Broken Doll – An Alternate After Story
by Magnus Prime

Chapter One: Sixteen After the Story

I breathed a sigh of relief as I approached the front door to my home. Well, not really my home; I still lived in the apartment, and Ushio had been with me since our reunion so many years ago.

I opened to the door to the nice smell of dinner on the stove, and the sight of my daughter at the kotatsu. It looked like she was working on her homework. "I'm home."

She looked up, and a bright smile spread across her face. "Welcome home, Daddy!" she squealed as she hopped up from her spot and hurried over to give me a hug before taking my coat as she had been doing for the past few years. "How was work?"

"Same as always," I grunted as she slid my coat from my shoulders, continuing the years-old routine. "At least I still don't have to worry about falling."

"And you still have your weekends," she added.

It was true: The first few years of my time with the electrical company had me climbing poles to do repairs along with Yuusuke. Apparently I'd shown a good work ethic, because even though my dad's antics had ruined my chances at becoming a branch manager, my boss still wanted to promote me somewhere. Fortunately, one of our accountants was about to retire, so I was quickly trained for the position. Starting off was rough, but the outgoing accountant was a great teacher and I was doing his job, however crudely, in no time. One of the nice things about the position was that I was only required to work on weekdays.

"That reminds me," I said as we headed back to the kotatsu, "have you decided what you want to do for your birthday? I know it's not for about a couple of months, but I'd like to have enough time to plan the purchases if needed."

"I'd like to go out to dinner," she replied almost immediately.

I gestured toward her. "And?"

"That's it."

My brow furrowed. "You don't want to invite any of your friends or anything? You've had friends over for your birthday for years, and this is your sixteenth birthday."

"Not this time," she said, looking to the side.

So she didn't want me to spend too much money on her, huh? What a sweet girl. "Ushio, it's fine; I can afford to take you and your friends. I can't treat your whole homeroom class, of course, but three or four of your buddies won't break the bank." I spread my hands. "This is a special birthday, after all."

"I know," she murmured. "That's why I want it to be just us."

"How come?"

"Because I'm turning sixteen."

I gave my gears a minute to turn and it hit me: She must have wanted to spend time with me since she would be going from being a child to being an adult. "Okay, then; if you're okay with spending your special birthday with your old man-"

"You're not an old man!" she blurted, then quickly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry!"

I was surprised, of course, but not offended. "It's okay; I'm not mad or anything."

"M-May I check on dinner?"

I blinked at the abrupt change of topic. "S-Sure, go ahead."

I thought over our conversation as I watched her working at the stove. What had brought about her change? Did she feel like she couldn't have any friends anymore because she would be turning sixteen? It also seemed odd that she would want to spend time with me. I knew that she loved her 'Daddy', but she was at the age where she should have been growing away from me. Maybe she still needed me as an emotional safely net?

I shifted my focus from my thoughts to my daughter and smiled as she stirred the contents of one of the pots. She had certainly grown into a beauty; hardly surprising, considering how cute her mother was. Large, expressive brown eyes, long brown hair to her waist…the only thing missing were those hairs that stood straight out like antennae. I could see a lot of Nagisa in my little girl, but I could also see a bit of myself in her as well, though what she got from me was mainly seen in her personality; a stubborn streak, a strong sense of right and wrong...how she ended up such a beautiful, sweet young lady while under my care I'd probably never figure out. Probably learned it from Pops and Sanae before I took custody.

"Dinner's about ready," she announced, jarring me from my thoughts. "Would you be willing to set the table?"

"Sure," I grunted as I got to my feet. "What do we need?"

She gestured to her left, where a short pile of bowls and plates waited. "Just this, thanks."

I smirked as I gathered the dining materials. She had certainly become bolder in the last year. When she was younger, she was all "Yes, Daddy!", but within the last year she had started speaking to me more like an equal on occasion. I knew that I was still 'Daddy' to her, but the change in our dynamic would take some getting used to. "Bowls on the plate or next to it?"

"Next to it, please."

I put the stuff on the table like she asked and, after helping her put dinner on the table, we took our usual places across from each other. "Itadakamasu."

As we started to fill our plates I thought about our earlier interaction again. "Listen, Shio-chan: I'm sorry if I came off heavy-handed or demanding earlier."

"Y-You didn't," she said, deliberately avoiding my gaze. "I…just felt awkward, that's all."

"Okay." I didn't have any reason to believe that she would lie to me, particularly about something like this. "Well, if you change your mind about bringing friends, I'm cool with that; just give me at least a couple weeks' warning, okay?"

"Okay."

"Do you know where you want to go? What restaurant, that is?"

Her chewing slowed briefly before she swallowed. "I know I'd like to go somewhere fancy...not like 'rich-person' fancy, but a little…nicer? Yeah, nicer than a family restaurant."

I nodded thoughtfully. "I have a couple of ideas you might like, but…let me look into them a little more. Of course, if you find a place you like, just let me know and we'll make it happen. Sound good?" I finished with a smile.

"Yeah! Thanks, Daddy!" she chirped, her eyes nearly glowing. Her excitement faded slightly, though. "Are you meeting with Fujibayashi-sensei tonight again?"

I sighed heavily. "Yeah. Sorry it's going to cut into our time, but you know she can't get out very often."

"I know," she sighed, looking down at the tabletop. "I understand."

Kyou had been married for about ten years, but it only took one for her to find out that she was just arm-candy to her so-called 'husband'. For someone who wasn't loved very much, she wasn't allowed outside very often. In fact, the only time that I could meet up with my old friend was when he was out of town on business. I didn't know what he did for a living and I didn't really care; it just pissed me off that my old sparring partner was basically a bird in a gilded cage; fed, clothed and sheltered, but not really taken care of. I'd taken Ushio to one of our early get-togethers and she had hardly recognized her former teacher.

What saddened me the most was that she was likely going to be 'retired' soon, effectively traded in for a younger woman. "I don't know why she doesn't just get out, either," I told my daughter. "It's not like he'd chase her down or anything."

"Fujibayashi-sensei was such a nice teacher, even though she made fun of you so much." I could clearly hear the pain in my daughter's voice. "Whoever he is, he doesn't deserve someone as nice as her."

I leaned back on my hands to look out our living-room window. "For what it's worth, I agree."

I pulled my coat collar up over my ears to protect them from the winter's chill. December tended to be really cold where we lived, and every time I saw the snow my mind would go back to that day so many years ago… "Nagisa…"

I still missed my wife. Even though it had been around a decade and a half since her passing, I could still remember her death like it was yesterday. How pale she was when our daughter was born, how weak she sounded, and…I rubbed at my eyes at the memory of trying to show Ushio to her lifeless body.

Five years of working my ass off, along with booze and smokes did nothing to ease the pain. Only my reunion with Ushio, along with learning about my dad and realizing how I was turning out like him, finally snapped me out of it. The pain remained, but at least I had a reason to go on. "She's so much like Nagisa…" I finished my musings with a smile, along with a little paternal jealousy. I filed my thoughts and feelings away as I approached the bar where Kyou and I would usually meet.

The artificially-heated air was a welcome sensation to my skin as I entered the bar, and I shrugged out of my coat as I headed over to my old friend, sitting in our usual spot. "Hey."

"Hey," she greeted back. "Nice weather, huh?"

"I've seen worse," I said with a wry smile as I sat across from her. It wasn't hard to see that at only thirty-six she had lost much of her youth; the bags under her eyes, the way she slouched as she sat, the slight graying at the temples… "You doing okay?"

"I've been worse," she grunted, nearly echoing my statement as she pulled out a packet of cigarettes and started smacking it against a hand. "Mind if I smoke?"

"Go ahead," I replied. "It won't take the pain away, you know."

"I know," she said offhandedly. "But I'll take the illusion over the hell of reality."

"That bad?" I asked, lighting her smoke for her.

She took a long draw from the cancer stick. "I think I'm going to be 'retired' soon."

"Already?"

She gave me a look of disbelief. "Are you seriously asking that? Look at me!" She sat up, using the non-smoke hand to indicate herself. "I look like an old hag! Do you think I don't see the bags under my own eyes? My hair? Damn, my mom and dad still have their hair color! …At least, when I last saw them."

"How long ago was that?"

"Two years. Two…fucking…years!" She took another draw on her cigarette. "Bastard won't even find out how they're doing for me."

I felt sick to my stomach; I'd never known Kyou to swear like that, so… "Why don't you leave?" We'd had this discussion before, but I'd been hoping that the answer would be different this time.

"He'd find me and beat my ass…again."

"If he's going to give you the boot, why would he chase after you?" I tried pointing out.

"When I'm allowed to leave, it'll be on his terms," she said matter-of-factly. "Guy's got an ego the size of the Pacific. No, I'll just wait it out until he finally gets tired of me."

I 'humphed'. "Well, the invitation stands; you need a place to stay, you can stay with Ushio and me."

Another look of disbelief. "Seriously? You'd let this old hag crash with you? And one who's treated you like shit?"

"You stopped abusing me after Ushio graduated from kindergarten, remember? And 'old hag'? I don't see an old hag; I see a…an affection-deprived woman."

I hadn't seen her smile in a long time, so to see one grace her face was a relief. "Thanks, Tomoya; it means a lot to hear you say that." Her smile turned more sly. "Say, if I take you up on that, would you have sex with me?"

My stomach slithered to my shoes. "Why…Why would you even ask that? You know I'm married!"

"Nagisa's dead, Tomoya," she said casually, flicking ashes into a nearby tray before fixing her gaze on me again. "Besides…I want to know what it's like."

