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Of Butterfly Wings

Chapter Ninety-Eight: His Duty

Touya shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he continued to check his phone for any recent messages.

Kagome had sent him a quick text when she'd left Kikyou's house and informed him that she'd be heading to the hospital. He'd offered to go with her but she assured him that she could deal with Momo just fine and to enjoy his time out with everyone.

"Did you find out what'd happened?" Shuichi took a swig of his drink while Hoshi and Hina giggled beside him.

Touya glanced down at his phone, "Nothing yet. All the wife said was that the nurse mentioned hospice care."

Shuichi didn't flinch at the word. His eyes narrowed as he helped his daughter into his lap while the rest of the kids chatted amongst themselves.

Neither of them spoke but they understood the insinuation.

Momo was dying.

Of what, they wouldn't find out until Kagome called him to give him an update. Although he doubted that it'd mattered in the first place.

"How's your wife holding up?" Touya asked.

Shuichi took another swig from his drink, "She hates her but she'll always see her as her mother." He set the drink down with a loud 'tup'. The children briefly turned to look at them but quickly lost interest. Shuichi continued, "She's decided not to give Momo the satisfaction of seeing her one last time. So what about you? How's Kagome taking all of this."

Touya closed his eyes, "She's a real fighter. She hasn't given that woman a spare thought since the day she'd gotten kicked out of the shrine." His gaze shifted towards their daughters as they both crawled into Tatsuo and Katsuo's laps respectively. "She's only going there today to remind her of what Momo's lost."

It was ironic really.

The daughter she'd called a failure had become the one to give her the perfect successors in their family's bloodline. However due to her treatment of Kagome, she'd lost out on more than just her relationship with Yua and Hina. She'd lost all of her grandchildren and even the child she'd reared with such meticulous care.

As a father, the prospect of any of his kids cutting him off was terrifying. He wanted to stand at their side and watch them grow up. He wanted to take joy in all the little moments they shared as a family. Not being able to watch his children grow into capable adults was the worse thing he could ever possibly imagine as a parent.

"You know," Touya turned to pin his brother-in-law with a pointed look. "When Kikyou is feeling better, we can consider throwing a party."

Shuichi snorted into his drink at that.

"Hey don't laugh!" Touya grinned at him, "Just call it a celebration of life party. She won't know the difference even if we strung up a witch piñata for the kids. The resemblance would be so uncanny that there'd be no way to tell Momo apart from the witch."

Shuichi banged his fist on the counter as he tried to keep himself from laughing.

"Get a cake with the saying 'the wicked witch is dead' on it and call it a day." He couldn't hold a straight face as he started laughing too.

It was an entertaining thought. Although he was only half joking, he was also half serious. It'd been a while since Kagome had anything to truly celebrate and this felt like the perfect excuse. That and he really wanted to dance over Momo's grave. If he couldn't have that then he'd do the next best thing. He'd dance over the memory of her. None of their kids will ever know who she was. As far as they're concerned, both Kagome and Kikyou had been orphans.

Eventually after they both calmed, Touya decided to change the subject.

"I hear you're working on a new project with someone. How's that coming along?" His question was a simple one but he found that it was rare for him and Shuichi to be able to talk freely like this. It was nice to be able to get to know more about the man.

"It's going well," His brother-in-law answered. "Kagome put me into contact with Tenko a while ago and since then he's been helping me develop a game. He's pretty good at coding and the difficult side of programming. So I've been drafting up the story while he pieces it all together."

Far be it for him to understand the difficulties of video game development but it sounded like those two had a solid plan.

Touya raised his glass, "To a successful endeavor."

Shuichi tipped his glass against Touya's own in return, "To a successful party."

He fought back a snort of laughter that time.

"Let's host it around Halloween," Touya offered. "Kikyou won't know that the witches are about her mother instead of the holiday that way."

Shuichi's lips curled up into a smile, "I'll buy the cake."

Touya watched as the kids continued to chat and play, each of them focusing their attention of their grandmother and uncle.

For the first time in a while, Natsuo had taken time off from college to pay them a visit. Shouto was still in school at U.A. but he'd sulked whenever he'd found out that their middle brother would be here today to spend time with the kids.

"Uncle Natsu!" Tatsuo threw himself into his brother's lap. "Are you getting married? Daddy says that you've got a girlfriend."

Natsuo threw him a piercing glare but Touya just waved at him nonchalantly. It was his fault for ditching them so long. What else was he supposed to tell the children when they'd asked about their uncle Natsuo?

His mother held Haru in her lap as she laughed at everyone's antic.

Touya had almost closed his eyes when he caught sight of his sister making her way through the restaurant.

"It's about time," Touya started then paused when he saw a man he'd never met before smiling down at his sister. She'd hardly paid him any mind, focusing instead on the stranger next to her.

"Hey Tenko!" Shuichi waved the man over, "Come meet the family!"

Touya gave his sister a piercing look as she wandered towards them. A bright flush had crossed her cheeks while her eyes remained riveted on Tenko.

He might be a father now but he was still a big brother. Right now, he did not like the way those two were looking at each other.

"Tenko, this is my brother-in-law Touya." Shuichi introduced them, "Our wives are sisters." He then gestured to the chaos of his children and siblings around them, "You've met Touya's sister, Fuyumi. That's his brother Natsuo over there and their mother Rei. Most of the gaggle of kids here are Touya's."

He felt his lips curl up in a small yet prideful smile when Tenko did a double take.

"You two are acting chummy," He folded his arms over his chest and glanced down at his sister, "Did I miss something funny?"

Fuyumi gave him a placating wave of her hand, "Oh it's fine. Tenko held the door open for me on the way in."

She said that but her eyes kept fluttering every time she glanced in Tenko's direction.

Touya felt himself bristle.

Pleasantries be damned. He had a duty to fulfill.

His lips pulled into a sharp smirk as he offered his hand to Tenko, "It's nice to meet you."

Regardless of how old they got, he would always be a big brother to all of his siblings.