Author's Note: All right guys, due to popular demand, we will be seeing some Kiba in this chapter. Anything to please you, and Kiba's been nagging me about this since the last chapter, non-stop as a matter of fact. You know, you wouldn't think by looking at him, but that man can nag up a storm. Anyway, thank you for all your wonderful reviews! See, another update, all in the same day. In fact, only minutes from the last update! Now, on with the story!

Yuri drummed her fingers anxiously on the desk, one elbow on the table, with her chin sitting in her hand. The results had come in today.

And she wasn't exactly surprised.

Indeed, she was pregnant. She had felt it in the pit of her stomach, at the first mention of it back at the hospital. In fact, what she had been worried about, more than the fact of the being pregnant with Kiba's child was the fact that it was, Kiba's child. Kiba, a wolf. "What on Earth will it look like?" she wondered, scrunching her fact up as images of babies with hairy bottoms flashed through her mind. Fangs, claws—would her baby have either? "Fangs, huh? That might look pretty cool," she thought. No, no, that would not do. Fangs? Not exactly low profile, are they? Indeed, such traits would make her baby particularly conspicuous.

And no one could ever know the father of her baby, afterall. Sure, that would be a conversation to remember. A wolf mating with a human? Preposterous! True or not, it was unacceptable—it was taboo.

Yuri patted her tummy absently. She looked down at her tummy. No apparent signs of it yet, no bulge, nothing. Yet, growing inside her was a little person. Half human, half wolf—it carried a piece of her and her beloved, Kiba. "I hope the baby has Kiba's eyes," she thought, letting her mind wander to a distant place, where she could lose herself in the beautiful glow of Kiba's eyes and the warmth of his embrace…

"What's wrong with you?"

"Me? Oh, nothing, I just…I got a funny feeling, that's all." He held a hand to his chest. Only a moment ago, it had begun to ache again, with that indescribable feeling, not necessarily of pain. It felt as if someone were taking pieces if him, gently, peeling away at him, taking him away somewhere, slowly. Where? He did not know. But it felt like home either way—someone was calling out to him, yet somehow it did not feel like her.

"Alright, well, let's get a move on, I can't believe I'm the one reminding you."

"Sure," he replied.

"Yeah, Kiba. What's up with you lately? You've been all dreamy-eyed and stuff." Hige leaned in closer to Kiba. "Are you thinking about her again?" he murmured.

Kiba nodded. "Sometimes. But this…I've been getting this feeling, strange one at that, and I don't know what it is. Like someone is pulling me away, but I don't know who it is. They seem vaguely familiar, yet different at the same time. I don't know how to explain it."

Hige shook his head slowly. "Still acting like a love-sick pup," he said. "Didn't you get enough last time? You're lucky you know that? I've been trying to get some for ages with no luck!"

Kiba chuckled lightly. He laid one hand comfortingly on Hige's shoulder before passing him. "Still as crass as ever."

"What are you thinking about?" Jane asked, catching Yuri alone in her room.

"Just stuff," Yuri murmured. "Nothing in particular."

"Oh," Jane replied. "Mind if I join you?"

Yuri nodded absently and Jane sat at the edge of Yuri's bed. "So, you got the doctor's report today. What did it say?"

"Nothing's changed."

"Oh, so you're not pregnant?" Jane's face seemed to light up.

"I mean since the last hospital visit. They said they were pretty much sure I was pregnant; they just wanted to make it a verifiable fact. Nothing's changed."

"Oh," Jane looked down, making Yuri immediately sorry for the harshness of her tone. "Yuri?" Jane said timidly.

"Yes?"

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Yuri asked, confused by Jane's question.

"I mean about the baby. What are you going to do?"

"Well," Yuri said, considering the question. She hadn't really thought about any of that. The planning, preparation deal was really not her strong suit—she liked to go on things based on pure instinct, little thought, and a whole lot of spunk. "When the baby's born," she began slowly.

