Ahhh~ your reviews give me such strength… haha :D
I finally completed chap 5! Sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long :D
ENJOY!
Chapter 5 : Can't Bear To Part
"I'm Mrs. Hihara, I'm here for my son."
Len wasn't quite sure how to react at first. Then as reality smacked some sense back into him, he opened the gate and showed the blonde woman into the house. Curious, the children observed the two adults from the kitchen.
"Shall I get you some coffee? A toast, maybe?" Len asked as he called for Megumi.
The blonde woman smiled gratefully, then her eyes caught the young green-haired boy peeping from behind the vase.
"Kazuki?"
She stood up and approached him slowly. Kazuki backed away at first, then he saw the familiarity in her eyes. The same orange vibrant eyes were reflected in his own. Softly, he uttered the word the blonde woman had not heard for many years.
"Mummy?"
She fell to her knees and placed her hands on his cheeks, tears streaming out from her eyes. Sketching his every feature with her finger, the tears rolled out one after another. Within moments, both son and mother were hugging each other.
Mrs. Hihara, who later introduced her name to be Hoshino, sat down with Kazuki by her side. Her eyes never stopped looking affectionately at the boy on her left. "I'm so glad I found him. I never dreamt that the day would come where I would find my child again. I don't know what to say." Her eyes welled with happy tears.
"Ever since the chaotic incident with my husband some years back," she breathed, stopping in mid-speech. She buried her face in her hands again and gave a deep sigh. Then she continued, "Back in my prime, I had family issues with my parents and ran away from home."
Everyone eyed her with shock.
"I then lived with my girlfriend in her apartment and worked part-time at the bar some blocks away. Everything was going great for me. I had money, food, a shelter over my head and a simple life." she smiled. "Until the day I met this man who was charming and wild at the same time. His name was Hihara Obata. It was love at first sight. Everything was going fine for the both of us, until my girlfriend got herself involved with some nasty people and they burnt down our apartment. All our possessions were gone in that fire." She paused as she felt a lump in her throat. "When Obata found out about it," she continued, "he let me stay in his apartment and provided meals for me. Unfortunately, a few months later, Obata was accused of a crime he never committed and I was suspected to be his accomplice so we fled the state together. Obata then promised to take care of me since he caused me so much trouble. Before I knew it, we had a child, Kazuki. The joy of my life because the man I loved was his father. But a few months later, I returned home to find both Obata and Kazuki missing. Only a note written by Obata lay on the table. It turned out Obata was heavily indebt and he had sold our son away for a hefty sum before he disappeared. I never heard from any of them ever since. Until now."
The woman finished her story, her face tear-stained again. Kazuki tugged at his mother's shirt and the woman gazed at him, before breaking into a smile.
Len felt happy for them, but at the same time something tugged at his heart. I should be overjoyed, I had managed to keep my promise to the children and find their parents. Now Kazuki has found his mother and he can lead a normal life with a proper family. So why do I feel like this? Why do I feel like I can't bear to part with him? Len couldn't figure out what was holding him back, in his heart, he silently wished the woman had never knocked on the door. Len shook the feeling away. What am I thinking? He got up and helped Kazuki pack his belongings.
Kazuki hummed a happy tune while he cleared all his toys from the shelf into his bag. He took a couple of story books with him and took his favourite cup from the kitchen. Lastly, he gently placed his trumpet back into the case and strapped it behind his back.
With a couple of paperwork, and a few hours of packing, Kazuki was waiting at the door for his mother, with his luggage by his side and his scarf wrapped tightly round his neck.
"Are you really going to leave us?" Kahoko asked sadly.
"Not really, I'll still be attending the same school as you," Kazuki smiled.
"Not quite, you see, we don't live in Tokyo," his mother said.
"Then what school will I be in? Will I be able to visit Len-nii soon?"
"Sure, why not. We'll come by every Sunday, how does that sound?"
Kazuki just beamed and hugged his mother. The children cried out farewell as they watched Kazuki leave with his mother. When mother and son were at the gate, Kahoko suddenly broke away and ran towards Kazuki in the chilly winter bare-footed. She gave him one last hug and a crystal tear fell to the ground. It froze instantly.
