Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Faith in Darkness ❯ Meeting the Folks ( Chapter 2 )

Standing out side the church, Kouichi Kimura tugged on the collar of his shirt nervously. With a nice dress shirt and pants on, he felt very over dressed for the dinner that he had been waiting a week to have.

"So, this is it, Kouichi?" Tomoko Kimura stood next to her son, wearing a nice black dress and matching jacket. She pulled on her blue hair, making sure the ponytail was still in place, as she looked from the church to her son.

"Yea… Thank again for getting the night off, Mom." Kouichi smiled at his mother, forgetting his nervousness for the moment. "I know a week isn't exactly good notice to make sure both jobs don't call you in."

Smiling at her son, Tomoko shook her head slightly. "It's alright. You come first, you know that." She adjusted her purse strap a little for the fifth time since arriving in front of the church, looking up at the cross at it's top.

"I'm sorry mom…" Kouichi looked at his mother, recognizing her nervous habit of adjusting things. "This will be your first time actually being around dad, won't it?"

Looking at her son, Ms. Kimura blushed faintly. She was a little embarrassed her son had noticed the tension she was feeling so easily. "Is it that obvious?"

Patting her arm, Kouichi gave his mother a soft smile. "I know what you mean. How about, if we both try and get over how we are feeling, we'll treat ourselves to some ice cream tomorrow after you get out of work?"

Tomoko laughed softly as her son used the trick she had always used on him as a young child, when she needed him to do something he wasn't enthusiastic about. Taking her son's hand, she nodded. "Alright. But no ice cream flinging like when you were seven, alright?"

Kouichi blushed from the memory of the ice cream fight he had caused when he was young, nodding quickly in agreement. "Deal. Well… Shall we?" He motioned towards the door.

Biting her lip a moment, the twin's mother finally nodded, walking with her son into the church.

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Faith in Darkness

Chapter 2 "Meeting the folks"

Written by Rocker Starlight

A/N ~ This is the second chapter of the present fic for Lady Iapetus, so I hope everyone enjoys this. ^_^ While I think some of the parent's may have been given names, I wasn't able to find more then a few, so I had to pick out the rest. I'm not going to worry about explaining who until the end of the chapter, so if I named someone incorrectly, blame the lack of info about the parents on the net. ^_^;;

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Shiro Jan's life as a priest had helped him be ready for many things. Living with his sister, Rei, soon after high school, he had rarely run into anything that could overwhelm him. Even raising his adopted daughter had not been as difficult as most would think, since she had always been a model child.

However, nothing in his life had prepared him for the dinner he had made plans for. The number of people was not so troublesome, an even dozen total counting his sibling and himself. However, the people themselves were not exactly what he had expected at all.

Sitting on the couch, Yuriko Kanbara sat with her husband, Hiroaki, carrying on a conversation with Kousei and Satomi Minamoto. Both pairs of parents were dressed up for the evening, obviously having met before from the way they were talking. Shiro thought he overheard Yuriko mention something about her son Takuya and a meeting she had gone to with one of his teachers, but he stopped listening before he heard more.

From the kitchen, Nariko Shibayama was helping his sister with the dinner. He had been quite surprised when he found out the boy's --Junpei he thought his name was-- parents were the owners of one of the more popular restaurants in the area, as well as a candy story nearby. Toshi, the large man who was Nariko's husband, carried out a tray of food to the table it was being placed on. It was obvious all three members of the family were used to eating well, from the plump, but well built, build they all had.

Satu and Aiko Himi stood in a corner, holding one another's hand as they spoke quietly to one another. The pair seemed quite infatuated with one another, even after the years they had been married, but had the taste to simply be cute without going overboard.

"No, I did not agree to that!" Wrinkling his nose, Shiro watched as Sakura Orimoto talked on her cell phone. The young woman had been talking to someone from her work since she had arrived, wearing a business suit as opposed to a dress like the other women had. He certainly hoped some of her traits did not pass on to her daughter.

"Shiro, will you come help me?" Turning to the voice, the priest walked into the kitchen at Rei's call. He watched as she and Mrs. Shibayama finished up the last of the food, while Alice put together her own tray of food and left the kitchen.

"The children will be eating downstairs then?" Shiro asked as she handed him a tray.

Rei smiled at her brother, helping to arrange the last tray with Nariko. "That's right. They'll try and get her to come out a little, while we all talk up here."

