Hello. My name is Kimiko Sohma. I'm a freshman in Rhode Island, so I'm 15. From my name, I bet you were thinking that I lived somewhere in Asia…or maybe not. (Obviously not all people with Asian names live in Asia.) I'm Japanese, but, because my dad died in Japan just before I was born, my mom didn't want to stay anywhere near there. So here I am. But I want so badly to go there…to see where my roots are. I speak Japanese (and English, of course) and I have the money for a plane ticket…but whenever I bring it up, Mama refuses. I wish that after so many years she'd just let whatever go. It's not like I'm asking her to go with me…but I am her only child…and I'm young…
Okay, don't get me wrong. I know it's sad that my dad died from causes that haven't been explained to me, but I have a feeling that his death isn't all that's keeping her away from there. Maybe I should just go…and leave a note for her that I'll be going…you know, pull a "What a Girl Wants"…but Japan is a bit farther than London…
She'd probably go after me and then kill me when she caught me…at least ground me for the rest of my teens. I really don't want to think about that…
My mom keeps a lot of things from me. More than the cause of my dad's death, I know nothing about my family. Hell, I may not even have a family. It wouldn't make a difference in what I know about them…especially since she doesn't have any family reunions planned any time soon…as far as I know…but she's well over ten years late for one of those…
Once, I asked Mama if I had any brothers and sisters…which would be odd I guess…considering they don't live with us and all…but she ended up changing the subject anyway. Then I asked if I had any cousins. When I didn't get an answer, I knew for sure that she'd been hiding things from me. That had gotten me really annoyed, so I asked her if I had any family at all, which of course I would…even if it was some distant cousin…eight times removed…
She yelled at me for asking too many questions. That really pissed me off. So I yelled back, saying that I had to have some family somewhere, and I was going to find out.
I got grounded.
Another thing my mother keeps from me is her childhood. I have never heard her say anything about her childhood; nothing at all. Not even where she lived…what her house looked like…her friends' names…
The only thing she ever told me was that she kept my father's name, Sohma. I also know my father's name, not because she told me, but because I found my birth certificate once and saw that his name was Ryoma. Ryoma Sohma…poor guy…his name rhymes.
As I get older, I become more and more curious about my heritage…
Someday, I will know.