Maddie
She sits silently by herself, violet eyes staring out on the crowds of people that walked briskly through the airport with some place to be. She gathers the loose fabric of her oversized sweater into her small hands and holds it there for a moment, then releasing the red fabric before repeating the process. This occupies her interest for a few moments and she sighs, reaching into her sweater and pulling out her clock shaped like a polar bear. 5:34. She sighs again, letting the clock fall from her grasp to hang by its chain.
Two hours. She's been waiting, sitting patiently on her two cases of luggage, for two hours. She rests her chin in her hands, letting her mind wander since it looks as though she's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Maddie looks down at the cage beside her, the white polar bear cub clawing at the bars that enclose him. She sighs, running a hand over Kumajirou's paw comfortingly. She knows that her pet is too used to being allowed to roam freely, he hates being confined like this. Unfortunantly he's going to have to get used to it, seeing as polar bears aren't typical pets in America. He'll mostly have to stay indoors, be walked around on a lease or simply carried in her arms(not that he isn't used to that). She's just glad they allowed her to bring the little guy along with her and not dump him in the wild to fend for himself. It is nearly impossible for a pygmy polar bear like Kumajirou to survive in the wild, which was one of the main reasons she saved him when she found him injured in the woods around her neighborhood.
"It's okay Kumakichi. I'm surely they'll be here soon." She assures, patting his paw soothingly as he gives her a look as if confused on who she was.
Though she assures her pet she doesn't know if it's true herself. She's not entirely sure what she's doing here in the first place. Out of all the people that could take her in she's been dumped into the lap of a mother she hasn't seen for ten years, since the divorce. The young canadian feels knots tie in her stomach at the thought of her mother, a one Mrs. Katherine Jones, and her sudden reappearance in her daughter's life. The sandy blond haired girl remembers seeing her mother for the first time after the divorce, a few months ago at the funeral.
Her chest is tight, her breaths short and labored as she watches silently as the casket is lowered into the ground. Her violet eyes prick with tears and her body is wracked with silent sobs. She feels as an arm wraps around her shoulders, bringing her into a warm chest. She looks up, tearful purple eyes connecting with sympathtic blue ones. Her cousin, Francine, looks down at the shorter girl with a small smile, trying to reassure the young canadian girl. Maddie blinks at her wide eyed before she feels her bottom lip quiver and clutching onto the older girl's dark clothes she buries herself into the fabric while allowing her silent sobs to become audible.
0-0-0
At the reception she floats around like a ghost, body on autopilot as she recieves heartfelt condolences, pats on the shoulder and back. She takes them all silently with nods of awknowledgment and small accepting smiles. She drifts through the crowded house but can't help feeling completly alone and empty, her body hollow as she makes her way to the front of the house. She's tired and just wants to sleep with Kumajirou clutched tightly to her chest, just to forget all the events that have happened to her recently. She reaches the stairs just as the front door opens. She turns around slowly, wondering who has just entered her home.
It's a woman, who seems slightly awkward and out of place in the threshold of her home. The woman looks around the room with ocean blue eyes, pulling off her thick black gloves almost absentmindedly. She runs a hand through her sandy blond hair while Maddie takes in the rest of her appearance. She's wearing a black winter coat that reaches just past her knee, collar turned up to protect her from the cold. She has small, delicate features, almost like Maddie's the girl muses to herself and cocks her head to the side as the woman peels off her coat and hangs it on a nearby rack. She wears a black dress with loose, short sleeves that show off the woman's abundance of curves and Maddie can't help feeling a bit inadequete in comparison, running a hand over her side and feeling the slight, almost nonexistant, dip of her hip. As if feeling the younger girl's gaze on her, the woman quickly snaps her head away from whatever she was gazing at before and locking eyes with Maddie.
The two stare at each other for a moment, the woman with a calculating and slightly inquisitive glare, and Maddie with a look she is sure is akin to that of a deer caught in the headlights. She feels as heat rushes into her face under the older woman's intense gaze and she fights the voice in her minding telling her to simply bolt up the stairs. Suddenly the woman's gaze softens as a smile curls softly onto the woman's features.
"Maddie!" The woman nearly shouts with happiness, launching herself at the shocked blond and wrapping her arms around her neck.
The girl's eyes are wide as the woman holds her and a feeling of awkwardness and discomfort bubbles up in her belly as she resists the urge to throw the unknown woman from her body. Why is this happening? This has to be one of the most awkward moments of her life(so far). Who is this woman?, Maddie wonders to herself as she shifts uncomfortably. She's vaguely aware of this woman's face tucked away in the back of her mind and she relaxes slightly. Maybe she's an estranged aunt who doesn't visit often? That would explain how she knows the canadian girl's name.
"...Um, hello?" She's aware that her statement comes out as more of a question but she feels that it's strangely appropriate for this particular situation, seeing as she has no idea what's going. The woman pulls back, still holding Maddie's shoulders but now looking right into the younger girl's eyes and making her highly uncomfortable.
"How have you been?" Maddie gives the woman a blank look at that question, silently concentrating and hoping the woman will somehow burst into flames. She knows this a funeral right? For her father? The blond woman seems to realize her blunder for her face instantly pales and her body language becomes stiff. She lets out a nervous laugh that has an air of shakiness towards the end and averts eye contact for a moment as a blush seeps into her cheeks.
"Wow, that was a stupid question." Maddie doesn't nod in agreement like she wants, remembering the manners that have been drilled into her from a young age. Instead she offers her a forgiving smile as she pulls herself from the older woman's grasp lightly.
"That's okay." She says quietly, fingering the polar bear clock around her neck with a far off look. She really wants to go to bed now and forget about this strange woman. The woman shifts nervously from foot to foot, hand clamped around her opposite arm and a slight frown on her face.
"You've gotten so big." She says suddenly and breathily, as if her lungs aren't working the way they should. Maddie looks at the woman curiously, fingers running over the clocks's face.
"I'm sorry but who are you?" She suddely blurts, her violet eyes widening at the sudden outburst. She blushes slightly, feeling like a idiot. She didn't mean to say that but the question had been nagging at the back of her mind since this woman walked through the front door.
The blue eyed woman's face falls slightly at the younger girl's question and Maddie fears she's upset her. The woman smiles slightly but it doesn't reach her eyes that have suddenly begun to water.
"I, um, I'm Katherine. Katherine Jones." The teen stares at the woman as her smile slips from her lips. Now Maddie remembers who she is, the woman who took off ten years ago and took her brother with her. Her mother.
"O-oh."
Maddie sighs at the memory, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly. She doesn't like the memories following this one, not that she favors the one before them much either but these she feels a particular dislike to. She was quickly whisked from her home, the only one she's know her entire life, and placed with her grandparents to finish up the summer up in Canada while her mother prepares for her arrival in the states. Despite all the reassurences her mother and her grandparents give her she is sure that moving to the U.S. isn't what's best for her. The best thing for her is to finish up her high school career in Canada while floating around invisibly until she can move onto college. She doesn't want to start over, to introduce herself to a whole new group of people who will surely forget her existance in the next five minutes, and she surely doesn't want to live with a mother who abandoned her. She didn't say any of this of course. When asked she had simply nodded and smiled, hiding all her unhappiness deep within her own heart.
What am I going to do Papa?, she wonders, kissing her polar bear clock lightly.
"Oh my goodness Maddie!" The young Canadian is pulled from her thoughts when a loud voice calls out her name. She looks up to see her mother running towards her with an apolegetic look on her face. Maddie streches out her legs as the blond woman approaches, standing up and making a show of stretching before grabbing the handle of Kumajirou's cage.
"I'm so sorry, I've just been so busing that I totally forgot that I was picking you up today! I'm so sorry!" She says, looking flustered and slightly red in the cheeks. The canadian girl just smiles at the blue eyed woman, brushing hair off her shoulders with one hand.
"That's okay ." She assures softly, lugging her baggage towards the older woman. Her mother frowns slightly for some reason, her eyes conveying some confusion.
