"America?"

"Yeah."

"Where's that?" Taki pouted, confused at the foreign word, "Is it close to Akashi-sama's?"

Aomine sighed, "No. It's where I live, and where I play basketball. You have to ride a plane to get there."

"Plane?!"

As soon as she heard the word, her round eyes sparkled in excitement, "So, you get to fly up high in the sky?"

"Yeah. It's pretty cool."

"Wow!" she exclaimed, "What's America like? Is it warm? Cold? Is it far?"

He smirked. Ruffling the girl's hair he explained, "Yeah, it's far. It's pretty much on the other side of the world. But there's a hell of a lot of things to do there. Anyways, it's where I play basketball with some of the best players in the world."

Teasingly, he poked her forehead, "You want to see a match with legendary players?"

The little blonde could nearly hold in her excitement, and she leapt into his arms from under her covers. "Yes, yes! I want to see, Ahomine! I want to go!"

Relieved, he grinned widely, "Great. Now just to tell Kise."

"… Papa?" her voice lost all enthusiasm, and she shifted uncomfortably.

The tanned man looked down at the child, whose expression had grown sad. He pinched her cheeks, but she barely reacted. All of her earlier hype had disappeared without a trace.

"What's the matter?"

She looked at him thoughtfully, and then shook her head, "I can't go..."

Aomine forced his expression to stay calm, to avoid showing the disappointment that was forming inside of him, "Why? Didn't you just say you wanted to?"

"I know… I really want to go," Taki gave him a sad stare, "But, I can't leave papa alone! I promised papa that Taki would protect him and be with him always!"

The blue-haired man opened his mouth to object, but the girl continued before he could start.

"Taki doesn't want her family to separate. Papa once said that it was 'me and you against the world."

Her eyes sparkled with that memory, igniting a happy expression. Her face relaxed and she sighed. Again, Aomine felt the guilt gnaw at him for have being away for so long, even if it wasn't totally his fault.

"You know, Kise can come too."

"But…" she looked up.

Now what, the pro winced, "But…?"

The blonde shrank down, almost as if she was nervous, "What about mama?"

A bolt from the blue – Aomine fought to keep his composure. That... the child's mother… it brought on a touchy subject. In the beginning, before the man knew the truth, he had resented the phantom woman who stole the love of his life away. At that time, he wondered who could have Ksie loved more than him. Like in basketball, the answer was clear – The only one who could beat him was him. All this time, Aomine was really just in a battle with himself.

Meaning, there never was such a woman… and although that made him happy, it brought on another challenge. How could he explain to a young girl that she had no mother; she only had two buff, muscle headed fathers.

Unnerved, he tried to bring up an old conversation, "You said you only had Kise."

Her expression remained unchanged, and she slumped down back onto her bed. Stretching her arms overhead, she shifted her position so that she was staring up at his face while lying flat on her back, "That was because I was afraid you'd ask about mama from papa and then papa would be hurt."

"Hurt?"

"Uh huh," she said quietly, anxiety clouding her expression, and she snuggled against his arm for comfort, "Papa used to hold a picture and cry at night. I think it was a picture of mama."

Absentmindedly, Aomine petted her head gently, "Did you ever see that picture?"

"Nuh uh. Papa never showed it to me. He just said that it was of someone very important who he had to say bye bye too."

Don't tell me, the man winced, that it was a photo of me.

"Why do you want a mom? Isn't Kise enough?"

As if his words offended her, the girl clenched his arm really tightly with her tiny fingers and snarled at him.

"Well, duh! Papa is awesome! He takes care of Taki and loves Taki lots but…" her voice trailed into a barely audible whisper, and the bravado she put up faltered, "Papa is gone for long times sometimes. Taki gets lonely."

Now, the girl loosened her grip on his arm and closed her eyes. She must have felt comfort from his warmth, as she snuggled her cheek onto his muscular arm. Her soft hair tickled him, and he couldn't help but pet her head. Yet, she still wore a solemn expression. Aomine felt a sharp pain in his chest as he watched her. He had only seen Taki make that face one other time – during the zoo trip they had a week back.

"Sometimes… when the mommies and daddies come pick up their kids at the day care, I feel sad. One by one, all of my friends leave me. It's lonely to be left behind," she mumbled, "I know papa will come for me… he usually does but..."

"Usually?"

"Papa can get really busy… not right now but sometimes during winter. He can't come home on time to get Taki, so Taki goes home with Akashi-sama and Tetsu-kun and Souta."

