I am so sorry for the long wait! J-Ninja and I have been caught up with the tasks of everyday life and are now just getting back together to write. Honestly, I wanted to give you guys something to make up for being gone for so long without notice, and this is what we came up with. We hope you sit back and enjoy, and hopefully forgive us for our absence!
NOTE: this may be a tad graphic for those special readers under the age of 12 years old. However, I promise it's nothing too obscene. So if you don't want to read about *SPOILER ALERT* ... child birth then I suggest maybe skipping this chapter.
Ayame's POV
I screamed out as the pain ripped through my stomach. My forehead was covered in sweat as the rest of my body gleamed in natural oil. Tears rolled down my face as the women, including Kyoga's mother surrounded me, softly encouraging me.
I gripped Rin's hand as the pain receded a little, like the waves in the ocean's tides. I took a breath as I relaxed, I was tired and I wasn't sure I could do this. I looked down at the ring on my left hand and remembered the day that Kyoga had proposed to me.
"I can't keep doing that anymore…will you marry me, Ayame?" Koyga asked as his burning green eyes looked into mine. I was frozen to the spot, my words caught in my throat. According to the Akayashi traditions, Koyga and I were all ready betrothed by the agreement mark, but here he was asking me the question I had always dreamed of hearing.
I watched as Kyoga's cheeks blushed, as he waited for my answer, becoming more nervous the longer I was struck dumb.
"Did I not do it right?… According to Yuki… maybe I didn't ask correctly… man this really blows…" I heard him mumble under his breath as he fumbled with the situation. Kyoga had alway put my needs before his, however when he first heard about human proposals he had always dismissed the idea with the fact that we were already intended through the mark as part of the agreement. It had been the heat of many misunderstandings between the two of us.
I looked at him now, as he struggled to make his feelings clearer, a warmth spread over my chest as I smiled and threw my arms around him, catching him of guard as I ignored the pain run through my chest.
That night I had agreed to marry him, but it wasn't until weeks later that after I was healed and him and I were walking home through the forest together that he presented me with this ring on his knee.
The ring glistened as a green stone laid against the silver metal craftsmanship. It wasn't anything big or fancy, but the soul of the giver had been etched into every crevasse of the ring. The green stone was one that was strictly used for Okami, in a way was like a crest for each division of Akayashi had. The Oni had a black stone, the Tengu purple, Kitsunes Yellow, and Yuki's clan had a special stone that was made of ice that was found only up further north.
Kyoga told me that the green stone was known as 'Silva' and was the representation of the forest and grass that the wolves spirits dwelled within, and that it represented longevity and good harvests. Or in my case, he wished for us long life and a healthy childbirth.
Kyoga had spent a lot more time away from me while I was healing to take care of 'work' as he had put it at the time. Much to my dismay, he had spent a lot of the hours that I was sleeping to shape the ring itself. The silver metal was spun in Akayashi fashion and the likes I had only seen once before.
My mind shifted back to the memory of Akio giving Asami the bracelet that fateful summer evening. With the same decadence, Kyoga fashioned me a symbol from his own heart, one that laid with his people and one that encompassed me along with it.
I groaned as the pain shot through me again, as I gritted my teeth narrowly avoiding my tongue. I remembered that evening when we got back to the shrine and how happy everyone was for us in their excitement.
"What's a …Godparent?" Chikage asked me. I looked at each of them. For some reason this made me nervous. What of they thought this was some dumb human thing and said no? I looked up at Kyoga and he nodded towards me in encouragement.
"A Godparent is someone the parents would trust to help look after their child. Kind of like and Aunt or an Uncle would do, except the Godparents aren't related by blood." I paused as the guys looked at each other as I bushed and stood up from the table that was covered in food that Samon had made in celebration of our homecoming and our child. I bowed deeply to the guys as they stared at me.
"I would be most honored if you all would be godparents to our child." I said awaiting their answers, my head still bowed.
"I guess, it's not such a bad idea, who else is going to teach the little guy how to win a fight?" Shinra was the first to pipe in. I looked up bewildered that they were entertaining the idea. Shinra pumped his fists a few times like he was fighting off an invisible opponent, a huge smile planted on his face.
"Little Oni's should work on themselves before trying to teach a child. Besides I'm obviously the best candidate for the job." Miyabi smirked at Shinra, again riling up the oni until he was red in the face.
Chikage sighed as he listened to the scene before him. "Both of you numb skulls, should think before you speak. Obviously he'll need someone smarter than you guys to keep him out of trouble."
"What you say, you preening peacock?" Shinra blurts out as things get even more heated. I watch as Chikage's eyebrow twitches at the new nickname.
"Tengu…" Chickage corrected through his teeth. once again, like always, the table is up in a roar between the three guys as a sudden chill sweeps through the living room, as a blizzard states forming.
"All of you need you calm down, you're making Ayame nervous. I'm sure she might regret having asked some." Yuki said as he sipped some of his tea his eyes cutting to the left where Shinra sat. I sweat dropped, a nervous smile planted on my face as the arguing only grew.
