"Do you think that Shimazaki is attractive?"

Suzuki Touichirou was the master of the non sequitur.

They had been talking about how to best keep this new batch of Awakened from accidentally killing themselves. Fukuda had ordered the new chairs but now they had sock skating to worry about. Someone had ended up falling and snapping their leg in half…and then Fukuda had to use the rest of his stored up energy to fix that…and then he'd had to take care of Sho for the rest of the day…and Shimazaki had been there too.

It was like trying to pour gasoline on a fire and then turning on a fan.

It had been a long day and it was now getting longer. He had just wanted to get Suzuki's signature on a few things, talk about how they would keep the new morons alive, and then go home and just…rest. He was tired, he was drained, and he'd had to be in close proximity with Shimazaki all day and he had been hell bent on riling Sho up and Sho already had enough energy as it was and he did not need someone to be the devil on his shoulder telling him to jump out and scare people or start random fights or whatever else Shimazaki did to keep from getting bored.

At least Shimazaki had not been hitting on Sho. Thank God for the small mercies.

But God could be stingy with his small mercies. Hence Suzuki asking him a question to which he had no idea what the answer was. Well, obviously, being straight and not finding anything inside of the man that was even tolerable the answer was a hard 'no' but this was a Suzuki question. He was looking for an answer. He was looking for a specific answer for a specific question that Fukuda was, specifically, going to have to pry out of him.

He was so damn tired.

"What do you mean, boss?" asked Fukuda. When Suzuki just blurted things out like that it meant that he had been chewing on them for a while. Something that big, something to keep the wheels in his mind turning, could have brought out a person that Fukuda liked to refer to as 'obsessive Suzuki'. That version of Suzuki wasn't dangerous just…exhausting. Especially when it came to people. Like back when they were in their first year of high school and Suzuki had been obsessed with that third year kendo club captain…those were not good times for Fukuda. He hadn't been as good at information gathering then…

And also girls did not like being followed around and reported on…even if, for some reason, it was important to know what her preferred brand of dish detergent was.

"Shimazaki Ryou. Do you think that he's attractive?" asked Suzuki. Well that was no help. Suzuki only asked about other people like this, and they hadn't talked like this since he'd met Masami, when he was attracted to them. Not that he would ever admit to being attracted to someone. He would rather look like a creepy stalker than admit that he had the same feelings, wants, and desires as everyone else…well mostly.

He'd never asked about a man before.

"I'm not a homosexual. I don't really look at other men like that." Said Fukuda. As far as he knew Suzuki was not in any way shape or form into other men. Not that he went about asking Suzuki about these things. Also they had figured this out, together, ages ago…and that was not something that Fukuda wanted to relive…and also they were not doing that again. Nope. He was taking another personal day if Suzuki had gotten that idea in his head again.

Please, God, not this again.

"Not attractive to you specifically. Just….imagine that you're a woman and tell me if you think that there's anything at all attractive about him." said Suzuki. Fukuda took a deep breath and sighed. He was too tired to go through the mental gymnastics needed to get into Suzuki's headspace. He was just going to answer questions and hope that Suzuki either found what he was looking for or got annoyed with Fukuda and dismissed him for the day.

"He's tall. He's…built well…I guess." Said Fukuda. That was all he could come up with. If he had been a woman he would have stayed the hell away from Shimazaki. He wouldn't have even given him so much as the time of day. He was annoying. He was more than annoying. He started things just to amuse himself. He had zero impulse control. He wore way too much cologne. He had no concept of personal space. He regularly flirted with a child-

Was that it?

Had Suzuki finally figured out that his Daughter had a crush on Shimazaki? That must have been what this was about. Huh. Suzuki was taking this well. If Shigeko had been his daughter, she wasn't and he shouldn't have been thinking about her like that, he would have put Shimazaki in the ground the minute he started up with that bullshit. Shigeko was only ten. She did not need some grown man taking her away from Disney and dolls to do-

That was not his child.

