Thứ Tư, 8 tháng 5, 2013

7 Days in the Life of My Family by Hotaru Tomoe

Chapter Seven: Saturday.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. 

Saturday is here already. Where does the time go, I wonder. I seem to recall asking Setsuna-mama once and I think my brain melted during the third hour of her 'brief' explanation. I haven't asked her since, and I'm too scared to ask Ami.

Anyway, tonight was Karaoke night, and I had a lot of fun too. We'd been practicing a bit, and I even picked out a song that I wanted to sing. Setsuna-mama did tell Minako that if she had to sing Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung ever again though, Minako would be waking up in the middle of the Spanish Inquisition! Haruka-papa thought she did a great job tonight, even if her voice gave out while trying to sing a high note. Hmm, on that note, (Hotaru looks out the window and sees Haruka run past chased by an angry Setsuna. She has a frying pan)


. Yep, Setsuna-mama is still a bit sore on that subject.

Yes I am still calling her Setsuna-mama. We talked for a while last night after she cried on my shoulder, and while I moved her by calling her 'Mama', she didn't want to upset Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa. I don't know if it would really upset them but I love them both and don't want to upset them. Besides it's really cool having two mamas.

This morning though we had a bit of time to kill and I was idly wondering what to do when Michiru-mama came into my room.
"Good morning, Hotaru. Are you feeling any better?" She asked as she put her arms around me.

"Yes I'm feeling a bit better." I wasn't as sore as I had been and I could sit sown without yelping in pain.

"What did you want to do today before we head out to the Karaoke place?" Michiru-mama asked.

"I don't know, hmm." I stood there thinking for a few minutes. "We never did make it down to the swimming pool the other day did we?" I asked.

"No we didn't, did we? Tell you what I'll keep Sets from killing Ruka while you go find your swimsuit. That new one we bought last week. Ok?" She smiled at me.

"Ok." I smiled back. She kissed me again and went to find Haruka-papa and Setsuna-mama. 

After awhile we were all piled into Haruka-papa's car and we were off to the pool for a few hours.

As I said before, I like swimming it's a lot better exercise, at least for me, than running. Michiru-mama makes it so easy to enjoy it. I've never been any good at sports owing to my weak constitution. Swimming turned out to be the one sport I'm good at thanks to her.

We got to the pool, which wasn't too crowded for a Saturday. Haruka-papa isn't a good swimmer in fact I think she's afraid of the water. She was content to sit up in the stands and watch the three of us.

I put on my new bathing suit, a one piece in royal purple with gold stripes. Setsuna-mama had a simple one-piece ruby red suit, while Michiru-mama had her one piece aquamarine with white stripes suit on. We grabbed our towels and headed to the pool.

We saw Haruka-papa waving to us as we got to the pool. We waved back and Michiru-mama dove gracefully into the pool to a round of applause from the three of us. Setsuna-mama and I were content to slip carefully into the water.

We swam around for a bit then Michiru-mama started with this weeks' lesson, the backstroke. With their help I was feeling confident enough to go on my own, and I managed to swim a few laps with the two of them pacing me.

After a while, we noticed Haruka-papa waving at us. She was standing and pointing at her watch. We looked at the wall clock and realized it was time to go. So we crawled out of the pool, changed, and headed home to get ready for Karaoke night.

We got home, showered, and changed into our party dresses. I wore the dress Setsuna-mama designed for me. A royal purple, knee-length skirt, and a matching purple vest with golden fireflies embroidered into it. A gold coloured blouse, purple bolo tie, and calf-length purple boots completed the ensemble.

I went downstairs and saw that Haruka-papa was ready and watching TV while she waited. She had a simple pair of black slacks, a white, short-sleeved shirt, gold tie, black vest, and a pair of blue suede shoes. Her black leather jacket hung over the back of the couch.

"Hey, princess. You look great." She said as I came and sat down beside her.

"Thank you, Haruka-papa, so do you." I replied as I snuggled up to her. We sat their watching auto racing while we waited.

Setsuna-mama came down next. She wore a black mini-skirt, white blouse, red leather jacket, and knee length black boots.

"Are we ready to go yet?" she asked as she sat down beside us, putting her arm around me and smiling.

"Just waiting for slowpoke to come down." Haruka-papa said with a smile. I giggled while Setsuna-mama smiled as well.

"I heard that Haruka." Michiru-mama called from the top of the stairs. We all stood up and turned to watch as she came down the stairs. She had on a similar outfit to mine, but her vest (embroidered with flowers), skirt, bolo tie, and ankle boots, were aquamarine. She wore a white blouse as well.

"Like it? It's a designer original." Michiru-mama smiled as she walked up and placed a hand on Setsuna-mama's shoulder.
Haruka-papa looked at the three of us in admiration. "Well I can say, without doubt, that I am escorting the three best dressed ladies in Tokyo out for a night on the town."

Michiru-mama went up and kissed her. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Haruka dear." She said in a seductive voice.

"Is that a promise?" Haruka-papa replied. Setsuna-mama stood there rolling her eyes and checking her watch, while I hid my head behind her and made more gagging noises.

"There's plenty of time for that later you two. Let's go before the others give up on us." Setsuna-mama stated firmly.

