Disclaimer: I do not own Kekkaishi.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. Anyway, I make this chapter extra long to compensate for the late update. Any review will always be welcomed.

Chapter 4: Moving Forward

Yoshimori woke up early with a new resolve. He can't just keep wallowing in the past. He needed to focus on the present and the future. Mother would want him to enjoy his life as much as possible. She definitely will be sad if she knew they spent most of their time in depress and despair. That's why he will do anything in his power to cheer up his family. It's time for them to move on and continue with their life. But, Yoshimori didn't know from where to start. There were a lot of things he needed to do and think. Someone needed to look after the house. Their house was in a great mess.

Then, he needed to think how to help Grandpa with Karasumori job. Maybe he could ask Grandpa's advice. Besides that, he needed to focus on how to cheer up his father and Toshimori. They had been down lately. Thinking at his tasks, Yoshimori couldn't help to feel worry. There were so many things to do and work on. What if he failed to do any one of them? He still remembered how he tried to carry two big grocery bags on his own. It all started when Mother brought Masamori and him to do some shopping. Well, Masamori was reluctant to follow them.

They bought many things. Of course, Yoshimori helped in carrying a small grocery bag. However, Masamori, being Masamori, made fun of him, saying he was too weak and can't carry a bigger bag. Yoshimori didn't think it funny or let it slide away. To prove Masamori was wrong, he insisted to carry two big grocery bags at the same time. Unfortunately, the bags were too heavy for him. Consequently, he tripped off and fell on the ground, spilling the bags' contents. Needless to say, Masamori took the opportunity to rub it off on his face with his "I told you so' remark and told him how mad Mother will be.

Yoshimori was really scare back then. He couldn't help to cry. True, Sumiko was a gentle and caring person. But, that was as long as you didn't get to her bad side. If you did, well the only thing that you may do was to pray that you were not receiving the end of her wrath. It was said that her wrath was extremely unpleasant and should be avoided at all cost. However, instead of being mad at him, she just picked up the grocery and gently gave him an advice with a smile. Yoshimori could still remember the advice.

"Sometimes, it's better to do things step by step rather than trying to do everything at once."

With the advice in his mind, he decided to list down things the chore works. This should give him an idea on what to do. Of course, his first priority was to cheer up his family. They had been down far too long. It was not healthy and Mother will definitely not approve it. Yoshimori picked up a paper and a pencil. Soon, he started jotting down things. By the time he finished, he had listed down quite a number of things. Needless to said, Yoshimori was pleased with himself. He decided the first thing he's going to do was to fix a breakfast. Toshimori, Grandpa and Father will definitely be hungry when they woke up. They will be happy if they had something as a breakfast. So, Yoshimori proceeded to the kitchen with happy thought until a question hit his head.

What should he prepare for breakfast?

Yoshimori raked his mind. What Mother often prepared for breakfast? Well, breakfast always depended if Mother had enough time or not. If Mother had enough time which was unusual since she often woke up late because of her night work as kekkaishi, she would prepare simple rice and miso soup as breakfast. If not, she would prepare toast or cereal with milk. So, Yoshimori decided to made breakfast that Sumiko often made which was toast and cereal. Toshimori loved to eat sugary cereal especially with milk. Father and Grandpa will be happy with the toast. He hoped just it was enough for his family. After all, his family had a big appetite.

With that, Yoshimori took out some breads, butter and jams. He spread some butter on breads and put them on the toaster. He then went to fridge and took out milk from it. Now, where to find the cereal box? Yoshimori remembered vaguely that Mother often kept the cereal box in the cabinet. He then opened and rummaged the cabinet to find the cereal box. He later found out that someone put it at a high place. Now, this posed a problem to Yoshimori. Being a short kid, it was impossible for him to reach the place. Yoshimori had tried to stand on toe and reached the cereal box several times but failed. He scratched his head to find a solution.

Suddenly, an idea came to him. He could use chair to reach the cereal box. It didn't take a long time for Yoshimori to remove the chair near to the cabinet. Even with the help of chair, the cereal box was still out of Yoshimori's reach. Yoshimori tried to stand on his toe. Now, the box was an inch from his grab. He just needed to stretch his hand more. A bit more. A little bit more. There. Finally, Yoshimori managed to grab the cereal box. Yoshimori patted himself for his accomplishment. Well, that was until he heard a voice from behind of him.

"Yoshi-nii, what are you doing?" Toshimori asked curiously.

Yoshimori was startled. He lost his balance on the chair and fell on the floor with the cereal box in his hand. Luckily, the box was not crushed when he fell down. Toshimori quickly went to his brother's side.

Helping Yoshimori to sit down, Toshimori asked, "Are you okay, Yoshi-nii? What are you doing?"