Shiro frowned as he was ushered out, following his sister as the last two trays were put down. "But is it alright to leave them alone with her? What if they are some hooligans or something?"

"Shiro…" Ms. Jan placed her hand on her brother's shoulder. "I met everyone as they came in, she'll be fine. Now, have Ms. Kimura and her son arrived yet?"

As if on cue, a knock came from the door. Rei pulled away from Shiro, smiling sweetly as she answered the door. "Ahh, perfect timing. Dinner just finished. Please, come right in."

She moved to the side, letting Ms. Kimura and her son to walk in. The older woman adjusted her hair again slightly as she looked around the room, simply standing inside the room as she nervously noticed the other parents.

"Kouichi, Alice is sitting up dinner with your friends downstairs. Could you help them?'" The young boy smiled, moving towards the staircase as Rei turned to the older woman, noticing the way she was fidgeting with a button on her jacket nervously. "Mrs. Kimura, then? My name is Rei Jan, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"A pleasure. And please, call me Tomoko." The blue haired woman smiled softly, her face still showing her nervousness, despite her attempt to hide it. "Do you need help with anything?"

"As a matter of fact, everything is ready. We can simply sit down to eat. I'll take your jacket, and we'll get right into things." Ms. Jan smiled, moving to take Tomoko's jacket and leading her into the room.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The dinner went slowly, everyone enjoying and complimenting Ms. Jan's meal as they ate. As the main course of the meal was enjoyed, the conversations finally began to stir once again.

"So, you own the delicatessen over on Seto and Kenshin?" Shiro asked.

Nariko grinned as she nodded. "Oh yes. We act as a restaurant with a very broad range. Anything from traditional meals, to foreign ones like pizza or hamburgers. If you would both like to come down sometime, Toshi and I would love to have you."

Shiro smiled and nodded to the woman, taking another bite out of his riceball. "Perhaps we will. If we could, I would like to get down to the reason we asked you all to dinner this evening."

"You want to make sure your girl doesn't get in trouble with ours, right?" Sakura asked, brushing a lock of brown hair from her eyes as she watched the priest.

The preacher blinked in surprise as he nodded. "Actually, yes… But how did you…?"

Mrs. Orimoto grinned a bit more, picking up a piece of celery in her fingers and nibbling it. "I'm good at judging people. A handy trait when you work in the business field."

Shiro frowned slightly, taking another bite of his rice before he continued. "Well, be that as it may… That IS what I wish to speak with you all about."

"But why speak with us?" Kousei Minamoto looked over to the priest curiously. "I mean, the children can speak for themselves. Kouji's been doing it for quite awhile, trust me."

"Shiro was a little off guard with young Kouji and Kouichi both showed up in the church, asking about Alice. Since he's protective of her, he thought it best to speak with the parents, you see." Rei answered simply.

Tomoko blinked for a moment as she heard the explanation. "Why would they come to you? Why wouldn't they just speak with her themselves?"

"Alice… Well, she's a special case of ours at times." Shiro said with a sigh. "During the entire time she's been with us, she's done little more then go to school or help around the house and church. While we do worry about her being like this, she never expresses an interest in anything."

"Maybe she needs a shrink?" Hiroaki Kanbara blurted out, receiving a swat on his arm from his wife.

Yuriko glared at her husband softly. "While my husband has trouble with his choice of words… Perhaps a psychologist could help her?" She asked, turning towards the priest and his wife.

Rei gave a soft sigh, setting her chopsticks down. "We took her to a counselor once. He said she gave him almost nothing to work with. She's a total introvert, ignoring almost anything outside of herself, to keep from dealing with it."

Tomoko took a sip of her water, thinking for a minute before she spoke. "Maybe something happened to her before you took her in? Did the adoption agency say anything about her past?'

"That's part of the problem, she doesn't seem to have one…" Shiro said softly, bringing a surprise look from most of the table. "She arrived on her doorstep, simply asking for room and board. At first, we didn't think much of it, assuming she was a run away or something, and waiting to hear from her parents or for her to tell us something."

"But that never happened. Finally, we looked up her name to see if we could find her family and find out what happened, but there wasn't a listing remotely near this district with the last name McCoy. We called the closest one, but they said they had never heard the name Alice before, ever." Rei finished for her brother, resting her hands in her lap.

"How awful…" Aiko Himi spoke up. "Her family must be worried sick, wherever they are."

