Disclaimer: page one!
Chapter 3:
Tatsuha looked over at Aiko as she stared at her food for a few minutes. Then he started countdown 3, 2, 1…Aiko clapped her hand to her mouth and ran for the toilet, she was in her second month and this had been going on for a while. After a while she came back to see a grinning Tatsuha. "It's not funny! I'd like to see you go through this!"
"Ah…but I wont you see, I'm the lucky sex! I think you should eat…" he ducked as she swung at him. "Temper temper Ai!"
"I don't want to eat. Normal food isn't nutritious enough it seems and I've got to go to class now. I'll be fine Tat-kun, we'll meet up in front of the psych class ok?" she shouldered her bag and left not noticing the worried frown Tatsuha was giving her.
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Aiko felt awful, first the puking and now she felt really sleepy and tired. She made it to the end of class and went out to look for Tatsuha. There he was, she tried to shake her head to get rid of the dizziness, it seemed so hard to do. She looked over at Tatsuha and took a step towards him as everything went black.
Tatsuha caught her before she hit the ground. "Ai? Aiko? Shit!" He picked her up and almost ran to the nurse. The whole time she was inside, he paced the length of the san.
"Is she fine?" Tatsuha almost jumped on the nurse as she came out. The nurse nodded. "She is. Silly girl not eating…she should understand that the baby will take what it needs, so if she doesn't eat she'll be the one losing her health."
Tatsuha ran in before the nurse finished her speech. "Are you crazy? You heard what the nurse said…are you trying to die?"" he yelled when a dozen people shushed him.
"Um…Tatsuha, I didn't eat breakfast. That doesn't make me a suicidal maniac ok?" Aiko smiled at him. "Gosh…you look really worried." "Worried?" Tatsuha stared at her. "I'm not worried. I'm concerned! I never worry."
She sighed. "So you want to go shopping with me? I need to get a baby book, Shuichi's coming too. Then we could also go to a movie and buy some nice healthy food for me to eat."
Tatsuha sighed too. "Oh alright. After all if I didn't go with you, who'd keep an eye on you?"
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"This one!" Shuichi waved a book around in front of Aiko's face. Aiko looked at it…"um…Shu-chan, this would be good for you, I need something that's going to explain the pre and intra natal care. You're going to be doing most of the post natal anyway. Here you get these two and I'll get these two." She handed him a post natal and child development book. "The child dev one will be interesting. Yuki-san should read it too."
Tatsuha snorted. The thought of his cold Aniki reading a baby book was funny. "Yeah Shuichi, make sure he reads it!"
Aiko and Shuichi frowned at him and he shut up. After the book store they went looking for fresh vegetables and meat and stuff. Then they decided to go to Shuichi's place for dinner. Aiko having agreed to cook.
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Dinner was really good. Aiko had made spaghetti, garlic bread, grilled chicken and a nice salad. She was an amazing cook and everything was presented really well too.
"God, I wish Shuichi would learn to cook like this." Yuki stated after the first bite. "But if Shuichi did try to cook, then we'd all be in heaven."
"Yuki! I can cook…its not my fault if you distract me and make me let stuff burn! It's your fault if you kiss me when I'm cooking and I can't help the fact that you like my apron and that I look cute in it. People don't go around sleeping with their cooks when they're cooking…." Shuichi said loudly. The other three sweat dropped.
Aiko was trying not to laugh, Yuki was red in the face and Tatsuha was staring at Shuichi. "Shuichi, you're really nice and all, but I don't want to know the details of what you do with my brother ok? Cause that is just sick!"
Shuichi laughed a little embarrassedly before turning to Aiko. "Why didn't you get a job as a chef? It would bring in a lot of money you know…"
Aiko smiled. "I tried but all the big hotels want highly trained chefs and the smaller ones had too many people working there. Getting a job here is really hard you know."
"Yeah I agree. So would anyone like more spaghetti? There's just a bit left?" Tatsuha looked at everyone for a second before overturning the bowl on to his plate.
