Celebrate good times…
"Frère Jacques Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez vous? Dormez vous?"
A little girl, no more than 8 years old, with curly black hair was singing one of her favorite songs that her father and mother sang for her when they were playing. She was standing on a pink stool, stirring a wooden spoon in a large pot on the stove, while 4 older boys were wandering around and cooking. Delicious aromas rose from the kitchen, showing their intensive labor for the past hour to make delicious food.
"Sonnez les matines, Sonnez les matines" she sang.
"Di, din, don! Di, din, don!" the boys joined in her singing.
She smiled at all of her brothers. Their maman and papa where coming home! This was truly a day to celebrate. And all of them were pitching in by cooking something for their parents!
"Ne, Aniki, should I put more salt in this?" A tall boy with blond-brown hair came to the little girl and tasted the delicacy she was stirring. "Un peu chère." He said then smiled at his baby sister. "Are you excited that maman and papa are coming back?" he asked the little girl while mussing up her black curls. The girl smiled back at her brother, and with bright eyes she answered. "Uh huh! I'm glad their coming back! I miss them soooooooooo much Aniki… Maman can finally read us stories again. And papa will be glad that we can play basketball with him again. And we'll play and play and play aaaaaaallllll daaaaaayyy and aaaaaaaallll niiiiiggggghhhht loooonnnng!"
The taller boy smiled at his baby sister rambled on with much enthusiasm. He mused that his imoto will probably tire herself out before dinner. But he couldn't blame her, as he looked around his brothers, working hard on their assigned recipes to cook for their parents, they all missed them, and they were glad that they were all going to be one family again in their home….
Hanamichi
"Hey." I said softly, I sat down beside her stooped frame. She was cradling her head, her elbows on her thighs, while sitting in the metal bench of the girl's lockers. She didn't say anything, she didn't look up, she didn't flinch, she just looked so sad… and broken. Earlier on, I just don't know what happened. She seemed so hurt, frustrated… damned. By her words, her actions, her life… I wanted to help her then… I want to help her now.
FLASHBACK
"I can't." Her head bent down, curls from her ponytail got out, covering her usually child-like face… and she looked like she was going to cry… So, is this what's she's hiding? Is this why she's so guarded? Is this why she seemed so sad?
But I can't believe it… Sendoh's her brother… stepbrother, I know-Akira-she called HIM, Akira. I know, I'm calling his name like a rampant disease or something, but this is… shocking.
"ano… I think your mom and my dad would like it, and it be ok… you know… acting like a…" Sendoh abruptly stopped when Zoe's head shot up.
"What Akira? Acting like what? Acting like a family!?! ACTUALLY ACTING LIKE A FAMILY!!" she raked her hand over her hair and kept on biting her lip. In a slightly softened voice she said "Akira, I told you, you'll go in my book as a friend, but your dad marrying my mom, doesn't make you family, yet. Doesn't make you replace my brothers, doesn't make your dad replace my father."
~~END FLASHBACK~~
I put my arm around her shoulders, and finally she looked up. Her lashes spiky from her crying, but no tears were coming forth from her eyes now. She straightened herself, tensed , then relaxed, she leaned her body to me, her cheek on my shoulder and I tightened my arm to comfort her.
"I'm pathetic, you know?" she said.
"You're not." I assured her.
"I'm fifteen for goodness sake. And still, I haven't learned a thing!"
I tried to put humor in the situation and asked, "And what might you, little girl, haven't learned?"
She looked up, and I was lost, because I knew, in my lame attempt of humor didn't get to her. "I shouldn't have fought with him Sakuragi-kun. I shouldn't have yelled at him. I shouldn't have said mean things. I was just plain wrong."
"If that was the meanest thing you could come up with, I should give you lessons!" she looked up and I gave a small grin, I tweaked her nose and said, "You're not very good at it!"
"Soooo… what mean things should I tell him?" she asked. And I was glad, she was at least treating it a little lightly.
"Oh you know, pineapple head, spikey, fork head, and that's just with his hair… what about that smiling face, eh? He should probably audition as a clown!" the jokes were screaming; LAME-O, but she laughed, and relaxed against me more, and I felt tension slowly melting away.
"What happened?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked back. Although I knew what she was asking, I'd rather that she tell me, so that I'll say the right thing.
"Out there, after I walked out."
"Reena." I simply said.
