"I'm still hungry." Hotaru chewed on a candy bar that was decorated with strawberry jam and salted peanuts, earning a very strange look from her brunette husband.

"You've eaten loads already, you'll make yourself sick-" he cut off abruptly at her murderous look- though the danger was somewhat marred by the food hanging from her mouth. It was odd, she was usually quite taciturn in front of clients, but now she was behaving somewhat childishly. And how could she even stomach such a bizarre food? Kiba's stomach turned just thinking about it.

"I said I'm still hungry okay." she said lowly, phrasing it like a statement rather than a question as it should have been. That in itself showed Kiba that Hotaru was not to be argued with at that moment. Not if he valued mini-Kiba at all. Akamaru whined.

Midori laughed, "You two are weird!"

'Like you're one to talk!' Kiba thought, twitching briefly, but knowing saying such a thing would earn him a swift kick to the stomach from his wife.

"What do you think fish think about?" Midori asked, whimsical- as though only to add insult to injury. Kiba twitched more.

"I wouldn't know." he said stiffly.

"You know, with your weird cravings, Hotaru, I bet you got abducted by aliens and probed." the plum-haired girl said cheerfully. Hotaru rose her eyebrows.

"I'm pretty sure I wasn't the target of an alien abduction." she replied.

"You wouldn't know if you were, though, they'd wipe your memory!" Midori insisted.

"She's been with us for the past five days! When would they have gotten her?!" Kiba snapped, finally losing his cool.

"Before that?" Midori turned to lay facing backwards on her stomach on her frog so she could look at them. "Well, it's either alien abduction or pregnancy, Hotaru-san."

"She's not pregnant, either! She would have told me if she was!" Kiba trailed off, seeing the awkward and slightly shifty look on Hotaru's face- which caused him to stumble and almost lose footing. They stopped moving, coming to a standstill on their respective branches. "Hotaru..?"

"Er...Surprise..?" she said with a half smile, seeming nervous. Kiba's mouth fell open.

"You... you're... Hotaru, you..." he stopped, unable to string together a coherent sentence from his shock, "Eh?!"

"Yes, I'm pregnant, okay?" she looked down, "That's why I was talking to Sakura a lot... I'm seven weeks gone, now..."

Kiba stared more; he didn't know how to react, he could barely grasp the situation, "Why didn't... why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared what you'd say. You seemed like you were happy with things the way they were..." she gritted her teeth, the barest frustrated expression, but enough to show Kiba her distress. She was scared. "I was happy with things the way they were. I'm not ready for this... to be a Mother..."

She gave a small noise that was something between a gasp and a squeak, and Kiba felt his heart wrench. He paid no mind to Midori (who currently lay on her frog, seemingly lost in her own little world) and went and crouched next to Hotaru, since the redhead had lowered to her knees as though holding herself together.

"Hotaru..." Kiba wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "You'll be a great Mom. Don't worry about it."

"But I am worried!" she said despairingly, "I've made so many mistakes in my life, I'm hardly a good role model- and what if those carry onto the baby? What then? And on top of that I know nothing about looking after a kid-"

"It's okay! Calm down!" Kiba cut her off, sensing that she was working herself into a state, "That's what you do when you're new parents. You work through it together and figure it out along the way." he sent her a smile- she'd looked up at him in surprise because of his surprising level of maturity, "That's what I'm here for. It's not something you can be taught."

There was a long pause, and then the redhead frowned, "So... you're not upset?"

"Upset?" he seemed shocked that she would think such a thing, "No! I'm excited; I always wondered what being a Dad is like, but wasn't sure I'd ever know 'cause I thought you didn't want kids."

"I didn't want kids..." Hotaru mumbled, resting her hand over the barely noticeable bump on her abdomen with a frown. "I still don't know if I do. I don't know that I have what it takes to be a Mother... no matter what you say." She added quickly, seeing he was about to interrupt her. "But I won't get rid of the baby. Because it's my  baby, and I have a responsibility for it. I couldn't bear to lose it now..." she smirked somewhat weakly, "I suppose you could say it's growing on me."

Kiba laughed at the bad pun, "Hotaru, that was terrible." they smiled at each other, and he winked, "But I'm glad you decided to keep it. You'll see, we'll make great parents."

"Are you two done now?" Midori asked, sounding impatient. Hotaru reflexively shoved Kiba away from her, remembering that they had company just as he had been about to kiss her. This of course sent Kiba sprawling the several feet to the forest floor. He landed with a thump and groaned.

"Itai..." he stood and glared at Midori, irked at having lost the opportunity to kiss his love after such a long period of being denied access, "You damn Brat! You sure pick your moments!"

Midori just deadpanned and offered a peace sign- mostly to piss him off- while Hotaru sighed and folded her arms over her torso. Even so, as she listened to her first and only love argue with the twelve year old girl, she couldn't help but smile.

- - -

SO SHORT :O

But I wanted to post tonight, so yeah.

I actually love Midori. She's brilliant XD

People, please START COMMENTING OMGOMG

I appreciate the votes and all, but much prefer comments. Especially as this book only has one more chapter and then the prologue :O