Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Everybody Wants Her ❯ Chapter Eleven - Weaker Than You ( Chapter 11 )

A/N: And here we are at Chapter Eleven. Once again it's a little late, due to the fact that I seem to have a life of sorts. I've been really busy, and like the evil little moose I am, I've been writing something else. (If you'll look in my profile, you'll see what it is.) Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been spitting out weekly chapters like I used to, but at least it's not taking months and months and months the way it does with some authors.

So about the upcoming chapter…I don't supppose it is, but if this is still a mystery to anyone, you'll find out who the daddy is! Whoohoo yeah, read it or be drawn on with magic marker!

 

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Everybody Wants Her

Chapter Eleven - Weaker Than You

 

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Aki spends the day in shopping malls, weaving fevered through the shelves and bright displays. He's got a head on fire, a fist of sickness in his stomach and his lungs, but he's out here anyway, trying to prove himself. Tohru's this close to delivery, she's stopped her schooling and she won't go anywhere, it's Aki's job to get things set up for the baby.

It's self-imposed really. He could easily ask Hatori, send every single Sohma out for a crib and a highchair, basic baby things that he's too weak to wheel home on his own. Just dragging himself off the property is hard enough, pneumonia's wasted him and he was up all night with his head in his hands, screaming and sick with another migraine. Aki's tired but he'll live, Tohru's got to know he wants this.

Things look hazy as he huddles by the wall, the world's filled up with busy legs, big-bellied woman fantasizing about the little living lives that they're providing for. He can't know their stories but still he tries to find a Tohru in the bunch, a naïve little girl just wrecked and wrecking everything.

People-watching gets old and he struggles up, steadies himself on the shelves beside him. The worlds waving around and he's dizzy, not having any fun. When his sight spins past darkness Aki stumbles over to the nearest employee, says hey how're you doing and coughs in her face. “Can I help you?” she asks, wincing a bit but he's a customer, not God now but she's got to respect him.

Aki nods, threads fingers vaguely through his hair and tells her what he's looking for. The words come slow and he finds himself nervous, chewing nails because she's not a Sohma, how can he relate to this short-haired girl in the real world? It takes him a while to spit his order out, remember all the little baby things his Tohru needs. He's forbidden a shower since he can't stand the noise, he'll cry through the ever-present ecstasy. It kills his head and breaks his heart, he knows he'll never be that happy. But if Akito can't take it then he's got to provide, he's sacrificing weeks of painkillers here.

And he's really facing down this threat, he just can't know if Hatori will let him scream and thrash nonstop, let him break his soiled brain with chainsaw agony. He'll give up his good days though, screw himself out of sacred pills for Tohru-kun.

The saleslady slaps her hands on her jean-clad hips, done taking down his palsied order. “So you're gonna want a car seat, a crib, a highchair, clothes, diapers, toys…” The list is endless and he just tunes out, nods to all her propositions. He should have taken Tohru, dragged the laden girl out to choose things for herself. He's overwhelmed, senses swimming with the sound of the saleslady's words.

This is just a little six-pounder they're talking about, maybe seven at best since it's a Sohma. And yet it isn't little, this baby's gonna change the world and Akito can't take it, he doesn't even know the gender, so how can he buy a thing?

He whips around, finds a bench and coughs for ages in his hands. Blood stains and stings his cracked chapped lips, he's breathless as he pulls his cellphone out. When the air starts coming he strokes the casing, wonders if he ought to call her here. He'd give anything, anything to have his sweet swollen Tohru right beside him, fixing the world and making decisions, just being herself and his everything. But she's sleeping, prepping herself and it's too much to ask that she be here. She'll be in labor any day now, his shopping spree is really quite last minute.

No. He won't use the lifeline, Akito will pull through this all alone. He sits there praying away a migraine, scrawling out a list of what they're really gonna need. Tohru calls the child `she', corrects herself each time because she doesn't know, she won't take those results from Hari's hands. She might just want to be her mother, repeat the corpse's life because it's just so special, so much more exciting then little Tohru's own, but maybe her body knows, maybe Akito ought to trust in that and buy her pink. Or maybe yellow's best, green or something gender-neutral. Gray would go great with the coloring he hopes for, but do these aesthetics mean a thing to Tohru-kun? Maybe it's best to just go with what's the cheapest…

Screw it, he's sick and not about to stay here. Aki goes with pink and gray, orders up a mess of girl supplies and they can just raise him effeminate if he comes out wrong. At least this shows his Tohru that she's trusted. He signs up for a diaper service, sets everything he's bought to be delivered. Akito can head home unencumbered, weighed down by his heavy layered clothes alone. It's cold out, late April but an awful day, Aki hasn't got a lot fat to hold the heat in.

