Lungwort–Thou art my life

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Rin had forgotten why exactly he'd become Sachi's father in the first place, but the past twenty-four hours had been a rude wake-up call.

"Please, Rin. She's the future. So raise her to be the future we need! Raise her to be strong, yet kind-hearted and caring like you are. Raise her to survive in this world. Raise her to lead humanity into a New World one day."

It was too soon, Rin couldn't start so early.

He needed to.

After what had happened this morning, he knew he needed to. He just wished he could give Sachi a little more time to be a carefree baby.

From how much of an understanding of this world she seemed to have, though, it was much too late for that. Rin bit his lip to keep from making any noise as tears slid silently down his face and he fought the whimper rising in his throat.

She was so small, so young. Sachi was such a bright and happy presence in his life that Rin had difficulty swallowing the realization that he needed to start teaching the little girl how to survive.

Clearly, the kid understood this world possibly better than Rin did. She understood what needed to be done in certain situations.

He'd start teaching her how to defend herself tomorrow, he decided as he sunk into the chair in the corner of the nursery, shoulders shaking as he sobbed as quietly as possible to keep from waking anyone in his group and disrupting their much- needed sleep.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin had been on a run with Sachi that morning. It shouldn't have been dangerous, they'd long since taken care of the corpses that had lingered in the neighborhood since they'd decided to stay in the house for a while.

They'd had to stay the night and Sachi had happily curled up with Daddy the whole night until sunrise. Rin had been woken up by the clicking of a gun safety being turned off. His eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times, sure he was still dreaming when he saw what was happening in front of him.

First, there was a man he didn't know standing over him and Sachi, wearing a jean jacket, jeans, cowboy boots, and a red baseball cap, and pointing a handgun at them.

Then, there was Sachi, his perfect little ball of happiness and sunshine, holding his knife, pointing it at the man.

Rin blinked and rubbed at his eyes to make sure he was seeing right.

"That's a big knife you got there, lil lady. Mind puttin' it down?" The man requested lightheartedly, like he wasn't pointing a loaded fucking gun at a teenaged boy and a four-year-old when they'd woken up.

"No." Sachi answered sternly. "Strangers are bad. Knife stays up." 

Rin didn't know whether to have a heart attack or be proud. He settled for de-escalating the situation first.

"Go away and we'll leave too. Fair deal." Sachi offered before he could even get a word in. Rin gaped at the near-four year old. She was striking a deal to talk down a potentially dangerous man with a gun. Rin still wasn't sure this was actually happening.

"I wanted that there sword. It's a pretty piece, ain't it? Pretty useful to me. Won't draw more of the dead to me if I use a blade instead of a gun." The man tried reasoning. The toddler wasn't budging.

"No. Family sword is mine one day. Find knife like this one." She denied. The man himself looked positively stressed that a small child was not only holding a knife at him, but winning an argument and offering a totally plausible alternative for him to take.

The man frowned before putting his gun down and putting the safety back on. He looked bewildered as he spoke.

"Uh. Well, alright. Whoever taught you did a good job, kiddo. I respect that. Happy survivin." The man left with no further arguments against the little girl, still baffled at what had just happened.

As soon as he was out of sight, Sachi put the knife down and turned around to smile widely at Rin.

"Daddy, he thinks you are cool, and me too! That is good!" She cheered, not realizing her father was two seconds from having a stroke. Rin scooped her up into him arms and held her for a long minute.

"How did you learn to hold a knife?" He gasped.

"I see you and Papa and Izumo all the times do it. I copied you. Am I cool like Daddy and Papa now?" The girl was only excited, not at all fazed by what just transpired. She didn't understand the weight of that situation. Or maybe she did and Rin just wanted to believe she didn't

"Good-Good job, sweetie." He stuttered out, holding her tighter.

".....Are you mad at me, Daddy? Was I wrong?" She asked hesitantly, picking up on Rin's behavior.

"No! No, you were super cool, Sachi. I'm proud of you. I just....I wanted you to have a good childhood and....and I don't know if I can give you that anymore if you already know what to do when things like this happen. I'm sorry." He apologized, giving a weak smile even though he felt his eyes prick and blinked back tears.

"It's okay, Daddy. I wanna be good like you. I will be strong like you too. And then I can play with Tsuku after I am done being cool!" Sachi told him, trying to comfort her obviously upset father. Rin nodded and wiped at his eyes, standing up and grabbing his backpack and sword.

"Alright, let's go home. You can go play with Tsukumo and Izumo while I tell Papa about our run, okay?" He suggested. Sachi nodded and held his hand as they walked back to the house they were inhabiting currently.

§~•~§~•~§

"She's already almost four....God I can't believe it's been so long." Bon marveled. Rin was in his lap, head laid on a broad shoulder as he told his boyfriend what had happened that morning.

"I know. I wanted her to be able to only worry about what dolls to play with next rather than what technique she'd learn to take down zombies with. I've given it as long as I can. I can't not teach her to at least defend herself after this. I just wish it didn't feel like I'm ripping her childhood away." Rin sighed heavily, snuggling deeper into Bon's embrace.

Bon always knew what to do when Rin didn't. Bon was smart and strong and sure. He was a part of Rin's life that he could never loose. If he ever lost Bon, Rin would feel like he'd lost his own head.

"Okay. We'll take turns teaching her. We protect the kids very well, that was just an unfair situation made fair by how early Sachi always wakes up. It's not like we'll be sending them on runs alone or having them hunting with us in the woods until they're big enough and capable enough to handle themselves. They're still little, Rin. Don't worry so much about it, okay?" Bon suggested wisely.

Rin leaned up to place a thankful kiss on the man's lips. Bon always knew what to say to make him feel better about things. Rin was lucky he has both Bon and Izumo to love him and take care of him when he needed it. He was thankful he had people to keep his head on straight. He didn't think he could survive if he ever had to live without them.

"Okay." He whispered in agreement.

"Will you go back to sleeping with me and Izumo now? We've missed you." Bon murmured, carding a hand through Rin's hair. He cut it every once in a while, sometimes shoulder length, sometimes just trimming the ends. This time, he'd cut most of it off, opting for the shortest haircut Bon had seen on him yet. His hair when it was it's shortest had formed wild white curls that stuck out in all directions. Then, it grew out into straighter locks with more wave than curl. Bon figured Rin was the kind of person who looked good no matter what haircut he had, because he hadn't seen a single haircut on Rin that he despised.

Rin nodded. "I just....that baby starved to death, Bon. Can you even imagine? It was like getting sucker lunched. I was prepared for a zombie baby, but somehow, the bones get to me more." Rin tried his best to explain.

"You don't need to apologize, it's fine. I still haven't even gone into that room myself. I can't seem to work up the nerve to see it." Bon admitted, rubbing soothing circles into Rin's hip over his shirt where his other hand rested.

Rin hummed and let himself relax into the warmth and comfort of his boyfriend of two years, going on three. He wondered if Bon would propose to him soon or if he'd wait for Izumo to fully integrate more into the relationship and propose to both of them at once. Rin couldn't tell which one he wanted. Being proposed to at the same time as someone else bothered him, in a petty way. He wanted all of Bon's attention on him when he proposed.

Rin fell asleep thinking about the future of his relationship rather than teaching his daughter to fight zombies and humans alike.