16 Aug 2018: Last night, I asked my lovely wife and beta reader, Down, to read over the changes I'd made to the first Umi scenes in this chapter, and she ended up doing a full edit of the chapter for me, so here is chapter 15 a little earlier than planned. I hope you enjoy it.

Content notes: This chapter has not been censored. It is posted exactly as it appears on Archive of Our Own (AO3).

Content warning: There is a content warning posted in bold type at the bottom of the end notes of this chapter, if you would like to be forewarned about topics in this chapter and subsequent chapters before continuing.

Chapter 15
In which a question is answered

Clef laid in his oppressively empty bed, staring up at the ceiling. Every single one of his tracking spells had come back empty. Umi hadn't left him, she'd left Cephiro entirely.

He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, clutching at the sheets as he tried to keep himself from flinging himself out of bed and going - somewhere, anywhere.

There was nothing in his head but a ringing, wordless panic, which was pointless, because what could he do? If she was - Even if he was wrong, he'd done more than enough already. He couldn't follow her. Shouldn't, even if he could - if she wanted to be away from him that badly, and she should, she deserved so much better than him

Finally, the room started to lighten, and Clef gave up on sleep, crawling out of his bed. He dressed in the first set of robes his hands hit and left for home.

The kettle was just starting to whistle when he walked in through the back door. Aveo was standing in the middle of the kitchen with a teapot in hand, wearing her faded orange dressing gown, and froze when she caught sight of him. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing to do with Mazda." Clef didn't need to get his household tangled up in this mess any more than they already were. He headed straight for the kettle, collecting the teapot from Aveo on his way past. He filled the pot while she fetched another cup, waiting him out until he took a breath and asked. "What do my accounts look like?"

"Clef, if this is your way of telling me you're quitting, I will not be happy." She eyed him. "I don't care how much they're irritating you, I'm not dealing with the politicians myself."

He shook his head. "I just - I need to know how much money I have"

Aveo nodded slowly and led the way up into her wing of the house. She pushed him down into a seat at her desk, before pulling a roll of papers from one of the cubby holes. She smoothed it out and showed him the current balance noted in the corner.

He stared. That many numbers were probably - good? It would buy a lot of books, but - he didn't really know what much else cost. Household expenses weren't something he'd needed to deal with - well, ever. He'd been Guru for centuries. His position was paid, but he'd had hardly any need for the money while working. Everything he could need - food, housing, clothing - was provided for through Guild accounts. Before that, he'd done some civil service work which came with the same benefits, though probably less money. Then before that, he'd gone straight from his parents household to an apprentice who was looked after by his teacher.

One of the many reasons he'd asked Aveo for help with the ward was because she understood money and could both manage Mazda's finances and keep him from mucking them up. She'd offered to maintain his accounts and the general household at the same time, as he'd decided to invest a chunk his own personal savings into the infrastructure and the local economy. (Even if she'd disapproved of some of his, ah, investments lately.)

He poked the numbers and sighed. "I have no idea how much that is."

"More than enough for you to live on for a good few centuries," she said. When he shifted in his seat she added, "More than enough for you and a consort and a dozen other people besides, if you learn how to not spend obscene amounts of money on gifts."

Clef sat back, wrapping shaking fingers about his cup of tea. "Good."

"Now, I don't care what you do over there as Guru, but you better not be planning to up and leave me in charge of Mazda. I don't mind being Seneschal, but I am definitely not willing to be Warden." She gave him a pointed look. "You can keep doing the Council nonsense. I'd rather keep to my numbers, thank you."

"I'm not planning to." He shook his head. "Sorry. I just..." He bit his lip, looking down.

She waved him off. "I don't need an explanation if you don't want to talk about whatever it is."

"Thank you." He took a long drink of his tea, and sighed. He could feel Aveo watching him. "I'm sorry. I just- We had an argument last night. She - left. Went home."

"You and Umi?" Aveo reached across to pat him on the arm when he nodded. "Well, this isn't the first time you've come home complaining that she's yelled at you and stormed out. I'm sure it's not going to be the last time, either. You'll sort it out. You both care too much to stay apart too long."

