Day 4 - Childhood: The Red Sweaters
Ken was sitting in the living room going through some boxes with things he bought from his parents' house and came across an old photo album.
"What is it?" Hikari asked when she walked in and sat down next to him.
"It's a photo album I found with pictures of me as a child."
"Really? Can I see them?"
"Sure." He went back to the first page and started going through the pictures again.
"Is this you?"
"Let me see." Ken looked at the picture she was pointing. "Yes, that's me."
"You were a pretty baby."
"Are you saying I'm not anymore?"
"You're saying it, not me." She smiled, still looking at it. "How old were you here?"
"I'm not sure… maybe eight months."
"Has your mother ever told you stories about you as a baby?"
"As a matter of fact, she has."
"Tell me one."
"Okay, as long as you tell me one about yours later."
"It's a deal."
"So what moment do you want to know about me?"
"About the day you were born!" Hikari pressed her hands together excitedly. "Has she told you about it?"
"Yeah, I think so. But it was a long time ago, I'm not sure I remember it. But I'll try."
"I'm so excited!"

It was a very hot summer day. The Ichijoujis had taken their son, Osamu, to eat some ice-cream in an ice-cream parlor near their house. Mrs. Ichijouji was eight months pregnant, almost nine, and it was just a matter of time until she got into labor. She was really hoping they had a daughter again, but she was also very happy with another boy. They were relaxing and enjoying their desserts until Mrs. Ichijouji winced in pain.
"Honey, what happened?"
"I think I'm having contractions."
"You think?!" Mr. Ichijouji dropped his ice-cream while he was rushing to help his wife. "How far are they?"
"I don't know, I'll let you know when I have the second one. Maybe it's just a false alarm, you know? My water hasn't broken yet."
"Still, isn't it better to take you to the hospital? Just to be sure."
"It's not really necessary, everything's fine." She looked at him and saw his concerned look. "I can feel the baby, but it's too important for you, we can do it."
"It's too important for me."
"Then we can do it."
"Thank you." He helped her stand up and then grabbed Osamu's hand. "Let's go, son."

"But you weren't born then, were you?"
"As far as I know, no. I took a few more days for that."
"Tell me about it."
"Well, my mom had to stay a day or two in the hospital because her blood pressure was high. They had discharged her in the morning and she had to come back in the afternoon because her water had broken. And then…"

The baby almost couldn't wait until Mrs. Ichijouji was taken to the OB section and into a room. As soon as she was placed in the bed, the baby started crowning. Five minutes later, she was already holding him in her arms.
"Isn't he cute?"
"He is, and he has blue hair like Osamu."
"It's true."
Mr. Ichijouji turned to their oldest son and picked him up. "Osamu, meet your younger brother."
"Ken."
"What?" Mrs. Ichijouji asked, puzzled. "Are you choosing his name?"
"I think so. Is that what you want, son?"
"Ken."
"I guess it is." She looked back to the little baby again. "Hello Ken. Welcome to our family."
"I like this name, to be honest."
"I like it too. It suits him."

"So your brother named you? That's so sweet."
"Yeah." Ken kept looking down at the photo album. "I miss him."
"I know." Hikari rubbed his back gently. "I can't imagine how that must feel like."
"The first months were very difficult, but the truth is… it never gets any easier."
"The ones we love never leave us completely." She said softly. "I'm sure you still cherish the moments you spent with him and that he's taking care of you from heaven."
"I hope so."
"You know, Taichi choose my name as well."
"Really?"
She nodded. "He said my presence lighted up the whole room, so he thought Hikari would be a perfect choice."
"I completely agree with him."
"Of course you would." She couldn't help but smile. "So do you have any other childhood moments you'd like to share? If you're comfortable with it."
"I am." He nodded and then went through a few more pages. "This is my first bruise."
"Bruise?" She asked surprised. "That thing is huge! It's so scary! How did it happen?"

It was Christmas day. The streets of Tamachi were fully white due to the snow that fell during the night. The temperatures were cold, but that didn't seem to bother four-year old Ken that day. He had woken up early, desperate to find out what he had gotten from Santa.
"Mommy! Daddy!" He ran into their room and tried to wake them up. "Wake up, it's Christmas day! We need to open our presents."

"You woke up your parents because of your presents?"
"I was four years old, just so you know." His tone was light and jokingly.
"That's fair. Go on."
"So they said…"

"Ken, we went to sleep late last night. Can't you wait a little more for that?"
"No, mommy." He pulled her blanket away and grabbed her hand. "Santa won't wait much, he was other houses to go to."
"I'm afraid he's already gone, darling."
"Oh no… so we won't get any presents this year?" Ken ran to the living room to check.

A wide smile appeared on his face when he found quite a few gifts next to or under the tree. He ran to it and knelt down.
"Santa left presents for us! I knew he thought we were good children this year! Hey, Osamu, come open your present."

"Taichi was always this excited for Christmas. He'd ask for a soccer ball every year, even though he already had a couple of them."
"Did he get them?"
"Sometimes, yes. It was a good thing he had other choices of presents in his list, so our parents could buy something else."
"I feel relieved for them."
"Me too." She laughed. "And then what happened?"

