Bloodlines: Epilogue

by Soyokaze

“I don’t know, Shiori...” came an uncertain voice from the Hatanaka’s home’s first floor bathroom. Outside, an impatient Hatanaka Shiori, hands planted atop her shapely hips, stood waiting.

“Just step out, Hina. I’m sure it’s wonderful. There’s not anything I could do to make you ugly.”

“But it feels so different...”

“Different is good, though! Come on out, let me see you.”

Finally the reluctant koorime twisted the doorknob, opening the bathroom door a crack. Hina had acclimated fairly well to everything Shiori and Yukina had worked to introduce her to in the past few days.

After their wild night at the Stunner, one which Kazuya and Shiori were almost ashamed to say they enjoyed a lot, Hina and Kyouki and their two kids had stayed over at Yusuke and Keiko’s apartment. The lot of them had breakfasted the next morning with the Hatanaka family (a breakfast which included lots of coffee). Hiei had told his parents about his need to return to the Makai because of his employment there as Mukuro’s second, again stunning his parents with his accomplishment, and the conversation led to Hina and Kyouki expressing a want to learn as much about ningen life as they could. It seemed that a deep-seated curiosity within the two adventurous lovers had burst forth with a need to be sated, and Kyouki and Hina were ready and willing to sate it. Naturally, Shiori had offered up their home; Yukina had already said that staying at the temple would not teach her parents much about what ningen life was like, and the Hatanaka home was huge and had an unoccupied guest room. The two youkai could stay there until they felt suitably acclimated, and then join their son in Makai or their daughter atop the mountain if they wished. Hina and Kyouki were thrilled at the opportunity, and Shiori reasoned that having two youkai around the house would help her get to know her son’s world better as well. The two youkai parents and the two ningen parents actually meshed well together; they were becoming fairly good friends.

But now the youkai had to adjust to ningen clothing.

“Come out,” Shiori coaxed. Reluctantly, Hina revealed herself.

Shiori had not been wrong; the koorime would look stunning in anything Shiori gave her to try on, but the clothes the ningen woman had chosen suited Hina beautifully. Shiori picked out things that were tighter on herself than most of her clothes due to Hina’s frame being more slender than her own, and they seemed to fit well enough. Hina was wearing a blouse the color of her husband’s eyes that had a high collar that clung to her neck elegantly, a gray tweed skirt that hung to her knees in a nice arch, and a pair of red flats to match her blouse. It was very becoming to her. Shiori walked around behind her, tugged at the band that held her hair in its high tail.

“May I?” she asked, and Hina nodded. She pulled the tie loose, letting Hina’s long, fine hair fall down her shoulders like water. As a last touch, Shiori pulled a red hair-band over her ears, securing Hina’s bangs away from her face. Then the mother walked around and backed up to survey her work. Perhaps a little fancy for just a morning breakfast, but Shiori thought that Hina was too attractive for jeans and a t-shirt to suit her.

“I think it’s really very nice, Hina,” Shiori commented. She reached forward and turned the koorime around to face the mirror. Hina’s eyes widened as she saw herself for the first time. She tugged at the skirt briefly, and rotated her shoes around and wiggled her toes to get used to the shoes, and then a smile came to her lips.

“It’s lovely, Shiori,” she replied. “It’s actually less stifling than koorime clothing, but I would not want to wear this type of thing every day.”

Hina grinned, proud of her handiwork. “No woman wants to, Hina, trust me.” She took the koorime’s hand, leading her out into the family room, and called to her husband at the top floor.

“Kazuya, are you done yet?” she called. She heard a momentary grumble, a door closing, and then her husband answered.

“Almost, Shiori,” he yelled back. “This is harder than it should be. I think he’s too tall to fit in my clothes properly.”

Shiori pressed her lips together. She had not thought of that. “Bring him down, I’ll see.”

“All right.”

Kazuya came out with Kyouki, who looked rather embarrassed to be playing dress-up, but looked rather in handsome in what Kazuya had given him. It was a simple dark blue shirt with a white button-up over it, and a worn pair of jeans and some comfortable laced-up boots. Shiori guessed that Kazuya picked the worn jeans because they would be the longest and most pliant. They were pulled on with a tight belt. They seemed to fit the youkai well, despite his height and lankiness. His hair was still pulled back in the tight braid, and he met with Shiori’s specifications.

“Wonderful, Kyouki. You boys come down. We have to leave soon.” The two ‘boys’ headed down obediently. Shiori delighted at seeing Kyouki’s reaction to Hina’s appearance. He instantly came to her side, offering an arm.

“My dear?”

“My darling,” she replied, taking his arm and smiling. It made Shiori smile as well. Having the couple around had also helped to rekindle a bit of the romance in her own relationship. The two youkai had been mates for a very long time (hundreds of years, as Shiori understood it) and they still made googly eyes at each other and just kissed and embraced for no reason at all. It was like watching a third date over and over again, and Kazuya had found that he wanted that to happen with Shiori also. His wife very much appreciated his efforts.

