A young Sango ran through the grass, zigging and zagging from flower to flower. She barely had time to pick one before another would catch her eye, and then she'd be off again, running to pick it before its beauty faded away.

Her mother sat on a low bench outside their house. She was watching instead of picking, Sango knew, because she was going to have a baby. Sango wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but she supposed she would find out. Her aunt had just been over a few days ago, and she had said that it would happen soon.

Sango looked back at her mother. She knew her mother liked flowers, and she wanted her to have the best ones of all. She could already imagine giving her mother the large bouquet of flowers she planned to pick, and how her mother would smile and laugh and place the flowers in a bowl of water to keep them fresh. She happily resumed picking.

Sango's mother gasped suddenly, half rose, then crumpled to her knees.

"Mama!" The young Sango ran to her mother, flowers forgotten. "What's wrong?"

"Sango." Her mother spoke calmly, despite the sweat beading on her face and the intense pain in her midsection. "Get your aunt and bring her here. Then get your father from the field."

"Yes, Mama!" Sango was only five, but she knew what was happening. This must be the baby. She started to run to the house of her father's sister.

"Sango!"

Sango stopped and turned.

"Yes, Mama?"

Her mother stared at her for a long moment. "Know that I love you very much, Sango."

"Mama?" Sango took a step towards her mother, but the woman waved her off.

"Go now. Be quick."

Sango turned heel and ran away. Her mother sank lower. This was it.


Sango sat outside the hut with her father. He had his arm around her, holding her tightly, securely. She snuggled deeper into his side as her mother's screams rang out. Her father's arm twitched.

"Did Mama scream this much when she gave birth to me?" she asked, looking up at him.

Her father met her gaze. He seemed to contemplate something. "No," he said finally. He said it quietly, but there was a decisiveness about it.

"Oh." Sango shook her head and squirmed so her father's arm was against her ear, muffling the screaming a bit. She could feel that his muscles were completely tense. Something felt off, but her mother was going to be fine. She was a mother, after all, and mothers were always fine. Weren't they?

Her aunt pulled the curtain aside. "Hirokatsu," she said, "you'd best come quickly. It's a boy, but… it's happening."

Sango felt her father's arm fall away as he stood. As she sat on the ground, watching him walk away, the off feeling surged back. She almost called out, but he had entered the house and the flap had already fallen back down. She was alone.

Her aunt disappeared, but came back a moment later. "Sango, dear, your mother wants to see you."

Sango followed her aunt into the hut. It was dim. Through the filtered light, she could see her mother lying down in the middle to the room. Her father was bent over her, holding a bundle. Sango ran over and knelt at her mother's side.

"Sango…" her mother's voice was breathy, and she sounded like each word was being pushed out from deep in her stomach. "…see your new brother…"

Her father tilted the bundle, showing Sango the tiny baby wrapped up in it. His little face was cute, but Sango was too confused to pay much attention.

"Mama, what's happening? What's wrong?" Tears pricked Sango's tiny eyes as she looked at her mother. Her hair was spread out behind her, and the two shorter side pieces fell like two tiny, symmetrical fans above her shoulders. Her face was pale.

Instead of answering, her mother tried to reach out a hand to brush Sango's face, but it quivered and fell short in the air. Sango grabbed the hand and brought it to cup her own cheek. She pressed her face into her mother's hand.

"Sango…" her mother's voice was the only sound in the hut. Sango's aunt stood in the corner, head bowed silently.

"You have to promise me… be a good girl. Look after your brother… you're his big sister… you have to protect him."

"But you have to do all that, Mama." A few tears rolled down Sango's cheek and wet her mother's hand. The flowers in her grasp began to get sweaty as her palms rubbed off on them.

But her mother's gaze had slid to her father. "Hirokatsu…."

Sango's father grabbed his wife's other hand, so that she almost seemed suspended, held up by her hands.

"Jin, I…" he began, but his voice broke.

"It's all right…" Sango's mother whispered. "…I love you... I'm sorry to leave you…"

"Jin, please… don't…."

"You'll be able to do it… You've always been so strong, Hirokatsu…."

"Mama!" Sango cried, terrified. "What's happening?"

Her mother looked back at her. "I love you, my girl…. You'll be a good sister…."

"Mama!"

But her mother's gaze had slid away and now rested on the ceiling. She looked up, but it seemed her eyes were fixed past the roof.

"I love you both… you three… be good to each other…"

Sango's mother drew in a sharp breath, then let it out in a slow exhale. Sango felt the hand on her cheek, once holding her in a gentle caress, go limp. Her father clutched at the hand he was holding.

"Mama!"

Sango involuntarily let go of her mother's hand. It fell for what seemed like an eternity, hitting her shoulder on its way down, finally landing on her lap.

Sango sat stunned, too confused and hurt to move. Across her mother's body, her father also let go of the hand he was holding and covered his face, shaking silently.

"Mama?" The name, sounding more like a question than before, wobbled in the air before falling.

No one answered. Her aunt came silently over and lifted the baby from her father's arms. As soon as his sister took the infant, all his fight seemed to go out of him, and he collapsed next to his wife. Sango struggled to her feet and ran to her father.

The flowers, which she had kept a tight hold on, even then, slipped from her fist and fell to the floor.


AN: Well, that's chapter one! I'm putting up this one and the next one together so I can get the whole mom-death-thing over with, and start with the sibling bonding time. I'll try to update every week or so. I have at least five parts planned, but if I think of any more I'll write them up too. I hope you enjoyed this one so far, and rest assured that this is pretty much as dark as it gets!

(Disclaimer, for this and all following chapters: I'm sure this is 115% obvious, but these are not my characters! I only write about them for fun.)