I really like this chapter ^^ Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday...I had anime disease where I watched 24 episodes of Persona 4: the animation (my new obessession along with my Shizaya obessession XD) So...I might not be able to update so frequently as before. I'm hoping to get back on track. So sorry for the wait. Thanks to all of you who are still with me! I hope you all enjoy!

Shizuo's POV

I don't feel terribly uncomfortable around Shiro. I actually enjoy being with both of my son's, but whenever he tells me that he loves his mother more I just don't feel wanted. And what's worse, I don't even know the reason for him hating me. Right now he's behaving and allowing me to hold his hand as we walk the streets of Ikebukuro, but he doesn't look too happy about being with me.

"So…what kind of books do you like to read?" I ask as I press the button of the crosswalk.

"I like fantasy based stories…" He says shyly as he continues to look grumpy. "Mommy even makes up a story for me."

"Ah, right…he told me about that." I say as I see the light change, telling us to cross. I pull my son so he walks with me to the other side. The bookstore isn't too far now. I used to come to the bookstore with Izaya whenever he was feeling down during his pregnancy. He loves to read so naturally he'd get his kids into reading. Kuro doesn't like to read though. He's more of an action kind of kid, always ready to play or exercise. Shiro is more of a calm kind of kid who's more interested in reading or writing; stuff like that.

We finally make it to the bookstore where Shiro let's go of my hand and heads straight to his favorite section. I follow him over, but notice some familiar faces in the manga section of the store. I flinch as I realize its Kadota and his gang again. I rather not run into crazy girl again so I sneak past them and finally reach my son.

"Dad…" He says shyly. "Do you love Mom?" I'm kind of taken aback by this question, but I recompose myself and kneel down to his level and ruffle his hair.

"Of course I do." I say happily. "I know we might fight sometimes, but we don't hate each other." I say as I fix my sunglasses. "Your mother was more a handful when he was pregnant." I say with a laugh. God, I can still remember it when he was four months in his pregnancy and always complaining about how much weight he was gaining. It was really noticeable by that point.

Flashback

During lunchtime I decide to check up on Izaya since he's staying home today because of his morning sickness that doesn't seem to leave. When I head inside I find that he's at his desk in his study room. He doesn't look like he's asleep so I shake him a little. He lifts his face up and glares at me.

"I don't want to see you right now." He says icily.

"Come on, you've been mad at me every day now. Do I have to apologize for this?" He hits his head on his desks and groans.

"You made me fat, you monster!" I shake my head and run my fingers through his hair. He really likes it when I do this. "Get away from me!"

"Look, you're gonna look back at this and think that all this is a blessing." I say happily.

"This is a disease. A horrible disease." Izaya says as he sighs. "I feel so heavy…I feel like running you over with a truck…"

"You did run me over with a truck once before." I remind him bitterly.

"Well, you deserve the same punishment right now."

"Punishment? You did that before for no reason!" I say loudly, but not angrily. "Look, I brought you some flowers." I say as I present them to him. He eyes them carefully and then pounds his head on the desk again.

"For some reason, I want to eat them…" Izaya says miserably. "Just put them somewhere I can't reach them…" I pat his head and put them in a vase on the window. "I hope you get depressed because I'm ignoring you and start eating tons of food to comfort your pathetic soul."

"First, how can you be ignoring me if you keep talking to me? And second, you're making a big deal out of all of this. So what if you're gaining weight?"

"You won't love me if I'm fat…" Izaya mumbles sadly.

"Is that what you're worried about?" I lift his head up and smile at him. "That's a real stupid reason. I love you even though you're a psycho, why would I not love you just because you're fat?" I ask him seriously as I kiss his lips. "And you call me a protozoan?"

"Shut up. I'm fat and emotional." Izaya says as he hugs me.

"Oi, Shiro you can get two books if you'd like." I say as I pat his head. He looks up at me and smiles slightly. I'm thinking right now that I'm bribing him to like me, but I'm really desperate right now.

Suddenly my phone rings. I pick it up and say hello.

"Ah, thank goodness you picked up Shizu-chan." Izaya says as he sounds out of breath.

"What happened?" I ask as I walk around with my phone in my hand. I aimlessly walk around; it's a habit I seemed to have picked up.

