.o0o.
Touma stood before the smallish house and triple checked the address. Seiji's handwriting was sloppy, not like he didn't care but like he never practiced, yet the words were unmistakable. This was clearly Seiji's home. He'd expected the traditional style home, expected the expanse of land, even expected the dojo a short distance from the family home. What he hadn't expected was how small the place would be. Seiji was raking in the cash, couldn't they afford a much larger home than that? Touma checked the address a final time before shoving the scrap of paper back into his pocket and marching up the stone pathway to the front door.
He wasn't quite sure what to do when he got there. He hadn't had a lot of a experience with traditional houses, wasn't sure where he could knock without punching a hole into the paper walls, wasn't sure if he should shout or if that would be rude. Fortunately, the decision was made for him as the door slid open and out stepped a beautiful black-haired woman. She had the same strange coloration in her eyes as Seiji and Touma decided that she must be his mother.
The woman bowed in greeting. "If you're looking for lessons, the dojo is actually that building. I know it can be a little confusing."
"Actually, Seiji invited me to dinner."
"Oh, yes." The woman chirped. "You must be Hashiba Touma. Seiji did mention you would be coming. Dinner won't be for another hour, so Seiji can entertain you. You can find him in the dojo."
"Thank you." The woman nodded and returned to the house while Touma crossed another stone pathway towards the dojo. He thought back to how he'd obtained his invitation.
He'd approached Seiji at lunch, not exactly sure what to say. He'd spent almost the entire night lying awake and thinking. He eventually came to the conclusion that Shuu was right and he was punishing Seiji for things that were beyond his control. And, only to himself and only silently would he admit that he might possibly feel some sort of attraction toward the blonde that had thrown him off. It'd made him even more snappy and unreasonable. He wasn't supposed to be attracted to guys. He'd never really thought about it before. Never felt anything for a woman but not for a man, either, so he'd always assumed that sort of thing would come later. It had come alright, in the form of a pleasant dream and damp blankets. But none of that had helped him to think of what exactly he should say.
"I'm sorry." In a flash, he'd decided to start there and see what happened.
"For what?" Seiji inquired, as Shuu, Shin and Ryo all pretended to be deeply engrossed in their food, while undoubtedly spending most of their concentration on this conversation. Touma wished he could be talking privately, but didn't want to chance Seiji turning him down.
"For my behavior. It was inappropriate and you didn't deserve that."
"Apology accepted." Seiji responded easily.
Touma fidgeted. "We'd like for you to help us train."
"I did hear you all have armor now." Seiji seemed to mull it over. "I'm afraid I can't help you, though. I don't have a lot of spare time and I need to spend it studying."
"I can tutor you." Touma instantly supplied. "You've talked to Nasutei; you know how important this is."
Seiji said nothing for so long that the silence became almost painful for Touma. Inside his head, he could hear Seiji saying, 'but you don't know how important passing grades are to me.' The unspoken words reverberated off of the sides of his head, echoing as if his brain were not even there. Had Seiji actually said that? No, no, it'd only been in his head, Touma assured himself. But it was almost as if Seiji had said it directly into his head.
Finally, Seiji spoke. "I will think about it on the condition that you attend dinner at my house tonight. We can discuss privately after dinner."
And so there Touma was, standing in front of the dojo and feeling awkward. He opened the door and walked down a hallway, picking a direction at random and found a large room with roughly a dozen young adults performing a set routine, each with a wooden sword in hand. An old man was wondering about the group, correcting mistakes as they came. Since his back was turned, Touma decided to try another room before he was spotted. There was a much smaller room with an intense sparring match happening between a boy and a girl, each about ten years old. The referee was a woman that so closely resembled Seiji's mother that Touma found himself doing a double take before moving on to the final room. It was as large as the first with more than twenty children crammed in. At the head of the room was the unmistakable mop of Seiji's blond hair. Seiji caught his eye almost instantly and nodded toward a bench on the side where a few parents were waiting anxiously and proudly.
Touma sat and looked about the room. It was really too small for so many children and they all looked in danger of hitting one another, but Seiji took it all in with ease, shouting from all corners of the room as he carefully and subtly shifted the children into safer locations. He was probably swamped with demands from parents to have their child train under him. More than one of the children were clearly foreigners and Touma imagined that their parents paid through the nose to have their children train under the great Date Seiji. He still wasn't convinced that his parents weren't just using Seiji to make money.
