Cry - Interlude
"Shizuru, honey, its time to get up."
Groaning in frustration, Shizuru rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head.
"Shizuru?" her mother called gently, shaking her shoulder. "You need to wake up, darling. I have to talk to you."
Those words always meant trouble, and Shizuru new better than to disobey her mother. Pulling her head out from under her pillow, Shizuru yawned, stretched, and ran her fingers through her tangled hair, waiting for her mother to speak.
Taking a calming breath, Aiko sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed. She smoothed out her skirt, ran a hand through her own hair (which was as pin-straight as her daughter's) and cleared her throat softly.
"What's wrong, Mom?" Shizuru asked, sitting up and resting her cheek on her mother's shoulder.
Aiko turned to look at her oldest child, and Shizuru was struck by how much older her mother appeared. It was as if she had aged ten years over night. Her eyes were the same, velvety brown as ever, the same eyes Shizuru saw in the mirror every morning, but there were lines around them that Shizuru did not remember. She seemed delicate, as if the cancer was still eating her away… Cancer? Why would she be sick?
Shizuru blinked, and the memories came flooding back.
She was not ten years old, Aiko was not alive, Kazuma wasn't shorter than her, and Daddy…
Shizuru drew back from her mother with a strangled gasp, pushing herself up against the headboard. Aiko turned to her, those gentle eyes imploring her to calm and listen.
"Mom?" Shizuru prompted, the word feeling strange, foreign on her tongue.
Aiko sighed, and looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. Nervously twisting her wedding ring, she took a breath and looked her daughter in the eye.
"Give him another chance," Aiko said softly.
It took Shizuru's brain a few moments to comprehend whom her mother was speaking of, but when she understood she felt a deep, constricting pain in her chest.
"You not taking his side!" Shizuru burst out in disbelief, fisting her hands in the blankets.
Aiko looked at the ground.
"Mom?!"
"Shizuru, people can change…"
HE had said the exact same thing…
"Listen to me, baby," Aiko said, grabbing her daughter's hands and forcing herself to look Shizuru in the eye. "Good people make mistakes, but it doesn't mean they aren't good people."
Shizuru tried to pull her hands away, but could not break from Aiko's desperate, quickly tightening grasp. She tried in vain to close her ears to the truth ringing in her mother's words.
"He made a mistake, honey," Aiko continued. "A really big mistake, but you can't tell me you haven't made some of those too. He can still be a good man. It's just taken him some time to realize it. He's trying to make things better."
"I don't want things better!" Shizuru exclaimed, now clutching to her mother's hands. "I want things like they were! I want you there to cook in the morning, 'cause I always burn the toast, and I don't want to have to worry about whether or not Kazu's passing geometry, and I want to be able to remember my father and not think about what a total dick-"
Aiko scowled at that word, and Shizuru had the grace to blush. The harsh look softened, and Aiko pulled Shizuru into a tight hug, which Shizuru returned fervently.
"Baby, I know this is tearing you up, but you've got to give him another chance."
Shizuru closed her eyes, leaned into her mother's embrace and said, "I don't want to. He hurt me, Mama. He hurt Kazu. How can I trust him again?"
"You'll learn to, Shizuru," Aiko answered, stroking her daughter's hair. "It'll take time, but you'll learn. Your father is a good man. He just needs a chance to prove it to you again. Give him a chance, baby, and you'll see."
Shizuru yawned against her mother's shoulder.
"I should let you sleep," Aiko said suddenly, her arms tightening around Shizuru. "You should really go to bed earlier, sweetheart, you're not getting enough rest."
"I'm fine, Mom," Shizuru reassured.
"A mother can tell when her child is lying."
"Don't I know it," Shizuru murmured, thinking of all the times she had managed to catch Kazuma in a lie.
"Go on and close your eyes, honey. I'll stay here until you're asleep," Aiko said softly, pushing Shizuru back down into the pillows, and pulling the blankets up around her.
"I love you, Mom," Shizuru said suddenly, feeling for all the world as if she would never be able to say it again.
"I love you too, honey, and Kazu. You be sure and let him now for me," Aiko intoned, leaning over to press a gentle kiss to her daughter's forehead.
Brushing back Shizuru's bangs, Aiko said softly, "You've grown into such a pretty woman."
Then she added as an afterthought, "You should date more."
Shizuru grimaced.
"And stop smoking. No one wants to kiss an ashtray."
"Alright, Mom. I get it!"
End Interlude
