Prequel
November
27th, the year doesn't matter. It was a very closed November
afternoon, and the sky was dark, announcing storm. Rikai was pregnant
with her last child. She had been preparing the meal for her husband
and her eldest kids, when intense birth pains forced her to halt her
activity. Her instinct was not different from any other woman
in the world. She went out to look for her husband, busy carrying
wood, but stopped, curled, under a tree. Pain was running all over
her body. Being a trained ninja, Rikai stood up just barely, only to
sit down again, her body against the tree. Suddenly, the sky
opened, a lightning hit the tree. Rikai felt the full blast of the
impact, nonetheless and ignoring her shock and utter suffering, her
mind was set on the child. She started to cry out loud in fear. Her
husband, another ninja called Hayai, heard her and ran towards the
tree, only to find his wife in terrible conditions. Smoke was
surrounding the woman, curled like a porcupine, protecting her baby
with her arms twined over her womb. But her heart was beating, if
barely, and the baby was striking her womb, clearly shocked but alive
as well. Everyone in their clan feared she'd miscarry, but
Rikai refused any of that talk. A month and a week later, soon after the
last firework in Konoha had died, a scream and a cry tore New Year's
greetings. ------------------------------- "Another
male, otou-san! He seems to be just fine!" A
squirming, loud-shouting baby boy passed from Masaru, older brother,
to Hayai, his father. The child looked just like his father: black
tufts of hair, narrow eyes, round nose, and the eyebrows Hayai was so
proud of. Another round of celebration welcomed
the new addition to the family, while his father proudly showed him
to his relatives, and his mother slept a deserved nap. In the
middle of a party.
"He will live. My child will
live" she repeated like a mantra every time the unborn kid thumped
from inside her.
"Thanks to
Kami... it took so long... I feared Rikai... how is Rikai?"
"Mom's
fine... needing to rest though. This was one long birth labor, wasn't
it?"
"I agree... Can I see him?"
"A great little ninja, that's what
you're going to be"
In the first, youngest day of a year.
No
other day would seem as fitting for Maito Gai to be born.