As he did the dishes, Kurama thought about what might be wrong with Hiei. It was actually quite concerning. What could be the matter with him? It obviously wasn't a cold. Could it be a stomach bug or food poisoning? That would explain the nausea and probably the fatigue, but not really the dizziness or his bathroom problems. Frequent urination alone could be an indicator of all kinds of scary diagnoses, many of them fatal or chronic. It was already Friday, so if he had something harmless that started on Monday, like he said, it should have been getting better by now, not worse.
Kurama ran one hand through his hair in worry. Poor Hiei! What if something was really wrong with him? It was all Kurama could do to finish the dishes, just knowing that his beloved was feeling so sick right in the other room.
Needless to say, neither of them slept well that night, Hiei because of his mysterious illness, and Kurama due to his worry. It would have been difficult for Kurama to sleep even without the worry, because Hiei got up every couple of hours to use the bathroom, most of the time just to empty his bladder, but a couple of times to empty his stomach as well (the bathroom was attached to the bedroom, and unfortunately, the walls were not very thick). Once Hiei muttered something about giant ice cream cones, right before going to throw up again, and Kurama figured he must have had a dream that made him sick. That was strange, because Hiei usually really liked ice cream. In fact, the smaller demon had a massive sweet tooth. The thought of a giant ice cream cone should have made him hungry, not nauseous.
It seemed like forever until the sun came up that morning. It was Saturday, so Kurama didn't have to get up early for work, but he was the kind of person that woke up around six or seven in the morning, no matter what day of the week it was. Around noon, Kurama was fixing himself some lunch in the kitchen, while Hiei still slept upstairs, when he heard the doorbell ring. Leaving his lunch aside, he went to answer it, his thoughts still preoccupied with Hiei.
"Good afternoon, Shizuru," he said, welcoming his friend Kuwabara's older sister. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Apparently, Hiei left his scarf at Kazuma and Yukina's apartment," she replied. "I told them I'd drop it off. I think he might be more forgetful lately."
"Thank you. I'll give it to him," said Kurama, taking the scarf from Shizuru. Figuring she might be able to calm his nerves somewhat, he added, "Why don't you come in and sit down?"
"Sure," she said, and walked over to the couch. When he'd made tea for both of them and they were seated on the couch, she asked, "What's going on with you?"
"Hiei's not feeling well, and I'm worried about him," Kurama confessed as he sat down next to her. "I just found out last night, but it turns out he's been hiding it from me for almost a week."
"That's just like Hiei, to not admit it when he's weak." Shizuru shook her head. "What's wrong with him?"
"Well, that's just the problem." Kurama sighed. "I can't figure it out. There are several symptoms that don't appear to be related."
"Really? Like what?"
Kurama figured Hiei would be embarrassed if he told Shizuru all the things that were bothering him, so he didn't go into a lot of detail.
"We've ruled out a cold, because there's no coughing or sneezing, and his temperature is normal," said Kurama. "But he's had nausea, fatigue, dizziness, that kind of thing. He's been telling me that everything smells stronger, which is odd. And he won't go near anything sweet."
Shizuru took a long drag on her cigarette thoughtfully, but she didn't say anything. And then they heard soft footsteps upstairs. The door to the bedroom opened and Hiei was soon hanging over the landing, looking furious.
"PUT THAT OUT!" he bellowed. "THE SMELL IS MAKING ME SICK!"
"Hiei?" Shizuru took the cigarette out of her mouth, looking startled. "Secondhand smoke never bothered you before."
"Well, it does now!" Hiei's voice was shaking, and Kurama felt even worse. "Put it out NOW!"
"Jeez, all right, all right." Shizuru put her cigarette out, and Kurama used some seeds to make the living room smell nice again. Hiei gave them both a glare and retreated into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
"I see what you mean," said Shizuru. "He looks awful. But I know secondhand smoke can really be hard on people if something happens to their sense of smell. I remember when this coworker of mine was pregnant, she would always—"
"Wait." Kurama's voice was hushed as he set one hand on Shizuru's shoulder. "She was what?"
"Well, she was pregnant," Shizuru replied, shrugging. "You said Hiei's illness is making him have a sensitivity to smell, and I know pregnancy does that too. It just reminded me of when she would come into the hair salon and all the different smells of the shampoo and hairspray would make her vomit. Even though she said she loved the fragrances before."
"That's it." Kurama was barely even listening to Shizuru's story as he ran Hiei's white scarf through his hands, looking down but not really seeing anything. He felt as if his entire body had just been electrocuted. Why—and more importantly, how—had he not seen it before? "This isn't an illness. Hiei's pregnant."
"So it's true?" Shizuru looked at Kurama in mild surprise. "Male demons really can get pregnant?"
"How do you know that?" said Kurama, who had been expecting incredulity at the very least.
"There was this gay demon couple making out in the stands at the Dark Tournament," Shizuru said, "and when they were done, one of them mentioned to the other that every time they kissed, he felt a little kick. And he really did look pregnant. I thought it was strange at first, but then I realized there are all sorts of things demons can do but humans can't, and male pregnancy might just be one of them."
"Right! Exactly!" Kurama was so relieved that he was actually laughing. "I-I can't believe this, and yet…and yet it all makes sense. Oh, Shizuru…Hiei's pregnant!"
Shizuru looked a little wary, which was understandable, given that Kurama wasn't exactly prone to outbursts of incredulous laughter.
"Don't freak out on me, okay?" she said, her voice steady. "I know you're probably a little upset, but—"
"Upset!" Kurama repeated in disbelief. "Why…I don't know when I've ever been so happy!"
"Are you sure? You don't…look right."
