He shrugged simply, "...But, she apparently did! Although I was none the wiser for much longer than I should have been. My future wife was exceedingly patient with me. But not just because she's some special sort of personal martyr for me... She truly understands my viewpoint. I remember not long after we met, Wayne and Brad were accusing me unfairly one day at the restaurant of being a numb-skull! Apparently some poor silly patient of mine had gotten a crush on me, and Wayne and Brad expected that I should have figured that out for myself even though the girl didn't tell me anything directly at all, and in any case, it didn't matter because it was obviously just an emotional attachment due to the extended treatment she had received under my care. They felt more badly for the girl and thought I was being slow-witted and cold-hearted, but when they asked her to agree with them, Kym defended me instead! Which... No one had really ever done for me before..." He suddenly admitted, his pale cheeks turning red.
Wayne smiled big for him, but he couldn't help but tease him too, "Not my Sandy! She agreed with me and Brad!"
Ford pushed up his glasses and gave him a weak-hearted glare, though he was smiling too. "And that's why Sandy married you, and Kym married me! And another reason Kym married me is because although she understands me, although she's a kindred spirit, and a woman of intellect... She's also quite... Eccentric! I supposed she'd have to be, to fall for a man like me. But she doesn't just agree with me all the time, she throws me for a loop constantly. She challenges me, which keeps things interesting. She opens my mind to different viewpoints. And she doesn't just look at me oddly when I don't understand something. She explains it to me in a way so that I can. I'm sure you all know, though I'm a very intelligent man, sometimes people and their behaviors confuse me more than the average person..."
They all nodded quietly at the admission, and said nothing more on it. Ford nodded and went on, "She's never judged me for it, because she can be a little bit like that herself too, at times. Not as bad as me, but enough that she understands what I go through. Because of that I grew to trust her deeply over time. And once she knew she'd earned my trust, that's when she confessed to me..."
A bright, big smile stretched across his face as he remembered it, "She'd bring me presents nearly every day usually, or at least often enough when she was busy with her farm. She'd bring coffee, and samples of her crops and animal byproducts. She spoils her chickens and as a result is known for having the finest eggs anywhere. And though her crops began as barely more than mediocre, she refused to relent until she got the results she wanted. For the most part she focuses on practical staple crops such as wheat, corn and sugar. She produces these in large quantities and of high quality, then she donates large amounts of it or sells it for very cheap to the local folk. You see, she wanted to be a farmer first and foremost to help feed the world, not just for personal gain. But, she's gained plenty a lot too! She's grown apples and grapes that are well known for being almost sinfully large and sweet, packed with nutrients. She donates a lot of these too for juice, along with the milk from her cows, to help feed the local schoolchildren. She's very generous like that, always giving gifts to everyone. Her property is even called 'Giving Tree Farms'. So of course I thought nothing of also getting little gifts from her now and then. But then one day..."
His audience was waiting to be told of some grand gesture. Some terribly romantic thing that even a man as dense as Ford couldn't miss. Sighing dreamily through a dopey grin, Ford informed them, "One day... She asked me if she could kiss me! And that's when I knew for sure that she liked me!"
Several of the others nearly fell over. A couple of them audibly smacked their foreheads. What else were they expecting? Of course only the most blunt and straightforward approach would get through to that man!
Almost just as oblivious as he'd been that day, Ford went on without a care for their groans or eye rolling. "I asked her if she was sure that she wanted to settle for someone like me, even though I was quite a bit older than her..." He remembered his wife rolling her eyes when he brought that up. Apparently she didn't think being nine years apart was that big an issue. "But she made sure to get it through to me that I was her ideal match, and that she had absolutely no intention of marrying anyone else. So I finally gave in to her and made her mine, and we were married the next Spring. I still can't imagine why she chose me, except that my dear is known for being eccentric in all things. She keeps the standard staple crops, but then once in a while she'll feel irresistibly compelled to try growing something exotic, like a mango tree, or that one time she realized she loved tapioca pudding and next thing I knew we had a whole field of cassava! Or, in the way she dresses - She'll sometimes wear the clothes I've picked out for her, a lovely cream-colored dress or a brown buttondown dress... But sometimes she feels the need to dress in such bright, bold, colorful outfits! Like this short cheongsam she won in a competition, with purple roses on the top and burgundy shorts... That, or her snow-pattern kimono. Admittedly, I have a great fondness for the snow-pattern kimono... But I'm sure we make for quite the pair when walking down the street together!"
