In My Ocean Refuge
The bathroom.
It was funny, really. While most people's favourite places were a certain bench in the park, or their bedrooms, she found the upstair's bathroom to be a much sufficient place to call her refuge. Her parents were always complaining that she spent too much time in the bathroom after her already hauled out showers. However, it wasn't applying her make-up or doing her hair that took so long, for that was a skill she had perfected since she was much younger. She just liked to spend the extra time sitting there. Thinking. Reminscing. Or just staring at the fogged up mirror and waiting for the steam to evaporate from it.
Of course, she never told anyone about her bathroom appointments. It was hers and it was special and in her mind, she had justified that she needn't share it with anyone therefore it was perfectly alright to keep this one, selfish little secret. Besides, people would think she was crazy, though she couldn't blame them. She thought it was crazy herself so she expected others to react the same way. Crazy but re-assuring.
Oh yes... this was probably rock bottom for her. What would her friends from Japan think if they could see their newly Americanized friend now? Many possibilites ran through her head as she carefully thought out each one's endearing personality and tried to envision what they'd be thinking to themselves at seeing her in her current state, half lying in the bathtub. In the end, she'd figured they'd all be along the lines of crazy though...
That was a small example of the bountiful thoughts that crossed her mind when she locked herself from the rest of New York City.
There were lots of things that she admired about this particular room. The lighting was just right so she never felt like she was walking into a blinding death. All kinds of pretty ocean scents tickled her nose wherever she turned. Never had she found it suffocating, only... refreshing. Sometimes when she closed her eyes, she could pretend like she was at the ocean, standing on the soft sand, the waves lapping at her toes and her hair dancing in the crisp ocean breeze. Then the sensation would disappear and she'd find herself in an awefully melancholy state.
The towels were really nice too.
One particularly lazy afternoon, after a shopping trip with some new American buddies, she decided to sit on the edge of the large jacuzzi tub and just lose herself. She could feel the coldness of the porcelain bottom seeping through her cotton socks and she shivered but kept her feet at bay until her body warmth slowly started to spread, at least, around her feet.
It had become a routine now. After school, she'd do her homework, or help her mother, or find something to keep herself busy but in the last free hour of her time, before her dad came and inspected his little princess, she'd lock herself in the bathroom. Her mother had remained oblivious, as she let her daughter have her space after they'd gossiped about the stylish American fashions and spent their mother-daughter bonding time so she instead busied herself cooking or going out to the store or cleaning.
Everything was so...immaculately clean. The young girl always found it slightly unnerving how her mom, whom she loved very much and at the moment was downstairs making dinner, could spend day after day in the house, keeping it spotless even though there really was nothing to be kept spotless. Whenever she entered her home, she'd be partially surprised that the carpet was practically giving off an eerie shine which she was pretty sure wasn't normal of the forest green rug.
"I wonder why the sky is always gray..." She found herself saying to no one. She was once again in her beach fantasy and it occurred to her quite suddenly that her sky was never a bright blue with wispy clouds and a delightful sun shining warmly upon her lithe form. Instead, it had always appeared bleak and dull as far as her eyes could see across the horizon, not a single cloud or seagull in the sky. It also occured to her that she never willed it to be otherwise.
Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, clutching the dark blue shower curtain as if it were the only thing keeping her from slipping into the loneliness her heart was trying to betray.
The whole bathroom's colour scheme was dark blue and she was surprised at how much she adored it. Not that she was abandoning her favourite colour but the rich navy was a pleasant change from the cotton candy shades she'd loved since childhood. The small rectangular rug in the middle of the floor, the afore-mentioned shower curtain, even the cushioned toilet seat and various other bathroom trinkets were all a monotonous blue.
As she heard the front door open and her father's loving voice carry up the stairs and through the door, she decided it was time to go and face the big, bad world once again, swinging her slender legs over the bathtub and hauling herself off her porclain perch.
As she took a step to the door, slipping into her fuzzy pink slippers, she stopped at the mirror and glanced at her reflection. Her bright pink locks were lustruous and she made a mental note to thank her friend for recommending the shampoo to her. She smoothed out the button down sleeveless white shirt and swished around once to find the flowy pink skirt spread out hypnotically before twirling around her legs. But her normally bright caramel eyes looked dull. She tried to remember the last time she was trully happy. Not that she was sad...
With a grim face, she opened the door, a sudden transformation occurring as she made her way down the stairs, her steps slow and unsettled at first then turning into happy little bounds.
"Hi Daddy! Look what I bought at the mall!"
No, Mimi Tachikawa was not sad. More like... incomplete. Like she was a puzzle missing some pieces. 8 pieces to be exact.
A/N: Erm... another one shot. Argh, I know, I know. Please bear with me. Just a little Mimi thing, she is my favourite character after all. Eight pieces refers to the 7 digidestined and Palmon, of course. This takes place before season 2's episode where she first stars in so she doesn't know the new destined yet. I wanted something that you could call introspective... I need to work on character depth. =P Tell me how I did. =) Please? =] Tips would be helpful too, if you gots any, hehe.
I finally have an idea for a longer chapter fic, you'll just have to wait a bit. It's going to be an adventure/action/dramedy of sorts. I've already got the basic idea and plot and all that, hopefully prologue and first chapter will be out before the middle of September, I do have school after all.
And thank you so much for all the reviewers from my last two fics. You guys are all very much encouraging! =D
-Chrissy