A smaller chapter this week, but I hope you like it!
Kikuko gets to learn about the other side of being a Guardian.
"Well, look who finally got caught in the net," a woman's voice says. I turn around the corner and see a very pregnant Aimi standing at the kitchen counter. "It took you two long enough," she smirks at me before motioning for me to join her at the counter. Abuelo puts the food that was in his hands in the fridge before he comes around the counter and hugs Aimi. He kisses the top of her head and whispers in her ear, bringing a large smile to her face.
And then he pulls me into a hug.
"Abuelo?" I ask, my voice muffled.
"Ah, there's no place for men in an Uzumaki birthing room," he says lightly and I freeze. He's leaving me here? But I can't do this. I don't know anything about childbirth.
"Abuelo-"
"Have a good day, ladies!" He says as he slips out of my hands and shunshins away.
"Eh? Since when could Abuelo do that 'ttbane?"
Aimi cackles before her laughter suddenly stops and she holds her stomach. I immediately place a hand over hers and another on her back as she takes deep breaths for a few moments. Soon her tense body relaxes and she rests her head on my shoulder.
"Knew you'd be a natural at this," she mumbles.
"Me? What? I didn't do anything."
"None of that teenage angst, Uzumaki Kikuko," Aiya yells as she walks into the kitchen. In one hand is a basket filled with blankets and in the other is a basket filled with food.
"It's not teenage angst 'ttbane," I mumble under my breath.
"And did Uta not do your hair? Or get you your clothes?" She asks me as she drops the basket filled with food on the counter. There's a dull thud as it hits the table and Aimi laughs beside me.
"No, I didn't know I would be here until fifteen minutes ago!"
"That man, I'm going to murder him-" she starts ranting under her breath in Uzu and I freeze. And then I look to Aimi who has her mouth covered to try to hide her laughter.
"I should've known you two had a thing for each other," the words spill out before I can stop them.
"I do not!" Aiya turns around, her hands on her hips.
"And I don't have a thing for struggling geniuses with zero emotional intelligence."
"Oh kami!" Aimi bursts out into laughter, hiding her head in my arm. Aiya glares at me but I just raise an eyebrow.
"I don't know why you're trying to deny it, you make each other happy."
"You don't mind?" Aiya asks as she starts emptying the basket and putting food into the fridge. I roll my eyes when she turns away from me.
"I'll wear a dress to your wedding." Aiya turns around abruptly, her mouth hangs open as she looks at me. Akako walks into the room and freezes before she turns to look at me.
"Did you finally call them out on it?"
"You were waiting for me?"
"You're the one least likely to notice, we thought we'd wait for you until we forced them to go out together," Akako smirks as the other women in the room start to laugh.
"So mean to me," I say as I turn to lead Aimi over to a chair. "And you need to sit, you're going to fall over."
"Told you she'd be a natural!" Aimi calls over my shoulder. "Bring me my hair stuff, would you Akako-chan? I'll fix her hair."
"You're in labor," I say as she finally sits down. She waves me off and turns me around. I sigh and sit on the tile floor of the kitchen as she starts to take my hair out of its braid. I clasp my shaking hands together and hold onto them tightly as my hair fans out of the braid.
"Here you go," Akako says a few minutes later.
"Thank you, Akako-chan," Aimi says as she takes the basket from her. I hear some shuffling before I hear the spray bottle and feel the water hit my hair. I lean my head back as Aimi starts to brush it. The steady motions of having my hair brushed and then braided start to finally calm my nerves.
"It's about time," Aiya says as she crouches down in front of me. She holds eyeliner in one hand as the other reaches in front of my face.
I close my eyes and let her do her work. There's no point in fighting her, in fighting this. Abuelo said this was part of my duty as a Guardian. I shouldn't try to fight it.
"Now, I put some clothes out for you, mija." Aiya says as she moves to my other eye. "Once you're finished go put them on and then come back down and we'll go on a walk."
"Okay," I say. My voice shakes as my hands start to shake again as well.
"Mija, you've done all the difficult duties of a Guardian," Aiya says quietly. "It's time you get to see the good things we get to do too, hm?"
"But what if I-"
"I trust you with both of our lives, Kikuko," Aimi says, cutting me off. I feel tears in my eyes and I can't tell if it's from her confidence or from how tight of a grip she has on my hair.
It's probably a mixture of both.
"You're all done," Aiya says. Aimi hums and I can feel her put in a pin to keep some of the braids out of my face.
"Hair is done, too."
"Alright, I'll go get dressed," I say as Aiya moves back to let me up. As soon as I stand, I'm hugged from behind.
"Aimi?" I ask gently when I hear a sniffle.
"I'm s-sorry," she says. I turn around and lean down to hug her carefully.
"What's wrong?"
