1 Chapter Twenty – Just A Passing Pain
***
"They say things happen in threes." Masaya turned to Aiyana. "Tenoh-san and Kaioh-san found out about your parentage – that's number one. I wonder what two and three are going to be?"
His voice sounded a little bitter, and Aiyana had to turn away from him. He had been seething earlier, and Aiyana couldn't tell whether he was furious because of what Haruka and Michiru were speculating, or because they had all kept it hidden from him for so long. Aiyana figured it must have been a little bit of both.
Masaya sighed. "I can't believe – why would –" He shook his head. "I can't believe that Tenoh-san and Kaioh-san would believe such a thing. Why would they believe that King Endymion-sama did anything to trespass on his fidelity with Queen Serenity-sama? I know that they are very much in love. They have been for centuries." He shook his head again and looked up at Aiyana. "He never would, Aiyana."
"Perhaps you're right," she said, staring at Masaya. There was a catch in her voice – she wasn't about to cry again, but the catch was still there, evidencing her hurt.
"I know I'm right." His voice was forceful. He then turned to Aiyana. "Why did you keep it all a secret from me?"
"I—" Aiyana stopped and furtively clutched her stomach, trying in vain to stop the sharp pain that was slicing through it. This pain had happened a little earlier, too – like all her muscles were tightening into a little ball that was trying to squeeze itself to death. The pain was very strong and quite unbearable, but she merely sucked a little breath and tried to pretend as if it hadn't happened. Lately the little one had been kicking her harder, sometimes in organs she hadn't even known were surrounding that part of her body. There had been pain there, but never quite like this.
"I didn't want to have to talk about it with you."
"What do you mean by that?" Masaya became a little bit closer to Aiyana, staring her in the eye. "I would have tried to be understanding. Tried. I mean, you never kept anything else from me, right?"
"I suppose I haven't…" She stared at him again. The pain was happening a little more frequently now. Earlier it had passed…stopped. Come again and passed. They were each about 30 to 45 mintues apart. But this pain…was coming more quickly. She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to look as if she were exasperated instead of hurting.
Masaya was immediately suspicious. "Aiyana, is something wrong?"
"No," she said. *It's just a passing pain, that's all…nothing's going to happen to my baby…* She let out a breath as the pain subsided. "No. I haven't really kept anything from you. It's just that…well…everything in my life was so complicated, and then there was…you. You weren't complicated at all. You were a simple pleasure, and I never had to discuss any of these complications with you. Now you're going to be curious, you're going to want to know…"
She supressed a short squeak and her hands unwittingly went to her stomach again.
"Aiyana? Are you sure you're all right?"
*Is there something wrong? Is that what he's asking?* "No…"
"No, you're not all right? Aiyana, what's going on with you? Aiyana? Aiyana?!"
Something warm and…wet. Aiyana's eyes widened when she realized that something was dripping down between her legs, wet and steadily becoming very uncomfortable. Was she becoming incontinent? How embarassing! She struggled to stay put, but she could help lolling forewards and clutching her stomach again. She felt like she wanted to shriek, but the pain came out on a low, slow moan instead.
Masaya thankfully stood up and away from her – but that only allowed him to see the wet puddle that was staining the bedsheets around her. His pupils dilated drastically. However, his voice was calm.
"Oh my god. Her water broke."
***
"Get her into a delivery room right away and I don't want to hear any more arguing!"
"But…your ladyship, I…"
"Stop calling me that, dolt. I'm a doctor, not a lady of the court. And I said *now*!"
"Isn't this the young assassin, your – ah, doctor?"
Dr. Amesuino Ami stormed up to the orderly who hovered at the door of Aiyana's hospital room. "Put that woman on a gurney and get her to the delivery room or I'll give your job to her child!"
The orderly nodded reluctantly and signaled to his comrades. In minutes they had Aiyana in the delivery room, where she squirmed uncomfortably on the hospital bed.
