The Love JinJin Chronicles - Batch #4
Second chance side stories aka The Love JinJin Chronicles
Authors: xx_lovelain_xx & chuukibito
Pairing: chibi Akame
Summary: side stories/drabbles to Second Chance. Chibi!akame drabbles related to the Second Chance series (and the Anything For You one-shot). Children have a tendency to get into trouble, but with Ryo's influence, all the JE guys wrapped around their fingers and Jin's tendency to dote on Kazuya, these two toddlers get into more trouble than most. And then they get right out of it again, with puppy eyes, pouts and Kazuya's declarations of 'love jinjin!'.
Previous Batches:
Batch #1| Batch #2 | Batch #3 | Christmas Batch |
So...um...*waves* ^___^ I bet everyone forgot all about these ^^;;; the last time we posted one was during Christmas -___-;;; and that was nearly a year ago. There are only 8 drabbles this time, because we wanted to even out the number and go back to be able to start at #1 the next time, instead of starting at #3, like this time. And um....that's about it for pre-chapter notes~~ enjoy~~
--- BATCH #4 ---
#43: The One Who Always Gets Away
It was not a strange sight to come across in the Yamashita-Nishikido home, but at the same time, it was still just a bit strange. A giggle escaped Kazuya’s lips as he stood on a chair to reach the counter. Jin was standing on the same chair, both of them giggling to themselves as they looked at the mess on the counter they had made. That was where the familiarity of this scene ended.
It wasn’t, however, because of the lack of adult supervision the two toddlers had while in the kitchen, together, but the mess of bubbles that floated from the kitchen sink the two toddlers were giggling over.
On the floor next to the chair, was a bottle of dishwashing soap, no doubt the cause of the bubbles that could only be described as 'frothing' in the sink, due to the fact that there were so many.
Kazuya puffed out his cheeks and then blew at his hand, causing a few bubbles to go flying at Jin. The older boy let out a squawk as he fell backwards and almost toppled off the chair.
"Kazu!" Jin complained, pouting as he righted himself, "You surprised me!"
Kazuya merely stuck his tongue out before giggling again, "Fun, JinJin!" he declared as he dug his little hands back into the sink, his arms disappearing completely in the bubble water.
Jin pouted that Kazuya was playing more with the bubbles than he was with him, and made a whirring noise as he pretended his hand was a fighter plane and made it dive bomb at Kazuya's hand. Kazuya let out a squeal of laughter, "JinJin!!!"
"Got you!" Jin said cheekily as he flicked his hands at Kazuya, who shrieked as bubbles popped upon touching his skin and his shirt grew wet.
"JinJin!!!" Kazuya pouted and then with a determined look, hit at the water and Jin blinked in surprise when a wave of bubbles and water splashed at him.
He blinked, "I'll get you for that Kazu!!!"
Shrieks and laughter resounded in the kitchen as they continued their bubble war. After a while, Kazuya stopped.
"JinJin. Kazu and Jinjin all wet!" he declared, "'n no more bubbles" he pouted.
"Kazu want more bubbles?" Jin asked, grinning, "Or Kazu want to get Tat-Tat and get dry clothes?"
"BUBBLES!" It didn't take very long for Kazuya to squeal out the word and clap his little hands together.
Jin grinned and climbed down the chair, handing the bottle of dishwashing soap up to Kazuya. Then he brightened and whispered a, "Be right back" to Kazuya before rushing off as quietly as he could out of the kitchen. He didn't want to wake Ri-Ri or Pi-Pi from their nap!
Jin giggled as he came back into the kitchen with the bottle of bubblebath meant for Jin's bathtime. He climbed back up onto the chair and making sure the sink was still plugged, dumped the contents bottle of bubblebath into the sink.
"JinJIn?" kazuya held out the dishwashing soap tentatively, "Kazu help?"
Jin beamed, and put his hands over Kazuya's, holding the diswashing soap upside down, "We mix!" he declared as he squeezed, and Kazuya squeezed the bottle with him, watching as the blue liquid went into the sink. Then, with a giggle, Jin turned the tap on at full power, watching with delight as bubbles began to form.
Kazuya squealed, "BUBBLES!!!"
Jin beamed, and then he paused - the bubbles were rising faster than he had thought! He quickly reached for the tap, only to teeter backwards. He fell ungracefully from the chair, landing on his side and a loud crash echoed from his fall.
"JINJIN!" Kazuya called with wide, panicked, yet delighted, eyes as the bubbles began to tower over him. Water had begun dripping from the sink onto the floor.
"What the - HOLY SHIT - I MEAN...OH MY GOD. RYO! RYO!!!!!"
Pi had woken up. He stared at the children and the tower of bubbles as well as the overflowing sink. They had fallen asleep while the children had been taking their nap, and now....now they had THIS!
Ryo came running, "What's the - WHAT THE HELL?!!!!"
Kazuya was giggling as he stuck his little hands into the tower of bubbles, looking intruiged.
"JinJin! JinJin!! Made bubble monster!" he called with delight as the bubbles began to spread outwards instead of upwards and cover him as well.
Ryo swore and then rushed forward to grab Kazuya before he could be covered in bubbles and possibly get bubbles into his eyes, which would be painful as the bubbles were soap after all.
Pi rushed forward and turned off the tap with much difficulty. He spluttered, spitting out the taste of soap as he did. Bubbles lingered in his hair.
Kazuya clapped delightedly, "Pi-Pi beat bubble monster and Ri-Ri save Kazu!" he chirped.
"...does he even realize he's in trouble?" Ryo growled out, putting the drenched Kazuya on the ground, where Jin had already sat, recognizing the sounds - aka the curse words - that meant he was in trouble.
"JinJin~~ love JinJin!! Bubbles~~" Kazuya squealed.
"Nope, and why should he? He always gets away with it" Yamapi muttered, "Unless Tat-Tat's here, but he's not right now"
"He's not going to get away with it this time" Ryo said determinedly.
"If you say so"
"An united front would be nice!!" Ryo snapped before turning to Kazuya, "Kazuya, you're in big trouble" he said sternly.
Kazuya tilted his head.
Must resist, Ryo told himself, "What were you thinking? Where were both of you thinking?!"
Pi added a, "You could have flooded the house!"
Kazuya blinked up at Ryo and Pi, and then his lips quivered, "B-But..."
"Kazu, don't cry!!!" Jin quickly forgot the best method of getting out of trouble that was staying quiet, and hugged Kazuya tightly.
"Kazu - Kazu wanted to help Ri-Ri 'n Pi-Pi clean up!!!!!" Kazuya wailed and hiccuped, clearly distressed, "Bubbles just fun! But Kazu wanted to help!!!!!!" he turned watering eyes at Ryo and Pi, and promptly buried his face into JIn's hug.
There was a long silence.
"He's going to get away with it isn't he?" Pi whispered.
"Shut up!"
#44: Pretty Flowers For A Pretty Boy
"Who," Tatsuya tried to keep his voice as level as possible, " can explain this to me?" He pointed a quivering finger to the flower bed beside their house.
At least, what used to be the flower bed. Now all that was left was a pile of dirt, a toddler and two adults.
Jin blinked at Tatsuya, while Yamapi and Ryo looked sheepishly guilty.
"Well?" Tatsuya tapped his foot, raising an eyebrow.
Jin got up and shoved a bunch of badly mangled daisies into Tatsuya's hand. "Tat-tat HELP!" he wailed, on the verge of tears.
Raising an eyebrow, Tatsuya kneeled down so he was at Jin's height. "Young man, you dug them up. So you'd better be the one to plant them back."
Shaking his head violently, Jin pressed the flower into Tatsuya's hands. "Kazu's favourite flowers! Tat-tat help!"
"And I said no. Which means N-O, no," Tatsuya said, taking one flower. "Now, you're going to put each flower back just like this."
Tatsuya turned to the flower bed, putting the flower back by its roots into the soil and patting it nicely so it would stand.
"NOOOOOOO," Jin suddenly wailed, grabbing Tatsuya by the arm. "TAT-TAT NOOOOO!"
"He's not exactly trying to plant them," Ryo explained, clearing his throat. Yamapi nodded.
Tatsuya fixed the two adults with a glare. "Don't think I've forgotten the two of you, though you've been awfully silent since this fiasco started."
The argument between the adults were cut short when big droplets of tears started to fall from Jin's eyes.
"Tat-tat help JinJin," he said, sobbing. "Tat-tat, please~"
Tatsuya, being the kind person he was, could never be angry at a crying child for long. "What do you want me to help you with, Jin?" he asked gently, wiping the tears off Jin's cheeks with the back of his hand.
