Notes:

Did you miss me?

First I want to offer an apology if I have not updated for almost two months.

But here you go, one more chapter of this fic.

I hope you like it because it will be a little bit about Yoshio and how is Satoru's relationship being a father and in the next chapter we will finally talk completely about Utahime.

Without further ado, enjoy the reading, I hope to upload the next chapter soon.

Chapter 19. Fathers & Children

Once the three left the dojo, Satoru's servants hurried to bring clean clothes to both their leader and Okkotsu, at their master's request.

Both sorcerers were changing in a small space with some screens they had at the entrance of that building for comfort.

"We don't want "her" to get mad if she sees us coming to the table full of dirt and blood Right?" Satoru shared a knowing smile with his son.

Yoshio laughed at that comment.
"She's definitely going to get mad if she sees you dirty like that, dad!"

"She?" asked Yuta in confusion, raising his head slightly through the screen.

"Well Okkotsu" Satoru looked at his guest with a big smile while stretching his arms once he came out of that screen with his clean clothes "it's time for you to meet one more member of this family"

Satoru had put on something cooler, he had sheathed himself in a gray hakama. He was wearing a plain, unadorned white T-shirt, which contradicted the exuberance of the purple kimono he wore over his shoulders, that color was worthy of a leader, which he left open.

Instead, Yuta had to shed both his white jacket, which was torn by the fight and stained with blood, and his black T-shirt.

The servants provided him with a clean white T-shirt. They also gave him a towel to wipe off the sweat and the blood that had already stopped flowing from his forehead thanks to his reverse cursed technique. They also gave him a pair of dark blue sports pants, since his pants had also become quite dirty.

"Thank you" he said, handing over his dirty clothes once he had finished changing.

"Well, I want this dojo cleaned up very well and made as good as new. And by the way, I don't want you to say anything to my wife about what happened in this place, understood?" ordered Satoru.

"Understood, my lord" said one of the servants while all the others began to fix the damage that was in that place.

Even Yuta left his sword in that dojo, since he would no longer need it where they were going.

"Come on Okkotsu, it's time to go eat"

"Well, where should we start?" questioned Satoru as he chose what to eat first from the beautiful table that the clan servants had prepared for him inside the kiosk as he had ordered.

Yuta slid into the seat across from Satoru. As he did so, his gaze fell on the three empty chairs next to him. So he guessed that other people would be joining there before long.

"Some tea, Satoru kun?" asked an older woman, who already had quite a few wrinkles on her face due to the passage of time, her hair, which in the past had been black, was now mostly dyed gray.

What stood out about her at that moment was her kimono, which was different from those of the servants. It was very colorful and worthy of an elite woman. Likewise, this woman seemed to be in control of the food, as she gave instructions to the servants on how the food should be served.

"Thank you very much mother-in-law and yes, some tea would do us both good, wouldn't it, Yuta?" commented the albino with a big smile and with his hand he pointed to his guest.

"I want tea too, grandma!" said Yoshio tenderly, while shaking his bamboo cup.

The woman proceeded to serve the liquid in those traditional glasses. By the way she did it, she showed signs that she was a woman traditionally educated in the art of both serving tea and attending to people.

"Careful my life, it's hot" she answered kindly, showing too much affection for her blue-eyed grandson. She spoiled him so much that she even prepared a special meal just for him.

Yuta fixed his gaze on that woman, if you looked closely, you could notice the strong physical resemblance to her daughter Utahime.

"Would you like some tea? This could help you regain your strength as well as the food we have already served you" asked the woman to Yuta. He looked tired because of the fight he had with Satoru a few minutes ago, plus the little sleep he had had the night before.

The guest nodded his head yes.
"Yes, please and thank you very much" he replied kindly.

"From now on, treat this boy very well because he will soon be the next leader of this clan" he said with a big smile before drinking from his glass.

"Oh!" that statement left the woman very surprised, and she changed her posture to a more upright one to address Yuta with the utmost politeness.
"Then it is a pleasure to meet you my lord, I am glad to see another main member of the Gojo clan come to visit us and by the way, to eat what I have prepared for you" said the woman with a slight bow, "I hope this meal is to your liking"

"Thank you very much. By the way, your food is delicious" the guest replied politely, before putting another roll of vegetables in his mouth.

"It is a pleasure to serve you" Umeko replied kindly.

At such words said by Satoru, Yuta just stared at him, really that topic should also be seriously discussed with him, since the rumor about him being the next leader seemed to be coming true.

"The food is already fully served for you two as you ordered Satoru Kun and feel free to order more" Umeko turned to her son-in-law, "Even so, I don't think it will be long before the others join the table" she commented kindly.

"Thank you Umeko san, I really don't know what we would do without you" said the albino with serenity and a smile before drinking more tea.

Once that woman turned around and started giving more orders to the servants, Yoshio got up and went running to his grandmother to make sure he got his ice cream for dessert.

That boy really did things his own way and at his own whim.
He held her by the side of her kimono.
"Grandma! You know I want ice cream for dessert, didn't you forget? Right?"

"We have brought various flavors, my littleboy" answered the woman, stroking the hair of her beloved grandson.

Yuta looked closely at the boy, who for a moment reminded him of his children, although he was grateful that they were not as capricious as Yoshio was.

He smiled as he remembered the first time he met them. Those little ones had brought his cold heart back to life and he even got to imagine what flavor of ice cream was their favorite. He really wished he could be with them at that moment.

Satoru noticed that look. That was perfect to start the conversation.
"Don't you think my son is a very sweet boy?" he asked proudly, as he took with his chopsticks some food that his mother-in-law had prepared for him.

"Yes" Yuta commented, putting more food in his mouth. He was really hungry since he had already had breakfast a while ago. And fighting against Satoru only made him hungrier.

That food was a delight to the palate, it tasted too delicious and had a balanced touch.

Satoru leaned his elbow on the table, finishing eating the piece of sushi he had picked up with his chopsticks.
"If you look at him carefully, you will notice that he physically resembles Utahime. Although from me he inherited the eyes and the character, although I think that's more than obvious" -sigh- "But I confess that I would have liked you to meet him in other circumstances"

"So, the rumor that you couldn't have offspring is just a rumor to protect your son?" Yuta asked, returning his gaze to his host.

"As I said, it is. We've been hiding Yoshio's birth for six years"

"Six years old?" Yuta questioned, raising both eyebrows. For a moment, the accounts did not add up between the ages of his children.

"Yes, Six years" Satoru returned his gaze to his son, who was entertaining his grandmother, who was serving him ice cream to his liking.

Gojo went on to explain. "Yes, Yoshio just turned six years old last February 12th. And if my memory serves me correctly and according to what I read in the medical report, your children were born in October, right? That means the difference between our children is by months" - he paused – "But yours were born prematurely, weren't they? Technically, that makes them the oldest"

Yuta sighed.
"That's right, they were premature as they were born at 33 weeks"- he said in a sad tone, reflecting the pain he still felt for the little that Mai had mentioned in her letter about that complicated birth- "I imagine my children went through a lot being so small, but"- his face lit up in a smile as he remembered them playing- "But today, they are two very healthy little ones"

"Lucky you, you and Maki really hit the bull's eye to sire two babies in one pregnancy. Who knew you were such a stud!" Gojo commented with a mischievous chuckle.

That made their host turn red with embarrassment.

Satoru continued with the conversation.
"And your children are supposed to be seven years old next October, right?" he asked with some intrigue.

Yuta let the air out in a mixture of annoyance and sadness.
"That's right, they will be seven years old in two months, in fact they are from October 7th" his hands made fists on the table, "seven years that I have missed in my children's lives..." He looked seriously at Satoru.

"Well, you still have time to live with them and make up for lost time. It's never too late to start from scratch" said Satoru recklessly, while holding a small snack with his chopsticks.

"It's easy for you to say..."The annoyance was latent in Yuta's voice- "Surely you have been with your son since he was born and perhaps you were by Utahime's side throughout her pregnancy. I couldn't even live that stage with Maki and my children"

Satoru didn't keep quiet and defended himself to that answer quickly
"But still, keeping it a secret hasn't been easy, you know?" he ate some more.

He continued speaking, "Hiding him from the old bigwigs was a complicated task, and even today, keeping him a secret from the other clans has not been easy, luckily, only a few people know of his existence". He paused and sighed, "I'm just waiting for him to grow up a little more to finally introduce him officially as my son"

The guest analyzed all that Satoru had said.
"So is that why Yoshio has the surname Iori and not Gojo?"

"In part it is" Satoru answered, thundering his fingers, Yuta had found the right answer, "We decided to give him the surname Iori both to protect him and to prevent him from being separated from us. I did not want to be separated from him as they did with me when I was a newborn"- He was sad when he said that, it was also the first time he talked about that topic- "Since I never lived with my parents, since I was just born with this "blessing of power", I was separated from them, my parents don't know anything about me and I don't know anything about them" he explained, letting the air out sadly, "And basically I was not going to allow that to happen again, so we did this thing of giving him his mother's surname so they wouldn't separate us completely from our son"

"What do you mean, they will separate altogether?" Yuta asked with confusion.

