A/N: Written because Ojou has to learn a bit about her feminine side some time... really!

Disclaimer: Gokusen isn't mine but this story is

Play Date (age 9)
or
Ojou's Feminine Side

Lisa Moore was the typical everyday American girl with the ordinary girl-next-door look that was more plain than pretty. Thin, flyaway, golden hair framed a pair of sea-blue eyes. The flagrant animosity between her snow-like complexion and the sun's warming rays was evident by her flu-like symptoms and general redness whenever the two faced off. Her arctic-like description was contained in a 5'10" frame which, though not the average height for an American woman, was not exactly uncommon.

She had met Bunpei Ishimaru in college. A transfer student from Japan, Bunpei was the typical everyday Japanese boy: thick-silky-moonlit black hair and coffee-colored slanted eyes with a hint of yellow pigmentation in his complexion. This study in contrasts was quite common in Japan. In fact, he'd have been one of many had it not been for his 5'9" height uncharacteristic of Japanese men though not necessarily unheard of.

It was surprising to some that someone as American as apple pie had married someone as Japanese as... miso soup.

It had started with a mutual attraction they didn't know they shared. It continued with trepidation over cultures they didn't understand. Thus, their cautious hearts confined themselves to study each other from afar. Their misguided friends accosted them with common misconceptions and rumors of stereotypes causing Lisa and Bunpei to retreat within themselves. However, as time went on misconceptions and stereotypes fell leaving their exposed hearts curiously studying each other once more until they surrendered to their feelings.

Stolen glances and hesitant touches led to tentative kisses and guarded embraces until yellow and white blended and mixed and fused ending in a volcanic eruption of commingling colors. It was in one of those frenzied amalgamations that a child was conceived.

Rini Ishimaru was conceived, born and raised in the States. At least raised until the age of 8 when Bunpei's job relocated him to Japan. It wasn't an easy decision to make for our all-American-girl, but it was one she made knowing that it would help her husband's career. Her career goals would be slightly delayed, but the relocation was only for 4 years. She was thankful that the newspaper where she worked as a journalist had agreed to hire her on a straightforward freelance contract with promise of getting her job back once she returns. This meant she had to come up with 5 to 6 articles per month and she would be paid per article written. Not such a great deal but it also meant she could do some freelancing for Japanese newspapers if she so desired. She'd worry about getting her career goal back on track once they returned to the States. For now, they needed to acclimate themselves to a different environment, a different culture, a different way of doing certain things. Hopefully this transition will go smoothly for her daughter.

Now, one look at Rini Ishimaru and it was self-evident she was a hafu-child. Rini had sea-blue eyes which peered through slanted ones. Her light yellowed skin was marred by a few freckles around the bridge of her nose. However, it was her naturally light brown hair which had gotten her several detentions from a school who thought her mother had dyed her hair, and dyed hair was against school regulations. The tallest in her class, and even in her age group, Rini stood out like a neon sign. This made Rini unconsciously scrunch up her shoulders inwardly like a wilted flower. And in a great imitation of a question mark, Rini tried to blend in.

Her mother worried about her. In the States her worries stemmed from American society's mainstream idea that you are either black or white. Yellow, being neither white nor black, hovers like a heavy fog between the two. Any insidious discrimination was hushed. In Japan her worries took a different route. A country where homogeneity is sought and where standing out for the sake of standing out is seen as an undesirable deviance, her child, being a fraction to their whole, had no other option but to stand out by virtue of what she was not: pure Japanese. It was these truths that had her worried that the potential rejection of both her cultures would create an identity crisis on young Rini. This prompted Lisa Moore to impress in her daughter her right to belong to two cultures that at times might not want her or accept her. She wanted her daughter to understand that she was more than bi-lingual: she was bi-racial, she was bi-cultural.

According to her mother, her dual identity should be a source of pride. But, these assurances were not comforting to Rini when she was out in the playground and stared at whether by a sea of white or a sea of yellow. In either country the number of stares varied from town to town. In the town where she currently resided the children, who were not used to these differences, stared unabashedly as children tend to do. A few children, having Rini's best interest at heart and thinking her hair color was due to malnutrition, or at least a deficiency of sorts, gave Rini advice on foods to ingest to turn her hair black. However, the children weren't the only ones staring. The parents stared without shame. There were no ill-intentions in their stares. But being under constant scrutiny, however innocent the scrutiny might be, can be a source of anxiety and inadequacy to a child learning its place in the world.

It was the young heir's reaction, or lack thereof, that had Rini following her petite classmate with interest. It wasn't until the Halloween party that she had the opportunity to really talk to the young heir and confirm her assessment: to Ojou she was simply Rini.

