synergetic | Sometime in the future...

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Sometime in the future...

Himawari's crying was usually enough to make her doting father fly, an anxiety-inducing siren call that hit something primal in a part of his soul so deep he hadn't even known it was there--

But there on the stairs, directly in his way, was a different little damsel in distress, and she was not an obstacle he needed to overcome, she was not a problem he needed to solve, and if he kept saying this to himself he might believe it.

"Yukiko-chan, what's the matter?" Yukimura glanced up at the exact part of the ceiling that happened to be underneath his infant's crib and wondered why humans hadn't evolved X-ray vision.

"My tummy hurts."

"Still?" He was concerned. It'd been a couple of hours since she'd gone to lay down over it. He hadn't wanted to jump right to medicine, especially since it would have been somewhere in Bunta's boxes and crates, and he didn't trust himself to recognize the right one anyway.

"It's because I didn't have Hanabi to stay with me," she said, with the roughly the same conviction he'd had when he said he was going to go undefeated across all three years of middle school.

No, when he ordered his teammates to go undefeated.

She was going to be formidable if she took up sports.

"Did Daddy pack Hanabi up?" He'd seen pictures of the stuffed mouse Jackal gave her the day she was born, but no sign of it (her?) since he'd welcomed the Maruis into his home late last night. (Or was it early this morning? The commencement of Himawari's control over his life seemed to have negated his awareness of the passage of time.)

"When did you last see her, and where? Do you remember what box Daddy might have put her in? Or where he put the boxes?"

Yukiko just started up at him with a slowly crumpling face, and Yukimura might have said a few things Yukiko shouldn't repeat, but he knew damn well she'd immediately repeat them, probably to her brother, and he needed to calm her down after his barrage of questions clearly overstimulated her.

And he should have gotten Atobe to move in, because that bastard did have X-ray vision, he thought, as Himawari wailed again.

"Let's go look upstairs together," he said quickly, hoping against hope that Marui managed to get some of the kids' belongings upstairs by now. "I'll carry you," he added, assuming it would be faster and leave less risk of him trampling her in his need to get to Himawari, now.

He opened his arms and luckily she cooperated, and he forced himself not to groan because he'd had no idea she was this heavy and what if he needed to check Himawari's temperature, he was going to need a free arm, could he hold her with just one? At least he didn't have to choose which one... his athleticism was getting him up the stairs under the weight of an eight year old girl and he'd developed Mirage Mirror so he could use either hand for anything, right? Right.

There were crates between Himawari's and Yukiko's room, luckily, and Yukimura somehow, with Herculean strength, kicked it into Himawari's room so he split his attention between both girls.

"Now my ears hurt," said Yukiko, and Yukimura gave her a little squeeze.

"I'm sorry, honey."

"She needs a Hanabi too."

"Soon, soon," he murmured, shifting Yukiko, who, with the patience of a saint and not an elementary schooler, waited for him to look over Himawari frantically.

"What's the matter, darling?" he wondered out loud, unable to stop himself from hoping for an eloquent and detailed answer.

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"Tag?" Yukimura suggests, having followed Keita in and seen, with great relief, Bunta there. He lifts Himawari from the carrier and hopes he remembers where he left it later. She does not look happy, and Yukimura feels actual despair at the thought.

"Yukiko-chan was still achy when the-- when I came down here," he said. "I had to pause her twice for Himawari and Keita and where is the stomach medicine?"

"Oh, is her stomach still upset? Sorry. Medicine's right here," he answers over Keita announcing his need for a bath as he returns to the grocery bags and starts rooting through them.

"Keita, medicine comes before bath. What happened to your pants?"

"They got wet."

Bunta pulls out a can of instant chicken noodle soup and a pack of matcha KitKat bars. "I see. Are they with the dirty laundry?"

"No..."

"Then you know your mission. Good luck...!" He says, giving Keita's mop of auburn hair an affectionate tousle as he stands and navigates around the mess in the kitchen, sets the can and candy on the counter, and starts cleaning the floor.

"Sounds like it got hectic," he observes nonchalantly to Yukimura. Keita briefly disappears outside, returning with his pants and wordlessly taking them towards the dirty clothes. Once he's out of earshot, he lifts his eyebrows and continues, "Any misbehavior?"

He doesn't want to jump to conclusions, but it's hard to miss the broken fridge shelf and the spilled perishables across the floor-- never mind the edge of exasperation Yukimura's trying to contain as he catches him up to speed.

Edited 2024-08-15 17:57 (UTC)

Is misbehavior the correct way to characterize this?

"I think he meant to be helpful, and he won't try that again," Yukimura said ruefully.

