On May 21, Yukina Kuwabara gave birth to three babies: Tomohiro Shuichi, Kaida Yukina, and Shiori Sakura. The babies' biological father was Kurama; using an egg retrieval from Yukina and a "sample" provided by Kurama, he and Yukina conceived five babies in a lab, which had then been transferred to Yukina. They barely dared hope for even one of the babies to "take," much less three!

Hiei, as Kurama's husband, was the other custodial father of these babies, even though biologically he was their uncle. Just like Kurama, he would be eternally grateful for what Yukina did for them. Getting pregnant using IVF, carrying triplets, and giving birth to them was not at all easy, especially if you weren't even going to be able to keep them. Nonetheless, they all had agreed to this beforehand, and once the babies came, Hiei and Kurama became their loving fathers.

The babies were born around 8:30 in the morning, and Yukina, Kuwabara, and Hiei conked out very shortly afterwards. Kurama was the only one who didn't feel sleepy. Tommy (their nickname for Tomohiro) had decided not to wait for anyone to put a diaper on him, and before his second sister was even finished being born, he unceremoniously took a dump in the nice blue blanket his grandmother had spent weeks knitting by hand. This was easily remedied, however, because he hadn't had his first bath yet anyway, and when the others were asleep, Kurama washed the blanket when he did a load of laundry.

After he called his mom (and called his stepdad to ask for the day off of work), Kurama called every member of the gang, telling them all about the new babies. Keiko had given birth to Yusuke Jr. just five months before, so she was excited and wanted to help out. Everyone volunteered to help out, in fact, and Kurama appreciated his friends, but he had to explain that it probably wasn't such a good idea to have a whole bunch of people over at once, and that maybe they could kind of just visit one by one.

For the first day of the babies' lives, though, Kurama didn't expect anyone to come by so early and on zero notice, least of all Keiko, who was busy with the rambunctious Yusuke Jr. while his namesake was at work. The only other one of their friends with any experience was Shizuru, who didn't have children, but had babysat in her youth. Besides, she and Botan were looking into sperm donors, so they could use the practice (Botan was going to be the one to have the baby; after years of smoking, Shizuru had been told by the doctor that she most likely wouldn't be able to safely carry a baby to term). Shizuru was already at her job as a hairdresser, though, and Botan, who planned to be a stay-at-home mom, was just as inexperienced as the rest of them.

Kurama now wished he had babysitting experience (he had been asked to do it before, but as a teenager, he never had any desire to look after other people's children). Having his own children just didn't seem to be part of the picture, considering that after Kuronue died, Kurama hadn't really, truly loved someone until he met Hiei. And even then, he wasn't too aware of what a two-dad family's options were. He just never took into account that being a father someday could be a very real possibility. When he found out Yukina was pregnant, he spent the entire pregnancy studying up on parenting, which was why he and Yukina knew way more about it than Hiei and Kuwabara did, but could all that prepare him for the real thing?

Just after he got off the phone, Kurama heard a sound from the bedroom: Wahhh! Wahhh! Wahhh!

Kurama rushed in there to fix whatever was the problem (either a feeding, a dirty diaper, or something else) but Yukina was already awake. It was surprising that she had gotten up so quickly, considering how tired she was from the birth, but maybe that was her maternal instinct at work. Hiei and Kuwabara were still out cold, and luckily, it seemed the other two babies were, too.

Hiei, still fast asleep, was holding the crying baby (Kaida) and Yukina's arms were full of Tommy, so Kurama quickly swept Kaida out of Hiei's arms before she could wake anyone else up, and Yukina hobbled to Tommy's bassinet and set him in there. Kaida's cries were very loud and though Kurama wasn't too surprised that the other two adults' exhaustion had allowed them to sleep through the noise, it was a wonder that the other two babies remained asleep. Maybe they were tired from the birth as well.

"Shh," he said, carefully holding Kaida against his chest as he carried her out to the living room.

...

Yukina felt that Kaida was safe with Kurama. She herself felt safe with Kurama, who she thought of as an older brother. Even after her short sleep (the clock showed that she hadn't been asleep for over an hour), most of her body was sore, especially her "womanly regions" and her breasts, which had felt unpleasantly heavy, full, and sensitive as of late. She was so sore down there, in fact, that she couldn't even walk that well on her own, and she had to cling to Kurama's sleeve as he held Kaida. It felt very much like she had torn, even though miraculously she hadn't.

"I think she's hungry," Yukina said, gently taking the baby fire demoness from Kurama and sitting down in the rocking chair (it even hurt to sit down). "But I have to admit, I'm a little nervous."