"Taki," he murmured.

Worried that she would cry, he lifted her meek body up and pulled her face into his chest, patting her head. He really was useless at comforting crying people, more so when they were children, but this felt right.

Luckily, she must have sense his unease and held back her tears. Instead, the girl tugged on his sleeves to get his attention. She shook her head and smiled up at him, "Even though it's lonely, now I have you! It's really fun when we play basketball together… and before I know it, Papa is here!"

The man felt a faint blush from embarrassment, as she hugged him, little arms trying to wrap around his waist. She was so small and so soft that Aomine was surprised. In return, he embraced her back, careful not to apply too much pressure. It was almost as if her spine would break if he squeezed too tightly.

You'd think he'd get used to it, but still her fragility awed him. She wasn't like his teammates or his pals, and she wasn't even like Momoi who, although physically weaker than him, was still rather sturdy. No, the girl in his arms was tiny and meek.

Light enough that he could throw her with one arm, delicate enough to be broken by venomous words. At that moment, he felt a need to protect her – he wanted to keep her away from the outside world where monsters disguised as humans lurked.

The tanned man chuckled quietly. Now, he realized why Kise had been so protective of the child when they first met, even going as far as to punch the pro at their reunion.

"But you know," her voice perked.

"What?"

"Do you know Satsuki-chan? She's really pretty and has bouncy pink hair!"

Her sweet voice startled him, and he had to wait for her to repeat the question to process it. She pouted, but spoke again – this time more slowly, making the man call her a cheeky brat in his head. Hearing Momoi's name, Aomine thought of his childhood friend, and nodded.

"That's a random question. What about Satsuki?"

"Oh… wait! Ahomine! You called her so informally!"

He gave her a puzzled look, "What about it?"

"Are you close?"

"Yeah, she's my childhood friend."

"Oh, okay."

"Are you going to tell me about Satsuki? Or did you just want to say her name?"

"Oh yeah," she laughed, "Well, you know that Akashi-sama and Tetsu-kun are busy a lot right. So, I go stay with Satsuki-chan. I always have fun at Satsuki-chan's! She's really warm and soft when she hugs me. Plus, she cooked food for me and baked cookies!"

Aomine scowled at that thought. In his memory, Momoi was a terrible cook. She couldn't even make lemon slices in honey. The woman had soaked whole lemons with their peels on in a tub of that sweet liquid. He didn't want to even remember the "dishes" she made. Frankly, he always wondered if they were even technically edible. He actually was hoping that his friend had fed his daughter frozen food or takeout. It was better than imagining her poison the child.

"She also has a really pretty voice. Papa has a pretty singing voice too but I like Satsuki-chan's more. Don't tell papa though! When I was with Satsuki-chan, I wondered if that was what having a mama was like. It felt good. I didn't feel so sad anymore."

"Yeah," the man muttered, tiredly.

He didn't want to hear this anymore. The more she described the picture of the mother, the more his will wavered. How could he tell her the truth now, when she dreamed of a mother so vividly. He doubted that she'd be happy to know that her other parent was another big, rowdy man who was anything but soft and feminine.

"Do you think Satsuki-chan could be my mama?" she suddenly asked, expression hopeful.

Aomine sighed, and rested his face on his palm. Looking away, he grumbled sulkingly, "Satsuki's eyes are pink, and Kise's eyes are yellow. Your eyes are blue. How the heck could she be your mom?"

He knew that he was being childish, but it didn't help. The blue-haired man felt jealous of the girl's attachment to his childhood friend, and contempt that he was losing the will to come clean. He really just wasn't cut out for this type of delicate talks. If it were anyone else, he probably would have blurted out the truth as soon as he had heard about it. Forget taking her forcibly; Aomine knew that he didn't even have the guts to take her to the park without Kise's permission. Just one tear would have made his knees go weak and he'd have given in. There was no way he could handle her tears of disappointment, even if he knew that it would only get worse the longer he let the farce go on.

Suddenly, breaking his train of thought, he saw a flash of pale skin from the corners of his peripheral vision. Reacting on instinct, he whipped his body back, slamming against the backboard of the girl's bed. Wincing he glanced down to find a pouting child with her arms extended.

"What are you doing?" he asked, stunned.

Taki huffed with annoyance, "Why'd you move away, idiot! Down!"

