-2-

What the hell was he doing up at this hour, anyway, hangin' around in bars? He shoulda been back at the palace with Miaka, sayin' her name over and over again or somethin' gross and mushy like that. But sure enough it was him, his hair a little mussed up like he'd been sleeping, his eyes all bleary and bloodshot. Good. Maybe he wouldn't see me.

Just to make sure, I backed away from the bar and started workin' my way through the crowd, thinkin' I'd use it for cover 'til I got to the far wall, then slip out the door before Tama even knew I was there. And after that…well, hell, my seishi power wasn't super speed for nothin'. I'd be back at the palace, safe in my room, before Tama even got his ass up to the bar. No sweat.

'Cept, when I started tryin' to get through the drunk guys, I realized how heavy my stomach was getting. I looked down—and the damn thing was even bigger'n it'd been back at the palace! Even so, I was makin' pretty good progress through the crowd…but then all of a sudden Tama turned and glanced my way. I panicked, ducking down and tryin' to sprint forward so he wouldn't see me, but the thing was, I wasn't all that used to movin' around with a fucking beach ball stuck to the front of me. When I tried to get through the crowd, 'stead a' makin' a nice clean get-away, I ended up jostlin' a whole bunch of big guys, and even knockin' one of 'em flat on his ass so his saké spilled all over his shirt.

I tried to keep goin' after that, but one of the guy's pals snagged the back of my coat and dragged me backwards, and since I was suddenly all front-heavy, I didn't have the balance to stop him. Before I knew it, I was standing there with a whole pack of angry drunk guys clustered around me, one of 'em with his hand still wrapped up in my coat, the others all snickerin' and grinnin' at me in the meantime. And then the big guy I'd knocked down was pickin' himself up, wringing the saké outta his shirt, and stompin' on over to me like his fist was real anxious to get acquainted with my face.

Or maybe my stomach, I thought suddenly, and remembered all the stories I'd heard growin' up about girls gettin' hit in the stomach or falling down and losin' babies because of it. And I wondered if maybe if this guy gave me a real good sock to the stomach, my little problem'd go away all by itself. It'd hurt like hell, but if it did the job, who cared?

I mean, it wasn't like there was a real baby in there.

It was just some damned spell. Just a stupid spell, not a baby. Ya can't make a baby out of thin air like that. No way. It's fucking impossible.

My hand went to my stomach like it had a mind of its own, and sure enough, the bulge seemed like it'd gotten bigger just over the last minute or two. All the more reason to get rid of this thing, right? It was just gonna get bigger and bigger…and what the hell happened if Chichiri was wrong, huh? What if the spell was just for my stomach to grow and grow 'til it exploded? What then?

People're always sayin' this, but right then it was true: time seemed to stand still for a second. And while it did, my hand slipped in through the folds of my overcoat and rested against my belly, and it was all warm and full and I just…knew somehow that there was a baby in there, that it wasn't just a trick of the spell. It was like I could really feel something—someone—growin' inside of me, and I suddenly felt really…I don't know, it sounds nuts, but unworthy. 'Cause I knew I wasn't a good enough home for the kid. I was rough and loud and I liked to drink, swear—what kind of a place is that for a little kid to grow in?

But the thing was, the little guy didn't know I was only a filthy bandit who spent too much time in bars. He just knew I was his home, and he was warm and safe and protected while he was in me.

And I'd be damned if I'd let anybody hurt him.

"I'm warnin' ya," I said to the big guy, who was movin' towards me with his hands in fists. "Ya don't wanna mess with me. Get any closer'n you're gonna fucking regret it."

That made him pause for a second. And then he burst out laughing, all his ugly pals joinin' in.

I grinned. I'd been waitin' for this moment ever since Sunakake Baba gave me that fucking beautiful new tessen. And now, finally, it was time to try it out. While the guys were still laughin', my hand soared to the holster on the back of my coat and wrapped around a piece of cool metal. "LEKKAAAAA…SHIIIIIIIIIIIIINEN!"

I swung the tessen in front of me, waitin' for the roar of fire and feelin' real good about how great a job I was doin' protecting the kid…

But pretty soon, I figured out that somethin' wasn't right. Somethin' was…off, and it seemed like the tessen wasn't quite the right shape or weight or somethin', and where the hell was the fire?

