Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.
— Earl Nightingale
Yawning, a small girl with shoulder length fluffy brown hair stood on her toes to unlock the gate, grunting when her fingers skimmed across the lock. She whined softly and put even more strain on her toes. Come... on! Just a little bit... more! With a small shout, she successfully lifted the latch keeping the gate attached to the fencing. Yes! She beamed, slipped on her velcro-strapped sneakers, and ran to the neighbor's house. It was still quite early in the morning but she knew that the residents of the house next door were already awake.
In seconds, she was standing in front of their gate, which was thankfully low enough for her to reach with ease. She wasted no time unlocking it and toeing off her shoes at the front door. Then she straightened her back—the same way that she had always seen her mother do when she talked to her father's parents—and knocked on the door unabashedly.
"ONEE-CHAN!" she shouted as she continued to pound her fist on the door, grinning excitedly at the prospect of seeing her again.
At last, the door was opened by none other than Shimizu Kiyoko—or Iwaizumi Kiyoko, as she was now known as. The woman smiled gently at the child, her glasses slipping down her nose slightly as she tilted her head downward to regard the little girl.
"Good morning, onee-chan!" the small child, who was no older than five, chirped.
"Good morning, Sho-chan," Kiyoko greeted softly, still smiling. "And for the last time, call me oba-chan."
Oikawa Shouko blinked in confusion. "But otou-san says that oba-chan is for old ladies!"
Kiyoko snickered. "Did he, now? Still, I'm married and a mother, so oba-chan would be more appropriate, Sho-chan."
"Oh. Okay, oba-chan!"
Though Kiyoko knew that if she did not pound the information into the child's head, Shouko would likely end up calling her older sister again. But she was still young, and Kiyoko could let it slide (not to mention that it felt good being called older sister when she was thirty). She opened the door wider to allow Shouko inside, and the girl happily slid across the floor in her socks.
"Where's Iwa-chan?" Shouko asked innocently, staring up at Kiyoko.
The woman couldn't help but snort in amusement at the nickname. Like father like daughter. "Upstairs in his study room. He'll be down soon enough when he hears all the noise you're making."
"And Kagami-chan?"
"In her room," Kiyoko informed her, remembering seeing her ten year old adopted daughter leave the sanctuary of her room for a bathroom break. She would have been back in he room by now.
"Okay, thanks onee-chan!"
Kiyoko shook her head fondly at the slip of the tongue as she watched Shouko dash upstairs to meet Kagami.
As she ran down the corridor, she screeched to a halt, having seen Iwaizumi Hajime's head of spiked up hair in another room. "Hi, Iwa-chan!"
"Ah, Sho-chan." Iwaizumi turned in his chair to smile at her before deadpanning. "And how many times do I have to tell you to call me oji-san or Iwaizumi-san?"
Shouko grinned mischievously. "My otou-san tells me to call you Iwa-chan!"
Iwaizumi sighed. "Of course he did. Not even Naoko can break that habit." He muttered the last bit to himself. "If you're looking for Kagami, she's in her room."
"I know! Onee-chan told me the same thing."
"Onee-chan—?" Iwaizumi smirked. "Right, of course she did." She's like a girl version of Tooru. Thank god she has Naoko's genes as well.
Iwaizumi turned back to his computer and Shouko wandered down the corridor, passing the bathroom, before reaching the always opened door of her friend, Kagami.
"Hi, Kagami-chan! I'm here!" She walked into Kagami's room to find the black-haired girl sitting on her bed with her sketchbook, tapping her chin with her pencil and frowning in deep concentration.
"Oh!" Kagami snapped out of her stupor, closed her book, and smiled at the younger girl. Despite being adopted, Kagami was the spitting image of Kiyoko in her youth, glasses, loose, low hanging pigtails and all. Her eyes were a warm brown. "Hello, Sho-chan. You're up early today."
Shouko nodded before flopping on Kagami's bed, prying the sketchbook from the older girl's hands and opening it up. Her eyes widened at all the beautiful pencil drawings Kagami had illustrated in the pages. "Kagami-chan is so good at drawing!" she praised, stars in her eyes as she looked up at Kagami.
The girl laughed and blushed modestly. "I practice a lot, I guess. Do you like to draw, Sho-chan?"
