+++++ The Weight of the Sky

"Auntie Koko?" A small voice preceded a tiny, toddling, frame into the kitchen. "I saw Daddy on the moving picture…."

Kodama glanced over to her niece with a calm smile. "Of course you did, Ten-Chan. The news is on right now, and your Daddy has been very busy of late. It's only natural that they'd want to show the world what he's been doing on their behalf."

"Ya-huh," a little head nodded in firm agreement, "Daddy's always working, 'cept when he reads me stories."

"Except," the busty nurse corrected. "Remember, language is how we share ideas with others. We need to always be clear in what we say, to avoid hurting people."

Stumbling over the sound, she tried again, "Eckuh…. Ehckuh…." Closing her eyes and taking a deep, calming, breath, she blew it out in frustration. "That word hard!"

"That word is hard," Kodama maintained her demeanor despite correcting the child once more. "But that's why we practice around family. Because we all love you, and we all want you to succeed." Setting more chicken in the pan to simmer, she gave more of her attention to her niece. "So, why weren't you happy when you saw him?"

"He was mad." Her lips scrunched to the side in an imitation of her mother's preferred expression of thoughtful concern. "He smiled for the people making bright flashes at him…but I could tell he was mad."

Some things aren't meant for young minds, unfortunately. "Well, I won't lie to you and say you're wrong. He's very upset with a number of people right now, for things they've done supposedly in his name without his consent. I promise you, you aren't one of the people he's upset with."

Proving that dogged protectiveness over Shinji wasn't limited to his wives and his military, the young child suddenly frowned with an adorable aggression. "Is someone hurting my Daddy?"

"Lots of people are," Maya swept into the room, scooping up her daughter and placing her on her hip. "That's part of leadership, accepting more pain so the people beneath you don't have to deal with as much. But," accepting a kiss from Kodama, she winked her appreciation of her paramour's efforts at being a good co-parent, "Daddy's strong. He has us, he has the people from the United Nations, and most importantly, he has you." Accompanying the statement with a tap of the child's nose, she prompted a string of giggles. "So when he comes home tonight, remember to tell him how you feel. There's nothing more in the world that he wants than to know what's going through your mind."

Kodama tried to steer the conversation away from potentially troublesome waters, "How's it going, Foxy?"

"Great, actually." Maya picked up on the signal and ran with it. "We've isolated three of the software issues preventing a full integration with the linguistics systems, and Rose has some people working with Rits on ironing those out." Actual amusement was present in her laugh. "If it weren't for the fact that tomorrow's her day for a date with Shinji, she likely wouldn't return home for dinner tonight. The leaps in understanding she's gaining…I'm smart, but I doubt I'll ever be on her level."

"Yes you will, you're my Mama!" Cheering in her own way, the small toddler pumped her fists in a perfect imitation of Hikari's preferred method of expressing enthusiasm. "My Mama can do anything! Daddy says so all the time."

"He's a wise man, your Daddy," Kodama added her support of the idea.

The feel of the household shifted, the arrival of the man they spoke of altering the emotional resonance around them all. All those in the kitchen could hear was the tail end of whatever he'd begun to say where he had previously been standing. "…I won't succeed in this otherwise." Pain, anger, and disappointment radiated off of him as he continued, "In Ninteen Fifty-Five the United States sent 'advisory troops' into Viet Nam. Eighteen years of pointless and bloody conflict later, it took another three decades before the two nations were actually willing to advance even something as benign as trade. If I find that Russia sent in 'advisory troops' to assist the regional resettlement governments run by the Non-Aligned Movement, I'm going to have to make an example of them. Because I doubt we have three-"

"Hey, Babe," Kodama cut in hard as the topic at hand drifted far too close to something that they hoped wouldn't be necessary to discuss, stepping out of the kitchen and drawing attention towards herself. "Hi, Ireul. We were just in the kitchen with Ten-chan getting dinner moving. Are you doing ok?" She gestured towards the clearly pregnant Aspect's midsection. "Do you need to sit down?"

