Fukuda had gone to bed forty four and woken up forty five.
He was past the age where birthdays meant anything more than having had lived another year. Forty five of them this time. Next year it would be forty six and then forty seven and so on and so forth. There was nothing more to it. He was glad, actually, that his birthday had come here at the Seventh Division and not…wherever the group had found themselves this time. At least here he was alone…well alone-ish. Sho was busy with his little sister. Good. Fukuda….he loved getting his yearly card from Sho, he really did, but he did not love his birthday.
It was just another day, really.
Just another day in the never ending parade of days that had been his life. He got up, got dressed, and then did his part to help Suzuki take over the world. One day and then another and then another and so on and so forth since….well he couldn't exactly remember when this had started. When this had stopped being a game and started being his life. University? High school? Middle school? He didn't know the exact moment when this had stopped just being some stupid game that he and Touichirou played and started being his life….and he didn't want to know. He didn't want to start dredging up the past just to figure out when his life had stopped being his own.
He just wanted to get through today.
"And you're done." Said Fukuda as he got through yet another one of his many duties. He healed people. Whatever deity that gave them their powers had granted him the ability to heal people…so that was what he had done. A simple injury this time. Mukai's adoptive mother. The person…well the person was new but the job was not.
He knew how to do his job.
"Wow, it doesn't even hurt…and there isn't even a scar. Your qi is pretty amazingly strong, you know that?" asked Tsuchiya. Fukuda shrugged. Qi was her word for it, for what they could do. Touichirou had looked into it, if their powers were simply just a way of manifesting the energy within their bodies. The results were inconclusive….and Fukuda didn't really want to revisit them.
He mostly just wanted to go home.
"Yup. No concussions, contusions, or abrasions." Said Fukuda with a shrug.
"God, I wish this was your permanent posting. Mukai would love you. Seriously, she hates the medical room….but she's also obsessed with finding new ways to hurt herself. The other day, a couple days ago, I found her on top of the fridge eating cookies. I have no idea how she got up there and when she saw me she jumped off. Jumped! If I hadn't been ready…kids. You know how it is." Said Tsuchiya. Fukuda nodded. He knew exactly how it was. Sho had been, and still was, something of a daredevil. It had been worse when he'd been small. Between the ages of two and four it seemed like Sho's mission in life had been finding new and creative ways to hurt himself. Climbing over the garden wall, getting on top of the fridge, the time he managed to get his hand caught in a vent….he was better about it now, or at least not hurting himself, so that was good. He had no idea, though, where that had come from….
Yes he did.
He got it from his father. So did Mukai. That was why Shigeko had never gone through a phase like that. She had been such an easy kid. Now she was twelve going on twenty two but when she'd been little she had been the sweetest, easiest child….so maybe she was making up for lost time…and for the lack of Suzuki in her. Suzuki…Touichirou hadn't had much of a sense of self-preservation when they'd met…and what little he'd had…well that went out the window when he realized that Fukuda was damn good at healing him. The shit they got up to when they'd been young and stupid….
All of it.
The time they rode a shopping cart down a mountain path just because. The time they'd spend hours in front of the microwave trying to give themselves radiation poisoning. The time they drank a thermometer just to see if mercury poisoning was fatal….for Touichirou it was but Fukuda drank five thermometers with zero negative effects. The same went for drinking turpentine, drain cleaner, detergent, and whatever had been in that glass of miscellaneous under the sink things. He thanked God that Sho didn't have the…analytical…or maybe scientific….mind that his father had. He was NOT in the mood to test the limits of his healing. Sho…well the worst thing that happened to him was getting bitten up by whatever animals he bothered.
He wondered what Mukai…what she would end up getting up to…not that he liked to think about her that often….
"Yeah, I know how it is. Don't worry, we're going to be sticking around for a while. Sho…he likes to visit." Said Fukuda
"Mukai's going to be happy about that. Every time he leaves she gets so down. She looks for him, well she makes me look for him, and then when she realizes that he's gone again…well she doesn't take it well yet." Said Tsuchiya
"She is only two years old. She'll understand better when she gets older." Said Fukuda with a wave of his hand. He did not like talking about Mukai. He…well he had no real attachment to her…and he had to keep it that way. Sho….he'd been there since the day Sho had been born…and he was Masami's son too. There was more Masami than Touichirou in him. Mukai…he had no clue. He didn't know if she'd end up being the second coming of Touichirou or a smaller version of her adoptive mother or her biological mother or her own person…and he just…he had no idea. She was…well she was a person and she was there and Sho loved her and that was what mattered.
