Yato's POV
After Kimiko interrogated Ryder, she wouldn't talk or even look at anyone, and she went straight to bed. Something Ryder told her must have ticked her off. I opened the door to the room where Ryder was. He was lying on the floor, still tied to the chair, knocked out cold. I decided I could torture the bastard some other time and went to bed myself.
The next day I decided the team needed a morale boost by becoming a bit of a prankster. I'll make a few pranks and we'll all have a good laugh. So I crept down the stairs and saw everyone in the living room having breakfast and talking. I noticed that Aika had gone to the kitchen for her morning snack, just as anticipated. I snuck into the kitchen, making sure to remain unnoticed. I got behind the counter, opposite to Aika. I held in my laughter as I snapped my fingers and felt the particles in Aika's ice cream accede rate fast enough until it melted. I peeked over the corner as I heard Aika's miserable screams. I wasn't surprised to see Aika dropping to her knees in front of the ice cream licking the floor. I snapped my fingers again and the ice cream evaporated. Aika turned around to face me and growled "YAAAATOOOOOO!!!!"
I jumped to my feet and made a run for it. She knocked over furniture as she ran straight for me. I nimbly jumped over everyone in the living room. Made Sanji's crème brûlée explode in his, Natasha's, and Nico's faces. I caused Catnip's beer to catch fire, and I threw a pack of gummy bears at Zach, then infused them with elements that caused them to explode. Kimiko was completely unharmed and she just sat there. Finally, Aika caught me grabbed me by my collar and started yelling at me. As I turned around, I saw to my dismay, Kimiko stood up and... I'd say what happens next but... it's too graphic... for all the children out there, domestic abuse is a serious crime.
After that carnage, Kimiko kicked me out of the house (literally) and yelled at me. Something about finding something to do and not coming back until she said so. I was too shocked to pay attention. So I gloomily walked through the plaza until I saw a streak of white. Aika stood in front of me and stuck out her tongue. "Serves you right," she said. "Shut up Aika," I replied. "It's okay, Yato. We all know Kimiko loves me more than you." And at that moment we began a heated argument about who deserved Kimiko's unrequited love. Suddenly I heard something, covered Aika's mouth, and said "Shut up. I heard something" We both looked to our side and there was a stroller with a crying baby inside. We stood there silently until we looked at each other and I said "I call dibs on Yato Jr." Aika run towards the little creature, she picked up the baby and stroke his cheeks. ''How cute...'' I immediately took the baby away from Aika and I ran at Kimiko, being careful with the baby "KIMIKO MEET OUR CHILD, HIS NAME IS YATO JR ISN'T HE SOOOO CUTE?!?!?!" I said showing her the baby. She stared at Yato Jr, held him, and asked "Wh-when did we?... when did I ?... when did you?....... ARE YOU CHEATING ON ME?!" she handed the baby to Sanji, who covered Junior's eyes as Kimiko punched me.
Sanji's POV
I stared at the baby, grinned, and whispered "I'm going to teach you how to cook...''
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL" Yato yelled as he tried to punch me. I deflected his fist while grinning at the baby, who had a little confused face. "Don't worry about that shitty idiot. I'll protect you" I said to the baby.
Aika took the baby from me and said "Shut up, Sanji. I will take care of him." Kimiko looked at Aika with can-I-have-an-explanation face. Aika sighed and said "We found this baby on a stroller outside. Seems like his parents disowned him or something. Can we keep him?" Kimiko stared at her, took the baby from Aika, and exclaimed "Of course not! His parents probably lost him and must be looking for him right now." "No. He's mine" Yato, Aika, and I said in unison. We looked at each other and started fighting. Aika tried to punch Yato. Yato made a sword and tried to slash me. I kicked him in the face. Somehow, the fighting became Yato vs Me, while Aika remained unharmed. "WILL YOU STOP FIGHTING?!" Kimiko yelled. "Yes, Kimi-" Yato tried to talk but was interrupted by me kicking his face. Kimiko rolled her eyes, sighed, and knocked us down. "Ok. We will take this baby to his parents, and that's that. End of discussion." she said. "Can I at least teach him how to make a sandwich?" I said softly. "No, Sanji." Kimiko said. "Fine." I whispered.
