Right then... Kurama's dying; we now know the reason. Now let us come back to the present, in the delivery room, and see how this all plays out then, shall we?
After relating all of this Koenma paused, allowing Shiori time to absorb everything he'd just said. "Mrs. Hatanaka, I tried to convince Kurama to abort the pregnancy. I was half-tempted to hold him down myself and force him to…" he trailed off, looking very upset. "I'm really sorry. I didn't want it this way, but in the end, it was his choice. I wish I could have talked him out of it."
"You wouldn't have been able to," a soft, weak voice spoke up in the direction of Kurama's bed. "This was my decision." The Fox had come to, watching them intently.
Shiori looked at him. His eyes were the only part of his body that looked alive. She could feel her own becoming very moist. Dying. He was dying. Why hadn't she sensed something was wrong?
"Don't cry," he said. "Please. That's the last thing I want you to do." She ignored him and burst into tears. He began to silently weep himself. Kurama wasn't sad for himself, he'd chosen his fate, but he hated to see her unhappy.
"How long do you think he has?" Kazuya quietly asked.
"I don't know," Genkai answered. "He may live for a few days if he's lucky."
Yusuke overheard and blanched. "Let's get out of here for a bit," he muttered to his friends. "Let's give him some time with his family." No one was about to protest. They quietly slipped out of the room.
"Genkai," Kurama said softly. "May I see my children?" The psychic nodded and brought the blanket-swaddled newborns over to the bed. Suichi, seeing Kurama was too weak to sit up himself, propped him up so he could see.
The Fox carefully examined his children, first one, and then the other. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the aqua streaks in his daughter's hair. He glanced nervously at Yukina, but the ice maiden currently had her back turned to him, busy in some task. Surely, she was curious? He looked at the boy and found himself staring into Hiei's eyes. The only difference was that these eyes were vulpine-shaped. The hair was red like his, with a pattern of ebony similar to the shape of his dear Jaganshi's starburst. Upon closer inspection of the two he silently laughed. 'I see Yoko Kurama had to have a say too.' Indeed, the girl had little flecks of gold in her eyes while the edges of the boy's red strands sported some silver highlights. He smiled, completely satisfied. The two were a perfect blend of his and Hiei's contrasting bloodlines.
"Um, they're beautiful" Suichi said. "Are you okay?" Kurama had tears in his eyes.
Kurama nodded, too choked up to speak. He hugged both babies close to him and bathed their heads with kisses. "They were worth it," he managed.
Suichi couldn't believe that, in the face of Death, his brother was so mellow. "Does it hurt?"
"Does what hurt?" he asked absently, focused on his children.
"What's happening to you?"
He shook his head. "No, there's no pain. At the worst, I'm feeling somewhat sluggish. Drowsy." Suichi nodded, unsure of exactly what Kurama meant. In any case, he didn't like his brother's appearance.
"So, you knew this would happen the whole time?"
Kurama nodded. "I did."
"You're not afraid?"
"Why should I be? I died once before, which is how I obtained this body, this life. Death is merely a stairwell to another level of existence. That's nothing to be afraid of." His tranquil expression gave way to a sad one. "Not that I don't feel regret. I regret having led everyone on, not telling them about this. And I regret that I won't be here to raise these two: Rikou"- he kissed the girl's forehead- "and Takashi"- he did the same to the boy. "I regret not being here to see their first steps, hear their first words…" He began to noiselessly cry again. "I regret that I will miss all of that."
"Why?" a quiet voice asked. He looked up and saw his mother staring at him. "If you feel that way, why did you do this to yourself?"
The redhead sighed. "That decision I don't regret. I still stand by it. Please don't cry," he begged as Shiori began to tear up.
"How could you have done this? Make this choice by yourself, without discussing it with anyone? And not telling us?"
