"So…how do we want to do this?" Sakura asked when they got out to their cars.
"Well I was just going to take them to the zoo on the hill just before you hit the country side. And we were going to have a picnic at the park." Ryou said seriously.
"Oh I know where that is; it's such a lovely park." Sakura said with a smile.
"Ummm…I'll continue to travel with Ryou, Kai and Mai." Ichigo simply, looking at her parents.
"Ok dear; we'll meet you there." Sakura said before her husband could say anything.
After all was said and done, everyone got into their cars and headed off…after getting the twins tightly strapped in.
It was a forty minute or so drive to the zoo and park, so that meant it was nap time for the twins as they fell asleep five minutes into the car ride.
"So…what was said in the store…" Ichigo started.
"I meant it; I really do love you. And I know the kids love you as well…and your parents. Ichigo, I would love it if you'd be willing to give us a chance. As I was saying before I was only teasing you because it made it easier to be around you when you were with Masaya. And then when you caught him cheating on you with Mint…I thought about saying something then…but I didn't want to be a rebound guy. Not to mention, you did just catch him in the act. Also, I have my twins to worry about now. I really love you, but I also had to make sure they were going to like you as well; they come first. But, they seem to really like you and want you to be around and everything." Ryou said seriously as he drove to their destination.
"Ryou…I really love you too. I think it started even before the twins came around, but I wasn't sure…and I was with him. But when the twins came around I started having stronger and stronger feelings for you. So, if you mean it, I'd like to give us a chance." Ichigo said seriously.
"That would be great!" Ryou said happily as he continued to drive.
He wanted to just hug and kiss her, but he had to drive. Not to mention, she might not appreciate that.
"Hey Ryou?" Ichigo asked looking ahead.
"What is it?" Ryou asked as he continued to drive.
"You don't want any more kids do you?" Ichigo asked seriously.
"Umm…I'm not sure; right now I'm pretty happy with these two. Why do you ask?" Ryou asked calmly, curious.
"Did you know that I can't have any kids of my own?" Ichigo asked sadly.
"No, I didn't… What happened; do you know?" Ryou asked looking at Ichigo; they were stopped at a red light.
"When I was little, I was really sick…and then I was in an accident. No, I don't really remember it. But I had to have surgery. Part of that surgery made it so I couldn't have any kids of my own. Yes, it make me sad…I was hoping that because I was with Masaya and he was adopted that we could adopt kids together…but that'll never happen…" Ichigo said as she started to cry.
"Oh Strawberry…don't cry; it'll all be ok. If anything you'll have me and the twins; they love you." Ryou said seriously.
"But how do we even know that we'll even be together for the rest of our lives?" Ichigo asked seriously.
"We don't…but we should have some faith in it; I know I do. And yes, we may fight and all that, but as long as we stay strong, we'll always be together." Ryou said calmly, but seriously.
"Oh Ryou…thank you; I love you so much." Ichigo said crying.
"I love you two, you silly strawberry." Ryou said with a smile.
"You're always going to call me that aren't you?" Ichigo asked as she started to calm down a little.
"You bet I am." Ryou said with a smile, teasing her a little.
"Well I guess…it wouldn't be you if you didn't." Ichigo said smiling.
"Nope…" Ryou said simply.
Fifteen Minutes Later:
They finally made it to the park and zoo and pulled into a park space, got out, woke the twins up and got them out.
"What we doing?" Mai asked softly.
"We are waiting for Ichigo's parents to get here." Ryou said as he held onto Mai, who was still trying to wake up; Kai was already awake and alert.
"Well, while we wait, we need to talk to you two." Ryou said seriously as he held Mai.
"What is it?" Kai asked curiously.
"Ichigo and I are going to try being together and date." Ryou said seriously.
"So I'm going to be around for hopefully a long time." Ichigo said with a smile.
"So you do wuv daddy? And daddy wuvs Ichi?" Mai asked softly.
"Yes." Both Ryou and Ichigo said at the same time.
"Yay!" Mai cried happily while Kai stood there in shock; he was happy, but also shocked.
