Koorime Litter

Hi B here. Good news I've been promoted at my work and the best part is my new schedule is morning to evening. I'm a night writter, one of the reasons you haven't seem much new stuff from me these days. I use to close like four nights a week (was killing my creative side I tell you). Anyway hopefully you'll be seeing some new stuff soon, if nothing else going over these old fics is getting the creative juices flowing once more.

Once again special thanks to Kuroi for rereading this fic. God knows I couldn't do it to save my life. Thanks Kuroi!

Anyway thanks and enjoy

ja ne
b-chan AKA Saiaynb

Chapter 2: Who's Your Daddy?


Yukina hummed as she cooked breakfast. She tasted the miso soup and smiled to herself: just right. Wiping her hands on her apron she walked out of the kitchen towards Hiei’s room.

"Onii-chan!" called Yukina tapping on the door. No answer, was he still asleep? "Onii-chan, I’m coming in," called Yukina walking into his room. She gasped, eyes going wide. Hiei lay curled up in the center of the bed like an extra large house cat, completely naked, a bunch of small, round objects nestled against his flat stomach.

"Oh, no!" cried Yukina, hurrying over to him. She picked up one of the smooth round objects and looked it over. She began to count low to herself. "...seven, eight, nine!" she almost yelled the last number.

"Yukina, is that you I hear?" asked Kuwabara from the hall.

"Yes, hold on a minute!" she called back. She grabbed Hiei’s clothes and forced them on him as fast as she could, being careful not to disturb the round spheres too much.

She’d just finished when Kuwabara peeked in.

"Is he still in heat?" asked the carrot top in a wary tone.

"No," said Yukina, shaking her head. Kuwabara walked into the room and looked down at the sleeping fire demon.

"What are those?" he asked picking up one of the oval shapes.

"Careful!" shouted Yukina, taking it from him. She smiled fondly at the object and stroked it with her hand. "This might turn into our first nephew."

"What?!" shouted Kuwabara, eyes bugging out.

Yukina giggled and patted what Kuwabara now realized was an egg. "I wonder who the papa is? I didn’t know anyone was here last night." She stared at the bunch of eggs against Hiei’s stomach. "There are so many of them!"

Yukina gently placed the egg back with the rest and grabbed Kuwabara’s arm to drag him out of the room. "We should call the others and tell them," she smiled. "I’m going to need some help deciding what to do."

"What do you mean?" asked Kuwabara still shocked.

"Well, normally a Koorime only lays one to three eggs at a time. I’ve never heard of anyone having so many. If he keeps them all, Onii-chan probably won’t wake up till they hatch, because they’re taking ki from him to develop."

"Oh...." said Kuwabara. "So all we have to do it get the eggs away from him and nothing will happen?"

"No, not exactly. They have to be away from anything with a ki. If the eggs are given ki from another being, the babies will start to take on characteristics of the being they’re taking ki from. That way the Koorime could pass on desired characteristics from different members of their clan to their offspring. It’s also why all Koorime are said to be related. By giving a hatchling some ki, you become a kind of relative, or parent, to it."

"Wow, I see," said Kuwabara. "I’ll go call Yusuke and Kurama. Maybe I should try and get a hold of Botan," said Kuwabara scratching his cheek.

"I’m sure everyone wants to know the good news," she smiled.

"Okay, then I’ll call everyone," said Kuwabara moving towards the phone.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Yusuke walked down the street to Genkai’s temple wondering what exciting news Kuwabara wanted to tell him. He was feeling extra good this morning, after last night why wouldn't he?

He walked up the temple steps and took his shoes off at the front door.

"Here’s Yusuke!" said a voice from inside. "Now all we’re waiting for is Kurama."

"Could you get him on the phone yet?" asked Keiko, walking into his point of view.

"No, he’s not answering his phone," said Shizuru, also walking by.

Uh oh, Keiko, thought Yusuke watching her. He’d never told her he was gay; he hoped she didn’t suspect anything between him and his teammates. Then she’d really give him a beating!

Yusuke walked into the house and nearly jumped out of his skin when Botan popped up at his side. "Hi Yusuke!"

