It was a rainy night. A taxi was racing through the streets of Namimori, a small and peaceful Japanese city, urged by the pained screams of a pregnant woman and the pseudo-comforting voice of a burly man. It was impossible to grasp the relief of the taxi driver when they finally reached the hospital and the couple were ushered inside : the father-to-be kept encouraging his wife with cliché sentences such as 'it will be worth it in the end' or 'the pain is mostly in your head', to which the future mother started cursing him like a sailor between gasps of pain. Truly his worse ride. Ever.
While the driver was sobbing in relief in his car, labor had only just begun for Mrs Sawada. The delivery lasted four hours, but at sunrise, the woman could finally rest. But before that, she asked to hold her children with her husband.
The hospital staff handed her a small infant with a turf of blond hair, and Iemitsu received another toddler, the older one, with brown hair this time.
"He looks just like you, dear" cooed Nana watching her younger son. "Let's call him Ienobu."
"It's a beautiful name. Sawada Ienobu. Nobu or No-kun for short. It has a nice ringing to it. And what about this little one?" inquired the man, pointing to his older child.
"Oh, call him what you want, he doesn't look like you at all" answered the mother without looking. "I've got my little No-kun right now". She smiled.
Iemitsu frowned slightly at that comment, but didn't think too much of it. Giving birth to the twins had obviously exhausted Nana, and she most likely wasn't thinking straight at the moment. That, and she was understandably captivated by the son she was holding, and hadn't yet built the same attachment to the one she hadn't seen clearly.
"Well, how about Tsunayoshi? Sawada Tsunayoshi? Like a cute little Tuna-fishy?"
"Yes dear, if you want" Nana replied absently, but the blond was too bushy fussing over his sons to notice.
That was the first time Sawada Tsunayoshi was put aside in favor of his younger brother Sawada Ienobu. Unfortunately for the infant, it wouldn't be the last.
()()()()()()
Iemitsu stayed a month after that before he was called away for his job. He and Nana had taken care together of their sons before that, and the man hadn't noted that his wife tended to spend more time with No-kun than with Tsu-kun, as they called them. Or maybe he had noticed and didn't want to think about it too much.
Anyway, Iemitsu was now standing on the doorstep and saying goodbye to his wife who was holding both their sleeping children in each arm. She was upset to see her husband leave, but understood his job was important.
"I'm sorry Nana, I really hoped I could stay longer with you and the kids, but you know how important my work is."
"Yes, dear I know, and I understand your co-workers depend on you a lot. Don't worry, I'm not alone here. I have little No-kun to remind me of you!" she smiled.
"And Tuna-fishy is here as well, I'm sure you three will be just fine" he kissed Nana on the lips and his sons on their foreheads. It wasn't the first time he had to remind her of Tsunayoshi's presence, but he figured that with him gone, she will spend more time with their eldest and develop the same bonds as with Ienobu. Nana was an extremely nice woman if a bit air-headed. She was incapable of mistreating one of her children.
