Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
"Okaaay, so . . . umm, okay. Okay. Right."
Three pairs of wide eyes stared up at him. Takeru gulped.
"So, uh, what should we do?" he asked in a croaked voice. He quickly cleared his throat, trying not to sound as scared as he actually was.
"We can play hide and see-eek?" seven year old Natsuko suggested, her voice slightly singsong at the end. There was a hint of mischief in her voice. Takeru had always felt a little on edge around this kid of his brother.
"We can play pirates?" that was Takeo, grinning excitedly. Just looking at his wide, fast blinking brown eyes made Takeru slightly hysterical. He gulped again.
"Shou?" he asked the youngest, quietest and most safe looking kid.
"We can colour in the coloring book." he suggested in a serious voice as if it really didn't matter what everybody else does, he had his activity decided.
"Good. That's, uh, good!" and safe, Takeru thought. He decided to hold on to that straw.
"What?!" Natsuko threw up her hands dramatically, "Coloring, Uncle Takeru? Really?"
"Coloring is good, right?" Takeru said meekly.
"Coloring is bo-riiinngg!" Natsuko said exasperatedly.
"Yes, Uncle Takeru, it's boooring." Takeo sided with his friend. He had been calling Takeru his uncle ever since he started talking and Takeru never bothered to correct him.
Takeru looked down at his niece, nephew and just-like-a-nephew; irritated, bored and excitedly-irritated respectively. He cursed the moment he agreed to his brother and sister-in-law as well as Taichi to baby sit there kids while they had to attend an exhibition of Sora's newly designed kimonos. To their credit they really were in need of help since it was sort of last minute arrangement and Takeru didn't have anything else to do. But he never realized he would be facing three kids, all having different interests, all surrounding him with this nervous, impatient energy radiating from them, waiting only for so long before they get frustrated, break ranks and start throwing tantrums.
In Takeru's defense, he really loved the three of them. He loved spending time with them. Every weekend he would drop by his brother's house, around the time Taichi usually showed up there too with his wife and kid, sometimes even Hikari would drop by and he would play games with the kids or talk about fun stuff or tell one of their adventure stories and then it would be lunch time where Yamato would cook something special and which Taichi would devour mercilessly after which they would start leaving, Takeru usually staying up a bit later than others.
But all those times there was one thing that was disastrously missing right now; the divine parenting supervision. The kids were much contained and display a better sense of discipline in front of their fairly strict mother (Sora) and somewhat easy but still firm fathers (Taichi and Yamato). But in their absence, it was like the strings holding back their devilish sides were being cut. There was suddenly a naughty gleam in their eyes that Takeru was sure was never there before. He looked at the wall clock that says 4:28 p.m.
Just five hours and thirty two minutes to go, assuming they miraculously arrive home at exactly ten p.m just like they promised, he thought miserably.
"Listen, Nat, Takeo, first we colour for some time. Then we do something else." he tried to make a compromise.
"How much time?" Natsuko asked quickly.
"Uh, I don't know, an hour?"
"How many minutes?" Takeo asked doubtfully.
"Sixty."
"How many seconds?" Natsuko asked, cocking her head sideways.
"Three thousand and six hundred." Takeru replied after some quick calculation.
"Naw, that's too many!" Natsuko pouted.
"Come on, it'll be fun." he almost whined.
"Okay, but will we play hide-and-seek after that?" she asked for further reassurance.
"Sure." Takeru nodded enthusiastically, almost pushing them in their play room. There was a small table in a corner with baby lions painted on it, surrounded by four small chairs on top of a light green rug. On a high shelf, out of kids' reach, were water paint bottles. Below them were stacks of pencil colours, crayons and paint brushes.
"I wanna paint." Shou said quietly. Since he had been Takeru's favorite kid so far, he decided to instantly fulfill his wish.
"Sure, kiddo." he reached up and pulled down four bottles. He grabbed four brushes in case any of the other kids felt like painting, got a bowl of water and arranged all of it carefully on the table.
"I want to colour in my drawing of Birdamon." Natsuko announced as she went to another shelf and pulled out a sheet of paper on which she had drawn her idea of Birdamon. Takeru looked over it curiously, then quickly looked away, covering his mouth with his hand.
"That's not Birdamon." Takeo excused.
"It is." Natsuko said, nodding proudly.
"No, it's not. It looks like an elephant with a beak. Flapping a bed sheet." Takeo smirked.
Natsuko glared at the drawing, then at Takeo, visibly offended, "It's her wings, not a bed sheet!" she said hotly.
"Wings? They look like wings to you?"
"Well, show me how you draw, Nosey, "Natsuko challenged angrily, "I'm sure you can't even draw a straight line."
Takeru decided it was time to interfere, "Hey, hey, no fighting! Nat, it looks good. You should color it now." Natsuko stomped over to the table and plopped down, her cheeks flaming with anger. Her brother was already too engrossed in his work to notice much of anything.
"Takeo, you should, um, what do you wanna do?"
Takeo shrugged, "I can paint, too. Or colour."
"I am coloring so don't copy me or you'll be a monkey!" Natsuko called out, still too angry to let it go easily.
"Hey, I'm not a monkey! You don't know how to -"
"Okay, okay, hold it. Takeo, you should go paint." Takeru ushered him to the chair beside Shou, short of breath, short of patience and short of ideas as to how to control the kids.
