Again, thank you for the reviews, I do always appreciate actual feedback on the story.

Now, to address an issue, my family's Internet will be expiring in the next few days. We'll be leaving in two weeks for California to visit my paternal grandparents, whom I've not seen since the September 11th. Thus, I don't think my parents will be renewing the Internet, as we'll be gone. I don't know when we'll be getting it back. We'll probably get it back when we return- I need it to do research for school from time to time, and some of my non-school related stuff (this and some other stuff), so even if they won't pay for it, maybe I will. I don't know. So if you don't see any more updates from me for a while, I just didn't want anyone to worry. I'm not quitting the story, I'm just going to be gone for a while. Updates will resume when I have access to the proper necessities.

There was a knock on his door. "Come in," he replied groggily.

The door opened and Shiori entered. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, seeing that her son was in bed, under the covers, eyes barely open. "Were you sleeping?"

"Don't worry about it," he yawned. "I was just taking a nap." As though he didn't get enough sleep as it was. "You need something?"

She frowned. "A mother isn't allowed to socialize with her son unless she needs a task done?"

He flushed. "I, uhm…that was too quick of me," he apologized. "It's just, what with your career lately…"

"It's all right. I hadn't realized my work was affecting you this much. Perhaps I should take some time off-"

"No!" he replied hastily. "No, you enjoy your job. I don't want to take that away form you. And besides, we'll need that income when there's two new mouths to feed- oomph!" he grunted, doubling over and holding his stomach.

"What is it?" she asked nervously.

"Nothing," he replied calmly. "It's nothing unusual. They like to kick me is all. Though I don't know why. I've done nothing to them save carry them around and feed them and love them."

Almost immediately, his mother's hands were glued to his belly, grinning when she felt her grandchildren kicking. "I believe they know we're talking about them," he said, smiling and wincing at the same time. "They're rather abusive, especially in the middle of the night." She laughed at him.

"Uhm, the greenhouse is almost finished. What plants do you want in there?"

"I have my own seeds," he replied. Which reminded him, he needed to organize and label his plantstuffs. However, something in Shiori's tone made him uneasy. It was as though she were holding something back from him. "Is something troubling you, Mother?"

"No! No, of course not." She gave him a cheery smile. Kurama could see right through it, however, and just stared at her. "Fine," she admitted. "There was a reason I woke you up. I've wanted to discuss this with you for some time, but out of concern for your health I've been putting it off."

He gave her a funny look. "What is it? I've been updating you on my examinations."

Shiori shook her head. "Your body's not the subject. Remember what I asked you when I was told you were..?"

"You asked me if it was true." Where was she going with this?

"What else did I ask you?"

"You asked me…" he trailed off and gave her a pained look. "No, Mother, please. I don't want to talk about that-"

"I understood that excuse then. It'd just happened and you were in shock. However, I've given you several months to deal with it. Now I want you to tell me about it."

"No," he pleaded. "Mother, don't do this to me. I don't want to talk about…him."

It was plain to her that he was torn up inside over this, and her heart went out to him. Yet she remained firm. "Do you know how much it hurts me too see you so sad? Suichi, I don't think that since this Hiei died you've smiled once. I don't count those fake smiles you force either, I mean an actual, happy smile." He stared at her, startled. "You're not the actor I think that you think you are. You don't think I haven't seen how miserable you are these days? That I haven't heard you crying in your room during the night? It hurts, Suichi. It hurts me that you're in such pain."

Kurama sighed and rested his head in his hands. "It's not your problem," he told her. "There's nothing you can do. You didn't know-"

"Hiei? I didn't know Hiei? That's another thing that hurts me. That I know nothing about this person you obviously loved very much. I know nothing about the father of my grandchildren: what he looked like, what he did, what kind of person he was. Are your children going to grow up not knowing who their father was? Will we have to go ask your friends to find out anything about Hiei?"

"That will be of little benefit," he replied bitterly. "You'll not receive much by asking them. They didn't know him like I did."

"And how did you know him? How was he different to you than to them?"

Kurama sighed unhappily. "Hiei was a complicated person. Hard to read. He didn't warm up to many people; it took a great deal of time before he completely opened up to me. There were a few…riffs…in our friendship, and it took him awhile before he really trusted me. I'm sure even after we came together he still had his secrets."

Before he knew it, he was spilling everything, completely unable to stop it.

"To everyone else he was cold and distant: a puzzle, an enigma. It was some time before I truly began to figure him out. But eventually he showed me another side of himself, one I'd assumed he had but had never counted on ever seeing, he was such a private person. Friendly, kind, caring- I can't count how many times he kissed me and said he loved me. I was the only person he would ever smile for- well, there was another person, but… He always wanted me to be happy. When we- when we made love he'd tell me that if he was hurting me to simply let him know and he'd stop." He didn't even blush while saying this. By now he was openly weeping.

"He-he was so good to me, and I tried to be as good back, but…he shouldn't have settled for me. He deserved someone better." Now he broke down. "I-I'm not good enough," Kurama bawled. "He should have found someone else. Loving me killed him!"

