A/N: Hey, hey, hey! I'm not dead yet! and woah! I'm done with the first ever entrance exam I've taken in my entire life!
I very much appreciate all the reviews here. I love you all so much for your kindest of words. It means a lot to me.
Disclaimer: I don't own KagePro or any of its characters. I have no right to claim something so beautiful.
Warning(s): Sloppy writing; and much Seto.
It was the day of the week that the family went out grocery shopping, and you would have to be warned that this day didn't normally go by smoothly.
Takane pushed the shopping cart as her daughter sat on the seat in front of her. She was behaved enough, at least for now. Takane also kept glancing at Konoha who held his father's hand as his eyes wandered on the shelves of colorfully wrapped goods. Haruka was incessantly talking, suggesting what might be good for dinner tonight.
Takane sighed. So far, so good.
"Takane! Haruka!" A voice called out to them. "Hey! Yoohoo!"
Takane searched around for the voice until she saw a certain cat-eyed man approaching and waving at them.
"Kano!" Haruka waved back.
"Kano," Takane acknowledged him.
"How are Kido and the children?"
"Ah, they're good, they're good..." he answered. "Actually, they're in the vegetable section. Maybe you'll see them some time later."
"Oh, okay."
"Well, I'll see you around." Kano waved goodbye.
"Yeah, we'll see you around," Haruka answered, a little too excited about meeting one of their friends at the supermarket.
They went over to the meat section and purchased delicious-looking cuts of beef, pork, and chicken. Takane had a feeling that she had seen the cheery dark-haired man weighing in their meat before.
The man wrapped up their meat and smiled as he handed it to them. "Here you go. Thank you for shopping with us!"
"Seto, is that you?" Haruka asked, having similar thoughts as her.
"Excuse me?" the man looked at them, although his smile did not leave his face.
"S-Seto...?"
"I'm sorry, you must gave mistaken me for somebody else," the man told them. He noticed the embarassment written all over their faces.
"Oh, we're sorry then..."
"No, no." The man waved his hands in front of him. "Don't be. It happens quite frequently."
"Oh." The couple glanced at each other. "But we're still sorry." They thanked the man and went to the vegetable section.
"I see Kido's not here anymore..." Haruka took notice, kind of deflated by the fact.
Takane picked out fresh-looking vegetables, being keen that none of them had bruises or rotten parts. She handed them to the tall man to weigh in her purchases.
His back was to her as he placed the vegetables on the scale. He wrapped them up and faced her to give them to her. "Here you go, ma'am."
"S-Seto?!"
"Sorry...?"
"Nope, nope." Takane pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry, not Seto..."
"Ah, it's okay, ma'am," the man told her. "Here are your purchases."
They walked in the aisles, checking out goods to buy. Takane grabbed some condiments they were running low on and put them in the cart. She grabbed some seasonings she could use for cooking and strolled on.
"Okaasan! Okaasan!" She heard Konoha calling her then felt him tugging at her shirt. "Can we buy this?" he asked holding up a box of pasta. "Can we?"
Haruka looked at the box and instantly matched the excitement his son felt. "YEAH! Can we?"
"Okay, fine," Takane complied, not being able to resist the look on their faces. "Put it in the cart," she told them.
Konoha smiled as he put the box in the cart. Takane watched Haruka walk back to the farther part of the aisle, only to come back with a four more boxes of pasta.
"I hope it's okay," he said as he placed them in the cart as well.
Takane shook her head. "Place the other two back," she told him which earned her a childish pout from her husband. "Put them back," she repeated, managing to keep her will strong.
Haruka pouted even more but decided to comply. "Fine," he said as he took the boxes to return them.
"Haruka, please hold Konoha's hand. We don't want him to get lost," she told her husband. "Again..." she added halfheartedly.
They walked into another aisle with shelves packed with potato chips and the sort. She felt another tugging at her shirt.
"How about this, Okaasan? Can we buy this?" Komoha held up a large bag of potato chips. She eyed the bag and read on the corner 'negima-flavored'. Woah. She didn't know there was such a flavor. She's heard of many: cheese, sour cream, roast beef, pizza, spicy barbecue, shrimp, etc. But negima? That was new.
"Fine," she told him and once again he placed it in the cart.
They walked by the sweets section. Takane noticed how her children's mouths watered. If she were to be asked, she would refuse walking down this aisle, but Haruka was the type to spoil their kids.
"Oh, come on," he said, massaging her shoulders. "Just let them grab a few."
"But they'll rot their teeth," she reasoned. She definitely did not want her children's pearly whites to fall out.
"I promise they won't," Haruka told her, making a cross over his heart.
"But..."
They walked the sweets aisle regardless. Takane felt yet another tugging at her shirt. "How about this, Okaasan? Can we buy this?" Konoha asked again, holding up some cookies this time.
There were many tugs on her shirt. She was shown different boxes of sweets and was asked plenty whether or not it was possible for them to buy it. She checked over the prices. Afterall, she had already set their budget. If she didn't set limits on their food expenses, they might have gone broke already.
"How about this, Okaasan?"
"Okay, put it in the cart..."
"How about this?"
"No, that's too expensive."
"This?"
"We can't afford that, Konoha..."
"This, Okaasan?"
"Fine..."
"Okaasan, this?"
"Put that back, Konoha! That is not for children!"
Takane stopped pushing the shopping cart and noticed that it had somehow gotten very full of bags of marshmallows, candy, and chocolate. She eyed her daughter in front of her who had been deliberately grabbing sweets from the shelves and throwing them in the cart while she wasn't looking.
"Kokonose Ene, who told you to put all those sweets in the cart?" she asked her daughter incredulously.
"Well, since Okaasan lets Oniichan buy what he wants a lot, I figured that I could get whatever I want, too!" Ene answered as if she had done nothing wrong.
"Ene, Okaasan doesn't let Oniichan buy whatever he wants..." Takane told her daughter.
"Oh..." Ene paused for a moment, thinking something over. "Then will Okaasan let Ene-chan buy whatever she wants?" she asked way too cutely that her mother can't seem to get angry at the moment.
"I'm sorry, Ene-chan," Takane apologized to her daughter. "But we can't afford all of these so we'll have to return most of them, okay?"
Ene looked disappointed that they could not purchase all the sweets she wanted but she nodded. "Okay... But can we keep this one?" she asked, holding up a container of blue gummy bears.
"Okay," Takane answered which seemed to cheer her daughter up.
It took a while to return the extra sweets Ene had put into the cart. Takane watched her daughter sadly wave goodbye to the boxes of chocolate as she placed them back on the shelves. They've pretty much bought all the other things they needed after that.
The lined up to check out all their purchases after. They were dubious whether the man at the register was Seto or not but they decided to dismiss it.
"Thank you for shopping with us!"
They walked out of the supermarket. Takane noted that nothing had really went out of hand today. Everything turned out smooth compared to the previous mishaps. Maybe today wasn't exactly a normal day.
She glanced her children laughing at the back seat then at her husband who smilled at her as he slid into the car. They were happy and she was happy having time to spend with them.
Although, she had to consider shopping alone next time if she wanted to keep in line with their budget. She stared down at the bags of food they'd tried to fit into their car, then her eyes were captivated yet again by her family.
Maybe she won't be shopping alone, afterall.
A/N: I remember doing what Ene did when I was a child. Oh, memories!
I'm sorry, it s short...