Fic: Raising Akame Chapter 1
Title: Raising Akame
Rating: G to NC-17
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies
Genre: AU Romance
Word Count: Chapter 1 - 1,300+
Summary: Jin was barely two years old and Kazuya was a day old when they first met. From that time on, their mothers knew there exists Akame and they must serve as Akame's guardians through the years.
A/N: This multi-chap fic is finished but I'll post the chapters one at a time because, otherwise, it would just be a very long one-shot. It will take about 10 posts so 10 days barring unforeseen circumstances. Hope you like it. Thank you for reading.
Raising Akame
Chapter 1
One Day and Nineteen Months
She did not know why her son was excited that one February day. Her Jin-kun was barely two years old and had yet to learn to express himself.
“Ka-chan, go! Go!” Jin kept saying and tugging at her. She could only smile.
That morning, she told Jin they would visit her friend who just gave birth to her third child the day before. That excited Jin for some reason and, for the first time, Jin finished his breakfast without throwing a tantrum and willingly allowed himself to be bathed and dressed.
“You like babies, Jin-Jin?” she asked her son while they were in the train. To her amazement, Jin shook his head but the excitement on his face remained as he pressed his face on the window.
The moment Jin learned to walk, he hated being carried. He would always squirm and flail until he was allowed on his two feet. But that morning, Jin was content that his mother carried him. As if he did not want his small steps to slow them down.
When they neared a hospital room, hearing the cries of a baby, Jin wriggled out of his mother's arms. Mrs. Akanishi put her son down then pushed open the door. Jin ran inside and immediately went to the task of climbing up the bed.
“Hey, Jin-Jin!” the lady sitting on the bed said, her voice still weak. In her arms, she cradled an infant wrapped in a yellow blanket.
“Jin, be careful!” Mrs. Akanishi said as she assisted her son up the bed. To her friend, she asked, “How are you?”
“I'm okay.”
“You're baby's so cute.”
“He's a cute monster. He's been acting up the whole morning.” She looked tired but happy. She looked quite surprised noticing that the infant had suddenly calmed down and gone to sleep.
“Oh,” Mrs. Akanishi said, belatedly realizing the baby's a boy. “I thought...”
“I was hoping for a girl, too. But isn't he really pretty?”
“Oh, I'm sorry,” Mrs. Akanishi said, realizing her friend had noted her disappointment. “It's not... it's just... you know...” she tried to explain. Her friend just smiled, understanding.
“Jo-ji!” Jin exclaimed, taking a peek at the baby.
The infant's mother chuckled. “No, Jin-Jin. He's a boy. His name is Kazuya.”
“Kazu...” Jin said.
“Kazu-ya.”
“Kazu...” Jin repeated.
“-- ya”
“Kazu,” Jin said, a declaration.
“Okay. You can call him Kazu.”
“Kiss Kazu,” Jin said and started to pull on the bundle.
Jin's mother quickly reached for him and carried him away.
Jin wriggled then flailed then cried. “Kiss Kazu! Kiss Kazu!” he kept wailing.
“It's okay. Let him kiss the baby.”
Mrs. Akanishi carefully lowered her son towards the sleeping baby. “Careful, Jin. Don't crush the baby.”
The two young mothers watched and were both quite surprised when, instead of on the forehead, Jin kissed the baby on the lips. They were more surprised when the baby's eyes fluttered open for a second.
Three and Five
Jin threw a rubber ball up in the air and it landed on his head. Kazuya giggled. Jin smiled then did it again. Kazuya kept giggling.
“Kazu-kun will miss Jin,” Mrs. Kamenashi said, voice sad, as she watched the two little boys play. She and Mrs. Akanishi were having tea while the little boys played on the floor beside them. “I will miss you,” she told her friend.
Mrs. Akanishi smiled sadly. “Me, too.” She looked at her son who kept throwing the rubber ball and catching it with his head. She turned to her friend. “Jin-Jin is excited about the trip. I think he still doesn't understand that we are moving and we are not coming back.”
“Tokyo isn't all that far. You will come and visit, ne?” said Mrs. Kamenashi.
