Of Life and Love

Theme 11: Name

Time: After “Bonds of Life”

Pairing: None

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What’s in a Name?

 

Sha frowned at the TV as she sat in her living room alone. Well, not really alone. She absentmindedly rubbed at her very pregnant belly as her son decided it was time to become a kangaroo. “Yeah I know. It’s gotta be boring in there,” she said with a sigh, wincing slightly at a particularly hard kick to her innards. “Think it’s lunchtime anyway, kiddo.” She tried heaving herself up by leaning forward, but the belly got in her way. “Oh dammit all!”

A knock sounded from her door, making her curse out in Dracish.

With a few scoots, she pushed herself up from the couch and answered the door, seeing her father towering on the other side of the frame. “Oh, hi Papa.”

Haraguroi smiled down at his daughter and held up a paper bag that he had rested on his hip. “Hey di’anot. I thought you’d like to share some lunch with me today, but I know you haven’t been up for going out lately.”

She rolled her eyes but let her father in. “More like I’m under house arrest.” She plopped down on the couch as her father handed her a bowl of precooked noodles. “I can’t take the portal to work without being sick all over myself. Hiei doesn’t let me lift anything at all.”

“Which is smart. You can’t strain yourself,” he said, pointing his fork at her for emphasis.

“Yeah but not letting me lift a few groceries?”

“He’s nervous. All first-time fathers are. “

She puffed out her lower lip and put her bowl on her protruding belly. “Yeah I guess.” Then she took in what she had done and started laughing. “Papa, I have a portable table!”

He smiled at her. “Yes, I remember your mother doing something similar when she was pregnant with you.”

“Well at least he’s giving me some sort of pro to all this.” She craned her neck to better look at her belly. “You hear me in there? Stop your soccer match so Mommy can eat!”

“Bet that’s odd to hear yourself say.”

She resumed eating her lunch. “It’s gradually sinking in. Hiei’s having a rougher time imagining being called ‘Daddy’.” She slurped a noodle on accident and covered her mouth until she swallowed. “So since all of our friends, especially Yusuke, find this all hysterical, they haven’t stopped calling him that for a full month now.”

Haraguroi set down his now empty Styrofoam bowl and popped open a can of juice. “So what are you looking forward to doing after he comes out?”

Sha sucked on her fork in thought for a moment. “Hmm, I guess being able to see my toes. I’ve got no idea if my socks match right now.”

He laughed through his nose. “Yes they do.”

“Ah, private matters will go back to normal. Right now he’s too afraid to do anything, thinking the baby will get hurt, yet these hormones are driving me nuts!” She laughed as her father shifted uncomfortably. “You asked, Papa.”

“And now I’m regretting asking. What about a name?”

Sha bit her lip. “Nothing’s really come to mind yet that fits. Everything anyone’s come up with just doesn’t seem to go.”

Her father frowned. “Everything’s in a name, you know that.”

“Yes, which is why it’s important to find one that suits him.” She flinched at a particularly hard jab to her gut. “Ouch! That’s another thing I’ll look forward to. My insides have to be all bruised up. Sucks even more when he gets a batch of hiccups.” She stared at her now-empty bowl. “We’ll figure something out that suits the kid. Until now, he’s just Kid, Kiddo, Baby, and whatever else comes in mind depending on my mood.”

“Hm, something starting with Ki would be nice.”

“Going off the Japanese or Dracish translation of it?”

“Dracish, of course. Strong-willed.”

She rubbed at her jaw. “That may work. But we can’t just call him Ki. What about the one for warrior? Ete?”

Haraguroi just grinned. “That’s up to you. But I think I should head back to Ryukai before they notice I’m missing.”

“Thanks for lunch and the help.” She attempted to get up but her father stopped her.

“Don’t worry about it, I know my way out.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and bid her good day. Just as he closed the front door behind him, he spotted Hiei who was coming down the hall, having just returned from a mission from Enki. “Ah, I was just leaving too. I’ll see you formally some other day,” Haraguroi smiled as he approached.

“Yes, I still have to see you about something at the end of the week,” he replied.

“By the way, I think we’ve got a name narrowed down for your offspring.”

“Oh? Nothing that means ‘frolics through flowers’ I hope.”

Haraguroi laughed. “No, that would be highly inappropriate. Especially for a boy.” He was about to walk away before he snapped his clawed fingers and turned around. “By the way, pregnant women can have sex up until her water breaks. You won’t do any damage to the boy, so stop worrying.”

The fire demon muttered something under his breath before entering his apartment, making his father-in-law laugh hard as he left the building.

He was still chuckling as he sat at his desk in Ryukai. “I think Kiete is a perfect name for their little warrior…”