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The twins are as always risers of eagerness upon the very first touches of the morning’s sun upon the horizon, their fluffed ears and tails twitching with the earliest approach of dawn.
Having come to pass five summers, Ryoma and Daiki have come to make the world in their surroundings their very personal playground in their own exploration.
The sky is still yet painted the darkened shades of lavender and indigo that slowly give away into the tickling, passionate pink and oranges of the arising sun when their small, squirming bodies are already yet growing restless in the warmth of the pallet that is shared by all their family.
Their father and their mother with their sister who has yet to reach her third summer tucked away in the warmth of the space that is a separation between the warming bodies of their parents.
Daiki and Ryoma are the two of the family that have arrived in their stages of awakening from their sleep and the younger Nanami is still claimed by the tranquility of her sleep as her eyes have yet to part open in her awakened state, and she bears the appearance of a princess most pleased within the position of the arms of her father.
“She’s gonna scream if you wake her up.”
The warning of a few words is but the merest of whispers upon the lips of Daiki as he takes observation of his younger twin becoming occupied with the image of their younger sister, positioning himself upon the curved warmth of his mother’s soft body.
“She likes playing with us . . . “
Ryoma’s voice is one of whining as his ice hued eyes take his own view of the cub that remains in the depths of her sleep, his fluffed pink tail stripped with black twitching in display of his want to play.
“She’s gonna cry when she wakes up, Mama will wake up, and then . . .”
Daiki puts on display his set of fangs akin to those of an actual tiger cub with his hiss of a threat in the direction of the younger twin.
“Papa will wake up and yell at us for waking Mama and Nana up.”
Ryoma’s expression transitions to one that is more reflective of his crestfallen mood and his tail draws to a stop of its twitching as he climbs away from the warmth that is his father’s well built body with his acceptance of Daiki’s logic.
The elder of the twins is swift in his comforting of the younger upon their meeting in front of the pallet as his petal colored head begins nuzzling against the face that is identical to his own, the tip of his tail feather light upon the right shoulder of Ryoma.
“C’mon, let’s go play outside.”
The encouragement of Daiki’s voice is an impossibility for even Ryoma to ignore as his hand is pulled along by his twin and they make for the outside that lays just beyond the paper and wooden sliding doors of the main house upon their estate.
There is not a servant within their view as they begin to make their play within the cool freshness that is the morning’s air – not even Uraume’s presence is there in their scolding of the twins for rising far too early and to rush them back into bed.
Though the gentle darkness that precedes dawn is no problem for either boy as long as they keep within sight of the main house, which is dully lit with small paper lanterns.
The twins begin their play with a chase of one another through the gardens that have been maintained by the most careful and talented of hands with no mind given to the way they may come to dirty the dark navy colored yukatas that are intended for sleep in the night and not for outside play between the two twins.
There is stunning agility that is found within both of them with their leaps from rock to rock over the cool, tranquil waters of the ponds that are stocked with the most beautiful of koi and over which there are bridges that connect from one side to the other (though Daiki and Ryoma both possess particular fondness with their leaping from one edge to another).
Their delight laced squeals are lifted high and light within the early morning’s air – the very sound of the purity of a child’s joy – and their fluffy ears and tails fluttering with excitement as their legs pull them through lush, verdant grasses and over the terrain that is so beautiful just beyond the reach of their household.
Ryoma possesses the upper edge in his swiftness as he begins his rush ini finishing their race through the gardens and comes to a sudden stop that nearly leads to him tripping over his own small feet and the yukata’s that has already been lightly dirtied by his race through the gardens.
Upon the porch and barely disguised behind a wooden pole is the tiny figure of the youngest of their siblings – Nanami within her cherry blossomed yukata, a couple of her fingers pressing against lips in uncertainty.
The brightness of her amber hued eyes sparkling with the desire of joining her elder twin brothers in their fun, having awakened most obviously before either of their parents.
“Nanami! You should come here!
Ryoma is near immediate in the way he kneels upon the ground in the front of her, arms coming apart in his encouragement of her to walk from the porch to his arms. Daiki soon joins him as he jogs in from behind.
Nanami is much different from her brother not merely in the nature of her personality but in her appearance as well – a toddler that is most timid in nature and with such a gentleness that she dares not harm even a fly – her parents had even been of the belief she was an anomaly among the family.
Her hair is silken curls and the color is a mix of sunlight and moonglow, lending its hue further to the accompanying tiger ears and tail that is a trait common to her father and brothers.
And she is the only child in inheritance of the wide, innocuous glimmering amber hued eyes that descend from their mother Yuuji.