"B-botan!" shouted Yusuke from his place on the floor, finger pointed at the blue-haired ferry girl in classic Rei Gun pose. He got up and dusted himself off. "Is Koenma here as well?" he asked. He hadn’t seen the Prince of Death in awhile, besides when he gave them normal assignments.

The ferry girl shook her head. "No, sorry Yusuke, he’s way too busy with work."

"Ah, that’s okay," said Yusuke. He’d probably see the Godling soon enough. Koenma was always popping up on surprise visits.

Everyone was shocked when a slightly bed-ridden Kurama walked into the room from one of the guestrooms.

"Kurama?" said Botan. "When did you get here? We’ve all been waiting for you."

"Eh?" said the redhead in confusion, combing his hair with his fingers. "Er—I just got here," he laughed.

"Oh, I didn’t see you come in," said Botan.

Yusuke narrowed his eyes at Kurama. I’ll bet Kurama was here last night as well. Probably gave Hiei some really powerful super drug and that’s why he was so... energetic last night. Hmmm, he was going to have to ask the fox for some of that stuff.

"Is everyone here?" asked Yukina, stepping in from one of the guestroom.

"Yeah, Yukina. We’re all here now," called Kuwabara.

"Good," she smiled and held up an egg. "Then congratulate me, because I’m going to be an auntie."

Everyone was shocked into silence for a moment. Then Botan jumped up and ran over to Yukina. "That’s great!" she said hugging the Koorime. "So, who is Hiei’s girlfriend?"

Yusuke and Kurama fumed. "Girlfriend?!"

Yukina laughed and held up the egg to show Botan. "He doesn’t have one, this is Hiei’s egg. He laid it himself."

"What?!" shouted everyone but Yukina and Kuwabara, who already knew.

Yusuke and Kurama both exchanged glances. The same question was running through their head: whose is it? They both got up and ran over to Yukina to see the egg.

"I had you guys come over because I need some help in deciding for my Onii-chan how many he should keep," said Yukina.

"How many?" said Shizuru lifting an eyebrow.

Yukina nodded and walked into the guestroom Hiei was in. Everyone followed to see Hiei in the middle of the bed, curled up around a bunch of eggs.

Yusuke and Kurama sweat dropped.

"He’s got nine total," said Yukina, putting the one she held back down with the others. "I really don’t think Hiei wants nine babies, so how many should he keep?"

"Yukina I have a question," said Kuwabara.

"Yes," said Yukina.

"You told me that the babies would look like a combination of Hiei, and anyone that they feed ki off of before it hatched, right?"

"Yes," nodded Yukina.

"Well, if he keeps them all next to him like that, will they all be like him?" A terrible image formed in Kuwabara’s head of nine mini Hieis insulting, burning, and biting him. A large sweat drop ran down the side of his head.

Yukina smiled. "Yes, they would all be like him, or different versions of him."

"We’ve got to get those eggs away from him now!" said Kuwabara.

"We shouldn’t take them all." Protested Yukina.

"Why not?" asked Yusuke.

"Yeah, it might be better if he doesn’t keep this first batch and decides ahead of time how many he wanted when he’s had some more," said Kurama.

"That might be true Kurama, but Koorime only get pregnant one day every one hundred years."

"What?!" shouted the group.

"If Hiei doesn’t keep any of these eggs, he’ll have to wait another one hundred years to have some more.

"One hundred years!" said both Yusuke and Kurama. Their minds stared to work in the same direction.

Kurama: If I wait for the next batch I won’t have my human body any more. He embraces himself. And I kind of like this body; our kids would look so cute if they were a combination of Shuiichi and Hiei. He looked longingly at the bunch of eggs.

Yusuke: one hundred years! That’s way too damn long to wait! I’ll probably be living in the Makai by then. I want to have kids in the Ningenkai; take them to school, drop them off at baseball games, brag about how my kid can beat up any other father’s kid. Yusuke smiled widely to himself and locked his gaze on the cluster of round, white eggs.

"Only one day, in every one hundred years!" cried Kuwabara. "Yukina when is your time to do that?!"