"Uh, let-let's go honey." She states sounging almost sullen as she places a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
0-0-0
She's in the process of dragging her bags up the steps of her new home after a long and awkward car ride when the door suddenly lurches open, almost knocking her off her feet.
"Maddie!" She barely has time to think before she's swept up into a pair of strong arms, her back surely cracking at the force of the bearhug. She gasps as she's lifted off her feet and swung slightly back and forth, her purple eyes wide. She doesn't understand why this happening. She finds it strange that she's in this same situation again. How can someone she hasn't seen for ten years welcome her with such intensity and approval? She doesn't get it.
"Alfred, you're crushing me." She chokes out, patting her brother lightly on the back in an attempt to get him to release her. He laughs sheepishly, placing her back on the ground as he grins at her.
"Heh heh, sorry 'bout that." She takes this time to examine her brother for the first time since he left so long ago. He's tall, she notices, maybe about five inches taller than herself. His hair is the same sandy blond as her own, maybe a bit darker, with an insistant cowlick reaching towards the sky. His eyes are ocean blue like their mother's and hidden behind a pair of silver rimmed glasses. His shoulders are broad, his arms corded with muscles as if he partakes in a lot of sports. The more she observes him the more she notices how they much they look alike, from the slight roundness of the face they both share to the nervous way he licks his lips in a way she knows she tends to do. You would never guess they were only half siblings.
"I'm just so excited to see you!" He exclaims, throwing an arm casually around her shoulders as if they are life long friends.
"I always wanted a sister and now I have one. Of course you existed before but we didn't really speak so it doesn't count but now you're here and that's awesome! We can hangout together and play video games. Do girls even like videogames? Oh well, I'll teach you to like videogames. It'll be great just you wait!" Maddie is slowly becoming overwhelmed by her brother's constant jabber but she allows a soft smile to curve into existance on her face. Somehow the rush of words that spews from his mouth is...refreshing. She can't explain why but for some reason it is, which is one of the reasons why she allows him to drag her through the house, giving her a rushed and imcomplete tour, before plopping her down on the couch and offering her a variety of junk foods. She takes a handful of pretzels before smiling at her older brother as he began his rant anew. She watches as he speaks fervently, motioning wildly with his hands as he talks her ear off and earning a halfhearted reprimand from his mother as she goes to deposit Maddie's bags in her new room. The blond male laughs sheepishly but slows his speech to a considerable pace that she can follow more easily. She smiles slightly to herself and finds that she may not mind her stay here in America, if only to enjoy the eccentricity of her only brother.
0-0-0
The next morning she wakes up from a night of restlessness to the sound of gunshots and a string of curses originating from the livingroom. Groggily she gets to her feet, rubbing at her tired eyes and pulling Kumajirou from his spot at the foot of her bed. He blinks his eyes open at her, giving her a confused look as she readjusts his posistion.
"Maddie." She says pointing to herself. She doesn't understand why but for some reason her pet needs reassure of who she is. The pygmy polar bear seems satisfied with her answer, allowing the young girl to cuddle him to her chest and shuts his eyes again. The canadian girl walks from her room over into the livingroom, blinking her eyes as she takes in the sight of her brother in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt while rapidly pressing the buttons of his playstation controller. His tongue peeks out between his lips, eyes flickering back and forth between opponents falling all around him. Out of the corner of his cerulean eye he finally notices that Maddie is standing there and he grins, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Hey Maddie! Sorry 'bout the noise, I forgot you were here. Didn't wake you up did it?" She brushes off the comment about him forgeting her, she's used to it, and shakes her head.
"No, it's alright. It is your house afterall." She says softly, placing her chin on Kumajirou's head and waking the polar bear from his uneasy slumber. He tilts his head back, forcing her chin back as he looks up at her before yawning and allowing her to rest upon him.
"What was that Maddie? I can't here you over the gunshots." Alfred yells loudly to be heard over the sound of a grenade exploding on screen. She's aware how softly she speaks, her voice rarely going above a whisper and usually remaining quiet the rest of the time. It wasn't because she was shy, she just genuinly had nothing to say and when she did her general softspokeness kicked in, making it hard for people to hear her quiet voice.
