Menagerie: {Chapter One}
Sonomi shoved a letter in Tomoyo's pale hands. "Tomoyo, explain this! Tell me it's not true!"
She sighed and set the letter on the dining room table. "It is true."
"What's wrong with you?! No wonder you're missing all your tests! Tomoyo, why have you been skipping school!? Where have you been going?"
Tomoyo smoothed a hand over the oak wood tabletop. "I've been out ………walking."
"Walking? A load of crap! Stop lying to me!"
"But I'm not lying!" she weakly protested, her heart slowly beginning to pound in her chest. "I really am going to the park!"
"Pfft! You're just like your father. Always claiming he was going to the bar with some of his friends." A hurt but angry expression spread across her prim and proper face. "But it was a story. He ran out on us. He ran out on ME. That bastard robbed me of five million dollars and left me for a blonde haired, blue eyed, and a big chested woman!. Well I hope he's happy! Because he left me pregnant with a child who would turn out to be a little liar just li-- "
"But I'm NOT lying, Mother………"
"What would you POSSIBLY be doing at the park, Tomoyo?! You're not honestly stupid enough to go to the park everyday during the winter. You KNOW you'll catch pneumonia! Now tell me: have you really been out walking?"
"Yes, I have. I've been going to the park…to think."
"That's what you go to school for," her mother spat. But Tomoyo continued in a shaky voice.
"I have more to think about than you know," she said, "I do not want to disappoint you, mother. I really don't. But lately, someone has been on my mind…"
"Not this again! I miss Sakura too. Just like I missed her mother, Nadeshiko. But when missing someone gets in the way of being successful in life, it just isn't worth it, Tomoyo! It just isn't worth it! I am using my money to send you to the local business school. The least you could do…the least you could do…!" She turned away in disappointment, refusing to face the hot tears that streamed down Tomoyo's face.
"M-Mother…"
"You may go. Dry your tears. Yoshi will be coming for dinner."
Tomoyo's watery eyes widened in dread, "No, Mother! I hate Yoshi! I do not want to marry--"
"You may GO."
Six o'clock arrived quickly and as Tomoyo came down the giant staircase in a simple evening gown, she stopped in her tracks to behold twenty young gentlemen dressed in tuxedos. Sonomi was at the bottom of the steps, a smile plastered onto her face. A smile that did not suit her.
"It's about time!" she said, "I convinced Yoshi to bring a few of his high class friends as well! Why don't you talk to a few of them?"
It seemed overwhelming. Tomoyo immediately walked past her mother and busied herself with fetching a glass of punch. She resolved to fetch her supper and retreat to the porch. As she did so, a hand reached out and grabbed hers. She looked up into the eyes of a rather obese man whose hairy knuckles were covered with three or four gold rings and whose chubby wrist displayed a Rolex watch.
"Well good evening, Miss Tomoyo," he said with an empty smile, "You look absolutely lovely today. Please, allow me to get that for you." He took the ladle from her and, trying to summon up his most charming smile, he turned to her, not noticing the punch cascading down his hand.
"Nnh…" Was Tomoyo's response as she backed away. She bumped into someone else. A tall young man with shiny, gelled hair and gleaming eyes as dark as calligraphers' ink.
"Ah, Lady Tomoyo! How nice to--"
"I'm sorry, I have to go." She apologized, spinning on her heel and heading back for her room.
Her mother was always doing this to her. Every week. Every single, wretched week, she'd invite another gentleman caller to the house to meet Tomoyo. All of them after the same thing: her money. They were all heartless, greedy suck-ups. She wanted to get away from them all. As fast as she could, she sprinted for the staircase she had descended only a minute before.
The recognizable bony grip of her mother's hand drew her into the crowd. "Tomoyo," she said, "I'd like you to meet Takaro Yun. He lives in England and owns a--"
Tomoyo reached out and seized his hand, shaking it hurriedly and vigorously. He raised his bushy eyebrows in surprise at her grip, but grinned as he beheld how pretty she was. He enjoyed the feel of her soft hands (though he did not take notice that they were shaking horridly) and the gleam of her amethyst eyes (completely ignoring their nervous glances around the room). Sonomi frowned and cleared her throat.
"As I was saying, Takaro owns--"
"Oh would you look at the time?" Tomoyo interrupted, "I think it's time to powder my nose again. Can you imagine? If you'll excuse me for one minute, Mister Yun………". She tore her hand a way from his and fled to the steps, but as she was halfway to her safe, quiet bedroom, Sonomi's cold voice stopped her.
"Tomoyo!"
"Y-Yes?" She slowly turned around to look pitifully at her mother, fists clenched at her sides and tears of frustration threatening to leak out of her eyes.
Sonomi crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. "Where are you going?"
"To powder m-my nose………"
"Yes yes, we all know that excuse," She pushed her into a darkened, empty room down the hall and shut the door behind them. "Now tell me: Why are you being like this?"
She did not answer, but only focused her attention on the designs of the carpet. Chinese dragons. She could see two golden Chinese dragons with grins as wide as their faces, teeth as sharp as daggers………
"Answer me now! Tomoyo, answer!"
"I do not want to marry, Mother."
A hysterical look crossed Sonomi's face. "Do not want to………do not want to?! And what do you expect to do the rest of your life? Watch those silly videotapes?"
Tomoyo did not answer.
Sonomi sighed, exasperated, and said coldly, "No, you cannot do that. I refuse to allow you to spend the rest of your life locked away. You are my daughter. I want you to be successful in life. That is why you are inheriting my company. You will become a fruitful, rich, and happy woman."
"Like you."
"Like me."
As much as she loved her mother, she could not deny that she was very arrogant and proud. All these years, she'd had to overlook this nerving trait and try to find the pure being within. She'd had no luck.
"I'm going to watch some more Sakura tapes now," Tomoyo said softly, nodding respectfully to Sonomi. "Good night, Mother. Thank you for the party."
Sonomi sank into an armchair, listening to the sound of Tomoyo's heels clicking against the tile floor, and after they had faded, she turned her attention to the sound of the twenty young men downstairs.
"What shall I tell them………"