It came as no surprise that when Rini kept talking about a Kumiko-chan, her mother was eager to arrange a play date between the two children. When she told her husband that a Kumiko Yamaguchi was Rini's friend and she was thinking of arranging a play date for the following Saturday, the husband nodded absently. The name sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. He strained lightly without success. Figuring it wasn't important, he limited himself to nodding and smiling as his wife prattled excitedly about Rini's new little friend. Half an hour later, he remembered where he'd heard the name before. Thus, he mentioned in passing that this Kumiko-chan was actually the young heir of the Kuroda clan. This left Lisa stupefied as she tried to reconcile the notion of her daughter's first friend in Japan being a yakuza heir.

Her husband, seeing her apprehension, tried to explain to her that the Japanese mafia and the American mafia were two different animals, so to speak, but Lisa was suspicious of this convenient excuse. Of course, Bunpei tried to feed Lisa the whole samurai background of the yakuza. This explanation fell on deaf ears as Lisa-san insisted that it didn't matter how he dressed it up, the mafia was still the mafia. He even tried to explain that Rini wouldn't turn yakuza for hanging with Kumiko. "Kids are kids after all", he said. However, Lisa was not willing to expose her only daughter to the likes of the mafia — Japanese, American or otherwise.

It wasn't until Bunpei pointed out that Rini had become overly shy since their arrival to Japan and how she'd be stunting her social and emotional growth if she banned the only friend Rini had shown any interest in that she capitulated. Her husband was right. They were both just children. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, she'd arrange the play date to take place at her house.

-o-

The Kuroda Boss' wife had not been overly romantic though she had been definitely girly. His daughter seemed to have been given triple the normal girlish dosage. So, he'd half expected his granddaughter, having been raised by his very girly (but strong-willed) daughter, to hold some of that extra girly goodness —or more along the lines of an overdose. However, he didn't see any of that in Ojou.

He was secretly relieved that this had been the case. This relief came with guilt as he wondered how his daughter would have reacted, if she were alive, at how Ojou was turning out. He consoled himself with the fact that, though Ojou may have been influenced by him and the clan, Ojou (for the most part) behaved this way before she even came under his care. Moreover, it wasn't like he was going to force Ojou into being a poem-obsessed, flower-picking, pink-loving, romance-seeking girl (not that there was anything wrong with that). He wanted her to be herself but he wanted her to also know how to talk to women.

He had been concerned about her lack of female friends. He was happy when Miho-san, Chie-san (now Wakamatsu's wife) and the rest of the women in the village had taken to her. Even Meiko-chan being only 7 yrs older than her had been a welcomed addition in Ojou's life. However, the grandfather was ecstatic when Lisa-san, Rini's mother, had called trying to arrange a play date with Ojou. The only thing that troubled him was that the play date would take place so far from Kuroda territory. At the moment, there were no conflicts involving the Kuroda clan, but in the yakuza, things had a tendency to turn confrontational without much warning. For this reason he asked if Fuji, the tosa dog, could come to the play date as a precaution.

The young mother was puzzled at the strange request. Being in a different country, she wasn't sure if the request was a cultural thing or if it was a weird request that trascended cultures. She wondered how she should react. She didn't want to stand-out more than she already did thereby ending as an eternal unwelcomed guest in her husband's country.

The Kuroda Boss noted her hesitation, and not wanting to scare the mother of the only female young friend Ojou had managed to make, he decided against telling Lisa-san about the yakuza and their volatile disposition. After all, Rini's mother was gaijin and they tended to run around in a state of confusion most of the time. Thus, he confined himself to simply say that Fuji was a good guard dog and since their place was so far away he would feel better if the dog was protecting his granddaughter.

Lisa Moore wondered once again if she had made a mistake in inviting Kumi-ko into her house. Remembering her husband's words, she decided to accept. The girl could bring her dog if she wanted to do so as long as she could keep a close eye on the kumi-child.

-o-

"D'ya wanna see somethin'?" Rini nodded excitedly.

The young heir scanned the room and when she was sure they were alone, she clambered onto the tosa dog's back as if he was a pony. The tosa dog endured the treatment as he had done so many times. The only difference was that her grandfather wasn't there to tell her, for the nth time, to not use Fuji as a means of transportation.

"C'mon Fuji" She clicked her tongue a few times to urge the tosa dog forward. The tosa dog grudgingly acquiesced.

"He's like a pony!" Rini looked on in wonderment.

