Baby sis could walk now.

She could put one foot in front of the other and make herself go forwards. She had been too little to sit up on her own when he had last seen her and now she was walking. That was the first thing that he had noticed, the only thing that he had noticed, when he had walked through her door. Baby sis could walk. She could sit and stand and walk.

That was what she did when she saw him.

He came in through the door and saw her right there at the end of the hallway. There was some kind of baby fence thing that separated the living room from the kitchen. That was how these apartments, the ones in the Seventh Division, were set up. The door opened to a genkan which had a hallway that went to the kitchen and then attached to the kitchen was the living room and then there was another hallway and then the bedrooms and bathroom. Each apartment only had two bedrooms. They should have had more in case baby sis's mom decided to have another baby or something….

That would have sucked.

He knew that he was being a jerk thinking that it would have sucked, baby sis having a little brother or sister, because having a sibling…it wasn't so bad. Some parts of it could actually be pretty great. You had someone who was there for you, who took care of you, and who loved you no matter what…but that was what it was like being the little sibling. Mukai would have been the big sibling and then she would have had to take care of all of her little brothers and sisters, which would have sucked, and also if she had for real siblings instead of pretend ones then she would forget all about him and big sis….

And that would have been the worst thing in the world.

"Whoa…" said Sho as he stood in the genkan. That was all he could say….well he could also say 'holy fucking shit' because that was what he was feeling right now…but if he said that then baby sis might have said that and then that would have sucked. So he said whoa.

Because baby sis could stand up now.

She was standing behind this baby gate thing that seemed sort of mean…but his eyes danced around the kitchen. There was a stove there that she could burn herself on and a knife block with knives that she could have cut herself on and a sink that she could have filled with water and drowned herself in and also the fridge could have tipped over and crushed her to death….so maybe it was better that she was in her little baby gate place….

Which had A LOT of toys.

He could see the doll that baby sis gave her. It was in a pile of stuffed animals and rag dolls….and also she had other soft toys like nerf balls and sock puppets and building blocks made of foam and….and he felt the gift box in his hand. Maybe he should have gotten her a rag doll or something. She seemed to like soft things….and also maybe he should have gotten her more paper towel rolls, too, because the gift bag that he had felt sort of small….because he hadn't gotten her enough stuff to make up for missing Christmas and her birthday….and he knew that babies could not read calendars but that was no excuse to have treated her like that.

He had been such a jerk.

"Hey, kid, take your shoes off already." Said Baby Mukai's mom. Sho kicked his shoes off quickly. Right. He had to get out of the gekan. Baby sis's mom wanted him to get out of the genkan and baby sis was standing up and reached her chubby little baby arm through the bars of her baby gate. She was reached out and she had a little hand…well he had known that she had a little hand…but now her little hand was an even bigger little hand and he wondered if she still had to sleep with socks taped to her hands. If she still scratched herself with her sharp baby nails. If she still needed to have a bottle before bed and also a story, too. If she got up fifty times a night to scream and cry….or maybe twenty five now because she was so much older….over a year older…..

She could walk now.

"Well go on then, she's been missing you a lot." Said Baby Mukai's mom as she faced Sho's shoes the right way. He felt his face burning just a little bit. Right. He had to set a god example for baby sis. Even her little baby shoes were facing the right way…and she had little baby shoes now. They were pink and had Hello Kitty on them….like how big sis had Hello Kitty shoes back when they had been little and she had liked Hello Kitty…and if she had been there then she could have told baby sis about Hello Kitty and her friends and the adventures she had and about her family and big sis could have read her the books and showed her the show and all of that stuff…..

But big sis was not here.

Big sis was in a whole other country. She was with dad and the others and he was here. He was here with baby sis and she would have liked this, liked being here with baby sis, loved it in fact….but she could not be here. This was a secret. This was a big secret and he knew that if big sis was ever to hear about this, to know about this, then it would all be over. Fukuda had warned him. Being older was about keeping secrets, it seemed, but Sho could do it. He was not a baby.

Mukai was the baby, not him.

"She remembers me?" asked Sho

"Of course she does. What kind of a person would I be if I let her forget her own big brother?" asked baby sis's mom. Sho didn't correct her. They were just pretend brother and sister. Really he was more of an uncle than anything since dad had given big sis baby sis as a birthday present originally….which was sort of messed up because people were not presents…but dad was a sort of messed up guy so it all made sense. The fact that he thought that a human being could be a gift.

Well she was sort of a gift.

