Himitsu (Book One of the Kakureta Hana series)

X: Juu

Emi runs a light finger across Moriko's nose, and the babe sneezes, startling Kazuhiko, who had been sleeping next to her.  His lips quiver with the beginnings of a wail.

I pick him up as he begins crying, tucking him close.  "Did your sister scare you, little one?  She did not mean anything by it."

It takes a while, but eventually, he calms enough for me to set him back down next to his sister, who is studying the branches of the tree above her with wide eyes.  Emi shifts so she is closer to me, a smile gracing her face.

"Is there no way that Masumo and you can have a child?"  I ask on impulse, watching as her hand moves to the hair sticking up on the back of Kazuhiko's head.  In the week since the arrival of the babes, I have seen how she would be as a mother, how she must be with the younger children that the shinobi take in.

"It is best not to dwell upon things that I cannot have," she answers.  "There is only one who knows how my future will unfold, and I am content to leave it like that.  After all, I have the children that need love and now I have these sweet little ones.  Even though my heart aches sometimes, I made the choice to love Masumo, and that choice came with the sacrifice of any child that I may have borne."

I sigh, staring into the sleepy eyes of my children.  I could not imagine not having them even with the short amount of time that we had had together.  For Emi to know that she could not have a babe with the man that she loves must tear her heart to pieces.

Silence reigns as I muse, filled only by the light sounds of birds and the rustle of the new leaves.  Finally the woman next to me shifts and says, "Yori asked about you when I went to visit her yesterday."

Arching a brow, I look towards her.  She smooths Moriko's eyebrows, a slight frown furrowing her forehead.  "She has not been well, and Taro asked me to look in on her.  While I was there, she asked if you had had your babe yet.  I told her that you had and that it had actually been two babes."

"Did she say anything else?" I prompt after the shinobi falls silent again.

"Only that she hopes to visit you today and see the babes," Emi answers.  "Of course that will depend upon whether or not she is feeling better.  Sickness is harder to beat off once your age starts to climb into your third decade."

I make a slight noise in my throat before stretching out between the babes and running my fingers across their stomachs.  Kazuhiko beats his feet against my arm, warning me of a future that involves chasing him away from danger.  Moriko's little mouth merely stretches in a smile, and I can see Rika even more clearly in her face.

Emi rises, stretching slightly and hardly noticing as her kimono tightens against her chest to reveal the hilt of a dagger.  When I had mentioned that she did not need weapons while at the house, she had merely given me a look and curled her fingers against the dagger.  And the next day, the first day that I had managed to step more than a few paces beyond the futon, she said nothing when I tucked a dagger into a sheath against my thigh.

The gesture had more than spoken for itself.

"I will be back," she tells me.  "I do believe that we have a visitor arriving in a few moments."

Without a word, I reach for the babes, tucking one against each of my sides.  It is better to focus my attention on something other than the fact that Emi had once again neglected to tell me information until right before it happens.  Unlike Ryuu, I have learned to accept that the shinobi doles out only what she deems necessary for the moment.

"Sakura," I hear from Yori, and I blink my eyes, realizing that I had dozed off for a moment.  The older woman's face appears in my vision.  "These must be the little ones."