'God, what the fuck is taking so long?', Kouki mentally wondered to herself. The nurse who had come and seen her, taken several vials of blood, and done a whole lot of bowing which had only agitated the already agitated Kouki more had been gone for over an hour. That meant Kouki had been sitting in the little eight by ten room for over an hour with no window. No books of interest. Nothing to do but sit there and feel miserable.

She had ignored the signs and symptoms long enough. Had tried to play it off as some sort of flu, illness, what have you, for as long as she could. But, it hadn't gone away, and it had only gotten worse. Recently she had been unable to even focus on her work, evident of the huge pile of uncompleted paperwork still sitting on it back in the administrative complex... while she sat in this tiny ass room and waited to be told what was wrong with her. Waited to be told what she had already guessed at.

"Fuuuuuuuck."

She sighed and flopped herself back against the back of the medical table she was on. It was in as much of a seated position as it could be in but Kouki still wasn't comfortable: likely due to the confined feeling she was currently having. She couldn't even see the beautiful lake outside of a window, or anything really to show her that there was life outside of these walls. That the nurse was doing her work and not taking a lunch break, or gossiping about the fact that one of the Hinowa Council members was in the hospital and sick... Or, perhaps what was wrong with Kouki was something so completely horrible that they were drawing straws to see who had to deliver the bad news in case Kouki hulked out and tried slaughtering them.

Whatever... it didn't matter at this point what it was she just wanted to know so she could get the hell out and out of the hospital: she hadn't realized until this point how much she hated them. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!~ Hospital issues for the win.

Passing note; passing word; one of them was in the hospital, and given it wasn't her; it had to be Kouki or Isao. Given she could tell where Isao was; it had to be Kouki. Why the hell Kouki was in the hospital, she couldn't fathom, there was no reason for it. Hell, it was nearly impossible for a chakra beast container to even get sick; and they hadn't done a damn thing recently that would injure a normal ninja of their power; screw a super-powered dragon-ninja. So what had her in the hospital?

It was enough to have her worried enough to drop shit and go down when she'd heard about it; dropping the last ream of paperwork she had for the day on the desk and calling it a lost cause. Kouki was more important; nothing they sent to her was so vital that it had to be seen immediately; mostly just shipping reports, ecological data, and the stuff she could understand; if even just barely. Right to the makeshift nurses station and a glare that said 'No B.S. Give me Kouki.' and she was being lead to the small room. Inside, and she was flopping into one of the small chairs that was stashed in the corner; "You. What happened?"

In the Hospital? That's all he needed to hear. Isao was gone like a bolt of lighting, out the door and headed to the hospital. How in the world did she get sick? He was just with her not too long ago and she didn't seem sick. It honestly worried him, though it probably shouldn't. His body was moving at top speeds as if he was on a mission. He was at the hospital within a few minutes, walking through the doors and immediately heading to the nurses station. He didn't have to say anything, as one of the nurses was already prepared and immediately led him to the room.

He hadn't really been doing much. He was just about done with the Genjutsu and was prepping for the trip to Niwa. He was actually about to go offer some help to the two girls with the paperwork, as he tended to leave that side of the job to them. Paperwork didn't interest him, but he had to do it. One of the downsides of being a leader, he guessed. He finally arrived at the door and walked in without knocking. He saw Kouki and Mizuko already there and grabbed a chair from the corner. Setting it down, he sat and looked directly at Kouki. "You okay? What did they say?"

Why did it not surprise her that  both Mizuko and Isao appeared within minutes and then they both asked the same exactly question. She shook her head in response, throwing an agitated look towards the nurse before she could walk back out after escorting Isao to the room. "I'd know if someone could get a move on with the blood tests... maybe I should have gone straight to Hikari - that girl works fast as hell."

She shifted into a more comfortable position though it barely helped: she just wasn't comfortable in this tiny ass room like this. She threw another glare at the door: if they didn't hurry up she was likely going to storm out unless Mizuko or Isao stopped her. She sighed then and turned her attention back to the two of them. "I haven't felt good for a few days.. Woke up the day after we left the hot springs and thought that maybe I had eaten something that didn't agree with me - not likely, but it was a guess. It didn't go away... and only got worse. Every fucking morning I wake up and feel like I'm going to hurl my guts up. I'm tired, I'm cranky... and if they don't hurry up soon I'm going to take Suiro up on her offer to eat someone."

