Hey everyone! Hope everyone's having a good March so far! Anyways, here's another chapter for you!

-Chapter Five-

"This is where I work," Mitsuki said the next morning after she'd gotten Yulong dressed and headed to work. She had stopped by one of the stores to get a couple of colouring books, coloured pencils, and a sharpener for her along the way.

"You do not work with Hei?" she asked.

"No. Not as a job like he does. But sometimes I will help them out when they need it for when they are dealing with multiple Contractors at once." She gave a soft smile before leading her towards the side entrance she usually went in. "Remember, only Minako and Kaitou know of me being a Contractor. The others do not. And most have only heard about the recent events of Contractors and Dolls since the Tokyo Explosion happened. Some are still getting used to the fact that we exist. Do you understand?"

Yulong gave a slight tilt of her head then nodded once.

Heading inside, Minako was just heading out from the locker area when she caught sight of them both. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Uh...M-Mitsuki? Who's this?" she asked, confused as Mitsuki came over so they could put their jackets away.

"This is Yulong," Mitsuki spoke up as the little girl looked up at the surprised woman. "She'll be in Hei's and my care for a while."

"Aww!" Minako knelt down in front of her. "You're so adorable!"

Yulong gave a blink before looking up at Mitsuki.

"She says you're adorable," Mitsuki told the young Doll in Mandarin. This got the slightly older woman to furrow her brow as Mitsuki switched back to Japanese. "Is Kaitou in his office?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'll have to talk to him. But I also want you to come too."

"Me?" Minako gave a blink.

"I'll explain everything in the office."

"Okay."

Taking off their jackets, Mitsuki hung them up in her locker and put her purse inside before turning while holding the bag of colouring items in her hand. She took Yulong's other hand and led her to her boss's office with Minako following. A few of her other coworkers gave confused looks as she passed. She merely gave them a smile and nod before stopping before the closed door, let go of Yulong's hand, and knocked.

"Come in," Kaitou's voice called from inside. Mitsuki opened it and let Yulong inside along with Minako before stepping in and shut the door behind her. Kaitou gave a confused look at the young girl. "Who's this?"

"This is Yulong," Mitsuki spoke up, inclining her head at the girl. "Hei and I will be her guardians for a while." She gave a small pause. "The other day, Hei was with Matsumoto on his team going undercover to get information about the Syndicate. It ended up turning into an ambush."

"Oh no! Are they both alright?" Minako asked.

"Hei only got a bruised shoulder," the black and white haired girl replied. "But thankfully he was backup instead of anyone else. The one that ambushed them was a Contractor. And he was one that knew Hei from when he was in South America." She looked down at Yulong. "Turns out, she was the Contractor's surveillance Doll."

"Wait, so she's like Yin?" Minako asked, surprised looking at the little girl.

"Yes. But she's also the Contractor's baby sister." Both widened their eyes in surprise. "To ensure the Contractor will behave and help us with any information we need, Hei promised to watch over her to him. Otherwise normally, the Dolls would go to Ishizaki up at the observatory to be evaluated and all." She gave a small pause. "For the time being, while the Contractor is doing his time in jail, we've been given legal guardianship of her. Since Hei usually is busy with his police work and chasing down other Contractors, she'll probably be with me. Her programming seems fairly self-sufficient according to Hei, but she's still a child so leaving her alone definitely is not an option."

"I fully understand." Kaitou gave a nod and smiled softly. "She can certainly come stay in the office or in the break room while you're working. We'll all take turns keeping an eye on her if you need it."

"Thank you." Mitsuki gave a nod before holding up the bag in her hand. "I brought her some colouring books today though I plan on starting some homeschooling for her. I don't know the extent of how much she's been programmed to know with reading and writing so I figured I'd help teach her. After all, if Yin has been able to show she's learning on her own, I'm certain Yulong will be the same. Amber told Hei that the Dolls are slowly changing just as Contractors are. Just more subtly." She gave a smile as she looked down at the young girl, who looked up at her. "She also only knows Mandarin. I'll be teaching her in Mandarin and introducing Japanese to her as well."

