Description: Ashura is not a responsible parent.

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Ashura's schedule had been packed the last few weeks leaving little time for himself or for Fai. With war threatening to break out at any moment, it really didn't come as that much of a surprise. Fai had been rather busy himself. As a member of the court magicians he would be training hard to prefect his defensive and offensive spells.

Ashura had been rather worried that Fai would indeed have to play a role in the war at such a young age. The blonde had only just been awarded the D title, the most prestigious award a wizard in the land could obtain, a few weeks before the conflicts started… of course Ashura had over looked the possibility of war when he had made the decision in the first place.

Fai possessed amazing ability, although he still had much to learn. The spells he was currently able to cast would be devastating on the battle field when enough power was pushed into them… and it seemed just about everyone in the kingdom was aware of it.

Fai had already won over the public with his numerous good deeds, and soon was to win over the court as well. This all made it difficult to simply say no.

Pushing that entirely aside Ashura made his way down the winding corridors, making his way to the balcony that over looked the training grounds. There was no doubt that Fai would be hard at work training here since he was not in the library or taking a nap.

Sure enough as Ashura strode onto the balcony and looked out over the training field, Fai was sparing with one of the other mages. A sense of pride welled up inside of the king at seeing Fai.

The blonde was dodging a series of magical attacks while working up a counter attack. Because Fai was still a novice he had to draw out the spell runes to newer and more difficult spells he cast, putting him at a bit of a disadvantage against the opponents her would face. Ashura wondered what he would be like when he could cast the spells the spells at will alone.

An hour passed and the king simply observed, no one really seemed to notice him and if they did they did nothing to distract the matches going on. The head of the court mages wanted to see how much magic Fai possessed and could use in the heat of battle, a startling amount as they were soon found out.

It seemed as if Fai would be physically exhausted before he was magically. Ashura was so very proud. Just as another match was about to start Ashura decided that he would barrow Fai for a bit.

"I see you have all been hard at work preparing to defend your home." The king said as he descended the stairs and walked towards Fai.

"My king." Fai bowed for formality sake before coming to Ashura's side. Big blue eyes full of excitement.

"If it's not too much trouble I would like to steal Fai for a bit. There are things I need to discuss with him." Ashura ran a hand through the messy blonde hair.

"Not at all, Lord Fai needs a brake anyways." the head of the court mages bowed.

"Good, well I hope you all keep up the good work." With that Ashura lead Fai back into the castle and up to his room. Waiting for them once they got there was a nice springtime lunch, accompanied by a bottle of wine for Ashura, and a picture of milk for Fai.

"So I see you were getting quite a workout out on the training field." Ashura pulled out a chair for Fai before taking his seat opposite the child.

"Yeah… it's been like that every day this week… I've been waiting for you to come out and train with us. But I bet you were in boring meetings all day huh?" Fai said brushing some hair out of his face.

"Yes, it seems that's become my job since I became an adult, one boring meeting after another fallowed load after load of paper work. Enjoy being a child while you can."

"If you say so… kids don't get to do anything fun at all… Ashura-ou do you really miss being a kid?" Fai was pushing the food back and forth on his plate. This had become somewhat of a ritual for him—he would make a mess of his plate before deciding to eat it.

Such a strange little thing.

"Not enough to want to be one again that's for sure." The king mused while sipping his wine. "being an adult has its own perks too you know."

"But you just said it was all meetings and paper work, what's fun about that? I can barely stand to do my homework."

"We'll let me see, grownups get to drink good wine and kiss pretty girls. I would say that's the best of it, although not all of it." Ashura watched Fai, the child seemed to be thinking really hard about what he had just said.

"How old do you have to be… To be an adult I mean?" the blonde looked purposely away when he asked this question before taking a bite of potato.

"Well traditionally in Celese one is considered an adult when they reach the age of thirteen." Ashura sipped his wine again, greatly amused by the little mage in front of him.

"Oh… Ashura-ou? How old am I?"

"You don't know?"

"I don't keep track of that sort of thing…."

Ashura sat back to think, Fai had to at least be five, well physically at least, when he came to live in Celese—that was about…. Oh dear god…. At the very least nine years ago…. Of course Fai was small for his age, and his magic helped to preserve his appearance—the king had always assumed he had a baby face… but could Fai really be thirteen already?

No it couldn't have been that long ago could it? Maybe that would explain all the offensive and defensive spells Fai could perform now. Although he still needed to use runes, he was still very advanced. In fact if he wanted to. the blonde could try to summon spells without them…

No no no there was just no way, could Fai really be that old!?

The king looked up from thought when he heard Fai giggle "Did you forget to?"

"—No I just can't believe that you're really thirteen…" Ashura took another sip of wine—less so because he was thirsty and more so because he felt as though he needed a drink. Fai was growing up to fast.

The little blonde seemed to ponder this for a moment before a pout crossed his features "Aww does that mean I have to go to meetings and fill out paper work now too?"

"No, we need you to train… for the time being we need you to be in your current position outside." Was he ever going to grow out of the cute stage?

