Born of Shadows

Parturition


par*tu*ri*tion
n. - the act of bringing forth young; childbirth

Kitty woke feeling energized. He rose and stretched on the bed. It was a wonderful feeling. He climbed down and decided to take a nice walk in the gardens and look for Master while he was at it.
Master was sitting on one of the benches that adorned his back porch. He too had woken feeling energized and had just made an inspection of the greenhouse and had reorganized his kitchen, checking his supplies to see how they were holding up. He had enough for another few weeks and was just beginning to worry.
If the Kittens didn’t arrive soon, it may become a problem, but if they returned to the real world too soon, what would happen to Kitty and his babies.
Yami had told him that only in Shadow was it possible to bring forth these Kittens, he had been vague about what would happen when it was time, and what would become of them after they were born.
The kittens were a product of Shadow melding his and Seto’s flesh and substance, could they survive in the real world, or would they have to remain?
He had even tried to get the answers out of the stubborn yami by arguing with him and Yugi had to actually stand between them in order to stop it.
Master was embarrassed. That was why he was hiding out here now. He knew that the two would be waking soon, and didn’t want to have to apologize yet. Sure he was embarrassed, but he was angry too. Yami was keeping something from him and he was sure that it was important, too important to be leaving him in the dark about.
The sound of the screen opening drew his attention, and he turned to see Kitty coming through the door.
“Ah, Kitty. You look good today. Are you feeling well?” he asked as his pet stopped and regarded him.
“Mewll Meow.” Was the response as Kitty rubbed against his leg and invited him to walk in the gardens with him.
“Sounds like a great idea, if you are up to it. Come on.” And they headed down the path. Master was not concerned as every so often he had a direct route to the bedroom from anywhere on the grounds. He was taking no chances this late in the cycle of Kitty’s gestation.
Fairly far out, they stopped and found a shady tree with thick underbrush of soft grass. Kitty stretched out as Master got comfortable on the ground near him. Soon, he was dozing lightly, while petting a sleepy Kitty. All of their earlier energy had just left them and they stayed there for some time.


Yami rose when he felt the shadows moving. He looked down at his sleeping Hikari and smiled. Yugi had surprised him with the request to know his secrets, but then when he had pressed for more, Yami had been pleased to find that the shy innocent he knew was truly an adventurous soul and was eager for more.
Last night when he had fought with Jou, Yugi had stopped them and after Jou had left, come to his Yami with an interesting proposition. Yami smiled as the recollections took over his thoughts.
“I want to play a game with you, Yami. It’s called twenty questions. If I can figure out the answer before I have asked you twenty questions, I win. If I haven’t you win. But, I want some bonus rules. If I ask a question that you won’t answer, then I win by default. If You answer three questions in a row with Yes, then I get a kiss and you have to take off one article of clothes. I figure you have six articles on, so I could essentially out ask you. Now, if I ask three questions in a row with a no answer then the opposite happens. You get a kiss and I have to disrobe. Do you want to play?”
Yami had stared at the smaller of the two, wondering what he was trying to do. It sounded like a sex game, but he knew Yugi better than that.
“What is the thing you are trying to guess?” he asked.
“What you are hiding from Jou.” The statement was bland, and unadorned. Yugi knew something and he was only playing this game to determine if it was true. Yami nodded.
“Okay first question. This one is easy. Are you hiding something important from Jou?”
Yami smiled, “Yes.”
“Is it about Seto and the babies?”
“Yes.”
“Will Jou be able to handle it, without knowing the thing you are hiding?” This was the question that had him the most concerned.
“Yes.” Yami said, removing his belt and drawing the smaller one close to plant a deep kiss on his lips.
“Hey,” Yugi said when he was released. “I said I get a kiss, not that you get to kiss me. Like this.” And Yugi pressed a kiss to Yami’s lips, not allowing him his usual dominance.
“Ahh, I see. That explains the difference,” Yami responded. “Next question.”
And this continued till seventeen questions had been asked. Yugi won of course and Yami conceded when half undressed.
The rest of the evening was not a game.