"What what's like?"

She sighed heavily. "Sex, you idiot."

"Y…You…You've never…?"

"N-No," she fake-stuttered, apparently mocking me. "I've n-never had s-sex before."

"And you've been married for ten years?"

"I guess that's what it's called. 'Married'…" she snorted before drawing on her smoke again. "What a crock."

My heart went out to my old friend, but... "I'm…sorry, Kyou; I can't give you that."

She snorted again. "Never hurts to ask, I guess."

"You can still stay with us if – or when – he kicks you out."

"I dunno. Maybe I'll find a nice guy…" she said, her eyes taking on a faraway look. "…one who knows how to treat a lady, one who loves kids, wants one of his own…"

My heart broke further as I realized that she would have wanted kids for the last ten years, but her jerk of a husband had denied her even that.

"…but that'll never happen," she scoffed as she viciously mashed her cigarette into the ashtray. "I'm running out of eggs, I look a hell of a lot older than I really am…"

"Kyou…"

She looked at me with a smile tinged with resignation. "No one will want me," she said simply as tears welled in her eyes.

"I'm sure-"

"Save it, Tomoya," she snapped, waving a dismissive hand. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but it won't work anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I made my choices, and I'm suffering the consequences. Now, I want to talk about something happier. How's Shio-chan doing?"

I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face, not that I wanted to. "She's doing great. She'll be turning sixteen this coming February."

"Wow…" she breathed. "Sixteen… Time flies so fast… Wish I could get her something."

"I could pass along a birthday message, if you wanted."

"Yeah…get a piece of paper; I've got something," she said, pulling out another cigarette for me to light. "You'll like this."

I grabbed a napkin and borrowed a pen from a waitress, then looked at her expectantly.

"First…here, take this." She reached in her purse, pulled out some money and pushed it at me. "Get her a nice card, one of those flowery, sappy ones and write this in…shit, let me do it." She grabbed the napkin and pen from me and scribbled something on it. "Does this look okay? It doesn't look like the rantings of a thirty-six-year-old virgin, does it?"

I blanched as I took the napkin from her to read it:

"Find happiness and hold onto it, whatever it costs you.
- Aunt Kyou"

"Looks good," I said, lowering the napkin to the table. "I think she'll love it."

"Just stick that in the card so she sees it's from me, my handwriting," she said, then paused. "Wait…does it smell like smoke?"

I lifted the napkin to my nose and sniffed. "Yeah, but I could be smelling your coffin nail."

"Piss off," she grunted before taking another draw.

"You need to quit, Kyou," I said, putting the napkin in a pocket. "That's going to age you faster than anything."

"Like I care anymore," she scoffed. "I'm already worn-out goods for having been used so little."

"I care," I insisted, "and Ushio's been worried about you."

Her smoke paused halfway on its return trip to her mouth. "Shio-chan…" she took another draw, then flicked the ashes. "Tell you what; I'll clean up after Loverboy kicks me out. Deal?" she asked, sticking out a hand.

I looked down at her hand; it looked remarkably old for such a relatively young woman. "Fine. Deal," I said, grabbing her hand. She winced, and I quickly pulled my hand away. "Sorry… did I hurt you?"

"Sort of," she admitted. "That's the most affection I've felt since…hell, I don't know when."

I studied my old friend, saddened at what a loveless marriage had done to her, made her into. "When you get out, Ushio and I will spoil you. Hair, nails, whatever."

She smiled wistfully. "I look forward to it."

"So how is she?" I heard before I could even get through the front door. I looked over to see Ushio, in her nightgown, standing at the entrance to the hallway. "Is she okay?"

"As well as can be expected," I grunted as I settled down at the kotatsu. As she took her place across from me I said, "She thinks she's going to be 'retired' soon."

"That's good, in a way," she mused. "Did you tell her about our offer?"

I chuckled humorlessly as I remembered her…unique request. "I think I've reminded her just about every time we've met, but yes, I did."

Ushio cast her gaze to the tabletop as she sighed. "I hope she accepts."

"It sounds like she will," I told her as I leaned back on my hands, only to sit up abruptly to rub at my face with both hands. "Man, I'm tired."

"You smell like smoke, too," my daughter said, wrinkling her nose as she looked back up at me. "Is she still doing…that?"

"Yeah," I snorted, "but she said she'll quit once she's out of there."

"That's good." Ushio said, her eyes back on the table. "I'm really looking forward to seeing her again, taking care of her."

I chuckled – a genuine one this time – as I reached across to her head. She smiled as she leaned forward, letting me rub her head. "You're a really nice, kindhearted girl, Shio-chan," I told her. "I'm thankful to have you as my daughter."

"Y-Yeah…" she said, blushing as she ducked her head slightly. "Thanks."