The raspberry leaf tea helped Mukuro get through the night, but in the morning, the pain was harsher than any cramps she'd ever felt before. What was going on? She had fallen asleep in the lounge room, so she curled up in a ball on her couch, trying to fight her way through the pain. Not that she'd never experienced pain before…but she didn't know what was causing this, or how to get rid of it.
Her pains weren't recurring with breaks in between, either, the way they had been last night. Now they were almost on top of each other. In one of her seconds-long breaks, she managed to get off her couch and onto her knees, desperately searching for any position that was comfortable. She kneeled on the ground, panting, her hands on her knees.
"Mukuro?" It was Hiei. "Are you feeling any better?"
She couldn't answer, for it was then that the worst pain of all surged through her body like an electric shock. She couldn't help but scream, and she didn't stop screaming. It was as if her organs were being ripped from her body.
"I'm gonna get help!" said Hiei, and she sensed him leaving the room at top speed.
"Hurry," she croaked, as the pain faded momentarily, only to be followed by another horror. It seemed like forever, yet the pain hadn't even faded yet when Hiei came back into the room, and he wasn't alone this time.
"Lord Mukuro," said Shigure. "What ails you?"
"Last night she said it was 'that time of the month,'" said Hiei in a panicked voice, "but I don't think—"
"No, it's not," said Mukuro, her pain fading just in time. "It's too strong."
"How would you describe your pain?" Shigure asked her.
"It's killing me," she answered. "I can't even stand. It feels like cramps, but much worse."
"Forgive me, my Lord," Shigure began, setting one hand on her shoulder, "but could you be pregnant?"
"No," said Mukuro. "I had my tubes tied ages ago."
"Pregnancy after a tubal ligation is rare, but not impossible," said Shigure. "It could be that whoever performed the surgery didn't know what they were doing. It's also possible for the organs to heal on their own, especially if the operation was done at a young age."
Mukuro's eyes widened. She hadn't even started puberty when her operation was done, and the demon who did it worked for a pimp. Hiei looked just as shocked as she felt, but Shigure had a sort of arrested expression on his face.
"Have you taken anything for the pain so far?" said Shigure.
"Just raspberry leaf tea last night…It helped me a lot."
"Raspberry is a uterine tonic," said Shigure. "The fact that you took it last night might reduce its effectiveness, but it's still possible that it will help with the rest of the labor and the birth, especially if the plant was procured in Makai, not in Ningenkai, where so much of our flora has been sullied."
"Thank you," Hiei muttered. "Look…Shigure…please tell me you know what to do."
"Somewhat," he answered. "I've performed cesareans before. But a natural birth? No, this would be my first."
"So…can you give her a C-section, then?" said Hiei, his face pale.
"No," said Shigure. "It would be unnecessary surgery, and that's the last thing our Lord needs at such a…turbulent time. Unless a serious complication presents itself, the only thing we can do now is let nature take its course."
Hiei didn't seem to like that answer at all, but Mukuro agreed with Shigure. Honestly, she wasn't as worried about giving birth as she was about everyone knowing she'd had sex with Yomi.
"Shigure is right, Hiei," she said. "I…I can do this."
The next pain sent her to her hands and knees, though, and she could tell by the look on Shigure's face that he knew things were about to get real. The Surgeon of the Damned turned to face Hiei.
"Make yourself useful and grab some towels and a yukata, Hiei," Shigure commanded, pointing towards the door. Mukuro thought he'd protest being ordered around, but he seemed to realize the urgency of the situation and quickly left. Of course, he returned less than two minutes later, and Shigure helped Mukuro change into the yukata. Hiei, looking uncharacteristically frightened, had the towels ready.
"What do you need me to do now?" he asked, his voice breathy.
"I need you to stay out of the way and leave this to the professional," said Shigure.
"Professional?!" Hiei cried. "You've never helped a youkai deliver naturally!"
"Maybe not, but I know the body inside and out," Shigure said back. "Our priority now is to get everything prepared for the Heir."
Mukuro cringed. If the baby resembled its father in any way, she doubted Shigure would speak so highly of it…or of its mother. She waited until another contraction had passed, then asked, "How will I know when it's time for the baby to come out?"
"Your body will know well enough, my Lord," said Shigure. "Hiei, if you can't handle this, you might as well leave. Our Lord and young Heir don't need the stress."
"I'll never leave," Hiei declared. "And we ought to get that swine for knocking her up, too."
