Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Life the Saitoh Fujita Way ❯ Then There Were Three ( Chapter 29 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: anreg

30Romances Theme: Emotions

A birth is a very precious time in the life of a family.

Then There Were Three

The birth hadn't been particularly difficult, but it wasn't easy, either. As the contractions rolled through my body with their sensations of almost unbearable pain, I was determined not to cry out. I could hardly believe that something could hurt so much.

Through it all, he kept a stoic face. Even though his face may have been an emotionless mask, his eyes told me a completely different story. In my pain, as I desperately clutched one of his hands, I would fix my gaze in his direction. That is when I saw the aching sadness in his eyes. Eyes that told me that he knew there was nothing that he could do to ease my suffering. He tried though, by gently wiping my forehead and face with a cloth he rung out in cool water.

As the hours rolled by, the contractions only came more frequently and with greater force until it was time for me to rid myself of what dwelt within me for all these months. This time with each rolling pain I tried to get my aching muscles to do what had to be done.

Pushing, then relaxing between the vice-like sensations that gripped my lower region, finally produced results. With one final effort a reddish mass covered with streaks of blood and a white, greasy substance, lay between my legs in the waiting arms of the mid-wife. I really do not remember much, except looking down at him and realizing that I had given my husband his first son.

I do not know when the baby started to cry, but she wiped him off a bit before placing him belly down on my stomach. My ordeal was not over yet, but fortunately the placenta is not made of bone, and is easily molded, so with one final contraction the mass was expelled and my duty completed.

One might call it poetic, due to our family's samurai background, but it was the alcohol-cleaned blade of his wakizashi that cut the cord, ushering a new life into full independence. Lying back into the futon, trying to ignore the lingering aches and the feeling of utter exhaustion, I closed my eyes.

I felt the little weight lifted from me, and opened one eye, slightly, to see him being wrapped in a blanket and placed in his father's waiting arms for the first time. Then the mid-wife left the room, leaving the three of us alone to contemplate what had just happened, and how our lives had changed forever in a matter of hours.

It was then that I saw it, through my almost closed eye. A softer look graced his face. It was not much, but it was there, as his lips slightly curved into the smallest of smiles. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I didn't. He needed this private time with his son.

In a low, slightly raspy voice he spoke. “You are Tsutomu,” he said. “It means `worker,' and I expect you to fulfill our family's destiny by working to give our country a better future.

I know he thinks that I am sleeping. I will not spoil that for him by saying anything. I smile inwardly, as I feel myself drift off to a much-needed rest, as the two most important men in my life begin their journey as father and son.

Author's Notes: Some people might think that it is out of character for Saitou to show outward emotion under any circumstances. I see the former `wolf of mibu' as a man who is totally devoted to his pack, making sure that they are safe and well taken care of.

I tried to think of situations, where he might show a bit of emotion in private. I thought of two instances, the death of his wife, and the birth of his first son, both of which would be very emotional times in a person's life. He predeceased his wife, so that just left the birth option.

In her 1891 book, Japanese Girls and Women, Alice Mabel Bacon notes that the father usually named the child.

Fujita Tsutomu, the first-born son of the Fujitas, was in the military and served on the ship, Mikawa Maru, in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, so he did serve his country in a manner similar to his father.

A samurai traditionally wore two swords, a longer one, the katana, and a short sword, the wakizashi, usually12 to 24 inches long.