AUTHOR'S NOTE: Final chapter before the Epilogue! Sorry for the delay! Enjoy!
Kami no Kodomo
Child of God
Chapter 5
Tenshi
Akito wanted nothing to do with the child after she recovered from the caesarean. That did not surprise Hatori at all, but he was stunned by Ren's reactions to the child. She came to the hospital around noon on Christmas day and lavished attention on her granddaughter.
"Look how beautiful she is! What an angel! She is perfect in every way!"
Hatori and Kureno, exhausted from a near sleepless night in the hospital, looked about ready to fall over in exasperation with all of her gushing. She had shown no interest in the child over the course of the pregnancy (except that she have her way regarding the abortion and Akito's concealment), and now to bestow so much attention onto her once she was born (in front of Akito no less)? It was like dousing a fire with gasoline.
The pair of men looked to Akito for the tongue-lashing that was sure to follow Ren's sickening display of affection, only to see her staring listlessly out the window. The steel coldness of her emotionless eyes said more than words ever could about her feelings towards the baby.
"If it's so perfect," Akito muttered distantly, "why don't you raise it? I want nothing to do with it."
Hatori saw Kureno swallow uncomfortably; her words hitting a nerve within him before he looked down at the floor.
"Maybe I will," Ren replied, lightly brushing her finger over the baby's stomach, as if to tickle her.
The child's face scrunched up. She looked about ready to start screaming when Ren stopped and placed the baby against her shoulder, rubbing her blanketed back and cooing at her.
She still did not have a name. "Have you chosen a name for her yet, Akito-san?" Hatori asked, tearing his eyes away from the child and turning his gaze to his god.
"What use have I in naming it?"
It was Hatori's turn to swallow the lump in his throat. He understood postpartum depression, but he knew this was much more than that. Now was not the time to bring it up though. She was still tired and weary from the surgery, but she also wasn't ready mentally and emotionally for anything.
"Well if you won't name her, I will!" Ren declared as she put the baby back in the incubator.
Hatori and Kureno both resisted the urge to reach for the baby and take her away from the woman's grasp because doing so would reveal the secret. For some reason, they did not want Ren to know that the child did not cause them to transform. Either she shared some sort of connection with the Juunishi curse, or she was immune to it, they didn't know. However if they reached for the child, Kureno would either reveal his secret of being free to this woman, or Hatori would reveal that the child was special. Neither one of them trusted Ren, nor did they want her to know the truth. So they kept their distance and watched in painful silence as the child crinkled her face whenever Ren touched her.
"We should call her Tenshi. Sohma Akitenshi."
"Fine, whatever," Akito replied distantly.
"We should use the same kanji as your name and your father's name," Ren replied, reaching for the paper on the counter in which to write the child's name on.
Hatori's eyes widened and he quickly glanced at Kureno. Akitenshi? She could not be serious! He watched as she began to write the kanji for Sohma and then Aki, when Kureno cleared his throat.
"Tenshi is a bit… presumptuous, don't you think?"
She stopped midway through the writing of Aki and regarded him coldly. "I think a better question would be which kanji to use for 'shi'? Child of heaven? Or messenger of heaven?"
The silence that enveloped the room was thick and stifling. Ren's abrasive glower made Kureno's face flush until he backed down and lowered his gaze to the floor.
"Whatever, if you can't decided now, then just leave it out. Who cares anyway?" Akito grumbled, her eyes still staring out the window.
Stricken by Akito's unexpected declaration, Ren clutched her chest dramatically and exclaimed, "I care! She's my granddaughter, and names are very important!"
Now she suddenly cares, resonated throughout Hatori and Kureno's minds.
A nurse entered then to collect the document. "Just a minute, my dear," Ren told her as she quickly scratched in the last characters with the pen. She quickly handed it over to the nurse before anyone else could have a look at it. "There you are. I believe they are all in order."
The nurse smiled and left.
Hatori wanted to ask which character she had chosen for 'shi', if she chose one at all, but he couldn't get past the blockage in his throat. He'll get her medical information some day anyway when he gets his practising licence. For now, his exhaustion was overwhelming him.