Again, the little girl nodded, this time more vigorously than ever. "I do! In fact, I'm the master of drawing!" she bragged.
Kagami giggled. "I'm sure you are." Then she sighed, "Lately, I haven't had inspiration to draw anything. Maybe I should..." Her eyes lit up as she thought of something. "That's it! Why didn't I think of this earlier?"
"Think of what?" asked Shouko, bewildered at her outburst.
"I should go out and take my sketchbook with me. Nature has lots of inspiration."
"Oh, oh! Like the lake! My okaa-chan loves the lake! We should go, Kagami-chan!"
There was a soft knock on the door and Kiyoko entered, "Breakfast is ready, girls. If you two are going down to the lake, you'd better eat first."
"Okay, onee-chan!"
"Yes, okaa-chan."
Shouko grew excited when they entered the kitchen downstairs, seeing the four plates of eggs and toast on the table. Iwaizumi was already sitting down, reading the daily newspaper that he had collected from outside.
"Eggs and toast?" gasped Shouko when they sat down.
"Eh?" Kagami gave her seat neighbor a sideways glance. "We have this pretty much every morning."
"More or less," Iwaizumi added, looking up from his newspaper. "What's wrong, Sho-chan?"
"We never have eggs and toast at our house," Shouko declared vehemently, looking uncharacteristically serious (which, in the eyes of Iwaizumi and Kiyoko, made her look even more adorable and childish).
"Then what do you have?" Kiyoko asked, genuinely curious.
"Rice," Shouko said, more solemn than ever. "I mean, sometimes we have eggs and toast or something like that. But the rest of time it's rice. It goes like this: rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice," she paused, "eggs and toast. Rice, rice rice, rice—"
"We get it, Sho-chan," Iwaizumi interrupted, sounding amused. Had he not cut in, she would have likely kept going for a good half an hour.
"Oh, really?" Kagami said, her interest piqued. "In our house it's the other way round. Eggs and toast, eggs and toast, eggs and toast, eggs and toast," Kagami paused as well, "rice."
"Uwaah! That's so cool!"
"Eh? Not really, it's pretty much the same as yours, just reversed."
Once breakfast was over and done with, Kagami went up back to her room to pack her sketchbook and pencils into her backpack before returning downstairs to find Shouko impatiently waiting for her.
"Come on, Kagami-chan, I want to go to the lake!"
"Hold on a sec, Sho-chan," Iwaizumi said, having been on his way back upstairs to work on his computer, "does your mom or dad know that you're going out?"
Shouko bit her lip, knowing better to lie to Iwaizumi, "No..."
"You know the drill then," Iwaizumi replied before heading upstairs.
"Don't worry, Sho-chan, I'll come with you," Kagami offered, taking the little girl by the hand and leading her outside. After Shouko put on her shoes, the girls made the short travel over to Shouko's house, where Kagami easily unlocked the gate thanks to her taller height.
"Kagami-chan is too tall," Shouko complained with a pout, her eyebrows knitting together in jealousy.
"Don't worry, you'll grow taller too," Kagami said in order to appease the disgruntled girl. She rang the doorbell of the Oikawa household, where Oikawa Tooru answered the door, eyes lighting up behind the frames of his glasses when he saw the girls. He didn't look a day over twenty five, despite the fact that he was thirty.
"Sho-chan, there you are!" Oikawa exclaimed. "Bothering the neighbors again? And good morning, Kagami-chan."
"Good morning, Oikawa-san," Kagami politely returned, dipping her head slightly. "Can Sho-chan and I go to the lake to draw?"
"Please, otou-san!" Shouko added, giving her father the puppy eyes.
Oikawa cringed as he felt his heart explode from the cuteness his daughter was displaying. This is what happens when two beautiful people have a kid! He breathed out a sigh and sweatdropped. "You can go, Sho-chan," he allowed, his lips quirking upward in a sincere smile. "Just be back for lunch, okay?"
"Okay!" Shouko leaped forward and hugged Oikawa's legs. "Thank you, otou-san."
"Ack! You're getting heavier, squirt. Nearly knocked me over there."
"Did I get any taller?" Shouko demanded.
