Shi's Having a Baby, Chapter 6: Month 4, Part 1: Kazuma Kuwabara's Day Off!

A Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic by Dustin M. Dixon

You know the drill by now. Yu Yu Hakusho and all characters thereof are the intellectual property of Yoshihiro Togashi. With that said, on with Chapter 6!

It was a bright, and yet not quite SUNNY day in Makai as Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama literally hit the ground running. Well, running in Yusuke and Kurama's case. Kuwabara stood there for a second as he watched the other two break into a dash. They stopped as he spoke up.

"Hey, why're ya running?" Just then, an energy blast whizzed barely by his head. Yusuke quickly dispatched the offending demon with a wordless Spirit Shotgun.

"That, maybe?" he spoke up flatly.

"Good reason. You encounter this the first time you got here, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked as he broke into a mad dash as well.

"Not really. I had Hokushin with me." Yusuke explained. "I thought Makai had a new policy on humans!"

"They still do!" Kurama explained. "Just not the same policy that was incorporated by Enki!"

"So who took his place?" Yusuke asked.

"His wife. There's still the 'no mischief in Ningenkai' policy, but since most demons feast upon human flesh to survive, she allowed the hunting of humans who enter Makai either willingly as Kuwabara has or those who stumbled upon it by mere chance."

"Cut the small talk! Where the hell's Shorty?!" Kuwabara shouted.

"He's probably still in Mukuro's old domain…" Kurama said. "The journey will take us about a week and a half on foot."

"So why don't we borrow some sort of transportation from Yomi?" Yusuke suggested. "He may not rule Gandara anymore, but I assume he still has some way for us to get around Makai quickly!"

"No one knows where Yomi went." Kurama paused. "He was disappointed that you didn't take part in the last tournament."

"I can't help it that the preliminaries fell on the same day as my freakin' wedding!" Yusuke griped. "Can't YOU find him?"

"If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be." Kurama smirked. "In the meantime, I suggest we move faster so the A-class demons around here don't start to gain any sort of lead on us."

"Why are you worried about that? We're upper-S class! Those guys won't stand a chance."

"Yes, but what about Kuwabara?" Kurama pointed out.

"Oh… right." A large sweat drop formed on the side of Yusuke's head as he continued to run.

"HEY! I'll take on any A AND S-class punks that get in my way!" Kuwabara shouted after the two.

"Dammit!" Shizuru shouted angrily as Yukina sat at the table. "He can make sure I make it to that horrible waiting room on time, but would it kill Kurama to buy an emergency supply of ice cream?!"

"Emergency supply?" Yukina was confused. She tilted her head, just barely avoiding a bag of frozen peas traveling at escape velocity.

"Hey, I'm pregnant. I NEED ice cream. That's my thing…" Shizuru explained, rubbing her baby bump. "I'm eating for two… the little one needs its sweets too!" She then tilted her head as well, but only for the purpose of joking around as she stared down Yukina. "You should enter the next Makai Tournament…" she trailed off, throwing another bag of frozen vegetables, which Yukina caught. "FUCKING HEALTHY FOOD!"

"So do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" Yukina interrupted her friend's train of thought in order to preserve the sanctity of her kitchen.

"Not yet. I'll find out in two weeks, hopefully." Shizuru smiled. "Kurama seems to think it'll be a boy, but I'm thinking girl." She sat at the chair across from Yukina and pulled out a cigarette.

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Yukina asked.

"That's what the ice cream's for." Shizuru sighed, as her eyes narrowed, glancing down at her stomach. "I'm going to kick Daddy's ass when he gets back."

"I really don't think you should—" Yukina cut herself off as she saw Shizuru's comically-angry squint from across the table. "Fine, fine… just one, though. You can pick that back up after you have the baby."

"Whaaaaatever…" the brunette woman sighed again, pulling out a lighter and, after making sure its purpose had been served, taking a drag from her cigarette. "So… I couldn't help but overhear some things last night when walking by my room."

"Oh… you heard that." Yukina mumbled, blushing slightly. "I… I didn't know how to feel at first. I thought Kazuma just loved me as a friend, but…" she trailed off, thinking back to the night before…

"Come in." Yukina bade, upon hearing the knock at the bedroom door. As the door opened, Kuwabara had stood there, a serious expression on his face as he stared down Yukina. "Kazuma?"