Just then, they seen Sakura and Shintaro walking over with the picnic basket and blanket.
"Hey, over here!" Ichigo called waving to her parents.
"Oh there you are; I guess we parked further away from you then we thought." Shintaro said looking at everyone.
"I told you that was his car." Sakura said looking at her husband.
"Hey guys." Ryou said softly as Mai buried her head in his shoulder; there were a lot of people there today.
"Let's go find a spot." Shintaro said as they looked around.
Eventually they found a spot in the shade so that the twins wouldn't have to sit in the sun and overheat.
"So, what's the plan?" Sakura asked as Mai sat on Ryou's lap and Kai sat next to them.
"Well…I figured we'd eat first, then do the zoo and then let them play at the park. That way they don't use all of their energy playing in the park and not be able to do the zoo." Ryou said simply.
"Ok; sounds like a plan." Sakura said happily.
"Dad and Ichigo are in love." Kai said simply causing Shintaro to drop what he was holding and Sakura to squeal in happiness.
"Yay! Welcome to the family!" Sakura exclaimed happily as she hugged Ryou, Mai, Kai and Ichigo.
"Well congratulations." Shintaro said looking at Ichigo and Ryou.
"Thank you…" Ichigo said unsure of whether or not she wants to trust her father won't hurt Ryou.
"I actually really like this kid. Plus, he not only has a son, but also a daughter; he understands. And so will you; these kids love you enough." Shintaro said causing his wife to cry.
"Ok stop before I change my mind. Let's just eat." Shintaro said as he passed out the sandwiches and such.
Kai had a ham sandwich, some carrots, a granola bar and a sprite.
Mai had a turkey sandwich, some carrots, a granola bar, and a lemonade.
Ryou had a turkey sandwich, carrots, celery an apple and a pepsi.
Ichigo had tuna, carrots, granola bar and koolaid.
Ichigo's parents had the same thing as Ryou.
"Daddy…my legs hurt…" Mai said softly as she tried to straighten them
"Ok… You remember what the doctor said right? We have to stretch them." Ryou said as picked Mai up and then gently laid her down.
Once she was situated and comfy, Ryou took one of her legs, bent it up and put it straight down. He then switched to her other leg and did the same thing.
Ryou ended up doing leg stretches each leg four times before they didn't hurt…or rather so she could get up and walk.
"Are you ready to go to the zoo now?" Ichigo asked Kai and Mai.
"I know I am; I get to learn more about animals." Kai said happily; he loved learning about new things.
"Yes." Mai answered.
However, as soon as they started walking so that Sakura and Shintaro could pick everything up Mai fell over.
"Waaahh!" Mai cried out. She probably wouldn't have cried, except for she hit her knee on a sharp rock.
"Let me see." Ryou said as he picked her up.
Her knee didn't look to bad; just needed cleaning and a bandaged. But to a little girl with all her conditions, it probably felt worse then it looked.
Once it was all cleaned and bandaged up, Ryou, Ichigo, Sakura and Shintaro all kissed it to make it feel better.
At The Zoo:
Once they got to the zoo Ryou had Mai up on his shoulders holding her legs tightly to him, while she had her hands on his head so that she wouldn't fall off and hurt herself. However, in case she were to fall Shintaro was right behind him ready to catch her if she did.
Kai wanted to walk, so Ryou let him as long as he took Ichigo's or Sakura's hand and stayed with them. If he didn't he would find one of those double strollers or something.
Ryou paid for them after he handed Mai to Shintaro.
Once they were paid for, three adults $12.00 each, one teenager $10.00 and two toddlers $5.50. The total came to $57.00.
Each of them then got their wristbands so that if they left for a few hours they could come back. Ichigo's parents got black and white wristbands. Ichigo got a pink and white wristband. Ryou got a blue and white wristband. Kai got a shiny green and black wrist band and Mai got a sparkly turquoise and white wristband.
Once inside the zoo they started walking around looking at different animals.
