Chapter Six

Written: 26 August 2005

Re-written: 14 June 2007

Edited: 22 July 2012

Three years later

There was a loud, high-pitched shriek from the center of a small apartment complex in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. The complex was fairly unremarkable at first glance, a U-shaped modern building of red-and-grey stone with a small, tree-filled courtyard in the middle and a decorative stone wall and gate closing the U. The unusual part was the two-storied landlord's cottage, set in the courtyard just behind the gate and the tiny parking area there. It was done in a very traditional Japanese style, at least on the outside, from wooden walls to tiled roof, with a small dojo tacked onto one side. The occupants of said cottage were all female, two seventeen-year-old girls and two three-year-olds. One of the latter was responsible for the shriek.

"No no no! Don't wanna!" Anshii calmly trailed behind her screaming elder daughter as the child scooted clumsily down the stairs on her bottom, still holding the little red vest that would complete the child's outfit. Nishiki had taken exception to it, and had run from the bedroom she shared with her sister in fury.

"Ki-chan," she called when the girl had finally reached the ground floor and sat there, fuming, "Ko-chan will be so upset if you don't match. Won't you put on your vest for her?" A moment of quiet waiting while the three-year-old thought this over did the trick: she stood up and allowed her mother to put the vest on her, and then even submitted to having her hair brushed and braided.

"So cute!"

And, aside from a belligerent scowl, she was. Her thick purple hair, which had only ever been trimmed a bit here and there, was tied back in a neat braid that hung down between her shoulder blades, a few strands escaping around her ears. She wore a short-sleeved white shirt with a red vest over it, and a tiny pair of neat black shorts. Her feet were currently covered with white socks, in blue house slippers, but she had a pair of black buckle shoes waiting by the door.

Anshii adjusted the vest a little, then looked up just in time to see Utena, in her school uniform, carrying a giggling Nishiko down from the upstairs bedrooms. The other little girl wore a copy of her sister's clothing, but with a skirt instead, and pink house slippers. Anshii smiled and shook her head a little, then stood up.

"Utena, I've told you to let her walk. She is capable of managing the stairs, you know." Utena laughed.

"I know. It's just painful to watch and besides, I like carrying her."

The pink-haired young woman set her daughter down at the foot of the stairs, where she immediately dashed towards her sister and all but pounced on her, undoing all of Anshii's work at neatening her clothes.

"Yay! School!" the girl squealed, hanging off of her twin and smiling brightly. Nishiki was able to maintain her belligerent look for another few seconds, but it eventually caved in under the force of her twin's excitement, and hugged her back. They stayed that way until Anshii clapped her hands.

"Alright! It's time to leave! Shi-chan(1)," she addressed the twins, "Daddy and I will drop you off at kindergarten, alright? We will come get you this afternoon also, so wait inside." The twins nodded, one solemn, the other cheerful, and Anshii reminded herself to remind the girls' teacher. The twins would never remember.

"Get your bags and let's go! Mommy and Daddy have a longer walk to school than Shi-chan, so let's hurry!" said Utena, picking up her briefcase and Anshii's, while the dark-skinned girl helped the twins on with the myriad of bags that the school demanded they have, checking that each one held its proper contents in the process, then sat them down on the entry step to put their shoes on. Slipping her feet into her own shoes, she took Nishiki's hand, while Utena took Nishiko's, and they headed out.

There were few things that the two young women pampered themselves on. Even the twins' stylish little clothes were largely secondhand or homemade, Anshii having developed real skill with needle and thread – among other so-called 'motherly' skills – during the year they stayed out of school, caring for the babies. The first extravagance was school – the twins' kindergarten was not known for being inexpensive, but the quality of their education could not be denied. The second was the taxi driver that picked them up each morning and delivered the twins to school. Since neither girl could drive and the walk to the kindergarten was entirely too far for a pair of overburdened toddlers, they had decided the expense was worth it.

And so, when they walked out of the house, there sat an old taxi sedan with a matching middle-aged man in the driver's seat. Utena and Anshii each helped one of the girls into the car, then climbed in themselves, waiting for a moment before the engine started and they pulled away.

The drive to school was swift and unremarkable, the twins having attended the same school and been driven there by the same taxi company since they were less than two years old . Pulling up to the famous Yoyogi International School(2), they all piled out of the car and joined hands, with the twins in the middle and their parents on the ends, as much holding their hands as helping them keep their arms up with all their bags. Nishiki had retreated into pouting again, but walked along willingly enough between her sister and 'father'.

Utena refused to look at the other parents delivering their children at the same time. She already knew what she'd see. She and Anshii were definitely the youngest parents and the only same sex couple, and she couldn't help notice that the other children were dressed very differently than the twins. Well, it wasn't their concern what she did with her life, so she steeled her resolve as she had for the past two years, lifting her head and walking along with confidence, taking reassurance in the little hand in hers.

They delivered the twins to their teachers, and watched as they ran off to join the other children. Stopping a moment to chat with the teacher, they ignored the parents giving them curious and occasionally dirty looks.

