It's All About Haruko, Baby

Chapter 4
Chapter 4

Chapter Description: Naota learns why to not offer summaries of angsty TV shows to two-year-olds, and discovers Haruko's bratty side as well.

It’s All About Haruko, Baby

Day 3

Naota lay in the bed on Haruko’s ship, opening his eyes slowly and turning on a lamp lying on the floor next to the bed. He immediately realized two things: there was a dress and a diaper lying on the floor, and the bed and he himself were wet. He then looked directly in front of him to see Haruko, naked and staring at him while sitting at the foot of the bed.

“Great, she took her clothes off,” he grumbled before picking the naked toddler up and laying her on the floor, reapplying the diaper and dress. During the entire time he did this, she giggled uncontrollably.

After finishing, she immediately asked, “Can we watcha movie?”

“How are we supposed to find-“

“I wanna watch a movie!” She seemed on the verge of a tantrum now.

“But-“

“I WANNA WATCH A MOVIE!!!”

===============================================

Naota had somehow managed to sneak into his house without being caught, and inside there somehow or another managed to come across a Hello Kitty video. Naota really didn’t want to think about how that might have ended up in there, but nonetheless it would work and that’s all that mattered. He snuck back out of the house and went back to the ship, there finding Haruko sitting on the floor, still screaming about how much she wanted to watch a movie.

Even though her screaming was giving him a headache, Naota had to admit he was glad to hear it in one way; it proved that Haruko had always had that side to her, and it was something he definitely felt he needed to know. Naota put the tape into the VCR sitting in the corner of the room (not knowing it was the reason he was going through all of this anyway), then sat down and spent whoever knows how long going through Hello Kitty, the show that, in his mind at least, was the 5th level of hell in VHS form. If in fact this were true, then that would mean Haruko was some kind of demon because she enjoyed the show to no end, marveling at it as though it was the equivalent of such things from legend as the Fountain of Youth, or the Philosopher’s Stone, or the destruction of all copies of One Night in Chyna.

===============================================

After what felt like an eternity, Naota finally breathed a sigh of relief when the credits began to roll by. Haruko then started to shout, “Again! Again!”

Naota assumed she meant she wanted to watch another video rather than the same one, so he answered, “I don’t think I can find anything else for you lying around...”

“No! I wanna watch that one again!” Then she began to scream once more. He made a quick note that two-year-olds were bipolar, then sighed and began to rewind the video, all while marveling to himself about the fact that anyone, even if it was someone the age of Haruko, could stand to watch the same thing twice in a row, especially Hello Kitty.

===============================================

As the tape concluded a second time, Haruko suddenly turned from her extremely bratty side to her amazingly adorable side, toddling to the boy (who by now was about half brain dead) and pulling on the leg of his pants.

“Can you please tell me a story now? Pwease?” She exaggerated the last part to sound as sweet as possible. Naota quickly recomposed himself.

“Sure,” he answered. This was something he could do- after all, all he had to do was make up something off the top of his head. It’s something he had been doing for days... much to his chagrin, but that’s beside the point.

“Alright... um...”

“You don’t know no stories?” the girl asked, her eyes growing wide and staring up at him while starting to water.

“Sure I do. Once upon a time, there were these two brothers. Their mom died, so-“

“Their mommy died?” she asked, her eyes starting to widen at the thought.

“Um... but she came back, sorta.”

“Yay!”

“Anyway, so they tried to bring her back. The older brother, Ed...”

===============================================

About an hour later, Naota found himself patting Haruko on the back while holding her, the toddler screaming her head off after hearing his story/ summary of Fullmetal Alchemist. How was I supposed to know she’d get scared? Naota wondered while continuing to hold the screaming Haruko. He hadn’t even managed to finish- she broke down at the point with Hughes’ funeral, and had been screaming for about 15 minutes since then. Just when Naota thought he was done for, a sight that both pleased him and nearly caused his heart to jump out his throat occurred: the door to the ship opened, and Eri walked in.

They hadn’t spoken once since the embarrassing moments of the day earlier, but she immediately rushed over upon seeing the screaming Haruko, taking her from Naota’s arms and beginning to cradle her gently. This was the first time Naota had truly seen Eri acting motherly, truth be told, and he was surprised to see it fit.

“What’s wrong with her?” Eri asked while continuing to rock Haruko. The screams had broken down to sniffles by now, but she was still shaking.

“She wanted me to tell her a story. I couldn’t think of one so... I...recapped Fullmetal Alchemist?”

Eri stopped for a second, then gently laid Haruko down on the bed, covering her with the blanket. She then turned toward Naota and grabbed him by the ear, practically dragging him out of the ship. Haruko, who had stopped crying, said, “Nota’s in twouble!”

===============================================

Naota had to drag himself into his room, physically exhausted from dealing with Haruko all day and emotionally drained after being chewed out by Eri. He had just eaten dinner, and had little doubt that he would be able to get to sleep a lot more easily tonight than he did two nights earlier.

Naota flopped down on his bed, and was out like a light seconds later.