School Girls' Stories - New Generation

“Merry Christmas,” Yuki greeted her best friends on the way in the door to the Inperiaru mansion. Fuji and Shai leaned forward and hugged their friend, ignoring the four children walking in grumpily behind her. Christmas last year had been so jovial, everyone feeling so loving. This year it was the opposite effect and now they were beginning to remember why they were so angry with one another.

The three women looked out towards their children and then felt forlorn for what was lost. They had raised their children close in the hopes that they would be friends, much like they were friends, if not better. They had watched their children grow up and choose their favorites, Shu and Bliss always closest, while Ashe, Harmony, and Sora seemed to get along famously. Waza, Darrke, Link, and Yuna had always made an odd combination, but they had been great friends, while Tiera, the second youngest, seemed to take Rhapsody, the youngest, under her wing. Together they all had fought to be as great friends as possible, and then the car accident happened, and then Ashe’s death.

Now, as they looked out into the room the room was split in total opposite directions. Bliss sat by Link, the two of them looking uncomfortable together, but seeming to share a warm secret. Shu and Sora sat near Tiera and Rhapsody, close enough to hear and be a part, far enough to give the girls a sense of privacy if they wanted it. Waza and Yuna were still close, though she had lost the shine from her eyes months ago. Darrke was now the odd one out, sitting near the adults, or as close to adults as they would ever be, Devilin, Lilis, and Frost all laughing at some inside joke while Darrke grinned devilishly.

“Where’s your mom?” Yuki asked of Fuji, seeing the half-brother but not the mother.

“She was not feeling well, but still forced poor Waza to come along,” Fuji admitted. “It’s a shame, since he looks like he would rather be anywhere else.”

“They all do,” Shai sighed, sliding into a comfortable couch on the opposite end of the room from her children. “The more I try to get through to them the more they pull away.”

Yuki nodded in acknowledgment of the statement while Fuji stared off at her daughter, who had a shadow of a smile on her face as Sora and Shu made a joke to her. Tiera looked out of place, the young sister, but out of place as the two men showered the youngest girl with affection and protection. Fuji wanted to rush over and kidnap her own daughter and keep her away from those boys. She remembered too well the looks on their faces when they had shown up. They were not mourning the friend who had jumped off of the bridge; they were watching the girl who clung to the railings screaming for her brother to return.

“Are you all right?” Shai asked of her half-sister, looking up at Fuji and watching the solemn look on her face.

“I miss my son,” she said, burying her face into her hands. From across the room, smoking cigars that they all hated, Amatsu, Kyoei, and Shinwa were watching their wives. Amatsu wanted to go to Fuji, to pull her and Rhapsody away from all of them and take them across the country where they would never see these people again, but it was upon Fuji’s insistence and persistence that they stayed. These were Fuji’s best friends, her family, she would not leave them. Amatsu just wanted to see his wife smile.

Yuki and Shai looked down at the floor. Neither of them knew what to say in place of that. If they lost one of their children they would be devastated, they would not survive without him or her. Fuji always had been the stronger one.

Shai suddenly cleared her throat and looked to her friends. “I hope you do not mind,” she said, mostly aiming this remark at Yuki, “but I have invited someone for Christmas dinner tonight as a sort of Christmas present to Bliss.”

Fuji looked horrified, because she saw him through the window, while Yuki looked like she was about to cry as the door was opened by a spare maid and Nakago was lead in through the door. He looked cold, and was covered in snow, but he smiled into the room, his eyes roaming over and first catching glimpse of the women who were closest to the door. From across the room Bliss’s eyes caught a hold of her father and she stood, positively excited to see him.

“Shai, Yuki, Fuji,” he nodded to the women in front of him and Shai was the first to stand to hug him. He gave her a warm hug filled with emotion that Yuki could never have imagined in her brother as he held onto her. “Thank you,” he said pleasantly to her, his breath and whisper the whole truth in his words.

“Welcome,” Shai said happily, stepping back so his sister could take her place. Yuki stepped forward and looked to her older brother, looking at bleached blonde hair that tried to fit in to his American lifestyle, and his truly tan skin that had to be from a salon since in Wisconsin there were not many places to tan, and she did not know what to say.

“Wow, who would have thought in middle age I would look better than you,” so maybe she did know what to say. As Yuki grew older she began to look more and more like Kaori, though she never filled out the same way. Her beauty peaked in college, and from there she very much stayed the same. She may still be flatter than the other women around her, but at least it kept her body perky. Nakago only looked tired as he stared down at his sister.

“You were lucky you were plain as a child,” he told her, leaning forward to kiss her cheek, the secret between only him and Bliss, who stood to the side waiting for her father’s notice. “But you have grown into a ravishing woman, congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Yuki said hurriedly, stepping out of the way, knowing the father and daughter wanted to reunite once again.

Nakago did not turn so quickly towards his daughter, though he was anxious to. He turned to Fuji and smiled at her, his hand already reaching out for his daughter. “Thank you for having me,” he told her happily.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said to his turning back. She shifted back and forth and suddenly seemed uncomfortable in her own skin.

“Naka… Da… Hey!” Bliss said uncomfortably, unsure how to address this man while the man who raised her stood on the other side of the room, watching just as uncomfortably as everyone else seemed to be.

“Nakago is fine,” he explained to her. “I don’t want you to disrespect the people who raised you, after all, they fought for you.”

“Thank you,” she said, bowing her head and then jumping over to hug the man who had biologically helped create her. Nakago hugged her back, happy to see his daughter once again, more than he thought he would be as he held on to her.

“This is not good,” Fuji muttered to herself.

“Why?” Yuki asked, turning to glance at her friend.

“Because of who I invited to come tonight,” Fuji admitted, her eyes glancing to the door, the maid once again obligingly opening it for a guest. Yuki would never have recognized the woman who was dressed in a velvet suit with hair that nearly reached her waist, her eyes fluttering, her lips pouting, and entirely more feminine than anyone had ever seen her.

“Danko?” Shai asked, looking over the woman with amazement.

Suddenly a house that was too big before seemed to shrink in on everyone as the woman walked through the door, her hips swayed, her lips perfectly painted, and then her eyes falling on the one person she never stopped hating, and his eyes falling on her in turn. Two lions had just been released in the middle of Fuji’s living room, all because of good intentions.