Disclaimer: CLAMP owns them.
A/N: This story starts right where Extending the Family ended. Be warned for male pregnancy, male/male pairings -- several ones -- and lots of crack. This story is NOT meant to be taken seriously, so no flames, please.
Warnings: Crack, crack, and a bit more crack. Oh, and mpreg. You have been warned.
TRC: Next Generation
Chapter 1
A rather lengthy silence was broken as Kurogane said, "So, let me get this straight. In your world, men carry babies, instead of women."
"It's not quite that simple," Fay replied. "Even in Celes, women usually carry the babies. However, unlike all the other worlds we have visited, there are also some men capable of getting pregnant, too."
Most people would have been satisfied (and, quite possibly, relieved) at this point. Kurogane, however, was not most people. "And those males are?"
"The ones with most magical power, of course." Even in the darkness Kurogane knew the mage was smirking.
"And your magic..."
"Was the strongest in the whole country."
For a long while, Kurogane was absolutely silent. Finally, he asked, "And when exactly were you planning to tell me?"
"I thought Kuro-in already knew," Fay replied with an innocent voice. "How could I have known it doesn't work like that in your world? I just thought you didn't want any more children, that's all."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"Simple, Kuro-pon. Men can't have children by accident even in Celes. Both parents have to consciously wish for a child or the conception won't happen. So, when I didn't get pregnant, I just assumed you didn't want a child."
"...Does that mean that you do want a child?" Sometimes Kurogane wished he hadn't been so good at reading the indirect messages the mage sprinkled here and there. This was definitely one of those times.
"Why not? Children are cute, and with the kids being all adults now, we could very well have one of our very own. But if Kuro-ru doesn't want one, I guess it can't be helped, ne?"
Kurogane didn't answer. His mind was busy processing the new information.
Fay could get pregnant. He hadn't got pregnant because Kurogane hadn't wished for it. Fay wanted a child.
Kurogane had no idea what he wanted.
Sleep did not come easily to him.
"It's kind of quiet without Mokona here."
"Don't worry. I'm sure there will be more than enough noise when there are two Mokonas," Doumeki said calmly.
"Oh, it was so cute!" chirped Watanuki. "I hope it won't grow up to be as bad a drunk as its father, though," he added then.
"We'll just have to teach it differently." Doumeki sat down next to Watanuki, a tea cup in his hands, another on the table in front of Watanuki. "Hopefully Kurogane-san can overcome all the bad influence."
"Yeah. Fay-san drinks quite a lot, doesn't he?" Watanuki chuckled, thinking of the party. Then, he yawned, leaning his head against Doumeki's shoulder. In the last few years the other boy had grown passed him – not much, but enough to make a difference.
"If you are so tired, Kimihiro, perhaps you'd better just go to sleep," Doumeki suggested. "It's getting pretty late, anyway."
Watanuki smiled sleeping. Aside from Kohane-chan, Doumeki was the only person who addressed him by his given name. The other's attitude still made him mad at times – his temper definitely hadn't disappeared anywhere – but all in all, he was happy to be together with Doumeki. Which had been the case for a few years already.
Who would have guessed his "fated" hatred for the other boy had been simply his denial for their true destined feelings? Not Watanuki himself, that was for sure.
"Maybe you're right," he replied, yawning again. "I promised Yuuko-san to help at the shop tomorrow, anyway." Ah, yes, Yuuko. As far as he knew, whatever purpose the shop had been created for had already been fulfilled, but she wasn't about to retire, it seemed. And, truth be told, if there hadn't been her shop anymore he would have missed it.
"To the bed with you, then." Doumeki's hand was warm on his arm.
Another yawn hid Watanuki's smile.
Baby Mokonas, Fay had discovered, were even more cuddly and adorable than the grown ones. And they used it shamelessly on their advantage.
There were days he couldn't go anywhere without at least one fluffy bundle clinging to him. Sometimes walking through a doorway burdened him with seven little creatures. It was quite a lovely burden, though, one he was glad to carry. Especially when all the little bundles were snuggling and chirping about "Fay-grandma" with their tiny voices.
