[JE] [FAIRY] Expecting Trouble 2/2
Title: Expecting Trouble 2/2
Fandom: KAT-TUN
Pairing: Kame/Jin
Word count: 12,000 total
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Mpreg
Genre: Twisted fairy tale, crack
Disclaimer: Not mine, damnit.
Summary: Sequel to Silver Cinders on the Road to Matrimony. It's time Prince Kame did his duty and fathered an heir. With his parents setting a precedent, having a child with his male spouse isn't out of the question - but persuading Jin to sign himself up for the whole nine months is easier said than done.
Author's Note: This is all the fault of lilmatchgirl007, luciene and gothicauthor, so blame them for the crack. Please note that I have no practical experience of pregnancy - I don't mean to make light of it or misrepresent it in any way, but this is fanfic, and writing realistic mpreg is out of my range. (Yes, I know how weird that sentence sounds.) My apologies if anyone feels offended by this.
Expecting Trouble 2/2
Pregnancy didn't affect Kame's life anywhere near as much as it did Jin's, but that didn't mean he didn't suffer some disruption. For one thing, he now had to spend a couple of hours everyday in the kitchen, since for the next two months, Jin was unable to keep anything down but Kame's cooking. Kame found it sort of flattering, but drove the staff half-crazy with his constant demands for new ingredients to experiment with. The prince was not a man who did things by halves.
With the nausea finally in recession, Jin gradually regained his energy. Kame was glad to see him up and around again...that is, until he found Jin standing in front of his bedroom mirror, frowning at the zip on his motorcycle jacket.
"I knew this was going to happen," Jin complained. "Now I'm the size of an elephant and it's only going to get worse."
"You've gained less than four kilos," Kame said. "Elephant status is a long way off. It's a tight jacket, Jin. Some days even I can't get it to zip up."
Jin turned round to give him an accusing look. "You've been borrowing my jacket?"
"You always borrow my stuff," Kame pointed out. "And you don't give it back, either. I have to come find it in your wardrobe."
"Married couples should share freely, right?"
"Right," Kame said dryly. Jin's stance on possessions seemed to be that what was his was his, and what was Kame's was his as well. Though if the way Jin was struggling to squeeze into the motorcycle jacket was any indication, he wouldn't be able to borrow Kame's clothes for much longer.
Motorcycle jacket...
"Jin..." Kame laced his voice with suspicion. "Why are you wearing that?"
"I feel like going for a ride," Jin said. "Want to join me?"
Kame wasn't sure if Jin was being deliberately rebellious or just dense; he appeared to be totally serious. "You're not getting on a bike in your condition."
"So I'll wear a different jacket!" Jin gave up on the zip, tossed the jacket aside and started rummaging through his wardrobe for a suitable replacement.
"I'm not talking about that! It's too risky. What if you fall?"
"Have I ever fallen before?"
"Have you ever ridden while pregnant before?" Kame countered.
Thanks to his stepmother's strict discipline, Jin had never been allowed anywhere near anything with an engine. He'd wasted no time, however, in learning to drive both bikes and cars once he'd moved into the palace, though the security guards had protested because this made it harder to keep track of him. Jin had successfully argued that Kame was allowed, therefore he should be.
Of course, pregnancy was an added twist. "You know I haven't," Jin sulked. "What do you want me to do, confine myself to the palace for the next five months?"
Under those circumstances, it was impossible to predict which would blow first - the roof of the palace or Jin. Kame had no wish to restrict him, only to protect him and the unborn child. Jin didn't respond well to being tied down.
"No...but you could drive a car instead," Kame said. "Very carefully. With company. And take your cell phone with you."
Jin snorted. "Stop treating me like I'm made of glass." He threw on a long, leather coat, jammed a fedora on his head, and swept out the door before Kame could protest.
-----
In the end, Jin did go for a drive. He even took company, in the form of Yamapi and Junno, and Ueda invited himself along "in case of an accident". Yamapi called shotgun, but somehow found himself in the backseat with the dog - Ueda's magic at work.
"Are we driving anywhere in particular, or just until you've got whatever it is out of your system?" Ueda asked as they pulled out of the palace garage.
Jin didn't answer until they were safely through the gates and on the open road, driving towards the nearest town. "We're driving till I want to go home."
In the back, Junno whined; Yamapi patted his nose and said, "Can we stop somewhere for lunch?"
"Only if you're paying."
Jin's mood lightened considerably as they drove. It was hard to stay annoyed when Ueda kept enchanting the radio so all the songs sounded like they were being sung by chipmunks. Yamapi's attempts to join in made them all laugh; Junno's tail wagged in merry accompaniment.
They stopped for sandwiches at a small coffee shop, sitting outside to take advantage of the sunshine, and because Junno wasn't allowed indoors - even escorted by the princess himself. Ravenous, Jin made quick work of his meal, then regretted it when he felt a fluttering in his belly.
Yamapi leapt to his feet, all prepared to clear a path to the bathroom. "Going to be sick again?"
Jin rubbed a hand over his stomach, waiting for the queasiness to make the transition to his throat, but it never happened. "I...I don't think so."
"Probably the baby moving," Ueda said. "Nothing to worry about."
Not for Ueda, perhaps, but Jin couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. Not physically - it didn't hurt - but because this was the first time he'd been able to feel another life inside, a little boy or girl growing bigger by the day. It was unsettling.
"Can I touch it?" Yamapi asked.
Despite the public location, Jin didn't mind, since Yamapi was so clearly excited by the idea. He raised his shirt, then squirmed when a cold hand pressed against his skin. Ueda looked on, quietly waving away the gawkers who gathered round. (Where they went, no one knew.)
Unfortunately for Yamapi, the baby's movements weren't strong enough for him to feel yet. Disappointed, he ordered dessert to cheer himself up, and everyone pretended not to notice Jin stealing chocolate flakes from the other side of the wafer. Although Kame no longer had to cook for him, the kitchen staff were under orders to give him as balanced a diet as possible, and that included precious little in the way of dessert.
"Try again in a few weeks," Ueda said. "I doubt anyone but Jin will be able to feel the baby doing somersaults at the moment."
Junno caught the word "somersaults" and promptly performed one. Jin stole Yamapi's wafer, broke it in two, and fed half to the dog. The other half, Yamapi snatched back. It was the piece with all the chocolate sauce on, after all.
Ueda ruffled Junno's ears. "One day you're going to have to tell me where you got your dog."
"He's talented, isn't he?" Jin shot his pet a grin. "Dad found him hiding out in the garden one day. It seems he got left behind when the circus moved on, so we adopted him."
Talking about his father always made Jin slightly nostalgic. The old man had died a shade over three years ago, and Jin still missed him. What he would've thought of his son's current situation, Jin could only guess, but since his father had always regretted having only one child of his own, Jin thought he might approve of having a grandchild, no matter how unorthodox the circumstances.
They finished eating in peace. The owner refused to charge them, provided Jin autographed his wall, so by the time they turned back to the palace, all three men were in good spirits. (Junno, of course, was always in good spirits, whether the occasion called for it or not.)
