Haikyuu Creature Collection

Awkward Explanations (Akiteru Tsukishima)

Our two little children sat playing together. One was five, the other was three. Thankfully they'd always gotten along pretty well, but even so, I took advantage of the moment to finish up some chores around the house.

As I was busying myself with washing the dishes, his arms found their place around my waist. Just like always, he nuzzled my neck right after. I didn't have to be a mind reader to know what was on his mind.

"No Aki," I sighed, not taking my attention off of my chore. Wouldn't want to cut myself or anything, you know.

He's making that face again, I just know he is. "Why not?"

"Not in front of the kids."

Since I was a human and our kids had shown no signs of inheriting any of their father's vampire traits, we'd decided to wait until the two were older before we mentioned anything about it to them. Non-human creatures still weren't always accepted in normal society, so it was merely a way of protecting them until they were old enough to handle it on their own.

"They'll find out sooner or later, so why do you want to keep it from them?"

"You remember how my parents reacted when they found out? What if-" I was cut off as the knife I'd been washing slipped from my hand, cutting me in the process. Quickly I put my uninjured hand under the other, making sure no blood dripped onto anything. Calmly, I called out to our eldest child. "Issei? Would you get a band-aid for mommy?"

As the little boy ran off to get what I needed, I turned just in time to find Akiteru staring at my cut. Gently he took my hurt hand in his. He slowly brought it up to his mouth and wrapped his lips around the small wound, sucking gently.

If there's one thing that I've always loved about my husband, it's that he's always been gentle. No matter what was happening or what he was feeling, he always made sure to be gentle with me and with our two little ones. He's been both a wonderful husband and an amazing father.

"Daddy, what are you doing?" little Keiko asked, tilting her head innocently. As gentle as she'd said it, it still managed to startle the both of us.

"Um..." Akiteru wasn't sure how to explain it. I mean, when your five-year-old and three-year-old kids catch you sucking blood out of a cut on your wife's hand and they have no idea that you're a vampire, how are you supposed to explain yourself? That's sort of in a similar category as your kids walking in on you having sex and asking what you're doing. There's just no easy way of answering that.

Right at that moment was when our son had returned, a dinosaur band-aid in hand. "Ew! Gross!" he shouted, pointing at his father who was still holding my bleeding hand and had a small amount on his lips. Even though he hadn't seen what happened, even the smart child of five years could tell exactly what Akiteru had been doing.

All I could do was sigh and shake my head. "And you wondered why I didn't want to tell them you're a vampire yet..."