Happiness

The first child (Part 2)

Hakuryuu did not possess much memories of his father, the former emperor Ren Hakutoku. Shortly after he was born the conflict between Kou, Gai and Go escalated and his father as well as his older brothers spent most of their time on the battlefield or in war councils. Therefore, he did not know what he as a father had to do now. What were his duties as a father?
When his wife told him that she was pregnant he started to read a lot of books and scrolls - even though there weren't much - about parenting. Unfortunately, he didn't find what he was looking for. It was good to learn what a child needs and what a child usually was able to do at what age, therefore, he kept those things in mind, but he wanted to know something else. He wanted to know whether there was something he as a father could do for his child. Something that only he could do.
There weren't much books about parenthood, so he decided to ask some of the servants. Unfortunately, the servants weren't of any help either.
In the end he went to his wife and asked her about her opinion on that matter. At the end of their talked they came to the conclusion that it was their child that would decide what his duties as a father would be.

Hakuryuu was the first to wake up. After he prepared himself for the day, he took care of the breakfast. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, or so they said. His wife was way too tiered in the morning to do anything and his son was too young - only a few days old.
Usually he woke his wife up before he left for the kitchen, but most of the time it was useless. He had to wake her up a second time, when he came back with the breakfast. His son on the other hand was already in the process of waking up, when he came back. So he was the one who prepared his son for the day. He loved it. Even when his son was not able to talk now he still liked to talk to him.
And it meant he could spend time with his son - mostly alone, since his wife needed a lot of time to get out of bed. As a man he, unfortunately, couldn't feed his new born son.
This was something only his wife could do, and while she was feeding their son, he set the table for the breakfast.
The table was set for Hakuryuu and his wife, but of course their son also got a sit - in which the young boy was more laying then sitting - so he could hear and maybe see his parent interacting with each other and be a part of the family.
During the breakfast their son mostly slept, but when he woke up he played with a little doll - playing meant throwing the doll around and then wanting it back - his mother had made for him. Hakuryuu thought his son was the cutes child out there!

Hakuryuu not only though his son was the cutest, but also the smartest. It was his first time being a father and even after reading some books, it never occur to him, that his son was a little bit faster in everything then other children - that his son was the smartest was just given and had nothing to do with how fast the boy was growing and learning.
With almost one year his son was already able to walk and run around - much to his wife's and his horror. That boy did not know any fear!
Hakuryuu remembered the day his son took his first steps like it just had happened yesterday.
That day was a day in which he receipt a message of an urged matter. Therefore, he had so leave his usual working place an meet up with some generals - the police in the new Kou Empire were former soldiers - without his wife knowing about this. Normally, something like this would not be a problem and normally is wife did not need to know where he was - she had her own work to do the whole day, so paying him a visit was mostly done when it had something to do with work or their son. And that day she wanted to visit him because of their son. One could say that she could have waited for him to return to his office or show him later what she wanted - that was also was she did with work, when he wasn't around - but for her it was so important that she did not want to wait and so she was searching for him. In the end she was also able to find him. Hakuryuu will never forget her bright face when she found and called out to him.
"Ryuu-chan, Ryuu-chan, look!"
And he did look.
"Stay where you are right now."
And so he stay where he was right now.
"Alright, let's show daddy what you have learned."
Saying that she put her son on the ground. He looked a little bit confused and unsure what to do, so at first he was just standing on his feet and looking up to his mommy.
"Go to daddy. He is waiting for you. I am sure he wants you to hug him. You want to hug daddy as well, right?"
A slight nod and then the child look to his father, who was patiently waiting and wondering what this was all about. Or better said he was wondering if his son was really already able to walk without any help.
His son was able to! After the second step Hakuryuu got down on his knees and stretched out his arm towards his son. His wife was following right after her son, just in case. But in the end the small boy did not fall and was able to walk the whole way from his mother to his father without help. He was a little bit unsteady on his feet, but nothing bad happened.
When their son reached Hakuryuu, he took him into his arms and praised him as if the young one just saved the whole world.

Not only was their son fast in learning how to walk and run around - and thereby scare the living hell out of his parents - but also how to speak. His sentences were short, but he was able to make himself understandable and tell other what he wanted and needed. Most of the time their son tried to rephrase what he heard other people saying. Normally, it went well. But as soon as their son tried to rephrase something he heard Kouen or Koumei saying it got funny. Those two did not hold back with their vocabulary and so Hakuryuu's son heard a lot of "strange" words - Koumei mostly talked about strategies - war strategies and economic strategies because why not - and Kouen about history and war - the history of the Kou empire was filled with war. Because of that Hakuryuu and his wife had to explain a lot of words and their meaning, also they had to guess a lot, since their son was not able to pronounce the words correctly.

Hakuryuu's child was selective of those who were allowed to interact with him. And even those who were allowed, were only allowed to do certain thing with and for him. While mommy and daddy were allowed to do everything for and with him - even though he had his preferences for certain things - others weren't. Kouen was only allowed to tell stories about the Kou empire - Hakuryuu doubt that his son was really able to understand what was going on in those stories, but Kouen was really into it -, Koumei was only allowed to play strategy games or talk about strategies - and again, Hakuryuu doubt that his son was already able to understand what was going on or understand or even played the games by the rules - Kougyoku was allowed to dress him up and play with him - Hakuryuu and his wife were happy that Kougyoku got along well with their son and had a lot of fun spending time with the boy. On the other hand the boy was totally lost when it came to Kouha or Judar, so he tried to avoid those two. Hakuei was allowed to watch over him, when his parents were working, but it seemed like he wasn't really interested in her - and he stayed far away from her cooking.

In the end Hakuryuu had a luck with his first born son. He was a very quiet, obedient and smart child. With two years the young boy became a big brother.