Ueda seemed particularly gleeful, his smile lighting the way home. They had to keep stopping for Jin to go to the bathroom - drinking lots of fluids had its downside - but they made good time regardless. Yamapi still wasn't allowed to ride up front, though he did at one point try to swipe the keys and take over driving duties; Jin's response was to bat him over the head with his own hat and declare that the only way he was letting anyone else have control of his car was if he was actually in labour, which was, as Ueda pointed out, an impossibility.
Jin pulled into the palace garage, parking perfectly despite the stack of crates that had somehow materialised around his parking space in the time he'd been out. Ueda reached for the door handle but Jin stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Something wrong?"
"You know something, don't you?" Jin said. Ueda's blinding smile had been bothering him on the drive, hinting at secrets Jin couldn't even begin to guess. "About me?"
"Not about you, exactly." Ueda sat back in his seat. "I should be able to do this now. Anybody want to know what gender the baby is?"
"I'm not sure-" Jin began, but Yamapi interrupted.
"I do! It'll help me choose presents."
Jin smirked at him. "You'll buy pink things whether it's a boy or a girl, won't you?"
"Well...yeah, okay..."
"It's your decision," Ueda said to Jin.
Jin sighed. "Kame will want to know, because it'll drive him crazy if he finds out he could know but doesn't get told. How can you tell?"
"Lift up your shirt."
Before Jin could do so, the pressure on his bladder upgraded itself to emergency status, and the entire party decamped to the residential wing for a comfort break. Yamapi mounted a daring rescue, saving Kame from what sounded like world's most boring debate by having a crate of beer sent to the chambers - the participants were too busy making merry to notice when the prince pulled a vanishing act, clutching his own beer and wondering at his sudden good fortune.
"Gimme a sip," Jin demanded when Kame showed up with the can still in hand.
A guilty blush stained Kame's cheeks. "It's finished," he lied, handing the can to Yamapi to dispose of. "All gone. Did you have a good time?"
"He had a marvellous time," Ueda said smoothly. "Do you want to see the video footage I took? It's all x-rated, of course, but that shouldn't bother a married man like yourself." He managed to dodge all three pillows hurled at him but couldn't avoid Junno crashing into his knees.
"Nothing happened other than the baby starting to move," Jin said.
Kame's incredulous smile found its twin on Jin's face. "Is it still moving? Can I feel it?"
Jin shook his head. "Not yet. It's not strong enough yet...but Ueda says he can tell us the gender. You want to know, right?"
"Of course I want to know!"
Ueda picked himself up from the floor, brushing Junno aside. "Then close the blinds and switch off the lights. Jin, lie down on the couch and lift your shirt."
"This is just like a dream I had last night," Yamapi mumbled, then turned red when he realised he'd spoken aloud and everyone else was staring at him.
When Jin was in position and the room was completely dark, everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen. Jin could feel Ueda's hand hovering over his bare skin, not quite touching. He wondered if this was how the birth was going to go.
"Why does it have to be dark?" Kame asked.
"Because it looks more impressive when I do this."
Ueda's hand glowed pale blue, ghostly in the darkness. He pressed softly on Jin's belly and Jin felt warmth seeping through spread fingers, a gentle probe through layers of skin, light seeking out the tiny child inside. He knew the moment Ueda made contact; numbness rippled back in response and he hissed sharply. Kame squeezed his hand.
"Your daughter's doing fine," Ueda said. He withdrew his hand; the blinds sprang open by themselves. "
Jin sat up, smoothing his shirt back into place. "It's a girl?"
"We're having a girl." Kame sounded overjoyed. "But...who's going to teach her about girl things?"
"Don't look at my stepmother," Jin said. "She'll have forgotten it all by the time our daughter's old enough to need advice on that." He liked saying that - "our daughter". His and Kame's. Their very own baby girl to love.
"Worry about teaching her to talk before you tell her about periods." Ueda pulled out a notebook from his cardigan, scribbled on a few pages, then packed it away again. "Or better yet, give her a name."
"Actually, we already have a-"
"No, Jin, we are not calling her 'Tiara'," Kame said firmly. "We've had this discussion and we're not going to name our daughter after a piece of headgear."
"I think it's cute." Jin was all prepared to defend his choice.
"I think she'll hate us forever when she tries to make friends!"
Ueda caught Yamapi's eye and gestured towards the door. "Do you think Junno could use a walk?"
Yamapi had no wish to be caught in the crossfire. He whistled for the dog and ran for the door, Ueda close behind, while Jin and Kame bickered like the child they were about to have.
-----
By the time they'd hit seven months, the baby still didn't have a name - a situation which dismayed the populace - and Jin had taken to sleeping alone. Kame was sad about this, though not very much because Jin's sleeping patterns had become increasingly erratic. The steady weight gain made it difficult for him to find a comfortable position in bed, and a combination of frequent bathroom breaks, twinges, and bad dreams had him waking at odd hours. Kame found it easier to say goodnight and retire to his own room, knowing that Jin could always pop through the connecting door and wake him if he felt the need.
He had, at least, been able to feel his little girl kick. Koki had marched into the council session one afternoon, stared down the guards on the door until they'd backed off, and demanded that Kame come with him now. Fearful that Jin might be in trouble, Kame had gone immediately, only to discover Jin quite happily settled on a pile of cushions; Nakamaru, Ueda and Yamapi all taking it in turns to touch his stomach.
Confused, Kame had turned to Koki. "You called me out of an important session for an orgy?"
"With my own stepbrother?" Koki had sounded thoroughly disgusted. "The baby's kicking - go feel for yourself."
So Kame had, dropping down to the cushions, the others giving way. He'd forgotten all about work after he'd felt it, the movement of his unborn daughter under his hand. He was going to be a father. It was finally real.
"Feel that kick?" Jin had said proudly. "She's going to be a great soccer player."
There were plenty of magical moments. Tranquil evenings when the two of them took Junno for a walk through the palace gardens, or Kame joined Jin in the pool for some gentle exercise now that dancing wasn't a viable option. Kame still danced from time to time - the king had, on a whim, had a pole installed in one of the upper rooms, and his son made good use of it. Jin always enjoyed the show, though his appreciation was much less physical than before.
Even if he'd had the desire, he didn't have the energy. Kame found him half-asleep in the pantry, a bottle of maple syrup in one hand and a bag of tortilla chips in the other.
He gently uncurled Jin's fingers from the snacks. "Were you going to eat these together?"
"Shut up," Jin mumbled, eyes still closed. "They taste good on ice cream."
Kame had his doubts. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you to bed."
Jin smiled lazily, letting his head drop to Kame's shoulder. "Charmer. No wonder all the boys like you."
It was fortunate that Kame had been working out a lot more since Ueda had moved into the palace - the sorcerer had proved to be a keen boxer, and was more than happy to take Kame on as a sparring partner. He wouldn't have been able to carry Jin otherwise, not with the added weight of the bump, and Kame suspected Jin wouldn't appreciate being dumped in the vegetable trolley and wheeled back to his bedroom.
He wasn't thrilled about being deposited on the bed in any case, until Kame promised to send in some maple syrup and tortillas on ice cream later.
"With spaghetti?"
