Nope, don't own nuttin', not making any money; just havin' fun.
Baby Time – June 1942
It was close to four in the morning when Masumi woke Kenshin up.
"I think this is it. I didn't want to wait too long because it's such a long walk, but Baby is showing all the signs that it's coming soon." She turned back to the back part of the stall to get dressed as Kenshin unzipped the sleeping bag, allowing him to slide into his jeans and throw one of his ubiquitous flannel shirts on over his undershirt.
"I'll go get Mrs. Fukuzaki," he said, shoving his feet into his boots and ducking quietly out the door. By the time Masumi had finished dressing, both Yuki and her husband had come to their door.
"Ready?" Kenshin asked as she came out.
"We're ready. That hospital had better have a spot ready for me."
Yuki stayed with the still-sleeping children while Kenshin and Kisho started off across the racetrack, Masumi between them and her bag in Kenshin's hand. Kisho carried a flashlight to light a path through the dark, and every now and then a spotlight would sweep past. Once it stopped on them, blinding in its intensity, but fortunately behind them, so it stretched their shadows far out in front of them. Kisho just waved his flashlight at it and eventually it moved on, the guard obviously deciding they weren't up to trouble. Every once in a while, Masumi would stop and breathe hard in little pants, hanging on to both men's arms. The intervals got closer as they went along.
"Oh, I swear…I'm going to…have…this child…in the middle…of the track," she gasped during a particularly long pause.
"Then you can name him 'Kuchitori'," Kisho joked.
"I am not…naming my child… 'horse boy'," Masumi declared, while Kenshin chuckled.
"If he has his grandfather's hair, you can call him Akai-chan," Kenshin suggested.
"That's what they call you," Kisho said, "because you run on the track like a race horse, and your hair looks red sometimes."
"I know," Kenshin grinned, urging Masumi forward as the contraction seemed to end. "I don't mind being nick-named after Man O' War. He was a great horse."
"Except he was Big Red," Kisho grunted as he took a miss-step on the uneven surface. "You are Little Red."
"And I am a Man O' Peace…and don't call me 'little'," Kenshin retorted, but he was still grinning, like it was a joke only he understood.
'Probably something from his childhood,' Masumi thought, trying to focus on something other than the contractions rippling across her belly, even if it was nonsensical male banter.
"I'd thought to name him after you, Tom, since you've been so much help through all this," she said, mischievously.
"Oh, don't do that. It'll cause all kinds of rumors to start circulating." Kenshin sounded scandalized and just a touch embarrassed, while Kisho laughed. "It should be named after someone in the family. Besides, what if it's a girl? She won't appreciate being called 'Tom'."
"Sasuke and I already decided to call it 'Kaoru', after his grandmother, if it's a girl."
"'Kaoru' is a nice name," Kenshin agreed.
"Except in America, the kids will all call her 'cow', which isn't a name any girl wants to be called," Kisho pointed out. "You could translate it to English."
"'Fragrance'," Masumi translated, sucking in a breath and then panting hard. "I don't think that's a common name in America."
"Definitely worse," Kisho said. "They'll just call her 'stinky'."
"You're a lot of help," Masumi panted.
"Sorry. I know how American kids think; there was a playground just down the road from my house and I heard it all. American kids are smart-mouthed," Kisho said. "The Nisei kids are like that, too, my own included. They learn to be rude at school or on the playground and don't listen to their parents. I had to tell Hiroki again the other day to watch his mouth."
Kenshin chuckled, holding onto Masumi and steadying her as she stopped again. "Hiroki is fourteen; every boy is smart-mouthed at that age. All full of opinions and too dumb to know when to keep his mouth shut."
"Except for you and I, nè?" Kisho grinned.
"Nah, you'd be surprised at some of the stuff I said when I was fourteen. I think 'Kaoru' is a perfectly lovely name, and with her daddy teaching her kendo, she can beat up on anyone who calls her 'cow'."
"Not…that we want…her…getting into fights," Masumi asserted, still panting.
"Masumi, are you going to make it or should we carry you? It's not too much further now."