"You wanna hop on?" The young heir said holding onto the wrinkles on Fuji's face earning a soft grumble from the sullen-looking Fuji. With his head hung low and tail firmly tucked between his hind legs, he cast eyes glossed with defeat to the floor.

"He doesn't look too happy." Rini said with a glimmer of compassion.

"Nah, he doesn't mind. He's the best dog ever!" Ojou leaned forward to embrace Fuji's neck. The tosa dog raised his head in what seemed to be an attempt to make sure his young charge wouldn't fall forward. Rini mimicked Ojou's actions and buried her face on the side of Fuji's slightly wrinkled neck. The tosa dog patiently endured the assault.

Between the hearty laughs of one and the playful giggles of another one, they took turns getting rides on Fuji's back. These pony rides went on for a while until Fuji ambled glumly towards his charge's side and sat down refusing to move from his position. His head was still hung low only daring to look at his charge out of the corner of his eyes. Any nobility and courage innate to this breed had been stripped by this ordeal.

"I think we broke the pony" Rini said stroking the tosa dog's head who after thirty seconds took this as a sign that the young girl wanted to rub his belly. Really, what other reason could there be? So, he rolled over.

"Ah, he's just tired." Ojou scratched Fuji's belly causing its hind leg to shake as she found the 'happy spot'. "What do you want to do?" Ojou asked her young friend.

"Let's play dress-up!" Rini said excitedly.

"Dress-up?" The young heir looked at her new friend incredulous.

"Yes." Rini dragged the young heir into her parents' closet were an array of western clothes met traditional Japanese attire. She took one of her mother's kimono, a light pink one which was covered entirely with ivory chrysanthemums. Donning it over her clothes, she stroke a pose like a super model and said with extravagant flair, "Just pick one, put it on and we pretend we're grown ups"

The young heir scanned the closet. She moved through the skirts, pants, dresses, blouses, and kimonos. Her gaze fell on a lovely black kimono with blood red lining and a golden dragon embroidered on the back, two small kamon were on either side of the chest.

Now our young heir loved dragons. So, at the sight of such a magnificent golden image, it was natural to see our young heir gleefully reaching for it.

"Nononono" Her new-friend grabbed the black kimono. "This is a guy's kimono."

"It is?!" The young heir eyed the dragon longingly. "How'd cha know?"

"Duh. Black, dragons... That's boy stuff!" Rini waved the kimono as if to show the manliness of the clothes.

"But I love dragons!" Ojou whined as she lovingly caressed the dragon resting in Rini's hands. "Besides girls can like dragons"

Rini shook her head and grabbed a light slate blue kimono. Covering the kimono were very fine outlines of medium-sized scales stitched in iridescent rich blue thread. A few randomly scattered scales were covered in matte rich blue thread. "Here." Rini offered. "This will look pretty with your black hair." Ojou, thankful that it was not pink, eyed the offered kimono. The design reminded her of a dragon's scaly skin. Needless to say, the young heir was pleased.

Ojou grabbed the blue kimono and gently traced a few of the scales. Enthralled by what she was sure were dragon's scales, the young heir slowly put on the blue kimono over her clothes.

"You know what we need?" Rini didn't wait for Ojou to respond before she said, "Makeup".

Grinning she went to raid her mother's dresser. At this precise moment Lisa-san decided to check up on the children. The sight of her daughter heading towards the dresser caused Lisa-san to quickly run inside the room to prevent such action.

"What are you doing?" she asked her daughter in that 'I don't think so' tone mother's are known for using.

"Getting some make-up?" Rini, frozen on the spot, pointed to the dresser with a slight cringe.

"You're too young for make-up." She said shaking her head.

"Aw, please mom!" Rini said pouting and in that whiny voice children often use on adults to try to get their way. "It's just for dress up"

Lisa-san looked at the two children in her best kimonos. One was staring at the scaly kimono in awe, and the other one, her daughter, was looking at her with pleading eyes. She sighed. She supposed her little Rini was growing up and pretty soon she'd have to teach her how to put on makeup. She looked once more at her daughter who had not wavered from her pleading stance. 'Ah, they grow up so fast'. Actually, she wished those first few years before potty training would have gone faster but once Rini started going to school... time just seemed to slip through her fingers.

"Moooommm" Her daughter whined once more taking her out of her reverie. She supposed there was no harm in letting them wear a little makeup. After all, they were just playing. Rini wasn't going to run-off and get married any time soon. She was still her baby.

"Mo-o-o-o-o-o-ommmm!" Rini swung her shoulders about like a marionette while her whiny voice sputtered, like an old car, the once monosyllabic word.