Upon the words of encouragement from both of the blossom haired elder twin brothers, a giggle is light from escaping her throat and the toddler takes her arms away from the pole that serves as her stability in beginning her journey downwards the stairs of the porch.
One singular step is taken from the top of the wrap around porch and in the next moment does it seem that the toddler is to stumble and land atop her own head when a pair of black marked arms catch her with the swiftness that is unlike any other.
The instinct that could only belong to a parent.
“Oi, Yuuji, our brats are out here.”
The depths of this voice that reach so below and are akin to the rumbling of an earthquake can merely belong to their father who now stands before them in his form of all gloriousness, made from the construction of the rippling muscles and the four arms that are most distinct to him and the lips upon his stomach that remain quiet but ever are present.
“And you.”
One of his onyx clawed fingers is placed upon the nose of the most youthful of his children, his tone gently scolding as he begins speaking with her.
“You do not follow your brothers. They are very naughty.”
The toddler merely raises her head in her gaze upon Sukuna, her wide and most innocuous eyes merely blinking as another giggle parts her lips, clearly not understanding of the scolding.
Or for her following her twin brothers out for a touch of playtime in the hours of early morning.
Merely does Sukuna allow a sigh in parting his lips as his only daughter continues to be held within his arms, a single clawed hand caressing the pallid curls of her hair with his paternal affection for the only daughter of his three children.
The wrath of his wife shall be saved for the twins instead.
“Daiki! Ryoma!”
It is as if Sukuna possesses the ability in summoning his wife by mere thought as Yuuji comes to emerge from behind him with the opening of the sliding paper and wooden doors, having dressed with such quickness within the most basic layers of a pale colored kimono.
“What were you two thinking?”
The scolding is heavy upon his own voice of lightness as Yuuji peers upon the twins who have inheritance of his blossom hued hair and the icy cool eyes of their father.
“Waking up before your father and I, and leaving without permission?”
Yuuji has come to the position of kneeling before the twins who now have shivers rolling from their backs as if in fright of the mother that bears anger for their foolish, rash decision making.
“W-We’re sorry. . . Mama.”
The words are said in the exact same moments by both of the twins, as if they had been rehearsed with the utmost perfection, or as if they are of one mind from the very time they had shared the same womb.
And it is the way in which the twin boys bow in their apologies that catches Yuuji by the heart, his expression softeninging into the warmth of affection for his eldest sons.
Sukuna’s barely of the ability to suppress the snort that leaves his mouth in reaction to their display of apology and the acceptance of Yuuji following – his wife is most certainly the weaker of them when it comes to their discipline.
Though it is as if he truly pays mind to it – his twin sons and his wife are sights most beloved to him and sights that are most adorable each and every time he sets both sets of eyes upon them.
“It is too difficult to scold you when you apologize so adorably. . .”
The murmurs upon Yuuji’s lips are of complete adoration for the twins, his amber eyes now shimmering with affection for the twins rather than the scolding that had painted his features merely moments before.
As he kneels upon the porch in front of the twins he parts his arms open for the both of them to join his embrace.
“They truly have your charm and manipulation, don’t they. . .?”
The question is an utterance for the ears of his husband only as the twins run into his arms without a moment’s hesitation, their soft, childish bodies ever warming against his body, their affections never failing in warming Yuuji’s heart with happiness.
“You’re the one who fell for me. . .”
The chuckle is drawn from his husband’s throat low and tinged with a kind of genuine humor that is uncommon to the severity of his personality – though when it comes to these displays of softness towards his family, Sukuna is little afraid of these expressions.
“ Very manipulative. . .”
An emphasis upon the manipulation part as Yuuji continues his affections of his little sons, lithe fingers trailing through the softness of their son’s pretty locks, his slender arms still managing to embrace them both in a close, shared hug.
“You’ve enjoyed my manipulation enough to have three children with me.”
A continuance of Sukuna’s chuckling upon his joining Yuuji in kneeling on the wood of the porch, one arm still taking hold of their toddler daughter and another muscular arm comes to wrap about the slender softness of his wife’s shoulders, drawing both him and their twins to the massive wall that is his chest.
“Mind you. . . Two of them came in the same pregnancy.”
Yuuji’s voice is one with tease as his head comes to be laid upon one of Sukuna’s shoulders, the smile curling upon his lips one of his genuine affection and the love that he has long felt for both his husband and the children they share together.
“You make it sound like you enjoy the pregnancies, wife.” Sukuna’s brows raise with his further teasing of Yuuji, his lips ever slowly and temptingly drawn over his temple, roaming just above his blossom pink tresses.
“Perhaps we should make it a third.”