Suzuki Touichirou was no stranger to his daughter's intoxication.

This had started….around the age of ten? Around her birthday. That was when she had started drinking and smoking…and she hadn't stopped. He could feel her from his room. Her aura was wound up tight, like a knot that had been pulled too tight, and at any moment it felt as though she would lose control. She wouldn't, though, she had come home like this before. He trusted her totally and completely…near totally and near completely.

She didn't always have the best judgement.

Such as right now. He could hear her pacing through the house. She was throwing herself back and forth as if there were three of her. She didn't need to run through the house but she wasn't in any danger so he wasn't going to step in. She didn't plan on listening to him, he knew that he would have had more luck talking sense into Mukai, so there was no point to it. To getting up and telling her that she was only twelve years old. To taking away whatever it was that she drank or smoked or…or whatever else it was that she did. There better not have been anything else. She was only twelve years old…

But she was beyond his command.

She had been for some time now. She was and was not an adult….it was complicated. The entire subject was one that he did not want to address. What could he do? Admit that he'd lost control over her? That he hadn't freely given her control, that she had taken it, and there was nothing that he could do to get it back? That if he did try to get it back then their relationship would fall apart? He knew that he would just end up alienating her…and he knew that she wasn't afraid to leave or to tell him to leave. He knew that he had the power to stay, to tell her to stay, but he had no desire to stay with someone who had no desire to be with him.

He didn't need another Masami in his life…so he wouldn't turn her into one.

"Blue….no….pink?" said Shigeko. He could hear her…which meant that she was being much too loud. She shouldn't have even been up at this hour. Even Sho had fallen asleep. Suzuki knew that he was supposed to be sleeping, that he had another day ahead of him, but he just…how was he supposed to sleep with his daughter throwing herself through the house and ranting to herself about colors? He couldn't…and he would have been fully within his power to tell her that she needed to remember that other people lived in this house…

But then again…she could always decide that she wanted her own house…

He would hate it. He hated it now and she hadn't even asked him for her own home. The idea of her being away from him. He had been away from her for most of the summer, and he had business to attend to, but that was different than her packing up and leaving. If he left her…if she left him…then there was no guarantee that he would ever get her back.

He didn't want to test his odds.

He had never been much of a gambler and he didn't intend to start now. He knew that the odds weren't in his favor so, of course, he would just leave her alone. She would continue running about the house and making noise, she came home like that sometimes, but eventually she would either leave again or fall asleep in some strange place. Last time she'd been asleep at the kitchen table with raw dough surrounding her. He didn't know why she did this to herself. He wasn't unfamiliar with drinking and smoking, he'd been young once, but he knew enough to know that intoxication did not mix with his powers…though it seemed to mesh well with hers. It made sense, somewhat, because she didn't have any sort of blood relationship to him. He hated that. He wished that she had been his….it would have been so much easier if she had been his blood…

Maybe he would have been less…anxious…about losing her.

But he wasn't losing her. He wasn't losing her because she was getting closer and…and even if not then it still would have made no sense to be anxious. His feelings…his emotions…he hated them. He shouldn't have been naming them, he should have been exorcising them. He didn't need to know someone's name to destroy them. He didn't need to know the same of a feelings to take it deep within him mind and exorcise it from existence.

Like this.

The bed jumped as she threw his door opened, his doing. He hadn't been expecting her to open the door like, well, Mukai. She was only two and she didn't know how to act yet. Shigeko was older, a decade older, and she knew better…but she couldn't help it. She was intoxicated. She was shifting from place to place, wringing her hands, and her eyes were darting from corner to corner…and her aura. He pulled his aura in close.

He didn't have the ability to do anything so that was what he did. Nothing.

"Shigeko?" asked Suzuki. That seemed to break her out of what she had been stuck in. She had been rooted to that spot in the doorway, her eyes had been darting around, but now her eyes were focused on him…her eyes and her aura. Being near her reminded him of when, as a young boy, he used to murder ants with a magnifying glass. It burned…but she could never hurt him. She would never hurt him.

Even if she was rushing him like she was about to end his life.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Guess what?" asked Shigeko as she jumped into bed with him. She actually jumped. She stood at the edge of his bed and then launched herself into the air. He assumed that she'd had the assistance of her powers. He had always encouraged her to use her power, to develop them, to control them, but coming into his bed like this was NOT what he'd had in mind. Jumping…she hadn't jumped on the bed since she'd been a child.

That had been so long ago.

She was too big for this. The bed was groaning. He held it up with his powers. She was going to knock the slats out. She did that sometimes when she rolled over…the bed was unbalanced now. When she had been smaller she had been able jump on his bed and he'd barely been able to feel it…well at the time he had been annoyed beyond belief…but now with the benefit of hindsight he could see how good he'd had it.

