"Just what are you accusing me of!" an annoyed feminine voice demanded.
"I'm accusing you of denying Lita her family!" an equally angry masculine voice fired back.
Fights were rare occurrences in the Carlyle camp, so rare that some in the industry commented on how unnaturally peaceful Lita Ann Carlyle's management and support team was. These fights were rare not because people didn't disagree; Lita and her cousin constantly disagreed about family issues. Marcos and Patrick also had so many disagreements about how to handle the press in relation to Lita Ann in the first year alone that they were practically tradition. What made fights rare was that there was always a calming voice, allowing compromises to be reached. Lita always joked that if they ever fought about something that meant a lot to everyone involved in the fight, it would be extremely nasty.
And that is exactly what was happening in this case. Patrick and Valerie both felt extremely strongly about their point of view. Both felt the other was wrong and/or insensitive. Both felt they had Lita's best interest at heart. And no one felt calm.
The blow up started over a little piece of paper. As Valerie Ann grabbed her purse on her way out to run errands, Patrick noticed a piece of paper that had fallen out of her bag. Bending down to pick it up, he was about to hand it back to Valerie when he noticed that it was the note from that official from the Japanese equivalent of the US Census Bureau. Valerie Ann took the note when they both visited the institution about a week ago, and she was the one who announced that Melissa Sakura Carlyle Kino was dead. At the time, Patrick thought that was all that was in the note. But, with the note in his hand, he noticed more writing. Scanning the note, one thing jumped out at him.
"Children, 1 daughter. Kino Makoto L."
That one line had Patrick asking Valerie Ann about the note. The PA acknowledged that she knew about the daughter, but insisted that it didn't matter. Patrick insisted that they tell Lita Ann. Valerie Ann vehemently objected. And the conversation just became more and more heated from there.
"How dare you-" Valerie Ann began to counter before Patrick interrupted.
"Look, all I know is that you knew Lita Ann had a niece. A niece that would probably mean a lot more to her, now that her sister is dead. I know that you didn't want to tell her about her sister. I know that you hid from everyone, even me, the existence of her niece. And, it seems that the only reason you can give for your deceit is your decade old jealously over the relationship between Lita and Melissa!"
"You know nothing about our family, you paid labor ingrate!" Valerie Ann shot back.
Patrick was prepared to fire back when a raised voice in the hallway stopped them.
"I'm not saying it, Marcos! I'm not! It's insulting!"
At that moment the suite door opened and Marcos could be heard saying, "I understand your annoyance about the line, but –"
"I know I should have caught it earlier," the actress said as she breezed into the room waving a script, "but I honestly thought they'd be doing make-up and a whole bunch of other things to make the alien empire look alien. And I thought it was going to be acted by a diverse group of people. But, with all of the empire rolls being taken by Japanese or other Asian actors –"
"A recent change, Lita Ann," Marcos insisted.
"Recent or not, I cannot refer to them as the 'slanty-eyed people'! It's insulting. It's racist!" She turned to look at her manager. "I grew up in the South in the 60s and 70s. I help desegregate schools. I had any number of racial slurs screamed at me. And I'm not returning the favor to any group. I'm not saying it!"
"I'll look into having it changed, but" Marcos cautioned, "they may not change it."
"I'm still not saying it. I'm not," that actress insisted. Now completely in the room, she noticed her assistant manager and her personal assistant. "Patrick? Valerie Ann? Is there a problem?"
"No!"
"Yes!"
The actress laughed. "Well, which is it? Is there a problem or isn't there?"
"The only problem has been your lack of focus as you have been dodging the press," Valerie Ann scolded.
Lita Ann sighed as she walked further into the room. "I know you weren't happy about me visiting my sister's grave last Saturday. Dodging the press was necessary; I really didn't want my grief twisted to sell more copies of The National Enquirer. But lack of focus? This whole movie shoot has been a comedy of errors!"
"That's not the problem. Lita, Valerie Ann didn't tell us everything about your sister." Patrick insisted.
That stopped the actress in her tracks. Turning to her cousin, she asked softly. "What?"
"It's nothing important! Patrick and I are just having a disagreement about how big a deal to make about –"
Lita Ann raised her hand to stop her cousin. In the same quiet voice, she asked again. "What does Patrick mean Valerie Ann?"
