[Kare Kano] Age (100 words)

[thuviaptarth]

Reiji dresses his son like a rag doll: shirts with cut-off sleeves, jeans with ripped knees, oversize striped sweaters made of soft nubby wool, long coats with ridiculous fluffy white collars; cuts his hair so you can see Souichiro's wide eyes and the taut skin around them; enrages him and scares him and confuses him and flusters him; gets him drunk and flushed and sleepy, and puts him early to bed.

It's no use. In the morning when Soichiro opens his eyes, someone too old and too wise--much older and wiser and more damaged than Reiji--still looks out.