Memory 2: Siblings
"Blaaaanc!" Lying on a bed with a dark purple blanket spread over the top, Blanc stared at her picture book. However, she didn't move her hands, nor did her eyes stay on the page. Rather, her pupils were cloudy and her tiny mouth was tilted into a tinier frown.
Neptune happily walked into his room, a white blob with purple hair on his back. As he approached his best friend, the blob began to stir and the boy stopped to check on the blob. After a moment, the boy moved over to his bed and leaned his body against it, his head barely reaching the top of the mattress. However, Blanc did not react, still staring at the page in front of her. Biting the inside of his cheek, Neptune shifted the blob to a more comfortable position on his back, so that he could hold it with one hand, and poke his best friend in the leg.
"Hey, Blanc!"
*poke poke*
The girl still showed no response.
"Blanc?"
*poke poke*
This time, Blanc blinked but her eyes were still cloudy.
"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaanc!"
*poke poke*
After the third attempt, Blanc blinked her eyes and now her eyes refocused. Turning to the source of the poking, Blanc came face to face with Neptune… and another head over his shoulder staring at him with curious eyes. The girl froze upon seeing the two heads.
"Yay! You finally noticed!" The boy noticed Blanc's eyes shirk and turned around to see what she was looking at. When Neptune turned around, the girl saw the extra body on his back and sighed in relief. "Eh? What's wrong, Blanc?" Shaking her head, Blanc closed her book and shifted to a sitting position.
"No, I'm okay… I think." Neptune attempted to put the blob onto the bed, but his arms could lift the blob high enough. "Ah." Blanc reached over and pulled the blob onto the bed while Neptune slid onto the floor. The blob tilted its head upwards and its violet eyes locked onto Blanc's blue ones.
"Buran…" The blob reached for Blanc's face and slid into her lap. Smiling, Blanc poked the blob in her soft squishy cheek.
"Hello, Nepgear." Upon hearing her name, the blob known as Nepgear giggled and began to play with Blanc's finger. Meanwhile, Neptune was struggling to get onto his own bed. The girl looked to see her best friend struggling to get his leg over the bed and eventually dropping back to the ground. Getting onto his knees, Neptune crawled under the bed and returned with a small wooden step ladder, using it to get onto the bed.
"Ah… I'm tired…" Nepgear got onto all fours and crawled over to her big brother, pinching his cheek and pulling it. "Waaaaah, Nep. Jr staaaaaph." Watching the Nep siblings, Blanc returned to her former trance, this time looking out the window nearby their bed and at her empty home. The girl then looked past her house and in the distance, a tall grey building could be seen where her mother was at the moment. Neptune noticed the girl's gaze and pulled away from Nepgear, who landed onto her side, giggling and grabbing her feet. As the girl stared at the building that contained her mother, her best friend glomped her, knocking them onto the bed as Neptune squished his cheek against Blanc's.
"Nept-" The boy refused to give Blanc a word in as he nuzzled her cheek.
"Blanc, don't be sad!" Neptune then wrapped his arms around his best friend. "I don't want you to be sad!" The girl tried to pry herself away from the boy, but Neptune kept his grip as strong as a six year old could make it.
"Ne-Neptune, st-stop it!" Neptune's hair began to tickle Blanc, causing the girl to laugh and twist under the boy's grasp. Nepgear stared at the two as she lied on her side, slowly drifting to sleep. "You're tickling me!" As Neptune continued his innocent onslaught, Neptune's mother, Histoire, walked into the room. The woman put a smile on her face as she watched the two cuddle and laugh.
"Neptune. Blanc." The kids stopped playing and looked to see Histoire come over and pick up Nepgear. "We're going somewhere in a bit, so you two should take a bath before you go." Neptune and Blanc sat up, raising their hand into the air.
"Okaaaay!" Histoire cradled the tiny girl in her hands, swaying her arms left to right while humming a lullaby. Nepgear's tiny face turned serene and her tinier hands clutched onto her mother's shirt. The blonde haired woman watched her son get off the bed and wait for his best friend to get off before grabbing the clothes she had set out for him and running towards the bath.
"Come on, Blanc! Let's go!" Neptune dashed out of the door, his clothes bundled up into a ball in his hands. Meanwhile, Blanc was taking out her extra clothes from the bag that Mina had prepared for her.
"Neptune, wait!" The small girl chased after Histoire's son and left the mother and daughter to themselves.
Once they had entered the bath, Neptune hastily took of his clothes and grabbed a shower cap. The boy turned around to see Blanc struggling to pull her head through her shirt before walking inside.
"I'll go in first!"
"Alright." As Blanc was able take off her shirt, she noticed her mother's handwriting on the tag near the neck of the shirt. The girl frowned. Putting the tag close to her face, Blanc closed her eyes, imagining her mother's hands holding her tightly and lovingly.
"Blanc? Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm coming!" The shower nozzle could be heard running as Neptune sounded like he was gargling water.
"Bl-Bl-Blanc, help-p-p m-m-me!" A sweatdrop rolled down the worried girl's cheek as she listened to Neptune. Heading inside, Blanc saw a Neptune with shampoo in his hair, which was held up by a shower visor, and holding the shower nozzle with both hands, the water spraying onto his face.
"...What are you doing?" Blanc walked over to the water tap and turned off the water, causing the boy to sigh in relief. Neptune gasped and gave his friend a thumbs up.
"I was trying to turn it on but the water was super strong!" Blanc took the shower head from her best friend and held onto the water tap.
"I'll wash your head." Neptune grinned.
"Thank you!"
After Blanc washed the shampoo off of Neptune's head, he helped Blanc shampoo and wash her hair. The two then scrubbed each other's backs, like their mothers told them too, and sat down in the bath that Histoire had prepared for them. The bathtub was large. Adding the fact that there only two small children in the bath gave them plenty of room to relax in. However, both of them sat side by side, Neptune trying to rest his chin on the rim of the bathtub and Blanc staring at the steamy water.
"Neptune?" Giving up, Neptune reached for a small towel and placed on the crown of Blanc's head. "Do you think Mama's okay?" The girl sunk deeper into the water, blowing bubbles once her mouth was underwater.
"Hmm…" Neptune closed his eyes and sunk in as well. "I think…" Blanc could practically see the gears turning in Neptune's head.
"You think?"
"I think…" Slowly, Neptune started to turn red. The boy's eyes began to swirl as he slumped against the bathtub wall. "I think we should get out now."
"...Ah." Blanc's face began to turn red as well, slumping against bathtub as well, her towel falling into the water. "...Me too."
After getting out of the bath, Neptune and Blanc were getting dressed when Neptune suddenly stood and spun around, grabbing Blanc while her shirt was over her head.
"Blanc!" The girl, her eyes blinded by her shirt, turned to the left and then to the right. "What did Aunty Mina look like before the Man in White took her away?" Blanc's head popped out of the shirt collar and her head tilted to the right.
"Man in White?" The boy nodded.
"Yeah! The guy with the stephisoph-," Neptune closed his eyes, putting a finger to his tounge. "The ste-" "The ste-" "The st- The man who goes AAAAH." Blanc put a finger up in realization as Neptune turned away, covering his mouth.
"Mr. Doctor!" The boy looked back, tears in his eyes.
"Wut dith zhe luuk withe?" Blanc petted the crying boy as she thought about it.
"Mommy was super white! She looked SUPER sleepy. And her belly was SUPER DUPERLY GINORMUS!" The girl spread her arms out as she described her mother's condition.
"Super?"
"Duper Super Duper Super!" Neptune's eyes shined as Blanc tugged his shirt over his head.
"Mr. Pelicany!" Once again, the girl tilted her head.
"Mr… Peli...cany?" Neptune hopped up and down, his eyes brighter than before.
"Yes! Mr. Pelicany! Mama told me that if a boy or girl was super good, that Mr. Pelicany would swing in through a grapevine and hover over your mommy, sprinkle his Pelicany magic…" The boy took a pause, checking to see if Blanc was still paying attention. "Aaaaaand, his magic would grant you a baby brother or sister!" Blanc blinked. After a moment, Neptune poked Blanc in the cheek, finding amusement in the fact that she didn't respond and poke closer and closer to her mouth, where Blanc opened her mouth and entrapped his finger.
As Neptune cried out and tried to free his finger from Blanc's vicegrip, the girl began to think back to her mother's behavior.
She remembered that her mommy was buying clothes, despite her belly being huge and the clothes being too tiny for Blanc to wear. The time that her mommy worked with her and Neptune and Aunty Histy to clean out a room, where a couple of people came in with this big cans and for a while, she couldn't go in there. And finally, when her mommy was being taken away by Mr. Doctor's henchmen, Mina told Blanc that she wouldn't come home alone and to wait for her like a good girl.
Blanc opened her mouth, releasing Neptune from his prison. The boy shook his finger and wiped it against the girl's sweater, which she had put on earlier.
"Owwwwwie, Blanc. That hurt!" As Neptune comforted his finger, Histoire came in.
"Perfect, you two are done." Neptune's mother patted the two children on the head, Blanc closing her eyes while Neptune nuzzled his head into his mother's hands. "Come now, your Mama is here, Neptune." Immediately, Neptune's eyes shined and he ran out the door, his arms spread wide.
"MAAAAAMAAAA!" Seeing his mom take off her shoes, Neptune rushes towards Arfoire. As the boy jumps forward, Arfoire dropped her suitcase and caught her son, swinging him around in circles.
"Hey there, kid!" After spinning one more time, Arfoire pulled Neptune into a close hug. The little boy began to nuzzle his face into his mother's cheek. "How's my little pudding devourer?" The boy's smile grew wider and wider as she lifted Neptune into the air.
"I'm awesome, Mama!" Blanc walked out of the room to see Arfoire put Neptune down and see the woman's smile.
"Hey there, Little Blanc." The girl gave a small nod with a soft smile as Histoire came in, now holding Nepgear. "You ready?" Blanc tilted her head, raising an eyebrow.
"Where am I going?" A hand gently landed on Blanc's head, stroking her hair.
"Blanc, it's not 'I', it's 'we'." The girl looked to see Histoire smiling as she shifted Nepgear over to her shoulder. The baby girl grabbed a fistful of her mother's hair and began to play with it. Arfoire then picked up Neptune with one arm and Blanc with the other.
"Come on, let's go. We're burning daylight." Arfoire carried the two out of the house and into her black sports van while Histoire locked the house as Nepgear began to sleepily hug her mother's hair. Placing Neptune on the left side of the back seat and Blanc on the right side, Neptune's parents began to strap Nepgear into her car seat in the middle. Above the little Nep was a mobile with custom made dolls of Arfoire, Histoire and Neptune with their arms spread out. The real Neptune reached out and poked the Arfoire doll, causing the mobile to spin a little bit and play a soft tone. The combination of the dolls and the music made Nepgear squeal with joy as she reached out and barely tapped the mobile, making it spin again. Blanc and Neptune watched the baby girl repeat this over and over, not getting tired of it.
"Aunty Arfy?" The woman with long silver hair turned around from the driver's seat to face the brunette in the back. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to see your Mama." Suddenly, the girl's eyes widened and she looked from Histoire to Arfoire, who had big smiles on their faces, to Neptune, who had the same face as Blanc, and then to Nepgear, who stopped playing with the mobile and was looking around confused.
When the two children didn't say anything, Arfoire started the engine and left the driveway.
"I guess that was a good enough answer."
"Alright kids, we're here." Arfoire helped Neptune and Blanc out of the car while Histoire got Nepgear away from her mobile and out of her car seat. Neptune and Arfoire walked past the gray revolving doors and into the building. Blanc, on the other hand, looked up, becoming intimidated by the staggering height of the place that currently housed her mama. Staring at it more and more made the tiny girl feel tinier and tinier.
"Blanc?" The girl blinked her eyes and felt herself enveloped by Histoire's shadow. The woman was bent over, looking over Blanc with a worried face. Histoire's hand rested on Blanc's cheek while the other held onto Nepgear's stroller. "Come on, let's go inside and find your mother." Nodding, Blanc walked ahead past the revolving door. As she walked through one section of the door, she noticed Neptune was in the section across from her, pushing the door with all his might and his joy.
Arfoire waited at the other end of the door, watching Neptune with adoration. Histoire rolled her eyes at Arfoire's affection but smiled nonetheless.
"Alright, let's go. Neptune!" The boy pushed himself out of the door and rushed over to his mothers, grabbing onto Histoire's leg as Arfoire lifted Blanc onto her arm.
"Mommy, I wanna push Nep. Jr!" Histoire walked along as Neptune tagged along behind the stroller.
"When you're bigger, Neptune." Neptune cheered as a green haired woman approached the group with a blonde little girl in her arms.
"Ah, Arfy! Histy!" Putting the girl down, the woman wrapped her arms around Histoire, causing Neptune to back away in surprise. Turning to Arfoire, the woman's eyes landed on Blanc. The woman leaned forward, getting closer to the girl. Blanc reacted by pulling herself closer to Arfoire, hiding behind her head. "And who's this? I thought little Neptune was your child." Arfoire chuckled and pulled her head away, leaving Blanc without a hiding place.
