I'm glad you guys are liking this story. You all made me feel better. Thanks :)

In the middle of her 7th month of her pregnancy, things took a turn for the worse. Chizuru awoke in the middle of the night with a pain so horrific it threatened to split her in two. Saito rushed to call the midwife, a middle aged woman named Oda who was very plump and very strict. After examining Chizuru and giving her something for the pain, she pulled Saito aside.

"I'm going to be straight with you," she said, keeping her voice low so that Chizuru couldn't hear. "There is a problem. There's a blockage in her uterus. It hasn't been an issue thus far, but at the baby grows in its last few months, it will likely be extremely painful for her. I've given her some medicine, but she should stay in bed as much as possible. Excess movement will only make it worse. And there's something else as well." Oda looked up at Saito, but if she was perturbed by his passive expression after receiving such news, she didn't show it. "The blockage will make her labor difficult. Possibly too difficult. There is a high likelihood that she won't survive it." She stopped talking to allow Saito a chance to absorb that information. A million thoughts ran through his head, but he was a trained warrior who had lived his life arm and arm with death. He kept his face passive, but inside his heart was racing.

"Is there anything you can do for her?" he asked, his voice perfectly level. Now Oda was definitely bothered by his lack of emotion.

"I'll do what I can, but this won't be easy," she replied, her eyes narrowing, convinced that Saito didn't comprehend the gravity of the situation. "The medicine will help with the pain, but I can't give her too much of it. Naturally, I won't let her or the child die that easily, but you have to prepare yourself for the worst. In the meantime, you need to pick up the slack around the house. Hire a maid if you must, but she should not get out of bed any more than she has to. Understand?" Saito nodded and thanked Oda for her help.

Oda shook her head as she left the house.

"I hope she'll be alright with that unfeeling husband of hers. He's not normal, that one. I feel sorry for her."

Oda needn't have worried. Saito rose to the challenge spectacularly. He sat by Chizuru's bedside when she was in pain, day or night, wiping the sweat off her face with a damp cloth and offering her what comfort he could. He cut down his time at the dojo and took on all the cooking and cleaning duties himself. He had learned how to do such chores at the Shinsengumi headquarters, and those skills were put to good use now. Sakuya and Shinpachi helped out as much as they could, concerned for Chizuru, but Sakuya had her own family to take care of and Shinpachi was mostly useless when it came to housework, so Saito was left with the bulk of the responsibilities. But these tasks were nothing. The real problem lay in the actual labor.

"Don't worry," Chizuru reassured him when he broke the news to her. "I'm an Oni, remember? My wounds heal quickly. I won't die that easily." But she said it more in an attempt to reassure Saito than because she actually believed it. Inside she was terrified. She knew it was selfish, after so many had died, but she wanted to live. She wanted to have her baby and raise him to be strong and wonderful like his two fathers. She didn't want to die like this.

"You won't die," Saito told her, and his confidence encouraged her. "I won't let you. I give you my word." Chizuru nodded. For now, she would trust him. It was all she could do.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

One morning, Saito opened the door to find the world covered in snow. At first he frowned. He didn't think the cold, wet weather would be good for Chizuru, especially after she had been up late last night in pain. But then he had an idea. Reaching down, he gathered up a small handful of snow and rolled it into a ball. He searched the yard for the other items he needed, then brought his creation inside.

"I have something for you," he said to Chizuru and she looked at him quizzically. He knelt beside her futon and held out his hand to reveal a snow rabbit, similar to the one she had made him years ago.

"It's the first time I've made something like this," Saito said with a small blush. "So I'm not sure if I did it properly." Chizuru giggled.

"It's perfect," she said with a smile. "Thank you." Saito's blush deepened.

"There's nothing to thank me for," he replied, and Chizuru laughed again.

"You always say that. Every time I thank you, you always say, 'there's nothing to thank me for.' But I don't think that's true. You've done so much for me these past few months, and I'm grateful for everything. Really. How could I not thank you?" Saito wasn't sure how to respond.

"I don't do the things I do to garner your thanks," he said at last, and Chizuru sighed.

"You're a complicated man, you know that?" She laughed at the look of confusion her words put on Saito's face.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Chizuru went into labor on a cold winter morning, the air so crisp you could see your breath. Saito's lungs burned as he ran through the streets to Oda's house but he would never have considered stopping.

Sakuya came to the house to help with the labor, and Shinpachi came to keep Saito company and wait for news. The men were shooed out of the room.

"This is women's work," Oda insisted. "Men should know their place and be patient."

Saito and Shinpachi sat on the porch, doing their best to ignore the cold and the sound of Chizuru's screams. Shinpachi paced back and forth nervously, grumbling to himself, but Saito simply sat in seiza, his hands folded in his lap, his eyes turned downward. He looked the very picture of peace, but inside he was exploding.

"How long is this supposed to last?" Shinpachi asked in frustration. "It's been hours!" It was well past lunch time, but neither of them had bothered to eat. Chizuru had been in labor for eight hours and so far they had heard nothing from the room but screams which rent through the air every few minutes and tore at Saito with a pain so excruciating it was like getting sliced in half with a sword.

"We just have to be patient," Saito said, more to himself than to Shinpachi. "Takeda-san or Oda-san will notify us if something happens."

"How can you be so calm?!" Shinpachi yelled. "That's your wife in there!"

"Do I look calm?" Saito replied, and to an outside observer he certainly did, but Shinpachi knew Saito better than that and could see the tension that was oozing out of his body.

"Damn," Shinpachi swore, kicking a post.

"I won't let anything happen to Chizuru," Saito said, his voice firm. "If it comes to it, I will remove the baby myself." Shinpachi gaped at him.

"You'll what? Don't be ridiculous. You can't do that."