After a few minutes of silence, Patrick finally said. "Your sister had a daughter."
"Had a daughter?" Lita Ann whirled around to talk to her assistant manager. "I-" the woman paused for a second, "I lost a niece, too?"
At her sad look and clear misinterpretation, Patrick hastened to correct himself, "Maybe 'had' was the wrong word. Has a daughter. She has a daughter who is still alive and, apparently, being cared for by a guardian of some sort."
"I have a niece?" Lita asked quietly, wonder and confusion apparent in her voice.
"Yes. Her name is Makoto Kino. She was born in 1978, which makes her about 14 now."
"About fourteen. Oh…My…God," Lita Ann said slowly as her eyes widened.
"What? What is it!" Patrick asked urgently, worried by the sudden look of shock on his friend and employer's face.
"That girl at the gravesite. The one with hair the same shade as mine. She reminded me a little of Lissa. She had to be my niece. Who else could she be?" Lita mused to herself. "But why…Patrick! Can you get my niece's address?" she asked.
Finally feeling like he could do something to help the actress deal with pain of the loss of her sister, Patrick quickly walked toward the phone in the sitting room, "Already on it."
"Lita Ann Carlyle," Valerie Ann began to object, "You are taping a movie! You need to be getting into character and focusing on playing Ladi Myre. You don't have time to run around –"
"Valerie Ann, this is something I have to do for me…and for her. This girl is a Carlyle. She's also my niece. She has a right to know about her mother…and a right to get to know her aunt." Lita Ann stared down her cousin. "I'm going to see her. You can't stop me."
Another Tuesday evening and Makoto was at home, making dinner. But, for all of her thinking it was just another Tuesday, she realized that it wasn't. Life hadn't been completely the same since that Saturday afternoon. She could still hear LiLi in her head, "Melissa Sakura Carlyle Kino, my older sister." Makoto had family, biological family. Family at which she was still angry, but family nonetheless. And family she didn't know how to find.
Ever since the strange LiLi walked away, Makoto had been second guessing her own behavior. It was not that she necessarily did anything wrong, per se. She was angry and she wasn't going to be rude in front of her parents. At the same time, however, Makoto watched her aunt walk away without…without letting LiLi know who she was or finding out how to find her aunt again. Or even why LiLi was suddenly in this district of Tokyo. Makoto didn't even know where her aunt lived.
Makoto didn't sleep easily that Saturday night. In fact, at about one Sunday morning, she gave up on sleep and got up and did her homework. Then she baked brownies, which, of course, made her cry because her mother had taught her how to make them. She spent most of Sunday replaying that Saturday afternoon in her head, and thinking about all the times her mother mentioned her sister or LiLi.
One story stood out in Makoto's head. On Makoto's ninth birthday, her mother had given her the rose earrings she now wore. Before she gave her the earrings, she told her about them.
"I got these earrings when I was fifteen," Kino Sakura had said. "Sure, most teens wouldn't have been caught dead in these earrings, but I wore then because LiLi picked them out.
"It was LiLi's ninth birthday and she was getting her ears pierced. She talked about it like she wasn't afraid, but I knew better. She may have acted like nothing was wrong, but her eyes were scared. So I said I'd go with her.
"She braved the experience, trying so hard not to cry in front of me. To make her feel better, I told her that she could pick out whatever earrings she wanted and I'd buy a pair exactly like them, too. She looked up to me so much, and that statement was the first thing to make her smile all day."
At that point Kino Sakura had laughed. "At that point, admittedly, I thought she'd pick something 'groovy'. So I was horrified when she picked sedate little roses, but I promised. And even after she gave me an out, I insisted." At that point Makoto's mother had smiled. "I had no idea then how much these earrings would me to me. As for LiLi…I'm sure she probably threw those earrings away before she turned seventeen."
Because her mother had looked so sad after that last statement and because the earrings clearly meant a lot to her, Makoto happily took them. It was difficult to describe what the earrings meant to Makoto now, especially since she had lost her parents. In a way, they were family heirlooms. They also reminded Makoto of her mother.
