Thứ Bảy, 4 tháng 5, 2013

7 Days in the Life of My Family by Hotaru Tomoe (Chap 6)

Chapter Six: Friday.

Well, today I got a good indication of what the phrase 'The best laid plans of mice and men' means. Although Minako phrased it a lot differently as she always does. I won't repeat what she said, but it did earn her a couple of glares and a smack upside the head. I also learned a secret about Setsuna-mama.

Let me explain the first part. We were supposed to go down to a recording studio today to help Minako, but they called her at the last minute and postponed the session until next week. Minako was, understandably, a bit upset at this news, but this being Minako, she bounced back quickly. Instead she decided to spend the day at the amusement park and invited us to come along.

Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa stated that they wanted to spend some time together, and insisted that Setsuna-mama take me there. Their argument was that she did say that we were supposed to spend today together. I sided with them on this.

You would think that there would have been a lot of arguing, begging, and temper tantrum throwing to get Setsuna-mama to take me there, but it turns out that she had planned to take me there before the recording session came up. Funny how these things work out isn't it?

And so, Setsuna-mama and I found our selves being pushed out the door and into the mini van by an eager Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama. As we drove off, we could see them waving to us before they both practically ran back into the house.

"I really wonder who the children are in this family sometimes." Setsuna-mama remarked, shaking her head. I just chuckled a bit.
We went past the Hikawa Shrine and pick up Rei, Usagi, and Minako.

"Where are Ami and Makoto?" I ask.

"Well, Ami wanted to stay home and study as usual, so Makoto was going over to her place to convince her to join us." Minako replied. Just then our communicators beeped and Rei answered. It was Makoto. She had a big grin on her face.

"Hey guys, I've got Ami all ready to go here if you could ask Setsuna to come by and pick us up." She said. We could hear Ami saying something in the background, but it was muffled like someone had his or her hand over her mouth.

Setsuna-mama nodded and Rei said; "No problem. We'll be there shortly."

"Great. See you soon then. Ow! Hey! What did I say about biting…?" Makoto's transmission was cut off. We all stared at each other for a few moments, then shrugged and drove to Ami's.

We pulled up in front of Ami's apartment building, and Minako got out announcing our arrival over the intercom. A few minutes later a giggling Minako came back followed by a giggling Makoto who was carrying a very annoyed Ami over her shoulder.

"Makoto Kino! Put me down this instant!" Ami shouted at Makoto. She responded by tossing her unceremoniously into the rear seat between Usagi and Rei and slamming the door shut after she got in herself.

"Floor it Setsuna!" Makoto shouted with a grin. Setsuna-mama laughed and floored it. We were on our way.

Rei and Usagi had managed to restrain Ami with her seatbelt, while Minako and Makoto buckled up as well. Ami just sat there glowering at us, her face red and her arms folded.

"I can't believe you guys sometimes! Makoto and Minako kidnap me in broad daylight, with Rei and Usagi as accessories! And you, Setsuna, acting as the getaway driver! And on top of this you drag poor innocent Hotaru into this. You'll be having her pulling bank robberies next!" Ami rambled on like this for some time, and we just sat there giggling.

Usagi put an arm around her shoulders and smiled. "Come on Ami, relax a bit. We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves. It's Spring Break, or what's left of it anyway. Loosen up a bit."

"Yeah Ami. You need to enjoy life a bit more. All that studying is good, but you need to relax sometimes." Rei added, putting her arm around Ami's shoulders.

"Just try and have fun today, okay Ami? Please?" I pleaded.
Ami's colour returned to normal and she relaxed a bit. "Ok. I'll try to have fun today. But next time don't kidnap me, all right?" She smiled.

"All right. Next time we'll let you kidnap someone, deal?" Minako grinned at her.

"Deal." Ami grinned back. We all laughed, relieved.

"It's nice of you to drive us to the amusement park, Setsuna." Usagi remarked as we drove.

"I was planning to take Hotaru anyway, even before we heard about Minako's recording session. Sorry about that by the way." Setsuna-mama said to Minako.

"That's okay. I have a new session next week and everything will be fine, I hope." Minako said with a sigh.

"I hope so too, Minako." I said.

"We'll all be there for you, in spirit if not in fact." Usagi stated firmly.

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it." Minako smiled warmly at us.

