Dinnertime had never been such a silent affair.
They were in a new house, now, another prefab. This whole area was nothing but prefabs. It was easier to just buy a bunch of prefabs and build them up on some land in the middle of nowhere than to hide everyone in the middle of a city. He had preferred to stay in cities, before the children had come with that is, but now staying in the middle of nowhere was preferable to being in a sea of people. With the children and the difficulty they had hiding their abilities and all.
And also the fact that they destroyed everywhere they lived.
The last house had been destroyed. He didn't care about it. All the houses here were identical. They would be moving on soon, as soon as he sorted out everything that Daughter had changed in his absence. As soon as he got this HQ sorted out then they could put some space between themselves and this place.
That might have been what the children needed. Some space and distance between themselves and this place. They took after him in that way. He preferred to put the past behind him. When things went wrong he knew that the best course of action was to put the past behind him and just never go back to the scene of whatever calamity occurred. The children…they had not taken his leave of absence well…nor had they taken the loss of….
The leaving of…
They were not taking certain things well. Daughter he could understand. He had let her bond with Baby and now Baby was gone and she was feeling the loss. He would have preferred that she had exorcised that emotion but she wasn't causing problems for him so…so he would not confront her about it. Even though he wanted to…but confronting her about it would have meant a conflict with her and…and he did not want that with her. Besides, as long as she wasn't causing problems for him. As long as she wasn't losing control of her powers. As long as she wasn't being…distant from him…
Well she was but not as much as she had been before.
That had been the other night. He had been back for some days now. He had been making an effort to spend more time with the children. He had been gone from them for so long and they both carried some anger towards him. That was why he was sharing this meal with them even though he would have preferred to take his meals alone…well he would and he wouldn't have. If there had been some way that he could have eaten with just Daughter he would have.
But there was no way for him to eat with just his Daughter.
"Sho, I can cut your meat for you. You don't have to stab it so many times." Said Daughter. She was less sluggish than before…but more than he remembered her being. She had changed some in the time he was away. She had grown two centimeters it looked like, and her hair had gotten longer too. She had also taken to wearing it down. He missed her braids. He didn't know why, it was just a hairstyle, but it was…her hairstyle. He didn't know why he felt this way. She was a child and it was in her nature to grow and change.
Of course she would have changed in three weeks.
"I'm not a baby I can cut my own chicken!" said Son. He hadn't changed. He was as tiresome as always…well he had changed a little. He was louder, now, if it was possible. He also avoided him whenever he could. He hadn't brought the children to work with him since his return. He had asked Son to come with but he had run and hid and refused to come out. Daughter hadn't wanted to come either. That made sense, though, because she had been in his office for the past three weeks filling in for him…
Something which was never happening again.
"Use a knife." Said Suzuki. Son said that he could cut his own meat but, at some point, he had forgotten how to use a knife. That was Suzuki's fault. He had been away for so long that his children had forgotten how to have a civilized meal at the table like a pair of civilized human beings.
"I'm using a fork." Said Son. He then proceeded to stab his meat loudly and obnoxiously. Suzuki exorcised any emotion that he felt towards his very tiresome son in that moment. The child was a trial. The trial that was his child was tiresome. The tiresome feeling he got from his trial of a child was difficult to exorcise.
But he tried his best.
Because these were his children. His and Masami's children. Well Son was…they were both his and Masami's children. He could see Masami in both of them…and he needed to stop thinking about her. He needed to stop thinking about how long it had been since he had last seen her…and three years was not a long time at all. Three years was hardly anything. He was forty three. Three years was a miniscule percentage of his lifetime. She was gone and she had been gone for some time and the wound within him, the gaping feeling she had left in her absence, should have been closed by now. In fact it had almost been closed. He had hardly thought of her, dreamt of her, craved her, prayed for her, imagined what it would be like to see her again….she had almost totally left his thoughts.
The wound was opened again.
