t&b+ Mornings After [1/4]

[dreamship]

Fandom: Tiger & Bunny
Title: Mornings After; part one
Characters: Kotetsu Kaburagi, Kaede Kaburagi, Muramasa Kaburagi, Antonio Lopez
Genre: angst, family
Rating: G
Summary: The mornings following were always the hardest part. A father and daughter try to continue living, however hard it may be. (Pre-series fic.)



The fan blew the same way.

With the warm spring months in Stern Bild, Kotetsu's little house always had fans on. The air conditioning, while useful, was always just the second thought to him. Tomoe had told him it saved on electricity costs and cooled the air at a nicer pace, and he had just gotten in the habit of flicking on the fan, whether or not the light was on.

It made the room seem less cool, helped preserve the last bit of warmth in a body-shaped spot on the mattress. There was still a dent in the pillow, a few brown spots of old blood that she had coughed up before they had hurried back to the hospital. The blankets had hardly been touched, just on his side, when he had dragged himself from his daughter's bedroom a few hours ago. It was still late and he was exhausted. But red-eyed and tired as he was, he couldn't sleep.

The fan was blowing and he was tired.

With a yawn, Kotetsu turned his head to the left and glanced at that empty spot next to him. "You know, Tomoe," he whispered, "it sucks that you're not here when I finally got some time off. I know you wanted me to, said I didn't spend enough time with Kaede and you.... I really didn't, did I?"

The pillow didn't say anything else. Of course. She was dead, of course the pillow wouldn't talk.

He sighed and draped his arm over his eyes. Too tired to cry and too alert to sleep, he felt like he had fallen into this uncomfortable melancholy as the mood washed over him.

The fan was still whirring. It bothered him.

But it was three in the morning. Kaede was an early bird, just like...

"Papa?" a tiny voice whispered from the doorway. "Papa? Are you awake?"

Speaking of early birds. Moving his hand above his head, Kotetsu looked towards the door. "Yeah, Kaede honey, I'm up." He smiled, half pathetic and obviously a sign that he was far too tired to try harder, but she didn't seem to mind. Her little sock-clad feed slid across the room in hurried steps as she reached the bed, and she clambered directly onto him. He steadied her with one hand, helping her wiggle her way to rest her head against his chest. Rubbing her back, he smiled sadly at his baby. "Couldn't sleep, huh?"

She shook her head. That was alright.

"Papa couldn't either."

As her fingers gripped against his shirt, he just rubbed her back in slow circles, eyes turning back to the rotating fan. A good minute or two of silence passed before Kotetsu began to wonder if the moving air was making the room too cold. With a concerned frown, he rubbed at her arms, trying to see if she felt colder. She mumbled and tried to tuck her arms underneath her chest, apparently bothered by it.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"Uh-uh. You're really warm." She yawned and turned her head to face the other way.

Both of them stared at the empty spot next to them.

Kotetsu tried to reflect on what his brother had told him the day before. Even though they were both mourning, Kotetsu still had to be a father; he had to be strong for the both of them. It was hard, but he had to. For the past few days, Muramasa and their mother had been over, stopping by every day to check on them, sleeping over for the nights when Kotetsu just couldn't keep himself contained. They cooked, cleaned up a little, woke up to check on Kaede whenever they could, anything to help. Antonio popped by for a little and spent a bit of time just talking with him. But after a week of the constant in-and-out, Kaede was getting a little fussy and Kotetsu could feel her pain. So he asked for just a night or two on their own, just to themselves, to sit and think for a little.

Muramasa knew Kotetsu was a chatterbox, and it seemed as though Kaede had inherited that. To make things better, he had suggested just talking, Anything, everything, speaking and rambling to ease troubled hearts and restless minds.

It seemed worth a shot. Kaede didn't seem tired anyway.

"Hungry?" Kotetsu broke the silence with a raspy question.

Kaede looked up. "Huh? But I thought we couldn't eat when it was really late. Otherwise it all gets stuck on your hips."

Propping his head up, Kotetsu raised an eyebrow. "Stuck on your hips? Did your mother tell you that?" he asked. When Kaede nodded and glanced at the pillow again, Kotetsu smiled and pat her back again. "Well, when Papa says it's okay, then you can eat anytime you want."