"Kazu favourite flowers," Jin hiccuped, rubbing his eyes. "JinJin want to make ring. Pi-Pi and Ri-Ri not good help. Tat-tat help?" he said, fixing Tatsuya with an imploring gaze.
Not entirely sure if he wanted to smack his head against the wall or bury the Yamashita-Nishiko family in the flower bed, Tatsuya settled with a long-suffering sigh.
"You dug up my flower bed just because you want to make Kazuya a flower ring?"
Jin nodded happily. "JinJin watch TV. Boy gave girl daisy ring and they kissed! JinJin want Kazu kiss!"
"And you didn't think to stop him?" Tatsuya stared incredulously at Yamapi and Ryo.
The two adult looked away, mumbling under their breaths, "We wanted Kazu kisses too...."
Tatsuya sat Jin on his lap. "Here's how you make a dairy ring," he said, picking up a daisy and intertwining it to form a small ringlet.
Jin stuck his tongue out in concentration, following Tatsuya's directions. He managed to form an acceptable looking ring, making him beam.
"THANK YOU TAT-TAT!" he squealed, giving Tatsuya a huge kiss before dashing into the house to give Kazuya his flower.
Yamapi and Ryo were about to follow when Tatsuya cleared his throat. "You two are going to plant every single flower back before Kazuya sees this."
Tatsuya gave a satisfied smile as the other two adults began to clean up the mess created by their grandchild.
While Tatsuya supervised, all three adults heard Kazuya squeal loudly before he proclaimed "DAISY FLOWER! LOVEJINJIN!"
#45: Dye. Noun. Definition: a disaster when put in the hands of a child
Yamapi stared open-mouthed at the scene in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and then he rubbed again just for good measure.
"I'm not seeing things..." he murmured, before he turned on his heel and screamed, "RYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Five seconds later, Ryo ran into the room brandishing the closest blunt object he could find - the frying pan.
"What? What's going on? Who broke into the house? Who's getting murdered?!" he yelled in panic, thinking that with that sort of scream, someone was getting murdered.
He stopped and stared at Yamapi, who was pointing at their grandson. Jin was standing in a bathtub full of -
Ryo gave a panicked shriek as he pushed past Yamapi in his hysterical state and went to pick up Jin from the bathtub that was full of red liquid.
"Oh my god, call the hospital. Pi, call the hospital now!!!" Ryo babbled for a moment before he paused. Strange, the blood Jin was covered in was strangely...not thick - and not very blood-like in color when he touched it.
Ryo let out an indignant splutter, "This is red dye!!!" he yelled, making Yamapi pause halfway to the phone in the kitchen and double back.
"DYE?!"
In Ryo's arms, Jin sniffled and then sneezed. Then he looked up and saw two frowns directed at him. He gulped.
"Jin, what the hell were you doing?!" Ryo snapped, irritated that they had just been scared out of their wits over dye.
Jin looked hopefully at Pi with a charming smile.
Yamapi, however, scowled, "you're not getting out of this one so easily" he crossed his arms and tapped his foot, "Well?" he demanded for an explanation.
Jin ducked his head under horribly done red bangs, "JinJin wanted Kazu to call JinJin pretty too" he mumbled, slipping back into baby speech.
Ryo raised an eyebrow, and seeing that, Jin quickly explained before Ryo could dish out time-outs and candy bans.
"Kazu and JinJin -"
"Speak properly, you know how to. Unlike Kazu, you're not two"
Jin pouted, but decided to listen, "Tat-Tat took Kazu and I to the hair lady 'cause Tat-Tat needed haircut" Jin explained, "Kazu saw a lady with red hair and called the lady's hair pretty" Jin pouted, "JinJin wanted to be pretty too"
Yamapi slapped a hand to his forehead. Ryo, smartly, didn't, due to the fact that his hands were covered in dye from holding Jin.
"Luckily, this dye can come off skin easily enough. Unluckily, we can't let him walk around with...three quarters of his hair red" Ryo muttered.
"At least he didn't see someone with green hair" Yamapi sighed as he went to run a proper bath. They would be spending all afternoon trying to get this dye off their skin, he just knew it.
--
"Kazu, Jin's here!"
The shout brought the sound of small, running footsteps. Kazuya ran into view with a storybook clutched tightly in his arms.
He stopped when he reached the entrance hall, however. He stared, open-mouthed, at Jin, whose skin was still a little red from remnants of the dye, and his hair was -
"Really, Yamashita? highlights at four years old?" Tatsuya asked disbelievingly as he looked at Jin, whose dark hair had streaks of red in it.
"When we went to the hairdresser to get her to try to get it back to black, Jin started throwing a temper tantrum because 'we were ruining his hard work'. The only way we could have gotten him down from that shelf of conditioners without breaking half the bottles in the process was to promise to leave a bit in..." Yamapi said darkly, shooting a 'it's half your fault' look at Tatsuya.
Kazuya approached Jin with wide eyes, "JinJin hair red!" he said in awe as he ran a hand through Jin's now black and red locks, "Pretty! JinJin pretty!"
Jin smiled nervously, "Kazu like?"
Kazuya nodded with a grin, "Kazu love~"
He giggled as Jin suddenly hugged him, "Kazu love JinJin!" he declared, laughing as Jin's hands suddenly found his ticklish spot. He squealed with laughter and proceeded to run from the room. Jin soon gave chase.
"...if Kazuya ends up with red hair in the morning, I'm blaming you and billing you for the hairdressing fees" Tatsuya announced as they watched the children.
#46: Yukata? Kimono?
Dressing Jin had never been this difficult!
Yamapi was 2 seconds away from tearing his hair out. However, a lifetime of being an idol made him subconsciously aware of his appearance, so he grabbed Ryo's arm and twisted it instead.
"OW! PI! LET GO!! OWOWOW!!!" Ryo yelped, dropping the obi belt he had halfway around Jin's waist.
The four year old watched in amusement as his grandparents grappled. While they were distracted, Jin took the opportunity to throw off the yukata that was loosely draped around him.
"Wait! Grab him, Ryo!" Yamapi hollered as Jin dashed out the door. Both adults scrambled to their feet, giving chase to the child that was sprinting down the hallway to the guest bedroom.
"TAT-TAT OPEN DOOR!" Jin hollered, banging his fist on the locked door.
Ryo grabbed his grandson by the waist and threw him over a shoulder. "Keep that door closed until I tell you to, Ueda!"
"Ri-Ri let go! Jin wanna see Kazu! Kazu! KAZU!!!!" Jin's voice faded as he was hauled back into his room.
In the guest room, Tatsuya shook his head and rubbed his temples. Kazuya, all dressed for the festival, toddled over and stroked his grandfather's hair. "Tat-tat head owie?"
"A little," Tatsuya answered, placing Kazuya on his lap and smiling gently at his grandson. "I'm glad you're my grandson," he said, kissing Kazuya lightly on the forehead.
The toddler giggled before giving Tatsuya a hug. "Kazu love Tat-Tat too!" he exclaimed, before sneezing loudly.
Kazuya's hair had grown longer, and the ends tickled his nose, causing him to sneeze a few more times. "Tat-Tat, tie hair," Kazuya whined, tugging on the folds of his grandfather's yukata.
"Alright, alright," Tatsuya took out the box that contained Kazuya's accessories. "Which one do you want?"
Kazuya looked at the assorted clips and elastics in the box before looking at his reflection in the mirror. "This one!" he said, pointing to a jewelled red and silver flower elastic.
"This one too, Tat-Tat!" Kazuya pointed to a bracelet. "And this one!" A silver necklace with a heart-shaped pendant.
Picking out Kazuya's choices, Tatsuya muttered under his breath, "I've got to stop buying you accessories."
Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Jin was stomping his feet. "Jin wants to see Kazu first!" he yelled, crossing his arms across his chest and giving his grandparents his best glare.
"Wear your yukata. Then, you get to see Kazuya," Yamapi adopted Jin's pose. Ryo looked from one to the other, trying to decide who was the bigger child.
"Jin wants to see Kazu first! Jin wants to wear kimono like Kazu!" the four year old stared determinedly at his grandfather.
Ryo sighed. "We've gone over this a hundred times, Jin. You're wearing a yukata because unlike Kazuya, you'll be uncomfortable with the extra layers. Not only that, it's easier to put on you."
"But Jin wants to wear kimono with Kazu," Jin bit his lower lip. His eyes watered a little, and he sniffed.
"That's not going to work on us," Ryo drawled. Honestly, Jin should know by now these expressions only worked when Kazuya was the one using them.
Yamapi held out the blue yukata with white sakura flowers print to Jin. "Kazuya's wearing a pink kimono, so you'll match each other perfectly."