"I did discuss it. I believe while Koenma and I yelled at each other the matter was discussed a lot. If you mean, 'why didn't I discuss it with you?'" he said when she opened her mouth to protest, "I highly doubt you would have supported a decision that would result in my death. And I didn't tell you because I knew you would try pressuring me into changing my mind. Mother, don't look at me that way." Shiori was giving him the saddest, most depressing expression. "Please don't take my not telling you as an insult. I just wanted our time left with each other to be free of grief."
"Why did you do this?" she repeated. "Do you think I want to lose you! This is suicide! I thought you frowned upon that?"
"I did," he said calmly, "but for awhile, after Hiei died, I abandoned my previous belief. The thought of taking my own life became very tempting. By the time Koenma called me in to be examined, I'd already made sketchy plans to do so." He tried to ignore the appalled look on his mother's face. "But then I found out there was life inside me. Life Hiei and I created. I changed my mind, and decided to continue living, if only for their sakes." He let his gaze fall to the floor. "Mother, I would never want to do anything to cause you unhappiness. But if I had to relive it, nothing would change. I'd still die for them."
His mother turned to Koenma. "You. Can't you do something? Anything to stop this?"
Koenma shook his head, looking very ashamed. "I told you. I don't control fate. Kurama had the chance to prevent this, but he chose not to. I really with there was something I could do."
"There's nothing you could do?" she pressed. "You're absolutely sure?"
"Believe me. If there was something I could do, I would. If I could step in and change someone's destiny on a whim, a lot of good people would still be alive. For example, had I that kind of power, Hiei wouldn't be dead. But I don't. Death comes to young and old, rich and poor, good and bad. Death is the ultimate fairness. Fortunately- or unfortunately, view it as you will- I haven't the power to tamper with such fairness."
Shiori made to further argue, but stopped. What was the use? There apparently was nothing to be done to keep this from happening. She could plead and prosecute all she wanted, but she knew it was pointless. It wouldn't change the decision her son had made so many months prior, or the resulting consequences occurring now.
The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, save for the squalling of the babies. "I want to be buried next to him," Kurama finally said. "I want to be buried next to Hiei."
No one said anything at first, not wanting to discuss the topic. Shiori tensed. When it hit her fully as to what her son was actually saying, all the color drained from her and she looked as though she may collapse.
Kazuya noticed. "Suichi, let's not talk about such things right now." He moved closer to his wife, preparing to catch her if need be.
"But we need to-"
"And we will," he said, feeling he knew what Kurama meant. "I promise. But not right now."
Silence again. The babies continued to cry. "They're hungry," Suichi said. Kurama nodded.
"Would you like to nurse one?" Yukina asked. The Fox nodded again. She helped him adjust his hold onRikou so she could latch on. He uttered a little gasp of surprise when she did so. It felt strange, but not unpleasant. Yukina then excused herself from the room.
Kazuya stared at her out of the corner of his eye when she passed him. While she'd been assisting Kurama, when she was next to the babies, he thought he'd seen a similarity between her and them. This sparked within him curiosity, and he made a mental note to address it to Kurama later.
Yukina returned with a bottle of warm milk. She made to feed Takashi with it, but Suichi stopped her. "May I?" he asked. She nodded, showing him how to hold the child, and then giving him the bottle. Suichi quietly sat there feeding the baby. He had offered to feed Takashi because he figured he should learn as quickly as possible. He saw a lot of time spent caring of his niece and nephew in the not-so-distant future.
Out in the hallway, Kurama's friends congregated near the door of the delivery room. They'd been listening in on the conversation, still feeling numb from learning their friend's life was approaching its end on swift wings. Hearing the redhead's confession to plotting suicide shocked and horrified them. They had known the death of Hiei had hit the Fox hard, it had been obvious. But none of them had realized just how intense the grief was.
"This is so sad," Keiko said quietly. "Those poor babies… Do you think that if Hiei had lived, Kurama wouldn't have gone through with this?"
