What We've Missed Without You

chapter 13

*sorry for mistakes*

Karlheinz really wasn't kidding about sending a tailor over to Yui's way, she didn't expect the tailor to look and act like a walking corpse when he came into the diner. It looked a very thin man with obvious undernourishment shown in his cheeks and bony hands, the color so washed out of him that he could blend in with a freshly bleached towel. He barely had any hair, all that was left were wisps of light gray hair that were styled to look like a comb-over most older gentlemen would have gelled to their heads. The 'tailor' had dead black fish eyes, an old pair of copper bifocals rested on the bridge of his nose and magnified his dead eyes. He wore all black; turtle neck, trench coat, slacks, shoes, even his vintage looking-bag was black. Misa was obviously very freaked out when greeting him, Yui could see the hairs standing up on her neck as the tailor only grunted in a low voice before walking to the closest table to set his bag on, his walk was slow with a limp. He slowly opened his bag with his thin fingers and dug around until he had a paper tape measure in his grasp. He turned to the pale blonde woman and grunted to what she could recognize as 'please come here'.  

Yui flashed a nervous smile and nodded, stepping towards the zombie-like man and standing still while he slowly and painstakingly measured her. The tailor measured her neck, following with her shoulders, then only to one arm down to the elbow and wrist, even measuring each individual finger. He muttered the numbers in a low rough voice and messily scribbled it on a piece of yellowed paper, returning to the younger woman and muttered, 'lift up your arms'. To be honest, Yui was very uncomfortable with the tailor. She was just lucky there were no customers left because of the typhoon. Was this man actually a zombie or some type of walking corpse? Was he going to eat her brains or was he a familiar of Karlheinz? He was definitely under the heavy influence of completing his job, he pretty much ignored Misa and Takeru when they offered something to drink or eat. Yui gulped as he measured her bust, but she sent a reassuring smile to a tense Shiori in order to calm her down. Unlike her children, Shiori and Takeru knew the 'upbringing' of all of her children and were very quick to deal with anyone who wanted to make a forceful move on her. The tailor measured Yui's torso and waist, muttering the numbers once more as he messily scribbled them down with an aged ink pen.

"Um...Are you staying somewhere in town? I hope you didn't have to walk through all of the rain."

The tailor only grumbled something incomprehensible before taking his tape measure and measured the length and width of her legs, finishing the process by wrapping the tape measure around her ankles and then started to mutter the numbers, scribbling them down. The washed-out man turned to Yui, staring straight into her soul with those dead fish eyes. He spoke a little louder this time, "What shoe size are you?"

"Twenty-four centimeters." The tailor muttered a low 'thank you' before writing it down on the paper. He looked around the room, unaware of the others in the dinner staring at him until he set his sight on Hayato. He slowly limped over to the six-year-old, making him tense and back away slowly with a scared look on his face. "M-Mama? W-Why is he coming towards me?"

"The nice man is going to take your measurements, he's going to make you a suit to wear."

"B-But, I already have church clothes?"

"No, no. We're going to a party! Here, I'll be with you." Yui rushed over to the white-haired boy and knelled down to his height to comfort him while the tailor slowly knelled down, creating an unsettling crack with each sudden movement until his knee was on the floor. Yui held Hayato's hand as the tailor slowly measured the young boy, doing the same process of doing one section and muttering the numbers as he messily scribbled them down on the yellowed piece of paper. It didn't take a lot to make Hayato uncomfortable, this was definitely one of those moments. Yui could only squeeze his hand reassuringly as her mind scrambled to come up with a believable lie about why they were suddenly getting fitted for a suit and a dress. Yes, she said they were going to a party, but Hayato will ask for more details and she still had to do something about Airi and Momoi still at that god forsaken mansion. Sooner or later, everyone will start asking where those two are. It was selfish of Yui to keep quiet about her children's fathers, that her children were actually half vampire, and about Karlheinz. She was going to tell them at some point, but it was difficult to explain to a child that their father raped their mother in order to have them. Most of them don't even know how babies are made! When Yui finally got out of her pregnancy depression, she told herself that she needed to prepare for the day when one of them asked about their father. It's been twelve years and she still wasn't ready to tell them, let alone meet them again. Yui wasn't stupid, she knew all of her children were curious about their fathers. She knew about the kids that teased Airi about not having a father around, she knew that Harue wrote to Santa Claus for three straight Christmases that all she wanted was her father, Yui knew about the hidden resentment Yuuta had for his father not being around every time he muttered in his sleep. It was horrible, horrible that her children were in the dark because she was too scared to face her fears. It wouldn't be long before one of them stopped believing that she had nightmares over small things, or see the old scars on her body, or try to figure out the cause for her occasional panic attacks. All Yui could do right now was squeeze her son's hand tightly with a fake smile on her face, trying her best to hide the sadness in her. Suddenly, a memory played through her head: