A/N: I do not own Inazuma Eleven.

This fic centers on the following families. If you are not comfortable with them, feel free to click the back button and exit the page.

Aki and Ichinose with a son (Yoshi)

Otonashi and Fudou with a daughter (Sakura)

Natsumi and Gouenji with a son (Kaoru)

All children are aged between one to two years. I hope their names aren't too odd.

Respite

Aki stretched her arms over her head as she took a deep breath.

"What a beautiful day!" she breathed out, enjoying the scent of fresh air in the morning. Her companions nodded in agreement.

"You're right! Clear skies, bright sun, cool breeze…" Otonashi listed.

"A perfect day for a stroll in the park," added Natsumi.

The three were out early on this wonderful day of rest and appreciation for mothers like themselves. Their husbands volunteered (were threatened) to stay at home with the children and offered (were held at knife-point) to take care of everything in the house while their wives went out to have some fun on their day off.

"We need to start getting out of the house more often. I miss mornings like these!" said Otonashi wistfully, flicking her long bangs out of her face and basking in the sunlight.

"We do get to get out of the house," corrected Natsumi. "It's just that today, it belongs to us, ourselves and we."

Aki sighed. "I can't help but feel a little bad for the guys." The other two stopped walking and stared at her incredulously with wide eyes.

"What? It's just that I felt we were being a little unfair by dumping all our stuff on them before rushing out of the house," she defended.

Natsumi huffed. "Well, they just have to learn how to handle things on their own."

Otonashi nodded. "Yes, and don't worry! I'm sure they'll be fine."

Fudou grumbled in annoyance as he swept the floor with a broom. "Remind me again WHY we're up at this ungodly hour doing CHORES?"

"Because," explained Ichinose, "we won't be able to get it done while the children are awake." He had a forced grin on his face as his hands clenched a mop tightly. Clearly, he wasn't enjoying this any much more than he was.

Gouenji calmly dusted the tables and chairs. "Would you rather we be in our own homes, each having to clean one house by ourselves plus take care of our children one-on-one?"

The other two shuddered. "Good thing you came up with the idea to meet up at one house then. It's better if there're three of us working together to keep one house standing and three kids satisfied," said Fudou.

"At least it's not YOUR house we're at," thought Gouenji, frowning at a spot of dirt he couldn't remove.

Natsumi checked her watch. "It's almost ten thirty. Shall we get going?"

"Oh, yes! Let's move!" cheered Otonashi, grabbing her companions' hands and dragging them onwards.

Laughing with excitement, the trio made their way towards the shopping center.

"Hurry up with that milk!" yelled Ichinose, frantically trying to balance two crying children on his arms while rocking them.

"I'm trying!" snapped Gouenji. "The stupid stove won't turn on! Piece of -"

"Watch the language!" warned Fudou as he cradled his daughter in one arm and tried to prepare the children's food with his other.

The kitchen was a mess. Earlier efforts to clean it had gone down the drain, quite literally. Ichinose wrestled Yoshi and Kaoru into their chairs and rushed to help Gouenji get the fire started.

"Hmph, some flame striker…" Fudou muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, the platinum blond heard him and shot him a dirty look. The glare turned into a smirk when Fudou received a faceful of mashed food while trying to feed Sakura.

"I got it!" whooped Ichinose, jumping away when fire burst out of the stove. Gouenji turned his attention back to heating up the milk while Fudou tried to feed all three children at once.

That left…

Ichinose's eyes widened and he whipped his head towards the toaster, which was billowing black smoke.

"Our breakfast!" he wailed.

Music flowed from speakers and cool air sailed through the room. The soft clink of metal cutlery blended in with the chattering of patrons as they ate and conversed.

Letting out a sigh of content, Otonashi sat back and patted her stomach. "That was the best meal I've had in ages!" she exclaimed.

Aki leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes, smiling in satisfaction. "It's not often we get to eat at fancy restaurants like this and receive VIP treatment."

"I'm glad you two enjoyed the meal," said Natsumi, wiping her mouth with a napkin. Setting it down, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers. In a split second, a waiter appeared with the menu and handed it to her before bowing and excusing himself. Opening it up, she flipped it to the last section and smiled at her friends from across the table.

"Now, who wants dessert?"

"WAAAH!"

