Sorry for the wait, guys. I'd been so busy at work and was tired that I just wanted to drop dead.
I'm overwhelmed with the reviews for the last chapters. Anyway, enjoy. Oh yeah, Happy holidays!
Chapter 78: Her crime
Miki groaned and curled as pain shot through her again. She was lying on a hospital bed waiting for that dreadful and inevitable labor all women had to go through.
Shouhei flinched as his left hand was almost crushed in a tight grip.
"It's time," he heard his wife said between gritted teeth.
"It's time," he repeated in a loud voice. A split second, three nurses burst into the room and wheeled the blonde to the delivery room.
Miki passed by her two parents who had arrived and instinctively reached for them. Naruto did the same causing their fingers to brush.
Miki remembered the conversation she had with her chichiue a week ago.
"Miki, if things will come to a situation when we are to choose between you and your child-"
"Chichiue," Miki interrupted, her hands moving to cover her ears.
Naruto moved closer and held her hands. "Listen to me," he pleaded. "Miki, please."
The girl nodded.
"As I was saying, if it will come to that, otousan and I will choose you."
"Chichiue... that's unfair. Didn't you say that life is precious?"
"Yes, it is." The girl was about to open her mouth when he shook her head. "Don't ask us to reconsider. We lost you, Miki earlier than we expected and we can't endure it if you'll die. Never ask us to bear that kind of pain." He gazed down at her. Blue eyes against blue ones. "I won't let you die. I carried you for nine, no, eight months and raised you for many years so I absolutely won't let you die." There was finality in his voice and Miki knew they had made up their mind.
Before the doors of the delivery room swung shut, she saw her chichiue giving her two thumbs-up while her otousan mouthed the word 'work hard'.
Hinata mentally sighed in relief upon hearing that the girl's passage was expanding. With the girl's condition, she thought it would be a caesarian operation. She looked at her niece-in-law. "If you feel pain or discomfort, tell us immediately. Don't hide it."
The blonde nodded before groaning again.
"Just push, Miki," one medic-nin ordered.
-SasuNaru is love-
Shouhei quietly sat on one bench not knowing what to do and how to help his wife. Cold sweat broke out from his skin dampening his face and shirt.
Sasuke massaged the bridge of his nose. Naruto pacing back and forth was giving him a headache. He shot his hand out and grabbed one tanned wrist.
"Stop prowling," he said almost too harshly.
"You don't understand the pain labor brings, bastard. Ne, Tenten?" The woman nodded automatically and the blonde continued, "I hope Miki can stand it."
"You lack faith in our daughter."
His spouse glared. "I'm fucking worried about her. I can't be like you who sit and be the Ice King."
Sasuke glared too and jerked the blonde to sit beside him.
"Your prowling won't help her, dobe."
"Asshole," Naruto huffed before he crossed his arms.
-SasuNaru is love-
"Push, Miki."
"What do you think I'm doing?" the girl snapped between gasps. God knew how long she was pushing. While time slowed down outside the delivery room, it melted into pain and pushing inside the place.
Hinata looked at one nurse silently asking for an update on the girl's status.
"She's doing fine. All rates are safely within the normal brackets."
The Hyuuga mistress nodded. That was a good sign, right?
C'mon, Miki. Keep pushing before you'll be in danger.
After what was like an eternity or two for the three parties, Miki finally gave birth. All the medic-nins inside the room rejoice drowning out the sharp wails of the new-born baby.
Out of worry, Hinata activated her Byakugan to check for anything abnormal with the baby girl's chakra system and found none. The baby was healthy. Everything was fine. That was until one medic-nin cursed under her breath. The word had been uttered but sharply penetrated their bubble quickly announcing that something was wrong. Definitely wrong.
"She's out of the normal range!" one announced quickly.
All eyes went to Miki and true enough the girl was pale and breathing haggardly. They all scampered to do their task.
Postpartum hemorrhage, they all thought simultaneously.
Sasuke, Naruto, Shouhei and Tenten looked up when the door to where Miki burst open.
"Miki..." Shouhei trailed off when the woman just passed him by. He and Naruto looked at each other.
