BITTERSWEET

CHAPTER 1 / THE SURPRISE

PREVIOUSLY ON ZANE... MEET THE ASHIDA FAMILY...

"W-well... I-I... I'm... I...."
"You're what?"
Nana sighed, "I'm pregnant," she blurted.

"WHAT!?" Zane yelled, and out popped pitch-black meif~wa ears and a tail...

~

NANA'S P.O.V.

"YOU'RE WHAT!?" Zane practically screeched, ignoring the fact that he had two, real meif~wa ears out of his skull and a tail out of his vertebrae. 

"Pregnant..." I mumbled, looking down at the buttered fish and microwave potato chips Zane had made for dinner that night. 

Zane had taken a few deep breaths, which didn't help with his temper, "Nana, you're pregnant?" he asked, stabbing his fork into his buttered fish. I nodded nervously, as Twi came scurrying back to Zane's shoes below the table. He practically scanned me waiting for an answer, but none came. "H-how'd this even happen?" he asked. 

I sighed, shoving some of the food in my mouth, and swallowed. An incoherent response whispered off my tongue.

Zane almost choked, I rolled my eyes, pointing out the obvious. "And that happened... how'd you find out?" he asked.

I sighed, making eye contact with Zane, "You think I didn't suspect myself when I was puking in the toilet the whole time?" I questioned, Zane, shrugged back. "What do you think about all this? Would we even make good parents?"

Zane's rigid stern-looking face, curved up into a smile. "It's amazing!" he exclaimed. 

"Excuse me, what?" I asked.

Zane laughed, pushing back his chair, which made an awful scraping sound, then came around to hug me, "As I said, it's amazing. I've been waiting for something like this, I didn't know how much I wanted something like this. I just... didn't think it would be this sudden..." he explained. But, I was barely listening, I was gazing at his ears and tail, which had just popped up a few seconds before. "Nana? Were you even listening?" he asked.

"Zane... hold still..." I whispered, inching my hand closer to his ears. 

"W-what're you doing?" he quietly asked, I held my left index finger to my lips, and with the right, I touched one of Zane's ears. I touched Zane's meif~wa ears! "H-huh?" He felt his ears and tail also, "O-oh..." he sighed.

"Y-You're a meif~wa?" I asked.

Zane up to the ceiling, "I-I u-um..."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I said impatiently, crossing my arms. 

Zane shook his head. "Enough about me, what about you!? Who's the father?" he asked. I shifted in my seat, pointing in Zane's direction. He then pointed to himself, and I nodded. "How far along are you...?"

I smiled, "Almost 4 weeks..." 

Zane's nose flared, "FOUR WEEKS!? And you didn't think to tell me!?" 

I bit my bottom lip, looking down to the ground, "No... I-I didn't know what I wanted... that's why I now told you..." I managed to say, tears falling down my cheeks. Zane relaxed slightly, bringing me in for another hug. 

"I-I'm sorry..." he whispered, "So, when should we know the gender?" he asked, with a smile on his face. 

"In two months," I answered, holding up two fingers. 

"That's great!" 

I smirked gently, "What would you want it to be?"

He shrugged, "Anything, as long as the baby's healthy."

"Oh, it's healthy all right," I answered rolling my eyes. "I had an appointment last week, the baby is alive, but measuring larger than it should be for now. But, it's your baby," I explained, twiddling my thumbs. I looked at my boyfriend again, "So... those meif~wa features... how'd you even get them?" I asked.

"I-I um... I was uh- born with them..." he answered. 

"Mm-kay, so Zane..."

"Yes?" he said quickly.

"Uhm... okay... What do you think of this situation?" I asked, "What did you want?"

He shrugged, "This is kind of where I thought my life would lead to. At least it's what I thought when I was eleven. When I was fifteen I had different plans, I would travel the world, as a criminal away from my family. Now, I can't imagine a world without them, and that includes you, Nana. And you," he said, placing his hand on my stomach. 

I giggled, "What was your eleven-year-old-self life plan?" I asked.

"Have a wife, a few children, a good business all around the age of thirty," he stated.

"And you're almost thirty, how about that?" I said, he shook his head, smiling. 

"Sounds about right." 

I took a closer look at his ears, but attention to them. He seemed to be comfortable with leaving them out. These ears didn't seem like birthed ears like normal meif~wa ears. Don't ask how I could tell, but Zane wasn't born a meif~wa, I knew he wasn't, his birth certificate says otherwise. And with my primos powers, I felt a different aura coming from Zane with his ears and tail out. I almost couldn't explain it, it was... just weird.

They were a perfect pitch-black, grown out of a human skull, over the years, the bones got used to the new features. The vertebrae and structure adjust to the tail of the meif~wa. 

But one thing sunk in with me as if I was the one who turned Zane. What if I did as a careless, naive little kid? I buried my head in my hands and began crying. Zane practically jumped out of his seat and rushed over to me. 

"N-Nana, are you okay?" he asked.

I shook my head in my hands. "No, I'm not all right," I mumbled.

"Care to explain?" he asked.

"I-I need some answers." 

He lifted my chin, looking into my eyes, "About?"

"About you... Zane, I know you're lying about your ears..." I said, as his eyes widened and dropped his arm from under my chin. 

"I-I d-don't know what to say about that..." he mumbled, putting his hand behind his neck.

"Zane... tell me." 

Word Count: 964 

Not so sure how I feel about this chapter, but it's the start of the newest book. But, despite that, I hope you enjoyed! Later my amazing koalas. :3