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Light My Way, Part 10
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9
⚠️ WARNING! ⚠️
-It is a twisted story of Pokemon Sun and Moon, and a crossover of Pokemon SM and SWSH.
-It features Hau and Kabu as the main characters.
-Extremely angsty.
-Everything is headcanon.
-It isn’t spoiler-free.
In the cafe, Kabu blankly stared at the tea steaming. During his youth, he would visit the bar to drink liquor at this emotional state, but he now knows that doesn’t help to resolve these intense emotions, so he chose tea. But his body and mind even rejected his favorite herb tea.
He was so hurt. Literally crushed to the bottom. Even worse than the time when he was kicked out of the Gym Leader position. People are always silly enough to realize how they are so attached to others only when they were about to lose them. Kabu should have known how scary it is to get attached to someone. It was as if part of his heart was torn away. All the pain in the past was worth nothing compared to now.
Kabu was obviously furious against Hau’s so-called dad, but he was upset with Hau as well. He felt as if he was betrayed. He did everything and studied so hard to make sure he could give all the best to him, and then when the biological dad appeared, he turned a cold shoulder against him right away. He knows that love isn’t something you give expecting a return, but he felt all his efforts have gone to waste. How could he!
“Oh? Is it not Mr. Kabu, the Gym Leader of Motorstocke? What a pleasant surprise.”
A soothing voice rang from behind. Kabu turned back and saw a skinny man who caused quite a stir to Galar. Raihan, who barely talked about his family, introduced this man named Richard as his father. But it was surprising that no one realized that Richard was Raihan’s father. Despite some infirm out appearance, he had exactly the same turquoise-colored eyes glowing.
It rubbed salt against Kabu’s painful heart because that man has a blood-related son who shares something in common externally.
“I saw your fantastic match while I was watching Raihan in Champion’s Tournament. My apologies, I should have visited you and other Gym Leaders earlier to greet you formally, for taking care of my son well…”
“Oh… No, please… It is alright… You must be busy too.”
“Not at all! I am a free man who even has spare time to give medical herbs for tea to the cafe like this.”
“……..”
Kabu just stared at the teacup. Richard frowned, as some familiar emotions flickered across the Fire Gym Leader’s face. He carefully sounded Kabu’s feeling out.
“Umm… Your child must be asleep for you to spend some time at the cafe alone this late…”
Kabu looked at the man again in quite a bit of surprise.
“Yes, I have overheard about your darling foster child from Raihan. He was excited to see him too. He said Milo and Nessa were speaking endlessly on how sweet the child was.”
“………..” Kabu’s face turned yet gloomier. Richard realized that his intuition was right.
“…Did something happen to the child? I may not be a good father myself, but the least I can do is be all ears. It is like they say, the burden in the heart is cut to half if you share.”
Kabu thought nothing could help him at the moment since there was nothing he could do to stop Hau leaving, but he wanted to ask someone why Hau had to leave him. Is it because of that one yelling he did?
“Excuse my rudeness for asking you this, but I heard that you were having a cold phase with your son… Am I correct? Please, I don’t have anyone else to turn to ask.”
Kabu’s desperation pierced Richard’s heart like a blade. With fatherly instinct, he could feel something is going on between him and the foster child.
“Please go on. I will be of help as much as I can possibly be.”
With a tearing mind, Kabu explained what happened with that so-called father. Richard was so disgusted with that despicable and shameless person. How could he repay the favor with mockery and ingratitude when he wasn’t even there for his son?
“…I see…” Richard frowned, as Kabu’s pain penetrated to his bones.
“So here is the real question. Why do you think Hau is willing to leave? Is it proof that foster or adoptive parents cannot outclass the blood-related no matter how much I try? Your son came back to you after a long time too. Is that just because he is your own?”
Kabu clenched his fists on his knees, restraining his tears.
Richard took a long time to come up with the answer, as his case of dispute with the son was heavily different from Kabu’s. The despair of Kabu was real, as he had a huge hurdle between him and the boy called Hau.
After a long silence, Richard started.
“Mr. Kabu… I do not know the weight of your agony completely, but I can tell you several things as a father.”
He sadly smiled at Kabu to console him.
“When Raihan was having a silence conflict with me, I thought I will never reconcile with him ever again because it prolonged for such a long time. But he eventually did… And I doubt it that it is due to the bloodline because if it was, he would have come back to me way before that. Raihan confessed that it was not the blood-relation which moved him but the letters I have sent over many years… Trust me, giving birth is not the guaranteed success for parent and child bond. Children need far more beyond that. Family members do not love each other instinctively. It is the time and emotions they share that make them a family.”
