Chapter Forty Two: Tick Tock Biological Clock

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 7/7

Song Playing: 99 Red Ballons

Theme 97: Writer's Choice

The sun rose at approximately 6:30 in the morning in Tokyo during the last few days of March and the first few of April and, with the exception of very few people who had jobs demanding them to be awake, no one should be up and functional before nature itself had waken from the peaceful lull of the night. This was the firm belief of a certain very tired, very peeved, very pregnant young woman who found herself glaring at her bedside clock which clearly stated the time of 3: 17AM. Her glare was quickly transformed into a grimace by a sudden pain in her abdomen. Muttering a few choice words learned from her ill mouth husband, she closed her eyes and attempted to fall back asleep.

Only to be jolted back into awareness by a much sharper pain, which was quickly followed by another and then another until all she could do was attempt to remember the proper breathing exercises as she tried to wake up her still sleeping husband.

"Youichi..." She groaned slightly as she shook his shoulder. "Youichi." There was a rising urgency in the force of her hand on his shoulder and her voice as he buried himself a little deeper into the comfort of their bed. "Youichi if you don't wake up this minute I'm going to-argh!"

What she was planning on doing was forever lost as a particularly painful contraction hit her causing her to let go of his shoulder and lean her arm back to steady herself. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you wanted to look at it, her palm landed on the tip of one of her husband's ear. So, when she gripped the sheets in an attempt to relive a bit of her own pain, she coincidently yanked on his ear. Effectively waking him up and putting him in an instant bad mood.

"What the hell?" The blond yelped as he shot up in his bed. His hand immediately went to his abused appendage. "What's the matter with you?"

She fixed him with the most withering glare that she had ever given to a single person. "What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you? I'm about to give birth and all you can do is sleep!"

His eyes widened in such a way that she would have found comical at any other time but, as it stood, she was a little preoccupied at the moment with childbirth. The shock was short lived as his eyes quickly narrowed and his mind went into overdrive on what to do next.

"Dammit!" Decisively he threw back the covers and leapt out of bed. He quickly made his way to her side of the bed. Wrapping his arm around her back he carefully but hurriedly helped her to the doorway. There he left her momentarily to gather up the few things they needed. By this time he returned she had managed to put of a pair of slippers, the only kind of shoe she could get into with ease.

He haphazardly slid on some shoes as he leaned against the doorframe heavily for support, cursing as he whacked his elbow on a small table they used to keep their keys and loose change. "You couldn't go into labor during normal hours?"

"Oh well sorry for being such a-urgh inconvenience!" She snapped back as she struggled into her coat. "Next time I'll try to have the baby during normal business hours! How does lunch work for you? If you're busy I have a-augh a four o'clock slot!"

Hiruma had just finished putting on his own coat and turned to his still struggling wife. Placing his hands on her shoulders he helped her slid into the clothing with ease. Choosing to ignore that last comment, he grabbed the bag filled with what they needed for the trip to the hospital and his cell phone. Dialing in a few numbers in rapid session, he guided his grumbling wife into the elevator. Tapping his foot impatiently while he waited for someone to pick up on the other end. Six rings later (five to many if you asked him) somebody picked up. At least Mamori assumed someone answered because suddenly her husband was talking, more like demanding, for a taxi. Whatever the poor person on the other line said did nothing to sooth his rising temper. Before she could blink he had whipped out his infamous blackmail book and was asking for a name.

Mamori missed whatever her husband had on the man as she found herself sliding down the elevator wall to the floor. Her eyes shut on their own accord as she tried to concentrate on her breathing.

Only to have them fly open a moment later when she felt the firm grip of a certain blonde gently drag her back up onto her. "Don't sit down. I'm not having my kid being born in a dirty elevator where people could have done who knows what in it."

She managed to tune out the sound of his irritated rant in favor of trying not to just sit down and refuse to move. But whatever he told that taxi company must have worked because by the time they reached the ground floor of their apartment building and she managed to stumble through the front door there was a bright yellow cab waiting outside. Standing beside the cab was a very nervous looking and exhausted looking young man. He must have jumped right out of his bed and straight there because he was still dressed in his pajamas. That and he didn't appear to be wearing any socks, or shoes for that matter.

And, on a normal day, she would have yelled at her husband for scaring the poor disheveled boy out of his wits at nearly four in the morning. But, as it was, it was not a normal day. In fact, it was barely even a day. Right now they were in glorified night.

With that being said she allowed herself to be hustled into the awaiting car without so much as a half-hearted protest. She even let the unprompted curses directed to the obviously terrified man slid on by. But she could not, in good conscience, sit back and watch the quickly disappearing figure of the cabbie, as her husband sped off in his taxi, without saying something. "Youichi you can't just take-"

"I just did." He interrupted and it was just as well too as she found it harder to form words and breathe at the same time.

Her hand clutched the door handle as he took a sharp right. "For goodness sake slow down!"

"Not until we get to the hospital." He shifted gears as he glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

"Youichi! Car!"

"I see it!"

All in all it was not a good start to the day, and the sun wasn't even up yet.