The Forest of Death echoed with a woman's cries of pain. Since this was a rather common place occurrence, no one from the village of Konoha bothered to investigate. The shinobi who were crouched in the small clearing were, in fact, counting on this.

The cries of pain became whimpers that were almost heartbreaking to hear. "Anko..." A deep voice whispered. "You must stop. What if he hears you?"

The woman being spoken to was covered in sweat. Leaves clung to slender bare legs that were shaking violently. "I can't...Please..." She was gasping. This wasn't like Mitarashi Anko at all. The young woman was usually bubbling and talkative. This was not the case on this night. "Make it stop." She was all but weeping, swallowing hard to keep herself from tumbling over the edge.

"We can't..." The deep voice spoke again. The tall figure leaned over her and she saw his face...or perhaps just a dark eye. It was enough.

"Kakashi..." Anko's fingers dug into the dirt, her nails bending backward and ripping to the quick.

The man she'd called by name leaned over her, his long thin fingers brushing through her hair. "Take your time." He told her gently. "You're doing fine just..."

"Anko," This voice was louder and more confident, almost to the point of being overly so. "You're going to have to be quiet. If he hears it will all be over. He'll destroy us all."

"I don't care about you." Anko snapped, the sudden pain tearing through her body like a wildfire. "Get away from me, Gai. I hope he feeds you to the..."

"Enough." Another man spoke, his voice filled with authority and an almost anger. "None of you are helping matters." Morino Ibiki was speaking between his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Anko.

The young woman grit her teeth so hard her jaw was aching, another pain feeling as if it were going to tear apart her insides.
"They're coming faster now." Hatake Kakashi whispered. "It's almost time."

Anko let out another cry of pain, this one louder than the others. The men around her all growled their frustration. "If you..." She wanted to threaten them all as she would have done in the past but now was not the time. Not with the pain growing increasingly worse. There was no respite now. Nothing to ease the discomfort that was bordering on a fatal wound. "Kill me!" She grabbed the front of Kakashi's jacket, almost pulling him on top of her. "Kill me now. Do you hear me?"

It wasn't just the pain in her mid-section but the cursed seal on her shoulder. It was draining her almost as quickly as the physical pain. It was too much.

"I'm not going to do that, Anko. I wouldn't even if I wanted to." Kakashi whispered, again brushing his fingers through her hair.

"Did you hear that?" Gai was on his feet and looking around them, his eyes narrowed at something the rest of them couldn't see.

"Hand me that blanket." Ibiki whispered to Kakashi. The other man did as he was told, never taking his eyes off Anko. He never imagined they'd be at this point. All the years they'd been training and learning together hadn't prepared him for this. It was terrifying to say the least.

The young woman opened her mouth to scream again, only to have a hand placed over it. Gai was shaking his head, pointing to the trees. "There's someone out there. I can't feel it." He hissed.

So much blood...Kakashi wished he had something to read to take his mind off this. Not to mention he might share it with Anko. Something to make her smile, anything to make her do something aside from scream in pain.

He reached for a towel and wiped off her forehead. Early October and she was sweating so badly. He was afraid she'd catch a chill. Not that it would be the worst of her worries just then.

Kakashi lifted his head, searching the trees for signs of another's chakra. There was nothing. No one but four shinobi in the clearing and a few nosy animals who'd come to see what the commotion was.

Gai was the one who roared in pain this time, Anko's teeth burying themselves in the fleshy part of his hand. "I can't breathe!" She wailed, her knuckles white as she again dug them into the ground.

"This is it." Ibiki said his tone rising to be heard over Anko's new cries of pain. "The baby is coming."