She was Suzuki's child and it was his job to deal with the grown men who hit on his daughter. Fukuda had assumed that Suzuki had noticed and just didn't care, that would have been consistent with the way he had been parenting his children up to this point, but apparently the whole thing had gone over his head…also consistent with who he was as a person. He couldn't see past himself. A grown man had been hitting on his daughter, blatantly hitting on her, and now he chose to notice. He chose to notice and then…do nothing. Shimazaki was still alive. Fukuda would have killed the bastard the moment he had even THOUGHT about laying a finger on Shigeko…but the Shigeko that existed in his mind was still only about five years old. The Shigeko that existed in reality was ten going on twenty. She drank and smoked and sat behind her father's desk so she could carry out his work while he was away…she wasn't that child anymore…

But she was still a child….

But she wasn't Fukuda's child.

"I suppose that he is…" said Suzuki. The wheels in his head were turning, Fukuda could see it, and he wished that he were a telepath. He wished that he could have known what was going on in that head of his. Was he planning on killing Shimazaki? He'd killed people for less. Was he planning on letting him continue to his on his ten year old daughter? Shigeko…she could make her own choices in life. She had that same sort of arrogance that her father had. She thought that she knew what was best not only for herself but for everyone else, too. She had wasted no time in picking up where he father had left off. She had been, for all intents and purposes, an adult in her father's absence…but Shimazaki was still at least thrice her age. Not even twice, thrice, and there was no reason why she even would have been attracted to him…and he sure as HELL should not have been attracted to her. She was TEN. She was A CHILD. She still wore princess costumes and ate cereal straight from the box and…and she also drank, now, and smoked too…and Fukuda didn't even know what else she was getting up to these days….

That was not his child to raise.

"That's a bit shallow, though, isn't it?" asked Suzuki

"What do you mean?" asked Fukuda

"Women must care about more than that, right? More than appearance. I thought that ability to provide would have ranked more highly than physical appearance." Said Suzuki

"It depends on the woman, I guess." Said Fukuda

"Of course there is the biological drive to have the very best offspring possible." Said Suzuki

"We're nothing but animals when you get down to it, I guess." Said Fukuda with a shrug. He kept watching the wheels in Suzuki's head turn. He wondered when the next stop for the train of thought would be.

"He is a powerful esper. That matters…right? It should…at least it would to me if I were a woman…but I've never been a woman…" said Suzuki

"Neither have I, boss, neither have I." said Fukuda. The sun was low in the sky. He needed rest. His aura was dim, down to nothing, and he just needed rest…but he couldn't rest while Suzuki's train of thought was just chugging along on it's merry way.

"But she isn't a woman at all…well she is female but she isn't a woman…but she is human the same as everyone else…and I cannot fault her for…well I can but…that may not end well…" said Suzuki. Fukuda wanted to take him and shake him and tell him to get to the point already. He was not in the mood to played 'guess what Suzuki's thinking of' and he never would be. Not now…or even later. He had never been one for that game even when they had been younger and now…thirty years could just be so…so much…

Felt like ninety.

Fukuda kept his thoughts to himself. Thoughts about how Suzuki maybe should have figured out what it was that he was going to say before he started up with this. Thoughts that Suzuki needed to figure these things out himself since he never listened to anyone anyway. Thoughts that maybe he would do well with someone climbing over the desk and shaking him until he just got to the goddamned point already!

Fukuda remained calm.

"Is this about him and Shigeko?" asked Fukuda. He decided to bite the bullet and get straight to the point. He was tired. It had been a long day. He wanted to go home and rest before he did it all again. He needed his energy, anyway, because he was planning on borrowing Sho again tomorrow. At least to get him away from his father for a while. That was the best that he could do these days.

He'd broken his promise to Masami.