"With spaghetti." It was a meal Kame didn't feel inclined to partake in. "I'll have it sent in when you're awake enough to eat it."
"I'm awake," Jin protested, but he couldn't keep his eyes open and his body was slack against Kame's.
Kame curled up behind Jin, chest to back, not throwing an arm over him as he would once have done because Jin had begun to have breathing problems, which Ueda said was perfectly normal but scared them both anyway. It was important that Jin got plenty of rest now. With a rare free afternoon, Kame took the opportunity to join him.
"You're too late," Jin muttered as Kame pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. "I'm already expecting."
"Doesn't mean I can't practise for next time."
"Uh uh. Not doing this again. Your turn."
Kame remembered volunteering to carry the second baby, if they decided to have another one, and wished he hadn't spoken so hastily. He had the endurance, perhaps, and he didn't object to buying a whole new wardrobe in larger sizes, but he didn't relish the thought of trying to argue with ministers while throwing up a week's worth of food. "Let's wait till the first one's out of the nursery before we discuss that."
Jin hummed sleepily and turned his head back far enough to blow Kame a kiss before passing out on the pillow. Kame caught the kiss, then followed his example.
-----
The final two months drove Jin half-crazy. Cut off from so many of his favourite activities, boredom made his daily life a struggle; he had trouble taking interest in anything. If his stepbrothers hadn't stood in his doorway and mocked him until he had to rise to fight back, he might never have left the bed. Ueda stopped by at intervals to check on the baby's progress, and congratulate Nakamaru and Koki on a job well done when he didn't think Jin was listening.
Yamapi, too, was a frequent visitor, happy to play games and watch movies with Jin, and join him in his weird food experiments. He made sure Jin saw more than the residential wing of the palace when Kame wasn't around to do it, whether Jin felt like going out or not.
And more often than not, Jin didn't feel like going anywhere, especially when his feet and ankles started to swell. Ueda watched him closely then, monitoring the swelling. He wouldn't tell Jin anything, so Jin figured he should only get worried if Ueda suddenly started giving him detailed information.
His stepmother wasn't impressed the one and only time she bothered to visit him. "You've got no excuse for lounging about like this," she said. "Women manage pregnancy without putting their lives completely on hold. You've become soft since you got married."
Jin glared up at her from the comfort of his bed. "What, I should've said no when the prince proposed?" Never mind that he almost had said no, but he and Kame were the only two who knew that, and Kame had never quite understood why.
"No, but you married him, didn't you? He's probably regretting it now, seeing how lazy you are. I didn't raise you like this, Jin."
Seeing as how his stepmother's idea of "raising" him had been to criticise every little thing he did, and then turn him into an unpaid skivvy after his father's death, Jin didn't think she had any right to talk. "I'm not your problem now," he said bitterly. "And if I had the energy to do anything, I'd be doing it. But I don't."
"Then it's no wonder the prince is spending all his time at work, is it?"
When Kame arrived with a picnic basket and a suggestion that they have an outdoor supper in the orchard, Jin's stepmother was long gone, having talked her stepson even further into dejection. Kame thought Jin was asleep at first, with the blinds drawn, light off and room dark. He left the basket by the door and crept inside to check. As he approached the bed, the muted sniffling alerted him that Jin was in fact awake, though not in any mood for visitors.
"Jin?"
"Mmh?"
"Can I turn on the light?"
No answer. Kame hit the light switch anyway, revealing a lump under the covers where Jin lay curled on his side, one arm shielding his eyes.
"Is it another headache?" Kame perched on the edge of the bed and laid a gentle hand on Jin's shoulder. "Should I find Ueda?"
"Don't you have papers to be signing somewhere?"
There was a harsh edge to Jin's words, a verbal sandpapering of Kame's conscience, but there was pain too, and when he uncovered bloodshot eyes and damp lashes, Kame knew how Jin had been spending his afternoon. He'd expected it earlier, actually. Under normal conditions, Jin's mood swings were fairly impressive, taking him from gleeful enthusiasm to guarded, stony silence, via violent jealousy and loving tenderness. Jin's upbringing had taught him how to endure, how to bide his time and wait for an opportunity to break free...but waiting to give birth didn't provide any such opportunity, and the end result would only tie Jin down further.
Kame had steeled himself for an outburst long ago, but when it hadn't come he'd gotten careless, thinking he'd escaped. He'd dealt with Jin's distress before, but they'd been up a tree at the time and Kame had been trying to propose marriage. Evidently, he was now going to get payback for everything he'd been avoiding for the last eight months.
"I'm done," he said. "My parents are spending the next month in a resort with a fax machine - I've given instructions to send everything to them instead. I'm all yours now. If you want me here, that is."
"Why would you want to be?" Jin said quietly. "To watch me struggle to get my fat, clumsy self to the bathroom without knocking into anything? I don't feel like I can do anything, Kame."
Nothing in Kame's fledgling political career so far had taught him how to lie to Jin with any degree of success, so it was no use telling him he was perfectly svelte and a marvel of grace. "If you can't do anything then I'll help you."
"You shouldn't have to."
"How would you know? It's not like you've got prior experience, is it? And my parents aren't being much help."
The king and queen had finally returned Jin's calls, but very briefly thanks to a series of bad connections, and they hadn't been able to impart much of use. Every time they started to give advice, they went off on a tangent of nostalgia over Kame's birth, inevitably leading to Jin cutting the conversation short before he got an earful of the Royal Love Life.
"No, but-"
"It's fine to challenge yourself, but there's no sense in taking risks when it's not just your health but our daughter's at stake, is there?" Kame said. "If you need to take it easy, then that's what you should do. It doesn't make you lazy, or a bad person."
Jin propped himself up on one elbow, locking eyes with Kame. "Did Ueda ever tell you?"
Kame blinked at the sudden change of subject. "About what?"
"About how..." Jin gave him a brief, bitter smile, "...how I asked him if he could abort the baby and make it seem natural."
"Why?" Kame burst out. "When?"
"When I was being so sick I thought my internal organs were going to come out of my mouth and that would be the end of me. He obviously didn't tell you. I thought he wouldn't."
Kame schooled his features into careful neutrality. "What did he tell you?"
"That your parents were paying his fees...but also that he was still my fairy godmother, even if he wasn't in the business any longer, and that if I wanted it to all go away, he could make it happen. You'd never have known."
"So why...why didn't you?"
"Because I'd have known." Jin winced and reached down to rub his stomach. "I was sick of being sick, Kame. I wanted my life back."
Guilt hit Kame like a shot to the heart. It was his fault. He reached for the hand not occupied with massaging out the pain and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Do you hate me for it?"
"If I did, do you think I'd let you anywhere near me? I can't hate you, I just..." Jin broke off and tried again. "You were so excited, and I wanted to be like that too, only I couldn't when I was feeling so bad. It wasn't real - I didn't see why it had to be real - until I felt her move."
"Do you still want-"
"No," Jin interrupted. "It was different when she was just a collection of cells - no gender, no name. Now she's a person, and I can't kill her."
"She still doesn't have a name."
"Jennifer," Jin said. "I want to call her Jennifer."
"Why Jennifer?"
