The price of serenity was twenty three hundred yen.

It was worth it. Shiori needed to center herself. She needed to think. She needed to get herself sorted out. She needed to just…to just shut off her brain for a moment. Not in the usual trashy reality TV and greasy Chinese food sort of way, actually she was going to have to lay off on that if she and Touichirou were serious about the baby thing, more like in the sit on the ground and watch the fish go by sort of way…

Shiori was not taking a day off.

She wasn't Touichirou, she didn't have an adopted adult son to delegate her work too when she felt like taking a break. She had work to do, a lot of it, and plenty of revenge to get. She was planning on getting back to work soon, she just had to sit and regroup and…and think….

There was no better place than the aquarium on a weekday.

Well a weekday during winter would have been better. Or fall. Or spring. Pretty much any season but summer. Summer brought out tourists and families and unaccompanied kids. Winter, fall, even the colder parts of spring brought…well this was Osaka, there was never a shortage of tourists, but there were fewer of them. Fewer screaming kids too.

It was hard to find serenity with all of these screaming kids around.

Shiori debated getting up. This was supposed to be the second largest aquarium in the world, wasn't it? There were plenty of places for her to sit and watch the fish and be serene... but this was where she wanted to be. She had chosen this spot specifically to watch the fish and that was what she was going to do. She was going to sit, she was going to watch the fish, she was going to empty her mind of everything and anything that could have caught her stress, and she was not going to do it with a bunch of screaming kids around her! Just because she was planning on having a baby didn't mean she wanted to listen to everyone else's screaming baby.

Honestly.

She already ran a hand through her hair. Her shoulder cried out in protest. There was a deep bruise there, it had practically been black when she caught sight of it in the mirror that morning, and the other side wasn't much better period deep purple. She was going to be feeling that for awhile. Maybe it was good that to each row was on this no intimacy thing. She did not need him involved. She did not need anyone involved. She could handle had never once asked him for help, she had never once asked him for anything.

She didn't need anybody but herself.

She sighed and held her head in her hands. She could hear some squeaking as the stroller was pushed away. Whatever that beyblade was going to have to get it somewhere else. The silence should have brought serenity but inside she felt anything but. She looked up. It would have been possible she could have been on that side of the tank, was swinging back and forth, back and forth, and then back and forth again... occasionally food would be dropped in period of course the food wasn't scheduled for another hour period that was one she believed. After feeding time. She might go back to the touch tank to object while, but there was so much working…

And she was the only one who could do it.

She wasn't totally derailed. She wasn't Touichirou, every single bizarre personal problem in her life did not send her running…and she didn't even have bizarre personal problems…or any at all. This was a work problem. She had chosen this life and now she had to deal with the risks that came with it, including injuries. She was…she was fine. She could deal with this. She could deal with her own life…and that was what she was doing.

Dealing with it.

She watched the fish in front of her. The Great Barrier Reef was, aside from the underpass, the best tank here. Kilometers of interconnected reef…probably more beautiful than the real thing. The real thing was dying, supposedly, though they were all dying…though to lose something so beautiful was a tragedy. This version was better, though, since it would never die. It was perfect. Someone had created this reef, maintained it, and manipulated it until the display was absolutely perfect…her tanks at home had nothing on this. Watching the fish, the colors of them, swimming past she had a thought. This could have been hers…one day it would be. Touichirou wanted to rule the world. She just wanted a small part of it. One day her world would be like this. Perfect. Contained. Controlled. Under glass. Made to her exact specifications.

It would be beautiful.

Apparently she was not the only person to feel this way. She felt the energy around her shift…something, someone, familiarly unfamiliar. She narrowed her eyes. Her barrier went up. She didn't know that aura…she mostly didn't know it. It was like seeing someone you hadn't seen in a while, or a distant relation you didn't know you were related to, or an actor you couldn't place…she wasn't moving. She didn't feel any hostile intent but that could have just meant a well trained mind. Whatever. She was here first, she wasn't scared, and she was not moving from this spot even if…no even if.

She was going to be fine.