The session was clearly winding down as more parents trickled in and Seiji began to have the children do cool down exercises. Touma waited patiently as the children began to clear out. Many of the children ran up and hugged Seiji before leaving, their parents mouthing apologies or words of gratitude.
One man handed Seiji a check, and Touma listened in on the conversation. "Sorry it's late."
"Not a problem. Thank you for letting us know in advance that your payment would be late. If it is becoming a burden, you do know we have assistance packages."
"I couldn't possibly accept that. Your family gives back so much to the community already. You guys were the primary support for the playground Emiko uses every day. It's like getting two for the price of one already."
Seiji smiled, "Well, thank you. I will see you next week."
Seiji turned back to Touma and gave him a look that said, 'do you get it now?' He was starting to. They left the room silently and headed back for the small room. The two were still going at it and the referee was looking bored as she leaned against the wall. She straightened as Seiji entered the room. One of the fighters threw off her helmet, releasing a wave of black hair and bounded up to Seiji, leaping into his arms without a second thought.
"Nii-chan!" She squealed as Seiji shifted her into a more comfortable position. "I beat him!"
The other child pulled off his mask and made a face. "Did not!"
The woman came closer. "You might have beaten him if you'd continued. Considering your current location, I would say you forfeit."
The girl in Seiji's arms stuck her tongue out at the referee and turned back to Seiji. "I was beating him. By a lot. One more point and I would've won."
Seiji set her down on the ground and bent so their faces were level. "It's not about whether you can win, or even winning, for that matter. You need to finish what you start and you need to make sure that changes in your surroundings don't distract you. Why don't you finish up this match and then wash up for dinner? I've brought a guest." Seiji pointed at Touma with his thumb.
"Really?" She peered around Seiji to take a long look at Touma. "This is exciting. You never bring friends over, nii-chan."
Seiji ignored her comment and stepped back so Touma was in view. "Hashiba-san, this is my little sister Satsuki. And this is my older sister Yayoi. Satsuki-chan, Yayoi, this is Hashiba Touma, he's been assisting me on my schoolwork."
"Touma-senpai!" Satsuki bellowed, throwing out her hand wildly. "It's super nice to meet you. I hope Seiji's told you how nice I am."
Touma marveled at how completely opposite this young girl was compared to her older brother and could hardly believe they were related. Yayoi seemed much more sedate, but not even she was as courteous as Seiji was. "Of course he has." Touma fibbed. "He was very excited to introduce us."
The little girl put her gear back on. "Okay, I'll see you at dinner!" She threw herself back in the match, hardly waiting for the other kid to pick himself up.
Seiji left the room shaking his head and led Touma back down the hall. Touma was a bit shocked at how things had turned out already. He hadn't even known that Seiji had sisters but they had both seemed very nice and caring. Satsuki clearly adored Seiji and wasn't shy about showing it. Touma briefly wondered what his life might have been like if he'd had a sister like that.
"Ah, so this was the lad who peeped into the room earlier." Touma started at the voice and looked up to see himself in the first room he'd entered with the old man staring at him.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt." Touma stammered, surprised that the old man had even see him before.
"Not a problem. It is always good to see curious young eyes here." Seiji immediately introduced the man as his grandfather and crossed the floor to a supplies cabinet. "Seiji, you'd best get started. We've only a short while before dinner and your mother insists that your evenings be spent only on schoolwork. I don't know how she expects you to win your next tournament with so little preparation, but I suppose it cannot be helped."
What Touma saw next awed him. He'd never seen the King in action before but he realized now that his title had been well earned. He flowed across the floor with more grace than a ballerina and greater speed than a cheetah. His movements were sharp, clear and perfect. His footing never wavered and he did not once hesitate in his training.
Touma was suddenly aware of three things. One, it could be none other than Seiji who trained them and he would have to convince him to do so somehow. If they were expected to defeat this supervillian, it had to be Seiji. Two, he was undeniably attracted to Seiji. And three, he wasn't ashamed any longer of his attraction, not to this person who was so perfect, he seemed to almost glow.