Satoru looked at his mother-in-law with a mixture of respect and gratitude. He knew he owed the woman a great deal for the care she had given Yoshio.

"I mean that his maternal grandparents have been raising him for most of his life. Since his birth, Yoshio has been hidden in a well-protected sanctuary, which, coincidentally, is very close to here" he said as he moved his teacup slightly, keeping his expression calm.

"You mean the Iori family has raised him since birth?"

"The Iori family is a family of priests with great renown within our clan, and they have been loyal servants for generations. For that reason, the headquarters has never intervened or suspected them, since they are under our protection" he added, directing his gaze towards his guest, "Thanks to that, we have managed to make Yoshio's birth go unnoticed, since the Iori family has pretended that our son belongs to "another member of family" of theirs. And so far, that plan has worked perfectly for six years" he concluded before taking a sip of his drink.

Yuta sighed at all that he had heard
"So basically Yoshio doesn't live here with you?

Satoru let out the air with total regret at such a question, which it pained him to answer.
"That's true. We only see him a few days a week or during certain seasons. For example, he will be with us this summer vacation, since his private school has just finished classes. However, most of the year he lives with his grandparents, especially when I have to go out of town. On those occasions, he stays in their care, along with our guards and servants who protect him. Due to Utahime's fragile health, she cannot attend to him all the time... Even so, being away from him for so long is very painful. So when we are together, I try to give him my undivided attention, spoil him and share with him as I would have liked to do with my own parents"

"So you haven't had an easy time with being a father either..." Yuta said regretfully. That seemed to be quite sad even for him.

At that moment, Yuta realized that for Satoru, fatherhood had not been easy either, especially because he spent most of his time away from his son.

Somehow, the two shared more than just a millennial ancestor. At the time, they both shared the anguish of being parents forced to be away from their children, all for their children's sake.

Satoru decided to change the subject, "Let's talk about happier things"" he smiled and waved his hands, "And tell me Okkotsu, what are your children like? I read that they were a girl and a boy, right? Who is the oldest? The boy or the girl? Who do they look more like physically? You or Maki?" he asked as if he was trying to find out something.

Yuta smiled at the memory and began to describe them.
"They are good children, above all they are very cheerful and full of energy"
Then he nodded his head.
"That's right, they were a boy and a girl. From what I've been listened, Yurika is the oldest; she was born first, and seven minutes later Yuudai was born" he said while scratching the back of his neck.

"As for who they look more alike hehe, I'd say they're a mix between Maki and me" He continued with a big smile on his face, "Yurika and Yuudai inherited my hair, while from Maki they inherited her smile. They also completely inherited out the color and intensity of Maki's eyes"- A sigh of pride escaped from deep in his chest- "Although if I had to choose, I would say that Yuudai is the one who looks the most like me. He's almost an identical version of me as a child"

Satoru stroked his chin, "Interesting," he replied curiously, "You know Okkotsu?" he moved his chopsticks to take another snack, "The birth of fraternal twins is a rare event in our sorcery society. And unlike identical twins, who carry the stigma of being considered unlucky for being the same person with one soul split in two, fraternal twins carry no such curse. They are seen as two completely different beings. That duality, arising from the same gestation, but with different souls, makes them unique beings. For that reason, they are not only more valuable, but often more respected and even feared by other sorcerers. Did you know that?" he smiled.

"I... I didn't know..."

"Well, now that you know, it could be said that you and Maki have been completely blessed with your children. So be proud to be the father of those little ones"

Yuta smiled at those words, he truly felt blessed to have two wonderful children. Two little ones he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

"And tell me Okkotsu, has Maki already told you why he chose those names for your children?" Satoru continued asking with too much curiosity.

Yuta sighed. The answer to that question had not been given to him by Maki, but by Mai. Still he decided to answer his host.
"That was because when we were dating, I mentioned to Maki that I liked those names for my children" he smiled a little at a memory he had with that letter, "Besides she named them that way because let's say that Maki is not very good at choosing names" he scratched the back of his neck once again.