"Oh, so you're going through with it?" Jane asked.

Yuri glared at Jane in disbelief. "Well I can't very well take it back now, can I? What did you think I was going to do?"

"Well," Jane returned defensively, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything, but I've heard about some girls, you know, get rid of it."

"Get rid of it?" Yuri was outraged. " 'IT'? What's this 'IT' you speak? This is my baby you're talking about! Oh, it's a good thing Kiba isn't here to listen to you talk this way about his baby! I'm proud of this baby and I'm to love it as much as I love its father!"

Jane crossed her arms in front of her with a grin of unabashed smugness. "I'm glad," she said. "Oh, I was kidding, Yuri! I did mean any of that rubbish, I just wanted to see how you really felt!"

Yuri glared at Jane, breathing hard. She couldn't believe Jane had just down such a thing! The gull, the sheer audacity of it all! Playing with her emotions like that.

"Jane how could you?" She asked, throwing her hands up in the air in a defeated sort of way. "I can't believe you."

"I'm sorry Yuri, I just wanted to be sure that you knew what you were getting yourself into, that you were sure of what you are doing."

"Yeah?" Yuri responded, sitting next to Jane on the bed. "Well I'm not," she sighed. "I have no idea what I'm getting myself into, none at all. All I know is that this baby is coming and I'd better be ready by the time it does."

"Well I'll be here to help you," Jane said, taking Yuri's hand in a comforting way and squeezing it affectionately. Yuri nodded, her eyes getting teary with appreciation.

"Anyway," Jane cut in, letting a mischievous grin play across her face. "I thought I heard a name just now, during your little rant. Am I wrong? Did I not hear the name Kiba mentioned?"

Yuri opened her mouth to protest, but thought better on it. She nodded slowly. "Yes, Kiba is the name of the father of my child."

Jane giggled with delight. "Kiba huh? That's an interesting name. So what's this guy like?"

"Perfect in every way," Yuri replied before she could stop herself. "I mean, for me he is, I don't know if he's really…I mean, he's you know, just really, uh…"

Jane's shrill laughter cut into Yuri's stammering. "He must be one hell of a man to turn you into a stammering ball of fluff. Really Yuri, I've never seen you blush so red!"

Yuri put one hand to her face and felt the shameful heat radiate from her cheeks. True, only Kiba could make her blush so. There were many feelings and sensations that only Kiba could incite in her.

"So," Jane whispered, leaning closer to Yuri, wearing the mischievous grin again. "Is he hot?"

"Jane!" Yuri pushed her away, mortified.

"What? It's an innocent inquiry."

"Oh, come one, Jane."

"Please, Yuri, you should be glad I didn't ask you how 'it'—"

"Don't you dare!" Yuri yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Jane. Then standing there, breathing hard, red in the face, with Jane sitting placidly on her bed wearing a look of utter smugness and amusement on her face, Yuri thought for a moment Jane might just be the female version of Hige. She laughed at the thought, causing Jane's smug look to turn into one of confusion.

A knock at the door was heard by no one other than Hitomi, who had been in the kitchen preparing dinner. "Oh, no, don't bother girls. I'll get it," she muttered, opening the door. A young, handsome man with brown hair and friendly eyes stood at the doorway. It was Yoshiro Matsushita.

"Hello," he greeted Hitomi warmly. "Is this where Yuri Yamagata lives?"

Hitomi regarded the visitor with a bit of suspicion. She had been told Yuri had no acquaintances in this city, so who was this guy? Then remembering Yuri awkward position, she considered that this man might be the father of Yuri's child. "Yes, she is staying here," she responded, still not budging from the door. She crossed her arms in front of her. "And who are you?" she asked.

"Oh I'm sorry," Yoshiro replied. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Yoshiro Matsushita. I'm an acquaintance of Yuri's, is she in?"

Matsushita…Matsushita…why did that name sound so familiar to Hitomi? She shrugged it off, responding, "Yeah, she's here. I'll go get her, you can wait inside." Hitomi stepped aside.

