Title: Kazoku
Character(s): Kaburagi Kaede, Kaburagi T. Kotetsu, Japan
Rating/Genre: PG / Family-centric, Introspective
Summary: In which Kaede is overwhelmed with paternal love and has a strange encounter by the koi pond.
Warnings: Hetalia/Tiger&Bunny crossover-verse, my attempts at being pretentiously profound. Or something, idek.
Notes: This is my first time writing Kaede and Kotetsu here, so apologies if they sound a little OOC (In fact, I think even Japan probably sounds OOC too).

I have NO IDEA what's going on in this fic, except that I wanted to write a birthday fic for Japan. So well, anyway, お誕生日おめでとうございます, 日本!

~.*.~

"Let Papa show you the next best spot in the gardens! Your mother and I used to have picnics there all the time during the summer."

The girl walking beside the tall, lanky man let out a resigned sigh, her brows knitted together.

"But you always bring me to the same 'best spot' every time we visit this place." She said, the frown still painted across her soft features. "It's boring."

"Aww, come on, Kaede!" her father continued, wearing the most ridiculous-looking pout a grown man (and a middle-aged man at that, too) was ever allowed to. "You used to tell me how much you loved visiting this place."

Kaede made a sound that was a cross between suppressed annoyance and suppressed annoyance.

"I still do love it Dad. But you make it sound like it's the very first time! And how I'll love it so much because it's wonderful and–"

"–and it has an awesome view of the leaves and it was your mother's–"

"–and it was Mum's favourite place in the whole wide world. Yes, Dad, I get it." Kaede was already midway through rolling her eyes before she caught herself, realising belatedly how rude that might have seemed to him (and to anyone else, if they had been watching the pair). She felt her cheeks flush a little with guilt, but teenaged pride prevented her from apologize outright.

Besides, even if she'd wanted to apologize, her father had already taken off down the path, his attention shifting elsewhere now that he'd caught sight of the little tea house just off the corner of the road and nestled beneath an old gingko tree. Golden leaves littered the ground, the bright yellow a stark contrast against the grey asphalt.

"Hey Kaede, look!" Kaede heard him called back over his shoulder. "This tea house sells the best mitarashi dango, and Papa's gonna get you some now okay? You'll definitely love it because–"

"–because it was Mum's favourite." She finished off to herself tonelessly, shoulders slumped forward slightly. She contemplated following after him, but decided to make her way instead to the koi pond, which stood a little way off to the side of the tea house.

A moment away from her over-enthusiastic father (even for a few minutes) was a good break, and Kaede had always liked watching the koi swimming lazily in the pond; their heads and mouths occasionally popping upwards to suck up the little pellets of food floating on the water's surface.

"The cold set in earlier this time."

At the sound of the new voice, Kaede stirred from her thoughts. Swivelling her head, she turned and saw a young man standing beside her, his gaze also fixed upon the koi in the pond. He was of a slender-build, his short, straight hair dark like a raven's wing, and his eyes a deep brown. Kaede couldn't tell his age, but she guessed he was probably several years older than her – a youth at the cusp of adulthood. She also thought he looked somewhat familiar… but…

"Mmh, it has." She said, drawing her coat closer around herself, as if in a show of agreement. She turned her gaze back to the pond, watching as the dried leaves fell slowly from the tree above, creating tiny ripples on the surface, and sending the multi-coloured koi to dart hastily away under cold, dark water.

"Do you come here often?" the man spoke again, and Kaede saw him holding out his right arm, gently tossing more fish pellets into the pond.

"Oh, well yes, at least once a year. It's kind of like a promise between me and my Dad, that whenever I'm on school breaks and he has time off work, we'll visit the gardens together." She paused, her gaze trained on the nearest koi – white with splotches of red on its back – munching at the corner of a single gold leaf.

"I think he feels a little guilty because he's always so busy with work, and I rarely get to see him much. I mean, I do appreciate it when we get to spend some time together…"

"Kaede-channnn! Just wait a while longer, okay? Papa's getting some really great snacks for his little angel, you'll love it I promise!"

Kaede winced when her heard her father yelling out across from the tea house, which had earned him not only several curious (and some perturbed) glances from those in the queue with him, but also stares from the other strangers walking by.

"Yes, okay Dad, I know! And you don't have to shout from there just to tell me that!" She called back, voice clipped with annoyance.

She heard the man beside her chuckling softly. "Your father is very energetic for his age. He reminds me of Ch– ah, of someone I know..."

He paused, and Kaede thought she'd glimpsed a grim expression crossing his features for a heartbeat. When she blinked and looked again however, he was still wearing the same stoic gaze he'd worn since they began their conversation, the corners of his lips curved upwards into the tiniest of smiles.