I looked down.

"Oh, fuck."

It was that damned contraption of Miaka's, that…stapler, or whatever the hell she called it. How the fuck did it get into my tessen holster?

And all of a sudden I remembered seein' Tama skulkin' around outside my room after dinner, lookin' so innocent I shoulda known he was up to somethin'…

The guys were laughin' their asses off, so I took advantage of them bein' off guard and flipped the end of the stapler down, just like Miaka'd showed me. An' then I aimed the thing at the big one's face and squeezed a couple times, thinkin' about how much it'd fucking hurt when I accidentally jammed the thing into my thumb. But this hadda be a hundred times worse, right? 'Cause the guy'd be gettin' a face full of the little fuckers! Who'd be laughin' then, huh?

He would. The staples didn't even make a dent, and half of 'em never got close to hittin' him. So, hell, I gave up, dropped the stapler, and rammed my fist hard into the guy's stomach. That made him quit laughin', but his buddies were on me before I could get my unbalanced ass outta there. They dragged me away from him, pinning my arms behind me, and all I could think about was how open and exposed my stomach was—how easy it'd be for any one of 'em to hit it.

That thought got me moving. If you'd asked me any other day, I'd a' thought there was no way in hell I could wrestle my way outta all those guys' hands. They were clamped down so hard on my arms, I'm surprised my fingers weren't turnin' blue. But thinkin' about that little baby all curled up inside of me, countin' on me to keep him safe, I just lost it. I went wild. Twistin' outta their fingers, kicking, punching, biting—I even grabbed the stapler off the floor and whacked one of the guys over the head with it. Before too long, though, I started realizin' that I was fighting a losing battle—that no matter how much I wanted to make it outta this okay, there were too many of them and not enough of me, and really it was only a matter of time before I was just a little too slow to block one of their punches. And then it'd all be over. I'd have failed the kid, let him die when I coulda protected him.

Then all of a sudden, there was this flash of red light, and the guys cleared off a' me like a big gust of wind'd knocked 'em over. I got to my feet, shakin' and breathing hard, and there was Tama, standin' over the guys with his seishi symbol glowing and his hands in fists at his sides. Normally, I'd'a been pissed as hell at him—who the hell ya think I am, some freakin' damsel in distress that I need you to step in on my fight? But right then, I was so damned glad to see him I coulda cried.

In fact…shit, I was crying. There were tears pourin' down my cheeks, and no matter how hard I tried to get 'em to stop, they just kept fucking coming. The hell? I had a reputation to keep up, goddammit! I couldn't go around cryin' in bars!

But I really, really couldn't stop. And the guys were starin' up at me from the floor, and Tama was starin' at me with this look on his face like he couldn't believe what he was seein', and the bartender was starin' at me, and everybody was starin' at me but I just couldn't get the waterworks to stop. So before any of 'em could say anything or start laughin' at me again, I got the hell outta there and started runnin' for the palace.

Or I tried to. I didn't get very far before I figured out that runnin' anywhere was outta the question—it was like I was all filled up with water or somethin', and every step I took made it slosh forward and then slam back into me. It fucking hurt, and even if I coulda stood the pain, I couldn't help wonderin' what all that movin' around might do to the baby. Couldn't be good for the kid to be jostled around like that, so I gave up on gettin' anywhere fast and just walked.

I made it about a block and a half before I had to stop and rest. My back hurt like hell, my feet felt like they were swelled up to twice their size, and to make everything about a million times worse, I was still fucking crying. I went over to the wall of some building, leaned against it, and closed my eyes, and after a little while, I finally got myself under control. By then, though, it was too late. By then Tama'd caught up with me, and I knew I was in deep shit.

Neither of us said anything for a minute. Then Tama came around so he was standin' right in front of me. He wasn't laughin', at least, but he did look pretty damn confused, and maybe like he was startin' to feel sorry for me. That pissed me off, so I straightened up and tried to get around him, but he caught my arm.

"Tasuki, what's going on?" He said it real quietly, and since he still wasn't makin' fun of me, I figured he was feelin' sorry for me.

