Kotone thankfully had come to trust Mother like she had trusted Father, even if she was distrusting of Sister and wary of Takashi. It relieved Izo that being at home with him made her feel safe. Asa, the wolf healer that lived in the village, and Dr. Daiki from the Spirit World, came to check on her and help her as well. It took Father relaying some information from her to them so she could answer their questions. Dr. Daiki also put her on bed rest until she delivered. He also wanted her gain weight and eat more before she delivered. Both were meant to build up her strength, which she did lack from her imprisonment. Mother had mention she was concerned with how skinny she was.
Dr. Daiki also insisted she go to the Spirit World when it was time to deliver in case anything went array. It took Mother's convincing to get her to agree to that.
Izo stayed with Kotone as much as he could. She had told him through their sign language that she did want to sleep alone though. He was not a fan of that decision, but agreed with her amicably. He talked with her a lot, too and to try to develop the sign language between the two of them more.
Now she was better rested and better fed. Mother saw to it personally about the better fed part with a renewed vigor for cooking. Mother was also working on making a pair of gloves or something similar with a voice attribute that would allow Kotone to speak in a way again.
With her renewing strength, Kotone was more motivated to work on the sign language they had created between each other. He shared about Ice Master had released from his apprenticeship as a Shinobu, telling him he could join them when he was ready later on in the future. He did tell her that he wanted to go back to that one day, but when she and her child were in a more stable position. She had gotten quiet at that comment, but did say thank you in her quiet way. She always got withdrawn when he talked about her and her child's future, even after he promised her she could stay with him as long as she wished.
When she wished to be alone, he would give her a brief kiss, unless she pulled away from him when he went for it. Father had told him to let her be, Mother to, but in each their own way.
Izo wanted her though, to keep her safe and her child safe, to protect them both. He made that promise to her and he intended to keep it. Mate claiming her one day would solidify his promise for certain. He daydreamed about it, hoping it was kept secret from Father. Father told him he had to let her chose it too though. Mother told him to be patient with her with all that had happened to her. She still had yet to share with any of them how she had gotten pregnant.
The day she went into labor was a difficult one. Izo had been sleeping in the room next to hers, when he would have rather been laying in the bed next to her. He woke up about an hour before sunrise with a loud knock on his bedroom door.
He rolled over in bed, blinking away the sleep before he could look out the window to see dawn was light grey in hue. The loud knocking turned to pounding on his door.
"Who is it?" he called out hoarsely. Way too early.
He rolled off the bed, stumbling over to the door in a sleepy haze. He opened the door to see Kotone standing before, pajama pants wet, hands around her swollen belly, and shaking with fright. He felt alert at once, almost going into to hug her, but thinking better of it at the last second. Instead, he put his hands on her shoulder, saying, "it's alright. You're going to be alright."
She closed her eyes tightly shut and scrunched up her face. When she breathed out, she opened her eyes. She raised herself up on her toes and kissed him intentionally on the mouth.
When she pulled away, he sprung into action, sending her back to her room and then getting the others they needed before going to the hospital in the Spirit World: Asa, Dr. Daiki, Mother, and Father. Kotone had said she wanted Mother and Father with them when she delivered, considering she found Mother's presence comforting and liked Father's ability to read her mind and know what she was thinking without struggling to communicate with anyone. Mother's gloves that would allow her to speak were not ready yet.
Sister and Takashi had stayed behind at the castle with a promise to help with the child after it was born were tasked with running the castle and looking after Brother while Kotone delivered and everyone else was in the Spirit World.
The journey to the Spirit World ended up being the easiest part of the whole day.
Dr. Daiki had said she was delivering two weeks early than expected, but they could manage it. Kotone was frightened in the beginning, even with Izo trying to reassure her. The contractions for her started off mild, but they progressed too slowly, which had Dr. Daiki concerned, but not saying anything one way or another over it. Stage one of her labor went slow according to him, especially since it likely started when she was sleeping, before she actually woke Izo up. Then in lasted all day long, right up to sunset. Dr. Daiki pointed out that when it hit 15 hours, it had been too long. Especially with how painful her early contractions had been for her. Dr. Daiki thought at first she was just exaggerating how much it hurt when she relayed that to Izo and Father, but Father was quick to point out she was actually down playing the amount of pain she was already feeling.
Dr. Daiki kept on checking her periodically via hologram looking, seeing if she was ready for the second stage of labor yet. He also kept trying to tell her to try and sleep between contractions to keep up her strength, but she refused. Her adrenaline was too spiked for her to sleep, even if she wanted to.
It was a long day and seemed ready to get longer. It took Kotone 16 hours to get to the second stage of labor, which concerned Asa, especially sense she kept crying out louder than expected with her contractions. For a such a tongue-less woman, she surely could scream.
It took her over three hours to almost ready to deliver after that. 19 hours and still no child... She unwillingly tried to sleep due to her exhaustion, only to be awoken by each new contraction she had. Both Asa and Dr. Daiki had given her medicine to help ease her pain, but it hardly seemed to be working for her to Izo. It made his stomach sink like a lead weight to watch putter through the pain and exhaustion and there was nothing he could do to ease it, besides hold her hand.
Mother grew increasingly uncomfortable, suggesting she consider having a C section, but Kotone refused out of fright, even started whimpering at the idea. Father mentally told all but Kotone that if she needed to be unconscious, he could do it, but she would be greatly upset if he did it against her wishes.
