Baby sis was two now.

She was two whole years old. She had been born two years ago. When he'd been nine she'd been born. Sho had no idea why that was so….amazing. He knew that babies were born every single day he knew that right there, at that moment, there were probably a million babies born right that second. Those babies were not his baby sis, though. Baby sis…she was so much older now. She was two years old now…

And she knew it.

"Happy birthday! I'm two!" said baby sis as she tugged on his jacket. She had just gotten up from her nap. She still took naps. She wasn't too big for naps yet. She was still little enough that she had to nap….but she was big enough to know that it was her birthday. Well her birthday had passed but she didn't know days of the week yet. She just knew that Sho had a present for her and also that her mom had told her that it was her birthday.

Moms were good at remembering things like that.

"Mukai, be nice. What do you say?" asked baby sis's mom. She pulled Sho's jacket from baby sis's hand. She wasn't strong enough to hurt his jacket, not yet, but she was still very strong. She was stronger now than she had been when she'd been a baby. She was strong enough to stand, now, after all. When he'd met her she had barely been able to hold her own head up and now she was walking and talking and…

And she was two now.

"Happy birthday please!" said baby sis. She knew how to say please now. She knew so many words now. She knew so many things and…and he wondered what new thing she would learn by the time that he next saw her. He wondered if she would be able to talk better, like he could, and if she would be able to draw better, like he could, and he wondered…well he wondered a lot of things….things that he should not have been wondering about.

He was there, she was there, and that was what mattered.

So, really, he should have been wondering about other things…like if she was going to like her present. Yeah. That seemed like something that it would have been better to wonder about. He had gotten her a bunch of M&M's and she could have those so long as she ate them one at a time and he watched her. She had all of her teeth now so she knew how to chew things and not just swallow them…though if she still needed her grapes peeled and cut up then he would do that for her.

He was her big brother….her pretend big brother…and there was nothing at all in the whole world that he would not have done for her.

"Here, Mukai, you have to rip the paper off. See?" asked Sho. He'd had to show her last year how birthday presents worked…but this year she seemed to have it down. She slapped his hand away and took the present from him. She was strong but not as strong as him. She tried to drag it over to her drawing table. Sho tried to help her with his powers.

She didn't like that at all.

"No! Mine! No for Sho!" said baby sis. Her aura flared there….and that was….a thing that she could do now. Well she'd always had a little baby aura, that was why her real mom and dad had left her with Claw in the first place, but now she had a….well a less big baby aura. She was still little and…and she was still too little to go in an awakening machine….

She would always be too little to go in one of those machines…and anyone who tried to put her into one would die.

"Mukai, be nice. Sorry kid, she thinks that you're after her present." Said baby sis's mom with a shrug.

"But….I'm the one who gave it to her." said Sho. Baby sis knew that he had given it to her…did she think that he would take it back? No way. He wasn't like that. When you gave someone a present then it was for forever.

"She's two." Said baby sis's mom. Sho knew that she was two, there was no way for him not to know it. She was his bay sister and two years ago she had been born and then she had been taken away from him because she was better off with a family of her own. Sho had no idea how anyone could have thought that he could have forgotten that.

Well big sis seemed to have forgotten.

He didn't know what was with her. She never talked about baby sis, not ever, not even to say that she missed her. She hadn't forgotten, if she had then she would have been confused about why she had a baby sock in her pillow case, she just…never talked about her. Like with mom. Nobody ever talked about mom either. He knew that everyone still remembered her, how could big sis possibly forget her own mom?! She knew that they'd had a mom and she'd loved them but then not anymore because she ran away from home. Dad remembered her too. He said that she had run away and that she was a traitor and that was the same as remembering someone. Hell, even Fukuda thought about mom more than they did and he talked about her more too and they had only been friends. They hadn't been married and mom hadn't been his mom. Was that just what you were expected to do when someone went away? Forget them?

Sho didn't want to forget.

He didn't want to forget the people who had left him. Forgetting them felt the same as letting them die or run away or something. If nobody remembered mom then it would be like she had never existed. The same went for baby sis. They hadn't known her for very long and…and not talking about her or anything….well that was like losing her all over again…and he never wanted to lose his baby sister all over again. He would never forget her, ever, even if he couldn't visit her as often as he wanted to. He would always love her and he would never forget her and he would always be there for her.

Especially if she needed help with something.

"Here, Mukai, let me help you." Said Sho as he made his way over to her drawing table. He was careful not to step on any of her toys. She had a lot of them and it looked like she was still too little to know to put them away. She'd be better about that when she got older, girls liked stuff to be neat and away and stuff, and also when your stuff was put away then it was easier to find later….and also not to step on. He accidentally stepped on one of her dolls but she didn't notice. She was busy ripping the wrapping paper up into little pieces and throwing it around the room.

