FuN-sIzEd

Aspendragon

Yu-Gi-Oh © Kazuki Takahashi

Penny © Aspendragon

InTrOdUcInG pEnNy

My name is Penny.

In all honesty, I am probably the most adorable little blonde girl I know – granted, Japan's full of dark-haired people. I'm obviously not native here however, my "parents" hadn't confessed yet but I KNOW I'm adopted. Seriously, did they think I was oblivious to how unrelated we appeared?

Mama, Anako Kimura, is fluent in several languages and teaches linguistics at Tokyo University. She was once the pride of the Miyagi family bloodline with her tiny waist, perfect skin complexion, sleek black hair, and delightful dark eyes. She is a playful woman who stood at about five-three and enjoyed telling jokes in different tongues then explaining their meanings.

Father, Misaki Kimura, is older than Mama by a few years and had been born into a poor farming family. Hence, when they married, Mama was disowned by the Miyagis. Sucks, huh? Considering the Miyagis are too wealthy for their own good, I sometimes find myself daydreaming about how things would have turned out if Mama had inherited the thousands of pieces of currency that makes the world go round.

Unlike Mama, Father had a receding hairline and a withered face. We weren't terribly poor, but we were at rock bottom of the middle class society.

Another clue that gave away that lack of relation between me and my parents, is most definitely my name.

Penelope Lucy Kimura. That's English – or so I discovered on the Internet, but Father said never to trust it, so I'm cruising on along with what my gut says…and it's saying English! Kimura became my surname after they adopted me, I never was able to figure out what my original name was as Mama and Father had apparently hidden all my records away somewhere.

Either way, I'm a persistent (and in some cases annoying) child. I guess at some point in my life, I decided to take charge of it (was it my third birthday?)

Personally, I could care less of who my biological parents are though. You may find that fact odd, but I couldn't help but grow curious whenever I broached the subject of orphaned children and the reactions my parents made. Most of the time they just tense up – rather noticeably too. Once or twice, Father told me to drop the topic instantly.

Who wouldn't be curious though? What if my parents were terrorists or serial killers? That would make me the offspring of the criminal minds and I might be wanted because of my bad genes or perhaps I have something the FBI might want to obtain! All right, a little too much daydreaming on my part – but still!

I sighed, my eyes trained on the living room window. It had been raining since this morning and it was nearly four in the afternoon and there was nothing to do…

Most parents (especially in Japan where entertainment is small and fun-size) would buy their children something to amuse them for hours on end on dreaded days like this. But alas, no, Mama and Father refused to purchase any sort of gameboy or playstation – not even trading cards! All I have is a small television, which only has twelve channels to begin with and my time watching it is limited to an hour a day…

Kids at school say I'm stuck in the middle ages and in a way, they're not joking.

At the moment, I was lying on my stomach reading a graphic novel I stole from Father's study he had been hiding. A couple pages into I knew exactly whey he had been hiding it, written by some guy – Sohma Sat * – whom I had the feeling had very many dirty thoughts. Closing the book with a satisfying clap, I bounded up to Father's study and returned the book to its spot on a bookshelf.

See Father? That could have been avoided, I thought smartly, but I knew I would never say that for fear of him learning of what I had just read (and saw.) Blinking and shaking my head I attempted to block out those perverted images, meanwhile my eyes roamed along Father's bookshelves. I had all the time in the world till six before Father returned home and Mama was in class, it was only me and Auntie Ai – Mama's older sister who hadn't disowned her like the rest of her family. She was downstairs – asleep – on a futon in the guest room.

Auntie Ai had recently come down with a fever, but under her persistent urging my parents left the house to go to work per usual. Being kind in return, I didn't disturb her when she fell into slumber – instantly oblivious to how unsupervised she had left me in the world.

Smirking in my own childish way, I ran my right pointer finger down the spines of several novels, some weren't even in Japanese. In school, my class had just started studying English and Chinese, so it was natural that I wasn't understanding all the books just yet – of course, I was assuming these books were in English or Chinese.

Finding nothing interesting I turned to leave, but a small piece of paper sticking out of my father's desk drawer caught my attention. It was nothing of great importance, I just didn't like disorder.

Reluctantly I approached the drawer, I wasn't allowed in the study to begin with, so I'm certain the desk was absolutely off limits at all times – but that stupid piece of paper…

I glared down at it, the harmless sheet sat there; unmoving.