"Hey! We're here!" I called out as we pulled up to the amusement park. We found a parking spot after a while. It was a beautiful day outside, and the place was already crowded.

"Was Mamoru joining us?" Setsuna-mama asked as we were getting out of the van.

"He might be. I left him a message saying that we would be here today." Usagi replied.

There was a loud sneeze from behind us. We all turned and saw Mamoru walking towards us. "Hello Usako, everyone." He said with a warm smile.

"Mamo-chan!" Usagi exclaimed as she rushed into the arms of her lover and future husband. The rest of us went up and greeted him as well. The Inners had known him for a lot longer and regarded him as an older brother. My parents liked him well enough, seeing as he is our future king, although privately they kind of find him to be a bit dull, especially his dopey speeches. He seems nice enough to me, and we get along great.

We all went into the park together. As I said it was crowded, but it was still a lot of fun. On the midway we watched as Makoto easily won a big prize in a test your strength contest. She gave the prize, a big panda bear, to Ami as a way to apologize for kidnapping her. 

Mamoru won a few prizes for Usagi in a darts game, while Minako and Setsuna-mama tried the ring toss game. Rei was helping me with another game after I spotted a prize that I thought Setsuna-mama might like. It was a shooting game with water guns, and after a few tries I managed to win a game and I picked out Setsuna-mamas' gift as a prize.

After that we went on a few of the rides. Usagi got a little mad at us for ganging up on her on the bumper cars. I have a few pictures of Setsuna-mama laughing like a little girl on the merry-go-round. Ami and Makoto were almost inseparable after Makoto gave her the panda bear as they went on several rides together. A few of us, especially me and Usagi, got a bit queasy after riding the rollercoaster a few times, but none of us got sick thankfully.

We sat down for a rest and Setsuna-mama and I pulled out the pictures of me from yesterday's adventure at the racetrack. All of them asked me for a picture of me in my racing outfit. We also talked about Minako's session at the recording studio, which went well. I hoped she would make it, she is a beautiful singer and she has been working so hard to realize her dream. I told her all this and she thanked me and gave me a big hug.

After lunch, we noticed that the park had a karaoke contest that day and Minako entered it, with Rei and me as back up singers. We sang a few popular songs together, and she even let Rei and I sing a few solo numbers. With their help I managed to sing a song from my favourite anime Card Captor Sakura, without screwing it up. I hoped I would do better tomorrow night. Minako won the contest after doing a number from The Phantom of the Opera. She won a trophy and a cash prize.

Soon after we were all relaxing and watching the young kids in the playground. We all just sat there with our prizes and each other. Mostly we were quiet, but soon we were talking about things like life in general, what Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama were up to at the moment (like that wasn't obvious), the future, and families.

When the subject of having kids of his or her own came up, I noticed that Setsuna-mama got this sad expression on her face that she got whenever the subject came up. She never talked about having children of her own and I never asked her about it. Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama have seen her react this way as well, but never pressed the issue.

Usagi was talking about having Chibi-Usa in the future when Minako looked over at Setsuna-mama. "Have you ever had any children of your own Setsuna?" She asked.

I looked back at Setsuna-mama when Minako asked this. She had her head down and her eyes full of tears as she stared at the ground.
"I can't…" She whispered.

"Can't what?" Minako prompted.

"I can't have children." Setsuna-mama said softly and began to cry.
We all looked at her in shock. Everyone had tears in their eyes now. Minako's hands flew to her mouth. "Setsuna, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" She began than her voice faltered. She stared at the ground in shame.

"It's all right. You would have found out eventually." Setsuna-mama said quietly. Then she rose to her feet and took me by the hand.
"Setsuna-mama?" I asked.

"I think it's time we were getting home. I'll drop the rest of you off at Rei's home if that's all right?" Setsuna-mama asked.

"That'll be fine." Usagi spoke for the rest of the group who nodded quietly.

We drove back to Rei's in silence. Usagi went with Mamoru and the rest were with us. Minako looked devastated as she sat between Makoto and Ami who held on to each of her hands with looks of worry on their faces. Rei sat behind me looking concerned as well. Setsuna-mama drove quietly, her face expressionless. I could see a tear come out from behind her sunglasses but otherwise she showed no emotion whatsoever. That worried me more than anything.

After we got back to the shrine, I got out of the van and thanked everyone for coming out. Setsuna-mama just sat in the van quietly. Usagi and Mamoru both hugged me then went around to the drivers' side.

