Title: How to Be Good Parents (Kind of)
Author: Wordless Mage
Character: Fushimi Saruhiko, Yata Misaki
Genre: Romance, Family, and a bit of fluff
Summary: What will you do if one day you find a child outside of your door? Yata thought he should do the two best actions: tell Fushimi and then faint. Fushimi just wanted to get rid of the kid but of course it wasn't that easy. Well, they would just have to learn how to take care of a child – and maybe some other things in the process. SARUMI AU
Disclaimer: I do not own K.
Prologue
A young woman in her mid-twenties was standing behind the bookshelf near the counter, absentmindedly flipping through the pages of the book in her hand but she wasn't even looking at the book. No, her eyes were set on a certain young man who was crouched down in front of the counter, talking animatedly with a few children. If she thought she didn't look suspicious, she was dead wrong; the teenage girl at the next shelf was looking at her weirdly, plus her book was upside down. But, it wasn't like she cared about that. She had an important matter in mind after all – and it was more important than the girl that was looking at her weirdly.
The young man was already standing up; currently, he was patting one of the kids on her head. Ayuri stopped turning the page of the book and then put it back on the shelf. On a second thought, she grabbed the book back and then slowly she walked to the counter (but not before giving a 'what's-your-problem' look to the girl at the next shelf). By the time she got to the counter, the young man was already standing behind the counter together with another young man who was wearing a pair of shades – why would he wear shades inside, anyway? She put the book in her hand on the counter, smiling at the two men. The man wearing shades smiled at her, looking a bit amused.
She directed her eyes at the man she was observing – maybe for two days – and smiled wider. He blushed and smiled back. Aw, how cute.
"You like kids?" Ayuri asked while the guy scanned the barcode behind the book. He stopped and looked at her.
"Huh?" he raised an eyebrow. Well, if a pretty lady suddenly asked you that question out of nowhere, you'd be confused, too. "Um, well, yeah. They're cute," he replied.
"Are you good with kids?" She pressed. She could tell the guy was kind of perplexed by her questions but you can't blame her. She was curious and his answers were kind of important.
He hesitated for a few seconds before he shrugged. "I guess. It's not that hard," he answered. "Why? You need a babysitter?" he continued jokingly. Ayuri didn't smile; she just looked straight at the guy, thinking if she should just skip the trouble and tell the guy. Maybe he would be considerate – as considerate as a person can when asked a hard-to-fulfil favour. The guy noticed that Ayuri wasn't smiling, shifted uncomfortably.
"Well," Ayuri began, smiling slightly, "somewhat." The guy looked at her, confused, again.
"Oh," he voiced.
"I'm kidding!" Ayuri chuckled. Well, she wasn't actually kidding but the guy didn't need to know. "So, you like kids and can take a good care of them. Hm, that's nice," she said thoughtfully. "And you look like a very nice guy."
The guy smiled, blushing. "Well, thanks, I guess…" He finished wrapping the book and pushed it over to Ayuri. He told her the price and she paid him.
"Where do you live?" she inquired. Both of the young men were looking at her. She shrugged, "Just curious."
"Um, well, I live upstairs."
"Alone?"
"Nah, I got a roommate."
"Him?" Ayuri motioned the other guy.
"Not him. He's not here."
"Oh. Is he nice, then?"
The men gave her questioning looks. "Well, he is a nice guy, but he doesn't really look like it." The guy with the shades snorted. "He's nice, sometimes," affirmed the former. "Maybe not to him," he said under his breath, stealing a glance at the man next to him.
Ayuri nodded and smiled at him, satisfied, before she took the book. "Oh, that's good then," she nodded. The guy smiled uncertainly. "Well, Goodbye," she said. She turned around and walked towards the door.
"Sure, bye. Please come again!" she heard him called behind her.
"Maybe, but I don't think so," she replied, not looking at the man. She didn't think she would be coming there during business hour next time, so it was the same thing, sort of.
Ayuri stepped out of the bookstore. Okay, she thought, he's good with kids and nice. She walked, not really caring where. Her mind was still on the guy. Should she really do what she was going to do? She did give it a lot of thought and even she felt like her decision was kind of stupid. She sighed. Maybe, she should just go with her first choice: the orphanage. But, she didn't really like that choice; she didn't really like the orphanage. She didn't want the kid, her kid to end up like how she used to be, bullied by the other kids and if lucky ended up with a bad caretaker. She didn't know why but out of the two – the orphanage and the guy - she felt like the guy was perfect for her purpose. To trust someone she just knew – or rather, observe – for almost two days. It sounded ridiculous even to her.
Another sigh escaped from her lips. Well, she had time to think until at least that night. She was sure she could make a choice by then.
And she hoped it would be the right one.
Sighing yet again, she brought the wrapped book in her hand up and looked at it. She wasn't even sure what book it was. Shrugging, she slowly tore the wrapper then threw it into the nearest garbage can. She stared at the book's cover and blinked. Just below the name Yatogami Kuroh was the title of the book: "Sword and How to Take Proper Care of It" staring innocently at her. In a finer size just under the title it said "And How to Avoid from Accidentally Stabbing Other People (No Matter How Annoying They Were)". Ayuri stared harder. They actually sold this book at the bookstore. Who would actually need to buy this book? (She did it accidentally, mind you.)
She was about to throw it into the garbage can but decided to do otherwise in the end. Who knows, she might need to use it one day.
Late in the night – or early in the morning you decide – later, the lone moon had seen it all.
A young lady was pushing a stroller at the bookstore's direction; she had placed the stroller in front of the bookstore's door. Soon, she had knelt at the stroller's side, staring down at the occupier of the stroller. The sight of a little girl hugging her blanket to her chest was what had greeted her. Her eyes had softened at the sight and a sad smile had graced her lips. The woman had stared at the young girl for a long moment before deciding it was time to go. She had produced an envelope from her pocket and had placed it under one of the girl's arms.
"Well," she had said, "let's hope that I'll get to meet you again one day, dear. I love you." And with that she had walked away and gone from sight.
The stroller had been left there, hidden by the shadow, somewhat hard to be seen.
Well, that was before the sun was up into the sky; before a certain young man walked down into the bookstore only to notice a dark object against the rather transparent front door. Imagine his surprised when he found out what exactly that object was.
Author's Note: I'm sorry to those who had read the earlier version of the prologue. I typed and post that version of the prologue at very, very early in the morning and so, I wasn't thinking straight before I did it. Now, that I have read it, I decided I don't quite like it and so I decided to rewrite it. It's basically the same – there aren't so many changes; I only change the place setting and this one is longer. So, I'm sorry, once again. (I will probably post the first chapter, on Sunday, btw.)
