The babies are two weeks old and Hao already gets into trouble (the good kind of trouble so far)
As they quickly discovered, Hao was an unusually quiet child. He almost didn't cry. Apart from the first few minutes after the birth, he kept quiet while his brother could scream his head off.
Not that anyone minded. One screaming baby was enough to keep the whole household up during the night. If Keiko thought that she couldn't get any sleep while she was pregnant, she definitely couldn't get one now. The babies asked for her attention.
Yoh was loud. Like any other baby, he wanted to have his primal needs fulfilled and anytime Keiko was away, he kept crying until she came and took care of him.
Hao wasn't like that. An old mind stuck in a baby's body, he still felt all the needs a baby in development needed. He felt the need to eat, to sleep, to use the bathroom, but he never cried. He never asked for attention. Whatever he needed fulfilled, he demanded . Having already established a mental connection with Keiko (he wouldn't lower himself to crying like a mere human child), he demanded to be fed and bathed.
Keiko, I am hungry , resonated through their mental connection. The mother sighed. Whatever happened, Hao always refused to call her "mother". Every time, it was "Keiko". She would be lying if she said that it didn't bother her a bit.
She got up from her chair and walked over to the crib to take care of her son. She found the twins lying there, Yoh peacefully asleep while Hao's eyes followed her every movement. She leaned forward to take her son out of the crib, and hold him close.
The first day when she wanted to feed the twins, Hao explicitly demanded that he be given a formula, so the family complied. It didn't help that the Spirit of Fire was always lurking somewhere, ready to strike if Hao didn't like something, and so Keiko now came to the dining room.
"Dear, could you get the formula ready?" she asked. Mikihisa had proven to be supportive and immediately went to buy an infant formula since it was the only food Hao would eat.
Now, he stood up and went to prepare it while Keiko held Hao and kept his little head supported. Hao's eyes followed Mikihisa as he was preparing his snack. Trying to employ his neck muscles to support himself, he failed spectacularly and went limp in Keiko's arms.
Several minutes later, the formula was ready and Keiko sat down to be able to feed him properly.
"I just don't understand why he won't eat like all the children do," she sighed, looking down at her son. Hao offered no reply this time, focusing on the bottle instead.
Mikihisa gave her a look.
"Give it time. Soon he'll be able to eat solid food," he said. "Then you won't have to worry anymore."
"Months, Mikihisa. He will eat solid food in months. The doctor told me that breast milk contains nutrients that will help him grow," she said, growing frustrated. She set the bottle back on the table and held Hao up again and patted his back gently until he burped. She could swear she heard an unhappy grumble in the back of her mind. Hao obviously didn't enjoy being a baby.
Suddenly, another baby's cry sounded. Yoh was awake and probably missed his brother. Even at just days old, he could sense whenever Hao was away from him. They had a connection for sure.
Keiko put Hao into Mikihisa's arms.
"Hold him for a minute, please," she said and went to get Yoh from the crib. Mikihisa looked down at Hao and all he got was furrowed eyebrows and a glare. He swallowed. Keiko was definitely the favourite parent.
She returned just a minute later with a crying Yoh. Holding him to her chest, she gently swayed from foot to foot, trying to calm him down. But the baby didn't come, not even at the sight of his brother.
Crybaby , Hao commented, clearly not amused.
"Be nice, Hao," Keiko chastised him. "He's your brother."
The older twin shut up, and while Keiko fed Yoh, he didn't say a word. He stayed put in Mikihisa's arms and kept quiet.
Yoh burped and both parents cradled one child. Keiko supported Yoh and came over.
"He's awfully quiet," she commented and looked at her other son. What she saw almost melted her heart.
Hao had his eyes closed, his small chest heaving slightly as he breathed. He had his little fingers curled around Mikihisa's finger, a grasping reflex all babies had; one Hao could do nothing about even if he acted like a grown-up. He was a well-behaved baby right now, just like Yoh who closed his eyes and now slept peacefully in her arms, and both parents knew to savour those moments of silence.
Keiko yawned.
"Let's get both of them to the crib and you can go get some sleep. God knows that you need it," he said, and she nodded. She was quite tired. The last days had proven to be a challenge and she now knew to get some sleep whenever she could. And a moment when both twins were asleep was a perfect opportunity for that.
They tucked the boys in and Keiko went to sleep. She needed to get her sleep before either Hao or Yoh woke up. Or both. Yoh could scream his lungs off whenever he woke up. And Hao… Hao was an unusually quiet child, but only on the outside. On the inside, though, he never shut up.
It was a few days later when Keiko almost got a heart attack. She was preparing tea for her father in the kitchen when a brightly coloured Spirit of Fire entered the room, carrying both twins.
Keiko paled. Her boys… her twins… what were they going to do? In that moment, she felt a pang of fear. Was Hao going to take them both away?
Her fears didn't come true as the Spirit of Fire descended with the boys in his arms.
He stinks, Hao complained. Spirit of Fire extended his arm and held Yoh out to his mother. True enough, a familiar smell reached her nose.
She got Yoh into her arms.
