Hakusho: Parenthood

Chapter 7: O stands for Open-Mindedness

December 20, 2002

Kazuma rested on the sofa next to  Yukina while carefully holding the newborn in his arms. With the help of Koenma, they were able to get the assistance of a psychic doctor to help with the birth of their child (they wanted to ask Keiko, but they didn't want to risk endangering her if the newborn really was as dangerous as other Forbidden Children). Demons were yet to be a norm in Human World, so they didn't want to risk taking Yukina to a normal hospital.

They made the right choice.

Burgundy eyes glared at everything and everyone in the room with an awareness that human newborns should never have. He ran his hand over the infant's head, flattening their tuft of aquamarine hair. The newborn irritably gurgled and a lilac glow of energy outlined their tiny body temporarily before dispersing. They were entirely wrapped in a blanket covered in "demon-friendly" talisman that prevented them from using their ice powers. Before they could try again, Kazuma gave them Yukina's tear gem to calm them down.

Kazuma was expecting high levels of spirit and demon energy from his child. Before they decided to have a baby, Yukina warned him about Forbidden Children, about their tempers and their high amounts of ki at a young age. He was and still is prepared for it. And he thought he would be prepared for what was to come when Yukina voiced her concerns about crying a single tear gem instead of two during her pregnancy. Kazuma suggested to her that maybe children born from an Ice Maiden and an outside party didn't necessarily have to be twins. He said that as a way of comforting her, but he felt a tiny bit worried himself.

Then when his child was born last night, well...it wasn't anything he expected. There was no dead twin, life-threatening disease, or defect. There was nothing wrong with their newborn, which was great, but now...he has a lot of questions. Back when he was much more immature, he probably would've overreacted to this turn of events, but now, as an adult and father, all he wants to do is preserve the happiness of the child created by him and the love of his life.

But he doesn't know how to start.

He never even knew intersexuality was a thing until the birth of his child.

When he saw their ambiguous genitalia, he was dumbstruck. He didn't know how to react. Then his confusion switched to overprotectiveness when the doctor appointed by Koenma recommended surgery to assign them a specific gender. "Wha—Hell no!", was what he shouted at the doctor. Something in his gut told him that doing that would be unethical, especially in regards to his child's emotional and physical health. Getting a part of an infant's body surgically removed when it wasn't hazardous to their health and when they were unable to give consent made him feel uncomfortable. What if they didn't like the gender they were forced in? What if they wanted to leave their genitalia as is? He'd rather not do anything that could potentially hurt his flesh and blood.

That wasn't the Kuwabara way.

Kazuma peered at the intersex infant. They were squinting at the gem they were holding in their tiny hands, a gleam of adoration in their eyes. He softly smiled at them. Really, there was only one problem in regards to his child and that had to do with—

"Aoi?" Yukina suddenly announced. Her ruby eyes sparkled with hope as she looked at her child.

The infant grunted.

Yukina sighed in disappointment and flipped to another page on the book of baby names.

"Oh! Oh! What about Mitsuru?" Botan suggested, raising her hand as if she were in a classroom.

Again, the infant grunted.

Botan deflated in an instant and slumped back down on the sofa across the interspecies couple. "D'awe...and I thought that was a pretty good name too..."