So, the epilogue!

The Rose In Between

by four-eyed 0-0

EPILOGUE

"YOUKO KURAMA!"

The addressed pulled open the big door leading to the living room and sprinted toward the kitchen where his eight-year-old son was jumping hysterically as he shouted, "Dad! Mum's laboring!"

And for sure, his wife was leaning on the counter, beads of sweat cropping on her forehead as she held onto her swollen womb. She was frantically gasping for air and his knees shook. They were to have their second child. Finally. She glared at him. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT? I'M HAVING CONTRACTIONS HERE, YOU FOOL!"

Kurama snapped out of his reverie and moved to her. She clutched at his shoulder as he wrapped his arm about her waist and he walked her out to the car.

"Hiro, jump in and sit with your Mum." The lad obliged. Kurama revved the car and in no time at all, they were speeding down the street. His hands shook as he gripped the steering wheel and glanced through the rearview mirror to see how his wife was. It did not help. She was having too much trouble. Her face was scrunched up in utter pain and Hiro looked like he would faint in just a while, what with the paleness of his face. Kurama wondered if this was how the driver felt when Anikka first had to be driven to the hospital and if Korin Takizato looked as pale as Hiro, as she most probably had sat beside Anikka during that time.

He exhaled deeply as they came to a halt in the hospital and soon the nurses came to rush her into the delivery room, Kurama and Hiro all the time holding onto her hand before the doors were closed between them.

"Are you the husband, sir?" asked a nurse, with which Kurama nodded wildly. "Okay. You can come in with us in a while. I'll come back to you later."

"Thank you." Kurama ushered Hiro on a seat just by the door and took out his phone. After three rings, Shiori picked up. "Mom?" he said, before she could even say anything. "Please come to the city hospital. Anikka's on labor. Someone should look after Hiro while I'm in the delivery room. Thank you." And he hung up.

"Dad, are you all right?"

He looked at his son and smiled. "Yes. I'm all right. Just jumpy and excited. Are you not?"

"I'm nervous. I've never seen Mum like that before. Good thing I was born a boy."

Kurama chuckled and ruffled Hiro's hair. "Just look at how mothers suffer to let you see the wonder of the world."

"Yes."

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"KURAMA!"

The addressed growled as his laboring wife dug her nails into his knuckles once more. He felt tears brimming in his eyelids as he stared from the bleeding skin of his to the sweat-soaked face of Anikka. "I'm here, I'm not leaving. Just push, love," he tried to say in a calming voice, but the words came out shrilly. It had been two hours now that she was in agony and his knuckles were in so much pain just as she was. She yelled his name again and he told her for the umpteenth time his words of consolation. He kissed her forehead.

"The head's almost out, Minamino-san! Just a few pushes!" said the doctor encouragingly.

And Anikka clutched Kurama's knuckles once more, before the first cry of their baby was heard.

"It's a girl, love! It's a girl!" Kurama told her happily, before she completely fainted.

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"Kuchi…"

The addressed lifted his head from his arms to see Anikka smiling at him. He smiled back and kissed her. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine." She stared at him then her gaze fell on the hand he was brushing her shoulder with. "Did I do that?" she asked, grabbing the injured hand and kissing the wound. "I'm sorry."

"No. It's all right," he said. "You'll have to see our little girl."

Her face brightened. "Where is she?"

"Wait here and I'll be right back."

She nodded and Kurama went straight away to the nursery and asked the attending nurse permission so that Anikka would be able to see their daughter. The nurse lifted the newborn from her crib and handed her gently to Kurama before being thanked. The father dashed back to Anikka's room and he gently laid the baby in her arms.

A single tear fell from her eye as she stared at the infant and it landed on her forehead. The baby stirred in her sleep and Anikka looked up at her husband with a smile on her face. When she turned her gaze back to the baby, her small eyes opened bit by bit, until brown met brown, and the baby squealed in delight, recognizing her mother at once.

"Oh, dear," Anikka whispered, and she kissed her daughter's forehead lingeringly. "Welcome to the world, love."

Kurama smiled and gently pushed the cap of the child an inch to reveal thin brown curls. "She looks absolutely like you, love."

Anikka nodded and looked at him, "What should we call her?"

Kurama thought for a while and then he grinned. "What do you think of 'Meisho'?"

"Meisho then, it is." She kissed him deeply and then turned back to their daughter. "Hello, little Meisho. Meet your Daddy." She then handed her to Kurama and the baby squealed once more.

Just then the door opened to reveal Hiro and Shiori with the whole lot of Yusuke and the others. The little girl, once her elder brother reached her, squealed, and, as though sensing more and more friends, giggled incessantly.

"Good lord, you're making her too excited!" Anikka thought aloud, laughing. The others joined in and the angel giggled feverishly, ready to see the world.

Kurama looked at his wife and the two of them kissed once more.

Goodbye, dears! Thanks for sticking with me. I love you!

~four-eyed 0-0