Once Sho stopped thinking of Emmy as a girl and started thinking of her as Emmy the perfect present finally came to him.

"You…want to get her an army helmet?" asked Fukuda. Sho had dragged him to a military surplus shop, how Sho's Russian was better than his he would never know, and declared that an army helmet was the perfect gift for his girlfriend. A ten year old girl. Fukuda had no clue where Sho got these ideas from. Well this was what he had Fukuda in his life for.

"Yeah, she'll love it. This way if she falls out of a tree and hits her head she'll be fine. Also if she finds a bird's nest and the birds peck her head then she'll be ok too. Also it matches her backpack and girls care about their stuff matching." Said Sho. This was the greatest gift ever. She would love this. Then she'd be happy and his job would be done…for now. He had no clue what to get her next. After Russia Fukuda was taking him on an away mission to Korea while dad and big sis and the others were headed….he didn't know where. All he knew was that they were going to meet up in the Claw compound off in the Australian dessert…or maybe the one outside the capitol…he didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't have to pick out any more presents until Korea.

"That's very….practical…but maybe she'd like something else? Like candy, maybe? There's a lot of candy here that I bet she can't get in London." Said Fukuda. A soviet military helmet, a used one if the sign was anything to go off of, was not at all a gift for a little girl. Sho was still such a kid. He was thinking of things that he would have wanted, not what she would have wanted, but this was….better than the alternative. He hadn't inherited Suzuki's tendency towards stalking so that was a plus.

"That's a good idea. I'll fill it with candy. She likes candy. She only gets twenty quid, that's a lot of yen but not a lot of pounds, a week for money and she keeps on spending it on candy and stuff. That'll save her some money." Said Sho. Fukuda really did know a lot about this sort of thing. He had been the one to help dad after all and dad may have been a jerk but he had gotten mom….gross by the way….and now Fukuda could help Sho. He was always helping Sho out.

Even if he could be sort of a jerk sometimes he was still a good person and stuff.

He had been a jerk that morning, though, when he said that big sis couldn't come. He said that big sis would probably be busy with her friends and that they shouldn't bother her and stuff. She hadn't even been busy. She and Minegishi had just been planning on going to Starbucks and stuff which wasn't doing anything at all. She would have liked this, she liked hanging out with him, even if she probably wouldn't have liked the army store. She didn't like fighting and stuff like this…but she did like him…

But for some reason Fukuda didn't seem to like her at all anymore.

"Or, maybe, you could just get her a normal hat." Said Fukuda. He did not want Sho to mess this up. He had no idea if he had a crush on this girl or if he was in love with this girl or if he was just pairing up with her to feel normal but he did know that Sho did not need to deal with heartbreak at his age on top of everything else that he was dealing with.

"Why would I get her a normal hat when this is so much cooler than a normal hat?" asked Sho. Emmy liked things that were cool. She was cool like that.

"Because a normal hat would be something that she could wear in her daily life. You can't wear an army hat out in the world, well you could, but I can't think of any little girl who would." Said Fukuda

"Emmy would. She has an army backpack so she'll like an army hat to go with it." Said Sho. Fukuda just didn't know Emmy, that must have been it. She already had a normal hat anyway so she wouldn't have wanted two. She didn't have an army hat, however, and this was even better than one from her own country because it came from Russia. She had never been to Russia. She had never been anywhere, she had said. Sho would fix that when they grew up.

He'd have to take dad's place after all.

Sho had no idea if dad was really going to end up ruling the world but he knew that dad would give him Claw when he got too old to run it. If Sho had Claw then he would have to move around all the time like dad did…and then of course he would take Emmy. She was his girlfriend and that meant that she would probably be his wife when they grew up, even if she wasn't an esper she was a girl and that was good enough, and once that happened Sho would of course take her with him. Him and all of the kids that he had to have. He remembered how when he had been really little, before he realized what dad was really like, it had been hard for him to have dad away for so long.

He wouldn't put his kids through that.

They would be happy to see him all the time. He would never hit his kid or make them feel bad about themselves even if they weren't espers or if they were just really weak espers like he had been when he had been little. He would be nice to them and he would take his whole family with him all around the world. They would have a lifetime of around the world adventures together as a family and nobody would ever be sad or lonely or left behind or…or anything.

And if he had to be married to someone it had might as well be her. She was good at climbing trees.

"Are you sure? Sho…most girls wouldn't like an army hat as a gift. Girls…they don't really like these sorts of things. You're got to think of things that she would like not that you would like. Things like flowers and chocolates, you know, you can't mess with the classics." Said Fukuda. God, this took him back. He felt like he was thirteen again helped Suzuki through his first White Day. He had wanted to give this girl he liked an entire economy sized box of hairclips since hers were constantly falling out…and then being stolen by Suzuki himself and tucked away in a shoebox under his Atari…but he had talked Suzuki into getting her chocolates like you were supposed to give someone on White Day…so he had gotten her ten boxes of assorted chocolates…and it had worked.

Thirty years later here he was.

There was something slightly….melancholic about this. There was something about history repeating itself. Sho was and was not like Suzuki. He was just as awkward about this sort of thing but he was a hell of a lot less creepy…and a hell of a lot more successful. Fukuda was happy for him. He had no clue if any of this would go anywhere but he was happy for Sho…and happy to help him through this part of his life. God, he had grown up so fast. It felt like yesterday that he had been walking Sho to his first day of kindergarten, fixing up broken bones and scraped knees, pushing him on the swings, playing endless games of menagerie….and now he was here.

Standing in a Russian military surplus store helping Sho pick out a soviet era army helmet for his first ever girlfriend.

"No, she'll like this. I know her. She'll like this and then she'll be all 'Sho, you're brilliant' and then I'll be all 'thanks, so are you' and then she'll be happy until it's time to get her another present. That's what you're supposed to do when you have a girl that you leave some place, get her things, and that way after you get her things she'll be happy and she won't leave you for a guy who's actually there. Shimazaki…Ryou told me that." Said Sho. He turned around and pretended to be very interested in the pile of helmets even though he had already picked out Emmys. He got her one with the red star on the front since he figured she would like the decoration. He was done and ready to go but he had to wait until he stopped being so warm and red. He got the feeling that Fukuda wouldn't believe that he was all red from the cold and stuff.

"Sho…don't call adults by their given names. It isn't polite." Said Fukuda. There was so much more he wanted to say but he would leave it at that. Sho was…at the beginning of a very long and complicated part of his life and Fukuda knew that he needed to tread carefully. Yes, he had gotten himself a little girlfriend, but he was still obviously something and that something was not something that Fukuda ever wanted him to think was something wrong with him.

But he needed to come off it when it came to Shimazaki Ryou.

He was thirty, he had done things so terrible that even Fukuda was disturbed by what he had heard and read, and also he tended to bring out the worst in Sho. The jealousy was making him say and do the worst things…not that Fukuda hadn't forgiven him for that. That whole thing had been his fault. He should have kept his opinions to himself and he never should have said that out loud to Sho of all people. Still, though, even if he hadn't said what is was that he'd said this jealousy was still just…not good. This was not good for Sho or the people around him….

And Fukuda had no idea how he was supposed to fix this.

"He said I could." Said Sho. He wasn't doing anything wrong. Shimazaki had given him permission and that was all that he needed. It wasn't like he went around calling Fukuda Tadashi or Shibata Hiroshi or Minegishi Toshiki…they would probably kill him if he ever eve thought about calling them Toshi…but there was nothing wrong with calling Shimazaki by his given name. Not when his best friend had given him permission.

"Well…that was wrong of him…to teach you something so impolite." Said Fukuda. It was wrong of him because he was trying to put out a fire with gasoline. Shimazaki must have known that Sho had a crush on him, he must have believed Fukuda, but he was still letting Sho carry on like…like this was fine. Like it was ok for Sho to have a crush on him…and Fukuda had no clue why Shimazaki would let him…

Well he hoped that he had no clue why he let Sho carry on like this.

"You just don't get it." Said Sho. Of course Fukuda wouldn't get it. Fukuda didn't have any friends at all beside Sho. He used to be friends with dad but nobody could be friends with dad. Dad was….dad. Who would want to be friends with dad? Fukuda had no clue what to do when it came to being friends with someone.

"Sho…you're young and there are a lot of things that you don't understand yet." Said Fukuda. This was not the place for this conversation. This was not the time for this conversation. Sho was young, too young, and he didn't need to know about….those sorts of things. Not yet. He was only ten. He needed to keep his mind on yen year old things like playing games and drawing pictures and getting presents for his girlfriend.

