To Visit Auntie and Uncle

"Look a cloud!" Yasu pointed out of the window of the airplane and pointed to the one cloud in sight. He was a small boy, with wild black hair and big green eyes. Yasu had inherited the color of his hair from his mother, but his eyes and the wild part of his hair came from his father. Despite being small, Yasu had a sturdy build and was always full of energy and smiles.

"That's nice." Riku commented, looking out at the single white cloud. Riku and his son were flying to America to visit Mamori and Sena, Riku's sibling-like childhood friends.

"Uncle Sena and Aunt Suzuna just had a baby, right?" Yasu asked for the fourth time that flight.

"Yes, she's four months old." Riku humored his son with an answer.

"Kya! This is the best trip ever!" Yasu announced.

"I hope so." Riku ruffled his son's hair.

"Hey, dad, are we there yet?"

-several hours later, just outside the Kobayakawa residence-

Though Sena played football professionally for the Denver Broncos and had an insanely huge salary, he did not own a mansion. Instead Sena owned a comfortable four bedroom house in a small little suburb community just outside of Denver. It was a clean, safe neighborhood that was fully of young families and had children playing football on the street (much to the chagrin of drivers).

The Kobayakawa home was lavender with purple trim, which was remarkably pleasant looking. It had a simple landscape arrangement, with a little stone path up to the door. Yasu couldn't contain himself and bolted out of the taxi and up the pathway before Riku could open his mouth to ask the taxi driver what he owed him.

"48 50." The taxi driver answered with a knowing grin. Riku pulled out six 20s and handed them to the man. Quickly, the runner dashed out of the car and retrieved his luggage from the trunk and dashed up the path way, yelling at Yasu to calm down and stop ringing the doorbell constantly like that.

Laughter erupted from their left, making Riku and Yasu turn to see Sena laughing at them while leaning out a window.

"The doorbell's broken!" Sena called out to them between fits of laughter. Yasu and Riku laughed back, amused at their own antics. Sena pulled his head back into the window and disappeared into the house. A small time later the lock in the door turned and Sena opened it up.

"Heya, Sena." Riku greeted his childhood friend. "Yasu, this is your Uncle Sena."

"Hey there!" Sena couched down to be at Yasu's level. "You've gotten so big since the last time I saw you!" Sena was a bit wide eyed.

"You've seen me before?" Yasu cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, you where this big," Sena held his hands out to show a baby-sized length, "just a little baby."

"I was really that small!?" Yasu was stunned by this realization.

"We all were, even if it is hard to believe." Sena chuckled and stood up. "Why don't you two come in?"

Sena lead them into his entry way where everyone disposed of their shoes.

"So where's my niece?" Riku asked Sena as the latter lead them into the living room.

"Right here!" Suzuna called from the hallway, holding a little wiggling pink bundle in her arms. Yasu ran up to study the baby in interest. He took in the little dimple cheeks, blue hair, and big brown eyes.

"She's fat." Yasu observed.

Riku could only sweatdrop and hope his son wasn't going to say anymore damage for the rest of their stay….


[-much, much later-]


"Dad, why is the house black?" Yasu asked as they stood before the monstrous black mansion (complete with extremely intimidating gothic architecture and scary devil carvings) where Mamori and her husband claimed to live. Riku was personally amazed how so over-the-top the entire place was in its (successful) attempts to be as physically intimidating as a building could be.

"Because your Uncle Yoichi is," Riku paused for a moment to find the right word to describe a person like that, "the kind of man who doesn't tolerate weakness." And batshit insane, but that was not something Yasu was capable of understanding yet.

"But it's not very pretty." Yasu frowned. "Uncle Sena has a pretty house."

"Your Uncle Yoichi doesn't like pretty things." Riku answered quickly. "Now let's just go on inside…" And hopefully not get bit by crazy dogs Yoichi was also known to keep.

"Rikkun!" Mamori called suddenly from one of the windows on the second story and thus eliminated any doubt about whose house this was. "I'll be right down! Please come in!"

The inside of the Hiruma family mansion, to Riku's amazement and Yasu's confusion, was nothing like the exterior. Mamori had clearly had her way here and the inside was perfectly ordinary (if you pretended the view out the windows wasn't that of a vampire movie garden) and tastefully arranged and clean.

Upon her arrival, Mamori began touring them around, showing them room after room of impeccable taste and complete normalness. Riku had wondered how Mamori managed to coexist with Yoichi, he supposed the mansion's decoration had been something of a compromise. How she managed to compromise with Yoichi in the first place….

