Chapter 2: The Official Start

Weeks later, graduation finally came. Yuki had been looking forward to this day ever since she started school thirteen years ago. At the ceremony, as she went up to receive her diploma, Yuki began to feel a twinge in her stomach. She decided that this was just nervousness and made it through the procedure naturally. She saw her mother in the audience with tears of happiness running down her face. Ame was unable to show up, but Yuki expected this; she knew that he would be waiting to congratulate her back at home anyways. When she regained her seat, she watched as Sōhei received his diploma, thinking happily about how they finished secondary school as an official couple. After the speeches from the principal and others, the ceremony concluded. Yuki went through the building to briefly have a celebratory chat with her friends and teachers. She then met up with Sōhei, who said he wouldn't be available later tonight due to needing to celebrate with both of his divorced parents separately. Yuki didn't mind this, knowing the two of them could easily get in touch later. The two of them gave each other a small peck on the cheek before they separated. After that, Yuki finally got back with Hana to head back home.

On the bus back to the farmlands, Yuki and Hana had a conversation about several things on each of their minds.

"Well, you've finally made it!" Hana congratulated her daughter.

"Yeah, I'm as amazed as you are." Yuki replied. "How have things been back home?"

"Just getting the fields ready for the first crop of the season. Ame has been helping when he can and has also continued to provide some of the wild game he hunted." Hana answered back.

"Well, that's a good thing; it at least shows he still cares after all these years." Yuki replied.

"What do you plan to do next?" Hana asked.

Yuki paused for a moment. "Still unsure about that. I was hoping you could guide me through that." She then started to feel a bit dizzy, and Hana took notice of that.

"Are you alright?" Hana worryingly asked her. "You look a bit dazed; you've never had any problems before on the bus."

"I... I'm alright, at least I think so." Yuki responded, unsure of herself.

##

After the hour-long bus ride, Hana and Yuki finally made it back home. Yuki rushed in, hoping Ame would be there, and sure enough, he was waiting in the living room in his human form. When the two made eye contact, they each ran up to each other and fell into their open arms.

"Congratulations, sis," Ame happily greeted her sister. "Sorry I couldn't attend the ceremony, but you know me."

"Thanks, bro." Yuki chuckled back.

"So are you ready to run around again?" Ame asked.

"I don't know," Yuki stated. "I haven't been feeling all that well today. I don't know what it is, but hopefully I'll feel better soon."

Ame comforted his sister, "Well, I'll be staying until after dinner, so we'll see how you're doing before then."

Yuki then sat down, hoping her condition would improve. However, it got closer to dinner, and she still wasn't feeling any better. Aside from the dizziness and upset stomach, she was now feeling nauseous. Suddenly, she felt like something was going to come out any moment, so she rushed over to the toilet and spewed out vomit. Hana immediately took notice of this.

"Yuki!" she called out. "Are you alright?"

After she was done vomiting, Yuki weakly responded. "I... I think now I am."

Ame was called to attention to this. "What exactly have you gotten to make you feel like this?"

Hana suddenly remembered that she had experienced symptoms like this herself before.

"Yuki, I'm afraid I know what you're experiencing: it's morning sickness."

"Morning sickness?" Yuki frighteningly responded. "You... you don't mean that I'm..."

"Who was it with?" Ame demanded to know. "It better have been Sōhei."

"He was the only one," Yuki answered. "We decided to do this for the first time weeks ago during the full moon, just to officially prove our love."

"Well, as long as it's him, I'm okay; I trust him, at least for now." Hana spoke. "We better call him so that he knows about this."

"He's seeing both of his parents separately tonight; I don't think he'll be available." Yuki said back.

"We'll call him first thing in the morning then." Hana assured her daughter. "It's important that he knows as soon as possible."

Dinner was soon ready, with Hana making kushiyaki dipped in tare. Yuki, still feeling a little under the weather, only had a small bit of it. After dinner, Ame left to continue his rounds as guardian. Yuki decided to call it a night early so that she could ease off the sickness. She ended up throwing up some more an hour into her bedtime and then struggled to fall asleep. Later, after Hana had gone to bed, Yuki heard noises coming up to her bedroom door. This made her uneasy stomach quiver. As the door opened, she soon saw the silhouette of a wolf, and as it got closer, she easily recognized the familiar navy mane it had.

