"Mommy where's my sister?!" Satsuki screamed at her mother and stomped her foot.
Nothing is worse for a mother than when her daughter goes through the "terrible twos" and she just wanted to shut Satsuki up!
She was close to her delivery day but Satsuki refused to listen to reason and kept screaming so her mother sent for a solution.
Satsuki marveled at the baby in the maid's arms and its pink curls at the top of its head. Super curls, Satsuki thought..
"Your mother adopted her for you, but she is a baby so you need to be careful, always protect her, alright?" The maid said with a smile. Her eyes shined a soft pink, a loving pink.
Satsuki nodded and reached out to touch the baby when it started to cry. Satsuki pulled back and looked heartbroken at the thought perhaps the baby hated her… So she would do what her mommy did. Make the baby love me.
:
"Nikko, it's time to wake up. I want to play house after we eat breakfast!" Satsuki pushed Nikko's shoulder as she laid in her bed. Satsuki placed the clothes she wanted Nikko to wear that day on her bed and left.
Nikko stared at the clothes.
"I'm four years old, I can choose my own clothes, can't I? No… I can't…" Nikko got up and put on the frilly pink dress and went out to the hall where she say the pretty blond maid with pink eyes walking down the hall.
Nikko smiled at her but for the first time, the maid didn't smile back… but handed Nikko a brown paper package and got down on one knee. The maid ran her fingers through Nikko's bountiful curls and Nikko watched her eyes fill with tears. She choked back her tears and smiled. And Nikko never saw the woman again.
:
Nikko wondered around the house quietly. Satsuki was at school, and the Mistress was also out of the house, so this was the perfect time to explore!
Nikko started her searching in the kitchen, then the backyard, then around the living room. Nikko felt disheartened having found nothing exciting.. when she remembered the house was bigger than it appeared.
She hopped to her feet and run toward the stairs, but this time, she went down.
Nikko found herself in a large part of the house, her shoes clicking against the metal ground. The empty building frightened her as she was overwhelmed with the feeling she shouldn't be there. But just as She was about to turn back, she noticed something at back of the room.
A white and blue uniform was wrapped tightly in caution tape but Nikko ignored it, walking closer to it, her hand stretched forward… her fingertips nearly upon the pure white…
"NIKKO!" Satsuki screamed at her, racing over and forcing her away from the uniform. Nikko tumbled down the steps, her body hitting the metal floor with an echo.
Satsuki continued to scream and shout at Nikko, and before she could understand Satsuki's words she struck Nikko on the back of the head. Nikko was disciplined just as Satsuki would have been as a child.
Satsuki still took an independant and new approach to discipling her Nikko, and forced Nikko into a cold birdcage built for a human.
Nikko sat in that cage the whole day, and as the years went by, until Satsuki was in middle school, Nikko was put in that cage anytime she made a mistake, did anything she wasn't supposed to, or disobeyed Satsuki.
In Satsuki's 1st year of middle school she went under some minor psychiatric studies and it was discovered Satsuki had one or two minor disorders that Nikko (silently) blamed on the Mistress, and when Satsuki came to her in tears, begging Nikko to forgive her, Nikko did.. but the fear she felt for Satsuki was still there.
"Tell me you love me, Nikko." Satsuki begged.
"I love you, Satsuki.." Nikko said softly.
Satsuki wrapped her arms tightly around Nikko's neck, the first kind touch Nikko had received in years, and Satsuki hid her face in a mess of curls.
"My little sister.." Satsuki whispered.
This stung Nikko's heart. Nikko pulled herself from Satsuki and stared at her with wide pink eyes, welling with tears.
Nikko knew well what happened to Satsuki's real sister, and Nikko simply shook her head no.
Satsuki nodded, understanding Nikko. Nikko didn't want to replace her real sister, and in reality Satsuki didn't want that either. Satsuki wiped her tears and stood up swiftly.
She went to the door before stopping, and back in her normally cold voice said:
"Starting tomorrow you're going to attend classes with me." And she left.
"Are you going to go with her?"
"What choice do I have…"
:
Nikko's eyes opened fast, her eyes gazing up at the ceiling of her house in the ghetto.
She rolled onto her side, her eyes meeting Ryuuko's sleeping face. When did Ryuuko come over?
Nikko glanced up and saw her bedroom window open. Which was not open when she went to bed.
Nikko sighed and closed her eyes again, sleeping away the hours until school.