It had been a few months after Rimuru headed out to instruct Shizu's students. He kept in contact with the kijin who could use [Thought Communication] and regularly received reports. To his great relief, neither Shion nor Kumiko and Souei had poisoned or demolished the town, respectively. However, the three were for sure driving Benimaru up a wall. Benimaru, the General who was placed in charge of the Kijin by Rimuru, felt like he wanted to quit as the official leader of the Kijin. Mainly, as the leader of Souei and Kumiko and as the supervisor of Shion's cooking. The latter could speak for itself, but the former...
The Kijin couple, after their marriage, had been closer than ever. The two were stuck at the hip and even scouted together now. They fought like normal, but immediately after the fighting started, it would end just as suddenly as it started since Souei would begin fretting or Kumiko would burst into tears.
Why? Because Kumiko was pregnant.
Benimaru couldn't believe it when he first heard. Apparently, they had gone and conceived the child within the first few days after their wedding. The rest of the Kijin teased them for days on end after they found out a couple weeks later and claimed that their wishes for baby Kijin were just jokes.
Kumiko stomach was no longer flat as her baby bump was showing now, and the females of the village were overjoyed to see a pregnant Kumiko wandering around with Souei in tow. Souei, being the sort of awkward Kijin father he was, simply couldn't leave her alone at any second out of fear something would happen to put both her and their unborn child in danger. Shion and Shuna, who stuck by Kumiko a lot, indulged themselves in scenes of a wilting Souei and Kumiko scolded him for thinking she was helpless. The blue Kijin couldn't even begin to think about arguing back against his wife since he knew she was perfectly capable of protecting herself, but he could't help it and still worried.
Months continued to pass and Kumiko's small baby bump grew until she was forced to waddle around. Souei banned her from scouting and resorted to sending his doubles out while he stayed with her to ensure that she didn't wander off on her own. The rest of the females were eagerly on standby to help Kumiko with whatever she needed. Since monsters generally had a long lifespan, very few females were pregnant and most weren't even looking actively for a partner or childbirth; they just let feelings come when feelings came. So, essentially, the entire village catered to the pregnant Kumiko.
"I'm fine, Souei," Kumiko sighed as he flitted around her and stuffed pillows around her as she sat on the bed. Her scythe aws resting against the back wall, and much to Kumiko's dismay, had been collecting dust and cobwebs since her pregnancy had made it difficult for her to scout with Souei. "My back is killing me, but placing a pillow under my arm isn't going to do anything."
Sure enough, Souei had formed a throne of pillows for his wife. The white, fluffy mass of cloth almost buried Kumiko as it toppled over. She pushed the pillows off of her and reached both her arms out to Souei.
"Help me up, dear. I want to exercise."
"Kumiko, love. You're pregnant and you can barely even walk. Why in the world do you think you can exercise right now?" Souei immediately regretted his words as Kumiko turned to glare at him.
"So I'm helpless because I'm pregnant? I can waddle just fine. Just watch me." She struggled a bit, shifting side to side as she tried to shuffle her way to the end of the bed. It was to no avail since her stomach was horribly large and made it so difficult for her. As she realized that she was having trouble, the female burst into tears.
"I can't do anything!" She wailed as Souei quickly reached over to help her to the edge of the bed before wrapping her in a hug to calm her down. "I'm so fat now that I can't even get off this bed. What is the point of even walking when I can't even get rid of this fat no matter how much I walk?"
"Love, you aren't fat. You're carrying our child," Souei said reassuringly as he smoothed out her hair. Her head was resting against his stomach, but it was turned slightly to the left so that her horns didn't stab the blue kijin.
"Did you just call our child fat?" Kumiko asked incredulously as her tears immediately stopped. She lifted her head and glared at her husband, wrapping her arms protectively around her stomach. "How dare you call our unborn baby fat?!"
Souei sighed, since this was a common scene. Combined with her lack of emotional control from suppressing it for years, her hormones were making it worse and her moods swung back and forth like waves in the ocean. Gently, Souei unwrapped his arms from around her and supported her as he pulled her up.
"Let's go for that walk you wanted, love," he said with a loving smile. Kumiko immediately brightened and nodded. Without another tear, she began to waddle her way to the door with Souei trailing closely behind.
As the married couple exited their home, the two were greeted with eager goblins and orcs as they wandered around doing their job. Kumiko smiled nicely and waved back at them as she slowly made her way through the village. Souei was less open to the village and still mostly kept a stoic face when out and about, but greeted the townsfolk nonetheless after Kumiko had scolded him for ignoring their heartfelt comments.
