Delirium

It storms the night Sasuke is born, and Mikoto finds this funny.

Her entire pregnancy had been funny, really, for it had been Sasuke who kicked and punched inside the womb, who clawed his way into the outside world, arriving days early, so thirsty for life.

Yes, he was an early child. A greedy child.

And this is all so funny to Mikoto that the doctors give her gas, thinking the charcoal haired woman to be delirious.

But Mikoto is not delirious. She is a very sensible woman, in fact, and she knows a joke when she hears one.

Sasuke had started out as a joke. Sasuke had been in stories she told Itachi when he was a toddler.

"Careful, Itachi-chan, or I might just have another child. I'll love him more than you," She teased.

Sometimes she wonders if he believed her.

But that is not part of the punch line.

The funny thing is that Itachi had almost not been born. Itachi was a late baby, and his birth wasn't a natural one. The doctors cut her open, and she still has the scar to remind her; a straight, dark line that extends from the bottom of her bust past her belly button.

It is not an ugly scar. –How can it be ugly when it bears such a powerful message? No, it is certainly not a thing of ugliness.

It's a funny thing, though.

Everything is so, so funny. It's funny because Itachi never kicked in the womb, almost as if he were dead, as if he would not truly be born, not really. It's funny because Itachi had been a thing of death even then, and had reaped death when he grew, killing those around him on orders or on whims alike.

And it's funny because Sasuke tore her to pieces as an infant, and then blossomed into the sweetest child she knows.

Irony is funny.

Tonight is funny, hot and sticky and humid, with mosquitoes slipping about in the air around her, sucking blood out of her exposed arms and legs, stealing a bit of her liveliness when they retreat.

Tonight is funny, because it was hot and sticky and humid the night Itachi was born, and because he was like a little mosquito himself, taking the life back out of her when he entered the world…so blessed with life, so like his greedy younger brother…and at the same time, so different, for he would use his life to do horrible things.

It was funny.

It was funny, because if she allowed herself to think it was anything else, she would likely end up crying.

And love isn't supposed to hurt.

You laugh when you're in love, so she did.

Mikoto laughed because…

It was funny.

Fin.