Family Affair

Chapter 4 ~ A New Day

Faust looked up quietly from newsnewspaper, never bothered early November cold. A week had passed since the surprising results of Manta’s checkup, and he had found Yoh to be quite persistent in helping Manta to get better. And each morning he rose his gaze from the newspaper and saw Yoh up with a silly grin, suggesting that activities had gone further than the night before. This morning, however, Yoh seemed a little dumber than usual.

“Yoh-kun...” he began.

Yoh grinned at the necromancer. “We played ‘Happy Game’ for a whole hour last night,” he said happily. “He even let us do it without our clothes!”

Faust blinked then jumped up quickly.” You did WHAT?! Yoh, what are you thinking?! What if Manta is just pretending again?!”

Yoh grinned dumbly. “Nah. You can’t fake a peaceful aura.”

“But Yoh-kun, his spirit is still so young! This could be too...” He came to a stop when the front door opened, then the two looked over and saw Manta standing there in a pink kimono, his face glowing with a small smile.

“Manta...” Faust said quietly, not used to seeing Manta up so early the the morning.

The blonde held up a bag containing a lunch for Yoh.

“Manta-chan,” Yoh said softly, then knelt down and hugged him warmly. “Sankyuu.”

Manta nodded slightly while hugging Yoh back, nuzzling his face into the strong chest.

Faust quietly, annoyed with Yoh’s attitude, but happy with his son’s recovery so far. After a bit he cleared his throat. “The train leaves in half an hour, Yoh-kun,” he reminded.

“Aww... Nuts,” Yoh replied childishly, then stood up and smiled at Manta. “You know the deal. I’ll be back this afternoon, Manta-chan,” he said gently.

Manta nodded, then held his arms up to show he wanted to be lifted up.

“Huh? What is it?” Yoh asked as he lifted his small love up, and then blinked with a smile when Manta kissed his lips shyly. He smiled and then cradled Manta in one arm while using his free hand to tickle the blonde’s small belly. “I think tonight you should be seme, Manta,” he said with a grin as Manta soundlessly giggled under his touch. “It’s time you had some control over somebody.”

Manta became still, and then looked away slightly.

“It’s okay, Manta. This is a good kind of control,” he said as he sat Manta down on Faust’s chair, disregarding Faust’s annoyed leer. “I\'ll show you, and it will make us both feel good. I promise.”

Manta clasped his small hands in his lap while looking away a little, his face red and his eyes downcast.

“Manta,” Yoh scolded in a soft tone. “Manta, being seme is a good thing. It won’t hurt you. It’ll make you happy. It’s like ‘Happy Game’, only a little different.” He lifted Manta’s face to meet his own and smiled. “Just give it a shot.”

“Twenty minutes,” Faust reminded irritably.

“Yeah, Faust,” Yoh replied with a smile, then looked at Manta. “How ‘bout you just think about it, okay? If you don’t want to, we won’t. Just remember that being seme won’t hurt either of us. It’ll make us both feel good.”

Manta looked at him quietly, then blinked when Yoh began to kiss him lovingly. After a moment he let his arms wrap around the shaman’s shoulders as he timidly returned the kiss.

“I have to go,” Yoh said gently as he pulled away from Manta. “I’ll be back this afternoon.”

Slowly Manta nodded as Yoh brushed his hair a little, and then watched as Yoh made his way down the steps and towards the train station.

-

“Manta, are you sure you’re alright?!” Faust asked frantically as he did an unscheduled checkup on his son. “Is anything sore?! Is there any bleeding?! Are you uncomfortable?! Do you need something to eat or drink?! Did he make you do something that hurt or scared you?!”

Manta shook his head a little, his face still glowing softly with a smile.

Faust groaned as he sat down in front of Manta and looked at him worriedly. “You’re sure, now?” When the younger blonde nodded, he sighed while closing his eyes. “Manta, if he ever touches you when you don’t want to be touched, you tell me. Okay? Even if he tells you not to tell me.”

Manta looked at Faust with confusion, and then smiled.

Faust sighed while scratching the back of his head. “This whole family thing is going backwards,” he said quietly. “You’re going backwards from adult to teenager...” He blinked when he noticed something in the corner of his eye, then pulled down a lock of hair and studied it. A moment later he got a strange expression, and then yelled, “I’M GOING GREY!!!”