After walking aimlessly for a few minutes while mindlessly bickering with her husband, Kumiko turned and headed towards Shuna's workshop. Kumiko had become a regular visitor to the building and Shuna liked to rub it into Shion's face that Kumiko seemed to like the workshop rather than the main hall where Shion tended to hang around a lot. Souei followed until Shuna met the two outside the door. Giving her a short kiss, Souei told her to call for him once she was ready to go back home and then proceeded to disappear via [Spacial Travel] to find Benimaru. Shuna quickly reached out a hand to help Kumiko into the building after Souei disappeared.
"How's the pregnancy?" Shuna asked as she guided Kumiko over to one of the tables in her workshop. She helped the pregnant Kijin down into the seat before bringing two glasses of cold water to the table.
"It's pregnant," Kumiko said bluntly as she took a gulp of the water. "I didn't know pregnancy would be this hard. I can't even walk normally unless I want to feel all sorts of balance issues."
"I'm sure your children will appreciate all the struggles you've been going through for them," Shuna giggled as Kumiko pouted.
"They better." Kumiko smiled as she rested a gentle hand on her stomach.
"So, does Souei know yet?" Shuna asked after a moment of silence. Kumiko shook her head and smirked.
"As long as Benimaru doesn't spill the beans, he won't know until I give birth."
"When are you due, again?" Shion asked immediately as she popped into the workshop and made her way to the two female kijin.
"Any day now. But hopefully soon. Souei keeps preventing me from going out to scout. I'm bored at home," Kumiko complained slightly. Shuna and Shion giggled quietly at the pregnant female.
"Well, you're pregnant, Kumiko. It's only natural for him to be so worried. After all, he's just protecting his wife and baby." Shion paused, then corrected herself with a gleeful smile. "Ah, that's right. Babies. You have twins after all."
~~~
Souei had managed to find Benimaru who was in the process of having Kaijin build a waste disposal bin strictly for Shion's horrifying concoctions. Aside from the kitchen they had to remodel after she had somehow melted both the counter and the stove, they had to make her special tools that wouldn't dissolve. Now, they were making her a disposal can so that her concoctions won't burn through the floor of the building.
"Souei," Benimaru greeted as the blue kijin appeared right beside him. "How's the wife and baby today?"
"Emotional," Souei said with a sigh as he relaxed slightly. Toward the townspeople, Souei was still a bit reserved, so he couldn't help but keep forward a stoic facade. With Benimaru, he was free to relax a bit more at least. "I didn't know that Kumiko would get so big during pregnancy. She cried this morning because she couldn't get off the bed by herself."
"Careful not to let her hear you say that," Benimaru warned the blue kijin with a small laugh. "She's going to think that you're calling her fat again." Souei winced at the memory. At the start of Kumiko's pregnancy when she started to grow her baby bump, Souei had made a similar comment with the intent of saying that the baby was growing well. However, she took it the wrong way and burst into tears, immediately disappearing using her [Spacial Travel] and crying to Shion and Shuna. Benimaru had to mediate between the two since Kumiko was too emotional to listen to the blue kijin's awkward explanation and apology.
"We will have to call Rimuru-Sama back to name the baby, won't we?" Souei asked rhetorically as he leaned against a nearby table.
"Babies," Benimaru corrected under his breath.
"Hm?" Souei hummed in question. Thankfully for Benimaru, he didn't seem to have heard what Benimaru said.
"Nothing, nothing," Benimaru quickly brushed off before changing the subject before Souei began to suspect anything. "So what was the most pointless argument Kumiko and you came up with today?"
"She said that she looked better pregnant than I would," Souei replied flatly. Benimaru burst out laughing.
"How could you even get pregnant?!" he asked through his tears of amusement.
"That's what I asked?!" Souei said incredulously as he crossed his arms. "She started off on a rant about why the females had to go through the pain of childbirth and so I appeased her and then began the argument of if I were hypothetically pregnant, who would look better."
"And who won?" Benimaru asked as he calmed down enough to form a complete sentence without pausing for another fit of laughter. Souei looked over at Benimaru triumphantly.
"I did."
~~~
A few days passed and Kumiko had began her endless chatter to her own stomach, begging the children to hurry up and come out. Souei found it especially amusing in the mornings as she would have to check the toilet after she used it to make sure she wasn't about to flush a baby down. Thankfully, Kumiko had somehow seemed to manage to coax her babies out since she had begun to feel the contractions just a few days after she began begging them to hurry.