He had nobody to blame but himself and his own stupidity. He had opened that wound on his own and now he had to wait for it to scab over and heal. That was all. He had let his emotions get the best of him. In many ways he wished that he had exploded, lost control of his powers, and simply destroyed a few buildings and killed a few people. That way, at least, the way he felt…it would have been something less than this.
Something easier to exorcise.
"I can see that you're using a fork. A knife, however, is a better cutting tool." Said Suzuki. He used his powers to send a knife sliding across the table to Son. He batted it away with his powers and went back to stabbing his food like a little savage.
So tiresome.
"Sho, just cut your meat with a knife like dad said." Said Daughter. Always the voice of reason that one. Just like her mother had been. Masami had always been such an intelligent woman. The most intelligent woman. She had always been so…he didn't want to think about her so he didn't. He thought, instead, of Daughter. Of how intelligent she was. How she was able to both manage a household and run Claw in his absence. True she was more of a believer in the carrot than the stick, she had in fact let everyone run wild, but she had held Claw together. Of course under her leadership everyone had devolved into children but that made sense since they were being ruled over by a literal child. People reflected what you expected of them. He expected professionalism and deference and that was what he got. She expected playmates and chaos and that was what she got.
Still, though, even if she had been running it into the ground she had still been running it.
She had been managing a household, too. Fukuda said that she did not take after Masami in any way. He said that if he didn't know better he would never have imagined that she had been adopted. His views of her could not have been more false. First of all her adoption was something which everyone could see but nobody was stupid enough to open their mouth about. She…he had no idea if she suspected that he did not father her but there were very few ways in which it mattered.
She was his Daughter.
She was Masami's Daughter, too, which was the second thing. There was so much of Masami in her, so much that he had been too close to see. Being away from her made all of her little Masami-isms much clearer. The way she had cared for her brother and…and Baby. The way she was caring for her brother now. The way she had this way of being where she just seemed so…perfect. There was a perfection to her…well a flawed sort of perfection.
She had her flaws.
She could be too accommodating. She could be very cagey about her wants. She could also be very clingy towards him at times. He didn't much care for the company she kept, how she had managed to work with Shimazaki without murdering him Suzuki would never know, and he didn't much care for the time she spent away from him with said company…but she was still practically perfect. Perfect in a flawed way.
But still his Daughter.
"No, I'm stabbing it with a fork." Said Son
"But why?" said Daughter
"Because I feel like stabbing something." Said Son
"That's mean, Sho." said Daughter
"What do you care? It's already dead." Said Son. That was a good argument. He wasn't causing that creature pain because it had died and was butchered ages ago. But that was not the point. The point as that he was being tiresome as usual. He didn't understand Son one bit. Daughter seemed to understand him better. That was sense, she was a much more understanding person than him after all. She really took after Masami in so many ways.
"Exactly. It's already dead so you don't have to double kill it." Said Daughter
"I'm not trying to double kill it, I just want to stab it. Ok? Stop being so bossy. You're not the boss of dinner!" said Son. He raised his voice, there, and slammed his hand against the table. Suzuki used his powers to steady everything. He so wished that there was some way that this meal, that every meal, could be just him and Daughter. She was much more pleasant company than Son in so many ways. Like these ways.
"No, but dad is and he told you to stop. We have to do what dad says because we're his kids." Said Daughter
"Or what? He'll send us away?" asked Son
"Sho, stop it." Said Daughter
"He'll send us away just like he sent-" said Son. Suzuki knew what Son was going to say. He knew that Son was going to imply that he would send them away, him and his sister, like he had sent Baby away…which made no sense whatsoever. They were his children. Baby was not his child. Baby had a new mother and a new life and while they had spent some time caring for Baby that did not mean that Baby had joined their household.
He could understand Daughter's feelings towards Baby but not Son's.
After all he hadn't given, explicitly given, her to Son. Also Son, by all accounts, should have been happier without Baby around. Suzuki knew what it was to have an infant in the house and it was tiresome. The constant crying, the mess, the fact that day and night meant nothing to them. Son should have been glad that he didn't have to deal with that until he had his own children. He should have been happy that he got his playtime and drawing time and television time back.