Yoshimori just grinned, "I'm making breakfast for us. Want some?"

Toshimori blinked, unsure what to say, "But, isn't Mother always the one who make the breakfast? Will it be okay?" There was a worry in his tone.

Yoshimori frowned, "Don't worry. Nothing will happen." He then grinned and gave a thumb up, "Everything will be okay. I'll make sure it myself."

Toshimori couldn't help but smiled and chuckled at his brother's antic. For some reasons, it comforted him and made him felt safe. He always wondered what would happen now that Mother had died. It was scary to imagine a future without a mother. But, Toshimori thought he didn't need to worry about it anymore. He had a reliable big brother beside him.

"So, what is our breakfast?" Toshimori asked.

If there were things that made Yoshimori happy, it was to see his family happy again. It felt nice and good to see Toshimori smiling and laughing. It's been quite a time since Toshimori laughing and smiling like that.

"Toast with some jams and sugary cereal," Yoshimori said. "Which one you like?"

"Sugary cereal," Toshimori exclaimed. "….with milk of course."

"Okay, okay," Yoshimori chuckled. "Let's make it then. I want to eat toast."

As if on cue, the toast popped out from the toaster. Yoshimori poured milk and cereal into a bowl for Toshimori. Toshimori happily grabbed spoon and ate his breakfast. Yoshimori took a toast, spread some jams on it and ate it. It didn't take a long time for them to finish their breakfast. Yoshimori cleaned up the table while Toshimori looked at him curiously.

"Hey, wanna help me cleaning up the house?" Yoshimori asked.

Toshimori blinked and thought for a moment, "Okay, why not? What we're going to do first?"

Yoshimori scratched his head and took out his list. "Let's clean up living room and the hallway first. Then, we could do laundry and wash the dishes."

"Can we do our own lunch?" Toshimori asked eagerly.

Apparently, this whole idea got him excited. Besides, it's been a while he spent some quality time with his brother. Father was very moody lately and Toshimori wasn't sure if it was alright to ask Father to play with him. As for Grandpa, he was not healthy and needed to have a lot of rest.

"Of course," Yoshimori said, ruffling Toshimori's hair.

With that, they set to do their job. Their first job is to clean the living room. The living room was in a mess. There were many scattered toys, books, dirty clothes and dishes in that room. The room really needed a throughout cleaning. Toshimori gathered his scattered toys and put them in a box. Yoshimori rearranged books into their shelf. Later, they picked up dirty clothes and put them into a basket. As for the dirty dishes, they put them in sink so they can wash it later. After one hour, the room looked acceptably clean. All they needed to do now was to vacuum the room. It was very easy.

If only they knew how to use a vacuum cleaner.

Yoshimori had to admit he didn't really know much about doing house chores since Mother never really let him did them due to his illness. But, he often watched her doing house chores. So, he at least had the general idea how to do it. Yoshimori scratched his head. If he was not mistaken, he needed to plug in the vacuum cleaner first. So, why it didn't work even though he had done it? Yoshimori shook it several times to get it worked. But, nothing happened. He then held the 'sucking part' of vacuum cleaner closed to his face to inspect what's wrong with it.

Toshimori , on the other hand, was inspecting the vacuum cleaner body. He found a 'funny button' on it. Of course, like any other four years old child, Toshimori had a curiosity that needed to be satisfied. The child's mind kept asking what this 'funny button' can do. Too bad, nobody told him to think the consequence first before doing anything. So, he did the only thing that can satisfy his curiosity. Toshimori pushed the button while Yoshimori was still holding the 'sucking part' of vacuum cleaner closed to his face. The result was something both Toshimori and Yoshimori didn't expect at all.

The vacuum cleaner suddenly became 'alive', sucking away Yoshimori's hair.

Yoshimori frantically tried to free his hair from the evil vacuum cleaner's grip. It won't do a good thing for him to be bald at such early age like Grandpa. Toshimori was speechless for a moment. Then, he remembered the vacuum cleaner came alive because he pushed that 'funny button'. Maybe if he pushed again, it would stop. He quickly pushed again the button. Miraculously, the vacuum cleaner stopped its assault on Yoshimori and dropped dead. Yoshimori looked at Toshimori for explanation.

"He-he, I guess I push the wrong button," Toshimori said sheepishly.

Yoshimori just shook his head. But, there were good things happened from this little accident. They now know how to use the vacuum cleaner. It didn't take a long time for them to vacuum the room once Yoshimori mastered the basic art of using a vacuum cleaner which was how to activate and deactivate it. Besides, Yoshimori didn't go bald from the little accident except getting a messy hair. So, it wasn't a total loss for them. After that, they cleaned up the hallway. They mopped the hallway to the point they can see their reflection on it.

