"How did this happen?" Reiko cried as her Obaachan was racing towards the hospital to pick up Sakuno.

"How did what happen? How did she collapse?" Ryuzaki asked, not truly getting the context of Reiko's question.

"NO! How in God's name did she become pregnant?!" Reiko cried, she didn't even shriek as her great-grandma went flying over a curb, sending her side of the car a foot in the air. Ryuzaki gave her an incredulous look.

"How else do you think it happened? Your parents obviously…"

"LA LA LA LA LA!" Reiko yelled as she covered her ears. She didn't want to hear that. Ryuzaki rolled her eyes, this girl was so immature.

"I get that she had to do that, I'm just wondering how she could when he's not even here," Reiko explained after she deemed it safe to take her hands off her ears. She had had the talk before; she certainly didn't need again, especially from her Obaachan.

"Obviously they didn't educate you over there in America well enough in fertilization. It takes about a week for the egg to actually begin to form a baby, and then no one will notice anything else unless they can recognize the signs. Such signs as a missed period, emotional change, and fatigue; things that your mother had." Ryuzaki explained.

"But, but that would mean that she was pregnant before she came here," Reiko said uncertainly, not quite getting it. Ryuzaki wanted to bang her head on a wall, this girl was so dense.

"Yes, that's what I was saying," Ryuzaki said exasperatedly. Reiko still looked extremely confused. Though really she wasn't, she was just trying to keep a certain mental image out of her pure, innocent mind. She didn't need that trauma. They reached the hospital and entered.

"This brings back memories," Ryuzaki sighed. Last time she was in this hospital she was stressing over her granddaughter's first born. She glanced at Reiko who was just curiously looking around the hospital.

"What do you mean?" Reiko asked her after they found the room her mother was in.

"Didn't your parents tell you? This is the hospital that you were born in," Ryuzaki she said slightly surprised, yet more focused on the numbers on the doors, looking for Sakuno's.

"Really? I always thought I was born in America," Reiko replied now fully engrossed in the topic. Its not that her parents lied to her, it was just that she had just always assumed, she didn't have long-term memories of living in Japan.

"Ah, here we are," Ryuzaki said, ignoring Reiko's statement as she opened the door and stepped in the room. Sakuno was sitting on the edge of the bed talking to an older woman, more than likely her doctor. They both looked up as Ryuzaki entered.

"Ryuzaki-san, it's nice to see you again," the woman doctor said, holding out her hand to shake. Ryuzaki smiled brightly and shook, then went over to Sakuno. The doctor noticed Reiko and smiled warmly.

"And this must be Reiko-chan, last time I saw you, you were a little baby," the doctor said, nostalgia flowing from her. "Of course then you were just born, such a healthy and cute baby, and here you are now, a cute young girl." Reiko felt her cheeks turn pink. This doctor was weird, who reminisces about giving birth as a pleasant happy time? As far as Reiko knew, birth was a horrible, painful, nasty business. The doctor left after handing Sakuno a slip of paper.

This left the three women in an awkward state. Reiko didn't know how to react to finding out her mother was pregnant. She was going to be a big sister. Her mother was going to have a baby. In months a small, loud, bladder control-less child would be in there household. Reiko frowned; this was not a good thing.

"Reiko-chan, are you okay?" Sakuno asked uncertainly. This was a big shock for all of them. She didn't think she'd get pregnant long after having her first. Ryoma and she had both agreed that one was enough, and that neither of them wanted to go through that time again. But she guessed that that one night they spent together on their last night…Sakuno blushed furiously, even after all these years, he could still make her flustered.

"I should be asking you that Okaasan, you're the one that's turning red," Reiko pointed out. Sakuno quickly covered up her face. Ryuzaki took this time to interject.

"Sakuno, have you called Ryoma yet and told him?" Ryuzaki asked. Both Echizen women stiffened, but not for the same reason. Sakuno had almost forgotten that she needed to tell her husband this, surprising news. She was nervous at how he would respond. Reiko, however, was angry; she didn't want him to come to Japan. Now he would most certainly have to, this baby wasn't even born yet and it was already making problems for her.