"Ah so that's why you spoke to her earlier in Chinese," Minako smiled. "Man, you're going to have to teach me some more Mandarin too." She knelt down in front of Yulong and switched to Mandarin; speaking slower. "I'm Katsuragi Minako. But you can call me Minako, okay?"

Yulong gave a slow blink and tilt of her head before looking up at Mitsuki.

"Minako is my best friend," Mitsuki spoke using Mandarin to her. "You can trust her and Kaitou alright?" Yulong gave a single nod. "Minako knows a little Mandarin, as does Kaitou. The others here, however, do not. But not to worry. We'll help you out." The young Doll gave another nod before looking at Kaitou as he came around the desk and knelt down in front of her while Minako stood back up.

"I'm Iwamoto Kaitou," he said in Mandarin as well. "Like Mitsuki said, we'll help you out the best we can. You'll just have to be patient with us since we're not fluent in Mandarin like Mitsuki is, okay?" Yulong nodded. "And likewise, we'll try to teach you Japanese so you can learn to understand those around you." He gave a soft smile. "We're friends with Yin so we know about Dolls, however, we still see you as just being you."

Yulong gave a slow blink before nodding again and looked up at Mitsuki.

"Why don't I get you situated in the break room for now okay?" Mitsuki spoke to the little girl. She gave a single nod before she looked at the other two and switched to Japanese. "I'll introduce her properly to the others later so I can get started with my shift. But I think she should be okay for a couple of hours while peeking in on her."

"I'll keep an eye on her, especially when it gets busy for you," Kaitou nodded.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." Mitsuki gave him a smile before nodding for the young girl to follow her back out of the office and down to the break room. She switched to Mandarin again as she pulled out the colouring books, pencils, and sharpener before setting them on one of the tables there. Yulong pulled out a chair, climbed up on it, and sat down. "Go ahead and sit here for now, alright? Colour in the pictures however you wish. Kaitou will check on you now and again. Don't hesitate to ask him for anything you might need." Yulong nodded. "I'll try to come check on you in a couple of hours. If you get hungry before then, let Kaitou know and he'll let me know. I'll have some food made up for us to eat today."

Nodding again to her, Mitsuki gave her a soft smile as the young girl opened one of the books to a page, looked at the picture, and picked up a coloured pencil. She studied it a moment before starting in on colouring a section of it. Mitsuki turned and headed towards the kitchen before returning a moment later with a glass of water for her to drink.

"Who's the kid?" one of her coworkers asked as she headed back to the kitchen and went to start getting ready for her duties. Minako was getting ready for her tasks as well.

"She's the little sister of one of Hei's acquaintances he knows," Mitsuki replied. "He's currently away dealing with some matters so Hei and I are watching over her for the time being."

"She's adorable," another of her coworkers grinned. "What's her name?"

"Yulong. She only speaks Mandarin though."

"Ah. That's right. You and your brother spoke it fluently," the first one spoke up with a chuckle. "Sometimes I forget you're half Chinese. You'll introduce us to her right?"

"Of course," Mitsuki smiled in return.

Hei came home later that evening after work was finished to find Mitsuki in the kitchen making some food with Yin. "Where's Yulong?" he asked, looking around.

"She's down in our room napping," Mitsuki replied with a soft smile. "She was pretty worn out from a long day."

"How did she do today?" he asked, coming over as she held up a slice of the orange she peeled. He leaned over and ate it from her fingers.

"She did just fine." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. "I bought some colouring books and coloured pencils for her to colour with so she wouldn't be bored. They're on the coffee table if you want to take a look. She did pretty well."

"I'll have to take a look." The sound of a buzzer went off from the slider door. "And it looks like Mao's back.

"Tell him that yes I have some yellowfin tuna for him."

Hei gave a nod as he turned and headed out towards the slider. Sure enough, the black cat was on the other side of the glass sitting there waiting for him to open the door.

"What fish is on the menu tonight?" he asked as he strolled in while Hei shut the door behind him.

"Tuna."

"Perfect. I'm starving."

"It'll be ready shortly," Mitsuki spoke up from the kitchen.

"I'll just go watch some TV then," Mao said as he turned towards the couch and jumped up on the coffee table where the controller sat. He looked at the colouring items on the other end. "What are these?"

"Mitsuki bought them for Yulong while she was at work so she wouldn't be bored," Hei spoke up as he came over and picked up one of the books. He flipped it open to the first page and saw how neatly it was coloured in. A flicker of a memory when he was younger and handing his mother a picture he'd coloured somewhat messy ran across his thoughts. Even one of Bai's drawings hadn't been nearly as neat when she'd first become a Contractor. Maybe it had something to do with being a Doll?

"Let me see." Hei tilted it so Mao could look as he flipped through a couple more pages. "Not bad. "Speaking of, where is she?"

"Down the hall resting. Having a long day like that for her with being so young would certainly be exhausting." Hei gave a small sigh before setting the book back down and pulled off his knife in its holster from the small of his back. He was glad Kirihara hadn't been mad about having the knife that night with Matsumoto. And he'd convinced her to let him use it instead of his gun yesterday before dealing with Longwei's questioning. She'd realised he was much more used to it than a gun. But she'd told him to still carry his gun for a couple of days while she sorted out the protocol for it.

Pulling off his gun in its holster as well, he opened the drawer in the coffee table that he used to set them in to remain out of sight. He then turned and headed down to the bedroom to peek in on Yulong. She laid there on her back on Mitsuki's side, sound asleep as he came in and over to the bedside. He smiled softly as she gave a small sigh in her sleep before rolling onto her side facing him and a small bit of hair fell into her face.

Reaching up, he gently tucked the fallen strands back behind her ear as she continued to sleep. He had to admit, she was an adorable little girl. His thoughts went back to last night when she was sleeping on the couch, Mao mentioning baby fever, and the somewhat embarrassment both he and Mitsuki had. But just as they'd said, it wasn't something they could necessarily think about at this time. Not with him still in limbo of what would be decided of his fate should he come forward and turn himself in. And even with all the good he's done so far with Section Four, could it really change the minds of the higher ups of the NPA?

Giving another soft smile at the sleeping girl, he figured this would be a good test for handling a young child. Even with helping watch over his sister, it wasn't exactly the same as handling a child as an adult. He hadn't had much practise dealing with actual children like this. And given Yulong was also a special case being a Doll, she wouldn't act out like regular children could with throwing temper tantrums and whatnot when they didn't get their way. But at least it would be a start and he'd make sure to protect and watch over her just as he promised Longwei. After all, if the roles were reversed, he'd want to know his sister was in good hands as well.

Turning silently, he headed back down the hall to the kitchen to help set the table while Mitsuki and Yin finished up cooking the food. He then went back down to wake Yulong so she could get up and eat with everyone. When finished, Mitsuki helped Yulong get a bath while Hei did the dishes. Yin sat with Mao on the couch, glass of water in hand, watching television before it was her turn to take a bath.

"This is definitely a full apartment," Mao spoke up as Hei helped set out a futon on the floor they'd bought so Yulong could lay on it more comfortably than on the couch. It was also big enough to hold Yin, who was staying the night as well.

"I'm still looking for a place," Hei replied with a small sigh. "It's just hard finding something that would fit our budget and be spacious enough, on top of being close to work for both of us.

"I'm sure we'll find something soon," Mitsuki spoke up with a soft smile as she brushed Yulong's hair and braided it into a loose, single braid. "Until then, we'll certainly make due with this."

"I'm sorry," Yulong said quietly.

"For what?" Mitsuki asked as she secured the hair tie she'd grabbed to hold Yulong's hair in place.