There was silence for about ten minutes as each kid worked away and Takeru sat down gratefully on the carpet, closing his eyes.
"I wanna go to bathroom." Natsuko announced just when Takeru was loosening up. His eyes shot open as he quickly sat up, on alert once again.
"Oh. Okay." he said nonchalantly. Natsuko went out of the room. Takeru lie down again.
Five minutes later . . .
"I . . ."
"Yes, Takeo?" Takeru sighed.
"- wanna drink water."
"Sure, go ahead."
He went out, too. Takeru looked over at Shou who didn't show the slightest signs of awareness to what was going around him. Takeru peeked over his shoulder to look at his drawing; it was a standard square-house-with-triangle-roof drawing but there was a lot more stuff in it than a kid of age five should be able to notice. There were birds (that look close to fish with very fat bodies and tiny triangular wings on both sides), grass, a humongous grasshopper (about half the size of the house), a fallen leaf, curtains on windows, a tree with something shaped as oval with a long thread waving behind (a squirrel probably) on its trunk and a nest in its branches and what not. He was definitely much better at this for his age than his sister was for hers.
"No wonder you look like your mother." Takeru muttered in amazement. Shou didn't even acknowledge it as he kept painting new things with the tip of his tongue sticking out from between his lips.
Takeru lied down on the carpet beside him, relishing the silence and peace. His mind wandered over to the new article he was working on. He started going over several different openings for his next paragraph, several different ways to end it.
Not before too long he realized that the silence had turned into an ominous warning. A mental red alert siren. Neither going to bathroom nor drinking water should take that long.
He leaped up to his feet and ran out of the play room, all the time hoping that nothing bad had happened, that they really were just drinking water or in the bathroom or both but nothing bad. Shou kept dipping his brush in and out of paints, adding more detail to his painting which had started to look a bit too crowded.
"Nat! Takeo!" Takeru called out hysterically. Nothing. Utter silence. He checked both bathrooms, the kitchen. Nothing. Empty. He checked the door - locked. So at least both of them were in the house.
He opened the bedroom door to Yamato and Sora's room and almost passed out. There was Takeo, sitting on the dark brown carpet, surrounded by Yamato's precious Astronomy magazines, a big, blue scissor (probably used by Sora for cutting clothes) in his hand. All around him were small paper shavings scattered all over the carpet. Undisturbed by the sound of door, totally engrossed in his work, Takeo was cutting out a picture of a satellite from one of the magazines. A few other magazines with cut out pictures were also scattered around.
Takeru let out a groan and called out, "Takeo Yagami! What do you think you are doing?!"
Takeo looked up sharply, guiltily.
"Hi!" he said sheepishly.
"Oh no! No no no no! What did you do, Takeo? Yamato will kill me!"
Takeo let go of the scissors as if they burned his hand and brushed off the paper cuttings from his pants, "I don't like painting." he said, pouting, trying to gain some sympathy.
"You can't - you can never cut out pictures from magazines without permission, Takeo! These are Uncle Yamato's!"
"Will he get mad at me?" Takeo asked anxiously.
"You bet." Takeru muttered in dismay to himself. Takeo bit his lower lip.
"I thought he didn't want those. There were so many of them just sitting in the corner."
"He collects them," he once again took in the damage and let out a whine, "Ohhh, I'm so screwed." Takeo, too, looked around the room, ashamed.
Takeru suddenly remembered that Natsuko was still missing and if Takeo did this much damage, he didn't want to imagine what Natsuko could do. Takeo maybe was the excited one, but Natsuko was the one who gets disastrously creative when left unsupervised.
"Come on, let's find your cousin." he said in a tired voice. Takeo came out of the room with slow, dragging steps and Takeru closed the room behind them firmly.
He checked the kids bedroom, the kitchen (again), the bathrooms (again), the playroom (Shou was busily painting) and the lounge. Natsuko seemed to vanish in thin air.
"Shou," he came to the playroom again, now seriously panicked, "Do you know where your sister can be? I have searched the whole house." Takeo was looking worried too.
Shou looked up thoughtfully, "Did you check the basement?" he asked seriously.
Takeru felt the earth slipping from under his feet.
"Basement? You have a basement here?"
"Yup."
"What's in the basement?" he asked in a low voice, dreading the response.
"All of Mama's stuff." Shou said brightly as he started adding big white clouds to the page.
Takeru ran out of the room, completely taken by panic now. A place full of Sora's things mean everything from paints, pencils and brushes to buttons, ribbons, pins, beads, pool of threads and clothes. The basement could very well be an atom bomb just waiting to be exploded by the wrong person. And Natsuko, Sora's just as creative daughter, was exactly right to be that wrong person.
Running down the steps of the basement, with Takeo following enthusiastically, Takeru hoped it wasn't too late.
He wrenched the door open and came to a halt just inside the doorway. The scene in front of him brought a moan out of him. He was later than too late and his dearest niece hadn't disappointed his expectation in the least.
At first glance, it seemed that simple everything was misplaced, unrolled and spread throughout the room. Then Takeru's fried brain thought he saw a pattern. There were ribbons and threads leading to their respective pools all over the floor. In quite a few points there were small mounds of buttons, placed artistically in the form of small pyramids. At the further end of the room an obstacle course of paint bottles was formed in a clean triangular shape. At few places there were arms of dummies Sora put the newly designed clothes on, detached from their bodies, propped up awkwardly against the floor.