'Well, my whiny baby but my baby nonetheless.' Lisa Ishimaru rolled her eyes.

"Fine." She cupped her child's cheek. "Let me put it on for you." She sat down on the dresser's chair and looked for a very subtle blush and a lipgloss. She may have conceded to putting makeup on the two children but that didn't mean that she'd let them put on full makeup.

"Here, Kumiko-chan" The young heir looked at Rini's mother. "Let's put a little makeup on you." She took the kabuki brush and swept it in a swirling motion over the pigmented powder. She slowly raised the brush to her lips and blew on it. Tiny specks of colored powder swirled in the air. The colored particles shimmered and flashed under the sunlight streaming through the bedroom window giving the impression of a glitter globe for an almost fantasy-like effect. Ojou looked on in awe.

Tendrils of a memory tried to tickle her synapses.

"Close your eyes now." Lisa-san said. Ojou complied.

The soft feel of the brush on her cheek made those tendrils move and twist and turn.

"You can open them now." Lisa said to Ojou and proceeded to apply some lipgloss. Afterwards she turned towards her daughter.

As the scene repeated again, she tried desperately to reach for those tendrils that were haunting the edges of her mind shrouding her in warmth and comfort.

"There you go, young ladies". Lisa said smiling. "You're ready for a night on the town."

And just when those tendrils seemed to be within grasp, they dissipated in a wisp of smoke. The actual memory degraded beyond recall, though the feeling of it remained much like a phantom limb.

Rini looked at her mother and with widened eyes she waggled her eyebrows meaningfully. When this gesture didn't get the desired response from her mother, Rini quickly shifted her eyes from her mother to the door and back to her mother while she slightly jerked her head in the general direction of said door. Lisa Ishimaru understood her daughter wanted to play with her friend sans mother. Taking her daughter's cue, she headed to the door. However she couldn't help but stay by the door if only to listen in for a few minutes.

And as the young heir reveled in those feelings of warmth and comfort, she watched Ms. Ishimaru retreat. Once Ms. Ishimaru was out of the room, the young heir didn't know what to do. She checked herself. She was wearing the scaly kimono. She checked her friend. She was wearing the pink one. She waited for a few seconds, unsure of what to do next.

"O.K. now what?" She opened her arms welcoming any suggestion.

"We act like grown ups" Rini gestured with an affectation of refinement.

Ojou shrugged and without further explanation, in the gruffest, roughest, toughest, most menacing tone a 9 yr old could muster, she said,

"Ou! A little birdie's been sayin' you've been doin' some biznez in my lil' neck o' da woods." The young heir tilted her head while the back of her fingers stroked the underside of her chin in menacing contemplation.

Rini's mother watched this exchange discreetly. Slightly alarmed by the young heir's response, Lisa-san began inching closer and closer, hoping Rini would be OK. Her husband had just witnessed Ojou's pretend play, and seeing his wife's anxiety, he stood by her and whispered, "Children have a funny way of making sense of the world around them. I'm sure she doesn't know what she's saying." This did not assuage Lisa-san though she stopped her approach. She stayed close by in case she needed to interfere.

"Ain't no one playin' in my backyard without my say so" Ojou slowly strummed her fingers into fists. Rini tilted her head cocking a confused eyebrow.

"Are we playing cowboys?", said Rini blinking a few times.

"No, silly! We're playing grown ups" Young Ojou had gotten out of character to explain. Lisa's eyes widened as she looked at her husband who whispered, "Just watch a little longer before you interfere." He worried that he may have made a mistake. He worried that he had misjudged the young heir and in the process put his daughter in danger. Was Kumiko-chan not just a child, a little girl? He looked at the two children dressed in his wife's best and smiled. Rini would be fine (he hoped).

"Nah, that's not right" Young Rini scratched her head, oblivious to the implication of Ojou's interpretation of how adults behaved. After all, it is adults who teach children about malice. "We talk, look pretty and gossip."

Lisa Ishimaru frowned at her daughter's statement. Her husband just smirked. "Don't you dare say a word", Lisa threatened her husband whose eyes danced in amusement. There is a difference between caring about your appearance and having your self-worth depend on your appearance. She hoped her daughter knew the difference. 'I'll have to have a little talk with her.'

"This is nuts!" The young heir said exasperated. "Besides... isn't gossiping a bad thing?"

"Well..." Rini stopped to ponder the question for a second.

"Let's play Wonder Woman instead" The young heir said grinning. "D'ya like Wonder Woman?" Lisa Ishimaru grinned at the question.

