Well, I dunno if it's the lack of readers in the category or what but I'm still enjoying writing Yuu as the daughter of a baker
Disclaimer: Black Rock Shooter belongs to Huke, Genji and the twins are mine
Genji Kurama finally waddled his way through the door of his family's new home by the time the sun had finished setting, not at all surprised to see his younger twin sisters Kana and Asuka squabbling with one another over who would use the glitter markers today leaving him to shake his head tiredly before setting the bags down. "Alright girls, I thought we had a schedule set up after the last fight." He would roll his eyes as both girls tried to argue that it was their day to use the markers, at one point it had gotten so bad that he had decided to buy an ugly stuffed caterpillar with light up eyes of differing colors: Red for Kana and Green for Asuka. All the girls had to do was bonk the caterpillar on the head and whatever color shined would solve the problem, at least that was what was supposed to happen anyways. "What did Mr. Wriggles say when you bonked him this morning?" The raven-haired young man would pluck the box of markers from the squabbling duo in order to finally get their attention, both girls would scowl indignantly at him as he held the box out of their reach.
"Mr Wriggles isn't working, me and Asuka both bonked him on the head but his eyes wouldn't light up! We even tried going to mom for help but she kept doing the thing." Kana would mimic a phone being held in one hand while wagging her pointer finger, she was the more energetic of the pair as she could always be seen practicing whatever karate moves she had seen on TV and was often trying her best to dye her hair a different color every so often.
"Is Mr. Wriggles dead because we bonked his head too hard?" Asuka's sea green eyes would begin filling with tears at the thought of the stuffed insect not lighting up anymore, the younger twin was a quiet and stoic girl, not even crying when she had entered the world while Kana was a bundle of noise. So for her to be this upset meant that this was a definite Code Red in terms of situations, and something that even Genji couldn't ignore as he knelt down to ruffle her hair gently before doing the same to Kana and receiving a tap to the chin for his trouble.
"Ooh, I think I actually felt that one kiddo." He would rub his chin and pretend to wince as the raven-haired girl smiled proudly before spotting the bags by his feet and squealing in delight. "Why don't you two take out the groceries while I go check on our wormy little friend, I'll let you girls decide what we make for dinner tonight." The girls would grin excitedly as the dug into the bags of groceries and begin setting them on the table, watching them for a little bit just to make sure nothing had been bruised on the way home before making his way upstairs to the twins bedroom and groaning when he saw that their door had already been colored and drawn on before making his way inside and seeing the worm sitting on their shared nightstand.
"Well at least you're still in one piece, that's more then I can say most of the girls stuffed animals." He would tap the worm on its head once, frowning when the eyes didn't blink and giving it a harder tap just to make sure that the problem was what he suspected it to be. "Batteries." He would check the worm's tail and pop open the hidden compartment to find a pair of AA batteries sitting inside, sighing internally as he removed and dispose of the drained batteries before replacing them with batteries that he had planned to use for his old walkman. "Every other kid in town has an MP3 player while I'm still stuck listening to Dad's old crooner CD's" Suppressing a hiss of anger he would tear open the pack of batteries and place them inside the worm's tail and closing it up, smiling as its eyes lit up when he gave it a test tap before setting it back on the nightstand.
It was one less fire to worry about as he stepped out of the room and headed downstairs seeing the small memorial to his deceased father Katsuyori Kurama, a police officer who had died in the line of duty while saving an abused housewife from her methed-up husband and eventually dying from a stab to the liver while on the way to the hospital. "I'm trying my best here Dad, but I can only do so much with Mom burying her head in the sand and working crazy hours." Bows his head in prayer while clutching his fists tightly as he recalled the funeral procession, the chief presenting his mother with the folded flag after the twenty-one bell salute (His mother believed that the traditional twenty-one gun salute to be too traumatic for his young ears, she wasn't entirely wrong about it either, but now whenever he happened to hear a bell ring, his stomach would sink with the crushing weight of grief.) "I know I'm supposed to be man of the house and all, but what about MY dreams?" His internal anger would be disrupted by the sounds of the girls arguing once again, rubbing his temples before standing up and going to tend to whatever disaster was about to go down.
Yuu would make the walk home from the bakery alongside her mother after having helped closed up shop for the day, both women were exhausted and quiet for a majority of the walk as she mulled over how best to approach the subject of payments and money involving the bakery.
"Starting tomorrow I'll need you to head straight to the bakery after school lets out, I'm planning to debut a new flatbread recipe that I've been working on and I'm gonna need all hands on deck." Sumira's eyes would gleam at the thought of the bakery once-again being filled with customers, conveniently missing the look of surprise and flash of fury upon her daughter's face as she absorbed what she had just been told.
"B-but tomorrow's the day when basketball tryouts start, as team manager I HAVE to be there!" The short-haired girl had already begrudgingly accepted that she had to give her weekends up to make sure that Blissful Bits ran smoother, but even her mother wouldn't dare to try and break the verbal contract that they had made up before she had begun working. "You promised me at least a week's heads up before you try anything new! There's no way in Hell I'm missing tryouts because you decided to have another one of your weird 3 A.M. inspirations and need me to play assistant, I'm sure you'll be able to hold your own with the usual crowd." Yuu would scowl and continue the walk home when she felt a hand gripping her shoulder even as she tried to struggle free of her mother's iron grip forged from years of kneading bread.
"Do you honestly think I like asking this of you?" Sumira's voice would crack audibly as she moved to face her daughter whose face was a scowl of defiance despite the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, her grip on the younger girl would weaken just enough for her to break free and take a few steps back. "Yuu, I know that it's hard for you to sacrifice something you love but we all had to make sacrifices in life. Without the bakery we don't have a leg to stand on, not just as a family but as a community." The older Koutari would look around at the buildings standing beside their humble little bakery, what used to be a motley crew of family owned businesses that got by upon the sweat of a hard working brow and good old fashioned elbow grease were now nothing more then a memory as trendy restaurants, boutiques, and coffee shops now ruled the roost.