Natsuko looked up from unwinding yet another pool of thread to look at the pale face of Takeru and fallen jaw of Takeo.
"What? I'm making a race car track." She informed matter-of-factly.
Takeru came to his senses faintly enough to ask out hoarsely, "A - a race car track?"
Natsuko waved her arm grandly, "These bottles," she pointed to the three paint bottles lying on their sides, "Are cars. This is their tracks," she put her stubby finger on the trails of threads, "This is the bridge they have to pass," she pointed to the arm making an arc on the floor, "These are the obstacles they have to knock down," she touched one of the button pyramids lightly, "And this," she knocked the top bottle in the pile of paint bottles, "Is the finish line." She finished with a proud grin.
"Cool!" Takeo exclaimed with an excited grin. Looking around the room once again, Takeru couldn't help being impressed by the track she had built in just about half an hour. If it weren't Sora's stuff and her room, he would have exclaimed his appreciation. But right now, looking at Takeo's wide eyes, Takeru decided to take charge.
"Natsuko Ishida! You are going to answer me honestly now, okay?" he asked sternly. Seeing her friendly uncle looking so serious, Natsuko's smile faltered and she became solemn, nodding quietly. "Does Mama let you play with her things?"
Natsuko hung her head, "No." she said so softly that Takeru could only just make out the word, "But I wanted to." she added as if that was an excuse.
"If Mama doesn't allow you then why did you do this? Why did you come here?"
"I can't colour for three thousand seconds, Uncle Takeru." she pouted. Takeru sighed. Playing hide-and-seek would be worth not going through all this. But it was too late.
"You'll clean this mess," he said sternly to Natsuko whose eyes got wide, taking in all the mess she's made, "But first, you two are going to playroom so I can get all three of you in one room again."
They both nodded, looking visibly abashed. Takeru closed the door to a hurricane spot for the second time that day, tired of just imagining the mess he had on his hands, and led the way to the playroom where another disaster was waiting for him.
A bottle of blue water paint was lying on the rug, beside the water bowl lying on its face. The paint from the bottle and the murky greenish brown water had badly stained half of the pale rug, leaving strange patterns on it. Shou was ready to burst into tears.
"I was - I was trying to - to put the blue - blue paint on my brush and - and it slipped and - and I tried to pick it up - up, then the bowl fell down too." he was stammering, trying not to cry. The front of his shirt was wet with the water from the bowl and tears were pooling in his red-brown eyes. Takeru felt like joining him because he really thought he could use a good crying right then. He looked at the wall clock that read 5:30. He had been with the kids for one hour only and already he had messed up the job pretty badly.
Sighing, he went to Shou and sat on his knees in front of him, "It's okay. We'll clean it up later. But first, I have to change your shirt."
Shou nodded, wiping his tears, leaving faint trails of blue paint on his cheeks and making Takeru smile slightly despite all the disaster.
"You two," he pointed to the other two who snapped to attention, "Don't put a step out of this room!" They nodded glumly.
Takeru took Shou to the kids' bedroom and got him a blue shirt with Garurumon on the front (strong chance Sora made it). He changed Shou's shirt, thinking about a way to clean all the mess before the adults come home. Then it hit him.
Takeru Takaishi, you should've thought of it an hour ago, he reprimanded himself. Walking into the lounge, he quickly dialed the long memorized number.
"Hey, Takeru."
Takeru sighed in relief hearing the familiar voice, "Hey, Hikari."
"Let me guess, you were bored and you decided to call me?"
"Wow, you have a criminally low opinion of me, Yagami."
"You earned it, Takaishi." she retorted but he could feel her smiling.
"Well, you turned out to be wrong today."
"And how's that possible?"
"Because I've got way too much on my hands right now to be bored for another few years or so."
Hikari laughed, "Don't tell me you are running on several deadlines. You know I can't help you with your writing unless it's reading the stuff."
"Actually, I am running on a dead line but it's the one you can help with."
"Oh? O-kay. Shoot."
"It's your nephew and my niece and nephew." Takeru said, wincing slightly.
Hikari sounded doubtful, "Takeru Takaishi, you're not telling me that my usually stupid brother has crossed the limit of high stupidity and made you his kid's babysitter!"
"Yours and mine, both." Takeru replied with a sigh. Hikari burst into laughter. "It's not that funny." Takeru said sourly after a while.
"Heck yeah it is!" Hikari said in between breaks for breath, "If you see it from my point of view." she went back to laughing.
Takeru waited for few seconds, now smiling, "Okay, you can stop laughing and start helping me now. You might not have listened to what I said before, but I'm running on a deadline," he said, rolling his eyes, "I need all your kindergarten experience right now. I'm in a, to be exact, tight fix."
Hikari took a deep breath, finally not laughing, "Okay, captain. Give me your location."
"My brother's house."
"See you in ten minutes," Hikari said quickly and Takeru could hear the jingle of keys, "And show you how experts do it."
"Yeah, yeah, nice to talk to you, too." Takeru said, rolling his eyes again, "Bye."
x-x-x
The door was snatched open as soon as the bell rang.
