Happy news...?

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo practically dragged Ren to Rei's Realm, and because she was the Maha-ou, she even managed to penetrate the fortress without distrubing any of the "grunt" guards--however, she was sure that her movements had not escaped the more careful of Rei's servants.

She sighed happily, moving through the fortress quickly, saying, "You know, if someone stepped in my house, Symphony would attack them regardless...they just don't make servants like that anymore...servants like Symphony--wait...I make those," Tomoyo said, her voice giddy like a child. "I mean, other races of demon don't make very good servants...they have their own ideas on life, and that's...not a good thing in a servant. Except Deimos and Phobos...they were great. Almost as good as Avalon and Symphony...if only they didn't have that triangle thing going on..."

And with tha last phrase, Tomoyo reached Rei's inner sanctum, and she pounded on the door loudly, the only being alive besides Ren who could ever get away with doing so...

[shito]

The fact that beings as powerful as Tomoyo and Ren had been able to get into the layer without the military being notified immeadiatly was something that really grated on Shito's nerves.

The fact that Rei seemed to think that it wasn't important to filter their presence through the layer's security was a constant headache for those in the layer who happened to not trust the two as much as it's King did and continued to do so in spite of the contant admonishement she'd gotten from her four closest subordinates.

It was with that thought in mind, fighting to keep his temper in check, that Shito was the one stuck with the task of allowing the two entrance into the Rai-ou's main palace.

"Can I help you, Ha-ou-sama, Ikazuchi-ou-sama?" He asked, just barely keeping the growl out of his voice.

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo found herself facing a decision; should she mess with Rei's uttery boastful servant or should she continue on without a word?

Just because both of those options were the same, rather, she chose the latter.

Walking past this servant without giving her the time of day, Tomoyo pulled Ren behind her, rushing to Rei's private bedroom, Symphony traveling in the shadows on the floor in case this piece of wasteful energy tried anything.

[Admin]

"I'll thank you not to disreguard the people living here. They have just as much right as I do to be offended by someone entering their home unannounced or uninvited. Which leads me to question of course, what in the world you want? You usually don't come down here unless there's some dire situation that calls for my mediation skills....Such as they are..." Rei wondered aloud as she sat up in bed.

She couldn't help her eyebrow twitching slightly as having her nap interuppted by the invasion of the two that she had deemed to be the most frustrating couple in all of existance.

They're constant flip-flopping emotional states had a tendancy to grate on Rei's nerves, especially since she was usually the outlet of the rants about it comming from both sides.

She steeled herself for the bitch-fest that she knew she was going to have, slightly regretting it when she saw the somewhat hunted look in her brother's eyes as he tried to discretly slither out the door but reasoning that they deserved it for not pausing to listen would Shito would have informed them that she was asleep.

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo was not afraid of Rei at this current moment in time. Usually, if Rei was asleep and she was woken up, Tomoyo would be running for the hills. But not this time.

Seeing Ren opting to leave for the same reason that she would have, she quickly caught hold of her husband's sleeve and held him there. The glare in her eyes mixed with a bit of feminine pride let the Ikazuchi-ou not to even think about pulling loose.

Considering what Tomoyo had come to Rei to tell her, she was sure that it was the only situation that Tomoyo had come across in her long existence where what she had to say was actually worth all the hullabaloo.

"Well, Rei, I talked with Ren, and we decided...that we're going to have a child!" she squeaked, like a girl telling her best friend.

[Yamazaki Ren]

Ren cringed when he caught his sisters jaded eyes and distinctly wished that he was someone in the vicinity of the Atlantic ocean at the moment, anything to get away from that accusing stare.

The hand on his sleeve didn't help the sudden flopsweat from breaking out on his skin as her was forced to face down the two most imposing people he'd ever had the occasion to meet.

He felt as if they were expecting his to chose sides or something, as they often did, regardless of the position it put him in.

Those Jaded eyes that held cynacism in everything and those Crimson ones that held everything in delicate regard, as something to be protected.

Were his own Golden eyes a symbol of his view of the world as well, he wondered, as he tried to find an excuse to escape his wife and sister and their imposing eyes.

The statement of Tomo's ending all spectulation of the possible escape routes and he snatched his sleeve away from Tomo's grip, folding his arms and refusing to meet either of those glares.

There had been a very good reason that he had been hesitant about telling Rei about his and Tomo's plans, possibly until after the fact and announcing it as something of an accident.

Tomo's history with children was bad enough given the circumstances but he and Rei...

Put politly, he would pity any child born into their lines for next forseeable future.

As long their father was still alive and and still terrorizing the family...

Unlike the majority of the Shijin's families, which were rather informal, the Byakko no Ichizoku....

It was mostly Cammora-like in operation and was strictly bound by the laws set down by it's souke.

While the title had technically been handed over to Ren upon his acention to the 6th's throne, the majority of the duties were still carries out by Yamazaki Hatori who had done the job since Byakko was imprisioned and was no where near ready to give them up.

He raised his eyes to meet Rei's with some matter of deliberation and instantly felt relieved at what he saw reflected there.

It was probably a twin thing, but Ren had the distinct feeling that another parent had suddenly been added into the equation.

[Admin]

Rei raised an eyebrow at her brother's hedging but immeadiatly understood once Tomo stated their purpose in visiting.

Maybe it was a twin thing, but she immeadiatly understood where his thoughts were going and knew she would be saddled with yet another charge for the next few centuries.

As if Tomo and Ren weren't enough on their own...

"Tomo-chan..." She began, responding to the tone her Ha-ou had set with the exicited announcement. "Are you really willing to bring another Yamazaki into the world? Or a Sanada for that matter? Our families don't have the greatest history when it comes to raising children..."

She suppressed the chills that normally came with recalling her own childhood and looked her leader directly in the eye, unsure of how she hoped Tomo would answer.

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo said with pride, "I, unlike you, am first generation. I don't have a family history. I am the history, and I treat my children well. As for my parents, they raised me well, and treated me nicely. With me on one side, and Ren--who is determined to keep his children from experiencing what he did--on the the other, where could we go wrong?" While she was trying to plead her case, she was asking a prevalent question. Rei was her best friend, after all, and if there was something of serious concern to her about the possbility of having a child, then Tomoyo would take her word for it. However, she hoped that like usual Rei was just being cynical and pessimistic and thinking about it entirely too much.

Then she remember the souke. Tomoyo herself had never bothered thinking about it too much, simply because her duties involving a suitable heir to herself was simply to find one, not necessarily have one herself--but the Byakko line was not like that in any regard. Her child would be assumed to be the next heir to the Yamazaki line, which would present its own complications...

Perhaps Rei did have a right to be worried...

Hugging herself protectively, as though it would protect a child that she had not yet conceived, she added, "I will not allow my heir to become another one of the Yamazaki drones. It will be a Sanada--I had to fight Heaven tooth and nail to get the both of you and keep you, and I will not allow anyone to force me to do the same to my own child!"

Turning heatedly to Ren she said, "You had better not say anything about having my child become one of you! You had better not!" her last phrase was choked, as though she was going to cry.

Tomoyo knew that Ren had a history of choosing Heaven over her, and she refused, absolutely, to have a child with a man who would do the same to their child. Holding back tears that had not shown themselves since Chiyo's ressurection, Tomoyo's hand itched, and she immediately reached for the wedding ring on her finger, aniticipating the worst from Ren as a reaction.

His eyes were blank, and she couldn't tell anything from looking at them; she didn't know what the answer would be...

[Yamazaki Ren]

Ren blinked, bewildered at his kouhei's sudden glare that she turned on him. He looked back and forth between Tomo and Rei and found a similar expression across both thier faces, while he had a vague inkling of what it meant on tomo's, he knew exactly what ecery expression of his sister's meant and was not thrilled to be the subject of her current one--The one where he knew that he had better agree with the two women with a quickness lest he be faced with two extrordinarily angry demonesses.

"I have no intention of giving any child of mine to the Yamazaki. Why would I after everything they put Rei through? I wouldn't wish any of that on my worst enemy, let alone my own child." He refrained from mentioning the redundancy of the statement, as his worst enemy had already grown up in the environment he so despised.

"The only problem I have with your ultimatum is that this means that the Yamazaki line ends with us..." He turned to his sister, speaking more to her than to Tomo. "This means that the Byakko line will die out in this generation. None of the other lines are strong enough to carry his genes like ours is. If no one is raised to carry on the bloodline then..."

He wasn't altogether certain what his opinion on the matter was, but he knew was Rei's was without a doubt.

Even despite the horrible treatment she's gone through as one of Byakko's Apostles, she still love everything about it.

(Namley the power)

And Ren was 100% certain that she wouldn't be willing to let the line die out.

Even if it meant breaking her self-imposed celebacy and children of her own.

She would find a way to do it, certainly.

Now if only there was a way to convince Tomo that, it was their father who was at fault and not necessarily the line itself. It was Hatori who enforced to feudal rules on thier relatives and without his influence....

Well....

[Sanada Tomo]

[Wanna know something interesting? I'm listening to "I'm so Hood" as I type out this post...]

Tomoyo couldn't help but face the truth that Heaven's bloody rules would not allow the Yamazaki line to die out. Ren did not want the line to die out. Rei would not let it die out. And so, while she had nothing to do with the Yamazaki family physically, this responsibility, since she was only one morally capable of having children--which she knew was true; Rei had yet to get laid since Tomoyo's own daughter had left and Tokiju had been kidnapped and killed--so she was forced to make a decision about whether or not her best friend would be forced into somehow having the heir to Yamazaki herself.

