Chapter Text
He gently covered Tohru with a blanket. She was exhausted--anyone would be after what her body just went through. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, or at least it had been. Most of it had fallen out now due to how much she had moved around. Her eyebrows were pulled tightly together to match the deep frown she had, despite being asleep. He hoped she wasn't in too much pain.
A nurse gently knocked on the door, and waited for Kyo's quiet "It's open" to enter.
She smiled. "I'll be quick, just need to check her vitals. She doesn't need to wake up."
The nurse read the machine that was softly beeping in the background. After a few minutes, she went to leave. Before she exited, she turned to Kyo and said, "Your baby is doing wonderful, just so you know. I can see when they'll be ready to bring him in."
Kyo's eyes lit up as he nodded. It still hadn't fully set in yet that he was a father. Once their son had been born, they quickly took him away to make sure everything was working as it was supposed to. He arrived a month earlier than expected, so the doctors were concerned.
Kyo laid his palm on Tohru's cheek. "She said he's doing wonderful, so rest easy." He rubbed his thumb across her face in hopes that she would relax. Even in her sleep, she was clearly more worried about the baby than herself. Her face started to relax, and Kyo jumped a little when she suddenly laid her hand on top of his.
"I'm so glad," she said weakly.
"How long have you been awake?"
Tohru softly shook her head. "I was never completely asleep. I can't stop worrying…"
Kyo pressed his forehead to hers. That was just like her. She could be on fire, but she'd be more concerned about the grass beneath her feet getting burned. He understood--it was their baby after all--but giving birth wasn't exactly easy.
"Tohru?" He noticed there were tears forming in her eyes.
"I just want to hold him," she croaked out.
Kyo left a small kiss on her head. "I know."
After around an hour, a nursery bed was wheeled in. The soft crying instantly shook Kyo out of his daze.
"Kyo and Tohru, I'm happy to tell you that Hajime is doing well and ready to meet his parents," the nurse said, with a huge smile spread across her face.
"Oh, my sweet boy," Torhu said, hands stretched out.
The nurse carefully lifted Hajime from the bed and placed him in Tohru's arms, showing her how to safely hold him. After a moment, Kyo released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Even though it had long since been broken, the anxiety of the Zodiac Curse would likely never fully leave him. Especially with Hajime being early, albeit not as early as the Curse had always dictated. It never crossed his mind that all the nurses that had handled his baby had been women.
"I'll leave you three to get acquainted," the nurse said as she pushed the nursery bed to the side before exiting.
Kyo pulled his chair up to the hospital bed and placed one hand on Tohru's leg with a smile. He watched how gentle she was with their new baby, and he loved how she looked like her heart was exploding with love. Then, he finally gave in and looked at Hajime. He waited as long as he could, because he knew he'd never be able to peel his eyes off him once he gave in.
And he was absolutely right. Hajime had calmed down the second he was placed in Tohru's arms. Kyo smiled, understanding her calming affect all too well. He reached his hand out, holding it near Hajime's hand in hopes that maybe he'd squeeze his little hand around his finger.
Tohru let out a small giggle. "You can touch him, Kyo. He's your son," she said.
Kyo shook his head. "Babies make me nervous…"
Tohru slowly lifted Hajime and motioned for Kyo to take him. "I can understand that since they’re so small and fragile, but he will be coming home with us. You’ll have to get used to him pretty soon,” she said with a smile.
Kyo very carefully took Hajime, terrified of dropping him. Tohru laid her hand on Kyo’s upper back. "I'm a little jealous...he looks exactly like a tiny version of you," she said.
Kyo stared at him, and to his surprise, Hajime stared back. Or, what Kyo considered to be staring. Hajime was only a few hours old, so nothing he did was intentional by a long shot.
They definitely shared the same hair, although Hajime’s was a few tints darker. Hair that, for his whole life, he called ugly and monsterish...now just looked beautiful. Perfect. "I love you,' he said to Hajime.
Hajime blinked, and the corners of his lips slightly turned up. "Kyo! He smiled! At you!" Tohru exclaimed.
Kyo laughed. "Yeah, by coincidence." Maybe that was the truth, but Kyo hung onto Tohru's words like his life depended on it.
A soft knocking at the door had them both looking up. Yuki popped his head in to make sure they weren't sleeping, and gave a little wave. "I'm glad to see everyone's doing okay." He pushed the door open and entered after Tohru waved him over. Yuki’s eyes grew wide as he realized Tohru was holding a baby—no—their baby. Machi walked in behind him, her belly starting just as Tohru's had been.
“I didn’t know you two were officially parents, congratulations,” Yuki said with a soft smile.
