Flashback
"Just a little bit more Haine, you're doing great."
Oh god. The pain. It's like every fiber, every cell in her body is in pain and it comes in waves, each one more severe than the last. But she pushes through, the nurse blots her forehead with a cool cloth and coaches her, her hand the weak mother's only tether to this world beyond the pain. She cries out, tears streaming down her face as she contracts her muscles and pushes.
"Haine you're almost there." The doctor looks up at the nurse and nods once, some unspoken orders exchanges between the two of them. The nurse moves in front of Haine's face and smiles.
"Listen to me Haine, you're almost done. The doctor just needs one last good push and you'll be able to hold your beautiful baby girl at long last." The nurse blots Haine's head again and rests the cloth against her face. "When I say push you have to give it all you've got alright?"
The sweaty blonde nods, biting her chapped lower lip as another wave of pain flows through her entire being. She takes a few deep breaths and pushes with every last drop of energy she has left once the nurse gives the signal, and after three hours of labor Haine's efforts are rewarded by the cries of a baby just out of sight. "Congratulations Haine, she's a perfectly healthy baby."
"I want... want to see..." She can barely form sentences, but luckily the nurse heard her nearly silent plea, helping the weak woman support a beautiful baby girl in her arms, wisps of silver-white hair covering her perfect little head. Tears spill out of Haine's eyes and down her cheeks as she smiles at her beautiful baby. "Hi... Mayuri... I love you."
Haine feels so tired, she can barely keep her eyes open and willingly lets the nurse take her beautiful daughter to the nursery to be cared for. She's healthy, and so, so precious. She can't wait to spend time with her when she wakes up, but for now, she really needs to sleep...
"Hello, my name is Hikari. I received a message about my sister Haine?"
Worried out of his mind, Jiraiya lifts his head from his hands and watches as an incredibly feminine and attractive woman with long light blonde hair stands at the desk in the maternity ward. He hasn't heard or been told anything about Haine's condition or of the baby but he knows she's not in her room and they won't let him see her. This woman, Hikari, isn't familiar to him but the resemblance to Haine is so uncanny he has no reason to doubt their relation. He wonders perhaps if this is what Haine would have looked like had she not been so sickly.
"It is with the greatest of apologies that I must inform you that your sister died in the delivery room today."
She's gone. Jiraiya's eyes widen and he drops his head back down into his hands in anguish, tears streaming down his face seconds later. Another friend, another soul he couldn't save. If only he hadn't spent that extra time in the Leaf looking one last time for the father. He could have been here, he could have been there for her right up until the end. He shouldn't have left her in the first place this close to her due date. He should have insisted on staying by her side regardless of how much she begged him to retrieve that stupid tea blend from the Leaf Village. But, as per his usual form, he'd caved into the desires of a woman and had left as promised. She wasn't supposed to be due for another two weeks, how was he to know she would go into labor two days after he'd left?
"However, all storm clouds have a silver lining. The baby girl was delivered without any complications and is perfectly healthy and happy. Your sister didn't list any father for the baby, and as her only relative the decisions for her future rest on your shoulders."
"Great. One more thing I have to take care of for poor, sick Haine."
Jiraiya freezes.
"And there's absolutely no clues as to who the father might be?"
"Unfortunately no ma'am. She lost a lot of blood and used all of her strength in the birth. We didn't get to ask her any questions."
"I already have children of my own, I don't really have the time to take in another child. Just tell me what I need to do to send her off somewhere."
"Ma'am, are you quite sure? There are other options and help available to those who need assistance-"
"I don't expect you to understand, but knowing my sister the father could be anyone. She probably didn't know herself who the father was and I am not about to take that child into my home not -"
"I'm the father." The words just came out, and Jiraiya doesn't remember when he got up and crossed the room to the desk. His fists are balled at his sides and they shake with his anger. "Haine and I have been involved for quite some time now but we were never public because she feared she might lose her job."
Hikari drags her pale blue eyes up and down Jiraiya's person before turning back to the nurse. "There, I see no need for me to still be here. Now if you don't mind I have better places to be than here." She turns and meets Jiraiya's eyes, speaking her next words almost into his soul itself. "Like with my own family for instance."
After question after question about his involvement with Haine, Jiraiya has been granted permission to take home "his" daughter after a final check up in an hour. So here he stands, looking through the glass into the nursery at the blue and pink bundles sleeping peacefully in their little cribs. He knows he's looking for a pink bundle, but he's unsure which one belonged to Haine.
"Are you Jiraiya?" A small, delicate medical ninja looks up at the white haired sage and smiles, a silent pink bundle in her arms. "You are, aren't you? I've seen you around the hospital."
"Ah, yeah." He doesn't take his eyes off the pink blanket in the nurses arms. "My... girlfriend... just had a baby - a daughter - and I'm not sure which one she is."
"Miss Haine I presume." The nurse turns and looks into the blanket with a smile before looking back up at Jiraiya. "This is her. Would you like to hold her?"
Before Jiraiya can protest or say anything really, this nurse helps him properly hold the small, warm pink bundle in his arms and moves the blanket from the baby's face. She's fair skinned, with a full head of silver-white hair Jiraiya vaguely recognizes but can't exactly place. She murmurs and coos quietly in his arms.
"I was in the delivery room with Miss Haine," the nurse goes on to say, smiling at the happy pair before her. "She was very brave."
"Yeah, yeah she was." Jiraiya reaches up and moves the blanket away from the infants face some more, only to have her open her eyes and grab on to his finger, he nearly sinking to his knees at the sight of the familiar bright yellow eyes that could only belong to Haine. "She's got her mother's eyes."
At that moment, the little girl's eyes meet his, and it feels as though she's looking right through him. In that moment, Jiraiya's guilt and worry disappears because in those perfect, golden eyes he sees her - the one person who deserved to be a mother more than anyone he'd ever known - and she's happy.
