krystalkatzficz | The Midwife part 7

Sleep refused to come for what felt like forever and Nino found himself deeply regretting having the coffee and making it as strong as he had. He sighed and rolled around for a moment or two before switching on Etsuko’s CD player and having the sounds of rain falling through leaves wash him to sleep. Even when he was able to sleep his dreams were active and when he awoke to the sound of his alarm he didn’t feel very rested at all. Although he would have been happy to laze around in bed and wake himself up slowly his bladder had other ideas and he dragged himself slowly to the bathroom and did what was needed before scrubbing his teeth and staring at his own dazed reflection in the mirror.

His face always had had a washed out look to it but right now it was looking almost ghastly with deep rings around each of his eyes making him look somewhat like a panda. He was glad that he had never suffered with spots though he imagined that that was only through sheer good fortune. Sighing and mentally kicking himself for acting like a twit he washed his face with soap and water and then made his way back into the kitchen. He didn’t want to have any more coffee but it was the only that would probably keep him standing right now and he drained two cups of it before deciding that it would have to do.

He washed the dishes and then headed out into the day glaring a little at the sun overhead. As he’d already dropped the car at the midwifery station he pulled out his bike and biked it down into the main area of the village. He didn’t mind going downhill as much as he would when he would have to go back up the hill later and he chewed on his lips hoping that maybe his next placement would be in a flatter area.

He couldn’t see himself not being fired, one successful birth wasn’t going to outweigh the fact that people hated the idea of a male midwife. It wasn’t all together their fault either, male midwives had only been around since 2001 and even then, there was such a limited amount of them that a small out of the way village like this had never had one before. He stopped off at the minimarket first and grabbed himself some melon bread and a bottled tea before making his way to the midwifery station to collect fresh supplies.

“Ninomiya-kun? You’re not meant to be in until 2” The oldest of his fellow midwives said looking at him with the same amount of disapproval as the rest of the village did. It had taken a lot to convince her that he was qualified to be a midwife and even longer to convince her that he didn’t need somebody else to watch him like a hawk as he performed his duties.

“Matsumoto-san delivered her baby last night, I have to do a check and then head to the hospital before starting duties” He hummed placing his bag down on the counter and starting to refill everything that he had used last night. The older midwife’s face turned into something of a scowl as she informed him stiffly;

“You shan’t be needed to go to Matsumoto’s, I shall be doing the checks on baby”

“What? Why? Did they say that they were unhappy…?” Nino asked his heart pounding in his chest as he wondered if he had been right about Jun all along. He had seemed to be genuine that morning though and when the woman stiffened a little her eye twitching against her cheek he knew that it wasn’t something the Matsumoto’s themselves had requested.

“No, but the Matsumoto’s are an important family, they would appreciate a more experienced eye…”

“As the Matsumoto’s themselves haven’t expressed any disapproval in my work, and given that Matsumoto-san himself came to tell me that they had decided to name the baby after me, I think that they would appreciate me to keep working with them” He said hotly finishing gathering his things and closing his bad closed with a snap “Good morning”

TBC
A/N: Satoshi appears in the next, I hope that this is okay ^_^