"Woah, easy babysitter." Hikari grinned devilishly.
"Eleven minutes, forty seven seconds. You're late."
"What, you put me on the stop watch?"
"'Course, I did. In a situation like this one, every second is precious."
"In a situation like what?"
Few minutes later, Takeru opened the door to the basement, having showed the other two minor disaster sites, saving the worst for the last.
"Ready?" he asked before opening it.
Hikari rolled her eyes, "Please, I'm a kindergarten teacher. I have seen worst mess than the last two. How much worse can this be?"
Takeru gave a knowing smile, "Oh, trust me. It can get much worse." He pushed the door open. It took a minute for Hikari to assess the damage, then she whistled. Natsuko looked up at her in confusion.
"Now there's what we call the punch line, right kiddo?" Hikari asked Natsuko, still staring at the room. Natsuko nodded enthusiastically without really understanding the comment. Among all of her uncles and aunties (Sora had taught her to consider all the Digidestined as her siblings which give Natsuko a wider variety of a family) she liked Hikari the best, looked up to her the most. It was Hikari, with all her experience with kids and her quirky comebacks, her jokes, her easy laughter and the way she roots for Natsuko in a parent-kid argument with a wink directed at Natsuko that wins her heart. She wanted to be a combination of Hikari and Sora when she grows up; funny and creative and beautiful and confident (not to mention with a whistle around her neck).
"So?"
"You were right. This is much, oh so much more, worse."
"Where do we start then?"
Hikari took a deep breath.
"Don't say you don't have any idea." Takeru warned pleadingly. Hikari gave him a sideways grin and walked in.
"Ok, so it seems like the bigger mess are these threads and ribbons."
"Yeah, and?"
"Who wants to play a game?" Hikari announced cheerfully.
"No, Hikari, this room can't afford anything -"
"Shh." Hikari whispered to him over her shoulder as Takeo and Shou came running in at the mention of game. Natsuko grinned excitedly.
"What game what game?" Takeo asked.
"We are going to have a - a race!"
"Yayy!" Natsuko yelled.
"What race what race?" Takeo asked eagerly.
"It's called Rush Race."
"What do we have to do?" Shou asked.
"Good question, Shou. It's very easy. I will give each of you a task and if you do it before the others, you win!"
"I can win this race!" Natsuko raised her arm confidently.
"No, I will win!"
"You are slowpoke!"
"Oh yeah? I'm faster than you!"
"No way!"
A shrill whistle sound made the kids jump in surprise.
"Good," Hikari said pleasantly, smiling at the effect of her old whistle, "So, Natsuko? Your task is to wind all the threads back and put them where you take them from."
Natsuko nodded fiercely.
"Takeo, you will be rolling all the ribbons and put them with the other ribbons."
Takeo nodded, his brown eyes darting across the room, taking in the magnitude of his task.
"What do I do?" Shou asked quietly. Hikari smiled fondly at him.
"Shou, put all the buttons in that big can of buttons, okay?"
"Uh-huh." he nodded slowly.
"And, Takeru -"
"Me?" Takeru seemed to snap out of his awe for Hikari's brilliant idea.
"Uncle Takeru! Yeeeaaahhh!" Takeo shouted in glee.
"Yes, you." Hikari said sweetly. She leaned forward and whispered furiously, "This mess wouldn't have happened if you were teensy bit good at being babysitter. So you better help clean it up." Takeru's shoulders slumped grudgingly, "Besides, the kids will take it more seriously if a grown up is involved."
"Fine. What do I have to do?"
"You will put all the paint boxes back, put the dummies back whole, and -" she looked around the room, frowning slightly, "Basically, you will be doing all the rest of the cleaning up." she whispered quietly. Takeru realized she was deliberately not using the word "cleaning" with the kids. She was awfully good at being with kids, it seems.
"Uncle Takeru, I can beat you!" Natsuko said, nudging him. Takeru couldn't help laughing at being put in the same league with kids.
"And you better let her," Hikari whispered, glancing at her watch, a gift of graduation from her brother. "You got ten minutes." she announced, "If you break anything, or drop something while putting these things away, your points will be taken away. Whoever finishes first will have two extra scoops of ice cream."
"When will we eat ice cream?" Takeo asked curiously.
"Right after this game is finished." Hikari winked. The kids grinned, even Shou taken up by the excitement of the moment.
"Okay, on your marks!" Hikari called out, "Get set!" The kids crouched low in a rough approximation of a line as Takeru gave her a last grumpy look, "Go!" Hikari whistled shrilly. All four of them darted forward, a flurry of motion spreading throughout the room. Hikari nodded satisfactorily with a victorious smile and softly closed the door, stepping out. She was determined to take care of other mess before they notice her absence; a race of her own.
Never in his life before did Takeru Takaishi imagined doing this sort of work; babysitting, messing it up and now finding himself on his hands and knees cleaning that mess. Whatever happened to the source of his smug relief for knowing he would never have to babysit whenever the boys of his class complained about being forced to look after their younger siblings? Turns out you should never be too sure of yourself. He sighed internally, shaking his head. If the guys can see him now; racing with the kids in a stupid Rush Race, a name he was sure Hikari had made up on the spur of the moment.
Speaking of which, where is she?
"I did it!" Takeo shouted first, standing up, "I win!"
