(crackfic) Nesting
Jun. 4th, 2006 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cicerThis fic. Is. Uh. Jeep-preg. No, seriously. *facepalms* I wrote most of this several months ago, but it was only after ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trensaddiction posted her awesome Jeep-as-a-parent fic, Small Miracles, that I decided to finish this and post it. (Incidentally, there are some rather hilarious and totally inadvertent similarities between her fic and mine. I guess we imagined mommy!Jeep the same way. *dies*) Um. I'm sorry about this, really. ...At least I'm an equal-opportunity mpreg writer? Not even animals are safe from me! This is unbeta'd (obviously) so there may be some typos.
They didn’t really notice when it began. Socks went missing, as did the occasional shirt or newspaper, but that wasn’t unusual. In between inns and bars, in a different town nearly every day, things were bound to get lost. It wasn’t until Gojyo was getting out of the shower one morning and noticed Jeep calmly dragging away one of his socks that he got suspicious.
“Oi,” he said, shifting the towel around his waist so it wouldn’t drop to his feet. “Where are you going with that?”
Jeep gave him a faintly annoyed, almost indignant, look and continued walking off with his sock.
“Hey!” Gojyo said, stumbling after him, while trying to keep a hold on the towel. Sensing pursuit, Jeep took to the air, fluttering out the door and down the hall, the sock waving behind him like a banner. Gojyo followed him all the way downstairs and into the dining room, which was fortunately nearly empty. Hakkai was seated at one of the tables, though, and Jeep made a beeline for him, hiding under Hakkai’s chair.
“Bring that back!” Gojyo demanded, stalking over to the runaway dragon.
“Gojyo,” Hakkai said placidly, “I would prefer if you did not chase Jeep around the inn. If you must do that, please take it outside, and put on some clothes first.”
“He took my sock!” Gojyo snapped, realizing he sounded perhaps a little more annoyed than the situation warranted, but still. It was his sock.
“Well,” Hakkai said, and appeared to consider this. “We’ll get you more, then.”
“I don’t need more,” Gojyo said, frustrated. “I just need my other sock.”
With a long suffering sigh, Hakkai leaned over and attempted to pry Jeep out from under the table.
“Jeep,” he said coaxingly, “Will you please return Gojyo’s sock to him?”
Jeep kyuu’d, a sound of obvious discontent. It also sounded slightly muffled, since he still had half the sock stuffed in his mouth.
“Hakkai,” Gojyo whined. He was cold and slightly wet and almost naked and the girl behind the desk was starting to give him strange looks and he wanted his sock back. Hakkai adjusted his monocle.
“Now, Jeep,” he said in a slightly sterner tone, “It isn’t very polite to take things from other people. I can make you a sock of your own, if you’d like.” Jeep made another sound of disapproval.
“I bet he took my shirt, too,” Gojyo accused. “And remember when Sanzo couldn’t find his newspaper the other day and thought Goku and I had taken it? Maybe he took that too.”
Hakkai ignored him and gave Jeep a patient but firm look. “Jeep,” he instructed. “Please return Gojyo’s sock.”
He reached down to try and pry it from the dragon’s mouth, but Jeep had apparently decided he wasn’t going to give up his prize that easily. He scuttled out from underneath the chair and leapt into the air, attempting escape as he headed up the stairs as fast as his wings could carry him. It wasn’t as fast as usual, Gojyo noted. Jeep had seemed a little slow over the past few days. He was getting a little plump, too, but that was to be expected. He was probably eating all the things he stole, Gojyo thought irritably.
He and Hakkai nearly knocked over several chairs in their attempts to catch Jeep and ended up bolting up the stairs after him as he flew off. Gojyo lagged behind a little, one hand busy trying to keep the towel around his waist where it was, though if the way the desk girl was staring at him was any indication, she wouldn’t have minded catching a glimpse. Gojyo made a mental note to talk with her later, and stumbled upstairs after Hakkai.
When he returned to the room he and Hakkai were sharing, he found Hakkai trying to coax Jeep out of the closet where he’d apparently huddled in the corner. Hakkai tugged aside a few pieces of clothing to reveal Jeep settled on a little pile of torn newspaper and shredded socks and shirts. He was in the process of tearing apart his newest prize and glared balefully at Hakkai and Gojyo when they intruded.
“You little bastard!” Gojyo exclaimed recognizing pieces of his shirt in the pile. He started to reach in, but Hakkai stopped him. He had a funny look on his face. “What?” Gojyo asked. Hakkai blinked, and then cleared his throat.
“Er,” he began, “It…it looks as though Jeep is building a nest, I think.” Gojyo stared, and turned back to the tiny dragon who was now stuffing bits of sock into various spots on his pile. He had bits of fuzz clinging to his claws. It did sort of look like a nest, but Gojyo wasn’t exactly sure what dragon nests were supposed to look like. That was Hakkai’s area of expertise, not his.
“Why would he build a nest?” Gojyo asked blankly. Hakkai still seemed unreasonably shocked, suggesting to Gojyo that he was missing something here.