After a couple of soapy goodbyes, Kazuki and his mother were on their way. They walked for a long distance, his mother clogging noisily on her high heels in front and Kazuki struggling to keep up behind.
"Mummy, could you slow down?"
"Quiet now, and hurry up."
Kauzki thought they would be headed for the train station because he remembered her saying that they didn't live in Tokyo. However, his mother took a sharp left turn at the end and headed towards a shady neighborhood.
They reached a dilapidated apartment and his mother rapped on the door. There was a thud and a bottle crashed. The door opened slowly and a scruffy man greeted them.
"You smell like vomit," the blonde woman said angrily.
"Shuddap you bitch," he slurred.
Kazuki's mother shoved her son in roughly and slammed the door shut.
"Who's the kid?"
"My son."
"Pfft… that useless Obata's son? I told you got rid of him and Obata for good!"
"That's what I thought, but my son has returned thanks to some kind Samaritan, and this time, we may be able to fetch an even higher price. We could sell his organs or send him up for auction, there seems to be a rise of old pedophiles these days."
"Auction? My organs? Mummy! What are you talking about?" Kazuki screamed. He was afraid now, very afraid.
"Shut that kid up, I gotta drop by Luce's place." She grabbed her bag and left in a jiffy.
"Don't forget these," Obata called after her as he threw her a couple of condoms and Kiyo swiftly caught them in mid-air. Obata gave a sneer as he watched the woman walk out of the apartment.
Now Kazuki and the scruffy old man were left alone. Trembling, Kazuki scanned for an escape but every window was nailed shut. The air had a horrible stench and some white stuff lay on the table.
"Come 'ere…" the dirty man beckoned with his yellow finger.
"NO! Stay away from me!" Kazuki made a dash for the door but the knob was too high. Pounding frantically at the door, he called for Len's name over and over again.
"Shuddap!" He hit Kazuki hard on the head and Kazuki collapsed sideways. He was wailing in fear and terrified at what the man would do to him.
"Yer still don know what that woman did, do yer?"
He cried.
"4 years ago, she ran away with that Obata bastard and got pregnant. Then after you were born, she started taking drugs and got heavily indebted."
More crying.
"After she sold you away, Obata found out and threatened to kill her. But that sly woman got rid of him first. Now her useless son is back, and this time, you're worth more than you did 4 years back," he cackled.
Kazuki was petrified. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare, and return to where they were. To where he could tease Kahoko like he always did, to annoy Ryoutaro, to pull pranks on Azuma and Keiichi and to hide Shouko's things around the house. Last but not least, to be in Len's embrace and feel the warmth and security. He whispered Len's name under his breath, his eyes shut tight and his hands cluthing his throbbing head. Then a sharp pain hit the back of his head and everything went black.
That stupid man and his son are so dead, Len thought to himself as he pulled up the driveway of Kodomo Kindergarten. It was Monday, one day after Kazuki left the Tsukimori household. Len had no difficulty finding the annoying father among the usual crowd of parents. This time, a pretty Caucasian woman was by his side.
The couple was chatting happily in Japanese when Len approached them.
"Hey!"
"Oh, hi there! Amanda, this is the father I met the other day, the one I told you about, remember? The one with six kids," the young father told his wife.
"I'm not here to talk about how many kids I have, do you have any idea what your son did to my Shouko?" Len demanded.
"Umm, not that I know of…" the father trailed.
"He hit her with a ball, made her cry, then… then…" Len took a deep breath. "Then he kissed her as an apology!" Len whispered harshly. "What on earth are you teaching your kids?"
Both parents were stunned for a moment there. Then the father started to laugh.
"You think it's funny?" Len fumed.
But the young father just continued to laugh hysterically.
"I'm sorry, Sakugi, he's like that," Amanda explained.
"You see, in America, my parents taught me that kissing someone will always be able to serve as an apology. So I taught Sasaki that."
"And now our son's got a girlfriend!" the young father cackled again.