Ami looked at the woman, empathy surging to her heart. She looked so scared and uncomfortable, and so in pain. Her face was paler than it had ever been, and her hands were shaking slightly. Ami went to go stand by the side of the hospital bed, smiling.
Aiyana stared up into the watery blue eyes above her, but they were hazy and a black ring circled the placid face of the doctor. "What's going on, Ami?"
"You're going into labor."
"But I thought you said it took nine months."
"Normally, it does. But there seems to be a few complications, and you're going into labor a little early." *Seven weeks early,* she thought to herself, but said nothing like that to Aiyana. The tone of her voice would have been resentful, and she didn't want to worry Aiyana. In truth, she didn't even resent the girl – she resented herself. *When the mucous plug came out and she started leaking the amniotic fluid, I should have known then,* she told herself. *I should have done something to prevent the early labor. I'll never forgive myself if—*
"Ami?" Aiyana said. Her voice sounded very small, very different from the voice she had six months ago when she first came to Crystal Tokyo. Back then, it was slinky, sultry; now it was husky and afraid. "Is there something wrong with me? Will it turn out okay?"
"Babies born in their twenty-ninth week have a pretty good chance of surviving, yes," Ami said reassuringly. "Your baby has a good chance of surviving, with some good doctoral work and cooperation from you and everyone involved. That's why I had the best nurse midwives paged so that they come assist you. One of them is highly experienced with pre-term labor."
"Why does it *hurt* so much?"
Ami chuckled a little. "Your uterus' muscles are contracting so that they can push out the baby when it gets ready to come into the world. It hurts, rather like menstruation."
"Push out? Don't you cut the stomach and pull it out?"
"No, that's a Cesarian section, and you won't need that. You're going to give birth the normal way."
Aiyana groaned. "Isn't there something that's going to stop—" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence: another contraction overtook her ability to speak.
Ami smirked. "Stop the pain? Yes, of course. There's a drug for everything." She stopped smiling and strode to the other side of the room, pressing a button on the pager. "Dr. Koikokoro-sensei to delivery room D- 901. Better make that stat."
***
Aiyana never knew that a delivery room with babies and mothers giving birth in it could be so loud. She had envisioned a quiet nursery, her holding a bundle of blankets and waiting for the child to come out peacefully. Instead, there were nurses yelling at each other, Ami and Masaya were yelling at each other, and Ami was yelling at her to push.
Push what? She pondered that until Masaya knelt down and whispered to her very quietly what Ami had meant by 'giving birth the normal way.'
"But…it's not big enough."
Masaya burst into laughter. "It gets bigger."
And then, there was the pain. Pain had always been her constant companion – through the beatings of the Deltas, through the battles they suffered through, through the emotional pain that was inflicted on her. But it was never anything like this. She wondered why more mothers weren't members of the military – they had to be incredibly superhuman to go through pain like this three, four, five times.
But Masaya was there.
That was the single calming factor throughout all the pain and her tiny, weak pushes that were becoming stronger and stronger as she conceded that this child just did not want to leave her body. She was drifting in and out of sleep, not that she thought anyone noticed, but her feeling Masaya's hand on hers had continued throughout the whole grueling process. He was talking to her, too, but that hardly mattered. She could barely hear him over the clamor of the delivery room. She just felt his hand…soft and yet strong, completely encompassing hers. Somehow that was more reassuring than his words or anything else.
Somewhere in between Ami yelling "Push!" for the umpteenth time and Ami and the oldest nurse midwife yelling at each other over some stupid old wives' tale that the midwife had brought up, someone lifted her up. Two more people held her in place and she felt something poke through the skin in her back. Someone was saying something to her, but she couldn't hear it…she could barely hear anything anymore. Her eyes were drooping shut and she had no idea what was going on around her. She felt like her head was going to float off.