"Ok. We need to bathe and change the baby's clothes so he looks well-cared and we get a high reward. Sanji and Aika, give him a bath. Yato, go search for his parents. I will go and get some baby clothing." Kimiko told us. "Do not worry! I have baby clothes here!" Yato exclaimed as he pulled a miniature version of his clothes. Kimiko stared at the baby Yato clothing, grabbed them, handed the baby to me, and went outside to burn the clothes as Yato cried. "Stop fooling around and do what I said." Kimiko said angrily. We all nodded and ran to do what she had ordered.
"Sooooo, have you ever bathed a baby before?" I told Aika. "No. I was hoping you knew how to do it" she answered, "besides, it's a boy. You should do it." I stared at her, sighed, and said "I'll give you more food." Aika grabbed the baby and ran towards the house, yelling "FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!"
I entered the bathroom and saw Aika about to slam dunk the baby into the bathtub. "AIKA NO THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DO IT" I yelled. "What? You said you didn't know how to do this?" Aika said. "WELL I DON'T BUT I AM SURE THAT'S NOT HOW YOU TREAT A BABY" I yelled back. I grabbed the baby and noticed Aika didn't even bother to undress the baby. I sighed and prepared the baby for his bath. The real challenge was, actually bathing the child. I handed the baby to Aika and started crying about how this is Yato's fault and how bad of a parent I am. Aika's eyes suddenly widened. She looked at me and said "I forgot I DO know how to do this." I stood up quickly and said "How could you forget how to take care of a baby?!" "I got excited about the food," Aika shrugged and the shoved me out of the bathroom, locked the door, and started bathing the baby. I stood there, shocked. I went to the living room, laid down on the couch, buried my face on a pillow, and started screaming.
Kimiko's POV
I stomped through the path back to the house. At the square, I'd gone into the first shop that sold baby clothes that came across my path, picked something out, payed and left. All in probably less than five minutes.
How could Aika and Yato just steal a baby?!It's a goddamn baby, for Heaven's sake. They were lucky I went so easy on them. With all that's been going on, with the mark appearing and then having Ryder captive, it was idiotic to just go and steal a baby. It's idiotic to steal a baby under any circumstances.
I mumbled to myself as I walked through the forest. As I approached the house I braced myself for the mess that surely awaited me inside.
I pushed the door open and was greeted by Sanji thrown across the couch. I walked over and tapped his shoulder. "Where's the baby?"
"Aika has him," he mumbled.
I raised an eyebrow. "Is that safe?"
At that moment, Aika walked in with the baby wrapped in blankets. "He is now bathed," she announced.
"Great... I got clothes," I held up the bag with the little outfit in it. "Let's get him dressed and back to his parents as soon as possible."
Yato came running down the stairs. "Never mind those clothes, why don't we dress him up like me? I could make them easily..."
I looked at him aggravated. "No. We are dressing him up with the clothes I bought and returning him to his parents."
"But-" he started.
I glared at him. "Didn't I tell you to go find his parents?"
He hesitated then smiled, walking towards me, arms outstretched. "Kimi-"
I pushed him away. "God, does no one here listen? It appears that only Aika does."
She nodded slightly. "C'mon, Kim, let's just get him dressed and returned."
"Thank God you have some sense, child," I sighed. I walked towards her. "Let's go."
"Wait," Sanji spoke up. "Can't I at least teach him how to cook before we return him?"
"Can I teach him quantum physics?" Yato asked.
They both started talking at the same time, so I couldn't understand half of what they said, but it was pretty clear they were begging me to let them keep the baby. My annoyance rose up another notch and I took a deep breath. "Listen here, you two-"
I was cut of by the wails of the boy. We all stopped talking and looked at it. "Oh no," I whispered.