Masumi looked up and judged the distance. "I can make it…Good thing…all this walking…will make…the baby come…faster."
Kisho blanched. "Just not too fast, okay?"
"Yeah, we'd like you to be inside and in professional hands first," Kenshin agreed.
"Cowards," Masumi said.
"Yep," both men said in unison.
They did make it to the makeshift hospital in time, and Kisho left to return to Yuki. All they had to do was announce "Pregnant lady in labor" to bypass the people waiting miserably to see someone who would hopefully find a remedy for whatever had them awake at that hour. Kenshin sat in the hall on one of the hard wooden chairs that had been set along the wall to serve as a waiting room as Masumi disappeared into one of the rooms that were serving as examining rooms. A round-faced Caucasian woman stopped in front of him and presented him with a clipboard with several forms attached to it and a pen.
"You'll need to fill out your wife's information on this form," she said.
"Ah, she's my brother's wife, actually. I'll fill out what I can, but I may not know everything." Kenshin said, taking the items.
"And where is the husband on this auspicious occasion?"
Kenshin looked her straight in the eyes, not liking her tone at all. "Fort Missoula."
"Hmph. Indeed," she intoned, turning away, clearly not convinced but not inclined to argue with someone she obviously believed her inferior. Kenshin stared after her for a moment and sighed. The range of personalities in the world constantly amazed him. He turned back to the papers and started filling out what he could.
Forty-five minutes and no interruptions later, a different woman approached him from the direction Masumi had gone, her white lab coat fluttering around her as she moved. She was obviously Japanese and comfortably plump, with shiny black hair slicked away from her face into a neat bun and her eyes almost lost in her broad smile. She spoke to him rapidly in Japanese and paused for his reaction.
There were exclamations and smiles from some of the other people waiting, but Kenshin just smiled vaguely and said in English:
"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you just said." It was a patent lie, but no one was around who could trip him up, and he had perfected a poker face when people spoke to him in his native tongue. This persona did not speak Japanese.
"Oh, I am sorry. You are Mr. Himura, yes?"
"No, he's in Montana. I'm his half-brother, Tom Niitsu, and I'm looking out for his family for him until he can join us."
"Well, then, you have good news to send him. He has new baby boy, and mother is fine. First one?"
"No, third child; second boy. He'll be thrilled. Can I see them before I send him a telegram?"
"Oh, yes. Mrs. Himura very tired but still awake. Baby was starting to nurse when I left. We go check. Come."
She lead him down the hall and tapped on a door, peeking in at the answer before motioning him through. Masumi was ensconced in blankets and wearing the nightgown and wrapper she'd stuffed into her bag. She was holding the baby, though he was obviously asleep now, and she smiled at him tiredly as he came in.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like a huge weight has just dropped off my belly. Isn't he beautiful?" She pulled away a corner of the blanket to show off a crinkly red face, eyes closed and lips blowing little bubbles. A tuft of fine black hair crowned the little round head.
"Yep, beautiful," Kenshin agreed, smiling unconsciously as he reached out to gently stroke a finger over one round baby cheek. "And no worries about anyone calling him 'cow'."
Masumi laughed softly. "No. I was only teasing about naming him after you. The boy name we picked out months ago was 'Shinta', which was Sasuke's grandfather's first name. He was married to Kaoru. It means 'Gentle Heart', which I think this baby has. He hasn't cried a peep except for that first one that cleared his lungs out."
"Yet. Wait until he figures out what lungs are for." Kenshin glanced at his watch. "Do you need anything? I'm going to go back and relieve Yuki and Kisho. We might be able to get an hour or two of sleep before we have to get in line for breakfast. Do you want Cho to go to art class as usual or do you want me to see if I can bring them here to visit?"
"I don't need anything. I'd say take Cho to class as usual. I don't know how long they'll keep me here or if the children will be allowed in, and I'd like things to stay on the usual routine if possible. There have been enough upsets lately."
"Okay, I'll check about visiting on the way out. Oh, and they might be bringing you some paperwork later. There were a few things on the form I didn't know how to answer."
