the dragon and the tiger on the roof
Who: Momoko & Akemi
Where: The roof of the highschool.
When: Eh...Monday?
What: Momo lets out some worries.
Warnings: None whatsoever.
Whenever Momoko ate lunch with Akemi (which was, frankly, every single day since the first grade), they usually did so on the roof, or near the athletic field. Somewhere they could go to have a good view of the sky while they ate their food. As usual with them, sometimes they talked a little, and sometimes they didn't. They had always managed to They had always managed to be in the same class, even in their first year here at high school, and so meeting up was no problem. Momo led, and Akemi followed; sometimes to the roof, and sometimes to the athletic field, and sometimes just..walking. To be together, and just..moving. That was all Momo cared about.
Today though, things were a bit more grim, and neither of them had even said a word yet; they sat on the roof, and Momoko just sort of stared at the open lunchbox in her lap. Haruko had packed them both lunches, as usual, with some leftovers from last night's take out, which they had both seemed to enjoy, but Momo hadn't taken a single bit. She felt too upset to eat, too worried, like she was going to be sick; she supposed that was also why neither of them were saying much. They had both been thinking a lot, since that time, and Haruko had even seemed less of her bubbly self and more in a brooding sort of mood. Momo guessed if Akemi decided to ask her why she wasn't eating, she'd tell her the first thing that came to mind; that she was losing weight for track or..anything. Anything except admitting how goddamn worried she was.
And angry. Definitely angry, on top of it all. Because of that stupid cat, that's why it had all gone down as it was; the cat had started it, and gotten her temper going, and tht's how things began, that's what got her noticed (and warned, oh god yes, /warned/) by Sohma Takato, the head of their family. The same Sohma Takato that her mother worked to hard to keep her and Akemi away from, when possible, and the same Sohma Takato that Momoko was sure she hated, even though she acted as polite to him as she could muster..because behind her hate, she was scared too. And it was Shina, that stupid cat, that had brought all of this on, and she hated the cat for it, too. For getting her in trouble, for worrying her mother, and Akemi.
She hated her.
Akemi hadn't spoken a word all day. She was, instead, thinking. It wasn't unusual in her; some days she just woke up and was silent the entire day. It wasn't always a bad sign. Sometimes she was considering the latest novel she'd read, or contemplating something particularly insightful Haruko had said to her or simply didn't feel as though she had anything to say. It was something she'd always done, and Haruko and Momoko had more or less gotten used to it.
She'd eaten maybe two bites of her food before she left the food alone, playing with her chopsticks as she stared off of the roof, through the fence around the top to the athletic field. The people there looked so tiny...but she could still pick them out, the people she'd seen or the people she knew by name. She didn't really /know/ any of them, beyond Momoko; not even those in her family.
Her family. Akemi glanced to her side, at Momoko, who was leaning against the fence, facing Akemi where she sat, angled at the fence and all beyond it. Momo wasn't telling her something. There was something wrong with her, beyond even what Takao's orders for a meeting would cause. She looked...upset, angry, grim. Akemi found too many words for it, and frowned. She'd noticed Momoko's untouched food but hadn't said anything as of yet. Momoko tried always, to be so strong for her...
Sometimes Akemi thought she didn't know how to be weak. She wanted to say it would be fine, but she didn't know if it would be. What if it wasn't? What if...?
"Momo-chan," Akemi said, prompting. "We're in this together, right?"
Momoko seemed to snap out of her daze, and glanced at Akemi across from her, giving the other teenager a little smile and a gentle nod of her head; she was always gentle and kind with Akemi, though she was with little else..except maybe flowers. But in a lot of ways, Akemi was like a flower to her; beautiful and needing to be treated with love and affection, and always blooming, growing stronger. To Momo, she guessed Akemi was the best flower of all.
"Mm, yeah, of course we are. We're in every thing together, silly. We always have been, and we always will be." She informed her, glancing away a bit, down at the luncbox open in her lap. "That's..just how things go, I think."
"If we're in it together," Akemi said quietly, looking back to Momoko, "Then don't hold out on me. You shouldn't be worried alone. Because you aren't. Aunt Haruko and I...feel the same things right now. And it worries us more that you're not talking about it." She glanced down at her own lunchbox, a little awkward. She sometimes got like this; she didn't know what to say.
"..I-I'm not..holding out on you.." Momo said, a little defensively, as she pouted and turned to look at Akemi; raising her eyebrows. "Just what sort of things do you think I'm holding out on you about? I tell you everything, silly." the violet haired girl added, nodding in confirmation of her words. "There's..nothing going on, that you don't already know about, okay?"
"You're worried about something more than just the meeting," Akemi said with absolute certainty, her expression unchanging, her eyes locked onto Momo's face. Her cousin couldn't hide things like this from her; not when she could read her expression, and her voice. Akemi's own expression was a little hurt; just a little, because Momo wasn't telling. "Something more than what Aunt Haruko and I know about..."
"..." Momo seemed to mull this over for a second, lightly licking at her lips a little, something she had always done when she was feeling particularly nervous or worried or..just fidgetty. She sighed gently, closing her eyes for a minute, not wanting to see Akemi, knowing the little bit of hurt there, and ashamed to be the one who had caused it, even slightly. She worked so hard to keep people from hurting Akemi, and here she was, lying to her and doing the one thing she tried to protect her from. It wasn't right, damnit, and she knew it.
"I'll tell you." she said at last, opening her eyes, and moving them to Akemi, locking into her cousin's blue eyes, and looking completely serious as she spoke. "But you don't say a word to mom, okay? You have to promise, on your life, and /everything/. On our friendship. Promise me."
"I won't. I promise you I won't." Akemi looked more worried, but shifted, her expression serious. She would never break a promise; it wasn't something Akemi could ever bring herself to do. She took her promises seriously. "On everything I know."
"Well..if you promise, then I trust you.." Momo sighed, downcasting her gaze a bit. "I-I mean, I always trust you, of course but..y-you know what I mean, Mimi-chan." she said quickly, looking a bit flustered, after re-thinking her first choice of words. "I do, I always do." she added, nodding her head in agreement with it, and straightening up against the fence, leaning back on it a bit more, letting her own emerald eyes move up, above Akemi, and focus on the sky, watching the clouds there, needing something to calm her before she said anything more.
"The head of the Sohma family..Sohma Takato-sama..he gave me a warning.." she said simply, biting at her lip, seeming upset over this. "Alley-cat, too. For fighting all of the time..he said it was disruptive, and to stop..being so antagonistic.." she continued, sighing a little, and lowering her eyes back to Akemi, watching her expression, praying she didn't upset her. "After we worked to hard to..go under the radar..and avoid him, huh?"
Akemi set her lunchbox aside, and scooted over to wrap her arms around her cousin, her eyes softening. "I don't think we ever went under the radar, Momo-chan...not any more...I think we were just ignoring the facts. It's not your fault." She tightened her grip on the older girl, closing her eyes. "He asked us all for the meeting before any of that...we never succeeded in hiding. We just succeeded in pretending..." She opened her eyes, looking torn. "Momo-chan..."
Momo smiled faintly at this, taking her own lunchbox from her lap and putting it aside as well, still totally untouched before returning the embrace to Akemi; wanting just to hold onto her right then, and not be apart from her..which was, in fact, half of her worry over the whole thing. She had both respect and fear for Takato..and for what he could do to their lives. Which was, frankly, whatever he wanted to. He controlled the zodiac however he liked, and Momo knew she wasn't the only one who knew that.
"I-I was bad..and stupid.." she whispered, tucking her face against Akemi, cuddling up to her, and exhaling gently; her voice cracking a little, and her teeth were nibbling at the inside of her cheek, a tactic she often used to hold back her emotions, when she could..but she wasn't sure she could this time. It was bad; it was horrible. "W-What if he takes you away? and m-m-makes you g-go live at the main house because I was bad?" she whispered, keeping herself tucked against Akemi; looking, and feeling, quite small then, not wanting to make eye contact, just wanting to cry, which she was soon doing, quite softly, much to her dismay.
Akemi continued to hold Momoko, tightening her hold on the older girl as she looked torn. Because this was Momoko. This was the strongest person she knew, the girl she'd always looked up to. This was Momo, her cousin, the dearest person in the world. She felt as though she might cry herself, and she couldn't recall when last she'd done that. She couldn't recall Momoko ever doing that. Akemi closed her eyes and clung back with all of her might. "We won't let him take me away." There was no power in the statement, because it was true; he controlled the zodiac. But Akemi took a deep breath, and her expression hardened. "I'll do everything I can to stay with Momo-chan and Aunt Haruko."
Momoko was quiet for a few minutes, just sort of sniffling, and clinging at the front of Akemi's uniform; sticking close to her, and still feeling like she was hiding. She felt a little ashamed of crying, of letting her emotions get the better of her, but..it was Akemi. It was her Mimi-chan, and they knew each other best, during their worst and best times and if there was anyone in the world allowed to see her cry, Sohma Akemi was that person.
"M-Me too, Mimi-chan. I'll do my best, and keep quiet and not even bother with that dumb cat..I won't start anymore fights, okay? Because..if Takato-sama took Mimi-chan away, I don't know..what I'd.." she trailed off again, feeling fresh tears springing to her eyes, and trying to fight them back, rubbing her face against Akemi, letting out a little whimper. "We'll make sure, okay? F-Forever, you and me and mom."
