Prelude to the Second Weltkrieg - Part 6: Japan

Part 8

Kazuhiro tried to put the entire conflict about his future out of his mind when he returned home in the afternoon. He didn't want to worry Masaki and he also wanted to enjoy at least some time with the baby free from his own fears.

All Masaki said when he arrived home was, "Welcome back," then took his coat and led him into the nursery room they had outfitted for the baby's arrival. And for most of the afternoon Kazuhiro got his wish as neither he nor Masaki spoke of anything but the baby.

After over four hours of watching the baby, playing with the baby, feeding and changing the baby, and talking to the baby, he and Masaki were laying down on either side of the newborn when a thought entered Kazuhiro's mind.

"She doesn't do much just yet, does she?"

Masaki looked at him looking at the baby, who was in turn looking at nothing in particular and squirming her arms indiscriminately, and laughed.

"What did you expect her to do?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I thought more of her personality would come through, that's all."

"Don't you see it?"

"See what?"

"Her personality! It's everywhere."

"But she just lays there."

"Exactly. She's not a fussy baby. She only cries when she's hungry, or dirty, or tired."

"Ah... so you mean she's simple then – uncomplicated."

"Not necessarily. Maybe... polite. Considerate. Unselfish."

"All from just... laying there?"

"Did you never have babies in your family?"

"I was the youngest... and my baby cousins, I was too young to really pay much attention. You're saying this is what she'll be like all the time?"

"Of course not," Masaki shook her head. "But she's definitely quieter than some other children. It's not just that though, look at the way she looks around everywhere, she's naturally curious. And look how easily she smiles when you play with her fingers and toes – she'll have a great laugh, I'm sure of it."

Kazuhiro didn't want to admit it, but his first thought was that Shota was right. A girl – at least this girl – was definitely going to be easier than a boy.

"You really didn't see any of that?" Masaki asked him, drawing him out of his own thoughts.

He looked at her and smiled. "I guess not. I didn't realize you could read so much from so little."

"She's little, but the signs aren't. And she'll be so big before we even know it."

Masaki's words stung Kazuhiro with another flash vision of his unhappy future. He pushed it aside and instead asked: "So what do you think we should name her now that we know her a little better?"

Masaki looked down at the baby again, who was drifting off into sleep. She didn't reply to Kazuhiro's question. Instead she asked her own.

"How was the meeting?"

Kazuhiro's defenses went up almost at once, but he forced himself to remain quiet and calm. Masaki's voice, at least, had been both.

"It went well," he answered truthfully. "There were Americans there, some men from the navy. Your father told them I would be one of the pilots helping with a new plane."

Even after two years of marriage and another three of courting first, there were some signals from Masaki he still struggled to read. Her nod indicating she understood something, for instance, was nearly identical to her nod indicating she understood something better than Kazuhiro. Her voice, at least, was easy to understand.