FINDING MY WAY HOME

Hey all. I’m trying not to rush things, so this is a little filler chapter of Kurama with his moms. LOL. This has been a pretty peaceful story. Not much in the bad guy and fighting department. There will be a bit more drama though, so hopefully this story isn’t too boring. I’m thinking the girls should throw Kurama a baby shower first though. J Oh well, hope you enjoy and please leave a review.

Chapter 20

The next two days were great. I told my mom about my life, my death, my rebirth as a human and how I regained my Youko powers and form. I told her about my love for Kuronue and how devastated I was by his loss. She heard about how Hiei and I met and became partners, then lovers and mates. She learned about Shiori and my life in the Ningenkai.

In turn she filled me in on my Youko family and friends. We talked about my brother Royce and had a good cry together over his loss. We even talked about my dad. When we were with Hiei and Mukuro, they told her about life in Makai outside Youko territory. Fascinated, my mom can’t wait to continue her journey through the outside world and beyond.

When we finally pass through the portal to the Ningenkai her eyes are wide with excitement. “Oh my, look at the sky, it’s blue.”

When I see her nose wrinkle I chuckle. “Don’t worry Mom, you’ll get used to the smell.”

Anxious to introduce her to everyone, I take her hand and pull her along. “Hiei Koi, can you go let them know we’re back?”

Wide eyed, my mom giggles as Hiei flits away. “Youko are fast, but nothing like that.”

I grin. “Maybe some day you’ll get to see him fight. Now that’s impressive.”

When we get to the temple, everyone is waiting. After introductions are made, Yukina came forward. “Iris, this is wonderful. You’ll be able to answer our questions and maybe even help when Kurama delivers.”

My mom’s smile grew. “I’m so excited about this baby. I was beginning to think I would never have grandchildren.”

Nervously, I correct her. “Grandchild Mom, not children.”

She laughed. “Yes, yes, so you say. Once you have one though, you’ll want another. You can’t have more than two though. Males do fine with two, but more and you risk the hormones affecting your… um… masculinity. The hormones can begin to negate and even reverse the work you did when you chose to be a male.”

Wide eyed, I look at Hiei. “Did you hear that Hiei? Enjoy this one because it will be your one and only from me!”

Everyone laughed. After that we tell Yukina all we had learned from Jasper. When we finish, my mom looks at me. “Yoko, do you have any other questions that Jasper didn’t answer?”

I give Yusuke a glare before nodding. “Mom, how am I supposed to feed this baby? I don’t have… the right equipment.”

When Yusuke opens his mouth, Keiko slaps the back of his head, silencing him. My mom snickers as she answers. “You don’t need to be embarrassed Kit. I promise, you won’t grow breasts. As for feeding the baby, you won’t be able to nurse it, so you’ll have to find a wet nurse or some other means to feed the baby.”

Seeing the concern in my eyes, Keiko smiles. “Don’t worry Kurama. Baby formula will do just fine. Demon babies grow so fast, I have to use it to supplement when I don’t have enough breast milk.”

I sigh, relieved both that I won’t have to nurse and that the baby will be taken care of. “Yukina, what about what Jasper said about the possibility of the baby being premature if it’s not Youko?”

She frowns. “I was just thinking about that. There is a doctor that works at the hospital that I think we should consult with. He studied under Genkai many years ago and has been treating demons since before the unification. I also don’t think you should deliver here, that would be too far from help should we need it. We’ll plan for your apartment but have the hospital as a back up plan.”

I nod. “He was also concerned about how my human body would tolerate carrying a child since human males can’t bare children.”

Moving closer, she placed her hands over my abdomen. “I saw no problem before, but change and I’ll have a look.”

I saw my mom’s eyes widen as her son faded into a redheaded human, but she remained silent. Feeling Yukina’s energy tingling through me, I look at her. “Kurama, I don’t see an issue. Your body must be adapting because of the baby. All the parts you need transferred with the baby. Pay attention to your body and we’ll watch the baby. Unless something happens, I think it’s your choice.”

