An Unpleasant Reunion

By: Tisha


	She grabbed a diaper bag, loading it with toys and diapers and powder 
and wipes. She zipped it up and plopped in on the hallway floor, glancing in a 
mirror to put on a bit of lip-gloss. 

	"Shiro! Takara!"

	Her husband came into the room and put his arms around her from behind 
as she fitted a tiny bonnet onto her baby’s head. "We should be leaving. We’ll 
be late."

	He kissed her cheek, scooping his daughter from the crib. "Hey Aiko, 
are you excited about seeing your Aunt Mako?" The baby just reached for his 
nose in response. Minako sighed and took the baby, leading Shiro into the 
hallway.

	"Takara!" The three-year-old finally appeared at the bottom of the 
stairs and the four of them got into the car, a few minutes late for their 
lunch date with Makoto’s family.

	By the time they got to the restaurant Makoto and Jifu were waiting. 
"Where’s Naomi? I thought we were bringing the kids."

	Makoto nodded while taking Aiko from Minako. "She’s in the daycare 
place. Takara’s probably good but it’ll be easier to eat without the babies."

	Minako nodded in agreement, picking up the diaper bag and getting Aiko 
back into her arms. "In that case, I’ll be right back."

	After Aiko and Naomi were in daycare the remaining five looked over 
their menus and ordered their meals.

	"Mako? Are you okay? You look a little pale." Jifu was looking 
concerned and his comment caused Minako and Shiro to look at her.

	She shook her head. "I’m fine, I’m okay."

	Minako noticed the weird glance Makoto had sent her way and the way 
she was acting nervous. "Makoto? What’s wrong?"

	Makoto bit her lip, glancing at Takara and then Minako and then some 
other point in the restaurant. Minako frowned and slowly turned around to 
follow Makoto’s gaze. She had to swallow a lump in her throat when she spotted 
Keiji. And he was staring right at her.

	She quickly turned back around and looked at the table, causing Shiro 
to look suspiciously at the man studying his wife. "Who is that? What’s 
wrong?"

	Minako put her hand over her face and looked at Makoto. "Is he still 
looking over here?" Makoto only nodded her head.

	Minako looked at Takara who was coloring in her children’s menu. 
"Takara, honey, why don’t you go see how your sister is doing? They’ve got 
some toys in there if you want to stay and play for a while."

	"Okay, Mama." Minako winced at the word and the level of volume it’d 
been said at. She turned again, against her will, to find that Keiji’s eyes 
were now set on the little blonde girl who was walking away.

	Minako turned to Makoto once again. "Oh God, oh God, what do I do?"

	Shiro took her hand. "Minako, what’s this all about?"

	Minako looked at him and sighed. "That’s Keiji."Shiro’s eyes 
immediately flew to the man, who stood and headed for their table.

	"Well, Minako, I never thought I’d run into you. I wouldn’t have said 
anything if you all hadn’t kept staring at me."

	Makoto glared at him, remembering very well the scene that had 
occurred the last time Minako and Keiji had seen each other. "Yeah, well we 
didn’t invite you here, so you had better leave."

	Keiji completely ignored her and looked at Shiro. "I see you’ve got 
yourself a husband."

	Minako stuck her chin in the air. "Well I wasn’t married to him while 
I was dating you. That’s the difference. Now if you don’t leave us alone I’ll 
have to do something about it."	

	"Well Minako, I would, except it appears that that’s my daughter you 
have there, so I don’t think I have to leave."

	Minako snapped back as if she’d been slapped. She had to swallow hard 
as her mouth went dry. "You get out of here right now."

	Keiji smiled at the look on her face and didn’t move.

	Takara chose that minute to return. She looked at the man standing 
near the chair she’d been sitting in and then at her mother’s face. "Mama?"

	Minako held out her arms and Takara went and scooted herself into her 
lap, looking at the man.

	Keiji smiled at Takara and sent a challenging glare to Shiro before 
walking back to his own table.

	Minako hugged Takara to her chest, trying to fight the trembling her 
body was suddenly insisting on. She kissed Takara’s head while placing her 
back in her own chair.

	Shiro gently took Minako’s hand. "Are you okay?"

	Minako took a deep breath before forcing a smile at him. "I think so. 
Let’s just eat already."
	


•••••••••••••••••••



	"Minako?"

	Minako turned from Aiko to look at her husband. "Hmm?"

	"Are you okay?"

	Minako sighed and turned back to her baby, finishing her job of 
changing her diaper. She kissed her tiny cheek and placed her in the crib, 
turning off the lamp.

	"Shiro, I’m as fine as I could possibly be after all that." She went 
to the next room and peeked through the doorway at Takara, who was asleep. "I 
don’t care about what he did to me anymore, I mean, how could I? It got me 
Takara. I’m only afraid of him being near her. I don’t want her to know him."