"Ken, what are you doing?" Osamu walked in, looking very sleepy and rubbing his eyes. "You're gonna wake the whole neighborhood up if you keep being this loud."
"Come open your presents, Osamu."
"He's just excited about it." Mrs. Ichijouji said as she passed by him and went to join her youngest son by the tree.
"Look, mommy!" Ken said excitedly as he finished unwrapping his gift and showed her what he had gotten proudly. "Santa got my letter and sent me the soccer game I asked."
"That's great, sweetheart." She gave him a warm smile. "But there's more."
"What?" His face beamed with happiness. "How do you know?"
"Santa told me."
"He told you?" The boy was surprised. "That's so cool! When did you meet him?"
"He made me promise to keep it a secret, so I can't say."
"Ah." He was disappointed. "I wanted to see him."
"I'm sorry, Ken. He was in a hurry and had to go to other houses. But he asked me to tell you he were a very nice kid this year and…" She tapped a large present next to her. "Also to give you this."
"Wow!" His eyes went wide and his mouth fell open. "Are you serious?"
"Absolutely. It's yours."
"How could Santa fit this in his bag?"
"He uses a powder that shrinks them, so they could fit. And when he arrives at a house, he uses another one to make them go back to their normal size."
"That's so cool!"
"Mom, you shouldn't fool him. Why don't you just tell him the truth?"
"The truth?"
"Don't listen to him, he's only joking." Mrs. Ichijouhi said. "Come on, open it."
The boy opened his second gift with quite some enthusiasm and very fast. He came across a white bike.
"Mom, it's a bike! Just like the one I asked Santa."
"Well, he got your letter after all."
"Can I ride it?"
"Not today, son. It's too cold. I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait until the weather gets better."
"Ah, okay." He seemed a little disappointed, but it only lasted a few seconds. "Mom, can I write a letter to Santa to thank him for my gifts?"
"Of course, sweetie. He'd be happy to receive it."

"And that's it."
"That's a sweet story, Ken." Hikari said with a smile when he finished it. "I have no doubt you were a good child. A great one, actually."
"Thanks, Hikari. You I have no doubt you were a great child too. I've heard some stories about you."
"Really? What did Taichi tell you?"
"He didn't tell me anything."
"He didn't?" She looked at him surprised. "If it wasn't him, then it was my… oh, I get it now. No one told you anything. It was a set-up to see if I shared some stories with you."
"What?" He pretended he didn't know what it was about, but couldn't hide his laughter.
"Don't play this on me. You know it's exactly this."
"Okay, fine." He admitted. "So…?"
"So what?"
"Do you want to share any stories of your childhood with me?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." She stood up and put two locks of her hair behind her ears. "I'll be right back."

Hikari returned about two or three minutes later with a photo album and sat back down where she was previously. She opened it and pointed to a picture where her face was painted in blue.
"What happened here?"
"It's one of the many Taichi's Christmas pranks."
"What?"
"You heard that right. Every Christmas he'd pull a trick on me. Most of the times were harmless ones, but sometimes they were… well, this."
"I'm sorry about this."
"It's okay. It's funny now that we think about it."
"That's good. So since you're comfortable with it now, I'd like to know what happened."
"Of course. Taichi spent the whole Christmas' week telling me Santa was only giving gifts to people who had their faces painted blue. Otherwise they'd be considered bad children. Needless to say I was beyond scared of that."
"I don't blame you. That wasn't a very nice thing to do."
"It really wasn't."
"And then what happened?"
"My mother freaked out when she saw me and lectured him before grounding him. Luckily, the ink came out very easily, for her happiness. And then Taichi never did anything like that again."
"I'm happy for you." Ken smiled at her.
"Thank you." She returned the smile and then bent over to grab a wrapped box Ken hadn't noticed she brought with the photo album, handing it to him.
"What is it?"
"It's something I bought for you." Hikari said simply.
"This I know. But why? I mean, it's not my birthday yet and Christmas is a few days away."
"I don't need a reason to get you a present, do I?"
"That's a very good point. But I didn't buy you anything."
"Don't worry about it." She assured him. "Right now I just want you to open this one."
"Alright." He said a little suspicious, but quickly changed the focus to the package in his hands. He placed it in front of him and started tearing the paper up. He came across a wooden box and raised his eyebrows.
"Come on." The woman encouraged him to keep going when he hesitated for a moment.
"For some reason, I can't seem to be. It's like I'm paralyzed or something. I'm feeling nervous and don't know why."
"It's just a gift, honey."
"I know, I know." He took a deep breath and pushed himself to open the box; his heart pounding so hard on his chest he was sure she could hear it clearly. "A sweater?"
"It's not any sweater. Go on, pull it out and unfold it."
Ken felt like his heart would come out his chest when he held the clothing in front of himself. He could barely believe what his eyes were seeing.
"Daddy?" He glanced at her and was surprised to find her walking back into the living room. "When did you leave?"
"Were you so shocked by the sweater that didn't pay attention to your surroundings?" Hikari joked lightly and sat down by his side.
"I wasn't expecting this at all."
"I know. I have one too."
"Really?" He looked at her again and saw she was wearing another red sweater, but with the word 'mommy'. "I can't believe I didn't notice it when you walked in."
"Yeah, I'm surprised you missed it. You're so attentive to these small details."
"What does it mean though?" He asked while he put his on. "Are you pregnant or something?"
"No." She shook her head. "At least I don't think so. It may sounds mean now, but I was thinking of playing a trick for Taichi."
"Let me see if I get this straight. You want to get him into believing we're gonna be parents to get back at the prank he did to you?"
"I knew you were so smart! No wonder why you're a detective." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"You're right, it sounds mean."
"Maybe I should just let it go."
"I say we should do it."
"What?" She blinked with surprise.
"It's become personal now." He winked and smiled at her.
"I like that." A smile appeared on her face too.
"By the way, where did you get these sweaters?"
"I ordered them from Sora. She thought it was a cute idea."
"Did you tell her your plan?"
"No, I said we were giving them as a gift."
"What if we actually follow through with it?"
"You mean having a child? This sudden?"
"You don't want it?"
"I do, but can we talk it through first?"
"Of course." He reached for her hand and squeezed it lightly. "We can talk it through."