A Day for the Sakaki-Kaguras
The First Saturday
Author's Note: It's the first Saturday of the month and the family knows what this means…it's time for their traditional family fun outing to the shopping district and park!
Sakaki woke to the patting against her face and her partner calling out her name.
"Sakaki, do you know what day it is today?" Kagura grinned at her.
Sakaki sighed, of course she knew; they'd been keeping track of their calendars for every last four to five years. Today was the first Saturday of the month, their Special Saturday where they would go out as a family together.
"Can we skip out, just this once?" she replied tiredly, rubbing her eyes.
Kagura laughed then shook her head. Always, always, Sakaki said that…
And they always knew what the usual answer would be.
"No way!" she said. "You know the deal; we're all in this together as a family whether you want or not!"
"But I just want to sleep in…" Sakaki mumbled, pulling up her blankets.
At that, Kagura showed the digital alarm clock to her face, clearly showing its time. "It's past eight; you've had enough to sleep!"
"…I like my sleep…"
"Come on!" Kagura chuckled, bouncing the bed. "It's a perfect sunny day outside, now up and at it!
"Before me…you know…"
"Oh, no, no, not that…" Sakaki smiled as she sat up.
"Yes!"
Kagura tickled her partner's sides then darted away as she lashed out playfully at her.
Sakaki rolled over the bed, getting up after her. She followed her through the hall into the kitchen where she finally caught her.
"Oh!" Kagura uttered as Sakaki now embraced her from behind, kissing her around the neck.
"I caught you," she whispered, giving another tender kiss on her cheek.
"You always do," Kagura smiled, returning the affection. "You're so much more confident…"
"All thanks to you," Sakaki stroked her lover's hair.
"Waffle."
The both women looked up to see their daughter standing before them in her cute blue pajamas patterned with black paw prints. She was holding out a plate and fork expectantly.
Kagura let out a short laugh and picked her up, spinning around with her. "Of course, let's have some waffles."
While Sakaki went to ready the batter and the maple syrup, Kagura and Kaida sat down at the kitchen table.
"Do you know what day it is today?" Kagura asked the small girl.
Kaida looked up in thought then broke into a big smile. "Special Saturday?"
"That's right!" Kagura grinned, ruffling her hat.
Though she didn't show it much, Kaida could barely contain her excitement. Her legs swayed under the table anxiously.
After breakfast, they were soon dressed and outside in the warm weather. Kagura was also carrying a pastel green tote bag which held their sandwiches and park activity toys.
As they walked down the dirt road towards the shopping district, Kaida noticed a tabby cat off to the side and went towards it.
"Kaida?" Kagura looked down as her daughter let go of her hand.
Sakaki, knowing too well of her bad experience with rogue street cats, dashed after her.
"No Kaida!" she called out. "That's a very bad cat!"
But Kaida didn't listen, she bent down and held her hand out as the cat went over to her curiously. So Sakaki leaned forward, jutting out her hand which prompted the alarmed feline to chomp down on it.
"Ouch…" she winced.
Kaida looked at the gnawing cat for a moment then petted its fur, unaware of her parent's pain.
Kagura just sighed.
After that little incident, they made it to the center. Sakaki looked at her now bandaged hand and thanked Kagura for coming prepared.
"I had a feeling this would happen," she shrugged in reply.
Kaida viewed the busy sights as she walked between her mothers. She enjoyed seeing the colorful cars passing by on the street, looking up at the varying crowd of people, and the buildings of different shapes. Recognizing one of the signs, she pointed at it as she tugged her mom's shirt.
"Book."
Kagura smiled softly. Of course, every first Saturday, when they went down to the shopping area in the morning; they would always buy Kaida a gift so long it was inexpensive.
"Sure, go along inside," Kagura waved her in, following. "Take your pick, just remember; we only can buy one and it has to be affordable."
Kaida nodded, running for the animal books section. She had learned that smaller or thinner books with lots of pictures were the only acceptable ones so she avoided the larger volumes at the bottom and eyed the ones at the top of the shelf. Her gaze quickly directed to the spine of a book entitled 'WOLF'.
Wolf! Wolves were one of her most favorite animals ever. She had to have it!
But…it was at the top and out of her reach. Kaida looked to her parents whom were at the other end, talking to each other. Sakaki held a cat magazine which she couldn't help but steal few glances at while Kagura rambled on about sports. Kaida returned to the shelf and decided she could get it herself.
So she pulled out a thick book that had mammals on it and stepped onto it to gain access to the next shelf. Like a rock climber, she scaled ends of books and shelves as she made it to the top. Finally there; she grabbed her desired book, but was having difficulty pulling it out.
"Oh…"
Kaida would not give up. As it was wedged tightly between other books, she grabbed it with both hands and pulled, pushing with her feet which was causing the shelf to totter slightly.
On due motherly instincts, Kagura sensed a disturbance and looked to see Kaida trying to get her book.
She screamed and ran towards her, knocking Sakaki and other people in her way aside.
"KAIDA! BE CAREFUL-"
She grabbed her in time just as Kaida got her book and lost her balance. They both sat down, Kagura breathed a sigh of relief. But the bookshelf was unsteady and a man grabbed it back immediately, causing books at the top to fall down onto Kagura's head.
As if nothing had happened, Kaida smiled at her prize and held it out to her dazed mother.
"Please buy book."
After apologizing and putting the books back in place, they bought Kaida her choice and were about to leave, but then Kaida spotted something else.
On a stand where the latest picture books were set, along them was an interesting cover with a sad looking gray wolf pup on the front. The title read 'The Lonely Pup'.
The girl suddenly dropped her book, staring at it. She then took it, hugging it as she faced her parents.
"I want this."
