Choice of Music: My Precious One - Celine Dion, Baby Lullabys, Where Are You Christmas? - Taylor Momsen

Chapter 4 - Gifts and Guests

Darkness. Vice looked around, as though searching a way out of it. It was almost like as before, right before he was unleashed into the world. Back when he was in that vile test tube, surrounded by a putrid liquid, unable to breathe.

He could sense other presences around him. A good soul lingered not far from him, almost as though he could just reach out and grab it. "Who's there?" he called. "Show yourself."

A small hesitation, then "Vice?"

That voice! He knew it was Ultimo's, no doubt about it. But why was Ultimo here? Was everything that Vice remembered, everything from the past nine hundred years, a dream?

He could feel his body being subdued by sleep, sheer waves of exhaustion flowing over him. 'No, no I will not fall asleep!' he willed himself to stay awake. His golden eyes slowly closed, feeling as though they weighed over thousands of pounds.

Sleep.

The small infant lay sleeping in the small hospital crib, the walls clear around her. Not far from her in the room lay her mother, who had also fallen asleep. The birthing had exhausted the woman, and now she rested. Around the newborn was a soft pink blanket, brought from her crib at home to wrap her in after her first bath. Blood and dead tissue had been washed away from her skin, yet it still had a pink hue to it.

The baby, Rose, gave out a small gurgle as she opened her eyes, squirming a little within her little cocoon. Her dark eyes looked around the hospital room, not knowing or fully seeing what was held there. A noise of sorts, and she tried to twist herself to see the source.

"Hello, little one," a voice spoke. The baby did not understand the words, did not fully hear them. Not for the next few months would she truly recognize the meanings of the things around her.

"My, my, you really are quite little, aren't you?" that same voice asked her. An elderly man, who held a long ponytail of grey hair and held glasses upon his face, looked into the small crib. "Welcome to the world, little Rose-chan," he spoke once again. She had managed to release her arms from the wrapping, waving her little fists into the air.

"So young, so innocent," Dunstan spoke, watching the small infant move.

"All human infants are, Doctor," the boy replied. Long silver hair also tied into a ponytail, purple visors gently framed his eyes. He wore a simple kimono top and a silver hakama. A strip of cloth hung in front, an emblem of a dragon imprinted onto it. "If we are here when Shina-san awakes, it will not fair well."

"Yes, I know," he spoke, not once removing his eyes from the baby girl. Rose let out a yawn, showing teethless gums. As a newborn, her body could only hold so much energy before it would be time to sleep again. Her eyes closed as she fell back into her slumber.

Gently wrapping his fingers around one arm, Dunstan slowly slid on a small silver band onto her tiny wrist. "It will grow with you, little one," he whispered. "In time you'll understand what they mean, and what you really are." As the bracelet touched her skin, a small bead of rubies emerged from the bright metal. Repeating this action with the other hand, the second bracelet produced the same effect. Only this time, instead of rubies, a ring of emeralds emerged.

Releasing her arm, he gently wrapped her back up within the security of her blanket. "Good luck, little one," Dunstan spoke. "You might need it."

"Ah, look at her," Matoko cooed as she held onto the tiny girl, gently playing with her hands. "Hello, Rose-chibi-chan," she giggled. Machi watched as the teenage girl carefully held onto the infant, sitting in the chair not far from her. Instead of the usual school uniform, Sayama Matoko wore a pair of form fitting jeans and a baggy t-shirt.

What people around her didn't know: Matoko was also with-child. The once "good girl" was second champion in her school golf club, top of her class, and the new Master of Regula. But she decided to have a small shindig with her ex-boyfriend, Akira Hidaka, and now suffered the consequences for it. The teenage girl had decided on giving a good future to her soon child, and would give him or her up for adoption. Akira Hidaka didn't know, and Makoto wouldn't tell him.

"Aren't you excited for your own, Matoko-chan?" Machi asked, relieving her of the baby girl. Rose had started to become fussy, and squirmed around in the others arms. It was still strange, the feeling of breast feeding a baby, but the woman felt like she would get used to it.

"Yes and no," she shrugged. "I still have a while to go, though. I'm only in my first month."

"They'll fly by, Matoko," Machi stated. "You'll wonder where it's all gone before you know it." There was a silence in the room between the two females, other than the occasional sound coming from underneath the blanket covering Rose. "Have you told Yamato yet?" she asked.

The teenage girl shook her head no, eyes casted towards the floor. "He'll have to know sometime."

"What if he..," Matoko started. "What if he doesn't want to be with me? If I'm pregnant?"

"He's been chasing your skirt since you two were in elementary school," the older woman scolded. "I don't think a baby would make him not want to be with you. If anything else, he would be more protective of you then." Matoko nodded her head, trusting the words of the older.

There was a ruckus outside the room, and both heads twisted towards the direction of the door. "Hold on, not so many at a time!" they heard Kiyose panicking on the other side. "And why are you guys here anyways? You're evil!"

At those words, Machi curled her arm protectively around her infant. Evil Masters? Here? "Easy, Shina-san," Matoko stated. "I'll go see what's going on." The teenage girl walked carefully towards the door, whilst the woman held onto her baby carefully. She would not let anyone who intended to harm her child come within ten feet of them.

"Sayama-san?" a male voice spoke, knocking at the door. "Sayama-san, you there?"

Speaking of the devil, it seemed as though Yamato had arrived also. "Machi-san's got some special visitors, though I don't know how or why they got here." The boy knocked again, though now it sounded like pounding. "They want to see Machi-san's baby."

"Hold on, Yamato-kun!" Matoko fretted, hurrying towards the door. Opening it a crack, the teenage girl carefully slipped out into the hallway without letting anyone in. "Who's bright idea was it to tell them that Machi was pregnant?"

Machi listened to the conversation, trying to figure out where what ends met. A deep inhale, then "Machi told Hiroshi, who told the Club of Good Douji, where you and the new Masters found out, then Oume was so excited it leaked out at school, then Rune heard it, where then it was told to Jealous, who said it to Rage, who told his Master, that told Akira, and Akira blurted it out at their last Evil Douji meeting."

Wow. Talk about a mouthful. She was surprised he didn't yell, he did have a loud voice. "However, they all want to see Machi-san's new baby, but Vice isn't here." Cocking an eyebrow, Machi listened carefully.

"What do you mean "Vice isn't here,"?" Matoko questioned.

"I don't know," another male voice stated, almost sounding confused. "He was at the apartment last night, but he was gone this morning." Machi took a really estimated guess, and proposed that the voice belonged to the Vice Master himself, K.

Poking her head back into the room, Matoko looked at the faux fortune teller questioningly. "Well?" she asked. "Would you like visitors?"

Thinking of the pros and cons, she slowly nodded her head. "Not all at once though," she said.

"Got it. You, you, and you," she said, pointing to three unknown people. "You're first."

Machi gently unconvered her now sleeping infant as her "guests" lined up to meet the tiny girl.

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