BusinessWoman!Rinko is more fulfilling for me. So I often adopt that persona for her.
Ryoga's existence bothers me a bit and also complicates things, so I've given myself the okay to take him out. He only appears in a movie, so he obviously doesn't serve much importance.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Mommy's here! Mommy's here!"
A five-year-old Echizen Ryoma ran noisily through the house, dragging a tennis racquet across the carpeted floor. Sighing, Nanjiro stood slowly and pressed the power button on the television remote to shut it off. "Ryoma, don't open the doo—"
"Mommy!" Nanjiro managed to come around the corner just in time to see Ryoma fling the door open.
Rolling his eyes, the Samurai bent down to pick up the forgotten racquet and left to put it away, allowing his son and his wife to share a hug and a few minutes alone.
Oops, did he say wife? He meant ex-wife. Silly mistake.
Checking the clock and deciding that five minutes was enough time, he adopted a fake smile and returned to the front room.
"And then I watched TV, but Dad turned it off and said I had to go practice tennis with him. I never understand why he wants to practice with me, because he's so much better than me and I always lose, so…"
Unable to suppress his amusement at Ryoma's sudden talkative state, a small grin briefly graced his features but disappeared before he rounded the corner a second time.
"Ah, Rinko." He said casually, interrupting the reunion, "Hey. We kind of need to talk." She looked up at her former husband, dark eyes piercing through him. Nanjiro resisted the urge to wince. Her eyes always did leave strong impressions on others.
After a moment of silence, she relented, looking softly at her child. "Okay Ryoma, Mommy needs to go a take care of this, alright?"
The boy whined. "Aww. But I haven't seen you in a while. I wanted to tell you everything that's happened since you last visited!" Smiling gently, she patted him on the head. "I know. But Mommy and Daddy need to talk about adult things…"
As Rinko persuaded Ryoma to let go of her arm, Nanjiro cast an analytic eye over her. That was the woman he fell in love with. The patient, caring kind, the type that was willing to take a joke and mess around herself, the one that would spare some time to take care of her own kid.
Ryoma scampered off into the living room and both the adults could hear him turning the television on. As the random sounds produced by channel surfing echoed down the hall, the two simply stared at one another.
"So," Rinko began, crossing her arms, "You're teaching him how to play tennis. Yes, because that will definitely be a life-long skill that he'll need to have." She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes at him.
This wasn't the woman he wanted to spend his life with. She was too full of herself, wanted to leave them behind for her own career, and she refused appreciate tennis. He could not for the life of him understand her disdain for tennis. She had used to play, didn't she?
Nanjiro glared back. "So," He started, matching fire with fire, "I heard you're getting married to the president of your company. Trying to get a promotion?"
Her lips pressed harder together and her eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business." He scoffed. "I think that anything dealing with my ex-wife and the mother of my son is my business. Or are you trading the two of us in for some half-American power suit and his daughter?"
Rinko fidgeted uncomfortably, fixing another stern stare on Nanjiro. "I'm not trading Ryoma in. I'm only remarrying and then they'll both be a part of my family, they'll both be my children."
"What IS this bullshit?" Nanjiro demanded, hands waving around in angry gestures. "You left us because you didn't WANT any kids! You left because we were holding you back in you job choices! And now you're marrying a guy who already has a kid of his own? She's the same age as Ryoma."
Why did you leave us if you were going to settle for the same thing? Why did you put us through what you did? Why are you being so selfish? Unspoken words crackled through the air between them like electricity.
"It's not the same." She quietly offered, staring at the ceiling with a pained look. "I told you I didn't want children that early in our marriage. I had things I wanted to do with my life first. I wanted to be selfish. But a baby doesn't let you do that. You didn't listen and the next thing I knew, I was pregnant."
"Hey, it's not all my fault! You're responsible too!" He interjected.
She gazed at him, her eyes piercing through him again. "I didn't want to have a son or a daughter that young. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. But now I'm more mature. Now I'm older. Now I'm looking for a relationship."
"Then why—?" The former pro tried, but Rinko cut him off.
"I left you because it wasn't fulfilling! I don't want to be married to a man I have to treat like my little brother! I want a REAL relationship, Nanjiro. I want to be with someone who understands what I really need and what I really want and will cooperate with me."
"So, because I don't agree with your decisions and don't just let you run around and do what ever you want, I'm automatically not offering a fulfilling relationship? If I had let you get your way, Ryoma probably would have been born!" Nanjiro argued fiercely.
The business woman stared at him and slowly shook her head. "You don't get it. We don't have trust between us anymore and we can't talk about things anymore. I can't stand that. I just can't. And…he told me. Right away, before he even took me on our first date. He told me that he had a daughter and that—"
"So if I had a kid before I met you and then told you all about that before we started going out, I would have had a better chance with you?"
Rinko took a deep breathe and glared at Nanjiro. "This isn't really about Ryoma. This is about you and your selfishness."
"That's just rich. Of course, because I'm the selfish one in this messed up marriage, right? You haven't been the least bit greedy, even though you wanted to be." He sarcastically returned.
"Look, Nanjiro," She attempted, softening her tone, "It's been almost a year now since the divorce. I've moved on and so can you. We're never going back to the way we used to be. It's just not going to happen. I'll always love Ryoma, and maybe we…I don't know, maybe we can become friends eventually."
He stared at her. His normally smirking expression was replaced with a stony frown. "…We just played the blame game, you just finished telling me that our failure at staying married was all my fault, and you just agreed to the fact that you're replacing me. And you wanna say to me, after all that, that maybe we can be friends? Hell no."
She sighed and gazed around uncertainly. "Well, fine. Maybe you'll eventually grow up. Until then, I guess I've just overstayed my welcome."
"Yep." Nanjiro agreed without a second thought before calling down the hallway, "Hey Ryoma! Your Mom's leaving, so come say bye to her!"
The small patter from his feet traveled down the hall as Ryoma skidded around the corner and ran to his mother.
"Mommy? You're leaving already? But you spent all your time talking to Daddy!" Rinko weakly smiled and crouched down to his level. "I know sweetie. But Mommy has to go, and she doesn't know when she'll be able to come back…"
Ryoma hugged her arm tightly to his body. "But how will I know when I'll see you again?"
Ruffling his hair playfully, she grinned. "I'll call you twice a week, okay? Do you think you can settle for hearing my voice instead of seeing me?"
"I…guess so…" He agreed reluctantly. "Good." She confirmed, leaning forward and kissing him. "Bye-bye Ryoma. Be a good boy, okay?"
She stood up and met Nanjiro's eyes. So it's like that? You're willing to be a voice over the phone to him? He challenged silently.
Yeah. It's like that. She returned stubbornly.
"Bye Rinko." Nanjiro whispered, glaring at her. Frowning slightly, she turned around and grabbed the doorknob. After a moment's pause, she twisted it and opened the door, stepping out onto the porch.
"Bye Mommy." Ryoma said sadly before she closed the door behind her. "I hope you can come see me again soon."
And just like that, the door shut. She was off into the world for her bigger and better things.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -