Author's Notes ~*~ Thanks everyone for the reviews, they're truly inspiring. Sorry, missed the update last week, was really sick. Enjoy!
Chapter Four
We had a blast and played until a rounded older woman called us in for dinner. By that time we were getting most of our amusement from Kiyoshi who by that time was trying to fight sleep and continue playing a little while longer. Every now and then he would stop to rub the sleep from his eyes and then with a shriek of excitement he'd take off again chasing after the bubbles or at one of us. It wasn't until I picked him up to toss him in the air that I noticed how sticky the soap from the bubbles had made him.
Catching him carefully back into my arms, he laughed in delight and gave me a kiss before demanding another tossing. "Wanna eat, eat?" I asked.
The one little word got his attention, like I knew it would. "Eat, eat?" Kiyoshi repeated. Being tossed in the air was the last thing on his mind at that point.
"Yes, baby eat, eat. Time to get some dinner," I told him giving him a kiss on the cheek.
We all went inside and Tomoyo showed me to a nearby bathroom so that I could wipe the bubble residue from his skin.
With that done we went to the dining room with a huge mahogany table, looked like it was enough to sit almost twenty people. I noticed that two of the chairs near the end had booster seats with a regular chair in-between, meaning a special place had been set up for me and the boys.
Honestly that was fine with me, it left me out of any stimulating conversations with anyone that I didn't feel comfortable with, which in this case was still just about everyone, though if I had to choose I'd feel safer with Eriol. Tomoyo might steal my soul away with her fashions and multiple cameras I swear I saw in her room earlier today.
I sat Kiyoshi down in the booster seat and strapped him in. I was about to ask about Fai when Syaoran entered the room with a blue eyed blonde hair cutie pointing at everything and asking, "What's that?" Though my first reaction was he looked nothing like either of his parents, he was still so adorable!
"This is my son, Fai. The man that no one seems to be able to control. I wish you all the best of luck," Syaoran said standing in front of me so I could get a good look at Fai.
"High there cutie!" I greeted. Fai smiled and leaned forward for me to pick him up. "You're adorable," I told him taking him from Syaoran's arms.
"Careful, he's a womanizer. He goes for any woman with a decent chest," Tomoyo said bluntly.
I felt myself smile and give a short chuckle. "I think that's all baby boys," I told her. "Some more than others," I finished when he pointed to my chest and asked, "What's that?"
The same lady that called us in to eat started bringing out trays of food, one or two at a time until Eriol started helping her set up the table. Her cheeks were rosy and a smile on her face.
"That's Leilia; she's worked for the Li's for as long as we were babies. She's so sweet," Tomoyo whispered in my ear. I nodded in acknowledgement before strapping Fai down in his chair. Kiyoshi, never liking to share mommy with any other babies looked peeved at the new intruder who was happily slapping the table with both his hands. I could already tell this was going to be a blast.
Being that both the kids were secured in their seats, I took it upon myself to help finish setting up dinner and introducing myself to Leilia. She was such a sweetheart and so bubbly that it was contagious. I couldn't help but notice the weird looks I was getting for Ji Yue who had ditched her oversized sunglasses.
"So Sakura, after dinner what are your plans with the boys?" Eriol asked trying to start up a conversation as we all took our seats.
"Well, it's almost seven now so after dinner, they'll get a bath and be put to bed," I told him. I felt really awkward sitting there passing food around and putting food on to three plates, one for me and one for each kid.
"Maybe if it's not too late we can work on your dancing. Don't think I didn't notice Tomoyo teaching hip isolations, you were getting really good near the end. I think you were born for this kind of dance," Eriol complimented.
I felt myself blush from embarrassment. Not one being used to compliments I simply mumbled my thanks and avoided all eye contact with him. With dinner passed around and everyone eating, me catching a few bites here and there between giving Fai food. Kiyoshi was becoming independent of me feeding him and wanted to do it himself. For the most part he did really well, there were a few things that he allowed me to help him out with or he just used his hands to stuff it into his mouth.
Syaoran had sat across from me to be next to Fai but never said anything, just simply listened or ignored, I couldn't really tell the conversation around him. Ji Yue sat next to him with next to nothing on her plate to begin with taking small bites followed by wine. It made me long for Tomoyo's and Eriol's presence in front of me instead of the depressing couple in front of me.
Fai was proving to be difficult to feed. He mostly just wanted to play with the food than eat it which made it that much harder. The fact that I was just getting to know the little one didn't help any and the presence of his parents made me fear being firm on him about eating but eventually we got it down. Kiyoshi had taken a liking to the mashed potatoes and kept tugging or slapping a messy hand on my arm to get my attention to get him more.
Between me and the kids dinner lasted a little over an hour and somehow I managed to eat my meal as well, which was unbelievably good. By that time Ji Yue had excused herself so she could go smoke a cigarette and Syaoran had kissed Fai good night before excusing himself to go do paper work.