"Aiyana?" Masaya's voice was quiet, whispering, and she wondered how she could even hear it over the din. But she realized she *couldn't* hear the din. Everything was quiet, and it seemed as if she and Masaya were the only ones in the room. "She can't tell you when to stop, you dimwit…she's drifting off. Aiyana, darling, you have to stay awake, okay? Stay awake. You can't go to sleep. You can't…Aiyana…"
The nonexistent doctor said something, and Masaya ran a nervous hand through his hair. She struggled to smile and acknowledge the fact that he had called her *darling*. The word ran through her mind like a refrain. *Darling…darling…darling…*
"Aiyana? Stop giving her the drug, stupid, it's knocking her out!"
Yes, it certainly was knocking her out. She could barely feel the pain any longer and she was drifting away…away from all the confusion and clamor.
Hours must have passed, but she barely tracked the passage of time. It seemed like forever and virtually no time all at once. She was drifting further away from the scene at hand, but Masaya's hand clutching hers was like a tether to this world, keeping her grounded. After an eternity, she heard what sounded like a faint, distant screeching, a faraway sound.
She looked up and saw Masaya's eyes hovering above her own. He brushed away her bangs as he always did and gave her a sweet, sweet kiss.
"It's a little girl, Aiyana-chan."
Aiyana nodded sleepily. She had sensed it must have come out. The pain had seeped away, slowly but surely. Ami was talking to Masaya…something about some sort of cord or something. Aiyana wasn't paying attention. She nodded weakly when Masaya looked at her…something in his voice sounded like it was asking for permission. He squeezed her hand, his cheeks getting pink in anticipation, and strode towards Ami holding something pink, letting her hand go.
The tether was broken.
Aiyana began to drift.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: Hiya. Finally got Chapter Twenty out. Please e-mail me if there's any problems or concerns: julymoonbunny@hotmail.com
Um…I just want to say, someone asked if I was planning on continuing this story. Most definitely. It's my first published fanfiction, and I plan on finishing it all the way to the end. Believe me, you will know when I'm finished.
***
"They say things happen in threes." Masaya turned to Aiyana. "Tenoh-san and Kaioh-san found out about your parentage – that's number one. I wonder what two and three are going to be?"
His voice sounded a little bitter, and Aiyana had to turn away from him. He had been seething earlier, and Aiyana couldn't tell whether he was furious because of what Haruka and Michiru were speculating, or because they had all kept it hidden from him for so long. Aiyana figured it must have been a little bit of both.
Masaya sighed. "I can't believe – why would –" He shook his head. "I can't believe that Tenoh-san and Kaioh-san would believe such a thing. Why would they believe that King Endymion-sama did anything to trespass on his fidelity with Queen Serenity-sama? I know that they are very much in love. They have been for centuries." He shook his head again and looked up at Aiyana. "He never would, Aiyana."
"Perhaps you're right," she said, staring at Masaya. There was a catch in her voice – she wasn't about to cry again, but the catch was still there, evidencing her hurt.
"I know I'm right." His voice was forceful. He then turned to Aiyana. "Why did you keep it all a secret from me?"
"I—" Aiyana stopped and furtively clutched her stomach, trying in vain to stop the sharp pain that was slicing through it. This pain had happened a little earlier, too – like all her muscles were tightening into a little ball that was trying to squeeze itself to death. The pain was very strong and quite unbearable, but she merely sucked a little breath and tried to pretend as if it hadn't happened. Lately the little one had been kicking her harder, sometimes in organs she hadn't even known were surrounding that part of her body. There had been pain there, but never quite like this.
"I didn't want to have to talk about it with you."
"What do you mean by that?" Masaya became a little bit closer to Aiyana, staring her in the eye. "I would have tried to be understanding. Tried. I mean, you never kept anything else from me, right?"
"I suppose I haven't…" She stared at him again. The pain was happening a little more frequently now. Earlier it had passed…stopped. Come again and passed. They were each about 30 to 45 mintues apart. But this pain…was coming more quickly. She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to look as if she were exasperated instead of hurting.
