It's Inktober 2018! Basically there's a list of prompts floating around out there; every day in October, artists draw a sketch inspired by those prompts. I (along with others) have decided to do a written version of this challenge. Going to be posting a set of three drabbles to this story/series every three days or so, or just posting daily; depends on how busy I get. These aren't particularly serious drabbles (I'm just doing this for fun) and some entries will be better than others. Your mileage may vary. I'm going to try to keep them short, around 300-500 words most likely (aside from this first one, which ran long).

All of these will be set, unless otherwise specified, in the Lucky Child Continuity (or whatever you want to call it).

Day 1: "Poison" (732 words)

Eyeing the onigiri on the plate, I asked, "You made this?"

"Yup!" Yusuke chirped—but of his apparent eager innocence I was not wholly convinced.

I mean, he seemed happy enough. Not scheming or anything, which was… odd. He grinned and beamed, rocking back and forth on his threadbare socks with a proud glint in his eye, watching as I looked between him and the rice ball in turns. Gingerly I poked it with the tip of a finger. It felt normal enough. Still warm, in fact. And it looked normal, too, albeit lumpy and misshapen (but that's what happens when a nine-year-old tries to make food unsupervised, I guess).

To be honest, I hadn't been sure Yusuke knew how to make rice. Seemed I was wrong.

After abiding a minute of my suspicious stares, he frowned. "It's not messed up, Keiko, I promise."

I had been indeed wondering if he'd embedded something yucky in the middle of the rice. "I dunno," I said, and at those words he bristled.

"Hey, I made it for you, so you gotta eat it!" he said.

"But why?"

He stared at the floor. "No reason."

It wasn't like Yusuke to demure like that, and his sad face had me sighing. After a deep breath I picked up the onigiri and bit into it—only for my eyes to bug out of my skull, face contorting as I instantly spat the rice back out. Through coughs and gags I said, "Yusuke, what're you trying to do?! Poison me?!"

It was his turn for some eye-bugging. "Hey!"

"This much salt could kill an elephant!" I gestured at the swiftly disintegrating onigiri lying forlorn and broken on the plate between us. "I thought you said you didn't—"

"I didn't, I swear!" He snatched the rice ball up in both hands and took an enormous bite, but he had to spit it back out again, too. "Ew, gross!" he said, wiping at his mouth. "What the heck! It tastes awful!"

"What's going on?"

My father stood behind me with hands on his hips, ladle dangling from his fist. One thick brow lifted so high it threatened to disappear under his chef's hat. A few of the restaurant's patrons were staring in our direction; apparently Yusuke and I had gotten a little loud.

Yusuke glared at the onigiri as if it had personally offended him. "I made Keiko a rice ball but I think I put in too much salt."

Dad's expression softened. "Yusuke. What'd you go and try cooking a rice ball for, anyhow?"

His ire cooled; Yusuke sat down at the table with a huff, carefully staring at the floor. "No reason."

Dad stared. "Yusuke…"

"I just wanted to." He shrugged, but his eyes darted to my father's face and down again. "That's all."

Dad leaned the slightest bit in his direction, expression firm. "Yusuke…"

Yusuke looked up at him again. Then he stared at the ruined onigiri. A sigh escaped his lips, grouchy and yet somehow… sad? My brow furrowed on reflex. What was that about?

"It's mother's day next week," Yusuke mumbled, not looking at anyone. A beat passed and he tossed his head, glowering like we'd insulted him. "There. You happy now, huh?"

Despite Yusuke's attempt at venom, Dad's expression only softened. "And you wanted to make something for Atsuko." He clapped Yusuke on the shoulder with a laugh. "Well, c'mon, then. It's about time you learned to cook a little, isn't it?"

Yusuke's eyes widened. "Y'mean you wanna help?"

"'Course I do." He turned his grin my way. "C'mon, Keiko. Let's show Yusuke here a thing or two," he said, and with a wink he headed for the kitchen.

Yusuke, smiling like a crescent moon, leapt from his seat and made to follow. I hung back, snatching at the hem of Yusuke's shirt as he passed. "Yusuke, wait."

He stopped walking and scowled. "What?"

"I'm sorry." A shrug, noncommittal but apologetic. "I thought you did it on purpose, and…"

He shrugged, too. "S'OK." And then he was smiling again, gleam in his eye devilish and bright. "It's not your fault you're an idiot and couldn't tell the difference."

"HEY!" I said, but he cackled and danced out of smacking range before I could give him a noogie—not to mention before I could threaten him with some retaliatory salt poisoning of my own.

My first instinct was to do something with Kurama and his plants for "poison," but that felt too obvious, so I went with this. Kid!Yusuke and NQK are always cute. Thanks for reading!