Hello people! Here I am with chapter 5! There are some big moments in this one. I hope enjoy reading it and please leave a review after you finish.

Chapter 5: News
Sora opened the door from her apartment and let Yamato walk in first. He took a careful look at the whole place he was quite familiar with. He remembered he and Sora lived here for a while until they were able to buy their own apartment on the other side of the bay. He let out a smile. If walls could talk…
"What are you smiling at?" Sora asked with curiosity.
"Oh I was just thinking how we basically had sex in every room of this place. I'm glad your parents didn't move in until we were expecting Aiko. I wouldn't be able to look at them while knowing they probably heard us."
"I know." A smile appeared on the woman's lips as well. "We were rather loud."
"Rather?" Yamato asked with his eyebrow raised. "You're just being modest. I'm pretty sure our neighbor downstairs used the broomstick to knock on his roof and yelled for us to be quieter."
"That's true! I remember now! God, we were laughing so much."
"Those were good times." He said without noticing and immediately became serious. "I mean, who did you want me to see?"
"Come here." Sora reached for his hand and their fingers immediately intertwined. She guided Yamato to a bedroom.
She opened the door carefully and soon a crib came into view. Yamato felt his heart pounding in his chest. Could it be…? He followed Sora towards the crib and a baby appeared in his field of view.
"Who is this?" He felt dumb asking this question. Of course he knew it was a baby, but he hoped she got the real intention of the question.
"Yamato, I want you to meet Kouji."
"You had a baby in Paris?" Yamato stared at Sora and bit his lower lip. He was feeling his body beginning to get tense with the way the conversation was going.
"I did, but not from another man, if that's what you're wondering. He's your son."
There it was. Yamato looked to the baby boy sleeping peacefully in his crib and couldn't help but smile. He couldn't deny it at all. Kouji was a perfect replica of him. "My son. So you were pregnant when you left."
"I was. I only found out about it when I was already in France."
"How old is he?"
"He's eighteen months."
"I have another child. Wow." He felt dizzy, so he held onto the crib as firmly as he could.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'm just processing everything." Yamato paused for a moment. "You didn't… you had our second child and didn't even think of telling me about this?"
"Yamato…"
"It's my son, Sora!" He yelled and then looked over to the crib. Luckily, all Kouji did was move around a little bit. Yamato walked out of the bedroom and Sora followed him.
"I'm sorry."
"Well, sorrow won't change things, will it?" He turned around to look at her. "You go away for two years, leaving me and Aiko on our own without a reasonable explanation. And now I find out that you had our baby!"
"I thought you'd be happy about this."
"I am. I just…" Yamato was so nervous he couldn't formulate a proper sentence. He ruffled his hair and paced around her kitchen nervously.
"You were so receptive earlier, at Tokyo Bay." Sora tried to grab his arm.
"Don't touch me!" He jerked it away from her. "I'm going home."
The woman simply watched him storming off her apartment. She lowered her head and held her tears back. It was harder than she thought, but she wasn't going to give up that easily.

.

Mimi felt like her heart was about to explode. She didn't remember a time she had been this nervous in her life. She had spent the last five minutes in front of the Taichi and Koushiro's apartment and still hadn't rang the doorbell. She didn't know what to expect and it was frightening her.
"Come on, Mimi. Take a deep breath." She told herself. "You can do this. Whatever they answer is, this is your decision. We're doing this with or without them."
Finally, Mimi gathered all the courage she needed and rang the bell. She was shocked to hear a thud noise and someone cursing inside the apartment. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that was Taichi. She heard Koushiro mumbling something to him before opening the door.
"Sorry for taking so long to answer the door, Mimi. We had a situation here."
"I could tell. What happened?"
"Taichi was being clumsy as always." Koushiro rolled his eyes. "He tripped over the bucket I was using to clean the living room and the water spread around."
"It wasn't my fault!" Taichi screamed from the laundry area of the apartment.
Mimi couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "This is so typical of him."
"Anyway, please come in." Koushiro stepped aside to let her walk in and closed the door right after.
Mimi noticed their apartment looked slightly different. Taking a brief look around, she saw that it looked neater and wondered if they were taking her proposal very seriously or if Koushiro had called Taichi out for leaving their home a mess.
"This should go in the fridge." She turned to look at Koushiro and motioned to the square box in her hands.
"Oh right, let me put it there." He took the box from her grasp and put it on the table while he tried to make room for it. It didn't take him long to find some.
"Something smells delicious here." Mimi stated and looked at the oven. "What are we having for dinner?"
"Lamen." Koushiro replied as he approached them. "It's a little simple meal, but Taichi wanted to eat it. I hope you don't mind it."
"Not at all. I love eating lamen with jellybeans." She clapped her hands together excitedly.
The man tried his best to hide his nausea from Mimi's eccentric taste. They have been friends for years, but he still hasn't got used to her different food taste. He secretly hoped their child wouldn't inherit it from her. Taichi soon joined them and Mimi couldn't not pay attention to his outfit. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and jeans. She raised her eyebrow at the sight. It was very rare to see him dressed so formal when he wasn't working. Maybe they were taking it very seriously then.
"Now that Taichi is here, we can finally start eating."