"Okay. I think we're going to sleep now," Masumi smiled.
"You do that. You've worked hard for this early in the morning. We'll see you later, if we can."
When he started back to their stall, dawn was a pale lemon color in the eastern sky. He walked past the silent grandstands, looming in the near-dark, and was suddenly aware of the other Immortal. Stretching out with his ki, he felt several people. There were maybe a dozen massed high on the grandstands, probably waiting for the sun to rise. He was aware of them every morning when he ran the track. At the bottom, tight in the shadows, Hosokawa was standing, dressed in a dark suit. A glimmer of pale light shone on the blade of the sword held low next to his leg.
"Come play with me, Battousai," he whispered.
"Here? Now? Are you crazy?" Kenshin asked, slowing his approach.
"Why not? No time like the present, they say."
"The present is no time to be doing it. No witnesses, remember? Our fights aren't for public consumption."
"But it would be so entertaining for them, and they really don't have much else to amuse them. Spar with me, if you don't want to fight for real."
"Thanks, no. Not interested. Even if I was, I'd hardly use steel in this place."
"Aw, come on, Battousai. You're hardly living up to your reputation."
"If you knew anything about my reputation, you'd know how I play the Game. It's not the way you obviously want to. If you want to learn how I do it, come back after we're free of the camps. This is neither the time nor the place." Kenshin subdued his impatience. He'd learned a long time ago that impatience could get a guy killed, and he had things to do here that were too important to waste.
"Oh, yes, all that no killing stuff. That might have worked when you were mortal, but it doesn't work for us. We're different; we don't have to play by mortal rules."
"If you believe that, you're dumber than you look."
Hosokawa laughed softly and sheathed his sword. "Well, if all you can do is talk my ear off and insult me, I guess I'll have to come back later. I thought to be open about this, but if you're not going to let me, we'll have to play a different game. See you later." He disappeared into the slowly melting shadows, but Kenshin tracked his ki until it got lost in the increasing activity of the day. And then he noticed another, trying not to be seen, deeper in the shadows where a doorway allowed access to the lower part of the grandstand's interior. Kenshin's eyes riveted on the figure being revealed by the dawn.
"And who are you?" he asked, irritation making his tone more menacing than usual, recalling the Battousai of the past.
"Me? Nobody. I'm nobody," squeaked a non-descript looking man wearing slacks and an open-necked shirt, hat square on his head. He shaded his eyes against the increasing glare, further blocking his face from Kenshin's sight. "I just came out to watch the sunrise but I was running late so I thought I'd come straight underneath so I could watch as I climbed up to the rest." He was babbling, his ki showing a kind of neutrality that kept Kenshin from quite believing him and yet having no reason not to.
"Forget what you heard."
"Oh forgotten, completely forgotten. Don't know what you're talking about, hey? Haven't heard a word, no, not a thing…"
With another piercing look and a huff of breath, Kenshin walked past him, on to the stall where Yuki dozed on his cot, waiting for him to return or the children to wake up.
After breakfast, Kenshin and the children walked to the administration offices so Kenshin could send a telegram to Sasuke. Then they went to art class, with Kenshin and Cho sitting at a table trying to draw the still life objects in front of them: a tin can, a bottle laying on its side, and one of Kenshin's work boots. Tatsuya crawled under the table at their feet, playing with his animals and making them talk to each other in little squeaky voices. A fox had recently joined the bear and deer, and Tatsuya was trying to make the voices different for all of them, which meant he sometimes got a little loud. Kenshin was shushing him for about the tenth time when the instructor, who was not Miné, to Cho's disappointment, stopped by their table. She squatted down to see Tatsuya.
"Hey, are you having fun down there?"
"I'm really sorry he's disrupting things, Miss Mariko" Kenshin apologized. "His mom just had a baby and we're going to go see her after class, so I didn't want to leave him with someone else."
"That's okay; he's not a problem. I just wanted to see his toys. They look like netsuke." The teacher, a pretty girl in her late twenties, smiled up at him.