Pulling out his wallet from his coat pocket, Ford pulled out a picture of his wife to show the other. She was a pale-skinned beauty with hair the same shade of gold as her famously sweet wheat, and eyes of blue. When the picture went around, everyone simply glanced at it polite, except for Yuzuki, who upon getting hold of the picture, suddenly began staring at it, his mouth falling open. Rushing to explain the behavior, he sputtered, "D-Doctor Ford! I can hardly believe it, but... Your wife could almost pass for a twin of my wife!"
Taking back the picture, Ford raised a brow at him, "Oh?"
Yuzuki nodded, reaching into his robes and pulling out a picture of his beloved as well. It was a family picture, including not just Yuzuki and his wife, but also two little girls, one who seemed about 5 or 6 years old, and a toddler of 2 or 3. Everyone in the image had dark green hair and eyes, just like Yuzuki's. Despite the difference in colors, Ford could see clearly that the mother had a face almost identical to his wife.
Yuzuki explained, "My Kimi's hair is naturally a pale blonde color, but she started dyeing it to match mine soon after we met. That was my first clue that she liked me. It wasn't at all hard to fall back in love with her either, because we had so much in common, we just naturally gravitated to each other. We had the same favorite color, our birthdays are only days apart, and when I introduced her to Tsuyukusa's cuisine, she left most of her old Westown recipes in the dust! Well, except the desserts. She's got a sweet tooth like me! And any treat she knows I like, she works tirelessly for months to grow the best quality she can. When she learned how many of my favorite recipes contain adzuki beans, she grew the best ones she could to make the snacks she made for me even more healthy and nutritious! Which considering my health problems and how long it takes to grow adzuki beans, was a very sweet thing for her to trouble herself with, indeed. She also never shied away when I told her about my health issues, either. And I was very straightforward about it from the beginning. I almost hoped she would drift away when she realized the extra baggage being with me would come with... But in fact, it only drew her closer to me. It seems she too was sickly as a child, which was why her father insisted so much at first that she wasn't strong enough to handle the farm, and why she desired so much to do so anyways - To grow healthy food to keep other people healthy. So she understood all too well what I had gone through..."
He placed his index finger and thumb along his chin while he hummed in thought, "I suppose that's partly why she doesn't care to see her natural hair color or be reminded of her folks. She holds no grudge or ill-will, but she probably still feels disheartened by how they didn't support her when she tried to tell them about her dream. How they treated her like an invalid who would drop dead from a little hard work. I think her keeping her hair dyed to match our family is her subtle way of telling everyone, 'This is where I really belong'..."
He smiled and took back the picture as it came back his way. "As you can see we have two daughters! The eldest is named Hazuki and the younger one is called Mizuki. I may seem like I'm still young, but my wife and I have been together several years already. Her estate, called 'Golden Years Farms', is quite well established. As I've mentioned, she's known for growing the best adzuki beans you can find anywhere, and she also keeps a wonderful little grove of cherry trees because she knows I like them too. My Kimi can grow just about anything, but she's become most famous for her high-quality honey and maple syrup! She grows the largest, most gorgeous morning glory flowers, and her treasured bees make them into such rich, delicious honey, it can hardly even be called honey at all! It's the more like sweet, sticky manna of the gods! Her maple gets made into maple candies, which are so famous they get sold in stores across the country, and shipped internationally as well! She of course donates a lot of the proceeds from this as well, especially because she also found a rich, untapped mine a couple of years ago when transforming her cellar into more farmland, and after donating practically half of that as well, she still had enough left to renovate our home - Which was then even featured in a magazine! I happen to keep a copy on me, so here..."
Pulling the publication out of his robes, Yuzuki flipped it open to an ear-marked page, then handed it around. Eyes were bulging in seconds. Iluka was the first to comment, "What the HECK! Who builds a whole HOUSE out of GOLD?!"
"There's even a gold dragon on top of the horse stall..." Komari mentioned, brow raised.
"Hmm? Oh, turn the page." Yuzuki added nonchalantly, "There's two more gold dragons inside. Next to the treasure chest and the pile of gold dubloons. They're holding up a ruby the size of a melon. Apparently some pirates buried treasure on Kimi's estate many years ago! Lucky us, huh?"
"Well, Yuzuki IS a jeweler. I suppose if anyone were to have a gold and jewel-encrusted house, it'd be him..." Kasumi mentioned, the least impressed of the group. Iluka, clearly the most envious, was planning to advise her husband to take a very close look at their cellar when she got home...