Realizing now that LiLi was her aunt put a whole different spin on the story. Makoto was an only child herself, so she didn't quite understand the protective feeling that older siblings had for younger. Based on what she had seen and heard from the senshi and others, she figured she had older sister like feelings for Usagi, but that wasn't the same thing as having a younger sister. Yet, using everything she had seen and heard about the relationship between siblings, the earring story took on a whole new meaning. Her mother was just trying to look out for her little sister and formed another bond with her that she hadn't expected. And, considering something had kept them apart for all of Makoto's life, those earrings must have meant the world to her mother.
Thinking about this made Makoto wish that she had talked to her aunt more, found some kind of way to contact her. But it also made her angry again. What could have happened to make her aunt not talk to her mother in at least fourteen years? They were family! Family was important. And, based on her behavior at the grave, LiLi cared about Kino Sakura.
Going back and forth over her feelings about her aunt all Sunday made Makoto a little out of it Monday morning, which the others noticed. Well, at least she thought the others noticed. Ami-chan had given her some strange looks throughout the day. Usagi-chan had asked if she was okay after Makoto had handed the blonde her whole lunch without a word, not that it stopped Usagi from consuming said lunch. Makoto wasn't sure what Mina-chan thought, but she was clearly surprised when Makoto turned down the invitation to go to the arcade after school. Admittedly, Makoto hadn't seen Rei-chan, but she was pretty sure that Rei had been told about her strange behavior by now.
Today at school, Makoto wasn't much better. The plus for her was that Usagi was distracted by plans she had with Mamoru later that day and Ami was distracted by Chemistry. Mina didn't push, and for that Makoto was grateful. Regardless, Makoto knew that she had to address these feelings soon. If she kept this up for the entire week her friends would worry.
Shaking her head, Makoto tried to return her attention to her dinner plans. Before she got very far, however, there was a knock at her door. Figuring it was Ami, who was probably worried about her, Makoto walked to her door. Opening the door, the young woman was staring into the face of a familiar stranger.
"Hi. Makoto Kino, isn't it? I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself on Saturday. My name is Lita Carlyle. I think that makes me your aunt."
Standing on the other side of the door, having delivered her line, Lita Ann winced inwardly. 'That was smooth,' she thought sarcastically to herself. One would think that after years of acting, she could act like she had it together. She snorted to herself; maybe that was the real reason she hadn't been nominated for an Academy Award yet.
The girl staring back at her was clearly the same girl from the gravesite on Saturday. Looking at her now, Lita was amazed at how she didn't automatically know this girl was family upon seeing her. Makoto had so much of the Carlyle genes that she could pass as Lita's own daughter. They had the same color hair. They were about the same height, Lita being only slightly taller. And Makoto wore a pair of rose earrings that matched the ones Lita's hair hid.
Based on the shock on the girl's face, it was clear she had no idea what to make of Lita. 'Maybe the black and white psychedelic sundress wasn't the best idea,' the actress thought to herself as she looked at the dress her sister had made for her almost two decades ago. Nervously, she pulled her black tote bag more securely onto her shoulder. 'I need to stop trying to make statements with clothing and gifts.'
Of course, Lita also worried that part of the shock was
a rejection of sorts. Living in Japan, Lita doubted that her
sister ever talked about her racial heritage, even to her own
daughter. She wouldn't accuse Melissa of passing so much as
just being in denial about that part of her life. And, if she
never discussed that part of her life with her daughter, her
daughter probably had typical Japanese views about African-
Americans. And, from the little Lita had heard and seen,
especially given what her cousin Dria was going through with her
mother-in-law, Lita was sure those views were not good ones.
"May I come in?" the actress finally asked, realizing that she might end up standing in the hall all day if she didn't ask.
The teen – Makoto – blinked a few times and then she nodded. Lita smiled and walked through the door. Before her niece could say anything else and before she walked any farther, Lita reached in her bag and pulled out a brand new pair of slippers. She had bought them at the last sorority convention she had been able to attend. Taking off her Nine West heels, Lita put on her slippers. At her niece's continued stare, Lita felt compelled to add, "I talked to my manager before I came over about customs I should know about. I wanted to cause as little offense as possible. Are these alright?"