"Yuki, would you mind letting off of the snow? I'm sure Ayame is getting uncomfortable." He said as he wrapped his arm, protectively around my waist. The snow slowly died down as Kyoga stood and addressed the guys more formally, just as I had.
"All you you have qualities that differ from each other as night does from day. Having grown up and relied on each other over the decades have proven itself over time and time again, even when Ayame awoken, that it takes each of our differences to make our village function through the height of uncertainty. The humans have a saying that 'it takes a village to raise a child' , I have no doubt in my mind that it'll take all of us to raise this child of ours, and would be honored if you all helped look out for them in your own ways." Kyoga said with his head bowed.
I looked up at him shocked, as did the rest of the guys. Slowly each of the guys smiles slowly grew, each one of their personalities filtering through the simple astounding agreement to help look after our child together. My eyes focused back on Koyga, I had never expected them to each take to the idea so readily. My eyes watered, for the first time I felt like I could really do this.
"All right! I'll be the first to tech him how to use a sword!" Shinra agrees as Kyoga sits back down beside me.
"I'll defiantly have to teach him how to use sorcery." Miyabi says.
"The boy will have to learn all about the human and the mononoke world. He'll have a lot of his plate, he wont have time for brawls of the ones you two talk about." Chikage adds as the arguing kicks, like old times.
Samon and Yuki suddenly ask us about names for 'him'. Kyoga and I look at each other, each reading what the other is thinking before we both burst out laughing. The table goes silent as Koyga and I recompose ourselves, the guys looking at us like we've lost our minds.
"It's a girl." Kyoga says smiling as he rubs my tummy gently and affectionately.
"Right, it's a girl…girl?!" Shinra, still caught up in the moment says, until it hits him and his eyes widen as he looks back at my tummy. I blush and giggle as he stutters redder than he's been all evening, the rest of the guys making fun of him, each to hide their own embarrassment or their own mistakes.
Now, I'm eating my words. I strain against the tightening of my bulging stomach as I push again for the thousandth time, it feels like.
"I can't!…" I cry out, Kyoga's mother comforts me as I toss my head back again, her hand sweeping my hair off my sweaty forehead.
"Yes you can, now come on and take a deep breath and push again on three. One… two…three!" she says. Once more I do as she commands and push as hard as I can. The women elders told me that it would be hard for me to give birth when the time came. It's just how my body would work with the blood of an akayashi running through my child. My body would naturally go through the process of giving birth, but my child would cling to me because of my powers.
I look at the clock again, I've been pushing for over an hour now and I'm wondering if this child will ever come out. If I had been in the human hospitals, I'm sure they would have had to have to cut my child out. Looking at the elder woman's face as she's helping me give birth, I can tell she worried about me being too tired to keep pushing.
I relax again, feeling hopeless, as tears roll down my cheeks. Kyoga's mother is still at my side.
"Ayame, you are doing so good. The baby is almost here, we can see her, you're almost through. I know it doesn't count for much since I'm not your real mother, but you're such a strong girl and I will be right here with you! Don't give up!" She cheers me on, I see so much of my own mother in her. Instantly I'm filled again with the strength to keep going.
"Don't be ridiculous! You have always been so much like my own mother, I see so much of her through you. You've always helped keep me going! I'm so very thankful that Kyoga has a mother like you." I tell her as she uses a towel to wipe my face and neck of sweat. Tears fill her eyes as she hears my words and squeezes my hand that I'm holding.
This pregnancy had been rough, with both me and Kyoga having to adjust to not only living together in the mononoke village but also with my growing stomach. There had been many times were I'd throw up my hands and I had went to my mother-in-laws house to escape the feuds between us. Both her and her sister helped me understand Koyga more, bit by bit. Kyoga's mother had called them 'growing pains', and would hear me out and by the end of the day we'd be laughing about her own early marriage problems. And here she was once again, helping me like my own mother.
I leaned into her while I rested in between my contractions. One of the good things about Kyoga's mother was she smelled similar to Kyoga. This alone brought me great comfort.
"Ok, Ayame on three. One… Two… Three!" The elder counted down. Lifting I heaved a great push as I was once again thrown back into a sea of pain.
Kyoga's POV
I cringed against the cries of agony from my wife. I waited outside, pacing as the minuets turned into an hour. The elders told me that it is difficult for a girl with the special blood to give birth, but I had never imagined the amount of pain she'd be put through because of it. My father and my sister waited outside with me. My sister comforting me and my father encouraging me.
About 30 minutes into the birth, the other guys showed up offering their support. It was obvious as time went on that that Ayame was getting tired, and with it the risk that she would be too exhausted to keep going.
My mother was in there helping with the birth, but I half way wish that I would be of use, however the elders forbade males to help with childbirth. Ayame wasn't thrilled with it but she said she would be fine with it if my mother helped as her support. In a way Ayame saw my mother as her own.
I was a nervous wreak, as I paced the front of the castle.
"Kyoga call down, fretting about it this much isn't helping anyone." My father said as he sat against the wall. My sister nodded as she agreed with him, saying that Ayame was a strong girl and that it would take a lot more than this to bring her down.