The ice maiden looked apologetically at her husband. "Sorry, Kazuma. I already had mine."

The carrot-top’s mouth dropped. He couldn’t have children with Yukina?! "NOOOOO!" he cried, raising up his arm and bawled into it.

"Oh, Kazuma," said Yukina, going over to him. "I’m sorry," she said, patting his back.

"Hey, maybe Hiei will give you one or two of his!" chirped Botan.

"Have kids with the Shrimp!" cried Kuwabara.

"Well, they are twins. Koorime are suppose to all be similar, how different can a brother and sister be anyway?"

"Very," said Shizuru in a flat voice off to the side.

Kuwabara gave Botan a look that spoke volumes about how much he agreed with his sister. The blue-haired ferry girl just laughed and waved it off. "You just have to make sure they drain more of your and Yukina’s ki then Hiei's," she laughed.

"Botan!" shouted Yusuke and Kurama, starting to get protective of the eggs. Yusuke at his point had convinced himself they were his, as well as Kurama, who'd been testing out the title, Kurama papa in his head to see if he liked it, was fairly sure he deserved that title.

The girl stuck out her tongue in a cute jest.

Kuwabara got a thoughtful look on his face, which he quickly masked. He eyed the cluster of eggs the wheels in his head began to turn. "Say, Yukina. Just how do you hatch one of these eggs?"

"Well, Hiei will do it with his ki. After forty-eight hours of drinking in ki from Onii-chan and anyone else nearby they should be ready to hatch. They have to be by him when they start to hatch or they won’t have the strength to do it. It’s also best if he’s the first person they see so they know he’s their mother."

"I personally don’t think Hiei’s ready to have kids," said Shizuru blowing a smoke ring.

"Ah!" shouted both Yusuke and Kurama. Yusuke grabbed her arm holding the cigarette and Kurama snatched it from her to grind it into the ground.

"Not around Hiei and the eggs!" said Yusuke.

"What?" said Shizuru. "Hiei’s a fire demon and they’re eggs, what could it do to them?"

"You never know," said Kurama.

"Fine, I won’t smoke around them," she huffed. She turned to go outside. "I still think Hiei doesn’t want to have kids right now," she said before leaving.

"Maybe she’s right," said Yukina looking at the bunch of eggs. "He wasn’t suppose to have any, he was staying here to avoid this."

Yusuke and Kurama exchanged looks. So that was why Hiei told them to stay away.

"You’re right!" said Yusuke, going over to Hiei and picking up two eggs. "I’ll bet he doesn’t want any kids. I’ll just get rid of these for you."

"Yusuke what are you doing?" asked Keiko raising an eyebrow at him.

The raven-haired teen laughed nervously and then ran out of the house with the two eggs.

"Yusuke! You come back here with those eggs! What are you doing?!" she shouted running after him.

While everyone was looking at Yusuke, Kurama snuck over to the cluster and pocketed two eggs without anyone noticing. He wasn’t the best thief in the Makai for nothing.

"Well, it’s great that Hiei’s going to be a daddy," said Kurama moving to leave. "I’ve got some things to do today, so I’ll check back later when they start to hatch." Kurama walked casually out of the room.

Yukina blinked and looked down at the cluster of eggs. "Kazuma? How many eggs did Yusuke take?"

"Two, I think," said the carrot-top. "Why?"

"Because, now there’s only five left," she said, pointing at the eggs.

"What?!" shouted Kuwabara, leaning over to see that there were indeed only five now.

Botan pulled out her oar and hopped on it. "I better tell Koenma the good news," she chirped. "Bye you guys," she waved before flying out the window.

Yukina looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh my, it’s almost lunch time. I’ll go make something," she smiled before going out of the room.

Kuwabara glanced around and picked up two of the eggs, putting them in his breast pocket. "Thank you Hiei, I won’t forget this," he said bowing apologetically to the sleeping fire demon before leaving the room.

