Disclaimer: Special A and its characters belong to Maki Minami. I own nothing, sadly lol
Please understand I have only watched the anime; I have not yet read the manga. I wanted to take a shot at a short after-story for my favorite pairing of this series and this is what I could come up with. Hope you guys enjoy. Forgive me if I messed up any facts.
"Here you go, Airi-chan. Eat the yummy pears~"
Tadashi Karino couldn't stop himself from grinning ear-to-ear as he watched the bouncing bundle who sat across from him in a highchair, lean over and take a big bite of food from the spoon that was held out to her. The small being hiccuped slightly as she swallowed down the delicious fruit in an instant. Her big purple orbs stared back curiously at Tadashi as he grabbed a napkin and began dabbing away at the remnants of the morning meal that still clung to the young one's face.
"Maybe your Mom is right, Airi-chan. You seem to have got my poor eating habits." Tadashi spoke over to the infant of only two months, who could barely understand even a hint of what her father was saying. Even so, the twenty-two year old man continued to talk to his tiny daughter as he prepared to clean up the rest of the large kitchen.
It had been five whole years since life had changed drastically for Tadashi Karino and Akira Toudou. After graduating from Hakusenkan, Akira went to college to become a world-class chef. Meanwhile, Tadashi jumped right into the workforce out of school, and had worked his way up in society. Today, he and Akira were married, with a small daughter of their own named Airi Karino; an exciting little being with Tadashi's messy brown hair and Akira's beautiful lavender eyes.
Today had started off no differently than any other day for the ex-member of the Special A class. In fact, the last two months had the same morning routine for Tadashi. Ever since his and Akira's daughter had been born the previous April, the food-loving man would get up, kiss Akira goodbye before she went to work and then spend the rest of the morning tending to Airi's needs until exactly two o'clock, when the babysitter came and relieved him of his parenting job so he could go to his office one. However, unlike in the past, today Tadashi had been given the day off of work. Now, he was fated to be home alone with his hyperactive little girl until six in the evening, when Akira was scheduled to return home.
"It's gonna be a fun day, isn't it, Airi-chan?" Tadashi gave the child's small nose a playful pinch with the one hand that wasn't balancing the dirty dishes cleared from the table, "Just you and Daddy for eight hours. Sound's awesome, doesn't it?"
"Da!" Was all the baby shouted before chucking her trusty rattle, given to her by Uncle Kei, at the back of Tadashi's head.
"OWWW," Tadashi quickly sat the dishes on the counter before grabbing the newly formed bump on his head. Akira's husband made a sad face as he looked to his daughter with eyes that resembled that of a hurt puppy, "That wasn't very nice, Airi-chan. You shouldn't throw things at Daddy."
Tadashi was just about to return to the task of doing dishes, when one of the family maids walked in,
"Allow me, Master Tadashi." The woman said, taking the plates from him.
"Oh, thanks, Kaya-san." Tadashi turned back to the pink highchair and scooped up Airi with a smile, "I'm just gonna take her out for a walk in the garden. Be back in a bit." The Karino son heard the maid bid him a goodbye before he grabbed his daughter's diaper bag off of a chair and headed out to the extensive garden that Akira loved almost more than life itself.
Airi's small eyes widened as her surroundings changed from the boring inside of her home, to the outside world filled with various large flowers and plants. The baby's cheeks turned a light pink as she whipped her head in every possible direction. She wasn't sure what place this was, but she liked it. She liked it very much. So much so that she ignored her father's complaining as she began scrambling in Tadashi's arms in hopes of breaking free and exploring the beauty on her own.
"A-Airi-channn, stop moving around so much or I'm gonna drop you! Then your Mom would REALLY let me have it..."
"Da!" The child gave a swift kick to her parent's cheek as she took hold of a giant leaf that suddenly appeared in her path.
Tadashi groaned inwardly as he sat down at one of the tables that was set up for tea time per request made by Akira. Since their group had graduated and left their little home that was the school's greenhouse; Akira had made a point to reconstructing their S.A. clubhouse just outside one of her family's mansions. She had decorated in a way to where her garden looked almost identical to Hakusenkan's greenhouse. Given, it didn't have the many animals roaming about in it like their old home did, but like Hikari had said, it was good enough.
"Heh, looks like you like this place as much as Mommy does." Tadashi pulled one of the leafs from the plant and handed it to Airi, who took it in interest and began studying and playing with it, as if it were one of her many toys. Akira's spouse sighed happily as he felt the sunlight shine down from the window-styled ceiling, and clash with his skin. As if a switch had been turned on, Tadashi felt some old memories begin to come back to him, Takes me back to that time...six years ago.
~Flashback~
"Tadashi...Tadashi!" Shouted a young female down at a sleeping boy, who appeared to be having quite the good dream from the looks of the large drops of drool on his chin. After a few more failed attempts of waking him up, the girl grabbed one of her best plates off of the coffee table and connected it with the boy's cheek. Not only did he wake up instantly, but the poor fool was thrown to the ground of the greenhouse like he was some piece of trash.
"Ow, ow, ow..." Moaned the younger Tadashi. When he noticed the fuming form of his girlfriend standing over him, Tadashi silently cursed himself for falling asleep, "A-Akira! Sorry, I was just..."