Satu nodded in agreement with his wife. "Have you tried speaking with the police, perhaps?"

"We tried that…" Shiro shrugged helplessly. "All it resulted in was another dead end. For all effects, she seemed to simply appear from nowhere. Rei and I have been thanking God that she wasn't harmed before she found our church."

"Although I wish she wanted something more in her clothing…" Rei commented wistfully. "All her clothing is as black as the dress she came here with. Aside from the small cross around her neck and her hair, she's almost covered in it daily."

Sakura grinned slightly. "Time around Izumi will change that. She's got my taste for clothes and shopping. If they do hang out, trust me. She'll have new clothing within one to two weeks."

Everyone at the table laughed some, relaxing the mood a bit. Shiro looked around the assembled parents as he spoke. "Back to the topic… Could I ask that you all tell me a little about your children?"

"Takuya's a good boy." Yuriko smiled. "He could use better habits with school, and towards his little brother sometimes, but his heart is in the right place."

"And he never hesitates to dive into things sometimes, even if he hits it head first." Hiroaki added, sharing a small laugh as his wife nodded in agreement.

"Our son is very well mannered." Satu looked up from his meal with a grin as he spoke. "It's not many parents who can say their child began looking out a bit for themselves so young. But Tomoki has grown quite a bit since being around his friends."

Aiko nodded with a sad smile on her face. "I do miss the little boy who enjoyed his parent's babying him though, sometimes…"

Toshi laughed softly. "Trust me, if you have another, the feeling will probably pass. I mean, Junpei's always been a handful. But raising a son while trying to run a successful restaurant isn't easy. And with how hard he tried to get our attention, it just made things worse sometimes."

Nariko nodded in agreement. "Toshi is right, but he has grown out of that. Now, we rarely see him, since he's always heading out with his friends now."

"Izumi's kind of the same way." Sakura added, waving her piece of celery around a little as she spoke. "She's always had a temper and everything, and moving around just made it harder on her sometimes. But since her father's job often has us moving from location to location, it wasn't something we could avoid."

Sakura's face lit up as she took a bite. "But she's such a mature young woman. She always speaks her mind, and never takes any grief from anyone. I still remember when a co-worker's son decided to be a little friendlier then he should one time when I took her to the office with me, and we found the poor boy under a pile of garbage, with Izumi still fuming over it! If my friend hadn't known how her son could be, it might have been a whole lot worse."

"She sounds like quite the handful." Kousei commented, laughing at the Sakura's prideful grin. "Kouji's never been too much trouble. He's had his moments, especially after I married Satomi, but we've slowly worked them out. It's nice to see he finally has friends to be with, rather then acting like he can do anything on his own."

"It's not his fault, Kousei." Satomi looked at her husband, giving his hand a soft touch for a moment. "He simply had trouble adjusting with everything, that's all. I'm simply glad he's accepted me now."

Shiro smiled softly as he listened. From the sounds of their parents, the small group of children seemed like they might be a good influence on Alice after all. Feeling Rei's foot tapping his, he looked over to see her watching Ms. Kimura, who was shifting the remains of her food around on her plate.

"Ms. Kimura?" Shiro blinked at the surprised look on her face, obviously not expecting to be spoken to. "Could you tell us about your son? Kouichi, I believe his name was?"

"He's my world." Tomoko spoke softly. "He's meant everything to me since…well, since a long time ago. He's very gentle with everything, always trying to do the right thing, and he's always worrying about others. With his grandmother gone, I'm glad he had his friends with him, so he's not lonely while I'm at work."

"When did she die, Tomoko?" Mr. Minamoto asked, sounding rather concerned.

"A couple years ago… Shortly before Kouji and Kouichi met one another. Kouichi told me later that she had told him about his brother, but asked him not to mention it to me at the time…"

"Tomoko I'm sorry… After dinner, I'd like to know where she was buried, so I can pay my respects to her."

"Me too." Satomi added, getting a slightly surprised look from Kousei. "Perhaps, we could plan to have dinner? All five of us, I mean?" She asked hopefully to the other woman.

Tomoko gave a soft smile as she nodded. "Thank you, Kousei. As for dinner… We'll see how my jobs go… But I hope we can. For the boys' sake, if nothing else."

Shiro watched quietly for the moment, realizing something completely separate was going on, but deciding to let them talk without interruption for the moment.