“Yes, congratulations you two,” Machi said.
Tohru’s already wide smile seemed to grow even more. “Oh, thank you both so much! I’m sorry we didn’t call to let you know yet. We wanted to wait until we knew he was going to be okay until we announced his arrival.”
“I can certainly understand that. I’m sure you’re happy, Kyo, with it being a boy,” Yuki said with a small chuckle.
“I was gonna be happy either way, but I’m a little relieved that it was a boy, if I’m being honest…” Kyo went back to staring at Hajime. To his surprise, he was still staring back up at him, although now he had scrunched up his nose. "You already think he's annoying too, huh?" Kyo asked.
"He probably just thinks you smell," Yuki interjected.
"Hey, he's my son. He's gonna like me way more than he'll ever like you," Kyo said defensively.
Yuki rolled his eyes. "Well, I would certainly hope so."
"Oh, look!" Tohru pointed at Hajime, who was now sticking out his tongue.
"He's precious Torhu," Machi said with as much of a smile as she could muster. Tohru could tell she was exhausted.
Kyo poked Hajime's nose. Hajime scrunched it up again in response.
"His name is Hajime," Tohru told them. They had decided the moment that Tohru found out she was pregnant that they didn't want to know if it was a boy or girl ahead of time. It made it more exciting that way. Because of that, they didn't share their name choices with anyone.
Yuki smiled, thinking how appropriate of a name it was. "Hopefully he'll be friends with our son once he gets here," he said.
Machi shuttered. She had made it absolutely clear that she didn't want to have another child after their son, Mutsuki, was born. She had really struggled during her short pregnancy as it was and was not about to go through it all again.
"Would you like to hold him?" Tohru asked Yuki.
Kyo furrowed his brow. He wasn't excited about having to give his son up already.
"Sure," Yuki said, "If Kyo ever puts him down."
"Shut up," Kyo snipped, carefully nudging Hajime in Yuki's direction.
Yuki took Hajime and smiled. “Well, he’s definitely your son, Kyo. You couldn’t deny it if you tried. Let’s just hope he acts more like Tohru.”
“I hope so too,” Kyo mumbled under his breath.
Machi peeked around Yuki to look at Hajime. She had a thoughtful look, but no one pushed her to speak. Despite being a lot more comfortable with everyone after having been with Yuki for so long, she was still very quiet.
Yuki handed Hajime back to Tohru after a few minutes. He was thankful she didn’t seem to be in too much pain. When Kyo had called to let him know she was going into labor early, he was terrified for both of them. Kyo had gotten much better control over his emotions ever since the Curse had broken, but anyone would have reasonably been in a panic in a situation like that. Especially given their specific family history, and he knew that Tohru’s body had to have taken a beating. Being forced to release her baby at all didn’t sound pleasant in the slightest, let alone it being unexpectedly early.
“Are you going to let anyone know that he’s arrived yet?” Yuki asked.
Kyo nodded his head. “Probably soon, since we got the all clear. We’ve only actually had him for a few minutes before you two got here. I’m just worried that Momiji is going to come barreling through the door the second he finds out.”
The former household of Shigure laughed, while Machi cringed a bit. Although she had been a Sohma herself for several years now, she still struggled with the ones with high energy. Even Hatsuharu stressed her out, since his dirty mouth didn’t know how to stop at times.
Kyo wondered to himself whether or not Momiji actually would show. Ever since Momiji’s declaration of love for Tohru back in high school, Kyo always wondered how those feelings had changed over the years, if they had. He could only imagine how actually seeing Tohru’s baby with someone else would feel.
The nurse tapped on the door and entered when given the okay. “Hajime needs to go back to the nursery for a while to make sure everything inside is still going steady. It should only be about an hour. I’m sorry to take him back, but once these last rounds of tests are finished and he’s in the clear, then he’ll be all yours,” she ended with a smile.
Tohru and Kyo both kissed his head before handing him over to the nurse, and they watched longingly as he was wheeled from the room.
Yuki and Machi bid their farewells and promised to stop by later before they returned home for the night. Machi had an appointment to check on Mutuski’s progress, so getting to stop by first just worked out.
Tohru laid back down, seemingly exhausted from everything, as Kyo would expect her to be. “Go to sleep. I’ll tell them that Hajime can rest when tests are over too. I’m not a baby expert, but even I can bet a newborn wouldn’t be fun to be around after getting poked and prodded,” he said with a soft smile.