Muttering something him not being a dog, Aomine bent down anyways, obeying his little girl's commands. With gentle movements, she placed her hands on Aomine's face, surprising him.

"What is it?" he murmured, trying to avoid eye contact.

With more force than her little body should have had, Taki yanked his face closer to hers. Her own large, blue eyes bore into him, as if she could see through everything he was. Aomine looked at them in awe. He wondered if this was how Kise saw his eyes; they were beautiful.

Breaking the silence, Taki finally gave out a grin.

"Talking 'bout eyes… your eyes are pretty. They look like the ocean – like mine. At least that's how papa describes them," she smiled, "Maybe if you were a girl, you could be my mama! Funny imagining you as Taki's mama!"

Yeah, funny, he thought, because it's true… well, sort of.

Patting his daughter's head, Aomine fell back, resigned. Somehow, he couldn't bear to tell her the truth anymore. How would she react now? Would she cry? Or, even worse, would she simply brush it off, calling it a lie? Aomine wasn't sure if he could take that. Maybe he should don a wig and start wearing dresses.

Silently, he cursed himself, feeling dejected. He knew himself well, and thus realized that he didn't have anything to give her. He couldn't really cook, he couldn't sing, he wasn't soft nor was he motherly at all. Frankly, he was not exactly fatherly either. He couldn't give her anything more than what Kise, or even do as well as the blonde. Frowning, he covered his face, frustrated at his predicament. Could he even give her the love she needed? Even that seemed impossible. All he had was a sense of over-protectiveness growing within the depths of his mind... but… was that love?

Irritated, he slumped back onto the floor, hands over his eyes and exclaimed, "Ahh, it'd be so much easier if Kise had just been a girl."

"Eh? Why is that?"

Aomine spread his fingers and looked up. He was surprised at the girl's sudden interjection, as if she had just read his mind. "Why is what?"

Taki gave him a look, "Why would it be easier if papa was born a girl?"

It took a moment, but he realized that he hadn't thought that, he had said it out loud. Cursing under his breath, he tried to think of an explanation – anything but the truth. The gears in his brain started turning, but he came up with none. Taki was looking at him with expectant eyes, and the man was at a loss at what to do.

Luckily, the door bell chimed, just in time.

Excusing himself, he left the whining child in a hurry, thankful to whoever was at the door for their impeccable timing. Silently cursing under his breath as he slumped down the stairs, he reminded himself to be more careful. This was a difficult matter, and he didn't want to screw it up. He's suffered… no, all three of them has suffered for five years already. It was time that this was resolved.

I… we… deserve this much, right?

Reaching the door, he yanked it open to find the entire Akashi family.

"Hey Ahomine-sensei," the red-eyed boy said, "Where's Taki?"

The blue-eyed man pointed to the stairs and grunted, "In her room."

Getting jittery, Souta thanked him and dashed into the house. However, Aomine yanked the boy by the collar and glared at him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To Taki!" the boy sputtered.

"Not without a chaperone."

From in front of the man, a dry cough recaptured his attention. Turning his gaze back toward the red and blue couple, he saw that Akashi was smiling wryly towards him.

"Let the boy though. They're just going to play," Akashi ordered, leaving Aomine no room to object.

Awkwardly, the man moved aside and gestured for everyone to walk in, unhappily. As the red-eyed boy ran up the stairs, the tanned man growled, "Keep the door open!" after him. Behind him, the couple murmured to themselves in amusement. They found the sudden papa wolf tranformation hilarious.

"And here I thought Ryouta was way too protective," the former captain smirked.

Kuroko agreed with a smile, "I always knew Aomine-kun was the overprotective type."

After exchanging relieved glances, the two stepped comfortably as if they owned the place. Both Akashi and Kuroko stripped off their light jackets and flung them onto the taller man.

"Mmf?!"

"Be a good boy and hang our jackets, all right?" Akashi laughed.

"Screw you," Aomine muttered.

"What was that, Daiki?"

"Nothing!"

"… Better have been nothing…"

Akashi gave him the evil eye before following his partner into the next room.

Grumbling, Aomine took them. However, instead of hanging them, he simply dumped them onto the closest couch when the other men weren't looking. Shortly after, he joined them in the kitchen, where Kuroko was already brewing tea.

"Take a seat, Daiki," Akashi motioned, "You must have had a hard day."

Who're the guests here? The tanned man thought for a second. Then, he remembered that this was Kise's house and that they were all guests.