He pays the bill and scrambles out, walks slow as the dead to the bus stop. There's this little old lady, a crusty-eyed hag with gnarled hands and wrinkles spilling down her massive head. She must be ninety at least but she gets there before Akito, she takes the seat he wants when they board the bus. “Excuse me,” he snarls, foot tapping close to her tote bag. “But that was my seat.”

“Wha…?” she gapes, eyes narrowed and she doesn't get it, like how can anybody oust her when she's so advanced in age? “I don't see your name on it young man.”

“I was just about to sit down,” says Akito, straight in her face and he's all set to scream her out, throw a punch because he craves exhaustion, utter collapse in Tohru's arms. So this woman's old, so what, she took his seat and he's goddamn God goddamn it! “Move!” he shouts, ripping her bag from the ground and tossing it limply. The lady's pissed and just confused, she isn't moving. “Look,” he says, “I'm sick. I've had cancer five times and I'm just getting over pneumonia, my entire body is killing me. Let me sit down.”

“I'm ninety-six years old!” she squeaks, eyes popping open with absolute indignance. Nothing tops her crazy age, the few gawkers on the bus are on her side, screeching Akito away from her because he can't have a point, he's young.

Akito hacks blood up right in front of her, holds the pole with a faded look in his rain-and-tombstone eyes. “I'm weaker than you…” he whispers, legs shaking and he needs to prove this, feel proud of his only accomplishment. The baby feels like nothing in his hazy brain. If he has to be sick he may as well be the sickest, if he's got to be an invalid he's got to be the best. This lady's only ancient, she's not nothing on the blood in Aki's ruined lungs. “So much more diseased…”

“No you're not,” she snaps, competitive because this is probably all she's got now too. Grandkids lose interest, children patience and parents are generally dead for the geriatric. She's likely swimming with disorders, just as sick as Aki but it goes with the territory, Akito hasn't any sympathy for her issues. When she doesn't explain he grabs her wrists, hisses with his nails digging in.

“Either tell me one way you're worse off than me,” he says, breathing heavy through his mouth and snarling at her. “Or get the fuck out of my seat.”

“Well let's see,” she says, grinning like she's won the freakin' world. “I have diabetes and osteoarthritis, I'm going blind and I'm incontinent. Is that good enough for you?”

And Aki laughs, too hard for his heart and he's hacking blood, grinning malicious at her wrinkled peanut of a face. “I have osteoarthritis too, and I can be incontinent. Like I said, I've had leukemia five times. I have pneumonia, I'm anemic, I get migraines all the time. I have no idea what it's like to feel healthy, and I'm willing to bet that you do. So give me your seat you old hag, unless you want me passing out on top of you.”

Someone shrieks at him to back off, leave the lady alone but he just spins around, spills vomit on their shoes and he's smiling. “I'm sick,” he sings, “I'm sicker than you…” He lets go of the pole, staggers giddy as the bus stops, he's close to home and he'll head out now, wave the shriveled bitch goodbye.

“Everyone I know is dead!” she says, triumphant but she's paid no mind. Akito just laughs out loud as his head starts to pound, it gets worse and worse and he's screaming. It's perfect, just fine because it proves his point, the lady's gone but Aki can't get home, he's sure as hell the sickest one of all.

 

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He makes the blocks over several hours, stopping on the sidewalk to sit with the pain. He's begging the God of Medicine, his Hari that he takes for granted to please just fix him up. But Hari's not here and he screwed himself over, Aki's not on any migraine medication. When he schleps himself home he's just exhausted, it's all he can do not to fall apart right there. But he curls up on the couch with Tohru, cries into her stone-hard stomach while she soothes him, strokes his hair. Their fight from before isn't relevant, Tohru's just proud of him for making it, for leaving the house and providing for the little one about to burst. This whole thing makes her melt for him, sets her thinking that Kyo-kun could do all this no trouble. But weak's what she wants, it's won't be enough to play mother to an infant. Clingy Aki-kun's just beautiful, when he cries to her she feels complete.

Poor Akito's just feeling pain though, and he falls asleep with claws to his face and Tohru kissing him.

