Surrendering
Zero Trimester
Yuna entered the room in a gust of air, and the entire one bedroom apartment seemed to gasp to life when she came in. She switched on the lights and the entire place hummed as she put on some music. Singing along as she made dinner for herself, Yuna Hwang poured herself a bit of wine and ate her dinner alone, as she had for the last seven years..
Sipping her wine, she cleaned up her plates and utensils and hummed along as her playlist continued to drift around the apartment. Going over to her bag, she pulled out a glittery, thick piece of paper and stuck it on her refrigerator door with a magnet, smiling at the child's crayon scribbles and glitter. The kids at the preschool had done arts and crafts that afternoon, and Miyo, the five year old with the most adorable dimples, had insisted she take the art home. Yuna loved her job as a preschool teacher, even if it did sometimes remind her how solitary she had designed her life to be. A single bedroom apartment, a job that only had her interacting with young children...it was lonely, but she was pretty content.
Switching on her laptop, Yuna sighed and began to write in her blog. She chuckled at herself as she read some of the comments on her latest blog post on how to be more socially adept. This was as much social interaction as she had in the evenings. Yuna had quite a following on her blog, people found her advice helpful and hilarious at the same time and she enjoyed giving it as much as she enjoyed reading how people loved it. Well, at least her Creative Writing degree was going to some use. Tonight she was writing tips on living a frugal life, as she still had a large sum to pay back in college debt. To tell the truth, teaching at that preschool was the only way her twenty five year old self could pay the bills on her too-expensive apartment. She loved kids, and kids seemed to love her. That was all the school really needed.
Here's hoping you're doing something worth starving for Yuna wrote, the words flowing right off her fingers. Love always, Miss Advised. Her laptop was off by nine. By nine thirty, she had run out of things to do.
"Are you sure this water's sanitary?" Her adorably cute but terribly paranoid five year old student Myra asked her with a raised eyebrow the next day. Yuna swears that she had never met a kid so suspicious and curious at the same time. Myra seemed to enjoy learning about new things, but never really liked it when she wasn't in her comfort zone. Yuna laughed and pat her head. The girls' immense vocabulary never ceased to amaze.
"Myra, it's just a little pool. Go in," she coaxed and the student shrugged and joined her other classmates in the inflatable pool the teachers had set up in the backyard of the school. The summer sun was beating down a little warm this July week, so the kids came in their swimsuits and slippers, spending half of their day in the water. Miyo came over to Yuna all wet and giggling as he held up one of the daisies that used to be planted in the back of the lawn area. He blushed as Yuna accepted the flower, wrapping the child in a big, fluffy yellow towel.
"You're so sweet!" She exclaimed, making him giggle as she blew into his cheek, which made the fart sounds that Miyo loved so much.
Sending him off with one of the other teachers to get dressed and dry, Yuna placed the daisy in a small vase on her teacher's desk. She was about to leave when she spotted someone standing in the doorway, looking into the empty classroom in amazement.
"Wow," the young man said, looking around at the tiny tables, desks, toys and crafts handing from every possible corner. "You know, this room looks a bit scary without kids in it."
Yuna laughed and walked over to him. "Suuichi, I see we're stalking Nami again today," she said in a slightly reprimanding tone. Nami was one of the teaching assistants in the school. A college student, Nami was getting her on the job experience before going for further studies in childhood education. Suuichi Hatenaka was her boyfriend, and a frequent visitor in the school. The kids always referred to him as the video guy. Suuichi was taking up filmmaking at the university, and was never without a video camera. He was empty handed today, though.
"I wasn't stalking her," he pointed out as they walked back to the pool party together. "I actually saw you with Miyo before I came in. You're gonna have to let that boy down easy, you know."
Yuna laughed and bent over the faucet to turn off the water. The kids' families would be picking them up soon, and getting a group of at least thirty kids dried and dressed was no easy feat.
"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you," Suuichi asked. "You have to promise to keep an open mind, and that I only say this because I'm worried about you."
"Not everyone can afford to have rich parents, you know," Yuna joked as Suuichi helped her bring out the kids' towels from inside. This is why she approved of Suuichi hanging around the school. He was always helping out with the kids, and was doing all the worrying about Hana's financial situation for her. She'd mentioned her student loans to him only once, and since then, he always managed to find something she could do to make money to pay off the loan. Yuna had never accepted, though, finding it a bit odd that she would be taking financial advice from a twenty year old.
"Like I said, you just have to hear me out," he repeated, the school bell ringing and the kids running over to where the towels were.