"I said it didn't wake me." She says a little loder, hoping she won't have to repeat herself a third time. Thankfully she doesn't because Alfred seems to have caught her words over the sounds of death and destruction somehow and pats the seat beside him on the couch erratically.
"Come sit with me Maddie. You can meet the guys!" He announces excitedly. Shrugging her shoulders she sits beside him, laying Kumajirou in her lap so he can curl into a comfortable ball. Alfred beams, picking up a headset that lies beside him and placing it on her head. The guys?, Maddie wonders as she touches one side of the headset, only to have her hand smacked away. She pouts lightly but allows for her brother to take the lead, pressing a button on the side of the headset and her ears are suddenly attacked by a rush of noise blaring to life. She yelps as Alfred laughs beside her, moving one side of the headset off her right ear and lessing the rush of sound, flipping it over in the process so he can hear as well.
"Sorry Maddie," he says between loud laughs, "forgot to turn down the volume." After readjusting the volume he reaches over and speaks into what she assumes is the mic.
"Hey guys, say hello to my baby sister." Maddie rolls her eyes at that statement, thinking it makes her sound like a child. She may be his younger sister but only by a year. She isn't a baby.
"Dude, you have a sister?" A heavily accented voice asks, cursing after he gets killed by someone on the other team.
"Yes Alfred-san, I was not aware you had any siblings." Another, calmer voice states through his own headset somewhere.
"Siblings originated in Korea da-ze~!" A hyper sounding person shouts through the headset, earning a slight wince from the canadian girl.
"Yong Soo that doesn't even make sense." The calm voice deadpans.
"You don't make sense!"
"Hey is she hot Alfie? Wanna introduce me, you know, put in a good word?" The accent voice laughs, cursing again as he gets killed.
"Why do I play this freakin' game?!" He murmurs to himself. Maddie blushes at the boy's words as Alfred's own face flushes red with barely conceiled anger.
"Hey dude that's my baby sister you're talking about! For all you know she could be like five!" The blond boy yells into the mic, a little too close to Maddie's ear. She smiles softly at his strange protectiveness of her. It is kind of sweet, in a big brother sort of way.
"Is she?" The calm voice asks.
Alfred looks to his sister, his eyebrows knit together in concentration.
"Um, no. Hey, Maddie how old are you?" He asks with genuine curiousity. She accepts the fact that he's forgotten her birthday or age after so many years, she doesn't remember his birthday either but she at least knows his age.
"I turned 16 July 1st." She states quietly, running a hand through the sleeping Kumajirou's fur.
"Ha! Fair game!" The accented voice laughs.
"No, not fair game! No one's laying a hand on my baby sister!" Alfred shouts, throwing his arms around his sister in a protective manner. The blond girl wheezes slightly as she feels her ribs cracking under the strain.
"Man, I'm just kidding! Calm down!" The accented voice states, Maddie can almost see him roll his eyes.
"Alfred-san, why don't you just introduce us to your sister?" The calm voice states almost soothingly, as if to try to consol her older brother. He brightens at this, almost as though he completly forgot that this was what he was supposed to be doing.
"Alright then! Maddie, these are a couple of my friends, introduce yourselves guys."
"It's nice to meet you Maddie-san, depite the fact that we are not face to face. I am Honda Kiku." The calm voices states politely.
Alfred leans over to whisper to his sister, "He means Kiku Honda, for some reason he always says his name backwards like that."
"I can still hear you Alfred-san." Kiku deadpans again.
"It's also nice to speak with you Kiku." Maddie says quietly back to the boy.
"I'm Mathias Køhler, and if you were wondering, yes I'm single." The deeply accented voice purrs as Alfred leans to whisper to his sister again.
"There's a reason for that, don't let him fool you. He's in love with this emotionless girl from our junior class."
"S-shut up! Don't say things like that! Augh! Why the f*ck do I keep dying!?" Mathias nearly yells as a grenade blows him to pieces. The canadian girl giggles at how flustered the boy sounds but tries to cover it up with a cough politely.