"True." Yuzuki agreed, "But I'm still glad my wife makes such good money on her own. Even I wouldn't be able to afford an entire house made of gold! Plus, like Hinata's Momo, my Kimi has a bit of a clothing addiction. Thankfully her favorite color is also green, so her wardrobe is most pleasing to my eyes - For example, she tends to wear a puffy green polka dot skirt in Spring, the emerald sundress in Summer, the green scale-pattern kimono in fall, and the green haikara dress in winter... Oh! I almost forgot my favorite outfit, silly me - There's also the ninja suit!"
"...Ninja?" Hinata parroted after him, confused. "Yuzuki, your wife is a ninja...?"
"Hmm? Of course not." The green-haired artist grinned mischievously. "But she does occasionally like to dress up as a ninja, complete with a pair of black kitty ears. Then she'll wait in hiding until she catches me unawares, then she'll pounce on me, and soon after that we'll both be purring like kittens!"
Every face in the circle went red in an instant. A few snorted into embarrassed giggles, the others hid their blushing faces behind sleeves or paper fans. Komari was doing a bit of both, covering her face with her sleeve while also failing miserably to hold back round upon round of giggles. "Y-Y-Yuzuki! What on earth, how could you SAY that-?! AHAHAHA-!"
Yuzuki's impossibly large grin somehow only managed to widen. "What? The goddesses wanted to know ALL about our lovers! That means all the 'juicy details', right my holy little ladies?" He asked, sending a smirk and wink to the tiny divinities, who all blushed very hard at the beautiful boy's bold and saucy antics, indeed!
Kasumi coughed, and Yuzuki glanced at her next. "Well Kasumi-san, I guess that means you're last. I must admit, I'm very interested to hear about your lover too! Hinata was always my best friend in boyhood, but my Kimi is good friends with you and Komari, so we have you over quite often. Our little girls think of you two as their aunts! Of course they love you both equally, but we simply can't get either of them to shut up about you! It's always "Aunt Kasumi is so pretty! Aunt Kasumi is so graceful and smart and strong! We want to be just like Aunt Kasumi when we grow up!" Honestly Kimi and I sometimes get a little jealous!"
The Tsuyukusa teacher blushed at this adorable praise, and though she was inspired by it, like Ford, she still seemed to hesitate.
Komari finally commented on her best friend's mood, "Hey, Kasumi... What's wrong?"
Immediately upon being asked, Kasumi's eyes once again went straight to the stone doors. "Well... I would find it a bit difficult to share personal details with a large group anyways, but it's especially nerve-wracking when there are unknown people in our midst, hiding! I know all of you, but I don't know who those people behind the doors are. I'm sorry, but until I know, I can't feel comfortable enough to share my story just yet..."
Inari nodded to and spoke for Kasumi's reasonable request, while the knowledge of the greater gods flowed through the ears of her and Dessie and Witchie on a slightly ticklish wind. "Our Elder Sisters say that what they can say for now, is that those two are very similar to you all, but also very different. They were needed to form a spiritual bridge that you'll need to get back to your original worlds. Think of them as the foundation or the pillars that hold you up, while you all make the part of the bridge you walk across. They will be revealed and bade to share their stories as well as soon as you have told yours and completed the 'bridge', so to speak. Does this meet your satisfaction, Kasumi-sama?"
Kasumi blushed more deeply and more quickly than she ever had in her life, at this literal god using such an honorific with her. Of course she immediately bowed her head very low, completely humbled. "Y-Yes, of course, that's absolutely f-fine!" She stumbled to apologetically agree, fanning herself with the paper fan she'd pulled out earlier when Yuzuki mouthed off about his 'Ninja Kitty'... Or, 'Kitty Ninja', or whatever they called that little game. She fanned herself harder.
"Okay, w-w-w-well, m-my lover, h-he, his, um-!"
"Whoa." Komari stopped her suddenly, going over to the girl and pulling her away for a second. "Hold on guys, give us just a minute..."
The others nodded knowingly while Komari took Kasumi to sit for a brief moment. While Komari fanned her, the goddesses came over and conjured her a glass of fresh spring water. After drinking it Kasumi sighed and felt much better, her red skin finally turning back to it's usual paleness. After that she came back, clasped her hands in front of her lap and, much more calmly this time, she began, "Ahem. My apologies. My lover's name is... Kenshin."
She paused after his name to take a good full breath, still clearly very nervous despite gathering her bearings for the most part. After exhaling again, she continued, "Kenshin is a fine young man... Though I didn't admit it for quite a while after we first met, I knew from the first time I met him that he was different from most of the men I'd known. I know that seems cliche, I told myself that for months, but he was just so well-mannered, well-spoken, well-dressed, and... Just, well, well-rounded in general!"