Jin looked unconvinced, but he suddenly remembered something. Ryo had shown him a picture yesterday of a married couple in traditional Japanese garments, the husband in dark blue and the wife in light pink.
Jin imagined Kazuya in a pink kimono, and a big smile spread on his face. "Okay, Pi-Pi!" he agreed happily, slipping his arms into the sleeves of the yukata.
Yamapi looked at Ryo, confused by Jin's sudden agreeable nature. Ryo just smiled. It was only a matter of time before Jin remembered the picture. All they had to do was endure until Jin's memory caught up.
Getting Jin dressed up after that was a breeze, and soon everyone in the Yamashita-Nishikido family was ready.
"Ueda, we're done!" Ryo hollered. At the click of the door unlocking, Jin tore down the hallway again. "KAZU!"
Kazuya peeked out the door to come face-to-face with a grinning Jin. "JinJin," Kazuya smiled shyly. "Kazu pretty?" he asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other nervously.
"Let's go, Kazu!" Jin took Kazuya by the hand and everyone set out to the festival. The crowd was large and colorful decorations hung from every stall. Everyone was dressed in yukatas or kimonos, laughing merrily.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Kazuya held tightly onto Jin's hand. He watched as children ran by them, all dressed in their best traditional garments.
Kazuya looked down at his kimono, pouting a little as he saw a little girl go by. She was wearing a purple kimono with butterfly patterns. Kazuya sneaked a glance at Jin, watching the older boy stare after the little girl.
Suddenly, Jin let go of Kazuya's hand and ran after the girl.
Staring at his suddenly empty little hand, Kazuya's lower lip trembled.
Watching the older boy catch up to the girl, Kazuya sniffled. JinJin didn't want to be with him!
"My Kazu is 10 million times prettier than you!" Jin hollered into the girl's face. The little girl was shocked for a few seconds before breaking out into sobs.
The little girl's mother glared at Jin, who grinned back at her. "My Kazu is prettier than you too!" he said, running back to Kazuya.
Tatsuya and the other adults nodded apologetically to the small crowd that was beginning to gather around them.
"Take my picture!" Jin demanded, taking Kazuya's hand and posing like the husband he remembered from the picture Ryo showed him. "Take my picture with Kazu!"
Chuckles rang out, but the other revelers obligingly took out their cameras and began to take pictures of the two adorable children.
"My Kazu is the prettiest person here!" he announced loudly. The adults smiled indulgently, amused by the toddler's words.
Throwing his arms around Jin's neck, Kazuya exclaimed happily, "Kazu love JinJin! Love JinJin!"
Camera flashes doubled as everyone took the opportunity to snap more photos of the smiling children.
#47: Rainy Day Blues
By his count, it was the thirtieth time.
Tatsuya watched as Kazuya let out another sigh. Thirty-one times.
"Kazuya, what's wrong?" he asked, although he knew the answer. The toddler merely looked at him with a 'what do you think?' sort of expression and continued to stare out the window, which didn't just have droplets of water on it, but was covered with a curtain of rainfall.
Tatsuya knew it must have been difficult - being trapped inside while it was still summer, but he knew that there was no way he was going to let Kazuya outside today. He'd only catch a cold, which might led to pneumonia, which could -
Tatsuya was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the doorbell. Perplexed as to why there was someone outside in the rain, he stood up to open the door.
"Surprise" a sullen voice greeted him, which was matched by the grumpy expression on Ryo's face. Of course, Tatsuya would be grumpy too if he was soaking wet and carrying a four year old in his arms. Jin had an child-sized umbrella in his hands, but didn't seem very bothered about trying to cover Ryo's head as well. Thus, Jin was mostly dry while Ryo was soaking wet.
Tatsuya's lips twitched, but he chose not to say anything as he stepped aside to let the two in.
"Kazuya! Jin's here!" he called, and waited. There was a thump, and he winced, imagining Kazuya either jumping or falling off the window seat and then the sound of little running steps.
"Jin-Jin!" Kazuya squealed happily, throwing himself at the slightly wet Jin.
Jin grinned at the toddler, "Jin-Jin brought fun things!" he announced.
"Fun things?" Kazuya poked at the box Jin was holding out.
Tatsuya looked cautiously at Ryo, "If this is another attempt from you guys trying to teach Jin to make cookies..." he still remembered the last time Jin had made cookies. There had been more chocolate chips than there had been cookie dough. He had been fearing for the safety of Kazuya's teeth for the few days it took to book a dentist appointment.
"No" Ryo answered and Tatsuya sighed in relief, "But Pi did find some sort of recipe online for making home-made play dough" he explained, "Jin helped and just had to bring it over to show Kazuya"
Hearing the words 'play dough', Kazuya perked up and opened the box eagerly. Play dough was a new fascination of his from nursery school, something Jin probably knew very well. Tatsuya had no doubt that Pi's sudden interest in homemade play dough could be traced back to Jin.
Kazuya's eyes went wide; there were colors that they didn't have in school!
"Pretty colors" he said in an awed tone.
"I made it for Kazu" Jin explained, a little embarrassed as he shifted from foot to foot, "Kazu like?"
Kazuya's answers was merely pulling on Jin's hand and leading him out of the room with a happy chirp of, "Love JinJin!"
#48: Magic
Jin entered the house to hear Kazuya's squeals of delight. He immediately went over to the kitchen, where he found the younger toddler clapping his hands happily.
"Kazu?" Jin ventured, a confused look on his face.
Turning around, Kazuya beamed at Jin. "JinJin! Come see!" he called out excitedly.
"Lastly, I will...," Akira paused for effect before whipping out a glass of milk, "make this milk disappear!"
Kazuya clapped excitedly as Jin joined him on the floor.
Junno, who was beside Akira, took out a small cloth and wiped the droplets of milk that spilled from Akira's big reveal.
Ueda was at the dining table, one eye on the newspapers, the other on the mini magician.
Akira had been sent over for the day, and he brought along all his magic toys. Kazuya had been curious, which led to a small magic show in the living room.
Unfortunately, most of Akira's trick involved either food or drinks. The child was also very big on movement, thus making a small mess.
Junno and Ueda agreed that the kitchen would be easier to clean should any mishaps happen, so everything was moved there.
"What's going on?" Yamapi asked as he and Ryo entered the kitchen.
Ueda nodded in the direction of the little group on the floor. "Our guest is entertaining us."
"What's he doing here," Ryo scowled at Akira, who was now trying to unfold the crumpled newspaper he dug up from his toybox.
Raising a delicate eyebrow, Ueda asked, "And why, pray tell, are you suddenly so hostile to a child?"
"Don't mind Ryo-chan-," Yamapi cut Ryo off before he could utter a word. "He just doesn't like to share Kazuya any more than Jin does."
Ryo sputtered a little before indignantly replying, "I do not! I'm not as childish as your grandson. Who, may I remind you, becomes a royal pain in the butt when that brat shows up anywhere near Kazuya."
"I see," Ueda just said, turning back to his papers. "Well, if it's any consolation to you, you're going to have a hell of a time when Kazuya hits his teens."
Ryo pouted. "We'll just have him homeschooled," he muttered, pouring two cups of coffee for Yamapi and himself.
Kazuya's squeals of delight diverted any retort Ueda had. "Kira-kira!!" the youngest child cheered as he ran over to give Akira a big hug.
"Kira-kira best!" Kazuya continued in awe as he hugged Akira. The older of the two had a wide grin on his face as he returned the hug.
"Grandpapa good teacher."
Jin watched the exchange with a frown on his face. "Uh-oh," Yamapi whispered, pointing to the four year old. "Your grandson's jealous streak just met his competitive streak."
The four adults watched silently as Jin stood up and walked over to the counter, where a plate of chocolate muffins lay.
Taking one muffin, Jin marched over to Kazuya and Akira. "JinJin can make magic too," he announced.
Yamapi and Ueda exchanged suspicious glances. Junno looked pleasantly surprised. Ryo just gaped.
"Really, JinJin?" Kazuya's eyes sparkled in astonishment. "Why didn't JinJin tell Kazu?"
Jin shuffled his feet, looking absolutely guilty. Truth was, he didn't know a single magic trick. But that won't stop him from proving to Kazuya that he would always be better than Akira!
"Was supposed to be surprise," Jin mumbled, hiding the muffin behind his back.
"JinJin show Kazu!" Kazuya demanded, turning his full attention to Jin. Happy that he was once again the center of Kazuya's attention, Jin stuck his tongue out at Akira.
"JinJin show Kazu!" Kazuya demanded again, shaking Jin by the arm. The action caused the muffin to fall silently onto the floor.
