Chapter 56
In Search Of
A Soccer Ball
Disclaimer: I only own what you see here in this idea. The Arrow property is something I sadly don't own. And now, for a look at what Akio got up too while Oliver was away!
December 23rd, 2010 at the Yamashiro House at 10:40 AM
Life for one Akio Yamashiro, son of Maseo and Tatsu Yamashiro and self professed annoyer of Oliver Queen was pretty darn good in his view of things. He and his family no longer had to worry about Japan or about that mean Waller woman and he could actually go to school and be around other kids too! And it was mostly in part to that General guy and Oliver for making it happen and it kind of made the kid wonder if he should join the army too if it meant he could help out like that. Course he still had a few years before he could even do that and who knows what he'd be thinking by then! Though at the moment, for the life of him he couldn't figure out where his soccer ball was as he was in the mood to see if he could get a game going even if it was in the snow. Leaving his room in search of the ball and it wasn't long before he found himself in the kitchen after his mother called for him. "And here I thought you would stay in that room for hours yet."
He smiled at her joke and was glad she had the day off. "Have you seen my soccer ball? I looked everywhere but I can't find it."
Ah! Now I see why he's up and about! Him and that sport! But at least he was into it and actively pursuing it so that was a plus at least.
"I last recall seeing it in the car several days ago."
Of course she hadn't given it much thought since then due to other things going on in life. After learning of that, Akio dashed back into his room a yell of thanks for his mom's help and got himself ready for a trip outside since he wasn't wanting to freeze himself wearing what he had on now. He also made sure to grab the car keys on the counter near the front door since he was still not tall enough to look into the windows of their four door Suburban. A look around inside several minutes later revealed he was out of luck yet again. "Darn it!"
Making his way back inside the house, Tatsu quickly saw that he had returned without the item he'd been searching for. "Bad luck hmm? Why not call AJ? Perhaps he has seen it."
She handed him her cell phone and got a beaming smile from her son in return. "Thanks mom!"
Looking at the contacts on his mother's phone, he quickly found the number he needed and called it. It wasn't long before he got an answer from AJ's mom. "Hey Tatsu! Wasn't expecting a call from you this early!"
"Sorry Mrs. Diggle, but this is Akio, can I speak to AJ please?"
"Sure sweety, I'll be just a second." The young man wondered why adults said stuff like that when it really took more than a second!
AJ quickly got on the phone a minute later. "Yo! What's up dude?"
"Have you seen my soccer ball recently?"
His friend didn't answer right away and he figured he was likely thinking it over. "Nah man, not since the last time we played a few days ago. Sorry dude." That bit of news wasn't to Akio's liking but appreciated being told that none the less and thanked him for that.
After hanging up a few minutes later after asking about it possibly being at Big Belly Burger and being told no on that as well. "No luck hmm? I do recall stopping by the gym and Oliver's the last time you had your ball."
"Can we go to the gym!?" That place is big and Mr. Ted's always pretty busy so he might not even remember it because of that!
"And if its not there?" Though Tatsu had a feeling where her son would go with that.
"Then we go to Oliver's! It could be anywhere in that big house!"
She smiled at him and told him to wait a few minutes as she needed to get ready and he cheered happily over that.
Fourty Minutes Later
After a slow drive to the Wildcat Gym for safety reasons due to the weather, Ted had been nice enough to let Akio wonder around in search of his soccer ball and even helped in the search while his mother took over the training he'd been doing with one of the kids who came by the gym every so often. Unfortunately for him, the ball was no where in sight and nobody there could really even remember seeing one. But Ted did promise to keep an eye out for it and ask anybody who wasn't there at the moment the next time he saw them. Akio gave him a hearty thank you and got a head rub in return. As they walked back to their vehicle, Tatsu remarked that his ball could be at the school. "I hope not, that would really suck!"
"Let me call Mrs. Queen to see if she will be okay with us searching for it in her home. Perhaps Thea will be there to help us if she is willing." He nodded enthusiastically at that as he loved being around that girl as she was pretty much like the big sister he always wanted. The fact she encouraged him to annoy Oliver on occasion was pretty cool too.
Though he wished she'd tell him what was wrong with Oliver lately as he'd been really unhappy and kind of mean too. He could understand it if they were still stuck doing what that mean Waller woman wanted but he hadn't seen her around. It sucked no one wanted to tell him anything! But he did hope that the guy he considered as a big brother would be okay soon. A few minutes after getting into the Suburban and getting it nicely warm, his mother got off the phone and gave him a smile. "You are quite lucky that Mrs. Queen said yes. She also says feel free to find the cookies if you can."
A grin appeared on Akio's face at that as Oliver's mom had made a game of hiding the cookies and letting him find them. It was honestly fun as she always tended to hide them in interesting places in her house! "Awesome!"
Thirty Minutes Later
Raisa was the one to greet the two at the front doors with a wide smile on her face and called out to Thea that the Yamashiros are there. And it wasn't long before Thea appeared as well from the living room with a smile on her face and Lupus in her arms. The sight of Akio had the little fella wanting to get out of her arms and she complied with a laugh. "Okay little guy, down you go!"
She gently put him down and Akio got on his knees to hug the puppy as he jumped on him. The three women watched with smiles on their faces as the two played and the Queen teen was once again happy that Ollie had brought the little guy home with him. "So, what brings you two by? Ollie as you know isn't here and mom's at the company with Walter." Course she wondered just how much of a business thing it really even was that had her mom at the company.
"Akio is in search of his soccer ball, so we have come here to see if its anywhere in your home."