"Because Dad said if I'd been born a girl, that's what he wanted to call me."
Fair enough. Kame would've agreed to call the baby 'Tiara', even, if it meant that Jin didn't resent him. "Jennifer it is, then."
"Eh? You're not going to argue?"
"Not this time. If that's what you want, then I'm happy with it."
Jin clucked his tongue. "Damn. I should've held out for Tiara."
Kame's laughter disappeared into Jin's shoulder as he curled himself cautiously around the bump and snuggled up as close as he dared. "You'll have your life back soon," he said.
"Nah. I'll have a whole new life. And don't think you're getting out of childcare duties just because you're a prince."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Kame assured him.
There were limits to what Jin could comfortably do in his condition; Kame was in no rush to test them. Hands and lips sufficed to elicit sounds Kame hadn't heard in several months, slow and comfortable against the pillows, Jin's oversized T-shirt pushed up out the way.
Which was how Kame noticed the faint red streaks crossing Jin's stomach. "What...?"
"Stretch marks," Jin said miserably. "Why do you think I haven't let you see me naked for ages? And they itch too." He scrabbled around in the nightstand drawer till he found a plain white jar, which he handed to Kame. "Rub some cream on me?"
-----
Jin barely noticed Kame hovering over him the whole time, he spent so much of his final week asleep. Or so Kame thought until he spotted the headphones.
"What are you listening to now?" he asked when Jin took a break.
"Messages wishing me good luck. Have a listen for yourself."
Kame accepted the headphones. To his surprise, Viscount Kusano's voice played, telling Jin to take it easy and not make Kame worry about him. "Kusano?"
"Yeah." Jin sounded as amazed as Kame felt. "He sent it just before he went off to find that mythical land of...what was it? New York, something like that? I always thought he hated me for taking you off the market."
"Only when he was drunk. Who are all these from?"
"Friends, servants, subjects. We've had enough babysitting offers to keep us going till Jennifer's eighteen."
Kame listened to a few more. Some of the messages seemed to have been recorded while the parties responsible were less than sober, to judge by the content and delivery, and no one appeared to be sure exactly how Jin was planning on giving birth, based on some of the advice - and narcotics - offered.
When the big day came was due less to nature than to Ueda, who wanted to fit it in between his training. Kame's parents didn't make it back in time, owing to a succession of flat tyres, so Kame, Jin and Ueda were alone in a specially-prepared room. Next door, Yamapi, Koki and Nakamaru waited impatiently, taking it in turns to play with Junno.
"Nervous?" Kame asked.
"Terrified." Jin was stripped to his underwear, surrounded by pillows, and clutching Kame's hand so hard he was about to break bones. "Each time Ueda tells me how he's going to do this, it sounds more like surgery than magic."
"It's a bit of both," Ueda said cheerfully. "You drink this," he handed Jin a glass of something ominously purple, "and you'll be asleep in seconds. Then I make this," he patted Jin's bump, "mist, and while the baby's in stasis I sever the connections she has with your body. Everything gets tied off nice and neat, I restore your flesh, and without the baby preventing your body from changing back, you'll be physically recovered in a couple of days. I hope."
Kame and Jin turned identical suspicious gazes on him and said, "You hope?"
"I've never done this before. But it should all work, in theory."
Jin groaned. "For the amount he's being paid, you'd think I'd at least get some reassuring banter."
"That costs extra." Ueda took a deep breath and readied himself by the raised bed. "It'll be fine. You won't feel a thing."
"I'd better not." Jin swallowed the contents of the glass before he could change his mind.
Kame caught the glass as it fell from Jin's numb fingers, setting it aside. The effects were instantaneous, never mind the seconds Ueda had promised. "What kind of sleep is that?"
"You know the sleep you always get in fairy tales, where the princess can sleep through earthquakes, buildings falling on her, nuclear explosions and high-volume reggae music because none of it involves her being kissed by her destined prince? It's that kind. He won't wake until I make it happen.
"Now step back, please."
Kame found that only slightly comforting. He wished, as he watched Ueda at work, that he was anywhere else, preferably somewhere he didn't have to look at Jin's prone form dissolving half into mist. The baby, a scrunched, pink and red bundle, appeared to hover in mid-air where the protective womb faded out of sight. Childbirth, he'd been told, was a moving experience for all concerned. The only movement Kame felt was a churning in his stomach.
From start to finish, the whole process took less than two hours, and when it was over, Ueda smoothed Jin's skin back into place, tweaking a little to remove some of the excess weight. Jin slept on, flat stomach more-or-less restored, not even stirring when Kame wrapped him in a robe. The palace doctor was on hand now to examine the baby and confer with Ueda.
"She's doing fine," Ueda said when Kame pestered him. "Do you want to hold her?"
"Can you wake Jin first?"
Ueda did, pouring a vial of green liquid into Jin's mouth and holding his nose to make him swallow. The effects were as immediate as the first potion - Jin woke with a start, coughing up the remains and pulling a face at the taste.
"Why do all your potions taste like vegetable juice?" he complained.
"If they tasted nice, people might try to steal them," Ueda said. "How do you feel?"
"Weird. Empty." Jin looked down at his stomach. "Where is she?"
The doctor passed Kame a pink bundle, which he held down for Jin to take. Peeking out from the blanket was a tiny little face, all pink and freshly cleaned, topped by strands of dark hair. Their little girl. Jennifer.
"She's beautiful," Jin whispered. "She's going to break the hearts of everyone in the kingdom."
"She is your daughter," Ueda pointed out. "And she's healthy, you'll be glad to hear."
"Good." Kame crashed on the armchair next to the bed. "Then can you leave us alone for a bit?"
Ueda beamed at the baby. "Fine, but you can explain to the army of godfathers next door why they're not allowed in yet."
He and the doctor cleared out, leaving Kame and Jin alone with their baby girl.
"I think she's got your eyes," Jin said fondly.
Kame snorted. "How can you tell? They're closed."
"But that's how you look when you're sleeping." Jin shifted over so Kame could sit next to him. "Do you think we're up to this?"
"Honestly? I don't know. But we've got all the help we could ever want."
"We'll still screw it up anyway."
"Probably." Kame couldn't help laughing. "No one ever said raising a child was easy, Jin. I think I still do things that make my parents wish they'd bought a cat instead."
"A cat would've been cheaper," Jin said, mindful of Kame's shopping habits and expensive taste in clothes.
"A cat wouldn't have given them a grandchild. They'd better be happy with little Jennifer when they get back."
The past nine months had been full of ups and downs. Sickness and fatigue, a range of anxieties, disturbed nights and uncomfortable days...but moments of wonder, also. Jin didn't feel any more balanced than he had since the start of his pregnancy, body and emotions still all over the place, but those, he hoped, would gradually even out as his hormones returned to normal and he and Kame adapted to the new addition to their family.
One adorable little girl with two dads ready to give her all the love she needed. There were bound to be problems. Fights, temper tantrums, sleepless nights...unavoidable unless Jin took off, and he certainly couldn't do that now. Not when he had a daughter to take care of - a blend of his and Kame's genes, which in itself was a recipe for trouble.