Jin held up his empty arms. "Nothing?" he asked while waving them in front of Kazuya's face.
The younger boy nodded. "Nothing!"
"Now, Kazu close eyes and count to three," Jin instructed.
Obediently, Kazuya closed his eyes and counted loudly. "One...two..."
While Kazuya counted, Jin made a mad dash over to the plate of muffins and grabbed another piece.
As Kazuya called out the last count, Jin stuffed the muffin into Kazuya's mouth. "Thre-mmf."
Ueda and Yamapi snickered. Ryo slapped his palm against his forehead. "Baka grandson!"
Kazuya's eyes widened in surprise. Then he beamed at Jin. "JinJin made chocomuff appear!" he mumbled.
"Kazuya, don't talk with your mouth full," Ueda said, failing to hide his smile.
Chewing quickly and swallowing, Kazuya threw his arms around Jin. "JinJin super magician! JinJin great! LoveJinJin!"
A decidedly smug-looking Jin happily hugged Kazuya back.
"Another, JinJin! 'nother!" Kazuya demanded, bouncing up and down in the circle of Jin's arms.
"Kazu want another muffin?"
#49: Dancing Puppies
"Tat-Tat!"
Tatsuya knew, just knew that with that tone of voice, Kazuya wanted something. He had long ago learned to recognize the different tones of the toddler's voice.
"Yes?" he asked warily.
Kazuya came running into the room, brandishing something in his hands, "Tat-Tat! Kazu want one too!"
Tatsuya plucked the picture from the toddler's hands, and a slightly pained look cross his face, "Where did you get this?" he tried to keep his voice as normal as possible.
"Roki-Roki's wallet!" Kazuya said, waving his arms excitedly.
Tatsuya stared at the picture and then his godson. He wasn't sure whether or not he should kill Uchi for letting Kazuya get his hands on a picture of Kame and Ran-chan.
"You want...a dog?" Tatsuya tried to clarify while regaining his composure.
Kazuya nodded, "Just like that one!"
"No." Tatsuya said immediately, "You're two, and it'd be me and Junno looking after the dog after you got bored with it."
Kazuya pouted, then his lip quivered.
"Not going to work." Tatsuya tried to remain firm.
Kazuya let out a wail, "B-but - !"
"No. N.O. No." Tatsuya said picking Kazuya up, "And don't try crying to get me to change my mind; it only works on Pi and Junno." he reminded the toddler.
Kazuya pouted and glared at Tatsuya, "Tat-Tat mean!"
"Tat-Tat remembers what you did to your toy dog."
Kazuya blinked, "But JinJin told Kazu that it was okay! JinJin did it to JinJin's fishie!"
"Whatever Jin may have told you, it's not okay to try to flush a robotic toy dog down a toilet." Tatsuya remarked, "And the last thing I want is you two trying to flush a real dog down the toilet so NO." He paused, "Besides, Jin had goldfish; it's different."
Kazuya sulked, looking on the verge of tears, "Mean Tat-Tat!" he cried, rubbing his eyes as he ambled off to find an adult that would be more sympathetic to him.
Tatsuya stared after his grandson and then went on a search for Uchi to...discuss the picture he had had had in his wallet. He thought he had made it clear to everyone that no pictures involving cute animals were to be shown to Kazuya. Ever. Especially after that toy dog incident...and the stuffed bird incident...and the list went on.
--
Four hours of being ignored by Kazuya later, and a talk about why he should keep his wallet out of reach of Kazuya's hands with Uchi later, Tatsuya walked by Kazuya's room and was surprised to hear giggles.
He peeked inside and blinked at the sight.
Jin, wearing a shirt with a hood with doggy ears that was falling over his eyes, and had his nose painted with a doggy nose was grinning at Kazuya and dancing and singing to the tune of 'how much is that doggy in the window?', much to Kazuya's pleasure.
Kazuya clapped happily, "Love JinJin!" he squealed.
And in the corner, Ryo was perched behind a huge stuffed bear of Kazuya's and filming the whole thing.
#50: I’m by your side
Tatsuya sighed as the hammering on his front door echoed through the house. This was honestly not the best time of day for Jin to appear. Especially not when Kazuya's distress was partially due to Jin.
Trudging to the the source of the commotion, Tatsuya rubbed his eyes with one hand while he gestured to Junno with the other.
Junno disappeared back into the room to resume his interrupted sleep. The members of the Ueda-Taguchi household had gotten barely more than three hours of sleep.
When he reached the front door, Tatsuya put on hand on the knob and situated his other hand at the opening.
As soon as he opened the door, he was ready to catch the blur that catapulted itself into his house.
"Ow Tat-Tat!" Jin yelped, losing his balance and falling on his butt. He turned to Tatsuya, a pout on his face.
Tatsuyaa kept his hold on the hood of Jin's jacket. Kneeling down, he looked Jin in the eyes.
"Jin, I need you to go home, alright?"
The four year-old cocked his head to the side in confusion. "But Jin wants to play with Kazu."
After a moment, he brightened. "Kazu come home with Jin?"
Jin's smile faltered when Tatsuya shook his head. A moment of silence passed before Jin turned to Ryo, who was still standing in the doorway, with his lower lip trembling.
"Ri-Ri, why can't Jin see Kazu? Kazu doesn't want Jin?" the child asked, big teardrops rolling down his face.
Ryo turned to Tatsuya, an eyebrow raised. "You made my grandson cry," he accused.
"Jin, come here," Tatsuya said gently, patting his lap after settling cross-legged on the floor. Jin sniffled a few more times.
The child hesitantly went over and sat down on Tatsuya's lap. The tears were still falling as Tatsuya wiped them away with his thumb.
"Kazuya had a bad dream last night," Tatsuya explained, watching Jin's eyes widen in horror. Ryo was surprised as well. He remembered Yamapi mentioning Kazuya's recent nightmares. It usually involved Jin leaving or the two children being separated.
Tatsuya continued, "He was so scared to fall back asleep, he only went to bed three hours ago. So, I need your help. Will you help me, Jin?"
Jin nodded vigorously. "Jin will protect Kazu! Jin won't let Kazu have bad dreams!" he proclaimed.
"I'm sure you can, Jin. But Kazu needs his sleep now. So can you come back tomorrow?" Tatsuya asked.
Shaking his head, Jin set his lips in a determined line. He hopped off Tatsuya's lap and made a mad dash to Kazuya's room before either adult could grab a hold of him.
"Jin!" the two adult yelled as they gave chase.
Dashing in the room, Jin threw his weight against the door, effectively slamming it shut. Before Tatsuya or Ryo could reach the door, Jin pushed the lock into place.
"Jin!" Tatsuya yelled, not bothering that he would wake his grandson up. When there was no answer, he rushed off to his room to retrieve the spare key.
In the room, Kazuya stirred from his sleep. When his eyes focused, he saw Jin at the door. "JinJin?" he mumbled sleepily.
Jin stayed silent, wondering if he was doing the right thing. Maybe Kazuya didn't want to see him after all. Maybe that's why Tat-Tat had asked him to go home. Jin hesitated, biting his lower lip uncertainly.
When Jin stayed silent, flashes of his nightmare came back to Kazuya. Was Jin leaving? Jin didn't want him anymore? Jin wanted to say goodbye? Tears welled up in his eyes.
Jin became alarmed when he saw Kazuya's distress. "Kazu!" he cried out, rushing to the toddler's side. Kazuya held out his arms.
"Jin will protect you! Jin won't let the nightmares hurt you!" Jin grabbed Kazuya into a tight hugs. The toddler held on tightly to Jin.
"JinJin not saying bye-bye?" Kazuya asked, a little fearfully.
Jin shook his head so vigorously, his whole body moved from side to side as well. Kazuya's grip tightened as he was shaken by Jin.
"Jin will always be with Kazu. Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever!" Jin proclaimed.
Kazuya smiled, hugging Jin tighter. "LoveJinJin! Forever and ever and ever too!"
When Tatsuya and Ryo managed to get the door open, the two children were still hugging, repeating 'and ever and ever and ever and ever'.
--- END DRABBLES ---
And um...that's it ^___^ Now, off to finish my.....seemingly infinite number of assignments...*sigh* That's actually why it took until today for these to be posted; they were done on like, Thursdays, but I either kept forgetting or I was busy with school or something else...^^;;; Thanks for reading! lol, Steph-chan and I totallys pend too long between writing drabbles; sometimes, it took like months before we got a drabble added to the batch and then we'd ask stuff at the end like : 'omg, does this even fit??' XDDD so tell us if it seems okay? ^__^
kk, bye now~~ off to immerse myself into the demon that is school >___< btw, those that read Second Chance, there will be a christmas fic for you; Steph-chan and I are working on that ^^
Authors: xx_lovelain_xx & chuukibito
Pairing: chibi Akame
Summary: side stories/drabbles to Second Chance. Chibi!akame drabbles related to the Second Chance series (and the Anything For You one-shot). Children have a tendency to get into trouble, but with Ryo's influence, all the JE guys wrapped around their fingers and Jin's tendency to dote on Kazuya, these two toddlers get into more trouble than most. And then they get right out of it again, with puppy eyes, pouts and Kazuya's declarations of 'love jinjin!'.
