Viktor:
"So excited! I get to see Yuuri's country" I gushed, excitedly at the prospect of visiting my angel's home country with him.
What's even better, is that Yurio came with us! Now that he is giving me a chance everything is going as planned, if not better. You can say we even look like a family. Our flight's stewardess commented on that, when she noticed our seat arrangement (Yuuri - Yurio- Me) and us fussing, all the time, over little Yura- as this was his first flight. Which had me beaming the rest of our journey.
Watching as Yuuri walked hand in hand with Yurio in front of Alyona and me, as we were leaving the plane, brought a smile into my face. A smile that almost never left my lips the whole flight.
"What are you talking about? You've been to Japan before" Anyone's voice snapped me of my daydreaming.
"For competitions, this is different. This is a family trip!" I squealed, happily- not caring of the looks I kept receiving.
"If you weren't so escential for Yuuri's self-cnfidence and my student didn't make you so happy, I would have called the police by now. You need to calm down a bit, Vytia. Otherwise, you'll scare him away. He is only sixteen, hell, he isn't even sixteen yet!" she warned me.
"I know" I sighed, leaving the fact that if Yuuri tried to run away from me... well, things wouldn't end up pretty.
"By the way, how did you get dad to let you skip so much practice?" she changed the topic, surely noticing how gloomy the mood had gotten.
"He didn't" I replied "After winning gold at both, Skate America and the Trophee of France I convinced him of giving me some days off. Enough to accompany my Yuris to my angel's Nationals and for his birthday. After tomorrow I am returning to Russia to train for the Grand Prix" I nodded at his explanation, now understanding why daddy wasn't blowing phone "He just is a big meanie who is trying to split Yuuri and me! How is it fair that I will have to spend two whole weeks away from my Yuuri~?! You are here, you can be my coach until the Grand Prix" I pouted, still sad by the fact I could only stay for a couple of days.
"I might be a coach, but still an inexperienced one" she replied "The RSF would kill me if I caused their ace loss gold, they wouldn't even care of all the medals I brought to our country"
"You've been doing a perfectly good job with Yuuri!" I protested, not liking how she is talking about herself.
"Thanks, Vitya" she looked at me surprised "Yuuri is truly an angel. He is changing you for the better. Before you would have let me sulk and not care if I talked bad about myself"
I, myself, was surprised when I realized how true her words really were. Yuuri is truly changing me for the better. Little by little, he is.
"Old man! Coach! Hurry up or we'll leave you behind!" Yurio called out.
I look in front of me and found the adorable sight of a frowning Yurio with the cutest pout and his hands on his hips, as he was stomping his foot impatiently.
"Coming~!" I singed in English, throwing myself at them for a group hug.
As we passed immigrations, where we had to be separated as Yuuri was the only with Japanese nationality, I noticed the whispers and the stares. But for once not directed towards me, but towards Yuuri. When we were heading towards baggage claim I realized why.
My angel's face decorated the whole airport!
Not only to promotionate Junior Nationals, but for various products and for dancing as well. They had to drag me away when I found out Yuuri had DVD's teaching how to dance his choreographies, from when he was a dancer. It wasn't my fault really, I just had to have them. It's a necessiy for me, I would die without them!
When I noticed the mob starting to surround my companions I decided to leave my shopping for later, my sister, my angel and my ice tiger needed my help. We were only able to relax, once we were able to sneak away and were able to get a cab.
If the airport was bad, the entrance to our hotel was the horror. It took as at least an hour of photos and authographs to pass through. Many recognized me and I took great pleasure in bragging about how wonderful my angel is.
It got to a point were even I was tired. After a long trip it was expected. Our only comfort was that Alyona had taken Yurio inside rapidly, being able to dodge the media's flashes, and proceeded with the check-in. Our ice tiger was still too young to be under the spotlight, and that's where he would be if the adoptions plans got out. Luckily, Yuuri's agent was on it and would be ready if it was needed.
I pouted when Alyona told me that I wouldn't be sharing a room with Yuuri, but let it go when she argued that Yurio will need my angel's cuddles more than me. After unpacking, Yuuri took us around Tokyo. He was a great tour and knew the city as if he had been raised in it. He later, confessed to have been here many times with Minako-sensei for dance competitions and recitals, not to mention his summer tours always started in Tokyo.
