Patch Up Family

Sunny Day - Fujiki Kazue

A warm place like sunshines can't be found alone.
Together, we can find a tomorrow which is never seen.


"It's a boy. Oh my, he got your red hair!" the midwife said excitedly as she bundle the new born baby in a clean towel. Taking a hot wet cloth, she wiped the remaining blood trace on the newborn prince.

"Let me hold him" Shirayuki said weakly. A small smile made its way on her worn out face when she saw her baby. Her first smile since his death. "Akiyo" she whispered her baby name softly.

A soft knock from the door startled her, turning around, she was surprised to see Izana at the door frame holding…

A basket of fruits?

"For me?" she asked, pointing at the basket.

He nodded his head in her direction, but his azure eyes wild searching for something. As understand what is going in his mind, Shirayuki held her baby out in his direction. Reaching out his hand, he took the baby in his arm. Looking down, he frowned. "He got your hair."

She pursed her lips looking displeases, by his remark, "There's nothing wrong with having red hair. And you have no right to frown over this child. He's perfect."

"He will become an easy kidnap target for sure." The blue eyes man is still looking at the baby in his arm interest in his eyes when he took in the baby features. "He is Zen's duplicate. Aside from his hair, he looks just like a baby Zen." Shirayuki smiled, looking at her baby in his uncle's arms. He looks so small and so -

"Masashi. That will be your name starting today. So you will grow up to be an elegant director" Izana said confidently. Beside him, a royal scribe added the name mention by the prince in the royal ledger book.

"No! His name is Akiyo! How could you rename him just like that in front of me? I thought I already told that you don't meddle with the way I raised my child!" she protested sharply, her long red haired covered her eyes before she pushed it back, reaching her hand for a hairpin that she put beside her bed, throwing him glare all the while.

The royal scribe stopped writing looking at the First Prince timidly. Slowly, he averts his eyes to the red hair woman lying on the bed opposite him. He may be new here, but he knows that it will be wiser for someone to shut their mouth and agree with whatever the prince say. In his heart, he prays to God to have mercy on that red haired woman, for he could not help her against His Highness Izana wrath. To his surprise, Prince Izana smiled.

"Is that so? But look, your son nodded his head when I said his name is Masashi"

Pulse…

"Right Masashi?"

The red haired woman's eyes widen when her baby nodded his head in his sleep and snuggled closer to his uncle chest. "He is just having a dream. Not because he agreed with that name."

The smile on the prince's lips turned to a smirk. "Then, do you like your name to be Akiyo, Masashi?" he asked the sleeping baby again. To his mother astonish, Masashi shook his tiny hand in the air and a soft mewing protest sound escape.

Shirayuki shook her head in disbelieve. "Akiyo?" she called, her son again. And again, she gets the same reaction. "Masashi?" she tried calling that awful name softly and to her displeasure her son nodded his head. Izana burst out laughing. Trying her best to frown at the prince, Shirayuki gave up and smile softly as she held out her hand for her son. "Your name will be Masashi then if you insist"

The royal scribe sighed in relief and continue writing.

Taking a look at what the royal scribe had written, he read out the words in a low voice, "Prince Masashi Wisteria, the first son of Izana Wisteria."

'His first son, huh?'

Five months before…


Izana's blue eyes stared at the messenger while the messenger squirmed, his eyes cast down. "I'm sorry Prince Izana but I could not do such a thing even with your order. The rules stated that-"

"A child, even if proclaimed belong to someone in the succession line would be denied the right as the heir if the mother has not married to that person. Yes, I know that. There's no need for you to repeat it for me."

"Then, if you already know that, please don't make it difficult for the messenger Prince Izana" a voice interrupted.

Izana turned around to look at the newcomer. "Ah, Duke Haruka. It's rare for you to disagree with me"

"Yes, since you always behave appropriately before I found nothing to disagree with you" he replied politely. However, his choice of words had a different bite in it. He did not flinch at the sharp glare Izana sent on his way as he continued his words, "That woman maybe Zen's lover but the rules still applies. It's no longer about the matter of status anymore." He glanced at the red haired woman sitting opposite Izana. The woman, however, paid no attention to the conversation that just occurred in the study room. In fact, she looked content enough to read a book.

"Lady Shirayuki, is there anything you want to say regarding this matter?" Duke Haruka asked the woman bringing her attention to the matter in hand.