	She turned around to face him, pulling Takara’s door closed behind 
her. Her lip trembled and she averted her eyes to his chest. "I think of the 
way he just acted, and then back on the time we were dating and I just can’t 
believe that I ever would get involved with him. How did I think he was a 
great person?"

	"Minako, you were young, and in love, and he was leading you on. It 
was his fault, not yours. He was a creep then and obviously he still is. Maybe 
his wife finally left him, he *was* alone."

	Minako wiped at the moisture in her eyes and looked into Shiro’s 
compassionate eyes. "You’re right. It’s over."

	Shiro studied her for a second. "You’re worrying about her finding out 
that I’m not her real father."

	"You *are* her real father." Minako answered immediately, without 
hesitation, causing Shiro to smile.

	"Okay, her biological father."

	Minako sighed. "Yeah, I guess I am. How can I tell her about how 
stupid I was but still expect her to not make those mistakes?"

	"I think you’ve got it backwards. You should tell her so that she 
won’t make the same mistake."

	Minako shook her head. "Then she’ll think that she was a mistake."

	Shiro. "I think we should tell her the fact that I’m not her real 
father from the time she’s old enough to understand that. Otherwise I’m afraid 
she’d resent me later for pretending to be her father."

	Minako sighed again and wiped at her eyes tiredly. The whole thing was 
way too much to think about. Who would have known that this one relationship 
could lead to so much confusion? Shiro had adopted Takara, emotionally as 
well as legally, and Minako always thought of him as her father. She couldn’t 
imagine the day that Takara asked her about it. It wouldn’t be that hard to 
figure out, considering that Takara was the flower girl at their 
wedding. It was only a matter of time.


•••••••••••••••••••


	Shiro walked into the den to do some work but was surprised to find 
Minako sitting in his chair. She was looking contently at some old photo 
albums. He walked up behind her and looked at the pictures. There were some of 
her with her friends, a couple of her and Keiji, and a couple of her pregnant.

	"All I wanted to do four years ago was burn these pictures. But I 
couldn’t make myself. Whether I like it or not, he’s Takara’s father. I 
really, really hate him, but I still think she has the right to see these if 
she wanted to."

	Shiro sat on the desk and put a hand on her shoulder. He still didn’t 
know many details about her relationship with Keiji. There was always a 
curiosity but he didn’t want to hurt her by asking. Now it seemed like she 
needed someone to talk to so he remained silent.

	She looked at him, shaking her head. "Do you know how many times that 
day has played over in my mind, whether I wanted it to or not? When I think 
back I wonder why I was such an idiot. He was definitely not very good at 
hiding anything. I was just so naive. My friends told me all the time to be 
careful.

	"I think half the reason I fought my instinct was because I just 
wanted them to be wrong *so* bad." Tears came to her eyes. She quickly wiped 
them away and kept talking. "I went to his office to surprise him. And 
instead I was surprised by two little kids running in and calling him daddy. 
Now when I think back on that, I always wonder. There’s a good chance his wife 
was sitting in that back room."

	Shiro wiped some of her tears away. "You’re still thinking about this 
from the restaurant? That was two weeks ago."

	This only caused Minako to cry harder as she stood up and grabbed 
something from the desk, handing it to Shiro. It was an envelope. Shiro took 
out the folded piece of paper and began to read. It didn’t take long to figure 
out what it was and he looked at Minako.

	"He wants her." She sobbed. 

	Shiro stood and wrapped her in his arms.


•••••••••••••••••••




	The next Saturday, on one of the rare occasions when the five best 
friends could actually spend time together, they had chosen to go to the fair 
that had set up outside of town. Usagi had left Chibi-Usa with Mamoru, who 
also had a vacation from work. Ami was finishing up Medical School, and 
usually spent weekends studying. However, on this occasion, Usagi and Makoto 
had been able to drag her away.

	Makoto had seventeen-month-old Naomi with her. Minako had Takara but 
had dropped Aiko with her mother for the day. Takara thoroughly enjoyed all 
fairs and was having a blast, meanwhile tiring out the five women. Minako 
finally suggested that they get some drinks and sit down to rest. Takara was 
restless but finally sat down to play with Naomi and let the adults talk.

	Usagi sighed. "I love fairs. Takara sure takes after me." Minako 
smiled and looked at her daughter, who beamed at Usagi at the remark. Ami 
looked at her friends carefully. "Mako...something’s different."

	The other four giggled a little. Makoto put her hands on her hips and 
faked an angry face. "You’ve obviously been studying *way* too much. I cut my 
hair two weeks ago."

	Ami blushed a little. "Oh, that’s right. Sorry but I’ve got finals 
coming up in a couple months and I want to do well on them."