"Or maybe you're just too old. When was the last time you had a friend…or a girlfriend?" Said Sho. He was being mean and he knew that he was being mean…but how could Fukuda just…say that stuff? So what if Shimazaki…if Ryou...gave Sho permission to call him by his given name? There was nothing wrong with that if someone gave you permission. Fukuda didn't know. For the whole of his life he had never even heard Fukuda call dad 'Toichirou' even though they had been friends since before Sho had even been born. Fukuda had no clue what to do with fiends and he had no idea what to do with a girlfriend, either. He kept on trying to get Sho to get something else for Emmy, it felt like, even though you were supposed to get girls stuff that they wanted.

Fukuda knew nothing about girls.

Fukuda had probably never even kissed a girl. At least he had never mentioned kissing a girl or dating a girl or even knowing a girl. Fukuda had never gotten married or had a kid or anything like that. He was worse than dad. At least dad had mom. Fukuda had been the one to give dad advice and all but maybe he didn't know as much as he thought he did.

"Sho, that wasn't nice." Said Fukuda. Well that stung….but it was ok. Sho didn't know what he was saying. He was only ten after all. He just sort of said things, lashed out, when he was hurt…and he was hurt. Fukuda knew how he got whenever Shimazaki came up. He'd drop it. They'd talk more about this once they went on their away mission. They'd have themselves a long talk, stop by and see Sho's baby sister, and then maybe make a stopover in London so Sho could see his age appropriate love interest. Maybe all of that time away from Shimazaki would make it easier for Sho to finally get over him already.

He'd had this crush for way too long.

And it was only getting worse. It would only get worse the older that Sho got. He was ten now and then next year he'd be eleven and then twelve and then he'd be a teenager and…and Fukuda was not looking forward to that time at all. He'd have a teenage Sho on his hands…and he'd be in that special time of life where, as Shimazaki had so colorfully put it, Sho would have a hell of a lot of even newer feelings that would take this beyond blushing, giggling, and whatever the hell happened inside of his ten year old head. Fukuda needed to put a stop to this before he got to the age. Before he got to the age when he would try to do something about this….and when Shimazaki would let him….

And then Fukuda would have to figure out a way to kill him.

"I know…..I'm sorry…but I know that I'm getting Emmy a nice present and I know that I'm not being rude when I call Ry…Ryou…when I call Shimazaki by his given name. I'm ten, not two, I know how stuff works. Now come on, I have to get this for my girlfriend and you know their money better than I do." Said Sho. He didn't really see what was so wrong about calling Shimazaki by his given name. He had been given permission. He did, however, see what was wrong about what he had said. He had to be less of a jerk. He was done with being a jerk. If he didn't stop now he would never stop and then he would grow up to be like dad. His eyebrows might even turn into caterpillars because he was such a jerk that they were trying to escape…and stuff.

"You're right, you're a big kid now. Come on, let's go find a candy store and then we'll find all kinds of weird candy to fill that helmet with. Then we can find her a nice doll or some jewelry or something and I bet that she'll be really happy. Who knows, you might even get a kiss out of this." Said Fukuda. He knew when to step back. They'd talk on their trip. They'd talk like they had before. This was not the time or the place. He had to pull instead of push, he decided, pull Sho away from Shimazaki and towards this little girl who was his own age. That was the best part out of all of this. He didn't care about anything else aside from the fact that she was his age.

That was the best part.

He didn't have the father issues that it looked like Shigeko had. That was good. He was with a little girl and he seemed to care about her. That was good. He wasn't like his sister who seemed to be exclusively attracted to people at least twice her age. This really was good for Sho. He was doing something normal and age appropriate…and also this was so cute, too. Cute and good for some light teasing.

"You-you-you-just pay the man, Fukuda!" said Sho. He practically ran away from Fukuda. He did not need Fukuda to be talking about that part of his life. So he kissed his girlfriend, so what?! He was supposed to kiss his girlfriend! He was a normal person who was going to kiss his girlfriend normally and there was no reason to make fun of him….and….and….and he needed….

He needed to get his girlfriend all of her presents and then she would be happy and then he would kiss her and-and-and…and then she would kiss him and he would kiss her and it would all be nice and…and….and….

He got her a present!