What would be the harm in it? I casually asked myself, I would just be putting it back in. Despite that logic, my mind and instinct were battling against one another, in the pit of my stomach was an ulcer of worry and curiosity. Why was I getting so anxious? Was it because I was rebelling against my father's wishes by being so close to his personal matters or by being in his room?

Or it could be because I was hating a piece of paper for no real reason that I knew of.

Me versus Evil Piece of Paper – wow, look at that originality. Studio Ghibli should hire me!

Several seconds later, I finally lifted my hand and shoved the paper back in, but not before I spotted the disarray inside the drawer…

"No," I stated defiantly, growling in my mind as I forced my feet to take me to the door. "No,"

A second later I was rummaging through the drawer in a desperate attempt to organize it.

Following the first drawer, I went through the next few – for the love of my father (and fear of his belt) I messed up everything I organized after I was through so he wouldn't notice anything different. One vanilla folder, however, halted my frantic mission in the bottom drawer.

PLP

PLP? Penelope Lucy…P? My mind was screaming at me to leave it, but the initials were almost identical to mine – was it coincidence or…?

My fingers fumbled on the edge, ready to flip it open and read its contents. Sometimes I hate how intelligent I can be, how many other eight-year-olds wander through file cabinets and pull out boring folders full of paperwork?

Name any? Didn't think so.

My parents always said I was a prodigy and were always claiming how proud they were of me, but whenever I grew too curious and asked too many questions, they grew uneasy and nervous – as if afraid they might say something they shouldn't.

I want to know, I slid a finger in between the vanilla folder's sides then flipped it open. There was a packet stapled together in the upper, left-hand corner. It was in English (I recognized the symbols from the English alphabet) the entire thing…but at the beginning of the year, I was taught to write my name in English. Therefore, I recognized my name on a line – Penelope Lucy. Yet the surname I learned to write, Kimura, wasn't beside it.

"Penny!?" It was Auntie Ai, in all her ill glory, crying out from the guest room. I ran out of the study and into the hall. Heart about to pounce out of my chest.

"What is it?" I yelled back.

"Oh…just making sure you were still in the house!" Auntie Ai replied before probably resuming her quest in Dream World. Shrugging off the panic that had risen along my spine, I went back into the study to scan the packet again.

I concluded the papers were my adoption forms, but I couldn't translate them. On a post-it note, I copied down the name starting with a P that was written in place of Kimura. Putting the vanilla folder back where I found it, I stuffed the post-it note in my denim pants' pocket as I left the study.

Later that day and well into the evening, Mama and Father returned home. Auntie Ai had cooked dinner and was serving it as we sat down at the table. Several aromas flew by my nose from the food, including a dish of fried rice and the cooked vegetables accompanying it. Licking my lips, I descended on the buffet. Conversation instantly started as my parents and aunt allowed me to dig in first.

"How was your day then?" Auntie Ai had started, within seconds my plate was full of food. Father sighed and Mama did the same.

"Dreadful, there was a false fire alarm – it didn't help that it was sweltering hot outside." Mama replied, her facial features were slightly red from the sun.

"One of my clients had a fit because he didn't get a handicap parking spot and I was outside for two hours trying to reason with him." Father sounded rather peeved as he told his small story, the corners of his lips twitching with agitation at the reminder of the unfortunate event. Mama patted his arm reassuringly. Only a small business family doctor, Father had to deal with patients of all ages and apparently, with their overage temper tantrums as well.

"How was Penny?" Mama questioned Auntie Ai, who had a red nose from sneezing. Auntie Ai smiled warmly.

"Perfect as usual," she answered and Mama nodded approvingly in my direction. Every day, she asks and every day she gets the same answer. I often wonder if all parents are like mine…

"There's nothing to do – it's been raining all day!" I stated with a practiced stare at my parents, Father shrugged.

"Find some way to entertain yourself kiddo, it'll be like that for the rest of the week." He said, thankfully school started back up again tomorrow and half my day would be occupied.

"I'm just saying, all I had to do was walk around and look for something to do." Now I was whining, eager to make my parents understand how boring today would have been or – if they dare let their imagination take over – how close I could have been to scour Father's forbidden study.

Of course, they still don't know about my adventure through Father's messy drawers. The post-it note was still in my pocket, literally claiming I once had different parents.

"I guess…" Mama glanced in my father's direction nervously, possibly in on the secret too, Auntie Ai paused. "…it wouldn't hurt to get a gametoy-"

"Gameboy," I corrected, trying not to get excited over the idea of owning a game console of my own.

