Title: Hakkai's Surprise
Rating: T
Summary: Kanan took her own life because she believed the child inside her to be Hyakugan Maoh's, but what if it was really Gonou's? A year post facto, Hakkai's been living with Gojyo for a while, and they've fallen into the commonplace normalcy of life (punctuated with visits from Sanzo and his pet monkey). But when a young girl comes bearing an announcement and another chance, what will happen to our beloved human-turned-youkai?
Chapter the sixth: Commencing Final Countdown
AN: This is not, I repeat not, the labor and delivery chapter. This is month nine. Next chapter is the labor and delivery chapter. I promise.
Within the first week of his ninth month, Hakkai truly became too big to walk. That's right, Cho Hakkai, nine months pregnant human-turned-youkai, had started waddling. This was funny enough to warrant a snicker from Gojyo (the hanyou received a slap to the head from Jihira for that). The four found themselves going stir-crazy rather quickly. How did they remedy the boredom? They played cards. Jihira and Jyuuseii introduced Gojyo and Hakkai to various new games, from Egyptian Rat-Screw (Gojyo the hentai found the name of this game hilarious), which Hakkai easily won, to War (which Hakkai also easily won). Finally, tired of losing to Hakkai, Jihira and Jyuuseii introduced a game in which there was no winner, merely a supreme loser. That game was Duroc, also known as the Crazy Russian Card Game. In this game, every player has seven cards. You 'attack' the person to your left with cards of the same number in your hand. Hakkai immediately took a liking to sitting on Gojyo's right, though he insisted that that was just where he ended up.
Not that Hakkai and Gojyo were the only ones learning new games. Every now and then, card games lost their fun (mostly because it was pretty much a given that Hakkai would win). One of these times was when the storks learned how to play Mahjong. Of course, it was less likely for all four of them to be together, since now that the storks were living with them, Gojyo left the house more often (once every week at least, since that was when Hakkai's examinations were). It was one of those days, with just Hakkai and the storks in the house, when Hakkai finally gave in to his screaming nesting instinct.
"We need to go get things for the baby." He said.
"Make a list, Hakkai-san, and we'll make sure that everything on it is here." Jihira said. Hakkai took a pen and piece of paper, writing a list of everything that the baby would need. Jyuuseii, transformed into his stork form, took the list in his bill. His impressively large crest fell back against his head as he took off with large graceful flaps of his jet black wings. Jihira fluttered along behind him, struggling to beat her wings enough to keep up with her husband.
A few hours later, they returned. Jyuuseii carried a bag in his bill, landing gracefully on the walk. He transformed back into his human form, the bag transferred to his right hand. Jihira missed her landing a bit, tumbling to a stop at Jyuuseii's feet. She too transformed, rubbing her sore head with one hand. Hakkai came out to meet them.
"Everything else is already inside." Jyuuseii explained.
"We got you a book, so that you wouldn't have to totally wing it." Jihira added. Jyuuseii handed the bag to Hakkai with a smile.
"Shall we go see if everything meets your specifications?" The male stork asked, opening the door. He held it until both Hakkai and Jihira were inside before entering himself. Everything was in the bedroom. There were three pieces of new furniture, one of which hadn't been on the list. A crib, a dresser, and a rocking chair. In the crib were diapers (both disposable and cloth), bottles, and pacifiers. On the dresser sat neatly folded stacks of adorable baby clothes. Tears came to Hakkai's eyes at the display.
"Everything's perfect! Thank you both so much!" Hakkai exclaimed.
"We'll go amuse ourselves while you set the nursery in order." Jihira said with a smile. Hakkai smiled and nodded. The storks left the bedroom, shutting the door behind them.
"Why didn't you put anything away?" Jyuuseii asked.
"How many people have you actually 'blessed'?" Jihira asked. "The nesting instinct requires that he do everything himself. If I had done anything, he would have just undone it and done it over." Jihira explained. "Anyway, it's not our place to do anything," she added.
