Twelve Lords

by Max Jager

  A small smile on his own face now, Kiyoshi sighed. "I can agree with that. I told them that time would drive the two of you together however they insisted on this. The mind games and secrets irritate me. It is not how it is done. When two decide they do, the male goes to her father and asks. Just as you have done with Kiara." Standing as he turned to look out his window toward the fields that his daughter was at, Kiyoshi let his smile get even bigger. "You have my blessing to take my daughter as your mate."

  Smiling as he stood and gave a bow, Chiren finally fully relaxed. "Thank you very much My Lord."

  X

  Pacing back and forth across Seiji and Nyoko's room, Yokiyo had one hand on her hip and the other hand on her hip. "I know that they couldn't know what is going on. No one has said anything. Very few knew what was going on and those that knew were threatened by me and Kiyoshi not to say a word." Her eyes meeting Nyoko's she sighed. "Do you really think that he is serious about this female from the North? And the male for Kiara?"

  Nodding Nyoko sat in her chair as she rubbed the sides of her stomach. "He was actually very serious about it when it came up this morning. But unlike dogs, a leopard and leopard pair will not mate for life. I think that we need to put everything on hold and cancel it out this time. If it is true on his end it wouldn't work anyway."

  "That's right." Stopping as she dropped her head with a groan, Yokiyo let her shoulders slump. "I will have Takara and Yoite go and tell the two that were going to be part of it that we don't need them after all."

  "That would be best. That way they don't waste their time. I mean I didn't….ahhhhh" Nyoko closed one eye as she flinched then froze as a pain ripped quickly through her stomach.

  Looking up as Seiji rushed to her side, Yokiyo blinked. She knew that look, her hands were on the sides of her stomach and her eyes shinned pain. "Seiji get out. Tell Santrix to go get your sister and then get Takara and the midwife. Now."

  Turning wide dumbfounded eyes back to his mother, Seiji just froze. "Wait? Do you mean that….."

  "Yes it's time to see if you get a pup or a cub. Now go!" Yokiyo smiled as she flared her powers just enough to make him move. He bent and kissed Nyoko quickly then was gone through the door. Going to Nyoko herself, Yokiyo smiled. "Come on honey let's get you to the birthing room."

  As Yokiyo helped her to stand, Nyoko sighed. "Do you really think that is what it is? It was just one pain."

  "I know the look in your eyes. Come on." Though she stopped and held her up as he groaned and grabbed her stomach as another pain ripped through her. "Breath Nyoko."

  Taking deep breaths, this pain was so bad. "I don't think that I can make it to the birthing room Yokiyo."

  With a smile as she waited for the contraction to go away, Yokiyo laughed. "You can make it. You can't have a baby that soon after labor starts. Come on now."

  Nodding Nyoko took three more steps when another contraction hit her and she let out a scream as her knees started to buckle. Just before she went down she felt another set of arms as Takara was there helping her. "Yokiyo we aren't making it to the birthing room!"

  Reaching over with a small touch, Yokiyo gasped to see how tight her belly really was. When it released, only to tense back up into another longer contraction her eyes turned serious. "Takara she is right. This baby is coming and coming fast. Help me get her in her bed."

  Nodding as she helped to lift Nyoko, Takara smiled. "Right My Lady."

  X

  With a sigh as he walked out of Kiyoshi's study, Chiren gasped as he collided with Santrix, knocking her down as he fell back into the wall. Laughing as he reached down to help her stand he sighed. "Sorry about that. In a hurry to get somewhere I take it?"

  Nodding with a smile as she moved backwards down the hall, Santrix laughed. "Yep. To tell you and Papa to get to Nyoko's room. She just went into labor and I am going for Kiara."

  His eyes going wide, Chiren turned to see that Kiyoshi was already on his way around the far corner. Running after him he found Kiyoshi taking his place next to Yoite who stood in front of the door, while a growling Seiji paced back and forth in the hall. Going toward them he sighed. "When did it start Seiji? She was fine this morning."

  "I don't know. It wasn't that long ago. I was told to get the midwife and Takara, Santrix to go get Kiara. By the time I got back here Yoite was already in the doorway." Rubbing his neck he growled again. He didn't understand why it was so important that he had to stay out of the room while his child was born!

  With a sigh, Kiyoshi looked at Yoite. "My parents and the rest of the pack are on their way here by now. They wanted to be here when she went into labor. Go and meet them and let them know it started."

  Giving a bow, Yoite was gone down the hall. "My Lord."

  Leaning on the wall across from the door, Chiren sighed as he crossed his arms. "I guess this is the waiting game part as Father called it."

  His ears focused on the door behind him, Kiyoshi closed his eyes. "Correct."

  A glance back at his bedroom door Seiji let out another loud growl. "What I don't get is why they aren't a few halls over in the birthing room. Why are they still in our bedroom?"

  "Labor can be different time lengths Seiji. Kiara was done in a matter of a couple hours. Your mother laid in labor with you from dawn into the night. Seiji and Santrix were born with little pain and faster than Kiara. Before your grandfather could get here from the training field. I would say that she was progressing faster than they could get her there." Cracking one eye Kiyoshi sighed. "If something was wrong your mother and your mate would be worried and they are not."