"Anako dearest…" Father's eyebrows narrowed and his food was at his mercy of frustration he was obviously dealing with in his head. Mama frowned.

"It would just be a small toy for her to play with, all the other kids have one." Mama said reasonably, her pretty face marred by her frown. I turned my gaze on Father, curious to see his reaction as my mother finally suggested getting me an electronic at long last. For a moment, Father remained silent, but shook his head in the end.

"Penny is not like other children, Anako." He said adamantly, a hint of pride in his voice. "I don't want her brain addled by those devices when she could be doing something productive."

My hopes went south, but they weren't very high to begin with. Mama had a little more of chance than I did when begging my father for something, but she lost this battle – for now.

Dinner continued on in tense silence. Afterwards, I went to my room.

I was sitting on my bed when Father knocked on my door.

"Yes?" He entered then saw me on my futon regarding him with an upset expression. He sighed, not liking his little girl being upset because of him.

"You know I care about you," he said as he sat down on the futon at my feet, his hands folded in his lap.

"I know…" I muttered, staring up at the ceiling to avoid making eye contact with Father.

"Let's make a deal," he stated, I raised my eyebrows at him.

"What deal?" He smiled.

"If you stop asking so many questions, you can have more time on my laptop." My eyes lit up at that and Father noticed, for two different reasons we were happy with the idea and I wasn't about to let the opportunity pass.

"It's a deal!" I said excitedly, I glanced at my alarm clock.

"It's only seven – can I get on it for a bit now?"

"Sure," I ran out of my room, leaving Father chuckling behind me. From experience, I knew Father left his laptop in his (really expansive) briefcase beside the sofa after he came home from work. It was normally after I went to my room at night that he fled to the privacy of his study with it – how do I know that? Simple, what good, misbehaved kid honestly goes to sleep on demand?

Bouncing on the sofa, I pulled the briefcase up on my lap then unzipped it, the silver computer latched firmly inside. Flipping the screen up and turning the power on, I listened intently as I heard Father's footsteps escape into his study on the next floor. Mama and Auntie Ai were talking enthusiastically over the sink as they did dishes in the other room. Licking my lips, I slipped out the post-it note.

With shaky hands, I got on a translating website and typed the name in the English panel. Translating it into Japanese, I discovered the word was Pegasus. Quickly stuffing the note back into my pocket, I hastily went to Google, Wikipedia, and several other search engines. All I got were various pictures of winged horses and crazy people from websites called Myspace and Facebook.

I was about to give up hope (I had scrolled through all the users in the alphabet under both social websites believing my parents might have profiles) when I clicked on a link that led me to a news site.

There was a silver-haired man with orange eyes holding up a trophy to some weirdo with a bowl-haircut and dorky glasses on The Top most Recent News. My heart jumped and my tongue seemed to swell beyond working function. The title of the article accompanying the picture stated Duel Monster Tournament Champion Weevil Underwood SQUASHES Dinosaur-Duelist Rex Raptor.

Frowning, my fingers rubbing the mouse pad. Before I could click on the link for the rest of article to perhaps pull out the name to the silver-haired man, Mama and Auntie Ai entered the room.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed, Penny-chan?" Mama asked, I didn't bother changing the site as she and Auntie Ai rounded the sofa to peer over my shoulder. Their reactions were a good sign.

Mama softly gasped and Auntie Ai's eyes narrowed on the screen.

"What are you doing, Penny-chan?" Auntie Ai questioned, I looked up at her innocently.

"What I always do when I'm on Father's laptop – he said I could – surf the net. Mama," I looked over at my paling mother, eyes as big as saucers. "Can I try this Duelist Monster thing?"

"Um…I'm not so sure, put that down now – you have school tomorrow, go to bed." Without a good night from either of the adults, I zipped the laptop away then hurried up to my room. My suspicions were correct then, of course, I knew the chance of the man being familiar to them was one to a million, but I had to test it out.

Now that I've seen their reactions – especially to Duel Monsters – I'm beginning to understand my parents' aversion to my having anything to do with the outside world of entertainment in general. Granted, this Pegasus guy on the television could just be a well-known relative of my actual, biological parents anyone would know and the connection to them might be what unnerved Mama and Auntie Eye when I saw the silver-haired man.

After all, I thought as I slipped in my pajamas, there's no way I could related to someone famous or a man that girly looking!

* Sohma Sat – One of the many (although made-up) psuedonyms Shigure Sohma (Fruits Basket) uses throughout his writing career. Sat came from Kisa Sohma's nickname (Sat-chan.)