Chapter Text
Chapter 1. Birth.
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Another long wail broke the concentrated silence between all four men and women, as the fifth member of their group sucked in breath, and ground her teeth to keep from moaning again.
"It's okay, sango, another few feet, we're almost there." Soothed a young man, adjusting his grip underneath her. "You're doing good, take another deep breath." His hands were shaking, but he tried to give him a reassuring smile nonetheless.
"We shouldn't have moved her." Grunted another man. His hair was grey, but his hold on the sheet underneath his daughter did not waver. "This shouldn't be happening yet, its too soon-"
"-it's two months too early, I know, alright!" Ground out the pregnant woman named sango. "It's not going to make it." She choked, leaning into the neck of her husband as he and her father carried them towards an old log building.
"Don't say that." Spoke another woman, holding a torch and stopping a few feet ahead of them. Her pale cream hair reflected the crescent moon above them all, and her rose eyes shone with determination. "It'll make it, I can feel it."
"But-" sango hiccuped. "I haven't felt anything kick this time- not like-" she moaned, another contraction swept over her, and she locked her joints together to try and battle the pain. Her husband paled under the headlock she had him in, but said nothing.
Their journey was slow-going, since they could only move between contractions. They were getting closer and closer together as well, which was worrisome.
"It'll make it." Her sister said again, after the contraction ended. "We just need to have faith." She opened the door of the cabin, handing the torch to her own husband, who had been carrying Sango's legs before they pulled her through the doorframe.
Inside, the air was thick and misty with smelling salts and spices. A bed had been prepared in the middle of the room, as an old woman quickly gestured towards the oncoming party. This was not the first time they had come.
"Lay her down gently- yes like that." She propped a pillow up underneath her granddaughter "How far apart are her contractions, Kagutsuchi-san?" She asked, not sparing the young man a glance as she wrung out a fresh towel and gently patted Sango's forehead.
"Close, nearly-" another wail interrupted him, and his head snapped down to his wife.
"It's coming quicker than expected." Stated the old woman. She drew her gaze away from her daughter. "All the men- out! Give us some space!"
"But-!" Kagutsuchi said as a firm hand fell onto his shoulder. He looked into the eyes of sango's father, before tearing away again. "No- I left the last two times, please." He urged, kneeling down. "Let me just hold her hand." He said, his voice breaking.
Grandmother Hinode thinned her lips, but said nothing as she let her own husband leave the room with her other son in law. It was a bad omen, allowing a man to stay, but she couldn't deny her daughter the comfort. Not this time, after two failed pregnancies.
Her other daughter grasped sango's other hand, walking her through her breathing exercises. What a good girl- it was hard to believe suiren had only just given birth herself- a little boy, with the same rose coloured eyes as his mother. Hinode briefly wondered if this child would be a male, before she broke herself away from her thoughts and focused. She couldn't let herself get too attached.
"Sheet-" she snapped, getting their attention. She sent her son in law a level stare. "I'm letting you stay, but sango will have her privacy, understood?"
He didn't say anything as Hinode drew a long piece of fabric over her daughter's pale legs. Goosebumps ran up the young woman's skin as another contraction hit, and Hinode had to use all of her strength to keep her legs from locking together.
"Sango, you have to keep still." She urged. "It isn't good for-"
"It's two months early, mom." Her daughter said through her teeth. "Two months."
"It's okay, it's going to be fine." Soothed her sister, petting her hair gently. "Keep breathing, alright? You have to stay calm."
"Sango?" Her husband whispered, gently kissing her knuckles. She looked up to him with watery eyes. "You can do this, I know you can."
She bit her lip, looking away. "I don't know if-"
"Hey-" he turned her head, so she was looking at him again. "You're strong, you can do this. I'll be right here with you all the way. We can do this together."
As the next contraction hit, she squeezed his hand until something crunched, but he kissed her fingers nonetheless.
As Hinode worked far into the night, she continued to sneak glances up at the young couple. Her daughters terrified face had been replaced with a determined one, as thick beads of sweat rolled down her face and matted her hair, her husband patted her forehead with fresh towels. She was glad he was there, she found. He was young and new to the clan, and her husband disapproved of him because of his background, but he cared about his wife, and he cared about having a child with her. That was enough for Hinode.
hours passed, and hinode had all but blocked out the world and the moans of her daughter.
"I can see the head." She spoke, and suddenly all eyes were on her.
Suiren edged closer to her, still holding onto her sister's hand. "How much more-?"
"Not long." Hinode answered. "The umbilical cord doesn't seem to be anywhere it shouldn't." Not around its neck, at least. That was good.
She wiped her own forehead, as several more contraction passed. She couldn't tell what time it was, but the candles she had lit before her daughter had been rushed in had nearly melted, Wax was already dripping onto the floor.
Drip, drip, drip.
Her hands had begun to shake, as another contraction ended.
"Nearly there-" she said, leaning forward to ease the child's fall. Her fingers met cold wet skin, and she bit her lip.
Drip, drip, drip.
"It's done." She breathed, quickly pulling the child away and snipping the umbilical cord. suiren could handle the rest.
The child lay limp and cold in her arms as she checked its pulse and breathing. It's eyes remained motionless underneath it's heavy eyelids, and Hinode held her breath as she tried to clear its airway.
Drip, drip, drip.
She dipped it's head forward, and tucked it under her arm, as her other hand shot out to smack it's back. Again and again. It's cold skin grew red as her fingers left identical marks on its behind. Hinode continued to hold her breath. Behind her, she could hear her daughter's nervous voice bubble up, but she kept her back to them. She smacked it's bottom again.
The time baby gurgled and coughed as a thick layer of mucus dripped out of its mouth. Hinode brought the child up just as it began to wail.
She blinked back tears of her own as she turned to her daughter, already swaddling the infant in her shawl.
"It's a girl." She breathed, finally tearing her eyes away from the child.
When she did, her blood ran cold.
Drip, drip, drip.
"A girl..." Painted sango, loosely holding onto her husband's hand. "A little girl" she mustered up enough energy to smile, but soon found that fading as well.
Sango could feel the blood on her legs, she could feel her head loll to the side as she blinked back her fatigue. Still, the thought raced in her head. A girl. A little girl. She shuddered as something rolled in her gut again, but couldn't find the energy to tear her eyes away from the little crying bundle in her mother's arms. Her finger twitched. She wanted to hold her baby. She wanted to be a mother finally.
"Let me....hold her..." She breathed. She could feel her sister let go of her hand, but kept a tight grip on her husband. Or at least, she thought it was a tight grip. She wasn't sure, she couldn't quite feel her fingers.
Sango smiled as she looked down at the little bundle that had been placed in the crook of her arm. So small, she thought. Little fingers reached out and gripped onto her shirt as she watched her daughter. The baby wailed as she held on for dear life, and sango focused on her teeny tiny fingernails. Smaller than a pea- but still long. She wondered how her daughter had grown fingernails already, two months before her due date.
"She's strong." Her sister said, giving her a steely gaze. "She's crying harder than when shinju was born."
Sango wheezed. It was meant to be a laugh. "I hope they'll get along." She pictured two little tots running around their house. Would her daughter be anything like her? Or would she take after her father? Something caught in her throat. "There's something wrong with me, i cant… i feele cold all over.”
The hand holding hers tightened, and she blinked up into her husband's eyes. He was crying, she noticed. He hadn't cried the last two pregnancies, she remembered. Or at least, he didn't have long tear tracks falling down his face last time. She let go of his hand to try and wipe them away, but it fell before her fingers met his chin. He caught her arm and pulled her hand to the side of his face, and she threaded her fingers through his dark hair. He choked and closed his eyes. he was scared for her, she could tell. scared and helpless. she felt the same.
Sango could dimly feel the hum of her mother's healing chakra as she placed her hands over her daughter's stomach. Sango blinked sleepily at her mother.
"You aren't going to die." Her mother ground out as a stronger wave of healing chakra swept over her. "You can't." Hinode's arms shook as she poured her energy into healing her daughter. He nose began to bleed.
"Move over." Sango's sister grunted. "two is better than one, even if i’m not as good." blue healing chakra light up her hands. She looked over to her startled sister, and then her helpless husband. "Hold onto your kid- this might take a while."
Kagutsuchi complied and gingerly pried the baby from his wife's hands. He watched as colour began to come back to his wife's face, and they held eye contact until the tiny bundle began to to whimper again. He flinched.
"I don't know how to- um." He looked at all three women helplessly.
"Rock her, gently." Sighed Suiren.
He did. He pulled the baby closer and wiped at his eyes. His daughter caught his sleeve and gripped onto the fabric with a tight grip.
"Have you thought of a name?" Spoke suiren once again.
kagutsuchi looked to his wife. She was the one calling the shots.
