Author's Note: Here's the update, all nice and done. The Hiruma in this chapter is Hiruma Yuuya, in case any of you are wondering. Be warned, there are several flashbacks.

Song: Father of Mine is by Everclear, I do not own it.

Songs for Daddy

Chapter 19: Father of Mine

Hiruma walked down the busy street with his granddaughter in his arms. It had been six years since he last held her, and several, several more since he last held a child of her age. Emiko looked around, her eyes trying to take in everything. Hiruma didn't mind, his son had tried to look at everything all at once as a child as well.

"Udon!" Emiko cried, pointing at a display picture in the front of a noodle house. Hiruma turned and examined the establishment, recognizing it immediately in horror. It was the very noodle house his wife had died in. Without any warning his mind couldn't help but to recall the last hours of his late wife's life.

"Yuuya!" Hiruma Ayama roared, pointing a long accusatory finger at her husband. She was a gaunt-looking woman with extremely sharp features and raven black hair. Notably she also had narrow green eyes and looked right now like a serial killer. Her teeth were particularly sharp and fang-like and with the words she spoke, they looked even more menacing than usual. "How dare you show your face here!"

Hiruma Youichi, the son of the Hiruma family, had been sitting peacefully at the kitchen table doing his homework. Youichi was a gaunt-looking child with almost no body fat and sharp features like his mother. He had bushy black hair and curious green eyes. Currently he had a blank expression and looked from his mother to his father, concerned.

Hiruma Yuuya, the father and husband of the Hiruma family, had just returned home from an extended stay in America. He had left promising to become an international chess champion and found himself failing. He returned home with a tail between his legs and nothing but stories of defeat and shame. Needless to say his wife, who had been opposed to the trip in the first place, was not pleased with the circumstances behind his return. He had just entered the kitchen, having followed the voices into that room, only to be yelled at upon arrival. The poor man hadn't even had the opportunity to set down his suitcase.

"I just spent over 15 hours on a plane and this is how I get greeted for coming home?" Yuuya spat, having not had a pleasant flight; let alone a pleasant experience in America. "You're the one that kept on telling me I should come home!"

"I told you not to go, you ass!" Ayama almost screamed, storming up right into her husband's face. "I told you and told you! You never listened to me! And you still haven't started!" The woman's face was starting to turn red and angry.

Youichi frowned.

"I fucking listen to every word you say!" Yuuya snapped back, offended she had thought otherwise. "You told me to fucking come home, so I fucking did!"

"What about the other times!?" Ayama demanded, referring to events that their son had no knowledge of having seen. "What about going in the first place!?"

"Just because I fucking listen to you does not mean I will obey your every god damn whim!" Yuuya growled at his wife. "I don't have to take anyone's advice about anything! Be glad, you ignorant woman, that I even listen to you in the first place!"

Ayama slapped him across the cheek, hard. Youichi flinched and his expression turned into a forced blank mask.

"How dare you speak to me like that! I had to raise money to feed myself and our son! I had to work and put clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads! You didn't even bother to send us money to help you bastard!" Ayama slapped her husband again. "You don't know anything! You don't understand what I've had to suffer because you don't listen!"

"Why you-!" Yuuya made a grab at Ayama who dodged to the side. Youichi gasped loudly, frightened by the thought of his parents physically beating on each other. This was their first major fight and the first discourse they had ever had in front of their son. Both parents froze at the sound of their son's voice.

"Y-youichi…." Yuuya muttered looking over at his mortified son. Ayama turned around and looked at the frightened boy and said nothing.

"I-"Ayama began, searching desperately for some words to make the situation better, "-I'm not being rational right now." She admitted after a long moment.

"…Neither am I." Yuuya consented.

"I'm still upset," Ayama glared at Yuuya, "but I need to calm my head first. I'm going to leave and meet up with Emiko at that ramen house down the block."

"I think that would be best." Yuuya nodded, agreeing.

"Don't." Ayama poked her husband's chest for emphasis. "You. Dare. Follow. Me!"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Yuuya assured her. Ayama said no more and grabbed her purse, some money and marched out the door.

Youichi stared at his father, shaking a little. He had never seen his parents fight. He had never seen Mom so upset. He wasn't sure what to think of his father at this time.

"…You should go with your mother." Yuuya told Youichi after an awkward moment. Right now all the man wanted to do was to wash up and unpack some of his things. Youichi nodded, got away from the table, and left the apartment without another word.

