Kazama Koharu had her smiling face turned up towards the clear, blue sky, her nose and cheeks red because of the cold. Talking to her Angel Mama, sitting in the tree where she first met Papa, always made her feel happy. The worries clouding her young mind drifting away on the wings of a ladybug. She had faith Mama would be able to help Masamune-kun. Who was late. As usual. He was supposed to pick her up from this special spot after she finished school today. He probably got caught up in something at the photo studio. It was all right. He always came for her in the end.
“I told you I’d be there and I’ll be there,” Koharu heard the voice of an angry woman coming around the corner. “I was busy with school. I’m heading to the subway station now.” Koharu could see a pretty young woman walk past her spot in the tree. “Oniichan, I told you I would be there, so quit worrying…I don’t know why you need me there. Shouldn’t you be able to hire professional models by now?” The woman stopped to pretend to throttle her cell phone. Koharu giggled quietly. “If this is a set up, I’m going to call up Dr. Takagi and tell her about all your French girlfriends.” She held the phone away from her ear. Koharu could a voice shouting on the either end. “I don’t care. I’ll make it up. I could, you know,” she calmly replied when the person had stopped shouting.
Koharu watched as the young woman stared up to the sky, her hands covering her eyes. She groaned loudly. “O-NII-CHAN! I already told you. I’m not interested... I don’t care if it is Christmas. As long as I have you, Stalker Boy, Megane, Haruna and her newest boytoy, I’m happy. So just STOP! You’re going to make me miss the train.” With that, the woman shut her phone angrily and sunk down to her knees.
Frustrated, she ran her fingers through her hair. “Baka Oniichan. We’re Japanese. Who cares about Christmas anyway?” She stood up and yelled, “I HATE CHRISTMAS!!” Koharu could see her calm her breathing and struggle with tears.
“Why do you hate Christmas?” Koharu asked her.
“Eh?” the woman jumped and nervously looked around. Finally she looked up to see Koharu sitting in the tree. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“It’s ok. But why do you hate Christmas?” Koharu’s eyebrows wrinkled. How could anyone hate Christmas? “Are you Scrooge-san?”
The woman laughed unexpectedly. Koharu liked the sound. It was like the tinkling of bells. “You’re cute, kid. Why don’t you come down and tell me your name?”
Koharu smiled. “Hai!” As Koharu moved to climb down the large trunk of the tree, the grips of her shoes couldn’t hold against the slightly damp bark and she slipped.
“Ooff! Got you!” Although the pretty woman was small, Koharu was surprised at how firmly and securely the woman held her. A heaviness settled in her chest. Even though she gets hugs all the time, it had been a long time since she had been held by someone who smelled like fresh flowers.
“Daijoubou?” the woman asked her. Koharu thought about lying. She wouldn’t mind it if she could stay just a moment longer in the comfort of the pretty lady’s arms. But she knew that would be wrong.
“Hai!” Koharu nodded brightly. “Arigatou!” She smiled as the woman squeezed her gently before helping Koharu to her feet.
She squat down in front of Koharu. “Now, tell Oneechan who she just had the privilege of rescuing, ne?”
“Koharu desu! Kazama Koharu desu!”
“That’s a pretty name. My name is Mio. But Oneechan is ok, ne?”
Koharu smiled ever brighter. She never had a big sister before.
“Oneechan?”
“Yes, Koharu-chan?”
“Why do you hate Christmas?” Oneechan’s face became sad and she started to blink fast. Koharu wondered if she would avoid the question.
But then Oneechan smiled a very sad smile. Papa got that same smile sometimes when he was thinking about Mama. “Because I have some bad memories when it comes to Christmas.”
“Oh.” Koharu thought for a moment. “But if you could make good memories, would you like Christmas?”
Oneechan didn’t speak right away, her smile disappeared and she looked away. When she turned back to Koharu, she was smiling again.
“Maybe.” And she didn’t say anything more than that.
Mio Oneechan was a very mysterious person, Koharu thought.
Suddenly they heard chimes sounding off in the distance. It was 5 o’ clock.
“Yabai!” Oneechan stood up suddenly and grimaced. “I’m going to be late! Oniichan is going to kill me!” She turned to Koharu. “It was nice meeting you, Koharu-chan! But I have to run! Be careful in those trees!” Onee-chan took off running. “Ja ne!” she waved to Koharu.
Koharu waved back. “Ja ne!”
“Koharu-chan? Who was that?” Koharu turned to the sound of a person’s voice behind her. Papa!
Papa curiously stared at Onee-chan’s back at she ran and stumbled along, disappearing from the their site.
“Mio Oneechan!” Koharu replied happily.
“Oneechan, huh?” Papa asked, leaning down to Koharu’s eye level.
“Hai!”
Masamune-kun held out his arms to her and Koharu leapt into them, hugging her Papa close. Even though she sometimes felt she was getting too old to be carried around by her father, she still loved the feeling of being in his arms.
Masamune’s arms were solid and firm, while he smelled like sunshine and trees. But as much as she loved being in Papa’s arms, Koharu couldn’t help remembering the softness of Oneechan’s embrace and the sweet smell of her perfume. Koharu sighed.
“Eh? Nani? Daijoubou?” Papa bounced her. “You’re not mad I’m late are you?”
Koharu shook her head. “No. But did something happen at work?”
Masamune winced, “Hai. Gomen ne, Koharu-chan. But something’s come up at work. So I need to go back. But Hayashi-san said you can come and watch in the studio if you’d like to. We’ll grab some cheeseburgers on the way. Is that ok?”
Koharu loved watching them work at the studio. And she loved cheeseburgers. “Hai!”
“Ok. Grab your bicycle and let’s go!”
“Hai!”
As was their custom, the two of them rode off together. Although the streets were already darkened, the winter sun already set, they were safe. Someone was watching over them with a smile on her face. The trees shook as she sighed.
“It’s time, don’t you think?” she turned to her companion and gently placed a hand on his arm. His attention was somewhere else, but he heard the question. There was a pained look on his face but he quickly suppressed it. It was for the best.
“Yes. She needs them.”
“They need each other.”
He knew that to be true, but his girl…she would always be his girl no matter how much had passed…his girl was stubborn. “She’ll put up a fight.” She always did. Even when she wanted to give up, she would keep on fighting.
“So will he.” Being a father has changed him. No longer everyone’s doormat, he had become strong. “It will be Koharu-chan’s Christmas miracle.”
“A gift from her mother?”
“I never could resist that little smile.”
She could feel the tears filling her eyes. “I’ll love you forever, too,” she whispered to the two hearts she held so closely to her own. She missed them both so much. How she wished... but there was no room in this life for regrets. She looked again to her companion, his own whispers drifting on the wind. He nodded to her. It was time and they had a Christmas wish to make come true.
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Hahah... I suck. I didn't last a week before working on a new chapter... My defense... I don't really have to start marking tests till tomorrow :D I will probably fail the JLPT though...sigh.
Anyhow, Jun and Mao are acting up and I'm having a hard time with Co-stars :( Koharu wanted attention, so I gave her some :)
I have vague idea of what i want to happen with this story, but I don't plan on making it too long i think. oh well, we'll see what happens.
As usual, your comments are loved and appreciated!
I heart comments!
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Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:33 pm