"Look what you did!" Sanji told Yato.
"I didn't do anything!" he responded.
"Can someone calm him down? Please," I looked at the others. I had a strong desire to help the poor child, but my history with babies was not that great...
"Does anyone know how to calm a baby down?" Sanji asked a bit panicky.
"Everyone shut up," Aika practically growled, then started rocking the baby and speaking softly to it. Everyone stared at her.
"Wow, you weren't kidding," Sanji said. "How is it that you know how to take care of a baby?"
Aika glanced up at him then back down quickly. Even though that glance was fast, I saw a look that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Dammit.
By then the baby had calmed down. I thought it'd be best to move on. "I cleared my throat. "Aika, let's go change him, before these two cause anymore trouble," I eyed the boys to see if they noticed anything, but they seemed clueless. Aika was always the best at hiding things she didn't want other to know. She nodded and walked away.
"You two, don't do anything," I ordered the guys. They nodded solemnly and went to the couch, while I followed Aika.
In the other room, I held out the clothing bag as she unwrapped the baby and clothed him. I watched as she quickly, but tenderly, dressed him, studying her facial expressions.
"You were always good at that," I noted, leaning my head towards the baby. She raised an eyebrow and said nothing else, finishing the buttons on the one piece. "He reminded you didn't he?" I whispered.
She stopped moving, biting her lip. "Could you... Not, please?"
I nodded, going along with her. "It's all in the past now," I reassured her. "Way in the past. You're with us okay? It'll be fine." I tried to sound as optimistic as possible, but an image of the mark was implanted on my mind. I knew that whatever it meant, it couldn't be good, and I don't want to make empty promises to Aika. Not about this.
"Yeah," she said shortly. "Let's just go and return this baby."
--
We returned to the living room to find Sanji and Yato on the couch (surprisingly), and the others, who had mysteriously disappeared, where standing up near the door.
Yato had his mouth open like he was about to say something, when he glanced at me walking in.
The others looked too and Catnip's mouth dropped open. "That's an actual baby..."
Nicolette scowled and scooted back. "Don't let that thing roam around freely, it could have germs or something." She moved backwards again. "As long as it's quiet and well behaved..."
Natasha squealed and came up to Aika, and looked down at the baby. "Aww," she said. "It's a boy, right? He's adorable!"
I blinked a couple times to brush away what just happened. "Uh... Where were you guys?"
"In town," Catnip said.
"All of you? Together?" I raised and eyebrow skeptically.
"No," Nicolette answered, still slightly scowling. "Natasha and I went to our old place to check up on some things then to town to grab something to eat. We met Catnip and Zach there, who were heading home so we walked back together."
"That makes sense," I said.
Natasha was still swooning over the baby, and Aika, as kindly as she could muster, pushed her away. "We need to get him back to his real parents." Yato, Sanji and Natasha's face fell, while Nicolette's relaxed. Catnip just shrugged.
"Have fun tracking them down in this town. Zach and I'll stay here," she said, grabbing Zach's hand and pulling him upstairs.
"Yeah, I'll withhold from that marvelous offer too. I'll be tending to my garden," Nicolette said, and stalked off to get her supplies.
"I'll go with you. This little guy is just so adorable!" Natasha said. "Can I hold him?" Aika raised her eyebrow and was about to say something, but Natasha interrupted. "I'll be super careful, I promise."
Aika sighed and carefully gave the baby to Natasha, who smiled down at him. She looked up and looked at us expectantly. "Lead the way."
I glanced from Aika to Yato, and gritted my teeth. "Yeah, lead the way."
Our little group walked out of the house and to the town. We got to the square and just lingered there for more than a few moments.
"Well?" I asked.
Yato looked at Aika, then at me. "Kimiko, I don't think the babies parents would still be here. They were so careless, they probably didn't even notice the baby was gone."
"Look," Sanji said. He pointed to a person stapling up a poster on a wall of a shop. We inched closer and saw that it was a poster showing the missing baby. It showed a picture of him, and the usual stats. On the bottom it stated that a reward would be given to anyone who knew anything.
