Hey guys! Again, I'm so sorry about my delayed updates. I've been so busy lately that I can't get anything done. Here is Chapter 21 of "I Hate Everything About You"! I hope you enjoy, R&R, no flames please!
Haru's life was just peachy.
The contractions weren't getting any better. Kisame's voice only pissed her off more, and the fathers of her children were staring each other down, not saying a word. Yeah, life sucked.
Where was Itachi, anyway? Surely he wasn't making fucking snacks while all this shit went down.
Another. Her head fell back into the snow as she screamed, "I want to die!"
That got Sasuke and Orochimaru's attention. They snapped their heads in her direction, concern melting their anger away.
She glared back at the both of them. "You both can just go!" she shouted. "You'd be doing me a favor. If you're going to stand there like idiots, please get out of Kisame's way!"
"Haru-san, they-" Kisame started.
"Shut up!" God, she was fed up with their shit. "Listen here: Kisame, Itachi and I will handle this. The only other person I want at this spring is Uchiha Itachi. He's the only person who has stayed here and helped me the entire time."
Sasuke and Orochimaru both hesitated. "Haru, listen, I'm sorry-"
Her husband's apology was interrupted by Haru's screaming. "Goddamn it!" she shouted. No, these weren't going to get any easier. Her night was going to suck. How had her mother handled giving birth to twins?
Even in her weakened state, she could feel that Itachi was approaching. Where was Ichirou? Was he really being left alone?
"Go watch your son." Itachi sounded frustrated. He handed Haru a ceramic mug and then turned to the Sannin. "I told you she didn't want you here. I'm pretty sure that she still doesn't."
Haru almost dropped the mug in the water with the next contraction. The scream tore from her throat.
"Drink that, Haru."
"Look at… you… being all bossy and such," she breathed back. It was starting to snow. Was she doing that? Or was it just the fact that it always snowed here?
Itachi visibly rolled his black and crimson eyes. "Someone has to be in control, otherwise there will be chaos."
Sasuke was gone. Probably inside, watching his child, where he should be. That was good. She didn't want to see his good for nothing face, either.
"Sasuke, please don't leave."
He was dressing. It was the second time that he'd come to visit. She was getting bigger, but that had never been a problem when she was pregnant with Ichirou. This was just the first time they'd had sex in a long time.
"I have things to do, Haru. I don't have time to stay all night."
"Sasuke, please don't lie to me. I want you to stay."
He didn't look at her. He slid the door open and started to walk out. "Sorry, Haru, but I just can't do this."
He shut the door behind him. She started sobbing. She heard his footsteps stop halfway down the hall, as if he'd hesitated, but then he kept going. The front door shut.
"Why me?" she asked aloud. "Why me, goddamn it!"
Sasuke didn't love her anymore. Orochimaru was simply an obsessed fool who didn't want to be there for his child. She was all alone. She had no one but her son left. And he was too young to understand. That made her start thinking.
What would she tell Ichirou when he was older? What on earth would she tell him when he realized how horrible Haru really was? Would he hate her? And could she really blame him?
"Calm down, Haru."
She jumped and pulled the covers over herself at the sound of Itachi's voice. "Don't just come in here like that, Itachi-san."
"Don't cry so loud you wake people up."
She snorted sarcastically through her tears. "It's my house. I'll cry when I please."
"He's treating you like shit. Don't cry over such a waste."
She looked up at her undead brother in law in disdain, wiping her eyes. "How could you say that about your own brother?"
Itachi sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I'm the oldest. If I think he's being stupid, I'll call him out on it. Just like I did a moment ago," he answered.
"I didn't even hear you say anything to him."
"I didn't want you to hear what I had to say."
She scoffed, and then said quietly, "I just don't know what to do, Itachi. I'm tired of him hating me."
"He doesn't hate you," the man answered. "He just isn't sure what to do right now. He's never been in this situation."
"What would you do, Itachi?"
She'd stopped crying. Itachi grew silent. He really wasn't sure what to say. "I killed my lover with the clan," he said after a few minutes. "We never fought. We never had conflict. Nothing like this."
"Say you hadn't killed her, and a similar thing happened." She stopped for a moment. "I mean, you were in the Uchiha clan. Unpredictable shit happened to you all the time."
He laughed a little. "I suppose." He looked dazed for a moment, and his eyes glazed as if he were going to cry. "I guess if I had to deal with something like this, but I was in Sasuke's position, I would-"
"Holy fuck!"
Her flashback was interrupted. Itachi held her free hand, even though ice was starting to form around it.
"Calm the fuck down!" he shouted.
"You calm the fuck down!" she shouted back. Oh, this was rich. "Twins are about to pop outta me, you dick! Don't even start on me with 'calm down'!"
The rest of the labor process was horrible. Itachi had to end up using his Sharingan to make the pain subside, as the herbal tea he'd made and the deep breathing was not helping one bit. The spring began to turn pink with blood, and Haru went into a daze.
She wasn't sure what Kisame had done, but he was in the water with her at some point, making sure she was well dilated and everything was normal. Itachi stayed close by and more than once kept Haru from getting out of the water to go kill the two men in the house for doing this to her.
Soon one infant was out, and Kisame wrapped it in thick wool blankets after cutting the umbilical cord. The screams of the child outdid Haru's shouts, and two minutes later the other was coming as well.
"One more push, Haru," Kisame said to her with a grin on his face. "It's almost over. The kid's coming."
She pushed. The child came. Kisame cut the cord and wrapped the infant in wool blankets as well. Haru's head fell into the snow. The ice around Itachi's hand melted away. The infants were screaming, more than likely ready to be fed.
Haru fed the both of them before going back into the house. She was still in such a daze that she hadn't checked the genders. She just knew that the oldest, Yukiko, belonged to Orochimaru, while Setsuko belonged to her husband. They were identical, down to hair color, skin tone, and face shapes. So much for "fraternal" twins, as that's what they really were.
She carried them to the bedroom without saying a word to either of the men sitting on her couch. She put them in cribs that had been hand-carved for her by some random clan in the Leaf Village. Tsunade had invited way too many people to that thing.
It was when the two were asleep that she checked the genders. Yukiko was a boy; Setsuko, a girl. Wonderful. She could already see the toddlers bickering because Yukiko broke Setsuko's doll.
Haru quickly shook her head. She couldn't be negative about this. These were her children, her little miracles. She couldn't have disdain or hate or regret for them.
Now, their fathers, on the other hand, she could be cruel to all day long and be fine.
She called Sasuke into the bedroom first. She was sitting down on the bed holding Setsuko in her arms. She was tired. She could practically feel the bags forming under her eyes. Thank god Itachi was cooking in the kitchen.
Her husband walked in with wide, eager eyes. He was probably looking forward to another son.
"This is Setsuko." Haru's voice was soft and stern at the same time. She didn't want to wake the infant, but she wanted him to know how angry she really was. "I can tell the difference between the two quite easily; the eyes are different."
Sasuke snorted, but she could tell it was all an act. He gently took Setsuko into his arms, and when she said it was a girl, his eyes glittered with what she was sure were tears. He was excited. Even if it wasn't a boy, he was excited.
"She looks just like you, Haru," he whispered.
Haru shrugged, exhaustion making her yawn. "Eh, she'll get bigger and look like an Uchiha."
"I hope she doesn't."
She met his eyes then. He smiled sadly at her. "I want her to look just like you."
She rolled her eyes at him. He held Setsuko for another moment before putting her back in her crib, and then embraced Haru as tightly as he could.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry for everything. I can't believe how I felt…" She had to pull away and sit down. Her legs were shaking. "Now that I see our daughter, and how gorgeous she is, I don't want to ever leave you or her or Ichirou ever again."
"Well I have another son, Sasuke. That's something we will have to discuss eventually."
His eyes darkened as he looked toward the crib beside Setsuko's. Haru jumped up. "Don't blame Yukiko for this," she snapped. "He didn't ask for any of this. He's as innocent as his twin sister and his older brother."
Sasuke snorted again before leaving the room. That time it was real. She sat back down. This wasn't going to work. Somehow, this wasn't going to work at all. She had no idea what on earth she was going to do about this.
Orochimaru entered a few minutes later, and watched her sit there for what seemed like an hour before he spoke.
"Where is my child, Haru?"
Haru pointed toward the second crib, her eyes locked on it. She didn't want to speak to him or want him to be there, but he had every right to see his son. Every right.
The Sannin walked over slowly, wordlessly placing the winter roses in Haru's lap. He peered into the crib with curious eyes that softened into loving in a matter of three seconds. She'd never even seen him look at her that way. Well, the looks had been similar, but nothing like that.
"You look like Sasuke when he saw Ichirou," she said with a small laugh. "Seeing your first child is a crazy thing, you know."
"The… the name?" Orochimaru seemed to have a hard time speaking. That didn't happen much.
She started to lie down. She couldn't take this. She needed sleep, as did her new babies. "Your son's name is Yukiko. It means 'Snow Child.' Please, let me rest."
To her shock, he actually nodded, kissing her on the forehead before he left the room. He didn't say a word to her. But she could hear everything he wanted to say. Every whisper, shout, scream, growl. Everything.
It was funny, she thought, how even though she loved her husband with everything she had, she couldn't hear him like that.
Alright, guys, sorry that it's so freaking short! I really had a bad case of writer's block on the birth chapter. I've also been working on a fanfiction that I wrote YEARS ago, but it's totally freaking crazy! It's a crossover between an anime and a videogame that wouldn't even make sense going together, but when I was thirteen I somehow made it work. And now with my sketches of them, I think I may be able to pull it off. Maybe.
Anyway, maybe I won't take as long with the next chapter. Buh-bye!