Too Close to home
Rocky Oberlin

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronin Warriors.

Author Note: The day I wrote this was the day I came to work and found a stillborn baby had been born just before my shift. As a nurse aide, I helped get the baby ready for the funeral director and I had to help out with the other babies. I offer my sympathy to all who have had stillborn babies; I know my sadness doesn't cover a portion of what the mothers have, but I still am saddened.

Everyone was excited when Mia declared that she was going to have a baby. Even the ex-Warlords got on the bandwagon and helped out. Or offered to. Kayura was the only one out of the four that was really of any help. The Ronins were of greater use then the ex-Warlords were. So when Mia went into labor almost everyone was a basket case from the drive to the hospital to getting Mia registered at the desk.
The only ones that were allowed in Mia's room while she was laboring were Kayura, Cye, and, surprisingly, Ryo; Kento took one look at Mia laboring and went green around the gills, Rowen just plain didn't go in, Sage wasn't trusted around the nurses, and the ex-Warlords for obvious reasons. Everyone acted like the father of the baby while Kayura, Cye, and Ryo coached Mia through the long labor. Some of the things Mia said were a surprise, but certain people thought that she would be saying worse, according to television. Everything seemed to be going fine.
That was until Cye and Ryo came out of the room holding Kayura up. What was even more shocking was that she was crying. No one had ever seen Kayura crying in their memory, but here she was, tears streaming down her face and holding onto Cye like a lifeline. Questions rose in the echoing halls, but the three didn't answer any of them.
The answer came when the delivery nurse came and told them that they could go in now. Kayura said that she couldn't go back in and Cye stayed with her. Ryo went back into the room and headed straight to Mia. She was sitting up in her bed holding a bundle of blankets, but she was sobbing uncontrollably. Ryo took the red-haired woman in his arms and offered all the comfort he could give. The others learned from a whispered conversation with the midwife that the baby had been stillborn.
The death of a baby before it even had a chance to live brought home a concept that didn't seem to have mattered during the Dynasty Wars. Death. They had come close so many times, but managed to skirt away at the last second. But here in a place that should have rung with the cries of a newborn baby, there were only the harsh tears of a strange family over the loss of the expected addition.
"I'm sorry doesn't seem enough, but that is all I can give other then a shoulder and an ear," the nurse was saying. She gave a sad smile and left the room until Mia was done holding her child. Then the papers would be filled out and a Hoping Pack (booklets about stillborn babies, a quilt, a baby cap, and pictures of the baby in the cap and a gown) would be made up for the mother and father of the baby. Mia just nodded her head and continued to rock her dead baby while silent tears fell from her eyes. Ryo still had his arms wrapped around the two and joined the woman in her grief.
Each armor bearer offered their support before leaving the small family to mourn the loss of their first child before leaving the room.
And in the corner of the room an eighteen-year-old looking girl in nurse's scrubs held a baby in her arms. "You will see her again, Mia. Until then, I also give my sympathy." She quietly faded from the room with the soul of the stillborn baby to go on to eternity.