Oikawa laughed before ruffling her hair. "You know what, I think you have." He picked her up and hugged her tightly before letting her down. "If you can help it, don't fall in the lake." He shivered at the thought of Naoko finding out that their daughter had ruined her clothes and endangered her life trying to chase a duckling or something.
"I won't. I'll be extra careful," his daughter promised. "Also, can we have eggs and toast for dinner tonight?"
"Eh?" Oikawa blinked, bewildered. "Why so suddenly...?" Ehh?! Who eats eggs and toast for dinner anyway?!
"I don't want rice."
"And we had eggs and toast for breakfast," Kagami piped up. "So I guess Sho-chan wants to eat another helping."
Ah, of course. Sheesh, I'll have to thank Iwa-chan later for feeding her. He sweatdropped again. What's wrong with my cooking...? Since Naoko wasn't usually up so early in the morning, Oikawa was the one who cooked breakfast for himself and Shouko. "Tell you what, we can eat out tonight," he promised, knowing that Naoko was always up for eating out now that they were both bringing in a steady income. Oikawa from his work as a lawyer and Naoko from her job as a department head at a hospital in Sendai. Mako-chan's been craving her favorite Hamburg steak anyway.
Shouko gladly accepted the idea with a smile and the two girls headed on their way just before Naoko showed up behind Oikawa.
"Was that Shouko?" she asked, still bleary eyed. She probably bled Kiyoko's cupboard dry again...
"Mmhm." Oikawa kissed her forehead lightly and she mumbled something before melting into his touch. "She went off with Kagami-chan to the lake."
"Oh, okay... is there anymore coffee left? And not the cheap watery shit."
"I think there's enough to make a cup."
"Great." Naoko yawned. "You were particularly rough last night."
"Oh?" Oikawa smirked, his eyes flashing. "And here I thought that you liked it that way, Mako-chan."
"The soreness does feel somewhat refreshing in the morning," she answered, seeming more awake.
He snorted. "You've always been a masochist."
When the lake in the park came into view, Shouko cried out and ran down the grassy slope, Kagami chasing after her.
"Hold on a sec, Sho-chan, not so fast!"
"The ocean!" Shouko declared, stopping in front of the waters.
"Eh?! That's not the ocean!" Kagami sweatdropped at Shouko's apparent ignorance.
But Shouko only laughed. "I know, I'm just playing pretend." Kagami-chan can be so silly sometimes!
The pair soon found a shady spot under a tree, where they had a good view of the vast lake. Bubbles spurted from the surface of the water, the only sign that there were fish in the lake. There were a few ducks swimming about as well in the summer heat, obviously enjoying the warmth. Kagami tore a page from her notebook and passed it to Shouko, who accepted it gratefully. The paper was thin, but Shouko managed by placing it on her thighs. Kagami then gave her a pencil to draw with, and Shouko found that the tip of the pencil tickled the skin of her legs every time she pressed it down on the paper.
Kagami began to draw, only listening to Shouko hum with one ear. The tree on the other side of the lake was lovely and Kagami felt herself wanting to replicate it as best she could. She started off with the top leaves, slowly making her way down.
Meanwhile, Shouko busied herself trying to accurately copy the lone duck that was paddling the water near the shore of the lake, where all the reeds were. Let's see... head goes here, beak goes there... add some scribbles for feathers!
"Hey, guys!"
Kagami and Shouko both turned their heads to the right, where a young woman wearing a tee and shorts was approaching them. Instantly, Shouko perked up.
"Oba-chan!" Shouko all but shouted, abandoning her duck drawing to run up to the woman and hug her waist (because she was short enough for Shouko to reach that far up).
But Shouko was met with an unpleasant surprise when the woman pinched her cheeks and mock glared at her.
"Oi, I'm not that old!"
Shouko squealed before laughing. "Sorry, sorry!"
"Say, Sumire-nee-chan, brat!" Sumire demanded, grinning.
"Old lady!"
Sumire gasped, letting go of her niece and placing one hand over her heart. "I'm hurt!" Tears comically poured down her face. "Wuuu... my niece doesn't love me...!"
Shouko stuck her tongue out at her, and Sumire rolled her eyes. "Geez, you shouldn't be so rude to your aunt."
"So you admit that you're old!" Shouko said gleefully.