Where: The roof of the highschool.
When: Eh...Monday?
What: Momo lets out some worries.
Warnings: None whatsoever.
Whenever Momoko ate lunch with Akemi (which was, frankly, every single day since the first grade), they usually did so on the roof, or near the athletic field. Somewhere they could go to have a good view of the sky while they ate their food. As usual with them, sometimes they talked a little, and sometimes they didn't. They had always managed to They had always managed to be in the same class, even in their first year here at high school, and so meeting up was no problem. Momo led, and Akemi followed; sometimes to the roof, and sometimes to the athletic field, and sometimes just..walking. To be together, and just..moving. That was all Momo cared about.
Today though, things were a bit more grim, and neither of them had even said a word yet; they sat on the roof, and Momoko just sort of stared at the open lunchbox in her lap. Haruko had packed them both lunches, as usual, with some leftovers from last night's take out, which they had both seemed to enjoy, but Momo hadn't taken a single bit. She felt too upset to eat, too worried, like she was going to be sick; she supposed that was also why neither of them were saying much. They had both been thinking a lot, since that time, and Haruko had even seemed less of her bubbly self and more in a brooding sort of mood. Momo guessed if Akemi decided to ask her why she wasn't eating, she'd tell her the first thing that came to mind; that she was losing weight for track or..anything. Anything except admitting how goddamn worried she was.
And angry. Definitely angry, on top of it all. Because of that stupid cat, that's why it had all gone down as it was; the cat had started it, and gotten her temper going, and tht's how things began, that's what got her noticed (and warned, oh god yes, /warned/) by Sohma Takato, the head of their family. The same Sohma Takato that her mother worked to hard to keep her and Akemi away from, when possible, and the same Sohma Takato that Momoko was sure she hated, even though she acted as polite to him as she could muster..because behind her hate, she was scared too. And it was Shina, that stupid cat, that had brought all of this on, and she hated the cat for it, too. For getting her in trouble, for worrying her mother, and Akemi.
She hated her.
Akemi hadn't spoken a word all day. She was, instead, thinking. It wasn't unusual in her; some days she just woke up and was silent the entire day. It wasn't always a bad sign. Sometimes she was considering the latest novel she'd read, or contemplating something particularly insightful Haruko had said to her or simply didn't feel as though she had anything to say. It was something she'd always done, and Haruko and Momoko had more or less gotten used to it.
She'd eaten maybe two bites of her food before she left the food alone, playing with her chopsticks as she stared off of the roof, through the fence around the top to the athletic field. The people there looked so tiny...but she could still pick them out, the people she'd seen or the people she knew by name. She didn't really /know/ any of them, beyond Momoko; not even those in her family.
Her family. Akemi glanced to her side, at Momoko, who was leaning against the fence, facing Akemi where she sat, angled at the fence and all beyond it. Momo wasn't telling her something. There was something wrong with her, beyond even what Takao's orders for a meeting would cause. She looked...upset, angry, grim. Akemi found too many words for it, and frowned. She'd noticed Momoko's untouched food but hadn't said anything as of yet. Momoko tried always, to be so strong for her...
Sometimes Akemi thought she didn't know how to be weak. She wanted to say it would be fine, but she didn't know if it would be. What if it wasn't? What if...?
"Momo-chan," Akemi said, prompting. "We're in this together, right?"
Momoko seemed to snap out of her daze, and glanced at Akemi across from her, giving the other teenager a little smile and a gentle nod of her head; she was always gentle and kind with Akemi, though she was with little else..except maybe flowers. But in a lot of ways, Akemi was like a flower to her; beautiful and needing to be treated with love and affection, and always blooming, growing stronger. To Momo, she guessed Akemi was the best flower of all.
"Mm, yeah, of course we are. We're in every thing together, silly. We always have been, and we always will be." She informed her, glancing away a bit, down at the luncbox open in her lap. "That's..just how things go, I think."
"If we're in it together," Akemi said quietly, looking back to Momoko, "Then don't hold out on me. You shouldn't be worried alone. Because you aren't. Aunt Haruko and I...feel the same things right now. And it worries us more that you're not talking about it." She glanced down at her own lunchbox, a little awkward. She sometimes got like this; she didn't know what to say.
"..I-I'm not..holding out on you.." Momo said, a little defensively, as she pouted and turned to look at Akemi; raising her eyebrows. "Just what sort of things do you think I'm holding out on you about? I tell you everything, silly." the violet haired girl added, nodding in confirmation of her words. "There's..nothing going on, that you don't already know about, okay?"
"You're worried about something more than just the meeting," Akemi said with absolute certainty, her expression unchanging, her eyes locked onto Momo's face. Her cousin couldn't hide things like this from her; not when she could read her expression, and her voice. Akemi's own expression was a little hurt; just a little, because Momo wasn't telling. "Something more than what Aunt Haruko and I know about..."
