Disclaimer
The characters "Shuuichi" and "Shiori," as cited below, are strictly based on the fictional characters with the same names from Yu Yu Hakusho, a manga series by Togashi Yoshihiro adapted into animation by Fuji TV in Japan and FUNimation Entertainment in the U.S. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N
Posted this as a birthday fic for myself. Hey, nothing wrong with a little self-dedicated gift fic once in a while, right? Happy reading! ^-^

My Daddy's Mommy Shiori

My Daddy's Mommy's name is Shiori. Daddy named her after me.

Oopsie! i mean, Daddy was born after her, and i was born after Daddy, so Daddy named her after me.

Heeey… That's still not right.

Lemme see… Daddy's Mommy named Daddy, and Daddy named me, so Daddy named her after me!

Bah! That's STILL not right!

All i'm saying is the name Shiori sounds like me! Or, or, my name sounds like Shiori!

There. That's better. Hee hee!

Sometimes, i have a hard time telling other people wat i mean. Like just now. But my Daddy's Mommy always makes me feel better. She tells me i'll talk and write better wen i grow up. Wen she tells me that, she says this weird word that makes me think she's really smart! She says i'll eh… eck… ecks-press… i'll ecks-press myself better Someday. i ask her wat day. But she always just says Someday. Did she really say SUN-day? Maybe i just heard wrong. Wen will i talk really good? Monday? Oh, i can name the seven days of the week now! One time, i named them all, all the way to Sat… Sat… tur… day, and she and Daddy was both really proud of me!

i wish i'll be as smart as Daddy's Mommy Someday. She's a very nice lady too. She's so nice to Daddy, she's mean to herself. You know wat? She says Daddy is smarter than her! But i think she's just being nice to Daddy, 'cause Daddy is my Daddy and he's waaay smarter than me, and she's his Mommy, so she should be waaay smarter than Daddy too!

Did you know Daddy used to be a kid like me? My Daddy's Mommy Shiori knows! She was the one hu told me! She tells me wat Daddy was like wen i wasn't born yet!

Sometimes, wen Daddy's not home, my Daddy's Mommy tells me lots and lots and lots and lots and looots of stories. Daddy used to be just as tall as me! i can't imagine him shorter than his Mommy. He's so tall! But she tells me once upon a time, he used to be reeeally tiny, like a baby. i can't imagine Daddy as tiny as a baby. Maybe he was a cutie. Hee hee.

Daddy's Mommy tells me bedtime stories about Daddy that my playmates' Daddies' Mommies don't tell them. Shhh. This is a secret, okay? Daddy used to be a magic fox! And Daddy's Mommy didn't know 'til Daddy was all growed up!

i asked my playmates if their Daddies used to be magic foxes too. Yuuko-chan said her Daddy was king of all the demons. Kazu-kun said his Daddy's just an ordinary person, but his Mommy isn't ordinary. But i don't believe Kazu-kun. He's mean. He likes making his Mommy cry just 'cause he thinks his Mommy's tears are special. i don't like wat he does. i don't want to see MY Daddy's Mommy cry like that. i want her to be happy!

Hii-chan tells me i shouldn't believe my Daddy's Mommy 'cause she's just making up stories from the fairy tale books she reads to me wen i go to bed and i can't sleep, and those stories aren't real. But you know, i trust my Daddy's Mommy. Wen she talks to me about Daddy, she doesn't read from my storybooks. She looks straight at my eyes. i look straight at her eyes too, and i feel she's telling me the truth. Daddy tot me that. You can see a lot of things in people's eyes.

Shhh. Don't tell Daddy, but wen i look at HIS eyes, i can't tell if he's telling me the truth or he's just playing with me. Daddy's a playful guy, you see. Hee hee.

My Daddy's Mommy teaches me a lot of things. Like i shouldn't do wat Daddy used to do wen he was still a magic fox. He used to get things that didn't belong to him! Bad Daddy! But his Mommy said he learned his lesson. He was a good boy, and he growed up and became a good man.

Hee hee hee! i STILL can't imagine Daddy as a teeny tiny little boy! He's so big and tall!

Daddy's Mommy also told me wen he was a kid, he used to clime trees. He liked climing the big, big, BIIIG cherry tree at our back lawn! And it's so HIGH! He must have been one really BIG, TALL kid! Maybe he always drinks his milk, like me!

But Daddy's Mommy says he used to sit on her lap at night, and she made the rocking chair move veeery slowly until he fell asleep curled on her lap, like a furry cat. Wow. If she can carry him on her lap, she must be really STRONG!

Someday i'll grow up big and tall like my Daddy. i hope i also grow up nice and smart and good and strong like my Daddy's Mommy. Even if she isn't as big and tall as my Daddy.