He cradles Himawari, and collapses gracelessly into the nearest kitchen chair. She makes a pitiful sound of discomfort, which is better than the full-throated wailing from earlier. She knows Daddy is trying to help, but also knows that he hasn't yet, and her besotted father is positively heartbroken by the realization.

"As soon as both girls needed attention, he went for the fridge, I suppose."

Bunta takes two seconds to process and analyze that response.

"Gotcha. I'll talk with him later. Sorry."

Failure and learning from it was part of life; what Bunta wants to ensure is that Keita's lesson here is "don't climb the fridge" rather than "don't try to be helpful." He's in a sensitive phase.

He wipes up the last of the mess on the floor, unable to quite help a look of endearment seeing Yukimura crumpled in the chair all fussed over his daughter. They do that, don't they? It makes him a little nostalgic for when Yukiko was that size.

"Keita," he calls while washing his hands, summoning the child back into the room. "We're going to play the counting game. Stay here and try for a new high score! When I come back downstairs, the game is over."

He spares a brief helpless look to Yukimura as he opens the KitKat and snaps off one of the bars. He hates to subject Yukimura to it, but preoccupying Keita with an activity will help keep him from getting into anything else while he takes care of Yukiko and Yukimura tends to his own baby. You have to strategize when you're outnumbered!

Keita begins reciting numerals from one up as Bunta bounds up the stairs and peeks into the room where Yukiko's bed has been set up.

"Yo," he greets. "You've been waiting patiently, huh? Thanks," and offers her the KitKat piece.

"How's my big girl?"

Yukiko sighs the sigh of a long-suffering older sister, but snatches and eats the candy before answering.

"I guess I have to be a little grown-up," she says, but the whine is making it clear she's tired of that. Is it over?

"I can't find Hanabi," she added. Her eyes start to well up. She knows Hanabi was from Uncle Jackal, and now Uncle Jackal is all the way across town, and..

We all do, kiddo, better get used to it!

Even if his inner parent that was just reminiscing about her days as a swaddled infant abhors the thought of it already happening. But for now, they can still indulge in this.

"Hanabi's here, even if you don't see her." A quick pause for the decision: try to find Hanabi or try to help her accept that she doesn't know exactly where Hanabi is right now? Keita needs a bath, groceries need put away, dinner needs starting...

"What kind of tummyache do you have? Like you might throw up?" Not out of the question is she's just stressed out from moving and her life getting upended.

Yukiko frowns but shakes her head.

"It's twisty... and feels weird," she offers, not sure how else to describe it. "But it's not in my throat."

She sits up a little, and while she has Daddy's ear and Daddy's friend isn't around to hear, she lets herself be a little honest.

"My ears hurt because it's loud here," she says. "It's quieter at home." Home, of course, still meaning Uncle Jackal's house to her.

Bunta allows himself a quiet giggle and ducks in like a partner in conspiracy, sneaking an arm around her for a companionable squeeze.

"It is, isn't it? Babies are super loud when they cry! Do you want some ear plugs?"

He's pretty sure he understands what's wrong with her stomach.

"...Yes," she says after a moment, because that would solve the problem, and smiles in spite of herself. Daddy could do that really easy, and it'd seemed like a much bigger thing, she'd been prepared to really complain, but Daddy already had it solved.

Yukiko turns towards him so she can snuggle up a little closer.

"Hanabi will also need earplugs, since her ears are big," she said. She didn't really believe that anymore, but she wanted to see what Daddy would do with that information.

If Yukiko is ever at all too big to be playing games of pretend with her stuffed animals, Bunta will be the last one to say it. He's here for this game as long as she is.

"I guess so," he agrees, responding to her lean in with a little more squeeze and a pat on the arm. "We'll look for her together after dinner. I have a good feeling about it if we work as a team. Sound good?"

"We should start soon," Yukiko said, eager to take advantage of the rarity that was having Daddy's undivided attention. Usually, it was okay, because Mommy or Uncle Jackal was always there to help, but it was going to be different now, because Yukimura-san having a daughter meant there was a third kid to take attention.

"It'd be easier if Himawari's mommy was here," she said out loud, and figuring Daddy would agree with her. "Is she coming back soon?"

Meanwhile, Yukimura was trying to get a bottle prepared while Himawari tugged on his collar.

"You won't have any weaknesses, will you?" he murmured, smiling. "You're going to be strong, and smart, and you're going to beat Sanada's daughters at everything you try. Yes, all four of them."

She made a silly face at him and he couldn't resist kissing her. It looked like a smile! She looked happier and more content. But he hadn't actually done anything...

"And you're going to talk in full sentences and tell me exactly what to do and no one will ever know we had this conversation," he added, carrying her and the bottle to the living room.

He settled down in the living room and was about to just give his undivided attention up to the little dictator running his life now, but paused. And listened.

No, he still heard Keita counting, not running water. So how was Yukiko faring?

Edited 2024-08-17 21:25 (UTC)

"I dunno about that," Bunta mused aloud with his usual nonchalance as he shifted and got up from the bed. "Starting dinner soon sounds good, though. I'm starving! Let's go!" Yes that means you too, Yukiko.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Keita is still trying to focus on his new high score. Daddy said it was easy to go to all the way to a hundred, which sounds super high to him.

"Two-ten-six. Two-ten-seven. Two-ten-eight. Two-ten-nine. Three-ten! Three-one. Three-two. Three..."

Something wasn't right about this.

....

"CRACKERS! I MESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSED!"

This was clearly an earth-shattering announcement that the whole house needed to know, as he began tearing around through the lower level yelling it at the top of his lungs.

The enthusiasm across Bunta's expression falters as he hears the commotion below.

"Well, let's not waste time standing around here."

Translation: we are needed downstairs stat.

All the commotion and his perfect angel baby looked right into Yukimura's tired face, slapped her bottle aside, and tried to say Mess!

It sounded like "Mmmeeee!" and it would have been adorable, like everything else she did, except he had two ears and a kid in each one.

"You couldn't learn your numbers from Keita-kun, hm? Too good for you?"

His buchou voice clicked into place, he turned his shoulder and called, "You have time to get a high score before your father comes down if you start now."

Keita barely even registers the sound of the cool, logical counterargument from the former Rikkai captain. Processing the words is out of the question.

It's not even that he's upset about it. He simply has a surplus of energy after spending the last couple of hours entertaining himself quietly at the coffee table. He continues to run an aimless path through the downstairs projecting a yell because it feels good to do so.

"Memememe!"

If Keita hijacked Himawari's first word... well, it'd be a funny story.

The baby was starting to beat her little fists against his shoulder, just to add to the noise, he supposed.

Yukimura wondered, had he moved all of the breakable things? He was pretty sure he had. Everything that could fall on little heads, too. Part of him wanted to call his mother and apologize, but he didn't remember being half this energetic... Leave this one to Marui, possibly? Let him work out his energy?

"MEMEMEME!"

...for a little while...

Keita. Yukimura is going to turn you into a rug if you disturb his--

"MEMEMEME!" Himawari's mimicry carries up the stairs.

Bunta spares a look at Yukiko that says he is desperately trying not to laugh.

"I'm coming down!" He calls down, both for Yukimura's sake and Keita's, and takes Yukiko's hand as he grins and tugs her along. "Time to join the party!"

With his daughter in tow, he moves to the staircase and releases her hand, descending solo with a merry, "Now, where's the rest of that KitKat bar~?" and intercepts Keita as he tries to fly past, scooping him right up off the ground as he continues to scream and flail.

"Outside play for outside!" Is the only correction given as he carries him to the bath, closing the door behind him. The yelling becomes muffled and then a few moments later dies out.

The sleep-deprived corner of his brain briefly wonders if Marui had to duck Keita's head under water to get him to stop-- but Himawari is still going strong, and Yukimura sighs, wondering how high of a score he could get in the counting game before the end.

"Meme?" Himawari babbled somewhere around 62, a little more quietly. Maybe she was ready to breathe? Yukimura offered her the dregs of the bottle, and she stuck it in her mouth, at least.

Before he could close his eyes and wonder if reprieve was at hand, though, he caught sight of Yukiko lingering in the entrance way. She looked hesitant and he dredged up one of his sunnier smiles.

"I think she's done," he said quietly, and moved over on the couch. Yukiko didn't have to sit there, there were chairs, but he wanted the space to read as vacant, at least.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," she said. She wrinkled her nose. "It's a lot of work with three kids."

"Yes," he said, wary of this child's perspicacity and where it might lead them. "But I'm lucky your father wants to help me, since he's been practicing longer. If I can be a help to him in return, that would make me happy."

"It'd be easier if Uncle Jackal moved in, too, since then we'd be three and three!"

"Jackal will visit us a lot," Yukimura said.

"Or when Himawari-chan's mommy comes..."

That hit like a sledgehammer, conjuring all sorts of conflicting emotions -- anger, relief, empathy, pity, guilt -- and he had to give her an answer that conveyed both the finality of 'Don't hold your breath' and the casualness of 'It's not that big of a deal,' lest she realize what a private landmine she stepped on.

Once Bunta has Keita closed up in the bathroom, he warns him that loud and squirmy children don't get baths and dirty children don't get dessert. Keita can draw two straight lines. Immediate silence it is!

