This one is a bit on the short side, but I thought some Mikihisa & Yohmei interactions were needed.
Whew, now I'm caught up with this fic here. I'm more active on Archive of our own, where I post every week, I'm just lazy to go to , I guess
Baby Yoh giggled as he threw his plastic bowl (an empty one, thankfully) on the floor. Mikihisa sighed. Yoh had discovered that if he threw or pushed things on the ground, he would get attention from his parents.
He bent over to pick up the bowl and set it on the table, far away from Yoh.
"Yoh, you can't just push everything to fall down," he said. Hearing his name, Yoh looked up at his father with his big, brown, innocent eyes that screamed "can't I?". Mikihisa sighed.
"What if it was porcelain or glass?" he continued strictly. Now, Yoh understood that it wasn't meant to be friendly. He frowned, then his face wrinkled as he was about to cry.
Keiko, who was feeding Hao (fresh with his first teeth), looked at the two of them.
"Maybe you could go play with him?" she asked. Mikihisa reached for his headphones and set them on the table.
"I was just about to," he replied, taking Yoh into his arms. The infant stretched his hand towards the headphones and his father laughed.
"No, those are not for you, Yoh. But maybe one day they'll be yours," he said, making Yoh giggle. This time, he recognized a friendly tone in Mikihisa's voice.
He laughed when he was picked up and carried into the neighbouring room. Mikihisa set him down, but Yoh reached out with both his arms, wanting to be picked up again.
"Do you want to go around the house?" Mikihisa asked, and he took Yoh's excited babbling as a yes. He took his son into his arms again.
"Look at it, we're an airplane!" he called, holding AYoh securely in his arms while going through various rooms. He didn't actually take Yoh outside; it was the beginning of December and Yoh didn't have appropriate clothing on - doing so would just end up with a pale Keiko fussing over sick Yoh, again. He didn't want that to happen.
He had seen how big of an impact his prolonged absence had on his wife. Taking care of two children by herself, she looked pale and tired most of the time. It was time Mikihisa stepped up and fulfilled what he had said all those months ago. This time, he would be there for his wife and children, no matter who they were. After all, Hao hadn't done anything serious for months. It was only his prejudice that limited him.
Yoh laughed as they went around the house, his father holding him securely and pretending to be an airplane.
"What are you doing here?" Yohmei puffed, opening the door to his room. Mikihisa pulled Yoh towards his chest. The baby made discontented noises now that the game stopped. He looked at his grandfather with a scowl.
"We were just playing, Father," Mikihisa replied, watching as Yohmei took a few steps towards them, holding his pipe away from Yoh, an act Mikihisa was thankful for.
Yohmei looked up at his grandson; he had to tilt his head backwards so he could see him in Mikihisa's arms. Yoh stopped smiling and his little hand clenched Mikihisa's shirt.
"Is it a nice game, Yoh?" he asked. The baby looked at him.
Mikihisa shifted Yoh in his arms.
"You're getting better at recognizing them, Father," he said, happy that Yohmei could now distinguish between the twins (at least in 90% of the cases).
Yohmei chuckled.
"Yoh always looks quite relaxed," he remarked, drawing in a breath from the pipe. "Unlike Hao, he always keeps that scowl on. He looks nothing like the art we have in the temple."
This made Mikihisa laugh.
"At this rate, you'd mistake Yoh for Hao," he replied, but Yohmei shook his head.
"I wouldn't mistake Yoh for Hao," he said, knowing full well that he mistook the twins in some cases even now. "When he grows up anyways," he continued. "I'm almost sure that Hao will want to keep his hair long as he did in his past two incarnations."
Mikihisa raised an eyebrow.
"You seem to care a lot about his hair, Father," he said, not voicing his thoughts out loud. Maybe Yohmei was concerned about Hao's hair due to his own balding head.
Yohmei scoffed.
"He is an Asakura, after all. He should look the part," Yohmei crossed his hands over his chest. Mikihisa felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead. So that was the reason.
"I'm sure he and Yoh will both take after Keiko. She's their mum, after all," he said with a dreamy expression. If he was right and the Asakura genes were that strong, the boys would soon be small copies of their mother.
Yohmei cocked an eyebrow.
"They're also your sons," he reminded him, surprised. Mikihisa nodded with a smile.
"Either way, they'll definitely look the Asakura part, I wouldn't worry about that," he said, personally finding all the talk about looking a certain part ridiculous. Maybe it was Yohmei's way to mask all the concerns he had about Hao - by acting uninterested.
The elderly shaman looked at Yoh. The boy's warm eyes followed his every move and then, he smiled. He liked spending time with his family. His favourite was his mum, of course, but his father was a close second. Maybe in some time, he'd like him more than Keiko, but that time hadn't come yet.
Yohmei kept his pipe in his hands, and slowly raised the palms to his face. He covered his eyes, and baby Yoh looked at him curiously. He knew this game. He liked this game.
"Who is that?" Yohmei asked while uncovering his face and peeking at the boy. Yoh started laughing even before he had finished that sentence. It was fun, playing like this.
Slowly, Yoh moved his hands to his face as well and tried to imitate his grandfather. His technique wasn't perfect, of course. He was peeking through his fingers, but with happy babbling, he looked at Yohmei, and the shaman's heart melted. Yoh was just too cute for his own good.
He patted his grandson's head and smiled. Yoh laughed some more, and then Mikihisa continued the play on an airplane and they 'flew' off in the direction of the kitchen.
Yohmei retreated to his room, feeling very glad that he decided not to kill both his grandsons all those months ago and had permitted them to live. Live like any child should be permitted to. It wasn't the first time he felt disgusted at the mere thought of actually committing the sin and killing the children. Now when he saw just how bubbly and happy Yoh was, he knew that he wouldn't be able to do it. He wouldn't be able to kill his grandson, even if he wanted to.
He was a grandfather, and as much as he was wary of Hao, he was his grandson as well.
Yohmei sat down on the tatami mat and let one of his shikigamis bring him tea.
He would protect his grandsons.