She focused on expanding her passive perceptions. Not easy from inside her barrier. She had to try…just one person. Getting closer…she kept staring forward. She was not going to run. She was not…the aura got closer. Her barrier strengthened. Her passive perception shrank. Still no hostile intent…but the other aura was expanding now. It touched hers, trying to see if she was friend or foe…this wasn't anyone she knew…she should have known someone this powerful…but maybe she did. She had met a lot of people back when she was in Cuticle City…

If this was another one of Jodo's people she was going to be so angry….

But it wasn't. Not unless Jodo had relaxed his absolutely not children policy. She could see his reflection in the glass. A boy carrying a sketchbook. A redhaired boy. A redhaired blue eyed boy. A red haired, blue eyed, freckled boy…she watched him in the glass. She knew that nose. She knew those ears. She even knew that hair. Not just the color but the way it stood up…so that was what Touichirou would have looked like if he'd let his hair grow….

She wasn't stupid.

The boy was looking at her, standing over her, and he was clutching that sketchbook of his for dear life. No hostile intent, though he did put up a barrier. She watched him a moment longer. So this was Touichirou's son. She had met him, supposedly, years ago. Back at that initial war meeting. She could barely remember him. He had been sketching away then, too. Touichirou had said that he was supposedly one hell of an artist…just about the only good thing Touichirou had ever said about his son…

Another one of Touichirou's kids. Wonderful.

"It's rude, you know, to loom over people like that." Said Shiori. It was best, she figured, to lay down the law early with Touichirou's kids. That was where he had gone wrong. He had let them think that they ran the show and now he had the nerve to complain when they ran wild. Well she would not be making that mistake. She wasn't going to be loomed over so she was going to stop him. She wasn't going to fight with him, either, and if he had the nerve to tell her that he could do whatever he wanted, if he and his sister had really been cut from the same cloth, then…well she wasn't going to stand for it.

She was here first.

"Are you going to try and fight me? Because I wouldn't do that if I were you, lady." Said Sho. He'd come here to draw, that was all, not get into fights. Big Sis wouldn't have been happy with him if he got into a fight with this lady…even if she was kind of a dickhole. He hadn't been bothering her, he'd just been making sure that she wasn't planning on killing him or whatever, which was something that you had to worry about when you met another esper.

So many people wanted to kill Dad…and so many of those people were stupid enough to think that Dad would have cared if they killed Sho.

"My name is Sakata, not lady, and no. I have no plans of fighting you today…I want to say Suzuki?" asked Shiori. She turned to face him. His barrier had gone back up. His entire body was tense, his eyes darted away from her, and he was white knuckling that sketchbook of his. She could see the cover folding.

Maybe she had the wrong kid.

"Yeah, that's me. If you want to fuck with my Dad then just go and fuck with him. Don't try and kill me or whatever. He doesn't give a fuck about me. You get it, lady?" Said Sho. The lady cringed. She didn't look like she wanted to fight, she was just an old lady after all, but Big Sis didn't look like she could fight either and she'd destroyed two whole divisions. Whatever. He could win…if he had to fight…and then he would just have to think up an explanation that didn't piss Big Sis off or scare her…or make her say 'I told you so'…

Sho could totally go off on his own if he wanted to.

"That's Sakata-san. You get it, Sakata-san." Said Shiori. Yes, this was definitely Touichirou's son…at least his daughter hadn't spoken to her like that. If this had been her son she would have washed his mouth out with soap…no. Hand sanitizer. Honestly. How could Touichirou have let his own son get to the age of…how old was this kid supposed to be again? He and his sister were practically twins, if she remembered correctly. Their birthdays were close…apparently he had been extremely premature…

That would have explained it.

"Fine, Sakata-san. You don't have to kill me to get to Dad, Sakata-san. He doesn't give a fuck about me, Sakata-san. Is that good, Sakata-san?" asked Sho

"Yes it is, Suzuki-chan. Thank you, Suzuki-chan. You can get going now, Suzuki-chan. Glad we could have this talk, Suzuki-chan." Said Shiori

"I'm not going anywhere." Said Sho

"Yes you are, I was here first." Said Shiori. This was the second biggest aquarium in the world…but she wasn't moving just because one of Touichirou's kids wanted her to. If they'd wanted a private tour of the aquarium or whatever they should have just rented it out. God knew they had the money. She had been here first, she lived here, and she was not moving.

And apparently neither was he.