"For making you take me in because of Longwei being in trouble."

"You're not a burden," Hei replied with a shake of his head as he knelt down in front of her. "I took you in because I wanted to, not because I felt like I had to." He gave a pause as he looked up at Yin, who had come into the room from the bathroom dressed in her pyjamas. "It's similar to why I decided to protect Yin when she was put on my team, even while we were in the Syndicate. I didn't want to see her be taken away and sent somewhere to be used for other purposes just like I didn't want you to be left to anyone else. Even with Ishizaki and her team where you'd probably have been taken to be evaluated for what your programming consisted of, I don't know what else they would have done. Especially given you only speak Mandarin. Sure, they could have added to your programming to know Japanese, but….I guess I wanted you to learn on your own." He gave a soft smile. "Just like Yin has been learning on her own."

Yulong gave a slow blink at him before looking towards the silver haired Doll as she pulled the corners of her mouth up into a tiny smile on her own and gave a single nod. The dark haired Doll gave a small tilt of her head and was silent a moment before looking towards Hei.

"I will do my best," she replied.

"We'll make sure that when Longwei is free again, he'll be proud of the knowledge you've learned," Mitsuki smiled at the young girl. "After all, older siblings helping their younger siblings is something we do. Granted I don't have any biological siblings anymore, but Yin has become like my adopted younger sister. Isn't that right Yin?"

"Yes. Mitsuki is my family now." She paused and turned her head towards Hei's direction then Mao's. "As is Hei and Mao." She came over and knelt down by Yulong and placed her pale hand on the young girl's. "Yulong can be my little sister. She can be part of our family."

"Family…." Yulong gave a small tilt of her head before looking at each of them, stopping at Hei last. He gave her a soft smile.

"And Longwei? Is he family too?"

Hei gave a blink at her question. He hadn't been expecting that but he gave another soft smile. "He and I may have our pasts clouded with not getting along but I suppose if he wanted to be considered as such, that's up for him to decide." He gave her a soft pat on the head then looked at Yin. "Why don't you both relax for now, alright?" Both gave single nods of their heads.

Getting up, Hei headed in to take a quick shower before Mitsuki did while the girls sat on the couch watching a little television. Hei had sat between the two while Mitsuki had gotten her shower. Both girls had leaned their heads against him with their eyes closed by the time she'd returned to the living room.

"Looks like they've definitely fallen asleep," Mitsuki chuckled lightly as Hei gave a slightly embarrassed look. She came over and gently shifted Yulong without waking her into her arms. "I'll get her tucked in. You go ahead and get Yin."

Nodding, Hei shifted slightly so he could take the glass of water Yin was holding and set it on the coffee table before easing her into his arms after standing up. He laid her down on the other half of the futon next to Yulong as Mitsuki finished tucking her in. Placing Yin's hand into a small dish of water that Mitsuki had grabbed from the kitchen to replace the glass, he stood up and gave a soft smile at the sleeping girls before looking at Mao.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't have to tell me. I know the usual." He gave a yawn as he curled up on the back of the couch and laid his head on his paws.

"Thank you Mao. We do appreciate it." Mitsuki gave him a soft kiss on his forehead. He merely flicked his tail in response.

Heading down the hall after turning off the TV and the lights, Hei and Mitsuki slid into bed for the night.

"I'm glad she understands we don't see her as a burden," she spoke up with a soft smile as she curled up in his arms. "After all, she has nowhere else to go. And I'd wish for the same if I were in Longwei's shoes to have someone I could trust take care of my little sister."

"That's what I thought of too," Hei replied with a small squeeze as he pulled her closer and gave her a soft kiss. "Get some sleep alright?"

"I will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Well that's the chapter. Minako and Kaitou finally get to meet Yulong. And Hei and Mitsuki's little 'family' is growing bigger. *smiles*
Anyways, thanks again for reading! I'll update soon! *hands out pocky*