Normal children playing superhero. Lisa and Bunpei Ishimaru let out a heavy breath. This caused Lisa to look at her husband and question his relief. With a sheepish smile, Bunpei shrunk back and cowered away as his wife repeated, in mocking hushed tones, each assurance he'd dispensed. Making a mental note to have a word with her husband about this little incident, she directed her attention once more towards the two children.

"Of course! Who doesn't like Wonder Woman?" Rini beamed at the familiar superhero game. Though Rini was partial to Xena: Warrior Princess. Sure, Xena was not really a superhero, but the point is she kicks major ass.

"Apparently Yoshiro..." The young Kuroda child frowned at the recollection of Yoshiro's near blasphemous remarks.

"Ah but he's a boy. What does he know?!" Rini waved dismissively

"Well, in his defense he does have a point about Wonder Woman's choice of crime-fighting-clothes..." Ojou frowned at the thought

"Pfft, Superman isn't dressed any better. Who wears tights? You can see everything." Rini offered. "And what's with the cape?" At this, her mother who had relaxed but was still listening snorted. She coughed to disguise it. The children didn't notice her presence.

"Probably so people can't look at his ass." Ojou said thoughtfully.

"I think if I was him I'd be more concerned about covering the front." Young Rini scrunched up her face. Her father, slightly embarrassed, told his wife that he was going to check on the laundry. Lisa-san nodded smugly. Concluding this was not yakuza talk, she left to make some snacks for the girls.

"You're right. All superheroes dress like crap." Ojou said decidedly. "OK so I'll be Wonder Woman and you be the bad guy." Ojou pointed at her with an extended arm in a semi-superhero pose.

"Aw, but I wanted to be Wonder Woman" Rini half-heartedly complained. Ojou thought about it for a while.

"What about if we're both Wonder Woman?"

But then who'll be the bad guy?" Both girls looked at the tosa dog who at this point was busy burying his head in the hamper, in a pile of dirty clothes, taking unrelenting sniffs in machine-gun-like fashion, and every once in a while snorting out an overdose of odors.

"Fuji!" Hearing his name caused Fuji's ears to face forward bringing his attention back to his young charge. After a sneeze, he trotted towards her, tongue flapping about like a flag while his tail moved in large fast happy wags — the kind of wags that were more Shakira dance moves as it included the dog's hips and all. So the girls 'changed into Wonder Woman's crime-fighting-outfit' which just meant they twirled around while shedding the kimonos. Fuji ran circles around his charge and her friend while he barked excitedly. The young girls headed towards the backyard while deflecting imaginary bullets where Fuji, having been appointed the bad guy, ran from side to side chased by two laughing Wonder-Woman-wannabes

A/N:

1. kamon - family crests (taken from the book "Family Crests of Japan" by Takamori Ikuya)
2. hafu - half. Used mostly to label people half Japanese/half non-Japanese (don't know if any other biracial group is identified by this word). There is considerable debate on the net about the derogatory nature of the word. Some say that it was derogatory 30-40 yrs ago while others claim that it is still derogatory nowadays. Of course, it doesn't help that transvestites (or transexuals) are called "new-hafu" but that is another can of worms all together. Whatever the case may be, it was not used to denigrate. My intention was to emphasize what I was saying.
3. gaijin - foreign. Again there is considerable debate as to whether the term is used as derision/contempt. Of course, the word appeared in early Japanese literature as meaning 'outsider' or 'enemy'... not a very promising beginning for a (hopefully) neutral word. Again, it was not used as contempt but to emphasize what I was saying. If you subscribe to the point of view that these words should not be used then PM me the alternative Japanese words and I will consider the change otherwise I'd rather not 'hear' any debate.
4. The name for the blue colors were taken from december(dot)com under html station under colorshades. For those of you who like clothes descriptions I hope you appreciate how excruciating that was for me. I made up the scaly dress. I don't think Ojou (at this age) would like anything flowery. Hence, the scaly dress was born. If you don't think it sounds pretty then just pretend it does or just ignore it. As ev1l-ch1b1-urd is fond of saying, 'Meh!'
5. I have nothing against people that like pink. I only meant to say that 'being female' doesn't equal 'love for pink'.
6. It was interesting to me to find that Masako means 'child of Masa' and Natsuko means 'child of Natsu'. It stands to reason that the young Kuroda was purposedly named Kumiko (child of the kumi). Considering that Yamaguchi is the name of one of the biggest yakuza groups in Japan, it is not inconceivable. Then again, I may be making too much out of nothing. Shrug. I still got a big kick out of it.
7. I added one sentence to explain why Rini is partial to Xena. Just in case you're re-reading and find something is amiss.