Author's Note: Last time Mimiko found shrunken Jiro in the kitchen. Now she has to figure out what to do and how to take care of him.
Jiro cried as he held his hands out to Mimiko, the universal sign of wanting to be picked up. Mimiko complied, scooping up Jiro and also his overly large shirt to swaddle him in. The former Old Blood calmed down to mere sniffles, staring up at Mimiko with his large, gray eyes. The compromiser guessed that Jiro was about six months old now, based on size and how heavy he was. The Red Blood was suprised by how light Jiro felt in her arms, it was almost as if she was holding air. The young male took pleasure in blowing a raspberry in the young woman's face, giggling at his own action.
"Jiro, honestly. You shouldn't do that to people. It isn't very nice," Mimiko chided. Jiro started crying again, wanting attention from someone who wouldn't scold him. His want was indeed satisfied when Bluefire walked into the kitchen, the babe being santched from Mimiko's arms within a few seconds. Mimiko was shocked to see that the teen was very gentle with him and actually holding him correctly.
"Aw~ Who's a cute little warrior? You are! Yes you are!" Bluefire cooed sweetly, making her former older brother laugh. His little fangs flashing for they were the only teeth he had at the moment.
"Wait, how could this baby possibly be Jiro? He's nearly one hundred years younger than Jiro and he's much too mischevious to be him," Mimiko stated as she watched the younger female with apt interest.
"Ah but you see I have access to Jiro-nii-san's old photo albums and his baby book. From all of the pictures I've seen of him at this age their appearances are too alike to dismiss as a mere coincidence. Besides I can detect my brothers from a great distance, even when their appearance does change." Just then a stomach growl could be heard, Jiro whining a little.
"I guess my ototou's hungry. Does my cutie pie want applesauce for lunch?" Bluefire inquired, recieving a gleeful cheer from Jiro.
Kotaro stared as he watched his older, well now younger, brother eat. Most of his lunch ended up on his face or in his hair, the purpose of a bib seeming non-existant. The ten year old blonde sat at the kitchen table, right across from the high-chair Jiro now sat in. Where it came from could only be a guess seeing as how it was in one of the many boxes from the Company, along with a car seat, crib, and some baby clothes and diapers in Jiro's size.
"Why is Brother acting differently?" Kotaro asked as he watched Bluefire clean off Jiro's messy face before taking him out of the high chair for his bottle.
"Well I'm guessing that his mind was altered along with his body. He recognizes us, but has no recollection of ever being an adult or older than a year for that matter. He's acting like any baby would at this age, crying to have someone fulfil his needs, needing to be carried around, wearing diapers and stuff like that. So if he does something different from his normal self just remember that he's a baby and doesn't know any better," Bluefire responded as she noticed Jiro become relaxed by the simple sucking motion as he fed from his bottle. The former Old Blood fell asleep after drinking the bottle dry and being burped. Jiro stuck his thumb in his mouth, sucking on it while he slept. He was rather cute at this age, his black hair only reaching to about his ears in length, his wide gray eyes sparkled whenever he caught sight of something interesting, and of course he made rather cute attempts at speaking.
Bluefire carried Jiro along with her as she walked to Mimiko's room, the former Old Blood woke up and started crying when he was placed into the crib and only calmed down when he was picked up. Jiro was fast alseep against her, drool from his mouth dribbling onto her shoulder. Upon entering the room she noticed Mimiko had her laptop out and was quickly reading something.
"You wanted to see me Mimiko," Bluefire stated, standing beside Mimiko and noticing the intent look in her honey brown eyes.
"I'm worried about Jiro. He...I'm afraid he might be behind in development. He doesn't appear to have any of his teeth yet besides his fangs," Mimiko sighed worriedly, looking over at Jiro's slumbering form.
"Mimiko, Mimiko, Mimiko. What am I going to do with you? I am a pediatrician after all so I can tell if he's developing too slowly. He's not, he's doing perfectly fine. In fact I checked his baby book while you dressed him and his mother wrote in it clearly that Jiro-nii-san didn't get his first tooth until he was about two weeks older than he is now," Bluefire chided before continuing, "Besides all children develop at different speeds. Kotaro is rather small for his age now, but he's clearly more advanced when it comes to creativity and maturity when he speaks at times."
Mimiko simply nodded, moving a stray hair from Jiro's face only to have him hold onto her hand and snuggle against it.