Her logical half wanted to ask why none of her other relatives were having children, why the fuck none of her other relatives weren't reproducing; but she knew not to ask this question simply because the Yamazaki were all illogical. That much was obvious simply by the two standing in front of him, though they were the better side of the family.

Gritting her teeth viciously, Tomoyo made the responsible decision, a type of decision she hadn't had to make in a long time--the type that meant that she had to sacrifice herself for someone else. But then again, if not for her husband and best friend, then for whom should she give herself?

Angrily and through gritted teeth, she said, "I will give you a Yamazaki. But not this one. You cannot have this one." she said it with a tone of finality, as though Ren had no choice in the matter; she wasn't really angry at him; she was angry at his family, at the fact that announcing the planning for second child, in addition to the first, was not as joyful as the way she had felt walking through the door.

Honestly, Tomoyo had thought that she had gotten away from this; away from the stagnant, nonchalant procedure that everything was in Heaven--but this was her fault, for marrying a man still loyal in part to Heaven's regime. Everything was a business negotiation, even children. Even in Hell, Heaven's reign still haunted her. She glared at Ren with piercing blue eyes; he had better be worth all of this.

And Rei; she had not expected Rei to be a factor in forcing the line of Yamazaki on her; for while Rei had never said anything about since they had arrived, she and Ren were doing that thing again where they were looking at each other, and Tomoyo knew that they could read each other simply by doing so. But Tomoyo did not voice this opinion, either; she knew, once again, that the Yamazaki were not normal by any means, and in the long run, Tomoyo herself had chosen her best friend and her husband. She rescued Rei from banishment into the Mortal Realm and proposed to Ren. Both of these things were her own doing--all of this was her own fault, and while it was a bitter pill to swallow, she would just have to take it with a Windtini in hand and hope that a few bottles would take the edge off...

Her hand still itched, and she twisted her wedding band on her finger.

[Admin]

Rei could feel her eyebrow twitching as he brother tossed to low blow at her.

Of course, she was probably just as unwilling as he was to let their line die out, but given her history she was probably twice as unwilling to be the martyr for the cause.

Obviously, Tomo realized just how serious both of the twins were in their conviction to their line, and proved it with her forced aquiesence.

"Don't sacrifice youself for our sake, Tomo." She muttered, leveling a peircing glare at her brother, hoping to let him know just how pissed off she was at him for bringing the subject up. "There's more than just the death of the line at sake here. If your husband isn't willing to being the souke instead of making chichiue do it then theres no promise that whichever child you let be raised as a Yamazaki won't go through the same shit we did." She's always thouroughly disapproved of Ren's non-chalance with being the head of the Yamazaki family and saw this as a golden opportunity to force him to think otherwise.

If the thought of his own child being put through a figurative hell wasn't enough then what was.

And if Tomo couldn't force him to do it....

Then Rei would probably just have to take matters into her own hands...

Again...

She'd been even more reluctant to be the souke than Ren was and was overjoyed when her falling elimated her from the succession registry. She was still an apostle, but fortunatly had much more control over her fate than the majority of her cousins had in thaat respect.

[Yamazaki Ren]

Ren matched his sister's glare for one of his own, obviously he wasn't the only one capable of throwing low blows, as she'd just proved.

She was right, as she always thought she was, but this time it was valid.

The simple solution to all of this mess would be to just take over the duties of the souke from their father. It solved the issue of the line ending and of the child being terrorized by the family.

He gritted his teeth in quiet aquiesence, as there was nothing he could do but agree to their demands, they were reasonable, after all.

He just wished, in a rare moment of maliciousness, that it were his sister in this position rather than him.

He would challenge his father, he would rest control of the family from him and he make sure that any children that he or his sister planned on raising as Yamazaki's were free from the ridged obligations that came along with it.

"....I hate you, Rei."

Just because he'd accepted the solution didn't mean he had to happy about it.

[Admin]

Rei smiled brightly, the kind of smile that obviously meant that she had gotten her way, as she knew she would.

She knew that Ren was the type that could never risk falling for a guilt trip, especially when people he cared about were at stake.

"There, that wasn't so hard now was it? Now all we have to do is convince hahaue to convince him not to struggle. I think that'll be the hardest part of the whole ordeal. You should be more than enough to defeat on feeble old man, shouldn't you? I don't need to help you do I?" Rei knew she was asking for it, teasing her brother so viciously, but she couldn't help it and he deserved it. Served him right for being so ridiculous about the whole thing to begin with.

[Sanada Tomo]

Tomoyo mentally threw up her hands. There was nothing that she could at the moment; both twins made it abundantly clear that this was not her argument to settle, or sacrifice herself for.

Rei looked triumphant and Ren looked as though he wished he hadn't been born with a twin as intelligent as he was.