"..." Momo seemed to mull this over for a second, lightly licking at her lips a little, something she had always done when she was feeling particularly nervous or worried or..just fidgetty. She sighed gently, closing her eyes for a minute, not wanting to see Akemi, knowing the little bit of hurt there, and ashamed to be the one who had caused it, even slightly. She worked so hard to keep people from hurting Akemi, and here she was, lying to her and doing the one thing she tried to protect her from. It wasn't right, damnit, and she knew it.
"I'll tell you." she said at last, opening her eyes, and moving them to Akemi, locking into her cousin's blue eyes, and looking completely serious as she spoke. "But you don't say a word to mom, okay? You have to promise, on your life, and /everything/. On our friendship. Promise me."
"I won't. I promise you I won't." Akemi looked more worried, but shifted, her expression serious. She would never break a promise; it wasn't something Akemi could ever bring herself to do. She took her promises seriously. "On everything I know."
"Well..if you promise, then I trust you.." Momo sighed, downcasting her gaze a bit. "I-I mean, I always trust you, of course but..y-you know what I mean, Mimi-chan." she said quickly, looking a bit flustered, after re-thinking her first choice of words. "I do, I always do." she added, nodding her head in agreement with it, and straightening up against the fence, leaning back on it a bit more, letting her own emerald eyes move up, above Akemi, and focus on the sky, watching the clouds there, needing something to calm her before she said anything more.
"The head of the Sohma family..Sohma Takato-sama..he gave me a warning.." she said simply, biting at her lip, seeming upset over this. "Alley-cat, too. For fighting all of the time..he said it was disruptive, and to stop..being so antagonistic.." she continued, sighing a little, and lowering her eyes back to Akemi, watching her expression, praying she didn't upset her. "After we worked to hard to..go under the radar..and avoid him, huh?"
Akemi set her lunchbox aside, and scooted over to wrap her arms around her cousin, her eyes softening. "I don't think we ever went under the radar, Momo-chan...not any more...I think we were just ignoring the facts. It's not your fault." She tightened her grip on the older girl, closing her eyes. "He asked us all for the meeting before any of that...we never succeeded in hiding. We just succeeded in pretending..." She opened her eyes, looking torn. "Momo-chan..."
Momo smiled faintly at this, taking her own lunchbox from her lap and putting it aside as well, still totally untouched before returning the embrace to Akemi; wanting just to hold onto her right then, and not be apart from her..which was, in fact, half of her worry over the whole thing. She had both respect and fear for Takato..and for what he could do to their lives. Which was, frankly, whatever he wanted to. He controlled the zodiac however he liked, and Momo knew she wasn't the only one who knew that.
"I-I was bad..and stupid.." she whispered, tucking her face against Akemi, cuddling up to her, and exhaling gently; her voice cracking a little, and her teeth were nibbling at the inside of her cheek, a tactic she often used to hold back her emotions, when she could..but she wasn't sure she could this time. It was bad; it was horrible. "W-What if he takes you away? and m-m-makes you g-go live at the main house because I was bad?" she whispered, keeping herself tucked against Akemi; looking, and feeling, quite small then, not wanting to make eye contact, just wanting to cry, which she was soon doing, quite softly, much to her dismay.
Akemi continued to hold Momoko, tightening her hold on the older girl as she looked torn. Because this was Momoko. This was the strongest person she knew, the girl she'd always looked up to. This was Momo, her cousin, the dearest person in the world. She felt as though she might cry herself, and she couldn't recall when last she'd done that. She couldn't recall Momoko ever doing that. Akemi closed her eyes and clung back with all of her might. "We won't let him take me away." There was no power in the statement, because it was true; he controlled the zodiac. But Akemi took a deep breath, and her expression hardened. "I'll do everything I can to stay with Momo-chan and Aunt Haruko."
Momoko was quiet for a few minutes, just sort of sniffling, and clinging at the front of Akemi's uniform; sticking close to her, and still feeling like she was hiding. She felt a little ashamed of crying, of letting her emotions get the better of her, but..it was Akemi. It was her Mimi-chan, and they knew each other best, during their worst and best times and if there was anyone in the world allowed to see her cry, Sohma Akemi was that person.
"M-Me too, Mimi-chan. I'll do my best, and keep quiet and not even bother with that dumb cat..I won't start anymore fights, okay? Because..if Takato-sama took Mimi-chan away, I don't know..what I'd.." she trailed off again, feeling fresh tears springing to her eyes, and trying to fight them back, rubbing her face against Akemi, letting out a little whimper. "We'll make sure, okay? F-Forever, you and me and mom."