Along with names, the little Mokonas were starting to have different personalities as well. Tomoyo's favourite, the silvery Luna, was quite a lady, while the dark grey Shadow that had developed a fondness for Doumeki was quiet and thoughtful. Starlight – black with tiny white spots – was noisy and cheerful, and Jade – almost snow-white – liked playing tricks. Tiger-striped Hanshin pretended to be a tough guy but loved pretty things, smudgy grey Tokyo was the most snuggly of them all, and the checkers-patterned Infinity was a wild little tomboy.
(Kurogane had protested at naming the little things after the worlds they had visited, at which he had been asked for better suggestions. Frost, Stripey, Smudge and Checkers had been unanimously ruled out by the oh-so-impartial judges – Tomoyo, Souma, Fay, and all nine Mokonas. Fay was secretly glad, though, that nobody had suggested Celes as a name for any of the babies.)
At the moment he was again baby-sitting the little things. As it was getting pretty late, they were all asleep. Hyperactive fluffy things or not, all babies had to sleep at some point. And, thankfully, these ones seemed to get their sleep in night time.
"Thank you so much for looking after them, Fay-mommy!" Mokona said happily as it bounced to check on its children. "Were they very much trouble?"
"Oh, not at all!" Fay said happily, looking at the little things all snuggling up to him. "They were just nice and cuddly as always. It's a pleasure taking care of them!"
"They are good kids!" Mokona said cheerfully. "When Fay-mommy and Kuro-daddy get kids, Mokona will baby-sit them, too!"
Fay glanced to the ceiling. "...I'm afraid that's not about to happen," he said quietly.
"Whaaat?" Mokona looked confused. "But Fay-mommy can have babies, right?"
"Yes, but only if both parents want it. And it seems that, unfortunately, Kuro-in doesn't want a baby." Fay petted the white thing's head, setting a smile on his face as it had fled momentarily. "But it's okay! Fay-mommy has all his children and grandchildren already so he's quite happy!"
Mokona smiled a bit. "Yes. And Fay-mommy has Kuro-daddy, too, right? That's the most important thing!"
"Right." Now, Fay's smile was genuine. "Having Kuro-daddy with me is indeed more important than anything."
For some reason, there seemed to be children everywhere these days. Where had they all spawned from? Or had they always been there and he just hadn't noticed?
Nevertheless, they were everywhere. Running down the corridors of the palace, watching the guards' training, playing on the village's streets. Wherever he glanced there were children laughing and playing.
Once, he caught a glimpse of a blue-eyed child, and for a moment, he couldn't think of anything else. Somehow the village child melted away and was replaced by another child of the same colouring but completely different features. A pale, thin little girl, with black spiky hair and sharp blue eyes that never let a single detail escape her notice, carrying a book... Afterwards he realized he had stood in the middle of the street for several minutes watching the inexistent child.
They were invading his dreams, too, showing up where formerly had been dreamless sleep, inconsistent little figures varying from an aggressive blonde teenager to a dark-haired little girl with huge crimson eyes and an absent smile. The situations he saw them in varied also, but one thing was clear in each and every dream: Whoever the children were, he was the father.
He didn't tell anybody about his dreams, not wanting to let anybody else analyze the messages of his sub-consciousness when he couldn't make any sense of them himself. It was clear they were somehow connected to Fay's 'little' revelation – he wasn't quite that thick, after all – but he couldn't quite tell which side he was being coaxed towards. The dreams proved he was thinking of children, but did his mind want to tempt him with images of possible offspring, or prove that he didn't need them to be happy?
It might have been just his imagination, but it seemed like Fay was around kids more often than usually, too. And in such situations, Kurogane couldn't help but pay especially close attention to the mage. He was smiling as usually, but what was that look in his eyes just now? It wasn't really happiness, was it? Was he sad or was Kurogane just imagining it?