"But - I deserved it, and -" He cut himself off. "It's my fault."

"Isn't it always?" Aveo asked, pulling her very best shocked face at him, and startling him into a laugh. "Now come out of here. You can help me with breakfast now you're here."

.*.*.*.

It was still early when Clef made his way into the village to the townhouse. It stood just off the main square, three stories house of light stone that shone an iridescent green in the morning light. His somewhat whimsical frieze of Fyula mid-flight still decorated the lintel over the door, even though the girls had repainted the woodwork a deep green.

There was a large leafy vine climbing up the wall, reaching down over the door. Clef poked at the bright star-shaped flowers and tutted under his breath before opening the door and walking in.

"Why haven't you removed that blasted vine yet?" he called by way of greeting.

"Did you come all the way here to complain about that again?" Kalos asked, appearing on the stairs dressed in a dressing gown just as disreputable as her mother's. "If it wants to pull the house down, it'll have to take Teana's with it."

"Well, when it does, I'm not putting it back up for you" Clef grumbled. "Is Brisa in?"

Kalos rolled her eyes. "At this hour? Where else would she be? We've had no emergencies." She leaned over the railing to shout towards the back of the house. "Hey, Bri, Clef's here to see you."

"What'd I do to earn that honour?" Brisa asked, stepping out of the kitchen, whisking some sort of batter in a large earthenware bowl Clef recognised from days trying to teach her any kind of competence at potion-making.

"Could you go over this repeal bill for me?" He asked, holding up a sheaf of paper.

"What, now?" Brisa stared at him, whisk stilling.

Clef flushed but nodded. "If you aren't busy."

"It's breakfast time," Kalos objected, staring down at him.

"I - I can come back later." Clef looked at the papers, then the table by the door, but he didn't want to leave his only draft of the repeal anywhere. "In an hour? Or -"

"Oh, stop it. I've been telling Ciel that we need to get her practising her editing skills." Brisa waved a hand at him. "Go get yourself settled. I'll be there in a moment. Ciel can join us after breakfast you can take over her, right, Kal?"

Kalos groaned, but came down to take possession of the bowl and whisk, before chasing Clef into Brisa's study to wait.

Five fidgeting minutes later, a fully-dressed Brisa came to join him, thumping a large pot of pens on the table between them. "Well, let's see it." She held out a hand and skimmed through the pages briefly before looking back over at him. "The bill itself won't take too long, but you've got, what, twenty pages of supporting arguments to get in one written statement. Just how soon are you wanting it?"

Clef winced. "I was hoping to introduce it at the next Council meeting."

"This week?" Brisa stared at him over the papers. "If you're expecting that sort of turn around, you should take this to the Judges Guild. They've got a lot more people than just me and my half-trained apprentice."

"Normally I would, but this is a private bill, so it's not technically Guild business." He'd been told so quite forcefully when he'd taken it to them.

"So? They take commissioned work all the time. If you need to pay, Aveo will let you have the money for that." Laying the papers down, Brisa crossed her arms over them. "Or is there something else?"

"I don't think the Guild is pleased with me trying to put all this through at once. Not with all the Council's new legislation coming to them at the same time - there've been a lot of things on the agenda lately."

Brisa sighed and picked one of the pens out of the pot, unscrewing the lid and giving Clef a stern look. "Why don't you make yourself useful and get us a pot of tea. This is going to take a while."

.*.*.*.

Umi slept her way through Sunday morning, only getting up to use the toilet. She vaguely remembered the doorbell ringing and then Hikaru peering into her room, with a whispered 'Good, you got home safely'.

She might have decided she'd dreamt it, but her bags were in her room when she finally woke up, ad it wasn't like her parents could have gone to fetch him from Cephiro.

Despite the extra sleep, Umi felt worse than when she'd landed in Cephiro yesterday. Sleeping through breakfast had her waking up utterly nauseated, but she was so hungry her stomach ached and that only made it worse. She dragged herself out of bed and trudged downstairs to find something to eat - anything to stop feeling like her insides were trying to turn inside out.

"Good morning," Mama greeted her far too brightly.