"Well I'm not moving either. It's a big tank, you can't make me move." Said Sho. No way was he moving. This was the best tank in the whole aquarium. He'd seen this reed before in person once. He and Shimazaki had been messing with the fish in the ocean. It had been cool. He'd tried to tell Shimazaki what it looked like but he hadn't known how…and then he'd figured out how sharp coral was…whatever. He hadn't been able to draw it then but he was going to draw it now. He even had his colored pencils, the good ones Big Sis had gotten him for his birthday, with him.

He sat down.

He put as much space between them as he could. Any farther away and he would have been sitting with that family of normal people over there, the ones with the baby that wouldn't stop crying. He didn't want to sit near normal people…so this would have to do. Even though this lady was acting like a dickhole's dickhole.

There was plenty of space.

"Wow, you really are Touichirou's son, aren't you?" asked Shiori. She'd had her doubts about the oldest daughter but this one…yup. This was his kid. The hair, the eyes, the attitude, even his shocked face. Touichirou made that same face…it was kind of adorable on his son…

She wondered how it would look on her child.

"Dad doesn't like it when people call him by his first name. He hits girls, you know, he just doesn't like to." Said Sho once he got over the shock of hearing some lady, not even a powerful one, call Dad by his first name. Poor lady, she thought she stood a chance against Dad. Maye he would be nice and let her join them…or maybe Sho could get her to join him! She may not have been powerful but she could have been useful and stuff. He needed all the people eh could get. So far it was just him, Fukuda, and Fukuda's two friends…and only one of Fukuda's friends was good at fighting…

This lady couldn't have been any worse in battle than Fukuda and the guy who made fake documents and stuff.

"I sincerely doubt your father is ever going to hit me and if he ever gets that thought in his head then he's got another thing coming." Said Shiori rolling her eyes. Touichirou was many things but he wasn't a complete monster. This kid was just paranoid. Touichirou had told her just how often he'd had to punish his son. Of course the kid was paranoid after having gone through that he'd gone through. That much punishment…ineffective punishment at that, couldn't have been good for him.

Shiori was going to have to find some other way to punish her kid when the time came because all of this, clearly, did not work.

"You're really not scared of my Dad? At all?" asked Sho. Wow. He had never met a girl this brave before…or this stupid. She might have just been really dumb.

"Of course not. Why would I be?" asked Shiori. Touichirou's kids knew, right? All three of them? He had actually sat down and explained the new situation…right? That he'd met someone, was going to get married, and that they were getting a new sibling? Not a stepmother, of course, she wasn't about to raise another woman's children…and those kids, omitting the three year old, were pretty much raised already…Touichirou had said something…of course he hadn't.

This was Touichirou she was talking about.

"Because he's my dad. Everyone's scared of him." Said Sho

"He's really not that scary when you get to know him…and you don't make his life more difficult than it has to be." Said Shiori

"No, Dad's a dickhole's dickhole and he's really scary…but if you're not scared of him then maybe you can fight against him. I know what he does, you might not know but I do, he goes to places and he takes them over. He says that if he can't get the old leader to follow him then he kills them and he's probably going to kill your leader anyway so-" said Sho

"Stop it. First of all, stop cursing, it's disrespectful. Second of all if you're going to curse at least be less…I guess crass would be the word…about it. Third of all I'm starting to get the feeling that you don't know who I am so I'm going to ignore what sounded, honestly, just a little too close to the border of treason for my tastes." Said Shiori, laying down the law before she had to hear the phrase 'dickhole's dickhole' ever again. Honestly. Boys. She hoped she had girls and only girls. Sure their teenage years would be hell on earth for all involved but at least they wouldn't be so crass.

"….I wasn't saying any treason." Said Sho. What was wrong with this lady? Was she trying to join Dad? Why would she care, then if he was being all treason-y and stuff? He couldn't catch a break, could he? It wasn't fair….

"Good, you shouldn't. I know your Dad and let me tell you, he is not a fan of treason, especially not from his own son." Said Shiori

"You don't know him, nobody does. If you knew him then you wouldn't have wanted to join him….and you shouldn't! You should-" said Sho

"Don't shout in public. You're embarrassing yourself." Said Shiori

"I am not. If I don't feel embarrassed then how can I be embarrassing myself?" asked Sho

"When you get older and you get some more self-awareness then you'll know what I'm talking about." Said Shiori

"What's self-awareness?" asked Sho

"Exactly." Said Shiori with a laugh. That got her a glare….the same one Touichirou gave things, sometimes, when they annoyed him. Never people, she got the feeling that she was the only one he ever emoted at, but she had caught him giving the TV that look, sometimes, when it went to commercials.