Previous Batches:
Batch #1| Batch #2 | Batch #3 | Christmas Batch |
So...um...*waves* ^___^ I bet everyone forgot all about these ^^;;; the last time we posted one was during Christmas -___-;;; and that was nearly a year ago. There are only 8 drabbles this time, because we wanted to even out the number and go back to be able to start at #1 the next time, instead of starting at #3, like this time. And um....that's about it for pre-chapter notes~~ enjoy~~
--- BATCH #4 ---
#43: The One Who Always Gets Away
It was not a strange sight to come across in the Yamashita-Nishikido home, but at the same time, it was still just a bit strange. A giggle escaped Kazuya’s lips as he stood on a chair to reach the counter. Jin was standing on the same chair, both of them giggling to themselves as they looked at the mess on the counter they had made. That was where the familiarity of this scene ended.
It wasn’t, however, because of the lack of adult supervision the two toddlers had while in the kitchen, together, but the mess of bubbles that floated from the kitchen sink the two toddlers were giggling over.
On the floor next to the chair, was a bottle of dishwashing soap, no doubt the cause of the bubbles that could only be described as 'frothing' in the sink, due to the fact that there were so many.
Kazuya puffed out his cheeks and then blew at his hand, causing a few bubbles to go flying at Jin. The older boy let out a squawk as he fell backwards and almost toppled off the chair.
"Kazu!" Jin complained, pouting as he righted himself, "You surprised me!"
Kazuya merely stuck his tongue out before giggling again, "Fun, JinJin!" he declared as he dug his little hands back into the sink, his arms disappearing completely in the bubble water.
Jin pouted that Kazuya was playing more with the bubbles than he was with him, and made a whirring noise as he pretended his hand was a fighter plane and made it dive bomb at Kazuya's hand. Kazuya let out a squeal of laughter, "JinJin!!!"
"Got you!" Jin said cheekily as he flicked his hands at Kazuya, who shrieked as bubbles popped upon touching his skin and his shirt grew wet.
"JinJin!!!" Kazuya pouted and then with a determined look, hit at the water and Jin blinked in surprise when a wave of bubbles and water splashed at him.
He blinked, "I'll get you for that Kazu!!!"
Shrieks and laughter resounded in the kitchen as they continued their bubble war. After a while, Kazuya stopped.
"JinJin. Kazu and Jinjin all wet!" he declared, "'n no more bubbles" he pouted.
"Kazu want more bubbles?" Jin asked, grinning, "Or Kazu want to get Tat-Tat and get dry clothes?"
"BUBBLES!" It didn't take very long for Kazuya to squeal out the word and clap his little hands together.
Jin grinned and climbed down the chair, handing the bottle of dishwashing soap up to Kazuya. Then he brightened and whispered a, "Be right back" to Kazuya before rushing off as quietly as he could out of the kitchen. He didn't want to wake Ri-Ri or Pi-Pi from their nap!
Jin giggled as he came back into the kitchen with the bottle of bubblebath meant for Jin's bathtime. He climbed back up onto the chair and making sure the sink was still plugged, dumped the contents bottle of bubblebath into the sink.
"JinJIn?" kazuya held out the dishwashing soap tentatively, "Kazu help?"
Jin beamed, and put his hands over Kazuya's, holding the diswashing soap upside down, "We mix!" he declared as he squeezed, and Kazuya squeezed the bottle with him, watching as the blue liquid went into the sink. Then, with a giggle, Jin turned the tap on at full power, watching with delight as bubbles began to form.
Kazuya squealed, "BUBBLES!!!"
Jin beamed, and then he paused - the bubbles were rising faster than he had thought! He quickly reached for the tap, only to teeter backwards. He fell ungracefully from the chair, landing on his side and a loud crash echoed from his fall.
"JINJIN!" Kazuya called with wide, panicked, yet delighted, eyes as the bubbles began to tower over him. Water had begun dripping from the sink onto the floor.
"What the - HOLY SHIT - I MEAN...OH MY GOD. RYO! RYO!!!!!"
Pi had woken up. He stared at the children and the tower of bubbles as well as the overflowing sink. They had fallen asleep while the children had been taking their nap, and now....now they had THIS!
Ryo came running, "What's the - WHAT THE HELL?!!!!"
Kazuya was giggling as he stuck his little hands into the tower of bubbles, looking intruiged.
"JinJin! JinJin!! Made bubble monster!" he called with delight as the bubbles began to spread outwards instead of upwards and cover him as well.
Ryo swore and then rushed forward to grab Kazuya before he could be covered in bubbles and possibly get bubbles into his eyes, which would be painful as the bubbles were soap after all.
Pi rushed forward and turned off the tap with much difficulty. He spluttered, spitting out the taste of soap as he did. Bubbles lingered in his hair.
Kazuya clapped delightedly, "Pi-Pi beat bubble monster and Ri-Ri save Kazu!" he chirped.
"...does he even realize he's in trouble?" Ryo growled out, putting the drenched Kazuya on the ground, where Jin had already sat, recognizing the sounds - aka the curse words - that meant he was in trouble.
"JinJin~~ love JinJin!! Bubbles~~" Kazuya squealed.
"Nope, and why should he? He always gets away with it" Yamapi muttered, "Unless Tat-Tat's here, but he's not right now"
"He's not going to get away with it this time" Ryo said determinedly.
"If you say so"
"An united front would be nice!!" Ryo snapped before turning to Kazuya, "Kazuya, you're in big trouble" he said sternly.
Kazuya tilted his head.
Must resist, Ryo told himself, "What were you thinking? Where were both of you thinking?!"
Pi added a, "You could have flooded the house!"
Kazuya blinked up at Ryo and Pi, and then his lips quivered, "B-But..."
"Kazu, don't cry!!!" Jin quickly forgot the best method of getting out of trouble that was staying quiet, and hugged Kazuya tightly.
"Kazu - Kazu wanted to help Ri-Ri 'n Pi-Pi clean up!!!!!" Kazuya wailed and hiccuped, clearly distressed, "Bubbles just fun! But Kazu wanted to help!!!!!!" he turned watering eyes at Ryo and Pi, and promptly buried his face into JIn's hug.
There was a long silence.
"He's going to get away with it isn't he?" Pi whispered.
"Shut up!"
#44: Pretty Flowers For A Pretty Boy
"Who," Tatsuya tried to keep his voice as level as possible, " can explain this to me?" He pointed a quivering finger to the flower bed beside their house.
At least, what used to be the flower bed. Now all that was left was a pile of dirt, a toddler and two adults.
Jin blinked at Tatsuya, while Yamapi and Ryo looked sheepishly guilty.
"Well?" Tatsuya tapped his foot, raising an eyebrow.
Jin got up and shoved a bunch of badly mangled daisies into Tatsuya's hand. "Tat-tat HELP!" he wailed, on the verge of tears.
Raising an eyebrow, Tatsuya kneeled down so he was at Jin's height. "Young man, you dug them up. So you'd better be the one to plant them back."
Shaking his head violently, Jin pressed the flower into Tatsuya's hands. "Kazu's favourite flowers! Tat-tat help!"
"And I said no. Which means N-O, no," Tatsuya said, taking one flower. "Now, you're going to put each flower back just like this."
Tatsuya turned to the flower bed, putting the flower back by its roots into the soil and patting it nicely so it would stand.
"NOOOOOOO," Jin suddenly wailed, grabbing Tatsuya by the arm. "TAT-TAT NOOOOO!"
"He's not exactly trying to plant them," Ryo explained, clearing his throat. Yamapi nodded.
Tatsuya fixed the two adults with a glare. "Don't think I've forgotten the two of you, though you've been awfully silent since this fiasco started."
The argument between the adults were cut short when big droplets of tears started to fall from Jin's eyes.
"Tat-tat help JinJin," he said, sobbing. "Tat-tat, please~"
Tatsuya, being the kind person he was, could never be angry at a crying child for long. "What do you want me to help you with, Jin?" he asked gently, wiping the tears off Jin's cheeks with the back of his hand.