"Well, then it sounds as if everything is settled?" Rei spoke up, catching her sibling off guard, despite that he had already been thinking the same thing. "After we finish dinner, we'll let them know we have no problems with Alice going out with your children."

Hiroaki smiled and nodded with everyone else. "Just don't let her study with Takuya, or she may develop a bad case of sleeping in class."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Kouichi Kimura could think of easier things he had done in his life. Battling his friends before he had been freed from Cherubimon's control? A cake walk. Fighting and defeating Ice Devimon? A snap! Trying to start a conversation with Alice during dinner? Now that was a challenge…

"So, Tachi's been on a mild warpath lately." Kouji commented, as he took a bite of his food.

"Oh yea?" Takuya's grin widened a bit. "The poor guy still annoyed with Kouichi and me for pestering him?"

Kouji shrugged absently. "Not sure. He's just been giving everyone in the kendo club crap lately. He even tried picking a fight with a couple of the kids who study kendo outside the school, but Kakashi-sensai put a stop to it, before it got worse."

"You know, jerks like him really take the fun out of things. They act like they can do what they want, then they turn into a major pain when someone denies them something." Junpei wrinkled his nose slightly. "I almost wish someone would teach him a lesson or something, just so he might grow up a little."

Kouichi sighed to himself, taking a couple small bites from his rice ball as he listened. The meal itself had been done for a while, but since no one really wanted to go up and disturb the adults during their discussion, the table still needed to be cleared.

"Oh, I hate guys like him…" Izumi spoke up, frowning. "Reminds me of his boy I met at my mom's work. Although he certainly learned to look without touching, after half of a supply cabinet was dumped on his head." The blond gave a victory sign as she grinned.

"We better just hope Junpei doesn't repeat that guy's mistake then." Tomoki teased, grinning up at the older boy as Junpei blushed faintly.

Takuya laughed as he listened, shaking his head a little. "You know, it's amazing any guy looks at you, Izumi. Half the time when I hear one talk about you, I hear how many teeth they lost in the same conversation!"

Izumi pouted at the teasing. "They can whine all they like. I never did anything without being provoked. Besides, almost every single boy in our school is more immature then Tomoki's classmates."

"Yea, they can't all be as mature as I am, after all." Junpei grinned, puffing his chest out a little.

"Yea, well they can't stuff away their lunch in minutes like you, either." Kouji teased. "The only one to rival you there is Takuya."

Feeling the sensing arguments coming on, Kouichi groaned softly as he palmed his face. When he had arranged for them to eat with Alice during the dinner upstairs, he had hoped his friends might help in getting the girl to open up some. Instead, he felt like they were putting on a small show for the blond introvert, something to laugh at in her head as they teased and argued.

"Kouichi?' The blue haired boy looked up as Izumi called his name, standing next to Alice with some of the dishes in their hands. "Can you get the rest of the dishes for us?"

"Yea, no problem." He answered, turning away from the girls and collecting the remainder of the plates and chopsticks. With the pile in hand, he turned, following the pair into another room of the basement, which seemed to have a large kitchen set inside it, although it seemed more industrial with all the different things made of metal instead of the normal tile that most kitchens were.

As the three began setting the dishes down on the counter next to the sink, Izumi turned to Alice. "Why don't you go ahead back? We can handle this, after all you fed us and everything." The gothic girl watched the older one for a moment, before she gave a small nod and turned, walking quietly out.

"Now then…" Izumi spoke up as Alice left, finding the large metal dishwasher near the sink and sliding it open. "Why haven't you tried talking to her yet, Kouichi?"

Kouichi blinked from the question, freezing in the middle of collecting some of the dishes up as he turned his head to the girl. "What do you mean, Izumi?"

"Kouichi, you're almost as easy to read as your brother is. You've wanted to try and strike a conversation up with Alice all night. So why haven't you?"

"It's not that easy… Especially with the others constantly holding the conversations so far." Lifting the dishes, Kouichi walked over to the girl, the pair slowly putting the dishes into the washer.

"Well, they have been hogging it some… But that's just them, you know? You should still try. After all, if you want her to open up to you, you have to offer your hand first and give it a shot!" Izumi's tone held her cheerful attitude in it as she put the last dish from the handful in. "Go collect another load, I've got to get something."

