Author's note: I am putting this story back up because I believe that it is one of my favorites. While I now have no reviews on it, I did save the ones I had before. If you want to review again, that's great…I hope that this story is still as well loved as it was before. I don't own any characters from Yu Yu Hakusho and I am not making any profit off of this so you can't sue me. You know the drill. Here is yet another wonderful storyline that my muses felt needed to come out. I guess I can patent the Kuwabara x Ani Toguro pairing because I seem to be the only one who has ever written this, though there may be a reason for that but hey, that's not MY issue! Anyway, this contains slash along with male pregnancy so if that squicks you, please leave. For the few that aren't grossed out… read and review!
Prologue: Wishful Thinking
Four weeks later, Kazuma Kuwabara still refuses to think about the events that occurred as he doesn't want to remember what happened or with whom it happened. It was bad enough that he has to see it replay over and over in his mind at night. "Are you sure nothing happened while you were kidnapped?" Shizuru asks for the eightieth time.
"Yes," he says irritably, "Yes I am sure nothing happened!"
"It's just you have been acting so strangely these past few days," she murmurs. Kuwabara doesn't answer. He has yet to reveal that there was another person being held a few corridors over. That would raise too many questions that he doesn't want to answer. He walks past Shizuru and heads up the stairs. He has a sudden overwhelming urge to shower…again. He hasn't felt clean since he was captured on a failed mission to relocate an artifact for Koenma. It had been a false report anyway though Kuwabara takes little solace in that knowledge. As he turns the water on in the bathroom, his mind returns to his month long captivity and the one even that had triggered his distressed state. He still has no idea how the demon managed to find and free Ani but somehow, he had faced him for the fourth time, though this time they were in the same boat. Both were warded and unable to attack their captor who made it quite clear that if they did not obey him, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Obeying him, however, made Kuwabara feel like he would rather be dead. He cannot believe that he had actually given into the demon's demands or that Ani had let him that close to him. 'Don't think about it,' he berates himself viciously, 'It's over and done with and you don't ever have to deal with it ever again. Ani will keep his mouth shut because it wouldn't look good for him to tell what happened. Gods, I can't believe that I actually did him!' He shudders at the memory of holding Ani tightly to him. He doesn't want to remember how good it felt to hear Ani whimper and moan his name or how powerful he felt claiming the small demon. He slips under the spray and clears his mind. It was over and done with and he wasn't going to ever have to deal with it again.
Ani finds himself greatly wishing that his brother had stayed in Limbo rather then having been released by Koenma. It would make him less tempted to slice him into cubes and scatter his remains in the nearby pond. Gritting his teeth, Ani fervently wishes that he were NOT related to Oto. "Would you please let it go, LITTLE brother?" he snaps stressing the fact that he was older and therefore expected to be obeyed. Much to his annoyance Oto does, as was usual with him, the direct opposite and doesn't let up.
"You are acting out of character, brother, which means that you aren't saying something," Oto answers obviously enjoying this greatly.
"NOTHING HAPPENED!" Ani snarls at him, "I have told you this forty-eight million times!"
"If that were so then you would not be getting so defensive," his brother remarks calmly. Ani wants to scream. He doesn't want to tell his brother anything let alone something THAT embarrassing but he also knows that Oto won't quit until he knows the whole story.
"If I am not being completely honest that is my choice! I am entitled to my secrets, Otouto!" he grits out. When he used his brother's full name, it meant that the discussion was over and that pushing him much farther would only end up with someone, namely Oto, dead. His brother never had much common sense.
"You are hiding something and I want to know what that is."
"It's none of your business. Don't worry. It's over, done with, and can rest peacefully in the past. I don't want to discuss this any farther with you. Respect my wishes or I WILL send you back to see Koenma!"
"Very well, brother. I only hope that you are right and it doesn't come back to haunt you." Ani just storms off. 'Stupid, idiotic…err, why do I put up with him?' he thinks. He heads into his room and slams the door shut behind him. He knows he's acting rather childish but at the moment he doesn't' care. There was nothing to worry about. All that happened was that he was freed from that damn plant and captured by a pathetic excuse for a demon. While there, he was forced to permit Kuwabara to claim him. Nothing was going to haunt him over it! He lies down on the bed and stares up at the ceiling. 'Come back to haunt me? What does he think is going to come back and haunt me? There is nothing about this situation that could come back to haunt me!' Finally reassured, he drifts off to sleep not realizing that Oto was right in warning him. Only time would reveal his brother's words as true…