Parents
Ichigo sighed. She had just gotten home and her parents still weren't home. Why can't they stay here? I bet they don't even care about me, she thought. Sighing, she went to go do her homework.
Sometime later that night, after dinner, her cell phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she saw it was her mother, and just snapped. If they don't care about me, I see no reason why I should care about them, she thought, and ignored the ringing. If it's that urgent, she'll just leave a voicemail, Ichigo thought.
After the ringing stopped, there was a beep that suggested Sakura had left a voicemail. Ichigo decided to listen to it, so she entered her password into the phone, and waited. Then she heard, "Hi sweetie, we're coming home a bit earlier than planned. We'll be there tomorrow. See you soon!"
And then they'll just plan something else, Ichigo thought bitterly. She dialed her mother's number, and waited. Two rings later, Sakura picked up, and said, "Hi sweetie, did you get my message?"
"Yes, and I wanted to tell you that I could care less if you come home or not," Ichigo snapped. "You constantly leave me alone for weeks on end, and since it's pretty obvious you could care less whether or not you have a child to take care of, I've decided that I don't care about you or Dad anymore. If you want to come home, fine. But don't expect me to be here waiting, or even talk to you jerks again." With that she hung up, not waiting for a response.
Suddenly she heard something hit her window, and looked over. Noticing a pair of golden eyes outside, she knew it was Kisshu. Not that she minded; she had broken up with Aoyuck yesterday for Kisshu, and hadn't gotten the chance to tell him yet. So she opened her window, and before Kisshu could say anything, she dragged him into her room, and then closed and locked the window. Then she turned to see Kisshu sitting on the floor.
"Uh… what's going on?" Kisshu asked. "Usually you push me out your window, not pull me in."
"I broke up with Aoyama for you," Ichigo said bluntly. Kisshu's jaw dropped as Ichigo continued, "And now that I know my parents could care less about my feelings, I wanted to know if you'd like to stay here tonight."
Kisshu slowly snapped out of shock, and said a bit dazedly, "I don't mind staying with you, but what happened with your parents?"
"They left a week ago, and apparently they decided to come home tomorrow instead of next week," Ichigo said bitterly. "They leave me alone for weeks on end, to take vacations and cruises. I doubt they really care about me, because if they did, they would have realized by now that I hate being alone, and they would stay with me. It's worse than having no parents, knowing your parents could care less whether you live or die. I could handle no parents. I can't handle knowing my parents don't care about me."
"Wow… humans must be different," Kisshu said. "My people stay with their kids no matter what, and my parents never would have left me alone for even two days."
"You're lucky," Ichigo said.
"My parents are dead, I don't call that 'lucky'," Kisshu said.
"But when they were alive, they cared about you, right?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah, more than anything," Kisshu said.
"Then you're lucky, because I can't remember a time when my parents actually said they cared," Ichigo said. "At least you got to know your parents, and while they were alive, they cared about you. My parents can't manage that, apparently."
"I guess I didn't think of that," Kisshu said. "Probably because no parent on my planet would treat their children the way your parents treat you."
Ichigo sighed sadly. Kisshu hugged her. "Do you want to go to sleep?" he asked. "Sometimes things look better in the morning."
"Can you sleep with me?" Ichigo asked.
"Sure," Kisshu said.
Ichigo gathered up her pajamas and left to change, while Kisshu took off his boots and closed the curtains. Ichigo came back and climbed onto the bed. Kisshu climbed in with her, and she turned out the light as he pulled the blankets over them both. Kisshu was a bit surprised when Ichigo snuggled up to him, but hugged her gently as they both fell asleep.
The next morning, Kisshu woke up to find Ichigo's arms locked around his waist. She was still sound asleep. He noticed she was looking sad, and started stroking her hair. She leaned into his hand, and started purring. Kisshu smiled as he stroked Ichigo's hair.
A while later, Ichigo woke up, feeling Kisshu's hand on her hair. She opened her eyes to see him looking at her, smiling. "Morning," she said.
"Morning, are you feeling any better?" Kisshu asked.
