Leaning against the porch, the woman looked off to her husbands meticulously kept garden and smiled a tired smile she never thought she would feel grace her face. Gardening, cooking, sewing, and eating sweets. Just a few minor aspects of her husbands personality she couldn't help but find more endearing than strange. Being a man more on the hefty, stony faced side, she remembered thinking that such hobbies and quirks were next near impossible for such a man to possess.
Although this was also at a time where she found herself fervently denying her feelings for him. Her younger years as a freshman with him and their dear old friend Byron had been pleasantly eventful in that she had found herself in the possession of lifelong friends. Countless occasions had her and Byron teasing every inch of of their beloved friend, never pushing him further than a a displeased fluster. Although Tenj, as she preferred to be addressed, never once caught him actually angry about their gibes and jokes. She could tell he enjoyed having them around, and once she was comfortable around the two, never had the thought cross her mind that he would be upset about it.
The worst she had seen Richard do was cross his arms, glare at Byron (he only ever scowled at her), and go off to stuff his face with some kind of sweet and curl up in front of the television watching some watered down soap opera.
Yeah! Soap opera! What a dork. Although it was increasingly difficult for her to poke fun at him for it, as Byron too shared his passion for sweets and sappy love stories. To be perfectly honest, she was convinced the two were in a romantic relationship for the greater part of their friendship. She thought they'd be cute together, and the manner in which her dear Ronnie would flirt with Richard made her justify them as 'platonic' lovers.
If it had not been for Byron's deep infatuation with what she could now dub his wife, she would not have gotten involved with Richard. Their friendship meant a great deal to her...and losing out on it over a few skipped heart beats was absolutely ludicrous in her opinion.
The four had gotten along quite well, although Tenj felt a certain uneasiness about this new woman in her friends life. He was playful, charming, and overall very handsome. Richard had been convinced that Tenj only hung around them so much as teens because she was interested in Byron. Well, Byron was great and all...but...
Something about Richard's dorky charm drew her in. Charm was the wrong word for it actually. He was quite the rock when it came to emotions. Though he would slip up and say a few sweet things unintentionally, and hell, she couldn't control her heart.
The woman was beautiful, of course. Stunning actually. Tenj had to admit she was probably the most beautifully elegant woman she had ever met, and she had met Byron! (He looked fabulous in a dress with his hair down. But that was...a hobby of Richard and Byron's she had yet to fully decifer. As long as they were having fun it was okay she guessed.) Soft spoken and quite the charmer, Tenj felt herself to feel a bit of uneasiness around the woman. Was it jealously? Was she just worried to let her friend go off by himself with some woman she hardly knew?
Yes, yes it had to be that. Byron was a strong, capable man (even if he did enjoy dressing up now and again, still very manly) who could take care of himself. She would be sure to be there if she caused him any grief.
That was what friends were for, right?
Although she found herself in a strange place when it came to their friendship. Richard and Byron worked side-by-side with another man, Kazuma, his name was. Not all too often, Byron seemed to be closer to the man than Richard (Richard was socially a failure, so it wasn't to much of her surprise. He was a sweet guy, just not too good with people.) She had met Kazuma's wife, and they hit if off really well. She was not only beautiful on the outside, but deeply so on the inside. She had the cutest little daughter that was roughly Chris' age (Byron's eldest son).
She and Mirai got together every so often, but both women were quite busy with their occupational lives. Mirai with her daughter and traveling with Kazuma, and Tenj with her turbo dueling careeer and her sweet baby Kaito. He had to be the best thing to ever happen to her life, such a bright eyed cheerful child. She wished for him to be friends with Byron's son, and Mirai's as well...
But the two had something of a falling out a few years ago.
Having promised to keep a close eye on Byron's newly aquired wife, Tenj found herself feeling suffocated being around her. She felt so plastic and dolled up. Like she was acting. Something in her tone of voice was belittling and shallow, perhaps she did not approve of Tenj's relationship with Byron? She was suspicious of this at first, and found these thoughts to be true. Byron came to her one evening while she was babysitting Chris and informed her of this grave news.