Just as she was about to seriously start considering walking out she heard light foot steps, bare footsteps, headed straight towards the door. Mentally crossing her fingers she hoped that finally it would be someone to tell her what was wrong and that she could leave. The footsteps stopped outside, she heard the sound of the ruffling of paper, and then a knock. The door opened before Kouki could utter a response and in walked... Hikari. Kouki's heart skipped a beat: something had to be up if they were sending Hikari in compared to the dozen or so other nurses she had seen since she had arrived.

"Well... that's not good if they're sending you in."

Hikari glanced over towards Isao and Mizuko and then back to Kouki. "You have no problem with me speaking freely in front of them I take it?"

Kouki grinned, glad that the female could guess her so well. "Not at all. Tell me, what's wrong with me? And no huge medical terms that's going to increase my agitated rage and have me wanting to go dragon on someone..." Yeaaaah, Hikari knew about her dragon. They had had a long chat about the thing.

Hikari nodded and closed the door behind herself to give them the up most privacy. "Alright then. I'm... not exactly sure how this happened given what you've told me of your personal activities for the past few weeks... but you're..." Hikari sighed, and looked Kouki straight in the face. "You're pregnant... my staff were having trouble reading the tests and called me in, that's what took so long. I checked them myself, and then used one of the spare vials we took to double check. You are pregnant... why you'd be showing this soon, well... I'm assuming it has something to do with the chakra beast inside of you." Annnnnd she went quiet with that bomb shell dropped.

Kouki simply stared at her as if she had suddenly grown another head, or three... or twenty... something. Her brain had sputtered to a stop and needed something to kick start it.

"....." Wat.

Just.... Wat.

Not even 'what?'. Just 'Wat.'

That was all she could think of in response. Kouki was... how? Granted, they had... in the spring; but that was just... not even a week? Barely days. Before that it was just her and Kouki and that... but wait... and the beasts... and he beast... and the chakra sharing... and holyfuckwhydidshesmellcopper?

"She's... pregnant." She wasn't even sure if she felt like she'd dodged a bullet there; she'd never wanted kids before; hell, she wasn't even attracted to men outside of Isao; but that could have been her just as easily; with the same problems and explanations. Just... wow.

"We... is there even records of chakra beast containers getting pregnant?" Yeah, they'd been separated from the world a very, VERY long time. No chakra beasts, no bijuu, not until recently. Not until them. They had very little knowledge of what had happened in the several thousand years Denryuu had been sealed away. So confusion was rampant; unless Isao knew more than she did. Or Kouki did, for that matter. He'd had more contact with the outside world before everything happened, it was possible.

"So... now what?"

Uh....How does that work?

Isao's mind was more than a little overwhelmed by the news. So what happened at the Hot Springs....in only a few days? That was more than a little strange. However, as far as he remembered, two chakra beast hosts had never had a child together, much less with a third person in the mix. What would the child even be like? How fast was the pregnancy going to move? His mind was filled with way to many questions, and yet he was silent for a few minutes.

"I've never even heard of this happening. I actually don't understand how this happened. I read that there was a Jinchuriki that got pregnant on Konoha a long time ago, and everything went normal. It's just...never with two chakra beasts and definitely not with a third person involved." He said with a voice that showed one thing. Surprise. Not that he was a sad. Actually, it was the opposite. A little joy and pride started to bubble up inside of him. A child that was theirs? The idea wasn't a bad one. It was just, he was worried about Kouki. The months ahead of them were now a question mark as Kouki would be the top priority, and more than usual.

"It will be okay." Was the only thing he could say to Kouki as he looked to her. The poor woman was probably in a whirlwind of emotions...

Kouki had simply just continued to stare at Hikari as if she had grown three heads. Pregnant... she was saying that Kouki was pregnant. But how? Days had passed, not weeks or months. Her mind was a whirlwind of emotion, the more prominent at the moment being complete and utter confusion. She had never thought about having children before because up until recently she had never been attracted to anyone of the opposite sex, plus the years of fuckery that had happened after their village fell... and just yeah, farthest thing from her mind.

Hikari meanwhile was in complete doctor mode as she looked towards Mizuko and then nodded. "Actually, there was a few cases I've read about. One in particular I took as nothing more than a fairy tale... however, given the circumstances I know it's no longer false. There was a report I read from some old hospital scrolls I found here when I was exploring that spoke of a female who was a container for a chakra beast who was in fact a dragon as well who become pregnant by another who was a container for a chakra beast..."