But Jin was prepared for trouble. "It doesn't matter if they're happy with her or not," he said. "I am."
Fandom: KAT-TUN
Pairing: Kame/Jin
Word count: 12,000 total
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Mpreg
Genre: Twisted fairy tale, crack
Disclaimer: Not mine, damnit.
Summary: Sequel to Silver Cinders on the Road to Matrimony. It's time Prince Kame did his duty and fathered an heir. With his parents setting a precedent, having a child with his male spouse isn't out of the question - but persuading Jin to sign himself up for the whole nine months is easier said than done.
Author's Note: This is all the fault of lilmatchgirl007, luciene and gothicauthor, so blame them for the crack. Please note that I have no practical experience of pregnancy - I don't mean to make light of it or misrepresent it in any way, but this is fanfic, and writing realistic mpreg is out of my range. (Yes, I know how weird that sentence sounds.) My apologies if anyone feels offended by this.
Expecting Trouble 2/2
Pregnancy didn't affect Kame's life anywhere near as much as it did Jin's, but that didn't mean he didn't suffer some disruption. For one thing, he now had to spend a couple of hours everyday in the kitchen, since for the next two months, Jin was unable to keep anything down but Kame's cooking. Kame found it sort of flattering, but drove the staff half-crazy with his constant demands for new ingredients to experiment with. The prince was not a man who did things by halves.
With the nausea finally in recession, Jin gradually regained his energy. Kame was glad to see him up and around again...that is, until he found Jin standing in front of his bedroom mirror, frowning at the zip on his motorcycle jacket.
"I knew this was going to happen," Jin complained. "Now I'm the size of an elephant and it's only going to get worse."
"You've gained less than four kilos," Kame said. "Elephant status is a long way off. It's a tight jacket, Jin. Some days even I can't get it to zip up."
Jin turned round to give him an accusing look. "You've been borrowing my jacket?"
"You always borrow my stuff," Kame pointed out. "And you don't give it back, either. I have to come find it in your wardrobe."
"Married couples should share freely, right?"
"Right," Kame said dryly. Jin's stance on possessions seemed to be that what was his was his, and what was Kame's was his as well. Though if the way Jin was struggling to squeeze into the motorcycle jacket was any indication, he wouldn't be able to borrow Kame's clothes for much longer.
Motorcycle jacket...
"Jin..." Kame laced his voice with suspicion. "Why are you wearing that?"
"I feel like going for a ride," Jin said. "Want to join me?"
Kame wasn't sure if Jin was being deliberately rebellious or just dense; he appeared to be totally serious. "You're not getting on a bike in your condition."
"So I'll wear a different jacket!" Jin gave up on the zip, tossed the jacket aside and started rummaging through his wardrobe for a suitable replacement.
"I'm not talking about that! It's too risky. What if you fall?"
"Have I ever fallen before?"
"Have you ever ridden while pregnant before?" Kame countered.
Thanks to his stepmother's strict discipline, Jin had never been allowed anywhere near anything with an engine. He'd wasted no time, however, in learning to drive both bikes and cars once he'd moved into the palace, though the security guards had protested because this made it harder to keep track of him. Jin had successfully argued that Kame was allowed, therefore he should be.
Of course, pregnancy was an added twist. "You know I haven't," Jin sulked. "What do you want me to do, confine myself to the palace for the next five months?"
Under those circumstances, it was impossible to predict which would blow first - the roof of the palace or Jin. Kame had no wish to restrict him, only to protect him and the unborn child. Jin didn't respond well to being tied down.
"No...but you could drive a car instead," Kame said. "Very carefully. With company. And take your cell phone with you."
Jin snorted. "Stop treating me like I'm made of glass." He threw on a long, leather coat, jammed a fedora on his head, and swept out the door before Kame could protest.
-----
In the end, Jin did go for a drive. He even took company, in the form of Yamapi and Junno, and Ueda invited himself along "in case of an accident". Yamapi called shotgun, but somehow found himself in the backseat with the dog - Ueda's magic at work.
"Are we driving anywhere in particular, or just until you've got whatever it is out of your system?" Ueda asked as they pulled out of the palace garage.
Jin didn't answer until they were safely through the gates and on the open road, driving towards the nearest town. "We're driving till I want to go home."
In the back, Junno whined; Yamapi patted his nose and said, "Can we stop somewhere for lunch?"
"Only if you're paying."
Jin's mood lightened considerably as they drove. It was hard to stay annoyed when Ueda kept enchanting the radio so all the songs sounded like they were being sung by chipmunks. Yamapi's attempts to join in made them all laugh; Junno's tail wagged in merry accompaniment.
They stopped for sandwiches at a small coffee shop, sitting outside to take advantage of the sunshine, and because Junno wasn't allowed indoors - even escorted by the princess himself. Ravenous, Jin made quick work of his meal, then regretted it when he felt a fluttering in his belly.
Yamapi leapt to his feet, all prepared to clear a path to the bathroom. "Going to be sick again?"
Jin rubbed a hand over his stomach, waiting for the queasiness to make the transition to his throat, but it never happened. "I...I don't think so."
"Probably the baby moving," Ueda said. "Nothing to worry about."
Not for Ueda, perhaps, but Jin couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. Not physically - it didn't hurt - but because this was the first time he'd been able to feel another life inside, a little boy or girl growing bigger by the day. It was unsettling.
"Can I touch it?" Yamapi asked.
Despite the public location, Jin didn't mind, since Yamapi was so clearly excited by the idea. He raised his shirt, then squirmed when a cold hand pressed against his skin. Ueda looked on, quietly waving away the gawkers who gathered round. (Where they went, no one knew.)
Unfortunately for Yamapi, the baby's movements weren't strong enough for him to feel yet. Disappointed, he ordered dessert to cheer himself up, and everyone pretended not to notice Jin stealing chocolate flakes from the other side of the wafer. Although Kame no longer had to cook for him, the kitchen staff were under orders to give him as balanced a diet as possible, and that included precious little in the way of dessert.
"Try again in a few weeks," Ueda said. "I doubt anyone but Jin will be able to feel the baby doing somersaults at the moment."
Junno caught the word "somersaults" and promptly performed one. Jin stole Yamapi's wafer, broke it in two, and fed half to the dog. The other half, Yamapi snatched back. It was the piece with all the chocolate sauce on, after all.
Ueda ruffled Junno's ears. "One day you're going to have to tell me where you got your dog."
"He's talented, isn't he?" Jin shot his pet a grin. "Dad found him hiding out in the garden one day. It seems he got left behind when the circus moved on, so we adopted him."
Talking about his father always made Jin slightly nostalgic. The old man had died a shade over three years ago, and Jin still missed him. What he would've thought of his son's current situation, Jin could only guess, but since his father had always regretted having only one child of his own, Jin thought he might approve of having a grandchild, no matter how unorthodox the circumstances.
They finished eating in peace. The owner refused to charge them, provided Jin autographed his wall, so by the time they turned back to the palace, all three men were in good spirits. (Junno, of course, was always in good spirits, whether the occasion called for it or not.)
