Disclaimer: Don't own SAO (I or II), or any of the characters.
Rating: T
A Saturday mini-holiday
RL
February 14th, 2031
"Mmh... ngh..."
"Hey, not so hard, Yui" daddy assured right beside her, also laying on the floor. "If you try too much at once, you'll strain yourself."
Yui pouted a little. "I can handle myself daddy" she breathed to him, but smiling, slowly keeping her breathing in check as she 'lifted' a few of the smaller weights sorta-above her head, down, and repeated as shown. "I still need to build up my muscles and everything, if ever I'm to stay healthy."
"Don't worry, you'll stay healthy" came from mommy, walking-in-place on some other machine with a moving conveyor belt. "After all, I always aim for balanced meals, across the week if not each meal. Speaking of which, Kazuto-"
"Hmm?"
"You've been neglecting your fruits for the past three days" she teased. "You're gonna have to do something about that."
Daddy made a sound, probably hidden in his own activity, before humming. "Well... what about a fruit smoothie? Bunch of fruits thrown into the blender all-at-once, and I'd get a big boost that way. Sound good, Asuna?"
"Oh! That sounds really good!" Yui breathed, excited. "Can I have one too, mommy?"
Mommy laughed, nodding with a 'Mmh-hmm', to her little giggles - well, now she had something to look forward to, and she's definitely gonna get through this! Not even this lingering 'muscle ache' is gonna slow her down or distract her too much... though, she could do without the sweat smell easily.
A little time later, she realized something though, and discreetly whispered to daddy. "You seem a little different today, daddy" she whispered, curious. "I understand you like mommy's cooking, but you seem to follow her every order without question today."
Daddy was a bit surprised, glancing at her from where they lay, but smiled. "Well, it is Valentine's Day" he whispered easily, "A day when you're supposed to show your love for someone, which I'm trying to do with little actions. Maybe it's a bit of an old-fashioned holiday, more of a tradition, but still."
"Really?" Yui asked, really soft. "Then can I take part too, daddy?"
He glanced at her then. "Romantic love, Yui" he breathed, to her little jolt, but still smiling. "Besides, even if it did mean love in general, you show your love for us every day, and have all these years. For me and Asuna, that's enough."
She felt really warm, smile included, and she carefully put down her weights- then she extended her hand toward daddy, who took it for a little, understanding. Unnoticed by them, mommy had heard most of their words, and she was similarly soft + happy with her smile, even as she continued her own workout.
...
"Here you go" Yui breathed, happy even as mommy thanked her, taking the other fruit from her hand. Even as she cut it up into pieces, Yui then made a sound, holding out her arm and 'stretching' a muscle in her arm a lot... it felt weird, but it helped her muscles work out the 'knots' or whatever.
Still so weird, though the ache dulled as she did so, which worked for her.
"Alright" mommy finished, drawing her back, placing the last bits into this machine called a 'blender'. "Here's where we make a fruit smoothie- but you might wanna cover your ears."
Quickly doing so, Yui was a little worried now, even if mostly curious.
Mommy then put the top portion over the glass (filled with fruits), held it down, then pressed a button with her free hand- soon as she did, the fruits inside moved at a very fast speed, turning to liquid mush almost instantly, particularly with a loud whir! She jolted, even as mommy did counting motions on a finger, before she stopped after five seconds - Yui slowly removed her hands, but mommy shook her head, taking a spoon and stirring the insides with the top portion briefly off, before making a face. Then she put the liquid fruit mush through another cycle and tested it again, Yui tilting her head (ears covered by instinct), before smiling with a satisfied hum. "Alright, that's satisfactory" she said, before pouring the contents into two glasses. "Yui?"
"Hehe" she breathed, curious even as she took one glass, and the other when mommy finished. "Alright daddy, now it's our turn!"
"Can't wait" daddy answered, having been sitting at the table, but taking his glass from her - he looked a little excited, sniffing at it for a bit. She could smell it all too, smelling of freshly-blended-together apple and orange slices, which really made her excited.
"Drink up, you two."
"Yes, ma'am." - "Hehe."
Together, they drank- daddy did so slightly faster than her, because he never hesitated to try anything, even if it was 'mystery' stuff. Yui didn't see his reaction, because the moment the juice touched her tongue, she really felt the juices take effect! The sweet flavors were always sharp, but combined like this made them new again, and quite a different experience- and unlike the slices they began as, it was a smooth liquid, though with little bits here and there. Soon after that, she tilted her glass back to normal, making a sound at the sensations. "Hehe! I like this; it's so interesting!"
Mommy smiled brightly at her, giggling. "You don't have to drink it all at once, but glad you like it" she said, before looking at daddy, who was 'smacking' his lips. "Kazuto?"
"Don't worry, I'll down it like I'm supposed to" he assured, but interested. "Still, the combination of both flavors makes it unique. Right, Yui?"
