Wow. After six weeks of (almost) daily drabbles, can you believe we're at the end? I want to take one last opportunity to thank those who reviewed the last chapter: Syolen, Ayesa, SRAS9, sulou, donhisiewen, Void, Scarred Sword Heart, Emi Violet, Althea M, and caseyedith. I hope to see you all when I post my next story, sometime this week!
I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.
Parturition
-noun
The process of bringing forth young.
Slim and dark-haired, a man paces before a small, well-kept house, sweating in the heat of the summer afternoon and with nerves. The sounds coming through the closed doors and windows, muffled though they are, are not reassuring.
Then, finally, the shrieks cease, and the man waits in tense anticipation; after what seems hours, the door opens and his aunt comes out, sweat beading the hairline of her tired face.
"You have a son, Himura-san." She says smilingly.
He tears past her into the darkened room. His wife, small, red-headed, and curiously vulpine rests on a futon, cradling a small bundle in her arms.
With an awed silence, the man sinks to his knees beside them.
Shy and proud, his wife turns the bundle so he can see the small, pinched face, fine downy red hair, and tiny fists. "His name is Shinta," she says.
It is the beginning.