"Hiei,...hiei stop" Botan gasped attempting to scurry away from him. That was the fourth time he had pinned her down.

"I won't stop. This ridiculousness needs to end" Hiei said holding a knife to her stomach

"I'll do anything! Please I'll do anything. Please don't kill my baby, please,..." Botan pleaded. She was barely able to breath. Hiei had her held by the throat to prevent further movement. "It's your baby too,...don't kill your baby" she breathed out huskily

"I've made up my mind" Hiei said pressing the knife to her skin, the blood began to drip as her skin tore beneath it.

Botan screamed so loud it burned her throat, it hurt her stomach. Her lungs felt like they could take no more, but still she kept on.

"BOTAN! BOTAN!" Hiei said attempting to shout over her, it was no use. Damn that woman had lungs. This was something he was already well aware of. Hiei walked over to her and began to shake her gently. "STOP" he said again

Botan finally silenced long enough to jump back from Hiei "DON'T TOUCH ME. DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH ME" she screamed crawling away from him in the bed. "YOUR A HEARTLESS BABY KILLER" she shouted crawling back to far, falling off the bed completely.

"Botan you were dreaming! Stop it! You have a head injury, you really mustn't move like this" a softer voice said as the fox known as Kurama entered the room.

"I was,...I was dreaming?" Botan panted.

"After you smashed your head off the coffee table" Hiei interjected as he placed her gently back into the bed.

"I,..what?" Botan asked.

"Hiei found you on the floor Botan. You really hit your head on the coffee table, you split your head open. You have a concussion." Kurama did his best to tell her calmly and reasonably. "He called me here Botan. You'll be okay.."

"I,...I don't even remember falling. I don't remember anything" Botan whispered, touching the bandages wound around her head.

"You're very malnourished Botan. I believe you're suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum. It's a more severe form of morning sickness." Kurama said placing his hand on hers gently. "Do you understand?"

"I,..I think so" Botan nodded.

"Do you understand what you're in for Botan?" Kurama bit his lip. She had a right to know but,...he definitely didn't want to scare her.

"I don't understand" Botan said looking over to Hiei. His eyes were glued to the floor. She wasn't sure if he was angry or if he had already heard this talk before.

"Hiei is a much stronger demon than you. His powers compared to yours are almost immeasurable. Creating a child of his descent is going to be very,..." Kurama paused, searching for the right word "Difficult"

"You know about the baby? You know about Hiei?" Botan questioned, slightly peeved. "I didn't tell you to tell anybody." she barked facing Hiei.

"Don't tell the doctor who is treating you while your unconscious on the floor?" Hiei growled "You told Shizuru. It's my child too and I will tell whoever I choose to tell" Hiei said remaining in his chair, looking oh so uncomfortable.

"You will need to be very careful from now on. You will be very, very tired" Kurama warned. "I am giving you a list of very bland, high in carbohydrates foods that should allow you to keep them down and gain some nutritional value."

"Anything else" Botan mumbled

"Change that bandage once a day, and be very careful. Don't forget you have a concussion. I'll be back to check in periodically." Kurama said rising, leaving the two "love birds" to their business.

"Why'd you come back?" Botan asked, grudge present in her voice.

"You didn't want me to?" Hiei barked.

"For once why don't you just answer me instead of beating around the bushes. Why don't you stop being such an overpowering asshole who just wants to look like a strong demon. You got me pregnant okay? I'm not some demon you're facing in a battle. You don't have to keep trying to intimidate me and look oh so powerful." Botan said laying her head upon the pillow. Her head was pounding. She was anxious to see what the wound looked like because right now it felt ten feet deep.

"I said I needed to be away from you. I never said forever. I-"

"You didn't say anything when I asked if you meant forever!" Botan interrupted.

"Shut up and let me finish you stupid fool!" Hiei shouted to which Botan whimpered from the headache. Hiei's facial features seemed to soften. "I never said forever." he repeated.

"Do you want this baby?" Botan asked, just wanting the bottom line.

"Neither of us wanted it. You said it yourself. Do I want it? No. Will I accept it" Hiei paused for a few seconds "Yes"

"Will you stay with me?" Botan felt relieved to know he would accept the baby. She could live with that even if the answer to her next question was no.

"I will continue to sate your needs" Hiei said solemnly.

Botan was disappointed. After all of this, he still just wanted to be friends with benefits. She should be happy he agreed with anything, but she was baring his child. She thought she should have at least gotten some bonus points. She frowned lightly "Okay,..."

Hiei snatched the list Kurama had given Botan from her "Meanwhile I won't have you killing it because you can't stop that disgusting vomiting" he said reading over the list "Tea is on here. You like tea" he stated.