.

Aiko was happily jumping all the way to her apartment. She enjoyed spending weekends with her uncle, aunt and cousin, but she also missed her father and couldn't wait to see him again. She frowned when she tried to twist the doorknob open, but was too short to reach it. Takeru couldn't help but laugh as he picked her up to do it.
"A few more years and you'll be able to do it on your own."
"When will it be?"
"Maybe in two or three years."
"That's a lot." The frown was back in Aiko's face when her feet touched the ground. "Daddy!"
Yamato instantly knelt down with a grin on his face when his daughter came running and threw herself towards him. "Hello sunshine. Are you okay?"
"Yes." Aiko looked at Takeru. "Uncle Takeru and aunt Hikari took me and cousin Yamazaki to a park this weekend."
Takeru found himself sighing in relief at the fact Aiko didn't let slip to Yamato that she had seen Sora. He knew sometimes his niece had difficulty keeping secrets. Not that he blamed her at all; she was just a small child.
"That's cool! Did you have fun?"
"I did! I went in a big slide." She spread her arms as wide as she could to show her father the size of the slide.
"That's huge!"
"And then we ate ice cream."
"Nice!" Yamato put her down. "Now why don't you go get ready for shower? I'll be there in a second."
"Okay." Aiko ran to Takeru and hugged him in the legs. She giggled when the man ruffled her hair and then ran to her bedroom, closing the door.
"She's full of energy." Takeru smiled before turning his attention to Yamato. "Brother, there's something I want to talk to you about."
"Okay." Yamato felt tense. It was very rare to see Takeru this serious about a certain matter. He pulled a chair and sat down, motioning for his brother to sit across him. "What it is?"
"I don't know how to say this, but…" He bit his lip. How was he supposed to say his ex-sister-in-law had returned to Odaiba? "Sora is back."
Yamato shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but didn't seem as surprised about it. Takeru got the hint.
"You've seen her."
"I have. She was hidden in the hall outside yesterday, when you came to pick Aiko up. She waited until you two left to approach me."
"I can't imagine how shocked you must have been."
"Tell me about it. She had some nerves to show up here after years without contact."
"What happened then?"
"I said some things that were kept inside me in these two years and then told her to leave, of course. What else was I supposed to do? Accept her with open arms after everything she did? I don't think so."
"That's what I thought. So what are you going to do now?"
"Honestly?" Yamato ruffled his blonde hair. "I don't know. I would be lying if I said I don't love Sora anymore and that I'm not shaken up with her return. But at the same time, she went untouchable for two years. She left Aiko and me behind without hesitating. I really don't know how to feel. My emotions are all over the place right now." He lowered his head and sighed deeply.

.