"Hey, we're going to leave a little early, so I'm gonna get ready for bed. I just wanted to talk to you before I left." He glanced down, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't think Hiei killed your brother. I'm gonna go 'talk' to him. I think maybe your brother doesn't want you to know where he is… some crap about being too evil or something like that."

"But I don't care about that!" Yukina protested. "…And why did you wiggle your fingers when you said talk?"

"I know. And… well, Hiei's version of talking is beating the hell out of someone unless he really has something relevant to say. So by 'talk', I actually mean 'fight back'."

"Don't do that, please…" Yukina gazed into Kuwabara's eyes. "I don't want you to get hurt, Kazuma!"

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself… but I am gonna slap some sense into Shorty."

"Why would you do that?" Yukina asked.

"…Because I love you, Yukina." Kuwabara said solemnly. No goofy antics, no obsessive fawning… just Kuwabara's straight honesty rang true in Yukina's ear. "I know you probably think of me as nothing more than a friend, and that's fine… but I've always loved you. I just wanted to tell you before we left for Makai." Yukina stood there, a blush creeping up on her face as Kuwabara turned to leave. "Well… I'll let you get some sleep. Good night, Yukina…"

"Kazuma, wait!" Yukina grabbed his right arm. As he turned around, Yukina did the most daring thing in her life, short of defying her fellow Koorime tribeswomen and venturing into Ningenkai… she met her lips with Kuwabara's… several seconds passed as a wide-eyed Kuwabara returned the kiss. The two young people wrapped their arms around each other, perfectly content with where they were… As the kiss broke, Kuwabara grinned widely.

"Wow… are you… sure?" Kuwabara asked.

"I am." Yukina smiled warmly, placing her hand on Kuwabara's chest. "I don't want you to go, but… I know you feel you have to. Be safe, Kazuma…" she kissed him quickly again.

"So…" Shizuru spoke up as Yukina snapped back to reality. "How's it feel not being a virgin anymore?" she finished with a lopsided grin.

"Wh… what? No! Kazuma and I didn't… you know…" Yukina explained, her blush deepening.

"Well, I suppose you can do worse than my kid brother." Shizuru joked.

'Kazuma…' Yukina thought, her own train of thought derailing as she let her mind wander to the tall redheaded man…

"Seriously?! You and Yukina KISSED?!" Yusuke looked stunned.

"Yup! I've got myself a girlfriend! And I didn't have to go through a tournament to realize what she meant to me!" Kuwabara bragged.

"Good, cause people were starting to talk…" Yusuke joked.

"Oh shut it, Urameshi!" Kuwabara fumed, turning to the more sensible member of their three-man team. "Hey Kurama! How much farther?! We've already been running a week!"

"About three days' time if we take a shortcut through this forest." Kurama pointed out, the heavily-wooded area he mentioned quickly coming into their line of sight. As they entered, the three felt a sense of dread, which was heightened by what happened next.

"Actually…" a voice sounded out from somewhere among the treetops. "Your journey's over."

"Hiei…" Kurama spoke up first.

"ALRIGHT SHRIMP, GET THE HELL DOWN HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS FOR LYING TO YUKINA FOR ALL THIS TIME!" Kuwabara bellowed.

"Not that I needed another reason to kill you, oaf, but…" Hiei jumped down from a tree about twenty feet away, the Darkness Flame burning in his outstretched right hand as he grinned evilly toward Kuwabara. "This one gets moved to the top of my list." A pause. "Well, right under you kissing Yukina, anyway."

'He must have read our thoughts… all the way from Mukuro's domain?!' Kurama's eyes widened.

"In order." Hiei's grin turned into a simple smirk. "Yes, I did. And to your follow-up thought, yes, I HAVE become that much stronger. So… which one of you told the idiot I'm Yukina's brother?"

"…" Yusuke started to step forward, but Kuwabara interrupted him.

"I figured it out. I went back and watched Koenma's old tape." He lied. "And Yukina likes me. What are you going to do about it, Shorty?"

"I think the answer to that is pretty simple, isn't it?" Hiei grinned once more, pointing his outstretched hand toward Kuwabara…

Author's Note: Here we are at the end of Chapter 6! Let's get to those responses!

Hakudoshi-9 – Thanks! I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Check in soon (for real-real, not for play-play) for Chapter 7: Month 4, Part 2: Kazuma, the Hunter from the… Time Period That Comes After the Present!