As he took a spot in front of the red-head, Kuroko walked over and set a mug in front of him, and one for Akashi before settling down with a cup of his own.

"Well then," the ex-captain smiled, taking a sip of his drink, "How did it go?"

Aomine only stared at him, confused, "How did what go?"

This unnerved the man a bit, which didn't happen often. Next to him, Kuroko's expression changed to a slight victorious smile.

"You…" Akashi said slowly, "You didn't tell her that you were her father yet?"

He bit his lip and clutched his cup more firmly, "No."

"Daiki, you," the intimidating man snarled, "Are you kidding me?"

Aomine winced at the man's sudden change in composure. His former captain wasn't big or physically threatening, but still he managed to make the pro shake in fear. Still, afraid as he was, he just couldn't understand why he was being glared at and sucked up his courage to ask.

Akashi only stared at him harshly, and it was Kuroko that opened his mouth to explain the situation.

"We betted on whether you'd drop the bomb on Taki-san tonight or not," Kuroko laughed, "I'm so glad that I had faith in your cowardness."

"Thanks… – hey wait! That wasn't a compliment," Aomine roared.

The smaller man shrugged, "Doesn't matter. It's my win, right Akashi-kun?"

His spouse glared at him menacingly, "Shut up, Tetsuya. I had foreseen that she would find out tonight… I am never wrong…"

Not affected by the man's words, Kuroko smiled and patted Akashi's arm patronizingly, "Of course, Akashi-kun. You are absolute after all."

"I…am… absolute… I'm never wrong…"

The red head continued to murmur under his breath, but no one paid any attention.

Far from the adults, a light shone from inside a room. Inside, Taki was sitting upright on her bed, with Souta standing awkwardly next to her.

"Hiya, Taki," the boy said, "You feeling better?"

Taki ignored the question and went straight to what she wanted to know, "Your team won, right?"

Souta felt uncertainty on how to answer the question. Reaching to his back pocket, he pulled out a tiny gold medal. Feeling guilty, he nodded slightly.

Gazing at the prize, Taki's expression turned sour but she tried to cover it with a fake, perky smile, "Congratulations, Souta."

"Your team played well though," he tried to comfort her, "Better than I thought."

"Yeah," she said, while her hands reached up to rub her eyes. Both of them pretended that there weren't any tears in her eyes, and did not speak of it and so the conversation went dead.

Depressed, Taki pulled her knees towards he chest, and leaned her head on them sullenly. Unsure of what to do now, Souta walked towards the desk, and absentmindedly began playing with the drawers. After opening and closing the drawers boredly, he got fed up with the silence.

"You know," he said loudly, "I don't count this as a win, 'cause you didn't play it in the game. So hurry up and get better so we can finally find out who's better."

Quietly, a higher pitched voice mumbled, "Obviously me."

His ears perked up as he heard strength return to her voice. Realizing what it would take to cheer the girl up, Souta smiled and inhaled quietly.

"Nuh uh," the blue haired boy challenged, "It'll be me."

"No way, I'm so obviously better."

"You couldn't beat me even with my eyes closed!"

"Did a basketball hit you on the head? I'm better and can beat you with one hand!"

Souta grinned at her sass, "Well, the Taki I know wouldn't be sad over a missed game. How're you going to beat me if you are so busy crying? Taki is a cry baby!"

Sitting back up, Taki's face was pink and she announced with shaky confidence, "Bring it on, stupid Souta! I'll beat you any day and show you who the real baby is!"

The two children stared at each other, neither moving nor changing expression. The blonde was huffing from suddenly shouting and, realizing that she just raised her voice, sat back down shyly.

Slowly the boy smiled, "Yeah. We'll see."

Realizing that he was only trying to cheer her up, Taki frowned. But she gave up on trying to be sad because he had really cheered her up. Shyly, she smiled back and wiped away the remnants of tears from her eyes, "Thanks Souta."

Souta turned away embarrassed, focussing on the drawer he had just opened, "No probs…"

Looking down at his hands, Souta tried to hide the faint blush warming his cheeks. To his surprise, a suspicious box was in the drawer in front of him that he had opened absent-mindedly.

"What's this?" he wondered out loud.

"What's what?"

Interested, Taki hopped off the bed and walked to his side, forgetting momentarily of today's misfortune and of the situation shortly before. What she saw was familiar. It was the same metallic box that she had asked her papa about weeks ago. In the notebook they shared, she had inquired about it, only to be brushed off. At the time, she had thrown a tantrum at him, upset that he was keeping secrets from her.

