Title: Kutsu Day

Manga: Tales of Symphonia

Characters: Kratos, "Anna", and (a three year old) Lloyd.

Warning: Spoilers for Kratos and a made-up story for his past.

Notes: This fic is based off a idea I got on father's day, eight days back and because of work and real life it took those nine days to write too. Anyways the title partly comes from the Extra bonus manga where a three year old Lloyd can't remember how to say his father's name and calls him kutsu when Dirk asks him his parents names. Kutsu means shoe and leads to a later pun found in the manga about Lloyd's red shoes.

Word Count: 696 words

"Kratos, aren't these cute?"

The man named Kratos flashed a look in the direction of his wife and then to what was in her hands; in them she held a pair of red baby shoes. Upon his nod and his agreeing smile, Anna, his wife motioned for him to give her his hands and as he complied to her will, and found her soft hands touch his rough ones, he felt the baby shoes and something else, something cold and smooth fall into them before her hands returned to her sides.

"What's this?" he asked with a little wonder.

"Kratos. It's a locket. Open it."

Kratos complied to her will again and found himself staring at a picture that had been taken three years ago; a picture of himself holding his newly born son with his wife to the left of him.

"It was Lloyd's idea," Anna revealed, breaking the silence created by the endearing moment, with a growing smile on her face. "He seen it a few days ago and thought it'd be perfect for today."

"Today?"

"Dummy-Kratos. It's father's day, today." Kratos' eyes grew a small bit in realization and Anna began to laugh a small amount in response to his reaction and naturally her son soon laughed with her. "Right, Lloyd?"

Lloyd nodded more times then he needed to, while he was still laughing. "Yup. It's Daddy ku-ku...Kutsu's day!"

"That's right!" Anna exclaimed, and patted her son on the head. "Today is a day for Daddy Kutsu."

At his family's display, Kratos gave off a small smile and turned his gaze over to the locket in his hands to escape his wife's eyes as he felt both amused and slightly embarrassed by her, and he also somehow felt rejuvenated by her too.

Noticing this, Anna tittered.

"Kratos," she called out to him with a voice that rang with sweetness and a tone that held beauty.

In response to her voice, to a voice he himself found hard to ignore, Kratos looked up; his red eyes looking back into her brown ones.

"Anna," Kratos answered her back, and was soon completely at a loss as to what happened seconds ago. All that mattered and all that he could think of was to acknowledge and respond to her by saying her name in return.

In awe interest or curiosity, like a kitten, Lloyd watched his parents in awe with wide eyes and as the seconds passed on by, Lloyd grew more and more impatient with their silence and staring. In a attempt to grab both their attentions, he decided to pull at his father's pant leg.

"Lloyd wants red shoes," he pleaded while intentionally changing the atmosphere by expressing his demand for the shoes his mother choose for him.

Tittering again, Anna broke eye contact first.

"Ahh... yes. We should be going now, we shouldn't stay here for much longer," she pointed out, before turning over to walk towards the exit teller desk where a young female teller awaited her. Soon following close behind her of course were the other two; her husband and her son.

In front of the front desk, standing with a smile on her face, Anna pointed over to where she had picked up the shoes her husband now held and asked for their price. The teller easily enough told her their exact price and Anna pulled the same amount of yen notes from her coin purse and paid the teller who bowed and wished her a good day. Anna wished her the same and left the store.

On the streets outside still close by the store they were in, Anna had Lloyd change into his new shoes and hand over his old ones once of the color yellow but now completely covered in dirt of varying browns to her and before they continued on their way, leaving south of town where they came in from and where Noishe waited for them, Anna sold Lloyd's old shoes for what little money they were worth to a secound-hand store located south-east in the town, fairly close to where they wanted to exit from and gave Kratos a kiss afterwards.