Soulmates
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basket.
A/N: I'd like to thank my wonderful friend, Firevein, for encouraging me to write again.
Chapter four
~In which Mei doesn't really do anything~
Great thought Mei.
I really got them there she thought sarcastically.
Sighing, she trudged the final few steps home. She didn't understand what was going on with her, but it made her even angrier than a certain boy. Even when she got to her house, she was still angry. Fishing out her keys, she jammed them in the lock, and paused. The brunette couldn't let her brother see her like this. No. She couldn't worry him.
She drew some calming breaths, and opened the door slowly. Taking off her shoes, she noticed that her father's slippers were still there. Her father was absent a lot these days.
"Mei, are you home?" a kind, sincere voice called to her
"Yes, I will be there in a second Koiji"
Putting on her slippers, she made her way to the family room. She took in the scene. Her brother, an avid reader, had spread out various books across the carpeted floors. Next to the books, was a tray of untouched food, food she had left for him hours ago.
"Koiji, you need to eat" She sighed
"I'm sorry, I just got really absorbed in these books"
Mei raised one eyebrow at him, causing him to quickly pierce some fish and eat it. Satisfied, the small girl made her way to the kitchen, and poured some oolong tea for herself. She didn't take more than one sip, when her brother asked her
"Where did you go?"
Thinking of an excuse, she replied
"Nothing just had some business to take care of at school…"
"It's always school with you sis, why don't you ever take a break?'
She was about to reply, but she couldn't help but wonder what she would do with a break. She didn't like watching the television, she didn't read anything other than textbooks and nonfiction, no friends, and she didn't play any sports, or harbor any talents other than studying.
She absentmindedly said
"What would I do with a break?"
"What do you mean?"
Realizing that she projected her thoughts out loud, she changed the topic.
"I heard Makimo's holding an art exhibit of ancient Chinese artifacts, would you like to check it out?"
She didn't have to see him, to know his eyes were lighting up.
"They are? Really? Can I go? Is that okay with dad?"
"He does not have to know, besides it is not like he is ever home" she added darkly.
"Also, you can borrow my cellphone" She added, pulling it out of her bag.
His smile, soft and joyful, erased her anger.
He happily took her phone, and dashed off to get change. She smiled to herself, as she drowned the remaining tea.
Now what should I do? Clean?
One look at their small house, indicated that it was not needed. Their house was immaculate. She liked keeping it spotless, she was neurotic in that sense after all.
Study?
She was already well ahead for the coming semester, and for some odd reason she didn't want to study.
Her eyes fell on their t.v.
Really?
Shrugging to herself, she put on the television. The television turned on to show a woman wearing an apron. She was showing the camera how to cut pineapples properly.
Bored she changed the channel, this time it was some kind of anime with a boy with a straw hat and a goofy grin.
She changed the channel again, and again. Getting more frustrated each time. She didn't want to watch anything, but she didn't have anything else to do. She was about to change the channel again, when she heard it.
"Soul mates"
"Yes, you heard me right." A woman, who looked she did crystal meth said.
"They exist"
Yeah right she thought dryly, she was about to switch the channel when the woman said
"You felt it. You felt compassion, love, and all the other good feelings, when you first saw him"
The woman looked at the camera in such an angle, almost as if she was looking directly at Mei.
"Don't deny it. You've known it all along"
Mei was stunned. She was still stunned when her brother said good bye, that all she could manage was a half wave. It was only when the ending theme of the show came on that she snapped out.
She shook her head, and told herself calmly, she is not sane, ignore this.
However something, something about the word 'soul mate', struck a chord inside of her. She had seen the exact same thing the woman said in a book long, long time ago. She just couldn't remember where, and when.
She was still pondering this when she got into her bath that evening. She put her head under the hot water, to help her think. Still she couldn't remember. It wasn't until she went to bed that night, that she remembered.
Her mother's book.
The day after her mother left, she had come home to see her father taking out burnables. She had hid behind the neighbor's car, until he went back inside their house. She had run up to the bag her father had put, and had opened it.
Her intuition had been right; it was all her mother's belongings.
She had closed the bag then, and had started to walk away, when she got a sudden urge to run back, pick up a random book from the bag, and sneak it back in the house.
That night, after tucking her brother in bed, she went to her room, closed all the lights, lit a candle and had started reading the book.
The book was much too complicated for a girl her age, and so she had soon lost interest in it, but instead of throwing it out, she had neatly put it at the back of her closet.
Mei got out of her bed, and went to her closet. She pawed her way to the back, and it was there. Right where she had left. She got a candle and a lighter from on top of her drawers, and just like all those years ago, she sat cross legged on her floor and began to read.
'Soul mates' the title read.
Simple, gold cursive letters, on a black cover.
The pages were yellow with age, and had collected dust from being in her closet for so long. She blew some of the dust away, and flipped to the first page.
There were no table of contents, acknowledgements from the author, or anything that an ordinary book would have. Just a simple,
'With love, Minami'.
Minami was her mother's name; it was as if her mother had given this book to her.
She flipped to the next page, again no chapter heading, or page number.
An intriguing question a female will ask herself in her early twenties is, 'Do I have a soul mate?' Why do females ask this question? Or better yet why have they been asking this question, pondering this question for decades? Because it is true. You have a soul mate, everyone has a soul mate. However we all don't meet our soul mate. This world is a vast place, filled with billions of people. Distance, language, and culture are just a few barriers, out of the many, that keep us from meeting the one…
She stopped reading, as she heard footsteps toward her door. She quickly threw her book back in her closet, and blew out the candle. The footsteps step paused at her door. Then they slowly retracted, and went downstairs.
'Welcome home, dad'
She thought silently.
She slowly walked back to her bed, and sat down. It wasn't safe for her to read the book now. If her dad came in her room, and saw the book, he would have immediately thrown it out. Sighing, for the umpteenth time that day, she lied down on her bed.
'Soul mates'
The thought came her in her mind again.
Whatever, the author of this book probably supplied the woman from earlier with crystal meth.
She rolled over on her side, and was about to fall asleep when she remembered what the azure eyed boy said.
'You can't be a manger, because you're stupid'.
She gritted her teeth. Forgetting the book she thought
Oh yeah, I will show you.
A.N
The handful of people who've commented, favourited, inboxed me, and/or followed this story, thank you so much! This year has been very though on my emotionally, and the notifications I got from fanfiction really made my day : )
-love and laughter
Enchantedforest
p.s I promise I won't write another boring chapter like this!
p.p.s I keep saying that I'll edit my previous chapters, but I just never get around to it.