Next, they decided to wash the dirty dishes. Since the sink was out of his reach, Yoshimori had to stand on chair. He just hoped he won't fall like before. Since there were too many dirty dishes, they decided to divide the work. Yoshimori will wash the dishes while Toshimori will dry them one by one using a table clothes. Things ran smoothly. They didn't have any problem at all. Soon, there were no dirty dishes in the sink. So far, there was no misfortune event that happened. This made Yoshimori felt happy. Nothing can block his path now. Well, that was until….

….he decided to do the laundry.

Yoshimori blinked at the washing machine. He vaguely remembered that each time Mother did a laundry, she will put the dirty clothes into washing and then poured some liquids from different bottles into it. Yoshimori scratched his head. He had put the dirty clothes a much as possible into the washing machine. Now, the problem was what kinds and how much these liquid should he use? Yoshimori berated himself for not paying attention when Mother did laundry. Yoshimori held the bottles to inspect them closely. If he remembered clearly, Mother put this so called detergent to remove the stain from dirty clothes. Then, she put this softener to make them felt soft.

Yoshimori tried to remember Mother's tips on laundry. He contemplated how much detergent and softener. Mother always said that it was harder to remove dirt and stain from clothes if you left them unwashed for a long time. Yoshimori wasn't sure. She usually used one full cap of detergent and softener. But, the dirty clothes had been left piling up for many days. One full cap probably would not be enough. Maybe he should pour the whole bottles. After all, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious. Mother always told them to be cautious. And so, Yoshimori poured the whole bottles into the washing machine.

While Yoshimori was busy deciding how much detergent he should use, Toshimori was wondering why his brother had difficult time with it. Toshimori thought it was probably because the stain was too stubborn. He then suddenly had this brilliant idea. He searched around for a bottle. If he remembered correctly, this bottle had the power to remove anything from clothes even the most stubborn of the most stubborn stain in the whole world. Once he found it, he handed Yoshimori over a small blue bottle. Yoshimori watched it curiously.

"Yoshi-nii, use this bu-reesh….errr…..blissshh thing" Toshimori said excitedly despite unable to pronounce it correctly.

"Hmmm, what's this? It says bleach," Yoshimori raised his eyebrows.

"Use it," Toshimori exclaimed.

Yoshimori stared at the blue bottle. This blue bottle had a liquid in it that can remove any stubborn stain and dirt if he was corrected. Mother used it once on Aniki's white shirt. It turned the muddy, dirty shirt into a spotless white shirt. This probably will prove to be useful. Without thinking its side effects on colorful clothes, he poured the whole bottle of bleach into the washing machine. Yoshimori smiled with satisfaction. Now, the clothes will definitely be cleaned properly. Now, he just needed to get this washing machine worked.

How he was supposed to do it?

Yoshimori scratched his head for numerous times. The vacuum cleaner got worked because Toshimori pushed some buttons on it. Maybe it will work the same way again. There were many buttons on the washing machine. Which one should he pushed? This was a big thing. Well, for a boy who never really a laundry without a direct guidance from an adult. He didn't want thing to end up like with the vacuum cleaner. But, after spending time thinking a solution, he couldn't think any solution. Well, he might as well push all these buttons. Nothing bad could happen, right? And that was the exactly thing he did. Luckily, nothing bad happened…..

….for now.

Yoshimori grinned. Now, he just needed to wait for the washing machine to clean the clothes. Then, he will dry them at the backyard. It was simple enough. To say he was pleased was an understatement. He was extremely pleased. They had managed to do almost everything in his list to do. It will take some time before the washing machine stopped. So, Yoshimori decided it was better for him to prepare lunch while waiting it. Besides, it was almost lunch time and his stomach was starting to rumble. Toshimori may feel the same too.

"Let's make some lunch. What do you want to eat, Toshimori?" Yoshimori asked.

"Curry. I want to eat curry. Maybe chicken curry," Toshimori exclaimed excitedly.

"Sure, sure," Yoshimori chuckled.

Yoshimori took out a rice cooker. It felt weird if they didn't have rice to go along with curry. He put three cups of rice into a pot and rinsed them three times. Each time he rinsed them, he stirred them with his hand and then drained them. Unfortunately, he stirred too much until some of rice split from the pot. After the third rinse, there was lesser rice in the pot. Of course, it didn't go unnoticed by Toshimori.

"Yoshi-nii, you stir the rice too much. Look, you spilt the rice," Toshimori pointed out.

"No, I don't. The rice just somehow gets spilt," Yoshimori defended himself.

"Not true."

"It is."

"Is not."

"It is."

"Is not."

"Look, Toshimori, can't you just let it go?" Yoshimori said in irritated tone.