Thea nodded at that in understanding, though she couldn't recall seeing one aside from the last time the Yamashiros had been over. "Last time I remember seeing that thing was when you guys were last here. But I'd be happy to help look for it since this place is pretty big." Though a part of her wondered why Mrs. Yamashiro didn't just go out and buy a new ball instead of looking everywhere for a missing one.
Then again, who plays Soccer when its all snowy outside? Unless Akio was wanting to see how it would go since kids his age could be pretty curious. She wondered if she could be around for that moment as she felt it was bound to be amusing to watch in some way. "Thank you for being willing to help us in the search Thea. It is appreciated."
Tatsu had a feeling the younger girl was wondering why she didn't simply go buy a new one and while she could, that was unlikely to teach her son anything about the value of an item. Plus the fact it might be later found would probably show that buying a new ball would have been a waste. But since it wasn't asked about by the young Queen, the mother of one saw no need to speak up about it. A few minutes later saw the four searching through out the house, though Thea would handle her and her mother's rooms herself. Little Lupus had been a bit put out that he wasn't getting any attention so he took to following behind Akio and occasionally nipped at the bottom of his pants to try and get his attention. His efforts got the boy to stop and suddenly found himself picked up, which was great in his little puppy mind!
"We can play after I find my ball okay?" Lupus barked at him and then licked his face, getting a laugh in the process.
However, the search proved to be in vain, even after he'd gone outside to try and look for it. Of course with the snow and all that made it a bit difficult to do. Walking back inside slowly and a bit bummed out as Lupus trailed along side him, the women would be greeted by the saddened sight of Akio and Tatsu was quick to hug him. Even Lupus gave off a little whimper at seeing one of his humans looking so sad and got a little loving from one his girl humans afterwards. "Unfortunately, it seems your ball may just be at the school unless it is somewhere in the snow here."
Thea had a brief thought and could have slapped herself for not having thought of it sooner. "You know there is one room here none of us thought to search."
Akio, his mother, and Raisa all looked at her expectantly. "Lupus' play room!"
When she thought about it, it was entirely possible it had wound up in there either from someone's doing or the puppy's own doing since he loved having all sorts of toys to play with. One of the less used rooms in the house had been turned into a play room for Lupus even though he pretty much had free run of the place but it was usually where he slept if no one was going to be there to be with him. Any of his toys could be found there as well if one wanted to use one with him. Akio quickly ran off in the direction of the play room and wished he had thought of that earlier! The other three plus Lupus followed him and it would seem the son of Maseo and Tatsu would see an end to his search. Though maybe not in the way he would have hoped for!
"Aww man!" Lupus bounded over to him, seemingly expecting his little human to use the new toy to play with him over. Though the little fella missed that it wasn't big and round anymore!
The very soccer ball he'd been looking for was now very flat and it was quite clear that Lupus had been the culprit! How he managed to pull it off was anyone's guess though since none of them thought his teeth were quite that strong enough but it seemed they may have been wrong. Unless he had been doing it little by little over the past few days. Well, I now have a new idea of what to get my son for Christmas. Thought Tatsu with a smile that went unnoticed by her son due to his ruined ball keeping his attention.
Lupus tugged on the ruined ball, hoping that a little playfulness would get his little human to be more happy. While Akio wanted to be really upset over his ruined ball, he knew he couldn't get all that angry with Lupus since the little guy was still just a puppy who didn't quite know better just yet. Hopefully his mom and dad would get him a new ball soon! Giving into the puppy's desire to play and making the little guy pretty excited in the process. The two would play a good long while and it'd certainly help in getting little Lupus all tired out too for several hours afterwards. Thea would wind up talking Tatsu into staying awhile and she and her son would still be there by the time Moira came home and would happily see that Akio had gone in search for the hidden cookies.
"Hmm… Seems I'll have to try harder to hide them even better next time!" It was times like this that her son had befriended the Yamashiros during his time away since her beautiful boy and his sister weren't exactly his age to be doing this sort of game with. Course if things had been different, the grandchild she has through Sandra would probably be enjoying this quite a bit as well despite the young age. But that was not to be anytime soon in her view.
Moira hoped however that her son would be able to take the news well about the lie he'd been told when the time came and her part in that. The mother of two hoped however that her son would be home in time for Christmas even though they weren't really doing anything for it but it was the thought that counted after all. A part of her wondered if he planned to do something like he had on Thanksgiving but Tatsu knew nothing of any plans of the sort. The Queen Matriarch couldn't help but laugh when Akio enthusiastically told her that that would be a cool thing to do. It would certainly take the troubles off of her son's mind for awhile at the least! Course there would be the issue of Malcolm having a problem with the whole thing as he did during the Thanksgiving stunt.
She'd been thankful he had yet to do anything over that and thought that maybe it wasn't worth the effort just yet. Time would tell however on how long that might last if her son did anything else Malcolm would potentially see as a threat. She could always try to prevent her son from doing anything he planned in the Glades but she knew him well enough to know that he would do it regardless unless she actually told him why she didn't want him doing it. But she absolutely had no plans to do that as she didn't want him anywhere near Malcolm and his plans for the Glades! Enough of that line of thinking, it won't do at a happy time like this. Mentally chastised the woman in her head.
And a truly happy time it was for the woman as she enjoyed some quality time with her daughter, a newly arrived Walter, Raisa, and Tatsu as they all watched Akio with Lupus and even joined in from time to time. It was a pity Maseo couldn't be there with them due to his personal security job however.
Author's Notes: Hope you guys enjoyed this light hearted chapter. Have to admit it was kind of a challenge since Akio wasn't seen all that much in the show. So hopefully I did fairly well with him and Tatsu. Can't wait for the Crossover Event! Up next, the aftermath of Oliver and the team's night out and his return home! R and R!
