Monkeys and Misakis

Chapter Fourteen: The Kids and Munakata

In the eyes of another, on the fateful day of Misaki and Saru's date, Munakata was at home, babysitting.

I honestly guess you could call it babysitting, for Saruhiko requested it, however, it could be deemed a playdate in Shō and Hana's world. For the two young'uns were playing dress up, or rather Hana was forcing Shō into a Disney Princess dress-up-dress.

While Munakata was sipping his concocted herbal green tea from afar, he was quite conflicted about the behavior of both children. Munakata was in fact a man of manners, grace, and elegance. Honestly what did Mikoto see in him? Anyway, because of Munakata's persona, seeing 'rowdy' children or, as matter of fact, 'rowdy' things, was not very appealing to him.

Munakata was staring intensely at the ground while intertwining his fingers together, contemplating a way to teach the children, in the nice way of course, manners and how to behave in the presence of others.

After running a few plans through his mind, Munakata found the most kid-friendly solution for the energetic duo.

"Shō, Hana," Munakata called while clapping his hands together and gazing at the children who stopped fighting about Disney dresses.

"Come here," he continued while gesturing to the tatami mat where Munakata had propped himself on top of a cushion.

Hana bounced her way to one of the cushions next to Reisi while Shō ripped the Disney dress Hana had forcefully put onto him before following suit of Hana. Once both were seated, Hana and Shō both tilted their heads to the side in question.

"Now it may sound like I'm ruining your precious fun, but, I believe it is time I should educate both of you on manners."

Shō sat there gazing at his father with a face saying 'please don't,' while Hana looked back between Shō and Munakata with, 'really nigga, I came here for fun, not this,' written all over her face.

Munakata, a little exasperated, let out a soft sigh before continuing.

"Please? You've both been having loads of fun today, I don't want to be the only one excluded."

Shō whispered something to Hana before turning towards his dad to nod his head ok while Hana pouted a little, crossed her arms almost unnoticeably, and muttered inaudibly.

"Alright then...," Hana said with a tone of sadness, a little upset that she couldn't play Princesses with Shō anymore.

Munakata clapped his hands in delight and gave both children a delicate hug before pushing his glasses up his nose, then proceeding to give his lesson about etiquette.

"Alright, first things first. Since you two are children and haven't really grown accustomed to it, you must learn that upon entering another's house, you must remove your shoes at the doorway. Why you ask? Well the reason for this, is that the muck, which is on your shoes, doesn't carry into the house. Thus creating a clean house."

Munakata peeked out of one eye to peer at the children for their undivided attention only to find that Hana looked bored out of her mind while Shō was daydreaming? Shō's actions were quite questionable but the daydreaming scenario was extremely possible.

Despite the children's actions, Munakata rambled on and on and on about manners, behavior, and all things a like.

Then Munakata's grandfather clock struck 10:00 p.m..

Munakata hadn't realized he had been talking for so long. He probably lost track of time for how much fun he was having reciting this rules of etiquette.

When Munakata looked down at his son and his third in command's daughter, he realized both were sleeping soundly.

Hana was snoring like a bear cub, sprawled out on its back with paws dangling at the side. On the other hand, Shō was curled up in a small ball like a black furred kitten, breathing softly.

While Reisi breathed deeply through his nose, he pulled the children into his embrace and carried the animal-like children to bed.

Once the children were in bed, with a blanket pulled over the two, Munakata placed gentle kisses to their heads before whispering a soft,

"Goodnight."