"Oh I do like tea but,...the smell has been making me so nauseous lately. It's why I kept throwing up every time you came around. Why I was avoiding you."

"Why didn't you say something?" Hiei asked

"You didn't know I was pregnant" Botan said twiddling her thumbs.

"Even if you weren't pregnant. If it made you sick I wouldn't drink it" Hiei said walking away towards the kitchen.

Botan pulled the blankets over her frame. He wouldn't drink it? Did Hiei really just say that? It must have been that concussion talking. It certainly made her sleepy enough she could even be delirious. Her eyes began to shut slowly as she drifted back off to sleep. It felt as if she was only asleep for 5 minutes when Hiei was shaking her again. "Damn it I'm tired" Botan whined. "Stop"

"I'm aware you're tired. I let you sleep for two hours. Kurama said you needed to wake to eat." Hiei said setting something down beside her bed that Botan was only vaguely aware of. Botan's stomach had been growling all day, she did feel so extremely hungry that it was beginning to hurt but somehow sleep still sounded more appealing.

"Sit up." Hiei said snapping her back into a semi conscious reality. Botan finally gathered the strength to begin to grant his request. She peered at the table beside her "Ughhh I don't wanna eat that. That's not even food"

Hiei looked at what he had brought back for her, chicken broth and applesauce. Sure it wasn't fit for a king, but it was the only thing that they had at the house that was on Kurama's list of approved foods. "It's food" he argued.

"Barely. I'm starving. Chicken broth doesn't exactly stick to your ribs." she said crossing her arms.

"Do you want to vomit again? Go out there and do whatever you want. Don't expect me to baby you when you get sick" Hiei said exiting the room. God she frustrated him. He had never brought anyone anything. She should be flattered, but instead she was complaining.

Botan reached out and tipped the bowl of chicken broth to her mouth, gulping it down as fast as she could. When the bowl was empty she was still left feeling hungry and unfulfilled. God he frustrated her. She was starving, and you wouldn't see Hiei eating any of that crap, would you? Botan picked up the apple sauce, and soon that was gone as well. It disgusted her to even think about eating it. The grainy, mushy texture. Not to mention she hated the taste.

Botan rose slowly and carefully, as instructed, so she could go to the bathroom. As she washed her hands she eyed up the scale in the corner. She had no idea how pregnant she was, all she knew was it was over a month. She didn't feel bigger. Botan trudged over and stepped onto the scale covering her eyes. When she finally peered between two fingers she was horrified by the number below her. She hadn't gained any weight, she had actually lost 6 pounds. The one day of nauseous vomiting couldn't have caused that much weight loss. When Botan thought back to the days prior to her first true day of sickness, it all started to come back to her. Everything in those days made her turn her nose, nothing actually sounded good. Actually now that she thought about it, she had even had low grade nausea for those last few days. "I guess I didn't really eat much" Botan whispered to herself. The growling in her stomach continued, louder than ever. The broth and applesauce was more of a tease to her stomach than a relief.

Botan exited the bathroom and started going through the cupboards in the pantry. Pasta? Eh. Oatmeal? Definitely not. Potato chips? Salty deliciousness, hello baby! Botan almost grabbed them but sighed in disappointment realizing they really weren't the best thing for her right now. Dry cereal? Yeah that seemed okay. It was only cheerios. They were bland right? Yeah! It said right on the box they were an excellent first finger food for babies. Victorious in her find, Botan carried the box back to her bed and began to feed upon them while watching TV.

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked watching her stuff her fist into the box of cheerios. He had never seen her eat them dry like that before.

"Mnhmm nmph hmph" Botan said, mouth full of Cheerios.

Oh that was understandable. It was almost funny really, she looked like such a pig. "Don't overdo it." Hiei said staring her down, bewildered.

"Mnnmh m-mmm mmm" Botan said waving her hands as if to say me? Never. Hiei actually began to chuckle lightly "Swallow it stupid, then talk". Botan glared to him, sticking her tongue out at him under the mess of chewed cereal.

Hiei was appalled. He had seen Yusuke talk with his mouth full, play "sea food" with people. Botan doing it was just weird. Although it was pretty comical. He sat on the bed beside her. Botan took the opportunity to usher closer to him, laying her head in his chest.

Hiei gave her a skeptical glance. That was awfully bold of her. "Sorry" she said through cereal "Want some?" Botan said pouring some into his lap.

"Uh,.." Hiei said watching the cheerios fall into his lap, white crumbs polluting his jet black cloak. Botan didn't care. If he could be careless so could she. Why should she be tiptoe around him if he didn't' do the same for her.

This may just prove to be more interesting than Hiei originally thought

Authors note: Thank you to all my reviewers! It really means a lot to me.