First off, please disregard the previous comment about the reviews thingy; I figured it out! Instead, regard the following…
MY DOCUMENT MANAGER IS ACTING SCREWY! That's why it took so freakin' long to get the first chapter up! I don't know what's going on! Sure, it looks fine now, but that was only after painstaking measures to get it the way I usually get it to look! (sigh) Is anyone else's document thing messing up? I just wonder if the site's having technical difficulties…
But enough of my complaints! On to the next chapter! I hope you guys like my new character, Jewel! She becomes a little more important later on, but only a little. Mostly she's just cute, 'cause I wanted Lenney to have a friend that's not magical in any way. I'm trying not to make my Keyblade family too clique-ish.
Anyway, this chapter involves bath time and bedtime poetry, and also reveals a little tidbit about Ame's white-haired son, Aang! It also reveals the story of when Ame first met her faithful maid, Millie! It's not that important to the story, it's just fun. Enjoy!
"If there's one thing in my life that's missing, it's the time that I spend alone."—Little River Band, Cool Change
Chapter 2: Bubble Bath Talk
"Millie, how long have you known my mom?" Lenne asked as she helped Millie load the dishwasher.
"Oh, I've known her since the day she moved to the Islands!" she chirped, "She was very shy at first, and didn't talk much. The first time I saw her smile, I said to her, 'Ms. Ame, if you don't mind my saying so, you look so pretty when you smile!' (She giggled.) And she blushed like she always does!" Lenne giggled, too.
"Have you always been her servant?" she asked.
"I was a gift of sorts from Granda," said Millie, "When she presented me and I introduced myself, she looked perplexed and said she didn't need a maid and that we could be friends instead. I didn't mind that, especially since I worked for Granda, anyway."
"But now you work for Mom!" said Lenne, "So…does that mean you got any alone time? Haven't you ever had a boyfriend?"
"I did have one in my late teens," she answered, "It didn't work out."
"Oh." Lenne thought for a moment; it didn't look like the kind maid could answer the question that was really weighing on her, so she decided to ask her mother.
"Mother," she asked with her hands behind her, "May I ask you something?" Ame was in their Jacuzzi bathtub with a small layer of bubbles on the steaming water. She looked surprised.
"Uh-oh," she smiled, "This must be serious."
"Why?" her daughter blushed. Ame beamed.
"Every time you call me Mother," she said, "it usually means you're thinking hard about something. Come on! Hop in the tub and we'll pass a stream around while we talk!"
"Really?" Lenne lit up as she doffed her duds and slid down the smooth tub into the water. She spewed a stream out of her mouth and laughed with her mother.
"So, my pretty blue star," said Ame as she made water cascade down the girl's head, "What words of wisdom can I offer you today?"
"Well, um…" she said with bubbles jiggling in her cupped hands. She put them down and looked up at Ame. "Mom? How did you know you wanted to marry Dad?"
Ame looked slightly surprised, but figured she was old enough to ask marriage questions. She picked up a pink, rose-scented bar of soap.
"Well, to tell you the truth," she said, "it never actually crossed my mind. Once I realized I truly loved him like no one else, I just sort of knew we'd be together forever. Getting married was just the icing on the cake!"
"Okay," Lenne asked further, "How did you know you loved Dad more than anyone else?"
"Actually, Uncle Sora helped me out with that one," she smiled at the memory, "A little while after we started dating, I was talking to Aunt Kairi about your dad. I was worried because he was the first boy I'd ever fallen in love with, and I wanted to be sure it was him that made me feel the way I did. How could I be sure my feelings for Daddy came from him and nobody else? How did I know no one else would make me feel this way? So Uncle Sora helped me figure it out." Lenne slid next to her mother.
"What did he do?" she asked. Ame smirked with a short chuckle.
"He kissed me," she shrugged one shoulder. (Record scratch!)
"WHAT?" Lenne's eyes popped open, "On the lips?"
"Mm-hmm," Ame nodded matter-of-factly, "I told him about my worries, he shrugged and said 'Let's test that theory,' he grabbed my face, and he kissed me!"
"No way!" Lenne gawked, "Uncle Sora kissed you?"
"He only did it to help me," she reassured her, "And it worked. When he kissed me, a little red flag went off in my brain that said 'No. This is not the person I love.' Only the person I loved with all my heart could kiss me and make me feel the way I do when Daddy kisses me." Lenne looked her full in the face.
"How do you feel when he kisses you, Mommy?" she asked quietly. Ame smiled warmly and her eyes sparkled. She blushed a red brushstroke.
"Like I'm the only girl in the whole world," she said, "And I think to myself, 'This is the man I was born to love.' My heart grows warm like a fire and my feet feel stuck to the ground, like his love ties me to the world."
"Wow," breathed her daughter with shimmering eyes, "That's so pretty. I don't really get it, but it's pretty."
"Someday you will," said Ame, "Someday when you're all grown up." She moved Lenne's bangs away and they giggled. Just then, Aang came in.
"Hey, I want to take a bath, too!" he pouted.