A moment later the woman returned and this time, she was carrying packets of blood.
"Wait!" Naruto grabbed her. "What the fuck is going on?"
"Postpartum hemorrhage," was all she said before running into the room.
For Shouhei time had stopped and the world fell silent.
"What about-" Naruto followed her and at the swing of the door, he saw nothing but red and his heart stopped beating. He was about to barge into the room when Sasuke grabbed him a bit too much that they ended up falling on their butts. Naruto remembered he hadn't bled that much during his time and knew Miki was dying.
No!
He scurried to his feet ready to get inside but Sasuke won't let him.
The dark-haired man kneeled behind and embraced him tight. "Calm down, dobe."
"It hurts, Sasuke," Naruto said almost in a childish manner.
"What does?"
One tanned arm wrapped around his abdomen while a tanned hand gripped his chest. "Everything."
Not giving a damn of their small audience, Sasuke covered the blonde's hands with his and leaned forward to brush his lips against the left side of his jaw. "It's okay. We'll not lose her. I know she wants to see her baby badly."
Shouhei was busily murmuring prayers to any gods and pleas to his aunt to save his wife and their baby. He sat erect when he remembered their baby. Nobody had told him anything about their child. A familiar hand on his shoulder snapped him out from his swirling thought.
"Okaasan," he whispered brokenly.
Tenten took pity of her lad and pulled him to her for a comforting embrace.
That was how Yuuzuki and Kisho found them causing the two to arch an eyebrow.
"What's going on?" Yuuzuki asked.
"Miki is having postpartum hemorrhage," Sasuke informed them.
"What's that?" Kisho asked.
"Hemorrhage after childbirth," Yuuzuki explained.
"Where's the baby?" Kisho grimaced when his brother's hand landed on his head none-too-gently.
"I haven't seen you for months, Kisho. Let's do some bonding."
The boy nodded because the grip on his head was tightening in a threatening manner.
-SasuNaru is love-
Amidst the billowing pristine bed sheets on the hospital rooftop stood two Uchiha brothers.
Yuuzuki leaned on his elbows against the rail guard. "When have you become like this, Kisho?"
The younger boy frowned in confusion and tried not to fidget under the older man's heavy gaze. "Like what?"
"You being sinister." But Yuuzuki had a good idea when. It was when he embraced his true self; realized his capabilities and skills and accepted his curse at the same time gift.
When Kisho had been pretending just to be accepted, he showed interest and like in things normal boys would. He had been an imitator but the moment he revealed himself, he cast off his chameleon skin leaving him bare with no ambition, likes and interests. He was as empty as a clean slate and a pit of directionless power. But he put efforts in finding his momentum and his direction. Everything he did was for that purpose and out of curiosity. He fought stronger men just to feel Death's cold and wiry fingers grasping his beating heart. He ran away just to experience the stolen freedom. He became a hunter-nin to have the thrill of being hunted and hunting coursing through his veins. And he would continue doing anything he liked with no thoughts of the consequences until he finds what he was looking for. Until that day comes, he was like a ball ricocheting back and forth and like a paper boat wading alternately between the waters of menace and kindness as he tried to find his own path.
"Am I?" Kisho asked innocently. He had no idea. He was just trying to protect his sister. "That baby is a threat."
"Was," the older Uchiha corrected. "Postpartum, ok?"
"It doesn't matter. I should-"
"You and her baby are the same- a threat to those who had given birth to you."
The blonde gaped at his brother.
Yuuzuki's voice dropped to a low one. "Chichiue had been pregnant when Kyuubi's powers increased."
That was nothing new. He knew that when he asked his parents why he was different.
"His life was in danger and your presence inside him made his condition worse. It came to a point that otousan had to choose between him and you. Otousan who was twice more protective of chichiue than you are with Miki chose both of you. He gave you a chance. Why can't you do the same?"
Kisho looked ashamed. "But I have to protect Miki."
"But she isn't yours to protect anymore. She's Shouhei's."
That was a reality slap.
"Is that it, niisan? You bowed out?" He almost snarled that.
Yuuzuki poked his forehead, unfazed with the boy's tone. "I'm protecting her best interests and happiness as expected from us. To protect your loved ones, you have to protect their happiness."
The blonde remained quiet.
"Whether you like it or not, you're her baby's uncle just as you're my children's uncle." And before he left, he looked over his shoulder and said, "Remember that, Kisho." His tone was calm but his eyes were dark with promised cruelty.
Alone, Kisho looked at the drifting clouds knowing Yuuzuki was right. He was always right. Miki's baby was part of his family he swore to protect until the end of time.
-SasuNaru is love-
After a long torturous wait, an unconscious Miki on a wheeled bed emerged from the room. All her family flanked her.
"She's okay, right?" Sasuke asked.
Hinata nodded. "She did well. She'll wake up anytime soon."
"And her baby?"
"Already in the neo natal room. Her baby is a healthy girl," Hinata informed happily. "You can see her anytime you want." She looked at his nephew. "A word with you."
Shouhei who wanted to be with Miki then go see their daughter, hesitantly followed his aunt to a quiet corner.
"Miki's fine. She did great for someone who was premature and pregnant at a very early age."
"Thank you," Shouhei said gratefully.
"However, there won't be sex for the next six months and don't get her pregnant for the next three years. Understand?"
A blushing Shouhei nodded meekly. He wholeheartedly agreed to that. Hell, he wouldn't even touch her if it meant saving her.
The woman patted his back before she left.
-SasuNaru is love-
Naruto chuckled when he and Sasuke saw their first granddaughter.
"Blond hair," Naruto stated as he almost pressed his face against the viewing window. "This just proves that the Uzumaki blood is stronger than the Hyuuga and Uchiha."
"Yeah right," the man beside him snorted.
"Sore loser."
Sasuke was about to reply when they heard a soft squeal. It was Miki supported by her husband.
"She's so cute."
"Have you thought of a name, Miki?" Shouhei asked.
"Eh? You'll let me?"
"Of course." The lad thought that after her hard work, she deserved to have such privilege.
"Amaterasu."
Three males looked at her.
"She's the first blonde in the Hyuuga clan," she explained curtly before focusing her attention to her baby.
-SasuNaru is love-
The moment Shouhei came home with his wife and child, his house was flooded with gifts and besieged with relatives who wanted to see the new addition of the Hyuuga clan. A lot were disappointed to know that it was a girl and worse, a blonde. They also didn't like the name given to her because it obviously flaunted her difference from the rest of the clan members. But the clan leader and his wife had recognized the name so they had no choice but to do the same.
The clan elders eagerly inspected the child with their Byakugan for her potentials but found none. Could it be that she is the weakest one?
The members' thoughts and reaction never bothered Miki who was experiencing the joys motherhood brings. It didn't matter to her that Amaterasu would wake them up at some ungodly hour or upset their routine. For the first time, she felt like an ordinary child playing with her baby doll except that it was alive and very much so. It was fun but it didn't last long.
Miki's ambitious streak began manifesting her dreams showing her what could be; reminding her what she threw away and teaching her how to gain it back. It always made the girl cranky, confused and torn. She tried to resist. She really did but it courted her persistently even during her waking moments. Soon, she had been ensnared by sweet but poisonous promises.
She began distancing herself from Amaterasu and once in a while disregarded her needs. Surrounded with scrolls and engrossed with jutsus, she forgot that she was a wife and a mother. She only remembered when Amaterasu's cries break her concentration.
Shouhei had noticed the change in Miki but chalked it up as exhaustion. Whatever Miki failed to do, he would do it. He was doing his part as a husband and father and more. He tolerated every failure of his wife never questioning why she wasn't able to cook dinner or what she had been doing all day. He kept on telling himself that Miki was tired or that she was just fifteen and it was his fault. In the end, he blamed and punished himself by enduring it all wordlessly.
Her ambitious side was greedy. It wasn't enough that Miki was spending most of her time serving it. It wanted and demanded for more.
Miki sighed in irritation as Amaterasu cried again. She threw her pen down and strode towards the crib. Seeing the baby flailing her chubby arms and legs while wailing, the teen realized how much a distraction and obstacle the baby was and something came over her. Never taking her eyes away from her child, she grabbed a small pillow and pressed it against her small face.
Okaasan? Okaasan, what are you doing? Don't you want me anymore?
Miki applied more force wanting to drown out the cries so she could go back to her studying.
Okaasan, I don't want to die. Let me live. Please.
Amaterasu cried harder and moved violently trying to get away from the pillow.
Okaasan... okaasan! If you wish, then so be it.
Miki pulled the pillow when Amaterasu quieted down and went immobile. She snapped from her trance seeing her baby was blue.
"Oh my god!" she gasped and started saving her. Her hands trembled and tears of guilt flowed down as her action hit her. "Please," she murmured trying to coax the small heart to beat again. "Please."
Why should I? Awhile ago, you wanted me dead.
"I'm sorry... Please... I'm sorry. Please..."
Do you love me?
"I do. I love you." She let out a cry as Amaterasu's eyes fluttered open and gazed up at her. The baby smiled and reached out to her mother.
"I'm home," Shouhei called out from the doorway causing his wife to jump. He strode to their child and gave her a smile. He chuckled as Amaterasu kept on holding her arms to her mother. "She wants you."
"No," Miki choked out causing for her husband to arch an eyebrow.
"Miki?"
"NO!" she shouted and left leaving a confused Shouhei to tend to their crying child.
-SasuNaru is love-
Miki fell to her knees on the grass-covered river bank and stared at her hands. What kind of a mother is she trying to kill her child? She clenched her hands her nails painfully digging into her palm. She loved her child and yet... She definitely couldn't be trusted with her own child.
"Miki?" a surprised voice said. She looked up to see Akemi.
"Akemi-nii," she murmured as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
The lad sunk down and soothingly ran his hand across her back. "What happened?"
The blonde just shook her head. "Nothing. Just let me cry." Nobody had to know of her crime. Nobody. Ever.
-SasuNaru is love-
"No, get her away from me!" Miki snapped at Shouhei when he tried to place their child beside her.
"You don't make sense, Miki," he retorted in an irritated and frustrated tone. It had been nine days since she started ignoring their daughter and he still couldn't figure out why. When did Miki put a barrier between them? "She needs her mother too. I can't be that for her."
"You don't understand." Of course, her husband would never understand because he didn't know what she almost committed.
"You never let me!" He frustratingly combed his hair with a hand. He couldn't make their marriage worked by himself alone. "Just be honest, Miki, are you tired of this?"
"No!" the teen answered immediately then softly she added, "I just want things to go back the way they used to be. I want to be what I used to be."
Shouhei's heart sunk at such confession but he knew it was coming. He knew all along that Miki was made of ambitions. It was one of the reasons that drew him to her and the cause that drew him away from her. He could see the ambition in her eyes burning like a furnace instead of just embers like on their wedding night. What hurt the most was Miki didn't want to compromise. Were he and Amaterasu a burden and an obstacle to her? Was their marriage a cage to her?
"I understand," he said in defeat. He was tired too. "If that's what you want." He then disappeared in a poof.
-SasuNaru is love-
When he returned two hours later, he was bringing a divorce and child custody papers bearing his signature. It was him that placed Miki in a cage so it was up to him to set her free.
The girl looked at the documents representing her freedom. She was glad her spouse was willing to let her go even when he didn't understand her or why she wanted to be like Tsunade and then surpass her. She had always admired the blond legendary medic-nin and wanted the same strength and skill. She wanted the power Tsunade was exercising.
"I hope this will make you happy."
She nodded. "It will." She was certain it would but why was her heart aching and breaking? Why was hesitation welling up within her? Why was regret blooming quickly? This was what she wanted right?
Yes, her ambitious counterpart nodded eagerly.
She gripped the pen and moved it on the sheet. She had just written one stroke when a metallic scent wafted to their noses.
Hesitantly, slowly and fearfully, the couple looked over their shoulder. Nothing had prepared them for what they saw.
