Anju and Kafei get little to no love! So here's a short story (that could expand into a full fic if anyone wants it.) I am not used to writing in first person so it may shift between 3rd and 1st! Still revising that.
My mother would often scold me for being so simple minded when I was a child, I was only six years old when father died and soon after he left us she became withdrawn, and her words became harsher. She said that he ran away from her, but I saw him lying in that wooden box before they had lit it on fire too scared to go out beyond the town limits to give him proper burial, a proper burial has not been done in the town for many years. I sang the songs that were custom holding a candle in my hand, praying that his soul has found peace and that he will be waiting for my family and I when we pass on someday, tears had been falling down my face as I took a glance at my mother to see the smile that had usually been on her pretty face was gone, it was replaced with a cold look. It scared me, my mother has never looked like that and she glanced down at me saying in a stern voice blowing out her candle and in front of everyone she reached down and put out the flame on mine," Anju, we are going back to the Inn."
That shocked me, why would she interrupt his funeral? I felt her take my hand the hot wax spilling onto my sensitive skin making me wince in pain before letting the candle fall to the ground, the towns people were quiet as the brass hit the stone making a loud clang when my mother dragged me back into the Inn as my grandmother was left to cry over father. I didn't know why this was happening, we used to be such a happy family and now it was all falling apart. Once we reached the Inn I couldn't help but run away from my mother, I ran up the stairs and into my room closing the door and putting my hands to my face and started to cry. I cried over my father, over my new mother, and over my poor grandmother, everything was falling apart at the moment and I couldn't do anything but watch and cry.
Over the years I started to help my mother out around the Inn, I wanted to be useful and it stung each time my mother told me I was messing everything up and that I will never amount to anything, each word was like a knife being drove deep into my chest. Each time I would bow my head and tell her I will do better next time, I was determined to make up for my father being gone. It hurt each year on his birthday she would say that he ran off, that he left us and we should not celebrate such a heinous occasion. The last time I pointed out that he didn't leave us and that he died she had slapped me and said that his lies were filling my head, my mother is not well but what can I do? She is my mother and so I have to stick by her, I don't speak up or else I may make her angry, but everything had changed the moment I met him.
I wasn't expecting him to feel anything for me…I was just happy that someone was talking to me like I was a normal person..I knew I was not the prettiest girl, I was not the smartest, and I tend to be a klutz. It was just, I could see how upset he was. We grew up together, we knew each other since we were children, and had even joked around about marrying one another. I didn't think he was serious though, how could he be serious about marrying someone like me? His parents had a fight, it was over his father working too much, but he was the mayor so what could they do? Kafei couldn't stand being in the same house as them and so he had stormed off to get some peace and quiet, we never spent much time together as children I was always busy and I thought I was bothering him. That night, it seemed like a dream..We talked for hours, he stayed up as I done my chores while mother slept, and he walked beside me as I swept the floors talking about any little thing.
When it came morning and I had taken too long to clean and was unable to get any sleep and was in the kitchen trying to cook breakfast for everyone, Kafei..He had went to the kitchen and cooked for everyone instead, he did not get any sleep either but he had taken the ladle out of my tired hand and said that he would take care of it and I should get some rest. I tried to argue with him that it was my responsibility and he just smiled at me, he smiled and told me that if I was to try to cook then I would most likely get hurt. He was showing concern for me, it was something that no one had done for awhile and I could only nod silently before going to my room fighting back tears. Not of sadness though, but happiness. I was happy that he would be so considerate towards me and I felt a strange flutter in my chest at that time.
We continued to see each other, long after things settled down at his house we kept on visiting one another. The Mayor and his wife welcomed me happily, I was shy and didn't know what to do with myself. I felt awkward just standing there, but Kafei would put an arm around me and guide me to everyone and he helped me fit in at his place. He was kind and compassionate towards me, I felt safe around him and I also became more of a klutz, it felt like I had fairies in my stomach the way it fluttered and I couldn't help but smile when I was around him. My mother never approved though, she would say that I would be better off with the banker or a carpenter, that there was no way that someone like Kafei would like an ordinary girl like me. I ignored her and continued to follow my heart confident that it would not betray me and lead me astray.
Now as I look up at the sky the raining falling down on me as my umbrella slipped down to the ground. I wonder was my heart leading me in the right direction. Did he finally realize that I was just a poor, ordinary, clumsy woman? Cremia was prettier and the milk that she sold earned thousands of rupees..The game woman her place was popular and she was beautiful as well..The clerk was beautiful..He had so many other options, maybe he opened his eyes to see those options?
I received a letter from him at least and I had given the pendant to a little boy, but am I waiting in vain? Has he found love somewhere else? I knew I should have listened to my mother..I should have paid attention when she said that I wouldn't amount to anything and I should have listened when she said that I would have my heart broken by him.
The sadness that Kafei had taken away from me began to come back, the sadness that used to haunt me everyday was coming back and reminding me how much my mother's words were true. I raised my hands to my face like the day my father had died and I began to weep into them, the rain and my tears mixing as one. For a moment I could have sworn I heard his voice whispering my name, but when I looked up there was just a little child staring at me from across the pool wearing a Keaton mask and I watched the child walk back into the room as the tears continued to fall from my eyes.
I hope this was satisfactory!