"Kazu favourite flowers," Jin hiccuped, rubbing his eyes. "JinJin want to make ring. Pi-Pi and Ri-Ri not good help. Tat-tat help?" he said, fixing Tatsuya with an imploring gaze.
Not entirely sure if he wanted to smack his head against the wall or bury the Yamashita-Nishiko family in the flower bed, Tatsuya settled with a long-suffering sigh.
"You dug up my flower bed just because you want to make Kazuya a flower ring?"
Jin nodded happily. "JinJin watch TV. Boy gave girl daisy ring and they kissed! JinJin want Kazu kiss!"
"And you didn't think to stop him?" Tatsuya stared incredulously at Yamapi and Ryo.
The two adult looked away, mumbling under their breaths, "We wanted Kazu kisses too...."
Tatsuya sat Jin on his lap. "Here's how you make a dairy ring," he said, picking up a daisy and intertwining it to form a small ringlet.
Jin stuck his tongue out in concentration, following Tatsuya's directions. He managed to form an acceptable looking ring, making him beam.
"THANK YOU TAT-TAT!" he squealed, giving Tatsuya a huge kiss before dashing into the house to give Kazuya his flower.
Yamapi and Ryo were about to follow when Tatsuya cleared his throat. "You two are going to plant every single flower back before Kazuya sees this."
Tatsuya gave a satisfied smile as the other two adults began to clean up the mess created by their grandchild.
While Tatsuya supervised, all three adults heard Kazuya squeal loudly before he proclaimed "DAISY FLOWER! LOVEJINJIN!"
#45: Dye. Noun. Definition: a disaster when put in the hands of a child
Yamapi stared open-mouthed at the scene in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and then he rubbed again just for good measure.
"I'm not seeing things..." he murmured, before he turned on his heel and screamed, "RYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Five seconds later, Ryo ran into the room brandishing the closest blunt object he could find - the frying pan.
"What? What's going on? Who broke into the house? Who's getting murdered?!" he yelled in panic, thinking that with that sort of scream, someone was getting murdered.
He stopped and stared at Yamapi, who was pointing at their grandson. Jin was standing in a bathtub full of -
Ryo gave a panicked shriek as he pushed past Yamapi in his hysterical state and went to pick up Jin from the bathtub that was full of red liquid.
"Oh my god, call the hospital. Pi, call the hospital now!!!" Ryo babbled for a moment before he paused. Strange, the blood Jin was covered in was strangely...not thick - and not very blood-like in color when he touched it.
Ryo let out an indignant splutter, "This is red dye!!!" he yelled, making Yamapi pause halfway to the phone in the kitchen and double back.
"DYE?!"
In Ryo's arms, Jin sniffled and then sneezed. Then he looked up and saw two frowns directed at him. He gulped.
"Jin, what the hell were you doing?!" Ryo snapped, irritated that they had just been scared out of their wits over dye.
Jin looked hopefully at Pi with a charming smile.
Yamapi, however, scowled, "you're not getting out of this one so easily" he crossed his arms and tapped his foot, "Well?" he demanded for an explanation.
Jin ducked his head under horribly done red bangs, "JinJin wanted Kazu to call JinJin pretty too" he mumbled, slipping back into baby speech.
Ryo raised an eyebrow, and seeing that, Jin quickly explained before Ryo could dish out time-outs and candy bans.
"Kazu and JinJin -"
"Speak properly, you know how to. Unlike Kazu, you're not two"
Jin pouted, but decided to listen, "Tat-Tat took Kazu and I to the hair lady 'cause Tat-Tat needed haircut" Jin explained, "Kazu saw a lady with red hair and called the lady's hair pretty" Jin pouted, "JinJin wanted to be pretty too"
Yamapi slapped a hand to his forehead. Ryo, smartly, didn't, due to the fact that his hands were covered in dye from holding Jin.
"Luckily, this dye can come off skin easily enough. Unluckily, we can't let him walk around with...three quarters of his hair red" Ryo muttered.
"At least he didn't see someone with green hair" Yamapi sighed as he went to run a proper bath. They would be spending all afternoon trying to get this dye off their skin, he just knew it.
--
"Kazu, Jin's here!"
The shout brought the sound of small, running footsteps. Kazuya ran into view with a storybook clutched tightly in his arms.
He stopped when he reached the entrance hall, however. He stared, open-mouthed, at Jin, whose skin was still a little red from remnants of the dye, and his hair was -
"Really, Yamashita? highlights at four years old?" Tatsuya asked disbelievingly as he looked at Jin, whose dark hair had streaks of red in it.
"When we went to the hairdresser to get her to try to get it back to black, Jin started throwing a temper tantrum because 'we were ruining his hard work'. The only way we could have gotten him down from that shelf of conditioners without breaking half the bottles in the process was to promise to leave a bit in..." Yamapi said darkly, shooting a 'it's half your fault' look at Tatsuya.
Kazuya approached Jin with wide eyes, "JinJin hair red!" he said in awe as he ran a hand through Jin's now black and red locks, "Pretty! JinJin pretty!"
Jin smiled nervously, "Kazu like?"
Kazuya nodded with a grin, "Kazu love~"
He giggled as Jin suddenly hugged him, "Kazu love JinJin!" he declared, laughing as Jin's hands suddenly found his ticklish spot. He squealed with laughter and proceeded to run from the room. Jin soon gave chase.
"...if Kazuya ends up with red hair in the morning, I'm blaming you and billing you for the hairdressing fees" Tatsuya announced as they watched the children.
#46: Yukata? Kimono?
Dressing Jin had never been this difficult!
Yamapi was 2 seconds away from tearing his hair out. However, a lifetime of being an idol made him subconsciously aware of his appearance, so he grabbed Ryo's arm and twisted it instead.
"OW! PI! LET GO!! OWOWOW!!!" Ryo yelped, dropping the obi belt he had halfway around Jin's waist.
The four year old watched in amusement as his grandparents grappled. While they were distracted, Jin took the opportunity to throw off the yukata that was loosely draped around him.
"Wait! Grab him, Ryo!" Yamapi hollered as Jin dashed out the door. Both adults scrambled to their feet, giving chase to the child that was sprinting down the hallway to the guest bedroom.
"TAT-TAT OPEN DOOR!" Jin hollered, banging his fist on the locked door.
Ryo grabbed his grandson by the waist and threw him over a shoulder. "Keep that door closed until I tell you to, Ueda!"
"Ri-Ri let go! Jin wanna see Kazu! Kazu! KAZU!!!!" Jin's voice faded as he was hauled back into his room.
In the guest room, Tatsuya shook his head and rubbed his temples. Kazuya, all dressed for the festival, toddled over and stroked his grandfather's hair. "Tat-tat head owie?"
"A little," Tatsuya answered, placing Kazuya on his lap and smiling gently at his grandson. "I'm glad you're my grandson," he said, kissing Kazuya lightly on the forehead.
The toddler giggled before giving Tatsuya a hug. "Kazu love Tat-Tat too!" he exclaimed, before sneezing loudly.
Kazuya's hair had grown longer, and the ends tickled his nose, causing him to sneeze a few more times. "Tat-Tat, tie hair," Kazuya whined, tugging on the folds of his grandfather's yukata.
"Alright, alright," Tatsuya took out the box that contained Kazuya's accessories. "Which one do you want?"
Kazuya looked at the assorted clips and elastics in the box before looking at his reflection in the mirror. "This one!" he said, pointing to a jewelled red and silver flower elastic.
"This one too, Tat-Tat!" Kazuya pointed to a bracelet. "And this one!" A silver necklace with a heart-shaped pendant.
Picking out Kazuya's choices, Tatsuya muttered under his breath, "I've got to stop buying you accessories."
Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Jin was stomping his feet. "Jin wants to see Kazu first!" he yelled, crossing his arms across his chest and giving his grandparents his best glare.
"Wear your yukata. Then, you get to see Kazuya," Yamapi adopted Jin's pose. Ryo looked from one to the other, trying to decide who was the bigger child.
"Jin wants to see Kazu first! Jin wants to wear kimono like Kazu!" the four year old stared determinedly at his grandfather.
Ryo sighed. "We've gone over this a hundred times, Jin. You're wearing a yukata because unlike Kazuya, you'll be uncomfortable with the extra layers. Not only that, it's easier to put on you."
"But Jin wants to wear kimono with Kazu," Jin bit his lower lip. His eyes watered a little, and he sniffed.
"That's not going to work on us," Ryo drawled. Honestly, Jin should know by now these expressions only worked when Kazuya was the one using them.
Yamapi held out the blue yukata with white sakura flowers print to Jin. "Kazuya's wearing a pink kimono, so you'll match each other perfectly."