"Help me out here and I'll hear you out," Yuna said as at least three wet kids latched themselves onto Suuichi's legs. Nami came over with the other teachers and they each put the kids in a line, wrapping them in towels and ushering them inside to change. It took at least another hour, but soon the classroom was empty once again, save for Nami, Suuichi and Yuna. They toasted a juice box to their triumph and snacked on some sandwiches Nami had packed.
"So what is this money making plan that you came up with?" Yuna asked, crossing one leg over the other as Nami's eyes sparkled with interest.
"You haven't told her yet?" She asked him, and Suuichi shook his head before turning back to Yuna.
"You like babies, right?" he asked, and Yuna nodded, having no idea what Suuichi was trying to get to. "How about you have one?"
"What? Suuichi, I'm not even married, why would I have one?"
"You're not saying it right, sweetie," Nami said, patting her boyfriend's leg. "And like I said, I hardly think Yuna would ever agree to it, even if it's for us."
"Agree to what?" Yuna asked, almost sounding a bit whiny in the way she asked the two. She eventually made the connection though. "Are you guys looking for a surrogate?"
"Oh, us? No! God no!" Nami exclaimed immediately, waving her hands for emphasis.
"Really? You don't want to have a baby with me that much?" Suuichi asked jokingly and Nami rolled her eyes. Suuichi laughed it off and turned back to Yuna.
"Its not for us," he explained. "It would actually be for friends of Shuu-ani's."
Shuu-ani was what Suuichi called his older stepbrother. Although Yuna had never met him, she was familiar with the guy. Nami was always telling her how handsome and polite and sweet Shuiichi was, and Suuichi enjoyed singing his praises just as much. He practically worshipped the ground his older brother walked on, apparently he had also been the one to convince Suuichi's father to let him go into filmmaking.
"They're looking for a surrogate?" Yuna asked, more curious than ever.
Suuichi nodded. "Thinking about it, really. They're nervous about trusting a stranger. I found out last night. I didn't realize they were having pregnancy complications." He leaned back against the tiny chair, lifting his eyes to meet Hana's. "When I mentioned you, Shuu-ani asked me to...implore if you were interested."
Hearing Suuichi say the word "implore" made Yuna giggle and Nami laugh out loud. Something told her that he was using his brother's exact words.
"And what makes you think I would agree to carry someone else's baby?" Yuna asked, standing up to put the empty juice box in the trash bin. She'd heard enough of Suuichi's money making ideas to maintain a level head about this latest one, although she had to admit, it was interesting.
"Because you need to pay off your student loans," Suuichi pointed out. "And somehow afford that ridiculously overpriced apartment of yours."
"Hey, don't talk smack about her apartment!" Nami exclaimed. "I'll remember that for the next time you decide to get drunk and make it impossible for me to take you anywhere but Yuna's place."
"Thank you, Nami," Yuna laughed. "But Suuichi has a point. I mean, I could use the money..."
But oddly enough, it wasn't the money that intrigued her. Sure, it would be great not to have to worry about student loans, but Yuna was oddly attracted to the idea for different reasons. Somehow in the back of her mind, she always wanted to not feel so alone. Pregnancy would mean she would always have someone with her, no matter how little that someone would be. Maybe having a baby was just the life changing experience she needed to feel less lonely. Nami immediately stood up and grabbed Hana's shoulders. "Are you seriously considering this?"
"No," Yuna said with a shrug. "I'm saying I'll do it."
"What?!" Nami exclaimed, shaking her shoulders. "Yuna, are you that desperate? Because if you need money..."
"It's not just the money, thank you," Yuna said with a smile. "But it'll be nice to have company in the evenings. Plus, if I can help a couple out, why not, right?"
Nami sat back down, shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't know if you're crazy or selfless."
"Great!" Suuichi exclaimed, this time it was his turn to bolt upright from his tiny chair. Nami was glaring at him. "Think of it as a win-win situation, Nami," he told her, like she was the one who was about to carry someone else's baby. "Yuna doesn't spend the evenings writing sad blogs for other sad people-"
"HEY!" Yuna exclaimed.
"She gets the money she needs, Yusuke and Keiko get their baby and everyone's happy!"
Nami crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "Alright, if that's what she wants." She then proceeded to hand Suuichi a 10,000 yen bill which he slipped into his pocket.
"Seriously, you guys?" Yuna laughed, shaking her head. Those two were so cute together.
When Suuichi first pitched the idea that Yuna would be Yusuke and Keiko's surrogate, Kurama had been pretty sure that she would say no. After all, agreeing to the proposition would only mean that she was after the money, and that wasn't a quality that his friends would have liked to find in their surrogate. But when Suuichi passed along Yuna's contact details to Kurama, and Kurama had passed it to Keiko, Kurama had been surprised at her enthusiastic reply. He off-handedly (and a little sardonically) asked Suuichi about what kind of financial straits she was in.