I grinned. "Reward..."
"Oh, no," Yato said. "You're not actually thinking..."
The person who put the poster up, turned around. We all gasped as his the front side of the uniform was shown. A government guy. We casually walked away, and watched as he went to a couple seated under the mango tree. An empty stroller stood by their side.
Aika breathed in sharply. "Great," she said. "How are we supposed to give the baby back without getting caught?"
"Well..." Sanji started, then turned to look at me.
"What the hell are you thinking?" I demanded.
"You could go talk to that guard person or the parents and say that you saw a mysterious figure walking into a house in town earlier, holding a baby."
"Are you crazy?" I hissed.
"You can ask the reward and one of us will return the baby to the stroller. It's a win win."
"No," I said. "I mean, yes. But no. I could be recognized and I really don't want to go through with that now."
"A disguise..." Natasha said. The others nodded.
"Wow, wow, wow. Okay fine. It's a good plan, I guess, but why me?" I stammered.
"You got the people skills," Aika said, and I scowled at her. Sanji walked off and came back a few minutes later, holding a pair of sunglasses.
"Here," he shoved them onto my face, and held out his hand. "Yato, give me your hoodie."
"What?" he asked.
"Give me your shitty hoodie so that your girlfriend won't get caught by our worst enemy," Sanji answered.
Yato took of his hoodie and handed it to me. I pulled it on. "Natasha, can you give me your scrunchie?" I asked. She gave the baby to Aika and handed me the scrunchie. I put my hair in a bun and put the hood on. "If I die, I am coming back to make the rest of your lives miserable." I death stared at them, and they just stared blankly back. "Make sure you don't mess up your chance."
I stalked off and walked towards the government guy. I took a deep breath and tapped his shoulder. He spun around to face me, and the couple behind him looked at me curiously.
"Hi," I started. They looked at me expectantly. "So... I saw that poster you put up and I wanted to share my knowledge."
"Really? You know where our little Trystan is?" the woman asked.
I took a moment to register the baby's name, then nodded. "And I heard there was a prize," I said. I held out my hand and smiled sweetly.
The man sighed and reached into his pocket. "Here," he said, placing 500 M.Y.'s into my hand.
I shrugged. "It'll do. Now, I saw your child being taken into a house in town by a person wearing a cloak."
"Really?" the woman looked distraught. "Where is the place? I want my Trystan back!" The man put and arm around her, and whispered something.
"Yeah... I can take you, if you want. The way is sort of confusing, because you have to turn a lot of corners and stuff."
"Oh yes, please!" the woman cried.
The man stood up and kissed her forehead. "I'll go along with this gentleman. Miss, lead the way."
"Right," I turned around and started walking and glanced at the others, who gave me a thumb up. I rolled my eyes and led the way to some random destination.
After various turns, I stopped in front of a cabaret. "This is the place," I said.
"You sure?" The man looked skeptical.
"A hundred percent," I said. The man and guard thanked me, and walked into the building. As soon as the door shut I ran. I took a different route to the square and made my way through the alleys. I stopped running when the woods stretched out in front of me. I carefully approached the square and looked for the others. I saw them ducking into an alley. I glanced at Trystan's mother, and saw her looking at her stroller in utter disbelief. I snickered and turned away.
I met up with the others a little way into the woods. "That... was epic," Natasha said. She rambled on about their end of the story.
I rolled my eyes. "I swear to God, if you ever to that again, I will kill you. Literally."
I pried the sweater off my body and handed it back to Yato. "Making me run in this heat. Making me put myself in danger for a baby you stole."
"At least you got money," Natasha said.
"Who made you wear such clothes anyways? Crazy," Aika said, eyeing my turtleneck doubtfully.
"Whatever," I sighed. I suddenly felt annoyed at them. I was kidding just a moment ago, but now my accusations... They were beginning to make sense. These guys... Couldn't they keep out of trouble for once? Jeesh.