"Kuro's bouncing off the walls…I'm pretty sure he had the candy that was downstairs. I'm having a difficult time trying to make him sit down."

"Sit down? No, he doesn't know how to do that, flea." I say with a laugh. Kuro's quite a hyper kid actually. He won't sit still very long and it's usually difficult putting him to bed. All he knows how to do is play, pull pranks, play, eat, play some more, and cause a lot of damage to personal belongings. Once he thought it'd be cute to put my cell phone in the toilet. He wanted to see if it would still flush. It did and that's why I have a new phone.

"I already know that. While I was pregnant with him, he'd be kicking more frequently than Shiro had. He almost broke my rib even." Izaya reminds me as I remember that that was the day when we had to go to Shinra's because Izaya had an unbearable pain surge through him. "Look, I just called to see how you were doing with Shiro."

"We're at the bookstore and he's behaving really well actually, but we're still kind of distant." I say honestly. "It's not going to get better over such a small amount of time, flea."

"I know; I just wanted to make sure he was alright. Can't a mother worry?" He asks, pretending to sound bitter. "Look, just make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. Sometimes Shiro doesn't act so obediently when he's upset." Izaya explains seriously. "Anyway, I have to go…Kuro is trying to…wait…Kuro no, don't touch that!" The lines cuts and I'm left with just my assumption of what probably happened. Kuro probably cut the phone line or maybe he was touching Izaya's computer? I'm not really sure. There's an endless sea of possibility I rather not delve into it…

Ah, but I love my children, just as much as I love my husband. I certainly don't want to be like how Izaya's father was when he first found out that Izaya was dating me. I want to accept my children for who they are even if they don't like me, as long as their healthy and happy, I don't really care. Same goes for Izaya, but I don't really care much if he's happy. I know he's happy; he better be or I'll smash his head open. Also, if anyone ever heard me say these kinds of threats they'd probably take me seriously, but it's just me flirting with him.

"I fucking love you, fucking louse." I say as I embrace him after a sudden fight we had a few months after getting married. He kisses my lips and runs his fingers through my hair.

"Ne, ne Shizu-chan sure is charming." Izaya says with a snort.

"I'm gonna smash you're face in, Izzy-kun." I say as I crack my knuckles. Another fight we had out in the streets when we were still immature enough to have public spats.

"I'm gonna shove a damn vending machine up your ass." Another fight, but this time at home while watching some movie. He had pissed me off with by saying something about me being some pansy homo, which I'm not.

But no matter how harsh I say things, Izaya knows I'm only flirting. But there hasn't been much of that lately. You can guess why.

"Dad, here." My son says suddenly as I close my cell phone. I notice that he didn't even ask me to talk to his mother, which is odd. He knows it was him too. He always knows when I'm talking to Izaya. Basically, Izaya and Shinra are the only ones that call me. Sometimes Tom calls me too, but that's not too frequently.

"Ah, you got the two books you wanted?" I ask as I turn around. I'm quite surprised when I see more than one book in Shiro's hands. I count them and find he has already picked out seven books. I check all of them, taking them off his hands and count up how much I'll be spending. Sheesh…luxuries sure are pricy. "Son, didn't I tell you to buy two books?"

"I know, but mom told me once that 'whenever your dad is paying, go all out and get whatever you want' so that's what I'm doing. Besides, I really want all these books." That sneaky little shit! "I can put some back…"

"I would really like to buy you all the books, but I did already tell you two." I say sternly. He looks at me, not with contempt, but with a smile. He puts some of the books back and gives me the two books he wants the most. I pat his head and he follows me to the checkout counter.

After paying, Shiro travels with me along the streets of Ikebukuro, without having a tantrum over the books he really wanted, which surprises me. Sometimes he really does give me hell about small shit like this, but today he's actually being a good boy. This obviously makes me happy.

"How come you don't like hanging around me that much like this, Shiro?" I ask him seriously as I press the button on the crosswalk. He looks up at me and takes my hand so he and I can cross safely. He doesn't seem to want to answer me. We're about to walk across when the light turns, but Shiro runs off without me. I see him freeze up as a car honks loudly, trying to tell him to get out of the way as it's coming straight at him. I quickly push my son out of the way and as if I'm in some weird movie, everything slows down. I feel my body get hit, but I'm not sure how everything went down before that.

