Chapter 452: Chapter 410
"It's been awhile since we've done this." I idly mused.
"That's true, but it's good for everyone to see us." Yasaka kept a pleasant smile about her as we walked down the street her tail wrapped around my waist. "It makes them feel more safe when they see us just casually strolling down the street.
"Oh, I wasn't complaining. I love spending time with you, a walk is more than welcomed whenever possible."
"Oh, you're so sweet." She used one of her other tails to push against my face.
She made a little game out of me trying to grab that tail of hers and her pulling it away in time.
Eventually, she relented and allowed me to fluff her tail as we walked.
I don't think either of us really cared about all the pointed staring as we made our way to Kunou's school.
It was a relaxing walk with a beautiful woman hanging on me.
"This is nice. I needed a break." She sighed.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. Those bastards attacked, and you can't be blamed for their stupid decisions. An equal response was inevitable." She quickly retorted. "But I'll admit that all the work to prepare for a war is tiring."
"Anything in particular you need help with?"
"It would be so much simpler if that were the case. But no, everything is progressing as it should, be, slow and steady. You have no idea how much I wish you could swoop in and just fix everything. But unfortunately, nothing is broken."
As did I....been feeling kind of useless recently.
"Dare I ask about how preparations are going?"
"I would happily read to you the stacks of paperwork in regards to that." She said rather sarcastically.
"Oof."
"Speaking of, I have a bone to pick with you, Mister."
"Sorry?" I felt like an automatic apology would best serve me.
She pulled on my cheek. "Do you have any idea how much more work I had to do because of your Indra fight?"
"....I've been so preoccupied with the other thing, that I sort of forgot about the aftermath of that."
"How enviable." She said dryly. "But no, I've had Gods from Takamagahara coming down here constantly. Some incognito, others waltzing around like flamingos looking for attention."
I winced, feeling like an apology wouldn't be enough.
"Funnily enough, Lord Susanoo had been handling most of the problems. He made it very clear that if any Gods caused trouble for me, they would answer to him."
"....I am surprised."
"Believe me, you aren't the only one." She shook her head. "Oh, and before I forget, Hades sent a secret message to me to pass on to you. He has something important to talk about and would like to request your presence at your earliest convenience."
"I can probably guess what that's about." I should bring Izzy with me when I go. Maybe after spending this evening with Kunou? It's not like I'm forced to do anything in particular at the moment, and I would like his opinion on the Spear. "Think I should head over after we talk to Kunou?"
"Normally, I wouldn't worry about it. But that was a couple days ago, and it sounded urgent. I'd rather not get on the bad side of someone like Hades, especially with how much help we're receiving from him."
"A good idea. I can do it after this then, my schedule is pretty much free."
"Wonderful, I'll send him a message while we're out and about so he can have time to expect you. You should bring Izanami with you as well."
"Hah, I was just thinking the same thing."
"I can read your mind~"
"Really? What am I thinking about right now?"
"You're imaging what I'm wearing under my kimono at the moment."
".....I feel like that's rather obvious."
She leaned in. "I'm not wearing anything under~"
"I'm tempted to check for myself."
"Oh, does my man want to take me right here in the open where everyone can see? I don't think I have it in me to resist." She was obviously kidding, but the thought itself was an attractive one.
"You've been teasing me quite a bit since I got back."
"After Venelana is done with you, you can come punish me." She whispered again.
Horny Fox.
Almost immediately, however, she regained her more 'proper' look as Kunou's school came in view.
And as if right on cue, 9 fluffy tails burst out of the building, running right at us. I'm fairly sure she could notice our scent from that distance.
"Daddy!" The Kunou torpedo slammed right into me, and I happily accepted it.
"My little fox." I gave her a big hug.
"Once again, I'm a second thought, huh?"
"Yu huh." Kunou nodded.
"You just go right for the heart stab, don't you missy?" Yasaka snorted as Kunou went to hug her as well.
"Love you, Momma."
"And I love you too, sweetie. But I think you take far too much after me some times."
"I can be more like Daddy."
"On second thought, taking after me isn't so bad."
"Oi." I protested.
"Do you want her to go fighting Gods?" She quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes!" Kunou nodded happily.
