Young girl, just hold tight
And soon you're gonna see your brighter day
Quiet sobs floated down the silent hallway, a small girl in a pale blue dress curled up against the towel closet, her green eyes wide and shiny with tears. Her nose was small and red from crying, her lip trembling as she hugged her knees. White socked feet were making their way up the hardwood stairs, a hand curled around the detailed rail. The gentle padding of footsteps alerted the little girl, and bringing in her knees tighter, she warily looked at the stair case. A head of unruly raven hair made it's way up, the maroon eyes of a seven year old boy darting around the sophisticated looking hallway. Spotting the person he was looking for, Van Fanel trudged over to the girl, and squatted.
"What're you crying for, Hitomi?" the boy sighed impatiently, "You can't be such a cry baby over everything, ya know." Hitomi jutted her lip out and frowned defiantly, not meeting Van's eyes and instead crossing her arms.
"I am not," Hitomi retorted sullenly, kicking her feet against the floor jerkily.
"Oh, so were you acting with all that bawling downstairs?" Van asked testily, "God, you're acting like such a girl."
"Shut up!" Hitomi shouted, smacking Van violently on the head before burying her face into her knees. Her shoulders were shaking, the sound of hiccups piercing the air. "You are being so stupid," came the girl's muffled voice, her voice blurry with tears.
"I'm just telling you not to cry over everything!" Van exclaimed incredulously, but his expression was less haughty and more wary. "Boys don't cry, so if you'd stop acting like such a girl you wouldn't make yourself so upset," Van reasoned, poking Hitomi coaxingly.
"I'm not girly," Hitomi huffed, raising her head up and squinting her green eyes, "And don't you dare make another remark about my dress, Van, or I'll give you another Charlie horse," she warned, and Van reflexively raised his arms in defense.
"I was just saying how nice you looked in it," Van grinned, falling onto his bottom to avoid Hitomi's swipe at his head. A watery smile slipped onto the girl's blotched up features, results of her crying.
Young girl, it's all right
Your tears will dry, you'll soon be free to fly
"Uncle Dornkirk's mean," Hitomi said crossly, absentmindedly playing with the short puffy sleeves of her dress. Van nodded, and cocked his head.
"You shouldn't cry though," Van chided her, "You know the way you are is fine. He's just weird, I think he likes to see people cry or something."
"He eats poo," Hitomi sniffed, then giggled, leaning her head against the cream colored wall. Van got onto his knees, and clumsily unbuttoning his jacket, he opened it.
"You've got the goosebumps," Van shrugged, after Hitomi looked at the jacket curiously. Nodding as her lips formed an 'o' of sudden understanding, Hitomi got in her knees and waddled into the jacket, warm from Van's body heat. Wrapping it around her like a blanket, Van leaned against the wall beside Hitomi and propped his hands behind his head. "Are you still upset?" he asked, coughing gruffly.
"No," Hitomi lied, fingering the silk lining of the black blazer. Van rolled the sleeves of his white shirt up, not even bothering to try loosening the stupid bow tie his mother had strangled him with. The boy looked over at his friend, scratching his cheek while assessing her expression. He knew she was upset, much more then she let on, but he didn't feel like bugging her.
Van was right though, Hitomi was devastatingly upset. Her uncle had started the dinner by commenting on the atmosphere, saying it was too uptight, when last time he had complained the atmosphere was too casual. He had proceeded to remark on how the food was too exotic and 'weird', and then had gone onto his favorite subject; Hitomi. The little girl had been raised with the neighborhood boys, her best mate of the gang, Van. The boys said if Hitomi turned into a girl, they wouldn't play with her anymore, and Hitomi would shout that she'd never be girly if it killed her. This gave Dornkirk an open line to remark about Hitomi's lack of manners, her appearance, her need of lady like etiquette.
At family parties, Hitomi's mother usually allowed Hitomi to wear nice dress pants and a floral blouse, but after much deliberation and many temper tantrums, it was decided for Uncle Dornkirk's visit Hitomi would wear a dress. The little girl tried her best to be lady like at the family party, despite the teasing and hollering her friends had done, especially Van.
"Stop stomping around like an elephant, Hitomi Kanzaki," came a
rough voice, and Hitomi looked up with slightly startled green eyes.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Dornkirk," she mumbled, frowning irritably at the
floor.
"Straighten up," he snapped, and as the girl did so, he lifted her
chin with his hand sharply, "Stop staring at the floor." His wasn't
directly aggressive, his voice wasn't loud in any way, or fast. But the look in
his eyes, his body language, made Hitomi very uncomfortable, and upset as he
continued to fire complaints at her. "Grow out your ugly boyish hair, stop
being so ugly." Tears had welled up in Hitomi's eyes, and balling her hands
into fists, she nodded silently, hiccupping as he grabbed her wrist and forced
her to unroll her fists. "You hear me?" he demanded, "Act like a
lady, quit rolling around in the mud with those hooligans of yours."
"Dornkirk!" came the outraged voice of Hitomi's mother, "Don't
you dare use that tone with my daughter," she shouted, Dornkirk dropping
his wine glass with surprise. As the fragile glass shattered into a million
pieces when it hit the floor, Hitomi screamed and ran up the stairs, Van looking
up from the plate of hors d'oeuvres at the noise and noticing his friend race up
the stairs as fast as her short little legs would carry her.
"You pay no attention to him," Van smiled reassuringly, his maroon eyes twinkling, "I like you just the way you are." He reached over and grabbed her hand and interlaced their small fingers. The little girl smiled, using her free hand to wipe a few stray tears away. Sniffing, she tugged on his hand gently.
"We should go back downstairs, I don't want mommy worrying and coming upstairs to find me," Hitomi said, and as they stood up, she handed Van back his jacket.
Walking down the spiraling stair case, Hitomi saw Varie, Van's mom, with her coat on, smiling and hugging her own mom.
"Van, there you are!" Varie smiled, "We're going to go home now, say goodbye to everybody." Shrugging into his jacket and scuffing on his black leather shoes, Van waved passively at all the grown ups before standing beside Hitomi as his parents hugged and kissed everybody goodbye.
"Bye Van," Hitomi waved, and as Van's parents headed out the doorway the boy suddenly turned and made towards Hitomi.
"Hitomi's the only girl I'm ever going to marry!" he announced loudly, looking Dornkirk straight in the eye before brashly kissing the little girl on the cheek and running after his parents.
All the grownups went 'aww', laughing lightly and looking amusedly at Dornkirk who growled and huffed, annoyed. The party was dying, the clink of glasses and amount of chatter going down, but little Hitomi just stood in her spot, frozen, a blush and smile on her face as she touched the spot on her cheek Van kissed.
Young girl, don't cry
I'll be right here when your world starts to fall