Chapter Four – Breathing Exercises
Yumi sipped her tea and listened to the two brothers arguing. There was no real animosity in their wrangling, just an old dance between them, each one knowing their part so well that it soothed them.
"You were playing with him, letting him get in more blows," Makito was chiding.
"I wish!" Tsubasa retorted and rubbed his shoulder, wincing at the soreness. "Arakaki was tough! I beat him only because I was faster than him," he admitted, somewhat chagrined.
"Oh no, look at the time! I have to get home, Sakura-chan will be waiting for me." Makito jumped up and charged out of the coffee shop, bowing and excusing himself with great haste. Left alone with Tsubasa, Yumi felt it was finally all right to relax a little. She sank back in her chair with a huge sigh of relief.
"Are you all right?" he asked her, with a concerned look on his face.
"I'm fine; Makito-san took excellent care of me. Your brother is nice and very sweet, but I was hard-pressed to keep up with his conversation," she admitted. "I don't know much about fertilizer."
Tsubasa burst out laughing.
"I'm so sorry! Makito has never understood that not everybody loves gardening the way he does." She could see that he was a little embarrassed and shook her head.
"No, he's wonderful! So nice and kind, really!" she assured him with a smile. "I just didn't know how to answer him, sometimes."
"He will take an "I don't know" for an answer." Tsubasa retorted with a roll of his eyes.
"My mother made certain that I was very polite, but she didn't teach me the etiquette of fertilizer," Yumi admitted, still smiling.
"Your mother sounds very respectable," he answered and she could hear the question in his voice.
"She comes from a very old Samurai family, she is very proud." Yumi couldn't keep all of the sourness out of her voice, but Tsubasa merely nodded. "When she married my father, her family was rather disapproving, so she made sure that my siblings and I were raised to be extremely polite to make up for our father's low birth." She kept her tone carefully neutral, but some of her anger leaked out anyway, because he winced at her words.
"Sounds awful." He shook his head and she flashed a smile.
"My father is wonderful, but besides him I think that I will like your family much better than my own," she told him with a conspiratorial air and he chuckled.
"Like Aniki said, wait till you meet the rest of them, then decide." It was a rueful comment, but she closed her eyes and tried to remember the dream.
"I recall the tall fellow, the one who told you that it was hopeless to try and save me, but the others didn't say much, so I don't know much about them," she murmured, trying to recall the details. It took her a moment to realize that he had said nothing in response and she opened her eyes to see him staring at her.
"How much do you remember?" he choked out and she blinked at him in surprise.
"I thought I told you, I remember all of it, though I thought it was just a weird dream I kept having." She shrugged while he looked a little uncomfortable. "Why?"
"Well, I…um…was upset at points," he stammered, looking away, and she found herself blushing a little. They had held hands, she had rested her head on his shoulder, he had held her in his arms as she faded away to the next world, so she could understand why he seemed a little shy suddenly.
"So was I," she answered, her voice soft and her eyes on her teacup. He reached over and placed his hand lightly on hers, where it rested on the table. He left it there for a moment and then pulled it back. She felt the loss of his touch acutely and yet was also quite flustered by his gesture.
"Your hands are much warmer now," he commented and she looked up at him in surprise. There was a long moment when they just looked at each other and then they both found words to fill up the silence, though the most important ones remained unsaid.
Tsubasa sat and listened to Jun-sensei as he ran the tape back again, but his full attention wasn't on the analysis of the fight.
"Arakaki nearly had you here, next time you have to be more careful," Jun complained and Tsubasa frowned and agreed. It had been a moment's inattention, but it had nearly cost him.
"You're right, I got cocky." Jun-sensei paused the tape and peered into his face.
"Are you feeling well?" he asked with an air of perplexity.
"Fine, why?"
"Because normally you argue with me about my calls and today you have been surprisingly agreeable." Tsubasa shrugged and Jun-sensei raised an eyebrow and stepped back. "This whole last week you have been cheerful, friendly and pleasant. Either you are sick, or you are in love." Tsubasa nearly choked on his water and set the bottle down hastily as he coughed.
"Jun-sensei!" he protested, but the older man merely nodded sagely.
"You're in love," he concluded and shook his head with a doleful air. "It's been the ruin of many a good boxer. No doubt she will ask you to stop fighting and you will tamely agree. What a waste!"
"She wouldn't ask such a thing of me!" Tsubasa protested, but her face when she had seen him fight, the way she had winced at his injuries, it gave him doubts. What if she did, could he give up his second chance with her? Would he give up boxing?
"Women come in two types, Tsubasa-kun, they either want to change everything about you, or they want you to pay for everything." Higa-san interjected, his face pulled into a grimace of distaste.
"Yumi-san isn't like that," he insisted, but the seed of doubt was placed.
Yumi sighed and ran her fingers over the keyboard. She cared for Tsubasa, but she also loved to play. What if he wanted to get married? Would he expect her to give up her career? Most men just assumed that if she married them, she would stop playing and stay home to raise the children. She picked out a few notes at random, her thoughts running in circles.
She had determined never to marry if she couldn't still play, but Tsubasa was already so important to her. She just wasn't certain that she could give him up, either. There was a history there, a deep connection that ran over all of her logical arguments.
There was a knock on the door and she got up from the piano bench with a sigh. It was probably her neighbor, Himaki-san, wanting to gossip about the other tenants in the apartment building. The old woman was a terrible gossip and would always stay too long, but Yumi was too kind to turn her away when she was obviously so lonely.
Opening the door, however, she was pleasantly surprised.
"Papa!" she cried in delight and threw her arms around him.
"Yu-chan!" he answered fondly and she ushered him inside. Her father, who was as untidy as always, had an oversized sweater hanging off his lanky frame. His hair was tousled, and his glasses were askew, but he had a happy smile on his face and his black eyes sparkled with merriment. To Yumi he was a handsome man, but to most he was the epitome of the absent-minded professor.
"Papa, what brings you to Tokyo! I am so happy to see you!" She hustled him into her little kitchen and began pulling out a teapot and some cinnamon rolls she had baked the day before.
"I am giving a lecture on quantum tunneling at the university. I took an earlier train in so I could spend some time with you," he told her, as she put the kettle on to boil. "How are things with you?"
"Good, very good," she answered, her earlier concerns drifting away as she remembered the lopsided smile Tsubasa had given her as he had parted the other evening.
"Ah! A boy?" the eager look on her father's face was not lost on Yumi and she had to laugh.
"Yes, actually," she murmured, feeling suddenly a trifle shy.
"Name? job? How serious?" he rattled off and she laughed.
"You are worse than an old auntie. Papa!" She shook her head and poured the hot water over the leaves with a mock sigh. "Ozu Tsubasa is his name and I think it might be serious." She bit her lip, hoping he wouldn't point out her omission, but it was in vain. He might forget his glasses, but Kimura Toshio was sharp as a laser when he thought it was important.
"You didn't say what he does," he prompted her and Yumi hid her confusion in the ritual of preparing the tea and pouring it out. "Is it something shameful? He's not Yakuza, or anything, is he?" That question made Yumi laugh and shake her head.
"No, no, I don't think it's shameful at all, but I also don't think O-kaa-san will approve." She took a breath. "He's a boxer, actually he's the Asian bantamweight champion," she informed him with a certain degree of pride.
"So, yes, I can see why you think Yukio-chan will not approve." Her father's nod of understanding was gentle, but it didn't ease the knots in her stomach. "A boxer? He doesn't sound like someone for you, Yumi. They are a rough lot." He was frowning now and his expression was dubious.
"He's not like that! Tsubasa-san is very sweet and gentle. He's smart, and funny and wonderful." She was nearly pleading with her father and she could see that he was listening. If she could get him on her side in this, then he could work on mother, but if they were both opposed it would be an uphill battle.
"What about his family?" Yumi winced, remembering Makito-san's boisterous laugh. If the rest of the family was like him, then there was no way her mother would be able to hide her disdain and pride. She was capable of offending people instantly with her icy dignity and the last thing Yumi wanted was for Makito-san to be on the receiving end of one of her mother's pointed comments. She was quiet too long. "That bad, eh?"
"They are really good, kind people." Her father nodded his understanding. They both knew what her mother was like and there was nothing to say that hadn't been said before.
"Maybe I better meet them first, so I can figure out what to say to Yukio-chan," he chuckled and Yumi smiled at him with a radiant happiness.