He hated time. It wouldn't stop.

"What is it, Shigeko?" asked Suzuki as he composed himself.

"I love you." Said Shigeko. She was bouncing up and down at the edge of his bed. Each bounce brought her closer.

"I love you too. This was not news to me. I am aware that you love me just as you should be aware that I love you." Said Suzuki as Shigeko got closer to him than she had been in a while. She was too old for this. That was the first thought that had come to his mind. The second thought was that he needed to shove her out of this bed. The third thought was that he needed to murder the second thought. The first thought, without anything to fence it in, took over.

"I am aware! I'm aware I just need you to know. You're the best dad ever and I love you." Said Shigeko. As she grabbed the front of his shirt.

"I know that I am." Said Suzuki. He tried to pull his shirt free. She was stronger than she looked.

"You're the best. Dad. Ever. And. I. Love. You." Said Shigeko. She had him by the front of his t-shirt. She was close, very close, close enough that his eyes were having trouble seeing her properly. Depth perfection went out the window when someone was this close. He had no idea why she had to be this close. He scooted backwards.

She followed.

She still held his shirt in his hands. She was making eye contact with him, too much of it. People took long unbroken stretches of eye contact as a challenge, he'd read that in a book once, and the last thing he needed was one of his children challenging him. He knew that the day would come when Sho challenged him, that was his son after all, but Shigeko….he had never in his wildest dreams thought that she would ever have challenged him…unless she wasn't challenging him….

Maybe she was just intoxicated in some way.

"I…care for you as well. Shigeko." said Suzuki. She nodded and then let go of his shirt. He wondered, wished, hoped, dreaded, that she was done now. That she could and would get up and go to her own bed. She didn't. She laid her head down on his chest and began to twist her hair with her powers. She held the strands in front of her and braided, unbraided, and then rebraided her hair. He watched her. It was always amazing how she was so powerful so soon…

She was a lot of things so soon.

"I've been thinking." Said Shigeko

"About your hair?" asked Suzuki

"No! Actually…well, kind of. I was at my friend Minori's house again, you know her she copied Minegishi's hair….but don't tell her I said that! It's a big thing, for girls, copying. Minegishi isn't a girl but Minori is and she should know better. She can be such a b-word sometimes…but don't tell her I said that either! She's my friend and I'm her best friend…friendship is complicated….like hair. Minori says that I need to stop braiding my hair because it's making waves in it and my hair looks best straight. But I like my braids and I don't like wearing my hair down because it gets everywhere and makes my back warm. Well it is winter…see? That's what I've been thinking about. So I guess I have been thinking about my hair." Said Shigeko

"I….think that your hair is very fashionable, Shigeko." said Suzuki. That was what she wanted, right? To be fashionable? Wasn't that what mattered to women? He thought so…but women were very complex beings. The women in his life had done well to teach him that.

"Thank you. I try to look pretty but also….it's complicated. I mean I don't want to look bad but I don't want to look too good too…and not just because Minori says that she has to be the pretty one and I'm the friend…but it doesn't matter. I mean it does…a lot of stuff is complicated." Said Shigeko. She was done with her hair, now, and she was picking the sequins off of her nightshirt. She picked them off one by one, folded them in her powers, and then threw them around the bed. He had no idea what made her do that…but he had no idea why she did the things she did.

"Yes…things are complicated." Said Suzuki. It was better to agree with her, Suzuki decided. She wasn't angry just…energetic. Like she had drank an entire pot of coffee…which she very well might have. This wasn't alcohol or anything else…nothing that she did ever gave her this much energy. She had better not have drank an entire pot of coffee…though in the grand scheme of things this was nothing.

"But you're not. I understand you. You're mean and nice at the same time and I love you and I wish you were nicer but I love you and Sho and Mukai and Minegishi and Serizawa and Hatori and Shibata and Tsuchiya and even Shimazaki but not Fukuda…which is hard but also not hard…my hair is itchy. I'm thirsty." Said Shigeko. He reached up and scratched her head.

"Better?" asked Suzuki

"Much better. You're a good head scratcher dad…that's what you are. A headscratcher…because you scratch my head and you confuse me. When someone calls you a headscratcher then that makes you a headscratcher. That's words." Said Shigeko

"Yes…those are words…but I don't consider myself to be confusing." Said Suzuki. He didn't think that he was very confusing. He didn't know what he was supposed to do to be any simpler. He said what he meant, meant what he said, and that was that. Shigeko…well she was intoxicated….that must have been it.

