Keiko finished tying her baby blue neck tie, smoothed her beige suit and turned to Mikihisa and the kids.
"How does this look?" she asked.
"You look wonderful in everything, Keiko," Mikihisa replied, holding Yoh who was cheering her on with his big smile. Hao pursed his lips into a thin line.
That bit over there is wrinkled , he remarked as if he were a fashion police. Given that he was sitting in just a diaper, it felt ridiculous getting fashion advice from a toddler, but Keiko smoothed the place over again and looked at him again.
Better , Hao approved of her outfit, and she smiled. Despite appearing confident on the outside, she was very nervous. It was the first day she would return to work, albeit part-time for the next three months before she would get back in full-time.
She had to admit that she was scared. She was worried about her children. Yohmei would always be able to stay with them except for the few meetings he had once in a while, and would be able to look after the kids with Mikihisa's help. Keiko would be home in the afternoons anyways, or rather, for most of the afternoon. So it was just the mornings what she had to worry about.
"Are you sure you'll be alright without me?" she asked for the hundredth time that morning.
Mikihisa smiled.
"Of course we will, when were we ever not fine?" he replied and Yoh cheered. Hao, instead, scoffed.
I could think of several times when we were not okay at all , he said.
"Yes, but most of that was your fault," a new voice sounded behind them. Yohmei had finished his morning routine and came to join them. "You look good, Keiko," he added, and she smiled, the nervousness disappearing for a moment, then coming back in full force.
I seem to remember it was mostly you who wasn't fine , Hao shot back, turning away from the elder and focusing on Keiko.
The mother felt a drop of sweat run down her temple.
"Please do not argue, everybody. It will set my mind at ease," she asked. Yoh, sensing the change of her tone, whimpered a little.
"O...ka?" he asked uncertainly. Keiko smiles softly and stroked his soft, fluffy hair.
"It will be alright, sweetheart," she told him, and Yoh, reassured, gave her a big smile.
Yohmei shrugged.
"Very well. I promise to not start any arguments while you are gone," he said, his expression remaining the same as was his good habit. Yohmei's expressions rarely ever changed these days, he rarely smiled (not that he would when Keiko was young) and the only two expressions he seemed to use were a completely neutral face or anger.
I will not start any arguments unless it's one of them who starts one, Hao said, putting emphasis on 'them'. Keiko sighed.
"That's the best I can expect of you, right?" she said, and Hao nodded, his short hair flying around his face.
Yes , he confirmed and Keiko closed her eyes, smiling. She bent down and picked up her purse.
"Very well," she said. "I will be going now then." Mikihisa nodded.
"I hope your day will go well," he said, and everyone agreed with him. Keiko smiled. The nervousness she felt was almost overwhelming now. She supposed that after the first day, it would get better, but she was doubting it a little at the moment.
We'll be fine , Hao grumbled, grimacing since Yoh decided it would be the perfect time to stroke his hair - or rather, grab a fistful of his hair and pull.
Hao growled.
"Let go," he said to Yoh, and the toddler looked confused for a second. Then, he pulled harder.
"No," Hao growled, his voice low (as low as it could get for him right now) and Yoh hesitated.
"Eh?" he let out, but then let go of his brother's hair, and put the tip of his index finger into his mouth.
Keiko smiled at the interaction. She came to Mikihisa and gave him a quick kiss, then kissed each of the boys' forehead.
"Now, be my good boys and listen to your father and grandfather, alright? I will be back soon," she told them, and Yoh looked up with his big brown eyes. Keiko halted. Was it really alright for her to leave them at this point? She had consulted this issue with doctor Nakamura the last time they went to visit, and he assured her that while it is very important for the children to have a stable caretaker and a trusted person for at least the first year of their lives, she could afford to go back to work by the time they were at least a year old, even more so that there would always be someone from the family to watch them. Still, he advised to not travel much with them until they were at least three years old, which wasn't something Keiko was even planning on, but it was certainly good to know.
Just go, Hao grumbled. All these long goodbyes were making him feel annoyed. Otherwise, you'll never be able to leave.
Keiko blinked in surprise, not expecting that, but this was Hao, she probably should've been counting on him not being happy about this small family gathering.
Yoh looked from his brother to his mother, and Keiko took her purse and put the strap over her shoulder. She patted the neat bun that she had put her hair into, made sure that her suit was smooth once again, and bent down to put on her shoes.
She took a deep breath before turning to them one more time.
"Please don't burn anything while I'm gone," she said. Mikihisa nodded.