"What did she say?"
"She yelled at your stepbrother, a good two minutes. She said that he shouldn't have pushed you, and that you were fragile right now, since… well, you know…" I looked down on my feet, not knowing how exactly to say it.
"No, I don't know Sakuragi…" I felt her shoulders shrug a bit.
"Since you lost your brothers… and your dad."
She gave a laugh lacking any real mirth. "My brothers… I never lost them, I gave them up for my mom. I could've stayed with them…" she then gave a sigh.
"Where?" I asked, wanting to know more.
"In California, with my grandparents, with my friends, with my team. But I stayed with my mom… or maybe, I just went with her. I mean…" she looked up at me, her guard lowered down so much that her pain was boring through me just by looking at her eyes, "how can you choose between people you love? Your own family, fighting. It wasn't as if my grandparents didn't approve. Even when their son died, when my dad died, it was okay to them for mom to marry someone else, she was after all—still young… I guess, my brothers and I, we just didn't expect it to be so soon…"
Her voice was so soft when she said all this. There was no anger in her voice, but pain… sadness. She didn't carry a grudge against her mom, against her family and Sendoh. But, there's a mysterious note in her voice, I can't quite pinpoint it, that makes me think she does hold a tiny grudge, on just one person. Maybe its Reena's words that are suggesting this… with that name she mentioned… Raphael.
Then I remembered something she said earlier on, "I thought you were from France."
"Originally, until junior high I guess." Her voice a little firm, and her breathing was deep. There are so many things I didn't know about her. How come she's actually here? How come she's not in France anymore? Where she came from? Who she really is? And what robbed her smiles of the true joy that should lurk in it? Reena told me to make her talk… but how?
FLASHBACK~~
Reena was holding her forhead with her palm, looking at the ground, maybe wondering what to say… she then looked up and talked to me with the same no-none sense approach she gave Sendoh, "Zoe's a girl that keeps things inside, she's strong but weak too. Holding in all her troubles, a person can get crazy from that… And right now, she has to let it all out… or she'll break. She might think she's fine… but most of the time she's not." She gave a ragged sigh, I felt she was looking for words to explain, and to make me understand.
"When she has problems, she never talked to us, she talked it over with her brothers. But that's rare, if she thinks she can handle it, she'll do it… alone, and sometimes she walks away. I'm afraid for her when that happens…" I saw an unconscious shiver, indicating her fear empowering her senses. But why would she fear for Trouvel when she walks away?
~~~ END FLASHBACK~~
She's a girl that I barely know, or maybe I do… but not so much. And, I don't know, I wanted to know more of her. She's not a person you'd come across everyday. She's an original. But for now, an original with so much pain, that it makes me want to cry out. Me, strong genius Sakuragi, wanting to cry. That's a laugh, I rarely cry nowadays, but when I do…
"Sakuragi, what's this?" I looked down at her as she pulled out my personalized whit headband, courtesy of Umi. It had a small (i.e. chibi or maybe super deformed) figure printed on it that's supposed to resemble me, the little elf printed there was wearing my jersey. But it didn't quite match now since the figure, doing a peace sign in his left hand; holding a basketball on the other, had the, long ago monk head that I had before. And then its mouth, I don't know if Umi was playing a joke or something, but she made it in way that my mouth was practically half of my face, indicating of course that I was laughing. She said and I quote " Kyaa!! It would look so KAWAII!!!", Oh yeah, real cute, making my mouth look like the basketball hoop… Should I do dunks in there instead?
"It's a head band. You know like some basketball players wear today." I replied, hinting a smile at the corner of my mouth. She straightened from my shoulder, took it to her hands, and examined it closely. She tilted her head up to me and gave a silly grin… Maybe I made a mistake about her smiles, this time she seems to be happy… She's pretty cool too!
Until she stretched the living daylights out of my headband.
"Yamete!!" I said, and then snatched my headband from her hands. What was she trying to do, destroy it?
ZOE
I looked up innocently at him, and gave a furtive grin. "What?"
"You were practically expanding it to fit Kistune's head!"
"Kitsune's head…" I said, trailing my words to look at Sakuragi's cute and slightly flushed face.
"You know how swell headed he is!" he then surveyed the 'damage' I did to the scrap of cloth. The furtive grin became wider as I asked, "Who gave this to you?"
"A friend…" he said myteriously.