Feeling anxious, I suddenly want to go home. “This has been fun everyone, but I think it’s time we head home. Yusuke, can we borrow your car? Hiei and I came on the motorcycle and we won’t all fit.”

His eyes lit up. “Sure thing Kurama, if I get to ride Hiei’s bike. I’ll bring it by tomorrow and pick up my car.”

Unsure of Hiei’s reaction, I give him a pleading look. That was all it took for Hiei to grunt and toss Yusuke the key. A few minutes later we are at Yusuke’s car. Wide eyed, my mom looks at me. “Yoko, you want me to get in there? What is this thing?”

Across the car, Hiei grunts. “It’s called a car. Ningen’s are lazy, so instead of walking, they ride everywhere in these machines. They can be helpful for traveling between here and the city though.”

Without hesitation, Hiei gets in the passenger seat, closes the door and straps on his seatbelt. Seeing this, my mom cautiously climbs in the back and allows me to buckle her seat belt. As I do she reaches up to touch my red hair. “It is so amazing that you can do that. It’s hard to believe you are my kit.”

Closing her door, I walk around to the driver’s door. When I get in the car, I can see uncertainty in my mom’s eyes as I watch her in the rearview mirror. I take it slow at first, giving her time adjust to the new sensation of riding in a car. By the time we hit the straight road just before the city she is encouraging me to go faster. When we reach the city though, all thoughts of the ride are forgotten as she takes in all there was to see. Fascinated, she is leaning out the window to look up at the tall buildings. “Mom, that really tall building ahead and on the right is our building. Hiei and I occupy the entire top floor.”

In awe she cranes her neck looking up at our building. After we pull in the garage and park I change back to my Youko form. As we make our way to the elevator I can see she is nervous. When the door opens to reveal the small compartment, she looks at me in horror. Again Hiei leads the way by stepping inside. Putting my arm around her, I encourage her to follow. “It’s alright Mom. It’s called an elevator. It will carry us up to our apartment.”

Reluctantly, she enters the elevator. When the doors close and the elevator begins to rise, she nearly jumps into my arms. I just grin and tighten my arm around her. When we reach the top floor and we enter the apartment she looks around in awe. “Yoko, I’ve never seen anything like this. How do you live all the way up here? You can’t feel the earth and the air around you.”

Hiei grunts, and goes to the back door. When he opens the wall of sliding doors, my mom’s eyes widen. With a smile, I hold out my hand. “Come see my garden Mom.”

After seeing my rooftop garden and the rest of the apartment we all settle in the living room. Looking at me, Hiei asks. “Kurama, what about Shiori?”

When I shrug, my mom gives me a look. “That’s the human you told me about, right?”

I nod. “Yes, Shiori is my human mother. I haven’t told her about you yet. In fact I never told anyone about you, even Hiei. When I was first banished I had Kuronue to help me through the loss of my family. When I lost him too it was easier to put the memories away where they wouldn’t hurt.”

Hiei squeezed my hand. “Shiori will understand Kurama. Now call her. You won’t feel right until the females have met.”

Suddenly concerned I look at my mom. “Mom, are you alright with meeting Shiori?”

She frowned. “It might be a little awkward, but if it’s important to you, I’m alright with it.”

Smiling, I jump up and kiss her before going to make the call. Less than an hour later I’m opening the door for my mother. I had changed to my human form as I usually do for her. “Shuuichi, is everything alright? I hurried right over when you said it was important.”

Giving her a hug I pull her into the living room. “Mother, Hiei and I went to Makai a few days ago to learn more about male Youko pregnancies. Don’t worry, everything is fine. We went to Youko territory to talk with my Uncle.”

My mother seemed to hear one word. “Uncle? Shuuichi, you never told me you had any family still in Makai.”

Guilty, I shrug. “Actually, I have more family there than I do here. I’m sorry I never told you about them, but I didn’t leave on the best terms and haven’t seen them in literally hundreds of years.”