"Listen to your mother." I smooshed the top of her head down. "Actually, we should really get her a good role model."
"Like Auntie Scáthach?" Kunou's eyes sparkled.
"Erm."
".....Jinn?" Yasaka offered.
"Uh..."
"Right, I remembered as soon as I said it."
"Raikou?"
"Raikou." She nodded. "Artoria too."
"I'd even take Mordred."
"Mordred is a sweet girl and I refuse to accept the bad reputation she has." Yasaka agreed.
"Rin too."
"Definitely Rin."
"Auntie Rin was showing me how to make things blow up!" Kunou smiled
".....maybe I should have a talk with Rin." Yasaka muttered. "Regardless. We have something important to talk with you about, Kunou."
"....are you breaking up?" She turned to me. "Are you leaving!?" She looked utterly horrified.
I knelt down next to her to get eye level. "Your mother and I aren't breaking up. And I want you to understand something very important, Kunou. On the very, very small chance that your mother and I decide to end our relationship, you will always be my daughter."
"Really?"
"Really, really." I nodded.
She basically threw herself at me for a hug.
I didn't expect her to jump to conclusions so quickly, that was certainly something we still needed to work on. At this point, Kunou was my Daughter, and I didn't care what happened in the future. Her biological father could come back from the dead, and he would still have to share.
"Is Momma pregnant then?"
Yasaka nearly choked. "No, and not for lack of trying, mind you."
"Mom!"
"You're the one who asked."
"Ewwwwwww."
"It's a natural and beautiful thing."
"Ewww!"
Yasaka and I shared a look, grateful that she quickly recovered back to her normal self.
"Is Dad pregnant then?"
"Dear, we've had the talk about where babies come from." Yasaka deadpanned.
"But didn't Auntie Jinn come from a lamp? Why can't Dad be pregnant? He's a Devil, right?"
"....we're going to need to have a further talk about certain things it seems."
"She's messing with you." I nudged Yasaka.
Yasaka looked down at the giggling Kunou. "Oh, you little fox." Yasaka pinched her cheeks. "I believed you!"
"Everyone knows boys can't have babies, mom."
"Yeah, mom. Everyone knows that." I joined in with Kunou.
"I feel like you two are always joining together against me."
"Sometimes, you should trust your gut." I high-fived Kunou. "Team Dad and Daughter."
"Just gang up on your poor defenseless mother." She exaggeratedly sighed.
"Okay." Kunou said, nonplussed.
I love her so much.
"Alright, enough fooling around. We need to have a serious talk." Yasaka decided to cut to the chase.
"Am I in trouble?" Kunou hesitantly asked.
"No at all, dear. This is more about....your future and some thing that your Father and I have been keeping from you. You're going to be Eleven years old in, what, a week? We think you're old enough to be told some things."
"Is Daddy an alien?"
"..."
"....."
"This actually isn't the first time someone asked. Nor even the second." I was kind of startled about how often this happened.
"I saw it on T.V." Kunou whispered.
Yasaka covered her face, letting out an exasperated sigh. "No, your Father isn't an alien. Though.....it helps that you understand the idea behind aliens. Wilhelm Dear, can you make it sure no one can eavesdrop?"
"Way ahead of you." I had been crafting a Bounded Field around us for the past several minutes. "We should be good for now."
Yasaka took a deep breath. "Your Father is special."
"Daddy is the strongest."
"Damn straight." Another high five between us.
Yasaka nudged me. "Language infront of Kunou."
I awkwardly scratched my head. "Alright, let me start us off." I used some minor spellcasting to create an Illusion. "This is Earth." I told her, revealing a rotating sphere that looked rather similar to our planet.
"Uh huh." Kunou nodded.
"I have a Special magic, it lets me travel to....other worlds."
Kunou's eyes widened. "Like Mars?"
".....technically, I could go to Mars, but no." I thought for a moment before continuing. I expanded the imagine. "This is our Solar System, you learned about that, right?"
"Uh huh."
I expanded it again. "This is our Universe, or a depiction of it. It includes Earth, Mars, everything and all the stars you see when you look up into the night sky."
"It's pretty."