He felt all happy inside when he was near her. Not the happy inside that he felt when he finished a drawing or he beat big sis fair and square at a game or he was near Shimazaki….no this feeling was a million times removed from that one….it was just so….good. It felt sort of like Christmastime when he woke up and all of his presents were there and stuff. Big sis had said, before, that the best gift in the world was having him as a little brother. That was after he had gotten mad and torn up a drawing that he had made for her…and at the time it had seemed like she had just been saying nice things for the sake for saying nice things….because that was what she did. She told people what they wanted to hear so that they would be happy….and that was what he had thought that she had been doing on that day…

But now he got it.

Having baby sis in his life was a gift. So what if she hadn't come from mom's stomach? Not everyone in the world could have come out of his mom's stomach but that didn't mean that he couldn't care about them….and also it didn't matter that she wasn't a Suzuki. Dad was the only person in the world who thought that Suzuki's were the best people ever and his bloodline had to stretch until the end of time or whatever….none of that mattered to Sho….

The greatest gift in the world was having a little sister…and even if she wasn't really his sister…having her in his life was a gift.

But he also had actual gifts for her. He walked over to her baby gate and her mom told him to try and climb over it, that she would show him how the latch worked, but he didn't climb over it. No, he flew over it. He used his powers to make himself fly right over the gate. Baby sis sat down hard, her butt made a thud as she let herself fall back, and her little baby legs started to kick as he flew over her gate. Her aura, her little baby aura, felt happy.

Which made him feel happy.

"Come on, don't show her how to do that. I have a hard enough time with the walking and climbing." Said baby sis's mom as she unlatched the gate and stepped through. She felt bad, sort of, because he needed her mom to like him. If her mom didn't like him then she could tell him that he wasn't allowed to visit anymore….well he was Suzuki Sho and he could do whatever he wanted to…but he didn't want to go where he wasn't wanted.

"I'm sorry." said Sho even though he wasn't. He hadn't been around to teach her how to walk but he could at least teach her how to fly….and also she could CLIMB?! That was GREAT! There were so many trees outside that they could climb together! They could build a tree fort, better than the one that dad had in the woods from when he was a kid, and that could be their castle and they could have adventures and hang out and be friends and then he could visit her all the time and then maybe when big sis got older and learned how to keep a secret, if she ever learned how to keep a secret, and then it would be great!

Or something.

"It's ok, just don't teach her how to fly. She's hard enough to keep track of. Aren't you Mukai? Who's mobile now? You are, you are?" said baby Mukai's mom in a baby voice, the kind of voice that you were supposed to talk to babies in because it made them smile. Like now. Baby Mukai was smiling…and now she had all of these little baby teeth…and he had missed her getting all of her little baby teeth….and he had missed her learning how to stand and walk and….and he was going to miss everything else about her life….wasn't he?

Because he could be no kind of big brother to her.

Dad sucked. If not for dad then she could have been a part of their family. If mom had been around then she would have made dad keep baby sis. She would have put her crib in one of the rooms in the Castle that they hadn't been using…or maybe she could have made room in his and big sis's room…and she would have been so happy to have had another baby in the house. Plus Mukai was a girl baby and then mom could have done girl stuff with her. Yeah, if mom had been around she would not have let Fukuda take the baby away. She would have told Fukuda not to follow dad's orders, to follow her orders, and he would have listened because he and mom had been best friends…and then Mukai could have been his little sister for real….

Dad sucked.

If they had been with mom, or if dad had been a better person, then baby sis could have been a part of their lives…they could have been a part of her life…more than she was now. She was all the way here in Seasoning City instead of being with them at the Castle or even in the Claw houses they stayed at. She could have been happy-ish….happy to have him as a big brother and big sis as a big sister….but she would have been sad to have had dad as a dad…

So she was better off here with her mom that loved her and stuff.

Her mom picked her up and hugged her and then she put her back down next to Sho. Big sis looked up at him and for a moment he didn't know what to do. She was there. She was right there next to him and she was looking at him…and they had the same eyes. They both had blue eyes but, like, the same kind of blue. Super clear blue with really small pupils. That was cool. She had the same eyes and the same hair as him and her aura was red too….they could have been for real brother and sister if he hadn't known any better. She would have fit right in with their family better than his own sister did….

But she had her own family now.

Her mom sat down on the couch and put the TV on. There was a fighting show on…and maybe that wouldn't be good for baby Mukai. She didn't need to know about fighting. That was why he had stopped fighting, because he had to set a good example, but what kind of an example was her mom setting by putting fighting on the TV. Also she was in a dojo uniform thing…because she had been a champion fighter, Fukuda had said, so maybe it was ok when she fought then…he didn't know. He knew that he didn't want her to fight and he knew that big sis would have brought her up not to fight and then even if he hadn't been able to change she could have still grown up right because big sis would have shown her the way to be…and stuff….

