Black Steel and Wordly Wisdom

What Talking May Bring

By Mystic Dawn

Summary: (AU) Kurogane and Tomoyo are a happily married couple. An interesting conversation takes place when she chooses to tell him something over breakfast.

Yawning hugely, Kurogane climbed down the stairs two at a time, striding into the kitchen. He smiled slowly when he spotted Tomoyo at the stove, cooking what looked like a typical breakfast. "Morning, dear," he greeted her, kissing her lightly before settling down at the table.

"Good morning, love," Tomoyo smiled before turning back to the frying pan, where half a dozen strips of bacon were sizzling. "I thought you might enjoy something different for breakfast today."

"Not necessarily," he said as he poured himself some coffee. "You shouldn't make yourself wake up earlier just so you can greet me before I go to work."

She did not immediately reply, giving him the impression that she was too absorbed in her cooking. Her brow furrowed in thought as she shifted some slices around in the pan. She had not exactly had enough time to put her feelings into words, and she honestly had no idea how Kurogane would react to the news she would be disclosing to him in less than a few minutes.

Slightly unnerved at her silence, Kurogane called her name questioningly, "Tomoyo?"

She turned around, emptying the bacon into a plate where she had already laid two fried eggs. "Here you go," she said cheerfully as she handed him his plate and sat across from him at the table. "Enjoy your meal."

"Thanks. Ittadakimasu," Kurogane said as he began to chew vigorously on a bacon strip. He paused after a few bites, looking at her blank expression curiously. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Hmm?" Tomoyo said absent-mindedly, raising her head.

Kurogane raised a worried eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes," she assured him. "I was just thinking about something..." She nervously cleared her throat and tied her hands together. She twiddled her fingers for several moments, and then she straightened slightly. "We've been married for almost three years, haven't we?" she said in a voice she tried to keep casual.

"Close to three years, yeah," he said slowly, wondering where she was heading with this discussion.

"Well..." She bit her lower lip. "Um..." She nervously began to twirl a strand of her raven hair around her forefinger. "I... I've got something very... important to tell you."

Kurogane's eyebrows arched so high that they almost disappeared into his hair. Tomoyo never curled her hair unless she was very, very nervous, and he recalled that it had only ever happened once, and that had been when she had been trying to confess her love to him four years ago.

"I... um... well... I..."

"You can tell me, you know," Kurogane told her softly, in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. He reached out and grasped her hand, caressing the palm of her hand with his thumb. "It's not like I'm that scary."

"I'm..." Her heart was in her luminous violet eyes as she drew a deep breath. "I'm with child."

Kurogane blinked slowly, trying to comprehend what she just said. "What...?"

"I'm with child," she repeated more firmly.

Kurogane blinked again dazedly as he reached for his coffee. If this was a dream, he needed to wake up from it. Now!

"It's about time though, isn't it?" Tomoyo said very quickly, her words tumbling over each other in her hurry. "I'm just surprised that it didn't happen sooner, that's all. I mean to say, we have a very active sexual life, after all, and—"

Kurogane snorted and nearly choked on his coffee, his face suddenly turning beet-red.

"Are you all right, love?"

"S-sure," Kurogane spluttered. "That came by a little too fast, that's all."

"Well, as I was saying, I was surprised that it only happened now, that's all."

It still took him more than a few moments for it to sink in. "So... you're pregnant?"

"What have I been telling you for the last minute?" she demanded in a rather snippy tone.

"Okay," Kurogane said quickly, raising his hands in the air, not eager for Tomoyo to start a long rant on how he did not pay her any attention and took her presence in his life for granted. She sometimes got carried away with very long speeches concerning those kinds of subjects. He felt that her close childhood friend Sakura was in some way responsible for that recent quirk of hers, telling her about all the wonderful gifts and treats she got from her husband Syaoran, making Kurogane himself look rather like a husband who did take his wife for granted.

Which was pure nonsense of course. Kurogane dearly loved his petite little wife. He just felt that he'd rather show her his love in ways other than with material goods. Say, a comfortable seat on their soft sofa by the crackling fire during the wintertime, where he'd be able to whisper his adoration for her in her ear just as he would—

"Are you listening to me, Kurogane?" came her irritated-sounding voice, unceremoniously bringing him back to the present.

"Yes, dear," he said quickly.

"Well, I wasn't exactly expecting for something like this to happen," Tomoyo continued in that unusually high-pitched voice, her tongue just running along with her. "I mean, I knew that it was bound to happen sometime, since Sakura-chan has been married to Syaoran-kun for only around a year and a half, and she's already given birth to a beautiful baby girl."

"Yes, Tomoyo, that sounds just fine," Kurogane agreed rather hastily.

Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "You hate me, don't you?" she said in a small voice, her lower lip trembling.

"What?" he said, baffled that her enthusiasm had suddenly riveted to despair.

"You don't like it at all that we're going to have a baby, you just hate it!" she wailed, burying her face in her hands as she burst into a storm of tears. "You hate me! You think it was stupid of me to get pregnant!"

Kurogane sprang to his feet and immediately rushed to her side. "Tomoyo, no, of course not!" he said, drawing her into his embrace. He was honestly bewildered at her sudden outburst. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You do, you do!" she sobbed against his chest. "You don't like it! You hate it! You hate me!"

"I don't hate you and I don't hate that we're going to have a baby," he told her gently, holding her close to him as he kissed her forehead. "I think it's wonderful."

"You... you do?" she whimpered, looking up at him as she wiped away her tears.

His lips formed a small smile. "I'll admit that I was rather surprised at first, but I don't hate it. I think it's the best thing that could have ever happened to us."

"Really?" she sniffled hopefully.

"Really," he confirmed. His crooked smile widened suddenly as he swept her off her feet and into his arms.

"Kurogane!" she gasped in surprise, clinging to his neck as he twirled her around.

"I think I should take the time to show you just how much I appreciate you," he decided as he carried her out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"But you're going to be late for work!" she protested, her serious tone marred by her laughter.

"Work can wait," he grinned, nuzzling his nose against hers. "It's not everyday your wife announces to you that she's pregnant."

Tomoyo sighed blissfully, laying her cheek against him as she whispered, "I love you."

Kurogane set her down on her feet and lifted her chin with his forefinger, kissing her lips tenderly. "And I love you," he said solemnly as he pulled her closer to him.