𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 | izuna uchiha

Chapter 27

The day of birth came swiftly for Nanami.

She was ready.

And quite frankly, so was Izuna.

"Please, wait outside, Izuna-sama," said Akane dutifully, bowing to the Uchiha and beckoning towards the door. No stranger to tradition, Izuna nodded where he sat beside a groaning Nanami, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.

"Izuna, where are you going..." whined the labouring woman weakly, clutching tightly onto her beloved's hand. Izuna smiled at her and squeezed her hand reassuringly, brushing loose strands of hair out of her face.

"I'll be right outside," he said softly, putting his forehead against hers. "I'm right here, Nanami. I have to let Akane and the others do their job now."

Not wanting Izuna to leave her side, Nanami nonetheless let go of his hand, nodding in understanding.

"I see, I see. Go, go. Quickly."

With a final kiss to Nanami's sweaty forehead, Izuna swiftly rose to his feet and took his leave, leaving Akane and her midwives to do their jobs.

As the door was shut behind him, Izuna leaned his back against the wall and slid down to the ground, now waiting patiently for the child to be born.

From outside, he could hear Nanami's faint cries, and it hurt his heart to know that she was in such pain because of someone else. The louder Nanami's voice grew, the more determined Izuna was to make sure that she wouldn't have to go through this agony ever again.

"One child is enough," he said bitterly, waiting for the right moment to come. "Her first and last."

The minutes turned into hours. The hours turned into the next day, and when Izuna heard the shrill wails of a newborn child, he knew it was time.

Soon enough, the door behind him opened for the first time since he had left, and out came Yumi clutching a small bundle in her arms. Not noticing Izuna's presence, the young nurse turned her back on the room and headed down the corridor, presumably to bath and cloth the newborn.

Out of curiosity, Izuna wondered what Nanami was like now. Her cries had since subsided, and Yumi had left the door open following her departure. Surely it must have been okay for him to see her?

Slowly, Izuna leaned over and peered into the room, curious as to what would meet his eyes. What he saw was a half naked Nanami from the side, propped up by an unfamiliar midwife, with her legs pulled up and Akane kneeling in front of her. Aside from the rather unnerving sight, the one thing that threw Izuna off the most was the stench. A mixture of sweat, blood and urine- none of which were pleasing.

Ignoring all that, Izuna turned his attention to Nanami, who still had tears running down her cheeks as she breathed heavily, the ordeal finally done and dusted.

"Izuna-sama!"

The higher up jumped at the barking voice of Akane's, instantly reaching out and slamming the door shut. Heart racing, the Uchiha threw himself against the floor, covering his eyes as he let out a loud groan.

"Why did I have to look," he complained, smacking himself in the face. "Why, why, WHY!"

Considering he had seen so much worse on the battlefield, Izuna was shaken by the sight he had just witnessed. It wasn't the gore and bareness of it all that was affecting him, though; it was the fact that Nanami was in complete and utter pain, yet he couldn't do anything to stop it or protect her.

The thought of Nanami suffering like this merely ignited Izuna's hatred towards Arashi, in turn leading to his complete contempt of the child that had just been spawned.