Law of the Land by Suchiko
Chapter 1
“One more! Come on, biiig push!”
Her screams of anguish echoed off the clean, white walls. The covers at either side of her became life supports, and the fabric was starting to strain. She huffed harsh breaths through her clenched teeth, praying, brow furrowed in determination as sweat ran down her forehead. Her dark hair clung to her skin.
“There we go, just a little more, Miss Higurashi! I’ve got—”
“AAAGH!”
Kagome pounded her fist against the safety rail, but it did nothing to ease the searing red pain. The nurses kept urging her, encouraging her. She tensed every muscle she had, and after a few more agonizing moments, there was an enormous release of pressure. Her grip loosened on the blankets, and her head fell back to the pile of pillows in a heap. It took a few moments for her to catch up to her panting breaths. It did not take nearly as long for the subsequent silence to catch up with her.
Kagome lifted up to her elbows, looking over her still distended abdomen to the white clad figures standing just beyond her bed.
She couldn’t hear anything.
There was the soft beeping of a few machines, quiet whirring here and there, her own breaths, still slightly ragged.
The doctor wouldn’t look at her.
Her already flushed complexion went pallid as he handed the silent bundle to the nurse at his side with a terse whisper.
“W-what is it? What happened?” The volume in her voice had since died away, leaving her with the same hushed tone. “Doctor..?”
The middle-aged man slowly pulled off his latex gloves with a snap, still rooted in place on the scuffed tile floor.
“I’m sorry, Miss Higurashi. It must have been too stressful for his body and...”
He didn’t need to finish, as she had already burst into tears. The rivers streamed down her cheeks, and she jerked her head side to side in refusal. They left darkened dots scattered over her light blue hospital gown.
“I know this is very hard for you. You have my condolences, all of ours—”
“Stop, stop— just STOP!”
Kagome crushed her hands over her ears. They trembled, along with her entire upper body. The doctor remained silent, as instructed, giving her a moment. Though a few seconds later he turned to the nurse at his side.
“It think it would be best if you went ahead and took him away...” he murmured, glancing back at the shivering form before them.
Her head snapped up, giving him a jolt. In that short time, she had already transformed again. Kagome stared back at him with the most beaten, pained look in her blue eyes. A look he was sure would haunt him. He put a hand on the nurse’s arm to halt her steps, his fingers just brushing the silent blanket.
“You can have some time alone if you prefer... time with him. Some find it helps give closure, but only if you feel you are ready.”
A fresh crop of tears formed in her already moist eyes, and without a word she reached out. Minute quivers passed down her outstretched arms. The nurse gave her superior a mournful glance, then approached and placed the little bundle into the woman’s arms. The trio all turned and filed out of the room, closing the door with a soft, final click.
Kagome stared down into her arms at the blank, white space. He was so impossibly light... so impossibly calm and quiet. His presence so ethereal. She feared that any wrong movement and he would poof out of existence forever. Through her blurred, wavering vision, she pulled the cloth away, staring down at his serene, sleeping face.
_____
The demoness pursed her ruby lips and glared down at the shimmering phone. The low thrum prodded for her attention again and again before she gave in at last. She tapped the flashing green arrow and lifted it to her ear, saying nothing.
“They said you were doing well,” a velvet male voice sounded from the receiver.
“Happiest day of my life... with enough painkillers, maybe. Still, I would rather be where you are,” she cooed.
“Well, did you take care of it?”
Kagura paused. Her brick-colored nails tapped on the sterile white blanket covering her legs, the unflattering blue hospital gown hanging off one of her shoulders. Her lips curled into a frown.
“Yeah... Yes. I told you, just let me handle it.”
With that, she took the phone away and tapped the little red icon next to his picture. That saccharine grin of his blinked away. Kagura lay the phone to her left side, and glanced over to her right. At the small, standard issue bassinet resting just beyond the safety railing. At the sleeping infant inside, her mouth drooping open in her slumber. Her frown grew deeper, and she reached for the phone one more time.
_____
Kagome kept a tight leash on her breathing, which had calmed to be almost inaudible. In the stark loneliness, the relative silence of the small hospital room had been maintained. It had only been broken by the rustling of clothes and the light patter of shoes as they retrieved her baby boy from her arms. Then it settled again like a blanket over her senses. She could just barely hear herself sniffling. It seemed oddly disrespectful to break the silence. It was his silence. But she didn’t have a choice after long. A knock cracked the air.
A few moments of silence passed, Kagome just looking at the fuzzy black shape through the frosted glass, and the shape looking back.
“Hey in there, I know you’re awake,” a woman’s voice called through the door, loud enough to hear but also carrying a hushed effort with it.
“...come in.”
The knob turned, and the fuzzy shape turned out to be the very nurse that had attended Kagome not three hours before. The elegant voice, however, had not been hers. There was a slight creak as she pushed the wheelchair into the room, upon which sat a young, sophisticated looking woman. Her scarlet eyes and pointed ears drew the eye among what had been a mostly human staff and patient list. The nurse rolled her right up to Kagome’s bedside, the woman staring directly into her eyes the entire way. Even she could detect the cloying waft of expensive perfume the closer they came. Kagome glanced between the two. She stopped a little longer to linger on the avoidant nurse.
“...what is this?”
“They told me about what just happened, you know.”
It was more a statement of fact than any sort of sympathetic condolence. She didn’t know how to respond, whether or not to be offended that the nurse had leaked her private pain, so she only stared.
“Who are you..? What does this have to do with you?”
