Kyoko stared at the decor - his home for who knows how long, but strangely different now. He'd wanted to change it all for awhile now; for some reason, he'd never seemed to find the time. Still, he couldn't even describe how good it felt to be home. Out of habit, he rubbed his stomach nervously - a slim stomach, with only angry red lines indicating what had happened to him. He'd changed irrevocably; what should have been the greatest moment in a woman's life was spent as a man, wondering if everything was okay. Everything was different, from the child that now rested in her crib to the woman she'd once called husband. All the rules had gone out the window - probably for the better, she thought, but it wasn't without price. He'd never known real fear until today. He thought he'd known it, when he faced his first beloved's death. He knew it now. Outside, he could hear strange conversations from strange voices; seems most of their friends and relatives had changed, and were dealing with it in their own way. He suspected the whole world would have to deal with it; the change had spread like wildfire, with dangerously little warning to the populace. Dangerously little, but barely enough. *** Leifker presents... Close Call A Maison Ikkoku work set in Chris Jones' "Virus" universe, by Nicholas Leifker Maison Ikkoku is Rumiko Takahashi's creation; The Virus is Chris Jones'. I make no claim to their stories or the characters within. Have fun... *** Being a blushing bride was something Kyoko knew. She'd been a girl when she'd married Souichiro years ago; she was still a young woman when she'd finally married Yusaku Godai. Twice she'd presented herself on wedding night and acquitted herself well - and continued to do so afterwards, she recalled with a blush. Strange that, even though it was her second time to deal with the consequences of such acts, she was never quite used to pregnancy. Her stomach took on a life of its own, while the rest of her body tried to compensate. Her back hurt, her bladder was on overdrive, and every emotion within her was rubbed raw. Worse, she already had a baby to deal with; Haruka was a handful and a half, and she wasn't even a year old yet. She wasn't sure if she was ready for two children to care for. "Kyoko?" Yusaku reached around her from behind, and kissed her on the neck. "I finally put her to sleep." One thing about Yusaku: he definitely knew what words would turn her on. "Good. She's been cranky all day." She reached a hand back behind his neck. "And how have you been?" He started to work his way up to her ear. "Oh, the usual. Dealing with crying children; that's my job." He rubbed his hand against her abdomen. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Kyoko chuckled. "Well, you know me..." She stopped at the puzzled look in Yusaku's eyes. "What is it?" Yusaku shook his head. "There was an unusual number of kids absent today. Seems a lot of them had colds. Nothing major... just seemed odd to have so many at once." Kyoko smiled. "Well, I know several healthy people who could use watching..." She reached her hands up to his neck, preparing to reach up to kiss him... The sound of the door knocked frantically took away any possibility of a romantic moment. Yusaku slipped from her grasp painfully, and opened the door. In their entire life, they had never seen Yotsuya shaken, in any way, shape, or form. He was always a picture of calm, taking life in stride. Nobody was quite sure why; his blood pressure never elevated. Kyoko and Yusaku had known the man for years, and the flickering in his eyes told enough. Something was wrong. Kyoko also noticed the redness of his nose; perhaps he was ill. "Godai-kun." The voice, at least, had not changed. "You might wish to go to the obstetrician right away." Kyoko blinked. Nothing seemed outwardly wrong with her - and she'd just had her checkup a few days ago. "Why? What's wrong?" Yotsuya turned his mouth away from her; seems he was concerned for her health. "Watch the news. You'll understand soon enough. Good day." Kyoko blinked, and mentally evaluated herself. To be honest, her nose was starting to become a bit stuffed up... She walked over to the television, and turned on the news. "- things have changed incredibly in the past day or two, since the first cases of the Virus surfaced in Tokyo. Thousands have found themselves changed in gender since -" Changed in gender? Could an illness do that? "- Sunday morning. It is predicted that 90% of Tokyo will be affected by Thursday, with -" Her eyes turned to her husband. His eyes were shot wide open with fear as he stared at her; surely he didn't believe this? "- nearly 100% of Tokyo predicted to be changed within a week. Hospitals are being forced to turn people away -" The complete fear in Yusaku's face finally became too much. "What is it, Yusaku?" "- except for those with pregnancy or life-threatening issues, and even then the hospitals are still