 

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Hatori's not cruel enough to let the kid go on without a thing to kill the agony. He pays for morphine with his own funds, orders Demerol for the headaches with cash he's made on the side. Doctoring Akito's done pro bono, there's a fund full of yen that's supposed to take care of everything. The Sohma's pay taxes, but that's all tied up in treating the illness, paying bills they can't afford. Pain management is extra; Hari cleans out a million garages just to buy his God a reason not to die.

And it's not like he's got time to suffer now. Today's the ultimate, amazing day they've all been dreading, Tohru-kun's water's broken and she's moaning, screaming on her way to the hospital now, Hari hasn't the training to see her through an at-home birth. But he's got to be there, if the kid's a Sohma then he has to take the blood, he can't deal with Aki's wheedling whining at his heels. He'll be there, but he'll be drugged up, hopefully keeping his mouth shut while Hari helps the obstetrician tend to Tohru.

That's the plan, and Aki swears he'll stick to it, stares worried at his laboring love in the back seat. She's calm enough between contractions, but when they hit she bites her lip, draws blood to keep from crying. “Tohru-kun?” he asks, hand stroking hers as she's broken. He's scared but medication keeps the panic muted, he's not thinking she's about to die just yet. “Are you alright?” he asks, head tipped in sympathy and he's sure that she is, it's hard to believe that his magical girl is really hurting.

“F-fine Akito,” she tells him, pain shaking through her once again. She's been feeling these for weeks, random but Hatori's explained, it just means the baby's on its way. But now they're every five minutes, the breaks aren't long enough for Tohru-kun to take it. She kicks her feet, twists a bit to search for comfort. “I just, ahhh, it is hurting a bit and I'm not used to this…”

“Don't worry Tohru,” says Hatori flatly, driving fast to beat the traffic coming soon. Why the baby had to come so close to rush hour is beyond him, but it's not like it's something she can help. The Sohmas are used to emergencies, to fatal conditions in need of fixing now. This is nothing, the Sohmas have run, they've hired helicopters just to save their God. And of course, they'll do anything for Tohru-kun. “When we get there, I can medicate you out of your mind if you want. I think your best bet is probably the spinal block, but we'll see. Anyway be there soon.”

“Good,” she says, voice strained and she lets out a scream, wracked by a spasm that she didn't mean to speak of. She's embarrassed, guarding her hurt as she's not sure that she's entitled, if her sickly hubby would approve. Akito's not caring now, he's beyond her pain in doped up heaven, wondering if ducks are made of lead.

“Is anybody else c-coming?” she asks him, leaning towards Hatori in vague desperation. Tohru wants her friends there, her grandfather, her cousins and the other Dad, her Kyo-kun in cage who doesn't have a clue. She won't ask for him, she'd never, but she'll beg for Yuki-kun instead.

“I don't know,” says Hatori, one eye shifting towards his cloudy charge. “What do you say Akito? Can Tohru have her family here to support her while she giving birth? Or is that too much to ask for?” It's obvious he's bitter, pushing it and Akito's about to kill him, reach right in and wring his neck.

“She doesn't need anyone,” he says, seething with his arms crossed and he would have said yes, would've given in to being alone, being good to his girl on this awesomely big day. But Hari's got him on the defense, they're all prickling and pissed off there in the car. “I'll be there, I'll hold her fucking hand while she squeezes out the baby. I know you think I'm an incapable imbecile but I'm not Hatori!”

“That's not the point and you know it,” he snaps, turns to Tohru and asks her kindly if she'd like her best friends there. She tells him yes, grins through a brutal contraction and says she'd like to see Uotani. “And Hana,” she says. “And Kyo…I mean Yuki-kun.”

“You know what?” Hari says, swerving past an SUV into the parking lot. “I'll call the whole Sohma, I'm sure they'd all give anything to be with you.”

 

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Check-in flies by quickly, Tohru's standing in a scalding shower, de-stressing for the trek ahead. Aki's in the waiting room, yelling at Hana-chan who's just arrived. “You know Tohru doesn't really want you here,” he tells her, lying with his eyes downcast, he's ripping holes in his wrists with ruined nails. “It's the doctor's dumb idea, not hers. She doesn't want you here at all.”

