Rules for reading–"Italics in quotes are phone conversations," and I guess that would be self explanatory (you will understand when you get to the story). Normal text is written normally. There are three sections. The last one takes place between the first two, but I recommend you read the story in order. The whole last section is in italics. I made it like that for a reason.
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"I know you are there, pick up the phone."
It was 8:40 in the morning and Yolei had already left for class, leaving Ken to spend the next two hours until he had class alone–mostly sleeping. But, when the phone rang, he rolled over and picked it up, reading the caller ID before letting his arm go limp and let the phone fall back onto the cradle. His father tried four times before leaving a message on the hallway machine, which could be heard clearly.
"Fine, I guess I have to say this through your machine, so, here it goes." There was a long sigh that was amplified by the speaker. Ken lifted his head and faced the machine that blinked back at him. He was too tired for his father's nonsense, and really wanted to lift the phone up, again, and hang up on him.
It was starting to become fun.
"It is sad that this is the only reason why I bothered to call you in a couple of years," he was struggling to choke out the words as he continued with, "Ken, your mother died last night. She had a heart attack, and this one she didn't survive."
The machine beeped. This was why he bothered to call him, to tell him his mother had died. He might as well figured fuck it and not called at all–he did it when she had her first heart attack, and Ken had to find out through his aunt.
Their relationship as a happy family ended when and argument between him and his father went too far. Of course, as Ken began to finish highschool, fighting was normal in the Ichijouji household. But, when a fight broke out and Mr. Ichijouji pressed charged against his son, that was it.
When they were all feeling better, his father stopped pursuing the charges, and Ken moved out of the apartment and went to live with his mother's sister.
Folding his arms in front of him, he used them as a rest for his chin as he lied on his stomach, slowly working through this process also known as "getting up"–in the non-perverted way. He sighed, stretched a little, and rubbed his eyes many times, none of them working in waking him up.
Things would reallyturn for the worseif he fell asleep and missed class. Sure, he would probably get called down to the teacher's office and asked why he was slipping in his grades and slacking off, but he didn't care. He wasn't really slacking off, he just wasn't working to their expectations.
Falling asleep came easy for him.
He didn't care.
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"Thank you for coming," he greeted with a smile, shaking Yolei's hand with both of his. It was a smile on his face that has vanished when things in the Ichijouji home started to turn bad. "I–I know we never–got off on the right foot, but I really appreciate you coming over." Leading her in, he asked her if she wanted something to drink, but she declined. "How is Ken doing?"
"Is this why you called me over? To find out about your son?" she asking, attitude shown full in her voice. "Why don't you stop by and see him?"
"That's right, you two are living together," he smiled at her, "I forgot. Are you two ... together?"
Yolei crossed her arms and shook her head, wondering why she came here willingly. If Ken found out, he would be furious, more toward his father. She now understood why he called him a deceiving bastard. "Yeah," she whispered.
"That is good." He said, almost testing her, trying to pull things from her without her knowing it. She took enough psychology classes to recognize it.
Moments passed as they sat in silence. " Mr. Ichijouji, is there a reason why you asked me to come here?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," a smile stretched across his face as he got up and left the room, leaving Yolei to stare at his back at he entered his room. Walking back out, he handed her a small box. Sitting down next to her, he urged her to open it.
Looking down at the box, she carefully lifted the cover, showing papers and other small things. "What are these things?" Reaching into the box, Yolei fingered a fine cloth. Pulling it out carefully, she examined it. "This is beautiful."
"My wife," he whispered, reaching in and pulling out a small album, "saved the things her mother gave to her. It was a tradition they had and planned to keep, but, we never had a girl." There pictures that were older then they apartment they were sitting in. "Ken loves you dearly, I could see it at the funeral."
"Mr. Ichijouji, I–I can't take these things from you."
"I know," he mumbled, lifting some of the papers and fixing them so they fit nicely into the box. Putting the cover back on it, he smiled at her, "but I know she would want you to have these."
"But," she started, looking down at the box. How could such priceless things be kept in such an ordinary box? "I can't take these things from your family."
"I talked to Melanie. I am not sure if you met her, but she is Ken's aunt. She does not have any children, and she thinks that it would be a good idea."
"I–I'm not even family." Yolei's eyes followed him as he rose, commenting about the time. "Mr. Ichijouji," she began in protest, but when she found nothing else to say, she looked down at the box in her lap.
"It is getting late, I think you should be heading home, now. It is a long drive."
Standing up, Yolei noticed that she was as tall as he was. "I know," she whispered, looking down at the box as she followed himto the door.
"Goodbye, Yolei."
"Bye, Mr. Ichijouji," she said in monotone, not able to take her eyes off of the box as she walked to the elevator.
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"Just–stop it," Ken breathed, making sure his voice did not disturb the guests outside. "I don't want to hear you, and I don't care."
"Ken," he sighed, shaking his head slowly. "You should be focusing on school and getting your life together, not latching onto the first girl you see."
"You have no idea what is going on between us, so stop it." Ken tried his best in being respectable, but he still wanted to get his point across. "You haven't seen me in a couple of years, and you see someone who I love dearly, and you think I am just messing up my life and screwing around. How old were you and mom when you were married?"
"That is different, we were arranged."
"So?" Ken asked lightly, loosening his tie.
"What about your values? Her values? School? You are both so young, don't rush into things."
"Who said we were rushing into things?" Ken exclaimed, still resisting the urge to yell and curse at his father. "When did values become an issue in our conversation? And–like I said before–you have no idea what our relationship is about."
Laughing lightly, his father mumbled, "you're living together, sleeping in the same bed, using the same shower, one would get a pretty good idea."
"And you laugh," Ken said, looking toward the balcony. They were stuffed into his old room, arguing and not caring that there are people outside that can hear their problems. They were too busy reminiscing over the kind woman who passed away. "Papa," he whispered, looking back at him, "Yolei and I will be together for two years by the time Christmas comes around." His father stared at him in awe, "When that day comes, I plan on asking her to marry me."
All he did was stand and stare in response.
"Yolei and I both agree that sex is something that should be saved for married couples," he continued with. "We have stayed true to our dreams, and never would I do that. You did raise me with some morals, you know. And, not everyone is just looking for a good fuck in this world. There are good people out there, and I am here celebrating the death of someone I care about dearly, so, if you mind..."
"Ken," he began, trying to take his eyes away from his son. Giving a held back laugh, he looked over toward the door and noticed that moving bodies could be seen through the bottom crack. "This is the first time, in a long time, that we have had somewhat of a conversation."
Ken gave a small nod, focusing on the balcony and the setting sun.
For the rest of the night, they avoided each other's gaze and mumbled words as Ken and Yolei joined his father in dinner.
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Hello. This is a story that kinda came to me when I saw the first five minutes of Garden State. So, the idea of this story is based around the opening of that movie. I only saw five minutes worth, so, I don't know how the rest of this story goes. If you have not seen the opening of the movie, a guy who takes meds to rid himself of emotions find out from his father that his mother is dead. Him and his father did not get along. That is all I know from the movie (we got kicked out for sneaking in).
As for The Trio, I don't really know what I am going to do with it. I can't sit down and type because I have to, anymore. This story took me a while because I changed it so many times. I started this short thing on March 26th, and now it is the third of April!
Originally, I was going to have it that Yolei tries to mend the relationship between him and his father, but, I kinda abandoned that idea. Before that, I was going to have this be a continuation of Bleed–but another idea for that came up–so expect that to come out sometime between now and the next ten years.
(Let me end my AN before it becomes as long as my story.)
Oh well. I would love to hear what you have to say.