The fire demon frowned in his slumber and cuddled tighter around his rapidly disappearing nest of eggs. One hand wrapped around one of the eggs protectively, holding it close to him. The hand that held the egg just happened to be the one with the Kokuryuu on it. No one noticed as a tiny, black fire dragon peeked out from under the bandage about Hiei’s arm. The dragon smiled with delight as it wrapped around the egg, stroking the smooth surface with it fiery tail. It purred softy with Hiei as it rested its head on the white surface.

They aren’t going to get his one, thought the Kokuryuu to itself. It's mine!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Koenma was stamping away on a bunch of documents, bored off his rocker. Day, after day, after day, he did this. What he wouldn't give to have his own son to slave for him like he did for his father.

"Koenma-sama!" shouted Botan, flying into the room.

Koenma clamped a hand down on the papers on his desk as the wind created by the flying girl threatened to blow them everywhere. "Botan!" shouted Koenma.

"Oops," said the girl, landing and putting her oar back into hammer space. "Koenma-sama! I have great news!" shouted the ferry girl.

"What could possible be so great?" grumbled Koenma, picking up his stamp again.

"It’s Hiei! He’s going to be a daddy!"

Koenma missed the paper he was aiming for and stamped his own hand. "What?!"

"I know. Isn’t it great! He laid nine eggs last night and they’ll hatch in two days! Well the ones that are brought back to him at the end of two days. They won’t hatch unless they’re next to him. Ohh! I’m so excited! I wonder if Yusuke plans on hatching the ones he took. Oh, a baby that’s a mix between Hiei and Yusuke’s got to be trouble," she giggled.

"What?! Calm down and explain this to me!" shouted Koenma.

Botan told him the whole story.

"Hmm," hummed Koenma, rubbing his chin. Could he be the father?! He'd been with Hiei last night. He was a daddy! He felt so proud all of a sudden. Wait a minute! If he didn’t get one those eggs and let it drain ki from him they won’t look anything like him! Not to mention it sounded like they were going to throw some of the eggs away! Ahh! He had to get one before they did!

"Botan! I’m going to take a little break!" shouted the chibi Godling, running out of the room. As he ran he changed to his adult form.

"Eh?" said Botan watching him go. "What’s the big hurry?"

* * * * * * * * * * *

Kuwabara was making faces at his eggs, like they were already babies that he could entertain. Well, practice does make perfect, they say.

"You’re such cute little eggs aren’t you," he said, patting them. "You’re going to be just like Yukina and me. No, being like Hiei now," he said waving a finger at them. "You’ll be cute and sweet like Yukina and brave and handsome like me," he smiled down at the two eggs.

Just then he heard a knock on the door.

"Kazuma!" shouted Yukina from the kitchen. "Could you get that, please?"

"Um, sure!" shouted back Kuwabara scooping up the two eggs and sticking them back in his breast pocket. He walked over to the front door and opened it to see Koenma of all people. "Koenma?! What are you doing here?"

"Me?" said Koenma pointing to himself. "Oh, I just stopped by to see how you and Yukina were doing. I haven’t had much time to talk to you two."

"Oh," said Kuwabara letting him in.

"Who is it?" asked Yukina from the kitchen.

"It’s Koenma," called back Kuwabara.

"Oh," smiled Yukina stepping out to see her guest. "Koenma-san. It’s nice to see you. Would you like some tea?"

"Um, sure," said Koenma.

"Then I’ll go make some," said Yukina, disappearing back into the kitchen.

"So Koenma, what have you been up to lately?" asked Kuwabara, slapping him on the back.

"Oh, nothing much. Could you excuse me, I need to use the bathroom?" said the God, running off before Kuwabara could answer.

Koenma peeked into the guestrooms, looking for the one Hiei was in. A wide smiled crossed his face when he spotted the figure in black curled up on a bed. He stepped into the room, walked over to the bed, and looked down at Hiei and his eggs. Man, thought Koenma. Good thing I got here when I did. He could only see two eggs left. He patted Hiei’s spiky hair and picked up an egg with the other.

"Don’t worry Hiei-chan, I’ll take good care of it," promised the God holding up the egg. He smiled widely at it and rubbed his cheek against it. "My first baby," he said while cuddling it.

"Koenma?" questioned a voice.

