By Amanda Sage
6/16/02
Haruka walked around the grocery store trying to decide what she needed to pick up before Michiru had the baby. She had never gone baby shopping before, at least not in the grocery store. She and Michiru had had great battles about what was going in the baby's room, but that was a different kind of shopping. Now Michiru was worried that she might have the baby early and they wouldn't have anything on hand. So here Haruka was, shopping for diapers and formula.
At least she wasn't the one pregnant. That was one thing she did not need! When Neo-Queen Serenity blessed her and Michiru to have children, she had been bright enough to realize that Michiru was the more feminine of the two and therefore should have the baby. Or maybe she just thought of Haruka as a bishonen and didn't even think twice about it. Or maybe Haruka had just gotten lucky.
Either way, Haruka was glad that Michiru was carrying this child. Right about now, she would be too pregnant to sit behind the wheel of a race car, and she certainly didn't need the wisecracks from her fencing friends. And it would mess up her image.
Besides, it'd be apparent to everyone that she was female, and where was the fun in that?
"Excuse me," she asked a nearby store employee. "Gomen, demo where might I find the diapers?" It took a lot of effort not to blush. She didn't know why, but it was like shopping for tampons. She didn't like to admit that she had to buy them, but someone had to.
But the employee, whose nametag read "Miaka," was very helpful. "Sure, if you go down to aisle one, they'll be on your left."
"And I'd find baby formula�?"
This time she was slower to answer. "Hmm, I think it's by the milk. Let's check." She indicated to Haruka that she should follow her and started walking towards the back of the store. As they walked, Miaka prattled on. "It's so nice to see a father helping out with the responsibilities for the baby. Do you have a boy or a girl?"
Haruka smiled. "I don't know. My wife hasn't had it yet and we decided to be surprised." Then she leaned closer and said, "But just between you and me, I'm pretty sure it's going to be a boy. Neo-Queen Serenity has practically guaranteed it herself."
Miaka seemed pretty impressed. "Neo-Queen Serenity?! Wow! Oh, but you should ask your wife. Women have an intuition about the gender of the child they're carrying. Oh, here it is!" They had found the baby formula.
"Great, thanks! Now I'll just get the diapers and everything will be set. Aisle one, left side?"
"Right side now. You're on the opposite side of the store."
"Oh, right. Well, thank you for all your help, Miaka-san," Haruka said with a charming smile. Then she headed off towards aisle one, wondering if Michiru thought they were having a boy too.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They were checked in at Kaiousei Hospital, but all Haruka could do was pace.
"Haruka, relax. I'm the one having the baby."
"I know, but� what if something goes wrong? What if there's a problem?"
Michiru sighed. "This is not the thing to bring up in front of your wife who's just about to deliver."
"Gomen nasai." Haruka sat down in the nearest chair to her wheelchair confined wife.
"Just think. In a few minutes - or, let's hope not, hours - I'll probably hate your guts, and you'll just be worried about whether I'm doing the breathing right. Or whether it's a girl or boy. Or deciding between names."
"Ano, Michiru, about that. I thought of the perfect name last night."
"Ara? Which one did you decide on? Was it Galatea? I really like-"
"No, it wasn't on our list."
Michiru sent Haruka a disapproving look. "You can't just go choosing one off the list now. We discussed those, and we really need to agree on her name."
"But Michiru, we talked about this. I would live on Neptune with you and our kids would have my name."
"Your family name, Haruka," Michiru laughed. "You don't get to choose her first name alone."
Even nine months pregnant and annoyed at her, Haruka still thought Michiru was the most beautiful, perfect being she had ever met. It was part of the reason she really wanted this name. "But this is perfect. And when did 'it' become a 'she?'"
"Well, a woman just knows."
"I'm a woman," Haruka pointed out. "And Odango Atama said she would make our first child a Knight."
"Well, she was wrong. Really, Haruka, think about it. We're both female - where would our son get his Y-chromosome from?"
"Where'd we get a child in the first place? Odango Atama did some whammy-thing on us so we could have a baby; I think she could manage to modify an X-chromosome, don't you?"
"Excuse me, Tenoh-sama? Kaiou-sama?" an orderly asked. Haruka nodded, and she continued, "We have a room ready for you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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