She was getting a little pink again, and Komari quickly started to fan her once more. Kasumi stopped, took another deep breath, and went on bravely, though she was remarking internally that this task really shouldn't BE harder than knocking out a full grown man, but somehow it still was! "I suppose he's somewhat like your lover Joe, Siluka. He's a simple man, in his own ways. He only wears his more elaborate garments on special occasions. Otherwise he usually just goes about in a simple blue or green jinbei. They both compliment him nicely though. You see, his eyes are this really lovely shade of greenish-blue. Or blueish-green. It's the perfect mix of the two colors. And his hair is raven black, like mine. He also keeps his hair long and flowing, somewhat like a woman's, and his face is rather, erm, androgynous? I suppose..." She seemed to gain control of her voice, but she was still blushing quite red now, while recalling her handsome husband's features.
"He sounds like a dream-boat already!" Komari cheered her on for support, while also still fanning her. "Keep going, Kasumi! I wanna hear more!"
Lisette also added, "He sounds very handsome! Please don't be shy, tell us more!"
"Details, details!" The twins chanted in unison.
Kasumi smiled bashfully. The task seemed a bit lighter a burden now. "Alright, alright..." She appeased them, "My lover Kenshin is also a very hard worker, and also seemed to tailor his farm to fit my desires. He raises the finest, greenest spinach, several varieties of radishes, and many other richly nutritious vegetables. He also has a large coop of chickens that has every type of chicken around these parts, and even a few other rare kinds of egg-laying birds that he brought from home. He's a very gentle soul who loves all kinds of animals, but he's especially fond of birds. He's an avid bird-watcher, so he can't abide by cats, but we do have a family dog. He's a wonderfully affectionate little beagle. He gets along very well with, and is very protective of the little daughter I bore him last Summer. My husband loved her so very dearly that he begged me to let him name her after his very own heart, Kokoro. I couldn't help but allow it, even though I had always rather liked the sound of Makoto. We named her Kokoro, but although I'm in no hurry to repeat the process of childbirth, I made him promise that if we ever had another, we'd name the next one Makoto~"
She smiled genuinely as the others gave her a polite applause for her labors. "Thank you... Though I love teaching children, I never thought about having them for my own until I met him... I suppose I thought, if the gods have been so kind as to have provided me with the most perfect, most beautiful, kind, intelligent, loving man, how can I not bring another being like him into the world, and make sure a worthy legacy like his continues on? Well, it certainly made my parents happy. They had begun to wonder if I could ever finally find a man to love enough to marry. But Kenshin is my ideal mate, my equal opposite, my one true companion. He's what they call the 'strong but silent' type, like me. He's always been so gentle with me, so understanding of my reservations. He's never pushed me further or quicker than I wanted to go. But the more I let myself be with him, the more I wanted to be with him, until I had to admit to myself, and then to him, that I never wanted us to be apart again. And really, that was quite something for me! Imagine me, the woman who had always avoided most men, practically like a plague, coming to terms with the fact that there was a man out there I wanted to be beside for the rest of my life... Of course I had to be sure, but when he finally stopped holding back for my sake, and actually kissed me for the first time... Well, I was definitely sure then!"
Komari fanned her burning face so furiously, Kasumi's hair was practically flying with how much wind her friend was kicking up. Trying in vain to hide what a tizzy she was in, Kasumi finally concluded, "Um, well - I think that's about it, then!"
Inari and the other goddesses nodded, and bowed in thanks for the tales they had so bravely told. "Very well. Thank you, everyone. Now we shall reveal the two behind these doors. But before we do, please be warned - We know you'll be shocked by what you see. Hearing your voices, the ones behind the doors have probably already put it together for themselves. But just know what what you will see, and what you will hear from them, is completely normal and natural and healthy, just as much as any of you are. Alright now... Witchie?"
The Lukukoko goddess nodded, and stretched out her hands towards the doors, which began to rumble and shake and then lift by themselves. As soon as the doors opened, the two people waiting within stepped into view. Though they were warned not to be shocked, there were several deep gasps, especially from Kasumi, and from Hinata, who let out a sharp cry of surprise.
Standing in the doorways... Was another Hinata, and another Kasumi. A complete copy of them in every way. There was no scars or other differences to separate them, they were even wearing the same clothes and had their hair styled the exact same way. If not told otherwise, any outsider would assume they were a pair of completely identical twins.
So far, only the two newest additions knew what made them so different from the others...
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(( Alright! Only one or two more chapters to go tops! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and if you do, please let me know! :D ))
