Chapter Fifteen: A New Beginning

(Robyn)

The week rolled past wonderfully. Starr and Skye were on their way to being adopted by Mia, something she'd longed to do with Yuli but never had gotten the chance to do. Graduation came and went. Cye announced he was going to go for a doctorate after he got settled in at a job. Kento started to make plans to move out. His parents were going to be retiring soon and he needed to take over the family business. Sage was getting ready to leave, too. His grandfather was getting too old to run his family's dojo, so it was Sage's turn to carry the torch. Rowen was accepted to a fancy graduate school to get his masters degree in astronomy. Ryo, Kojiro, Cye, Anubis, and I were the only ones who weren't leaving. Well, Ariel and the kids were staying, White Blaze too, but I was more referring to those who are legally independent.

So things got a little spread out. Everyone now had their own room, except for Starr and Skye, who shared a room. No more bunking up tightly like we had to. We did all that on Thursday, soon after Sage left for the dojo. He, Kento, and Rowen all promised to write and call. Kento invited us down to the restaurant anytime.

Friday night soon fell apon us. Kojiro and Ryo had gotten tickets to a baseball game, and Mia was going to a ballet with a few of her friends. Anubis said he'd baby-sit Ariel, Starr, and Skye so Cye and I could go out on our date.

I spent close to an hour in my room, looking through dresses and cosmetics until I finally decided on a simple black skirt, a green blouse, and dark green tights. I threw on some lipstick, eye shadow, and a little blush, then grabbed my purse, slipped into a pair of heels, and went downstairs to meet Cye. Anubis seemed to be lecturing his son about being polite and treating me like a queen. Cye just nodded his head each time, probably not paying attention. He was wearing a pale blue dress shirt, blue slacks, and casual looking black dress shoes.

"Hi, Cye," I said, stepping down the stairs. Cye looked up at me and gasped.

"You look beautiful," he said.

"You look pretty handsome yourself," I said. I held my arm out for him hook his arm through. Ariel and her friends looked up.

"Daddy's going on a DATE," teased Ariel.

Cye laughed. "See you later, sweetie."

"Bye, bye, Daddy! Have fun!" said Ariel. "Starr, Skye and I are gonna have lots of fun with Pops!"

"Don't tie him up like the last time he baby-sat you," he warned.

"We won't," they said in unison, all with one hand behind their backs. I rolled my eyes. They surely had their fingers crossed. I looked at my date.

"He'll be all right. He knows just how to bribe them. If not, we'll call after the movie and make sure they didn't do anything to him," said Cye.

I laughed. "They're just kids, let them have their fun."

"I guess you're right. Come on, we don't want to be late," I said.

The movie was, well, a sappy romance. Dinner was good. Cye was handsome. The bills weren't horrendous. We had a great time.

After all that, Cye took me out for a walk along the beach. "What's out here?" I asked.

"A friend of mine," he said. Cye went right over to the docks and knelt down, putting his hand in the water. I slowly went over to where he was. Suddenly, something came out of the water.

"GAGHHHH!" I screamed, stumbling backwards.

Cye laughed. "Robyn, meet Jawbreaker."

I looked over at the form. An orca. I slowly went up to him and gently rubbed the rubbery nose. "He's beautiful," I said.

"He and I are old friends. He protected me when we were scattered all over Japan," said Cye. "Then he tried to save me from my Evil Twin."

"Wow," I said. Jawbreaker opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. Cye reached in and gently scratched his tongue. "Huh?"

"Whales like this," said Cye. "At least this one does."

Jawbreaker happily clicked and once Cye removed his hand, looked at me. "That's Robyn, my date." Jawbreaker seemed to approve me and nodded his head. I laughed.

"Come one, we'd better get home and check on your old man," I said.

"Oh dear, that probably is a good idea," said Cye.

(Cye)

When we got home, we found a very comical sight. Dad, Ariel, Starr, and Skye were all sprawled out on the couch in a big, sleeping heap. I laughed. "Well, they stayed out of trouble," said Robyn.

"Yeah," I said. "Coffee?"

"Sounds good," said Robyn.

We headed into the kitchen. I started to look for the coffee, but found the can to be empty. "Oh, tomorrow morning will not be a pretty sight. Kojiro practically lives on the stuff."

"Oh no," said Robyn with a laugh. "I'll head out and get some, okay?"

"No, we've spent the entire evening out," I said. "Just sit back and relax. I'm sure Mia or one of the guys is aware of this."

"Probably. Kojiro will go to the store in his pajamas to get coffee if he wants it bad enough," said Robyn.

"Yeah!" I said. We started to laugh, then looked at each other. Her eyes met mine. So young, so beautiful. Sweet, kind, caring. I slowly walked over to her. She stood on her toes and we gently, kindly kissed. Her lips felt so soft and tender, the tip of her nose brushing up against mine. Robyn slowly wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Kissy, kissy!"

The two of us looked over to see the girls and my father looking at us.

"Hey!" said Robyn. "If you want to watch we're gonna have to charge you admission!"

"Hey!" said Starr. "We don't have any money!"

"Well then I guess we'll just have to feed you to the tiger," said Robyn. "Right, Cye?"

"I don't know, Robyn, are you sure that's a good idea? Maybe we should just make them wash the car?"
"Or better yet, clean out the garage!"

"How's about if we just let them off the hook this one time?" I finally said.

"Aw, such a let down," said Robyn. "But I'm in a good mood. Let's let them off the hook. But next time, twenty bucks. Each."

The girls giggled and Dad rolled his eyes. I just smiled.