Chapter Text
In November 1993 in Hasetsu, Japan something amazing happened. The hospital was quiet, it was nearly midnight. Not many patients came in at that hour. Except for the cases similar to the of the Katsuki family. The family of three was about to become a family of four. Or so they thought.
Twenty-five years old Katsuki Hiroko was beginning to get nervous. Although this was already her second child, she couldn’t help the creeping feeling. It was like the feeling of anticipation before stepping into a darkened house, waiting for something to startle you and make you scream. Like the feeling of joy and fear when leaving your home for the first time. Like the feeling of knowing there’s something bigger than you are, the feeling you sometimes get when you watch the beautiful and clear night sky with billions upon billions of stars on it, when you see a person escape a certain death or when you get up in the morning and stand somewhere high and just watch the world wake up before your eyes.
That’s how she felt right then. Too complicated to just attach a name to it. But she loved that feeling nevertheless. Because it meant there will be one more person she could love more than her own life. Someone to take care of, someone to make her proud. Another person to bring light to their lives. It’s been six years already, since her first child, Mari, was born. She and Toshiya had almost lost hope for another child. But the gods were merciful. She could still remember clearly the day of Setsubun, 11th of February of the same year. The morning when she and her whole family when to the shrine to welcome spring. And she still remembered clearly what she had wished for.
Please God, let our family grow once more. Let the light come once more. Give us life and love again.
And the gods did. Hiroko smiled and caressed her belly. It was almost time.
When midnight struck a baby’s cry resonated through the hospital. The first baby of 29th November, 1993. And then there was second cry joining the first one. Two crying voices echoed through the empty halls. And yet there were people who could hear them. And who thought of them as the most beautiful sound they had heard in a long time.
When Katsuki Toshiya and Mari walked into the room where their mother and wife was lying, they saw the two people they will grow to love more and more with every passing day.
“A miracle happened,” said the father, closing the distance between himself and his wife, kissing her hair gently.
Hiroko nodded, a tired but beaming, happy smile plastered on her face. “A miracle, indeed. The gods heard our prayer.”
She looked up to her husband, tears that were threatening to spill all the time finally finding their way down her cheeks.
“Mom, don’t cry. We should be happy, right, dad?” Her daughter approached her.
Hiroko smiled through her tears and petted her head lovingly.
“That’s right. So, let’s meet your new siblings, Mari.” She said and looked down to the two bundles resting on her lap.
And there, in a soft blue and yellow blankets lied a raven-haired boy and girl, both sound asleep in their mother’s embrace.
“What are their names?” asked Mari, curious. Those two things were supposed to be her little siblings? Despite not knowing them, she thought them somehow cute.
Hiroko smiled.
“Katsuki Yuuri,” she smiled at the boy and then looked at the girl.
“Katsuki Yuuki.”
Toshiya smiled approvingly. He placed a warm hand his eldest daughter’s shoulder.
“Welcome to the family, courageous little ones.”
“Yeah, welcome to the family, kiddos.”
勇-courage
勇利 (Yuuri) – courage
-利 – interest, advantage, benefit
勇気 (Yuuki) – courage
-気 – mood, feeling, spirit
勝生 (Katsuki) – born to win/ lives to win