Apologize
Half-crying, a little boy toddled into the house as he slid open the door. Flopping down sadly on a cushion, the redhead frowned up, as if the world had made him very, very angry.
"I hate you – I hate you – I hate you!"
Kenji Himura, an active boy (generally), was pounding his fist on the floor in a rage. Somehow or other, he was rather angry at … something. His eyes, much like his mother's, were filled with anger as he suddenly sat upright, a pout on his face. His hair was cut neatly, and he'd be a mighty cute kid – if only he'd take off that currently raging part of him.
Shaking her head, Kaoru slowly shuffled past the extension of the house, carrying with her a basket of groceries. When her kid was having a tantrum, she knew; all that was needed right now was for it to fizzle out naturally, all by itself. She slowly continued on her path, entering the kitchen at the end of her route.
Kenji watched his mother walk past him, a smile on her face. The kid felt really horrible right now. Was he really that bad, like his classmate had told him he was? Would his mother abandon him for that? He knew, somehow, that somewhere – something had gone wrong. He was going to fix it, definitely.
Getting up from his current posture (that is, lying down), the child made his way out to the corridor that his father had cleaned not too long ago. His father … Kenji briefly wondered how his father managed to cope with his bright-red hair. The little boy took after his father in that respect, that alone was plain to his eyes.
Kenji's pout creased further into a frown when his father came into view, rolling up his sleeves. Kenshin's clothing was wet in some areas, no doubt from doing the laundry. Being a child still, Kenji didn't need to do any of those yet – but he needed to when he was older. However, he enjoyed it, but only when he was doing it with either his mother or his father.
"To-san!" he cried out, waving a hand to try and grab his father's attention.
Smiling, the purple-eyed man made his way over to his young son. "Yes, Kenji-kun?" said Kenshin rather playfully, placing his hand on his son's head. "Your temperature feels alright … you don't have a fever, do you?" teased the father, looking lovingly at his son.
Kenji grinned at his father. Even though his father's jokes were rather weak at times, he appreciated the attempt at cheering him up. "I don't have a fever, to-san," he clarified, blinking, "But I think Matsu has one."
The pout returned to his face.
"Matsu-kun, your classmate?"
"Yeah, him!" said Kenji, looking rather indignant after saying that. Clearly, this Matsu was the source of the kid's troubles. "He tugged at my hair and said it was red because I yelled at both to-san and ka-san and Kami-sama decided to punish me," mumbled the boy, glancing down at his legs that were dangling from the corridor.
Kenshin smiled.
"And what did you do next?"
"I yelled at him, to-san. Then Matsu said my hair was getting redder," he said, frowning. His eyebrows were almost looking like they were glued together – Kenji was narrowing them with ferocious intensity. "I yelled at him louder then."
"That wasn't nice, Kenji."
"I know!"
Kenshin smiled at his young son. Kenji stared back at his father, giving out a little cry as he scrambled into his father's lap. This wasn't going like he expected … but still, having his father listen to him about this was better than his mother listening to this matter. Kenji didn't want to have yet another fateful meeting with Moku-san, or the wooden rod.
"Perhaps, you should apologize?" suggested Kenshin with an air of uncertainty. If this was Kaoru, she'd be insisting that her son apologize at once, but Kenshin decided to take it slowly. He wanted his son to come to the realization that what he did wasn't good, and come to a good conclusion with the matter – in other words, teaching Kenji how to think.
Kenji shook his head. "I don't know. To-san, could you tell me what to do?"
"Hmm … well …" Kenshin appeared deep in thought, before gently placing his son beside him and got up. Dusting himself, he seemed like he was going to step towards the kitchen to give his wife a hand at cooking.
"I know! I'll make Matsu some food and apologize, and I'll make him apologize to me too. Then we can share our food …" yelled Kenji, eyeing his father hopefully. If his father would help him with making a delicious bento –
"Good idea, Kenji."
Grinning from ear to ear, little Kenji Himura brightened up again. One matter resolved, and school was just a little bit better for him; tomorrow was just a little bit brighter as well.
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Tapir: Well, here it is! The first chapter in Kenji no Monogatari. It'll be mostly Kenji-centric, and where he loves and adores his dad. ^^ Either way, I really enjoyed writing this chapter; having Kenji actually think about how to solve a problem (with some hints from his to-san, of course) was an idea I liked. R&R, everyone!