She would have killed him if she knew what he had allowed to happen to her children. Sho got angrier and angrier every day and Shigeko…she was pretty much a smaller version of her father…actually in some ways she could have been seen as worse. Suzuki had so few real vices. No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women. Well aside from the baby….and he was not going to think about that…at least Suzuki didn't make it a habit to go around womanizing and making more little versions of himself to neglect. Shigeko was right at the cusp of her teenage years…

And she had already discovered the opposite sex…

Wonderful.

"Yes. I think that he may be attracted to her." said Suzuki. Fukuda blinked. Well better late than never he supposed.

"And…you're letting him live?" asked Fukuda

"Do you think that I should execute him?" asked Suzuki. Fukuda wondered why he was even asking what Fukuda thought. Suzuki didn't give a damn what anyone thought. That was why he was the future ruler of the world and everyone else was just a stepping stone to get to his goal.

"Does it matter what I think?" asked Fukuda a bit more harshly than he should have. Suzuki couldn't read tones anyway. He didn't care about the people around him enough to listen to their tones of voice. Fukuda was too tired to care how he sounded. Suzuki didn't even care.

"Yes. You know more about these social things than I do. You always have." Said Suzuki

"That's what you keep me around for, huh?" asked Fukuda. In the past he would have been touched at the compliment. Younger Fukuda would have taken that as proof that Suzuki cared about him…but that was younger Fukuda's stupidity. Older Fukuda, current Fukuda, knew better.

"Yes. You're also good company and the only healer. I just need your social skills for now, though, because I am…at a loss. I have never dealt with a situation like this before and I don't have the skillset to know what to do." Said Suzuki. That was…rare. Very rare. Suzuki admitted that he was out of his depth…not that Fukuda had any idea what there was to be out of his depth over. A grown man was hitting on his Daughter. There really was nothing more to do than to end that man's life…or at least make him wish that he were dead…

But Fukuda was thinking about Shigeko as if she had been a child.

Well she was a child but she was not a normal child. If it had been Sho then Fukuda would have killed Shimazaki himself. Sho was a normal child. He was in no way ready for any of that and especially not with someone thrice his age. Shigeko…she was growing up too fast and there wasn't a damn thing that anyone could do to stop her. Even her own father. She kept company with adults, some of the worst possible adults that she could have kept company with, and she had picked up their habits. There was no stopping her from doing what she wanted to do.

She was second only to her father after all.

"What's there to be at a loss about? He's been hitting on her. She's your daughter. If you don't want her to see him then get rid of him or at least tell him off. She's your daughter and she's only ten. If you want to stop her from seeing a grown man then stop her. She's second only to you after all." said Fukuda. He spoke his mind…somewhat. He was just tired enough to start speaking his mind. If he had been more tired, if he had been out of his mid, he would have told Suzuki to leave him alone and to get home and do some parenting. She was not a normal child but she was a child and he was the only one who could control his child so maybe he had better get on with that already instead of letting her carry on the way she had been for weeks.

"I…that would be the…be my…my first impulse….but I don't want to…alienate her, I suppose. If she did not enjoy the attention he gave her, if she did not return his…affection I suppose, then she would have gotten rid of him herself. She hasn't. That leads me to believe that she returns…whatever this is…and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, if anything, now." Said Suzuki. Fukuda literally bit his tongue. He tasted blood. He felt pain. He didn't care. He wanted to get up and take Suzuki and shake him and tell him that he was her father and it was his job to protect his daughter not only from creeps but from herself, too, because she was too young to be doing….any of this!

Suzuki knew about the drinking and smoking, right?

He had to know. She never exactly hid it. She smelled like she had been smoking a pack a day and she was always hanging around the smoking areas and break rooms. She had even been down there today smoking something that smelled like a burning candy store and came from a plastic…thing. What were they called? Electronic cigarettes? God he was getting old…and she was too young!

She was not his child.

She was not his child and he knew that he shouldn't have cared, it was best to let her go emotionally at this point, but part of him did. Part of him still saw her as the five year old who loved to play dolls and help her mom make dinner. She wasn't five though, she was ten, and she had already done so many things that he never would have imagined her to have been capable of. She had taken over after her father, for one thing, and also she had…he didn't even want to think about the eighth division…her losing control…what she was capable of when she was pushed too far…

Not his child. She was not his child.