I pulled my arm away and gave a pretty unconvincing laugh. I hoped my cheeks weren't still wet. "Nothin'. Nothin's goin' on. Now if ya don't mind—"

"Look, I'm sorry about the thing with the tessen. It was a stupid thing to do." He reached into his coat, and I saw he'd stuck my tessen to his belt like a sword. He pulled it loose and held it out to me.

I snatched it away and stuffed it back into its holster. "Yeah, thanks," I muttered, and started walkin' back towards the palace, takin' it slow but tryin' not to seem like I was. Of course Tama fucking followed me. Like I needed an escort or somethin'.

"Tasuki," he said after a little while, and he sounded kinda hesitant, "what was going on back there?"

I pulled the coat a little tighter around me. "Oh, ya know, same old shit. Bumped into a couple a' guys who didn't like getting bumped into." I gave him a dirty look. "Coulda handled 'em just fine if I'd had my tessen."

He shook his head. "No, I meant—" He shrugged, and I thought he looked pretty uncomfortable all of a sudden. "You seemed…upset."

I gave him another phony laugh. "Fuck, no; that was just the saké. Get too much of it and ya start bawlin' like a baby; you know how it is."

He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Look, I know we don't really get along—"

"That's for fucking sure."

"—but we're Suzaku shichiseishi. That makes us…brothers. If something's going on, you know you can—"

"Nothing's goin' on," I growled. "Will ya drop it already? And look, I really don't need the escort home, so why don'tcha get lost and go find Miaka or somethin'? She's prob'ley goin' crazy sayin' your name over and over with nobody to say hers back."

Tama got quiet after that, lookin' down at his hands like they were real interesting. "Yeah, well, Miaka and I are… Taiitsukun told her it'd be best if we…" He drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "She's the miko."

Like that was supposed to fucking explain everything? "Yeah?" I said. "So?"

"So," he said slowly, "the miko has to be…pure. If she isn't, she can't summon Suzaku."

What the hell did that have to do with anything? I was startin' to wonder if maybe Tama'd had too much saké, but then somethin' clicked in my brain and I got it.

"Oh," I said, and now I was uncomfortable. "So…you guys can't…?"

He shook his head. "Not until after we've summoned Suzaku."

I straightened my shoulders and grinned at him. "Bet that makes this whole mission seem way more urgent, huh, Tama? …hey, so was that what you were doin' out in a bar this late? Drownin' your sorrows 'cause you can't be with Miaka?"

"That was the plan. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do much drowning before the fight."

My jaw tightened. "Hey, it's not too late. Still plenty a' time to take care of that."

But he was shakin' his head even before I finished talking. "Nah, I should get back to the palace. It was dumb, anyway, to leave Miaka alone when Kutou is still looking for her."

For some reason, that pissed me off. "Ya know, you're not the only one who can keep her safe."

He blinked at me. "I know that."

"In fact, ya haven't been doin' all that great a job of keepin' her safe anyway. She's still been gettin' hurt, and half the time it's been you who's been doin' it to her!"

A pained look came over his face. "I know. And look, Tasuki, I know you don't trust me because of…of what happened with the kodoku. But whether you trust me or not, I wanted to thank you for what you did then. Thank you for protecting her. If you hadn't been there, I might've—" He broke off, looking down at his hands again. "Just…thank you. I don't know what I would've done if something had happened to her."

I really didn't want to make the connection, but suddenly all I could think about was bein' in that bar and knowin' that I wasn't gonna be able to protect the baby—that he was gonna die 'cause of me, 'cause I just couldn't do what it took to save him. It'd felt like somethin' gnawing at the pit of my stomach, or maybe ripping right through the middle of my chest. It was a sick, horrible feeling, the kinda guilt ya carry with you for the rest of your life, and the only thing that'd saved me from it was Tama. Tama, who was pourin' his guts out to me for some reason, and lookin' at me like maybe I could understand him.

I could.

"Wasn't your fault," I mumbled, and it kinda surprised me that I meant it. "Ya did all ya could, fought as hard as ya could, but it just wasn't enough. It happens."

Tama looked surprised, too. "I… Yeah. Thanks, Tasuki. It…means a lot to hear you say that."

