Tachiagair Jakunen Written by: Fira Flame

I do not own these characters; they belong to their respective owners. Keeren belongs to me and Missy and Teri belong to Missy and Teri.

This is a re-written version of the original copy of Tachiagair Jakunen, which I had written in the fall of 2002. It sucked, really bad, so here I am, re-writing it...

Enjoy!

Melissa pulled her jacket around her swollen belly tighter. It was late February, key season for sickness in Michigan. Spring would be coming soon, and the air was slowly warming up. The warmest it had gotten so far was a freezing 17 degrees, still not warm enough to make anyone in the house happy, not even Keeren. Melissa looked across the frozen landscape, taking in the soggy atmosphere. Icicles dripping off trees, an occasional squirrel digging into the snow, in search of a long lost buried nut. Life was coming back, after a cold, tough winter, even the most fragile of flowers could be revived.

The healer let out a frosty sigh, stuffing her hands into her pockets. She was on one of her weekly walks. Her sister and Keeren had convinced her into exercising more often since she couldn't do her usual weight training or martial arts in the back yard. The most she could do was take nice long walks and swimming. Being it was winter, she couldn't go swimming, and the YMCA was out of question, she really felt like keeping her tail 'under wraps'. So, all she cold do was walk, and somehow she made a deal that she could walk fifteen miles a week for a full month, Teri and Keeren would pay to get her Motorcycle fixed and give it a new paint job. Melissa was sure she would make this bet, she'd been keeping it up for the last three weeks, she only had two more weeks to go. Also, it was Tuesday and she was up to ten miles already. Nothing could stop her, she NEEDED that bike back. It was her pride and joy, and currently it was sitting in the backyard with a tarp wrapped around it.

Her train of thought was interrupted when something sharp struck her belly. She hissed and held her stomach. The baby had been kicking for about two months so far, and it reminded her of split-minute cramps. It had been getting worse lately, she'd figured because she was slowly getting near her due date. She'd gone to the doctor a week before and had a sonogram. Her baby was healthy, prime fit, and she was due early May, about the fourth or fifth.

The baby kicked again, god it was getting painful. She could hardly go a day without wishing to swallow an entire bottle of pain killers, but she really didn't feel like OD'ing or killing her baby, just because of the fucking pain. So she took a few aspirin a day, hoping the kid would get the idea and knock it the fuck off. So far, it hadn't. She already had her sights set on kicking the baby's ass as soon as it was walking and able to kick.

She had called her mom and asked her for some tips. Kicking wasn't supposed to hurt as much as it did, so she was suggested to go to the doctors. But Melissa knew it was because she was a Saiya-jin, and her mother was still human. She learned a few things about keeping herself clean while pregnant, diets,and a few tricks to making the kid's favorite food before it was even born. Even if it was an old-wives tale, she was eating chinese food before she gave birth, god damnit.

Melissa looked around, tallying how many miles she had gotten today. She was at twelve fo the week, she could finish the rest up on Thursday, she needed rest. She fished around in her pocket and pulled out a small capsule and threw it onto the ground. A cheap white motorbike appeared when he smoke cleared. This was the best she could do until her own bike was fixed. It didn't go very fast and it smelled awful. But she had to deal, at least to get home. As she was taking her seat on it, the baby kicked, hard. She hissed and bit her tongue, keeping herself from letting out a small cry. If this kept up, she wasn't going to have a second child.

Tasuki looked up as Melissa drove up the street. He smiled and returned to his game of poker.

"I win." He said, laying his card in front of him. Teri and Nuriko looked over their cards at the bandit's. Teri glared, and put her cards face down, pushing her chips forward. Nuriko frowned, and took a better look at the cards.

"You cheating sneak." Nuriko hissed, moving his jack of spades aside. She held up the joker and glared. "Keeping the joker huh? That's damn right cheating if you ask me."

Tasuki glared back, he stuck out his tongue and stood. Nuriko looked back at Teri. "Keep your chips, we're gonna have a rematch later."

"All-riiight."Teri smirked, taking her pile and putting them in a nearby plastic bag. She got up from the table and went inside.

Tasuki leaned against the porch banister and welcomed Melissa with open arms as she walked up the steps. She smiled and took him into a one armed hug when she came in. Tasuki returned it, taking her left hand into his and running his thumb over the silver ring. Melissa smiled again and kissed him on the cheek, opening the front door and going inside..

"The baby's kicking more." She said, setting her coat on the back of a chair. Tasuki walked in behind her and sat at the table. "It's getting close, just a little over two months away."

Tasuki shook his head, he didn't know whether to be scared or to be happy. The last encounter with a baby was in Hokkan... He really didn't feel like being called 'Mr.Scary Face' again. Then again, if he told Melissa he was scared of an unborn child, he'd probably end up with a new name.

"I'm still wondering if I should give birth to the kid here, or in Konan."

Tasuki perked up at the idea of his home world.

"Why would yeh' do it in Konan?"

Melissa shrugged, pulling a jar of peanut butter out of the pantry. Tasuki arched an eyebrow at her random food as she took out a spoon and began eating the brown sticky substance.

"I dunno." Melissa started, swallowing a gob of peanut butter. "I kinda want to have the kid born under warm water and--"

"Under warm water?!" Tasuki exclaimed, dropping the cup he was juggling in his hands. "you wanna' drown him?!"

Melissa laughed, holding her hand over her mouth to keep the peanut butter in.

"No-no-no-no-no, baby's don't breath when they're born. you gotta smack them on the ass first." Tasuki's jaw was still hanging around his collar bone. "Any ways, it's warm an wet inside of me." The healer poked her belly. "It's only proper that they get introduced into the world in the same environment. Plus, it'll keep me more calm that those uncomfortable hospitals."

Tasuki nodded, unsure on what his fiancée was talking about. He was scared of water enough, he really didn't feel like giving his child the same fear. He hoped that the theories of this much more advanced world than his would be correct. Although, he still thought the idea of forks were stupid. Why bother with them when you've got a perfectly good pair of chopsticks? He laughed at the feeble attempts to use chopsticks from Legolas and Keeren. Melissa looked up when he started chuckling. He was looking into nowhere, hand to his chin. He looked lost in thought, probably reflecting on old memories between him and his fellow seichiseishi. The way he was looking, face relaxed and a gentle grin on his face, she had trouble swallowing the peanut butter in her mouth. She had forgot how bishonen he was. Forgetting her hormones and sexual desires, she took a moment to take in how beautiful he was, as a man, not a sex machine.

She found herself blushing, a spoon hanging from her mouth, lost in her own thoughts gazing at the ex-bandit. The healer only stopped what she was doing when Tasuki broke from his thoughts and picked up the cup he had dropped several moments ago. She blushed, and blinked. Blushing?

(why am i blushing?)

It had been a while since she had last blushed, especially around Tasuki. What reason did she have to blush? She had done everything and the whole nine yards with this man, even though technically he wasn't a man until he was twenty-one. She put her hand to her cheek where it was warm, as if it was resting against a hot cup of Java.

(is it because of the baby?)

That was the only logical reason she could think of. She was pregnant and she had hormones raging through her body, helping it grow. She had to get used to her body controlling her emotions like she had to while she was on the rag. She only hoped she wouldn't blow up in someone's face, well, again. Melissa had already blown up on Teri, and she'd gotten into an argument with Keeren just the other day. Over stupid things, like when she was an elementary student.

"Somethin' wrong?"

Melissa snapped her head up, started by Tasuki. She then noticed she was still blushing, cupping her cheek, and the spoon still hanging from her lips. She shook her head and pulled the spoon from her mouth.

"Nope, nothing."

Keeren looked up from her sketch book as Tasuki went by. Blinking once or twice, she returned to her sketching. She had signed up for a studio art class at the local collage and she had to prepare her portfolio as soon as possible to get in. Though she was a Saiya-jin, and had very bright lavender hair and eyes, she was sure she could pull off just being another crazy young adult. She just had to keep her tail out of sights. Chiriko and Gt had helped her design a type of belt that not only kept your tail underneath your shirt and around your waist, but was comfortable and stylish too.

Looking up at the scene she had put together, a sheet draped over a cardboard box with a novelty or two around it, she noticed the Jonathan Davis bobble head she normally had in her car--and had brought in to sketch- -was missing. She blinked. where'd it go? It couldn't have just gotten up and walked away. Looking around, she looked over the scene and found it on the floor, batted around by a white and brown paw.

Paw?

Setting her sketch book aside, she looked under the coffee table and found a white cat with brown markings. it looked up at her with squinted eyes and mew'd at her.

She felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop. She reached under the table and grabbed the cat, pulling it into her arms. It meowed at her in protest, and tried scrambling from her arms. Keeren held it in front of her, looking it over. With the patch of brown fur on it's head, tail and paws, it WAS Tamaneko. The very cat that had traveled with Mitsukake through Konan as a travelling medicine man.

"Umm... hey guys...!! why do you have Tam--er, a cat that looks just like Tamaneko...?"

Chichiri popped his head out from his bedroom down the hall at smiled at her. "I went to Konan earlier this morning to visit Mistukake and he said he was going on a long trip where he couldn't take him along, so he asked if I could watch over him, no da. So, I brought him with me."

Keeren blinked. "What happened when he went through R.I.F.T?" Tamaneko pulled from her hands and jumped over the back of the couch, heading for under the desk in the corner.

"He was out when I arrived, but he recovered sooner than I had thought he would, no da." He smiled and shrugged. "Strong cat I guess."

"I bet..." Keeren said softly, looking over her shoulder at the feline, who was currently busying himself with a bubble gum wrapper across the floor. It had been a while since she had owned a cat, or at least cared for one, not since she lived with her family. She shrugged and reached over the table to find the bobble head Tama had knocked over the table earlier. She heard Melissa get up from the table in the kitchen and travel through the room.

"So we have a cat then?"

"For now." Keeren replied, setting the trinket back where it was, checking her sketches for it's position.

"Yeah, I know for now..." Melissa said softly, reaching under the desk to stroke the cat's ears. Tama chirped and rubbed into her hand, purring lightly. Melissa smiled and winced, just now realising she was bending over. Not smart. She pulled a chair out from the desk and sat in it, letting Tama jump into her lap. He rubbed his body against her belly and curled up on her knees, enjoying the attention. She smiled again, running her fingers down his tail. The healer had never seen an oriental cat, but he didn't look any different than any cat she had owned in her life time. He almost reminded her of the half siamese cat she had in High School, named Spaz, even though he wasn't much of one. Once he reached six months, he had gotten over weight and clumsy, and eventually, really lazy. She considered for a moment what kind of diet Tamaneko had. He was probably used to warm milk, fish and bread. Here, it was cat food they bought at the store. Would they have to weene him? Probably. The only thing was, would he have to be re-weened when he returned home? She didn't think Mitsukake had remembered that Chichiri lived in another world now when he gave him the feline, then again, she wasn't sure that Mitsukake even knew.

It was like getting practice for caring for a baby...

A/N: Meh, didn't feel like continuing this chapter...