Family Ties

Farm

Yusho's estranged family was very reluctant to sign the legal contract, but Yusho stood firm. He refused to bring his children over to meet them until they signed it. He also mentioned that he would file for a restraining order immediately if they tried to come to his house to meet his children without his permission. His side of the family asked for a few days to discuss it amongst themselves.

Yoko's estranged family hadn't actually done anything to Yuya to warrant a denial of contact with him or his brothers, though it was possible that the only reason they hadn't was because they'd only just found out about Yuya's existence as well as the others. So Yoko reluctantly agreed to bring her husband and sons to visit them that weekend.

So Saturday morning the parents woke the boys up bright and early in the morning and packed them into their minivan to head to Yoko's parents' house. All four boys were a bit worried about how they would be treated by the extended family.

"Okay, so, no matter what happens, we all stick together," Yuto said, looking at his brothers. "If we're all together, it'll be harder for them to single one of us out and mistreat us. We don't want them doing what Dad's family did."

Yuri, Yugo, and Yuya all nodded in agreement. "And we gotta make sure they don't do anything to Mom too!" Yugo said solemnly. Yuri hummed, "Yes, Mother must be protected!"

Yoko smiled warmly at her boys in the rearview mirror. It was sweet of them to want to protect her, but she knew she could handle anything her family threw at her. She was the leader of a motorcycle gang when she was younger, after all! But she could tell that her boys would still try to interfere if her family tried anything with her.

She was pretty sure that her family wouldn't try to hurt the boys either. Her parents had always doted on her older siblings' children, spoiling them rotten. And in their letter they had mentioned that they missed having grandchildren to spoil. Yoko's boys were the only grandchildren that were still children according to the letter, and the older grandchildren didn't visit as much as they used to.

"So where do your parents live, Mom?" Yuya asked, looking out the window. Yoko replied, "They live on a little farm in Ibaraki. It's about an hour and a half from our house. We should be there in time for breakfast."

"Mmm, breakfast," Yugo said, licking his lips hungrily. "Standard food is so good!"

"It's even better when it comes straight from the farm to the table!" Yoko said, chuckling. "My parents grow and raise almost all of their own food. And they can usually get fresh fish from the river and lake on their property. Oh, and my mother has a flower garden that I'm sure you'll love, Yuri! She sent me photos while we were planning out our trip."

Yoko pulled out her phone and showed Yuri the photos of her mother's flower garden. A look of subtle delight flickered across the boy's face before returning to a mask of indifference. "It's nice," he admitted.

Yoko could tell that Yuri was downplaying how much he liked the garden. It was clear that he didn't want to get too excited in case the family wasn't kind to them. The blonde woman smiled and reached back to pat Yuri's hand. "It's going to be fine!" she reassured her sons. "I'm sure of it!"

Oh god, she hoped she was right.