[Mis] Connected Relations

By. KanHima Destiny

Ringo (6), Momoka (15)

"Oh, look at you," their mother gushed.

"You've made us all proud, honey," their father praised.

And as usual, she had to fake the smile on her face.

""Thank you, mother, father. But this was a team effort. I couldn't have possibly done it without Yuri and Keiju."

"We know, dear. But the fact that you not only held a successful food drive, but you also landed on the front page of the newspaper makes us thrilled to have you as a daughter." Their mother hugged the pinkette tight.

"Hehe, thank you."

"No, thank you for being a wonderful daughter."

"Ok, I get it. You're kind of squishing me, here," her sister said, exaggerating her voice to give the impression of being suffocated. Their mother simply laughed along.

It was at this time that their father looked down at her, giving her that familiar, expectant look. "Well, Ringo? Aren't you proud of your sister?"

And in those few seconds, she contemplated telling him the truth– that she was more jealous of her than proud. Her sister was constantly praised, rewarded, and simply (without limitation) loved by all. But she held her tongue, smiled brightly, and nodded, "Yes, papa. Sister Momoka is the best."

Their father smiled back. And even at the tender age of six, she knew her papa only wanted her to re-affirm what he believed. It was a game of pretend, and she made sure to play her role of the sister to the devoted girl before her perfectly.

And her answer was definitely the best choice, as he replied, "Yes, yes, she is." And that was all he said to her before returning his attention to the one he truly cared for most.

The tiny brunette turned her gaze away and looked on at the scene with longing…and jealousy. She saw the cake on the table, where she knew the words "Congratulations on your success" were written in pink icing down the middle, and the various colored balloons tied to a chair at the end of the table, obviously reserved for her. Pieces of paper streamers decorated the wood floor and a single, gold painted crown sat on a paper plate.

It reminded her of one of her dollies, the one with the gold tiara and the pretty pink dress with the pink plastic heels. It was a Christmas gift from last year. She cherished it dearly. But she couldn't take seeing it one day, so she threw it in the toy box. Down into the box it went…

She was suddenly pulled from her reminiscing when she heard the house phone ringing. Their mother walked to the receiver, answered a quick "Hello?" before breaking out in a grin.

"Yes, she's here…Uh, huh…Yes…Of course you can come over. The more the merrier. Oh, and bring Yuri, too. It's a celebration, after all."

Their father walked up to Momoka, wrapped an arm around her and hugged her tight. He nuzzled his chin atop her head, wearing the same big smile for her. Always.

"Ok, we'll see you here. Bye." Their mother hung up the phone, also wearing the same big smile. "Looks like Keiju and Yuri will be joining us for the festivities, as well."

"Great," her sister said. "Can they also stay over for a little bit?"

"Of course, dear. Whatever you want."

Their dad ruffled her sister's hair. "But not too long, kiddo. You still have to tell us the story of how your food drive went."

"Yes, we would love to hear how it went."

"Hehe, ok!"

And she practically glowed at that moment, Ringo thought to herself, radiating a blinding light that seemed to draw people in. She remembered people saying that was her "charm", or something or other. She doesn't remember; her sister is called so many things, it made it hard to keep track of certain terms used for her.

While she, herself, couldn't recall a single good thing that was said about her. She was her sister's shadow, or something (she didn't quite understand the meaning behind that particular word). And, unfortunately, she had no place next to the light.

Their parents and her sister carried on like there was no one else around, chatting away and enjoying one another's' company.

So the little girl set out to her room, determined for alone time. She reached a pink door, a coral frame with the name "Ringo" hung to it, and opened it quietly so as not to alert anyone (even though she was sure no one would bother to notice). She gave the scene one last, longing look before slipping inside her small sanctuary. She immediately let out a breath of relief. Her room looked like the inside of an aquarium, with fake corals and jellyfish adorning the walls and dresser, and an otter and duck plushy resting on her bed. She strode across the teal colored carpet until she reached her destination: her desk. She pulled open one of the drawers and produced a pink diary.

She smiled sadly; it was the only thing she could express her feelings of being unloved and unwanted to without feeling ignored. She felt her diary listened in place of her family– however cruel that sounded.

She opened the book to a blank page and began to scribble all the things she wished to express aloud, sitting on her bed and surrounded by the ethereal glow of sea blues and moss greens. She stuck her tongue to the side, running it across a cut located at the corner of her lip from when she fell during recess. She began to kick her tiny legs back and forth against the bed frame, but stopped when it started to interfere with her writing. And when she deemed it finish and she felt her head was cleared of all her troubled thoughts, she enthusiastically grabbed the stamp beside her and struck a quick, and hard, slam of the item against the page, muttering, "Destiny!" like it was her favorite catch-phrase.

She heard the doorbell sound off and various voices animatedly greeting one another a second later.

Her sour mood returned.

But she had a part to play. So she gently placed the diary back in the drawer and opened her door to greet her sister's friends. When the teen male and his female companion turned to her (after having engaged in a trio hug that looked of warmth and love), she had no choice but to plaster on the same fake smile she'd been wearing all that morning since her family received word of her sister's successful food drive.

Both guests greeted her, smiling big…but not as big.

And her sister gave her a look. It was one she couldn't really decipher. It was a smile, but no quite a smile; kind of like the ones teachers gave to their students, but only the ones that didn't make the teacher's pet list. And for some reason unknown to herself, it angered her.

She couldn't take her look any longer, so she averted her gaze to her shiny brown shoes. She heard their mother and father talking away with her sister, congratulating her and telling her just how wonderful of a daughter she was. And she heard her friends say the same. She didn't have to look up to know that all their smiles were larger than life.

Reserved for just one.

Ringo walked into the living room, passing the toy box and gave it a look of disdain. The back of her dress flowed passed, revealing the long discarded dolly with its beautiful pink hair in a frizzled and torn at mess.

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A/N: And that's that for the second prologue of the story. Keep in mind how I kept using the words "their", "mother", and "father" vs. "papa". I made her use some impersonal terms for a reason. The first two chapters will be the prologues, while the rest will jump right into the story. And if you haven't figured it out already, both chapters focused on Kanba and Ringo. I plan to incorporate tidbits of their background as I go along, too. So bear with me for the moment.

So, yeah…write me a review. Kay?