Hinote Kyou Mizu

Book 5

Beasts

Chapter 1

From the day Hiei announced Amaya’s pregnancy, his life started to change.

A few days after the announcement, he could tell the feel of her had changed, the smell of her, the attitude of the other demons and spirits toward her. He could sense the child clearly when he opened his eye, and being demon he could smell how her scent changed, to a female carrying a child. His child. Her curves filled out in the last eight months, making her even more beautiful to him, and her powers were actually agreeing with her, her control over them almost flawless. She was becoming a beautiful mother and a skilled demon all at once.

But he had to take the bad with the good.

Along with everything else, she was moody, spastic and possessed a truly more vicious temper, if that was even possible. More than once she had splashed him good for pissing her off. And those were the good days. A few times, she had been so frustrated and uncomfortable that she had lashed out, only stopped by his grabbing her wrists and kissing her, reassuring her in a way he knew how. She melted into him those times, apologizing for whatever she had done or was about to do.

He didn’t understand the ways of females, especially ones in this state. He just accepted the fact this was the way it would be. He had never really been around an expecting woman and now he was around two of them.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few weeks after Amaya had announced her pregnancy, Yusuke remarked Keiko was acting different. Amaya happened to be in the room along with Yukina and Botan, the ice maiden and the ferry girl helping the water demon look through a catalog of new apartments, since she and Hiei now needed much more room.

Amaya turned to Yusuke, asking what he was talking about. “Women don’t have a set way to act, Detective.

“I know. It’s just that, she’s different lately. She’s moody, she’s a lot quieter and she swings from energetic to lethargic within a few hours. And her smell is just different. Maybe she’s getting sick. She does do a lot around here and at the shop.”

At that point Kuwabara walked in, followed by Keiko, both carrying groceries from the local store. Amaya took one sniff of the air and turned to Keiko, her face somewhere between a smile and a scowl.

“I know for a fact, that smell ain’t me.”

Keiko looked confused, looking at the demon like she has reverted to her insanity. “Uh, Amaya… what are you talking about?”

The water demon sighed as she turned back and started flipping through the book in front of her, dog-earing pages of places she liked. “A bit of a demon/human physiology lesson, my dear Keiko. Demons, when they have conceived, put out a smell sometime after conception, chemical changes and everything, ya know. Their mates and other demons can usually pick up on it after a while. Humans are the same way, except human mates don’t have the sense of smell we do. Your demon has picked up on it. In short, you’re pregnant, Keiko. Don’t believe me, take one of those pregnancy test things. I would lay good money on it.”

The brown-haired woman just stood there, stunned as Yusuke ran out of the door to their apartment. Botan stared at Amaya as she pointed to an apartment close by she liked and turned to her ‘sister-in-law’.

“Think Hiei would like the third bedroom as a practice room? It’s plenty big and fairly close. Want to go see that one?”

Yukina nodded as the rest of them gaped at the water mo-zaku, wondering how she can just be so nonchalant about the whole situation. The dark blue-haired demon turned to look at Kuwabara and Botan, who had both completely fallen silent.

“What are you two so stunned for? Come on. They have been together longer than Hiei and I have known each other. They’re married. It’s the natural human cycle. She’s pregnant, big deal.”

Yukina turned to the water demon, confused. “I can’t smell it, Amaya. Shouldn’t I be able to?”

Amaya shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m expecting so I pick up on smells very easily now. Yusuke is probably just used to the smell of normal Keiko, so when it changed he picked up on it fairly quickly.”

As Amaya spoke, the rei-kai detective ran in with a small bag in his hand. He grabbed Keiko drug Keiko to the bathroom, the woman still in slight shock as she followed blindly behind him.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

And the rest was history.

Keiko was pregnant, Hiei remembered, due to have her baby almost two weeks after Amaya would have theirs. Yusuke was thrilled, telling everyone he could he was going to be a father.

Hiei honestly thought he was just being annoying, preferring to keep his thoughts on his own pending fatherhood to himself.

The fire demon looked around the room he was in and actually smiled. He and Amaya had finally decided on an apartment they both liked and it had been Hiei’s job to get the baby’s room and his workout room ready. He had finally finished the baby’s room, having painted the walls and decorating them with the things that Amaya and Botan had picked up. They were neither for a boy nor a girl, since they preferred not to know what they were having. Most of it was simple animals and things, Kanji words here and there and an actual stuffed animal or two in the crib, except for around the windows. He and Kurama had teamed up, warding the outside of each of the windows and the door, one by one, against any intruder.

He would not take a chance when it came to his child.

“Hiei?”

He turned hearing his mate’s voice at the door. He walked out of the baby’s room to see Amaya carrying in a few bags, mostly from the local baby store. She put them down, standing up and grabbing her back, obviously tired.

“Are you alright, Maya?”

