The tension has been brewing for some time... it's time for Mikihisa to finally explode
It wasn't even three hours since they returned from the doctor. Both twins were fast asleep, both fed and bathed, and Mikihisa was reading the newspaper by candlelight. Keiko was seated at the table, sipping from a cup of tea. Neither of them said anything.
The atmosphere in the room was tense. No one wanted to start. Logically, they both knew that the accident couldn't be looked over. Setting the pram on fire was one thing. Harming innocent people was a whole other thing. Small accidents, they could look past and pretend that they hadn't happened. But actually burning someone, that was a big deal. They couldn't just pretend it hadn't happened. What if the next time Hao actually killed someone with his flames?
"He needs to be stopped," Mikihisa finally slammed down his fist on the table, startling Keiko. She looked up at him, her lips pursed into a thin line. She didn't know what to think of the situation yet.
"He's a baby," she opposed him, thinking up arguments that she could use. "In all situations, he was either startled or didn't like something. You would also be scared by a bus. Or be in discomfort if the vaccine was forced down your throat."
While having to agree that her arguments were logical, Mikihisa shook his head.
"And he'll continue setting things on fire as he grows older just because he doesn't like them?" he hissed, his eyes narrowing at his wife. "We can't let that happen!"
Slowly, Keiko nodded. Mikihisa had a point in that. They couldn't just allow Hao to destroy whatever he didn't like, but, as far as he was concerned, he was more powerful than Mikihisa, than Yohmei, then all of the Asakura family combined. He would overpower them all, wreaking havoc and probably leaving a few burns here and there as he disappeared from their lives.
"Everyone can change. We'll raise him right," Keiko said, watching as her husband's expression turned to something between anger and disgust.
"If we get a chance to raise him! He's just two months old and he's already causing trouble left and right!"
Keiko stood up. She was an exceptionally tall woman, however, Mikihisa still towered over her.
"He's a child! He might be conscious about his actions most of the time, but he's still a baby! He communicates as babies do," she argued. Opening her mouth once more to add something, she was rudely interrupted.
"Yes, except for all the times when he demands something of you with that telepathy of his," he snarled with an almost animal-like growl. Keiko took a step back, taken by surprise.
"He doesn't use it that often," she said, her voice cold. "He's not much of a talker."
"Yeah, but when he wants something, he expects it to be done immediately," Mikihisa said sarcastically. His newspaper was lying uselessly where he sat, and he now took a step towards Keiko. She furrowed her brows. She didn't recognize this cold version of her husband. As long as she had known him, Mikihisa was warm. He offered her comfort when she had lost everything all those years ago, and he was always supporting her to the best of his ability. So why, why didn't he trust her in this? Why couldn't he trust her judgment of a mother when she said that Hao would change?
"What is your point exactly?" she hissed, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Mikihisa looked at her, his eyes losing their usual warmth.
"My point, Keiko, is that you're blinded by him. You're blinded by your love for him."
The tears fell. The woman didn't make any move to wipe them from her face.
"What's wrong with a mother loving her baby?" she whispered. Maybe she should've screamed. Maybe that would carry her message across to Mikihisa. But he didn't understand. He was a father, he should love both his children equally… and he did, before those accidents started. Keiko closed her eyes. Maybe… maybe he never cared. Maybe it was just her wishful imagination, that he would love both his children, no matter who they were destined to be.
"That baby is Asakura Hao, Keiko," Mikihisa reminded her. "Did you not grow up hearing stories about him? Do you not know what evil he has committed?" He pressed on, and Keiko took another step back. She felt cornered, and the fact that he tried to blame everything on her motherly feelings hurt her deeply.
"Of course I did hear stories about him, Mikihisa," she snapped. "I know what all he has done, what he still wants to do, but he's my child. I will be his mother, whether you want it or not!"
Mikihisa sighed. It seemed that this argument was taking a toll on him as much as it did on Keiko.
"I hoped that you'd see reason, but you really are nourishing a viper in your bosom," he said, his tone exhausted. Keiko frowned. "But that man, or the man that he will grow up to be… he's a cold-blooded murderer, don't you understand that? When he grows up, he will want to establish a shaman-only kingdom, we can't let that happen!"
"We won't," Keiko bit through gritted teeth. "He won't grow up to be that man anymore. I will raise him by myself if you're so much of a coward to help me!"