I had managed to avoid eye contact with him throughout dinner, which I was very proud of. Ji Yue already suspected me getting the job because of the contents in Syaoran's pants. The last thing that I wanted was that. I had too much on my hands just trying to raise Kiyoshi these past two years by myself to even think twice about another man.
With the bosses gone I felt more relaxed and found myself easily falling into conversation with Eriol and Tomoyo. It wasn't until I noticed the wall clock read a quarter till ten that I realized how late it was getting and the kids needed their bath, the belly dancing lessons had been forgotten for now.
Kiyoshi was beyond tired and he was getting fussy and unable to keep his eyes open. Taking him out of his booster seat I followed Tomoyo who carried a still wide awake Fai. I could see now that their sleeping habits were going to have to be slightly readjusted.
"I'll help you bathe them tonight," Tomoyo offered. The weight of Kiyoshi and climbing up the thousands of stairs was enough to kill whatever energy I had left to want to decline.
"I appreciate it, but I need to appear to be able to handle it. I should probably give Kiyoshi a bath first since he seems to be the one falling asleep on me." As if on cue to prove me wrong, Kiyoshi lifted up and looked around with wide eyes.
"Oh look at that, it's a baby?" he asked pointing at Fai.
"Yes honey he's a baby just like you," I said giving him a peck on the cheek.
"A baby?" he questioned again. I hummed my answer to him which he replied with an 'oh' and asked again as if to make sure.
All the while Fai made grunting noises as he stared on at the obviously strange baby in his house. Tomoyo lead us to a door that wasn't too far from the door to the nursery that I hadn't seen yet that lead to a smaller but still overly elegant bathroom for a baby.
The tub was still big enough to fit twenty two and one year old babies in there and at least four to five adults. The towels were as soft as the ones at Tomoyo's house.
"Oh!" Kiyoshi, despite the entire decor around him, knew the room for what it was. It meant he got to play in water and bubbles, how could he possibly resist?
I sat him down on the floor and began running the water. Tomoyo sat on the toilet still holding the now quiet Fai, whose blue eyes followed me everywhere. I had a feeling that he had a clue as to what was about to happen to but I wasn't sure how he felt about it.
With the water to a nice temperature I added a few drops of the baby bubble bath that sat on a shelf over the tub and watched Kiyoshi get excited. Fai let out a few grunts of interest and leaned forward wanting to get down out of Tomoyo's lap.
"Alright boys, time for a bath." Grabbing Kiyoshi up before he managed to climb in fully clothed I got him undressed and sat him into the forming bubble bath to which he began his ritual of eating the bubbles.
"Is it safe to let him do that?" Eriol asked questioningly.
"It's just soap and in small doses. It's when he's trying to actually drink the water that worries me," I said seriously. Without even truly thinking about it I went ahead and took Fai and got him prepared to enter the water to. There was really no point in bathing them one at a time, besides we were all tired and they needed to get to know each other.
While they got to know each other I got bathing them. Since Fai was having the most trouble sitting up in the water, I got him bathed first. By the time I got him rinsed off and dried I remembered how much this killed my back and that I had one more baby to do.
"I forgot the clothes could you show me where they are?" I asked Tomoyo.
"Of course, and if you don't have any for Kiyoshi I have some that I've been making for Fai that he can wear," she offered.
"Oh thank you but I try to be prepared, I always bring an extra pair of clothes or two." Tomoyo nodded and went to get the clothes from Fai's room. "Hey sweetie!" I greeted him again causing him to hide his face behind his hands and lean into my shoulder as hard as he possibly could. "Aren't you so cute?" I miss Kiyoshi being this small, not that he was much smaller in size. Just his actions were so much more baby like than those of Kiyoshi who carried on as if he's done it all before.
Sitting on the bathroom floor with him partially wrapped up in the towel still I managed to get him dressed in his footie pajamas and put him to bed. Immediately the crying started and I felt bad because I know that he had slept pretty close to the bedtime I was setting for him. Yet I set my resolve and went to finish bathing Kiyoshi, who was a lot easier to bathe because he tried to help by giving his limbs to later down.
Eriol had gone to his car and had gotten my diaper bag that had Kiyoshi's clothes in it without me noticing and naturally thanked him for it.
It wasn't until after I had dressed Kiyoshi in fresh clean clothes that I became unsure of what to do next. There was an extra bed in the boys' bedroom for him to sleep but it wasn't like I had any clothes or anything. Then there was no official start date for my new position and I still needed to put in my two weeks' notice to my current jobs.
"If you want I can run back over to my place and grab some clothes and hygiene products for you for tonight. Syaoran wasn't exactly specific about your start date, but I'm sure that you two can work that out," Tomoyo said patting Kiyoshi on the head.