She nodded, sitting in the nearest chair. “Yeah, I promise today I won’t snap at you. I just want a cup of tea, a warm bath and a nap. I’m tired.”

He nodded, turning into the kitchen. He had learned how to do so many things in the last few months, like how to bow to the whims of a very pregnant and volatile mate. Learning his way around somewhat in the kitchen had been easy, but he had been forced to take over so many of the things she had done before and it was still so new to him.

Kurama had teased him about it one time during their sparring sessions, mocking the fire demon about his new duties as ‘housewife’. The fox had soon regretted it as Hiei quickly reminded him that he was still as bloodthirsty and cruel a warrior as before, he took on this new role. They had come back, both bloodied and requiring Kaida and Amaya to take care of their lovers.

Amaya had laughed at Kurama after Hiei had told her what happened. “Maybe you learned a lesson today Kurama. Even if Hiei is a ‘housewife’ as you put it, he can still mop the floor with your ass.”

Hiei’s thoughts ran to the air demon, Kaida Kanmuri, the healer who had brought Amaya back from the darkness of her mind. The purple-haired demon had decided she wanted to learn more about the Human World, and apparently, Kurama. So she had gotten an apartment close to Hiei and Amaya’s old place, the fox demon moving in shortly thereafter. They had apparently grown very close, Kurama already talking about becoming her mate. While Hiei thought the fox was moving along in his relationship awfully fast, he didn’t think that having Kaida around was so bad. She had come in useful.

The singing of the kettle roused the fire demon from his thoughts, just in time to hear Amaya walk into the kitchen. He turned to look at her, watching her smile at him, looking him up and down.

“Penny for your thoughts, Flameboy.”

He just looked at her, rolling his eyes at the nickname as he poured the tea through the strainer. He felt her arms around his shoulders and he relaxed. She was due in three weeks, but her hands still promised an archer’s strength and a lover’s touch. She kept in practice to both, her archery skills practiced in the Makai, and her other skills in their bed. He smiled at the thoughts as he leaned back into his mate, feeling his energies coming from the bite-scar on her shoulder.

“Just thinking.”

She smiled, not bothering to pry too much deeper. She had learned long ago that if he wanted to tell her something he would tell her in his own time. She kept her own thoughts private once in a while and accepted that her mate did the same. She leaned down and bit his shoulder, teeth digging in and drawing blood. He relaxed into the bite, his mate letting her own energy flow into it the fire demon enjoying every bit of it.

They had done this more and more lately, both anxious at the pending birth. Both had their own fears, hers about the birth and his about after. While she worried what it would be like to be a mother, he seriously wondered if a murderous, former thief and demon assassin could make a good father. He didn’t dwell about that at the moment as his wife and mate pulled away from his neck, licking at the last of the blood on the wound. The scars they left would never heal, but they reassured each other with the bites that strengthened their bond.

He turned and returned the favor, his arms around her back as he bit her, her arms wrapped around him again, moaning into his shoulder at the feel of his bite. He needed this, to hold her, be just the two of them for a while. Ever since they had told everyone, it seemed there were demons, humans and spirits were everywhere around her now. It had threatened him how much they were around him and how little he got her to himself. It had been so annoying that one night, when she was obviously tired, he had gotten fed up and kicked them all out, even his sweet sister, who had understood perfectly.

“He never gets to spend time with her, and her alone. Poor Hiei. He just wants to be alone with her.”

As he remembered, he tightened his mouth’s hold on her. He didn’t want to let her go, enjoying the feel of her. He growled when the phone rang, cursing the sound, hoping Amaya would ignore it.

She didn’t and he refused to let her go.

She kept talking to whomever it was, her answers monosyllabic, mostly ‘uh huh’ or ‘no’. He pulled her closer, feeling their child kick him as he refused to release his mate. ‘~Sorry kid, for a little while longer, you still have to share. ~’

“Yusuke, I am sure she’s not mad at you. I have lashed out at Hiei plenty of times. I’d bet she is scared too.” She paused, listening and rolling her eyes at the detective on the other end of the line. “Look, come get this fire demon of mine and take him for dinner, I will come talk to her. All right? See you in thirty minutes then.”

She hung up the phone, pulling Hiei closer as she moaned. “You damned demon-tease…”

He let go, stopping her moan with a slightly blood-flavored kiss. “All promise, no tease. Yusuke and dinner?”

“Keiko went off on him. He’s all freaked because she’s never this mad. I told him I would talk to her. Keep him busy for a while this evening….” She turned her head to his shoulder, nibbling on his ear. “…And I will keep you busy later on.”

He smiled, dealing with the battle demon for a few hours while his mate calmed down the human, in exchange for his own fun with her all night. Even he could agree that was very worth it.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I believe I can handle that for a little while, but afterwards, I get to hold you down and do all kinds of things to…”

“Hiei!”