"No-nothing!" She shakes her head before she takes in a shaky breath. "I just- we grew up in Suna, I never knew I'd be able to- be able to have what my mom and her mom had you know?" My heart aches. I've been so focused on my own fears I haven't thought about what this would mean to Aimi.
I remember Hiroto-ojisan talking about how the Uzukage would sit with our relatives when they passed away. Was she always involved in births, too? How can I manage to be here for the births and handle Konoha?
"Everything is going to be okay," I finally whisper to Aimi. "And you're going to have the cutest baby I've ever seen."
"Oh really?" Aimi manages to laugh.
"Mmhmm, look at your baby cheeks," I say as I reach out to squeeze her cheeks.
"Kikuko!" She laughs as she bats my hands away. I smile and kiss the top of her head, something I'm getting used to doing the more time I spend in Kumo. "Go get dressed, I want to walk this baby out!"
"As long as you don't give birth in the middle of the street, we're good," I say as I pull myself away from her. She tsks as Aiya and Akako laugh loudly.
I smile to myself as I make my way up the stairs.
We're all going to be alright.
"Okay, I think we need to go back now," Aimi says. And for the first time since I've met her, she sounds scared. She has a death grip on my arm as we walk down one of the side streets of Little Uzu.
"You'll be fine," I say gently.
"I know but it's scary, you know?"
"I know, but you're strong. You can do this, Aimi." Her eyes are watery as she looks at me for a second before her eyes widen and she holds her stomach.
"I don't think we're going to make it," she says as her voice shakes.
"Okay," I say more to myself than to her. "Okay, let's get you over here, alright?"
"We wanted you to be able to help, not to force you to-" she pauses and her breathing turns short.
"I know," I say as I rub her arm. "Don't worry about me, okay? I read a little bit about giving birth, just not all the Uzu traditions. We're going to be okay."
"We don't have anything-"
"I may have snuck some of the supplies in a scroll just in case," I grin at her as we slowly walk away from the trail we were walking on. I should've fought her harder about walking through Little Uzu instead of going on one of the paths on the outskirts of the village.
"Your paranoia finally pays off, ne Kiku-chan?"
"Sometimes it's helpful," I shrug a shoulder as she laughs. "Is here okay?"
"I just want this baby out," she huffs. "Are you going to call for anyone?"
"Depends on how close the baby is," I say as I kneel in front of her. "Put your arms on my shoulders, alright?"
"I don't want to hurt you," she says and I roll my eyes.
"And I don't want you falling over while giving birth," I quickly open the scroll I'd packed earlier and wash off my hands with water first.
"I'm going to stand? I thought I'd be lying down like the telenovellas?"
"If you want to you can, but all the books I read were the traditional birthing methods where you squat," I say as I pull out a towel and lay it on the open scroll beside me.
"Really?" She starts to pant as she moves one hand to hold her stomach.
"When we couldn't do water births at home we'd do them outside. Normally you'd hold onto sticks but I don't think we have the time, now squat," I say as I pull up the long skirt she wears and put it over my head. When I look up I see a head full of bright red hair.
"I'm not going to be able to call anyone to get here in time," I say, making sure to keep my own panic out of my voice.
"It hurts," Aimi whimpers and I pat the side of her leg.
"I know, just breathe for me, okay?"
"What are we going to do?"
"You're going to keep holding my shoulders like you are now, and when you feel the next contractions you're going to push."
"Okay," she huffs. "I can- I can do that."
"Aimi," I say firmly.
"Yeah?"
"You and the baby are going to be okay, just remember to breathe while you push, okay?"
"Ok- oh no!"
"Breathe and push, Aimi!" I say and I hear her scream as she begins to push. I hold my hands up in case the baby comes, but it doesn't come immediately.
"It-it's over," she says. "Why isn't the baby-"
"It takes time, Aimi, it's perfectly normal," I say as I move one of my hands from under her to bite my thumb.
"I've been reading about bio fuinjutsu," I say tentatively.
"Do it," she says immediately.
"It's never been used for-"
"Do it!" She snaps.
I close my eyes as I carefully draw a seal on her lower back. As soon as I'm done she sighs in relief.
"What the hell?" She asks, sounding tired. "Why didn't you do that sooner?"
"It's never been used for this, only for numbing during dental procedures."
"What?"
"I added to the seal to amplify it and follow the different nerves-"
"Thank Izanami for you being a fucking genius," Aimi sighs before her breath catches. "I think I need to push again."
"Go ahead whenever you're ready," I say as I move my hand down from her back.
She groans before she takes a gasp of air. At least she's not screaming? I feel her hands tighten in my dress before I suddenly feel a weight in my hands.
As Aimi sighs, a wail pierces the air. I let out a watery laugh as I pull the baby closer so I can see it. I immediately start running my fingers along its nose, moving them downwards until its cries are louder.
I let out a sigh of relief before I reach back for the scroll. I wrap the baby in the towel quickly before I pull two pieces of string from the scroll.