Amanda ignored her looney husband and continued, "But it seems that I didn't know that Japan was so strict on this issue."
Len stared at them in disbelief. Sakugi apologized profusely to him but Len was in no mood to forgive. He gave them an icy glare when the bell rang, signifying the end of school. Shouko and Sasaki emerged hand in hand and Len scowled the entire time, his face becoming thunderously black.
When Shouko saw Len looking at her, she quickly broke away from Sakugi's hand which made Len flinch. Shouko approached him slowly, half expecting him to holler at her. But Len just simply opened the door and helped Shouko into the backseat. Don't scream at her, pretend you didn't see anything, give a smile. That's right, smile and pretend nothing happened when something actually did, Len clenched his teeth and muttered under his breath.
Before Len left with Shouko, Sakugi pulled the violinist to one side and whispered,
"Hey, how did you manage to get your wife to agree to have 6 kids with you?"
"…" Just when Len had managed to calm down, he had to say this kind of thing.
"My Amanda won't even allow 2!"
"…" Keep calm, Len, you can do this.
"What did you do? Bribe her with flowers?"
"… No." What the shit?
"Jewellery?"
"What's wrong with you?" I want to punch him.
Sakugi ignored and continued to ponder.
"Or could it be, you can't keep her off you?"
Len stared at him with eyes wide with disgust.
"Oh God, get away from me."
"C'mon, let me in on the secret."
"Mind your own business."
Len glared at Sakugi coldly. Not only is he stupid, but perverted as well. Shouko needs to be careful with who she befriends…
It had been a week since Kazuki left and the Tsukimori household was so quiet. Kahoko now spent her time prancing around Kazuki's empty room and Ryoutaro found the unusual peace rather difficult to accept. It was a Sunday morning, winter was dissolving into the ground and pastures of green started sprouting against the sheet of white. The children were idling around the house and Len was in his room when the gate opened. The only ones who had the key to the gate were Len and Megumi, but today was Megumi's off-day and Len was busy upstairs, so who could the person at the front gate be?
From the distance, the children could see a vague figure of a woman in a ceruleanised dress. As she came closer to the door, with her back straight and head held high, the children were beginning to get very curious about her identity. Her shawl draped over her shoulders elegantly and her pale blue hair had a slight shade of green. The woman walked to the front door and knocked.
"She's pretty," Kahoko whispered to Azuma.
"Len!" she called.
"She calls Len-nii by his first name? Who is she?" Shouko asked.
Len came thumping down the stairs, opened the door and stared quite shockingly at the woman in the doorway.
"Mother?" Len said surprised.
"Mother? That's Len's mama?" Azuma was shocked.
Len asked, "umm, what brings you here, Mother?"
"I should be asking you what on earth you're up to!" She shoved a newspaper into her son's face. "I read the papers last week and immediately rushed down here from Germany. You… Them…" She sighed. "I was just surprised, why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm sorry, I thought I could solve this quietly, until that kidnapper came and made a big scene,"
The elder lady just sighed and sat down.
"My Len, since when were you so…" She was at a lost of words.
"…different?" Len finished off the sentence.
Then the lady saw the instruments lying on the floor.
"You bought instruments for them?"
"Yea, for Christmas."
"You really have changed," she smiled, eyeing the instruments. "Gosh, these are high-end instruments, how much did it cost?"
Len averted his gaze away.
"Did you engage teachers for them?" she continued.
"No, they just cause noise pollution everyday."
"I know a few people… I could recommend them to you if you want."
Kahoko approached the graceful lady cautiously.
"Len's mama-san, you learn music too?" she queried.
"Sure, I play the piano," she replied. "What about you?"
Kahoko broke into a beam, "I play the violin just like Len-nii!"
"Grandma, I know a tune on the violin! Shall I play it for you?" Kahoko offered. Without even waiting for the woman to reply, she scurried off to her room and returned with a violin.
"I also want to perform something," Keichi insisted and went to get his cello. As he was lugging it down the stairs, the children picked up their instruments from the floor and argued about who should get to go first.