I poked him at the ribs and teased, "A girlfriend?" I asked.
"NOOO" he said, a look of horror coming across his features.
"Then who?"
"A friend…"
"I'll ask again, who?"
"A friend!" he looked at me with slight irritation and embarrassment. Why is he supposed to be embarrassed?
Quickly, I snatched the thing out of his hands and fitted it on my head.
"KO-RA!"
I stood up, quicker than he is, and looked at the mirror screwed in at the tiled wall of locker rooms. Hey, it looks so KAWAII!!
Sakuragi
"Hey, look! It fits!" she squeeked.
I stood up, crossed my arms to my chest and looked over at her.
"Oh come on, don't over react!" she said, her grin.
"But I like that headband!" I whined.
"I like that headband!" she whined herself, imitating me.
And then she looked up at me an gave me this enigmatic smile, a smile that was really truly a smile, you must be wrong in your earlier judgement Hanamichi…
"Do you have some clothes for going out in your locker Sakuragi?"
What the!?! "I'm sure the headband fits you but my clothes sure wouldn't!" I said. What the heck is she up to?!?!
She gave a bubbly laugh, looked up at me and pinched me on the arm, "The clothes are for going out Sakuragi-kun." For a moment, I thought I saw a dash of remorse in her eyes, but she quickly looked away before I could think anything of it. "I—I guess I can't go to practice now, I'm afraid I can't face the students there after the scene I caused."
Funny… It was hardly a scene considering last year:
4. A scene would be a mob of screaming girls cheering an undeserving player on. (Celeste: ah, you're just jealous….)
3. A scene would have to be two boys… uhrm… one absolutely gorgeous man and one scrawny kitsune, duke each other out till one seriously bleeds or a certain wild untamed gorilla steps in the fray to perform unreasonably hard punches on said gorgeous guy and deserving ones for fox boy.
2. A scene would be defined as gangsters, one with serious dental problems, another with hair that had been a field day practice for a curling hair stylist and other scrawny lizards who dare crawl on the planet, wreck havoc in the gym and basketball members causing bleeding bruises and a lot of humiliation… on just their part.
1. A definite scene would be playing with the team's captain… and accidentally showing his butt to the whole gym!
I silently said to myself, A scene Trouvel, if you stick around the basketball club, you'll definitely see more of them, and they are a definition of a "scene". And there is the fact that most of the people were inside the gym at that time, only Rukawa, Haruko and Reena were outside with us, and of course Sendoh and his team.
"And since I almost won at the game with that Rukawa Kaede…" she looked up, now supporting a childish grin on her face, "I should be treated to a nice celebration!"
"Celebration…?:" I asked dumbly.
"Yup!" she looked up at me and grinned, "a celebration…someone once told me each and every celebration is a celebration of life, so we're going to do that!"
Celebrate life? I grinned back at her, "I guess we can do that."
****NOTES****
::Author is seen crying on the ground::
::Red head walks in::
Hana: Celeste-chan why are you crying?
Celeste: Because!!!! No one is giving me reviews!!!! BWWWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Hana(looks threateningly at readers) You better give reviews to Celeste!!!!!! I know she's not a good writer, but she promised me in the end she'd pair me and Haruko-chan! And I'm hoping that chapter is a little rated R so you better---
::Red head is unable to speak as author tries to strangle him::
Celeste: You baka! I can't even write a PG-13… (author suddenly supports an evil grin) Maybe I should just pair you with Rukawa-kun instead…. Yay! Yaoi!!!! (Author stops the two handed strangulation of Hanamichi, to just one hand and put a peace sign)
Hana: (chokes through his strangulation) NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
Real Notes:
Just a joke on my part on the above dialogue, I love yaoi fics… I'm not talented to write one though… Fave pairs, RuHana, HanaSen, KoshSen, HanagataFujima, MitKo and for the slightly sci fi fantasy Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter!!! :-)
The song Frère Jacques is the kiddie song Brother John, You know: Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John. Morning bells are ringing, Morning bells are ringing, ding dong ding ding dong ding.
::People at internet café stare at the obviously teenage girl singing the obviously kiddie song::
::Author sweatdrops::
Yes people, I know I'm weird, and proud of it!
Thanks to bix for the rev!!!
French translations:
Un peu- a little
Chère- dear
Maman- mommy
Pls. Review….