AN: Hellooo, this is a special chapter for a special person ❤️❤️❤️ but still in same setting as the current story, ok?

The suspense at [5.11] keeps going on...

***

Past Year X

Little (Y/N) tried her best to stay awake. She didn't dare to lie down because she knew she would sleep until dawn. Taking some papers and scribbling random funny things her kiddo brain could think of proved effective for a while but that drowsiness attacked nevertheless and the next time she opened her eyes, it was already 2am.

Oh no!

She quickly got out of her room and tiptoed silently to not wake up her whole house. Kitchen was the place to go. The young girl put a chair in front of the fridge and took out a big cake, which was a bit heavy for her to hold as she struggled to place it on the table.

She excitedly lighted up one candle on the cake, watching the warm light flickering with great happiness. She sang that common song to herself and put her hands together, sincerely wishing for her family's wellbeing and a few great presents for herself before blowing the candle.

Later in the evening, her family would ask her to do the same, which was silly of them. (Y/N) smiled to herself as she put back everything and returned to her room.

Birthday celebration must be made at midnight to be special.

***

Past Year Y

Things changed a lot and young (Y/N) realised she just want to celebrate birthday with her family once again, be it midnight or late evening or a completely wrong day. Anyway, walking by the cake shop and seeing those beautiful sweets on display on a day like this brought back memory. She bought a super small one and waited.

It was not difficult to stay up until midnight anymore but she still had to sneakily get past the young siblings to get to the kitchen.

One small cake. One candle. One light.

"(Y/N)! Happy birthday!"

She was startled by the cheery voice of Mitsuba-nee. The Okita siblings surprised her greatly as they brought out another candled lit small cake and complained that she shouldn't hide it from them. They were family now.

She hugged Mitsuba tightly while little Sougo clung on her back like a koala. The young boy fell asleep right after because it was tough for kid to stay up past midnight.

With her teary eyes, she wished that they would all be happy and safe.

***

Past Year Z

The Okita siblings knew it was a tradition for her to celebrate birthday at midnight but no, now was not the time to do that. (Y/N) asserted and forced Mitsuba to go to bed while she buried herself in her futon. Because of her sickness, Mitsuba was frail and (Y/N) didn't want to see the Okita girl cough in pain while she make her birthday wish. After all, they had the whole day to celebrate, right?

She woke up at midnight, not because of excitement, but some loud noises outside the garden.

"Shhh! You will wake up the whole village, Toshi!"

"Ouch! But Sougo keeps hitting me! Sougo, stop! Shimaru, help!"

Shimaru caught the little boy who bore intense hatred for Hijikata, even though he came with goodwill.

As (Y/N) slid the door open, she couldn't stop laughing at Kondo-san whose yukata was stuck on the fence, exposing his behind, at Hijikata-san who was scratched and bruises but tried to keep the cake intact, at Shimaru who was skittishly comforting Sougo, the lethal watchdog.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, (Y/N)!!!"

Kondo-san was the one who woke up the whole village.

Laughing uncontrollably, she wished that they could stay together like this, always.

***

Last Year

Hijikata walked into Kondo-san's hospital room to see their Secretary falling asleep with her head laid on the side of his bed.

"(Y/N), let's go back." He gently patted her hair "Yamazaki will stay guard. You need to rest."

Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she stumbled a few steps across the hospital's yard and Vice Commander supported her.

"Look at you. Take better care of yourself." Hijikata sighed and took off his jacket, placing on her shoulders. The girl blushed a thousand shades of red as she felt unbelievably happy. From afar, Sougo and Shimaru were waiting for them in the car.

Driving past a church exactly at midnight, she could hear the beautiful sound of bell chiming. It made her remember what day it was. She never forgot it, but this big raid and Kondo-san getting injured took her mind away. The sound of Hijikata's mayonnaise-shaped lighter. A flickering light at the corner of her eyes. She turned to look and felt speechless.

"Make your wish. It's midnight." Hijikata held a cake with one candle as Sougo and Shimaru smiled knowingly. The great surprise and her delightful happiness made them wished they could do more for her.

"Happy birthday, our dear Secretary."

She wished their organisation would grow stronger, asides from the repetitive secret wish related to the Vice Commander that she made every year.

***

This Year

Her birthday was not a secret. If anything, it was a day well-known within their circles. She received an influx of presents and well wishes from the Shinsengumi's alliances and government bodies that she worked with ahead of the day. The Secretary only accepted flowers and greeting cards because maintaining integrity was important and they wouldn't know what danger could be hidden in those presents.

"Flowers and greeting cards only, alright." Sougo put up her newest addition of birthday present "How's about a whole tree?"

She stared at the small tree in a planter box, sent over anonymously which was not uncommon because quite a few did that so she couldn't return the present. The greeting card that came along did not shed any light:

I'll see you at midnight.

Sougo almost shredded the card but (Y/N) saved it in a nick of time. After inspecting the tree, which appeared rather normal, they supposed they could keep it and (Y/N) placed it nicely on her room's window ledge.

The card? Seeing the suspicious look on the Yorozuya boss's face, she knew it was not him.

"It's not Katsura-san also. I recognise his writing anywhere."

Leaning on the table casually, she smiled at the card and pondered many questions. Who are you? Are you a friend or enemy? Where's the location? You won't just come down from the sky, will you?

"Why midnight? It's hella creepy. You better be careful." The perm head mumbled, his guts feeling said this was another disaster waiting to happen.

"I celebrate my birthday at midnight. A little quirk of mine."

4 hours before midnight, Hijikata was baffled to see the entire Yorozuya army, well, three people to be exact, barged in and ate their food stock.

(Y/N) giggled funnily, informing him that they were worried about the mysterious card and wanted to stay guard. She was sure it was nothing but wanted to invite them over to play UNO anyways.

"You told him about your midnight tradition, didn't you?" Hijikata sighed while being dragged by her to join the UNO championship.

"I did, though I didn't expect them to be so fixated on it, but it will be fun, Hijikata-san. Think of it as a slumber party!"

"No one ever defeats you in UNO. I have no motivation anymore."

The Vice Commander groaned as he leered at the perm head threateningly and was returned the same favor. He knew exactly what the other was thinking. Of course this selfish bastard didn't want them to have (Y/N) all to themselves. Hijikata exhaled.

It's not like he is keeping (Y/N) all to themselves either. He just want a peaceful celebration with the girl at midnight, just to make her happy, then everyone can quickly go back to bed like well-disciplined officers.

No, (Y/N), the truth is I don't want to see his face at your annual midnight celebration from now on, every single year.

"Hijikata-san. Now you understand my feeling. I suffered the sight of you for the past decade." Sougo had the ability to read people like an open book "I'm not particularly happy about the new face this year also."

The young Captain smiled at the perm head, who definitely had rabies and threw deadly glare at every policeman in the room. Sougo dropped his smile and started dealing cards:

"The things we do for love."

She honestly didn't watch out for it. Holding the last card, she waited for nothing but the imminent victory as she watched the dying light in everyone's eyes and their thick stacks.

This is easy—

The clocked chimed its midnight bell and her opponents throw their losing cards in the air, a bit too relieved to escape another losing battle, and yelled loudly:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, (Y/N)!!!"

There was a sudden blinding flash in the outer sky, so bright that she had to cover her eyes and when it stopped, it took a while to regain her vision.

(Y/N) dropped the last card in her hand too, staring horrifyingly at her surrounding.

But that was not the end of it. Just when she parted her lips to call for someone, anyone, to help with the emergency, there was an object that crashed down, through the Shinsengumi feeble roof, right into the middle of her room, on top of their UNO cards.

It was not an object. It was someone, who really just came down from the sky like she speculated.

"I heard it's your birthday, banana leaf."

Well. That was...

She intentionally squeezed her eyes shut, then opened again to see if she really saw what she thought she saw or the blinding light made her eyes funny.

Her eyes were perfect. She really did see a young guy with vermillion hair and vivid blue eyes and an antenna that popped up and down whenever he was excited. Her lips hanged open and she mindlessly fiddled her fingers as he kneeled down in front of her, ruffling her hair:

"Happy birthday, (Y/N). Kamui is here for a visit."

