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“Hey, Rinne…”
The leader of the Goku Yōkai turned his head, a look of slight concern on his face. Katai’s voice did not sound right to him for some reason – was something the matter? Was there anything wrong with Katai – or with their unborn child? Both possibilities made the anxious yōkai’s blood run cold, yet he steadied his slightly trembling hands and made sure his expression did not reveal the true extent of his worry.
Thankfully, his boyfriend, the current head of the Kachi-Kachi cult, the Great Priest of all things angular and sharp, was looking perfectly fine – as fine as one could be while their own body was betraying their very principles by being very much not sharp or angular anymore. All things considered, Katai had been taking his condition surprisingly well for the past seven months – the initial panic and occasional emotional outbursts aside. If anything, it’s Rinne who was the nervous wreck of the household most of the time – which made sense, considering his background and extensive history of tragically losing those who are dear to him.
Even now, Rinne couldn’t help but take a few deep breaths discreetly, while his pregnant boyfriend, clearly a little bit upset at something yet not in any bit of visible pain or discomfort, was getting ready to speak his mind, as if unsure if he should have approached the Goku Yōkai with this matter at all. Patiently awaiting Katai’s final decision, the blue-skinned man examined him a bit more closely, hoping to find the source of the problem, and his eyes immediately landed on a light pastel-colored cover of a modern-looking paperback that the priest was holding. A bookmark was sticking out from between the pages, indicating the book to be nearly half-read. This was slightly surprising for Rinne, as he knew Katai to be a sticker for ancient manuscripts and epic doorstoppers of multi-volume fantasy sagas, not the kind of literature you would take on a flight or spend a tea break with.
“I apologize… It’s nothing. Please return to whatever else you were doing.” – Katai turned his head to face the opposite way, his usually pale cheeks a bit red with either embarrassment or annoyance. Rinne, however, was not about to let his boyfriend leave the conversation that easily. Something was making him feel bad, and there was no way the Goku Yōkai would just let it slide.
“No, it’s okay. Please, do tell me… Did something happen?” – as Rinne stood up from his sofa and approached Katai, a look of shy gratitude appeared on the priest’s face, and he seemed to have finally found his resolve. With one hand, he brought forward the book, as if offering Rinne to take a look at it. His other hand was resting protectively on his round stomach, which even the newly-bought loose-fitting robe was struggling to conceal.
“You see… I’ve been reading this book here, and…” – Katai’s voice trailed off, as he visibly grew more and more embarrassed by the second. – “Do pregnant women really act like this?”
“Well, you tell me. You have more in common with them than I do.” – Rinne chuckled, but his boyfriend did not appear amused in the slightest. Wisely deciding not to tease him any further, Rinne accepted the book that was being offered to him and skimmed through the pages. The genre and general contents of the book soon became apparent to him.
“I didn’t know you enjoy this kind of fiction.” – the yōkai noted in surprise, returning the book. – “Nothing wrong with liking steamy romances, of course, but I always took you for someone who hated fluff, both as a texture and as a literary genre.”
“Ugh… Do not ridicule me over this.” – Katai pouted, his cheeks all puffed out and very kissable in that moment, in Rinne’s personal opinion. – “I was just feeling very emotional this morning, but couldn’t really get it all out for some reason. I needed something sentimental, but not too sentimental, or I would be a sobbing wet disgrace by lunchtime… So I picked up this little thing that Senki had told me about. It’s apparently a romantic comedy with “a heavy dose of feels”, whatever that means, and he claims he had laughed his ass off reading it a few years ago, but also found some of the scenes very touching. Well, his nerves are clearly much sturdier than mine… I cannot stand the main character. At all.”
“Oh, really?” – Rinne thought back to the few paragraphs he had skimmed through, hoping to figure out the problem. – “And why is that?”
“She is an absolute pain in the ass for everyone, that’s why!” – Katai raised his voice suddenly, making Rinne flinch. – “She starts off fine, but then she meets this guy, they hit it off, and he gets her pregnant ten pages in. Then it’s just chapter after chapter of her whining, making unreasonable demands, weaponizing her newfound vulnerability to make the poor guy do her every bidding, having ten different complaints at once and being generally insufferable. It’s all treated as a funny joke, and we are supposed to be enamored with how much the guy is willing to put up with her… But I cannot help but wonder, you know.”
Something in Katai’s voice shifted, and Rinne picked up on it instantly. The man in front of him was about to burst into tears.
“Rinne… Am I like that, too?”
This last statement was definitely unexpected – Rinne found himself stunned, to say the least, and couldn’t really push any words out for a second or two. Katai had never, ever been one to partake in self-reflection. Hell, he was the type of guy who would rather run himself into a dead end than admit that he took a wrong turn, and getting him to admit his own misconceptions was something both the Goku and the Kachi-Kachi Yōkai had long given up on. And still, the look on the Great Priest’s face made Rinne’s heart ache – he had to say something, or there would be tears.
“What?! Of course you are not! Why would you ever think that?” – Rinne did not intend to raise his voice as well, but must have lost his cool for a moment. Katai stifled a sob, his nose now as red as his cheeks.
“It’s just that… I did cause quite a scene yesterday, didn’t I?”
“Oh, so that’s what it’s about…” – the Goku Yōkai leader sighed in exasperation. – “It wasn’t your fault, you know. You didn’t know there would be garlic in that stew. I can assure you that Goku Namahage is not mad at you, and did not mind making a new dish for you at all. You can ask him yourself once he comes back from the market.”
