I pick up Rui, from where she was standing at the door frame, and put her down in her room.

  “Hey, while I put Yuta to bed, why don't you start picking out your outfits? I'm sure there'll be cute boys your age where we're going.” I reassure her.

  “Really!?” She asks excitedly.

  “Really.” I smile gently.

  I'm not really lying, I have no clue what the minimum age is for joining the academy. From what it sounds like, it's a pretty free ruled academy. Which is good. Last academy I went to, I got expelled for not adhering to the rules. But, that was like…a year before high-school.

  Thinking of high-school now, I'm a little sad. I spent so much time and effort building up that ‘perfect prince’ look.

  I enjoyed it so much, pretending I didn't care about the confessions.

  It made me feel so…mastermind like.

  “Daddy, why are you standing and laughing like a manic?” Rui asks from her door, dead serious.

  “Um…No reason little spitfire. Go back to packing.” I encourage her.

  God, that's kinda embarrassing, being seen like that by your own blood.

  “There's not your blood though. You adopted them.” He corrects.

  Shut yo bitch ass up Wrath! You dote on them just as much as I do!

  I shake my head as I open Yuta's door, and see him fitting armour on a rack.

  “Oh, hey dad.” Yuta calls when he notices me.

  I pad over and give it a look over.

  “Old England armour? What's the motivation for this one? I thought you liked samurai?” I ask him, as I wipe a smudge of charcoal from his cheek.

  “Well, dad, you always talked about how much more badass they were then like samurai or archers. So I made that. But you also like guns, so I made you an AK-47, rather than an AR-15, due to the simplicity and ease of use. However, I retrofitted a drum mag instead of the regular 30 round clip of 7.62×39mm cartridges.” He says monotone as he pulls it out from behind the armour and loads a magazine in from a drawer and loads a round, though he doesn't swing it around. At least he has gun safety.

  “Did you ask Rui for the wood stock?” I ask, before I start berating him for this very illegal action.

  “Yeah, her woodworking skills were handy, just like for the handle she made for the greatsword I modeled after Paladin Isaac's greatsword,” He says.

  I whip my head around.

  “From the game Lords of the fallen?” I ask hushed.

  “Uh, yeah. Do you know the game?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.

  “Do I know the fuckin’ game? I have more than a thousand hours on it. You mean to tell me that you made a replica of his sword? Can I have it?” I hiss out excited.

  “Yeah…” he mumbles, leaning back from my weirdness. “Well, I made it for you…” he replies before taking a long bag out of his closet. “Here you go.” He says.

  I reverently unzip it, and take the sword from the bag. It's long, almost longer than me, and it's heavy.

  If I knew nothing of swordsmanship, I'd fall over.

  As I move to place it back in the bag, I teeter and fall over.

  Well, it's no shock to me. I do know nothing of swordsmanship.

  Wrath chuckles as he sees me, as if I was a floundering toddler.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “What do you want now?” I ask irritably, rubbing my head.

  “Nothing, you just reminded me of the first time I saw Mars pick up his Lance. He toppled so quickly, you'd think he was trying to fall over.” He chuckles quietly.

  “Mars? Like the Roman god?” I ask.

  Wrath goes quiet, and I sigh.

  “Dad, who are you talking to?” Yuta asks.

  “You already know I'm unstable , Yuta, you're nearly twelve. I may be an ok dad, but I'm still clinically insane.” I rub my neck as I sigh again.

  “Cmon, those shrinks don't know what they're talking about. Not once have you freaked out since the street days, and you haven't killed anyone since!” He shouts, upset over my diagnosis.

  I sigh, touched about his outrage.

  “Usually, Yuta, killing once in your life is a huge deal. I've killed hundreds of lowlifes. No shocker there. They just didn't care because we weren't people to them. And besides. They are convinced Wrath is a DID system, and I was too for a while, but I'm not so sure.” I sigh.

  “Does it matter?” Yuta asks.

