Aishiteru! It echoes in my mind like music. I love you! He said it! Without prompting . . . without reason . . . I could cry! Tears of joy! It's like music to my soul . . .

I've known he feels it. But to hear him say it . . . oh! I think I couldn't be any happier! Not even when Kiyoshi was born was I happier!

When Hiei lets me breathe again, I wrap both my arms around him, trying not to be too obvious as I wipe the tears from my eyes on his scarf. "Aishiteru!" I whisper back ecstatically. His arms almost crush my ribs, and his kiss leaves me breathless again. If Kiyoshi weren't just out back, I'd show him just how much I love him . . .

Kiyoshi. Our surprise child, our little miracle. I don't know who helped us, but I'm grateful--eternally grateful. I think Hiei might have left me years ago, if it weren't for him.

I thought once that he had left me. I remember it too terribly clearly.

It had been a long, hot summer, and the first night I slept well was in early September. I had meant to stay awake to wait for Hiei--he was supposed to return from Makai soon--but the coolness and the gentle breeze put me to sleep.

Hiei didn't come that night. Or the next. It was almost another week before I saw him, and then he was almost cold towards me. In all the time we'd known each other, he'd never treated me like that. Yelled at me, called me names--'stupid fox' was about the mildest he used--but never treated me so coldly. I was deeply hurt.

After over a month of it, I finally couldn't handle it anymore and broke down and cried. 'Kaasan was worried about me, tried to comfort me, but she couldn't. Finally, she had to leave me by myself, to cry myself to sleep.

I didn't make it to sleep. Hiei . . . Hiei came. Finally. He came, and he kept me awake almost until dawn. All I remember about school the next day is being sent home halfway through the day to 'get some rest--and no studying!'

Hiei was with me almost every night after that. Unless he was in Makai on business, he was with me. Sometimes I'd shiver and freeze my way almost to dawn before he made it, but he was always there.

Then I started getting sick in the mornings. 'Kaasan got really worried then. She took me to a specialist--who didn't find a thing wrong with me. "Not even dandruff," as he put it. He did say, jokingly, that "If you were a woman, I'd say you were pregnant!" I laughed, as I was supposed to, and put it out of my mind. Shortly thereafter, the sickness stopped.

With the sickness gone, I started eating more. Much more. I'd sneak snacks anytime I thought I could get away with it. Strangely, I never gained even an ounce. I think I almost drove Hiei insane, though, with my whining for him to bring me back this and that from Makai. He threatened--on more than one occasion--to start sleeping on the roof if I didn't shut up.

I didn't think about it. I assumed it was a human "growth spurt" or something. It wasn't until the pain struck me that I realized anything was wrong.

We were in the middle of a battle. I knew I hadn't been hit, but pain suddenly shot through my abdomen and up my spine. I dropped to my knees, gasping for breath.

Hiei killed my attacker. He yelled at me--"What the hell are you doing, you stupid fox!?" or something like that. I managed to gasp out that it hurt before another pain hit me.

The next thing I can remember is being on his back, racing right through the Barrier without even slowing down. I could feel his rei sustaining me. I was too weak even to stop drawing on him when he was down to the limits of what he could give.

Then we were at the Temple and Yukina-san was examining me. "He needs rei," she cried, "and more than I have to give him!"

"Then give him mine!" Hiei growled. I thought he sounded almost desperate. I tried to protest, knowing he was too weak, I'd already taken so much . . . my voice wouldn't work and my lips barely moved. "Take it, Yukina!" he yelled harshly, a tone he'd never before used on Yukina-san. "Give him my rei, all of it, if you have to!"

"No!" I heard Yuusuke say. I managed to open my eyes in time to see the Portal collapse as Kuwabara-kun came through. "Don't take a single drop of his rei, Yukina-san; he can't give more!"

"You--!" Hiei snarled. He drew his sword and charged at Yuusuke wildly. I tried to call to him to stop, but I was growing even weaker. So weak the pain was dimming. I was frightened.

"Give him my rei, Yukina-san," I heard Yuusuke say as if from miles away.

"And mine," came Kuwabara's voice.

"Mine, too!" Keiko's voice said. I hadn't even known she was there.

"You don't have enough rei to save him," Koenma-sama said. I assumed, from the sudden brief hesitation, that he'd shown up from nowhere. "Fortunately, I do."

"Koenma-sama . . . " I heard Botan say. It was growing more and more difficult to hear, and my eyesight was gone already. I struggled to hold on.

I felt Yukina-san's gentle touch on my temples. Rei filled me. I clung to it, drew it in greedily. I needed it, craved it like never before. It seemed to take forever to draw enough.

Some other instinct took me over. I remember trying to force something to grow, something big, something heavy, something that didn't want to come out of the soil. I persevered.

The stones nearby began to heave; the earth itself shook. My vision came back just in time to see a stem the thickness of my arm rear up out of the soil and grow a huge bud . . . of pure flame. I stopped, panting.

Everyone stared at it. Yukina-san was closest. She peered intently into the flames, frowning. "Kurama-san, make it bloom!" she commanded sharply. It seemed everyone was using tones they never had before that day.

"I c-can't!" I sobbed. Yukina-san whipped her head around to stare at me.

"You have to!" she replied urgently. "You have to, or you'll die!" I didn't understand . . . but there was something in her gaze that wouldn't let me refuse again. I summoned up every bit of ki I had and forced the bloom to open. Then I collapsed back against Hiei, who was supporting me.

Yukina-san reached into the flaming blossom and took something out very, very gently. She turned to Hiei and I. "Congratulations," she said softly, smiling brightly. "You have a son."

"NANI!?!?" It was a chorus. Yukina-san smiled again and borrowed Hiei's scarf. She wrapped the baby boy in it carefully and handed him to me.

I had never seen anything so wonderful in all my life. He was perfect! Absolutely perfect! I knew I had tears gathering in my eyes. I looked up at Hiei, smiling, and whispered, "Our little miracle . . . " It was the loudest I could speak.

I think I passed out, because the next thing I can remember is waking up just in time to hear Hiei saying " . . . and I love him!" in a very sharp and defensive tone.

"Took you long enough . . . to say it . . . " I teased, still exhausted. I think Hiei would have left, if 'Kaasan hadn't dumped our baby into his arms and come to hug me. I was glad she had. I think I would have died if he'd left then.

'Kaasan wanted to know what we were going to name the baby. I was utterly helpless; I had no idea at all! I looked to Hiei for help.

"Kiyoshi," Hiei said abruptly, not looking up from our son. "His name's Kiyoshi." I smiled; it was perfect. Hiei went over to perch on my desk and look ostentatiously bored as 'Kaasan demanded to know the details.

Kiyoshi has been a joy to us both. He doesn't get into any more trouble than any child does, and he is always happy. I wonder where he really got that rose? I've never seen one like it before. It's unique . . . like our family.

Kiyoshi watched his fathers kiss for a long time. He pulled out his rose and looked at it again. "I wish I was grown up now," he whispered to it. "'Touchan and Papa are happy like that. I want to be happy that way, too!"

The rose seemed to glisten as if it were dew-touched. It silently counseled patience; growing up would take care of itself, and happiness comes in all forms . . .