Briefly I told her about how I was exiled. “Oh Honey, that must have been awful for you to have to leave your family like that. How did it go when you and Hiei were there?”

With a sigh, I give her the short version. “My dad was less than pleased to see me, but when the rest of the family heard I was there a few rushed over to see me.”

She smiled. “I’m so glad. I hope you had a nice visit.”

Hoping I don’t have a reason to be nervous, I continue. “Actually, it was a very short visit. My uncle understood, but for one member of my family it wasn’t enough and she came home with us.”

She must have sensed my hesitation. “Shuuichi, who came home with you?”

I drew a breath. “My mom.”

For a moment silence met my answer. “I see. Well, that’s so nice for you both. Is she here? I’d like to meet her.”

I nod. “Yes, she and Hiei are out on the terrace. I just wanted a moment with you alone first. I want to make sure you’re alright with meeting her.”

She smiled. “Oh Shuuichi, of course I’m alright with this. It might be a little strange to meet your Youko mother, but I can see how important this is to you.”

I grin. “She said almost the same thing when I asked her about meeting you.”

Rising, I hold out my hand to her. Together we go join Hiei and my mom on the terrace. When they see us, they both stand. Looking between them, I smile. “Mo… Shiori, I’d like you to meet my Youko mother, Iris. Iris, this is my human mother, Shiori.”

The two females look at each other a moment. Shiori was the first to speak. “Iris, what a lovely name. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

My mom looked uncomfortable. “Yes, it’s nice to meet you too. Yoko has been telling me about you.”

My mother’s smile looked strained. “I wish I could say the same about you.”

Before things get too uncomfortable I urge them to take a seat. Iris retook her seat in one of the chairs. Shiori smiled and went to hug Hiei. “Hiei, my other son, how are things going? Did you and Shuuichi get the nursery done?”

After accepting her hug they sat together on the sofa. “Everything is fine Mother, and yes the nursery is done.”

Iris’s eyes widen. “Yoko, why is Hiei calling her mother? He’s not your brother is he?”

Sitting on Shiori’s other side, between her and Iris, I’m stunned by the question. “No, of course not Mom. In our culture, when Hiei and I were mated he became part of our family making my mother his mother as well.”

Shiori giggled. “Hiei has been sneaking in Shuuichi’s window to stay with us since they were boys. I unofficially adopted him and he’s been one of my boys long before they were mated.”

Iris’s expression said she didn’t like our answers. “I see. Yoko, shouldn’t you change back? For the baby I mean.”

Shiori turned and brushed my red hair back from my face. “Son, it’s alright if you need to change. Human or demon, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Though Shiori’s words were innocent enough, there was a tone to them that indicated otherwise. Her tone however wasn’t what Iris picked up on. “Youko are not demons. We are spirit creatures descendant from the god Inari.”

So much for hoping this meeting would go smoothly. “Mom, the Youko nation banished me to the demon world centuries ago. Demons accepted me as one of their own, and I have considered myself a demon ever since. As for changing, you heard Yukina say the baby was fine regardless of my form.”

Shiori patted my arm. “Shuuichi, I’ve had a lot more time to adjust to you being a Youko than Iris has to you being a human. If it would make her more comfortable, maybe you should change.”

I could almost feel Iris bristle. “I didn’t say I was uncomfortable. I was just thinking of the baby. Yoko can do as he pleases.”

Looking back and forth between them I’m not sure what to say. Luckily Hiei made that choice for me when he stood and glared at them both. “Enough of this! Kurama is under enough stress right now without you two picking at each other like two hens fighting over one chick.”

Reaching for my hand, Hiei pulled me up beside him. “I’m sure Kurama wants to show you both the nursery. When you women are ready to play nice we’ll be in there.”

Smiling at his protectiveness, I allow Hiei to pull me along behind him. Making him stop in the living room a moment, I give him a kiss. “Thank you Hiei. They needed that.”

When we walk into the nursery I stop and sigh. “This room is so calming. For some reason it just makes me happy.”