But Kurama didn't answer her. The time for words had gone; Kurama's heart felt like it was about to burst. Soon, there would be someone new in their family, a part of him and a part of Hiei, yet also its own person, theirs to love and cherish forever. The reason Hiei had been feeling so crummy lately was because there was life inside of him. In a little less than a year, Hiei would give a child the most precious gift of all.
Of course, Kurama knew exactly when and where this child had been conceived, but it didn't matter. Now he was glad Hiei had been begging him to skip the contraceptive tonic that day and use the faulty wallet condom. To think, he had been the one to protest and insist on playing it safe, and yet if Hiei had listened to him, this new baby would never have come into their lives. He was no longer just Kurama, now he was someone's father. He already felt the love for his unborn child that only a father could give; to think that he could really be that for someone, to play that crucial role in a little boy or girl's life…the role of father.
Kurama's mind was galloping past the months and years to come, picturing himself holding a newborn baby, driving to soccer games and dance recitals, wiping a dirty, grinning face, giving hugs and baths, reading bedtime stories…Kurama just kept staring down at the white scarf, twisting it in his hands, burning-hot tears blurring his vision. He was going to be a father. With one short burst of pleasure, his life, and Hiei's, had been changed forever.
The stupor was finally broken when Kurama felt someone's hand on his shoulder.
"Congratulations, Kurama," Shizuru said softly, an unusually gentle smile gracing her features.
"Thank you," said Kurama, blotting his eyes with a handkerchief. "I-I know I'm going to need some time to process this—emotionally and logistically. But if Hiei really is pregnant…this has got to be the most joyful day of my life. That's what I know for sure."
"What about Hiei?" Shizuru asked. "If this baby wasn't planned…is he going to be all right with this? Have you guys talked about having kids?"
"Well…sort of," said Kurama. "Neither of us wanted to conceive before we were completely ready, so it will certainly be a shock to him. But after that's over, I'm sure he'll be as happy as I am. After all, there's never really a perfect time to have a baby, and we were bound to start trying to make one eventually. I suppose it just happened sooner rather than later."
"As long as you two are on the same page, it should be all right," Shizuru agreed. "At least now you know he's not sick."
"Indeed," said Kurama. "This explains a lot. All the symptoms he's been having…and now I know why he's missed his fertile window, too."
"His what?" said Shizuru, raising her eyebrows.
It occurred to Kurama suddenly that if all Shizuru knew of male demon pregnancy was what she'd seen from a random expecting couple at a tournament, she probably wasn't all that knowledgeable on how it worked.
"That's a good question," he told her. He was starting to calm down from his emotional high, which was good, because now he knew he was responsible for a vulnerable young life, and he would need to keep his wits about him in order to protect it at all costs. "In order for any individual to get pregnant, they need to experience a reproductive cycle. These are different for all types of demons, but for a male elemental, like Hiei, the cycle takes about twenty-five to thirty days on average, and one week out of every four, his body goes through the process of readying him for conception. I know it must sound strange to a human, but it's completely normal."
"Oh, no, I understand," she said, reaching for a cigarette almost reflexively, but remembering Hiei's new sensitivities at the last second. "Kind of like having a period, I guess?"
"Not exactly," Kurama told her, taking a sip of his tea. "If I had to make a comparison, I would say the fertile window in a man is much more similar to ovulation than menstruation in a woman. It happens right in the middle of the fertility cycle, around the end of the second week, and it's the narrow window of time in which he can get pregnant. That's why it's called the fertile window."
"Okay, but it still doesn't make much sense," said Shizuru. "I mean, if he doesn't have a womb or anything, where does it grow? And don't tell me it comes out of his…" Shizuru widened her eyes and pointed down at her lap.
"Oh, no! No! God, no," said Kurama. Somehow, he could feel pain just thinking about something like that. "Male demons deliver their babies anally. That opening's made to stretch, unlike, well…"
"Take it easy, fox-boy, I get it," said Shizuru, possibly noticing the pained expression on Kurama's face. "Now what were you saying?"
"Well, you'll find that elemental demons are similar, sometimes almost identical, to humans, in a lot of ways," Kurama told her. "But for males, the biggest difference between demons and humans is that male demons are born with an organ very similar to the female uterus, called a ninshinsu. It's located on top of the bladder and remains closed-off to the rest of the body, unless it's the fertile window or during the delivery of a baby."
"So the baby grows inside the ninshinsu?" Shizuru guessed.
"Yes, precisely," Kurama told her. "The ninshinsu has everything to do with an elemental male's reproductive cycle. During the first seven days, his energy will be perfectly dispersed throughout his body, and power-wise, he'll be at his peak. But on the second week, his youki will start forming a tangible concentration of energy containing his DNA, while stem cells grow inside the ninshinsu. As the second week comes to a close, the fertile window begins. The demon in question has a lowered power level, because for those five to seven days, most of his youki is in the ninshinsu, waiting to be fertilized by a sperm cell. And the ninshinsu finally opens a little, to let them in. If nothing happens, the energy disperses itself again, the stem cells die, and the male regains his strength over the next week."
"And what if something does happen?"
"For conception to happen, the youki inside the ninshinsu has to be fertilized by a sperm cell," Kurama explained. "If it is, the fertilized youki starts feeding off of the stem cell matter in the ninshinsu, which essentially functions like an egg cell, attaching to the fertilized youki to become an embryo. And then it just grows like a regular baby. The ninshinsu releases large amounts of estrogen and progesterone, which account for a lot of things that happen later. When it's time for the baby to be born, the ninshinsu opens just like it does during the fertile window, except a lot wider, and the baby comes out…well, the way I told you earlier."
By the time Kurama was done explaining everything, it was Shizuru's turn to look shocked.
"Wow," she said finally. "I'm never going to look at Hiei the same way again."
"Well, honestly, Shizuru…" Kurama smiled, his heart as light as air. "Neither am I."