"Well you are. Like how you're nice to Mukai even though she does bad stuff sometimes" said Shigeko

"She's only two years old. She doesn't know any better." Said Suzuki

"But you were mean to me and Sho when I was little. I remember. When I was little you used to be mean and I don't know what to do." Said Shigeko

"There is nothing to do…and it doesn't matter. You're intoxicated." Said Suzuki. He had no idea what he had said but it must have been very unacceptable to make her pop up like a jack-in-the-box. She was facing him, again, her eyes locked with his.

"I am not whatever that is. I'm normal. I'm the most normal, I know everything now. I know how everything is and I remember everything and candy is not a food group. But you don't like candy. So that's not a thing that matters. Candy is a food." Said Shigeko. Suzuki nodded and tried to pull meaning from what she just said. He found none…but agreeing looked like it was the best course of action.

"Alright. I agree with you." Said Suzuki

"You should because you're the one who doesn't like candy. Candy is good…we should have candy if we have another party….and also we should have a place to make your own gingerbread house…and we should have a frosting fountain. Like after people get their cakes, everyone gets their own cake, they hold it under the frosting fountain. Then, also, we should have lots of milk. Cold milk and warm milk. Also we should have chips, every kind of chip, but none of me because I'm not hungry." Said Shigeko. Suzuki nodded….but he could not agree to that. Shigeko had a love of throwing extravagant parties that nearly bankrupted…well that hyperbole…but she did spend money like it was going out of style…

But this was the time to agree with her.

"We will….revisit this subject at a later time." Said Suzuki

"When? When is later? Later never comes, that's why it's later. I need to know now. I'm going to throw so many parties. Twelve days of parties! And also New Year's but maybe not because Minori might think that I'm stealing her birthday. That would be a bad power, I think, stealing the day that someone was born. That's the same as killing them. I don't want that to be a power and I don't want anyone to take my powers away or my birthdays or my little brother or my little sister." Said Shigeko

"Nobody is planning on robbing you of anything you hold dear…so you should lay down and stop worrying-" said Suzuki

"Stop worrying!? What would you know about that?! All I ever do is worry! I've got worries that you don't even know about! I worry about everything and you don't and-and-and I want to go to Minori's party but I might not be able to because we're going to move and if I don't go to the party then she won't want to be my friend and I don't know what I'm going to do if she doesn't want to be my friend! I mean I'd be happier but I'd have lost a friend and I don't want to lose a friend. That's worse than losing your phone…but I found it! I left my phone under my shoe. Things are always in the last place you look. That's because once you find something then you have no reason to keep on looking. Not unless you're Mukai, she looks for stuff even after she finds them, she can be weird like that…no! Please! Don't tell me that I'm a b-word!" said Shigeko

"I…do not know what a b-word is but I can assure you that I don't think that you're whatever that is." Said Suzuki

"But I think that I am! I shouldn't have thought that Mukai was weird! I shouldn't have thought that you were mean! I shouldn't have gotten mad at Sho because he locked the door to our room! I'm sorry and I just want someone to tell me that I'm not selfish and I'm not a b-word! And the Beatles are not the greatest band in the world and I shouldn't think about this stuff. I don't want to be a b-word so don't tell me that I am!" shouted Shigeko. All Suzuki could do was nod. He…had no idea what he was supposed to say or do to that…so he just nodded.

"Thank you, daddy, I love you so much!" shouted Shigeko

"I-I love you too, Shigeko….now please, let me go." Said Suzuki as he tried to tug his shirt out of her grip. She was stronger than she looked and, yes, he could have just ripped it out of her hands….but he didn't want to do that. He didn't want to hurt her and he didn't want to hurt this shirt, it had been a gift.

"I'll let you go when you let me go." Said Shigeko

"I am in no way holding you prisoner." Said Suzuki

"No, not like that! I meant let me go to the party! I want to go to the Minori's birthday party!" shouted Shigeko

"Alright! Alright, you may go to the party." Said Suzuki. She let him go…he shouldn't have raised his voice…but now she was listening. That was the best that he could hope for. She didn't suddenly get back to normal, which would have been too much, the best was just her letting him go…and she did.

Then she hugged him.

She hugged him, kissed him on the head, and then ran away again. She jumped out of the bed, despite the fact that she was too big and too old to be doing that, and ran right out his door and down the hall. He heard the bathroom faucet turning on…she must have been thirsty…though he so hated it when the children drank from the taps…

But he had enough to worry about as it was.

Shigeko was intoxicated again and there was nothing that he could do about it. Nothing that he could do short of alienating her in some way. She was…her own person…and that was person was an adult. A short one…but also she was a child. She was complicated. This whole problem was complex in a way that he didn't want to deal with right now….so he didn't. He closed his door, laid down, and tried to sleep.

Shigeko wouldn't let him.