"Well, sort of," Kenshin said as Tatsuya held up the bear.
"Can I see it?" she asked, and the little boy handed it over readily, surprising Kenshin. Tatsuya didn't usually share the little animals except with Cho.
"That's very nice," she said, admiring the detail. When she handed it back, he gave her the other two, so she could admire them as well. "They are like netsuke, except without the hole in the middle for the strings. Where did he get these?"
"I made them," Kenshin said modestly. "Gives me something to do in the evenings."
"They're really great. You should be in the sculpture class. You know, we're having an art show in two weeks; you should enter them. Even though they're not part of your class work, they don't have to be. We're showcasing all the art everyone does in the camp, not just the people in classes."
"I don't know if he'd let them out of his hands long enough to show them off," Kenshin laughed. "He'd be knocking over the displays to get them back."
"Well think about it. They're definitely worth showing off." She gave the fox and deer back to Tatsuya and stood to look over Cho's shoulder.
Cho sighed heavily. "It's not very good. Uncle Tom's is much better."
Cho's picture was a confusion of heavy pencil lines showing misshapen objects: the bottle tapered too much on one side and not enough on the other, the can looked square instead of round, and the boot…well, the boot was just wrong, somehow. Uncle Tom, on the other hand, had already roughed in the basic shapes and was starting to detail the laces on the boots, which was enough to show Cho how inadequate she was.
Her teacher chuckled softly. "Of course. Your uncle has probably been drawing for years. Anyone who can carve little animals like he does has a good eye for shape and texture. You're just starting out, and up until now, you've probably drawn whatever you wanted however you wanted to do it. Now we are asking you to really look at what you are drawing and duplicate it. That's a lot harder." She turned the paper over, so Cho had a blank page to work with again.
"Start over. Think of the bottle and the can as cylinders; straight sides with a round top and bottom. The tapered part of the bottle is almost as long as the straight part, so you can estimate where the top is and then bring those slanted sides in smoothly. Draw lightly, because you don't want all the lines showing when you're done. The top of the boot is also a cylinder, but the bottom is more like a box and a wedge." Mariko used her hands to show Cho the parts she was talking about. "If you break what you're drawing into basic shapes and then fill out the details later, it makes drawing them easier."
"But see, I can't even get the straight part straight," Cho said, frustrated that her pencil wasn't doing exactly what she wanted.
"That takes practice, Honey. You have to draw every day, even when you're not in class, and pretty soon, you'll be able to get it straight when you want and round when you want."
"Just like kendo, Cho-chan," Kenshin said. "Remember, you didn't do that perfect the first time either, did you?"
"No," Cho sighed again. "I just thought this would be easier."
"It gets easier with practice," Mariko smiled, and patted Cho's shoulder. "You're doing fine."
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After class was over, they went to the hospital room to see Masumi and Shinta. Masumi was awake and dressed, sitting on the bed and rocking Shinta gently.
"Mama!" Tatsuya exclaimed and ran to her. "See fox? Unca Tom made fox!"
"Yes, I see. Very nice. See the baby? This is your little brother, Shinta. He's sleeping, so we have to use quiet voices around him. Can you do that?"
Tatsuya nodded. "I can," he whispered.
"He's really cute, Mama," Cho said. "Look at his little nose. How does he breathe through that?"
"He's breathing just fine," Masumi smiled, but it went a little crooked after a moment. "He's not eating very well yet, but maybe he's trying to get used to that idea. And I'm not really producing much for him." She looked at Kenshin, who had remained behind the children. "I'm not sure what to give him if I can't. We haven't seen milk in this camp yet."
"No, we haven't," Kenshin said. "Beats me how they pack so many children in here and not have milk."
"I'm hoping we both get up to speed soon," Masumi said, stroking a gentle finger over the patch of hair on Shinta's head. It sprang up again immediately afterwards and Kenshin laughed.
"It looks like he and Tatsu-chan have the same kind of hair."