"Mmh-hmm!"
He smiled, then took in a breath, and over the course of several seconds, downed the entire rest of his glass at once- they both made sounds over this. "Whew" daddy breathed, looking like he got a major boost, laughing. "Now that was a rush!"
"You're- you're reacting like that was spicy!" mommy breathed, disbelieving. "As if your taste buds were normal, I mean!"
"Well, I like spicy" he answered, mild. "Maybe for me, sweet flavors have the opposite effect."
Yui laughed, not surprised at all- he'd always had unusual taste buds. "Just like expected of daddy" she said cheerfully, mommy giving her a look of both exasperation (at daddy), and some bits of happiness. "I think I have some of his taste buds, considering I handle spicy easier than I did in ALO, but I still have the 'normal' palette hehe."
"Really?" mommy asked, the exasperation disappearing, and she leaned closer. "I had noticed you like spicy several times, but I always thought it was because you liked them overall."
"Well, I do like spicy... just not daddy's idea of spicy" she breathed, sheepish.
"Yeah, that's true" daddy added, his smile nostalgic. "Back when we first came to ALO, we got these little snacks from a vendor one time. Yui tried one as a Navigation Pixie, and was coughing up smoke- said because she's small, the taste was too concentrated for her taste buds."
"Which it was!" she protested. "I learned that the hard way!"
"Hey, hey, I said I was sor-" daddy sheepishly answered, before he stopped. "Wait, did I? ...now that I think about it, I don't think I did say sorry."
Yui was about to answer, until mommy started giggling profusely, which got her and daddy's attention. After many seconds of this, mommy's gaze was happy, and her smile soft: "Well, I'll say this much" she breathed softly, gently ruffling her hair a bit (she gave a small happy blush), "Not one bit of that story surprises me in the least."
She smiled big, hugging mommy from where she sat, happy and warm- mommy easily returned it, just the same. "Get over here, Kazuto" mommy continued, but teasing - they heard daddy chuckle, but he was up within a second, easily fitting himself into their hug.
Which made it that much better, hehe!
/
Later
Alright, shopping again!
Even now it's so interesting, seeing all the different designs and everything hehe - Yui brushed over a few shirts, which often had patterns modeled after symbols, characters, and other things she wasn't familiar with, but obviously existed in some form. Beside her, daddy came over and noticed this, bending down closer: "Curious, aren't we?" he teased, but smiling.
"Yes" she whispered. "Do you know what some of these are daddy?"
A few moments were spent looking at them. "Well, I can tell you these are from fictional shows, though that was probably obvious" he said, slightly sheepish on that last part, but she merely smile. "See any you like?"
"Well, I'm not sure yet, but they're interesting designs" Yui admitted, curious. "Like this girl, who looks human but she obviously isn't, because she has wolf ears and a tail."
"Hmm, I believe that's-"
"Guess who I found, guys!"
Surprised, they turned, seeing mommy coming toward them with- ah, Sinon!
"Shino" daddy greeted. "You're looking well."
Their friend just gave him a lip curve, arms lightly crossed for a moment. "Do me a favor; don't say such things in front of your wife" she teased. "She's the one you should be saying such things to."
"Got that right" Yui added onto, to daddy's little look, but she giggled (as did mommy).
"Well, it was still friendly" he said, un-surprised by any of this. "After all, that's what friends are supposed to do, even if they do unique twists on it."
"As indeed she turned it into" mommy agreed. "Shino, you think you can stick around with us?"
The other woman thought about it a bit, particularly glancing up. "Well, I am browsing the clothing section" she admitted. "If you guys are getting anything else, I could stay here with Yui, since she seems to be interested in getting some."
"Kazuto?"
"I'm cool with that."
Mommy smiled. "Alright, then it's a deal" she said, leaning down a bit toward her. "We'll be back soon" she assured.
"Of course" Yui agreed.
With little nods to go around, mommy and daddy soon moved off, leaving her alone with Shino- she soon looked down, and seemed briefly interested in her feet. "You know, it's still weird" she said, and when she went "Hmm?", continued: "You were always barefoot in ALO, excluding when you became an Imp. It's only a little detail, but it's still new for you to be wearing shoes."
"Oh. Hehe, yeah it is strange" Yui agreed, lifting her foot a bit, tapping it against the floor. "I still like being barefoot when possible, but here shoes are required to enter stores, among other places. It would seem strange to you, because you've grown up with shoes."
Shino's lip curved a bit. "That does help, because we regard it as normal. But I'm sure soon it'll be normal for you too."
She nodded, before running her fingers over the sleeve of that shirt with the wolf-eared-and-tailed girl. "Soon" she agreed. "But until then, I'm here browsing for anything to expand my wardrobe hehe."
"If you like it, you should get it."
"I plan to!"
...