"Have a good day at work," he said just as Yohmei let out a meaningful cough of "Hao".
Keiko sighed, realizing that she couldn't do anything else, or she would indeed be late for work, and turned on her feet to go outside.
Yoh let out a low whine as his mother disappear, and he turned to look at his father.
Mikihisa shrugged.
"Don't worry, Yoh, your mother will come back soon. It's just the four of us now," he said, and Yoh repeated: " yon ?"
Mikihisa nodded.
"Yes, four," he said. "Now, how about going outside for a bit before it's too warm, what do you say?"
Yoh threw his hands up into the air and cheered. Hao didn't look interested at all, but he dutifully stood up and went over to the chair where his T-Shirt was. Hao took it. Technically, he knew how to get clothes on. He had done it thousands and thousands of times before as a child and as an adult, but right now, putting clothes on was still difficult with his tiny hands. He could try as much as he could, but he would always need a little help from someone else. This time was no different.
The back part of the T-shirt got stuck on his neck and he grumbled in annoyance and came to Mikihisa, who was dressing Yoh. His brother obediently put his arms up so that it would be easier to clothe him, and was soon dressed in a blue T-Shirt with a bright yellow duck on it.
"How do we say?" Yohmei asked, twirling his pipe between his fingers, and Hao briefly wondered if he should burn it now or wait for later, because losing his pipe would surely hurt his current grandfather a lot. But, then he remembered that he said that he would not cause any arguments. Yohmei provoking him probably qualified as him starting one, but burning his pipe would certainly escalate it, and as much as Hao wanted to, he realized that he didn't, in fact, want to betray Keiko's trust.
Help, please , he grumbled, almost inaudibly in the back of Mikihisa's mind, but he immediately diverted his attention to him, and in one fluid motion, helped him with the shirt.
Deciding that his children were decent enough, Mikihisa left them to go out on some outdoor clothes as well, and Yoh made a beeline for Hao, beaming and obviously looking forward to going outside. He wrapped him (like a burrito) in a big hug and let out some incomprehensible babbles.
Hao stood there, taking the treatment silently, reminding himself that Yoh was still just a baby. And he... didn't particularly dislike babies, but they weren't his favourite either. Sometimes, there would be a baby he would find likeable and not too annoying, but those cases tended to be rare. Yoh, however, was his brother and he had a weak spot for him.
A minute later, Yoh let go of him, and ran to the wooden horse that laid on the floor.
He picked it up and carried it back to Hao, pushing it into his hands. Hao's fingers automatically curled around it, but when he wanted to take it, Yoh just wouldn't let go.
The older twin narrowed his eyes at the younger one, but ultimately decided that Yoh didn't understand the 'sharing is caring' yet, and that it wasn't worth it trying to get the horse. He didn't even want it, after all.
Yoh tilted his head in confusion.
"No?" he asked, his voice high. Hao shook his head.
"No," he confirmed, and Yoh's eyes became teary. Yohmei, who was watching the whole interaction, huffed.
"Will you give me the horse, Yoh?" he said, and the toddler looked from Hao to him, and then stepped forward to give the toy to his grandfather, again fighting to keep it.
Mikihisa finally got out of the bedroom, dressed in a simple vest and khaki shorts.
"Will you go with us, Father?" he asked Yohmei, and the elder hummed.
"I suppose I could," he said. Seeing as he was already dressed, the only thing that were needed were the shoes and the pram. Even though the twins could write on their own legs, they were still young enough and got easily tired, so having the pram with them was still a necessity.
Yohmei actually summoned his shikigami to pull the pram, and he himself took Yoh's hand, leaving Mikihisa to take Hao's. Yoh seems ecstatic to be going outside, and he pulled on his grandfather's hand, urging him to go faster. Hao, for his part, eyed the little leaf oversouls with mistrust, but seeing as he was much stronger than them, and they only pushed the pram forward, he relaxed and started looking around.
They were going up the stream, and he could recognize some familiar places, then the landscape changed. The nice road that led there turned into a muddy one and the shikigami had a hard time with the pram. The trees became denser, and the whole part of the forest gave him an eerie feeling.
Yoh whined. He looked around uncertainly, feeling the ominous energy radiating from the forest. He walked another hundred metres and stopped, refusing to go any further. As his twin halted, Hao did so too. He prided himself on knowing the surroundings of the Asakura estate quite well, and this reminded him how the forest used to be back in the days when the founding stone had been laid. True, a thousand years ago, the forests used to be swarmed by bandits and animals, and in the terms of intimidation, today's forest couldn't even measure to the forest back then, but it still had a mysterious atmosphere hanging around, and Yoh had never been this far away from home. Hao neither, at least not in this life. They must've been quite far away from home now. At least the deep forest provided a good cover from the sun.
