Suzuki missed his daughter terribly.

But this was for both of their own good. He had been showing her too much of his own weakness, that was bad for her, and in turn it would make her weak. He didn't want her to be weak. He needed her to be strong. He needed her to be strong enough to inherit this world after he was gone…well Son would inherit it but she would help. Son may have been his only blood child but Daughter…she was more competent when it came to the daily running of Claw. She ran their household well, too, and she ran Claw well….and he wanted to tell her this. He wanted to pick her up and hold her and tell her what a good job she had been doing and how proud he was of her…

But he didn't.

He had never even told Masami the things that he told Daughter. He had never even given Masami the affirmations of love that he gave Daughter…he had never even used that word. It was an imprecise word. Caring was a much better word than love. But Daughter liked to be told that she was loved so he indulged her. Masami…he had never even indulged Masami in that way. He had always been very resistant to telling her that he loved her…but he indulged Daughter. Did that mean that she meant more to him than Masami?

No.

There could never be a single human being on this Earth who could mean more to him than Masami. Even if she was a traitor. Even if she had abandoned him. Even if she was off somewhere in the world and he would never see her again…and she had never even left him so much as a forwarding address…she was still the most perfect person ever to have entered his life. She was gone, though, but Daughter was still there. Daughter was there and she was his and…and he had gotten too attached to her. He had gotten attached enough to her that…that he had started to lose himself in her.

So the best thing for both of them was to leave her alone until she grew up.

Things would be better once she grew up. Once she grew up then they could spend time together. They could waste their days doing nothing, or they could be productive, or even a little of both. He honestly didn't care what they did together just so long as they were together. Because her presence was calming, that was all, not that he needed her or anything. He didn't. He was Suzuki Touichirou and he was a full and complete person all on his own. He didn't need anyone…but he did want Daughter near him.

But wanting was not needed.

What he needed to do was get through this pile of work on his desk. What he wanted to do was watch Daughter's aura as she moved through the building. She spent a lot of her time in the tech support room. One of her friends worked there. A boy around her age…not that he was worried…because she was young…though she had…but she was still young…so he didn't worry. He wasn't worried about that at all. Daughter had her companions and he wasn't worried that she had found one close in age. Nineteen and ten was a much smaller age gap than thirty and ten…though he did not approve either way….but he was just one of her companions, that was all, and he would allow her another companion. He indulged her and he enjoyed indulging her.

He enjoyed making her happy.

She had been so happy when they had been together but their happiness had come at a cost. Daughter needed to grow up to be independent. She needed to grow up to be able to stand on her own two feet when he inevitably died. So he needed to distance himself from her until she was grown up. He could still make her happy, though, he could still indulge her. Like how he hadn't put a stop to all of the parties that she had allowed in her time as the President of Claw. No, he would allow this even though he hated large social gatherings…she enjoyed them so he would allow them. He would indulge her in this. He would always indulge her. He would allow her to see her companions and to…to be independent. He had to allow her to be independent.

Even though he would much rather have had her near him.

Bur he couldn't have her near him. Even though the rope idea would have been a good idea he cannot have her ear him. He doesn't like the person he is when she's near him and he doesn't like the person that she will become if he keeps her too near to him. When she grows up…everything will be worth it when she grows up. But she isn't grown up. She's still ten years old. She isn't grown up yet so…so this is just the way that things have to be for now.

Daughter is with her companion and he is by himself.

He needs to get some of this work done. It's piling up. Nothing good comes from letting his work pile up. He had things he needs to do to finish out the year. One more month. One more month and then this year would be over…and it had been a year. Maybe next year would be more peaceful. Maybe next year would be slow and relaxing and…and then nothing would go wrong. Maybe something would even go right for once. He still didn't have the money or manpower to take over the world, sure he had people but most of them were next to useless, but he could at least just…take it slow. Just gather more money and find some more powerful espers and then just…rest. Daughter was good for that, finding powerful espers, so maybe he would leave some of that to her. Some independent work.

Her companion was a powerful esper.

There. She had done her job without him even having to give her the job. She was just that competent. She was one of his best, if not his best, people. She was so…so…she was wonderful. She was so wonderful and he cared for her so much…he takes his attention off of her aura. She's fine. She's been sitting beside her companion for some time now. He would bring that boy along. He so loved indulging her. She seemed to care for him…hopefully not in any serious way…and he did love to indulge her. She could consider it a Christmas gift…but he would get her real gifts, too. More dolls. Ones that looked like her. She would like that. She would also like more cat themed paraphilia and princess paraphernalia too. Children's things. Because she was a child. She was a child still and no matter how much he wished she just wouldn't grow up quicker…

He felt like she should have been older by now.