"Good job, Takeo!" Hikari's voice came. She must have heard just the last of his words but it was enough to tell her what happened. She was glad she made back so quickly.
Hikari glanced at her watch, "Eight minutes, twelve seconds passed. Hurry up guys, you still got two minutes to come second."
Shou and Natsuko glanced each other furtively, before diving back in their work. Takeru smiled and went back to his work, making sure not to do it before either of the kids.
Shou came second since his task was simpler than Natsuko's despite his young age. Natsuko kept shooting anxious glances at Takeru to make sure she won't come last. Takeru took his time and Hikari felt like laughing at him.
Before ten minutes were up, the room was cleaned, Natsuko finally beating Takeru and Takeru accepting his defeat graciously, with a sideways grateful smile at Hikari, glad that the room was back to its original shape. The three kids jumped up and down around the two elders, chanting "Ice-cream! Ice-cream!"
"Okay!" Hikari laughed, "Everyone, to the kitchen!"
The kids scampered up the stairs eagerly, Hikari and Takeru following them at a more reasonable pace.
"I cleaned up Yamato's room." Hikari told Takeru on their way to kitchen, "As well as I could. I didn't arrange the magazines by month, though."
"What about the ones Takeo cut pictures from?" Takeru asked anxiously.
"I placed them at the bottom." Hikari said with a mischievous grin. Takeru sighed.
"Hope he doesn't check his old magazines as often as we think." he muttered, "Or maybe we should remove the damaged magazines altogether? No magazines, no proof we messed up." he suggested.
"Not we, you messed up," Hikari corrected, raising her eyebrows, "Besides, don't fret so much. Yamato won't notice anything out of order. You know him. He has a habit of saving up his precious things, but never going through them twice."
Takeru nodded, "I will keep that in mind. It will save me nervous breakdown." Hikari laughed out loud.
"So, who's ready for some ice cream?" Hikari announced gaily as she entered the kitchen.
"Me! Me! Me!" all three of them chorused.
"Here it comes!" Hikari took the ice cream out of the fridge. Takeru rounded up bowls and spoons and Hikari started putting scoops of ice cream.
"And one extra scoop for our winner!" she said as she put another scoop in Takeo's bowl. He grinned. Hikari placed half a scoop in other kids' bowl, "To our first and second runner up!" she announced and the disappointed faces of Natsuko and Shou lit up.
Takeru was feeling much more at ease now that Hikari was there to take care of everything. As he enjoyed the chocolate flavored ice cream, he realized why Hikari was a kindergarten teacher. She acknowledges kids' limitations and is always able to get them excited when something needed to be done. She knows them psychologically and that seems to be at the base of why kids love her so much.
Of course, Takeru could see how their experiences - Hikari's specially - as she watched Wizardmon die, Sora and Yamato get hurt, Tokyo being destroyed, all for her, could make her so. She had always been a child of frail health and yet she had to go through so much, had to shoulder so much responsibility being the eighth and a high priority chosen kid when it came to Myotismon. She had to face the spirit going in her, getting ill in Digital World, being worshipped by Numemons (though, that wasn't the hardest part), the dark world he saved her from, the another dimension she went to with Miyako, and all sorts of weird events that others didn't have to face. All through their years of friendship, Takeru tried to understand why those things happened to Hikari, why she was special to get dragged from one mystical place to another, and failed to get any particular reason. At times, he even got confused over the name of her crest - Light. When there were familiar traits as Hope, Friendship, Courage, Love, Sincerity, Knowledge, Purity, Kindness a crest not named on a trait but on a physical presence was a mystery to him. What can one do with a Crest of Light? Bring light? How? Is light a synonym for happiness? Somehow, he didn't think that was the case. But Hikari always seemed to know what she was doing as the Bearer of Crest of Light and that was enough for Takeru.
All her frightening experiences, the childhood losses have made Hikari what she was now. A person who dedicated her life to kids; who understand them, teach them, make them strong enough to deal with the world, and most importantly make sure they understand their worth.
"After eating ice cream, we'll play hide-and-seek." Natsuko said decidedly as she gobbled down a huge mouthful of ice cream.
"Yeah and after that, pirates!" Takeo agreed, ice cream smeared all around his mouth. Takeru barely hid his smile.
"All those who agree to this plan?" Hikari asked, grinning.
Takeo and Natsuko's hands shot up in the air. After few seconds' hesitation, Shou raised his hand as well. Seeing the kids in for the plan, Hikari raised her arm too. They all looked at Takeru.
"I just want to sleep." Takeru said with a sheepish shrug.
"Uncle Takeru!"
"It'll be fuuunn!"
"Mm, why do you wanna sleep?" That was Shou.
"Takeru!" Hikari reprimanded, raising her eyebrows suggestively at kids to tell him not to spoil their fun.
Takeru sighed, "Fine. I'm in." he raised a hand lamely and the kids cheered. Takeru smiled tentatively. Despite all the mess they had created, all the arguing and fighting he had to break off, it heartened him to know the kids wanted him to be a part of their game and actually care to insist on his participation. He felt a growing attachment to them, a sort of affection that was strong and binding. Two of them were actually part of his blood and the third no less important. He reached out and mussed up their hair. Natsuko giggled and Takeo and Shou squirmed under his hand.
"Let's play hide-and-seek." he said, much more heartedly this time.
