Chapter 5: Catching Up
Smiling gently at the picture of her daddy holding her when she was a baby in her hands, she remembered what her papa said. He said that, that was the first time her papa cried tears of joy and that he mellowed out a little. He even stopped smoking for her sake.
'If only something could have stopped your alcoholism,' She thought as her delicate eyebrow twitched in irritated at the thought.
Finishing up some last minute paperwork, she put it back in the folders they were in when a hooded figure appeared suddenly on the stage.
"Huh?" Nanamura asked as she watched the person.
The hooded figure made a dramatic pose before speaking out the lines for the Phantom, "I, a disfigured man bound and chained beneath a cold dismal world for no mortal reason but with wickedness of my abhorrent face."
Rolling her violet eyes, she knew who the idiot was from the voice. "What do you want this time?"
"Aw! You're no fun. Can't an uncle come all the way to New York to visit his wonderful niece?" The hooded figure complained as he took the hood off, revealing the one and only priest Tatsuha Uesugi.
"As far as I know, I'm an orphan with no living relatives willing to take me in and care for me." Nanamura said coldly, reminding her uncle that she could be like her daddy when it came down to it.
Also, he wasn't the favorite person in the world to the teen with the rose birthmark. The reason being behind her deep hatred for him was that he dropped her when she was only five months old. She can hold quite a grudge when she was allowed to.
"Aww, Nana-chan." Whined the last Uesugi as he jumped but fell from the stage. Collecting himself, he walked to the teen.
With her eyebrows twitching, she hissed through her gritted teeth with annoyance at the man, "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't. Call. Me. 'Nana-chan.'"
Going chibi, Tatsuha stared at his niece. "Nana-chan's scary when she's mad. I see aniki written in her eyes and face."
Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Nanamura took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes (Tatsuha was right, she does look like Eiri). "Well since you're here, how are things going on back home?"
The youngest Uesugi child went on telling her that Hiro became a national known guitarist and married a girl he used to date in high school. Suguru – she never really liked the guy – became a pianist and took over NG Productions and is in an on going relationship with a guy, not that, that's saying much. Ayaka was doing fine, married with a couple kids in her mind. She was sent to a psychiatric hospital after Eiri's death. Apparently she snapped and no one knows why.
Sakano, well, let's just say he stressed himself to a coma. K's still in the music business even if he was a security guard for Suguru – his wife long retired from the business of acting and their son, Michael, following his father's footsteps.
Nanamura was jovial that everything and almost everyone was okay. That was until Tatsuha decided to get on the topic of Kyoto and mentioned something that pissed the blond teen off.
"What did you just say?" She asked calmly, hoping she heard wrong from her uncle. If he wasn't wrong then, she just might go off on him for relying the news to her.
Tatsuha was digging his own grave when he spoke, "Well father said that Ban and you should come live with him and-"
Nanamura interrupted, voicing her own thoughts since her parents taught her to do that. Mostly Eiri. "What so he can marry me off to someone I know I'll hate or try to poison me by telling me lies about my dad's? Or maybe, better yet, try to kill me like he did to grandma?"
Just so no one will raise any eyebrows, here's the deal. It turns out that after Mika became pregnant with Ban, she and Eiri found out that they were supposed to be twins. The only problem there was Eiri was illegally taken out of his mother's womb when she was just weeks along by a doctor that was desperate to lower Japan's population. Their mother became sick and was getting weaker after she had Eiri but she loved them so much when the doctors told her she needed to avoid getting pregnant. Their father – her grandfather – didn't listen so she died giving birth to her last child who was also Tatsuha. That's what Nanamura meant.
"And, if you haven't forgotten, he also hates my guts." She finished.
"Come on Nana-chan, he doesn't hate you." Tatsuha reassured, trying to calm her down with no prevail.
Rolling her eyes again, she went on her rant. "Oh really? You think so huh? How about this as a news flash? A week after Papa died, he decided to come over and demanded daddy to marry a woman so I can have a 'real' family. He also referred to me as 'that child.' He didn't even look at me." She ranted with a glare on the ebony haired man, "Grandma and Grandpa Shindou just gave me hugs and wished Daddy the best in raising me, saying 'pleas keep that smile on our grandchild's face. You may not see it but we see Shuichi in her eyes when she does.'"
The priest felt defeated as he bowed his head before looking around. "Fine, all right. Can I at least see my nephew before I go?"
Before she could get another word out to rant at him, it brought her back to the real work, making her glance around for her cousin. 'Where did he go anyway?'
Ban had to follow the girl that auditioned for the role – her name was Iris – all the way to the lounge and saw her downing a rather large cup of coke. He watched her throw it into a building pile of cups that were suppose to be in the trash can but didn't make it in.
"All right be strong Iris Zoie Jane. It was only your first audition. There's more out there. Maybe they'll call you to take another character's role." She said to herself as she ordered another coke to down her sorrows.
Walking up behind her and placing a hand down gently on her shoulder, he startled her, causing her to turn her head to see who it was. He was out of breath and exhausted from all the running and peeking into some of the other rooms to see if she was hiding there.
"Hi . . . my name's Ban Seguchi . . . You auditioned for the role of . . . Chr-Christine Daae. Would you like . . . to be her?" He asked as he struggled to get his breath to get the sentences out.
So I hope you like this chapter, Zooeyism has credit for Iris. Please review. :D