Babies being born in semi-detail. 0_o; If that squicks you, trying skimming over it.
Thoughts; in quotations, emphasized sentences
/emphasis/
-Saiyajin language-
[translation]
-- Jamie Kaiser, 2000
Chapter 00
February 6, 767 New Civilization
Never had Sataan Medical Hospital contained such a virago in their clinic, as the heir to the Capsule Corporation was rushed to an operating room. Nurses were just barely able to keep her three companions at bay as the woman and three doctors crossed a point where no non-patients were allowed to go beyond.
Bulma Briefs was being uncooperative in all her hellcat, labored glory; the only person she remotely listened to through the noise was her current doctor. Miura Shoin, renowned geneticist, was also on the CC payrole in their biology division, which made for a very interesting life.
"Bulma-san! You have got to calm down. Panicking with only make this worse."
Her eyes were filled with tears on the brink of spilling, hands on the belly (and child) she sought to protect from harm. Her shouts of rage, mainly the cursing of a fellow named Vegeta (Poor chap, thought the staff), and painful cries, rebounded off the walls for nearly all of that floor's listening displeasure. She tried to obey Miura's advice, but the contractions were coming faster and the wily child wanted out. Now.
Bulma still hadn't mellowed by the time they reached the room. One of the other doctors suggested they drug her, but Miura simply shook his head. "It's too late for that. She's going to hurt herself if she keeps going like this and I doubt that will happen now. Prep for a C-section."
As the other two did as they were ordered, Miura did his best to calm the woman himself, stroking her sweat-filmed forehead. "Shhh, Bulma-san. You'll be fine.."
"W-what.. 'bout...Ccccc..." Her speech broke up into a sharp wail. Miura's eyebrow knit. There had to be something else wrong here. Could it be....?
"Yes, we're going to give you a C-section." He reached up for a mask on the wall and quickly hooked it up to a tank beside the cart. "Just breathe this in, Bulma-san. We're going to put you to sleep and get the baby out. And once you wake up, you'll be able to see it."
Bulma nodded sharply and inhaled the gas as the mask was pressed against her face. Already, her body was beginning to feel slight lax.
"Count backwards from one hundred to one, please."
"A hundred... ninety-nine... ninety-eight.. nine..ty....se..ven..."
When she was completely out, the two doctors hurried back in with the needed materials and they began..
Seven minutes later, they were all amazed. Miura's aging hands removed a being that would, one day, become a legend from the warm womb. The boy cried out the contact of cold against his wrinkly skin, his lavender tail swinging back and forth in agitation. Miura's assistants all took a step back at the fifth apendage, but the doctor was unphased. It almost seemed like he had expected it to happen...
But as Miura held him, there was a light, tingly feeling creeping under the skin of his hands. He almost dropped the newborn in surprise. /That/ was stranger than the tail...
One of the doctors finally came forward and clipped the umbilical cord; the other opted to remove the placenta.
"No, no, I'll do it," said Miura, transferring the tailed baby into the waiting blanket that the first doctor now held, making sure he tucked the tail in. "Make sure no one sees this yet, okay Asa? Don't let anyone else see the tail. Got it? Good."
The medic bowed and left as quickly as her feet could take her. At the same time, Miura motioned for the remaining man to stand back, and stated in his scritchy voice, "You are going to be let in on a secret, Hikou, one that will destroy you if you ever let slip from your tongue. Understand?"
Hikou nodded, backing away. He watched as Tamichi reached back into the womb; Hikou didn't know what to expect, really, but what came out made him pale. "M--Miura-san!"
In Miura's arms was a second child, a girl. A tail was also present, except this one was a dark violet, curled around her body. Hikou grabbed another blanket from the supply cabinet and held onto it as Miura expertly unclogged the baby's airway and she began to cry just like her brother did.
"But.. I thought.."
"That there was only one?" Miura offered, raising an eyebrow at the other. "Yes, that's what I made people think. But in exchange for your silence, I'm giving you my pay for this job. There is no negotiation in this."
Hikou nodded slowly, watching his superior with a numb appreciation. Miura cut the child free, wrapped the baby up, and held her close to his chest. "Please remove the placenta, Hikou and begin sowing her up. I'll be back in a while. And remember, tell /no one/, not a soul."
Without waiting for a reply, he walked out of the room and into the hallway. Fortunately for the scientist, but not without a lot of concern, the girl remained quiet; if it wasn't for the heartbeat strong enough to echo through the blanket and reach out towards his chest, he would have assumed her expired.
The trip felt tiringly long, timed by the beating of his own pounding heart and the rapid drumming of the infant's. This was wrong. Very wrong, but he had kept everyone in the dark since the day he had discovered the second child.
There was no turning back now.
No one gave him a second glance, no one stopped him. For all the staff knew, Miura was acting normally and nary a droplet of suspicion crossed their minds as he entered the elevator with his bundle and hit the button that dropped the elevator into the second basement of the building.
The basement held nothing that you couldn't find on the floors above; everything was a spare and a half, it seemed. But there was one occupant that would never be seen or found, above or otherwise. He was huge, burly, and bald, with a goatee that hung slightly from his chin. A skimpy bodysuit and armor barely covered him, leaving calfs and forearms exposed to the chill of the room. Miura hugged the child closer to ward off the cold. "Rubus."
"'Bout time, Doctor," he sneered, voice strong and thick, black eyes hard in agitation. "You swore you would've been on time and here you are, 18 minutes late."
"Pregnancies are anything but clockwork, Rubus!" Miura grumbled, shifting the baby's weight. "We had a delay, but what should it matter? Here she is, like you ordered."
A sketchy smirk curled onto his lips and Rubus stepped closer. "Yes," he purred. "Like I ordered. ... Give her to me."
Hesitant, concerned for the child's safety, Miura transferred her over into Rubus' hands. The giant of a man frowned down; such a tiny thing. He dropped the blanket away with a 'tch', causing the baby to wail in protest. Miura paled, fearful now, but didn't dare go against Rubus.
Rubus, ignoring the echo of sobs and quivering cries, eyed the unnaturally colored tail with distaste. "So this is the bastard princess. First born?"
A ball of sweat fell down his brow, the lie right on the tip of his tongue..."Y-yes. But--"
"And the other?"
"A boy. ..... Rubus, please, she'll die--"
"If she does," he barked, vivid and savage, "then she unfit to claim her heritage!! My son lived through even colder conditions than this dump of a mudball has to offer anywhere!"
"But she's not pure!" he argued. "A halfling, weaker than you and Kail! Please Rubus!"
A dangerous look crossed over the bigger man's face. With the baby in one hand, he whipped out to grabbed the front of Miura's coat and hefted him off the ground. "I," he snarled over the infant's screaming, "do not like being contradicted, Human. You should be more than thankful that I've let you live this long, and you should be licking my boots in honor that I don't kill you at this very moment."
Miura nodded, his blood frozen with the chilling look of Rubus' expression. When his feet touched the ground, he immediately drew in deep breaths of hyperventilation. Rubus knelt down to snatch the discarded blanket and coarsely wrapped it around the now turning-blue baby and handed her to Miura. "Let's go."
The older man could do nothing but follow this.. alien creature to the back of the basement like a zombie, cuddling the infant to share his warmth. But his thoughts were anything but silent. So, he mused dejectedly, I've been spared yet again. "....Rubus?"
The call was so quiet, Miura was afraid Rubus hadn't heard him, but he was proven wrong with, "What?"
"....A name. Shouldn't she have one?"
"Sirri," he spat, without missing a beat. "The brat's name is Sirri." That now said, he punched a point in the wall they'd come to, a door unlatching from invisible hinges. Without another word, he passed through, Miura trailing after him.
He didn't care for the dirty-blooded, sub-class race in Miura's arms. No, she would only play the part. He had revenge on mind, that and only that. This is the execution I will send you, -Bejeta, Katte sano Sayejic-. You killed my brother in cold blood. Now I will destroy your life, with your own disgusting offspring. It cannot fail..../I/ will not fail.