"Chika, this is Blanc." The woman, Chika, made a wide grin, her eyes sparking.
"Blanc!? Oh look at you!" Chika clamped her hands around Blanc's face and kissed her forehead. "You're so big!" The tiny girl blinked her eyes as she was bombarded with praises and kisses.
Meanwhile, Neptune walked over to the blonde haired girl.
"Hi, Hi! I'm Neptune!" The blonde haired girl froze when Neptune was close to her. Tilting his head, Neptune attempted to poke her in the cheek. The girl yanked her face away from Neptune's finger and rushed over to Chika, causing the woman to pull away from Blanc, much to the brunette's relief.
"Oh, what's wrong my little angel?" The girl hugged her mother and Chika picked her up so that she could whisper into her ear. Arfoire put Blanc down, allowing Blanc to check up on Neptune. Chika nodded her head a couple of times, watching Blanc pat a tearful Neptune on the head and then poking him in the cheek. The action resulted in a hug from the crying purplette to the comforting brunette. "Okay, we can go home now." Chika turned to Arfoire and Histoire. "I'm sorry, I can't chat. This little one wants to go home." Arfoire grinned and patted Chika on the back.
"It's alright." Waving the two goodbye, Arfoire led the group into an elevator and pressed the button with the number three on it. The doors closed and elevator ascended, causing Blanc and Neptune to stagger for a second, catching each other in order to keep themselves from falling.
Once they were in the third floor, Arfoire led the group into a room with the number label three hundred and thirty three. Inside, lying on the bed and holding a light blue bundle in her arms was…
"Mama!" Blanc rushed over to the bed and tried to climb up it, but the barricade and Arfoire picking her up made it difficult. "Mama! Mama! MAMA!" Mina smiled and put a finger over the crying girl's mouth, which stopped her yelling.
"Shh… Blanc you'll wake up your new little sisters." Stopping in her tracks, Blanc noticed that the blue bundle had something within it. There was a creature within the baby blue blanket, a red face that cried silent noises. Blanc looked from the bundle to her mother, then back to the bundle.
"Huh?" Mina held out and arm and Arfoire carried Blanc onto the bed; the mother wrapping her free arm around her oldest daughter.
"Blanc, say hi to Rom." Blanc stared at the red face as an equally red hand reached out and grasped at the air. Slowly, cautiously and nervously, Blanc reached out a finger into the red grip of the now named Rom. When the two sisters made contact, Blanc could think of two things: wet. And most importantly, warm. "Ram is over there." Mina gestured to the pink bundle in a plastic crib beside her. Histoire gently picked up the bundle, which started to cry loudly, and brought her over to the Blanc and Mina, allowing the girl to meet an identical red face.
"Rom… and Ram?" Mina nodded. "My… sisters?" Another nod. "So… you're okay now?" A smile.
"Yes, I'm fine now Blanc." Tears began to fill the eldest Nishizawa's eyes as she pulled her finger away from her baby sister and hugged her mother.
"MAMA!" She then turned to the bundles, tears rolling down her face as she smiled. "Hello, Rom. Hello, Ram. I'm Blanc, your big sister!" The pink bundle stopped crying and the blue bundle put her arm down, but that didn't stop Blanc from leaning in and whispering into their tiny ears. "I'm gonna take good care of you, just you wait."
Neptune sat in Arfoire's lap, bounding up and down but restrained by his mother. Nepgear sat in her stroller, having fallen asleep when Chika appeared.
"You see? I told you Blanc! Mr. Pelicany is awesome! Right, Mama? Right?"
"And that's how my little sisters were born." Currently,Plutia had shifted herself onto Blanc's lap and she flipped to another page. "Come to think of it, that was when I first met my other mother and… hm?"
The picture Plutia flipped to showed Blanc and Neptune lying under a kotatsu, with a slightly older Nepgear lying on top of Neptune's back.
"Hey, it's the kotatsu that Daddy always puts out when it's cold!" Blanc nodded.
"Yeah, you're dad and I have plenty of memories with that thing." The brunette woman looked at the purple haired girl. "Wanna hear one?"
"I wanna! I wanna!" Plutia bounced up and down on Blanc's lap, but the girl was restrained by the woman's arm.
"Well, this picture was a more special memory. This was when…"
To be continued in…
Memory 3: Kotatsu