When she was finally ready to deliver, she was exhausted and it was late in the night. She was pale and sweaty, her screams petered out into hoarse whimpers. Dr. Daiki asked her one more time if she wanted to, she could have a C section. She shook her head in outright refusal. Dr. Daiki looked crossed over that decision. Dr. Daiki had warned her her contractions were too strong and she seemed too weak, but if they let the labor continue naturally, she or the baby could be injured by the delivery.
She still refused, hitting of level of such exhaustion that she could hardly push. Izo offered her more spirit energy, but Mother told him not because it would not help her. She had no need for spirit energy, rather she needed her own physical strength that she lacked.
Dr. Daiki checked her again, telling her labor had started and she needed to push, but she could hardly do so. Asa tried to soothe her and encourage her, but she could hardly push, even when her body told her to.
Another hour passed and still no son. Kotone whimpered, exhausted. She was pale, clammy, and shaky. She whined out as another contraction ripped through her. When that finished, she turned her head towards Father, closed her eyes, and nodded glumly.
"Finally," Father muttered out in exasperation. He stepped over to Kotone, putting one hand on her forehead, forcing her to lean her head back down on the pillow behind her. Her eyes stayed closed and her body seemed to relax. "I'm shielding her from the pain, but I can't keep it up for long. She wants him out as quick as you can."
Dr. Daiki and Asa both sprung into action. Dr. Daiki stepped over to her, checking on her delivery progress. "He's far enough along now we can just pull him out."
Asa left Kotone long enough to get a set of forceps before returning to her. "She's bleeding," Asa warned Dr. Daiki in a hushed tone.
Dr. Daiki checked her once more, seeing where she from bleeding from. Izo checked as well, but could not see the place from which she bled through the hologram view.
He waved the hologram away. "We still have to continue. Go carefully extracting the baby. When her delivery is finished, we can heal her up."
Izo stayed up close to Kontone's head, holding her limp hand and looking on her face. His stomach rolled oddly enough at the smell of blood growing stronger in the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her lower abdomen contract. He closed his eyes and turned his head away, not wanting to see any of it. He held his breath. He heard Father grunt. He heard Kotone whimper. He tried to escape the sight all of it, until he heard the sound of the newborn crying.
He turned back, looking down at Asa holding the boy wrapped in a towel. She held him in his arms, fumbling to reach for the clamp she needed for the cord. She managed to get the clamp down, but the sterile scissors were close. Izo stepped over to the scissors, grabbing them before Asa could. Asa instead took his hand in hers, guiding him to cut it.
Once finished, Asa stood up in a rush, passing the boy into Izo's arms unexpectedly. He was warm, no hot. Izo could feel himself starting to sweat from the heat of this tiny newborn.
"Step out of the room, right now. The three of you," Dr. Daiki said urgently.
Izo had no chance to ask as Mother appeared next to him, grabbing him by the upper arm, and tugging him out of the door right on Father's heels. Izo held the newborn close, looking down at him, not sure what to think. He crying softly, sounding almost like a mewling kitten. Izo took a loose corner of the towel wrapped around him, wiping at his face with the utmost gentleness.
Tiredly, Izo leaned his back against the nearest wall and slid down carefully into a seated position on the floor, holding... he could not think of the name Kotone was thinking about giving her son... She had kept saying she was unsure what she would name him when he had asked her before. Maybe Father knew, having been in her head all day.
Izo looked up, saying, "Father." He stopped when he noticed Father standing in front of the door to Kotone's door, almost like a guard. Mother was pacing, fist resting in front of her pale face.
Father tersely said, "yes?" drawing Izo's attention back to him and away from Mother.
Izo did not want to speak with how Father and Mother were looking. He did anyway, "what does Kotone want to name him? She never told me..."
Father glanced back at the door. "She still wasn't sure," he stated in a voice with no tone.
His voice made Izo's ears pull back. He jumped when he saw a Spirit World nurse running down the hallway towards them, holding a bag with red fluid in his hand.
"This room!" Mother called out, gesturing towards the door that Father had just stepped away from.
The nurse turned and went into the room while Father shut the door right behind him.
"What's wrong?" Izo asked, trying not to panic as he held the newborn boy in his arms still. The baby kicked underneath the blanket. Izo gingerly moved to his feet.
Mother stepped over to him, hands coming to rest firmly on his shoulders before he could even think to move. Mother glanced back at Father for a second before looking at Izo. "She was bleeding too much, potentially hemorrhaging, that's why we had to leave the room. She needed to deliver first before she could be healed though. It made the bleeding worse, so did delivering the afterbirth. We needed to be out of the way in case..."
Izo stared at Mother blankly, going numb everywhere but his arms holding the squirming newborn. His mouth move to talk, but no sound came out. He felt voiceless, understanding better what Kotone went through every moment that he knew her.
Father spoke up next. "They've stopped the bleeding now, and are giving her a transfusion in hopes it matches hers well enough. She is very weak right now, exhausted and pained. She's unconscious, but better off now that she was five minutes ago."
"Her son..." Izo found his voice. "She hasn't even met him yet..." As if he knew he was being spoken off, the newborn mewed in Izo's arms. "What should I do now...?" he asked, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him.
Mother reached her hand up, brushing a stray bit of bangs of out of Izo's face. He had not even realized it was there until Mother did that. "We'll give her son to the nurses waiting to take care of him."
"And then check on her?" Izo rushed out the question.
Mother looked back once more at Father before turning back to Izo. "If you would like that," she told him with a tone that made him want to despair.
He swallowed thickly, nodding. Mother took his upper arm in hand, and he began to numbly following her down the hallway.
He looked down at the whimpering infant in his arms. 'My son,' he thought silently to himself as a promise to child to care for him, no matter what happened next.