"Sweetheart," Shizuru replied, "I think that if Hiei were still alive, he would have made Kurama abort the babies, even if it meant dragging him kicking and screaming to the clinic."
There were murmurs of agreement from everyone. It sounded cruel, but they all knew Hiei would promptly discard the lives of his own children without remorse if it would save Kurama's life.
"I still wonder about that little girl," Kuwabara said. "There's something strange about her…."
"Yeah," Shizuru said vaguely. "It is a mystery." As she said this, she caught the eye of both Yusuke and Botan. Meeting her gaze, the two realized that she knew what they already knew. Shizuru was a very quick-minded individual. She remembered how Yukina had described what she knew about her long-lost, unidentified brother. When she'd seen Kurama's daughter, she realized the truth.
Botan heaved an unhappy sigh. "All I know is that now I have to take another friend to the Reikai."
Genkai entered the hall. "He's asking to see you all," she said. "Just be careful about what you say. Don't give him any grief."
"Can't we do something?" Yusuke asked. "One of us could give him some of our energy… just enough to keep him alive, then we could nurse him back to health-"
"Save your breath. The twins completely drained him, there's nothing to be done. He wouldn't let you anyway. There's a part of him that wants to die, a part that can't wait to join Hiei. This won't be cancelled out by the love for his family, his friends, or even his children. He can't be saved. I think the pregnancy only succeeded in prolonging his life."
Yusuke let off a string of profanities, and then led the way inside. They found Kurama lying in his bed. His deathbed, Yusuke couldn't help but think. He was nursing, an odd sight, though no one was in the mood to dwell on such a minor thing. Suichi sat next to him on the bed's edge, bottle-feeding the other child. The Fox's parents sat near the wall. Kazuya appeared to be comforting Shiori, who looked to be in shock. Yusuke couldn't blame her.
"Hello." Yusuke turned. Kurama was looking straight at him.
"Um, hey Fox-boy," he replied, trying to sound halfway cheerful. "Uh, that's a good-looking couple of kids you got there." He tried to smile, but it looked as though he may cry.
"How do you feel?" Kuwabara asked.
"I'm fine. Just a little tired. I kind of feel like sleeping." The two felt a little sick when he said this. Sleep. They were afraid that if he went to sleep now he wouldn't wake up again. "But there will be plenty of time to sleep later," he said, reading their expressions. "You're unhappy with my choice," he observed.
"Yeah, well," Yusuke looked away from his gaze. "I guess we'd be a lot happier if we knew you were going home with your twins. It's too soon to say good-bye." He had to turn away then, not wanting to cry in front of him. It felt strange; he'd always figured that should the worse happen and he was conversing with a dying friend, it'd be on the fighting ground, surrounded by blood and gore. Not in a delivery room, with nursing infants.
"Koenma," Kuwabara said in a low voice. "Couldn't you do with him what you did with Urameshi and Genkai?"
The godling shook his head. "Those were unique circumstances. This, I'm afraid, doesn't apply." He cleared his throat. "I really regret this, but I have to leave. I have some paperwork to fill out." They all knew what he meant. Kurama's paperwork. "And, ah, there's someone I have to talk to." The second task he dreaded doing much more than the first. "Kurama, you have no idea how sorry I am."
Kurama waved the apology away. "Don't be. You did what you could. In the end though, it was up to me." The godling heaved a sigh and left.
Less than a year's time and two of his tanteis- two of his friends- were dead, both losses preventable. Right now, Koenma loathed himself.
Note: The name of Kurama's daughter was originally Takara- I interpretted it as meaning "treasure" and thought that it would be ironic to name her that, as Kurama had once before died for treasure... However, I was informed by Mr. Fine (I miss him!) that it actually interprets more like "precious"- and I don't think I could stand it if Igave Hiei and Kurama's female offspring a name one gives to a dog. Rikou, on the other hand, means "intelligence", which I think fits muchbetter. Takashi means "eminence".