Night had fallen fast, and the festival soon ended. Takashi and his mother came back up in the litter. While his mother was brought back to her room, Takashi decided he didn't feel like sleeping and went to the garden to try and relax after having to spend so long with a lot of people. It was exhausting, talking to everyone that had wanted to talk to him, from villager to official.
He had felt like it wasn't ever gonna end... He found himself walking to the area of the garden where they had interred Hana's ashes. It was by a small secluded pond. Not many would come by here, it truly wasn't that pretty of a part of the garden. But for Takashi, and from what he heard, Hiroshi, it was the most beautiful place. Around the edge of the pond grew Hana's favorite flowers, buttercups. The yellow flowers covered the ground almost to where it was hard to walk without stepping on them.
So, Takashi was even more confused when he saw Cassidy sitting at one of the few spots that one could sit at without disturbing the buttercups, Hiroshi still in her lap, asleep. When she saw him, she put a finger to lips to remind him to be quiet, something he took a slight offense to.
He could be quiet for his son. And despite the fact he could leave, Takashi always felt better after spending some time here, he sat down on another one of the spots where he wouldn't disturb the small yellow flowers. "....."
The silence that blossomed between them still made Takashi uncomfortable. Why was she here? He could only assume that Hiroshi had wanted to see his mothers favorite place before sleeping.. Or something like that.."... Why are you here..?" He spoke slowly, softly. He still wasn't sure how much she actually knew. Hiroshi always spoke highly of her whenever he would talk about lessons that day but..
"..." Cassidy was silent, probably trying to figure out how to answer. ".. Hiroshi asked me to. He was still refusing to sleep, and asked to go where the yellow flowers were. Tanjiro had to show me this place. Then he went to make sure everyone was coming back ok, just a few minutes ago, and Hiroshi's been asleep ever since."
That made sense. Takashi knew that Tanjiro sometimes took Hiroshi here so he could calm down. It was either here, or his room. one of these places whenever he was feeling bad. "I see." He nodded and silence bloomed between them again, except for Cassidy's soft humming as she rubbed Hiroshi's back.
The silence was interrupted by Hiroshi letting out a soft whine as he woke up a bit. He blinked, still looking half asleep as he sat up. He saw his father first, and then looked up at Cassidy and hugged onto her, still in his half asleep state. "Mama.. Did you come to give... -yawn-Give papa his voice back...?"He mumbled out as he cuddled her, quickly going back to sleep in Cassidy's lap.
Takashi was silent, the pangs of feeling like a horrible father shooting right through his heart like twenty knives. 'Give his voice back..?' Takashi thought as the now even more awkward silence continued between him and Cassidy. 'What in the world could that mean? I still have my voice...?' Takashi crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he thought. '.... Oh.' And he realized what his son had meant.
Before Hana had passed from her sickness, they both sang to Hiroshi. Even when she was near the end, she still insisted they both sing to him. Just how long has it been since he has sung to his son, much less at all? "....." This whole day just seemed to be a 'Make Takashi feel like a bad parent' day, which, when looking at evidence presented to him throughout his son's interactions with others like Tanjiro, or Cassidy, well... That moniker probably wasn't too far off.
He stood, dusting grass off his clothes. He needed to think of how he could make this up to his son. "Please take my son to his room so he can sleep easier. Goodnight." And with that, he walked off to his own room. As he shut the door behind him, Takashi let out the deep breath he had been holding and sank to the floor. Sure, he made sure Hiroshi was protected. He made sure his son had everything he would need to be happy. But... He hadn't been that emotional close to his son since Hana had died. "Gods above.... Hiroshi, I'm sorry your father doesn't know how to be a good father.."
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When Cassidy had brought Hiroshi to his room, the little prince was still fighting off sleep. "Well.. What can we do so you sleep?? Want me to sing some more..?" But when Hiroshi shook his head, still holding on to her, refusing to let go just yet, she was at a loss, "Then what, Hiroshi??"
"...I wanna go to the yellow flowers..." He mumbled out, letting out another small yawn.
"..." Hefting him up since she was still holding him, Cassidy went to the door, where Tanjiro still was, he was waiting for Hiroshi to be asleep before going to the gates to watch over the norimono coming back with Takashi and his mother. "Tanjiro?? Where are the yellow flowers??" She asked the guard, who blinked a bit, then gave her a sad smile.
"Right.. It makes sense he'd wanna go there. Come on, this way. His mother's ashes are there.." Tanjiro explained quietly as he led Cassidy to the secluded part of the garden."Here we are." And he moved a low branch out of the way so Cassidy could properly enter this part of the garden.
Cassidy didn't think she had ever seen so many buttercups in one place. She could only assume these were Hiroshi's mother's favorite flower. "Thanks Tanjiro, I got it from here." She said as she went to sit down in one of the spots to where she wouldn't disturb the flowers and hummed softly.
Being here, Hiroshi was quick to fall asleep. She gave Tanjiro a little thumbs up as she knew the guard was still there and went right back to rubbing the child's back and humming softly. She'd carry him back to his room in a little bit.
A few more minutes passed and the sound of someone walking bought her out of her thoughts. She at first thought it was Tanjiro, so she turned, putting a finger to her lips, only to see Takashi. She was thankful for the low light so he couldn't see her embarrassed flush. She still felt awkward talking to Takashi without others around.
Takashi sat down at another of the empty spots and a rather awkward silence bloomed between them. It was broken after a little bit when he spoke, slowly. "Why are you here..??"
Cassidy was silent, trying to make sure that she knew how to tell him, ".... Hiroshi asked me to. He was still refusing to sleep, and asked to go where the yellow flowers were. Tanjiro had to show me this place. Then he went to make sure everyone was coming back ok, just a few minutes ago, and Hiroshi's been asleep ever since."
"I see.."Takashi had said and silence bloomed between them again.
Cassidy decided to let the silence stay, for the most part. She hummed softly, still rubbing Hiroshi's back, hoping the child would stay asleep to where she could carry him to his room soon. She saw Hiroshi squirm and then the young prince let out a soft whine as he sat up a bit.
Hiroshi looked around, still seeming half asleep. He saw his father and gave a sleepy little smile, then he realized he was in Cassidy's lap, but it didn't seem he saw her as Cassidy. He hugged onto again, "Mama.... Did you come to give.... -yawn- Give papa his voice back...?" He cuddled against her and just like that, he was back asleep.
Well. If the silences before had been awkward, this one would have an award for most awkward silence of the decade. They both sat there, the silence growing even more. Cassidy was honestly ready to take Hiroshi and just scurry back to his room and then go to her own room. Cause this was almost too much. It was even worse than when she had confidently been about to present her project for her high school history class only to find out her partner had messed up her slides as a joke and had forgotten about it.
Takashi stood to leave first. "Please take my son to his room so he can sleep easier. Good night." And just like that, he left rather quickly.
Cassidy watched him leave and stayed still to give him time to just... Get out of the garden at least before she stood, still holding the sleeping prince and taking him to his room. She carefully laid him in his bed and covered him with his blanket, making sure the Bishop the Shark was in bed with him, she carefully left to go to her room and get ready for bed herself. Today was tiring.
It also gave her more of a peek into Takashi and Hiroshi's relationship that she was sure Takashi did not like at all. She let out a small sigh, taking out her hair pin and letting her hair fall over her shoulders, "I really hope that doesn't cause problems...."