"Forget about that, Hiei!" This time it was Mukuro who shut him down. There was a lot less pain and a lot more pressure, and while she didn't know much about childbirth, she did know what that meant. "The baby's coming now!"
Hiei made a noise like a bird being strangled, while Shigure looked quite calm, especially for someone who had no experience with vaginal delivery. She supposed this was the least disturbing thing he had encountered over the course of his career as a surgeon. He stood by rather grimly, ready to intervene if needed, while she kneeled on the earthen floor in her yukata, not knowing what to do.
One thing she did know, though: she had to be strong. After all the hardships in her life, could she really not do this as well? It was time to be in control of her own fate—and her baby's.
Things seemed to pass by in a haze after that. She knew Nature just needed to take its course, like Shigure said. Blood ran down her thighs, fire blazed around her entrance, her mouth opened and screams left her throat, but she couldn't stop. It wasn't the worst pain she'd ever experienced, not by a long shot…but she had never felt anything more passionate. She had never cared so much.
And just like that, it was over. The pain was gone. There was a splat on the floor, and the sound of a baby's cries filled the room.
She looked up, dried tears on her face, to see Hiei collapsed onto his knees, his face white; Shigure was watching her intently. She realized the baby's cries were muffled by the yukata, and she reached under it to pull her child up into her arms. As soon as she did, both Hiei and Shigure's expressions changed. Hiei gasped, his eyes wide, and Shigure's brow furrowed, his lips pursed.
Mukuro's own breath caught in her throat when she looked down at the baby. It was a girl, but there was no mistaking it—she was obviously the daughter of Lord Yomi. Her hair was straight and black, just like his; her skin was the same color; her pointy ears stuck out at either side of her head; and she had two horns.
"My Lord," said Shigure, but that was when Mukuro realized she didn't just feel weak from the shock. She felt cold and shaky, and she realized she hadn't stopped bleeding.
I can't die, she thought to herself. I have a child now.
But she was losing the battle for consciousness, even so. She couldn't figure out how to stop the bleeding. She heard her daughter crying, she heard Shigure and Hiei talking, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Everything was blurry and muted, like a smudged oil painting.
"Hiei," she said, unable to keep her eyes open any longer. "I place her in your charge."
She managed to make out his shout to Shigure ("DO SOMETHING!"), but that was the last thing she heard before everything went dark.
…
Mukuro still hadn't woken up.
Hiei was too worried to be shocked and/or horrified that Yomi, of all people, was the father of her baby. Thankfully, Shigure had managed to save her; all she needed was a blood transfusion, he said, and there were plenty of minions and servants willing to donate blood. After announcing that she was going to be all right, Shigure put Mukuro to bed in the medical room, while Hiei headed to his room with the healthy baby. Shigure followed.
"The next step," said Shigure, sitting down in Hiei's chair, "is to figure out what to do with her."
"What d'you mean, do with her?" Hiei asked, sinking onto his bed with the baby in his arms.
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed, Hiei." Shigure sternly gestured to the baby. "Did you know about this?"
"No," Hiei answered. True, Mukuro had told him she dumped a long-time boyfriend, but she didn't tell him who that boyfriend was. And he certainly hadn't known she was seeing anyone at all before yesterday evening.
"Well, then, you must be as scandalized as I am," Shigure replied, "and you must be interested in advice on how to deal with this…this problem."
Shigure was looking at the baby, but Hiei wasn't. Hiei was looking at Shigure. And he recognized the expression on his old sword-sensei's face. It was one of disgust.
"No," Hiei said again, feeling a flare inside of him that he couldn't quite explain. "I'm in charge of her until Mukuro wakes up. Not you. So don't try to strong-arm your way in."
Shigure's eyes narrowed. "What makes you think you can make such decisions?"
"Mukuro put me in charge of her to stop people like you from trying to mess with her," said Hiei. He couldn't figure out why he was feeling so protective of this baby, but he didn't like the fact that Shigure referred to her as a "problem." However, Shigure seemed to have figured it out.
"It was a mistake for Mukuro to make you the baby's guardian, Hiei," said Shigure. "She knows as well as I do that you would have a…personal stake in such a situation."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiei demanded.
"Don't you realize?" Shigure's lip curled. "The reason you're so protective of that baby is because you were once a forbidden child, too. You don't want her to meet the same fate you did. You're afraid I'll cast her away, and that Lord Mukuro will die of grief, just as your mother did. And your loyalty to our Lord only cements the blind faith you have in such a child."