Naturally she did not take it very well.
They had been friends for years! And just because some woman was jealous...she wasn't interested in Byron in the slightest. She had a son! But he sullenly informed her of his wifes dispositon on the subject, and left it at that. As annoying as that all was, she still held the vain hope he would come to his senses and at least try and compromise on the subject. Unfortunately he did not budge, and she stubbornly would not try to make ammends either.
This upset Richard gravely, but Byron was very much attached to this woman. The woman who had given to him his two precious sons. Although the younger one was...
Well that was another story.
"Mama, look, look!" young Kaito's voice interupted her train of thought. He was buzzing up at her with wide, excited eyes, as if he had just made a life changing discovery.
"What is it, my love?" she grinned at him, picking him up and snuggling a few kisses on the top of his head.
"Whooooooo, whoooo!" he spluttered, pursing his lips into an "o" and blowing outwards.
"Oh? Are you an owl my dear?" she questioned, wiggling her finger on his lips to allow him to make the buzzing sound that always made him giggle.
"No, I'm like dad!" he tried to explain, taking her finger and kissing it. His mother always had crooked nails and dry hands from riding her d-wheel everywhere, so he would make sure to kiss them better whenever he had the chance. His dad had told him it was very gentlemanly of him.
"Mmm, thank you darling," she smiled, furrowing her brows slightly trying to figure out what he was trying to do, "you're much, much cooler than your father love, you know that?"
"Nooooo, no one's cooler than dad, silly! Well, you are, but he's still really cool!" Kaito huffed, swatting his mothers bangs teasingly.
"Awwww, sweetie," she cooed, unable to think of how much of a kick Byron would have gotten out of Kaito saying that. Their Richard, cool? It was the most outlandish thing she had ever heard her son say. Although he was always so defiant when it came to his mother teasing his father, it had to mean they were doing something right as parents.
"But I can 'whoooo' like dad? It's hard..." he went on, leaning against his mothers chest.
"Whoo...whooo...whistle?"
"Yes! Yes like dad does!" Kaito jumped, happy to have his mother finally understand what he was trying to say.
"Ahhh, you want to whistle like your daddy does, yes?"
"Dad. Only babies say 'daddy'" Kaito informed her, trying to imitate the sound his father would make casually around the house while working.
She had to admit Richard was rather good, rather really good, when it came to whistling. It came out so melodious and soothingly, like the well fabricated rhythm of a song bird. Or whatever the hell else made whistling sounds. It was pleasant to the ears and always brought a quite, calming kind of feeling to her heart. It was sweet that little Kaito was trying to imitate his dad like that, and who knew. Maybe he'd start sewing dresses?
"Of course, but you'll always be my baby. Why don't you go into the garden and ask your dad to show you his secret to making it?"
"But...but I wanna show him and be really good so he'll think I'm really good at it too..." Kaito whispered shyly, tugging at the ends of his bangs timidly. He wanted to impress his dad and show him he was just as strong and capable as he was.
"Aw, but you know we need to rely on each other? We're a family, Kaito. So we gotta' ask each other for help so we can become even stronger. Together, you know?" wrapping her arms around him tighter, Tenj leaned back so she could smile at him face to face. Really, how was she lucky enough to get such a sweet kid? Sweet kid...damn Richard always ended up slipping him so many sweets. Caramels were his favorite (just like hers), and for once she had to be the adult about it. Poor kid would get cavities before he outgrew his baby teeth!
"Ohhh...okay!" Kaito nodded, pecking his mother on the nose before hurrying off to find his father in the garden. He would remember his mothers words as well as he could. Then she could show her his whistling when he got good at it!
Smiling warmly at her two boys as Richard picked up Kaito and plucked a small strawberry in his mouth, Tenj hugged herself tightly and sat down to watch them. She spent nearly all her time with Kaito, and with as much as he looked up to his father, they should spend some quality time together as well.
Yes, they could go duel together later or something. For now she felt content just watching her boys smile freely.