“That doesn't sound like Tohru-kun,” she says, pulling at the lacy gloves around her hands. The destruction's just a little nerve-wracking, the vibes the boy gives off just odd her out. It's sure not helpful that he's screamed at her, that Tohru's been avoiding them for near a year now thanks to him. “Even if she did say that, I think she'll be grateful when the pain gets worse.”

“No,” says Akito, lips curling with the cruelty in his tone. “If anything you'll be a distraction, you'll make her feel awkward…guilty, you know. You and that blonde girl, you're not really a part of her life anymore, she doesn't like you. It'd be too much of a strain for her to see you there, you understand.”

If Hana picks up any bullshit waves, she ignores them, this makes sense in her depressive little brain. Tohru hasn't been in touch with them, hasn't even tried to make the friendship last. And the poor girl's prone to massive guilt, they're part of the past and Tohru's facing her future here, maybe all they'd do is make her feel bad.

Uotani isn't here yet, and Hana's going to have to tell her not to come.

 

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More bodies come for Tohru-kun, and Akito guilts every one of them away. With Hana-chan it was more about him hating her, she's still a evil-bitch plague-carrier in Aki's head. He's not exactly fond of feeling awful, he can't forgive her for the fluid in his lungs, for taking just a drop of Tohru-kun's attention. But that's another thing, there's the attention. A lot of people isn't good for her, she's got to focus on the labor, shove that baby out so she can get back to loving Akito. Once she's in bed she'll be his world, he won't leave his lover's side for anything. But folks around will fuck that up, wreck the perfection he's just dying for.

Before Hari stops him he's thrown out nearly everyone, only Yuki and her grandfather poke their heads in once Akito's in time out. They sit beside her, look on as she struggles and everybody's awkward, Tohru's trying to be a good little hostess, chat up her grandpa but she's stopped by pain too often to continue. Her body's backed up and agony's building, poor little Tohru-kun's just hating this. And everybody nods in sympathy, says they know, they know and they don't, these are all men here and Tohru wants her mommy!

“A-akito,” she calls, voice shaking with all that she lacks. At the very least her husband ought to be there, her Aki-baby she's not married to. Her dear one may be needy, but he's selfish, flighty too. They should've gotten hitched, tied this down before that baby came. “W-when this whole thing is over, you'll marry me, r-right?” she stammers, sweaty fingers raking at his sleeves. Akito nods, glares coolly down at Tohru in her bed of pain. She bolts right up and moans at him, shot through with an awful contraction. “Promise me you will…”

“I promise,” he tells her, meaning it and feeling malicious, all haha I showed you in his head. Akito's been told since birth that he'd likely never marry, never reproduce or raise a child. School, travel, a career in anything's been out of the question. God forbid that God should have some fun, have a meaning in his life besides endurance. And believe him, it's been a fucking marathon.

But someone just proposed to him, Tohru did, the magical girl that all of them want, she's his and she's having his baby. Biting her lip to keep from screaming, pounding the pillow and twisting around, Aki's never been in labor but he sees himself in her. This is the closest they've ever been, and she reaches for his hand when she cries out. Not her grandpa's flesh-and-blood though he is, and not the filthy silent rat hovering behind her. Maybe his hands are germy and translucent and frail, maybe they're trembling or forming fists, but they're a lifeline for Tohru when the hurting hits.

Some part of him must have known he'd have this moment. Otherwise he'd have shot himself in the head by now.

 

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There's another doctor here now, a middle-aged scatterbrain whose feet are swelling in her spike heels. What possessed her to wear such monsters to a birth is beyond them all, and Hari's looking a little embarrassed to have brought her in. “How're you doing honey?” asks the woman, smiling hard at squirmy Tohru.

“Not fine!” she squeaks, a little surprised at herself. The girl's so used to spewing lies, telling the world that life is dandy when she's miserable. But the pain's pretty bad and she's starting to understand Akito, god how can you be civil when you feel like you're about to die? And the Sohma, they're just blown away by this, Yuki and Hari and Akito can't believe their magic girl has faltered. `I'm not fine' just isn't something she says.

“Well obviously,” the lady says, blinking past the makeup in her eyes. “You're in the dilatation stage right now, and that's the one that hurts the most. If you'll move your legs I can tell you how far you've got before expulsion.”

It turns out she's at five centimeters, Tohru-kun's still got a ways to go. The boys start to talk, idle gossip but it gets too loud, they're discussing her and she's too beat to join in, she doesn't like it. Yuki's reading Akito the riot act, telling him he'd better treat this baby right. “None of what you did to me, alright? I know you're miserable or whatever, but get some therapy, don't take it out on your kid.”