"This isn't fair that you don't have to push a baby out of you!" Kumiko complained in the midst of her pain as Souei could do nothing but hold her hand. A female goblin was the acting midwife and was calmly instructing Kumiko on how to prepare to push the baby out.
"I swear these twin spawns of mine better be grateful that I'm tearing myself open to birth them." Kumiko screamed a bit as the painful contractions came back.
"Twin Spawn? As in... plural?" Souei repeated. He wasn't sure when he had heard Benimaru whisper that Kumiko was pregnant with more than just one baby. He didn't believe it so he brushed it off. However, Kumiko definitely said that there were two babies.
"Is that all you heard? Not that your wife is being torn apart from this birth?" Kumiko glared at him as she tightened her grip on his hand.
"Sorry, love," Souei quickly apologized as he squeezed her hand lightly to reassure her. "But I was just surprised. Are we having twins? Are you sure?"
"I know how many babies I'm pushing out of me, Souei," Kumiko's face contorted in pain as another contraction hit her. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, while Souei gently circled his thumb on the back of her hand. "Yes, we're having twins. Tell Rimuru-sama to prepare two names."
"I see the head!" the midwife announced as she quickly grabbed a few other goblins nearby. "Get ready to push, Kumiko-dono!"
~~~
It was a long birth, over five hours to get both the twins out since Souei had brought Kumiko to the goblins. By the fourth hour, Rimuru had arrived and was waiting outside with the rest of the village. Right when he arrived, Souei had apparently just found out that Kumiko was carrying twins and had frantically used [Thought Communication] to tell Rimuru. Out of pity, Rimuru feigned shock though in reality he already knew to prepare two names.
At the end of the fifth hour, two crying babies were heard and everyone cheered outside for the newborns. Even the small children huddled at the front of the crowd excitedly watched the doors of the makeshift medical building. After a few minutes where the only sound that pierced the air was the crying of the twins, Souei came out pushing the weakened Kumiko in a wheelchair that Rimuru had made. Resting in each of Kumiko's arms, two small babies wrapped in white blankets rested quietly.
The twins were hornless, to which Rimuru had wondered if that was for the protection of the mother. One first-born twin, the male, had dark blue hair, darker than Souei's hair, and bright golden eyes. His younger sister had midnight black hair, like her mother, but she had heterochromia; her left eye was a bright blue and her right eye was a beautiful gold. She barely opened her eyes to glance around before closing them again and snuggling into her mother. The boy on the other hand, seemed to be fairly energetic and reached his small hands up and around in the air.
"Congratulations on your twins," Rimuru said as he approached the family. "The students have been wanting to see your babies as well."
"Thank you, Rimuru-sama," Kumiko replied as she smiled happily at her babies.
"Wait, Rimuru-sama, you knew she was carrying twins?" Souei said in shock. He glanced down at his wife with a slightly accusing glare and she only returned it with an innocent smile.
Was I the only one who was not told? Souei asked her via [Thought Communication].
It was a nice surprise, no? Kumiko replied as she shifted slightly to allow Rimuru to take the older twin out of her arms. Souei couldn't say anything because indeed it was a happy surprise, so he didn't exactly mind it.
"You will be Ohta," Rimuru said to the small baby. Because Ohta was just a baby and the fact that both his parents were Kijin, Rimuru barely felt any magicules leave him as Ohta only needed just a bit more to evolve to a Kijin. Once the quick evolution was completed, Rimuru handed Ohta back to Souei, who cradled the baby gently. Kumiko handed him the second baby.
"You will be Sena," Rimuru said as he gently poked her soft cheek. Similar with Ohta, Sena only needed just a few magicules to evolve. She opened her different-colored eyes, gazing up at Rimuru before she whined a bit. Rimuru, panicked that he made her cry, quickly handed her back to Kumiko and took the baby and soothed her.
As Rimuru finished naming the two babies, the rest of the village surged forward, albeit quietly to not scare the infants, and crowded around the newborns while cooing at how adorable they were. They gave the Kijin couple their congratulations and after a few minutes, scattered to allow the new family to return home to rest.
~~~
As the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years, the two kijin twins grew up quickly and easily became the talk of the town. With two talented and powerful parents, it was no surprise that the twins were forces to be reckoned with as soon as they began toddling around. Their horns had begun growing in and, to Kumiko's surprise, both twins had her horns. They curved from the side of their head and pointed towards, parallel to the ground. She sighed as she began planning how to teach them to not tear through sheets and pillows with their horns. She knew from experience that it was a huge pain to wake up with stripes of cloth instead of an actual sheet.