Suzuki could live to be a hundred years old and still would never be able to understand that child.
"No. I would never send you away. You're my children. Even if you are tiresome you're still my children." Said Suzuki. Son made no sense. That was not something that he should have been worried about at all…but he was nine and nine year olds were not known for their sound use of logic. Well Suzuki had been very intelligent when heh had been nine but it seemed as though Son hadn't inherited that trait from him. Well that didn't really matter. Son was what he was.
It wasn't as though Suzuki was going to be having any other children so he had to work with what he had,
"See? Dad's going to keep us forever because we're his. Ok? Now can you please stop being all mad and stabbing your food, little brother?" asked Daughter
"No." said Son
"Please?" asked Daughter
"No. I already said 'no'. It's my food and I'll do what I want with it." Said Son
"But you're bothering-" said Daughter. Suzuki hated it when the children were quarrelsome with one another…though it was just Son who was being quarrelsome with Daughter. That made it worse in some ways. She was so patient with him. More patient than he deserved. She was so like her mother in that way. Masami was a very difficult woman to upset…when it came to the children, anyway. For some reason she had always just…gotten upset at him…and he'd never had any clue why.
Daughter was being very clear in her feelings towards Son in that moment.
But Son continued to fight with her. Why? Son had never had good emotional control. Daughter…compared to Son she was a prodigy when it came to…well that wasn't saying much. Could he really fault Son for being the way he was when he so clearly took after his father? Suzuki knew that what he had done, getting emotional and leaving, was unacceptable. He knew that he had set a bad example for both of his children…
But they had never seen him behaving like that.
So where did Son even learn this from? To treat his sister like that? Suzuki had never once been unkind to Masami. He had never been unkind to Daughter, either. He had punished her when she deserved it but he had never been unkind to her. Son…he could be unkind to Son but he was a tiresome little boy. Well it was different when it came to Son. Son was a boy and, of course, things were different between a boy child and a girl child. She was more delicate, Daughter, both physically and emotionally. Also she operated on a completely different system than he did, her being female and him being male and all, so allowances could be made for her behavior.
But there were no allowances that could be made for the way that Son was acting right now.
"Either eat normally or leave the table. The choice is yours." Said Suzuki. He made eye contact with Son. Son held it. He held it right back. Daughter was saying something about how sorry Son must have been. How he was just tired from the day. Of course she would make allowances for him. Masami has always made allowances for him too.
She was so much like her mother.
"No." said Son eventually. Suzuki said nothing to do. With barely a twitch of his finger he slid Son's chair away from the table. There was no point in fighting with the boy. He would simply end up carrying on until he was punished and then he would carry on for some time afterwards as well. So tiresome. It had been a long day and Suzuki simply wanted to spend what was left of it with his children…with his Daughter. With his only Daughter.
If Son wanted to act like this then he could act like this all on his own.
"Then leave. I don't care where you go or what you do but I do not need you to sit here and be both disruptive and unkind towards your sister." Said Suzuki
"I-I don't mind." Said Daughter
"Yes, you do." Said Suzuki. Of course she minded. Who wouldn't mind? Son…he had been unkind to her for quite some time and he showed no signs of growing out of it. Well that was fine. Son was what he was. It wasn't as though he was going to have another Son so he had better just learn to accept the one he had. Son was…Son. That didn't mean that he got to be unkind to Daughter. She did not deserve that.
"Dad, I-" said Daughter
"You do. You mind it when your brother is unkind to you. Even if you don't realize it you mind." Said Suzuki. He knew that she minded. She was so like Masami and Masami had always minded when the children had been quarrelsome with one another…when Son was the antagonist. It had always been Son. Daughter had always just been…there. The whole thing had not been very fair to her at all.
"You can't tell people how they feel." Said Son. Suzuki pushed his chair back a bit more. Just a warning, not a punishment. If he kept on talking like that and acting like that he would end up tipped over. Son would only have himself to blame.
"Yes I can. Now either act right or leave." Said Suzuki. He tipped Son back just a little. Son glared at him.