"Under normal circumstances, with a normal woman, no. I could not. But Chizuru is not a normal woman." Shinpachi's eyes went wide with understanding.

"But that's still crazy risky!" Saito nodded.

"Agreed. It is not something I would like to do. But if the situation calls for it, I will do what must be done. I will not let Chizuru or the baby die."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Hours passed and the moon rose and still there was no change. At long last the door to the room slid open, and Sakuya emerged, but rather than a baby, her arms were full of bloody blankets.

"How is it?" Shinpachi asked, the worry and anguish in his voice clear. Sakuya looked at the floor.

"It's…not going well," she replied, her voice shaking. "She's bleeding. I've never seen so much blood. Oda-san keeps reassuring her, but her strength is waning. I don't think she can take much more of this." Saito had heard enough. Ignoring Sakuya's gasp of surprise at his sudden movement he marched past her and threw the door open.

"What do you think you're doing?" Oda exclaimed, but Saito was only interested in Chizuru. Her face was drawn and deathly pale, her lips dry, and her breathing shallow and unsteady. There was another pile of bloody blankets lying next to her. This had gone on long enough.

"Saito-san, you can't be in here…" Oda began, but Saito cut her off.

"Get out!" he demanded, and his tone of voice left no room for argument. But Oda stood firm.

"I will do no such thing," she insisted, holding her ground. "This is not a place for you. Please leave…" But before she could finish there was a sword at her throat.

"Get out or I will strike you where you stand." Saito's eyes burned with the cold fury of a highly trained killer. Oda looked like she had swallowed a lemon, but she obeyed.

"Nagakura, keep them away from this room," Saito instructed, and Shinpachi nodded.

"Understood," he replied. "Come on, if you get in Saito's way when he's like this, people wind up dead." He herded a stunned Sakuya and a bitter Oda out of the room, leaving Saito and Chizuru alone.

"Hajime-san," Chizuru said, her voice barely a whisper. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Saito reassured her, sitting down next to her. For the first time in his life, he reached out and took her hand in his. "You're not going to die. I'm not going to let you. I promised you I would protect you, and I'm going to keep that promise." Chizuru gave a weak laugh.

"The baby's stuck, Hajime-san. There's nothing you can do. Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I never have and I never will. Listen, Chizuru. I want to cut the baby out of you." Chizuru's eyed opened wide, but she listened carefully to Saito's plan.

"You are an Oni," he continued. "I believe it's the only reason this labor has gone on as long as it has, considering how much blood you've lost. A wound on your stomach should heal before it has time to cause any real damage." Chizuru considered this, then nodded.

"I trust you," she said, and gave him a thin smile.

"It will hurt," he warned.

"It's ok." Saito moved from his place beside her head and situated himself closer to her stomach.

"Excuse me," he said as he opened her kimono to reveal her bare skin. He drew his sword and poised it carefully over her. Years of sinking sword into flesh had given him a sense of how much pressure to apply to cut skin, severe muscles, or break bone, but never had he performed an operation as delicate as this. But he didn't hesitate.

Chizuru groaned as he cut into her, but she didn't scream and held as still as she could. Saito extended the cut as long as he dared, then slowly peeled away the layers of skin and fascia. After what seemed like ages but was only a few seconds, he cut through the uterus to reveal a tiny person, curled up and covered in blood and slime. Saito sheathed his sword and pulled the baby out. Once the baby was free, he looked back at the wound, but it had already begun to close. He waited until it healed completely before allowing himself a sigh of relief.

"Are you alright Chizuru?" he asked turning to her, but Chizuru's pale face was lined with worry.

"Hajime-san, he isn't breathing!" For the first time, Saito looked at the child in his arms, and, sure enough, the baby seemed more like a lifeless doll than a living human.

"Oda-san," Saito called, and Oda, Sakuya, and Shinpachi burst into the room. They took in the sight of Chizuru, deathly white and concerned, with a layer of fresh blood on her otherwise unmarred belly, and Saito, holding a limp baby.

"What happened in here?" Sakuya asked, rooted to the spot. Luckily, Oda recovered faster, clearly deciding that whatever had happened, there were more important things to attend to.

"Give me that," she ordered, indicating the baby, and Saito handed him over. Oda turned the baby on his stomach and gave him a sharp whack between his shoulder blades.

And then a miraculous thing happened. The baby started to cry. The sound filled the room, overwhelming everyone there. And then Chizuru began to cry, joy and relief filling her to the brim. Sakuya cried too, and Shinpachi rubbed his tearing eyes, laughing with mirth. Saito turned back to Chizuru and gave her a look of pure, unadulterated affection that made her heart skip a beat and her stomach flip over.

"Well done," he said, offering her the largest smile she had ever seen on his face. "Well done." Chizuru smiled back at him, and this time she was the one to take his hand.

"Thank you," she said, and Saito smiled again.

"There is nothing to thank me for." Chizuru laughed.

"I would like to ask what the hell happened in here, but I don't believe that any of you are going to give me a straight answer," Oda said, clearly put out by the whole situation. "So I will just offer my congratulations. You have a healthy baby boy." The whole room cheered.

Oda washed the baby and wrapped him a blanket, and at long last, placed him in Chizuru's arms. She looked at her baby's face properly for the first time. And gasped. The baby was the spitting image of his father. Same brilliant amethyst eyes, same jet black hair, same thin nose. There was no mistaking it. She looked at Saito with concern, but he just smiled at her.

"He's perfect," he said, and those words made Chizuru's heart soar.

"Let me see him!" Shinpachi said, his excitement palpable. He jumped over to the bedside, took one look at the baby, and froze.

"Hijikata-san," he blurted out.

See, I promised things would get more exciting in this chapter :)