Masaya was immediately suspicious. "Aiyana, is something wrong?"
"No," she said. *It's just a passing pain, that's all…nothing's going to happen to my baby…* She let out a breath as the pain subsided. "No. I haven't really kept anything from you. It's just that…well…everything in my life was so complicated, and then there was…you. You weren't complicated at all. You were a simple pleasure, and I never had to discuss any of these complications with you. Now you're going to be curious, you're going to want to know…"
She supressed a short squeak and her hands unwittingly went to her stomach again.
"Aiyana? Are you sure you're all right?"
*Is there something wrong? Is that what he's asking?* "No…"
"No, you're not all right? Aiyana, what's going on with you? Aiyana? Aiyana?!"
Something warm and…wet. Aiyana's eyes widened when she realized that something was dripping down between her legs, wet and steadily becoming very uncomfortable. Was she becoming incontinent? How embarassing! She struggled to stay put, but she could help lolling forewards and clutching her stomach again. She felt like she wanted to shriek, but the pain came out on a low, slow moan instead.
Masaya thankfully stood up and away from her – but that only allowed him to see the wet puddle that was staining the bedsheets around her. His pupils dilated drastically. However, his voice was calm.
"Oh my god. Her water broke."
***
"Get her into a delivery room right away and I don't want to hear any more arguing!"
"But…your ladyship, I…"
"Stop calling me that, dolt. I'm a doctor, not a lady of the court. And I said *now*!"
"Isn't this the young assassin, your – ah, doctor?"
Dr. Amesuino Ami stormed up to the orderly who hovered at the door of Aiyana's hospital room. "Put that woman on a gurney and get her to the delivery room or I'll give your job to her child!"
The orderly nodded reluctantly and signaled to his comrades. In minutes they had Aiyana in the delivery room, where she squirmed uncomfortably on the hospital bed.
Ami looked at the woman, empathy surging to her heart. She looked so scared and uncomfortable, and so in pain. Her face was paler than it had ever been, and her hands were shaking slightly. Ami went to go stand by the side of the hospital bed, smiling.
Aiyana stared up into the watery blue eyes above her, but they were hazy and a black ring circled the placid face of the doctor. "What's going on, Ami?"
"You're going into labor."
"But I thought you said it took nine months."
"Normally, it does. But there seems to be a few complications, and you're going into labor a little early." *Seven weeks early,* she thought to herself, but said nothing like that to Aiyana. The tone of her voice would have been resentful, and she didn't want to worry Aiyana. In truth, she didn't even resent the girl – she resented herself. *When the mucous plug came out and she started leaking the amniotic fluid, I should have known then,* she told herself. *I should have done something to prevent the early labor. I'll never forgive myself if—*
"Ami?" Aiyana said. Her voice sounded very small, very different from the voice she had six months ago when she first came to Crystal Tokyo. Back then, it was slinky, sultry; now it was husky and afraid. "Is there something wrong with me? Will it turn out okay?"
"Babies born in their twenty-ninth week have a pretty good chance of surviving, yes," Ami said reassuringly. "Your baby has a good chance of surviving, with some good doctoral work and cooperation from you and everyone involved. That's why I had the best nurse midwives paged so that they come assist you. One of them is highly experienced with pre-term labor."
"Why does it *hurt* so much?"
Ami chuckled a little. "Your uterus' muscles are contracting so that they can push out the baby when it gets ready to come into the world. It hurts, rather like menstruation."
"Push out? Don't you cut the stomach and pull it out?"
"No, that's a Cesarian section, and you won't need that. You're going to give birth the normal way."
Aiyana groaned. "Isn't there something that's going to stop—" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence: another contraction overtook her ability to speak.