She shook her head a little – no, I probably just imagined that – before she said, "It's really nice to be able to hang out with him more and I do care for him, I really do… but sometimes I wish he'd stop treating me like, you know, a child."

Another pause. And then, realising the words that had just stumbled out of her lips – like sand slipping through the gaps between her fingers – she gave a short, awkward laugh, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Why she'd felt the abrupt need to confess her thoughts to random stranger, she couldn't quite explain it.

The man said nothing, only lifting his arm to toss more pellets into the pond, the quiet lingering upon his tongue. Just as Kaede wondered if she should excuse herself and make her way back to the tea house, he finally spoke again, his voice soft.

Like falling blossoms from the cherry trees, Kaede thought, Or like the withering maple leaves. Like raindrops on cobble-stoned streets.

"I suppose I can understand it a little. Sometimes you don't want to be coddled; you want to be able to make your own decisions and do what you truly desire. And oftentimes, a parent can get too overbearing at times…"

The man's smile grew a little wider. "But I'm sure your father means well, and only wants the best for you. And it is only right that children should always respect their elders, no matter their age."

Kaede stared owlishly at him, before letting out a slightly disgruntled sigh. "Now you sound like my Dad, and you're not even that old."

"Ah?" The man finally looked up from the pond to glance at her. She wondered if she'd been a little too sharp with her words, and if he'd been offended.

But he only chuckled again, before he continued, "You're quite right, I guess I did sound a bit like that. My apologies. I assure you though, I'm very much older than you think I am."

Kaede caught his gaze, and for a brief moment, she felt a strange tingle running down her spine as she studied his eyes – they were darker than she'd initially thought; dark like the pebbles lining the bottom of the koi pond, dark like a starless night after a bout of evening rain. Behind his shadowed gaze, there was also a fervour like the sun rising – always rising – above ever-changing winds and rain-clouds.

Who are you? She'd felt the urge to ask, but she hesitated, uncertainty at the tip of her tongue.

"Kaedeeeeeee!"

Her father's voice broke her out of her reverie then, and she groaned again, frowning.

"I should go, before Dad makes more of a scene than he already did." Kaede said, turning around to make her way back towards the tea house. "Um, I'm sorry, but I didn't get your name before…"

"Honda," The man dipped his head in a short, polite bow. "My name is Honda Kiku."

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Mr. Honda. Maybe we can meet again sometime."

"It was nice meeting you too, Kaede-chan. Good bye."

As Kaede began to jog down the path to where her father stood, his arms now full of sticks of dango dipped in sticky brown syrup, she thought she heard Kiku's voice just beside her.

"Kotetsu-san hasn't changed much over the years. I'm glad."

She froze midway in her tracks, glancing back over her shoulders to where the young man had been.

But how did he know Dad's name…?

There was no one standing by the pond; there was only the single maple tree towering by the side, shedding red and gold leaves over the dark, glossy surface of the water.

"Here you go, kiddo!" Kotetsu finally reached her side, holding out a stick of dango for her. "Ehhh, what are you looking at?"

Kaede blinked, the strange chilling sensation still lingering within her. She finally tore her gaze from the pond and back to her father. "N-Nothing."

She accepted the dango, and as they made their way down the path, she said, "Hey Dad, why don't you tell me more of what you and Mum used to do together in school…."

"Huh?" Kotetsu made a short noise of surprise. "You're asking Papa to tell you more? But you've always told me how boring…. AH! Did my cute Kaede-chan catch a fever standing in the cold too long, waiting for Papa just now?"

"No Dad, I'm not ill. I just wanted to hear more of Mum… but fine, if you don't want me asking anymore, then I won't…" Kaede huffed in mock-indignation, turning her head away as she bit into a piece of dango.

"Eh, wait, wait! Papa would be honoured to tell my little Kaede-chan everything about her sweet, graceful and beautiful mother."

"Ugh Dad, stop being so dramatic."

"So! There was this one time where your mother caught me getting into a fight with Uncle Antonio…"

The koi continued to their slow swim, circling the pond with languid fin-strokes and lazy tail-swishes.

–owari–

:::

Notes:

kazoku- family

Mitarashi dango is a common Japanese confectionary/snack-food. It's a dumpling made from rice flour, skewered onto sticks in groups of 3-5, and glazed with sweet soy souce.

Kaede is about 14 in the setting of this fic, five years older than her canon age in the Tiger&Bunny series.

The fic setting takes place in Japan... where exactly, uh, I didn't think about any specifics but I'd say in one of the many gardens in either Tokyo or Kyoto, lol.

I had wanted to write more than just a drabble this time and to help break myself out of this writer's block, so forgive me for my lame attempts at pretentious prose and profundity. Again, crit/comments are always welcome, especially how on you think I handled Kaede and Kotetsu's characters here.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed reading this. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NIHON! \o/