"I wanted some!" Shuichi whined. "You should have waited to see if anyone answered your question. I think I'll have some of the chicken then…Yuki! I wanted the chicken! You're all mean! I want the salad then…Aiko! Ok, you should eat the salad. So I guess I'm left with the…all the garlic breads gone!" Shuichi whined a little louder.
"Aww…Shu-chan, I'll make you something else sometime ok?" Aiko patted the other man's hand. "Promise."
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The third month was the craziest month anyone had ever been through. Aiko had sudden cravings for very strange food and poor Tatsuha ran around with Shuichi trying to fulfill all her wishes.
"Why would anyone want to eat sour pickles? Aiko usually hates them! And now it's all she wants to eat! I have to literally force the other food down her throat." Said Tatsuha to Shuichi one day, as they ran to a department store.
Two days later:
"You wouldn't think that the department store would be out of pocky right? Well, they are…though wait there's this one shop where they always have pocky, it's at the other end of town though…." Tatsuha complained to Shuichi as they rode around Tokyo looking for a banana strawberry pocky, which was really hard to find. They were also looking for butterscotch ice cream.
At last they found a small store selling both, and pain double for it as the shop keeper was a wily fellow who knew they were desperate. When they got back, Aiko suddenly seemed a little disinterested which resulted in Tatsuha fainting on the floor and Aiko promising to eat every bit of the food.
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Tatsuha curled up next to Aiko on her bed and peeked into the book. She looked up and smiled. "Come on we'll read it together." She moved up and bit and they both poured over the book.
Tatsuha turned a little green. "It says here that they're going to have to cut you before the baby comes out…that is going to be so painful…I'm so glad I'm not a girl!" Tatsuha thanked god fervently. Aiko smiled, "but it's all worth it neh, Tat-kun?" she looked a little sad. Then she just looked up and smiled again. "Though you would be howling if you went through all this, Tat-kun." She liked calling him Tat-kun though he was older than her by a year. Sometimes she felt like he was her brother.
Tatsuha looked at the beautiful face knowing something wasn't right. "Aiko…what's wrong?" she looked up at him hesitating a little. "You know you can tell me anything Ai…what's bothering you?"
She looked away. "I…I was pregnant with Tim's child when he died." Tatsuha looked at her. "What happened?"
"His family didn't want me to have the baby…they forced me to abort it. My baby, they forced me to kill my child…the only thing Tim left for me." A tear coursed down her cheek. "Don't get me wrong, I want to give this baby to your brother and Shuichi, but I don't want to sell it to them. This money I need, I don't want it and I wouldn't want it if I wasn't in dire straits." Her voice cracked. "I don't want to sell my baby to them." She turned away now, with her back to him as silent sobs racked her frame.
Tatsuha turned her around and wrapped his arms around her. "It's ok. You can always pay them back later, if you get a job. Consider it a loan, ok. Aiko, things will be ok, I promise…" he held her till she stopped crying. She fell asleep in his arms from sheer exhaustion. Then he settled her into bed, before making his way back to his dorm.
He didn't understand how a family could do that. Make their daughter in law kill her child and disown her…he wanted to go back and hold her close again. He wanted to protect her from anymore pain, though it wasn't as if he could do much about the pregnancy pain, but he'd be there for her.
He thought of her smiling and cheerful and wondered how she didn't slide into despair like Aniki had done. It wasn't as bad as what happened to Aniki, but it was bad enough. Tatsuha walked slowly as he saw her beautiful sandy hair and green eyes…she was beautiful…I wish she was mine…he stopped abruptly.
"Oh god…no. Please don't tell me that I just thought that. No, she's my friend. I am not falling for her; she's the woman who's carrying my brother's child. I really did not think that." Tatsuha resumed walking back to his dorm, firmly pushing that thought away.
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A/N: Ok. Third chapter done Yay! I just went and bought green contacts….hm, that should make a difference! Toodles.
Taka.