Kagura leaned on the armrest of her wheelchair. She rested her chin on her hand as she regarded the similarly dressed woman in the bed, then shook her head a bit to herself, a rueful smile on her painted lips.
“Nothing, yet.” She leaned back, and the chair groaned a bit in response. “I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on in your head after something like that. And I’m going to have to apologize in advance, but it’s actually... fortuitous. Not that you lost your son, but that we were both here. At the same time, doing the same thing.”
Kagome’s face contorted into one of fury, her fingers clenching around the blankets.
“Get out—”
“I want to make a deal. I want to give you something.”
The intruder turned, looking to the fidgety nurse, and waved her hand. The woman left the tense room that very second, but Kagome could see her just outside the door motioning to someone else. Another ivory-clad nurse entered the room shortly after. Her arms were not empty.
Kagome’s eyes widened. She turned them back on the woman in the chair.
“This isn’t serious... wh-what is this?”
“Listen. Higurashi, was it? I didn’t plan for things to end up this way... I had everything laid out much more smoothly. But I only have about thirty minutes before the father of that child shows up, and that child is not supposed to return home with me. I am a very wealthy woman... but I made a mistake. We all make mistakes...” she said, a glimpse of genuine emotion hiding behind her smoldering eyes for just a second.
She ran a hand over her forehead, through her hair.
“I can’t take her with me. And for her own safety, it’s best that no one knows about her. She would never, ever be safe. I wanted to have her quietly smuggled away, you know? But there’s no time for the original plan anymore. So I want to make a deal with you. This isn’t a trick,” she added, seeing tears start to fall, Kagome’s shoulders trembling at the sight of the stirring infant.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she whispered in a shaky voice, to which Kagura gave a stern shake of her head.
She leaned forward, placing a hand over Kagome’s quaking one.
“I’m not doing this to you, but for you. Both of you. It’s the perfect opportunity to get her in the hands of someone who can take care of her.”
“You... you paid them off, didn’t you?”
“Not just them. Your doctor, mine, and a few others. You’ll have all the proper adoption papers, everything will be taken care of as if she was 100% yours. I’ll give you enough to relocate and get on your feet, and yes, it is that serious. All you have to do is take her out of here and raise her like you would have your own kid. And not to speak of this day to anyone. She is a demon, but... I don’t know, make something up. That part will have to be up to you.”
Kagome repeatedly shook her head, tears spilling in all directions. She felt like her chest was going to cave in. “I can’t, th-this is ridiculous—”
“Look, we don’t have much time. You lost your son, I’m sorry, but this is a chance you can help another defenseless child avoid a similar fate. Because if the man after her finds out she made it past today, then there’s not going to be a thing I can do about it. You can be the one to help her disappear. Now are you going to help her or not, because in a few minutes it’s not going to matter.”
Kagura pinched her lips together. The clock wasn’t ticking in reverse by then. She waved a snappy hand at the second nurse. The woman came forward with the newborn and walked right up to Kagome’s bedside, then leaned over her with the child extended.
“N-no, don’t make me—”
Kagome couldn’t help but open her arms, it was either take the baby or let it lay on her lap. She stared down and was effectively silenced by the little beauty. In her arms, the tiny thing gurgled and cooed to herself, a scruff of brown hair covering her sweet little head. Her resolved crumpled at the sight of such a perfect little thing, right down to her delicately pointed ears, so matching her mother’s own shape. Kagome’s wide eyes examined every visible inch, from her chubby hands, the redness on her full cheeks, the illegible, but calming little sounds that emanated from her as she fidgeted in a light drowse. The demoness’s scarlet eyes were glued to her face for the full minute, no one saying a word, before Kagura shifted in her wheelchair.
“What do you say now then?”
Kagome didn’t, couldn’t look away. But as she stared down into the peaceful, sleeping face, a deep ache shifted in her chest. She nodded, slightly at first, then more resolutely, holding the baby close.
A slow, faint smile graced the youkai’s lips, and she briefly closed her eyes.
“She’ll need a name, you know...”
_____
“Rin? Come on down, it’s time for breakfast.”
Down the squeaky wooden stairs the young girl bounded, making a beeline for the kitchen and climbing up onto the barstool opposite Kagome, who gave her a pointed squint. Rin scratched her head with a grin.
“Sorry sorry, no more running.”
“Well I’ve heard that one before, buuut I’ll forgive you just this once... again.”
They both shared a giggle as Kagome set the plate of toast and eggs down on the counter in front of the little girl, who’s smile morphed into a confused frown. She lifted a corner of the buttery bread and peeked below.
“No bacon again? Not even hot dogs?”
Steam erupted from the frying pan as Kagome ran it under cold water, back turned to Rin in the cramped kitchen. She started to scrub the stubborn egg bits from the well-used skillet.
“Money was a little tight again, sweetie, maybe next week we can go grocery shopping and I’ll let you pick what you like.”
Rin watched her back as her hands worked in the soapy water. It was no secret to her that times were tough. Fancy meals and things like meat were hard to come by some weeks, and every time her mother explained it to her, she always avoided eye contact and smiled too sadly. She grabbed a triangle of toast and stuffed it into her mouth, focusing on the buttery flavor instead of the lack of bacon.
“Ish okay, mama! I luff your breffast all the time, no matta waht!” the girl said chirped through the mouthful of bread, to which her mother glanced over her shoulder and began to genuinely laugh.
Rin beamed at her own antics, but even more so at the reaction she got. The two finished their simple meal together, and after Kagome donned one of many aprons, they left hand in hand to catch the bus.