"What's wrong, Yoh?" Mikihisa asked, letting go of Hao's hand and crouching next to his younger son, and clapping his cheeks between his hands.
Yoh let out another whine, and moved his head to get away. His eyes became teary.
Yoh's tired. Let's go home , Hao interjected, trying to make them turn around. Yoh's fear was getting to him as well, making him feel a little scared, even if he knew there was nothing to fear.
But the shaman training... he caught Yohmei's thoughts, and he stopped. This was what it was all about?
"Father, how about we leave this for now and go back home?" Mikihisa said, but before they could do so, a ghost floated out towards them from the clearing. It had an undefined shape, as if it didn't remember his human form, and it was smiling ominously.
Yohmei looked at it, then asked Yoh: "Look, Yoh. Can you see it?"
Yoh's eyes widened, and a quick feeling of fear got to Hao. Yoh was afraid. He studied the ghost. It was creeping closer, and he really didn't like its intentions.
Let's go , he urged them, and pushed Mikihisa forward. His father chuckled.
"Alright, alright, we'll go home. Do you want to sit down, Yoh?" he asked, and the toddler immediately came to the pram and climbed on, burrowing as deep as he could. Yohmei turned around.
"Pity," he mumbled and had two of his shikigamis light up his pipe. Hao kept close to them, and he could see the spirits between the trees look at them, some of them with a hungry expression behind their void eyes. They would make excellent food to power up the Spirit of Fire.
Neither Mikihisa nor Yohmei noticed that the ghost that was going towards them just a few moments ago has been devoured by the Spirit of Fire once they disappeared between the trees.
Yoh relaxed only when they got back to the asphalt road, and, rocked by the pram, he closed his eyes and dozed off. Knowing that his brother was safe was a great relief for Hao, and he realized that his little feet hurt as well after walking so much.
He summoned the Spirit of Fire (gleefully satisfied how Yohmei almost jumped) and let himself be carried.
While a few months ago, there was no problem with that, the Spirit of Fire struggled with it nowadays. Hao was getting too big, growing too fast, and he was bigger than one of the spirit's palms. If he wanted to be carried in the future, he would really need to feed him. It had a small catch, though. He had the food for him, but once the Spirit of Fire got larger, he would no longer be able to show him in front of the adults; they would know right away that he had been feeding him souls.
He was partly wondering why Yohmei and Mikihisa took them into the forest. They already knew Yoh could see spirits, given that he loved the Spirit of Fire. Maybe to have him see spirits other than his? Either way, he was pretty happy that they left when they did, because that spirit definitely didn't look like it had nice intentions. It could've been a spirit of one of the bandits who used to roam the area a thousand years ago, and Hao didn't feel any pity for it.
Mikihisa and Yohmei didn't engage in any conversation, and Hao therefore stayed silent too. They passed the spot where they usually stopped to watch stray cats as well, and Hao just longingly turned his head in hopes to see at least one cat, but with no luck.
Yoh woke up only when they arrived home and the pram stopped. He was picked up by Mikihisa, and taken to the house, the whole atmosphere very awkward. The silence was almost numbing, and Hao decided to stay out and see if he could dip his feet in the pool.
Yohmei sat on the verandah, smoking his pipe. As the adult present, he knew that he should watch over the child (though he really doubted that anything would happen to Hao).
While he smoked his pipe, Hao sank into the warm water, sighing in satisfaction.
They sat there in silence for some time before Hao said: It is still too early for Yoh to start his training.
He heard a scoff, and didn't have to guess who it was. He was quite prepared to argue with his grandfather about that, but, to his surprise, Yohmei set his pipe down.
"I agree in that. It seems that we have been quite hasty today."
Hao's eyes widened momentarily, then he chuckled.
Wait a year or two and then start slowly. If you start now, he will only become scared.
Hao knew that a year or two was a long time. The days kept going by quite slowly, especially when one did nothing, but it was the best course of action for Yoh. If he showed interest earlier, he would be more than happy to teach him himself. After all, he needed him. If he was going to be the Shaman King, he needed Yoh on his side and strong.
He sank lower into the water, and watched as the breeze moved the tree tops. Neither him nor Yohmei continued the conversation.
And, of course, they never told Keiko when she returned from work that day.