December 18, 2010

As he watched the same scene play out at the dinner table that it did almost every night, the same four words were circling around in Hiei's brain—

I need a break.

It was almost Christmas, and they hadn't even decorated their tree yet, there was shopping to be done and presents to be wrapped, and Hiei and Kurama couldn't seem to agree on anything except one thing, which was that five kids was probably going to be enough for a while. Kurama was taking a call in the other room, so Hiei was in charge of their wild brood, and this was one of those times when five children felt like five hundred.

Not only were things more hectic than ever, but they had the added worry that Tommy wasn't meeting his developmental milestones. He was the only child of theirs that wasn't walking by nine months; he would be ten months old on Christmas Day, and he was barely able to even get around in his baby walker. He didn't always respond to his name, he wouldn't even look at people half the time, even his parents, and when he was crawling around, sometimes he bumped into walls. That didn't mean they loved him any less, of course, but they did want the best life possible for him, so Kurama said that if Tommy didn't make significant progress soon, they would need to see a doctor.

Currently, thirteen-year-old Masaki was trying to feed Tommy some mashed-up Makaian fruit, which was one of the few things he would eat.

"Here comes the airplane, Tommy," he said, holding the spoon and waving it around in the air. "Open up!"

"Open up what?" said six-year-old Miyuki, taking a dignified sip of her orange juice. "If the airplane has already taken off, there's nothing but sky."

"Nerd," said Ryu, who was nine years old and would eat anything you put in front of him.

"Idiot," Miyuki said back, without missing a beat.

"Airplane!" three-year-old Natsumi screeched from her high chair, flinging some chewed-up potato salad across the table with her spoon and nailing Tommy with a direct hit. He immediately started wailing.

"Shit!" said Hiei without thinking as he sprang out of his chair and ran over to Tommy.

"Shit!" Ryu repeated.

"Ryu!" Hiei scolded, as he tried to pull Tommy out of his high chair. Tommy was squirming a lot, though, and screaming, so Hiei knew there would be no calming him down, especially not without changing his clothes. Tommy hated being messy.

"What's going on?" said Kurama, looking alarmed as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Just hold him!" said Hiei, holding out the baby for Kurama to take. He zipped all the way upstairs and back to grab a fresh onesie, quickly told Masaki he was in charge of the other three, and then he and Kurama hurried out of the dining room and into the living room, where they had a changing table for Tommy.

"What happened?" Kurama practically shouted over Tommy's crying, as they tried to get him out of his potato-covered onesie into the clean one.

"Natsumi threw some potatoes on Tommy," Hiei grumbled.

"Why?" said Kurama.

"How should I know?" Hiei shot back. "Who knows why our little fallen angel does anything?"

Despite the tenseness of the situation, Hiei got a little smile out of Kurama with that. Kurama had been referring to Natsumi as his "little angel," but once Yusuke heard it, he jokingly referred to her as a "fallen angel," and due to her troublemaking nature, Hiei thought the term fit.

Once Tommy was in a clean onesie, Hiei had to sit down on the couch with Tommy and comfort-feed him to get him to calm down. At ten months, Tommy was almost weaned, and he usually only drank Hiei's demon milk in the morning and in the night. But when he was upset, sometimes it was the only thing that would make him feel better.

"I suppose you want to know what that phone call was about," Kurama said, as Hiei tore off his shirt and got the baby to latch.

"Not particularly." The crying had finally stopped, and the silence was heavenly to Hiei.

"Well, you should, because it concerns you," Kurama told him. "I have a little surprise that might make you feel better."

"Nothing will make me feel better," Hiei mumbled, leaning his head back on the couch and closing his eyes. The milk letdown usually felt soothing, but it always made him sleepy, too.

"Nothing at all?" said Kurama. "Not even a vacation?"

"Vacation?" Hiei opened one eye in interest and turned to look at Kurama.

"Yes," said Kurama. "I was just on the phone with Botan. She was giving me permission to take Hana on the weeklong Christmas vacation I've planned for us—if you want to go, of course."

"It's all planned?" said Hiei, his heart lifting.

"Every detail." Kurama smiled. "You don't have to worry about a thing."

"I'm worried about Hana and Masaki being in the same hotel room for a week," said Hiei. The two of them had been a couple for almost two years now. As far as Hiei and Kurama knew, they hadn't done anything more than hold hands, but for now, that was how they hoped it would stay.

"We can rent two rooms with a connecting door," Kurama answered. "Hana can share one of them with Miyuki and Natsumi. If any of them need something, we'll be right next door with the boys. So you don't have to worry about that, either. Hana already knows about it, and she's just waiting for our go-ahead."

"Where are we going?" Hiei asked.

"Chicago," Kurama answered.

"And where the hell is that?"

