Curiosity Killed The Cats Part 1

Madara was sat on the sofa, watching the latest news on the stock market when he heard his 15 year old daughter trying to sneak past from behind him.

"Ritsuko, where are you going?" he asked without even bothering to turn around.

"N-nowhere..." she lied. Madara did turn around at this point, studying his daughter's expression carefully.

"Nowhere? Or somewhere you know you're not allowed to? It's a school night, get in your room and study." Madara ordered before turning back to the TV.

"Dad. I'm allowed to go out with my friends on a school night!"

"Not without telling me," he quickly countered.

"I told Mum!"

He doubted this. Ritsuko was known to lie, a bit like her mother whom she looked like rather strikingly despite having her father's dark hair and complexion.

"You told your mother, did you? When?" he decided to play along for now.

"Last night. When I got in I asked her,"

Madara rolled his eyes, as if she could actually lie to him about his own wife. Ritsuko wasn't known to be very bright unlike Ren...

"I'm home!" there was a call from the door, a clink as house keys were dropped into the bowl near the door. "Hello?"

"How comes Ren gets to go out?" Ritsuko changed her argument, realising that her father knew she was lying. "It's like 6 and he's only just got back from school,"

"Ren! Where were you?" Madara asked as Ritsuko's twin brother came into the living room.

"I was studying in the library, father. I needed some extra text books for my Science coursework," Ren explained, handing his father the books he'd checked out as proof.

"That's why, Ritsuko. Your brother doesn't lie and always backs up his excuses with evidence. You, on the other hand, go running off, lie to us and are generally out with boys," Madara stood up, turning the TV off. "Would you like me to call your mother and see if that conversation you were talking about actually happened?"

"Fine!" Ritsuko threw her phone at her father. "Call her."

He had two choices now...Call her bluff and phone Yukiko or irritate Yukiko while he knew she had a lot of paperwork to get on with.

He could always make it up to Yukiko later, he typed in her number and placed it on speaker. After two rings, Yukiko picked up.

"Ritsuko, what do you want? I've got a lot of work!" an exasperated sounding Yukiko answered.

"It's me, Yuki, according to Ritsuko, you gave her permission to go out this evening," there was a pause.

"No, I didn't. I specifically told her she couldn't as she's got Geography work to get done. Has she still not done it?"

Ritsuko looked down at the floor. "Apparently not, Yuki, thank you. I'll see you later."

"Madara, can you please make sure she gets that work done? I've had enough, it's embarrassing to go to those Parents Evenings to be told how great Ren is and how...lacking Ritsuko is," Yukiko explained.

"Yuki, you're on speaker and Ritsuko is here."

"Oh crap! Madara! What the hell?!" she swiftly hung up leaving Madara to deal with a sulky Ritsuko.

"It's for reasons like that you need to study," Madara pointed out sternly. "Then your mother and I would let you go out!" However his words fell on deaf ears as Ritsuko stormed into her room and slammed her door shut. "Ren, women are a difficult species,"

"I wouldn't know, father," Ren told him with a slight laugh however Madara frowned at this.

"No girls after you at school?"

"Erm..." his son appeared nervous all of a sudden. "Not that I know of, why?"

"Well when your uncle and I were at school we were quite popular, I was just wondering if you were the same,"

"Not...not really. Anyway, I've got work to do," Ren got up and left for his own room, leaving Madara both confused and annoyed.

XXX

Yukiko pulled up the driveway, taking a moment to relax as she turned off the car engine. She'd made a mistake but she was sure she could make up for it.

She got out of the car and slowly made her way into the house, finding all the lights were off but the TV still glowing in the living room.

"Madara?" she whispered as she crept into the room.

"You're back later than I thought you'd be," Madara was quick to point out, now watching the news.

"I know. I had to sort out a lot at the office today after you left. How's Ri?"

"She sulked in her room for a while, started playing loud music so I told her to keep it down then she started moaning I'm a terrible father and then went to bed. I've checked, she's actually sleeping in there," Madara explained rather wearily before remembering what he'd needed to stay up to talk to his wife about. "I'm worried about Ren,"

"Why? What's wrong with him?" she asked urgently. "Is he sick?"

"Maybe. Have you ever noticed that he's not very...interested in girls?"

"No, not really. I mean he's always focussed on his school work," she replied as she turned the TV off. "Are you trying to suggest you think that Ren is gay?"

"I'm just saying he behaves in a very strange way whenever I bring up girls," Madara sighed, getting up from the sofa. "And that worries me."

"He's 15. He's an awkward teenager, he's always going to behave in a strange way and I find this a bit hypocritical,"

"What?"

"Well, you always moan that boys are after Ritsuko and how she's your daughter and you'd kill any boy who even touch her and yet you're here asking whether Ren is gay because he doesn't do what those boys are doing to her," Yukiko's voice was an almost angry hiss as they walked into their room.

"I don't want him to do what they do to Ritsuko. I want him to at least acknowledge there are other..." the two of them stopped as they heard a thump of a door being slowly opened. "If that's her trying to sneak out, I'm going to kill her," Madara crept out of their room and slowly made his way to Ritsuko's, peeking through the crack left open. Yukiko debated whether to follow him and ultimately let her curiosity get the better of her.

Madara was utterly clueless as to why his teenage son had snuck into his daughter's room and they proceeded to have a very weird conversation.

"Did you get what I asked, Ri?" Ren whispered, kneeling down next to her bed.

"What? Yea, I did. I dunno why you didn't just get it yourself,"

"Because father would got mental if he found out. Where is it?"

"On my desk,"

Ren got up and grabbed a bottle of perfume from the desk, taking the lid off to smell the contents. "This is perfect, thank you. I'll pay you back for it later," Madara looked to his curious wife and the pair immediately and silently moved back into their own room.

"I told you something was wrong with him!" Madara hissed angrily. "But you are always not believing me or calling me irrational,"

"It's odd but not completely unexplainable," Yukiko weakly countered, shaking her head. "However I'm sorry I doubted you,"

"That hardly matters now. We need to keep an eye on Ren. As my only son I was hoping on him inheriting the business but..."

"Don't you even say that if he's gay he can't. Wait, why am I even saying that he is? Oh! You've got me confused like usual," Yukiko sighed. "Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't. I just hate not knowing things,"

XXX

Madara sat in his office the entire day, working tirelessly so he could leave early. It was his business, he could technically leave whenever he wanted to but he did like to get some work done in the day. As soon as it was getting close to the end of Ren's school day, Madara started packing up for the day. As he briskly walked out of his office he realised his personal assistant was eyeing him with an unimpressed look.

"Madara..." she glanced at the other people around them. "Going somewhere?"

He strolled over to his desk before hissing. "Don't you dare start. Not here. Are you coming or not?" she seemed to weigh the options out in her mind. "Yuki, don't deny that you want to know as well,"

"I want to believe that our son would feel comfortable with telling us anything however even I doubt that," after another brief moment she rolled her eyes and turned her computer off. "Fine, I'll come with you but only so you don't overreact,"