But big sis was not bringing her up and neither was Sho so he didn't have any right to say anything.

Also if he did say something then that might have gotten him kicked out of her home and he didn't want that. This was the only time when he got to see her and he needed to make the most of it…but the only problem was that he didn't know how to make the most of it. She was there, with him, and she was looking at him and now her finger was in her mouth and…and maybe she would end up biting it off because she had teeth now….and she still drooled….and she had been such a drool machine before…and she was still such a drool machine….and he loved her so much…and he had to do something….

"H-Hi….Mukai…." said Sho. He waved at her. She reached her hand up and he almost umped back. She was so small and what if he had accidentally hit her while he had been waving? Then she would have gotten hurt and then…and then if she had gotten hurt then…then it would have been the worst thing in the entire fucking world…

And now she would end up saying bad words!

What if she could read minds? What if that was her power and nobody knew it yet? What if she had the power to read his thoughts and now she had bad words in her head and then she started saying all kinds of bad words and then she would be the cursing baby and people would make fun of her for being the cursing and then her mom would be mad at him for turning her into a cursing baby and-

"She's saying 'hi'. You don't have to freak out. She's just a baby, she can't hurt you, yet." Said baby sis's mom. She had her phone out and Sho heard the camera do the shutter noise. Baby sis still had her hand out. She was waving it and he waved his hand back at her…and then she waved harder…and he waved harder…and then she waved both hands…and now he had to wave both hands…and now she wave her hands harder…and then he waved his hands harder….

He didn't understand the rules of this game but he knew that it was fun.

She was smiling and laughing now. She had drool all down the front of her shirt. It was pink and said 'I'm a baby, what's your excuse?' in pink glittery writing…and he wondered if she even liked pink. He had no idea what her favorite color was or if she even had a favorite color. She might have liked blue or red or yellow or green or purple or…or some other color. He didn't know. He didn't even know if she could tell him. Maybe she would tell him her favorite color next time he saw her.

She might end up being a little kid by then.

He didn't know when you stopped being a baby and started being a little kid…maybe when you could talk good and walk good and stuff. She couldn't walk so good. He had seen her fall down on her butt when he first came in. She was still so little and she had these short little bay legs…and stuff. He wondered what it would be like when she was bigger. Would she remember him? Her mom had said that she hadn't let Mukai forget him….

But he had no idea how long it would be until his next visit.

So he should just enjoy the time he had with her while he had it. He would play her little baby games and hang out with her in her little baby cage and just…love her. He would love her. for as long as he could be with her he would love her and then he would love her for even longer after he left and he would love her until the next time he saw her and then he would keep on loving her no matter what. She was his baby sis and he would love her no matter what.

If she was tugging on him now.

She was tugging on the leg of his jeans. She had her little baby hand in the rip on the knee and she was making it sort of worse….but that was ok. These were just pants. The world was full of pants and he could always get another pair. Right now she was what mattered and he would never be able to get another baby sis. Not another one of her specifically and not another sister in general since mom was gone and dad was a jerk and no other girl would ever want to be in the same room as him let alone fall in love with him and marry him and make a baby with him….which was so gross….the grossest thing ever….

Even grosser than getting baby drool on his pants.

Mukai was using his pants as a napkin now…and he didn't mind. She was such a drool machine sometimes…and he had missed it, this, her being a little drool machine. He hoped that she wasn't still a little vomit machine though because that had been so gross…and also it couldn't have been good for her to have been throwing up as much as she had before. She seemed fine now…but she was drooling on him a lot. He crouched down and put her pacifier in her mouth. It was the kind that clipped to her shirt…and he knew this one. This was the one that she had come with when dad brought her from Korea. The pink one that looked like a butterfly. She liked it, maybe, because she took it right in her mouth…and then she reached up and tugged on his hair.

She was strong.

She had always been super strong even when she had been a little baby. She had been able to yank out pieces of big sis's hair when she had been little….and Sho could feel her yanking out his hair now, maybe, but that was ok. She was using him to stand up…and now she was standing up…and she put her little baby knee right in his eye but that was ok…and this was ok. She had probably never met another person with red hair beside him before. Well him and dad but she probably couldn't remember dad…and also it was for the best that she didn't remember dad. It was best that she never even knew who dad was. Not before she had to, anyway, because if her mom was a Scar then she was probably going to grow up to be a Scar….or maybe something bigger like a division leader…she could be whatever she wanted to be. When dad died after he took over the world and he left it to Sho he would give baby sis whatever job she wanted.