Amaterasu was gurgling blood that flowed from her mouth. But it wasn't only from her mouth. Blood trickled from her ears, eyes and nose. She was unnaturally reddish and gasping for air.
The two immediately appeared by her side to find her eyes flickering back and forth between Sharingan and Byakugan.
"W-what's going on?" Shouhei choked out.
"I don't know." All the things she learned were swept away by raw panic and fear.
"Miki!"
"Hospital," was all she could say.
The man nodded and with Amaterasu in his arms, he disappeared.
-SasuNaru is love-
Thirty minutes later, Amaterasu was heavily sedated and supported with machines as only a trickle of chakra was allowed to flow through her. Shouhei and Miki just stared at her through the viewing window as nurses worried over her.
Shouhei looked at his blood-stained shirt and shivered touching the stains. Was his union with Miki cursed? His marriage was closing to an end and now his child was in danger.
"Shouhei! Miki!" Neji said as he moved towards them. He came to the hospital as soon as he was informed of the situation. "How is she?"
"She's just like that," his son answered weakly. "Aunt Hinata is still with Aunt Sakura discussing."
Sakura 'hmm'ed while she looked at the charts and diagrams representing Amaterasu's chakra circulatory system and her vital signs.
"It's just as you stated, Hinata," she said. It was pitiful that even within a small body the Hyuuga and Uchiha were battling putting an innocent life in danger.
Hinata nodded. The Sharingan had originated from Byakugan but it evolved to be different and with Kyuubi mixed in, it was now completely different. "One of the bloodline must be sealed but as to which, her parents must decide."
"That's a no-brainer," Sakura said then stood up. "I'll get everything ready."
"I go and explain things to them."
When the Hyuuga head matriarch went to where she was certain the couple were, Neji and Naruto were there already.
"How is she?" they all chorused.
"She's going to be fine," she said in a reassuring tone. Amaterasu had to because both her parents were too young to suffer the pain of child loss. They didn't deserve that. Nobody did. Ever. "But there are few things I want you to know."
The four nodded at the same time.
"Before, unlike Byakugan, Sharingan isn't a dominant trait until Naruto-kun came into the scene. I couldn't tell whether it was his family genes or because of Kyuubi that made it dominant."
"And?" Shouhei asked, curious and impatient all at once.
"The Sharingan and Byakugan are battling for dominance upsetting her whole system and putting her life in danger." She paused for a moment to let them comprehend it. "The only thing we can do is to seal one bloodline limit." She let her gaze land on the couple. "You're going to choose which."
"Seal the Sharingan," the two chorused. Their reason was simple. Amaterasu was a Hyuuga and she belonged to them even more the moment her mother would sign the papers.
"Does that mean the skills from Kyuubi will also be sealed considering that it is entwined with Uchiha?" Naruto asked.
"If the skill you're referring too is creating maddening illusions associated with Kyuubi, then yes. But with the ability to control plants, I don't know. I don't even know if she has it."
"Is there any possibility of getting rid of the seal when she's older and can manipulate both bloodline limits?" Neji asked too. "Are there chances that she can manipulate both?"
"Sakura and I studied her system and body structure awhile ago and saw little chances of these things to happen." With sympathy evident on her voice, she said, "sealing is the only way to save her life right now."
The four nodded and bowed. "Please do everything you can," Miki said.
Hinata nodded and left.
-SasuNaru is love-
When Miki returned from the toilet, she found Shouhei inside Amaterasu's room, sitting beside her bed. Her spouse was holding a frail hand between his strong ones while murmuring something to her. Seeing that scene made feel more torn than ever. She had reached another fork in her life and this time she couldn't choose wholeheartedly because each road held something she crave. But their sweetness could only be tasted when she would give all her attention.
Sighing, she quietly left.
-SasuNaru is love-
Miki arched an eyebrow when Yukina answered the door with black lines across her face and a weapon's pouch filled with fake shuriken and kunai around both of her thighs.
"Hi," the woman greeted between pants.
