Yuuyoi Family Drabbles

The Dress

"Daddy" Yoichi lifted his head from his work at the sound of his teenage daughter's voice"I'm ready"

"Hold on. I want to see you before you leave" He eased himself off his chair and walked to the front door, where Kaede was waiting patiently. She looked stunning. Kaede wore a turquoise dress that reached to the floor, hiding her feet. The dress looked familiar to him.

"How do I look ?" Kaede twirled, making the dress sway softly around her legs. The dress seemed to be screaming at him to remember where he'd seen it from. From the twirl to the way Kaede stood screamed 'You know me! C'mon remember'. The realization felt almost suffocating.

Yuu.

"Like your Papa did" Yoichi mentally slapped himself. Yuu had become a rather sensitive subject. Kaede looked sad for a painful moment before a look of confusion spread across her face.

"Papa wore a dress to prom?" She questioned

"Yeah," Yoichi thought back to his prom night. To be honest the whole cross-dressing thing had been Shinoa's idea.

"Why?" Kaede asked, giggling slightly, probably laughing at the thought of her Papa's younger self in a dress.

"Back then boys weren't allowed to take boys to prom. Girls weren't allowed to take girls either" Yoichi paused. He looked over at Kaede who seemed completely befuddled at something that , back then, was a given." So for one night Papa dressed up as a girl. Aunty Shinoa dressed as a boy too" Yoichi remembered his prom night. He remembered how Yuu had twirled for him when he came to pick up Yoichi. He remembered telling Yuu how pretty he looked. He remembered laughing as Yuu threw his heels away because ' These shoes are so fucking dumb. Why would anyone torture themselves like this?'

"Oh. Times were rough back then, huh?" Kaede thought for a moment "But that does make sense" Yoichi chuckled.

"No, it doesn't" Kaede giggled loudly while placing her hand on Yoichi's shoulder.

"Your right about that, but then again you and your friends did weirder stuff when you were my age" She placed her index finger to her lips, thinking. "Oh! Remember that story where you and Aunt Mistuba got banned from that milkshake place"

" I can't believe they still remember us!" They both clung to each other while laughing. To an outsider, it would have looked like a normal father-daughter hug but this wasn't a hug. It was more like a desperate cling. To check the other was still okay.

That they were still there.

" Anyway," Kaede did an exaggerated roll of her eyes."What makes sense, unlike you and your friends' ideas" She shot Yoichi a mischievous smirk"Was where I found the dress. I found it in the attic with-" She sucked in her breath slightly. Did she dare say she'd broken the biggest, yet unspoken, rule of the household? She let her breath go. Might as well be honest " Papa's precious things" She waited for response. Anything would do as long as he responded.

Yoichi didn't respond.

" I'm sorry Daddy. It's just that all the dresses in the shops were so short and you know how much I hate short clothes. So I went to Aunt Tomoe and she said I should look in the attic. I-I tried to tell you but you were having one of your days and you wouldn't answer" Kaede frantically apologized, falling over her words. Yoichi just smiled at her but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Nowadays they never did. Kaede bit her lip while holding her breath. She ruined another one of their moments. Maybe it could be salvaged. " I'd love to see some pictures from your prom night" It was a tentative offer. Yoichi could say no, go back to his work and Kaede would sit on the stairs and wait for her friends to whisk her away. But he didn't.

"Sure, but I might not be able to find some" Some of his smile had leaked into Yoichi's eyes.

Yoichi managed to find one photo. It was fuzzy and dimly lit, yet it clearly depicted Yuu with his head thrown back in laughter. He was the centre of the photo almost as if in that one moment the whole world revolved around him. They both sat quietly, remembering different memories but the same person. It was silent yet comfortable. Something that had become rare amongst them.

Their silence was interrupted by honking from outside. Kaede got up, almost reluctantly. "Bye Daddy. That's probably my friends" She gave a slight wave before walking towards the door.

A thought occurred to Yoichi " Is your date with them?"

"No" Kaede poked her head around the corner" We're picking them up from the supermarket"

"The supermarket?" Yoichi felt confused. Why on Earth would they be waiting at the supermarket?

Kaede smiled at him ,revealing her purple braces" I'm going with a pineapple" Yoichi chuckled dryly as the door shutting became the only sound in the entire house.

The moment sounds of a car driving away echoed from outside, his chuckles turned into choked sobs.

It was so hard.

It was so hard to love her when she looked at him with Yuu's green eyes.

When she clicked her tongue in the way Yuu would always do.

When she laughed with Yuu's voice.

When she explored with Yuu's adventurous spirit.

But Yoichi had a promise to keep. His lover's last words before leaving his life forever.

'No matter how hard it gets please don't give up her. She can't lose both her parents'

So Yoichi tried his hardest,but every once in a while he'd consider giving up. These were his moments. Times when he'd become a ghost floating around the house, not speaking or acknowledging anyone.

But Kaede deserved better, not a ghost of a parent. She already had one of those.

So Yoichi picked up his phone and dialled a number, he should have dialled years ago.

"Hello, Nagoya Mental Hospital. How can I help you?"

"I'd like help with depression"