Makoto nodded again. Lita sighed internally. Either her niece was a naturally quiet person, or she wasn't going to talk the entire time Lita was there. That could be a problem. Well, if she asked yes and no questions, she might be able to at least spend some time with the girl. If nothing else, she could leave her niece with the things she thought she'd be able to give to her sister. "May I sit down?" the actress again.
The teen nodded again and showed Lita to the couch. As Makoto went back to shut the door, Lita took the tote bag off of her shoulder and set it next to her on the floor. By the time she had placed her heels back in the tote bag, her niece had joined her on the couch. 'Well, if I'm doing most of the talking, I better start with something,' the actress thought to herself.
"I'm sure you have questions," Lita offered.
The young woman nodded. It seemed like she wrestled with herself for a few minutes before asking, "Why didn't you contact my mother in over fourteen years?"
"Wow," the woman who was her aunt said after a pause, "You don't pull your punches, do you?"
That statement puzzled Makoto a bit. She hadn't hit her aunt or tried to; she had no idea what the woman meant. Luckily, her aunt's follow-up question gave her a clue. "Couldn't we start with something easier?"
Makoto shook her head. It may be rude to push, but before she asked anything else, she had to know why this aunt had never contacted her mother before.
"Okay," the woman relented as she pushed her hair over her shoulder. An earring identical to the ones Makoto wore was visible briefly before her aunt's hair fell back into place. "It's not a pretty story, but you asked for it."
The woman stood and walked a few steps away from the couch. "My sister fell in love at twenty-one. That, in and of itself, wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She had just finished Northwestern and the family was so proud of her. She had met this guy while there and she had brought him home to meet the family.
"But, there was a culture clash of sorts. He was Japanese and a non-Christian besides," the actress sighed and turned to look at Makoto. "I'm not sure how cultural differences are worked out here, but in my country, in my family, it was a racial and a religious clash. And nothing is more important to Jeffersons, and to a degree, Carlyles, that race and religion.
"Our mother was a Jefferson before she married and she raised a huge stink. Father, of course, was missing in action at the time. The other Carlyles, my father's family, stayed out of the fight…although they enjoyed gossiping about it. The Jeffersons, my mother's family, got right into the middle of the fight. It got nasty very quickly.
"To this day, I really don't know what the tipping point was. All I can remember are the shouts and then Melissa storming out with her boyfriend, vowing never to come back. I tried to stop my sister, asking, begging that she come in and talk to Momma. She refused and pushed me out of the way. It was the last time I saw her."
Confused, Makoto asked, "But why didn't you try to contact my mother later?"
"I was sixteen when Melissa left. I was a dependent, living under my parents' roof, in the middle of a nasty family blow-up. How could I choose between the sister I adored and the mother who toiled and slaved to take care of me and my sister? I loved my sister. I still love my sister. I love my mother. I was young, scared, and asked to choose sides in a battle I didn't start! I-"
The woman sighed. "Maybe this was mistake. I'm sure if Melissa were still alive, she would have kicked me out by now. I'm sorry to have imposed."
Picking up her tote back, her aunt walked to the door. As she was reaching for the handle, Makoto finally found her voice. "No, wait!"
As the older woman turned around, Makoto said, "I do not think my mother would have asked you to leave."
"Why not?"
"Because," the teen began, "Well, because she named me after you, for one."
That seemed to shock her aunt. As her aunt stared at her, Makoto lowered her eyes to the couch. A few second later, she felt the couch sink as her aunt sat down again. "She…she named you after me?"
Makoto nodded. "When I was younger, she would call me LiLi-chan. She said she knew another LiLi who was important to her. But my other name is also Lita."
"Other name?" Lita asked
"My mother had two names when she was a child, so she felt the need to give me two as well. She tried to explain it to me once, but I never quite understood it."
"Oh!" Lita finally exclaimed. "Your middle name is Lita? Your mother really did name you after me?"
Makoto nodded, surprised to see what looked like tears in her aunt's eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to cry," the older woman said, "but I'm just really touched. I'm not sure what significance names mean in Japanese culture, but in our family, names are really important," her aunt explained as she blinked away tears.
"My mother's family has a tradition of naming people after family members, which can be especially confusing at times. And my mother, of course, tried to do that to the best of her ability. She named her oldest Melissa, after her husband's aunt. I'm not sure where Sakura came from, but neither family was all that happy about that name. Uncle Monty once said, 'Why couldn't you just name her Cherry Blossom? At least that's in English!'