"You wouldn't be laughing if you knew what I know." said Sho

"I think I would be. You know your Dad makes that exact same face sometimes." Said Shiori

"How would you know?" asked Sho. Big Sis was the only one who made the same faces Dad made, which were no faces at all. Dad always looked bored and Big Sis always looked bored. Sho didn't look a thing like either of them…and anyway that lady wouldn't have known a thing about anything.

"I guess your father hasn't told you about me, has he?" asked Shiori

"What are you, like a new asset or something? Are we going to have a Tenth Division here or whatever?" asked Sho

"No, I'm seeing him." Said Shiori. Touichirou's son began to look around frantically.

"Where?! He's supposed to be in a meeting with my sister…fuck! What the fuck does he fucking think he's fucking-" said Sho

"Not physically, obviously! Now come on, what did I say about cursing. Look, you scared everyone away." Said Shiori, waving her hands around. He at least had the decency to look sheepish.

"….didn't scare anyone…." Muttered Sho. Ok, maybe he had been a little loud but…but whatever. It was a free country and he could say whatever he wanted to say, especially when it came to stuff about Dad.

"Yes you did…but thanks for clearing it out, I suppose, now stop cursing." Said Shiori

"I wouldn't have said that if you hadn't freaked me out like that! Really, you shouldn't lie like that." Said Sho

"I wasn't lying, you just took that way too literally. That's not my fault. Actually it's your father's fault." Said Shiori

"You told me you saw my Dad! And, obviously, he's not here. He hates going places and doing things and he hates animals. I mean fish don't count as animals-" said Sho

"Fish are animals. Just because something lives underwater that doesn't mean that they aren't animals. Honestly. What are they teaching you kids in school these days?" asked Shiori

"I don't know, I don't go to school. I'm homeschooled." Said Sho

"Oh, right. Touichirou mentioned something about that." Said Shiori. Yeah, that was not happening for their kid. She didn't have the time to be homeschooling anyone…but then again she didn't much trust the schools…she'd figure it out later.

"Quit calling my Dad by his given name, it's weird. You don't know him that well…nobody does." Said Sho with a shudder. The thought of anyone knowing Dad that well…it was creepy enough when Hatori called Dad by his given name let alone this total stranger. Maybe this girl liked him or something. When girls had still liked him they used to go right to calling him Sho…

He wondered what could have gone wrong in this poor lady's life that she would have liked DAD of all people.

"I should hope I do considering that we've been seeing each other for quite some time…though I assume he's keeping that fact to himself for some reason." Said Shiori. She had never in her life seen so many emotions pass over someone's face at once. Shock. Fear. Worry. Nausea. Something she couldn't place…something that made all the fish swim away at once. She was, temporarily, blinded by an immediate sea of camera flashes.

Touichirou's son kept his eyes opened wide.

"You're the witch!?" asked Sho. This was….this poor lady! Why was she….Big Sis had told him about her…Shiori. The witch lady, Big Sis was scared to say bitch, that Dad was trying to marry! The one that was going to have their new little brother…she wasn't fat enough that a baby could have been living inside of her…but she wanted to have one. Why? Why did she have to come into their family? Maybe Dad had tricked her or bribed her or forced her to love him…that would have made sense. She clearly needed help. She needed someone to get her out of here!

"The what now?" asked Shiori, fake cleaning out her ear. That was…not the worst thing this kid could have come up with…but she did resent being called a witch. Who had come up with that? Shigeko?

"My sister said that you were, that you looked like a witch…but I don't think that you're a witch at all even if you are wearing a lot of black." Said Sho

"Thanks, I guess?" asked Shiori. Touichirou's son nodded, looked around, and then flipped opened his sketchbook. Alright then, it looked like the conversation was over. For all of Touichirou's children this socially stunted? Well their children wouldn't be…if they even had children. She was back on the fence….maybe if she was still sitting on the fence at this point then it was a sign. She was forty one, if it hadn't happened yet then…well then she was going to need to get off the fence. Time was ticking and she was already getting up there in years…

She needed to choose a side already.