"Hey! Aunts can still be young and beautiful like me!"
"Kaa-chan is prettier than you."
The words all but stabbed Sumire through the chest. "... Ouch." But she soon recovered and followed Shouko back to where Kagami was. The Iwaizumi girl greeted her informally and Sumire sat beside Shouko, so that the youngest girl was sitting sandwiched between them.
Sumire caught a glimpse of Kagami's drawing. She let out a low whistle, impressed. "Wow, Kagami-chan, you're so good at drawing."
"Oh, thanks, onee-chan," Kagami graciously accepted the compliment, a small blush decorating her cheeks.
"I, for one, absolutely suck at anything drawing related," Sumire declared unashamedly, leaning back against the tree trunk with her arms behind her head.
"What about me?" Shouko asked. "I'm great at drawing! Look!" Proudly, she showed them her sketch of the duck on the lake.
The drawing looked nothing like the fowl; the head and body were totally misshapen and the beak looked like a banana. The scribbles she had added to represent the feathers made the duck look more like a cat having a bad hair day on top of being electrocuted.
"Wow, it looks great, Sho-chan!" Kagami praised, smiling at the girl.
Shouko grinned, pleased.
"What is that supposed to be?" Sumire asked tactlessly.
Shouko looked at her drawing, as if she needed some kind of visual confirmation, before saying, "It's that duck over there!" She pointed toward the lake at the lone duck, which had its butt up in the air as he submerged its head to look for food.
"That looks nothing like a duck," Sumire commented.
Shouko's smile faltered and Kagami immediately began to panic. "Does that mean... it's bad?" Shouko asked, her eyes growing sad.
"N-no!" Kagami protested, "It's good!"
"Oh, yeah, it's bad," Sumire confirmed at the same time. "It's pretty ugly."
Like a cash register dinging out, Kagami's jaw dropped in disbelief at Sumire's tactlessness.
"No, don't listen to her, it's good!" Kagami said frantically.
"Huh...?" Shouko looked over to her. "Then why is Sumire-nee saying it's bad?"
"Because it is!" exclaimed Sumire, still unable to get a clue of Shouko's oncoming tantrum.
Shouko's bottom lip began to wobble and tears filled her large brown eyes. Sumire flinched.
Aw crud, Sumire thought, inwardly berating herself.
"It's good!" Kagami kept on insisting, growing more frantic, "Sumire-nee is only saying that it's bad because she's bad at art! Oop!" Guilty, she clapped her hands over her mouth, dropping her pencil in her lap.
"Eh?!" Sumire cried before hanging her head in shame.
"I'm sorry...!" Kagami moaned, lowering her own head.
Shouko glanced between the two of them before hanging her head as well, breathing out a sigh as a heavy gloom settled over the three.
"Hey, is that who I think it is?"
"He's taller than he looks on TV..."
"More handsome too!"
In her peripheral vision, Sumire noticed none other than Ushijima Wakatoshi approaching them from the left, his hands in his pockets. He was unsmiling, but that was a norm for the volleyball star.
"Ushiwaka," Sumire greeted. Ushijima was a friend of hers thanks to Kageyama; they played in the same team during their university days.
"Good morning, Kageyama-chan," he returned, looking over the three sitting females.
"Waka-san!" Shouko cried, her gloom temporarily lifting. She knew of him due to her father's connections. Despite their rivalry during high school, Oikawa and Ushijima had gotten closer in the past few years, and the latter sometimes dropped by the Oikawa household for a friendly visit.
"Ushijima-san," Kagami said, also used to his presence because her father was in a similar situation with Oikawa.
He returned their greetings as well, and Shouko chose to show him her duck drawing, still confused whether it was good or bad since she had gotten two clashing opinions from Sumire and Kagami.
Ushijima took the paper and scrutinized it, his face never changing as he took in every detail.
Knowing how blunt he could be, Sumire and Kagami both prayed that he would compliment Shouko's skill—or lack of thereof but that wasn't the point.
Unknowingly, Sumire and Kagami were also sending desperate glares toward Ushijima as they both thought of the same thing.
PLEASE SAY IT'S GOOD, PLEASE SAY IT'S GOOD, PLEASE SAY IT'S GOOD—
Ushijima handed the paper back to Shouko. "It's good."