Koenma jumped and quickly stuck the egg in his pocket before turning to see Yukina in the doorway.

"Oh, Koenma, I’ve got some coffee cake if you’d like some," said Yukina, holding up a tray with tea and cakes on it.

"Oh, I’d love some Yukina, but I really must be leaving."

"Already? But, you just got here," said the ice maiden.

"I’m sorry," he said patting her head. "But I’ve got work to do back at the office. You understand, right?" Yukina was going to say something, but Koenma cut her off. "Oh, look at the time! Got to go!" shouted the God, running out of the house.

Yukina blinked her red eyes in confusion.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Yusuke ran down the street, Keiko right behind him.

"Yusuke! You give me those eggs right now! Is there some thing you’re not telling me?!" she shouted.

Yusuke gulped and ran faster. He couldn’t let Keiko know about his and Hiei’s relationship, let alone the others. She’d kill him. He laughed as he looked at the two eggs in his hands. "When you’re old enough, I’m going to teach you two to kick ass," he grinned.

"Yusuke!" shouted Keiko.

"Eek!" squeaked Yusuke, running faster. "You also need to be able to run when it counts," said Yusuke putting the eggs in his pocket and kicking up the speed a notch.

"Yusuke, you come here right this minute!" shouted Keiko, waving her arms.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Kurama smiled down at his two eggs as he gently put them down in a little nest of vines he had constructed. He felt them to make sure they were warm enough, checked lighting, draft, humidity; his kids were going to be perfect. Smiling Kurama petted his eggs. He tried to picture what they would look like: Hiei with flaming red hair and green eyes, or himself with long black hair and red eyes. Hmmm, he wasn’t sure just what the kids would look like.

"But, you’re going to be cute when you hatch," grinned Kurama tapping one egg with his fingernail. "I’d better treasure you two; Hiei’s probably going to be pissed when he wakes up. I doubt he’ll ever let me near him again when he’s in heat."

The fox got a sad look on his face. "If he won’t let me near him when he’s in heat again, then I’ll never have any kids with him that look like me as a Youko."

He looked down at the eggs and scratched his chin. "Hmmm." He picked up one egg and separated it from the other. He made another little nest and settled it in. He grinned widely as he changed to his Youko aspect and curled around one egg. He set his timer for two hours. In two hours he’d change back to Shuiichi and do the same with the other egg, that way he’d have one that looked like Shuiichi and Hiei and one that looked like Youko and Hiei. He smiled at his own genius.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Yukina glanced over her shoulder at her husband; he was acting strange. It seemed he was hovering over her shoulder more then usual, really hovering.

"Kazuma? Is there something you want?" asked Yukina.

"Um, no I’m fine," smiled Kuwabara with his hands behind his back.

"Are you sure?" asked Yukina.

He nodded his head wildly.

"Okay," said Yukina, bending over to take some fresh bread out of the oven. Once her back was turned Kuwabara pulled his hands out from behind him, in each was one of the eggs. He held them close to the Koorime. Absorb Yukina’s ki, absorb Yukina’s ki, he mentally commanded them.

He had to keep hiding them behind his back as the ice maiden kept looking over her shoulder at him. Kuwabara continued to follow his wife around the house with the two eggs.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Yusuke turned a sharp corner, then another, then another, and another, till he’d gone in a complete circle around a tall building.

"There," he laughed to his eggs. "We’ve lost her for sure," he whispered to them. Yusuke skidded to a halt as he almost ran into Keiko who was waiting for him with arms crossed.

"Woe!" said Yusuke, evading her grasp and running off.

"This isn’t funny, Yusuke! Come back here right now!"

"It’s good to always think ahead, you have to learn to have a backup plan," he told the two eggs running into a mall.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Koenma was showing his egg around his office. "And, this is my desk, which may someday be yours," he told the egg. He picked up the stamp and stamped a paper. "You see it’s not hard at all, all you have to do is read these papers and stamp them like this," he said, demonstrating again for the egg.