The animals that they saw were monkeys, lions, tigers, bears/polar bears/ panda bears, birds, zebras, snakes, spiders, iguanas, jaguars, cheetahs, turtles, elk, deer, fish, elephants, Giraffes, aardvarks, camels, Kangaroos, Leopards, hyenas, Llamas, Rhinoceros, Wolves, Ostriches, goats, Crocodiles, alligators, rabbits, sheep, seals, dauphins, whales, sea horses, otters, eels, stingrays, jellyfish, horses and then a bunch of animals. (I don't know much about zoos.)
"So what do you want to see first?" Ryou asked Mai as she clung to Ryou's neck.
After he asked that Mai started to peak around and then "those." Mai and Kai said as they pointed to a large cage with monkeys in it.
They got to the railing indicating that they couldn't go any farther and Mai watched with interest, laughing at the monkeys as they played and threw stuff at each other while Kai read the information on the stand.
The next animals that they saw were the leopards, jaguars and cheetahs, which were all right next to each other. These animals caught Mai's interest incredibly fast; she liked them. She'd watch them and they'd watch her. It was like they were talking to each other, but they weren't.
When it was time to go see the bears Mai didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and the watch the "big kitties."
"Mai, it's time to see the bears." Ryou said picking, well tying to pick her up.
"No! I want to stay with da big kitties!" Mai cried. She was holding onto the bars and wouldn't let go.
"Mai, I've got pictures, you can see the big kitties every day." Ryou said making her look at him with tears in her eyes.
"Mai…" Ryou started, bending down to be eyelevel with her. "I got pictures so that you can see them every day, just like the monkeys. And think of this; if we don't move on now, we won't get to the park sooner. Don't you want to go play at the park?" Ryou asked.
When Mai didn't move and kept looking at the "big kitties" Ryou thought he'd have to punish her, but she slowly let go of the bars and waddled over to Ryou and wrapped her arms around his neck standing on her tippy toes so that she could reach.
As she did this Ryou sighed in relief, but was shocked when he felt her tears on his neck.
"I don't want to leave em." Mai said softly as tears came down more.
"Come on; I wanna see and learn about the other animals!" Kai exclaimed, stomping he feet; this was one of his first outbursts.
"I know Mai, but we have to go and see the other animals. Kai, you just need to calm down; we'll go see the other animals in a few minutes." Ryou asked.
"If you want, we can just take him over to the bears just next door." Sakura said as they watched Kai get antsy; he really wanted to move on.
"Yeah, that's fine… Kai, you behave for them; and no going ahead further than the bears." Ryou said seriously.
"Ok…" Kai mumbled as he, Sakura and Shintaro headed off to look at and learn about the bears while Ichigo did something else.
After a few seconds Ryou found a bench and sat down, while bouncing Mai up and down gently on his knee, while rubbing her back and saying soothing words.
A few minutes later Ichigo showed up with three ice-cream cones.
"Here; I already took Kai one." Ichigo said causing Ryou and Mai to look up.
"Ichigo? What are you doing here?" Ryou asked as Mai rubbed her eyes.
"I decided to stay with you guys. I bought some ice-cream cones for you guys too. So here." Ichigo said handing Ryou a chocolate cone for him and a vanilla cone for Mai.
Mai held onto the ice-cream cone shakily, staring at it not knowing what to do with it; she was never allowed of have ice-cream before.
"Mai what's wrong?" Ichigo asked as she sat down.
"She doesn't know what to do with it. Her mother would let her have it…especially when having a crying fit like this…" Ryou said sighing as he finished his and Mai's started to melt, running down her hand.
"Ichigo, take Mai for a second, I'm gonna throw this one away and buy her a new one." Ryou said taking the cone from Mai then handed her to Ichigo and walked to the ice-cream place, after throwing away the old one.
When he came back Mai was still crying and Ichigo was trying to calm her down, not really succeeding in it.
"Mai… Mai you need to calm down before you hurt yourself." Ryou said looking at her and slowly she calmed down.
"W-w-What dat for?" Mai asked looking at the new ice-cream cone.
"This is for you, if you behave that is." Ryou as she watched the cone.
"…Otay." Mai said softly as he gave her the cone, which she slowly started to lick.