He felt like he had missed something. Well he had been missing out on quite a bit of her life. He had been giving her all the space that she needed to become an adult. She was becoming more and more independent and in that independence she had stop talking to him…which was good. Which was very good because she needed to grow up…but he got the feeling that he had missed something important in her life. A sequel to her ice queen movie? She had been saying that she was excited for some short film that was coming up. Yes, that must have been it. He had been planning on watching it with her when it was released. He didn't hate that movie, some parts of it were enjoyable, and for her he would sit through a sequel to that movie. Well he would have but not now, obviously, because he was giving her space to be independent.

He wished that she could become independent more quickly.

Like him. He had always been independent for his entire life. From the moment he could do something himself he did. He had been able to dress himself at two and cook his own meals at five and walk himself to school at seven and…and a lot of that was second hand knowledge from his late parents…but still. He had always been independent and aside from recent events…this whole year really….he had always been able to get by just on his own. He didn't need anyone else. He was Suzuki Touichirou and he did not need anyone else.

Not his Daughter or anyone else…even Fukuda…who's aura was getting closer and closer.

He felt the man long before he saw him and that gave him time to look like he was hard at work. Even though he could have just stayed the way he was. He was Suzuki Touichirou, he could do whatever he liked. He could do whatever he wanted to and be however he wanted to….but he did not want to show weakness to anyone. Only his own Daughter…and that had been a terrible thing to do…but also in some ways freeing. He could be…not fully unfettered by mostly unfettered…when he was around her. He could throw caution to the wind when he was around her. Like the time that they had stayed up all night playing games together. That had been so wonderful….

But that part was over now.

"Enter." Said Suzuki as he felt Fukuda lingering outside of his doorway. He opened the office doors with a wave of his hand when Fukuda didn't immediately open them as normal. That must have startled Fukuda. There was a flare to his aura there. Suzuki would have thought that Fukuda would have been used to that after almost thirty years or so but, hey, people were Fukuda's specialty. Not his. Never his.

"Hey boss, I just need you to sign some things." Said Fukuda. Suzuki eyed the stack of papers in his arms wearily. He didn't know which fire Fukuda was currently trying to put out but he knew that it would be a lot of work for the both of them. He wondered if he could conscript Daughter to help…she would be more than able to…but would that be the sort of thing that would hurt her independent development? He didn't know. Parenting had somehow gotten more and more complicated over the years. It had been easier when the children had been toddlers. All he had to do was teach them how to not kill themselves and each other and make sure that they developed language and motor skills. Simple.

This stage of life was not simple.

Well Son was at least simple. Son could be left to his own devices. He would occasionally injure himself but aside from that he didn't need much watching. When the year changed he would have more patience to get back to showing Son how to run Claw. For now he could do…whatever it was he was doing in the long hallway…with Shimazaki….hopefully not sock skating. He never had to worry about Daughter going sock skating and enticing the Awakened away from their work to do stupid things. No, he never had to worry about that at all. Daughter…he had his own things to worry about when it came to her. Making sure she grew up properly. Making sure she chose someone worthy of her as her most perfect person. Making sure that she never left him. Just…a lot of things to make sure of. Son never gave him those sorts of worries. Son never gave him anything at all to worry about. He was grateful for that small mercy.

"Leave them on my desk. I'll see to them by the end of the day." Said Suzuki. Fukuda did as he was told but then lingered. That indicated either some sort of tragedy or Fukuda just wanting to socialize with him. He didn't know which was worse.

"Anything else?" asked Suzuki. He wanted to be alone. If he couldn't be with his Daughter then he wanted to be alone. He needed to be with her…but she was better off without him. Maybe Fukuda knew a way to get her to grow up quicker…or to even be able to tell when she had finished growing up. The age of majority was arbitrary. At around thirteen or fourteen Suzuki had come to the realization that he was not a child anymore and that he didn't need his parents for anything…but Daughter would always need him….but her childhood maybe would not be as long as…as he was thinking that it would be. She had been a child for eleven years after all. How much more childhood could she possibly need?

"Nothing work related." Said Fukuda. Suzuki wondered what there was to talk about, then. They weren't children anymore. They were adults now and aside from work they really had nothing to talk about…unless it had something to do with the children. Maybe it had something to do with…he hoped that it had nothing to do with Daughter. He hoped that Fukuda hadn't come all the way to his office to tell him that he had messed up Daughter in some serious way again…

Though he was grateful to Fukuda for telling him, before, that he was messing up.