overflowing." Pregnancy? Her? What would a gender-change... Her hands rubbed against her stomach, and she started to shake. *** It was coming like a storm, Kyoko thought. The first sign was the wind as it turned colder, as though the face of God had turned away. After awhile, a person could see the dark clouds in the distance, and run for shelter. Then would come the thunder; if they were lucky, flashes of lightning would punctuate the emergency. The winds would come in, and the rains would start to pelt the land, and the howling wind would get worse, and - Calm. She had to be calm, both for her own sake and the baby's. She had another month or so before she was full-term; however, life wasn't allowing her that luxury. She didn't have that time to wait; she needed to deliver, and now. They couldn't get into the hospital; the place was booked solid, even with her preferential treatment. Instead, she found herself in a clinic on a hospital cot alongside a dozen other women. Most were already in induced labor, and screaming through it; thankfully, their husbands (wives?) were there, supporting them as best they could. At least she didn't have to see them, as the clinic had the sense to rig curtains in between each couple. Somehow (she didn't know how), they'd set up a couple of incubators, for those too premature to make it on their own. This was madness. Unfortunately, madness was probably the only way out. Dr. Yoshida stood in front of them, a harried look on her face, her graying hair frizzled from stress, and her nose running with the first symptoms of the virus. Her brown skirt and white blouse were scarred with splotches of blood; her brown eyes positively screamed for mercy, though she held her ground. Another physician stood with the good doctor, a woman in this case - though a woman who probably hadn't been one until recently, if her hair, clothes, and bearing said anything. Without a word, the good doctor rubbed alcohol on Kyoko's arm, and stuck an IV solution into it. After a second, she took a step back. "This will induce labor. Judging by how far you are in the pregnancy, it shouldn't take very long, but the baby will be a few weeks premature - probably 4 pounds birth weight, by my guess." She let out a quiet sigh. "Be grateful; you're at just the right term for this. If you were full-term or if this were your first, we' d have to do a C-section right here, as labor would take too long. By comparison, if you were a month or two before..." She shook her head. "Be brave, Godai-san. We'll get you through this." Yusaku was already miserable; presumably, he'd caught it from one of his students. She idly wondered what he'd look like as a girl; he had such lovely eyes and beautiful hair. Considering his physique, he'd be quite lovely... she filled her head with idle thoughts like that. Thinking about the problem only made it worse; moreover, she did not want to hear what was going on in the other 'rooms'. Dr. Yoshida had already gone to another room, presumably to put the finishing touches on another, by the sound of it. Her water broke within minutes, soon followed by her first contraction; it hurt, but she was glad for it. It meant that she probably wouldn't lose her baby; it meant that she was getting down to business. Haruka had taken a day to be born; this time, considering the circumstances, it would be far less. She grabbed the closest thing to her - in this case, Yusaku. She barely noticed a strange slickness to his arm; she only absently noticed she'd broken skin. "Yusaku -" "Yes, Kyoko?" "I... I'm... if I don't make it..." "We'll make it, Kyoko. We'll make it. Just keep -" An inhuman scream erupted in the next bed, a cry too masculine for any mother to make. They both nearly threw up at the sound as it died away in a gurgle, only to be replaced by other cries as the doctors tried to keep him alive. Kyoko rubbed her abdomen. It wasn't going to be a good night. *** Her eyes focused on the clock. Three hours. She'd started showing symptoms five hours ago. From what she'd heard, she had anywhere from one to seven hours before she changed. And the baby was *still* stuck in there. She wondered what it would be like to be a man. It certainly seemed different; then again, from what she'd heard, everyone was changing, so maybe nothing much would. With the exception of only two, everyone had been successful so far tonight - a remarkable record considering the facilities involved. Then again, considering that women had been giving birth since the dawn of time... Yusaku shivered next to her, a strange tremor the likes of which she'd never seen before. "Yusaku -" "Don't mi-aaah.... ACHOO! mind me, Kyoko. Just breathe. Keep on going; we'll get aaahhh ACHOO! through this." He stopped for a moment. "I wonder if ACHOO! this is ACHOO!... it.... ahhhh...aaahhhhh..ACHOO!" It was like his entire body exhaled at that last sneeze. His shirt, now oversized, draped over one