Chapter Text
Adachi had been quiet ever since Kyojurou picked her up from school, he hadn’t pushed, but her little hand in his had been tight, nails poking at his skin. More than once she had accidentally cut herself with her own nails when she got upset, and while the marks had healed within the day, it had still been enough to make her cry.
Kyojurou gave her hand a squeeze, glancing down at her.
His daughter’s face was screwed up in deep thought, but the pinch to her brows revealed that whatever she was thinking about was upsetting her.
It was enough to make the blonde frown.
They walked in silence for another few moments, then Kyojurou decided to break the silence.
“How was your day, chīsana honō?”
Adachi only frowned further at the pet name, her little hand in Kyojurou’s tightening, and her nails pinching at his skin.
“...Papa?”
“Hmm?” Kyojurou hummed, glancing up as they turned off one path and onto another, and when he looked back down there were big fat tears glistening in her eyes. It sent a jolt of horror through Kyojurou, and made the hashira stop dead in his tracks, turning sharply to be facing his daughter.
“Adachi? Adachi, sweetie, what’s wrong?”
Her bottom lip stuck out as she took a deep, shuddering inhale, clearly trying not to let the tears fall, then managed to whimper out a soft.
“Why don’t you have a mate?”
Kyojurou’s stomach dropped straight to his feet, and he crouched down, putting a hand on her shoulder gently. “Did someone say something mean to you because I don’t have one?” Her face screwed up further, cheeks turning ruddy as a few tears spilled down her cheeks, then she gave a jerky nod.
“What did they say? Can you tell me?”
“Th-they, they said that only bad children had one parent- tha-that I must have done something wrong, and made them go away!” Her stuttering words quickly turned into a wail, one small hand reaching up to scrub at her eyes as she sobbed.
“They said that you must be re-really mad at me for it!”
If Kyojurou had been a worse man, he might’ve gone with Adachi to school tomorrow and yelled at those children who had told her this. But he was a better man than that, so he resolved to talk to her teacher tomorrow instead.
“Sweetie, I would never be mad at you, only ever worried.” Kyojurou consoled, gingerly extracting his hand from hers to stroke it over her hair gingerly. Adachi’s eyes opened back up, and they had turned black by now, her fangs looking too big to fit in her mouth as she whimpered, her nails full-blown claws at this point.
“But! Why- why don’t I have a dad or a mom?!” She wailed, a fresh round of tears streaming down her cheeks, Kyojurou chewed on his lips for a moment, considering, then he made his decision.
“You do, of course you do, sweetie. Would you like to see him?”
Adachi nodded, it was a sharp movement, and Kyojurou held out a hand, the little demon sliding her pack off her back and handing it to her father. The blonde slipped the straps over his shoulders, then wrapped his arms around his daughter, lifting her to his chest as he stood, the little pup nuzzled against his chest as she sniffled.
Kyojurou tried to force ‘ calm, safe’ into his scent, and while he wasn’t sure how well it was working, Adachi did settle a little, a tiny hand fisting the fabric of his shirt.
—-
That night, as Kyojurou ate dinner, Adachi picked at her food, still clearly rattled from the apparent bullying she had endured today. The blonde glanced at the window, glad to see the sun was finally setting, he had sent out Kaname as soon as he had gotten home to try and find Akaza, and tell him to get here asap.
When Akaza had learned about Adachi they had agreed to not tell her he was her sire, that way they wouldn’t need to worry about her saying her father was a demon. Of course, the corps already knew Adachi’s sire was a demon, they just didn’t know he was still alive.
And Kyojurou had wanted it to stay that way.
But…
Adachi being in pain over this? He could never sit idly by and let his daughter think there was something wrong with her, or their family, merely because of what some kids at school said. She would have questions, he was sure, but he could deal with them as they came, and if knowing she had two parents was important to her? Well, how could he say no?
—-
It wasn’t long after they had finished eating that the front door slid open, Adachi tensed, biting at her lip.
The sun had fully set now, and Kyojurou wouldn’t put it past Akaza to have been waiting in the forest nearby, waiting until he could finally get to them.
The demon strode in, his hands in tight fists, worry creasing his brow, his scent bitter and worried as his gaze darted between Kyojurou and Adachi.
“What hap-” The upper moon started, but Kyojurou raised a hand and the alpha quieted, clearly somewhat frustrated. Kyojurou merely turned to Adachi, and spoke clearly and concisely.
“Adachi, meet your dad.”
Akaza’s face went white, which was impressive considering he was already so pale. Adachi stared, then her face crinkled up in confusion. “Papa, that’s Zaza, where’s my daddy?”
Kyojurou stepped over to his daughter, resting a hand on her shoulder gently, “Zaza is your dad, that’s why he visits so often.”
Realization made her face go slack, mouth dropping open in surprise as the alpha sweated, shifting from foot to foot nervously and shooting Kyojurou a ‘ wtf?!’ look.
Then Adachi let out a squeal, face lighting up in utter glee as she hopped up from her seat and sprinted the short distance between her and the upper moon, throwing herself at him, and wrapping her arms around his waist as she buried her face in his stomach.
Akaza froze, wearing an expression of confusion, and even slight horror, hands raised in the air as he stared down at his daughter in shock.
“Zaza is the BEST dad!” She squealed, looking up at the alpha with a wide grin. The demon stayed frozen for a few moments longer, then his expression crumpled.
The upper moon collapsed to his knees, wrapping his arms tightly around the little pup, one hand buried in her hair as he pressed her face to his collarbone. Akaza tilted his face up to the ceiling, trying to blink back tears as Adachi squirmed, letting out confused little sounds. The alpha responded by giving wet snuffles at her hair and nipping her ear, sending the pup into a fit of giggles as she squirmed and finally managed to slip out from her sire’s grip.
“Zaza that tickled!” Her glee faded some when she noticed the tears beading at the demon’s eyes and she frowned. “What’s wrong? Why are you sad?” Akaza opened his lips, but nothing came out aside from a croak.
“He’s not sad, he’s just very, very happy.” Kyojurou murmured as he walked over to the pair, kneeling down to join them, Adachi frowned at him. “But then why is he crying?”
Kyojurou shifted to press his side against Akaza’s, and held out his hand, which Adachi took. “Sometimes, when you get really happy, you start to cry, because you can’t contain it all.” He explained gently, and gave a tug, pulling his daughter against him, and wrapped his arm around her tightly.
Adachi just mumbled a soft, ‘ oh’ and they left it at that.
Kyojurou wrapped his other arm around Akaza, dragging the alpha against him, who hid his face in the omega’s neck, sniffling against Kyojurou’s scent glands and wrapping an arm around both his pup, and mate respectively.
“Now what was this about Akaza being the best dad?”