"But daddy! I'm tired of going to the stupid babysitters! Just oooone week, can I go with you to your job! Pweeease?"
"No Gracia, we've been over this time and time again. I'm too busy to watch you and stay on task at work. I just can't do it."
"But-"
"There's no 'buts', 'ands', 'what ifs' or 'how abouts' that could change it. The answer is simply and firmly 'no'. Do you understand, young lady?"
"Yeah yeah, you meanie.."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Yes, dad, I understand.."
The car ride home began to match the atmosphere outside – dreary, rainy and cool. A defeated Gracia slumped back into her seat as the car made its way down the road. A lot of the car rides have been like this lately; a lot of yelling, a bit of pouting, and an abundance of tense silence.
It's been a month since she turned eight years old. Gracia felt that it was time to leave the stinkin' babysitters behind and finally go with her dad to work. She knew he would never agree to leave her home alone, and apparently staying at his friend's place was out of the question, so what's so bad about taking her to work with him? She figured if she was the big girl he always said she was, then staying on the job with him shouldn't be such a big deal he makes it out to be. Continuing to mull over it only put Gracia in lower spirits, and she sank down in her seat with her arms crossed.
As they continued across town, the raindrops sounded as if they were gaining weight with every yard of road they covered. The clouds seemed to tighten up a bit and the visibility began to decrease with every passing minute. Mitsuhide wore a stern face, but with each occasional glance in the rearview mirror, his features softened a bit - watching a dejected Gracia sulk further and further into the seat made him feel pretty bad. Her usually bright, green eyes were dimmed with her disappointment as she looked sadly out of the window and simply seeing his cheery daughter not smile pained him a lot.
The rain was falling heavy enough to mist the road and water began to settle on the road without running off into the ditch. The emerald light ahead had just turned amber, but Mitsuhide began to slow to a stop regardless. Resting his right hand on the gear shift and smoothing back his bangs with his left, Mitsuhide released a deep sigh. An intense blast of red rays washed the interior of the car as the amber light finally turned red.
'Perhaps..i was a little too hard on her..'
Mitsuhide took another glance in the mirror and averted his gaze back on the road. Clearing his throat, he thought of a proposal.
"Gracia,"
"…"
"Gracia, are you listening to me?"
"Yes, dad, I'm always listening you.."
"Watch your tone, young lady."
"Sorry, dad."
Mitsuhide cleared his throat before speaking again. "I know how much you dislike the babysitter's, and-"
"And I know that you are a busy man with a lot to do and you can't worry about both me and your job and you're only doing what's best and it's just something I have to accept." Gracia recited as she knew exactly what he was going to say. She continued to look out the window without giving her father a glance.
Mitsuhide snapped his gaze back onto his mirror as if he was surprised to hear her say that, but realized he probably said that so often that it wasn't worth scolding her for. Failing to realize that the light had turned green, several cars began to pass him and honked while doing so. Mitsuhide jumped a little from the sudden horns and eyed the road once more as he put the car in motion. The drive was slow and quiet since the rain had picked up speed and the visibility was terrible. Mitsuhide decided that the drive from here on out would be a bit dangerous and looked for a shoulder of road that didn't look to terrible to pull over on.
Easing up the road another 500 feet, Mitsuhide was able to pull over on the side of the road without worry of someone smashing into them or the car getting stuck in the mud. Setting the gearshift to 'park', Mitsuhide allowed his head to fall back onto the headrest and rested his hands on the bottom of the steering wheel. The rain pattered heavily on the car while the windshield wipers whirred back and forth trying to keep up with weather. The only other noise that could be heard was a small sigh from Gracia.
Mitsuhide turned to look at his daughter. She was still unmoved, but the fact that she was unhappy really ate at his heart. He turned back around to face the front and let out a sigh of his own.
"Gracia, I'll tell you what," The sudden sound of his voice caught her attention in the otherwise silent vehicle. Her arms remained crossed, but her attention was all his.
"It looks like this rain won't be going away anytime soon. Since we're already in the middle of town, if you want," Mitsuhide turned around to make sure she was listening before he finished with all that he had to say. Curious eyes met his own but Gracia's face still wore a pout.
"We could stop by your favorite restaurant and talk this out, okay? I'm not making any promis-"
"I'LL BE ABLE TO LEAVE THE BABYSITTERS!?"
"No no, you didn't let me finish! I'm not making any promises but we can discuss this properly since you're a big girl, right? I expect you to be mature about this, okay?" Mitsuhide warned gently.
"OKAY! Applebee's! Applebee's!" Gracia cheered as her previous mood had been replaced instantaneously with joy.
Mitsuhide couldn't help but smile and laughed a little to himself. Taking the car out of park and into drive, he found an opening in traffic and began to drive carefully up the road.
"Okay, but daaad! I know better than to play with guns! You've told me a bazillion times not to and besides, they get your hands all dirty with that weird smudgy, black stuff," Gracia whined while eating around her french fries.