  Keeping with his pacing, Seiji growled at the floor. "I don't get why I can't be in there though. I am not the heir to the South, why can't the next generation change the way things are done and let me be in there?"

  "That one is simple pup." Coming around the corner, Umarus moved to stand next to Kiyoshi. Though his father was more than enough to stop him from getting in the room, it was still custom that two stand in the way. Just in case. "Humans it doesn't matter if they are or not. Demons that don't mate for life it doesn't matter. However those like us that doo and mates can feel feelings, it matters. You feel their pain and they feel your stress. Not a good mix when others are trying to help her and she is giving birth. Just a bad idea all the way around."

  With a smile as he stopped and turned toward them, Seiji had one last chance to get in. "However it could be different. Perhaps me seeing that she is alright would be exactly what would be needed to keep me calm and that would keep her calm."

  His eyes glaring, Kiyoshi growled as Seiji started to walk toward them. "Don't think about it pup."

  The harshness of his father's voice made him flinch as he flattened his ears and started to pace again. He had to at least try to get in there with her. Seeing as he knew that he would never get through the two that stood before him.

  X

  With a groan as she let her head fall back onto a pillow, Nyoko turned a snarl to the door as she took deep breaths. "I swear he is going to drive me insane! Surely he knows that it just hurts not that I am going to die! I sometimes wish I wouldn't have been drawn into the bond like this. It would make this part so much easier!"

  Laughing as she sat on the bed next to her, Yokiyo whipped her brow with a cool cloth. "I know it would make it so much easier to have children if they didn't get so worked up over the pain they feel us in. Especially since they don't get it that they only feel a portion of what we actually do. I would love to see a male go through this much pain just once to see how well they could handle it."

  Laughing as she took heavy breaths, Nyoko looked at her with one eye open. "I volunteer Seiji for that." Growling out another contraction, Nyoko looked up at the midwife as she came to check her. "How much longer?"

  Checking her progress, the midwife smiled. She wasn't as fast as Lady Yokiyo was with Seiji and Santrix but she was fast. "You are progressing very fast, but you still have a little time left. I would wager before the
sun reaches its highest point you will have a new baby in your arms."

  Closing her eyes, Nyoko let out a small laugh. "That's good. Sorae wants to be here, and I want Kiara to be here. That still gives them time."

  "That it does. Santrix went after Kiara, so I know she will be here in time." Yokiyo couldn't stop her smile as she once again whipped her brow. She was elated to be a grandmother with Torakus, then Hoshiko, then Hajime and Akane. But this was the first grandchild that was going to live with her that she could see every day and spoil rotten.

  X

  Sitting down under a tree, Kiara told Katana what to do and watched as he did it. His way of doing things was night and day compared to her. But he did seem to raise moral of the new recruits better than she did. And much faster. She would encourage them and help those that needed it. But she would do it as a whole, since that was what worked for her for so long. He would go to that one that was having trouble with the drills, and help them one on one while the rest of them kept going around him. It was different, but it worked.

  And knowing that she was going to be leaving for the North when Chiren did, she couldn't help but smile. At least she knew that Katana did know more about how things worked and what needed to be done than she thought that he did. Just as she started to stand and tell him that, one of the few compliments that he would get from her, just because she flinched and turned to see dust. "Santrix…" When she slid to a stop breathing hard, Kiara had wide eyes. "Is it Nyoko? Did she go into labor?"

  Nodding as she bent over, Santrix sucked in a few deep breaths before she could talk. "Yes. Everyone else is there, and Yoite left when I did to get Grandma and Grandpa since they are on their way and wanted to be here. She is going really fast, they couldn't even make it out of their bedroom so you better…." Falling back on her back, Santrix was still breathing hard. "You know I really hate being the messenger around here."

  Going to his sister he crossed his arms, Katana laughed. "You are the fastest one of the kids. What do you expect?"

  Rolling her eyes Santrix didn't move. "I don't know a break once in a while would be so nice."

  Holding his hand out, Katana laughed when she looked up at him. "I am going to stay out here and finish this. I can see the baby later, it isn't like they will let me in anyway. Unless you wanna be there, at least get over by the tree."

  Reaching up and taking his arm, Santrix took a few heavy steps then turned and fell into the tree and slid down. "Oh I am sitting."

  X

  Finding them not that far from the palace, Yoite dropped down from the trees to kneel before Kurosai. "My Lord."

  Her throat constricting, Sorae gasped. "Yoite why did you come here to meet us? Is it Nyoko and the baby?"

  Standing now Yoite smiled. "The baby is on its way. Lord Kiyoshi sent me to get you."

  Grabbing her mate's arm, Sorae was shaking. "How long?"

  A warm smile, Yoite took a deep breath. "I am not sure how long it is going to take but it is going rather fast. They could not even make it out of her bedroom."

  Smiling, Kurosai could feel the worry starting to spiral out. Looking back at his daughter and her mate, he sighed as he lifted Sorae in his arms. "Yukani are you going in?"