Touma sat and waited for Seiji, listening to his grandfather throw out instructions and somehow correct the perfection he was seeing before him. It felt like only a blink of an eye when Satsuki burst in the room, already changed from her workout clothes and announced that it was dinner time before disappearing the way she came. Seiji and his grandfather bowed to each other before Seiji disappeared into what appeared to be a changing room. His grandfather nodded to Touma as he passed.
Seiji took only a few minutes in the room to change and clean up before he escorted Touma back to the house. "I hope it hasn't been too boring for you." Seiji apologized as they walked. "I told you to come early because I thought you might like to see the dojo."
"It wasn't boring at all. I enjoyed it. Thank you." Touma was surprised by how sincere his words were and this seemed to please Seiji greatly.
Smiling, Seiji entered the house and removed his shoes, gesturing for Touma to do the same. He then followed the blonde across the house and into a dinning room where Seiji's whole family was gathered around a square, low table. Two cushions were left empty for them and they sat. Opposite of them was Seiji's grandfather, seated alone. To Touma's side was Satsuki and Yayoi, while Seiji's parents sat to his side. At least, he assumed the older blond man was Seiji's father.
They were all polite in their own way, but very hospitable and Touma could feel a deep sense of love and trust flowing around the room. They asked first questions about him, demanding to know about his education, his plans, his family (they were so shocked and disturbed to find that it was just him and his father that he neglected to mention how little his father was actually home) before turning their attention inward. By listening in, Touma learned about Seiji's family as well. They were all very invested in running the dojo, one of the best in the world.
Seiji's grandfather, he learned, was his maternal grandfather and was in charge of everything that transpired in the dojo. He knew everything there was to know about the traditional methods and had taught Seiji, as his heir, all that he knew. Not only was he Seiji's personal trainer, but he ran the majority of the lessons that went on, making sure that everything was done in the traditional manner. In his day, he had earned himself national recognition, but never to the extent that Seiji dominated.
Seiji's mother, whom Touma had met at the door, took care of the housework and was a skilled fighter as well, teaching a good third of their pupils. She was quite capable of running the dojo herself and her knowledge rivaled that of her father's. However, since she was not a male, he'd refused to hand over control to her. He also refused to relinquish control to her husband who wasn't even Japanese.
Seiji's father came from America with a bachelor's in Japanese history and instantly fell in love with the land and a woman on a visit for his master's program. He never went back. Instead, he married into the prominent Date family and used his previous job experience as an accountant to take over all of the dojo's finances. While he wasn't qualified to teach at the dojo, he did take over the homeschooling of both Yayoi and Seiji. Touma felt he was too submissive in nature, which was probably why he took on the Date family name and allowed Seiji's grandfather to dictate what Seiji would be taught.
Yayoi was currently applying to colleges, while finishing up her high school education. Her education had been much more thorough without being constantly whisked off by her grandfather and numerous colleges were offering her scholarships. She was a competent fighter herself, though nowhere near Seiji's skill level, and largely acted more as a referee than an actual teacher.
Satsuki was the most normal of the family. She was overly exuberant and generally spoke in a manner that was borderline rude, despite occasional comments from her grandfather. She attended public school and was in class with one of Shuu's siblings. She was an average fighter for her age, but didn't hold the same adoration for the dojo that she did for her brother. It seemed to Touma that she was only there because Seiji was.
The meal was delicious and Touma tried not to devour his plate in his attempt to shovel food into his mouth quicker. He was listening in, enjoying his plateful of home-cooked food, as Yayoi offered to beat up the kid at school that had caused Satsuki some distress, when it finally hit him. He knew why Seiji had invited him here. He got it. As tears prickled at the corners of his eyes, he excused himself to the bathroom which was kindly pointed out for him.
He closed the door and concentrated on not crying for it would be far too obvious if he went back out there and he couldn't handle their questions. It had been there for him the whole time to figure out. Seiji was going to lose his family if he couldn't pass his courses. He'd known this logically. He'd known that Seiji would be put into foster care if Touma didn't help him because try as he might, Seiji's father would not know exactly what the teacher was looking for while Touma could tell Seiji without even going to class. Touma hadn't cared all this time because he hadn't known what having a family meant. Seiji had shown him, had somehow known how to show him. Seiji's family wasn't perfect, and maybe Seiji's grandfather had gone about things in the wrong way, but social services were trying to take away Seiji's family. For the first time in so many years, Touma understood that word again. And this time, he couldn't help the tears that slid down his cheeks.
.o0o.