He excused himself and Kureno so they could return to the Sohma Estate for some much needed rest. Both of them were up most of the night, having only caught a few zees in the quiet waiting area, and Hatori's head was beginning to ache beyond belief. Ren decided to go with them. Having completed what she intended to do (and then some by naming the baby), she saw no need to stay any longer, and it was much more convenient to snag a ride with Hatori than to call a driver from the estate.
The ride was quiet, and as soon as they arrived at the estate, Ren hurried inside, leaving Hatori and Kureno out in the cold.
Plagued by the events that took place last night, Hatori finally felt the pull to confide in Kureno with what he saw. He told Kureno about the strange man, their conversation together between the curls of cigarette smoke, and the man's sudden disappearance. While Kureno agreed that it seemed strange, he didn't have any thoughtful words to utter.
"Maybe it's because my mental faculties are depleted, but it certainly does seem that something unusual took place. There are stranger things to happen in the world, and the Chinese zodiac that holds our family is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg," Kureno said as he brushed his russet hair from his tired eyes.
Hatori agreed, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the strange being had been some kind of spirit.
If that was the case, then what was his purpose?
…
Akito could barely touch the child without her screaming. The nurses tried to get her to breastfeed, but as soon as she touched Akito's bare skin, her face contorted in a most painful expression before letting out the loudest scream the nurses had ever heard come from someone so small. Akito already hated the child, and her infuriating shrieks only added to her distain, and caused severe migraines to wrack over her mind.
She clutched her head and ordered the nurses to remove the child.
I didn't ask for this! I asked for an abortion! Now what am I going to do? The mere sight of her gives me a headache!
Akito knew there was something different about the child. She could feel it within her body. She felt drawn to the child, but whenever she looked upon her, her anger flared up; whenever she touched her, she screamed. And the contact of her skin on hers was like a spark of electricity.
No doubt about it, Akito thought to herself bitterly in the silence that followed the exit of the nurses and the baby. There's something not right about her.
…
Akito was alone most of the day, but Hatori returned in the evening after dinner to spend some time with her. Akito had already fallen asleep though, so he went to go check on the baby.
"She's been rather fussy today," the nurse told him when he arrived. "We had to bottle feed her a few times because she would cry and pull away from the breast whenever we tried to get her to breastfeed. None of us can figure out why, and she would stop crying within moments of us taking her away."
Hatori considered her words as she went to the baby's incubator. "Akiten… Akiten…" she murmured under her breath as she shifted through the papers detailing the baby's health. "She's due for another feeding soon."
Hatori moved closer to watch the baby sleeping in the incubator. The nurse took a digital thermometer and pressed it into the child's ear. Akiten's eyebrows drew together at the disturbance, but the nurse quickly pulled away. "Temperature is normal," she mumbled to herself, jotting the numbers down in Akiten's chart.
"May I feed her?" Hatori asked. He felt nervous for some reason, but he longed to hold the child in his arms again. The lure to her was unmistakeable.
"Certainly." The nurse picked up the baby and wrapped her in a blanket. "We think she prefers to be swaddled still, so best to do what she wants. She's the boss after all!" The nurse laughed lightly as she gently placed the baby in his arms. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll bring you a bottle."
He thanked her and sat down in the only chair that wasn't designated for the nurse. He studied the baby's face as he held her, waiting for the nurse to return. Wisps of delicate black hair framed her chubby red cheeks. He still couldn't believe it, couldn't get past the fact that God gave birth to a child. It seemed like just a few years ago, Akito was born. He remembered the immediate connection he felt with her, like she was his be-all and end-all. He remembered how proud her late father, Akira, was when she was born. How he lavished love on her… much like Ren did earlier that day.
Ren had traded places this time. No longer was she the one giving birth to someone special, who would be loved above all others, and ignoring the one who gave birth to said child. No, now she was the one generating the attention on the special child and ignoring her own daughter who gave birth to her. How the tables have turned, he thought to himself as the nurse returned with a bottle of warm milk.
