mother wants them to come off," Kiara sighed. "Well, we have no choice now. Karasu is bound to me now, so he'll have to stay. If I even tried to get his bands off, I'd die from the strain."

"Well, I guess we have no choice now," Kurama moved close to Kiara, and put his arm around her waist. He glared at Karasu.

"Yes," Karasu glared back.

* * *

The nine months they stayed in Sabaku seemed to go by very fast. Every day was the same for the men: wake up, attend Kiara, clean her room, get her flowers (this was Amitomo's job), attend her every need, evade Kiara's sisters who, since their sister was pregnant and couldn't 'enjoy' her enkai, chased them everywhere, eat dinner, sleep. In fact, the only thing that seemed to change was Kiara's stomach that went from flat to a beach ball. Kiara seemed to enjoy being home. All she had to do all day was to be with her mother in the throne room, meeting heads of state, visiting with noble families, etc.

Kurama was always the one who slept with Kiara at night. Kiara had had Karasu banished to the kitchen at night after he had tried to get under the covers with her one night. Amitomo and Yongei slept together when Yongei wasn't off visiting with his family, who lived a mile away in the whole five square miles that Sabaku stretched. Hiei and the others usually curled up under the window outside the bedchamber.

Karasu and Kurama were constantly at war playing pranks on each other since they couldn't fight without their powers. The funniest one Kurama had done was let fly a bag of glue mixed with flour onto Karasu's head as he had went under Kiara's balcony one night. It had taken Karasu weeks to get the substance out of his hair. In revenge, Karasu stole Kurama's cloths one night as he was taking a bath in the enkai sector of the palace, and Kurama had had to walk back through the palace wearing nothing. Through Karasu's planning, or sheer coincidence, Kiara's sisters and their friends were having a party that night. They had been pretty drunk, and let's just say they gave Kurama a run for his money back to Kiara's quarters.

The day Kiara went into labor was a very warm night. Since Moraine hadn't had a child in nearly two hundred years, there were no midwives available to the palace that night; they were all on the other side of Sabaku. And, since Yongei was the only one literally within miles who knew anything about this sort of thing, he had to deliver the child. Kiara had screamed and moaned, nine months of doing nothing was hard on her.

"Give me something!" She screeched. "Give me something!"

"You're too far to have anything," Yongei told her.

"Just have her drink wine or something!" Karasu said irritably, he had been allowed out of the kitchen for the birth.

"Shut your mouth, you bastard!" Kurama snapped.

"Why don't you, dick?" Karasu countered.

"Shut it both of you! No swearing around my baby! SSSSSSHHIIIIIIIIIIIIT! God could I be in more pain?" Kiara yelled.

"Is the head supposed to look like that?" Hiei said.

"I WANT HIM OUT OF HERE!" Kiara pointed.

"Kiara, you really need to push now," Yongei said calmly.

"Kiara, I really don't mean to bother you," Kurama winced, "But you're crushing my hand in a death grip,"

"No talking please, I need to concentrate," Yongei said, focused.

"For what?" Amitomo asked over his shoulder.

"Well, the day Mum told me how to deliver a baby, when we got to this part a sand storm came up, and the next thing I knew I was up to my neck in sand," Yongei replied crisply.

"In other words you have no idea what to do now," Karasu sulked. "Just great. My son may be born with a broken bone for all we know. What did I ever do to deserve this?"

"You brought this upon yourself remember?" Kiara yelled at him. "Think back to the time nine months ago when you, oh, I don't know, RAPED ME?"

"It wasn't rape. You never cried out for me to stop. You didn't even try to stop me," Karasu looked at Kurama, who was looking a bit pale.

"Can you finish this conversation later?" Amitomo shouted.

"WILL EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Yongei yelled. The room went suddenly quiet, even Kiara stopped screaming in pain. "Here we go, Kiara, push. Aaaaaaaaaannnnd, here we are! Welcome to the world little guy," Yongei held up a crying, red baby boy. He had dark, black hair. "Which one wants to cut the cord?"

* * *

"He's such a pretty baby," Viara held the little baby, who was now only about a week old. "He has really pretty eyes. I've never seen such a purple color! Well, except on that one man of yours,"

All of Kiara's sisters and her mother had come to visit her today. She was able to walk around again, but she still had pain sometimes. Usually she just stayed sitting up in bed.