shoulder; his chest was definitely something to be proud of, now that she looked at it (if only they could feed the child, then...) Yusaku looked down at the changes wrought, checked inside the shirt, made a glancing feel for the groin area, then looked back at Kyoko. "Hmmm. Definitely not what I was expecting." She made a move to cup her breasts, then quickly shot back up as a blush made its way to her cheeks. "How do you put up with those things?" "Well, usually we wear some support." Kyoko chuckled, and reached to touch her new wife's cheek. "If it makes you feel any better, you do look kinda cute." Her voice had a strange quality, a husky alto men tended to find attractive. "Oh, well. That's done. Now breathe." *** It was going to be close. She wasn't sure which part of her was gaining: the baby, or the virus. The chills were coming on, but those paled compared to the splitting sensation in her abdomen. "I can see the head!" Yusaku announced; within moments, Yoshida's assistant came by, and checked matters. She wheeled the equipment tray with her; instruments such as forceps and scalpels gleamed in the fluorescence. "Okay." She took up a position to handle the baby. "By the way, I'm also Dr. Yoshida. My mother has... well..." She shook her head. "Now. When I give the word, I want you to push. Are you ready?" Kyoko grabbed onto Yusaku's arm, and dug into the cloth wrappings there. "Ready." "Push!" She'd forgotten how much pushing hurt. Areas already worn from childbirth screamed as she forced herself to push out. She held it for as long as she could - - before a sneeze interrupted her concentration. Yusaku stared at her, wide-eyed. "Are you?" She checked herself over. "I'm fine - for now. Let's go." Dr. Yoshida - the younger - peered from between Kyoko's legs. "Are you ready?" Kyoko nodded. "Push!" Again, it hurt - then the pain just went away. She wasn't sure why; she could barely feel anything, barely sense anything... all that mattered was getting the baby out, and nothing other than that mattered. She barely noticed the first sneeze; she knew she didn't have much time. She kept pushing, pushing, pushing... *** He awoke suddenly from the bed. Images from the last seconds ran through his head. He wasn't sure what had happened... "Hello, beautiful," he heard a soft voice say, then equally gentle lips kiss his forehead. "You almost didn't make it." "The baby?" His eyes darted around the room - until he noticed the small bundle in Yusaku's arms. "We made it?" He barely noticed the timbre of his own voice - low tenor, almost a baritone. Tears started welling in Yusaku's eyes as she looked down at the bundle. "Do you want to meet your mommy?" Her eyes turned back to Kyoko. Kyoko breathed in. Yusaku really was beautiful... and so was the baby. It unnerved him how light she was; Dr. Yoshida had said only about four pounds or so, and she (well, probably he, now) had been right. Spindly legs and spindly arms, a tiny head, eyes that didn't want to open, a mouth that seemed to want to dart everywhere... She was perfect. "Oh..." It felt strange without his breasts for shock absorption; wiry muscle was all that remained there from before. Still, he could get used to it; he got used to Haruka in their lives, and he could get used to this. Yusaku walked away for a moment and out to the reception area; Kyoko followed her with his eyes. Maybe he thought mother and child needed a moment alone - Then he heard the crying. He moved to get up; it certainly hurt, though not as badly as it had the first time. Maybe the equipment that hurt just wasn't there anymore. Yusaku lay on the floor, crying uncontrollably, her arm grasping against a table leg. This was beyond normal; people will cry at the birth of a newborn, but... "Yusaku?" Kyoko touched her on the arm; she rolled gently over, but didn't stop crying. "Ky... Kyoko," she whispered. "It was so... so close... you were about to change as the baby was coming out. I... I could tell; you were kinda shaking like I was, and... and..." She sat up, and offered her arms in a hug. "I was so afraid I was going to lose you... He wrapped an arm around her, and remembered another night, when a young man opened his heart to a young woman. He thought he knew every part of Yusaku's heart; now he was beginning to understand a lot more of what lay underneath. Yusaku was a deep ocean of feelings, some which she would never let out onto the surface; now, on this day, nothing could be held back. She feared, just as he did; they couldn't be alone. He didn't want to be a widow again; now he realized just how much she didn't want to become one. "I love you," he whispered. Even this totality of existence seemed to pale by comparison. "And... and I... I won't leave you. Not now, not ever." And, as he held his... wife and his child, he vowed inwardly that he never would. *** Nicholas Leifker nightelf@thekeep.org http://www.thekeep.org/~nightelf/fanfic April 2, 2002