Hakkai blinked and reached over to scratch Jeep’s head gently, before saying, “Well. Like most animals, dragons build nests before laying eggs.” Gojyo stared at the dragon again, who was tolerating Hakkai’s attentions as he fussed with the nest. He had thought Jeep was looking kind of plump, but…
“I thought Jeep was a boy!” he yelped, staring at the fat little dragon in realization. Hakkai looked puzzled again.
“So did I, actually,” he admitted. “I…er, checked, of course.” Gojyo blinked.
“So how…?” he trailed off, not entirely sure what he was asking. Hakkai shrugged rather helplessly.
“I really don’t know.” They stared at Jeep silently.
“He’s…er, going to have eggs?” Gojyo asked suspiciously. He was picturing a hoard of miniature Jeeps riding across the desert. He wasn’t sure if the idea was cool or disturbing.
Hakkai was gently attempting to examine Jeep, but whenever he got near Jeep’s slightly rounded belly, Jeep yelped and nipped him, retreating into the safely of his nest. Hakkai sat down on his heels, a slight look of consternation on his face. “It certainly looks like it.”
They stared at Jeep in silence for a few minutes, before a thought popped into Gojyo’s head.
“Who do you think the other…” Gojyo paused to search for the appropriate word, if there was one, “parent is?”
Hakkai looked slightly taken aback. “I hadn’t really thought about it,” he said with some surprise. Gojyo rolled his eyes.
“How do you not think about that? It’s not like dragons grow on trees!” he said. Hakkai considered this.
“It’s true. I really haven’t seen any other dragons at all recently,” he agreed. “That’s rather strange.” He paused to eye Jeep suspiciously. “You’ve been keeping secrets from us, haven’t you?” he scolded. Jeep kyuu’d and fussed with his nest.
Gojyo studied Jeep closely. “Well,” he paused, “when do you think he’s going to…you know…” he stopped, unsure what the exact term for dragon-birth was. Hakkai furrowed his brow.
“Generally, dragons only begin to build their nests when it’s nearly time for them to lay the eggs. So it probably shouldn’t be too long.” He reached over to check Jeep again, and Jeep bit him firmly, looking affronted. Hakkai sighed and withdrew his hand. “Of course, if he would let me examine him, I’m sure I could get a better idea,” he said pointedly, his comment obviously directed at Jeep. He was using the I-mean-business-voice he generally employed when Gojyo and Goku were being difficult, but Jeep appeared unfazed. Hakkai sighed again when Jeep determinedly refused to be moved.
“Well,” he said, “I suppose we should give him some privacy.” He gave Jeep one more light scratch on his head. “We’ll bring you something to eat later,” he informed the dragon before shutting the closet door partway and motioning Gojyo out of the room. “I suppose we should tell the others, too. We may have to stay here for a while.”
~
Goku was thrilled by the happy news, Sanzo was less so. Amusingly, Gojyo noticed that neither of them seemed particularly surprised when Hakkai announced that there would soon be another member or two joining their team. Sanzo just sighed irritably and muttered, “Fantastic, another delay,” and stomped off to the side.
“Jeep’s going to have babies?” Goku asked gleefully.
“Yes,” Hakkai said brightly, “so we’ll need to wait until he has the eggs and they’ve hatched, since he has to keep them warm.” He sent a rather pointed look at Sanzo, clearly displeased by his lack of excitement over his pet’s impending offspring. He was distracted from his ire by Goku querying how Jeep had gotten pregnant, and Gojyo quickly ducked out of the room before he was employed to help explain the miracles of life. Fortunately, he was also spared listening to Hakkai’s explanations.
He and Hakkai checked on Jeep later that evening, but nothing had happened. Hakkai prepared a plate of food and Goku came in to watch, but while Jeep endured their presence patiently, there were no eggs to be seen. Eventually, Goku gave up and returned to his room. Hakkai seemed to be planning to sit up with Jeep, even though he’d admitted that it might be a couple of days until the eggs appeared. Gojyo sat with him for a while, until he got bored with staring at a sleeping dragon and went to bed.
He was woken in the middle of the night by soft kyuuing and Hakkai’s voice murmuring encouragements. He sat up in bed, half awake, and looked over at Hakkai kneeling in front of the open closet. The lights were low, and Gojyo could hear Jeep chirping quietly inside. He staggered off the bed and went over to see.
Hakkai beamed at him when Gojyo reached his side, looking rather like a proud grandfather, in Gojyo’s opinion. He pointed at the cluster of eggs that Jeep was curled around. Gojyo blinked, sleep receding from his mind.
“He really did lay eggs,” he said, in some surprise. He’d believed Hakkai when he’d said Jeep was nesting, but somehow it hadn’t seemed real. Now, seeing the three tiny, leathery eggs resting inside the confines of Jeep’s curled tail, it did. He reached out to touch them, and Hakkai only managed to yank his hand back a split second before Jeep snapped at the air where his fingertips had been.
“Ah,” Hakkai smiled, “Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to be any more open to examination than he was before. I tried.” Gojyo noticed a line of tiny bite marks on Hakkai’s hand and maneuvered his own well away from Jeep’s fangs. He crouched down on the floor next to Hakkai and they peered at the eggs. Jeep looked tired but pleased with himself, and he was gently nudging his eggs and breathing warm air on them every so often.
