Shizuru looked towards her husband's face, straightening the collar of his black tux. Tears glistened in his jade eyes like clear crystals, moistening his soft cheeks. "Kurama are you going to be okay?" He gazed into her coffee eyes.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to have his voice fail him. All he could do was attempt a half-hearted nod. "I miss Yomi, I wish he was still...was still alive." He covered his eyes with his right hand. Shizuru caressed him in her arms, wrapping her arms around his back and head. The bodice of her black maternity dress became damp by the warm rainfall from his eyes.
"Do you want to cancel today? If you don't feel up to it."
"I want to do this for him," he whispered, his voice hampered by the tears, "This service will be good for his memory; its my way of honoring him."
"But surely you can ask Ashanti to speak for you, conduct the eulogy for you," Shizuru suggested, "I just hate seeing you this way, in such pain. I couldn't do it. If this was my best friend, I would be too torn up to speak for them, I'd ask someone else to do it for me."
"But I must do this. He would do the same for me. If I had gotten there in time, I could have protected him from Dakota's claw. Then he wouldn't be dead."
"Sometimes things happen that are out of our hands. You did the best you could. I understand how you feel, but filling your head with what ifs and maybes doesn't do you or Yomi any good. All that does is cause you more pain."
"Then I wish to trade places with Yomi. He didn't deserve to die." His tears fell as hard as a torrential downpour, to the sound of his own words.
"Nobody deserves to die, but it happens. That is the way life is," the tears flowed this time from her eyes, "Why would you want to be dead? I couldn't go on without you. We have been through too much for me to give up on you, please don't give up on me."
He brushed the tears from his eyes and looked at her. "I'm sorry I said that. I guess Yomi's passing has hit me so hard; nothing makes sense anymore. My thoughts are broken and so is my heart."
"I understand, and I will be by your side through this," Shizuru confirmed.
The couples' moment of condolence suddenly became interrupted by a strong tug on Kurama's left pants leg. He peered down to see Saito crossing his legs and grabbing at his crotch.
"What's the matter, young man?" he chuckled, "You have to go potty?" The little boy nodded his head.
"Do you want me to take him? Give you a chance to go over your speech?" offered Shizuru.
"Nah, I'll take him," insisted Kurama, "You go lie down, take it easy for awhile." He hoisted the child onto his hip and carried him to the guest bathroom. There he proceeded to kneel down on the black tile floor.
As he was removing Saito's pants and training pants, Kurama heard a voice behind him say, "So this is what the great youko is reduced to, bowing to a kid's needs."
Ignoring the voice, he positioned a makeshift stepladder to the toilet bowl. "Can you climb up here and sit, please?" The toddler crawled up the little ladder and peered into the bowl with a worried look on his face.
"Bih po-ee, Da-ee."
"It is a big potty, its not like the one at home. But I am going to be right here so you won't fall in, okay. Can you sit for me, like a big boy?"
Saito nodded his head really big, and sat himself over the rim of the bowl; his father used his arms like a brace for the boy.
"Kurama, I am not going to be used to that word. That word father or daddy, I still can't grasp you as one," Hiei commented, as he heard Saito start to tinkle.
"You had better get used to it, now that I have two children," he chuckled back at his demon friend.
"An I it up ow?"
"I don't if you can get up now or not, sir. Has that water stuff stopped coming out?" Kurama asked him, still hearing him tinkle and seeing the water stuff still coming. "Nope, you need to sit still until all that water stuff has stopped coming out. You will know when you stop hearing that sound. It won't be for very long unless you had a lot to drink." "How much did he have?"
"I think Shura gave him a full glass of apple juice," guessed Hiei.
"A full glass? No wonder he had to go so bad. I am surprised he didn't have an accident on the way to the bathroom. Usually Shiz and I give him half a cup."
"Sorry about that, I don't anything about taking care of kids. I am a fire demon not a babysitter," snorted Hiei.
"I am not mad at you. He is 21 months old, and we are toilet training him now. His pediatrician said he is old enough to start that. We still use diapers at night, otherwise he will wet the bed." "You are not the only one who is learning how to watch a kid. The other night Yumi, Shizuru's mother, gave him a full glass of Sprite. Later on he had to pee real bad. She was taking him to the bathroom, but he didn't make it. He ended up staining his pants in the middle of the hallway rug. Took us all night to get that stain up."
Hiei flew into a chortle upon hearing this story. "I don't mean to laugh. It must be hard for you."
"Are you kidding? After he went to bed and while we were cleaning the rug, we were all laughing about it. I laughed so hard, I almost peed my pants too."
"Da-ee, wah-wu stu gone."
"Really, let me check. Ahh, all gone. No more water stuff."
"Why do you have to check him?" Hiei snorted, "I'd think that would be undignified for a demon of your status. A high ranked youko like you checking his kid like that."
"You remember earlier when he asked to get up and I told him no, he has started that habit. When we began him on this, first he would ask to go potty. Since she is having a hard enough time getting around because she is at full term, I have taken full responsibility on this. We have this ritual when I take his pants and training pants off, and he goes and sits on his little plastic potty. About two seconds of going, he says, 'O'ay I done.' Then he stands up and makes a huge puddle on the bathroom floor. Now I have to stay by him the whole time and make sure once he sits down that he stays seated until I know he has stopped."
