Tachiagair Jakunen

Written by: Fira Flame

I do not own these characters; they belong to their respective owners. Keeren belongs to me and Missy and Teri belong to Missy and Teri.

This is a re-written version of the original copy of Tachiagair Jakunen, which I had written in the fall of 2002. It sucked, really bad, so here I am, re-writing it...

Enjoy!

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Chapter 19

Melissa stood from the closed toilet and leaned against the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror and took a long gaze. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was a mess, and she was pale. Of course, her being pale could just be blamed on the mid-spring weather, she had yet to receive a tan. But she knew it wasn't that. She hadn't been getting any sleep lately, and she'd been in a piss poor mood for longer than she thought it was possible. Her belly ached with a familiar feeling, and her back was beginning to pain her. Was this a common thing with pregnancy? She didn't know, because she didn't know any other Saiya-jins that had been pregnant, not even Bulma could give her any advice.

She sighed, leaning against the sink, a nasty taste formed in her mouth. Cupping her hands, she scooped up some cool water from the running faucet and washed her mouth out. The taste remained, but it wasn't as thick as before. She felt down in the dumps, but she didn't know why. An obvious reason to her was maybe because she hadn't been able to do what she usually did for fun lately. She had all ready gotten her bike repaired, but she couldn't ride it because it caused such a strain on her belly and back. Flying was becoming a pain as well, taking up thrice as much energy as usual, and any other activity she usually enjoyed just felt too bothersome to even try. She had even stopped drinking carbonated drinks because they were unhealthy and in the long run, didn't do much to help the baby.

Blinking sleepily, she opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. Downing a pair of pills, she shut the cabinet and left the room.

It was early, not even nine o'clock yet. Barely anyone was up, save for Chiriko, Chichiri and herself. But, seeing the pair of seishi wave to her in the kitchen was becoming an every day event. She could no longer sleep in, no matter how late she stayed up. The steady kicking in her womb was her own personalized alarm clock, accept she couldn't set it to wake her at another time. She was getting close to the due date, it was already the last day April, and the child was due the first week of May. She was filled with an awkward excitement, but something felt as if she would miss carrying a life with her everywhere she went. Post-Pregnancy Depression was something she knew she might get, a lot of mothers got it. It wasn't uncommon. She stepped out of the bathroom and wandered down the hall, the smell of fresh brewed coffee catching her like a fish on a lure.

For the first time in a long while, her sister was up and around before noon, which was pretty rare. Teri was contentedly reading the sunday paper at the table with a glass of orange juice in reach. Melissa lowered herself carefully into a chair and rested her head on an upturned hand.

"Would you like something to eat, no da?" Chichiri inquired, standing from the table with his empty plate.

Melissa looked at him through half closed eyes and nodded. "Jus' some sausages... maybe some coffee too... thanks..."

Chichiri smiled, and nodded, going to the still warm pan on the stove. Teri looked up from the newspaper and looked at her sister curiously. Melissa returned the look with an added tongue.

"Are you feeling okay?" The Saiya-elf asked, looking closer at the healer. Melissa shrugged and closed her eyes still feeling quite dead to the world. "You look kinda... I dunno, sea sick."

"Is there a boat around here?"

"One of the neighbors might have one."

"Then maybe I went for a little boating trip last night." She replied sarcastically, taking her plate and coffee from Chichiri with thanks. Teri frowned and took a sip of her orange juice. She arched an eyebrow when she found Melissa drinking her coffee straight, no sugar, no creamer, nothing. Now she really knew something was wrong.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're acting really odd."

"Yes Teri, I'm fine." Melissa returned, taking an edge of attitude. "I just happen to have a baby feeding off of my soul, okay? It happens all the time."

Teri blinked as her sister glared at her. In a dim memory, she remembered how a friend of hers acted when she was pregnant. Of course, her friend was already quite moody in the first place, she had her head bitten off more than once. She laughed at the memory. Melissa glared even more when she thought the saiya-elf was laughing at her, she was about ready to throw her hot coffee into her face, but she decided not to, it tasted too good to get rid of, must have been one of Chichiri's special blends.

Later on that week, Melissa found herself sitting in the living room watching a cartoon series they thought they had canceled years ago. She was barely watching it, more or less just staring at the screen, giving herself something to do. Anyone who walked by would see her glazed over eyes and think she was either dead or stoned. She was lucky enough that Keeren had gotten them occupied in getting the yard cleaned and gardened. Through the arguments she heard through the window, the lavender haired saiya-jin was refusing to let Teri use her elemental abilities to get out of working so she could go finish whatever she was doing on her laptop. Melissa was sure the saiya-elf was sneaking her abilities now and then to make the job go quicker.

The healer winced as the baby gave a frightful kick. Sighing, she stood up from the couch to take a short walk around the house, she had given this a try once before, and it usually kept her too occupied to dwell on the pain. In the air movement that occurred when she stood, her rear was suddenly a little colder than she had thought it would be. Did she have a hole in her pants? Reaching to test, she found her back side to be damp. Spinning around to look at the couch, she found a small absorbed puddle on the seat. Her eyebrow twitched when it clicked that it was from her. Her water had broke. She was going to go into labor.

She suddenly felt dizzy with shock. She had to get outside, alert the others. Walking towards the door, she swayed and and stumbled, a dull pain forming in her crotch area. She groaned and leaned against the door frame, taking in a few breaths. Just walking that short distance had left her out of breath. The healer nearly ripped the door off it's hinges trying to get outside.

Melissa stumbled onto the porch, running into the railing and using it for support. She looked around the front yard for someone, anyone. She didn't see anyone. Had they already moved to the back of the house? Damn them. She couldn't walk all the way around the house, she had already used much of her energy just getting onto the porch. Her last resort was to call for them.

"GEENNN-ROUU!!" She shouted, leaning off the railing, her wail exploiting the pain she was in. She gasped for breath and let out a painful moan as the pain in her southerns throbbed again. Getting ready to shout again, Tasuki was suddenly jogging around the corner of the house, his hands and knees covered in dirt.

"What's wrong? You okay?" He asked quickly, walking under her on the ground. She looked at him, her face cringed with mixed emotions.

"I-It's time..." She said, smiling with a tear. Tasuki's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He looked around quickly, wiping his hands on his pants. He looked panicked.

"What--what do we do?!" He nearly shouted, going up onto the porch and holding her up.

"What's going on?" Keeren inquired, coming around the corner, Teri in tow.

"I'm in labor." Melissa gasped, squeezing Tasuki's hand. Teri blinked, and Keeren's eyes went wide. Teri wheeled and dashed around the edge of the house to tell the others.

"A-are you still going to Konan to have him?" Keeren asked, going up to her. Melissa nodded. Keeren swallowed a small lump in her throat. "Well, I'll go get the remote then. Who're we taking with us?

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Wee! Short chapter, I know, but I think it ended appropriately.