His Little Girl

Chapter 0

The young girl awoke early the next morning. She rubbed her eyes violently as she cried. Tomioka was quick to wake up and tap the girl who lay on his bed. He had slept beside her on the floor.

"Mma.." she cried. "Ah ma ma.." she continued in a babble. Her tears never stopping. Tomioka didn't know what to do, trying to remember what it was the village ladies would do with their children. He remembered Tsutakko with a baby she babysat once, copying his memory and picking up the small girl in his arms. He swayed her slowly and gently tapped her butt, holding her closely.

"Shh, Shh, Shh.." he made out, continuing his movements until the girl calmed down. Tomioka's messy blue hair lay untied and fell loosely below his shoulders. The baby tugged on it with her tiny pale hands, a small smile appearing on her lips as she let out a giggle and played with it. The young boy smiled as well.

He knew nothing about the child, her name, her age, her favorite color. So many questions filled his mind. Was the girl old enough to eat? Did she speak fluently on her own? Did she understand conversations? What type of clothes did she wear? Does she need her own bed, or could she sleep beside him? Was it safer for her to sleep beside him rather than on her own? What was hazardous for a child? Should he at least tell Master Kagaya? Or should he keep her a complete secret? Not even the doctor knew the boy had kept the child.

He stopped rocking the child, looking down at her to find that she was staring up at him with big, wide, glossy eyes. He laid her back down on the bed and sat beside her, thinking about what he would do next. There was no way out of this. He made a promise. Besides, Tsutakko would have taken the girl in without a thought. The girl needs supplies. That'll be what he'd do.

Tomioka stood up, surrounded the girl with pillows, and got dressed in preparation for the day. Grabbing a notepad and something to write with, he wrote all the things he deemed necessary.

To buy:
• Clothes
• Baby blankets
• Diapers
• Pacifiers
• Whatever the other moms have

He collected the money he had saved and found a warm blanket for the child, wrapping her in it and lifting her into his arms once again. They left the house and walked into the town shops in search of a baby store.

"Good morning, young man." the shop lady greeted. "How may I help you?"

"Good morning, ma'am. Do you know about babies?" he asked.

"Of course I do, I wouldn't be very good at my job if I didn't, would I?" she chuckled. "Why? What do you need?"

"Do you know hold old this child is?" he responded, pushing the baby across the counter towards her. "I'm new to this parenting thing, and I want to know what kind of clothes to buy her."

"Well, I'm glad you're trying to be responsible." she smiled, and Tomioka nodded, oblivious to the fact that the lady was assuming him to be a teen parent just barely entering his child's life. "A child's age doesn't have much to do with their clothing size, but.." she squeezed the baby's mouth open, giving her small teeth a quick glance. "..seeing as there's four teeth at the top and two at the bottom, I'd say she's around nine months old. Now, for the clothing size, you just flip this little piece of fabric and ta-da! She's in perfect shape, wearing a size 9-12 months."

"Thank you, ma'am." Tomioka bowed, rubbing the palm of his hand over the baby's hair, happy that he now knows a little bit more about the baby. He would research more about children her age in books later tonight.

He walked into the store, strolling the aisles and picking things up to place in a shopping bag. He knew kids under the age of one needed diapers, pacifiers, and wipes. He carried those items in the bag. He came across an aisle with toys and saw that most had tags specifying the age group belonging to a child. He grabbed a few that were for 9 months old and showed them to the baby, seeing which she liked best. A lady passed by him and cooed at the two youngsters.

"Is this your little sister? She's adorable." she smiled, making silly faces towards the baby and awing when she giggled.

"No, she's my uhm.. daughter?" he responded, unsure if he was able to call her that. The lady raised a brow.

"I see.." she hummed, no judgment on her face. "Are you new to this? You seem hesitant at calling her your daughter."

"Uh, yeah, I guess.. I just met her yesterday and I want to buy her some things but I don't really know much about her. Or babies.." he answered. "All I know is that she's 9 months, has teeth, and her mother passed."

"Oh, that must be pretty difficult. My condolences to you and your family." she smiled sadly. Tomioka nodded. "My name is Emika. Would you like some help shopping for the baby? I know quite a lot about them, I'm a mother of three." she chuckled.

"That'd be nice, I'm not really sure what else to buy her.." he sighed, he showed the lady his shopping bag. "Do I need one of those?" he asked, pointing at the lady's stroller in which a baby laid sleeping.

"If you'd like, they make life a whole lot easier. You don't have to carry your baby all day, and you have a little bag here at the bottom to hold things!" she smiled, showing him all the different features. He was convinced. With all the money Master Kagaya paid him, that baby was sure to be spoiled. "If you're interested, I have an old one back home, I don't use it since my sister bought me this one a few months ago. I could give it to you?" she offered.

"Thank you, that is very kind." he answered, nodding his head.

They went around the store as she taught him everything there was to know about raising a baby. By the time he was done, his cart was filled with baby items. They paid for their stuff and walked out of the shop.

Emika invited Giyuu to her house. Initially, to give him the stroller, but they stood speaking with each other for hours. She gave him visual, auditory, and kinesthetic lessons on how to properly bathe, change, feed, and put a baby to sleep. Their babies also played with each other in Emika's son's playpen as both parents spoke between themselves about their occupations and usual life. Emika was a waitress in her late twenties and had three kids, Miko, her 1 year old son, Kaya, her 3 year old daughter, and Kaoru, her 6 year old son. Giyuu lied and said he was a policeman trainee at age 18 and that he only just met his daughter due to the mother living away.

"A policeman? That's interesting, I hope all goes well for you. I never did ask, what's your daughter's name?" Emika asked. Giyuu bounced the baby on his lap, Miko sitting right in front of him as he played with her. He hadn't thought of a name. She didn't have one, not one he knew of at least.

"Her name.." he started. He thought of Tsutakko. He always promised to name his first child after his greatest hero. "Her name is Tsutakko, Tsu for short." he answered. Tsu seemed to enjoy the name as she clapped her hands with a giggle.

"Such a lovely name." she smiled, "I can tell she likes it."