"That's, uh, nice Mathias." Maddie says, hand still over her mouth to hise her giggles as she hears Alfred murmur something to himself that sounds suspiciously like, "Teach you to hit on my baby sister." with his controller in his hands.
"You know, introductions originated in Korea." The hyper voice states matter'o'factly, earning a groan from the other three males. Maddie just smiles warmly at the voice, deciding to play along though she doesn't really believe what he's saying. Where's the harm in just pretending?
"Did they really?" The violet girl asks, trying to make her voice sound as interested as possible.
"Of course!" He boasts loudly.
She just shakes her head slightly at the obvious enthusiasm in his voice, "That's fascinating."
"I like her!" The hyper voice exclaimes loudly, "My name is Im Yong Soo!"
As soon as these words leave Yong Soo's mouth Alfred stand, streching his back while still holding the contoller in his hand. He leans over and quickly speaks into the mic.
"Well, now that all the introductions are done I'm gonna bounce. You guys have this game covered right?" Before the other boys can put up any resistance Alfred leaves the game with a self-satisfied grin on his face. He turns to her, throwing the golden controller on the couch with a flick of his wrist before resting his hands on his belly.
"I'm sooooo hungry!" He whines, walking away from the couch and. Towards the kitchen. Not entirely sure what else to do Maddie pulls Kumajirou into her arms and follows her brother. As she enters the kitchen she watches Alfred dig around the cabinets desperatly in search of food, stomach suddenly growling in violent protest.
"Ugh! There's nothing to eat!" The blue eyed teen groans, soothingly patting his belly with one hands as he sticks his head into the frisge. Though she doesn't say so Maddie finds his childish display humorous and is slightly suprised he hasn't started stomping his feet in a temper tantrum yet, but the night is young. Maddie walks to the cabinets, taking in the available ingridients and nodding to herself. There seems to be enough for a couple batches, she thinks before resting Kumajirou on one of the kitchen chairs. She places her hands on her brother's shoulders and steers him out of the kitchen despite his protests, banishing him from the kitchen for thirty minutes.
Only after whipping up a batch of pancakes does she allow her older brother to slink back into the kitchen, attacking his stack of pancakes before Maddie can even pour the syrup. She just laughs lightly before dousing her own until the sticky substance threatens to spill over sides of the plate. Right about now Kumajirou is fully awake, looking up at her with pleading eyes while lightly pawing at her leg. She sighs before handing her pet the bottle of syrup and tossing him a couple of pancakes as well. The pygmy polar bear makes quick work of the pancakes before sucking down the maple syrup.
"Maddie, these are really good!" Alfred proclaims around a mouthful of food, choking slightly from his overzealous rush. She smiles her thanks before taking a bite from her own stack of flapjacks. Hmm, almost as good as Papa's, this thought saddens her slightly and a small frown tugs at the corners of her mouth. Alfred's voice pulls her away from her thoughts before they can move any farther.
"Maddie," he begins with a strangely serious face, shocking his sister, "you have to make these everyday from now on. Seriously."
She giggles slightly at that until she realizes that he's completely serious and instead of arguing with him about it she just agrees. She doesn't want any conflict since she did just get here yesterday and she still feels like a guest in her new home.
"Um, so where is..." She trails off, hoping he'll guess who she's talking about. Apparently she puts too much faith in her older brother for he just gives her a blank look that reminds her of Kumajirou while still stuffing his face.
"Your mom...uh, where is she?" She finally says softly, tracing swirls and lines into her pool of maple syrup still on her plate with the tips of her fork. She doesn't feel comfortable calling that woman her own mother, at least not outloud. Not yet.
"Oh! Ma went to work, then she's going to the store for school supplies for when school starts next week." He explains, finishing his breakfast with a decisive clang of teeth against metal. She nods in understanding, barely noticing when Kumajirou reaches over to her plate and swiping it across the lake of syrup before sticking it into his mouth. She rubs her hands together nervously at the silence that suddenly descends on the siblings, feeling unsure of how to continue the conversation.