She then looked to Kouki. "If the report was completely correct, and I'll know by examining you becuase it was well documented... then the reasoning behind you becoming pregnant and it showing so soon is because, and I'm sure this has something to do with the fact that the beast inside of you is a dragon, your pregnancy is going to go a lot faster, progress a lot faster, than a normal woman. If the report is correct... you could give birth in as little as four months." She stopped talking, wanting to give them all time to take in that news. Not only was Kouki suddenly pregnant, but she was going to have the child in a lot less time than a normal woman would.

Kouki had listened to the woman speak and had absorbed her words like a sponge, including both Mizuko and Isao's words. She kept herself silent for a moment as she went through all of the emotions she was feeling and tried to make sense out of all of them. She was... a little scared if she was honest with herself because this was uncharted territory, and yet she felt she was perfectly safe because Hikari knew what she was doing as a medical nin, and because Mizuko and Isao would make sure she was safe and cared for. She was happy because the idea of bringing a child, their child, into the world was... well, words couldn't describe such a great feeling. She looked up to Hikari and took a deep breath to calm herself: she was going to have to get used to being calm - no more flying into a rage and destroying shit, she was sure of that. "So... what do I have to do to take care of myself then? Or did the report not say?"

Hikari smiled gently as Kouki finally spoke and nodded. "No fighting, no training. Try and keep your chakra usage to a minimum - and avoid any sort of burn out possible. Shifting, according to the report, is perfectly fine... and at some point when your pregnancy progresses you might find that your half shifted form or whole shifted form will be more comfortable. Get plenty of rest: and I know how busy you keep yourself... you need as many breaks as possible. Basically, any food cravings you get or urges? Don't fight them, its your bodies way of telling you you need something in ways that you might otherwise not know. I'd like to examine you now if you don't mind... this way you don't have to come back later?"

Kouki leaned back against the back of the table and nodded. She stared up at the ceiling as the back rest of the table was lowered so that Kouki was laying flat, and couldn't help the smile that covered her face....

Well, that was an instant relief. So long as she was going to be okay... that was all that mattered. If anything, this gave Mizuko a chance to step up a bit more; take the pressure off Kouki and get to be more of a figure in the village so that she wasn't just the faceless third party of the council. That, and it gave her plenty of reasons to take off and hang around with Kouki; under the guise of being an attentive partner. Which was true enough; but now it was a legit reason and not her being lazy.

"We have... a child. This is... mind blowing. In a good way. Can't really ask for anything better; really. We lost one home, made another, and now we're making sure our people live on in some way... yeah. I'd call that good news." She was just sorta of... talking without really thinking; something she did when she was in shock. Moving to grab one of Kouki's hands; she just squeezed gently, or as gently as a taijutsu user could; he was incredibly strong even with her anemone being less resilient and spongy compared to normal human flesh. Last thing they needed was her crushing Kouki's hand by mistake. "Parents... I like this already..."

But then... the travel for supplies. There was no choice, they had to get some level of supplies or else the next few months would be horrible; rationing of food and supplies so strict it would kill morale and likely thin their numbers even more. Not good, definitely not good. "Would she be fit to travel, in any form? Even just for a week or so; we need to get supplies, and between our various beasts we can carry far more then a convoy of wagons and beasts ever could."

Isao's face of confusion and distress immediately changed to one of joy as soon as Hikari was done speaking. Good, Kouki would be fine and they would soon have a child. A child....the thought of that made him want to hug both of them tightly, but he resisted for now. He didn't want to hurt Kouki at the moment. He didn't know what limits her body really had. He then listened to Mizuko speak, who spoke the exact words he was thinking. "Me too. I'm honestly excited." He said with a bright smile of pure joy. He then walked over to Kouki and put his hand on her and Mizuko's. There was no need to squeeze, he just wanted to have physical contact.

Oh shit. They were supposed to travel in a few days. Mizuko asked before Isao could, making him nod at her question. He didn't really know how comfortable he was with having her outside the village though. Not that they couldn't protect her. By all means, she would be safe. However, it just made him nervous to think about. Maybe it would be best if she stayed...but they couldn't both just leave her? That would be worse! His mind was now torn once again...

At Kouki's go-ahead to be examined Hikari moved to the opposite side of the one that Isao and Mizuko where on so that she could work freely while they all held hands: it didn't bother her any. Before she started she looked to Kouki. "Just wanted to give you the heads up: I'm going to use chakra to see inside of you, safer than any other way. It won't harm you or your baby at all."