She couldn't mutter a word and the Harusame Admiral understood it perfectly. He let out a small laugh and pulled her in for a hug.

"Let's go. I'll treat you tonight~"

Looking over his shoulders, she took in her surroundings and remembered the very first disaster before this guy came crashing down.

"Wa— Wait wait! What happened to them? What—"

She broke free from his hold and reached out to grab a baby ... Sougo? The sandy hair kid was climbing like a monkey and almost got a vase fell down on the other ... babies?

Looking around, she gulped and recognised all the babies, around 1-2 years old. The perm head one who just climbed over the onyx hair one and fell down, making both of them cried loudly. The one with glasses who made incoherent sound, being scratched by a vermillion hair baby. A very plain looking black hair baby who stared terrifyingly at a baby ... Gorilla? And next to them an orange hair baby who was dead silent.

Gin-san. Hijikata-san. Shinpachi. Kagura. Yamazaki-nii. Kondo-san. Maru. In that exact order.

"Oh. There was an occult group who turned people into babies. Not just them, everyone in Edo should be babies by now. Just happened to carry out their plan on your birthday." Kamui informed casually as he picked up Kagura by her collar "Sure brings back memory seeing you like this, crybaby."

The baby girl teared up and wiggled until Kamui dropped her down and she crawled to baby Gintoki, pulling his hair for no reason.

On that day, the birthday girl found her occupied with eight defenseless, loud mouth, troublesome babies, and a dangerous space criminal.

"But why am I the only one didn't turn into baby?" (Y/N) asked and hurriedly laid out a few futons for the babies to lie on. She put baby Sougo and baby Gintoki under the futon but the two kept climbing onto her chest and shoulders.

"It's the tree I sent you. It alleviates the effect of their power if you stay around it for a few days." Kamui pulled the two bratty babies away from the girl and flung them into the corner, without (Y/N) seeing it "With them turning into stupid babies, it's much easier to come and get you, right?"

The two kids stumbled on top of each other and broke out crying, which immediately attracted her as she rushed to them.

She wiped the tears on Sougo's cheeks and rubbed Gintoki's back as the perm head kid cried even louder. These two babies were particularly smart. They quickly caught on how to get her attention.

Apparently Kamui miscalculated one thing, that these tiny brats completely took her attention away from him!

She quickly put down the two sadist babies and chased after Kagura and Shinpachi, then stopped Hijikata from swallowing the mayonnaise bottle.

"I cannot leave them like this. Do you know how to turn them back? Will that tree help?"

"They will return to normal after 6 hours. The occult group just likes babies and wants to see babies on every planet they reached. Afterwards they will move on to other planet." Kamui pouted and placed his arms around her neck from behind "Look. These mini humans will be fine. I crossed three galaxies to see you. Don't you want to spend time with me?"

She inched to the side, stammering. The guy was too close and his breath on her neck was strangely burning.

"I—I..." An objection waited to leave her mouth but seeing him tilting his head, making puppy eyes and blinking cutely, it just never came.

She turned away and muttered:

"C-Can we put them to sleep first? I cannot—"

"Of course we can. Let's get to work." The Yato beamed brightly. In an instant, he went around and picked up all the babies effortlessly.

He put Shimaru, Yamazaki and Shinpachi, the good tempered babies, on his shoulders and head. His arms stretched opened and held Hijikata, Kagura, the sadist duo in one go. These four were the problematic group, couldn't give them any chance to break free. He left out Kondo because heck, is that thing even a human?

"Where are we going?" (Y/N) asked confusedly, picking up the poor baby Gorilla.

"Show me to the kitchen. Most of the time babies cry is because they want food."

This was the strangest thing ever happened in this settlement, (Y/N) thought as she witnessed the Harusame Admiral, cooking, in the Shinsengumi's kitchen!

And he put her to shame with his cooking competency. The young guy chopped carrot and meat with two knives at inhuman speed, like, she only ever saw they did that on TV show. He boiled a big pot of porridge in no time and the only thing she could help was washing rice. She had her reason too, he literally didn't let her do anything except watching the eight babies.

He was very committed to the mission. His vivid blue eyes never faltered, just absolute concentration to deliver the dishes. He used the ladle and scooped some porridge into a small spoon to taste it, adjusting the salt.

