Family Business

Chapter 10

When Izumi got home Inko knew something big had happened. Her baby's face was scarlet and dreamy and she had randomly sighed or giggled the entire time she prepared a bag for her first full day with Eri-chan tomorrow.

The telekinetic woman had to know why.

With a simple application of her pull quirk on the puzzle box in her daughter's hand she drew her attention. One brow raised and expression amused Inko mused with a knowing lilt to her voice "Someone's excited about something... Did something happen at work tonight?" Izumi sighed dreamily, flopping back onto the sofa dramatically in a way she definitely got from Inko. "I met another of Kai's co-workers today. Irinaka was nice, and he joked about my food being worthy of marriage proposals..."

Inko covered her mouth to hide her smile. "And what did Chisaki-san say about that?"

"He agreed... Said he'd wait to be able to marry someone as wonderful as me." as her daughter hid her flushed face behind her hands the woman clasped her hands and prayed this was actually going as good as it sounded, her little girl deserved to be happy. It seems her prayers were answered because the next words out of Izumi's mouth were "He kissed my cheek when he saw me off tonight."

'Hisashi is going to die when he hears about this!'

Inko pulled Izumi into a hug when she noticed her daughter's expression, resignation and pleading in equal measure. It was like the teen had read her mind as she whined "Please don't tell dad, you know how he'll react!"

"I do, but you know he'll be worse if he doesn't hear about it from one of us." at the younger's groan the mother laughed "Don't worry, i'll make sure he doesn't get too bad."

Her daughter buried her face in her chest as she hugged back, smothering the quiet "Thank you." she said a little.

-----

Hari wasn't really sure what he expected when he knocked on Izumi's apartment door that morning, but the sweet woman who answered the door and welcomed him inside was more than he'd ever imagined. The woman (Inko, she insisted he called her.) was like a slightly shorter, chubbier version of Izumi with lighter, straighter green hair and no freckles. She even smiled and cried at any and all emotional moments like Izumi did.

"It's nice to finally meet you Kurono, my Izumi doesn't really have many friends so thank you for being one of the first." the woman teared up for far from the first time in the few minutes the yakuza had been here "Ah, sorry! I almost made myself cry again! I'm-"

"A crier?" At her nod he smiled "Izumi got that from you then. And i'm glad she sees me as one, she's a sweet girl. You raised her well."

At the silver haired man's words Inko blushed "Thank you for the compliment, b-but that's all Izumi. She's always been a sweetheart."

It seems Izumi wasn't the only one unused to flattery.

"Hari!" Izumi exclaimed excitedly as she joined them in the living room. "Sorry for the wait! I was in the middle of getting ready."

Taking the girl's appearance the man smiled 'Kai is going to swallow his tongue when he see's her.' Izumi was wearing her hair in a french braid that had a brown ribbon covered in fabric sakura blossoms weaved into it, a tan and pink floral print skirt that was a little shorter than the black one on her uniform, a flowy white tanktop covered by a loose knit brown cardigan that was left open and ended around the girl's knees, a pair of creamy white thigh high socks that left only an inch of visible skin on her thighs and a choker necklace that looked like a fancy leather cat collar - it even had a little cat paw tag and bell on the loop at the front.

Noticing the man's staring she flushed in embarrassment "Too much?"

Hari shook his head "You look great. I was just thinking about something else, don't mind me." Bowing politely to her mother he grabbed the teen's very full yellow backpack before moving to the door. "Thank you for your hospitality Inko, I promise to ensure your daughter's safe return."

The greenettes blinked at his serious tone on such an intense vow. Inko responded with a warm smile "Thank you Kurono, I appreciate it."

Once she was left alone Inko shook her head with a fond smile. "Why am I not surprised. Oh Izumi, it looks like you inherited your mother's taste in friends in more ways than one." The woman reminisced about her own friends, the closest of which she hadn't seen since Izumi was born and missed dearly, as she sat on the sofa and pulled out her cell phone to call her husband.

The second Hisashi picked up the phone Inko spoke "One of Izumi's work friends and I had a nice chat while we waited for her to get ready today. Kurono was a sweet man, he even promised to personally ensure Izumi's safe return. And the bow he made as he did gave me a good peek at that interesting tattoo on the base of his neck..."

She heard her husband sigh over the phone and continued pointedly "Would you mind telling me how long you've known our daughter was fraternizing with yakuza dear?"

"...Since she called me to tell me about her job..." he admitted guiltily "Her boss is the current head of the Shie Hassaikai."

Inko let out a bark of laughter "She really did inherit my tastes... You do realize that she's hoping to marry him once she's able to?"

The man groaned "I know... And for that i'll play nice. For now, at least. If that yakuza expects me to just hand our princess over he'll be in for a rude awakening. I expect grovelling."

The green haired woman laughed "Oh, you aren't the only one. He needs to prove himself to each of us before i'll agree either."

Inko smiled fondly "If they do get married we'll be quite a family."

This time it was Hisashi's turn to laugh.