Author's Note: Tadaaa:D
I guess I'll just make multiple parts. I was originally only going to do two, but this way results in faster posting. Cheers to anyone who picks up the "special" line I threw in there. Thanks for reading! Take care:)
Professor Takamine tried not to be concerned in the least that this was his last day off from work. He would make the best of it. Zatch couldn't get into a lot of trouble by himself, could he? After all, he was just a little boy. Besides, he'd been roughed up and couldn't remember a thing. How much trouble could he be? With the last of the afternoon, the two went out for a walk in a quieter part of London. Filled with wonderment and youthful curiosity, everything was new and exciting to Zatch. He marveled at just about everything. "Wow!" he exclaimed, seeing the Big Ben from afar, its tower standing proud and tall above all other buildings. "Is everything here as cool as that?"
Seitaro chuckled lightly. "Not quite everything, Zatch," he said.
They wandered through town in a free manner, stopping here and there to look at whatever managed to catch Zatch's eye-- which, of course, turned out to be a lot of things. Even after awhile, the boy's enthusiasm remained eminent, but he became increasingly curious about the professor as well and frequently started to ask about things besides the scenery. If they were going to be together awhile, it was probably better to understand one another, despite that Zatch could remember almost nothing about himself.
"Professor," he started cheerily for what had to be the hundredth time, "did you always live here in London?"
"I didn't," replied the other as they passed a little girl who was screaming loudly to her mother that she wanted ice cream. "I came from Japan. My wife and son still live there, though, and I'd like to visit more than I do, but I haven't got many ideal opportunities to go. Besides that, it gets a little pricy." Almost absent mindedly, he bought ice cream for himself and Zatch at the next vendor that sold frozen treats. Thankfully strawberry suited them both just fine, as he'd actually forgotten to ask for Zatch's preference. Kiyo had always liked strawberry when he was little.
"Wow!" the boy responded. "You mean you came from far away just to teach here?"
"Heh, well, sort of."
Zatch smiled, ice cream already smudged on half of his face. "Your students must be really lucky then, to have a teacher who would do that just so he could be here to teach them!" He paused to try and prevent his ice cream from falling off the cone. "What's your son's name?" he asked, wiping off his hand on the side of his dress.
"Kiyo," answered Seitaro, trying to ignore some guy cursing at a car that had 'almost run him down'. "He's a smart boy, but I worry about him sometimes. I wish I could help him, but I'm just so far away." They crossed the street.
"Whaff's wrong wiff him?" his companion asked somewhat incoherently, as he had just stuffed the entire cone into his mouth.
"He's become terribly arrogant, and refuses to do anything with anyone because he seems to feel that they're inferior." He blinked and straightened his glasses with his free hand and finally started eating his ice cream because it was beginning to melt over the side of his hand. He looked down at Zatch. "Would you like to see my apartment?" he asked. It had to be getting close to four or five in the afternoon, if not later.
"Wow! Sure!" Zatch's sheer enthusiasm never seemed to tire out.
Seitaro nodded at him. "Alright. We'll cross to the other side of the street on the way back, though, so that you'll get a better look at everything. How does that sound?"
"It sounds good to me!"
The two of them took their time heading back, and Professor Takamine managed to conquer his strawberry ice cream on the way. It had been awhile since he'd been sightseeing with a child. Kiyo's keen interest with the outside world seemed to have died along with his connection to his peers. Nowadays all the professor could be certain of was that his son spent a great deal of time alone, using his intellect to browse through books and learn more, since he couldn't be bothered to attend school anymore. Piteous, really. It was quite nice to be able to experience enthusiasm like this again. His own son severely lacked it now. In fact, Seitaro could hardly remember the last time he'd spoken to Kiyo for longer than two minutes. As soon as he tried to ask how things were, the boy would unenthusiastically tell him that everything was 'fine', and that he didn't feel like talking about it. Hmm.
