Suzuki did in fact know how to cook….but mashed eggs were not on the menu.

"Caterpillars! Make me mashed eggs!" shouted Mukai from her spot on the floor. She was surrounded by shattered eggs. He had no idea what she expected him to do with them. It wasn't as though he could have picked the eggs up, thrown them into a pot, and mashed them…well he could have. He lifted some of the yellow mess up with his powers. It was doable but disgusting. He would not be feeding his child food that had been on the floor.

Even if she had been the one responsible for this mess in the first place.

"Right now!" said Mukai, stomping her foot into the mess. Suzuki frowned and picked her up with his powers. He had just gotten dressed, the last thing he needed was to be covered in egg yolks and egg shells and whatever else she had been rolling in. He deposited her on top of the kitchen counter and then closed the refrigerator with his powers.

Such a mess.

"I said-" said Mukai

"You do not command me, I command you…not that I will, of course, since you are very small and your capacities are very limited, but if I wanted to tell you to get down on the floor and clean up the mess you made then I would be fully within my power as your father to do so." Said Suzuki as he carefully walked around the mess to face Mukai. She was wiping her hands on her pajamas, now, completely oblivious to the work that she'd made for herself…or, rather, her sister. Mukai didn't know how to take care of herself yet, she was just a child…a very small child.

A very small, very accident prone, and very impudent child.

"You clean the mess. I don't want to!" said Mukai crossing her arms. Suzuki shook his head.

"I'm much too busy, Shigeko will clean it when she wakes up." Said Suzuki as he surveyed all that Mukai had done. He didn't even know where he would have begun. He knew that there must have been cleaning chemicals for this sort of mess, but he had no idea what cleanser was necessary. This was not his area of expertise. He knew exactly what Shiori would have called him if she had been present, king in the castle, and he knew that he was perfectly capable of cleaning up after his child, it wasn't as though he was an invalid or anything, but he just... was too busy for all of these little bits of domestic drudgery. He didn't have time to sit here and go through a self-taught chemistry lesson.

No, Shigeko, was much better suited to this task.

"Sho's sleeping." Said Mukai

"Still? I mean, I don't care what he does with his time, it's just…late." Said Suzuki. The Boy could have done whatever he pleased at this point. Suzuki knew when to cut his losses and move on. Six in the morning and he was still asleep…Tetsuro would be far more industrious when he got to be Sho's age. Suzuki would make sure of it. He hadn't done enough to instill good habits in his son…in any of his children…

But one day that would change.

"No, it's early. The sky's awaking up right now! You see?" asked Mukai as she pointed her finger towards the kitchen window. Suzuki did as she asked and looked outside. He saw the sun, and it was indeed 'awake' but it had been for some time now. The working day was beginning and he had to…well he had work to do.

Work that was best done on a full stomach.

He eyed the pile of eggshells and yolks on the floor. It didn't look like he'd be having any breakfast anytime soon. By the time Shigeko went to the store, or sent someone else to go to the store….not Shimazaki, then he would have had to have left already. His days were long, they started early, and apparently they were going to start without breakfast...while there were other places, of course, to get some sort of breakfast food...he wanted her to make his breakfast. Nobody's cooking could have possibly eclipsed Shigeko's.

That is, when she had something to cook with.

"I am aware of the position of the sun in relation to myself, thank you, but tell me. Are you aware of where your sister is? Or when she plans on waking up?" asked Suzuki as he felt around with his aura. She was in close proximity, that was the best he could do without focusing on her. If he focused on her and she noticed then she might have wanted to talk to him and…and he had no idea what he possibly could have said to her at this point.

Her eye had healed nicely…that could have been a good point of conversation.

"Shigeko not sleeping." Said Mukai

"Oh? Is she awake then? I would thought…we hadn't crossed paths this morning." Said Suzuki. Normally when Shigeko woke up before he did, in those rare times when she woke up before he did, she tied up the bathroom so thoroughly that it took half an hour of pounding on the door to get her out. The house had been quirt when he awoke…he had barely even been able to feel any of his children's auras it had been so peaceful…

He should have known better than to trust any kind of peace and quiet in this house.

"Don't know." Said Mukai as she continued to rub her hands on the front of her pajamas. He reached behind himself with his powers and pulled a paper towel off the roll. He wet it with warm water and then transferred it over to his hands. Mukai could not sit there like that, no daughter of his could have. It could not have been good for her.

"If we would have crossed paths? No, I suppose not. Your mother does prefer to live with the others…God only knows why. You're welcome to stay here with your blood family if you choose. I know that Shigeko would be happy to have you, as would your brother, and myself as well…but it's your choice…though bear in mind Sho and Shigeko would be happy." Said Suzuki. Was there enough room in the children's room for her? Well it wasn't as though she took up a vast amount of space, being as small as she was, and it wasn't as though he couldn't have found a bigger house…though it was looking like, if he wanted to get to his goal by the time he turned forty-seven, fiscal austerity measures would have needed to be put into place….

"Sho and Shigeko not happy. Sho sleeping, not happy. Shigeko not happy, Shigeko not home." Said Mukai, crossing her arms and sticking out her tongue. From any of his other children to have shown him such disrespect at that age….well he would have asked Masami to deal with it…but she wasn't around. Apparently Shigeko wasn't either. Mukai had a mother….but she wasn't here and Suzuki didn't feel like going next door into that house…

So he had to deal with this.

"Mukai, I care for you but you cannot stick your tongue out at me and you cannot command me either. I am doing my best to control my temper when it comes to you but you have to stop this, alright? If you had been Sho-" said Suzuki before he vision turned red…oh. Sho's aura. Suzuki took down the barrier he had instinctively put up around himself and Mukai. Not a threat, just a son, and he had no ide why his aura had read his son as a threat.

Sho was a lot of things but a threat was not one of them.

"Dad! What the fuck are you doing to her!?" asked Sho as he ran into the kitchen. Annoying was a word that could have easily applied to his son. He had his twin loves of cursing and shouting to thank for that. If he hadn't known better he would have thought that Sho and Hatori had been brothers…though Hatori would have been the more pleasant of the two. Not the more coordinated, though, since anyone would have slipped on the mess Mukai had made all over the floor if they had chosen to go running into the kitchen.

He would have caught Hatori, though.

"Sho fell down, over there." said Mukai. She pointed just in case he hadn't seen. He wondered why she did that. It must have been one of the many idiosyncrasies that people her age possessed. He hoped that she grew out of them, that she didn't wind up like Sho. Sho had someone gotten older, and taller, but not any more mature. He hadn't grown up in any way since he had been Mukai's age. He had simply grown….

Suzuki couldn't wait until he was done growing. Then maybe he could have had some peace around here for once.

"I see, Mukai, I see." Said Suzuki

"Leave Mukai alone." Groaned Sho as he got up. He had broken a cabinet door as he slid. The entire front was caved in and the cleaning chemicals were visible now. He held Mukai back before she got any ideas. They could be poisoned, Suzuki had drank enough cleansers in his youth to know he could be poisoned, and yes Tadashi could fix it…but it was still painful having those sorts of things in your system.

If Mukai ever drank cleanser then Sho….well he hoped that Sho was better at defending himself than he let on.

"I am not bothering your sister. You, however, are bothering everyone. Must you scream? And talk like that?" asked Suzuki

"Yeah, I have to when you're doing-doing whatever you're doing to Little Sis!" said Sho. His aura flared, far, and threatened to touch his. Suzuki batted it away. It was almost as good as actually batting Sho away….almost. Shigeko's rule still stood and yes, Shigeko did not command him, but….well he didn't want her to leave. She was a grown woman and she was perfectly capable of making her own choices when it came to where she lived and he wouldn't have minded, too, if she took Sho with her…not so much Mukai but Sho was hers to take, but he just…she had been a part of his household for the past eleven years. He had grown accustomed to her face and she was the best cook he had ever met and also….

Also no matter who she was becoming she was still his daughter and….and he had another one now but…but there was still only one Shigeko.

"I am not doing anything to her." said Suzuki

"Then why were you talking to her just now like-like you were going to punish her?" asked Sho as he climbed to his feet. He looked ridiculous with egg all down the front of his pajamas. Suzuki didn't laugh, though, because he had nothing to laugh at. He didn't mind it terribly when Mukai was insolent, he strongly suspected that she didn't have much of an idea of what she was actually saying, but Sho was another story. He was twelve and half, nearly thirteen, he knew what he was saying and how his actions could have been seen….and he knew what Suzuki thought of him…

Suzuki did his best to keep calm.

A feat, when it came to dealing with Sho, but not one beyond his capabilities…close to the limits, though. Mukai was a very simple, pleasant, person. She had never let him down, not once, not that he had many expectations for her behavior or future or…self. She was his daughter, not his son, and daughters were so easy to care for. They didn't need as much work as sons. Daughters, after all, started off as those most pleasant of beings called 'little girls' and then they grew up to be women, and he had never met a truly unpleasant woman, so there wasn't a lot of work to be done there. Sons, on the other hand, started off as those destructive forces of nature known as 'little boys' and then grew up to be men…and there was so much that could have gone wrong in the in between stages. Suzuki had made such mistakes when it came to Sho….

