Aishiteru

Prologue

Hope

2:41 AM Local Time, Vice Foreign Minister's Compound, September 5th, A.C. 197

She panted as though she had never filled her lungs before, gasping for precious air, as the excruciation ebbed to a dull, throbbing ache. She fought her way through the pain induced haze, willing her lucidity, and from somewhere far away, she felt a gentle hand pass a cloth over her brow and push the perspiration from her face. She forced her eyes to focus, and she squinted at the doctors, as they smiled knowingly, and passed a bundle to the nurse beside her. She smiled weakly as she felt the soft fabric of the yellow receiving blanket brush her nose while its inhabitant kicked defiantly. Where she got the strength to lift her arms, she did not know, but as she raised them wearily, the kind-faced and gentle-handed nurse leaned down and lowered the writhing cluster of blankets into her exhausted embrace. Relena pulled the tiny baby girl as close to herself as possible and with shaking hands, pushed the folds of the yellow cloth back to gaze upon the child. She took in a sharp gasp and smiled as the infant's face was revealed, reddened from crying. She felt the hot tears streaming down her cheeks and her body shook with checked sobs.

But all her movements, no matter how subtle, ceased the moment the baby girl opened her eyes. Beautiful violet eyes, that shone despite their infantile haze with an intensity that foretold, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the paternity of this, the youngest Peacecraft.

When she looked into those pure, innocent, and untainted eyes, all the agony of her labor melted away into a distant memory. She could never have known her own capacity to love another human being, until she had given birth to this child. There were no words to describe what she felt looking into those eyes; she now knew why there were so many hundreds of languages in this Earth Sphere -- they were all searching for a way to voice these feelings that swam in her head and heart. But all these languages fell pitifully short of their intended purpose. Love? That word was reproachfully inadequate. All the races and languages in the universe could not come up with a way to express these purely human emotions.

She brushed the platinum peachfuzz with her fingertips and bent down to kiss her daughter on the forehead before she looked to the nurse standing at her bedside, beaming at the new mother and child.

The older woman said in a voice as smooth as molasses, "Have you a name for your daughter?"

"Yes," Relena said in a hoarse whisper. "Hope Nadeshiko Peacecraft." The woman merely nodded and left the makeshift delivery room to fill out the necessary paperwork. She returned her attention to Hope, and lent her pinky to the infant to wrap her miniature fingers around. Relena couldn't stifle a giggle as the child held onto her fiercely with surprising strength, and hereditary stubbornness.

Before today, she had never realized how empty she had felt. But this small person had filled her heart, and she could now see in retrospect how truly alone and hollow she had been.

And she lay there in the bed, cradling her newborn baby girl, and drifted into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

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