Ami smirked. "Stop the pain? Yes, of course. There's a drug for everything." She stopped smiling and strode to the other side of the room, pressing a button on the pager. "Dr. Koikokoro-sensei to delivery room D- 901. Better make that stat."
***
Aiyana never knew that a delivery room with babies and mothers giving birth in it could be so loud. She had envisioned a quiet nursery, her holding a bundle of blankets and waiting for the child to come out peacefully. Instead, there were nurses yelling at each other, Ami and Masaya were yelling at each other, and Ami was yelling at her to push.
Push what? She pondered that until Masaya knelt down and whispered to her very quietly what Ami had meant by 'giving birth the normal way.'
"But…it's not big enough."
Masaya burst into laughter. "It gets bigger."
And then, there was the pain. Pain had always been her constant companion – through the beatings of the Deltas, through the battles they suffered through, through the emotional pain that was inflicted on her. But it was never anything like this. She wondered why more mothers weren't members of the military – they had to be incredibly superhuman to go through pain like this three, four, five times.
But Masaya was there.
That was the single calming factor throughout all the pain and her tiny, weak pushes that were becoming stronger and stronger as she conceded that this child just did not want to leave her body. She was drifting in and out of sleep, not that she thought anyone noticed, but her feeling Masaya's hand on hers had continued throughout the whole grueling process. He was talking to her, too, but that hardly mattered. She could barely hear him over the clamor of the delivery room. She just felt his hand…soft and yet strong, completely encompassing hers. Somehow that was more reassuring than his words or anything else.
Somewhere in between Ami yelling "Push!" for the umpteenth time and Ami and the oldest nurse midwife yelling at each other over some stupid old wives' tale that the midwife had brought up, someone lifted her up. Two more people held her in place and she felt something poke through the skin in her back. Someone was saying something to her, but she couldn't hear it…she could barely hear anything anymore. Her eyes were drooping shut and she had no idea what was going on around her. She felt like her head was going to float off.
"Aiyana?" Masaya's voice was quiet, whispering, and she wondered how she could even hear it over the din. But she realized she *couldn't* hear the din. Everything was quiet, and it seemed as if she and Masaya were the only ones in the room. "She can't tell you when to stop, you dimwit…she's drifting off. Aiyana, darling, you have to stay awake, okay? Stay awake. You can't go to sleep. You can't…Aiyana…"
The nonexistent doctor said something, and Masaya ran a nervous hand through his hair. She struggled to smile and acknowledge the fact that he had called her *darling*. The word ran through her mind like a refrain. *Darling…darling…darling…*
"Aiyana? Stop giving her the drug, stupid, it's knocking her out!"
Yes, it certainly was knocking her out. She could barely feel the pain any longer and she was drifting away…away from all the confusion and clamor.
Hours must have passed, but she barely tracked the passage of time. It seemed like forever and virtually no time all at once. She was drifting further away from the scene at hand, but Masaya's hand clutching hers was like a tether to this world, keeping her grounded. After an eternity, she heard what sounded like a faint, distant screeching, a faraway sound.
She looked up and saw Masaya's eyes hovering above her own. He brushed away her bangs as he always did and gave her a sweet, sweet kiss.
"It's a little girl, Aiyana-chan."
Aiyana nodded sleepily. She had sensed it must have come out. The pain had seeped away, slowly but surely. Ami was talking to Masaya…something about some sort of cord or something. Aiyana wasn't paying attention. She nodded weakly when Masaya looked at her…something in his voice sounded like it was asking for permission. He squeezed her hand, his cheeks getting pink in anticipation, and strode towards Ami holding something pink, letting her hand go.
The tether was broken.
Aiyana began to drift.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: Hiya. Finally got Chapter Twenty out. Please e-mail me if there's any problems or concerns: julymoonbunny@hotmail.com
Um…I just want to say, someone asked if I was planning on continuing this story. Most definitely. It's my first published fanfiction, and I plan on finishing it all the way to the end. Believe me, you will know when I'm finished.