Mai didn't really understand what was going on, but she just ate her ice cream.
Several times Mai would take too big of a bite and would experience a brain freeze and then would cry out, holding her head tightly.
While she held her head she would get ice-cream in her hair and Ryou would sigh and get what hair that was in the cone out.
"Ok. You ready to see the bears now?" Ryou asked as she finished the ice-cream & cone.
"Yes…" Mai slowly as Ryou picked her up.
As they were walking away from the cats area Mai waved bye to them sadly.
"Bye bye big kitties." Mai said softly as she wrapped her arms around Ryou's neck and her legs around his waist while she buried her face in his shoulder, tears falling.
"I'm sorry Mai, but we need to see the other animals too." Ryou said as he felt her tears.
"There you guys are; Kai is very antsy…" Sakura said calmly.
"He's very hard to control when it comes to learning about new things…" Shintaro said seriously while Mai watched the bears with somewhat of a smile.
"Kai…what did I say? You needed to behave. Now, we're going to let your sister look at the bears for a little while. And then we'll move on. But if you're not going to behave we'll just go home. Do I make myself clear?" Ryou asked seriously.
"Yes…" Kai mumbled as he walked over to Mai and explained to her what he had read about the bears in words that she would understand.
The next few animals that they saw were the Giraffes, zebras, Llamas, elk, deer, camels and Kangaroos.
When Mai and Kai saw them they were both all happy and smiling again; they were far enough away from the lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and cheetahs that Mai couldn't see them anymore that she forgot all about them.
Next they saw the elephants. Mai wasn't too fond of the elephants; they scared her. The reason that she's scared of them was because they way too big for her tastes. Kai on the other hand thought they were the most amazing and majestic animals he had seen so far.
When they saw the elephants Mai almost fell off of Ryou's shoulders. She would've fallen backwards onto the ground if Ryou hadn't had his hands around her legs and if Ichigo wasn't behind them to catch her.
The elephants had gotten all riled up and started stomping around and then got as close as they could to the fencing keeping them in.
Mai was barely hanging onto Ryou when she fell. Ichigo had Mai by her underarms when she told Ryou he could let go.
"Oh My God! Mai are you ok sweetie?!" Ryou asked panicking.
"DADDY!" Mai cried scared running to him as Ichigo put her down to the ground.
Ryou picked her up as she cried into his shoulder as he rocked her back forth, trying to get her to calm down.
About ten minutes later Mai started to calm down, but was still very shaky while Kai was antsy again. Sure, he was worried and upset about his sister almost falling and getting hurt; but she was ok and he wanted…no he needed to learn more.
For the rest of the time that they had to look at all the other animals they saw them all and then Mai asked something.
"Daddy?" Mai asked softly, scared thinking it'd be "no."
"What is it baby?" Ryou asked worried at the scared tone in her voice.
"Can we see da big kitties again?" Mai asked softly.
"Umm, yeah I guess we could. We still have half an hour before its time to go and from here it takes ten minutes to get to them." Ryou said softly as they started to head towards the big kitties.
Once they got there they had about fifteen minutes to sit and watch the big kitties and that's exactly what Mai did, sat there and watched them, as they watched her while Kai reread their information.
As the fifteen minutes were drawing near Ryou thought that he was gonna have to talk to Mai again, like he did before, but this time however, Mai came right to him.
"Otay, I'm rewedy to go now." Mai said softly as she lifted her arms up, ready for Ryou to pick her up and take her to the next place.
"What did you say to your sister?" Ryou asked looking at Kai.
"I just said that we could come back some day and see them." Kai said simply.
"Ok." Ryou sighed as they started walking to the park/
At the Park:
Sakura and Shintaro sat on a bench and watched as Kai and Mai played on the park while Ichigo and Ryou watched over them.
They played on the slides and in the sandbox on the diggers and on the swings.
However, by the time they got done with the swings, Mai was too tired to do anything else and Kai was starting to get an attitude; so it was time to go home.
That night when Ryou put the twins to bed, they both fell asleep right as their heads hit their pillows; as did he…