Building Blocks

By Serenade of Light

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A little short story about Netto and Saito as babies.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman

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Kimiko looked up from her magazine at the babies taking turns stacking blocks into some form of unidentifiable structure. Both babbled happily as their structure increased in height. As his brother placed the final block at the top, one of the boys clapped happily, the structure apparently done.

Kimiko smiled. This was her first time babysitting the Hikari twins and had already decided that this was her favorite job. The boys practically took care of themselves. Of course, sometimes she'd have to get up to keep Netto from getting into stuff he found in the most random of places, but for the most part the brothers kept each other entertained. They were easy to baby-sit.

But that's not what she loved the most about the boys. They were so happy and full of life. She couldn't help but smile when she looked into their big innocent brown eyes and see them smile and giggle.

She watched as Netto tried to stand up. He decided to use the unstable structure of blocks for support, but almost immediately the stack collapsed along with the brown haired child. On seeing their hard work collapse, or maybe because it hurt, Netto eyes started to fill with tears. Kimiko started to get up but then watched in amazement as Saito crawled over to his brother. Just having his twin nearby seemed to calm Netto down. Then Saito picked up a block and started their tower again. Netto started to giggle happily and followed his brother's example, completely forgetting his failed attempt to stand.

Kimiko sat back down and turned back to her magazine as the twins rebuilt their tower. Again Netto clapped gleefully as his brother finished the tower. Then he mischievously pulled a block from the bottom causing the tower to collapse. Kimiko would remember Saito's confused expression for a long time as he saw his brother happily giggle as babies do.

But then Netto started to build the tower again and Saito smiled happily as he joined in his brother's labors.

And so it continued through the night: the twins building the block structure, Netto breaking it down and the labors renewing. Kimiko would look up from her magazine every so often, usually to see the new structure before Netto would once again collapse it by pulling out a random block.

After several cycles, the twins fell asleep. Kimiko placed her magazine down and went over to the sleeping forms. Their tower was nearly done with only three more blocks on the floor and one clasped in Netto's tiny hand. Kimiko smiled and picked up the sleeping Saito and started to head to the twins' room.

Almost immediately, both twins woke up wailing. A panicked Kimiko started to rock the wailing Saito, trying to calm him while walking back to the living room to the also screaming Netto. Netto was lying in a mess of blocks, having apparently knocked down the tower in his tantrum.

Kimiko walked over to the crying boy, still rocking the sobbing one in her arms. "What's wrong?" she said soothingly as she awkwardly scooped Netto into her lap while she continued to attempt to comfort Saito.

It was like magic.

As soon as Netto was in her lap, both boys began calm down, their wails turning into gentle sobs. Netto collapsed into his brother and Kimiko heard him gently attempt to say, "nii-chan". As quickly as it had started, both babies were fast asleep.

Kimiko looked down at the sleeping twins puzzled. Then she awkwardly wrapped her arms around both boys and carried them back to their room together. As gently as she could, Kimiko laid them in their crib, stilled curled together. She smiled at them and then went to the door, turning off the light before she left the twins to dream.

Yuuichiro and Haruka walked into the house as Kimiko walked back to the living room to pick up the scattered blocks.

"How were they?" Haruka asked.

Kimiko smiled. "They were little angels," she answered truthfully.

"Oh good. Did they cry any?" the twins' mother asked.

Kimiko shook her head. "Just when I tried to put them to bed."

Yuuichiro looked at her apologetically. "Did you try to put one down at a time?" he asked. Kimiko nodded. The scientist sighed. "Sorry about that. That's our fault really. We forgot to tell you you can't have them in separate rooms for even a moment. I don't know how, but they can tell when the other isn't near and they get upset. When they were born, they didn't even like to be held by different people or for one to be held and the other not."

Kimiko smiled. "They're very close," she said.

"Yes. We're very blessed," Haruka answered.

Yuuichiro smiled then picked up his keys. "So are you ready to go home?" Kimiko nodded and grabbed her coat.

"Thank you so much dear," Haruka said as she hugged her babysitter.

"I enjoyed babysitting them," Kimiko replied and turned to Yuuichiro waiting at the door.

Haruka smiled again as the door closed and then walked to her boys' room. She looked into the crib to see the boys cuddled together, Netto's tiny hand in Saito's. Haruka had often seen her babies asleep like this before, but it still made her heart skip a beat as it swelled with love and pride. She took one last look at the boys and then walked quietly out of the room, gently closing the door behind her.

Netto sighed peacefully in his sleep as Saito rolled closer to his twin.

The blocks still laid scattered on the floor, waiting for the best friends to come back and build something together.

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Okay, everyone! How did you like the story? Please review and tell me, even if you didn't like it. I want to make my stories as enjoyable for you as possible so your reviews are greatly appreciated. As a new fanfic writer, I need to know what I'm doing well and what needs improvement. Thanks!