Suzuki so hated miscalculating. It was easy to miscalculate when he was unfamiliar with what it was that he was even calculating. He knew that Fukuda was better when it came to social situations. He knew that he could always trust Fukuda's judgement when it came to the children. He would have made a good father, probably, and not just because the world needed more healers. He understood the children, son especially, in ways that Suzuki knew that he never could. He had been born with the ultimate power, yes, but he had also been born missing some fundamental tools that other people had which allowed them to relate to and make connections with others. He, of course, did not need those tools because he was the most powerful man alive but they would have been helpful…

But so was employing someone who had been born with the tools needed for the job.

"You want to socialize then?" asked Suzuki. He had no idea why Fukuda still wanted to socialize with him. They were friends anymore. They were more than friends. Fukuda was, in essence, the person who worked directly under him. The only people in Claw with more power than him aside from Suzuki himself were the children…or just Daughter. Yes, just Daughter. Son could not be trusted with any sort of real power or responsibility yet.

"Well…yes and no." said Fukuda. Suzuki tried not to narrow his eyes and he tried to keep his aura in check. He had heard that expression before. He had been hearing it for his entire forty three years of life and for those entire forty three years he'd never had any idea what it meant.

"That is not an answer." Said Suzuki. Both of those statements existed in opposition to each other. Two opposites could not exist together like that. It just did not work like that.

"It is, Suzuki, it is. It's not exactly a social call, I was just wondering if you were planning on wishing Sho a happy birthday at some point. I know that it would mean a lot to him and I know that you want the kids to be loyal to you and to the organization so I was just thinking that, you know, you should wish your son a happy birthday." Said Fukuda. Suzuki blinked. The teacup on his desk rattled. The picture on his computer screen went to bars. Son…son's birthday…

He glanced down at the date.

December eighth.

"Son's birthday…was on the first…" said Suzuki slowly.

"Yeah. He had a birthday party and then I took him to an animal shelter and an indoor playground and then we went to the movies and got dinner. It was a nice time." Said Fukuda

"I…Son had a birthday." Said Suzuki. His Son had been born on December first. That had been ten years ago. A decade ago his Son had been born.

"Yeah. Sho had a birthday." Said Fukuda. There is an emphasis on the way he says Son's given name that Suzuki just does not have the mental space for right now. He doesn't know what that emphasis means and he doesn't know, either, how he could have forgotten the day that Masami had been gutted like a fish to pull Son out of her.

"He was born on December first…and now it's the eighth." Said Suzuki slowly. His brain was not working. How could he forget the birthdate of his own blood child? Daughter's birthday was May 25th. There. He knew hers…but he had forgotten Son's? How? That had been the day that he had looked over the curtain…maybe he should have done as the doctor said and not looked over the curtain…and saw them pulling Son right out of her body…and he had been so small and red…well that had been the blood…and also he had been covered in amniotic fluid…and he had been so small…

And now he was a decade and a week old.

"Yeah, it's been a week." Said Fukuda. There was another tone, there, and Suzuki did not want to sit there and pick apart the meaning in it. Not now. Son…he'd had a birthday. He had missed Son's birthday. Well he had never been one for celebrating anything but Son had been born a decade ago. A decade ago he and Masami had made a human being together. A son. Leader. That was the name that he had picked out for him. Masami had wanted to call him Yuu, which meant gentle, and was also not the name that he would give to any of his offspring.

They're my kids too, Touichirou.

That was what she had said. He remembered that night. They had been sitting up in bed, their bedroom, and she had been so big that he could see Son moving around…and he had not been imagining things he could see Son's aura shift as he moved…and they had been pouring over books of names and…and it had come dangerously close to being an argument. She had wanted to call him Yuu…he hadn't like the character or how feminine the name sounded…and she hadn't wanted to call him Sho because she said that a name like that would put a lot of pressure on him…and then they had settled on Shoko for a girl already…and Shoya had been considered though he liked Sho better….but then they had come to a compromise.

He would name the boys and then she would name the girls.

But then Daughter had come into their lives pre-named and she had been too old to be renamed. Not like Baby. Mi Cha was not a good name, he hadn't liked it, so he had to rename her. Mukai was a good name. He liked the sound of it and the look of it so that was what Baby was going to be called from now on. She had been born in…he didn't know her birthday…and he didn't know why he cared. That was not his child. His children came from Masami and since Baby had not come from Masami therefore Baby was not his child and someone else was her father and…and now she had a new mother and a new life and that was that.

He didn't even know why he cared about Baby's birthday.