"Does she even want you to do anything?" asked Fukuda. He knew what he would do but he was not her father. Suzuki was her father. Suzuki would have to be the one to figure this out because Fukuda just…he was not going to get involved in this. She resented him enough already. He got that feeling. Because he favored her brother, mostly, but he also got the feeling that she blamed him for what had happened with that baby…how he had to be the one to do what had to be done…but that was fine. She could resent him all she wanted. There was nobody in the world who could even presume that they could tell her how to feel.

"That's…what I've been trying to figure out. She could deal with him easily if he were an unwanted suitor…so therefore he is not unwanted…but she's only ten years old. I had no idea that she was even close to…this…and now she's…well she is growing up. She's growing up and she's becoming a woman and women are supposed to be interested in men and if I forbid…I could if I wanted to…but then that might harm her sexual development and she may never marry and have children-" said Suzuki

"Why don't you enjoy the kids you have before you start thinking about having grandkids?" asked Fukuda. He's tired. It just slips out. There had been no way to stop it. None. Suzuki…he could be so absurd sometimes. He wanted grandkids? What about the kids he had? Why did he need a whole new set of kids to neglect? He had a ten year old, a nine year old, and a four month old…and he was thinking about GRANDKIDS?!

Goddamned Suzuki….

"Yes, it's important to secure the next generation. Of course I want Son and Daughter to have children. Preferably while I'm still living so I can see to it that they're raised properly." Said Suzuki. Fukuda practically bit through his tongue. Raised properly? He wasn't even raising the kids he had! His son was one step away from killing someone and his daughter was carrying on like she was in her twenties!

Calm. Down.

"Suzuki…don't you think that you're getting a little bit ahead of yourself? You're kids aren't even old enough to drink yet…" said Fukuda. He wondered if Suzuki knew or cared about what Shigeko got up to. He had never known Suzuki to care about anything that wasn't in service to his end goal. Even his own wife…

Thank God Masami wasn't around to see this.

Her own husband was letting a grow man just…he was letting his own daughter let a grown man hit on her. She was ten, she got crushes that she wasn't supposed to have, and Masami would have done the responsible thing and sat down with Shigeko and told her that sometimes you got feelings for people who were older than you but you weren't supposed to do anything about it or let them do anything about it…not just sit there and actually wonder if this situation was alright….

Where was Masami when they needed her?

"That's what's so confusing about this. Daughter is so young…and I would have thought that she would have had feelings for someone her own age…but the only member of the opposite sex she knows that's close to her age is Son and she would consider that to be incest, I think." Said Suzuki

"Yes…it would be…because they're brother and sister…" said Fukuda slowly. That was…that was not a thought that Suzuki should ever have had. The kids marrying each other or whatever. They were siblings…that was not right. That was more not right than Suzuki giving Shimazaki his blessing.

"Not by blood but they have been raised together…and I have no plans of telling Daughter where she really came from…so I suppose that setting an incest precedent would be a bad idea." Said Suzuki

"I agree. Incest is a bad idea." Said Fukuda. He wondered how his life had turned out this way. How there had come a point where he had to say, out loud, that incest was wrong.

"I supposed then that, yes, since she doesn't know anyone her own age then…I suppose that this is normal…but it also fills me with rage. Yes, a lot of rage." Said Suzuki

"Well, yes, he's a grown man after your ten year old daughter. It's normal to be enraged." Said Fukuda. He wondered if, for Christmas, he should get Suzuki some of those social skills books. Just something so he could have some sort of benchmark for what was and was not normal. Some parenting manuals, too, while he was at it…who was he kidding? He didn't have the guts to be so passive aggressive…he'd just get Suzuki the exact same card he gave him every year….even though the man needed help. Anyone with eyes could see that.

Heh.