This boy…she'd met two out of three of his children. This one was…well he was better than Shigeko. This one hadn't sought her out, at least, and actually he'd wanted to avoid her. He was keeping to himself now, too. No big speech about how he didn't want her in the family. No demands that she leave his father alone. Just initial shock and now…acceptance? Or maybe he was just trying to distract himself. She watched him flip to a clean page in his sketchbook.

Huh.

She leaned in closer, and then scooted when she felt herself beginning to unbalance. From the little snatches of drawings, mostly hamsters it looked like, he was quite the artist…well at least she knew that she couldn't have drawn like that. He flipped to a clean page. She kept on watching him, now completely invading his personal space…well she had been here first and it wasn't like she was going to do anything to him. If she hadn't retaliated after he'd called her a witch then, obviously, she wasn't going to retaliate at all.

She was, however, going to see what he was going to draw.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a box of colored pencils. Someone had written 'happy birthday leader' on the front…oh, that must have been how he spelled it. She smiled. That was such a Touichirou move. Of course he would have had high hopes for his son…hopes that had obviously been dashed. Touichirou really did not like this one. His oldest daughter was smoking, drinking, doing drugs, and he was so afraid of her that he would rather promote her than keep her away from the grown man trying to sleep with her….but this was somehow his least favorite child.

Sure he could be kind of rude and annoying but on the bright side based on his personality and the fact that he apparently hadn't had a bath in a while it didn't seem like he'd be giving Touichirou the same kind of grief his older sister did.

No, the girls would definitely be avoiding this one…wait, yeah, this was the one who thought that he was gay. He didn't look it. If a kid his age could even be anything yet it was obvious that this kid wasn't. He would have been a hell of a lot cleaner if he had been. He would have had a bath at some point this week, his clothes wouldn't have been so dirty, and his nails wouldn't have been bitten down like that….though this wasn't her son and it wasn't any of her business what he was.

Technically it wasn't any of her business what he drew, either, but…well this was a hell of a lot less personal.

She watched as he put his pencil to the paper. A black one. If he wanted her gone then he could have said something. She watched him draw a line…a stroke, then another, and then another…his stroke order had been off. She could tell what he was going for…a common word. Yeah, she wouldn't be homeschooling her kid like that…or if she did she would have at least made sure that he knew how to spell…whatever that was supposed to say.

'Do you need help?'

That was it. He passed her the sketchbook and a pencil. Underneath he had written 'yes' and 'no'. He had also attempted to write maybe but crossed it out. She shook her head and passed it back. Touichirou sure had done a number on this kid…though of course he should have learned at some point. Though, of course, she wouldn't be letting Touichirou make the same mistake with their kid. She didn't need another one of…

Well this one wasn't so bad, actually.

"Hey! I'm being serious." Said Sho. What was she laughing at? Did she think that he couldn't help her? Well he could! He didn't know how to but he knew that he could.

"I know, and that's why I'm laughing." Said Shiori

"What? You think that I can't save you?" asked Sho

"And how would you do that?" asked Shiori with another laugh.

"I…um…I could put you in a box." Said Sho

"A box?" asked Shiori

"Yeah and…and it would be full of hamsters!" said Sho

"Are you trying to save me or torture me?" asked Shiori

"Save you! I could…um….I could put you in a box full of hamsters because my dad's scared of little animals like that and I could…um…I could ship you to that cat island! My dad doesn't like cats either." Said Sho

"Well, alright then. That's a plan alright." Said Shiori. She put her hand over his mouth. She had to stop laughing…it was hard. This was…it was like talking to a little Touichirou. He came up with crazy plans like this all the time. The dome thing, the cannon to the sun, the traitor holes…oh yeah, this was Touichirou's son alright.

"….I don't get what's so damn funny." Said Sho, closing his sketchbook. He couldn't believe that he'd wasted a whole page on her. That should have been a coral reef. Why had he used black? At least if he'd used blue or green or red or something or…or he could have just written it smaller or…or something. Big Sis had been right, this lady really was a witch…and a bitch, too.

"You, you're…you're adorable, you know that." Said Shiori. He crossed his arms and gave her a look of pure derision.