Jin looked unconvinced, but he suddenly remembered something. Ryo had shown him a picture yesterday of a married couple in traditional Japanese garments, the husband in dark blue and the wife in light pink.
Jin imagined Kazuya in a pink kimono, and a big smile spread on his face. "Okay, Pi-Pi!" he agreed happily, slipping his arms into the sleeves of the yukata.
Yamapi looked at Ryo, confused by Jin's sudden agreeable nature. Ryo just smiled. It was only a matter of time before Jin remembered the picture. All they had to do was endure until Jin's memory caught up.
Getting Jin dressed up after that was a breeze, and soon everyone in the Yamashita-Nishikido family was ready.
"Ueda, we're done!" Ryo hollered. At the click of the door unlocking, Jin tore down the hallway again. "KAZU!"
Kazuya peeked out the door to come face-to-face with a grinning Jin. "JinJin," Kazuya smiled shyly. "Kazu pretty?" he asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other nervously.
"Let's go, Kazu!" Jin took Kazuya by the hand and everyone set out to the festival. The crowd was large and colorful decorations hung from every stall. Everyone was dressed in yukatas or kimonos, laughing merrily.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Kazuya held tightly onto Jin's hand. He watched as children ran by them, all dressed in their best traditional garments.
Kazuya looked down at his kimono, pouting a little as he saw a little girl go by. She was wearing a purple kimono with butterfly patterns. Kazuya sneaked a glance at Jin, watching the older boy stare after the little girl.
Suddenly, Jin let go of Kazuya's hand and ran after the girl.
Staring at his suddenly empty little hand, Kazuya's lower lip trembled.
Watching the older boy catch up to the girl, Kazuya sniffled. JinJin didn't want to be with him!
"My Kazu is 10 million times prettier than you!" Jin hollered into the girl's face. The little girl was shocked for a few seconds before breaking out into sobs.
The little girl's mother glared at Jin, who grinned back at her. "My Kazu is prettier than you too!" he said, running back to Kazuya.
Tatsuya and the other adults nodded apologetically to the small crowd that was beginning to gather around them.
"Take my picture!" Jin demanded, taking Kazuya's hand and posing like the husband he remembered from the picture Ryo showed him. "Take my picture with Kazu!"
Chuckles rang out, but the other revelers obligingly took out their cameras and began to take pictures of the two adorable children.
"My Kazu is the prettiest person here!" he announced loudly. The adults smiled indulgently, amused by the toddler's words.
Throwing his arms around Jin's neck, Kazuya exclaimed happily, "Kazu love JinJin! Love JinJin!"
Camera flashes doubled as everyone took the opportunity to snap more photos of the smiling children.
#47: Rainy Day Blues
By his count, it was the thirtieth time.
Tatsuya watched as Kazuya let out another sigh. Thirty-one times.
"Kazuya, what's wrong?" he asked, although he knew the answer. The toddler merely looked at him with a 'what do you think?' sort of expression and continued to stare out the window, which didn't just have droplets of water on it, but was covered with a curtain of rainfall.
Tatsuya knew it must have been difficult - being trapped inside while it was still summer, but he knew that there was no way he was going to let Kazuya outside today. He'd only catch a cold, which might led to pneumonia, which could -
Tatsuya was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the doorbell. Perplexed as to why there was someone outside in the rain, he stood up to open the door.
"Surprise" a sullen voice greeted him, which was matched by the grumpy expression on Ryo's face. Of course, Tatsuya would be grumpy too if he was soaking wet and carrying a four year old in his arms. Jin had an child-sized umbrella in his hands, but didn't seem very bothered about trying to cover Ryo's head as well. Thus, Jin was mostly dry while Ryo was soaking wet.
Tatsuya's lips twitched, but he chose not to say anything as he stepped aside to let the two in.
"Kazuya! Jin's here!" he called, and waited. There was a thump, and he winced, imagining Kazuya either jumping or falling off the window seat and then the sound of little running steps.
"Jin-Jin!" Kazuya squealed happily, throwing himself at the slightly wet Jin.
Jin grinned at the toddler, "Jin-Jin brought fun things!" he announced.
"Fun things?" Kazuya poked at the box Jin was holding out.
Tatsuya looked cautiously at Ryo, "If this is another attempt from you guys trying to teach Jin to make cookies..." he still remembered the last time Jin had made cookies. There had been more chocolate chips than there had been cookie dough. He had been fearing for the safety of Kazuya's teeth for the few days it took to book a dentist appointment.
"No" Ryo answered and Tatsuya sighed in relief, "But Pi did find some sort of recipe online for making home-made play dough" he explained, "Jin helped and just had to bring it over to show Kazuya"
Hearing the words 'play dough', Kazuya perked up and opened the box eagerly. Play dough was a new fascination of his from nursery school, something Jin probably knew very well. Tatsuya had no doubt that Pi's sudden interest in homemade play dough could be traced back to Jin.
Kazuya's eyes went wide; there were colors that they didn't have in school!
"Pretty colors" he said in an awed tone.
"I made it for Kazu" Jin explained, a little embarrassed as he shifted from foot to foot, "Kazu like?"
Kazuya's answers was merely pulling on Jin's hand and leading him out of the room with a happy chirp of, "Love JinJin!"
#48: Magic
Jin entered the house to hear Kazuya's squeals of delight. He immediately went over to the kitchen, where he found the younger toddler clapping his hands happily.
"Kazu?" Jin ventured, a confused look on his face.
Turning around, Kazuya beamed at Jin. "JinJin! Come see!" he called out excitedly.
"Lastly, I will...," Akira paused for effect before whipping out a glass of milk, "make this milk disappear!"
Kazuya clapped excitedly as Jin joined him on the floor.
Junno, who was beside Akira, took out a small cloth and wiped the droplets of milk that spilled from Akira's big reveal.
Ueda was at the dining table, one eye on the newspapers, the other on the mini magician.
Akira had been sent over for the day, and he brought along all his magic toys. Kazuya had been curious, which led to a small magic show in the living room.
Unfortunately, most of Akira's trick involved either food or drinks. The child was also very big on movement, thus making a small mess.
Junno and Ueda agreed that the kitchen would be easier to clean should any mishaps happen, so everything was moved there.
"What's going on?" Yamapi asked as he and Ryo entered the kitchen.
Ueda nodded in the direction of the little group on the floor. "Our guest is entertaining us."
"What's he doing here," Ryo scowled at Akira, who was now trying to unfold the crumpled newspaper he dug up from his toybox.
Raising a delicate eyebrow, Ueda asked, "And why, pray tell, are you suddenly so hostile to a child?"
"Don't mind Ryo-chan-," Yamapi cut Ryo off before he could utter a word. "He just doesn't like to share Kazuya any more than Jin does."
Ryo sputtered a little before indignantly replying, "I do not! I'm not as childish as your grandson. Who, may I remind you, becomes a royal pain in the butt when that brat shows up anywhere near Kazuya."
"I see," Ueda just said, turning back to his papers. "Well, if it's any consolation to you, you're going to have a hell of a time when Kazuya hits his teens."
Ryo pouted. "We'll just have him homeschooled," he muttered, pouring two cups of coffee for Yamapi and himself.
Kazuya's squeals of delight diverted any retort Ueda had. "Kira-kira!!" the youngest child cheered as he ran over to give Akira a big hug.
"Kira-kira best!" Kazuya continued in awe as he hugged Akira. The older of the two had a wide grin on his face as he returned the hug.
"Grandpapa good teacher."
Jin watched the exchange with a frown on his face. "Uh-oh," Yamapi whispered, pointing to the four year old. "Your grandson's jealous streak just met his competitive streak."
The four adults watched silently as Jin stood up and walked over to the counter, where a plate of chocolate muffins lay.
Taking one muffin, Jin marched over to Kazuya and Akira. "JinJin can make magic too," he announced.
Yamapi and Ueda exchanged suspicious glances. Junno looked pleasantly surprised. Ryo just gaped.
"Really, JinJin?" Kazuya's eyes sparkled in astonishment. "Why didn't JinJin tell Kazu?"
Jin shuffled his feet, looking absolutely guilty. Truth was, he didn't know a single magic trick. But that won't stop him from proving to Kazuya that he would always be better than Akira!
"Was supposed to be surprise," Jin mumbled, hiding the muffin behind his back.
"JinJin show Kazu!" Kazuya demanded, turning his full attention to Jin. Happy that he was once again the center of Kazuya's attention, Jin stuck his tongue out at Akira.
"JinJin show Kazu!" Kazuya demanded again, shaking Jin by the arm. The action caused the muffin to fall silently onto the floor.
Jin held up his empty arms. "Nothing?" he asked while waving them in front of Kazuya's face.