"It's in the US," said Kurama. "Ever since I went on that business trip to New York nine years ago, I've always wanted to take you to the continental US. Chicago is a city, too."

"But you and Masaki are the only ones in our family who speak any English, and you're the only one who's fluent," Hiei pointed out.

"That should be enough," Kurama reassured him. "Remember all the times we've gone to Hawaii? That counts as the US, too, and we got along fine. This will be a good way for Masaki to practice English, and we can expose our younger children to it as well."

"I guess it's fine," said Hiei. "When are we going?"

"I've reserved tickets for Monday," said Kurama, "if that's not too soon—"

"It's not too soon," Hiei interrupted. It was Saturday evening, and now that he knew about the vacation, he suddenly couldn't wait to get out of here. "I'm fine with it. Why don't you go tell the others?"

"All right." Giving his husband another smile, Kurama stood up and headed for the dining room. Hiei looked down at Tommy and stroked the soft hair on his perfect little head. It was the same shade as Yukina's. Tommy looked a lot like a baby Yukina, in fact, just like Miyuki had, and he was just as cold.

"There's a big world waiting for you out there, Tommy," Hiei said quietly. "I just wish it was going to be easier on you."

Hiei and Kurama had been suspecting that Tommy was "different" in some way or another, and it made Hiei nervous, because he knew that the world could be cruel to people who weren't like everyone else. But Tommy looked content at the moment, and for now, that was enough.

…

Kurama left Hiei and Tommy in the living room and entered the dining room, where he encountered the rest of their "basketball team," as Shizuru put it. Natsumi had more food in her hair and on her face than she did in her stomach, probably, but other than that, things seemed a little calmer than they had been when Hiei left.

"Pack your bags!" Kurama said, instantly grabbing everyone's attention. "We're going on a vacation!"

"Vacasin!" Natsumi repeated, wiping some potato salad off her face with her finger and licking it.

"That's right, honey, vacation." Kurama picked his younger daughter out of her high chair and held her in his arms, then addressed the room at large. "I've got tickets to Chicago for our whole family so we can spend Christmas there. Hana is going along, too."

"She is?" said Masaki, as a little blush appeared in his cheeks.

"As long as you're all right with it," Kurama replied, keeping his tone cooler than cool.

"Oh…yeah, yeah, of course!" Masaki sounded like he didn't want to say anything that would change Kurama's mind. "When do we go?"

"Our plane takes off Monday afternoon, but we probably won't get there until Tuesday evening, since Chicago is far away," said Kurama. "Make sure you bring plenty of things to do on the flight, since it will be very long."

"I can get books at my school library," said Miyuki. "Good luck with the others, though."

"Less go now, Otou-san!" said Natsumi, tugging on a strand of Kurama's long red hair. It was the exact same shade as hers was, although his had a few gray strands. "I wanna go now."

Being three, Natsumi naturally didn't have the best concept of time, so it would be pointless to tell her they would be leaving in two days. At times like these, Kurama and Hiei would usually just humor her, because they knew she would forget in a matter of hours.

"Just as soon as Touchan and Otou-san finish getting ready," Kurama told her. "Do you remember what Otou-san has taught you about patience?"

"Mm-mm," said Natsumi cheerfully, her pigtails whipping back and forth as she shook her head.

"We don't always get what we want right away," Kurama explained. "But when we show good behavior while we wait, that's called patience."

"Pay-sins," said Natsumi.

"Right…patience." Kurama grinned. They had to have a lot to deal with these kids. "Now, let's all finish eating, all right?"

"Where's Touchan?" Masaki asked.

"Busy with Tommy," said Kurama. "He'll be in soon."

Dinner was over in another fifteen minutes. Miyuki started bringing the plates and glassware into the kitchen so Masaki could rinse them and run the dishwasher, and Ryu's job was to take off the things that weren't breakable, like the sippy cups and placemats. Natsumi was too little to help out, so Kurama held her on his knee while he delegated to the three oldest. Hiei staggered in with his shirt back on, sans Tommy, just as Ryu was bringing the tablecloth into the kitchen, all bundled up in his arms.

"Tommy's asleep in his living room bassinet," Hiei whispered. "Don't wake him up."

"I'm sleepy too, Otou-san," said Natsumi, leaning her head against Kurama's chest. "Will you tell me a story?"

"I can tell you one about a little princess who's trying to get out of taking a bath," said Kurama. "We can't have you going to bed covered in potato salad."

"Can I play with the shaving cream?" said Natsumi hopefully.

"Yes, you can play with the shaving cream, and we'll get you some bubbles, too," said Kurama with a laugh. "You can go on to bed, Hiei. I'll take care of everything tonight."

"Oh thank God," said Hiei, sounding exhausted by the world. "See you in the morning."

"See you in the morning," Kurama replied. "That's when we start packing."

As he headed up the stairs, Kurama's ears picked out a barely-audible groan.