“So when are these things going to hatch?” he asked, leaning over to examine the eggs. They were a sort of mottled greenish-brown color, slightly larger than a chicken’s egg, but still considerably smaller than he’d expected.
“Mm,” Hakkai murmured thoughtfully. “It’s difficult to say. It could be a few days, perhaps a week. Jeep did very well so far though, didn’t you?” That bit was obviously directed to the satisfied looking dragon. Gojyo grinned and shook his head, leaning forward.
“Three of them, huh?” He checked the eggs again. “Gonna have a lot of little dragons running underfoot, I guess. Hope Jeep’s prepared to be a responsible mom.” Jeep gave Gojyo a somewhat sour look, encouraging Gojyo’s belief that Jeep could understand them very well, or simply didn’t like Gojyo. Gojyo spared a thought to hope that maybe the kids would be a little more cooperative.
Hakkai was still beaming at Jeep, obviously quite proud of the tiny dragon for his efforts at childbirth. Or dragonbirth. Whatever. Gojyo hunched down and he and Hakkai watched Jeep attend to his eggs.
~
Goku didn’t waste any time banging open the door in the morning. “Did Jeep have his eggs yet?” he asked, sounding obnoxiously excited. Gojyo didn’t appreciate his enthusiasm, particularly since it was so early in the morning and he hadn’t exactly gotten a lot of sleep the previous night, due to Jeep’s happy chirping.
“Nnngh,” he mumbled from his spot on the floor where he’d fallen asleep. He groggily opened one eye to watch the monkey scuttle over to the closet. Hakkai was still sitting next to him, already awake. Or maybe still awake. He smiled at Goku’s interruption though, and waved him over.
“Three!” Goku exclaimed and he peered into the nest. “Hey! We could each ride in one!” The thought of not having to share a car anymore was appealing, but Gojyo stopped listening once Hakkai explained to Goku that the dragons would be too tiny to carry passengers for quite some time, and they’d have to learn how to fly and eat and all those sorts of things first. Goku seemed slightly disappointed and he wasn’t the only one.
“Great,” Gojyo muttered, not bothering to pry himself out of his sprawled position on the floor. “We’ll all get roped into babysitting, won’t we?”
Hakkai ignored Gojyo’s sulky tone cheerfully and informed Goku, “Well, they may need a little help for the first while. I’m sure Jeep will be able manage most of it by himself, though, once the babies are older.”
Faced with the prospect of tiny dragons, Goku’s enthusiasm returned. He brightened visibly as he asked Hakkai, “Can I hold them once they hatch? I’ll be careful! I’ll even share my food with them!”
Hakkai chuckled. “Well, I’m sure they’ll appreciate that once they’re here, Goku,” he assured him. Jeep gave Goku what seemed to be an approving look, and looked at Gojyo somewhat snootily, as if to reproach him for his lack of enthusiasm. Gojyo sighed, and dropped his head back onto the floor. There was no reasoning with dragons, really.
Hakkai and Goku spent most of the next few days lingering over the nest, fetching food and water for Jeep, and staring at the eggs. Jeep seemed to enjoy the attention, and preened a little, nudging his eggs into position and rearranging them to his satisfaction whenever they came around. He didn’t appreciate any of them touching him, though. He’d eventually calmed down enough to permit Hakkai a cursory examination of the eggs, but he’d nudged Hakkai’s hands away after a few moments. He outright refused to allow the others to touch his budding offspring though, much to Goku’s disappointment.
As for Sanzo, he’d stayed far away from the nesting dragon, aside for asking Hakkai when he thought they could travel again. When Hakkai had answered that he couldn’t be sure how long it would take, he’d stomped off to the closest bar and parked himself there. Gojyo had followed him, not seeing anything else to do. He wasn’t much more excited about the eggs than Sanzo, but neither of them dared to appear too disgruntled in the face of Hakkai’s overwhelming grandfatherly pride. Some things were just best left alone.
As for Jeep, they were still using male pronouns to refer to him, since they didn’t know what else to use. Hakkai swore up and down that he was certain Jeep was male, that he’d checked and everything. He couldn’t quite explain how Jeep had managed to lay eggs, though. Still, most of them were content not to question it too much, except for Goku. He’d been pressing the others for details about reproduction ever since. Mercifully, Sanzo had told Hakkai (with a certain amount of viciousness) that he was responsible for answering any questions that his pet’s situation created. That was part of the reason Gojyo had stayed downstairs instead of hovering around the eggs with Hakkai and Goku. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to listen to their conversations.
They were lingering in the bar about a week later when Goku bolted in looking terribly excited and started attempting to drag them in the direction of their rooms. “They eggs are hatching!” he cried excitedly. “Come see!” Sanzo swatted at him half-heartedly, but reluctantly got to his feet and followed the monkey, and Gojyo trailed after them.
They found Jeep fluttering excitedly over his eggs, still half-hidden in his closet-nest. Hakkai lingered nearby, but it was immediately apparent that Jeep grew agitated whenever any of them got too close. Hakkai assured them this was normal, though he looked a little disappointed at not being allowed to watch the hatching more closely. Goku was equally dismayed, and eventually ventured so close to the nest that Jeep hissed and snapped at him and Sanzo had to yank him back.