What enthusiastic children, Hamai thought. She spent the rest of the afternoon listening to the children perform and teaching them about music while Len observed from a corner. Len listened to his mother explain to Kahoko the different ways of bowing and remembered how his father used to tell him the same things. He felt like he was watching his childhood being replayed right before his eyes.
Hamai laughed when Keichi performed a rather failed piece for her. All the other children booed and chased him off the 'stage'. Len had never seen his mother had so much fun before. He got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen. Just as he was preparing for dinner, his mother came in.
"Were there really from an orphanage?" she asked.
"Yea."
"They're talented."
"I think so too, especially Ryoutaro, he's got a gift for music," Len replied without turning to look at her.
"Say, would you mind if I personally taught Ryoutaro?"
"Are you serious?" Len stared at his mother.
"Of course. A talent like his doesn't come by often and I want to help bring out the fullest potential in him." Harima explained. "By the way, I thought here were six kids. Where's the sixth one?"
"His mother came for him last week," Len replied.
Hamai observed her son for a moment. Then she saw the slight pain of a parent parting with his child in Len's cold emotionless eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm sure that wherever he is, he's leading a happy life."
It was like any other day, a boring school day in class. Nothing to look forward to, especially ever since Kazuki left. It has been two weeks since his departure already, but Kazuki never came back once. Azuma stared at the blackboard blankly. Life was just so hard to adjust without their usual bundle of mischief around. Azuma sighed deeply, how he missed Kazuki, if he could just come back to visit once…
"AZU-NII!"
The entire class turned to the door. Leaning on the door frame, everyone could clearly see the bruises and open wounds on Kazuki's limbs. He was in tears, and he dragged his left leg into the classroom before collapsing.
"Kazuki!" Azuma exclaimed. The class was thrown into chaos. The girls screamed at the sight of so much blood and some of the boys even looked away. A few had their hands over their mouths. The teacher lifted the bloodied body and hurried to the nurse's room with Azuma following tightly behind.
Everything was a blur to Azuma, the sudden appearance of Kazuki in the middle of class. The uproar when his classmates saw the blood and wounds.
A single question throbbed in his head.
What happened to Kazuki?
This is extremely long. And there was so much more I wanted to write. But I had to stop before I hit 10 pages. Hahaha.
For some reason, I feel really bad about giving Kazuki such a nasty mother T_T and.. Sakugi's a perv! Lols. Im starting to like Len more and more. Hahaha. I hope you'll like the new Len too D
Actually I wanted to reveal Kazuki returning to Len in chap 6, but because of sheepfonfon's review. "So mean, separate Kazuki from the rest!" I felt quite bad… heh. So I decided to give assurance to you readers that Kazuki ain't going nowhere. Hahaha.
Stay tuned for chap 6! As a holiday gift, I shall include a bonus! Again! (note, this is a long bonus)
EXTRA : A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TSKIMORI (2)
Shouko is tired of being treated like she can't do anything just because she is the youngest. So today, she is going to prove to the rest that she is just as capable. Today, she is going to mop the floor!
She had seen how Megumi did it before, taking a cloth and scrubbing the floor till it shone and sparkled. First she had to fill a bucket with water. Glancing around, she saw a red bucket sitting forlornly in one corner. She filled it with a hose at full blast, until the bucket was really full of water. Then she took a cloth which was really Azuma's handkerchief and dumped it in the bucket. Next was the floor detergent. Scouting around for a decent bottle, she chanced upon one which read, Strawberry Essence. Shouko loves strawberries. So she took it without thinking twice.
Finally she had gathered all the essentials. Unfortunately, the bucket was so heavy she couldn't lift it. So she had to push it all the way into the hallway. The toilet was located on the second floor and Shouko didn't want to risk spilling the water by carrying it downstairs so she decided to mop the second floor. Everyone else was at school and Len-nii had to go buy some stuff. She had no school today because apparently, every other Wednesday is an off-day in Kodomo Kindergarten.
