Our Family, Our Strength

Three

Two months have passed.

The Rengoku have been coming back and forth to the Butterfly estate to check on Kyoujuro's condition. Kana and Renjiro are now sitting beside their father, with their younger brother, Seijuro, sitting on her lap.

"Why's Daddy still sleeping?" Seijuro asked. Kana looked at her little brother and gave him a gentle smile.

"Daddy's still healing, Sei; his wounds are bad, so he needs time to heal," she answered.

"It's been two months," the little boy pouted. Kana and Renjiro, who were looking at their younger brother, tried not to squeal. Their baby brother is too cute.

"He'll wake up okay; don't you trust your older brother and sister?" Renjiro said as he patted his brother's hair.

The little boy innocently looked up and nodded his head slowly. Even though he still has a little pout on his cute face, Kana can see a little ray of hope in her baby brother's bright eyes.

"I'm going to get lunch, Sei. Are you coming?" Renjiro asked after the clock struck 12. The little boy nodded excitedly and jumped down from his sister's lap. Walking to the door, Seijuro waves his hand at Kana and then follows Renjiro outside the room; his tiny hand holds Renjiro's bigger hand as tight as he can.

•••••••

"What are we going to eat?" Seijuro asked as the two brothers walked along the hallway.

"Depends on what Aoi-chan made today, what do you think she's going to make?" Renjiro asked back, and Seijuro made a thinking posture for a few seconds before smiling brightly.

"I wish she made ramen!" Seijuro says he is hoping it is true. Renjiro only smiled, shaking his head when Seijuro let go of their hands and ran ahead of him to go to where the kitchen is.

Walking into the kitchen, Renjiro watched as Seijuro ran over to Aoi and hugged her around the waist.

"Aoi-chan!" Seijuro screamed, surprising the dark-haired girl. Fortunately, she didn't drop anything she was holding. Looking down and up, she immediately recognized the two men.

"Rengoku-san! What brings you here?" The girl asked as she washed her hand.

"We want to know if you already made lunch! What did you make? Dango? Ramen? Please be ramen." Seijuro starts asking. Looking up at the girl, his eyes shine brightly at every food he asks for. Renjiro looked at the girl and then pulled his brother away from the girl, noticing how slowly the little boy tightened his hug.

"Easy there, tiger, you're making her confused," Renjiro laughed when Seijuro pouted at him. Renjiro looked over the table and saw that she was making onigiri.

"Let me help," Renjiro said, and later Seijuro joined.

•••••••

"Our mission starts in a week," Kana says when Renjiro and Seijuro return. Renjiro looked at the crow on his sister's shoulder and nodded.

"I'll tell mother when we get back," he replied and handed Kana a plate filled with onigiri.

"Thank you," she whispered, and started eating, mumbling 'umai' every time she took a bite. Seijuro did the same thing, but unlike his sister, who whispered the word, Seijuro loudly said the word with every bite he took.

Finishing his portion of onigiri, Renjiro wiped his hands with a napkin and watched his sleeping father in silence. Two months is a long time to heal, and he knows his father is strong—the strongest person he knows—but he started to get worried.