The younger boy nodded. "Nothing!"
"Now, Kazu close eyes and count to three," Jin instructed.
Obediently, Kazuya closed his eyes and counted loudly. "One...two..."
While Kazuya counted, Jin made a mad dash over to the plate of muffins and grabbed another piece.
As Kazuya called out the last count, Jin stuffed the muffin into Kazuya's mouth. "Thre-mmf."
Ueda and Yamapi snickered. Ryo slapped his palm against his forehead. "Baka grandson!"
Kazuya's eyes widened in surprise. Then he beamed at Jin. "JinJin made chocomuff appear!" he mumbled.
"Kazuya, don't talk with your mouth full," Ueda said, failing to hide his smile.
Chewing quickly and swallowing, Kazuya threw his arms around Jin. "JinJin super magician! JinJin great! LoveJinJin!"
A decidedly smug-looking Jin happily hugged Kazuya back.
"Another, JinJin! 'nother!" Kazuya demanded, bouncing up and down in the circle of Jin's arms.
"Kazu want another muffin?"
#49: Dancing Puppies
"Tat-Tat!"
Tatsuya knew, just knew that with that tone of voice, Kazuya wanted something. He had long ago learned to recognize the different tones of the toddler's voice.
"Yes?" he asked warily.
Kazuya came running into the room, brandishing something in his hands, "Tat-Tat! Kazu want one too!"
Tatsuya plucked the picture from the toddler's hands, and a slightly pained look cross his face, "Where did you get this?" he tried to keep his voice as normal as possible.
"Roki-Roki's wallet!" Kazuya said, waving his arms excitedly.
Tatsuya stared at the picture and then his godson. He wasn't sure whether or not he should kill Uchi for letting Kazuya get his hands on a picture of Kame and Ran-chan.
"You want...a dog?" Tatsuya tried to clarify while regaining his composure.
Kazuya nodded, "Just like that one!"
"No." Tatsuya said immediately, "You're two, and it'd be me and Junno looking after the dog after you got bored with it."
Kazuya pouted, then his lip quivered.
"Not going to work." Tatsuya tried to remain firm.
Kazuya let out a wail, "B-but - !"
"No. N.O. No." Tatsuya said picking Kazuya up, "And don't try crying to get me to change my mind; it only works on Pi and Junno." he reminded the toddler.
Kazuya pouted and glared at Tatsuya, "Tat-Tat mean!"
"Tat-Tat remembers what you did to your toy dog."
Kazuya blinked, "But JinJin told Kazu that it was okay! JinJin did it to JinJin's fishie!"
"Whatever Jin may have told you, it's not okay to try to flush a robotic toy dog down a toilet." Tatsuya remarked, "And the last thing I want is you two trying to flush a real dog down the toilet so NO." He paused, "Besides, Jin had goldfish; it's different."
Kazuya sulked, looking on the verge of tears, "Mean Tat-Tat!" he cried, rubbing his eyes as he ambled off to find an adult that would be more sympathetic to him.
Tatsuya stared after his grandson and then went on a search for Uchi to...discuss the picture he had had had in his wallet. He thought he had made it clear to everyone that no pictures involving cute animals were to be shown to Kazuya. Ever. Especially after that toy dog incident...and the stuffed bird incident...and the list went on.
--
Four hours of being ignored by Kazuya later, and a talk about why he should keep his wallet out of reach of Kazuya's hands with Uchi later, Tatsuya walked by Kazuya's room and was surprised to hear giggles.
He peeked inside and blinked at the sight.
Jin, wearing a shirt with a hood with doggy ears that was falling over his eyes, and had his nose painted with a doggy nose was grinning at Kazuya and dancing and singing to the tune of 'how much is that doggy in the window?', much to Kazuya's pleasure.
Kazuya clapped happily, "Love JinJin!" he squealed.
And in the corner, Ryo was perched behind a huge stuffed bear of Kazuya's and filming the whole thing.
#50: I’m by your side
Tatsuya sighed as the hammering on his front door echoed through the house. This was honestly not the best time of day for Jin to appear. Especially not when Kazuya's distress was partially due to Jin.
Trudging to the the source of the commotion, Tatsuya rubbed his eyes with one hand while he gestured to Junno with the other.
Junno disappeared back into the room to resume his interrupted sleep. The members of the Ueda-Taguchi household had gotten barely more than three hours of sleep.
When he reached the front door, Tatsuya put on hand on the knob and situated his other hand at the opening.
As soon as he opened the door, he was ready to catch the blur that catapulted itself into his house.
"Ow Tat-Tat!" Jin yelped, losing his balance and falling on his butt. He turned to Tatsuya, a pout on his face.
Tatsuyaa kept his hold on the hood of Jin's jacket. Kneeling down, he looked Jin in the eyes.
"Jin, I need you to go home, alright?"
The four year-old cocked his head to the side in confusion. "But Jin wants to play with Kazu."
After a moment, he brightened. "Kazu come home with Jin?"
Jin's smile faltered when Tatsuya shook his head. A moment of silence passed before Jin turned to Ryo, who was still standing in the doorway, with his lower lip trembling.
"Ri-Ri, why can't Jin see Kazu? Kazu doesn't want Jin?" the child asked, big teardrops rolling down his face.
Ryo turned to Tatsuya, an eyebrow raised. "You made my grandson cry," he accused.
"Jin, come here," Tatsuya said gently, patting his lap after settling cross-legged on the floor. Jin sniffled a few more times.
The child hesitantly went over and sat down on Tatsuya's lap. The tears were still falling as Tatsuya wiped them away with his thumb.
"Kazuya had a bad dream last night," Tatsuya explained, watching Jin's eyes widen in horror. Ryo was surprised as well. He remembered Yamapi mentioning Kazuya's recent nightmares. It usually involved Jin leaving or the two children being separated.
Tatsuya continued, "He was so scared to fall back asleep, he only went to bed three hours ago. So, I need your help. Will you help me, Jin?"
Jin nodded vigorously. "Jin will protect Kazu! Jin won't let Kazu have bad dreams!" he proclaimed.
"I'm sure you can, Jin. But Kazu needs his sleep now. So can you come back tomorrow?" Tatsuya asked.
Shaking his head, Jin set his lips in a determined line. He hopped off Tatsuya's lap and made a mad dash to Kazuya's room before either adult could grab a hold of him.
"Jin!" the two adult yelled as they gave chase.
Dashing in the room, Jin threw his weight against the door, effectively slamming it shut. Before Tatsuya or Ryo could reach the door, Jin pushed the lock into place.
"Jin!" Tatsuya yelled, not bothering that he would wake his grandson up. When there was no answer, he rushed off to his room to retrieve the spare key.
In the room, Kazuya stirred from his sleep. When his eyes focused, he saw Jin at the door. "JinJin?" he mumbled sleepily.
Jin stayed silent, wondering if he was doing the right thing. Maybe Kazuya didn't want to see him after all. Maybe that's why Tat-Tat had asked him to go home. Jin hesitated, biting his lower lip uncertainly.
When Jin stayed silent, flashes of his nightmare came back to Kazuya. Was Jin leaving? Jin didn't want him anymore? Jin wanted to say goodbye? Tears welled up in his eyes.
Jin became alarmed when he saw Kazuya's distress. "Kazu!" he cried out, rushing to the toddler's side. Kazuya held out his arms.
"Jin will protect you! Jin won't let the nightmares hurt you!" Jin grabbed Kazuya into a tight hugs. The toddler held on tightly to Jin.
"JinJin not saying bye-bye?" Kazuya asked, a little fearfully.
Jin shook his head so vigorously, his whole body moved from side to side as well. Kazuya's grip tightened as he was shaken by Jin.
"Jin will always be with Kazu. Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever!" Jin proclaimed.
Kazuya smiled, hugging Jin tighter. "LoveJinJin! Forever and ever and ever too!"
When Tatsuya and Ryo managed to get the door open, the two children were still hugging, repeating 'and ever and ever and ever and ever'.
--- END DRABBLES ---
And um...that's it ^___^ Now, off to finish my.....seemingly infinite number of assignments...*sigh* That's actually why it took until today for these to be posted; they were done on like, Thursdays, but I either kept forgetting or I was busy with school or something else...^^;;; Thanks for reading! lol, Steph-chan and I totallys pend too long between writing drabbles; sometimes, it took like months before we got a drabble added to the batch and then we'd ask stuff at the end like : 'omg, does this even fit??' XDDD so tell us if it seems okay? ^__^
kk, bye now~~ off to immerse myself into the demon that is school >___< btw, those that read Second Chance, there will be a christmas fic for you; Steph-chan and I are working on that ^^