The room felt too cold. Too still, even with the whir of the fan still rotating on the ceiling.

By this point, Kaede had propped her elbows up against his chest. She was so thin and bony that the pressure actually felt like it was jamming into his ribs, but he didn't care. His daughter just looked so cute, so much like her mother. Fair skin, long hair, that little button nose that always made Tomoe look younger than she was...

Oh, Tomoe...

Food. Right. "Want something? We can see if anywhere's still open, go for a bit of a ride. Or waffles. Want waffles?"

A tiny smile crept up on his daughter's rosy little lips. "Waffles! But we don't have any syrup." And it was gone, just that fast. "Uncle Muramasa said he was gonna buy some yesterday, but he forgot."

Kotetsu smiled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And you don't like yours with butter, right? What about jelly? We have jelly, right?" When he received a very displeased expression, he found himself grinning. "Then let's go buy some syrup!"

"In the middle of the night?" Kaede asked, obviously shocked by this idea. To her, everything shut down once she went to bed. But that was how she should think, to Kotetsu; he didn't need her knowing there was ever a nightlife. With how ambitious and rambunctious she was, she'd probably end up wanting to stay up past eight on most days!

Noooo no no, she was far too young for that.

...but for tonight, it would be okay. He nodded. "Right now. It's..." He checked his wrist. "Three seventeen in the morning."

That smile returned to his daughter's face and Kotetsu smiled. He could still do this. As he lifted himself from the bed, he gathered Kaede into his arms and waltzed out of the room, flicking the switch to turn that fan off.

He raced down the stairs with her, and the two hurried to put their shoes on. Then, keys in one hand, daughter's hand holding the other, Kotetsu led the way to their little green family car.


+~+


Muramasa let himself in early that morning. He had taken the first train of the day from Oriental Town that day, rather certain that Kotetsu would be awake and sitting in another odd room again. Two days ago, when he was last here, he had found his brother on the floor in the kitchen, staring at the matching mugs Tomoe had gotten them before they were married. He had been mumbling gibberish, something about putting them in a special display instead of just using them as normal, trying to preserve everything as if he couldn't touch anything that they used together for fear of damaging a memory. It was alarming, as was just about everything Kotetsu had been doing lately, so he really couldn't wait to return.

So, upon kicking off his shoes, he found himself surprised to hear the television on, the youthful shouts of some children's show chattering away, and the scent of maple syrup drifting into the room. Were they watching cartoons?

As he progressed further into the room, his eyes finally landed on the two figures resting on the couch. Kotetsu, resting on his side, had one arm protectively wrapped around his daughter, who was curled up net to him. On the coffee table sat two plates and cups, crumbs from waffles freezing in sticky syrup. Well, at least they were eating. Muramasa couldn't help but smile, reaching over to straighten the blanket over the two of them.

However, his movements aroused the younger Kaburagis. As Kotetsu mumbled, something about his toes, Kaede blinked her eyes open. "Uncle 'Masa?" she croaked out.

"Ssh, go back to sleep, sweetie," he whispered to her, pulling the blanket over her shoulders.

"Me and Papa got syrup last night," she continued. "So it's okay, you don't have to anymore."

Muramasa smiled. He remembered promising to buy syrup for them and forgetting just as fast. He actually felt bad, somewhat surprised that his niece had remembered but disappointed that he had forgotten something so important. After all, Kaede never ate her waffles without syrup. Thankfully Kotetsu had it covered... somehow.

"Aniki..."

As Kaede tucked her face back against Kotetsu's chest, Kotetsu's hand idly reached out to grab onto Muramasa's.

"What is it?" Muramasa asked. "Go back to sleep, Kotetsu. It's still early."

"Hn..." Whatever he had planned on saying seemed forgotten, since Kotetsu was quick to let go and pull Kaede closer to him. With a yawn, he closed his eyes again and went back to sleep, wiggling his feet under the blankets more. Muramasa bit back a laugh and just took the used dishes back to the kitchen.


→ chapter two.