They talked of various little things throughout, as mommy and daddy did take awhile - however, just when she'd finished another statement, she re-noticed the glasses Shino was wearing, and asked after them.
"Hmm?" Shino breathed, in response to being asked, before making a sound as she slowly took them off. "These?"
"Yes" Yui agreed. "Why do some need glasses at all?"
The not-too-older woman thought for a moment, then her lip curved again, a bit fond as she sat down on this 'block' seat-rest thing. "Well, humans are all born differently in many ways, and sometimes that means people have different abilities" she said, looking at her. "For some, the eyes aren't quite 'aligned' right from birth, or it might occur gradually after certain ages - one type is it's blurry when you see at a distance, while others can see at a distance but they see anything close-up as blurry instead."
She worried a bit. "And, which are you?" she asked tentatively, hoping she wasn't offending her.
Rather than be offended, Shino laughed. "Neither, Yui" she said easily. "I can see perfectly. In fact, I have twice the visual acuity of most people."
Yui was really thrown by that, blinking several times.
"Here" Shino said gently, giving her the glasses, which she slowly made a sound to. "The reason why I wear them at all? Well... because of a phobia of mine, and I made these specifically so that they could take the force of a bullet. They made me feel safe, secure, and thus calm for a lot of things-"
"Is it okay then, for you not to wear them?"
Shino nodded. "Yeah" she said, lip curved. "It's been a long time since then - all that still applies, a little, but today I mainly wear it as a reminder, to never let myself fall prey to those horrors again."
Yui slowly looked at the glasses, then carefully, she tried them on- it was odd getting the 'hooked' sections over her ears, but soon she was wearing them. She spent a few seconds getting used to the sensations, and admitted that she did seem a little more secure behind these, even if she wasn't really a fearful person by nature.
"How do I look?" she asked softly.
The other woman smiled, arms friendly-crossed. "Very cute" she said, to Yui's giggle. "Still, glasses or not, hopefully you won't strain your eyes too much."
"Hmm?" Yui asked, head tilted. "What happens if I do?"
"Well, if that happens, your eyesight can lose quality on details, it becomes harder to keep focus, and otherwise you'll feel heavy" Shino answered. "Obviously you shouldn't let that happen, if you can help it."
"But if it does, what can I do?"
"That's easy: close your eyes for a few minutes."
Yui blinked. "That's it?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah" Shino said, shrugging. "The eyes are muscles too, Yui. Closing your eyes means they pause on working, allowing fresh blood to reach them, which helps them work properly after such strain. You can even feel that sensation if you focus right."
"But why? What does the blood do exactly?"
"They carry oxygen from the lungs, which is what gives muscles their strength."
Yui gasped a bit, thinking it all made sense now! Always she'd seen mommy and daddy focused on their breathing when they worked out, doing their repetitions in tune with their breathing more-or-less, and why they'd always said to keep breathing steady when she tried, despite breathing being an automatic reflex. Hehe!
"Alright, we're back."
Jolted out of it, Yui looked over (as did Shino), finding mommy and daddy coming toward them, the latter raising a small hand in 'greeting' even as he pushed the cart. "Thanks for taking care of them, Shino-" mommy started, before trailing off. "Where are your glasses?"
Shino's only answer was to look at her, and soon she had the gazes of mommy and daddy on her- she smiled.
"Oh wow you look so cute!" mommy cheered, coming over toward her, eyes sparkling. "Kazuto, isn't she the cutest thing ever!?"
"Yui or the glasses?"
"Hey!" mommy exclaimed, though her lip twitched. "Be serious!"
"Okay, okay" he said sheepishly, rubbing at his head, while Shino looked entirely amused at his situation.
Yui sheepishly giggled; oh daddy and his teases. For her part though, she was glad to see mommy this happy about the temporary look, as her enthusiasm for certain things is who she modeled her own bursts off of - no doubt she reminded mommy of all that, as she did to daddy, who enjoyed it from both of them in his own subtle way.
Heehee.
"Shino, do you have a camera for this?"
Shino was a little sheepish. "Sorry Asuna, but I don't" she said, sympathetic. "But knowing you right now, next you're gonna ask if Yui can keep these for a day."
"Oh I couldn't do that!" Yui protested. "They're yours after all, no matter how cute they may make me."
"She's got you there" daddy breathed, touching mommy's shoulder, lip curved. "But I understand the feeling."
Just as he finished, Yui took off the glasses, giving them to Shino (who took them back). "Don't worry, mommy" she said brightly. "In exchange, I'll just be twice as cute for the rest of today!"
"Is that even possible?" Shino wondered, both eyebrows raised.
Daddy laughed. "You have no idea" he said mildly, even as mommy and her started giggling- it soon turned into one of those family laughter things. Shino looked at this for a moment, but her smile said this was just business as normal, even as she put her glasses back on.
A little shorter than the norm, but still cute :P