Ueda seemed particularly gleeful, his smile lighting the way home. They had to keep stopping for Jin to go to the bathroom - drinking lots of fluids had its downside - but they made good time regardless. Yamapi still wasn't allowed to ride up front, though he did at one point try to swipe the keys and take over driving duties; Jin's response was to bat him over the head with his own hat and declare that the only way he was letting anyone else have control of his car was if he was actually in labour, which was, as Ueda pointed out, an impossibility.
Jin pulled into the palace garage, parking perfectly despite the stack of crates that had somehow materialised around his parking space in the time he'd been out. Ueda reached for the door handle but Jin stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Something wrong?"
"You know something, don't you?" Jin said. Ueda's blinding smile had been bothering him on the drive, hinting at secrets Jin couldn't even begin to guess. "About me?"
"Not about you, exactly." Ueda sat back in his seat. "I should be able to do this now. Anybody want to know what gender the baby is?"
"I'm not sure-" Jin began, but Yamapi interrupted.
"I do! It'll help me choose presents."
Jin smirked at him. "You'll buy pink things whether it's a boy or a girl, won't you?"
"Well...yeah, okay..."
"It's your decision," Ueda said to Jin.
Jin sighed. "Kame will want to know, because it'll drive him crazy if he finds out he could know but doesn't get told. How can you tell?"
"Lift up your shirt."
Before Jin could do so, the pressure on his bladder upgraded itself to emergency status, and the entire party decamped to the residential wing for a comfort break. Yamapi mounted a daring rescue, saving Kame from what sounded like world's most boring debate by having a crate of beer sent to the chambers - the participants were too busy making merry to notice when the prince pulled a vanishing act, clutching his own beer and wondering at his sudden good fortune.
"Gimme a sip," Jin demanded when Kame showed up with the can still in hand.
A guilty blush stained Kame's cheeks. "It's finished," he lied, handing the can to Yamapi to dispose of. "All gone. Did you have a good time?"
"He had a marvellous time," Ueda said smoothly. "Do you want to see the video footage I took? It's all x-rated, of course, but that shouldn't bother a married man like yourself." He managed to dodge all three pillows hurled at him but couldn't avoid Junno crashing into his knees.
"Nothing happened other than the baby starting to move," Jin said.
Kame's incredulous smile found its twin on Jin's face. "Is it still moving? Can I feel it?"
Jin shook his head. "Not yet. It's not strong enough yet...but Ueda says he can tell us the gender. You want to know, right?"
"Of course I want to know!"
Ueda picked himself up from the floor, brushing Junno aside. "Then close the blinds and switch off the lights. Jin, lie down on the couch and lift your shirt."
"This is just like a dream I had last night," Yamapi mumbled, then turned red when he realised he'd spoken aloud and everyone else was staring at him.
When Jin was in position and the room was completely dark, everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen. Jin could feel Ueda's hand hovering over his bare skin, not quite touching. He wondered if this was how the birth was going to go.
"Why does it have to be dark?" Kame asked.
"Because it looks more impressive when I do this."
Ueda's hand glowed pale blue, ghostly in the darkness. He pressed softly on Jin's belly and Jin felt warmth seeping through spread fingers, a gentle probe through layers of skin, light seeking out the tiny child inside. He knew the moment Ueda made contact; numbness rippled back in response and he hissed sharply. Kame squeezed his hand.
"Your daughter's doing fine," Ueda said. He withdrew his hand; the blinds sprang open by themselves. "
Jin sat up, smoothing his shirt back into place. "It's a girl?"
"We're having a girl." Kame sounded overjoyed. "But...who's going to teach her about girl things?"
"Don't look at my stepmother," Jin said. "She'll have forgotten it all by the time our daughter's old enough to need advice on that." He liked saying that - "our daughter". His and Kame's. Their very own baby girl to love.
"Worry about teaching her to talk before you tell her about periods." Ueda pulled out a notebook from his cardigan, scribbled on a few pages, then packed it away again. "Or better yet, give her a name."
"Actually, we already have a-"
"No, Jin, we are not calling her 'Tiara'," Kame said firmly. "We've had this discussion and we're not going to name our daughter after a piece of headgear."
"I think it's cute." Jin was all prepared to defend his choice.
"I think she'll hate us forever when she tries to make friends!"
Ueda caught Yamapi's eye and gestured towards the door. "Do you think Junno could use a walk?"
Yamapi had no wish to be caught in the crossfire. He whistled for the dog and ran for the door, Ueda close behind, while Jin and Kame bickered like the child they were about to have.
-----
By the time they'd hit seven months, the baby still didn't have a name - a situation which dismayed the populace - and Jin had taken to sleeping alone. Kame was sad about this, though not very much because Jin's sleeping patterns had become increasingly erratic. The steady weight gain made it difficult for him to find a comfortable position in bed, and a combination of frequent bathroom breaks, twinges, and bad dreams had him waking at odd hours. Kame found it easier to say goodnight and retire to his own room, knowing that Jin could always pop through the connecting door and wake him if he felt the need.
He had, at least, been able to feel his little girl kick. Koki had marched into the council session one afternoon, stared down the guards on the door until they'd backed off, and demanded that Kame come with him now. Fearful that Jin might be in trouble, Kame had gone immediately, only to discover Jin quite happily settled on a pile of cushions; Nakamaru, Ueda and Yamapi all taking it in turns to touch his stomach.
Confused, Kame had turned to Koki. "You called me out of an important session for an orgy?"
"With my own stepbrother?" Koki had sounded thoroughly disgusted. "The baby's kicking - go feel for yourself."
So Kame had, dropping down to the cushions, the others giving way. He'd forgotten all about work after he'd felt it, the movement of his unborn daughter under his hand. He was going to be a father. It was finally real.
"Feel that kick?" Jin had said proudly. "She's going to be a great soccer player."
There were plenty of magical moments. Tranquil evenings when the two of them took Junno for a walk through the palace gardens, or Kame joined Jin in the pool for some gentle exercise now that dancing wasn't a viable option. Kame still danced from time to time - the king had, on a whim, had a pole installed in one of the upper rooms, and his son made good use of it. Jin always enjoyed the show, though his appreciation was much less physical than before.
Even if he'd had the desire, he didn't have the energy. Kame found him half-asleep in the pantry, a bottle of maple syrup in one hand and a bag of tortilla chips in the other.
He gently uncurled Jin's fingers from the snacks. "Were you going to eat these together?"
"Shut up," Jin mumbled, eyes still closed. "They taste good on ice cream."
Kame had his doubts. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you to bed."
Jin smiled lazily, letting his head drop to Kame's shoulder. "Charmer. No wonder all the boys like you."
It was fortunate that Kame had been working out a lot more since Ueda had moved into the palace - the sorcerer had proved to be a keen boxer, and was more than happy to take Kame on as a sparring partner. He wouldn't have been able to carry Jin otherwise, not with the added weight of the bump, and Kame suspected Jin wouldn't appreciate being dumped in the vegetable trolley and wheeled back to his bedroom.
He wasn't thrilled about being deposited on the bed in any case, until Kame promised to send in some maple syrup and tortillas on ice cream later.
"With spaghetti?"
"With spaghetti." It was a meal Kame didn't feel inclined to partake in. "I'll have it sent in when you're awake enough to eat it."