I made a face. "Save that mushy crap for Miaka, will ya? And while you're at it, why don'tcha can this bodyguard stuff and get the hell awa—"

I skidded to a stop, my eyes wide, my hands going around my stomach. "Holy shit," I breathed. "Holy fucking shit."

"Tasuki, what's wrong? What's happening?"

I shook my head. It'd been about two whole minutes since I'd thought about my 'condition,' but now it was pretty hard not to. Now, it was pretty much impossible not to.

The baby was kicking.

I closed my eyes, waiting for it to happen again, hopin' it would even though it'd mean a hell of a lot of trouble for me. Nothin' happened for a couple'a seconds, though, and so I started wonderin' if maybe I'd imagined it or somethin', if maybe there really was no—

There. A quick pressure from inside me, gone almost as quick as it came, but there. Real.

"Holy fuck," I whispered, and goddammit if I didn't feel like I was gonna cry again. "There's a baby in there."

There was a long pause.

"What?"

I shoulda been pretty pissed off about Tama findin' out, but right then, I was way too floored by what was happenin' to care. "A baby," I said again. I sat down on the ground, my back pressed up against the wall of a building, and shook my head. "This is nuts. I can't have a baby. What the fuck does she think I'll do with it? Let the kid ride in my tessen holster? How the hell am I supposed to protect Miaka when I gotta look after a baby?"

Tama was starin' at me. "How much did you drink, anyway?"

I glared at him. "It's not the saké, shithead. It was a spell. Some fucking sorceress laid her hands on me and…did this. Put a fucking baby inside a' me. Look, ya can ask Chichiri if ya don't believe me!"

"So, you're telling me," he said, really slowly, "that a sorceress cast a spell on you…and now you're going to have a baby."

"Right."

"You, Tasuki, are going to have a baby."

"That's right," I growled.

He laughed. Just a quick bark of a laugh, not too loud, but then there was another, and another, and before too long, he was doubled over with his arms over his stomach, howlin' so loud they could prob'ley hear him in Sairou.

"ARRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH!" I bellowed. "Ya had your fucking laugh, now help me up and let's get back to the palace before anything else fucking goes wrong."

"Too late," came a deep voice from behind us, and I whipped my head around to see the guy from the bar standin' there on the sidewalk with his buddies.

It was tough, but somehow I managed to heave myself to my feet. "Fuckin' bad guys," I muttered. "Always gotta make an entrance. Whaddya want?"

All of 'em were armed, some with wooden clubs, some with heavy pieces a' metal, but for some reason they were just standin' there, not movin', like they expected us to surrender or somethin'. Fat chance.

The leader—or at least, I figured he was the leader, since he was the only one of 'em who seemed interested in sayin' anything—took a couple steps forward, slappin' the piece a' metal he was holdin' against his palm. "Us?" he said, tryin' to look innocent but really just lookin' mean and ugly. "We don't want nothin'. Not a thing. Right, boys?"

There was an answering rumble from the guys behind him. He grinned. "Ya see? We're not here to cause any trouble. We're just takin' a walk around the neighborhood, swingin' these clubs here around for exercise. 'Course, if somebody got himself in our way, that'd be pretty bad for him, wouldn't it?"

I opened my mouth to holler somethin' back at him, but suddenly Tama was standin' there in front of me with his fists clenched, his clothes and hair gettin' all ruffled with wind. Fucking show-off. I shoved him with the flat of my hand.

"What the fuck do ya think you're doing?"

He glanced back at me. "I'm protecting you, now stay behind me!"

"Protecting me? I don't need you to fucking protect me!"

"The hell you don't! How are you supposed to fight in your…condition?"

"My condition is none of your fucking business, now get the hell outta the way!"

"I'm not letting them hurt you, Tasuki."

"Who do ya think you are, my fucking bodyguard?"

That was it. Tama turned around and roared, "YOU'RE PREGNANT, YOU ASS, NOW STAY BEHIND ME!"

Everything got real quiet for a second.

Finally, the guy in front lowered the metal rod to his side and pointed a finger at me. "That," he said, talkin' real slow like Tama had at first, "is a girl?"