The ramen house was just down the street, not very far at all. Every Tuesday evening Youichi and Ayama would eat there. This tradition started after Yuuya left. Since it was a Tuesdays night, Youichi had been expecting and looking forward to eating his favorite udon there. Upon arrival he saw his mother sitting at a table by the window having a heated discussion with her friend. Youichi wondered if he should go inside, so he waited outside for a while and watched the waitress come by and deliver the udon. When Youichi finally got the nerve to go inside to at least speak to his mother a screech stopped him. Looking behind, Youichi saw a car barreling down the road with a panicked man behind the wheel. Two police cars were chasing him in hot pursuit.

Youichi wasn't too sure what happened exactly but the car suddenly swerved right into the ramen house, smashing through the window and his mother and her friend. After the car was done crashing, Youichi rushed inside the store, screaming for his mother, only to find her mangled body and udon all over the interior of the store in a gory mess. Falling to his knees, Youichi found himself vomiting at the sight.

Yuuya had just arrived at the scene not long after Youichi did. Initially he had come to the store to see if Youichi was indeed being fed, but now he was checking on his wife and son's fate. The sight of his wife's body and his son vomiting destroyed what was left of the man's pride.

Later, after the trip to the hospital and the police station, Yuuya sat down with his son at the kitchen table. Yuuya wasn't sure what to say to the boy.

"I hate you." Youichi told Yuuya suddenly. "If you hadn't come home, Mom would still be alive, you sorry fucker!"

Yuuya didn't stop his son when the boy ran upstairs into his room.

"Grandpapa! Udon!" Emiko pointed at the ramen house again, jerking Yuuya out of his unpleasant memories and back into reality.

"Not there." Hiruma shook his head. He was sure that his son would kill him if he took his granddaughter into that establishment. "We'll go to another one."

"But it's just a ramen house!" Emiko protested, clearly confused.

"...It's not a good place." Hiruma left it at that and carried Emiko away from the establishment quickly.

"Grandpapa?" Emiko asked after a little bit.

"Yes?" Hiruma looked down at his granddaughter.

"Have we met before?" Emiko asked, curious.

"Actually yes, but you were really little." Hiruma faintly recalled the day he met Emiko.

Yuuya had been reading the newspaper that evening, completely content to have a relaxing evening after a long day at work. His cell phone started buzzing loudly, making him quickly jump and dive for the phone before it buzzed itself off the counter he had left it on. Looking at the caller ID, Yuuya was amazed to see that his son was calling him. He answered immediately.

"Hello?" Yuuya answered.

"Get down to Houtai Hospital now." Youichi told his father and hung up without anymore words. Yuuya stared at the phone, a bit puzzled, then grabbed his car keys and left his apartment. It didn't take him too long to get to the mentioned hospital. He parked as close as he could to the main entrance and hurried his way across the rainy parking lot into the building. It looked just like any other hospital on the interior, for which he was thankful. Just inside the doors was his son Youichi who looked like he had had a very long day. Notably there was a bundle of pink blankets in Youichi's arms and Chizue was nowhere to be seen.

"Youichi?" Yuuya asked, approaching his tired-looking son cautiously.

From whatever zone Youichi had sent himself into, he snapped back into reality, taking his eyes from the bundle to his father's face. During this motion, Youichi's expression went from one of exhausted amazement to complete shock and fear.

"Help…." Youichi pleaded in a small voice. Yuuya almost gasped, stunned that his son would ever sound frightened. He walked over and saw what was in that bundle: a baby.

"Where's Chizue?" Yuuya couldn't help but to ask as he stared down at his grandchild.

"…Dead." Youichi answered after a long moment.

With that bit of information everything fell into place. His son was now a father with no one to turn to. The poor man was scared for his child's life and obviously wanted to take care of it.

"Lets get an umbrella." Yuuya threw an arm over his son's shoulder. "And get you some rest."

"But Emiko-!" Youichi protested.

"I can handle taking care of Emiko, you're going to be no use to her if you collapse with her in your arms." Yuuya pointed out wisely. "Besides we have to get some diapers and formula for her too, unless you already have some…."

"No." Youichi shook his head.

The week that followed that night Yuuya had spent with his son, teaching him how to take care of a baby. After the first week, Yuuya left his son again, getting the occasional call when Youichi encountered something he didn't know how to deal with. After Emiko's first birthday, the calls stopped and Yuuya correctly assumed that his son had managed to get the situation under control.

"You act funny." Emiko commented in her usual monotone. "You keep stopping."

"Oh, I'm just remembering things." Hiruma chuckled almost humorlessly. "You do that when you get older."

"Really?"

"Really." Hiruma assured her. "Now how about this ramen house?"

"Yay!" Emiko smiled and flapped her hands, really excited and content.

_=_=_=_=_

Now we know the truth behind Yuuya and Hiruma's interesting relationship. Tell me what you think!