Heroes fic: Just Good Fortune, PG, Kimiko Nakamura
Title: Just Good Fortune
Author: acaciaonnastik
Rating: PG
Fandom: Heroes
Character/Pairing: Kimiko Nakamura (and the rest of the family)
Summary: Kimiko has no time to fold cranes, but there are other ways of wishing.
Notes: My first Heroes fic! Some spoilers for Distractions. Many, many thanks to lotte_ame, my beta. Any remaining mistakes, of course, are entirely mine.
Kimiko is fourteen, and her brother will read his manga instead of studying, however she reminds him. Hiro fears their father's disapproval, but he has never been willing to work to avoid it. He was at the bottom of his class last year, and she knows he will be there again this year.
Once she did some of his work for him. She did not mind. The work is like breathing to her, not the torment of the mind that it is for Hiro. But Father caught her, and gave her that sharp look that she is certain is worse than blows, and she has never done it again.
So when she has finished with her own, Kimiko looks for more in other places. There is always someone who will accept her help. They rarely admit that they have had it, but Kimiko does not care; it is the work itself that she loves. Recognition seems less important, at this age.
When Hiro gets his first job, Kimiko is already all but running one division. She is the daughter of the CEO, but he does not believe in making his children's lives too easy, so she knows that she has achieved this through her skill. She knows this the more because she is not yet in charge in name. That will come soon, if fortune is with her.
Her brother is working at the lowest level, of course, to make him want to rise. Kimiko knows this is foolish; great of heart though Hiro is, trying to teach him ambition is like trying to teach market analysis to an ant. Of course, she would never say this to Father. Kaito Nakamura commands respect, and demands deference.
Sometimes she wishes- passionately so- that he would be made to see, but she hasn't the time for folding cranes, and there are more important things to do with paper.
Kimiko knows that her brother was the very farthest thing from being vital to the workings of Yamagato, but now that he has gone, there seem to be three times the problems to deal with. Perhaps it is only that she misses him, but after the eighth idiotic accounting mistake that has come to her attention this week, it is quite clear that this is no product of her mood. And she has just begun to hear of the rumblings... talk of Father, and how he cannot even control his son. She makes it clear that she does not care to hear such talk in her presence, but it does not help now that she knows what is said.
Her own divisions (three now) are getting back on track, she can tell. Otherwise, she would never leave them alone even for the short time it will take them to bring Hiro back. It will not put out these fires, she knows, but at least it will quiet the whispers.
She is somewhat taken aback when Hiro and his friend come out of the van with a man with a gun, but she learned long ago not to let such things show on her face. In the same way, she does not let slip that Father is mishandling Hiro greatly. She merely asks to speak to him herself, afterward, because she can speak without Father's pride. So she speaks of the trouble, and the whisperings, and offers to let him save the day.
And for that, he makes her want to strangle him for being foolish... so much, indeed, that she can no longer keep her silence but tells him what he must do. She is sure that she has done that at least once before, she must have, but it is as if Father is seeing her for the first time, and suddenly she knows what Hiro meant by proposing something so ridiculous.
Her brother has never been clever, but he is wise. Her wish is come true.
It is not the last time. Kimiko knows that joy can make life seem easier, but... this much?
Those idiotic mistakes seem to have ceased entirely, or perhaps they are simply being corrected before they reach her. They certainly must pass through more hands to reach her now, at that, so it is not strange. And that Saido Avionics suffers grave misfortune at the same time she finds that they are prepared to acquire them, that is good fortune. That it is to the very minute... she surely has no cause for complaint. Coincidences happen. She can well imagine Father's reaction to worrying that life is going too well.
Then a man she has never heard of calls her from America, and asks to know (her translator tells her) whether anything is strange in her life. No? What of her brother, that he cannot find?
Her reply is only that business is good, and her brother is vacationing, but she can ignore it no longer, and devises a test.
Kimiko feels somewhat foolish to say this aloud, even alone, but it must be done; "Let it be six," she whispers, and drops her handful of dice onto the table in front of her, and gapes.
For every single cube shows six neat little dots.
She gathers them up again, and thinks (rather unsteadily): One. This time, a couple of twos are to be found among the uniformity, but when she clears her mind, refocuses, and rolls one more time, they show a sea of ones.
And they do the same thing again the next time.
And the next.
Kimiko laughs, and thinks of Hiro, away in America with his mission. He still had his cell phone, when last she saw him. Perhaps he will understand.