"Thanks Tomoyo, I really appreciate it." I took Kiyoshi and lead him to the vacant bed in which he climbed in. He whimpered he knew it was time for bed, but the fact that he wasn't sure where he was and the two strangers with mommy made him unsure if he should wail his opinion.
We entered back into the bathroom and I closed the door after us. The last thing I wanted was to have morning come and find the boys playing in the toilet, I've already gone through that with Kiyoshi once I refuse to go through it again.
I gathered up their clothes and looked for a clothes hamper but couldn't find one. Eriol seemed to know what I was looking for before I even asked. "Don't worry about it you won't find one. Leilia goes through all the rooms in search for clothes every morning with a portable one."
"Good lord, she cooks and cleans?" I asked. This place was huge; I was expecting at least twenty people doing work.
"It used to not be that way, but since Syaoran married Ji Yue she's been downsizing where Syaoran's money goes. The only people she hasn't managed to get fired with her stupid schemes is Leilia and Wei, he does a lot of the yard work in between the monthly gardener sessions." Tomoyo said emptying out the bath tub.
"That's horrible! How can they expect two people to take care of a place this big?" I asked shocked. We turned the lights out and exited the bathroom; closing the door behind us to keep the closed door patterns going on throughout the hall.
"Don't get us wrong," Eriol started in more hushed tones. "Syaoran helps out however he can and we do as well when we come over. They've been with us since we were all babies he'd do everything possible to keep them."
"Eriol, it's not nice to talk about people when you think they're not listening," the male voice of Syaoran rang through the hallway. Being unprepared for any surprises I had jumped at the sound and now my heart was racing up to my throat. "Didn't mean to scare you," he said chuckling.
I glanced at him and told him it was okay. Despite my glance being brief I had already took in the way that he looked. Apparently he had changed out of his business suit and had changed into black jogging pants and a black tank. The muscles that I thought he had before made themselves known. I've only known the guy for two days and in one stupid glance I remembered more about what he had on then I could remember what I had for breakfast this morning! How am I going to keep a job if my boss is breaking through my barriers?
"I was about to go for a run but I remembered that we still had a lot of things to discuss about your job and what's expected out of you," he said. His voice forced me to look up into those amber eyes and the only thing I could think was I give myself one week before I get fired. Ji Yue will notice my awkwardness and take advantage of this.
"I was just thinking the same thing, actually. Not about what I expect from you but from me. I was about to walk with Tomoyo to get some clothes from her house so Eriol doesn't need to worry about taking me all the way home and get me here early morning…" I rambling and I could feel my cheeks starting to burn. I hate the way my body responds when I get nervous. At least the tripping of my words hasn't kicked in but I'm sure that it wasn't far away.
"Since it's late anyway and Fai likes to get an early start so it can wait until tomorrow evening. I need to ask you about the status of the current jobs though; do you have to work in the morning?"
"Actually, yes I do. I was planning on giving my two weeks tomorrow when I went in. The only thing is my jobs are back to back and I don't get off until one or one thirty in the morning…" I could feel my brand new job slipping through my hands already and I haven't even truly started.
"Do you have a car?" he asked shoving his hands into his pockets.
The more he questioned me the more I started to feel bad about not telling him about my night time job and for the things I didn't have as far as transportation. Heck I started feeling crappy about things that I called jumped the gun on and didn't have or experience the complete set. The first of which, and I got bombarded for was my Queen of the Damned soundtrack CD, which I loved, but I never saw the movie. Now I have a car seat but no car.
"Do you know how to drive?" he asked digging further. I felt my cheeks become even redder and was starting to wish that if he was going to ask all these questions to at least do it without an audience.
"N-no, I've always gotten around by bus." Come on Sakura, there is nothing to be ashamed about. You're a single mother who has gotten by on her own sheer strength! I kept telling myself, but that wasn't working no matter how many times I repeated. So I did what I always do when that fails ninety percent of the time. I took a deep breath and suddenly I was Angelina Jolie, or at least in my head. Pretending confidence has always been my strong point.
"Oh," the sound of surprise clear in his voice. "I was going to give you a car to borrow until you get one but if you don't know how to drive I can see if Wei can drop you off and pick you up for all your jobs," Syaoran stated casually.
"Oh goodness, you don't need to ask him to do that. If he wants to drop me off in the morning, that's fine but the jobs are pretty easy to get to and I have a bus that picks me up and drops me off at home." Please don't keep insisting, I would die if he found out I work at a strip bar.
He studied me for a long moment, his gaze challenging mine. Somehow I managed to stand strong, but barely. I think I was about to cave before he said okay see you in the morning and walked passed us, going for his jog.
I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly through my mouth. I dodged a bullet with that one.
~*~
Sorry it's a short chapter; I'm still working on it but still feeling really under the weather. It's all this stupid weather change and I can't keep us. Please enjoy hope to get the next chapter up before the end of next week.