~Chapter 8~
~Maron's POV~
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Fin whispered in my ear. "You've been out of business for awhile..."
I sighed. "I'm a Kaitou. This is my job. Besides, I have reasons for doing this."
Yes, it was true. I had returned to the Kaitou business despite what I'd said about the police no longer seeing me around. It was the only thing that was powerful enough and distracting enough to take my mind off the fact that, against my will, I'd become pregnant. And each second felt like a ticking time bomb. I was already three months, which was why my stomach had swelled up. I only had six months left to go. I had thought about an abortion...but... I don't know if it was me being weak or me doing the right thing. I really didn't want this baby, but I really didn't want an abortion.
So I had concluded that after birth, I would give the baby up for adoption. I couldn't have a child interfering with my life. Not right now at least.
I was kind of nervous. This was the first time in forever that I would be tricking the police and sealing another demon. And this time was different from the others because this time I was on duty and I was pregnant. With the extra weight of the baby, doing cartwheels and somersaults and anything else that involved balance and flexibility was going to be very hard. Even bending down felt weird. And on another note, my Kaitou suit was tighter on my waist than ever before. It was really uncomfortable. And that wasn't the only thing bad about the getup. You see, it was pretty obvious that something was going on with my stomach because my suit was so tight around that area. My belly protruded from it and because of my suit, my stomach looked bigger than it already was.
If they hadn't guessed I was pregnant then they were bigger idiots than I thought.
I took one step toward a large house, but I stopped to think this over. Miyako's plans usually involved nets or sleeping gas. I had a baby inside me... I would be lucky to dodge one of those nets. And what of the sleeping gas? I was pretty sure they had a maternity manual somewhere that said "stay away from any unnatural gases". Just because I didn't want the baby didn't mean I wanted to kill it. For all I know the gas was poisonous to unborn children.
But...this was my job. There were people suffering. I had ignored their call for help long enough. I had ignored Fin's plea long enough. Besides, I was Kaitou Jeanne! I was strong and... Argh! I had to factor in the baby, too! I couldn't just run up to the cops anymore. I needed to be sly. Sly like a pregnant fox.
I jumped off my tree branch and landed solidly on the ground. I sighed. Thanks to Sinbad, I wouldn't be able to do my job very easily for the next six months. Talk about taking down your opponent...
I felt much safer now. If you're wondering why I wasn't freaking out like before, it's because Fin was with me this time. Last time she wasn't. Last time I didn't have anyone to look for Sinbad and Access. But now I did, and whenever she told me they were coming, I could flee long before they could catch me.
I ran, Fin flying right at my side. I felt so much safer with her around. Suddenly having a loudmouthed, pesky angel with me didn't seem so bad anymore.
I jumped onto another tree branch, pausing to scope out my destination area. I couldn't find either Access or Sinbad.
"Hey, your stomach is getting bigger," Fin noted.
"I know that!" I hissed.
I continued to locate potential traps and areas that needed to be avoided. As shocked as I was that Fin hadn't noticed my belly before, I knew she wouldn't focus too much on it once we really got into the game. Game Start.
"Rebound Ball," I said, holding up my Petite Claire. In moments a little yellow ball flashed out. I picked it up with my wrist and tested it to make sure the string worked.
And it did, as always.
I flung it and it attached to the top of the roof. The ball then became one of the stickiest substances. I never understood how that worked, but it did and I wasn't about to jinx it with unnecessary questions or complaints.
I jumped off my branch, letting the string carry me across rows and rows of police officers. Unfortunately, though, when I got nearer to the building, I found that my weight had taken a toll on the string, which obviously wasn't used to carrying a hundred and God-knows-how-many pounds. I quickly turned myself sideways, and my shoulder soon slammed into the wall. The thus it made caught everyone's attention, including the officers I had tried to get past.
I groaned as I realized the situation I'd put myself in. Face the facts, I was dangling by my wrist, still attached to that stupid sticky ball. There was nothing I could do.
"It's Jeanne..." I heard one officer, I think his name was Fuyuta, state.
"She's gotten fat," Akita observed.
"I'M NOT FAT!" I yelled to them.
"Sorry! I meant to say you gained weight!" he apologized.
"SHUT UP!" I yelled. "Just get me down from here!"
Everyone soon started commenting on my stomach's size. Even Miyako joined in with, "Don't you think her stomach looks bigger? Or has it always been that way? Maybe it's just her suit. It might've shrunk in the wash..."
