Poston

Chapter fifteen : Tears of Shooting Stars

"You have to save her!" Sho cried to the doctor once they got to the hospital. Mai had been rushed to the hospital as fast as everyone could get her there, and now she was on a gurney waiting to go into surgery. She was bleeding very badly and Sho had a sinking feeling in his stomach that this was not going to end well. "Please! Just save my sister and her baby!"

"Mr. Sakurai," the doctor, Mr. Okada, told him gently. "How far along is your sister?"

"Um..." Sho stuttered as he tried to think. "Thirty four weeks? She's due next week though."

"Mr. Sakurai, we have to do an emergency c-section on your sister, but because of her anemia there is a big chance that she or her child will not make it out okay. You have to be prepared for that."

Sho nodded frantically while still in his panicked daze. "Just.... Just save her. Please."

Doctor Okada put his hand on Sho's shoulder. "We will do everything we can."

Sho nodded again before he was given permission to go see Mai. He held her hand and kissed her forehead. "It'll be okay," he told her. "You'll be okay."

Mai smiled slightly. "If... If I don't make it—"

"Don't even dare talk like that!"

"—I want you to tell Masaki how much I love him, and how he better come home after this war and raise this child properly." Mai's smile widened. "I want our child to see those beautiful strawberry fields that Masaki bragged about so much."

Sho kissed his sister's hand. "You'll get to see them too."

"Mr. Sakurai, we have to move her in now," a nurse came and told him gently.

Sho looked up at the nurse before back at his sister. "I'll be right here waiting for you to show me my little niece or nephew."

Mai nodded, then the nurses gently moved her into a second room and closed the door, leaving Sho and everyone else standing there in fear and worry.

--

Jun and Mao left with the children and took them back to the barrack, and Satoshi's sister and Nino's mother and sister came to see what had happened but had left as well. Mr. and Mrs. Aiba had stayed behind to stay with Sho, and Nino and Satoshi stayed as well although Satoshi mainly stayed to keep Nino from going crazy. Sho was now pacing the floor, unable to keep still. It was silent for the longest time until the sound of a cry made everyone jump. They tried to think about what it could possibly be before it dawned on them all.

A baby's cry. Everyone smiled in silent relief as they heard the baby cry strong and healthy.

The sound then got louder and overlapped the first baby. That caught everybody off guard as they realized that it was two sounds, not just one.

"Twins?" Mrs. Aiba asked first.

Sho looked just as dumbfounded as everyone else. "I didn't know..." he said. "I don't think Mai did either...."

Suddenly, they heard the doctor scream at a nurse, and the reality of the situation came crashing back down as they heard them start to quickly work again.

Then it got quiet. It was quiet for another twenty minutes before the doctor came out, looking exhausted and beaten up. He came up to the family and acted like he wanted to say something. Instead, he stood in front of them and bowed as low as he could. "I'm very sorry. We were unable to save her."

Everyone stared at him as it sunk in, but Sho stood frozen before he shook his head. "No," he said. "No, you are lying." When Doctor Okada didn't say anything, Sho pulled him up by his collar. "DON'T TELL YOU DIDN'T SAVE MY SISTER YOU BASTARD!"

"Sho!" Nino jumped up finally and wrapped his arms around Sho's shoulders to pull him off the doctor.

"HER HUSBAND IS COMING HOME TODAY AND YOU DID NOTHING?!" Sho continued to yell. "YOU BASTARD! YOU CAN'T JUST SIT HERE AND TELL ME—"

"SHO SAKURAI! SHUT UP!" Nino yelled back at him. Sho stopped but was still shaking from grief and anger mixed in.

"We tried everything we could," Doctor Okada answered. "But she lost too much blood in such a short amount of time. There was no way her body could hold it in. Perhaps if there had just been one baby instead of two it might have been different, but with twins it's hard to hold any sort of nutrients when you are that anemic. Mr. Sakurai, I am so very sorry."

Still shaking, Sho let go of Doctor Okada and backed away slightly. Nino was sure that if he let go of Sho, he would collapse. "I want to see her," Sho said quietly.

Doctor Okada nodded. "The nurses have just finished cleaning her up. You can go in and see her."

Without being told twice, Sho ran inside. Everyone else just stood there in shock.

Mr. Aiba, still holding his crying wife close, spoke first. "The babies? How are they?"

Doctor Okada took a deep breath. "The boy is strong and healthy and he was born first," he said. "The girl is smaller but is expected to be just as healthy as her brother."

"When can we see them?" Nino's uncle asked.

"You can go see them now. I will have a nurse take you to them."

Mrs. Aiba turned to Nino and took his hand. "Can you and Satoshi go tell the others what happened? I think I could bear it just yet."

Nino wiped away his own tears before nodding. "Yes, Auntie."

--

The first people Nino told were his mother and his and Satoshi's sister. They were excited about the twins, but when Nino told them what happened to Mai they all but burst into silent tears. "Those poor babies," Mama said quietly. "They won't have a mother to care for them."

Natsumi took a deep breath. "I guess then that will just have to be something we help with, won't it?" she said.

Then Nino told Jun and Mao, who had stayed up all night waiting for news. The children were asleep, thankfully, as he told them what happened. Mao cried for her friend, and Jun held her close to him so she could cry on his shoulder. Jun didn't say anything. Jun couldn't say anything for a while before he cleared his throat. "How's Sho doing?"

Nino, who had been leaning forward with his head in his hands, looked up at him. "Not very well."

"Do you think he will be okay?"

"I honestly don't know," Nino answered. "He's in shock and grief. I can't even imagine what will happen when Masaki gets back."

Nobody went and had breakfast. Nobody woke up the children. Sho and Masaki's parents stayed at the hospital as everyone else stayed home. Around ten in the morning, the children started to wake up finally after a long night. Charlie was the first one awake and he was careful not to wake up his sister. "Good morning Papa," he said sliding into his father's arms.

Jun just held him closer. "Good morning, Charles."

"How is Miss Mai and the baby?"

Jun took a deep breath. "Miss Mai had two babies. One boy and one girl. Isn't that exciting?"

Charlie smiled. "Yeah! That's amazing!"

Soon later, Samantha and Yuki woke up as well and asked about the babies as well.

"Is Aunt Mai okay?" Yuki asked finally.

The adults froze, unsure about what to say. Nino took her into his arms and held her close to him. "Do you want to go do a small practice lesson?" he asked.

Yuki looked confused for a second before she nodded. She got dressed and then Nino took her over to the school to practice some piano. Yuki began playing first, starting with her scales than gradually moved onto the small song that Nino had her start practicing.