Kouki, who had turned her attention to Mizuko and Isao when physical contact had been made looked back to Hikari and gave a nod for her to go ahead. She had been about to focus on them again when she heard Mizuko's question. Her gaze remained on Hikari as she too wondered the same time: as she was sure Isao was at this moment. Would it be safe for her to travel? And if not... what were they going to do? They wouldn't be willing to leave her here by herself she was sure of that, and she wasn't going to be willing to allow just one of them to go back to Niwa to gather supplies. That was going to make everything very complicated.

Hikari just simply smiled as her hands glowed white and she hovered them above Kouki's belly. "Yes, it's perfectly safe for her to travel. In fact, the more movement she can get the easier her pregnancy will be. It's also safe for her to carry things too. Unlike a normal woman who after so long cannot even safely carry twenty pounds, Kouki will be unaffected by that. Especially when in another form. The precautions of no fighting is simply so no one can injure the children, or her." She focused on what she was seeing through her chakra and her head tilted a bit with curiosity. She ran her chakra covered hands over the same spot again... and then for a third time. Yup, she wasn't seeing things. "Um... well, that's.. " She smiled at the three of them. "You're not just having a child... but three. I can see three distinctively different chakras. You're having triplets."

"Good, because I'm definitely going...", she said stubbornly. Kouki was glad to hear that she could travel because she wasn't going to be willing to sit back and not go: she had been looking forward to this since the subject had originally been brought up. When Hikari spoke up about her having triplets and removed her hands from her belly Kouki placed her free hand on her stomach and smiled. "Triplets....", she whispered softly. Three little bundles of joy were growing inside of her... 

Hikari smiled. "I'll return in a moment and then you're free to go. I'm going to give you some medicine I want you to take every day; vitamins, stuff your body will need." With that said she turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind herself.

And then she was choking slightly; she'd been about to start cooing over having kids again when the revelation of triplets happened. Holycraptriplets. "Triplets... wow." That was gunna get nuts; but with three of them to raise them, it wouldn't be as crazy overall. "I don't even know how to react to that. Gunna be... gunna be a loud house." Yeah, she was reaching. They needed to figure a lot of things out now; they'd basically been living in their offices or the greenhouses; they probably should figure out a stable place for them to be living finally.

"So with the clear to travel... get this done fast as we can, then come back and get things ready... yeah?" Shocked voice, just speaking to fill space because she didn't want to freak anyone else out because she was starting to freak out some herself; which was strange for her. She didn't deal well with crazy news, and this was the craziest she'd gotten in years.

Wait...Triplets? Oh god...this was going to be a lot of work. He had never been around children much and now he had three of them on the way. It was all just a bit surprising to say the least. His face probably looked shocked and would stay that way for a while. At the very least Kouki could travel, so he could focus on that. "Yea, the sooner we leave to get supplies, the less nervous I will be. Three of them....I can get the workers who built everything else to start on a house for us. I'll pay them double to make sure everything is ready in time. That way we don't have to worry about things when we return." His mind was absolutely blown

He put his other hand on Kouki's cheek without even thinking about it. She was going to go through so much for their family, and he was thankful and proud at the same time. As much as he was happy about the news, he was even more excited to see the children and find out what they will be like. Considering the diversity between the three of them....there was no telling.

"I agree... the sooner we do this the better." She could only imagine how much she'd be showing soon with how fast Hikari had said the pregnancy could go... and with triplets? She'd show even faster.

Kouki lightly pressed her face into Isao's hand; the contact felt great and was enough to keep her thinking clearly - and kept her far less shocked then the other two seemed to be. Oh, she was shocked still, but she was accepting it far too fast for the shocked feeling to stick around for long at all.

She looked back towards the door when Hikari knocked and then reentered. She handed over a small bottle that Kouki pocketed without looking at it: it was the medicine she was supposed to take every day. No point in having to stare at it all of the time. Hikari offered a grin and nodded towards the door. "You're free to go... If anything happens, or for any reason you need me you can normally find me in my office. If something happens just come directly to me - I've told my nurses to alert me the second you show up. I'll want to see you about once a week just to keep checking on you... especially if the pregnancy progresses as rapidly as I think it's going to. However, I can tell you don't like it here.. so I'll meet you at your office, or where ever else you might prefer."

"Thanks, appreciate it... Dunno why I hate hospitals, but I do."

Hikari laughed softly, nodded, and then left the room. She left the door open for them to leave, and Kouki was more than on board with that plan.

"Ooookay, let's get out of here before I start clawing at the walls.", she said as she slipped her feet to the side of the medical table and slid them to the floor: standing for the first time in over an hour.