Maybe professional hair puller.

"Mukai, no. No pulling. That's a no-no." Said baby sis's mom. She sounded just like his own mom when she said that. He could hear mom's voice in his head now….that's a no-no Sho….don't climb up there Sho…don't pull on Shigeko's hair, Sho….don't wake daddy, Sho….and all of that. He didn't want her mom to ever tell her no. When he had his own kids he would never tell them no or anything like that….

Baby Mukai was not his kid.

If he told her mom to stop telling her no then he would end up getting kicked out. He would end up getting kicked out and then he would never see her again….and that would have sucked so hard….so he didn't tell her mom to be nice to her…and at least Mukai didn't seem upset. She let go of his hair and now she was tugging on his shirt with her little baby hands…

And he had to make her stop then.

Because she could have seen his scars then. She could never, ever, EVER see his scars. If she saw his scars then she would have wanted to know how he had gotten them….and she never needed to know how he got them. There was an Awakening Lab here and if he let her see his scars then she would ask him about how he got them and then he would have to explain to her what they did here….what had happened to him…and he just did not want to ever have to explain that to her.

She was better off not knowing.

She was better off not knowing where the Awakened came from. He knew that he had been better off not knowing back when he had been little…and he had been better off….no. He was better off now. He was better off now because he had his full powers and he was a strong esper and now dad…well dad didn't hate him….well not in any serious way….so that was….it was ok. What had happened to him was ok. It would not be ok for that to happen to her, though, because she was just a baby. She was just a baby and she had an aura….and she would have one when she got older…but if she never got any more powerful than this then….then that was fine…and if anyone tried to put her in an Awakening Room then he would kill them….or skin them….or boil them alive….or let them rot in traitor holes….the ones up where it was cold and snowy all the time where the people froze to death….or something. Something worse. When he ran the world he would think up a punishment bad enough for anyone who tried to awaken his baby sis….

He would never let that happen.

And he would never even let her know that things like that happened to people. He tried to pull his shirt out of her grasp but she was so strong…and he knew that he was stronger but he would never hurt her. He would rather have taken a citrus bath than hurt his own baby sister…and that was that. He didn't make her let go and he didn't tell her to stop like her mom kept on saying. No, that would have been mean, too. No, instead he distracted her.

Because she was really easily distracted.

They had learned the distracting trick back when she had first come to them. She had always been a very wiggly baby and it was bad during diaper changes. Big sis would do the changing part, Sho avoided it when he could because it was super gross, and then Sho had distracted her with a toy or something until it was over. That was she didn't put her little baby feet in her diapers and make herself all gross and stuff. The same thing might work again now even though she wasn't being changed. He brought her gifts over with his powers. She stopped tugging.

She sat down on the floor.

She reached out with her hands and he saw her aura flare. She was trying to do like him. He had no idea what her powers would be once she got them. He wished that there was some way to tell but there wasn't. Not without knowing who her mom and dad, the ones who made her, were. Parents passed their looks down to their kids so maybe they passed their powers down too. He had dad's aura and his telekinesis and stuff. So did big sis…well her aura was different…but they had the same powers…aside from the plant thing….so he guessed that even if he knew who her mom and dad were he still would not have been able to know what her powers were….

Well that was ok because he would love her just the same if she had his powers or unique powers or no powers at all.

"Hey Mukai, look. I got you presents. See, the bag has your birthday present in it and the box has your Christmas present. I'm sorry that I haven't been back for very long…and I'm sorry that my gifts are so late…and I'm just…sorry for not being much of a big brother to you…but I'm trying, you know? I'm trying my best and…and when I get older and stuff and I can just go where I want to go and do what I want to do…then we'll hang out more, ok? But for now…let's just open your presents up." Said Sho. He had no idea how much Mukai understood, maybe he should have spoken Korean since she originally came from Korea, but she seemed happy. She started laughing and also she slapped him on the arm…so that must have been good.

She must have been happy.

She smiled and laughed…and then she smiled and laughed some more when she unwrapped the paper towel rolls…though her mom hadn't been the happiest about those…and she smiled and laughed when she got the doll, too, even though she didn't really play with it. She just tried to eat it's hair…but that was how she played with things. She was just a baby after al. maybe the next time he got her a doll she would be able to play with it for real….because the next time he saw her she might have been a grown kid…or something….

He didn't know what she would be when he would see her next, he only knew what she was now. A baby who could walk…but also who still loved playing and drooling.