Speaking of Yoichi, where the heck was he?

"Doggie!" Yasu ran over to the sleeping Keberos and Riku held in panic. He glanced at Mamori who seemed remarkably calm about the entire affair. It turned out there was no real reason to panic. Keberos woke up when the boy started to be a child who did not know how to handle a dog properly (and was thus pulling at the fur), but that was all he did. He seemed to be resigned to putting up with the abuse, occasionally growling or whining when the pain got to be too much for him and Yasu backed off.

"How?" Riku asked, dumbstruck by the sight.

Mamori opened her mouth to answer when a shrill squeal erupted from down the hall. Pattering little feet were soon followed by much larger ones bounding after them. Riku took in the scene of a remarkably fast little toddler making his way down the hall with a gun in his hands and a very panicked Yoichi at his heels.

"Benji!" Yoichi cried with more fear and anger in his voice than Riku had thought possible. But Benji ignored the noise from behind him and came up with his mother to hand her the pistol.

"For you Mommie!" Beni exclaimed as he handed his mother the weapon while his father came to an abrupt halt beside him.

"Thank you sweetie." Mamori took the gun from her son. "Where did you find this?"

"In Papa's office." Benji answered, then spied Yasu. "Who are you?"

Mamori only quirked an eyebrow at her husband. "Why was my gun in your office?"

Riku paled.

"Cleaning." Yoichi replied curtly. "Thought you'd appreciate it when we went to the range tomorrow."

Mamori only smiled and patted her tired husband on the head.

"So you like slides?" Benji asked Yasu, whom he had been having a small conversation with. "Papa made a big slide! Let's go!"

"Benji, that has to wait, sweetie." Mamori told her son once.

Benji looked disappointed but didn't argue.

"Benji, this is your Uncle Riku and your cousin Yasu." Yoichi briefly introduced the other people. "Riku, this is my son."

Benji was basically a miniature version of his father, but with the natural hair and brown eyes that didn't seem to come from either parent. But there was something off about Benji that made him seem quite different than his father…

"Mommie, can I show Yasu the slide?" Benji asked. "Please?"

"Yes." Mamori let her son lead his 'cousin' off into another part of the house.

"Why did our fucking brat have to take after you?" Yoichi muttered after the kids were out of ear shot.

"You only say that because he defies 'authority' like you do." Mamori rolled her eyes. "I'm not authority- I'm just a partner."

"Mamo-nee, why didn't you tell me you had a baby?" Riku asked.

Mamori blushed.

"She lost a fucking bet on purpose." Yoichi let out a particularly demonic laugh and Mamori blushed even harder.

Benji was going to be a very messed up kid, Riku decided.

"What was the bet?" Riku asked.

"You don't want to know, Rikkun." Mamori answered quickly.

"Che, calling out my name isn't that embarrassing, fucking wife-"

"You say one more word and I will kick your ass down the stairs and ban you to the couch for a month." Mamori growled, her face bright red with embarrassment. Yoichi only paled slightly at his wife's words but he still managed to hold his somewhat mischievous expression.

"Um, where is Yasu?" Riku asked. The kids had been gone longer than he was comfortable with.

Yoichi only turned around and opened up a nearby door that had what appeared to be a large, clear pipe in it. Seconds later Yasu and Benji came sliding down, squealing all the way.

"Wha?"

"Benji wanted a big slide." Yoichi explained. Apparently the slide's construction had been an excuse for him to cause a great deal of mayhem if the smile was anything to go by.

"And Yoichi was a dear and put one in." Mamori didn't seem to be noticing or at least perturbed by her husband's ordeal.

"What inspired the big slide?" Riku found himself blurting out loud.

"I don't know." "Klaus."

"Klaus?"

"He's a friend of Benji's." Mamori explained quickly. "He's trouble."
"So how's the wife, fucking brat?" Yoichi asked with a mischievous grin that left no comfort.

Riku couldn't find it in him to respond.

"I'm dying to know." Yoichi added. "Ah, but perhaps you're thirsty and in need of a drink?"

"What are you planning?" Mamori demanded.

"I'm being hospitable like you always demand I should be for once." Yoichi replied curtly. "Besides, I'd like to spend some quality guy-time with my little brother. I don't see him very often after all…."

"Okay then, have fun!"

At those words, Riku felt doomed.