Autor's Note:
Meri – Yep…sorry for my insane predictability. And I just realized how weird it is that your penname is Meri Umeko, and so is the character in this story…it's not weird, but it's sort of odd.
Shorter chapter now…only seven pages…blech.
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Meri woke up, ever so slowly. She regained consciousness, but kept her eyes closed, trying to remember what had happened to cause her to fall into such a deep sleep.
It took her a moment or so, but eventually, her mind wandered back to Itachi, the twins being born. As these memories dawned on her, so did a foreign feeling…
It was over. Everything was over.
In a good sense, and a bad.
The twins had been born. Meri no longer had to endure the everyday unfomcort she had been for the past seven months.
And yet, Itachi was gone. Konan was as well, with Sahiro out looking for her.
Meri felt…strange. Just…strange, that's all. Everything in her entire life had changed during the past two days, completely twisted around. It would take a while to adjust to it, if she ever adjusted at all. She couldn't help feeling helpless, now with no idea of what to do with herself.
Now, Meri's eyes slid slowly open, and took in her surroundings.
She still was in a hospital room, but different from the one before. She lay on top of and under warm, cream-colored bed sheets, in a friendly, light-green painted room. The sunlight streaming through the open window gave it a much less cold, hospital feeling.
Yet, signs of a medical center still remained. Meri felt tubes of oxygen running up into her nose, and saw them feeding into a large, complicated looking device. Attached to her arm was an IV drip, the small plastic tube hanging down from a small bag of clear, orange-colored chemicals or whatnot.
Meri tried to sit up, but the moment she did, a horrible, aching pain spread through her upper back and arms. Immediately, she fell back into her previous position, where she felt strangely and pleasantly numb, especially now without the added weight of the twins that she had grown accustomed to.
Completely unable to move without putting herself in intense pain, Meri simply lay there, eyes traveling around the room, while every last ounce of her mind was willing her not to fall back asleep, as she much would have enjoyed doing. Minutes flew by like speeding bullets, time not meaning much to Meri at the time. Eventually, though, the door to the room opened. Meri's eyes flew towards it, and the younger doctor who had tended to the twins directly after they were born stepped through the door. He spotted her awake, and smiled.
"Good morning." he said, walking over to her bedside and pulling up a chair, taking a seat in it and crossing his legs.
"Good Morning" Meri replied hoarsely, throat sore. She was surprised at how much of her breath it took for her to choke out a single sentence, but continued anyway, asking the first and most obvious question.
"Where are they?"
At this, the doctor's smile faded.
"Meri…" he said, coughing into his fist. "Unfortunately, we've got some rather unhappy news…your eldest born, your son…he didn't make it."
Meri stared at him in disbelief.
No. I must have heard wrong.
She continued to stare, willing him to take the sentence back, hoping for him to say that he misspoke, that it was someone else's child, anyone but hers…not her son…
"We did everything we could." he continued on, hanging and shaking his head. "Younger and premature pregnancies have a higher chance of birth defects. He was just too small…his heart and lungs weren't fully developed."
Meri's ears had gone numb, her eyes were welling up with tears.
"Can…can I see him?"
The doctor looked up at her, eyes searching her facial expression for a moment.
"I…I don't see why not. I'll, um, be right back, Meri."
He stood up from the chair and exited the room, leaving Meri by herself.
She stared at the chair that the doctor had just occupied moments ago, his ears ringing in her brain.
"He didn't make it."
She sniffed, feeling a horrible, sinking feeling in her stomach.
Why? Of all children to take away…why my son? I need him, more than ever…
About a minute or so had passed before the doctor re-entered the room, carrying a small, white bundle. He walked over to the bed and pushed a button on the side of it, so that the back rose slowly. Meri's spine tingled painfully as the bed moved, but soon, she had risen into a semi-sitting position. Her arms throbbed as soon as she moved them to receive the baby boy, but she did not wince, nor whimper in protest.
The doctor bent over, and placed the baby in her arms.
Meri stared down at him with intense interest.
He was small. Extremely small. He had Mikoto's nose, there was no doubt about it. Hitomi's face shape was present as well, his lips belonged to Meri and his skin tone was clearly that of an Uchiha. She reached up, and with trembling fingers, lifted one of his eyelids. The moment she saw his eyes, tears sprang to her own and slid down her face.
He had Itachi's eyes. Harsh and cruel, with a strangely gentle nature about them, pure onyx, just like his.
"Have you thought of a name?" asked the doctor, breaking the silence with his slightly cautious voice.
Meri nodded.
"Jairo." she said. "J – a – i – r – o. With a silent j."
The doctor nodded.
"That's unique. Like your name."
Meri smiled for the first time in a while.
"Exactly. And I'd like his godparents to be Sahiro Kyou and his wife, Konan."
The doctor nodded, obviously having no idea who those two people were, but deciding to sort it all out later. "What about a middle name?"
Meri thought for a moment, before deciding on the perfect name.
"Sahiro. Jairo Sahiro Umeko." It sounded fitting. She glanced down at the lifeless infant in her arms.