(Y/N) glued her eyes on him as she watched in awe. There were four babies who did the same, two babies who just scowled irritably and two babies who fought each other.

As he finished, she helped to scoop into eight bowls and gave to the babies.

"(Y/N), you give this one to Kagura." He passed her a super big bowl and stared momentarily at his sister, shrugging his shoulders "Yato baby."

That— was unbelievably cute! (Y/N) smiled unknowingly but turned away, not letting him see her expression. She knew these siblings were not on good terms, but he just showed that softie side of his. Maybe he didn't even know that he had it.

Looking at the babies eating with so much enjoyment, she wondered was the food good. She took a separate spoon and scooped a bit to try but Kamui stopped her.

"Don't. It's baby food so I put very little salt. Here, try this." He put more salt in the left over porridge, took a taste and put the spoon in front of her "Say ah~"

(Y/N) stared at it and broke into laughter. Laughing into her hands, she stepped back:

"This looks familiar. Did you put ginger in it?"

The Yato chuckled, answering casually:

"My baby hates it. So no, I didn't."

That was not something to say so casually! (Y/N) stuttered as that awkward blushing surfaced again. She reached for the spoon but he quickly moved it away:

"Did you forget? Open your mouth."

Darting her eyes to the side, she just complied with his demand. If not, there was no end to it—

Oh...

She touched her cheek, processing the taste on her tongue. Her brain froze at the sudden goodness.

My god! This is so delicious. How could he—

She looked at him with amazed eyes and he simply grinned in response.

"I know."

After a good meal, half of the babies were sound asleep, the other half still wiggled around but they were definitely drowsy too. Placing futon on the sleeping Gorilla, Yamazaki, Shimaru and Shinpachi, (Y/N) giggled sheepishly.

Next to her, Kamui separated Sougo and Gintoki, who were bullying Hijikata with a passion. As Hijikata hid behind her back, she picked him up and gazed admiringly. The baby Vice Commander was absolutely the cutest thing on earth! He looked so innocent and she wondered at what point in his life that he lost this sweetness.

"Vice Commander, I'll be the one taking care of you now."

The girl spread the brightest smile as she hugged him endearingly, cuddling and muttering cute loving words. Kamui asked her to put Kagura to sleep and just as she did so, he placed Sougo and Gintoki in front of Hijikata so the two could continue their bullying. He silently cheered for the two minions to finish off the unlucky onyx hair baby.

Kagura kept turning up no matter how long (Y/N) pampered her. As the Secretary fumbled around, the big brother leaned close to her and gently took off Kagura's headwear.

"This crybaby. Always need extra care."

He straightened Kagura's hair and turned her to lie on the side, then rubbed her back in downward motion. The baby girl directed her big eyes at them, sucking her thumb and obediently fell asleep.

Waaaahhhh....!

(Y/N) was absolutely amazed at this side of the notorious criminal. Blinking her eyes with great interest, she so wanted to ask him many many questions. Like, please, can I have a full-on interview?

"Why? You finally see how awesome I am, hmm?"

The Yato leaned closer to her, dangerously close at that, and smirked slightly. Their noses almost brushed each other. Unsure of what to do, she glanced at his lips and looked up, getting caught in his intense blue eyes. Her stammering business started all over again as her wee heart raced like wild.

"That is an invitation, baby."

Kamui seductively whispered and went in for the kill...

IF NOT for the freaking onyx hair baby who crashed into (Y/N), clutching her and crying. The sandy hair and perm head crawled after him and the trio fought each other right on her lap.

Good god. It is one of his motto not to kill babies but these guys are not exactly babies so he can do it, right? Right?!

(Y/N) tried her best to stop the fighting and put them to bed but her effort was futile. If she paid attention to one then the others would spring up in retaliation. She rubbed Sougo's back, Gintoki would kick him. She patted Gintoki's hair, Hijikata would grab his white lock and pluck out. She comforted Hijikata, Sougo would bite the Vice Commander anywhere his teeth could reach.

"Sing a lullaby."

She flinched at Kamui's suggestion. The Yato smiled amusingly as he placed his chin on one hand.

"Do that thing