That thought bothered Kurogane more than anything. After everything they had lived through – and everything he knew about the mage's past – the last thing he wanted was Fay experiencing any more pain because of him. But that wasn't enough of a reason to have a child, was it? They'd be responsible for it for ages!
Then again... would a child really be that much of a hardship? A few years and it could mostly look after itself. Having an heir wasn't too bad of an idea, either. Judging by his experiences in training Syaoran, he would probably enjoy teaching the child to fight properly...
And, much though he hated to admit it – because it was too sappy to be proper for a ninja – he kind of liked the thought of having a child with Fay. Preferably one with the mage's looks and his honesty, though – he couldn't survive with two liars in the house.
Then again, if it happened to be a girl and have Fay's looks, he'd be fighting off suitors forever. Like he'd let some lowlife date his daughter. Ha.
The next time he had a particularly vivid dream – the child had been blonde, with red eyes, and she had begged him to pick her up and carry her – he tried to remember exactly what he had felt in the dream. After realizing it had not been unpleasant – not unpleasant at all – he came to the conclusion that perhaps he wasn't being warned off after all.
A conscious wish, eh?
Fay lay partially on top of Kurogane, his head resting on the larger man's chest. An arm had been wrapped protectively around him, holding him close to the ninja. Quite happy with the current state of things, he snuggled closer to his lover, relishing the warmth of Kurogane's touch.
It took him a moment to realize that the warmth he was experiencing didn't come solely from Kurogane. There was a warm feeling within him, too, something like a soft tingling somewhere in his stomach area.
Fay's eyes widened as he realized the most probable reason for this. Then, however, he simply sighed happily, closing his eyes as he listened to Kurogane's soft breaths.
Soon enough they were both asleep.
"Oi, mage." As Fay looked at him, Kurogane continued, "Are you all right? You look awfully pale today."
"Oh, it's nothing," Fay replied with a smile. "I was just feeling a bit sick this morning, that's all."
"Sick?" Frowning, Kurogane walked closer to the mage, looking at him carefully. "Are you ill or something?"
"No, I'm not." However faint it looked on his indeed pale face, the smile Fay gave to Kurogane was definitely genuine. "Rather to the opposite."
"What the Hell's that supposed to mean?" growled the ninja. "You're not making any sense. Are you too sick to think straight?"
"Nope." Fay stood on his tiptoe to press a tiny kiss on Kurogane's cheek. "It is merely customary to the human species to experience occasional nausea during pregnancy."
It took the news a few seconds to completely sink into Kurogane's mind. "...You're pregnant?" he finally asked, wanting to confirm what his mind was telling him.
"Yes, I am!" Fay hugged his dear ninja tightly. "We're going to be parents for real, Kuro-mu!"
For a moment Kurogane was silent. Then, however, he hugged the mage back. "You do know Tomoyo-hime's going to go crazy, right?" he asked. "You won't have a moment of peace once she finds out."
"Undoubtedly." Fay smiled. "But I'm more than happy to bear that to have a child with Kuro-pon!"
"I see you don't know Tomoyo-hime very well," Kurogane muttered under his breath. As Fay demanded him to repeat his words, he refused.
The beginning of the pregnancy went by easily enough. Well, aside from Kurogane being even more protective than usually – which was quite an achievement – it did. There weren't any complications or other unfortunate events, and the morning sickness wasn't quite bad enough to ruin Fay's days completely.
Being protective, however, was not easy, as Kurogane was coming to notice. He had a rather vague idea as to what was good for the baby, but Fay seemed to have no idea at all. At times the blonde had him seriously contemplating tying the blonde down just to keep him from hurting himself and the baby.
Seriously. Normal, sane people would have never considered jumping down from the fifth story window just to reach the yard faster. Definitely not when they were pregnant. (Of course, Kurogane had done such things himself, but that didn't matter. This wasn't about him, it was about Fay. And their child.)
Fay, however, just wouldn't listen to common sense. He apparently paid no attention to the fact that he was carrying a child. In the end he was convinced by Tomoyo to let Kurogane do any heavy carrying (the ninja had been lectured by the princess for not doing that, not listening to his complaints that the idiot wouldn't let him), but didn't seem to understand the other man's concern about all his leaps and spins. Seriously. Of course, most of the time he didn't land badly, but some time he might, and then what would come of both him and the baby?
Overprotective, was what Fay called him. Reasonable, was what Kurogane called himself. Pointing out that he'd prefer their child to be born alive apparently did nothing in Kurogane's favour, so he had to simply keep an eye on the mage, nag all he could, and wait.
Let's see him doing somersaults when he was eight months along.
Somebody was shaking Yukito. Rather hard. Opening his eyes, confused as to why he was being woken in such a manner, he found himself looking right into the eyes of the King of Clow.
"To-ya?" he asked sleepily. "What's the matter?"
"Get up and dressed," the king replied, straightening. "We're leaving."
"Huh?" Yukito blinked, sitting up on the bed. Now that he looked at Touya, he noticed the king was in full travel attire. "Why? Where?"
"To the country of that ninja and the mage Sakura seems so fond of." Touya tossed something on the bed. Yukito recognized it as his own travelling cloak. "To escape the fuss that is sure to start in the morning."
"Why? What fuss?" With a yawn, Yukito stood up, starting to dress himself. No matter how confusing the situation was, if Touya told him to get ready for travelling, get ready he would. "What's happened?"
There was a definitely evil edge in Touya's smirk. "I left a little letter in Sakura's room. Come morning she'll find herself the Queen of Clow."
Oh, yes. That definitely had Yukito wide awake. "Sakura-chan's a queen? You gave the throne to her? But how? Why?"
"Because now anybody can't stop me from doing so any more." Touya cackled. "I'm simply fed up with advisors and such telling me I should finally settle down and have myself an heir. As the king I'm expected to marry some idiotic woman with more looks than brain, and that's not about to happen. Let them have Sakura and her peasant prince consort."
"Why now of all times, though?" Yukito asked then. "Couldn't you have done it when she got married, for example? It'd have been a perfectly logical time for that."
"Nope. The advisors said she's still too young, and they wanted to ensure the continuation of the line." Touya smirked again. "Now, think about it. Why'd I want to do it right now? Anything interesting happened lately?"
Yukito thought about it. And, despite his still slightly sleepy mind, he remembered. "...Oh."
"Oh, indeed. Our dear princess is pregnant. If that's not enough of a proof the line is going to continue, then I don't know what is." Picking up the cloak, Touya quickly pulled it on Yukito, apparently not satisfied with his dressing speed. "I still don't like the brat, but right now he's doing me a favour."
"...Right." Fastening the cloak, Yukito glanced around one last time before looking at Touya. "Shall we go, then? It should be daytime in Nihon about now."
"Sure. I don't want to waste another minute here." With long, purposeful strides, Touya hurried away, Yukito right on his heels.
It didn't occur to Yukito until they had already reached the hidden portal to the other world that, technically, Touya's retirement from the throne didn't affect the High Priest's position in any way. He had nothing to flee from, if not from the general distress bound to fill the palace the next morning.
It still didn't occur to him to question the purpose of his going along, though.
When Fay had chosen the room with the mirror and portals as his place for reading – with Mokona's help, he was slowly getting used to kanji – he hadn't expected a surprise visit. Definitely not from the two most powerful men in the Country of Clow, whom he recognized from various visits.
"Touya-san!" he exclaimed. "And Yukito-san! What brings you here?"
"Necessity," the king replied. "We're escaping from a rather severe case of chaos."
"Oh?" That immediately worried Fay. "Are Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun all right?"
"As far as I know, yes." Touya smirked. "Do not worry, the chaos is not of the kind that would harm either of the brats. Just kind of difficult to me."
"Why so?" Fay questioned. "And why would you leave your country without a ruler if it's truly a chaotic time?"
"Well... actually, his giving up his throne is the reason of that chaos," Yukito said. However, he didn't even get to finish as Touya wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him close.