"These boys." Masumi ran an indulgent hand over Tatsuya's head, the hair springing up behind it to stick out in all directions again. "They're like a pair of little roosters. You should carve him one of those."
"You make me a wooster, Unca Tom?" Tatsuya asked hopefully, chocolate brown eye big and pleading.
"You already are a rooster, Buddy." Kenshin smiled and ruffled the boy's unruly locks, remembering other brown eyes under a mop of similar hair. He'd never attempted to ruffle that hair. He'd have gotten his arm broken, for one thing, but Sano had never needed his guidance or encouragement. All he'd needed was an example to show him the right direction again. "We'll see if I can find a rooster in a block of wood somewhere. Then your fox can guard the henhouse."
"Visiting time is over." The voice came from one of the sour-faced nurses Kenshin had seen on duty before. She stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips for just a moment longer, favoring them all with a baleful stare before moving off down the hallway.
"Okay, kids, give Mama a hug," he said. "And be careful of Shinta so you don't wake him. We'll come back and visit again. Any idea when they're going to let you out?"
"It could be as early as tomorrow. There's not enough room here to keep anyone very long. And since the weather has warmed and it's not so cold at night, he should be okay if he sleeps in the cot with me."
"We'll come over and visit again in the morning, and if they let you go, we can all walk back together. I'd better get these two over to the mess hall for lunch. Hopefully there won't be much of a line."
"That's one advantage of being here. I don't have to stand in line to eat," Masumi said. "Not that the food is any better, but at least I don't have to wait on it so long."
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Kenshin and the children didn't have to wait too long for lunch, since they were at the end of the lunch period. That also meant there weren't too many choices left, but they managed to make a meal that was filling, if not particularly inspired. They were walking down the track in front of the grandstand on the way back to their stall when a runner caught up to them.
"Hey, you're Mr. Niitsu, right? You've got visitors." He only stopped long enough to verify he'd gotten the right people and then sped down the track towards one of the barracks.
"Thanks. C'mon, kids, let's see who they are. And where they are; he didn't say."
"Probably at the top of the grandstand again," Cho said. "That's where we met Mr. Swindon."
"All right, let's try that. C'mon, Tatsu-chan, we're going this way."
Getting to the top of the grandstand took some time, since Tatsuya insisted on climbing the stairs on his own. When they reached the visiting room, it was packed full of people. Standing in front of them as they entered the room was the man Kenshin had seen near the grandstand, talking to a graying Caucasian man who stooped slightly to better hear what the other was saying. At least, Kenshin thought it was the same man. He had too few identifying features to be certain. Standing to the left of the door were Fitz and Mrs. Martins. Two large brown bags sat on the floor at their feet, with greenery sticking out of the tops.
"Oh, we're so happy to finally see you," she said, giving the children a hug as Kenshin and Fitz shook hands. "We've made the trip down here twice before already and never got in the gates. They search everything. Where's Mrs. Himura?"
"Down in the hospital section. We welcomed little Shinta Himura into the world this morning,"
"How wonderful!" Mrs. Martins clapped her hands, bouncing a little on her toes. "And how are they?"
"Doing fine. The kids and I stopped in for a visit and lunch, and were on our way back to our barrack when a runner caught up with us and said you were here."
"I have to ask: is Shinta a boy or a girl? I'm afraid I can't tell by the name."
"He's a boy. It's a family name – Sasuke's grandfather."
"Lovely. What does he look like?"
"Ah, like a baby." Kenshin grinned and shrugged while Fitz laughed. "And I'm assuming something like his parents but much younger."
"Oh, you men. You just don't notice the details. I wish I could see them."
"I wish you could, too."
"He's really cute," Cho piped up. "And really, really small. And he's got just a little bit of hair right here." She patted the top of her head right behind her bangs. "It sticks up like Tatsu-chan's. He was sleeping so his eyes were closed and his nose is just a bump. And he's chubby. He looks like he has three chins between his mouth and his neck."
"Babies are supposed to be chubby, dear. He'll lose some of that as he starts to grow. So how are you doing? Are you keeping busy?"
