HI! IM SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG! Ok, Ill explain; Besides the fact that I had summer vacation homework (don't look at me, the English teacher might've lost her marbles), I suffered from writers block for about 3 weeks straight. When I finally managed to get something written down, Stupid computer decided it would be fun to make me go nuts by turning itself off and erasing all my work. Anywho, I finally managed to remember most of it, and here it is! Please forgive the long wait…
Suki woke up earlier than anybody and found herself still in Kai's arms. She stayed there, her eyes open, enjoying the feeling of his strong body protecting hers. They were laying against each other, her head on his shoulder, his arm across her stomach.
After a while, she began to sit up when a thought popped into her mind; if her parents awoke and saw both of them in that position, there would be a lot of trouble.
There would be no explaining her presence in Ishuzo's bed with Kai hugging her in an intimate way at this hour in the morning. Come to think of it, it would be pretty hard to explain at ANY hour.
She managed to get out of his firm grip around her without waking him up. She looked back into the room before leaving. Kai still looked so handsome when he slept. She didn't think it was possible but his face was no longer stern, hard and cold. It was calm, soft and relaxed. The morning sun rays entered the room silently, gently touching his face, creating soft shadows and adding to that angelic sight. She smiled and turned away fighting the urge to go back into his arms.
She walked into the kitchen; she was in a good mood and wanted to prepare something to eat for the family for a change.
"Goodness, did I wake up in the wrong house?"
"Good morning to you too, mom." Replied Suki, smiling at her and turning back to the stove.
"It smells good." Said a male voice behind her mother. Kazumi moved to the side as Kugamoro stepped into the kitchen, followed by Ishuzo.
"Does too." Ishuzo said. "Made me realize how hungry I was."
They sat at the table, waiting for her to serve breakfast. She began to prepare the beverages; Kugamoro would have coffee, Kazumi a mint tea and Ishuzo chocolate milk.
"Can Kambei come eat with us?" said Suki setting the plates full of eggs down at the table.
"Suki, don't start." Said Kugamoro.
"What on earth is wrong with you all?" she said, taking away the breakfast plates away from the table before anyone had a chance to taste anything. "Are you still with that 'he sent you to the hospital' crap?"
Her family looked at her wide eyed.
"If it is, then I have something to say about it. He made a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect. He…"
"Suki, his mistake…" interrupted Kugamoro, but his interruption was interrupted by Suki.
"Number one rule of the communication process; do not interrupt the speaker."
Kugamoro closed his mouth, cleared his throat and nodded to her.
"Go on."
"Nobody is perfect. He is only human after all, and like any other human, he deserves a second chance."
Kazumi looked at her daughter with pride. "Where did you get so much wisdom from?" she asked.
"I learned from the best." Suki answered, smiling shyly to her parents.
"Bring him in." said Kugamoro.
"I can't believe all the things you've done to get me out of this mess." Said Kambei, now walking out of his room.
"Yeah, well, we have to stick up for each other. If we don't, nobody else will."
They gave each other a thumbs up and a clown smile before entering the kitchen as normal as they could. When they did so, they noticed that somebody was sitting at the table as well; somebody with gray hair in the front and navy blue in the back…
"Hey, Kai!" said Suki, rushing into the room. His eyes looked at her with sleepy coldness, and nodded at her.
"Good morning son." Said Kugamoro in a very high-class way.
"Dad, leave all that formability for later. Make room for the fifth member of the Tatewaki family." Suki said, now putting a chair between Ishuzo and herself.
She served another plate for her brother, herself and Kai and some orange juice for the three of them and then they all began to eat.
"This delicious!" said Ishuzo, stuffing her mouth with eggs.
"Indeed a very delicious flavor unlike the food that's cooked by a certain person I know." Said Kugamoro turning to see his wife.
"Hey, if it wouldn't have been for me, this girl wouldn't even know how to cook." She said in self defense.