This broke Shiori's heart. "Oh, oh no, Suichi, that's not true. Don't think that. Anyone would be lucky to have you, and it sounds like Hiei knew this. Otherwise he wouldn't have sacrificed himself for you."

The Fox continued crying, then without warning he clenched his hands into fists and let out an angry shriek. "Why was he so stupid!" he screamed. "He knew I was pregnant! That arrogant bastard could have prevented all of this if he'd just told me!"

The sudden transaction from sorrow to anger startled Shiori. "W-Wait. He knew you were pregnant before you did? How is that possible?"

"His stupid third eye!" Kurama spat. "He could see and sense things other people couldn't. I was too stupid to sense something unusual occurring in my own body, but he knew! If he had told me, he'd still be alive! Oh, but NO, he had to go off and die…I HATE HIM! I hate him for what he did! I hate him for going off and leaving me here! WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE!" Not caring about his wild behavior, he buried his face in his mother's shoulder and vented out all his anger and regret and sadness while he cried.

Now Shiori had a better understanding of her son's unhappiness. Not only was he angry with himself over what had happened, he was angry with Hiei too, and had never admitted it. "Shh…it's okay Suichi. It's natural to be mad at him for dying. But it was neither of your faults." She smoothed his hair soothingly. "Perhaps it was avoidable, but that won't bring him back. And you can't spend the rest of you life hating yourself for it either." All the while she spoke she did so in her softest tone, trying to calm him down.

It took awhile, but finally Kurama's outburst subsided to shaky breathing. "I'm sorry about that," he muttered, shame in his tone. "That was uncalled for."

"No it wasn't," she insisted. "I'd rather you act out like that rather than repress everything. It's not healthy to keep it all bottled up inside." Shiori made to hug him but he pulled away.

"I'm, uhm, I'm going downstairs for awhile, okay?" he said quietly, obviously still embarassed. "Uhm, if you want there's some things in the closet…" Upon saying such, he fled the room.

She hesitated a moment, then opened the closet and looked around. Clothes. Then she looked on the shelves and found a box and an oddly shaped parcel. She placed it on the bed and unwrapped it, revealing the same sword she'd seen so many months before. Upon opening the box she discovered that strange little stone from before rolling around in the bottom along with a small stack of photos.

Thumbing through the photos, she quickly saw a common subject. A young man, short, clad entirely in black. Shiori had to admit he was rather good-looking, in an eccentric fashion. Spiky black hair and the strangest eyes she'd ever seen, large and slanted and colored an odd reddish tone. She furrowed her brow. Could this be Suichi's Hiei?

Wondering if there was anything she'd missed, she checked the closet again. A lot of clothes of assorted sizes, as Suichi had dismissed her idea of buying maternity clothes. He insisted all he needed was to go up a few sizes.

She noticed a bag in the corner, almost completely concealed by the clothes. Curious, she looked inside, then widened her eyes and immediately closed it. Now she was glad she always knocked on the door first. Of course, she had to keep in mind that when she was pregnant and had those rushes she'd had a husband. Her son had no one.

The door shut behind her, attracting her attention away from the closet. Kurama had returned, apparently having taken a shower. "Do you feel better?" she asked timidly, afraid she may set him off. He half-shrugged, staring at the objects on the bed. Shiori shifted on her feet, waiting to see what his reaction would be.

"That was Hiei's sword," he said softly. "I'm afraid he had a rather nasty temper at times. That sword's been used on gods know how many demons." He smiled, slight though it was, but this time it was genuine.

His mother raised her eyebrows. "And that stone? I've never seen one like that."

"A Hiruseki stone," he replied. "They're extremely rare and are sold at very high prices on the gemstone markets. In truth, they're actually created from the tears of ice apparitions in the demon world. Hiei's mother was one. He inherited it from her."

"And…and the boy in the pictures? Is that..?"

"Hiei," he said, nodding his head.

"Oh. He was, uhm, very unique-looking. Very handsome," she added hastily when he gave her a Look. "He was very handsome. I've just never seen eyes like that before."

"There's a very good chance your grandchildren will have those eyes," he said. "I'm unsure of which eye color is the dominant gene. They'll probably have black hair though, I think black hair is almost always the dominant hair color."

'He should know,' she mused, thinking of his biology grades in high school. "They'll have beautiful features regardless of who they take after." Kurama shrugged off the compliment. "I'm sure he was a very good person."

"He was," the Fox sighed. "He was a criminal and loved to fight, but he was a good person."

At the word 'criminal', she frowned. "Suichi, ah, how did you and him meet?" This was really just code for 'exactly what kind of life did Hiei lead and how much of it were you in on?'

Kurama knew what she meant. He supposed it was a justified question. "I'll tell you more about him," he said. "But you must bear with me, as I'm feeling slightly fatigued."

It was progress. She'd achieved a lot more form him than she'd expected to tonight. "All right." So they cleared off the bed and Shiori sat on the edge while Kurama lay down next to his mother and related to her in detail about Hiei and just how he'd seen the Koorime.