Although she could live with the coffee addicts as the never could turned down a good croissant.
"But I've already sacrificed enough for the shop: My weekends, my personal time at the basketball courts, any chance at a normal life filled with things a normal fourteen year old girl would do! Now you're asking me to ditch my responsibilities as Team Manager for the good of the community?!" Yuu was seething with hatred as she spoke, her body trembling with every word as the anger of a life that was never really hers to begin with as she glared at the woman who had brought her into the world. "Well…well!" She knew what she wanted to say next, but the words refused to come as she looked to her mother's tired and weary face and swallowed down the venom that was festering within her heart as she turned away to continue the walk home, wondering how she would explain to the coach how she would be unable to assist during practice this season.
"Fuck the community! What have they done for us besides take the buyout money and run away to their fancy new digs!" Strength would snarl as she spun in midair to avoid yet another stream of flame, her Orge Arms raining down punches upon the beast's skull before leaping away and spraying the creature with bullets as the dragon cried out in pain as it whipped the Otherworlder away with its tail while backpedaling and unfolding the jet black wings hidden on its back as it began to retreat. But she was not about to let this beast run away from the beating it had rightfully earned by attacking her, Yuu's angered ranting pounding in her ears as she leapt after the Blank-eating dragon and landing upon its back, making sure to use her stinger tail to anchor herself to the creature's back before using her Ogre Arms to start tearing at the sinewy flesh the bound them to the main body as the large reptile screamed and thrashed about in an agonized attempt to rid itself of the attacker.
"What's the point in slaving your life away serving your creations to lousy, belligerent hipsters who'll happily brag about supporting local businesses while inside their little echo chambers but when we turn our backs they'll drag their self-entitled asses into Starbucks and waste a day blogging about how they contribute to Social Justice!" Strength would grit her teeth and yank at the wing with every last ounce of power she could muster, her orange eyes gleaming with delight as the leathery flesh was torn away even as her already bumpy ride just got a whole hell of a lot worse thanks to the lack of one wing. The dragon would cry out in pain as it spiraled down towards the ground, Strength would waste little time in unhitching her tail and leaping off of the sinking beast and back onto solid sand well before the creature did.
"It's not fair, I didn't ask to be a baker's daughter…I just wanted to live a normal life."
The pale-haired Otherworlder wasn't without sympathy for her Other Self, but the sadness and anxiety was a heavy weight for any soul to bear and Strength often did her best to carry such a load. But even she needed to blow off some steam every now and again, and as she heard the great beast attempting to flee and would roll her eyes in disgust before turning back to put the poor creature out of its misery.
Genji would sigh tiredly as he walked his sisters down to the elementary school across from his own junior high, the two girls talking excitedly amongst themselves as he fought back another yawn in vain. "Alright guys, if anyone asks what time mom is picking you up tell them about the arrangement and then wait patiently until I come and pick you up." The two girls would give a simultaneous "Kay" before going back to talking in whatever secret twin language they had developed between one another this week. "I'm serious you two, and Kana don't even think about demonstrating your jiu-jitsu techniques on the playground this time! Last thing mom needs is to drag herself out of bed for a parent-teacher conference on our first day of school." The raven-haired teenager would stop as they reached the gates of the school, both girls adjusting their backpacks one last time before letting go of his hands.
"Big brother, can we stop by that bread place you were talking about last night? I wanna thank the pretty baker girl for that sweet bread she gave us." Asuka would flash a bright smile before leaving, not even waiting to hear his response before running off to the playground. Kana on the other hand wouldn't be as optimistic as her twin as she turned to face him, a sour expression on her normally mischievous face as she looked to the playground full of laughing children.
"Big brother, do you think we'll be able to stay here longer than we did with the last school? I'm really getting tired of moving and having to make new friends." The now pink-haired girl would frown as she looked to her older sibling for some kind of an answer, her mood a complete 180 to earlier in that morning when she was showing him her freshly dyed hair. "I'm not like Asuka, I can't make friends with people as easily as she can and-"
Genji would lay a calm hand on her shoulder and try and give as confident a smile as he could muster despite feeling otherwise. "Hey, no one's asking you to be Asuka. I think you're just fine being my little buzz saw, heck I bet you'll make plenty of friends once you show the other kids just how fast you can make it across the monkey bars." He would even give her a playful wink before giving a hug. "And if you're really lucky, then you might even find yourself a nice boyfriend." This would cause the pink-haired girl to blush uncontrollably before kneeing him in the ribs as he pulled back from the hug.
"Ugh big broooo, you know boys are icky!" She would turn to run off into the school, stopping halfway upon realizing something and turning back to shout. "BESIDES I'M NOT STUPID LIKE YOU, DEVELOPING A CRUSH ON THE GIRL AT THE BAKERY! She would run off quickly and start scurrying up the jungle gym and surprising the other children, and upsetting another boy who was about to reach the top.
Meanwhile Genji would be holding his ribs in agony while attempting to catch his breath and glaring at his little demon of a sister. "Low blow..you little shit."
Unbeknownst to him Yuu would be on the other side of the street making her way through the school gates when she had heard the little girl's joke, hoping deep down that the brat in question wasn't referring to her.
Ain't younger siblings the best, always unknowingly embarrassing you when ya least expect it!
Anyways if you like what you read here then stop by the poll on my profile page and give Black Rock Shooter a vote, because the instant 2017 starts that poll is closed and (depending on the results) updates may or may not be frequent
Ta-Ta for now!