"But it's also normal for her to develop feelings for someone and if I tell her no then…then that may damage her future heterosexual relationships…and I do want her to reproduce at some point. I mean she could if she were homosexual but that's a lot more steps. She's supposed to develop these sorts of feelings for men but….why THAT man? He's…he's terrible. He is in no way worthy of her. She could do so much better. He cannot be her most perfect person. He just…can't." said Suzuki. Fukuda wished that he had been recording this rare moment of emotional rawness from his boss, jailer, and sort of friend. This was….something.

Suzuki was honestly bothered by this.

Good. It was about time he was bothered by something. It was about time something knocked him on his ass. He had strode through the world like he knew everything, so smug in his superiority, and now something had blindsided him. The great Suzuki Touichirou didn't know what to do. If Fukuda had been a gloating man…but he was not. He did not gloat. There would be no point to it. These moments were rare, yes, and if he started gloating they would become rarer….

And also Suzuki would not take it well.

"Have you talked to her about this? Asked her what's up with the two of them?" asked Fukuda. He had to be an adult, here, and try to get this sorted out at best as he could from the distance he was at. He didn't have the power to tell Shigeko what to do but he could at least point her father in the right direction. That was the best that he could do. Masami would have understood.

Masami would never have let it get this far in the first place.

Fukuda thought, allowed himself to indulge for a moment, in a thought. What would things have been like if Masami were still around? The kids…they would have had much more normal lives. She had always done her best to shield them from the worst of what their father could be. Sho and Shigeko would have been in school…fourth and fifth grade…and they would have had friends their own age and they would have gotten along…and they would have been just…normal. Sho would have been a lot calmer and Shigeko…she would not have become…this. Things would have been so much better if Masami had stayed…

No. Don't think like that about the woman you love. She did what she had to do.

Just like Fukuda did what he had to do. He had to, right now, nudge Suzuki in the right direction. Even if this was less than what those kids deserved, even if Fukuda would have done so much more if he'd been their father, and even if there was so much more that he wished that he could do…this was all he could do. Manipulate Suzuki into something close to the outcome that he wanted and then pray for the best. Just like he had been doing for the past thirty or so years.

"Talk to her….I suppose I could. If you think that it's a good idea. I had assumed that she would not want to speak to her opposite gendered parent about these matters…but I suppose without a mother these things do fall to me…" said Suzuki. Fukuda wanted to ask him whose fault that was. Who had driven Masami away? Who had left her children motherless? Who had left her children to become what they were now?

Stop it.

There was no point in getting angry. It would get him nowhere. He needed…he needed to think and to plan. Suzuki…he would talk to Shigeko and then the outcome would be what it would be. He never saw him this indecisive….but his Daughter did have that effect on him. She always had. Daddy's little girl. He would have hung the moon on a string for her. Sho, not so much…

But that was ok.

Sho had him and he had Sho. If Sho had been in his sister's place then Fukuda would have done something ages ago…and he would have to talk to Sho about this. He had talked to Sho about how no adult should ever have been acting like they were interested in him and now he had to talk to Sho about what to do if he ever had feelings for someone who he should not have had feelings for. He was getting to that age. Girls weren't always going to be gross…well maybe they would be when it came to Sho since he was…the kid was something. Fukuda was ninety nine point nine percent sure that he'd had a crush on that boy in his kindergarten class…where had the time gone…and he had seen Sho et so adorably tongue tied around boys his own age on those rare occasions when he and Sho had been out in the world together….and that would be a talk in and of it's self….but Fukuda didn't mind.

He had promised Masami after all and he would do his best to keep his promises.

"That sounds like a good plan, boss. She always did listen to you the most. Yeah, I would just talk to her and see how she feels about all of this and then plan your next course of action based on that." Said Fukuda. The next course of action should have been murder but Fukuda was not responsible for Shigeko. Sho, yes, but not Shigeko. He had promised Masami that he would look after the children but…

Sho needed him a hell of a lot more than Shigeko did.