Manta blinked, then made a soundless giggle, and then looked back towards the door curiously when he heard it open.

“Gramps, what’s wrong?” Kibo asked as she came in.

“GRAMPS?!?! GAH! I’M GETTING OLD!!!” he yelled as he fell backwards, his body stiff except for his twitching right foot.

Kibo laughed, and then became curious when she noticed Manta. “Huh? You’re up early, Mom.\"

Manta nodded a bit, and then slid off the chair and walked over to Kibo and looked at her with a smile.

Kibo blinked. “You seem different,” she commented.

Manta pointed up at Kibo, and then motioned his hand as if eating something.

“Hmm? What do I want to eat?” When she received a nod, she thought. “Orange rice would be nice,” she said after a minute.

Manta nodded, still smiling, and then ran out of the room quickly.

“That was weird,” Kibo commented, and then looked to Faust. “You gonna be okay, Gramps?”

Of course, the poor blonde had just been getting to his feet again, and upon hearing her call him ‘Gramps’ again, he fell over twitching.

“Want me to leave so you can say bad words?” Kibo asked nervously seeing the maniacal expression on her grandfather’s face.

“That would be a good idea,” he gritted out.

Kibo nodded, and then walked out to the porch and sat down with a sigh. Normally she would be getting ready for training, but Shizuka had gone out on some sort of ‘finding herself’ mission, which meant Kibo would be bored for the next week. After a while she looked up curiously, and then blinked when she found Manta standing there with a smile, holding a tray with orange rice and a glass of milk. “You made me this?” she asked slowly.

Manta nodded happily, and then placed the tray next to her and hugged her warmly.

“Mom...” Kibo said quietly, and then hugged him back. “I’m sorry I got angry before...”

Manta shook his head some, then looked at her with a smile. After a moment he sat down and looked at the sky while drawing his knees to his chest. His smile slowly began to fade as memories threatened to return to him, and then he blinked when he felt a hand begin to rub his back. He looked up and saw it was Kibo, who had finished her breakfast and could see his contentment fading.

“Mom, Shizuka’s gonna be gone for a week, and I’m already bored. Any ideas?”

Manta looked out thoughtfully, then blinked while looking up with a smile. He got to his feet and grabbed Kibo’s hand and gave it a slight tug.

The girl stood up and followed Manta to the large garden at the back. Slowly she looked at Manta curiously. “What?”

Manta waved his hand slightly as he ran over to the tool shed and retrieved some gardening tools, then walked over to the garden and looked with a bit of annoyance at the unturned soil.

\"I don\'t know the first thing about gardening, Mom,\" Kibo said, and then sighed when she received a smile. “You’ll teach me?” When she received a nod, she groaned, but knelt next to her mother anyway.

The next few hours, they worked together, preparing the garden for winter, and Manta doing his best to teach Kibo about gardening. They soon moved indoors to take care of other chores. They hadn’t realized it was getting late until Yoh walked in.

“Hey you two,” he said happily and he tackle-hugged the two of them.

“Geh! Daddy!” Kibo yelped.

“What? I just want my little girl and my Babysoft to know I love them!”

“You’re crushing your Babysoft!” Kibo yelled.

Yoh looked down, and then giggled nervously at the tired expression on Manta’s face after being crushed between Yoh and Kibo. “Woops. Sorry, Manta.”

Manta nodded slightly with a smile.

“Good timing,” Faust said as he walked in. “Dinner’s ready.”

“Sorry for working late tonight,” Yoh said as he sat down in front of Manta and Kibo at the table, minutes later.

Kibo smiled. “No problem.” She happily ate her Raman noodles, and then looked up at Yoh. “Dad, whatever you and Mom have been doing to make him better, you should do it more often.”

Yoh blinked, and then grinned. “Oh, I quite agree. What do you think, Manta?”

Manta looked down with a blush.

“That’s what I thought,” Yoh said with a giggled. “So I take it you two had a good day?”

Kibo smiled. “Yeah,” she replied, and then looked to Manta. “I’m real happy you’re getting better, Mom.”

Faust groaned. “It’s good, but at the same time it’s giving me grey hair...”

“Nah. You’re just getting old,” Yoh giggled. He blinked when Faust fell over and began twitching again, then the brunette began laughing.