"Thank you," Yoshiro answered stepping past Hitomi.

"Make yourself at home," Hitomi said, pointing to the couch in the livingroom. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Sure, thank you," Yoshiro took at seat and waited. It had taken him a bit of digging, but after some searching he had found Yuri's place of residence. Actually, he had found Jane's place of residence, or rather, Hitomi's. As it turns out, Yoshiro had quite a few connections within this city, more, in fact, than anyone else. After asking the right people the right questions, he had found out that Yuri Yamagata was traveling in the companionship of one, Jane Elliot, who had bought lunch at one of his favorite restaurants. That lead helped, but not much, since Jane was not a citizen living in this city, but a tourist like Yuri. Then he remembered the nurse who had burst into Yuri's room at the hospital, one Hitomi Endo. In no time, he found that Hitomi Endo did indeed live in this city and he wasted no time in logically connecting the dots to assume that Jane, and therefore Yuri, were staying with this Hitomi girl. Well, assumptions are a dangerous thing, but only if they're wrong and Yoshiro was rarely wrong about anything.

Hitomi had to knock louder on the door as the muffled sound of girls laughing drowned out the sound of her first light knock. "Yuri!" she called. "There's someone here to see you."

The laughter stopped and two seconds later, Yuri opened the door, standing in the doorway. "Me? Someone is here to see me?"

Hitomi nodded. "Yeah, some guy, uh, what's his name?"

"God," Jane teased. "Hitomi, you're such a flake!"

"Shut up!" Hitomi called through the open door. "Anyway, what does that matter? You can ask him his name when you go out to meet him. He's waiting in the livingroom."

"Alright," Yuri sighed, brushing past Hitomi and down the hall. When she reached the livingroom, she stopped. "Mr. Matsushita!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Yoshiro stood slowly and walked toward Yuri, smiling brightly. "I know it's a surprise, I just wanted to see how you were doing," he said.

"I'm, uh, fine," Yuri stuttered, still shocked as to this unexpected arrival. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good, actually. I just got some important things sorted out, so I'm sort of celebrating the accomplishment."

"Oh, heh, go for you," Yuri replied. Yoshiro had reached Yuri and shook her hand in greeting. He led her to the couch and they sat beside each other in conversation. Yuri sat with her hands in her lap, fingers crisscrossed and tightly clasped together. She looked at her companion with more than mild curiosity. So he was celebrating, huh? Didn't he have anyone better to celebrate with? Afterall, she was just a stranger to him. Some wacko who stood in front of a speeding truck and almost got herself killed. Why was he here?

"Well, I must say, Yuri, you look great," Yoshiro commented, looking at Yuri as she sat.

"Oh, thank you," she replied. "You look pretty good yourself, yeah."

The conversation fell flat for some minutes, neither of them able to say anything, but only thinking of what they might say. Frankly, Yuri wanted to ask Yoshiro how he had found her. "It couldn't have been easy," she thought. "I mean, I have no registered address here and neither does Jane. And those are the only two names he should know, he never met Hitomi." But she dropped the notion quickly thinking it may sound rude and unnecessarily cautious for her to ask him that.

Meanwhile, Yoshiro wanted to ask Yuri a question of him own. Since he had met her at the hospital, he had found it difficult to think of anyone but her. Her face, her small white hands. The way her eyes, beautiful as they were, radiated with sadness, and with good reason. Yoshiro had been there to hear the devastating news that Yuri was pregnant. And that fact was probably the biggest contributor to his sudden fixation with Yuri. How could this be? How could such a lovely flower have been cast aside like this? Left to bear a child alone? He did not want to pry into Yuri's personal life, so he refrained from asking about the baby's father.

Still, he wondered. What of this man, this abysmally foolish man that had left her. He had known her only a little while, yet Yoshiro sensed that the beauty of Yuri's face reflected the beauty within—she was as sweet a woman as he had ever known. Even so, when he angered her briefly, he saw that indelible spark in her eye that only made her more fascinating.