“Yuki what exactly are you doing here?” he asks, bristling mad because he's got a point, Aki needs to get a handle on his own behavior. But he's much to proud to tell his victim this, no he's got to humiliate Yuki-kun instead. “I mean,” he says, “it's not like this is particularly exciting. You get to stare at my girlfriend's vagina all day, what's so great about that? Are you getting off on this or something Yuki-kun? Do you like watching her in pain?”

And it works, of course it does, Yuki's red and getting wheezy, this whole emotion thing's just shovels stress on his poor lungs. Of course he's got a thing for Tohru, who on Earth could possibly resist her? She's idyllic if you're feeling awful, and Yuki-kun's just ruined all the time. And it kills him to know that it's Akito, the dad of every demon that he faces now, who has her. The cause and the cure shouldn't go together, everybody else is desperate too! But now's not the time, she's giving birth and it's disillusioning, strange to see her in such pain. “No!” he says, head down in response to Akito. “I'm here to support her, god!”

“Yes?” says Aki, laughing at his own retarded joke. “Whatever, look she doesn't need support! Not from you anyway, you're not even doing anything!” And he looks so smug, so self assured that Yuki wants to strangle him. Akito's dragging jagged nails right down his arms, he's trying not to scream him out and beat him. He's sensing vague romantic feelings, he wants to kill the kid for even looking Tohru's way. But the lady doctor's grabbed his arms, she's telling him not to fight for now.

“I'm not sure it matters where she gets it from, but she does need somebody's support. Why don't you massage her back, she says that it's been hurting her.” And she sticks Akito's hands straight on there, moves his fingers to a rhythm that just hurts like hell. They're stiff and he snaps at her, screws up his courage to face the pain. Tohru's got it worse, she does, they've been here for hours with her screaming and he knows it. But this is a one-time event for little Tohru, she's never been in agony before. And the more he looks at her, the more he kills his fingers over her so-called aching back…well as time goes on the rage just snowballs, he's the superior sufferer here. “It can't be that bad,” he says, voice tense when she cries out. “Don't you think you're being a little whiny?”

And everybody's on her side, they're all coming down on Akito. Especially this lady doctor, apparently she's had a few brats herself and she knows firsthand just how much this hurts. And part of Aki knows too, not that he's felt it but there's a connection, all he sees in this is being ill. But Tohru's got a goal here, a reason to suffer and Akito…well he's just cursed, just screwed over from day one straight to death. And he's bitter, he's pissed because no one ever pays this much attention to his agony. A pill and that's it, he hasn't got the whole world flocking in to see him through. When she squeaks and writhes they're scared for her, not their own lame little lives like they are with Akito.

It isn't fair, it's just not and he wants her to shut up, quit moaning and admit that he's a lot worse off, that her contractions feel better then his hand right now. “W-whiny?” she asks, struggling past her massive gut to stare at him. “I d-don't, I don't really see how I'm being whiny. It hurts, you understand that right?”

“Oh bullshit!” he says, forgetting the fuzzy closeness that he'd felt before. No, now all he's got is a hand on fire, the joints won't move and his head hurts too, a migraine now is all he needs. “It'll be over soon and you'll be fine as fuck, you'll have your cute little kitty-baby to play with and you won't be feeling anything! God you'll probably never feel pain again, do you think this onetime thing entitles you to sympathy? You make me sick, you're literally giving me a headache!”

Tohru lets the kitty comment glide on by, she's struggling too much to deal with that now. Of course she's near consumed with fear of outcomes, of course the thought of red hair crowning nearly kills her. But she's trying to keep her mind away from it, focus on what her body needs right now. This though, isn't something she can just ignore. She wants to, god she'd never even answer if it weren't for Yuki-kun.

Yuki though, he's seething now, body shaking with the weight of rage inside him. “How dare you!” he gasps, teeth gritted as he tries to breathe. “Tohru-kun's in fucking labor, just because you're a guy doesn't mean you don't know it hurts! You're being a self-righteous asshole, just because you're in pain doesn't mean that the rest of us can't be! I bet you had a fucking headache while you were whipping me, right?”

