Disclaimer: I dun own YYH, but I do own Bri. Yup. Bri. And a lot of this plot, too…Since I don't know the origin of the whole "What do you want to do" sequence, I'm just going to say I don't own it and leave it at that. Prolly Jungle Book…

Chapter 3: Birth of Two Foxes

…Bri…

What do you want to do today?

I dunno, what do you want to do?

Swim around some more?

It's getting kinda cramped in here. Wonder how much longer we need to be?

Kuronue slumped against one side of the womb at this, an inaudible sigh coming from his mind. We had developed our own little system and, well, since Kuronue now had my—our—father's powers, we could speak pretty much to each other through our minds. I waited for the inevitable pronouncement.

Well, aren't we the ones who decide?

Yeah, but still…I don't want to cause Mother any more pain than necessary.

Yes, true.

I wonder where we are in the pregnancy? We started kicking a little earlier than we should've, too.

Didn't she say we were a couple of days away yesterday?

I think so.

Then we wait until they're asleep and spring it on them!

Sometimes I couldn't get over my new brother's devious mind. I knew I would let him go first. He was actually older than me, but a lot older than just a few minutes. I guess it's just kind of weird. It's never actually happened before that two people who know about their previous lives are born again in a womb together who happened to know each other in that previous life.

Why is my life so dang complicated?

Oh, yeah, because I was born in another life to a half cat demon—

Not thinking about that again.

I had a new life.

I want to go first, I said.

No way! I'm going! I'm older!

If we could have glared, we would have. But you know, it's awfully dark inside the womb. No wonder babies scream when they come out. It's probably too bright! I sighed and gave a rough kick to the interior walls.

Fine. You go first.

Thank you.

I scowled, or at least attempted to. He couldn't "see" it, but I knew he knew it was there. The "advantages" of having a twin who was just as Empathic as you were. I sighed and sank up against the wall of the womb, me being the higher child anyway. It would have been difficult to get around Kuronue anyway. I sighed. I would have to start thinking of him as "Okuro" soon enough.

They're asleep, Kitten.

Don't call me that.

I'm your brother, I get to call you whatever I want. I'm going for it.

He pushed past me and started downward. I heard the panicked cries of Ichigo and then Marion's scrambling. I could already tell that this was going to be a night to remember. I'd never even seen a birth on TV before, forget remembering my own with Tsuki. Now I was going to be a major player in a birth and I wasn't the mother or the father. I was the baby. Well, one of the babies.

I heard the car start (at least that's what I think it was) and suddenly dozens of voices all yelling. Kuronue's "voice" shouted at me.

You'd think there was a baby being born with all this racket.

I smirked, getting ready for my own nose-dive outta this place. I didn't want Kuronue to be able to gloat over more than a couple of minutes. We were both starting new. I had a feeling that if Koko as a sister was bad, having Kuronue as a brother was just gonna be worse.

The sounds of screams in the air, the slick wetness of my mother's womb leaving me. I can't describe it entirely, the feeling of suddenly being born. We all go through it, and yet…I'm one of few people who will ever know what it's like. To suddenly be free of the womb when you'd been inside it for so long. It was like breaking free from the only safe haven you've ever found.

The doctors cleaned me off and cut my umbilical cord. They put some black stuff on my feet and made me press them against some paper. They measured me and weighed me. I stared up at them all. I was scared, even though somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew they were only doing their job. It wasn't until I was in my mother's arms, looking into the golden brown depths and at the smile that I was safe.

I spied Kuronue on the other side of her, on her other breast, feeding. He had our dad's dark brown hair, darker still. Almost black. His ears were pointed, but not atop his head like a true fox demon's were. When he opened his eyes, a pair of blues smiled at me secretly. I acted like a true baby and nuzzled my mother's breast for milk, hoping that I looked just like him.

"The girl is Bridget Kokomo Wolf," Marion, our father, said, softly brushing his hand on my back. "I believe we wanted the boy to be Okuro, right, love?"

"Yes, Okuro Marion Wolf," Mother said. Kuronue would have to get used to a new name.

Oh, bite me, I can live with being called 'little black'.

Are you sure?

The question is, can you handle being half fox demon?

What do you mean?

They become sexually mature at thirteen.

Damn.

…

…Koko…

I stared at her in utter awe. I will never forget the expression of pure joy on her little pudgy baby face. When she started gaggling and googling at me in the baby language I had spent so long trying to make my father understand as an infant, I knew it was her. I held her, clothed in a baby snap set that I had when I was a baby. She was so tiny. Were babies always this tiny? Maybe it was the fact that Okuro and she were born a week early. I raised my Dream energy carefully.

Finally, I thought you'd never do that!

"Bri!" I nearly dropped her, I was so startled. Hiei glanced up from Okuro, whom he was holding at my request.

Don't do that, I'm fragile!

"Yeah…we kind of noticed," I said weakly. "I missed you."