"I'm awake," Jin protested, but he couldn't keep his eyes open and his body was slack against Kame's.
Kame curled up behind Jin, chest to back, not throwing an arm over him as he would once have done because Jin had begun to have breathing problems, which Ueda said was perfectly normal but scared them both anyway. It was important that Jin got plenty of rest now. With a rare free afternoon, Kame took the opportunity to join him.
"You're too late," Jin muttered as Kame pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. "I'm already expecting."
"Doesn't mean I can't practise for next time."
"Uh uh. Not doing this again. Your turn."
Kame remembered volunteering to carry the second baby, if they decided to have another one, and wished he hadn't spoken so hastily. He had the endurance, perhaps, and he didn't object to buying a whole new wardrobe in larger sizes, but he didn't relish the thought of trying to argue with ministers while throwing up a week's worth of food. "Let's wait till the first one's out of the nursery before we discuss that."
Jin hummed sleepily and turned his head back far enough to blow Kame a kiss before passing out on the pillow. Kame caught the kiss, then followed his example.
-----
The final two months drove Jin half-crazy. Cut off from so many of his favourite activities, boredom made his daily life a struggle; he had trouble taking interest in anything. If his stepbrothers hadn't stood in his doorway and mocked him until he had to rise to fight back, he might never have left the bed. Ueda stopped by at intervals to check on the baby's progress, and congratulate Nakamaru and Koki on a job well done when he didn't think Jin was listening.
Yamapi, too, was a frequent visitor, happy to play games and watch movies with Jin, and join him in his weird food experiments. He made sure Jin saw more than the residential wing of the palace when Kame wasn't around to do it, whether Jin felt like going out or not.
And more often than not, Jin didn't feel like going anywhere, especially when his feet and ankles started to swell. Ueda watched him closely then, monitoring the swelling. He wouldn't tell Jin anything, so Jin figured he should only get worried if Ueda suddenly started giving him detailed information.
His stepmother wasn't impressed the one and only time she bothered to visit him. "You've got no excuse for lounging about like this," she said. "Women manage pregnancy without putting their lives completely on hold. You've become soft since you got married."
Jin glared up at her from the comfort of his bed. "What, I should've said no when the prince proposed?" Never mind that he almost had said no, but he and Kame were the only two who knew that, and Kame had never quite understood why.
"No, but you married him, didn't you? He's probably regretting it now, seeing how lazy you are. I didn't raise you like this, Jin."
Seeing as how his stepmother's idea of "raising" him had been to criticise every little thing he did, and then turn him into an unpaid skivvy after his father's death, Jin didn't think she had any right to talk. "I'm not your problem now," he said bitterly. "And if I had the energy to do anything, I'd be doing it. But I don't."
"Then it's no wonder the prince is spending all his time at work, is it?"
When Kame arrived with a picnic basket and a suggestion that they have an outdoor supper in the orchard, Jin's stepmother was long gone, having talked her stepson even further into dejection. Kame thought Jin was asleep at first, with the blinds drawn, light off and room dark. He left the basket by the door and crept inside to check. As he approached the bed, the muted sniffling alerted him that Jin was in fact awake, though not in any mood for visitors.
"Jin?"
"Mmh?"
"Can I turn on the light?"
No answer. Kame hit the light switch anyway, revealing a lump under the covers where Jin lay curled on his side, one arm shielding his eyes.
"Is it another headache?" Kame perched on the edge of the bed and laid a gentle hand on Jin's shoulder. "Should I find Ueda?"
"Don't you have papers to be signing somewhere?"
There was a harsh edge to Jin's words, a verbal sandpapering of Kame's conscience, but there was pain too, and when he uncovered bloodshot eyes and damp lashes, Kame knew how Jin had been spending his afternoon. He'd expected it earlier, actually. Under normal conditions, Jin's mood swings were fairly impressive, taking him from gleeful enthusiasm to guarded, stony silence, via violent jealousy and loving tenderness. Jin's upbringing had taught him how to endure, how to bide his time and wait for an opportunity to break free...but waiting to give birth didn't provide any such opportunity, and the end result would only tie Jin down further.
Kame had steeled himself for an outburst long ago, but when it hadn't come he'd gotten careless, thinking he'd escaped. He'd dealt with Jin's distress before, but they'd been up a tree at the time and Kame had been trying to propose marriage. Evidently, he was now going to get payback for everything he'd been avoiding for the last eight months.
"I'm done," he said. "My parents are spending the next month in a resort with a fax machine - I've given instructions to send everything to them instead. I'm all yours now. If you want me here, that is."
"Why would you want to be?" Jin said quietly. "To watch me struggle to get my fat, clumsy self to the bathroom without knocking into anything? I don't feel like I can do anything, Kame."
Nothing in Kame's fledgling political career so far had taught him how to lie to Jin with any degree of success, so it was no use telling him he was perfectly svelte and a marvel of grace. "If you can't do anything then I'll help you."
"You shouldn't have to."
"How would you know? It's not like you've got prior experience, is it? And my parents aren't being much help."
The king and queen had finally returned Jin's calls, but very briefly thanks to a series of bad connections, and they hadn't been able to impart much of use. Every time they started to give advice, they went off on a tangent of nostalgia over Kame's birth, inevitably leading to Jin cutting the conversation short before he got an earful of the Royal Love Life.
"No, but-"
"It's fine to challenge yourself, but there's no sense in taking risks when it's not just your health but our daughter's at stake, is there?" Kame said. "If you need to take it easy, then that's what you should do. It doesn't make you lazy, or a bad person."
Jin propped himself up on one elbow, locking eyes with Kame. "Did Ueda ever tell you?"
Kame blinked at the sudden change of subject. "About what?"
"About how..." Jin gave him a brief, bitter smile, "...how I asked him if he could abort the baby and make it seem natural."
"Why?" Kame burst out. "When?"
"When I was being so sick I thought my internal organs were going to come out of my mouth and that would be the end of me. He obviously didn't tell you. I thought he wouldn't."
Kame schooled his features into careful neutrality. "What did he tell you?"
"That your parents were paying his fees...but also that he was still my fairy godmother, even if he wasn't in the business any longer, and that if I wanted it to all go away, he could make it happen. You'd never have known."
"So why...why didn't you?"
"Because I'd have known." Jin winced and reached down to rub his stomach. "I was sick of being sick, Kame. I wanted my life back."
Guilt hit Kame like a shot to the heart. It was his fault. He reached for the hand not occupied with massaging out the pain and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Do you hate me for it?"
"If I did, do you think I'd let you anywhere near me? I can't hate you, I just..." Jin broke off and tried again. "You were so excited, and I wanted to be like that too, only I couldn't when I was feeling so bad. It wasn't real - I didn't see why it had to be real - until I felt her move."
"Do you still want-"
"No," Jin interrupted. "It was different when she was just a collection of cells - no gender, no name. Now she's a person, and I can't kill her."
"She still doesn't have a name."
"Jennifer," Jin said. "I want to call her Jennifer."
"Why Jennifer?"
"Because Dad said if I'd been born a girl, that's what he wanted to call me."