The storks whiled away the hours playing every game from '20 questions' to 'I Spy' (as you can imagine, that game was rather boring. "I spy with my little eye something that begins with...T." "Table." "Yep."). Finally, Hakkai came out of the bedroom looking quite proud of himself.
"It's finished." He said, smiling broadly. Jihira jumped up from her seat.
"Ooh! Can we see?" She squealed excitedly. Hakkai nodded. The storks followed him into the bedroom. The crib sat against the wall perpendicular to the bed. The rocking chair was in the corner closest to the bed, and the dresser was...in the same place it had been. The clothes were all put away, presumably in the dresser. A little pad was set on top of the dresser to function as a changing table, and the empty bottles were organized on top of the dresser, waiting to be used.
"The dresser is extremely organized. In the top drawer are diapers, cloth on the right, disposable on the left. The second drawer is for clothes that she'll be wearing immediately or soon, arranged by color and size. And the third drawer is for the clothes that it will be a while yet before she grows into. Again arranged by color and size." Hakkai explained with a smile. While impressed by the over-organization, Jihira and Jyuuseii were slightly scared by the minuteness of the details. The clothes were organized by color and size, for god's sake!
"This is the most impressive nursery that I've ever seen." Jihira said in slight awe.
"Why, thank you." Hakkai blushed.
"I'm sure that your little one will love it. Have you thought of any names yet?" Jyuuseii asked.
"Her name is Kanan. Cho Kanan." The storks smiled.
"That's a beautiful name." Jihira said.
"I'm sure that her mother is honored." Jyuuseii added. A soft smile came to Hakkai's face.
"Her mother was a great woman." Hakkai said quietly.
"So, Hakkai-san, did you try out the chair?" Jihira effectively changed the subject.
"Hai, it's quite nice." Hakkai said.
"Every new parent needs a rocking chair to rock their baby in. Consider it our special gift." The white-haired stork said with a smile.
"Thank you both so much." Hakkai said, fighting back tears. "Could you please allow me to just be with my baby for a while?" The storks nodded.
"We have some stuff that we need to do, anyway. We'll be back in a few hours." They transformed and flew out the large window over the bed.
The storks and Gojyo returned at the same time. Jyuuseii pulled off his transformation as he landed, hitting the ground at a casual walk. Jihira tumbled out of control (shrieking 'WING CRAMP!'), effectively hitting Gojyo in the back of the head.
"Konban wa, Gojyo-san." Jyuuseii greeted with a smile, disentangling the miniature stork that was his wife from Gojyo's crimson hair. Once free, she transformed back to normal.
"Why can't I be as graceful as you, Jyuu-kun?" Jihira whined. "You can transform without hitting the ground and you still do it with more grace and style than I do."
"It's a skill that comes with the third form, Jihira-chan." Jyuuseii said.
"Touching as this is, how's Hakkai?" Gojyo asked.
"He's fine. Finally managed to sate his nesting instinct. He organized his baby's clothes by color and size." Jihira said. Gojyo laughed.
"Ah, sou. You took him shopping, then?"
"Iie, he wrote a list and we went and got everything." Jyuuseii said.
"He's got everything he needs to be the best dad ever. Did you two ever discuss what his child is going to call you?"
"Ano, that sort of thing doesn't matter to me. Whatever the kid calls me is fine."
"Really? What if she decides to call you 'Ojii-san'?" Jihira asked with a grin. "Maybe she'll call you 'Onee-san' on accident. You know, you do look like a girl with your long hair."
"I'm not a woman, and Hakkai's baby won't take me for one!" Gojyo yelled. "And she won't call me 'Ojii-san' either, because I'm too young to be her grandpa!"
"Yare-yare, Gojyo, is there a need to yell?" Hakkai asked from the door.
"Tadaima!" The three called at the same time. Hakkai smiled sweetly.
"Irasshaimase! What are you standing out there for? I don't bite." He teased playfully. When all four were inside, Hakkai yawned.
"Did you stay up until we got home?"