Gojyo peered into the nest, which somehow seemed to have gotten larger in the last few days. He hadn’t seen Jeep move from his spot, and was sure Hakkai would have noticed if he had, but somehow Jeep seemed to have hoarded more material to couch the eggs in. The eggs were currently wobbling slightly, and one was torn slightly. Jeep hovered over that one in particular, cheeping encouragingly, while the four of them craned their necks to try and see better. Gojyo found the idea of them all clustered around a dragon, watching eggs hatch kind of funny but didn’t have a chance to say anything as a small head poked from the opening in the first egg.
Goku and Hakkai immediately exclaimed over the baby dragon, and Jeep’s chirping took on a joyful tone as he helped the baby pick off the remnants of the eggshell. It stretched thin, filmy wings, and blinked, looking around the room. Gojyo had to admit that it was disarmingly cute, even if he had a sneaking feeling it would soon be stealing his things and nipping at his fingers like its…mother? Father? He didn’t have time to ponder the thought as Goku yelped, “Look, there’s another one!”
Sure enough, the second egg was slowly breaking apart, and was eventually torn open by another dragon that seemed to be emerging more messily than its older sibling. It ended up with a large bit of shell clinging to its head, which Jeep gently removed. The two newly hatched dragons pecked at each other experimentally, fluttering their damp wings and extending tiny claws. Jeep nudged them further into the safety of the nest and turned his attention to the final egg, which was wobbling uncertainly, but had yet to break open. It teetered precariously on a bed of shredded sock, falling over onto its side before a tiny foot poked through and managed to break open the shell. After a certain amount of struggle, and some assistance on Jeep’s part, a much-tinier dragon tumbled free.
Jeep kyuu’d contentedly, nipping at his babies happily. Goku cooed over the dragons, which were toddling unsteadily around the nest while Hakkai reached over to pet Jeep, who accepted the touch happily. The tiniest dragon watched its siblings scoot around, hanging beside Jeep warily. Sanzo grunted from beside Gojyo.
“Runt of the litter,” he muttered, but he didn’t look nearly as coarse as he sounded. In fact, he was looking at the dragons as if he found them almost cute. Gojyo couldn’t really blame him (though he made a mental note to hassle him about it later).
Gojyo peered down at the tumbling babies. “So,” he asked, “when do we see what these things can do?”
~
They resumed travel pretty quickly after the hatching. The baby dragons rode in a basket settled between Gojyo and Goku in the backseat. Jeep was a good sport about it, though he did seem to want to stop more frequently so he could check on his offspring. Otherwise, they all settled into the routine of having new passengers riding with them pretty easily. Goku loved playing with them, and naturally Hakkai doted on the babies as much as he did on Jeep. Sanzo was less enthused by them, and he expressed his discontent on a few memorable occasions when the sound of Gojyo and Goku roughhousing in the backseat accompanied by the loud chirps of three excited little dragons proved too much for him. Jeep wouldn’t stand for anyone yelling or shooting around his babies though, and demonstrated that by forcibly ejecting Sanzo from the moving vehicle whenever he got too violent. Eventually, Sanzo seemed to resign himself to suffering with it.
After nearly two weeks, Hakkai announced that the babies were old enough to try flying on their own. They’d all trooped around, watching as Jeep gently nudged them out of their basket where they spent nearly all of their time, and herded them over to the edge of a low-handing precipice. Gojyo couldn’t help but give a little yelp of alarm when Jeep eventually pushed one of them right over the edge, and almost went to try and catch the dragon that was now tumbling through the air. Hakkai stopped him, and they all watched as the baby managed to stretch out his wings and catch a gust of wind and fluttered upward happily.
Encouraged by their sibling’s successful flight, the other two allowed themselves to be tossed into the air, and soon all three were flying, albeit somewhat clumsily. They managed to land too after a few minutes, though with a certain lack of grace. Nevertheless, Hakkai and Goku hurried over to fuss over them and lavish praise on the tiny dragons and Jeep. Even Sanzo didn’t look entirely unaffected by the display. Jeep, meanwhile, fairly beamed with motherly (fatherly? Gojyo still wasn’t sure) pride.
Eventually they all grew used to riding through the desert with three small dragons flying alongside them, and Jeep’s babies became part of the team, too. They were all proud of the dragons as they grew up, and they all hoped all the babies would grow up to be like Jeep.
Especially the transforming-into-a-car thing. Gojyo remembered Goku’s comment about each of them being able to ride in a separate car as he watched as Sanzo shout at Goku for playing too loudly with one of the babies, as another settled itself on top of Hakkai’s head, cheeping happily. The tiniest dragon was busy sneaking cigarettes out of Gojyo’s pocket and nibbling on them. Gojyo leaned against the side of the Jeep and sighed.
Yeah. He hoped they’d learn that trick soon.
trensaddiction posted her awesome Jeep-as-a-parent fic, Small Miracles, that I decided to finish this and post it. (Incidentally, there are some rather hilarious and totally inadvertent similarities between her fic and mine. I guess we imagined mommy!Jeep the same way. *dies*) Um. I'm sorry about this, really. ...At least I'm an equal-opportunity mpreg writer? Not even animals are safe from me! This is unbeta'd (obviously) so there may be some typos.They didn’t really notice when it began. Socks went missing, as did the occasional shirt or newspaper, but that wasn’t unusual. In between inns and bars, in a different town nearly every day, things were bound to get lost. It wasn’t until Gojyo was getting out of the shower one morning and noticed Jeep calmly dragging away one of his socks that he got suspicious.
“Oi,” he said, shifting the towel around his waist so it wouldn’t drop to his feet. “Where are you going with that?”
Jeep gave him a faintly annoyed, almost indignant, look and continued walking off with his sock.
“Hey!” Gojyo said, stumbling after him, while trying to keep a hold on the towel. Sensing pursuit, Jeep took to the air, fluttering out the door and down the hall, the sock waving behind him like a banner. Gojyo followed him all the way downstairs and into the dining room, which was fortunately nearly empty. Hakkai was seated at one of the tables, though, and Jeep made a beeline for him, hiding under Hakkai’s chair.
“Bring that back!” Gojyo demanded, stalking over to the runaway dragon.
“Gojyo,” Hakkai said placidly, “I would prefer if you did not chase Jeep around the inn. If you must do that, please take it outside, and put on some clothes first.”
“He took my sock!” Gojyo snapped, realizing he sounded perhaps a little more annoyed than the situation warranted, but still. It was his sock.
“Well,” Hakkai said, and appeared to consider this. “We’ll get you more, then.”
“I don’t need more,” Gojyo said, frustrated. “I just need my other sock.”
With a long suffering sigh, Hakkai leaned over and attempted to pry Jeep out from under the table.
“Jeep,” he said coaxingly, “Will you please return Gojyo’s sock to him?”
Jeep kyuu’d, a sound of obvious discontent. It also sounded slightly muffled, since he still had half the sock stuffed in his mouth.
“Hakkai,” Gojyo whined. He was cold and slightly wet and almost naked and the girl behind the desk was starting to give him strange looks and he wanted his sock back. Hakkai adjusted his monocle.
“Now, Jeep,” he said in a slightly sterner tone, “It isn’t very polite to take things from other people. I can make you a sock of your own, if you’d like.” Jeep made another sound of disapproval.
“I bet he took my shirt, too,” Gojyo accused. “And remember when Sanzo couldn’t find his newspaper the other day and thought Goku and I had taken it? Maybe he took that too.”
Hakkai ignored him and gave Jeep a patient but firm look. “Jeep,” he instructed. “Please return Gojyo’s sock.”
He reached down to try and pry it from the dragon’s mouth, but Jeep had apparently decided he wasn’t going to give up his prize that easily. He scuttled out from underneath the chair and leapt into the air, attempting escape as he headed up the stairs as fast as his wings could carry him. It wasn’t as fast as usual, Gojyo noted. Jeep had seemed a little slow over the past few days. He was getting a little plump, too, but that was to be expected. He was probably eating all the things he stole, Gojyo thought irritably.
He and Hakkai nearly knocked over several chairs in their attempts to catch Jeep and ended up bolting up the stairs after him as he flew off. Gojyo lagged behind a little, one hand busy trying to keep the towel around his waist where it was, though if the way the desk girl was staring at him was any indication, she wouldn’t have minded catching a glimpse. Gojyo made a mental note to talk with her later, and stumbled upstairs after Hakkai.
When he returned to the room he and Hakkai were sharing, he found Hakkai trying to coax Jeep out of the closet where he’d apparently huddled in the corner. Hakkai tugged aside a few pieces of clothing to reveal Jeep settled on a little pile of torn newspaper and shredded socks and shirts. He was in the process of tearing apart his newest prize and glared balefully at Hakkai and Gojyo when they intruded.
“You little bastard!” Gojyo exclaimed recognizing pieces of his shirt in the pile. He started to reach in, but Hakkai stopped him. He had a funny look on his face. “What?” Gojyo asked. Hakkai blinked, and then cleared his throat.
“Er,” he began, “It…it looks as though Jeep is building a nest, I think.” Gojyo stared, and turned back to the tiny dragon who was now stuffing bits of sock into various spots on his pile. He had bits of fuzz clinging to his claws. It did sort of look like a nest, but Gojyo wasn’t exactly sure what dragon nests were supposed to look like. That was Hakkai’s area of expertise, not his.
“Why would he build a nest?” Gojyo asked blankly. Hakkai still seemed unreasonably shocked, suggesting to Gojyo that he was missing something here.
Hakkai blinked and reached over to scratch Jeep’s head gently, before saying, “Well. Like most animals, dragons build nests before laying eggs.” Gojyo stared at the dragon again, who was tolerating Hakkai’s attentions as he fussed with the nest. He had thought Jeep was looking kind of plump, but…
“I thought Jeep was a boy!” he yelped, staring at the fat little dragon in realization. Hakkai looked puzzled again.
“So did I, actually,” he admitted. “I…er, checked, of course.” Gojyo blinked.