Fair enough. Kame would've agreed to call the baby 'Tiara', even, if it meant that Jin didn't resent him. "Jennifer it is, then."
"Eh? You're not going to argue?"
"Not this time. If that's what you want, then I'm happy with it."
Jin clucked his tongue. "Damn. I should've held out for Tiara."
Kame's laughter disappeared into Jin's shoulder as he curled himself cautiously around the bump and snuggled up as close as he dared. "You'll have your life back soon," he said.
"Nah. I'll have a whole new life. And don't think you're getting out of childcare duties just because you're a prince."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Kame assured him.
There were limits to what Jin could comfortably do in his condition; Kame was in no rush to test them. Hands and lips sufficed to elicit sounds Kame hadn't heard in several months, slow and comfortable against the pillows, Jin's oversized T-shirt pushed up out the way.
Which was how Kame noticed the faint red streaks crossing Jin's stomach. "What...?"
"Stretch marks," Jin said miserably. "Why do you think I haven't let you see me naked for ages? And they itch too." He scrabbled around in the nightstand drawer till he found a plain white jar, which he handed to Kame. "Rub some cream on me?"
-----
Jin barely noticed Kame hovering over him the whole time, he spent so much of his final week asleep. Or so Kame thought until he spotted the headphones.
"What are you listening to now?" he asked when Jin took a break.
"Messages wishing me good luck. Have a listen for yourself."
Kame accepted the headphones. To his surprise, Viscount Kusano's voice played, telling Jin to take it easy and not make Kame worry about him. "Kusano?"
"Yeah." Jin sounded as amazed as Kame felt. "He sent it just before he went off to find that mythical land of...what was it? New York, something like that? I always thought he hated me for taking you off the market."
"Only when he was drunk. Who are all these from?"
"Friends, servants, subjects. We've had enough babysitting offers to keep us going till Jennifer's eighteen."
Kame listened to a few more. Some of the messages seemed to have been recorded while the parties responsible were less than sober, to judge by the content and delivery, and no one appeared to be sure exactly how Jin was planning on giving birth, based on some of the advice - and narcotics - offered.
When the big day came was due less to nature than to Ueda, who wanted to fit it in between his training. Kame's parents didn't make it back in time, owing to a succession of flat tyres, so Kame, Jin and Ueda were alone in a specially-prepared room. Next door, Yamapi, Koki and Nakamaru waited impatiently, taking it in turns to play with Junno.
"Nervous?" Kame asked.
"Terrified." Jin was stripped to his underwear, surrounded by pillows, and clutching Kame's hand so hard he was about to break bones. "Each time Ueda tells me how he's going to do this, it sounds more like surgery than magic."
"It's a bit of both," Ueda said cheerfully. "You drink this," he handed Jin a glass of something ominously purple, "and you'll be asleep in seconds. Then I make this," he patted Jin's bump, "mist, and while the baby's in stasis I sever the connections she has with your body. Everything gets tied off nice and neat, I restore your flesh, and without the baby preventing your body from changing back, you'll be physically recovered in a couple of days. I hope."
Kame and Jin turned identical suspicious gazes on him and said, "You hope?"
"I've never done this before. But it should all work, in theory."
Jin groaned. "For the amount he's being paid, you'd think I'd at least get some reassuring banter."
"That costs extra." Ueda took a deep breath and readied himself by the raised bed. "It'll be fine. You won't feel a thing."
"I'd better not." Jin swallowed the contents of the glass before he could change his mind.
Kame caught the glass as it fell from Jin's numb fingers, setting it aside. The effects were instantaneous, never mind the seconds Ueda had promised. "What kind of sleep is that?"
"You know the sleep you always get in fairy tales, where the princess can sleep through earthquakes, buildings falling on her, nuclear explosions and high-volume reggae music because none of it involves her being kissed by her destined prince? It's that kind. He won't wake until I make it happen.
"Now step back, please."
Kame found that only slightly comforting. He wished, as he watched Ueda at work, that he was anywhere else, preferably somewhere he didn't have to look at Jin's prone form dissolving half into mist. The baby, a scrunched, pink and red bundle, appeared to hover in mid-air where the protective womb faded out of sight. Childbirth, he'd been told, was a moving experience for all concerned. The only movement Kame felt was a churning in his stomach.
From start to finish, the whole process took less than two hours, and when it was over, Ueda smoothed Jin's skin back into place, tweaking a little to remove some of the excess weight. Jin slept on, flat stomach more-or-less restored, not even stirring when Kame wrapped him in a robe. The palace doctor was on hand now to examine the baby and confer with Ueda.
"She's doing fine," Ueda said when Kame pestered him. "Do you want to hold her?"
"Can you wake Jin first?"
Ueda did, pouring a vial of green liquid into Jin's mouth and holding his nose to make him swallow. The effects were as immediate as the first potion - Jin woke with a start, coughing up the remains and pulling a face at the taste.
"Why do all your potions taste like vegetable juice?" he complained.
"If they tasted nice, people might try to steal them," Ueda said. "How do you feel?"
"Weird. Empty." Jin looked down at his stomach. "Where is she?"
The doctor passed Kame a pink bundle, which he held down for Jin to take. Peeking out from the blanket was a tiny little face, all pink and freshly cleaned, topped by strands of dark hair. Their little girl. Jennifer.
"She's beautiful," Jin whispered. "She's going to break the hearts of everyone in the kingdom."
"She is your daughter," Ueda pointed out. "And she's healthy, you'll be glad to hear."
"Good." Kame crashed on the armchair next to the bed. "Then can you leave us alone for a bit?"
Ueda beamed at the baby. "Fine, but you can explain to the army of godfathers next door why they're not allowed in yet."
He and the doctor cleared out, leaving Kame and Jin alone with their baby girl.
"I think she's got your eyes," Jin said fondly.
Kame snorted. "How can you tell? They're closed."
"But that's how you look when you're sleeping." Jin shifted over so Kame could sit next to him. "Do you think we're up to this?"
"Honestly? I don't know. But we've got all the help we could ever want."
"We'll still screw it up anyway."
"Probably." Kame couldn't help laughing. "No one ever said raising a child was easy, Jin. I think I still do things that make my parents wish they'd bought a cat instead."
"A cat would've been cheaper," Jin said, mindful of Kame's shopping habits and expensive taste in clothes.
"A cat wouldn't have given them a grandchild. They'd better be happy with little Jennifer when they get back."
The past nine months had been full of ups and downs. Sickness and fatigue, a range of anxieties, disturbed nights and uncomfortable days...but moments of wonder, also. Jin didn't feel any more balanced than he had since the start of his pregnancy, body and emotions still all over the place, but those, he hoped, would gradually even out as his hormones returned to normal and he and Kame adapted to the new addition to their family.
One adorable little girl with two dads ready to give her all the love she needed. There were bound to be problems. Fights, temper tantrums, sleepless nights...unavoidable unless Jin took off, and he certainly couldn't do that now. Not when he had a daughter to take care of - a blend of his and Kame's genes, which in itself was a recipe for trouble.
But Jin was prepared for trouble. "It doesn't matter if they're happy with her or not," he said. "I am."