"Stop telling people how they feel." Said Son. Well not that was quite enough. Children did not command their parents and nobody commanded Suzuki Touichirou. Son had forced his hand. He tipped Son all the way back…or he would have if Daughter had not intervened. There, her powers, she was saving her brother.
Suzuki did not know how to feel.
She was contradicting him. She knew that her brother deserved what he got, she had been on the receiving end of his terrible behavior so many times, but she was still…still stopping him from getting what he deserved. Not only that but she was contradicting her own father. She could not…she was overstepping. She was his child and she did not get to decide how her brother was punished. She didn't know what had to be done.
Or maybe she did.
She was good at caring for him. She had run their household for almost a month on her own. She was just a child but…but he could not discount her. He had been discounted so many times when he had been a child even though he had known so much better than the adults around him. She didn't know better than him…about everything. But she did know better than him about some things…like this. Even before his absence she had been the one to care for her little brother. She knew how to care for him and she knew how to run a household too. Better than he did.
She had been taught by her mother, Masami, after all.
Masami had been the one to raise the children. She knew what she was doing. She had always known what she was doing from the very beginning. On the first night when Son had been screaming and screaming…and it had been so much…but she had just picked him up and rocked him and…and she had just known what to do. She had always just known what to do. Mothers were good at that. His own mother had always been his primary caregiver…well back when he had needed caregiving. Mothers were just better at that.
Women were just better at that.
She wasn't a woman yet. He wasn't sure when she would become one, he had never been female so he did not know how these things were measured for them, but she did know more about these things than he did. That had been what Masami had taught her, the things that women knew, and taking care of others was one of them. He stopped trying to tip Son back. She had her own ways of doing things and she was Son's primary caregiver after all.
"Sho. Um…I think that you should eat in our room or the living room or just…a place that isn't here." Said Daughter. That was what he had said, been saying, and what Son had refused to do. She was just repeating him. That was insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. He knew how Son would react. He would shout and throw something and refused and then Daughter would be so overwhelmed with frustration that she would have no choice but to strike him and then it would be a tossup whether or not he kept up his defiance, struck back, or started crying.
He watched the children.
Silence passed between them. He didn't understand what all of it was about. Son stared at Daughter and she stared right back. She pushed his plate towards him with her powers. She should have tipped him back in his chair if not just outright struck him. He knew how to act, he knew that he had been acting poorly, and he needed to be punished…but that was not her way. That was not her way because that was not Masami's way. He had always wondered how she did it, got Son to stop his nonsense with a single word or even a single look sometimes, and he had thought that it was a power unique to her and her alone.
He was wrong.
"I'm going to go have dinner with Fukuda. Bye." Said Son. He picked up his plate and stormed away from the table. Huh. Well that was…something. She had been able to dismiss him without a word. He had been right to trust her judgement. She was such a good caretaker…and of course she was. She was the Daughter of the best mother to ever have graced their earth. Masami….she had done such a good job with their Daughter….
He was so proud of his child…of their child. Of Daughter. He was proud of the Daughter that he and Masami had raised together. His Daughter.
She was staring at him now. He didn't know why. Did she want him to talk? Masami did that sometimes, stared at him when she wanted him to say something, but that had just been when she expected a reply and he didn't have one. Conversation was hard, even with her, but he had made an effort. Maybe Daughter wanted to have a conversation now. He could do that.
"You handled that very well. I'm proud of you." Said Suzuki after a while. He chose words that he knew would make her feel good. She had done well and he was not going to mince words about that. She deserved the praise he gave her. Some people thought that they deserved a pat on the head for doing what was expected of them. He hated those sorts of people. Daughter was not one of those people, though, and nothing bad would come of praising her.
The stick and the carrot usually worked.
She was a firm believer in the carrot. That was how she had kept Claw together. That seemed to be how she kept the household together, too. She had always made so many allowances for her brother…and it seemed to have paid off. He had obeyed without being struck. He decided, in that moment, that he would leave Son to her. She knew what she was doing.