“I don't know which time you're talking about, but yeah, probably! Either that or it was something worse!” Tohru-kun, poor Tohru-kun, she's just trying to block this out. Her loving lovely Aki-kun, the father of the babe-to-be would never do these things, Yuki's lying, god he's got to be. She just shoves this little issue off somewhere, finds her mind forming fury at what Akito's said. She's hurting bad and he's still ranting, going on and on about how cancer's abject agony, much worse than this could ever be. And it's not like she knows but the next contraction nearly kills her, sweet little Tohru wants to tear his head off now.

But she refrains, let's Aki storm off in an indignant huff. “Fuck him,” she mutters, smiling wide because she knows this pleases Yuki-kun, knows that hating him would just thrill the whole damn Sohma. Only her grandfather looks shocked, but its not like he knows any history. It's not like he understands why suffering's a competition here.

 

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Aki spends hours curled spineless in the waiting room, good hand to his head and he's trying not to scream, missing Sertraline almost more than he does Tohru. He waits for ages as his eyes explode, as the awful nausea swirls around inside him. But he'd go to her in agony if it weren't for the guilt that's slamming through him. Yuki didn't need to bring that up, Tohru didn't need to look at him and smile. Yuki used to take abuse that way, just sit there grinning through the waterfalls that stained his face.

It's not like he's never hit Tohru.

It's not like he can say he won't abuse her, that he won't lose his mind to desperation. This could be a repeat, Yuki all over again and it's only pride that makes him say that it was ever meant to happen. He's grown now though, he's different but…his head still hurts. He's the same as he's always been, and he will never change. Nothing will ever, ever change.

 

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“Honey you're fully dilated now, you probably already know this but it's time to push!” And Tohru does, throws her whole self into it, just shrieking. Aki's not here and she needs his stiff and waxy hands, needs something to crush and transfer pain to. Grandpa won't do and neither will Yuki, god she's never wanted to hurt either of them, it's not the slightest bit their fault. But tearing out her Aki's bones would be so sweet right now, that arrogant son of a—“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” She can't help the outbursts, can't help kicking Yuki when he reaches for her hand.

“Push honey push, you can do it!” yells the doctor, pumping fists in support and Tohru's just praying this over, the nitrous oxide mask they gave her barely does a thing. When the pain comes now she just shoves forward, hasn't got time to take the meds. She's too stoic though for something stronger, in her head her pain's just not that bad. Her body's having a spaz attack, raging for relief but its really just too late now. “Oh my god I can see the head!”

And she keeps on pushing, keeps on yelling and thrashing and begging for her Aki's hand. Tears mix with sweat on her scarlet face, Tohru's never cried so hard for just herself before.

 

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“Please,” he mutters, voice muffled by an ancient magazine. “If there are any gods out there who can actually influence these things, please let this baby come out mine.” He's not expecting but he's begging, his knees drawn close in prayer. “I'm scared…I'm so fucking scared…please Tohru-kun, don't leave me…”

He cries. For himself and for his dear one, for the fragile world that's nearly gone.

 

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“Push!” she screeches, killing Tohru's ears and it's a mission now, her psyche's hesitance is nothing in the face of her spasming uterus, the child lunging forth to be free of her. She wails she doesn't want to, bears down and does it all the same. She begs her mom, her personal god for a black-haired baby, a brunette or even green, just anything that won't show Kyo. “Come on Honda-san!” the woman bellows, roping the others into a push-push chant, she'd do anything to shut them up.

She can see the head, a baby straight between her legs and god good god the hair is red. It's sparse and it's soaked but it's carroty kittycat Kyo, her Aki-kun's as good as dead now.

The baby's hair is fucking red.

 

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Nana: So how'd you guys like that? I know some of you were hoping for a mini-Akito, and honestly I was too. But if I did that, the story would be pretty much over now, am I right? Giving the characters what they want is just too nice, know what I mean? Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed yourselves, and I hope you think I did a decent job describing the birthing process. I did a ton of research, I read a book, asked my mom and trolled the Internet, did everything short of giving birth myself to get this right. Ackph. Anyway you can tell me what you think in the review.

By the way, before you skeddaddle off I have a recommendation for you. On of my online buddy-friends/loyal reviewers, has written a rather spectacular fic. It's an Akito/Hatori called Drifting Away, and its in dire need of reviews. This is seriously one of the greatest fics I've read in ages, so I'm pimping it out with glee. If you've still got fic-reading time when you're done reviewing me, go check her out! (For you Mediaminer readers, it's on fanfiction.net)