Title: Memory Lane
Author: Amm
Fandom: Prétear: Himeno Awayuki moves into a mansion and new life, after her father remarries. As she tries to adjust, however, she is suddenly told by a stranger that she is the Prétear, and needs to help the Leafe Knights fight the Princess of Disaster! Yeah. She said no at first, too.
Wordcount: 1,392
Taunt: My fandom is as white as snow.

"Morning, mom," Himeno Awayuki said groggily, rubbing her eyes.

She was looking over at all of her precious tulips that sat near the window, soaking in the sunlight. She always enjoyed it: waking up to the sight and smell of her garden. It didn't matter what time it was, or what day; it never failed to put a smile on her face.

Of course, it helped that she had actually slept well that night. That rarely happened, especially here in the Awayuki mansion. It was amazing: she didn't wake up at all, she had no unpleasant dreams, no sweating, no anything. She didn't even have any trouble getting to sleep; her eyes remained closed until the brightness of the sun had pried them open, and she felt refreshed. Considering that it had been the night before her birthday, this was all very pleasantly surprising.

"Aw, thank you, mom," she murmured again to her tulips, with a smile. "You remembered...you and dad always do. I wish I could say the same for the rest of my new family."

After a few more minutes of lazing about, Himeno finally caught sight of the clock perched on her nightstand. Her eyes widened, seeing the time, and she finally decided to drag herself out of bed. She was going to be late for school, she knew, if she didn't start getting ready soon. And since birthdays weren't considered holidays nor a valid excuse to skip... she really had no choice.

She began by going to her bathroom to do her business and give her face a quick wash: the start of her morning routine. It didn't take her long. She was back out within a matter of minutes, and headed immediately to the closet, like she would on any other day.

"Nah, I didn't really tell anyone this year," she continued on. "I wasn't trying to make a big deal out of it you know? I'm getting too old for that kind of thing. Presents, balloons, little Barbie tea parties...they make good memories, but..." She began to trail off without realizing it, and suddenly put her hands on her hips. "...huh! That's weird. I thought she put them in here..."

She was rummaging around in her closet intently now, a look of concentration coloring her face. She had been trying to keep things neat and orderly as she was looking around, but was quickly getting impatient and more reckless. Where were those darned school uniforms anyway? She just had them washed, and she knew they had to be in there somewhere. A sigh escaped her lips, as she shook her head.

"...anyway... I guess it'd be nice if my sisters cared enough to remember and say something about it. I doubt they will... but hey, who knows. Maybe they'll surprise me today. Mayune always seems to, some way or another — aha! There they are. Now what were you guys doing, laying over there?"

Her closet was in turmoil now, but her uniforms had finally revealed themselves. They had been hiding in a neat pile, it seemed, on the closet floor beneath some of the casual clothes she liked to wear when she went out with Yayoi on the weekends. There had been so many...she swore, they had multiplied or something. She couldn't even remember wearing most of those outfits, let alone where they had come from. She really needed to start doing her own laundry, she decided, instead of leaving it to the maid.

But she could think about that later. Time was passing quickly, and she should have been in her school uniform ten minutes ago. She quickly grabbed one of them from the closet and began to change.

"Heh. I've always been terrible at finding things when I lose them, haven't I?" Himeno asked aloud, chuckling. "You know, I still remember that one birthday party I had, when you tried to throw me that tea party. You seemed to work so hard, brewing the tea and making all those little snacks for everyone. But I couldn't even enjoy any of it, because I couldn't find that teddy bear of mine that dad won for me at the carnival...I was so upset...urgh!"

When she tried to put it on, the top of her uniform got caught on her mess of frizzed, pink hair, which she realized she still hadn't combed. But she tugged on it violently until it came down...and finally, she was dressed. She reached for her brush now—the next order of business, before she could head downstairs for a very, very swift breakfast. Her trip down memory lane, however, was still distracting her.

"Hmm. It was green tea, right?" Her brush was held idly in mid air, as she was consumed in thought. "I can never remember. You never did make it again after that, did you? Now I kind of want some..."

Another minute or so passed by before Himeno finally caught a glimpse of her clock again. She snapped back to reality pretty quickly, seeing the time—and frankly she was surprised no one had come up to her room to get her yet. She supposed if they couldn't even remember she existed, her birthday was out of the question...

"Eesh, mom!" she exclaimed jokingly, as she violently ran the brush through her hair. "You're really distracting, you know that? Natsue's going to kill me...and so is my teacher."

She sighed, deciding after a few more strokes that her hair was straight and looked good enough. Luckily her hair was short. If it got too bad, maybe she could just hide it under a hat or something. She didn't really care; and she couldn't really be too picky at that point. She darted towards her door and quickly turned the knob, ready to dash for dear life—

And nearly ran straight into her father, Kaoru. Who was standing outside the door, ready to reach for the doorknob himself.

"There you are! I was trying to let you sleep in a little, birthday girl, but really, I was beginning to worry about you!"

"Sorry, dad. I-I just woke up a little late and—oh! Thank you. A-actually, I'd nearly forgotten—"

"Well, don't worry about it! Come on! Everyone's waiting now, and I made you tea and a special breakfast. You don't want it to get cold, do you?"

Himeno looked a bit surprised at him. "You...you made tea? Seriously? For me?"

"Yeah, of course! It's your special day, isn't it?" he asked, with a silly grin.

"Yeah. But...you've never..."

"I just remembered you always loved tea parties when you were little, that's all. And I figured you might like some to start off the day today. It's the same kind of tea your mother used to make, you know. That green tea stuff that she made, for that one birthday party when you..."

A dumbfounded look had taken over her face as she just stared at him. Her father must have noticed, because he had simply stopped talking all of a sudden and stared back. He saw her blink, and shake her head disbelievingly at him without saying a word. Not a single word. And thus, Kaoru remained clueless.

"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, n-no. Nothing. It's nothing." She held her hands up and waved them dismissively. An innocent smile flashed across her face. "Sorry..."

How had he known?

Himeno's curiosity burned. He had never made green tea for her birthday before! Not since her mother died. It hadn't even come up before, and today, he just...decided to make it? By chance, on the one birthday that she happened to be thinking about it? Had he been spying on her? Heard her talking just now, perhaps?

"Well, let's go then, and let's quit stalling around up here!"

"All right," she said in defeat, still smiling. "All right, let's go!"

Before she could even move a muscle, however, her father had already darted off ahead of her. He was full of energy that day; she laughed, watching him jet down those flights of stairs. There were a lot too—they reminded her of the massive stairs you saw in Cinderella. But they didn't phase him a bit. He just kept on running.

And she slipped back into her room for a moment longer before she followed after him.

"Thanks, mom. I love you."

A/N: Wowww, it's been a long time since I've written something for the Pretear fandom. :) Thailand's mother's day is coming up, so I figured the idea was kind of appropriate to write. It was actually written as a drabble request for Candyland. The prompt she gave me was "Tea party." I hope everyone enjoyed it!