Kitty rolled up next to Master and the hand that was on his head moved to his overextended abdomen. Master ran his fingers over the protrusion and nimbly caressed each separate moving mound.
Kitty mewl softly, his eyes closed and enjoying the sensation. It brought responding movements from within and the kittens seemed to shift more than they ever had. He was sure that they were fighting over the attention. It was actually becoming uncomfortable having them move about so much.
Master opened lazy eyes to watch his Kitty wriggle around and the ripples of his flesh as the kittens shifted within him.
Kitty meowed loudly, and Master’s eyes flew open. That was not a mewl of enjoyment, it was a meow of Pain. And it was not a small pain by the sound of it.
“Meow!” Kitty repeated and Master rose to his knees over him.
“What is it Kitty? What is wrong?” and Kitty opened hazy eyes, clouded with the sudden onset of his distress.
“Is it time, is it?” and Master quickly lifted Kitty off of the grass and headed for the closest emergency access to the bedroom. Once there he placed Kitty on the bed and checked his eyes again.
Kitty was in agony. It was sudden and frightening. But after some of the pains of his past, he was not overwhelmed. He looked into the worried eyes of his lover and saw the fear. He had to calm Jou or they would be in trouble.
“I’m okay. I think they are ready. I don’t know what will happen, but you need to calm down. It will be all right. I don’t think this was all just to kill me off. I’m not that important.” And he closed his eyes once more, as a shooting pain rushed up the length of his spine to return to his hips and roll around there for a time.
Master heard his words and took a deep breath. Seto was right. He needed to calm down.
Think.
What did he need?
Blankets, water, ice chips, and maybe some tools. He quickly began either gathering or creating. Soon, he was holding up Seto’s shoulders and feeding him some of the chips as the pains moved in and out of his body.
“Are you really sure this was your deepest desire, now?” he asked, and was glared at for only a second as the pains returned and his love grabbed hold to grip him as he rode the wave of pain.
When it subsided, he spoke, “I think we should get you out of these things now,” he said, laying Seto down and beginning to remove the leggings, arm covers and then the rest. Soon his love was naked, and he pulled a soft clean sheet over him.
“Now, I think you are ready, but I don’t know what to do next. Should I go get Yami?”
“No. Don’t leave me.” Seto shouted, holding him tightly. “I think it’s almost time.” And Jou held him close, petting his hair as another contraction sped across his middle and gripped him tightly.
“Gods, Seto. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know when you need to push and I don’t know how this is going to happen. This is scaring me and I don’t care to admit it.”
“Well, nothing . . . we can . . . do . . . about that . . now.” Seto had begun panting heavily and his sentences where punctuated by them, “Just . . . be ready . . . for anything.” And suddenly the brunet curled up tightly and grabbed his knees. Jou jumped and stared for a second before rushing around the bed and pulling the sheet up from his love’s legs. Seto dropped back and let out a heavy moan.
Jou wasn’t going to panic. That was blood. Not too much, but it was blood.
Seto was panting again, and Jou was torn. He needed to comfort his love, but the blood on the bed was holding him frozen.
Seto lurched up, again with the closest thing Jou thought he could ever imagine Seto would do to a scream. The blood was flowing again, and Jou couldn’t find its source. He saw things funny. The area the blood was coming from was hazy and indistinct. Like there was something fuzzing up his eyesight but only in that one place.
Seto’s scream was what shook him into action. He slid his hands up the long legs to the hazy area and felt there for a second. Realizing what was in his hands he gently guided it out and pulled ever so carefully until it dropped free.
Jou looked up at the face of the brunet, against the pile of pillows panting heavily and sweating profusely.
“Kasshoku, it’s a boy!” he said, as the sound of a baby’s cry flooded the room.