This chapter will deter from the more humorous and light-hearted tones of previous chapters and bring up something serious. I do apologize. This chapter was orginally part of...Chapter 8, I do believe. Except, in my original draft Tohru finds out about the pregnancy before the other members of the Zodiac, but then I changed it, hence why I split this part off into a separate chapter.
Anyway, thank you for all your reviews, and for following this story. (I like AkitoxShigure quite a lot, too, by the way. They'll be my next pairing to try. And maybe a YukixMachi too).
But that aside, here's Chapter 10!
Tohru came to visit Rin quite frequently (a little too frequently for Rin's tastes), and one time, she dragged Yuki and Kyo along with her.
"Isuzu-san!" Tohru greeted.
"Oh. You're here again", said Rin, sounding less than enthusiastic about it.
"How are you doing, Isuzu-san? You're looking well."
"I think she might be feeling overwhelmed", said Yuki.
"Eh?! Ah...I'm sorry, Isuzu-san! I had no idea! I must be making things worse!"
Rin was about to reply with, "Yes, you ar--"
But Haru cut her off with, "Nah, don't worry about it."
"Oh, but, that's not necessarily the only thing I'm sorry for! I told Isuzu-san I would get her some things for the baby, and I haven't done it yet!"
"Don't worry about that, either. There's still time before it's born."
"Hey, where's Shishou?" asked Kyo, who seemed like he really didn't want to talk babies.
"It seems that Shihan is not accustomed to having everyone in the Zodiac come by..." Haru replied.
"Everyone in the Zodiac came to see you and Isuzu-san?" asked Tohru, who was thrilled.
"Well...not Kureno and Ritsu...or Ayame...but your brother did call us, Yuki."
Yuki looked at Rin. "Whatever he did, I'm very sorry. Really."
"Why did I have to come, anyway?" asked Kyo sulkily.
"Because, Kyo-kun! We've come to give Isuzu-san our well wishes!"
Haru and Yuki's eyes met.
"I'm gonna go get a drink. I'll be right back, Rin", said Haru.
Rin looked horrified that Haru would leave her alone with her visitors.
Haru went into the kitchen. Yuki joined him a short while later.
"What is it?" Yuki inquired.
"...I need to talk to you."
"Is it regarding...the current situation?"
"...yeah. Well...I wasn't expecting this to happen. So...how do you keep Machi from getting pregnant?"
"...excuse me? What makes you so sure that me and Machi are even sleeping together?"
"...you mean you're not?"
"Um...that's kind of personal."
"...I wasn't expecting to be a father. I'd never even really thought about it. I mean, I'd considered that I might want it...in the future...but not right now. I'm not ready for this."
"You haven't told Rin any of this, have you?"
"Of course not. She needs to worry about herself, not me. She might get ideas in her head again. But...the farther along she gets...the more I realize that I'm not ready for this. What...if I end up being a bad father? What if it doesn't like me? What...if it's resentful because we didn't mean to have it?"
"...I don't have any experience in parenting, so I don't really have any advice for you", said Yuki, "But...you...you're a nice guy. I'm sure you won't do a bad job. And Rin might have her...personality flaws...but everybody does, and she's really not a spiteful or malicious person. You won't be a bad father, Haru. I'm sure of it. I mean, I'm sure there will be trouble sometimes, but...just let it always remember that you love it."
"It takes more than love to raise a kid."
"I know, but...it's not going to go perfectly. It never will. You might not necessarily do everything right, and you won't have a perfect kid, or be a perfect parent, but...plenty of people make do with that. Things still turn out all right between them even though they're not perfect. So you should just try your best."
Yuki suddenly became self-conscious.
"Er, I mean, not that I...really know or...I'm not trying to impose my opinions on you or anything..."
"No...thanks, Yuki. You always have good advice."
Wow...ten chapters...does that make this officially a "long story"?