Sumire and Kagami both breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god...!
Shouko beamed up at Ushijima. "Really? You think so?"
"Yes. You should be an artist, Sho-chan."
"See?" Kagami added for insurance. "I told you it was good!"
"Now that I get a really good look at it, it looks just like a duck," Sumire piped up, sweating nervously. "It's really, really good, Sho-chan!" May the gods forgive me for lying to this child...! I feel so dirty now.
"That's because I'm a drawing master!" Shouko boasted, the ego that she had inherited from her father now back to one hundred percent.
"I'm sure you are," Ushijima told her, all the while remaining rather toneless in his manner of speaking.
Then Shouko turned to Sumire and gave her the drawing. "Here."
"Huh?" Sumire could hardly bring herself to burn her eyes by looking at the literal ugly duck that would never be turning into a swan anytime soon. "Don't you want to keep it, Sho-chan?"
"No," Shouko said solemnly, "I think you need some art to brighten up your life."
"Hey, my life is plenty bright, thank you very much!" Sumire huffed, but kept the drawing anyway. I feel like I am being punished...
"What the hell is that thing?" Kageyama asked incredulously as he spied Shouko's duck drawing pinned in the fridge door with a magnet in their studio apartment.
Sumire, who was reading a book on the couch, her electric violin by her side, looked up from her book to glare at her husband. "Shut up, stick, it's good!"
Kageyama stared at her in open disbelief, "Are you kidding? It's looks like a scribble with a banana sticking out of it. Twig," he added as an afterthought.
"I said it's good, dammit!"
Come next Friday afternoon and Oikawa was found sitting on the couch, boredom creeping up on him as he watched the news. He had finished all of his work and there was nothing much to do. He could have visited Iwaizumi next door, but he had gone to his work office.
Naoko wasn't home yet and Shouko was taking an afternoon nap in her room. If he listened hard enough, Oikawa could hear his daughter snoring loudly from all the way upstairs.
At long last, he got up from the couch and went to his daughter's room, finding her fast asleep. Not that he had expected anything else. Sighing at her odd sleeping position, he set her down properly on her big queen-sized bed and lay next to her, feeling drowsy thanks to his chronic boredom.
Within minutes, he was asleep. Deeply, at that.
It was then Shouko decided to wake up from her nap, sitting up and stretching, pausing when she felt her limbs nudge something solid. She turned her head to see her father asleep by her side, lying on his back.
Eh? Otou-san? I guess he must be sleepy too. She clambered off the bed and pulled out her box of toys, playing for a bit before getting bored.
Shouko moved onto her drawing markers. Since she had proclaimed herself to be a master of drawing, she liked to practice her drawings using pencils, crayons, and her only magic marker.
Her magic marker was her favorite drawing utensil and she used it sparingly, fearing that it would run out.
Shouko took out her notebook and started scribbling indescribable pictures on it, humming gleefully under her breath. She was about to move on to her magic marker when she found out that she had run out of pages. Disappointed, she shoved her notebook aside and looked around the room. If she drew on the walls, her mother would get incredibly upset.
Her eyes landed on Oikawa's sleeping form and a mischievous idea came into her mind. Quietly, she got up to her feet and stalked to the bed, climbing onto the mattress with her magic marker still in her hand.
There was a squeaky pop when Shouko removed the cap but Oikawa didn't even stir, far away in dreamland.
Satisfied that he wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon, Shouko begun to express her creativity on his face. He slept without his glasses on, so she was able to draw circles around his eyes. She traced a spiral on his cheeks and connected his eyebrows with her magic marker ink. She also gave him a beard on his chin and some premature forehead wrinkles. Then she sat back and observed her work, pleased.
Until the consequences of her actions crashed down on her like a tidal wave.
Gaaah! she shouted in her head. What do I do?! How do I get it off?!
Slowly, she got off the bed and slowly backed away from the still sleeping Oikawa to the door. Then she sped off, hurrying down the corridor and downstairs. She put on her shoes hastily and jumped to unlock the gate, not caring when her skin stung from being caught between the catch and lever.
She unlocked Iwaizumi's front gate and knocked on the door, toeing her shoes off as she did so.
Kiyoko answered the door. "Hu? Sho-chan, hello. Come in."