Sango big her lip, and propped herself up on her arms as both woman tried to keep her down. "I was afraid of coming up with a name but...." She caught her husband's eye, and he could see how giddy she was already getting. "...what about Mako?"
"Mako?" Questioned her grandmother.
"what?" defended sango. When they all looked at her, she pouted. "I think it's cute." She looked back at her husband. "What do you think..?"
He snuggled the baby closer. "Its adorable."
As the night went on and the other men were allowed back in the room, baby kiran was passed from her father's arms, to her grandfathers, to her uncle's then back to her mother, as grandmother and her aunt ran out of chakra and declared sango's life no longer in danger.
Everyone stared however, when sango quietly spoke, fussing with the blankets covering her waist. "I can't move my legs." she looked up at them all. “i don't think you fixed it.”
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The young parents had decided to bunk in grandmother Hinode's cabin until her daughter's health improved. Her hands still shook from her heavy chakra use from before and she had to keep tight to the wooden banister as she walked along the porch. Her steps were heavy, sluggish and loud. She didn't bother masking them, she was safe enough and just too tired to care about anybody hearing her. At least the cool night air helped- as far as Hinode could tell, she had a few more hours until sunrise. Plenty of enough time to meditate and try to figure out how to fix her daughter's leg issue.
It was most definitely tied to Sango cheating death- which also very much made it Hinode's fault in the first place.
"Damn it-" she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to will her headache away. But of course, like everything else that night, things just didn't go her way.
The voice of her husband cut through the otherwise silent night. "Why did you do that?" He breathed heavily through his nose, barely concealing his discontent.
"Save our daughter?" Hinode asked, watching as he stood motionless under the moonlight.
He drew his robes tight across his chest, hand clutching his pipe. "Save the child." He narrowed his eyes- an unnatural pink to her seawater blue.
Hinode pursed her lips. "They couldn't go through it again." She balled her hands into fists- the spaces in between her fingers cracking slightly. She was getting old.
"And leave them with what?" Her husband growled. "A weak and talentless child?"
She swallowed, a bitter taste left in her mouth from his words. "I had other things to consider in the moment-" she spat. "-they couldn't go through losing another child, Ryōshi, it would have broken them."
He looked down at her. "You already said that." He raised his pipe to his lips, taking several small puffs on it, blowing the smoke out of his nose. "Regardless of your bias on the matter, they would have persevered."
"You don't know that." Hinode argued, drawing herself up off the porch to look at him in the eye. "You barely even speak to her anymore, our daughter-"
"-Is paralyzed from the waist down because you chose to spend your energy on the infant." He growled, taking a step closer to her. Smoke billowed out of his mouth and nose, giving him a darker and more intimidating expression in the dark of the night. "That child will not bring honour to our clan."
Hinode remained unfazed. "Honour hardly means anything these days." She curled her lip at him. "Mako will grow up a healthy and normal child. That is how it will be, the clan will have no hold on her."
"The clan is everything-" he snarled, snatching the collar of her shirt and dragging her so close to his face she had no choice but to stare deeply into his bright pink eyes. "You forget where you stand, wife. That child is a disappointment to what our clan has lived and died for-!"
Hinode bared her teeth at him, ripping herself away from him. "The clan is already dead. Better to let Sango stay paralyzed than grieving the death of another child."
Ryōshi watched her carefully. "If you didn't wear the face of my wife, I would swear you were another person."
"Nothing has changed." Hinode growled at him. "You just haven't been paying attention to the people around you."
Ryōshi watched his wife turn and stride inside once again, taking another puff on his pipe. She was a fool then, he decided. he didn't need to watch his family constantly to know what was best for them. it was his way- the way of the clan, which was best. Hinode was blind to see that now, and he regretted not understanding that sooner.
He walked quietly back to his bedchambers under the pale moonlight, mulling over his disappointments of that evening.
As the younger daughter, sango had always been rather… troublesome. With her choice of husband, and now her daughter…. Ryōshi entertained the idea of disowning her for a few minutes. It would have been the easiest option, but as loathe he was to admit it, he did not want to face the wrath of his wife. battle-hardened medic she was, her ‘anger’ that she had shown tonight was… tired, exhausted anger. disowning her daughter would have been the last straw. no, he couldn't do that. even if sango couldn't bear children anymore, she was still of some importance, surely.
Ryōshi spent the rest of the night trying to convince himself that. he was less than successful.