"What a strong bastard…" Kenshin muttered, standing in front of the mirror after washing with cold water. Overnight the pain had subsided, and his mind had cleared.
"Where the hell does a failed genin get such strength?! He obviously didn't use chakra for movement and strikes! So his strength and speed should be like an ordinary person's, right?" the young man mentally argued with himself.
"Either the brute has a natural predisposition to physical strength and speed, or something's wrong here, and this world differs in yet another aspect from what I saw on screen!" the young man noted and immediately remembered the numerous inconsistencies in character speed and strength in different situations.
"In the fight with Orochimaru, Hiruzen's strikes, one of the strongest shinobi, weren't much stronger than this bastard Koga's! But in other situations weaker shinobi easily broke large stones with strikes! Either Kishimoto messed up here too, or this is a completely different world…" Kenshin thought, getting ready for the road.
It was seven in the morning, and he hoped to slip out of the city quietly, counting on the gang of yesterday's thugs sleeping off another drinking bout.
Without eating anything, Kenshin quietly slipped out through the back entrance and quickly headed for the city exit. Only after half an hour of walking did he breathe a sigh of relief, noticing no tail behind him.
Returning to the cache, the young man picked up the backpack and headed home, where his beloved girl was waiting.
****
Kenshin returned home when the sun was at its zenith and scorching mercilessly. It was two in the afternoon, and after hugging the girl who squealed at his appearance, he went to the bathroom and took a cold shower.
Throwing on a robe, he somehow reached the bedroom and collapsed into bed, pulling Aya to him, burying his face in her tender neck, inhaling her floral scent. Kenshin found it difficult to lie on his side, and even more so on his stomach, so he turned onto his back, and his robe opened a little, revealing to the girl a large blue spot on half his stomach.
"Ah! Oh god, Kenshin, what is this?! Lord…" the girl exclaimed, covering her mouth with her palm, shocked by what she saw.
"Nothing, it'll pass in a few days," Kenshin answered calmly, not wanting to focus attention on it and create worry for the pregnant girl.
"How is that 'nothing'?! Oh god, hold on, dear, I'll be right back!" Aya said and jumped out of the bedroom.
She returned fifteen minutes later with a small jar in her hands and a long strip of white cloth.
"Grandma taught me to gather medicinal herbs and make ointment from them," she said and completely opened the young man's robe, beginning to apply thick greenish ointment to his entire stomach, then bandaged the injured area and kissed him on the lips.
"There, all done, now rest, you need more sleep. I'll wake you before dinner," Aya said tenderly, stroked the young man's cheek, and left the bedroom, letting the exhausted Kenshin fall into deep sleep.
****
In the remaining few days before Aya's delivery, Kenshin recovered and only did light work. He had difficulty installing the "aging formation", spending about eight hours on it. And now five bottles of purchased wine aged one year in one day. The young man decided not to risk it and age the wine to ten years, fearing to arouse suspicion with more expensive and quality wine.
"Samurai Blade" wine of ten-year vintage(cost 500 ryo per bottle, ten times the original price. A bottle of twenty-year vintage wine cost a hundred times the original price, and connoisseurs snapped it up like hot cakes for 5000-7000 ryo per bottle. Kenshin knew that producing ten-year vintage wine was the limit of what wouldn't bring trouble, whereas five bottles of twenty-year vintage wine would send him to the grave.
Aya's belly had become quite large, and she had difficulty with household chores and mostly rested, waiting day by day for the baby to appear. It had already been 13 days since conception, and Kenshin was on edge, having prepared towels, sheets, and several blood-stopping pills that Aya had taken from home. These pills were quite expensive and were created mainly for shinobi.
The price of a "blood clotting" pill was about 200 ryo each, and most peasants kept one tablet in a hiding place. The pill wasn't omnipotent and only accelerated blood clotting without consequences for the body, but it stopped venous bleeding rather weakly and could only reduce blood loss, allowing the patient to survive on the way to the hospital. Stopping arterial bleeding was out of the question. Only an iryonin could stop such complex bleeding.
"Ah, oh god, Kenshin! Kenshin!" Aya screamed.
Kenshin, training in the gym, ran into the living room as if scalded and saw the girl's frightened expression.
"What happened? Already?!" he asked.
"Y-yes, I think my water broke…" Aya answered frightened. And then the young man noticed a wet spot on the girl's dress and a small puddle on the floor.
Kenshin froze in shock for a second, then snapping out of it commanded: "Okay, do everything we agreed on." The young man declared and carefully led Aya to the bedroom and helped her onto the bed.
Aya lay down and showed no signs of contractions. Five minutes passed, and the girl calmed down, talking with the young man, when suddenly her smile froze and her eyes widened.
"Ah, oh god, Kenshin… Uuuuf, I think it's started!" Aya moaned and began breathing rhythmically as the young man had explained.
"Shh, calm down and just breathe. Don't be nervous," Kenshin comforted her and stroked her head.
"Uuuuf, okay…" Aya exhaled and tried to calm down.