	Rei groaned. "Why’d you have to remind me?"

	Makoto looked to Minako. "Are you all right?"

	"You mean about Keiji?" She waited for her brunette friend to nod 
before sighing. "Well I just got a letter explaining that he’s suing me for 
custody. Shiro’s got a lawyer friend though and he thinks we’ll win for sure."

	"Wow, I hope you do win." Usagi said, looking over at Takara and 
thinking about what would happen if she had to learn that a complete stranger 
was her father. To Takara, as well as them all, Shiro was her father. The 
blonde looked at Makoto. "How’re things going with the store?"

	Makoto let out a heavy breath. "They’re okay. Things haven’t been so 
good with business after all the time I took off for Naomi. And now I’m 
worried."

	"Worried about what? The business?"

	"Well sort of." She hesitated a little. "I’m late."

	"You mean you‘re..." Ami started.

	Makoto nodded. "I think so."

	Usagi smiled. "Well, that’s great! Congratulations."

	"Don’t congratulate me. I don’t even know for sure yet." She pulled 
Naomi into her lap, smoothing the girl's dark hair.

	Minako looked at Naomi. "But you wouldn’t mind, would you?"

	"Of course not. I’m actually almost hoping for it. It’s just that I’d 
have to leave the store for another long period of time. I’m starting to think 
I should hire a manager."

	The other four nodded in understanding. Minako looked at Takara. 
Lately she’d been thinking a lot about Keiji and it caused her to notice 
little things about Takara that reminded her of him. The little girl looked 
mostly like herself, but her green eyes had come from Keiji. Her adorable 
little smile was so much like his that Minako was amazed she never realized it 
before. She found herself praying that he didn’t end up with any sort of 
custody.



•••••••••••••••••••



	"Now, in order to make a proper judgment on the form we should go 
about this battle, I need to know all of the details. Please don’t leave 
anything out. These kinds of things can take months and cost a lot of money, 
but I’ve won the majority of my cases."

	Minako bit her lip, adjusting herself in the stiff leather of the 
chair. "Okay, well, I was dating Shiro when I was about seventeen. We went out 
for a little over two months. I knew he was quite a bit older than I was. To 
my knowledge at the time, he seemed pretty honest. He told me where he worked, 
and when I wanted to keep the relationship a secret from my parents, he 
actually insisted on telling them. I never even suspected, maybe because I was 
just naive. Anyway, the relationship ended when I went to his office and saw 
his two kids. He yelled at me to leave and I did.

	"I never saw him again until that day at the restaurant, and I guess 
that’s when he first realized that Takara was his daughter. Takara believes 
that Shiro is her father."

	"Have you continually told her that he is her father in order for her 
to believe it?"

	Minako shook her head immediately. "Never. She was two when I met him, 
and eventually she’ll be old enough to realize it. But about two months after 
we were married she started calling him ‘daddy’ and obviously I never tried to 
correct her."

	The lawyer nodded and picked up some papers, reading them over. He was 
quiet for a couple of minutes before speaking again. "I did a little research. 
It turns out that he was divorced a year and a half ago. His wife was the one 
who filed for divorce when she found out that he was cheating on her. He has 
custody of their three children, and yes he has had another one, only every 
other Saturday."

	"He has another child?"
	He nodded. "According to the age I’d guess that his poor wife was 
pregnant about the time he was seeing you."

	Minako’s eyes slid shut at the idea. Keiji just became worse a person 
with everything she learned. How could he be so cruel to his wife and 
children, and now to her? "So can you help me win on this one?"

	"Ikada-san, I *know* I can help you win. He’s probably had several 
mistresses, most likely all as innocent as you. And I wouldn’t be one bit 
surprised if quite a few of them had children."

	Minako smiled, letting out a relieved breath that there were good 
chances for her trial. "Thank you."



•••••••••••••••••••


	
	"Mama? You look pretty." Minako turned to the voice and smiled widely. 
Takara was sitting behind her. She would often sit and simply watch Minako get 
ready.

	"Well, thank you. Did you get your things together to play with 
Naomi?"

	Takara nodded, her straight blond hair bouncing with the motion. "I 
wish I didn’t have to go."

	Minako went and sat next to her. "Don’t worry, you’ll have fun. And 
I’m sure Mako has made you cookies. Me and your daddy," She paused at the 
word, realizing how easy that was to say. She never even gave it a second 
thought normally. "We’ll be there to pick you up soon, all right?"

	Takara nodded, heading out the door with Minako close behind her. 
Shiro emerged in front of them, Aiko in his arms. "We’re all ready." Minako 
smiled and kissed Aiko’s cheek, then headed for the stairs, husband and two 
daughters following behind her.