This made him think of another possibility. What if her lover had not abandoned her? Perhaps he had died; involuntarily leaving the woman he loved, by her lonesome. Either way, Yuri had no one but the two girls he lived with. Either way, Yuri was in need of guidance and protection; the sort of protection that another woman could not provide. Much to his chagrin, Yoshiro found himself contemplating himself in this position as he lay awake at night. "Fool," he thought. "Caught again by another pretty face. You don't even know her. You were probably just shocked by position she was in. If you see her again, she probably won't even look that pretty anymore, just see."

So he did. He sought, he saw, and he realized that indeed, his perception of Yuri had changed from the time he met her in the hospital. She was infinitely lovelier now.

But the time for musings was over. Gather he courage, he opened his mouth to ask the question he had begun to consider for a few days now, when news of her location had reached him and he resigned himself to see her again.

"Yuri," he began.

"Yes?"

"There's a party, sort of, that my cousin is throwing, not too far from now. It's kind of a big deal, you know, and she wants me to be there. We're really close. But anyway, I really don't want to go alone, and I have no one else to ask, or no one else I'd rather ask. I mean, I know it's kind of sudden and unexpected, but I wanted to know if, maybe you'd—"

"Are you asking me to go accompany you to this party?" Yuri asked.

Yoshiro nodded. "Yes. Would you, please?"

Yuri paused. "No," she answered.

"Please, won't you?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Matsushita, but I don't even know you. It wouldn't be proper. Besides, I am only just returning from the hospital and I am a guest here and I have no money to buy clothes for such an event. Really, wouldn't you enjoy it more if you took someone you know better? Someone you like?"

"But I like you!" Yoshiro burst out, unable to stop himself. When he finished, he looked as shocked at himself as Yuri did of him.

"What?" Yuri breathed.

"I-I like you."

"But you don't even—"

"I know I don't know you. We're practically strangers."

"Practically?"

"Alright, we are strangers. But that can change if you'll just get to know me. Look, I can't control this; it's just how I feel. No matter how awkward this may be, I can't help it. I like you, that's all."

Yuri bit her lip. Oh, he was a nice guy, afterall. In the short time she had known him, he had always treated her with courtesy and respect. And in addition to that, he had saved her life before he even knew her name. This was terribly flattering; his confession of affection, and perhaps for once in her life, Yuri allowed her vanity to have the better of her.

She closed her eyes. "Alright," she sighed. "I'll go with you. But, it's not a date or anything. I'm not ready for that type of thing yet. But you've been kind to me, and everything. Think of this as me repaying you for saving my life. After this, we're even," Yuri said. "Ok?"

Yoshiro beamed at her, nodded fervently. "Yes, thank you. Thank you, very much. You won't regret it, I swear." He threw his arms around Yuri and hugged her tightly.

Yuri looked startled and quickly broke the embrace. "Mr. Matsushita!"

"Alright, alright, sorry. I'm sorry, I'm just a little excited," he said, blatantly understating his current condition. As he stood, he looked like he could have bounced off the walls. "Any I told you before," he added, as Yuri led him to the door, "call me Shi-kun, all my friends do."

"We're not exactly friends yet," Yuri said.

"I consider us as such, but if you don't, we will be soon," he replied.

Yuri laughed, opening the door. "Sure," she chuckled. "Good-bye, Mr. Matsushita."

"'Bye Yuri!" he called, walking down the road. Yuri closed the door, smiling.

"Well, well," came a familiar voice.

"Hello, Jane," Yuri responded.

"That was the guy from the hospital, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"I knew he liked you. It was in his eyes, the way he looked at you, totally obvious," Jane said knowingly, her arms crossed in front of her. Yuri rolled her eyes. "Well you've done well for yourself, Yuri old girl, he's really handsome!"

"Jane!"