She remembered faintly that the box wouldn't open no matter how much she pulled, and frowned. The heavy padlock was still there, "It's locked."

Souta ignored her, and pushed the lid upwards anyways. To their surprise, it opened effortlessly with a low creak.

"How'd you do that?"

The blonde girl stared at him with awe, and the boy just shrugged, he said, "It just opened."

Feeling that he was telling the truth, Taki focussed on the contents. Inside, there was a single sheet of paper. Lifting it out with her tiny hands, her mouth twisted into a frown.

"What is this," she huffed, looking at the many symbols that were foreign to her mind.

Watching her, Souta extended his hand in front of her, "Can I see it?"

Nodding, she handed it over. The boy, holding the sheet firmly in his hands, stared at it with intense concentration. After a moment, he opened his mouth, "B…irth Cer….ti…ficate?"

Taki looked at him amazed, "You can read?"

Souta beamed with pride, "Uh-huh! Father hired a tutor for me!"

The blonde admired him, but quickly asked, "What's a birth certificate?"

He shook his head though, "I don't know."

Frowning, she ushered him to read more. Returning his eyes onto the paper, he scanned it and read what he could.

"Um well, this is yours," he said, "Your name is here: Kise Taki."

"What else?" she said, eagerly.

Souta looked at the document again, eyes and brain hurting from the big words. Finally, he let out a cry of triumph, finding words that he understood.

"Your parents are listed here!"

"Really?" she shouted excitedly.

"Maybe your mama's name is here!"

"Let me see, let me see!"

Taki scooted up close to the boy, heart pounding. She's barely brought up her mother, because she was afraid that it would make her papa sad. Once, she did ask about her missing parent, but the blonde man didn't respond. Later that night, Taki had found her dad on the sofa, liquor in hand and cheeks still wet with tears.

That didn't mean that she was any less curious though. Trembling with excitement, her eyes fell onto the words that Souta were pointing at.

"Father who… um… con-… um Father, okay?" Souta stammered, "Kise Ryouta."

"And, and?" Taki edged him on, "What about mother?"

"Um…" he hesitated, growing confused. He glanced the document from top to bottom several times, but the familiar word did not appear, "There's no 'mother.'

"What?"

Souta, squinting, looked closer to the paper, "Actually… um, it is here but… your papa's name is where "mother" should be."

"Hah?"

He pointed at the crossed out word, "See? It says Mother here."

Taki was disappointed, "So papa is my only parent?"

"Oh, no… there's another name though."

"Really?"

"Yeah," the boy pointed below, "See? It says Father… er… Ao-mi-ne Dai-ki?"

"Wow," Souta exclaimed, "You have two dads too!"

He looked at her happily, but her expression was serious.

"Taki?"

"Aomine… Isn't that Ahomine's name?"

Souta looked at her thoughtfully, then nodded, "But is his first name Daiki?"

She pursed her lips; that, she wasn't too sure of.

"You know, you could always ask him," Souta stated.

"I don't –"

Surprising both of them, a loud slam echoed from the floor below. Faint voices could be heard, but neither child was able to differentiate between them. Soon after, the voices grew quiet and a booming noise replaced them. Growing in volume, footsteps echoed as someone came closer. A knot grew in Taki's stomach, and she shook in fear. Souta unconsciously took her hand, and they sat in silence as they waited for the door to open. Faintly, Taki heard a familiar voice.

"-kicchi"

Panic rose in her chest as she realized who it belonged to.

"Souta! Give me the paper!" she hissed, in a hurry.

"Huh?!"

Desperately aware of the lack of time, the blonde snatched the document and opened the drawer, quickly dumping it inside. Just as the door creaked open, she slammed it shut and laid against the wooden desk. Breathing in deep huffs, she gave a nervous smile as a deathly pale blonde man walked in. His face was flushed, his hair a mess and he was trying hard to catch his breath. Staggering towards the two children, the man collapsed to his knees in front of her, arms awkwardly raised.

"Takichii…." the man whimpered his expression full of concern and panic. His eyes were wet with tears and fear. He was shaken, and for a second Taki wondered who was the sick one here.

Taki smiled softly and tried to speak with a clear, comforting voice, "Welcome home, papa!"

"Takicchi," Kise cried again, whisking the child into his arms. He rubbed his cheek against her face and the girl could feel his muscles relax, relieved. With her body against his, she could feel the reverberations of his beating heart. It was heavy and rapid, and his skin was hot against her face. She realized that he must have dashed here… for her.

"Papa…" her voice grew shaky.

"Are you okay, baby?" Kise asked with concern in his eyes, "I'm sorry that I couldn't be with you sooner."

"Un," Taki shook her head. His proximity to her, just his physical presence was so comforting that she just couldn't hold in her tears anymore. All along, she was so scared, but now she knew that everything would be fine. Wrapping her own arms around him, she pulled her own body even closer, burying her face into his broad chest. Warm tears streaked her cheeks but she didn't care anymore.

"It's okay. Taki is a big girl now and papa is here so Taki is fine."

Smiling tenderly, Kise looked down at his little girl and rested his chin on her head. Ruffling her hair, he sighed contently.

"You are, aren't you?"he chuckled, his face beamed with a mix of pride and loneliness, "Soon you'll be leaving the nest. I'll be lonely."

"I won't let you be lonely, papa. I won't leave you alone, never."

"Aww, I feel so loved!"

Touched, the model squeezed the girl in his arms even more firmly, and kissed her on the forehead. A smile grew on Taki's face and she flung her arms around his neck, bringing her lips close to his cheek so she could return the kiss. Snuggling against Kise's warm body, Taki relaxed and leaned on him comfortably. She felt safe, forgetting her earlier worries.

Shortly after, several sets of steps could be heard. At the entrance of the girl's room, the three other men appeared, smiling at the pair's display of affections.

"Aominecchi, Kurokocchi, Akashicchi, thank you so much for taking care of Takicchi."

Kuroko answered, "It's no problem, Kise-kun. We're just glad that Taki-san is all right now."

"Well then," Akashi cut in, "I think we've overstayed our welcome. It should all be fine now that Ryouta is back."

"Ah, right. Souta-kun, let's get ready to go now. Say your goodbyes."

The little boy waved, "Bye Taki. Feel better. Bye Kise, Aomine-sensei."

"Bye bye Souta," the two blondes chirped, and Aomine grunted.

Getting into the car, Kuroko strapped Souta into his booster seat. Starting the car engine, the three of them began the journey home. As they backed out from the white garaged house, Souta stared out the window, and started dozing.

"We'll be home soon," Kuroko whispered, "Don't fall asleep, Souta-kun."

"Un…" Souta had drowsily.

Sighing, the blue haired man turned around and attempted to start up conversation. He really didn't want to wake the child later, as the boy was one of the heaviest sleepers around.

"How was Taki-san? Did you cheer her up properly?"

Hearing the girl's name, Souta's eyes widened slightly, "Yeah. She was smiling."

"That's my boy," Kuroko smiled, "Go get her."

"I will… oh."

"What is it Souta-kun?"

Cocking his little head, Souta frowned, "That reminds me, dad. You said you and father are friends with Aomine-sensei right?"

"Yes. That is correct. We've known him since middle school."

"Well," the young boy bit his lips, "Is his first name Daiki?"

Kuroko looked at Akashi, who glanced back with a serious expression.

"Yes, that is correct…" the man said carefully. Deep down, the blue-haired man felt uneasiness, but forced himself to calm down. Perhaps his boy had overheard it at the day care… it didn't mean anything at all.

Souta let out a yawn, and his face didn't change.

"Why did you ask, Souta-kun?"

The two fathers held their breath anxiously.

"Oh… I was just wondering if Taki's other daddy was Aomine-sensei."

The car veered slightly off course, and Akashi let out a cough.

Too alarmed by the child's sudden statement, Kuroko didn't even feel the car shift, "Why – Why do you say that, Souta-kun?"

"Taki and I found a weird box. Inside was a paper that said 'bi…birth cer..ti..fi..cate,' he struggled to remember, "and it said that her daddies were 'Kise Ryouta' and 'Aomine Daiki.'

Kuroko frowned, and couldn't find any words to say. He looked at his partner, but the red head had a wry grin.

Speaking slowly and deliberately, trying to hide his joy, Akashi asked his son, "Does Taki know of this too?"

"Yeah. I read it to her. But I don't know if she's sure that the Aomine is Aomine-sensei."

"Oh, she will. She's a smart girl," Akashi laughed.

"You're in a rather good mood," Kuroko grumbled.

