Disclaimer: I own nothing.
AN: I'm not trying to make a villain, just illustrate an issue I think they ignore too much on the show.
Just A Girl
By JDPhoenix
The call came at the worst possible time. Kira had finally managed to get a free weekend: no school, no gigs, no date with Trent, nothing at all -- and she was determined to spend it with her parents. She had just stepped into the airport when a blinding light appeared somewhere above and behind her. She sighed, seeing the people around her gasp and back away in fear and shock. She dropped her bags, simultaneously turning and dropping into a fighting stance. Dr. O had warned her about this sort of thing: people who heard you were a ranger and wanted to kill you on precedent. She had just never thought they'd jump her in an airport.
"Hello," the glowing armored figure said calmly.
"Are you here to kill me or what?" Kira asked. "Because I have a plane to catch."
"Do all of you people just jump to conclusions like that? I knew I shouldn't have let Zordon be in charge of establishing the ranger presence on Earth. You know, I've already been electrocuted twice today gathering you people."
"For what?" There were several other questions Kira would have liked to ask -- such as how this man knew Dr. O's old mentor -- but she really wanted to hurry this up before the gawkers came to their senses and pulled out their camera phones.
"The world is in danger." There was a warm hum coming from Kira's wrist and she looked down. Her morpher was back in place and the stone was glowing happily. Kira could feel a supreme sense of rightness flooding her. She had missed the power.
"Okay," she said, hefting her bags once more, "let's go."
ooo
She was happy to see Tori again and Adam had a whole host of embarrassing stories about Dr. O, but no matter how good it felt to be saving the world again, that first day put a damper on the whole adventure.
"Mom?" she said, hugging her phone arm close to her as if that would somehow communicate through the mess of electronic signals just how sorry she was.
"Kira!" her mother said happily. "I was just finishing fixing up your room. We're so excited--"
"Mom, I'm not coming."
She could hear a faint squeaking and knew her mother was sitting down on her bed.
"Mom? I'm really sorry, but something came up."
"I understand." Kira winced, her mother's voice had never sounded so -- dead. "You're on your own now," her mother continued, "you've got your own troubles."
Kira bit her lip. They were the same troubles she'd had before, troubles she'd promised herself would never come between her and family obligations again.
"Mom, I am so sorry. I was really looking forward to coming."
"I know you were, sweety. Goodbye."
There was the familiar click of the phone dropping into its cradle and then nothing. Kira looked at the phone in her hand. She wanted to throw it, smash it into a million pieces, but it was the only way her parents had of contacting her while she was here and she wouldn't give that up.
Her father used that connection less than an hour later.
"Kira!" he hissed angrily. His voice was low enough that Kira was sure he was trying to keep her mother from hearing. "Your mother has been crying her eyes out for the past hour! What did you say to her?"
Kira took a deep breath and tried to reign in her emotions. "I just told her how sorry I was that I couldn't come."
"Kira," her father said, calming down. She could almost see him rubbing the bridge of his nose the way he used to when her brother, Keith, screwed up. "This is the first chance we've had to see you in six months. Isn't there some way you can --?"
"No, Dad, I'm sorry, but this is really important."
She could hear the gruff sigh crackle over the line. "You can't do this. You can't be like Keith."
"Dad, I'm not --"
"No, Kira. You don't know how hard it was for us. After Keith it took every ounce of willpower we had to let you go out and have your band. We stayed up every night waiting for you to get home. When you started dating Trent I almost locked you in your room."
"Trent is --"
"Trent is trouble. Do you know I once saw him sleeping on a bench? I figured he'd just fallen asleep drawing something until I saw him a week later showering in the 24 Hour Fitness. He is just like your brother, he may have gotten his act together, but that doesn't change who he used to be."
Kira winced. Trent had only told her about his stint as a homeless person last year. He had been living like that to stay safe from Mesagog. Just one more part of her life she couldn't explain to her parents.
"Listen, sweetheart, you have to give us some stability here. Even if it's just that you can only come around on holidays, that's enough. So long as you aren't breaking promises right and left."
"Dad, it's one time." Kira had always been acutely aware of her position as the "good child." She knew her parents didn't need any more drama and tried, even in her ranger days, to keep to the rules they set.
"No, it's not. Ever since your senior year you've been different. You got detention at least once a week."
Kira rolled her eyes. It had been Conner's idea to use detention as the excuse for why they were late due to ranger business. She knew she should never have listened to him.
"I just don't know what's happened to my little girl."
Kira's breath caught in her throat. "I-- I'm just a girl, Dad," she managed to get out. "I'm just a normal girl and things come up that I can't control. I'll make it work next time, I promise."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry I blew up at you. It's just--"
"I know. Keith made it hard."
Her father made a murmur of assent told her he loved her and said goodbye. Kira returned the sentiment and hung up. She collapsed against the nearest wall. She was just a girl… a girl who save the world, and loved a boy, and knew the cost of living, and looked death in the eye, and would never be the same. She would never be her daddy's little girl again because daddies protected their little girls, not the other way around.