"Morning," Umi muttered, trudging into the kitchen.

"Do you want breakfast?"

The idea of a real breakfast made her pull a face. She could just about handle the thought of rice or bread, but considering anything else that might go with them just made her feel ill. "Maybe just some rice? I feel terrible. My stomach decided it hates me."

Mama tilted her head, watching Umi a moment. "I could make you some okayu? Just a little ginger and spring onion with it?"

Umi nodded. That almost sounded nice. In the meantime, she dug a small package of crackers out of the cupboard and made herself a cup of tea before curling up in the sitting room. The mug made her grazed hands ache a little, but it wasn't too bad.

"Are you ready to talk about last night?" Mama asked when she the bowl down on the table beside her.

"No," Umi said, her face flushing horribly.

The expression on her mother's face was far more worried than a few little scratches should make her. So Umi'd been upset - they'd argued because Clef was an overprotective twit! Then she'd made herself ill again doing magic she shouldn't have - and hadn't meant to - and he was going to be pissed off about that too even though she was the one who felt atrocious.

Umi thrust her spoon into the bowl. "I'm fine," she muttered, forcing her voice to stay level.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Mama said, reaching over to lay a hand over Umi's. "I promise I won't get angry."

Umi sighed. "It was just a ridiculous argument, I promise. I wasn't feeling well either, and I just wanted to come home. Then I tripped and it was raining and everything was -" She waved a hand, biting her lip.

Mama nodded with an indescribable expression on her face. "When you're ready to talk, I'm here," she said, giving Umi's hand a gentle pat before leaving her.

Umi turned around in her seat to watch Mama disappear. It wasn't - There wasn't anything to talk about!

No matter what Clef said.

.*.*.*.

The next week passed in something like a blur. No matter how much water she drank, hours she slept, or headache medicine she took, Umi just couldn't shake what felt like an awful hangover - or maybe even the flu. Her head and her body ached and she felt generally miserable. While she knew there wasn't anything a doctor could do to help with magic fatigue, but she wasn't sure how she talked her parent out of making her go see one anyway.

She pushed her way to the end of the week before she even noticed that her parents hadn't mentioned Clef once since she'd stumbled home in the rain. Not one comment about her boyfriend, or meeting him, or anything. It was as if he'd never existed.

Upon realising this, Umi was suddenly aware of her parents having conversations which ended when she walked into the room and watching her when they thought she wasn't looking. One of them was now always home when she was - which had to mean they'd rearranged work - and answering the phone before she did.

It wasn't going to make a difference when it came to Clef, but Umi didn't actually mind her parents screening her calls. It meant she could to tell them she wasn't going out that weekend and they could pass the message on to Hikaru, Fuu, and any other friends without her having to explain herself.

Come Saturday after school, Umi shed her uniform and crawled into bed for a nap only to end up sleeping through the night.

But the next morning, she almost felt like herself again, and after another good night sleep, Monday was almost enjoyable. Which was a good thing because her class was starting to work on their play in earnest, and she wanted to pull her weight with the preparations.

Her increased energy levels brought with it the return of her appetite. She kept snacking on her bento during break times and kept finishing it before lunch only to have a full meal in the school canteen. That earned her a few strange looks from her friends, but it wasn't like she'd never snacked between lessons before. Just because she wasn't fencing as many days a week, didn't mean it was weird she was back into her old habits. And she hadn't really been eating properly the past few weeks, so it made sense she was making up for it now that she finally seemed to be shaking the fatigue off.

But practicing for the play had Umi more active than she'd been in weeks, and with the time she was spending after school, she wasn't getting a nap in before dinner, and by mid-week, it felt like she was fighting to stay awake in lessons, again. Well, she'd nearly shaken it off, at least. She was half tempted to skip out on festival prep Thursday afternoon, but Rika convinced her to stay with the promise Moe was going to order pizza for everyone.

She spent half an hour with the other performers, going through the first few scenes at one end of the classroom, while their classmates worked on props and costumes spread across the desks at the other end. Then Moe vanished and reappeared, triumphantly carrying a stack of boxes.