"Is there a park somewhere around here?" She asks, reaching for a napkin to wipe the spit/syrup combination from her pet's paws.
"Yep, down the street. Why?" He asks, taking his plate to the sink with a curious look on his face.
She shrugs, "I just wanted to know so I could take Kumadan for a walk later."
Alfred chuckles, bending down to take a closer look at the polar bear cub who was knawing on the tip of the empty maple syrup bottle.
"Guess I should tell Mom we need more syrup." After saying this he reaches out to pet the pygmy polar bear only to have Kumajirou snap at his fingers with his fangs, Alfred barely managing to snatch his hand away last minute.
"Eh! Maddie! Your dog tried to bite me!" The older boy whines, fleeing across the kitchen to hide in the doorway. The canadian girl giggles under her breath as she pulls the disgruntled polar bear into her arms, plucking the empty syrup bottle from his grasp and tossing it towards the trashcan.
"That's because he's a polar bear Alfred-"
"Why do you have a pet polar bear?!" He demands, giving her a look that clearly conveys he believes she deserves to be locked into some sort of institution.
"Because he's cute, eh? He's not usually this short-tempered though. He probably thought you were going to take his syrup away. It's Kumachichi's favorite treat." She explains to the blue eyed teen as she places her plate in the sink after Kumajirou has licked it clean.
"Why didn't he try to bite you?" The sandy blond haired boy questions with a slight pout, crossing his arms over his chest in a show of his discontentment.
"I don't know. He just doesn't. She answers him honestly, leaving the kitchen to prepare for her trip to the park.
0-0-0
She enjoys the feel of warm sunlight on her skin as she walks, closing her eyes momentarily as she soaks it in. She doesn't notice she's stopped until she feels the deliberate tug of Kumajirou's lease in her hand. And she opens her eyes, smiling sheepishly at the annoyed look her pet is sending her. She begins walking again, much to Kumajirou's delight as he seems to be enjoying his new surrondings, barely paying attention to the sights around her.
She remembers taking walks like this with her Papa when she was a child, his larger hand clamped around her smaller one as he pointed out the various flora and fauna out to her. His deep yet soft voice whispering at her to be quiet as a herd of white tailed deer grazes silently just a ways a head of them, her young eyes wide with awe and innocence. He always did that, pulled her aside to show her things that she was sure were magical just because he showed them to her. She misses those small moments she realizes as she cluches the fabric of her shirt right over her heart. As he neared the end of his life those moments with her father were too far in between and now she have anymore. She's pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Kumajirou's softly growling at her feet and she turns her head to asses the situation.
There on the ground in front of her pet is a bright yellow chick hopping around erraticaly, flapping its wings as if taunting Kumajirou and the pygmy polar bear does not look amused.
"What's a little chick like you doing out here by yourself?" Maddie asks the little bird with a creased brow, kneeling down on the concrete walkway beside the two animals.
"Piyo!" The chick chirps happily, flapping its wings erratically to fly around her head before settling into her sandy blond hair. She giggles softly, reaching up to softly pet the bird's chest with one finger. Kumajirou looks up at the bird, walking over to Maddie to pull himself to stand on his two hind legs and swipe at the yellow chick. The teen ducks out of the way of the paw, pulling the polar bear off of her shoulders.
"Kumasame that's not very nice! You shouldn't do things like that." Maddie reprimands the cub, holding his paws in her hands.
"Piyo, piyo!" The chick cheeps happily, jumping up and down on the canadian girl's head in an almost mocking manner.
"Gilbird! Gilbird, where are you? If you don't come here now the awesome me is eaving your *ss here!" An accented voice yells somewhere far off, shocking the young girl enough to make her jump just from the volume of it. The chick cheeps excitedly, hopping off her head and quickly flying away towards the source of the voice.
Maddie and Kumajirou stare after the small bird before the polar bear looks at her in confusion. She just sighs.
"Maddie." She says as she gets off her knees and continues her walk with her pet, all thoughts of her father pushed to the back of her mind.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know if you want more.