"You're right, darling." He said turning back to the plate. "Without you, this girl would've never known the difference between baked eggs and that black pancake-like mass you like to call eggs." He looked up to his guest, daughters and son and added, "I swear, the first time your mother cooked for me, I realized I could be married to a serial killer… I've never run so fast in my life…"
He almost chocked on his coffee when Kazumi gave him a cold glare while the kids laughed. Kai was looking down at his plate, trying to hide his smirk. It was a very comfortable atmosphere. They chatted and laughed, just like a family should. Even Kai was smiling every now and then at the family jokes, and he definitely felt comfortable around them. Family time was interrupted by a phone call that demanded Kugamoro to his work. Kazumi received the second call a few seconds later from Ishuzo's dentist, reminding them that the appointment was for that morning. Kambei asked for permission to go find a job.
As soon as this was mentioned, it was as if somebody had pushed a pause button; everybody froze on what they were doing just to look back at him.
"Nobody is perfect. He is only human after all, and like any other human, he deserves a second chance." Suki's words were heard again, like a distant echo in Kazumi's and Kugamoro's mind.
"Sure, son." Said Kugamoro. "Just be careful." He smiled.
Kazumi looked at her husband with tenderness; Suki's words had made an effect on him. The fast forward button was pressed and within minutes, the house was empty with the exception of Kai and Suki.
She began to clear the table, and was caught by surprise when she realized he was helping. "You don't have to…"
"But I want to." He said.
They began washing the dishes in silence. When they were about to finish, Kai splashed some water on her face. She gasped as she pulled away from the sink to rub the water out of her cheek with her arm.
"Sorry." He said, although she could see mischief in his eyes. She accepted the apology, and continued rinsing the dishes quietly. After some time, she splashed him with water. He straightened up, and turned his head to her slowly.
"Oops." She said grinning.
His hand cupped slowly under the soapy water as he continued to look at her, silently.
"Did you know you're short?" he said.
Finally, without a warning, his hand came up in a sudden jerk towards her and splashed her again with water. She pulled away, and when she came back to the sink, another wave of water met her right away. She cupped a bit of water in her hand and sent it off in Kai's direction, who ducked with surprising speed. But when he came back up, another wave of water was waiting for him and smacked him right in the face.
That was enough for the two teens to go outside and begin a water fight, forgetting the single dish that was left lonely in the water, for its companions were now drying outside the sink.
As Suki and Kai headed outside arguing who was short in height, speed ability and skills, he grabbed the garden hose and she the sprinkler gun.
"Nobody calls me slow and gets away with it!" he yelled, charging in her direction, spraying water at her.
"Nobody calls me SHORT and gets away with it!" she screamed back, charging in his direction.
They ran from here to there, shouting in surprise and laughing every now and then when the cold water touched their hot skins. In her attempt to run from him, she slipped in the mud and landed on her back. Kai came up to her, and tried to help her up, but then his feet gave way above the slimy brown substance and the also fell face up. Suki got on top of him, rubbing his clothes with mud, as he reached up to her face and stained it with mud as well. Somehow, they began a mud wrestle that only lasted a few minutes; all their energy had been given away at the water fight. They laughed a crazy and exhausted laugh that only seemed to get worse when they realized they didn't know what they were laughing about.
It was the first time Suki had seen Kai laugh. Sure, he had smiled and smirked every other day, but now he was laughing. Strings of laughter were actually produced by his vocal chords, showing this part of him that probably not even his teammates had seen. She didn't mention anything though. If he was doing this, it was probably an unconscious behavior, and she didn't want to ruin it. She stood up, and offered a muddy hand to him, which he took right away. They rinsed the mud away with what they had used as weapons when the whole battle began. Then they walked to the little forest edge to dry and relax.
As they sat on the grass, Kai became aware of a thought Dranzer was shoving into his mind. He felt happy, unworried, relaxed. It was even hard for him to keep that stern expression on his face.
"Suki…" he said all of a sudden. She looked at him.
"Yeah?"
"Nothing." He whispered. He felt stupid.
Suki gave him a weird look and then turned away from him.
He knew there was something in for it so he just… "Suki." He repeated.
"Yeah?" she answered, this time not looking at him.
"I wanted to ask you…" he hesitated.
"DO IT!" yelled Dranzer in Kai's head.
"Look, I want you to come with me." Kai blurted out.
Suki looked at him, not really understanding what he was talking about.
"Come with me to live in Russia." He added.