Do you know she used to give Daddy baths in our bathtub, just like the ones she gives me? Hee hee! Maybe she used to see Daddy all nakee! She said the bubbles always got in his eyes too. Ouchie! And his eyes would turn as red as his hair, and they would hurt REEEALLY bad, so she had to blow on his eyes so the pain will go away, just like she does to me! Hee hee hee! And Daddy must have used up A LOT of shampoo!

Shhh. Daddy's looking. Did he hear wat i just said? Oopsie.

Keep it down, okay? Hee hee.

Oh no. Daddy's giving me THAT look. The look he gives me wen he tells me to call his Mommy my Grand-Mommy. But i don't want to call my Daddy's Mommy that. i think she's MORE than just Grand. She's Great! She's Beautiful! She's Amazing! One time, i called her my Amazing-Mommy, and she was so happy, she laughed, and i saw little tears in her eyes. But after that, Daddy STILL told me to call her just Grand. But Daddy, i didn't mean to make her cry! And she wasn't crying because she was sad! She was crying because she was happy!

i like seeing Daddy's Mommy happy. Her smile is really pretty. Daddy got his smile from her. And she says i got my smile from Daddy.

Oopsie. My Daddy's Mommy told me to always write the letter i big. She said another weird word, and it made her sound really smart. She told me to ca… cap… cappi… tal… lies… to write the letter i in capital letters. I mean let-TER. After all, It's just one letter. Hee hee.

This morning, my Daddy's Mommy looked really sad. Like she was about to cry. She also said sorry to me. But she didn't do anything wrong! So I gave her a BIIIG hug and asked her why she said sorry. She said I'm still too young to under… to under… well, it was under something… wat Daddy used to be before she became his Mommy. She told me I shouldn't think too hard about wat Daddy used to be. I told her I don't think too hard. I just dream about him on some nights. I dream Daddy was a fox with fur as white as the snow outside in winter, and his fur was reeeally thick and puffy like the clouds in the sky, and because it was so thick it kept him warm. And he had furry ears on top of his head so he wouldn't need earmuffs in winter, and they would twitch wen he's itchy or wet, and they would point straight up to the sky wen he was listening to something interesting. I dream he had four long tails that move around all the time, and they would make a swish-swish-swish-swish-SWOOSH! sound, like the wings of a bird, or, or the wings, I mean blades!, of a hell… icopter. If he ever turns into a magic fox again, I want to play with him all day! Hee hee!

But she told me that will never happen anymore, 'cause Daddy's now just a person, just like her and you and me. That's too bad. We could have so much fun! But I'll remember wat my Daddy's Mommy said. I promised her I'll remember. We pinkie-swore!

Oh, she's calling me. Awww, bedtime already? But I'm not sleepy yeeet! Three more minutes! Pwease?

Siiigh.

Okay, Kind-Mommy! I'm comiiing…!

"Tell me more about Daddy's magic fox powers, Wonder-Mommy!" Bright young eyes were crossed right in between the short stub of a nose that Shiori just kissed. "Pweeease?"

Shiori smiled at the tot she had just tucked tightly in bed. "Tomorrow, sweetheart." She smoothed the pleats in the blanket under her grandchild's chin one last time and lightly rose to her feet. "It's time for bed."

The same bright young eyes uncrossed as they watched her stand. Rosy, pleading lips parted again. "But—but—what if we don't finish the story tomorrow? Let's start now so we'll finish earlier!"

"We'll never run out of nights, my dear."

"Awww. No fair! Did he have x-ray vision? Laser vision? Heat vision?" The youngster pressed on excitedly, not the least bit in the mood for sleep, as typical of children of such age. "Could he fly reeeally high up in the sky?"

The gentle grandmother could not help but chuckle at her newest little bundle of joy. Kids and their overactive imaginations. Shuuichi lent her quite a creative one. "No, honey. Foxes can't fly."

"But Daddy was a magic fox, wasn't he? So he could do things other foxes can't! Right? Right?"

Shiori hid her soft giggle behind her hand. "I'll tell you all about him tomorrow night…" She headed to the door, poised to close it behind her. "As long as you're asleep in five minutes."

"Time me!" challenged the headstrong child, gamely diving under the covers and pretending to doze off already.

Another warm, tender smile lifted the corners of Shiori's lips.

"Sweet dreams, my sweet dreamer."

With that, she slowly pulled the doorknob towards her until the door clicked shut.

"Bah, I can't sleep," Shiori's pudgy-cheeked little cherub mumbled while tossing and turning in bed, as though a most discomforting pea was secretly buried beneath its mattresses.

Eyes as round as globes and twinkling like stars darted to the bedroom door. It was closed.

"Oh. That's why."

Suddenly, an inconspicuous but long, leafy vine slithered along and across the floorboards and entwined around a brass knob, turning it and cracking the door open a mere inch. A hazy sliver of light from the hallway shone through the crack and upon the child's face.

"There. That's better."

The mysterious creeping plant slinked back to the bed as Shiori's grandchild peacefully drifted off into dreamland.

"Maybe he could spit fireballs…"