"Let's just say certain old idiots won't take well to finding out that I left the throne to my sister and eloped with the High Priest," the apparently-former king said easily. "And I thought that the easiest way to escape their notice would be to change countries." Yukito flushed a bit at the 'eloped' part but didn't even try to protest.
"What's it, mage?" he heard Kurogane's voice from outside the room. The ninja then stepped in and blinked at the sight of their guests. "...The Hell?" he blurted out. "Since when has public display of affection with members of the same sex been a part of the Clow Royal Code of Conduct?"
"It isn't," Touya replied. "Which is exactly why we are here and not in Clow."
Yukito opened his mouth to explain, but was silenced by a curt gesture from Kurogane. "Don't. I'll undoubtedly hear it enough times as it is. Come on now, I guess you'd like to see Tomoyo..." He muttered something like 'She's going to love this' under his breath.
Fay smiled happily. His Kuro-pon was always so considerate!
"I understand." Tomoyo smiled happily. "It is remarkable that you would give up your throne just for love, Touya-san."
"Che. It's not for that," Touya replied, not looking at Tomoyo. "Just wanted to give those old idiots the shock of their life, that's all."
"Is that so?" Tomoyo didn't seem to believe him. "In any case, you are welcome to stay here for however long you wish. Of course, if you truly want to avoid being found, I would advise going to the dimension of Yuuko-san. Hiding should be much easier there."
"That's right!" Fay said. "Or if you'd like to, Tomoyo-hime or I could send you to another dimension altogether. Yukito-san should have enough power to get you back home later."
"Don't even think about it," Kurogane growled. "I'm not about to let you do such things. It's too strainful."
"But Kuro-pipi!" Fay protested. "It's not like I'm sick or anything!"
"No, you aren't. You're just pregnant, and that's more than enough of a reason for you to take it easy for a while!"
"...Pregnant?" echoed Yukito, sounding rather confused. Touya simply stared at them. "Do correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Fay-san male?"
"Yup!" Fay replied with a smile. "But in my home world, men with enough magical power can get pregnant, too!"
"I see," Yukito said, smiling as well. He apparently had no trouble accepting the explanation right away. He then glanced to his side, seeing the way Touya was looking at him. "No, To-ya, it doesn't work that way in Clow."
"Good. That had me scared for a moment." Touya grinned. "Though it might've been interesting to see certain people's reactions to such news in Clow..."
It was, they all decided, quite well deserved for Yukito to casually hit His Former Majesty not-so-gently.
"No, I think Yuuko-san's world would be the best," Tomoyo said with a small smile. "Though the language might prove a problem..."
"No it won't!" a cheerful voice announced. Looking to its direction, they saw several Mokonas peering through the doorway. The one who had spoken stood proudly in front of the others. "Mokona will come along! Mokona can translate!"
"That would be quite helpful," Yukito said with a smile. "However, I'm afraid it would be quite difficult to you. As far as I have understood, Yuuko-san's dimension in general is quite sceptical about magic, so you would have to pretend to be a toy or something most of the time."
"That's not true," said the grown white Mokona, hopping into sight. "Starlight is quite a special Mokona. It can be invisible!"
"Yup!" announced little Starlight, waving its arms enthusiastically. "Nobody will see Starlight but you! And Starlight can make it so that nobody but you can hear Starlight's voice, too!"
"Excellent." Yukito reached out a hand, smiling as the little Mokona bounced towards him, perching itself on the offered hand. "Would you be so kind as to accompany us, then?"
"Yes!" Starlight said enthusiastically. "Starlight wants to go with Yukito-mommy and Touya-daddy!"
"Ah, well!" Fay said with a broad smile. "It looks like you've already been adopted…"
Touya grumbled something inaudible. However, after one look at Yukito snuggling with the night sky patterned Mokona, he was quiet.
Both Fay and Tomoyo smiled in satisfaction.
Next chapter: Watanuki and Doumeki talk, Yuuko makes a deal, and Fay causes Kurogane some more worry. We may also get a glimpse of Clow.