"You’ll like this job, you get to give orders and yell at onis as much as you like. If you’re good and work really hard, I’ll give you more vacations and breaks than my father ever did me." Koenma swung his chair around and leaned back. With one hand he petted the egg in his lap, with the other hand he picked up a remote and pressed a few buttons.

"And, this? This is my viewing monitor. It lets me see whatever I like. I can get the latest info on the three worlds, check up on my tantei, watch them do battle, even get current stock info," he said while flipping through different channels on the TV. "With his little device I can watch your mother and uncles Kurama and Yusuke making love without them even knowing. Oops, you’re a little too young to hear that," said Koenma clapping his hands on either side of the egg.

Koenma continued to flip through the channels till he came across Yusuke running from Keiko with two eggs in his hands. Koenma frown and changed the channel to see Kurama as a Youko curled around one egg another sitting on his desk.

"What?! How come they both got two and I only got one!" shouted Koenma, waving the remote. "I want another one!" he swung his chair around to face the door. "Botan!" he shouted.

A moment later Botan appeared in his office with a soul sitting on the back of her oar. "What is it Koenma, I’m kind of busy?"

"I want you to go to the Ningenkai and fetch me one of Hiei’s eggs," barked Koenma.

"What?! Why?! Can’t you ask someone else to get it for you, I’ve got so much work to do. At this rate I’m going to be working all today and tomorrow non-stop."

"Don’t argue with me!" shouted Koenma. "I said I wanted you to get one of those eggs, so go get it!"

"Hai, Koenma-sama! I’ll get it to you as soon as I can," she said flying out of the room with a confused soul behind her.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Botan dove down toward the ground and squealed in delight as she spun her oar in circles. "I love to fly!" she sang. She glanced back to see she still had that soul with her. "Oops! I forgot about you!" she said flying slower.

The soul’s face was stuck in a mute scream of fear and seemed to have a death (grin) grip on her oar.

"I’ll drop you off at your new body after I get the egg," she chirped and flew over to Genkai’s temple.

She landed and hopped off her oar. "Now you be a good soul and just wait here," she said before running over to the guest room window that Hiei was in.

"Hell with that!" shouted the soul, jumping off the oar. "I’m out of here!" He said running away.

Botan wiggled into the room through the window and fell on her face as she slid all the way in. She got up and dusted off her kimono. "Lets see, where’s one of those eggs?" she said looking around Hiei. "Ah ha!" she said, finding one and picking it up. "Boy, is this the last one?" she asked looking around for the others. "Um, I wonder where the others are?" she said scratching her head.

"Oh well! I’ll just drop that soul off and then give you to Koenma when I go to get the next soul to deliver." She went over to the window and climbed out, falling on the ground again. She made sure that she didn’t crush the eggs on her descent.

"Woe!" said Botan, standing up and looking at the egg. She glanced over at her oar and gasped in shock; the soul was gone!

"Soul! Hey, Mr. Soul! Where are you!" she shouted, looking around. "This is no time for games; you're already late for being born, you’re putting your new mother through a very long labor!" she shouted.

No answer.

"Ah! Great!" she said, tucking the egg into her kimono. She hopped onto her oar to go look for the soul.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Yusuke finally lost Keiko by ducking into a movie theater. He grinned to himself as he sat down in front of the big screen, cradling the two eggs in his hands.

"We’ll just watch a nice movie, like a family," he said, cuddling the eggs. The people around him gave him odd looks.

The movie started and Yusuke wondered if perhaps he should have waited for another movie, one that wasn’t rated R.

He shrugged and enjoyed the blood and gore.

* * * * * * * * * * *



Kurama yawned; it was incredibly tiring just sitting around doing nothing. He got up and changed forms again to his human one, resetting his alarm. It was getting pretty late.

"How should I do this when I’m asleep?" said Kurama out loud. He could just keep waking up every two hours. Of course, that would probably leave him exhausted in the morning.

What’s more important? Your kids or one night of sleep?

"My kids!" said Kurama, curling around the little egg. "Hmm, just how am I going to explain them to mother?"