"Well, at least she DID RESPECT YOUR CHOICE in the names you had chosen for your children"- he let out the air with resignation – "I for example wanted Yoshio to be called Suguru, but!"- he made a grimace –"Shoko didn't let me give him that name, especially because she didn't want her best friend's son to be named after our partner who made us suffer so much and I think she was right. So we decided to name him whatever name Utahime wanted" she pouted. – "Still, I would have liked to honor my best friend's memory by naming my son after him"

Yuta thought it was a good time to ask about what had happened to Utahime, because since she arrived in Japan, she had been behaving differently, it was as if she was not the same as seven years ago.
"Talking about Utahime sensei... What ..." he was interrupted.

That initial conversation was interrupted by Yoshio, who had taken an interest in his father's guest.

"Uncle Yuta, you're a Gojo too, aren't you?" he asked curiously, as he now ate a banderilla that his grandmother had prepared especially for him, and sat on his father's leg to join in the conversation.

"I n..." Yuta was interrupted again, but this time by Satoru, who was quicker to answer.

"He is. Your uncle Yuta is a somewhat distant Gojo, but at the end of the day he is one more Gojo " he said quickly, making the boy's eyes sparkle at that answer.

"And that "thing" that was fighting next to you, is it part of your cursed technique?" he asked very excited, while with his little hand he made reference to Rika, opening and closing as if they were her jaws.

Satoru subtly beckoned Okkotsu to respond affirmatively to that.
"It is, Rika chan is part of my cursed technique"

"Amaizing! It's not for nothing that we of the Gojo clan are the best sorcerers!" the boy replied proudly.

"He knows what he's talking about!" Satoru complimented his son while stroking his hair.

Yuta had a slight smile on his lips. He admired the enthusiasm of that little boy in the face of that lie.

Still, he felt bad that his children could not know that truth like everything else that child already knew.

But the questions of that restless little boy would not stop. Yoshio was naturally curious. "And Uncle Yuta, do you have children?"

That question was so surprising that it even left him with his mouth hanging open.

"I..."

"You'd better answer him, because this gossiper overheard part of our conversation inside the dojo" Satoru replied with a smile, gently pulling his son's cheek.

In that instant, Yuta remembered again the moment when he met Yurika and Yuudai in that mall and both had asked him that same question, but now that he knew that they were his real children, he wanted to show them off like never before.

"Yes, I have children who are almost your age, fraternal twins actually" Yuta commented with a big smile.

"Fraternal Twins?" - Yoshio turned to look at his father, "What are fraternal twins?" he asked.

That question was answered by a woman who had also been invited to eat with those two. She entered the kiosk.

"Fraternal Twins refers to two siblings who shared their mother's womb at the same time during pregnancy and were born on the same day, but with a difference of minutes or even hours. In this case, Okkotsu's children are also known as fraternal twins since they were born a boy and a girl" replied Shoko joining the conversation.

Then she looked at the garden, "But for you to understand it better. Imagine that they are like two seeds but of different colors that were planted in the same pot but that bloomed at the same time," explained the doctor to the child, and in kinship, they would be like your distant cousins.

At that instant both special grade sorcerers stood up to welcome that doctor and the other two who were arriving at the kiosk.

That woman retained her unparalleled beauty, with her white skin, her delicate features and her deep eyes which were still full of melancholy.

If you looked at her closely you could barely notice the occasional age line at the corners of her eyes. As well as her dark circles were still very present under those beautiful eyes.

Her hair was now short, as it reached shoulder length and retained its same glossy chocolate hue.

This woman did not lose her elegance over the years, even when wearing casual clothes like the one she was wearing that day, where she wore a long-sleeved black T-shirt, a long khaki vest and denim pants, which matched her heels.

"Aunt Shoko!" Yoshio went to embrace the woman, who did not come alone, behind her came Ijichi, who always looked lovingly at the doctor with whom he had a sentimental relationship of a little more than two years.

And next to the leader of the assistants came Katsumoto, who seemed to be calmer after the tranquilizer he had been given. Even so, that assistant still felt guilty, so he didn't have the courage to hold his boss's gaze.

Yuta looked at his assistant for a moment. From now on he questioned whether he could continue to trust Katsumoto.

"Then why didn't I have a twin at birth?" asked Yoshio with a grimace looking at that woman.

Shoko stroked his hair.
"Because you were destined to be an only child. Just like your idiot father"

"Hey!" Satoru reproached.

"Besides, if you have a little brother you'll have to share all your toys and your parents, is that what you want? Are you willing to share all your toys with someone else?" asked Shoko with a smile.

"Never!. I wouldn't share any of my toys with him!" Yoshio replied in a pout. He really was a very capricious child.

That answer made the doctor sigh a little. –"That's why it's best for you to stay as an only child" she said and then turned to the guest, whom she looked at.

