Ugh, I really needed to write this to burn some stress away if I'm not to be found chained to my desk in a state of perma-studying. I have a string of exams starting next week and I had to write a short little something to make me forget how stressed I am right now. This chapter takes place about 6 months after Karai left New York and Leonardo behind in Further Complications because of a situation revolving around a certain someone. ;) Again it is pretty short compared to the other one-shots, but I really hope you all enjoy it all the same. :)

(Karai's POV)

I kept wandering around my apartment, well temporary apartment in Osaka. I'm only staying here to be close to a hospital for… reasons.

I don't even know why I'm walking right now, really?

I'm exhausted, my ankles are swollen, my back is in so much pain that it feels like something keeps following me around holding a hammer and hitting me with it every once in awhile.

But… what the hell can I do about it?

The doctor at the clinic told me this wasn't entirely uncommon to be happening to me and that many women go through this process in my condition, apparently.

I know I could've stayed at the dojo in the mountains and just use the services from the midwife from the somewhat nearby town… but I just want to keep this as low-key as possible.

Besides, people there know me and my father and I just want to keep this as low-profile for as long as I can.

Afterall, I've gotten this far keeping this secret so far from everyone I know, right?

This way in a big city, I can at least initially exist with this without people from the town giving me looks about being a pregnant, unmarried, 18 year old teenager; and here no one even knows who I am.

I made my way back into the main room and fell onto one of couches, feeling beyond exhausted, like I was practically having every ounce of energy drained out of me.

But, once it's born I'm out of here and settling in at the dojo.

Well, he.

I slowly let my hand drift over my stomach, letting out a sigh as I laid my head back still having no idea what to think of all this, even though I just have about a month left.

Even though I'm still beyond confused still, I know I made this decision and this was what I wanted to do.

I mean, maybe not initially.

I guess, I'm just going to be honest.

When I was on that last trip back to Japan for my father and I found out that I was almost 2 months pregnant, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it… with any of it.

Mainly that this wasn't anything I could hide and... I don't know if having a child was something that was in my nature.

Actually I contemplated pretty much every option imaginable, some of them even made me feel ashamed and dishonorable for even thinking about them from my own thinking.

Besides, when I looked at myself, I knew I made my choices.

I chose to involve myself with Leo, ended up being completely careless, and got the result that came with it.

After all; no matter what, we're all stuck with the choices we make at some point.

At this point I still felt lucky that my father didn't kill me. That and I was able to avoid confronting Leo all together, so… whatever, this was what I wanted. I slowly looked back at my stomach, which is completely hard to ignore it's existence at this point.

I just just rest my hands on my beyond swollen-looking stomach as I laid my head back and closed my eyes, attempting to try and sleep. I kept trying to practically force myself to relax when I felt myself jump and shoot up in shock.

He's kicking.

Even though I should be used to it by now and I'm very aware that I'm supporting another life right now, it still doesn't fail to freak me out when he makes his presence known like that.

I just don't known what to do… or even what to think?

I'm just… lost.

But, whether I'm ready or not and no matter how much I try to ignore it for even a minute… this is happening and I'd rather face it than dodge it for the sake of my sanity.

This was my choice and I'm sticking to it if it's the last thing I do.

4 weeks and 2 days later

I was in the kitchen, sipping tea at the counter, still trying to relax.

I couldn't sleep… again.

I kept sipping and taking in the silence until a familiar sound that I've gotten used to over the past 4 days ripped through the whole dojo.

I just put my cup down as I made my way down the hall and opened the door and immediately walked toward the crib, looking down at him. His arms broke free of the swaddle of his blanket and trying to strain the rest of his body out of it.

I just reached down and picked him up, trying to take his blanket as much as I could with the rest of him.

Even though I still felt like I had no idea what the hell I'm doing, I watched and listened to the nurses enough at the hospital to know how to handle him like this.

I know, shocking that I don't know the first thing about babies or children in general.

Considering I never anticipated or planned on having any to begin with at any point in my life.

But… that's obviously changed now.

Although, I feel like I'm kind of getting the hang of this… I think?

I slid my right hand up his back until I was holding the back of his head in my hand and his body was being supported by the inside of my forearm before wrapping my left arm around him to pull him against me.

Slowly but surely, his cries was starting to calm down a little, pretty much going into quiet whimpers, as I just started walking around with him. I've realized that most of the time that he wakes up during the night, he just wants to be held. That and the motion of me holding him as I walk around seems to lull him back to sleep.

I got to a window and looked out at the seemingly endless forest if it weren't for the sea in the distance.

My focus was stripped away from the window when I heard a small sound and saw his lips make a small 'o' as he yawned and shifted his head to the side to rest it more against my chest, his eyes shut.

He was finally sleeping, at least for now.

I kept my eyes trained on him and tilted my head in curiosity. I sat in a nearby chair as I kept looking at him. Trying not to wake him up, I gently brushed my fingers over the jet black hair on his head.

I tried to push a suppressed thought out of my mind of... him as I put my focus back on what was in front of me.

Surprisingly, for a baby, I noticed he had a lot of hair compared to all the other babies in the nursery at the hospital.

I don't know why? But, it's still sinking in for me that I'm actually a mother now.

I'm actually a mother and… I have a son.

Kaito.

When I was told that I was having a boy earlier in my pregnancy, I took a short walk down to the water and watched the waves for a while to relax me and realign myself after my appointment and… the name just kind of came to me.

Even though I don't know if the name will suit him at all?

I barely call him by his name as it is, because it's actually kind of useless in my opinion considering he's only a week old and has no other method of communication other than crying or gurgling to tell me what he wants and probably has no idea what I say when I'm talking to him.

But, Oroku Kaito sounds like a strong overall name, at least to me.

I readjusted him in my arms again as I continued to watch him sleep. My eyes were still locked on him and I slowly felt a corner of my mouth curling up a little at him. I'll be blatantly honest.

I still don't know if I'm really cut out to be a mother, but there is one thing I do know if my own childhood experience with my own mother has taught me if anything… I will never leave him.

No matter what I am always going to be there for him and give him everything I didn't have growing up.

I don't know if my best will be good enough, but dammit I'm going to try harder at this than anything I've ever done in my whole life.

I know this was a bit of a short one-shot compared to the other ones, but I just wanted to shown the bulk of Karai's feelings and experience of being a single-parent. I just really wanted to embody how I would see her character in this sort of situation. Just her feelings of being confused, unsure, and even a little scared in her own way before she had Kaito and how those motherly instincts toward her son were finally brought out of her once Kaito was born. That and I hope you guys enjoyed seeing a moment with baby Kaito before he became the sly yet loveable teasing flirt that we all know and love. Lol. :D Anyway, next time there will be a particular moment that will include a brand new POV from a character I have yet to do one for. But, all in good time. ;) Thank you all so much for reading and please review if you can.

Stay classy everyone and thanks for bearing with me still!

Dexter1995