"Gracia, how would you know that there would be smudgy, black stuff unless you handled a gun?" Mitsuhide demanded as he denied himself anything to drink until he got an answer from his daughter. Concern was written all over his face.
"I've seen your hands before when you put that waxy stuff on it, duh!" Gracia giggled as she saw how much her father was about overreact. "Daddy, I know better, c'mon!"
Mitsuhide relaxed a bit but still eyed Gracia as he drank his tea. "I still don't think it's a good idea," he remarked as he set down his glass. Gracia began to pout again but before she could protest, a commotion could be heard coming around the corner.
A tall woman with big hair seated herself at the bar. Trailing behind her was a line of men, catcalling and making questionable offers. Before she could order a drink, a disheveled man who evidently had too much to drink had plopped down beside her and began to make inappropriate gestures with his mouth. Obviously fed up in the mere 15 seconds she was there, the woman decided to move over into the family section where the men were less likely to follow. Selecting a booth right beside the Akechi's, the woman sat down and let out an exasperated sigh. She was carrying a peach pink umbrella and purse to match and sat them both down to dry.
Feeling that she was being watched by new eyes, she turned to face Mitsuhide and Gracia with a sneer but quickly changed up once she realized that they weren't the typical hound dogs slobbering over her appearance. She focused on Gracia and smiled.
"Ah, you're going to have it tough like me one day, girly. It's hard being pretty, I tell you that," Gracia looked at her and slightly nodded; halfway listening but mostly admiring the lady's appearance.
Mitsuhide was looking rather hard himself; her make-up perfectly matched her complexion and the way her eyes never seemed to close – it was easy to get lulled into their saffron coloring and even when she wasn't making eye contact, her stare was magnetic. A pair of designer sunglasses was perched into her pink hair which was styled into an afro of loose curls. Even though she had an umbrella, the woman managed to get her blouse wet, which drew a bit more attention to her chest.
Mitsuhide found that his eyes began to dry out a little and realized he wasn't blinking. Stopping himself from further ogling, he tore his attention away and remembered to correct Gracia of her manners.
"Er, Gracia, what do you say when someone compliments you?"
"Thaaaank youuu!" Gracia drawled cheerfully.
Mitushide cleared his throat, letting her know that there was a more proper way of doing things.
"Oh, I mean, thank you, ma'am! You are too kind," Gracia said as bowed her head.
"Aha, you're a cute one, aren't you?" the woman said as she turned her attention to Mitsuhide.
Gracia giggled at the remark while Mitsuhide blushed a little.
'She was..talking to Gracia, right?'
Mitsuhide cleared his throat again, and drank some tea before speaking. The woman smiled at him as she picked up her menu to see what she wanted to eat.
"Whaaat? What did I do this time?" Gracia playfully whined as she responded to Mitsuhide clearing his throat.
"Oh, it's nothing, you're absolutely fine, honey. I just had something in my throat," Mitsuhide gulped down some more tea, emptying his glass. The woman began to laugh to herself, as if she read something entertaining on the menu.
Gracia continued to watch the woman, almost forgetting that she was supposed to negotiate the babysitter situation with her father. Mitsuhide was practically staring down his plate of chicken bruschetta, trying his best not to glance over at the woman. Right as he was about to continue the discussion, Gracia decided to start a new one with the lady beside them.
"Nice lady beside us, how did you get your hair to do that? I wanna try my hair like that one day, too! Daddy probably won't let me, though. Oh! I know! Since you're so nice, can you convince my daddy to let me! I wanna be pretty just like you!" Gracia prattled on.
Mitsuhide's mouth dropped in astonishment as he could not believe Gracia would do something like this. Well, actually, she does this all the time, but he thought she would know better and take better care when it came to manners.
"Gracia, young lady- Ma'am, I'm so sorry about this, we don't mean to be a bother," Mitsuhide was so embarrassed and didn't know who to talk to first. "Gracia, I have told you over and over again about talking to strangers and plus you're bothering this poor lady!"
The woman waved her hand, dismissing what Mitsuhide was saying with a smile. "No no, she's not a bother at all,"
"Oh, sorry dad.." Gracia apologized. The apologetic expression soon turned into a sly grin as she turned from facing her father back to the lady. "My name is Gracia, what's yours?"
The lady chuckled again and introduced herself. "My name is Koshosho, it's pleasure to meet you. And what's your name?" Koshosho shifted her attention to Mitsuhide and gave a subtle wink that Gracia didn't catch. Mitsuhide was at a loss of words and didn't have a glass of tea to save him this time.
"I-I'm Mitsuhide, the pleasure is all mine, madam,"
"Yay! See, now we're no longer strangers, dad! Miss Koshosho, why don't you eat with us? We're friends now, no need to eat by yourself!" Gracia decided happily.
"If it's okay with your father, that is," Koshosho laughed behind her menu.
Mitsuhide had grown so flush, the next glass of tea would be the only thing that could save him. The hunt for the waitress was serious business at this point.