What to do now? Before the birth, Yukina figured nursing the babies would be easy, especially since her breasts seemed to constantly be leaking towards the end of the pregnancy, but it seemed like there was a bit more of a learning curve than she had previously thought. There was also the fact that with most women, the husband would be the one helping with this, but even if Kazuma wasn't passed out in the other room (and she didn't want to disturb him), he wasn't the father of the babies. Not only that, but Yukina didn't want Hiei to feel like a third wheel, since he wasn't supposed to be any less of a father than Kurama was. So where did everyone stand here? When would Yukina be mother, and when would she be aunt? How would Hiei, Kurama, and Kazuma come into play? And how many dilemmas like this were there going to be?

"Your body is designed to do it," said Kurama, putting his hands on her shoulders in a comforting way. "Both human and demon mothers alike have the ability to not only give life to their children, but to provide nourishment as well."

"Yes, but I suppose I thought it would be more instinctive," Yukina confessed.

"Maybe different demons have different instincts," said Kurama with a slight shrug. "For example, a kitsune mother's instinct is to lick her newborns while she feeds them."

"Why does she lick them?" Yukina asked, trying to hide the fact that she was a little grossed out. Everyone is different, she reminded herself. Who was she to judge another race's characteristics? Besides, she did know that animal-type demons like Kurama were much less human-like than elementals like herself and Hiei.

"She licks them to bathe them, especially after birth," Kurama explained, "and to soothe them. It relaxes the babies and the mother."

"Well, we all need some relaxing, but I don't think licking the babies is going to help anyone," said Yukina, smiling. "And they can continue to take their baths in the sink."

Either way, the time for small talk was over. Kaida's screeches were amazingly loud, and her little face was as red as her eyes and hair. Just because the adults were still trying to get their bearings didn't mean that the baby should go hungry. Even if breastfeeding didn't come as naturally as Yukina thought it would, she did have an instinct to soothe the baby.

"Would you like me to help you, Yukina?" Kurama offered.

"Yes, thank you," she said gratefully. If breastfeeding was really the most natural, beautiful thing in the world, there was no reason to feel awkward, so between the two of them, they tried to get poor screaming Kaida into the right position. Yukina ended up having to hold Kaida in place with one hand and her breast in the other, but finally she got Kaida to latch and start drinking her milk. It felt strange and relaxing both, although she decided to hold off on the licking. It was also good that Kaida stopped crying.

"Listen, Yukina, these babies were born much sooner than I thought they would be, so I don't have any nutrient tonic for them," said Kurama, walking over to sit on the living room couch while Yukina stayed in the rocking chair. "You see, I couldn't make any ahead of time, because it's not fit for consumption after a week. I can make some later today, but I think the babies are going to be hungry before I'm finished. Do you think you'll be okay while I run out and get some formula so the rest of us can feed them, too?"

"Go ahead, we'll be fine," said Yukina, smiling at him. "I've got that pump Keiko gave me at the baby shower, too, so I can put some of my milk in bottles. And...do you think you have anything for pain? Something that's safe for a nursing mom?"

"Of course," Kurama replied. "I can make you a tonic, too, and you'll be able to recover much sooner."

"Thank you," said Yukina, as Kurama picked up his keys and left the apartment. Once he was gone, she was glad to have some time alone to bond with the baby still suckling at her breast. It felt wonderful to be able to meet her needs in such a natural way. It put Yukina in a better mood. Way in the back of her head she had a memory of a song her mother used to sing to her before she died, and amazingly enough, she was able to remember it. Words, melody, and all.

Acquaintances, friends, they may just come and go
But I'll never stop loving my daughter, I know
I looked into your eyes and my stomach, it leapt
I felt your heart beating and gems my eyes wept
You're my baby always, and as you can see
My love is forever, and you're part of me.

Yukina was dozing a little, still holding onto the little baby fire demoness, when she was woken up by soft footsteps in the hallway. Then there was a very groggy version of Hiei in the doorway, yawning as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Who's singing?" he mumbled, but when he realized he'd walked in on his sister's first breastfeeding session, his eyes got a lot wider, and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Oh! I'm sorry, Yukina."

"It's all right," Yukina reassured him with a smile. "You can join us if you like, Hiei. Kurama went to the store to buy formula."

"Um, I-I really have to pee," Hiei blurted, his cheeks still crimson-red as he bolted out of the room at top speed. Yukina laughed again to herself. Men could be so silly about some things. But she loved her brother so much.