"That's good." A few moments of silence passed as they continued there meal. "My king?" Fai said finally.

"Please don't be so formal when we are alone Fai. Ashura is just fine."

"…Ashura-ou?"

"Yes?" the king shook his head.

"Does that mean that I'm old enough to drink yummy wine and kiss pretty girls too?" Ashura almost choked on his food. Fai simply sat there waiting for a reply while munching on a roll and studying Ashura's face.

The king really didn't want to admit out loud that Fai could kiss girls… not that he would be mad if he did, the king just didn't want to know about it. "If you really want to, but aren't girls still gross in your mind?"

Again Fai stopped to ponder this, the blonde had switched from eating his roll to tearing off little pieces and letting them fall onto his plate. "No girls are really pretty, kind of like chi is really pretty… but I get kisses from chi all the time? Does that mean it was wrong?" the blondes brow was furrowed as he mixed the bread into the mess on his plate.

"A different kind of kiss Fai, like a husband would kiss his wife. Not like a mother would kiss her child." Fai looked so upset at finding out he may have been doing something naughty, but the kings words seemed to put him at ease. He had also given the blonde an Idea.

"Does that mean I would have to get married to them?"

"Not necessarily, lots of people kiss other people when there thinking about getting married to them. It's sort of like test run to see if you truly like that person."

"Ashura-ou do you kiss girls?"

A light pink spread across the kings face, and although he really shouldn't be embarrassed by such a simply question asked by a curious child, he couldn't suppress it. "Well—"

"You do don't you?" Fai smiled a little bit at the fact he had embarrassed the king, Ashura was always so stoic with his facial expressions. "Wait when do you even have time to talk to girls let alone kiss them?"

"Let me tell you being king doesn't leave much time for it at all." The king managed to compose his face at last, for the most part.

"…wait…" the blonde went from a slight smile to staring at his feet looking rather unhappy in a matter of seconds."Does that mean that Ashura-ou wants to get married to some stranger?"

"Well no one wants to marry a stranger Fai. You want to get to know them first. Arraigned marriages are few and far between these days." The king couldn't figure what had upset Fai so much…

"But are you going to get married?" Fai sniffed a bit.

So that was it.

"I have no abrupt plans to do so." Ashura clarified.

"But I don't want you to get married Ashura!" tears streamed down Fai's face as he ran out of the room to his own slamming the door behind him.

What had brought all of this on? Normally Fai was so laid back and went with the flow of things. He was never one to overreact in such a way, in fact in many ways had a tendency to underreact. The king had never seen Fai throw a fit before. Ever.

Ashura knock lightly on the door that connected he and Fai's room, before pushing it open. Fai had thrown himself on the bed and was crying quietly. "Fai, I don't understand why you are so upset. If you explain your feelings to me I can make you feel better." Ashura sat next to the crying child and sighed.

"hhhrm hrmm hurmmm hrrrm mmm!" The blonde voice was muffled by the heavy blankets he had his face buried in.

Preparing his best comforting voice the king chose his words carefully. "You need to talk to me not the mattress. Please Fai, I don't like it when you are upset."

Ashura leaned back to stare at the top of the canopy bed. Slowly Fai sat up and looked over at his king with puffy eyes and a runny nose. "I said I don't want you to… to get married." the blonde whipped his eyes with his sleeve.

"And I told you that I had no plans to. Now why would that upset you so much in the first place Fai?"

The nice part about Fai the fact he would tell Ashura anything and everything. Even if he did not know the proper way to articulate his worries across, he would still tell Ashura he was upset.

"Be-because if you get married then you going to have kids and forget all about me and no one in the whole world will want me anymore if you forget about me!" Fai flopped back on the bed and covered his face.

"… How can anyone replace you Fai? There's no way I could forget about you—and if I did ever get married it would be when you were already an adult and that is a very very far off." Ashura was tempted to pull Fai into his lap although he was sure it may make matters worse.

"But I'm thirteen now… you said that's when someone is 13… becomes an adult…."

"Much much older, Fai when your my age most likely, and that my friend is a very very long time away." Against his better judgment Ashura lifted Fai and held him close.

"Promise?"

"On my honor as the leader of the Celes." This seemed to put Fai at ease again and he snuggled close to Ashura. If this was what it would be like to raise children he was glade that woman did all the work… they were so sensitive…

After a few more minutes passed Ashura lifted Fai up. "You know what always makes me feel better?"

Fai wrapped his arms around the king's neck and snuggled into the soft black hair. "hmm?"

"A bottle of yummy wine. How about we have a drink together?" Ashura opened the door to his room and walked over to the liquor cabinet pulling out a bottle of sweeter wine from a foreign country in the southern hemisphere. Walking over to one of the big comfy chairs Ashura sat Fai down before opening the bottle and bringing the child a glass.

Some were in the back of his mind a little voice was telling him this was not the responsible thing to do…

I meant this chapter to come out very differently but that part with Fai getting upset just fit in so well I couldn't help myself~

Please review and tell me what you think or make any suggestions.