"Ame?" Yuki said, now feeling calmer. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry to disturb your sleep, sis," Ame responded. "I just couldn't stop thinking about you."

"I was having a hard time sleeping anyway." Yuki said back. "I'm more concerned about you abandoning your role for me."

"I have every right to do so," Ame replied. "You're not just my sister; you're my pack, even if you're not always with me."

Yuki felt aglow with warmth at that statement. Even after all this time, her brother still thought of her as of great importance.

Ame continued, "I guess I just felt bad that we couldn't do our thing like we usually have done this time; I was hoping you felt that way too."

"I wasn't thinking that it mattered to you all that much." Yuki replied.

"I just want to make you happy," Ame stated. "I thought that since you weren't in the mood for running around, I could at least provide you comfort tonight."

"Honestly, it's already comforting to know that you still care." Yuki said with a smile.

Ame smiled back with a slight embarrassed look. "I guess I could say the same thing, but of course, that really doesn't mean there's a limit to how much one can have."

Yuki then switched her face to one of a wolf and nuzzled her brother, who gave one back.

Later that night, Hana had to get out of bed for some business to take care of. After that was done, she went to check on Yuki, as she was concerned the recent shock would leave her restless. When she looked into the bedroom, however, she instead saw two wolves cuddled up with each other, sleeping soundly. She felt relieved at the sight of her two children giving each other their warmth, and knowing that her son was willing to put aside his duties to help his sister was enough to give her a warm feeling too. To silently show her appreciation, she quietly walked over to the two of them and gently petted both of their heads. This made the two smile in their sleep, and Hana silently smiled right back as she let the two continue to slumber peacefully.

##

The next morning, Yuki woke up still in her wolf form. She realized Ame had already left, most likely so he could get to hunting. Since she remembered that her mom was going to call Sōhei first thing in the morning, she knew she had to be ready to face him when he would get to the farm. She found her pink dress that she would wear at home and changed back into human form with her in it. She then headed to the living room, where her mom was waiting.

"I've already called Sōhei, and he's on his way here as we speak," Hana said to her. "Are you sure he's going to be alright with this?"

"He has cared for me for several years; I hope he will." Yuki replied back. She then remembered a gentle feeling she had while sleeping last night and decided to bring it up, "You came into my room last night, didn't you? It was your hand I felt touch my head, wasn't it?"

Hana smiled back, "No matter how much the two of you have matured, you'll always still be precious pups to me."

Yuki's heart felt warm again after hearing that endearing term. Of course, she was unsure if Ame would react the same way.

Half an hour later, the bus came up nearby, and Sōhei stepped off it; he then made his way to the front door.

"Good you could make it here, Sōhei," Hana welcomed him. "She's in the living room."

"I hope everything's okay, miss." Sōhei said as he entered the house. He then spotted Yuki and went over to where she was sitting to talk directly to her. "Yuki, what's wrong? I was told to come right over because you had something to tell me."

Yuki hesitated to speak, still nervous about the reaction.

"Go on, tell him." Hana told her. "We can easily explain this."

Yuki looked at Sōhei nervously and finally said something. "Sōhei, I'm sorry you had to get roped up in this. I don't know how else to put it, so I'll have to say it straight." She paused for a few seconds, then quickly exclaimed the truth, "You're going to be a father!"

Sōhei silently gasped and stared at Yuki, who immediately looked down with tears running down her face. After reacting for a few seconds, he finally spoke up calmly to her: "Oh, Yuki, please don't cry; this should be exciting for you."

Yuki looked back up at him. "But I never planned for this to happen! I thought we would both be going off to college before we took this major step." She started to break down some more. "Besides, what would your parents say?! I already have a rocky history with them!"

"My father should be able to take this news easily if I tell him since I've already told him about our relationship," Sōhei assured her. "As for my mother, well, she only cares more for her current family now to really bother."