"Baby, the baby's okay?" Aimi pants above me.
"She's okay," I say as I awkwardly tie a string around the umbilical cord a few inches away from the baby. I reach down and grab another string and tie it a few inches away from the other. "I just need to cut the umbilical cord and you can hold her, alright?"
"Okay," Aimi says, but it's hard to hear her over the baby's crying. I reach back for my medical pouch with my free hand and pull out a kunai that's in an airtight box. I pull it out and my hand shakes as I bring it closer to the umbilical cord. I cut between the tied strings before I throw the kunai away. When I hear the thunk of it hitting a tree, I finally come out from under Aimi's skirt with the baby.
"Oh," Aimi says when she finally sees her. Her eyes fill with tears as I move her hands from my shoulders and stand. I carefully ease her to rest down on the ground where I kneel beside her with the baby. Aimi looks frozen as she stares at the crying baby in my arm.
"You really are an Uzumaki," I look down at the baby in the light for the first time, but she's blurry. I let out a watery laugh as I help Aimi pull her top down and place the baby against her chest for skin to skin.
The baby immediately quiets when it latches on to breastfeed, causing me and Aimi to giggle.
"Definitely an Uzumaki," I say quietly as I rub the baby's head.
"Thank you," Aimi whispers as she looks up at me.
"It's part of the job," I say casually and she lets out a weak laugh. "I'm going to flare my chakra now, alright?" Aimi nods as she looks down at the baby in her arms.
I flare my chakra and immediately feel the panicked chakra of Aiya, Akako, and some of the elders. Aiya and Akako's chakras are the closest.
"They should be here any minute now," I say as I wipe my hands off on another towel. "Do you have any names picked out?"
"I did, but I don't think they fit now," she says quietly.
"Gonna give her a name that means chaos?" Aimi laughs and shakes her head as she holds the baby's tiny hand in her own.
"Chiyo," she says quietly. "Uzumaki Chiyo."
"I told you she'd be cute, she has your cheeks."
"What are you two doing out here?" I hear Aiya yell. "The baby can come at any ti-" she stops speaking when she bursts through the trees, Akako right behind her.
"Akihiko owes me so much money," Akako starts to cackle.
"I should've known you two would bet on this Aimi rolls her eyes.
"What-" Aiya shakes her head as she walks over to us.
"I cut the umbilical cord and used the string to tie it off-"
"I thought you said you didn't know anything!" Aiya snaps.
"I read a bit about actually giving birth, but I didn't know anything about all the traditions!" Aiya glares at me before she turns to Aimi.
"Did you give birth on the forest floor like this? Honestly this is the least Uzumaki-"
"I was standing," Aimi cuts her off. "Well, squatting, Kiku-chan said that's how our ancestors did it when we couldn't have a water birth."
"Honestly child," Aiya says as she looks at me. "You're going to be the death of me."
"I take it I did okay then?" I squeak and she finally smiles.
"You did more than okay, now come down here and I'll teach you about the afterbirth."
"But I want to look at the cute baby-" I stop talking when Aiya narrows her eyes at me.
"What's the baby's name?" Akako asks as she sits on Aimi's other side.
"Chiyo," Aimi looks down at the baby with so much love in her eyes I have to look away.
"A thousand generations, hm?" Aiya asks.
"It fits since it was a really traditional birth," Aimi gives Aiya a tired smile. "I'm- I'm glad it worked out this way."
"We'll get you back to the house soon, I just want to wait for the afterbirth," Aiya says, a content smile on her face.
"Hey Kiku-chan?" Aimi asks and I look back up at her. "You need to teach Aiya that seal yesterday, I can't feel any pain now."
"I'm glad," I sigh.
"What seal?" Akako asks.
"I've been looking into bio fuinjutsu-"
"Stupid genius," Aiya mumbles under her breath.
"Oh! I brought her necklace!" Akako says as she opens a scroll. Soon she's holding a tiny necklace with a single seashell on it. "The other elders dropped it off just before Kiku-chan flared her chakra."
"A seashell? Like the windchimes?" I ask and Akako nods as she hands the necklace to Aimi. Chiyo wails as soon as Aimi pulls her away from her milk. The necklace is placed around her neck and she immediately stops crying when she's able to eat again.
"Just like your father," Aimi sighs.
"We started the tradition after we arrived here in Kumo," Aiya says beside me when she catches me staring at it. "It's a symbol of protection, of the hope that they'll carry the spirit of Uzu through adulthood."
Tears well up in my eyes as the babies I found in Uzu shift in and out of my vision as I look at Chiyo.
"That-" my voice cracks. "That's a good tradition." Aiya grabs my hand and they both shake so much I don't know who is shaking. Maybe it's both of us.
But as I look down at the now sleeping baby, for once, I don't feel cursed.
I'm just happy.