Pizza had sounded so nice, and Umi was hungry again, but it smelled so awful.

She fled the room, shooting out the closest fire door to stand shuddering in the fresh air, hands tight on the railing. Satomi, Rika, and Yui all appeared around her a few moments later. "Hey, are you okay?" Rika asked.

Umi shook her head, not willing to open her mouth just yet.

"Maybe you should go lay down in the infirmary," Yui suggested.

"It's after school, nitwit," Satomi said. "The infirmary's probably locked."

While the Yui and Satomi argued about that, Rika guided Umi slowly back toward the classroom. "You can go home, if you're not feeling well," she suggested. "We'll have plenty of time to run through the choreography before the festival."

Going home sounded good. Umi turned back into the doorway of the classroom and stumbled back out with her hand over her nose and mouth. "That's just terrible," she complained.

"The pizza?" Yui asked. She and Satomi had caught back up with them.

"But you usually love squid," Rika said.

Umi pulled a face. "Today it just smells bad. And the cheese, too."

Satomi looked Umi over and stared back at the classroom, her eyes going wide and her voice loud and shrill. "Are you pregnant?"

The rest of their class went silent, a few curious faces peered out the door, and all Umi would do was stare at Satomi, her stomach turning over from more than the smells.

Two long beats passed before Rika burst out laughing. "Umi? Pregnant?" she barely managed between gasps. "Yeah, right."

"Like that would happened," Yui snorted, her eyes glittering. She slapped Satomi on the back. "You've been reading too many terrible romances. Not everyone is the 'billionaire's young mistress' or whatever."

"I know that!" Satomi snapped.

"You're just jealous that when Umi gains weight it all goes to her boobs," Moe laughed, joining them in the corridor.

"True," Rika agreed. "Umi quit fencing club and then boom!" She made exploding motions over her own chest.

Umi stared down at her - admittedly slightly snug - shirt. Sure she'd gotten a little bigger, maybe - she hadn't been doing all that much exercising! Plus, it was about time she got a figure. Still, she was down to the last of her bras that fit. This one was a stretchy one she wore for fencing practice, but even it was getting uncomfortable. She'd been putting off asking Mama to help her find anything new, because it was bound to involve teasing about letting her boyfriend see this kind of thing yet - well, it would have been. Maybe not now.

With a nervous sort of laugh, Umi shook her head. "It's nothing."

"It's definitely not nothing," Yui cackled poking her in the chest. "You have to tell us your secret."

"I stopped chasing people about with a sword so often? Besides, they're not half as big as Satomi's!"

"True," Yue said, nodding sagely while Satomi crossed her arms over her chest and protested. "But maybe you've got a virus or something - do you want us to get your bag for you? You should go home and get some rest."

"You do look terrible," Moe agreed, and shot into the classroom to fetch Umi's bag for her, and the lot of them saw her to the end of the corridor.

Umi walked slowly enough to the stairs, then quickened her pace as she went down. She was nearly running by the time she made it out of the school gate. Satomi's words were ringing in her head. It was the first time anyone but Clef had actually said it. She tried so hard not to ruminate on it on her first train home, but by the time she stepped onto the platform where she changed trains, she couldn't deny the small voice in the back of her head wondering if they might be right.

Rather than catching her second train immediately, Umi paused on the platform, watching a woman settling a very small, very angry baby into a carrier, tucking a blanket carefully around the flailing feet.

It was impossible. There was no way Umi could be - growing a new person. Even if she felt - no.

Absolutely not.

Well, there was one way to prove them wrong - if Clef hadn't been trying to drag her to the Healers every five seconds, she'd probably have thought of it well before now.

She headed out of the station, looking for a pharmacy sign.

Picking a little pink box off the back shelf, she carried it back up to the till.

Really, she should have gone home and changed before doing this. It wouldn't do for rumours to circulate about her school, but it was too late now - at least it wasn't close enough to home that they recognised her. She avoided eye contact with the cashier while she paid and then shoved her purchase deep into her school bag before walking back to the station.

She spent the entire second train ride clutching her bag to her chest, telling herself this was ridiculous. It was literally physically impossible for her to bring anything home from Cephiro. She'd been on the potion until travelling home possible broke it, so it wasn't even like something could have implanted itself into her before the trip.

There was no way. And if she took the test, it would be giving in to Clef's anxious nagging, and she refused to do that.

She hurried home from the train, shot up to her room, and shoved the test into the drawer with the unopened box of condoms. There. She was just - prepared for the future, when it might be a question if Clef stopped being so - useless about things and she let him near her again.

.*.*.*.

The next meeting of the full Council was running late - as usual - when Verna called for any other business. Clef raised his hand before anyone else could, and waited for her nod.

"I wish to put forward a private bill regarding restrictions on the roles of Guru, Soru, and Teru," he rattled off, and forced himself to take a breath before finishing the formula at a more reasonable pace. "I have the bill prepared to be heard. If there isn't time today - as we are running somewhat late - then I request it be placed on the agenda for next session." He would be a complete wreck by then, of course, especially if he still hadn't heard from Umi, but getting it on the agenda was a start.

"How generous of you, offering to wait so long," muttered Sylphy.

He ignored her, but Verna had barely finished her call for responses when the room erupted into noise.

"Not again," Murano snapped, through the discontented rumble. "We only just heard the last one!"

"More to the point, have we not agreed that private member bills should come to this Council only once they've been passed by the Scheduling Committee?" Gorham said, disapproval clear in every word as he turned to Clef. "Proposing private bills straight to this Council should only happen in an emergency. Your lack of a love life does not constitute an emergency."

"I took this series to the scheduling committee several months ago," Clef said, through gritted teeth. "The consensus was as the last two bills were reliant for timing on the passing of the previous ones, they should not be scheduled in, but brought up before Council. So that is what I am doing."

Gorham frowned. "The debate on private bills occurred after the last meeting of the Scheduling Committee, didn't it? You should abide by that ruling, now it's been made."

"Oh, come on, Gorham," said Ferio, slouching back in his chair. "That was a ruling explicitly exempting emergency bills from the committee stage, not forcing everything else to go through it! I still think irregular items should be tabled like this. It's called 'other business', not 'what we've decided is imperative this week'. Anyway, didn't we hear Brevetti's request to start mining in Skoda's mountains in other business last session? That was hardly an emergency!"

"Skoda's economy was in significant danger after they lost the Taabo crop," Gorham said, primly.

This bill and the next were feeling a lot more imperative than Clef could come out and say. But people were taking Gorham's side that he should take this to the committee, despite Auris calling out "Can't we get it over with and just hear the cursed thing before this gets dragged out for months?"

There was, however, another problem with the committee route, which he realised with a rush of cold down his spine as he looked at his notes. "Whether or not it constitutes an emergency, I cannot take it before the Scheduling Committee for the next quarter. You've just nominated me to sit on it. I can't bring a proposal to the committee while I'm on it."

"You'll just have to wait, then, with the rest of us," Murano snapped.

Staring, Clef waved a hand in the empty air. "There's not another committee for more than three months! And if you're only letting me put one forward at a time -"

"So what? Like Gorham said, your love life's not an emergency. You don't have a deadline for this," Murano shot back. "We've more important things to be debating! It's not like anyone actually cares whether you're in love with that girl."

"Stop that," Verna snapped, glaring around at all of them. "You are drifting from the point. I do agree with the Guru that there should be a method for those on the committee to bring items to the Council while they're serving. If not, a large percentage of our number will be hampered each quarter. Does anyone have a better idea than bringing them here?"

No one did, but Gorham stuck to his point. "If that's so - and I, personally, don't think being on the committee should give someone extra privileges - the fact remains that the Guru has been elected to the committee for the next quarter, not this one. It doesn't even meet for another week. Nothing should be proposed to the Council outside of the period which the member has been nominated for."

"What difference can another few weeks possibly make?" Clef snapped.

"None," Gorham returned. "Which is why you should wait - it makes no difference not hearing it this week."