Gouenji resisted the urge to slam his palms over his ears as Sakura's piercing cry tore though his house. He kept a firm hold on Kaoru, who was trying to wriggle out of his grasp and get his hands on some throwing material. Fudou was dangling stuffed animals in front of Sakura, trying to calm her down, while Ichinose was chasing after Yoshi, who had escaped from his chair and was currently running around the living room.

Like the kitchen, the room had become unrecognisable. Toys littered the ground, sofa cushions were thrown all over the place, books were out of their shelves and even the coffee table was overturned.

With a yelp, Ichinose fell to the ground face first as he tripped over some of Kaoru's building blocks. Yoshi giggled in excitement, continuing to run around and expertly dodging all the debris on the floor. Taking a deep breath and mentally counting to ten, Gouenji shot out his free hand and grabbed Yoshi, lifting him off the ground.

Finding himself a new playmate, Kaoru eagerly started reaching out for Yoshi and pinched him, causing the volume of cries to double.

Ichinose was still lying on the floor, groaning in frustration. "And I thought teaching soccer to the youths at the club was bad…" he mumbled.

Yoshi and Kaoru had begun to fight. Gouenji struggled to keep them apart, and ended up shoving them in front of Fudou's face.

"You're the lawyer, reason with them!" he yelled, trying to make himself heard over the din.

"What are you, nuts? They can't even form a coherent sentence, let alone - OW!" Confused and frightened by all the commotion, Sakura had reached up and bitten her father's hand. It was Fudou's turn to shove her in front of Gouenji.

"You're the doctor, do something!" he shouted.

Being in such close proximity with one another, all three children wailed as one unit, trebling the volume.

"I swear, I am the happiest person alive right now!" sighed Aki, striding towards their next destination.

Arms loaded with shopping bags, the three were in the midst of a well-deserved shopping spree, catching up on the latest fashions and updating their wardrobes. They had already assaulted the dress shops and shoe stores, and were on the way to the accessories department.

Looking through some of the clothes they had bought for both themselves and their families, the mothers began comparing tastes and sizes, all while their innate sense of direction instructed their feet to lead them onwards.

"Ungh – stop moving and – just lie down already – GAH!" Fudou ducked to avoid a flying block thrown at his head. Growling, he whirled around to face Ichinose.

"Are you trying to train your son to be a goalkeeper or something?" he snapped, glaring at him.

"No, and besides, those are Kaoru's! Blame Gouenji!" Ichinose grunted, trying to wrestle Yoshi into his bed while removing the building blocks inside.

"I hate naptime," Gouenji muttered, attempting to wrap a blanket tightly around Kaoru to prevent him from moving around too much.

Yoshi and Kaoru were restless and stubborn, refusing to enter their respective cribs and go to sleep. Sakura was leading Fudou's hands on a merry chase as he tried to grab a hold of her after she sprang out of his grasp when he dodged the flying block.

Letting out a cry of frustration, Fudou threw his hands up in resignation. "That's it! She can stay awake for the rest of the day for all I care!"

Fuming, he started to stalk out of the room, but Gouenji's words made him freeze.

"What would Otonashi think if you couldn't even handle one small baby girl?"

Turning back, Fudou was met with two identical smirks. Growling, he began rolling up his sleeves.

"All right, bring it on. Last one who gets theirs to sleep picks up the toys."

"We're home!" announced Natsumi as she opened the door and led Aki and Otonashi in. Stopping a few feet away from the doorway, they smiled at the sight before them.

Ichinose was lying stretched out on one end of the couch with one arm wrapped around Yoshi on his stomach and the other hanging off his side. Fudou was on the other end with his head propped up by his hand on the armrest and with Sakura cradled in his other arm. Gouenji was sitting on the floor and leaning back against the side of the sofa with Kaoru in his lap.

It turned out that none of the three fathers could get their children into bed. They ended up bringing them back into the living room where all of them eventually fell asleep.

Shaking their heads as they placed their bags down and approached them, the mothers made their way over to gently retrieve their children and put them into their cribs.

"Our poor babies," cooed Otonashi as they made their way back to the living room.

"Which ones?" asked Aki, raising an eyebrow.

They froze in their tracks as their eyes finally registered the sight before them. The messy living room, food stains on the floor leading to the kitchen, overturned furniture and scattered toys…

Natsumi sighed and massaged her temples. "My beautiful house… reduced to this - this mess…" she thought miserably. Chuckling in sympathy, Aki and Otonashi patted her back comfortingly.

"Looks like they still have a long way to go."

A/N: Our moms really do more than we realise at times. Happy Mothers' Day.