Okay, getting out of the hospital would help settle nerves; fresh air and some space made her happy, and she knew it did for Kouki as well. "Let's get some air and walk around; talk and all that yeah? Plan stuff, get some food, decide where to put the house, etc. Nothing major; nothing hard. Take the night off, sorta; sound good?" Better to keep things quiet a bit longer, yeah. Least until after they had supplies; people would be too busy working and building to focus on them, and it would be safer all around. Plus, time to come up with what to tell the people; she had no intention of advocating hiding stuff from them; but even she knew that tact was needed sometimes.

"We could put it down on the bay; away from the docks where it's quiet and the soil is good for trees and the like. I'll plant us some fruit trees, get a little garden going so that we don't have to worry about raiding the market at odd hours. Plus, something to do when it comes down to house rest, eh? And, a place for the kids to play happily."

Isao sighed with relief as Hikari walked in and handed Kouki what she needed. It was time to get out of this place. Hikari left and Kouki stood up, ready to leave. Mizuko agreed, adding that they could talk and plan stuff out once they left the hospital. "Sounds good. I'm ready to get out of here and be able to think..." He said still coming down from the shock of what he had heard. It was a lot to take in all at once. He heard Mizuko talk about the placement of the house and loved her ideas. "That's perfect. We definitely don't want to be around everyone while they are young. Some space and plenty of room for them to play on would be nice." He spoke with a gleam in his eye as he imagined the scene she described. It was perfect.

He moved towards the door, exiting and looking back to make sure they were behind him. Time to get out of this place.

Kouki followed after Isao while sure that Mizuko was right with her. She had a feeling that either one of them or both of them were going to be around her at all times: not that she minded of course - the idea was a pleasing one.

When they made it outside she took a deep breath. She was more than glad to be out of the hospital. She had never really had to stay long term in one before but there was just something about them that gave her the creeps. She figured it was likely the tiny ass rooms, and knowing that if she had to transform in a hurry it wasn't going to work. Plus... all the lack of color, lack of windows... and yeah. When it came time to give birth to their darling children she was by no means doing so in the hospital. Not if she had anything to say about it.

But, she wasn't going to worry about that just this minute. There were other things to think of. "Yes, I think the space will be needed... Our children are going to be strong, and even something such as play could end up being dangerous for anyone around and not expecting such strength." Smart thinking all around really: children born to the three of them? More than one child at that? Anyone unprepared was going to be in for the shock of their life.

"There's plenty of room on the far side of the bay; it'll take the village years to reach that far. We can take the land that no one wants yet; and make it ours. We can find materials and the like while we're down south; we'll need more than the timber and weak stones that exist here." She was fine following behind Kouki; they'd made a little guard of sorts; Isao a step ahead and her a step behind.His sharper eyes and her wider sensory range made it a perfect formation. Habit of the warrior; held deep. "I'll get started on rebuilding the bay for this; make some sand bars and the like to keep the ships away, and give them places to practice underwater. No one would miss a few square miles off near the rocks."

As Kouki spoke, Isao nodded in agreement. Considering the power of their parents, these children were going to be strong. Two chakra beasts, Genjutsu, Anemone, Uzumaki Sealing, and many other abilities would probably be given too them. He just hoped that people didn't look badly at them for their power. He would make sure they could control it at an early age. Mizuko spoke up as well, noting that the land wouldn't be missed and that they could get some more supplies for building when the left for the trip. It was also a good idea. "Yea, we definitely want the house that our children live in to be as sturdy and safe as possible. I know that Niwa has some good wood materials because of the tree that they reside in." 

They were out of the hospital and heading to the regular section of town. It was time to get some food of some sort. "Where do you guys want to eat? I'm starving..." He mentioned it because when he gets shocked he gets hungry. He always has. He stopped and waited for them to respond before going any further. Randomly wandering around would be too distracting.

Kouki stopped when Isao did and tilted her head. She really had no idea where she wanted to eat, or what she wanted to eat. In fact, for the first time in an awfully long time she didn't feel raging hungry. Weird. She would have thought with being pregnant she was going to be feeling even hungerier than before. "Hnn. I'm actually not feeling hungry. Weird, I'm always hungry." She shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter to me where we go... I'll likely just grab something light so I have some food in me... even if I don't feel that hungry." At least she was playing it smart: making sure she got the nutrition she needed even when she didn't feel hungry.

"When are we going to go to Niwa by the way? I feel the sooner the better... I do not want to go there after I'm super pregnant, and I have a feeling that's going to happen sooner rather than later with triplets." She had no problem leaving like... tomorrow. Or whenever they were ready. Sooner the better though.