"She's not desperate, Shuu-ani," his stepbrother pointed out, waving a hand as if it was brushing away his thoughts. "She's just...wants quiet company."
Despite that, Kurama kept a pessimistic mind when he came to the Urameshis' doorstop two weeks later. It was almost four in the afternoon. Yuna Hwang had come over at lunch to meet the couple. Kurama had dropped by to give his support, and quite possibly ready to apologize for sending a stranger into their home. But when Yusuke answered the door, Kurama was surprised at how...hopeful his friend looked. He'd never seen Yusuke so cheery, at least not since the accident. Kurama briefly brushed his long, red bangs away from his face to touch the scar on his forehead. It was a nervous, psychosomatic habit he couldn't seem to shake since that night.
"How was it?" Kurama inquired politely. Yusuke gave him a pat on the back and ushered him inside.
"See for yourself," he said as they crossed the living room of the house. Kurama paused and blinked as he heard an unfamiliar voice joining Keiko's somewhere in the vicinity of the dining room. Was she still here? He thought to himself as he and Yusuke entered the threshold of the dining room. Kurama got his answer as soon as he'd asked himself the question.
Standing by the window, bathed in the mid-afternoon sunlight, was Yuna. Kurama blinked as the world slowed down around him. Her light brown hair fanned around her face in soft, voluminous waves as she turned her head, her chinky brown eyes wide in curiosity at his presence. While all the other girls her age were wearing fishtail skirts and sheer tops, she was dressed in skinny jeans and a striped blue shirt, a printed scarf wrapped around her neck. She looked sweet and so..soft around the edges. No wonder Yusuke and Keiko were so at ease around her. She seemed the motherly type, and nothing at all of what Kurama initially pegged her to be (although that remained to be seen). Her figure was petite and elegant, and Kurama was ashamed to admit that it was what he was looking at when Yusuke made his introduction. The redhead blinked again, and this time she was looking at him expectantly, and Yusuke was chuckling behind him.
"Er...sorry?" Kurama slightly stammered, trying to get his head back in order. This time Yusuke actually laughed and Keiko made the introduction.
"Kurama, this is Yuna," she said gently, placing a hand on Yuna's shoulder as if Keiko hand't only met her that afternoon. "Yuna, this is-"
"Shuu-ani?" Yuna suddenly said, taking both Keiko and Kurama aback. Yusuke gently pulled his wife backwards, shaking his head and let the two interact.
"I see you've heard of me," Kurama said, smiling. Yuna blushed and apologized. Now it was her turn to start stammering.
"I-I've heard a lot about you from your stepbrother," she explained quickly.
"And I've heard a lot about you too, so I'd say we're pretty even," He answered, taking Yuna's hand and placing a light kiss on the back of her hand, keeping it in his when his lips left her skin. "Although I would rather prefer that you call me Kurama. My stepbrother and I's names can get confusing at times."
"Yes, I can see how that would happen," She said, laughing as her cheeks turned even redder. Yusuke suddenly coughed behind them, nudging his head towards the clock that hung by the kitchen. Yuna looked over at him, and then saw the time. She instantly pulled her hand back and made a gasp of surprise.
"Is that the time? I have to go, if I don't leave now I might miss the train," she said, immediately grabbing her purse.
"Oh, please, stay," Kurama found himself saying. Yusuke turned to him with a raised eyebrow and he threw his friend a nervous smile. "I mean...I could drive you home if you like."
Yuna tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She was already standing by the exit. "No, it's alright. You came to spend the evening with Yusuke and Keiko, right? I'd hate to intrude."
"I'll walk you to the door, Yuna," Keiko volunteered, going over to her side as she smiled up at Kurama. "I'm really sorry," she said to him. "But it was nice to meet you."
"Yes, It was nice meeting you as well," Kurama said. Carla turned to Yusuke, the smile hadn't left her face.
"So Yusuke, I'll see you next week?"
"Yup!" The guy replied, waving a hand as Yuna and Keiko left the room. Once they were gone, he eyed his friend, who was staring a little too intensely at the empty hallway.
"Dude, what the fuck was that?" He asked his friend playfully. Kurama blinked at his companion. "Nothing," he answered. "I was merely being friendly."
"Yeah, well if you were ever that 'friendly' to Keiko, I would have punched you in the dick," Yusuke said, disappearing into the kitchen for a second, only to reemerge with two open bottles of beer. He handed one to Kurama.
"Is that sort of talk really appropriate for someone who's about to be a father?" The redhead asked as Yusuke narrowed his eyes at him.
"Don't change the subject, assface," he said. "I mean, I bug you for years to go find a girl to flirt with and get laid, hell, maybe you can even marry her, and here you are being 'friendly' with the one girl Keiko and I need untouched by a man."
Kurama chuckled nervously and shook his head. "I have no excuse."
"I'll drink to that," Yusuke said, clinking the neck of her bottle against Kurama's before swallowing his beer. Kurama took a sip. "And if this baby pops out with red hair after nine months..."
"Relax Yusuke," Kurama laughed. "It was just a little bit of flirting. I promise I won't lay a hand on her."
Kurama watched his friend pull out one of the chair from the dining table, take a seat and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow as he swallowed his drink. Kurama did the same. "You don't believe me, do you?" He asked, getting a little tired of trying to convince his friend that he wasn't going to pounce on his surrogate. Sure Kurama had a bit of a reputation as a ladies's man, but this seemed different.
"I don't," Yusuke said. "I've never seen you so distracted than you were around Yuna. I'd be an idiot to believe you."
At this point, Kurama didn't know what to say. Yusuke sighed and put down his beer bottle, ripping the side of the label with his thumb, staring intently at the motion.
"But listen," he said, his voice dropping volumes as the conversation turned serious. "I think you of all people know how important this is to Keiko and me. Especially Keiko. You saw how sad she was when we found out we couldn't have kids," Yusuke said, his thumb turning white as he picked on the label. "After the accident, I was just glad that she was okay. But when I found out...it killed me inside. It wasn't that I was upset with her. God knows, I love her and would no matter what. I was upset with how upset she was with herself, as if it was her fault." He lowered his eyes. "This baby means the world to her. I want it to be as safe as possible. I wouldn't be able to cope with her pain if something happened..."
Kurama's hand flew to his scar again, and Yusuke pretended not to note the motion. He knew Kurama only did that whenever he felt guilty.
"I'd never do anything to endanger your child, Yusuke," he said. "You and Keiko deserve to have this child, and I would never to anything to jeopardize that. Besides, I hardly think Yuna is the type to throw herself at a man's feet. Or that anything that fast can develop in nine months, if I do decide to pursue her." Kurama leaned back against his seat. "This baby is important to me too. If anything, my liking her only means that she will feel more comfortable."
A small smile spread across the dark haired man's face. He turned to his friend.
"Thanks man," he said, clinking their beer bottle again before he finished his in one last gulp. At this point, Keiko had returned to the room.
"Really, Yusuke?" She asked playfully, taking his empty bottle from the table. "It's not even sundown yet."
"Kurama and I were just having a toast," Yusuke explained, jumping up and following her towards the recycling bin. "To you, me and our new surrogate." He wrapped his arms around Keiko's waist and she sighed a little.
"I did like her," she admitted. "She really seems to want to do this for us."
"Does Kurama know how to pick 'em or what?" Yusuke asked, kissing his wife on the lips. "We're finally getting our baby."
The realization seemed to have an effect on Keiko, as she smiled, nodded and cried into Yusuke's shirt. Before either of the men could ask what was wrong, she shook her head.
"These are happy tears," she explained, laughing as Yusuke let her wipe her eyes on his shirt. Kurama smiled and twisted the half empty bottle in his hands. It looks like they didn't need his moral support after all.
The next few weeks seemed to fly by in a blur. In between doctor's appointments, hormone shots, a meeting with a lawyer and getting to know Yusuke and Keiko, Yuna was surprised to find it was only two days away from her date with a turkey baster, which Nami had marked as 'D-day' on her calendar.
"Is that the date?" Yuna asked, chewing her nail as she stared at the glaring red ink on the calendar. Nami pulled Yuna's hand out of her mouth as Suuichi placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Yup," he said. "In about two days, you're going to be knocked up."
.
Earlier that day, Kurama had told her that she only had one shot at this. Yusuke and Keiko had put most of everything they had on this one date, one chance to have their child. Yuna stared at the ceiling and closed her eyes. For the first time in what felt like a long time, she prayed that this would work. Not for herself, but for the couple who deserved much more than what the world was giving them.
On D-day, Yuna woke up in a pretty positive mood. The sun was shining, and it was warm, which she loved. It was a little too early do anything yet, but Yuna went to her closet to choose her clothes. Dressing up was one of those things she enjoyed doing, and it made her feel good knowing she was wearing something nice on such a virtually life-changing day. She opted for a lace dress with a pale yellow lining on the inside, wearing it with cream sandals. She weaved her hair into a wispy French braid and proceeded with her usual morning rituals. The doctor had asked her to go his office at eleven am, and so Yuna grabbed her bag to leave her apartment at ten thirty, planning to walk to the the train station. She opened her door with a flourish, only to gasp in surprise as a tall redhead blinked down on her, his hand halfway to the doorbell.
"Kurama!" she exclaimed, jumping a little. Kurama smiled apologetically.
"Sorry," he said a little hastily. "I didn't mean to startle you. Were you on your way to the doctor's? Wait, of course you were. I'm actually here to pick you up."
He said all of this so quickly that Yuna barely understood a word of it, but she nodded slowly in understanding. "O-kay?" She said hesitantly and Kurama seemed to regain his cool.
"Shall we go?" he asked. Yuna followed him to his car, a sleek powder blue sedan that was parked in front of her building. She giggled a little and pointed out that the blue clashed with his hair color. Kurama chuckled and said he'd never noticed that before. They got into the car and Kurama started driving, Yuna humming along to the song playing from his iPod.
"Wow," she said, leaning back against her seat. "You are probably the only living, breathing person I know who listens to Kishi Bashi."
"And you're the only living, breathing person I know who recognized him," Kurama said with a chuckle. "I have very...eccentric music tastes. My friends would rather just sit in silence than play songs from my iPod."
Yuna actually laughed out loud that that. "The kids at school fall asleep when I start playing my music. People in my blog always seem confused when I try to make song recommendations."
"Oh, I've read your blog," Kurama said, "Someone from work sent me a link to your entry on grocery shopping and I thought it was pretty funny, and what you said about there never being anything that you ever really need is so true. I always end up buying something else from what I had originally intended to get."
"Really?" Yuna asked, this time turning on her side to face him. "I could never imagine you getting sidetracked on a trip to the mall."
"Well, contrary to what my stepbrother tells you, I am still human," he said this with more sincerity than anything. "Oh, as well as what you said about salesladies."
Yuna laughed again. She never imagined Kurama saying an unkind word about anyone, at least, not in the way Suuichi had depicted him to be. His reference to her own words salesladies as 'sharks ready to pounce on the nearest piece of meat' was probably the meanest thing she would ever hear him say.
"That's it," she said, sitting properly again, facing the road this time. "I am convinced that you are practically the most perfect human being on earth," she said this with absolute finality, like anything Kurama would have told her to the contrary was moot.
"I hardly think-"
"Kurama, you're driving a stranger almost halfway across town to a clinic so that she could get inseminated with a friend's baby," Yuna explained. "If that's not perfection, I don't know what else is."
"Well, I am on Team Baby," he joked, pulling to a stop as a red light prevented them from crossing an intersection. "It's part of my job."
Yuna noticed that Kurama had brushed his bangs away from his face, although it never seemed to bother him before. He had this look on his face that she couldn't quite understand or read.
"Kurama?" she asked, sensing something underneath the cheery surface of those bright green eyes. "You have that look on your face. It's the same look the kids from school get when they know they did something wrong but just don't want to admit it."
Kurama chuckled and watched the cars whizz by right in front of them. "I guess It would he hard to lie to you," he said. It was the middle of the day, and yet the feeling was exactly the same. It felt like he was in that night again. "I was driving Keiko home," he began, his fingers tracing the lower rim of the leather steering wheel. "We were celebrating something at a friends' house and she needed to go home so I naturally offered her a ride," He said, realizing that this was the first time he had told this story in full detail. Even his mother had gotten an abridged version. "I had just seen the green light and crossed the intersection, just like this," he said as their car lightly sped to the other side of the crossing, continuing on its way. "I think I already saw the car coming, but I paid it no attention and crossed anyway."
Carla gasped a little as she surmised what had happened next. "Keiko had gotten the worst of the damage. If you notice, she still limps a bit when she walks, because that's where she was hurt the most. Bits of shrapnel had stabbed her, and she was in the hospital for weeks. I have this to remind me," he said, showing her the scar underneath his mass of red hair. He stiffened a little as he felt Yuna's fingers brushing against the healed scar. "She and Yusuke found out that she couldn't carry a child a little later after. I've always felt responsible for that."
To Kurama's surprise, Yuna didn't say anything. Most people would have told him that it wasn't his fault, or reassured him that there was nothing that could be done, but she said nothing. He didn't know if he liked that. She was looking down at her lap, biting her lip. Kurama pulled up to the parking lot of the clinic, shutting the engine off before asking Yuna if she was okay.
"I'm fine," she reassured him. "I'm just...praying that this goes well for Yusuke and Keiko." she placed her hand over his and squeezed a little, much like his mother would. "It wasn't your fault, Kurama."
Kurama was suddenly overwhelmed with...stirrings for this girl. He couldn't quite understand it himself. But whatever it was, it was stopping him from asking her out on a date right then and there. "Why are you doing this?" he asked suddenly. "I don't think you are the kind to do this solely out of monetary reasons, but you owe them nothing, you have no guilt or burden to carry. Yet you seem to honestly and fervently wish that this goes well. Why?"
Yuna smiled and pulled her bag closer to herself. "I've always been alone, Kurama," she explained to him. "So I kind of understand how Yusuke and Keiko feel, to have something...missing from their lives. Every day I try to understand it, but I can't find anything that seems to fill that void. They know exactly what they need. They just need a little help getting it."
Without another word, Yuna emerged from the car and waited for him to follow her to the lobby of the hospital, where Yusuke and Keiko were waiting. The couple had nervous faces, Yusuke pulling Keiko close and planting a kiss on the top of her head as Kurama and Yuna made their approach.
"Kurama," Yusuke said. "Why am I not surprised."
The redhead only grinned at his friend as Keiko and Yuna exchanged kisses on the cheek. "So," Kieko sighed. "Are you ready?"
"Yup!" Yuna said enthusiastically. "Let's put your baby in me!"
The three laughed as they entered the hospital, ushered by a nurse into one of the doctors' offices. Yusuke had just opened the door when they were met with large shouts of 'SURPRISE!,' making Yuna jump backwards into Kurama and Keiko's body turn stiff. The men didn't even seem slightly fazed as five heads crowded around them, giving them hugs and exclamations. Luckily, they seemed to be the only people in the room at the moment. When Keiko hugged the other girls and Yusuke punched the arm of the tall carrot-topped man, Yuna instantly knew that these were their friends, a ragtag group of personalities. The girl with powder blue hair in a baby pink kimono regarded her standing in front of Kurama. "Oh!" she exclaimed, pointing. "Are you..."
"Yup!" Yusuke exclaimed, weaving through the small crowd to stand next to Yuna and place an arm around her. "Guys, this is Yuna, our baby mommy. Yuna, the guys."
"Hi," she said shyly, as the girl in the pink kimono shook her hand excessively. Yuna couldn't look away from her bright lavender eyes.
"Hi!" she exclaimed. "I'm Botan! You are just so...cute! I mean, I can totally imagine you pregnant, is that a bad thing?" She asked this last question to Kurama, whose answer Yuna didn't catch. Next to her, and excessively tall pretty brunette in what looked like a pantsuit looked at her from head to toe.
"Wow," she said, the actual word was more enthusiastic than her tone. "Keiko really knows how to pick 'em. You've got a nice aura around you."
"Thanks?" Yuna asked, not knowing how to take that.
"This is Shizuru," Kurama explained to her, and the brunette nodded.
"I'm going out for a smoke," she said, promptly leaving the room.
"Hey! I thought you promised you wouldn't smoke until the baby comes?" The tallest guy in the room asked, his voice almost reverberating off the walls. He saw Yuna and Kurama looking at him and held out his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Yuna," he said politely. "My names' Kuwabara Kazuma. This is my wife, Yukina," he said, indicating the tiny girl with seafoam hair and bright red eyes.
"We're so glad you decided to do this Yuna," Yukina said enthusiastically, her soft spoken voice the polar opposite of her husband's. "This way, our babies will only be a few months apart!"
At this, Yusuke immediately coughed and nudged his head towards Kurama, who followed his gaze to the shortest man in the room. Almost a quarter of his height was made up of his spiky dark hair, a burst of white exploding in the front. Upon hearing Yukina's voice, his face took on a feral, almost murderous quality, while Kurama immediately pulled him away from the Kuwabara, who he was standing next to. Yuna was a little confused, but she had very little time to hear an explanation as a nurse had emerged from the door, blinking at the large number of people in the office.
"Miss Hwang?" she asked, making eye contact with each person in the room. When Yuna stepped forward, her face relaxed a bit. "We're ready for you."
So much of Kurama wanted to be the one to accompany her to the door, but Yusuke and Keiko did that for him. He couldn't hear what they were saying, no matter how hard he strained his ears, but everyone saw Keiko suddenly envelop Yuna into a hug, the girl reciprocating until they both let go. Yusuke gave her a smile and a pat on the shoulder, then Yuna disappeared behind the door. Keiko suddenly became a nervous wreck and had to be led to a chair. Kurama paced the room while Yukina sat down with Botan.
"Urameshi, aren't you supposed to be in there with her?" Hiei suddenly asked. "Just what is so difficult about fucking, anyway?"
The three guys blinked, exchanging looks. "I guess I was supposed to be the one to explain this to him?" Kurama asked, looking at his comrade for confirmation.
"It usually is," Yusuke shrugged as Hiei's frown deepened.
"Oh, could you explain it for me too, Kurama?" Yukina aksed. "I'm afraid Kazuma didn't explain it very well when he told me."
"This is going to be interesting," Yusuke said, leaning back against his chair, an arm around Keiko's shoulders. Kurama was giving him a look, like he couldn't believe that he had to do this. "Do go on, Kurama," Yusuke asked as Kurama sighed and shook his head.
As Hiei and Yukina were learning about the delicate process of insemination, Yuna was having a very surreal experience of it. After all, it wasn't very often that one sat on a bed with stirrups in a hospital gown, looking at a petri dish of little embryos. There were five, the doctor had told her, each one having a twenty percent chance of survival. It was those odds that were making her nervous. This mishmash of 20% successes was Keiko and Yusuke's only shot. She looked into the petri dish again, not entirely sure what she was looking at.
"Uhm...Hello teeny embryos," she said, using her indoor voice to speak to a petri dish. "This is Yuna speaking. I'm not your mom...or your dad. I'm just a...uh- temporary place where you can grow a little bit more before your mom and dad can meet you.
"Listen, can we make a deal? I promise I'll take really good care of you...you know, in utero if at least one of you guys...stick. Your parents really, really want to take care of you, but until then...you have me."
Just then, the doctor entered the room, smiling at her as she saw what Yuna was doing. "Just relax, Miss Hwang. You're going to be fine. Now, can you lie down and put your legs up on those stirrups?"
About an hour later, Yuna was sanding on her own two feet, her legs shut and biting her lip. The doctor placed a hand on her shoulder and laughed.
"You can walk, duckling, it's fine. You should be able to take a test within two weeks. Please call me as soon as you find out."
Yuna nodded mutely as the doctor led her out the door. She expected to feel terrified, a little nervous, but oddly enough, Yuna felt...excited. The butterflies on her stomach actually felt like a good thing. The emerged to the waiting room where she heard peals of laughter coming from the waiting party. Kurama was trying to explain something to Hiei and Yukina, and the scene reminded her of herself in a classroom. The two students were sitting down and looking up the redhead who was making gestures and saying things while Kuwabara actually leapt across the room pretending to be...something.
"So, you see it's their egg and sperm...but she's not the one who will have the baby," Kurama explained, his voice wavering as he wasn't sure if his students could understand. Yuna actually giggled from where she was standing and he looked up at her like he hand't expected to see her there at all.
"Yuna!" He exclaimed, dropping the model of what seemed to be a womb upon seeing her at the door. All eyes were on her as she smiled and waved at them like she had just walked up to them.
"Uh...hi?" she said awkwardly, but the expectant looks from the other didn't seem to change. "Oh, they said I should know in a couple of weeks."
Keiko visibly relaxed for a second, and Yusuke rubbed her back affectionately. Yusuke then declared to the others that they would have to reconvene exactly two weeks later, when Yuna would take a pregnancy test. Not surprisingly, everyone had agreed.
Those two weeks of waiting were similar to mental torture for Yuna. Just not knowing what was going on with her own body was mind boggling. She'd taken to standing on her head before dinner, as advised by one of her readers, just to encourage the embryos to stick. But a few days before she was supposed to meet the others, she was playing a game of touch ball with the kids when the ball hit particularly hard on her chest and felt incredibly tender after. A part of her hoped it had nothing to do with the ball. Every time she felt dizzy or tired, she was secretly elated.
"Why don't we have lunch first?" Kuwabara suggested, towering over the others. It was exactly two weeks later, and the couple looked worse for wear than Yuna. Kurama has been gracious enough to pick her up like he did the day she got inseminated.
"Moving on the girls as always, Kurama," Shizuru had teased, chewing on nicotine gum. It looked like she was finally taking her promise seriously.
"I am merely being polite," Kurama pointed out.
"Yeah, if you were ever being polite to Yukina like that, I would have punched you in the face," Kuwabara said. Kurama shook his head. They didn't get it. She was different.
Yuna noticed that there was a hint of lipstick on Kuwabara's cheek, although he had tried to wipe it off. "There's a nice curry place a few blocks away that Yukina and I really like."
Everyone seemed to like that idea, as it was noon. So they split up into the number of cars that was available, Yuna getting a ride with Kurama with Hiei joining them. They stopped in front of the street and Kurama said he would be right back as he walked to wherever it was that he parked. Yuna was walking right next to Hiei when he looked at her and asked,"Should you be walking?"
"Uh...yes?" Yuna asked, as if confused with the question. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I thought they just injected a baby into your crotch."
"Oh, uh...it's not going to fall out like that," She assured him. "At least I think it's not."
"Huh."
At this point, Kurama had arrived with the car, inviting the two to get in. Hiei claimed to not trust anything being driven by a 'stupid fox' and left, preferring to walk. Yuna found it a little strange, but said nothing as she got into the passengers seat slowly, not wanting to jog anything. She took a deep breath as Kurama peeled out of the driveway. She asked him if they could stop by a pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test. They did, and she bought five different ones. She had just finished telling him how there were actually different kinds of pregnancy tests, and how she eventually decided on the five when Kurama decided to notice the pink elephant in the room.
"So...how are you feeling?" He finally asked as they pulled up to the parking lot of the restaurant. Yuna could see Shizuru speaking to a waiter about the number of people who were coming in. She sighed and leaned back against the seat.
"Hmmmm," she said slowly as if she was really considering her answer. "A little normal? I guess? I mean, I expected to feel different but I don't. I just keep wishing that this would work."
Kurama said nothing, but neither of them seemed to want to leave the car yet. Yuna sighed and rubbed her arms with her palms.
"Oh, are you cold?" Kurama asked, about to turn off the air conditioning, but Yuna stopped him and shook her head and assured him that she was fine.
"I'm from Korea, did you know that?" She suddenly asked him. Kurama looked at her with his big green eyes and shook his head. Yuna giggled.
"Yeah. I lived in Seoul until I went to university here," she explained. "When I first came here, I could barely speak a word of Japanese, and I didn't feel like I ever really...belonged anywhere. Even now I still feel like there's something missing from my life. I've been living with a kind of loneliness that can make anyone go crazy."
"Is that why you agreed to do this? Because you wanted company?" Kurama asked. Yuna looked down at her hands, although she was still facing him.
"At first, that's why I agreed. But this is too important to Yusuke and Keiko. Now I feel a little selfish for even thinking what I did."
In order to console her, Kurama placed a hand over hers. He noticed that tears were brimming her her eyes, a manifestation of her own guilt. The next thing Kurama knew, she was on his shoulder,seeking comfort form him. He felt his arms wrap around her, and he pulled her into his arms. It felt so natural and so easy to hold her, to have her trust him to wholeheartedly with what she felt. Then, as he had somehow anticipated it, Kurama found that his lips were inches from hers. She seemed a little more surprised than he was that they were at such an intimate position, but her eyes closed anyway, and she was moving closer...closer...
The loud and sharp sound of a a car horn snapped the two out of the moment. Kurama turned and saw Yusuke's car pulling up right behind them, the former detective jamming his hand into the horn quickly. Yuna blushed and left the car quickly with Kurama following behind her. He led her inside by placing a hand on the small of her back. The heat still hadn't quite left her cheeks and they joined the others inside. Hiei was already there, glaring and waiting.
"How did he-" Yuna said and Kurama reminded her that they still stopped by the pharmacy. Keiko sat on Yuna's side and Yusuke sat on the empty seat next to Kuwabara, who was holding a menu.
"Took you guys long enough," he said. "I'm starving!"
"Sorry," Yusuke said, grabbing a menu. "There was a holdup at the parking lot." He then made an effort to glare at Kurama, who pretended not to notice.
A couple of hours later, the food had been ordered, served and consumed. There was not one person on that table who wasn't a little light headed from laugher (even if Hiei was doing a pretty damn good job of making it look otherwise). They talked about the old days, about days to come. At some point, Yuna came back from the bathroom, placing a hand on Kurama's shoulder and whispering something into his ear. He seemed surprised for a moment and asked her something, but he eventually nodded and let her leave. Nobody had noticed this exchange until Botan saw the time.
"Guys, it's been three hours," she said to the couple, who immediately looked at the now empty seat.
"Where did she go?" Keiko asked, looking around the restaurant if Yuna was still there. There was no sign of her anywhere and Keiko seemed a bit worried. Kurama looked at his phone as it informed him of an incoming text message.
"Keiko," he said, turning to his friend. "Yuna just texted me to let you know...you're about to become a mom."
The brunette blinked her big brown eyes for a moment, as if confused by Kurama's statement. Then the words seemed to finally sink in, and her heart swelled up with emotion. She was crying and hugging everyone at the same time, jumping up and down with Botan when she practically ran to her. When she finally reached her husband's strong arms, her legs gave out and she and Yusuke fell to the floor laughing and crying at the same time. Kurama smiled and texted Yuna back.
"Congratulations~! The couple is elated at the news. I am too. :)"