"That's the spirit!" Hikari approved his enthusiasm with thumbs up.
The babysitter and Disaster Manager washed the bowls while the kids cleaned the table. They had washed the rug in the play room and it was put out to dry. That room, too, was in a much better shape than Before-Hikari era.
The kids gathered around Takeru, staring up at him excitedly. Hikari was putting away last of bowls and spoons.
"Umm, okay then. Time for hide-and-seek." he said, as usual anxious to calm the kids down.
"Who will do the counting?" Natsuko asked quickly.
Takeru scratched his head, "I will do the counting if it's okay?" he sounded doubtful. The kids nodded at once.
"Can we hide anywhere?" Shou asked, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Yeah, we can hide anywhere, right?" somehow Takeo didn't seem to be asking for permission.
"Sure, you can hide wherever you w- ow!" Takeru whirled around as Hikari pinched him from behind.
"You never, never say that to the kids when playing hide-and-seek!" she whispered annoyingly.
"Wha - why?" Takeru rubbed his arm in protest. It was still stinging. Hikari shook her head in disappointment, then turned to the kids.
"No, you can't hide anywhere," she said matter-of-factly, "You can't hide in the basement," the first few words out of Hikari's mouth showed Takeru his mistake. I was literally asking for a replay of all the mess we just cleared up, he thought in horror.
"- and you can't hide outside," Hikari continued. Takeru noticed the disappointment on Takeo's face and realized he was actually considering it.
Takeru Takaishi, the fool of a babysitter, he reprimanded himself internally.
"- and Mama's bedroom." Hikari finished.
"Aunt Sora isn't my Mama, so can I h-"
"Nope, Takeo, you can't hide there either. No one can go in there." Hikari said quickly. Takeo sighed theatrically. Natsuko was just eager to start and Shou was deep in thought, probably already considering all the non-prohibited hiding places.
"Okay then, we are starting the game. Takeru, do the counting." Hikari whistled again and all the kids scampered away, giggling, their small feet pattering away.
Takeru turned his back on the room, hiding his eyes under his arm, "One, two . . ."
He could hear distant whispering, short bursts of giggles, doors banging shut, scuffling of feet, few short-lived arguments, and found himself smiling. Kids, he thought affectionately.
Soon he reached hundred and by then the whole house had quieted down, an eerie silence hanging instead of the excitement of few moments before.
An excellent time to sleep, he thought longingly.
He went quietly and entered the kitchen, looking under the dining table, the chairs - no one was there. He entered the room next to it, the kids' playroom. At once he heard a restless scuffle.
Takeo or Natsuko, most probably, he thought with amusement. He looked behind the door, no one was there. In his periphery he detected a slight movement on his left. He looked and it was the huge toy basket, upside down, toys scattered everywhere around it.
"Who's there?" he asked, teasingly, a grin appearing on his face as the basket moved once more restlessly.
"Nobody," came a muffled voice. Takeru burst into laughter as he pulled the basket from over Takeo.
"I told you nobody." Takeo looked up at him with disappointment.
Takeru smirked, "I believed you, kid, I was just doing a recheck."
Natsuko was the second one to be found - in the kids' bedroom, inside their wardrobe - given away by the rattle of hangers as she fidgeted.
Hikari came next, being bold enough to hide just few feet away from where Takeru had been counting, beside a couch in the living room and Takeru only found her after rounding the whole house and coming back to living room.
Then the hunt was for Shou alone.
Takeru soon realized that where the two kids were easily found because of their restlessness and Hikari due to the risk she took, Shou was both quiet and safe enough to avoid those. Also, small enough to hide in a place Takeru wouldn't imagine otherwise.
Takeru looked and looked all over the house, again and again, in the kitchen, even the lower cabinet, the play room, behind every door, in kids' bedroom, checking in every wardrobe, in the bathroom, in the shower, in the washing machine, even in the prohibited basement and Yamato's bedroom - but he couldn't find him.
"Give up, Takeru; you're beaten by a five-year old." Hikari teased him. Takeru was frustrated. Natsuko looked proud of her brother and Takeo kept asking, "Where could he be? Where could he be?", too overcame by the anxiousness for the well being of his younger cousin.
"He's definitely a champion in this hiding game." Takeru muttered, reluctantly admitting his defeat. Hikari smirked.
"Ready to give up?" she asked innocently. Takeru sighed.
"Fine. I give up." he said, passing a hand through his messy hair.
"You can never find Shou! He always beats me at hide-and-seek!" Natsuko said, grinning with pride.
"You couldn't have told me sooner?" Takeru asked with a wary smile. Natsuko just laughed. Takeru stood up, going back to the living room.
"Shou! You win, I give up!" he announced loudly. No reply.
"Shooouuu!" Natsuko called out.
"You win!" Hikari took part too. A muffled voice came from the back of the house. They all ran over there, where Takeru had searched the washing machine earlier. Shou was standing in the laundry basket with the clothes Sora had washed that very morning all around him, grinning.
"You hid in that?" Takeru asked, eyeing the laundry basket unbelievingly. It was quite small.
But apparently, big enough for Shou.
He had not searched it because it seemed to be full of clothes then, all of which were now scattered around.
"There were not much clothes and so I covered myself with them so you wouldn't know I was here." he explained. Hikari laughed, shaking her head.