"But if it takes too long-" I began only to be cut short by my own father.
"It'll take as long as it takes, like Kohana said, Ayame's strong. So have faith in your wife, she will not give up." He said. I tried to take comfort in his words, but I was still nervous.
As the night rolled on, the full moon high in the warm summer sky, the guys making jokes and bets about how long it would be before I jumped off the deep end. I tried not to hear Ayame's cries and prayed to the gods for the best, a happy wife, and a healthy child.
Ayame's POV
I pushed hard again, doing what I had to as my contraction stopped. I slumped back again to get ready to push again, when a sudden cry rang through the air. My heart seemed to have stopped and sputtered into high gear as something warm was placed onto my chest.
I looked down, surly there was a bundle laying against my skin. Brilliant white ears and tail greeted me, a brown spot on the trip each ear and tail. The bundle was a warm pink thing, that curled perfectly over my chest. The child's eyes began to open, with an even more brilliant green with brown flakes looked back at me.
I felt like I couldn't breathe as we looked at each other for the first time. Time seemed to have stopped, the pain and fatigue seemingly gone within an instant, and all that was left was love and admiration.
Tears gathered in my eyes as I looked down at the tiny girl that was beyond any beauty that I had even known thus far. It was obvious that Kyoga was going to have his hands full fighting off the boys that would surly come after her, that much I could already say.
Then the world started again. I looked up at the beaming woman beside me as she gazed at the child as she would her own. I sobbed into her as she told what an excellent job I had done. This tiny girl both scared me and excited me at the same time, so much of Kyoga… and … so much of myself, that I didn't expect.
I smiled through the tears as I looked down at her again as Kyoga's mother wrapped the child in a pink cloth that she had graciously made for the occasion before handing her back to me, kissing me on the forehead as she did so.
Kyoga POV
As soon as my mother joined us, a thrilled smile plastered permanently across her face. My nerves died down. Ayame had done it!
"You had better thank that girl in there for what she's just given you. Your work is just now beginning, my son." She said as she walked over to my father. I didn't wait nearly as long as I should have to properly thank my mother after simply giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, before making my way to where Ayame was.
I eagerly thrust open the door to see my wife holding a small bundle in her arms, with tears still clinging to her eyes. She glowed radiantly down at the package in her arms before her soft brown eyes met mine. Of all the times to be nervous, I found my heart nearly beating outside of my chest as I walked towards her. My hands shook as I neared closer, what my mother said to me outside clinched my stomach as I kissed my exhausted, beautiful wife.
I looked down, and that was the end of it. I knew then what my mother had been talking about. Ayame softly pulled the blanket that surrounded the bundle in her arms to reveal a child with hair as silver as the moon itself, ears tipped with the same shade of brown as my fur. The child blinked and looked up at the woman who had woken her from her brief slumber revealing the brightest green eyes that I had ever seen. My heart stopped in my chest, she was beyond beautiful as she matched Ayame's facial features to a tee.
Tears gathered in my eyes as Ayame handed her to me for the first time. So warm and so tiny, and she smelled of Iris' and dew drops in the morning. I looked back Ayame and pulled her in close as I held two of the most beautiful girls in the world, and thanked Ayame over and over again.
Ayame's POV
I watched closely as Kyoga once again feel in love... all in a matter of seconds of laying eyes on Akemi. This tiny girl had him wrapped around his finger faster than I ever did. I felt happy and jealous at the same time as she enveloped his whole focus.
I watched as his eyes began to water before he pulled me close while still holding our little miracle safely in his arms.
"Thank you…. Thank you so so much, Ayame." He said his voice thick with emotion. Even though I couldn't see his face I could tell he was crying in relief and joy and love. I felt tears of my own begin again. We had a long road ahead of us, but without a doubt I was sure we'd make it together.
As you might have guessed, this is the last chapter of this story. And as you see this is the return of the silver wolves! If you want to see a grown up version of Akemi, then refer to our avatar. Hopefully I can get up the drawings I have made of Akemi and have them in our image manager for you to view at your leisure. Also, please, please, please let us know what you thought of the story as a whole in addition to this last chapter. I might consider writing a story for Akemi, if we have so many people interested in reading her story. So fingers crossed for those of you who do wan to read her story... I honestly think it might be an interesting bunny to write out. I swear the plot bunnies might just hold me hostage and make me write it regardless... but IDK. I really want to hear from you guys thoughts and ideas about what you would like to see happen. I look forward to hearing and working with you! Best of luck! and Thanks so much for supporting our story! Bye-bye! 3 ~WBI
NOTE: I do not own the image I picked to depict Akemi's image used in our avatar picture. I do not own the entitlement of EITML. This story was purely fan made and I do not receive any profits from this story or the image of 'AKEMI'.
However, I DO own the pic of Kyoga and Akemi as a young girl on his shoulders, and the other hand drawn pics that I may post later. Please do not take my pics and use them for any scandalous or unintended use as they are works of art. These were fan made in relation to EITML and my story.