It is time.
I am being wheeled to the operating room to get ready and have the c-section.
No-one I really knew is going to be in the room with me. Not even Sakura who was training as a medic-nin in this area. I learned earlier that she was about a month pregnant.
My lower stomach is cleaned and coated with a solution that, blah, blah, blah. I'm checked and asked if I feel any pain down there after a curtain is placed between where I'll be cut open and my chest.
The more gory parts of today are taken care of by the surgical team.
I could feel them taking out one of them, but it didn't hurt, I just felt it. Some of them cheer "It's a big girl!". The umbilical cord is clamped and cut. I hear her crying. It all took around ten minutes for this one, the start too.
I see someone take her over to a table and start cleaning off the blood and amniotic fluids. Weighing her, making sure nothing is wrong, then wrapping her up and bring her over to a clear tub near my head. It seemed like forever.
Then I feel more pressure moving, the other one is being borne. Again, it didn't hurt but I felt it. Cheers, like last time, but for "It's a boy!". They work with him for a while longer than my daughter. Is there a problem? Then he's rushed over the same table, dried, weighed, etc...
But no crying.
It really makes me worry.
Is he even alive?
I close my eyes before I see more medical workers - and Tsunade - rush to the boy's side.
I feel like I'm going to cry. One of my children died at birth? Has my heart just been ripped out?
Then dual baby cries, one right after another, one copying the other, one startled by the other.
My eyes widen and I feel white hot tears. Was it Tsunade? Thank you, thank you, thank you.
He's laid in an identical bin, only this one is labeled with a "#2" and the other "#1".
I'm stitched back up, which takes about thirty minutes, all the while I admire my children. Realizing that I'm now a parent, that everything will change, boy does it hit hard. I'll definitely need help in raising them.
OXOX
Naruto finally found a time in the week to be able to visit Sasuke.
Too bad no-one was at the cabin. It was deserted, almost like they were in a hurry to get going.
Did they move location? He wouldn't doubt it. Not after what he almost did that last time.
He understood that, now looking back, he was over-reacting.
Too many emotions were running rampant in his mind, his hormones were also acting up then.
Yes, over-reacting.
OXOX
"What are you going to name them?" asks Tsunade.
She's the only one else in here save for Suigetsu and Karin.
Ah! Names!
I never really thought of names.
I think of meanings of names for a while. What would do for an Uchiha?
"Ava and Niko."
"Quite the unique names there." The Hokage busily scribbles the names onto clip boards, then hangs them off the end of the bin to each respectively named newborn.
She then picks up one, Ava, and hands her to me. I look at the plump cheeks, the red lips, smooth skin. Her eyes open, only just a bit.
And those pale blue irises shine at me from a blonde dusted head.
My vision blurs and I realize that I'm crying, no-one notices, their all coddling Niko.
"Why?" I whisper. "Why did he want to take you away from me?"
A tear trails down my cheek, and falls onto hers. She smiles, sunshine and flowers, rainbows and clear skies.
Another addicting smile to replace the one I lost.
OXOX
All that day he had searched for someplace they could have gone. But nothing turned up.
Naruto headed back to Konoha at twilight.
Wasn't he due about now? Would he be okay - would the babies be okay?
Just hoping they weren't dead was all he could do for now.
OXOX
Certificate of Birth
I, Shizune, the Hokage's assistant, do hereby certify
that Niko Uchiha of the Male sex
was born on December 6th, at Konohagakure's Hospital
in the Country of Fire.
~!~
Certificate of Birth
I, Shizune, the Hokage's assistant, do hereby certify
that Ava Uchiha of the Female sex
Was born on December 6th, at Konohagakure's Hospital
in the Country of Fire.
TBC…
What is this doing a day late? Is that MikuMikuDance? Getting side tracked now are we?
Yes, MMD kept me from typing those make-shift Birth certificates and getting this out actually on December 6th. A day late? Not too bad, but I could do so much better. *goes off to berate herself for being a day late* I really need to meet some rabid fan girls that I can fan girl with.