All I remember next is my son shaking me with tears in his eyes. I'm not hurt too bad. I've gotten hit by a fucking truck before and this was only a small car. I feel something wet on my forehead though so I'm pretty sure I got a cut on my head somewhere.

"Dad! Dad!" I hear Shiro screaming at me as I open my eyes fully. I get up slowly and rub my head. "Dad!" He says before breaking down and jumping into my lap.

"Shiro…" I say as I put my hand on his head. "Are you okay?" I ask him as I run my fingers through his hair gently. He nods his head and as he looks up at me, he wipes his tears. "Good, I wouldn't have known what I'd do if you ever got hurt." His eyes start to water again before he embraces me. "Don't worry, I'm gonna be just fine." I tell him honestly.

A crowd has gathered, but they quickly disperse as I give them a glare. I take my son's hand and tell him that we're going to Shinra's. I just want to make sure my son is okay. Such an event could really traumatize him. The bastard driver got away, but if I ever see him, he's fucking dead. It was a damn red light too, that fucker was supposed to stop.

There's no way I can hide something like this from Izaya, but I'm sure it's gonna make him all emotional. He'll probably be hugging Shiro to death once we get home, but right now I'm just hoping Shinra gives me the "alright" with Shiro.

"He doesn't look too bad, but he is shaken up from the whole experience. He does have a cut on his elbow, probably from when you pushed him, but other than that he's sustained no other physical damage." Shinra says as he pats my son's head while Celty puts a kiddie bandage on Shiro's elbow. He watches Celty as she places it on the cut (after Shinra cleaned it properly) and she pats his head. Shiro immediately checks to see what cartoon figure is on the bandage.

"As for you, Shizuo, you seem kind of worse considering the cut on your head, but no broken bones." Shinra says happily. Celty taps on her PDA and shows it to me.

[You're a really good father, Shizuo.] I blush and scratch the back of my head and tell her that I'm nothing special. [Don't be modest.]

"I'm not modest." I say sternly as I walk over to my son. He is a bit shaky, which I don't blame him to be. But he seems to be looking at me differently. He seems to have mixed feelings though by the way he's not talking to me, basically ignoring me. I think, just how I fought against my feelings for Izaya when we were younger, Shiro is fighting against his feelings for me. I don't know why he doesn't like me. I've asked him numerous times before and have always fallen short of an answer. He'd usually just look at me strangely. "You alright, champ?" I ask him as I get him off the doctor table. He nods shyly and takes my hand, but doesn't seem to want to talk to me.

[Maybe you should take him home.] Celty shows me her PDA and then types quickly again. [He needs to rest.]

"Yeah, we better get home." This immediately strikes a reaction in Shiro. He lets go of my hand and shakes his head desperately.

"No! You promised to spend the whole day with me!" Shiro says as he looks at me sadly and then looks to the floor, probably feeling embarrassed. "I don't want to go home…I'm okay…"

"Alright, but if you feel like going home, you just tell me, okay?" I ask him as I kneel down and smile. He nods his head without looking at me and then takes my hand. "I guess we're going to the shopping center then." I then whisper to Celty and Shinra. "I'm gonna buy a gift for Izaya. It's almost our anniversary." I tell them happily.

[You better get him something nice.]

"Don't I always?" I ask Celty with a laugh. Last year I got him a knife (a pretty expensive knife) with a gem encrusted on the handle. He really liked it, so much that he almost kissed me to death. The year before, I got him a high quality camera for all his perverted and psycho hobbies. He liked that gift too. He takes pictures all the time. This year I'm getting his something just as good as all the other gifts I've given him.

"Well, then we better get going." I say as I take Shiro's hand and lead him to the door. "Say 'thank you' to uncle Shinra and aunt Celty." I tell my son. He shyly turns around and says thank you and goodbye to both of them. "Thanks guys." I say before I head out. They smile back at me—I mean if Celty had her head she'd be smiling—and say goodbye.

The shopping center has a lot of nice things; Shiro likes to come here with Izaya and Kuro on the weekends. When Kuro and Shiro were really small we had bought a two-seat stroller and just walked around town like a normal family. Shiro would sit in the back seat and Kuro in the front and because of this, Shiro would always fall asleep. Kuro was closer to the action so he'd always stay awake to see everything. It kind of reminds me of the times when Izaya and I would walk together when he was pregnant. He'd always feel really embarrassed because at the time he was already showing signs. Everyone would look at him and wonder if left himself go. It was discouraging him a lot.

