You're just as stubborn as Beni, sometimes. You don't know what you were thinking, marrying him – considering the strength of your combined genes, you're fairly sure that your baby will be just as stubborn as the both of you, if not more. It's clear that the two of you will have your work cut out.
For you, there's no bright, blinding revelation – just a quiet realization that you're in labor, as the cramps throb incessantly in the pit of your stomach. Your first thought is that it hurts; your second thought is that Hika is missing, the little girl you've been content to mother and smother with affection for the longest time, and you drag every exhausted cell doggedly along, calling out for her.
Konro keeps a careful arm looped around your shoulders, as the two of you stumble along behind Company Eight. You're beginning to feel faint; your mouth is full of gritty dust, and in the unseasonably hot night, your kimono feels plastered wetly to your skin. A distance away, flames still leap about, competing with the screams and the mass, hollering panic for your attention.
Pain slashes away at your insides, forcing the breath from your lungs. An irrational part of you wants to resist – as if you can keep the baby inside of you for a few more seconds, minutes, hours, where it's safe. Where it's your own body to be hurt instead of his. You can't move fast enough. Your grip tightens around Konro's sleeve as you focus on breathing through the scorching pain.
Konro drops all pretense of allowing you to pretend that everything is fine, and slows to a halt. His eyes dart from your face, to your eyes, etched with the beginnings of pain. "It's time, isn't it?"
"Time?"
"The baby's coming?!"
"Now?"
"[ NAME ], you liar, you said it wasn't due yet!"
The pain loosens its grip enough that you can nod, your body already weary and aching – and you haven't even started on the hard part yet. "Sorry about this."
"It's not your fault. Let's get you back to the Guardhouse, get you comfortable." Konro rubs soothing circles into the small of your back. "I'll go and get the midwife."
Is she even still alive? What if she's a copycat as well?
"It's not safe." You say, thinking of Hika's own doppelganger, how his flesh had melted off his skin, turning into a grinning mockery of the human he had once been. Your pretty baby crying, your weak arms not enough to protect him . . . Your heart seizes at the thought. "I'd be better off giving birth in the streets at this point."
Konro's scowl deepens. "That's not funny."
Your attempt at injecting humor into the situation has clearly fallen flat. You wince. "Sorry."
"We have to bring you back." Konro says, already starting to move back the way you've come. You're just glad that he hasn't decided to physically pick you up yet – you're not sure he has strength enough for that. "I'll post a guard for you."
"No!" That's enough to jerk you out of the painful stupor you've been sliding towards; you're vaguely aware of the Eight's Captain directing his female subordinates to continue with their search for Hika, leaving him and his lieutenant alone with you and Konro. You think that you'll have to thank him later – as it stands, Asakusa owes them enough already. "That'll look even more suspicious – we can't have too many guards, people will know – We can't take the risk. I won't take the risk."
As soon as you've said the traitorous words, you immediately want to snatch them back into your lungs, where they will never again see the light of day. You don't want to admit it, but seems as though you're going to have to tough this out alone. The heavy mantel of duty falls back upon your shoulders. The thought fills you with vulnerability and trepidation; you don't want to be left alone.
Not when you're about to bring a totally new human being into this world.
You want Beni.
You want Konro.
Tears spring into your eyes. You hold your back with one hand and your belly with the other. "I –"
"[ NAME ]."
Suddenly, your stomach feels as though it's turned to lead. You look down, and at the same time as Konro; you can hear his gasp of alarm. There's a growing wetness in between your legs, the stickiness staining the back of your kimono, and a great pain suddenly has you in its grasp, white-hot and all consuming. It feels as though your body is on fire, a fact which you find strange, since you can't see any flames licking up at your skin. You lick your cracked lips and squeeze Konro's hand, your fingernails making soft crescents into the soft flesh of his palm.
"K-Konro, I – I don't –" You let out a great whoosh of air through your mouth, and then suck in another through your nose. "No."
"No guards, no guards." Konro's face is drawn, even as he tries to soothe you through the pain. "Then I'll stay behind with you."
Still, you shake your head. Stubborn to the end, indeed. You blink away the rapidly gathering moisture blurring your vision and try to focus, your breathing coming out in labored gasps. "Konro, you and I both know that that's impossible. You have to alert everyone, evacuate the town, find Hika, help Beni – There's – Too much work."
With the hem of his sleeve, Konro brushes the sweat-damp hair back, and away from your face. His face is paternal, and he regards you the way every warrior looks at the smaller and helpless they've sworn to protect. "We can't just leave you alone. I wouldn't be able to look the Young Master in the eye if anything happened to you and the baby."
My baby boy.
Abruptly, you double over in Konro's arms and scream, another contraction rolling and ripping through your body. It feels as though your baby is tearing you apart from the inside out. You fight through it, trying to breathe and grasping tighter at Konro's hand. It feels as though you're dying. You remember how the midwives had warned you that the muscles in between your legs might tear and rip during the birth, and how Beni's face had clouded over with fear. You remembered being tickled by the fact that the Demolishing King of Asakusa was weak in the face of childbirth, and considering how he would only be holding your hand, the irony of the situation had not been lost upon you.
You're not laughing now.
What you wouldn't give to have him by your side.
The Eight's Captain speaks up then, and his voice is firm and sure, over the unfolding chaos, and you find yourself clinging to it like a raft in a stormy sea. "If it's alright with you, Hinawa and I could stay with her. She'll be well-protected until you come back."
As far as plans go, it isn't a terrible one. In fact, you find yourself agreeing, even with your face twisted up in a grimace and your eyes painfully screwed shut. It's with an effort that you manage to peel your fingers away from Konro's, even as fear chokes up your throat and slows your movements down to a crawl.
You draw in a pained breath as another contraction rolls through you. "Go, Konro. Be careful. Look after my husband, please."
"Of course." He seems just as reluctant to separate himself from you. Already, you find yourself missing him, more than you'd ever thought possible. "You'll do fine, [ NAME ]."
It rouses a wan smile to your lips. "Don't tell Beni. Not until this is all over. You know he needs to focus." You've never asked him for such a big favor before. "Promise me, Konro. Promise me."
Once again, you're unable to be denied anything, and it's with Konro's promise ringing out in your ears that you leave to wage your own battle.
