O.K. Here's the next bit. Help out if you wish...any feedback greatly
appreciated!

Enjoy...

Windlily

*******************************************************************************



	Hiei considered it as a tentative purr was coaxed out of him from
the gentle, soothing feeling of Kurama's caress, then shook his head 'no'
as the babies frantic movements started to slow. He blinked in surprise as
Kurama put his cheek against the side of his belly and started to sing very
softly. His purr fell into the rhythm of Kurama's lullaby and within
seconds, the babies were still. He let out a mental sigh of relief and felt
his eyelids get heavy as the song and Kurama's hands soothed him also.

* * *

	Hiei snapped awake, then relaxed as he recognized the familiar
darkened shapes of Kurama's bedroom. It still unnerved him to sleep so
deeply that he didn't register when he was moved. It took him a moment to
locate and place the fast whir that sounded through the room. It was from
the fan positioned so that it would blow on him, the air deliciously
chilled as it passed over the several large bowls of ice that were in front
of it. It felt wonderful. It almost offset the heat of Kurama's body
against his back. The babies shifted restlessly. They were hungry and when
they were hungry, so was he.

	*Fine. I'm going. Be still,* he grumbled at them mentally as he
carefully eased out from under his lovers arm that was draped over his
expanded middle.

	He grabbed a set of the clothes Yukina had brought for him as he
flitted noiselessly out of the bedroom. He saw that Kurama had put the
refrigerator back together. He opened it and gave a quirked smile and shake
of his head as he saw the prepared meal waiting for him. He had told Kurama
again and again that he was well able to fend for himself. But he had to
admit that his Fox's cooking was better than anything he could put together.

	When he was done he started to dress, knowing he wouldn't be able
to rest again until he had satisfied these bizarre cravings he'd developed
over the last few days. He frowned at the crimson of the pants and shirt,
both styled so that they would fit loosely over his pregnant shape. They
were conspicuous, and he felt like he was outlined in light. Though Kurama
had gotten that gleam in his eyes when he had reluctantly put on the
sapphire blue set, the darkest of the maternity clothes that Yukina had let
him borrow, when he had expanded beyond the limit of his own pants and
Kurama's shirts. Kurama said he liked the way he looked in colors. He filed
that away for the first evening he had his regular shape and body back.

	He collected the flat tai-chi shoes that had also come in Yukina's
care package and headed back for the bedroom window knowing that Kurama
would hear the front door open and wake. His lover was still fragile and
needed all the rest he could get. He had slipped out these last three
nights without disturbing Kurama and hopefully by the time Kurama was back
to his old, nosey and alert self, these cravings would have passed.

* * *

	Kurama's thoughts drifted as he waited for Hiei to come back to
bed. He knew he should get up and keep his lover company, but Hiei had
grumbled at him the first night he had been home from the hospital that he
was perfectly capable of getting his own meals and that Kurama needed his
rest. He must have been in pretty bad shape not to register the nights that
Hiei had left his side. It had only been the past two that he had woken
enough to know when Hiei had gotten up for his late night snack, and even
then he had drifted back to sleep long before his lover came back.

	He worked on keeping himself awake by trying to formulate a way to
approach Hiei over his suspicions about the rash of robberies that had been
plaguing the florists in the area without upsetting him too much. Whoever
the thief was, and Kurama had a very good idea of just who that someone
was, had been stealing roses. And not just a few here or there. This person
had wiped out the stock in every store. Last night when Hiei had slipped
back to curl up against him he had smelled very strongly of roses. Kurama
had thought it was just part of an amusing dream until he had read the
paper on the train on the way to campus.

	The light from the open window was suddenly blocked by an ungainly
shadow. "Hiei, where are you going?"

	"Out. Go back to sleep," Hiei answered as he straddled the sill,
one leg in and one out.

	"Did you break into all those florist shops?" Kurama asked as he
sat up.

	Hiei paused on the window sill and Kurama saw the shadowed shrug of
his shoulders against the faint moonlight.

	"What do you need roses for, anyway? And why didn't you just ask
me?" Kurama questioned, curious.

	"I want them. They taste good. You aren't recovered enough yet to
be wasting your rei on making them," Hiei answered with another shrug.

	"You're eating roses?"