"She can still think coherently with that infant's brain?" Hiei asked, shifting Okuro's weight on his hips. It was almost comical to see the all-powerful Snowball with an infant in his arms. He was the perfect father. Oh, if I was only three years older…

"Yes, just like I could," I said. "Something about…oh, never mind. Bri—"

Wait, Hiei remembered? Bri thought at me.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. He showed up just after the last time we talked," I said. "Somehow, my Empathe abilities transferred over to him when we mated…And even though we're not mated in this time stream, he remembered…"

Bri made a face that only an infant can make. Don't do that, my brain hurts bad enough thinking coherently. I'm only a week old!

I laughed, feeling tears well up in my eyes.

Hey, now, don't cry…Guess who Okuro is?

I glanced at the boy in Hiei's arms. "Who?"

Kuronue!

"Kuronue? Like, Kurama's ex-partner, Kuronue? Does he remember?"

No, he didn't. I explained it to him. Hello, eight months in a womb with nothing to do makes Bri bored. And ex-bat-boy and I had some catching up to do. He does remember Kurama, though. He made a deal with Koenma, same as me. His mighty toddler-ness thought it would be a pleasant cosmic joke, of sorts.

I laughed. "It's good to 'hear' your voice again, Bri."

Okuro, or rather, Kuronue's, voice came up in my mind, after being silent for most of the exchange. Hey, what about me? Bri said you knew me…sort of…

"Hello to you, too, Kuronue," I laughed. "Nice to see you again. Although…last time I saw you, you had violet eyes and you were two feet over my head."

Nice to know I was that size at one point…Kuronue sighed in his babyish way. I nearly lost it again. Bri smiled up at me, her pudgy cheeks making her eyes close.
Hey, can a girl get a mirror?

"You don't know what you look like?" I stared at her. "Aunt Ichigo already used some kitsune illusion on you, Bri. Your ears are so adorable. Too bad Okuro didn't get them."

What!

"She's right. You were born a copper kitsune," Hiei said.

He set Kuronue down on the floor and I let Bri down beside him. The two infants looked very much like their previous incarnations, and yet they were completely different. For one thing, Bri had shimmering natural gold highlights in amidst her normal dark brown. It was a reflection of her kitsune nature that Ichigo hadn't wanted to erase.

This is going to be a long few years. Bri sighed, letting one pudgy fist rest on Kuronue's shoulder in a gesture that was definitely not infantine in nature.

Indeed.

"You two are going to have to be careful with what you say around Marion," I said. "He is, after all, where you get those powers from. I mean, I'm sure you can still think normally…but no huge words or thought concepts. Ya know?"

She's right. Kuronue said. If we blow our cover, there's no telling what our new father's reaction will be.

You can say that again. Bri rolled her pale blue eyes. I didn't even know him long enough in my past life and I know that he'd go ballistic. No telling what Ichigo will do, either.

Kuronue scowled in a way only his face, I think, could pull off. The truth bites. Could one of you change my diaper?

Even Hiei cracked a smile.

…

…

…

I'm still debating whether or not to take the Hiei-smile down…eh, I'll leave it. So what do you think of birth from the baby's POV? Oo And now, Koko and Hiei know. Now, here's a question that some of you may want to ask, but please don't because I'm going to answer it right now.

Why can Hiei understand and "hear" them?

I borrowed a little of fanon lore from some of the…er…higher-rated stories that I sometimes read. (Yes, bad UK.) Basically, Koko and Hiei have formed a "bond" through their abnormal natures and their previous "mating" in the other time stream. This mating somehow crossed over the time stream and allows them to still have some of the other's attributes, even though they didn't actually mate in this time stream.

Princess Kandra: No pokey da authoress! Hey, I think I update pretty dang often, ne? Better than some…coughKireicoughthreecoughmonths.

Kuramafan: This chapter was all for you, cakes! I promised a couple days ago. I prolly would have told all about her, too. But I think Koko understands the magnitude of the situation. I know that she hasn't told Keiko yet…or any of the other YYH gang…

Sillylittlenothing: Well, you'll just have to wait and see how I make it all "work out" with Kurama. It's a bit on the interesting side…O.o I wonder if anyone's used the idea before…Never seen it before, myself, but perhaps it has been used. I love Hiei, he's just so much fun to poke and prod at. I was going to have Kuronue pee on him, but…decided against it. Hiei's smarter than that.

Peeka-chan: I never thought about that…O.o Well, if he will be able to turn into his old self, it won't be for a while. Actually, I think that has more to do with Kurama's fox skills and I don't know exactly how "fox" Kuronue has become. After all, he didn't get the foxy fox ears. Hmm…food to chew on for a while…

SilverDragon: That was my own mind's justification for it…I couldn't decide whether to keep Hiei at a distance from Bri or not. In the end, I decided that he becomes Mr. Godparent in his own screwball, Makai-bred way. O.o I'm just weird like that…