The Things You Left Behind | Kiribaku Omegaverse |

Inevitable

The night was dark, cold and foreign-feeling in the world outside of the house. The grey moonlight was yet to reach the blackened ground and even though the stars were out, they seemed dull and distant. In the house, the warm glow of a lamp gently lit up the lounge-room, reaching across the carpet, over the furniture and up the walls. But even with the night shut out of the house by the curtains that draped over the windows, Mitsuki felt as if she were trembling, the empty silence of the house keeping her on edge.

In the kitchen, just beyond the counter, a clock marked the time with each slow painful tick tick tick of its hands, almost as if it were forcing Mitsuki to keep track. Slight relief came in the form of wordless, incoherent babbling from the baby crawling aimlessly across the carpet between her play things. Occasionally, the delighted giggles and squeal's her granddaughter emitted washed away the distress working away in Mitsuki's stomach. Though, she was pulled quickly back by an iron grasped each time, even lapsing further into panic when the girl mumbled 'Dada'.

"Akane." Mitsuki cooed to her, attempting to get the baby's attention. "Akane, over here."

Large round eyes flickered up to the woman, pausing with a play block in her mouth. Mitsuki couldn't help but smile a little at the expression on her face as she chewed on it, laughing gently as Akane's muffled giggling picked up again around her toy.

The click of an opening door from down the hallway, wiping the smile immediately from Mitsuki's face as she jumped to her feet, sweeping the baby into her arms from the carpet. The hope that had flickered in her heart for a moment shattered into sharp cut anxiety as she recognised the figure of her husband appearing from the night into the warm house.

Masaru caught the Mitsuki's gaze within a heartbeat of closing the door and rushed to her, his brown eyes alight with his own concern mixed with confusion.

"Mitsuki?"

"Masaru." She began, her shoulder's falling. "It's Katsuki. He's disappeared again."

Masaru's attention leapt immediately to the high-strung note of her voice before he processed her words and realised their meaning. "Katsuki did? Are you sure?"

"Am I sure?" Mitsuki's foot stomped the carpet, her gaze flashing. "You know, I'm sure! I was just here a second ago with him and Akane! I only left for a minute to go put something on the stove and by the time I got back, the baby was playing in an empty room!"

"I'm sorry, I just—"

"You're not sorry! You think I lied that our son had vanished from the house again? Left his baby again?"

"Mitsuki, I didn't mean—"

"Shut-up!" By this point Mitsuki was blazing. Not from anger though, but from deep-rooted stress and anxiety. Her breathing heaved as if she had been running as she glared with a piercing red gaze up at her soft-spoken husband.

Before either could started it up again, the brief silence was shattered by a sharp cry. In Mitsuki's arms, Akane opened her tiny mouth to let out heart-wrenching cries as her big red eyes filled with tears that came cascading down her pink cheeks.

"Oh no." Mitsuki was suddenly quiet again, all her concentration returning to the baby. "Aki, Aki. I'm sorry, darling. We're sorry. Shhh."

Masaru said nothing, following after Mitsuki as she began wondering back to the couch and sat to calm the little girl down. He watched, moving carefully so he wouldn't spark up another retaliation from his wife and settled down by her side. Finally, with some coddling and hushed cooing, Akane seemed to exhausted herself and soon fell to sleep. In the silence of their loungeroom, Mitsuki stroked through the baby's downy hair for a minute before she spoke up.