The two toddler kijin were loved by the entire village and Kumiko and Souei both brought them out often. The other children in the village especially loved to play with the two joyful toddlers, though games like hide-and-seek couldn't be played because the toddlers had already learned how to completely disappear from everyone but their parents and Rimuru.
Kumiko, after the birth of the twins, had easily managed to work off the baby weight and easily slipped back into scouting with Souei. When both of them were out, the twins were left to Shion and Shuna, and sometimes Benimaru if he wasn't too busy. The three Kijin were the twins' godparents, not that any of them expected anything to happen to Kumiko and Souei. After all, the two who had fought the orc army and taken down an entire legion of orcs in the tunnels wouldn't be easily defeated. Hence, sometimes when the twins were fussy and refused to separate with their parents, Kumiko and Souei had decided that the town was safe enough to take the twins when scouting. It was safe to say that the twins were going to take after their parents' stealth.
The two married Kijin appeared to never have left their honeymoon phase as they were as loving as ever. They hadn't had anymore children yet, much to Kumiko's relief, and weren't apparently planning to have more children for the time being. After all, monsters did live for a significant amount of time. Kumiko and Souei would have plenty of time for more children in the future. Aside from that, they continued their pointless bickering, this time including random topics such as what color clothing the twins would look better in. Of course, they never actually fought seriously and it was nothing more than playful banter.
Time flew by and the twins continued to grow steadily. Despite their young age, they had skills that normal ogre children would only dream of. But when their parents were two of the most powerful monsters in the entire town, it only made sense that the twins also were talented. As a gift for the twins growing up well, Myrd had built the small family a new house where the children could grow.
"Ohta," Kumiko called as she pulled the small kijin boy into her arms. Ohta flailed slightly as he pouted when his mother took a cloth to his horns.
"Mother~" he whined as he bat her hands away. She clicked her tongue slightly as he tried to wave her off.
"Ohta, you can't go around with a dirty horn," Kumiko scolded as she handed him his pancake breakfast. Without another complaint, Ohta began eating the food while his mother cleaned his horn. "How did you get your horn this dirty anyways when you just woke up?"
"I tried to cover it with a cup of clay so I didn't tear my sheets again," Ohta admitted as he swallowed the last bite of his food. The twins had been thankful that for their sake, their mother had learned to cook all sorts of food. Otherwise, they risked the horrifying experience of being sat in front of one of Shion's creations. Kumiko sighed and finished cleaning his horn off.
"Eventually, you will get used to sleeping without rolling and dragging your horn across your sheets. The sheets can be replaced, so don't worry too much about it," she reassured the small kijin. He had been tearing his sheets more often as he rolled around in bed at night, so he clearly felt bad. He nodded and wrapped his small arms around his mother, who snuggled him in.
"What are you two up to?" Souei asked as he emerged with Sena in his arms, rubbing her eyes slightly as she just woke up. Souei set Sena down at the chair and served her a plate of pancakes before making his way to Kumiko and giving her a kiss. Ohta and Sena both scrunched their faces.
"Ew. Mother and Father are kissing," the two complained in unison. Souei and Kumiko looked to their children and laughed lightly. To spite their own children, Souei leaned down and kissed Kumiko one more time, albeit just a quick kiss, before childishly smirking at his children.
"Your mother's kisses are mine," he boasted as he sat down next to Kumiko.
"What, mother! I want a kiss too!" Ohta complained from her arms. She laughed and leaned down, kissing Ohta's cheek.
"Me too!" Sena came running over, crowding in Kumiko's arms with Ohta as the older female Kijin laughed and gave Sena a kiss on the cheek as well.
"I feel so loved," Souei said sarcastically as he sat empty handed beside them.
"Father already got his kiss," Ohta said as he stuck his tongue out at Souei. Sena looked at her brother before copying his actions and taunting her father. Souei jokingly lunged towards his twin children, to which the squealed happily and disappeared in a streak of black. They had easily picked up [Spacial Travel], even at their young age. Souei disappeared, following after his children, before reappearing, giving Kumiko another kiss, and then disappearing a second time. Meanwhile, Kumiko remained seated, shaking her head in amusement as the rest of her family disappeared and shrieks of laughter could be heard from Sena as Souei caught up to them.
This was her family now. Years ago, if someone had told her that she would be sitting here smiling with a family of her own, she would've called them cruel for taunting her with an unreachable dream. Now, she couldn't see herself anywhere but here in this moment with her love and children.