Thank you. Walking over and giving a quick kiss to the top of Kodama's head, he understood what she'd just prevented and was earnest in his gratitude. Moving past her and leaving the first of his Aspects to be with child, he stepped into the kitchen where his 'second' wife held their daughter with a calm smile on her lips. "Hello ladies." Picking both wife and child up in a gentle bear hug, he shoved all of his negative emotions aside for the moment to perform his duty. "How were your lessons today, sweetie? Did you pay good attention to Mama Hikari and Mama Tsuru?"

"Ya-huh," the little one nodded eagerly, pleased to receive attention from the man that always had kindness for her, "I did, I did. I learned that this many," one hand held up three fingers, "and this many," the other hand held up two fingers, "makes five. Which you can use a bunch of funny looking picture words to show other people. There's the West People picture word, our People picture word, and a whole bunch of little dot thingies and dash thingies. There must be…uhm…there must be a great many fifty-fifty ways to show other people!"

Swallowing a laugh at the term her daughter had chosen to indicate 'the largest number I can think of', Maya supported the lesson herself. "Language groups tended to congregate towards only a few main systems of noting numerals after we started trading goods like food or jewelry with other nations. It made it easier for them to communicate if both sides understood what the other meant by the numbers they wrote."

"Ya-huh," she clapped, happy that she could demonstrate another part of the lesson, "Mama Tsu-Tsu said that…uhm…that math is the…is the…." The word began to escape her mind.

"The Universal Language," Shinji supplied, setting Maya down on her feet again, "and she's very correct. Math, even with different counting systems, still requires an understanding of 'two plus three equals five'. If another culture somehow thought that two and three equaled six, we'd wonder what happened to five!"

Ten-chan laughed with innocent amusement at the thought. "That'd be silly, Daddy! Five has to be friends with Four and Six, Mama Hikari said so!"

The moment, as they tended to with him, did not last long. A voice that clearly changed what it was about to say before entering the room, urged with clipped tones, "Turtle, if you have a moment, we…received a message from a friend of Nozomi-chan."

Shinji turned to face the woman he knew as 'Moriko', but who he knew preferred to use nicknames. A quick assessment told him that, like usual, she wasn't prone to interrupting his family time for no reason. "Give me a minute, Mushroom. I need to figure out a good time for Ten-chan's bedtime story."

"You'll always have more than a minute from me." She gave a grin and a wink, appreciating the importance in his mind of being a 'good father'. Turning her eyes to Maya, she helped in keeping things from growing dark in her own way. "Am I helping her take a bath before or after she wears half of dinner?"

"How about after. It looks like we're having something involving a lot of sauces tonight." Maya urged Shinji onwards. "Her bedtime is what it always is, Pup. Nine o'clock. She'll have the book picked out then, and you can read her to sleep."

I need to be around her more often. Shinji's worry and anxiety swirled through his bearing. Showing up at random, only having time to read one story, it's-

It is a normal part of her childhood, My Love. Ireul's voice cut him off firmly. She is surrounded by affection, given constant attention, and her education has been without peer. She knows you love her, she sees it every time you look at her. Her Daddy is saving humanity. Trust your wives.

She's right, you know, Maya added with a slight slap on his flank. You make time for her, and you listen. You are not becoming your father. Reaching up with the same hand, she smoothed it across his cheek. You are just starting to understand the pressure he was under to give humanity a chance at a future that wasn't determined beyond their own control, whatever he might have gained from the process.

Giving a kiss to both daughter and wife, he sighed out, "The sky isn't getting any lighter, Kitten." Turning away, he offered to allow Moriko to lead him to their destination. As was usual for him, he noted what she wore, and offered his opinion of how it sat upon her. "I think that very few twenty-five-year olds would have the self-assurance to wear that. It fits you beautifully."

"You have no idea how hard it was to have it made in the right tone of orange." She rolled her eyes, waving her hands in exasperation. "I had to go to five stores, argue with, like, twenty associates. They kept saying that 'it didn't fit my coloration'. I swear. I really think it's only you and Noelle that understand me sometimes."

"Well, not everyone has saved you from drowning, like she and I have." Reaching over, he pulled her into a side hug as they walked along. "What am I walking into?"

Her voice lowered, the matter too grim for volume, "She thinks they're all dead, again."

It was the same old chestnut, and he was growing weary of having it hang over his head. "I swear…I'll rip the universe in half."