Kouichi watched the tall blond walk out of the room, shrugging to himself before he resumed collecting dishes up. As he started putting the second handful into the washer, a pair of hands reached out and picked up a couple glasses.

"Thanks Izu…" Kouichi paused as he looked, staring into Alice's ice blue eyes for a moment before his cheeks flushed. "S…sorry, I thought Izumi came back to help."

The girl in black watched him a moment, before she turned and put the glasses away, methodically taking the dishes one at a time and slipping them into the washer.

Kouichi watched her a moment before he started helping again, wondering if he had upset her somehow, although he wasn't sure how he could know for certain of not. Putting the last dish away, he watched her slide the washer door shut, his hands fumbling around a little nervously.

'Well, Izumi said to just give it a shot…'

"Alice?" Kouichi tried to keep his voice from shaking from his nervousness as she looked over to him. "How was your dinner?"

Alice gave a small shrug as she took a step away from the machine. "I am used to Ms. Jan's cooking, it was average for her."

Kouichi gave a soft exhale as she spoke, relaxing some. "I wish I had meals that nice daily. It definitely beats TV dinners all the time."

"Your mother does not cook for you?" She asked in that same neutral voice, as she started to walk for the door.

"No, my mom works two jobs. Eating with her in general is hard to do sometimes. But we make do." Kouichi followed along as she walked out of the room, heading towards the stairs instead of back to the room with the other children.

Alice never even turned her head back as she continued. "What about your father?"

Kouichi rubbed the back of his head slightly as he answered. "They're divorced, actually. Kouji lives with our father, and I live with out mother. Honestly, I didn't know about Kouji until a couple years ago."

"I see." Alice responded shortly as she led the way into the room with the adults. He swallowed quietly as he went in after her, following her lead as she began to collect dishes around the conversing parents, soon having a nice stack built up in his arms, about twice as tall as the smaller one Alice had.

Tomoki's father looked up as he lay his plate on the dishes, giving the book a concerned look for a moment. "Sure you don't want some help with that? It looks pretty heavy."

"I've got it, Mr. Himi." Kouichi grimaced from the weight of the dishes, taking his time as he finally reached the stairwell, Alice waiting patiently for him before leading the way back downstairs.

"Are you sure you do not require assistance? I could get one of your friends, if you wish." Alice asked as they began walking down the stairs.

Kouichi winced from a couple plates pinching his finger slightly for a moment, taking it slow as he made his way down the stairs. "It's alright, I've got it. Just lead the way for me."

Nodding, Alice continued down the stairs, taking her own time to keep pace with Kouichi. After a few minutes, they reached the washer again, Alice quickly sliding her stack into it and working to relieve Kouichi's arms of the weight as he held them for her. Finally, the teen was able to relax, as Alice slide the door to the washer shut and locked it, turning the appliance on.

"Thanks, I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold those…" Kouichi leaned against the counter, rubbing his arms a little.

"Why did you not simply set them down?" Alice asked without looking, as she opened a small flap on the top of the washer and added the soup.

"Well…" Kouichi's cheeks flushed anew, his mind never having thought about just setting them down. "If I had set them down, it might have taken longer to put them all away. I thought it might save us the trouble."

The young girl nodded to the response, accepting it as she stood up. "Thank you, for assisting me." She said simply, moving past him as she walked from the room.

Kouichi followed along, rubbing the back of his head as he shrugged. "No problem, I never mind lending a hand."

As they walked back into the room, five pairs of eyes turned towards them, making Kouichi's cheeks flush again. Junpei and Takuya's grins seemed a little uneasy looking, while his brother had the same grin on his face he had the other day when he brought Kouichi to the church in the first place. Izumi's face held a sweet smile, while Tomoki just watched them come in normally.

"What?" Kouichi asked, the looks making him feel further uneasy. "Why are you all staring?"

"Nothing at all." Junpei answered. "We were just talking about this guy we know. He's always being such a nice guy. Making sure people are alright, helping clean up and doing dishes…"

Kouichi frowned slightly at the comment, knowing whom it was Junpei meant.

"Perhaps you should tell your friend you appreciate it then, instead of simply talking about him when he is not around?" Alice spoke up, surprising more of the other teens.

"Uh, yea… I'll make sure I do…" Junpei said softly, watching as Alice and Kouichi took their seats at the table again.

"Oh, I just remembered! I was talking to the boys about going to this new karaoke club next weekend. I was wondering if you would like to join us, Alice?" Izumi smiled to the other blond as she asked.