He stopped to watch as Zatch began to pursue a leaf that had just blown lazily past his face. The boy seized the leaf in his right hand and carried it with him until they reached the end of the block. By that point, he deemed that a flower box was an appropriate place for his friend the leaf and left it to reside next to a bright red geranium. Despite the warm weather, there were occasional and pleasantly cooling breezes passing through town, and the general atmosphere was very relaxing. Zatch generally never strayed much farther than about ten steps ahead, and they got back to the university in little time at all. Professor Takamine picked up some work that needed to come home with him and hauled it out to the car. Setting it down on the front seat, he smiled apologetically at his guest-to-be. "I hope you understand," he said. "You're a little too short for the front."
Zatch didn't seem to mind. "That's okay!" he replied in his cheery manner, promptly hopping into the back of the black vehicle instead. Seitaro climbed into the front and clicked his seatbelt into place. He heard Zatch do the same. Pulling out of the university parking lot and moving out onto the road, he felt oddly at peace. A feeling that he had forgotten even existed inside him seemed to be dissolving away. A few times, Seitaro had wondered very vaguely if it were possible that Kiyo didn't talk to him much out of dislike. But… somehow, now with Zatch here with his indomitable cheeriness and sweet smile, he had forgotten about it. Memories of his son when he was young were resurfacing in his mind, reminding him of how Kiyo had once liked school and enjoyed being around other children. If only there was a way to make it like that again. If only there was a way for Kiyo to see that people could care about him, and they could learn to see past his intellect. To see that he was really just like them. He shook his head, distilling the thoughts.
"So, Zatch," he began conversationally, "do you like fish?"
"Fish?" repeated Zatch from somewhere behind him.
"Yes. A friend gave me some yellowtail the other day, and I thought I'd make that for dinner tonight. What do you think?"
Quite honestly, Zatch didn't think anything. His knowledge of yellowtail went about as deep as what the professor had already stated: that it was fish. Any previous recollection of it was dead in his mind, and so it may as well have been a new thing to him… errr, provided, of course, that he'd had experience with it beforehand in the first place. "That sounds okay to me," replied the boy, fidgeting slightly with his seatbelt. He watched with great interest as scenery went blurring past the windows. "Say, professor?"
"Yes?"
"Is your home far from here?"
"Oh, about fifteen minutes," estimated Seitaro. "It's not a bad drive."
After awhile of more driving, the apartment came into view. It was a smart looking place; tidy and quiet. Professor Takamine's black car pulled in next to a little red one and came to a smooth halt. A soft breeze danced gracefully through the leaves of a nearby tree that shadowed over part of the parking lot. The professor unloaded his arsenal of work from the car single-handedly, and managed to pull his keys out of his pants pocket. "Alright, Zatch, we're going up now." The boy, looking somewhat impressed by his ability to carry so much with just one arm, nodded. They headed up stairs in general silence, largely because Professor Takamine was concerned that if he stopped focusing he'd drop all of his stuff. The thought of paper flying in every direction was enough to keep him quiet. They headed down a hall and wound up in front of a dark wood door. Seitaro unlocked it as efficiently as he could with one hand, marched into the closest room and heaved the tremendous stack of files, books and paper onto a chair. "Whew. At least that's done with." Setting the keys down on his coffee table, he straightened and looked back at Zatch, who was now surveying his surroundings with great interest. The professor's living quarters were every bit as tidy and well-kept as his office. Again, there was a lot of varnished wooden furniture. The whole place seemed to be the picture-perfect image of what you'd imagine a professor's apartment to look like. Tidy, organized and with a hint of intellect.
"You live here by yourself?" the blonde haired boy asked, looking genuinely surprised.
Seitaro chuckled at him. "Yes, I do." He too paused to let his eyes wander around the room. "Although it seems like I spend most of my time at the university anyway." He walked into the kitchen, closely followed by Zatch, who appeared to be afraid of getting lost in the maze of rooms. It was a large apartment. The clock mounted on the wall above the shiny fridge read 5:23PM. Again, he let his eyes fall back to Zatch, who was now peeking under the table as though expecting to see something lurking underneath it. "I think I'll start on dinner," he said decidedly to the boy, whose attention immediately snapped back and became reaffixed on his companion. "You can go take a look around if you like." He smiled kindly. "Go wherever you want to. For now, this is your home, too, okay?"