He couldn't even remember his own Son's birthday let alone the birthday of a child who he had nothing to do with the existence of. Son….why hadn't Son said something? He wailed for hours when his sister cut off his soft drinks at seven o'clock every night but he, for some reason, he not thought to mention that he'd had a birthday? Those days were big deals to children. Son should have said something.

"Son never said anything." Said Suzuki

"….you want him to remind you when his birthday is?" asked Fukuda

"Yes. That would be helpful." Said Suzuki. There. If the children told him their birthdays then he could remember and tell them 'happy birthday' along with giving them their obligation gifts. There. Fukuda always had the best idea when it came to things like this.

"How can you not remember his birthday?" asked Fukuda. He had a tone, there, and Suzuki got the feeling that it was not a good one. Fukuda had no right to question him. He didn't have children. He didn't know how maybe things it was that one had to remember when you had children. Son should have reminded him…or Daughter. Yes, Daughter should have reminded him of Son's birthday. She ran the house so that was her job. Masami had never once let him forget an important day. He would have thought that Daughter would have at least picked that up from her mother.

"I know that he was born on the first, I was there when he was born after all, I just hadn't realized that the first had passed already. Time had been…slipping by. Passing more quickly. Daughter…she was good for keeping me grounded and I'm still adjusting to life without her." said Suzuki

"Life without her? I just saw her playing videogames with her…with Hatori an hour ago." Said Fukuda

"Yes, I know that she's there." said Suzuki. He hoped that she wasn't playing in their blocky world…he so missed playing blocky world with her…but this was for the best. Even though he sort of felt like taking a much needed blocky world break but he couldn't if she was in their world right now…but it was for her own good. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.

"…then why did you say that you were adjusting to life without her?" asked Fukuda

"You told me that I was harming her independent development so I cut off all contact between us in an attempt to fix what I had damaged." Said Suzuki

"No, I told you to let her spend time with her friends and sleep in her own bed." Said Fukuda

"Yes. You told me that by keeping her near she would never develop independent skills. So I cut off all contact with her. You said that it would be healthier for her if I gave her space so now I'm giving her all the space that she needs." Said Suzuki

"Suzuki…why do you always….? No, no, this is just the way you are." Said Fukuda

"What's the way I am?" asked Suzuki. If he hadn't known better he would have thought that Fukuda had insulted him just now…but that was insane. Fukuda was Fukuda. He was his most loyal follower and oldest companion. Suzuki just didn't 'people' well as Fukuda had always been fond of telling him. Yes, that must have been it, he just wasn't 'peopling' well. People as a verb meaning to interact with other humans, not to reproduce and populate the world, though he had no idea if he was good at that or not since he only had the one biological child.

"You….you're a smart man. You're a genius, actually, about some things. Planning, managing people, managing money, world domination…but you are, and I mean this respectfully, not that great when it comes to people." Said Fukuda

"Yes. I am well aware of this. You've been telling me this since the day we met." Said Suzuki. He did not need to be reminding of the one area of life that he was poor at. Yes, he was not good with people, but that was just…what it was. He was not good with people but like Fukuda said he was a genius, he had the tests to prove it, and also he was powerful in addition to the hyper cognition so he didn't need to be good with people. That was Fukuda's department.

"Ok, we're on the same page. Just…I never told you to cut all ties with your Daughter, ok? Suzuki…that must have been so confusing for her…and she does not need to be confused. That must have been stressful and confusing for her and the last thing that anyone needs is for her to be stressed out like that. Do you remember the Eighth Division? Because I remember the Eighth Division." Said Fukuda

"Of course I remember. She exploded and killed seventeen people." Said Suzuki. That had been a terrible day and part of him was still angry at her for that…but she had been eight years old then and her power had not been as under control as it was now. Sure her aura had a hazy, sleepy, sort of quality to it now but at least her control was better.

"Then why would you put her under that kind of stress? She's only ten, she doesn't know what's happening or why you did that in the first place. No wonder she's been stressing Sho out so much lately…" said Fukuda. He muttered that last part. Suzuki wondered why. He was much more difficult to understand when he muttered.

"I don't care about Son." Said Suzuki. Son's control was the most impressive thing about him. Even from the day he had woken up from his awakening he had gained almost complete and total control over his powers. It had been amazing, Suzuki had been impressed by him, but he had also been envious. He had envisioned having to help Son to control his powers just as he'd helped Daughter and just as he'd had to learn on his own but…but he had just had total and complete control over himself. Son was impressive that way and Suzuki felt pride in his son for accomplishing such a feat as instantaneous near perfect control as well as pride in himself for making a person who could be so very impressive.