"It makes a difference to me!" Clef swallowed his temper down. "There's a lot to be done to fix our rules, I know, but not everything we debate is directly tied to the - the stability of Cephiro. These rules no longer fit Cephiro, if they ever did. Their repeal is part of ensuring that the system remains fair for all our citizens - and that the right people are made available for our highest-ranked posts."

"Are you suggesting some of use are not the right person for our post," Soru Torneo said, sharply.

Clef winced, but lifted his chin and stuck to his point. "Perhaps I am thinking that when I was chosen, there was a very narrow field, as it was limited to those who - by inclination or design - had none of the deepest ties to their community and their land. When my successor is chosen, the best person should be picked, no matter who they sleep with."

"That may well be," Verna cut in, "But the fact remains that you are not on the committee for the current quarter. If we do not limit the open period to active service, people will merely start using it to bypass the whole committee process." Verna waved a hand. "You must wait."

"Fine." Clef slumped back into his seat with the sigh.

.*.*.*.

A day after she'd hidden it away, Umi threw her bag onto her bed and ripped open the top drawer of her desk. Her period remained inexplicably absent. She was tired and stressed, and there were plenty of other reasons she hadn't gotten it, but one day of constantly thinking about it was too much.

She grabbed the box and headed to the toilet.

When the lines appeared, all the logic and excuses in the world weren't enough to keep a chill creeping down her spine as she stared at them.

Umi shoved the test back into the plastic bag and shot back into her room, dropping it into the drawer, so she couldn't see it. That second line had appeared far too quickly. It had to be defective - had to, because it certainly couldn't be true.

She'd just have to get another one. No, two more, just to prove the first comprehensively wrong. Changing out of her uniform into a different shirt and skirt, she grabbed her purse out of her school bag and shoved it into her handbag before heading out.

Papa appeared around the corner while she was putting on her shoes. "Are you going out?"

"Not for long," Umi said, trying to come up with a reason while she focused on tying her shoes. "There's a book Satomi was telling me about."

It wasn't exactly a lie. Satomi had been telling them all about the current romance she was reading at break time. Umi hadn't actually been that interested in it - Satomi had an annoying preference for overbearing heroes - but a new book was reason enough to go out.

"I'll be back soon," she called as she practically threw herself out the door.

Her first stop was the bookstore to keep her cover, going over to the new romances and grabbing one at random. It wasn't as if her father paid much attention to the titles. If she didn't like it, she could just pass it off to Satomi later. Shopping bag in hand, she walked more sedately to the pharmacy and bought two more tests - two different brands, just to be sure it wasn't a manufacturing fault.

Calling out a greeting as she walked back into the house, Umi kicked off her shoes and practically ran upstairs.

When that test came up with two lines again - this one in shape of a plus sign - Umi threw it in the bin and sat down on her bed with the instruction sheet. She couldn't actually be pregnant. She must have done it wrong. Reading over the directions in both Japanese and English, she focused on the part where it said the results were most accurate first thing in the morning. She would try the third then.

Umi barely managed to eat any of her dinner that night, stomach churning in a way she could tell was different to the nausea she'd been having for weeks on end. She couldn't get the test results out of her head.

They had to be wrong. Because if they weren't...

What if she was wrong about them not being able to bring things back from Cephiro? What if she had managed it this time?

Sleep was elusive that night, and she lay in bed staring at the ceiling for hours. The nausea, even her new craving for cake and sweets, all fit as symptoms of magic fatigue. She even felt better when she'd managed to not use magic, or to stay in Cephiro overnight, so why?

Unless… the unwelcome thought floated up, unless she'd been dealing with symptoms from both things.

There was no escaping the final verdict the next morning. The third test showed the same result as the previous two. Two lines boldly mocked her arrogance and impatience.

The whole world felt like it was closing in around her. She could hardly breathe. This wasn't supposed to have happened. Clef was just paranoid, and she was fighting off fatigue - just that. She couldn't be pregnant!

It was treason.

She couldn't have done that to him!

Mama calling her down to breakfast startled her so badly she jumped, but it was enough to shake her out of her panic. She would have to deal with this later, it was time to leave. She threw the test in the bin with the other one and finished getting ready.