Tetsuro was a comfort, despite the fact that he didn't exist in any form outside of his dreams as of yet.

"If she had been you then, yes, I would have punished her. But she is not you so the most I will do is correct her verbally." Said Suzuki. A myriad of emotions passed over Sho in that instant. Even under ideal conditions Suzuki wouldn't have bothered to decipher them all. What would have been the point? It was just Sho.

"Sho's sad, Caterpillars, over there." said Mukai pointing at Sho just in case he had forgotten his own son's given name….did she have that problem? His memories of being three years old were spotty at best. He didn't know how good her memory was…probably better, since she was younger, or worse since she was so young….though she might not have even known what given names were….

This required further study.

"I'm not sad!" shouted Sho

"Yes you are!" shouted Mukai

"I just said that I wasn't!" shouted Sho

"Yes you-" said Sho

"Quiet, the both of you. It's far too early in the morning and I am far too hungry to deal with your bickering right now…and you two shouldn't be bickering anyway. Sho, you are nine years older than she is. You should know better." Said Suzuki. Sho flicked some egg off of the front of his pajama shirt and onto Suzuki's barrier.

"What are you going to do, punish me?" asked Sho before he tried the egg thing again…why? Why did fate or God or whoever continue to torment him with a son like this?

"Don't say mean shit to her either." Said Sho

"Don't talk like that….and I wouldn't. I have no reason to. You, on the other hand, are a completely different story." Said Suzuki

"Fu-" said Sho

"No stories, make mashed eggs! Right now!" shouted Mukai. Suzuki shook his head.

"Even if your sister had been here there wouldn't have been any way for her to make you mashed eggs since you destroyed them all….and I would have tried but I have no idea what mashed eggs are." said Suzuki as he motioned to the mess in the kitchen. Mukai leaned over and looked down. He wondered what it was that she hoped to see, she knew she had made a mess. Had she forgotten somehow?

"She means scrambled eggs, she just doesn't know a lot of words…so don't get mad at her." Said Sho as he reached over with his powers and pulled Mukai from the counter. His eye's and aura never left Suzuki's. He had no idea why. Suzuki got the feeling that Sho was treating him like a threat, that was what he would have done if he'd had a threat near him, but it made no sense. Sho, of course, knew that Suzuki couldn't have hurt him or even punished him, not without Shigeko's disproval. He certainly wouldn't have been a threat to Mukai, he loved her, and there was certainly no need for Sho to hold her so close to his chest like that.

"I'm not, nor could I ever be, angry with your little sister…so stop looking at me like that." Said Suzuki. He didn't know exactly what look it was that Sho was giving him but he knew that he didn't care for it…and he knew, too, that he never wanted Mukai to look at him like that.

"I'm not looking at you like anything." Said Sho

"Not looking at you!" said Mukai. She put one hand over her eyes and the other one she reached up towards Sho. She just seemed to poke him in the eyes…served him right. Suzuki knew that Sho had been giving him a look….though he had never been good at puzzling out what looks meant. Maybe Sho hadn't been…maybe he needed to give Sho the benefit of the doubt. Shigeko would have liked that if she had been around….not that he cared what she thought….well he did but…it was very complex. He'd think more on this later, when he had the time.

"Alright then, it doesn't matter. I'm leaving. If your sister comes home today tell her we need more eggs and that the kitchen is a mess….and have someone feed your sister." Said Suzuki as he left. He made sure to step over any egg debris as he walked. Shigeko was not going to like this…he eyed the paper towels as he passed. Perhaps if he tried to help her then…he could see Sho's eyes on him…

He would leave this to Shigeko.

The last thing he needed right now was to spend another second in Sho's presence. His very presence was irritating and Suzuki did not need to deal with that right now. He was tired, he was hungry, and he had a full day ahead of him. Sho…Sho could take care of himself and, as much as it pained Suzuki to acknowledge it, Sho's strengths did lie in nurturing. He was good at caring for other beings…somehow his son enjoyed caring for others…he had too much of Masami in him. Or maybe not since she had abandoned them all…that had passed and he would not give the matter anymore thought. He had things to do today so…so he would get to it and give his family no other thought. Everyone was fine, everything was fine, and he…he had more important matters to attend to.

Sho would find someone to feed Mukai, though perhaps not mashed eggs.