She deserved the carrot, too.
"You-you're not mad that I saved Sho?" asked Daughter
"No. Not at all. The household is your domain and I'll defer to your judgement when it comes to matters of the family and the household." Said Suzuki
"So…I'm in charge of Sho and running the house and stuff? All the time?" said Daughter
"Yes." said Suzuki
"Even when you're home?" asked Daughter
"Yes. At all times. I will always defer to your judgement when it comes to these matters. I trust you fully and totally." Said Suzuki
"But then…what will you do? I mean if I'm in charge of Sho and the house all the time even when you're here then…then what are you going to do?" asked Daughter
"I don't understand your question." Said Suzuki slowly. She stared at him. He could see her aura, She was choosing her words carefully. The metaphorical wheels in her head were turning.
"I mean….you always took over when you came back. Taking care of Sho I mean. If that's my job from now on then what'll you do?" asked Daughter
"Provide for you. Keep a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food in your stomach. That's the way the family unit is generally set up. Men provide and women take care of their homes. You have a skillset that I do not have so I'm going to delegate the work of caring for your brother to you on a permanent basis. The work you did in my absence impressed me, Daughter, it did. Think of this as a promotion." Said Suzuki. There. She would understand that. She had been promoted from one rank to another. She understood that. She must have. There was nothing to misunderstand.
"So…you promoted me? Families have promotions? I thought that was just how Claw was….set up. With ranks I mean." Said Daughter
"Yes. Claw has ranks and families have ranks You've moved up a rank. What is it that you're having trouble understanding?" asked Suzuki
"Just…what you mean, I guess. I mean in families it's just the parents and the kids and…and I'm a kid. I mean I'm ten so I have to be a kid…unless you're promoting me to….I don't know. I mean I'm…confused." Said Daughter. Suzuki paused for a moment. Right. Things weren't so clearly numbered and colored coded as he had done with Claw. She was Daughter…and she would always be Daughter…and the female rank above Daughter was mother….mother was a parent.
Oh.
There. Very simple. She went from having the power of a Daughter, occasional control over the household, to the ranking of a parent. Permanent control over the household. She would not literally be Son's parent of course, he was not going to marry his own Daughter. He knew that some people were like that….for reasons he had never understood since there were just too many risks when reproducing with one's own offspring….and also it was just not right on a visceral level. She wasn't his by blood but….that was just not right….and he was going to get off of this train of thought before he lost his appetite completely….
She had been promoted to the power of co parent but without the title and all of the…no rightness….that came with that….
"You have all the power that your mother held in the household but you are not your brother's step mother because you're my Daughter and that would be very wrong." Said Suzuki finally. He hoped that she found his answer satisfactory. He had no idea if she did. Now she was just staring at him.
"That would be outside of nature's laws." Said Daughter. Good she understood. He wished that the family unit was not so set in stone. That way he could have just thought up a new rank and title for her. Even now she was still just 'Daughter'….though he had herd that she had taken up the title of 'Her Ladyship' when she had replaced him…but there was no way in hell he was calling his own Daughter 'Her Ladyship'.
So just Daughter would suffice for now.
"Yes. It would. You are still Daughter in title but I have given you a promotion to the next rank within our family. Do you find this sufficient?" asked Suzuki. It was easier to speak to her like she was his employee. This he understood. She seemed as though she would be the type to understand that better, too, since she had basically promoted everyone she had set eyes on.
"So…I'm still your Daughter but you promoted me to…mom rank?" asked Daughter. He cringed at the word 'mom' but…but she was not referring to Masami. She was referring to herself…so that was ok.
"Yes. You've been promoted. Now pass the salt." Said Suzuki. There. Now she understood. Finally. He didn't know what was so complicate about that. She wanted power, she wanted to move up, and was filled with the same ambition he was. That much had been obvious with her filling in for him in Claw. She also had a skillset that he didn't, the one her mother had taught her, so therefore the best place to put her was as the person in charge of their home.
Simple.
She was ten now, older, and it was time that she got a promotion. It had been a long time coming.