"Thank you," she said warily. "Maybe it'd be best if you returned to the crib," she said, but Hao's voice was already resonating through the back of her head.
No. I wish to stay, he said, making Keiko sigh.
"Just make sure that the Spirit of Fire doesn't drop you," she said, turning her attention to Yoh.
"I think it's time to have your diaper changed," she told him good-naturedly. Taking a fresh diaper, she set Yoh down on the table and got to the job. The baby stayed silent this time, blinking his big brown eyes at her.
Even though the twins were identical, Keiko had already learned how to recognize them. It was the eyes. She always knew which twin it was by looking at the eyes. Yoh's eyes were big, warm, and curious while Hao's were calculating and always narrowed. She'd learned to distinguish between the two of them this way. They were so similar, yet also so different.
Done with her job, she turned to Hao.
"Now it's your turn," she said. Hao and the Spirit of Fire were gone a moment later.
Keiko sighed and rubbed the root of her nose. When he had to stay put, it was easy to deal with Hao, but once he could move around, even just with the Spirit of Fire's help, it was going to be a problem.
She found him back in the crib, sulking. Hao diverted his gaze, but he was still barely two weeks old and couldn't move out of the way.
Keiko took him out of the crib and held him close to her.
"You can't run away every time you don't like something," she told him softly. She could've sworn that Hao's pointed look turned into a sad one, but she decided not to press it. If Keiko noticed the Spirit of Fire appearing in the corner of the room, she didn't let her fear show. Everyone in the household held some respect towards the fire spirit, not wanting to end up like so many other had.
Keiko took Hao back to where Yoh was. She found him in Mikihisa's arms, looking up at him with his big eyes. He didn't cry for once. It seemed that Yoh was happy just being close to his father.
Setting Hao down, she quickly set to work. When she was done, she held Hao up.
"Now who's a clean baby?" she cooed lovingly. Hao closed his eyes.
This is humiliating, he whispered in the back of her mind. Unfortunately for him, it would take some time before he was able to do those things by himself. Until then, one of the parents (or grandparents, if they felt like it) would have to do it for him.
"I can't do anything about that," Keiko said, sitting down and setting him on her lap. Her son stayed stubbornly quiet. Apparently still sulking about the fact that he had to be helped around with everything. What a waste of time, being a two-week-old baby.
A soft sound of footsteps reached her ear. Horrified, she clasped her hand on her mouth. While taking care of her sons, she completely forgot that she was making tea for Yohmei when the Spirit of Fire appeared. Now, the elderly shaman entered the room.
"Is everything alright, Keiko?" he asked, his gaze landing on the children. He couldn't help but smile. The family looked almost peaceful like this.
Keiko got up and put Hao into his arms. Knowing how to hold a baby, Yohmei took him, and Hao's eyes narrowed slightly. Despite what he wanted everyone to believe, he was still mummy's boy and Keiko was his favourite out of the family.
"Here, please hold him for a second. I will get to making your tea right away," she said, going to prepare it. Yohmei cradled the baby in his arms, noticing his gloomy expression.
"Which one is this?" he asked her. He didn't like the look the baby was giving him. Keiko looked back at him over her shoulder.
"That's Hao," she replied. "He's a bit cranky right now, he doesn't like his diaper changed."
Yohmei dared to glance down at his grandson. Hao didn't move to do anything, he just laid there.
He had promised not to do anything to him. That much he had promised. And so, he would try to behave like a grandfather, even if he didn't like letting Hao stay with them. He took a deep breath and slowly, hesitantly, stroked his cheek. The baby reacted immediately, turning his head towards his hand, opening his mouth.
"Would you like to feed him, father?" Mikihisa asked from his seat. In his arms, Yoh had already drifted back to sleep. He didn't really do much, just like most babies. It would be time for Hao to sleep as well.
Yohmei shook his head.
"No, thank you. I will have to get back to my divinations soon."
With that said, he waited until Keiko was done with the tea to give her the baby back, and summon one of his shikigamis to carry the tea back to his room.
Keiko took her son back and held him close. Hao surveyed the room before yawning.
"I think it's time for your afternoon nap. Your brother is already sleeping," she smiled, gently rocking him in her arms.
I do not wish to sleep, Hao protested, but he was still a baby and as such, he needed lots of sleep. Eventually, his demands weren't met as his eyelids got heavy and he got to enjoy some rest along with his brother.
Keiko and Mikihisa put the two sleeping babies back into their crib and retreated back into the kitchen.
"They're fed, they're clean, I think they're going to sleep for some time now," Keiko sighed, sitting down. "Yoh's a delight to have around, even if he is loud, but he's still just a baby, but Hao… he doesn't behave like a baby at all. It bothers me a bit," she admitted.
Mikihisa put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"If he really is thousand years old, then it must be painful for him to be stuck in a baby's body. You're his mother; he'll come around eventually."
"But he doesn't call me his mother," she lamented, looking up to see her husband. He patted her shoulder once more.
"Give him time, Keiko. Once he's a bit older, he will be happier."
She sighed.
"Maybe you're right," she said slowly. "I just wish that day would come already."
Mikihisa smiled and put his orange headphones on his ears.
"It will, Keiko."