Secrets and Superstitions
by the Rurouni Idoru

Yukina heard Kousetsu stand up as she walked inside. For such an obviously pregnant woman, sitting and standing so quickly seemed fairly easy for her.

"Don't tell me...." Yukina didn't have to tell Kousetsu anything. Her hanging head and shuddering breath were signals enough. "They said no, hm?" Yukina simply lowered her head further, signifying a "yes." "Well, I suppose that's what's best." Finally, Yukina looked up.

"I don't want what's best! I want my brother to see his homeland! I just..." she collapsed onto a chair, "I just want him to be happy. He always seems so worried for my happiness, but I can't find the words to tell him that seeing him smile would make me smile. I...I don't know if he would understand that. He was a very lonely child and...." She began sniffling again. "You know what? Just between us, I don't care what the elders say. I still want to bring him here. He'd likely come of his own accord sometime anyway, why can't the other koorime know in advance?"

"He's a male, Yukina-chan. He's dangerous to our very way of life. What if koorime saw him, and started thinking that they should abandon the island to go find some male of their own to spend their lives with? The island would lose population rapidly. The koorime would eventually become extinct." Yukina saw a small flaw in Kousetsu's logic.

"How would we die out?" Kousetsu looked away, as if she were ashamed and disgusted for reasons that Yukina did not know.

"I've heard of women going insane and taking their own lives at a young age because their male lover had been killed. It could happen to desperate koorime. And besides that, all those genes mingling and mixing...There would be no telling if one's heritage could be traced back to this island. People would likely claim to be descended from koorime even if they were not. Many underhanded con artists would pawn off counterfeit hiruiseki. The name of koorime would eventually become tainted, and the term koorime would become derogatory. I've studied enough history to see that that's where this train of thought leads." Yukina bit her lip.

"Rikka already wants to meet a male, even fight one. She told me so on the way over."

"Well, Rikka's always been a little less than normal, hasn't she? She also wanted to see flames as a child." Yukina looked away as a sarcastic thought raced through her mind: Now, of course, Rikka's back to her healthy fear of anything that she's never seen before. She paused for a moment, considering this thought. Her brother, her friends, everything she had encountered in ningenkai...it had changed her. She wasn't sure if it was for the better or the worse. Suddenly she found herself thinking cynically, attempting to break rules that were practically set in stone, and questioning everything she had once known. Her friends had told her about Sensui's descent into insanity. Yukina believed that she was strong enough to not let a change of perspective send her spiraling into madness as well. At the very least, she knew she wouldn't start branching out into different personalities who wanted to kill the koorime. She was a pacifist whenever possible.

"I just…He's family, Kousetsu. If you were in my position, you would understand. You've never encountered any males, you only know what you've been told." Kousetsu seemed to bolt upwards, as if some sort of current had just shot up her spine.

"Yukina, I think it's time I told you one of my own secrets. I'm only ninety-eight." Having spent so long in ningenkai, lying about one's age had become something a little less shocking to Yukina. But it took a moment for the reality of Kousetsu's age to sink in. She was having a baby…at ninety-eight? Koorime could only have children at the age of one hundred, unless….

"You've…been with a male?" Yukina was stunned. Of all the people who could have had affairs outside of the island, Kousetsu was the last person Yukina expected. "Then your child…is like Hiei and me?" Kousetsu turned her head in shame.

"I was on a supply run. You know how every month they select a few koorime to go down onto the mountains and meet with one of the farmers' messengers so we can have food that grows in warm weather?" Yukina nodded. She would even be a candidate for those supply runs soon. "There…there was an ice youkai with them this time. A male ice youkai. He gave me some drink; it was horrible. I felt terribly warm, and I was dizzy and I can't remember much of what I did, but I do remember the last part." She shuddered. "It was warmer than ever. It was disgusting. When I woke up in the morning, my head hurt, and parts of my kimono were scattered throughout the cave where we stayed. When I began feeling sick and getting hungrier than usual, I was sure it was he who had done that to me." Kousetsu got up and walked across the room. "What disgusted me the most," she turned her head to look at Yukina, "was how good it felt. My logic was impaired. I didn't think anything could happen because he was an ice youkai too. And…I liked it. That horrible, evil experience, I enjoyed it." There was silence. Yukina finally found a question to ask, and the courage to ask it.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Kousetsu still avoided her eyes.

"They didn't suspect anything. They haven't been keeping tabs on my age either. You're the first one to bring up my youth. I don't want to go through a trial unless I have no other options. If I have a girl, we can write it off as a miracle in two years. If I have a male…." She didn't seem to want to finish the sentence.

"If they don't want him here, I could easily take him to ningenkai." Kousetsu said nothing. She did, however, suddenly squeal in pain. "Kou-san?!"

"It's happening! Now! Yukina, go get someone!" Yukina did as she was told. She came back with some healers to help with Kousetsu's delivery. The young koorime could only hope it would all turn out well. She was having enough problems as it was.

Four hours later, Kousetsu was still seated on the floor, her hair loose from its prim headband-ponytail and sticking to her sweaty forehead in loose strands. The birth was finally finished. Yukina was concerned about what came next. Three healers stood above Kousetsu holding the sleeping newborn. She could see a tuft of hair the same dark blue as Kousetsu's peeking out from under the blankets the child was wrapped in. They glared down at her simultaneously. The one cradling the baby in her arms drew in a deep breath.

"It's a boy, Kousetsu." Kousetsu hung her head in shame.

"I should have known it would turn out like this. You may set my trial for tomorrow."

"And what of the child?" another of the healers asked accusingly. Kousetsu's eyes seemed to deaden.

"We'll get rid of him after the trial." Yukina stood up in horror.

"No! You can't do that!" The four pairs of eyes suddenly shifted to her. The baby gurgled in his sleep.

"Why not, Yukina?" Kousetsu was handling the situation well, for a woman who had just given birth to a child she didn't want, had a trial date set for her, and knew her son was fated to die immediately.

"He's just a baby! What could he have possibly done to deserve death?" The third healer spoke up.

"Try 'existing,' Yukina." Kousetsu sighed. Her dear protégé was clearly shaken, and she wanted to help.

"Yukina, your brother survived, maybe he will too."

"No! It wasn't just coincidence, there were things that affected…." She continued talking, but they had stopped listening. Yukina could think of no possible way for the situation to worsen. She pressed her hands to her head in despair. The healers and Kousetsu paid her no mind.

"First, the child needs a name."

"…Shimo."