	Hiei shrugged again and Kurama had to bite his tongue to keep his
laughter in check. "Hiei, you can't just take things in the Ningenkai
without paying for them."

	Hiei's eyes sparked with orange fire as he glared back.

	"No, you're the one who can't take things from the Ningenkai
without paying for them. I don't care. I need them."

	He rubbed at the babies who where turning somersaults in his belly.
He had to have rose petals. Now. He turned, ready to leap down when the
aroma hit him and made his mouth water. He glanced back over his shoulder
and saw Kurama hold out a huge bouquet of roses with very large, full
blossoms. He was sitting cross-legged in front of Kurama before his Fox had
a chance to blink.

	"You shouldn't have done that," he mumbled around a mouthful of
bittersweet petals as he saw the slight tremble in his lover's hand as he
offered another stem.

	Kurama shrugged this time and asked, "Are you having cravings for
anything else?"

	"That sweet snow," Hiei answered right before he decapitated
another rose with a sharp click of his teeth.

	*Sweet snow?* Kurama laughed softly as he figured it out. *Ice
cream.* But there hadn't been any reports of break-in's or robberies of
grocery stores in the crime section.

	"Hiei, how did you get ice cream," Kurama wondered out loud.

	Hiei blinked at him with two rose petals sticking out of the corner
of his mouth. His tongue flicked out and collected them as he answered,
"From the food store on the corner. Where else would I get it?"

	He turned a curious look on Kurama as his lover dropped his face
into his hand with a groan.

	"Hiei, I have to shop there. Why didn't you just tell me and I
would have bought you some."

	"I want some. Now. Buy it for me."

	"Now? It's three in the morning!"

	Hiei shrugged and struggled up to his feet with a growl, feeling he
had made his point. It was getting harder and harder for him to get up as
his belly got bigger and bigger. He swore he had expanded another five
inches while he had sat.

	"Just wait, would you?" Kurama said with a sigh as Hiei headed for
the window again.

	Hiei turned to see Kurama stepping into a pair of jeans. "There's
an all-night store over on Pine."


	Hiei licked the last of the sweet snow that Kurama insisted on
calling ice cream off his spoon as he gazed at his lover. Kurama had
insisted on going with him even after he said that he would just take the
money and pay for the frozen treat. Kurama had told him that it wasn't safe
for him to be out and about alone this late at night now. Hiei snorted to
himself. As if any human could catch him. And he could outrun any
youkai...well, almost any youkai. He was slower now, his balance out of
center and it was harder to breathe with the babies pressing against his
ribs all the time. But still, he seriously doubted that anything in the
Ningenkai could touch him and besides, Kurama wasn't in any shape to take
on anything that might decide to take a whack at him either. He had
explained that to Kurama, but his lover had insisted on accompanying him
anyway and now had fallen asleep at the table, his head pillowed on his
crossed arms.

	A tender expression overtook his normal, fierce countenance as he
reached out to gently push a stray lock of hair out of Kurama's face. It
was a rare thing, this look, and would have startled Kurama or anyone else
who knew him. It was a look that only came to his face in the small hours
of the morning, when he was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that there
was no one and nothing that could see it. He rubbed the silky stuff between
his fingers and wondered if their son's would have the same texture and
coloring.

	*You are very lucky to have a father like him. He's going to spoil
you rotten. Just like he does me,* he smiled as he put his hand over the
babies, still now that they were all stuffed and contented.

	He schooled his features back into their normal mask as he leaned
forwards to kiss Kurama's cheek with cold lips.

	"Kurama, you are going to get a crick in your back if you stay like
that."

	Kurama opened his eyes a crack and grumbled something back at him.

	"Come on," Hiei pulled and tugged and coaxed until Kurama got to
his feet, then half guided, half supported him into the bedroom.

	Kurama collapsed onto the bedding with a grateful sigh and mumbled,
"Love you, Hiei," as he let Hiei get him undressed.

	Hiei didn't bother to answer, but got undressed quickly and wiggled
into the curl Kurama had made of himself against the cool breeze from the
fan. Kurama cuddled against him, his arm going as far as it could around
his waist and within four beats of his human heart was taking the deep even
breaths of sleep. He yawned as the babies shifted against his new position,
then settled. He drifted off trying to envision what his children were
going to look like once they were out of him.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


to be continued...