"So…tell me again why you needed fresh fruit ground together with fish?" Kuronue asked, wrinkling his nose.

"I told you, I need certain foods to keep up my strength," said Youko, picking a decapitated fish head out of her bowl and flicking it away. Fish were one of the few things she was willing to eat. Luckily, another was Makai fruit, and she already had a lot of fruit trees growing nearby her fox den.

"But why do you eat if you're just going to throw it up again?" Kuronue wanted to know.

"Because if I don't, these cravings drive me insane." Youko tipped the bowl back and promptly dumped the smelly concoction down her throat. From the look Kuronue gave her, it appeared as if he was the one who was about to throw up for a change.

"Well, I'm…I'm glad you enjoyed it?" he said.

"Mm-hmm." Youko fell backwards onto her bed in the medical room and shut her eyes. "Cover me with those blankets, will you, Kuronue?"

"Of course," said Kuronue, and he pulled the blankets up over Youko. She settled into them; it was unbelievable how comfortable they were. "You know, you're a lot nicer when you're sick, Youko."

"Maybe I just don't have the energy to boss you all around," Youko said back. "What's the matter? Are you getting frustrated?"

"N-No-no way!" Kuronue's cheeks were bright red, though, and it was obvious he was lying.

"Well, you're staring at my chest an awful lot."

If Kuronue's cheeks were red before, it was nothing compared to now. "But…well, they are bigger, you know?"

"You sick bastard," said Youko, pulling on Kuronue's hair. It was long, like hers, only black. "I can't believe you're comparing my breast size."

"Sorry," said Kuronue, looking mortified. "I can't account for it. That's all."

"Drop it," said Youko. "I'm starting to feel secondhand embarrassment."

Kuronue nodded, and finally shut up about it. Youko had no other explanation for this particular part of pregnancy, but the changes Kuronue was referring to were simply so that she could feed the babies once they were born. Since she was planning to give them away as soon as possible, she wasn't going to be the one feeding them, but that didn't stop her body from preparing for it.

"Are you going to take a nap?" Kuronue asked finally.

"Sure," Youko replied. "I'm so tired."

"Okay, then, I hope you feel better." Kuronue gave Youko's head a quick kiss, then sidled out of the room, flicking the lights off as he went.

Youko had been pregnant for five weeks now, and she had been battling with herself all week over whether or not she should tell Kuronue. She knew by now why her contraceptive tonic hadn't worked; the one Kuronue took hadn't been complete. So what would happen if she told him? Would he be angry? Would he be supportive? Would he have a heart attack? If she did tell him, part of her plan was to tell him he could be as involved, or as not-involved, as he wanted. Maybe the question was…how involved did she want him to be?

Either way, the nap obviously wasn't going to happen. No matter how exhausted she was, Youko was still constantly in the bathroom, her hair was messy, her breasts were bothering her, she was having heartburn, and her clothes were feeling tight—although she looked much more like a drug addict than a mother-to-be.

…

"Knock, knock," someone was heard saying. "Knock, knock!"

Snap! Just like that, Youko was jolted out of sleep, which was so hard to come by these days. She got off her bed and stomped over to the door, flinging it wide open and glaring down at her intruder. It was her subordinate, Mizu, who was holding a scroll, tied in the middle, clenched tightly in one fist.

"You interrupted me from my nap," Youko hissed.

"I-I'm sorry, my Queen," said Mizu, trembling from head to toe. "It's just, well, we have intel that there are some priceless stones stashed in an old inn nearby, said to have special powers, and we were wondering if you might be—"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I'M IN ANY POSITION TO RAID ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?!" Youko shouted, aiming a swat at Mizu's head. The water demon dodged instinctively; Youko got a sort of savage gratification from the fear in those ocean-blue eyes.

"Please, ma'am, I'm sorry!" Mizu cried. "I'll leave you alone now!"

"Give me that, you silly little coward," Youko snapped, swiping the scroll from Mizu's hand. She watched her subordinate flee down the hallway, then opened it up. She had been hoping it was a map, but they weren't often lucky enough to get one of those. It was actually a receipt one of her henchmen had found on the ground, showing that a traveler had recently traded some rare meat and fruit in exchange for precious jewels.

Whoever was dumb enough to leave a receipt lying like that on the ground, Youko decided, was probably also dumb enough to hide the goods at the inn where he was staying. She felt her mood improving as she thought what a great raid this would be…then her heart sunk.

In the Makai, she knew, the inn selection was not that great. Demons usually didn't stay the night at inns if they could help it, because, quite frankly, they were dangerous places. And with a haggard sigh, Youko acknowledged that a mother-to-be should not be hanging around in a dangerous place. She wasn't just protecting herself anymore; she was protecting the little ones inside her. Of course, her subordinates could do the raiding for her, but she missed being along, and she had the feeling they could mess it up if she wasn't there. After all, that was what happened last time.

…

As they progressed through the week, planning the newest heist, Youko realized how much she missed being the active Queen of Thieves. It seemed like everything in her life lately was just focused on managing the symptoms of her pregnancy. When she could sleep, she had weird dreams, sometimes even scary ones, such as being stabbed through the stomach, which would kill the babies, even if it didn't kill her.

There was also the question of just how many babies were in there. She couldn't quite feel them yet, but even if she could, she didn't think she'd be able to make out how many babies she was going to have—which was why, when she went about finding homes for them, she would have to tell the hopeful adoptive parents that they may or may not get a baby at all, depending on how many she had.

Was she nervous about the birth? Well…not particularly. Maybe it was just because the birth was still about three months away. Or maybe she realized it was a natural process, and her body would know what to do. She was sure of one thing, though, which was that she wanted to do it alone. The birth wouldn't go any easier with everyone bothering her.

No, the worst part was that she just didn't feel like she could keep her lifestyle. In the Makai, you were never really, truly safe—it was the epitome of an "eat-or-be-eaten" situation. This was especially true if you were the leader of a band of outlaws. Youko had many enemies; to be honest, there weren't many demons she couldn't face down, but it wasn't just about her anymore. It was protecting the helpless babies that were inside her right now. Every time she went to steal something, she knew there was a possibility of getting caught, but before, she would have been able to fight…Now, would she really be above just begging for the children's lives?

Ugh!

It was so unfair. The future adoptive parents of her babies wanted to be parents. The demonesses had been trying to get pregnant, and they couldn't. Why was it that someone who desperately longed for even one baby couldn't get pregnant, but Youko, who definitely did not want anything to do with pregnancy or children, was suddenly carrying a litter? There must be a home for each baby somewhere, Youko figured. Somewhere out there, each of her babies had a mother and father already waiting with open arms. Every baby did, she realized, even if they never found them—which, again, happened all too often in the demon realm.