Angrily, she turned on her heel and moved to leave the kitchen. It was too much. Hao wasn't an inherently bad child. He was doing everything a baby would do. He slept, smiled at her, he lied on his tummy, and lifted his head to look around… just like Yoh.
Mikihisa took a tentative step after her. "Keiko…"
She stopped in the doorframe, flashing him one last look.
"If Yoh had mastered elemental control, would you want to kill him too?" she hissed and left, leaving Mikihisa to stand dumbfounded in the middle of the room, his hand raised after her retreating form.
Keiko went around the compound, silent tears streaming down her cheek. It was unfair. It was so, so unfair. Her twins weren't dangerous. Yoh was just along for the ride, he was a normal human baby, and Hao… Hao used to be a cold-blooded killer, but she didn't believe he was now. He was a baby just like Yoh, and apart from the telepathy he used, and his mastery of the Spirit of Fire, he behaved just like a normal boy too. Keiko sat in the garden, shielded from view by a sakura tree. In a slow-motion, she wiped her tears, only for more to come.
Mikihisa didn't understand. Yohmei didn't understand. Kino… she had retreated back to Aomori in the week after she'd given birth and she had called just a handful of times since then. It was obvious that she didn't want to meet baby Hao more than she'd already met him; held for several seconds when he was born. Other than that, her mother didn't seem interested in meeting her grandsons. It pained her. It pained her that her parents didn't seem interested in their grandchildren apart from how they could start training Yoh to be a shaman and dispose of Hao.
Keiko closed her eyes tightly. Somehow, she doubted that they would change their minds. And Mikihisa, her sweet Mikihisa… he was falling to their side with every new accident that happened. She sobbed quietly. She had to prove to him that Hao would behave, that he was a normal kid. She needed him by her side, no matter what she said in the heat of the argument.
Wiping off the last of her tears, she stood up and leaned against the tree she was sitting under mere seconds ago. The rest of them dried on her face, and she did her best to clean up. Overlooking the garden with several koi in the pond, she sighed. She had definitely imagined parenthood differently. She knew that she would bear an heir to fight in the upcoming shaman fight, but she had never imagined that she would give birth to a reincarnated shaman - a full-fledged shaman who had already mastered all the elements and could reincarnate at will.
Keiko ran a hand through her hair. It was a joy, being a mother, and she loved both her boys dearly, both Yoh and Hao. Those two months with them were the most difficult but also the most joyful part of her life. Granted, the big, red Spirit of Fire floating in the hallways whenever Hao decided that he was done being an obedient baby, and he often took Yoh with him, if the younger child was awake, but by now, she knew that Hao would never intentionally harm him. Despite what he told her, that Yoh was only his other half, she suspected that he genuinely cared for him.
She sighed. Be it as it may, she was glad that Hao cared for Yoh. He might not have cared for her; he had, after all, never called her his mother, but as long as he cared for his twin, Keiko was sure that everything would work out. Still, a lone tear slid down her cheek.
She longed for Hao to call her mother, but she wasn't sure that would ever happen. Maybe it was just her wishful imagination, that one day, he would utter that sweet word. Until then, though, she would give him all the love and care a mother could. She would care for him and Yoh.
She straightened, composing herself. From inside, a weak cry entered her ear. One of the twins had woken up, and by the sounds of it, probably Yoh. Meaning that Hao would be awake as well.
Soundlessly, she made her way to the twins' crib. As she approached, the sound grew louder, until she could see her boys, her precious boys. Yoh wailed, and she came to pick him up.
Mikihisa came along a while ago, Hao commented, hoping that she would get Yoh to be silent again. He picked up his bad mood.
Keiko gave her oldest a sad look, an acknowledgment of what she already knew, and she picked Yoh up, holding him close.
"Shhh," she cooed. "Mummy is here, Yoh, everything will be alright." Rocking him back and forth, the baby gradually calmed down. Keiko was only glad that Mikihisa didn't decide to come back. At the moment, she had no desire to see him at all.
"Ah ah!" Baby Yoh cooed excitedly, and Keiko smiled at him. Hearing her children happy… there was no better thing than to hear her twins… her sons… be happy.
Slowly, the corners of Yoh's lips turned upwards. It was slight, it was small, but it was a recognizable smile, and Keiko's heart melted at that moment. Both Yoh and Hao gave her their first smiles, and she couldn't be happier. Despite what happened, despite her world growing dark with her father and Mikihisa being convinced that they needed to kill Hao, or do something to him, Keiko still had a sliver of light and hope.