“So how…?” he trailed off, not entirely sure what he was asking. Hakkai shrugged rather helplessly.
“I really don’t know.” They stared at Jeep silently.
“He’s…er, going to have eggs?” Gojyo asked suspiciously. He was picturing a hoard of miniature Jeeps riding across the desert. He wasn’t sure if the idea was cool or disturbing.
Hakkai was gently attempting to examine Jeep, but whenever he got near Jeep’s slightly rounded belly, Jeep yelped and nipped him, retreating into the safely of his nest. Hakkai sat down on his heels, a slight look of consternation on his face. “It certainly looks like it.”
They stared at Jeep in silence for a few minutes, before a thought popped into Gojyo’s head.
“Who do you think the other…” Gojyo paused to search for the appropriate word, if there was one, “parent is?”
Hakkai looked slightly taken aback. “I hadn’t really thought about it,” he said with some surprise. Gojyo rolled his eyes.
“How do you not think about that? It’s not like dragons grow on trees!” he said. Hakkai considered this.
“It’s true. I really haven’t seen any other dragons at all recently,” he agreed. “That’s rather strange.” He paused to eye Jeep suspiciously. “You’ve been keeping secrets from us, haven’t you?” he scolded. Jeep kyuu’d and fussed with his nest.
Gojyo studied Jeep closely. “Well,” he paused, “when do you think he’s going to…you know…” he stopped, unsure what the exact term for dragon-birth was. Hakkai furrowed his brow.
“Generally, dragons only begin to build their nests when it’s nearly time for them to lay the eggs. So it probably shouldn’t be too long.” He reached over to check Jeep again, and Jeep bit him firmly, looking affronted. Hakkai sighed and withdrew his hand. “Of course, if he would let me examine him, I’m sure I could get a better idea,” he said pointedly, his comment obviously directed at Jeep. He was using the I-mean-business-voice he generally employed when Gojyo and Goku were being difficult, but Jeep appeared unfazed. Hakkai sighed again when Jeep determinedly refused to be moved.
“Well,” he said, “I suppose we should give him some privacy.” He gave Jeep one more light scratch on his head. “We’ll bring you something to eat later,” he informed the dragon before shutting the closet door partway and motioning Gojyo out of the room. “I suppose we should tell the others, too. We may have to stay here for a while.”
~
Goku was thrilled by the happy news, Sanzo was less so. Amusingly, Gojyo noticed that neither of them seemed particularly surprised when Hakkai announced that there would soon be another member or two joining their team. Sanzo just sighed irritably and muttered, “Fantastic, another delay,” and stomped off to the side.
“Jeep’s going to have babies?” Goku asked gleefully.
“Yes,” Hakkai said brightly, “so we’ll need to wait until he has the eggs and they’ve hatched, since he has to keep them warm.” He sent a rather pointed look at Sanzo, clearly displeased by his lack of excitement over his pet’s impending offspring. He was distracted from his ire by Goku querying how Jeep had gotten pregnant, and Gojyo quickly ducked out of the room before he was employed to help explain the miracles of life. Fortunately, he was also spared listening to Hakkai’s explanations.
He and Hakkai checked on Jeep later that evening, but nothing had happened. Hakkai prepared a plate of food and Goku came in to watch, but while Jeep endured their presence patiently, there were no eggs to be seen. Eventually, Goku gave up and returned to his room. Hakkai seemed to be planning to sit up with Jeep, even though he’d admitted that it might be a couple of days until the eggs appeared. Gojyo sat with him for a while, until he got bored with staring at a sleeping dragon and went to bed.
He was woken in the middle of the night by soft kyuuing and Hakkai’s voice murmuring encouragements. He sat up in bed, half awake, and looked over at Hakkai kneeling in front of the open closet. The lights were low, and Gojyo could hear Jeep chirping quietly inside. He staggered off the bed and went over to see.
Hakkai beamed at him when Gojyo reached his side, looking rather like a proud grandfather, in Gojyo’s opinion. He pointed at the cluster of eggs that Jeep was curled around. Gojyo blinked, sleep receding from his mind.
“He really did lay eggs,” he said, in some surprise. He’d believed Hakkai when he’d said Jeep was nesting, but somehow it hadn’t seemed real. Now, seeing the three tiny, leathery eggs resting inside the confines of Jeep’s curled tail, it did. He reached out to touch them, and Hakkai only managed to yank his hand back a split second before Jeep snapped at the air where his fingertips had been.
“Ah,” Hakkai smiled, “Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to be any more open to examination than he was before. I tried.” Gojyo noticed a line of tiny bite marks on Hakkai’s hand and maneuvered his own well away from Jeep’s fangs. He crouched down on the floor next to Hakkai and they peered at the eggs. Jeep looked tired but pleased with himself, and he was gently nudging his eggs and breathing warm air on them every so often.
“So when are these things going to hatch?” he asked, leaning over to examine the eggs. They were a sort of mottled greenish-brown color, slightly larger than a chicken’s egg, but still considerably smaller than he’d expected.
“Mm,” Hakkai murmured thoughtfully. “It’s difficult to say. It could be a few days, perhaps a week. Jeep did very well so far though, didn’t you?” That bit was obviously directed to the satisfied looking dragon. Gojyo grinned and shook his head, leaning forward.
