Written for deathberryprompts' weekly prompt, 'graceful'. Not technically adultery, but it's 686 compliant and Ichiruki. You have been warned.

One Question

by hashtagartistlife

"Daddy, do you love mommy?

A simple enough question, with what should have been a simple enough answer, but Ichigo's words stick in his throat.

"O — of c—" the of course tangles up on his tongue, refuses to make it past his teeth; Kazui looks at him with those guileless eyes inherited from his mother and Ichigo stalls for time. "What makes you ask that, all of a sudden?"

His son scowls (well, as much as those soft, open features of his will let him scowl, anyway) and looks down at his toes. "Ichika said — Ichika said her daddy tells her mommy he loves her every morning. She said her daddy hugs her mommy all the time, but she's never seen you do the same."

Kazui looks back up at him, and Ichigo feels his mouth go dry. "I— I know it's silly, daddy, but — but still. You love mommy, right? Ichika's wrong, right?"

Don't you miss her? A similar question, a million years ago and a million miles away about a woman who couldn't be more different to the subject of this question if they'd been heaven and earth; but once again, Ichigo finds himself reaching for the same response.

Of course I don't miss her. "Of course I love her," he replies, and Kazui lights up; he gives Ichigo a gap-toothed grin and runs away, satisfied. But left alone, smiling bitterly to himself, Ichigo knows the truth; a heavy thing that bows his shoulders more and more with every passing year.

He has never been a graceful liar under pressure, after all.