Pulling me close, he kisses me. “Calm and happy, that’s how I want my mate to feel right now. I won’t allow those females to upset you even if they are your mothers.”

We were still kissing when I hear Iris snicker. As we pull apart I see Shiori grin. “You’ll have to get used to that Iris. They do it a lot.”

Iris nods. “I’ve noticed. So, this is what a human nursery looks like. The foxes are cute.”

The tone of this conversation is much more relaxed than a few minutes ago. When Shiori didn’t rush to take credit I smiled. “Yes, I love them. I know it’s a little cliché for a Youko nursery to be decorated in foxes, but for some reason they make me happy. I was just telling Hiei how calm this room feels.”

Hiei surprised me by joining the conversation. “They were a gift from Shiori. These little foxes were one of the turning points to Kurama accepting that we were really having a baby.”

Shiori shrugged. “Well, since Kurama spends much of his time here as a human, I thought the foxes would be a nice reminder of the baby’s Youko parent.”

I’d never heard my mother call me Kurama before. Iris looked at her surprised. “That was very thoughtful Shiori. It sounds like it helped Kurama a lot too.”

The women hadn’t been alone more than a few minutes, but obviously they were productive minutes. I couldn’t help but smile. “Just wait until you see what I have planned for the nursery at Alaric. It’s a surprise for Hiei, so I’ll have to tell you later.”

The rest of the day went much better than it started. Each of the women regaled the other with stories of my childhoods. When it was time for dinner, Iris watched as Shiori and I cooked her a human meal in my modern human kitchen. Before we ate I changed to my Youko form making Iris smile. Kazuya joined us in time for dinner and it was late when he and my mother finally left.

As Hiei and I put the last of the dishes away, my mom sat and watched. “This is quite the life you two have here. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I’m glad you’re happy.”

I smile at her. “Thank you Mom. We are happy. I’ve lived lots of places and done many things in my life, but none of them, even my life with Kuro, have made me as happy as I am now.”

Hiei smirked smugly. “Don’t think we’ve turned into Ningens though. We spend a fair amount of time in Makai as well.”

I nod. “Knowing how short Shiori’s life will be in comparison to ours, Hiei graciously agreed to us having a home here for now. I’m sure after the baby comes though we’ll spend more time in Makai. When Shiori’s gone our plan is to move home permanently.”

Iris smiles. “I’m glad you still consider Makai home. I was pretty jealous that another woman had my son for so long, but after today, I do understand. If it weren’t for her dying child giving my child’s soul a host, neither of us would have you. I think I can share you with her for a while.”

Smiling, I give her a hug. “I love you Mom.”

She held me tight for a moment. “I love you too Son. Now, you boys have a good night, I’m going to bed.”

Hiei locked up while I made sure my mom was settled. Once we were in our room and settled in our bed, I turned to Hiei. “Koi, is everything alright? You’ve been kind of quiet ever since we went to Makai.”

With a sigh, Hiei seemed to think about my question a moment. “It was bothering me that you never told me about your Youko family. Earlier, when you told Iris why you never talked about them, I realized how much it must have hurt when the Youko turned their backs on you just because you loved a non-Youko. It must be akin to how I feel knowing the Koorime threw me away.”

Emotion was threatening to choke me up as I nod. “It’s been hundreds of years Hiei, but the look in my dad’s eyes hurt just as much the other day as it did the day he ordered me to leave. Nothing my mom or Uncle Jasper said could change his or the counsel’s decision to exile me.”

Pulling me into his arms, we cuddled together in the middle of the bed. “Hopefully, having your mom back helps you as much as finding Yukina helped me.”

Comfortable in his arms, I’m about to fall asleep as I nod. “It helps more than I can tell you. We have quite the family now don’t we Dragon? The only thing we need now is our baby.”

Strong fingers were rubbing my back and stroking my silver hair lulling me to sleep. I don’t even have to see his face to know my words made him happy. “Go to sleep my Fox, you’ve had a big couple of days. I love you.”

Sleepily I whisper. “Goodnight my love.”