"Truthfully, I have nothing to say, but it will be good for me if this child has nothing to do with all this. I can leave Clarines and all this hassle behind me." she said emotionlessly before she continued reading the book laid out in front her.

Duke Haruka was surprised to see the woman acting so coldly. When they say that Shirayuki had changed after Zen's death, he had not expected it to be this drastic. His eyes lingered on her face before moving on the hand she used to the book page. The faint scar where she made from her tried to end her life is still there, a reminder how broken she is inside. He tore his stare from the woman, a sharp stabbing pain in his chest. It such a pity, a woman so strong to be broken like that.

Izana's deep baritone voice startled him from his thought. "There is no need for you to ask for her opinion on this. That child is my responsibility now since the mother had refused to take any part in fighting for her child right"

"Don't make your own assumption Your Highness. Just because I don't really care if my child becomes a prince or a princess -"

Izana, however, had a better plan. Cutting her short, he said "If she marries me then the child will have the right to become a successor right, Duke Haruka? Then I'll marry her. It will be a small and quick wedding. Just the ceremony where we add her name as my consort and that child shall be mine."

The shock from his careless words filled the room with silence. Duke Haruka found himself rendered speechless. Shirayuki however, had another thing in her mind. Closing her book, she stood from her chair and said, "I do not wish to marry you, and this baby is Zen's not yours." Her words were polite but the rage in her eyes however, is hard to miss.

"Thank you for agreeing Shirayuki. Well then Duke Haruka, I think you can handle this small ceremony for me right? I expect it to be finished by three days henceforth."

"I believe you heard me just now. My words are final" Without another word, Shirayuki turned around to leave the room before Izana stopped her.
"No Shirayuki, you stay here. I still have something to tell you." And with his usual indifferent manner, he waved his hand quickly dismissing Duke Haruka and the messenger who now looks like he's ready to faint.

With her back facing him, she kept silence.

With a soft voice a parent always uses to comfort a crying child, Izana spoke to the red haired woman "That child is my responsibility. I made a promise to my brother that I will care for you, and I will do anything in my reach to keep that promise. With just my order, the best I can do is to keep a watch on that child, but when I'm gone, there will be no one to protect him. However, if that child is a successor of the throne, the protection that comes with that title will be more, and it will last; and it's not because I was there to ensure that. It's not just you alone now for me to care, but that child benefit as well. And the throne is his right in the first place."

"Do you understand that Shirayuki?"

Slowly, she turned around to look at him. The demeanor of the First Prince was no longer there and all she could see now is just an image of an older brother trying his very best to fulfill the promise he made to his decease brother. Swallowing her pride, she nodded her head before leaving the room.
With a soft 'click' of a closing door, Izana sighed. He hoped that he makes the right decision.

End Flashed Back...


Izana nodded his head; quickly dismissing the boy before his wife-in-name decided to change her mind regarding her son's name. He gave a long look at the new mother as she stared hard at her son face, as if she wants to memorize him.

"I'm sorry for making it difficult for you"

The red haired woman raised her head from her child to look at the prince. Slowly, she smiled warmly. The same bright, beaming smile she always wore before.

"You changed a bit"

"Yes. Thanks to this boy." she answered him, looking at him in the eyes.

He pursed his lips, hiding his amazement when he saw the light in her emerald eyes. Moving closer to her, he kissed her forehead; chuckling at her startled expression. "Congratulation" he whispered softly at her. Before he leaves her, he gave her a small yet chilling smile that he usually uses to tease. "You can try to tickle your son and rubbing his back. You will get an interesting reaction from him" with that he left her.

Bewildered, she starts to tickle her son gently, and she twitched in irritation when her son gave her a soft mewing protest sound with his tiny fist waving in the air. Slowly, she rubbed her son back in circular motion only to find out that her son nodding his head before snuggling closer to her. Closing her eyes, she swore that the next tea that His Highness Izana going to drink is a cup of concentrated paralyzing medicine.

Looking at her son sleeping face, she feels a familiar warm swell in her heart. The same one she always experienced when she with Zen. "You are your father son through and through huh? Your father must be proud of you Masashi" she whispered quietly in her son's ear before she kissed his forehead lightly. Reaching under her pillow, she pulled out a watch. Zen's watch. The watch still ticking, showing her the current time. "Well, I guess I should give this to you after all. A present from your father to you. So remember to take a good care of it."