"Ok, grumpy. We're coming. Sheesh." Haruka-papa replied as she grabbed her jacket and the two of them headed out to the car, Setsuna-mama and I behind them. We all put our jackets on, since it had started to rain again. We were on our way, finally.

We went to a Karaoke place that Minako had introduced us to a few months ago. It was for families, so I could get in despite only being 14, and it didn't serve alcohol.

Once we got there we could see Minako and the others outside waiting for us. It was still raining lightly, and it was getting colder.

"About time you showed up." Rei growled by way of greeting.

"Yeah, yeah, we're a bit late. Sue us." Haruka-papa growled back. Then they both laughed.

"Don't mind Rei, she forgot her medication." Usagi said with a grin.

"Speak for yourself, odango atama!" Rei growled at her, and the inevitable tongue war began. We all sighed and started to head in without them.

"Hey! Wait for us!" They shouted as they caught up to us. Works every time.

The place was fairly crowded, but we had called ahead and reserved a table. It helped that Rei and Minako were fairly popular here, not to mention Haruka-papa was a local celebrity.

The 10 of us were seated, we ordered drinks, and finger food, and we sat and talked while we waited for the evening's festivities to commence.

A few people went up before us and sang some not half bad (at least according to Minako and Rei) renditions of a few Japanese and American pop songs. A few younger kids came up and sang a song from Card Captor Sakura. Then some guy came up and sang 'Moonlight Densetsu'. Figures. Every time we come here someone has to sing that cheesy song. If there is one thing we all agree on, it's that we all loathe that song.

After the torture session (did I mention he sucked?) it was our turn. Rei went up first and sang a song from Disney's Mulan, then Minako followed with a song by Phil Collins, an artist she liked when she lived in England years ago, called Two Hearts.

  Setsuna-mama got conned into singing Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung. She hates the song with a passion because she has problems singing the beginning of one of the verses, the one that starts with 'On the edge of oblivion…' It's a high note, and Setsuna-mama has problems with those. And she hates the song to begin with. This was when she threatened to send Minako back to the Spanish Inquisition.

Ami and Makoto did a duet, as did Usagi and Mamoru, than it was my turn. I had chosen a song that was released fairly recently, and I had brought a copy with me in case they didn't have it, but they did. I picked up the mike, sat down to face the audience, and smiled.

"My name is Hotaru Tomoe. The song I have selected is called The Words 'I Love you'* by Chris De Burgh. I hope you enjoy it." I closed my eyes as the first movement came on, then I commenced to sing.

There are those who think that love comesWith a lifetime guarantee,
But we know from those around us, that this
May not always be,
It's the simple things that come between a
Father and a son,
But when they try to talk, the knives are out
Before they have begun
Well that was me, and I have seen the light
That shines for eternity,
Because I learned to say the words 'I love you;'
So many hearts have been broken by the
Lies of history
And so many arms are still open for that
Final mystery;
We must show respect for all the rest,
And what a man believes,
And the one, who died upon the cross,
Well he is the one for me,
And he said, "Come with me and you will
See the light that shines
For eternity, be strong and learn to say
The words 'I love you;"
And this endless road that we are on just
Keeps on going round,
But there's one destination that always is
Here to be found;
So come with me, and you will see the
Light that shines for eternity,
Be strong and learn to say the words 'I love you,'
Be strong and learn to say the words 'I love you,'
The words 'I love you,' the words 'I love you,'
The words 'I love you.'

I sat back and relaxed a bit as the song ended. There was a loud round of applause led by my family and I bowed appreciatively. 

"Thank you, all of you." I said before I left the stage.

"That was great Hotaru!" Ami said as I sat down.

"Yeah, you were amazing!" Rei added.

"You've got a lot of talent, Hotaru. You're welcome to come record an album with me anytime." Minako said. I just sat there smiling and feeling embarrassed at all of the attention.

We sang several more songs, including Rei, Minako, Ami, Setsuna-mama, Usagi, and I singing a song appropriately entitled United We Stand, then, regretfully, we had to call it a night. We still had Michiru-mama's parents wedding anniversary party to go to tomorrow, as Michiru-mama pointed out after looking at the time.

"Oh, lord. Don't remind me." Haruka-papa groaned, putting her head on the table. Setsuna-mama looked as though she had a migraine. I agreed with both of them. Michiru-mama tried to smile reassuringly but was failing slightly.

"Don't worry Ruka, Daddy promised that what happened last year won't happen again." Michiru-mama said. I hoped not, since we were totally embarrassed by her family last year. Haruka-papa became a public spectacle after a few remarks that Mr. Kaioh made about her and Michiru-mama, and her racecar driving. 

Setsuna-mama kept fending off the advances of one very drunk Uncle of Michiru-mama's, and I got stuck at the kid's table with some of the most obnoxious kids I have ever met. These brats would really shake, if not shatter, Usagi's faith in humanity. No, I don't think I'm exaggerating. I'll talk more about them tomorrow. If I survive that is.

We parted company with Usagi and the others and went home. Tomorrow promised to be a very, very, long day.

TBC.
*AN: The song The Words 'I Love You' was written and performed by Chris De Burgh from his new album The Road to Freedom (2004, Ferryman Productions). If you want to hear an excerpt, go to his site, .com, and give it a listen. It was the first single released.

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