Zatch nodded enthusiastically. "Okay! Thank you, sir!" And in an instant, the professor saw the dark hem of his dress disappear around the corner. Nice kid, the thought to himself. He peeled off his suit jacket and folded it over the back of a chair. Now if only he could get his own son to learn to be as open about learning about the world around him.
The boy, meanwhile, was entertaining himself by curiously wandering around the apartment. It was big and miraculously tidy. It was fairly obvious that the professor was almost always the only one here. Everything was immaculately clean as a result of his limited time at home in conjunction with the fact that he lived here himself. In addition, there seemed to be more rooms than necessary. Despite his overwhelming interest in discovering the many different rooms, he decided respectfully to stay away from the professor's room. That might be the best idea. This way, he could retain his personal space even with Zatch around. The beige walls of the hallway were neatly garnished with a few nicely centered framed photos, more of what had to be Seitaro Takamine and his family. Zatch was somewhat intrigued by his son. Was that smiling little boy really Kiyo? Professor Takamine hadn't exactly given him a mental image of a cheery little kid with a wide grin when he'd been talking about him before…
Before long, the professor called him back to the kitchen.
"All finished," he declared with a warm smile. "Have a seat."
Zatch nodded and somehow managed to get himself up onto one of the dining room chairs. They sure were tall..! "Thank you!" he said as Professor Takamine set a warm plate down in front of him. The fish smelled superb. So superb, in fact, that Zatch was almost excited about eating it. He had to be polite, though. He waited until his host had sat down across from him before picking up his fork.
"I used to use chopsticks," Seitaro told him, "but over here, the cutlery is far more common. It's better just to get used to it, I thought." He gave an encouraging nod. "Don't be shy, though. Eat as much as you like. You've been through a lot, I'd say."
"Thank you!" Zatch said again, although much more graciously this time. Having to wait before eating that fish was killing him. "It smells wonderful!" He jabbed his fork prong-side down into the fish and promptly stuck the whole thing in his mouth. His whole body practically glowed from the inside at the taste of it. It was like waking up in a grassy field, fresh with morning dew. His already strikingly bright eyes shone. This was quite possibly the most incredible thing he had ever eaten… or could remember eating, anyway. This, he deemed instantly, was now his absolute favorite food in the entire world. Yes. He swallowed it and looked up eagerly at the professor. "W- what did you say this was called?" he asked, trying his best not to drool.
"Yellowtail," Seitaro answered, looking somewhat startled. "I'm glad you like it. Furthermore, I'm glad you didn't choke…"
Zatch could hardly contain himself. Eating that fish was probably one of the most pleasant of all experiences he could actually remember. He also felt a new affinity for the professor, being as he'd been the one to give it to him in the first place. Ah, that marvelous, marvelous yellowtail…
After dinner, Professor Takamine seemed to be slightly at a loss of what to talk about. He explained as much as he could about his job, and about the university, and then answered Zatch's numerous questions pertaining to where exactly Egypt was and how he has managed to learn such complicated stuff. He then asked how to spell 'hieroglyph', and after failing to repeat the spelling more than six times, gave up. The two sat in relative silence in front of the coffee table, where Seitaro had now begun sorting a few folders. "I hope you don't mind, Zatch," he said honestly. "It's just that if I get it out of the way now, then we can do whatever you like. How's that?"
The boy gave him an enthusiastic nod. "Okay!"
"In the meantime," he offered, furthermore, "you can occupy yourself with anything you want. I quite honestly don't mind. There's next to nothing here you could really break, either, so I wouldn't worry." He smiled warmly. Nothing on the face of the earth seemed to be capable of upsetting the professor. Not once so far had even a flicker of frustration or annoyance appeared on his face. Professor Seitaro Takamine was almost infinitely patient.
And as Zatch decided to continue his curious prod around the apartment and Professor Takamine tried to finish some work, they both forgot completely that the red book was still sitting in the kitchen, untouched and unreadable, its red cover staring at the ceiling…
…its contents still as mysterious as its owner.