"Thank you," Bunta says in affirmation. "I like how quickly you calmed down," and makes short work of finishing Keita's undress, rinsing off his legs to get the stickiness off, and wrapping him up in a towel. Now, upstairs with him for a change of clothes, put the groceries away...

Yukimura's and Yukiko's voices can be heard as he walks a much cleaner and more settled Keita out of the bath. Ah... Yukiko really said it. He needs to help her more with understanding indirect communication. Ok, task for later! For now--

Bunta detours through the kitchen and begins loudly humming the KitKat bar ad jingle. "Ohh! Here it is! All right...!"

"No, no, no!" Yukiko yelped, rolling over the side of the couch and tearing after her father. "That's mine!"

Saved, Yukimura thought, by the blatant emotional manipulation. Mm, maybe this would get easier? He buried his face in Himawari's onesie trying not to obviously laugh.

Somehow, Yukiko doesn't ruin her appetite with candy, Keita comes down with pants on, and Marui manages to get food both cooked and into their bellies. He joins in their chatter where he can, but he feels, to his surprise, a bit out of his depth. He really hasn't spent much time around kids since he was one, at least not in a home setting. He's always a visitor to his friends' children, a reason to be on their best behavior or to be quiet and let the grown-ups talk for the short time he has before the next tournament. Yukimura really doesn't have any idea how to relate to them yet.

But it's fun listening to Marui work, at any rate. And his own little goddess still had her demands from time to time.

Once Marui starts making overtures about bedtime, the kids find a second wind... and a third... but Marui has heard this song before, and dances accordingly.

Given how up and down she is, Yukimura deems it not worth it to settle Himawari in her crib upstairs. Anyway, if she goes off, she might wake the Maruis. Instead he settles her in a cradle he keeps ready when he's too tired for the stairs.

On second thought, he raids the liquor cabinet, too.

The peace after the kids are in bed is the best and easiest part of the day, which is a good thing because the task of getting them to bed is the hardest and most time-consuming. Yukimura gets some quiet time with Himawari while Marui yanks Keita upstairs for supervision while he helps Yukiko search for and eventually find Hanabi. Bath and bedtime story for Keita. Bath and bedtime conversation about indirect communication and how asking about someone's mom could be an uncomfortable subject for Yukiko. Delivery on the promise of ear plugs for Yukiko and Hanabi. Finally the lights are out and Bunta slips back downstairs, finding Yukimura on the couch with all the fixings for the two of them to have a hard-earned drink. Fucking legend.

He flops down next to him looking five years older than he did that morning. "Thanks. Is it strong?" Please be strong.

"I'm not wasting my time with mixers," is his answer.

Yukimura hands Bunta the nearest bottle.

"Mind you, I haven't had time to stock up for myself since I quit the circuit, so most of these are housewarming gifts. You can judge which is the strongest by who gave it to me."

Pointing at the bottle in Bunta's hands.

"That one came in its own airlifted cooler direct from France. Atobe's name is on the card, so I think it'll be good, but not so good that it'll kill a horse."

Next, he indicates a classic sake.

"This is from a distillery in the mountains that Sanada and Yanagi like. The distillery was probably founded before things like measuring the proof, so it might be insane, or it might be designed to put old men to sleep."

Then, a dark whiskey with an avante-garde label.

"This one is from Niou."

Good answer, Yukimura. Even if makes Bunta a bit uneasy to spring for the one Yukimura handed him.

"This really okay?" He means that. From Atobe had to mean it was ridiculously pricy and high-quality. Didn't Yukimura deserve to keep that for himself? This wasn't some random store-bought cake here!

"He'll send another the next time he's on a magazine cover and wants me to know," Yukimura reassured him. "Or the next I open my mailbox without help, he'd think that's an achievement. He sent one when the baby was born, too, and I asked him, 'What? She can't use that!' And he laughed."

To emphasize his point, Yukimura takes the bottle from Marui and pours it into both glasses with ice, then hands Bunta's back to him.

"Taste it and tell me if it helps."

Bunta can't help it: he laughs too when Yukimura shares his story about getting booze when the baby was born, and probably for the same reason as Atobe. Well, far be it from him to turn down a drink already poured, that would just be rude!

"You know it does! One more day conquered-- cheers~!" He lifts his glass briefly in toast and downs two big mouthfuls without so much as a pause.

WOOF. Yeah, that's better already.

"It makes for a hectic home, doesn't it?"

"But there's nothing to do about it. You're not going to change it, are you?"

Without even trying, his eyes find Himawari settling into her rest.

"This is why Sanada is grayer and grayer every time I see him, isn't it? I might as well get used to it now."

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