Title: Hakkai's Surprise 2 – Forbidden

Rating: T

Summary: After the journey west, Hakkai has been home for a year. Life seems nearly perfect, but when the storks find out the truth about the relationship between Hakkai and the late Kanan, they come to take his daughter from him. Hakkai isn't going to give his daughter up without a fight, but between otherworldly visitations, unexpected surprises, and a sick little dragon, will he be able to keep his daughter safe from the storks?

Chapter the sixth: Well...This Sucks.

It had been three days since Kanan had found Risuko, and the two runaways were asleep in Jiipu. Kanan was snuggled with Haku-chan in the backseat and Hakkai was asleep in the driver's seat. Risuko, the wounded chipmunk, was limp in her towel in the back floorboard. A soft ethereal glow came forward from the trees, and materialized into a softly glowing female figure. An equally glowing little animal ran up to the woman. She scooped it up in her hands with a smile.

"It's still not your time yet, little one. You'll break my little girl's heart if you die." The animal cocked her head curiously. This was the third time, darn it, that the chipmunk's spirit had been intercepted.

"It's time to go back." The woman walked over to Jiipu, reaching in and putting the glowing animal on top of Risuko's little body. It fell in, and the chipmunk twitched slightly as life was restored. The woman's gaze wandered to the sleeping girl in the backseat. With a sad smile, she brushed a lock of dark brown hair from her daughter's face. She looked up to the front of the jeep. Walking so that she was beside the driver's seat, she leaned on the door and stared longingly at the sleeping Hakkai. Gently, she put her hand on his cheek.

"I love you, Gonou." She whispered. Hakkai stirred slightly.

"Kanan..." He mumbled sleepily. She smiled and withdrew her hand. Suddenly, the soft sound of faraway voices caught her attention and caused her to turn. She ran off in the direction of the voices, determined to keep her family safe.

"I told you to take a right at that tree stump. Now we're completely lost." The white-haired woman said with a glare.

"We're not lost, Jihira. We've just misplaced ourselves." The black-haired man argued distractedly, studying the map in his hands.

"How do you expect us to be able to find Hakkai-san when we can't even find ourselves?"

"How do you expect me to be able to get us back on track if you keep yelling at me?" The dark-skinned stork asked.

"Fine, fine, I'll shut up. But why can't I look at the map?" Jihira whined.

"We were lost for four days last time you had the map." Jyuuseii didn't even look up.

"Oh, so I'm capable of getting us lost, but you aren't?" Jihira put her hands on her hips, daring Jyuuseii to say something.

"Precisely. Now shush so I can find our way out of here."

"Gosh-darned willy-head." Jihira mumbled, giving Jyuuseii the three-fingered salute ('read between the lines'). Jyuuseii looked up from the map, blinking. He looked over at Jihira, then just shook his head and went back to studying the map. The spirit came out of the woods in front of them.

"I know why you are here." The spirit bowed respectfully. "And I can lead you to those you seek."

"Konban wa, Kanan-san." Jyuuseii bowed. "Pardon our suspicion, but what motive do you have to lead us to your brother and daughter?"

"You know better than I what is right." She led the two back the way that she had come. Unbeknownst to Jihira and Jyuuseii, the way that she had come was directly opposite to the runaways.

Hakkai and Kanan moved on the next morning, unaware of the otherworldly help that they'd received the night before. As soon as Jiipu started, though, little Risuko woke up for the first time. The chipmunk freed herself from her towel (her body completely healed) and climbed up on Kanan's shoulder. The little girl giggled as the tiny striped creature rubbed her head on her cheek. Hakkai smiled, looking up into the rearview mirror.

"Oh, good, Risuko's awake." Really he was glad that Risuko was alive, but he wasn't about to say that aloud.

"Isn't she cute?" Kanan asked, petting the chipmunk. Hakkai smiled.

"Adorable. But not near as cute as you, Kanan-chan."

"But she's little!" Kanan argued. The chipmunk chattered.

"Now that she's awake, I think we need to put Risuko back into the wild," Hakkai said, bringing the car to a stop. Kanan turned to stare the brown-eyed chipmunk in the eyes. She cocked her head.

"Why? Why can't I keep her?"

"She belongs in the wild, Kanan-chan. It's unfair to keep her as a pet."

"But she got hurt in the wild! And Hakuryu came from the wild, but you kept him!" The aforementioned jeep cheeped curiously.

"Kanan, I tried to set Hakuryu free when I found him. We should at least give Risuko a choice in the matter." Hakkai said, getting out and opening the back door. Kanan slid out, pouting. She took Risuko off her shoulder and set the chipmunk on the ground. Risuko rubbed against Kanan's hand for a minute, met eyes with the little girl, and ran off into the woods. Kanan sniffled, wiping her eyes with her arm.

"Bye, Risuko! Be careful and don't get hurt again, okay!" She yelled. Hakkai smiled softly and put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. Kanan had just learned one of life's lessons, and it may have been hard for her to say goodbye to the little chipmunk, but it would have been harder to say a permanent goodbye.

"You did the right thing, Kanan-chan." Hakkai comforted. "Hey, next town we come to, we'll stop for ice cream, alright?" The five-year-old nodded. Father and daughter walked back to the jeep, and Kanan climbed in shotgun.

A month later, Hakkai and Kanan were still on the run. It was nighttime when the realization came, late at night. Kanan was sleeping in the backseat of Jiipu, and Hakkai was within sight, doing something that he only did late at night when Kanan was asleep, something that he did purely so that he could protect himself and Kanan if they ever were found: practice his Qigong. It was as he was doing so that he noticed the exhaustion sweeping over him, the feeling that it was taking much more effort than usual to call on his life energy. And it seemed that his efforts were yielding little chi. When he created a stream of chi, it seemed to break in places, as though he didn't have enough energy to keep the stream steady.

Realization hit him hard, and he staggered back, slumping against a tree. Why was this happening? Why? Without his chi, they were sitting ducks if the storks found them. And if his suspicion was correct, soon he could forget just using martial arts. Not to mention the danger if something went wrong, or how he would tell Kanan about what was going to start happening soon. But why hadn't the other symptoms come about yet? Yes, his back had been a bit sore lately, but he hadn't felt ill at all. His chi becoming inaccessible was the greatest sign of all: somehow, Hakkai was pregnant. Again. The world was conspiring against him, he mused darkly, threading both hands in his hair and bringing his knees to his chest. The whole world was set against his success in anything, but as set as the world was against him, he was just as set on doing everything he could to protect his beloved daughter, himself, and now...now, this little life growing inside of him.

Language notes: konban wa good evening

Author notes: Wow, this story is going to be frickin long. Only three months into the pregnancy, and it's already chapter six not counting prologue.

Next chapter, Hakkai ponders how he's pregnant, Kanan finds out about her new baby brother or sister, and then fweee! Time skip! D