"It is." I agreed. "I can travel to other Universes. Other Earths." I created another, separate Earth with a distinct line between them. "It's called Parallel worlds. You can think of it as a copy, only slightly or vastly different. For instance...." I flipped a hand over and produced a coin. "Call heads or tails."
"Tails."
I flicked it up and caught it, it was tail. "You were right. Now imagine that it landed on Heads." She nodded. "That's this Earth right here. A whole other universe. Every decision, every choice makes another universe like our own. They can be a lot different like.....what if you were a boy instead of a girl?"
Kunou made an ick sound.
"Do you follow so far?"
"Um....does that mean there are more of me?"
"Technically, I suppose there are. When talking about other Universes, it's called the Multiverse. There are an infinite number of parallel worlds out there, each one different in some way, big or small."
"I think I get it. I saw something like that on T.V. before."
Well, leave it to mindless television to help me explain the underlining concept of creation. "I have a special Magic that lets me travel to other Parallel worlds. It's very important that you keep this a secret because a lot of people would want this knowledge for themselves."
Kunou nodded in understanding. "Is that were my other Aunties are from?"
"Your'e a very smart girl." I complimented her. "Your Aunties, Medea, Artoria, Scáthach, Jinn, Meridia, Rin, Salem, and Raikou are all from other worlds. Your Grandpa Zelretch is also from another world, which is why he can't come visit. He's a very special case and has the same magic as me, but he's stuck over there."
"Can we help him?" She looked concerned.
"It's not something we can help with, but don't worry, he's fine where he's at." I reassured her.
"You're old enough to know now, Kunou. And you're old enough to understand the responsibility that comes with keeping a secret." Yasaka chimed in. "But that's only part of the reason we brought this up. You're a very smart girl like your Father said, you know what's happening around here. We're going to start fighting with the Fae soon and I don't want you to be involved."
"....are you sending me away?" Her ears flattened. "I don't wanna leave."
"Kunou, please look at me." Yasaka pulled her daughter closer. "It absolutely breaks my heart to even consider having you away from me for even a second, but if anything happened to you, it would kill me."
"We're not sending you away as you probably think." I joined in. "And it's your choice as well. We're bringing the option to you, Kunou. You get an equal voice in the discussion because it's your future we're talking about."
"If I don't want to go, you won't make me?" She looked up.
"We won't." Yasaka reassured her. "But, you have to promise me that you will consider what we tell you carefully, and not react emotionally."
"I promise." She nodded.
"Right now, your Grandfather is looking at a school to send you to. It's a school that will teach you magic and you can stay there during the year."
"What's it called?" She surprisingly looked interested.
"That....we don't know yet. Gramps is looking for his old notes, but we wanted to bring the idea up with you first. If you were vehemently against it, we would drop it. But if the idea is at all enticing, we would look into it more." I replied.
"You would learn basic Magic, setting a good foundation to walk in the same steps as your Father. Not only that, no one would care that you're the Princess of the Youkai. It would be a fresh start so you could make friends your age not caring about who your parents are." Yasaka continued.
It wasn't obvious, but that part hit her harder than it really should have. Yasaka and I both were well aware that Kunou was having trouble making friends in School. Oh, she got along with her classmates well enough, but real friends? Those were practically nonexistent.
"....you're not trying to get rid of me?" She asked.
"Never in a million years." I shook my head, answering for us.
"....can we look at it?" She hesitantly asked.
Yasaka and I shared a look. It was a good start.
"Your Grandfather is looking it up now, when he has some information, we can get more details." Yasaka agreed. "Until then, just think about it. Think about what you want and we'll do our best to help you."
"I know what I want!"
"...are you sure?" Yasaka asked. "This is a big decision."
"Yup!"
"And what do you want?" I had a vague sense that something was amiss.
"I want Ice Cream!"
Yasaka face palmed again, but it was clear she was going to relent. "Alright, let's go get some Ice Cream."
"Woo!"
Woo indeed.
I could use some Ice Cream myself, and what better way than to enjoy it with my Daughter and Yasaka?
[***]
A/N
Just a heads up, driving up to my Dad's for Thanksgiving, it's an 8 hour drive, so I'll be unavailable for a few days.
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