De-Ji waved goodbye as Zoro walked out the door, heading for work. Giggling, she checked on Meitou and Achira quickly, then scurried to the kitchen. She took out the necessary ingredients for Oni Giri, substituting sugar for salt, and also taking out ingredients for icing, and lastly red food dye. She took out mixing bowls and started cooking, chuckling to herself as she cooked.
Meitou woke up. Her stomach was growling. Not knowing any better, she started crying. Achira woke up and started crying because she was. De-Ji sighed, and went in to quiet their cries. She picked up Achira first, who quieted, then picked up Meitou, who still cried. She started making noises. Being her mother, De-Ji had learned what they meant after a while. She put Achira down, who had just wanted a little attention, and turned around. Achira was still very young, but De-Ji wanted to be careful. She hiked up her shirt to above her breasts, then undid the clasp holding the flap of material and pulled it down. She put Meitou's wet face to her chest, and sighed when she started suckling. Only a while longer until they could start eating baby food.
She had refused to feed them baby formula, regardless that it had more vitamins than the early brands. She realized that Meitou had stopped. She had always fallen asleep right after being fed, so she put her down in the crib again, then asked Achira if he was hungry. He made a couple of sad noises. Smiling, she redid the flap, then undid the other. Achira started sucking. His was very similar to Zoro's. Zoro had tried her milk once. He said it was tasty, but that might have just been because he loved her. Waiting for Achira to finish, she thought about what the babies could do for his present. They could draw, but that was too original. He was probably expecting it.
She decided to leave it for later, and reclasped her bra, and took Achira with her to the kitchen. She set him on the carpet in the room right next to the kitchen, then finished her cooking. It was still a while since Zoro was coming home, so she made sure everything was finished and hid her gift. Then, looking at Achira, who was exploring again, she sat down on one of the chairs at the table and thought up an idea for the kids to do. Smiling, she grabbed the finger paint from the hall closet, and went to get some paper. She set everything up, then grabbed Achira. He grunted a little, but then saw the paints and smiled and clapped his hands. She put him in his high chair, which was still too big for him, then put the paint and a piece of paper on the table piece of the high chair. She walked into her and Zoro's bedroom to check on Meitou.
Meitou was awake, but just staring at the ceiling. De-Ji smiled, and wondered again why they hadn't used the nursery. Then she remembered that it was because Zoro hadn't wanted to walk all the way to the nursery. De-Ji snorted, then covered her mouth. It was a good thing only Meitou was here. It wasn't like Zoro ever got up anyway, except for work, that is. She shrugged it off, then picked up Meitou and brought her out to make a painting for her daddy as well. She looked at Achira's picture, which was simply a mess of colors in the middle. She chuckled a little, and told the three-month old that it was beautiful, then picked it up and put it on the table to dry. Then she set up Meitou, and played with Achira for a while, while Meitou painted. Before she knew it, she heard the garage open. Her eyes shot open, then she hurriedly picked up Meitou's painting, complimenting her on it while she put it on top of the fridge, where Zoro wouldn't see it. It couldn't already be lunch time… She looked at the clock, and sure enough, it was 12:15.
The garage door closed, and Zoro walked into the kitchen to see his wife cleaning up his children's hands. He chuckled and asked,
"What happened?" De-Ji looked at him and smiled then answered,
"Oh you know, just kids being kids." Zoro walked over and kissed De-Ji. Her heart leapt, then Zoro asked another question,
"Did you make the ramen?" De-Ji's head tilted back and she groaned in disbelief at herself. She had forgotten. She had been busy. She apologized, then handed Zoro both the twins, and got out the food and started making it, all the while saying that it wouldn't take long at all. Zoro just laughed, and Meitou grabbed one of his earrings.
"Careful," he warned her. She looked up at him and blinked, and tugged ever-so-slightly, like she had seen her mother do. Zoro smiled down at her again.
"Monkey-see, Monkey-do, eh?" Achira grabbed his other earlobe, not to be outdone by his sister, and tugged a little harder. Zoro looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "Not too hard, kay?" Achira frowned a little at him, then let go. Meitou did too. The ramen was ready a few minutes later, and they sat down to eat
All too soon, it was ready for Zoro to leave again for work, and De-Ji waved goodbye out of the garage door as the silver Jeep Wrangler backed slowly out of the garage. Sighing, she went back inside to see Achira and Meitou playing with each other, laughing and screeching like babies do when they're having fun. She smiled and giggled a little, then took down their pictures to see if they had dried yet. They hadn't quite, but it was close enough. She picked up Meitou first this time, and dipped the small girl's hand in some silver-colored paint, then put her hand on the paper. It was like signing it. She did the same with Achira, except with gold paint. It was how they told one from the other apart. The gold didn't make Achira better than Meitou, it was just a metallic color like silver. She washed off their hands again, then played with them and fed them as needed the rest of the afternoon.
Before she knew it, she heard the garage door opening again. She smiled and looked at the little display she had set up. Meitou and Achira's pictures were standing up, leaning on the wall behind the counter, and her present was sitting in the corner of the pictures, and there were candles around all of it. She had turned off the lights and closed the shutters to try and make it dimmer show the candles could glow brighter, but it was too sunny that day and it was still pretty bright in the kitchen.
Zoro walked through the door again and proclaimed that he was home. De-Ji smiled and picked up Achira and Meitou, then went to greet him. She kissed him playfully, and pranced into the kitchen, where his present was. He followed her, of course, and stopped when he saw what was in the kitchen. There were two fingerpaintings, of course, and a plate of oni giri with icing in the shape of hearts on top of them.
"Wh-" before he could finish, De-Ji and the children (who couldn't actually talk, but you could tell they were trying to say it) said,
"Happy Father's Day!" Zoro smacked his forehead. How had he forgotten? It seemed he forgot all of the holidays pertaining to him, including his birthday. De-Ji walked over and put Achira in his arms, then grabbed one of his arms with her now freed hand, and led him to the display. She picked up one of the oni giri and fed it to him. He smiled at the taste. It reminded him of the little girl who had fed him when he was being held prisoner. De-Ji hadn't been with him, but he had told her about it. He chewed slowly, enjoying it, and looked at the pictures. They were interesting to look at, just staring at the vague shapes hidden in the colors. When he was done chewing, De-Ji gave him another bite, and so on until he was done with the oni giri she was feeding him. Then she took the plate over to the table, then walked back over to blow out the candles and drag Zoro to the table, where he could eat the rest of the oni giri. Zoro put Achira in his high chair, then sat down next to De-Ji at the small table. De-Ji had one of her hands on the table, and was making faces at Meitou. Zoro put his hand on hers, making her stop and look at him. He was almost smiling, the edges of his mouth quirking up, but just not enough to call it a smile. He his head in and kissed her, until Meitou grabbed his earrings again. They stopped and looked at one of their children, then continued kissing.