"As for my name, well, there are several different stories of where my mother got Lita from. One was she wanted to honor her four best friends, but she didn't know how. So she took the first letter of their names, Lauren, Ingrid, Tanya, and Amy, and put them together in a name. Some said that she was working on a crossword puzzled and a misspelled clue that referred to actress Rita Hayworth was the last thing she saw before she went into labor. Other say Lita was the name of the nurse who delivered me. As for Ann, my 'other name,'" Lita smiled, "I'm not sure if it is for my mother's sister Ann or her brother Andrew. Andrew's daughter also has the middle name of Ann. We don't know who she's named for either.
"Huh," her aunt seemed to conclude to herself, "It seems as if my sister kept up the tradition…down to the nickname." Lita smiled sadly. "And she beat me to it! I always said I would name my first daughter Melissa." After a brief pause, her eyes twinkled slightly, "I'll just name my firstborn after you."
Lita smiled to herself as she saw the shock that filtered across her niece's face. Regardless of cultural background, it seems the honor of having someone named after you was equally stunning. And Makoto was a nice, if unusual name…for an American at least. She'd have to get to work on finding a first name that would work with it. She'd also have to find a husband and have a daughter to use the name, but she wasn't going to deal with those details at the moment.
As the pause continued passed the younger Kino's shock, Lita realized that she'd have to find another topic. Were the Japanese naturally this quiet? After growing up in around Jeffersons, how did her sister manage to stand it?
Pushing away the sadness that came with thinking about the sister she would never see alive, Lita bestowed a sunny smile or her niece/stranger. "Well?"
"Well?" the younger version of the actress repeated in confusion.
"Well, aren't you going to show me around? I mean, the living room does look quaint, but I think, as an aunt, I'm supposed to make sure your living situation is good. It is what many of my aunts would have done," Lita smiled sardonically. "Although, your mother would probably tell me that Aunt Lafayette and Aunt Harriet are not good examples of how to behave with family."
Several hours later, full emotionally and literally, Lita left her niece's apartment. If someone had asked her how the rest of the evening went, she would have loved to say it was smooth sailing and that her niece was her new friend, but Lita Ann tried to keep lying, even to herself, down to a minimum. That night was a start however.
But, again, if she were more honest with herself, there were several times when she thought coming was a mistake. Clearly, her niece had no idea what to make of her. For that reason, Lita Ann left the race card alone. Better to let the girl get used to the idea of an aunt before Lita dropped in her lap that Makoto was half African-American. 'Which brings up an interesting question about her citizenship,' Lita mused to herself.
Yet two things the actress noticed over the course of the night bothered her slightly. The first was the clear lack of guardian presence. Maybe Japan was different from the United States, but Makoto appeared to live by herself, something that wouldn't have been allowed in the States. The young lady may be a mature fourteen, but she was still fourteen. She shouldn't be alone. And, if this guardian was getting any kind of government help for Makoto and not actually looking after her, then there was an even bigger problem.
The second thing actually came to Lita's attention when she toured Makoto's apartment. In the teen's bedroom, on her nightstand was a beautiful pen of some sort and a pink calculator. To be fair, Lita would concede that she probably shouldn't have touched anything, even if pink and green were her personal favorite colors. What the actress didn't expect was the strong reaction of her niece. In the beginning, she would have just thought them pretty trinkets, but now Lita had to wonder what they really were. If nothing else, she was going to look into what that strange shaped number four meant. And she might actually find time to research it herself; she wasn't really sure if she could trust her cousin on this issue anymore.
The actress sighed. "One thing at a time. One thing at a time. Melissa would say that rushing only caused trouble, anyway." Shaking her head, the actress realized how much she really missed her sister. But her sister wasn't completely gone; Melissa had left part of herself behind in Makoto.
- to be continued -
Surprise, surprise. It's back. This is a draft of chapter
four. I've had this draft for months, tryijng to flesh out parts,
but I'm stuck. I figured I would go ahead and post it so that fans/
readers could provide some feedback. What was missing from this
chapter? What disappointed you? What did you love? If you need
more room than the review function will give you, email me at
for reading.
December