Jiro wasn't entirely gone mentally. In fact he was aware of everything he was and was not doing, some actions however were involuntary such as needing to be changed after his nap. He had no way of putting it into words that he knew what he was doing and what others did to him, but all that came out was babyish dribble and drool. Right now he was sitting up in the middle of the floor of the living room, playing with some of the toys that were in the boxes of baby stuff. Jiro of course was against playing with them, they were for babies after all and he was still an adult in his mind, just his body is too far behind. That is of course until that infantile side of his mind took over and pretty much forced him to play. That and the pacifier in his mouth was also forced onto him. Jiro wasn't ready to admit that he was teething again, the pain being unbareable at times but was too afraid to cry for his needs. He was well aware of his position right now as the literal baby of the house, but he just didn't want to recieve such attention. The coddling was okay on his terms, he disliked being manhandled against his will and often tried to make that clear orally, but of course it was taken as him either needing changing or a nap or his bottle, which hurt his pride more than anything, well maybe except the diaper.
'Honestly can they not see I'm not an infant. I don't behave like one about seventy, well make that sixty percent of the time now, I got wet..again. Honestly I can sit up at least let me be able to use the bathroom on my own,' Jiro thought as he arranged his blocks. He didn't know why, but it appeared that all of the Mochizuki siblings had arranged their toys in a specific order when they were younger and if that order was disturbed it was all knocked over and put back up in a different order. Jiro turned to see his sword propped up against the corner of the wall.
'There's no way they are taking this from me again,' Jiro thought as he tried to stand. No matter how hard he tried pulling himself up he just was unable to stay standing.
'Just great, I can't even stand up on my own.' Jiro mentally sighed before resorting to trying to crawl. He had told himself that this was temporary and as soon as he could walk he was never going back. Jiro hazily remembered when Kotaro was first learning to crawl and how many times the blonde had face planted on the floor. Jiro got to his knees and put his hands in front of him. He tried to move his right knee forward, but managed to scoot himself forward a little. Jiro gruted in anger before trying again, his stubborness not allowing him to give up on his precious sword. Jiro got back into position, this time managing to move his knee forward.
'Alright now, just move my hand forward I guess?' Jiro mused before actually doing so. He seemed proud of himself and set about repeating these motions before finally reaching his beloved sword. Jiro pulled on it, the heavy metal clattering to the ground. Jiro didn't notice, all he cared about was having his protection back. All he could lift was the hilt of his blade, which was enough for now. Jiro tried crawling back to his previous spot with those toys when he was picked up from behind.
Jiro cried out in protest, hearing a giggle in response. Bluefire kissed his forehead before she spoke to him.
"Who's a big boy learning to crawl all by himself? You are. Yes you are," Bluefire cooed in that baby-tone to him. Jiro hated hearing people speak to him like he knew nothing. Jiro was well aware of what he had done and was not in any sort of mood to hear praise for something he disliked having to do. Jiro looked down to his sword and sniffled, he wanted it so badly and once he had it in his little hands he was taken from it.
"Aw, is someone trying to be big and tough?" Bluefire asked in her sweet tone again before she put the sword up on a shelf Jiro knew he couldn't reach. He started bawling, shocking his dear sister as to why he was suddenly so upset.
Jiro was being held as he drank, the taste of formula was much more tolerable than that baby food he was just fed. Jiro longed for the day when he could drink blood again, which was much sooner than he though. Jiro noticed that Bluefire had pricked her finger on her fang purposely before removing the bottle.
"A little bit won't hurt," Bluefire sighed before sticking her finger in Jiro's mouth. Her new little brother enjoyed this very much, a content and full look on his face after a few sucks. She pulled her finger out and burped him, noting how cooperative he was being now. Jiro nodded off in her arms, barely detecting the soft peck he recieved. He subconciously accepted the pacifier and sucked on it as Bluefire set him down in his crib. She covered him with a soft blanket and gave him his stuffed animal panther. He looked very cute, enough so that Bluefire felt tears come to her eyes.
Once she was outside the new nursery Bluefire started crying even more.
"I wish I had my Nii-san back," Bluefire cried before going into her room to sleep. Unaware of how the next morning will be.
Author's Note: As I wrote Jiro is aware of what he's doing and what others are doing to him. Somethings he likes more than others, but in no way does he fully enjoy being babied. Review and suggest somethings our little cutie will do~Bff##
