Dragonfly

Chapter Five: Baby, Baby

Sasuke's birth was a Big Deal-so deserving of each capital letter-considering he was the second child of the clan head.

When the kid kicked and Mikoto's water broke in the middle of the street during one of her daily strolls, there was utter chaos. Like, complete and utter chaos, I kid you not-it may as well have been doomsday because it sure as hell felt like there would be hell to pay if things went south.

-Well, mainly for me, Shisui and Itachi, who were the only three present when the kid stubbornly decided today would be his birthday because we were keeping her company that day. And, of course, being the only girl nearby other than Mikoto, those two nimrods immediately glanced my way.

"Don't look at me!" I'd never seen or been around a woman ready to give birth in either of my two lives and it was the worst way to experience an adrenaline rush. My heart was all the way up in my throat! Did they really think I was equipped to handle something like this?! I could barely wrap my tongue around the words I needed to speak, let alone figure out how to help a woman in labor-it was hard to even look at her, strong as she was.

Poor Mikoto was on her knees, hunched over, but handling it like a pro because she hadn't made a peep yet even though her face was twisted in pain and ow ow ow I could only imagine. That boy was coming out now and he wouldn't wait for us to try to get ahold of ourselves to figure out what to do. Impatient as always.

"We gotta go get someone now! A medic! A nurse! My mom!" I grabbed Shisui's shoulders and shook him hard, trying to conduct all of my nerves and anxiety to him so he wouldn't just stand there all stupefied with wide eyes and an unhinged jaw like a useless dummy. He was the oldest here-he should have been the one picking up the slack. Pride of the Uchiha my ass!

"I-I'll go!" Itachi called, finally coming to his senses as the weight of the situation began to press down on him and worry took over his shell-shocked expression.

"No way, she's your mom! You stay here!"

"Then-I'll go. I'm the fastest of us. It's the hospital, right? Right, Auntie Mikoto?" Shisui finally gathered his bearings and pulled up his responsible face, grabbing my arms to keep me from throttling him as he looked towards our pregnant relative and ohmygod oh my god that kid was really not going to wait!

"We...we want...it to be a home-" she sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, clutching her stomach, "-a home birth!"

There was no way in hell the woman would make it back home in that condition with the help of three kids.

"A home birth!? Go Emiko, Shisui! Go sweet's shop lady! Hell, go to get Fugaku-sama the husband!" My shrieky Japanese just got worse and worse under pressure, but somehow the mangled words were conveyed through the rising panic and urgency.

"I-right! I'll be right back!"

Meanwhile, Itachi was at his mother's side, rubbing her back and doing his best to comfort her through the pain. Model son, he was. His level-headedness was contagious-because he was so calm, my own racing heart began to quit trying to hammer its way out of my ribcage.

Wouldn't that just be great, if I had a heart attack and died right here while a totally important character was born at the same time...? I could see it now, my tombstone would read something humiliating, like:

R.I.P. Uchiha Rika: Frightened to death at the age of seven by childbirth.

But, thankfully, that wasn't the case.

I crouched near Mikoto's other shoulder and awkwardly set my hand on her back, too, tracing a gentle, hopefully soothing, pattern. "A-Auntie, hey, is there anything we can do? Help you to the house?"