But she knows what she needs to know, for now, and she does not call him yet.
Author: acaciaonnastik
Rating: PG
Fandom: Heroes
Character/Pairing: Kimiko Nakamura (and the rest of the family)
Summary: Kimiko has no time to fold cranes, but there are other ways of wishing.
Notes: My first Heroes fic! Some spoilers for Distractions. Many, many thanks to lotte_ame, my beta. Any remaining mistakes, of course, are entirely mine.
Kimiko is fourteen, and her brother will read his manga instead of studying, however she reminds him. Hiro fears their father's disapproval, but he has never been willing to work to avoid it. He was at the bottom of his class last year, and she knows he will be there again this year.
Once she did some of his work for him. She did not mind. The work is like breathing to her, not the torment of the mind that it is for Hiro. But Father caught her, and gave her that sharp look that she is certain is worse than blows, and she has never done it again.
So when she has finished with her own, Kimiko looks for more in other places. There is always someone who will accept her help. They rarely admit that they have had it, but Kimiko does not care; it is the work itself that she loves. Recognition seems less important, at this age.
When Hiro gets his first job, Kimiko is already all but running one division. She is the daughter of the CEO, but he does not believe in making his children's lives too easy, so she knows that she has achieved this through her skill. She knows this the more because she is not yet in charge in name. That will come soon, if fortune is with her.
Her brother is working at the lowest level, of course, to make him want to rise. Kimiko knows this is foolish; great of heart though Hiro is, trying to teach him ambition is like trying to teach market analysis to an ant. Of course, she would never say this to Father. Kaito Nakamura commands respect, and demands deference.
Sometimes she wishes- passionately so- that he would be made to see, but she hasn't the time for folding cranes, and there are more important things to do with paper.
Kimiko knows that her brother was the very farthest thing from being vital to the workings of Yamagato, but now that he has gone, there seem to be three times the problems to deal with. Perhaps it is only that she misses him, but after the eighth idiotic accounting mistake that has come to her attention this week, it is quite clear that this is no product of her mood. And she has just begun to hear of the rumblings... talk of Father, and how he cannot even control his son. She makes it clear that she does not care to hear such talk in her presence, but it does not help now that she knows what is said.
Her own divisions (three now) are getting back on track, she can tell. Otherwise, she would never leave them alone even for the short time it will take them to bring Hiro back. It will not put out these fires, she knows, but at least it will quiet the whispers.
She is somewhat taken aback when Hiro and his friend come out of the van with a man with a gun, but she learned long ago not to let such things show on her face. In the same way, she does not let slip that Father is mishandling Hiro greatly. She merely asks to speak to him herself, afterward, because she can speak without Father's pride. So she speaks of the trouble, and the whisperings, and offers to let him save the day.
And for that, he makes her want to strangle him for being foolish... so much, indeed, that she can no longer keep her silence but tells him what he must do. She is sure that she has done that at least once before, she must have, but it is as if Father is seeing her for the first time, and suddenly she knows what Hiro meant by proposing something so ridiculous.
Her brother has never been clever, but he is wise. Her wish is come true.
It is not the last time. Kimiko knows that joy can make life seem easier, but... this much?
Those idiotic mistakes seem to have ceased entirely, or perhaps they are simply being corrected before they reach her. They certainly must pass through more hands to reach her now, at that, so it is not strange. And that Saido Avionics suffers grave misfortune at the same time she finds that they are prepared to acquire them, that is good fortune. That it is to the very minute... she surely has no cause for complaint. Coincidences happen. She can well imagine Father's reaction to worrying that life is going too well.
Then a man she has never heard of calls her from America, and asks to know (her translator tells her) whether anything is strange in her life. No? What of her brother, that he cannot find?
Her reply is only that business is good, and her brother is vacationing, but she can ignore it no longer, and devises a test.
Kimiko feels somewhat foolish to say this aloud, even alone, but it must be done; "Let it be six," she whispers, and drops her handful of dice onto the table in front of her, and gapes.
For every single cube shows six neat little dots.
She gathers them up again, and thinks (rather unsteadily): One. This time, a couple of twos are to be found among the uniformity, but when she clears her mind, refocuses, and rolls one more time, they show a sea of ones.
And they do the same thing again the next time.
And the next.
Kimiko laughs, and thinks of Hiro, away in America with his mission. He still had his cell phone, when last she saw him. Perhaps he will understand.
But she knows what she needs to know, for now, and she does not call him yet.