"I think I'll never get over the fact Mimi likes to eat her lamen with jellybeans." Taichi leaned back on his seat once he finished eating.
"Taichi!" Koushiro called him out and was satisfied his message was successfully delivered to his roommate.
"I'm sorry, Mimi." The brunette man quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to offend your taste in food or anything."
"It's okay, Taichi. I'm used to this now." Mimi turned to Koushiro. "This was actually quite good. I didn't know you cooked so well."
"It wasn't always like this. When I moved out from my parents' house, I was awful at making my own food in the beginning. So I had to try quite a few times before I gradually got better at it. I wouldn't say I'm a chef, but I can get around it."
"What about you, Taichi?"
"Hmm, I think I'm almost in the same boat as Koushiro. Because of my travels, I got to try and learn a few foreign dishes too. Though I have cooked only about two or three of them so far."
"That's so cool." Mimi clapped her hands together once excitedly. "I think our child won't ever get bored with food then."
"About that…" Koushiro spoke. "Taichi and I have been talking about it for the past few days."
"What about it?" She was taken by surprise.
"Well, we both agreed to be the fathers of your child. We don't want to know who the biological father will be."
"Okay." Mimi said calmly, though she was internally screaming with happiness. "Does that mean you both agree with my proposal?"
"Yes." Both Taichi and Koushiro said at the same time.
"This might be my only chance to have a child, so…"
"I see." She paused and bit her lower lip. "And what happens if one or both of you eventually find a woman and get married? Would you tell her about our child?"
"I would." Taichi stated firmly. "I'd be honest with her."
"And would you still be present on our child's life? I'm sorry for asking these personal questions, but I really need to know everything through before we go along with it."
"Of course, we totally understand it. You need to have as many guarantees as you can." Koushiro said. "It's a life we are talking about after all."
"Exactly, thank you."
"Speaking for myself, I would. My hypothetical future wife would have to understand I had a life before her and things happened. I expect her to understand and support me."
"I pretty much agree with Koushiro." Taichi nodded. "The last thing I want is to abandon my child."
"I'm happy to hear that." A smile appeared on her red lips.
"Are you okay with the idea of us two being the father? It would be like a three way relationship."
"Except we're both straight."
"That's why I said it would be like, Taichi." Koushiro rolled his eyes.
"I'm more than okay with this."
"Great." Taichi pushed his chair away and stood up. "I'm going to get our dessert."

.

Aiko was happily playing with her toys on the bathtub when Yamato walked into the bathroom and saw the mess she had made.
"Did you spray water on the floor again, Aiko?" Yamato complained but he knew his daughter wouldn't take him seriously, and the fact she giggled just proved his point.
"Daddy, why don't you play with me?"
"What are you playing?"
"Ellie just found her duck."
"Ellie? Wasn't her name Amanda yesterday?"
"No, daddy. It's Ellie. You're ruining the story."
"I'm sorry." He couldn't help but laugh. "So Ellie found her duck."
"Yes." Aiko splashed the duck into the water and some of Yamato's shirt got wet. "Oops, sorry daddy."
"That's fine. It will dry soon." He told her with a smile and went to get her animal themed towel. "Alright, sunshine. Time to get out of the bath."
"Ah no, daddy. I want to stay here."
"Not this time, sunshine. You still need to eat."
"I don't want to eat, I want to play with my toys."
"You have to, so you won't grow stronger. And you can play with your toys when you finish eating."
"Daddy?" Aiko gave in and let her father pull her out of the bathtub.
"Yes?"
"When is mommy coming back?"
"Your mother?"
"Yes."
"I don't know. She hasn't contacted us since she left." Yamato tried to sound as convincing as he could, despite the lump on his throat.
"She's here. I saw her this weekend."
"You what?!"
"She was at the park uncle Takeru and auntie Hikari took me. She had a very strange hair."
Yamato kept drying his daughter as he absorbed what she had just told him. So that's why Sora was wearing a black wig, of course. It all made sense. She wanted to get close to Aiko, but without scaring her. He was surprise Aiko would recognize her with it, but he thought they still shared a very strong connection. They were mother and daughter after all.
"Daddy?" Aiko asked as she shook his arm as strong as she could for her age. "Daddy, are you there?"
"Yes, sunshine. I'm sorry." He smiled at her and then picked her up. "Now let's go put on your Frozen pajamas."
"I want the pink one."
"The strawberry one? But you don't really like that one."
"But it's mom's favorite. And I want to be wearing it when she arrives."
Once again Yamato was left speechless that night. He couldn't help but think Sora had already made a mess in their daughter's head. He blamed her for not thinking it through before approaching her.

.

A few hours later, when Aiko finally fell asleep, Yamato walked to the balcony. It was rather a warm night and the sky was full of stars. He glanced to the other side of the bay, where Sora's apartment was. He also couldn't stop thinking about the fact she had their second child while she was disappeared for these two years and took away the chance of watching her deliver and see his son grow up. Sure, he got to experience it with Aiko, but a second child was something they were planning for a couple of months back then. After taking a deep breath, he lowered his head in the open space between his arms and looked down.