Title: Parent
Day #8: Kurosaki Shun is eight years old when he becomes the father of two.
Kurosaki Shun is eight years old when he becomes the father of two.
Strangely, caring for others comes naturally to him.
Even as a child, he was far more the parent than those two people who are never home, the ones who never cared for him and never cared for Ruri.
Shun knows that Ruri is a handful, too observant and emphatic, not enough caution. She brings home stray animals constantly, constructs a popsicle stick birdhouse filled with seeds, and comes home missing possessions that were given away without a second thought.
But this was ridiculous, Shun thinks, when Ruri comes home holding the hand of a boy with wary, gray eyes.
The boy, Yuuto, stays for dinner and eats with the fevor of a starving man. It was when Yuuto finally leaves, with the barest hint of a smile on his face, that Shun understands. Ruri didn't need to explain.
Ruri wouldn't have had a childhood if Shun wasn't here, he was her shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold. And Yuuto had reminded her of herself, cold and alone, but without anyone to rely on.
"Invite him again tomorrow."
Ruri's smile could've lit up the night.