“He didn’t have to make a new dish, or take my foul language in stride, for that matter! Him and Samurai already have to keep tabs on my problem foods, my disliked foods, my allergies… And I never even disliked garlic before, I’m not a vampire, for Lord Jashin’s sake! My palette is just all over the place these days, and I’m always on edge for some reason, that’s all. No one should be forced to put up with me when I’m like that.”
Barely believing what he was hearing, Rinne moved a bit closer to Katai and gestured at the priest with his right hand – an invitation to hug him from behind. Katai nodded his hand slightly, giving his permission. As Rinne wrapped his hands around Katai, placing both palms over his distended middle, he could hear the tiny sobs that weren’t even being stifled anymore – Katai was not trying to hide his tears any longer.
“Come on now… It’s not that bad. I’ve had worse meltdowns in that very dining room, over the most trivial of things, and no one died from that. It just happens sometimes, you know? Emotions tend to get the best of us, and you are going through a lot right now. Cut yourself some slack.”
“No one even tried to call me out on my behavior, too…” – Katai was still visibly upset, yet clearly more relaxed now that his boyfriend’s body was pressed tightly to his own, warm hands gently caressing his heavy stomach. – “Back home, the Kachi-Kachi Yōkai would have thoroughly ridiculed me for being such a pain. Here, no one bats an eye. I can understand them letting you do whatever, this is your castle, after all, but I am essentially a stranger, and yet… Why is everyone being so nice here?! You guys don’t even fight!”
“Oh, trust me, we do fight…” – Rinne argued in a calm tone. He felt that his boyfriend needed to let it all out, and did not want to interfere. They could leave discussing the details for later – like how Katai was most definitely not a stranger at the Goku household anymore.
“Well, you should see what goes on at the Kachi-Kachi shrine, then! Just a month ago, Kusari ended up nearly strangling Kamen with her chain because he got on her nerves on purpose one time too many. Senki is usually an amazing peacemaker, but even he was at a loss what to do next, and his attempts to intervene drew Kusari’s anger as well – he couldn’t think of anything better in the end than to use me as a living shield, because hurting a pregnant yōkai is too low for Kusari, even at her angriest. Needless to say, we all ended up getting a through scolding by Samurai when he left the kitchen to check on all that noise… I could tell he would have quit the cult on the spot, but he had his vegetable soup still on the stove, and you know how this guy gets about soup.”
“My goodness… You all sound delightful. If the tides there ever change in my favour, please do invite me to stay with your cult for a while.”
Rinne had not an ounce of sarcasm in his words – the idea of spending a week or two at such a chaotic household sounded rather appealing to him, as a quite chaotic individual himself. Still, he knew perfectly well how distrustful the Kachi-Kachi Yōkai were of him – a man who was not only excessively close to their treasured leader, but also was the direct cause of their leader’s present condition, which kept causing everyone a ton of worry, especially now that Katai only had two more months to go before the big day. Tensions were flying high, and pregnancy hormones were making Katai go through a kaleidoscope of moods throughout the day. It wasn’t the first time he had been crying in Rinne’s arms for the past seven month, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last. Thankfully, Rinne had no shortage of hugs, soothing words and belly rubs to give in times of need.
“Do not fret, my dear… You are loved here. No one finds you insufferable. You are doing something most of us are incapable of… I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must be to nurture something inside of you.” – Rinne lowered his head and planted a soft kiss on Katai’s cheek, his skin salty from tears. He had to hold himself back from playfully biting his ear as well – it was yet another one of their established signals, and the last trimester of pregnancy was probably not the right time. They could do plenty of this stuff later, once Katai’s body is back to normal – with a much higher level of carefulness, of course, to make sure no further “happy accidents” occur. They were risking a lot already – with Katai’s body not having been made for the task it was now performing, and any complication potentially compromising his health or even life in the long run. Katai knew the risks full well, yet he still ultimately chose to go through with it, despite everyone making it very clear that he had other options – Rinne would have accepted any decision of his, but the situation they were in now, though unusual and full of uncertainty, appeared to have brought out qualities that neither of them were aware the other possessed, and there were no regrets about it in sight.
As if, after all these years, Rinne and Katai were finally allowing themselves to love and trust someone again. Slowly, one step at a time, but they were getting there – to a place where the past would not haunt them anymore, and they had two entire squads of loving supportive friends by their side, some more rowdy than the others.
“Hehe… Thanks, Rinne.” – the Great Priest’s eyes were still watery, but the small smile of his felt genuine. – “I shouldn’t have gotten so emotional over a dumb book. I’ll still finish it, though. I was promised “a heavy dose of feels”, after all, and I am looking forward to the heroine’s character growth. If she does not get any by the end of the book, though, I’ll order Samurai to make the book into a sauté and have Senki eat it. Serves the bastard right for giving out abysmal book recommendations. The sex scene was not even that steamy. It was lukewarm! My morning glass of milk is hotter than that!”
This time, Rinne failed to stifle his laugh – he buried his face in his boyfriend’s long hair, and the two laughed together, releasing the last of their pent-up emotions. Sometimes you just have to cry, and then laugh, and then hold someone you love, or be held by them – whatever suits you best. All things considered, the two most dangerous villains of Yōmakai were doing just fine as a couple.
Still, Rinne could not help but wonder how much harder, messier and much more exciting life will get once they become a family of three.