  Shaking her head no, Yukani laughed. "I did it twice, I am good. She is going to have enough in there to help her, I doubt that she will miss me or Koto."

  "Good point." Kurosai then turned and raced toward the palace with his mate in his arms, and Yoite on his heels.

  X

  Another groan, and Nyoko let her head fall back on the pillow. She could feel the baby moving closer and closer to being born. She gave a worried look at the window, starting to worry that Kiara wouldn't get there in time. Then another glare and a growl for the door and her mate. He was going to drive her insane she knew it!

  Reaching out with a sigh and a smile, Yokiyo sighed as she brushed her wet bangs from her face. "Don't worry about Kiara. She will be here before you have the baby I can promise you that. And maybe Sorae too. And as far as your mate goes, you just have to lecture him later. Nothing anyone can do or say right now will make him settle down. Even if you have twenty children, he will be the same way each time. The only way to stop it is to have his father knock him out cold."

  "I don't want that." Nyoko then groaned as another contraction ripped through her. "I just wish he would settle down some."

  "How is she?"

  Looking toward the balcony to see Sorae rushing across the room as Kurosai leapt from the balcony to another room, Yokiyo smiled. "She is doing great and the baby is coming really fast. She is more than half way through. You must have been close to get here so fast."

  "We were. When Yoite came and told us what was going on, Kurosai ran the rest of the way here." She then had her attention drawn down to Nyoko. Reaching out and taking her hand, Sorae put a hand on the top of her head. "It's alright dear. Just bear with it."

  "Nyoko."

  Opening her pain filled eyes, Nyoko smiled as she reached out and took Kiara's hand with her other hand. "You made it."

  Smiling as she held her best friend's hand, Kiara laughed. "I promised you. I wouldn't miss this for anything. And I mean anything."

  Worried with Chiren right outside of the door, Sorae glanced up at Kiara. She hoped that at least right now she could be calm and relaxed for Nyoko right now. And she was elated to see that she was not only relaxed, but seemed to be at peace at the moment. 'Thank goodness.'

  After the strongest contraction yet, Nyoko growled. "How much longer!?"

  Moving to check her progress, the midwife gasped. The last time she checked her, just before Sorae and Kiara got there, she was just over half way there. Now she was ready! "Now My Lady. With the next contraction it is time to bear down. It is time for a baby to be in the palace once again."

  Breathing hard as she waited, Nyoko closed her eyes. "Finally!"

  X

  "Now My Lady. With the next contraction it is time to bear down. It is time for a baby to be in the palace once again.

  "Finally!"

  Flinching as he froze in his pacing, Seiji turned wide eyes to the door. It was time already! He could hardly believe that in just a few moments he was going to be a father! It was finally time!

  With a smile as he watched Seiji for a moment, then turning to the door, Chiren had to wonder what sort of a mess he was going to be when Kiara birthed his first child. Though he figured that he would an absolute mess.

  "One more time My Lady. The baby is almost here."

  His eyes glued to the door, Seiji didn't even breath. He could hear her groaning. Then there was silence followed seconds later by wail. It was a loud and healthy wail! Falling against the wall, his eyes never left his door. "She did it. We are…..I am a….father…."

  X

  Falling back on her bed, Nyoko let a stream of tears fall from her eyes at the loud and healthy wail of her child. She was a mother! "I did it! I did it!" She then looked at the midwife's back as she cleaned the baby. "What did I have? Boy or girl?"

  Smiling over her shoulder, the midwife laughed. "You have a healthy son My Lady."

  Leaning over and hugging Nyoko as Kiara and Sorae went to look at the baby, Yokiyo smiled as her own tears fell. "You did it! I am so proud of you honey you did amazing. Just amazing!"

  Laughing herself, Nyoko whipped her eyes. "I am just glad that is over and I have a healthy baby." But then she looked up at the confused and rather shocked look on both Kiara and Sorae's faces and she froze. "What is it? Kiara? Sorae? Why are you looking at him like that? What's wrong?"

  Seeing the looks herself, Yokiyo paled. They didn't know how this was going to work, and his father was after all half human. Jumping to her feet she rushed toward them. "Don't tell me that he was born human?"

  Taking her nephew from the midwife, Kiara was still in a state of shock. "No Mama. Nyoko there is nothing wrong with him. He is a perfect baby boy. But we can't tell what he is. He smells of a full blooded dog that i
s his, and a full blooded leopard that is his." As she moved to the bed and bent to hand him to his mother, Kiara sighed. 'And he looks like a perfect blend of the two of them.'

  Looking down at her child as she took him from Kiara, Nyoko couldn't stop her smile as she took in his features. "He looks just like both of us. With leopard and dog markings."

  Now looking at the smiling and wide awake baby, Yokiyo smiled as she sighed. He did in fact look like a perfect blend of the two of them. He had solid white leopard markings on his skin that he got from his mother's silvery ones. And white leopard spots in his blackish blue hair, again from his mother. But then his eyes were a beautiful silvery amethyst color, and a single crescent moon on his forehead like Katana in the same silvery amethyst color as his eyes. "He is perfect, but different. Not at all shocking for this pack."