I could just about feel myself turnin' red, but before I could find the breath to yell at him, Tama got beside me and put an arm around my shoulders—which really fucking made my day, let me tell you.

"That's right," he said, smilin' way too big. I started to struggle, but he tightened up his grip and hissed, "Shut up; I'm getting us out of this." He turned the big smile back on our attackers, who were looking kinda uncertain now, exchanging glances and muttering stuff to each other. "You wouldn't want to hurt a poor, defenseless pregnant girl now, would you?"

I was actually shaking, I was so mad, and somehow I managed to grind out, "This ain't helping, Tama. Ya think they're gonna go easier on me if they think I'm a girl?"

Fucking moron. And sure enough, the leader gave us a real creepy smile and took another step forward.

"No, we're not gonna hurt her. We're not gonna touch a hair on her pretty red head." His expression all of a sudden went cold. "Least, not 'til we get her to Kutou. Feisty girl like her'll fetch a real fair price over there, and I'm thinkin' so will you, bein' that you're one of the Suzaku shichiseishi. You know how much the emperor of Kutou's willing to pay for bringin' you in?"

I thwapped Tama on the back. "Great plan, shithead!"

He rounded on me. "You're the one who pissed them off in the first place! Anyway, I can handle them. Stay behind me."

"STOP ORDERIN' ME AROUND! I'M GETTIN' REALLY FUCKING SICK OF—"

From somewhere outta the mob came this big rock, and while Tama was still turned around, glarin' at me, it slammed into the side of his head and knocked him back a step. He just stood there for second, lookin' pretty stunned, and I figured that maybe he'd be okay. But then his eyes rolled back and he fell to his knees, then collapsed onto his side in the street.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. I couldn't run, I couldn't fight, and now the one fucking guy who coulda helped me out was out cold, blood already startin' to run down the side of his face.

The bastards started towards me. They were grinning, some of 'em leering, and it was like there was a fucking stampede in my chest, my heart was goin' so fast.

And then I remembered: the tessen. Tama gave me back the tessen.

With a slow grin that made me feel almost like normal, I reached back and pulled the thing outta its holster. It glittered and sparkled, and wiped those smug grins right off the guys' faces.

"All right, you fuckers," I snarled. "Get ready to—"

Wham. Somethin' smashed into my forehead, makin' everything goes all crazy and wobbly, and before I knew it I'd joined Tama in the street. I only had a second to be glad I hadn't landed on my stomach, and then the edges of my vision got all fuzzy and dark, and I passed out.

To Be Continued…

Notes:

First of all, I'd like to acknowledge and thank everyone who took the time to review chapter one. So, enormous thanks and gift baskets to Roku Kyu, Daluci, x Belles Reminisce, Emmi-chan, aderine no miko, a.k.a. Arashi, Silver Pain, fluffy-sama's worshiper, and Skittles1. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

Second, I would again like to thank Roku kyu for her helpful beta of this chapter—although I neglected to mention in chapter one that she was not my only beta-reader. In fact, the lovely and talented Kryssa provided a great deal of beta-reading assistance when this fic was in its early stages, as did Purple Mouse. So thanks, guys! Couldn't have done it without you!

And now, for something completely different. Long-long ago, when I was still working on my single piece of Harry Potter fanfiction, I would close each chapter with a short preview of the next. Very "Next Time On Buffy the Vampire Slayer…" but the readers seemed to enjoy it, so I figured I'd give it a go.

So now, stay tuned for a sneak preview of next week's…"Expecting!"

Chapter Three: In Deep Ship

I swung my arm back, all ready to slam it into the guy's gut…but he musta felt me tensin' up, 'cause he grabbed my wrist before I could hit him and twisted it around behind my back. I let him know what I thought about him an' his mother after that, but he just laughed and twisted my arm some more. It felt like he was about to fucking rip it off, but hell if I was gonna let him know how much it hurt. Shit, no. I bit down on my lip, tryin' hard to think of somethin' to do an' kinda wishin' that maybe Tama wasn't on the other side a' the bars, 'cause it woulda been nice to have some help right about then.

"You can go ahead and scream if you want," the bastard whispered in my ear. "Everybody else is ashore gettin' supplies, so there ain't nobody around to hear."

Shunyata Ryuen