"Well, buddy, you deserve to win." Takeru said, laughing along. Natsuko hugged her brother. Takeo clapped him on back, all big brotherly.
Suddenly Hikari thought of something and her smile faded, "Shou, don't tell me these clothes were folded when you hid in them."
Shou looked at the clothes crumpled all around him, then back at Takeru, then at Hikari, his smile vanishing, "Oops." he whispered sheepishly.
Hikari and Takeru groaned simultaneously.
x-x-x
After folding the clothes again, playing pirates for half an hour (which involved Takeo roaring after everyone with a plastic hangar as his sword) and watching TV for some time, the babysitters decided to put out dinner as it ticks close to nine. Hikari heated the pizza Sora had made earlier while Takeru made sure the kids stay where they were supposed to be, allowing no more accidents. The fear of dealing with his brother in case he found out about the torn magazines was enough to make him tiptoe around his niece and nephews, smelling for any source of trouble.
After the kids and adults finished their dinner, Takeru loaded all the dishes in dishwasher, realizing just how much being a babysitter involve. It was like being part-time mother of kids who won't exactly do as he tells them.
"So what is the bed time here?" Hikari asked the kids.
"Ten."
"Eleven."
"Twelve."
Hikari and Takeru shared an amused glance.
"The real time."
"We are not sleepy." Natsuko chirped, smiling.
"Nine-thirty." Takeru said, grinning at how smart the kids really were. All three of them groaned.
"Come on, get in your pajamas!" Hikari clapped her hands authoritatively.
"Aww, Aunt Hikari . . ."
"Just one more hour!"
"We are really not sleepy!"
"No complaints! Off to bed!" Hikari said sternly yet softly, and Takeru had to appreciate her strong will for not giving up on rules against the pleading faces of kids. It was something he had never been able to accomplish.
The kids' faces fell as they trudged their way slowly to the bedroom. Since Takeo often spends weekends with his cousins, there was already a spare bed and a pair of his pajamas in the kids' room that served well in situations like that one. Grudgingly, the kids pulled on their night clothes and went one after another to the bathroom brush their teeth under the watchful gaze of their Aunt Hikari. Finally, all three of them were in bed.
"Can I have some water?" Takeo asked suddenly.
"Sure." Hikari shrugged. Takeo darted out of the room.
Five minutes. Ten minutes. Hikari sighed. Takeru became tense once more.
"You stay with these two. I will look for him." Hikari went after him. She found Takeo in the play room, racing with Shou's truck.
"Bed!" she said firmly. Takeo sighed and dragged his feet back to the bedroom. Takeru noticed his guilty face and shared an amused glance with Hikari as Takeo went to his bed.
"Story time!" Natsuko announced merrily. Hikari nodded, smiling affectionately.
"Which one do you want to hear?" she asked, moving to the book shelf.
There was a lot of argument as each kid tried to get his or her favorite book chosen to be read and finally Takeru had to do the coin tossing. It gave Natsuko's favorite book. Natsuko looked radiant.
"Here we go." Hikari announced as she started reading the story. Takeru sat down on the carpet, against Shou's bed post, listening as raptly to the story as the kids poking out of their blankets, looking adorable in the soft colors of their night clothes.
The low, soothing tone of Hikari's voice, as she told the story, finally took its toll as each kid started dozing off after few pages in the story, the excitement and activity of the day leaving them exhausted as they slumped deeper in the blankets, their soft snores making Hikari smile.
And they said they weren't sleepy.
After the last of the kid had dozed off, Hikari closed the book and tucked their blankets around them more securely, kissing them softly on their foreheads. They looked much more innocent and harmless in their sleep. It was hard to believe that few hours ago they were the source of Takeru's impending doom.
"Come on, Takeru." she whispered. No answer came. She looked over at him and couldn't help giving a smothered laughter.
Takeru, too, was fast asleep, his head rested against Shou's mattress, his breathing deep and peaceful. No wonder the day had been as exhausting for him as the kids, maybe even more so as he was not used to looking after kids and had to go through several mental stress situations that day. Gently placing a warm quilt over him, which was a bit too short for him as it was of one of the kids', Hikari switched off the light and tiptoed out of the room, closing the door behind her.
x-x-x
There were soft murmuring, whispers, escaped bits of laughter that made Takeru open his eyes groggily. He blinked sleepily as he slowly lifted his head from his arms, looking around in confusion. His foggy brain was having a hard time placing his surroundings.
"Wake up, Takeru." someone whispered softly nearby.
"What?" he looked around slowly. It was Sora. Behind her, he could make out his brother, grinning mischievously and Hikari, with her one hand covering her mouth.
"Shhh," Sora whispered quietly, "They are sleeping." she was smiling for some unknown reason too. Takeru looked around once more and realized he was in a bedroom with too small beds and too many toy airplanes and teddy bears on wallpaper. His sleep vanished.
He stood up and followed Sora out the room who was still dressed in evening's dress; a pale blue blouse and skirt. The clock in the living room showed 10:38 p.m. Stifling a yawn, Takeru crashed on the couch.
"So we left one baby sitter and found two on our return." Yamato started teasingly.
"That's what you should expect before recruiting an amateur like me for babysitting your kids." Takeru replied in a bored tone. He yawned again.
