Overdue {Birthing}
Yoshiko felt a pang of pain race through her body. No, she thought… not here. Not in the open… not… Her head was spinning, a sickening feeling entering Yoshiko’s gut. She wasn’t typically one to worry… but after all the traveling she’d been doing she had to wonder if her children were going to be delivered safely. At least there in familiar territory… and the scent of a pack did not hold here. Yoshiko gave a sharp bark, alerting Kait that she was going to find a den. It was time.
Yoshiko found, ironically enough, the den she was to enter was the old one she shared with Riv once upon a time. His scent lingered here… a bit fresher than she expected too. Had he come this way looking for her? Yoshi felt her stomach lurch before the green giant settled on the moss. Right now, as much as she loved Riv, she couldn’t afford to think of him. She had to focus on the lives that were coming.
The first two children Yoshiko gave birth too were horridly small… and lifeless. The female nosed them, trying to revive them with gentle licks to no avail. She felt even more sick… she’d killed them. She’d killed her children with Riv… The female squeezed her eyes shut, briefly aware of Kaitlyn entering the den with some moss soaked in water for her. But Yoshiko didn’t want it. Why did she deserve to keep going after this?
Another contraction shook Yoshi’s form, though the young woman wasn’t sure she wanted to keep pressing on. She didn’t even want to look at Kait right now. But her sister was speaking, trying to encourage her in a little voice… Yoshiko knew, even if she didn’t want to, that she couldn’t give up. Not when there was still the chance a little one could be born alive.
Yoshiko pushed, urging her body to do as it naturally would. Finally, after several more minutes, yet another child was produced… another one that seemed smallish, at least to a wolf of Yoshi’s size, but… It was moving.
The female moved her head over to the little one, almost shocked to see at least one child was still alive. Instinctively she began to clean the child, a little girl, marked with multiple colors… She was beautiful. Brown, green, white, black… even a bit of red! Goodness… Yoshiko found herself smiling a little, moving the pup to her side once it was cleaned. At least now, she thought, she could look towards the living.
But Yoshiko’s birthing didn’t stop there. She was panting a bit, growing a bit more weary, yet still another little one sought to enter this world. After a few more minutes her last child was set free, a young male, and Zephyra nearly recoiled when she saw him.
Green. Green everywhere. But somewhere deep inside she felt happy too. After he too was cleaned the femme placed the larger pup at her side and then glanced over at Kait. Two pups alive… two pups stillborn. “Can you… take care of those two?” She asked her sister, motioning to the pups who would never know life in this world. Now if only Riv were here to see his new son and daughter…