Chapter 2
Title: His Eyes
Author: Kimiko Mizu



When Lily woke up on Saturday mornings, she had certain expectations. Like she'd have to make her own breakfast, watch cartoons, or maybe go over to her cousin Ryo's house and find he'd ripped her favorite teddy bear apart. (Whoo...flashback from the kindergarten years...)

But on this Saturday morning, their was one thing she did not expect.

Her mother.

"M-M-Mom?!" she exclaimed, in total and utter shock.

Lily's mother, Lynette Akiyama, had a very tight work schedule at the pharmacy, which only allowed her to be home a few hours a night, too late for Lily to be awake on a school night.

On the weekends, Lynette worked even more, so she was home less, so it was very shocking for Lily to find her mother sitting down leisurely on the couch of their living room.

"Oh, hi honey." replied Lynette, sipping a cup of coffee and flipping through the newspaper.

"Mom, wh-why are you home from work?" asked Lily, sitting down, still in somewhat shock.

"Honey, can you get my purse for me? I need my wallet." Lynette changed the subject.

Lily obeyed, then proceeded to repeat her question. "Mom, please, what are you doing home? I need to know."

Her mother sighed as she put the newspaper down and looked at her daughter. "Alright, I guess I can't avoid the subject. Lily, honey, I....I got fired."

"YOU WHAT?!" Lily jumped up. "B-But you've got a new job, right? I mean, we can still pay the bills, right? We're not broke?!"

Lynette shook her head. "I've begun job-hunting, but we're going to need to cut down on buying things. We can't go clothes shopping, and we need to buy only what we'll eat when we go grocery shopping. And Lily?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"I need you quit your after-school activities. I need you here at home."

"WHAT?! But, Mom! That's unfair! I can't quit choir and photography club! I'll be even more of a social outcast!"

"But don't you have all those friends of Ryo's? You know, Takuto and Hika and all them?" asked Lynette.

"Mom, their names are Takato and Rika." replied Lily. "But it's still unfair! I can't hang out with them all the time!"

"Exactly," said Lynette. "That's because you'll be here, after school, doing your homework and chores."

"But MOM! There's this music contest I was going to enter! I HAVE to go!"

"Lily, didn't you just hear me? NO, I need you here at home. Why can't you understand that?"

"ME understand?! I understand perfectly fine!" shouted Lily. "YOU'RE the one who doesn't understand how important this is to me!"

"Honey, believe me, I DO understand, but we need to have certain priorities-"

"SCREW PRIORITIES! What about having a LIFE, MOTHER?!" and with that final comment, Lily ran upstairs to her room, crying.

"Lily..." sighed Lynette, as she picked up the phone and began dialing a number. "She just doesn't get it....Oh! Hello?" someone on the other line of the phone picked up.

"Yes, Shinjuku Daily, how may we help you?"

"Hello, I'd like to put an add in the paper, the section for people who need jobs...."

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On Sunday morning, Lily was still moping in her room. She did come down to eat lunch and dinner, but she didn't say one word to her mother. If there was one good thing Lily was good at, it was being angry.

At 11:00 AM, Lynette quietly knocked on her daughter's door. "Lily? Honey, I'm going out...I'm going to have lunch with someone who may want to hire me...Will you be alright on your own?"

There was no answer.

"Bye, honey." Lynette sighed as she walked downstairs and left the house.

When Lynette left, Lily immediately ran out of her room, fully dressed, and went to fixing her breakfast.

"God...I haven't eaten in HOURS...."

Just then, as if to annoy Lily on purpose, the phone rang.

"Ugh....go....AWAY..." she grumbled, walking out to the living room to get it anyway.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Uh, Lily?"

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET MY NUMBER, HENRY?! YOU STALKER!!!!"

"OW! Geez, I'm not a stalker! Ryo gave me your number because we wanted me to call you and remind you about Kenta's party, remember? It's in on Tuesday and you're supposed to bring the movie!"

"But...don't we have school on Tuesday??" asked Lily.

"What, are you a blonde?! We have a two-week vacation off from school, remember? They're remodeling the cafeteria for no apparent reason."

".....Oh, yeah."

Henry was prepared to yell at her again, but sensed some type of sadness in her voice. "Lily, are you...okay?"

"What? Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine, Henry. Look, I've already got the movie so you don't have to worry. Tell Ryo I'm going to meet him, later, alright?" Then she hung up the phone and proceeded to make her breakfast.

"Okay...that's weird...she barely yelled at me at all....Maybe she's got a fever," Henry thought to himself as he hung up his phone.

"Ahhh.....finally....real nutrition." Lily sat down at the kitchen table and began eating. "Ahh...oatmeal never tasted SO good."

Little did Lily know that she soon wouldn't be feeling anything good for quite awhile...


*Sorry for not updating soon enough! Stupid FF.Net... ::Grumble, grumble:: RyoxRika coming up soon! Be patient!*