Tohru seemed to debate his words, but ultimately agreed. Kyo kissed her and rubbed the back of her hand until he was certain she had fallen asleep this time. He sat back in the only chair in the room, thankful that he finally had a moment to relax. He knew that he wasn’t anywhere near as exhausted as Tohru, but seeing her in that much pain and crying the way she did had worn his heart thin.
He pulled out his phone and updated the family on the situation. Many of the former zodiacs tried to insist on coming to see her, so Kyo had to all but threaten them to stay away until they were able to go home so Tohru and Hajime could rest. He couldn’t help but smile when Kazuma had said he was already a doting father.
A few hours passed. Kyo had elected to walk around the hospital to make sure Tohru could rest as long as possible. He was on his third round of the floors when Tohru’s nurse happened to catch him. “If you’d like, I can take you to the nursery so you can see him. I can’t let you in the room, but we can wheel him over to the window.”
Kyo felt a little guilty when he said yes, but he wanted every opportunity to see his son that he could get. He wouldn’t be like his biological father. Hajime was loved and wanted by Kyo, and he’d make sure he always knew that.
When he walked up to the window, he could already see Hajime in the back corner. The nurse went into the room and rolled his bed over so Kyo could see him up close.
He placed his hand on the window and smiled. "Hi buddy. Daddy can't wait to take you home. We've got all kinds of stuff waiting for you," he hummed.
Hajime's nose crinkled as he tried to wiggle free from the swaddle. Even though he had arrived earlier than expected, he didn’t look too much smaller than all the other babies in the room.
The nurse popped her head out of the door, "He's probably starting to get hungry. You can help me wheel him back if you'd like."
Kyo once again agreed, and within minutes he was sitting back in his chair watching Tohru feed Hajime. "He's so sweet. I love you so much, Hajime."
Hajime didn't seem to care what Tohru had to say, as he continued to eat without even blinking.
"I can't believe I have a baby…" Kyo said absent mindedly. Just short of a decade ago, he figured he would die alone. Doomed to be locked away forever, without Tohru, without Kazuma, just barely kept alive for the sake of avoiding criminal charges.
And now here he was, free at 23, looking at his wife and first born child. If only he could go back and tell his younger self that everything would be okay…
Tohru felt like she could read his mind, as his thoughts were written all over his face. This was a life he wasn’t even allowed to dream of as a child, but it was the life he absolutely deserved. She offered him a soft smile, "He's yours forever, Kyo. When he's a toddler, a grumpy teenager, a curious adult...he's all yours. And I'm sure he loves you just as much as you love him."
Kyo stood and slid his arm around her, "Don't forget how much I love you, too." He kissed her on the head.
…..
Kyo was laying on the floor next to Hajime, listening and talking with him in their own little world. The conversation was very heavily one-sided, with Hajime barely letting Kyo get a word in between all his babbles and squeals.
After a particularly loud squeal, Kyo gasped and gave Hajime a horrified look. “Oh my god, did he really say that?! How mean!” Hajime furrowed his brow and stuck his tongue out, licking all over his bottom lip.
Kyo looked up at Tohru. “Can you believe that Tohru? Who would have known Hajime had such an eventful life at ten months old.”
Tohru laughed, admiring how sweet her husband could be with their baby. “It certainly sounds like it,” she said smiling. She sat down with them after she finished cleaning and putting away the dishes from lunch.
She always loved these relaxed times during the weekends where she could just watch the two of them interact. Hajime squealed again as Kyo handed him a ball, and the parents both shared a laugh at their son’s excitement. “I’m happy you actually like toys. Yuki said Mutsuki just stares at them all the time, smiling. It sounds creepy.”
“He’s still also only five months old, Kyo. There’s still a lot he can’t do yet compared to Hajime!”
Kyo waved her off. “Well yeah, but just laying there staring and smiling? Even you have to admit that’s weird.”
Tohru shook her head. “I think it’s sweet! At least they know he’s a happy baby!” Kyo grunted at that, and continued to hand Hajime different toys to hear more of his cute baby squeals and giggles.
Later that night, when both Kyo and Hajime were asleep, Tohru was sitting up in bed. The soft sounds of Kyo breathing had become her favorite lullaby. She gently ran her fingers through Kyo’s hair as she gazed down at the baby monitor showing Hajime sleeping in his crib in his room. Although she loved sharing everything with Kyo, all her thoughts and joys, wonders and hardships, she had kept this nightly routine a secret. It felt much more special that way.
She absolutely loved the life she had, and she was incredibly thankful for it. It was a life that she had never pictured for herself. After losing her mother, she didn’t really know what she wanted for herself.
But then she met Kyo, and she had something she wanted. Something she looked forward to. And something that had been worth every battle, every hardship, and the ugly scar she had on her right arm to get.