Fin fluttered up to me. "Geez..." she started. "You've got to be more careful!"
"Yeah, I can see that now. Thank you for the advice," I said sarcastically. "Now, you think you can get me down?"
"Hm... Try chewing through the string," she suggested.
Worth a shot, I guess...
~Chiaki's POV~
I saw her hanging by one hand. Her stomach was obviously bigger than I thought it was. Of course, I would never tell her that. It would make Jeanne enraged. Or Maron. Whoever she was at the time. Anyway, she was struggling severely, trying to release herself from the string holding her captive. I had been watching the whole time, but hadn't come out to avoid scaring her. I would never forget the way she acted towards me the last time she saw Sinbad. It roused doubts about my dream being a lie, but I simply couldn't have done something like that. I had sworn to protect her. I would never have beaten her.
But if my dream was somehow true...then she was carrying my child. Even still, even knowing she would face the risk of my appearance, she fought to save the possessed. She was so kind. She was so fragile. I would never do anything like that to her. What happened in my dream was something gruesome and heartbreaking. The only reason I hadn't asked her who had done this was because I was afraid of finding out. I was afraid she would tell me it was Sinbad.
I knew it was my job to seal demons, just like it was her job, but I couldn't bring myself to let her see me. It wasn't just because of my dream, it was also because of her earlier reaction. It wasn't because I was ashamed, it was because I loved her to death. And I never wanted to see that terrified face again. Instead I wanted to see her smile. I wanted to see her take pride in succeeding. I would let her have the next few demons. It was the very least I could do after what she'd been through. It was the very least I could do to see those beautiful lavender eyes of her shine, and those mesmerizing brown eyes of hers sparkle.
"Sinbad," Access whispered, prying my attention from Jeanne. "You have to seal it before she gets free."
"I can't. She's pregnant. And if she falls, she could get seriously hurt," I answered.
He immediately gaped. "She's what?"
"Yeah. Someone raped her, and now she's carrying his child. I have to focus on making sure she doesn't get hurt, at least until she figures out how to move around with that stomach of hers," I said. "If she isn't careful, the police might accidentally hurt the baby. It'll devastate her if that happens."
He was silent. He knew I was right. I wasn't that stupid, I knew how sensitive mothers were to their children. By nature, women were more nurturing than men. Jeanne was the perfect definition of nurturing. She refused to hurt the police, no matter what they did to her. She refused to hurt a possessed person that stood in her way, even if it meant her life. She didn't like making people feel bad, no matter how badly they may have hurt her. And this was a child, and not just any child, her child. I knew there was no way she would let it be harmed, but if something happened and she couldn't prevent it, it would kill her inside. She was no longer protecting herself for her sake, I realized, but for the baby's sake. Because whatever happened to her happened to her baby.
I was viciously torn from my thoughts by a feminine scream. I looked just in time to see Jeanne fall from a great height. I was instantly alerted to the mortal danger she was in. Although I was nervous, I knew all too well that she had a plan. And unfortunately for my racing heart, this was part of it.
She proved me correct when she turned horizontally in the air about three fourths of the way down, using her legs to push herself from the wall of the building and flipping to help slow herself. She landed squarely on the top of a police car. Granted, she stumbled around for a bit, but I couldn't blame her. I would've done the same thing had I fallen off a building and almost splattered on the ground.
But now I was ready to laugh. She had not only managed to shock the cops into paralysis, but she had kept both herself and the baby safe. But now she was distanced from her target, and I wondered if she would be able to seal the demon at all. Her belly was so big compared to what it used to be. It threw off her center of gravity by a long shot. I knew it would be so much harder to maneuver now. She relied on her agility to get the job done. The further along she got, the less agile she would become. And when she got so big that she started waddling, her maneuverability would have reached zero. I couldn't see how she would be able to jump around and balance on ropes and beams and pole tops with a fifty-pound beach ball of a belly. But then again, she was extremely unpredictable. She might figure out a way to do all those things. Heck, she might even learn how to use the weight of the baby to her advantage. It was also possible that she wouldn't have to learn anything, that she might just gradually adjust to the steady weight gain and still find ways to jump ten feet in the air.
Needless to say, but...she was the most incredible girl I've ever seen.
