Disclaimer: I own very little.
A/N: This is an entry to the 30-dogpile challenge in LiveJournal, the theme being Finger Paint. Implied threesome.
Family Unit, Revised
"Okay, is everybody done?" Miss Tsukiko smiled at her little students. As she heard only agreements, she clapped her hands. "Well, now go and wash your hands while your paintings dry for a bit! And yes, Ginta-kun, that means your face too!"
The little kids all hurried to wash off the excessive finger paint. While keeping an eye on them, Tsukiko took a look at their paintings. Messy stick figures with no sense of proportion, unclear blobs, messy combinations of lines and colour – exactly what she had expected the family portraits to be. Ah, well, they would learn – and until they did, practising at least helped them get rid of some energy.
When the children were clean again and the paintings dry enough, she smiled again at the class. "Now, who would like to be the first one to introduce their family to the rest of us?"
There were several volunteers. Picking one to start with, Tsukiko then prepared herself for several stories of fathers, mothers, grandparents and various pets. This was, as was only to be expected, exactly what she heard. After about half of the class were done, she pointed at yet another little girl. "Your turn, Yanagi-san!"
"Yes, teacher!" With a bright smile, the little girl made her way to the front of the classroom. How she did this with apparently closed eyes, Tsukiko was yet to understand.
"Okay, everybody, this is my family," Yanagi said, holding up a picture with four somewhat human-like figures in it. "The little figure in the middle is me, and I have my puppy in my lap!" At this, she pointed at the little brown spot in the middle of her own image. "Her name is Lucky and I got her from Momo-oji-chan on my birthday! Momo-oji-chan is great, he always plays with me!"
Tsukiko smiled. Ah, yes, this was just as cute as always.
"And this one here is my Father!" Yanagi pointed at one of the larger figures. "His name is Yanagi Renji and he's my real father, that's why I've got his name. I don't know who my mother is, but Father says she is really pretty and I look just like her so I'll be really pretty when I grow up, too!"
Now, Tsukiko blinked. No mother? And what was this about "real" father? And the remaining figures...
"Father always tells me stories," little Yanagi continued cheerfully, "and he calls me Princess. He meets Yukimura-oji-chan and Sanada-oji-san every week and they play tennis. Yanagi-obaa-san makes the greatest cookies, too!"
The little finger now pointed at another large figure. "This is my Daddy. His name is Inui Sadaharu and he always wears glasses. H makes juices that taste awful and he never gets to cook, but he's taught me really neat things about science. He calls me Pi because he says I'm small but really important just like the pi. His parents are always somewhere travelling but they send me postcards."
Tsukiko coughed. "So you have two fathers? That's... nice," she said. "But who is that last person in the picture?"
"That's my Papa, of course!" Yanagi beamed. "His name is Kaidoh Kaoru, and he plays professional tennis. Daddy is his coach. He has three pet snakes and four cats and he always takes me running with him and carries me when I'm too tired to run. Momo-oji-chan and Papa always fight, but Daddy says it's only because they're such good friends. Papa calls me Kitten and he's got a little brother who gives me candy, and Kaidoh-obaa-san is the best cook in the entire world!"
"That's wrong!" somebody from the class cried out. "You can't have three fathers or three grandmothers!"
"Can too!" replied Yanagi, sounding somewhat insulted. "I have too Father and Daddy and Papa! And the next time we have an Open School Day I'll bring them here and show you!"
Suddenly Tsukiko found herself fearing the next Open School Day. That, and she'd definitely have to make a visit to Yanagi's home.