"Your father still doesn't know the real truth about me!" Yuki exclaimed back. "Our child would most likely have my gift passed down, and we can't let him or anybody else know that!"

"That's the one thing we won't tell him." Sōhei told. "I've been with you long enough to know how to keep that all under wraps, and I won't let that get out." He then wrapped his arms around her, and she started to calm down. "I'll be with you to the end for this; I'm excited, and so should you."

"The same here," Hana added. "I've already raised two wolf children; I know how to help you through this."

Yuki's expression turned from tearful to glowing at both of their statements; she then put her own arms around Sōhei.

"I love you, Yuki." Sōhei said to her as they both squeezed each other tighter, smiling with their eyes closed.

As Hana watched the two of them embrace each other happily, she then saw Ame appear outside the front door with some freshly hunted pheasants. He then looked in on the scene as Hana went over to the threshold.

"Looks like everything went fine," he said to her.

"Yes, much better than she thought it'd be." Hana said back.

Ame gave a light smile. "Good, I'll let them have their moment in peace." He then left back towards his den.

Hana was glad her son was content with everything, yet she seemed to detect some other emotion in his actions. What that was, she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

##

For nearly the entirety of Yuki's maternity, Sōhei remained on the farm to be supportive of her and to help out with farming. Hana knew from her own experience that her daughter needed plenty of bed rest, so she made sure she remained taken care of and off duty from farm work. At the start of this time, Yuki decided to show Sōhei the contents of her lock box she kept in her dorm room from school. Inside she showed off photos from home that were both from childhood and school breaks back home, kept hidden due to the fact they featured both her and Ame in wolf form. This was the first time Sōhei saw what the two siblings looked like as pups, and he thought they were the most adorable things. The box also had the stuffed wolf doll that Hana made in her daughter's image back when she was a toddler, and the two thought it might be good to pass down. Sōhei's father dropped by the farm a couple of times to properly have conversations with Yuki about what was coming; any inklings to the truth about her were hidden away at that time, and Ame was smart enough to stay away. At the start of the third trimester, one day while Hana was out, Yuki noticed some papers on her mother's desk that looked suspicious. She leafed through them, and they seemed to involve real estate. She wasn't sure what this meant and was thoroughly concerned about it, but she didn't bother to ask.

At the beginning of December, Yuki finally started to go into labor. Hana used her knowledge from her own experience to help deliver, and Sōhei helped out. After a couple of hours, the baby finally came out and was revealed to be a beautiful, healthy girl. Yuki held her newborn in her arms as Sōhei sat down next to her in bed, both admiring the precious thing they created. Yuki decided to let Sōhei name her and decided on Izumi.

"I've always found that name to be pretty, just like you, dear." Sōhei adoringly said to Yuki.

"I just hope she matches it." Yuki said back. "Of course, should she discover her wolf self, I don't know how we're going to deal with it."

"I think you two will do fine here." Hana said to them both.

"What do you mean by that?" questioned Yuki.

"I know you saw the papers on my desk," Hana answered. "I've planned this out months in advance, and I think it's time for ownership of this farm to be passed down."

Yuki and Sōhei just remained silent in shock.

"I'll be moving back into the city while you can raise your family here," Hana continued. "You have plenty of experience here, and I have faith you can keep this going for generations to come."

Yuki had a look of concern on her face. "But I thought you'd be here for all the steps in early childhood."

Hana placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You can come to me whenever you need help, but I think it's only fair that I shouldn't do everything. I had to raise my two children all by myself, and while it wasn't easy, I was able to make it through."

Yuki thought about this, and Sōhei reassured her that he'd be with her every step of the way. She then smiled back at her mother, "Thanks, Mom, for everything."

The three then went back to admiring the newborn Izumi. While that was happening, from outside, Ame was watching them through the bedroom window. While he initially had a smile on his face, it soon turned into a small frown while hanging his head low. What exactly he was feeling, he was unsure of, but he wasn't feeling up to being part of the ceremonious occasion.