"Yeah, that's obvious." Said Fukuda. Good. He could see it too. He spent a lot of time with Son these days…he had probably been more affected by Baby than he'd let on. Suzuki had offered him Baby to keep but he'd said not out of lack of confidence in his parental abilities. Now he probably missed her and thought about her and worried about what had become of her so he overcompensated and spent time with Son in an attempt at getting back what he'd lost.

"Is Daughter….is she alright? I hadn't mean to harm her in any way…I thought that I had been doing the right thing…but I miscalculated…again." said Suzuki. He cared too much about Daughter and that was why he was constantly miscalculating when it came to her. Son was fine on his own but Daughter was like a rare, exotic, beautiful flower that had grown out of a pot of dirt. She needed the utmost care and attention or all the work that he had put into raising her would have been for nothing.

"She's…I have no clue. I don't spend a lot of time with her socially. Sho says that she's been clingy lately but that's all that I know." Said Fukuda

"She's….she's been happy. I mean I thought that she had been. She's been spending time with her friends and she enjoys…for some reason…spending time with them." Said Suzuki

"Suzuki…she has plenty of friends. She only has one father and that's you. So just…don't ignore her completely but also don't smother her. Just…maybe have one day a week where you smother her and then leave her alone for the rest of the day? You know, get it all out of your system at once? I know how you like schedules so how about….Sundays? You smother her on Sundays but then just leave her alone for the rest of the week? Like a father/daughter day or something." said Fukuda. Suzuki thought for a moment. That seemed like a good idea. Sort of like how instead of having sex with Masami constantly like he had wanted they had set aside Saturdays for that, before Son her been born, so that way they could get things done during the week….only nonsexual because that was his Daughter and not his wife…and now he sort of wants to take a bath…

"Yes. That sounds like a good idea. She would like that too. She'll probably stop asking me if I hate her now." Said Suzuki. Daughter had been asking him why he hated her even though he had made it perfectly clear that he didn't. He could never hate her. She was his Daughter. He could never hate his own Daughter.

"Yeah…you should probably tell her that you don't hate her…and you should probably tell Sho 'happy birthday' at some point. You know, before he turns eleven." Said Fukuda

"That's…a large swath of time. I'll tell him next time I see him. Thank you for your input. You're dismissed." Said Suzuki. Yes, first he would get Son sorted and then Daughter. He wondered if he'd had Son's presents procured for him already and then just forgotten about it…well he'd have to tell him 'happy birthday' either way even though the date of his birth had not been happy…well he had been happy when Son had been placed in his arms for the first time but he had also been horrified and terrified when they'd cut Son out of Masami…and he was never looking over the curtain again. No, when Daughter gave birth he was not looking over the curtain…that is if she had a cesarean section. If she delivered vaginally…he was still not going to look. He would be there for her but he was not going to look.

That is when she grew up of course.

They would have such good times when she grew up. They would travel the world together…well they did that now but she would be old enough to appreciate it…and also they would spend time together. He would be more of an…he would allow himself to be closer to an equal to her. Yes, a bit more like how he and Masami had been…but without the being married part. They would have such good times when she grew up and became an adult…

He was so looking forward to it.

To her having her own desk in his office and being able to help him run Claw in a substantial way. To her being there with him watching television or playing their game or just spending time together. To when she had her own children and she would need him to be there for her. She would need him to be there for her because she would be at her most vulnerable and she would need him to protect her and he would without question. He would watch over her just as he watched over Masami and he would get her whatever strange foods she craved, though he hoped that she would cook the pancakes before she ate them and not just eat the batter with a spoon like Masami had, and he would watch her child's aura as it moved around and then when the day came and he became someone's grandfather he would be there beside her so nothing could harm her but he would not be looking over any curtains this time…or anywhere really because he had no desire to see his Daughter in that state of affairs. Let whatever man she picked out, hopefully not Shimazaki Ryou, see her in that state of affairs…or whatever. Suzuki didn't feel like dealing with any husband or lover of hers. He could be reassigned to somewhere remote so he wouldn't try and take Daughter away from him.

But all of that was in the future.

Daughter was only ten now and…and he had her back! For one day a week he could have her back! He could have her and hold her and never let her go! They would watch the ice queen again or play the blocky world game to just…whatever she wanted. Even eat gelatin…or she could have the gelatin and he could have real food that didn't look like it was some alien creature and taste like a chemical lab….he didn't care what they did just so long as he got to be there with her again. He could hold her again and be with her and sleep next to her and feel the softness of her skin and her hair and watch her aura's soft movements and just…just be with her. Have her, hold her, and cherish her…..

He loved his Daughter so very much and he had missed her so terribly….but he wouldn't have to miss her anymore.