It was time to get to work. Just like how she saw Megumi do, she squirted the bottle of "floor detergent" into the bucket. Strawberry smelling liquid mixed into the water. She then dunked her cloth it, took it out and wrung out the excess water. But she wasn't sure how to twist it properly so she just crushed it into a ball.
Humming to herself, she scrubbed the wooden floor till it shone and sparkled. Then when she was done, she did the whole floor all over again. She delighted in the thought of how pleased they would be, especially Len-nii.
Finally, after the 3rd round, she reluctantly pushed the bucket back into the toilet and dunked the excess water down the bath tub. Without washing the handkerchief, she placed it back. Then she heard the rattle of keys and the front door swung open. They were home.
Chattering and giggling, the children poured into the living room. Then the smell of strawberries hit the roofs of their mouth and they stared at the second floor. Len realized it too, and his brows furrowed into a scowl.
"All right, who brought food out of the kitchen again? I told you, food is strictly prohibited in other parts of the house except the kitchen and dining area!"
"But I didn't bring any strawberries… just honey," Keichi confessed.
"You what…"
The children snickered.
"I'm sorry, what about me?"
"You brought honey? I'm gonna…"
"I didn't say anything. You were imagining things." Keichi quickly said, and then he darted for the vase again.
"Len-nii! You're back! I've got a surprise for you!" Shouko called from upstairs.
The family headed upstairs and stood before a very happy Shouko.
"Well? What fruity surprise have you got for us?" Len asked.
"Do you notice anything different?"
"Sure." Len said as he wrinkled his nose.
Then Ryoutaro stared at the floor and asked, "Did you clean the floor?"
"Yeap! I wiped it three times!" Shouko beamed. She couldn't wait for the praises to come pouring out now.
"It certainly is clean," Azuma speculated.
"Not to mention the aroma that comes with it," Kazuki snickered.
Shouko couldn't contain her excitement anymore. She tugged at Len's pants to ask, "What do you think?"
"I think you did a great job."
Shouko was grinning like mad.
"However, if I may ask, what floor detergent did you use?"
Shouko quickly ran into the bathroom and came back with a pink bottle in her hand.
"This one!"
Len stared at the bottle hard. Strawberry Essence for Silky Hair. SHE USED SHAMPOO TO MOP THE FLOOR!
Kazuki sniffed the floor, then he sniffed Kahoko's hair, and said,"Kaho-chan, your hair smells like the floor."
At the top of the bottle cap. The words Kahoko were scribbled in black.
The children burst out laughing. Kazuki collapsed to the floor, holding his stomach and wiping away his tears as he rolled about the fragrant floor. Kahoko blushed till she was as pink as the shampoo bottle, and Shouko stood there feeling very confused.
"Did I do something wrong…" she whispered, her hand still holding Len's pants.
"I just wanted to do my bit for the house…" she glanced down.
Chuckling, Len bent down to hug her.
"Thank you."
After that, Len taught Shouko the different types of washing detergent and emphasized that body soap and washing soap must never be mixed up. Len had to re-mop the floor and this time he let Shouko help out, guiding her at every step. Shouko had fun mopping with Len-nii and the rest of the children.
"All done," Len-nii sighed relief, putting away the last bucket. They ended up cleaning the whole house.
"The house smells normal now," Kazuki added.
"Say, since I screwed up mopping the floor, why don't I make it up to you by cooking for you tomorrow?" Shouko asked.
"Cook? You don't even know how to boil water!" Ryoutaro gaped.
"Sure I do!" Shouko protested.
"How?" Kazuki challenged.
"Just put it in the oven!"
Shouko still had a lot to learn.
THE BONUS IS EXTREMELY LONG. Heh. The last part about boiling water with an oven is actually based on a real life situation that happened with my friend. Hahaha. She's probably reading this now. Woops. Oh Kazuki is included in this bonus cause it took part before his mom came for him. Hahaha.
Hope you enjoyed chapter 5 :D
I did not have time to check for spelling or grammatical mistake since I rushed this. Its 1.30am in the morning now. Hahaha. Pardon the mistakes. Heh. I will work harder for chap 6…
REVIEWW! It will bring me loads of joy. I assure you.