Cho started to tell Mrs. Martins about the art school and Fitz and Kenshin stepped subtly aside.
"As bad as what I'm hearing?" Fitz asked quietly.
"Bad enough. There's another here, and I think he's going to make trouble."
"Doesn't that just figure? Have you got the necessary equipment? I had to leave mine behind and I'm feeling somewhat nekked. I'd heard they check visitors very thoroughly."
"I have it. I also had a toddler running interference for me during the checks," Kenshin said, with a small grin as he ruffled the hair of the little boy standing next to him. "I wasn't counting on it, but it worked very well."
Tatsuya looked up at the feel of a hand in his hair and smiled broadly at Fitz. "Truck, Missa Fitz?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Fitz asked.
Kenshin chuckled. "He wants to know if you have the trucks you were playing with last time."
Fitz crouched down to look the little boy in the eyes. "Sorry, mate, I don't have any trucks today. Those were Master Tank's trucks if I recall. What have you got there?"
Tatsuya held up the deer. "Aminals Unca Tom made. Dis a deer."
"I see that, and quite a clever deer it is."
"Oh, Tom, dear, we brought you some plants for the garden you're building. It was time to thin out the lilies and there are peonies, and some of your irises." Mrs. Martins had exhausted Cho's knowledge of baby and art school.
"My irises?" Kenshin looked at Fitz. "Why did you dig up my irises?"
Fitz looked up from his examination of the bear, handing the deer back to Tatsuya.
"Well I didn't, actually. I'm working down at the corner pub now and came home to your neighbors helping themselves in the dark of night. They said that since the little Jap guy didn't live there anymore, they didn't figure anyone would mind. I told them I did mind and they could drop the plants where they stood, but then I didn't really know if there was some trick to replanting them and it was somewhat late after all, so Mrs. Martins and I just brought them along."
"I hope they survived being bagged and searched," the older woman said, nudging one of the paper grocery sacks with her toe. "We brought some seeds, too."
"I'm sure they'll be welcome. Those old guys are like a bunch of rabid gophers. You've never seen so much digging in your life," Kenshin said affectionately, grinning. "Hey, speaking of bringing things, Fitz, could you dig around in that closet in the den? There's a little red toolbox that has art supplies in it – pens, ink, brushes, stuff like that, and I think a couple pads of various types of paper. I might as well share it here, since it's not doing any good stockpiled there. And if you can find any other sources, I'm sure we could use anything for the school. They're working on a bit of a shoestring, although they've got folks at the art department at the university sending things. They're also talking about a regular school, so the kids don't get behind in their class work. I don't know where they're going to do that or what they need yet, but keep your eye out, and if you know someone who can help, that'd be great."
"Mrs. Brooks probably has good contacts, since she's a teacher," Mrs. Martins said. "I'll see if she knows about supplies, and maybe old textbooks that would still be useful."
"That would be great. And if you could find some baby formula or powdered milk, that would be good, too. Masumi said she's not producing much yet and it would be good to have a back-up plan."
"Right. Milk, art supplies, and school materials. Looks like we've got our marching orders," Fitz said. "We'll try to meet you back here next week, if that's okay? It might take some time to get this together."
"That works for the supplies. If you find some formula or milk powder, that'd be nice to have sooner. You could stop along the side of the road near the back fence, maybe, and toss it over to me. They do have patrols, but most of the guys are pretty understanding. It might be less effort than trying to get through security to get up here."
"All right. A little after noon works for me. Gives me a chance for some shut-eye before I venture forth."
"See you then."
They made their farewells and split up, with Fitz and Mrs. Martins leaving by one door that would take them past all the check stations again and into the parking lot, and Kenshin and the children leaving by another and going down through the grandstand until they came out onto the track. They took the bags of plants directly to the group of men gardening that day and were met with much in the way of appreciation, and then continued on to their stall. Retrieving a piece of broken broomstick, Kenshin made Cho run through her kendo forms in a clear space near the trees while he watched and Tatsuya played nearby. It hadn't been a perfect day, perhaps, but all in all, it hadn't been that bad.