He’d moved out a couple years back and now had his own place, but his mother was always showing up to see how he was doing. To her he was still her little boy. "And, soon I’m going to have my own little boy, or girl, or maybe one of each," said Kurama looking at the two eggs. "I’m sure Shiori will love them no matter what they look like. Although, it might be a little hard to explain if they have fox ears and tails," said Kurama rubbing his chin. "I’ll just have to teach them to use illusions to hide any ears or tails." A simple trick, all foxes could do it. Back in ancient Japan, when security between the demon world and human world hadn't been so tight, Youko would disguise themselves as humans to have a bit of fun playing tricks on the natives.

"I wonder if I can get Hiei to dress up and pretend to be a girl so I can show him to mom." He giggled at the thought of his little spit fire in a dress with ribbons in his hair. Hiei would kill him for just having that thought, let alone asking him to perform such a favor. Oh well, he’d think of something.

Kurama yawned and laid his head down, closing his eyes. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow when they hatched.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Yusuke walked home talking to his two eggs, telling them all the fun stuff they were going to do when they hatched. He pulled out his keys and opened the door to his apartment.

"Ew!" said Yusuke, plugging his nose at the powerful smell of liquor. He walked into the apartment and Puu greeted him cooing, "Puu, puu." He grinned up at the blue phoenix as it landed on his head. He held up his two eggs to show the bird. "Look Puu, we’re going to be dads soon," he said.

"Puu, puu!" cried the bird, looking down at the eggs.

Yusuke walked into the living room to find the source of the smell: his mother sat on the couch watching TV, a bottle of alcohol in one hand, a remote in the other.

"Mom!" said Yusuke. "What are you doing here, your apartment’s in that direction!" said Yusuke, pointing down the street.

"My house,* hic* yours.... What’s the difference?" she slurred.

Yusuke slapped his face. "Mom, you can stay the night, but tomorrow you have to go home, hangover or not. I’m really busy right now."

"Sure, whatever," said Atsuko, waving her hand at him.

Yusuke sighed and went to his bedroom. He cleared off his bed, put his two eggs in a small box with some tissue paper in it, and lay down with them. Puu hopped down to nestle against him and the box, looking curiously at the eggs.

Yusuke yawned and loosely curled around the box. "And, when I turn into a annoying drunk, you two are going to be the ones that put up with me," he muttered to them before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Kuwabara climbed into bed with Yukina and pulled the ice maiden into a hug.

"Kazuma?" asked Yukina. "Are you okay? You’ve been acting really strange today."

"I’m fine Yukina," smiled Kuwabara.

"You’re not still afraid of Onii-chan, are you? He’s not in heat any more."

Kuwabara laughed weakly. "No, it’s not that. In fact, I’ve decided to be nicer to your brother from now on."

"Really?!" said Yukina in a delighted voice. "That’s great!" she hugged him tighter. Kuwabara pulled back a little and patted his nightshirt pocket, just to make sure.

"So what made you decide to become friends with him all of a sudden?" asked Yukina with an innocent smile.

"Um...." said Kuwabara , not sure what to say. Because I want him to give me his kids? No, he couldn’t say that. "I’ve just got a really big favor to ask him when he wakes up."

"Oh," said Yukina, curling up against him. "Well, I’m glad. I’ve always wanted me, you, and Onii-chan to be a family," she said, closing her eyes.

Kuwabara smiled and petted her hair. "Don’t worry Yukina by tomorrow night we’ll all be one big happy family," he said.

Yukina sighed and was soon asleep. Once Kuwabara was sure she was asleep he pulled out the eggs and held them in front of her. Absorb Yukina’s ki, absorb Yukina’s ki, he mentally commanded the eggs.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Botan sighed in frustration, she’d finally caught the runaway soul and led him to his new body after an exhausting chase and now she was busy ferrying souls to and from the Reikai to the Ningenkai.

She scratched her chin in thought. "You know I could have sworn I was suppose to do something else," she said absent-mindedly to the soul she was ferrying.

"But, I can’t remember what it is any more," she said, sticking out her tongue. "Oh, well, maybe I’ll remember later," she said, flying faster.

The poor soul unfortunate enough to get her as a guide 'eeped' and held on tighter to the oar, wondering if it would die again if it fell off.