"You and your cousin must be closely related," she commented as she laid eyes on the baby tenderly in his arms. "The three of you all resemble each other handsomely."
"Yes, first cousins," he lied as he took the bottle from her.
"I thought so," she commented as she returned to her work.
Hatori gazed at the baby, watching her lips move in search of food and her black eyelashes flutter softly under her closed lids. Pain gripped his heart. Pain toward the father, who knew nothing about this small person he held in his arms. Pain, and worry, toward the child that suddenly meant so much to him now. What would become of her once she was released from the hospital?
Just as he was about to put the bottle to the baby's mouth, her face contorted as if to scream when the door burst open.
His heart clenched as Akiten began screaming at the noise and he looked up to see Akito stumble into the room with just her hospital gown on. Her face was pasty white and her eyes wild and fierce, burning with what could only be described as hellfire.
"Akito!" Hatori cried out and he pulled the shrieking child tightly to his chest.
Akito took an unsteady step toward him, reaching her right hand out while her left gripped the doorframe to hold herself steady. "Give it to me," she ordered in a low and dangerous tone.
"What's going on here?" The nurse came in from the adjacent room, looking confused, and fearful.
"You stay out of this!" Akito screeched, reaching for a bedpan and threw it at the nurse. The nurse cowered in fear, returning to the adjacent room and calling security.
"Akito, stop!" Hatori exclaimed, finding his strength as adrenaline began to course through his veins. He got to his feet, his arms holding the crying newborn protectively against him.
"Give it to me, Hatori!" Akito commanded, her voice high and shrill. She stepped closer to him, painstakingly slow, her hand reaching out. Her face contorted in pain, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. "It needs to be destroyed! I-I have to destroy it! It will ruin everything!"
"What-What are you talking about?" Hatori demanded, stepping away from Akito, searching for a way out or around her. He knew he had to keep Akiten away from her. Akito wasn't stable. She was out of her mind and he didn't know what set her off.
"It can't exist! I can't… There'll be no need… I have to destroy it!" Akito cried out hysterically.
A sudden burst of energy against his chest knocked the wind out of him. He fell back, the child suddenly ripped from his arms.
But when he regained himself and looked up from the floor, he saw Akito lying unconscious just a few feet away, and the child hovering in the air above his head. Her blanket had fallen to the floor. She would have looked ominous if she did not appear to be fast asleep again and clothed in only a small white diaper.
What happened?
His ears were ringing, and as the ringing began to subside, he could hear the other premie babies in the room fussing from their incubators. But he heard something else outside the room that made him get to his feet quickly and pull the floating child to his chest—the sound of security guards thundering towards him.
He looked down at the baby, fear resonating through him, as he studied her face, her body, everywhere to make sure she was okay.
She opened her eyes and his breath caught in his throat.
Silver-grey orbs stared back at him, uncharacteristically for a baby, but he knew, saw in her eyes, that she would be the change.
And as the guards rushed in, amidst the squalling of the babies, Hatori felt an unusual sense of calm fill him from his hands and up to chest. Exhaling as he held her against his chest, supporting her head with his hand, he could feel the panic and distress melt away and disappear.
She sighed.
He quickly pulled himself together as the security guards picked Akito up off the floor and barraging him with questions. Hatori calmly answered them all as he followed them down the hall, like taking a prisoner down the dungeon, and returning Akito to her room. He answered every question automatically, although through a blur, the words "psychologically distressed" and "postpartum depression" resonating through his mind like an echo of a dream.
And he saw, as if stepping out of his body and surveying the scene above, the depth of God's anguish. She'd been let down, abandoned in her attempt to (in her mind) make things right.
And the child in his arms would be the key, the answer to it all.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow. Final instalment is short, but powerful (I think). Kanji details on Akito's and Akiten(shi)'s names will be at the end of the Epilogue so as to not distract you from the flow of the story.
Anyway, onto the Epilogue…