~Maron's POV~
I panted as I stood on the police car, not knowing what to do next. I should've thought this through, but I hardly had the time. I didn't think I'd get this far. The weight of my stomach was more of a burden than I'd anticipated. Even now, as I stood on top of the car, I could feel a force in my front center pulling downward. And as I was dangling by one hand, I felt much heavier than normal. And now...I was getting tired. I had two options: find a way to seal the demon quickly and get out just as quickly, or get out while I still had the chance. I still didn't have much time to make the decision... Sinbad and Access could be here any minute, and they could handle the demon themselves, but it was my job to protect human life. It was theirs to destroy it. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let it happen!
But seeing as I was pregnant... Well, it was hard on me. I couldn't move around like I used to, and I couldn't calculate where I would land if I jumped. It was even harder now that my outfit was trying to suppress my tummy. It felt so tight that I couldn't ignore it even though I knew I needed to focus on both avoiding the police and sealing the demon.
"Jeanne, are you alright?" Fin asked as she fluttered up to me.
"I think so..." I breathed. "It's not going to be as easy as I thought. The baby's weighing me down..."
"Baby? What do you mean?" she asked.
I groaned, shocked that she was an angel, yet she had no idea even after all this time that I was pregnant. If anything, she should've been the first to know! "I'm pregnant, Fin. And the extra weight is a huge strain on my body."
"You're pregnant! Why? How? Well, I know how, but who?" she babbled.
"Not important. What's the fastest way to the demon without getting caught?" I asked, huffing as I struggled to catch my breath.
"Well, I'm not really sure. When I checked, there were police everywhere, including inside the building. And unfortunately, the painting is right in the center of it all... You'll have to fight your way through if you want to reach it," she replied, suddenly re-focused on the mission.
I felt myself breathing much harder, much faster, than normal. I felt like I couldn't suck in enough air. It felt like I wasn't breathing at all, like I was suffocating! My lungs were trying to hard to get oxygen, but it felt like there just wasn't any left to get, like something or someone had snatched up all the available air, and I was left with nothing. Tears started to sting my eyes as I realized I was hyperventilating. I couldn't talk, couldn't breathe... Couldn't tell Fin that I couldn't fight in this condition... Couldn't hold on...
I grabbed my chest, as if that would help me. To make matters worse, the police, although still stunned, were already surrounding me. They knew I was hyperventilating. It was the perfect time. They would strike me while I was down. While I couldn't fight back. While I didn't have a chance against them.
Fin tried to ram some of the officers, confusing them, but she would never be able to ward them off long enough for me to recover.
I dropped to one knee, feeling like I was about to die right on the spot. You know how it feels when you're choking and it seems like you just can't get the food out of your throat, but there's no one there to help you? That was how I felt right now, except I seemed to be choking on air. I couldn't talk... There would be no persuasive arguments. But at least I could hear some of them guessing I was pregnant, just from the looks of my stomach. Maybe that would be enough to make them go easy just this once. But it was highly unlikely. They'd already let me go once, and this time I didn't think they were game for letting me off the hook again.
My lungs began to hurt. I was breathing as hard and as fast as I ever had before. My entire body trembled as it tried to keep me up, but soon my vision got blurry. I felt like I was starting to float away. I felt so light...kind of like there wasn't a ground beneath me...like I was weightless...
~Chiaki's POV~
I had been watching the whole thing, but for some reason Jeanne was still sitting on to of the police car, not doing a thing to get away. Had Miyako done something? No, that couldn't be it. Miyako was probably even more shocked than the rest of the officers. She hadn't had time to do anything yet. What in the world was Jeanne doing? didn't she realize that they were about to catch her? There were cops all around her! Surely she had to see that!
And suddenly she keeled over, tumbling off the car. Gasps from the group sent shivers down my spine as the officers in front immediately stepped back, obviously not expecting this. Miyako and a few others were the first to regain their bearings and rush over to assist her. What just happened? Why did she suddenly pass out? She hadn't been through too much, considering she'd faced worse than a building before. So why...? DUH! She was pregnant, that was why! How could I have forgotten that? Right now, her body was giving more energy to the baby's growth than it was to her. Her adrenaline levels spiked when she fell, using up what little energy her body could supply. And as her heart rate increased, her blood pressure rose. It was too much for her to take, and she had collapsed.
Her pregnancy was a more serious issue than I first thought. She had just been completely immobilized by the very thing she was trying to protect. I had to help, whether I wanted to be seen or not. Besides, she was unconscious anyways. Might as well come to her aid before she woke up and stressed herself over my presence.
And I was no expert, but I knew frequent and severe stress could spell death for the baby.
My decision made, I ran towards her as fast as my legs would take me.