Flashback (Five months into Pregnancy)

"I feel like a freak show…why'd you convince me to walk out here?" Izaya asks as he sighs and continues to hold my hand.

"You need the exercise and fresh air." I explain calmly as I look around at the windows of the stores.

"Are you saying I'm fat?" He asks bitterly. I look over to him with an annoyed expression and shake my head in disbelief. He reminds me of some woman I saw on TV on a drama program. I can just see him swaying his hips and wagging his finger at me.

"You want me to buy you something?" I ask him as I try to change the subject. He usually likes it when I buy him things. He's not much a spender though. He manages money pretty well, but once in a while he likes to buy something nice like a jacket or a CD.

"No…I'm not in the mood to spend all the money in your wallet…" He says sadly. I hold his hand a little more tightly. He knows what it means. I turn my head and lean towards him, but then I hear an annoying scream ring in my ear. I look over and see that it's that crazy girl Erika. She approaches us quickly, dragging along her friends—poor fools—and smiles happily at us. She looks at Izaya skeptically and pokes his stomach.

"Wow Izaya you sure have gained weight." She says with a smile. "It almost looks as if you're pregnant." She says with a laugh.

"I am, you little insensitive—" I cover his mouth and laugh nervously.

"Ha, you're so funny, Izaya." I say as I keep holding my hand over his mouth. "Anyway, we should finish our stroll."

"Shizuo-kun is acting all funny too." Erika points out. "Did you guys do something naughty recently? Kya! Give me all the details!"

"Fuck no! Get away from us!"

"Hear that! He said he wouldn't give me the details, but he didn't deny doing something naughty!" Erika says before I take Izaya's hand and leave the obnoxious woman. Izaya can't really run, so we're just outside Russian Sushi, not too far away from the group of crazies. Simon looks at Izaya and smiles.

"Ah Izaya, Shizuo! Welcome, eat some sushi!" Simon says happily. I don't really want to explain to Simon why it is that Izaya can't have raw fish so I just give him a banal excuse as to why we can't eat today. "Hmm, something different with Izaya…" He then says as he looks at Izaya curiously. "Ah! He doesn't have usually jacket!"

I look at Izaya and then nod at Simon. He isn't wearing his furry jacket, nor has he for the last five months. Izaya feels a little discouraged again so he drops his head and tries to cover his rather large stomach with the maternity clothing he's wearing. He begins to walk away, ignoring Simon's further comments. I tell Simon that we have to go and so he leaves us alone. I catch up to Izaya and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"You know those people that say that pregnant woman and pregnancy itself is beautiful?" Izaya asks me downheartedly. "Those people are a complete enigma to me." I smile and laugh a little as kiss his forehead.

"I love you."

In the shopping center I find there's a lot of jewelry around so I head over there to see the necklaces. I really want to buy Izaya a necklace. I know he'll love one because he liked the one Hina had on one day when we visited Kasuka and her. He was practically drooling over the thing.

"May I help you?" The jewelry man asks as he looks at me with a smile.

"Uh, I'm looking for a something nice for my husband." After we got married it took me a while to call Izaya my husband, but now I have no problem with saying it at all. I don't even stutter.

"Oh…" He says awkwardly. "Um, well are you looking for something really romantic?" I nod and he leads me down to where there are some really nice, romantic rings and necklaces. There are also earrings, but Izaya doesn't have his ears pierced.

Shiro's POV

My dad is looking for something for Mom. I can tell. He's really in love with Mom, but they still fight sometimes. I really don't like it when Dad yells at Mom. The last time he started fighting with Mom I pushed him real hard and then went over to Mom to see if he was okay. I don't want to really hurt Dad, but if he tries hurting Mom I won't stand for it.

I don't really want to stray off since Mom told me to behave, plus Dad saved me from that car. I know Dad loves me…but I've always thought that he was just a monster like everyone says. They say that Dad had a horrible temper. He could toss street signs and vending machines. He even picked up a truck. At least that's what everyone says.