"I don't care what your excuse is, idiot!" The beautiful teen snarled, and stubbornly turned her back to him, "You said you'd meet me out at the school gate right after school. We had a date, you know..."
Tadashi swallowed nervously, fearing just how long he'd been asleep. Looking down at his watch, the boy's hazel eyes turned to dots when he saw it was already five o'clock. School had been let out at 3:30. Which means Akira had been waiting...
"Oh, crap, Akira..." Tadashi ran fingers through his long bangs in embarrassment, "I'm really sorry. I swear, I didn't mean to nap for that long. I only came down here for a little bit to skip math and I just kinda dozed off..."
The all too familiar sound of Akira's annoyed sigh pounded against Tadashi's eardrums like knives. Akira crossed her arms and began rocking her foot back and forth. Oh damn. He knew that reaction way too well by now. After years of pissing her off, both on accident and on purpose; Tadashi knew he had put himself in hot water this time.
"A-Akira, I am really sorry..." Tadashi rose from his seat and got down on his knees as if he were ready to beg, "We can still go to dinner if we leave right now..."
"It's too late, Tadashi. I promised Hikari I'd meet her later tonight for a group study." Akira stood up and ignored the pathetic form of her boyfriend as she began walking away.
Tadashi felt his vision blur a little as he felt the weight of guilt fall onto him like a bolder. He had never missed a date before. Sure, he'd pissed her off many times while on one, but never missed one like this. The glutton let his head fall to the ground and felt himself drift into a pit of deep depression.
Akira was just about to leave when she let her head turn ever so slightly so she could catch sight of him out of the corner of her eye. She stared a moment, before her lips did a swift curl upward. Tadashi's girlfriend sighed once more and did a spin on her heels.
"Alright, that's enough. I want you to feel guilty, not depress yourself to death." When she saw the large, tear-filled eyes of her boyfriend gaze up at her, Akira had to cover her mouth to suppress a giggle, "That's what you get for making me wait."
Tadashi sniffled loudly as Akira petted his head, "Does this mean you're not angry anymore?"
Akira gave an amused nod, and moved her hand down so as to give Tadashi's nose a sharp pinch, "Yes, yes. I just wanted a little revenge that's all. I half-expected you forget we were meeting anyways."
"M-My noseeee..." Tadashi groaned while Akira released her grip finally, "I'm really sorry, Akira..." Came the repeated apology, as Tadashi rubbed the red mark on his nostrils.
The S.A. female simply laughed as she locked hands with Tadashi and started towards the door, "You can make it up to me by coming over to Hikari's for that group study."
Tadashi felt his stomach start to do summer-salts. If there's one thing he hated, it was studying. But before he could so much as protest, Akira shot him another one of her famous furious looks and silently agreed to go. The boy's girlfriend grinned happily as the two of them made their way to the limo waiting outside for them. Only one thought crossed Tadashi's mind that day as he got into the vehicle with his manacle beloved, Akira knows just how to play with my heart.
~End Flashback~
Tadashi felt his smile grow widely at the memory. From the time they were children running around at night, to the present when he'd wake up each morning with Akria laying beside him; in all that time, Akira would still get angry over the same small things. And she'd still make him feel some form of pain as punishment. And she'd still take enjoyment in his reactions to such pain. Yes, some things would never change.
Tadashi opened his mouth, ready to relay the story to his daughter but was interrupted when he felt a large pain go straight into his midriff. The man's usual deep voice went up at least ten octaves as he leaned forward, grabbing where he'd been hit,
"O-Owww, that freakin' hurt! How the hell..." Tadashi opened one of his eyes to see Airi poking back at him with a small branch she'd pulled from one of the plants.
"Da da..." Came the low coo as she continued to poke away at her father's bare arms with the sharpest point of the object.
"Airi-chan, that hurts Daddy!" Tadashi swiped the stick away and frowned down at the girl. Airi simply looked up at him, batting those big, shiny eyes of hers as if she were a perfect angel. The Karino member was about to scold her again but stopped when he noticed something. Tadashi laid the branch on the table and held Airi up so that their faces were close to one another, "You've got the same look in your eyes that Mommy has whenever she hits me. Innocent, yet also amused at the same time..."
Then, Tadashi's heart skipped a beat when he noticed Airi's tiny lips curl just slightly upward as if she were imitating her Mother.
A brief amount of silence hovered over the two for a moment before a line of light chuckles escaped Tadashi, "It's unbelievable I never noticed until now. The constant throwing your toys at me, the purposefully loud squeals and cries whenever I pick you up, and the innocent yet guilty pleasure smile you have after you torture me...Airi-chan, you're exactly like your Mommy."
Airi hiccuped a moment before reaching out and taking hold of Tadashi's nose. The man flinched when he felt the light burn from the pinch. Tadashi pulled his nose away and looked down at his little daughter with a warm smile,
"Yup. Just like Mommy."
Author's Comments: Like I said at the beginning and summary, this was a pretty pointless fic. However, I still hope you enjoyed. Oh, and if anyone is even the slightest bit interested in more TadashixAkira fics or fics involving Airi-chan, please let me know.
Reviews are deeply appreciated.