Fukuda…didn't dislike her.
He tried to have no real feelings towards her. He never saw her, which helped, and when he did…well he ignored the feelings of…well there was a sense of betrayal there. Suzuki had cheated on Masami…and Fukuda knew that he was being the biggest hypocrite in the world there….but there was a sense of betrayal there on her behalf. Also there was his own sense of betrayal. What did Suzuki think that he was doing just….just…making people?! Putting new people in the world for no reason?! Just…going out and having unprotected sex and then being completely amazed when there were new people in the world? Just…and then he had the nerve to try and give Fukuda this baby like…like that was just a thing that people did and-
Calm the hell down, Tadashi, calm the hell down.
"Yeah….what, exactly, will she need to understand? I mean what am I supposed to tell her. She's not stupid, she's going to notice that she looks like Sho and he calls her baby sis all the time so….yeah. What am I supposed to tell her?" asked Tsuchiya
"Tell her…well why not just tell her that Sho's pretending and that he just so happens to look…just like her…and he really doesn't. She…her face is sounder and…and their eyes are shaped differently and-" said Fukuda. Why she was asking HIM? That was her daughter. She was the one who had to figure this out. He had assumed, when she agreed to take Mukai in, that she knew that Mukai was to have no idea that she was related at all to Suzuki. So what if she asked questions? Kids asked about fifty questions a day. Just redirect her and move on to something else. It was easy.
"This is Japan, not a lot of redheads here. More blue eyed people than there used to be but not a lot of redheads." Said Tsuchiya with a shake of her head.
"Well she's being raised here, isn't she? So demographics really won't be something that she's going to notice." Said Fukuda
"You think that I plan for her to spend her entire life here? In this Division?" asked Tsuchiya
"Well….yes. You Scars don't really go out…and you have no real need to. When President Suzuki takes over there's going to be no shortage of work and-" said Fukuda
"Obviously I'm not going to raise her in here for the rest of her life. She needs other kids to play with or she's going to end up really weird. It's just easier to keep her here since I don't get out that often myself. She's going to live out in the world when she gets older…and even if she doesn't she's going to notice that she looks just like the kid who calls her baby sis and I need to know what I'm supposed to tell her." said Tsuchiya
"She's your daughter. Tell her whatever you want…but don't tell her where she came from." Said Fukuda
"You know she's going to figure it out one day, right? That she's President Suzuki's kid-" said Tsuchiya
"Nobody needs to figure out anything." Said Fukuda
"Everyone already knows but….fine. I'll think of something to tell her on my own. Happy birthday." Said Tsuchiya
"What?" asked Fukuda
"Well unless you're going to tell me what to tell her, being Suzuki's right hand man after all-" said Tsuchiya
"No, I mean how did you know that it was my birthday?" asked Fukuda
"The birthday shout outs. Vice President Suzuki's birthday list, remember? Actually here, you get a whole video." Said Tsuchiya as she got her phone out of her pocket. She clicked around for a little bit before she handed it to Fukuda. He took it….and wished that there was some way to give it back. He didn't really read Shigeko's internal memos. They were always the same. Birthday lists. Well wishes. Long missives about how everyone needed to be best friends all the time and how fighting was wrong…how good things were going to be when they took over the world…if he wanted to hear from her then he'd talk to her…not that he wanted to talk to her…and not that she wanted to talk to him. She had gotten this idea in her head that…he didn't even want to think about what she thought…but that was fine. She could think whatever she wanted…and she could do whatever she wanted…
Even spam everyone's work inbox with constant memos about nothing.
And videos. It took a second to load, the wifi in this place was terrible, but when it did….there she was. There she was and….had she gotten taller? It looked like she'd gotten taller….but he hadn't been gone for that long. Long enough to notice if she'd grown or not. She was there and she was smiling…she seemed happy there….he hadn't seen her happy in a while. She used to be such a happy kid…back when she'd actually been a kid. She had never been very expressive but she had been happy…in that way that small children were happy. She wasn't a small child anymore…she was barely a child. She was twelve now, right? Getting to it. Almost a teenager…
So why was she still doing things like this?
'Is it on? Ok, good. Hi everyone! I just made this to wish Fukuda a happy birthday and….um….don't be jealous but he gets a whole video because…um….I've known him for a long time and stuff. Anyway today Fukuda turns forty five! That's a lot and we should all wish him a happy birthday….um….please…' said Shigeko. She was…doing this? Why? She didn't like him…and she seemed sort of old for this….but then again she was too young for everything else she did so this was actually kind of refreshing.
Even though he had no idea what she was doing this for.
'Fukuda likes vanilla cake, Mario Party even though he's bad at it...wait…..that was kind of mean wasn't it?' asked Shigeko
'No, you're telling the truth. He does suck at Mario Party...weirdly good at Galaga though.' That was Hatori. Oh, he was the one recording this…and Fukuda wasn't bad at it he just liked to let Sho win.
'That's because he likes it….um….oh! He likes old videogames like my dad does…but not for work reasons like dad does….why are you laughing? Dad does like videogames for work reasons….I don't know what those reasons are but he does.' Said Shigeko. Fukuda rolled his eyes. Suzuki was so ridiculous sometimes even his Daughter could see it. She was sort of adorable there, like she used to be. She was in one of her costume dresses again….sort of. One of her blue outfits. She was a kid…an adorable kid.
A really adorable kid.
'Want to keep going, Mob?' asked Hatori
'I'm almost done, don't worry, you can get back to the math party soon. I don't know what dad is teaching you guys but it looks important.' Said Shigeko. God, the math parties…as Shigeko called them. Thank God he wasn't around for that. Unlike those other two he knew how to count.
'Ok, so um….he likes math too….and my dad said that when he was a kid he played clarinet once and swallowed a reed on accident….but maybe that's not a good birthday story…um….anyway happy birthday, Fukuda, congratulations on being forty five….ok, you can stop recording now. I hope he likes this because I'm not doing this again-' said Shigeko before the video cut out. Well then that was…she had done this for him for…some reason. Why? To get into his good graces? Their dislike was mutual. Maybe because she did things like this for all of her close friends….but he wasn't one of those close friends…he hadn't been for a while…so maybe she was trying to get into his good graces….but why? What did she possibly need from him?
Oh, right, he was watching Sho. Alright then, that made sense.
"So, yeah, happy birthday. You should head back to your place now. Apparently the kid is throwing you a birthday party." Said Tsuchiya as she took her phone back.
"What?" asked Fukuda
"Sho. He and Mukai are making you a cake right now….but you didn't hear it from me…and don't sit too near Mukai when you eat it. She can and will pick off of your plate." Said Tsuchiya
"Wait, you let Sho take the baby out of your apartment? Why? I mean I know that you leave him alone with her in your apartment but-" said Fukuda
"He's a good big brother. I trust him with her." said Tsuchiya
"He's only eleven years old." Said Fukuda. He expected Tsuchiya to do…anything other than what she just did. He expected her to do anything other than laugh in his face.
"And our vice president is….thirteen? Fourteen? She's somewhere in her teens." Said Tsuchiya
"She's eleven." Said Fukuda
"What the hell…" said Tsuchiya
"Yeah, she's eleven years old…excuse me." Said Fukuda. He….had to do something. He got up and left. That was something. He had to leave his office…technically an office that he just occupied….he just….he had to get back to Sho. He was all alone with a baby and….well he had been alone with her before but…but he was too young for that! He was just a kid and…and he was a little younger than Shigeko…but she was different. She could handle these things better. She sought them out, even, responsibility. She thrived under it…well she thought that she did anyway.
Sho did not do well under pressure.
He knew that Tsuchiya used him as a babysitter for short periods of time but…well that had been in her own, presumably baby proofed, home. Sho…he did not do well under pressure. Also he was trying to make a cake…the thought of Sho alone in a kitchen….Sho didn't even know how to heat up a poptart! He could end up burning this entire division to the ground!