Kurama knelt down to Saito, "Hey bud, you have to go poo too?" The child shook his head continuously until he became dizzy. "Okay, can you stand up for me?" The boy obeyed his father's request. Kurama pulled a small bag of wet wipes from his pants pocket. "This is how we keep things nice and clean so no nasty germs can get to him," he said as he washed Saito's parts. As soon as he finished that, he quickly redressed Saito. "I think we are almost done here."
"Really, what time is it?" questioned Hiei.
The red-haired man looked at his watch. "It's almost noon, about fifteen 'til. The memorial service doesn't start until 12:30." "Could you take him into the kitchen and wash his hands for me?"
"Of course, what are you going to do?"
"I want to check in on Shiz, see how she is doing. First thing though, all this bathroom talk is making me have to go." Hiei slid the door close and walked Saito down the hallway towards the kitchen.
Five minutes later, Kurama emerged from the bathroom and entered the guest room, where he saw his wife asleep on the bed. "Hey," she yawned, "how did everything go?"
"He was an angel. Saito did what he was supposed to, and he didn't get up once."
"He's a good boy, might want to give him a reward later."
"So how are you? How are you feeling?"
Shizuru smiled, "I'm doing fine...oof." She suddenly began clenching her teeth.
"Are you alright, darling? Is it time?" he worried.
After a couple minutes her pain subsided, once again she felt relaxed. "Naw, I'm fine. That was just a contraction; it has been six hours since the last one. The first time was at 6:00 this morning when my bladder woke me up. While I was in the shower, killing two birds with one stone, it happened. That one only lasted a few minutes too." She glanced at the clock beside the bed. "It's noon. About time for us to leave, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah I guess," he sighed, feeling a bit depressed. Shizuru noticed the sadness still clinging to his eyes and voice.
"Could you help me up, please?" she requested, holding her arms up, diagonally.
"Yes, of course, anything for you, my queen," he smirked, trying to shake off his mood. He helped her onto her feet, walking her to an awaiting wheelchair beside their door. "Do you have to go before we leave?" he asked as they passed by the bathroom.
"Yeah, I am going to take that opportunity now. I know once we are out at Yomi's tomb, there will be no place to go."
Kurama turned his back, blocking the doorway with his body.
"What's taking you so long?" asked Hiei impatiently, as he stepped into the hallway, "I have your son in your car all buckled and ready to go."
"She needed to use the bathroom."
"Again? But that was like two hours ago. Isn't this like her sixth trip?"
"She's nine months pregnant, Sakura is almost here. This is the same thing that was going on during Saito's birth. Relax; it won't take her very long. In fact..."
"I am ready to go," she interrupted, as she climbed back into the wheelchair.
Kurama rolled his wife down the hallway and out the front entrance of his friend's cavern house. Under the shade of a Japanese cedar, Shizuru's red Honda greeted him. He opened the front passenger door, escorting her into the seat. Once she was inside, he took the chair, folded it in half lengthwise, and mounted it on the back of the car. Then Kurama himself took his position in the driver's seat.
The drive took them fifteen minutes to get from Hiei's place to the tomb site. The site itself was in a string of limestone caverns, at the base of a mountain range. Outside the mouth of one of the caves, stood a group of Yomi's closest friends. Among the group, Mukuro, who was dressed in her finest black dress, Kurama's twin brother Ashanti was adorned in his finest white tunic, both the Urameshis and Shizuru's brother had drove in that morning in Yusuke's white Toyota.
As the Honda pulled up, Kurama noticed Megumi wasn't anywhere around. "Hey, man, where is your little girl? Saito has been sort of anxious to play with her."
"Megumi is not feeling well. She was throwing up all night last night," sighed Yusuke, "My mother is taking care of her."
"I'm sorry to hear that, what's wrong with her?" Kurama asked in deep concern.
"I think she caught that stomach flu that has been going around. Her teacher at preschool said there was a boy in her class that had it, he wasn't able to venture far from the bathroom."
"Ugh, glad you kept her away then. That is the last thing we need. Shizuru is about to go anytime now, she doesn't need to get sick."
"You might want to stay away from us then too, incase we caught it," warned Yusuke.
"I will, thanks for the warning." Kurama turned to his wife and passengers. "Are you ready to get started?"
"Thought you'd never ask, I thought we were going to conduct the ceremony inside this car," smarted Shizuru.
As the Minaminos piled out of the car, Saito spotted Kazuma. "Unca Kuma!" he shouted in excitement.
"Hey buddy, what's up? How are you doing?" he asked, kneeling down to his nephew.
"E wen ride in caw."
"Oh I see, all by yourself?" Kazuma joked.
"No," Saito giggled, "Wit Mo-ee an Da-ee."
"Where is Mommy?"
Saito pointed at her, with his arm extended. "She o-ah thew ah caw. Da-ee hel-ee huh ow uh caw."
"She's over by the car. I think I will go say hi to her, maybe help her out or something. Would you like helping her too?" His nephew nodded, leading him over to Shizuru.
"Hey, baby bro, glad to see you here. You didn't even know the guy, but you came anyway."
"I came to support my friends, it's an honorable thing to do. Besides incase my niece comes here, I want to be the first to welcome her, after you of course."