The words cut into Hiei like a knife. Shigure was right.
"But how do you know what she wants you to do with the baby?" Shigure continued. "She didn't tell you to look after her. She simply put you in charge of her. How do you know Lord Mukuro wants her around? Maybe our Lord believes, as I do, that the child may be a liability to us when she's alive."
"She…she wouldn't think that." Hiei's voice was small.
"Lord Mukuro isn't your mother, Hiei." Shigure leaned forward slightly, gripping the desk, with a taunting smile on his face. "She's a cold-hearted, ruthless killer. That's what she's known for, and that's why my place is here, with her. And right now, you're doing her a disservice by projecting your own past onto her and her child. Give the child to me."
"Just wait for Mukuro to wake up," said Hiei, feeling his heart pound. "Then she can do what she wants to do."
"And what if she doesn't wake up?"
Hiei didn't answer. He tried to recall the look on Mukuro's face just before she lost consciousness. She didn't look like she wanted him to throw the baby away. But even if she did, that should be her decision. Besides, Shigure had to have been bluffing when he asked what Hiei would do if Mukuro didn't wake up. Hadn't he said less than an hour earlier that she would be all right? Yes, as a matter of fact, he had. He was just playing mind games, and they weren't going to work.
"I know what you're trying to do, Shigure!" Hiei shouted suddenly. "I'm not going to give you the baby! Mukuro entrusted her to me because she knew I'd do what was best, and throwing a baby away is never what's best." He glared at the other demon across the room. "And guess what else? I outrank you. When Mukuro's incapacitated, that makes ME the boss of this whole kingdom. And right now I order you to shut the fuck up."
On the inside, Hiei was shaking, but he kept his gaze and body steady, staring Shigure down. Shigure looked angry, and a little surprised, but when he finally spoke, his voice was calm.
"You do outrank me, Hiei," he said, standing up and pushing in Hiei's chair. "Very well. You must do as you wish."
When he was gone, Hiei looked down at the baby. She had stopped crying. Her eyes were open, and Hiei saw that they were the same blue as Mukuro's. At least one part of her looked like her mother.
"And so I will," he whispered to her. "As soon as your mother is able, we're going to Gandara."
…
Mukuro had never felt so weak before. When she woke up, all of her was hurting, especially her lady parts. But when things started to come into focus, she realized she was in the medical room, and that her second-in-command, Hiei, was sitting by her side.
"Hiei?" she mumbled. She tried to get up, but he just guided her back down again.
"Welcome back," he said. "Do you want to hold her?"
"Do I…what?" Mukuro moved her eyes slightly to Hiei's left, where a little cradle stood. She bit her lip. "Is that her in there, Hiei? Is she okay?"
"Yes." Hiei took the baby out of the cradle and handed her to Mukuro. "You've only been asleep a few hours. She hasn't had a dirty diaper yet, but my Jagan eye found a herd of Makaian bison, and I had a servant get some milk from one of them. We've been feeding her with that. We don't have any baby clothes, but we washed her and wrapped her in a blanket."
"Thank you," said Mukuro, looking down at the baby. She was fast asleep, and looking adorable now that she was all cleaned up and swaddled. "I…I was sure I was going to die."
"Shigure said it wasn't that serious," Hiei told her. "You just needed a blood transfusion. And most demons around here are pretty loyal. There was no shortage of donors."
"I knew I made the right choice when I put you in charge of her," said Mukuro proudly.
"Um, speaking of that…" Hiei swallowed. "I was wondering what we might do, and…she probably deserves to know who her father is, right? I know you broke up with Yomi, but, I don't know, I feel like she should meet him anyway. I never knew my father, and, well…"
"You're right," said Mukuro, and with the next thing she said, her voice hardly sounded like her own. "But how can I face him? What if he doesn't want her?"
"Oh, he'll want her," said Hiei. "I'll make sure of that. Besides, you seemed like you really missed him last night, so he can't be all bad." He paused. "I think we should stop thinking about Yomi until you're better, though. Maybe we can give the baby a name."
"I wouldn't want to do anything official without consulting her father," said Mukuro, despite what Hiei had just suggested. "But I suppose we need to call her something while I recover. How about Aiko?"
"Well, it's not my choice to make," said Hiei, but she could tell by his face that he liked it.