Not that it would have been a tragedy.
Fukuda had thought about it, imagined it, time and time again. Burning Claw to the ground. Every HQ, every division, every cell….all of it. Just burning it to the ground and salting the earth so that nothing could ever grow up in it's place. He'd thought about it some and time again but…well that was just a dream he had…and also Sho could end up accidentally doing it and he was not fire proof. The scars on his body were testament to that.
He could get hurt.
Fukuda…he knew fully well that Sho could easily get hurt. He was small and he had already been so hurt…hurt beyond belief. He was so small and there was so much that could happen to him…like getting burnt. The baby…he didn't know that baby and he wasn't attached to her….but he didn't want any harm to come to her. Sho…when he had been very small he had pulled the table cloth down on himself…and there had been hot dishes on it. Shigeko had managed to protect him, she hadn't been much older but her powers even at that age were terrifying…
But she had protected Sho.
Sho…he loved his little sister more than anything else in the world…but he could get distracted. He could get distracted and he could get angry, too. He did not deal well with frustration. That was the Touichirou in him. Touichirou had always gone straight to breaking things when he'd gotten upset…so he had rained himself not to get upset…but Sho hadn't learned how to manage it yet. He got so angry sometimes…so very angry and…and he wasn't always in control when he got angry.
Fukuda walked faster.
He walked, but did not run, because if he ran then people would have asked what he had been running around for and he did not need to draw any more attention to himself. The story was that he had been sent there to help oversee the Seventh Division. He did not need people asking about him. He did not need this getting back to Suzuki. No, and that was why he didn't run. He walked briskly but he did not run. He rounded a corner but he did not run…
But he did…he ran into someone.
"Watch it!" said a Scar who Fukuda could not remember the name of. The evil spirit master, the one who collected them like Sho and Shigeko used to collect Pokémon. He dropped his phone but seemed to be more preoccupied with his belt. Fukuda eyed it wearily. He hated evil spirits. He couldn't exorcise them even if he'd known how to…not that he was afraid or anything.
He was just weary.
"Sorry." said Fukuda. He bent down and handed the Scar his phone back. He took it and kept walking.
"Yeah, no, sorry. Just this guy Suzuki sent over…anyway what did your boyfriend do? He stuck Skittles where?" said the Scar as he walked out…without even bowing. That was…Fukuda wasn't there to teach people basic manners. He had to get to Sho and…his phone vibrated. He almost dropped his phone as he took it from his pocket. That could have been nothing, more work spam, or Sho could have accidentally hurt himself.
It was Sho.
A text…there was a surprise waiting for him and he had to get home right now. Well that could be…it didn't smell like smoke. It didn't smell like anything, maybe floor cleaner, that was how they kept it sparkling white here. No smoke, though, so that was good. A birthday surprise from Sho. Maybe he had figured out the whole 'baking a cake thing'…of course he had. This was Sho. He was a smart kid. Sure he had trouble controlling his temper…and he could get easily distracted…but he could figure out how to make a cake…
Or a stack of pancakes.
That was what Fukuda wound up coming home to. A stack of pancakes almost to the ceiling and Sho trying to keep his baby sister in her chair. Fukuda…maybe should have stuck to running. Sho hadn't burnt anything down, no, instead there was a layer of batter on everything. The sink was full of dishes and there were M&M's everywhere…for some reason…well maybe the reason was the baby with the rainbow colored fingers….
And the struggle.
"Fukuda….happy birthday! Baby sis, say happy birthday!" said Sho as he tried to get his baby sister back into her chair. She was trying to crawl over him onto the table. Sho…well picking her up with his powers would have been easy….but Fukuda was not going to suggest that.
No, he'd help.
"Pancakes! Now Sho! Pancakes for me!" said Mukai as she tried to crawl over Sho. Fukuda reached over the two of them and picked Mukai up. He hadn't thought about it, no, he had just done it. Sho had needed help. He was way too little to do this on his own…just like he'd been when she'd been born. Two years ago. All of that insanity had been only two years ago.
The last time he had held this child had been two years ago.
She was…older now. He held her under her armpits like he used to do with Sho when he'd been in his terrible twos. The baby's….Mukai's…..Mi-cha's….aura flared. There was some pain there but nothing serious. More than a child her age should have had, of course, but still nothing much. He held her away from his chest in case she still had that problem where she threw up all the time. She was…heavier than he had imagined. Stickier too. She was colored like a rainbow. Her mouth, her fingers, even her little dress.
No crying in this dojo indeed.
"Sho, you didn't have to do this." said Fukuda as Sho sat down. He put the baby down in Sho's lap and handed her a pancake. She stopped squirming and now she was eating…well chewing and drooling…on her pancake.
"Mukai helped too….and she can't eat first. The birthday guy eats first. That's the rule of birthday pancakes." Said Sho. Fukuda shook his head. Sho was still such a good kid. He tried so hard...harder than he had to. He hadn't been expecting anything more than his usual hand drawn card from Sho. Not all of these pancakes as well as….an M&M…mosaic?
Was that supposed to be him?
It was…wow. So that was what Sho had done with all of those M&M's he'd gotten back in England. This was…wow. Sho…he knew that Sho could draw but he hadn't known that Sho could do mosaics like this. Wow. If Fukdua'd had a frame he would have framed it. Sho was so talented. He wished that Masami had been there for….some of this.
The part with Sho's art and first effort at cooking….not that part with Suzuki's illegitimate child.
"Oh, let her have some. There's no way in that I can possibly eat all of these on my own." said Fukuda
"I made forty five because you're forty five today. I wanted to make a cake but making cakes is complicated so we made pancakes. You just have toad water for that…and nonstick coating too. Me and baby sis figured that out eventually." Said Sho as he pointed to the burnt pan sitting in the sink. That was…going to take a lot of scrubbing…..but he would deal with that later. Now was not the time. This was the time for….well….
This.
"You didn't have to do all of this for me, Sho, you really didn't." said Fukuda
"Yeah I did, it your birthday." Said Fukuda
"Happy birthday!" shouted Mukai through a mouth full of pancake. She smiled and kicked the table…she was so cute. She was like a young Sho…well she was a girl but she was so much like him…of course she was like him. She was his sister. She was his little sister….and she was adorable….she was half of Touichirou but she was adorable.
"Well, I guess that you two did. Thank you so much. Not just for the pancakes but for the picture too. I didn't know that you knew how to do things like that." Said Fukuda
"It wasn't hard. It's just M&M's and glue…and a hammer too. Don't eat it, you'll get glue poisoning." Said Sho
"I won't, don't worry. I'm going to save this forever…in the other room. It looks like your baby sister isn't exactly heading your warnings about glue poisoning." Said Fukuda as he picked up the mosaic Sho had made. He needed….well he did need to put it away, Mukai really had been trying to eat it when he came in, and also….he needed a minute. Just a minute. Sho…he'd done all of that on his own. He was getting older and he was taking care of his sister and…and he was eleven now and…
And time was passing.
Sho was eleven, Mukai was two and he was fort five. Time was passing and…and it would keep on passing and…and he knew that it was passing. Sho was not a little kid anymore. Those days were gone and…and there was a sense of…loss there. He would never be as young as he had been before, as young as his little sister, but….well in the loss there was a sense of…gain. He was getting older and he was doing more and…and he was a good kid.
Masami would have been proud.
She would have been so proud of Sho if she had been there. She would have been unhappy with Fukuda, of course, for letting so many terrible things happen to Sho but she would have been proud of the person that he'd become. He always thought of others. He went out of his way…he went the hell out of his way….which was more than his father had ever done for anyone. Not his mother, though, Masami had always gone out of her way for others…for him…even at her lowest point she had been there for him and…
And he had to get out there before Sho looked for him.
So that was what he did. He went out there and had slightly burnt pancakes with Sho and his little sister. He said nothing when Sho called her his pretend little sister, nothing when the baby got upset when she couldn't crawl on the table, and nothing when the baby started to cry and Sho got right to getting her back to being happy. He was a good kid. He hadn't had to do any of that but he had and…and he was such a good kid. Fukuda was so proud of him. He loved him. He loved him like his own son, his own flesh and blood child, and he was so happy….
He had gone to bed forty four and woken up forty five…and he was happy. Another year had passed. Another year with Sho.