Daughter's first day at school
"Do they have teddy bear, daddy?" asked Natsuko as she skipped beside her father, holding his finger tightly.
Yamato smiled, "I am sure they do."
"And orange color too?" she asked curiously.
Yamato chuckled, "Yes, orange color too."
"I will make a flower. Orange flower." she told him earnestly.
"That would be very pretty."
"Yesh. I will give it to Mama. She has orange hair."
Yamato laughed, "Mama will like that." Natsuko smiled, clearly satisfied with her plans.
"Here we are." Yamato said as they turned a corner and faced the elementary school. The smile was wiped off Natsuko's face in an instant. She eyed it warily, looking anxious for the first time.
"This is school?" she asked, to be sure. The prospect of going to school felt much real all of a sudden.
"Yes, this is your school." Yamato said, noticing her panic.
I told Sora she is too young, he thought anxiously, just look at the size of her!
Sora's answer, the one she had given him a hundred times over, was very firm.
"We all started kindergarten in this age, Yamato. Every kid does. She must go to school this year or she would be left behind."
"But look at the size of her! She is so small!" he had persisted, holding sleeping Natsuko's hands.
"They are not gonna eat her! They are all the same size there. Now stop worrying!" Sora had replied firmly.
And now Yamato realized he might be facing the prospect of convincing Natsuko all over, considering her recent hesitation. As excited as she was when Sora told her that she would be going to school, it all seemed to evaporate now.
"I don't like it, Daddy. I wanna go home." her fingers tightened around Yamato's.
Yamato eyed the various kids going inside the school, some looking positively spoiled and bratty and Natsuko's offer seemed suddenly a good idea. He sighed and reaching down, placed the strap of her lunch box over her shoulder.
"Natsuko, you are a big girl now. See, you are this many years old," he took her hand in his palm, once again struck by the smallness of her hand, and held out four stubby fingers, "And you are going to school now. This is really very big thing. Only big kids go to school. And everyone likes school so much. You make so many new friends."
"I don't want new friends. I want Mommy." her eyes were now pooling with tears. Yamato looked around quickly before sitting on his tiptoes in front of her.
"See, you were this small," he said placing his hand beside her waist, "And you become big," he slowly raised his hand till it was beside her head, "So now you should go to school because look," he turned her around gently, "All those kids are going to school. Oh, they will color in pretty pictures. Orange color. They will make orange flowers. And they will play with teddy bears." he tried to make her realize what she might be missing. And it worked. Natsuko was looking clearly torn between her fear of a new place and the image of all those kids playing with the toys she likes.
"Will you come with me?" she asked, in a small whisper now. Yamato could not stop himself from hugging her. He gently stroked her blond curls. Now he just wanted to pick her up and take her home and keep her there for the rest of the year. But Sora will blow up if he did something like that. And Natsuko has to go to school some day.
"No, sweety. Daddy must go. But Daddy will be back very soon and take Natsuko home with him. And Natsuko can give her Mommy an orange flower, right?"
Natsuko sniffed, wiping away her tears slowly, and nodded. Yamato stood up again and started walking towards the gate, Natsuko staring at everything around her fearfully. She was hugging his one leg and Yamato was finding it hard to separate her.
"See, honey?" Yamato said as they entered the school, pointing at slides and merry-go-round, "You will have a lot of fun on these swings." Natsuko stayed silent, eyeing everything doubtfully.
I will not take our son to his first day of school; Yamato thought furiously, Sora can handle this much more effectively.
A teacher came towards them, sensing Natsuko's hesitation.
"Who is she, Daddy?" Natsuko whispered, her voice easily hinting at her panic.
"This is your teacher, Natsuko. She will show you how to make an orange flower."
The teacher approached them, smiling encouragingly. She leaned down in front of Natsuko who hid further behind Yamato's leg.
"Who is this pretty girl?" the teacher asked sweetly.
"Natsuko Ishida." Yamato told her, trying to pull Natsuko away from his leg. The teacher gave him a look. Yamato flushed.
"Tell her your name, sweety." he urged Natsuko.
She stared at the teacher for a moment longer then said in a, what Yamato might sense as a distant tone, "Daddy told you."
Yamato was barely able to stop himself from laughing. The teacher chuckled.
"I want you to tell me your name." she said, now even more gently.
Natsuko glanced up at her father, then back at the teacher, "Na - Natsuko." she said quietly.
"Oh what a pretty name!" the teacher clapped softly. Natsuko glanced at her father again, apprehensively so, clearly unimpressed by this over reaction.
"Natsuko-chan, why don't you come inside? There are a lot of colors inside and we will play lots of games."
"Do you have orange color?" Natsuko asked suspiciously. Yamato's whole body shook with silent laughter at the slightly confused look on teacher's face.
"Yes, of course, there is orange color and yellow and pink and blue and green. Why don't you come and see?"
"Will you let Daddy come in?" she asked, stepping out from behind Yamato's legs.
"Umm, no. But I'll tell you something. If you come with me and we color in pictures and play with toys and after very short time your Daddy will come back to take you back home. And then, you can come tomorrow too."
Natsuko stared at her doubtfully, frowning slightly. Yamato decided to let her decide on her own.
"Mommy gave me lunch." she said suddenly, showing off her lunch box. Yamato chuckled.
"Well, that's very good. You can eat that yummy lunch when we will have lunch time."
It took a few more moments for Natsuko to finally decide to trust the woman in front of her.
"Okay." she said, letting go of Yamato's pants. Both Yamato and the teacher gave a sigh of relief.
"Come on then, sweety." the teacher held out her hand. Natsuko didn't take it. Instead, she clutched the strap of her lunch box with both hands.
"You will come back, Daddy?" she asked, her chin quivering slightly.
"Yes sweetheart. I will be here even before you come out of the school." Yamato assured her. Natsuko nodded and turned towards the teacher. Yamato watched silently as they both walked away from him, Natsuko firmly holding her lunchbox.
She is so little, he found himself thinking helplessly.
x-x-x
"Well?" Sora asked as soon as Yamato came in the living room, "How did it go?"
Yamato placed his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes, "I was this close to bringing her back to home." he said, holding his finger and thumb a millimeter apart, Sora chuckled, "I don't know how I am gonna refuse her anything in future if she kept giving me that face." Sora laughed.
"It must be hard for you." she said, placing her cheek against his head, her fingers stroking her son's hands.
"You have no idea." Yamato murmured, turning his head slightly to one side to kiss her temple, "And so I have decided that you will take him on his first day of school." he added, holding his son's hand to his cheek.
"No problem." Sora said as she shifted the baby to his father's lap. She placed a light kiss on Yamato's lips, stroking his hair affectionately and stood up, "I am sure I can handle this much better than you."
"I don't doubt it one bit, Mrs. Ishida." Yamato said rolling his eyes as he stroked his son's hair. Someone in his mind whispered, "Mama has orange hair." and he smiled.
I already miss her.