Author's Note: Yomi again. And I'm back with -another- one of those kinda-weird-OOC-Hakkai POV things... and, once again, it takes place in the continuation-AU-m-preg storyline... So, yes, Hakkai-POV, Kanan sort of, more or less appears... and the third 58 child is named.
Disclaimer: I no own Saiyuki. They belong to Kazuya Minekura. I partially own Saki, Gokai, and Kanan-chan, along with Forensic Ninja aka Hadisia, and Crim-chan. There ya have it. Check my profile and go to the "Car Trip West" LJ community to find out more, because I'm sure you don't want to hear me blab about it here.
-Chiisana Hana-
This room is very familiar... It is small, with very little in it.
This is the room that Saki and Gokai had been born in. And, here I was, again, going through one of the toughest battles to ever overcome; going through labor. The pain is coursing through my every nerve, and I push with all my might--but the child still refuses to come out.
Gojyo is wincing from the treatment I'm giving to his hand; he calls it my "baby birth's death grip" or something along those lines. He gives me a nervous smile as I squeeze his hand; I can feel the head pushing through the opening that shoudn't be there, the opening that wasn't there when I was born. A gift (from a certain goddess), you can say, but, right now, I want to curse it for ever being there--pain can mess with ones thinking. But it's been a blessing, too.
Yaone yells that one more push would do it. Gojyo braces himself for the damage that's about to be done to his left hand.
3... 2... 1...
"NnnaaaaaAaaaaAggHHH!" I cried, tears and sweat mixing so that you can't differentiate between the two. A shrill voice cuts through the air. Gojyo sighs in relief as I release his hand and collapse into my pillow. Yaone goes and returns quickly, a small bundle of pink in her arms--that's how I know its a girl. She hands her to me, a smile on her lips. She leaves Gojyo, the baby, and myself alone.
I observed the little girl, and, at first, she didn't seem that different from other babies. But, as I looked at her more, the memories of my time as Gonou before the kidnapping incident with Chin Yisou resurfaced; the happier times. As I looked at the precious child, with her short, fuzzy brown hair and soft, chubby cheeks, I could see in her the woman that I had loved as my first self. It was as though part of her was within my baby.
With a quite voice, I smiled, the name I hadn't said in a long time escaping my lips. "Kanan," turning to Gojyo, I repeated the name. "Kanan. We'll name her Kanan." Name her Kanan, after my first lover, my sister... someone beautiful and pure, just like this little one. Gojyo put an arm around my shoulder, looking at the slumbering newborn nestled in my arms. "I like that," he said. "It's pretty."
Smiling and turning away from Gojyo, I looked to the window, where a little flower was sitting. And I could've sworn I had seen the first Kanan smiling down at, not me, but the little pink bundle I was holding. Little Kanan, with her eyes opening very, very slightly, held her hands out towards the little flower, gurgling. And when I looked back up at the flower, the first Kanan wasn't there anymore.