Seahorse
It was a bright, clear day. A few clouds in the sky, though it was a perfect shade of blue with enough sun.
Walking through the back of the house, Tadashi smiled as he breathed in the fresh air. Today was a good day. After the spring rain, this kind of weather to see was nice.
As he turned, he saw Ami hanging up bed sheets to dry from the laundry. He smiled. After seeing her in school and getting to know her for this long, he was glad they were friends. The head of the family let his Aunt, Hiro and him know about the family curse, and the Hamadas had their trust.
Her family was cursed by the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Ami was cursed by the spirit of the year of the dragon, though she transformed into the seahorse. Tadashi thought it would be amusing if Ami did turn into an actual dragon. If she did transformed, she had to be in water. Her brother, Tom was cursed with the year of the ram.
"Hey, Ami…!"
Once she saw him, her collective smile was on her face.
"Doing laundry?"
"Yeah, I am…" She picked up another sheet, as she reached for a clothes pin. "Glad the rain finally stopped, otherwise we'd have nothing clean in this house. Wouldn't want that, would we?"
They both chuckled.
"If you were living with Hiro, it would be a stink bomb."
More laughter came from both of them.
Once the laughter settled down, he was still smiling. Even though Ami kept a reserve face, something usually was off about her. Not that it was a bad thing, though her smiles were sometimes forced as well as her laughs. She and Tom were fortunate to have loving and supportive parents, even though they were in the zodiac.
Ever since meeting Ami, he wanted to get to know her more. Once he found out about the zodiac curse once she transformed, it all made sense how she kept her distance from everyone, including when she was around guys. It was also an anxious day, since she had to get into water before she died in her seahorse form.
When he was around Ami, he was free. With her, he could do things for himself and not have to bend over so much for others. She saw through him like no one else.
With her… he could rest.
"You don't… have to pretend to be happy all the time, Ami."
Her smile disappeared.
He hated to be the rain on the parade, though he had to bring this up. Even though she acted like everything was alright, she was suffering.
He couldn't sit by and let her drown in the pain. She was a woman of vigour, passion and creativity, and she deserved to be happy. She didn't even know it.
"Do… do you hate the family curse?"
There was a long moment of silence.
"I… I actually do."
Through the sheet, he heard a sob from her person.
"Because I was born this way, I couldn't get close to anyone… When everyone moved on without me, I had to be all by myself. I was so… alone."
He could hear the tears falling from her face.
"That's what this curse does to this family… It makes you so… lonely. And it makes me angry. So, so angry…! "
She finally said it.
After all this time, this was what she was feeling.
The curse was nothing but a shackle to their hearts. What the head of the family did to them was nothing but a fancy prison. He was going to break the curse that shackled them here. He was going to break them all, one by one…
She had been strong for way too many years.
She deserved to be happy. She deserved to be free. And he was going to remind her of that, everyday…
He embraced her through the sheet. This was the only way for him to hold her. Though once the curse was broken, he vowed to make that day happen when he can actually hold her.
He'd work at it everyday to get there. He'd never give up. And one day… He'll tell her how he truly felt about her.
"If you're mad, get mad…" He breathed. "If you want to cry, cry in front of me."
She continued to sob.
"No matter what happens, Ami, no matter how bad it gets, I will never give up on you… This, I vow. I'll never give up on you."
There was nothing she could do to make him care about her less. She saw through all of him, good and bad. He was going to do the same for her.
He continued to coo. "It's alright… I'm here."