Communication Break"What exactly do you think you two are doing?"
Ai's eyes snapped wide open. Reina 'eep'ed and rolled off her...girlfriend? Both of them stared wide-eyed at the imposing figure of Tanaka Saeko in the shattered doorway. A noticeable red flush was creeping up Ai's neck as she swallowed dryly -- her throat was locking up in a highly uncomfortable way.
"Mama, I...we..." Reina was feeling defensive. She found Ai's hand and clutched it. She wasn't going to back down, not even if her mother disapproved.
Saeko was having mixed emotions about this whole thing. Her previously elevated opinion of Ai needed some serious re-evaluation. It is possible that no parent can truly react rationally when catching their teenage daughter in bed with someone else.
Especially if it's another girl... Saeko's mouth firmed into a thin line. Ai did not look very innocent with her hair mussed and the bed looking like the two of them had...
It was very hard to fight the instinctive assumption that the girl had seduced her daughter somehow. Even if Reina had been straddling her earlier. Her mind tried to erase that image. She wanted to preserve her idea of Reina still being her innocent little daughter. This...was not helping.
"Reina, get over here." Saeko said firmly. Reina narrowed her eyes, glancing back to Ai reluctantly. She shook her head once, then twice, slowly. Her grip on Ai's hand tightened.
Ai sat up slowly, feeling a slow dread creeping up from her throat to her ears. Her legs felt numb. She was terrified. Here she was, barely just over the first sparks of joy at having discovered her feelings for Reina, and a roadblock pops up to ruin her happiness. Her stomach clenched tightly, bile rising in her throat. A familiar despair was coming back to haunt her.
Am I not allowed to be happy?A small hand cupped her cheek. Ai turned to face Reina, who looked worried. Unbidden, the tears welled up in her eyes, and she had to blink them away. Reina's thumb brushed away the stray drops that escaped, her eyes boring into Ai's.
I love you, I won't leave you."Takahashi-san, I think we need to talk." Saeko's tone was clipped, and more than a little edgy. The show of intimacy, both physical and emotional, disturbed Saeko deeply. Never had she seen her daughter seem so...adult...before. Reina would always be a child to her, but in that moment, Saeko had a flash of the woman Reina might grow up to become.
That was somehow distressing.
"Not without me around!" Reina interjected quickly. She knew firsthand how well her mother could manipulate people. She was
not letting Ai out of her sight. After witnessing how Ai had been willing to do stupid things for her sake, Reina was not going to risk it. Even if it was her mother.
Especially if it was her mother.
Reina didn't want to end up hating her mother. She loved her parents, but she loved Ai too. Hell if she was going to sacrifice one for the other. She couldn't make that choice. She just
couldn't.
"Reina." Saeko wasn't quite sure how to properly communicate her feelings to her daughter. Ai on the other hand, smiled wanly, as if struggling to put up a brave front.
"Rei...it'll be ok." Ai almost choked on her words. She tried to smile again, even succeeded, but her tear-stained face ruined the effect to some degree.
"No it won't!" Reina burst out, turning on Ai in an instant. "You're just going to do something really stupid again and not tell me about it! I hate that! You were always so...so..." Reina ran a hand through her hair in irritation. "You're just so
impossible."
"Rei, I'm sorry." Ai bowed her head. Reina made a noise of exasperation.
"Why are you apologizing again? Don't do that! I don't need you apologizing to me. You haven't done anything wrong." Reina let out a long breath. "You've just been so annoyingly self-sacrificial. This isn't a drama you know!"
"Ahem." Saeko cleared her throat. She was beginning to revise her opinion of what was going on between the two girls. Again. All these shifts of opinion was beginning to get very tiring.
"
Later, Mama. I need to deal with her first." Reina almost casually dismissed her own mother, her attention fully focused on Ai. Saeko had to admit, that stung a little.
"But I just wanted to protect you..." Ai mumbled. Reina puffed out her cheeks, blowing out air slowly in an effort to not just explode right there.
"Look, we've been over this! Reina can take care of herself." Reina folded her arms. "You were just going to let him do that to you because he threatened to do something to me? Honestly! Remember how
I kicked his ass?"
Reina had left the threatening part out of her account to Saeko earlier. The older woman raised her eyebrow at the relevation of this information, mentally filing it away for reference. She might have to do something about that. No one gets away with threatening her daughter, even by proxy.
"But you don't know what he can do!" Ai replied heatedly. She seemed genuinely agitated, even distressed. She was frightened of the man. "H-he has
connections, Reina. He'll ruin you. He's already..." She fell silent, biting her lip.
"What did he do now?" Reina's voice was low and angry. She gripped Ai by the shoulders. "Tell me, what did he do to you?"
"He had me pulled out of the drama." Ai said quietly. She chuckled without humor. "He'll cut me out of the industry, and he can do it to you too." She shook her head. "I can't let him do that to you, Reina. I can't let him ruin your dreams."
"I don't care." Reina said flatly. "I can always just start again somewhere else." Her knuckles grew white as she clenched a fist. "I can't believe that jerk could just..."
Saeko was forgotten in the background as the drama between the two girls played out. Given other circumstances, she might have even been amused by this. It was amazing how focused those two were on each other. Her image of Ai as a wilting flower was starting to waver a little. There was a quiet strength in that girl, behind her tears and retiring nature. Push her down, and she'll just stand up again, head bowed but not defeated.
Her Reina, on the other hand, would never admit defeat and fight tooth and nail every inch of the way. But her inner nature was far more fragile. Harder to break, but once shattered...
Saeko had worried about whether Ai would be good enough for Reina. A love between girls...she had seen too many of those too-close relationships broken up as they approached adulthood. Japan did not care about how children experimented while they were young. What it did care about was the adults they became. It would not be easy, and she didn't think they would be able to withstand it. Saeko did not want her daughter to be hurt. It would be so much easier had Reina fallen for a boy, though she probably would have put the young man through hell anyway. She only had one daughter.
She had to make sure. She wanted her daughter to be happy, but not just for a time. She wanted Reina to find a lasting happiness as she had. Something that would endure, something that would see her through the different trials life would throw at them.
Not every first love works out to a happy ending. Saeko knew that. Her Kenji had come to her completely by accident. They had made it work, even through all their differences. She had had to grow up a great deal before being sure that she was in fact happy with what she had.
Reina was still too young. Ai was not much better in that respect. Both of them hardly had any idea what they were getting into with each other. It was far too easy for them to just be caught along with the rush of emotions and stumble along like blind (wo)men in the dark.
Maybe it would have been a better idea to just let Reina try and fail, learn the hard way that love wasn't easy. But Saeko loved her daughter. She couldn't just stand by. The stereotype of the meddling mother was hard to overcome, and Saeko knew she couldn't help herself.
For better or for worse, she was already involved the moment she found out about it. Whether the girls liked it or not. They were just going to have to deal with it.
"We need to talk." She had to almost shout to get their attention. Ai and Reina blinked at her, as if suddenly remembering she was still there. Saeko caught Ai swallowing nervously again. She couldn't quite manage a smile at this point, but she was sure smirking would just make the girl hyperventilate from the stress. Reina probably wouldn't like that.
"Come with me. Both of you."
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*wanders off whistling*
Progress is...inching forward.
Topic: Destiny Love [16/02 - In My Own Time] (Read 78592 times)