"I'm twelve, I can't be adorable." Muttered Sho, looking away from her. What'd she have to go and say that for? She was all…all like that. Making fun of him or…or something. Or maybe she was just being a girl. Girls were all like that, they called everything cute or adorable or…or something like that. Whatever. She wasn't…she didn't…if she didn't need his help then she could go away or…or whatever.

"Well you are so deal with it." Said Shiori with a smile. He really was cute. She had never given much thought to how cute kids could be but…yeah, they kind of were. At least this one was. Not terribly so, not enough for her to be able to overlook what had come out of his mouth, but enough that he was good for a laugh. More so than his sister, at least.

"If you're going to be mean then leave me alone. I have drawing to do." Said Sho, turning to the side and opening up his sketchbook again. He was going to draw something or…or something. It would come to him. It would have been able to come to him a lot faster, too, if this lady was ever going to leave him alone.

"Like what?" asked Shiori, leaning over. She caught some more glimpses of what he'd drawn. She hadn't had time to really look any of it over but she could see that there was a level of skill that she just wasn't capable of…that a lot of adults weren't capable of. He was self taught, too, wasn't he?

"Fish." Said Sho as he pulled out a green pencil. He could…he didn't see any green fish but he could do something with this. He didn't know yet. Right now everything that he could see in his mind's eye, his imagination one not the one he used when he tried to see like Shimazaki did, was this lady…this annoying lady!

Dad's actual, real life, girlfriend…gross.

"Which ones?" asked Shiori. She could see them coming back, now. She could have gone back to her spot and watched them…but she had been coming here at least once a week for the past few years. A child art prodigy, on the other hand, didn't actually walk in every single day.

"I don't know yet…whatever comes back first, I think. I don't know…why do you even care?" asked Sho

"Because Touichirou said that you were quite the talented artist and I'd like to see if he was telling the truth." Said Shiori

"He is. That's the only good thing he ever says about me…so it's got to be true." Said Sho quietly. Yeah, it was true. He knew how to draw. He'd always known how to draw, for his whole life, and even Dad had to notice. Dad…Sho didn't care if that was the one thing Dad liked about him. The only thing that Dad had ever liked about him….

"So can I see?" asked Shiori. He sighed and flipped to a seemingly random page in his sketchbook.

"Uh…yeah. You can see something that I drew. I think. I mean…here. You can see this one. It's one of my hamsters. His name is Oreo three. He ate Oreo one and two…hamsters need a lot of space or else they're going to eat each other." Said Sho as he pointed to the picture. Not his best work, he didn't like what he'd done with the shading…he needed to stick to one brand of colored pencil….or at least real artists' ones and not Mukai's…he actually didn't really like it that much…maybe he should have picked a better picture…

"Oh yeah, my goldfish did that too when I was a kid. I kept them in way too small of a bowl." Said Shiori

"You have fish?" asked Sho

"A few tanks, a cat too." Said Shiori

"I used to have a bunch of cats but then we had to get them back to their owners. I still have a cat…well he's kind of Fukuda cat now." Said Sho

"What kind?" asked Shiori

"It's white and fluffy….I don't know what kind, I mostly just know about hamsters. I can't keep them at home, though, so I don't know much. Dad doesn't like pets so you shouldn't marry him and have my little brother or sister because he won't let you have pets. Also he's going to be mean to your baby and maybe make you run away from home." Said Sho. He had to warn her. He didn't like her. He didn't NOT like her. She was…kind of ok. He had been picturing, when Big Sis had said that Dad had a girlfriend, like a girl version of Dad or something…this lady was less gross…but it was still pretty gross that Dad had a girlfriend…

Weird, too, really weird…but she was ok, maybe, since she liked animals.

"If your Dad thinks that he can come in and start making me change my life around like that then he has another thing coming. You don't have to worry about me…or your little brother or sister. Hypothetical little brother or sister." Said Shiori

"What's hypothetical mean?" asked Sho. It better not have meant anything mean or this lady was going the one who was going to have another thing coming.

"It means, like, not here yet. A thought or something." Said Shiori with a wave of her hand.

