This story was inspired by neopuff's AU-idea where Tang Shen flees to New York with baby Miwa. Thanks for letting me go with it, neopuff! *hugs* Some might wonder about the name, well, there's a story behind why it's Karai. ;)
Many thanks to FaithfulWhispers for her beta-work! ^^
Karai slumps down on a chair at the kitchen table. She raises a brow when her mother places a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her.
"Good morning, my dear," Tang Shen says, and her voice is cheerful, too cheerful for Karai's taste - especially at this hour of the day and even more after the quarrel they had last night.
She doesn't reply, just takes the fork and munches away on the scrambled eggs. It's better than talking. Everything is better than talking.
"You got to hurry, sweetheart," her mother goes on as if she hasn't noticed the lack of words coming from her daughter, just as cheerful and sweet as before, and Karai hates it. "Or you are going to be late for school."
School. Karai doesn't care much about school. It's a place where she's kept away from the things she's really interested in. Except for PE, that is. It's the only thing she else is just boring.
Her mother takes a seat opposite her, a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.
It's only then that Karai realizes she wouldn't mind some coffee herself, but she's too stubborn to ask her mother for it and too lazy to get some herself. So scrambled eggs it is.
"Have I ever told you how much I like your makeup?" Tang Shen continues.
Karai just huffs, but again, her mother continues as if nothing has happened.
"It would be too much for my face, but the red lipstick and the black khol, they suit you well."
It would have been a nice compliment, if Karai's make-up hadn't just recently been a cause of trouble in school when this stupid Casey Jones made fun of her panda bear-appearance. He paid for it, of course, they all did, and Karai had only gotten away without suspension because she had told the teacher that Casey had touched her some place he wasn't allowed to touch without permission. And the others had been too afraid of her to disagree.
Her mother doesn't know about it. She doesn't know about half the things that go on at school. And Karai would prefer she knew even less than that.
"So, what do you want to have for dinner?" Tang Shen asks. "I thought I'd make something special after your first trigonometry-tutoring."
This makes Karai stiffen. Trigonometry-tutoring tonight. She had almost forgotten about it.
Luckily one of her classmates is in charge of tutoring. She should be able to "persuade" her that she doesn't need any of this stuff. She really doesn't want to spend more time than absolutely necessary with everybody's darling April O'Neil, the girl with the extra bonus because her father let her down. Plus, Karai has more important things to do tonight than trigonometry, way more important things.
She finishes her last bite of scrambled eggs and finally gets to her feet. She walks over to the kitchen counter and pours herself a glass of orange juice. She leaves the dirty plate on the kitchen table, though. No way she's going to make things any easier for her mother today.
"Karai?" Tang Shen asks, but she just lifts the glass of orange juice to her lips and empties it in long gulps.
"Miwa?" Tang Shen tries again.
Karai flinches at the mention of this name and her eyes widen. She places the glass on the kitchen counter with such force that it makes a loud clinging noise.
"Don't call me that!" she shouts.
"But it is your name," Tang Shen replies.
"No one is allowed to call me that!" she continues.
"But it is your real name," Tang Shen says.
"A name no one is supposed to know about, a name no one is supposed to call me by."
She grabs her bag, slings it over her shoulder and marches over to the door. In the doorframe she stops. She isn't done with her mother yet.
"Your own rules, mum," she says with her voice so low it's dangerous. "Now stick to it!" She spits the last words at her mother, then leaves.
Out in the hall she can hear her mother call after her. She uses the name she's supposed to use. It makes Karai want to punch her fist in the wall, but she resists the urge. So she just keeps on walking and walking until she can't hear her mother any longer.