It pained Meri that she would never get to use the name. Jairo Sahiro Umeko, get down her this minute and clean up the dishes. Jairo, you can't go out until you finish your homework. Jairo, apologize to your sister.
Sister.
Meri's eyes suddenly sprang open, and she made a gesture for the doctor to take Jairo away. He did, leaning down and taking the baby in his arms, treating it as if it were actually breathing.
"Where is my daughter?" Meri asked. Please tell me she lived.
"Your daughter is under intensive care."
Meri stared up at him with pleading eyes.
"Please."
He paused, before nodding slowly.
"Alright."
Once again, the doctor left Meri alone in the room, returning another few minutes later with an identical bundle in his arms. This one, though, he handled with much more caution as he placed her in Meri's arms.
The little girl that Meri now held was even smaller than Jairo, skin much darker, as well – a pinkish red shade. Her eyes were closed, her breathing heavy. Meri looked down at the facial features, trying to determine which body part she had gotten from whom.
She had Meri's nose, Meri's face, Meri's cheekbones…everything about her was a resemblance of Meri's face. Everything except her small, slender, soft looking mouth. That, Meri recognized, belonged to Itachi. Just as Meri was beginning to wonder about the little girl's eyes, they opened slowly, big, round, and wide, blinking in the sudden sunlight. They were bright violet, coming as a shock to Meri. It took her a moment or so to realize where the color combination had come from. It was a perfect blend of the sea blue of her eyes, and the blood red of Itachi's sharringan.
The doctor seemed to notice Meri's sudden surprise.
"The eyes are an odd color, I know. It's probably just a slight birth defect, but it's nothing to worry about."
Meri nodded in agreement, still keeping her secret theory about her eye color and the sharringan. She intended on taking it to the grave.
"A name?" asked the doctor.
Meri stared down at the little girl in her arms, who was now staring around the room with wide eyes, arms moving slowly.
"Elva." announced Meri after a moments pause. "Elva Umeko. No middle name. Sasuke Uchiha will be her godfather. Hitomi, my mother, will be her godmother."
The doctor probably found the mention of Sasuke Uchiha quite strange, but if he did, he made no mention or facial expression according to the matter. Instead, he took a seat once more and watched as Meri stared down at her child.
It was the most amazing thing in the world, giving birth. Meri stared down at the small human in her arms and wondered how on earth that it came into being. The idea that she herself created such a thing seemed simply uncanny, but now that she was holding Elva in her arms, it just seemed so right. Elva was part of Meri, and Meri was part of Elva. They fit. Perfectly.
Too perfectly.
For Meri, nothing seemed to go right. So, she was fearing the worse when she felt her arms start to send horrible pain signals to her brain, just from holding a small child that weighed probably less than five pounds.
"Sir?"
The doctor looked up at Meri.
"Yes?"
She stared him directly in the eye, with the most piercing gaze she could muster.
"Am I dying? I know I am, you're not supposed to take premature newborns out of intensive care unless it's dire. Yet, you barely hesitated when I asked to see Elva. I'm dying, aren't I?"
He seemed completely taken aback by the question, eyes first widening, and then closing completely. He sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair while thinking of an answer.
"You're very young, Meri. Young pregnancies are always difficult and painful. But you're also very small for your age, and you did have twins. There were many complications that your body just wasn't ready for, and the unimaginable strain it took on you—"
"Just tell me." Meri said, having to use the very last bit of breath in her lungs to sound strong and courageous. "I'm not afraid."
He frowned.
"Meri…your body is shutting down. We can slow the process, and hopefully stop it, but it will require intense care."
"What?" Meri asked, tilting her head to the side best she could, towards the respirator. "And have a machine breathe for me during the process? With all due respect, doctor…" she reached up with one arm, the other still cradling Elva, and pulled the tubes carefully out of her nose. "I really don't want to put myself in more pain."
The doctor cringed.
"Meri, I'd rather you didn't—" he warned her, staring at the two oxygen tubes, now on the floor. Meri did not reply, she looked down at Elva.
"Elva…" she whispered, making direct eye contact with the infant. For a moment, Elva looked up at Meri, recognizing the sound of her voice, looking amused by it. "Be a strong and independent woman, like Konan. Grow up healthy. And always remember, mommy is always with you, and she loves you."
Meri's voice was thick with emotion, her vision blurred with tears. It also didn't help that the moment she took the respirator out, her breath became low and shallow, now it was harder to breathe than ever. "I love you, Elva." Meri choked.
She leaned forward, and for the first and last time, kissed her daughter goodnight, completely alone. Eighteen years old.
Then, Meri leaned back on the bed, wiggling to get into a comfortable position, and closed her eyes. The doctor sat there, watching helplessly, wanting to stop her, while his heart told him to let her go.
After a while, Meri's chest was rising and falling ever so slowly…
And then, it stopped.
Elva looked up at Meri, her eyes wide.
Why was she not moving anymore? What was wrong?
Elva's face crumpled, and she soon began wailing heavily, tears falling down her face as she shrieked.
Sadly, the doctor stood up and took Elva from Meri's lifeless arms, and carried her away.
Elva continued to wail and shriek as the doctor walked, looking back over her shoulder at Meri's still form.
Crying for her mother.