"The twins are a bit different, aren't they?" Anshii smiled at the teacher, as if making conversation, polite as could be, "But they enjoyed their time in Penguins and Little Penguins," the class names for younger children, "Wouldn't it be nice..." She trailed off deliberately, smiling. The teacher, a pretty young foreign woman, smiled back and addressed them in very good Japanese.

"Don't worry! Kindergarten is all about learning to cooperate and to make friends, isn't it? We teach the children to be smiling and polite." They chatted for a bit longer, then Utena checked the time on her phone and spoke up at last.

"Anshii..." she said, and the other girl broke off in mid-sentence to look up at her.

"Yes, Utena?"

"We need to go. We're going to be late." Anshii frowned a little. Utena's tone was even and calm, but her eyes betrayed her discomfort, so Anshii just nodded slightly and made her apologies to the teacher, giving Utena's hand a comforting squeeze.

"I'm sorry, we must be going. Please take good care of the children." They bowed and the teacher responded in kind.

"Of course. You're such a responsible big sister, aren't you," she asked, innocently, and Utena choked. Anshii gave a delicate giggle behind her hand and shook her head.

"Oh, I'm afraid you've misunderstood. They aren't my little sisters, the twins are our children. Utena is my husband." And they turned and left, leaving three shocked teachers behind, as well as at least twice that many startled parents who had heard their answer.

As they moved out of hearing from the school, Utena burst out laughing, her earlier discomfort forgotten. "I can't believe you actually said that! Bold as can be, 'Utena is my husband.' Ha! That'll give them something to talk about, won't it?" Anshii giggled and shrugged a little, and then they fell silent as they walked quickly towards their own school, trying to make up for lost time.

It didn't take long for Utena's cheerful mood to evaporate once they were on their way, though. "Is it really a good idea to send them to that school? Wouldn't a regular Japanese kindergarten be better?"

Anshii turned to look at her lover as she walked. "We talked about this, Utena. That school will be good for them. We can't teach them any more English than they already know, and with good English they can do anything. Don't worry," she added, squeezing Utena's hand, "They'll be fine. I'm sure we'll pick them up and they'll be full of stories about their first day in Seals class."

Utena looked down at Anshii's hand on hers, and couldn't help but feel a fresh surge of affection for the other girl. Glancing to make sure nobody was looking and would raise a fuss, she brought the hand to her lips, kissed it gently, and smiled. "Alright, if you really think so. I'll leave it alone and worry about my own work instead."

They walked in contented silence for the rest of the twenty-minute trip, holding hands and stealing glances like the pair of young lovers they were. It was with a jar that they drew up to the gates of Shibuya High School. They sighed, and Utena tugged Anshii out of the flow of students and into a small nook formed by some shrubs, then kissed her softly.

"That'll have to hold me for the rest of the day."

Anshii just laughed as she stepped out after her prince and they set off for the main entrance. "You say that every day, but we always meet during lunch."

Utena shrugged, "I have to be sure. If I tell myself that I won't get to kiss you again until the end of the day, then the kisses at lunch are that much better, and if I don't see you during lunch, I'm not disappointed." By then, they had entered the building. They slipped on their indoor shoes in companionable silence, then Utena handed Anshii her briefcase before turning and heading off towards her classroom. "Bye!"

Anshii watched her go until a bend in the corridor hid her from view, then turned and went the opposite direction, towards her class, idly wondering if the twins would come here someday, and if Nishiki would wear shorts under her skirt like her father did. She would discuss it with Utena later. It was never too early to think about the future, especially with the girls getting such a good start in English. She imagined sending the girls to KAIS (3) and shook her head, aware that she was getting ahead of herself by about a decade. First she had to get the twins through preschool and into elementary, while finishing high school herself.

She thought briefly about university, but she had long since given that up as a pipe dream. She doubted that they would be able to juggle that and raising the twins properly, putting them through good schools. She was more than willing to sacrifice the schooling for the children, at least until they were old enough to get to and from school by themselves. As she slid the door open to her classroom, she couldn't help but chuckle. In three years, her world had been turned upside down, and she couldn't have been more their mother had she borne them herself. It was a bit startling, sometimes.

"Himemiya-san, Himemiya-san!" A mousy-looking girl with short, pale brown hair came flying up to her and nearly skidded as she came to an abrupt halt, "Guess what?"

Anshii tilted her head to one side, regarding the most unlikely-looking school gossip, Yamakawa Chie, with all the diplomacy and patience she had. "Yes, Yamakawa-san?"

"You wouldn't believe who Higetsu-san saw kissing this morning!"

Oh, no. Anshii's breath caught in her throat. They caught us. We're going to get kicked out of school.

END CH. 6

1: Shi-chan is a nickname for the twins collectively, based on the first syllable of their names. 'Ni' is 'two', and two plus two is four, or 'shi'. Individually, they're called Ki-chan and Ko-chan, for obvious reasons.

2: Yoyogi International School is a real kindergarten (preschool in the US), primarily for the children of foreigners. It accepts children 18 months to 5 years for all-day programs, operates mainly in English, and backs up against Yoyogi Park, where most of their activities take place.

3: KAIS is a very prestigious, very expensive, international school in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo.