A/N- In this chapter: Madarao is vastly amused, Sen worries some more, and Yoshimori acts like a dork while trying to make a point. I'm sorry if Madarao isn't really IC; I don't think I'm really satisfied with the way he turned out, but...oh well. Let me know if anything isn't right! Hope you enjoy the next installment! -OA


Disclaimer: I'm getting the feeling we've already discussed this...

Chapter Five

Madarao laughed really hard that night. Yoshimori spent the entire trip from home to Karasumori wondering when the ghost dog was going to stop, but the moment never came. The mirth would fade for a few seconds and then the apparent hilarity of the situation would strike once again and Madarao would go off in another fit of laughter.

Suffice it to say, it was really annoying. Yoshimori didn't understand what was so incredibly funny about the circumstances he found himself in. He was definitely more worried than amused. Kagemiya didn't say another word on the way home after they left the park, and once they got back the blonde retreated to Yoshimori's room and fell asleep almost instantly. Sleeping through dinner, he was still out like a light when the young kekkaishi reluctantly left for guard duty. Yoshimori kept wondering, as he approached Karasumori, if something was wrong to make Kagemiya sleep so much, or if the other teen was just tired…

And it was hard to think about such things with a chuckling ghost dog hovering over his shoulder.

"Shut up," the middle schooler snapped, glaring up at the smirking apparition. "It's not funny."

"Oh, but it is," Madarao disagreed, grinning wickedly. "Who would have thought that your first little tryst would yield such…interesting results?" More muffled laughter. Yoshimori turned roughly the same shade as a tomato.

"Sh-shut up," he repeated, looking away. "See if I ever tell you anything again."

Madarao hummed his amusement, easily keeping up with the irritated teen's pace. "But you see, I knew about it all along," he remarked smugly, taking great satisfaction in Yoshimori's panicked look and incoherent stammering. "Come now, do you really have such little faith in my amazing nose? I didn't have to be with you that night to know something had happened. One sniff, and…" His voice trailed away suggestively; cue more humiliated blushing. "In all honesty, it was a little difficult to pick out the fragrance since you also had the scent of blood all over you, but my nose never makes mistakes. And of course it was easy after that to match the scent to the half-ayakashi with the pale hair."

"Why didn't you say anything?" came the scandalized hiss.

"I supposed you wanted to keep your little secret," the ghost dog said, expression turning mournful. "Maybe I was just holding out hope that you'd take me into your confidence one day… But no, you don't trust me, Yoshimori-kuuuuun-"

"Knock it off, Madarao," the dark-haired teen growled. But then he stopped short, staring up at his companion. "Wait. Did you know that Kagemiya was pregnant, too?!"

Unexpectedly, the ghost dog sobered. "I didn't know that," Madarao said rather grimly. "Though, I'm sure if I smelled him now, I would be able to tell… Whether ayakashi or human, all creatures have a distinct smell when they're expecting. But no, I didn't know it before you said anything."

Yoshimori stood in place, thinking, a frown wedged between his brows. "Madarao, have you ever heard of male half-ayakashis being able to…" Another blush. "Y'know, have…babies?"

If the apparition had shoulders, he probably would have shrugged. "Can't say that I have. But being chained here at Karasumori doesn't exactly afford me the best information. There are probably other ayakashi out there who've heard of it, though."

"Hn… You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" The question was posed suspiciously

Madarao snickered. "So you really don't trust me then?" He sighed dramatically. "Who in the world would I tell such a tremendous secret to?"

Yoshimori gave a nonchalant shrug. "I don't know. Hakubi?"

The ghost dog sniffed, nose turned into the air as one deeply offended. "As if I would share anything with that ill-bred up-start of a puppy," he sneered. Yoshimori hid a smirk and started walking again, satisfied that the secret would not be leaked anytime soon. Madarao drifted after him, silent for a few minutes. Then… "When are you going to tell the girl?"

A violent start. "E-eh? Oh, Tokine…" It would have been nice to forget that little detail. "What makes you think I'm going to tell Tokine?" the teen mumbled, looking away.

Madarao's smile was one of sharp teeth and a knowing expression. "Because you can't keep a secret to save your life," the dog pointed out, his transparent tail wagging a little more vigorously than usual.

"Kagemiya doesn't want me to tell her yet," Yoshimori said heavily. "So…I'm not going to tell. It's the least I can do, after all…" His voice trailed away, preceding his lapse back into thought. Madarao gave a sigh of disgust and circled around Yoshimori's head, disturbing his concentration.

"Oh, stop feeling all guilty and responsible," the ghost chided. "You're so boring when you get like that." This earned him a glare and a "Shut up," but the teen did shake off his introspective mood and leap over the gate to Karasumori. Madarao followed, relieved that his teasing had snapped the kid out of it. It was so tedious to follow a mute around all night, not to mention the fact that Yoshimori was hardly gifted at multitasking. If he was thinking, he'd be standing still in one place 'til morning, and the Yukimura girl would get all the ayakashi.

And if there was one thing that Madarao disliked, it was losing to that arrogant pup, Hakubi.


Tokine was seated atop a ledge when Yoshimori ran up, legs dangling in the air and Hakubi floating smugly over her head. "You're late again," she called down to the younger teen. He scowled up at her, arms crossed over his chest. It was an age-old argument, but at least it was familiar.

"Maybe you're just early all the time," he shot back.

She smirked. "Maybe it just seems early to you because you're always late," was the smooth reply. Hakubi smirked when Yoshimori failed to provide a comeback.

"You got him there, Honey," the ghost dog crowed, ignoring Madarao's disdainful glare.

Yoshimori snorted and jumped up to Tokine's level, looking around. "No intruders yet?" he queried, even though he would have known if there were. The high school student shook her head.

"Perhaps it'll be quiet tonight," she offered absently. "The last couple nights haven't been too bad either…" She shot a sideways glance at him and shifted. "So. Are you going to tell me what happened?"

Yoshimori froze for a split second and then lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head nervously. "What happened? You mean, last night?" She raised a dark brow and nodded, as if wondering what else he thought she'd been referring to. Madarao rolled his eyes in private.

In reality, Yoshimori was just trying to come up with a good story. Hopefully the old adage the best lies are the ones closest to the truth would stand firm for him. "Well… Aniki came home from the Yagyou headquarters and brought Kagemiya with him, 'cause there's a lot of stuff going on over there and Kagemiya is…kinda sick right now. So Aniki asked Otousan and Shige-jii if Kagemiya could stay with us for a while, 'til things calm down." He resisted the urge to give a firm nod; it would look too much like he was trying to convince himself. But almost all of it was true, so he didn't feel to terribly bad about fudging the truth for Tokine.

Eventually. Eventually he'd tell her what was really happening.

Tokine hned thoughtfully. "What is Sen-kun sick with?" she wanted to know, resting her chin in her hand as she looked up at him.

"I… I don't really know, but he throws up all the time," the dark-haired boy said hurriedly, making a face. Okay, so maybe 'all the time' was a bit of a stretch, but if it made the story more convincing… "Aniki said he'd be back to get him a few weeks."

"Why'd Sen-kun come out to Karasumori then?" This was starting to a feel a little like an interrogation; Yoshimori felt a bead of sweat slide down his neck, and hoped that the young woman hadn't noticed.

"I think he was just mad that he got dropped off here," the legitimate successor said, surveying the grounds. He thought of that black aura he'd seen around the blonde, the dark irises and elongated pupils, long claws sliding out of fingernails, and masked a small shudder. Aside from all the other issues at hand, the statement was probably true anyway. "Kagemiya doesn't really like being taken care of. Maybe he just wanted to be alone for a while."

Tokine sighed, climbing to her feet. "Well, that's pretty much what Masamori-san told me when he came by last night to fill in for you," she remarked. "I kind of just wanted to see if you would say the same thing he did."

Yoshimori blinked once- I said the same thing as Aniki? How did we manage that? I didn't even talk to him about it- and then stumbled back in shock. "Ehhhh?!" he squawked, waving an arm at her. "You don't trust me, Tokine?" He forgot for a moment that technically he was the one keeping something from her.

She laughed a little at his antics, raising her hands to placate him. "No, no, I just wondered if you'd give me anymore details," she rephrased. Yoshimori was trying to decide whether or not to stay offended, in light of his own secret, when both teenagers gave a start and looked around quickly.

Something had intruded on Karasumori's sacred and powerful grounds.

It was time to go to work.

"This way, Yoshimori," Madarao urged as Tokine and Hakubi took off. Yoshimori stood still for a moment before jumping down to the ground and starting to run with the ghost dog over his shoulder.

Well. That had gone better than he'd expected.


It took him by surprise to glimpse the flickering of a light on in the otherwise dark house. Yoshimori smothered a yawn as he kicked his shoes off in the entryway, figuring that maybe his father was up late in the study, working on his novel. The dark-haired boy proceeded down the hall, heading for his room.

…At least, that's where he would have gone if he hadn't discovered that the light was coming from the dining room.

And that Kagemiya was sitting in the dining room by himself, the only soul awake in the silent Sumimura household.

Both boys started upon seeing each other, eyes wide in the dim light of the lamp. Yoshimori found his voice first. "Kagemiya? What are you doing up so late?" He grimaced, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "…Early. I mean… You weren't waiting up for me, were you?"

The blonde scowled. "No, I wasn't," he denied, looking away. "I got up a little while ago to…" He seemed slightly embarrassed. "…To be sick, and then I couldn't go back to sleep."

The kekkaishi blanched. "You were sick at this hour?" It was even earlier than the previous morning's episode. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

Receiving no further response, Yoshimori sighed and stepped into the room, sitting down across from the other boy. "I told Tokine that you're staying here for a while because you're sick," he said off-handedly.

Kagemiya eyed him warily, brown eyes holding a faint glow from the light. "And my visit to Karasumori last night?" the blonde prodded.

"I said you were angry over being left behind," Yoshimori said with a grin, earning himself a dark look. Mirth faded into thoughtful contemplation. "The funny thing is, Tokine said that what I told her matched what Aniki told her… And I didn't even know that Aniki was going to tell her anything…"

Kagemiya gave a short laugh. "Brothers think alike, eh?" he suggested.

Yoshimori crossed his arms, frowning sullenly. "I do not think like that jerk," he muttered, as close to pouting as he could possibly get. It was really more like sulking than pouting, if you looked closely. "He just likes ordering me around and showing off to prove he's better than I am-" The dark-haired teen stopped when Kagemiya made a strange sound, smothering its true identity in his throat. A laugh? A groan? A sob? The smaller boy dipped his head, hiding his eyes from sight. "What's wrong?"

"I- I was just thinking, before you came in," the blonde whispered. "…What if we can't do this?" A heartbeat of silence before he rushed ahead, words spilling forth like water. "Wh-what if I can't do this? What if it doesn't work? What if…" A hard swallow. "What if something happens, what if something goes wrong?" Kagemiya laughed again, but this time was unsteady and verging on hysterical. "I mean, do you really think that two kids like us can really have a baby? We- I- I didn't know anything about babies until the first doctor's appointment after I found out…" His hands were trembling on the tabletop. Yoshimori didn't say anything for a while, just studied the other boy. Kagemiya chewed on his lower lip, shifting his hands under the table so their shaking couldn't be seen anymore.

Finally, Yoshimori nodded to himself and rose up on his knees, as if he were going to leave. Instead, he launched himself across the table, sliding over the top on his stomach. Kagemiya nearly choked on a curse, he was so taken aback by the other boy's bizarre action. The blonde went to lean back or scoot out of the way, but Yoshimori's smile froze him in place, until the dark-haired teen's outstretched hands pressed gently against his abdomen.

It was a good still-frame, for the brief moments that it lasted: a tableau etched in time. The boy with curly blonde hair sat straight in his seat as if a rod had been jammed up his spine, his brown eyes saucer-like with shock. The boy with unruly raven locks was sprawled across the table, his arms reaching out so both hands could feel the faint curve where his companion's lightly-muscled abs used to be. Dark, almost black eyes were crinkled in a smile.

"The…the hell…?" Kagemiya whispered, breaking the silence, but Yoshimori's hands rubbed softly against his stomach; the blonde caught his breath.

"…You probably can't hear me," the young kekkaishi murmured. Kagemiya opened his mouth again and then closed it, jaw clenching. "You're probably too small to hear me, but who knows? Guess we'll have to ask about stuff like this… Anyway… I wonder- I wonder what it's like in there, where you are. Is it warm and comfortable?" His palms were patches of heat seeping through Kagemiya's shirt, smoothing the fabric in caressing circles. "Y'know, we weren't really expecting you at all," the dark-haired boy continued conversationally. "You were a bit of a surprise. Okay, you were a big surprise. Don't worry, you'll understand someday, when you see your-" Yoshimori paused, considering for a moment, "-mommy."

Kagemiya snarled at this, extremely displeased with the thought of being called 'mommy' for the rest of his life, and Yoshimori snickered, glancing up briefly into brown eyes. But before the blonde could insert anything, the other boy had turned his attention back to the third, yet-unseen occupant of the room.

"I know you have a while to stay in there before we get to see you," the teenager continued, his voice quiet. "But when you do get here, I think you'll like it. Besides me and your mom-" another snicker, "-there's lots of other people you should meet. There's Otousan, and Ojiisan, and Toshimori, and Aniki, and Tokine… All these people who'll probably want to meet you too. And they're going to help us along the way, I just know it." Black eyes drifted up to meet brown once more, as if making a point, and then moved away, focusing on the swell of Kagemiya's stomach again. "Otousan will help us, and Ojiisan." Yoshimori stopped, eyes narrowing slightly. "Well, probably Ojiisan. Maybe. And Aniki'll help…whenever he's around… And Tokine will help, but she doesn't exactly know about you yet, so we'd have to tell her first, and-" A flush worked its way across Yoshimori's face; he seemed to realize that he was defeating his own argument. "Never mind. It's going to be fine." He hummed for a moment, a nameless tune. "You're going to like it here," he finished in a whisper, delivering a final pat to the small bulge.

Sliding backwards slightly, Yoshimori propped his elbows on the tabletop and lifted his head to stare up at Kagemiya, waiting. There was just the faintest hint of satisfaction on the former's face. Kagemiya looked down at him, expressionless; silence hung between them for a moment.

A thin claw shot from the blonde's middle finger, stabbing into Yoshimori's forehead.

"Owwww!!!!" the teenager hissed, remembering at the last second not to howl his discomfort and wake the rest of the house. He sat up off the table and clapped a hand over the small puncture wound, scowling at the other boy in affront. "You stabbed me! What'd you do that for?!"

"Because you called me the 'mommy,'" Kagemiya said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why the hell am I the mom?"

"You're the one who's pregnant, aren't you?" came the growled reply. Ignoring Kagemiya's sullen expression in response, Yoshimori lowered his hand to see if his head was bleeding- it wasn't- and then sighed. The sigh turned into a yawn that nearly cracked his jaw, reminding both of them how late it was. Or early. Whichever you prefer. "Look, I was just making a point," the legitimate successor said, rubbing one eye.

"And disproving it at the same time," the blonde muttered under his breath.

If Yoshimori heard, he chose not to comment. "It's not like we're alone in this. We really do have people to help us."

"I know that-"

"And I already said I would protect you, didn't I? Whatever I can do to help, I'll do it."

"Yoshimori-"

"And I know you're strong enough to do this, Kagemiya."

Silence.

Tears glistened in the dim lamplight and dropped onto the table.

A whispered, "Damn it." A fist hit the tabletop with a muted thud. "I swear to kami-sama, if I'm crying like this for six more months, you're going to wish you never-"

"A-a-ahaha! Anyway… It'll be fine, you'll see."

"Yoshimori, is Chief the only member of your family who isn't unrealistically optimistic?"

The dark-haired teen scratched his head, trying to think past the clouds of sleep assailing his brain. It completely escaped him that perhaps the question posed had been rhetorical. "Ojiisan isn't like that," he mumbled, staggering to his feet. "And Toshimori… Ehhh. Never mind. I don't know about Toshimori. We should go to bed." Kagemiya rose as well, finding that after all that, he was tired again. As irritated as the pregnant teen was with kami-sama, he offered up a brief thanks that he didn't have to wake up in a short number of hours and go to school like Yoshimori.

The two boys traversed the dark hallway together, silent in the darkness. Yoshimori muttered a curse, stubbing his toe against the doorway, and Kagemiya smothered a laugh. Under any other circumstance it wouldn't have been that funny, but everything is twice as amusing in the early hours of the morning, especially when you're emotionally drained.

Both of them collapsed in their beds with almost simultaneous sighs of relief; laying down just felt so good.

"G'night, Kagemiya," Yoshimori murmured drowsily.

"…'Night," came the feather-soft response.


A/N- There we go. Another crisis averted for the time being. Anyone want to take bets on how long this peace lasts? Anyone...? -crickets chirping- Okay... O_o Hope everyone enjoyed Yoshimori's brush with craziness. Definitely OOC, definitely. Anyway, review, review! Review and I'll be your friend for all time! :D Thanks! -OA