Somewhere on Autumn Woods Drive

By Rikku Minouke

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH

Chapter forty four

There was so much to adjust to when I was at the end of the second trimester. I had a lot of pregnancy symptoms as well as my own mental dramatics. The hardest part was knowing that my baby comes first and trying to convince myself I didn't care about the million things my brain was throwing at me.

"I think it looks cute," his voice said from the bed behind me.

Shaking my head I held my pink lace maternity shirt up to my bust. "No, baby animals are cute. This is just … ugly."

"Oh stop," he laughed and reached out to grab my hips. Lacing his fingers through my belt loop, I felt him tug me to stand in between his hips. "It's a normal pregnancy occurrence."

"I can deal with the belly, I can deal with the stretch marks," I shook my head again. "But this… this is too much."

"It's just a belly button," he raised his eyebrows at me. Leaning forward, Kurama placed a kiss under the protruding navel we were discussing.

"I read somewhere that I could just put a band aid over it and it wouldn't show," I told him, my face dropping to a pout.

Tilting his head, he said, "And why would you do that?" His thumbs rubbed circles on my skin right above the belt loops he was attached to.

"Because it's ugly," I rolled my eyes. I had just said that.

"No its not," he told me again. "I like it. I wish you always had one."

"You're disgusting," I said and he laughed. The green in his eyes sparkled. Lowering my shirt back down to cover my belly, I could still see my belly button sticking out. "You know, it's weird. Keiko comes over and the baby kicks almost the whole time. But when I'm with you… he's so quiet and calm."

"Maybe that's a sign that we should be together more often?" he raised one eyebrow. Maybe it was something the two of them worked on in college. It made me giggle picturing Kurama and Hiei practicing the one eyebrow raise together. "What?"

"It's not like you don't see me every day, already," I smiled down at him.

He paused for a few seconds. "I was actually thinking, maybe tonight we could share a bed."

Blinking at his words, I didn't respond. We had only shared a bed that first night. Honestly, I had loved that, but I also didn't want to move our relationship too fast. After all, there was a baby on its way. Why complicate things more than they had to be?

"Just one night," Kurama said. "Let's just see how things go. I know you struggle to sleep with the baby and if I calm him down, then maybe you might be able to sleep a little bit more."

I breathed heavily looking down at his face. "That sounds like you're using the baby to get in the sack with me."

He gave me a small shrug and a tilt of his lips. "You caught me. But I'm not asking for sex. Just one night with you and me in the same bed."

I was silent while I looked at his face. Trying to read the lines in his face, I thought about all the different outcomes that could happen if I agreed. Slowly, I nodded and a smile broke out on his face. "Just one night to see how it goes. One night, Kurama."

"One night," he nodded and moved his hands up to the hem of my shirt. Rolling it up to just below that hideous belly button, Kurama placed another kiss on my skin. He left the area warm and tingly. "Thank you baby for convincing your mother that I'm a good guy."

My mouth dropped open but a short laugh came from my throat. "He did not convince me of anything."

"Are you sure about that?" he laughed and stood up then to wrap his arms around my waist. Pressing my lips together I didn't respond. I knew him well enough to know that whatever I said he could laugh and turn my words to make it sound like he wanted to. Kurama was very quick on his feet and he never used that talent negatively against me. It was always in fun.

But just from those instances, I always wonder how he let that woman get the best of him. He was so good with words that it's amazing he succumbed to her logic. Unless he didn't try to fight her. It's hard for me to see a version of Kurama willing to submit to poor logic.

I promised Keiko I wouldn't say anything. So smiling softly I laid my head on his shoulder and let him hold me. "Are you going to tell him a story tonight?"

When Kurama chuckled, I felt the vibrations down to my toes. "Anything you have in mind?"

"I think I have something here or there," I smiled and nuzzled my face against the soft fabric of his white tee shirt.