When she made it downstairs, her mother was waiting to say goodbye and hesitated when she saw Umi's face. "Are you okay?" Mama asked.

Umi managed a tiny nod, as her panic returned. She didn't trust herself to speak, because she knew she'd just burst into tears. They were going to be so disappointed in her. They'd done so much for her and this was how she repaid them.

"Papa's still here, if you need anything," Mama said, pulling Umi into a quick hug. "I'll be home when you get back from school. We can talk then, if you want to? Have a good day."

What was she supposed to do with a baby? The plan was moving to Cephiro to become a qualified mage and then work on gaining the Karu status to turn Iru into Kairu. Where did having a baby fit in with becoming a magic swordsperson?

And on top of that - what would this do to Clef?

She'd pushed her egg across the plate a third time when Papa folded his paper and set it down on the table. "What's the matter, Umi?" he asked. "You haven't been yourself recently. Mama and I are worried about you."

Umi forced out a soft "I'm fine."

No time for that now. She still had to concentrate at school, even if felt like her world was trying to end.

English class was, fortunately, an exception since Umi already spoke fluently, as, unfortunately, did Satomi who sat near enough to see what Umi was writing when Umi flipped to a blank page in her diary and started making a list of her options, in an attempt to work out what she was going to do. That was why she was doing it in grammatically questionable French.

If she had a baby -

If she had the baby, she would probably be forfeiting any chance of beating Hikaru at becoming a Kairu.

The baby would probably need to be kept in Tokyo since Clef wasn't allowed a family. Then what? She'd only just be eighteen and a single mother. That would definitely hit the papers, wouldn't it? Under age Ryuuzaki Heir Becomes Single Mother.

But she couldn't marry Clef. It wasn't allowed, and he was very much not Japanese. That sort of thing needed identification and legal paperwork, and there was no way they would be able to sort that out. Cephiro didn't exist in this world, and he certainly didn't have a passport or any sort of identity papers.

She could probably marry Huki; he'd agree to it if she explained the situation. Her parents liked him, and she wasn't sure they didn't already half expect her to marry him. It wouldn't be difficult to come up with a story about how the baby happened either; they spent enough time together. For all anyone else knew they could have snuck off to Umi's bedroom at the party last month. It was believable enough, especially since so many people knew about what happened between them last winter.

There was the option of moving to Cephiro and having it there.

No one would expect her to be married there, and it would keep it out of the papers here. If she kept her distance from Clef, he probably wouldn't get in trouble.

No, that wouldn't work.

She scratched it out. There was no way she could keep Clef's baby a secret; everyone would know it was his. They hadn't been subtle. Especially not at Ouran's blasted ball. She couldn't ask anyone else to pretend to be the father, because no one would believe it. Not even Ascot - he'd agree to help her, but too many people knew he wasn't interested in sex for it to be believable, and she hadn't been hanging off his arm.

Umi lifted her head and looked about the room. There were still several months of school left. She'd spent nearly six years here. The last thing she wanted to do was quit when she was so close to being finished. Her parents had invested so much into her education, and they expected her to go on to university and get a good degree once she graduated. She'd had so many plans for telling them how the Academy was basically a very special foreign university, but like this… She wouldn't be going anywhere.

It would be better if she ended it.

It would be better if it had never happened. The plan had been to have sex with him, not a baby.

She stared down at the paper. It had happened, and she needed to make a choice.

Closing her eyes, she took a shuddering breath, utterly daunted by the whole idea. She was barely able to look after herself - sure, she could fight and throw magic about and make - impatient choices, but she wasn't ready to look after someone else!

… But her mother had.

Umi shut her diary, hand shaking, but resolved. She needed help. Tonight she was telling her parents everything.

.*.*.*.

To be continued...

In the next chapter: Umi has a number of long conversations with her parents, and choices are made.

Note: All feedback is loved and appreciated.

CONTENT WARNING: This chapter is the beginning of Umi realising she is actually pregnant, so warnings for this and subsequent chapters include 'Unplanned pregnancy' and 'Discussion of Abortion'. I understand if these topics are not ones you wish to read, and I understand if these would be a reason to stop reading.