Kagura sighed deeply, rubbing her face. This happened too often. "No Kaida, I said only one book-we can get that one next month."
Kaida shook her head. She knew this bookstore well enough and had learned by now that books on that stand never appeared again by the time the next Special Saturday came around. If they left now without buying it…she would never see it ever again…
Kaida began to whimper, her eyes shining with oncoming tears. The parents were taken aback. She always pulled that trick whenever she wanted something she couldn't have. It had a super-effective impact, needless to say.
"Oh god, Kaida please no…" Kagura sighed, she was used to this trick; then she added firmly. "No is no, Kaida."
She pulled the book away from her and returned to its place. Kaida broke into a wail, causing everyone in the store to stare at her.
Kagura just groaned and pulled her gently along. "I'm sorry, but I told you."
However, Sakaki held back, looking at the picture book indecisively. "Um…"
Moments later they were outside and Sakaki came running up with a new bag. Kagura face-palmed when she saw it while Kaida smiled gleefully, ceasing her cries altogether.
"You are such a pushover!" Kagura shook her head. "We're her parents, we have to be firm with her.
"She would have gotten over it anyway, you know."
"…Sorry…" Sakaki blushed embarrassedly. "But I couldn't stand it…"
And so now Kaida had two books instead of one.
They continued their walk through the district to the nearby park. Upon arriving, they admired the vastness and greenness of it. There was so much fun to be done!
"Hey, how about some ice cream?" Kagura pointed to a stand.
Sakaki bought her family the ice cream; chocolate for Kagura, strawberry for Kaida, and mint chocolate for herself.
"Can I have a taste?" Kagura asked and Sakaki held out her ice cream to her.
As the parents shared each other's ice cream, Kaida gave her own scoop a lick only to knock it off onto the sidewalk. She stared at for a moment then picked it up and resumed licking.
Finishing off their treats, they went to sit down in their usual spot; the area near the pond under the shade of a large tree. As Kaida ate the last of her wafer cone, she saw white ducks waddling about.
"Bread!" she promptly shouted out. "Bread?"
Sakaki understood what she meant and took the sandwiches from the bag, tearing off the crusts and handed them over to Kaida. The girl took them and ran off to feed the ducks.
"Know what the real fun is?" Kagura smiled at her partner.
Sakaki soon gained a shocked expression as she realized her motive. "Don't, Kagura…"
But the tanned woman was already up and moving towards the flock of ducks.
Soon she shouted at them; taking Kaida by surprise and causing the fowl to scatter away, quacking loudly as they splashed into the pond.
"Hah, wasn't that a thrill?" Kagura grinned at her daughter whom stared ahead in shock.
She then looked up at her.
"That was bad, Mom," she said quietly.
"Hmm?" her mother blinked then frowned slightly. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to…"
"Say sorry to the ducks, not me," Kaida pointed to the swimming fowl.
Kagura giggled.
"Of course," she smiled then called out to them pleasantly. "Sorry for spooking you guys!"
The ducks just quacked.
"Let's play some games!" Kagura declared, pulling out a jump rope from the bag.
"Jump rope," Kaida smiled and picked it up.
She attempted to do a jump, but tripped onto her face. She said nothing about it.
"Why don't we play Frisbee instead?" Kagura chuckled mildly, pulling out a neon green disc.
And so it was, the parents and their child soon got involved in throwing the disc around. Kaida would always reach out for it only to have it fly overhead or smack into her. She would look at her missed catch for a moment then pick it up and throw it back. Sometimes the disc went far from her place and she would have to run after it to retrieve it.
Once when that happened again and she went after it as always, Kagura and Sakaki shared some idle chat.
As Kaida reached the disc, she noticed something more interesting. Off in the distance, there was a Dalmatian playing fetch with his owner.
"Puppy…" Kaida smiled and walked towards him as he chased after his ball.
Suddenly the drool covered ball rolled towards her feet and she looked down at it curiously. She glanced up to see the spotted dog loping towards her, his tongue lolling out. As he was much bigger than her, she was suddenly fearful of him running her down and ran away in a panic.
"Hmm?" the dog cocked his head as he watched her dart away then went after her, thinking this was sort of a fun tag game.
"No Pongo!" his owner yelled after him.
Kagura and Sakaki were alerted to the yelling and looked to see Kaida being chased by the dog.
"My baby!" Kagura screamed, knocking Sakaki aside.
Fuming with the rage of an angry she-bear protecting her cubs, she dashed towards them.
In moments, she tackled the dog and had him in a headlock.
"Hmm?" Kaida stopped and looked back. "Mom?"
"No one has the right to chase my daughter!" Kagura yelled, squeezing him. "Do you hear that?"
The dog whimpered and his owner came running up, panting heavily.
"I'm very sorry, your child ran and he thought it was a game so he ran after her," he apologized.
Kagura stared at him silently for a moment and let the Dalmatian go. "Well…he still has no right to chase my daughter!"
Sakaki sighed. She felt very sorry for them to be getting on Kagura's bad side of her motherhood.
As the sun was setting, the family saw it as time to head home. They soon walked back down the dirt road to their home, Kagura carrying Kaida in her arms.
"We had a good day, didn't we?" Kagura smiled at her child.
Kaida nodded then yawned, cuddling closer to her mother.
Sakaki smiled then looked up at the golden-orange sky.
"Sure is a beautiful sunset," Kagura admired then looked at her partner. "Aren't you glad you got up for this?"
Sakaki responded with a nod and gave her a kiss then pat Kaida's head.
Spending your time with your loved ones, that's one of the best opportunities you can have. How could I have said no to this?
She would have to remember to be up and ready for it the time it came around, but as usual…she forgot.
And Kagura would bother her about it as always.
And so the same cycle would go on…