"I do not know. I would need to speak with Father Jan before I can answer."

"I have no problem, if you wish to go." The table of teens looked to see the priest and Ms. Kimura standing in the doorway, both smiling. "You're welcome to go with them if you like, Alice."

Alice looked at the older man a moment, before giving a small nod. "I will join you for the karaoke then." She said as she turned back to Izumi.

"Wonderful! Are you free next Wednesday?" Izumi's smile brightened at the gothic girl nodded. "Alright, then we'll go clothes shopping after school Wednesday, so we having something nice for the club!"

The boys all twitched as the girl spoke, simply content she wasn't adding them into the shopping as well.

"Well, your parents are all waiting for you upstairs. You should probably all hurry, before they get impatient." Shiro spoke up, still smiling at the group.

The teens each said their goodbye's to Alice, Izumi confirming the shopping date before she left. Tomoki ran ahead, while Takuya and Junpei began trying to figure out when a karaoke club outing had been planned.

"Thanks for the great dinner. It's been fun." Kouji said to the priest and Alice, walking up to them and the twin's mother.

"Agreed, please tell Ms. Jan it was a wonderful meal, for us." Kouichi added, smiling softly.

"Of course, I'm sure she'll enjoying hearing more praise." Shiro smiled to the twins as he moved out of the doorway more.

Kouji nodded, turning to the blond girl and bowing his head politely. "Thanks for having us over too, it was nice meeting you."

"It was nice to meet you all as well." Alice spoke, bringing a surprised blink from the priest, unused to hearing her speak to people other then his sister and himself normally.

As Ms. Kimura led the boys up the stairs, Kouichi turned his head back to the woman. "So, how did it go, mom? Are we still on for tomorrow?"

Tomoko smiled at Kouichi, giggling softly. "Yes, we are. Kouji, you're welcome to join us, if you like."

Kouji turned his head to his mother, giving a small smile. "Sounds great mom, what's the plan?"

Ms. Kimura tapped her lips a moment. "How does ice cream and a movie sound to you both? I get out around five tomorrow, since I only work once, so we can try and catch a evening show, maybe even get dinner."

Kouji smiled more as he nodded. "Sounds great mom."

Kouichi simply smiled as he watched his mom invite his twin along, feeling a bit proud of her for it as they walked out of the house.

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Rocker ~ Oh good, another chapter done.

ToyAgu ~ Umm… What all happened?

Rocker ~ *blinks* ToyAgu, did you even READ the chapter?

ToyAgu ~ Umm… well…. Kinda… maybe… not really…

Flora ~ *slips up and hugs ToyAgu from behind* ToyAgu is too much your action and adventure muse it seems. He has a little trouble keeping up with this kind of story.

Rocker ~ Yea yea… yet, he only gives me crap when I DO write a fight scene in a story…

Witchie ~ *grins* Well, take what ya can get then. Anyway, Next time, is the big karaoke outing! But first Izumi needs to get Alice something more then her gothic church girl outfit to wear. Plus Kouichi's got his own problems he has to deal with. And why is Takuya being so secretive suddenly? Guess being a teen might not be easier then a Legendary Warrior, as the gang realizes next time, in Faith in Darkness!

A/N ~ As I said, I had to come up with the majority of first names myself, so in case your not used to the character's last names to know who is who…

Yuriko Kanbara - Takuya's mother

Hiroaki Kanbara - Takuya's father

Kousei Minamoto - Koji and Kouichi's father

Satomi Minamoto - Kouji's step-mother

Tomoko Kimura - Kouji and Kouichi's mother

Aiko Himi - Tomoki's mother

Satu Himi - Tomoki's dad

Sakura Orimoto - Izumi's Mother

Nariko Shibayama - Junpei's Mother

Toshi Shibayama - Junpei's Father

And if your curious about siblings for the families, aside from Kouji/Kouichi…

Shinya Kanbara - Takuya's younger brother

Yutaka Himi - Tomoki's elder brother

Anyway… Can anyone name the special guest name included in the chapter? If you can name it, and tell me where it is from, you'll at least get a "Hey, someone saw it!" From me, if nothing else. ^_^;; Would offer some minor prize, but I'm already over my neck in fics that need working on. But you never know, might offer a guest shot or something in a future fic. ^_^V Guess people will just have to guess and see, right?