"It's girls only!" Lenne frowned, sinking lower into the water, "We're naked!"
"Aw, Mama!" he pled. Ame giggled again.
"All right, come on in," she beamed, "Don't look, Lenney!" A few seconds later, Aang splashed into the tub as well. There were plenty of bubbles to keep everyone's essentials covered, so Lenne didn't fuss anymore.
"Mama!" he piped, "I had a really good nap before dinner and Sifu came to see me again!"
"Did he teach you anything?" his mother asked.
"Uh-huh," he nodded and took some marble-sized bath beads from a soap dish. "Watch this!" He covered the beads with his other hand, concentrated, and quickly raised his top hand slightly. The beads were flying in a circle of air.
"Hey, cool!" exclaimed his sister, "Mom, how come I never dream about the Avatar?"
"Because he's the only one who can teach your brother the airbending skills he needs," Ame answered.
"What's going on in here?" said Riku in the door, "A pool party?"
"We're taking a bath, Dad!" said Aang.
"I see," he laughed, "Well, scoot over!"
"Honey!" Ame objected with a beet red face.
"Relax, I'm wearing swim trunks," he said, "All my boxers are in the laundry. Make room for Daddy!" The kids cheered as their father joined them.
"Come on, Aang!" Lenne grinned gleefully as she grabbed the shampoo, "Let's wash Daddy's hair!" Faking defeat, Riku laughingly surrendered to his children.
Later that evening, Ame laid in Lenne's bed by her and read to her.
"Lost in the shadowy bend," she read...
"I'm treading lightly where most fear to contend
The softness of the unknown is bare at my feet
There is no turning back now, I've gone too far to retreat
"A glistening in the distance beckons me forward
A gentle light I hadn't seen before
The light begins to dance and move closer to me
I freeze in fear without knowing what was coming to be
"As suddenly as I stepped into light
I'm surrounded by waters of a diffrent kind
Rivers, oceans, seas, and streams can not compare
To the diamond-like water falls floating in the air
"Each one I passed reflected of me
A stage of my life and all that I see
I cannot make out my face in any but until the last
I see a face to rival angels, beauty that is both bold and vast
"But the face does not belong to me,
Nor do I recall in any memory
a face as this so pure and true
And in that moment t'was love I knew
"Slowly by the face I saw
another image in comparison small
fragile yet joyous and I came to see
next to the face of the angel was me"
Ame sighed and closed the book.
"That's pretty," Lenne smiled, "even though I don't get it."
"Don't worry about it," said Ame as she got up, "I'll tell you about it when you're older. Just don't go kissing on any boys until you're at least fifteen."
"I won't," she promised as her mom tucked her in, "The boys at school are stupid." Ame giggled and kissed her child on the forehead.
"Sleep tight, my sea angel," she murmured lovingly.
"I love you, Mommy," Lenne mumbled sleepily. Ame brushed her baby's bangs, turned out the light, and left the room.
Down in the bowels of the Olympic Underworld, Lord Hades sat on his throne with the Three Fates standing before him.
"The time is drawing near, my Lord," said the Fate of the Future with her tongue slithering out like a snake.
"Yeah," said the laid-back god, "Tell me the prophecy about the kid again." The ancient hags gathered around the eye they shared and cupped their hands under it; the eye floated above their heads and shone with its eerie light.
"Before he turns sixteen years old,
the robin bird with hair of gold
will find true love in a lady of rain
or else not see the sun again."
The eye faded back to normal and fell into their hands. Hades smirked.
"And when's the big day of decision supposed to be?" he asked.
"Very soon, my lord," said the Fate of the Present.
"Well, all right, then," Hades sneered as he created a martini out of thin air, "Let the countdown begin."
Author's Review:
Oh, no! Another cliffhanger ending! Sorry, but I had to do it! It's for the story!
The poem Ame reads is called "Dream of An Angel," by our lovely and loyal Lunarain137, who has graced me with her permission to use her beautiful original poetry for the sake of our story! T_T (deeply moved) Everybody give a big hand for Luna-chan!!!!!
The bath scene is just a cute family moment I've always wanted to do to them, combining the Japanese tradition of parents taking baths with their children (I kinda freaked out when I saw the bath scene on My Neighbor Totoro—that came a bit out of left field) with the American tradition of, well, trying to keep it all covered!
All the little nicknames Ame calls Lenne are the result of me trying (at the time) to come up with a good nickname for Lenne-chan. Ame is the Rain Princess, Mizuko is literally the Water Child, and Mizuki is the Water Spirit, so I'm just trying to pass down the water nickname tradition! But I've got one for her now, so it's okay! And believe me, you're gonna like it!
Oh, and that Sora incident? It's not in Riku's Rain or any of my other KH fics, so don't bother looking; it's just something I made up while I was handwriting RR (it's actually a doodle in my blue notebook). It just seemed funny, so I put it in! LOL I can hear your reactions of outrage already!
Feel free to get excited about the next chapter, because it involves a certain piano song we all love, which you'll recognize immediately…I hope. Most of you definitely will! 'Til then!