“Three of them, huh?” He checked the eggs again. “Gonna have a lot of little dragons running underfoot, I guess. Hope Jeep’s prepared to be a responsible mom.” Jeep gave Gojyo a somewhat sour look, encouraging Gojyo’s belief that Jeep could understand them very well, or simply didn’t like Gojyo. Gojyo spared a thought to hope that maybe the kids would be a little more cooperative.
Hakkai was still beaming at Jeep, obviously quite proud of the tiny dragon for his efforts at childbirth. Or dragonbirth. Whatever. Gojyo hunched down and he and Hakkai watched Jeep attend to his eggs.
~
Goku didn’t waste any time banging open the door in the morning. “Did Jeep have his eggs yet?” he asked, sounding obnoxiously excited. Gojyo didn’t appreciate his enthusiasm, particularly since it was so early in the morning and he hadn’t exactly gotten a lot of sleep the previous night, due to Jeep’s happy chirping.
“Nnngh,” he mumbled from his spot on the floor where he’d fallen asleep. He groggily opened one eye to watch the monkey scuttle over to the closet. Hakkai was still sitting next to him, already awake. Or maybe still awake. He smiled at Goku’s interruption though, and waved him over.
“Three!” Goku exclaimed and he peered into the nest. “Hey! We could each ride in one!” The thought of not having to share a car anymore was appealing, but Gojyo stopped listening once Hakkai explained to Goku that the dragons would be too tiny to carry passengers for quite some time, and they’d have to learn how to fly and eat and all those sorts of things first. Goku seemed slightly disappointed and he wasn’t the only one.
“Great,” Gojyo muttered, not bothering to pry himself out of his sprawled position on the floor. “We’ll all get roped into babysitting, won’t we?”
Hakkai ignored Gojyo’s sulky tone cheerfully and informed Goku, “Well, they may need a little help for the first while. I’m sure Jeep will be able manage most of it by himself, though, once the babies are older.”
Faced with the prospect of tiny dragons, Goku’s enthusiasm returned. He brightened visibly as he asked Hakkai, “Can I hold them once they hatch? I’ll be careful! I’ll even share my food with them!”
Hakkai chuckled. “Well, I’m sure they’ll appreciate that once they’re here, Goku,” he assured him. Jeep gave Goku what seemed to be an approving look, and looked at Gojyo somewhat snootily, as if to reproach him for his lack of enthusiasm. Gojyo sighed, and dropped his head back onto the floor. There was no reasoning with dragons, really.
Hakkai and Goku spent most of the next few days lingering over the nest, fetching food and water for Jeep, and staring at the eggs. Jeep seemed to enjoy the attention, and preened a little, nudging his eggs into position and rearranging them to his satisfaction whenever they came around. He didn’t appreciate any of them touching him, though. He’d eventually calmed down enough to permit Hakkai a cursory examination of the eggs, but he’d nudged Hakkai’s hands away after a few moments. He outright refused to allow the others to touch his budding offspring though, much to Goku’s disappointment.
As for Sanzo, he’d stayed far away from the nesting dragon, aside for asking Hakkai when he thought they could travel again. When Hakkai had answered that he couldn’t be sure how long it would take, he’d stomped off to the closest bar and parked himself there. Gojyo had followed him, not seeing anything else to do. He wasn’t much more excited about the eggs than Sanzo, but neither of them dared to appear too disgruntled in the face of Hakkai’s overwhelming grandfatherly pride. Some things were just best left alone.
As for Jeep, they were still using male pronouns to refer to him, since they didn’t know what else to use. Hakkai swore up and down that he was certain Jeep was male, that he’d checked and everything. He couldn’t quite explain how Jeep had managed to lay eggs, though. Still, most of them were content not to question it too much, except for Goku. He’d been pressing the others for details about reproduction ever since. Mercifully, Sanzo had told Hakkai (with a certain amount of viciousness) that he was responsible for answering any questions that his pet’s situation created. That was part of the reason Gojyo had stayed downstairs instead of hovering around the eggs with Hakkai and Goku. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to listen to their conversations.
They were lingering in the bar about a week later when Goku bolted in looking terribly excited and started attempting to drag them in the direction of their rooms. “They eggs are hatching!” he cried excitedly. “Come see!” Sanzo swatted at him half-heartedly, but reluctantly got to his feet and followed the monkey, and Gojyo trailed after them.
They found Jeep fluttering excitedly over his eggs, still half-hidden in his closet-nest. Hakkai lingered nearby, but it was immediately apparent that Jeep grew agitated whenever any of them got too close. Hakkai assured them this was normal, though he looked a little disappointed at not being allowed to watch the hatching more closely. Goku was equally dismayed, and eventually ventured so close to the nest that Jeep hissed and snapped at him and Sanzo had to yank him back.
Gojyo peered into the nest, which somehow seemed to have gotten larger in the last few days. He hadn’t seen Jeep move from his spot, and was sure Hakkai would have noticed if he had, but somehow Jeep seemed to have hoarded more material to couch the eggs in. The eggs were currently wobbling slightly, and one was torn slightly. Jeep hovered over that one in particular, cheeping encouragingly, while the four of them craned their necks to try and see better. Gojyo found the idea of them all clustered around a dragon, watching eggs hatch kind of funny but didn’t have a chance to say anything as a small head poked from the opening in the first egg.
Goku and Hakkai immediately exclaimed over the baby dragon, and Jeep’s chirping took on a joyful tone as he helped the baby pick off the remnants of the eggshell. It stretched thin, filmy wings, and blinked, looking around the room. Gojyo had to admit that it was disarmingly cute, even if he had a sneaking feeling it would soon be stealing his things and nipping at his fingers like its…mother? Father? He didn’t have time to ponder the thought as Goku yelped, “Look, there’s another one!”
Sure enough, the second egg was slowly breaking apart, and was eventually torn open by another dragon that seemed to be emerging more messily than its older sibling. It ended up with a large bit of shell clinging to its head, which Jeep gently removed. The two newly hatched dragons pecked at each other experimentally, fluttering their damp wings and extending tiny claws. Jeep nudged them further into the safety of the nest and turned his attention to the final egg, which was wobbling uncertainly, but had yet to break open. It teetered precariously on a bed of shredded sock, falling over onto its side before a tiny foot poked through and managed to break open the shell. After a certain amount of struggle, and some assistance on Jeep’s part, a much-tinier dragon tumbled free.
Jeep kyuu’d contentedly, nipping at his babies happily. Goku cooed over the dragons, which were toddling unsteadily around the nest while Hakkai reached over to pet Jeep, who accepted the touch happily. The tiniest dragon watched its siblings scoot around, hanging beside Jeep warily. Sanzo grunted from beside Gojyo.
“Runt of the litter,” he muttered, but he didn’t look nearly as coarse as he sounded. In fact, he was looking at the dragons as if he found them almost cute. Gojyo couldn’t really blame him (though he made a mental note to hassle him about it later).
Gojyo peered down at the tumbling babies. “So,” he asked, “when do we see what these things can do?”
~
They resumed travel pretty quickly after the hatching. The baby dragons rode in a basket settled between Gojyo and Goku in the backseat. Jeep was a good sport about it, though he did seem to want to stop more frequently so he could check on his offspring. Otherwise, they all settled into the routine of having new passengers riding with them pretty easily. Goku loved playing with them, and naturally Hakkai doted on the babies as much as he did on Jeep. Sanzo was less enthused by them, and he expressed his discontent on a few memorable occasions when the sound of Gojyo and Goku roughhousing in the backseat accompanied by the loud chirps of three excited little dragons proved too much for him. Jeep wouldn’t stand for anyone yelling or shooting around his babies though, and demonstrated that by forcibly ejecting Sanzo from the moving vehicle whenever he got too violent. Eventually, Sanzo seemed to resign himself to suffering with it.
After nearly two weeks, Hakkai announced that the babies were old enough to try flying on their own. They’d all trooped around, watching as Jeep gently nudged them out of their basket where they spent nearly all of their time, and herded them over to the edge of a low-handing precipice. Gojyo couldn’t help but give a little yelp of alarm when Jeep eventually pushed one of them right over the edge, and almost went to try and catch the dragon that was now tumbling through the air. Hakkai stopped him, and they all watched as the baby managed to stretch out his wings and catch a gust of wind and fluttered upward happily.
Encouraged by their sibling’s successful flight, the other two allowed themselves to be tossed into the air, and soon all three were flying, albeit somewhat clumsily. They managed to land too after a few minutes, though with a certain lack of grace. Nevertheless, Hakkai and Goku hurried over to fuss over them and lavish praise on the tiny dragons and Jeep. Even Sanzo didn’t look entirely unaffected by the display. Jeep, meanwhile, fairly beamed with motherly (fatherly? Gojyo still wasn’t sure) pride.
Eventually they all grew used to riding through the desert with three small dragons flying alongside them, and Jeep’s babies became part of the team, too. They were all proud of the dragons as they grew up, and they all hoped all the babies would grow up to be like Jeep.
Especially the transforming-into-a-car thing. Gojyo remembered Goku’s comment about each of them being able to ride in a separate car as he watched as Sanzo shout at Goku for playing too loudly with one of the babies, as another settled itself on top of Hakkai’s head, cheeping happily. The tiniest dragon was busy sneaking cigarettes out of Gojyo’s pocket and nibbling on them. Gojyo leaned against the side of the Jeep and sighed.
Yeah. He hoped they’d learn that trick soon.
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Date: 2006-06-05 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 09:11 am (UTC)So kyuu-te :-)
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Date: 2006-06-06 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 04:59 am (UTC)*dies of awesome fluff*
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Date: 2006-06-06 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-27 04:55 am (UTC)it reminds me of the piece when Bike was born
and Sanzo had to do a sanzo thing
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Date: 2007-08-27 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-21 09:29 pm (UTC)Hello... Just wanted to let you know how adorable this fic is. I've started an LJ dedicated to all things Jeep-centric. I hope you don't mind, but I've posted a link to this fic. XD
~ sneaks back out ~
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