"Not really," Ichigo said. "I'm kind of hungry, do you want breakfast?"
"Sure, as long as you don't have bananas," Kisshu said.
"Bananas?" Ichigo asked.
"They make me sick," Kisshu said.
"Oh, I'll get rid of the ones in the kitchen then," Ichigo said. "Wait here."
Kisshu nodded as Ichigo got out of bed. Ichigo went downstairs, and took all the bananas to the outside garbage, then washed her hands and went back upstairs.
Kisshu was waiting, and she said, "All the bananas are gone."
"Thanks," Kisshu said. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"Let's just have cereal," Ichigo said. "Do you like Frosted Mini Wheats?"
"Yeah," Kisshu said. "I'm not picky."
"K, let's have that, then," Ichigo said.
Kisshu followed her downstairs, and waited as she got out the bowls and cereal. "Do you like milk?" she asked.
"Not really," Kisshu said.
"Me neither," Ichigo said. She poured cereal into both bowls, then got spoons and handed one bowl and a spoon to Kisshu. They ate breakfast in comfortable silence, and after doing the dishes, went back to Ichigo's room.
About halfway through the day, they heard noises at the front door, and Ichigo sighed. "Probably my parents," she said. "You might as well come, seeing as you're my boyfriend now."
"Aren't they going to have a fit?" Kisshu asked.
"Maybe, but I don't care anymore," Ichigo said. "Let's go." She pulled Kisshu up, then walked downstairs hand-in-hand with him.
Sure enough, her parents were in the front hall, and they looked up as Ichigo and Kisshu came in. Both of them looked a bit nervous, and it probably didn't help that Ichigo's facial expression was cold. "So you did decide to come home," she said. "Let me know when you decide to leave again, so I can spend every night wondering why my parents don't care enough to stay with me."
"Ichigo, we-" Sakura started, but Ichigo said, "You what? You're SORRY, for once? I'm sorry, but I think it's too late. I've had enough, Mom. I honestly don't know why you don't care about me, but I've decided I don't care anymore. Go on all the vacations you want, and leave me here to wither away, the only person I've got for company is Kisshu. Who, I might add is much nicer than the two of YOU."
"Couldn't you at least listen to what we have to say?" Shintaro asked.
"You never listen to me, give me one good reason why I should listen to anything you say," Ichigo said coldly. "I can't remember a single time when you've listened to what I have to say. You don't care about my feelings, Dad. If you and Mom actually cared, you would have noticed that I hate being alone, and you would have stayed here, instead of wasting money and time on your stupid trips. Just go away. You obviously don't like it here, you should go find somewhere else to live, and leave me and Kisshu in peace."
"Koneko-chan, maybe you should listen," Kisshu said. "You can always kick them out after you hear what they have to say. I know you're really angry and hurt, but just hear them out."
Ichigo drooped. "Fine," she said, and turned to her parents. "This had better be good," she said coldly.
"Ichigo, we're really sorry we haven't been listening, and we'll try harder to be more understanding," Sakura said. "We'll stop the vacations, and we'll stay here unless it's some kind of emergency. Both your dad and I are going to try really hard to make this up to you, okay?"
Ichigo still looked unsure, and said, "Can Kisshu live here too?"
"If he wants to, that's fine," Sakura said. "Kisshu, do you need to ask your parents first?"
"I don't have parents," Kisshu said. "If I did, I wouldn't have asked Ichigo to listen to you, I'd have offered for her to live with my parents instead. My parents would never have left me alone for more than a few hours. Growing up, no one's parents that I knew would ever do what you did. If they did, their children would start to doubt their parents' love of them, like Ichigo did. I don't mind living here, but I will mind if you start hurting Ichigo again. She doesn't deserve parents who won't listen to her, and leave her alone when all she really wants is for them to be there for her. Ichigo deserves parents who will be there for her, and actually care about her, the way my parents were."
"We're going to do our best to be like that," Sakura said.
"Good," Kisshu and Ichigo said together.
I thought it would be interesting to see how Ichigo would react if her parents really did go too far with the vacations. Review and tell me what you think!