AYuki finished writing her papers from the patients in her current ward just as her father gave out the final doses of Zithromax. He smiled at her, and she smiled softly back, finishing up the reports quickly so she, and her father, could leave. Nowaki finished up quickly as well, packing his papers into a messenger bag and standing over Yuki's shoulder, watching her to point out any mistakes, whether they be major or minor. She merely nodded and accepted the criticism with a slight huff. Yuki was never one to welcome criticism with a kind eye (much like her papa, Hiroki), but her father did his best to work with what he had. Using calm and affectionate tones like he had once done with Hiroki, Nowaki was able to make his mark on the girl he had taken home from the orphanage.
It was during a stormy night when Nowaki had dedicatedly visited the Kusama orphanage once again, only to see her, his little girl, sitting outside, reading one of the books from the shelves. She was just sitting there, reading the tales of Genghis Khan with a passive look, the same one Hiroki would give when he would read his books. Even when the wind and rain whipped around her, she was calmly flipping pages of the ancient tome. He stood over her, asking why she wasn't inside with the other children.
"Because they're too loud. They never shut up." Was the reply he received.
And even now, ten years after Hiroki agreed to adopt, Yuki still wore the same, resigned attitude as she had that night in the rain. The truth was, she reminded him of Hiroki so much that he couldn't help but love her with all his heart, protect her with all his soul, just like he would do with Hiroki, and even after she would leave the nest, he hoped she would find someone who would love her and protect her the same way.
They walked back home in a comfortable silence, Yuki listening to music through her headphones, and Nowaki humming a slight tune. The smells of nikujaga flooded their noses as they climbing the apartment steps, and the two sighed in relief. The hearty meal was sure to fill their stomachs after a long day of work (and internship).
As soon as they entered, Nowaki moved to give Hiroki a kiss, whispering words that made the other sport a dark blush, while Yuki plopped on the couch beside her younger sister, Miki, and began to help her with her homework, even if it was break for the junior high student. Despite their separate agendas, each member of the family came together to eat the meal, conversing with little interest. Nowaki was first to excuse himself, cleaning his plate and returning to his bedroom after a sixteen hour shift in intensive care. Hiroki was the second, cleaning off his plate and following Nowaki's lead, heading off to bed. The two fell asleep in each other's arms.
Miki and Yuki both finished dinner and began their respective assignments, both having the same mentality: wanting to keep themselves from procrastination and quick, last minute, half-assed work. Miki occasionally asked for help on her science and history assignments, while Yuki toiled over an essay for Grammar. The class had never come easy to her, communication was just not her strong suit. It was the thing that tormented her grade-point average, and she felt it was unnecessary to learn. When will she ever use this in her daily life? College perhaps.. her papa often became mad when she mentioned her hatred for contemporary literature and useless essays, which was the majority of the class. She loved to read, but she absolutely hated moronic stories of drama and forbidden romance, of suicide and debt. Yuki preferred true stories of despicable rulers, of foreign lands and foreign wars, and arguments of ideas and politics. One might assume she liked the news, but the history books have less bias. She prefers less bias.
Miki was the younger, much more outgoing sister. She was a boaster, and preferred literature to anything else. Her fascination with fantasy and fiction had grown to tremendous heights after being adopted into a family with so many books. At her first glimpses of the study, her eyes had grown to the size of tea plates. It had to be at least three times larger than the size of the orphanage's library, she thought, and there were so many worlds to explore in each novel. She loved it, and would read until the dawn, keeping a thick dictionary next to her at all times. But, it came with a cost. Her days at school would be spent sleeping, not doing schoolwork, or not listening to lectures, which caused her to miss important lessons, especially in math and science. But, like her sister's disinterest with literature, she felt science and math were useless in the career she wished to pursue: literature, or perhaps one where she could create a world for others to enjoy. She had attempted to write at some points in her life, but her interests would always fleet from one plot to another. After weeks of planning a descriptive story set in the sands of the Sahara, she would scrap the idea for one that was set in the rice fields of Vietnam. This happened often, and when she tried to teach herself patience, and how the words should flow, how the conjunctions shouldn't interfere too much with the sentences, her excitement about writing began to wane, and she gave up. Miki was not a bad author, per se, but her seemingly endless supply of self-confidence always began to lessen when she would reread her work, and it didn't seem to flow right, or the grammar wasn't similar to those stories of Verne or Melville. She admired writers who could capture a reader within the opening sentences, and desperately worked on that ability. But Miki had little success, so she gave up on that too. Perhaps, she thought, she could just teach literature like her papa.
But no matter the circumstances, Miki would always love books, and literature. More than once, her papa would find her browsing the college library, trying to find a book she hadn't read yet, and Hiroki tried to encourage this behavior, even if it meant receiving odd looks from his students.
Yuki and Miki both looked up as they heard a crack of thunder in the distance, and they both turned to smile at the other. It had been weeks, or even months since the last rainfall, and it now seems like it is coming to an end. Rain began to patter against the windows and the roof of the apartment building, and all was beginning to descend to normality once again.
Daichi's green eyes watched the patterns of rain cascade down the windows of his bedroom, and his smile only widened when he saw streaks of lightning light up the sky like a gunshot. These were the ways of nature he had missed in this drought. The heat, he assumed, would be gone after this heavy rainfall, lost to the thoughts of water and the cool weather that was sure to follow.
From the kitchen, he heard his papa calling that dinner was ready, and he peeled himself from the window with distaste. Rainstorms were his favourite thing to watch, but he guessed it would still be raining when he returned. He could hear the squeaks and protests of his papa and the quiet murmurings of his father, and he knew everything would be alright. Everything would be normal again, with the rain coming to wash away the pains of yesterday. It would see to the riddance of this tension that he felt within his family unit, and it would keep his heart and mind sane in this world of growing technology.
A/N: Well, this was also a quick update, and I realise I forgot to answer the invisiblemage's question in the last chapter note: 'are Daichi and Katsuo going to have a more romantic relationship?' Here's the answer: I really don't know yet. I tend to write my plots and romances as I go from chapter to chapter, so I never really think much in advance. and invisiblemage, I just have to say... YOU ARE SOO AWESOME! TYTYTYTYTYTY! (*glares at all the other readers* I know you're there, other people... I shall send Russia upon you: ^J^ kolkolkol)
But anyways, back to business: I have finals (blegh) coming up in the next two weeks. FML, I'll try to update, but please be patient with me! I'm sure for any of you in high school, or that went through high school, already understand the pain and difficulty of standardised tests (MSL.. :P). I should update once more before next week, but just be aware that SCHOOL IS A BITCH. (please excuse my language but I HATE SCHOOOOOOOOLLLLL) Well, thanks for reading~