As expected, Kazuya came over and offered his own arm to Shiori, and the two exited, Kazuya locking the door as they departed. The ningen car had also been something that the two youkai had impressed by. Kazuya heard Kyouki mention once that they were “like our transports, but more convenient.” They hopped in and took off to meet their children.

Kurama, Yukina, and Hiei had all been over at the Urameshi home, spending time with Keiko the night before because Yusuke had been called to the Makai for some business with Enki. They had just stayed the night, and Kurama had called that morning to ask if they wanted to go out to breakfast.

They met at the Yukimura diner, where they were surprised to find instead of a waddling pregnant woman, a hard-working, aproned Keiko supervising her kitchen. The restaurant was quite full for breakfast, and the parents had to look around for a moment to find their children. Kurama, Hiei, and Yukina were sitting at a table in the corner, Kurama and Yukina laughing about something and Hiei watching Keiko with some semblance of interest. It was true, Keiko seemed like her normal self, aside from her swelled belly. She was pointing and giving directions right and left to her two employees, and occasionally turning to flip something on the grill.

Shiori pulled out a chair next to her son. “Keiko seems to be dealing with morning sickness well,” she remarked with a grin.

Kurama shook his head. “We’ve already been through that this morning. She said that she just makes up her mind to get it over with and go to work.”

“Willful girl,” remarked Kazuya, and Yukina and Kurama both nodded in agreement. Hina and Kyouki seated themselves, both looking around at the diner with amazement.

“It’s less different than most places,” Kyouki remarked, and Hina nodded an affirmative to him. Hiei, looking immeasurably bored with his head propped on his fist, surveyed his parents’ clothing. He pursed his lips, but did not make any remarks. Instead, he stood as his parents settled.

“I have to leave,” he announced simply, and as he stood everyone noticed he was not in the guise of a ningen; he was in his tunic and his sword was strapped to his back. Without a further word to anyone, he pushed his chair in and began to walk away from the table.

Yukina smiled, her eyes warm. She knew he was not as cold and aloof as he pretended to be. He had only stuck around as long as he had so that he could see his parents again before he left, and she knew it. Even though he was apart from her so often, she was glad to finally have that part of her that her missing brother took with him restored. Her brother really was everything she had imagined him to be.

“Sayonara, aniki,” she said softly, while her parents waved enthusiastically as their son departed, the excitement of their new world building inside them.

“Sayonara, musuko!” they said after him, and the fire youkai lifted a hand in a lazy wave as he left the diner. As soon as his feet touched the concrete of the sidewalk outside, he was gone in a blur of shadow. His parents were confident he would be back, so they turned back to their party, to see the others looking over a menu.

“Yukina, we’re going to have to ask you to order something for us, I think,” Kyouki suggested, catching a glimpse of the menu Kazuya was holding. Yukina looked happy with this proposition.

“Okay, otousan,” she agreed, eagerly peering over Kurama’s shoulder for what she could have her parents try. As they were looking, Keiko approached the table, wiping her forehead with a washrag. It was hot near the grill, and little drops of perspiration were dripping from her temples.

“Keiko, why don’t you sit down for a moment?” Kurama suggested, worried about Keiko overworking herself. Whenever Yusuke had to leave, Keiko threw herself into her work and school, whether to burn off steam or just keep herself occupied, Kurama did not know, but he did know that Yusuke’s wife worried horribly about him when he left for Makai, Mazoku or not. Keiko shook her head.

“No, we’re too busy. I’ll come sit in a minute, though,” she said, resting one hand on her stomach. “I just wanted to...”

She stopped abruptly as she caught sight of something outside the window. A few seconds later, the door opened, and the bell above the doorframe rang with a soft ‘ting,’ and into the diner walked Urameshi Yusuke, a little bit of dirt on his person, but no more worse for wear. Keiko was on him in a second, and nearly knocked him over as she embraced him.

“Yusuke!” was her first exclamation, and then she began to rattle off a million things that he had left undone or now needed to do. Yusuke bore it all with a grin.

Hina smiled as she watched them. “I think we’re going to like it here,” she remarked softly, as if it were an afterthought. Shiori returned her soft smile.

“I think so, too.”

--

And that's the end of Bloodlines.It makes me sad that it's over, but thank you to allof youwho reviewed. You're all wonderful for sticking with me this long! Here's some last remarks:

TheLadyG: I'm sorry I made you sad. I want you to be happy! I'm glad you enjoyed the story.Thank you for the remarkabout the OC. I was worried about her development and personality.Mizu kind of grew on her own, anyway, it wasn't just me. I have really enjoyed having your input for this fic. Thanks for all your comments!

anonymous: Thank you very much! I'm happy you liked it, and thank you for reviewing.

Spellwing: I LOVE cookies!! (All the nice compliments were wonderful too!)

MikaSamu: You're perfectly welcome. I'm glad I could give you somethingfor the holidays!

Who smells sequel? I do!! What do you think of the overall package? Sequel worthy?