Maybe next time he should have just gotten her a bunch of rolls of wrapping paper or something.

"Kid, next time bring a gift bag." Said baby sis's mom before she went over and got out a broom and dustpan. Sho wasn't going to bring baby sis's next gift in something so boring. She liked to rip up paper and he was her big brother, well her pretend big brother, and it was his job to make her happy so he was going to bring her all the wrapping paper in the world if that was what she wanted.

"I'll clean it up in a minute. I'm just going to help baby sis now." Said Sho. He didn't know why her mom made that face when he said that. Sort of like she had bitten into a sandwich and there was half a worm in it…and that wasn't funny when it happened to you but very funny when it happened to Hatori….and Sho…well he knew how to sweep a floor. Well he sort of did. He'd seen big sis do it before. How hard could it be? Well he'd have to clean up baby sis's toys first…and she had a lot of them…but still. He could be helpful sometimes!

Especially when it came to baby Mukai!

"No help! No help!" said baby Mukai as Sho got close. He wondered, for a minute, if she'd forgotten him. Babies were very forgetful. He figured as much since he couldn't remember anything from when he'd been a baby. His first memory was of big sis being there but him being freaked out for some reason…and mom and dad had been there….and he really wished that he knew what all of that had been about. It had been driving him crazy or the past eleven years! He wondered if baby sis had any memories that drove her crazy. Any memories where she couldn't even remember what happened…but she knew that whatever had happened had really happened….

Hopefully not anything bad.

He wondered if she remembered her real mom and dad ever. The ones that made her and then didn't want her anymore so they gave her to Claw. He wondered if she ever thought about them. He knew that he thought about his mom a lot but she had been gone…well she had left him when he was old enough to remember things. Like the Castle. Like school. Like how big sis never did end up washing his special plate before they left. He wondered if baby sis ever thought about her own life. If she thought about Korea and her mom and dad and any real brothers and sisters if she had them. Or maybe she didn't remember at all. He wondered what she did remember….

He was glad that she remembered him.

"Sho! Sho no help! My happy birthday!" said baby Mukai. She remembered him. Of course she remembered her big brother…her pretend big brother. He had been her very first word after all. She didn't remember big sis, though, she never talked about her and when Sho showed her pictures pf big sis she didn't seem tic ae. That sucked. Big sis had really loved her. She had been the one to teach Sho how to do all the stuff that you had to do to take care of a baby….and also…also big sis had loved baby sis and baby sis had loved big sis…and big sis had cried so much when they took baby sis away and….and big sis…well she never talked about baby sis anymore so maybe the forgetting was mutual.

Or at least he hoped that it was.

He knew that….that this wasn't right. Big sis had been just as much Mukai's sister as Sho was her brother. Hell, dad had even given her Mukai as a present when she turned ten. Big sis….the right thing to do would have been to have come clean about this. To have told her everything. To have told her that baby sis was at the Seventh Division and that Sho had been sneaking around and visiting her…that he had spent so much time with bay sis that he had been her very first word….he should have told her so that she would have had a chance at being baby sis's first word...and so that she could have been the one to sit next to her and show her how opening presents worked….

But then she would have told dad about baby sis….so pragmatic choices had to be made…the very worst kind of choices had to be made.

"Here baby sis, see? If you just rip it up like this-" said Sho as he tried to rip off some of her wrapping paper. She reached out and slapped him over the head…and her little baby slaps weren't so little anymore…but that was ok. That was just a part of being the older sibling. He used to hit big sis all the time…and he still felt like an asshole about it….so it was ok, then, for baby sis to hit him…

At least while she still was a baby, anyway.

"Mine!" said baby sis.

"I know that it's yours, I just want you to get the present out. Come on, let me help. You know that I would never steal from you. I love you." Said Sho. She stared at him and then handed him a little piece of wrapping paper. One that was small even in her little hands…and tiny in his. It was all ripped up…and also kind of wet….and he didn't know with what….but he would treasure it forever.

"This. You for this." said baby sis as she pressed the little piece of wrapping paper into his hands. This was wet and pink, she liked pink, and he didn't really want it….but he would still treasure it forever. He took the paper and put it into the secret pocket in his coat. There were a lot of secret pockets in this coat, it used to belong to Shimazaki after all, and as he put the piece of paper in his hand touched something sticky…oh. Right. He had been saving some gummies in there…

He'd deal with that later. Right now he had to help baby sis.

"You for this. Me for this." said Mukai. Now she was ripping little pieces off of her present and tossing them on the ground. Something tapped Sho on the head. Oh. It was a broom handle. Right. He had said that he'd help out…and he would. Later. When baby sis finished her work.

She had small hands.