They all drove back to the temple house in silence. Neither Reiko nor Sakuno shrieked or squealed when Ryuzaki went flying. Ryuzaki was getting tired of this. Reiko needed to get over this, this problem, whatever it truly was. Thy reached their destination and were immediately greeted with hugs and questions. A while later Ryuzaki left to go to her apartment and Sakuno went to go call Ryoma. Reiko watched her with narrowed eyes. Despite the fact she didn't want to talk to him, she wanted to hear what he'd say. She excused herself to her bedroom. She went over to the phone between her room and Sakuno's. If she knew her mother, she was using the phone in her bedroom. Reiko grabbed the corded phone and went into her room. She slowly lifted the phone out of its dock, careful to hold the disconnect button down. She heard a ring, he hadn't picked up yet.

"Hello, Echizen residence," said a slightly sleepy voice. Reiko knew immediately who it was. It was around seven at night in Tokyo, so Reiko assumed it was around eight in the morning in New York. She smiled cruelly thinking he hadn't had enough sleep.

"Ryoma? I-It's Sakuno," she heard her mother stutter, she must have been nervous.

"Sakuno, what's wrong?" Ryoma asked, obviously picking up on the nervousness.

"Ryoma, you know how we spent our last night…" Reiko quickly snatched the phone away from her ear. She seriously didn't want to hear was what was going to come after that. She waited a few seconds before risking putting it up to her ear once more.

"Are you sure?" she heard Ryoma ask Sakuno sounding shocked.

"Yes, I went to the doctors office earlier and I'm about 5 weeks pregnant," Sakuno answered. Reiko noticed that she left out the part about collapsing, probably so as not to stress him out.

"I see," he let out a long sigh; he was processing things, "do you want me to come over there?" Reiko scowled. They didn't need him to come over here.

"Well, um, ah, you see," her mother stuttered.

"I understand, I'll come when its time," he told her.

"I'm sorry Ryoma…"

"Its fine Sakuno, but I wonder,"

"Yes?" Both Reiko and Sakuno leaned closer into their respective phones, wondering what was going to be said. Reiko didn't notice that her finger had come off the disconnect button, but someone else did.

"I wonder if this one will hate me too," he said. Reiko's grip tightened on the phone, she didn't know why but what he had said had affected her.

"I'm sure she doesn't…I'm sure this one won't," Sakuno responded. She said her goodbyes and I love you's and Sakuno hung up the phone. Reiko was about when she heard a voice.

"Your dominant hand will never get weak." Reiko froze, was he talking to her? He had to have been, her mother had hung up, but then how could he have known? She finally realized that she was no longer holding down the disconnect button. She stared at the phone; something held her back from hanging up.

"It doesn't matter if you don't practice with it anymore," Ryoma continued when he noticed she didn't hang up, "You use it every day for normal tasks which keep it in shape. So truly it will never grow weak, unless you stop using it completely, which if you want to ruin both your arms then by all means go right ahead." Reiko's hand was shaking; she wanted to yell at him, to tell him off, to say he was wrong and that he had no business poking in her life especially when she lived halfway across the world from him. Only problem was that he was absolutely right, and she hated it.

She slammed the phone down in frustration. She angrily threw herself onto her bed. She hated not having a snappy comeback, she hated him being right, and she hated a lot of things right now. It seemed like the move to Japan had revealed all those things. She snuggled closer her pillow closer to her face. She still didn't know why, but what he had said really got to her. Her mother didn't even defend her! So what if she hated him, didn't she have a good reason? Did she really even hate him? Maybe, it felt more like she just had a strong dislike, like one would have towards poisonous mushrooms, or blowfish. She didn't know, she had to think about it, she needed sleep. Her eyes slowly closed and soon she drifted off to dreamland.

i know that this one is shorter and that it took longer to get it posted, but as it turns out i have fractured my wrist. So i couldnt type correctly for a few days. i'm still trying to get used to pecking at the keyboard with one hand. i really dont know how long it wil take for the next chapter. so please be patient. pleas enjoy and review this chapter.

~Defiance Out