Kabu still wore the gloomy expression, as he was dubious if he did his best to fill the missing parental love to Hau. Plus, it took that many years for the family to reunite, so those few months didn’t seem like much.
Richard wore another of his smiles that exerts Heal Pulse.
“…Mr. Kabu, Raihan must have come back late because he had wonderful friends and other ones who he could love. But you are different… I heard that you took in a child of indescribable pain who is cornered and strayed, and worked seriously to make him better, yes? That must have meant so much to the child. It is not about the time you spent with the child… It is about how and what you did with them. If you have conveyed sincere love, the child would have surely picked it up.”
Kabu stared at Richard straight, but now with his eyes glistening with hope. Richard nodded for him.
“One aspect that I regret about my relationship with Raihan is that I wish I could have been braver to go and turned things around. But considering your passionate battle style, you can be different, sire. You are not someone who would sit and wait, are you?”
“…….”
Kabu didn’t say anything, but something seemed to have unclouded in his mind.
“Well, I should be going… But I do hope what I shared today would be of help…”
Richard gave a light bow and strolled out of the cafe.
___________________________________
“Are you ready to go home?” the so-called dad wore a hideous fake smile at Hau. Hau gave a light nod, but he was devastated inside. All his instincts screamed not to follow.
“WAIT!!” the voice Hau yearned from the bottom of the heart rang from the back.
Hau and his forged dad turned around, and there was Kabu completely covered in sweat. Kabu was perplexed until the last moment whether or not to let Hau go or not because Hau agreed with his dad to follow. But his heart pushed him to the airport.
“Hau, don’t! Don’t leave! I still have so much I want to give you!”
Little Alolan boy’s eyes started to become dewy. The sincere emotions of Kabu overwhelmed his soul. The forged dad frowned immediately.
“Umm, I thought we talked about legal rights. Hau. Come on.”
“No! I will not let the poor boy go with a father who doesn’t even know how to cherish and appreciate his child! I’m going to take every legal measure to adopt him and raise him as my own, so let him go!”
“Absurd! Hau, don’t listen to him. We have an airplane to board.”
The forged dad wore an unpleasant expression at Kabu and held Hau’s hand even tighter.
The scene rang a bell in Hau.
That day.
When the evil woman dragged him by hand to cold sleep.
If he had shaken off the hand, he wouldn’t have-
…….
Hau gripped Kabu’s towel. The little hand of the boy slid out of the forged dad’s hand.
“Hau?” the dad’s face crumbled further in displeasure.
“…Dad, you said… Tutu and Mom would love me to be happy, right?”
“Umm, yeah?”
“Then, I want to stay here.”
“What???”
“I’m sorry to say this to Tutu and mom, but the short time I spent in Galar gave me so much more joy than 11 years I had spent in Alola. You said you are trying to take me back to Alola to make sure we stay ‘happy’. But… Dad, I am going, to be honest with you… All the patients and secureness Mr. Kabu gave, all the fun Brother Milo and Sister Nessa gave, all the encouragement Brother Hop gave… They are such a bliss to me. The love everyone gave me was so tremendous that I have never felt so alive. They made me feel like… Hau, as a person, not a grandson of Kahuna.”
The boy’s black pearly eyes glowed with determination. He inhaled deeply again and expressed his mind loud and clear.
“Dad. I’m not going back to Alola. I’m staying right here with everyone.”
The forged dad’s internal organs twisted in disgust just like how Kabu felt because his plan got wrecked. But he can’t just pick the kid up and run to the airplane as if he is kidnapping since he needs to portray a perfect father until his custody is secured. It was his words against him. His backfire of the plan was quite the sight to see. With all his might, he retained the fake grin and said,
“Oh, that’s a shame… Alright, you can stay here until you are ready to move in.”
With that as the last sentence, He left alone to board the plane.
Hau turned around. Kabu was right there, with bent knees to meet him at his level.
The Fire Gym Leader opened his arms wide, and Hau ran to get cuddled.
“Oh, Hau… I thought I was going to lose you…”
Tears started to drop on Hau. The warmth conveyed just how much Kabu is truly attached to the little boy. Hau’s eyes started to well up too.
“So… Am I allowed to stay with you?”
“Yes, by all means… We can be a family forever.”
Kabu squeezed his son closer. Hau beamed with relief. He was finally with the family he has always dreamed of: The one who values and respects him as an individual. He had a surprise for Kabu as well.
“Thank you… Thank you so much for accepting me, ’Makua(Father in Hawaiian)’”.
“Yes, Hau… My son.”
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