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It was easy to Yoh tell when Anna was in a bad mood, at that he was a great specialist. After living together for several months, he learned to read without the need for words, the wisest moment to withdraw and give him space. For her own sake and for her, he wanted to avoid further inconvenience to her in this new stage of her life.
But for some strange reason, she was having one of her best days today, despite the hot summer sun.
The shaman glanced at her, sipping the tapioca spheres at the bottom of the glass from the straw. Anna wore a more spacious blue dress than she used to wear. Somewhat logical, at that stage of her pregnancy, what she most wanted was more slack. So she made a couple of clothes to wear. That one in particular liked him a lot, because it had a pink ribbon on her stomach that made her look even prettier. Specially with that thoughtful gesture that she had when she went through outside the stores.
Perhaps, this was Amidamaru's reason for not accompanying them. They had been this appointment for a long time, but for one or another pending matter, it hadn’t happened.
He sighed in concern, looking at her belly again.
“Yoh.”
He looked up at his face, framed by that stern gesture.
“I’m sorry.”
Anna didn't read his thoughts, but that didn't mean they weren't intense enough to get her attention. She also knew how to read it well, without the need for words.
“I wanna go to that store."
He smirked, finding her choice curious. Yet who was he to question her motivations. They crossed the sidewalk and entered the Teddy Bear boutique. Many children were gathered in the center, designing the bear to their liking. He watched the parents curiously, tending to their children, while Anna looked at her through various models already made.
Yoh was thinking of accompanying her, when he noticed that a little girl was having trouble stuffing her bear. He perceived that her mother had a lot of work taking care of the rest of her siblings, so he approached her to help her.
“Hi, little one,” he said with a gentle smile.
He expected a different reaction to what he received, being ignored and almost knocking him to the ground with a slap, not counting the annoyed look she gave him.
A girl with a difficult character. Where had he seen that before?
He tried again, but received the same response again, this time drawing the attention of her mother, who apologized with regret for her daughter's violent reaction. Although, he was not offended and communicated it to the lady, who could barely utter another word, before one of her offspring ran through the store, throwing buttons as if it were a surprise party.
He felt sorry for her.
However, the gesture of anger couldn’t be more present in the girl, who had thrown the bear without stuffing it to the floor. He immediately stood up and took the cloth back to her. Again, she threw it as soon as he saw it. The worst thing is that she didn’t give him a word to guide him, she just ignored it.
"Come on, you're too small to be upset all the time," he commented amused.
"Shhu!" She answered, running him off.
"No, shu," he replied, poking her stomach slightly. "Play with me, yeah?"
He noticed that she shrugged off her and gave him a lighter slap.
“Not!”
He tried again, receiving the same response.
His blows were losing their effectiveness. So he attacked her with various prods, which resulted in tickling and which in turn resulted in laughter. Yoh was proud, nothing like a good round of laughter to release the tension in her small body. Even he began to laugh, spreaded by the environment of happiness.
It took them a while like this, they even looked at each other seriously, until none of them resisted and they smiled almost in tandem.
So, she took the teddy back from him and she showed all the accessories for her toy. Around him, her siblings were still unleashed, while they were focused on making her bear, eating a couple of popsicles, which the workers of the place distributed to their customers for the heat and filling the doll.
Minutes later, they had a work of art! Except for the disparate eyes, but outside of those miniscule details, he felt it was decent.
“Do I like you?”
"Yes!" She replied, giving him a hug on the neck.
Then the girl ran to where her mother was sitting, almost passed out from exhaustion from her excessive exercise. He smiled seeing her proud of her creation, finding satisfaction in her happiness.
Yoh stood up from the ground and shook his clothes, ready to search for her blonde companion, when he noticed that she was a few steps away from him. Looking at him curiously, she had never seen him that way. He was going to ask why, until she came forward.
“You finished?” Anna questioned, sipping the last bubble of a nearly empty glass.
"Yes," he said, taking the back of his neck. "I'm sorry for the delay."
“No problem.”
Anna said no more, so they left the store and walked a couple of streets into the park, where they found the shade of a tree to sit next to each other.
It was a quiet day in the city, just because Manta was validating subjects with exams, otherwise he would also be accompanying them, breathing the peace of the place. He felt tired and leaned his head on Anna's legs, not anticipating anything. Perhaps in other times, that would have deserved a blow, but today things were different.
She rarely complained about those movements. He even would swear that she loved running her fingers through his hair, like she did now.
Yoh smiled at the caress of her soft hands, far from his worst fears.
"Did you pick something nice?"
“A bear with an orange ribbon," she replied, placing the bag on his chest. "But it's not for Hana, it's more like ... a gift from us ... for you."
That intrigued him, especially when he checked out. It was a most ordinary teddy bear, except that it wore a medal around its neck with a small inscription. He smirked and looked up from her, who was still at her work, stroking his brown hair, trying to hide her flushed cheeks.
“I know the baby thing worries you, but you'll do fine," she whispered. "If you have half the patience you've had with me, you won't have any problem."
“You think?” He said, nuzzling her belly.
Anna nodded, a small smile on her face.
"I think Hana couldn't have a better dad."
Then he sat up with crystalline eyes and kissed her forehead. He knew well that she didn't like tokens of love in public, but they were only surrounded by complete strangers, so he didn't stop his impulse, neither did she, when she took his cheek and wiped away one of the tears that flowed.
“I wish so much for a camera…”
Shameful moment number three thousand, the brunette thought immediately, carving his eyes.
"Don't screw it up, Anna," he said with a nervous laugh.
“Could I do it?” She asked, shrugging.
With her he never knew, even so, he got up and sat behind her, who immediately fell into that position, leaning on her chest with comfort, as she had done a few weeks ago, when Hana gave her first blows to her belly.
His hands rested on her stomach, one of them with a gold circle on her finger, symbol of the bond that now bound them.
"Sometimes I think that everything happened very quickly," he confessed, regretfully. "Maybe if you had had time, you would have met other people …”
Anna sighed, noticing the brief silence that formed in both of them. Perhaps everything would have turned out differently, in another time, with less anguish involved. Perhaps she was now pondering how true her claims were.
"This only happened because it is with you, with no one else," Anna assured, placing her left hand with that ring. "No one else is worthy of being the father of my children and I like it that way."
He smiled, feeling more relieved, entwining their fingers over her prominent belly, huddled together, while they silently gazed at the panorama and that singular bear that Anna had selected for him, with the legend written on the medal ´We love you, Daddy.´
He would do his best for both of them, on that he was absolutely certain.
The End