"Hai, I was worried. I couldn't sleep until I was sure that all of you were alright." Hakkai said.
"We're fine, Hakkai-san. Now it's off to bed with you." Jihira shooed. The pregnant youkai laughed, but did as Jihira suggested.
"Oyasumi, Jihira-san, Jyuuseii-san," Hakkai called. "Oyasumi, Gojyo."
"Oyasumi, Hakkai." The three chorused.
- Palace of the Setting Sun, Chang'an –
"The demon slayer is nearly due." The far right female head said softly. The other two turned to look at her. Though her eyes were closed, she could feel them staring.
"The demon slayer is pregnant?" The male head in the middle asked.
"Yes." The first head said.
"Didn't you know this already?" The other female head asked.
"Why am I always the last one to know these things?" The male head sighed. The female heads started talking over him.
"But Genjyo Sanzo visited only four months ago. Why wasn't he informed of this?" The dark-haired aspect asked.
"I assume because the demon slayer didn't want him to know." The aspect with her eyes closed said.
"Well then this is a puzzling conundrum indeed. Summon Genjyo Sanzo immediately." The dark-haired aspect said.
"We can't just tell him outright. Not if the demon slayer doesn't want him to know." The other argued.
"Why does Genjyo Sanzo have to know? Surely Cho Hakkai is allowed some privacy." The male head spoke up. The other two each turned toward him.
"Not with such important matters." The dark-haired head said.
"It would be best if you ceased interfering with matters that you know nothing about." The other added.
"Perhaps it would be best if we didn't interfere with this matter at all." The male head argued. This time, he was ignored.
"Then what do we tell the Sanzo?"
"We tell him that something has happened to his associate, and it is his duty to figure out what." The aspect with her eyes closed suggested.
"I believe that the demon slayer will do anything to keep this a secret." The male head spoke up again. "Perhaps there was a reason that he didn't inform the Sanzo."
"Yes, because the subject is so simple to slip into a conversation. 'Oh, yes, the weather is lovely. And before I forget, I'm pregnant.'" The dark-haired head sniped, her eyes narrowed at the male amongst them.
"I wasn't suggesting that it was a simple subject to slip in. Merely that perhaps there's a reason behind his silence. A...method to his madness, so to speak."
"Perhaps our counterpart is partially correct." The third said mildly.
"We could send the Sanzo when the demon slayer goes into labor. The journey takes two days, after all." The dark-haired aspect mused. "Surely the child would be born by the time that Genjyo Sanzo arrived."
"Then it's settled. We send the Sanzo once Cho Hakkai is in labor." The male head rolled his eyes, not even bothering to argue. It was pointless arguing with the other two aspects.
Language notes: hentai - pervert, hai - yes, konban wa - good evening, sou - I see, iie - no, ano - well, ojii-san - grandpa, onee-san - older sister, yare-yare - my, my, tadaima - I'm home, irasshaimase - welcome
Canon notes: I have always found humor in the Sanbutsushin. And really, ever since I imagined this story, the Sanbutsushin scene was begging to be written. As such, they're supposed to be OOC. That was just the discussion that I imagined them having over Hakkai's pregnancy. They're the three aspects of Buddha, of course they're omniscient!
Culture notes: Small children generally call adults that aren't related to them one of two things: older brother/sister, or mister/miss. The mister/miss is generally reserved for older people, while onee-san/onii-san is used with younger men and women. Gojyo, a young man in his prime (20, actually, in this story), would probably insist on being called 'Onii-san', or older brother. Of course, Kanan (Hakkai's baby) will probably end up calling him Gojyo-jisan, which means 'Uncle Gojyo'.
Game notes: Both Duroc and Egyptian rat-screw are real, fun games. I play Duroc all the time, so I just had this clear mental picture of pregnant Hakkai taking great joy out of loading all of his smaller suits onto Gojyo. And of course, Gojyo's 'It's called what!' expression when Egyptian Rat-Screw was mentioned. xD