"It's nice to see you again Okkotsu kun" commented Ieiri with a soft smile.

"Ieiri san" Yuta named her and bowed slightly, "I am also glad to see you"

"I think the four of us have a lot to talk to you about" she commented kindly as she took a seat. Which Ijichi was gentlemanly toured by Ijichi.

Then this assistant and Katsumoto took their seats. The round table was perfect for everyone to look at each other.

Once those who had just arrived took their seats. Umeko spoke.

"Welcome, the food is ready and I hope you like it" she commented, clapping her hands so that the servants would begin to serve those who had arrived.

"Thank you very much Umeko san, your food always brings us peace" commented Shoko with a slight smile as the servants began to fill the table with more dishes for those who had arrived.

Along with these guests, the time had come for adults-only conversation.

"Yoshio" Satoru named his son, "Go play for a while with your grandmother Umeko or go eat ice cream in the garden, this is adult talk" he ordered.

"But why? I want to stay with you!" the boy replied in annoyance.

"Come on Yoshi, go to Grandma Umeko" commented his aunt Shoko, "Our talk is going to be very boring since we are going to talk about old people's things"

That boy grimaced. He really didn't want to leave.

Satoru rolled his eyes.
"If you go to your grandmother, you can eat all the ice cream you want without your mother knowing"

"As much as I want?" asked the boy with intrigue.

"Yes, as much as you want" his father winked.

Faced with that condition. Yoshio smiled and stood up. "I want to eat ice cream while we play in the garden" he went to take Umeko san's hand.

The woman bowed to the five adults.
"We'll let them eat to their heart's content. With your permission"

Before leaving that room, Yoshio addressed Okkotsu once again.
"Uncle Yuta"

"Yes?"

"Will I ever meet your children? My cousins?" he asked curiously.

The black-haired sorcerer smiled tenderly at that question.

"I hope so, and I hope they get along well. Maybe someday they can even play together"

That answer made the boy very happy: "I'll be waiting for that day"

"Now Yoshio, let's let the adults talk " said his grandmother, taking him by the hand to leave the kiosk, escorted by two other servants who always helped her.

Once the child stepped on the grass, he let go of his grandmother's hand and began to run all over the garden. And he even started to do somersaults because of all the energy he had.

Yuta watched as the boy laughed and ran. For a moment he thought of his children and imagined them playing with Yoshio.

Would Yurika and Yuudai get along with him? Wouldn't they have problems with each other? He wondered as he noticed how spoiled this child of the Gojo clan was and the contrast between their short lives.

Yuta could no longer continue thinking about that topic, as he was pulled out of his thoughts once Ieiri started the conversation.

"Every day Yoshio becomes more and more like you in being capricious. If you don't reprimand him or correct him soon, he'll start giving you green hair" She commented, looking at the boy from a distance.

"That runs in the family, it's something we Gojo always inherit. That attitude is what gives us the unique touch, but look at me" the albino flattered himself.

Ijichi sighed when he heard that "and it does run in the family..."

"Did you say something Ijichi?" Satoru raised an eyebrow.

"N-or did I say N-Nothing-" stammered the leader of the assistants, showing how Gojo always got on his nerves.

"Satoru, I have already told you to leave poor Ijichi alone. He has enough to put up with you and Yoshio together" scolded Ieiri.

Those words made the assistant's face turn slightly red.

The dynamic between those three adults had changed absolutely nothing and that was noticed by Yuta, who watched that interaction with a slight smile.

That's how I remembered the three of them.

"Well, now that Yoshio is gone. We can start with our more mature talk" commented Satoru looking at his guest – "I can tell you have too many things to ask us, don't you Yuta? Who of the three of us will be your first victim in this interrogation?"

The talk Okkotsu wanted to hear so much was finally going to happen. The one where he was going to find out what else had happened seven years ago after his departure.

Notes:

I hope you liked this chapter and I repeat, I apologize for not having uploaded anything before. Little by little I'm getting my motivation and rhythm back.

As I said, in the next chapter you will know what happened to Uathime, I wanted to divide it into two parts so that in this first one you will focus only on Yoshio and in the next one you will pay attention to the whole situation regarding Utahime, since what is coming will leave you open-mouthed.

Thank you very much to everyone for your words of support❤

I decided to put in this chapter the word "fraternal twins" because in Spanish we have the word "Mellizos" to refer to the twins that are a girl and a boy and as in the chapter in its original language explains that they are the "mellizos" I decided to put as "gemelos fraternos" to be able to explain this in English, I hope it was understood, if not, go read the chapter in Spanish.