After Rei's tongue thrashing about Ren's responsibility as a Yamazaki and how things would change if he simply took up his job as the souke, Tomoyo began to wonder: why was it that Ren refused to become the souke? Or, at least, act as such? There was no reason as to why that should be a problem.

"You're still in Heaven," Tomoyo muttered bitterly, "You can at least do something useful..." she knew no one would hear her words, though; they were still locked in brother-sister combat mode. And there was nothing in the world that anyone could give to Tomoyo to get her to break that forcefully.

Tomoyo hugged herself as Ren acquiesced to Rei's logic, and she let of her wedding ring in the process.

In a small voice, she said, even though she would be going against her own logic, "...maybe we just shouldn't have a child...I still have one...that's mine. I still have Cielle..."

Tomoyo didn't want to admit it, but she was honestly hurt--not by Rei or Ren, but by the lack of attachment that she now held with her children. Cielle was the only one who stood by her. Kakashi didn't believe her when the Yami-ou had tried to convince her that her abandonment was not her fault--it was Celeste's doing, and that was why that bitch was dead now.

Then there was Minako and Yamiko. Those two had meant the world to Tomoyo. Kakashi had been treated wrongly by her mother, and so Tomoyo could accept her decision; she had grown up without Tomoyo as a parent, and could therefore make decisions without her input--the Yami-ou accepted that. But Minako and Yamiko, they cried out for him as their mother took them away...they didn't know Chiyo, though they knew through pictures and stories that she was their mother, and it was like a knife through Tomoyo heart, for each of them, when they left and Chiyo decided that even if they wanted to, they couldn't stay.

Tomoyo did not want this to happen with her and Ren's child. She did not want to have to worry about the well being of their child. And if mere talk of it's conception caused this much controversy, then perhaps she should forget the idea...

[Admin]

Rei snorted elegantly, thouroughly appalled at the coure of her ha-ou's/sister-in-law's/best friend's thoughts.

"Don't be rediculous,Tomo. You can't honestly be thinking that Ren could accomplish anything in heaven without your inflence? He would still one of Tsubasa's mindless drones, married to Mizuki and being ruled by our father if you hadn't decided that he was yours. Both of us would be. I would be stuck in the same ridiculous situation, married to some servant of the Sora-ou once she finally decided to try and break me like she did Ren. Out of anyone, you've done the most for heaven-whether good or bad and no one can dispute tat, whether you still live there or not." Rei had particularly strong feelings on the subject of self-deprication and it annoyed her to no end that Tomo was guilty of it more often than most people in existance.

She turned her glare back to her brother for a moment, just long enough to ensure that he got the point, before turning back to Tomo. It really shouldn't be Rei's job to comfort Tomo, but since her brother seemed to be particularly obtuse at the moment...

"And don't let our issues get in the way of having more kids if you want--Though the prospect of more little Tomos running around has always terrified me and has caused many nightmares in the past--I'm sure that it won't be too much of a problem if Ren is the other parent, he tends to be generally sensible."

Rei conviently refrained from mentioning the origin of those particular Tomo-offspring related nightmares, as it had nothing significant to contribute to the convorsation, the fact remained, however, in the realms of the Yami-ou procreation....

"Besides, If there wasn't an argument about it, would you really love us so much? If we were talking about the weather we would have fought about it, it's just how we communicate. Ne, aniki?"

[Yamazaki Ren]

Ren highly resented the comment and let his narrowed eyes express this to his sister.

He sighed and ran an exhasperated hand over his face, the beginings of a serious migrane were tapping at his temple and he knew it would only get worse the longer he stayed in Hell.

He wasn't sure if it was the actual realm and it's effect on whatever part of him was still upright or it was the company he kept while he was there.

The implication that he and his sister were incapable of communicating without bickering and arguing. No matter how true it may actually be, he didn't need it pointed out to him so bluntly.

"Whatever..."He ignored any response his sister may have had and turned to Tomo, "So, have you decided what to do? If anything, I agree with Rei: If you don't want any child we have to be involved with the Yamazaki then I'm not going to argue with you. Rei and I will figure something else out, it's our responsibility not yours." He turned back to his sister with a snarl. "And stop trying to guilt us into martyring our child. You know what the eventual outcome will be, you don't have to play coy."

[Sanada Tomo]

[This post makes me feel like she's giving part of a speech from a disney movie]

Tomoyo was far removed from the situation by the time Ren addressed her. She had made her decision, and she was going to stick by it.

"I told you that I would give you a Yamazaki, and I will. But it will not be this one. When I married you, Ren, there was an agreement to share our responsibilities, our trials, our problems, and how we feel about them. As the rightful souke for your family, it is our shared responsibility now. Not just yours. We are...one family now, even though our family names are different. So...I want to do this for you...Please..."