  “Sometimes I forget I'm only sixteen, and you're actually eleven. You still remember your parents. You never did tell me what happened to end up with you in the ring.” I muse.

  He sighs and pulls out a cigarette that I confiscate immediately.

  “Should've expected that. Well, I've sworn off my parents. I have a new dad. Newish. I've been here for a year or so now huh? To be honest, I don't remember the specifics myself. Not that I was too young, but traumatic memories get sealed away. You know how it goes.” He reminds me.

  “Yeah, I get that.” I agree, lighting up the cigarette I took from him.

  “Why do you get to smoke the cig I bought? You are only like five years older than me!” He shouts before sighing, knowing the response. “Yeah, yeah, Wrath heals you. Jealous. I could use that too, you know.” He pokes his finger through his left cheek, and wiggles it around.

  I sigh.

  “You know it only works on fresh wounds, and not on all of them. It doesn’t heal bullet scars.” I remind him.

  “Whatever. Well, I'm old enough to put myself to sleep now, dad. You should go pack with Rui. But I do want an explanation on who that lady is downstairs.” he points out.

  “Oh…right…Eva is your temporary Mom for now.” I sigh.

  “Sighing a lot lately.” Yuta points out.

  I catch myself about to sigh again and stare at him. He shrugs as he turns around.

  “Well, feel free to take the stuff, the armour would pass airport security, with secure enough reasoning, the sword would too. But don't try the gun. I don't need to spend my allowance on bail again.” He says as he walks to his forge to turn it off.

  I grab the armour off the stand and put it in a roomy bag before slinging the sword bag on my shoulder.

  I close the door as I hear Yuta pull the covers over him, and I walk into Rui's room.

  The lights are on, shining over the wood splayed everywhere. A whole tree lies in one corner, though the roots are clean. A whole map of Japan, including every single island known, sits above her grand bed, though the bed frame is the most fancy part about it.

  Made from assorted scrap wood from long ago, I was making a bed frame for Rui, but she walked in as I was making a leg, and loved watching me do it, so when I stepped away to rest for a moment, I came back to her on the lathe, patiently whittling out a leg identical to the one I had just finished.

  So I helped her plan the bed frame, and stepped back to let her work.

  She did it alone, and it was great. In fact, she also picked up a bit of smithing from her brother, and I taught her leather working, though she wasn't as talented as she was with wood.

  I asked her once why she loves wood.

  She said, ‘It burned me once, but it burns forests so they may regrow, and turn even more beautiful! So it must have done the same for me, to make me more beautiful! But it was wrong! But that's ok. Because nothing has to be perfect. So even if I'm wrong sometimes, I still want to make wood as beautiful as I can! Even if it has mistakes in it. No one should be thrown away!’

  I cried for hours that night. No child should think things like how they aren’t beautiful. So I funded her dream, and now she sells furniture to both rich and poor, to ugly and the pretty. She doesn't discriminate.

  “Daddy! I chose my leather pants!” She squeals as I turn my head to look at her.

  When you think of leather pants, you may think of latex or such.

  No. Its leather work overalls she made.

  “Really baby? You don't want to wear your dresses to impress the boys?” I ask, kneeling down.

  “It's American boy's Daddy. They like…oh…what's the word daddy!” She groans.

  “Tomboys?” I suggest.

  “Tomboys!” She yells.

  “Shh, Talon and Yuta are in bed. Can't be too loud.” I scold her, as I cry internally.

  My baby isn't my little pretty pretty princess any more. She's a hard worker, with calloused hands to prove it.

  “Whatever you say sweetie…” I mumble.

  Oh right. I just remembered. Eva is supposed to get to know her.

  I tell Rui I'll be right back, and go to the top of the stairs when I freeze.

  A quiet scuffle, where I hear Karasu fall down protesting Eva's actions, and Kaito telling Karasu to quit yelling, and that she's my guest, and they can't lay a hand unless I say so.

  I descend the stairs quietly, and almost out of sight, I see Eva biting her lip as she tugs at Kaito's waistline.