"Hi, Kiyoko-san, where's Kagami-chan?" Shouko inquired hurriedly.
"Watching television in the living room."
"Okay, thanks!"
"KAGAMI-CHAN!" Shouko shouted as she entered the living room, causin the girl to startle. Kagami had been in the middle of watching a documentary about tigers.
"Eep! Sho-chan, you scared me!" Kagami exclaimed, putting a hand over her heart.
"Kagami-chan," Shouko ploughed on, "what's the best way to remove magic marker again?"
"What did you draw it on?"
"Otou-san's face."
Kagami stared at the younger girl, sweatdropping. "Uhh... okay." She hummed thoughtfully, tapping her chin. What was it again? I think it was an animal product. Like egg? Oh! "Mayonnaise," Kagami told Shouko confidently. "I remember the TV show saying it was mayo."
"Yosh! Thanks, Kagami-chan!" With that, Shouko ran off back to her own house. Kagami smiled, feeling proud of herself that she had helped out the younger girl.
Kiyoko sat down next to her daughter, giving her a sideways questioning look. "Wasn't it butter...?"
Kagami, who had been about to unpause her documentary, halted her finger's journey to the play button. "... Was it?"
Kiyoko nodded.
"... Oh," was all Kagami could come up with.
Shouko silently despaired over the sight of her father with his face covered in mayonnaise and magic marker. She had squirted the egg based dressing all over his face and rubbed it in, but the ink still wasn't coming off.
Why. Won't. It. Come. Off.
There was only one thing to do now.
Shouko washed her hands in the bathroom before returning to her bed. Then she set her head on Oikawa's abdomen and promptly fell asleep.
Iwaizumi openly stared at Oikawa as they ran into each other in the grocery shop. Iwaizumi had been on his way home and decided to buy some groceries while Oikawa was picking up ingredients for tonight's curry dinner.
"Oh, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa greeted happily as he put the curry mix into his basket.
Iwaizumi continued to stare.
"Sheesh, Iwa-chan, if you're interested, you should have said so before I got married," Oikawa teased.
"... Have you checked the mirror lately?"
Oikawa pouted at him. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? A simple 'no' would have sufficed."
"I didn't mean it like that!" huffed Iwaizumi. "Just... gah." He snickered. "Never mind."
"Eh? Do I have something in my teeth or something?"
Iwaizumi couldn't hold it in anymore; he guffawed loudly, shakily placing some minced garlic into his own basket.
"Iwa-chan, stop being mean!"
Feeling a little sorry for his oblivious best friend, Iwaizumi gave him his phone. "Use the reverse camera."
Oikawa raised an eyebrow at him but did as he told him. Iwaizumi could literally see the blood seeping from his face as he finally clued in.
"... So this is why everyone was looking at me on the street? I thought they were just admiring my obvious good looks and charm."
Iwaizumi snorted.
"Tooru?" Naoko said as Oikawa entered their bedroom. She was completely naked, having just come out of the shower. "What happened to your face?"
"Sho-chan," Oikawa grumbled before going into the bathroom to scrub off the mayonnaise and magic marker stains.
Naoko had to rein in a laugh as she slipped into her nightgown, one that skimmed her thighs. "She takes after you!" she called to him.
"Don't be mean, oyster-chan, you helped make her!"
This time, Naoko did laugh.
"You sound like a deranged hyena!" Oikawa shouted from the bathroom before turning on the shower.
"So I've been told," she replied, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Dumb chihuahua. I can't believe you actually went out like that..."
"I can still hear you, Mako-chan! Stop bullying your husband!"
"Stop yapping and then maybe we can come to a compromise."
The bathroom door opened again and Oikawa reappeared, dressed in a cotton white shirt and comfortable shorts.
"If it makes you feel better, you look much better without all that gunk on your face," Naoko told him, smirking.
"Oh, I know that," Oikawa answered, grabbing her by the waist and pushing her onto the bed, kissing her neck. "I've missed you," he murmured into her hot skin, taking in her familiar scent.
"... Me too."
A/N: Because I am still way too attached to Kindergarten Bully for it to be healthy.
Heavily inspired by Yotsuba&!
Probably gonna be a oneshot but I might write other chapters.