I look around and then see a familiar face in the clothing section. I smile and head over as fast as I can, leaving my father behind.

"Uncle Kasuka!" I yell happily as I attach myself to his leg. Uncle Kasuka turns his head and looks down at me before petting my head. He kneels down and ruffles my hair.

"What are you doing here, Shiro? And where's your dad or mom?"

"My dad is over there getting something for my mom. It's their anniversary soon." I explain as I smile up at my uncle. "Uncle Kasuka, can I hang out with you?"

"You should really be getting back to your dad. He might get worried if he notices you're missing."

"I don't like being around my dad too much…"

"How come?" Uncle Kasuka asks as he takes my head and lets me tag along with him.

"Dad…it's Dad's fault I'm like this…" I say sadly.

"Like what?"

"I'm a monster just like he is."

"You're father isn't a monster and neither are you." Uncle Kasuka says sternly. "Nobody's perfect. Just because you're father and you are different doesn't mean you're monsters. Sometimes you can turn situations or traits that seem bad into good things. Besides, such traits are what make you, you."

"You sure talk like adult Uncle." I say as I try to get what he just said.

"I think you should give your father a chance. I know you love your mother a lot, but my brother has been trying really hard to have you love him just as much." Uncle Kasuka says with his usual dull look. "Big bro."

"Hmm?" My father turns around and looks at his brother in surprise. "Kasuka what are you doing here?"

"I'm in town for the weekend. I think you lost something." Uncle Kasuka says as he pats my head.

"Shiro, don't run off like that." My father scolds me a little less violently than I thought he would. "Look, we can go to all the other stores since I'm done here. Then we can have something for lunch before we head over to your mother's office. He just called me to go over and take him and your brother lunch."

"We get to go see Mom?" I ask happily. My father nods and smiles at me.

"Kuro must be giving your mother too much trouble since he usually doesn't call me to get lunch for him." I smile and laugh a little. Kuro is a bit more of a sneaky kid than me and my parents know it. It'd be a big list if I said all the things he's done that's caused my parent's trouble. I don't think I can even count that high yet.

Well, there's this one time he stole some baby's bottled when we were all walking in the park in the summer last year. He really wanted to drink from a bottle even if he was already three. Then there was this time when he had found Uncle Shinra's stash of pictures he has of Aunt Celty; that got Uncle Shinra and my parent's in trouble since Uncle Shinra wasn't very happy. Then there was this other time when he had stole Mom's silver ring, Dad's cell phone, Uncle Shinra's glasses, Aunt Celty's cell phone thingy, and Uncle Kasuka's script he had for a movie.

He also plays a lot of pranks. He once messed up the electricity in our apartment. He once helped Mom make cookies for Dad's birthday and put a lot of salt in the batch. It was the worst cookies I've ever tried. He colors on people's faces when their sleeping. He glues stuff like remotes, cell phones, magazines, sunglasses and money to the walls with some super glue he stole from the store (Mom had to pay for it after he found out it was stolen). He unscrews the chairs in the kitchen with Dad's screwdrivers. He also does classic tricks like the shaving cream on a sleeping person's hand and other ones. It's kind of funny though. He doesn't trick me because we're really close.

For a long time we're just browsing around all the stores in the shopping center. Uncle Kasuka had to leave a long time ago so it's just me and my dad. After browsing around for a while we head off to get something to eat for Mom and Kuro. Russian Sushi is usually Dad's choice since Mom loves fatty tuna a lot.

"Okay, after we see your mother and Kuro we're heading home to go give you a bath." My dad says as he leads me to the big building where Mom works.

"I don't want to take a bath…Mom always gives me a bath. I want him to do it." I've never had Dad give me a bath and I don't really want to start now. He's not like Mom.

"You're mother is gonna be busy and besides he told me I need to give you a bath." My dad says sternly. I sigh and glare at Dad as we head into the elevator after we get through the front door of the building. Inside the elevator there's a bunch of scribbles and only one word I can understand.

"Kuro Heiwajima." I read aloud. My dad shakes his head in disbelief as he looks around in the elevator and notices all of the weird scribbles. Kuro sure knows how to have fun.

A/N: I love Kuro, I do XD He's a little mischievous boy. Anyway, let's see what Izaya will say to Shizuo about his time with Kuro which isn't over yet XD PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you!