"Well," the red head smirked mischievously, "It seems that I really am absolute. I win Tetsuya, and you know what that means."

The blue haired man winced, and scowled. Sighing, he thought to himself that tonight was going to be a long night.

"The heavens must really love you…" Kuroko sighed, "You always get things your way, at the expense of everyone else."

Akashi smiled, "Yet no one loves me more than you, Tetsuya."

Kuroko only sent his husband a playful glare.

Back in the house, two rooms emitted a bright light. Down the hall from the sky-covered walls room, Aomine and Taki could hear the faint sounds of water running and Kise's humming.

After some arguing back-and-forth, it was decided that the man would stay over for tonight. So, happy that he got his way, the blonde man had went to take a quick shower first, leaving the awkward pair here.

"Hey…" the pro spoke out, trying to ease the silence, "You feeling better now?"

It was probably due to their unexpected conversation earlier, but the child wasn't as talkative as usual.

"Yeah."

She answered plainly, with little emotion and continued to just stare at him. Her eyes were burning into him and he started to feel uncomfortable. Sighing, the man walked over and pinched her cheeks.

"Could you stop looking at me so intently? I know I'm good-looking."

"Shut up, Ahomine" she snapped, "That's gross."

"Hey! I'm not bad-looking enough to be called grossed!"

"Papa is a million times more handsome."

"That's not fair. You can't compare me to Kise. He's more beautiful than a girl."

"Do you think he's beautiful?"

"Haah?!"

He didn't know how to answer that. He felt self-conscious saying that he thought Kise was good looking, especially because of the way she was staring at him. He was embarrassed to tell the girl that he was attracted to her father.

"Why don't you answer?"

"Could you stop glaring at me?" he rambled on, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Ahomine, you're blushing. That's gross."

"You're gross."

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh huh!" he roared, and reached forward to tickle her. She laughed as his fingers poked her, and cried for him to stop in between fits of giggles. Getting up onto the bed, he smiled at the chime of her laugh.

He tickled her until she was red in the face and had tears forming at the edge of her eyes. Eventually, he started coughing, and he immediately stopped.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah," she huffed, in-between gasps for air.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "Forgot you were sick."

"S'okay," she smiled, and flopped down onto his lap.

The room went quiet again, except for the sound of their breathing in sync.

Yet, the lack of conversation didn't bother Aomine this time. He felt comfortable, and relaxed.

Then, after calming down, Taki broke the silence this time.

"Hey, Ahomine?"

"What is it?"

She looked up at him and stared again, "What's your name?"

He raised an eyebrow, taken off guard by the strange question, "Aomine. Did you hit your head?"

She stuck out her tongue, "I know that. I meant your full name you idiot!"

"Don't call your teacher an idiot."

She didn't react, and he gave up trying to get under her skin, "Aomine Daiki. Why?"

"Aomine….Daiki…"

"What about my name?"

"…dy…"

"What?"

Inhaling deeply, the little blonde sat up and tugged on his shirt. Her gaze sharpened, and felt more penetrative compared to her earlier stares. Aomine held his breath, confused at her strange behaviour. Just a couple hours ago she was so timid and forlorn… why has she changed so much, so suddenly?

"Daddy…"

Aomine felt the air escape his lungs. He couldn't speak, and he wasn't even sure if he heard correctly.

"You… what…?"

She tugged his shirt harder and repeated herself, "Daddy…?"

Biting her lips, her hand trembled as she spoke, "Are you… my daddy?"

T/N: Yeah, yeah! Pushing forward to the end~ Luckily, my semester is nearly over so I have free time this week. From now til the end of January, it will be my finals exam week (wish me luck!) and hopefully I'll find the time to write the next chapter hehe. Sorry if this chapter and the last felt a bit rushed. I feel that I put too many events in this, but I don't know how to separate them.

Anyways, little Taki now sort of knows Aomine's true identity! Yay! The next chapter will probably be the last. I know I said that I wanted to write a cute little epilogue too, but I'm not sure I will. We'll see. I actually have a little idea for another aokise fanfic (because this otp is so darling). It will probably be an angsty fic and an AU where Kise and Aomine meet in a hospital…due to… circumstances. No it won't be mpreg LOL. Tell me if you guys will be interested in something like this. I might not write it for awhile though. Maybe I will write the first chapter during March Break.

Again, as always, thank you all very much for reading my fic and giving Taki and I so much support. Stay beautiful my dear readers and see you next chapter!