"Too bad your first born had to be a boy," Jiara said, arranging a vase of flowers.

"Yes, too bad. A nice girl would have been wonderful. But, this little one is very pretty. He'll make a good shujin one day," Moraine said, looking thoughtful.

"Yeah, maybe," Kiara looked at her hands.

"What do you mean, maybe?" Miara and Liara flopped down on the big bed. "You're staying here, aren't you?"

"No, I always planned on going back to the Temple after I had my baby," Kiara looked up and out the window. "But my son will have to stay here for a while,"

"When's the naming ceremony?" Viara asked.

"Tonight, at midnight," Moraine answered for her daughter. "At the Temple of the Moon God, Atmos,"

"Who's invited?" Jiara had always liked ceremonies.

"Only the queen, me, and the father," Kiara said quietly.

"By the way, which one of your men is the father? Certainly not Yongei or that Suiichi. It must be Karasu," Viara looked hard at Kiara, who nodded.

* * *

"And, in the sacred name of the Moon God, Atmos, I hereby name you," Moraine looked to her daughter for the name.

"Wasabi," Kiara said strongly.

"Why are you naming our son after horseradish seasoning?" Karasu asked her.

"Because I'm his mother and I get to name him," Kiara snapped.

"In the sacred name of the Moon God, Atmos, I hereby name you Wasabi," Moraine took some oil from the nearby jar, and christened the sleeping baby's forehead. She smiled, "That was a very nice ceremony. How soon will you two be down?"

"Just a few more minutes, Mother," Kiara, said.

"I'll take the baby," Moraine took little Wasabi. She walked down the narrow stairs that led from the Temple roof.

"So, what have you decided?" Karasu said, sitting down on the ledge.

"I've decided that I'll let you kill me," Kiara said leisurely.

"Why?" Karasu's voice was hard. He was very suspicious.

"Because you held up your end of the deal. Now, it's time to uphold mine," Kiara said.

"Even if it means that I'll have you forever?" Karasu was still very suspicious.

"As long as Kurama is safe, and Wasabi is taken care of, I can die a happy woman," Kiara looked at Karasu.

"And you know you'll betray your Temple, your friends, and even the entire spirit world? Hades doesn't want the Flame so he can play with it, he plans to take over the spirit world and the human world," Karasu watched Kiara's face. "Can you have that on your soul?"

"My lover will be safe, and my son will be well taken care of. If I don't let you kill me, they'll all suffer, my loves, my family, and my friends. They're happiness is what counts. Isn't that worth dying for? The happiness of others?" Kiara was surprised when Karasu sat down next to her, and put his am around her.

"You're so selfless. Even if it means your death, you'll die for the sake of others. It's very attractive," Karasu leaned in to kiss her, but Kiara put her fingers on the mouth of his mask.

"No, just kill me and get it over with," Kiara pulled her collar away from her neck.

"What are you doing?" Karasu asked her.

"If you plan on bringing me back to life, my body has to stay in tact. Bite me,"

"Bite you?"

"Yes, with your teeth,"

"But,"

"JUST DO IT ALREADY!" Before Kiara could speak any longer, Karasu whipped off his mask. Kiara had a fleeting look at his whole face before Karasu lunged in at her neck. He pulled her close and groaned with pleasure as he gorged himself on her blood. He pulled away just as Kiara was on the brink of death. She laughed.

"What?"

"It's so pointless, really,"

"What?"

"My mother took the other guy's bonds off this afternoon. She would have taken yours off, but you were gone. So, I ordered them to leave Sabaku, and they did just before we left for the naming ceremony. Kurama stayed behind though, he just got Wasabi from Moraine, supposedly on my orders. They're all headed for the Temple of the Flame right now. Everyone but us is now far away from Sabaku. Your deal is broken,"    

And with a final laugh, Kiara died.

"No, no please," Karasu, sobbed as he fully realized what he had done.

AUTHOR'S NOTE- Hey y'al!  Don't worry; this isn't the end of the saga. We still have to go to the Land of the Dead with Kiara, and visit Kurama and the guys on their way to the Temple of the Flame to protect it against Karasu. In the Land of the Dead, we'll meet a character you really haven't met before, but he's very important in the saga. Oh, and Botan is in the next chapter too.

See you in Chapter 12- Dead and Alive

Suri