When we stopped to grab a bite, Yuuri rapidly told us to take today as our cheat day and order katsudon. Though, he was quite sad with the fact that he couldn't join us. But with the determination of now winning gold for having it as a reward.
"Here they make one of the best katsudons I've tasted, though not as good as oka-san's" my angel told us, stopping in front of a cafe.
I took great pleasure at Yuuri's clear excitement, his eyes were sparkling! He even slipped to English with some use of Japanese in his excitement. Thankfully, we were all able to understand and didn't have the heart to tell him.
"This place... Yura, you will love it here. Your papa truly loves you to pieces, always thinking about you" commented Alyona, as she clearly recognized the place.
Yurio glowed at her words, already tackling Yuuri with a hug and showering him with thank you's. Not even doubting Alyona's words for a second. I hope that one day Yuri will show me the same trust and care he shows my angel. But for now I simply enjoyed the scene in front of me.
Alyona:
"Wow... Japan is amazing!" Yura gushed, watching with wide open eyes all the cats. He already rushed to take a cat in his arms and not soon afterwards was surrounded by many more.
"Indeed Japan is incredible!" agreed Viktor, already hugging a cat and passing another one to Yura.
"What's this place? Why don't we have one in Russia? Can we have one in Russia? Or can we move to Japan so I can come here all the time?!" Yuri fired one question after the other, in his excitement he didn't give us time to answer.
"Calm down, Yura" Yuuri chided, but his fond smile gave him away "This is a neko cafe, they are quite popular in Japan. Not only there are with cats, but dogs, owls, many animals really. I don't know why there isn't one in Russia, maybe because is a Japan thing? And no, we cannot move to Japan... at least, not now. Maybe in the future" he answered. He still surprises me with how good he is at parenting, because that's what he is doing with Yurio- no matter his age "Yura, you can stay there and play with the cats. I'll order for you. But once the food gets to the table, you will have to go wash your hands and eat. Da?"
"Da" Yura replied, distracted.
Yuuri still has some trouble with Russian. His accent is still very prominent and he speaks slowly to be able to articulate the words correctly, not to mention the grammatical mistakes he commits when he doesn't have enough time to arm the phrase in his head before speaking. But all in all, he has made an amazing progress. Also, he has Vitya and I correcting him- gently, of course.
"Yuuri" I called out for him, after we had finished ordering.
We were sitting by a booth, nearby Yura so he could always be in our sight. He was sitting in front of me with Vitya glued by his side. My brother was kind of pathetic, when he acted like that. But also, kind of cute... in a very sickening sweet way.
"Yes?" my student replied.
"Let's talk about tomorrow" suddenly both skaters in front if me got serious "You have a huge advantage in comparison to your fellow skaters. If we were being honest, I was kind of shocked at how bad Japanese male skaters are. I've heard about Japan not having that much good luck with male skaters this decade, but after discovering you, Yuuri, I thought they were simply exaggerating... how wrong I was"
"I know... we've had bad streak lately. I'm trying to change that" my student replied, a dark expression passing through his face.
"And you are doing it" I assured him "When was the last time Japan won a Grand Prix? Even in Juniors. I am not telling you this to make you feel bad, I am doing it to justify why I am going to ask you not to do what we had planned for Nationals" they both looked me confused, so I explained myself "The original plan was to change the composition of the jumps for the FS. Put the triple axels in the first half and in the second one both combos. But there is no need for that here, you can win with over ten points of difference if we keep the routine the same. When you get gold you will be invited for Seniors, then we will change the jumps compositions. Are you ok with that plan?" I smiled when Yuuri nodded his head "And no tano variation this time. Do you hear me? I don't want a repeat of The Hague. Or I'll make you do suicides for the rest of the season!"
"Ok!" he rapidly answered, surely thanking every deity that at that moment the waiter came with out food- otherwise, I would have scolding him all over again.
I kept to myself the fact that Yuuri will surely medal at Seniors and get the chance to compete in Four Continents and Worlds. Even get a chance for the Olympics, after all his resume is good, not to mention he is the media's favorite Japanese skater. That will only make his more nervous and that might end up in an anxiety attack.
Though, that's for later. Now, I will enjoy my delicious katsudon.