"Setsuna, I'm sorry for what happened. If you want to talk about it call me. I'll be there for you anytime, no matter what." Usagi stated as she reached through the window and placed her hand on Setsuna-mama's shoulder.

"That goes for me as well." Mamoru added, placing his hand on her shoulder as well.

Setsuna-mama smiled a bit. "Thank you, both of you. I will try to call you one day soon, I promise."

Minako came up to the window with a look of remorse on her face.

 "Setsuna, I just wanted to say that I am so very sorry for saying what I did. Please forgive me." She looked at Setsuna-mama with tears in her eyes.

They stared at each other for several moments until Setsuna-mama opened the door and stepped out of the van. Minako took a few steps back, looking as though she expected to be struck. Instead Setsuna-mama walked up and embraced Minako. Minako looked relieved. "I forgive you, my friend." Setsuna-mama said as she kissed Minako on the cheek. Minako smiled and returned the gesture. We all said our goodbyes and Setsuna-mama and I went home.

When we got home we found Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama sitting in the living room together watching a movie. They both looked surprised to see us home so early (It was only about 3 o'clock). Ordinarily Setsuna-mama would make a joke like "I'm surprised that you two still have your clothes on." But all she said was "I'll be in my room." And she went upstairs.

"What happened at the fair today, honey?" Michiru-mama asked, concerned. So we sat down together and I told them what had happened.

After I told them what Setsuna-mama had said, they looked at each other with sad, but knowing looks. "I figured this would happen one day." Haruka-papa remarked.

"You knew about Setsuna-mama not being able to have children?" I asked.

"Yeah, she told us about it just after we took you in." Haruka-papa replied.

"We were at the playground one day when you were still a baby, and Ruka and I were talking about having children of our own one day. That's when we saw Setsuna looking so sad and when we asked her why, she told us. We promised her that we would let her tell you about her problem when you got older. We never brought it up since then." Michiru-mama explained.

I just sat there feeling sad and depressed. "Do you regret not having children of your own?" I asked.

"A bit sometimes. But you are our daughter, and we will never stop loving you, no matter what." Michiru-mama stated as she and Haruka-papa hugged me. We sat there like that for several minutes.
Finally we broke the embrace. "You should go and talk to Setsuna now." Michiru-mama said.

"I will. I have something for her that I won at the fair." I said as I pulled the prize out of my fanny pack.

"I think she'll really love it, Hotaru." Michiru-mama said as she examined the prize.

"I'm sure she will." Haruka-papa added.

"Thank you Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama. I know she'll love it." I said before I went upstairs to Setsuna-mama's room. I knocked on the door.

"Come in, Hotaru." She called out. She always knows who's knocking on her door. She's kind of freaky that way.

"Setsuna-mama?" I called quietly as I entered her room, which was very dark. She had the curtains closed and the lights off. As soon as I spoke, she turned on the light on her nightstand.

"Hello my little princess." She smiled as she sat up on her bed. She had been crying a bit more, as the make-up on her face was smeared.

I sat down beside her and she put her arm around me. I put my head down on her shoulder and we sat there for a few minutes like that.

"I won a prize for you at the fair today Setsuna-mama." I said after a while.

"That's so sweet of you Hotaru. What is it?" She asked. I smiled and pulled out my gift. Her eyes lit up. It was a gold medallion with a gold link necklace. On the medallion was the inscription "World's Greatest Mom."

She laughed a bit as I placed it around her neck. "This is wonderful, thank you so much Hotaru." She smiled at me as she took both of my hands in hers and we sat on her bed facing one another. She had tears in her eyes again.

"You're welcome. I love you Mama." I replied, dropping the prefix.
She sat there staring at me in total shock. Then she started sniffing, than sobbing, then with a loud cry she drew me into a tight hug and put her head on my shoulder and I held her as she cried for once. I could almost feel her loneliness dissolving away from her as she cried. We sat like that for hours.

TBC.

AN: I intended this at one point to be a standalone piece entitled 'A Simple Gift' but I incorporated it into this story instead as I was kind of stuck on what to write for this chapter. As for the bit about Setsuna not being able to have kids, well it was entirely my idea after I did a bit of research on a few sites. I haven't read all of the manga and have no idea if she has kids of her own or not. So no flames please.

Không có nhận xét nào:

Đăng nhận xét