It took a while. She had such small hands, still small enough to fit in his, and he wondered when she would be too big for her hands to fit in his. His hands didn't fit inside of big sis's…but they were pretty much the same size. Still, one day she would be his size. He wondered if she would remember him when she got to be eleven. She would be taller and….and she would talk better…and would she be able to draw? Would they be able to draw together? Or would she just…would she have her own things that she liked? Maybe makeup and Frozen like big sis liked….he didn't know…

He mostly just hoped that she liked M&M's.

"Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween!" shouted baby sis as she finally got to the actual present part of her gift. Sho…had maybe gone a little bit nuts at the M&M' store…but he hadn't been able to help it! They had so many colors and all the kinds, even the kinds with nuts, and baby sis…well he had wanted her to go nuts when she saw it…and she did. He wondered if that made up for, at all, missing her birthday like he had…and Christmas….and also he'd missed girl's day last year and…and she was happy now and that was what mattered. She was happy and…well her mom wasn't happy….maybe she wanted some too?

"You can probably have some too. I think that baby sis would share with you since you're her mom and all." said Sho. Baby sis's mom was making that face like she bit into a worm on accident again. It made her scar look like a worm, actually, like it was one of the burrowing skin worms that Emmy told him about. He wondered if that hurt her, to have her scar move like that. Some of his hurt him sometimes when it got cold out and stuff.

"Kid….why did you do this to me?" asked big sis's mom with a sigh. She was acting like something terrible had happened…or maybe more like Minegishi acted whenever they had to wake up and do something. Sho didn't get it.

"Do what?" asked Sho. All he had done was give baby sis her present…and it was a good present. It wasn't like Sho had gone out and gotten her something like glitter. Fuck glitter. It got everywhere and never came out…and baby sis might have liked it…and if she liked glitter then he would have gotten her some…even if it sucked and her mom would've been mad.

"You'll see when it happens." Said baby sis's mom as she stepped over towards Mukai. She was trying to get the M&M's out of the plastic now with her little baby nails…or really more like her little baby claws. She'd always had such sharp nails…when she'd been little she'd been able to scratch his skin up bad enough for there to be blood…but for some reason her little nails couldn't get through plastic.

"When what happens?" asked Sho

"Mama! Mama open now! Sho open now!" said baby sis. She wanted the pink ones with her birthday on them. He wished that he had gotten them made in Japan, they hadn't had the characters for her name and he had no idea how to spell it in English…and baby sis couldn't read anyway but that wasn't the point. The point was getting her the best gift ever so she could forgive him for being gone for so long. That was what you were supposed to do with girls, give them presents so that they forgave you. That was what dad did, anyway, when he had to go away…back when they'd lived with mom in the Castle.

"Mukai…alright…but only a few." Said baby sis's mom. She said that and…and Sho…why?! What made her think that baby sis couldn't have as many as she wanted!? They were her present and she was excited and Sho…seeing her this excited made him feel all good inside and…and he loved his sister so much and….and he just….he wanted her to be happy! He wanted her to be happy and…and she could have all the M&M's in the world if she wanted!

"No! Let her have as many as she wants! That's why I got them for her and-" said Sho

"Kid, don't shout at me. If you shout you'll get her shouting and if you get her shouting then you're out of here." Said big sis's mom.

"…fine….but why can't she have as many as she wants? I got them for her…and I want her to be happy." Said Sho quietly. Right. He wasn't at home anymore. At home he could shout but…well this was not his mom. This was not his mom and he couldn't shout at her…and also he didn't want baby sis to start yelling either. Sho didn't want her to be like him.

"Because I don't like her to have a lot of sugar. Here, give them to her one at a time like this….and also next time just stick to getting her dolls." Said baby sis's mom. She leaned over, opened up the bag of M&M's, and then put exactly ten into Sho's hands. She took the rest away but baby sis didn't notice. She was too busy pulling on Sho.

"Now! Sho give me now!" said baby sis as she tugged on him. Sho made sure to give her one at a time…and she ate right from his hand like a bird. It was cute…and slobbery…but cute. Big sis wouldn't have liked it, though since she didn't like gross stuff like that. Or maybe she would have liked this. Maybe she would have liked to feed baby sis like a bird…she had liked feeding big sis when she'd been a baby after all…

Even though she threw up all over them.

When baby sis had been a baby she'd had trouble keeping food down. That was just….it had been gross but she'd grown out of it. Big sis would have been happy to know that baby sis had grown out of throwing up all the time. She would have been happy to know that baby sis was big enough to eat real food now. She would have been happy to know that baby sis was big enough to talk now. She would have been happy…well she would have just been happy to have been there.

And her bring there….big sis being there…well that would have made this a much happier birthday for baby sis.