	It was only a ten-minute car trip to Makoto’s house, and Shiro waited 
in the car while Minako took Takara and Aiko up to the door. Makoto smiled at 
the girls when she opened the door. "Hey girls. We’re going to have fun 
today." She took Aiko into her arms as Takara went straight into the house to 
find some toys to play with. Makoto looked at Minako. "Good luck with the 
court."

	Minako smiled. "Thanks. So, what’s the news?"

	Makoto smiled back at her. "I’m pregnant."

	"That’s great! Congratulations. Well we’ll be back as soon as we can. 
I’ll see you later Aiko. Bye Takara!" She had to yell a little louder to make 
sure Takara heard her before heading for the car and the trial that would 
determine Takara’s future.


•••••••••••••••••••


	Minako was a bit overwhelmed at the sight of the courtroom. It was 
huge, completely filled with people. She didn’t think simple custody trials 
were usually like this, but Seigo-san, her lawyer, told her most of them were 
waiting for their own trials. Keiji was sitting with his lawyer on the 
opposite side of the room from where Minako sat. She tried to avoid looking at 
him as she glanced around the courtroom. 

	Her wandering eyes stopped abruptly on a woman sitting in the row 
behind her. She knew without a doubt that it was Keiji’s ex-wife, the one she 
had seen in a photograph. The woman smiled at her and Minako smiled back, 
mostly by reflex. Shiro had to sit back in a row too since he wasn’t actually 
part of the trial.

	They all sat around for awhile before the judge finally entered. They 
were all sworn in and then the judge simply asked for both sides of the story. 
Keiji told a whole bunch of lies, and Minako had to bite her tongue 
from yelling against them. But when it was her turn she told her story, the 
complete truth of it.

	"Well, it looks like we have some very contrasting stories here. I was 
hoping we could keep this simple, but it looks as if one of you has decided 
not to be honest and we must find out who. We will now proceed with the 
attorney’s questioning of witnesses. Plaintiff may go first."

	Keiji’s lawyer first called up Keiji, then Minako. Minako was a little 
shaky about being in front of so many people, but she was determined to win 
this case and forced herself to be calm.

	"Aino-san-"

	"Ikada." Minako interrupted him.

	"Of course, Ikada-san. When you discovered that you were pregnant, 
were you certain that it was Keiji’s baby?"

	"Very certain."

	The lawyer nodded. "However, you never told him about it, did you?"

	Minako swallowed and looked at Keiji. "No, I did not."

	"Didn’t you know he had a right to the child since it was his?"

	"Honestly, I didn’t care. I never wanted to see him again."

	The lawyer looked at her almost evilly and Minako cringed. "Isn’t it 
true that Takara, the child biologically belonging to my client, believes your 
new husband to be her father?"

	"She does call him ‘daddy,’ but I never once told her to. Who else do 
you expect her to think is her father?"

	"Ikada-san, *you* were the one who never told my client about this 
child. You never gave her a chance to know her real father."

	"And I hope she never does."

	The lawyer glared at her again and then announced that he was 
finished. Minako’s lawyer questioned her for a bit and then called on Keiji’s 
ex-wife, who seemed to be siding with Minako. After four hours in the court it 
was time for the judge’s decision. 

	"Although I think it was wrong for Ikada-san to not tell Kyori-san 
about the pregnancy, I agree with her decision completely. Kyori-san was 
unfaithful, and he only wants custody of this child out of spite. I grant 
complete legal custody to Ikada Minako." Minako jumped from her seat to hug 
Shiro, relief filling her completely. Keiji glared at her as he left the 
courtroom. Minako and Shiro left soon after, going to pick up their daughters.


•••••••••••••••••••


	Makoto pulled open the front door, Takara standing right behind her, 
eager to see her parents. Minako had a wide smile on her face, which Makoto 
took for a good sign. "Well?"	

	"We won."She reached down to pick up Takara.

	"Good, congratulations." Makoto smiled at the couple with their 
daughter, inwardly hoping they would never have trouble from Keiji again. 
"Aiko’s asleep in the other room. I’ll go get her."

	Minako handed Takara to Shiro and followed Makoto. They reached the 
family room, where Aiko and Naomi were sleeping side by side in a playpen. 
"How sweet." Minako said. "Excited about having another one?"

	Makoto gently lifted Aiko, trying not to wake her own daughter. "Yeah. 
The pregnancy part isn’t something I expected to do again so soon, but we are 
happy about it."

	Minako took Aiko from Makoto’s arms, cradling her in the crook of her 
arm and being careful to not wake her. "Well I’m not planning on another one 
anytime soon, that’s for sure. I’ve got my two beautiful little girls- as well 
as custody of Takara. And I’m perfectly happy with that."