How did it come to this? The Shichibukai wondered as he shifted through neutral children's clothing.
The thought question was completely rhetorical as he knew how it happened. He shifted the toddler higher in his arms as he drew out a small shirt from the rack.
*Flashback*
The kid had suddenly straightened almost entirely and reached for Mihawk's face.
"Ce sentiment ... je l'ai aussi. Tu es triste..."
Mihawk held himself very still as small hands touched his cheekbones. It was now that he could see the child's features clearly, even as they changed in front of his very eyes.
Hair that had been a dreary blue-grey shifted to a lighter shade of violet. Cheekbones sharpened, although the child was still rather androgynous. Their eyes turned a shade of yellow that he recognized from his own mirror. In fact…
The child now looked a lot like himself, only younger and more feminine, and longer hair.
"Si je peux rester, vous ne soyez plus tristes? J'essaie d'aider ... Je suis bon!"
The pleading eyes, so much like Mihawk's own, broke his barriers before he knew they were falling.
He didn't know what the kid was saying, but he knew that he couldn't leave it there. He stood, and before the toddler registered that fact that the man was leaving, probably without them, lifted the child from the ground and tentatively settled it on his hip before turning to the dark castle in the distance.
He would have to get clothes for it, and find out the gender.
*Flashback End*
*\_/*\_/*
The blasted child didn't have a gender! It was a girl, at first, then changed into a boy just as quickly as before when it manipulated him into taking it in!
(He ignored the fact that the brat had hardly done anything. It was entirely Mihawk's decision to take it. He would later blame the kid's eyes.)
Furthermore! As soon as he had closed the door behind him after entering the castle he lived in, the sky had turned practically black and a downpour started! It was ridiculous!
While he was trying to find something for the kid to wear (he didn't find much) the kid apparently got hungry and began sniffling quietly.
(Fuck it! I'm just going to call them a boy, he decided.)
It didn't help that they couldn't understand each other. That just made everything worse.
It was becoming very clear (to Mihawk) that he had no idea what he was doing.
Why did it have to be me?
*\_/*\_/*
Yes, I meant to give up on the gender avoidance. I really see them as a boy, however the option must be available for what I have planned. They are comfortable as both genders, but will usually be male to have something in common with Mihawk. Thus, male pronouns often.
Translation:
French:
"This feeling... I have it too. You sad."
"If I can stay, you no be sad anymore? I try to help... I be good!"