“Of course. And you will see us whenever you visit Tokyo, right?”
Mrs. Kamenashi almost dropped her cup when she felt small hands tug at her skirt. Kazuya was trying to climb up her lap. She picked up her son was surprised when her son started crying. “What's wrong, Kazu-kun?”
“Jin-jin bad!” Kazuya cried, hugging his mother.
Mrs. Akanishi turned and saw his son still sitting on the floor, rubber ball in hand, watching Kazuya with a puzzled expression. “What did you do, Jin?”
“Nothing,” Jin said, looking puzzled and scared.
Kazuya's cries got louder then turned into wracking sobs. “Jin-jin bad! Hurt Kazu!” he wailed in between sobs.
Jin was teary eyed, cherubic face a mirror of bewilderment. He stood and walked up to his mother.
“Jin-Jin bad! Jin-Jin go away! Hurt Kazu!”
“It's okay, honey,” Mrs. Kamenashi said, rubbing the back of her son whose cries had turned heart-wrenching.
“I'm sorry, Kazu...” Jin said, lower lip quivering. He, too, started crying.
“What did you do, Jin?” Mrs. Akanishi asked. She knows her son. Jin plays rough but only with other children. With Kazuya, Jin had always been gentle.
“Nothing,” Jin insisted. Still, he added, “I'm sorry, Kazu.”
“Jin-Jin go away! Jin-Jin bad! Hurt Kazu!” was Kazuya's only response.
Soon, the two boys were crying and their mothers tried comforting them not knowing what happened. That was until, Kazuya's older brother entered the kitchen.
“Why are you crying, Kazu?” Yuichiro asked as he reached for the cookies on the table.
“Jin-jin go away...Jin-jin bad...hurt Kazu,” Kazuya answered.
“Don't cry, Kazu-kun. Jin is still here. He isn't going away,” said Yuichiro before popping a cookie in his mouth. He took another cookie and was about to leave when his mother grabbed his shirt.
“What's Kazuya's problem?” Mrs. Kamenashi asked. It still awed her that her older sons could always understand Kazuya long before the youngest could form coherent words.
“He shaid...” Yuichiro started to explain then paused to swallow the food in his mouth. “He said Jin is bad because Jin is going away. It hurts him.”
The two mothers were dumbfounded and simply stared at each other. Apparently, Kazuya heard their conversation and he understood. Yuichiro took the opportunity to get more cookies then ran off.
Jin stopped crying, wiped away his tears with his hands and smiled. “I'm not going away, Kazu. I'm not leaving you.”
Mrs. Akanishi looked from her son to Mrs. Kamenashi. They both smiled sadly.
♥
They both decided, that no matter how bad it would turn out, the boys needed to say their good-byes properly. As expected, Kazuya bawled and threw a tantrum. Jin just cried. “We will come back, oka-san, right?” he kept asking.
“Yes, we will visit,” Mrs. Akanishi said.
All their stuff had been moved earlier. Only the luggages with some of their clothes were inside the car's trunk.
It broke her heart to leave the neighborhood where she started the family of her own and where she struck friendship with the young mother two houses away. It broke her heart more that her son kept saying they will come back. She knew Jin now understood that they were moving away for good but he refused to acknowledge it.
When Jin could no longer deny to himself that they were leaving, he asked - then demanded - that they take Kazuya with them. No matter that she kept explaining that they cannot take Kazuya because he doesn't belong to their family, Jin would only always say, “He's mine!”
Jin's lower lip trembled. “Let's take Kazuya, oka-san...”
“We can't, baby. I'm sorry. Now, say good-bye.”
“No!” Jin shouted and ran towards Mrs. Kamenashi who was carrying the crying Kazuya.
The woman crouched down on her heels so Jin could reach her son.
“Don't cry, Kazuya. I'm not leaving you.” Jin wiped with his hands Kazuya's tear-streaked face. “I'm not leaving you,” Jin gently said.
Again, to the surprise of both women, Jin kissed Kazuya on the lips.
End of Chapter 1
Chapter 2