"Really, Yuri, you act so surprised. It's the truth, isn't it?"

"Well," Yuri considered, remembering Yoshiro's handsome features. "Yes, he is…"

"Uh huh…" Jane chided.

"But I can never look at another man the way I looked at Kiba, no matter how good-looking he is. My heart belongs to Kiba."

"But you're going on a date with hot stuff over there," Jane said, jerking her head in the direction of the door.

"It's not a date, I'm just repaying him for the favor he did me."

"Favor? He saved your life!"

"Which why I'm making this sacrifice! It's not a date."

"Uh huh, yeah sure," Jane said, grinning widely. "That's what they all say."

Yuri turned around and looked Jane squarely in the eyes. "I mean it." She said, turning back around and walking back down the hall into her room. She shut the door behind her, leaving Jane alone, the same grin plastered on her face.

"My dearest Shi-kun!" she cried, embracing him affectionately. "How is my dearest cousin?"

"I'm doing splendidly, I must say," he replied, sitting on his desk. "Do you remember me telling you I was having trouble finding someone to accompany me to your ball?"

"The biggest absurdity, Shi-kun dear, you have every single woman of the court at you beck and call. You see how they clamor over you. And yet you claim you can't find anyone who'll have you? Bah! You are simple too picky. I'll be surprised if you can ever find some to your liking, honestly, I—"

"Yes, yes," Yoshiro waved his hand impatiently to silence his cousin. "You remember when I told you that?"

"Why of course, you devastated me and told me you wouldn't attend my ball if you cold not find someone 'suitable'. Why do you ask?"

Yoshiro smiled brightly at his cousin. "Have you found someone?" She cried, noting Yoshiro's expression. He nodded smugly. "Oh, by all means, who is this young lady who warrants your approval?"

"Her name is Yuri Yamagata. I can't wait for you to meet her. Oh, she will win your heart just as she has stolen mine. She is the loveliest creature I ever beheld," Yoshiro sighed.

"She must be, look at the state you're in! Oh, my dear it suits for well! I am so glad you've found her! Then I shall expect you both at my ball, yes?"

"Indeed."

"Wonderful! If that is all, I really must be going, dear."

"Must you?" Yoshiro pleaded, wanting his cousin's company. It was so lonely at home, with only the maids and servants for company.

"Yes, yes, I am terribly busy with the planning for this. You know how important this is?"

"I do, I do."

"Then ta-ta for now, Love. I'll see you then, hmm?" She hugged her cousin tightly, planting a light kiss on his cheek.

"Bring my vehicle around," she called to the servant.

"Yes my lady," he replied, bowing.

Yoshiro waved his cousin good-bye as she entered her vehicle and drove away. Behind him, the head housekeeper stood, waving as well. She had worked for the family for decades and was well acquainted with Yoshiro and his entire family.

"The Lady Jagura looks in fine spirits today," she commented. "Did you inform her of your decision to attend the ball?"

"Yes, Nana (for so was his affectionate name for her). I told her."

"What a grand ball it shall be!"

"Indeed," he said, turning back to enter the mansion. "It shall."

So I decided to include a little more about Yoshiro's family. And I wrote Kiba and the gang into this chapter, so that should quell the Kiba hunger for a little while. He may or may not be in the next chapter, we'll see.

Kiba: You call that, being in the chapter? What was that? I had what, four lines?

Superninny-chan: More than that!

Kiba: Whatever. And that jerk's moving in on my woman! I'm not taking this!

Superninny-chan: Well you don't have much of a choice, now do you? I can either write you in, or not. And Yoshiro's only moving in on Yuri because you're not there to comfort her.

Kiba: That's because you don't write me in!

Superninny-chan: Oh yeah…so it is. Hmm, I guess I should reconsider a few things.

Kiba: I think you should.

Superninny-chan: Like yours and Yuri's wedding.

Kiba: Exactly, like mine and Yuri's—wait…WHAT?