[Ranma]

 

I walked downstairs. I just couldn't go back to sleep, that's why. No one would want to get up at five if they didn't have to. Especially on a Sunday!

I passed by the den and opened the door a bit. And I just stood there a moment.

It could be just the moment or just the scene, but I found myself staring at them. Squirt was already awake. He was sitting up while Akane was hugging his waist, but still sleeping.

I smiled and waved at Ryusuke. With all his might, he crawled out to me as Akane stirred and turned to the other side of her futon. "Mm..."

I kneeled down and picked Ryusuke up from the floor. "Mornin', Squirt."

Squirt laughed as I put my index finger to my lips. "Shh. We gotta keep quiet."

And so, I closed the door as carefully as I could and we went off to the kitchen.

Ryusuke was on one arm as I grabbed one of his bottles from the fridge. Then, I set him up to sit on the wide counter.

"Why are you awake at this time in the morning?" I flipped the lid off his bottle with my thumb while holding onto his back. "Well, here's your breakfast, Squirt."

Ryusuke held up his bottle again as I helped. And then I just stared at him again. "How much milk do you drink?"

"It's gotta be boring drinking milk all day." I then said with a disgusted face. "And that baby food. Yech."

"I got this for you from the supermarket." I picked him up for a moment and we looked in the fridge. "I think you would like this."

Then, again, I placed him on the counter as I took off the lid. "See, I used to eat a lot of these when I was little. My mommy would give me these, but dad brought them everywhere when we were training."

Then, I dipped his spoon into the applesauce. "Here, try this, Squirt."

Ryusuke was again shaking his head.

"No, it's really good." I tried to feed him again. "Believe me, I have a good sense of taste."

He looked at the spoon and then at me. Ryusuke shook his head again.

"It's not like your yucky baby food. It's fruit." I took out a spoon for myself and got a little chunk of applesauce. Then, I put it in my mouth. "Mm. See? It's good."

He again looked at his spoon and then at me. I was going to laugh because he looked so concentrated when he took my hand and fed himself some of the applesauce.

"See? I told you that you would like it," I said as I took him inside the dojo. "This is the dojo."

I placed him in the middle of the room.

"This is what I do. I train in something called martial arts."

A thought came to mind: You mean this is what I'm gonna say to our kids, someday?

I punched myself and he laughed at me. No, not gonna think of that...

"Like this." Just for fun, I did some punching exercises.

He clapped his hands and I sat down in front of him. "See? You can do it."

So, I took up his hands; and pretended he was punching me. I faked falling on my back. "Ah! You got me!"

He giggled even more at me. And we did that for quite sometime until we both got tired. So, I took him up and we both sat in a corner of the dojo.

But as I leaned on the wall, I held him in my arms as he kept his hands on my shoulders.

"Run out of energy too, Squirt?" I smiled as he closed his eyes. "Yeah, me too."

You're warm. That's 'cause you're a ball of energy...

I looked down at him sleepily. "You're going to go today."

"I'm going to miss you, Squirt," I yawned as I fell asleep too.

--

Author's note. >_< !