}{Eight Months Later}{

Hisa choked on the ice cube she'd been sucking on as another heavy bout of pain ripped up through her stomach and lower back. It stole her breath, her eye sight, any sense of how to think or feel- except to push. "HHHHHAAAAYYYYYHHHHH!"
"That's enough of the ice." she heard the doctor say. "The baby... crowning... matter of time."

Her muscles! They felt so tight, Hisa feared they'd snap! Was this harmful to her child? How could it not be? Hisa forced her breath out, dragged it back in, until the muscles relaxed and her heart regrouped to its regular beat in her chest.

"You're doing well." the doctor looked up at her from the foot of the bed. He'd been reassuring her with his calm, airy voice, and intense gray eyes since he had arrived... almost twelve hours ago. Hisa didn't know his name and he didn't know hers. But she knew that she would remember those eyes, the ash-blond ponytail he kept tied at the nape of his neck, and that voice. It was the only thing helping her hold on at this point.

"My my," Kohana was there suddenly, dapping Hisa from all sides with a wadded towel. "Look at how you glow! You've been trying to steal mine for years, so I suppose it was only a matter of time..."

And Kohana. Hisa couldn't forget all that she had done and was doing.

"It's his isn't it." she had stated that day in their apartment after work, far away from listening ears. Hisa hadn't given her a nod back, only a heavy glance down to the floor. "Tell no one. He can't know, you understand?"

Kohana's first response had been a hug, suffocating Hisa against her. "Of course."

There was no need for questions because Kohana already knew. They both knew the type of man he was. Hisa sometimes wished for Kohana's round cheeks and ungraceful demeanor, that had kept her safe from his reach. He only like the pretty things.

Hisa had clung onto Kohana to push the memory back. Kohana's uniform smelled of the cleaners they used, making Hisa's stomach turn sour again. But she kept to her friend's hug a little longer before making for the restroom.

Kohana had been the one to cover the few times Hisa had to miss work with morning sickness, keep her swollen belly hidden from the head eyes in the months that had followed. And within the last day- thankfully a Sunday- she had found a doctor, gotten them both to Karasuna, and here they were. Hisa would owe her forever. She put her trust in the doctor, her faith in her friend, and her will into the child struggling within her. She carried on this way, hair curled and clumped around her head in sweat, for another hour. Until that finally push, where Hisa's cry and her baby's sounded together.

"WWYAH-WYAH-WYAH!"

Hisa dropped into the damp pillows, her dazed vision watching the ceiling swirl. It's here!

"It's a... a boy!" Kohana exclaimed. "A boy, Hisa!"

He's here. Hisa rephrased. He's here.

She was so exhausted, relieved... and scared. She still hadn't answered Kohana's questions about when the baby was born. A baby, they needed so much. Hisa had never had much and over the last few months, adoption had sounded like the better option. But now her arms ached, itched to see him. They wanted him close, rather then far away. She struggled up onto her elbows. "Let- let me see him."

"Hold your horses!" Kohana held her off until the doctor had cleaned the baby and brought him over, wrapped in a fresh blanket. He placed the bundle of her son into Hisa's arms. Why did his weight surprise her? Was it because he was so tiny? The tips of his fingers were microscopic... his nose, barely more then a dot of existence. His head, small and wet as it was, disappeared beneath a thick net of jet-black hair.

My hair. Hisa thought, shocked and breathless. She pulled the baby tighter to her. His cries quieted, his head rolling and his cheek brushing Hisa's arm. It was just a brush, but she could tell how soft his skin was.

You were inside me? Hisa blinked. You?

"He's beautiful, Hisa!" Kohana broke the trance, her voice full of tears. Hisa looked up with another blink. She didn't want to look away from her son. But she also didn't want her tears splashing on him, disturbing him. "He is. Kohana, he is, isn't he?"

"Beautiful." Kohana repeated, clapping her hands. "Smart too, I'll betcha."

"And healthy." the doctor mentioned, reminding his presence. Hisa turned her head to look at him, cleaning his tools at the sink. She swallowed through a suddenly dry throat. "Thank you... thank you. I will pay-"

"I'll leave an address where you can send the money." the doctor didn't look up from the running water. "If you really want to thank me though, take care of your child." He looked up then, those gray eyes hard. "Whatever your circumstance."

That's a fair charge. Hisa agreed with him. She'd told the doctor from the start not to treat her like a charity case. It was good to see he was obliging. Hisa tightened her arms ever so slightly around the baby. Her baby.

"Whatever my circumstance." she repeated back to the doctor.