"Nuh – uh, Grandpa always says not to waste food," Toshimori retorted back. "And this clearly wasting food."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too."

Anyone who had seen their bickering will definitely thing it was cute. This was what Shizue Yukimura thought when she encountered this scene although she won't admit it loudly. They would definitely not like it and upset if they knew. The two children were oblivious of her presence since they were too absorbed with their fight. She had come from the backdoor to deliver their lunch as usual. Their bickering seemed had something to do with rice or food. She hoped she didn't bring their lunch too late. It won't do to let them starve. But, first, she needed to stop their bickering. So, Shizue decided to make her presence.

"Umm, can I know why you are fighting?" Shizue asked.

Both boys were startled. They didn't notice her at all. This made them embarrassed because someone actually saw their childish argument. Yoshimori was the first one to wake up from his stupor.

"Nothing. We're just making our lunch," Yoshimori answered, attracting Shizue's attention.

"Lunch?" Shizue raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, we're trying to make our own lunch," Toshimori stepped in. "We also did many house chores too."

"Really? Like what?" Shizue asked curiously. It's been a quite a while for her to see the child in front of her smiling and active like that.

"We fixed our own breakfast, cleaned living room and hallway and then, we washed dishes….." Toshimori counted with his fingers. "Oh – oh, we did laundry too. All by ourselves. But, since it's not finished yet, we try to make lunch," he finished with a beam.

But, Toshimori's joy was cut when the washing machine suddenly made a loud noise and shaking violently. Then, colorful bubbles and foams started to pour out from it. Shizue was the first one to act. She quickly switched off the power supply to stop the washing machine. She carefully opened its lid as the boys approached her. To say she was surprised was an understatement as she picked up their father's once red favorite necktie that turned into pink.

Turning to the boys, she asked gently, "May I know how you two did the laundry?"

Both boys tensed and cringed at the questions. Yoshimori didn't really know what had happened but he had a good guess it was because of something that they did. Hopefully it was not that bad. But, considering they had ruined Father's favorite necktie it must be pretty bad.

"Well we just put dirty clothes in it. Then, we poured in a whole bottle of detergent and softener. Ah, that's right, we put a whole bottle of bleach too," Yoshimori explained, trying not to leave any detail out.

Shizue shook her head, "Yoshimori, you can't just pour a whole bottle of them at once or put too much clothes in washing machine like that. You'll overload it."

"Sorry," Yoshimori muttered silently but enough for Shizue heard it.

"It's okay," Shizue smiled, trying to reassure Yoshimori.

Yoshimori couldn't help but felt a little down. Everything was running smoothly. Okay except for the tiny accident with the vacuum cleaner. But, overall, everything ran according to his plan. Then, he did something stupid with the washing machine. And what made it worse, Tokine's mother saw it. He will never hear the end of it from Tokine when her mother told her. Maybe – maybe he's a failure like what Masamori said. He can't even do simple laundry correctly at all. Yoshimori shook at this thought. Now is not the time for negative thought. He needed to be strong.

For the sake of his family.

For his own sake.

That's right. He shouldn't give up like this. Yoshimori strengthened his resolution. Yoshimori pondered his predicament. If only he had someone to teach him how to do the house chores, he'll definitely be able to do them properly. Of course, he was grateful with Shizue's help in cooking their food. But, this can't keep going on like this. They can't continue relying on the Yukimura's help. The Yukimuras too had their own life. But, who can teach him? Toshimori was just like him. Toshimori too didn't know much about doing house chores. And Yoshimori definitely can't bother Grandpa and Father with something small like this.

"You know, if you want, I can teach you how to do laundry."

Yoshimori blinked. Did he hear thing correctly? Or, was he hallucinated? Did Tokine's mother really offer to teach him how to do the laundry? But, she didn't seem to be joking around. Maybe this was a good opportunity. Tokine's mother is a full housewife. Surely she knew many things about house chore.

"Really?" Yoshimori asked for confirmation.

"Yes," Shizue answered gently.

"Then, can you teach me how to do all the house chore? Like cooking, cleaning and washing?" Yoshimori asked eagerly.

"Sure but first let us fix the lunch. I'm sure everyone his hungry," Shizue smiled.

As if own cue, Yoshimori's stomach suddenly growled. For a moment, there was a silent before it broke into laugh. Yoshimori's face was red. He was embarrassed for letting everyone heard his stomach's growl. But, perhaps, it was a good thing. Things were starting to get better. He is now learning how to do the house chores. Perhaps, he could ask Grandpa to help him in his kekkaishi's training. But, deep in his heart, Yoshimori knew it was still a long way before this family overcame this trial and got back to its track.

But, it's okay.

They'll overcome it.

Step by step.

Together as a family.

And he will make sure of it.