"There you are!" a hyped up Haruo exclaimed. "Return prince Aki to us," he demanded hotly. The scene was good except that the script no longer fit as the supposedly kidnapped prince was standing beside him and his comrade- Yuuhi.
"Can we talk?" Miki asked shyly.
Yukina's intuition told her that the younger girl needed her so she nodded and regarded her boys.
"Let's take a break," she announced and the three protested reasoning that the enemy had not yet been 'scolded' for her actions nor was she captured.
"I'm going to receive orders from my boss," she explained before giving a meaningful glance to their aunt.
"Aha!" Yuuhi said and Akihito repeated after him. Their blonde aunt chuckled at their cuteness.
"You better be ready," Miki said in what she supposed to be a wicked tone. "We'll be back to get your prince."
The two older boys scrambled to step forward and protect their prince who then hunkered to peek from the gap between their legs.
Yukina laughed wickedly as she steered her sister-in-law outside.
-SasuNaru is love-
The two sat on both sides of a four-seat iron swing Yuuzuki placed at their backyard.
"Aren't you tired of being a mother and wife," Miki blurted out, surprising the woman.
"I do sometimes," Yukina admitted a second or two later. "Yeah, I do but being a mother and a wife isn't some job you could quit. After what was said and done, nothing could be the same." Before she could ask, the blonde girl fired another.
"What about your dreams? Your ambitions?"
In someway, the brunette had an idea where the conversation was heading. "I still have them too except that they're no longer about me alone. They're about me and Yuuzuki; me and my little boys and me, Yuuzuki and our kids." She smiled before adding, "If I think about it, I'm content of being Yuuzuki's pillar and the kids' shelter."
The girl realized that unlike her, her sister-in-law was cut out for such life and she wished she could be like her.
"No, it won't work for you," the older one said.
Miki blushed realizing that she had made her wish known.
"But you could be like chichiue- realizing his dreams while being a parent."
"That's it!" the blonde exclaimed, surprising the other female. "The kage bunshin."
"Eh?"
With that technique, she could do things at the same time. "Why didn't I think of that before?" she murmured but she knew why. She had been overwhelmed with everything making her unable to think clearly. "You're a genius," she told a still confused Yukina as she hugged her.
"You don't make sense."
"So I've been told," Miki said wryly.
-SasuNaru is love-
When Shouhei came home as was ordered by Hinata who confined Amaterasu in the hospital for observation after the sealing, he was surprised to find the floor clean from blood and a grim Miki waiting for him.
"Give me your hands," she said and the man silently did.
He watched as his soon to be ex-wife opened her fists and white shreds of paper fell on his hands and floor like some poorly done imitation of snow. He read some characters and realization made his eyes wide and his heart skipped a bit. "Wha- Why? You said this will make you happy."
"It will among other things."
Shouhei was happy but he didn't like to be led on or to be given hope and then be dropped to the ground cruelly. "I don't want you to stay because you're forced to because of responsibility," he said quietly and almost harshly.
The girl shook her head. "I'm staying because I want to... because I chose to. I'll work hard just like chichiue. I want to be a working parent."
Compromise, his mind told him. Miki is willing to compromise.
"And-a-and," she paused to take a deep breath because words were rushing to her throat as she tried to convince her husband to let her stay. "I know and won't forget who my priority is."
"Really?"
She nodded. "I won't. I promise you that because I-"
She was cut off when Shouhei embraced her "I believe you."
Miki let out a sigh of relief and returned the hug.
From her left, a cabinet glass glinted she looked at it and found her frowning reflection glaring at her.
You're a fool. You won't get far.
You're wrong. I will because I have them. If Amaterasu struggled to live then I too will do that to achieve my goals.
Ridiculous.
Maybe but I'm okay with it. I'm not throwing my dreams but sharing them.
Whatever. Do what you like.
Thank you.
And the teen smiled as harmony settled in her.
TBC
I'm pretty sure that all of you are disappointed that this chapter isn't a continuation of 77. But I decided to settle Miki's affairs before nosediving into Sasuke's and Naruto's. Next update would be tomorrow. I'm almost done with the chapter. If you excuse me, I have a breakfast to cook.