"Wait…so you aren't having a baby? I mean you don't look fat like you are, just the normal kind of fat, and not even that much-" said Sho

"No, I'm not pregnant." Said Shiori. If he had been anyone else's son then she would have thought that he was trying to be hurtful. He was just Touichirou's son, that was all, so she didn't take it terribly personally. He wasn't her son, it wasn't her job to teach him tact. That had been the first Missus Suzuki's job.

"Ok…that's good. You don't want to have a family and stuff with Dad. Trust me, I'm his family, and he's kind of a-" said Sho

"Don't you dare curse at me again." Said Shiori

"-a jerk." Said Sho. What was it with adults and trying to tell him how to talk? She wasn't his mom, he didn't want her to be his mom, and she didn't get to tell him what to do like his mom had…would have, if she had been around. He never talked like this when she had been around…but if she had been then she wouldn't have wanted him to talk like that. But she wouldn't have gotten to tell him how to talk, either, if she had come back. She had run away from home, from him, and she…she didn't get to tell him anything…but also she was his mom and…and…

He flipped to an empty page.

"Your Dad can be a lot, yeah, I'll give you that. I mean you and your sister don't exactly make it easy on him-" said Shiori

"You don't know anything!" said Sho

"-but, like I said, your dad can be a little high strung." Said Shiori. He was glaring at her now….she had never seen anyone as young as him get that angry before…but then again she hadn't spent this much time with anyone his age since she'd been his age.

"…you don't know anything." Said Sho

"I know what I know. Your Dad doesn't deal with frustration well and I know that you frustrate him. I don't really know why he's so bothered by you, though." Said Shiori. Touichirou had clearly focused on the wrong kid. Sure his son was annoying, and he cursed, but he…well he was an alright kid. At least he hadn't done any drinking, drugs, or anything else that she knew about…probably not. He actually looked like he acted his age.

"…because he hates me." Muttered Sho

"Yeah, he can be pretty dramatic sometimes." Said Shiori

"You…you believe me?" asked Sho

"Of course. I know your Dad and I know how dramatic he can be…believe me, I know." said Shiori

"Hey…can I ask you something?" asked Sho

"Yes?" asked Shiori

"Why do you want to marry my Dad? Why do you want to be my Mom?" asked Sho. He didn't get it. Dad was such a jerk and…and this lady was ok. She was kind of nice….she was probably going to end up running away too. Sho would rather have had no little brother and sister than a little brother and sister, he didn't know which one she wanted so he was just going to assume she was having twins, than a little brother and sister with a mom who'd run away.

"I want to be with your Dad because I do and as for being your mom…you already have one. I don't know if she was a tough act to follow or not but I'm not about to find out. So, yeah, just think of me as the not-fat not-witch who's with your Dad. You don't have to come to me if you have a nightmare, you don't have to get me a Mother's Day present, and you don't have to call me 'mom'. Ok?" asked Shiori with a sigh. That was one heavy conversation…he better not have wanted to keep it up. She didn't know if she had the mental energy. She had come here to get her mental energy back, not to use what little she had left.

"Ok…but…" asked Sho

"But what?" asked Shiori with a groan.

"What do I call you then?" asked Sho. He had to call her something. Sho didn't know if she was going to run away…but if she did stay for a little bit he had to call her something. Not Mom…he didn't need another Mom…but calling her by her family name seemed kind of weird if she was going to be his not-mom.

"Sakata-san is fine, or Shiori-san." Said Shiori with a shrug. Sakata was fine with her but, well, it was kind of odd to have her sort of stepson calling her by her family name…especially after she became a Suzuki. That would have been downright confusing, actually.

"Ok…and you can call me Sho-kun if you want…but not Sho-chan. I'm too old to be chan." Said Sho, looking back down at his sketchbook. This didn't mean that they were friends or anything, it just would have been weird if she called him by his family name. She was going to marry Dad and then she would be Suzuki too and…and even if she left she still would have been Suzuki. So she could call him by his name too….but not the chan part.

"Well then it's a pleasure to meet you, Sho-kun." Said Shiori. She held out her hand and he shook it. That was…she had been dreading this part, meeting Touichirou's other children…but this was ok. This had been better than she'd imagined. He was…he was a pretty ok kid. If she could have gotten through this surprise meeting then she could…she could get back to work. She could get back to her day. She could get back to what she needed to do…

It wasn't serenity but, well, it was close…and it had been free, too. In addition to the twenty three hundred yen.