"What made you ask for reinforcements, genius?" Sora asked, messing up his hair on her way to her room where she placed her purse on the bedside table and came back out.
Takeru decided to stay clear off the mine field, "Too many things. I lost count." he said diplomatically as Hikari grinned devilishly from behind Yamato.
"Are you saying my kids are not behaved?" Sora asked in a mock show of offence.
"They are not calm, more likely." Takeru refused to take that bait either.
"Did they really make you call Hikari for help?" Yamato asked again.
"Yes, brother. Should I take an oath?" Takeru asked, admitting his defeat. Yamato smiled with pride.
Sora placed a consoling hand on Takeru's shoulder, "Sorry for troubling you so much, Takeru, but we were really in a hurry this afternoon and you were the only -"
"Hey, hey, they are my family too, right?" Takeru asked, patting Sora's hand reassuringly, "I don't mind in the least."
"Yeah, Sor, we can always ask him to babysit the kids again." Yamato added, smirking. Takeru stuck his tongue out at him.
"I see you have learned something from my kids." Yamato commented coolly, as he disappeared in his room. Hikari laughed.
"So did they trouble you two a lot?" Sora asked.
"Not after Hikari came, no." Takeru assured.
"They are just kids, Sora. They are bound to get into some mischief." Hikari said placating.
Sora nodded, sighing a little.
"But trust me; they are a lot more careful around their parents than us." Takeru complained.
"They know who's the boss, Takeru." Sora explained, grinning mischievously, "They like their parents to see their angelic side. No mischief." Takeru chuckled nervously.
"So Mr. and Mrs. Taichi are gone?" Takeru changed the subject in an effort of not to get too close to the mischief details.
"Yeah, it was getting late. She wants to get Takeo first but I told her he would probably be asleep already." Sora replied, combing her hair with her fingers. She looked tired yet happy.
"How did it go? Your exhibition?" Hikari asked excitedly.
"Fabulous." Yamato commented coming out of the room where he had vanished earlier to change his clothes.
"Not fabulous, but good." Sora corrected, exasperatedly.
"It was fabulous, don't believe her." Yamato insisted, a hint of pride in his voice.
"It was fabulously good, you both get to win." Takeru said, making peace and Sora rolled her eyes.
"Nearly all of her designs are sold. And she got even more orders. Some big names of fashion industry were really interested in her work." Yamato continued, "I think it's great considering this is only her second exhibition."
"Sora, this is amazing. I visited it for an hour after opening only but even I saw how everyone was going crazy over your designs." Hikari confirmed Yamato's conclusion.
"You went to her exhibition?" Takeru asked, looking both shocked and disbelieving.
"Right after it opened. Why else do you think Sora needed your help if an expert like me was around?" Hikari boasted. Takeru grimaced. "I had just arrived home when you called for help."
"Awesome." Takeru muttered sarcastically, "Just awesome."
"Anyways, you guys must be exhausted," Hikari ignored Takeru's theatrics, "We should get going."
"They? What about us? We are the ones who had to look after their overly creative kids!" Takeru complained.
"I will take that as a compliment," Sora said, laughing at Takeru's face.
"You don't what to discuss just how creative their kids are, Takeru," Hikari whispered warningly and Takeru looked abashed.
"What's that?" Yamato asked curiously.
"Nothing." Takeru said, suddenly flustered, "Uh, yeah Sora, we should be going."
"Well, thanks Hikari, for looking after the kids." Yamato said pointedly, teasing.
"Right, thank her! What about me, your flesh and blood brother? At least she gets to see the exhibition! Me, on the other hand, was -"
"Was asking her for help since you were clearly not eligible to take care of kids whose combined ages are less than yours." Yamato completed smugly. Takeru huffed and stood up.
"Yamato!" Sora said reproachfully, smacking him on his arm. Standing up, she hugged Takeru, "I don't know what we would have done without you, today. Thanks for coming."
Takeru hugged her back gratefully, and called Yamato over her shoulder, "Sora is my real sister. You must be my brother-in-law."
"You wish!" Yamato said, as he gave a one armed farewell hug to Hikari. Sora chuckled, tousling Takeru's hair affectionately.
"It's getting late. You should get going now." she hugged Hikari too.
"Bye, Sora, Yamato." Hikari and Takeru chorused as they exited the house. Takeru's car was in the garage, Hikari's right outside it. As they walked towards them, Hikari nudged Takeru.
"You, mister, are gonna be in big trouble."
Takeru nodded glumly, "Just pray that by the time Yamato realizes what happened to his magazines, his kids are old enough to stop him from killing me."
"Why would his kids stop him?" Hikari asked, barely able to stop herself from laughing.
"You know, for all the good time's sake we spent today." Takeru said, smiling back.
x-x-x
A/N: Whew! This took forever! I started writing this even before starting On Days Like This, yet it lost its appeal after every few lines as I started on On Days Like This. Then there's Game of Thrones book to blame for it too. But finally, here's a Takeru and Ishida kids interaction fanfiction. So please tell me how is it?
Oh and to all those who reviewed On Days Like This, both here and on tumblr, you guys are capital A awesome! Each of your reviews is received, read eagerly and replied to sincerely. To the guests, whom I was not able to reply, thank you for reading and most of all for reviewing! Your reviews are truly precious!