"You are the best father in the world, Papa," she told him and his smile faltered a bit.
"You are serious about this boy, aren't you," he asked with a slightly wistful tone.
"I've waited all my life just to meet Tsubasa-san," she answered and knew that it was the literal truth. She had died and been reborn just so she could return to him.
"So I have the lecture today, but I can come down again next week to meet this young man, if that would be okay?" Yumi hugged her father hard, almost causing him to spill his tea. His laughter and the hug he gave her in return made her heart feel light and full of joy.
Tsubasa sat down at the table and glanced around at his family. The Ozu's dining room was simply decorated, but it had the warmth of all his childhood memories in it. His father sat, coffee cup in hand, while his mother was bringing out the eggs and toast for them.
Makito was expounding on the new apartment that he was painting for Sakura-san and himself. Sakura, so shy and quiet, was listening to him and also watching them all with a sweet, if somewhat bewildered smile. She still had trouble adapting to human ways, apparently tree kami did not all eat breakfast together and while she found the custom confusing, she was slowly adapting to the early morning chaos.
She also hadn't understood why unmarried people couldn't live together and the family had been unable to explain it to her. They had finally just given up and pretended that the room she had been given was the one she was actually sleeping in.
Houka was reciting lines for an audition she had that afternoon over and over again in different tones.
"It will make your kitchen sparkle like a diamond!" she chanted and Kai snorted.
"When did you last clean a kitchen, Houka-nee-chan?" he mocked with a grin and Houka frowned fiercely at him.
"That is why it's called "acting"!" she threw back at him, with a toss of her head. Tsubasa wisely stayed out of the argument. Looking around the table he sighed a little. His father had hardly been back before Urara had gotten married and moved to Magitopia with Hikaru-sensei. Soon, Makito and his bride would be moving out, as well. That would leave only three Ozu children still living at home.
He wasn't sure why that thought was so depressing to him. It was only natural, after all, children grew up and got married, they moved away. It was just that he had hoped that after father returned they would have some time to be a whole family again. All the years that had been lost where they could have sat around this table laughing and talking and they would never get those years back again.
"Everything all right, Tsubasa?" his mother asked as she set his plate down in front of him. He shook his head in negation.
"Just thinking," he told her, waving of her concern.
"About that girl of yours?" Makito asked with a knowing smile. The table erupted as both Houka and Kai began pelting him with questions, His father looked at him in surprise and his mother smiled somewhat uncertainly.
"What is this about?" his father asked and Tsubasa shrugged, trying to underplay the whole thing.
"He invited her to his fight, she was very kind and pretty," Makito answered with an approving tone and Tsubasa ducked his head down over his food. Sakura-san smiled at him over her eggs and he grinned back at his elder brother's fiancée. She was the quietest member of the family, but he was quite fond of the sweet cherry tree spirit.
"Who is she? Why haven't you told us about her?" Houka protested with a pout.
"Because I didn't want you to try to "help" me the way you did Kai," Tsubasa muttered, grim-faced.
"Oh!" Houka cried with indignation.
"Smart, Chii-ni, her helping me was a disaster," Kai whispered, but from the furious look on Houka's face, she heard him.
"What is her name?" his mother asked her voice quiet in sharp contrast to Houka's loud complaints.
"Kimura Yumi," Tsubasa answered. He wanted to add more, but a sudden shyness overtook him.
"She plays piano for an idol singer and writes songs," Makito put in. His brother quite obviously liked Yumi-san, which made Tsubasa smile at him, but he still felt reluctant to talk about this fragile, new feeling. His mother seemed to understand because she simply smiled.
"You should have her over for dinner, some evening," she told him.
"Only if Houka and Kai promise to behave! Yumi-san has nice manners and she is shy," he answered with a sharp look at his two siblings. They both began to protest volubly and with great energy.
Tsubasa exchanged looks with his mother, who was smothering her laughter behind her hand.
"It's no good, Tsubasa," his father interjected with a grave expression. "Even if they behave perfectly for one night, she will have to know the truth eventually." This parental betrayal led to a storm of angry words from the injured parties. Their mother lost her battle and was giggling aloud now.
Tsubasa slipped out while they were still arguing, still wondering what Yumi-san would make of them all.